AoE or Area of Effect Rotations for Dungeons What is your Job's AoE for Mobs

[Seabhacgra]

Loving SAM a lot and it does appear to have some really solid AOE options (even with the issue of some of your AOEs being conal). Anyone have a good cheat sheet for SAM AOE since there isn't one here yet?

I'd appreciate this as well. I usually go with the flow meaning Fuga>Mangetsu then Fuga>Oka followed by using Hissatsu :Kaiten to augment using Tenka Goken and hopefully Tsubame-gaeshi is up to follow up with Kaeshi: Goken... rinse repeat

Biggest issue I have in dungeons is keeping up Jinpu and Shifu between groups of mobs.. if the tank doesn't pull fast enough you end up having to rebuild them before starting your AOE rotation and that can take a few extra seconds that could be used on AOE.. any help here?

[Silverquick]

All depends on players (tanks, heal and DPS) for that one.

If I have a decent tank and decent DPS going on, I can DPS quite a lot as a healer. The trick is more about knowing and using your healing resources correctly:

I'm not very familiar with SCH so I'll let people correct me on this one. Usually I start with a shield on the tank between pulls and then I use fairy actions and Lustrate if needed. Sacred Soil is to be considered if I feel the tank could do with extra mitigation. Recitation Excog is a powerful heal too. Don't be afraid to eat your fairy for the aetherflow. 70+ has the Fay union, which puts a good regen on the tank.

-SCH AoE is instant so you're free to weave in pretty much everything in your Art of War spam. Just consider available resources (do I have Aetherflow? Do I have fairy gauge? Do I have a fairy at all?) at all times.

Honestly I don't play it either past 60th generally, I only unlocked it as it was a free unlock for SMN.

Generally though I'm doing Adloquium since its a preheal and a shield on the tank prior to the pull, then once he's gathered the mobs,
refresh the Adlo, and alternate between Art of War spam and either Adlo or if the Fairy isn't healing enough I'll Lustrate and use an Aetherflow stack. Sometimes if there are a lot of Melee DPS I'll Succor them to preheal/shield them in case they step into Mob Spam AoEs or if they're all in tight I'll use Deployment Tactics to spread the Tank's Adlo to everyone.

If its a particularly large pull I'll use an Aetherflow stack for Sacred Soil as well.

The larger the pull the more I have to be on the ball to keep up the Shield/preheals, and may even have to Lustrate. As the numbers in the pull start shrinking I might use Whispering Dawn for a slow regen.

EDIT: Come to think of it I did try it out in a couple of Expert Runs for 80th and just doing this much kept the tank's health full the majority of the time.

[Kacho_Nacho]

Dancer
Lvl15 - 80: literally an organic lawnmower of death.

I laughed.

DNC AOE builds off of itself just like any other class/job. It’s very strong in dungeons, and their AOE is a gain over single-target starting at 2 enemies.

Note that a lot of DNC AOE is in melee range, so you will need to get comfortable with moving into trash packs. Basic AOEs are roughly a 5y radius FROM YOU; Standard Step and Technical Finish are 15y from you. There will never be a situation where you won’t be able to avoid AOEs from enemies, so do not use that as an excuse to forsake AOEing. Practicing will earn you the ability and skill to dip in and dive out when needed for enemy AOE.


Level 15: You receive Standard Step and Windmill at this level. Use Standard Step on cooldown (read: every 30 seconds) for 1 to 5 enemies (it’s 1,000 potency for the first mob it hits with 75% fall-off). For 6+, just spam Rising Windmill until either: 1.) your Standard Finish buff is at roughly ~10 seconds, then refresh; or 2.) the total number of mobs drops to less than 6; then return to using Standard Step on cooldown between Windmill casts.

Level 25: You learn Bladeshower, which is your second skill of your base AOE rotation—Windmill > Bladeshower. Same rules apply as before with regards to Standard Step usage. Your AOE combo is a gain over your single-target combo (Cascade > Fountain) at 2 or more mobs.

Level 35: You learn Rising Windmill, which has a 50% chance to proc off of every Windmill usage. Rising Windmill will not break your Windmill > Bladeshower combo, so you can use it immediately after it procs. The same rules apply as before to Standard Step usage.

Level 45: You learn Bloodshower, which, like Rising Windmill, has a 50% chance to proc off of every Bladeshower usage. Use immediately upon proccing. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step usage.

