Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[soslinky]

I'd like to clear something out as people might be getting the wrong idea on this whole 4.0 versus 3.0 debacle. In terms of pure uninterrupted PPS, 4.0>3.0. Yet when translated to an actual non-dummy fight with necessary movement that causes interrupted F4 chaining, 3.0 surpasses 4.0. This does not mean you drop 4.0 like it's hot and use pure 3.0 outside the opener. No. If you want the best DPS possible you use 4.0 when it's applicable (those times where you can get away with B4>6 F4 uninterrupted), then revert back to a 3.0 AF phase when you need to move or when you need to get some T3Ps/Fouls off. PPS is merely the potential of a certain rotation that when applied as written on spreadsheets would yield the best end DPS. But mechanics and movement will severely alter that end DPS and in some cases, the concluded 'best' PPS rotation is overtaken by the inferior one.

I was in a blm discussion and I got burnt for stating 3.0>4.0. I may have chosen my words poorly and may have come off as someone promoting the use of solely 3.0 and abandoning 4.0 altogether. This is not my intention. I want to promote awareness that given the current state of BLM, you'd have to be willing to spend the majority of the fight on that 'shit rotation'(as someone coined it) called 3.0 if you want to get big deeps.

I did a run of Susano and I only cast B4 5 times and yielded a DPS score far greater than any i-will-4.0-for-the-majority-of-this-fight run I ever did. Yes, 4.0 should be primary and 3.0 is secondary. But none of that matters when on my best run so far, I was only able to set off 5 B4s and the majority of the fight was with 3.0 AF windows. Some people may say that I simply need to git gud with 4.0. Thing is, I've studied the fight and there simply is no way doing a pure 4.0 rotation would let you hit the numbers you would probably get by mixing it up. Purists would say their 4.0 numbers greatly exceeds whatever they're getting with a 3.0 run. I care not for a 4.0 run doing 200 DPS more than your 3.0 run if the DPS you are getting is 3700 and 3500 respectively. What matters to me is how do I get to the 4k club and in my experience, 4.0 when possible and 3.0 when it's not.

We should adapt with what we currently have as this has been what BLMs have been doing since day 1. If you aren't utilizing the tools you have, old and new, then I wish you luck in your quest for top-tier DPS.