BLM - To flare or not to flare, that is the question

[Juumix]

Quelling Strikes is useful in it's niches, but honestly with it's cooldown/duration, it isn't going to make or break you. The only place I've felt compelled to get quelling strikes is turn 4 on the first soldier. Usually my tank will hold it just fine until it's at about half health, then it'll start running at us, but mana wall/ward is enough to keep myself or our other BLM from dying.

Other than that, you can throttle dps if your tank has a gear gap or they're a poor paladin with no MP. Nothing says you have to go balls-to-the-wall dps all the time. It's smart to watch your aggro.

[Techro]

So as far as FLARE into rotation goes. Is it possible?/has anyone tried? to double dip a flare into a blizz 3 tick? with UI3 up you will get a fast cast on flare making it so the flare hits then the UI3 ticks after wards will be the trick. after doing so i guess you can swiftcast flare for the remaining MP with AF3 up. umm kinda confusing and this is really speculation. i'm not entirely sure if this will be a good dps boost or not but.. here:

finished regular fire rotation and you have something below 1k mp > cast blizz 3 and spam flare button > flare goes off while in UI3 > double dip happens > you come out with some MP and AF3 > Swiftcast Flare > convert > back to regular rotation.

[PessimiStick]

Timing that on purpose is essentially impossible. Occasionally it would work, most of the time you'd be sitting in AF3 with 0 MP.

[NyneAlexander]

When you start getting into timed fights and things where you need high burst damage, YOU NEED QUELLING STRIKES.

Yes, you may be able to briefly cover your ass with manaward/manawall, but what about when you pull aggro, and the mob comes over and does some instant conal move that you block but kills two other dps/healers?

Quelling strikes isn't about saving your own ass. Its about maintaining the balance of your party. And besides, Archer is the biggest/easiest faceroll class to level. Not many excuses to not take it to 34 other than "i just don't feel like it."

Perfect example: You pop raging strikes for your fire chain on turn 1 in BC. The snake you are killing comes walking over to you and in the process finds his twin buddy. Now you are back at one snake and your party is probably gonna wipe.

[agentw00t]

But... If I don't pull aggro and top the threat charts, no one will know that I'm doin leet deeps!

In all honesty... how many BLMs don't use quelling strikes simply because it will lower your threat and make you feel not so badass?

<--- This guy for sure.

[Umero]

I'm sort of new to BLM (Only played for 2 weeks at most)

But here goes...

When convert is on cooldown, is it ideal to use transpose after swiftcast-flare as part of my rotation? For me personally, I feel like it can be a slight dps drop from just Fire I spam.


Also one small question, is it that important to get quelling strike? I notice I get aggro problems during trash mobs. But quelling strike doesn't seem to cut it. (120s Recast for 15s duration)

Use it when you have thundercloud up. Throw in thundercloud after you transpose and then you should have enough mp to do fire3 again.

[Umero]

And yes, it's worth to get... not because of what comes in battles but because there isn't any good option to pick for the last choice on your additional skill slot.

[RegnumMagik]

Thanks for the feedback guys, truly appreciated. I guess it's time to grind some fate!

[Pinworms]

I have accidentally double dipped flare on a blizzard 3. It's extremely hard to recreate. I try to do it every time I flare now and it's really not worth trying to do unless your making doing it a "mini game" while you use flare lol. It's a lets try for shites and giggles.

[Youmu]

Use it when you have thundercloud up. Throw in thundercloud after you transpose and then you should have enough mp to do fire3 again.

This is how you should do it. Flare is worth it on the tail end of your fire1 rotation (with that last 300 or so mana you have left), but only if you have a proc up to cover the GCD waste.