The Black Mage Rotations

[Synovius]

Hmm, I'm not seeing those numbers, Doogsi. I'm consistently seeing that rotation come in about 10% behind mine. I'd like to think I'm running both rotations spot on but maybe it's a matter of being more comfortable with my rotation and you being more comfortable with that one?

[EasymodeX]

As a general note, the "short" flare-only rotation spends a much larger fraction of its time casting the Fire 3, a single target spell.

A "normal" fire2 spam sequence spends much less time casting the single target spell.

The net result is that in a quick model (which I may not have built properly re: cast times because I'm not fluent with BLM stuff), the short flare sequence works better on a single target (or 2 or 3 targets), but the longer normal sequence nets higher on 6, 7, 8, 9+ targets, because it simply spends a lower fraction of attacks only targeting 1 thing.

Something to consider. If you're looking for a definitive "what is better on paper", then I recommend taking your average damages and scaling them manually for F2/B2/Flare to X targets. As it is, there is a skew when testing with 1/2/3 targets as opposed to a "real" AOE situation with many more targets.

[Synovius]

The Fire III cast, as well as Flare itself, will always cast at 50% cast time meaning and the Fire III itself, time-wise, takes up a very small portion of the rotation.

However, you do bring up a good point that against more mobs than 2-3 the Fire II rotation may pull ahead because although Fire II hits very weak, the damage adds up over time.

EDIT: Took out the first, semi-rude part because I do see what you're saying!

[Derpsheep]

The Fire III cast, as well as Flare itself, will always cast at 50% cast time meaning and the Fire III itself, time-wise, takes up a very small portion of the rotation.

However, you do bring up a good point that against more mobs than 2-3 the Fire II rotation may pull ahead because although Fire II hits very weak, the damage adds up over time.

EDIT: Took out the first, semi-rude part because I do see what you're saying!

I don't know how hard your fires hit for, but in a typical dungeon mine hits for 400-700 depending on crits per target. On the test dummies my Blizzard II was hitting for just over 200, while my Fire II was hitting for just 380 to low 400s. You can also get your next Fire III after the two Blizzard II's with a fast Fire II as well. I'm not sure how you're getting those numbers for AoE because I'm seeing about half the damage as I do on a Fire II rotation.

[Synovius]

I'm not sure what to say, Derp. I've tried the rotation you've mentioned over and over and I can't get at or above what my rotation is doing. I've tested it 20-30 times now each.

[Derpsheep]

What exactly are you doing for each rotation?

[PessimiStick]

I did a few ~75k damage parses.

F3 --> Flare --> Transpose --> B2 --> B2
345 DPS

F3 --> F2 until low --> Flare --> Transpose --> B2
361 DPS

F3 --> F2 until low --> Flare --> Transpose --> B2 --> B2
371 DPS

Obviously, more trials/longer parses would be beneficial, but it's really boring. >_<

I do think the double Blizz 2 is better though, since the cast speed difference between Umbral 2 and Umbral 3 is pretty substantial, and you're always double dipping.

The Flare heavy rotation gets bonus points for actually using Flare the most though, since it's the coolest animation.

Edit: DPS is lower because while I have +1, the rest of my gear is mostly AK with a few DL.

[Doogsi]

I'm not sure what to say, Derp. I've tried the rotation you've mentioned over and over and I can't get at or above what my rotation is doing. I've tested it 20-30 times now each.

I went back and tested it again. And I get what you're saying. Your rotation if timed correctly (Fire3 and Flare both using the UI cast time reduction) will be more DPS. I tell you though, getting those spells off at the exact time is pretty hard and going to take practice. It has a very small margin for error. Nice find though.

[Synovius]

I went back and tested it again. And I get what you're saying. Your rotation if timed correctly (Fire3 and Flare both using the UI cast time reduction) will be more DPS. I tell you though, getting those spells off at the exact time is pretty hard and going to take practice. It has a very small margin for error. Nice find though.

Good point. This may be the difference here. I think it's that when I was first learning BLM I used this double half cast time trick and assumed it was simply part of the rotation so it's baked into muscle memory for me. It does have some tight timing for sure.

[KyteStones]

Since we're posting rotations here's mine..

Single Target:
Thunder III (ticks longer for more damage) ---> Fire III ---> Fire (recast until 300mp) ---> Swiftcast ---> Flare ---> Convert ---> Fire ---> Blizzard III ---> Thunder III ---> Fire III ---> Fire (until 100mp) ---> Blizzard III and then repeat from beginning.

I see no point in casting Blizzard III before Fire III because by the time this rotation ends, 90% of the time I have the Fire III proc and cast it for nothing after going from Blizzard III ---> Thunder III ---> Fire III (free immediate cast). Not to mention Fire III is a 1.5 second cast coming from Blizzard III so its more efficient IMO.