Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

I also have enochian randomly drop a lot. And since I don't have my timers on my debuff bar any more I can't ponpoint when it happens...

Seen a lot of great tips but I want to add the below as it took me nearly a week to figure out new mechanics.

T3-F3-Enoch-F4x2-F3-B3-B4x2

Keeping enochian alive for 30 seconds gets you poly, haven't got that far because mobs die by first B4 of the above rotation.

Breaking it down

F3-F4x2-F3: F3 grants access to F4, only enough time for two, casting F3 resets the time, can't cast another F4 or enochian drops so cast B3 granting. Access to B4. Same concept as fire phase, cast 2 B4, reset timer with B3 and rinse and repeat F3-F4x2-F3

Timers are different, the concept is to build to that 620 spell which means you need to master Fire/Ice rotation to keep Enoc up 30sec

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Originally Posted by Kryzen

I don't have any issues with 1 second remaining on stacks. I have a wired bit where I'll be casting fire 1 to refresh my stacks and I actually get my refresh about 0.5 seconds before the cast is finished and the attack is launched with damage registered.

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Fire phase: F3 - F4x2 F3 to reset timer into ice phase

Ice Phase: B3 - B4x2 -B3 resetting timer returning to fire phase

Rinse repeat until you can cast 620 spell (obtained at level 70)

Leveling 60-70 however the Fire/Ice phase rotation maximizes constant damage and allows mobility to dodge without dropping Enoch, need to reset timer quickly because cast interrupt, drop a F3/B3 (depending which phase you're in) resets timer to cast B/F4 again

Still working on including other rotations

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Originally Posted by Lazirus

Seen a lot of great tips but I want to add the below as it took me nearly a week to figure out new mechanics.

T3-F3-Enoch-F4x2-F3-B3-B4x2

Keeping enochian alive for 30 seconds gets you poly, haven't got that far because mobs die by first B4 of the above rotation.

Breaking it down

F3-F4x2-F3: F3 grants access to F4, only enough time for two, casting F3 resets the time, can't cast another F4 or enochian drops so cast B3 granting. Access to B4. Same concept as fire phase, cast 2 B4, reset timer with B3 and rinse and repeat F3-F4x2-F3

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Im.trying to make sense of this rotation and its not clicking. Why would you use this over the basic

B3-enoch-t3/4-b4-f3-f4-f4-f1-f4-f4-f4-B3-t3-foul-b4?

Tbh your rotation looks absurd but maybe im missing something? Context?

would be nice if you post your eno drop problems in here: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Reason-to-drop

Are you sure you're not just using Fire 1 while in Umbral after shifting? That will remove your Umbral buff and obviously also Enochian. Sure, the rotation feels slightly tighter due to the stacks falling off at 13 seconds exactly with no chance to "cheat" it like before if you got a late Blizzard/Fire 3 off, but I've personally not had any of these issues you're describing.

Enochian stay as long you can keep your fire/ice stacks. If you cast your blizzard 3 in the last second you may lose your stacks for 0.5 second. You get your cast off, but failed keeping stacks up 100% time. I dont think it is bug.

Its only happened to me twice but i can say it does fall off at weird times and not because of mis use of fire 1 in UI. It literally fell off mid boss fight right after i refreshed with fire 1.

Example etc-enoch-f3-f4-f4-f1-zipp f4 couldnt be used and Enoch still had 20s to go.

The one above stated seems weird rotation wise. I believe Yoshi-p had the right idea during the live letter. T3-B3,eno-chan, B4, F3, F4 x3 for hearts, F1 for refresh, Convert F4x3 again. I have no mana left, so B3, B4 rinse and repeat. Granted, I don't have foul yet, but I am sure I can fit in the end after two cycles of that.

With the recent nerf to Fire2 and the addition of the Umbral Hearts mechanic enabling you to cast back-to-back flares, I've come up with a table for PPS. Please do note that this is my first time number-crunching so if you spot any errors please let me know!

This table assumes that you are not utilizing swift/triple, a spellspeed of 1276, and you have only 3 targets. I also included the old rotation for reference.

http://i.imgur.com/z6pDkm7.png

Will try to compute for anything beyond 3 targets soon. :)

Opener I've been using.

