SHB BLM is the peak of this game's job design

[Hasrat]

If it's using the same MP cost as Flare, do also remember that Mega Ethers (which I personally have in abundance from level 50 dungeons) restore 800 MP, perfect for one more cast. But, I haven't gotten into all of that to really play with.

Back here at 70, prior to these Umbral Souls and Aspect Mastery, I'm still sorta wondering at where Freeze might also fit in besides the aoe rotation. During down time, phase changes, or just moving through dungeons, while you're still Transposing to keep Eno going, I keep trying to think of what's the best way to get rolling again while you're sitting on 1 stack of AF/UI. Previously, I might start as if I didn't have it anyway. B3-B4-F3 (Thunder as appropriate) [doesn't apply to large aoe situations]. But, it should/would be faster to go Freeze-B4-F3, right? You lose the B3 potency, but it's the quicker way to get full stacks of ice.

Idk. Something about that particular quirk of the skill makes me think it might end up fitting in somewhere unintended/expected. Could be wrong. I'm not a great theory crafter. But, from the old idea of "as much as necessary, as little as possible" with regards to time spent in UI, the thought just keeps nagging at me that Freeze could be part of the "quick reset" for our rotation, getting back to square one.

Which, also somewhat makes me wish we had a Fire spell that worked similarly to fill fire stacks quicker, when your rotation/stacks are out of alignment. But I suppose maybe that's where a F3 proc comes in.

[gumas]

is it better to always have 3 UH then switch to fire 3 and the usual f4 rotation? right now i always use freeze since its also give me 1 UH so i just switch to fire and repeat the f4 rotation with 1 UH only, you run out mp faster but the repeat process is faster so didnt seem that different from using ice 4 for max UH stack.

[MagiusNecros]

Bummed my way to 72. All I can really see with Despair is it's basically a 7th Fire 4 in AF Phase. Pretty much goes like this.

B3 > B4 > F3 > F4x3 > F1 > F4x3 > Despair > Repeat

Probably worth saving a Swift for Despair for quick casts.

[ksuyen]

Maybe I am one of those people, but I dislike the way BLM played. SMN is more like a home to me.

[Orbus]

is it better to always have 3 UH then switch to fire 3 and the usual f4 rotation? right now i always use freeze since its also give me 1 UH so i just switch to fire and repeat the f4 rotation with 1 UH only, you run out mp faster but the repeat process is faster so didnt seem that different from using ice 4 for max UH stack.

Blizzard3 has a much higher potency than freeze, add that with a blizzard4 cast and the potency is getting near a fire4 cast.
Each heart is basically another cast of fire4, so you got the total ice damage and then two more fire4's than the freeze method.
The freeze method also doesn't incorporate thunder3, which you can now have on proc 100% of the time thanks to sharpcast's new 30 cooldown.
Or maybe using it for fire1 is better? Not really sure.

I'm awful at mathing these things out, but I'm preeeeeeetty sure the blizz3 rotation does well more damage.

[Gallus]

is it better to always have 3 UH then switch to fire 3 and the usual f4 rotation? right now i always use freeze since its also give me 1 UH so i just switch to fire and repeat the f4 rotation with 1 UH only, you run out mp faster but the repeat process is faster so didnt seem that different from using ice 4 for max UH stack.

This doesn't work (well it does, but it's not as efficient single target speaking). If you use freeze and then F3 right off the bat not only you'll have only 1 umbral heart, you'll most likely won't give time for the server to regain all your mana and you'll start you fire cycle with 6200MP and 1 umbral heart. This is terrible.
You certainly want to B3 + B4 not only because it's higher potency but because you are giving yourself time to regain all the mana (btw you'll want to fit xenoglossy/foul right after your B4 or before, I don't believe it matters much, and if it's xenoglossy, you may want to use it to weave in your sharpcast there every cycle).

[Hasrat]

Arguably, being sure Thunder still makes it in after Freeze, you'll still likely have full MP, same if you're throwing Foul in or w/e. I'd say the MP is less of an issue than the potency/time equation (or, literally, dps). I don't think you can quite say each UH is one F4; they half the fire cost, so, the 2 missing UHs do add up to an entire extra F4. So, at least one less. Maybe two, depending on how MP works out.

I think a lot of our confusion (gonna lump folks together that may not fit, making big assumptions here) is maybe that some of us not-necessarily-high-tier players are a little bit trained that AF uptime is most important, so here's this option to shave off a little bit of UI time, it almost looks like a tantalizing way to blow stuff up more often. Takes a little re-training to convince ourselves that maybe no, a little patience means blowing more stuff up.

Another point I've seen coming around that's been bugging me. Still seeing people posting F4x3 in their rotations. With the added time to our phases, you can easily fit four in before you have to refresh with F1. Probably all still works out to the same numbers, but, just seems a little odd to me.

[Zedi]

Feels great to play without a doubt. I don't have a single complaint, we also get a bit more mobility with Xenoglossy now. Perhaps they could consolidate Transpose and Umbral Soul into one ability, but it's not a big deal.

[gumas]

^yea BLM is great now. the feeling when you do fire2 x2 -> triple cast -> flare x2 -> manafont -> flare -> freeze -> swiftcast -> foul (and if your timing is lucky, another foul is ready) when tank pull a lot of mob and you do it smooth is just... feels good man.

got one instance where RDM in party jokingly "and people want MP to be removed after seeing TP removal"

[Casino]

GlanDuGlad to see a topic about the true deal.

Just 2 point :

You can have guaranted firestarter at each rotation, so its irrelevant to count how many F4 before using fire.

The refresh of despair is really important.
Using convert after it, it can be used in place of F1.

For the opening, I do :
F1»firestarter>ley line>F4>F4>triple cast>F4>F4>F4> instant cast > despair > convert > F4 > Despair > B3 > B4 (0 manacost)

The purpose of the opening, no F1 between the F4.