BST...how to do it well?

[Rodin]

I'm looking for some advice from some skilled BSTs. I've been looking at this job, and it seems fun. You have the ability to help a lot of people with this job, and you can gain XP according to your will. I'm a level 11 BST right now. Not sure what to do. So far I've been charming DC to EM Lizzies, and have been making them take on EM to T sheeps in the highlands. So basically I get my pet to attack, let it die, then finish the mob off with my axe? And after 35, do I release before my pet kills the mob, and finish it off with my axe? Any suggestions/hints will help. Thanks for your time.

[Keyura]

Re: BST...how to do it well?

I'm looking for some advice from some skilled BSTs. I've been looking at this job, and it seems fun. You have the ability to help a lot of people with this job, and you can gain XP according to your will. I'm a level 11 BST right now. Not sure what to do. So far I've been charming DC to EM Lizzies, and have been making them take on EM to T sheeps in the highlands. So basically I get my pet to attack, let it die, then finish the mob off with my axe? And after 35, do I release before my pet kills the mob, and finish it off with my axe? Any suggestions/hints will help. Thanks for your time.

i'm not much of a bst but that sounds right and thats what i've been doing (until i need to farm, then i get a DC or EM pet and rip through every EP in sight which makes me a lot of alchemy materials and crystals and 10-30 exp ^^)

[Xythalia]

Re: BST...how to do it well?

Bst lv. 1-34 is pretty much the true test of a player's patience. There really is no fast way to lvl up solo or duo unless you take the easy way out and that is to be part of an exp PT.

However, there is one method of soloing for full exp that I'm quite fond of. I call it "ghetto releasing". What you do is send a pet to fight a mob. When the mob is near death, run out of mob detection range and use 'heel'. It will make your pet stop attacking the mob and run back to you. However, mob's hate will still be on your pet. Just stand there and wait for the mob to kill your pet. Once pet is dead, attack the near-death mob. You should be able to kill it in 1 or 2 hits and then get full exp.

The disadvantages of "ghetto release" method is that if requires a big enough area for you to run out of mob detection range. It is also time consuming and hard to chain exp in cases where your 1st pet dies too fast and your 2nd pet is still at full hp, but mob is near death. Now you have to wait for that mob to kill that full hp pet before you can get the full exp.

Use "ghetto release" in areas where there are not plenty of pets or mobs to charm/kill. In areas with lots of mobs, just charm and kill stuff as much as possible without worrying too much about waiting for pet to die. Better to chain exp fast than waiting longer just to kill 1 mob.

When you reach level 35, it pretty much becomes a different exping world for Bst. As long as you charm EM and lower pets and release them before the kill, you will get full exp. It usually takes 1 or 2 seconds for the server to realize you have released your pet. So after releasing, don't hit the WS button too fast or you will still get an exp penalty. If you charm a tough, you will suffer an exp penalty even after releasing.


Other hints and advices I can give are as follows:

Monster Signa - It is not necessary to have, but it does make your life much easier. If you do get signa, use it until lv. 51 then switch to Apollo's staff.

Food - If I have a monster signa, I usually use chamomille tea or roast mushroom. If I don't, I use the more expensive flint caviar and tuna sushi.

SJ: RDM sub works just as well as Whm. Just that Whm gets chr bonuses and divine seal makes life easier.

Advanced tips -

Bombs - Bst like fighting suicidal mobs, ie. Goblins and bombs. They're great exp when releasing pets properly. You basically try to release your pet at the point where a mob can no longer stop itself from blowing up and you get full exp. On goblins, I found it easier because if you haven't noticed...the sound effect of a goblin bomb toss is slightly different to that of a suicide bomb toss. So it was easier to anticipate when to release pet for full exp.

Role of Bsts in other PTs: It is commonly known that a Bst is good for soloing. While that is true, not many people know that BST can be an attacker rivaling that of other better known attackers like DRK or the newly "balanced" RNGs. The most common setup I use as an attacker is Bst/Nin and a pet jug.

The Bst itself is a gimped version of a WAR. Both WAR and BST have the same axe rating. Accuracy shouldn't be an issue. WAR have attack bonus up trait so that's what sets them apart in terms of damage during WS. But then, any good PT at higher levels will realize that it's not about WS damage that kills a mob, it's about creating a skillchain for BLMs to nuke stuff to death.

A Bst/nin's damage is cumulative. Try adding the 2 axe hits + pet hit to see your total damage for that round. Don't forget that pets also have faster swing delays.

Oh..and one more thing...

That stuff about Bsts being useless in missions and CoP....my sig, {Please check it!}

[Rostum]

Re: BST...how to do it well?

So basically, you want to have 1h Axe, Shield and Staff leveled up?

What kind of equiptment would you wear as a BST?

Once I get PLD up to level 60 (because I just recently got all my AF, I want to level BST. (I want to get PLD and BST up to level 75, to be honest) Will I need to have both WHM and NIN leveled to sub for BST? Would a WAR sub be of any use in any situation?

[Cade]

Re: BST...how to do it well?

So basically, you want to have 1h Axe, Shield and Staff leveled up?

You don't need to have them skilled up, they skill up just fine as you xp, except for staff, BST don't get skillups for it ;P

What kind of equiptment would you wear as a BST?

You carry two outfits, really. A chr+ set an a battle set (attack+ str+ dex+) that you switch out from one to the other when you're charming an fighting. You don't really need two sets of equipment until the 40s however, you can get by with just a chr+ set till then.

Will I need to have both WHM and NIN leveled to sub for BST? Would a WAR sub be of any use in any situation?

/war or /nin subs can be used in parties (if you ever get invites for them) since BST are just DD with a pet.

/whm subjob is extremely useful for solo an duo play. Regen, Blink, Stoneskin an DivineSeal are soooo very nice to have.

[Rostum]

Re: BST...how to do it well?

Thank you Cade, that was very helpfull. =)