LL-B3-ENO-T3-B4-F3-F4-F4-F4-SHARPCAST-F1-F4-F4-F4-F3PROC-CONVERT-F4-F4-B3-FOUL-T3-B4-F3

You cannot sharpcast fire 1 anymore to get back into astral fire quicker.
Use sharpcasts during rotation on F1 refreshes.

Foul is the solution the waiting for MP ticks. My rotation feels much more fluid.

Some of my early thoughts based on how the class plays (not about comparisons with other classes and damage output yet).

I like Thunder 4. Its very satisfying to use and works well in the new AOE rotation. Same goes for TripleCast, Umbral Hearts for AOE. Foul is also very nice too.

I'd like for there to be some kind of choice to be made on where to use Umbral hearts depending on the situation - could be done by pressing an OGCD while casting?

I've noticed the Enochian dropping off while keeping Astral Fire stacks.

I'm also concerned about how you can leave Umbral Ice at not full mana - it wasn't a huge issue before, but now you can end up messed up for your AF phase. They could fix this by making it so that spells in UI cost 0 mana.

I still don't think it makes sense for F1 to be more mana than F4. You can end up losing two F4's if you get lots of procs/movement by having to use an extra F1 (instead of just losing potency on one).

Convert I feel needs to be made into a 90 second cooldown. Doesn't make sense for it to be our only 3 minute CD.

So are we figuring Triple Cast wont be used for openers, and more the utility?

Preference really.. In a perfect world you want to use it to reduce your bug casts down to the GCD but I think it will be better suited for saving during high mobility fights to keep your DPS up and help with stack management.

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Originally Posted by Sunako

Enochian stay as long you can keep your fire/ice stacks. If you cast your blizzard 3 in the last second you may lose your stacks for 0.5 second. You get your cast off, but failed keeping stacks up 100% time. I dont think it is bug.

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Nope, Astral/Umbral definitely ends too early. I use Transpose as my panic button a lot while learning the new rotation, and it almost always failed when I hit it at 1 second left on the gauge timer.

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Originally Posted by IllyriaKnotfred

So are we figuring Triple Cast wont be used for openers, and more the utility?

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It definitely can be yes to push your rotation into 3 1.90 recasts but after the initial opener its better to save it for vs mechanics or movement + burst required phases.

It has its uses in both spectrums really.

Their intent was to make enochain easier but made it much more annoying instead previously i could between astral/umbral within the last second of the buff and be fine, but now if i do it enochain falls off, sometimes its even just stopped my B3 and F3 mid cast.

How important is thunder 3 now? I can't find a good place to fit in procs because of our new (F4x3)^2 rotation and casting foul, thunder 3, and blizzard 4 feels like I'm spending too much time in UI

I'm absolutely in love with Foul. I'm so pleased that you can hold it for as long as you want and just use whenever. I think it will be helpful in raids for when adds pop, just save Foul when you get it shortly before you need strong AoE and boom.

(First-time poster, longtime Black Mage!)

I feel like I should point out that it's actually not a bad thing to use an Umbral Heart on a Fire instead of a Fire IV. Umbral Hearts don't affect damage or cast time, they just nullify the MP multiplier imposed by Astral Fire; since Fire costs more MP than Fire IV, spending a heart on Fire actually saves you more MP! Most of the time this won't really matter, but at certain tiers, it can mean the difference between continuing to cast and having to wait for a tick. (This seemed to be the case with the eight-F4 opener for me at 60; I split them 2-3-3 instead of 3-3-2 to get the Fire into a Heart slot.) If we accept that it's okay to use an Umbral Heart on Fire as well as Fire IV, we can solve a lot of the problems people are having in this thread with timing and proc placement.

