The Heretical Art: Comprehensive Summoner Guide

Welcome. If you're here, you're likely interested in leveling and using the Summoner job.
::Well you have come to the right place.
First, a little about myself: I've been playing this game since late '05 (with a long break between '07 and 2012) and SMN has always been my job of choice. Which brings us to...
     A little history of the job: Summoner has always been a sort of a joke of a job in XI. It's sad (as it has always been my most favorite Final Fantasy job/aspect) but True. It's one of three jobs where Square had radically different ideas on how the job should be played. pretty much immediately the playerbase decided how stupid that was. As the job Summoner is even more fragile than BLM, while their Avatars were fairly hardy. Though I can see why Square thought of the job that way, as it evokes the classical FF summoning style.
     Near the middle of the 75era, having essentially immediately given in to the , they split the Blood Pact timer into the Rage and Ward timers we know and love today. However, throughout the 75era, Summoner's damage dealing and buffing abilities were subpar. This would eventually come to being labeled "utterly useless except Hastega" with the advent of Scholar.
     But there was hope with the addition of the Empyrean Armor Set and Trial of the Magians weapons offering potent Avatar augments during the transition to the 99era. Sadly, this hope was never realized. At least not to the degree that other DD jobs benefited from both their Empyrean sets and Magian weapons. Furthermore, with Abyssea and Voidwatch gear offering great boons to almost every other job in the game... Summoner, as it was often in the 75era, was left out in the cold; having almost and Magian staves.
     In fact, this "less than everyone else" even continued relatively far into the Item Level era (henceforth referred to as 119era). When everyone else was getting their 113, 115 and even 119 weapons and armors, Summoner was left without anything but the Empyrean set still. Even with the pet adjustment, making Summoner and Puppetmaster's pets' level based on their ammo slot's item level, and Beastmaster and Dragoon's pets' level be based on their main hand weapon; Summoner was still bound to 113 pets at best (compared to BST and DRG's capability to have 119 pets and every other job's 119 weapons). This tradition would even continue all the way through the implementation of "Delve II" where other jobs got 119 gear, Summoner's Sachet (and PUP's animator) was 117 bound. And even when Summoner gained access to potent gear via Skirmish's Hagondes set's augments, they would often pale in comparison to the effort:reward of still the damnable Empyrean+2 set. (Though by this point there were other options than just the Empyrean set as Reforged Artifact Armor had been added, Summon still favored AF pieces over most any random drops.)
     But then everything changed... When the Alluvion Skirmish Armors were added. Finally. A full set of viable, and tailor-made Summoner Gear (via augments yes, but much less random augments than prior). AND it was all 119 to boot! (At this point we had 119 avatars, but unlike DRG or BST where any 119 weapon would give them "119" pets, there was only ) This was also the time when Summoner started to be . And now, we have truly come into our own. Blood Pact Ability Delay, once capped to being 45s, can now be pushed down to with the right gear, bringing us in line with most every other DD. Massive Magic Attack Bonus AND Blood Pact Damage+ on nearly every slot of gear available. So our damage dealing capabilities are off the charts of what they used to be, and, at the time of writing this, they're examining Ward potency so that our buffs scale past lv50! Just like every other job's buffs!
The 119era is truly the greatest era for Summoner.
==Subjob Selection==
Why no race selection section? Because that hasn't really been relevant since the 75era. With the level raised to 99, the differences between races' HP and MP (the main stats that SMN cares about, as INT and MND are only relevant for subjob related abilities and Weapon Skills) dropped to minute difference. And with the April 2014 update, those differences dropped to essentially nil. So, truthfully, race really doesn't matter at all in the least bit.
===Useful Subjobs===
Each one of these has its pros and cons to it... but ultimately all three are basically equal to each other. It's up to you which you find yourself most comfortable with. Personally, I favor RDM over the other two, but that doesn't mean that you necessarily have to as well. Think for yourself and find what's best for you. Remember, this is only a guide.
These are the three best subjobs that compliment SMN the most, hence why I call them the "useful" ones... as you will find yourself almost always on the one you favor.
: - Offers the largest MP pool, and with the advent of Trust Magic, the refresh effects of the other two become less important. Also offers native Reraise, making for a in case of death. Cure IV with the highest MND, direct access to -nas, and the highest natural Healing Magic Skill makes this an ideal support type subjob. However, remember that Trusts can take care of much of what any of these three subs do, and possibly do it better.
: - The main draw here now is Convert. Elemental Siphon+Convert+Myrkr+large natural Auto Refresh = nigh infinite MP. The ability to refresh yourself is also a good ability to have, though mostly for playing with other people as Trusts ensure that solo you will always have a RDM to refresh you... a convenience not always afforded in a group of real people. There's also the benefit of having access to Flurry, which should you find yourself with a COR, which should be often enough, they will love your gift of 15% ranged haste... possibly moreso than a melee's love of Garuda's Hastega II (30%).
: - This works best when you have a 119 staff to idle in, as most have both generic mage stats and Avatar specific ones. Which makes the B+ boost to magic skills to be more worthwhile than the olden days. The drawbacks here though are that everything really useful is hidden behind addendums (so there's a bit of very minor set-up involved), with mostly being relegated to T1 and a handful of T2 nukes and only Cure III (instead of RDM and WHM's C4 access). However, you also have access to both sets of Helix and Storm spells in their entirety.
===Other Subjobs===
These are the subjobs you'll find yourself on from time to time... but usually you're on one of the three above.
