i recently partied with a very helpful Japanese mithra summoner and she relayed some tips on obtaining the avatars in the lvl 20 fights. since i'd noticed a few cats having trouble with these battles, i thought i relay her strategy to you all
she said if done right, the battles were not too hard, just very expensive. for each one you need a yagudo drink and 2-3 hi-ethers. this is how she explained the battle:
1. fight the avatar on it's weak day (opposite element day)
2. as soon as battle starts, use a yagudo drink, then summon carbunkle.
3. have carbunkle attack and use your 2hr Searing Light.
4. wait for carbunkle to be defeated.
5. when carbunkle has fallen, use a hi-ether.
6. summon carbunkle again.
7. repeat #'s 3-6 until done
she said it takes 2 maybe 3 summonings of carbunkle this way to defeat just about any avatar (and she had all but fenrir so i'm inclined to think she knows what shes doing). anyway, hope this is helpful in some small way to all you struggling summoners *ahemIsheahem*
My strategy is this (It's a little less risky than the above, but won't net you a record ;) :
Prep: Pinapple juice (2 or 3 is good), Yagudo drink, Hi-ether
Fight on the avatar's weak day (as mentioned above)
1) Get whatever buffs you can before you go in.
2) Enter the battle, summon carbuncle, attack.
3) run away, drink the juice at the bottom of the area
4) Play cat'n'mouse with the avatar using carbuncle on each end until the juice wears off (4 minutes)
5) The next time carbuncle is needed: summon, use astral flow, and drink the yag drink.
6) Searing Light, run.
7) Repeat SL when you can (Remember, you need 40 MP!)
8) Repeat SL when you can. ;)
9) If you missed an SL, or only got two off, the avatar is weak enough that a couple rounds of cat'n'mouse will suffice. Use the pinapple juice and ether now if you have to.
There's no need for an ether, hi-ether, etc during Astral Flow. Searing Light sucks you dry anyway. I got three off without a problem using only the Yag drink.
As for buffs, I tried Leviathan with Aerial Armor and Earthen Ward, and it made a huge difference. I still lost, but I only had one SL hit Levi, and it was still down under 25% before I ran completely out of MP/items. I have Ifrit now though, so at least I have 'fire' power, haha. -.-
I'm so excited to start summoning now! After school!! XD 2 more hours!! gosh I hate school lol... I'm on my spare currently, so yay libraries. Then I have literature before I race home to finish summoner quest. (Just need ice and fire! took me till 12:30am last this morning to get all but that with Piranha and Deaath) After that... I'll grumble lots while helping Rekah and Deaath then go race home and Summon my buns off! I've got a plan. XD Go to Windy when possible, get Homepoint set there, then grab a warp scroll and go off to help Rekah and Deaath. If anyone else joins though that needs their ruby.. I run for my life.. I can't stand waiting this long for it!! uhm.. yeah.. I think I'll try the first suggestion there for it... sounds easier. ^^;; My wonder is... are you able to use the ether while Carbucle is dying so the avatar doesn't whap you to death?
My wonder is... are you able to use the ether while Carbucle is dying so the avatar doesn't whap you to death?
Yes. If timed correctly you can keep carby out there taking hits even after you did Searing light. Dont forget Searing light will drain all your MP but carby's cost is 0 mp!. the ether will bring you back up in mp while your drink is still adding to that. Watchout for the Avatar's two hour! I luckily survived Shiva's last week. Dont let anyone fool you, day of the week, protect's and Shells DO make a difference. (however subtle)
Mielu - San d'Orian Mithra Rank 5
57 WHM - 34 BLM - 20 SMN (Shiva only) - 35 DRG - 26 THF - 15 RDM - 15 BST - 7 RNG
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Current Project: WHM AF Body and Gloves, {Erase} {Can I have it?}, Blm to 40
Ok, since many of you kitties are starting to fight the avatars I thought I would lend my advice and experience to you, having obtained all but Titan and Fenrir. My strategy is a relatively safe one. It allows lots of room for error, and is less expensive than other methods seen on the internet. Here goes:
PREPARATION:
Level 20 Summoner with lv63 (maxed) summoning skill
Level 10 White Mage (in case you need to cure yourself during the battle)
2 Yagudo Drinks
2 Ethers (no, not Hi-Ethers; these are unnecessary)
Spare VIT-boosting food if you have any (not required)
MACROS:
Start a new macro set specifically for fighting avatars. This is the easiest method I find.