For example: if Sharpcast is up (which it should be every other round), we can use F4x2 > Sharp F1 > F4x2 > Proc F3 > F4x2 instead of sticking the proc in haphazardly. Dividing the Fire IVs into three blocks (2-2-2) instead of two (3-3) gives us a lot more room for movement and Enochian renewal, as well as providing room to slip in a Thundercloud (or a Foul, if you're holding it) after any two Fire IVs without risking our timer. If we don't have Sharpcast up, it's still mathematically advantageous to use a second Fire to make a 2-2-2 grouping if we have a Thundercloud (or Foul) in our pocket. The 3-3 grouping is still our best go-to without any procs or Foul, but if there's a lot of movement going on, it might be worth using a 2-2-2 grouping instead (it's a slight damage loss, but not nearly as bad as dropping Enochian).

TL;DR: it doesn't matter what you use your Umbral Hearts on in single target, so space out your Fire IVs if you've got procs to use!

My cheat sheet (feedback is welcome if I made errors somewhere!):

Code:

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Opener:
B3 > Eno+T3 > LL+B4 > F3 > (Diversion+)F4 > F4 > (TC) > Sharp+F1 > F4 > F4 > F4 > Proc F3 > Convert+F4 > F4 > F4 > back to UI (with Foul)

(Note 1: I use Ley Lines between Thunder III and Blizzard IV because that's the earliest point it can be used that will encompass all eight Fire IVs.)
(Note 2: If you happen to get a Thundercloud proc by the second Fire IV, use it! The initial cast will have ticked three times by then, which makes the clipping worth it.)

If Sharpcast is up:
F3 > F4 > F4 > (TC/Foul) > Sharp+F1 > F4 > F4 > (TC/Foul) > Proc F3 > F4 > F4 > (TC/Foul) > back to UI

If Thundercloud procs before the second Fire IV, or if holding Foul:
F3 > F4 > F4 > (TC/Foul) > Sharp+F1 > F4 > F4 > (TC/Foul) > F1 > F4 > F4 > (TC/Foul) > back to UI

(Note 3: if Thundercloud procs after the second Fire IV, you're better off holding it until its usual spot in Umbral Ice, unless it would fall off just before.)

If Firestarter procs without Sharpcast:
F3 > F4 > F4 > F4 > F1 > F4 > F4 > Proc F3 > F4 > (TC) > back to UI

Otherwise:
F3 > F4 > F4 > F4 > F1 > F4 > F4 > F4 > back to UI

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Someone posted this on reddit :

http://i.imgur.com/KNbF5ER.png

10 fire 4 in the opener seems nice :D

Lucid dreaming doesn't restore MP inside of Astral Fire though. At least so I have heard.

according to the poster, LD is not used for MP (so we could skip it xD)

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Originally Posted by Gael

according to the poster, LD is not used for MP (so we could skip it xD)

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I don't think he is using it for the mp. LD cuts enmity by half. If he is able to get that many f4's off in an opener, he probably needs it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gael

according to the poster, LD is not used for MP (so we could skip it xD)

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We can't. If you look at how MP values change, Fire IV under Umbral Heart costs 1200 MP and decrease is obviously lesser than that, that means he had ways of restoring MP.

The LD there definitely isn't the cause that guy gets 10 F4 out. Under AF our natural mp regeneration is zero, so LD, which increases natural mp reg, shouldn't affect it, it's purely an aggro management for Blm. Maybe that spreadsheet was done before actual release and is just theory or that guy melded Pie? You simply don't have enough mp to fit 10 F4 in the opener atm, I can do 8.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lelila38

The LD there definitely isn't the cause that guy gets 10 F4 out. Under AF our natural mp regeneration is zero, so LD, which increases natural mp reg, shouldn't affect it, it's purely an aggro management for Blm. Maybe that spreadsheet was done before actual release and is just theory or that guy melded Pie? You simply don't have enough mp to fit 10 F4 in the opener atm, I can do 8.

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If you zoom in on the chart, there's a couple of columns off to the right that are labeled MP Gain and Lucid MP with values inside them, so I think you're right. This must have been made under the incorrect assumption that Lucid Dreaming would work during Astral Fire, without actually trying it out. (And Piety melding wouldn't work either, incidentally; you can still do it, but it won't add to MP anymore unless you're a healer.) More's the pity, ten Fire IVs would be incredible.

