The 6th Ministry's Secret: A Summoner's Guide (v2)

Sachet = patch for JPs. SE way to make-up!

It IS meaningful. It's called giving you inventory space by only needing the sachet to cap BPdelay.
Much better a gift than some, say DNC's DW... Which actually only hurts DNC's gear selection, as opposed to ours which frees up gear selection.


And that sachet? I guess... It's good for new/returning people?
...
Except for the fact that it needs JPs first...
Which those people wouldn't have....
But it's only 50, so I guess it's a "meh" bone to them.
An easier solo gate into 119.

[edit]
Strap recipes: https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/128585-New-Recipes-May-10th-2016-Version-Update?highlight=Elan+Strap

Oh crap... You're probably right. They have ti make 500 merits worth it somehow....

I'm only seeing the NQ weapons listed from the NPC too, do we know where the +1 ones come from? Since they are Su gear maybe crafted too?

Initial reports are that the new '119' sachet and animator don't give the full stats of their bcnn equivalent.

They are crafted. I made a few bows and staves last night.

And it helps in salvage. But compared to what the other jobs get its way underpowered.

I'm just glad we get semi useful gifts. My MNK cries for better gifts...

Hello guys

what is the diference for AG nirvana 119 to the regular nirvana 119? just afterglow or anything else ?

No difference, but the 'increases bloodpact damage' stat has been itemized as +40 BP damage, which is exactly what the regular 119 nirvana is.

It follows a relatively well established pattern of SE breaking out stats that were previously only described right before said stats are updated, usually in a superior higher ilvl piece.

So yeah :P

Was just making sure SE didn't do something like with job points and make BP damage mean an addition to blood pacts base damage, and thankfully it is the same sort of BP damage as on Nirvana, a % increase in overall damage. In only a few pieces of perp gear and a staff I use to heal people:

Netherblast on Level -1 creature: 1236
Netherblast on Level -1 creature with Elan Strap : 1273

1273/1236 = 1.02993 so 3% increase.

Do Conveyance Cape with bp dmg +4 and the NQ Elan Strap: 1322
1322/1236 = 1.0695 so as expected 7% increase, so a very nice grip for smn after using vox grip for nearly everything I feel spoiled.

Thanks for Testing that Verda, yeah, really glad we got something like BP damage + on a grip.

Now, gotta save some gils for the inevitable +1 :(

So it is safe to drop the Vox grip now for the new SMN grip?

Vox is still good for wards and a bit of magical/physical accuracy on pacts, so has a place, but this is great for any pacts that deal damage and you want them to do more :D


Np :D I'm really glad for it too, the +1 opening prices on Bahamut were set to 10 mil but it might go down.

Vox Grip might still be useful for Wards and Debuffs (and for Siphon etc)

Currently on the market for one, but I'm waiting to see if someone bites for 7 mil, willing to go higher if I must but not by too much please.

As for the Vox Grip, that's indeed been covered by my fellow Summoners.
Still has its uses until something better appears.

Mats price are under 1 mil, HQ rate is ~10%. Anything over 15 mils is a scam, arguably anything over 10 mils.

If SE really comes around to release more "+crafting skill" stuff like they hinted they wanted to do some time ago, those recipes might become T2 and then things will really start to get interesting at that point :D

Just sharing the small successes. It only took 38 tries. -_-

I just went 0 and 25 on the new grip.

I tried 4x on the new SMN grip but that's about it so far.

SMN is a job I've ignored since pretty much forever aside from the Alexander days. Trying to gear up a mule with it finally. For starters, I'm wondering what AF/Relic/Empyrean is still relevant. The front page looks outdated since it has no Merlinic or Apogee(+1), but from the looks of it, I could probably still use 4/5 Relic119 excluding legs, all of the Empyrean119 and none of the AF119?

Depends on what you are aiming for. SMN gear is really varied. Different summoners idle in different sets. A lot of Skirmish pieces still useful with the right augments.

You can have a pet -dt /regen set and MP regen set. mixing and matchig apogee/skirmish and AF/relic/unity/empyrean gear.

Upgrade relic 119 gear based on your -BP and -BP II requirements. BP timer caps at -15 BP II caps at -15

Glyphic Hands +1 is useful for MB, it outdoes apogee until you get Melinic with at +10 BP damage and +15 or so MAB augments. At that point I start noticing merlinic hands outpacing my glyphic +1 on MB. Glyphic Horn +1 is also very nice if you don't have access to Merlinic hood with good pet augments or apogee. Skipping helios RNG augments and going straight to NQ apogee would likely be the most cost efficient with the challenge being the abjuration.

AF body with +12 BP damage is pretty good all around BP piece that you can use for both physical and magical; Merlinic body with +10 BP and pet MAB would be the next all around piece I'd upgrade to. But that's harder to get obv. and speccing one for nuking use may be better use of that piece.

Helios with max BP; high MAB and max crit augments is also good. But I was low on cash when I came back to game last year and I never bothered working on helios body, sticking to Convokers +1 instead. It got the job done.

Empy set can be ignored, unless you're min maxing elemental siphon, favour etc. Legs with TP bonus is nice, but there's an SR piece you can get. Empy feet might be nice if you need to -Perp. Again, this depends on the weapon and the augment you have access to and other -perp pieces you have. You can also skip AF/relic/empy and go for apogee NQ feet directly. you can full time it as it has -perp and loads of damage for your pet.

It also depends on your -perp target. I aim for 'free' pets with favor on. Some people aim for just free pets without favor.

