Limit Break Caster or DPS First or Last Boss

[Squintina]

So, in this thread alone, the opinions are to have the caster cast LB during trash pulls, have the melee do it during the first and last boss, cast it only during the last boss, use it to drop add phases on the last boss, use it during the opening, use it at 15%, or save it for the Healer!

I'm glad that all my confusion has been cleared up in this thread

I'm not sure why you're confused. None of the advice here fully contradicts each other.

Because every instance is different, and every party is different. If people are taking a while to kill trash mobs, and it's an instance where there's a lot, of course it makes sense to use it.
But if the trash mobs die very quickly without it, that'd be a waste. So for most content, it would be a waste.
Using it for the first boss was already stated that it's because for some instances there's enough time to build the gauge back up. So if you can get 2 limit breaks, it makes sense.
But for a lot of instances, that won't happen - so saving it for the hardest boss (which is -usually- the last one) makes sense.

Saving it for the healer, great for people progging savage content (or pugging, because you never know what you're getting with pugs). It can save a run. For more casual content? Probably not, because you shouldn't need it. But obviously if you're having trouble staying alive, there's no reason to save it for a damage limit break because you might not live long enough to make use of it.

These aren't contradictions, they're conditions - it's called "strategy". Being confused by this would be like being confused about using fire 4 vs fire 2 - one being best for single target (4), the other for lots of monsters (2).

If you're expecting a "do this all the time forever and ever" answer, of course you won't get that -but I don't get why you'd expect it to be that simple. In that case SE wouldn't have even bothered making different limit breaks if only 1 would ever be acceptable for any and all content.

[Duskane]

Burn one till its like 10% melee LB the other
Caster/Range LB both at like 25%

[Maeka]

Depends on dungeons and mechanics.

8-player Trial that's difficult: DON'T USE IT. Save it for the Healer. An LB3 is the difference between winning and wiping. I have personally saved a run with Healer LB3.
4 Player Dungeon:

Well that depends on the boss. Some dungeons have bosses with Add Phases that are very beneficial if burned down FAST and you can't do that any faster than a Caster LB. Some dungeons have an Add Phase where the boss is invincible and the Add must be killed, but there's only one (use a Melee DPS LB here).

Don't always wait until 15%; some bosses are more beneficial if you LB them sooner.

For example, Tioman in Sohm Al (Story). A Caster LB2 if you get LB2 early enough can nuke her wings in 3 seconds and return you to the fight against her, herself.
Ser Charibert in The Vault, if you have a MCH or BRD, a Ranged LB2 can nuke 3 of the Holy Fires in one shot or very near it, which lessens the risk of running out of time and taking huge AoE damage.
The last boss of Aurum Vale is another nice example to Magic LB2, gather up all the seeds/seedlings and nuke them all at once with a meteor (and of course hit the boss itself at the same time).

Just blindly using it at 15% on the last boss and only that situation is kinda a mistake IMO; one should consider the boss, its mechanics, and who you have in your group. And of course mention it before going into the boss.

If there's nothing special going on, I'd say to use it the moment you get LB2; depending on party setup and play you MIGHT get a LB1 before the end of the fight and do it twice!

[Hamada]

Each LB has it's uses, but the two most commonly used ones are the Melee and Healer LB...

Using the LB against mobs is generally a waste in my opinion, it doesn't kill them in one hit, and if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB, tank LB might do a better job, keeps the mobs from doing too much damage for a while...

In dungeons you can usually get away with LBing the first boss if it's up by then, as it'll be up again by the final boss most certainly.
In 8 mans (raids and trials), you technically can use the LB as soon as it's ready, unless there's a DPS check mechanic... But you should probably keep it around in case someone fucks up and healers need it.


Tank LB is either a mechanic, or if people fail at certain mechanics and the party is about to be oneshotted.

If a melee DPS is paired with a caster or brd/mch, just let them use it on a big group, or ask if they are used to doing that if you are concerned. A melee DPS in a 4 man just uses it asap on the first thing that has a lot of hp so you can rebuild it, IF and ONLY if, there is no caster/brd/mch in the party.

When you say " if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB" you are referring to 4 man dungeons right? doing a big group? tank lb is NEVER, NEVER useful for that, and aoe LB for that is not for "surviving a giant pull" it is for speeding up the run. Sometimes depending, like 1 dps not being skilled, LB aoe has a secondary effect of allowing you to clear it to avoid the wipe, but that is not the primary purpose. The primary purpose of a LB is figuring out how to use it best to speed up the run the best, that's all.

When things go wrong in 8/24 man, you have healer LB, or using specific LBs at specific timestamps as mechanics call for it.

Basically a new player as a dps, just use it around 5-15% hp left on the final boss. ( the exact value depends what you are doing, do it at 15% on a 24 man, and you may harm the group later when its 4-7% and healer lb 3 is needed.)

[Canadane]

Using the LB against mobs is generally a waste in my opinion, it doesn't kill them in one hit, and if the party is worried about surviving a giant pull with the use of an LB, tank LB might do a better job, keeps the mobs from doing too much damage for a while...

