Which jobs is at its prime?

[SpeckledBurd]

Well technically, you have Flare. The lvl 72 trait gives you a really good aoe rotation that's Freeze followed by two Flare, and you repeat the process indefinitely, using also aoe thunder and foul between everything. This aoe rotation works well, the second flare hits for around 30k-40k, and the thunder proc/foul makes it a really decent burst. It's kinda too bad that it's given so late but it's definitely a good aoe rotation.

My point was a means of switching to Astral Fire so you don't have to cold cast a Flare and you just get two under Astral Fire.

[SamRF]

RDM- works well but way too easy. Aoe rotation is too simple. This is my last dps to 80 (currently at 74) since it bores me too much.

I agree that BRD is in bad place but the AoE is definitely not too simple imo and is one of the great things about BRD, it can't be put in a set rotation and even general guidelines aren't very usefull. It's feelcrafty and you have to feel when and how to dot mobs as well as how to manage your songs and procs. I really think a BRD that knows what they're doing can outperform every job in this game AoE dps wise, while a BRD that only does the bare minimum will do less than any other job probably. High skill ceiling for AoE.

This doesn't concern you in particular, but it annoys me when people ask for an ability like Bane for BRD, since that would likely mean significant nerfs to its AoE dps and they'll be stuck then in another rigid rotation like other jobs, which also wouldn't fit their flavor I'd say.

[Dogempire]

Well technically, you have Flare. The lvl 72 trait gives you a really good aoe rotation that's Freeze followed by two Flare, and you repeat the process indefinitely, using also aoe thunder and foul between everything. This aoe rotation works well, the second flare hits for around 30k-40k, and the thunder proc/foul makes it a really decent burst. It's kinda too bad that it's given so late but it's definitely a good aoe rotation.

Well correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to get Astral Fire III from the single target skill I can't remember off the top of my head before you throw a double flare on a pack of mobs.

[gumas]

Well technically, you have Flare. The lvl 72 trait gives you a really good aoe rotation that's Freeze followed by two Flare, and you repeat the process indefinitely, using also aoe thunder and foul between everything. This aoe rotation works well, the second flare hits for around 30k-40k, and the thunder proc/foul makes it a really decent burst. It's kinda too bad that it's given so late but it's definitely a good aoe rotation.

i think she meant that for aoe attack, from fire to cold you can just cast freeze which grant you 3 stack of umbral ice and 1 heart

but for cold to fire, you still need to cast fire 3 which is not aoe.

fire 2 should change umbral ice to fire (even 1 stack is fine), but right now it just straight delete the whole thing including the enochian buff lol

[Eliadil]

Well correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to get Astral Fire III from the single target skill I can't remember off the top of my head before you throw a double flare on a pack of mobs.

True, you usually use Fire 3 to get AFIII before using the double Flare, but most pugs I see don't usually bother with the Fire 3 and just usually do Flare to swap, then another "boosted" Flare. I don't know if it's that much different, I believe that it's not that much, since the "Fire3 skip" aoe rotation is a lot quicker than the other one...

But yeah I see what you mean, but I don't know if this would actually improve much. But I guess I'm just happy with the current rotation.

[Ramura_Sono]

True, you usually use Fire 3 to get AFIII before using the double Flare, but most pugs I see don't usually bother with the Fire 3 and just usually do Flare to swap, then another "boosted" Flare. I don't know if it's that much different, I believe that it's not that much, since the "Fire3 skip" aoe rotation is a lot quicker than the other one...

But yeah I see what you mean, but I don't know if this would actually improve much. But I guess I'm just happy with the current rotation.

Isn't to Fire 3 before Flare, or to Flare swap literally dependent on the number of targets?

[Kabooa]

Isn't to Fire 3 before Flare, or to Flare swap literally dependent on the number of targets?

5+ targets Cold Flare is a small gain.

Working the numbers out a long time ago brought the multiplier to something like 5.08.

However it's pretty irrelevant as T4 scales absurdly with pack size and brings Hot Flare v Cold Flare to basically the same outcome as pack size increases.

[Mansion]

As a SMN main, I kind of like the job currently but boy did I hate it between 5.0 and 5.1. It performs very well (and might get another nerf), but its playstyle is... puzzling? I think that's the common point in everyone's opinion on SMN. It's weird to be a pet management / Demi-management / DoTs Mage / Transe Mage / My downtime is 50% of my rotation -job.

Not talking about numbers and just in terms of playstyle, I'd say the best DPS job in 5.X is BLM. The 15seconds on AF / UI, the addition of Despair and Xeno are coherent in its kit. It could still do with a bit of a buff as SMN is so strong. My second "main" is RDM, and I don't really like its 5.X iteration. I prefer this new Acceleration, and Reprise is handy, but I don't like Engagement, I don't like the new AoE (and the loss of Impact in the proc management), I don't like the 110s on Manafication, I don't really care for Scorch.

I don't have much of an opinion of melee jobs because I'm a terrible melee player, but I did feel SAM and DRG felt "natural" to play, while MNK and NIN felt a bit weird.

I think DNC works well enough and MCH too. I loved 4.X BRD, but I think 5.X is less interesting with the addition of Apex being so underwhelming, and Refulgent proc-ing so often that it lost its special thingy. The Crit scaling was out of control yes, but it felt rewarding to track snapshotting. The overall ranged role still needs a buff though.

[Ilyrian]

I don't have much of an opinion of melee jobs because I'm a terrible melee player, but I did feel SAM and DRG felt "natural" to play, while MNK and NIN felt a bit weird.

This is *exactly* my experience too.

[reyre]

As a MNK main, it pains me to say that MNK skills works against it, so much that is actually baffling that it doing as well as it is. I honestly dont think that any other class (could be wrong here) has skills that actually punish you for using them, its bemusing really but on the main topic, BLM is/has always been a very good class to play, the FF14 team clearly cares a lot about it and it shows, DRG, NIN, DNC and SAM are pretty solid while not being wow worthy they are fun, BRD seems fun, a buff might be required here but it feels okay to play. MCH is fucking weird. SMN is broken damage wise and super clunky to use, RDM seems to be in a good spot with some complains about AOE.

Over all MNK still plays like ass and performs like shit while being a pretty execution heavy and party dependant and all of that is just to reach kind of average performance (What was that about making party compositions more flexible yoshi-p?) while BLM sits a the top (at least mechanically) as is customary, so basically the same, or very close, as always.

Hopefully they will improve MNK a bit...i mean probably not but a little MNK can dream and hope.