When is better to AoE trash pulls?

[Simaril]

Leveling in dungeons (everything upto Qarn so far), when is it better to focus on a single target and when is it better to AoE, or damage multiple targets (for example put DoTs on all targets)?

My main is Whm, but I'm leveling all DoM. Generally, as either Whm of Thm I prefer to focus on a single target, and sleep the others, but some other players spam AoE and/or DoT everything up.

I understand it's going to depend on group composition, and the trash pack, but;

When does it make sense to AOE trah packs?
Is it significantly better DPS for that class/job?
Is it better DPS for the party (if the healer can't dps because he's healing more is the party dps actually better)?


I really enjoy leveling in dungeons. Obviously I'm leveling slowly, but I intend to continue to just follow the main quest, class/job quests, and use duty finder to level.

[Maero]

I am still fairly new but i tend to put adds to sleep to make it easier for the tank. So if tank marks 1, 2, 3 as blm i will use thunder on target 2 and then sleep, same goes for other targets.
I guess instances if the group is overwhelmed by enemies just use aoe damage.
Problem with using aoe is if targets are not taken down quickly agro will all be towards you and can cause a wipe.
Happened to me when i got too confident, lol
Also to me i actually prefer if healer just focuses on healing tank or other dps that may need it as i have cure abilities as blm
I am sure more experienced players will also way in

[EasymodeX]

Humm ... at lower levels tanks have fewer effective AOE tools and/or suck, so CC (sleep) is a valid choice and is generally a good approach for stable Duty Finder groups.

At higher levels, it's irrelevant and you should basically AOE everything always (or tab-dot when there's only 2-3 mobs depending on your class), unless the tank sucks.

[OrionInerghem]

It depends on the class, but for BLM it's always better to AoE once you get 3+ mobs.


Whether or not to AoE is up to your judgement. If you're with a weak tank, I would sleep and single target.

In lower dungeons (and even new tanks at 50) don't understand the plan for AoE. They need to flash+ overpower or w/e AoE hate move they can as fast and often as possible until everything is dead.


Realize that if your tank isn't up to the challenge it's always better to go back down to single target then to cause a stressful situation. I have all classes 50 and that's my opinion.

[Sinaloa]

It´s not as dependant on the dd but the tank. Can the tank hold the aggro and the healer is able to keep him up AoE is never a bad choice. Often it´s the better choice to focus down a threat though.

Test it the ini´s you are joining. 3-4 cd´s singletarget then aoe. If he holds tha aggro after 2-3 groups you will be fine and may drop the singletarget cd´s. If not watch it 2-3 Groups and adept if the tank can´t adept.

[Spyderlol]

Basically what OrionInerghem and Sinaloa were saying. It all comes down to Group Comp/Players. When I tank I will look at my group and decide if I'm going to do big AoE pulls or mark a target for them to burn down and do chain pulls. If I see 2 Black Mage/Bard/Summoner then I am for sure doing AoE pulls, but if a Dragoon/Monk is in the mix then I might do chain pulls.

AoE DPS is always going to be inflated and higher then that of Single Target.... But if you have 2 high AoE DPS Jobs, then yes it will be faster. However if you have a mix group then it really just comes down to how geared you guys are for what is faster. If you have a super geared Monk then probably Chain Pulling is faster then AoE.

I've had no troubles as a White Mage being able to keep a tank alive on a 3+ pull while healing them and DPSing the mobs, however for the few runs I have done where we CC mobs and I'm basically in Cleric Stance all the time, my overall time has been slower by 7+ minutes.

[Simaril]

I think I'll just have to start asking my goups what they want to do. Communication in DF groups is really poor :/

I guess at least now I know it may be worthwhile... I didn't think it would be worth asking my group unless I was sure it was a valid approach.

[PArcher]

Honestly, I wouldn't AoE in low-leveled dungeons. Most tanks just don't know how or don't want to hold group aggro, so its usually a Flash/Overpower or two and that's all they do.

Leveling SCH...I've lost count on how many times I've taken aggro from CS DoT-ing and Bane-ing everything. A SCH...taking aggro...

[Vortok]

Time spent casting sleep is time that could be spent dpsing. I'm also fairly sure you can't build threat on stuff that's asleep even with Flash, but could probably test it more extensively. Reason enough for me to not use it unless we actually need to lower the incoming damage (aka, almost never).

Unless the healer is extremely undergeared and requests it (or if the healer requests CC in general to lighten their healing load I'll try to respect their request) or spends their extra time dpsing, as a tank I'll just wake stuff up if I have a THM/BLM spamming sleep when I didn't mark for it (can't remember the last time I did - Stone Vigil's 4 pull, probably).

If the tank is weak at multi-target threat than sure, sleep stuff as it's just gonna run around otherwise... but you won't really be using any damaging aoe moves with such a tank anyway.

[PArcher]

I'm also fairly sure you can't build threat on stuff that's asleep even with Flash, but could probably test it more extensively.

Yes, Flash builds threat on sleeping targets. So do DoTs cast before sleep or Bane'd to a sleeping target (Bane does NOT wake sleeping targets up, BTW)