FFXIV 2.5 Summoner Guide

FFXIV Summoner DPS/Rotation guide

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to every situation you'll be in as a summoner, and will largely focus on single target DPS, with some specific strategies for Final Coil Turns 1-3.

~Summoner 101: Keeping Up Your DOTs~

Summoner is a class whose damage relies mostly on putting damage over time abilities (DOTs) on as many enemies as possible, then filling time by casting Ruin. In general, to maximize your DPS, you want to always have as many DOTs as possible ticking on as many enemies as possible. It's worth noting that your DOTs tick every three seconds. Your core rotation will mostly revolve around maintaining up-time on Bio, Miasma, Bio II, and Shadow Flare. Bio is your most potent DOT per tick (40 potency per tick with a total potency of 240), so making sure it's always ticking is extremely important. Miasma and Bio II have the next highest per tick (35 with total potencies 300 and 350 respectively), and should be prioritized next. On a single target, Shadow Flare is your least potent and most expensive DOT (25 potency per tick with 250 total potency), though when affecting two or more targets, it's your largest potency DOT (50/500 for two targets, 75/750 for three, etc.). It also has the added bonus of not needing a target for you to start casting it, meaning you can cast it in preparation while the boss is invincible, or while you're waiting for adds to spawn. These four moves will make up about 40% of your damage if used properly. It's worth noting that, while in general you want all of your DOTs up all the time, if your target is about to die, it may be better to ignore reapplying some DOTs and just cast Ruin. Bio and Miasma take two ticks to do as much or more damage than Ruin, Bio II takes three, and Shadow Flare take four. This means if you expect your target to die in fewer than twelve seconds, don't bother reapplying Shadow Flare. Fewer than nine seconds, don't reapply Bio II, etc.

~Summons~

As the name implies, summons are a large part of being a summoner, and knowing how to use them and when to use which is important. Summon II (Titan) is used solely for solo content when you need a tank, and should never be used in raid content. Summon III (Ifrit) has potential niche uses, but for the most part, should never actually be used raid content. That leaves Summon (Garuda). Garuda actually does less damage per attack compared to Ifrit, but has Contagion, which is an invaluable asset, extending the duration of all of your DOTs by 15 seconds. This essentially lets you get a free 200 potency out of Bio, and 175 potency out of Miasma and Bio II. It's worth noting that if you use Potent Poisoning Potions, Contagion will extend the duration of those as well. It does not, however, extend the duration of Shadow Flare, because that is a buff on you, rather than a debuff on the target. Contagion both directly increases your DPS by allowing you to fit in roughly six extra Ruins before reapplying DOTs, and indirectly increases it by saving you the MP it costs to reapply DOTs, allowing you to go longer without bottoming out. In addition to Contagion, Garuda has an auto-attack, Wind Blade, that hits for 100 potency every three seconds, Shockwave, a 90 potency attack that knocks back the target, and Aerial Slash, a 90 potency AoE centered on the target. Obviously Shockwave and Aerial Slash are a DPS loss on a single target and should never be used (it should go without saying that you're micro-managing your pets and not leaving them Sic), and Contagion should only be used when all of your core DOTs are on the target.

~Aetherflow~

Managing Aetherflow is the last part of your core rotation. Aetherflow allows you to regain 20% of your MP every minute, and gives you three stacks of Aetherflow. As a summoner, these stacks can be used on Energy Drain, Bane, or Fester. By and large, you'll be spending almost all of your stacks on Fester, as it's one of your most potent attacks. Fester gains 100 potency for each of Bio, Miasma, and Bio II, meaning that, used properly, it's a 300 potency attack. Energy Drain, a 150 potency attack that heals and restores MP, should only be used if you absolutely need the MP (a scenario that I'll discuss in more detail later). Bane spreads Bio, Miasma, and Bio II to up to three nearby enemies, and is a great tool for quickly getting damage on adds.

