How's my BLM Rotation?

[Huntington]

If on groups of 3 or more, I'll open with Thunder or a variant of it and spread it across all enemies, then start on my Fire 3 first(usually with Swiftcast), then go with Fires from there. Once Firestarter procs, I'll use those or Thundercloud if I have to move, otherwise I'll just use them right away. I pop Manawall often since it has a effect time for half of it's cooldown, better to just use it when it's up instead of saving it, since in most cases I shouldn't be taking physical damage, just in case I Fire 2 pull on groups.


I use Convert and Raging Strikes in conjunction with each other after Fire 3 is up, then straight Fires with procs and Convert later as my MP is gone for more, and since I'm not at 50 yet Flare isn't in the equation.

For Umbral Ice recovery, am I misusing my MP if I am in Astral Fire and don't have enough MP for a Blizzard 3 in it? Or is that something that's just going to happen sometimes? In which case I'd just have to Transpose and wait a few seconds for MP to come back. I try to use only Fires in Astral Fire but occasionally I'll use a Thunder in it for a Boss just so it's still ticking on something, I should probably change that yeah? Anything else I should explicitly know for the class?

[SeraviEdalborez]

If on groups of 3 or more, I'll open with Thunder or a variant of it and spread it across all enemies

Please don't.

[Huntington]

That particularly bad? I thought the more procs there are the better

[Maero]

Convert and raging strikes, nope i would not do that or are you using it after your fire3? If that is the case then that is fine.
Thunder would not be good for a aoe rotation but if you want thunder, you may do so after Ice3, Ice 3> Thunder 2
Many start off with Fire 3 for rotations but myself i usually always start with Ice 3 since then the Fire 3 cast will be sped up.
Unless using swiftcast for Fire 3 the time it takes to cast Ice 3 and Fire 3 is about the same so why not add the little bit of extra damage and then go all off in Astral Fire.
Also when thunder or Fire procs, do not stop a rotation to use them as this is a loss of dps, you can say after fire 1 it procs, you can cast another fire 1 and then use Firestarter

[Ryuko]

I'm not an expert at BLM but I can offer you some advice that has worked well.

With large groups (like, for example, with speedrunning dungeons), it is a far better use of your time to throw off one Fire 3 (to get 3x astral stacks), then use Fire 2 until you are almost out of mana, and finish with a Flare. Don't bother with thunder -- waste of time on huge pulls. Then, convert+swiftcast for a second flare if needed. Keep in mind that this is the HIGHEST damage potential and unless a tank is really confident in his/her ability to keep threat, you may pull hate. Before 50, it may be a real problem, so be careful with this knowledge and watch your threat. I like to pop off raging strikes and quelling strikes before the first flare, just to be safe. After the second flare, you can transpose, throw off another Fire 3 to get your 3x stacks back, then a few Fire 2s and another Flare. Since you don't have Flare yet, you may wish to use a few Fire 2s, and then switch to single-target if you get close to pulling threat on anything but the 'main target' (tank should be marking).

While in 3x astral stacks, you can use Blizzard 3 to put yourself at 3x umbral. The reason this is preferably is because... it costs little MP while you are in astral 3x, no time is wasted, and Blizzard 3 will take far less time to cast while you are in 3x astral than if you had just transposed to umbral 1x. It's not a huuuuuge dps loss to do it the way you mentioned, but it is far more efficient this way. At 50, you'll want to use your last Fire 1 when you have around 1k mp (leaving you near 400 left), throw off any Fire 3 proc if you have one, then Blizzard 3 followed by a variant of thunder. If you planned correctly, there will be ZERO downtime 'waiting'. At 50, you'll be using this method to swap between having very little mana and having full mana quite often.

Keep in mind that BLM, for the most part, must be 'standing still' to do damage. Needing to move/dodge is a dps loss on its own, so try to alleviate this problem by throwing off your procs while you need to dodge if you have them... because otherwise you wouldn't be dealing any damage whatsoever. Plus, using procs forces you to wait on the global cooldown for your next spell anyway, so using them while you would be moving anyway is the most efficient use of them. I'm not saying let them fall off if you don't find a good opportunity to use them -- but rather, observe your surroundings and plan accordingly.

[Huntington]

snip

Okay, I'll avoid Thunder on groups from now on. I should use Thunder 2 on single enemies though and use Thunder 3 for the procs though yeah? It'd still be fine if I'm going for any one target at a time to setup one Thunder on it though yeah? I pop Quelling when I can for bigger pulls yeah along with Raging Strikes after Fire 3 is up during Astral if it feels safe to use it, then Fire 2 or 1 depending on single target or mobs. I'll keep that all in mind about Flare for later, because I plan on just doing some for fun runs of CT or something to get some practice in with Flare.


I try to never use Transpose once I got Blizzard 3. I'll use it if a fight ended and I was in Astral or if I'm level synced or my MP is too low for Blizzard, those are about the only times I'll use it. Good to know about the rest.

Mhmm, I read through a thread the other day that was talking about using the procs if you have to move, and saving them for then. While you could possibly waste one if another procs while you already had one, it's safer to make sure your DPS is constant and use that proc when you have to move. If I don't have one ready I'll Scathe for it when I move. Thanks for the advice Ryuko.

[Grimgrin]

T3 on procs and as for transpose, if you get a fire proc when you B3, hit transpose before the insta F3. Does a little more damage

[ks3v3n]

... with Ice 3 since then the Fire 3 cast will be sped up. ...

you're w8sting a 3.x seconds (depending on sps) cast to be able to get another twice as fast cast?

[Synestr]

I find myself using transpose more than I used to. When I get to the low point after Fire spam, and I know I don't have enough for BlizzIII I will transpose, thunder II then Fire III, I think with some patch to it some time ago, it tics better, I could be trippin though. By the time I am done with Fire III I am back at full mana and ready to burn again. If I have those few extra mana for BlizIII then I pop my macro that tosses scathe right after BlizIII, back to thunder II then fire rotation.

Remeber for BLM, we are a RNG type cannon. To maximize our DPS you MUST ALWAYS BE CASTING, no breaks, even a second will throw your deeps off.

I will contridict that though for a second. In SR's, my AoE rotation looks a little like this. FireIII > FireIIx2/3 > Flare > Convert/Flare(macro) > Transpose > [[Swiftcast > Flare > Flare]].
[[ For the Transpose > Swiftcase part I do a one second type activation. Click transpose, wait a sec, click swiftcast, wait a sec, then click flare. By doing this I usually get another tick for the second flare at the end]] That part takes a bit of practice but once you get it, you will make it happen everytime.

On a sidenote, I always pop quelling before I start my AoE rotation on the first big pull. Then a macro'd manawall/ward for the second pull. You are going to pull aggro, no ones fualt, just be the bad ass you are!

Just my 2g

Syn

[HitoYuudai]

hey Huntington,

if you want you can msg me ingame and we will go over some of the blm rotations^.^