OKAY!
So like, SMN is hella beast on Tiamat.
It's a damn shame that I never kill the thing anymore (yeah, right) but now I need to find a way to entertain myself, since I just woke my brain up.
Damn you brain, damn you!!
ANYWAY.
SMN on Tiamat is different from normal fights, since in the air you can only use basically Nether Blast... or Group 2 Merits... or whatever... basically you just can't use Predator Claws.
'Kay, Nether Blast (Group 2 Merits too) does not compare at all to Predator Claws.
It does like, 150 damage, versus the average of 500-600 of PC, with the chance of a like, 1.1k PC.
So your goal on SMN at Tiamat, is to get the most PCs off as possible while Tiamat is on the ground.
Tia stays on the ground for two minutes, or until the group killing her does 10,000 damage. (It's going to be two minutes, 9 times out of 10) Tiamat will also always stay on the ground if she is currently under the influence Mighty Strikes, but once it's over, she'll fly. (Tia loves that shit, fo'sho.)
Two minutes allows for 3 PC, if timed correctly.
You've got to get your first PC off as soon as Tiamat lands. No joke.
Then you rest one tic, and get back up, resummon.
If you've got about ~10 secs on your timer left, go ahead and make Garuda attack the dragon.
Your goal is to only hit the dragon once with a normal attack, to confirm range, and then hit PC instantly. The faster you are the better. If you're amazing and can confirm range without one normal attack, then kudos to you!
Dismiss instantly, do not let that dragon have TP!
Rince, repeat, always with the same promptness, or you're going to lose your third PC.
Once the dragon flies, take the time with /clock or whatever...
You can either:
A) Use Nether Blast once, for added damage, if you have the MP. ONCE ONLY and do it like it was a 4th PC, as fast as you can, you want your timer to be up for Tiamat's landing. You can usually do two or three rounds of PC > PC > PC > NB before you need to skip NB.
B) Rest your MP up to full, if you're low.
C) Go to the bathroom and not tell anybody (This is hella win)
At about 20-30 seconds before Tiamat lands, pull out your Garu-Beast, and get her all prepped.
Send her in at about 10 seconds to land
Caution here: Do not get Gardua killed. If she dies, you'll probably be too behind to make up time to get in the 3rd PC. Watch out for Firaga III, because that + Touchdown is sort of deadly.
Rinse and repeat 'til you get to 20%
At 20% the dragon starts PMSing, for freakin' real.
You want to avoid giving this thing any TP whatsoever.
So! You do the normal thing, except you run up to Tiamat, and just BP.
DO NOT ASSAULT ANYMORE! Assault = TP; TP = bad.
That's about it for the general fight. It's helllla boring :]
With the addition of Elemental Siphon, SMN is totally able to be self sustaining at Tiamat, without any form of Refresh, save their own. (This also makes COR the ideal support for a SMN party. PUP roll (Pet Acc) and BST roll (Pet Attack) rooock~! If you're running out of MP you're either:
A) Doing it wrong
B) Don't have a lot of hMP gear (like missing a Dark Staff or something o.O?)
C) Not resting
Useful Thing: Elemental Siphon and Stoneskin have the same "timer" (5:00 recast on Elemental Siphon; 5:00 duration on Stoneskin) They also take up the about 30 seconds you've got to rest between PCs. So you can replace a resting session to do Elemental Siphon > Stoneskin. (Order doesn't matter, I just do it that way for macro reasons) If you repeat this process, you'll get the most MP back from Elemental Siphon up as possible, and you'll always have Stoneskin up.
Why in the world does it matter?:
More damage means the dragon is dead faster.
Dragons being dead faster = less boredom, less time spent, drops faster, and the most important reason!
The less time the thing is alive, the less time there is for someone to mess up/mages to overhate. Tiamat is a hard beastie, and after about an hour of two, depending on the mages, people are going to pull hate. So if it's dead in an hour, well, you've just saved lives, and made the whole fight less stressful. PLDs sometimes mess up too :] and God knows a tank dying at Tiamat is terrifying XD
Extra Note: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING! People tend to get mad when other people wake dragons up from ES Sleeps in bad situations. Always keep an eye out for what is going on, and stay awake, no matter how bored you are! Also, -BP delay gear is hella awesome, if you don't have any, go get some! :]
Some useful gear for -delay: (The Austere Robe Set is also a cheap alternative, notably Hands/Head)
* I don't have Summoner's Spats on this list because Oracle's Braconi, or Marduk's Shalwar beat 'em out. I don't know if I'd use AF2 Pants over AF1 Pants, but if I didn't have a whole lot of -delay gear, I would!
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