Limit Break Caster or DPS First or Last Boss

Okay, so there the limit break button. Got it. Does big boom... whatever. I've been yelled at for not using it because I'm still not used to it.

"How'd you get to such a high level without using limit break?!"

Dude, relax. It took me a week to reach this level. It's not like I spent a few months working at it. It took a week. I still have that newbie symbol next to my name because I don't have enough playtime.

Anyway, I decided to google this ability and find out what all the fuss was about. This didn't help, however, because I found even more confusion. Post after post after post of varying opinions on when it should be used and by whom. Casters get yelled at when it should have been the Melee or Melee getting yelled at because the caster should have done it; or first boss vs the last boss, etc...

I found several posts by DPS stating that they just stopped using it until they're told because they got tired of tanks yelling at them for wasting it. It's the whole damned if you do and damned if you don't type thing.

just use it on the last boss when he drops below 15% HP.

it's not perfect, but you can't do anything wrong with it (and don't wait until it hit 3%, that's too late).

when not other stated (for specific mechanics) the priority for using LB is Melee > Mage > Physical Ranged on single target. for AoE it's Mage > Physical Ranged.

with time you will get more experience and can use the LB more efficient - but for the beginnig that's the rule of a thumb.


a more efficient way is to use aoe LB (mage or physical ranged) between the first and second boss in a dungeon and preferably a melee LB on the last boss.

Who?
Single target? -> Melee LB
Multiple targets? -> Ranged or Caster LB (most likely Caster).
Melee LB is more potent than ranged/caster LB because the other ones are aoe (line aoe for ranged, normal aoe for caster).

Shit reaaaallly about to hit the fan because over half of your party's dead? -> Healer LB3
People in party don't seem to know how to do mechs or dodge and are overrunning the healers and something big's coming up -> Tank LB3 (dat shield)

First/Last boss
The most typical one is Last boss.
But sometimes groups will want to use LB1 for first boss, because the rest of the instance will have enough time to gather up the rest of the LB bar for the last boss as well.

Other things of note
More LB is generated if you have unique jobs/classes

Healers get more LB generation for healing people with critical health

You don't have to think "well...melee LB is better but our melee has bad stats so maybe the ranged would be better". No. None of that.
The base potency is based on the role, while the potency multiplier is based on the entire party's ilvl. There are no damage buffs, no damage debuffs, etc..

If you're a caster watch out for large pulls when the bar is full and use it then. Melee LB is a strong single target attack, caster is the weakest on a single target. I don't use it single target really, it's hardly a dps gain with as long as the animation is.

If you make it to the last boss of a dungeon and no one has used it you can also pull the boss with it, like cast the lb on the boss as the tank runs in. Sometimes this is enough time to generate another bar.

Basically don't worry about it. It almost never matters. Once you get into endgame things there are some fights and strategies that require specific lbs at specific times but for the most part if you use it cool if not no biggie. Can be great on a large trash pull or add phase in a dungeon though.

Black Mage LB is an AoE that can be very effective on big trash pulls (besides bosses). Why don't you just tell the parties you run with that you are new, and ask if there is anything they want you to use the LB on, or should one of the other jobs use it.

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Originally Posted by MoroMurasaki

If you're a caster watch out for large pulls when the bar is full and use it then. Melee LB is a strong single target attack, caster is the weakest on a single target. I don't use it single target really, it's hardly a dps gain with as long as the animation is.

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Correct me if I am wrong here, but I thought I read that, just by pure numbers, casters is the middle, while bard and machinest are actually the lowest damaging LB. They get the benefit however, of pulling it off the fastest of the three.

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Originally Posted by Jijifli

Correct me if I am wrong here, but I thought I read that, just by pure numbers, casters is the middle, while bard and machinest are actually the lowest damaging LB. They get the benefit however, of pulling it off the fastest of the three.

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I've never noticed a big difference in damage between them, hoenstly. Did some googlging since you asked and apparently ranged LB potencies have yet to be determined officially. I saw someone quote 5.8k potency for ranged LB3 which is hardly less than caster but without solid proof I think it's fair to count them equally with Caster still being advantageous on large trash pulls because of the circle AoE instead of the linear one?

