The release of new avatars made many summoners realize that they were behind on their TOAU missions, and therefore ineligible to fight for a pact with Odin & Alexander. But like in the past, that never stops us from trying….and in true Hornie fashion. Thanks to skill, some serious strategics from our resident ‘Astral Encyclopedia’ known as Seraphiel, and maybe a dash of luck, we were able to topple most TOAU battles with teams of mostly SMN setups. Here’s a few tips & strats that we used in our fights. This is nowhere near a definitive list, but it should help you to devise your own strats to help you and your Summoner buds get to the new avatars that much faster.
Aht Urhgan Mission 22: Shield of Diplomacy
You can do this easily with 3 75 SMN’s zerging with Fenrir. Summon your avatars and use Avatar’s Favor to conserve MP for this fight. Assault the Khimaira 13 with your Fenrir’s, pull back and let them do their thing. Recast & repeat as your avy’s die. No need for blood pacts like Eclipse Bite – Fenrir hits hard enough that they will hold hate most of the fight. Combine that with Karababa’s nukes and the Khimaira 13 will go down easily. Karababa will barely get touched, if at all, but keep an eye on her to be sure.
Aht Urhgan Mission 29: Puppet in Peril
We did this fight with 5 SMN’s and a THF. Again a zerg, but this time with Garuda’s and Predator Claws. Stay mindful of which avatar is “tanking” and use Retreats + Assaults to position the remaining avatars behind Lancelord Gaheel Ja to avoid the 0 dmg hits due to Granite Skin.
Aht Urhgan Mission 31: Shades of Vengeance
Quite easily handled by a team of SMN’s thanks to Carbuncle pulling. Send Carby in to get raped by mobs, pull back and wait for the one mob to come up the ramp. Then all other SMN’s unload on it with Garudas or whatever. Note: Don’t be like Aeo and attempt to Carby pull with yellow HP and almost blood aggro the whole mess of K23H1-LAMIAE’s!
Aht Urhgan Mission 35: Legacy of the Lost
You’ll need a sturdy tank and a dedicated healer. The rest of your team can be SMN for what is probably the harder of the TOAU fights. Start the fight as normal with the tank getting hate and then send in the avatars. Everyone but the tank should stay clear of Geesho for his various AOE’s. One of the SMN’s should be ready to Diaga the clones when they pop and then kite them up the ramp to the entrance until they despawn. Try to avoid Mijin Gakure, with priority on keeping the tank alive through this move. After all that, just burn Geesho down with bloodpacts.
Aht Urhgan Mission 42: Path of Darkness
We did this fight with one RDM sleeper/kiter, one DD, and the rest SMN. You could possibly get away without the melee. RDM buffed and defensed up (the works: blink, SS, phalanx), slept Amnaf in the first room, which will spawn the gears, that all go after the RDM. From there the SMN’s & DD split duties among the 3 gears and took them all down while Amnaf slept. Be quick with your Assaults to get the gears off of the RDM. Once Amnaf is slept and Gears are all covered, RDM should keep an eye on Naja and heal when necessary. After all the gears all down, start working on Amnaf until she retreats into the next room. Rest before the second room and repeat the strat as above. Rest before the third room, and when Amnaf takes Soulflayer form, just burn her down with BP’s like Predator Claws.
Aht Urhgan Mission 44: Nashmeira’s Plea
HAHA – syke! We tried this mission with a couple of SMN’s in the party, and were able to get Alexander down to about 50% before either time or lack of MP became an issue. You’re on your own with this one. Best to go with a strat from the wiki for your final battle!
Hope these little tips help you hardcore SMN’s out there get that much closer to your long awaited, much deserved new avatars.
Stay Hornie!