Puppet Master Solo guide



=Puppet Master The Solo Guide by Stigmar=

After going through a lot of guides on wiki looking for advice on Puppetmaster, I decided to try and write my own guide, and to try and compact all of the information/tricks/tips that I have found about playing Puppetmaster, and remember if I can do it. You can too!

A Word from the Writer
It's been a fun journey learning Puppetmaster, and getting to 75 took around 3 months. To get to 75, however, with the changes being made on March 22, 2010 it will be interesting to see just how it affects puppet soloing and also in parties. I invite anyone who is leveling puppet now or has done so to add there own camps and tips in the same format. This guide is solely based on my experiences with Puppetmaster and is no way the only way to play it. I'd be rather interested in seeing the other styles of play being listed here on this guide and good luck!

=The Role between Master and Puppet=

The first and probably the most important thing you will learn from this job is that unlike bst or smn, you're the tank and your puppet is your support. With this in mind, you want to gear up on as much Evasion+ gear as possible. At level 10, to become even remotely successful at soloing pup, you will need to quest the Stormwaker body and head. Although Harley Head can heal and enfeeble, it simply doesn't have the MP pool of Stormwaker, or the offensive spells to speed along kills in the lower levels. The attachment Flash also comes in extremely handy to enhance your Evasion skills, get this as soon as possible, you'll use it all the way to end game.

=Know your Puppets!=

First thing you need to know about is what frame is good for what situation. I will give a brief summary of each frame and talk about what their strengths and weaknesses are.



=Harlequin=

The Harlequin frame's melee attacks deal blunt damage. The Harlequin has fairly moderate stats across the board.

This is the starter Head and Frame. It only has enfeebles and cures. The skills are average, as are the stats, defense, and attack. There is nothing wrong with this frame, but there is nothing special about it. It doesn't have much use once other combinations have been acquired.

Weapon Skills
Harlequin and Stormwaker frames share the same Weapon Skills.

Slapstick is a three-hit blunt damage Weapon Skill. There is nothing much special about it. Because the frames that use this Weapon Skills are relatively weak, the damage from this isn't too impressive. It's not bad, just nothing special.

Knockout is a one hit blunt attack that lowers the target's evasion. Because it is a one-hit attack, the damage is much more consistent and is much improved over Slapstick. It will hit much harder than a full three hits from Slapstick.

Magic Mortar is a one-hit special damage attack. The special damage is similar to Spirits Within damage. In fact, Magic Mortar is like a reverse Spirits Within. Its damage is proportional to the HP the Puppet is missing. The lower the HP, the more damage, but the greater the chance to be taken out by an AoE or a stray hit.



=Stormwaker=

The Stormwaker frame's melee attacks deal blunt damage. The Stormwaker has low defense, low evasion, low HP, and high MP.

With the Stormwaker head, it is often referred to as the Red Mage Puppet. It has curing magic, enfeebles, and elemental nukes. It will only cure the Master and itself. It will prioritize the cures by hate; if the Puppet is the main target of the monster, it will cure itself. If the Master has hate or neither the Puppet or Master have hate, it will cure the Master.

The Stormwaker frame also has other heads. These heads change the spell casting pattern as well as give access to new spells and restrict others.

The Soulsoother head is often referred to as the White Mage puppet. It loses elemental nukes but gains the regen line, status cures (-na spells), and Cure V. It will also cure other players beyond the Master. It will only cast Regen on the player with hate, and only if that player is below 100% HP but above the percent needed to trigger a cure. It prioritizes the Master and itself over other players; so if the Master or the Puppet need a cure it will tend to that first. Then it will cure the player that needs a cure and has the monster's attention. If the player with the monster's attention does not need a cure, but other players do, the Puppet will choose one based on current HP of those players. The Puppet will also take care of any status effects before curing.

The Spiritreaver head is often referred to as the Black Mage puppet. It loses the cure spells but gains Drain, Aspir, and Absorb-INT. It also gains access to higher tier nukes in later levels. Due to the amount of MAB that can be accessed from attachments, this Head and Frame combination can produce some impressive numbers. However, the Stormwaker head and Spiritreaver head do not differ in nuke access until later levels.

Weapon Skills
Harlequin and Stormwaker frames share the same Weapon Skills. Refer to the Harlequin section.



=Sharpshot=

The Sharpshot frame's melee attacks deal blunt damage. The ranged attacks deal piercing damage. The Sharpshot has high evasion, low defense, and moderate HP.

