Ideas to Improve The Black Mage (for 4.2 and beyond!)

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Originally Posted by EllieShadeflare

You. Missed Astral Fire in your calculations, Kabooa. Not to mention, you're assuming a run that's not going to mess up your rotation.

Essentially, in that 30s, you lost a good chunk of potency and only gain Foul to make up a mere 650 per 30s. Wooo. Improooooovement.

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Whups. I was thinking Ahk Morne. 650 is therefore exactly 20 pps

Applying astral fire is 468 vs 504, which is 514.8 vs 529.2 with Enochian applied. A loss of 5.14pps (Note this is applying 2.8 speed to both spells, instead of 2.8 to one and 3.0 to the other as we should)

Netgain: 14.86 PPS.

PS: This doesn't include the fact that Thunder gains more potency through improved Enochian than Raging Strikes. Or Ice spells that also do, but we don't really worry about those. I don't remember how to do probability math offhand though so I can't make accurate assessments, but it's +2 PPS just for the Thunder DoT ( 40 x 1.1 instead of 40 x 1.05)

Woohoo, it's one of the smallest netgains. No wonder it's so dissatisfying.

But fair enough, I can modify my first post.

im just asking to see what ballpark youre on so maybe we can help you optimize certain portion of o3s fight etc.
the only grip i have for o3s is that i usually is the one to lb3, which is a huge dps lost for me. and i cant say no to not lb3 since all my o3s are pf pug (dont want to get kick, plus its a weekly clear so im not too hard on for high dps parse to warrant a discomfort group).

Shameless plug by the way, if everyone could please go up my Freeze suggestion post with a like, it'd be awesome. Freeze has needed an overhaul literally since relaunch, and I think we as a community are really on to something with it. And to top it off, there is a precedent for it, since they adjusted SMN's Tri-Bind recently. Linkie: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Lv.-35-Freeze




So what you're saying is "true" about BLM being passively stronger, but it's not meaningful, because we have an even lower ability to utilize burst windows. This is the point of what I'm trying to say. If using the Enochian buff while you're already under Enochian gave a free Polyglot, then BLM could double Foul (potentially triple Foul) every Trick Attack window, and that would be pretty sweet, but due to the hardcast nature of blowing through Fire IVs (which are a weaker total potency than they used to be, no matter which way you slice it), it's less valuable.

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If you do Savage, then you should be familiar with the two times that Alte Roite choose a random "safe" position when utilizing Classical Elements, correct? The first, Roulette, which has A, B, C or D as a safe spot and having to scramble to your position because Levinbolt and then the second that's also lined with a Clamp. Both will cause a Black Mage problems, but OS1 isn't that hard for BLM but those two mechanics will cause strife.

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Ley Lines is up there if used on cooldown (also, he only does the "safe spot" one once in the fight and is the second classical elements cast, not twice). Use Between the Lines on Downburst at your position, it will cancel the knockback animation, and you can completely turret the rest of the time. Since the flames are only on the outer ring, you will dodge them regardless. For breath wing > clamp, you can use swiftcast to get to Alte's side, and Aetherial Manipulation to somebody right next to you to cancel the knockback. For the first classical elements, you can Swiftcast an F4/F1 as you're getting knocked back, slide to the middle, hardcast a F4, and slidecast as the ice subsides towards your position for minimal uptime loss. The third classical elements (diagonals) has Triplecast up if the previous one was delayed to be used with a full opener (with pot and convert) during inside blows up first flames. The fourth classical elements has a bunch of stuff up, but if needed you can treat it identical to either the first or second, I don't know, most of the time I clear way before that, even in pugs. Full BLM uptime on O1S isn't just doable, it's safe and easy with proper cooldown usage.

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V2's issues aren't AS many, and I have stated that it's the most BLM friendly, but it has its moments, particularly for avoiding the Main Quakes.

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BLM has swiftcast for each of these. BLM can also have between the lines ready for each time you have to head back to the middle after the quake. Not an issue at all.

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Deal with positioning for Sword Dance, which WILL happen because the tank's position isn't set in stone.
Mindjack and the thorns WILL force you into moving no matter what.
The first Queen's Waltz is followed immediately by Ribbit, forcing movement or forcing you to stay still
Place Dark Token, which comes with a bonus Queen's Waltz
Magic Hammer + Books
Books + Library Spellblade Holy, which will either mark you with a stack, a red target or nothing, with your positioning depending on what you got, and this is NOT role based
MORE mindjacks, now with bonus Dark Tokens!
MORE Sword Dances! MORE Stack/Swaps!
Whatever would come past Iron Giant + Ninjas

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Spellblade Holy > Sword Dance - Do the "plus" strat where the switch to stack is behind the boss, the stack marker is in front, and the other two markers are on the sides, the boss will never move. This also benefits melee uptime, and you can save Swiftcast for Spellblade Blizzard/Fire, as well as having an instant for weaving addle on the first Dimensional Wave. If you get swapped out of your spot during Spellblade Holy, you can use between the lines, if the boss is moving, your group is placing their tethers wrong, and you'll probably need to Swiftcast there instead of the Fire/Blizzard. Mindjack + Thorns is Triplecast, so is thorns themselves a minute before that if you hold onto your second Triplecast for a fire cycle. It makes it line up for the rest of the fight really well imo. Some people just use Swiftcast for those though. First ribbit? Slidecast/Swiftcast. Dark Token? Aetherial Manipulation (not Triplecast, so you have that up for hammers). Getting to books? Swiftcast. Hammers? Triplecast. Library Spellblade Holy? Swiftcast. Dark Token Tethers? Swiftcast. This isn't the only way to handle mobility on this fight either, you have a LOT of tools.

