[rant] I can never make everyone happy! (Everyone's a BLM critic)

[-d-ky]

as a main blm, i will use different rotation depending on the composition of the group and the gameplay style of the tank
if the tank is a paladin (with a brd ), and he spams flash, i will use single target rotation while sleeping the other mobs
if the tank is a paladin (w/o brd ), and he spams flash and able to control the mobs ( more than 4 ) i will aoe if he can tank the mobs, or cast sleep if he cant tank the mobs.
if the tank is a warrior who uses op to start pulling and spams flash afterward, i will cast sleep and use single rotation.
if the tank is a warrior who uses op only, i will aoe if he can tank the mobs, or cast sleep if he cant tank the mobs and inform him about the risk and consequences, if not, vote abandon or leave, rather than wasting an hour wiping and not completing the duty

tl;dr
be flexible

[Artemiz]

Well here is my 2c.

Sleep:
I used this a lot while leveling but the mood has changed a little since I got BLM to 50, everyone wants to speed run everything now with so many high level players doing the Roulette. It's easiest to just ask at the start of the dungeon but if you need to use your own initiative then crowd control should be used when the healer/tank are struggling a bit. The choice is usually between AoE or sleeping targets and people would prefer you to use AoE (it's faster) but if the party isn't that great and things are getting messy sleeping everything will make the run much smoother and at the least the healer will love you for it. If you have a WAR spamming Overpower though sleep is useless, he'll wake everything up anyway. Note that once you hit level 50 you will rarely sleep anything, too many jobs spam AoE and Tanks outgear events. Sleep will then only be used for strategic purposes and should be discussed before hand. Unless of course you have a new tank in one of the HM dungeons who takes a beating from trash mobs, sleep might come in handy there.

Single target vs AoE
If there are only 2 targets it's not even worth thinking about, single target is just better due to Thundercloud and Firestarter procs. 3 or more targets and you'll want to lean towards AoE just be mindful that if the tank is taking too much dmg sleep would be better.

Thunder
For single target always use Thunder, that includes pulls that have more than one mob but you're killing one at a time. If the pull is only 2 mobs I'll Thunder both then start my fire spam on the focus target as this will double your chances of a Thundercloud proc and give the Tank time to establish hate on the primary target. If I'm in full AoE mode then I don't use Thunder at all unless I outgear the tank by a fair margin. Always try to remember that AoE hate is harder on the tank than single target hate and with Thunder being such a low enmity spell it can be useful if you keep pulling hate. What I'll do then is DoT each mob (well the first 3 at least, more than that and this probably won't be an issue) then start my AoE rotation. It puts down some dmg obviously but the main purpose is doing something constructive while giving the tank time to establish hate. Between that and Quelling Strikes it can make the tanks life much easier on some tricky pulls.

Rotations
The single target rotation is pretty standard, others have mentioned it in this thread, the only thing you need to adapt with is how to use Thunder, it's only for AoE rotations that there is any debate really. My aim is to use Flare as often as possible, it all depends on what the Tank can handle and it usually goes something like this:

Weakest Tank = start with liberal use of Thunder, use Quelling Strikes as often as possible and then stick to Fire III > Fire II spam until low on mp > BLizzard III > repeat. Flare is just a fantasy at this point.

Slightly better Tank = start with liberal use of thunder, then stick to Fire III > Fire II spam until low on mp > Blizzard III repeat. You can often use Raging Strikes now but only in conjunction with Quelling Strikes. You might be able to get away with Flare from time to time but only under Quelling Strikes and not while Raging Strikes is active.

Decent Tank = open with Fire III > Fire II until low on mp > Flare > Transpose > Blizzard III repeat. Raging Strikes can now be used usually but only in conjuction with Quelling Strikes

Good Tank = Open with Fire III > Fire II spam until low on mp > Flare > Transpose > wait a tic > Fire III > Fire II > Flare > repeat last 5 steps only. Raging Strikes can be used frequently but it's often a good idea to use Quelling Strikes at the same time.

OMG I love you Tank = Open with Fire III > Fire II spam until low on mp > Flare > Transpose > wait a tic > Fire III > Fire II > Flare > repeat last 5 steps only. You can now use Raging Strikes for your party trick, double Flare. For that just use Convert after Flare so you can cast it again, then Transpose and carry on as normal. You can even use Potions to do 3 in a row if you really want to but if you do that expect to have a bunch of mobs chewing at your face if they don't die to the 3rd Flare, even using Quelling Strikes.

BLM isn't all that complex, once the decision has been made to sleep or not it's all about doing as much damage as you can while keeping under the hate limit set by the tank. People do expect you to be psychic though and Tanks often assume everyone runs dungeons the same way but even in WP there are various different pulls different Tanks make so communication is the key, if you try and they don't respond just do what you think is right and don't let it get to you if they moan about it after the fight. While ever the world is round people will be arseholes, it's best to just move on and forget about them.

[Orophin]

Most things are situational based on the group. Sleep is largely wasted with a MRD/WAR tank due to Overpower, but I utilized it a lot with GLA/PLD tanks. Using AoE vs not largely depends on how good your tank is too. I typically will only use AoE on mob packs that are 3 or more, otherwise I will focus single target. (Quelling Strikes is your friend for AoE)

From a mechanical standpoint there are things that remain constant regardless of the encounter. If you start all of your fights with Thunder 2 on all mobs it'll boost your DPS a bit since you'll have DoTs ticking on everything and will potentially get a lot of Thunderspark procs. Fire 3 should only be used to trigger your Astral 3 buff and to come out of Umbral 3, then Fire spam should be done for single target since you get Firestarter procs for instant cast, no MP Fire 3 casts.

