They’ll mostly be using subjobs that enable them to cast white and black magic spells. And because there’s a handful mage jobs in the game (in addition to a sometimes-restrictive spell list limit up to level 49), most spells will be used to support their party or their avatars – which will often delegate them to the back lines for support. So if you’re playing a summoner, which subjobs are truly best for the practitioners of a forbidden art?
5. Black Mage
There was once a time when the black mage was a very good choice here, because a summoner was a decent nuker. But those times are unfortunately long gone, and the black mage sits near the lower levels of this list. This subjob is mostly used for offensive utility or crowd control in the form of Sleepga or Stun, but not much else. The black mage role has some minor utility in its ability to cast Escape, Warp, or Warp II, which can save time or even be used for emergencies. But with the massive abundance of ways to get around in FFXI nowadays, this combo isn’t as helpful as it once was.
4. Ninja
Although rarely used on a summoner, a ninja can still be useful in situations where high AoE damage has a massive range, damaging even a backline standing player. It’s not news that summoners have incredibly low defensive capabilities. So anything that allows them to survive attacks would be more than welcome. And they won’t be using the Dual Wield trait much. In fact, more often than not, staves will be a summoner’s only viable weapon of choice. But with the ninja subjob you can make frequent use of the Utsusemi ability, which gives you a way to absorb high amounts of physical damage, or even single-target magical damage. This is a great emergency tool in situations where an avatar may suddenly die, and it’s necessary to resummon them while an enemy is trying to attack. The worst thing that a summoner can suffer from is an interrupted spell.
3. Scholar
The scholar technically offers summoners the most utility with their ability to cast both white and black magic. But this is limited by the addendum charge system, which can take a while to gain charges for. With this in mind, it’s best for summoners to focus on the white magic aspect that this job provides, to help with support or status removal. Light and Dark Arts allow summoners to save MP, reduce casting and recast times, as well as increase potency of the spells belonging to the respective alignment. Unfortunately the main spell to benefit from this (Cure IV) is missing. It’s only learned at level 55 by a scholar. However, this job combo does have access to a range of helpful spells such as Erase, Stoneskin, Raise, Reraise, Blink, Aquaveil and –na spells—with the exception of Stona. Offensively, there isn’t much that a scholar will offer a summoner. Though Helix spells can situationally deal some great DoT damage if the spells are magic bursted. Under Addendum: White, they do have access to Accession in addition to a majority of support spells, giving them the capability of AoE support – a tool highly treasured in parties especially with Stoneskin or –Na spells. But remember that they only get two charges, and a single charge takes 2 minutes. So planning is usually required to maximize efficiency. Contrastingly, it’s also possible to use Addendum: Black and Manifestation for AoE crowd control with Drain, Aspir, Bio, and Stun. So this job combo has the potential to drain HP, MP, weaken, or stun entire groups of enemies at once! I’d say a scholar subjob is great in situations where an enemy has access to Sleep, mostly thanks to the Sublimation ability which means your character will wake up shortly after being put to sleep. With this in mind, if players are using Stoneskin, it’s a good idea to remove it and reapply it afterwards. This is because stoneskin will actually prevent players from being woken up by Sublimation.
2. Red Mage
Here’s a popular and multifaceted support job that has many buffs in addition to debuffs, as well as the prized Cure IV. This combo also offers Fast Cast, a welcome aid in the casting speed of all the magic spells it grants a summoner. And while a red mage does offer Haste, it’s better to use Garuda’s Hastega abilities, and instead turn focus to Flurry—the ranged haste counterpart. Summoners will have access to a massive range of utility spells like Dia, Frazzle, Silence, Sleep, Paralyze, Dispel, Phalanx, Stoneskin, Raise, Refresh and Bar-spells. The list goes on and on! Although it’s generally advised to avoid using damage dealing black magic spells, as they won’t deal much damage. And even though Convert isn’t necessary nowadays, it’s still fantastic for situations where a summoner needs a large amount of MP quickly.
1. White Mage
White mage is an unmatched support job when it comes to healing and support for a summoner. While it offers the biggest boost to summoner’s native MP, its main draw is in its access to every –na spell, access to AoE forms of the bar-spells, Cure IV, and even Curaga to help wake up sleeping party members. It also has access to Raise, Repose, Erase, Stoneskin, Blink, Aquaveil and Reraise. All of these are highly valued in the heat of battle, and can lead to a big boost in survivability. This often means the white mage role will be the most commonly used support job in party content. Removing a nasty status effect or healing is best taken care of immediately. And in situations where a white mage may be busy (or dead), a summoner that’s subbing this job can step in and take some of the load off—which is a welcome momentary respite. In emergencies, a combination of Divine Seal and Cure IV is immensely helpful too.
