Banish Series

[Rebellion]

These aren't necessary I take it? I had it on my old WHM (Lv18) and I never needed it.

[dhermann]

I use Banish all the time for soloing. Also, when I'm camping several spawn points of "too weak to be worthwhile", I'll pull 7 or 8 at a time and use Banishga with Aquaveil (EQ AoE group, anyone?).

I'm not sure if this is the most efficient, though. I know it's related to my MND and casting skill. My Divine is just over 21 now, while my Elemental is 15 or so. Have any RDM-subs investigated whether the Banish or Stone/Water/Aero/Bio damage:mana ratio is more efficient?

[Feenicks]

They're not required for XP parties but they come in handy when soloing and are useful for raising your Divine stat. Divine stat is mostly useless except for when you need to cast a solid Flash on something (again, rarely in XP parties but it comes in handy when soloing or similar).

Regarding it's damage, it's not terribly efficient but it's still more efficient than Holy. My Divine is somewhere around 190 and Banishga II will do about 240 to too weak non-light-resisting mobs at a cost of 120 MP (not taking MP conserve into account). Holy does 200~ maximum at a cost of 100 MP.

The best way to look at it is if you have /BLM and you keep your Divine skill up then Banish/II/-ga/-gaII will be more powerful than your BLM direct damage spells. But how often do you call upon those spells in your career as a WHM? The decision is yours.

[Brayden]

Banish II has saved my life in many solo situations, not to mention made countless solo fights that much faster. I dont think they are really needed in any PT situaion on a reg basis. YOu an MB off some renki chains too, and as long as you are doing your job well, it shouldnt matter what others say

[cavill]

If you dont like to solo and you party alot, parties usually prefer you to save your MP for healing. Though if your in a situation where you have alot of MP to spare then you could throw in a banish here and there to gain your divine skill.

[riceburner4540]

Have any RDM-subs investigated whether the Banish or Stone/Water/Aero/Bio damage:mana ratio is more efficient?

bio is horribly inefficient, getting around 1:1 damage:mp or less, not counting the damage over time effect...but even with it, its still very low. as for the elemental series, if you're using a rdm or blm sub, your elemental will be at sub's strength, so you'll get resisted much too often. in most cases, for a whm to use any kind of offensive spell, the banish series (or holy) is probably more effective.

[dhermann]

Is Banish capped at 40, even though my Divine is at 26 and rising .3-.5 at a time?

[riceburner4540]

you mean is your banish damage capped at 40? probably not. it'll increase in damage as your mind gets higher (or lower the mob's mind...try using banish or holy before and after a shock spell). there might be some sort of cap based on your divine skill though, so higher divine skill perhaps means higher magic damage. i've noticed it with elemental skill. a few levels ago, i couldn't get my stone spell to do more than 53 damage, even if i magic bursted it. now, it does 55 max ^_^.

[locus]

The surest way to increase max spell damage is to boost your Magic attack bonus trait from your subbed blm or rdm (if you sub summoner, just too bad). Go get a moldavite if you want (since there really aren't any decent earrings around). Moldavite gives +5 to magic attack bonus, which will boost your banish cap by at least 5 points of damage.