At level 30 you can transition to a Summoner or Scholar. While it’s possible to unlock both jobs, you should focus on one more so than the other because the attribute points you can distribute as you level up are the same across both jobs. If you want to be a Summoner, you should put all of your points into intelligence. If you want to be a Scholar, you should put all of your points into mind. Splitting the points will only make you a weaker version of both jobs, so it’s best to just pick one of the two jobs as your primary focus. Be sure to check out our Arcanist and Scholar articles for a detailed look at both.
Both jobs share a few abilities as you make your way to level 50. You’ll learn Bane at level 30, Eye for an Eye at 34, Ruin II at 38, Rouse at 42, Miasma II at 46, and Shadow Flare at 50. Bane is one of your most effective abilities. It allows you to use all of your DoTs on one enemy, then spread them to any enemies in the immediate area. For instance, you should start all fights with Bo II, Miasma and Bio. Once all three DoTs are applies to one enemy, use Bane to spread them to the surrounding enemies. Using this strategy, the DotS typically last until halfway into fighting the second enemy. When they run out, switch to the third enemy to reapply the DoTs. If the second enemy is still alive, use Bane again to spread the DoTs to that enemy as well.
Keep in mind, Bane can only be used when Aetherflow is active. However, at level 20 you gain the ability to have two stacks of Aetherflow instead of one, and at level 40 you can have up to three stacks. Once you have multiple stacks of Aetherflow, recast it only when all of your stacks have been used. If a fight ends and you still have one stack of Aetherflow, do not recast Aetherflow until you use the last stack. This allows for maximum Aetherflow effectiveness.
Eye for an Eye is an ability that can only be cast on another party member or pet, giving the target a 20 percent chance that an attacking enemy will inflict 10 percent less damage for 20 seconds. It’s generally used on the tank during a boss battle, but any time it’s available it should be used to make things a little easier on the tank.
Ruin II is very similar to the first Ruin, except it’s an instant cast, blinds an enemy, and uses more MP. If MP is not an issue, Ruin II should simply replace Ruin. However, if your MP is low, switch back to Ruin. Miasma II is basically an area of effect (AoE) version of Miasma. Unfortunately, the area of effect is the area surrounding the caster, which means you need to run into the center of the enemies, then use Miasma II. In general, you should do this after casting your other three DoT spells and Bane (Bane does not spread Miasma II because it’s already an AoE spell).
Rouse increases the potency of your pet by 40 percent for 20 seconds, in both healing output (for a Scholar) and damage output (for a Summoner). It also makes your pet immune to stun, sleep, bind, heavy, paralysis, and disease. It has a recast time of 90 seconds, but for a Summoner it should be used at boss fights, and whenever it’s available at the start of normal fights. For a Scholar it should be used primarily for boss battles or when the party is taking heavy damage.
Shadow Flare is yet another DoT spell, which has a five percent chance of causing Slow in addition to the damage over time. Once you have this spell, your rotation as a Summoner should change to: Shadow Flare > Bio II > Miasma > Bio > Bane > Miasma II > Ruin or Ruin II repeatedly until the enemy is defeated. This maximizes your DoT spells, but be careful because you’ll be inflicting considerable damage to every enemy. It’s not uncommon for tanks to only focus on one enemy, meaning you’ll take the hate from secondary enemies regularly. This is where Topaz Carbuncle (or Titan at this point) comes into play until the tank gets his act together.
As a Summoner, your strategy won’t change much from your time as an Arcanist. It’s basically the same class, only with more tools to work with. At level 30 you learn to summon Ifrit, at 35 you learn Fester and how to summon Titan, at 40 you get Tri-disaster, at 45 you get Spur and learn to summon Garuda, and at 50 you learn Enkindle. Ifrit is a brand new summons, but Titan and Garuda take over for Topaz Carbuncle and Emerald Carbuncle respectively. That means that once you have all three, you no longer have the ability to summon Carbuncle, but don’t worry, Ifrit, Titan and Garuda are more useful.
For damaging dealing purposes, you’ll use Ifrit until Garuda becomes available. The only time this should change is if you need to deal damage from a specific range. Ifrit moves right next to the mob it’s fighting, while Garuda stays away like Emerald Carbuncle. Titan is for tanking, just like Topaz Carbuncle, but at higher levels he won’t survive as long as Topaz did early on. This is mainly because the enemies hit considerably harder. However, Titan still works very well for soloing, or if you need to keep an enemy occupied while the tank is being raised.
Fester uses one stack of Aetherflow and causes damage based on the number of DoTs inflicted on the enemy. Because of this, you want to use Fester after you’ve applied Bio II, Miasma, and Bio. It doesn’t matter how much time is remaining on the DoTs so long as all three are active when you use Fester. In some cases you can use it multiple times against the same enemy, but remember that it uses one stack of Aetherflow each time it’s used.
Spur increases your pet’s damage by 40 percent for 20 seconds. It has a recast time of two minutes, which means you can’t use it every battle. It should be saved for boss fights, or any time it’s available at the start of a battle. Enkindle is very similar, except it allows your pet to use its signature attack and has a recast of five minutes. The signature attack varies with each pet, but it’s essentially your pet’s strongest attack. It should be used in conjunction with Spur to maximize the damage.
Tri-disaster is a very situational spell. It inflicts a small amount of damage, but its primary use is to bind enemies in place for 20 seconds. A few boss battles become much easier with the use of Tri-disaster, but you won’t use it much during normal fights. It can come in handy when a large group of enemies is attacking, or if the tank goes down and you want to keep the enemies in place until the tank is revived.
