Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[StouterTaru]

starting out with Blizzard III will be a PPS decrease no matter how you spin it.

Looking just at just the PPS for two bursts of uneven length misses half the story. An example with extremes and easy numbers:

• You do 1000 dps outside your burst
• Burst A rotation does 2000 dps and lasts 20 seconds
• Burst B rotation does 1800 dps and lasts 30 seconds
• Burst A is higher dps, but is beaten out by Burst B over time

Yes, you're noting some major factors in what you cast during party buffs and weaving oGCD casts after FS. Trick and Litany are factors, but Arrow and Fey go against your argument as much as for them.

There's also the precast time of B3 making it the essentially the same as casting F1 as your opener, and the UI3 F3 leaving some room to wiggle in an oGCD with a minimal stutter (maybe none with a better ping/machine than mine).

Another factor is the fight itself; when you have to move, when the boss vanishes, and when adds appear. If you are casting B3 when adds pop or you need to phase push, that's significant. If you are at full MP casting F4 (vs low MP casting B3) when the boss jumps, that's a factor.

Sharpcast F1 is probably slightly more dps in most cases, but not always.

[Lilyth]

Snip

Yes, now I see what you meant and apparently so did you. Ty for explaining and I do agree with your conclusion.

[Garotte14]

Another factor is the fight itself; when you have to move, when the boss vanishes, and when adds appear. If you are casting B3 when adds pop or you need to phase push, that's significant. If you are at full MP casting F4 (vs low MP casting B3) when the boss jumps, that's a factor.

Sharpcast F1 is probably slightly more dps in most cases, but not always.

Absolutely. I also make this very clear in the guide where I explain that building an opener around each fight is important for optimization. There are instances where starting with Blizz 3 could net you more uptime on your opener depending on movement windows and when/if the boss becomes untargetable. But if you're looking for the best opener PPS wise, Sharpcast > F1 will win. I'm not saying to never use a blizz opener. I'm only stating that it is less optimal in most cases.

• You do 1000 dps outside your burst
• Burst A rotation does 2000 dps and lasts 20 seconds
• Burst B rotation does 1800 dps and lasts 30 seconds
• Burst A is higher dps, but is beaten out by Burst B over time

I'm not understanding this logic at all. Maybe I misunderstand, but those numbers are pretty much impossible in comparison. You are viewing these DPS scenarios completely in a vacuum by saying 1000 DPS for 10 seconds, which I'm not sure where you got that number. B would not beat A over time, because A is starting out higher, and assuming both would decline evenly. In your scenarios, you are saying that you will deal 40,000 damage in 20s with A, and you will deal 54,000 damage in 30s with B. This gives your bursts 2000 DPS and 1800 DPS respectively. But you are then saying that you will deal 10000 damage in the additional 10s left in burst A, which is impossible unless you are literally throttling back dps. In reality, using these arbitrary numbers, if you burst 40,000 damage in 20s, you will deal roughly 18,000 damage in the additional 10s; putting you at around 58,000 or 1900 DPS. At this point both A and B would decline at an even pace, with scenario A always being about 100 DPS higher than B.

[Primm]

Hey guys, I'm about to learn a bit more how to compute the pps of different openers and some quick questions occured ...

1. Is it still valid to assume 0,5s for each OGCD (like RS or Enochian) after a hardcast?
2. How many seconds would you take for a Potion after a hardcast?
3. How many seconds would you take for three OGCDs after a firestarter

My reference is this sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...HxA/edit#gid=0, but I noticed that the bonus damage contributed by the potion is not considered.

4. How much potency win (in percent probably) would you estimate for a max-potion of intelligence for instance?
5. Are the timings there valid? 1,88s for firestarter (with 1100+ spellspeed) etc.?

[Garotte14]

Hey guys, I'm about to learn a bit more how to compute the pps of different openers and some quick questions occured ...

1. Is it still valid to assume 0,5s for each OGCD (like RS or Enochian) after a hardcast?
2. How many seconds would you take for a Potion after a hardcast?
3. How many seconds would you take for three OGCDs after a firestarter

My reference is this sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...HxA/edit#gid=0, but I noticed that the bonus damage contributed by the potion is not considered.

4. How much potency win (in percent probably) would you estimate for a max-potion of intelligence for instance?
5. Are the timings there valid? 1,88s for firestarter (with 1100+ spellspeed) etc.?

This is the spreadsheet I've created and put in the guide. Yes, all of the cast times are correct. I just updated it yesterday. I use 0.5 for every oGCD that is hardcast. 1 second for potions that are hardcast. I allow 1 second of free time under an instant cast such as Firestarter or a Swiftcasted spell. So for instance RS + Enochian + Ley Lines would be 1.5 seconds. But if you cast firestarter > RS + Enochian + Ley Lines, RS and Enochian would be 0.00 and Ley Lines at 0.5.

