Shadow Flare needs a new effect.

[Bigcat9715]

Not to mention each tick has it's own chance to crit.

https://m.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comment...w_discoveries/
Apparently Shadow flare doesn't crit it's on a different formula.

[m3eansean]

Please enlighten me ?

Keep it up, always. Not too tough honestly. Keep it up in single target, keep it up in multi-target. There are many resources available to you on how to optimize SMN dps, they all recommend keeping Shadowflare up whenever you can. It really only makes sense as a DOT class, keep your dots up always.

[Viridiana]

https://m.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comment...w_discoveries/
Apparently Shadow flare doesn't crit it's on a different formula.

That was a post from a year and a half ago. At the time Shadow Flare was bugged to 100% crit, which has since been fixed.

[cgbspender]

Demonstrate the efficiency of shadowflare when you fight an add then ? Give me a proof that shadowflare's efficiency in a single-target situation is worth its casting time/animation delay and the loss of ticks resulting from it (as I could have spent that same time casting an attack that does hit).
Do the same for 2 adds ? Is it now worth it ? If not, starting where is it worth it ?

The Hp's of the enemis is a criteria as well, along as the number of players in the party, number of DoTs already in line and some other things.

The "Keep shadowflare up whenever possible" is not an argument I would follow blindly.

[Viridiana]

Demonstrate the efficiency of shadowflare when you fight an add then ? Give me a proof that shadowflare's efficiency in a single-target situation is worth its casting time/animation delay and the loss of ticks resulting from it (as I could have spent that same time casting an attack that does hit).

At 4 ticks, or 12 seconds from casting, Shadow Flare will have done 100 potency of damage to anything that stays in its AOE for that duration. Since most bosses and adds get pulled to stable areas, it's not hard to ensure that they stay there for 12 seconds. Therefor, 12 seconds of Shadow Flare is better than a cast of Ruin, even accounting for the longer cast time (125% of the damage in only 120% of the cast time). And that's in only 12 seconds. You should be getting more than 4 ticks out of it. And you shouldn't be losing any ticks on anything, because Shadow Flare should only be replacing a Ruin cast. . .

[m3eansean]

I am not aware of how to use shadowflare.

You obviously aren't using a "pen and paper" to check dps levels . Viridiana answered it quite nicely too. It is irrefutable, verifiable and testable knowledge that Shadowflare maintenance is a requirement for top DPS levels as a SMN. Please just spend some time to read up on the class, there are many good resources on the web by kind people who have put a lot of time and effort into testing and providing numbers.

[Malevicton]

snippity

Is 250 higher than 80? If yes, then shadowflare is worth using. Even if you only get half of its uptime, that's 125 potency. You don't need to be a hardcore theorycrafter or anything.

[Ricdeau]

https://m.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comment...w_discoveries/
Apparently Shadow flare doesn't crit it's on a different formula.

This was a bug that was fixed in patch 2.1. It is undocumented in the patch notes, but you can read here for updates to what are you seeing in your previous link:

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen..._lower_damage/

[pandabearcat]

Yea its pretty great. It has more damage than bio. It will obviously provide less dps, but the whole point of SMN is maximizing dpct (well...thats pretty obvious, but I hope you understand what I mean), and our dpct goes like

1. Bio II (350)
2. Miasma (300)
3. Fester (300)
4. Shadowflare (250/208.3)
5. Bio (210)
6. Ruin/II (80)
7. Miasma II (70)
8. Blizzard II (50)
9. Tri-disaster (30/25)

Shadowflare and Tri-disaster have cast times of 3 sec instead of 2.5, so they are slightly more inefficient than shown.

As you can see though, by far our best aoe ability (not counting pet abilities, enkindle) is Sflare. Sflare is also our 3rd/4th most efficient single target ability, given a long lasting stationary target. Essentially, any target you dot you want to sflare too.

[Sunako]

5. Bio (210)

Bio is 40 x 6 potency so 240..