Announcement

**Jei** · 12-10-2006, 09:37 PM

Re: Early solo levelling?

I think you'll want to poison nail worms as much as possible. Worms around La Thaine lakes should get you to 13-14? I can't remember anymore.... 15 you can nail the worms in Shakrami, 19? nail the worms in korroloka and maybe 22+ you can nail the worms in Qufim. Again, I'm not sure what are the good level ranges for them.

I like real parties btw, so I'll keep seeking while killing those worms ^^

**Shinoe** · 12-10-2006, 10:15 PM

Re: Early solo levelling?

Hello Elrundir.

Here's my take on it, as i leveled from 1-20 with only Carbuncle.

A SMN can solo fairly well, and is only dependant upon one constant factor: your MP pool. If you haven't started leveling cooking, now would be a most excellent time to do so, as it can't hurt and in fact will make you the better summoner if put up against another. Level as much off of Juices as you can (Orange and Apple, doing Roast Mushrooms in between for faster MP regen while healing...should take you from 3-20...use carrot broth to get 1-3).

After EXP slows down (less than 30) in your starting area (level 11 or 12?), it's time to move on. i say this because of the fact that while carby is fighting one mob, you can fight another, and there's 60exp in about 8-10 seconds. It's actually not a bad thing to seek a party from 10-14 fighting GObs and lizards in Valkurm Dunes near Konschatte Highlands. They're relatively easy for a party to get (i'd go at 11 or so), and you have more MP than any mage that level, which makes you a wonderful mp tank to main heal instead of a whm. just leave carby put away until you're sure you can spare the mp for a Poison Nails every minute.

A nice alternative is to go to Maze of Shakrahmi and solo the worms there. They can't chase you, so if you run out of mp....just disengage and walk off. barstonra helps nicely also as i dont think they have Rasp at that level (Korroloko Tunnel and Quifim do though). Just send in Carbuncle, cast Dia, and if you want use Poison Nails for a little damage over time. I would actually wait to do PN until Carbies TP is at 100% or though so it has a higher chance to poison and deals a bit more damage. Since you said you have Garuda, you could always pull her out, get in close and use Aero II (worms weak vs wind), then run off and release. Immediately cast Dia on the worm to keep claim for yourself, pull out carby, and let him run over and start fighting. When the mob gets low walk in and start meleeing a bit. It's ok to use pies there too because it prolongs the buncle's fighting time. I used cookies and roasted shrooms to decrease downtime as i didnt use my full mp pool to kill them.

In the dunes, around level 15 or so, you can start Soloing the rabbits there. The best place to do this is near Selbina for an easy zone out if in trouble. What i'd do is walk outside the gate, look for a rabbit. Pull out carby, Assault, smack it with Dia, and then use Poison Nails. Wait a second because the rabbit WILl hit you, but after it hits you it'll go back to carby. At this point run over to that little hill just outside of selbina zoning point (if you're looking at selbina, it's on the left, where everyone sits afk while looking for parties, lol). Stand there and wait till carbuncle's name goes away. As soon as it does, pull out carbuncle again. The mob will run up to you but get intercepted by Carby. At this point, Poison Nails again...he'll turn towards carby for a few hits, then turn and hit you once. Then you go run outside the Selbina Gates, to the right near the trees (i say the trees because he has to path ALL the way around before he runs in to your spot). Watch for carby's name, and resummon when he dies. It's really easy to kite, and it just takes a little getting used to, which is why you have carby doing it. When in trouble, get near carbuncle and use Healing ruby...wait for the mob to hit carby, and run your butt to selbina zone. A "note" on why i say to stand and get hit after using PN and Dia....is because 1, dia is great and added damage, thus the 7mp for lowered def and light damage is a good deal. 2nd, If you use Poison Nails, after it hits, carby will have damage, but YOU still told him to do it so you're up there with hate. Just let the mob hit you. If you don't, when you go to run away to your resummon spot to wait for carby to die, as the mob hits carby he'll lose aggro....so carbuncle at about 5% health will lose hate and the mob will come back to you. This is just my experience though.

Anyway, try that with a rabbit if you dont or can't do the worms yet. But it's a good idea to party to 14 or 15, or at least solo in lathienne or konschat while LFP. After 15 you can solo as long as you want.

Personally, i grouped until 15, then i solo'd rabbits to 17/18, then solod' gobs to 20, solo'd worms in Korroloka Tunnel to 24, then Solo'd Worms in Qufim to 26/27. I partied randomly there, as i wans't going to turn down an invite. All those camps in those zones are near towns, so its easy to get to and zone. if the party is going to die, just put carby on the mob and run to zone...don't die for them

When you get Ramuh, things are much easier because it's AOE and Paralyze. Send him into a worm and use Thunderspark (level 19 spell). Let him Die and then pull out Garuda for Aero II. Korr. tunnel worms take 3 Aero II's to kill, plus maybe a few normal attacks.

I hope this helps, it's just what i did. I'm soloing crabs with Ramuh in Qufim with an EXP band while LFP at 30 when i'm bored and dont have time to farm or quest.

**Elrundir** · 12-11-2006, 04:05 AM

Re: Early solo levelling?

Thanks for the advice! I'd actually been trying worms in La Theine but the trouble is that area is so huge and it seems worms can be pretty tough to actually find. I haven't spent a whole lot of time there yet, but do you know any spots where the worm population is a little denser? FFXIclopedia says there are 42 spawn points there but damned if I can find them.

