Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[JackFross]

Quick question for all you blums, since this discussion came up as my friend finishes leveling to 60.

What's the optimal AoE rotation for Black Mage in 3.x?

I've been not bothering with Enochian for AoE, since I think cycling through Ice weakens the overall rotation, but I'm not sure if that's correct. Basically, mine has been:

F3>F2>F2>F2>Flare (x1-3)> [[ Transpose>(wait for 1 tick)>F3>F2>F2>Flare ]]

With the [[ x ]] part being repeated as long as shit's still alive, cycling to the mob with the most HP left during the F2 casts for the Flare>F3 part. I'm basically just asking if anyone's done the math on whether or not

[[ Transpose>B4>F3>F2>F2>Flare ]]

with Enochian would be higher dps (if you use B4 when you need it, ofc) and/or if there's a better AoE rotation I haven't managed to find that makes use of Enochian (or doesn't).


(Obviously not including buffs here, since I'm just looking for the generic rotation you'd be using most of the time, not the big burst opener, though the question of pot of INT v Max-Ether for bonus Flare is interesting to me)

[Waliel]

<stuff>
F3>F2>F2>F2>Flare (x1-3)> [[ Transpose>(wait for 1 tick)>F3>F2>F2>Flare ]]
</stuff>

F3 - F2 - F2 - Flare - Transpose - repeat is the norm. Done correctly, you will always get an instant mana tick after Transpose after the first rotation. B4 is less PPS than one F2 on two targets, and F2 on two targets is not even worth doing. Enochian is mostly number padding for AoE, as the 5% bonus with only 50% uptime rarely does anything meaningful.

One thing you can do is, if you need to burn specific mob(s) fast in where you'd otherwise use AoE, like the 4x dolls in A2S, is to do the single target rotation and replace one F4 with a Flare at the end. Transpose - B1 - B4 - F3 is what I've done after that. I'm not sure if B3 or B1 is better, but B1 gives you full mana and is better PPS than B3, and what time you save with UI3-F3, you lose by casting the B4 first. Or that's the logic I've gone with without doing any maths.