Also Known as: Earning XP by Running for Your Life
by Crispleaf
A. Introduction
This isn't so much a how-to guide as it is a how-I've-been-doing-it guide and to also say it is possible to get modest xp as a solo summoner. These days, party invites seem to taper off once you cross the level 37 threshold. People who are only interested in leveling a sub-job part ways with those who are in it for the long haul. As a summoner, you will find that you only get invites once the supply of white mages and red mages willing to heal are exhausted. Then you'll get an invite with the condition that you be the main healer. I know some summoners don't like to be the main healer, but to be honest, it's your best chance at advancement, so I'd swallow some pride and go for it, if I were you.
But even with party invites, most of the time the xp just isn't worth it. There's the waiting in Jeuno, the travelling time to the camp, people quitting after only a few fights, waiting for replacements, and, of course, a lot of the time, the party members are just plain terrible.
Being able to solo gives you the freedom to xp at your own pace, and if things go wrong, you usually only have yourself to blame... or maybe SE.
Nothing works better as a solo summoner than to fight monsters that like to blow themselves up, in particular, bombs and their icy cousins, snolls.B. Some of the Basics
These are some of the basics that any summoner should consider, whether going solo or not.
Weapons to Use
Summoners are most proficient with staff weapons. There are primarily two kinds of staves: those that boost hp and mp (usually called a "Staff", e.g. "Ash Staff"), and those that exclusively do serious damage (usually called a "Pole", e.g. "Elm Pole"). Generally, the mp boost staves don't help much in either mp (typically a small increase of 6 or 7 mp) or damage (typically capable of only half the damage that "poles" can do). I'd recommend sticking with the heavy damage "pole" staves. My philosophy is, if you're going to hit the monster, you'd better make it count.
Summoners can also use daggers and clubs, but there is a very limited selection of daggers a summoner can use, and summoners don't get very many dagger weapon skills, either. Most of the heavy damage clubs are restricted to white mages or melee jobs. The lower damage clubs (usually called "wands") boost only mind and intellect (stats that summoners don't really need) and do very little damamge.
One exception I make is for the Himmel Stock at level 40. It adds a huge 62 mp to your pool of magic, and that's hard to ignore. It carries a penalty of +3 to the recast of your blood pact abilities, which is something else to keep in mind. It's also a lousy fighting weapon. What I do is use the Stock to give me some bonus mp for Protect, Shell, Stoneskin, Blink, Sneak, Invisible, etc. Then when I've used up the bonus 62 mp off the top, I swap in the staff I'd rather use.
And, of course, once you reach level 51, nothing beats Elemental Staves. They don't cause the best damage, but they subtract 2 or 3 (depending on the quality) mp off the perpetuation cost of your avatars and spirits, which is gold to a summoner.
Food to Eat
There is nothing more important to a summoner than mp. None of your stats affect how well your avatars fight, and only Summoning Skill helps spirits. So, anything you can do to boost or maintain your mp should be all you concern yourself with.
I highly recommend Ginger Cookies. The come in stacks of 99, are very cheap, and speed up the rate which you restore mp when resting by 5. They only last 5 minutes, so you'll have to eat them frequently, but for what you pay for them, they are a must for any mage to have around.
Once your maximum mp reaches 500 or so, I'd suggest trying a Marron Glace. They are cheap, last 3 hours, and they provide a 13% boost to your mp (to a maximum of 85). They also increase the rate which you restore mp when resting by 1. You can't use Ginger Cookies while using a Marron Glace, however, and if you die, your Glace goes to waste.
Sub-job
Older guides suggest that you can use a black mage sub-job for summoner, which is just plain wrong. Black magic at half-strength is not going to help you at all, trust me on this.
You'll want to stick with white mage, primarily, for the cure spells, and also for spells like Poisona, and later Blink and Stoneskin. Red Mage is another possibility. You give up spells like Poisona for better attack stats and En-spells.
