[Jeryhn]

LushaSaleen :
So since Predator Claws was slashing, I had always assumed that Garuda was slashing or piercing damage on normal melee hits. Well, come to find out (which boggled my brain til last night), Garuda's normal hits do 0 damage on the slimes. So thinking about this, I guess its safe to assume that her normal melee hits are hand-to-hand.

Actually, an avatar's melee attacks are all considered H2H.
The Bloodpacts themselves can deal different types of damage.

It's not really within the scope of Bloodpacts, but I can include this bit of info into the Compilation for reference to avoid confusion.

Unclear :
I know it's not definately confirmed but would you say that summoning with all your avatar atk / acc gear on, you could switch to perpet for the duration of keeping the avatar out? Or would you suggest, with what you've expierenced..it's best to summon with the enhancing gear, switch to perpet after a few moments after summoning..and then macro in the gear again when you use certain pacts?

I've only ever noticed avatar enhancements being active on my avatar when I keep the gear equipped personally. Some people will notice absolutely nothing at all (which contributes to the Artifact Spats vs. Relic Bracers stack rumor), so really your mileage may vary. Personally, I'd rather improve what I can do with my avatars, and make sure the effect is active, rather than save an extra 4-10 MP in perpetuation costs. Diabolos is an obvious exception, as none of his good Bloodpacts are physical, so committing to Nashira Gages or Evoker's Pigaches +1 to your summoning macro for him is more beneficial.

Long story short: Keep avatar enhancement gear on in the short term, use perpetuation gear for Diabolos and extended soloing.

[sparik]

I fought KB and used Geocrush when he started casting and I interrupted Meteor every time (around 10 times during the fight).

Also, I have been testing the Sacrifice torque and it seems to add about 15% damage to my BP, have others seen this much of an increase.


P.S. great guide

[Jeryhn]

From my tests with Geocrush on HNMs, it doesn't seems to be 100% stun proc. However, I've only tested on NMs that have a resistance to magic, or earth elemental attacks (Vrtra, Cerberus, etc.).

[Ginormous]

Sticky prz


:yes

[Jeryhn]

The Compilation has had a small update. The first Bloodpact rule concerning summoning skill now touches on the updates to summoning skill and Bloodpact timers that will occur in the Oct. 2006 update.

For reference, here's a link to the offical SE page concerning the updates:
http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11u...906/detail.html

I'll be running tests on Bloodpact: Wards on update day.
Bloodpact: Rage testing will require much more extensive testing, and will be done at a later date, unless I get some clear and obvious data to post.

[Sosa]

Jeryhn, this is an excellent guide for budding young summoners and those who simply want to know more about the summoner occupation alike. I'm looking forward to seeing your update after the patch... I think I've put leveling SMN off long enough.

[spira]

i feel bad for all the work you're gonna have to do and the fact that you're gonna have to revamp pretty much everything in your guide since you gotta relabel every single pact and note the buff changes and stuff..

but happy cos you're doing it for the rest of the SMN community. XD

godspeed

[LushaSaleen]

Actually, an avatar's melee attacks are all considered H2H.
The Bloodpacts themselves can deal different types of damage.

It's not really within the scope of Bloodpacts, but I can include this bit of info into the Compilation for reference to avoid confusion.

Definetely makes sense for some of the avatars. I think next time I do that Limbus zone Im going to test out some of the avatars such as Fenrir, Carby, Diabolos, etc. and see if I can get an exact type of damage on each of their normal hits.

[Jeryhn]

I've examined the DAT files, and I've confirmed which Bloodpacts will be turned into [green]Bloodpact: Wards[/green].
As such, the Compilation has been updated.

Confirmed Bloodpact: Wards

Healing Ruby
Shining Ruby
Glittering Ruby
Healing Ruby II
Lunar Cry
Lunar Roar
Ecliptic Growl
Ecliptic Howl
Crimson Howl
Frost Armor
Sleepga
Aerial Armor
Whispering Wind
Hastega
Earthen Ward
Rolling Thunder
Lightning Armor
Slowga
Spring Water
Somnolence
Nightmare
Ultimate Terror
Noctoshield
Dream Shroud

All other Bloodpacts are considered [red]Bloodpact: Rages[/red].

