LogFAQs > #964766612

streamofthesky posted...

Using Summon Copy on Bolt just feels like such a waste, since Bolt's cool down is so fast.

It's mostly for the sake of getting the double ether buff set up before applying the DoT's, so they do as much damage as possible (they snapshot your damage stats at the moment they're applied, regardless of what happens after that).

streamofthesky posted...

Earth's takes really long, so I always try to use Copy on that (or Ice, which has moderate cool down)

The DoT doesn't stack, though, so there's no point in discharging Earth more than every 30/45 (with the skill) seconds. It starts out with a 90-second cooldown (I mixed up the duration and cooldown in my last post), but that's reduced to 49.5 by max rank, which isn't much downtime. Similarly, Ice lasts 16 seconds with the skill and has a cooldown of 16.7 at max rank.

That's not to say there aren't cases where you'll want to reapply Earth before the cooldown's up (namely long fights before maxing it, fights with multiple enemies, or fights where you want to keep the defense buff active as much as possible), but for burning down regular enemies quickly, a single application is generally going to be good enough. Adapting to those situations is where the strategy of using Melia comes in: You very much need to think several moves ahead to use her to her fullest potential.

There's also the option of exploiting chain attacks to re-summon it early. If you're running, say, Melia/Dunban/Riki and have half-decent affinity, you can pretty reliably do Summon Earth>Blinding Blossom/Final Flicker>Happy Happy>Discharge Earth and apply a very powerful DoT without ever having to worry about the cooldown, and including Happy Happy in there means chain attacks come pretty frequently.

streamofthesky posted...

And do chain attacks really go to 15x? I could've sworn in maxes at 5x and then just stays there (which is still massive)...

It maxes at a chain of 5, but that gives a 700% damage bonus, now that I actually look it up and find that 15 is mistaken (15 is the max number of possible attacks, so maybe I'm thinking of that). 1-chain is regular damage, 2 is +100%, 3 is +300%, 4 is +500%, and 5 is +700%. Either way, given that DoT damage snapshots based on that bonus, it's a really good idea to try and apply DoT's with a chain bonus.