BLM macros

[EvianEverdeen]

Hey all! I'm normally a healer job, but just got my BLM up to ilvl 90 and I love it! I think I got some pretty good rotations down and such, but was just wondering about macros! As a SCH, just about everything I have is a macro on my hotbar, so I don't want to be missing anything on my BLM. Right now I have Thunder III macro'd with Swiftcast and Flare also macro'd with Swiftcast. I also have a defensive macro I pop, it combines Eye for an Eye, Apocatastasis, Manawall, and Manaward all into one button. Two buffs for my target and then the two other buffs for myself, all neatly tied together. I don't use this much at all though.

Could I be making more use out of macros as a BLM? Am I missing something? Thanks!

[scarebearz]

The only macro I use is for Aetherial Manipulation, so that it first ports me to my target, then if no target, my focustarget.

The ones you mentioned sound unhelpful from my point of view tbh.

For the best dps possible, I'd advise using as few macro's as possible.

[EvianEverdeen]

The only macro I use is for Aetherial Manipulation, so that it first ports me to my target, then if no target, my focustarget.

The ones you mentioned sound unhelpful from my point of view tbh.

For the best dps possible, I'd advise using as few macro's as possible.

I thought Aetherial Manipulation was practically useless lol do people actually use that?

Also, an instant cast Flare is not useless. It goes of instantly so you can put out more damage in the long run, because it takes less time to cast. The instant cast Thunder III is the same way. How do you not see the benefit of that?

[NintenPyjak64]

I thought Aetherial Manipulation was practically useless lol do people actually use that?

It's used to reduce the downtime between movement.
For example in T5 after the adds die and people are getting into position for Fireballs, my BLM friend would stay in place and just keeps hammering away. When the first Neurolink is about to drop, he'll zoom over to the stack he's designated to (unless we have a SMN for OT + 2 pets) and keeps DPSing.
During Levi it's also used to negate the pushes from Levi slamming the barge. Everybody else is close to the head/tail but you're where your target used to be giving you more uptime then usual as you'll need to move less if at all to get into position.

Thundercloud already makes Thunder 3 instant cast with no MP cost, and as for instant cast Flares, I'd rather save SC for Fire 3 to get to AoEing much faster. I see SC as more of a tool to speed up the ramp up time needed for your UI/AF if you don't know what you can get away with exactly

[EvianEverdeen]

Thundercloud already makes Thunder 3 instant cast with no MP cost, and as for instant cast Flares, I'd rather save SC for Fire 3 to get to AoEing much faster. I see SC as more of a tool to speed up the ramp up time needed for your UI/AF if you don't know what you can get away with exactly

Thundercloud is a 5% chance, so it's not really instant in every instance, also you have to actually initially cast Thunder III in order to receive a Thundercloud proc. I start my single target rotation with Blizzard III, then immediately use my swiftcasted Thunder III macro for the instant thunder, then start into my Fire III. When I cast Fire III it's super fast, because I'm already in Umbral Ice III and my MP bar is also completely full. I don't think my Swfitcast would ever be wasted on a Flare, because I only use Flare in AoE situations and I also never use Thunder III in AoE situations, so it works out as being separate without the interference.

[NintenPyjak64]

Thundercloud is a 5% chance, so it's not really instant in every instance, also you have to actually initially cast Thunder III in order to receive a Thundercloud proc.

5% as it may be, it's still a 5% chance every tick (7 possible times for Thunder 2, 11.6 possible times for Thunder 3), and you don't need to cast Thunder 3 to initiate it. I stick to strictly Thunder 2 (T3 for Thundercloud) for timing purposes (duration fits perfectly for whenever I reenter UI phases) and still receive the proc

As for the SC Flare thing, I was talking from an AoE scenario. My AoE rotation is SC > Fire 3 while getting into position > Fire 2 x3 > Flare > Convert > Flare (> Potion > Flare if mobs are still alive or I have the potion cooldown available). SC Fire 3 while moving helps me get my damage off faster which is helpful for SRs. There really is not much if no difference though, it's mostly up to how the person perceives SC's usefulness.

