Firestarter

[Kuroi_Tsuki]

Divine_Ultima, I don't use thunder I or thunder II either. Because yeah, they look weak and useless. Mind explaining why you think otherwise?

[Braxy]

At level 50, there is no benefit to using Thunder 1 or 2, except perhaps using Thunder 2 at the beginning of the rotation to save MP/Cast time, hoping for a Thundercloud proc to recast Thunder 3.

First, the DOT damage on all three spells is the same potency, but the duration increases with each rank. So, Thunder 3 is the better alternative to fit into a rotation.

Second, they changed the mechanics of Thunder from Beta. In Phase 3, you could stack Thunder 1/2/3 on the same mob and get non-stop Thundercloud procs. This is no longer the case. What's more, in Phase 3, the tooltip read something like this: "5% chance after each tick that the next Thunder 1/2/3 will be an instant cast, cost no MP, and do all of its damage immediately."

But now, that is different. Instead of "doing its full damage immediately," Thundercloud procs differently depending on which spell you use. The potency of the instant cast spell is 240, 295, and 340 for Thunder 1, 2, and 3, respectively. This effectively makes a Thunder 3 cast with Thundercloud gained from Thunder 3's DOT the strongest spell a BLM has in terms of potency.