Good question, maybe someday we'll know.

Saving it for the boss to be at a low % might be the biggest waste of damage from it.

If you're doing a regular pug Primal or 8 man raid, do you guys hold the limit break or use it immediately?

I notice on something like Kefka or Byakko normal, occasionally lb3 is up fairly early and using it on the spot would give you an additional lb1 or lb2 near the end. But the few times I do pop it off the bat thinking "Going smooth so far, should be grand on Normal" the group suddenly falls apart out of nowhere, stand in something and nearly all die and a healer lb3 probably would have saved a wipe. Better to play safe?

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Originally Posted by Squintina

But sometimes groups will want to use LB1 for first boss, because the rest of the instance will have enough time to gather up the rest of the LB bar for the last boss as well.

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Many people think they should do this, but this is only the "best" option if both DDs are melee. If the other DD is a caster or ranger, let them use it on trash. Even if you pull small, you'll save more time LBing a group of 3~4 than you will by using it on a boss.

If there is a caster or ranger, a melee DD should only LB on the last boss.

Each LB has it's uses, but the two most commonly used ones are the Melee and Healer LB...

Using the LB against mobs is generally a waste in my opinion, it doesn't kill them in one hit, and if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB, tank LB might do a better job, keeps the mobs from doing too much damage for a while...

In dungeons you can usually get away with LBing the first boss if it's up by then, as it'll be up again by the final boss most certainly.
In 8 mans (raids and trials), you technically can use the LB as soon as it's ready, unless there's a DPS check mechanic... But you should probably keep it around in case someone fucks up and healers need it.


Tank LB is either a mechanic, or if people fail at certain mechanics and the party is about to be oneshotted.

LB's not really something worth stressing over IMO, in normal dungeons/content. In 24mans it's just better to hold it for healers half the time, since people just die in them left and right. The other half of the time it's a cool animation you can watch as you eventually hit the boss pretty hard. (or, if you're me, you tank LB3 when everyone's dead 'cuz it looks cool).

Most people I run into will use it sub 2 percent of a Boss's HP anyway, and at that point it's not even worth it. May as well blow it on a massive pull and have a bit of fun.

Or run up to a maidservant, stun it, then LB1 it in the face. Best leveling feeling I ever had.

Use it while a boss is prepping an attack that requires running, so half of the party is blinded by bright flashes and explosions and runs off the edge of the arena.

I admit nothing.

as a WHM I prefer it if you save a LVL3 Limit in case we get an 'oh shit' moment and need to raise everybody. If at the last 10-15% melee or caster use it, it don't really matter, at that point its USUALLY safe to assume that even if shit hits the fan you can complete the trial/boss/raid etc

Your profile says BLM, so my answer is based on that. As a BLM there are only 4 times ill toss out a LB attack. The animation lock(especially on 2/3 bar moves) is so long that im guaranteed to drop all my buffs and have to start my rotation over afterwards, so i wont do it just randomly.