: - You're only here for the Warps. And with the abundance of warp items... As well as the Home Point warp system... And the warp system with Survival Guides... You're not likely to ever be subbing BLM except in very rare occasions. Besides, you should try to have such foresight, and carry no less than 5 warp items on you at all times, like a sensible person.
: - Treasure Hunter. There are THF Trusts. Sure they only have TH1.... but if you REALLY need more TH... like desperately enough to /thf and wear enough TH+ gear to reach the ... You might as well be ON THF instead of SMN... or, here's a wild idea, call up a THF friend and team up for whatever you are trying to get.
: - You'll only ever sub this for the Threnodies. And only in Abyssea for yellow procs... which is a much rarer occurance than it used to be. Especially with how often they release Empyrean armor slips in the Login Campaign.
: - There is one reason and one reason alone to /sam on SMN: Meditate for Aftermath Level 3. SMN is too squishy to readily survive on the frontlines, so the Store TP is wasted on it... and you'll only have Aftermath as an option if you commit and get .
: - It's /nin. There's really nothing here but the same thing /nin offers all other jobs: Dual Wield (useless for SMN) and Utsusemi. /nin is the same regardless of your main job.
: - There' two reasons you will be subbing Corsair. And they're both: Corsair's Roll. Either you'll be Lv.10+ and you either don't have Qultada yet or you've just gotten tired of having to rely on Dedication effects to get him to use it... or you're in an Apex party grinding Job Points and no one wanted to come COR.
===Useless Subjobs===
You will never use these. They are useless. And here's why:	You will never use these. They are useless. And here's why:
: - Double Attack. On the job that dies when something so much as looks at it.
: - I got nothing.
: - The only possible draw here would be the Auto Refresh... but Summoner gets two ranks of it, and two rank 1s don't stack... so... /pld would give you nothing worthwhile. Even with something like Sentinel... SMN's defenses are just too low naturally to bolster to a point where they would be worthwhile.
: - Let's reduce SMN's already low HP and paltry defense to negative values! .
: - You can only have one pet. And you can't use jugs. Literally nothing of value as a sub for SMN. Though at least the BST pet will be level 99 if you leveled BST to 99...
: - If you /rng, you're going to have a bad time. Avatar's levels are tied to your ammo slot. So if you throw your 119 sachet, you just deleveled your Avatar by 20. And if you try and use one of the extremely rare ranged weapons SMN has access to... your Avatar will be 99 in a level 130~150 world. Just don't do it.	
: - Basically a very crappy version of /sam. The idea is similar too: Jump until you have 3k TP to trigger AM3 on . Except with DRG you'll have to be close or possibly in range of NM's really bad AoEs.
: - Weirdly this as a sub for most jobs pimps out their defense. It's even arguably one of, if not the, best subs for RUN, as it increases DEF by such a degree as to severely mitigate RUN's main weakness. However in SMN land... 0100000% is still 0.
: - Like BST, you can't have two pets. Unlike BST, your Automaton will be stuck at level 49.
: - Would have been a weirdly decent sub for solo... if Sambas affected your Avatar. Which they don't. So even solo, this sub is worthless.
: - /brd gives you Ballad.... which is like a really crappy Refresh... /geo also gives you Indi-Refresh... and that's basically it. But at least it'll be twice the potency of Ballad I... Still less than Refresh I.
: - One could make the argument that the runes and Vallation make this worthwhile to use in a heavily magic damage fight... except the only ones that would be really relevant are ... All of which you should be well out of AoE range. Making /run basically just as useless as /pld.
==Avatars==
There's two ways to gain the ability to summon of the eight "": a party, level uncapped "Trial by ELEMENT" versus a Lv.60 Prime Avatar; and a solo, level 20 capped "Trial-Size Trial by ELEMENT" versus a Lv.30 Prime Avatar with all summons restricted save Carbuncle.
While I used to recommend NEVER doing the Lv.20 fights, and I still recommend unlocking the gods via their full fights, the ability to use Home Point warps out to each of the Cloisters makes the utility of keeping the Mini Tuning Forks less valuable than they used to be.
That being said, I still recommend that you DO NOT complete the Lv.20 fights to gain the ability to summon the gods, as not only will you need to fight them all again to gain the ability to fight Fenrir but you must also fight them all again twice more (for a grand total of 4x) in order to get what is essentially the Furthermore, while it doesn't take long, should you not have completed the first chapter of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, using the Home Points to warp that much over and over can get quite expensive. *Especially* for a SMN who is just starting out. And free is always better than any cost.
So please, do yourself a favor and (an especially easy feat at 99+) for you at first, and only complete the Lv.20 fights for AFTER you have obtained your Evoker's Ring and completed the first part of Rhapsodies Missions. Though why you would as they offer nothing except the ability to summon the six elemental gods, I have no idea. If you reach that point and just wanna toss the tuning forks, no one will fault you for it.
All "" have two primary Blood Pacts that will be your primary source of damage: a level "70" and the level 75 magical Blood Pact. The Light and Dark Avatars gain comparable magical BPs from levels 75~80 or so, but they tend to not follow as strict a mold as the "" do.
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*The "" of Fire.
*Your "Big Gun". Ifrit has the only hybrid Blood Pact Rages: Burning Strike and Flaming Crush. If you see someone talking about 40/50/60/70/80k in a single shot, and it's not a Magic Burst, this is where it came from.
**FC for the insane numbers, BS for one-shotting the little guys (15~30k with no de/buffs)
**Burning Strike makes Ifrit your least MP intensive Avatar as it is a level 23 Blood Pact, dealing damage equal to everyone else's level 70s.
***Making it ideal for fighting many little mobs (that you won't need to AoE) as each one should die in a single hit. (And by "little" I mean "nonNM".)
