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Summoner is probably the most versatile job in the game. ... Well... After Blue Mage. (As if I haven't said it enough, SMN has the defenses of a wet tissue-paper bag. So... «Frontline» «Job» «No thanks.») We have some powerful and unique buffs, very powerful damaging Blood Pacts, and some of the most MP efficient cures in the game! (That being said, gone are the days of being /whm and essentially a replacement WHM. Though fret not if you find yourself passing out the Cures. You may be primarily there as a DD, but it won't hurt you to help with curing in between BPs.)
Avatars have a natural -50%DT, and Summoner gets two tiers of Stout Servant (which is multiplicative with that, and -7%). Which means at 99, your Avatars will be taking -53.5%DT. That being said, even at 119+, your Avatars have so little HP that they will often be 1shotted or barely survive many of the AoEs they'll be hit with..... at least that was the case before the September 2016 update[1]. While the update didn't do anything for the fact that at iLv.119 you will likely either match your Avatar's HP, if you're not exceeding their HP... what it did do was decrease the damage anything within range of the primary target takes by ~2/3. So, as of now... Your Avatars can actually survive for a fair amount of time compared to before! (Seriously though. They are sitting at around ~1500ish HP. 90% of all endgame NMs used to either flat out murdered them with their powerful AoEs, or left them barely hanging on.) Just don't expect to be able to properly tank anything >iLv.125 (with some exception).
There is another survivability trait that all Avatars have: extremely high Magic Evasion for the elements they represent and are strong to. So if you learn the (as I have arranged the Avatars above), you can make use of the right Avatar to keep them alive for a lot longer than they have any right to be.
- For example: An enemy that deals lots of
 elemental damage would make either  (as he embodies ) or  (as he embodies  which is strong to ) would make good Avatars to use, as they have large Magic Evasions for the element of .
However even with all of these defensive traits, an Avatar just wasn't made for tanking. And with the death of Abyssea as the endgame, Summoner lost the one place where it could tank any of the NMs around. (Should you ever find the want or need, you will want to get yourself Atma of the Ducal Guard. Equipping that will push your Avatar's DT up to the true cap of -87.5%DT. With that you'll be able to solo any and all of Abyssea should you choose to do so.)
Which brings us to your actual role in the current endgame events: DD with a strong dash of Support. (the only times you'll ever get close to tanking is when things go south.)
Pretty much all events are the same for you: buff your party with w/e buffs are relevant to your fight (Earthen Armor, Crystal Blessing, Reraise II, Hastega II, etc.) and then you'll end with whichever Avatar is the relevant one for the NM at hand and switch to full DD mode. You will often be Magic Bursting off of another DD's Skillchains, I suggest you learn your SC elements. (or at the very least the four elements that make up Light and Darkness, as those are the favored SCs when not using a Scholar to make SCs.) And should you find the need, you might have to swap into Carbuncle/Garuda/Leviathan regardless of the elemental typing of the NM for their powerful curative power. Always be ready to change what you're doing on the fly.
- Delve, Alluvion Skirmish, Incursion, Vagary, Sinister Reign, UCNMs, Ambuscade, M(erit)BCNMs, and Escha make up the current endgame.
Though you're basically doing the same general thing, as dictated above, in all of these, I should make special mention of a few things:
- Alluvion Skirmish - For Rala&Cirdas: you're just killing things. Ifrit is often the most useful as his BPs target the majority of mob's weaknesses... but Garuda is especially useful for her ability to increase everyone's movement speed. For Yorcia: you'll either be exclusively 1shotting the mobs with your Merit BPs, or you will be making good use of Book duty in A!Yorcia as Garuda lets you Fleet Wind the party at the beginning of a level.
- Vagary - You'll be on Ramuh almost exclusively, as the AoE cleaving with Thunderspark in a Brash Gate run. Ifrit will be your go to in a Deathborne Gate run. And you'll be using most, if not all, of your Avatars in a Duskbrood Gate run. With the bosses you'll usually want to use Ifrit on as they are usually weak to and/or
 , but the MegaBosses have varying resistances, and your Flaming Crush may heal those two if you aren't paying attention.
- Sinister Reign - Unless you're in a Magic Burst set-up, you will want to stick to your Lv.70 physical BPs as enemies here are generally highly magic resistant. Garuda is especially useful as her Hastega II increases her (and the party's) damage.
- Escha - Here is the reason I recommended meriting your one 5/5 Merit BP to be Wind Blade, one of the most popular strategies for Kirin in Escha - Ru'Aun is to Magic Burst Garuda's Wind Blade. Furthermore, this is the place (specifically against multiple HELM NMs in Reisenjima) where Cait Sith gets to shine by Astral Conduiting her Mewing Lullaby. Aside from those two instances, you'll be wanting to target the NM's elemental weakness and go with that. (You can also cover all the weaknesses of Caturae's shield's weaknesses! Though with piercing weakness, you'll be stuck with Claw/Poison Nails/Crescent Fang... all of which are very low level BPs, so they don't deal much... but your Crescent Fang *should* be able to knock out a piercing shield with a double shot (aka Apogee)... Though with an especially large group... that may not be realistic. But regardless of the number of people, you should be able to drop every other type of Caturae's shield with a single BP. So not easily being able to cover a
 weakness... isn't exactly the end of the world.)
Try to read up on the above content before you try to tackle it. Forehand knowledge will help you adapt to situations better.
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