How to benefit the most from drawing spear?

I usually burn this card, i really have never been able to figure out who a good target is for this card other than maybe a tank rolling cooldowns, but even then does it really help anyone? I'm at a loss for this one.

If I used Lumi, ED, and light speed and if the fight is going to a phase where I need to be safe for more oh snap moments, I use it on myself. I like the extended + spear buff the best.

Any job that has a low CD oGCD ability also gains some benefit from Spear, though it's certainly nowhere near the DPS boost Arrow or Balance would give them. A DPS boost is still a DPS boost regardless and if you can't use Spear on yourself, here are a couple of jobs that come to mind:

DRG
Jump (30s)
Leg Sweep (20s)

NIN
Ninjutsu (20s)
Juggulate (30s)

MCN
Quick Reload (30s)

I think the only actual good uses are a mch(Only at the start of a fight) and your own luminous aether. Mch pops a lot of cooldowns at the start of fights, especially on a boss where he'll pop everything to maximize wildfire.

Tanks at the start of a fight, ninjas in general(Should just about always get his ninjutsu) and smn/schs with no aether stacks are 'ok' uses. But I'd still probably try to avoid using the spear in these situations and shuffle/rr if I could.

if you pull it right at the start of a fight it is good for just about any dps.

during a fight it's almost a total crapshoot if it will be good or not since you don't really have a HUD of everyone's cooldowns
but... theoretically it would have a pretty decent impact if you were able to land it just before one of the big mechanic based skills like reload, aetherflow, enochian, etc
again though, drawing the card and using it right in sync with one of them is total luck because if your waiting on it to use on them or they are waiting on their skill for you to spear, that lost time negates what spear would have gained.

it can be quite nice on your own luminiferous aether cooldown and it does lower draw's cooldown too.

In a practical sense, using it for the extended royal road is almost always your best bet

I've almost always used it for RR so I can put an extended balance/arrow plus Time Dilation on someone.

1. Draw Spear.
2. Switch to SCH.

I almost always eat it for RR, unless I use RR and draw Spear twice, then I recycle

Spear is Royal Road fodder unless I see I can pop my cooldowns to regen MP, then I use spear on myself and use Luminiferous, Celestial Opposition and Lightspeed

Anything labelled as an Ability should get the benefit. I know Essential Dignity goes to 32 seconds when i have it on myself, So i imagine it also works for things like Bloodletter, Howling Fist, Elixir Field, Gauss Round and perhaps Ricochet.
I could be very wrong though, my AST is only 42, but enjoying it a great deal currently.

It does, but those abilities have lower cooldowns anyway, so the benefit is marginal.

It might also mess up their rotation if they're popping certain oGCDs in line with buffs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ashelia_Ferron

It does, but those abilities have lower cooldowns anyway, so the benefit is marginal.

It might also mess up their rotation if they're popping certain oGCDs in line with buffs.

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At the same time, it may help to line said Abilties up better. Even shaving a couple of seconds off a cooldown can lead to a good chunk of extra damage over the course of the entire fight if you do it regularly enough.
I'd say it would be worth using when its available.
If anyone does have an issue with the lowered cooldown not lining up 'properly' with cooldowns, nothing is stopping them from simply holding off for a couple of seconds to get it lined back up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

Any job that has a low CD oGCD ability also gains some benefit from Spear, though it's certainly nowhere near the DPS boost Arrow or Balance would give them. A DPS boost is still a DPS boost regardless and if you can't use Spear on yourself, here are a couple of jobs that come to mind:

DRG
Jump (30s)
Leg Sweep (20s)

NIN
Ninjutsu (20s)
Juggulate (30s)

MCN
Quick Reload (30s)

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MCH
Quick Reload
Gauss Round
Blank
Head Graze