How to actually maintain Enochian?

Lately I've been getting into a few Post-60 dungeons while leveling my BLM through Leveling Roulette and I'm finding trouble trying to figure out just what your rotation is supposed to BE, and struggling to work with what seems like an insanely small margin of error on your actions which is not very forgiving whatsoever.

When first reading the abilities, it sounded like it would be pretty reasonable, however the tooltips don't tell you that Blizzard IV and Fire IV do not refresh the duration of Astral Fire/Ice for some stupid reason.

You get, what is it again, 13 seconds of Astral Fire/Ice... and before Enochian and the IV spells, I had no trouble maintaining AF/AI full-time... my old rotation looked like this:

Blizzard III
Thunder (Single or AoE depending on situation)
Fire III
Fire III (if Firestarter) > Fire until MP dry > Fire II if 4+ enemies (I've found on 3 enemies, it didn't seem like the DPS was all that great, as I ran out of MP far too quickly)
Blizzard III
repeat

But with Enochian, it doesn't seem to matter what exactly I try... I always end up 1 or 2 seconds short and AF/AI always drops off in the middle of the rotation and I can't figure out why I'm having so much trouble trying to get the hang of this. It doesn't help that casting anything with a hard-cast that does not refresh AF/AI gives you a painfully tight window to hurry up and throw something else to keep the timer going. They REALLY didn't give you very much time to wiggle extra stuff into the rotation.

That, and it is very freaking annoying how I'll get set up to start casting, and the tank decides to drag mobs out of my casting range and throw my entire Rotation out the window and I have to start again from scratch or I have to move and whoops, there goes a cast and my AF/AI is gone.

Should I just ignore Enochian for leveling? That's what I did the last time I did Sirensong, and it resulted in me seemingly performing better than actually trying to maintain it.

Enochian will never fall off if you're using the <Lv60 rotation, since Enochian's maintenance condition is exactly "maintain Astral Fire or Umbral Ice", and Fire (I) and Fire II refresh the AF timer.

If you're having trouble maintaining it once you learn Fire IV, swap a Fire IV and a Fire. Fire and Fire IV cost the same, so shuffling them around doesn't affect your time-to-OOM. You should be able to do 4-4-4-1-4-4-4, but if you can't, do 4-4-1-4-4-4-4. It's the same cost, and since Blizzard III's cast time is half during Astral Fire III, fitting it in to the last couple seconds of Enochian shouldn't (shouldn't) be a problem.

If bad pulls or mechanics disrupt your rotation and your timer's running low, cast the tier 1 spell of your current element to extend the timer.

Maybe I'm just tripping up on the buttons or something...

That and I will admit we had a GOGOGOGOGOGOGO tank during that first dungeon I attempted to use the IV spells and that was NOT helping whatsoever.

Quote:

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Blizzard III
Thunder (Single or AoE depending on situation)
Fire III
Fire III (if Firestarter) > Fire until MP dry > Fire II if 4+ enemies (I've found on 3 enemies, it didn't seem like the DPS was all that great, as I ran out of MP far too quickly)
Blizzard III
repeat

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Now that you are above 60 you need to use FireIV, to make it simple, it has 100 more potency than fire, making it deal 55% more dmg. However it has a slightly longer cast, (2.8 vs 2.5), the difference is 12% (in terme of per cast) so fireIV actually does 36% more damage.

So, assuming no movement your rotation should be

Single target
Bliz3 -> Enoch -> Thunder3 -> Blizz4 -> Fire3 ->Sharpcast/Leyline (if available)
FireIV x3 -> Fire -> FireIV until dry (fireIII if proc ready), Blizz3 repeat

Now, there are a few things to note:
First, when out of LeyLine, unless you have some spellspeed, FireIVx3 might be tight.(I don't know how much SS you have, if you can safely pull 3 always do it)
So if you're unsure (for instance, movement might be coming or something), you can go for FireIVx2 -> Fire1. You'll do less dps but at the moment I believe the goal is that you get the rotation right and never loose enochan.
It's better to do an extra fire1 cast than greeding a fireIV and loosing enochan.

You could argue that you can simply recast enochan, but this is a bad habit because at lv 70 you'll get Foul which will require you to never loose enochan. So it's better to start off with good habit.

