Who is supposed to use limit break and when?

[Dustoid]

In a four player dungeon during a boss, after we had just taken a lot of damage, i used my bard (healing) limit break and the other party members were acting like i shouldn't have.

So my question is, who is typically supposed to use the limit break and when? I assumed mine would have been useful considering the circumstances, but I suppose they were intending to use their damage-dealing limit break near the very end of the fight or something?

Thanks

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

The only time it's a good idea to use bard (healing) limit break, is when you have level 3 and most of the party is dead. Any other time it's a waste.

In general the melee DPS will be the one to use limit break and it will be near the end of a fight in order to finish off the boss. However, depending on the fight, limit break can be used as part of a boss strategy. For example on ifrit HM, BLM will often limit break during the nails phase in order to kill all the nails quickly, or during garuda HM to kill the sisters quickly.

In most cases, limit break will be used to do damage. Tank and healer limit breaks are normally only used as a last resort.

[Anova]

Typically, one of the melee (monk,dragoon) or caster (black mage, summoner) will use the LB at the end on the boss or to meet a dps check.

Healers and ranged dps have a healing lb, but it is only used at endgame content to ressurect the entire party and prevent a wipe. These are most commonly used in trial content where the LB bar is immediately reset when they initiate the fight anyway, so the healing LB is just considered "better than nothing".

Tanks almost never use their LB, with the exception of one specific move (of great strategic value) in the Ultima HM fight.

[Estellios]

The L2 and L3 healing limit break is very useful when it's needed but unfortunately it really can't be planned on so many people prefer not to use it even though it can save a run. I've personally used it to recover from Ifrit HM and post-heart Titan HM (although it's VERY difficult to time correctly on the latter), and even the level 2 has saved some dungeon runs like Stone Vigil with a not-so-hot healer and a Siren battle where a few party members didn't make it to the middle in time to avoid the room-wide charm.

I've also used the Tank limit break to keep the party alive during Titan HM's Stomps when he was at a sliver of health with both healers dead from bombs.

People just don't like saving it for emergencies I guess. Damage LB are extremely effective when planned around and are consistent so people just like to use it for those.

[chococo]

If the battle is going steadily then surely DPS should use.
But if in a situation like OP, I'd rather have healing LB to get party back into shape and continue the fight instead of a highly likely wipe. At that point it's probably just a matter of time before you kill the boss. With 1 of 2 DPS dead, you probably can't meet any DPS checks anyway if you need to rely on LB.

[Urthdigger]

The problem with the healing LB is it rarely ever actually helps. The damage limit breaks are always useful, as they can either be used in situations where something needs to die ASAP (The aforementioned deal with Ifrit), or at the very least getting the fight over quicker.

The healer limit, on the other, oftentimes just delays the inevitable. It heals everyone, but does nothing to prevent what caused the damage in the first place. Most of the time, it will allow you to live... probably a few more seconds.

[SeraviEdalborez]

Ideally you want the worst-geared (or worst-performing) DPS in whatever LB you're using to be the actual LB user. LB damage is based on the average weapon level of the entire party, so it's just as strong when used by the (say) i50 DRG as the i90 DRG.

Additionally: if you have DRG and MNK, DRG should be the one to use melee LB. SMN should be the user if you have both SMN and BLM in most cases (some exceptions; BLM is more suited to using it in Titan EX if you do that, due to Manaward and Manawall). Both of these jobs have "filler" downtime (Ruin spam, Full Thrust combo) where their counterparts would be better off continuing their time-sensitive rotation.

[Nekodar]

Had a Haukke Manor HM with two bards once... was sad to see the LB2 not be used (wasn't needed really) as we only had tank and healer LB available.

[Cons]

LB 3 Sum Meteor FTW!

So many bad examples of timing and placements here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbjy764mPZc

[Merryl]

I just watch the gauges. It really depends on the party and how they're doing. I've used lb even during fate raids and no one has complained.