In summary; Relic to 119 is worth it (highlights are glyphic hands +1 and horn +1) other pieces very nice for -BP timer but Relic 119 also have those stats. Insofar as Relic; Feet is also nice; Head is nice with +2 refresh and cheapest to 119 and the most SMN skill out of the AF/Relic/Empy head pieces for siphon swap. Convoker's Body as I said is nice. and you can skip the rest of the AF.

Disclaimer: AF/Relic/Empy pieces all take variable amounts of time questing/farming to get to their original lvl 75 final forms. So your mileage may vary.

A good example is Empy horn vs. AF horn. If you have Empy horn done, but not AF, it's probably quickest to just upgrade Empy to 119 , though more expensive, but you still get +2 refresh with slightly less skill. But you also get the favor bonus.

Convokers horn and doublet +1 are still useful for stuff. The feet are decent for perpetuance costs unless you have better options.

Glyphic horn +1 is still useful just for the Enhances 'Astral Flow' augment. I can't comment on the hands usefulness vs Merlinic for bursting, but I would think they are only better for pacts you are 5/5 on when bursting. The body, legs and feet have no real uses anymore. BP delay II can be gotten elsewhere these days. The only reason still carry any extra relic 119 pieces is for BP delay and that's mostly because I'm too lazy to edit parts I don't need anymore out of my LUA.

The entire Beckoner's set +1 still has uses for skill, siphon, Mana Cede and Avatar's Favor.

Attention:

"Greetings,

As a follow-up in regard to upcoming summoner adjustments, we are planning to make changes to Apogee in a future version update.

We’re currently in the midst of looking into change the way this ability works so that when used it would reset the cool down timers of Blood Pact: Rage and Blood Pact: Ward. However, we’d like to hear your feedback on whether there are any issues with this.

Please also understand that there may be the possibility that when testing it turns out that it will be unable to make this change."

-Camate
Community Rep

That'd be a good change actually, if they manage to make this change.

Actually it's a lot better than initially believed, as it is NOT BPdelayII.
(Literally only one test done and was done with capped I... Way to fail at Science forever. You monster.)
So, it lets you reach the hardcap without having to cap BPdelayI too.
(Obvs you need -20 in some form of I and II... But the fact that it removes the necessity of HAVING to devote inventory and macroing to -15 I is better than formerly believed.)
More free inventory and less build demand, IMO, is extremely good.

I don't see issues with it and don't say no to it, it'd be situationally useful. But it's not going to address the fact our wards are stuck in the past and in strong need of adjustment and/or scaling with summoning skill. So if this is just one more thing to throw our way, rather than the proposed fix, then I like it. If it's the proposed fix though then I would much rather have adjustment to some wards potency instead.



Gifts aren't meant to be inventory increases and you carry many of the same pieces around for other things anyway so it doesn't really save you anything and it's a dumb argument, and so is saying other jobs have it worse. Theirs should be fixed too, and it should affect the job not your inventory, but it's sort of tired to bring up anymore they already said they're not changing the gifts so wtv :(

Good: yes! Totally.
EXTREMELY good? Uh, no.


Imho, of course.

Attention:

"After this change takes place, Apogee would only reset the cool down timer for Blood Pact: Ward and Blood Pact: Rage. In other words, this is a complete redesign of the ability, and it would not be at all like it is at the moment.

So, to answer your question: yes, you will be able to use consequent Ward and Rage abilities by executing each, and then using Apogee. Furthermore we are planning to eliminate the increased MP cost as well.

Let us know your feedback!"

-Camate
Community Rep

~~~
I asked for clarification as follows:

So in the scenario where, assuming we have capped Blood Pact recast and Blood Pact recast 2 making our recast 30 secs: we have Garuda out, we use Blood Pact: Rage Predator Claws then Blood Pact: Ward Hastega, the recast timer on both is 30 secs. Now we use (new) Apogee, our recast timers are reset to 0 and we can use both again immediately and the recast will be 30 secs again or will it be whatever it would be for the first use?

Basically will the new Apogee give us free Blood Pact uses regardless of the recast timer (not resetting or interacting with the timer at all) or will it just reset the current timer to zero? I ask for clarification because the first change is more powerful than the second because it will essentially give us the ability to self-skillchain AND Magic Burst AND buff/heal in rapid succession effectively using ONLY our Avatars, at least while Apogee is usable (every 2-5mins I presume).

Another example to illustrate this:

30 second recast on Blood Pacts (both recasts capped)

Fenrir uses Ecliptic Growl (Ward) (Timer starts from 30)
Fenrir uses Crescent Fang (Rage) (Timer starts from 30)
Summoner uses Apogee (Both Blood Pacts are available again- recast timers are not tampered with)
Fenrir uses Moonlit Charge (Rage) (Timer continues from would be from the first use so let's say 15)
Skillchain Compression!
Fenrir uses Impact (Rage) (Timer starts from 30)
Magic Burst!

Not sure if you can actually self skillchain with a 15 second window but if you can, this will open up a lot for Summoners. They will be in same group as SCH or BLU to be able to self-skillchain for a limited time through the use of Job Abilities, which is a great boost SMN desperately needs. It would allow us to use up to 3 rages and/or wards in the span of 30 seconds per Apogee use, which is very similar to BST's Ready charges (they can already successfully self skillchain/magic burst with only their pets). With this new Apogee, we no longer have to choose between participating in the skillchain or Magic Bursting because now we can do both (every few minutes). If this is how Apogee will work, please let the recast timer be 5 minutes or less (preferably 2 minutes like Chain/Burst Affinity).

Otherwise the change is just getting rid of the increased MP cost right?