1. Large dungeon trash pulls. The damage a caster LB1 does to a large pull actually speeds up the run more then you might think considering its only one attack(and is certainly a bigger gain then crushing off a bosses last 3% health). This is easier if you know the dungeon and which pulls are the biggest(knowing if the tank will go for the bigger pulls also helps - saving a limit for the biggest pull and seeing the tank split it in two hurts a little). This can be any pull in the dungeon between the first boss and last boss(most dungeons go too quickly to bust out 2 on trash pulls). The bar will typically rebuild to 1 bar fast enough for the other DPS to still get a finishing move on the final boss in if they want it(even if you used it on the final trash pull).
2. Skipping add phases on bosses. Some bosses have dangerous add phases, and a well timed LB can either neuter or completely eliminate them. Examples would be the wings on the bosses of Sohm Al and Bardams, the 4 scorpions(its the 2nd add set, 2 of them eat your platform 2 of them throw out mini-tankbuster attacks) at the end of Sohm Al(hard), or the golems during the Hashmal fight in Rabanastre. The idea here is to skip the dangerous phase and continue the fight as quickly as possible. In most of these cases the boss also eats the attack because they spawn near/are part of them.
3. Panic button. Everyone else is dying but maybe i can end the fight and we can win instead of starting over? Might be worth a shot. This isnt a great strategy though, because you often die trying to pull it off(wasting the move) or the enemy still survives and kills you after(wasting the move). But a poor strategy is sometimes better then none.
4. Pulling alliance raid bosses. Sometimes in the 24 man alliance raids you walk up to a boss and already have a bar or two of limit charged. This could be because the group wiped, or because the last boss died without it being triggered. When the next boss fight starts, all those limit bars will drain away to nothing(only bosses drain your limit and not trash pulls, so alliance trash is an appropriate time to toss out a limit under reason 1 above). So if im given a chance, ill open the fight by dropping a rock on the bosses head. This isnt always possible(some people will just run in and start the next fight before anyone can even think of queing these attacks in, and even when people dont run in not all tanks like to give a countdown to allow these to be timed right), and it doesnt speed up the fight a great deal(if one group gets off a one bar move, figure it probly cut the fight by 3-5 seconds - but if 2 or 3 groups get off attacks and maybe some have 2 bars rather then one... something to think about anyway) - but still, why throw away free damage?

I think we all know the correct way to use LB is preferably as a NIN or DRG, waiting until all bars are filled, then pop it on the last boss at >1% health, so that the boss dies before the LB animation even goes off.

So, in this thread alone, the opinions are to have the caster cast LB during trash pulls, have the melee do it during the first and last boss, cast it only during the last boss, use it to drop add phases on the last boss, use it during the opening, use it at 15%, or save it for the Healer!

I'm glad that all my confusion has been cleared up in this thread :)

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

Use it while a boss is prepping an attack that requires running, so half of the party is blinded by bright flashes and explosions and runs off the edge of the arena.

I admit nothing.

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I think that this so far is the best advice I've seen on the subject :)

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Originally Posted by Nabril

So, in this thread alone, the opinions are to have the caster cast LB during trash pulls, have the melee do it during the first and last boss, cast it only during the last boss, use it to drop add phases on the last boss, use it during the opening, use it at 15%, or save it for the Healer!

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Exactly, who and when to use a LB depends on the content and the party.

I don’t really care when the LB is used as long as it isn’t a 3 bar RDM or BLM LB. Why? Same reason why we don’t look at the flash from a nuke ;)

I almost forget about my LB button. I've been playing Bard and DRK. I have never used it as a tank, and always got complaints for using it as Bard. About the onky time it's okay for me to use it is on Bard, in a 4 man dungeon, with another ranged dps.

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Originally Posted by Nabril

So, in this thread alone, the opinions are to have the caster cast LB during trash pulls, have the melee do it during the first and last boss, cast it only during the last boss, use it to drop add phases on the last boss, use it during the opening, use it at 15%, or save it for the Healer!

I'm glad that all my confusion has been cleared up in this thread :)

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I'm not sure why you're confused. None of the advice here fully contradicts each other.

Because every instance is different, and every party is different. If people are taking a while to kill trash mobs, and it's an instance where there's a lot, of course it makes sense to use it.
But if the trash mobs die very quickly without it, that'd be a waste. So for most content, it would be a waste.
Using it for the first boss was already stated that it's because for some instances there's enough time to build the gauge back up. So if you can get 2 limit breaks, it makes sense.
But for a lot of instances, that won't happen - so saving it for the hardest boss (which is -usually- the last one) makes sense.

Saving it for the healer, great for people progging savage content (or pugging, because you never know what you're getting with pugs). It can save a run. For more casual content? Probably not, because you shouldn't need it. But obviously if you're having trouble staying alive, there's no reason to save it for a damage limit break because you might not live long enough to make use of it.

These aren't contradictions, they're conditions - it's called "strategy". Being confused by this would be like being confused about using fire 4 vs fire 2 - one being best for single target (4), the other for lots of monsters (2).

If you're expecting a "do this all the time forever and ever" answer, of course you won't get that -but I don't get why you'd expect it to be that simple. In that case SE wouldn't have even bothered making different limit breaks if only 1 would ever be acceptable for any and all content.