As for single target, I never understood the OCD of having that full MP after a thunder. I've counted my MP and I've never seen the need for Blizz 3 at the start (my rotation is Thunder 2 Hardcast > SC > Fire 3 (Raging Strikes + Quelling Strikes) > Fire until 1k MP > Convert > Fire until low > Blizz 3 > Thunder 2 > Fire 3 > repeat step 4. adapting when needed for certain fights/dungeons and using Firestarters and Thunderclouds every chance I get)

For me it's all about decreasing my ramp up time getting me into my rotation mindset faster

EDIT TO GET BACK ON TOPIC (Holy crap I love to ramble...)
Only macro I use for BLM is one for Raging Strikes and Quelling strikes, there really is no need for macros if you're comfortable with your set up

[EvianEverdeen]

As for single target, I never understood the OCD of having that full MP after a thunder. I've counted my MP and I've never seen the need for Blizz 3 at the start (my rotation is Thunder 2 Hardcast > SC > Fire 3 (Raging Strikes + Quelling Strikes) > Fire until 1k MP > Convert > Fire until low > Blizz 3 > Thunder 2 > Fire 3 > repeat step 4. adapting when needed for certain fights/dungeons and using Firestarters and Thunderclouds every chance I get)

For me it's all about decreasing my ramp up time getting me into my rotation mindset faster

The full MP bar is just icing I suppose, while it's insignificant, it is there. The reason I start with Blizzard III is because it does damage and it makes my Fire III cast much, much faster when I get to it is all.

[NintenPyjak64]

The full MP bar is just icing I suppose, while it's insignificant, it is there. The reason I start with Blizzard III is because it does damage and it makes my Fire III cast much, much faster when I get to it is all.

I guess I'm old fashioned when it comes to BLM, lol. Used to play it so much more before 2.1 and pretty much only use it for Brayflox now-a-days

[Artemiz]

Unlike Scholar, Black Mage isn't a very macro intensive job at least not for the main rotations and to get the best damage out of BLM you'll have to activate the vast majority of your rotation manually. As for swift cast it's best not to macro it into too many different things on BLM in my experience. I think it's better to put it somewhere on your hotbar that you're very comfortable with and use it manually, it's a great skill and the more dynamic you can be with it the better.

As for AoE rotation (as it's being discussed) I start with Fire III followed by Raging Strikes then Fire 2, Fire 2, Fire 2, Flare, Convert, Swiftcast, Flare, Transpose. With that rotation I can get 3 fire 2 spells and 2 Flares off under Raging Strikes. If you tried to macro that the wait times would be too long and it probably wouldn't work.

For single target I use Swiftcast for Thunder 3 then go right into Fire III > Fire spam. The only time I'll use Blizzard III early is if I have to use Thunder on more than 2 mobs before I start my fire rotation but it's very rare I have to do that these days (used to be good for tanks who struggled with AoE hate back in the WP days) The decision on whether to open with Blizzard III isn't about cast time by the way, from a neutral stance both Blizzard III and Fire III have the same cast time and do the same damage so casting 1 spell will always be faster than casting 1.5 spells. Casting Blizzard at the start gains you an extra fire spell during your first fire phase and whether or not that's a damage increase should be the reason you start with Blizzard III. It doesn't make a huge difference either way so I'd just do it whichever way you feel more intuitive.

Other than that Aetherial Manipulation is good to macro as it's tricky to use otherwise. You can also group your thunder spells to save space on your hotbar and you could put Raging and Quelling strikes into a macro, I wouldn't use a wait line in your macro though, just hit the button twice as it will be faster.

My lastest macro though is one for using a LB while under fire, I put Manaward, Manawall and Surecast into one macro. I pop that before my LB and then it's highly unlikely the LB won't go off or I'll die doing it.

[scarebearz]

I thought Aetherial Manipulation was practically useless lol do people actually use that?

Also, an instant cast Flare is not useless. It goes of instantly so you can put out more damage in the long run, because it takes less time to cast. The instant cast Thunder III is the same way. How do you not see the benefit of that?

Aetherial Manipulation used correctly will gain you more dps.

Swiftcast is useful, macro's for it I believe are not.

Thunder III wont be used all that much generally, except ofc for proc's.