Am I doing something wrong as BLM?

I've been "called out" twice now for having low DPS in boss fights. First time was on Ultima HM about a month ago and most recently was last night against Leviathan EX. I really don't know what I could be doing better, is the only problem.

I'm i88 with my normal build. Elder Staff, Evenstar Cloak, Crimson hat, everything else Myth and Allagan. Eating Buttons in a Blanket, normally or Stuffed Cabbage on Levi/T4+5.

For mob packs I have no doubt I'm in the top tier. Flare spam rotations are my bread and butter, so there's no issue there. It seems to be single target DPS, especially burning down the Spumes on Levi, thats causing the problem.

My rotation is: Fire3 > Fire > Fire > Fire > Fire > Fire > Fire (all blowing Firestarter procs as they appear) > Blizzard 3 > Thunder 2 > [Repeat], blowing Thundercloud procs as they appear.

Thoughts or suggestions? On Levi I was below the ACC cap at first and tweaked some gear to fix it, but still didn't help.

Starting rotation (Can use it when you have CDs up):

F3 > Raging Strikes > T2 > Potion > F1 > F1 > F1 > F1 (Use procs) > Swiftcast > Flare > Convert

Regular rotation

T2 > F3 > F1 (Til 300-400 mana) > B3 > T1/T2 (Depending how much mana left you have) > Scathe/B1* > F3 and repeat...

*If you have a slow first mana tick
> Scathe/B1 (Blizzard 1 if you don't have to more, Scathe if you need to move)

There's few tricks to up your DPS in LeviEx. T2 ANY possible target (Tail include! You will take some damage but you dot still hit) More Thunders = more procs.
When Spumes are up, I always save the rest of my mana to Flare the Spume next to Leviathan's head.

If you are caught in a bad position, use Aetherial Manipulation.

Try to save Swiftcast when Levi hits the boat to refresh Thunder 2 (I use Thunder 3 on swiftcast)

**EDIT

When spumes spawn, I make sure to cast F1 > T2 > T2 > F1 > T2 > T2 to gett my stacks. Having high numbers is pretty hard in LeviEx, there are a lot of down time but you have multiple occasions to abuse of Flare. Each time you have two targets close, you can Flare.

Well, I'm not main BLM, but 1 obvious important thing:

Minimize how much you are moving. How exactly to do that will vary by which boss of course. Also, when moving you can still cast Scathe and procs.

you rotation look normal. BLM is not about rotation as much as minimizing movement. whenever you move w/o using Proc, you lose quite a few DPS. (even if you using scathe)

remember to utilize mana wall/ward to ignore boos ability (landslide, or w/e ;P)

I was under the impression even the bad blms should have high dps. It is basically the easiest class in the game....well until you have to move alot.

My only question is who are these people "calling you out"? A lot of the times if things are going swimmingly in a fight, lots of blame gets flung around and a lot of it is unjustified. If you feel like your DEEPS isn't high enough, you would know it.

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Originally Posted by Vallhallix

It is basically the easiest class in the game....well until you have to move alot.

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so like... almost every boss fight in the game...

also, regardless of how easy the class may seem, it still doesn't come close to MNK, DRG or SMN on single targets in ideal conditions. A lot of the bad numbers come from limits in the class, which is why its getting a buff.

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Originally Posted by Vallhallix

I was under the impression even the bad blms should have high dps. It is basically the easiest class in the game....well until you have to move alot.

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It is the hardest class in term of keeping your casts. That's where you see good and bad BLMs

Your rotation looks good for single target, but I'll give you some general tips to maximise dps. I'll also base these tips around Leviathan which I guess is the fight you're struggling at for dps.
1) Always be casting a spell.
Use manawall or manaward if you have to, but to squeeze as much dps out as possible you have to constantly be casting. Try not to move when you don't have a proc and only move when it is absolutely necessary (life or death). I find that saving firestarter and thundercloud procs for when you have to move increases dps significantly.

2) Flare's potential.
Flare does incredible damage when used correctly (yeah, in single target too) and works very well with bosses that have downtime. I've used flare in situations where you know the boss will go invincible for a set duration, an example would be Leviathan. Swiftcasting flare before leviathan dives into the water will boost your dps by a huge amount, but to do this you would have to get your timings right and that could take some practise. But like any other fight, practise makes perfect.

3) Aetherial Manipulation
This spell is pretty good for moving long distances especially if you've macroed it into a mouseover skill. But for leviathan, I've found it incredibly useful in reducing downtime when using it while leviathan does its 'body slam' forcing everyone to slide down the platform. Using A.M. on a person while leviathan slams down onto the platform eliminates the sliding animation so you have more time to dps the boss. Generally, it's a very good skill both reducing the need to move and therefore improve uptime.

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Originally Posted by NyneAlexander

it still doesn't come close to MNK, DRG or SMN on single targets in ideal conditions.

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Just like how those 3 jobs don't come close to BLM's number in groups of 5 mobs or more? Makes sense....

To be fair, Ultima and Leviathan aren't really the best fights for BLM due to the amount of damage downtime and movement required in them. Something like Caduceus in T1 would be a good metric since it's single target only and the only time you have to move is when the panels light up or if you get goo spit at you.

The issue is that in the current metagame, outside of speed-running brayflox, which already means its trivial content, how often do you have situations that call for aoe?

Every single boss in the game DEMANDS ST dps... but few, very few endgame situations, where things really matter, require aoe.

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Originally Posted by Orophin

To be fair, Ultima and Leviathan aren't really the best fights for BLM due to the amount of damage downtime and movement required in them. Something like Caduceus in T1 would be a good metric since it's single target only and the only time you have to move is when the panels light up or if you get goo spit at you.

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The sad thing is that blm still scraps the bottom of the barrel for Caduceus.

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Originally Posted by Aikaal

snip

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Pretty much this but ill add some more. If its the case you dip to low on mana when casting bliz 3, follow up with bliz 1 before casting t1 or t2 be aware just how much mana you will have left after you're last fire 1. Many blm make the huge mistake of dipping to low on mana then actually waiting for mana to come back to cast t2 you should never be waiting for mana. Mana potions are also used for situations like this. If you ended up with less than 200 mana before casting Bliz 3, use a pot to recover instead of waiting for mana to cast another spell.

You should never be saving raging strikes ever, pop it on cd and if its the case its used when new adds spawn, use quelling strikes together with it.

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Originally Posted by Lemon8or

Just like how those 3 jobs don't come close to BLM's number in groups of 5 mobs or more? Makes sense....

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outside of speed runs, and T4, when is this even an issue?