~The Rest~

Aside from the moves described about, your arsenal is pretty niche. By and large, you'll spend most of your time casting Ruin over and over until it's time to reapply your DOTs. Physick can be used in a pinch if you REALLY need emergency healing. Virus can be important for mitigating damage if you don't have a scholar in the party to take care of it, or if you need to use it more frequently than every 90 seconds, though in general you should just leave it to your healers unless specifically asked to do otherwise, as using it at a bad time could leave the boss with immunity the next time you do need it. Eye for an Eye can generally be left to your healers as well, though using it whenever doesn't cause immunity problems like Virus does, so it doesn't hurt to just throw it on the tank when you remember. Ruin II does the same damage as Ruin for a significantly larger cost, though using it allows you to weave in off-GCD abilities without having to delay your GCD, and will be discussed in more deatil later. Miasma II on a single target is a potency loss in most cases, and will be discussed in more detail later on, but for the most part, you should avoid using it. Tri-disaster has exactly three uses that I know of in the entire game, none of which will be mentioned in this guide. Do not use it. The rest of your abilities are buffs or long cooldowns that will be detailed later on.

~Cross-Class Skills~

For the most part, you're very limited in your choices, and they're mostly garbage anyway. Raging Strikes and Swiftcast are essential. Surecast has extremely niche uses, and I've never once found a place for it in final coil. Blizzard 2 is possibly useful in add phase of turn 12, but too MP inefficient anywhere else, and I'd only even possibly recommend it there if you have a battle voiced mage ballad going on for the healers. Quelling Strikes and Hawk's Eye are useless, and I highly recommend cross-classing Truth of Forests or Truth of Mountains in their place.

~Off-GCD Weaving~

As briefly mentioned before, you can use an instant-cast move like Ruin II or Bio to "weave" in you off-GCD moves like Fester, Rouse, Spur, etc. without having to lose damage by delaying your GCD. In general you can fit two off-GCD moves between GCDs, though certain things like Sprint or using a potion take more time to activate, and can't be fit in with another move between GCDs.

~The Opener~

Now that the basics are out of the way, let's start with your generic opener for a single target. Before the fight even begins, precast a Shadow Flare where the boss is going to be tanked. You'll replace it before it runs its course, but it's free damage at no cost since you'll regenerate your mp before the actual pull. A lot of people will tell you to open with Raging Strikes, Rouse, and Spur all at once. These people are wrong. Casting Spur and Rouse after RS takes roughly a full GCD, which means you're losing an attack under RS. You could cast Rouse/Spur first to avoid this problem, but then you're either losing up-time with those buffs, or not casting the moment the boss is pulled, which isn't ideal. This also creates another problem with Contagion that I'll mention soon. Now that we're past what not to do, here's what you should do. Cast RS and start precasting Bio II before the boss is actually pulled. Do your best to line it up so that the cast ends only a moment after your tank pulls. Enough time to let them get agro and no more. Follow it up with Miasma, and during the Miasma cast, tell Garuda to Obey. This isn't strictly necessary, but pet AI is finicky in this game, and it doesn't hurt to explicitly command her to attack, just in case. Follow your Miasma with Bio, and immediately start mashing on Contagion. As I said, pets are finicky and unresponsive, so just keep hitting it until it works. Ideally Garuda will use it within two GCDs, for reasons I'll get to soon. While mashing on Contagion, you should cast Swiftcast and then Fester before your GCD from Bio is over (at this point you should have about 12 seconds left on RS). There are two reasons for using Swiftcast here. The first is to buffer Fester, because Bio takes about half a GCD to actually be applied to your target, meaning that casting Fester immediately after Bio will result in a 200 potency attack instead of a 300 potency one. The second is because you're about to recast Shadow Flare as soon as you can. Fester is technically an Ability and not a Spell, so it doesn't use your Swiftcast, meaning you can use it to get SF out right away instead of hard casting it, which takes longer than a regular GCD. Hopefully your Contagion has gone off by now, because you should be casting Rouse and Spur while you wait for your GCD to refresh. You want to wait until now before using them so that Garuda doesn't waste a GCD on Contagion while buffed, since Contagion is a 0 potency attack. It's not the end of the world if you do end up Contagioning after buffs, but it is an 80 potency loss. At this point your big DOTs are out, so it's time to start spamming Ruin II and mashing on Enkindle until Garuda decides to listen. In my experience Enkindle will go off within two or three Ruin IIs at most, but be absolutely sure it goes off while under both buffs, as that results in an extra 200 potency. Ruin II until Fester is back up, then use Fester between cooldowns, and Ruin II one more time, then switch to Ruin for more or less the rest of the fight. That last Ruin II is there because it will be your last attack under RS if you did everything correctly, while if you cast Ruin instead, RS would fall off before the cast is finished, resulting in a minor potency lost (16 to be exact).

