BLM

[Coephoros]

You really shouldn't swiftcast Fire3 while in umbral. You are already constrained by the GCD, and you lose your ability to sneak in an extra Fire before the Astral buff kicks in.

One other note: as above poster points out, one T3 while under Umbral 3 is usually enough time to regen to full. But if you time it correctly, you can fire off Fire3 and recover full mana before it lands. Not much, but somes enough to add another fire at the end of your rotation, or immediate T3 after switching to Umbral.

[mpetason]

If you notice this was in reply to someone else showing their rotation and asking what I think. That's not my rotation. My rotation is:

Swiftcast > Thunder 3 > Fire 3 > Fire til OOM > Blizzard 3 > Thunder 2 > repeat. Using thundercloud for Thunder 3 and firestarter procs at end of casts or when I need to move or saving to get back into astral from umbral after regen.

Read Thunder 2/3. I get full mana by the time I finish Thunder 2, so why would I cast Thunder 3? Of course you can get back to full MP after casting 3, it's .5 seconds longer without buffs. Look at the benefits of both, 3 = 3.5 cast, 60 initial potency, same dot damage, and +3 second duration on dot. I use thundercloud procs on 3, otherwise I'm casting 2 since I regen to full MP by the time my Fire 3 goes off.

[Einzbern]

If you notice this was in reply to someone else showing their rotation and asking what I think. That's not my rotation. My rotation is:

Swiftcast > Thunder 3 > Fire 3 > Fire til OOM > Blizzard 3 > Thunder 2 > repeat. Using thundercloud for Thunder 3 and firestarter procs at end of casts or when I need to move or saving to get back into astral from umbral after regen.

Read Thunder 2/3. I get full mana by the time I finish Thunder 2, so why would I cast Thunder 3? Of course you can get back to full MP after casting 3, it's .5 seconds longer without buffs. Look at the benefits of both, 3 = 3.5 cast, 60 initial potency, same dot damage, and +3 second duration on dot. I use thundercloud procs on 3, otherwise I'm casting 2 since I regen to full MP by the time my Fire 3 goes off.

I'm not totally sold on using thunder II over III when hard casting. While your MP reasoning is ound, Thunder III adds some additional damage to Thundercloud procs, unless I'm mistaken. Thunder III reads: "5% chance after each tick that potency of next Thunder, Thunder II, or Thunder III will be 340, have no cast time, and cost no MP." whereas Thunder II reads: "5% chance after each tick that potency of next Thunder, Thunder II, or Thunder III will be 295, have no cast time, and cost no MP.".


Onto my question: Am I better off casting Fire till I only have enough mana to cast Blizzard III, then having to wait for a tic of mana before I can cast Thunder II/III, or should I shave off a Fire cast if it meant I could cast Thunder II/III immediately after Blizzard III?

[LetBloodline]

Read Thunder 2/3. I get full mana by the time I finish Thunder 2, so why would I cast Thunder 3? Of course you can get back to full MP after casting 3, it's .5 seconds longer without buffs. Look at the benefits of both, 3 = 3.5 cast, 60 initial potency, same dot damage, and +3 second duration on dot. I use thundercloud procs on 3, otherwise I'm casting 2 since I regen to full MP by the time my Fire 3 goes off.

I'm confused here

How come you get full mana by the time you cast thunder 2 and i need the time for thunder 3 plus 1,5 sec to cast fire3?
There must be a difference somewhere. Any ideas about where it is? You enter umbral phase with much more mana then me?
Or you are making calculation when bard with mana regen song is near?

[kanda95]

what rotation u guys use for adds on bosses? fire 2 stacked? i mean an aoe rotation

[mpetason]

what rotation u guys use for adds on bosses? fire 2 stacked? i mean an aoe rotation

On Garuda I like to save Swiftcast + Flare. As soon as the text comes up I'll swiftcast + flare and the feathers are at half health. You could end up > (in astral 3) Swiftcast > Flare > Convert > Flare > Transpose > Fire 3 > Flare. But that would only be useful if the adds stay stacked.

[Zeckz]

On Garuda I like to save Swiftcast + Flare. As soon as the text comes up I'll swiftcast + flare and the feathers are at half health. You could end up > (in astral 3) Swiftcast > Flare > Convert > Flare > Transpose > Fire 3 > Flare. But that would only be useful if the adds stay stacked.

This works really well if there's another BLM with you who's doing Freeze/Blizz2. Locks down the adds just long enough that you're likely to hit them all with 2 flares, which wrecks them. If I'm the only BLM, then I tend to be more conservative and use Freeze/Blizz2 and hope that the other dps can AE the clump.

[mpetason]

I'm confused here

How come you get full mana by the time you cast thunder 2 and i need the time for thunder 3 plus 1,5 sec to cast fire3?
There must be a difference somewhere. Any ideas about where it is? You enter umbral phase with much more mana then me?
Or you are making calculation when bard with mana regen song is near?

How close are you to the boss? Blizzard 3 > Thunder 2 > Fire 3 > I usually see 2/3 ticks of Umbral and I'm back to full. If you are far enough away, max range, you might even get another tick before your Fire 3 hits and you get Astral 3. I'm not using cast time buffs or anything and it is usually the same regardless of bard.