Summoner Strategy For Kirin

I think it's just random.

Sacrosanctity doesn't reduce damage from Geotic Breath but we have Earthen Armor.

No, sadly it doesn't protect from Absolute Terror, not even Odyllic Subterfuge or Bolster Vex+Attunement will, only Steadfast Tonic can and it is overwritten by Asylum. Breakga will resist with Odyllic Subterfuge though.

I don't have much to add except maybe the following advices :
- I uses Rolanberry Daifuku.
- I avoid the use of unnecessary JAs so Random Deal will always reset BP: Rage or Apogee recast with up to 80% chances to reset the two with Lanun Frac + capped JPs.
- This could be trivial but our tank disengage before Kirin changes into Kouryu to avoid a risk of being stuck into a spell animation. The angry dragon will rush very quickly toward the PLD down the stairs, if you don't claim it in time then things can take a bad turn, especially if everyone starts panicking and decides to follow Kouryu (bad idea).
- Rayke is also used on Kouryu.
- The "Inc. Sp. 'Blood Pact magic burst dmg." from the SMN relic hands increases Magic Burst damage by 30% for a fully merited BP (despite a test I conducted years ago it's not Pet MAB+40), even Apogee Mitts +1 cannot beat that.

Good to know the actual value. I was already swapping them in for planned Magic Burst. I thought they were just a metric ton of pet:mab.

Hey! Don't make me look worse than I actually am. ;-p

When you use a JA followed by a spell right away, things occasionally don't pop in order in your chat log.

Anyway, the way this thing works is to reset BP timers over and over again with Random Deal, Wild Card, and then Random Deal again to turn Kirin into Kouryu as fast as possible without having to use Astral Conduit. In order to create a fake Astral Conduit like that, the COR needs to be fast. A lot about this fight is about being fast, because things go downhill when Bolster wears. Tabula Rasa wearing prematurely is not as horribad, but it can lead to uncomfortable situations like Kouryu is at less than 10%, but you can't SC+MB for the kill for another 28 seconds. Yuck.

This essentially is the structure of the fight:

--- Pre-fight buffs ---

RUN/NIN: Utsusemi, triple Flabra.
WHM: Protectra V, Shellra V, Barstonra, Boost-VIT (because!).
GEO: -
COR: Crooked Puppet Roll, Companion's Roll.
SMN: Hastega II, Earthen Armour.
PLD: Reprisal, Phalanx (if no Phalanx from lolsch).
SCH: AoE Regen V, AoE Phalanx, Windstorm II, Klimaform, have at least Perpetuance ready to Embrava the tank upon pop.


--- From pop to finished positioning ---

RUN/NIN: Flash on Kirin, do tanky stuff.
WHM: Poison Potion to counteract Sleepga, keep the RUN/NIN alive.
GEO: Indi-Languor, Geo-Malaise, Entrust Indi-Fade on the RUN/NIN.
COR: -
SMN: Toss Garuda at Kirin. Even at 20% hit rate, Garuda might get some TP every now and then. ;-p
PLD: Runs downstairs to maximise the distance between pop and PLD in order to buy as much time as possible when adds pop, since adds are running for the actual popper.
SCH: Tabula Rasa, Embrava the PLD, Embrava everyone else.


--- From first blood to Kirin's disappearance ---

RUN/NIN: Upon the first SC, Gambit, Flabra, Rayke.
WHM: Keep the RUN/NIN alive.
GEO: Bolster, re-blow Geo-Malaise, if the Luopan dies.
COR: Wind Shot.
SMN: Apogee, Wind Blade, Wind Blade.
PLD: -
SCH: SC (I chose to go with Stone > Aero (Detonation) here), MB. Just because you can.


At this point, the COR uses Random Deal to ideally reset Apogee and BP: Rage timers. As long as the SMN does not have anything else on cooldown (they should not), at least one of those will be reset with merits in Loaded Deck. When the BP: Rage timer is up again:

RUN/NIN: Do tanky stuff, including building up to 3x Flabra, if not there yet.
WHM: Keep the RUN/NIN alive.
GEO: Re-blow Geo-Malaise, if the Luopan dies.
COR: Wind Shot.
SMN: Apogee, Wind Blade, Wind Blade // Wind Blade.
PLD: -
SCH: SC+MB.

After this second volley, the COR uses Wild Card to reset all non-SP JA timers. It has to hit both the RUN and the SMN at least, because Gambit + Rayke will be used again later.

RUN/NIN: Do tanky stuff, including building up to 3x Flabra, if not there yet.
WHM: Keep the RUN/NIN alive.
GEO: Re-blow Geo-Malaise, if the Luopan dies.
COR: Wind Shot.
SMN: Apogee, Wind Blade, Wind Blade
PLD: -
SCH: SC+MB.

If Kirin hasn't disappeared yet, repeat the Random Deal part, then:

RUN/NIN: Do tanky stuff, including building up to 3x Flabra, if not there yet.
WHM: Keep the RUN/NIN alive.
GEO: Re-blow Geo-Malaise, if the Luopan dies.
COR: Wind Shot.
SMN: Apogee, Wind Blade, Wind Blade // Wind Blade.
PLD: -
SCH: SC+MB.

By now, Kirin should have disappeared. If not, the SCH should be able to deal the last few % of damage required by SC+MB-ing all by themselves.


--- Kouryu ---

Upon pop, Kouryu will run for the PLD. The RUN must claim it ASAP. Beware of Geotic Breath right into your face. Earthen Armour should mitigate a chunk, but it will still leave people with some flesh wounds. Gather on its front paws Wyrm-style and once everyone's there, everyone pop their Steadfast Tonic. Then, let's go!

