Summoner Final Fantasy Guide

Summoner Final Fantasy Guide: Pokémon in Final Fantasy 101

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Every single job in Final Fantasy XIV is different from the rest. Whether you are dancing with chakrams, playing YuGi-Oh with giant cards over your head, or simply playing the electric guitar in the Aetherite Plaza. Each Final Fantasy class brings something new and unexpected to the table.

Still, nothing could have prepared 2013 players for Summoner. Calling for legendary beasts to aid you in battle while you sit back in the comfort of ranged safety? Say no more.

Designers could have taken the easy way out and had Summoners invoke lesser beasts in battle. However, they instead decided to go all the way.

With their book, Summoners can summon Primals, Bahamut, and Phoenix to the battlefield and deal massive damage.

As a massive fan of casters, Summoner is my DPS of choice. Summoner enthralled me as soon as you picked it up. With the promise of summoning Bahamut with your book at level 72, I could not drop this class. Also, your auto attack involves hitting enemies with the back of your book. That animation always stays the same.

Still, you have a long way to go before you get all of your summons, so it’s better to get acquainted with your actions and mechanics.

This Summoner Final Fantasy guide covers the Summoner’s abilities, rotation, and pets.

TIP: Want a mini Garuda? What about a supersized Titan? Change the size of your primals with the /petsize command.

The TL; DR

summoner gameplay final fantasy

You’ll find this guide extremely useful if you want to fully master the ways of the Summoner.

Still, these words won’t bring primals or legendary beasts to life.

Here is a short version of this guide for your convenience.

  • Job: Summoner
  • Type: Caster DPS
  • Unlock: level 30
  • Playstyle: wait through your global and off-global cooldown actions until you can finally summon beasts into the battlefield. Move through their individual mechanics to deal massive damage.
  • Summoning Rotation: Summon Bahamut, Summon Phoenix, and Summon Arcanum. Rinse and repeat.

Summoner Final Fantasy Guide

Summoner Abilities

When you activate your job, you have access to all the skills of its main class and the unique skills you will acquire every five levels as a reward for completing the “class” missions.

You stop having missions related to your class when you unlock the job. Instead, you start a new story thread and leave behind the teachings of your Guildmaster.

Damage Spells

  • Ruin is your primary damage spell. It inflicts single-target damage with 240 potency.

It will upgrade progressively until you unlock Ruin 4 at level 62. Though it deals damage with 430 potency, you’ll need the Further Ruin to use it.

This is when Energy Drain and Energy Siphon come in.

  • Energy Drain is a single-target attack that deals 200 potency damage.
  • Energy Siphon is an AoE attack that deals 100 potency damage.

They both grant Further Ruin. But they also grant 2 Aetherflow stacks.

Aetherflow stacks can be spent on two actions that deal massive damage.

  • Fester is a solid single-target attack with a potency of 300 that costs one Aetherflow.
  • Painflare is an AoE attack with a potency of 150 that costs one Aetherflow.

If you feel like these aren’t enough damage-dealing skills, you still get more.

  • Outburst deals 100 potency AoE damage. This one will later be affected by other abilities.
  • Tridisaster deals 120 potency AoE damage.

Healing abilities: A DPS that heals?

Summoner gets both healing and raising skills, being Physick and Resurrection, respectively.

It’s one of the few DPS classes that get the chance to help with the healing in battle, so make good use of it.

Summon Carbuncle

summon carbuncle final fantasy

The first summon you’ll get is Carbuncle. You’ll unlock him at level 2. He’s just a cute little guy. He packs quite the punch too.

Make sure you summon him at the beginning of every battle and exploit his skills. Just remember, these will only be available when he is out.

  • Radiant Aegis grants you a 30-second shield. It absorbs damage equal to 20% of your max HP. This one gets an upgrade at level 88.
  • Searing Light grants you and other party members 30 seconds of a 3% damage buff. Don’t forget that this one isn’t your action, but Carbuncle’s. The party members should be near Carbuncle when this buff goes off.

Ruby, Topaz, and Emerald

What makes Summoner, well, a summoner, is the Aethercharge skill.