*Ifrit also has Conflag Strike which is one of the few sources of Damage in the game that doesn't suck. (not only that, but it also decreases the target's INT, which makes the next magical BP hit even harder. An ideal Apogee target.)
*For Wards, Ifrit only has two: Crimson and Inferno Howl
**Crimson gives a large attack boost, which is the other reason why Ifrit is your "Big Gun" as its the only Avatar to be able to increase its pDIF on its own.
**Inferno is a massively potent enfire effect, which further increases Ifrit's DPS, though not as much as Crimson does.
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*The "" of Fire.
*Your "Big Gun". Ifrit has the only hybrid Blood Pact Rages: Burning Strike and Flaming Crush. If you see someone talking about 40/50/60/70/80k in a single shot, and it's not a Magic Burst, this is where it came from.
**FC for the insane numbers, BS for one-shotting the little guys (15~30k with no de/buffs)
**Burning Strike makes Ifrit your least MP intensive Avatar as it is a level 23 Blood Pact, dealing damage equal to everyone else's level 70s.
***Making it ideal for fighting many little mobs (that you won't need to AoE) as each one should die in a single hit. (And by "little" I mean "nonNM".)
*Ifrit also has Conflag Strike which is one of the few sources of Damage in the game that doesn't suck. (not only that, but it also decreases the target's INT, which makes the next magical BP hit even harder. An ideal Apogee target.)
*For Wards, Ifrit only has two: Crimson and Inferno Howl
**Crimson gives a large attack boost, which is the other reason why Ifrit is your "Big Gun" as its the only Avatar to be able to increase its pDIF on its own.
**Inferno is a massively potent enfire effect, which further increases Ifrit's DPS, though not as much as Crimson does.
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Favor Effect: "Double Attack"+25%			
===Elemental Spirits===
 || || || || || || || 
So... yeah. These are pretty much garbage. There was a time when that wasn't so... but in the 119era? They're trash. While they may have half the perpetuation cost of the above Avatars... their casting is very limited. And sadly with the introduction of Trust Magic... the only useful one, Light Spirit, as it gave native access to Protect V and Shell V for a SMN, is made redundant. However in the rare situation where you find yourself without Trusts or a RDM or a SCH or a WHM... it still remains a very useful ability that most Summoners seem to be wildly ignorant of. (Basically you'll want to idle with your Light Spirit out and it will give Pro/Shell5 to everyone in the party. To rig things so that it only gives our Pro/Shell, before you summon it, have Garuda use Hastega II and cast regen on everyone. That will force the Light Spirit AI to only apply the buffs Protect and Shell, as Haste-Regen-Protect I~V-Shell I~V are the buffs Light Spirit will try to apply to everyone.)
Now, while it may seem like there is no reason to bother with these guys, you should want to have all 8. Why? Well at Lv.1 they are the fastest and easiest way to get skill-ups as summoning them still counts as . So there's that.
There's also the fact that they are the way a Summoner utilizes the job ability Elemental Siphon starting at Lv.50. If you play things right, every Elemental Siphon will net you little over 900 MP with every use (every 5min). So you'll want all 8 to be able to make full use of that effect.
As you may have noticed, I have made notations denoting "" and "" gods. Final Fantasy XI's world of Vana'diel is built upon the ideas of Plato's The Cave. This serves as the backdrop for the central conflicts of Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia. If you're interested in fully understanding it, I recommend buying a copy of Plato's Republic and reading it. (Or you can just read the Wikipedia article about the allegory here.)
And should you have any doubt as to my assertion, why not take it strait from the :
"Fenrir is, just as we are, one of the new energies born to the world of Vana'diel. We new powers are a part of Vana'diel. We must abide by its rules, and can die just like any other beast. The "avatars," on the other hand, are lifeforces that belong to an ancient order of things. As the ancient past of Vana'diel now sleeps, the lifeforces of the avatars are bound in torpor. Vana'diel belongs to you as much as it belongs to us. You must see the true nature of your world."
==Leveling==
 	Given that Summoner requires you to have leveled at least one job to Lv.30 before you can even start I Can Hear a Rainbow, the quest to unlock the job, you're likely to have found some places where you are comfortable with leveling.
That being said, here's my general step-by-step for when I have leveled a job to 99:
*Also: Be sure to always have the appropriate "kill 10 mobs in the area" Records of Eminence quest objective set, so you can increase your exp gain rate.*
===A Note on Skill-ups===
In Truth, there's but one skill that matters for SMN: Summoning Magic Skill
Some people like to hit Lv.99 and then level Summoning Magic... I find that to be terrible. As you either are sitting in one spot cycling elementals and/or avatars... or you're cheating with a script to do that. Of course, any way of leveling Summoning Magic is gonna be terrible...
But, how I did it is really what I feel is the best way to do it: cap it at Lv.1 and it should remain capped or near cap as you level.
Having a is ideal, but if you don't have that... don't worry. Thanks to Astral Homelands being introduced, you can trade hours of summoning and dismissing avatars and/or elementals for hours of popping an item. Should you go the "never before 99" route. And best of all, if you are following my leveling recommendations, you'll have ample sparks to buy the Astral Homelands with... meaning it'll all be free! (You can buy them off the AH too, but why pay for something you can have gotten for free just as easily.)
