Avatar Phantom Gem Fights Using BST Strategy

A BST can solo all of the Avatar Phantom Gem fights on Normal or Difficult (depending on gear) using the proper pet & strategy.
With 3-4 properly geared BSTs all can be cleared on Very Difficult.

Every time a beastmaster uses a ready move on the avatar it will trigger a "white proc" which temporarily stuns the avatar. By properly timing your ready moves to coincide with the avatars spells or TP moves, you can effectively stun lock it, and prevent it from doing any severe damage. The only move that cannot be proced is its 1 hour.

If you decide to bring a melee non-BST type (like a PLD), make sure they do not weaponskill at all. A Weaponskill will cause a red proc on the avatar, and lock out the white proc for a period of time, preventing this stun-lock strategy from working.

A key to soloing this is having a 10 second ready timer - you will need Charmer's Merlin, Desultor Tassets, ready merits, and 100 JP gift to get the minimum ready timer, in your "ready" set.


The pull:
You can just get close enough to avatar to put pet on it without agroing it.

Once your pet has engaged, pull your pet back, and run to spot marked as the blue box on the map. Re-engage your pet on the avatar at this spot.
(This may cause a blue proc - dont worry, its fine)


Then run down the hill and control your pet from the green box area - the bend in the road.
This will ensure that you are close enough to control your pet, but you will be out of the range of the avatar's 1 hour.
The 1 hour of each respective avatar will cause a hate-reset, you must quickly use a ready move to keep the avatar from coming down the hill.

The pet:

Avatar	Pet to use	Ready move for damage	Notes
Shiva	HeraldHenry (Translucent Broth)	Big Scissors	Use Bubble Curtain right away to keep MDB up on pet
Titan	HeraldHenry (Translucent Broth)	Big Scissors	Use Bubble Curtain right away to keep MDB up on pet
Leviathan	Amiable Roche (Jug Of Airy Broth)	Recoil Dive
Ramuh	Alluring Honey(Bug-Ridden Broth)	Tickling Tendrils
Garuda	Alluring Honey(Bug-Ridden Broth)	Tickling Tendrils
Ifrit	HeraldHenry (Translucent Broth)	Big Scissors	Use Bubble Curtain right away to keep MDB up on pet

This is awesome, thanks for taking the time to put this together - the map is very helpful!

ALSO, happy to see that the crab is actually useful for something! :D

<3

Have you actually done the D solo with the Avatars where you use the crab? Levi with fish is doable, but I've never used the HQ crab + MDB buff. Is it enough MDB to handle D solo while keeping damage output high?

I did Shiva earlier. It actually was going alright, it was just slow as hell. I missed stunning frozen armor like every damn time too. Nothing else got through, just Frozen Armor. Luckily, spikes were only hitting for like 5 damage and her melee was about 200ish. I set my tanking set up for DT rather than pdt because I was really only afraid of her 2hr.

Anyway, I was sitting there getting ready to stun a move and I noticed my pet looked like it's health was low. I'm playing in windowed mode so I couldn't see my pets hp, I just had the bar. I figured it was good and didn't want to miss a stun, so I just decided I would heal after it's ready move. The move took longer than I expected to come out and a lucky critical killed my pet and she IMMEDIATELY killed me with Heavenly Strike.

So anyway. Yeah. It's doable. Probably easier if 1hrs are used(I had just used mine previously to do something else). Shiva is probably the worst since she hits so damn hard.

What gear sets are you using for the pets' meleeing? Also, does this require a good deal of Mulsums?

I was pretty proud of myself for taking on avatars solo on Normal as RUN, but this is quite impressive.

Full -DT in every slot available is the standard for soloing on BST for D. PDT/MDT where you can't get DT. I haven't used more than 5(?) mulsums on any D. Definitely need them for AA D since under 25 they pretty much all get stupid.

Suppose I'll give it a shot if I can find someone to make some crabs tomorrow. I'll probably try on Garuda over Shiva since I want the ring, lol.

This was my experience too. Managed to solo Shiva Prime on Difficult, but it took 26min12sec. Didn't use Unleash, but was riding the Spur timer and basically gave up on Bubble Curtain so I could pump out as many Big Scissors as possible.

Bubble Curtain is MDT-50% (so with Stout Servant and a DT- set you're sitting at capped MDT-87.5% while it's up), but with an average Big Scissors dealing ~1500 you need to really focus on attacking as much as possible to eek out a solo win.

Used a stack of thetas, no mulsum.

When your soloing on Difficult, using both 1 hours speeds up the fight quite a bit. I did not use mulsum on any of these fights in normal, difficult, or very difficult. Just keep Spur up, and ride reward timer as needed.

If you can ride out MR cloudsplitter on D or GK self-double light on D without mulsums I will be exceptionally impressed.

The AA fights are considerably harder on pets than the avatar fights. I dont think they are soloable with BST on Difficult (not even sure about normal).