If you're seeking a party, however, you'll usually only get invites if you sub white mage.
B. In the beginning...
The first 10 levels of summoner are a joy for xp. Even if you just have Carbuncle, both you and he are tough enough to each solo a monster.
The result is, you can have Carby fight one monster while you fight another, and continue this way until you run out of mp (or health). Of course, Carby's perpetuation cost is so low that you can get an "infinite" Carbuncle just by drinking juice. At level 9, Carby's cost goes from 1 to 2, so up to level 9, you can make yourself orange juice (which is a level 10 cooking recipe) which is pretty cheap to make if you buy your oranges from Windurst.
C. Level 10 to 20
To be added...
D. Level 20 to 30
To be added...
E. Level 30 to 40
To be added...
F. Level 40 to 50
There's a great guide on Killing Ifrit in the Summoner forum on locations and levels to solo bombs and snolls. Lately, I've been going to Uleguerand Range to solo snolls, and it's been pretty productive.
They recommend you start soloing bombs and snolls at 51 because you get a "free Carby" if you have the Carbuncle Mitts and a Light Staff. Basically, there's no perpetuation costs for keeping Carby out, though you still have to spend the 6 mp to cast Carbuncle.
I have, however, gone to solo bombs as early as level 47 in Garlaige Citadel against the Explosures (the bombs that have the 50 cap item). This is a bit more risky because a little mp is being drained when you send Carby out to fight. You will need Carbuncle Mitts to even consider trying this though, or you'll run out of mp well before the bombs self-destruct. You'll also need a white mage or red mage sub job for the Sneak spell.
To fight the Explosures solo, I'm not entirely sure how soon, level-wise, you could attempt this. Along the way to the First Banishing Gate, you will come across some beetles. They are easy prey at 47, and you can solo these, but if you go any earlier than this, you may want to bring some Prism Powders to get by them. You should be at least in the 40s to even consider trying this.
Once you get to the First Banashing Gate, you'll have to wait for someone to open it up for you. This is the most annoying part of the trip. Fortunately, this is a popular xp camp, so you usually don't have to wait too long. Once inside the Gate, you will need sneak to get by the many bats (among other things) before you go any further in. I should note that just inside the gate is usually a safe place to heal mp whenever you need a place to rest.
The hallway past the First Gate is in the shape of a square. This is what makes this a good place to solo bombs; you can literally loop around this square infinitely with no backtracking. In this square, at the opposite end of the Banishing Gate is a descending stairway that leads to the Explosures you'll be fighting. With sneak on, take some time to get familiar with the odd-shaped cave you're in downstairs, since you'll need to find your way back to the square-shaped hallway. It's not hard to get used to.
The Explosures are in two large caves that are side-by-side. There are 3 in each cave for a total of 6. There are a few more that spawn in some of the rooms near the Second Banishing Gate as well, but the caves are safer to pull from. Explosures aggro by sight and by magic, so whatever you do, don't start casting Carbuncle or Sneak too close to the cave. Remain in the hallway outside to summon Carby. Then walk into the cave and have Carby attack the closest bomb, careful not to be in the direct line of sight of the other bombs when you do.
After that, run away towards the square hallway until you can't see Carby's health bar in the lower right corner, only Carby's name. This is the minimum safe distance that you can recast Carby and not get hit by the bomb when it comes after you after Carby dies. When Carby dies, his name will disappear from your screen. At that point, you should recast Carby right away. Once you do, Carby will automatically attack the bomb that's coming after you (don't direct Carby to attack). If Carby reaches the bomb before the bomb reaches you, the bomb will ignore you and keep attacking Carby.
It's important not to use any bloodpacts, ever, or cast any spells near the Explosure. As long as Carby automatically fights the bomb and you don't cause the slightest amount of hate towards yourself, the bomb will never try to attack you (until Carby dies anyway).
Once Carby has the bomb's attention run away towards the square hallway until you can't see Carby's health bar and repeat. You can run infinitely down the square hallway in a "circle" so you'll never risk getting hit by the bomb. Just keep throwing Carby at it until it self-destructs.
