BLM: Endgame guide and rotations

[Peptaru]

So you think that 2 moves in the beginning is less DPS than holding back the entire fight? The method above is actually recommended by some of the best BLMs out there. Unless you know your tank, then its advised to use it or you will be nerfing yourself. Keep in mind that this method is intended for ppl without quelling strikes or for when its on CD. (Which is why i replied to a specific person who said Quelling Strikes was essential.....)

I didn't say it was useless, but you can lose at least 700 damage doing this instead of maximizing damage. The information you posted in response to the quote you posted, was supposed to be correcting what a person said, but you corrected them by supporting what they said.... logic fail.

What the person said is that Quelling strikes is needed to maximize potential DPS; it's true.

[Sinaloa]

Get some sleep before answering. You are seeing double ^^

[SirGazuntai]

Blizz I (or even Blizz III) are good fillers, however I love Scathe for end-game content for the same reason I love Firestarter/Thundercloud procs. They all allow movement. I refuse to move with the group in Turn 4 until I've gotten a proc (sometimes I'll get both procs at the same time and I can reach the other end of the elevator without losing DPS).

If it's a fight that requires little-to-no movement, by all means use spells with cast-times but the mobility Scathe provides can be invaluable (not to mention I get the double-potency pretty regularly, so it usually does way more damage anyway).

It's a good start to a BLM guide. More of a rotation guide than an actual BLM guide, but I guess it covers the majority of important stuff.

[Aanmer]

Psh you don't need Quelling Strikes! Rip that hate and make the tank feel like a baddie and make the other DPS impressed.

If you start with Thunder II then that will usually be enough time for the tank to get enough hate. Unless you totally out gear him... which is becoming a problem now in DF as the gear gap widens between Coil farmers and the rest of the population.

[Azoryl]

Thunder III is a much better filler due to the change in the UI ticks. In addition, depending on procs my Thunder III is usually at 4 sec or less when i start to cast Bliz III. So it is perfect in my rotation.

Another tip.... ALWAYS use the last firestarter proc you get before going into Bliz III. I heard some people save it to get back into AF3 faster. That is horrible. Why?

For me Fire III in AF3 can hit for upwards of 1900. In addition, the cast time of a hardcast fire III in UI3 is faster then the GCD. If you save the proc for after a bliz III and thunder.. you will lower your dps because the fire III wont hit near as hard and you still have to wait for the GCD

[Pacifyer]

Thunder III is a much better filler due to the change in the UI ticks. In addition, depending on procs my Thunder III is usually at 4 sec or less when i start to cast Bliz III. So it is perfect in my rotation.

Another tip.... ALWAYS use the last firestarter proc you get before going into Bliz III. I heard some people save it to get back into AF3 faster. That is horrible. Why?

For me Fire III in AF3 can hit for upwards of 1900. In addition, the cast time of a hardcast fire III in UI3 is faster then the GCD. If you save the proc for after a bliz III and thunder.. you will lower your dps because the fire III wont hit near as hard and you still have to wait for the GCD

People mostly save it because to use it you have to pause after the last cast and wait until your Fire 1 actually lands on target and applies Firestarter on you (or may not) so you will be losing extra ~1 second every Blizzard III just to understand if Firestarter procs. So generally you will just chaincast Blizzard III after the last Fire 1 and you will understand that Firestarter procced in the middle of the cast. So I am not sure if it is worth it to make that pause.

[Grimmelsa]

Wow, my AOE rotation was definitely wrong. Thanks for this thread! That's going to make a big difference.

[wicked-one]

Another tip.... ALWAYS use the last firestarter proc you get before going into Bliz III. I heard some people save it to get back into AF3 faster. That is horrible. Why?

Why? My guess would be laziness...

When I am in UI3 and have a Fire-Proc up (because of that bad timing/luck i usually get) i transpose before i shoot it, giving it at least some damage it deserves...

[Royze]

They need to fix that by changing firestarter procs. Make the check earlier, like as soon as you cast fire 1 rather than when fire 1 lands on the enemy.

EDIT: Actually, I suppose the problem with that would be spell interupts.

[Kenji1134]

K, 2 solutions for that.

1. Do the Firestarter calculation at the start of the Fire 1 cast, BUT if the cast is not finished, the buff is removed.

2. Slightly harder to code but more fluid... Have a Firestarter proc modify Fire 3 such that it does not apply or remove any UI/AF stacks, nor is it affected by them. A Firestarter proc creates a "new" Fire 3 that is instant, has a base potency of 396, is unaffected by AF/UI, and does not affect AF/UI.

Using the 2nd option, you are FORCED to use a hardcasted Fire 3 to quickly get into AF3, but you can use ANY Firestarter proc at any time and still deal full damage with it. So you can keep spamming B3 after the end of your Fire Cycle, and if the last Fire 1 gets you a proc, just use it during UI3 and get 396 potency out of it.

@Azoryl: What kind of gear do you have that F3 hits for near or over 1900? Assuming that is a crit, your regular F3's would be hitting for around 1260, which would put your potency value at 3.2... Man I hope that is only with Raging Strikes or something... A full I90 BLM has a potency value of 2.6-2.7... You must be doing something very very right.