Burn one till its like 10% melee LB the other
Caster/Range LB both at like 25%

Depends on dungeons and mechanics.

8-player Trial that's difficult: DON'T USE IT. Save it for the Healer. An LB3 is the difference between winning and wiping. I have personally saved a run with Healer LB3.
4 Player Dungeon:

Well that depends on the boss. Some dungeons have bosses with Add Phases that are very beneficial if burned down FAST and you can't do that any faster than a Caster LB. Some dungeons have an Add Phase where the boss is invincible and the Add must be killed, but there's only one (use a Melee DPS LB here).

Don't always wait until 15%; some bosses are more beneficial if you LB them sooner.

For example, Tioman in Sohm Al (Story). A Caster LB2 if you get LB2 early enough can nuke her wings in 3 seconds and return you to the fight against her, herself.
Ser Charibert in The Vault, if you have a MCH or BRD, a Ranged LB2 can nuke 3 of the Holy Fires in one shot or very near it, which lessens the risk of running out of time and taking huge AoE damage.
The last boss of Aurum Vale is another nice example to Magic LB2, gather up all the seeds/seedlings and nuke them all at once with a meteor (and of course hit the boss itself at the same time).

Just blindly using it at 15% on the last boss and only that situation is kinda a mistake IMO; one should consider the boss, its mechanics, and who you have in your group. And of course mention it before going into the boss.

If there's nothing special going on, I'd say to use it the moment you get LB2; depending on party setup and play you MIGHT get a LB1 before the end of the fight and do it twice!

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Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

Each LB has it's uses, but the two most commonly used ones are the Melee and Healer LB...

Using the LB against mobs is generally a waste in my opinion, it doesn't kill them in one hit, and if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB, tank LB might do a better job, keeps the mobs from doing too much damage for a while...

In dungeons you can usually get away with LBing the first boss if it's up by then, as it'll be up again by the final boss most certainly.
In 8 mans (raids and trials), you technically can use the LB as soon as it's ready, unless there's a DPS check mechanic... But you should probably keep it around in case someone fucks up and healers need it.


Tank LB is either a mechanic, or if people fail at certain mechanics and the party is about to be oneshotted.

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If a melee DPS is paired with a caster or brd/mch, just let them use it on a big group, or ask if they are used to doing that if you are concerned. A melee DPS in a 4 man just uses it asap on the first thing that has a lot of hp so you can rebuild it, IF and ONLY if, there is no caster/brd/mch in the party.

When you say " if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB" you are referring to 4 man dungeons right? doing a big group? tank lb is NEVER, NEVER useful for that, and aoe LB for that is not for "surviving a giant pull" it is for speeding up the run. Sometimes depending, like 1 dps not being skilled, LB aoe has a secondary effect of allowing you to clear it to avoid the wipe, but that is not the primary purpose. The primary purpose of a LB is figuring out how to use it best to speed up the run the best, that's all.

When things go wrong in 8/24 man, you have healer LB, or using specific LBs at specific timestamps as mechanics call for it.

Basically a new player as a dps, just use it around 5-15% hp left on the final boss. ( the exact value depends what you are doing, do it at 15% on a 24 man, and you may harm the group later when its 4-7% and healer lb 3 is needed.)

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Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

Using the LB against mobs is generally a waste in my opinion, it doesn't kill them in one hit, and if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB, tank LB might do a better job, keeps the mobs from doing too much damage for a while...

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Killing them faster with a ranged LB will keep them from doing more damage than letting them live with a tank LB preventing some damage over time.
It's he same reason dps is priority for all classes in the games meta as it is. You simply prevent damage by killing them faster.

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Originally Posted by Canadane

Killing them faster with a ranged LB will keep them from doing more damage than letting them live with a tank LB preventing some damage over time.
It's he same reason dps is priority for all classes in the games meta as it is. You simply prevent damage by killing them faster.

