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

[Silverquick]

It occurred to me last weekend while playing through multiple dungeon encounters that new players simply do not know how to use Area of Effect Abilities in Dungeons (and in truth even higher level players).

I ran into an SMN trying to use a Fire Pet and not knowing what BANE did or DoTs, for clearing large packs of dungeon trash, a DRK who did not know what Unleash did and a horde of other things, that staggered me last weekend.

The conversation in the forum ends up too often at high raid level discussions... but we forget that you need to crawl before you can walk. And some of these new players have not even learned to crawl yet....

So maybe its time we post these lower level basics here for the benefit of new players.

I'll even start... (Please feel free to add in other jobs like Melee AoE combos, and Tanking combos in large pulls... as I am not as familiar with those)

[Silverquick]

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Summoner/Arcanist

The real reason the Summoner tends to end up in the top catagory of damagers in high level content has NOTHING to do with Trancing Bahamut or Ruin or its powers... so much as it is the DoTs and basic Pet damage... its the dirty little secret... while everyone else is moving around and running from Mechanics... the SMN ALWAYS has a dog in the fight doing damage when no one else is.

1. Bio and Miasma should be the FIRST thing you do, and the first thing you learn to do as an Arcanist and later as a SMN. Its is the basis or bottom layer of your damage output. ALL of your other damage is layered on top of this and your pets damage.

2, Always use Garuda Pet for dungeon clearing, all of its attacks are AoE. Switch to Ifrit Pet at Boss Mobs (or possibly Titan pet if you need to Stoneskin yourself)

1st-40th level:
Miasma>Bio>BANE>Energy Siphon>Egi Assault 2 (Garuda-Slipstream DoT)>Egi Assault 1(Garuda-AoE attack)>Outburst Spam

In truth you can do these in any order so long as you remember the DoTs come first... and you MUST BANE out your DoTs which spreads them to all other targets. You can spam Outburst after completing the rotation to keep continuous damage on top of your pet and ticking DoTs.
At this point you'll have about 150 potency in DoTs ticking away on the target along with your 90 potency Outburst for about 240 potency damage per tick in AoE damage not even including your pets normal attacks.

40th-50th
Add in Enkindle-Garuda a surprisingly powerful AoE attack. BUT long CD so you may have to choose which groups of mobs to use it on.

50th-60th
Add in Painflare (you have 2 of them per Energy Siphon to weave in there on top of your DoTs), And you can use Tri-Disaster now in place of Bio/Miasma combo.
Plus... Deathflare as a finisher on packs of mobs, which will also reset your Tri-Disaster for the next group of mobs.
Bio and Miasma get a damage boost.

EDIT Combining with a later post...

At higher levels as an example....

Action 1: Apply DoTs (this is about 150 potency worth)
Tri-Disaster>Bane>Egi Assault 2 (Garuda: SlipStream DoT)

Action 2:
Enkindle (Garuda: Aerial Blast)>Energy Syphon

Action 3: Rotate through Egi Assault 1 twice while weaving in Instant Painflares.
Painflare>Egi Assault 1 (Aerial Slash AoE)>Egis Assault 1 (Aerial Slash AoE)>Painflare

Action 4a: Assumes Bahamut Summon is up
Deathflare > straight into > Bahamut Summon and Enkindle for 1st Ahk Morn > Outburst Spam > Last Ahk Morn> Outburst Spam

Action 4b: Assumes Phoenix Summon is up
Phoenix Summon and Enkindle for 1st Revelation > Alternating: Fountain of Fire and Brand of Purgatory > 2nd Revelation

Action 5: Coming out of Phoenix or Bahamut.
Egi Assault 2 (Garuda Slipstream) + Outburst Spam (possibly reapplying Bio/Miasma and Bane)
This leaves you enough Ruin 4s to polish of the remaining single targets.

While I'm sure everyone has their own version, this does keep a constant stream of ever increasing AoE damage on a target that slowly builds to a crescendo.

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.

[Silverquick]

Red Mage

Honestly I don't know why I'm posting this one, as you'd have to be a complete idiot not to grasp the basics of Red Mage AoE... but here it goes...

1-50
Verthunder II or VerAero II > Scatter
Pretty hard to screw that one up unless you don't understand you need to cast the VerII spells which are short casting times in order to Insta-Cast Scatter which is a LONG casting time. Also just remember to keep your gauge balanced... Verthunder is Black Magic (aka blue gauge) VerAero is White Mage (aka white gauge)

50-60
Here you get Embolden, Manafication, Contra Sixte, and Moulinet. This part can get a little more tricky as this is where you can use these new tools to add a new component to your AoE.