So the method I recommend is to have saved up enough money to buy 6 of the 8 elemental pacts (all but Light and Dark as they are usually 500k-ish a pop, even now), and at Lv.1 to cycle through Carbuncle and as many elementals that you could afford until your Summoning Magic Skill is blue. Then you can start leveling as below... and so long as you're constantly using Blood Pacts, as using one has the potential to increase your Summoning Magic, you should remain relatively capped at all times. (As you get higher and higher it's a bit harder to stay capped, and once you hit 75, I recommend to stop caring about keeping it capped. You can try, but 76~99 is just easier to gain the exp first and then cycle all those levels at 99.)
Obviously you'll also want to eventually cap Staff and Evasion Skills and the like, but that can easily wait until 99 as they aren't that important compared to Summoning Magic. (and are much easier to do so.)
===The Baby Levels (1~15)===
These will go by super fast, you'll likely be 15 in under a single hour now-a-days. And that's crazy. Faster even if you make use of your .
You are more than welcome to run back and forth or plan ahead to get gear to wear as you level, but with how fast exp is now-a-days... I just use Lv.1 gear for these. Maybe some bodies or something from a shop, but it matters so little and goes by so quickly, you'll waste more time trying to "gear properly" than actual leveling. So I mostly just stick to the generic Lv.1 RSE gear. It's good enough. I'll be out of it quickly. And, best of all, it's free.
Or, better yet, if you have it: and . For levels 1~30, these are two of the best things to wear as they will help you keep your skills up to cap, as well as giving you a nice Reraise safety net.
You should stick to staves, as that's what you'll be using 51~99 guaranteed, and there really is no reason to gimp yourself and have 0 Staff Skill at 51. Any stave will do for these levels, just make sure it has MP. Same for any accessories. I'd also recommend picking up a pair of , as they will increase your MP beyond any other ring available until Lv.30.
Much like how I don't care to go back and change my clothes in these levels, I tend to keep the same staff until 15. Which is where I swap to using a . I highly recommend trying to get one in Buburimu Peninsula. The MP drain can be godly, and I used it all the way to 51.
If you would like to swap staves (from /) to something before the at 15, I'd recommend using a at Lv.10.
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====1~8:====
Any of the six starting areas using Fields of Valor page 1:
{| style="text-align:center;" BGCOLOR="#4499FF" cellpadding="2" width="90%"	Zone	FoV Book Location	Hunt Enemies
North Gustaberg 	(I-6) (L-8) (D-10) (J-6)	6 members of the worm family 	 	 	
South Gustaberg 	(K-8) (H-9) 	6 members of the bee family 	 	 	
East Ronfaure 	(G-6) (H-9) 	6 members of the pugil family 	 	 	
West Ronfaure 	(G-9) (I-6) 	6 members of the worm family 	 	 	
East Sarutabaruta	(F-4) (G-11) (J-7) 	6 members of the mandragora family	 	 	
West Sarutabaruta	(J-8) (H-6) (I-10) 	6 members of the mandragora family	 	 	
===The RSE Levels (15~33)===
If you haven't already, try to grab a set of your race's Lv.30 RSE Set. As for many of these, they have multiple slots have large MP values. And there isn't much that SMN cares for at these low levels but MP. and should be worn all the way to 30, where you can replace them with a head of your choice and your Lv.30 RSE body armor. Personally, I like a for 20+, as the HP boost is welcome while using ... especially with how little base HP SMN has... and the HP and MP values increase every few levels! (Meaning you won't need to replace it until )
Another option for these levels is the Lv.29 And best of all, it's now even easier to get than your Lv.30 RSE Set! Remember all those sparks you got while leveling Lv.1~15? Well you likely have enough to get at least the , and pieces, which are the more important pieces as they have the MP. (Unlike and .) And while the set is really good for the level you can start wearing it, depending on your race, your Lv.30 RSE Set is likely to have pieces with much greater MP values.
There's also the exceedingly good once you hit Lv.20. They have the hidden effect of cutting Carbuncle's perpetuation cost down by half... making him almost (or even) completely free! However they come from a SMN NM (Crimson-toothed Pawberry) who is from a much higher level area than you are by now (60~75). The fight is exceedingly easy for a 99+ character, but it takes a bit to get to the pop item... and aren't a 100% drop... but if you have a THF friend to help you with it... you may even be lucky enough get a Light Spirit Pact in addition to the mitts!!
As for weapons, you're gonna get such mileage out of that . You can use it all the way to Lv.51. Namely because: you won't be finding a staff with more MP for these levels. In fact, you won't find one with more MP until !
====15~27:====
{| style="text-align:center;" BGCOLOR="#4499FF" cellpadding="2" width="90%"	Zone 	GoV Book Location 	Hunt Enemies	GoV Page #
Gusgen Mines	(H-9) (H-7) (H-10)	6 members of the skeleton family	1 	
The main reason why I recommend coming here is because of how Grounds of Valor differs from Fields of Valor: the exp bonus for completing a hunt page is increased with every completion. And best of all, when you change pages you keep the rank of the bonus exp! Meaning that if you reach the max exp rank of page 1 before you switch to page 3, your first completion of page 3 will be for the maximum amount of exp!! Keep in mind, however, that the completion bonus is reset should you leave the zone, but NOT if you log out.
The secondary reason is that in the 99era, Gusgen Mines was the spot to level 15~33. With the advent of Trusts everyone just kinda does whatever... but you may still find others coming to Gusgen, and you can team up! You may even be lucky enough to find a group already in progress!
Here is an example of gear for this level range:
===The Stinky Crawly Levels (33~75)===
Generally when I level a new job, I'll quest the AF1 (Artifact Armor) and farm the AF2 (Relic Armor) and slip it until I'm leveling the job through the ranges where it can start to equip it: 50~60 for AF1 and 71~75 for Af2.