LD does not give mp during AF. LD is effectively useless on blm minus very niche pre 70 situations.

Do we know the best stats to be going for? Is SS still king?

SS is definitely a must even at 1252 ss my cast times are 2.84 for f4 and b4 which is slightly slower than before despite higher ss, it appears to be a toss up between crit or Dir or a healthy amount of both.

Looking at our gear if we get a full set of 310 gear we'll be sitting at 1296 ss + 76 off the ex ring. Not counting the + 40ss materias but id advise pumping those in AFTER upgrading your gear if you intend to do so.

I agree, SS is still definitely required. I am sitting on 1679 spellspeed (it will go down to around 1450+ on full 310/320) and my fire4 has a 2.76cast/2.30gcd. I believe they scaled down the benefits of SS to prevent it from being too OP given the ridiculous amount of SS we can stack in 4.0. As far as rotations go, I was able to fit everything optimally upon reaching the 1450+ SS mark.

edit:
Current opener:
Pre-pull B3 > Enoch > T3 > LL > B4 > F3 > Tricast > F4 > Pot > F4 > F4 > Sharpcast > F1 > F4 3x > F3P > Convert > F4 2x > B3 to Umbral Phase

Umbral Phase:
From B3 > T3/T3P & Foul(mana tick will dictate which you will cast first) > B4 > F3 to Astral Phase

Astral Phase:
From B4 > F3 > Tri-cast(if on CD) > F4 3x > F1 > *T3P > F4 3x > B3 back to Umbral Phase

The 30sec timer on Foul makes it line up perfectly for you to cast it during the Umbral Phase. Post-opener Tri-cast is used prior to a F4 3x.
Out of 10 sample runs at SSS I have not once dropped enochian nor have I experienced an "oh shit" moment where I had to retain UI/AF with swiftcast.
SS is 1679 but I feel that this is doable with 1450 but I will confirm once I get BiS.

Ill have my full set by monday so ill fill it with t6 ss materia and hopefully it ebbs out the slow down and gets us back to 3.56 level of ease.

I feel weak now (i'm lvl69 though....) but i have the impression i am not a DPS machine anymore. I miss my 18k+ crit. Do you feel the same as well. I just feel weaker despite those numerous Giga but they dont hit hard...

Foul fixes pretty much everything Rakith, it's like starting lvl. 60 BLM all over again. My Foul has managed to crit direct hit for 28.7k as the highest so far, without Balance or Trick Attack, so it's safe to say you will still see high numbers. Oh, and it's AoE.

Absolutely having a blast with BLM at 70. AoE rotation is just heaps of fun, and such great damage. Single target is amazing and fun as well, as Almerin mentioned- Foul fits beautifully into our rotation/kit. You will see.

Dont worry ol.boy youll get your boom back at 70. And dear lord does it boom.

Love you Guys :')

So what's everyone's thoughts on an AoE rotation at this point?
I've personally been trying a couple of alternatives, but I'm not sure which one holds up the most.

The first one focuses mostly on sustainability, making it easier to transition into UI:

Code:

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B3 > enochian > B4 > T4 > F3 > F2 > F2 > Flare > F4 > B3 > B4 > T4 > Foul (insert Thundercloud procs wherever)

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The second one is the same, but with an additional Flare at the end instead of F4 then transposing into UI:

Code:

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B3 > enochian > B4 > T4 > F3 > F2 > F2 > Flare > Flare > transpose > B4 > T4 > Foul

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The last one is mostly for fun, because EXPLOSIONS!

Code:

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B3 > enochian > B4 > T4 > F3 > F2 > F2 > Triple Cast > Flare > Flare > Convert > Flare > Transpose > B4 > T4 > Foul

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I've found this AOE rotation to output the most amount of PPS on 3 targets:

B3 > T4 > B4 > F3 > Flare > Foul > Flare > Transpose

Consuming the first two umbral hearts with F4/F2 on 3 targets actually yields less PPS. Go straight to Flares ftw.

After transposing, just hit B4 > F3 > Flare > Foul > Flare > repeat