RUN/NIN: Odyllic Subterfuge, then do tanky stuff. Gambit, Flabra, Rayke upon the first SC.
WHM: Keep the RUN/NIN alive. Might as well use Sacrosanctity.
GEO: Re-blow Geo-Malaise on Kouryu, Dematerialise.
COR: Wind Shot.
SMN: Apogee, Wind Blade, Wind Blade // Wind Blade.
PLD: -
SCH: SC+MB.

If Random Deal hadn't been used before, use it now for another round of SC + Wind Blade, possibly Apogee'd. Once all SMN bullets have been shot, Astral Conduit.

RUN/NIN: Do tanky stuff.
WHM: Keep the RUN/NIN alive.
GEO: -
COR: Wind Shot as charges permit, but wait ~10 seconds between Wind Shots.
SMN: Spam the fcuk out of Wind Blade.
PLD: -
SCH: Spam SCs like there's no tomorrow.

Ideally, the SC lets the Detonation MB window last as long as possible to maximise the time in which Wind Blade can MB. So take a deep breath after each Aero. \o/

Once SPs start wearing off, Kouryu better is dead or almost dead, because many things can go wrong from here and other SPs are about to wear, as well.

:D I love it! This is me explaining every job I don't play(and some I do >.>) "Do that BLU thing that does a lot of damage" "Yeah that" "Do it a lot!"

Awesome guide(s) btw. Thanks.

Same strat can work with x2 blm with 1200jp and good gear insted of 1 smn?

I'm curious why you went with Indi-Fade for the Entrust spell. Judging by the few times he was actually casting, it didn't look like his nukes were even remotely dangerous. I'm guessing then that the Bolster'd Fade made a massive difference to his MAB (on top of Valiance), or that he's just not much of a threat with his nukes and you could get away with a different entrusted spell.

The real threat to the tank seemed to be from breath damage. I don't think MAB affects breath damage at all, but someone could correct me on that. Either way, I think using Combuster +1 and the NQ would probably help the tank to some degree, especially on the Kirin phase since he's too slow getting TP moves off to deal any physical damage. Comparatively, Kouryu seems to spend a lot of time meleeing, so I'd personally save Battuta for that phase.

edit: I forgot to mention that I'm fairly certain that Quick Draw's bonus doesn't stack with Gambit, if that's any help. Gambit seems to take priority last time I tested this.

Heat breath goes through shadows but doesn't clear shadows

I was wondering if they shared a term- I'm glad I don't have to test this myself now!

At least testing it is simple, just get a COR and a RUN, throw Gambit on, and then do 2 QD's of the element while wearing the boots both times. If they deal the same damage, then it doesn't stack.

Also, though you and other RUNs likely know this already, Gambit is a proper status effect that can be erased with the spell or through enemy TP moves like Start From Scratch, Depuration, etc. Quick Draw's bonus doesn't have an actual status effect tied to it, so I'm not sure if it can be removed beyond it's short duration.

Gambit and Quick Draw works together.
1/5 Wind Blade VS Ironbeak Inguza
Nothing : 8641
Wind Shot : 10801
Gambit : 11231
Gambit + Wind Shot : 14042
Gambit took into account Wind Shot's effect otherwise Wind Blade would have done 13307.

Indeed, Entrust Acumen or Focus the SCH would be better.

Hmm well, there it is. Kinda disappointed in my friend for not paying attention to whether he was actually swapping in the boots.

Yes, buff meee! \o/

It _should_ work with some modifications, e. g. COR buffs. And there's less need to abuse Random Deal + Wild Card to reset JAs, I guess.

We don't really have BLMs (which sucks hard for Warder of Courage), so I'm not really useful to provide that kind of information. Loire or Ejiin are much more suitable for that, since they have slain Kirin with BLMs.

Yeah, BLM x2 works just fine. Our 2nd BLM doesn't even have any amalric +1 pieces and wasn't capped JP and his damage was still great for the fight.



As an note to people attempting this, don't be discouraged if you wipe a bunch. The groups winning now have been painstakingly doing this over and over perfecting it to the point where it's kind of a breeze to beat now. There are a few things that can screw even the best, most prepared groups, but with enough practice I don't see why most can't beat it using either method.

With Loire's group it's more of a mix of SMN and BLM, since we have so many people. I think last night by the end of the night we had about 15 in our alliance, including 2 SMN. Not sure how many BLM, I think maybe 3?

Despite some awesome BLMs, it's still pretty painful for the last stretch. Our conduits were running out with a good 15% remaining and it was up to the mages to finish it. Bringing more than about 12 people to this is asking for trouble, I think. It can be done, but it's a lot more chances for mistakes to happen.

Less is definitely more in the case of magic bursting for both SMN and BLM. It's certainly possible with more, but due to how severely the 'resist wall' reduces magic damage(-60%~ without rayke and still 30%~ with rayke, adding more generally isn't worth the massive HP(150K~ per person) the extra people add to the NM.

Even with Rayke, damage after the first MB still scales down: In my video, you can see Neonoir(NQ amalric BLM) nuking first the vast majority of the time and hitting 99K a few times and Ashraya(HQ amalric BLM) nukes second and does 30%~ less damage. We've even gone so far as to ban the GEO and SCH from MBing to ensure the BLM's spells hit for full damage, but we still let them /RUN, since lunge/swipe don't seem to count against the resist wall.

Is that resistance element specific? At some point, is it not worth spreading out among the elements (particularly for SMN on T3 skillchains?)

I am officially offended! ¬¬ :P