FFXIV Summoner (SMN) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!

MIN & BTN Leveling Guides updated. Other notes...

Botanist Leveling to 90, as well as Miner Leveling to 90 are updated for the Endwalker tier. Older tiers needs some fixing, although I modernized what I could quickly – I placed the important notes on the top of the aforementioned guides reflecting the major things that you need to take note of.

I will post a personal update soon, for those that are curious…

Striving to set out as a Summoner? Simmer on how to stir up a storm with the SMN job! Basic information and FAQs in our Summoner Basics Guide. Read on if you’re expecting to learn about unlocking SMN, Summoner Job Identity, trait and skill list, crafters and gatherers related to SMN, and link to other important Summoner info!

Summoner is a Ranged Magical DPS job (“caster”) introduced as one of the nine original jobs in 2.0 A Realm Reborn. SMNs came out at release with another caster job, Black Mage. It took years before another caster was added into the mix (During 4.0 Stormblood, Red Mage).

How to become a Summoner? Unlocking SMN:

First and foremost you need to have a Level 30 Arcanist, and have completed the L30 ACN class quest, “Sinking Doesmaga”. After doing this you can unlock the actual quest to become a Summoner, “Austerities of Flame” found at Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks. 

You also have to complete a Level 20 MSQ, “Sylph Management”, which realistically should be completed by the time you’re looking to unlock Summoner. 

Note that, upon completing the quest you MUST EQUIP the “Soul of the Summoner” to actually formally BECOME a SMN. Interestingly, in the old days, unlocking Summoner required L15 Thaumaturge – that’s no longer the case.

Rushing to or want to know how to unlock a certain class? Learn more:
FFXIV Job Unlock & Requirements Guide.

Summoner Playstyle & SMN Job Identity

If you’ve asked yourself, “Why play, try, or choose Summoner?” – here’s my attempt at selling you the SMN class.

Pet class DPS? Sign me up! For sure you know at least ONE dude that said it. FFXIV’s Summoner has gone through quite a few transformations over the years… 

Historically, SMN’s are a reasonably mobile caster class. While their “multi phase” rotation is a little too much to swallow for some, it’s a welcome challenge for some. They have a DoT subtheme if you’re into that. Aligning and being smart about timings and cooldowns are a CORE mastery aspect for the job. Be warned, their “only human” phase is some of the most feelsbad parts of any jobs rotation heh.

Aesthetically and thematically, I mean, you can’t not love the classic Summoner horn, and your cast of pets include the classics Ifrit, Titan, Bahamut, Garuda, Phoenix. The flashiness is off the charts as well. FFXIV’s Summoner might not be for everyone, but they (literally they) get the job done.

DISCLAIMER

DISCLAIMER: This is not meant to be a blurb that aligns with the current meta. That changes from patch to patch. Our goal here is to provide you with an idea of what the job is trying to be, getting cues from both the Developers’ concrete decisions on job design, as well as our own feedback.

What Crafters & Gatherers should Summoner level?

While it’s common in MMORPG’s to think you want to craft your own gear as you level up your SMN… I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.

Leveling up your DoH and DoL jobs should be thought of as a different activity completely. To be honest, if you’re a newer player, simply ensure that you DO NOT OVERCAP Levequests (always have less than 100).

The only relation a combat job has to a crafter or gatherer class is “which classes do you need to repair your gear”? My advice, ultimately, is pretty much all or nothing – level up all DoH classes in tandem. As a separate project, level up all DoL classes in tandem (with the optional Fisher).

What’s the best race for Summoner?

Racial stats are (was?) a thing. However, I highly recommend not caring about it. The difference in performance between the “best” and “worst” race for you is not even 0.1%.

My advice? Pick for aesthetics. Will you stay the same job forever? If you change mains, will you race change? Ultimately, the difference is so microscopic that I cannot in good faith tell you that racial stats are an integral part of your character.

I won’t even link the Racial Stats Guide, as I haven’t checked up on this in a while – and I don’t want to cement the idea that the “best race” really matters.

Related Summoner Guides – Read More!

Here are a few useful links for you:

Upcoming Odds and Ends

Here’s a few things we’ll be adding on here in the near future:

  • Adding a “links to further resources”, we’re doing a site restructure so once those links are set, they’ll go in here.
  • Human-readable, newbie-friendly skill and trait list.
    > I used to have the in-game skill list here, but I found it useless as the in-game one is better… I’d rather have a new player friendly rundown.
  • More descriptive job identity? Pics?
    > I dunno… pictures of the job gauges? A gif of some flashy skills?
  • Feel free to suggest anything else via comment or socials!

Summary & Outro

Well that’s about it for a really, really basic guide that hopefully points some lost souls in the right direction, or answers some of your questions regarding Summoner.


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6 thoughts on “FFXIV Summoner (SMN) Basics Guide & FAQ – Shadowbringers Updated!”

  1. Well I am playing on the Phoenix server and I am one of the first people on it to beat titan get a relic weapon and get into bahamut’s coil. I play as a summoner and my damage can be quite high I am sometime even toping the dps list and no I am not dot stacking since I only use the skills when they have just run out or just a second or two are left. The reason for this is that I can do alot of damage while moving and have a constant damage output on the boss fights and mobs, while black mages are often forced to stand still. I am not saying summoner is the best dps class it would probably be the monk class as of now but we are able to stand among the rest. I mean with full Amdapor Keep gear and Ifrit weapon I could average on 6500 dmg per minute with only the dots if it’s a stationary boss I can average on around 7500 dmg per minute with dots only. If I then also add in 3 fester my dps per minute is all of a sudden 9000 dmg per minute. This is not even with counting the dmg I can do with throwing in a few extra ruins which I normaly get in around 5-10 per minute depending on the boss so if we take the lowest number 5 that means around 800 dmg. If we then add in the pet which in with ifrit does atleast 200 dmg every 3 seconds which can be every minute boosted to 280 dmg every 3 second for 20 seconds. That means I do 9800 dmg per minute + a minimum of 4400 dmg from pet. My dmg on a stationery boss is now on average 14200 dmg per minute 13200 on a non stationery boss. This is without popping all my cd’s which could increase my dmg to 10400 and my pets to 5200 then all of a sudden I am doing 15600 to a stationery or 14400 to a moving boss. I am not sure on the other classes damage to compare with but I do believe our damage is on par with most of the other classes.

    1. Sorry about the bad writting did’nt proof read it well enough. Forgot to add that another point is that summoner is the only class except for Scholars and White mages that can rezz people in combat. So I would strongly recommend getting the thaum lvl 26 skill so you can use it to instantly rezz someone who has died.

  2. As of right now summoners more many than few; That is going to taper off because allot of people are getting discouraged because when it comes to high level dungeon runs they are not wanted as much as black mages and bards. Do to the single target attacks and there slow damage do not get me wrong in my FC i want to stock pile summoners because when we need the dps that they do over a period of time is going to be able to make that big hit when the 24-40 man dungeons start coming.

  3. This is great info, but I am still not sure if I should be a summoner since it seems every darn person seems to be one lol

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