User:Cii/Sandbox

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This is just intended to help with getting your summoner to the level where you can start seeing some nice numbers.

Recommended GS LUA (and helpful tools) by Pergatory: Link.

Getting Started

As a new level 99 SMN, I recommend focusing your efforts on the following:

  1. Obtain an Epitaph or grab an Eminent Sachet while you work towards your 100 JP gift to equip a Sancus Sachet +1
  2. Create Blood Pact (BP) sets to improve your avatar's maximum damage per offensive ability
  3. Create a BP delay set to improve the frequency that you can perform Blood Pacts
  4. Create an idle set with enough Avatar perpetuation cost - to offset your avatar's constant MP drain/upkeep, and enough DT- to survive being hit with AOEs in content like Dyna D
  5. Obtain the 1200 JP Gift and eventually reach Master SMN

An additional note: Flaming Crush is going to be your highest damage Blood Pact against almost anything that doesn't resist it. Embrace Ifrit.


JSE Gear

The only three pieces you need are the Beckoner's Horn +2, Con. Doublet +4, and Beck. Pigaches +2. The Empyrean hat is for cooldowns, the Artifact body is for Blood Pact damage, and the Empyrean shoes are for idling, but can be used for damage if you can't get your hands on Apogee. Prioritize based on what you're lacking.


Merits

Group 1:

  • Avatar Physical Accuracy: 0
  • Avatar Physical Attack: 5
  • Avatar Magical Accuracy: 0
  • Avatar Magical Attack: 5
  • Summoning Magic Cast Time: Do not merit this. Build a Fast Cast set instead.

You can switch Magical Attack to Physical Accuracy and vise versa if you feel like you are having a problem with accuracy for a certain Blood Pact that you're using often. A good example of this is for AFAC strategies on Reisenjima HELMS - Physical Accuracy is very important there because you almost exclusively use Volt Strike.

Group 2:

You can merit whichever one of these you're using most often with the full 5 merits, Meteor Strike is recommended here because of the offensive power of Flaming Crush, and the ability to use Apogee to burst off of the skillchains it creates.

Good examples of times to merit other blood pacts: Geocrush for sortie bosses A and E magic burst strat, Thunderstorm if you're mostly attacking with Volt Strike from Ramuh, or Heavenly Strike if you're bursting on Darkness.

Idle Set

Most gearswap files will have a separate set for idling with and without your avatar.
This set is for the former, and the goal here is to reach the perpetuation cost cap of -14 MP/tic first and foremost. Once you have reached the cap, avatars will cost at most 1 MP/tic, even with Avatar's Favor up, so your Auto Refresh will easily cover that.

  1. Reach the cap of -14 avatar perpetuation cost in pet idle set
  2. Obtain a Caller's Pendant to grant your avatar free TP while standing around
  3. Fill the remaining slots on Refresh or defense stats afterward.
    • Note that Avatar's Favor effects are tiered off based on total skill and Favor+ gear.
Idle Set  
  Recommended Start
Idle Set  
  Cii's Current Gear

Some Notes: Both of these sets should be somewhere around -40% DT- (and 10+ refresh!), so a simple swap of one piece (Bunzi's Pants for example) should be enough for your DT- set to be at or near -50%.

Evoker's Ring is good, but very skippable. Shadow Ring is a fairly easy to obtain tanky alternative for your second slot.

Oneiros Grip and Fucho-No-Obi are optional low-mp switches to give you even more MP when you really need it.

Most of the pieces listed above and hereafter are interchangeable with their NQ and HQ variants. Customize your set based on available gear.

Cheapest / Entry Damage Set

All BPs  
  Lowest Cost / Bar to Entry


Some Notes: At time of writing (12/12/2025), the above set should be roughly 12mil to complete. (16mil if you get an Elan Strap +1.) If you don't have the money for that, feel free to downgrade items from +1 to +0 - with the apogee at +0, it'll only be about 7mil! However, the prices on these are pretty low right now, so if you're liking the job i'd focus on getting the +1s here ASAP.

There isn't really a satisfactory belt option that doesn't require endgame content - Klouskap Sash exists, but its also 1.5 mil or greater. I'd recommend sticking with something defensive until you can get your hands on the Regal Belt or Incarnation Sash.


