I have noticed a spike in the amount of people doing/wanting to do "Bomb toss" parties as of late which is something which made me giggle as it was something our LS started. (This was essentially Carebear/fang's idea...) I guess we could say we are trendsetters in that respect; Not bad for a game that's nearly 15 years old right?
In lieu of this information, I present to you a guide on how to properly execute said parties.
(Disclaimer: This guide will be of use for those of you who are interested in wanting to know how to efficiently use bomb toss parties to level up/merit your SMN with your SMN/BST friends. This guide will particularly pertain to SMNs moreso than any other job but BSTs can take a few pointers from this guide also. The guide overall is a work in progress and may/may not contain information you already know. I aim to get as much information on this guide as possible with eventual contributions to possible campsites and relevant information. If you have information pertaining to this method of EXP gain, then please write a reply to this thread with as much info as possible and I shall amend the guide accordingly.)The guide will be broken up into 3 parts:
1) Prerequisites for optimal play - This will list any/all things you need to check off the list before you attempt these sorts of parties to limit downtime/increase exp potential.
2) Party play/strategies - This will list party members behaviours as well as expected etiquette and general understanding of how things work.
3) Addendums/camp listings - The main "work in progress" part. Will eventually feature camp listings that are recommended for certain levels, as well as mentioning any major edits to this guide.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prerequisites for optimal play:The main premise of this section is to understand the weakness in this strategy and implement measures to counter them. Because SMNs lose MP via perpetuation costs on keeping a summon out, it is vitally important that SMNs gain as many items as possible that lowers said costs in order to decrease downtime. These items include - Perpetuation cost items and refresh pieces.One item which is really important level 20 onwards is
Carbuncle mitts. It essentially cuts the perpetuation costs of having Carbuncle summoned by 50% which is really helpful. Now a lot of you may be asking: "But Shrek?! How do I get these mitts as they drop from a high level mob?!" Well, the answer is simple... Ask your peers for help. Gain access to Kazham and the jungles (If you haven't already) and ask a few high level friends to pop/kill it for you. If you do not have that luxury, then use your imagination and offer someone an incentive to do it for you. This piece of gear is important as it allows SMNs to gain the ability later on to have really low cost carbuncles and in some situations, have no perp (free) or have refresh with carbuncle out.
If for whatever reason, you cannot obtain these mitts, then you may have to resort to using an elemental spirit instead/in the mean time. I personally prefer Light spirit but any spirit will do in all honesty. They have low perp cost on Nasomi due to next/no functionality other than assault as they are not coded properly. (At least Light spirit will cast Regen on you at 21 though... but that's all it does! ;;)
Another piece of gear that is important at 51-75 is a Light staff. It gives Carbuncle and Light Spirit perpetuation cost -2. The Apollo's Staff which is the HQ version gives Carbuncle and Light Spirit perpetuation cost -3 which is a lot better but comes at a greater cost. Obviously, Iridal staff has the same perpetuation costs as the Light staff without the penalties for Diabolos, Fenrir and Dark spirit costs. The same goes for the Chatoyant staff and the Apollo's. Choose your weapon carefully though. Obviously, if you are still fresh/starting out, I would recommend a light staff and work your way towards Apollo's staff and then on to that elusive Chatoyant staff... But you know what they say: "Rome wasn't built in a day."
At 59 you will need to invest in a Vermillion Cloak. It's gives Refresh +1 and you'll be wearing that until, you hit 71 and can get your hands on a
Yinyang robe which drops from Shikigami weapon in Ro'Meave.
Another piece of gear that is worth it 71+ but not really necessary is the evoker's ring. The only problem with this is, that you need to fight the avatar primes multiple times as well as fenrir prime. The good thing about it is that it's not necessarily needed until later... I just thought I'd give it a mention as it give -1 Perpetuation costs to all summons on a ring which is awesome and is probably Best in slot for a SMN in general.
