The 6th Ministry's Secret: A Summoner's Guide

Yeah Camate is mistaken. The only Summoning magic skill I'm missing is from augmented Conveyance Cape (max I've heard of is +10).

564 = 77 Def
558 + horn = 87 Def

Those are the same caps as they are at 512 skill. The "old" tier model would put the next tier at 577. So maybe there never was a 577 tier in the game before and now they added it... but that's impossible to hit so that doesn't do us any good.

Camate posted again about Avatar's Favor. Some *** about how the server just doesn't send stat updates fast enough. But "rest assured" it's "working as intended" ....

Yep, saw that. Starting to get pretty pissed about it too.
But that's probably quite visible in my reply.

Camate posted again about Avatar's Favor. Apparently they did just add the 577 tier (although he said 575+). But he also said that he's still working with the dev team regarding this issue so hopefully they'll do something.

I did new tests on Shiva's Favor and Cait Sith's Favor (I had not checked them since the last update). To my surprise, their potency has been increased.

Shiva's Favor (512 skill with Caller's Horn +2)
Pre update
13 MAB
Post update
33 MAB

Cait Sith's Favor (512 skill with Caller's Horn +2)
Pre update
15 MDB
Post update
22 MDB

I think they decided to only enhance the potency of the weakest Favor buffs.

Interesting, thanks for the information Papesse. I guess it's possible that Leviathan's Favor and Fenrir's Favor got boosted too but those would be very hard to test.

My current favor set:

Gridarvor/Vox Grip/x/Seraphicaller
Caller's +2/Caller's/Andoaa/Moonshade[refresh]
Hagondes[perp-5]/Glyphic/Evoker's/Globidonta
Conveyance/Isa Belt/Ngen Seraweels/Caller's +2.

My current upgrades plan on being:

Caller's +2 to Convoker's +1, Glyphic to Glyphic +1.

Seeing as I didn't need skill on my waist, I decided to go with Isa Belt. I think I might change that to Moepapa Stone depending on situations. This puts me at 514 with 8/8 merits. Also this set puts me at -14 Perpetuation, +5 mp/tic refresh.

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My problem is with favor being active - is it even worth it to swap gear for Blood Pacts? You lose the 512 + caller's horn bonus (I drop down to about 460 or 470) with activating a blood pact. With BP:Physical, my smn skill is 526, so Ifrit's/Ramuh's favor would be cap minus horn+2... BP:Magical, however, is only 467 skill..

Just swap back into your favor gear after you perform a blood pact. If you were @ capped favor before the BP, then you'll be at capped favor when you swap back to your favor gear after the BP is done.

So, yeah, new BPs:


Good fits all around I would say. Carbuncle's would be nifty if it was like a -enmity buff, but I imagine it's an immediate suppression.. which means it's going to be situational and very reactionary.

Ifrit's all depends on how much damage it does, it needs to beat Flaming Crush (this is hard, though it may perform well on high level targets when Flaming Crush usually struggles). Titan and Ramuh are also in that boat, but their side effects could be pretty good.

Leviathan needed a buff (literally). This is a nice buff in my opinion, very useful, unique. Shiva also needed a good use, and this certainly SOUNDS really good. We'll have to wait and see for further details, but I can't imagine there's a way they could screw up a TP bonus buff, sounds amazing and desirable.

Hastega II is yum. These new buffs give us a nice niche from the other buffers. We provide a fair array of different buffs, in addition to these unique ones, while doing damage. Our toolset is molding into its own thing even more than before with stuff like this. Summoner is shaping up to be much better in a party, in my opinion.

Oh, and, last thing: (drool)

Whats the point of ramuh rage if we already have chaotic strike, and both share same timer?

At least be it instant like shock squall.

Could be more damage, could be a "Flaming Crush" that deals lightning damage, could be a longer stun, could be more damage less stun, could be a straight up better/more expensive version of Chaotic Strike... who knows.

Gonna be a wait and see for the critical details.

Could have different skillchain properties.

I do still wish we had a better AoE attack other than Thunderspark and Level ? Holy not tied to Astral Flow. I guess if it's not meant to be, then so be it, but it would be nice.

Meteorite > Shattersoul = Darkness

I agree.
I especially find it strange that they chose to add a "second tier" chaotic strike and... Mountain throw(? Jeeze I never even use the ranged physical BPs of Titan we have!) instead of the more desired/useful/needed Thunderspark2 and Earthen Ward2.

I also find it really weird that there's no Cait Sith BPs...
But Carbuncle gets a new one? (And a dumb one at that. Single target enmity down? ... K.)
SE has weird priorities.

Yeah, the new BP rages are kinda weird, I agree. Titan needed something new because right now he's like Earthen Armor and that's it, but a new attack? And a slow, at that? We already have Slowga if we want a good slow, and Titan already has another attack that slows (Megalith Throw). The new Chaotic Strike is in the same boat.

Either way, yeah, seems weird, but best to reserve judgment until we see it in action I guess. With stuff like this we just can't know how good it is until we get our hands on it.

Earthen Ward2 will probably just get "implemented" when they make buffs scale with avatar level/summoning skill (which they said they'd do, though could always still just not happen).

As for Cait Sith, will probably get one when and if Diabolos/Fenrir get one. They seem to just be covering the elementals/Carbuncle for now.

Any good ideas/methods to generate TP faster solo? I try to generate 1000 TP before BP timer comes up to skillchain but I'm always too slow with Gridarvor, always end up delaying my BP by like 5-10 seconds.

Right now the only thing I'm really doing is casting Haste on myself to try to speed it up...

