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

[HitomeOfBismarck]

also, if it's a big pull, and you are well geared, even if the tank is a super badass, you will probably have to use either quelling strikes after raging, or somewhere in there, or pop manawall so you don't get wrecked...pull hate off of good tanks with this without quellilng strikes, there is nothing they can do, it's on you to save your own arse

If only there were a way to teach PLDs about the joy of cover. Feels like 11 all over again.

[OWS_Tonx]

lol right. The PLD in my FC learned to abuse that shit on me during WP and now Haukke HM.

[Sylvrdragon]

fire 3 > raging strikes > fire 2 > fire 2 > fire 2 > flare > vert > fire 2 > swift cats > flare > tranpose > fire 3 > fire 2 > fire 2 > flare

rinse repeat. Using raging strike, vert and swift depends on the fight, I don't usually do it unless it's a massive pull or shit needs to die asap

I thought the All Flare rotation was shown to be better than anything involving Fire 2.

Fire 3 > Flare > Vert+Swift > Flare > Transpose > [Wait 2 seconds after the first UI tick] > Flare > Flare (You'll get a tick of MP as the first flare is landing) > Transpose > Wait > Flare > Flare > repeat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82L9IbUPMxU

It might be outdated though, as it's nearly 3 months old.

[Taim Meich]

It's still the best AoE rotation. Might not be worth doing in some cases, but, for example, I do Fire 2 x3 + Flare -> Transpose -> Flare -> Flare on first spiders in turn 4, and reserve Fire x3 -> Flare -> Convert -> Flare -> Potion -> Flare for the Spiders + Rooks phase.

[OWS_Tonx]

It could be, I play on the ps3 so I can't really parse it. I'm curious about that now.

[Lokus]

It is better but it has a higher chance of getting messed up. Mistime a Flare and your dps drops. Aside from that, AoE rotations also need to take enmity into account.

[Seravi Edalborez]

The timing is not too hard to learn with a little practice. I barely play BLM and I was able to get it reliably after like 5 tries. It is a huge spike of enmity though so not recommended with average tanks.

[Shenrien]

I only use flare rotation when quelling strikes is available otherwise even with good tanks you have the risk of getting put into the ground in T4.

[Taim Meich]

Well, if the PLD remembers Cover exists, you can spam it more. But, yeah, Quelling is the best solution.

[Lokus]

The timing is not too hard to learn with a little practice. I barely play BLM and I was able to get it reliably after like 5 tries. It is a huge spike of enmity though so not recommended with average tanks.

There is another way to mess up the double Flare rotation as well which is annoying when it happens. After casting the second Flare, you have a short window where you can use Transpose and catch the MP tick as soon as you use it. If you're a little slow, you'll miss the tick and have to wait a bit longer and if you're too fast then you get the table-flipping-rage-inducing quirk where your Flare overwrites your Transpose because this game is amazing. You can see in the double Flare video linked earlier where the first cycle, he gets the MP tick immediately after Transpose and the second cycle, he ends up having to wait since Transpose wasn't fast enough.

[Shinryu]

I thought the All Flare rotation was shown to be better than anything involving Fire 2.

Fire 3 > Flare > Vert+Swift > Flare > Transpose > [Wait 2 seconds after the first UI tick] > Flare > Flare (You'll get a tick of MP as the first flare is landing) > Transpose > Wait > Flare > Flare > repeat

It might be outdated though, as it's nearly 3 months old.

You'll want to include Fire II in the opening portion, at least. It's a small but definite increase in DPS. You could also include a Fire II between the double Flares... But honestly that's a negligible difference.

