BLM Question involving Thundercloud usage.

When I'm fighting, I've been using Thundercloud past 15 seconds left but I was wondering if it was better to use Thundercloud as soon as it appears (but still past 15 seconds) or keep thundercloud until the last second to use it.

Which one ends up being the DPS increase? Wait the 9 seconds to use it to allow more ticks? Or using it right away still after 15 seconds for the big bursts?

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Originally Posted by soulofrebirth

When I'm fighting, I've been using Thundercloud past 15 seconds left but I was wondering if it was better to use Thundercloud as soon as it appears (but still past 15 seconds) or keep thundercloud until the last second to use it.

Which one ends up being the DPS increase? Wait the 9 seconds to use it to allow more ticks? Or using it right away still after 15 seconds for the big bursts?

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Hold it until you are able to use it without it losing a Fire 4. If possible, hold onto it until your Umbral Ice phase.

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Originally Posted by HaroldSaxon

Hold it until you are able to use it without it losing a Fire 4. If possible, hold onto it until your Umbral Ice phase.

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I mean, it goes without saying to both. What I mean is say you get a thundercloud proc while casting Blizzard 3, got 13 seconds left on Thunder, should I use it right away (Thunder 3 > Foul > Blizzard 4 > Fire 3) or use it later (Foul > Blizzard 4 > Thunder 3 > Fire 3)?

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Originally Posted by soulofrebirth

I mean, it goes without saying to both. What I mean is say you get a thundercloud proc while casting Blizzard 3, got 13 seconds left on Thunder, should I use it right away (Thunder 3 > Foul > Blizzard 4 > Fire 3) or use it later (Foul > Blizzard 4 > Thunder 3 > Fire 3)?

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Use Foul first, and save Thunder 3 for the end of your Umbral Ice Phase. If you are comfortable with the mechanic, you can skip Blizzard 4 in this instance, but its not something I would recommend to people learning BLM.

So it IS a DPS increase to let it run its cooldown if applicable. I was doing that already but I needed to confirm it as I felt I wasn't pushing my numbers enough.

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Originally Posted by soulofrebirth

So it IS a DPS increase to let it run its cooldown if applicable. I was doing that already but I needed to confirm it as I felt I wasn't pushing my numbers enough.

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It is a DPS increase to hold it, but it can be a loss if you get a proc overwritten AND you finish the current phase of the fight during your Umbral Ice phase - because using a Thundercloud in AF means your rotation gets delayed by one GCD - so if you could have skipped it and got an extra Fire 4, its a loss - but it also depends on if using it earlier would lead to you losing Thunder uptime.

Its really not clear at all and is part of its problem.

Yeah, Like when I'm fighting Exdeath in O4S, my rotation allows me to use a Thundercloud proc twice and still finish with Foul before he disappears with Decisive Battle, I'm trying to optimise their usage.

Then in this case you've to compare thundercloud to the spell you won't cast, considering minimal thunder ticks since they may become invulnerable, thanks to the boss' jump. You can apply this line of thinking to any other boss that forces a downtime too. Most of the cases the Thunder will come out as better. You can also save to use it to get that instant before boss pull that is usually Scathe when we have no instant procs avaiable making it a major gain.