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

[Seravi Edalborez]

My numbers are dumb actually because assuming no SCH. More like 296 in party, down from that 304 figure. 8 PIE saved. 60-8=52, 52-23=29. So basically 3 accessories for most races if you max PIE on Novus.

For sake of clarity I'm using Moonqote for gearsets; if you're Dunesfolk you need one less PIE, Midlander Plainsfolk and Wildwood need 1 more, etc. Melds are only including the 2x PIE4 atm mostly because I'm unsure what you'd realistically put there in the remaining slots (VIT4 Crit4 and Speed4?).

Baseline set is with HA weapon and 5 i90 accs (464 accuracy so also need either food or a single meld).
Compared to...

3 accessories, Novus 23 PIE, 23 Det, 18 Crit, 11 Speed (spread could probably use work but main goal is avoiding Det4 or Crit4)
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/NLVW
This set does need +1 PIE from somewhere else (being a Dunesfolk, or point allotment) or settle with possibly waiting there for a sec in UI3.

e: Bleh I forgot what I said already about forgetting SCH lol.

[OWS_Tonx]

I'm kind of tempted lol. I havnt done mine yet, just saved all my alexandrites. Im going to try and get some of of these accessories this weekend do run through some parses to see. I can't imagine pie is that expensive. With only 2-3 accessories having to be swapped though I can't imagine damage taking too savage a hit, the extra fire and potential fire3 would outweigh

[Raldo]

Are you taking food into account? Unless I missed it, I haven't seen anyone say food. Seems like an easy place to get PIE.

[Seravi Edalborez]

Oh. Duh. I just always assume buttons/risotto in my head. That would make it a bit easier I guess. Just from a quick glance Mulled Tea (+14) is basically always capped, Pineapple Juice will generally only get 1 more PIE at relevant ranges. So saves 1 accessory.

And I forgot about SCH when making the above gearset so need to play with it again.

e: Haven't made a full set yet but basically with max PIE Novus you onle need 1-2 accs with Mulled Tea.

[OWS_Tonx]

I hate relying on food to meet caps personally but it would ease that number a good bit. What's SCH in PT increase pie by, like 8 or something?

[Seravi Edalborez]

I've heard 3%. 244 with 3% hits that 251. 3% of 296 is still +8 (8.88).

[OWS_Tonx]

If you do go the novus route this doesn't seem too painful. You'd just have to work around which accessories you want to keep to maintain accuracy cap, assuming you use the tea for the additional 14. by my math I only need to work out +16 piety

[Seravi Edalborez]

Even for Dunesfolk, there doesn't seem to be a way to make 1acc work for 296 PIE. You end up at 293 with PIE maxed on Novus, 1 Diamond acc and food, so would need +3 PIE from allotment or something (+whatever you miss by being a non-Dunesfolk).

PIE Novus and 2 Diamond accs is perfect for Plainsfolk/Midlander/Wildwood without a SCH. If you're inclined, you can drop more PIE on Novus and put it back into Crit or Speed (or Det's T4 territory) and just wear a 3rd diamond acc.

[Seravi Edalborez]

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/NLZA

Diamond rings are melded with PIE 4 / PIE 4 / Crit 4 / Speed 4 / Vit 4 for a balance, maybe swap out a speed or crit for a 2nd vit if doing savage? This hits the required PIE without SCH if 3rd highest PIE tier or better. You can adjust PIE if you don't want to bother with that stipulation and put it into crit det or speed; 13 as Dunesfolk, 14 as Moonqote, 15 as 3rd tier, 16 17 18 19 etc. This is the set I'm gonna build for as a Plainsfolk: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/NLZI

For first link, Novus in base set is the aforementioned 23/23/18/11 PIE/Det/Crit/Speed. Novus in compared set puts 12 PIE somewhere else (23/11/22/19) and instead uses another Diamond acc (neck). It seems better to do the max PIE on Novus since you're trading 5 INT for 11 det by going with another Diamond.

This all goes out the window probably in 2.4 though. Gonna do it anyways!

edit: I ran some quick parses using healer gear that puts me at the desired PIE, and did the "regular" rotation (rightclicking off TC and FS procs), and the 6fire rotation. Both with no cooldowns, just F3 > F1 spam > B3 > B1 > T2 > repeat.

Short story is that it's a flawed concept and actually didn't seem to be a DPS gain over 3 minutes (275ish vs 260ish). A problem I ran into is that the PIE involved also relies on UI tick coming in at a certain time. After the B3 you only have enough MP for a B1, so it's either that or wait. For 6fire to work, I had to get the UI tick after T2 ate its MP. Otherwise I would not have enough after T2 and F3 to do 6 fires, making this basically "6 fire every other rotation occasionally".

Oh well.

[Neon_Sea]

If you have and add plus boss situation and you are mid fire phase, do you just get to <800 mp then hardcast flare, transpose thun2 Fire III?

[Cichy]

ok so I read lots of different opinions on this, what's the best build you guys suggest for novus if you got money. I've been told CRiT/SS but some other people say Crit/DET

[haroldsaxon]

ok so I read lots of different opinions on this, what's the best build you guys suggest for novus if you got money. I've been told CRiT/SS but some other people say Crit/DET

The difference isn't going to be huge either way, but if you don't care about gil and you want the best DPS, go 44 Spellspeed 31 Det.

[Yukari]

If you want the best DPS but don't have tons of money, is it okay to go with up to T3s for Det/SpellSpeed and put remainder in Crit or Acc?

[Seravi Edalborez]

Capping on Det3 (7/8/8/0 iirc) and putting the remainder in Speed/Crit is one of the cheaper ways of doing it and it works fine for BLM.

[haroldsaxon]

Capping on Det3 (7/8/8/0 iirc) and putting the remainder in Speed/Crit is one of the cheaper ways of doing it and it works fine for BLM.

Yeah. That said, i'd probably still go for 44 spellspeed given how cheap the materia is compared to the rest.

[Olo401]

44 Spell Speed is a given - and if the prices I'm seeing for Quicktongue materia (tier 3 8k, tier 4 30-50k) are similar to other servers it might not even be that expensive.

After that people seem to be following their own plan regardless of what theorycrafters believe is the optimal DPS build. I've seen people doing 31 Crit, 31 Det, 16Crit/Det + 15 Acc, 23 Crit/Det + 8 Piety (I'm on the det/pie plan myself)..

[Yukari]

Capping on Det3 (7/8/8/0 iirc) and putting the remainder in Speed/Crit is one of the cheaper ways of doing it and it works fine for BLM.

I just find it kinda weird that I'm finally considering spell speed to not be crap for BLM. Used to be on the Crit train, personally.

[OWS_Tonx]

Today I'll finally have all the alex to complete my novus, pretty excite feels happening. I'm going to be putting 4 pie on it so I'm 251 with sch in PT on any race since I still have a couple fantasias and havn't decided if I'm going to switch again or not. Rest is being thrown to spell speed and det

[Taim Meich]

Regarding putting enough piety for 251 with SCH... The moment they raise the level cap, the MP cost of all spells will change and probably the necessary piety number for a 5 Fire rotation will change. I know it's a pretty long term situation, but so are Relic weapons, a long term investment. Is it really wise to put piety on them knowing this?

[haroldsaxon]

Regarding putting enough piety for 251 with SCH... The moment they raise the level cap, the MP cost of all spells will change and probably the necessary piety number for a 5 Fire rotation will change. I know it's a pretty long term situation, but so are Relic weapons, a long term investment. Is it really wise to put piety on them knowing this?

The Expansion isn't going to hit for a long time, and by that time, you will most likely be able to re-allocate Novus stats