To recap, your opener should be Shadow Flare before the pull, Raging Strikes, Bio II, Miasma, Bio ((mash on Contagion) Swifcast, Fester), Shadow Flare (Rouse, Spur), Ruin II (mash Enkindle), Ruin II (mash Enkindle), Ruin II (mash Enkindle, Fester), Ruin II (RS falls off). If you don't anticipate any MP issues for the fight, that can be slightly adjusted to Raging Strikes, Bio II, Miasma, Bio (wait, Fester), Miasma II ((mash Contagion) Siftcast), Shadow Flare (Rouse, Spur), Ruin II (mash Enkindle), Ruin II (mash Enkindle, Fester), Ruin II (RS falls off). Miasma II is actually a slight DPS gain under Contagion (120 potency as opposed to its base 70 and Ruin's 80), however it's incredibly MP inefficient, and not recommended for longer fights. In addition, to actually get a DPS gain out of it, you need to alter when you Contagion, meaning you need to alter when you Rouse/Spur, or else you're losing DPS. For contrast, if you open with Raging Strikes, Bio II, Miasma, Bio (Swifcast, Fester), Shadow Flare (Rouse, Spur), Miasma II (mash Contagion), Ruin II (mash Contagion/Enkindle), Ruin II (mash Contagion/Enkindle, Fester), Ruin II (RS falls off). You lose 80 potency by exchanging a buffed Wind Blade for Contagion, and only gain 40 potency by using Miasma II over Ruin II. You can also throw in an Int potion after Raging Strikes in your opener if you're fancy, and it shouldn't change the timing of anything. The most it could do is cost you 16 potency if it delays your last Ruin II until after RS falls off, but the extra boost you get during your extended DOTs more than makes up for it. Lastly, it's possible to delay Rouse/Spur a GCD if Contagion doesn't go off by the time you have Shadow Flare up.

This is maybe basic enough to go without saying, but I would be remiss to not mention it anyway. The nature of DOTs in this game is such that they take a snapshot of your stats when they're applied, and use that snapshot for the entirety of their duration. What this means is that if you apply a DOT under Raging Strikes (or an Int potion for that matter), they will continue to do that increased damage, even after those buffs fall off. For this reason, it's crucial to always extend your RS DOTs with Contagion, as that's an extra 5 ticks going out under that 20% damage buff.

