BLM

[Thyrllan]

If you read the tooltips for Thunder I - III you would see that the potency increases with each rank that is hard cast to trigger Thundercloud.

The tooltip is flawed.

Thunder I -> Thundercloud proc my Thunder III hits for avg 711, low 691, high 739
Thunder III -> Thundercloud proc my Thunder III hits for avg 706, low 696, high 735

Differing numbers, but not large enough to be worth 100 potency. Thundercloud's potency is dependent on which Thunder you spend the proc on. For fun I hardcasted TIII and used the proc on TI, it hit for 495

[Nyel]

i think more than most here are assuming hardcasting a higher rank spell will do more overall damage
this is incorrect

That is an issue caused by awful localisation.

In most of the FF games ( maybe in every? ) you always replace your magical attacks - Fire 2 replaces Fire 1 ( or Feura replaces Feuer, don't know the actual English terms - Fire, Firera? ), Vitra replaces Vitra etc.

BUT in this game, all of these spells are different. Fire 2 is not just Fire 1 with more potency, it is a different attack. So with Cure 1 and Cure 2 and every other spell.

That's quite a big mistake they made when developing the game in German or English.

[Vindicate]

Is it worth socketing +crit rate materia into the gear? For I know, we have one of the lowest crit rates basically, does anyone know if its worth it or just socket determination?

The potency of the Thundercloud Procs is determined about the base hit potency of each Thunder Skill and its over time damage.
Thunder 3 does more initial damage and lasts 3 seconds longer, which is in fact 1 tick, thats where this high potency comes from.
Same for Thunder 2 compared to 1.

[DrEubanks]

Determination = 1/4 int with boosts to healing and melee. Crit is better than determination.

[Foullacy]

Did a few test on dummies.

Thunder III

779
803
817
806
1173 (crit)
761

Thunder I


758
802
764
764
786

Not enough cast to mathematically prove anything, but it's enough to convince me that Thunder III Thunderstorm does indeed do more damage than Thunder I.

Irrelevant anyway due to the fact that Thunder I is the ideal filler for regen phase.

[CarlosDanger]

Hi fellow BLM, just wanted some info. Been at 50 for a while now and obviously ive got flare. My question is how hard is your Flare spells hitting for? Mine seems very weak only hitting group for maybe 400-450 max, even using my 20% dmg buff im lucky to hit 500. I used to think it was ok until my WHM friend told me his healer aoe does 700 dmg.
Am I doing something wrong or is flare just broken?

[Vino]

Hi fellow BLM, just wanted some info. Been at 50 for a while now and obviously ive got flare. My question is how hard is your Flare spells hitting for? Mine seems very weak only hitting group for maybe 400-450 max, even using my 20% dmg buff im lucky to hit 500. I used to think it was ok until my WHM friend told me his healer aoe does 700 dmg.
Am I doing something wrong or is flare just broken?

For a ManaBrurn-type spell it seems very weak, perhaps they should consider changing the spell to match potency with a variable towards how much mana is spent or something.

[Foullacy]

Hi fellow BLM, just wanted some info. Been at 50 for a while now and obviously ive got flare. My question is how hard is your Flare spells hitting for? Mine seems very weak only hitting group for maybe 400-450 max, even using my 20% dmg buff im lucky to hit 500. I used to think it was ok until my WHM friend told me his healer aoe does 700 dmg.
Am I doing something wrong or is flare just broken?

If you're casting Flare, make sure you're casting it with three stacks of Umbral Fire.

Flare is actually a pretty hard ability, doing CM speed runs I typically cast Flare, hit Transpose, cast Blizzard II twice to get three stacks of Umbral, Fire III the highest target, then Flare right as its going off to get a hastened Flare with three stacks of Astral Fire. I feel that this does more damage than just using Fire II, but it requires you to be in melee range. My flares typically hit for 1350.

[zandervont]

Hi fellow BLM, just wanted some info. Been at 50 for a while now and obviously ive got flare. My question is how hard is your Flare spells hitting for? Mine seems very weak only hitting group for maybe 400-450 max, even using my 20% dmg buff im lucky to hit 500. I used to think it was ok until my WHM friend told me his healer aoe does 700 dmg.
Am I doing something wrong or is flare just broken?

with Raging Strikes & AF3, i've seen flare popping nearly 1,9k crit on praetorium trash.

[Midian]

ok, stupid question but, when i lvl archer for Blm how far do i need to lvl it for usefulness? i am assuming 15 but not sure.