In other words
you're safe and you can pull it : greed as many FireIV as your SpellSpeed allow
you're not safe, AoE might be coming : Refresh Astral Fire a bit early with Fire1 (and hope for a free proc)


You might read somewhere that the BLM opener involves Triple Cast right after the first FireIII.
FireIII having a 1.5s cast when under UmbralIcex3, you can safely weave an ability. Triple Cast making your next 3 spells instant allows you to weave sharpcast, Leyline and Convert without any clipping. (and your FireIV does more dps because it's cast = recast)

I don't think you have Triple Cast yet since you said "post lv 60 dungeons"

In dungeon boss tend to make player move quite a lot, so if you're not sure you might want to hold on that Triple Cast. Because x3 instant while moving > 0.2s saved on 3 skill during the opening. If you loose a single FireIV due to movement because you used Triple Cast during your opener, you'll overall have lost all the gain form using triple cast during the opening.

Another way to gain dps is to abuse Eatherical Manipulation. There's always one player in a safe spot.

Regarding Thundercloud, try to use the proc at the end of the DoT. However it's better to refresh it earlier if your proc is about to fade.
Feel free to use it while moving if nothing is available too.

At lv ... 68? i think... you get improved IceIV, your Flare will basically consume all stack of umbral heart and leave you with 20% mp (so another flare)

Usually the rotation is a bit like
Ice3 Thunder4(I like using sharpcast here) Ice4 Fire3 Flare Flare Transpose+Thunder4 Ice4 Fire3 repeat
Feel free to weave any available triplecast/swiftcast


Perhaps someone will add more info

BLM rotation is like this before 70 (that only adds Foul to the rotation):

Blizzard 3 - Enochian - Thunder 3 - Blizzard 4 - Leylines - Fire 3 - Fire 4 (x3) - Sharpcast - Fire 1 - Fire 4 (x3) - Fire 3 (with proc because of sharpcast) - Convert - Fire 4 (x2) - Blizzard 3

If you get thunder 3 procs, you can skip 1 fire 4 if your thunder dot is below 10 sec, it gives more dps at the end.

AOE rotation is different at lv68+. Before 68+, you use fire 2's until you have like %10-15 mp left, then you use flare.
After 68+, you should use fire 2 twice and then flare twice.

To keep enochian basically, you should do these in general while playing BLM in my opinion:

1. If your SS is below 2000, you shouldn't go for a 4th fire 4. In general keep the rotation like "fire 4 (x3), fire 1 , fire 4 (x3). If you have enough SS you can try it but never be greedy to put that extra fire 4 especially if you suspect you will move.

2. Keep swiftcast available at all times unless you know the fight perfectly. You may never know when you will have to move, or do a certain mechanic, or simply mess up the rotation. If you feel like you are gonna lose enochian, simply use swiftcast - fire 1, or transpose. It depends on the situation but if you are at the end of your rotation you can use swiftcast - bliz3 as well if you are on the edge of breaking enochian, it is mostly situational.

3. Never be greedy is my general motto as BLM. For example i don't have triplecast or swiftcast ready, i must move but i put 2 fire4s, i skip the other one and simply use fire 1, or go into bliz3 if my mp is about to go out. It is less dps loss that way then losing eno, because at lv70 you lose Foul too. So it depends on the timer basically. If the timer is beneath 4 sec, simply cast fire1 or bliz3 depending on where you are at the rotation.

4. Also unless it procs and like i said if it isn't below 10 sec on dot, try to use thunder spells only on blizzard state. Again, if you feel like you are gonna lose eno by some mechanic, you can use swiftcast - bliz3 and then thunder3, or just skip thunder3 for one rotation.

It will be easy to keep enochian in time, it requires practice and knowing "how" to move as BLM. It is a lot easier after lv66, since you get triplecast. Good luck, i hope it is useful here what i wrote : )

Practice on dummy until you know your rotation well enough to not think about it.

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Originally Posted by Zerathor

Practice on dummy until you know your rotation well enough to not think about it.

