The 6th Ministry's Secret: A Summoner's Guide

Oh, right, it also has no -perp reduction on it. So, if you decide to cap your perp elsewhere, then you can make use of this.

-8 Nirvana, -3 pants, -1 ring. You need -2 from somewhere else so that's probably gonna be boots, which means you can't use Marduk's Crackows in your avatar engaged set as long as you're wearing this robe because you need the perp from Convoker's Pigaches, which also means you can't use Serpentes Sabots in your idle set because you need to be wearing those boots for more minus perp.

So, basically, it turns into a juggling game of Serpentes Gloves and Serpentes Sabots time of day in order to try to squeeze that one more refresh out of the robe while also still capping perp. Of course, this is only about the idle set, because if your avatar is engaged, no matter what, you're losing avatar stats by using this.

This is all also assuming you have Nirvana, and if you don't, this thing is even more useless. The matk is better than Hagondes (which is 20-25) but still probably worse than the BP damage on Convoker body.

I'm so happy.

Alt-B

For my macros I basically have just the Assault/Retreat/Release, and then a macro that executes a command in my gearswap to use the whichever avatar's level 70 physical BP and then another macro to execute their level 75 magic BP.

The rest, I do through Alt-B, which is fine for me.

Mathematically, a max augment Hagondes Coat (and Shomonjijoe +1 by extension) is slightly stronger then Conveoker's Doublet +1 for magical Blood Pacts if you're using Nirvana but considerably weaker if you're using a pet:MAB staff.

I was expecting much more but it's still a minor damage improvement and a nice idle piece when you have no Avatar out.

If you're willing to juggle the Serpentes, sure. :P Not everybody uses Gearswap or wants to do that (though I will, when/if I get the robe).

I personally am not currently using Nirvana for my magical blood pacts as it is a damage decrease, though if I use a pet: MAB body it might help mitigate the difference, and I'm sure there might be macc gains to be had with Nirvana.

So basicaly the stats everyone was hoping the body would gotten instead what they gave it.

refresh 3 -perp 2-5

-bp 8-10
unity raning - bp2 2-5
avatar stats all base stats 10-20 acc/attt/macc +20

Why would you have to juggle Serpentes? You don't have to wear Convoker's feet when you don't have an Avatar out.

As for Nirvana vs Pet:MAB staff for magical, I did some testing when I first got Nirvana and it was beating Astralwatcher for damage. On paper it seems that Nirvana would not perform as well but the extra 2 levels have a significant impact it seems. But I have made some big improvements to my armor since then so maybe that doesn't hold true any more.

I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly. What really annoys me is that they put normal BP delay on it since Glyphic Doublet +1 has BP delay II in that slot.

Missed the no avatar out part. :P

I notice I can use all scrap to aug kirins pole is there one in particular that gives smn skill or just all 4 do

http://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Kirin%27s_Pole

Byakko only

So, yesterday I was in a Woh Gates bat CP pt main healing, and I got down to 2-300 mp and tried to use Elemental Siphon 2x, first time I got around 9 mp returned, and 2nd time I got 0 (normally I get 6-750). It was lightsday w/ Light Spirit, I can't remember what the weather was (I wanna say it was light weather). And I can't seem to recreate it either... Has anyone else ran into this?

I wish it would have served better as a idle/perpetuation/fulltime, although my idea was asking for too much, it would have been way better compared to the garbage they gave us. Even if it would have had only Unity: Thaumas Robe stats, it would have been a good alternative to Hagondes Coat's Refresh+2 Perp-5.

Can someone post a screenshot of their BP:Rage macro? (Obviously someone who isn't using gearswap) I'll post mine shortly, as I'm not home atm.

I think I have a problem with it as my numbers have been inconsistent since acquiring Nirvana last month...

Grats on your Nirvana.

Magic BP:

Feet have pet mab+16 aug, and hands have pet mab+21
Physical BP:

Hat has pet attack+16 on it, the cape has no aug.

