[Guide] Black Mage - Because, heavy deeps, that's why.

[Xerlic]

Is Thunder 1 > Blizzard > Fire 3 always higher DPS than Thunder 2 > Fire 3 or do you need a certain amount of spell speed?

[Taim Meich]

T1 -> Blizzard -> F3 is only for the cases where T2 -> F3 would put you in AF3 without a full MP bar. Depending on your SS and the timing of your MP ticks after changing to UI3 you'll have to use one or another.

[Deadgye]

I've not tested them? Why do you make that assumption?

Probably because the things you stated as facts conflict with the facts tested and presented by Neon. Not that hard to figure out or understand.

[haroldsaxon]

Is Thunder 1 > Blizzard > Fire 3 always higher DPS than Thunder 2 > Fire 3 or do you need a certain amount of spell speed?

I believe you need a certain amount of spellspeed, which to be honest you should have anyway.

[haroldsaxon]

Probably because the things you stated as facts conflict with the facts tested and presented by Neon. Not that hard to figure out or understand.

Which conflict with the facts tested by pretty much everyone else. Thunder 3 isn't a DPS gain.

[Xerlic]

I believe you need a certain amount of spellspeed, which to be honest you should have anyway.

T1 -> Blizzard -> F3 is only for the cases where T2 -> F3 would put you in AF3 without a full MP bar. Depending on your SS and the timing of your MP ticks after changing to UI3 you'll have to use one or another.

I currently do what Taim said ie if I get a late tick, I do the Blizzard after the Thunder. If I get an early tick, then I get the tick to full while the Blizzard is casting which I'm assuming is a DPS loss instead of just going into Fire 3. Is this correct?

Edit: Nvm. I found Puro's spreadsheet and it explains it well.

[Mira]

I finished my lilith rod the other day and i figured i should fix the stats i put on it, would it be worth putting piety on it for an extra fire?

[Seravi Edalborez]

The amount you would need for an extra Fire is more than just relic. You need 302 or 315 PIE to be able to do 6fire rotation. Novus -> Nexus -> Zodiac would be 23 > 24 > 26?. So you need another 25-30ish somewhere on your gear. Otherwise all it's really letting you do is not care if you have a SCH in party or not for stuff like Convert > F2 > Flare in AoE.

[Neon_Sea]

well you can use food, or use crafted gear. In theory it should be superior. Hovering around 300ish I was able to maintain a 6 fire rotation np. Reaching it without food atm might not be justifiable Im not sure.

[Mira]

Yeah, with a sch and food i'd be around 300'ish, maybe it's not worth the trouble with how expensive triple cream coffee is lol

[Yukari]

With current stat weights, is there a BIS pre-turn13 that uses det/spsp lilith rod instead of augmented ironworks rod?

[Dammerung]

bis

lower ilvl

pick one

[Yukari]

Thought so. Figured there might be a way since the relic actually has more damage after statweights than the aug irontech rod, assuming that Puro's spreadsheet has accurate weighting.

[Dammerung]

It only does in a vacuum, then you remember you have to make up the acc loss elsewhere.

You can't overthink gear in this game. Higher ilvl is going to be better 99% of the time, and if it isn't the difference is probably going to be <1%. The only exception to this is pentamelded accessories.

With that said, it probably isn't worth the 1300 poetics to get an i130 weapon when you have the i125 already, as the difference is marginal. The upgrade you get from poetics armor is going to make up the difference between the weapons.

[Toth]

Hey everyone,

After being 0/whatever on turn 9, I finally got the clear last night with an awesome group. Due to my nerves and the fast paced strategy, my initial DPS sucked. I was around 230 as BLM, dropping from a high from 350 pre-heavensfall. I was terrible but I finally got the win and was able to finally relax in the fight. As luck would have it, the BLM staff dropped and I was the only BLM who needed it. Thanks to better confidence and more risks with nuking, my DPS jumped to an average of 300 on the next 3 straight wins. However, I know that is still rather low so I was hoping for some advice.

