Hows this for irony

[NetNomad]

It's mostly common sense; don't berserk in an area or battle where you're likely to take a heavy hit right afterwards. The easiest places to berserk are bosses like the dragons and De Rol Le (but for the latter, ONLY if you're certain he's targeting another player with his tentacles!). In standard battles, try berserking when the enemy is not likely to hit you... this includes if you're coming up behind a grunt monster, or if you have a large but slow monster (like a belra), or when you're 100% certain you can kill the enemy if you use berserk on this combo. Basically it all comes down to healing. Priority 1 is give yourself the space to heal before attacking again (except on things like the dragon's head, feel free to go nuts on him till he gets up). In multiplayer, your FO might be the type who'll just compulsively heal you while you berserk... other times they won't. So the best policy is to be ready to heal yourself (I sometimes announce that I plan to, as to not drive the FO crazy and put a huge drain his/her TP).