Often referred to as the Ranger puppet, the Sharpshot is the choice for dealing physical damage in a party situation. The only time the Sharpshot is not preferred is against high defense mobs (crabs and beetles) or when the mob uses many AoE attacks (goblins). With respectable TP gain if meleeing while firing, the Sharpshot's Weaponskills can produce excellent numbers.

Weapon Skills
Arcuballista is a one-hit piercing attack. It deals decent damage for a beginning Weapon Skill. No additional effects.

Daze is a one-hit piercing attack with a stun effect. The stun effect will typically last about one to two seconds. The damage on this is much improved over Arcuballista. This is one of the reasons this frame is preferred for physical damage situations.

Armor Piercer is a one-hit piercing attack that (possibly) ignores the target's defense. This further improves the damage from Daze, making this a deadly attack for both the monster and the Puppet.

=Valoredge=

The Valoredge frame's melee attacks deal slashing damage. The Valoredge has high defense, high melee attack, high HP, and a faster melee attack rate.

Often referred to the Paladin or Warrior puppet. However, the Valoredge cannot casts spells. It has the ability to Shield Bash and will attempt to Shield Bash a monster's TP moves. Many players think that Valoredge can tank in a party. This is not the case. While it can take damage and has decent HP, it is too hard to heal. If players could heal the Puppet it might stand a chance, but even then it takes considerably more damage than a Paladin.

Weapon Skills
String Clipper is a two-hit slashing attack. Again, this is a fairly standard Weapon Skill. Damage is good but not ground breaking.

Chimera Ripper is a one-hit slashing attack. Much like String Clipper, this is nice but not special.

Cannibal Blade is a one-hit slashing attack that converts the damage to HP. This attack works much like Spirit Taker. It ignores Evasion and Defense of the target. This attack increases the survivability of the Puppet, making the Valoredge an excellent choice for AoE heavy situations. This damage is improved from String Clipper and Chimera Ripper.

Bone Crusher is a three-hit blunt attack. The damage is again improved over Cannibal Blade. Notice that this is a blunt attack and not slashing.

=Puppet Master as a Damage Dealer=

What kind of damage can a PUP deal? All kinds. The Master will primarily deal blunt damage with Hand-to-Hand weapons. The Puppet can be made to deal Slashing, Blunt and Piercing mix, or Blunt and Magical mix. So if a monster has a weakness to a damage type a PUP can at least partially capitalize on it.

What advantages does a PUP DD have? PUP DDs are naturally low hate. The total damage is split between two sources, so either one has a hard time taking and/or keeping hate. In drawn out NM or HNM fights a Puppet's damage will add up quickly. The Puppet cannot normally deal zero damage and can obtain impressive levels of accuracy. Therefore, the Puppet will consistently gain TP despite a high defense and/or high evasion monster.

Does a PUP DD really do as much as other DDs? In short, yes. A PUP allowed to unleash the full power of both the Master and Puppet will be in the same level as other DDs. The PUP does lack an extreme damage setup (like a Kraken Club DRK), so PUPs aren't really made for NM burning. PUPs are very consistent though.

What about PUP as a magical DD? They perform well. PUP is not a replacement to a solid BLM or SCH in terms of potential magical damage, but a Puppet can match a BLM in spell for spell damage. That is to say a Puppet's Fire IV can be as strong as a BLM's Fire IV. A Puppet can receive extraordinary amounts of MAB. This does leave one problem, magic accuracy. PUPs cannot reach the level of magic accuracy that BLM can. There is one attachment to enhance a Puppet's magic accuracy, but it's effectiveness has not yet been quantified. You can also get endgame gear that can enhance your automatons magic accuracy. The Mirke Wardcor's with the proper augments give you +7 Magic Accuracy and Magic Attack. Also the Pantin Churiders give an additional 5 Magic Accuracy. A Puppet can easily refill it's MP but is unable to cast spells back to back for quick damage.

=Subjobs and Advantages=

Scholar
Dark Arts is the main reason for this, because with a good enfeebling magic gear set it can give Puppetmaster 261 Enfeebling Skill (important for landing sleep on those IT mobs). Max MP Boost, Sublimation, and pretty much everything else Scholar gives are all good news. This will alow you to mana burn with your Blackmage frame no problem in the higher levels can't see much use until the 70s atleast.

Ninja
In conjunction with Spiritreaver or soulsoother, this an be useful for kiting mobs that are hard to sleep/can't be slept not to mention this is the best sub for soloing with puppetmaster.

