SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

[buteo]

Just curious where other SMNs have ended up putting their 10 job specific merits.

I have 4 done so far, 2 merits each in physical accuracy and physical attack.

I hope to have 3 in both of those then 2 each in magical accuracy and attack.

[Omniblast]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I only have 3 done so far, all 3 of them in Avatar Physical Accuracy. Not sure if I will continue or dump the rest somewhere else.

[Mesha]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I have only merited mp so far

For those who have merited avatar magic attack or accuracy or physical attack or accuracy of avatars.. do you notice any difference?

[Palom_FF]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I did 8/8 MP, 5/5 Physical Accuracy, and 5/5 Physical Attack.

The only "practical" use I see for Magic Attack (for me) is Diabolos' Nether Blast for Kirin fights. But since I am usually one of the top DDs for Kirin as it is (provided I have a competent BRD and RDM in the PT), I went with Physical Accuracy and Attack instead to help with soloing.

[Darkhound]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I am maxed out in Avatar Physical accuracy and Avatar Physical damage and I have seen good improvement in damage, i am pretty pleased with my results!

[tdh]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I'm curious what kind of set up SMNs get into for merits. There are a number of Lv.75 people in my ls, and they usually go Burn style. Most recent one was NIN, WAR, MNK, BRD, BRD, RDM pulling of Chain #20~25. Blade: Jin, Rampage, and Asurian Fists all over the place. They usually run out of mobs to kill, so they take a small break, and wait for the Spawnga. How do you guys set them up?

[Gobo]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Well, heh, all merits I've used (a whole 3, with 2 still unused, merit exp gets boring for me, hense why I have only 5) were received on RDM, then used on SMN. I'd probably solo snolls/bombs or do an Astral burn in KRT, but I am prone to dying on RDM and I haven't switched off EXP in months.

[Omniblast]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I do axe burn parties with my whm and transfer merits to my smn rofl!
Sadly enough, SMN's are not useful in burn parties except smn burn parties, but you can't do that in expansion areas... well not that anyone's figured it out yet.

[tazirai]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

I Have been thinking of going the "High Summoner" route as of late. I like the job to the point that I want to fully merit it as much as possible. I've been thinking of skills to merit and certain way to progress them. I'm going full Relic Armor I'm missin gthe Horn and the Summoners Cape So im close their.
As far as meriting goes, once I hav etime for more Merit PT's Im gonna start training my triel for full Upgrades.
Heres the progression i'm thinking of going. I'm puttign them in tiers to max out what I think will help most.

@Tier 1
Name: Descriptor: Point progression:
Max MP Adjust max mP by 10 points. 1>2>3>4>5>5>5 (at 1st mp upgrade it'll cost
1 Point, next +10 is 2 points). Total Merits needed: 25
This will give me a full +80 MP to an already massive pool. It'll also help Blue Mage out as I progress.
Merits do affect your lower level jobs. You basically see the effects every 10 levels, up to 75.
Total Cost: 250k exp

@Tier 2
Name: Descriptor: Point progression:
Summoning Magic Skill Adjust summoning magic skill by 2 points. 1>2>3>3>3>3 Total needed:15

This will add a total of +12 Skill to my summoning magic.
At first I wasnt gonna do this since it didnt seem at all useful, but SE is changing the way this skill works now, so it should be usefull. Total Cost (150k exp)

@Tier 3
Summoner Specific Description Combo Total/Max: 10
Avatar Physical Accuracy Increase avatars' physical accuracy by 3. 1>2>3>4>5
Avatar Physical Attack Increase avatars' physical attacks by 2.
Avatar Magical Accuracy Increase avatars' magical accuracy by 3.
Avatar Magical Attack Increase avatars' magical attacks by 2.
Total Merits needed: 15 (150k exp)

notice the combo thing up top? What that means is, basically per category I can use up to the full 10 points i'm allowed to have at anyone time, on any of the skills in this category. So basically if i use all 10 points in the 4 skills listed above, if I get an "eleventh" I cannot use it to further enhance these traits.

What I intend to do is allot a minimum of 2 merits per skill raising their effectiveness by
4 and 6 respectively. That will be 8 spent merits total. The last 2 points will go into physical attack for increased melee damage. if SE does what I think its going to do.

@Tier 4 Combo Max/total 8 merits.
Name: Descriptor: Point progression:
Enmity Decrease Decrease your enmity 1 point. 1>2>3
Spell Interruption Rate Adjust your spell interruption rate by 2 percent. 1>2>3
Total Merits needed:12 (120k exp)

These two abilities are designed to save my butt,as Xythalia is bound to say "Triel dead? Oh thats normal "
A Summoner without Avatars is just asking to be squished. The Problem is If we get hate while summoning or using a bloodpact. 9 Times out of 10 we get interrupted. Of course this doesnt apply to Beastmen who can near insta Summon. the spell interruption is Very important in my opinion and all Career Summoners should merit it.
These two particular skills will give enmity decrease of -3 and interrupt descrease of -6%. they dont seem like much but on top of Relic Af or gear used to reduce the interrupt and hate it helps a lot.

These full upgrades will cost 620k exp or in terms of me joining Pt's a year to get them haha.
I joined one level up PT in 2005 ^^

[buteo]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Got another 2 merits last night.

2 in each physical accuracy and attack
1 each in magical attack and accuracy

One of the reasons for magical is because of carby. In normal merit parties these days with smn, i find myself just leaving carby out and doing damage here and there with him while healing as needed. Meteorite can burst on a chain, so I was assuming it was a magical BP, and i figure all the help I can give the little guy, the better!

[Darkhound]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Wow Tazirai, you keep amazing me! Your meriting sounds very very interesting. I did 5 upgrades in physical damage and 5 upgrades in physical accuray... i guess i am done on that area right?

[buteo]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Ya, you get 10 job specific merits. 5 and 5 would clean you out. I have 3, 3, 2, 2 which finishes me out as well.

Beyond that, there are all sorts of fun things to toss merits into like enmity down, spell interruption, etc.

[Shirai]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Avatar Magical Accuracy Increase avatars' magical accuracy by 3.
Avatar Magical Attack Increase avatars' magical attacks by 2.

I having the same thoughts, however I thinking of turning these 2 around,
Main use for it will be Nether blast since I hardly use the Avatar's Tier IV magic.
Maybe in the rare occasion I use Astral Flow it might come in handy.
I know Magical accuracy merits lower the chance of resists but since Nether Blast is hardly resisted I might consider using 2 on magic accuracy and 3 on Magic attacks.
Or even go 4 on Magic Attacks and 3/3 on physical Acc and Attacks.

[Omniblast]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Kirin laughs at my Aerial Blast. 80 damage T_T. I weep. I think I need magic accuracy to have a effectively destructive Astral Flow. That would make the mobs kill me after they kill my avatar.

[LadyPeorth]

Re: SMN Merits...where did ya put em?

Nether Blast is actually a magical attack, so meritting Magical Attack power isn't too far fetched. However, Nether Blast seems to have very close to 100% accuracy on all strikes.

I will probably enhance avatar accuracy to 5 and avatar magical attack power to 5, so that everything hits, and for the sure fire hits, that they hurt a lot more.