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

Not getting your way of thinking.
Are you implying that IF a new REM update coming (I highly doubt it's gonna come any time soon btw) you'll be able to skip the 119v3 step?
Becase even if a new REM upgrade were to come, I'm seriouly skeptic on SE allowing us to skip the current step.


I agree Nirvana's 119v3 is one of the most disappointing upgrades though, if not THE most disappointing one =/
If I had Nirvana I would be seriously Emo, if the fact of other staffs being better for Magic BPs and TP by itself wasn't enough already to be emo about it :(

Gift is BP delay II, which also caps at 15, right?

Was it confirmed that Gifts is BP Delay II and not a "III"?
I thought BPI and BPII capped at 15 each, and that there was an overall cap of 30 seconds reduction regardless of how you reach it.
I might be wrong though!

Oh, I don't know. Also, I seem to be hitting 22 second BP recasts without 512 skill.

When I had FaeQueenCory update the Blood Pact page on wiki a month or 2 ago because it didn't have info on the new Favor - time. He said something as low as 420~ still got you that extra -8s.

Unfortunately discord won't let me do a a search inside of it to find the exact number he listed.

I also believe he said Gifts was its own term but all 3 BP I, BP II and BP Gifts still had an overall cap of -30s.
Edit: Just noticed when I asked him to add the favor - time he also added BP III(Gifts) to it too.
BG Wiki: Blood Pact Ability Delay

Sorry I'm no summoner these days but figured I'd share what info I knew on the topic.

P.S. - I'll ask Fae to toss out some exact numbers later today.

That's what I read over forums as well (third standalone category, still falls under the overall cap of -30 total) but I wasn't 100% sure.

About the reduction from Favor I think someone (Papesse? Faequeen?) tested even the last known tier of 575 skill and up to 600+ skill, but still couldn't get more than 8 seconds reduction.
Either SE gave us wrong data when they talked about -10 cap or you need an insane and unreachable amount of skill to get it.
...or there's a bug and SE still has to acknowledge it.

i've tried like 2 short of max skill and still had it only proc 8 seconds down. (the only thing left was a stikini +1.)

It's not like it wouldn't be like SE to give us caps very far away from what we can currently achieve (remember Perfect Defense?) but given how large the last tier for Favor is I think it's unlikely this is the case.
I'm more leaning for SE gave us a wrong number (it's -8, not -10, as strange as the number may seem) or there's a mistake in their numbers and they failed to acknowledge it so far.

Has it been reported to SE already? In JP forums? ENG forums?

Yeah. I tested the gift after I hit 1200 because it was easier to show that it wasn't II with that much. (Even easier now with just a Sancus as that will give you -16s.)

And iirc, it was Papesse who did the initial testing that revealed the "only 8s". Myself (and everyone else who tried) just confirmed her results.

As for if it's a bug, I believe so. It's tied to Favor tiers, and if 512 +3 gives -8s (I forget who, but someone pointed out that their NQ Beckoner's +550 Gift gave the -8s... but when +1'd, still only 8s.) and 575 +2 gave -8s...
Pretty sure the last two tiers of Favor, (lets call them 512 +4 and 575 +4) aren't being taken into account.

However. This could be on purpose now that we know that RF+2~3 are on the way.
It could very well be possible that with Beckoner's Horn +3, maximum Favor tier could rise up to something like 575 +8, and we are currently 1 tier short from another second off.

Or it's just bugged.

No one to my knowledge has tested how many tiers lower than 512/575 are needed to reduce by a second. We assume as the last two levels don't drop it the last 2s that each of the last 10 tiers is what reduce it by 1s/tier... but since 2 don't... it could be every 3 tiers of Favor drop it by 1s.
We don't really have the whole tiers of Favor solidly figured out. (Namely because ain't nobody got no time for that... and no one ever cared about Favor before recently and before nothing before max mattered.)