Now these numbers won't be exact cause the time could be .41s or .67 for a hardcast or a potion might be 1.2 seconds and under a F3P, it could be 1.88s + 0.2s. Also increased SS will affect casting oGCDs underneath a Firestarter.

Point being, the total time of the opener will not be exact, but by keeping all of those oGCD times even across all openers, comparing them will remain correct.

Also potions are not calculated into the PPS because a potion does not effect potency. It raises Intelligence and there is no math that I know of that computes Intelligence into potency. You are welcome to figure that out, and if you do I will edit and update the spreadsheet. Just know that spreadsheet is current and accurate.

[Waliel]

I'm not understanding this logic at all. Maybe I misunderstand, but those numbers are pretty much impossible in comparison. <snip>

Well he was talking in extreme numbers to make a point how lower DPS for longer could be a better opener. You could go with ~1520 for normal, which is what you get for discounting Ley and RS from the 2000 and then adding 5% from 33% uptime Ley. I'd say the bigger problem here is that you can't even do a 30 second burst on BLM because Eno forces a hard cap on how long you can stay fire. Using 1520 and 25 seconds, option A would win (47600 to 45000). Your burst is over the moment you hit that B3, no matter how many buffs you have up.

[Kerii]

Is there something wrong with this? http://ffxivrotations.com/9pj Firestarters are used on Fire III's, or in place of Fire if I'm short on proc time. Thunder III's are used in place of Thunders, or after Fire if I'm short on proc time (Skip one Fire IV). I repeat my opener when cool downs and time permit. If I'm short on time from moving, I'll refresh enochian early, or swiftcast blizzard IV to keep it going.

[Judge_Xero]

Just wanted to add the opener I was working on since I was still playing around with it (from previous post)

QS, Sharp, Leylines, B3, T1, RS, F3, Eno, F4, F4, F1, T3p, Covert, SC, F4, F4,F4 (F3 Proc if happens), B3.

Seems to flow ok. Just not sure on the PPS. This is with around 1100 SS so ~11% Reduction in cast with ~ 10 increased DOT potency

Not sure if I had more SS if I could do,

** F4,F4,F4,F1,T3p, Convert etc to reduce the T1 clipping a bit if that would make much difference.

[Garotte14]

Snip

I understand that part, but it's a flawed logic. To say that lower dps for longer could be better is correct, but that's only because you stop doing damage in the first place. I'm only using his example. So yes, doing 54,000 damage over 30s is more damage than doing 40,000 over 20s because, it's 14,000 more damage. But assuming both rotations decline at an even pace, starting off stronger will always be better if you spike up to 3000 damage on an a opener then steadily decline into a non burst rotation, you will always be higher than someone who starts at 2000 dps and declines at the same pace. It is why openers are so important. If your opener is weak, it forces you to play catch up.

[Garotte14]

Just wanted to add the opener I was working on since I was still playing around with it (from previous post)

QS, Sharp, Leylines, B3, T1, RS, F3, Eno, F4, F4, F1, T3p, Covert, SC, F4, F4,F4 (F3 Proc if happens), B3.

Seems to flow ok. Just not sure on the PPS. This is with around 1100 SS so ~11% Reduction in cast with ~ 10 increased DOT potency

Not sure if I had more SS if I could do,

** F4,F4,F4,F1,T3p, Convert etc to reduce the T1 clipping a bit if that would make much difference.

So, there are actually many variables in this rotation so its difficult to calculate exact PPS, as it is with any opener that relies on server ticks.

First I'll start off with you don't have a potion listed in your opener so that's less damage overall, but I will ignore that for PPS. For reference with my SS, the Sharpcast opener is 237.49 PPS, and that is with a potion.

Your first Thunder would only have a potency of 150 at most because it will only tick 3 times max (possibly only twice). Without using a potion, this rotation is far shorter than most because you are only doing 5 Fire IVs instead of 6 (or 5 + Flare) which does put PPS about 10 higher than a Sharpcast opener. Which is ~248 PPS. But that can be deceiving for a number of reasons. Your TC being buffed by Raging Strikes and Enochian is a massive 894.6 potency, but by the time you cast Blizzard III there is still 16 seconds remaining. If you immediately cast Blizzard IV, then you will risk not having full mana on your next rotation (which under Ley Lines and/or Fey wind is a certainty) which negates any PPS you might have gained. If you recast Thunder, you are clipping your TC to 504 potency, which reduces it to ~227 PPS. If you let TC keep ticking and use Blizzard instead, then your PPS would be ~238, which is about even with the sharp opener. If you add a potion into the equation, you add 1 second bringing your PPS down to ~229. Your only saving grace at that point would be if you got another TC for your filler which would bump you up to ~240 PPS with a potion and ~249 PPS without a potion.

Sorry if thats kind of confusing. I know it's a lot of information.

Point being, this opener could be higher PPS, but any opener incorporating TC is going to heavily rely on RNG.