Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[Psycofang]

Its really only susano that does this and all youll need to do is adjust accordingly. Save certain CDs for those moments, clip rotations short and figure out when and where manaward can absorb a blow or 2.

Sometimes yeah we'll clip our dps but thats for the par the course

[Cherub]

Snip

I have to disagree.

The optimal rotation in 4.0 is 6x Fire IV, 1 Fire and within UI Foul T3 and B4.
You have 13 seconds to cast 3 Fire IV's and F1 or B3. The second, you get a thundercloud proc within your AF phase you have to decide which you use. Do you let the proc fall off? Or do you drop a Fire IV and use the proc? Becuase you definitely don't have the MP for an additional Fire AF refresh nor the time. Firestarter Procs help and sharpcast definitely makes this go A LOT smoother by giving you additional 13 seconds of AF. But procs itself are not reliable and sharpcast is every minute.
At ilvl 314 with unmelded gear I have a cast time of 2.89 on F4 and 2.41 on Fire 1. Put all together that's uhhh I'm bad at math, correct me if I am wrong, 11.08 seconds. 11 seconds within those 13 seconds need to be spent casting. Furthermore I have tested that the Fire needs to be cast at 3 seconds left or you'll lose AF and your Enochian.
Yes, your Cooldowns do help you keep going but you can not count on them forever. This is NOT about proper cooldown usage. This is about the flaws within BLM that need to be fixed or this job will stay clunky.
But wait, clunky? But it's actually quite smooth if....
Yes yes yes the rotation itself, on a striking dummy is very smooth. You do this you do that and you have good DPS. So why clunky?

Because MP!
If you are in UI and you cast Foul-T3-B4-F3 AND you do NOT get an MP tick in the little time between B4 and F3, while you will have enough MP to cast 6 Fire IV's (assuming all 3 Umbral hearts are used for fire IV) you will be landing at exactly 0 MP after your 6th F4.
If you cast T3 before transitioning to AF and don't get an MP tick, you will not even have enough MP for a 6th F4.
If you cast Foul before transitioning to AF you will be able to transition smoothly back into UI with having done 6x F4 BUT here are three situations that can occur
- The first is where you are unlucky and don't get an MP tick and wait before you can cast B4-T3 and then Foul to start the cycle anew
-The second is where you are unlucky and don't get an MP tick but still have enough to cast Foul so you cast Foul instead of waiting for an MP tick, after foul getting the MP tick but risking to transition into AF again with a B4-F3 or T3-F3 potentially making you lose another Fire IV due to MP
-The third is where you get an MP tick and can transition into AF smoothly ending UI with Foul-F3.
You also can not cast Fire under Umbral Heart since that would mean needing 4 Fire IV in the next 13 seconds of AF which isn't possible without losing Enochian.

This isn't a Suano thing. This isn't a Lakshmi thing. This is a major core problem with how the job works.
So unless someome tells me how I can keep 6 Fire IVs in every cycle without losing Enochian and getting to use my Procs then I'll see this job as clunky.
Like I said, Sharpcast helps SOOOOO much and makes an entire cycle go very smoothly. But thats once a minute.
Combine the problems that can come up with keeping everything under AF/UI (Having to dodge as example) with the problems that can come up with MP (unlucky MP ticks and believe me, I have found myself so often at 2400MP with having only 5 fire IVs cast) then to me that's quite the deal breaker.
I definitely like this BLM WAYYYYY more than 2.XX BLM and a lot more than 3.XX BLM but having an additional 1000 MP or simply extending AF/UI by 2 seconds would give BLM more freedom to keep a consistant optimal rotation going without having to drop Fire IVs.

[DrMeloche]

Anyone recommend rotation changes with the Patch 4.0 Flare Damage Caps?

[Osh1mA]

So unless someome tells me how I can keep 6 Fire IVs in every cycle without losing Enochian and getting to use my Procs then I'll see this job as clunky.

Well you just need more than 2000 sps ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ... With 2.15-17 gcds you can use procs in AF and have time for movement.

[Psycofang]

Sounds like your just having SS issues, at 1670 ss ive no issues doing the 6 f4 opener. Also if a thunder proc occurs after a hard casted t3 use the proc since its a gain over the the normal t3 and fire 4. You only let it drop if it re procs too soon.

Ice phase very occasionally yes youll cast f3 and not get all your mp back but that's what sharp cast is for and if its down you create contingencies.

Your expectations for what youre asking are unrealistic. If you really have to bite the bullet just cast a fire one . less dps > dropping enoch.

But again ive yet to have the plight you do

[VitalSuit]

Sounds like your just having SS issues, at 1670 ss ive no issues doing the 6 f4 opener. Also if a thunder proc occurs after a hard casted t3 use the proc since its a gain over the the normal t3 and fire 4. You only let it drop if it re procs too soon.

Ice phase very occasionally yes youll cast f3 and not get all your mp back but that's what sharp cast is for and if its down you create contingencies.

Your expectations for what youre asking are unrealistic. If you really have to bite the bullet just cast a fire one . less dps > dropping enoch.

But again ive yet to have the plight you do

The issue isn't SpS, it's that once you do 5 F4s we land at 2400 MP which is enough to cast F4 but lands us at exactly 0 MP.

[Osh1mA]

The issue isn't SpS, it's that once you do 5 F4s we land at 2400 MP which is enough to cast F4 but lands us at exactly 0 MP.

Same with x8 f4 opener, sometimes you have mp only for 7 f4s.

[Psycofang]

The issue isn't SpS, it's that once you do 5 F4s we land at 2400 MP which is enough to cast F4 but lands us at exactly 0 MP.

Then clip it. Or transpose foul. Im not seeing the issue besides you wanting max uptime on something thats been out of our control since the dark light days.

[Ferth]

open:
Swift Cast + B3 > Enochian > B4 > T3 > Sharp Cast > F3 > Ley Lines > F1 > Triple Cast > F4 x 4 > F3 > Convert > F4 x 2 > Foul > F1 > F4x2 > B3

One could argue that you could pre-cast B3 and use it elsewhere, and this is true, but after the opener I pair Swift cast up with Triple Cast/ Leylines for the 4 F4s and any damage loss is incredibly minimal, it also allows me a bit more freedom to find a good place to stand at the start of a fight, and to use Enochian while the GCD resets.

With no cooldowns this is my normal rotation:

B3 > Foul(if it is up) > B4 > T3 > F3 > F4x2 > Foul/T3(if up) > F1 > ((IF FIRESTARTER IS UP F4x2 > Foul (if at risk of overwriting itself)/T3 (if TC is up) > F3 > F4x2 > B3)) If Fire starter is not up F4x3 > B3

I use F1 for one of my umbral heart stacks because it saves an extra 240 mp. If I don't get a fire starter proc I only cast 5 F4's during that astral phase as well as Foul if it procs at the start of my astral phase or T3 if I have thundercloud proc.

So far this has allowed me to maintain a bit more mobility to dodge mechanics and hasn't really negatively impacted my overall dps much.

Foul is interesting because the timer keeps going even if the proc is up. What this means is that you don't need to cast it as soon as it procs but if you take longer than 30 seconds to cast it after it procs you have essentially lost a proc.

Because of this I will use the extra time after my first set of 2 Fire 4s to cast Foul rather than trying to save it for the Umbral phase if the timer looks like it's going to lapse.

[soslinky]

I seem to be mistaken in preferring to use Sharp+F1. I did three Susano runs in a row using B3+UH opener and I ended up beating my previous DPS scores with Sharp+F1 by a huge margin. Spellspeed was at 1474.