Fire III > Fire II > Fire II > Fire II > Flare > Convert + Swiftcast > Flare > Transpose > Flare > Fire II > Flare > repeat

It's kinda pointless, but if it will finish the group off and Swiftcast still happens to be up for whatever reason, I like to do:
Transpose > Flare > Swiftcast > Flare
It pretty guarantees you downtime unless you use Convert/Ether, but it looks cool to have overlapping Flares. >_>

There is another way to mess up the double Flare rotation as well which is annoying when it happens. After casting the second Flare, you have a short window where you can use Transpose and catch the MP tick as soon as you use it. If you're a little slow, you'll miss the tick and have to wait a bit longer and if you're too fast then you get the table-flipping-rage-inducing quirk where your Flare overwrites your Transpose because this game is amazing. You can see in the double Flare video linked earlier where the first cycle, he gets the MP tick immediately after Transpose and the second cycle, he ends up having to wait since Transpose wasn't fast enough.

Since having made that video, I've switched to doing Transpose as soon as I cast Flare without ever having any issues. As long as I'm in AF3 when I cast Flare, I've never had it overwritten. If the Flare would switch you from UI to AF, though, then you need to wait a moment for Transpose.

[Lokus]

Yea, I've since learned the timing because half the time if I immediately Transpose as soon as it's available, Flare tends to take me out of UI and back into AF3. That little quirk though does make me wish we had some kind of visual add-on that let us know when the global tick is going to occur, like a metronome.

[Indomitable Will]

I thought the All Flare rotation was shown to be better than anything involving Fire 2.

Fire 3 > Flare > Vert+Swift > Flare > Transpose > [Wait 2 seconds after the first UI tick] > Flare > Flare (You'll get a tick of MP as the first flare is landing) > Transpose > Wait > Flare > Flare > repeat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82L9IbUPMxU

It might be outdated though, as it's nearly 3 months old.

I'm not sure what that video shows really, since there is no parse, or data in teh comment field other than a link back to this forum during that discussion, and I think we did the paper math at least to show the the fire2 rotation was higher for longer periods, but if you need a short burst and swiftcast is up, double flare is awesome, I only do fire2's>flare>flare rotation on spiders, and am consistently the highest aoe dps in coil when i get the chance to blm it (and don't get fked over by the game and UI3 gets dropped by the server, but still lose AF3, so I have to wait for mp tics the slow way)

edit: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/119...=1#post6018539 page 3 post #57 I mathed it a bit and explained some. again if someone wants to parse and PM me or post the link to the parse in here where they have consistent testing with the rotations that shows one over the other rather than just paper math, then I will change it.

[ClarkSammich]

I have a few questions because I'm not super thrilled about my performance on BLM since I've switched to it as my primary class.
This might get long, so I apologize in advance, and thank anyone that can offer some insight or guidance.
Right now my damage is ass. Just the unmitigated stench of sweltering man-ass. Bad man-ass, too. Not the top shelf stuff.
Mechanically, I believe I've done everything in my power to improve it, but maybe not.
I'll detail what I do for some general deconstruction.
On a single target, where I can go through a few full rotations, like T1 or some parts of T5 (barring cool downs I need to sit on and such), my opening is this:
Thunder III > Fire III > Raging Strikes > Fire I > Quelling Strikes > Fire I x5 > Swiftcast Flare > Convert > Fire I > Blizzard III > Thunder I or II depending on MP. If Convert isn't up I don't Flare. I use Swiftcast on Thunder III during UI cycle sometimes, but not often. It's usually saved for whatever shit I deem "important" at the time. I feel like I could weave Swiftcast > Flare > Transpose into certain parts of certain fights. i.e. Before dashes in Ifrit, phase change in T5, etc.
I save Firestarter for after my next Fire I cast; no interrupting myself to use them or waiting to see if I get a proc. Also, after my final Fire I I'll spam the shit out of my Fire III hotkey for about a second to consume Firestarter in AFIII before going into UI. I'll use Thundercloud after my next Fire I since it gives me enough time to see if I get a Firestarter. Otherwise I'll use Thundercloud after Blizzard III and just chill for a bit to get MP. I always use Thundercloud with Thunder III unless I fuck up horribly and fatfinger Thunder II, but that's very rare.
I do about 240-270 on T5 depending on conflagrations, liquid hell, etc. I see BLM often doing 300-310. I do about 190 on Titan Extreme and see BLMs doing 250 pretty often. My gear is i89: Primal weapon, myth hat/body/feet/neck/ring/wrist, allagan gloves/belt, crimson pants, Titan earrings, Garuda ring. I shuffle some stuff around like allagan head in place of myth cap where accuracy demands it.
So, what am I doing wrong? I looked at a parse from Titan today. The other BLM did 20k more damage than I did and had SEVENTEEN more Fire IIIs despite only four more Fire I casts. He had twice as many Thunder IIIs. Does it really just come down to procs? I feel like there's something more I could be doing that's eluding me.