Contra Sixte is easy, its a flat out AoE, but now your AoE rotation can become more interesting.

For the first pack of trash mobs you can kick in Embolden which will increase the damage on your VerII + Scatter Dual casting. Also... now you can alternate the VerII spells directly without Scatter to fill your guage faster or use Manafication to double your mana gauge count... and once it gets to 60 or higher you can Corps a Corps into the melee fray and unleash 3-5 extremely fast very powerful Enchanted Moulinets and watch a huge pack of Trash mob's health drop to nothing in seconds.

Nothing really gets added at that point post 70th to change anything.


EDIT: Adding a higher level Example of it put together for Expert Roulettes.

Action 1 Unleash your Instant Attacks.
Contra Sixte > Fleche

Action 2 Kick in Embolden (+10% magic damage for you, +10% melee damage for party) so it has enough time to come off CD before the Boss Mob
Embolden > Verthunder II/VerAero II >Impact

Action 3 Finish off the mobs with Verthunder/Aero II + Impact spam to build up your Guage. At the end of the first Mob pack hit Manafication which should bring your guage at or near 100/100 white/black.

Action 4 Beginning at the next pack of Mobs if your guage is at 100/100... Corps-a Corps to the first Mob....Spam 5 quick Enchanted Moulinettes. This should bring the mob pack down to near or around half health... then continue VerII + Impact spam to build your guage back up before the first Boss Mob.

While I'm sure everyone has their own version, this does keep a constant stream of ever increasing AoE damage on a target. Red Mage is much more free flowing in general as it relies on a lot of procs and those determine your general rotation more than anything else. But this is a good example for Red Mage AoE on large packs of mobs.

(NOTE: Make sure to toggle through the mobs to make sure your cursor is on one of the ones in the middle so your AoEs cover the entire pack.

[Yani-Madara]

"you'd have to be a complete idiot not to grasp the basics of Red Mage AoE... but here it goes..."

Actually, RDM is more complex than that. I won't deny it's an easy class but New players will need to understand the following to do better DPS:

-Use off global cooldown (o-GCD) abilities like Fleche and Contra Sixte when your GCD abilities get locked, such as after using an insta-cast Veraero/Thunder from dualcast.

So a better rotation would be:

At the start of a dungeon use Vercure to get a Dualcast Proc. Then use the Proc to hit the first mob with
Scatter > Fleche> Veraero/Thunder 2 > Contre Sixte > Scatter > Swiftcast > Scatter

I put Fleche first in case the Tank is running and building a bigger mob. You'll want the Contre to hit more enemies. The rotation may vary depending on if you have time to stay to cast. Embolden is also an o-GCD, so you may also want to (Dualcast) Scatter > Embolden

Another option is to start with swiftcast and use scatter while running after a mob. Also remember that swiftcast provides more global cooldown time to use your oGCDs.



I'm not an RDM main, so maybe someone that is can provide even better Rotations. Plus mine is only at Lvl 71.

I remember reading the aoe rotation changes with 2 or 3 pack mobs to substitute scatter with Aero/ Ver 1. Again, would be best to read an aoe guide or if an RDM main could clarify.

[Leidolf]

"you'd have to be a complete idiot not to grasp the basics of Red Mage AoE... but here it goes..."

Actually, RDM is more complex than that. I won't deny it's an easy class but New players will need to understand the following to do better DPS:

-Use off global cooldown (o-GCD) abilities like Fleche and Contra Sixte when your GCD abilities get locked, such as after using an insta-cast Veraero/Thunder from dualcast.

So a better rotation would be:

At the start of a dungeon use Vercure to get a Dualcast Proc. Then use the Proc to hit the first mob with
Scatter > Fleche> Veraero/Thunder 2 > Contre Sixte > Scatter > Swiftcast > Scatter

I put Fleche first in case the Tank is running and building a bigger mob. You'll want the Contre to hit more enemies. The rotation may vary depending on if you have time to stay to cast. Embolden is also an o-GCD, so you may also want to (Dualcast) Scatter > Embolden

Another option is to start with swiftcast and use scatter while running after a mob. Also remember that swiftcast provides more global cooldown time to use your oGCDs.



