How To Improve As Summoner — Dawntrail 7.2

Perhaps the most important way to improve is to learn the concept of ABC, otherwise known as Always-Be-Casting. This concept applies to any job, and it means you should never have a break in casting actions. Generally speaking, you should not have situations where you just drop a GCD cast or clip your GCD unnecessarily. Each time these situations occur, you risk losing future GCD casts, resulting in a direct potency loss.

As a caster, one of the most important skills to learn is planning your movement for each fight timeline. Memorizing fight timelines and when specific mechanics occur will allow you to make proper decisions with utilizing your instant-cast GCDs accordingly.

Another common mistake made on Summoner is oGCD drift, which occurs when you delay the next usage of your oGCD. Doing so may cause you to lose future uses or force you to compromise on your general rotation alignment. Unless you have a planned rotation around specific kill times or phase transitions, then you should avoid drifting your oGCDs as much as you can. Do your best to use your oGCDs as they become available.

There are a few tools, both in-game and out-of-game, that can assist you with analyzing and improving your gameplay.

XIVAnalysis is one such analysis tool. After inputting an FFLogs link, XIVAnalysis organizes the log information for you to easily analyze. This website also supplies additional gameplay tips based on the logs you input, providing you with a few quick ways on how to improve upon the mistakes you may be making. This website is good for beginner level players, however, it does lack in regards to more in-depth optimization.

FFLogs is another analysis website tool, where you can upload raw gameplay logs from Advanced Combat Tracker to be analyzed. Unlike XIVAnalysis, FFLogs provides a full array of analysis features, allowing you to not only analyze personal rotation mistakes, but virtually anything that occurred during your clears or pulls.

For in-game improvement, do not overlook how useful a housing dummy can be. If you are looking to just practice rotations, or build muscle memory, spending time practicing on a housing dummy can be very helpful in quickly doing so.