SMN Gear Questions

[Myrenis]

Im new to the smn job. What is good for gear for a smn. Is It all just MP,MP,MP or is there more to it.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Where to begin....

Let me get back to you on this... with about 100 links.

[Taskmage]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Prior to level 50, there's very little gear for smn that makes any difference. Carbuncle Mitts are the only exception I can think of. Eventually you'll want a full set of gear full of - avatar perpetuation cost gear and as much auto-refresh as possible, a set that reduces the cool down on your blood pacts and a set that maxes your summoning magic skill. There are also several items that enhance specific avatars or give unique avatar bonuses like TP bonus. An actual summoner could tell you more about individual item options, but those are the mods you want to look for.

---------- Post added at 08:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 AM ----------

Oh good, Yyg showed up. No need for me then.

[Mhurron]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Oh goodgod, Yyg showed up.

Yyg is going to show up and make this all confusing and shit.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Still compiling info. 1 min.

[Taskmage]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Have you been working on this for the last 4 hours?

[Squiggs]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Please say yes.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Ok... lets break this down as simply as possible.

You're going to want to look for the following stats in any piece of gear you go after... they are in no particular priority in this list... because most will end up being swapped in and out in various sets depending on when and why you need them.

- Perpetuation Cost Reduction
- Blood Pact Timer Reduction
- Summoning Magic Skill
- Avatar + ____ Gear (ex: +Attack, Ranged Attack, Magic Attack Bonus, Defense Bonus... etc)
- Fast Cast
- +MP
- Refresh
- hMP +

Also:
- Blood Boon
- Elemental Siphon
- Avatar Specific or Pet Specific Stat Bonuses (ex: Garuda: Perpetuation Cost -2... etc)

Each one of those stats has its own purpose. Some are valued higher over others... but for the most part... while you're trying to collect all this gear, you are going to want to buff up your -perp and your +mp as much as you can to make up for what you lack elsewhere.

Perp Cost:
Lowers the MP cost per "tic" that gets consumed while you have an avatar out. You can go to the wiki page to see the actual perpetuation chart to find out how much each avatar costs per tic based on your level.

Blood Pact Timer:
Bloodpacts are broken down into 2 categories... Wards and Rages... each time you use one from one of those categories... it sets a timer for all the abilities in that category. This cooldown is by default 60 seconds. You can reduce to down to as low as 45 seconds with gear/abilities... but no lower than that. Reducing this timer effectively allows you to use BPs more often and benefit yourself and your party more as a result.

Summoning Magic Skill:
The higher your Summoning Skill... the longer your Avtar Ward Buffs will last... the more accurate your Pysical Rages will be... and the more your Elemental Siphon will give you in MP per use. This skill also effects how frequently your Spirts will use their magic... and what spells they will have access to... similar to an Automaton for PUP.

Avatar + ___ Gear:
There are certain pieces of Gear that specifically effect only your Avatars (or in some cases only a single one). These pieces are great to macro in for use with their appropriate Avatar. Such gear includes Karura Hachigane... a Head piece that gives -2 perp +attk and +def to Garuda... and Garuda alone. Another is Accord Hat... that reduces the perp cost of Fenrir only. There are more... but far too many to list off. I believe that Wiki also has a fairly complete list of these as well.

Fast Cast:
Not as important as the above listed stats... but definately something to look into. It won't effect how quickly your Avatars use any kind of Magic or BP... but it will decrease the time it takes you to summon an Avatar in general. This... especially in senarios where you plan to kite something for a while... can make or break a fight.

+MP:
Self explanitory. The more MP you have the more you can do before you have to rest.

Refresh:
Also pretty straight forward... your refresh will offset your perp cost and help to reduce the ammount of MP you use up per tic.

hMP Gear:
For the times when you run out of mp... you want to try and build a set of gear that focuses onhealing your MP asap so you can get back up and back into the fight.

Things drasitally change when you start taking on things like ToM and Abyssea... but thats the basic Idea when you're going after SMN from an out-of-aby perspective.

Lastly... some Gear to look into (non AF1/2/3:

Yinyang Robe
Carbuncle Mitts
Fay Crozier
Evoker's Ring
Austere Hat and Robe
Serket Ring
Karura Hachigane
Accord Hat
Heirarch's Belt
Summoning Belt
Tieres' Cape (probably sopelled that wrong)
Hedgehog Bomb
etc...

That should give you a good grasp of what to look for.

As with most jobs post-abyssea... your ideal set would be to almost always fulltime a set of AF3+2... but thats really not an option for a lot of people. The list of gear I have put above is certainly attainable by only a few people and in a fairly short amount of time. You'll find that skilling your Summoning Skill will take far longer. My advice for that? Go into Besieged often....

---------- Post added at 03:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 PM ----------

Have you been working on this for the last 4 hours?

Nope... I just originally saw it when I was leaving my house this morning. I didn't get to a computer untuil just recently. Mainly just been thinking about how to phrase it so as not to be too confusing. I could have been doing this for 4 hours... remember my Intro to Abyssea thread?

[Myrenis]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

that was alot of info to take in at one time but was great thanks alot also what would you recommand as a sub?

[cidbahamut]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Subjobs are situational, but as an outside observer the ones I see most often are White Mage, Red Mage and Scholar. I'm sure Yyg can tell you why better than I can.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

Subjob options and why:

WHM
Gives you Access to Cure IV, Protect III, Shell II and a bunch of other useful buffs for keeping yourself alive in a situation where your Avatar looses (for you TM... I noticed it and didn't fix it) hate. Also gives you the innate WHM ability of Auto-regen of 1/tic.

SCH
Gives Access to most of the same spells as WHM offers... while allowing for use of Strategems and the Ability Sublimation... which allows you to store up your MP at the cost of HP for use at a later time. Using Light Arts allows you to maximize your White magic skill without having to stress about capping it half the time.

RDM
Gives you Phalanx, refresh, Convert... but (like SCH) limits you to single target buffs like Protect and Shell... eliminating the AoE buffs.

BLM
Warp... Warp II... Bio II... some other Stuff... Aspir... Drain. Mostly uselss... but great for getting in and out of places quickly while not limiting your MP or your Avatar's Effectiveness. You'll also get Elemental Seal... which helps for landing enfeebles.

NIN
Strictly for Solo kiting. You'll only use it for the Evasion Bonus and the Shadows.

I personally roll with /RDM all the time now. Outside Abyssea its great to keep your perp cost low... and with Convert as an option you have to rest less. Sometimes I use SCH... but ever since Refresh and Convert on RDM... SCH is less and less useful to me.

[Taskmage]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

looses

b&

[Yygdrasil]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

I figured you'd like that.

[Myrenis]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

thaks for all the info just got SMN to 57 so shouldnt be long before i can start following this

[Yygdrasil]

Re: SMN Gear Questions

-.-)b