HastegaII should make it even faster.
Taking silly ideas like /SAM out of the scenario and ruling out regain as well, the only chance you have is to at least cap your accuracy/haste in your TP set.
Achieving that while also mantaining the right amount of -perp might not prove easy.

For Haste not so much maybe, since haste is pretty much everywhere these days, but for the accuracy part it could be a challenge. Unless we're fighting easy targets, at which point the amount of acc we get from stat vomit (+DEX) and from +staffskill on Main Weapon (plus food?) could prove more than enough to reach the goal.


Edit:
I forgot to mention STP, but that was pretty obvious of course, and more often than not it's not a realistic option for most equipment slots at least.

Ifrit's Favor might help.

Yeah! See that's what annoys me about Hastega2 and these new BPs.
First, most are redundant/worthless (Titan's the worthless one).
Second, GEO exists. It's notepadprogramming at its finest: copypaste the indi/geo-haste formula for Hastega, boost the cost a bit for barance, and set the cap at 500/600 instead of the 900 (iirc) that GEO needs for the 30% haste of Haste2.
Do that in addition to Earthen Ward and Noctoshield variables, and it's all super easy.

This is just weird and messy. (Programmingwise. Sure it's simpler in that it's just a copypaste and a static number change... But it's messier in that they realized the need to give the other 5... And carbuncle(!?)... Another BP too... Which, for the most part they derped on.)

Chances are, given Hastega2 as an example, the other copypasted BPs are just higher-cost higher-base-dmg BPs.
If they're not... I'm out. No idea what SE was thinking at making a Flaming Crush 2 that pulls lower numbers than Flaming Crush. (Though I doubt that's the case..... This IS SE we're talking about here.)

12-4-2014 06:39 PM [source]

Grekumah Community Rep

We were able to confirm additional adjustment details on Avatar’s Favor. The following are the adjustments that were made: 1. Raised the effect on all the Avatar’s Favors. 2. When you maintain a summoning skill 575 or greater, the effects on Avatar’s Favor will be much higher. 3. When equipped with the Caller’s Horn +1/+2, the effect will also be higher than usual even if summoning skill is below 575. 4. Shiva and Cait Sith have received an overall potency increase. In regards to the required summoning skill (575 or above) being too high, the development team intentionally set it to this level so that there will be a buffer when they decide to make further adjustments to the summoning skill, so please wait for an update on this. Additionally, the devs. are considering to apply an item level on the Caller’s Horn +2.

So... they told us what we already know. And #1 and #4 contradict each other.

#2 sounds interesting simply because they say "much higher." This could be a bigger boost than normal? Which is still weird, but could be a funky awesome breakpoint or something.

I dunno, maybe this new tier change plays into a plan for a revamp of summoning skill... its natural cap, the amount from items, its effects on buffs/debuffs, etc.

I could also just be acting hopeful of positive changes.

It would have to substantially higher to be worth giving up every single armor slot to reach.

The only thing I can think of is if they start counting iLvl "Magic Accuracy skill" toward it.

I was thinking something like... they raise the natural cap of summoning skill above 417. Either that, or make it increased by job points or something else (like sticking a big chunk of summoning skill on your weapon, or, like you said, making magic accuracy skill count toward it).

Then, you would be able to reach 575 without as much gear required.

Either way, the system of having to idle in the summoning magic skill gear is still wonky and kinda flawed.

For the 475 thing I'm still waiting for their plans regarding iLeveling our Empyrian gear.

If Reforged Empy will still be ilevel 119 it will offer us a couple of more interesting options (head, body, potentially feet) but it cannot be the answer to all our woes.

They should have seriously fixed the caps individually. Some Favours are already ok as they are now (Ifrit's!) while other remain seriously lackluster and the 575 cap is just not realistic atm (and anyway, I'm afraid some favors remain lackluster even at 575)

I'm absolutely not expecting it will be, but as I have said before, before the whole iLevel fad became a thing most of the Empyrian gear summoner got was fantastic and it still is, even now all pieces are still situationally best in slot pieces.

While I can't confirm anything of course, I would be utterly surprised and disappointed if the upgraded head, body and legs wouldn't be getting a considerable amount of summoning magic skill added to them in the least considering the non-iLeveled versions also have it.


You know, my beef with Avatar's favor isn't so much its potency in the first place.
Sure, some desperately need a boost, but what I'd personally like to see is that they drop the whole Charging thing entirely and let potency be decided by the gear you are wearing at that moment.
It's not a hard thing to do. I mean I can switch my avatar's level instantly by equiping/unequiping my Seraphicaller, this should work the same essentially.

I believe 1 refers to the added tier, and 4 is an increase in potency in the way that players thought they meant when they said that Favor was receiving a potency increase.
"Much higher" as in anything with skill tiers: +10% instead of +1% (if variable) or just +10% if tiered like Favor.
It doesn't mean a larger boost than any current tier increase, it's just 9 tiers now instead of 8.

Which, in their minds, is a potency boost...
Even if it's unobtainable and stupid.
(Eventually 600 should be able to be reached... But "fulltiming" an Alexander set just for Favor? Nah. That's dumber than dumb.
I expect iLv Caller's Horn to have the same skill as Convoker's, maybe more.... -hopefully it spawns the same BP reduction that both RFs spawned for inventory's sake- And the Doublet will probably wind up being a 20 skill body like BLU's RFs. I'm also betting that the slacks will go up to at least 12 skill... If not more. So there's that. Basically: SMN needs the iLv empy set. NOW.)

That's entirely possible but then point #2 is redundant.

The problem is that every other job that uses skill to scale buff potency can hit their cap with minimal skill+ gear.