BLM Buffs Inc!

[Yukio]

BLM does not need a major buff. Firestarter stacking is most likely more than enough, anymore and you will risk overbuffing them

Black mages are the least favored class to bring for Turn 8 and 9. Why? Because our DPS is far too RNG based and sustainable DPS > RNG Spike Damage in >5 min encounters

RNG Factors in BLM:
- Scathe deals ~200 dmg to ~900 dmg
- # Firestarter proc is totally RNG
- # Thundercloud proc is totally RNG
- # "big number crits" are all RNG
- Moving from red circles is RNG

Stacking Firestarter to 3: any black mage that misses 2 Firestarter Proc should just reroll. Stacking to 2 is more than enough to make up for the fact no (competent) black mage stops after every Fire I to see if Firestarter procs. But still, double Firestarter back to back is a small use case. In the 11 minutes I do Turn 8, I can count maybe 10 times?

At least bards can play songs. Summoners can resurrect on top of their already high DPS output.

[xEscaflownex]

Badly Played Black mages are the least favored class to bring for Turn 8 and 9.

Fixed.

Good BLMs pull 370+ on T8, which isn't far behind most well played MNKs/DRGs/SMNs, and more than average/badly played ones, and nearly all t9 clear groups have had 1 or 2 BLMs.

[Halloween]

Fixed.

Good BLMs pull 370+ on T8, which isn't far behind most well played MNKs/DRGs/SMNs, and more than average/badly played ones, and nearly all t9 clear groups have had 1 or 2 BLMs.

bad blm here. This may not be the topic for it, but how do you dps that high? I'd be happy with even ~300dps @i96

[xEscaflownex]

bad blm here. This may not be the topic for it, but how do you dps that high? I'd be happy with even ~300dps @i96

Really? You should be able to do 330+ if your party has you running around to soak 2 mines in a 1 Tank setup, or 370+ if you just get to dps aside from tower activations (use Aetherial Manipulation to get back into stack instantly after obviously, same after mines if you are doing those). I'm only i100.

I Thunder III, Swiftcast Fire III, Raging Strikes, Fire spam (pop convert after first Firestarter or Thundercloud proc to get an additional 2 fires in before switching to UI) for opener, then just normal rotation. You can get two flares in on each dreadknight (one HC at the end of your AF phase and then another converted or potted + swiftcast), BRD Foes at pull and then for each dreadknight. Save a Firestarter or Thundercloud proc when your tower activation is about to come up if possible, use it during the travel there, then AM back to stack = nearly no downtime. This keeps me at 370+ if I'm not on double mine duty, and 20-30 DPS less if I am.

[Kenji1134]

There's also the gear question, that everyone seems to be ignoring.

With group buffs, pots, food, and cooperative bards, the difference between the atma's 69 damage, coil/levi 71 damage, animus 72 damage, and Laevateinn's 75 damage does end up making a noticeable difference.
Its not like T1-5 where you just assumed that everyone had their zenith and weapon damage was normalized across all players.
Now weapon damage is a big factor, since some people dont have the luck or time to have their animus finished, or didnt win the rolls to get their i110 weapon.

[NyneAlexander]

Really? You should be able to do 330+ if your party has you running around to soak 2 mines in a 1 Tank setup, or 370+ if you just get to dps aside from tower activations (use Aetherial Manipulation to get back into stack instantly after obviously, same after mines if you are doing those). I'm only i100.

I Thunder III, Swiftcast Fire III, Raging Strikes, Fire spam (pop convert after first Firestarter or Thundercould proc to get an additional 2 fires in before switching to UI) for opener, then just normal rotation. You can get two flares in on each dreadknight (one HC at the end of your AF phase and then another converterted or potted + swiftcast),

How do you have convert back for dreadknights? Or does your group do mine towers first?

[xEscaflownex]

How do you have convert back for dreadknights? Or does your group do mine towers first?

hence the "converted OR potted"

[Sleigh]

... and nearly all t9 clear groups have had 1 or 2 BLMs.

Not really. I haven't kept up with current kill videos but most of the original T9 kill videos in the weeks that followed BG's kill didn't use BLM, and the ones that did had BLM very low on aggro, even below SMN aggro by the end. The only thing BLM brings to the table in T9 is shielding abilities + AM to make arguably the least consistent part of the fight, Dive Bombs + Meteor Smashes, less risky.

Our group uses SMN SMN as our casters because SMN has a ridiculous amount of advantages (more DPS, destroys golems without the need for any CDs whatsoever, battle rez, more pets for stacking for Thermal, gets 80% of DPS in element phase while dodging) over BLM and no penalty for stacking them.

[NyneAlexander]

hence the "converted OR potted"

Ah whoops. Didn't see that at first. So do you not use INT pots at all? Is it better to just use manapots for flares? (specifically for T8)

[xEscaflownex]

Ah whoops. Didn't see that at first. So do you not use INT pots at all? Is it better to just use manapots for flares? (specifically for T8)

On T8 I usually don't unless it's off CD at the end to finish it up, I haven't calculated it or anything, but I'm pretty sure the 4k+ dmg you get from second flare on dread+avatar is at least equal to, and probably far outweighs, the dmg you get from 15 seconds/6 or so buffed casts of INT pot.

Looks like hq x int pot increases Fire I dmg by about 100~, Fire III by 150~, so in the 15 seconds, say 6 Fires and a Firestarter, around 750 dmg (more if any of the casts crit obviously), but still not close to non crit Flare on 2 targets, let alone a crit on one or both, so IMO, manapots better in this case.