Blackmage Keybind suggestion?

[AlphaFox]

Normally I wouldn't have any issue, I play AST, NIN and the others but when it comes to Blackmage I am having trouble working on my rotation and finding a comfortable setup. Whats worse is knowing I got even more skills coming that from what I have been told by FC, its all going to be based on quick choices and timing, making sure you have enough time to cast the right spells. I was hoping someone could either post thier setup or give a suggestion that may help? Its also been about a year since I have touched BLM so I am kinda out of touch. I am under the assumption Thunder 1 should be used, as its quickest cast and same Proc chance, then use Thunder 3/2 (based on Proc) so I have them macroed together in c2. Which I have ctrl tied to my side mouse button.

Currently level 50 at the moment.

[Yaichiro]

There are too many crap skills which you can just remove them from your hot bar. On my black mage I got rid of skills that I am 100% sure I am not going to use ever such as Thunder 2, Ice 1, Ice 2, Freeze, Surecast etc

Basically for lvl 50 rotations is like this:

Swift cast> fire 3 > fire 1 until low mp > ice 3 > thunder 1 > fire 3> repeat

Every time you get a proc for fire 3 or thunder (use thunder 3) you use them. Some people like to use Flare in their rotation on single target but it's unnecessary from my experience. Of course this is all changed when you hit lvl 60.

[AlphaFox]

So for the sake of leveling should I just put a macro for Ice 3 / Ice 1 as one skill for the sake of possible lower level runs? Freeze I admit seems to be a PVP only skill.

[Waliel]

If I'm not missing anything, you still have Q, mouse buttons, and alt modifiers free. G and 6 is also easy to reach, at least for me. Alt can be dangerous, though, as quick chat is defaulted to alt+whatever. You should also avoid macros if at all possible. Macros can't be queued and are a DPS loss.

On my black mage I got rid of skills that I am 100% sure I am not going to use ever such as Thunder 2, Ice 1, Ice 2, Freeze, Surecast etc

Some people like to use Flare in their rotation on single target but it's unnecessary from my experience. Of course this is all changed when you hit lvl 60.

There are times when Blizzard 1 is better DPS than Thunder 1. Flare is always DPS loss on single target unless you have both Swiftcast and Convert available; mana potions are not good enough after lvl 50.

E: Transpose -> Convert. Derp.

[Twilite]

There are too many crap skills which you can just remove them from your hot bar. On my black mage I got rid of skills that I am 100% sure I am not going to use ever such as Thunder 2, Ice 1, Ice 2, Freeze, Surecast etc

Basically for lvl 50 rotations is like this:

Swift cast> fire 3 > fire 1 until low mp > ice 3 > thunder 1 > fire 3> repeat

Every time you get a proc for fire 3 or thunder (use thunder 3) you use them. Some people like to use Flare in their rotation on single target but it's unnecessary from my experience. Of course this is all changed when you hit lvl 60.

Blizzard III > Thunder I > Fire III > Fire 1 x4/5/6(depending on peity) > Procs > Blizzard III > Thunder 1/Blizzard I(if used thundercould/Thunder 1 still up)

Pretty sure if you open with Fire III you are robbing yourself of a fire 1. Full power Fire III will be from firestarter.

[Bahd_Monkey]

Twilite is spot on. That's the rotation to use on single targets. Use procs as they pop. You may very well get 2 or more fire and thunder procs per rotation. You can also cast raging strikes after the first Fire I.
This will work for all ARR end game content, and it's a fall back for when you flub you lvl 60 rotation in HW.

[Garotte14]

Much bad advice in this thread there is. Opener for level 50 BLM is as follows.
Blizzard 3 > Thunder 1 > Fire 3 > raging strikes > Fire 1 x 5 (procs as well) > Swiftcast > Flare > Convert > Fire 1 > Blizzard 3 > Thunder 1

You can also through a potion in after your first Fire 1 if you're feeling froggy.

Do not, I repeat, do not macro any skills on the same keybind. Every ability had it's specific purpose which you'll need to get used to.

The abilities you''ll never need are thunder 2 and freeze. I use blizz 2 on occasion so I keep it available just incase, but not necessary. If you don't raid, you can probably through out surcast. Everything else is useful

In regards to blizzard 1, this is still a useful skill, even at level 60, but much more so at level 50. It's primary use is a filler. I can think of 3 circumstances that make it useful. One, you cast blizzard 3 and get a very slow mana tick during your thunder cast or have really high spell speed, use blizzard 1 while waiting for your mana to fill up. Two, you use a thundercloud proc near the end of your astral fire phase so after you use blizzard 3, you still have 18+ seconds on thunder. You wouldn't want to fill that time by casting another thunder while waiting for mana. Three, would be if you screwed up and were left with zero mp with no transpose. (After a flare for example) You will get a blizzard 1 before anything else to hurry up and get you back into umbral ice.

