BLM - AoE Rotations 2.1

I'm not here to complain about nerfs. All the nerfs for BLM I saw coming (except Blizz II, but I only use that for FATE's and the nerf was probably for FATE's since every magic class will have it for tagging while every else has Flash) so I'm not surprised.

What I want to discuss, however, is the whole Umbral Fire/Ice changes. I know a lot of BLM used the Blizz III -> Wait for tic -> Flare -> Flare since you'd have another tic of mana just before Umbral Fire was activated. I personally used the Blizz III -> Fire III -> Flare due to the sped up Flare. There was a bunch of others which included Swiftcast, Convert, Transpose...

With the changes making it so you won't be able to cast 2 fire spells under Umbral Ice, do you think Flare rotations will be useless? Obviously testing will have to be done, I just want to discuss theory.

I, for one, expect Fire II to be a lot more useful, now. My particular Flare rotation will take too long to keep up with Fire II rotation, I'm guessing.

Honestly, when it comes to AoE we shine in two areas, sustained AoE & burst AoE.

For Sustained AoE (4+ targets): Fire III > Fire II until low mana > Bliz III > Freeze > Fire III > Fire II. <---- Best example is T4

For Burst: Fire III > Fire II until 250+ mana > Raging Strike > Mega Int potion > Flare (hard cast) > Convert > Swiftcast > Flare > Transpose. <---- Best example is T4 4 bugs and 2 rooks, or T5 Snake phase to blow up the last two snakes.

You could double flare with the second flare having the speed buff as well. Timing was the key.

Just guessing here for new aoe rotation

Fire III- Fire II spam- Flare (Or BIII and repeat at Fire III?)- Transpose (Ignoring convert here)- Freeze ?- Freeze? - repeat.
Optional start with Blizzard III.

We really need to have more informations on how Umbral and maybe even Astral was changed. We'll find out soon though :)

I should have probably stated that I prefer sustained AoE over burst. I always feel like I did less damage on burst because it takes a little longer to come back from it, even though it's probably pretty even.

Any example of burst being useful outside of coil? Haven't started that yet and don't plan to until I have some ilvl90 equipment. Worry too much about ruining the run for everyone else since it's not possible to just re-run whenever you want.

But yeah, for sustained AoE mine will probably be Fire III -> Fire II spam -> Blizz III -> Freeze and repeat. I find it isn't very useful to slot Flare into random rotations due to the buggy-ness of AF and UI. I'd often cast Transpose just after Flare just to have Transpose put me into UI before Flare gets the chance to put me into AF, resulting in me being stuck in AF. Not to mention Flare's cast time being messed up if you didn't do it perfectly... I'd love to be proven wrong about burst AoE, though.

I dont expect Freeze to be useful, if it could be used to switch modes then it would be fine but as it stands right now it only REMOVES Astral Fire 3 or Grants Umbral Ice 3.

Freeze will most probably replace Blizzard II in the aoe rotations now due to potency changes.

Keep in mind freeze costs over 500 mana, so using it right after a transpose might get .. tricky. I'm not even sure any longer how much mana i get back from a single UI, as it never mattered with blizzard2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Horobi

Keep in mind freeze costs over 500 mana, so using it right after a transpose might get .. tricky. I'm not even sure any longer how much mana i get back from a single UI, as it never mattered with blizzard2.

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What is the cast time of Blizzard 2 ? 2 sec or 2,5 ?

I'm asking this 'cause if I'm not mistaken... freeze requires a 3 sec cast.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Horobi

Keep in mind freeze costs over 500 mana, so using it right after a transpose might get .. tricky. I'm not even sure any longer how much mana i get back from a single UI, as it never mattered with blizzard2.

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A single UI tick from a single UI stack is more than enough to cast freeze. I tested it myself before maintenance. So essentially the mana issue is moot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shamirah

What is the cast time of Blizzard 2 ? 2 sec or 2,5 ?

I'm asking this 'cause if I'm not mistaken... freeze requires a 3 sec cast.

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Blizzard II's cast time is 2 seconds but it has a cooldown of 2.5s and locks you into the 2.5s gcd anyway.
Essentially the difference in the two is 0.5s. However, this means that Freeze has a higher chance of being interrupted.
This is balanced by the fact that it is ranged and has a bind attached to it.

Freeze also needs to be targeted. This only adds a relevant amount of time if you are -
A) A clicker (stop that)
B) A PS3 (sorry guys/girls)

I think we're just going to have to use fire II for the most effective DPS rate. Parsing myself before it seemed best to cast fire III -> fire IIs until mp is just high enough for a flare, (double flare if necessary), transpose and immediately spam blizzard II nonstop.

If blizzard II is now half the potency of a fire II, I just don't think it will parse as effectively as before.