Aethercharge increases the potency of Ruin by 50 and Outburst by 20 for 15 seconds. When that’s over and done with, you get a Ruby, Topaz, and

Emerald Arcanum

These are your summoning stones. When you use Summon Ruby, it changes Carbuncle into Ruby Carbuncle. You probably already guessed, but the same happens with Topaz and Emerald. They all deal massive damage on your current target with Glittering Ruby, Topaz, and Emerald.

The stone distinction still doesn’t make any difference. They all deal 400 potency damage.

The Carbuncle you summoned does change your Gemshine and Precious Brilliance attunement.

Though these skills don’t do anything themselves, they allow you to infuse Ruin and Outburst with an element.

  • If you summoned Topaz Carbuncle, you’d make Gemshine turn into Topaz Ruin. This one has higher damage potency.
  • If you summoned Emerald Carbuncle, you’d make Gemshine turn into Emerald Ruin. This one has a faster cooldown.
  • If you summoned Ruby Carbuncle, you’d make Gemshine turn into Ruby Ruin. Though this one is the strongest, it does have a long cast time.

Just like Gemshine changed based on the Carbuncle you summoned, the same thing will happen with Precious Brilliance. Once you use Precious Brilliance, it will attune Outburst based on the Carbuncle you summoned: Topaz Outburst, Emerald Outburst, and Ruby Outburst.

The process is the same, the only difference being that Outburst deals AoE damage.

Summoning the Primals

We love Carby, but we were promised legendary beasts and primals. Where are those?

At levels 30, 35, and 45, all three Carbuncles will be upgraded to their primal versions. Here is a quick cheat sheet:

  • Ruby Carbuncle becomes Ifrit.
  • Topaz Carbuncle becomes Titan.
  • Emerald Carbuncle becomes Garuda.

At level 50, you unlock your summons’ iconic moves. You might recall them from battle, but here’s a brief overview.
Ifrit uses Inferno.

  • Titan uses Earthen Fury.
  • Garuda uses Aerial Blast.
  • Dreadwyrm Trance

Aethercharge, the skill that lets you summon your initial Carbuncle, gets an upgrade at level 58.

Dreadwyrm Trance upgrades Ruin 3 to Astral Impulse, arguably your most vital skill.

It deals damage with 440 potency and can be an instant-cast.

Likewise, Deadwyrm Trance upgrades Outburst to Astral Flare. Astral Flare deals 180-potency damage to nearby enemies and can be instant-cast.

Summon Bahamut

summon bahamut final fantasy

When you reach level 70, Dreadwyrm Trance upgrades to none other than Summon Bahamut. The legendary beast will join you in a battle for 15 seconds.

Besides his company, which will easily make you feel like not even Absolute Virtue could touch you, you’ll also get an insanely powerful AoE attack, Akh Morn.

  • Akh Morn deals 1,300-potency damage to the first enemy and 60% to the rest. It’s just nuts.

To unleash this beast of an attack, you’ll first need to activate Enkindle Bahamut.

Rites and Catastrophes

Gemshine and Precious Brilliance, the skills that once allowed you to attune Topaz, Ruby, and Emerald into Ruin and Outburst, get an upgrade at levels 72 and 82, respectively.

  • At level 72, Rite replaces Gemshine. Ruby, Topaz, and Emerald Rite are stronger than your upgraded Ruins.
  • At level 82, Catastrophe replaces Precious Brilliance. Ruby, Topaz, and Emerald Catastrophe are stronger than your upgraded Outbursts.

Summon Phoenix

summon phoenix final fantasy

Tri-disaster, your AoE attack, gets an upgrade at level 80, too. Now, you’ll be able to summon Phoenix after Bahamut. If this doesn’t have your foes running away from the battle, I don’t know what will.

Phoenix is equal parts, healer and damage dealer. It grants grant all nearby party members a 21-second regen buff.

When Phoenix is summoned, Ruin 3 upgrades to Fountain of Fire, which is even stronger than Astral Impulse and instant-cast.

Also, Tri-disaster upgrades to the Brand of Purgatory, which is stronger than Astral Flare. It’s also an instant cast.

Just like Bahamut, you can Enkindle Phoenix. When enkindled, Phoenix will unleash Revelation, an insanely powerful AoE move.