Generally, I keep with the RSE pieces (and anything else I've equipped from the previous section) until I can start to put on my AF1 pieces. And on most jobs I would say "be sure to get and use the Artifact Weapon when you hit 40!" ... But with SMN... is just so lackluster when compared to 's MP drain... I'd just keep using Pestle until 51, and then get the AF weapon when you go to get the AF1 armor. And let Kukulcan's Staff rot in a slip. (Especially when offers you over 3x the MP of Kukulcan's and 6x the MP of Pestle. And can be equipped a whole level sooner too! However... it comes with a relatively huge drawback: +3s to the recast of every BP you use. Now this doesn't really matter much, as at these low levels you're not "being serious" you're just leveling... but just be aware that should you want to make use of Himmel Stock's massive MP boon, you will be 3s slower with your BPs.)
But once you hit 51, there is only one of two weapons you will use... all the way until 99 (and even beyond): 
Chatoyant has the benefit of better stats and -3/tic perpetuation cost, but while Iridal only gives you -2/tic off your perp... I would actually recommend a new SMN buy an . Because you'll need one eventually when you hit 99. (Though if you're planning to level other mage jobs you should buy the . Not only that, but both make for excellent cure pieces. So while you can't use the Chatoyant later, it can still be used for curing. Though there are better options, and as a SMN, you should aim to cap cure potency without a staff change.)
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====33~56:====
Zone 	GoV Book Location	Hunt Enemies 	GoV Page #
Crawlers' Nest	(L-8) (I-6) 	3 Worker Crawlers3 Death Jackets	1
Here is where you can get your Artifact Armor... at least after you ping Lv.50. And it's up to you if you want to take a break at 50 and go quest for it, or if you want to power through the final parts of this page to 56. Personally, I would go to 56 and then quest. They're a little difficult if you're perfectly at 50... but are super easy for a 99+ character.
You'll start this page at the entrance moving back and forth down the hall... but after a bit you'll be able to make the circle around and start to really crank out the exp.
Once again, this was a favored grinding spot in the 99era. So you may meet someone while you do page 1.
Here is an example of gear for this level range:
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====56~64:====
Zone 	GoV Book Location	Hunt Enemies 	GoV Page #
Crawlers' Nest	(L-8) (I-6) 	3 Labyrinth Lizards3 Witch Hazels	3
Now you can be in full AF1 if you wanted to. (Remember, Skill and MP are the things you want the most of.) And after completing this part, you have one of two options.
Here is an example of gear for this level range:
A nice option for body and head at this point (or rather, Lv.59+) would be the mage half of the "red bodies": . Always go for the +1 with these two (the melee "red body" being the fabled: ). The NQ is only about as good as an AF piece, as you'll only be in them for a short time, while the HQ beats out almost everything all the way until 76+.
|-
| valign="top" colspan="2" |
====64~75:====
You can either continue with the exp bonus in Crawlers' Nest:
{| style="text-align:center;" BGCOLOR="#4499FF" cellpadding="2" width="100%"	Zone 	GoV Book Location 	Hunt Enemies	GoV Page #
Crawlers' Nest	(L-8) (I-6)	3 Helm Beetles3 Knight Crawlers	6 	
By the time you ping 75, and should you be fortunate enough to have been able to get AF2 pieces, you'll likely be in a mix of AF1 and AF2 using a Chatoyant/Iridal Staff. (Remember, Skill and MP are the things you want the most of.)
Here is an example of gear:
You may have noted that comes from Al'Taieu. Up to this point I've made sure to include only free, NQ, or easily obtainable (aka cheap off the AH) for the gear selection in the leveling guide. Here I skewed a bit more "advanced" as if SMN is your first 99, you likely won't be able to have access to either Dynamis or Al'Taieu. So don't feel bad if you can't get some of these items. After all, this is just a guide, so these are just recommendations. In order to have much of this last set, you'll either need a 99 job already to farm it (*coughcoughTHFcough*) or have a high level friend who is kind enough to farm Dynamis for your AF2 pieces and Al'Taieu for the cape. (Though to be perfectly honest, you can skip the cape. Sure it's really good and BiS until 99+... buuuuut, for what it's worth, it may be a larger hassle to get than just waiting to get the Reive or Ambuscade capes.)
===The Final Levels (75~99)===
Sadly these are the levels where I just don't have any place to really recommend out of experience.
In the 99era, there were Abyssea burns alliances... those are now deader than Colibri exp parties. Worms or Frogs in [A] La Theine Plateau... Birds or Raptors in [A] Misareaux Coast... No one exp alliances anymore. So the best I can give you is to tell you to go to:
Escha - Zi'Tah
Here you will find mobs that can take you from 75 to 99, just start at the entrance and work your way back further in.
With the death of Abyssea, you'll likely be starved for cruor (unless you decide to farm some Voidwatch at some point)... and not only that, but you'll also not be able to mooch any papers off of other people for your AF3+1 set... At least though you'll only ever need the +1 version, and you can get a whole set of +1 papers just from the Login Campaign.... that is when it's being offered as a reward. And you'll still need some cruor to buy some of the base items. At least there are Copper Vouchers that you can trade for the small cruor you'll need to get to buy your AF3.
==Merits==
 	Originally Merits were a lot more... singular... in their regard to player choice: 5/5 Acc, MAB, and 2 of your favorite Avatars' BP. But the 99era changed that slightly, and now that Job Points are a thing, there are actually real options.
