AST asking DPS for advice!

Dear damage dealer,

Since I can't expect any useful answer out of the Healer Forum -currently it is a sea of AST tear, with two huge, phallic pillars representing WHM and SCH ePeens sticking out in the middle- I decide to take my question to you guys. The guys that actually do all the work in a group.

You might have noticed that there is a new healer in town that sometimes dishes out buffs. Now, my question is easy: Which DPS class likes which buffs most and, should that make a difference, are there special timings in your rotation I should be looking out for in regards to the buff.
Anyhow, the buffs are:

The Balance aka look at the pretty bit numbers
Increases target's damage dealt by 10%. Duration: 15s
The Bole aka boring tank stuff
Reduces target's damage taken by 10%. Duration: 15s
The Arrow aka where my TP at?
Increases target's attack speed by 10%. Duration: 15s
The Spear aka has a bug and dosn't work properly at the moment
Reduces target's action recast time by 20%. Duration: 20s
The Ewer aka the card you never draw when BLM are around
Reduces MP cost of target's spells by 20%. Duration: 20s
The Spire aka everything is terrible
Reduces TP cost of target's weaponskills by 20%. Duration: 20s

Anyways it would be great if I could get some feedback from you guys.

I have a monk friend who loves the balance card. Arrow as well.

I put Ewer on BLM so they can spend more time in astral.

Pure theory from me (some are a little bit obvious too)
Also, i can only speak for SMN in HL content

Balance :
In general, the more damages output there is, the more this 15% buff is effective.
I would say it's good on Melee DPS on bosses, and good on BLM on adds phases.
It would always be more effective if you apply this during burst phase of the DPS.
SMN case : SMN deals more damages with dots. If you use this buff on SMN while he don't have to reset the dots, it might not be worthy.

Bole :
Tank burst or simply during strong aoe if someone of your party has death debuff (ex: gigaflare on t13)

Arrow :
physical DPS

Spear :
BLM during fire cast phase, SMN during transe-bahamut phase (for more ruin 3 spam)

Ewer :
BLM would be able to cast more fire with this (unless this dumbass opens with flare ._.
SMN doesn't really need this but it can help him to raise or summon pets after being raised himself

Spire :
Melee during AOE phase

no feed back yet

I don't know if there is a soft-/hardcap for attackspeed. Monk and Ninja already get a buff for this and maybe they profit a bit less from that. But I don't know.
So every card benefits the DDs pretty much except for Spire and Bole. Ewer is debatable and would need some tests, but that counts just for BLM (less mana cost = more fire).

I love the Arrow, Spire.. Balance is fine too.

As bard that has to deal with WM now here are my own opinions:

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Originally Posted by Waterdeep

The Balance aka look at the pretty bit numbers

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Anytime really. This is always good generally want it on that one dps that will keep pushing phase imo.

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The Arrow aka where my TP at?

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Yes please if in minuet please please please gimme - especially great during opener. I love the new selene as well.

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The Spear aka has a bug and dosn't work properly at the moment

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Hmmm wish could use ogcds during cast when the recast timer refreshes... would make this really great... tbh not really sure where could use this in the end unless it effects the longer stuff like empyrial arrow.

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The Ewer aka the card you never draw when BLM are around

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Outside of theorycrafted blm's that sleep through their rotations I'd want this as a caster or healer at any time. On healer especially if someone needs a res(dat eye wattering mp use on res).

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The Spire aka everything is terrible

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See large pack... see aoe from melee/ranged... YES PLEASE!

So I got an AST friend to give me Spear, gave me a 16s recast for Ninjutsu instead of the 20s.
Pretty sweet.
So what's the bug with it? Does it not work sometimes?

Otherwise, Balance, Arrow and Spear are great for Ninja.
Spear is great because we have so many CDs and it helps Ninjutsu too. I would think NIN or DRG gains more from this than MNK.
Arrow can be great unless your mudra lag starts eating into the off-gcd, and we have a lot of other oGCD too. I think MNK and DRG benefit more from this than NIN.
Balance is great across the board for everyone.

Spire is great for melee AoE.

Thanks for the replies so far, ever bit helps! Especially tidbits like:

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Originally Posted by ruskie

Yes please if in minuet please please please gimme - especially great during opener. I love the new selene as well.

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help a lot. Really job specific buff timings are more than welcome!

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Originally Posted by Allyrion

So I got an AST friend to give me Spear, gave me a 16s recast for Ninjutsu instead of the 20s.
Pretty sweet.
So what's the bug with it? Does it not work sometimes?

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Rumor has it that The Spear is supposed to cut already ticking CDs as well. Would make the card a lot less situational and probably the best of the bunch.

First question? Is there a dps in your group that totally owns? If so, give them ALL the things that help them.

To better annswer your question, I basically only play two dps classes (mnk and drg) so I'll just go over when I'd want them for both classes.

Balance: for drg opening burst especially but any time I have constant up time on an enemy. And mnk any time i have full chakra and GL stacks (V chakra and III GL).

Bole: if another class doesn't need it any time blood for blood is up and there's some sort of damage I'm taking (even though blood for blood can be manually clicked off if necessary).

Arrow: great for mnk any time because you build stacks faster and have crazy short cooldowns on your weaponskills (~1.8 when I tested it out w/ my current mnk gear). And dragoon I'd say less so because it's more of a timing based class and the sudden decrease in your weaponskill timers might actually throw off the rotation a little bit.

Spear: I'd say generally more useful for dragoon because their damage is more cooldown dependent than monk's damage but both have a decent amount of cooldowns (most of which should be on cooldowns 15-20s into a fight).

[USpire:[/U] Any time either class is doing aoe damage especially but both have decent tp regen so it's generally not needed unless it's a prolonged fight w/ minimal down time. In that case, it's about the same because monks attack faster but dragoons have larger tp costs on their weaponskills.

BLM can benefit from Ewer only once every three rotations, when Enochian has the full 30 second duration, or when they can stand inside Ley Lines for the full duration without interruptions. Enochian timers are too strict otherwise.

As a MCN...


Anything! Please, I'm begging you! My pappa will beat me again if he sees another PF group refusing MCN.






CD reduction is nice for MCN. It helps bring our Reload up faster, and other various neat buffs...

don't bother giving blms an ewer,it doesn't do anything 50%+ of the time and when it does something it's only ever 1 more fire,better use it on a healer instead

DRG perspective :

The Balance
I will take this anytime, anywhere, especially during my opening burst.

The Bole
Mainly for tank, but maybe turn into AoE if you know a lot of AoE damage is incoming.

The Arrow
I like having TP and also would prefer not to throw my rotation timings off too much, so I think this has more value for a BLM or WM BRD.

The Spear
Would be awesome as long as it works as described. If it reduces my Cooldown times, I will love you. :)

The Ewer
Don't care. Next.

The Spire
We chug TP now at 60, so I would gladly take this even outside of an AoE burn.

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Originally Posted by Waterdeep

The Spire aka everything is terrible
Reduces TP cost of target's weaponskills by 20%. Duration: 20s

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More llike AKA Tanks with expensive AOE threat generators love you. Unless overpower isn't a weapon skill.

Been leveling Marauder and I run out of TP quickly.