User:Wotever/Gude:Astral Flow Party

The Main Idea is to gather a massive army of mobs crowded up on one target that has shared hate and Astral Flow it as many time as possible. This might sounds easy, but doing this might require a lot of practice, focus and decent players with decent PC/Connection. There must be 2 parties involved to achieve a Astral Flow Party;

1. A holder and puller group which will gather and hold the mobs.
2. A SMN Burn party which will exp on the mobs gathered by the 1st group.

• You must have Phalanx and Stoneskin up at all time and use Earth Staff at all times--except when casting Stoneskin, where you should pump MND. Relying on defense, evasion, or other supportive magic alone is ill thinking.
• Rely mostly on linking and /heal aggro (/heal aggro can be dangerous if you are lagging very bad).
• If the mob is passive and links with it's family then nuke/debuff it and use it to link it with others, consider the mob you have nuked or debuffed scrap because the SMN party won't get exp off of it.
• Be aware that some mobs track by smelling, so as a puller you would like to avoid running over water.
• When you gathered more than 15 mobs the train of mobs will start to act funky; each time you go forward the +16th mobs will go the opposite direction and make a U-turn back to you, so if you go too far they will lose hate and disappear, there are 3 ways around this;
  • Walk instead of running, not recommended because it will make the process very slow and dull.
  • Run 3~5 steps forward then stop for 10 sec to give the mobs a chance to catch up with you.
  • Pull 15 or less mobs a time, you can run freely without stopping.
• If a mob is aggressive just get within aggro range or sight and /heal.
• Be aware when you gather a great amount of mobs lag will start playing tricks on you. do not wait too long for the mob to catch up with you because even though it looks like the mob is far away from you, on the server side it is already next to you; to confirm this just click on the far away mob you will see it flying towards you or just warps to you.
• If you're a RDM waste some mp before getting to the holder so you can use Convert so the holder can take advantage of your low hp for hate stealing, If you're another class try to take some damage till yellow health point but be cautious.
• Once next to the holder give him/her a note because a big possibility they won't be able to see you due to lag and stand cute there waiting till they get hate.
  • Next to the holder do not Cure yourself, or cast buffs aside from Stoneskin (if you're RDM you can then also cast Phalanx because of Composure), or /heal next to the holder. you don't want to stack hate and give the holder a hard time.
• Do not worry if you have hate from the mobs you have nuked or debuffed, just reuse them to link with other mobs on the next pull or kill them.
• Do not use Sleepga or Sleepga II or any other -ga spells. Although the Sleepgas do not damage the monsters they still kill any experience others will get from them.

• Log off and on will reduce hate.
• Zoning will reduce Hate.
• Getting into the Astral Flow Party and killing yourself by standing next to the mob and summoning or buffing up while Level Sync (to reduce exp lose) will erase hate, most I ever seen was 2 death to fully erase hate.

• You must have Phalanx and Stoneskin up at all time and use Earth Staff all the time and especially when casting Stoneskin, relying on defense, evasion, or other supportive magic alone is ill thinking.
• You must patch Phalanx as much as possible, every 3 min is good being safe, you can always recast over Phalanx you don't need to cancel it unlike Stoneskin and Utsusemi. If you must AFK or /heal make sure you recast Phalanx then Cancel Stoneskin then recast it agian then you are good to go AFK or /heal.
• You must avoid using spells that will damage the mobs like Ice Spikes, this might sound funny but I've seen some beginners using it. As BLM I did not use Igquira Weskit because I was afraid the Curse effect from a hit would ruin cursed mobs for experience.
• If you are assisting in the Initial pull, Holder must take the shortest and the most easy route to be ready to pick up mobs from the pullers.
• You must chose a mob to stack hate on with non damaging magic which you will eventually call for help on it which the SMN Burn will use as a target, remember to stack hate it's the holder hate vs SMN Burn hate who has the greater hate will gain aggro, casting all non-damaging Enfeebling magic twice should do the trick, Sleep and Dispel are great hate stacker for emergency, the call for help mob must be one of the higher level mobs and with big health point that will assure it's survival against the waves of Astral Flow.
  • no need to /attack the mob to make it orange, once it's red just type /h.
  • make sure there are no other claimed mobs by your pt near by, if unavoidable make sure the mob you have chosen is the main call for help target mob, you can check that by looking at the orange name next to the small radar on the bottom left or typing <ht>.
• Have a /ja "Chainspell" <me> macro ready for emergency to recast buffs if you have trouble casting them.
• If you don't want to be bothered by unwanted personal messages don't be shy to put "Away" status, you might need all the focus you can get if you're new at this.

• Spam buffs and cure on the puller clearly, but as long as the mob is yellow and unclaimed hate will not initiate before you /heal and you want them to stay yellow, unclaimed, undamaged and undebuffed.
• When the puller/pullers arrive start spamming bara-spells, if the puller or one of the pullers aren't RDM give them phalanx, no need to give RDM Phalanx because theirs last longer with Composure which reduces the risk factor.
• After finishing buffing /heal till you get around 3 tick of hp/mp up and then get up.
• Everyone can now Convert then the holder Divine Seal and Convert then Curaga II for a great amount of hate.
• Spells that give a lot of hate are Protect IV and Shell IV but sometimes are best avoided due to the amount of mp it cost.
• if 1~4 mobs remain on the puller do not bother, big possiblity it's the mob that the puller nuked/debuffed.

