Aero useless for 60 Ast?

I've been toying around with Ast and enjoying it, but I have to wonder if it's worth it's cross-class slot, since it has the same potency over it's full duration as M2.

Used to dps when moving as its an instant cast. At 900+ spellspeed it has a higher potency than stone III (according to a thread on the forums). As Malefic II potency is 200, i would imagine the spellspeed break for 200+ potency on aero is lower than 900.

Instant cast, costs less MP and will do slightly more damage due to SS, It's an ok spell to cross class.

The whole Spell speed increasing Aero damage is hardly a reason to use Aero by itself - Not like it is much in the first place, if any difference at all. Using Aero to weave oGCDs or as MP conserver, however, is a whole different story. You can weave in Aero with Draw or other card abilities without losing GCD time. Which in turn would result into a GCD efficiency increase and thus also a HPS/DPS increase

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Originally Posted by DarkmoonVael

Used to dps when moving as its an instant cast. At 900+ spellspeed it has a higher potency than stone III (according to a thread on the forums). As Malefic II potency is 200, i would imagine the spellspeed break for 200+ potency on aero is lower than 900.

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Stone III has a potency of 210. My guess is there is maybe 50sps difference? Just a random guess I have yet to do any math on it.

Great to use when doing movement mechanics. Pop cleric on, hit that along with combust while moving.

About the only negative to Aero is that it can miss in end-game content if you don't bring some ACC, whereas Combusts do not.

Aero might not seem like it does much damage but it's an instant cast. It can be used whenever as opposed to Stone 3 where you have to stand still. It's ability to be used when most Mage dps spells can't makes it worth using. Any dps is better than no dps. I haven't AST yet so I don't know how it works for them or fits into cross class but if you like to use it and you find it useful then, by all means, use it.

I use it cause why not.

Being the Diurnal AST in my savage static I am mostly main healing while the SCH is doing the DPS. Sometimes I only have time to just throw my DoTs so I add Aero to it too since they do damage while I am just switching back to healing anyway. If I had time to do some Malefic II spam then I might not use it because as you said its potency is weak, but if you have to drop cleric stance anyway I figure might as well add it in before you go back to healing. Plus it being instant like Combust you can move and use it.

Why Areo?

1. Instant Cast Time, allowing for more weaving of cards, disable, or turning off Cleric Stance (Possible to Essential Dignity.) Any action you can perform while weaving into your OGCD, that you would not have, is a DPS increase.
   
2. Reduced MP cost. AST is all about cheaper healing spells. Its part of how they work and why they are disadvantaged DPSing, because their DPS toolkit is not subsidized.
   
3. Front-loaded. Need it to die within the next 1 second? AERO. Thats 50-75 Potency front-loaded.

From an SCH standpoint, Aero is a godsend. More openings to Energy Drain, Aetherflow, CS-off+Lustrate/Indom, Virus and its a DPS gain to boot! Thanks CNJ <3

No it's not useless.

In my point of view, Aero is only weak when you're fighting 24 man raids because it's a 'missable' dot and that the boss usually has a full stack of dots so it won't connect...

But the fact that it's instant and has an upfront hit is nice for mechanics such as pushing barrels in Hullbreaker's Hard. It's also affected by SpellSpeed, so if you have a high stat, it can overcome Malefic 2 overall.

Aero is useful and is better the alternative.

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Originally Posted by Roxas_Andrade

In my point of view, Aero is only weak when you're fighting 24 man raids because it's a 'missable' dot and that the boss usually has a full stack of dots so it won't connect...

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Oh this actually is kind of important to note, but as far as I know, the fact that DoTs and other stats sometimes don't appear on a boss HP bard is not because the effect doesn't connect, but it's a bug that makes the game not show everything. So even if you don't see Aero up there, it's there. Good luck knowing when to refresh it, though.

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

The whole Spell speed increasing Aero damage is hardly a reason to use Aero by itself - Not like it is much in the first place, if any difference at all. Using Aero to weave oGCDs or as MP conserver, however, is a whole different story. You can weave in Aero with Draw or other card abilities without losing GCD time. Which in turn would result into a GCD efficiency increase and thus also a HPS/DPS increase

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This is THE answer.

Not like you really have any other option for that last cross class slot.

What else is there? Blizzard 2? Surecast? You won't need those. :p

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

Not like you really have any other option for that last cross class slot.

What else is there? Blizzard 2? Surecast? You won't need those. :p

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Blizzard II is actually pretty good in certain instances. I've occasionally cut Swiftcast for it before.

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Originally Posted by Supersun

Blizzard II is actually pretty good in certain instances. I've occasionally cut Swiftcast for it before.

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Okay I've definitely heard of instances where Blizzard II is good, but cutting Swiftcast? Lol what? :D

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Originally Posted by Kabzy

Okay I've definitely heard of instances where Blizzard II is good, but cutting Swiftcast? Lol what? :D

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If you are in a dungeon where you already know when and how to precast Shadowflare...you don't really need swiftcast.

I mean what else are you going to use Swiftcast for if you aren't running with idiots.

