BLM Single Target Rotation and Mob Movement

1) Why do I see that its recommended to start single target DPS With Blizz 3 - Thun 2? I get the thunder but why don't you start with Thun 2 or Fire 3 first? I tried the above and it seemed slower to start ramping up.

2) How do you deal with when you start casting but a mob runs by you and now your not facing the correct way and the game doesn't auto correct you because you faced the mob already when you first started to cast?

1) i honestly don´t know, i usually start with fire3 ... blizz3 only when mana´s low and your buff weared off (like, when caged)

2) usually, i try to be positioned right at the start correctly...

1. There's 2 schools of thought. Some say Bliz 3 to start because it allows you to cast Thunder II while still regenning mana and then Fire III casts faster so you get rolling faster once the cast time is over. The other school of thought is to pre cast Thunder 3 at the start of the fight and then roll into Fire III to get going. The latter is traditionally used when you plan on using Raging Strikes into your flare->convert combo after you fire out as the extra time on the thunder dot allows you to go about the full combo before it runs out while thunder 2 would cause it to run out earlier (assuming no thundercloud procs ofc).
2. Hold right mouse button, turn your character to face the target as it moves so you don't break line of sight.

OK, forget what I said before, now doing a dungeon it gets me...

You start with Blizz3, because if you start with Fire3, you are in the "not getting mana" phase... thus Thu2/3 costs you MP which you lack afterwards, while doing Blizz3 - Thu3 - Fire3 - you start off your Fire Phase with full MP...

1) You should get in the habit of using both imo depending on the fight and whats going on. Like levi ex i'll start with a F3 > T2 > F1 1kmp >sc/flare, because thats all i can fit before levi goes under. Starting with F3 gives a faster burst of damage than B3 does.

But i have a few reasons why i start with B3 over F3. Starting with B3 means less aggy at the start of the fight, a free thunder 2 and a longer fire1 rotation. And im only 1 fire behind the guy starting with F3.

2) someone posted this in another topic which i never knew you could do until about 3 days ago O,o but what you can do is keybind /face target and just press it whenever you think you might get interrupted.

I'm 95% sure you get an extra F1 in your first rotation when starting with B3 instead of going straight T2.

You should actually aim your camera slightly ahead of the moving enemy, as the positioning seems to lag behind a bit compared to where the mob actually is. Doing that when the mob runs through you can be a bit tricky, though.

I usually always do the standard--- T3->F3->F1....(till about 400MP)->B3->T2->F3->F1....rinse repeat. I only do Flare combos when we pull large mobs or in a boss battle who spawns adds this way I can hit the boss and the add. However, in boss battles, after the first F3 I do Raging Strikes. Not to mention you have the T3 and F3 procs in-between. I've never had MP issues and have pumped out some nice DPS doing this on single targets.

As for mob movement, that keybind is an awesome idea!! Will definitely make things easier.....OH! And depending on how quick you want to burst (especially if no Flares are being planned to be used) depending on situation I may swiftcast the first T3 or F3 to get my rotation moving quicker.

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Originally Posted by Gares

1) Why do I see that its recommended to start single target DPS With Blizz 3 - Thun 2? I get the thunder but why don't you start with Thun 2 or Fire 3 first? I tried the above and it seemed slower to start ramping up.

2) How do you deal with when you start casting but a mob runs by you and now your not facing the correct way and the game doesn't auto correct you because you faced the mob already when you first started to cast?

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You start with Blizzard III for three reasons:

1) It makes your subsequent Thunder II and Fire III free as you'll get a tick of mana as you're casting Fire III
2) It allows an extra second or two for the tank to establish threat before starting in on the heavy DPS portion of our rotation
3) The rotation for BLM hinges on maximizing Fire I spam. If every turn through your rotation is going to result in, say, five Fire I's before you have to cast Blizzard III, why would you want to start your rotation differently such that you only are able to fit 4 Fire I in instead? Not only does this not make sense but often times the opening to a fight is a crucial time to maximize DPS before many of the fight's mechanics (especially movement-based mechanics) kick in.

As to dealing with moving mobs, simply rotate your camera with the mob such that you're facing the mob when your cast bar is roughly 80% finished. Personally, I would never rely on the "face to cast" option built into the game. It's bad practice for many, many reasons. You should manage your own direction as needed and not rely on the game to automagically face you in the direction of what you're attacking. If you want a specific example of why using this feature is bad for BLM, consider Turn 7 and the "voice" mechanic wherein once the debuff falls off of you, you shoot a cone in front of you that petrifies anyone caught in it. If you have the face to cast feature turned on, expect to voice the raid quite a bit as you try and fit one more cast in before the debuff falls off.

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Originally Posted by Zencurse

1. There's 2 schools of thought. Some say Bliz 3 to start because it allows you to cast Thunder II while still regenning mana and then Fire III casts faster so you get rolling faster once the cast time is over. The other school of thought is to pre cast Thunder 3 at the start of the fight and then roll into Fire III to get going. The latter is traditionally used when you plan on using Raging Strikes into your flare->convert combo after you fire out as the extra time on the thunder dot allows you to go about the full combo before it runs out while thunder 2 would cause it to run out earlier (assuming no thundercloud procs ofc).
2. Hold right mouse button, turn your character to face the target as it moves so you don't break line of sight.

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I don't meant to be rude, so please don't take it that way, but there aren't really two schools of thought on how to start the rotation. There's the correct way and there's many incorrect ways :(. The correct way to start the rotation is with Blizzard III==>Thunder II==>Fire III as covered in my post above. Again, not trying to be rude!

I guess my problem is because I changed my movement options to Legacy because I tank and it makes it way easier using the mouse to change camera angle doesn't rotate my char on the spot just my camera angle so that option doesn't work too well for me. BLM is like my 5th 50 Job so I'm not super worried about it but I'd like to know that I'm not being retarded either.

Hi! I'm trying to answer your 2nd question. Try to tap /facetarget (I bind this command to my F key) repeatly and hope your spell isn't going to interrupt as the mob passed by you. Alternative way is to lock on target (default key should be numpad 5 I believe) and it'll make your character's face turn as the mob moves, press the same key again to toggle lockon target off.

Thank you. Mine is default the same key and it works wonderful. Exactly what I was looking for