The Black Mage Rotations

[NeoAmon]

SE didn't have a problem with doing flare twice. They had a problem with the spell speed from umbral going onto 2 fire casts instead of only one. People were using this trick to do 2 flares faster than hard casts. It had nothing to do with the ability to cast flare twice in a row.

wot?

I heard Yoshi talks about it with both my ears in the live letter. He literally said casting flare twice using UI ticks is a bug.

SE had a problem with both casting fast Fire after switching to Astral III and also casting double flare using UI ticks. They tried to fix both but only managed to fix the fast fire cast.

[O-Deka-K]

It's important to consider the amount of time over which you're getting that higher PPS, though; getting higher PPS for a lesser amount of time may result in overall less potency dealt.

Yes, you're right. I realized that what I said didn't quite add up. If the opening does more PPS than the regular rotation (in all cases), then you would want to keep it going for as long as possible.

[scarebearz]

Move away from the centre , selecting one of the centre bugs as my main targets making sure I'm going to hit both rooks. Fire III > Fire II until oom > Bliz III > Fire III > Fire II once (changing targets in the process to the highest health bug) > QS > Raging Strike > Mega Int > Foe macro (yes I have a foe party chat spam macro with annoying sound) > Flare > Convert > Swiftcast > Flare. Using this method I clean everything and usually the phase ends few second before the next one starts.

Is using a Mega Int pot for double flare better than using a Mega Ether instead and making it a triple Flare?

[NeoAmon]

Is using a Mega Int pot for double flare better than using a Mega Ether instead and making it a triple Flare?

I think it will come about the same in the end if you do the math damage wise. The major gain from Mega Int would be the massive crit if it happens & the time saved from having to hard cast two flares. In most cases you will have one flare crit. I'm crit build and I rarely crit on both flares, let alone 3 flares. So yeah, IMO Mega Int is the superior option but that does not make 3 flares any less effective.

[Theremita]

I just hit 50 and I'm getting my BLM armour which means I'm getting flare too. How and when in the rotation is it used? Want to get it down before I start the last fight

[Synovius]

I just hit 50 and I'm getting my BLM armour which means I'm getting flare too. How and when in the rotation is it used? Want to get it down before I start the last fight

Flare is typically not used in a single-target rotation except under very certain circumstances. The single target and AoE rotations that you should be using are listed in my OP of this thread. Flare will be used almost exclusively in your AoE rotation. Take a look at my OP and let me know if you have any questions.

[Youmu]

If you're not swiftcasting flares or squeezing in flare+proc bombs with your last 300 MP in ST rotation, you're doing it wrong.

[Theremita]

One person says Flare is AoE only unless it's very certain circumstances. Another says I'm doing it wrong if I don't use Flare in single target rotation. I'm still just as confused lol

[Ooshima]

Flare is kinda a subjective thing. Personally in ST rotation I just stick to Fire III > Fire spam, unless I messed it up and find myself low on MP the prolly I'll throw in the Flare.

[NeoAmon]

One person says Flare is AoE only unless it's very certain circumstances. Another says I'm doing it wrong if I don't use Flare in single target rotation. I'm still just as confused lol

Normally, Flare is for AoE rotation only. However that does not mean you should not use it when the opportunity present itself. Example, T5 fast conflag, when the targeted person is a healer & you have Fire III proc plus low mana go ahead and flare both Twin and the conflag after you use Fire 3 proc.

This is a very specific example and there is a reason to it. The logic behind it is that 3 DD players are damaging Conflag with you, you are also low on mana and can't spam Fire I/III but you can flare both Twin and conflag for no less than 1.2k or 1.9k if crit followed by Fire III proc which comes to grand total of 2.2k~-3.6k~. Conflag is only 10k-11k HP so you did your portion this way plus hit Twin for 1.2k at least. Nevertheless, having low mana for Conflag is bad practice, you should always aim to have enough mana before conflag without going easy on Twin just so you can save mana for Conflag. It is an art I believe and with experience it becomes natural.

Another specific example is T1. After the snakes split and your group is no longer feeding them. Ask for Foe, pop RS + Mega INT and do your normal Fire I rotation followed by double flare, if you do this correctly within 15 seconds, double flares alone can do 3.1k~-5k~ damage on a single snake.