The Black Mage Rotations

[Synovius]

Shameless bump. I also have a video on it's way up to YouTube right now the explains the rotations and all the stuff in my OP.

[Kjarahz]

For AoE on turn 4 of coil I've been using the following:

Fire 3
Fire 2 x3 (Or until about 1000MP)
Swift Cast - Flare
Convert
Flare
Transpose

It works well on ad phases so far and just about times correctly with CDs.

[SeraviEdalborez]

@OP, Why would you ever Flare with full MP?

[Synovius]

@OP, Why would you ever Flare with full MP?

Flare is our hardest hitting ability, by a large margin. For this reason, it is a mathematical fact that the more Flares we can fit into our rotation, the more damage we'll fit into a given period of time - so long as we're not doing something hokey that results in a non-fluid, clunky rotation or a rotation that is very situational based on RNG. The rotation that I've listed out for AoE casts Flare, with three stacks of Astral Fire, as often as is possible with the lone exception of using Convert for a double Astral Fire III Flare. Mana is a bit irrelevant when it comes to a rotation. Remember: a DPS rotation's goal is to maximize DPS. DPS doesn't care about what you're mana pool looks like.

On top of all that, I've extensively parsed various AoE rotations and the rotation I've detailed out came out on top by a sizable margin.

[Synovius]

For AoE on turn 4 of coil I've been using the following:

Fire 3
Fire 2 x3 (Or until about 1000MP)
Swift Cast - Flare
Convert
Flare
Transpose

It works well on ad phases so far and just about times correctly with CDs.

I just did some parsing using this rotation versus the rotation I've outlined. All parses were done for 2 minutes nonstop on 3 targets. I used the DPS dummies in Whitebrim (Coerthas) for these parses. Here are the results:

Rotation: Fire III ==> Fire II (spam) ==> Flare ==> Transpose
Note: Initial Flare of rotation was followed by Convert + a second Flare. This was repeated on CD.
Result 1: 398
Result 2: 387
Result 3: 402

Rotation: Fire III ==> Flare ==> Transpose ==> Blizzard II ==> Blizzard II
Note: Initial Flare of rotation was followed by Convert + a second Flare. This was repeated on CD.
Result 1: 448
Result 2: 456
Result 3: 454

I'm pulling roughly 10% more DPS using the rotation I outlined but yours is definitely competitive and I can understand if there's an lack of desire on your (or anyone's) part to stand in melee so you can hit with Blizzard II .

[SeraviEdalborez]

Were you also doing Blizzard2 for the Fire2 rotation? Because it's not like you just sit there after Transpose.

[Doogsi]

For AoE on turn 4 of coil I've been using the following:

Fire 3
Fire 2 x3 (Or until about 1000MP)
Swift Cast - Flare
Convert
Flare
Transpose

It works well on ad phases so far and just about times correctly with CDs.

this is the same rotation I use for speed runs in WP followed up with Blizzard2 x2, repeat. I'm up to try different rotations, but this is the best I have found.

[Synovius]

Were you also doing Blizzard2 for the Fire2 rotation? Because it's not like you just sit there after Transpose.

No Blizzard II at all in the Fire II rotation. I immediately start casting Fire III as soon as possible after the Flare.

[Synovius]

You will get roughly 10% more DPS out of the rotation I've posted.

[Doogsi]

I just went to Whitebrim and tested your rotation and it's better than I thought, but the highest dps I was getting in 2min period came from Fire3-> fire2 spam -> flare -> transpose -> Blizzard2 and then repeat. At least I learned that 1 blizzard 2 is sufficient and a second is not needed.