No, I actually need the macro, not the gearset

Thanks ! :-)

It would be along the lines of
/equipset <bp dealy gear>
/pet "bp rage" <wait1>
/equipset <bp gear> <wait3>
/equipset <perpetuation gear>

edit: just tried it like that and it works

Thanks for the confirmation. I have exactly the same setup

(for nirvana users)
When serpentes boots are active for refresh, use adhara gages, when serpentes hands are active, use convoker's pigaches. Either piece can be substituted for hag with +2 or more which isn't too hard to get.
I'd argue getting -3 on hag for those slots would be incrementally better, if only for the side stats from the hags and freeing up the ring slot.

*** you non nirvana users, you'll need to -5 perp two separate hag pieces to get this going, so you might as well put all the gil you're about to piss away for these augs into getting nirvana anyway. and who knows, you'll probably have some left over.

All should have a Hagondes coat with perp -5 that comes with native Refresh+2

After that, get Assiduity Pants +1 with perp -3 and native Refresh+1/2

Whether you use Gridarvor/Nirvana, good for both staves

Not really Zoltar, I've been rebuilding my sets after I got my Shomonjijoe +1 and even as a non-Nirvana summoner I'm running out of gearsets to actively use my Hagondes +1 in.

My Non-Nirvana Avatar Idle set:
ItemSet 332416
This set caps perpetuation and ensures that every tick of refresh is utilized.
I dare you to tell me that this is not a good avatar idle set for non-Nirvana users.

And for those wondering, of course I also have an Avatar melee set:
ItemSet 280750
Which does switch to Hagondes +1 and Fucho-no-Obi once my MP dips below 50%, but that doesn't happen that often anymore.
With Nirvana I can probably also cook up a set which uses Shomon +1 instead of Hagondes for a <50% MP avatar melee situation, rendering the Hagondes obsolete.

Thing about your engaged set, if I want to cap perp and refresh AND have a strong avatar, I'm going to sub out those feet for Glyphic feet(+28 attack)

Also, sub out Glyphic body for Hagondes, why...Because you can get same perp -5 PLUS refresh +2 on top of it.

Not nitpicking but if your avatar is out you should have Argochampsa back out for the +12 attack as well

I'll take the 15 attack and 2% haste from Marduk +1.


Hagondes is switched in when my MP goes below 50%, as per my previous post.
In most party situations I have enough support for upkeep (Bard/Red Mage/Geomancer) and for solo I can rely on Refresh/Siphon/Myrkr and in worst case scenarios Convert.

Good one, I was going with the Augmented +10 Enmity on my Conveyance, but you are right.

Regarding your first set, I'm going to challenge it by saying its not necessary. Hopefully that didn't offend you. I'd pick the second set (with my changes) and use for both situations

I'm not offended, but "Not necessary" is not a valid argument for me.
When idle (Waiting for an event/pop/etc.) I'm usually buffing people, in which case having the +7~8 MP per tick coming back from gear are extremely weclome.


When I engage my avatar I want to ensure my avatar has the best possible stats when going in, only sacrficing part of those when upkeep becomes more important.

Between fights I'm putting avatar away and switching to a pure refresh set to recover mp(when not buffing) I have the following sets I use the most:

Refresh
Avatar out(engaged/not-engaged) caps perp, high avatar attack plus high avatar haste
Max SMN skill
Elemental Siphon

Other sets include the usual: -pdt, melee, etc

I think between you and me our sets reflect play-style and that's where we're in disagreement

I love efficiency, so I have quite a few more sets.

Idle/Refresh
Avatar Idle
Carbuncle/Cait Sith Idle
Avatar's Favor Idle
Avatar engaged
Avatar engaged Low MP
Blood pact time
Blood pact Ward (Buffs)
Blood pact Ward (Debuffs)
Physical Rage
Magical Rage
Hybrid Rage
Max skill (For Perfect Defense only really.)
Spirit Idle
Spirit Casting
Siphon

Not to mention the non avatar sets like Fast cast and Curing.
Also mentioning that I am a gearswap user.

I have things too like -delay, and sets for EACH bloodpact both phys/magical/hybrid, including wards.

I don't use gearswap, I have a ton of neatly organized text files for each lol