What Summoner sub-job should I have? The big debate! Personally I would say sub whatever job you think is fun to play, but if you have no idea then here are a few practical pointers to think about. I sub both White and Black mages with my Summoner and both work well depending on what the other members jobs are in the party.
Firstly, a Summoner is a caster class with high mana and mana regain, so the most practical sub-job is a caster job, because of this fact the only caster sub-jobs that will be discussed are Black Mage, White Mage, Red mage, and Bard.
In my opinion the following classes are best suited to sub-job, with 'A' being the most useful:
Sub-job as a White Mage
A White Mage is the most popular sub-job for a Summoner and there are several reasons for this choice.
Additional Passive Abilities:
Additional Active Ability:
A White Mage can heal a party quite competently as a main healer or backup healer, depending on what other healers are available for the party. They can also enfeeble the monsters, resist buff, remove enfeebling magic off party members, sneak, invis, some teleports, raise and buff the party, which make them a valuable member of the party.
The White Mage has rank A in all healing and MND, and rank C in buffing and enfeebling.
Sub-job as a Red Mage
The Red Mage sub-job for a Summoner has a few advantages, although these are debatable and will only work depending on the other jobs in your party.
Additional Passive Abilities:
Red Mages are like a hybrid of a White Mage and Black Mage, they can nuke and heal and are therefore are useful for backup healing, nuking, magic bursts, enfeeble the monsters, resist buff, remove enfeebling magic off party members, sneak, invis and sleep. Red Mage healing skill is not as good as a White Mage, but are the best class for enfeebling monsters, and have an average nuking skill.
Red Mage have a rank A for enfeebling monsters, but C for Elemental Magic, Recovery Magic, INT and MND.
Sub-job as a Black Mage
Black Mage as a Summoner sub-job is really fun, but finding a party is more difficult due to the lack of healers in the game at the moment. You need to keep your equipment up to date for your mana pool to support your nukes, but apart from that the combo adds damage to your parties potential.
Additional Passive Abilities:
Additional Active Ability:
As Black Mage sub you can warp, escape, nuke, enfeeble, damage over time, magic burst. Black Mage had rank A INT, and nuking with rank C in enfeebling the monsters.
Sub-job as a Bard
Bard as a Summoner sub-job is quite rare, but it does have advantages, but not many.
Additional Passive Ability:
As a Bard sub-job you can enfeeble the monster, party buff, sleep and increase your party's performance. A Bard ranks A for white magic, rank B for singing, and rank C for buffing and enfeebling.
Tabulated Caster Data
When looking at the ranks of your sub-job skill remember you only recieve a percentage of the skill as sub (about twenty five percent).
| Rank | Rating | |
| A | Outstanding | |
| B | Proficient | |
| C | Above Average | |
| D | Basic | |
| E | Below Average | |
| F | Poor | |
| G | Unsatisfactory |
WHM |
BLM |
RDM |
BRD |
SMN |
|
HP |
-1 |
-3 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
-4 |
MP |
+ 4 |
+ 6 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
+ 8 |
STR |
+ 0 |
-1 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
-1 |
DEX |
-1 |
+1 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
VIT |
+ 0 |
-1 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
-1 |
AGI |
+ 0 |
+ 1 |
+ 0 |
-1 |
+ 0 |
INT |
+ 0 |
+ 2 |
+ 1 |
+ 0 |
+ 1 |
MND |
+ 2 |
+ 0 |
+ 1 |
+ 0 |
+ 1 |
CHR |
+ 1 |
+ 0 |
+ 0 |
+ 1 |
+ 1 |
| WHM | BLM | RDM | BRD | SMN | |
| HP | E | F | D | D | G |
| MP | C | B | D | A | |
| STR | D | F | D | D | F |
| DEX | F | C | D | D | E |
| VIT | D | F | E | D | F |
| AGI | E | C | E | F | D |
| INT | E | A | C | D | B |
| MND | A | E | C | D | B |
| CHR | C | D | D | B | B |
| WHM | BLM | RDM | BRD | SMN | |
| Dagger | D | B | B | E | |
| Sword | B | C | |||
| Club | B | E | D | D | E |
| Staff | C |
C | C | B | |
| Archery | D | ||||
| Marksmanship | |||||
| Throwing | E | D | F | E | |
| Guard | |||||
| Evade | E | E | D | D | E |
| Shield | D | E | |||
| Parry | E | E |
| WHM | BLM | RDM | BRD | SMN | |
| Holy Magic | A | E | A | ||
| Recovery Magic | A | C | A | ||
| Strengthen Magic | C | E | B | C | |
| Weaken Magic | C | C | A | C | |
| Elemental Magic | A | C | |||
| Dark Magic | A | E | |||
| Summon | A | ||||
| Singing | B | ||||
| Stringed Instrument | B | ||||
| Wind Instrument | B |
Affects how much damage you can take from an enemy.
Affects how much magic you can cast.
Affects how much damage your physical attacks cause.
Affects your chances of landing a physical attack and your chance of inflicting/receiving a critical hit.
Affects your defense against physical attacks.
Affects your chances of dodging a physical attack from an enemy and is also related to your long range attack accuracy.
Affects Black Magic power.
Affects White Magic power, determines how well you resist abnormal status and also determines your magic defense.
Affects the success rate on charisma related skills.
Summary
Sub-job a White Mage, it will be easy and fast to get a party, and when you are bored with that sub other jobs depending on the healing power in your party. Most importantly sub a job you enjoy playing!