Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[HaroldSaxon]

I think BLM and SMN do comparable DPS to NIN/DRG in the majority of fights where that is not necessary. Depending on your group, you may have to switch out a caster for a melee main if another melee DPS would make a difference. Some mechanics can definitely be harder to execute with 3 melees.

But they don't buff the DPS of other party members. So for group DPS, they don't. And if you run a MCH with hypercharge (which you really should) will mean you get more out of it.

[Waryax]

So do we now need just enough spell speed to do our rotation and then stack crit? If so, what amount is good? I'm very confused, I liked to be speedy

[Hontaro]

Faster rotation execution will still be a straight dps gain for BLM since we're not bound by finite resources.

Edit:
F4 x4 without Ley Lines does not work with 792 Spell Speed (2.80s per F4).

[Waliel]

I didn't actually try doing F4x4, but from looking at the timers, I was no where close to pulling that off. Like two seconds remaining after 3xF4.

E: Not doable with 768 SS. AF3 drops about 3/4 through the fourth F4.

[NovaLevossida]

Well, BLM is fixed now. No more waiting to cast tier 4s on a change between AF / UI. Feels extremely smooth. Just what I wanted.

[HaroldSaxon]

So do we now need just enough spell speed to do our rotation and then stack crit? If so, what amount is good? I'm very confused, I liked to be speedy

You get enough spellspeed to do your rotation, then you get even more spellspeed.

[FunkyBunch]

For the F4, F4, F1, F4, F4, versus F4 x 4.

My current spell speed (BiS ignoring Diadem and using Eso 210 weapon)
2.5sec GCD = 2.32 sec
3 sec GCD = 2.78 sec
3.5 sec GCD = 3.25 sec

F4 F4 F4 F4 B3 T1 B4 F3 = 20.86 seconds. If Thundercloud Procs
F4 F4 F4 F4 T3P Transpose B3 B4 F3 = 21.79 seconds.

I do not know if you really need to use B3 if you get a proc, it would depend on your mana but if we assume you don't need it, the rotation would be :
F4 F4 F4 F4 T3P Transpose B4 F3 = 19.47 seconds. The problem with this rotation also is that F4x4 is 11.12 seconds. It's really tight to use a proc then transpose, you might transpose into nothing and you'll lose a ton of DPS. However, we haven't placed Swiftcast anywhere. The rotation could be :
F4 F4 F4 F4 T3P Swift B3 B4 F3 = 20.68 sec
.

I like what you've done with the place. But wouldn't it make more sense to swiftcast the last F4 instead of the B3?
You gain more time to cast B3 from AF (0.3 seconds-ish).
Also is this for the opener? We have to figure out almost 10 more seconds if it is. We don't want to waste any Enochian if we can help it.
I was thinking something like F3-Enochian-F4-F4-F4-F1-F4-Convert-F4-Swift-F4-B3-T1-B4 and we still have time left over because we don't need to sharpcast F1/F3P for the last F4s anymore.
We can now sharpcast T1 or something instead and with the extra AF/UI time we can afford to put in extra T3P all over the place and still hit our F4s.

[HaroldSaxon]

I like what you've done with the place. But wouldn't it make more sense to swiftcast the last F4 instead of the B3?
You gain more time to cast B3 from AF (0.3 seconds-ish).
Also is this for the opener? We have to figure out almost 10 more seconds if it is. We don't want to waste any Enochian if we can help it.
I was thinking something like F3-Enochian-F4-F4-F4-F1-F4-Convert-F4-Swift-F4-B3-T1-B4 and we still have time left over because we don't need to sharpcast F1/F3P for the last F4s anymore.
We can now sharpcast T1 or something instead and with the extra AF/UI time we can afford to put in extra T3P all over the place and still hit our F4s.

Probably makes more sense to go F4/F4/F4/T3*/Sw/F4/B3 - Using swiftcast weaved between two F4's is a dps loss due to the animation lock.

[Maero]

Rotations aside, has anyone started to think about gear and melds?
I want to stack me some nice spell speed crit
Oh and thoughts on the Sephiroth Weapon?
Just curious what fellow black mages are thinking

[MagiusNecros]

Will be pushing for all the Spell Speed gear. Sephirot staff has nice spell speed but I am a wimp at Extreme fights.

But Lore pants is best option for SpS.