Arrow card questions

[Rongway]

- Best Job to give Arrow to is BLM, hands down.

BLMs will (should) click it off on trash because the extra speed prevents them from refreshing enough MP to do their rotation, resulting in a DPS loss, so don't throw it at a BLM on trash. If you use it on a BLM during a boss, however, you will be that BLMs new best friend.

For the other jobs, too many Arrows can lead to early depletion of TP/MP. In a light party, I'd recommend burning it for an Extend. In full party content that will last longer than couple minutes, if there's no BLM, Redraw. If it's a short/easy fight, the resource depletion won't be an issue, so you can use it on someone based on the priorities the above posters have suggested.

[zuzu-bq]

BLMs will (should) click it off on trash because the extra speed prevents them from refreshing enough MP to do their rotation, resulting in a DPS loss, so don't throw it at a BLM on trash. If you use it on a BLM during a boss, however, you will be that BLMs new best friend.

No we won't, that was even a topic for discussion on the BLM Sanctuary recently. Just add a Blizzard or Freeze cast before Fire III and we are good. That is both a DPS and a PPS increase.

Though for trash in dungeons I'd give Arrow to myself as AST so I can Gravity faster. But that is mostly because I have no trust on Duty Finder people.

[Kibby]

BLMs will (should) click it off on trash because the extra speed prevents them from refreshing enough MP to do their rotation, resulting in a DPS loss, so don't throw it at a BLM on trash. If you use it on a BLM during a boss, however, you will be that BLMs new best friend.

See, this is what confuses me. I've heard that arrows are great for BLMs, especially during aoe situations, and all of these conflicting opinions just confuses me even more. I don't understand how speed can be bad for BLMs when Ley Lines does just that.

Also, I would be really irritated if someone just clicked off my card instead of telling me outright, that way I know not to continue giving them arrows.

[FunkyBunch]

See, this is what confuses me. I've heard that arrows are great for BLMs, especially during aoe situations, and all of these conflicting opinions just confuses me even more. I don't understand how speed can be bad for BLMs when Ley Lines does just that.

Also, I would be really irritated if someone just clicked off my card instead of telling me outright, that way I know not to continue giving them arrows.

Don't give a BLM arrow. You will literally F'up the AoE rotation because they won't get the full mana tick when casting F3 From Astral Ice. A BLM shouldn't be using Ley Lines in the AoE rotation unless they have really slow Spell Speed for the same reason. If F3 takes less than 3 seconds you miss out on an F2 or a Flare and are left scratching your head as to why.

On a boss it's okay but I'd still rather not have it, because it's not really going to help with anything because the rotation is the rotation. You're not getting off an extra spell, you're potentially only screwing up how much MP I get back while casting B4 making me lose my full rotation on the refresh.
You only want extra SS once you get to AF because you NEED your AI T1-B4-F3 to take at least 6 seconds to get full MP. Which is what it takes at around 1200 SS.
It may help a bit when single targeting, but it's not really very helpful at all.

[StouterTaru]

I've heard that arrows are great for BLMs, especially during aoe situations

For the first ~11-17 seconds it's nice: F3 > F2 x3 > SwiftFlare (Convert > Flare) > Transpose > Wait on MP tick. After that, your rotation lasts 15 seconds if you have 800+ Spell Speed: F3 > F2 x2 > Flare > Transpose > Wait on MP tick

Having 10% off cast time for that first 11-17 seconds means transpose happens 1.1-1.7 seconds earlier. The possible scenarios:

1. Pack dies in first wave before transpose - You just cut 1 second off the dungeon run
2. Pack is under 10% after first wave - Rather than going back into AF, it's better to use Freeze/Blizzard II/Blizzard/Scathe, and extra one of these is a small boost
3. Pack still has quite a bit of HP after first wave - The 1-2 seconds might have put your 2nd wave 3 seconds earlier, or it might be in exactly the same spot

In none of those scenarios is there any dramatic increase in damage. A more likely scenario: (not realizing Arrow was tossed your way) Transpose > Fire 3 without getting the 2nd MP tick > Fire 2 (or Flare if you caught it) > Wait for transpose to be back up