Dancer
Good starter Sub for when your in your early levels and can't use shadows yet. Also a nice alternate to using ninja in parties if you lucky enough to get an invite that is.

Warrior
Nice little sub in party and solo play especially if your trying to skill up those melee frames as you find they will take hate way to quick.

=Let's Level Guard Skill=

I am including this video as I blame Elmerthepointy entirely for getting into puppetmaster.

Video: MP5rA_xZKWU&hl

Key Notes
Here are the main facts on using this video in actual pratice.


 * Wearing Guard skill Equipment.
 * AGI does in my experince help with skill ups.
 * Load up on as much def gear that you can get Tav tacos help!
 * Take your current skill level and divie it by 3 for monster level target.
 * Set your automation with Valoredge head and stormwaker body this stops it casting emfeb magic.
 * Whatever you do don't equip Flashblub.

=Burden and Overload=

Overload is a negative status effect which removes all maneuvers and prevents their use for a period of time. In addition, the automaton will be afflicted by the effects of weight and 50% slow while overloaded.

Removal of the Effect
There is no way to remove the effect. It takes anywhere from a few seconds to a minute and a half for the automaton to cool off and no longer be overloaded.

Burden and Threshold
Each time you use a maneuver, it adds to the "burden" for that element. If the element's total burden surpasses a "threshold", you will have a chance to overload. The blue rectangles below display the amount of burden added per maneuver, and the yellow bars represent the total accumulated burden.





Facts about overload:

Overloading is random. You may not overload, even if your burden is beyond the threshold. It is currently unknown if the chance to overload increases as you get further beyond the threshold. Burden for each element is independent. For example, using water maneuvers will have no effect on fire burden. Deactivation or losing the puppet will clear all burden. If you are overloaded, you will still have to wait for the effect to wear, even though the burden is gone. Activation or zoning will generate a large amount of burden. It takes about two minutes for activate burden to fully dissipate (105~117 seconds).

Overload Duration
The overloaded duration lasts one second for each point of burden beyond the threshold.

Burden Decay
One point of burden is removed every three seconds. This is similar to "ticks" for refresh or regen, which occur in three second intervals.

Lowering Burden with Equipment
Each element is related to a stat, as can be seen when checking the automaton's equipment screen. For example, the puppet's STR will increase after using a fire maneuver. The relationships are as follows:

STR - Fire Maneuver

INT - Ice Maneuver

AGI - Wind Maneuver

VIT - Earth Maneuver

DEX - Thunder Maneuver

MND - Water Maneuver

CHR - Light Maneuver

MP - Dark Maneuver

The master and puppet's stats are compared the moment a maneuver is used, to determine how much burden it will generate. This comparison includes stat bonuses to the puppet from previous maneuvers, but not the current. If the master's stat is equal or greater than the puppet's, the maneuver will generate 25% less burden. This is considered "good" burden.

Good Burden: 15 points per maneuver (Takes 45 seconds to decay.)

Bad Burden: 20 points per maneuver (Takes 60 seconds to decay.)

Dark maneuvers are an exception. They generate slightly less burden than others: 10 and 15 points, for good and bad respectively.

The Threshold The threshold is passed after about 32~33 burden. This means you can apply two "good" maneuvers without overloading (15+15=30 burden).

The Puppetry Dastanas and Buffoon's Collar each increase the threshold's capacity by 5 burden. The items stack additively.

Overdrive's Effect on Overloading The Puppetmaster's 2-hour prevents overloads from occurring, however you will still generate burden while it's in effect.

=Attachments=

Attachments are what make your puppet work and respond to you commands below I listed the attachments and what they do and remember each time you get a attachment you have to have it fitted before you can equip it.

Fire
Tension Spring: Great attachment early on. Cheap, efficient, gets the job done. Increases your auto's attack by an unseen amount, but the damage is definitely noticable.

Tension Spring II: Also a great attachment. Get it in the mid levels to make up for its predecessor's lack of power. Tier I slows down in the mid-30s, so this is a good pick me up. They, and their effects, can be stacked.

Inhibitor: The Store TP on this is great. It also adds a bit of intelligence to your auto and tells it to SC with you. Very nice, but don't equip it if you're already part of a SC with another player. The auto tends to replace good SCs with horrid ones.