Also, you mentioned something that reminds me of another question I've had. How do you know when an avatar's TP hits 100%? I keep hearing people mention this and I've always been meaning to ask, so I guess now's as good a time as any.

**Likibiki** · 12-11-2006, 05:30 AM

Re: Early solo levelling?

<pettp>

**Khidir** · 12-11-2006, 10:15 AM

Re: Early solo levelling?

also about <pettp> you wont see the tp unless you see the hp bar of your pet so after a certain distance is past you cant tell and since you're soloing worms it be good to remember that lol.

I find worms usually near the chasms or the rock formation that takes you to higher ground there are epish gobs around so be careful in la theine

**Neppy** · 12-11-2006, 07:44 PM

Re: Early solo levelling?

Originally posted by Shinoe View Post

I would actually wait to do PN until Carbies TP is at 100% or though so it has a higher chance to poison and deals a bit more damage.

Hate to be a stickler, but, Poison Nails is not a TP based move. Any variation in DMG could be because any number of things, but not TP. A list of all Avatar blood pacts and which ones are TP based is at www.summoner.info Hope this helps.

**Shinoe** · 12-11-2006, 08:08 PM

Re: Early solo levelling?

Thanks for that,
i actually meant to go back and change it, as i checked KT's site after the post, but got busy here at work and didn't have a chance

I'm assuming that you're from Sandoria as you are in La'thienne, but La'thienne is large and sparce. You might want to head back down to the Ronfeure area and farm exp off of the Easy Prey mobs there repeatedly with almost no downtime, especially using a juice in between summoning. Remember in most cases its best to dismiss after the fight, run to the next, and resummon, as it only costs 5mp to summon carbuncle, but eats up 10-15mp while running around hunting for the next mob.

I never spent too much time running around, as i leveled at the spawn point for Leaping Lizzy in South Gustaberg (near the little "needle-like" mountain), and off of crabs a little farther southwest of that. Mobs are packed there and even with NM campers, you can usually say {i want experience points} {lizard} {fight} {Stop!} {Please} if they're randomly killing lizards to get spawns. Lizards are nice as you wont get petrified if carby has aggro, and if he does get stoned, just unsummon and melee since they're EP at that level.

Stay away from DC+ mobs because of the fact that your mp is going to get drained and its not worth the exp/mp ratio. I would stick with repeatedly committing Genocide on any EP you find in the starter areas. Ghelsba might be good as well. But always put your flag up, because its best to just party from 10-16, 17, 18. At that point you can solo rabbits in Valk, or Funguars and Orcs near Lathienne/Valk zoning point (i use the shrooms from Funguars to cook Roasted Shrooms for mp bonus while resting).

But yea, get to 20 as fast as you can, and try out worms in the Maze or in Korroloka Tunnel. Tough+ are fairly hard to get because it takes so much damned MP, but anything below that is fine. If you can do it though, go for it, i just had a lot of downtime with Tough+.

Hope this helps. Avoid worms in lathienne if you cant find them.

**Elrundir** · 12-12-2006, 03:42 AM

Re: Early solo levelling?

Ah, I'm Bastokan actually but once you hit Rank 5 or higher the difference is barely noticeable anymore.

I came to La Theine simply because FFXIclopedia said there are a lot of worm spawn points (about twice as many as in Konschtat anyway) and I knew they'd be the best thing to solo if I could find them. I think I found a pretty good spot now, it worked out for me last night (got a couple of levels there). A good number of worms, with a bunch of other mobs that are about half EP and half DC. There's the occasional EM, but eh, what can you do.

And yeah, I'll bring some juices along when I have the inventory space for the ingredients. I was feeling too lazy to mule all my stuff last night.

I can make up to Melon Juice now which I can at least save for an emergency and get a free Carby out of it. Right now I'm just using Ginger Cookies that I have from leveling BLM and WHM. They're dirt cheap so it's not a problem.

**Shinoe** · 12-12-2006, 03:53 PM

Re: Early solo levelling?

Yea cookies are great, +4MPH for Cinnamon, and +5MPH for Ginger. Ha!

It's actually not bad with what you're doing. For those Even Matches, i would take 2-3 of those DC's while using a juice (since melon lasts for a while i think), and then rest for a quick sec and take out that EM for a chain.

I started leveling my DRG last night and i hit 6 in about 15-20 minutes (in between running up/down stairs whenever my wife needed me to watch the baby while she was cooking, lol). I ended up getting Chain 3 on T's. lol.

I'm only 30SMN right now because i'm going to take WHM to 37 so i don't have to stop and level SMN, but i'm leveling DRG a bit too...i get bored easily when stuck on one job. But if you ever need any help, i've found a few ways to do things (farm, etc) with SMN that work out pretty well. Just send a PM to me here.

I found out last night that Training Decent Challenge mobs with Ramuh in tow, and then using Thunderspark and spamming Banishga is AWESEME. about 10 DC mobs, got whacked for 200 damage + paralyze by Ramuh, who then took hate....and i cast 3 Banishga's before he died and nailed them all. you have to rest afterwards, but at about 100 exp per mob....150 with ring i think, i wasn't using mine....thats 1k exp in about....1 minute? Was fun!

Announcement

Early solo levelling?

Early solo levelling?

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment