Job Overview

Job Overview
By making pacts with the the legendary Avatars, these heretic mages have unlocked the secrets to the forbidden magic of Vana'diel. Available after completing the quest I Can Hear a Rainbow.

Strengths
Access to some interesting buffs, like party stoneskin, and party blink.

Can be effective pullers, especially in link situations.

Massive MP pool

Can solo some self-destructing mobs.

Can obtain Avatars through Minifork Battles at lvl20.

Weaknesses
Often overlooked for usefulness.

Often used as a white mage.

Pets use alot of MP.

Need a high level job to attain Fenrir and Diabolos.
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Support Job Options
The choices listed here are by no means the only ones available. Feel free to try out whatever combination suits your fancy.

By making pacts with the the legendary "Avatars," these heretic mages have unlocked the secrets to the forbidden magic of Vana'diel. Summoners are great because they can do quests to get powerful Avatars, which in turn allow them to use their power to buff parties in great ways. Most summoners sub whm or blm to become even more useful.

White Mage
Summoners choose White Mage as their support job for the ability to heal. As well as giving a decent boost to their MP pool, the healing spells give a summoner something to do with their vast pool of MP while waiting for their next Blood Pact. This support job may also lead to the most party invites, though often as the primary healer of a group, which usually does not allow for the act of Blood Pacts, the only unique ability to a Summoner. Also with the the bigger MP pool in lower levels (like the dunes) people might ask you to be a main healer or heal until the PL gets to the Party.

Red Mage
Summoners choose Red Mage as their support job for Fast Cast and the ability to heal. As well as giving a decent boost to their MP pool(though less than whm sub). The healing spells give a summoner something to do with their vast pool of MP while waiting for their next Blood Pact. Fast Cast allows the summoner to resummon their avatar faster, therefore its a decent subjob for soloing, however by not subbing White Mage, summoner will lose to ability to cast curaga spells and cure status ailment. The Blood Pact moves Whispering Wind from Garuda, which heals allies within range, and Spring Water from Leviathan, which heals and removes status ailments, can help counteract this to an extent, though may not generally be worth the MP cost.

Black Mage
Rare combination, offer a bigger boost to their MP pool and some utility spells such as warp and escape. Not a good subjob, as the Summoner's nuke will be resisted due to halved Elemental Magic skill and no healing magic ability. Offers you higher INT, but this is not proven to have any effect on the summoner's avatars or blood pacts.

Samurai
Even rarer than a mage combination is the Samurai subjob for a summoner. While having limited functionality in a party, Summoner/Samurai offers Store TP, Hasso, and Meditate at high levels. Using Carbuncle or Fenrir, the Samurai subjob allows for faster TP gain, which paired with a Staff and Spirit Taker, allows for an almost limitless MP pool. Again, not very useful in a party but useful and fun for solo.

Thief
By the same token, THF sub is not common but is quite useful in solo play; Sneak Attack will increase the damage and MP recovery of Spirit Taker significantly, not to mention the slight increase in drops if you are soloing to farm.

Bard
Common in Summoner burn parties is the subjob of Bard. This subjob allows the Summoner to use Mage's Ballad, restoring an additional 1 MP / tick. In a party with no Bard and a Red Mage or White Mage main healing, the subjob of Bard heightens the abilities of a Summoner as a support job.

It should be noted that this subjob is only effective after Summoner level 50, which lets Bard access Mage's Ballad.

Scholar
Scholar offers the Summoner a mix of White and Black magic, like Red Mage, but with one key difference: the Arts. These abilities will increase the Summoner's magic skills to that of a B+ skill, calculated from the main job's level rather than the level of the Scholar sub. As such, a 75SMN/37SCH using Dark Arts will have 246 skill in Elemental Magic, Enfeebling Magic, and Dark Magic, making any offensive spells used much less likely to be resisted. This, coupled with Aspir, makes the SMN/SCH's MP pool much deeper. Further, under Light Arts, the SMN retains access to healing staples such as Cure III and Raise, and even adds Regen II (which is unavailable to the SMN/WHM).

Either of the Arts abilities will decrease that Magic's MP costs and casting times by 10%. The Stratagems, though only keeping one charge, can be used to cut the cost of a large spell with Penury/Parsimony, while Celerity can cause Raise to fire at 35% complete and be available for recast in 30 seconds. Though it lacks the White Mage's Curaga II and Reraise, SMN/SCH is gaining popularity, especially in largescale events such as Besieged and Campaign Battles.