Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[randysquirrel]

best opener :

sharp - fire - RS - F3 - eno+LL - F4 - F4 - fire - F4 - swift cast F4 - convert - F4 - F4

with no pot at all? gg

[Milkbeard]

To be honest I am not really too convinced that precasting leylines is more efficient yet. Wouldn't the F3P be a wasted gcd under leylines because it doesn't benefit from spell speed? Wouldnt the weak sharpcasted fire 1 also be essentially a waste of a gcd? It might just honestly be better being replaced by a fire IV in the tail-end of leyline's duration.

--Also not super sold on having raging strikes up for that fire 3 proc over a snap shotted the t1 just yet. I mean if you don't get a thunder proc in under 12 seconds then boom dps increase, right? (this is something we wont end up solving though, because as far as I know we can't judge thunder's true strengths and scaling yet.)

[smallbeach]

precasting leylines is a waste, yes you win 0.5, but you're losing like 2sec of leylines as its useless for the first fire. You're basicaly aswell having fire F3 proc under leylines instead of a F4 of the next rotation, F3proc is just a normal GCD while F4 is longer so leylines is better on it (u gain like 0.8 sec depending on your spellspeed)

Then leylines is actualy useless when you have to cast 2 offcd after F3, you cant use those 2 fast enough

[Waliel]

Garotte14 just organized in a way that makes easier to handle the proc.

Oh yeah. Can get both Swift and Convert during GCD.

And yeah the potency makes a huge difference when its under Intelligence Potion and Raging Strikes (Foes, Trick Attack and Litany too).

Does doing more DPS matter at all? Of course it does.

45 potency was already under RS and TA + BV Foe would but it around 60. Healer casting one extra nuke or dot nets you more damage than changing Flare to F4. I'm not saying not to do it, but just wondering does such a small difference matter at all in the big picture, keeping the Flare opener still viable. Might just be me. I'll probably end up learning it anyway as I'm supposed to return to raiding come next patch.

Wouldn't the F3P be a wasted gcd under leylines because it doesn't benefit from spell speed?

It does; your GCD, thus your FS, is still 15% faster. Ley is a flat 15% increase to your DPS while standing in it, regardless of what you cast (except Thunder of course).

I might remember wrong, but not precasting Ley gets you an F4 or two under Ley after ice with instant ticks. I'm sure it happened when A3S was a thing, and I paid attention to it.

[Lavitz_]

45 potency was already under RS and TA + BV Foe would but it around 60. Healer casting one extra nuke or dot nets you more damage than changing Flare to F4. I'm not saying not to do it, but just wondering does such a small difference matter at all in the big picture, keeping the Flare opener still viable. Might just be me. I'll probably end up learning it anyway as I'm supposed to return to raiding come next patch.

I'm not sure I understand what healer DPS has to do with optimal BLM openers.

[Garotte14]

To be honest I am not really too convinced that precasting leylines is more efficient yet.

Thats fine, you don't have to be convinced by actual math. I don't really care at all what people use. You can do what you find best or what you're most comfortable with. I was asked a question and I answered in the best way I could. Using actual math.

That's like saying you're not convinced if someone tells you, 2+2=4. Math is math. Thunder under Raging Strikes is 340.2 potency. Thunder not under Raging Strikes is 283.5 Potency. An AF1 Firestarter under Raging Strikes is 423.36 Potency. AF1 Firestarter not under Raging Strikes is 352.8. So by using my trusty calculator: 423.36 + 283.5 = 706.86 > 352.8 + 340.2 = 693.

Also Ley Lines does in fact buff every GCD. So the Potency per second on that is: 187.99 PPS vs 184.31 PPS. Phew! Math is hard

[Garotte14]

precasting leylines is a waste, yes you win 0.5, but you're losing like 2sec of leylines as its useless for the first fire. You're basicaly aswell having fire F3 proc under leylines instead of a F4 of the next rotation, F3proc is just a normal GCD while F4 is longer so leylines is better on it (u gain like 0.8 sec depending on your spellspeed)

Then leylines is actualy useless when you have to cast 2 offcd after F3, you cant use those 2 fast enough

We're not talking about what happens after your opener. Yes, delaying Ley Lines will give a two extra GCDs under LL after your opener, but that means absolutely nothing. Your opener is the opener. Meaning all of your buffs are up. Your argument holds no weight. In that argument, 90 seconds into the fight, my Ley Lines will be up 2 GCDs before yours so I'm gaining those two UNBUFFED GCDs back at that time.

Listen, a lot of people are acting as if I'm just pulling numbers out of a hat or blindly throwing darts at a dart board. I've spent hours upon hours testing openers, arranging GCDs and oGCDs around to maximize uptime and potency per second. I'm not trying to steer anyone wrong. I want everyone to succeed. I developed the guide because I enjoy helping people, and I'm only sharing the knowledge I've developed or learned from others.

I really don't mind debating or being proven wrong. You can read my previous posts. If someone can back up a theory with solid numbers, I will surely concede and then inform everyone of a better solution. Precasting Ley Lines is scientifically better DPS for your opener. That is not debatable. It is only math.

[zuzu-bq]

45 potency was already under RS and TA + BV Foe would but it around 60. Healer casting one extra nuke or dot nets you more damage than changing Flare to F4. I'm not saying not to do it, but just wondering does such a small difference matter at all in the big picture, keeping the Flare opener still viable. Might just be me. I'll probably end up learning it anyway as I'm supposed to return to raiding come next patch.

Remember that the buffs multiply themselves together, so yes it makes that huge difference. Also yes, all openners are viable but if you can excecute without any interruption the one Lavitz showed is the best potency-wise.

I'm not sure I understand what healer DPS has to do with optimal BLM openers.

I think she is just comparing potency differences. Wich doesn't make much sense to be honest since you two are not affecting each others during your openners.

To be honest I am not really too convinced that precasting leylines is more efficient yet.

You don't even need to calculate potency per second to see how beneficial LL would be for a Firestarter since its a very potent Attack Speed buff, reducing not only your cast times but your GCD.

[smallbeach]

it doest matter than u get back leylins 2 gcd earlier, you'll have to wait to sync it up with rs 3mins later, and you get 3 f4 underleylines on second fire rotation if i didnt get a fire proc

edit : actualy after a few tries this might be the best : sharp - qling - eno - leylines - fire - RS - F3 - pot - F4 - F4 - Fire - F4 - [proc] - swift cast F4 - convert - F4 - F4 - b3 - thunder - B4

[Garotte14]

edit : actualy after a few tries this might be the best : sharp - qling - eno - leylines - fire - RS - F3 - pot - F4 - F4 - Fire - F4 - [proc] - swift cast F4 - convert - F4 - F4 - b3 - thunder - B4

With enough spell speed, absolutely. The more oGCDs you can do pre-pull the better. If your spell speed and fight mechanics can handle making it back to refresh Enochian in time, it would be a PPS increase. Plus in that scenario, your first Fire goes from 180 potency to 189, which isn't much but still better.

If you are cutting it really close, I wouldn't precast Enochian on fights with mechanics that might force you to move during your opener. But as our SS gets higher, this should become the standard opener in most cases.

Edit: After thinking about it, I'd probably go Ley Lines > Enochian just to be safe, but it really wouldn't matter potency wise. It'd just give you an extra half second at the end.