Lancer 101 updated- 10/4/10Follow

Ok, this isn't really a guide yet. (Just wanted to get a few notes down before bed)
But it will be as soon as I can get around to it, Everyone's input is appreciated.

Or it can be added to the other guide posted here.

Any useful information will be added, and if anyone think something needs to be changed just let me know.




I'll start with a few notes.

*My lancer is only level 10 right now, so this information is just my personal observations.
*I'm up in the air about stats, since there has been no real solid testing on them.
*Get Marauder to 6 for Bloodbath.
*Get Pugilist to 6 for Second Wind.
*Start leveling Lancer.
*It is not a bad idea to level Conjurer for spells, but I recommend waiting until after 10, because with your bread and butter abilities equipped you wont have room for any spells until 11+.


Not everyone is aware of the Ferocity > Bloodbath > Moonrise Combo.
But at rank 10 I get roughly 150 hp back every minute (if it hits, if it doesn't then its around 60) = one free cure
Also With Second wind you get an addition 150 hp back every minute.

*Speed Surge = An amazing ability, always have it on in every fight.
(10 hp every swing will keep your hp pretty high after fights, I'd like to do some math to really see how much hp you lose in fights with it on.)



Key Abilities:
Levels 1-10
Lancer: Moonrise
Marauder: Bloodbath, Skull Sunder
Pugilist: Second Wind
Conjurer: Cure

Levels 10-14(so far)
Lancer: Speed Surge(10), Doom Spike(12), Invigorate(14)

This is my ability set up at 14.
Light Attack/ Doom Spike / Cure / Bloodbath / Speed Surge / Skull Sunder(Moonrise) / Second Wind / Heavy Attack
My reasoning: My build is about low downtime, I don't want to have to run to camp every 5 minutes that is why I went heavy on the heals, it's best to build to your play style but I tailor my grind around my ability to keep my hp up and just keep going from fight to fight.

Note* At 14 I switched out Skull Sunder for Moonrise because of the congestion of monsters.


Gear:
I have nothing to comment on about gear right now.
Although I should note, by 10 you should do your best to obtain as much gear as you can for your level.
Most Importantly: 4x Copper Rings and a Harpoon.



A few Solo Grinding locations for those interested.
So far the best grinding locations I have found are as follows.
In case you were wondering, I have tried locations in around all of the cities, and Limsa seems to be by far the easiest.


1-10 La Noscea
The cave immediately right of "camp bearded rock".
This is where you'll grind out the other jobs to 6 and Lancer to 9 or 10.
Fighting, Firefly's, Glowfly's and Beetles.
Notable Loot: Flax, Fire Shards

6-12 La Noscea
La Noscea (41.25)
Fighting Sheep here can take you to 12.
Great for leather crafting as you'll obtain mass sheep skin.
Best place to farm wind shards and crystals, roughly 60-100 every 30 mins.
Notable Loot: Wind Shards, Sheep Skin

10-14 La Noscea
Around and slightly north of the tower directly south of "Camp Skull Valley".
Fighting Plains Rats And Puk Hatchlings
The respawn Rate here is very good.
Notable Loot: Wind Shards, Lightning Crystals(Rare), Cotton Bolls

14-?? La Noscea Unsure of this spot.
Area Directly left of "Camp Skull Valley", small path above the "skull valley" text.
Here you'll be fighting Dodo's and Syrphid Swarms
Notable Loot: Dodo Skin
-
Fighting Dodo's:
Hold the keys 'W' and 'D' to circle around them while attacking. This will cause the dodo's breath attacks to be easier to deal with, they literally cannot put you to sleep if you aren't in front of them, the attack is a large cone.
-


Macros:

Attacking, for skill ups and mindless grinding(only on weaker mobs)
/ac "Light Thrust" <t>
/wait 2.5
/ac "Light Thrust" <t>
/wait 2.5
/ac "Light Thrust" <t>
/wait 2.5
/ac "Light Thrust" <t>
/wait 2.5
/ac "Skull Sunder" <t>


Healing Your self.
/ac "Second Wind" <me>
and
/ac "Cure" <me>

For the Bloodbath combo (times may need to be tweaked)
/ac "Ferocity" <me>
wait 2
/ac "Bloodbath" <me>
wait 2
/ac "Doomspike" <me>

Speed Surge
/ac "Speed Surge" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Shock Spikes" <me> ****only if you have it on



Partys:
Will add to this as I go...






A few tips
*You can enter the fight with Ferocity on, I don't recommend it unless you have enough TP for Moonrise.
*Always Always Always have Speed Surge on.
*Make use of Second Wind and The Bloodbath combo any time you have lost more that 150 hp and they're off cooldown.
*I cannot tell you when it's good to rest because it varies with the mobs, but I rest if my abilities are on cooldown only or if I have under 200 hp after a fight.