{| width="100%"	Job Specific Merit Categories	Job Specific Merit Categories
{| style="text-align: center;" class="wikitable" cellpadding="2" width="100%"	Group 1 	Group 1 	
Name 	Description 	 	
Avatar Physical Accuracy 	Increase avatars' physical accuracy by 3. 	 	
Avatar Physical Attack 	Increase avatars' physical attack by 2. 	 	
Avatar Magical Accuracy 	Increase avatars' magical accuracy by 3. 	 	
Avatar Magical Attack 	Increase avatars' magic attack bonus by 2. 	 	
Summoning Magic Cast Time	Shorten cast time of all summoning magic spells by 5%.	 	
===Job Points===
Introduced in the March 2014 update, Job Points are envisioned as a sort of "post 99" "leveling" system... However it wouldn't be until December of that year that it would actually realize that idea with the addition of Job Point Gifts. And for that nine month interim, Job Points were nothing more than "super Merits" which cost more to get, gave less effects (original cap per category was 10, unlike now which is 20), and weren't especially amazing... namely because they dealt with 1hr abilities and for many jobs (namely any with a Circle-type Abilities) focused on abilities that, generally, range from lackluster to utterly useless. At least they initially did. Now we have a rather robust selection, and SMN managed to have not only one of the best Job Point categories in general, but also some of the better Gifts.
There are 10 different Job Point categories, 5 that augment certain Job Abilities and 5 that increase Avatars' and Elemental Spirits' various attributes:
{| style="text-align:center;" cellpadding="2" BGCOLOR="#4499FF"	Job Ability Augments 	Job Ability Augments
Astral Flow Effect 	Increases attributes of Avatars and Spirits by 5 while under the effects of Astral Flow. 	
Astral Conduit Effect 	Increases damage dealt by Blood Pact: Rages by 1% and duration of Blood Pact: Wards by 1% while under the effects of Astral Conduit.	
Elemental Siphon Effect	Increases amount of MP recovered by 3 when using Elemental Siphon. 	
Mana Cede Effect 	Increases the amount of TP by 50 given to Avatars and Spirits when using Mana Cede. 	
Avatar's Favor Effect 	Increases the starting value of the summoned Avatar's duration for the purposes of determining the effects of Avatar's Favor by 3s. 	
There are ultimately 6 tiers to Job Points: 0JP, Su1(50JP), Su2(100jp), 550JP, 1200JP, and ★Master!(2100JP). All based on the number of Job Points spent on the job.
====0JP====
Everyone has to start somewhere... and Luckily, the first 100JP are the easiest to get. So don't despair if it seems like it's taking you a while, with each tier of the Capacity Points Bonus Gift you'll gain Job Points faster and faster.
You should prioritize the 5 Avatar/Spirit Augments over the 5 Job Ability Augments. Though to be honest, you'll want to build all of the categories... except "Mana Cede Effect". The Job Ability is garbage. The Job Point Category is garbage. Save your points for the other 9 categories and only put any into it if you can hit a new Gift tier with it, or if the other 9 categories are 20/20 (the max).	
====Su1====
{| style="text-align:center;" cellpadding="2" BGCOLOR="#4499FF"	Totaled Gift Bonuses 	Totaled Gift Bonuses	Totaled Gift Bonuses	Totaled Gift Bonuses
Capacity Point Bonus	Capacity Point Bonus	Capacity Point Bonus 	+12% 	 	
Defense 	+3 	Avatar/Spirit Attack, Ranged Attack, & Defense	+15 	 	
Evasion 	+3 	 	 	 	
Magic Evasion 	+3 	 	 	 	
Magic Defense Bonus 	+3 	 	 	 	
==Abilities and Macros==
When I came back in 2012, I thought long and hard for how exactly to set up my Summoner macros... I was directed by a LSmate of mine to a guide on FFxiclopedia, and it's ultimately what I wound up using as the inspiration for my own macros which have slowly evolved over time. (Especially with the introduction of Equipsets in the August 2014 update.)
I'll detail the syntax that I have set up with my macros in this section, and I'll suggest what armor and weapons to use via the /equipset commands listed here in the next section.
::A note: For the equipsets I use here I'll be using a simple code instead of numbers. You have 100 equipsets and the ability to use more than one job. I like to have my equipsets all in order based on Job order... so my SMN equipsets are in the early 40s. There's no right or wrong way to order your equipsets. Just be sure you keep track of them and have them labeled. See Equipment Sets below for more info on what gear you should want to use in these macros.''
Ok, so the basic idea with this is to have a main hub that you link to other pages and back in a big old webbed network of macros.
Please Note: While it may be tempting to open all the collapsed macros at once, lower (and even many higher) resolution devices will find that the table exceeds the bounds of their window. (Meaning you will have to scroll to the right, and will mess with the guide's formatting. So if you don't want to scroll to the right, just don't open all the macros at once.)
===Macro Book 1===
Like equipsets, my Macro Books are arranged by Job, so the ones that mine take up are not #1 and #2... and you will need 2 Books to do this properly. But it doesn't matter which ones you use, just make sure that you keep everything pathed correctly.
====Page 1====
This is the example of how I have my Hub Page set up. You'll want it to be Page 1 so that when you swap macros, you'll be on the hub first thing.
You might be wondering why I have Odin, Alexander, and Atomos arranged as they are... it's very simple: Odin on 4 because is . My keyboard has a circular bubble around the 6 key, like a shield, so Alexander with his Perfect Defense sits there. And Atomos is on 8 because he everything.
Also a bit of fun history: I used to have ALT1 and ALT2 be /heal on and /heal off respectively... back before refresh was everywhere on gear. (I can't even make a joke that the last time I /healed on SMN was for Swift Shoes... Because Garuda gives that everywhere. Unlike Swift Shoes being limited to the Middle Lands. And for a 5% larger effect too.)