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That's only when you intentionally (and unnecessarily!) create more of a problem for yourself/your group by overpulling/multipulling, though. Yeah, you get things done faster if you pull multiple groups, but then if you burn an LB on a group of mobs, what happens if somebody screws up on the boss, you wipe at 10-15% and realize that LB2 could have finished him off if you had just saved it instead of burning it on a group of mobs right outside the boss's door? The time you saved by LBing the trash and overpulling is suddenly wasted by a wipe and rez and re-fighting the boss again.

*shrug*

I think using LB on Trash is just reckless and not needed.

70 in a week?
...like nonstop play? No job no school or any other interruptions?

...or just skipping/rushing thru anything that isn't a level increase?

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Originally Posted by CainCrimson

70 in a week?
...like nonstop play? No job no school or any other interruptions?

...or just skipping/rushing thru anything that isn't a level increase?

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Yeah, that's kind of ridiculous and hard to believe. The MSQ alone takes a VERY long time and there are quite a few gaps where you are not high enough level to proceed with it and you need to do other stuff.

You'd basically need someone to carry you to provide you with gear at every few levels and you'd probably either have to be a tank or Q with a tank to get Lv70+MSQ in a week.

As a caster I will tend to use it in dungeons where the tank does a large pull as long as there is enough time to rebuild it for a melee LB on the last boss. As it is hard to get decent coordination via DF I try to tell the tank early on where the large pull would exploit the LB but it doesn't always work. If for some reason I can't use the LB I don't worry about it and just play through. For normal content LB doesn't really make much difference other than speed things up a bit between bosses.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

That's only when you intentionally (and unnecessarily!) create more of a problem for yourself/your group by overpulling/multipulling, though. Yeah, you get things done faster if you pull multiple groups, but then if you burn an LB on a group of mobs, what happens if somebody screws up on the boss, you wipe at 10-15% and realize that LB2 could have finished him off if you had just saved it instead of burning it on a group of mobs right outside the boss's door? The time you saved by LBing the trash and overpulling is suddenly wasted by a wipe and rez and re-fighting the boss again.

*shrug*

I think using LB on Trash is just reckless and not needed.

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The thing is with most dungeons you have plenty of time to rebuild the LB and if you don't your burning the boss down anyway and don't really need it.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

That's only when you intentionally (and unnecessarily!) create more of a problem for yourself/your group by overpulling/multipulling, though. Yeah, you get things done faster if you pull multiple groups, but then if you burn an LB on a group of mobs, what happens if somebody screws up on the boss, you wipe at 10-15% and realize that LB2 could have finished him off if you had just saved it instead of burning it on a group of mobs right outside the boss's door? The time you saved by LBing the trash and overpulling is suddenly wasted by a wipe and rez and re-fighting the boss again.

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Wrong on every account. First, multi-pulling speeds up the dungeon run so much that a single wipe on a boss will NOT make the time wasted. Indeed. Even with a wipe you will finish the run faster than if you pulled only one group at a time. And that's even when you're not using limit break on trash mobs.

Second, a boss in dungeon is dealt about 10% damage with the limit break. It clearly varies from party to party and dungeon to dungeon, but that's a safe estimate of "average". Then it takes about 3% of its life from the moment of the limit break being selected to it actually dealing damage. If you are in a pinch...you will most likely NOT get it off. Either you will be killed by that AoE that you don't want to hit or the other mechanic will eat you up. Using DPS limit break to save a run is not only very unreliable but often plain impossible. And, on top of that, it's not even speeding the dungeon up by any significant deal. With dungeons, only limit break 2 can be used on bosses (and even that won't often charge on the bosses or will past a point where it's actually useful). That's not a whole deal of damage in comparison, so it's not as significant as it is in trials or raids. And if the DPS that uses it is actually the one with better gear, the other one being poorly equipped...the difference grows ever smaller.

What a limit break on boss does is make it a bit easier. One or two skills from a boss maybe. Only in few it can make a difference (like the Wing phases of some bosses mentioned before by someone), but that's due to mechanics of that fight for which party would keep the limit break anyway (if they know what they are doing).

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Originally Posted by Maeka

I think using LB on Trash is just reckless and not needed.

