AoE or Area of Effect Rotations for Dungeons What is your Job's AoE for Mobs

[Silverquick]

It occurred to me last weekend while playing through multiple dungeon encounters that new players simply do not know how to use Area of Effect Abilities in Dungeons (and in truth even higher level players).

I ran into an SMN trying to use a Fire Pet and not knowing what BANE did or DoTs, for clearing large packs of dungeon trash, a DRK who did not know what Unleash did and a horde of other things, that staggered me last weekend.

The conversation in the forum ends up too often at high raid level discussions... but we forget that you need to crawl before you can walk. And some of these new players have not even learned to crawl yet....

So maybe its time we post these lower level basics here for the benefit of new players.

I'll even start... (Please feel free to add in other jobs like Melee AoE combos, and Tanking combos in large pulls... as I am not as familiar with those)

[Silverquick]

-----

Summoner/Arcanist

The real reason the Summoner tends to end up in the top catagory of damagers in high level content has NOTHING to do with Trancing Bahamut or Ruin or its powers... so much as it is the DoTs and basic Pet damage... its the dirty little secret... while everyone else is moving around and running from Mechanics... the SMN ALWAYS has a dog in the fight doing damage when no one else is.

1. Bio and Miasma should be the FIRST thing you do, and the first thing you learn to do as an Arcanist and later as a SMN. Its is the basis or bottom layer of your damage output. ALL of your other damage is layered on top of this and your pets damage.

2, Always use Garuda Pet for dungeon clearing, all of its attacks are AoE. Switch to Ifrit Pet at Boss Mobs (or possibly Titan pet if you need to Stoneskin yourself)

1st-40th level:
Miasma>Bio>BANE>Energy Siphon>Egi Assault 2 (Garuda-Slipstream DoT)>Egi Assault 1(Garuda-AoE attack)>Outburst Spam

In truth you can do these in any order so long as you remember the DoTs come first... and you MUST BANE out your DoTs which spreads them to all other targets. You can spam Outburst after completing the rotation to keep continuous damage on top of your pet and ticking DoTs.
At this point you'll have about 150 potency in DoTs ticking away on the target along with your 90 potency Outburst for about 240 potency damage per tick in AoE damage not even including your pets normal attacks.

40th-50th
Add in Enkindle-Garuda a surprisingly powerful AoE attack. BUT long CD so you may have to choose which groups of mobs to use it on.

50th-60th
Add in Painflare (you have 2 of them per Energy Siphon to weave in there on top of your DoTs), And you can use Tri-Disaster now in place of Bio/Miasma combo.
Plus... Deathflare as a finisher on packs of mobs, which will also reset your Tri-Disaster for the next group of mobs.
Bio and Miasma get a damage boost.

EDIT Combining with a later post...

At higher levels as an example....

Action 1: Apply DoTs (this is about 150 potency worth)
Tri-Disaster>Bane>Egi Assault 2 (Garuda: SlipStream DoT)

Action 2:
Enkindle (Garuda: Aerial Blast)>Energy Syphon

Action 3: Rotate through Egi Assault 1 twice while weaving in Instant Painflares.
Painflare>Egi Assault 1 (Aerial Slash AoE)>Egis Assault 1 (Aerial Slash AoE)>Painflare

Action 4a: Assumes Bahamut Summon is up
Deathflare > straight into > Bahamut Summon and Enkindle for 1st Ahk Morn > Outburst Spam > Last Ahk Morn> Outburst Spam

Action 4b: Assumes Phoenix Summon is up
Phoenix Summon and Enkindle for 1st Revelation > Alternating: Fountain of Fire and Brand of Purgatory > 2nd Revelation

Action 5: Coming out of Phoenix or Bahamut.
Egi Assault 2 (Garuda Slipstream) + Outburst Spam (possibly reapplying Bio/Miasma and Bane)
This leaves you enough Ruin 4s to polish of the remaining single targets.

While I'm sure everyone has their own version, this does keep a constant stream of ever increasing AoE damage on a target that slowly builds to a crescendo.

Technically you could even reverse the order of the Big Summons like Phoenix and Bahamut first, then come out of them using your Garuda AoEs, but that would be up to the individual I suppose.

[Silverquick]

Red Mage

Honestly I don't know why I'm posting this one, as you'd have to be a complete idiot not to grasp the basics of Red Mage AoE... but here it goes...

1-50
Verthunder II or VerAero II > Scatter
Pretty hard to screw that one up unless you don't understand you need to cast the VerII spells which are short casting times in order to Insta-Cast Scatter which is a LONG casting time. Also just remember to keep your gauge balanced... Verthunder is Black Magic (aka blue gauge) VerAero is White Mage (aka white gauge)

50-60
Here you get Embolden, Manafication, Contra Sixte, and Moulinet. This part can get a little more tricky as this is where you can use these new tools to add a new component to your AoE.