~After The Opener: Stop Using Ruin II~

From here, the class more or less plays itself adequately, but there are subtleties that are important to maximize your DPS. After your RS falls off, switch to Ruin spamming until Fester is about to come off cooldown (i.e. there's less than one GCD remaining on it's CD). Ruin II, then Fester and Aetherflow between GCDs. At this point you're done with Ruin II outside of three scenarios. Scenario 1: You need to move and keep attacking. Obvious enough. You can't do a whole lot else while moving, so Ruin II is all you have. Obviously if Bio is about to run out, you can use that instead, or Swiftcast a spell, but by and large, Ruin II is what you use if you need to be moving. Scenario 2: Pet buffs are off CD. In general, you want Rouse and Spur up whenever they can be, so you may need to Ruin II and use one or both of them between GCDs when they're up. Scenario 3: Aetherflow is off CD. Same logic as before, but more important. Using Aetherflow ASAP is always, always, always your number one priority, so if it'll be up before the end of your next GCD, Ruin II and use it in the dead time. Some people will say you should use Ruin II before a Fester when it's off CD as well, but those people are wrong. There's absolutely no reason to use Fester off CD since you only get three of them every sixty seconds, and it has a ten second cooldown. Instead, you should wait to use it until you need to reapply Bio, then use it between GCDs after Bio. In the event that none of those three cases are happening, you should be casting Ruin over Ruin II always. From here, SMN rotation is just about reapplying DOTs when they're about to fall off and casting Ruin at all other times for the most part. Your first reapplication of DOTs should line up nicely. Recast Shadow Flare when it's got about 5 seconds left on its timer, then Bio (Fester), Miasma, and Bio II in that order. By the next time you have to cast Bio, Rouse should be off CD, so use it between GCDs as normal. Miasma's and Shadow Flare's timers should be about a second apart, so you'll want to reapply Miasma around 6 seconds, then Shadow Flare right after. The next time you reapply Bio II, Contagion should have just gone off CD, so use that again to extend all your DOTs further. Past that point, your rotation and DOT timers will likely vary from fight to fight and run to run depending on mechanics, so I'll provide some general tips.

~Clipping Your DOTs~

In general, you should clip your DOTs before they fall off. I like to recast Bio when its timer is below 3 seconds, Bio II and Miasma below 5 seconds, and Shadow Flare below 6 seconds, to account for its longer cast time. Due to the way DOTs are handled in this game, there's no risk of clipping them in such a way that you'd "lose" a tick from them. All DOTs tick at three second intervals determined by the server, regardless of when they were applied or what their timer says, so there's no risk of reapplying a second early and essentially waiting five or six seconds between ticks instead of three. If you want, you can Swiftcast every other Shadow Flare, but the time it takes for the Swiftcast animation to play if you're not getting it between GCDs means you're saving a negligible amount of time in most cases, and it's generally not worth the MP to use a Ruin II for the sole purpose of using Swiftcast between GCDs. Past my initial opener, I generally like to save Swiftcast for raises or resummons if they're needed. Ideally they won't be, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious. It's worth noting that Garuda's Wind Blade is the plurality of your damage, making up roughly 26% of your DPS, meaning if she does happen to die, resummoning her is your first priority, always. Even if all your DOTs have fallen off and you don't have Swiftcast, Garuda should take priority. This is fairly obvious when you think of Garuda as essentially a 100 potency DOT. Even though she takes two full GCDs to summon, your next highest potency DOT is Bio at 40, meaning you'll still gain 20 potency by hard summoning Garuda first.