Strobe: Another good one early on and a good one if you're subbing Pup for 1-10 on another job. Takes the heat off you and when stacked with Auto-Repair Kit, can be a good combo. Loses affectiveness later on, as monsters tend to deal more damage to your auto than you can heal.

Attuner: This attachment is your melee powerhouse. It will increase damage to exp (party) mobs even greater than the Tension Spring series. Stacks with them, as well. Please get this if you EVER Deploy anywhere near the mob.

Reactive Shield: See, I got this one late, when I didn't let my auto take hate. I never end up using it because, like I said before, mobs deal too much damage too quickly. I could imagine it has good uses very early if bunched with Auto-Repair Kit, Shock Absorber, and Strobe. Right now though, it just eats up fire elements I could be using for attack attachments.

Flame Holder: This is an amazing little attachment. In a trade for your fire maneuvers, it will add a significant amount of damage to your auto's WS. Get it if you plan on being a heavy DD. Yeah, I said it. Pup heavy DD.

All in all, most of the fire attachments are well worth the investment.

Ice
Loudspeaker: I didn't find this to be so good early on, considering Harlequin mainly debuffs. Once I got Stormwaker and the Soulreaver head, this really packs a punch. The damage output is very noticable, so please invest.

Loudspeaker II: Loudspeaker's big brother. Great attachment with large Magic Attack bonuses. Please invest.

Mana Booster: Great attachment for healing and soloing. Shaves precious seconds off your auto's magic recast. However, it only activates if you have ice maneuvers active, and active before your automaton begins casting. Otherwise, you're gonna have some long recasts.

Scanner: I have found Scanner to be buggy at times, but useful at others. It finds weaknesses in the mobs, much like dragoon's wyverns do when subbed a melee job, and exploits them with an appropriate nuke. Pretty good.

Tactical Processor: It helps the Automaton decide faster to cast a spell that will be beneficial to you over doing damage spell; i.e. Casting Stona on you instead of Blizzard on the monster when you are petrified. I took off the Tact Proc. for same mobs and it would take longer to decide and also NOT decide correctly, or not the same way each time. The only time it was different was the Automaton's MP level and costing cast of the spell would not allow it to cast certain spells. Danallen 04:10, February 18, 2010 (UTC)

Tranquilizer: Almost useless early on, but 60+ and endgame it is imperative. This attachment increases your automaton's magic accuracy. This is extremely handy, considering the resist rate of most endgame Mega Bosses.

Ice Maker: As soon as you get Soulreaver, you should have this. It is the magic version of Flame Holder. Just please, watch out for overload.

Wind
Accelerator: Grants the automaton evasion bonus. Great early on if your puppet takes hate. Even better later on after your puppet steals the show with a huge Armor Piercer. A great idea.

Accelerator II: Super Accelerator. Even better, because it gives MORE evasion. A better idea.

Scope: You should have this at level 10 when you get your Sharpshot. It is imperative that he has this, as Stabilizers don't work on Ranged Attacks. A must have. Also, anyone know why Harlequin has a ranged skill?!

Pattern Reader: This guy only activates if you have at least one wind maneuver up. When it is, your automaton will 'watch' accuracy patterns of the mob and increase it's evasion to match. If you have the space for it, it's decent. I don't put it on much, but it is good if you're auto takes hits a lot. Your puppet's evasion can literally skyrocket if it gets smacked a few times by an IT. An interesting buy.

Drum Magazine: This is one of the more disputed attachments. It sacrifices accuracy for speed. I found it quite useful, especially when skilling up. Also, very good for farming or killing weaker monsters that your auto would hit either way. Pair it with Scope and I really don't have a big problem with missing RAs. In my opinion, get it.

Turbo Charger: Yes. Just yes. As soon as you can, yes. Why would you not want haste? Why would anyone not want haste? Pile on the wind maneuvers for mucho damage.

Replicator: If they buffed PUP so that we can heal our puppet more efficiently, this would be great...sort of. Replicator eats your wind maneuvers and converts them into shadow images. This is in fact a normal Blink when you combine this attachment with damage gauge it actives when your automation HP drops below 50% excellent for soloing and your puppet takes hate!

Wind attachments have a large amount of use on Sharpshot.

Earth
Armor Plate: Increases automaton's defense. Great idea, as he WILL take hate every now and then. Should be a level 1 buy.

Armor Plate II: Don't need it at 1, but get it soon after. More def? {Yes, please.}

Shock Absorber: Pair this with Strobe, Auto-Repair kit, and Accelerators, and you have one mean early puppet tank. It gives Stoneskin with a constant 100 dmg soak every three minutes. Amazing early, but useless later.

