Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[Hasrat]

Pretty useful, yeah, thanks. Mostly just confirms what I'd been feeling with current setup. Good call with Scathe being slightly useful with heavy movement.
Three or more targets, burn 'em all with Fire 2. Need to work on switching targets for extra Thunders, I think. Get those DoTs ticking as much as possible. Does Thunder ticking on multiple enemies increase the chances of Thundercloud proc?
Last thing: Sleep. When I play WHM I kinda like tossing those out for fun, make things a little easy maybe (if everyone lets them sleep). But I get the feeling that here it might be preferable to just burn everything and ignore sleep. More of a solo usage than anything, perhaps?

[FunkyBunch]

Pretty useful, yeah, thanks. Mostly just confirms what I'd been feeling with current setup. Good call with Scathe being slightly useful with heavy movement.
Three or more targets, burn 'em all with Fire 2. Need to work on switching targets for extra Thunders, I think. Get those DoTs ticking as much as possible. Does Thunder ticking on multiple enemies increase the chances of Thundercloud proc?
Last thing: Sleep. When I play WHM I kinda like tossing those out for fun, make things a little easy maybe (if everyone lets them sleep). But I get the feeling that here it might be preferable to just burn everything and ignore sleep. More of a solo usage than anything, perhaps?

The BLM AoE rotation is just:
F3-F2-F2-F2-Flare-(convert-swiftcast-flare when off cooldown)-Transpose
F3-F2-F2-Flare-Transpose<-Repeat until dead (It's best if you switch targets to highest health mob occasionally so you're not burning one down too fast-ideally all the mobs die at the same time so you're not wasting DPS)
Don't bother with Thunder at all for 3+ mobs.

Sleep doesn't work at all at higher levels. Everything is immune, so remove it from your hotbar, same with freeze and B2.

[Hasrat]

No since you got bliz 3 transpose is not obsolete you use it with flare, so as example flare> convert>swiftcast flare.

The BLM AoE rotation is just:
F3-F2-F2-F2-Flare-(convert-swiftcast-flare when off cooldown)-Transpose

You seem to have missed the "I'm only level 40" which would imply I don't have Flare yet.

[Maero]

You seem to have missed the "I'm only level 40" which would imply I don't have Flare yet.

Sorry i missed that part, no need to be all rude about it...

[FunkyBunch]

You seem to have missed the "I'm only level 40" which would imply I don't have Flare yet.

I was merely stating it for reference. You will be level 50 at some point. And level 60. Right?
I still see people in dungeons that don't know how to AoE properly as a BLM, so I macroed what I said to you in game to help other BLMS.
I see people casting B3 or B1 during AoE nearly every day.

And the thing you can get from my post is on multiple targets you never use Thunder. It's a net DPS loss even with extra procs. F2 is always better than T-anything with 3+ targets.

[Hasrat]

And the thing you can get from my post is on multiple targets you never use Thunder. It's a net DPS loss even with extra procs. F2 is always better than T-anything with 3+ targets.

But what about during UI time? From what I've seen of my current cycle, when Fire drains my MP and I switch, I've typically got time for one or two spells before UI has me filled up again and I swap back. Wouldn't that be the ideal time to toss out Thunders to anything I haven't got it running on yet? I can see where maybe you're better off sticking with F2 and ignoring any Thundercloud proc.

Or is such a situation when B2 or Freeze may be worth pulling out during UI (instead of Thunder), just for the extra AoE until you're back to AF?

Editing in to kinda just dump some feedback after a run trying out this new rotation. It definitely feels a bit more intensive. A few waves of F2 in big groups seems to pull some big enmity. I want to keep burning things, but gotta be a little careful there. Made the mistake of tossing T1 on Thundercloud procs a few times, but that's more down to fingers getting used to something new. Gotta find a new way to work Convert and the like in. I've got Fire/Blizzard/Thunder mapped to the NUM pad, which works great, but takes a hand away from mouse for grabbing random off skills.

New question I have. So Swiftcast + Fire 3 seems to be the ideal way to start a fight (plus buffs maybe), but what do you do if Swiftcast is still on cooldown? Is Fire 3 still the best, and you just eat the few extra seconds you have to spend to cast it? Or are there alternate ways to get up to speed?

[randysquirrel]

But what about during UI time? From what I've seen of my current cycle, when Fire drains my MP and I switch, I've typically got time for one or two spells before UI has me filled up again

Do not wait to be full MP again. Flare then transpose, as soon as you get a tick of MP, begin casting fireIII. By the time it has finished casting you will have got another tick of MP. Then fire2, fire2 flare. and repeat

[Garotte14]

But what about during UI time? From what I've seen of my current cycle, when Fire drains my MP and I switch, I've typically got time for one or two spells before UI has me filled up again and I swap back. Wouldn't that be the ideal time to toss out Thunders to anything I haven't got it running on yet? I can see where maybe you're better off sticking with F2 and ignoring any Thundercloud proc.

