Dots worth it on trash mobs?

just wondering if dots are worth it on trash mobs on arcanist?, ie open world, dungeons etc or just use them on bosses? it seems like most players ive seen in open world just spam ruin,ruin seems to hit harder and quicker especially on multi targets but i could be wrong

If the damage will tick for most of the duration, go for it. If you only get a few ticks out of it, skip it.

Please absolutely do use DoTs on trash packs in dungeons. It is a significant portion of your dps, and a big part of the reason Summoners have high AoE dps compared to other jobs. DoT one of the targets and then Bane it to the others. The only time you shouldn't use DoTs on trash packs in a dungeon is if the mobs are about to die in the next few seconds in which case Outburst spam will probably result in more damage. On bosses you will need to have both of your DoTs on your target in order for Fester to do its full damage, so always have your DoTs up then too unless you're in the last handful of seconds of the fight.

If you're soloing and will kill your target within seconds (e.g. you've just entered your demi-bahamut or phoenix phase) I wouldn't bother, although once you start getting your higher level Summoner abilities applying an instant cast DoT to get a quick boosted Fester off will often be faster than casting Ruin so applying the DoTs even if the mob is low hp can actually speed up kills. Plus you're soloing so nobody cares what you do. Have fun and use whatever you want to.

I back Mhaeric's advice 100%. Ill further add that any other class you end up playing - if you have DoTs you usually want them going on the enemy. As much as possible with bosses, and on a reasonable amount of enemies during trash pulls if you can afford the casts. Several classes have abilities that trigger/scale based on DoTs running, and although the damage seems small a DoT running its full course does take a decent piece off an enemies health bar.

thank you for the info all very helpful

As a general rule, if the enemy will die in 2 or so GCDs, you can skip the dot, but if they will live longer than that, use your dots.

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Originally Posted by DizzyDee

just wondering if dots are worth it on trash mobs on arcanist?, ie open world, dungeons etc or just use them on bosses? it seems like most players ive seen in open world just spam ruin,ruin seems to hit harder and quicker especially on multi targets but i could be wrong

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Open world it depends on what level the mobs are. Low level you can pretty much get by with just Ruin if you're high level. High level ones especially in the open world or dungeons using your DoT's is needed, it helps a lot.
If things are at your level, I would suggest using your DoT's always. It's free and it helps kill it.

It depends on how many enemies there are and how long they're going to live.

At 30 potency every 3 seconds, it takes 18 seconds for Bio 2 to match Ruin's 180 potency. If the enemy is going to in 10 seconds it's not worth it. On the other hand, the value of DoTs increases tremendously in multi-target scenarios (especially at level 30+ once Bane comes into play) because they keep doing damage even when you're attacking something else, making it more likely they'll get the full duration.