A small note on the first equipsets mentioned: /equipset {FC}. As mentioned above, this will my stylized codes for Equipsets. It should be obvious, but "FC" stands for "Fast Cast". And as should be obvious, "{FC}" will be whatever number you have as your FC equipset.
Also: I like to use the "echo" command for my /equipset commands. Feel free to not use it, I just have been conditioned to make sure things equip in my logs... as that's how it is with the /equip command.But if you don't like it, by all means, omit the word echo wherever you find it below.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
CarbyCTRL 1 	
/equipset {FC} echo 	
/ma "Carbuncle" <me> <wait 0>	
/equipset echo 	
/macro book {1} 	
/macro set {CP} 	
  	
As this is only a guide, and also so that I am perfectly honest with you, my personal macros deviate ever so slightly from my examples above. I like to have in between the /ma and the /equipset {I} lines a /jobemote RUN line. Why? Because it's fancy. (And reminds me of the old FFs where the SMN would have the magic circle under them when they summon.) I especially like it on the unconventional summons, as it makes them feel more epic. I also use /jobemote WHM in my cures... And you should feel free to think for yourself and tailor these macros to your own ends and fancies!
====Carbuncle Page====
It wouldn't be until just fairly recently that Carbuncle gained enough WardsBlood Pacts to fill his page's row... And you'll likely never really use him a whole lot 99+ as you'll be sick of him from leveling. But he is the only reliable source of damage.
As this is the first Avatar page I'm talking about, I think I should clarify some choices I've made with my <wait> choices.
For BPs, I like to be 100% sure I'm in my damage set... so I like to stay in it for the animation. Obviously this isn't something that you need to do, as the damage is actually dealt before the animation completes... I'm just super paranoid about that kind of thing, so it gives me peace of mind to have <wait>s that swap after the animation finishes. And since everything I've macro'd starts with an /equipset line, there isn't any risk of needing to trigger another set swap before the animation finishes. (C3/4 being the two examples of "interrupting" a BP's animation.)
Same deal with the only two WSs that really matter: Garland of Bliss and Shattersoul. You could make an argument of Myrkr needing to have a macro'd exchange... but with how infrequently you'll have TP in serious content, I don't bother with that on SMN. (though you should have Myrkr unlocked. It's hella awesome, just not as good on SMN as say BLM or SCH.)
Originally I followed suit with the old guide and had the name of the Avatar page on Alt-6, but since I also doubled down and made the the macro for activating Mythic Aftermath, I moved it to 5. (My reasoning was 2 fold: 1) Garland of Bliss is a Lv.75 WS, and Shattersoul is Lv.96... I liked them in ascending order from left to right. 2) my 6 key has a bubble on it, as previously mentioned, and Shattersoul has a giant magic bubble in the animation.)
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Searing Light" <t> <wait>	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
A huge difference between my recommended set-up and the aforementioned old macro guide, is the placement of the Release, Assault, and Retreat keys. I originally used their placements... but found that I would occasionally hit the release button when I went for Assault. Especially when I just started using this style of macros. So I moved Release over to the other side of they keyboard, which reduced my accidental releases to a rate of 0%.
The biggest change though would also probably not having subjob abilities/spells macro'd except for Cure III and Cure IV. As a WHM, I know first hand that cures need to be fast... so the old guide's method of hiding cures behind a secondary click can be the difference between life and death.
That being said, feel free to use that system. With the advent of Trusts, and the implementation of the Curio Moogle system... I have found little need to ever really -na myself; or even cast cures (while solo). (Plus if helping the party, Leviathan and Carbuncle can -na-ga, so... even less need for those to be macro'd on SMN.) The rare time that I've needed to -na or some other spell or a subjob's Job Ability... I've just used the context menu. The most used unmacro'd spell I cast is Flurry on the COR, everything else is either a spell cast by or an Avatar. (As I've said before, /RDM is my preferred subjob of the three best ones.)
Finally, the best thing I did was to set up Assault like I did. By using <stnpc> instead of something like <t>, you can use it constantly to check on your BP timers and other useful abilities! And no one will be the wiser.
Also, why did I put Astral Flow in the same macro as Astral Conduit? Because there is little reason to use one without the other. Together they make for unparalleled damage, apart... Conduit is really the only one of merit. (Without Job Points, Astral Flow doesn't really do anything aside from letting you use the over-costed, under-powered AoE AF BPs... But with JPs? It turns the otherwise useless ability into a true powerhouse of a boost, giving out a massive Base Stat boost.)
====Ifrit Page====
Ever since the December 2014 Update, the Celestial Avatars (and Carbuncle) have had one too many BPs for their Macro pages. (The other / Avatars would get their Lv.99 BPs in the March 2015 Update.)
So you can no longer have EVERY BP on each page (except for the summons... as those have either 1 less than everyone else, or are missing all BPs for levels 76~98).
The BP I dropped from Ifrit's repertoire was Punch. I tended to drop most of the Lv1 BPs as they are just too minimal in their damage to honestly keep using. (Especially the ones who don't have any additional effect, or larger potency versions.)
