Any Tips For BST?

So I've recently unlocked BST and worked my way to 10. I have 2 accounts that I play so I decided to bring my 10RDM along for the ride. Are there any tips someone can offer me to make my setup more effective and hopefully a little faster?

Having BST as my main job, there's a few things that can help - from early on, try to set up some macros to switch between gear that gives CHR+ and gear that gives better DPS stats. CHR+ will improve the likelyhood that charm sticks, but not the length of time that something stays charmed. Check places like ffxiclopedia.org for leveling areas appropriate for your character, and if at all possible, make sure WHM as a sub is leveled (there will be plenty of times that the -na spells will save your butt). Beyond that, duos and trios can be great exp, but I found that they're a bit slow under level 50ish. Are there any particular aspects of BST that you are wondering about?

Bring reraise items. Since BST ppl tend to do so much solo, you'll find yourself dying a lot more than others, with no immediate hope of a raise. Mischarms, links, etc., you're going to die. Do not ever attempt to xp as bst w/o reraise up.

Consider leveling some crafting so you can make your own jug pets, when you get there. It can save a lot of money in the long run.

Consider having an NPC, they can help immensely for all the solo work you'll do.

Do not be afraid to log out. As bst, many times you can get out of trouble by getting your pet to take a beating from links and so on. Don't try to fight your way out of those situations. Just let the pet take the death, log out, and come back. It's not worth the xp loss and time spent waiting for weakened.

I am leveling my BST to 37, it's currently 29. I have one tip for you.

Join a party.

BST is too hard low levels, you'll get better exp in parties and with less risk. Sure it's slower invites, but I've always gotten a party, with varied wait times.

But I'm different, I'm leveling BST for the sake of getting all jobs to atleast 37. I have no interest in actually playing BST. If you're playing BST for the thrill of soloing, then I'd suggest atleast leveling BST to 35 so you get Leave, then you can solo easier.

Try and find bst friend to duo with makes lvln a lot better

when I lvled BST to 75 I joined XP PT's as much as I could until I hit lvl 35. Once you get leave, leveling BST gets a whole lot easier and your chance of death declines alot.

First thing -- BST, like any job can have its ups and downs during exp. If you get angry, take a break from it and come back next week. Don't quit -- its a fun job. Some camps suck more than others and some solo camps are better than any exp party will get. Exp party w/ a PL .... that is not an exp party. 4 DD + 2 BRD and outside healer/haster ... That's cheating and I wish SE would nerf exp when outside healers are used ... it just breeds crap end game players these days.

1 to 30 or so, a good BST geared/merit/etc can keep on par with a good WAR in terms of damage. Only until WAR gets their nice job abilities and traits do they begin to pull ahead. You can tank, you can DD, you can solo, you can co-tank, etc. Just don't plan on being the stereotypical gimped BST who goes as far as they can with crap gear. If you want to tank or DD in a party, don't gimp your party, get some good gear and food.

30+ you should stick to solo or find a RDM/BST or BLU/BST to duo with. BST+BST duo, in my opinion is pointless as a single BST can get 10k/hr solo from 30-70 most the time. Most camps would not support 2 BST charming pets and still get that exp/hr. Maybe one can use a jug pet and it would work but its a case by case basis.

70+ there is no 'great' BST solo/duo camps. Unless you feel like grinding Mt. Z or goobbues, I suggest you find a good exp party. But, however, the gimp BST I mentioned above should just stick to solo as you will just slow a exp party down and make all BST look bad! ^^b

As for CHR gear -- I personally only use about +50 CHR max and I rarely ever mischarm, even on T or VT mobs when taking harder NM's. About half your base CHR seems to be enough as long as you use an Apollo's Staff (HQ light). If you use a NQ light staff, you might want a little more CHR but HQ is a must if you take BST to 75 and plan on charming. Nothing beats its +15% charm success rating.

BST jug pets have a much higher attack vs. def rating while fighting than most all players do. Certain jug pets will have insane DPS on some mobs as well. One that sticks out in my mind is Funguar. I my funguar out DD mnk's on crawlers. Not my DD+jug ... my jug alone out DD them.

No you won't out damage all players but you will out damage most random players.

Just make sure if you plan on being a charming BST, that you work on your skills along the way as well. Even if only for a few levels take the time out to learn the basics and work on your pet swapping skills. Too many times I've seen BST who exp in groups all the way to 75, that have no clue end game about how pet hate works.