1. My current strategy on Nael was Thunder 2, Fire III for AF3, Fire x 4/5, Blizzard 3, rinse and repeat. Is Flare useful at all in this rotation on Nael to increase my DPS? Any suggested changes?

2. My current accuracy is 488 with the High Allagan Staff. I was using HQ Buttons as food. However, to reach that cap, I was using the HA ring for the last bit of accuracy. Would it be better to switch back to the Judgment ring and use Lava Legs or Apkallu Omelettes as a food option?

[Taim Meich]

1. My current strategy on Nael was Thunder 2, Fire III for AF3, Fire x 4/5, Blizzard 3, rinse and repeat. Is Flare useful at all in this rotation on Nael to increase my DPS? Any suggested changes?

I've only done T9 as a BLM once or twice, but one thing to notice is that landing a Flare as Nael is about to disappear for a round of Meteor Stream is a nice increase on DPS, as the post-flare downtime of transpose -> Blizzard 1 etc. is nullified here as she's currently untargettable. Other than that, know the fight, when she's going to move, where, when to use Scathe to move and when you can wait to get a proc and move, etc.

[haroldsaxon]

Hey everyone,

After being 0/whatever on turn 9, I finally got the clear last night with an awesome group. Due to my nerves and the fast paced strategy, my initial DPS sucked. I was around 230 as BLM, dropping from a high from 350 pre-heavensfall. I was terrible but I finally got the win and was able to finally relax in the fight. As luck would have it, the BLM staff dropped and I was the only BLM who needed it. Thanks to better confidence and more risks with nuking, my DPS jumped to an average of 300 on the next 3 straight wins. However, I know that is still rather low so I was hoping for some advice.

1. My current strategy on Nael was Thunder 2, Fire III for AF3, Fire x 4/5, Blizzard 3, rinse and repeat. Is Flare useful at all in this rotation on Nael to increase my DPS? Any suggested changes?

2. My current accuracy is 488 with the High Allagan Staff. I was using HQ Buttons as food. However, to reach that cap, I was using the HA ring for the last bit of accuracy. Would it be better to switch back to the Judgment ring and use Lava Legs or Apkallu Omelettes as a food option?

First of all, your DPS is really low on that fight if you are using Echo. I was doing 370+ in an i110 pre-patch iirc (I never get drops, had i90 crafted or i110 depending on the piece).

The most optimal general rotation right now is T1+(B1 if needed)+ F3+F1+F1+F1+F1+F1+B3+ Repeat. Always use a proc AFTER casting a F1. If you have two procs, use F1,FS,F1,TC.

Only use B1 in your ice phase if you need it for a mana tick. If you have two targets that will live over 18 seconds, use T1+T1 instead of T1+B1 if you need another cast.

For your "opening" rotation, you've got two options:
1) Cooldowns
T2,F3,RS,QV,F1,Pot,F1,F1,F1,Swiftcast+Flare,Conver t,F1,*,B3, then to your standard rotation. During *, if i've got 2/3 seconds of raging strikes+pot left, I weave in a lethagy (if I don't need it), or a surecast to "bait" out a proc - its a nice bit of extra dps and its a 40% chance.

2) Non cooldowns
B3,T1,F3,F1,F1,F1,F1,F1,B3 then to your standard rotation (I generally only use this on T10 as I save cooldowns for the add phases, i'd probably be better off doing it at the start now though to get a 4th RS in during the fight - previously in lower gear i'd get 4 anyway).

Stat wise, you want to use Puro's calculator, generally you want spellspeed. Food wise, you should be using either Sachertorte or Pineapple Ponzecake

Accuracy cap wise, you want:
432 T5/Levi
448 T6/T7
470 T8/T9/Shiva/T10,
Lowest i've gone into T11 with is 480 and I didn't miss.
T12 - The lowest acc with 100% hit is 503.
T13 i've not missed with 515, not been in with lower (loads of acc thanks to crafted gear) and health wise i've been at 6080 and not died, but died randomly at 6060 (could have taken a hit, but I can't remember).

