BLM: Endgame guide and rotations

[Azoryl]

K, 2 solutions for that.

@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.

My Fire III procs usually hit non crit for aprox. 975 - 1075, That 1900 hit was during a raid. I can not recall if Raging was on, or if the bard hard Requiem going. I tend to think it was one of those rare spots, I see more 1550 - 1650 crits then upwards of 1800. Still my point is make sure ot use the fire III procs in AF3. Even if you have to stop a Bliz III cast. The difference between 950 non crit AF3 hit and a 350 non crit UI hit, justifies it.

[glen7187]

For AoE rotations, I personally use one from another BLM Rotation thread that I'm having trouble finding but its basically this:

Fire 3 > Fire 2 ... (until around 1000 mp) > Flare > [Transpose > wait 2 seconds after first mp tick > Flare > Fire 2 > Flare >] repeat

I personally love this. It seems weird cause of the wait you have for the 2 seconds, but if you do it right, when you cast Flare you will get an MP tick right after which gives you enough MP to do Fire 2 and another Flare. By the time you finish that second Flare, Transpose is off CD so you repeat the whole thing. Using it real time in places like WP, mobs melt like crazy so just thought I'd share this one.

About the Fire 3 procs, another reason you want to use them right away is because if you don't, you effectively zero out the chance of getting another Fire 3 proc. I don't really have a problem with waiting for Fire to hit before seeing I have the proc, I will just wait until after my next cast of Fire before using it.

[Pacifyer]

For AoE rotations, I personally use one from another BLM Rotation thread that I'm having trouble finding but its basically this:

Fire 3 > Fire 2 ... (until around 1000 mp) > Flare > [Transpose > wait 2 seconds after first mp tick > Flare > Fire 2 > Flare >] repeat

I am aware of this rotation and it is a bit better than one I listed in my post DPS-wise. However this rotation has some flaws:
- It is a direct using of a flaw in game coding which will probably be removed at some point
- Many people will fail timing for the first Flare cast and will end up w/o mana until Transpose goes off CD thus losing DPS and blaming me for it.

[Peptaru]

I am aware of this rotation and it is a bit better than one I listed in my post DPS-wise. However this rotation has some flaws:
- It is a direct using of a flaw in game coding which will probably be removed at some point
- Many people will fail timing for the first Flare cast and will end up w/o mana until Transpose goes off CD thus losing DPS and blaming me for it.

They already fixed it, I think it will be a long time before the fix it again.

[glen7187]

I am aware of this rotation and it is a bit better than one I listed in my post DPS-wise. However this rotation has some flaws:
- It is a direct using of a flaw in game coding which will probably be removed at some point
- Many people will fail timing for the first Flare cast and will end up w/o mana until Transpose goes off CD thus losing DPS and blaming me for it.

I believed what they fixed was how the spell you cast after switching over would still be under the effect. I.E. you are in UI3 and you cast Fire3 to switch to AF3 but if you immediately cast Fire 3 again, it is fast casted as if you were still under UI3. However, you are right and I'm not sure if that is really a flaw or not but for now it does work wonders.

As for the timing, I agree completely. As for blaming you, thats pretty sad to point the finger at you when they are the ones who mistimed. But you are right, I've had a few times that I mistimed the Flare and I'm left OOM and having to wait a few seconds cause Transpose is on CD. It's a big risk but once you get the rotation going its awesome

[Mhaeric]

- Mana regen filler: Thunder II or Scathe

The most variations for the rotation is within mostly a single point - the mana regen filler. My personal preference is Thunder II but you can replace it with Thunder or Thunder III or Scathe. The problem is that using low cast time spell (Thunder or Scathe) may have a bad timing and you can miss out a mana regen tick. If you are feeling this will currently happen you may just insert an extra Scathe there to make sure you will regen mana. Also if you see that the target will die soon there is no point casting Thunder at all - just use Scathe.

I actually recommend using Blizzard I instead of Scathe unless you need to move. My priority with their conditions for the one GCD during mana regen phase is:

1. Thunder II - only if your current Thunder DoT on the mob has fallen off or is about to fall off in the next 6 seconds or so. (Effective potency = 250 - 40 for every tick remaining on previous thunder DoT.)
2. Blizzard I - This spell has the same effective casting time as a Scathe b/c of the GCD and does more damage. (Effective potency = 150 + heavy)
3. Scathe - should only be used if you need to move during this GCD. (Effective potency = 120)

As for AoE rotation, I found 'Fire III -->Fire II -->Flare -->Transpose-->repeat' to be the most effective, and as a bonus the simplest to execute. Note that it is not Fire II spam, just a single cast of Fire II to make the cooldown of Transpose line up with the end of your Flare cast. You only need to wait for a single tick of mana after the Transpose, which is usually almost instant and never so long that you can squeeze in a full GCD ability without slowing down the rotation.

[bardaboo]

Firestarter proc does not slow your next spell by any means.

Ok. Let me clarify. While spamming fire 1 the cast time is reduced is it not? Just like the cast time of fire3 and bliz3 are reduced while in oposite phase. I've noticed that the spell speed of fire 1 reduces the more you cast. Casting the free proc resets this so your next fire1 is a hard cast. Im aware of the GCD. That being said. I have still started incorporating into my rotation more. So there

[Peptaru]

Ok. Let me clarify. While spamming fire 1 the cast time is reduced is it not? Just like the cast time of fire3 and bliz3 are reduced while in oposite phase. I've noticed that the spell speed of fire 1 reduces the more you cast. Casting the free proc resets this so your next fire1 is a hard cast. Im aware of the GCD. That being said. I have still started incorporating into my rotation more. So there

The one word that comes to mind is "....ummmmm." cuz just wow. Please don't tell people that it works this way, cuz someone might actually believe you if you say it convincingly.

[Pacifyer]

Ok. Let me clarify. While spamming fire 1 the cast time is reduced is it not? Just like the cast time of fire3 and bliz3 are reduced while in oposite phase. I've noticed that the spell speed of fire 1 reduces the more you cast. Casting the free proc resets this so your next fire1 is a hard cast. Im aware of the GCD. That being said. I have still started incorporating into my rotation more. So there

Man, pass me that weed
Any cast time reducing is a figment of your imagination and a result of your connection unstability. The game client artificially accelerates/deaccelerates castbar trying to sync with server.

[bardaboo]

For AoE rotations, I personally use one from another BLM Rotation thread that I'm having trouble finding but its basically this:

Fire 3 > Fire 2 ... (until around 1000 mp) > Flare > [Transpose > wait 2 seconds after first mp tick > Flare > Fire 2 > Flare >] repeat .

Ok. Doesn't flare not only use all your mp but put you into astral fire? So how can you follow up flare with a fire 2? Also. Instead of waiting 2 seconds why not cast a blizzard or something.