Level 50: You learn Fan Dance II, which is your oGCD AOE. Fan Dances have a 50% chance to proc off of Flourished skills: meaning that each Rising Windmill and Bloodshower gives you a 50% chance to get a Fan Dance. You may stockpile these for large pulls, and weave them between your basic AOE rotation. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step usage.

Level 66: You learn Fan Dance III, which has a 50% chance to proc off of your Fan Dance I it Fan Dance II. You may weave this after a Fan Dance I/II between your GCD combos, as it will apply to both single-target and AOE scenarios. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step usage.

Level 70: You learn Technical Step, which is a party-wide 5% damage buff plus 1,500 potency initial hit with 75% fall-off. Try to use this on AOE pulls, as it’s fairly potent and it will buff everyone else (who should be) AOEing. Using this on the first pull of the dungeon and the first pull after every boss usually guarantees it will be up again in time for boss fights. Use/Refresh Standard Step first, and then begin prepping Technical Step. Always make sure you have you Standard Finish buff up before doing anything else. The same rules continue to apply for Standard Step and all other AOE skills.

Level 72: You learn Flourish. Flourish force-procs 5 of your skills every 60 seconds—Rising Windmill, Bloodshower, Reverse Cascade, Fountainfall, and Fan Dance III. Use this skill on cooldown even during trash packs, and spend your AOE procs (Rising Windmill and Bloodshower) first while weaving in Fan Dance III. Ignore your single-target procs (Reverse Cascade and Fountainfall) starting at 3+ mobs, as they are not a gain over your AOE combo at that point. Ideally, when you are wanting to use Technical Step, you will want to Flourish AFTER you have hit Technical Finish and deployed your buff.
NOTE: the AOE Flourishes are used on single-targets as well, because it’s free damage and both are equal to or stronger than your Cascade > Fountain combo.

Level 76: You learn Saber Dance. Saber Dance is 600 potency for the first mob it hits (the one you have targeted) with 50% fall-off, and it costs 50 of your Esprit Gauge. Espirt has a roughly 20%~30% generation rate off of your GCD weaponskills AND your Dance Partner’s GCD weaponskills (it will generate off of the entire party while you have Technical Finish up). Generally, you use Saber Dance when your gauge has 80 Esprit. Use it against both single-targets and in AOE situations on top of all your other AOE tools.


To conclude—

Base AOE combo: Windmill > Bladeshower
AOE procs: Rising Windmill, Bloodshower, Fan Dance II (oGCD), Fan Dance III (oGCD), Saber Dance
Steps: Standard Step, Technical Step
oGCD Abilities: Flourish

—DNC AOE is a gain over single-target at 2 or more mobs.
—Procs do not break combos, so use them as you get them.
—Use Fan Dances on larger packs to make them melt faster.
—Use Standard Step on cooldown unless the trash pack exceeds 5 mobs. Then just refresh it when ~10 seconds remain on your Standard Finish buff.
—Use Technical Step on trash pulls for extra damage/because there’s literally no reason to hold it. Proper timing can ensure it’s up for boss fights as well.
—Utilize Flourish. Use it on cooldown, and ignore the single-target procs it gives you at 3+ mobs.
—Use Saber Dance at 80 Esprit.

Link to the DNC Job Guide for tooltip information: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/dancer/

Thanks for the writeup, HyoMin!

[Silverquick]

One thing we're missing here...

Bard and Machinist.

[ReiMakoto]

BRD,
DoT 2 or 3 enemies, then spam quicknock and rain of death while rotating your songs, Mages is the most powerful for aoe, use shadowbite on CD

MCH,
Priority
-Bioblaster (2 targets+)
-Hypercharge (3 targets +)
-Flamethrower (2 targets +) (unless enemies are about to die)
-Spreadshot (3 targets +)

[SaitoHikari]

Bard AoE is a lot more involved than most people would think.