Analyzer: This attachment will decrease damage/effects from repeated TP moves. Got a Roar spamming tiger? After a few moves your auto will cease to paralyze. Think of your auto as building a resistance.

Equilizer: Puppet Phalanx? Yes, thank you. Pretty good if you have the spot for it and your auto takes hate.

Schurzen: This guy will, at the expense of an earth maneuver, leave your automaton at 1 hp after suffering a big hit. This is amazing, especially on moves with high critical hit rates. Get it for soloing.

Hammermill: The added damage is miniscule and the slow duration is kinda short, but it finds its' uses. 2 out of 5.

Earth attachments are situational at best, but, in those situations, shine brightly.

Lightning
Stabilizer: Increases accuracy. As with all DDs, accuracy takes precedence among stat increases. This is a level 1 buy.

Stabilizer II: Not needed as early as I, but still needed. Get it in the 30s or 40s I would say.

Volt Gun: A very useless attachment that hardly never procs in for the miniscule amount of damage Enthunder damage it provides. Don't bother.

Heat Seeker: A must for melee frames in party situations. It increases accuracy based on the mob's evasion. So essentially, it is a reversed Pattern Reader. I say get it.

Target Marker: The accuracy form of Attuner. A must have in mid levels.

Dynamo: Holy wow, an amazing attachment. This really ups your auto's critical hit rate and damage output. The only problem is, they're so freakin scarce. Good luck finding one cheap.

Coiler: Another really good attachment for dmg and TP gain. It provides Double Attack for your automaton, and increases the proc rate with each lightning maneuver. I almost always have one up anyway, so I have no problem seeing it proc every once in a while. Ob is easy enough to K.O. too, and you can even help kill him at lvl 1 PUP. See Ob page for details.

Lightning maneuvers are great for DD auto's. With them, you won't have a problem dealing damage. Except you, Volt Gun. There always seems to be one bum attachment...

Water
Mana Jammer: Upon water maneuver application, increases magic defense stat. Not really necessary, but I'd say get it for AoEs, but considering they are the bane of PUPs as it is, steer clear.

Mana Jammer II: See Mana Jammer. And meh.

Mana Channeler: This attachment could be interesting, I guess. Trading recast time for magic attack could be good for a single, golden nuke, but that seems to be it. I don't use it, personally.

Stealth Screen: A decent water attachment. Gives automatic enmity down to puppet. I rate it a 3/5.

Heat Sink: Lowers chance of Overloading when using fire maneuvers...This attachment is so incredibly specific, it really isn't worth it. I've only seen it in action when stacking Flame Holder maneuvers. I rate it a meh/5.

Condenser: Please get this. Overload is so annoying and anything to help prevent that is great. 5/5.

Steam Jacket: Steam Jacket is good for AoEs, much like Mana Jammer. Except, Steam Jacket is actually good. There is a HUGE difference in damage reduction, from what I've tested. Use this against NMs or BCNMs where the mobs spam only 1 kind of move type.

Water attachments are largely meh in stature. A couple gems, but it's because of the bum ones that I never put up water maneuvers.

Light
Auto-Repair Kit: Automaton regen. Why wouldn't you? Healing our puppet is so hard as it is, get anything and everything to help that out. Get it ASAP.

Auto-Repair Kit II: Amazing that it stacks with I. In desperate situations, I put on AF gloves and buffoon's collar, pop 3 light maneuvers and Repair with an Automaton Oil+2. Mucho Hp-o. Another ASAP model.

Damage Gauge: This is without a doubt one of the most useful attachments in the game. It will increase the percentage at which your automaton will heal. Get it for solo, get it for backup healing, get it for your grandmother. Just get it.

Flashbulb: No PLD? WHM swamped? You guys got a flash! Get it and use it if you don't have a flasher. Or if you have a flasher and want to blind yourself...hehe

Eraser: Just as the name implies. A-Mazing for solo. Just watch how many maneuvers you have up when it's used, or you could have an Overload on your hands. Also, the automaton is conceited and will take care of its own ailments first. Drawbacks, yes, but for the greater good. Nothing like erasing a petrification while solo.

Optic Fiber: As hard as it is to get, please get this. It boosts the functions of so many other attachments, it's ridiculous. You will see a noticable increase in the functionality of your attachments with no added Burden. As soon as you can get it, get it.

