smn hotbar set up/rotaion and lvling

[Havenchild]

Its Instant Cast. So it is good for CD weaving and movement at the cost of more MP

TO add onto this you also, if you play at melee, (which you should as a SMN imo), you get a free AA every Instant Cast skill you perform in melee range which translates to a decent amount of DPS increase.

The difference between

Ruin I, Ruin I, Ruin I, Ruin I -> Fester

and

Ruin I, Ruin I, Ruin I, Ruin II+ AA -> Fester

Is that the first set will have you waiting until that final cast of Ruin I has finished before you Fester, then due to animation, it will slow you down slightly (adding up over the course of an encounter which will start costing you in DPS), while the second set will have you at ready to use Fester while skills are on GCD thus allowing you to basically turrent skill usage in fights not hindered by animation or GCD. Not to mention, you get more DPS from the AA in at the same time per instant skill used.

[Dyvid]

Just remember ruin II has diminish returns on blind. May not be a big deal to melee but blind does help tanks and heals even to a small degree.

[Alex_Lenderson]

Wait what... I'm supposed to hit things with my book?

But I like being at range it makes it easier to dodge boss moves.

[Bigcat9715]

Wait what... I'm supposed to hit things with my book?

But I like being at range it makes it easier to dodge boss moves.

Yoshi-P has spoken. We're suppose to be book smacking enemies, because Smn is a melee caster (not really, but he did say that Smn should be book smacking).

[Vallhallix]

Raging Strikes -> Bio -> Int Pot (If using) -> Miasma -> Bio 2 -> Ruin II -> Fester -> Rouse -> Swiftcast -> Shadowflare -> Spur ->Enkindle -> Ruin 2 -> Potent Poisoning Potion (If using) -> Ruin -> *** Ruin till you have to re-apply Bio which you will also want to Fester, which should be just before both Raging Strike (20s) and INT Pot (15s) wear off.

This lets you get Bio under Raging Strikes for the full duration as well as another Bio under Raging Strikes and the INT-Pot as well as 2 X Fester under both Raging Strikes and the INT Pot.

No Miasma II? When I used to main SMN after I finished putting everything up i'd run over to the enemy and drive by miasma II followed with a quick ruin II as I ran back in place. Mostly? I did that because the rotation was super boring and I had to spice up SMN anyway I could but it seem to have been a great system as I was behind our MNK.

[RissotoMissoto]

one small thing I'd like to mention about the openers posted above, and few things I usually do:

Bio > Fester - Bio has a very long animation, and Fester a very short animation. Additionally, fester is OGDC. What will often happen if you are not careful is that your fester will go off before Bio is technically applied, resulting in a weak 200 potency fester in your opener.

Up until this point I open the same, but personally, after Bio, I swift cast > fester > Shadow flare, then use my poison potion as an OGDC while the cool down from shadow flare goes, and miasma II > contagion comes next. The odd placement of swift cast forces me to wait for Bio's animation to finish so I never miss fester damage, and everything else falls into place with more or less the same flow.


With regard to Ruin I's relevance - Because of its new low cost, spamming Ruin 1 actually costs slightly less than the MP recovery Tic's give and so ruin I is, while small, an MP gain instead of a loss, so if you are not book-slapping (Standing close range, auto attacking and spamming Ruin II to allow for auto attacks) or weaving between CD's, it's optimal for keeping your MP up. (Correct me if I'm wrong on that MP tic thing, but I believe I am not.) I don't know that "Should" be book slapping is what was said so much as "Now you can" but it does add 20-30 DPS over all if you fit it in the right spots. It will hurt your MP though so you can't do it indefinitely.

[Judge_Xero]

No Miasma II? When I used to main SMN after I finished putting everything up i'd run over to the enemy and drive by miasma II followed with a quick ruin II as I ran back in place. Mostly? I did that because the rotation was super boring and I had to spice up SMN anyway I could but it seem to have been a great system as I was behind our MNK.

I never M2 with Ifrit as it's less potency than Ruin/2 without Contagion and cost way too much MP.

About book slapping. It will go off with Ruin but will occasionally get clipped by casts. So instead of 30 DPS you might be doing 18 DPS. So even if you are Ruin spamming its worth it to stand in melee range.