There are other pieces of gear with - Perpetuation costs and refresh that you may need to keep a look out for, but for now I'm only listing a few that are necessary for this whole strategy to work better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Party play/strategies:This section will be explaining what you will be doing in party play and what to expect in a typical Bomb toss/SMN/Carby burn/etc party. Your Targets are mobs that like to suicide/blow themselves up/allahakbar. These mobs consist of, but are not limited to:
- Goblins - Bomb toss
- Bombs - Self destruct
- Snolls - Hypothermal Combustion
- Dolls - Meltdown
The idea is to have everyone in the party use their pet/avatar/spirit to attack the mob, feeding it TP and re-summoning pets when they die whilst staying out of range of TP moves. It sounds easy doesn't it? Although it sounds easy, there are a few things you need to know before you start.
Your Party size must be no larger than 5 members. The whole idea of this party is to use disposable pets that can be re-summoned at a moments notice to feed TP to a really high level mob so it can kill itself and reward you heightened EXP values. Having any more than 5 people in a party kills EXP potential.
In my experience, having 4 members who can contribute to throwing pets at a mob is optimal.Make sure your party is all present and accounted for before you start/continue. You cannot slack in this party.
Negligence of duty may result in a wipe. If someone has to go afk, unless you and the non afkers are confident that you can keep pets on the mob, do not continue. Wait for the person to return.
If you need to re-summon your avatar, you need to be over 25 yalms away. This is because on Nasomi, for some reason, the act of summoning an avatar actually generates enough enmity/threat/hate/etc to pull the mob away from the avatars/pets. To counter this, you must be over 25 yalms away from said mob you are assaulting before you complete your re-summon. You can always run in and Assault and step away afterwards.
Failure to follow this step may result in complications and death.If for any reason, the mob has decided to turn towards your party, use a Blood pact: Rage. Now I do not recommend using BPs in normal conditions when in these sorts of parties. But to limit the downtime of a potential death, spending MP on a BP to force the mob to turn for a for a brief time is justified. This is where it helps to have Carbuncle with C.mitts equipped rather than having spirits.
If your avatars/pets aggro a link, Don't worry. Usually in these sorts of parties you fight mobs where they stand. Because of this, your pets may cause links. Don't worry though, as the link will only attack one pet that has hate at the time of the link and once the pet is dead, the link will walk away.
As long as the party keeps on top of re-summoning, there should be no problems.Use your common sense. Be aware of your surroundings. These camps are very dangerous for the most part as you as a Summoner are quite vulnerable without your avatar. Always be aware of potential aggro sources.
Just because it's safe a minute ago doesn't mean it's safe now. Remember, these parties are killing mobs that are generally much higher level than your standard EXP party level range and most of the target mobs and/or the surrounding non target mobs are usually aggressive. Death to one party member to due to incompetence/apathy may cause a wipe.
If you are fighting Goblins, try to avoid Ranger types. Everyone knows that RNGs are awesome at being DDs. This is same for Mobs also.
Goblin RNGs can do ridiculous amounts of damage with their ranged attacks, sometimes being able two/three hit your avatar. This will lead to complications of re-summoning and keeping pets on said goblin. The more SMNs you have, the better. They are better to use for chain enders towards the end of the camp's usefulness when they aren't doing nearly as much damage.
Patience is a virtue. Just remember, if you are looking for stupid amounts of EXP/hr, don't expect it all the time. At the end of the day, it is possible, but you are at the Whim of the random number generator aka RNGesus. Sometimes you will get constant Chain 4-5s giving you 300-500+ exp a kill (more with a COR leech or /COR of course) consistently. Sometimes you will be waiting ages for one mob to kill itself and/or kill mob with eventual melee hits from avatars and resulting in perceived slow gains for that time period. It's very up and down at times. But just be aware that just because it's not going great at one time, doesn't mean it will be like this forever.
Register
Login
FAQ
Search