EQUIPMENT:
This isn't THAT important, but I thought I would list the equipment I used when fighting the avatars. Again, this equipment is not required but it is recommended you have a similar setup when taking on the avatars solo
Hermit's Wand
Silver Hairpin/Compound Eye Circlet
Wing Pendant
2 Onyx Earrings
Doublet
Zealot's Mitts/Scentless Armlets
Tourmaline Ring
Windurst Ring
(I had no cape or back armor)
Friar's Rope
Black Slacks
Light Solea
You'll notice that most of my equipment boosts either MP, MND, or AGI. AGI is important if you think you'll be taking a lot of physical hits from the avatars. Max MP doesn't matter too much after you fire off your first Searing Light, but it's good to have a large supply regardless. Get equipment with a lot of Defense. Don't go overboard, though. You don't NEED that Mist Silk Cape or those pretty Astral Rings to win the fights. I sure didn't.
STRATEGY:
Ok, so you've got your mini tuning fork all ready to go, you've got your drinks and equipment all ready to go. You enter the protocrystal....what now? If you weren't able to get buffs from a high lvl WHM before entering the crystal, now is the time to cast Protect, Aquaveil, and any Bar-type spells you might have. Walk up the long winding pathway until you get to a bend that looks like an 'S'. Stop here, and use a yagudo drink. Immediately summon carbuncle and continue on the last stretch of the path leading up to the prime avatar. DO NOT RUN STRAIGHT UP TO THE PRIME AVATAR! You want Carbuncle to take the first hit from the avatar, so to do this you will want to run up close enough to see the avatar, then just take baby steps while spamming your assault macro until the avatar is in range. If done properly, the avatar won't see you, but you'll be in range to have carbuncle attack it.
As soon as Carbuncle starts attacking, run the opposite direction and don't stop. Run towards the protocrystal, and when you get to the point in the path just below the 'S', stop and wait for Carbuncle to die. When you see his health getting low, start spamming your summon carbuncle macro. When he reappears he will automatically chase the avatar, so don't worry about being really close to it. As soon as you resummon Carbuncle, start running toward the protocrystal again. When you get there, wait for Carbuncle to die again, then resummon. By this time the prime avatar will be fighting Carbuncle near the protocrystal where you started. This is good.
However, at this point in the fight the avatar will sometimes unleash its level 2 elemental spell (Blizzard II, Aero II, etc), or its 2hr ability (Judgement Bolt, Tidal Wave, etc). Either one of these attacks will kill Carbuncle in one hit, and if you're in range of the 2hr attack, you will probably fall as well. If you see the avatar preparing this attack, run away from the avatar and head up the ramp as fast as you can. The avatars are kind of slow so after a while you'll have gained enough ground to resummon carbuncle without taking too many hits (this is where aquaveil plays its part).
By this time your yagudo drink has (or should have) run out. If Carbuncle has 75% health or more, immediately use a yagudo drink, then astral flow. Once you use astral flow, the avatar willl probably come after you. This is fine. Immediately after using astral flow, have Carbuncle launch Searing Light. This should take about 210 damage if you are fighting the avatar on the correct day and your summon skill is high enough. Wait until AFTER Searing Light hits to run away. Once it does, run as far from the avatar as possible, and use an ether. Carbuncle will still be out and fighting because you have refresh effect on, so don't worry about him for now. Once you use the ether, Cure yourself if needed (don't Cure to full because you need 40 MP to spare), and wait for Carbuncle to die after which you will resummon like before. After resummoning, Searing Light should almost be ready for use. When it's ready, launch Searing Light once more, and the avatar should either be dead or very close to it (less than 7% health). If it isn't dead, worry not there's still plenty of time.
Just as before, you'll want to run away from the avatar as soon as Searing Light connects. Carbuncle will remain out (if he still has HP that is), so now all you have to do is stall long enough to get that third and final Searing Light off. Same strategy as before, run away, use ether, resummon when needed, then get close enough to the avatar to launch Searing Light (and yes, you MUST be close to the prime avatar otherwise Searing Light will MISS). Congratulations! You should now be the proud owner of one of the 6 soloable avatars!
If one of your Searing Lights missed, however, consider these facts:
Searing Light requires (job level * 2) MP to work. Since you are level 20, that means you need at least 40 MP to use Searing Light (if you have less it will miss guaranteed).
When you tell Carbuncle to use Searing Light, the avatar will usually gain hate toward you, and come after you. If he gets too far from Carbuncle before Searing Light hits, it will miss the avatar and you have to wait another minute before you can use it again. Because of this, it's important to know when Searing Light will be ready for use, and to be VERY close to the avatar when you use it.
Happy hunting! I wish you all the best of luck! :D
With what I understand to do these mini-avatar fights:
Summoner MUST be level 20; you must go in as summoner.
So get your summoning levels up, ye taru.
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Has anyone else experienced a problem with certain areas and not being able to cast in the battle? This is the majority of the reason I die in most of my battles. Only got two more non-Fenrir avatars to go, and everytime I fight them I get the problem in a place that doesn't let me cast. Just a warning.
uhm.. yeah.. I think I'll try the first suggestion there for it... sounds easier. ^^;; My wonder is... are you able to use the ether while Carbucle is dying so the avatar doesn't whap you to death?