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This is not a fight that Black Mage was designed to fight in, not in its current state. It's difficult to stay in place long enough to utilize the rotation and opener, and it's an utter mess.

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I don't believe it, and I cleared this the second day savage was released, progging/clearing on BLM, and it was not a big deal at all. You need more than two mechanics that require macro movement (minor usually meaning slidecasting or prepositioning) every minute (3 if you hold Sharpcast) to even make BLM lose uptime from movement. O3S actually has things spaced out a lot more than you think, Triplecast and Swiftcast basically handle everything, even with Triplecast being almost used off cooldown. I think the closest I've come so far is Nael in Ultimate, and even that you have enough resources to pull you through it just fine.

Also, the opener on O3S is easy. You can do a preload F3 opener, a 3.x fire opener, or a normal 4.x opener, all of them work, even with Spellblade Holy's stun. Use your Triplecast to get to your sword dance position and put your ley lines there, standard stuff.

BLM does not need mobility buffs, BLM's mobility is the best it ever has been. Stop for a second, and analyze. I dealt with 3.0 BLM in Living Liquid Savage with 3 second F4, 10s Astral Fire, no Triplecast, and 600 spell speed (the equivalent of like 1400 right now?), and managed almost full uptime. I'm sure you can deal with the current BLM with Deltascape Savage of all things.

BLM needs damage, straight out. A 100% full uptime, turret, striking dummy BLM does not do enough raid DPS. That's completely ridiculous, with how the job is designed, it undermines the entire design of the job.

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Thunder III > Blizzard III > Enochian, Leylines > Blizzard IV > Fire III > Triplecast + Swiftcast > Sharpcast > Fire IV x 3/4, Fire, Fire IV x2, Convert+Fire III, Fire IV x2, Blizzard III. Where things may go wrong would be the misplacement of the safe square, or when the opener is eventually repeated upon the cooldown of Convert, such as, inconveniently, before -100 Gs or Long Drop.

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Your opener is a bit... odd, and has extra clipping than necessary.

The standard 4.x (sharpcast used on fire) opener is B3 > Eno > T3 > B4 > F3 > Triple > F4 > Pot > F4 > Ley > F4 > Sharp > F1 > F4x3 > F3P > Convert > F4x2 > B3 > Foul > T3 > B4 > F3. You move into a proper spot on your Triplecast, save Swiftcast for other mechanics. You could use Swiftcast on the 0.3s boost, but most of the time it's wiser to use it for mobility. I'm also confused on how you can lose Enochian on O2S, and I've done it a lot in the past half a year.

Even Nael that has constant movement based on random pre determined patterns, you will still rarely lose uptime if you handle Swift, Triple and Sharp casts properly. Baseides that, there are moments that Between the Lines and Aetherial Manipulation. Movement is not an issue for any good BLM. All it really does is create a barrier for new players to catch it and even then it's only a big barrier to overcome because so many BLMs out there just "accept" they have bad mobility instead of thinking around their abilities to move or even seeking help and tips for other players. If it weren't Blackcat's ideas and other sharing theirs(discussed early at the raid tier on a discord) my uptime on O1S would not be nearly as good as it is right now.

If you're really really struggling so much on mobility just consider your Triplecast usage and also consider Sharping Fires. The randomness of BLM procs can average to make Sharp Fire being same dps as Sharp Thunder anyways.

Perhaps I might not be as good at BLM as I thought, so it might be worth, well, getting good. That said, I am still learning Deltascape Savage, so there's also that.

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Originally Posted by BlackcatChen

The standard 4.x (sharpcast used on fire) opener is B3 > Eno > T3 > B4 > F3 > Triple > F4 > Pot > F4 > Ley > F4 > Sharp > F1 > F4x3 > F3P > Convert > F4x2 > B3 > Foul > T3 > B4 > F3. You move into a proper spot on your Triplecast, save Swiftcast for other mechanics. You could use Swiftcast on the 0.3s boost, but most of the time it's wiser to use it for mobility. I'm also confused on how you can lose Enochian on O2S, and I've done it a lot in the past half a year.

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I'm using the rotation as others have suggested, which actually looks more like what you posted in practice, thought I start with Thunder III before Blizzard III so I don't have a chance of losing Enochian.

not sure how youll be losing enochian tho. o2s is the most turrety fight that 85% of the fight you will be standing on the middle or near it.

for me i basically do what blackcat posted, do my opener at the starting position and when in triplecast i use it to move to the middle of the map (safe spot). you'll stay there pretty much until you need to move to the safe probe spot.

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Originally Posted by EllieShadeflare

Perhaps I might not be as good at BLM as I thought, so it might be worth, well, getting good. That said, I am still learning Deltascape Savage, so there's also that.



I'm using the rotation as others have suggested, which actually looks more like what you posted in practice, thought I start with Thunder III before Blizzard III so I don't have a chance of losing Enochian.

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If you start with T3, it won't be buffed by enochian's 10% damage. You shouldn't have any chance at losing it anyway.

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Originally Posted by Komaru_Tatoro

not sure how youll be losing enochian tho. o2s is the most turrety fight that 85% of the fight you will be standing on the middle or near it.

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Some people struggle to keep it at -100G which is not only the only time the fight forces you to have a minor downtime but also colides with a moment you can Convert making for a longer Astral Fire window that is slightly harder to keep. That can mostly be solved with a combination of "cast" abilities or a holding on Convert to use mid longdrop. The major thing that lets somee BLM drop stacks mid that mechanic is the forced downtime without the power to enochian at the middle of it since you're being thrown to the arena's roof.