Testing to come when the servers go up.

[rocketh]

Hastega:
276 skill is about 2:00
301 skill is about 2:40


Dream Shroud + Nether Blast:
301 skill is 527 dmg


Crimson Howl:
301 skill is +25 atk, which is meh. Duration still too short.

BP75:
301 skill they look the same. /sigh

[Kandinsky]

Crimson Howl+Flaming Crush 2.1k on Lesser Colibri

[Meian]

skill is relating to acc... you shouldn't really be missing on those things in the first place

I prefer to see tests on hnms or sky with garuda and see the difference

[spira]

damage on my pclaws are more consistent now...

yea jer, u did a typo with Healing Ruby II : rage lol

and heres a really interesting thing..

Somnolence does dmg (and mainly weighs mobs down) - and its a ward. @_@

Somnolence + Camisado/Nether Blast = 2 attack pacts in a row.

[Jeryhn]

Yea, was a typo on my part. It has been corrected. I've also updated the first Bloodpact rule concerning Summoning skill, and added a note near the top of the Compilation detailing the separation of the Bloodpacts into Rages and Wards.

As far as the changes go, so far that I've noticed, my Bloodpact accuracy, especially with the new merited Bloodpacts, has increased dramatically. Before Palace Aerns would generally evade one of my Predator Claws hits, and almost completely resist any magical attack I threw at them, and after farming close to 50 aerns for a HQ Aern Organ (lolCoP), I only ever missed one hit on a single Claws.

But overall, damage hasn't seemed to improve other than the improvements to accuracy.

Separating the Bloodpacts into Wards and Rages deifnitely has MP burning potential, and its become very easy to burn your MP very quickly, however, it could be beneficial in certain fights. One case was last night, I nearly forgot that I now had two separate timers while fighting Aerns while our healer went afk... Used Predator Claws, Aern used Biotic Boomerang, and I simply followed it up with a quick Spring Water. Utility factor for a summoner has pretty much went through the roof.

I can also forsee situations like when the Summoner party just happens to get hit by a Tebbad Wing at Tiamat. Have one summoner pop off Spring Water for Curaga + Viruna and another pop off Earthen Ward. Would require a little more corrdination between summoners, but could definitely be a good thing.

In most of my duration tests, all of my enhancing Bloodpacts seem to have been capped at 3 minutes duration, with the exception of Crimson Howl (which has lasted up to about 90 seconds for me) with 315 summoning skill. The Bloodpacts that already has three minute duration timers (Carbuncle's, Fenrir's and Diabolos' Bloodpacts) didn't get any duration increases. Also, Aerial Armor and Earthen Ward seem to have been untouched, both lasting for 15 minutes.

The scope of the improvements to Enhancing Bloodpact duration seem to be limited to the Bloodpacts that already had extremely short durations.

[darkseed]

bump *why this not stick*?

[rocketh]

Healing Ruby II - Ward (Magical) LV: 65, MP: 124
Restores HP for Carbuncle and party members within area of effect.
Healing Calculation: (Avatar Level x 4) + 28 HP.

just for fun, I tried this @ 300 tp : result was 430hp healed.

[Jeryhn]

rocketh :

Healing Ruby II - Ward (Magical) LV: 65, MP: 124
Restores HP for Carbuncle and party members within area of effect.
Healing Calculation: (Avatar Level x 4) + 28 HP.

just for fun, I tried this @ 300 tp : result was 430hp healed.

Yep, that's normal before the summoning skill update.
I've soloed a good bunch of weaker NMs using the Healing Ruby 2 > Spirit Taker method.

[Gwynplaine]

Finally, about time this got stickied.

[spira]

hmm.. i was hoping u added notes about skill+ adding to duration extension and how long each extension caps on various BPs..like ur post above..

also, I'm told Hastega is 15% since the update.. haven't logged on since hearing this claim to test it.. but i think its true given the test that I was told about.