All BPs  
  Required Magic BP Items

Other Useful Items

  • Optional: Sancus Sachet +1 - If you can't get the Epitaph, or already have one, this is actually a better option until the Epitaph is augmented. However, it costs >2mil, so if money is a concern, try to get that Sgili clear for the Epitaph.
  • -
  • Optional: Shulmanu Collar - BIS for melee pacts until a near max JSE neck +1 or +2, if you already have it, great!
  • -
  • Optional: Smn. Collar +1 - 2nd BIS only to the +2 when fully augmented, and only ~3mil at time of writing. Worth it if you have the funds and are willing to get the RP in Dynamis.
  • -
  • Optional: Apogee Dalmatica (Path A) (Magical BP) - the +1 is good, but expensive, and magical only BPs are hardly ever used. Don't spend your money on a +1 unless you get very deep into gearing the job.
  • -
  • Optional: Sroda Earring (Melee Pacts, BIS and cheap)
  • -
  • Questionable: Kyrene's Earring - If you have one laying around and are missing something else
  • -
  • Questionable: Apogee Mitts - If unsure that you want to play the job, make a pair of +0s with path C while you try it out. Do not waste money on a +1 pair of these.

More Advanced Blood Pact Sets

Blood Pacts are generally categorized as either physical or magical damage, with the exception that Ifrit's Burning Strike and Flaming Crush are considered hybrid damage.
In the event you have a Nirvana and HQ Apogee pieces at hand, see Pergatory's LUA file above on gear choices while Garland's Aftermath is up.
  1. For physical BPs, you will want stats such as BP Damage, Accuracy, Attack, and Pet: Double Attack.
  2. For magical BPs, you will want BP Damage, Magic Attack, and perhaps Pet: TP Bonus. Avatars seem to have naturally high magic accuracy for their associated element
  3. For hybrid BPs, there is usually a mixture of physical and magical BP stats, with a heavy emphasis on the magical end.

None of these sets will include REMA weapons, or very expensive minor upgrades like +2 JSE necks.

Physical BP  
  Recommended
Physical BP  
  Cii's Current Gear

Some Notes: You can use Apogee Attire Set +1 boots and hat for your physical set, but with the Helios Attire Set being easily attainable, I'd really recommend against buying a second pair of Apogee +1 for physical unless you're made of money. The Helios is typically better anyways - just requires some time to augment.

The Shulmanu Collar is probably not worth chasing just for SMN, as the Smn. Collar +1 is better when fully augmented. Its mostly in this set in case you already have one for a different job.

The Sroda Earring is BIS as long as you've got enough accuracy in your set. The only reason the Beck. Earring +1 is in mine is because the Glyphic Doublet +3 has 0 Pet: Accuracy.

Lastly, with Apollyon points being so accessible due to ???'s being shouted out every 3 days or so, i'd really recommend getting the Con. Doublet +4. You don't ever need to make the Glyphic Doublet +3 like I have, because of previously mentioned accuracy issues.


Magical BP  
  Recommended
Magical BP  
  Cii's Current Gear

Some Notes: The Apogee Slacks +1 are only better than the Enticer's Pants if you have the blood pact fully merited, or have TP over 1500. You don't really need a second pair of these, just stick with the Enticer's Pants.

Smn. Collar +1 is better than the Adad Amulet after about lvl 10.

Gelos Earring is about the same as the Beck. Earring for merit pacts.

C. Palug Crown is BIS for magic/hybrid BPs, but its hard to obtain, so its not in my recommended set.

Grioavolr is only better than Espiritus with a near perfect roll, so its not worth going for unless you really enjoy the job.


Hybrid BP  
  Recommended
Hybrid BP  
  Cii's Current Gear


Some Notes: The most important stat for Flaming Crush is Blood Pact Damage, as its counted twice: once on the physical hits, and once on the magical. That's why the Gelos Earring is recommended over the Beck. Earring here. Of course, if you already have a Beck. Earring, there's no reason to do the quest for the Gelos Earring. The damage difference is pretty minimal.

Smn. Collar +1 is better than the Adad Amulet for hybrid pacts earlier than magical - switch as soon as you have some RP on it.

C. Palug Crown is BIS for magic/hybrid BPs, but its hard to obtain, so its not in my recommended set.

Grioavolr is only better than Espiritus with a near perfect roll, so its not worth going for unless you really enjoy the job.

Apogee Slacks +1 (Path A) should be more damage than (Path D) for Flaming Crush. However, (Path D) is fine, so this upgrade is fairly unnecessary. With this same logic, the Apogee Dalmatica +1 may be similar damage to the Con. Doublet +4 - but the extra +60 accuracy on that top plays a huge role for Flaming Crush. If you miss either of the initial melee hits, your overall damage will completely plummet, because the magic hit's damage is based on the first two hits' damage.


Do not fret if you are missing the Omen/Vagary accessories; the bulk of your avatar's damage comes from your armor and weapon choices.

