Job Overview

Job Overview


Available after completing the quest Save My Son, these experts in monster research have trained tirelessly to communicate with, and even control the animals of Vana'diel. Based on their knowledge of beasts, Beastmasters can charm the beasts of Vana'diel to fight alongside them, call beasts to their side, and intimidate enemy beasts of Vana'diel.
Beastmasters are generally considered the best solo class in the game. Beastmasters often can be found soloing monsters or teaming up with other Beastmasters in all Beastmaster parties. Beastmasters are less frequently found in conventional parties. In a convential party, a Beastmaster will most frequently fill the roles of damage dealer and puller. A Beastmaster will perform best when partying in an area with charmable pets of a suitable level.
Strengths and Weaknesses


Strengths

• Sick of looking for a group for hours? As a BST, you can gain Experience Points when it suits you and at your own pace. Areas with large numbers of charmable mobs (even aggressive ones) are easily navigable by an experienced BST. This job can be soloed all the way to level 75.
  
• There is not a whole lot of expensive gear to buy -- and when it is necessary, most of a BST's equipment will last them for quite a while.
  
• BSTs also excel at link control. When a pet is attacking a target, and that target links with another mob, the hate built up by your pet is shed the moment you 'Leave' the pet. For example, if a BST pet obtains hate from a linked mob, BST (at a safe distance), seeing his pet fighting two mobs, can use the 'Leave' command and charm or call a new pet to fight his original mob. The linked mob will no longer be linked.
  

Weaknesses

• BSTs cannot charm beastmen or certain mob families. Attempting to charm these creatures will result in a very short 'Bind' effect on the creature, which can allow the BST to gain some distance, if being pursued.
  
• BST has a steep learning curve. Learning the intricacies of hate control and using macros are an absolute must. Most beginning BSTs (and many mid- and high-level BSTs) complain of frequent (i.e. double digit deaths per level) deaths while EXPing.
  
• Common misconceptions exist about BST, including that they are useless in parties or rob XP points for everyone in the party.
  
• BSTs sometimes encounter other parties who encroach on a BST's camp and tell the BST to leave, asserting that their party's right to a camp trumps that of the soloing BST. This friction between parties and BST soloists varies from server to server. So be sure you're capable and willing to deal with 'BST Haters' on your server.
  

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Job-Race Combinations
Please note that race is the absolute last thing you should worry about when picking a job. Anything said here is seriously exaggerated. A single piece of gear can often make up for a race's negligible lack in a stat. Every race also gets "Race Specific Equipment", or "RSE", that will boost a race's stats to equal, or possibly even surpass other races.

Hume
If you play Hume Beastmaster, you’ll be right at home with your all-round stats. Having a good spill of strength and dexterity, as well as vitality and agility will help you with your soloing. Your decent HP will allow you to survive in a multitude of situations, and if you are one to sub White Mage, having decent MP can help too. Two of the biggest stats for Beastmaster are intelligence (for Tame) and charisma (for Charm), and Hume certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Elvaan
The charismatic Elvaan shares the highest of the stat with its Hume and Tarutaru allies. With a large number of strength, vitality, and HP, you won’t have to worry at all about finishing off a target when your pet is defeated. Your highest mind stat in the game will certainly make up for the lack in Healing Magic skill and MP needed when subbing White Mage. Since Tame’s success rate is determined through intelligence, you might want to help yourself to your RSE when you get there.

Tarutaru
Tarutaru Beastmasters make for great solo players with their enormous supply of MP with White Mage subbed. Their highest intelligence also proves useful for Tame, which is great when things go wrong with Charm. However, that shouldn’t be a problem either since you have an equally highest charisma in the game for the ability. Though you lack a little bit more in terms of being able to deal damage per hit with low strength, your dexterity makes up for it by being able to land hits more. As is your low vitality made-up by high agility. Your race-specific equipment can seriously boost either stat, should you feel the need for it.

