DAWNTRAIL Guides! Dawntrail L90-100 Miner Leveling, Botanist Leveling
Dawntrail Normal Raid Guide (Quick, Spoiler Free)
See: Viper STARTER Guide / Rotation | Pictomancer Starter Guide / Rotation
Striving to set out as a Summoner? Simmer on how to stir up a storm with the SMN job! Basic information and FAQs in our Summoner Basics Guide. Read on if you’re expecting to learn about unlocking SMN, Summoner Job Identity, trait and skill list, crafters and gatherers related to SMN, and link to other important Summoner info!
Summoner is a Ranged Magical DPS job (“caster”) introduced as one of the nine original jobs in 2.0 A Realm Reborn. SMNs came out at release with another caster job, Black Mage. It took years before another caster was added into the mix (During 4.0 Stormblood, Red Mage).
How to become a Summoner? Unlocking SMN:
First and foremost you need to have a Level 30 Arcanist, and have completed the L30 ACN class quest, “Sinking Doesmaga”. After doing this you can unlock the actual quest to become a Summoner, “Austerities of Flame” found at Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks.
You also have to complete a Level 20 MSQ, “Sylph Management”, which realistically should be completed by the time you’re looking to unlock Summoner.
Note that, upon completing the quest you MUST EQUIP the “Soul of the Summoner” to actually formally BECOME a SMN. Interestingly, in the old days, unlocking Summoner required L15 Thaumaturge – that’s no longer the case.
Rushing to or want to know how to unlock a certain class? Learn more:
FFXIV Job Unlock & Requirements Guide.
Summoner Playstyle & SMN Job Identity
If you’ve asked yourself, “Why play, try, or choose Summoner?” – here’s my attempt at selling you the SMN class.
Pet class DPS? Sign me up! For sure you know at least ONE dude that said it. FFXIV’s Summoner has gone through quite a few transformations over the years…
Historically, SMN’s are a reasonably mobile caster class. While their “multi phase” rotation is a little too much to swallow for some, it’s a welcome challenge for some. They have a DoT subtheme if you’re into that. Aligning and being smart about timings and cooldowns are a CORE mastery aspect for the job. Be warned, their “only human” phase is some of the most feelsbad parts of any jobs rotation heh.
Aesthetically and thematically, I mean, you can’t not love the classic Summoner horn, and your cast of pets include the classics Ifrit, Titan, Bahamut, Garuda, Phoenix. The flashiness is off the charts as well. FFXIV’s Summoner might not be for everyone, but they (literally they) get the job done.
What Crafters & Gatherers should Summoner level?
While it’s common in MMORPG’s to think you want to craft your own gear as you level up your SMN… I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.
Leveling up your DoH and DoL jobs should be thought of as a different activity completely. To be honest, if you’re a newer player, simply ensure that you DO NOT OVERCAP Levequests (always have less than 100).
The only relation a combat job has to a crafter or gatherer class is “which classes do you need to repair your gear”? My advice, ultimately, is pretty much all or nothing – level up all DoH classes in tandem. As a separate project, level up all DoL classes in tandem (with the optional Fisher).
What’s the best race for Summoner?
Racial stats are (was?) a thing. However, I highly recommend not caring about it. The difference in performance between the “best” and “worst” race for you is not even 0.1%.
My advice? Pick for aesthetics. Will you stay the same job forever? If you change mains, will you race change? Ultimately, the difference is so microscopic that I cannot in good faith tell you that racial stats are an integral part of your character.
I won’t even link the Racial Stats Guide, as I haven’t checked up on this in a while – and I don’t want to cement the idea that the “best race” really matters.
Related Summoner Guides – Read More!
Here are a few useful links for you:
- General Leveling Guide for ALL combat classes / jobs
- Arcanist Basics Guide & FAQ
- Arcanist Leveling Guide
- Scholar Basics Guide & FAQ – The other job that evolves from Arcanist
- Adding new links as we update them!
Upcoming Odds and Ends
Here’s a few things we’ll be adding on here in the near future:
- Adding a “links to further resources”, we’re doing a site restructure so once those links are set, they’ll go in here.
- Human-readable, newbie-friendly skill and trait list.
> I used to have the in-game skill list here, but I found it useless as the in-game one is better… I’d rather have a new player friendly rundown. - More descriptive job identity? Pics?
> I dunno… pictures of the job gauges? A gif of some flashy skills? - Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!
Summary & Outro
Well that’s about it for a really, really basic guide that hopefully points some lost souls in the right direction, or answers some of your questions regarding Summoner.
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