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if you don't have to think bout it anymore take a buddy with you who randomly shouts "MOVE!" or "Stack!!11" and try again this is what manifests your nemesis later ;3

Because mechanics can really throw a wrench in your rotation, I find the best method is to be quick on your fingers and use the rule of 3. Probably more important to learn this than to learn an exact rotation.
6+ seconds remaining, you're good for Fire IV
3+ seconds, Fire I
<3 seconds, swiftcast Fire I or use a Firestarter proc, or if necessary Transpose.
And if you're mp is too low for another Fire IV just go straight to Blizzard III, which in AF and with enough SpS and a good ping can even be cast at 1.5 seconds.

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Originally Posted by Neela

if you don't have to think bout it anymore take a buddy with you who randomly shouts "MOVE!" or "Stack!!11" and try again this is what manifests your nemesis later ;3

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Sliiiiiiiiiiiiide to the stack.

Sliiiiiiiiiiiiide to the lines.

C'mon every body.

Depending on your gear you probably don't have a lot of Spell Speed... and if you have any sort of latency then what should (on paper) be 1-2 seconds to spare at the end of a standard rotation just never seems to be there...

Best way I found to 'get used to the rotation' was to just do a 4-4-1-4-4(-1-4) rotation, adjusting it to 4-4-4-1-4-4-4 during Lay Lines (assuming Blizzard IV) ... while not optimal this will give you a much greater margin of error and (hopefully) let you build up the muscle memory without constantly breaking your stride due to dropping Enochian.

Other tips:
- Get used to using Transpose (practice while running between packs or when you have to move) ... again, not optimal, but builds the muscle memory for when you do need it (and for Triplecast > Flare > Flare > Transpose > Foul AoE of awesome @ level 70)
- Get used to using Swiftcast / Triplecast as soon as you have to move
- Get used to using Sharpcast before Fire I, having an instant Fire III in your pocket can be invaluable (and you can always just blow it at the end of AF phase if you don't otherwise use it)
- Get used to using Aetherial Manipulation (macro targeting party member <1>, i.e. the tank, works well enough most of the time) and Between the Lines (saves a bit of 'travel time')
- Looking at gear, I find about 2000 Spell Speed (achievable at around iLvl 350) makes the standard 4-4-4-1-4-4-4 rotation a lot more manageable (at about 250-300ms latency)

NB: But yes, the current functioning of Enochian is an absolute pain that serves as nothing but a 'punishment mechanic' and should have been changed / just outright removed at SB launch.

I don't know about below 70 for sure, but a max level black mage is never going to be using fire 2, its potency is laughably low, why touch it when you can just triple or quad flare everything- then foul up to twice?

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Originally Posted by Sylvina

I don't know about below 70 for sure, but a max level black mage is never going to be using fire 2, its potency is laughably low, why touch it when you can just triple or quad flare everything- then foul up to twice?

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When there are enough targets, and if you don't have Convert, you can Triple Cast Fire II - Flare - Flare - Transpose for some free damage. Since you can only triple/quad flare by using items and/or convert. Thing is, Fire II might have low potency, but it doesn't diminish at all so if you can get in more AoEs before you have to transpose back to Ice, you can frontload a little more damage. Also considering squeezing it in before the flares doesn't really cost a thing, since one Umbral Heart won't steal a Flare from you.

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Originally Posted by VileIves

When there are enough targets, and if you don't have Convert, you can Triple Cast Fire II - Flare - Flare - Transpose for some free damage. Since you can only triple/quad flare by using items and/or convert. Thing is, Fire II might have low potency, but it doesn't diminish at all so if you can get in more AoEs before you have to transpose back to Ice, you can frontload a little more damage. Also considering squeezing it in before the flares doesn't really cost a thing, since one Umbral Heart won't steal a Flare from you.

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For the amount of targets for F2 to be considered using, T4 is racking up TClouds. GCDs spent on F2 in this scenario prevent you from using more flares while letting your downtime be filled with T4TCs.

F2 is only 'worth it' compared to flare when the target list starts exceeding 6 enemies, but in these scenarios, T4 outpaces it due to ramping TCloud procs.

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Originally Posted by Acidblood

NB: But yes, the current functioning of Enochian is an absolute pain that serves as nothing but a 'punishment mechanic' and should have been changed / just outright removed at SB launch.

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My only wish is the enochain button reset your current AF UI timer to maximum when pressed.

Would open up some flexibility and make the button itself generally more useful. Occasionally being able to use it to skip that fire1 and extend your f4 burst that little bit.