BLM macros

[lacrimosaangel]

Finally been perfecting my macros for BLM and as I think I'm pretty close to refining my rotation (just in time for the new skills- lolz) I figured I'd get some opinions here..

So, My usual rotation is Blizz3>Fire3>Fire (with F3 when proc ticks) until <600mp >blizz3
rinse repeat.

I throw in the standard Virus, lethargy and thunder2 between rotations while waiting for the ticks on blizz to regain max mp... But I have just started playing with flare as well, so do these sound okay? (playing on ps4 so the fewer x-bar changes I need the better!)

Macro: Flare

/micon "Flare"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me><wait.1>
/ac "Raging Strikes"<me><wait.1>
/ac "Flare" <t><wait.2>
/ac "Transpose" <me>
/p The end is near!


Macro: "defense"

/micon "Manaward"
/ac "manaward" <me><wait.1>
/ac "apocatastasis"<tt><wait.1>
/ac "manawall" <me>


Macro: "debuff"

/micon "virus"
/ac "virus" <t><wait.0.5>
/ac "lethargy"<t><wait.0.5>
/ac "thunder II" <t>

Macro: Run

/micon "Aetherial Manipulation"
/ac "aetherial manipulation"
/p Beam me up Scotty!


I've noticed that during casting, I can complete the rotations much faster than if I were to hit the buttons individually and as a general rule, I use flare while enemies are casting AoE or using abilities with a longer cast time (like the 5-headed dragon) so moving wouldn't be so much of an issue as they'll only be used every few rotations once the skills have fully cooled down..
The last one is a last-means of defense and as of yet, I have never had to use it!

The defence macro would also only be used during potential big-damage attacks..

Any ideas? Good setup? Bad setup?

[OneWingedSora]

What are you using Macros for ?

[lacrimosaangel]

I'm playing on ps4, so can only have 16 icons on the bar at once, so once I've included my main skills and abilities that I need for my rotation, it means I need to use the expanded bar a LOT for the debuffs/procs/defensive skills. I've noticed that quite often I'll mess up on a rotation because while I've been switching to the expanded bar, I've missed a proc and have to restart.

By using macros to chain things like swiftcast > flare, I can condense 2 or more skills into one slot, reducing the number of button pushes and therefore minimising the time needed for each rotation. It may only be a few fractions of a second, but they add up!

[Stupiduglytaru]

You know you have access to another 16 spaces? R2 + L2 and L2 + R2

Check hotbar settings in menu there no need to manually R1 through your hotbars

My main hot bar consists of fire III fire blizzard thunder I thunder III swiftcast sure cast lethargy transpose manaward scathe, i have placed blizzard III in the R2 } L2 bar located in same position as fire to keep movement fluid

2nd bar flare pots and other ability's

[StouterTaru]

Don't they have the L2+R2 and R2+L2 crossbar option on PS4?

[Roxas_Andrade]

I'm playing on ps4,

By using macros to chain things like swiftcast > flare, I can condense 2 or more skills into one slot, reducing the number of button pushes and therefore minimising the time needed for each rotation. It may only be a few fractions of a second, but they add up!

OP, I think you will find some resistance from the comunity when talking about macros, since they cannot be queued and all. (You would waste time instead of saving it).
But as a macro user myself, I have some tips:

/micon "blizzard iii"
/ac "blizzard iii" <t>
/ac blizzard <t> <- This ensures that you will cast an ice spell even with low mp cause you messed up with fire, lol, and saves one slot

/micon flare
/ac swiftcast
/ac flare <t>
/ac convert <- Raging strikes is cool, but has uses other than flare (you could use it for single target rotation) an if it's on cooldown, with your current macro, you would wait 1 second that sometimes you don't have. With this macro, you can smash the button that you will use the skills instantly as they are availabe.

And regarding your defensive macro, my opinion (and my only) is that you should let go of it. All those skills should be used at the proper circumstance not all at the same time.

But I'd like to reinforce that everyone has his/her own playstyle and you're free to use your macros as you see fit. Remember that you can map another Xhotbar on the combination R2+L2 to have more slots and good gaming. ^.^

[Malevicton]

You wanna use raging strikes earlier than right before flare. Flare macro in general is gonna slow you down.

