Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

If you only consider straight potency. Aoe rotation requires a lot of waiting for mp ticks if you are unlucky, or if you have just enough SS that you cast Fire III within one server tick. Once there gets to be around 8 or more enemies, thunder would definitely not be worth it, but if you find yourself waiting for MP ticks during aoe a lot, the breakpoint is probably a bit higher than 4-5 mobs.

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Originally Posted by daman4567

If you only consider straight potency. Aoe rotation requires a lot of waiting for mp ticks if you are unlucky, or if you have just enough SS that you cast Fire III within one server tick. Once there gets to be around 8 or more enemies, thunder would definitely not be worth it, but if you find yourself waiting for MP ticks during aoe a lot, the breakpoint is probably a bit higher than 4-5 mobs.

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If your Spell Speed is around 900, you won't be waiting on that MP tick, and a thundercloud means your 15 second cycle becomes 18 seconds. At 5 mobs, that's ~780 potency per 3 seconds. Using a thundercloud takes 3 seconds due to server MP tick, for only 710 potency. And that's assuming that the mob is alive for the full 24 seconds.

Hey guys, I have a few general questions on the BLM "rotation":

- If we have Ley Lines up, is 4 Fire IVs better than 2 Fire IV 1 Fire I 2 Fire IV?
- If Enochian falls off in the middle of AF3 but we have Enochian off CD, should we immediately go into UI3 to get mana for another Enochian or should we use up the rest of our mana with Fire I first?

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Originally Posted by Mantrus

Hey guys, I have a few general questions on the BLM "rotation":

- If we have Ley Lines up, is 4 Fire IVs better than 2 Fire IV 1 Fire I 2 Fire IV?

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I'm pretty sure that "2 Fire IV > Fire I > 2 Fire IV" is what is implied by 4 Fire IVs.

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Originally Posted by ShaolinMike

I'm pretty sure that "2 Fire IV > Fire I > 2 Fire IV" is what is implied by 4 Fire IVs.

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Actually under the first phase of enochian if you wanted to you could run Fire 1 Fire 4x4 and still have just enough time to go right into B3.

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Originally Posted by Mantrus

If we have Ley Lines up, is 4 Fire IVs better than 2 Fire IV 1 Fire I 2 Fire IV?

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Ignoring the firestarter proc it would be a dps gain to skip Fire. Factoring in the firestarter chance you'll do more dps by casting Fire.

So if you have enough time to cast Fire and the possible firestarter proc, cast Fire. If you don't have time to fit both into your rotation, you probably shouldn't have used ley lines.

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Originally Posted by MagiusNecros

Actually under the first phase of enochian if you wanted to you could run Fire 1 Fire 4x4 and still have just enough time to go right into B3.

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At what spell speed? I only have my own perspective, which is an unmelded i220 BLM. My spell speed is atrocious.

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Originally Posted by StouterTaru

If your Spell Speed is around 900, you won't be waiting on that MP tick, and a thundercloud means your 15 second cycle becomes 18 seconds. At 5 mobs, that's ~780 potency per 3 seconds. Using a thundercloud takes 3 seconds due to server MP tick, for only 710 potency. And that's assuming that the mob is alive for the full 24 seconds.

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Flare TC Transpose (swapping TC and Transpose makes the GCD go on for too long in my experience) let's you use TC without any lost AoE time and fit everything inside 15 seconds with 900 SS. The only problem is you can't quarantee it. Clearly we need the ability to store TC procs like Aetherflow and not have them expire until you zone or die.

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Originally Posted by daman4567

If you only consider straight potency. Aoe rotation requires a lot of waiting for mp ticks if you are unlucky, or if you have just enough SS that you cast Fire III within one server tick. Once there gets to be around 8 or more enemies, thunder would definitely not be worth it, but if you find yourself waiting for MP ticks during aoe a lot, the breakpoint is probably a bit higher than 4-5 mobs.

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You need exactly zero SS from gear to hit that. However, what you can't have is enough SS to shorten your AoE rotation from 15 to 12 seconds. If at any point after the first Flare you're waiting for ticks, you're doing something wrong or had to dodge. This has been the case since ARR launch. F3 F2 Flare is slightly shorter than the 12 seconds cooldown of Transpose, but is less PPS than the normal rotation. With 900 SS+, a lot of your waiting time is spent after the first tick to cast F3, so you can get the second one and have mana to do anything. I think around 700-750 SS is when you can't just smash your F3 and have to start paying attention.

Let's look at the average potencies per second. Calcs are done for F3 - F2 - F2 - F2 - Flare into looping F3 - F2 - F2 - Flare rotation. Both instant and three second ticks are presented for the first part. Math inside spoilers.

3 mobs: 160,2-189,3 PPS into 170,6 PPS
4 mobs: 204,7-241,9 PPS into 216,5 PPS
5 mobs: 246,8-291,6 PPS into 259,2 PPS

3 mobs: (240 + 540*3 + 1263,6)/16,5 to 19,5 = 160,2-189,3 PPS into (216 + 540*2 + 1263,6)/15 = 170,6 PPS
4 mobs: (240 + 720*3 + 1591,2)/16,5 to 19,5 = 204,7-241,9 PPS into (216 + 720*2 + 1591,2)/15 = 216,5 PPS
5 mobs: (240 + 900*3 + 1872)/16,5 to 19,5 = 246,8-291,6 PPS into (216 + 900*2 + 1872)/15 = 259,2 PPS

Add Thunder into the mix:

3 mobs: 167,5-190,9 PPS into 181,6 PPS or 189,5 PPS (two procs and 21s) or 218 PPS (15s after Flare)
4 mobs: 202,9-231,2 PPS into 219,8 PPS or 222,2 PPS (two procs and 21s) or 263,8 PPS (15s after Flare)
5 mobs: 236,4-269,4 PPS into 255,4 PPS or 252,8 PPS (two procs and 21s) or 306,5 PPS (15s after Flare)

3 mobs: (240 + 540*3 + 1263,6 + 270 + 710)/21,5 to 24,5 = 167,5-190,9 PPS into (216 + 540*2 + 1263,6 + 710)/18 = 181,6 PPS or 189,5 PPS
4 mobs: (240 + 720*3 + 1591,2 + 270 + 710)/21,5 to 24,5 = 202,9-231,2 PPS into (216 + 720*2 + 1591,2 + 710)/18 = 219,8 PPS or 222,2 PPS
5 mobs: (240 + 900*3 + 1872 + 270 + 710)/21,5 to 24,5 = 236,4-269,4 PPS into (216 + 900*2 + 1872 + 710)/18 = 255,4 PPS or 252,8 PPS

After mathing that out, I don't think Sharp Thunder is worth it at even four mobs. Unless you could quarantee a TC after Flare like I mentioned earlier.

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Originally Posted by ShaolinMike

At what spell speed? I only have my own perspective, which is an unmelded i220 BLM. My spell speed is atrocious.

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I have like 980-990. Will go back up to over 1000 eventually.

Edit: Been thinking of storing FS and TC stacks like Aetherflow myself. And make them oGCD. Will never happen though.

I just want a skill with a moderate cooldown that makes the next single target (because Flare would be hilariously broken) spell cast hit all enemies in a five yalm radius around the target. Seeing 10 F4 over enemies or 10 T3 balls fly out would be pretty sweet.