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Originally Posted by Supersun

If you are in a dungeon where you already know when and how to precast Shadowflare...you don't really need swiftcast.

I mean what else are you going to use Swiftcast for if you aren't running with idiots.

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We are talking about AST here. AST doesnt have shadowflare. It also has better use of swiftcast than blizzard II due to Gravity, high mana regeneration and an actual use of swiftcast during pulls. Blizzard II on AST is not needed.

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Originally Posted by DarkmoonVael

At 900+ spellspeed it has a higher potency than stone III (according to a thread on the forums). As Malefic II potency is 200, i would imagine the spellspeed break for 200+ potency on aero is lower than 900.

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That may give it more per-execute damage than the direct damage fillers, but it doesn't change its comparative dps whatsoever. You're just now playing at a BLM rate on a finite-mana job. Determination still does at least as much for DoTs, iirc, and Critical more, than Skill Speed.

The benefit of Aero is simply that it's an instant cast. It's mobile, it's weave-able. It being equal in potency to Malefic II at a lesser mana cost is just the faintest bonus.

Edit: Sorry about the repetition there, I meant only to point out that the priorities seemed a bit swapped.

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

That may give it more per-execute damage than the direct damage fillers, but it doesn't change its comparative dps whatsoever. You're just now playing at a BLM rate on a finite-mana job. Determination still does at least as much for DoTs, iirc, and Critical more, than Skill Speed.

The benefit of Aero is simply that it's an instant cast. It's mobile, it's weave-able. It being equal in potency to Malefic II at a lesser mana cost is just the faintest bonus.

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Some healers like to stack spellspeed. Its a bonus to the damage if they do. Esp on AST where it has two very powerful dots in combust and combust II which will also benefit from spellspeed. Det is widly lambasted in the healing community due to it poor scaling with heals. Crit is a love or hate thing on main healers where consistency in healing is looked upon favourably. Ergo i am talking about spellspeed in regards to aero. Please be aware we are talking about healers here, not dps. So in this regard the choices of which stats healers prefer to stack need to be taken into account. BLM and its style of play has nothing to do with this discussion, even as a analogy, as that is quite clearly not comparable to what i have said. Healers who stack speelspeed do so due to responsivness in heals when damage goes out, BLM stack spellspeed to gain more casts throughout a fight as they are not tied to a finite resourse.

Further more, the very first line of my reply was about it being instant cast. So yeah..............

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

The whole Spell speed increasing Aero damage is hardly a reason to use Aero by itself - Not like it is much in the first place, if any difference at all. Using Aero to weave oGCDs or as MP conserver, however, is a whole different story. You can weave in Aero with Draw or other card abilities without losing GCD time. Which in turn would result into a GCD efficiency increase and thus also a HPS/DPS increase

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This. You can get all your dots ticking and manage your cards and heal at the same time. If all your dots are ticking, your draw is on CD, and everyone is healthy enough, then you can spam M2 on single target or gravity for aoe.

As an AST 60 that has Aero crossed: It's very useful. Tossing up Aero and both combusts at start of fight before you need to start healing is a great way to help out with dps. Also, on fights where you really need to be careful with mp due to heavy healing it's a nice way to still get some dps in without cleric stance and burning valuable mp.

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Originally Posted by Aethon

As an AST 60 that has Aero crossed: It's very useful. Tossing up Aero and both combusts at start of fight before you need to start healing is a great way to help out with dps. Also, on fights where you really need to be careful with mp due to heavy healing it's a nice way to still get some dps in without cleric stance and burning valuable mp.

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No, just no. Without cleric every DPS spell is worthless and wasting MP. You'd better be using that GCD and MP to heal and top everyone and then cleric for 5 seconds than using a DPS spell without cleric.

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Originally Posted by AlphaSonic

No, just no. Without cleric every DPS spell is worthless and wasting MP. You'd better be using that GCD and MP to heal and top everyone and then cleric for 5 seconds than using a DPS spell without cleric.

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http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...047-38imqt.jpg

I main ast and completely agree it's a waste without cleric, just as I also have accuracy melded... it's useless casting an offensive spell for it to miss... wasted mp I could have used in a more beneficial way

It shouldn't even need debating it's absolutely worth it.

Combust 1 and 2 and aero. 3 Dots biting away while you either perform other offensive attacks or heal. It's a no brainier.

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Originally Posted by AlexanderThorolund

It shouldn't even need debating it's absolutely worth it.

Combust 1 and 2 and aero. 3 Dots biting away while you either perform other offensive attacks or heal. It's a no brainier.

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Aero and Malefic II has the same potency/GCD spend. So "being able to do something while dealing damage" is no reason to use Aero by itself. I've already responded on what would be proper reasons to use Aero over Malefic II on page 1, so I'll just have to direct you to page 1 of this topic.

Bombs.
Moogle minions.
Barrels.

All can be instantly knocked back with Aero. The other dots don't work as knockbacks on those mechanics. Plus it allows a smooth transition from Cleric Stance and scales with spell speed. Definitely worth it over the other remaining cross class options.