Quote Originally Posted by Kaedan94 View Post
Huh? o.O

No, that's wrong. Even without taking into account any of the MP regain options, you can DA every 4 GCDs (10 seconds) with an effective net loss of MP of zero (Syphon Strike gives half a DA). Take into account Blood Price and C&S, and you can get even more.I would say that in the average minute, I've used DA at least 4-5 times. And if I'm tanking multiple mobs, I probably use DA more like 6-8 times a minute.

The problem is there is no correct answer to this. It all depends on the situation. But I actually rarely ever use Delirium. If there's no MNK in the group, I'll use it to keep the debuff up, but most times there's no use for it. The potency is slightly higher on the combo (20), but the healing from Soul Eater, even if it isn't DA, is generally more beneficial. If I'm nearly topped out on HP and not using a DA, then I might use Delirium.

But since I'm usually able to DA every 1.5 combos, it's generally better to use Soul Eater.
You're not counting Darkside. One of your syphons every 20s is paying for the drain, not rather than refunding a DA.
It's still roughly 3-4 a minute. Possibly more with Blood Price, but many Bosses have fairly spaced out attacks.
Sole Survivor can bump it up in most fights, and Carve and Split if you want to sacrifice the potency of that.

I agree it's definitely more than 2 a minute, but you can't talk about mana management without accounting for Darkside.
I also remember Dark Arts feeling more expensive while leveling.
I'm not sure how mana scales while levelling in this game. I do know your mana pool grows a lot post 50, but if it's all % based it wouldn't matter.