The Black Mage Rotations

[NeoAmon]

I did not swap yet and will only swap after 2.1 when it is confirmed that BLM problem is being ignored.

Edit: you win, tired of the harassment and hatred I received. All posts are deleted. I will wait until tonight live letter and hope for the best.

[Peptaru]

GL to you, to us all, but I have a feeling you'll be playing summoner next week.

[Synovius]

Just a heads up that the AoE rotations will absolutely be changing after this patch and the ST rotation may change a bit as well. After I've played around with it a bit, I'll come update this thread.

[Rainsford]

Just a heads up that the AoE rotations will absolutely be changing after this patch and the ST rotation may change a bit as well. After I've played around with it a bit, I'll come update this thread.

The only difference will be an exchange of B2 with Freeze and an overall nerf to damage. Doing a F2 rotation runs you 2s over GCD and, with the new changes, Freezex2>F3>F>Transpose will run you 2s over the GCD as well. So it comes down to "Pot over total number of casts", and the standard AOE rotation with Freeze subbed in is still superior to F2, even if you're forced to hardcast Flare.

[O-Deka-K]

Agreed. Although they've confirmed they are only fixing the back to back Flares, I am a little scared it may "fix" the overall ability to double-dip as you mentioned. If that were to occur then the AoE rotation I've posted would probably need to be scrapped and a Fire II AoE rotation be adopted.

I tried it for a little bit this morning. As far as I can tell, double-dip is gone. What's weird is that you still need a slight delay when changing from Blizzard/Freeze to Fire. Just try spamming B3 > F3 > B3 > F3 to see. I forgot to actually try the double-Flare.

Also, the rumors about the mana tick syncing to your UI buff seem to be false. It's every 3 seconds as usual.

[Louro999]

No it's not false, I noticed a huge difference.
Pre-patch one could cast B3 when low on MP, then F3 RIGHT after it and get half your MP back with 1 tick. Was great for trash with no need for Thunder.
Post-patch if you do this, you will launch your F3 before your MP tick procs, and therefore you will end up in AF3 with no MP and have to go back to B3.
Now it is kind of mandatory to use either Thunder 1-2 or Scathe before your F3.

Anyone else noticed that ?

[Kenji1134]

Ive been having some instability with my rotation with 3629 mana.
Sometimes I will end my 5 Fire 1 cycle with enough mana for B3 and T2, sometimes with enough for B3 and T1, and sometimes not even enough for B3 and T1...
It all hinges on when the last UI tick goes off, sometimes right after a thunder 1/2, or not...

The most stable rotation that I have found so far (for the regeneration phase) is B3 - B1 - T2 - F3.
B1 has the lowest mana cost, so it is the most readily available ability, and better than Scathe unless you need to move at that moment.
This lets me get 1 tick from UI3, then T2 (less clipping due to the longer regen phase), and F3 immediately after T2. Using this rotation I dont have to wait for any ticks, and I never clip a tick by using F3 early.

That said, I do not know if this IS in fact better than B3 - T2 - wait for tick - F3. The wait is less than a gcd, but it is time spend doing nothing.

All in all, BLM feels a lot more clunky now.

[Waliel]

What is happening is that AF3 and UI3 buffs disappear about 0.5 second before the cast is finished, and that is the reason why you don't get a mana back like you used. You only get the normal mana tick of 2% instead of UI buffed one.

[Thalassocrat]

Casting B3>T2>F3 will sometimes not leave you with full MP ticks, it's slower now. Or at least not perfectly synced as people say.

[Kenji1134]

Casting B3>T2>F3 will sometimes not leave you with full MP ticks, it's slower now. Or at least not perfectly synced as people say.

That is the crux of the issue... that and being left with slightly different amounts of mana at the end of the fire phase/cycle depending on how your last tick lined up.
The safe thing to do seems to be to use a 1 gcd filler either after B3 or after T2 to ensure you get the most out of your ticks. It may be a bit of a dps loss, but its is a LOT better than cutting out maybe 1/3-1/4 of your fire cycle.