You will use ALL of the light attachments at one point or another. I wish it could be at the same time, but I can deal. Get em all.

Dark
Mana Tank: Adds like 20 Mp, but the important thing is refresh. More maneuvers = more refresh. Grab this for Harlequin.

Mana Tank II: Gives something like 40 Mp, but the refresh stacks with Mana Tank. Not needed for 1-10, but get it once you snag Stormwaker.

Mana Conserver: Black Mage's Conserve MP trait. As little as it procs, invest in this. Who doesn't like more MP, and less downtime? That MP adds up over time.

Mana Converter: Uber refresh that stacks with the Mana Tanks, at the cost of a large amount of HP. The blow to the HP isn't so bad, so long as you have that golden refresh. Get this for Stormwaker ASAP, as it doesn't have nearly the MP pool it's specified older brothers do.

Smoke Screen: A decent attachment which gives evasion for accuracy. It is generally more evasion than the Accelerator series, but I'm not usually willing to give up the accuracy, attachment slot, or dark slots. Get it to complete your set, but that's all.

Economizer: Holy crap, this attachment is ungodly. Economizer will eat dark maneuvers for big MP gifts to your auto. This attachment will pretty much eliminate downtime if you aren't of the ADD crowd.

=Understanding How to Control Your Puppet=

Your puppet is actually pretty complex to control at first glance however, once you get around the fact that your puppets actions are determine by which head is equiped it becomes fairly easy to understand, in this cast we look at the soulsoother head as this will be your main head once you hit 50.



Heads control the AI of the automaton. Deployment Stays put when deployed. Will only move if the enemy is out of casting range or if it runs out of MP. Spell Availability Spells become available as the puppet's magic skill increases. The soulsoother head has access to cure V, regen III, -na spells, and enfeebles. Curing Priority It will cure the master and puppet first, prioritizing whoever has more hate. It will then prioritize whichever party member has the most hate. Curing and -na spells on party members requires a light and water maneuver respectively. Cures only occur when below a certain percentage of health. For more information on the health percentages that influence curing priority, see the damage gauge article. Status removal will be prioritized over curing, regardless of maneuvers or other triggers. Spells and Enemy HP% The casting AI changes, based on how much health the mob deployed on has. If bio II is not available, the automaton will cast the highest DoT available: dia < bio < dia II < bio II Spells and Maneuvers Maneuvers increase the priority of spells of their respective element. Spell-Casting Delay 24 seconds with Stormwaker Frame and Mana Booster. 30 seconds with Harlequin Frame and Mana Booster. Skill Increase Increases frame's magic skill by 2 rank. Elemental Capacity 0  2   0   3  3   2   3   0

As you can see you can choose which spell your frame will cast by using the right element manuaover although I will add that certain conditions and attachments can still add a small amount of unpredictability.

=Puppetmaster friendly BCNMS that Work=

This is another video done by Elmerthepointy which I felt is worth a mention as its a good way to get some gil to fund your attachments

Video: YVh3147n7zg&rel

=Camps and Location=

With the addition of FoV there are new factors to bring into where you should be soloing. In some situations there is a Field manual offering pages against the recommended monsters in this guide, which is great. Though what I have found, is that some areas that do have Field manuals situated in them but ask you to take on monsters not listed as targets in this guide. In most cases I will get the FoV and just deal with the slightly less ideal monsters as recommended but the exp bonus is more than worth it in most situations. Then filling up the wait between training regimes with the recommended monsters where possible. Always take into account what training regimes are avalaible for your level and hopefully you should get more exp faster.

1-10 Any of the starting areas

11-15 Any of the starting Crag area's.

15-20 Maze of Shakhrami
Starting with worms Maze makers.

At level 18 your stormwaker will gain access to the silence spell. Start fights with no maneuvers active if using stormwaker. First spell cast will be silence, significantly reducing the worms offensive abilities.

20-25 Korroloka Tunnel
Fighting worms, the same strategy as Maze of shakrami.

25-30 Maze of Shakhrami
Abyss worms again using the same worm strat, keep em silenced!

Alternate Camp

25-29 Qufim Island
Worms untill 27~28, then bats from 27~29. If you haven't been using the Eraser attachment before now for the Accuracy down effect of sandspin, you WILL want it for bats now and in the future for the Evasion Down moves. The only downside to this, is your pet needs to stay out of the melee range, or else it will prioritize itself for the eraser over you, the tank. Or... use the Deactivate/Activate trick to immediately remove the Evasion down status from your Auto, then toss up a Light Manny for an erase on yourself. Use this trick often for any other mobs/status ailments. Be sure to fight far far away from any undead at night due the blood aggroe.