Killing them faster with a ranged LB will keep them from doing more damage than letting them live with a tank LB preventing some damage over time.
It's he same reason dps is priority for all classes in the games meta as it is. You simply prevent damage by killing them faster.

[Maeka]

Killing them faster with a ranged LB will keep them from doing more damage than letting them live with a tank LB preventing some damage over time.
It's he same reason dps is priority for all classes in the games meta as it is. You simply prevent damage by killing them faster.

That's only when you intentionally (and unnecessarily!) create more of a problem for yourself/your group by overpulling/multipulling, though. Yeah, you get things done faster if you pull multiple groups, but then if you burn an LB on a group of mobs, what happens if somebody screws up on the boss, you wipe at 10-15% and realize that LB2 could have finished him off if you had just saved it instead of burning it on a group of mobs right outside the boss's door? The time you saved by LBing the trash and overpulling is suddenly wasted by a wipe and rez and re-fighting the boss again.

*shrug*

I think using LB on Trash is just reckless and not needed.

[CainCrimson]

70 in a week?
...like nonstop play? No job no school or any other interruptions?

...or just skipping/rushing thru anything that isn't a level increase?

[Maeka]

70 in a week?
...like nonstop play? No job no school or any other interruptions?

...or just skipping/rushing thru anything that isn't a level increase?

Yeah, that's kind of ridiculous and hard to believe. The MSQ alone takes a VERY long time and there are quite a few gaps where you are not high enough level to proceed with it and you need to do other stuff.

You'd basically need someone to carry you to provide you with gear at every few levels and you'd probably either have to be a tank or Q with a tank to get Lv70+MSQ in a week.

[Claviusnex]

As a caster I will tend to use it in dungeons where the tank does a large pull as long as there is enough time to rebuild it for a melee LB on the last boss. As it is hard to get decent coordination via DF I try to tell the tank early on where the large pull would exploit the LB but it doesn't always work. If for some reason I can't use the LB I don't worry about it and just play through. For normal content LB doesn't really make much difference other than speed things up a bit between bosses.

That's only when you intentionally (and unnecessarily!) create more of a problem for yourself/your group by overpulling/multipulling, though. Yeah, you get things done faster if you pull multiple groups, but then if you burn an LB on a group of mobs, what happens if somebody screws up on the boss, you wipe at 10-15% and realize that LB2 could have finished him off if you had just saved it instead of burning it on a group of mobs right outside the boss's door? The time you saved by LBing the trash and overpulling is suddenly wasted by a wipe and rez and re-fighting the boss again.

*shrug*

I think using LB on Trash is just reckless and not needed.

The thing is with most dungeons you have plenty of time to rebuild the LB and if you don't your burning the boss down anyway and don't really need it.

[kikix12]

That's only when you intentionally (and unnecessarily!) create more of a problem for yourself/your group by overpulling/multipulling, though. Yeah, you get things done faster if you pull multiple groups, but then if you burn an LB on a group of mobs, what happens if somebody screws up on the boss, you wipe at 10-15% and realize that LB2 could have finished him off if you had just saved it instead of burning it on a group of mobs right outside the boss's door? The time you saved by LBing the trash and overpulling is suddenly wasted by a wipe and rez and re-fighting the boss again.

Wrong on every account. First, multi-pulling speeds up the dungeon run so much that a single wipe on a boss will NOT make the time wasted. Indeed. Even with a wipe you will finish the run faster than if you pulled only one group at a time. And that's even when you're not using limit break on trash mobs.

Second, a boss in dungeon is dealt about 10% damage with the limit break. It clearly varies from party to party and dungeon to dungeon, but that's a safe estimate of "average". Then it takes about 3% of its life from the moment of the limit break being selected to it actually dealing damage. If you are in a pinch...you will most likely NOT get it off. Either you will be killed by that AoE that you don't want to hit or the other mechanic will eat you up. Using DPS limit break to save a run is not only very unreliable but often plain impossible. And, on top of that, it's not even speeding the dungeon up by any significant deal. With dungeons, only limit break 2 can be used on bosses (and even that won't often charge on the bosses or will past a point where it's actually useful). That's not a whole deal of damage in comparison, so it's not as significant as it is in trials or raids. And if the DPS that uses it is actually the one with better gear, the other one being poorly equipped...the difference grows ever smaller.

What a limit break on boss does is make it a bit easier. One or two skills from a boss maybe. Only in few it can make a difference (like the Wing phases of some bosses mentioned before by someone), but that's due to mechanics of that fight for which party would keep the limit break anyway (if they know what they are doing).

I think using LB on Trash is just reckless and not needed.

When majority of dungeons go past without limit break being used ONCE, how can using it efficiently be reckless?! And it's not needed because limit break is not needed. None of it. Not even at the end of a boss. The game is not balanced with limit break in mind AT ALL. You can see that in every content. You can finish every content without using limit break even once. At the same time, there are fights where using limit break correctly can make their hardest phases into a joke. That's why using it for efficiency is the best way to use it...in dungeons. In trials/raids it's best kept for healers as the ultimate panic button, where the time at stake and the likelihood of it being needed get higher (though even this have exceptions...since statics with high-level players won't really need that panic button more than once even several dozen runs).