Even in a merit party, a well equipped/merited/skilled BST can keep up with almost any melee.

I have 8/8 axe merits, 4/4 crit, 5/5 STR, 5/5 Beast Affinity, 5/5 Sic recast -- on top of having a good haste and TP setup. I can almost always maintain a 90% accuracy rating on colibri in merit without sushi. I've shocked many o'Ridill WARs (especially those without sword merits) who thought they were hot stuff ^^b

If you are one of those 'loner' BST's, be prepared to not have much good gear or buy your way to good gear. Most the best BST gear comes from Sky, Sea, Limbus AF+1's, Dynamis and ZNM's -- and 99% of them cannot be solo easy. (See: Temperance Torque/Axe, Kirin's Osode, BST AF legs+1, BST relic hands, Brutal Earring, Suppanomimi/Beastly Earring, E.body, Skadi feet, Askar body, etc etc etc)

I'm not sure where to even start with this one.

"70+ there is no 'great' BST solo/duo camps. Unless you feel like grinding Mt. Z or goobbues, I suggest you find a good exp party. But, however, the gimp BST I mentioned above should just stick to solo as you will just slow a exp party down and make all BST look bad! ^^b"

This is absolutely true... unless of course you ignore what could possibly be the best exp camp you will ever have *pre merit* G-11 Wajaom Woodlands. Leech camp. from 68-72 you will rip EXP here. Nothing aggro's so it's also a pretty safe camp.

"If you are one of those 'loner' BST's, be prepared to not have much good gear or buy your way to good gear. Most the best BST gear comes from Sky, Sea, Limbus AF+1's, Dynamis and ZNM's -- and 99% of them cannot be solo easy. (See: Temperance Torque/Axe, Kirin's Osode, BST AF legs+1, BST relic hands, Brutal Earring, Suppanomimi/Beastly Earring, E.body, Skadi feet, Askar body, etc etc etc)"

This is absolute nonsense.

I soloed 90% of my way to 75, in THUG gear...

For those playing along at home, that means I bought the most thugged out *cheap* gear I could find.. minus a few pieces.

The truth is... to skill bst, you need three things.....

1. Time/patience... cause it takes much longer than any other job.
2. Skill.... you don't have a bunch of noobs to rely on if things go wrong.
3. Luck ..... Sometimes things go bad regardless of your skill or gear.

If you're in a hurry, bst isn't for you.
If you like "ZOMG SICKZORZ EXP".... bst isn't for you.
If you like "ZOMG I DID XXXXXX DMG U NOOBZ!!!11eleven", bst is'nt for you

However...

If you like to roll on your own schedule... bst IS for you.
If you like being able to make a ton of gil while getting to 75.. bst IS for you.
If you like being able to solo just about any mob in the game *provided there are pets*... bst... IS.. for you.

Soloing and duoing is great... it slows down exp a bit, but you also kill twice as fast.. plus.... it's .. OMG .... fun!

I ditched my second character and just worked solo on BST... I'm happy to say I'm sitting at 57 right now! I'm lovin' BST

gogobst ^^

All I can say is 70-75+ Caedarva Mire Sheep/Slime vs. Heraldic Imps. Fast kills, high chains and great exp. Grab a friend and it just keeps getting better.

well lets see first 68-72 bhaf thickets right in middle awsoem bst camp a lil yellow pond with leechs u can cycle them for killing colibis. Then move to halvung sky or maybe tree. umm level 24 webcutter sycthe in kor tunnell is awsome ra/ex weapon. 47-52 gustav tunnel lower level goblin leechs then gar citadel bombs in basment just stay otu of them exploding dmg are awsome camps. once u get snarl bst/war can be a feasable tank specially with 2 bst/wars useing voke for hate then snarl to transfer it to jug pets. Just a few things off top my head at real real late at night. oh also /nin /whm /war and lesser degree /sch /dnc /sam useful subs. gl decivering that lol

This is one of my pet hates! Seeing a 75 bst meleeing/charming in some random mix of +STR and +CHR O.o why? Have two different sets of gear, one for Charming and one for Melee. It might take more space, but with the gil you can make as BST the gobbie bag quests shouldn't be much of a problem ( gogo seals! )

I could have read it wrong, but what I think Chimaera was trying to say was, try to set up macros to put on all your chr/charm gear, and one to put on all your dps/dd gear.

Like I said.. I could be wrong =P