I'm not an RDM main, so maybe someone that is can provide even better Rotations. Plus mine is only at Lvl 71.

I remember reading the aoe rotation changes with 2 or 3 pack mobs to substitute scatter with Aero/ Ver 1. Again, would be best to read an aoe guide or if an RDM main could clarify.

I think you can also use Enchanted Moulentte up to 5 times if you get up to 80, burn two back down to 40, and then use Manification.

[Rongway]

I think you can also use Enchanted Moulentte up to 5 times if you get up to 80, burn two back down to 40, and then use Manification.

You can Moulinet seven times if you have 90|90.

VerthunderII+Impact [90|90] (Fleche+Embolden)
E.Moulinet [70|70] (Contre-Sixte)
E.Moulinet [50|50] (Manafication) [100|100]
E.Moulinet [80|80] (Engagement)
E.Moulinet [60|60] (Corps-A-Corps)
E.Moulinet [40|40]
E.Moulinet [20|20]
E.Moulinet [0|0] (Swiftcast)
Impact

[Rasikko]

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

[Silverquick]

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

Well that's great and all, but the whole point is to post how you use it at a basic level for new players.

[Averax]

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

This.

Single target DNC? Meh, you're mostly just bolstering another, stronger DPS the entire time...

AoE DNC, on the other hand, is like putting a helicopter blade on a merry-go-round.

Probably because the base potencies of their aoe attacks are not far behind their single target counterparts.

[SpeckledBurd]

Monk AOE is fairly straightforward but there's a few more intricacies to it compared to the rest of the Melee as a result of its combo freedom which makes Single Target skills preferable in some circumstances, so I'll lay it out regardless.

Just to lay it out now, with the exception of Enlightenment at 74 all of Monks AOE is a 5 Yalm circle around you so you don't have to try to hard to Aim. Enlightenment is a 10 yalm wide/10 yalm long line AOE so you'll have to slide to the edge of a pack and target a far enemy to hit them all.

1-26: Monk is an ARR Melee Job and therefore doesn't have AOE at this level. Some day the devs will do the thing that makes sense and move an AOE skill on NIN/DRG/MNK to level 15 but who knows when that day will be.

26-30: Do your single target rotation, Upkeeping GL and Twinsnakes, except you replace Bootshine with Arm of the Destroyer.

30-44: In 3+ Targets, Arm of the Destroyer is your first move, alternate Twin Snakes and True Strike for your second, and use Rockbreaker for the 3rd move. In 2 targets, upkeep Demolish on both targets and Rockbreaker every 3rd combo before refreshing Demolish again.

Level 40 Note: You get Fists of Fire, use that stance exclusively until Level 76.

45-50: Same as before, except once you've got Twin Snakes up you use Four Point Fury as your second combo move exclusively.

50: 3+ Targets is Arm of the Destroyer>Four Point Fury>Rockbreaker. On 2 Targets you alternate Dragon Kick and Bootshine every other combo and always make sure to hit the butt for the crit>Four Point Fury> Upkeep Demolish on both targets and Rockbreaker the third Cycle.

52: Mash Formshift when you're out of combat, never lose GL again as you run between packs.

54: You have a gauge now. It doesn't build in combat because your gauge is a lazily modified downtime mitigation skill and you won't have an AOE action until Shadowbringers because this job is a mess. When out of combat and running between packs, when you've got some time on your GL meter, Mash Meditate to build gauge for some free damage, then go back to Mashing formshift until you're in combat.

56: As above, but use Elixir Field on Cooldown.

62: You finally build gauge in combat. You still don't have an AOE skill for it though so just use Forbidden Chakra whenever RNG decides to grace you with good crits.

68: As above, but use Riddle of Fire on Cooldown, always get Elixir Field in its buff window.

70: As above, but you pair Brotherhood with Riddle of Fire. You get more Chakra here but still have no AOE Gauge skill, so just use Forbidden Chakra

74: You finally have an AOE gauge skill a full 20 levels after you get a gauge because Monk's kit is a mess. If there's ever multiple targets, use Enlightenment instead of Forbidden Chakra as it's always a gain.

76: Replace Fists of Fire with Fists of Wind once you're at 3 Stacks Greased Lightning and are about to use a 3rd hit in a combo for GL4, then stay in Fists of Wind forever and never touch Fire again unless you're forced to lose your stacks somehow.