Mithra
A very versatile Beastmaster race choice. Mithra can sub anything very well and still get a lot of benefit from it. Having quite decent intelligence for Tame makes up for the times Charm may fail; though with the types of gear you can get for the stat, it isn’t any worse than the other races. Your decent strength is buffered by having the highest dexterity in the game, and low vitality is more than made-up by having the highest agility in the game.

Galka
Galka Beastmasters are great for soloing because of their durability and overall survivability. Your enormous HP pool and highest vitality in the game lets you take a serious number of hits, and your decent agility lets you avoid a number of them too. Like Mithra, having slightly lower charisma than the other three is about the only falter in the otherwise supreme job-race combo. And remember, you can make up for that with race-specific equipment.
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Support Jobs

Warrior
Your main support job for partying. It boosts your strength and dexterity as well as adds a number of great job abilities and traits. Attack and Defense Bonuses, and Double Attack make for great little passive abilities. Provoke can be used for partying to then give hate to your jug pet via Snarl to give it a Provoke-like effect. When used with a monster like Courier Carrie, you can have a decent tank for small-scale parties. If he dies, who cares? You also get Berserk and Warcry for dealing even more damage.

White Mage
A great soloing support job. It gives access to Blink, Stoneskin, and Reraise in case of problems, and Cure for less downtime. It also increases mind for healing your pets with Reward. White Mage also has a tiny bit of charisma to give for Charming, and intelligence for Tame. Since you solo in a whole bunch of different areas, having White Mage subbed also gives a nice use for Sneak and Invisible; both free money-wise.

Ninja
Another useful support job for soloing aswell as partying. It gives you the option of exchanging your shield for a second axe. Though until Lv.50, I’d suggest keeping the shield. Its three primary roles of a support job are Tonko, Monomi, and Utsusemi. Tonko will give you cheaper invisible for going around (though it’s free when subbing White Mage). Monomi will allow you to cast sneak on yourself (though, it is also free when subbing White Mage). Utsusemi allows you to take 3-6 hits without taking any damage, which is useful for when things go wrong.

Thief
Since you solo a lot, and with the addition of Snarl, Thief can be a very useful support job. It gives Treasure Hunter and Steal for easier drops and money. And because of Snarl, you can give your pet enmity while you sneak up behind it for a Sneak Attack Rampage. That would bring your target a world of hurt. You can even Trick Attack enmity back onto your pet if you felt like it. Though Sneak Attack is far more useful, you could also use them in conjunction with each other to deal a ton of damage at the start of a fight and give all hate to your pet.

Dancer
A great alternative to White Mage. This is more for the Beastmaster who fights along side his or her pet as opposed to letting the pet do all the fighting. Instead of using your TP for weapon skills, you could save your TP for Waltzes. This support job actually gives you a bigger use tanking than anything else. You can get your monster to help you keep Samba up, but you will be the only one who gets the Drain effect. Steps and Flourishes can be used for enfeebling and Provoking to keep enmity. This support job is also great for duoing. Since Beastmaster is already such a useful duoer, having Waltzes and TP-using “spells” might be even better than any other support job for soloing. Waltzes are also super vitality and charisma-dependant, so you will definitely get the most out of them. The fact that Dancer has the second highest charisma in the game can also give your Charm a decent accuracy boost too.

Beastmaster as a Support Job
Beastmaster is a useful support job for soloing, much as when it is a main job. Though you won't get the same control over monsters as a Beastmaster of the same level, Charm will still work quite well. The thing is, though, Charm's success rate when Beastmaster is subbed is actually affected by what level the Beastmaster is as a main job. This means that if you want the highest success rate possible, you actually have to level Beastmaster to 75 as opposed to 37. Otherwise, Beastmaster also plays a role in charming unwanted links or aggro, and/or buffing-up the user's charisma stat for jobs like Blue Mage, Bard, or even Puppetmaster.