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When majority of dungeons go past without limit break being used ONCE, how can using it efficiently be reckless?! And it's not needed because limit break is not needed. None of it. Not even at the end of a boss. The game is not balanced with limit break in mind AT ALL. You can see that in every content. You can finish every content without using limit break even once. At the same time, there are fights where using limit break correctly can make their hardest phases into a joke. That's why using it for efficiency is the best way to use it...in dungeons. In trials/raids it's best kept for healers as the ultimate panic button, where the time at stake and the likelihood of it being needed get higher (though even this have exceptions...since statics with high-level players won't really need that panic button more than once even several dozen runs).

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Originally Posted by kikix12

Wrong on every account. First, multi-pulling speeds up the dungeon run so much that a single wipe on a boss will NOT make the time wasted. Indeed. Even with a wipe you will finish the run faster than if you pulled only one group at a time. And that's even when you're not using limit break on trash mobs.

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Wipes are always unpleasant and leave a sour taste in one's mouth, though.

Technically it might be faster, or maybe not. Depends on the group and their DPS, and what jobs you actually got.

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Second, a boss in dungeon is dealt about 10% damage with the limit break. It clearly varies from party to party and dungeon to dungeon, but that's a safe estimate of "average". Then it takes about 3% of its life from the moment of the limit break being selected to it actually dealing damage. If you are in a pinch...you will most likely NOT get it off. Either you will be killed by that AoE that you don't want to hit or the other mechanic will eat you up. Using DPS limit break to save a run is not only very unreliable but often plain impossible. And, on top of that, it's not even speeding the dungeon up by any significant deal. With dungeons, only limit break 2 can be used on bosses (and even that won't often charge on the bosses or will past a point where it's actually useful). That's not a whole deal of damage in comparison, so it's not as significant as it is in trials or raids. And if the DPS that uses it is actually the one with better gear, the other one being poorly equipped...the difference grows ever smaller.

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First, you don't need to wait until the last 15% to use your limit break (which is the very thing I said you shouldn't be doing anyways, unless you really have nothing else to use it on).

When you use a DPS LB on a boss, you are likely doing it to skip a phase (Tioman's Wings, Charibert's Holy Fires, etc). It won't straight up save you (although I HAVE seen situations in which we get a boss down to 10% and one DPS dies, healer and tank are half dead, and the one DPS finally decides to end it with a LB, but this is much less often than the usual) and/or make the fight easier to survive.

Like Aurum Vale. Mage LB on all the seeds and sproutlings makes the healer's job MUCH easier than doing it without. You could potentially avoid a bad situation in which you don't kill the seeds fast enough and you got a few sproutlings on you, and it just goes south from there. Maybe even a wipe, if the healer can't keep up with it.

But if you had used that Mage LB on the seeds... then there wouldn't BE any sproutlings and the healer wouldn't be as taxed.

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What a limit break on boss does is make it a bit easier. One or two skills from a boss maybe. Only in few it can make a difference (like the Wing phases of some bosses mentioned before by someone), but that's due to mechanics of that fight for which party would keep the limit break anyway (if they know what they are doing).

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That someone was me, btw.

And eh. I've never seen a mage LB Tioman's Wings except me, lol.

Randoms rarely consider stuff like that.

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When majority of dungeons go past without limit break being used ONCE, how can using it efficiently be reckless?! And it's not needed because limit break is not needed. None of it. Not even at the end of a boss. The game is not balanced with limit break in mind AT ALL. You can see that in every content. You can finish every content without using limit break even once. At the same time, there are fights where using limit break correctly can make their hardest phases into a joke. That's why using it for efficiency is the best way to use it...in dungeons. In trials/raids it's best kept for healers as the ultimate panic button, where the time at stake and the likelihood of it being needed get higher (though even this have exceptions...since statics with high-level players won't really need that panic button more than once even several dozen runs).

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It's reckless to burn something you might end up needing later? *shrug* You don't know what might happen. Somebody might DC right near the end of the fight. What if your healer's router decides to quit in the middle of the last boss fight? Or what if they start lagging or something, or they do something stupid and get killed? You got a boss with 10% staring you in the face, a dead DPS, a live DPS, and a Tank who's, say, half HP or so.

"Gee, I wish we had our LB about now....."

