Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[randysquirrel]

Why thunder before b4? doesn't seem to make any difference. My next enoch cycle is 2-3 seconds shorter, but this is then offset by me doing the same thing next time, so it doesn't seem to matter. If I have a t3 proc, it comes down to the following:
if my existing dot has already fallen off > use before b4
if im about to lose the proc if I wait > use before b4
otherwise, use after b4 (just to get one extra tick off my existing dot, not much, but every little helps)

it has to be an almost instantaneous mana tick, but the rare occasion I do get one, I forego reapplying thunder, and get back to AF asap

I don't rly understand what you mean when you say I should use an oGCD under a f3 proc - I agree with you, but I'm already doing this wherever possible.

[Lunafreya]

I'm using diabolic bottoms. Are these BiS now or are Alex pants still? I've yet to get those cause I was saving up pages for it but now I'm not sure.

[Aurelle_Delacroix]

I'm using diabolic bottoms. Are these BiS now or are Alex pants still? I've yet to get those cause I was saving up pages for it but now I'm not sure.

The Diabolic bottoms are BiS until you can get the Alexandrian pants. So whenever you get the pages, get the Alexandrian pants. Also...hi fellow Lamian~

[HaroldSaxon]

Why thunder before b4? doesn't seem to make any difference. My next enoch cycle is 2-3 seconds shorter, but this is then offset by me doing the same thing next time, so it doesn't seem to matter. If I have a t3 proc, it comes down to the following:
if my existing dot has already fallen off > use before b4
if im about to lose the proc if I wait > use before b4
otherwise, use after b4 (just to get one extra tick off my existing dot, not much, but every little helps)

it has to be an almost instantaneous mana tick, but the rare occasion I do get one, I forego reapplying thunder, and get back to AF asap

I don't rly understand what you mean when you say I should use an oGCD under a f3 proc - I agree with you, but I'm already doing this wherever possible.

Because if you have time for Thunder before B4, it gives you more time during your next enochian cycle allowing you to use extra procs. Skipping out on thunder just because you got a quick mana tick is a dps gain only if you:

a) Don't get any thundercloud procs

AND

b) Do not have to move.

As soon as you get 1 proc, its a DPS gain. If you have to move and can pair it up with the proc, its an even bigger gain.

Regarding holding off on thunder - its only acceptable to do so if you have recently had a thundercloud proc (i.e. two ticks hasn't gone off). If you have recently applied thunder 1, you can reapply thundercloud straight after B4 and it will be a gain (although there's some RNG scenario's - if you get another proc quickly, then you can use it, or you can risk not getting another proc and saving it in order to get more ticks off. I prefer the first one).

Regarding the F1=3 proc - you can do this now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlAZjPtG94k

So you use the F3 proc straight after getting it.

[Binahel]

53 ms :3
I guess it's fine no?

[Madrone]

I use:

QS > LL > Sharp > F3 (pull) > F1> Eno > RS > F4x3 > F3proc > Convert > F4x3 > B3 > T1 > B4

I have a good chunk of Piety on my relic (310 without party buff), but I do still have to wait for that T1 mp sometimes on the opener (solo or with whms). If its a midfight opener, where I was in Umbral already, I can do a 7th F4.

In my normal rotation I can do 5 F4's if time allows. So almost always if its a new enochian coming from Umbral, usually if its a refreshed enochian (proc useage and swiftcast availability effect decision making), and almost always if its a 2nd refreshed enochian (procs and movement might make timing too short).

Getting off a 5th F4 and then a clutch B3 > T3proc > Swift B4 is my fave scenario. I'll always tick just right when that happens to do a 5th F4 the next cycle as well. I try to reserve swift to do that in most of my 2nd eno cycles.

I find that doing this doesn't always make much difference though, because I'm skipping Thunders more often in 2nd cycle and waiting on an mp tick for T1 or B4 in a cycle where I do 5 F4.

On the other hand proc'ing and 5 F4'ing the eno timer down to the wire can often make it easy to just refresh enochian once. And if there is a few seconds waiting on its timer, I can usually F3 > sharpcast F1 > Eno at the start of the new cycle then do F4x3 > F3proc > F4x2 or 3. I tend to use sharps in the 1st cycle anyway and keep them in line with eno timer.

A lot of this comes down to comfort level with the fight. Its become a new level of decision making that occurs as each Fire cycle gets close to its end. In anything rough though I'll skip the 5th F4 except maybe on the cycle before starting a new eno. There's more risk of dropping eno or astral if I have to move at the wrong time, and waiting for mp ticks seems to cost some/most/all of dps that the 5th F4 gains a lot of the time.

Only a dummy fight happens in a vaccuum. Parsing myself vs other BLM in real fights has too many variables for me to draw any conclusions. And even comparing my own dummy parses with and without the 5th F4 requires too much sample size for any degree of certainty. Tick timing, crits, and procs make even a sterile dummy fight highly variable.

[RLofOBFL]

So all the rotation guides say to use F1 > F4 x2 > but I can fit up to 4 F4s in my window before needing B3, or I could use F3 x3 & still have 4-5 seconds of AF left.


So my question is: Should I still use F1 > F4 x2 or could I use F4 x3 or x4 in my normal rotation & will that result in a dps loss/gain, if it does, how so?

[HaroldSaxon]

So all the rotation guides say to use F1 > F4 x2 > but I can fit up to 4 F4s in my window before needing B3, or I could use F3 x3 & still have 4-5 seconds of AF left.


So my question is: Should I still use F1 > F4 x2 or could I use F4 x3 or x4 in my normal rotation & will that result in a dps loss/gain, if it does, how so?

You should always aim for either 4 x F4 & 1 x F1 or 5 x F4 in your Astral Fire phase - just doing the 4 F4's is a dps loss.

Regarding the order of which - ultimately if you are sitting on a dummy, it doesn't matter. However it does depend on what is happening - do you know you have a short period where you don't need to move but do in a few GCD's? Go F4,F4,F4,F1,F1. Got to move fairly soonish but then you have a period of standing still? Go F4,F1,F4,F4,F1

99% of the time I use the F4,F4,F1,F4,F1 order - mainly because I can fit in a T3 proc before and a T3 proc after F1 if i'm lucky, and there isn't much movement that requires me to adjust - but its something I do switch up every so often.

[Krindor]

For those interested, Sunny(reddit user HyperSunny or SunnyHirose here) has cracked open the hidden secret of how SS is calculated properly, what this means in comparison to before where the previous formula could not get the accurate tiers for anything other than a 2.5 gcd we can now make a spreadsheet that accurately contains all tiers.
Here is the discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...tiers/ddl661o/

[RLofOBFL]

Spell Speed weights the most so I stacked a lot & now have 1119, but my dummy damage numbers are kinda low in comparison to my DRG or MNK so I was wondering if TOO much SS could be potentially bad. Not bc SS itself is bad but bc it hampers your Crit & Det. I have 1200 crit on MNK & DRG but only 900 on BLM & it is noticeable how little I crit in comparison. So at a certain point I wonder if it's better to just go with Crit? The dummy fights are only 3 minutes though, so I maybe SS could be better in longer fights as you'll be able to get more attacks in.