Summoner Changes Compiled: Is there more?

[Superskull85]

That Ruin III.... triple the cost for 1.5 potency AND added cast timer AND losing additional debuff effect. Man. Like, what were they thinking? It's indeed pretty ridiculous when compared to SCH's Broil which has a higher potency AND lower MP cost than Ruin III.
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The thing is Ruin III is not even really supposed to be used outside of Dreadwyrm Trance. In the trance it has a similar cost to Ruin. I do in fact use it when soloing or during minor adds where MP is not a problem though. Speaking of which you should be able to mix some in outside of the trance considering that you don't use a whole lot of MP compared to your totals and upgraded Aetherflow returns.

After hitting 60, I can definitely say, I am having trouble finding the correct route to maximizing DWT. Some people have chosen largely to just refresh whatever skills needed in DWT and just Ruin III for any filler, which any decently skilled SMN can do with ease as it's essentially playing as normal and just activating DWT as a passive to fire off Deathflare soon after. However, I definitely feel there is more to maximizing this skill and it's usage starting right after the first DWT is used in the opener.
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Using Ifrit:

Ruin II -> Dreadwyrm Trance -> Tri-Disaster -> Ruin III -> Ruin III -> Ruin III -> Ruin II -> Deathflare

You can typically fit in 4 Ruin III's though if you are not interrupted. You should always cast Ruin II with at least 4 seconds remaining to get Deathflare off. Mix in a Ruin II -> Raging Strikes -> Potion just before to enhance Tri-Disaster if you have those off cooldown. I guess you could also Switftcast a Ruin III to fit in a Fester/Painflare but you would need to be careful and allow your attunements to last until your next trance. So that would mean slowing down the subsequent Fester's/Painflare's waiting on Tri-Disaster to come off cooldown. Doing that you do miss out on using Swiftcast on Shadowflare's outside of your trance. You'd trade 0.5 seconds of GCD for 30 or 20 (single target) extra potency respectively using Swiftcast that way. Might not be all that bad of an idea.

Additionally a Miasma II instead of a Ruin III should technically be better overall if you are facing at least 3 targets and they stay alive for 12 seconds. But you also use roughly 2.5x more MP during the trance for it.

That rotation should work with Garuda too though if you want to use Contagion you need to use after the final Ruin II. I don't believe it will fit in the first Ruin II GCD without losing a second of Dreadwyrm Stance. If you wanted you could put in Shadow Flare but it would need to be used with Swiftcast to maximize Ruin III's. I forgo this because I don't usually have a Swiftcast on standby each trance and you could only do that every other trance.

There is not much else you can really do, however. Unless the summon is affected by the trance in which case you can try to squeeze in Enkindle after the second Ruin II. Possibly than mixing in a pet buff during your pre-trance. It lasts 20 seconds so you should be able to use it with Enkindle. I'd choose Spur for this alongside Raging Strikes because of their similar cooldowns. Though to be honest the cooldown on them is long enough that you would only pre-buff Raging Strikes every 6 trances. Because of this Raging Strikes and Spur would only really be in sync once but it would be a 50% increase if magic buff affects the summon. Which would be the key to increase the trance effectiveness: does the trance also affect your summon? I have no idea at this time. An effective 300 potency nuke on top of the 440 from Deathflare both used in the same GCD would be great though on top of the fire DoT if you use Ifrit.

To extend that you could macro Ruin III to command your summon to use Aerial Slash/Flaming Crush + Radiant Shield? I mean this whole pet idea hinges on whether the trance affects your summon. But if it does that would be the advanced way to enhance the effectiveness of the trance.

I think I have literally ran out of ideas/options to maximize a Dreadwyrm Trance so hopefully that helps.