Guide to BST/NIN by Ctownwoody/Page 2

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=BST/NIN Macros=

Principles
Macros are all about your priorities and principles when playing the job. Not everyone uses the same ones, and not every Ability or Command requires a macro.
 * 1) Group your pet commands together and group your abilities separately. I use the top row for abilities and the bottom row for pet commands.
 * 2) Leave is dangerous and should be an outlier. I have Leave away from every other command because it is the one ability or command that will make you dead the fastest if accidentally used.
 * 3) Have a generic Pet Status command to check HPP, TP, and various recast timers. I prefer Sic, Snarl, Call Beast and Reward and the use of /echo to make sure that I can see it in different text than everything else but not spamming the party or linkshell chat.
 * 4) Use auto-translate and party chat to let your party know what your pet is doing. While it may spam things in places, letting people know that you are attacking, heeling, etc with an established pet is important, especially when you are kiting or pulling out of line of sight.  I personally detest Charm macros that include party chat and cutesy phrases.  KISS, especially for non-English speakers.
 * 5) Macro-Swaps are important, so make sure you keep them accurate and up-to-date. As a BST, you will be swapping gear constantly between gear for Charm and gear for melee, which are usually 100% different.  So it's important to keep them straight, have them accurate for your current inventory and level-specific equipment, etc.  I try to keep it to one for "Pre-Charm" and one for "Post-Charm" and simply change the rest manually or use use some Charm gear in melee if it isn't bad for melee.  On the other hand, I've seen other BST75's that use 3 separate macros to swap out everything and then swap in 100% different gear.  But decide, stick to it and use/re-use until it becomes an instinct.
 * 6) Don't depend on /wait + /echo "X Ready!" type commands. That stuff gets thrown off by the use of other macros and the macros with long waits will inevitably get interrupted by another macros.  Alternatively, the commands and abilities with a really short timer have too short a timer to make a reminder worth it.  I would recommend that you use /echo + /recast for your reminders.

Macro Lines
to be added...

=BST/NIN Strategies=
 * 1) Charm a Mob, Fight Beside It :  The first and most basic.  You use Charm against a DC or EM and have it Fight a EM-T.  Once your pet has established enough hate, join it.  Best to let it die if you don't have Leave yet.  If you do, try to defeat the mob before you pet dies, then use Leave to let your pet heal.  Either way, finishing with a good Weapon Skill is nice.  If you steal hate, simply unlock from the mob, turn around while it eats your Utsusemi shadows, and let your your pet regain its attention.


 * 1) Charm a Mob, Let it Wear Down the Enemy, and Swap it out : After you gain Leave, this is the most common strategy for using 2 weaker pets to take down Tough+ mobs.  It's a bit unpredictable before you get Leave because you're still kinda new to the job and because you can deplete an area and be left without charmable pets more easily.  Typically, you want to try and predict when you can join in combat with your pet, but typically, it should be after the first swap.  If 3 pets are required, it's after the 2nd swap.  Remember, your pet's hate disappears with Leave; yours does not.


 * 1) Charm Mobs and Throw Them at Suicidial Mobs :  This can result in some incredible fast and potent XP.  Goblins,, Dolls and Bees all have "Death Moves" where they do massive damage and then die.  By throwing weakier and easy-to-charm pets at them, you feed the enemy TP until it suicides.  Don't melee until it gets below 5-10%, because in the case of all but Bees, the suicidal move is AoE and quite deadly.  For the record, I've gotten up to 400+ XP with some luck this way.


 * 1) Party :  Simple, get your best DD gear on, use Call Beast with a DD-pet, such as FunguarFamiliar or TigerFamiliar, among my favorites, and have at it as a regular party member.  DoT is your guide, so I typically build for Accuracy and eat meat if possible, or sushi if I need the accuracy.

end up tanking, if you do it right but none of them, with luck, take so much hate as to be easily defeated. Let me tell you that 12 attackers against a single target is intimidating and takes it out quite quickly. You run into problems at higher levels in that you are taking out enemies faster than you can pull them. An added bonus of this approach is that it allows a wider latitude of jobs and support jobs, as long as they aren't pulling more hate than the pets (/dnc and /whm, especially).
 * 1) Multiple BSTs/SMNs/PUPs :  I call this a "pet dogpile" situation, and is more commonly known as "jug burn" or "pet burn" and is becoming more common thanks to Level Sync.  Everyone calls their pet or charms one, depending, and you roam or camp spots where you can tackle tougher and tougher mobs.  The pets actually


 * 1) Variations on a Theme :  One of the above, adjusted for your particular style and situation.  BST, because it lets pets do the heavy-lifting, figuratively speaking, is remarkably flexible in how to operates.  Also, because your ability to Charm weaker enemies is powerful, if you want to take things slowly, you can.

=General Tips= Feel free to add them in...
 * 1) You will die .  Expect it and prepare for it.  However, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the Reraise lasts 30 minutes, and a Reraise Earring only possesses 10 charges, so that's 5 hours of play before the earring is useless.  Decide in advance if it's worth it.


 * 1) To be added later...