Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[Almerin]

I'm still missing the Lakshmi bracelet, but that doesn't even have any Spell Speed, and with the +40 won't do too much (will shave off 0.01), and I'm sitting at 1255 SS.

With your Sharpcast opener (I got no procs on either opener) I ended up at around 5.7k DPS, with Umbral at 4.7k. When the Foul comes out during the Hearts in Astral after your Sharpcast opener it's also at 4.7k, so the burst is higher but sustained it goes down to the same level, unsurprisingly.

However. With no Foul to cast at the start of Umbral I'm sitting there twiddling my thumbs waiting for the magic mana tick. We can't meld Piety, and Lucid won't be up forever. Thundercloud isn't 100%. You could hold Foul from the start of your Astral til the start of Umbral, but that feels bad, and it will only get worse. Eventually you will get a Foul at the end of your Umbral, but that still doesn't help.

By using the Umbral Hearts opener you will always have a Foul at the start of Umbral that slowly happens earlier and earlier until you have to Foul within 10 seconds of eachother, but by then you can set up Firestarters for it without any issues.
Just my opinion, but I'd rather have a more stable rotation than a burstier opener that leaves you dry at the start of Umbral. I haven't been able to test Susano EX, but on Lakshmi I'm far ahead in terms of DPS.

[Waliel]

Holding Foul doesn't matter as long as you use all of them; you get one exactly every 30 seconds, so it doesn't matter if you use it X+1s or X+25s.

[soslinky]

I've managed to mitigate the hassle of Foul placement on Astral by casting it after an F3P at the end of the phase. You end up not risking dropping AF and not wasting the Foul you already have to the next incoming Foul.

It looks like this:
Astral - - - -> F3P > Foul > B3 > Foul > T3 > B4 > Astral

Upon doing this, your succeeding Fouls will now come up during Umbral allowing you a more comfortable rotation.

[prophecy4seen]

Question regarding the Umbral hearts opener.. I wondering if their is a specific reason for using tripple cast on the 3x fire 4's. would it not be better to do the following :

B3 (pre pull)> Tripled Cast > B4 > T3 > F3 > Leylines+ SharpCast > F4 > F4 > F4> F1 > F4 > F4 > F4 > F1 (firestarter) > Convert > F4 > F4> B3

I'm not a number cruncher, but id would imagine using Triple cast while under the effects of leylines negates the benefits of leylines. in which case its better to make full use of it before putting the leylines down.

*Additionally i believe subsequent Triple casts should be used in conjunction with Foul, leaving swiftcast as the oh shyt i need to cast while dodging a mechanic it was before.

[soslinky]

Tri-cast's value is the total amount of seconds you shave off in excess of a spell's gcd by making 3 spells insta-cast.

If Fire4(on leylines) is 2.35cast and 1.96GCD then the value you get is .39sec. That's 0.39secs x 3 = 1.17seconds.
If B4 is 3.23/2.30, T3 is 2.30/2.30, F3 is 1.37/1.96 then the total value you get is .93+0+0 = 0.93seconds.
- Do note that you are coming off umbral 3 so your F3 has reduced cast-time

It's marginal but tri-casted Fire4 is better. Plus hearing three Fire4s go off in quick succession is a joy.

As to using tri-cast under leylines, it does not negate its value but merely reduces it due to the lower GCD but as long as you use tricast on spells with a longer cast time over GCD then it will always be a gain:
- My Fire4(on leylines) is 2.35cast and 1.96GCD then the value I get is .39sec. That's 0.39secs x 3 = 1.17seconds.
- My Fire4(off leylines) is 2.76cast and 2.30GCD then the value I get is .46sec. That's 0.46 x 3 = 1.38seconds.
*Spellspeed of 1652

[Psycofang]

It doesnt negate it if you triple cast out of leylines at 1512 ss your recast will be 2.33 as in each cast in triple cast will have a recast of 2.33

If you do it in leylines your recast is now 1.98 meaning each fire 4 for triple comes out .35 seconds sooner that it would have without it.

Thats 1.05 seconds saved for leylines also consider it a boon for trials like susano EX where triple cast will be up again before the oh shyt situations pop up.

[Waliel]

- Do note that you are coming off umbral 3 so your F3 has reduced cast-time

Do also note that the increased cast time does not reduce your recast, meaning if you're calculating anything, you have to use your recast time for F3 and B3 transitions. It also means you can use a cooldown during that small window between F3 to F4 or B3 to whatever with minimal, if any, clipping of GCD.

[HaroldSaxon]

Question regarding the Umbral hearts opener.. I wondering if their is a specific reason for using tripple cast on the 3x fire 4's. would it not be better to do the following :

B3 (pre pull)> Tripled Cast > B4 > T3 > F3 > Leylines+ SharpCast > F4 > F4 > F4> F1 > F4 > F4 > F4 > F1 (firestarter) > Convert > F4 > F4> B3

I'm not a number cruncher, but id would imagine using Triple cast while under the effects of leylines negates the benefits of leylines. in which case its better to make full use of it before putting the leylines down.

*Additionally i believe subsequent Triple casts should be used in conjunction with Foul, leaving swiftcast as the oh shyt i need to cast while dodging a mechanic it was before.

You get a bigger gain using it on three 3 second cast spells rather than a two GCD level spells and a 3 second cast spell.

[Ferrasper]

Where do I put T3 in when I have to cast foul for UI? edit: Never mind. I have a good 3 seconds left to cast fire 3.

[TheMeanseason]

hi guys.... new player here...just wondering what the current stat priority theorycrafting is for level 70 blm's at the moment?
I'm currently in 310 gear {minus a few accesories}....after maxing the materia limits of spell speed and crit ; i was wondering which is third best between DRH and Determination.... thanks for reading and any help in advance!!!!