Um I actually addressed that in my reply on the prior page:


And if you're getting 22s recast/-8s reduction from favor at less than 512 skill my bet is favor ramped up for you on that avatar because it's been out a while. When I tested it was really hard to pin down a minimum number as if I started high and worked backwards I wouldn't get the same number as if I started low and built up.

The new ambuscade set coming out with the physical bloodpact adjustments was perfect timing. We finally have access to a pretty decent acc set to set up skillchains for our avatar!

ItemSet 347702
This set puts me right over 1000 acc without food or buffs. Around 1080 with Ecliptic Howl and Grape Daifuku. You can reach 1100+ with sushi but you sacrifice the pet acc and mab. Afterglow should put you around 1100ish without sushi if you have it.

Assume Shedir is the new Tali'ah stuff since it's not added to the items yet. Cape is dex+20, acc +30 atk+20, and double attack +10. Using the full Tali'ah set didn't feel worth it since you lose 6 mp a tic from avatar perp so I replaced the hands with Beckoner's Bracers +1. I'm usually smn/sch and the hands felt like the easiest spot in the set to adjust for (they also have 30 acc for your avatar). You could probably swap out the feet for Apogee or something instead but you lose 7% pet haste.

Can someone post some updated equip sets >_>?

I didn't even know you were still playing the game, and when you did you were GEO!

Glad to see you're in the SMN camp now.

ItemSet 347734

When I do SMN things for JPs, going to be the full Tali'ah set + that. Going to do Gates of Tartarus + Eclipse Bite for darkness and have BLMs mbing off the darkness. The AM from lolstrum will be good enough to keep up MP.

Like
Idle
Summoning skill
Ward BP
Physical BP
Magical BP
etcetc

I listed both of those on the last page

ItemSet 345346

Espiritus is summoning magic skill path as are apogee feet, and cape is augmented summoning magic skill +5.
globidonta ring can work or nq Stikini.
convoker's horn +1 and apogee dalmatica +1 are the only changes for a max summoning magic skill set, this is for wards.

Debuff Blood pact wards want diff focus than buff wards. Buff wards you just want max smn skill with the exception of putting in beckoner's horn +1 so you get set bonus more often at the cost of only 2 skill.

ItemSet 342192

Feet are dark matter aug refresh +2, NQ Apogee Feet and Gridarvor Staff for perp costs are much more accessible choices
Moonshade is refresh, but only if you don't have your weapon out
Rings you can substitute evoker's ring and globidonta ring
Cape can be Campestres's cape with Regen for pet

SMN idle sets are very varied depending on situation, max favor set, perp/refresh focused set with favor thrown in, cap pet haste set, DT sets, and so on. Maybe I'll post all the ones I use later but this should be more than enough for now.

<3 sweet thank you @_@

Okay, I've stockpiled about 200 Siren's Hairs. I already have Apogee Crown +1 and don't have leathercraft to make Apogee Pumps +1. Of the remaining 3 pieces, which should I try to make?

In terms of how easy they are to make:
Hands > Legs > Body

In terms of how useful they look to me:
Legs > Body > Hands

In personal experience, legs are practically impossible to make. I feel like people got the skill wrong on them and they're actually t0. I'm 0/152 on them.

Hands are not really useful except as magic acc piece, or maybe an acc piece if you're desperate for acc and don't have a very good acc augment from Merlinic Dastanas.

Whereas body not only is useful for BP:Rage but also for idle. So I'd say do body first. Then probably join me in the endless grind for slacks.

For Physical BP and already wearing Apogee Head/Feet+1, Body path A is 10 BPD vs. Beckoner +1's 11 BPD, eh? It's obviously superior for Flaming Crush or magic BPs, but if Physical BPs are going to become all the rage then I'm not so sure.

Compared to Enticer's, the pants offer 11 BPD, 20 STR, 1% DA, -5% Crit rate, -650 TP Bonus, -15 Avatar Acc. That might be a net gain? It is rather hard for me to tell.

I agree that hands are silly. I will be doing them last if at all.


I think I agree that I'll go Dalm -> Pants, but I have to say that neither look particularly mindblowing to me.