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Inferno" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Shiva Page====
Shiva is one of the few who I kept their Lv1 BP, namely because the one I dropped, Double Slap, has the same Skillchain Property as her Lv.70 BP, Rush.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Diamond Dust" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Garuda Page====
Garuda was an easy one to pick which BP had to go... her 99 is Hastega II... since there is never a reason to ever use the Lv.48 Hastega after Lv.99... It was the one on the floor.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Aerial Blast" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Titan Page====
As mentioned above in the Avatars Section, Titan has two lines of Blood Pacts: Rock/Megalith/Crag Throw and Rock/Mountain Buster. Since Megalith and Crag Throws are very similar, and Megalith's Skillchain Property is the secondary Property of Mountain Buster, I saw no reason to keep the weaker-but-similarly costed Megalith Throw.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Earthen Fury" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Ramuh Page====
Ramuh's three Strike BPs are all just increasingly larger versions of the previous ones... so... there's no reason to keep the Lv.1 one. (Especially because Chaotic Strike ⇛ Volt Strike yields a Distortion Skillchain. Useful for Apogee and Astral Conduit damage boosting.)
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1> 	
/pet "Judgement Bolt" <t> <wait>	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Leviathan Page====
Once again, I dropped the Lv.1 BP. This is because even though Tail Whip's Skillchain Property is the same as Spinning Dive's secondary Property, Tail Whip gives a very potent Gravity effect, whereas Barracuda Dive is nothing but a Lv.1 Spinning.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Tidal Wave" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Fenrir Page====
Moonlit Charge Blinds, Crescent Fang Paralyzes (and is the most powerful Blood Pact in the game), and Eclipse Bite is the most powerful Blood Pact Fenrir has. So I had no qualms dropping Moonlit for the macro for Impact.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Howling Moon" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
====Diabolos Page====
Diabolos' Lv.99 Blindside is a more powerful version of his Lv.1 Blood Pact: Camisado. And as they make up the only Blood Pacts Diabolos has, I saw no reason to keep Camisado. Especially not when all his other BPs are actually super useful. Though the fact that I dropped the ability to apogee Camisado ⇛ Blindside to make Transfixion and Camisado ⇚ Blindside to make Compression, which Diabolos could Magic Burst off of... though the only Blood Pact he could make use of that 3 step Blood Pact chain is Somnolence... a Lv.20 BP that deals small damage, but is the only damaging Ward. Though what else could be dropped other than Camisado?? Nether Blast's damage? Night Terror's Merit BP level damage? Somnolence, the only damaging Ward? Nightmare's super Sleepga+Bio? Ultimate Terror's AoE Base Stat Absorb? Noctoshield's Phalanxga? Dream Shroud's MAB&MDB boost? Pavor Nocturnus' Dispel? I think the additive usefulness of all his other Blood Pacts outweigh the loss of the Magic Bursted Somnolence. (even more so when they boost the potency of buffing Wards... and the fact that these are just Level 1 Skillchains. The weakest of all Skillchains.)
This is especially compounded when Garland of Bliss ⇛ Blindside makes Gravitation, a Level 2 Skillchain, which allows you to Apogee Magic Burst the more powerful Night Terror.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1>	
/pet "Ruinous Omen" <t> <wait> 	
/equipset echo <wait 6> 	
/equipset echo 	
  	
===Macro Book 2===
Book #2 is where the "extra stuff" goes.... so basically Cait Sith and Siphons. (Though you're welcome to have them anywhere... It just wound up like this for me as Cait Sith was the last full Avatar added, so she wound up in the "extra" Book with the Siphon page. Like with the previous Book, the order can be anything you want. Just make sure your Macro Page swaps link to the right pages.
====Cait Sith Page====
Poor Cait Sith.... She doesn't have the "issue" of having 11 BPs like the others... namely because she lacks any and all BPs from Lv.76 to Lv.98. But that means you can have all her BPs macro'd!! Joy.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
2HourCTRL 1 	
/equip head "" <wait 0> 	
/ja "Astral Flow" <me> <wait 1> 	
/pet "Altana's Favor" <me> <wait>	
/equipset echo 	
  	
  	
You may have noticed that I break away from the style I have described in other buffing Ward BPs. Raise and RR, don't benefit from any skill or TP Bonus... so there isn't really any need or reason to swap into something. Though you could make the argument for Blood Boon.... but, personally... I'd rather just be refreshing.Should you want to devote an entire equipset to just Re/Raise... By all means. Or if you just want to utilize the generic Buffing Ward equipset for it, the same <wait 2> will suffice for the swap back into your idle.
====Elemental Siphon Page====
Why the double line? Accident proof and convenience. This way no matter what you hit CTRL or ALT, you'll be looking at your Siphon commands. The Release command is included for when you decide to idle with Light Spirit. (Can just cast it from the context menu. You shouldn't have any issue with Perp. And this lets you swap into a high-skill set which decreases Light Spirit's recast. Then when you're all Pro/Shell5'd up, just hit Release from this page and you'll be back in idle and the hub.)I also have the elements arranged according to the day of the week, as that makes better use of 's effect.
{| style="background-color: #001534;" width="100%"	
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="color: white; background-color: #00203E;" width="95%" align="center"
FireCTRL 1 	
/ma "Fire Spirit" <me> <wait 5> 	
/ja "Elemental Siphon" <me> <wait 1>	
/ja "Release" <me> <wait 1> 	
/macro book {1} 	
/macro set {1} 	
/equipset echo 	
The idea with this is to almost automate the process of using elemental siphon: you equip your ES when you go to this page, then just push the element of the day (or double weather), and you'll be dumped back to the hub with no pet, ready to summon a proper Avatar.
As mentioned before, you can run around with Light Spirit out to get Pro/Shell-V natively. This is the reason for the inclusion of the release command on this page: you can just poop out your Light Spirit, and then hit alt+0 twice and dismiss it when ready to actually do something.
==Equipment==
	
That's all y'all♥!
Category:Job Guides