Authors
Hello everyone, Nemekh here an update on the latest 5.3 Patch and release of the long awaited climax to the Shadowbringers MSQ!
In terms of job changes for PVE content for a major patch this is a very light one for casters - which should be a good sign that by and large Square Enix deem damage potential closer to their idea of balance.
With that said, Summoner is the only caster to receive changes to their PvE arsenal in 5.3
Summoner (召喚士) PVE Changes.
With what has been a very strong showing across the board even with the DoT nerfs of 5.2, it has been said by our team since 5.1 that Summoner’s damage potential is so high that it will need toning down especially in relation to the other casters.
As such the following change should not come as a surprise:
Tri-disaster’s on hit potency has been slashed in half down from 300p to 150.
See the official patch reading video below with Yoshida talking about this change:
In the NicoNico stream viewers were commenting that Yoshida that while it may seem that Tri-disaster has been nerfed too much it will not be a big swing due to how infrequently it is cast in battle.
Another viewer commented asking Yoshida if they would nerf other aspects of Summoner to which he replied if they did they would have to adjust other jobs to compensate.
I’ll expand on the impacts of the potency change next.
The Impact On Tri-disaster In General
On Yoshida’s point earlier it’s important to emphasise that in general Summoner play revolves around:
- 3 Tri-disasters
- 1 hardcast DoT set
every 110-120s cycle.
These are the rules we’re bound by due to the Trance cooldown and Tri-disaster resets.
As such, our this change is not altering our general rotation. Carry on playing as normal!
Before buff considerations we’re losing 450 potency every 110-120s, or ~3.75-4.09 potency per second.
In Single Target for an encounter that is full uptime or with minimal downtime we are looking at Tri-disaster counting for ~4% of total damage with buff windows accounted for.
From this we can say that the potency reduction is a nerf of ~2% to total DPS, however, this can vary due to:
- downtime affecting how much more of total potential damage comes from Tri-disaster
- kill time dictating the maximum number of potential uses
- comp differences where party buffs will impact how much the on hit potency benefits from
- AoE and any phases with cleave making Tri-disaster a smaller % of total damage dealt
The Impact On Tri-disaster For Optimising
There was an interesting optimisation consideration for squeezing out more damage in certain encounters like E8S where you could trade-off a standard use for an extra DoT hardcast set so that you could have a double Tri-disaster window under buffs later on in an encounter just before a future downtime window (E8S adds).
However, this was with the On Hit potency being 300p. The potency now being 150p makes this an unfavourable optimisation in general and as a result this is an option removed from our repertoire for single target scenarios.
What Does This Mean For Summoner?
Summoner will feel the brunt of this change in downtime heavier fights - especially Ultimates with short uptime high downtime segments.
In terms of its standing amongst other DPS jobs, SMN will still be a very strong option especially when played at a high level. This change is having us punch more for our expected weight instead of quite above it.
While it doesn’t feel great to be receiving nerfs each major patch since 5.1 this is not a change to cry about nor call doom and gloom over. Summoner will be more than fine.
Hopes for 5.3
It is interesting to note that there were no mentions of bug fixes for outstanding bugs reported since as far back as October 2019 for Demi-Phoenix and pet AI bugs. I am hoping they fall under the category of additional fixes that didn’t make the official list.
Thanks for reading!
~Nemekh