Or is such a situation when B2 or Freeze may be worth pulling out during UI (instead of Thunder), just for the extra AoE until you're back to AF?

Editing in to kinda just dump some feedback after a run trying out this new rotation. It definitely feels a bit more intensive. A few waves of F2 in big groups seems to pull some big enmity. I want to keep burning things, but gotta be a little careful there. Made the mistake of tossing T1 on Thundercloud procs a few times, but that's more down to fingers getting used to something new. Gotta find a new way to work Convert and the like in. I've got Fire/Blizzard/Thunder mapped to the NUM pad, which works great, but takes a hand away from mouse for grabbing random off skills.

New question I have. So Swiftcast + Fire 3 seems to be the ideal way to start a fight (plus buffs maybe), but what do you do if Swiftcast is still on cooldown? Is Fire 3 still the best, and you just eat the few extra seconds you have to spend to cast it? Or are there alternate ways to get up to speed?

I'm not trying to sound like a broken record or anything, but seriously take a thorough read of the new Black Mage guide I've posted. All of the answers to any questions you have are in there. From level 1-60, how to use cooldowns, different rotations, etc. I'm very glad you have lots of questions because it means you care and I know you won't be one of those scrubs in DF that doesn't give a F&$%.

With that being said. If you are Pre level 50, you can throw out a Thunder spell or two when you are in UI for AoE, but when you get Flare, you will stop doing this. The reason is, Flare is 1200+ Potency on 3 enemies and 2100+ on 6 enemies. You want to hit this spell as often as possible.

As far as Enmity, thats not you're fault. If you are pulling hate during AoE, thats the tanks fault. The only thing you can do is just switch to single target at that point and try again on the next dungeon with a better tank.

You should not be using swiftcast on Fire III. Swiftcast has many uses, but using it on Fire III is extremely situational. I can think of one time that I do this. Swiftcast should be used for movement, or on Flare since its a long cast or in your opener. Convert should always be paired with Raging Strikes. They have the same cooldown, so you should be using raging strikes and then convert when low on MP to get more Fires out under Raging Strikes.

[Hasrat]

No worries. Extra questioning was more in response to mixed advice. But I'm kinda seeing where it's all coming from now. Advice seems to be, against large groups, spend as little time as possible in UI, switch back immediately to get back into Fire 2, nevermind not being at full MP. I can kinda see where that's more ideal. It feels a little wrong, but there's a logic to it. (all this until I get to Flare, which will shake things up again a little bit)

As for Swiftcast, it might be a bit before I feel able to juggle enough things to be able to move and pop that for any given spell. The more I see of this, the more I think controller might be super useful here. Or at least a proper mouse with a few extra buttons for these things.

[FunkyBunch]

But what about during UI time? From what I've seen of my current cycle, when Fire drains my MP and I switch, I've typically got time for one or two spells before UI has me filled up again and I swap back. Wouldn't that be the ideal time to toss out Thunders to anything I haven't got it running on yet? I can see where maybe you're better off sticking with F2 and ignoring any Thundercloud proc.

Or is such a situation when B2 or Freeze may be worth pulling out during UI (instead of Thunder), just for the extra AoE until you're back to AF?

Editing in to kinda just dump some feedback after a run trying out this new rotation. It definitely feels a bit more intensive. A few waves of F2 in big groups seems to pull some big enmity. I want to keep burning things, but gotta be a little careful there. Made the mistake of tossing T1 on Thundercloud procs a few times, but that's more down to fingers getting used to something new. Gotta find a new way to work Convert and the like in. I've got Fire/Blizzard/Thunder mapped to the NUM pad, which works great, but takes a hand away from mouse for grabbing random off skills.

New question I have. So Swiftcast + Fire 3 seems to be the ideal way to start a fight (plus buffs maybe), but what do you do if Swiftcast is still on cooldown? Is Fire 3 still the best, and you just eat the few extra seconds you have to spend to cast it? Or are there alternate ways to get up to speed?

If you do Transpose you can immediately start casting F3, don't wait to get full MP for AoE. I wouldn't throw in a Thunder as it's just going to make bad habits and you'll be 50 soon enough and your time is still better trying to max the time you spend casting F2. (Every Thunder is NOT an F2 so DPS loss).

BLM is SUPER bursty. Especially with undergeared tanks, they may have a hard time holding hate. That's why Quelling Strikes from ARC/BRD is suggested.
But with a good and properly geared tank you won't pull hate. I can rip hate away from the best tank I know, if I really want to, BUT I have to pop all my cooldowns (raging strikes, swiftcast, convert AND use an MP potion) to get a third flare going.

Swiftcast has a number of uses, but to start a fight isn't one of them. You can start casting 2.5 seconds before the tank engages and can save your swiftcast for when you lose your AF stacks, or movement or flare or to squeeze an extra F4 in when you min/max Enochian at 60.