Sometimes you have to listen to your group's needs. If they want you to sleep, cool, if not, that's cool too. If you're not going to sleep then obviously you can utilize AoE, if both you and the tank are comfortable with it. Parties are a group effort and you can't just do what you want to do.

[dark494]

Hello, I'm a fairly new player who started at launch

Hi

with no 1.0 experience whatsoever

Perfect

I was excited to become a Black Mage

Good

Every time I enter a new DF group, I get told by someone to play my job differently from how I am

You shouldn't listen to them

I comply

D:

This is all you should be doing: Maximizing your DPS. Study it well.

Supplemental study material

[Darske]

As a rule of thumb, If there's a large pull or I notice the tank taking a lot of damage quickly, I'll toss out a swiftcast sleep. Sometimes, the party breaks that sleep with an AOE.

Now, once is a coincidence. But if it happens twice or more in the same dungeon, I don't bother trying to sleep for the rest of the dungeon and just try to burn down my target. I tried, group breaks my sleeps, if they yell at me for not sleeping I can then say that I did and they're the ones to blame for not paying attention.

As for AOE vs single target... I prefer single target for a few reasons. AOE can pull hate if you're not careful or your tank isn't on top of their game. Generally speaking, the damage is spread out over multiple targets, meaning it takes longer to burn through a single marked enemy. And I usually throw flare out at the end of my MP usage if there's no sleep down, so that does a big chunk to everything anyway.

Another very important thing to keep in mind is that Fire II has a higher MP cost compared to Fire I, especially under Astral Fire. This means that you get less casts of it per full MP bar before you need to hit Blizzard III or Transpose, meaning lower overall damage.

Honestly I don't use Fire II at all unless it's a group of low HP trash, like the little slimes on the bridge in Copperbell Hard Mode.

[Friske]

Black mages being criticised? :O

For advice, I suggest you read more on how to improve your skills at blackmage. If you really are into black mage ofcourse. Reading forum posts about black mages are pretty useful and you can see both sides of the argument, which you can then test ingame.
I've learnt loads from just reading forum posts (most of them in the DPS roles forum) googling, reasearch etc. and mostly just trial and error. I even sometimes talk to other black mages for tips.

I would also toughen up a bit on people's remarks and criticisms. Actually really ask why before you do it, and you should also try to contribute to how the party is run as well. (Unless you really have no clue on how to do the dungeon). Because a dungeon run is a group effort.

It's true that different groups do things differently, but as long as you know your class and the dungeon well I highly doubt you'll run into any problems.

[Noshpan]

I've been leveling up an alternate character on another server. A female Miqo'te who is currently a level 30 THM (I'm in the process of leveling ARC to 15... I, uh, leveled the wrong class for sub-class. Whoopsie, but at least I've got White Mage taken care of should I want to go that route on her, but I digress).


I won't provide much advice but more, encouragement to not give up on your budding Black Mage! I regale you with my personal experience leveling Thamaturge thus far.

As I've received 7 commendations thus far, I don't think that the groups that I've been in are bothered by my application of Sleep. But when it comes to when (and when not) to use Sleep, I find that I have to "play by ear". If the group keeps breaking Sleep there's really no reason to keep applying, so I save my MP for getting the most out of my rotation.

Single target vs. AOE - I'll admit that I have a habit of using a single target rotation (well, an adaptation of an end game one as my fem-qo'te is level 30 as of typing this). But I do use Fire II when there are 3+ mobs.

Thunder - This is probably a habit from playing other MMOs with dot-dealing classes, and probably a bad habit to boot, but I tend to save this for bosses (or mobs with more-than-usual health).

Ultimately, my personal experiences has taught me to adaptive. Go with the flow of how the group is playing. Though I tend to not bother with Sleep when it comes to Marauders that love to spam Overpower. And don't be afraid to whip out that Sleep spell on that patrolling mob that gets aggro'd, or the bad guy that goes for the healer, and the tank didn't notice yet!

[NamiSwan]

its depend on situation of the fight. if it's single target use thunder 3 for for greater dmg or thunder 2 for quicker cast time. however always throw thunder 3 when u get thunder cloud proc. beside when u have mutli mobs use raging strike>>swiftcast>flare>transpose or blizzard> fire 2 until mp run out >tranpose>surcast >flare with 6 sec cast >repeat . in some fights like crystal tower u can use slow rotation in mobs in the walk of fire[the bomb adds] blizzard>lethargy it gives u 20 sec heavy and 12 sec slow,its very useful to the party.

[NekoMancer]

I don't know black mage all that well, I am only 26 to get swiftcast.

But I do know end-game groups and their "advice"...
- if they are trying to execute a particular group strategy, pay attention to what they want you to do (it's probably a bad strategy, but maybe not, and it can't hope to succeed without a group effort anyway)
- if they are trying to tell you how to play your class, 95% of the time they don't have any idea what they're talking about, ignore liberally unless they are making incredibly good sense.

sleep/nosleep = offer, but let the tank decide, it's his funeral, and he's in charge of marking targets

[Vhyl]

If you dont know what to anymore... just stand in the middle and spam blizzard2 that is the best combo ever never rub out of mana n require only 1 hand to do it.

Just a troll passing by...