Contra Sixte is easy, its a flat out AoE, but now your AoE rotation can become more interesting.

For the first pack of trash mobs you can kick in Embolden which will increase the damage on your VerII + Scatter Dual casting. Also... now you can alternate the VerII spells directly without Scatter to fill your guage faster or use Manafication to double your mana gauge count... and once it gets to 60 or higher you can Corps a Corps into the melee fray and unleash 3-5 extremely fast very powerful Enchanted Moulinets and watch a huge pack of Trash mob's health drop to nothing in seconds.

Nothing really gets added at that point post 70th to change anything.


EDIT: Adding a higher level Example of it put together for Expert Roulettes.

Action 1 Unleash your Instant Attacks.
Contra Sixte > Fleche

Action 2 Kick in Embolden (+10% magic damage for you, +10% melee damage for party) so it has enough time to come off CD before the Boss Mob
Embolden > Verthunder II/VerAero II >Impact

Action 3 Finish off the mobs with Verthunder/Aero II + Impact spam to build up your Guage. At the end of the first Mob pack hit Manafication which should bring your guage at or near 100/100 white/black.

Action 4 Beginning at the next pack of Mobs if your guage is at 100/100... Corps-a Corps to the first Mob....Spam 5 quick Enchanted Moulinettes. This should bring the mob pack down to near or around half health... then continue VerII + Impact spam to build your guage back up before the first Boss Mob.

While I'm sure everyone has their own version, this does keep a constant stream of ever increasing AoE damage on a target. Red Mage is much more free flowing in general as it relies on a lot of procs and those determine your general rotation more than anything else. But this is a good example for Red Mage AoE on large packs of mobs.

(NOTE: Make sure to toggle through the mobs to make sure your cursor is on one of the ones in the middle so your AoEs cover the entire pack.

[Rasikko]

Dancer
Lvl15 - 80: literally an organic lawnmower of death.

[SpeckledBurd]

Monk AOE is fairly straightforward but there's a few more intricacies to it compared to the rest of the Melee as a result of its combo freedom which makes Single Target skills preferable in some circumstances, so I'll lay it out regardless.

Just to lay it out now, with the exception of Enlightenment at 74 all of Monks AOE is a 5 Yalm circle around you so you don't have to try to hard to Aim. Enlightenment is a 10 yalm wide/10 yalm long line AOE so you'll have to slide to the edge of a pack and target a far enemy to hit them all.

1-26: Monk is an ARR Melee Job and therefore doesn't have AOE at this level. Some day the devs will do the thing that makes sense and move an AOE skill on NIN/DRG/MNK to level 15 but who knows when that day will be.

26-30: Do your single target rotation, Upkeeping GL and Twinsnakes, except you replace Bootshine with Arm of the Destroyer.

30-44: In 3+ Targets, Arm of the Destroyer is your first move, alternate Twin Snakes and True Strike for your second, and use Rockbreaker for the 3rd move. In 2 targets, upkeep Demolish on both targets and Rockbreaker every 3rd combo before refreshing Demolish again.

Level 40 Note: You get Fists of Fire, use that stance exclusively until Level 76.

45-50: Same as before, except once you've got Twin Snakes up you use Four Point Fury as your second combo move exclusively.

50: 3+ Targets is Arm of the Destroyer>Four Point Fury>Rockbreaker. On 2 Targets you alternate Dragon Kick and Bootshine every other combo and always make sure to hit the butt for the crit>Four Point Fury> Upkeep Demolish on both targets and Rockbreaker the third Cycle.

52: Mash Formshift when you're out of combat, never lose GL again as you run between packs.

54: You have a gauge now. It doesn't build in combat because your gauge is a lazily modified downtime mitigation skill and you won't have an AOE action until Shadowbringers because this job is a mess. When out of combat and running between packs, when you've got some time on your GL meter, Mash Meditate to build gauge for some free damage, then go back to Mashing formshift until you're in combat.

56: As above, but use Elixir Field on Cooldown.

62: You finally build gauge in combat. You still don't have an AOE skill for it though so just use Forbidden Chakra whenever RNG decides to grace you with good crits.

68: As above, but use Riddle of Fire on Cooldown, always get Elixir Field in its buff window.

70: As above, but you pair Brotherhood with Riddle of Fire. You get more Chakra here but still have no AOE Gauge skill, so just use Forbidden Chakra

74: You finally have an AOE gauge skill a full 20 levels after you get a gauge because Monk's kit is a mess. If there's ever multiple targets, use Enlightenment instead of Forbidden Chakra as it's always a gain.

76: Replace Fists of Fire with Fists of Wind once you're at 3 Stacks Greased Lightning and are about to use a 3rd hit in a combo for GL4, then stay in Fists of Wind forever and never touch Fire again unless you're forced to lose your stacks somehow.