TIP: Don’t forget to use all of your Arcanums before summoning Bahamut or Phoenix. You’ll be wasting potential DPS damage from your Primal summons if you don’t.

At level 90, Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda will be upgraded to their complete primal forms. These massive primals will execute the same moves as before but will be stronger.

Astral Flow and Primal Abilities

A level 60 Summoner unlocks Astral Flow. This ability shifts the different moves based on your current beast summon.

  • If you have summoned Bahamut, Dreadwyrm Trance shifts to Deathflare. This strong AoE attack deals 500-potency damage to the first enemy and 60% to the rest.
  • If you have summoned Phoenix, Firebird Trance shifts to Rekindle. This handy healer and regen buff can be applied to yourself or party members.

At level 86, Astral Flow will also work with your Primal Summons.

  • If you have summoned Ifrit, Astral Flow shifts to Crimson Cyclon. This gap closer later changes into Crimson Strike, a ground AoE that deals 430 potency to the first foe and 60% less to the rest.
  • If you have summoned Titan, Astral Flow shifts to Mountain Buster. This AoE attack deals 150-potency damage to the first enemy and 70% less to the rest. Though this may seem like less damage, you can actually cast it multiple times.
  • If you have summoned Garuda, Astral Flow shifts to Slipstream. Though this AoE ability takes longer to cast, it will deal continuous 430-potency damage to all enemies who stand in the circle.

Rotation and Optimization

summoner actions final fantasy

Summoner goes through three phases: Bahamut, Phoenix, and Arcanum.

You start off with either Bahamut or Phoenix. You do Arcanum, then you do either Bahamut or Phoenix again. After that, you do another Arcanum phase, and then the whole thing starts over.

Using Summon Bahamut and Summon Phoenix grants you Arcanum. Each time you cast these, you get Ruby Emerald and Topaz Arcanum, allowing you to summon Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda.

Pet Glamour

At level 50, you’ll be able to join in the pet glamour contests taking place in Eorzea.

The Guild master of the Arcanist Guild will give you this quest when your prerequisites are fulfilled.

  • Being level 50
  • Completing up to and including the level 50 Summoner quest

She will then ask you to come to the training room to try something out. She experiments for a short while. And then tells you that you can alter the appearance of your summons, including Garuda, Titan, and Ifrit.

FAQs

Question: Is Summoner a Hard Job?

The casting may seem overwhelming if you have never touched Endwalker’s Summoner. But if you weave in your actions to maximize the profit, you can perform very nicely in a PVE environment. That is raids, dungeons, or even overworld content.

On top of that aspect, compared to Black Mages or other melee jobs, there are few hindrances to keep your spells coming and working in order.

So, if you ever want to play a ranged physical job but with all the caster benefits, Summoner is the way to go now. It offers one, if not the easiest, way to perform a combat system.

Question: How Has Summoner Changed Over the Years?

Since Endwalker, the whole job has been redesigned. Whereas the original Summoner had many more personal DPS actions, the current Summoner relies more on their summons.
This translates to your kit being easier to perform. For example, you don’t have to worry about a 30-second pre-pull opener or destroying your keyboard to open the fight.

The significant punishment for DoT not being appropriately applied has also been removed.
Summoner has been reduced to primal aspects and stances where each primal alignment leads to a different style of how your spells are used.

Question: Is Summoner a Slow Job?

The Summoner offers one of the fastest burst damage of all jobs.
You can deal substantial damage within the first two or three GCDS.

For example, you could summon Bahamut the second the fight has started and throw in a whopping 1.3 K potency Akh Morn followed by two OGCD Festers with 300 potency. Throw in a Deathflare with 500 potencies into the mix, and you are in for a deadly concoction.

Parting Words

Summoner is every wannabe Pokémon Trainer’s chance to put their skills into practice in Final Fantasy. Though the job has changed a lot over the years, you are still guaranteed to have fun with it.

You should go to the nearest training dummy and take 20 minutes, and you’ll realize how simple Summoner really is. The whole concept of how Summoner is supposed to be played has changed, so it’s only natural that it takes a little time to get used to it. But, once you do, it’s an enjoyable job to play.

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