The Black Mage Rotations

[Kalamari]

Hey, sorry if this has been asked many times before.. but I'm conflicted about the proper use of Firestarter, as across a few threads I've seen people advocate 3 approaches:

1. Casting one more Fire I after Firestarter procced and use it right after
2. Interrupting the cast of the next Fire I immediately when you notice Firestarter procced, then use Firestarter proc
3. Wait ~0.5s after each Fire I to be ready to react to a Firestarter proc

What is the best approach to using Firestarter and why?

Another question, why open with Thunder III and not Thunder I, when the initial damage gain from III over I is so little, and the cast time of III is so much longer? Wouldn't using I as the opener allow for faster transition into Astral3 and Fire I spam?

[Umero]

casting one more fire 1 after firestarter procced and use it next.
open with fire 3 and fire 1 then thunder 1 in case fire 1 procs you a firestarter.

[HaroldSaxon]

Hey, sorry if this has been asked many times before.. but I'm conflicted about the proper use of Firestarter, as across a few threads I've seen people advocate 3 approaches:

1. Casting one more Fire I after Firestarter procced and use it right after
2. Interrupting the cast of the next Fire I immediately when you notice Firestarter procced, then use Firestarter proc
3. Wait ~0.5s after each Fire I to be ready to react to a Firestarter proc

What is the best approach to using Firestarter and why?

Another question, why open with Thunder III and not Thunder I, when the initial damage gain from III over I is so little, and the cast time of III is so much longer? Wouldn't using I as the opener allow for faster transition into Astral3 and Fire I spam?

Always keep casting. Never interrupt a cast. Never wait on a cast.

Opening with T3 is because you can load up the cast time while your tank is moving to pull, so its effective cast time is smaller. Never use thunder in your Fire phase.

Opening should be: T3, F3, RS, F1, Int Pot, F1, QS, F1, F1, SWC, FLR, CON, F1, B3, T1, B1 (if needed), F3 etc etc

[Kalamari]

Awesome, that helped alot. Thank you very much guys!

[Adamantium]

Always keep casting. Never interrupt a cast. Never wait on a cast.

Opening with T3 is because you can load up the cast time while your tank is moving to pull, so its effective cast time is smaller. Never use thunder in your Fire phase.

Opening should be: T3, F3, RS, F1, Int Pot, F1, QS, F1, F1, SWC, FLR, CON, F1, B3, T1, B1 (if needed), F3 etc etc

Pretty much this. Would just like to add an alternative opener though. I made our tank make a 5-second pull timer, so I open with:

Quelling Strikes -> B3 -> Swiftcast + T3 -> Raging Strikes - F3 -> Int Pot -> Continue as normal.

I figure the fact that I can get both Raging Strikes and an Int pot running on my opening rotation makes up for not saving Swiftcast for Flare. I may be wrong, though.

[Cynfael]

Pretty much this. Would just like to add an alternative opener though. I made our tank make a 5-second pull timer, so I open with:

Quelling Strikes -> B3 -> Swiftcast + T3 -> Raging Strikes - F3 -> Int Pot -> Continue as normal.

I figure the fact that I can get both Raging Strikes and an Int pot running on my opening rotation makes up for not saving Swiftcast for Flare. I may be wrong, though.

Either way, I don't think I'd open with QS. I wouldn't want to "waste" the first several seconds of it on the openers since you shouldn't be building dangerous amounts of threat until you are in AF and starting to rack up FS and possibly TC procs.

[Adamantium]

Either way, I don't think I'd open with QS. I wouldn't want to "waste" the first several seconds of it on the openers since you shouldn't be building dangerous amounts of threat until you are in AF and starting to rack up FS and possibly TC procs.

As my tank's macro is counting down from "5", I use Quelling Strikes on "5", and start pre-casting Blizzard 3 on "3", so that it hits almost immediately (about 0.3 seconds) after he pulls. My Monk and Dragoon have (playfully) yelled at me before for pulling aggro on the pull with a 1105 Blizzard 3 crit, so I always Quelling ahead of time. Usually by the time I've gotten into my Astral Fire phase, my tank has sufficient aggro and I never get too close.

Edit: Although, I'm speaking from the viewpoint of an overgeared raid group, so I understand why this might not be applicable to everyone.

[Cynfael]

Pretty much everyone is "overgeared" even for SCOB by this point :P. The bigger issue with most groups is people being "underskilled."

Your QS makes more sense in context since it sounds like your tank literally doesn't have time to secure aggro before you lay in. For the more conventional group, though, I'd still save the QS for the big hits since not every tank is able to keep aggro without it even if they were allowed to finish a rotation first.

[Umero]

Always keep casting. Never interrupt a cast. Never wait on a cast.

When your thundercloud proc while you are casting thunder, interrupt it.
throw firestarter if applicable, cast fire, and then thunder3(thundercloud).

[HaroldSaxon]

When your thundercloud proc while you are casting thunder, interrupt it.
throw firestarter if applicable, cast fire, and then thunder3(thundercloud).

Good point with the Thundercloud during thunder.

And yes, that is what I do with regards to proc priority.