[Silverquick]

Dancer
Lvl15 - 80: literally an organic lawnmower of death.

Well that's great and all, but the whole point is to post how you use it at a basic level for new players.

[HyoMinPark]

DNC AOE builds off of itself just like any other class/job. It’s very strong in dungeons, and their AOE is a gain over single-target starting at 2 enemies.

Note that a lot of DNC AOE is in melee range, so you will need to get comfortable with moving into trash packs. Basic AOEs are roughly a 5y radius FROM YOU; Standard Step and Technical Finish are 15y from you. There will never be a situation where you won’t be able to avoid AOEs from enemies, so do not use that as an excuse to forsake AOEing. Practicing will earn you the ability and skill to dip in and dive out when needed for enemy AOE.


Level 15: You receive Standard Step and Windmill at this level. Use Standard Step on cooldown (read: every 30 seconds) for 1 to 5 enemies (it’s 1,000 potency for the first mob it hits with 75% fall-off). For 6+, just spam Rising Windmill until either: 1.) your Standard Finish buff is at roughly ~10 seconds, then refresh; or 2.) the total number of mobs drops to less than 6; then return to using Standard Step on cooldown between Windmill casts.

Level 25: You learn Bladeshower, which is your second skill of your base AOE rotation—Windmill > Bladeshower. Same rules apply as before with regards to Standard Step usage. Your AOE combo is a gain over your single-target combo (Cascade > Fountain) at 2 or more mobs.

Level 35: You learn Rising Windmill, which has a 50% chance to proc off of every Windmill usage. Rising Windmill will not break your Windmill > Bladeshower combo, so you can use it immediately after it procs. The same rules apply as before to Standard Step usage.

Level 45: You learn Bloodshower, which, like Rising Windmill, has a 50% chance to proc off of every Bladeshower usage. Use immediately upon proccing. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step usage.

Level 50: You learn Fan Dance II, which is your oGCD AOE. Fan Dances have a 50% chance to proc off of Flourished skills: meaning that each Rising Windmill and Bloodshower gives you a 50% chance to get a Fan Dance. You may stockpile these for large pulls, and weave them between your basic AOE rotation. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step usage.

Level 66: You learn Fan Dance III, which has a 50% chance to proc off of your Fan Dance I it Fan Dance II. You may weave this after a Fan Dance I/II between your GCD combos, as it will apply to both single-target and AOE scenarios. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step usage.

Level 70: You learn Technical Step, which is a party-wide 5% damage buff plus 1,500 potency initial hit with 75% fall-off. Try to use this on AOE pulls, as it’s fairly potent and it will buff everyone else (who should be) AOEing. Using this on the first pull of the dungeon and the first pull after every boss usually guarantees it will be up again in time for boss fights. Use/Refresh Standard Step first, and then begin prepping Technical Step. Always make sure you have you Standard Finish buff up before doing anything else. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step and all other AOE skills.

Level 72: You learn Flourish. Flourish force-procs 5 of your skills every 60 seconds—Rising Windmill, Bloodshower, Reverse Cascade, Fountainfall, and Fan Dance III. Use this skill on cooldown even during trash packs, and spend your AOE procs (Rising Windmill and Bloodshower) first while weaving in Fan Dance III. Ignore your single-target procs (Reverse Cascade and Fountainfall) starting at 3+ mobs, as they are not a gain over your AOE combo at that point. Ideally, when you are wanting to use Technical Step, you will want to Flourish AFTER you have hit Technical Finish and deployed your buff.
NOTE: the AOE Flourishes are used on single-targets as well, because it’s free damage and both are equal to or stronger than your Cascade > Fountain combo.

Level 76: You learn Saber Dance. Saber Dance is 600 potency for the first mob it hits (the one you have targeted) with 50% fall-off, and it costs 50 of your Esprit Gauge. Espirt has a roughly 20%~30% generation rate off of your GCD weaponskills AND your Dance Partner’s GCD weaponskills (it will generate off of the entire party while you have Technical Finish up). Generally, you use Saber Dance when your gauge has 80 Esprit. Use it against both single-targets and in AOE situations on top of all your other AOE tools.


To conclude—

Base AOE combo: Windmill > Bladeshower
AOE procs: Rising Windmill, Bloodshower, Fan Dance II (oGCD), Fan Dance III (oGCD), Saber Dance
Steps: Standard Step, Technical Step
oGCD Abilities: Flourish

—DNC AOE is a gain over single-target at 2 or more mobs.
—Procs do not break combos, so use them as you get them.
—Use Fan Dances on larger packs to make them melt faster.
—Use Standard Step on cooldown unless the trash pack exceeds 5 mobs. Then just refresh it when ~10 seconds remain on your Standard Finish buff.
—Use Technical Step on trash pulls for extra damage/because there’s literally no reason to hold it. Proper timing can ensure it’s up for boss fights as well.
—Utilize Flourish. Use it on cooldown, and ignore the single-target procs it gives you at 3+ mobs.
—Use Saber Dance at 80 Esprit.