You're gonna waste cooldowns with the defense one. Manawall/ward are practically never useful at the same time. Same with the debuffs one, you'll want to manage virus and lethargy independently; they're both debuffs but they serve very different mechanical purposes.

AM macro is actually a good call. I'd have the macro target your healer to save you time targeting.

Also, don't just always virus/lethargy during your umbral phase. No offense, but I have no idea where you got the impression that that was standard. That's a loss of dps and utility (odds are that virus/lethargy aren't gonna just happen to be useful then) Do your fire rotation, then blizz3>thunder1>blizz1>fire3>back to pewpewpew. If you get a fast mana tic you can even skip the blizz1.

[Skvimpan]

Short answer: bad idea.

To elaborate:
Flare macro:
- You loose a lot of time for each action
- There is no reason to use Raging strikes for one flare followed by an transpose UI phase. it should be used in the beginning of an AF rotation.
- You dont always want to use transpose after flare, more often then not flare is followed by convert or mana pot.
- /p chat when using skills is annoying as fk

Defense macro:
- Mana wall and ward has completly different usage, should never be used at the same time.
- Apoc with <tt> is a bad idea since this skill is often used to keep ppl not fully healed or with ress sickness alive during big aoes or big unavoidable damage, if you try to use it on a healer it will cast it on whoever they have targeted i'd assume.

Debuff macro:
- Lethargy is more or less only useful in 3 cases that i can think of, t11, t5 dreads and pvp. better to just use virus as it is and have lethargy on an less convenient button.
- Dont understand why thunder is here, it should be used in UI and not whenever you use virus. (edit: didnt see that you mentioned that you only use this one during UI so nvm)

Run macro:
- Again, /p stuff is annoying
- i would recommend using <mo> macro for AM but i guess that wont work for you as a console player. so yea, this macro is basically just you spamming chat with an star trek reference while using AM

I main BLM and only use two macros, one is for AM on mouseover and the second one is Eye for and eye on target followed by targets target. this allows me to give it to OT before tankswap/akh morn/whatever but still allows me to use it without switching target when i just want to use it on mt. same can be done with apoc

[Garotte14]

No. So much wrongs! Please don't do any of this. I will be happy to give you lessons and teach you the ways of the BLM, but no, just no, to all of this. First let me just start off saying you shouldn't have any problems with having room on 1 hotbar + expanded. I just rearranged my hotbars for the new skills and I can still make it work. You probably have abilities on your main hotbar that don't need to be there and can be moved to hotbar #2. Its good to have CDs such as Manaward and Apoc on the expanded hotbar since you use them situationally. Putting additional hotbars vertically and horizontally next to your main hotbar is helpful as you can put those Unseen CDs on them so you can see your timers. And while I'm on that, Manward, Manawall, Apoc, Lethargy, Virus, Eye for an Eye are all utilities. They all have their own purpose and you don't use them together. Manaward is magic defense for yourself, and Manawall blocks two physical attacks. You're not taking magic and physical damage at the same time, so why would you use them together. If you have a party member that just rez'd and has weakness and a big magic attack is coming, Apoc them. But you just wasted your manawall and manaward because you wanted to Apoc a party member. Or maybe you just rez'd and that same magic attack is coming, now Manaward should be used, not Manawall or Apoc. Get my point?


On another note your rotation should be Fire III > Fire I x 5 > Blizz III > Thunder 1 or 2 depending on your piety and or preference > Blizz 1 if you have high SS and/or need to wait for another mana tick before going back into Astral Fire. Raging Strikes is mostly used in conjunction with Convert since they share a CD timer. So you would use it like, Fire III > Raging Strikes > Fire I x 5 > Swiftcast > Flare > Convert > Fire 1 > Blizz III.

You really shouldn't use any moacros to string together abilities. It lowers your DPS, and gives you no control over what your doing. Its just bad. Period. You use macros for other purposes. I for one use two macros as a controller player. A Face Target Macro which helps against moving targets to prevent interupts and an Aetherial Manipulation macro which I link with Party member #2 (healer) since I can't really do a mouseover macro and healers usually are standing outside of danger.

Please don't get into the habit of using macros. This won't make you a better player. I promise that.

[Skeith-Adeline]

Macros eww... the only Macros I use on my BLM is




/micon "Limit Break"
/action "Limit Break"
/p I shall make free the colors of the sky and rend thy soil beneath thine feet. Know annihilation! <se.8>