Edited, Oct 4th 2010 7:29am by licebeam

Edited, Oct 4th 2010 7:30am by licebeam

Edited, Oct 4th 2010 7:46am by licebeam

Edited, Oct 4th 2010 7:54am by licebeam

Edited, Oct 4th 2010 7:55am by licebeam

Edited, Oct 4th 2010 7:55am by licebeam

So far so good, had this plan myself as far as other jobs. I do think later on I'll level CON up for soloing, we'll have to see. Looking forward to the rest!

Interested in what macros you were going to post up.

I like this guide. Coincidentally, it's almost exactly what I did for higher levels during the OB, hahaha
Strange that it seems like Limsa is one of the best places to grind things, as far as I could tell.

I pretty only did soloing during the OB and decided that having the Gladiator's Circle Slash was helpful. It's pretty poweful, and obviously attacks anything in a circle around you. I don't know the exact mechanics of Bloodbath, but it sounds like if you're soloing and fighting groups, along with the Lancer's several "Hit multiple enemies in a line" attacks (Skewer, Pierce), you could probably net some nice HP with this and Bloodbath.

Also, I know everyone says having Second Wind is an amazing thing, and I don't disagree, but its cool down time seems to be kinda sucky for long battles. I used to grind Dodos near Ul'Dah and would use Second Wind when my HP got low, but it's pretty much a one-time use per battle, and at the time the Dodo hit me for enough to negate it almost instantly. What worked out fairly well for me was to have Cure, which, despite a low INT, gave me around 120 hp and I could use it several times as long as I had some MP (just bind with Heavy Thrust, move away, cure). During the OB, however, I was not using Bloodbath (Actually still something I need to get), and it sounds like having that with you would change your style a little bit.

Thanks again for the guide. As a fellow Lancer, just thought I'd add my two cents.

Even better than back peddling /circling is that if you move forward and circle at same time while attacking, you'll frequently get side/back hits which have higher accuracy and do more damage.

straight strafing doesn't do it any more, but if you move forward while strafing (and locked on) you'll circle fast enough to get side/back attacks.

Updated with a bunch of new info.

@Gwenny

I meant that I chose Moonrise over Skull Sunder, because Skull Sunder is an AOE.


Doomspike on the other hand does far more damage than Trammel, I can hit upwards to 500 on puk hatchlings.

I'll mess around with different set ups though.
I know doomspike costs a lot of tp, but I find that you'll be just mashing out light thrust anyway for a majority of the fight.

First and foremost, I want to thank you folk for pointing out Skull Sunder, Second Wind and Bloodbath out. I had a rank 10 Lancer before hearing about these skills and things are so much easier.

Secondly: Skewer vs. Doomspike

I put that there to be dramatic as I really don't think there is a contest between the two skills depending on situation. I don't know if this was the case in beta, but my experimenting has shown that Doomspike drains the user's entire TP meter and scales with TP in excess of 2000 used. This means that in a straight damaging situation, a 3000 TP Doomspike is going to be unmatched in the amount of damage done in one shot. The shocking bit I found was that a 2000 TP Doomspike would actually do less damage than a 1000 TP Skewer against a single mob and assuming you are Skull Sunder as often as possible like a good little Lancer and aren't using Invigorate, you aren't going to have 3000 TP laying around. I think the scaling multipliers are the same as you hit more targets though if either scales any significantly greater, that would tip the scales in favor of that skill.

I'd like to submit that Skewer be used when soloing in place of Doomspike for the bloodbath -> ferocity -> skewer combo when soloing because, while it lacks a little bit in the raw power potential (though in most practical uses does as much if not MORE) of Doomspike, it is so much more wieldy and still gives you the opportunity to follow a missed bloodbath + ferocity -> skewer with a bloodbath -> skewer because the bloodbath effect won't dissipate on a miss.

I know that is a lot of text... Long story short: I am liking Skewer better in solo situations though I think Doomspike would work better when dishing out damage is the focus like in a party situation.

Edited, Oct 22nd 2010 4:41pm by Jesrick

What you can add to the list is change the 14-?? to 14-16 for the dodo's by Camp Skull Valley then you can move over to Camp Bloodshore for 16-?? fighting Aldgoat Nanny's and Dire Rats. Currently I am soloing Aldgoat Nanny's successfully with no issues as long as they are yellow, haven't tested the waters by going after an orange Aldgoat Nanny. If yall are wondering my ability setup its Light Thrust, Heavy Thrust, Skewer, Doomspike, Ferocity, Bloodbath, Speed Surge, Invigorate, Second Wind, and Cure. Aldgoat Nanny's give me around 300sp and Dire Rats give me around 200sp.

Edit: Can also fight Puk's around there just watch out for there backflip, it hurts!

Edited, Oct 31st 2010 9:02pm by Trisdale

Those are some good ideas, I'll have to give them a try and see how I like it.