BLM: Should I change my rotation?

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

At least explain to the OP why his rotation isn't good >_>

So yeah, why isn't your single target rotation is sub-optimal? Let's sum up the potencies against time spend. Your rotation is:

Thunder III ---> Fire III (in Umbral Ice III) ---> 4x Fire (in Astral Fire III) ---> Flare ---> Transpose ---> Blizzard III ---> and redo.
60+280 ---> 160 ---> 297 x4 ---> 455 ---> ??? ---> 160 ---> repeat
3,50s ---> 1,75s ---> 2,50s x4 ---> 4,00s ---> ??? ---> 3,50s ---> repeat
Total potency: 2303
Total time: 22,75s
Potency/second: 101,23
Transpose and manaticks not taken in consideration here. It's a variable that's not constant.

A 5-fire rotation as mentioned by other posts would be something like this:

Thunder ---> Blizzard ---> Fire III (in Umbral ice III) ---> Fire x5 (in astral fire III) ---> Blizzard III (in astral fire III) ---> repeat
30+210 ---> 170 ---> 160 ---> 297 x5 ---> 160
2,50s ---> 2,50s ---> 1,75s ---> 2,50s x5 ---> 1,75s
Total potency: 2215
Total time: 21s
Potency/second: 105,48

I'm not 100% sure what the exact numbers are on AF and UI damage effects, but if I remember correctly, it's 33% damage loss on fire spells in Umbral Ice III or vica versa and 75% damage increase on fire spells in astral fire III. Correct or not, let's use these numbers for now.

So based on hard, raw numbers (unaffected by anything but umbral ice/astral fire), the 5x fire rotation is better by 3,25 potency/second or 195 potency/minute. But there are a lot of factors involved.

First of all: The 5x fire rotation you're pretty much casting without any breaks. By using flare->transpose, like in your rotation, you're either lucky enough to get a mana tick instantly or be unlucky and just miss it. So you'll be spending time idling after transpose somewhere between 0,01s and 2,99s. Let's just say it's 1,50s time spend waiting on average. Meaning your rotation is stalled by an additional 1,50s on average. This would reduce the potency/second of your rotation from 101,23 to 94,97. The difference is suddenly really apparent!
Secondly: Firestarter proc. Obviously, the more fires you cast with each rotation, the more frequent you get to use Fire III with a firestarter proc. The 5x fire rotation casts 1 fire more with each rotation and less time spend too. On average this would mean you'd get more firestarter procs to use than the rotation you use and thus more damage.
Thirdly: There is always some firestarter procs waste here and there. Here is where it really hurts with only 4x fires in a single rotation: The first firestarter proc you get to use is not till after the second fire you cast and because of flare, you can't conserve one to get back into astral fire as quickly. What are you talking about?, answer is simple: Enter Umbral Ice III, transpose to Astral Fire I and use the firestarter proc then. This practically doubles the damage you'll do compared to casting Fire III in Umbral Ice III.

There is a lot, and I mean a serious bloody lot, of RNG involved for Black Mage. I hope the explanation above helps you understand the issues with the rotation you are using and the advantages of the 5x fire rotation in comparison.

Keep in mind: Numbers above are for representation only. Spell speed, mana ticks, procs, movement and a ton more, are not factored in.