The Black Mage Rotations

[NeoAmon]

It doesn't matter which proc does more damage. The two scenarios are as follows:

Thunder III -> Fire III
or
Fire III -> Thunder III

In both cases you've done the same amount of damage over the course of two GCDs. But the first of those two scenarios give you a chance at another Thundercloud proc immediately. The second of the two could result in a missed thundercloud if it were to proc again as you cast Fire III.

It doesn't really matter how much time is left on your current thunder because thunder will never fall off of a single target in a normal rotation unless you get some amazing luck and had Firestarter proc on every single Fire I during the rotation.

This is quite true, I have had 4 Thundercloud procs one after the other in T4. This is only possible if you ignore Fire III procs when you have Thundercloud up. While Fire III is definitely more dmg it won't proc until your Fire I lands on target while Thundercloud is just pure luck ^^ (and some cleaver tactics to get a better chance).

[Shadowzanon]

I like when i get thunder procs in a row making me wonder if i failed to use it XD

[Farmer]

Heres three flare rotations I found to be my top dps charts so far.
I also found mages ballad with a bard and bliz3 > fire3 > flare to be the best single target dps in my rotation. Unfortuantly for the bard they lose 20% damage so the 15%-50% blm damage increase in single target damage is only good with two blm or more. But I think this is why the bards mages ballad has the -20% damage decrease, because blm would be too OP if they dint have that. The blm can switch to this rotation for single target dps when ever bard uses ballad for healers, so it pulls up the slack created by the -20% dps of the bard also.

[Farmer]

Flare Rotation 1 (With Mages Ballad) = 279.9 - 360.3 dps <<< Result
Blizard 3 > Fire 3 > Flare > Repeat
Cast times: 1.66 fire 3 + 1.90 flare + 1.66 bliz 3 = 5.22s + (occasional mana wait between bliz 3 and fire 3 is 0 - 1.5s )
full rotation total time = 5.22s (75% of the time) - 6.72s (25% of the time)
--
Flare Rotation 2 (Without Ballad) = 190.1 dps <<<Result
Blizzard 3 > Fire 3 > Flare > Repeat
Cast times: 1.66s fire 3 + 1.90s flare > Transpose 3s downtime > 3.33s bliz 3
full rotation total time = 9.89s (100% of the time)
--
Flare Rotation 3 (Without Ballad, Use Fire 2 three times before ending with a flare) = 225.6 dps <<< Result
Blizzard 3 > Fire 3 > Fire 2 > Fire 2 > Fire 2 > Flare > Repeat
Cast times: 1.66 bliz 3 + 1.66 fire 3 + 1.42 fire 2 + 2.85 fire 2 + 2.85 fire 2 + 3.80 flare
full rotation total time = 14.24s (100% of the time)
--
Dps tables used
Flare = 1158
Bliz 3 = 354 (after astral fire III)
Fire 3 = 369 (after astral ice III)
Fire 2 = 444 (with astral fire III)

[PsychologyPhD]

Flare Rotation 1 (With Mages Ballad) = 279.9 - 360.3 dps <<< Result
Blizard 3 > Fire 3 > Flare > Repeat
Cast times: 1.66 fire 3 + 1.90 flare + 1.66 bliz 3 = 5.22s + (occasional mana wait between bliz 3 and fire 3 is 0 - 1.5s )
full rotation total time = 5.22s (75% of the time) - 6.72s (25% of the time)
--
Flare Rotation 2 (Without Ballad) = 190.1 dps <<<Result
Blizzard 3 > Fire 3 > Flare > Repeat
Cast times: 1.66s fire 3 + 1.90s flare > Transpose 3s downtime > 3.33s bliz 3
full rotation total time = 9.89s (100% of the time)
--
Flare Rotation 3 (Without Ballad, Use Fire 2 three times before ending with a flare) = 225.6 dps <<< Result
Blizzard 3 > Fire 3 > Fire 2 > Fire 2 > Fire 2 > Flare > Repeat
Cast times: 1.66 bliz 3 + 1.66 fire 3 + 1.42 fire 2 + 2.85 fire 2 + 2.85 fire 2 + 3.80 flare
full rotation total time = 14.24s (100% of the time)
--
Dps tables used
Flare = 1158
Bliz 3 = 354 (after astral fire III)
Fire 3 = 369 (after astral ice III)
Fire 2 = 444 (with astral fire III)

I'm guessing your flare rotation 3 is meant for aoe?

[O-Deka-K]

Cast times: 1.66 fire 3 + 1.90 flare + 1.66 bliz 3 = 5.22s + (occasional mana wait between bliz 3 and fire 3 is 0 - 1.5s )
full rotation total time = 5.22s (75% of the time) - 6.72s (25% of the time)
--
Cast times: 1.66s fire 3 + 1.90s flare > Transpose 3s downtime > 3.33s bliz 3
full rotation total time = 9.89s (100% of the time)
--
Cast times: 1.66 bliz 3 + 1.66 fire 3 + 1.42 fire 2 + 2.85 fire 2 + 2.85 fire 2 + 3.80 flare
full rotation total time = 14.24s (100% of the time)

You didn't take GCD into account. Even though your cast time is (for instance) 1.66s, you still have to wait until the GCD is up before casting your next spell. I'm guessing from your Flare time that your GCD is 2.38s.

This makes your theoretical DPS:
1. 217.7 - 263.4
2. 169.6
3. 193.1

That's assuming your mana tick wait times are correct. Also, you should probably add a bit of time between buffs, because if you spam too fast you run the risk of casting before the correct buff is up.

[PessimiStick]

Those mana wait times are incorrect, because Ballad only ticks every 3 seconds. You have to wait an average of 1.5 seconds for the Ballad tick to afford B3, and then you have to wait for UI3 to tick (~0.5 seconds past the GCD assuming you started casting as soon as possible).

So on average, you spend 2 seconds waiting for mana in any given cycle, which would put the DPS at 208.5 DPS for those damage numbers, and only against a single target.

Generally speaking, all of the numbers in that post are wrong and/or not useful.

[Eaven]

Thoroughly enjoyed this post, cant remember the last thread I read from front to back and didnt feel like it devolved into mindless "you're bad, no you're bad". Thanks for the good info! Cant wait til my BLM's 50!

[YuriRamona]

Why would you do this? If you use thundercloud first you could potentially get another thundercloud immediately. Whereas you will not get another Firestarter proc until you go back to Fire I spam.

Thundercloud's effective potency is 17 potency per tick. Every tick of Thunder (and you are not already under its effect), you are adding 17 potency to your rotation.*

Scenario 1: Thunder has three ticks remaining and Thundercloud is used, refreshing duration for 6 ticks.
Total Thunder duration: 6 ticks.
Total Thunder duration with Thundercloud proc down: 6 ticks.

Scenario 2: Thunder has three ticks remaining and Thundercloud is saved until Thunder expires.
Total Thunder duration: 9 ticks.
Total Thunder duration with Thundercloud proc down: 6 ticks.

Immediately casting Thundercloud decreases the effectiveness of the initial Thunder cast. The only reason I can see for immediately using up this proc is if your rotation would be interrupted negatively by saving it until Thunder expires.

*5% of 340 is 17. There's a 5% chance that every tick is a bonus 340 potency and full 18s duration Thunder.

[Allyrion]

Snip

I would agree with that if Thunder didn't always seem to proc one right after the other. I've had procs for another one while in the process instantly casting a Thunder III proc.
The odds of that should be astronomical, but it happens quite a bit.
Or I should say, I don't get thundercloud procs much but when I do it almost always chains.

The people earlier were saying they had the same experience, so I'm not going to trust the probability in this case.