[Souljacker]

Aw, this is not what I was hoping for in this thread. I was about to post my own looking for suggestions on what others are doing for the 60 rotation - which compared to 2.0 feels clunky and I just can't get the hang of it.

Ah well.

I am not in front of my pc that has my keybinds, but I will suggest getting yourself a Naga or a G600. It has a numberpad on the side and what I did was stack 4 bars on each other and then bind the keys on both sides in a numberpad shape (with the middle open where my character stands) to correspond to the thumbpad on the mouse on one side. It freed up my left hand for binding a lengthwise bar for the F keys (or on a G510 the G keys) and so now both hands can spam all over the place. I'll post a pic when I get back to my gaming machine.

So for the sake of leveling should I just put a macro for Ice 3 / Ice 1 as one skill for the sake of possible lower level runs? Freeze I admit seems to be a PVP only skill.

And as an answer to this question the only thing you should macro is something to remap your hotbars for low level. I have one for the 50 rotation, one for the 60 rotation , and one for PvP

Open a macro and put in as many maps as you need

/merror off
/hotbar Action "MySpell" BarNumber BarSlot
....
/hotbar Remove BarNumber BarSlot


So as an Example I would have

/merror off
/hotbar Action "Thunder" 1 10
/hotbar Action "Fire III" 1 11
/hotbar Action "Fire" 1 12
/hotbar Remove 2 10
/hotbar Remove 2 11
/hotbar Remove 2 12


Obviously not a full rotation but just as an idea what to do to write buttons and remove other ones that aren't usable in the content. And then this way you aren't trying to cheese it by putting a lower spell under a higher one in a macro and losing dps. This also helps keep your muscle memory intact if you place your used buttons in the same locations per each rotation. When you play a lot of different jobs that gets to be important.

[Magistrella]

Throw out Hawkseye - BLM has the lowest ACC needed and that one isnt necessary if you dont raid underequipped. Only 4 of 6 cross skills are of any (if even just so small) use at all *sigh*

Anyways - when you get used to BLM and learn mechanics youll find out that you can cast a Thunder III between rotations without screwing up MP regeneration, depending how much MP you were left over at the end of your rotation - and yes, with that im saying letting UI III tick twice (aka 120% regeneration) isnt always the choice to go with, depending on situation and amount of dodging you have to do.

BLM is the simplest job in ARR when it comes to keybinds - all you really need is: Scathe, Blizz I & III, Fire I II and III, Flare, Swiftcast, Raging Strikes, Quelling Strikes, Manaward/wall, Convert, Transpose.
Stuff like: Sleep, Apocatastasis, Eye for an Eye, Freeze, Surecast, Lethargy (well this can be handy sometimes) and Virus are highly situational, just put them where you have access but dont take away valuable keys that you can reach quick

Oh and: Bind Aetherial Manipulation on your Mouse - Dodging with that saves you so much time - just don't use it on people you dont trust xD

Good luck and stuff tho - dont get too used to BLM 50 - its completely different at 60 so keep space for 5 more skills that you will use regularily ;3

P.S.: And no - do not EVER use Macros on BLM - Blizz I will be handy after a convert (casting Blizz I + Thunder I + Fire III is the same waste of over gcd time then Blizz III + Thunder I + Fire III after a Flare -> Convert) Not to mention the times you end up with just enough MP after a Blizz III to cast Blizzard I right after a MP tick at transition. Which would leave you standing for 2-3s doing nothing OR casting a Blizzard I ^^

Much bad advice in this thread there is. Opener for level 50 BLM is as follows.
Blizzard 3 > Thunder 1 > Fire 3 > raging strikes > Fire 1 x 5 (procs as well) > Swiftcast > Flare > Convert > Fire 1 > Blizzard 3 > Thunder 1

WTF is this useless roation? >.>

If you want to make most use of raging strikes you go:

B1 > T1 > FIII > Raging > F1 + Procs > Convert > F1+Procs > B3 (you get at least 6x Fire I i.e. if you get 2 Procs you'll have spent the full time of Raging in Fire and made the most out of it)

Anything else is a huge DPS loss, the longer you keep spamming fire in Raging the more DPS you gain. And NO, Flare is the worst choice of an ST finisher you can ever take because the downtime in UI screws you over and you loose at least 3 more seconds until you will go back to Fire

Jesus... really

[Twilite]

Magi stop playing blm..there is a child's play reason why you open with blizzard 3. Not frigging blizzard 1.

All you gain from blizzard 1 is the reduced fire 3 damage but no increased cast speed you otherwise get from blizzard 3.

Now get out.