Link to the DNC Job Guide for tooltip information: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/dancer/

[ChaoticCrimson]

DRG's primary AoE GCD rotation is pretty dang simple (especially since for the first 39 levels you get zero options), and revolves around three skills: At lv40 you get Doom Spike, which will chain into Sonic Thrust at lv62, which ultimately chains into Coerthan Torment at lv72. For OGCDs, at lv50 you'll be able to access Dragonfire Dive, then at lv60 you'll be able to weave Geirskogul periodically as long as Blood of the Dragon is up. Starting at lv70, you'll want to be sure you're using Jump (becomes High Jump at lv74) as soon as possible to proc your Mirage Dive (learned at lv68) to build up two eyes towards Life of the Dragon. This means you'll bee lining up your Geirskogul casts for use one GCD after Jump is used, ideally double-weaving Mirage Dive first to get your eye, though if you want to be really fancy you can use MD after Geirskogul if you want to wait until buffs line up with LotD. Once you have two eyes, using Geirskogul activates your LotD mode, which at lv70 give you access to Nastrond, and ultimately Stardiver at lv80. Just like with the single-target rotation, at lv80 you should be able to fit in three Nastronds and one Stardiver per LotD phase, which together make for some nice AoE. This should be plenty of damage against regular dungeon trash mobs.

[Silverquick]

DNC AOE builds off of ...

Thank you HyoMin,
That was what I was looking for here.

DRG's primary AoE GCD rotation is pretty dang simple (especially since for the first 39 levels you get zero options), and revolves around three skills: At lv40 you get Doom Spike, which will chain into Sonic Thrust at lv62, which ultimately chains into Coerthan Torment at lv72. For OGCDs, at lv50 you'll be able to access Dragonfire Dive, then at lv60 you'll be able to weave Geirskogul periodically as long as Blood of the Dragon is up. Starting at lv70, you'll want to be sure you're using Jump (becomes High Jump at lv74) as soon as possible to proc your Mirage Dive (learned at lv68) to build up two eyes towards Life of the Dragon. This means you'll bee lining up your Geirskogul casts for use one GCD after Jump is used, ideally double-weaving Mirage Dive first to get your eye, though if you want to be really fancy you can use MD after Geirskogul if you want to wait until buffs line up with LotD. Once you have two eyes, using Geirskogul activates your LotD mode, which at lv70 give you access to Nastrond, and ultimately Stardiver at lv80. Just like with the single-target rotation, at lv80 you should be able to fit in three Nastronds and one Stardiver per LotD phase, which together make for some nice AoE. This should be plenty of damage against regular dungeon trash mobs.

Ok so... basically... for Dragoon

1st-40th
Doom Spike is the only AoE you have and its a Line Attack.

40th-50th
Add Dragon Dive which is a Global Cooldown so has a longer CD.

50th-60th
Add in Geirskogul which depends on your guage filling for Blood of the Dragon.

60th-70th
At this level you finally get an AoE Combo which goes....
Doom Spike > Sonic Thrust
With Dragon Dive as a GCD and Geirskogul if your Gauge fills.


Yeah I see it takes a while for DRGs to get anything decent. It looks to be one of the few Jobs without a lot of AoE below level 60.

[Silverquick]

Well I was hoping to get a good BLM AoE rotation in here, but didn't want to do it myself since I haven't played BLM since the early stages of Stormblood so I'm sure it may have changed. There used to be some really good BLMs that posted here but I suppose I can at least give the basics.

Any Black Mages are more than welcome to correct this if things have changed.

Black Mage is actually pretty simple prior to level 60 and Enochian. Cast your Thunder DoTs, then Fire II until you're at just enough MP for Flare, then Transpose and use Freeze (or Blizzard II if you're really low level) to build your MP back up to repeat the Fire II Phase.

Fire II is an 80 potency AoE building to... Flare which is a 260 potency AoE, Meanwhile you have Thunder II which is an AoE DoT ticking at only 30 potency... but will proc usually at least twice allowing you to hit the button again to give you a 120 potency AoE attack at random intervals on top of that.

The Enochian phase is mostly single target boss damage so does not apply and is completely separated from the AoE rotation.

1st-50th
ThunderII>Fire II>Fire II>Fire II>Fire II>FLARE>Transpose> Freeze/Blizzard II

Add in inter-spaced procs of Thunder II for an additional 120 potency in damage at random intervals.

50th-70th
Thunder II becomes Thunder IV increasing the potency to 180 on procs.