BP Delay Reduction Gear

Blood Pact delays have a combined cap of -30 seconds from player gear and gifts, and no more than -15 seconds can be applied per delay tier.
Once you have obtained the 500 JP (Superior 3) gift, the HQ Sancus Sachet and Baayami Attire Set can help you reach the BP delay cap while providing copious amounts of Summoning Magic Skill.
An Espiritus can provide additional BP delay II if you do not mind potentially losing TP on swapping weapons.

  1. Reach the cap of -30 seconds through gear and JP gifts
  2. Fill remaining slots with Summoning Skill and Favor+ gear to improve Avatar's Favor tier - the final 'tier' is at 670+ total skill.


NOTE: Depending on your gearswap file, your BP delay set may be listed as a precast or midcast set.
The delay set should equip as soon as a BP command is sent, and similarly, your BP damage sets should equip once your avatar begins its BP animation.

-22 BP delay  
  Cii's Current Gear

Some Notes: More than fully capped BP delay with 1200JP, plus 676 Summoning Magic Skill at ML22

-18 BP delay  
  0 Job Points
-26 BP delay  
  100 Job Points
-26 BP delay  
  500 Job Points
-30 BP delay  
  1200 Job Points
-30 BP delay  
  1200 Job Points


Buff Duration / Summoning Skill Scaling Sets

Buff Duration  
  Cii's Current Gear

Some Notes:

  • This set gives 676 Summoning skill at ML22
Summoning Skill +  
  Alternative items

Some Notes:

  • The Stikini Ring and Baayami Hat are very expensive for little benefit, so i'd recommend against them unless you already have them. They're mostly on this list so all options are shown.
  • The Beckoner's Attire Set has a decent amount of skill, but its probably not worth building just for the skill bonus.
Elemental Siphon  
  Cii's Current Gear


SMN at a Glance

Here is where I attempt to answer questions and grossly generalize SMN at the same time:

Skillchains and Magic Bursts

Physical and Hybrid BPs are analogous to player WSs and each have their own skillchain properties.
Magic BPs are analogous to player spells and can be used in a magic burst.
In general, there is a short delay (just over a second) between using a BP command and when the BP is executed, so time your BPs accordingly.

Solo Skillchains (2-Step)
Opening WS Closing WS Skillchain Magic Burst1
/ Shattersoul Merit / Flaming Crush Fragmentation
/ Garland of Bliss Mythic / Mountain Buster Gravitation Crag Throw Merit
/ Full Swing Burning Strike Fusion Conflag Strike
/ Garland of Bliss Mythic / Predator Claws Light Wind Blade Merit
/ Garland of Bliss Mythic / Volt Strike Light Thunderstorm Merit
/ Shattersoul Merit / Spinning Dive Darkness Grand Fall Merit
/ Shattersoul Merit / Rush Darkness Heavenly Strike Merit
Solo Skillchain (3-step)
Weapon Skill #1 Weapon Skill #2 Skillchain #1 Weapon Skill #3 Skillchain #2
/ Shattersoul Merit / Flaming Crush Fragmentation / Flaming Crush1 Light

1 Requires Apogee to BP twice in a row

Multi-SMN Skillchains
Opening WS Closing WS Skillchain Magic Burst
/ Volt Strike / Flaming Crush Light Thunderstorm Merit
/ Spinning Dive / Eclipse Bite Darkness Grand Fall Merit

Blood Pacts and when to use them

A summary of useful BPs I have encountered for solo and group play. This list is not exhaustive.

I really need to...
Blood Pact: Rage Blood Pact: Ward Potential Uses
Cleave targets

Thunderspark
Level ? Holy

Vagary
Salvage Farming
Colonization Reives
Incursion

Curb enemy offense

Tidal Roar
Mewing Lullaby
Eerie Eye

Lower enemies' attack
Lower enemies' TP
Inflicts Silence and Amnesia

Buff party's offense

Crimson Howl
Inferno Howl
Rolling Thunder
Hastega II
Crystal Blessing
Dream Shroud

Attack Bonus
Enfire
Enthunder
Haste II
TP Bonus
Magic Attack Bonus

Buff party's defense

Earthen Armor
Earthen Ward
Perfect Defense 2
Frost Armor
Shining Ruby
Dream Shroud

Damage mitigation
Stoneskin
Damage reduction
Ice Spikes
Defense+10%, MDT
Magic Defense Bonus

Dispel enemy buffs

Lunar Roar
Pavor Nocturnus

Yggdreants or Belladonna's
Glassy Gorger

Sleep nearby enemies

Nightmare
Sleepga

Warder of Love
Omen
Dynamis - Divergence

Stun the enemy

/ Volt Strike
/ Chaotic Strike

Shock Squall

Helps Gessho tank CP mobs. Dynamis - Divergence

Heal my party

Spring Water
Whispering Wind
Healing Ruby II

Self-explanatory.

