SMN Bane Question

So I just got SMN to 70 on the alt I use to play with my husband, and I've been using Bane in the Expert roulette for big pulls. Then I w as criticized for it, and told that the massive falloff on it makes it a useless skill I shouldn't even have on my bar. I was told that I should be manually cycling through each enemy in a pull and applying the dots that way, even if it's 15 enemies.

Please, help a confused SMN out! I'm not a hard core raider, I'll do extreme trials and such but generally don't go into Savage content. But I would like to make the most of my damage output. So if someone could explain to me what I should be doing for big mob pulls I'd greatly appreciate it! :)

Personally you should only cycle through individual enemies if there are a small number like 2 or 3 of them, but anything more should be Baned. Yes each additional target will get the reduced Bane effect but having DOTs on as many enemies as possible it's better than nothing. You can always refresh the DOT effects later in your rotations along with your other AOEs, but going through it separately is an MP drain (if Tri-Disaster is unavailable) and will take longer to build DWT or have less to work with during Bahamut.

Thank you so much for taking the time to clear that up for me, I really appreciate it :)

In expert dungeon, the enemies don't last very long usually so bane does not have enough time to tick it's full damage. In most cases you do more damage by just using another painflare instead. Hard casting dots on another target is just what you do while you wait for painflare to come off cooldown.

I believe for 5ish enemies you still technically should cycle dots instead of bane but I usually bane anyway bc to me it feels faster. The issue with Bane is that you're wasting a stack on a spreader dot instead of a painflare which is a lot stronger when there are more enemies since it has no fall off and doesn't take 30 seconds for the full damage. But yeah at 4ish or more just bane but any less cycle dots.

(Shadowflare >) painflare > hardcast dots on target 1 (while on cd) > painflare > hardcast dots target 2 (while on cd) > painflare ( > (con if Garuda is used) dwt > rouse > enkindle > ruin3 spam > egi-aoe > deathflare)) - could be a common trashmob rota for ini runs imo :)

i had bane on my 2nd cross for a bit but removed it after I noticed that i really use it rarely since SB : /

I think it has a lot to do with the group dynamics. If mobs are going down quickly or are limited to a few NPCs I stick to Painflare only. If they are larger groups taking enough time to get the full effect I will use Bane/Painflare.

3 or less mobs: Tri-D> painflare> Bio 3 > Miasma 3> painflare> bio 3> miasma 3> painflare> DWT> Ruin spam (will be tri-bind spam in 4.1) > Deathflare....things should be dead
if you can start a pull with DWT, try to hit one target with Tri-D then DWT then another target with Tri-D
4+: Tri-D> bane> painflare> ruin 3/pet the target the got baned last> painflare> DWT> ruin spam (again tri-bind spam)> deathflare

With the buffed tri-bind in 4.1 The value of Bane vs Multidotting may need to be re-analysed. Is it still worth hard casting dots if it delays DWT Tribind spam?

4 is the magic number in any AoE situation. If the count is 4+ then using your AoE skills is recommended. 3 or less its better to cycle through enemies.

There is however one exception to this rule, Bard. Bard should always cycle through the enemies and apply their DoTs while using their songs and filler skills. Instead the enemy count is use to determine the songs to be played first. Less enemies Wanderer's Minuet, more enemies Mages Ballad. And use Army's Paean, as needed/filler.