The FoV can be used in conjunction with this camp and the exp is great. Though it lacks a page which targets the worms or bats to a high degree and makes the clippers and pugils the main focus. Clippers were harder fights to close as they stack up the defense but are managable. The pugils can be slightly tougher but you can handle them. By using the pages and then filling in the space between aquiring pages with worms and bats the exp is great.

28-32 Lower Delkfutt's Tower
Given you have stormwaker by this point for some healing, this is more than just a viable camp. Gigas have horrible acc and eva, so hitting them is no problem and your pup easily keeps you alive, and once you're 30+ you can very well kill either of the NM gigases Hippolytos or Epialtes that spawns on the second floor. Drops Gigas Bracelets. I found this camp to be very enjoyable and fun and great exp.

28-32 Korroloka Tunnel
Anything and everything you can find that won't link with any surrounding mobs. This camp is fun. fight everything from easy prey to tough. go nuts, learn the ins and outs of the way you can solo at this camp, and attempt chain's. Be sure to /check your targets prior to engaging to give yourself an idea of how the fight will flow. This camp and these levels will be your first true step to soloing your pup.

32-37 Lufaise Meadows Camp
Lufaise MeadowsCamp at the zone line to Tavnazian Safehold for the first few levels. If you link any bee's, the zone line is right there at the camp and you can simply zone to save your butt and your exp. Bee's are difficult targets to tank. Period. Pollen can restore a lot of their HP... A LOT. And their other TP move Final Sting WILL kill you if they use it at or around 50% or more of their health. Needless to say, this camp can really be a pain in the butt. But setting your Home Point in the safehold and changing jobs to restore HP rather then heal forever will get you those levels soon enough, probably faster then looking for a party will. Kill sheep as soon as they start checking even match, or try them as tough. When they use sheep song, use the Deactivate, Activate trick to wake up your automaton, toss up a light manny before setting your auto to fight the sheep, and his first spell many times will be a Cure.

Alternate Camp

32-44 Eastern Altepa
Eastern Altepa Desert for those without access to CoP areas like the above, this is your next best bet. Fight worms and spiders until you reach lvl 35, set HP in Rabao. Sickle Slash is alot like Final Sting in that it can completely waste your characters HP instantly. As your level increases, Take on beetles, then dhalmels. Know where all the zone lines are at in case you have to run/zone. Start out camping near the zone line directly East of the tele crystal. This is where you will be noticing how slow the fights go. Some fights will last up to 6 or 8 min, and the only way you'll survive is with carefully timed Deactivate, Activate tactics. At level 40 I recommend switching from the RDM head pup to the Soulsoother/WHM head pup. Their Regen casting and focus on HP will increase your survivability and decrease downtime. Piece of advice is if you notice a Beastmaster soloing in the area, close to your level, team up together and chain to your hearts delight. When fighting the Beetles, be careful of there evasion down move as your evasion is probably your most precious commodity as the tank. When fighting dhalmels, don't hit your head on the keyboard or throw your controller when they use healing breeze (side note, this move links other dhalmel) fight them away from other dhalmel, wait and pray they use Berserk, and use that moment to use your TP as berserk gives them a pretty potent defense down side effect.

The slow fights are made up to a degree with the addition of the FoV and it targets the mobs we would be taking anyway so it gives a nice bonus and speeds along the grind.

I found that from 35 - 40 you can take Goblin pets, I found that they were faster to take down rather then the other spiders just having to be carful around the manticores. I found that I subbed blue mage for this area, cocoon was a big help for when sickle slash came around and I didnt have trouble keeping hate.

At 40 remember to go get your Turbo Animator. The Wayward Automaton this little beast reduces many reuse time down to 7 secs instead of 12.

39-43 Riverne - Site A01
For those with the access to it, this is a great camp for soloing as theres little competition if any at all. People, including BST's, tend to ignore the level capped zones for soloing. They're scared. Dont be. Keep your Automaton Behind the birds when fighting and let it melee. When fighting the Hawkertraps, keep it out of range of there Paralyze TP move. And if its the soulsoother head your using, paralyna will follow shortly after.

Take care in the Level capped zones when zoning in and out. Your Automoton will despawn and incur the 20 min penalty if the zone is a lower level then your currently activated Frame. Much the same way with the Level Sync function and pets despawning.

