It's been a few weeks since I last read BLM theorycrafting discussions. I finally got a BLM to 50 and have been running into some situations I'm not sure how to handle.

1.) Is Thunder II still the go-to thunder for non-thundercloud procs?

2.) One thread suggests that you hold thundercloud procs until Umbral stage given that the buff will last long enough for this to be possible. What do you guys do? Even if that's sound advice, lets pretend the situation arises where you WONT be able to hold the proc until Umbral. This means you go ahead and use it and when you do get to umbral, likely some time on your Thunder will remain. If it's a few seconds, I suppose it's best to refresh, but what if like 10 or so seconds is left on it? What do I cast in that situation? Blizzard I? Refresh it anyways? What?

3.) This question has to deal with the delay in firestarter procs.
a.) Is it better to wait a slight second to see if firestarter procs or to simply chain cast and potentially lose firestarter procs? I hope in the future all procs are more responsive.
b.) If no, what about the last Fire cast before you Blizzard III. Is it better to at least wait on this one to see if Firestarter procs so that I can expend it before going into Umbral? I find that having a Firestarter proc while in Umbral causes me to have to delay anyways. If I go Blizzard III > Thunder II > Firestarter Fire III chain cast with no delay, I end up not regenning my full MP bar because the second tic of Umbral III regen tends to happen during the cast time of Fire III, but without a cast time it doesn't have time to tic, thus causing me to have to delay regardless, unless maybe I cast Thunder III in this situation instead.

4.) Whats the best use for Convert? Should I use it to extend my Astral phase or for Flare?

5.) If Flare is even worth using, what's the best Flare rotation? Fire until I cannot cast anymore and have MP for Flare > Swiftcast > Flare > Convert > Fire (x1 for me) > Blizzard III?

6.) Outside of Flare, what's the best use(s) for Swiftcast? I like to use it to redo Astral III if I ever happen to drop out of form due to boss mechanics, but I'm curious if there's any better applications.

Thanks for any answers!