The fights that require HQ crab will be tough to solo on Difficult, but will be no problem on normal. For Difficult or Very Difficult I recommend 2 or 3 BSTs (or a geo added in for VD).

The fights with the fish & plant pet are easy to solo on Difficult.

Have done all 5 on N. HM EV GK MR use Bird. TT I just used Tiger since he's so squishy. GK and EV took about 21 minutes each just due to extremely high HP / dealing with Benediction. HM and MR are both around 12-15 minute mark, and TT (surprisingly) being 7-8.

MR I've done on D in something like 26 minutes and have timed out to HM D at 12% (this was when I first discovered that I needed vastly more MACC than I currently have).

They're definitely doable, but not without a handful of mulsums and, while it isn't necessary, unleash during the last 25% is much safer than not doing it.

There's some other fights I have ideas for BST soloing on N or D. I've gotten Puppet in Peril down on N in like 24 minutes or something awful, but the jump to D is absolutely unreal. Duo Gessho N took < 5 minutes so I think there's probably a way to do it solo on N, just with a very high risk factor and a couple mulsums for when he gets spammy with the splits. Duo we used Bird to tank and Grasshopper to just buffet the adds away instantly. Very nice combo. Shame the grasshopper eats so much ***compared to the bird.

I'm interested in what other fights you guys have tried on N/D. I do them just for shits and giggles when nobody is on and I'm bored. I was surprised to see the crab taking down Shiva. Crab really hadn't crossed my radar since I didn't want to depend on ready charges to mitigate damage. Very cool stuff.

Edit: For VD fights when we sell stuff we take 2-3 BST + COR (instead of GEO) for Puppet + Companion roll. Toss a dia on and it's usually < 7 minute fight for all the avatars. Should hold true for AA as well but people actually do those so not much demand for the drops. Haven't tried outside of duoing certain ones on D to train someone new to BST.

Very nice. I'm impressed that you soloed MR on D, that's awesome. I usually avoid that one because it gets expensive using the mulsums, haha.

Personally find HM and GK to be the easiest because Tulfaire laughs off their damage even on D. Have soloed them both using Cloudsplitter > Swooping and Primal > Pentapeck, along with Pentapeck Unleash spam for light skillchains.


You probably already know about how easy Ouryu is on BST, but for anyone who isn't aware you can take this guy down easily w/o Unleash on Normal. Might need a Vile Elixir if he decides to use Bai Wing (and other AoEs) a lot since they have huge range. If Unleash is up, you can win in < 5 minutes. Razor Fang while he's on the ground, Claw Cyclone while he's flying.

Kam'lanaut on Normal is pretty basic. If your DT- set is good, Tiger can handle Light Blades no problem. When he pops the fetters, Claw Cyclone to get rid of'em quick.

I assume GK's Dragonfire Dive or whatever it's called AoE move only takes 2-3 shadows? That's what's kept me from meleeing him ever. With skillchain I can see D solo working, may try that today.

As far as Ouryu goes I only tried solo once on N, just dicking around, died to breath at like 50% or so. He's very easy to duo/trio, but the one time I tried solo I found that I could only safely stand out of wing range and still use ready in a position that put me directly in max breath damage range. Do you just run in -> blow charges -> run back out and hope you don't get caught by a wing in the meantime? I suppose that's what the elixir is for. I don't generally carry consumables for HP on me, though I really should since I decide to up and go solo ***on a whim all the time.

Also do you ever use Astolfo over Iziz for offhand tanking weapon? I never really take mine out since it seems the majority of spike damage in most things isn't physical, but I suppose that might not be true.

Also I tried Shiva on D at like 4am this morning after trioing Foret delve for the clear (to get the crab pets). Got *** up pretty bad. Wiped at like 65%. Do you keep scissor guard up full time? Without it her normal attacks were kicking the crab's ***. Missing 2-3 stuns during shitty TP moves is ultimately what cost me the fight, but it was pretty stressful before that.

Yeah, GK's AoE takes the same amount of shadows as Havoc Spiral so you can soak those up no problem. :)

I usually am reckless and stand within the 30 yalm radius for Ouryu. If you want a bit of extra protection you can grab Shell V from a tome before you go, since just about every AoE that can hit you is magic-based.

Usually idle in Izizoeksi/Astolfo when pet is tanking. For Shiva, it's true that a lot of the damage you'll experience is on the physical side, especially if there's lag or your Ready timer isn't up to stun Rush. I only put up Scissor Guard a couple times before I remembered the duration was mediocre and full DT- gear was good enough to stay alive until the next Reward.

This is making me want to break out my BST again. I normally solo Avatars on my SMN but I think BST seems to have better longevity for this particular content.

Plus, I didn't realize that Jug pets as of late seem obviously more durable.