There is a tricky part to this though... Sneak. Because the hallways are full of bats, you'll need to keep Sneak on at all times. If Sneak starts to wear off, you'll need to run ahead and find a safe spot to recast it.
It's rare, but you may get into trouble where you need to cast Sneak and Carby at the same time. By casting Sneak at the minimum safe distance from the bomb, you won't have enough time to also cast Carby afterwards. In this case, you'll need to use an elemental Spirit. You can at least get an Earth Spirit from a taru in Norg for 500 gil, so you should at least have that one. Spirits have a huge perpetuation cost, but they cast quickly, and that's exactly what you need in a situation like this. Once you cast the spirit (the bomb should start fighting the spirit just like it would Carby), run away until you reach the minimum safe distance, dismiss the spirit and cast Carby so you can save your mp.
On a trip like this, it's a good idea to bring a reraise hairpin or at least a scroll of reraise. If you do die, it could be a pain to get back past the First Banishing Gate again, so being able to reraise will save you some time. Be warned though, that there are undead around and they aggro to low health, so reraise only if you're far from any undead.
It's also a good idea to bring some juices with you too, in case the bomb is stubborn and doesn't blow up for a very long time. I'd suggest using juices when you dip under 100 mp, so you still have some mp left to recast Carby and Sneak. With some melon juice along, you can buy yourself a few extra minutes. If it looks particularly bad and the bomb is not showing any signs of giving up, it's also good to have a warp cudgel or an instant warp scroll so you can clear out. I've never had to do this, but I've come close a few times
If you're lucky, sometimes you can get bombs to blow up right away in rapid succession. I've been able to get chain 2 off Explosures now and then, which is always a nice feeling. But it's more important to have ample mp, so don't try getting an xp chain if you're almost out of power from the bomb you just blew up. It's far better to get a steady 200 xp than risk death for a bonus 50 xp.
At level 47, considering the resting you have to do, you'll probably get around 1,200 to 1,500 xp an hour, depending on how fast the bombs blow up or if you get any chains. At level 51, this speeds up to around 2,000 xp an hour since you won't need to rest as much. This may not seem that great, but considering the standard pick-up party, I've found it's often a better rate of leveling than with a group of strangers.
Z. Alternate ways to get Summoner XP
There are other ways to level summoner if you're finding it hard to get xp:
- There's an 45 cap escort quest in Tavnazia you can do with a small group of people, maybe 3 or 4. You can repeat the quest as many times as you need to win. After you get the xp scroll as a reward, you can't repeat this until after Sunday morning has passed.
- ENMs are a fantastic way to gain xp. I've done the 3 promy ENMs in under 2 hours for 9,000 xp (and a chance to get some valuable treasure). There are also several other ENMs that open up to you as you progress through the Chains of Promathia missions. It's important to note that the job you go as is the one that gets the xp, so if you want summoner xp, you'll have to go as a summoner. These can be repeated every 5 days from the time you entered the battlefield, whether you win or lose.
- The Lost Chocobo quest can earn you an xp scroll if you complete certain runs fast enough. The Sandy-Bastok, Bastok-Windy, Windy-Sandy, and Khazam-Norg runs all give xp scrolls as top prize. This quest can be repeated after Sunday morning has passed, win or lose.
- You can perform the Eco-Warrior quests for an xp scroll, but I think the effort required is far greater than the reward is worth. Still, it's one more possibility. This is repeatable after every Sunday morning.
- There's a Sacrarium mission in Tavnazia you can pick up (I haven't made it far enough in Promathia missions to get this quest yet). Basically, you have to run through the Sacrarium, locate a ??? spot which could be in one of four locations, and return back to Tavnazia in exchange for an xp scroll. It can technically be done solo, but those True Sight tauruses (tauri?) could be a problem
This is also repeatable after every Sunday morning.