Remove status ailments

Spring Water
Soothing Ruby

Self-explanatory.

Run really fast

Fleet Wind

Self-explanatory.

Give party member Reraise

Reraise II

Self-explanatory.

Deal hybrid damage

Flaming Crush

Best damage while unresisted - check your monster beforehand. Fire/Magic/High Melee resist will chunk your damage. - example: Dynamis - Bastok (D)(Green pull only)/Dynamis - Jeuno (D), Zerde

Deal melee damage

Volt Strike

Predator Claws

Rush

General Melee dmg - example: Reisenjima Helms (Erinys, etc), but this will be your most used melee blood pact due to the stun.

Slashing damage - example: Yakshi/Kalunga

Blunt damage - example: Gigelorum/Gogmagog

Deal magic damage

Meteor Strike

Heavenly Strike

Wind Blade

Geocrush

Thunderstorm

Grand Fall

Fire damage (Light/Fusion/Liquefaction)

Ice damage (Darkness/Distortion/Induration)

Wind damage (Light/Fragmentation/Detonation)

Earth damage (Darkness/Gravitation/Scission)

Thunder damage (Light/Fragmentation/Impaction)

Water damage (Darkness/Distortion/Reverberation)

2 Requires Astral Flow to activate BP

AFAC Strategy

Given the large amount of pet stats gained from SMN gifts and JP categories, I highly recommend maxing the Astral Flow/Astral Conduit effects and acquiring all the physical BP related stats (1710+ JP) prior to attempting an AFAC.
Secondly, if you are using Gearswap, ensure that you are not accidentally swapping into a precast or aftercast set during Astral Conduit.
At the time of this writing, Pergatory's LUA will equip an idle set following conduit BPs and assumes the user will stagger BPs approximately 1.25 seconds apart.
If this proves inconvenient, you may opt to equip your BP set and //gs disable all during Astral Conduit [or] add code to disable his idle() function calls while conduit is up.

Generic AFAC Algorithm

  1. Receive pre-fight buffs
  2. Activate Avatar's Favor
  3. If using 119 Nirvana, or Opashoro, build 3000 TP and gain AM3 on fodder
  4. Pop NM
  5. Wait for GEO bubbles and offensive spells/JAs
  6. Hit Astral Flow
  7. Hit Astral Conduit
  8. Spam BPs
  9. Receive Mana Powder / Mana Mist during Astral Conduit from back line jobs if in Escha zone
  10. Watch your mana bar closely during your AFAC, and hit Convert if you ever drop below 300 - the goal is to get through two full mana bars during your AFAC if possible
  11. Once Astral Conduit wears:
  12. Apogee, then BP (x2)
  13. Reset Apogee and Astral Flow + Astral Conduit via COR JAs and/or Super Revitalizer if in Escha zone
  14. Repeat until you or the boss dies


Job Summary
Blood Pact SMN Food Indi-Spell Geo-Spell Entrust Offensive spells COR Roll #1 COR Roll #2 RUN JAs BRD Songs

Volt Strike
Predator Claws

Indi-Torpor Geo-Frailty Defensive spell or Indi-Refresh Dia II + Impact Beast Roll Drachen Roll Odyllic Subterfuge Ballads
Flaming Crush
Indi-Frailty Geo-Malaise Indi-Torpor or Indi-Languor Dia II + Impact Beast Roll Puppet Roll

Rayke +
Gambit +
Odyllic Subterfuge

Ballads + Fire Threnody

Meteor Strike

, Indi-Languor Geo-Malaise Defensive spell or Indi-Refresh Impact Puppet Roll Companion's Roll

Rayke +
Gambit +
Odyllic Subterfuge

Ballads + Fire Threnody

Impact, Odyllic Subterfuge, and Refresh effects may be omitted based on NM and groups' comfort zone. 

Just use grape daifuku - there are other food options, but grapes are good for everything.

Acknowledgements

I took some of this straight from Prismfang's Sandbox, (especially the bottom half with info on what pacts do - I think its much nicer than having two pages open), with edits based on what I think is most realistic for someone newish to the job in 2025-2026.

Thanks to Pergatory of Asura for providing constructive feedback and all the SMNs on the FFXIAH.com forums for sharing their knowledge.

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