[TheDirtyHobo]

For any particular fight, you've just got to suck it and start praying to RNGesus for your procs. As far as long term averages, are you using AoEs on Twin? Even just during the scourges/conflags/snakes, the fact that you get to flex your AoE muscles is what makes them a good DPS for the fight instead of a crappy DPS. AoE is where BLM excels, always try to make use of it. You can get away with Fire2s during slow conflags, fast ones I usually stick to fire1+procs, but finish up with a swiftflare.

[OWS_Tonx]

the only thing that really stands out to me is using thunder3 outside of thundercloud procs. You should stick with thunder 2, usually by the time your rotation is done and you're throwing yourself back into umbral ice thunder2 will have ~3 seconds left on it so you're getting it's full potential while thunder3 you'll constantly clipping it. they both have the same potency, they just have different mp values and timers. As far as waiting for for which thunder to throw up after your in umbral, what's your pie at? iirc the optimal goal is 251 in a full PT with SCH. If you can hit that you shouldn't be having an issue waiting for a ui1 proc to cast thunder, the mp should already be there. If that's the case, I wouldn't cast a spell if I was under 900mp. I don't have exact numbers in front of me as I'm at work, but so long as you have 650(I think that's for fire1 in af3 costs) + 79(blizz3 cost in ui) + 250(thunder2 cost). I'm positive those numbers aren't 100% correct but 900 leaves you with a buffer, but with pie251 you should be finishing your rotation with like 300-400mp left

EDIT: I did leave out a couple things. Titan is all about knowing when you can cast since you're moving a fuckton and like hobo said, pray to the RNG gods. I've had some rotations where I had every fire proc and thunder proc like 3 times and then I've seen myself go through 2 mp pools without 1 proc from either. My favorite is when a BRD throws up Foe and I pop my raging strikes and don't get a single proc.

[Kaslo]

Usually I only use T3 to open fight (primarily to allow tanks to establish hate before I go all pew pew)

[Indomitable Will]

The other BLM did 20k more damage than I did and had SEVENTEEN more Fire IIIs despite only four more Fire I casts. He had twice as many Thunder IIIs. .

I have to say that looks a lot more like rng luck than anything, but 20k more dmg is a considerable difference, even with all those proc's (although the extra could be from the extra thunder3's), do you have the complete parse you could inbox me? shoot me a pm.

[Raldo]

More Fire3, more Fire1, more thunders... even with procs, you're limited by your GCD, so the other BLM was getting more casts of everything in, period. There's definitely something wrong there. There's little reason for someone to get that many more everythings in on you, unless you were sitting around doing nothing for a portion of the fight (gaols/dead/had to move/conflags/lost line-of-sight/???). What fight were you doing?

Edit: Oh, Titan. EX, I guess? The other BLM was probably just better at knowing when they can cast and when they can't because they have to move around to not die.

[Shenrien]

They may have also taken full advantage of mana wall preventing you from being knocked off by landslide, I can't tell you how many BLM I don't see using it and running away from landslide after upheaval or after bombs if you stand in one of the 4 safe spots on line bombs or after super bomb.