Drain??? and Aspir???

[Taga]

Originally posted by AtraposBLM
but...then I couldn't burst waterga III for 1028 damage

in my party's I usually burst the level 2 skillchain and aspir or drain the level 3 to avoid hate..

[AtraposBLM]

Thing is...whenever I've partied with melee recently, they opt to do one 2 person renkei and let the third person solo (except when we had a samurai, then he and the pld did a lv3 renkei, and he and the drg did a lv2 (god that party was slow...even with good players ; ; )). I try to tell them that if they do a 3 person chain I can get a huge amount of damage in, but most don't listen.

What I've found, however, is that doing a "weird" PT config such as:
Pld/War
Whm/Brd (or Brd/Whm if you aren't fighting lizards in den of rancor)
Rdm/Blm
Blm/Whm
Blm/Whm
Blm/Whm

or
Rdm/Blm
Brd/Whm
Blm/Whmx4

Both net 4-5k exp/hour consistently, and is MUCH LESS gear dependent / skill dependant than trying to find a 3 melee 3 mage setup. Since lv60, I've only had 1 3/3 party that managed more than 2.5k/hour...even when I had good ones, it was just slow. I thought it would change at lv65...but so far level3 renkei damage has been dissappointing at best (maybe if we had a GOOD drk with us, but so far the best has been drk/war for 388 cross reaper, 425 after a full break). Replace a blm with a rng in the above parties for similiar results as well.

Melee parties don't want me anymore - they say my damage isn't needed. That's fine with me, I'll take the other 2-3 blm's in my level range that are LFP and go exp without you. Yes, brd + rdm dependant, but if you get 1 or 2 of them into the mix, they'll quickly realize that when you send them an invite, it's time to get massive exp. I'm sure this will change at some point, but supposedly the Lizards in Den of Rancor last you until lv71 (same with darters)...and if I could hit lv71 sometime in the next forever, I'd be happy as a pig in shit...so yeah, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Rahli]

I've hit level 40, and still haven't gotten aspir OR drain.

I'm pretty much updated with spells, but if I get drain/aspir now, will I still be able to use it efficently (cant spell :p) with a low dark magic skill?

[Tikki]

Don't worry so much about how efficient they will be at first. Just keep using them and your dark will go up.

[Yuanlung]

BLM should have no problem capping either elemental and dark skills.

My did bats for several levels in my 30's. Since bats are so strong to dark that made drain and aspir inpractical, I didn't use them during the time. My dark fell behind my elemental for about 20~30 points. Once we got out of Garlaige Citadel and I started draining and aspiring again, it catched right up in 1 or 2 levels.

As long as you remember to use them regularly, dark pretty much caps itself very quickly.