Garuda D was significantly easier than Shiva. 15:54, no mulsums, unleash used (but not very effectively). Missing a proc on a TP move is much less punishing with garuda.

Aged Angus for Garuda vs. Herald Henry for Shiva. Don't know how much it matters.

For garuda use the snapweed(plant) pet - this pet has a high elemental resistance against wind, and thunder. Not only that but the TP move does quite a bit of damage, much more than the crab. Using this pet solo on difficult the fight takes 11 minutes.

11 minutes on D...does the MDEF vs. Wind extend enough to VD?

11 minutes really suggests that VD should be at least possible duo..

Edit: Going to try VD duo for shits.

Edit 2: BST friend has COR mule so was trio BST BST COR, not duo. But 7:44 VD BST BST COR. Duo would've been sub 15 minutes I'm sure. Didn't wait for 11s on roll. Annoying that GS still doesn't work properly for Snapweed. Having to idle in merlin / desultor sucks.

I have tested all these fights on VD using a BST strategy - depending on the pet used, can be done with 2-4 bsts and/or a cor/geo added in. As stated before the tougher fights are the ones where we have to use the crab because of its lower damage output, and also using up charges on keeping MDB up.

However I have also tried having 1 BST "tank" with the crab, and another bst use a DD pet, that works well to and fight goes alot faster.

Maybe SE will give us pets in the future with ice/fire/earth resistance.

Just did Titan D for the first time solo and I noticed something weird (happened on N as well). Contrary to say, Shiva, Garuda, Ramuh, or Levi whom I have a lot of experience doing on N and D, I wasn't able to proc white !! on about 90% of Titan's physical BP.

I've done Ramuh and Garuda D the most farming for neck/ring and I can safely say that I proc white !! on almost all of their TP moves / spells for the entire fight (exception being if I unleash and spam).

Titan proc'd white !! on every spell, but either I wasn't fast enough or he has a slightly different mechanic with regards to proc and his physical TP moves. I haven't done Titan but the once on N a while back so I hadn't seen this til now. Did a N run and a D run right after, saw the same behavior in both fights.

Still won in 21:54 without Familiar or Unleash using Herald Henry, but it was a very strange fight.

Edit: Shiva and Ifrit were rough. I don't know how you got Shiva in 24 minutes Falkirk, must have a lot more ATT than I do. I pushed 28 minutes and had to swap to Randy for last 8% because Run Wild failed me.

Falkirk has mythic (unless you do too?)

I do not. I hadn't thought it would be such a big gap, but I suppose on a crit % with TP ready move it'd be more noticeable?

Hey all! :) Ive been perusing the BST forums for a long while now and was wondering how you guys have managed with the changes to BST specifically relating to this thread.

Do you all still attempt solo's now that we have to be on our pets lap to do anything, or do you find it easier to bring more BST's out instead?

Unfortunately I have returned after the changes have happened so I feel like I have missed the 'golden ages'.I still love the class and the memories of levelling it up the old school way to 75 is something I will never forget! BST SOLO FOR LIFE! <3

Hey. :)

You can still solo these fights in a similar fashion. Beaztmaster posted a video that demonstrates the ideal positioning.

This thread was created before Trusts were allowed in High-Tier Battlefields, so as an alternative to the above, bust out Amchuchu + a healer (+ Brygid?) and wear some MDT gear to survive Astral Flow while you battle in close quarters.

Good luck!

Hmmmm..... I cant wait to be ready to try that! I have watched one of Beaztmaster vid's before soloing Naphula - maybe I should subscribe! :D Ty for all the hard work everyone does to spread the BST knowledge ^_^

Why did he use that pet over the other pets with better Damage reduction vs the same element of Garuda?

I am assuming he has nothing but top tier gear, which is why that fight was as easy as he made it, too.

At the time, probably just typically Alluvion skirmish gear/delve gear that was relevant. I suppose a few pieces from Escha. Valorous has been the only real significant improvement for BST since A.Skirmish gear, aside from a few pieces here and there.

As for why he is using that pet. It's monk, so it naturally counters. Zealous Snort improves counter rate, gives 25% haste(Maybe 30%, can't remember) and increases MDB. It's a very solid tanking pet just from that. Not to mention you can mitigate a lot of damage with well timed ready moves against Avatars. While you could use the ladybug for the wind resistance, it has no other defensive advantage. Physical bloodpacts would still hurt a lot and you are eating every auto attack.

On the other side of things, Sweeping Gouge is a DEF down move. While the boar doesn't have the attack the Tiger does, being able to inflict DEF down every ten seconds does quite a bit for overall DPS.

The other side

How do you deviate when and when not meleeing is a good idea? Since I know you said at 100 JP that meleeing is insignificant, but would have to SC to make up the damage.

Can you potentially do more damage SCing with your Pet, than you would only be using pet:RDY moves? Since you're missing out on Charmers, but you still have Tasslets?