EDIT: Now, I get that not using it during the entire run is somewhat wasteful, but then again, without a time machine or clairvoyancy, you're not going to know ahead of time if you're going to need it. One of my favorite quotes from Alien vs Predator:

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It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

Wipes are always unpleasant and leave a sour taste in one's mouth, though.

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If a wipe happened in any dungeon run, chances are it was unpleasant altogether. Dungeons are just not difficult content, so any wipes that come are culmination of problems that would begin from the get-go.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

Technically it might be faster, or maybe not. Depends on the group and their DPS, and what jobs you actually got.

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There was not a single time in a party that had their AoE's that running individual groups would be faster for me. That's mathematically impossible. If people do not use their AoE's then it's not the methods fault but players for not using their tools.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

First, you don't need to wait until the last 15% to use your limit break (which is the very thing I said you shouldn't be doing anyways, unless you really have nothing else to use it on).

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Using it on first stage (aka. before the last dozen %'s in most dungeons) is just pointless. The loss of one DPS for an extended period, who also becomes an easy target, can only bring more trouble than it can save. Unless you're using limit break 2 on a boss, not using limit break at all is better, sans the spawn-phases where AoE limit break one is most certainly useful.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

When you use a DPS LB on a boss, you are likely doing it to skip a phase (Tioman's Wings, Charibert's Holy Fires, etc).

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Never saw anyone use limit break to skip any phase at all (in 4-man dungeons), except the ones related to spawns (which wings are as well). For a very obvious reason which I gave above. Using limit break at 1, if it's not meant to bring the boss to death or near-death is more risk than gain.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

It's reckless to burn something you might end up needing later? *shrug*

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It's wasteful to not use something you won't be needing later. Limit break is "needed" in dungeons one every several dozens of runs. It could save you more time in all those others where it was not needed that the avoidance of a single wipe caused by poor players abilities is not really all that great.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

Somebody might DC right near the end of the fight.

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The moment someone gets disconnected, the party is no longer full and all the limit break is wasted. It literally is removed and when that person reloggs it is empty. Risk of disconnection is an argument for using it as soon as possible in the run, not for keeping it for the final boss. Especially since with exception of Halatali and similar, using limit break between first and second boss or earlier will ALWAYS be better than not, since the limit break WILL fill up before the last boss. Guaranteed.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

Or what if they start lagging or something, or they do something stupid and get killed? You got a boss with 10% staring you in the face, a dead DPS, a live DPS, and a Tank who's, say, half HP or so.

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A boss at 10% is very much soloable. Having a live DPS AND a tank is already enough to finish it off. I play with someone that likes healers, but tends to die to the easiest mechanics due to a bad habit of "I'll heal before I hide" or "I am too focused on health bars to see the boss cast bar". At 50% of a boss and half-dead party and we still regularly clear the bosses despite that. Heck. I soloed the Chimera in Cutters cry from 80% down to zero as a low-geared bard. If a half-dead tank and a not-half-dead DPS cannot finish off 10% of HP, they are utter newbies. There are very FEW bosses to which this does not apply in dungeons.

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It's reckless to burn something you might end up needing later?

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Why use anything that you might need later, in that case?

The whole game is a constant ebb and flow of risk vs reward. Saving a limit break is rarely ever going to be the thing that saves a boss fight.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

Wipes are always unpleasant and leave a sour taste in one's mouth, though.

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You are simply betting on everyone being bad, and I think that is a bad point of view to have on people. Have some trusts in others eh?

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Like Aurum Vale. Mage LB on all the seeds and sproutlings makes the healer's job MUCH easier than doing it without.

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Does not, maybe if a combination of a healer and 2 dps not knowing how to play, maybe, but if a mage knows how to lb it is likely they know how to use rotations properly. Even with that, it is most efficient just to down them with holy spam (though I am not sure if SCH now can "solo them" with Miasma II , but then there is AST, sucks to be AST before 52 in general, why did SE do that anyway?

The situations you are trying to describe would be rare as hell, because on the one hand, if people are playing that badly, a LB is not going to save them, on the other hand if your playing with people that know the best places to use it, it is likely they know how to play well in general where it would not be needed to begin with.