The usual thought process is this:

Priority 1: Locate the most threatening 2-3 mobs as a tank is mass pulling, and double-DoT those.
Priority 2: Assuming both Mage's Ballad and Wanderer's Minuet are available: If amount of mobs > 3, use Mage's Ballad. If < 3, use Wanderer's Minuet. Either way, you end up doing Quick Nock and either Rain of Death/Pitch Perfect spam.
Priority 3: Use Troubadour and Minne during mass pulls. 15% damage reduction means the healer will be given more leeway to contribute damage of their own/can save some of their cooldowns for the next pull. Also remember to use Shadowbite if you have it - Shadowbite's damage is based on whether the primary target is afflicted with both DoTs, with the same potency damage being applied to all mobs around the primary target regardless of their DoT status.
Priority 4: Remember to refresh the DoTs on the mobs you singled out to double-DoT.
Priority 5: (Oh yeah, if the mobs have something you can interrupt, do that too. Extra fun.)

Long story short, you're trying to juggle a lot of things. Even someone like me occasionally fumbles with one or two things during a mass pull (aiming Apex incorrectly, letting one of the DoTs drop, forgetting Troubadour/Minne, and so on). It's no wonder why Bards appear to have this reputation as being a class that can either completely destroy dungeons or end up being a liability as a result. Our AoE potential is actually way up there with Black Mages and Summoners, but it requires some pre-planning. I typically end up using the same songs at the same point in each dungeon run, depending on the party's overall speed (namely if the tank mass pulls or not).

I recorded a random dungeon run I did about two hours ago, where I actually ran into another Bard that was actually able to match me in AoE. I can probably count with two hands the amount of random people I've met in dungeons since the start of the expansion that were able to match or surpass my Bard AoE performance from ANY class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqWt3zplni4

(Oh, sorry about the frantic button mashing in the middle of all of that too. Shame about our single target damage, though. Even two very good Bards can't come up with the personal damage needed to skip the second lightning field phase from the last boss.)

[Silverquick]

Thank you Saito for the more in depth look at Bard AoE. I know they have some pretty good stuff whenever I get paired with one as a DPS, but for others here its good to give at least a base look at how to.

BRD,

MCH,
Priority
-Bioblaster (2 targets+)
-Hypercharge (3 targets +)
-Flamethrower (2 targets +) (unless enemies are about to die)
-Spreadshot (3 targets +)

I have a friend who recently got into Machinist and I'm sure they would be interested in knowing more about how it gets put togather.
If possible can you elaborate on an example of how you might do so?

EDIT: Post combined with another .

[Gruntler]

Technically you could even reverse the order of the Big Summons like Phoenix and Bahamut first, then come out of them using your Garuda AoEs, but that would be up to the individual I suppose.

You won't be able to precast so:

[Tri-D]->A2 [Bane, Osmose]->A1 [Dreadwrym, Osmose]->A1[Enkindle, Pain]->Outb[Deathflare, Summon DemiB]->R4[Akh Morn, Pain]->R4[Tri-D, Bane], Outb, Outb, Outb-> R4[Akh Morn, Osmose]->OutB, then A2 once Behe goes away. Use A1 and A2 as weaving when not in trance outside Behe/Phoenix phases. You don't get much value maximizing trance uptime.

[ReiMakoto]

Thank you Saito for the more in depth look at Bard AoE. I know they have some pretty good stuff whenever I get paired with one as a DPS, but for others here its good to give at least a base look at how to.



I have a friend who recently got into Machinist and I'm sure they would be interested in knowing more about how it gets put togather.
If possible can you elaborate on an example of how you might do so?

For Example:
I've been playing lot of SMN lately as I've really been in the mood for it so I am playing it a lot in Expert Roulettes. Building on the initial AoE rotation I put out for the base Pre Level 60, while I'm sure other people have their own, it goes like this...

Im not quite sure what youre after still? As I said its a priority system, so its press the buttons when you can in the listed order, eg if if hyper and bio are up, use bio then hyper, and dont hyper if it means delaying your bio, i.e. if youve got 5 seconds left on bios recast dont do a hypercharge cos hyper lasts 8s

[Silverquick]

Im not quite sure what youre after still? As I said its a priority system, so its press the buttons when you can in the listed order, eg if if hyper and bio are up, use bio then hyper, and dont hyper if it means delaying your bio, i.e. if youve got 5 seconds left on bios recast dont do a hypercharge cos hyper lasts 8s

Moreso a little bit more detail I guess would be the word.

Since I've never played it I can't offer any on Machinist, and I don't know others who do other than a friend of mine who is getting into it, hence, why I was hoping you might elaborate a bit.