~Cooldown Management~

The next most important thing about SMN is properly using your cooldowns. You don't necessarily want to just blow everything the second it's off CD. As mentioned earlier, you should save Fester for after a Bio to conserve MP without losing DPS, but in addition to that, you want to save Festers so that you'll have two up for every Raging Strikes, while also saving Contagion for every RS. In short, every time RS is up, you want to have at least two Aetherflow stacks ready (one ready if Aetherflow will be off CD within 20 seconds, or zero ready if it'll be off CD in less than 10 seconds), and have Contagion's cooldown at around 20 seconds or lower. Remember that you don't need to use Contagion before RS falls off, you just need to use it before the DOTs you applied under RS fall off. The other important cooldown to manage is Enkindle. It's a little awkward in that it has a 5 minute CD, and Spur has a 2 minute CD, so they won't line up nicely. There are two ways to deal with this. You can either not use your third Spur until Enkindle is up and just sit on it for a minute, or you can sit on Enkindle for a minute. I haven't done hard research on which is better, but my intuition says to wait on Enkindle for most fights, since the cooldown is so long already. Unless a fight's length falls in a specific one minute window, you won't lose out on an Enkindle by waiting on it. To expand on that, say you use your first Enkindle 15 seconds into a fight, and wait for Spur to be up to use your second, meaning you're using it at 6:15, and your third will be available at 11:15 instead of 10:15. Unless the fight ends within that one minute window, you're not losing out on your third Enkindle by waiting on it. Waiting for Spur on the third Enkindle of course depends on whether or not the fight will end before 12:15, but if it won't, there's no reason not to wait. I do not believe, however, that it's ever worth delaying Spur a minute to sync it up with Enkindle. Spur is essentially a 240 potency move (40% extra damage on 6 100 potency Wind Blades), and delaying that by a minute means you might not make the dps check you need to push a phase, and delaying it by a minute twice means you're straight losing 240 potency by not using it. Meanwhile, presume you do use Enkindle while only under Rouse. Enkindle itself only loses 100 potency, and 40 of that is made up for by the extra Wind Blade you'll get under Spur, which is to say, you only lose 60 DPS instead of the 120 (on average) you lose by delaying Spur. In summation, use Rouse and Spur off CD, delay Enkindle until both are up (unless the fight will end before then).

~The Utility of Shadow Flare~

I mentioned this briefly before, but the fact that Shadow Flare doesn't need a target to be cast is incredibly important in a lot of fights, and worth emphasizing. If adds are about to spawn, pre-cast it where you know they're going to be. If the boss jumps, pre-cast it where you know they're going to land. If the boss is invincible, pre-cast shortly before the invincibility wears off. These will all let you get immediate free damage.

~Keeping Your MP Up~

The last major consideration for summoners is your inevitable MP woes in Final Coil. With the 100% up-time you have in most fights, you'll bottom out sooner or later, though there are a few ways you can alleviate this. The first is Energy Drain, which isn't a great answer, but if it's all you've got, it's all you've got. The second is X-Ethers, which is a little less painful, but it's worth noting that every X-Ether you use is an Int potion you're not using. Lastly, there's Mage's Ballad, which is great for you, but not so much for your bard. Unless your healers need MP, don't count on Mage's Ballad, because it's definitely not using just for a summoner, especially when the alternative is Foe Requiem. I haven't run hard numbers on it, but I'm inclined to say that using Energy Drains+Foe Requiem is a DPS increase for summoners compared to Festers+Mage's Ballad, and it's definitely a raid-wide DPS increase considering the damage penalty Mage's Ballad gives your bard, and considering the magic damage done by your scholar and potentially your ninja. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, because you're never getting Mage's Ballad unless the healers need it. The question then becomes how much potency do you lose from using an ether over an Int potion compared to having to keep yourself alive with Energy Drain. To sustain your MP, you'll need to turn two Festers into Energy Drains every Aetherflow, resulting in a 300 potency loss every minute, though by the time you're needing Energy Drain, you'll be very near the end of the fight (assuming you get at least some Ballad during the fight), and while I don't know exactly how much potency/damage a potion adds, personal testing has shown that in a roughly 10 minute run, the Int gain from potions outweighs eventually needing to Energy Drain, especially if you time it up with Raging Strikes and Contagion, giving you a roughly 12 DPS increase. It's also worth noting that without Mage's Ballad, you will eventually run out of MP, even with X-Ethers.

