New 50 BLM asking advice...best AoE ability?

[Korereactor]

So I just hit 50 on my BLM and was wondering what the best AoE ability would be to use on, oh say, the adds on the second boss in The Wanderer's Palace? (or maybe no AoE and just focus fire?) Would it be Fire III then Fire II? Blizzard II just seemed weak to me? I know there's Flare, but isn't it more a one-off due to mana drain? I realize this can be situational, just wondering what you pros recommend. Remember - newb here, so forgive my ignorance...I'm learning!

[Shisou]

Raging Strikes > Flare > Transpose > Flare > Convert > Blizz III > Thund II > Fire III > Fire Spam should do you just fine, from what I've been told.

[Astralis]

Bliz3 -> FIRE 3 -> fire 2 until you have enough mana cast flare -> convert -> swift cast -> flare

If they died during first flare just transpose to blizzard and repeat step 1.

Another rotation without convert

Bliz3 -> fire3 -> fire2 til you can cast flare -> transpose -> go near mobs blizz2 until 3stacks

[Sleigh]

For max sustained DPS, you will generally skip Flare in rotations, because Flare's downtime causes slightly lower DPS and even worse, much higher burst damage, which will screw with aggro and make AoEing harder when suddenly you're getting rushed. Anyway, here's the max DPS string:

Fire III -> Fire II until you can't do any more -> Blizzard III -> wait until a split second after the first MP regen (otherwise you will miss the second one) -> repeat entire string until you can kill with a Swift Cast Flare. If the fight will go on after the Flare, consider skipping it to eliminate down-time after the Flare. If you have buffs, throw them in after Blizzard III and Fire III, since you have a little non-GCD time. If you have Convert or an Ether type of potion, you can end one string in Flare -> Convert -> Fire II or Blizzard III, depending on how much MP you have.

Also, to help ensure everyone dies around the same time (and also making sure as many enemies are alive as possible to eat the AoE, AKA highest DPS), constantly target the highest HP mob with Blizzard III and Fire III. This also helps lessen the chance you will rip an enemy out of the group to come attack you.

[Korereactor]

Thanks for all the responses, I'll give the Fire II/Flare a try - makes sense! Good luck out there!

[Riseht]

Got a somewhat general AoE question, so I'll just post it here. I've been playing with Flare finally after ignoring it for a long time, and enjoying the room clearing aspects. However, I was checking other job's abilities last night and started thinking more. Is it better to try to let WAR get last hits for their healing ability if one is in the party, or has anyone looked into this? I know it's probably quite situational, since usually killing mobs = not taking anymore damage anyway, but I was curious if anyone else had considered that kind of thing.

[RhazeCain]

As a warrior, I can assure you that the healing ability on Mercy Stroke (requires last hit) is entirely unreliable. Difficult to time: wait too long and target dies. Or pop too early and it's not enough to kill the mob. And 20% of my HP when a mob dies (implies we're getting toward the end of fight) is just not that big of a benefit.

Mercy Stroke is fine for a warrior just in the sense of an off-weapon-cooldown damage ability. But the heal on it is rarely worth anything at all.

[Riseht]

Ah, I see. Good info to know, anyway. Much faster than rolling a warrior and playing with skills myself. I figured it didn't matter much so I'll just keep blasting everything mercilessly to death. Thank you.

[AlternativeOne]

Where does thunder spells fit in to the rotation or is it an after thought. Thunder cloud procs have been frequent for me at 35 and it does a lot of damage. I have been starting every fight with thunder 2 then burning though my mp with fire until last 430 or so mp and swift cast fire 3 then transpose blizzard blizzard repeat. Hitting thunder2 every time thunder cloud proc. Am I doing it wrong?
What use does freeze have? Just learned it, don't know what to do with it.