• Make sure all SMN have two Hi-Ether pots.
• Make sure all the SMNs are present and not AFK before starting.
• Give the order ahead of time without calling time; Example John > Mary > David.
• No need to have someone engaged to the call for help mob just let the SMN use <ht> in their macro; Example /pet "Diamond Dust" <ht> or /target <ht>.
• The COR or sub COR member should Corsair's Roll (it's ok to repeat at start if you don't get the number you like).
• Once everyone got Corsair's Roll you then give time and make sure you give 15 game min ahead of time to give enough time for the SMN to ready up; Example (current game time is 23:50) 00:10 > 00:20 > 00:30, (John goes on 00:10 then Mary on 00:20 then David on 00:30)
• SMN Burn parties tend to use Shiva and Ramuh to perform the AoE attacks, Diamond Dust (DD) and Judgment Bolt (JB). Make macros for these and make sure the capitalization and spelling are correct. /pet "Diamond Dust" <ht> or /pet "Judgment Bolt" <ht>. Astral Flow is the SMN 2 Hour Ability. Once you use Astral Flow you should be able to get 3 DD's or JB's before it wears. Just before or right after you use Astral Flow, pop a Yagudo Drink. This will give a refresh effect and, hopefully, prevent your Avatar from dying. When the char you are synched to levels, all party members will level with him and have full HP and MP restored, except for Level 75 chars. So even if your Avatar has died, you can re-summon it right away and do another DD or JB. You try to get 3 DD's or JB's from your Astral Flow. There is a good chance that the <ht> or all <ht>'s will die on somebody's second DD or JB. So you should have and extra macro /pet "Diamond Dust" <t> or /pet "Judgment Bolt" <t> so you can get your third "Bolt" on any target in the pack. If there are mobs left after everyone has "Bolted" parties usually call Ramuh and usee Thunderspark over and over again to try to kill them all. You can get about 10k extra experience doing this. Once the run is over the "Bolters" try to get a COR to do Wild Card and reset their Astral Flow ability and then go again. In Korokolla Tunnel, level 12 is a good synch and to go again someone should bring one. Your old synch will be level 21~23 or higher by this time, above useful level.
• From here down to How to get around Lag issues is a bit confusing. The original author used Astral Flow in place of the /pet ability used after Astral Flow, like Diamond Dust or Judgment Bolt.
• After each Astral Flow pop a Hi-Ether to be ready to do Astral Flow again as soon as Blood Pact: Rage cools down.
• After the each SMN did his/her first Astral Flow do not wait for order, they should Astral Flow at will.
• Once all SMN are 3/3 on Astral Flow they should start using Blood Pact: Rage area attack on the call for help mob.
• In the event of failure but almost to the required level, try to get a SMN to temporary join the pt and burn his/her 2hr then leave to rejoin whoever disbanded from the original members, getting most of the exp is better than losing most of the effort so don't be shy.

• Make sure the char you synch to stays with and moves with the party.
• Try to invite players you know how to do SMN Burn efficiently and keep note of any new players you met that did well.
• Try to get as many pullers as possible to speed up process.
• Try to accumulate as much mobs as possible.
• Try to give the leech spot to a puller, friend, Additional SMN or someone who will pay to leech.
• Try to use an Avatar for the SMN Burn that is strong on the game day.
• Try to save exp ring for a good run and after the 10th exp chain.
• Try to score as many exp chains and as high as possible. You can get # 168 or even into the # 200's with good timing or only # 3 or # 4 with bad timing.
• Try to give priority invitation to SMNs that can assist with the pull over others (it's to everyone's benefit to increase the speed of collecting the mobs.)
• Make Sure that every person in the party knows what they are doing are familiar with the CFH method and to use /target <ht>, and also know how to astral flow properly!
• If with novices go through the steps carefully. If they've done Mini Avatar Battles they're generally better at Astral Flowing than ones that have done the lvl 75 Fights and will have high enough skill.
• Smning Skill higher than what is equivalent to Job lvl 20 is necessary.
• Do invite people once in a while who haven't done it before otherwise they will never know. Its not hard, hard is soloing smn burn is easy and just takes a little timing and a little patience. * Most important is just to make sure u 3/3 on your astral flow blood pacts its not hard.

• Do not bother to pull or exp on mobs that are not aggressive and do not link, because the holder or puller has no other way to pull them without cast magic or hit each one and that will make them scrap for other parties.
• Do not to go into Conflict with other people, spoiling a pull or SMN Burn is so easy for anyone, GM will not do anything about it even if it's clear they just want to be rude for no good reason. So try to be friendly as possible and solve your matters peacefully with others. Note: Not Entirely True varies between GMs.
• Do not camp 24/7 or long time at a certain zone, you be like an RMT holding mobs not wanting to share them, other people would want to also SMN Burn and will get annoyed which eventually lead to conflict.
• Do not pull mobs that are being farmed by other players, that will start a conflict.
• Do not use a Avatar for the SMN Burn that is weak on that game day.
• Do not take too long to start the SMN Burn after the mobs been collected, anything can happen; member disconnecting, random griefer or Amateurs (armatures?!?!?) who want to help think the holder is in trouble, Holder laging and dying or disconnecting.
• All members should not cure, buff, summon, /heal or do anything that generates hate near the mobs especially when standing too close to the mobs, some of the mobs could one shot you.
• Don't show up complaining oh "I haven't got any hi ethers can you give me some?" You only demonstrate that you're lazy, looking for a free ride, cheap and complain too much. It is important and you know you should have some so go get your hi ethers. Also don't complain for 30 mins when you could've gone to the AH and back and got some.

Level Sync: 11~14, AF Avatar:Shiva Mobs: All except Clippers, Call for Help Mob:Gigas Stonegrinder or Gigas Stonecarrier

Level Sync: 10~13, AF Avatar:Carbuncle Mobs: All, Call for Help Mob: Feu Follet or Elementals (2 recommended of any).

Level Sync: 11~14, AF Avatar:Shiva Mobs: All, Call for Help Mob: Stroper