~Final Coil~

Lastly, a few tips for what I've seen of Final Coil (up to final phase of Turn 12). In Turn 10, there's no reason you can't be in melee range for phase one, so make sure you're up there auto-attacking. Add phases are a huge chance to boost your DPS. Save your cooldowns for first add phase (except Rouse, which should be off CD at the start of adds), and try to conserve Aetherflow stacks so that you have 2-3 when it starts. When you see Electrocharge start casting, precast a Shadow Flare where the adds are going to be tanked, then pop Rouse, Spur, Raging Strikes and an Int potion (if you use them). Put your powerful DOTs on the first daughter (have Garuda Aerial Slash while you're casting), Fester and Bane them onto the son, switch over to the second daughter (throw out Enkindle while you're switching targets), extend them with Contagion, then Bane your extended DOTs onto the son. At this point you should also switch Shadow Flare over to the second set of adds (depending on how many Aetherflow stacks you had at the start of adds, you may need to cast SF before Baning while you wait for Aetherflow to come off CD). For the second set of adds, once again start with Shadow Flare while Electorcharge is casting, then drop an LB3 (provided that's your job and you have enough for it). While you're stuck in the eternal cast animation, remember you can be microing Garuda to have her target the first daughter and use Aerial Slash. Once you're done casting, DOT up the first son, then switch to the second daughter, DOT her up, Bane, and Shadow Flare. Your group should be able to kill the first set of adds while you're doing this, with time to spare before the third set of adds spawn. Once they do, move Shadow Flare to where they're going to be tanked, DOT up the third son, Contagion, and Bane, then focus down the third son while the rest of your party kills the daughter. If you have the stacks, you can Fester throughout all of that. It's also worth noting that you can precast Shadow Flare on the boss while your party does the last 20% or so to the last add, and if you get the timing down, you can even precast a Bio II so that it finishes right as the boss' invulnerability goes down. Note of course, this assumes your party's strategy in add phase is to kill one tank's adds first, then switch to the other tank's adds, and have the first tank pick up both of the ones that spawn mid-way through second add phase.

In Turn 11, you should be in melee range for the whole fight, so make sure you're always auto-attacking. The only other notable thing is once again add phase. More likely than not you're on the cube, and you should be getting there just as Raging Strikes goes up (you may need to hold a Contagion and a Fester on Kaliya so that you have them ready for add phase). I usually start by Swiftcasting a Miasma on the egg to slow it down, then Raging Strikes/extend on the cube. Shadow Flare shouldn't be used at all in this phase for obvious reasons. I like to save Enkindle for this phase instead of using it in my opener, just in case I need an extra push on the cube. I also focus target the egg so I can see when disease wears off and reapply if necessary. It's important to never bother chasing the egg to disease it if it's in motion, and it's probably not necessary to disease it more than twice. Because the third disease will only last 6 seconds (while the egg isn't necessarily moving for that entire time), I usually just open with a Swiftcast Miasma on it, then Swiftcast Miasma again once it's off cooldown. The only other important thing to remember is that once the cube and orb are dead, you need to call Garuda over to the egg for her to do damage to it.

In Turn 12, during phase one, you should be able to kill all three blackfires with nothing more than a Shadowflare and a Bane. By the time the first blackfire goes out, my Shadow Flare has just about run out, so I reapply it such that it hits the boss and the three blackfires, then Bio, Miasma, and Bio II the boss, and Bane onto all the adds. As long as everything is place properly, this should be enough to kill them without issue. Hopefully, during add phase your party will let you go crazy with AoE. Save your second Raging Strikes for when the Benus revive, pre-cast your Shadow Flare where you know the adds will be tanked, and apply/Contagion/Bane your empowered DOTs to all of the adds (or all but one if you get 5 Benus in the first two phases, since Bane will only spread to three additional targets). While there are three or more adds still up, it's worth using Miasma II, and having Blizzard II replace Ruin as your filler DPS. It may also be worth conserving all your Aetherflow stacks for Bane instead of Fester, depending on how long it takes your party to kill adds.

As a disclaimer, I am by no means the best summoner out there, but I like to think I'm pretty darn good, so if you have any questions, comments, or corrections about anything I said, you can contact me on twitter @WindGodSety, or in FFXIV as Florine Chatelfort on Excalibur.