39-45 East Ronafare[S]
Fighing the Lady bugs and colibri use the same area where pts burn as your main focus is the Lady bugs, using yout npc for this camp set to soothing healer will speed this up and sometimes the odd party there will raise you but dont count on it bring your reraise earring!

45-47 Yhotar Jungle
Worker Crawlers then Goblins in Yhoator Jungle, if your like me and easier mobs with slightly less exp don't bother you, you can easily stay here till 50.

45-52 Gustav Tunnel
Gustav Tunnel is a great spot using the area just before you enter the lower level of the map is a execllent camp fighting lizzards and moving to goblins make sure you check you targets, You can also fight the goblins pets in the lower area works best in duo. Be careful of the Goblin TP move Bomb Toss when soloing them! Potentially reduces your ability to chain.

52-55 Crawler's Nest
Nice camp make your way down to the south lower level of the map and make your way fighting crawlers, once you find exp starts to get a little low start on exorays and beetles and scopions if your feeling up to it you can even fight the rumble crawlers though links are a issue with this camp so becareful and bring a reraise earring.

55-57 Garlaige Citadel
Basement of Garlaige Citadel is a pretty good camp for 55 to 56 fighting the bats and beetles at 57 you might find that the exp will start to get a little slow but empress bands hides that factor, only problem with this camp is if a exp party moves in on you you wont be able to lvl here.

56-60 Vunkerl Inlet
Using the G-9 camp fighting goblins bat this camp works really well to start in duo keep them shadows up!

55-60 Western Altepa Desert
Goblins in Western Altepa Desert. They are in the South West corner around a lake. With the Soulsoother head, I never went below 80% remember to watch out for bomb toss!

60-65 Newton Movalpolis
Using the Blackmage camps here fighting the Goblin bats

60-63 Meriphataud Mountains[S]
On Mountain Jubjub, they spawn south of the Recall-Meriph point, 4 spawns, automaton behind mob, no aggro south of the mountain by dinos, beware of bird links.

61-65 Wajaom Woodlands
Wajaom woodlands on Lesser Colibri I strongly recommend you use soulsoothing head from this point if you haven't done so as Cure V will help against the damage these birds can do remember to keep them shadows up.

64-66 Caedarva Mire
Your target here is fighting the Marsh Murre (Go to Nashmau and use same exit as if doing Einherjar, you can use RDM puppet to add speed in killings. though expect the exp to drop like in garlaige Citadel at 57.

66-69 Wajaom Woodlands
Using Puks as your prey this actually not a bad target dispite the AOE, though if you like your puppet in combat might be wise to make sure your puppet is standing next to a wall be warn 66 is a little rough but is possible with some good evasion gear. Interesting side note you can also come here as low as 64 if you planning to duo with a bst (Thank you Ponkale).

67-70 Ro'Maeve
Fighting killing weapons and omious Weapons is your choice of target for this zone I found this camp extremely easy just use a wind many to silence them and burn through them though exp will get low without a exp band at 69, as a bouns though page 1 is perfect exp booster which makes up for the lower exp!

69-71 Aydeewa Subterrane
Fighting crawlers this time using the Stormwaker frame will at speed to the kills with this camp but if you like to play it safe use the soulsoother frame if you find hard to keep hate off your puppet, the camp I used were in the E-9 entrance in wajaom woodlands.

71-75 Ru'Aun Gardens
Fighting the Flamingos this time at level 71 this camp is possible at this my gear gives me a +36 to Evasion making this fairly easy to fight them using the Soulsoother frame, just becareful not to let your puppet get hate as he will get hit hard and also make sure you deloy it behind the mob to avoid damage from Wind cutter. At 73 you can start doing the Sprinkers but be careful in checking your targets I normally target the even matches for a easier kill but you can do the toughs if your careful and can keep the silence and slow on them at 74 this becomes much easier with double shadows.

75-Merits Dvucca Isle
I know what your thinking but this camp is a idea place for all you evasion junkies your target are any of the shade fomors around the G-10 area just a word of warning about this camp they spawn really quickly and the mnk types will eat your shadows fast having slow blind and para for the majority of them is idea for handling tham and silence for the rdm types plenty of these around still not really found a suitable pulling camp I mainly just roam around the area links aren't really a issue but more than 2 and your in trouble. Can reach chain 3 solo chain 5 duoing with my blue mage buddy Ponkale.