Learning how to properly play AST

[CyrilLucifer]

Just a general tip for the low level, mid-30s ASTs, about a problem I keep encountering from ASTs while leveling BLM:

At level ~35, no, my BLM does not want Spear right after using Raging Strikes. Spear would probably be better given to anyone else but me at that point. Give it to yourself during bosses for the MP/faster Luminiferous Aether, or the tank for CDs.

Spear tends to be pretty difficult to use in general and to do so effectively you need to know what jobs have which abilities, and how long their timers are. A lot of the time, in DF, it's probably best to just burn it for RR.

Amplifying this problem, a class that may not need Spear at a certain level range may find it much more useful at a later one, which essentially changes your Card strategy.

[TatoRazzino]

Just a general tip for the low level, mid-30s ASTs, about a problem I keep encountering from ASTs while leveling BLM:

At level ~35, no, my BLM does not want Spear right after using Raging Strikes. Spear would probably be better given to anyone else but me at that point. Give it to yourself during bosses for the MP/faster Luminiferous Aether, or the tank for CDs.

Spear tends to be pretty difficult to use in general and to do so effectively you need to know what jobs have which abilities, and how long their timers are. A lot of the time, in DF, it's probably best to just burn it for RR.

Amplifying this problem, a class that may not need Spear at a certain level range may find it much more useful at a later one, which essentially changes your Card strategy.

The Spear is a card that people have a hard time to understand. It's not supposed to be used with cooldowns like Raging Strikes or Blood for Blood. In actual fights, players usually save long cooldowns for specific situations and taking 20% out of those skills will do nothing since no one is going to pop them just because they can. The Spear is more useful for those Off-GCD skills that DPS use or for those cooldowns that Tanks are constantly rotating. Two jobs that benefit a lot from it are NIN and MCH, because they both have off-GCD skills that are going to be activated for sure during the 20s window of the card. SMNs make good use of The Spear for their Aetherflow and following off-GCD burst, but the card can be wasted if their Aetherflow cooldown has more than 15s; communication is important for that. DRGs make good use of it, but their off-GCDs are long, and BRDs may waste the card completely if they get procs for Bloodletter.

The Spear is also good for an AoE card opener. My tip is: get an AoE spear and wait for your Draw to be available; hit ready, use the AoE Spear when you see 10s for the pull and when you see the pull macro close to the end, pull another card. That way, you can allow all the DPS players to burn their cooldowns with the Spear on, buff someone immediately after and get the benefit from The Spear for your pull Draw.

Other than that, just Royal Road it and double your next card duration, and that's always helpful.

[Rongway]

At level ~35, no, my BLM does not want Spear right after using Raging Strikes. Spear would probably be better given to anyone else but me at that point. Give it to yourself during bosses for the MP/faster Luminiferous Aether, or the tank for CDs.

This doesn't always mean "I want you to have this card." Sometimes it means, "The game hates me and I'm frustrated at having received a string of cards that I don't want to use, and by now I can't be arsed to pick a meaningful target, so I'm just going to throw it at someone and then go back to my glorious Gravity spam."

[raela]

Yeah, thinking about it, I think the lack of Holy/Shadow Flare is what's hurting me the most.. I'm more of a hybrid dps-healer, so I tend to be very aggressive with cleric stance. No CC to help mitigate damage to the tank on level 50 AST. Sitting back and watching my buffs on the other party members really isn't satisfying for me..

[Vlady]

Do not underestimate how lovely watching gravity crash on your enemies is. It is a very satisfying spell effect and the number one reason odd as it may be why I went astro this time round over my old main of years.

[Nekotee]

Gravity is beautiful and strong needless to say...
But it burn your mp...
And it's a pain to aim to really effective ! (Just like Blm flare or smn akh morn)

[Fyce]

This doesn't always mean "I want you to have this card." Sometimes it means, "The game hates me and I'm frustrated at having received a string of cards that I don't want to use, and by now I can't be arsed to pick a meaningful target, so I'm just going to throw it at someone and then go back to my glorious Gravity spam."

In the case of the Spear, if you can't do anything with it, just apply it to yourself. It'll reduce the time before the next draw.

[TatoRazzino]

In the case of the Spear, if you can't do anything with it, just apply it to yourself. It'll reduce the time before the next draw.

I don't think it will. The Spear only works with cooldowns that were activated while having the card on; using the Spear on yourself will do nothing for the Draw skill because you already activated it.

[Apeiron]

It will if you save it to your spread and use it just before you draw again, or if you have extend which means it should be up by the time your draw resets. But off the top of the deck, spear won't.

[TatoRazzino]

It will if you save it to your spread and use it just before you draw again, or if you have extend which means it should be up by the time your draw resets. But off the top of the deck, spear won't.

So you're basically saying that if you burn a 60s cooldown and a powerful Royal Road buff (which requires a previous Draw) you can get 6s reduction in another Draw? Smart.