I'd add Nirvana to your list of things to make.

Nirvana is on the way, but I anticipate somewhat slow progress because it turns out I'm still pretty tired of Einherjar/Nyzul Isle.

I have had some fun doing Salvage as SMN, though. It's not as quick and the currency yields aren't as good as pretty much any other job, but it still does okay in Bhaflau and it's something new to optimize.

Intense Ambuscade is an awesome way to stock up on Alexandrite in lieu of Salvage - especially if you take multiple mules.

For the last Favor tier of 575 skill, do you have to be 576+ for it to matter or is exactely 575 enough?


edit:
Yes exactely 575 is enough

Extremely belated reply but here's my thoughts if you care to know them :)
Ya apogee body for physical would only pull ahead if the attack makes a big enough difference which is hard to say but at the least is situational, but if you're gearing for PDIF being capped along with accuracy convoker's body is 12 BP damage, Beckoner's does have the SMN skill which does boost accuracy some, but even though we don't know the exact ratio it is known that it is less than 1 skill = 1 accuracy.


It's hard to know really. For myself I stick with Apogee on Volt Strike but on something like mountain buster if I'm not capped TP I will use enticer's.

Making them last is probably wise, though they are kind of cheap to make. Personally though I'm a big fan, after getting them the amount of times my shock squall's get resisted or partially resisted has gone way down. 63 magic acc for debuff wards is basically what you get from them, I think it's worth it but not everyone agrees. One way I beat tenzen with people is on SMN, and sometimes we get sub 2 min wins without even using 1 hours just because SMN can sometimes stun lock Tenzen the entire fight preventing his WS dodge stance and Invincible from every happening. It does take a bit of luck guessing just when stun will wear off but that is made more reliable with magic accuracy.


Dalmy and pants are the last two I made, actually just recently :D I couldn't be happier with them to be honest. 4 refresh body, and as you said amazing for flaming crush and magic BPs, and in PDIF capped situations using volt strike like in papesse's video above, pants path D are the best piece in the entire set.

I think I got stupid lucky though, I'd put off making both for so long and stockpiled mats because other things kept getting in the way. Anni for master trial, SCH for ls stuns on Aeonic mobs, NIN cuz always wanted to play it and got the aeonic, and so on for months. I made 20 cursed dalmatica and 1 cursed -1. Then the cursed -1 turned into HQ so I was shocked. I still had a lot of mats leftover so made 16 cursed slacks and 1 -1 cursed slacks and bought another pair of -1 cursed slacks off the AH and the 2nd -1 cursed slacks were HQ... so I think I just made 140 mil of HQ gear for like 20 mil or something :/ prettyyyy lucky :D I feel really bad for pergatory D: 0/152 is a nightmare scenario ;-; Hope his luck improves.

Sorry if I missed it, but can someone post some entry level gear sets for SMN? Trying to start JPing on it before event is over, but don't have a ton of gear for it yet. Minimum JP-acceptable
summoning magic, BP rage/ward recast and potency, and idle would be great. Thanks!

I wish feet had a more reasonable price. Guess demand for feet is pretty high considering it's a T2 recipe and they go for 40 mils... used to be <20 mils.
At like 15 mils I might buy them >___>''

Congrats on the lucky synths! And thank you for your kind words ; ; I'll get them eventually, right before they shut the server down.

Thanks for the feedback.

Also, does anyone have Merlinic augments to share? It looks like you can make some pretty solid Dastanas there, at least. I spent 60 stones and got BPD+9% / Acc+30 this morning.

Caps I've personally seen with Fern:
Perp-7
Blood Boon+9
BPDelay-6
Pet:
Haste+6%
DA+6%
Crit+5%
STP+5
BPDmg+10%

Offpath: Pet: PDT-4% (but I've never seen MDT or DT, which means the probability of pet: PDT is pretty similar to every other stat)

The two 10% slots (#4/#5) are Pet: MAcc and MAB, so the cap for Acc and Atk on a piece is probably 30 but MAcc and MAB can reach 40.