The Black Mage Rotations

[Synovius]

I assessed this the other day with a guy in my FC; it's pretty straightforward: a generic AF3 Flare at 260*1.8 takes 4.0s to execute, with an additional time penalty of 3.0s/2 average wait for a tick of mana after the Transpose.

Net result is 260*1.8/(4.0+1.5) = 85pps, which is lower than a BLM's normal single target rotation, which floats in the ~105-110 area according to the sim from the other thread. Hence it is a DPS loss unless you do something more interesting (like swiftcast).

Sidenote: this does, though, mean that it's a DPS increase on 2 targets, because 170pps > 105~110, unless you're T--. Nvm.

That's good to know and thanks, EasymodeX. I can absolutely agree that the Flare rotation would be an increase if you have more than one mob you're hitting.

[Waliel]

How about Flare - Transpose - B2 - B2 - Flare - Flare - Transpose - B2 - B2 etc., etc. aoe rotation? I was playing around with that and got about 10-15 DPS more against two targets than with F3 - Flare. If you wait 0.5 seconds after the last tick after the last B2, you can time your Flare perfectly to get 2x Flares without doing anything and both of them will have UI3 cast time, and the second one will have AF3 damage. You also get to B2 almost immediately after Transpose every time. The penalty is pretty heavy for missing the mana tick betwixt the Flares, though. I didn't do too heavy testing on this, only a couple of few minute runs, but double Flare seems better after those small tests.

Another thing, would it be worth it to Transpose to AF for the extra damage, if you have Firestarter proc up in UI3 while casting Thunder?

[Youmu]

Another thing, would it be worth it to Transpose to AF for the extra damage, if you have Firestarter proc up in UI3 while casting Thunder?

Not going to comment on your flare rotation til I try it, but as far as the Firestarter procs go, if you're in a ST situation the use of transpose before your proc is usually a gain. Occasionally, youll have to wait after the thunder cast for your last UI3 tick, but generally this only to serves to negate the bonus 300 damage youre gaining (roughly) on your firestarter proc. In essence, there is no real downside, and a decent upside to transposing firestarter procs, since in a ST rotation transpose will be back off cooldown by the time you may need it again. However, I wouldnt advise it for AOE rotations involving flare, since you'll need transpose for your flare recoveries. I guess you could get away with it if youre planning to burst things down with convert/ether/swiftcast prior to needing convert.

[ShinryuReishiki]

How about Flare - Transpose - B2 - B2 - Flare - Flare - Transpose - B2 - B2 etc., etc. aoe rotation?

Once you have the timing down, that does seem better. On a single target (Not that you ever would), using Flare instead of Fire III would be close; slightly extra cast time for slightly more damage, but as soon as it's more than one enemy, Flare takes the lead. The only downside is, as you stated, the increased cost of a mistake. A mistimed first Flare could make the second Flare either a full cast time or nonexistent. It is pretty easy to do consistently, though.

This makes me think of using Mage's Ballad for Blizzard III > Flare > Flare... I've done no testing to see how useful it actually is or isn't, but it certainly is fun to have a near constant stream of Flares to complement Holy spam.

[PessimiStick]

Replacing F3 with Flare is a lot of risk for marginal gain. UI3 Flare is 182 potency, and the cost of a miss is that you stand around twiddling your thumbs for 5+ seconds doing 0 damage, and never getting out your 468 potency Flare at all.

Edit: Played around with this some more, and assuming you're not lagging it's actually fairly safe. The timing is really awkward to get HASTE on both Flares, but getting the mana tick is pretty controllable. I'll probably run WP with double Flare and see if it works as well as on dummies. I was parsing ~435 DPS over 3.5 minutes against 3 targets. That had some hardcasted second Flares in it, so theoretically it should be higher if you time it perfectly, but I'm still working on that.

[ShinryuReishiki]

It may not work for everyone, but personally, I use a monosyllabic word as a counter for the timing. As soon as I see the tick, think/say "one", Flare -> Flare. Once I started doing that, I haven't had any issues getting the quick casts on both every time.

[Panteleon]

It may not work for everyone, but personally, I use a monosyllabic word as a counter for the timing. As soon as I see the tick, think/say "one", Flare -> Flare. Once I started doing that, I haven't had any issues getting the quick casts on both every time.

I'm sorry for the confusion, but, to clarify... you're casting B2 > B2 then waiting for a tick of regen... then a monosyllabic word? Then cast Flare > Flare and there will be a MP tick between?

Is there any other series of actions in between mana ticks that we know to be somewhat timed to the MP regeneration tick?

[PessimiStick]

I'm sorry for the confusion, but, to clarify... you're casting B2 > B2 then waiting for a tick of regen... then a monosyllabic word? Then cast Flare > Flare and there will be a MP tick between?

Is there any other series of actions in between mana ticks that we know to be somewhat timed to the MP regeneration tick?

The word is to make sure you get haste on both Flares. Even if you cast as soon as you see the tick, you'll still get both Flares off. but the second one will be a hardcast. You need the slight delay to make sure you get the mana tick later, so that you have mana to cast the second Flare before you are put into AF3.

[Wowa]

The word is to make sure you get haste on both Flares. Even if you cast as soon as you see the tick, you'll still get both Flares off. but the second one will be a hardcast. You need the slight delay to make sure you get the mana tick later, so that you have mana to cast the second Flare before you are put into AF3.

hmm I see what you mean about getting the two flares off with the UI3 buff, but any tips on ensuring that you get the tick of mana to cast the second flare to begin with ? When I attempt its spotty at best, not the mention it seems sometimes I get that cast time lag with flare like some do when casting f3.

[MouriceWayne]

nice guide here. Used the AOE for WP Speed runs! thanks for the guide