Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

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Originally Posted by Ayuhra

So my question is, is there ANY sort of pointer or trick for not being that person who "sucks at BLM" when still learning an encounter?

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Playing a BLM is very unforgiving, especially compared to SMN. Once you have your rotations down on dummy, practice them while "slide casting" each spell. There is a point on the cast bar that you can actually move before the spell casts and your movement won't interrupt the spell. You can use this to slide out of AOE's without stopping your rotation.

While learning a fight I just stick to the basic rotations, and save swift cast for Blizzard IV to refresh Enochian. I'm mainly focused on learning the mechanics, best places to stand, and what I can target to keep enochian up. During the 25 second rotation, I may even refresh enochian early, instead of trying to squeeze out one more F4 only to whiff B4. Once I know the fight and know where and when I can stand to do an "opener" I'll add that, and LL etc...
When you lose Enochian go back to the lvl 50 rotation. If you have AF3 just go to the F1,F1... part. Watch Enochian and right before you're able to cast it again, cast B3 (T1 if need for filler) then you'll go back to your Enochian rotation with full MP.

Other tips would be, if you are learning something put it up in Party Finder as a learning party.
Or join a large FC that is open to casual players and has a good reputation. Then find a group of players that are around the same point of the game as you and work through the content together. Usually a quick chat with the FC head will give you a good idea of if they will be a good fit for you or not.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Ayuhra

So my question is, is there ANY sort of pointer or trick for not being that person who "sucks at BLM" when still learning an encounter?

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As others have said, rotation should be second nature. Practice it some and then practice it more. Then turn your UI off and practice it that way. You should be able to do your rotation blindfolded. Once you have that down, you no longer have to think about it, and you fingers will do the work while your mind is paying attention to everything going on around you.

If you need any help, feel free to ask. Also check out my guide. It's currently in work for 3.2.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ck_mage_guide/

Have folks been experimenting with Piety at all? I've been messing around with it and discovered at 314 PIE (and with a spell speed of 964), you can do a 7x Fire 4 rotation:

Blizz 3 -> Sharpcast -> Fire 3 -> Leylines + Enochian -> Fire -> Raging Strikes + Potion -> Fire 4 x 4 -> Fire 3 proc + Convert -> Fire 4x3 (Potion ends after #1, Raging ends after #3) -> Blizz 3

You'd have 1 mp to spare and 6 to 7 seconds on enochian, enough to Blizz 4, regardless of the MP tick. A good one lets you fit in a Thunder. Possibly this is an opener (though you're losing a GCD with the opening Blizzard 3, would 7 Raging Fire 4s make up for it?), almost certainly something that could be done mid-fight if you have the time to use it in. At 310 PIE, you can also do 5 Fire 4s in a 'normal' rotation if you have a good MP tick (2x Fire 4, Fire, 3x Fire 4, Blizz 3).

Testing it out with 927 spell speed seems to be cutting it closer than I'd like - Firestarter hit without the Astral Fire buff.

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Originally Posted by Kaebora

Have folks been experimenting with Piety at all? I've been messing around with it and discovered at 314 PIE (and with a spell speed of 964), you can do a 7x Fire 4 rotation:

Blizz 3 -> Sharpcast -> Fire 3 -> Leylines + Enochian -> Fire -> Raging Strikes + Potion -> Fire 4 x 4 -> Fire 3 proc + Convert -> Fire 4x3 (Potion ends after #1, Raging ends after #3) -> Blizz 3

You'd have 1 mp to spare and 6 to 7 seconds on enochian, enough to Blizz 4, regardless of the MP tick. A good one lets you fit in a Thunder. Possibly this is an opener (though you're losing a GCD with the opening Blizzard 3, would 7 Raging Fire 4s make up for it?), almost certainly something that could be done mid-fight if you have the time to use it in. At 310 PIE, you can also do 5 Fire 4s in a 'normal' rotation if you have a good MP tick (2x Fire 4, Fire, 3x Fire 4, Blizz 3).

Testing it out with 927 spell speed seems to be cutting it closer than I'd like - Firestarter hit without the Astral Fire buff.

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Read starting here and one or two pages after. I think I had another post pre-3.2, but the idea is there. 310 is probably the best, as you can get to 308 as a Dunesfolk purely from melds (if you minmax for sps otherwise), and you don't want to reallocate too many INT points to PIE. You can't do (Sharp) F1 > (Eno) F3 > 2xF4 > F1 > 3xF4 > B3 (from full MP with no UI3) with such low piety though, so if it's not your opener and you need to start from full MP, your 30s rotation will be the same as it is currently. Not really a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, I rarely find myself in a situation where I need to do super serious damage and also let every last buff fall off.

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Originally Posted by Ayuhra

So this is probably a weird question for folks.

I am, very likely, the worst BLM that has ever existed in the history of the game. Maybe. Possibly.

I get cussed out Duty Finder sometimes especially when I am still learning an encounter.

So my question is, is there ANY sort of pointer or trick for not being that person who "sucks at BLM" when still learning an encounter? I watch videos and read up but it is a poor substitute for actually doing the fight. I just can't figure out where to stand or when to use my cooldowns when I'm still new. There is just so much movement. I really hate feeling like a useless anchor on a group.

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Best thing you can do when still learning an encounter is to just focus on making sure you are DPSing. Don't panic. if you need to, do the F4>F1>F4 rotation for extra mobility OR if absolutely necessary, do your 2.0 rotation. ( I would still pop enochian for that extra bit of damage though. NOTE after you get comfortable with the fight, I would highly recommend switching over to the ENO rotation asap though.) Just explain that you are new to the fight and if a player gives you advice, consider it.

I would say, think more about how you can do more damage as you learn the fight and not so much about how everyone else views you. You will learn the mechanics as long as you focus and keep a cool head.

EDIT: One thing I would say I see BLMs do a lot is, when AOEs are under them, they over estimate how far the need to move. You only need to be outside the AOE. You don't need to move another AOE's distance from it. You can also use aetherial manipulation. Just as a side note. XD

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Originally Posted by drmambo1999

EDIT: One thing I would say I see BLMs do a lot is, when AOEs are under them, they over estimate how far the need to move. You only need to be outside the AOE. You don't need to move another AOE's distance from it. You can also use aetherial manipulation. Just as a side note. XD

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Your hitbox is, like, one pixel or whatever unit they're using in size. Half of your character can stand inside the AoE and not get hit.

so after witnessing the marvel that is 1100 spellspeed for this week i decided i never want to go bellow 1k, so i played around with ariyala to decide on a BIS and from what i saw with accuracy caps posted thus far something like this http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/T82G should work wonders(worst case drop a spellspeed meld or 2 for accuracy ones as needed).

edit:decided to try going full tryhard on spellspeed and the most i could reach with around 600 accuracy was http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/T82P

Here's what I have in mind for a BiS if acc cap is 600. You can also replace the HQ Apple Strudel with HQ Baked Pipira Pira and still be above 600 acc.

http://puu.sh/nCr6C/e93019cf6f.png

Anyone knows how short fire and fire IV cast time is with 1000+ ss with and without leylines?

My fire IV is at 2.68 seconds and my fire should be at 2.28. I have around 1050SS (20+/- don't remember the exact number)