I've not really messed with T11/12/13 acc's because the crafted gear gives me loads. I'm only running the belt for the HP and that i've got loads of accuracy pieces right now.

Current BiS lists:

BIS Lists:

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/ORWH

At least on the copy of the calculator I have, this gets 525.16.

Dreadwyrm Staff
Platinum Circlet (1 x Crit 4, 1 x Acc 4, 3 x SS4)
Dreadwyrm Robe
Dreadwyrm Gloves
Kirimu Belt (2 x Acc 4, 2 x SS4, 1 x Det 4)
Dreadwyrm Tonban
Kirimu Boots (1 x Crit 4, 1 x Acc 4, 3 x SS4)
Dreadsyrm Choker
Augmented Ironworks Earrings
Augmented Ironworks Bracelet
Dreadwyrm Ring
Augmented Ironworks Ring
Sachertorte

There is probably a better set out there though that someone has yet to find, i'll be doing some more theorycrafting soon(tm).

Non-optimal; but also very tempted to do this at some point (Already have the pants and belt melded correctly)
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/ORWP

Dreadwyrm Staff
Platinum Circlet (1 x Crit 4, 1 x Acc 4, 3 x SS4)
Dreadwyrm Robe
Dreadwyrm Gloves
Kirimu Belt (2 x Acc 4, 2 x SS4, 1 x Det 4)
Arachne Culottes (4 x Crit 4, 1 x SS4)
Augmented Ironworks Boots
Augmented Ironworks Choker
Augmented Ironworks Earrings
True Ice Bracelet
Dreadwyrm Ring
Augmented Ironworks Ring
Sachertorte

523.48 DPS with 682 Spellspeed. The extra spellspeed would likely give far more utility over the 0.003% dps loss, especially in turns like T11 where there is heavy movement.

This will likely change next patch, with i110 crafted right side and the possibility of new CT loot (thats unlikely to do much though, unless if they make it upgradable with raid items).

Theres some school of thought for the 6 fire piety build, but i've not had time to theorycraft it. Theres probably more tricks like what Taim said with regards to flare, but i'm really ill right now. Theres a few other decent posts kicking around too.

[Tobi]

Asking this for my gf sake; So, for an i125 BLM with max sspd/det Lillith Rod to boot, what should dps numbers look like in t10-12? Also, it seems Lillith Rod is theoretically higher than the i130 Aug staff, so should one even bother getting this still? In T13 I'd imagine the Aug would be better for the extra hp, as she's indeed a bit shy under the hp requirement there, but in terms in t10-12 dps purposes, would the lillith still outshine the aug in terms of dps? Also, if possible, for t13(mainly p1/2), what should she be floating around as well in terms of dps, if anyone may know? I know its a bit dependant on if she gets earthshakers and whatnot, but it would still be nice to have an idea amount.

[HitomeOfBismarck]

For T10, I'd say mid 400s/upper 400s is reasonable at that gear level. For T11, perhaps the same.

I'm pretty sure DET/SSPD on the Lilith rod would outweigh the 1 WD gain, CRIT, and ACC from AIMR.

T13 first phase should be around 500 DPS if CDs were up with BV req. Second phase you should probably dip into the mid/upper 400s. Highest spike in phase 1 seems to be around the mid 600s and possibly 700s with my setup at the moment but definitely not sustainable and that's with CDs up.

Like you said, T13 can be finicky based on if they are selected for earth shaker. Even if selected for earth shaker, you should still be able to maximize DPS if procs are used wisely/you are lucky enough to get them while dodging puddles.

I'd aim for mid 400s with i125 gear and Lilith rod. For the overall fight, upper 400s is pretty achievable. You get some inflation in the add phase.

[Yukari]

It does outweigh the 1WD/Crit, assuming you got the coil pieces that have acc on them or have extra acc from something to offset the lack of it. I'd use AIMR if you had it already in T13, but if you don't, it's not really worth the poetics if you already have the lilith rod.

How are you getting anywhere near the 600s in T13? Wondering since I'm having issues DPSing when I'm forced to move (megaflare/earthshaker).