Skills, Abilities, and Your Gauge
- Blizzard
- Fire
- Enochian
- Fire IV
- Blizzard IV
- Thunder/Thunder III
- Convert
- Swiftcast
- Aetherial Manipulation
- Nightwing
- Cometeor
- Freeze
- Flare
- Foul
Controller Specific Tips and Tricks and Other Useful Tools
Your Role in Feast
Pointy hats, glowing wands, long robes and a menacing aura, boiled in a cauldron to create a mean nuking machine.. In OTHER words, I GUESS.. Your role, as a BLM in the Feast arena is one of a ranged, caster DPS. Elicit pressure, create sparks and explosions on pinpoint accuracy and control the flow of the game with your surgically timed CC repertoire.
Your primary purpose is one of a DPS, to shine on the battlefield offensively, however, that’s not to say that the defensive support you can provide is to be scoffed at.
+ Extremely powerful offensive pressure, a turret like no other
+ Three forms of potent CC, when applied correctly can alter the flow of the game
+ Opportunistically mobile and elusive
– Susceptible to line of sight dissecting burst attempts and interrupting damage output
– Generally weak to continuous pressure, requires strategic positioning to offset low defenses
– Married to cast times outside of specific circumstances
Skills, Abilities, and Your Gauge
- Enochian/Polyglot gauge is your bread and butter, your peanut butter and jam, your bacon and avocado to maneuvering the explosive power at your disposal as it controls your damage and opens Fire IV & Blizzard IV, portion of your CC – Flare & Freeze and, gates your ultimate offensive spell.. Ha ha ha…. Black Materia. Ha ha ha…. Call Meteor.. Or I guess you could just call it Foul. Party pooper.
- Blizzard
- 1.8s cast/2.3s recast, +1000MP/750 potency, 25 yalm range
- Deals ice damage with a potency of 750.
- Additional Effect: Restores 1,000 MP
- Additional Effect: Grants Umbral Ice, reducing spell cast and recast times by 10%
- Duration: 15s
- Spell has no casting time if executed while under the effect of Astral Fire.
- Fire
- 1.8s cast/2.3s recast, 1000MP/1250 potency, 25 yalm range
- Deals fire damage with a potency of 1,250.
- Additional Effect: Grants Astral Fire, increasing damage dealt by 10%
- Duration: 15s
- Spell has no casting time if executed while under the effect of Umbral Ice.
Yin and Yang. Your primary elements. Starting a fight casting either spell, opens a bonus of either sonic speed or DK ground pounds. Your choice.
The spells are interchangeable. Meaning you can cast Blizzard > Fire, or Fire > Blizzard without any cast time or MP concern. As Ron Popeil would say: Set it and forget it. This is perfect for refreshing your Enochian gauge, rapid fire closing damage, movement and positioning alterations… but ultimately not advisable for burst or pressure purposes as your potency is quite weak when compared to the other big guns in your arsenal.
- Enochian
- Allows the casting of Fire IV and Blizzard IV.
- Instant, OGCD ability with a 15s recast.
- Additional Effect: Grants Polyglot if Enochian is maintained for 30s
- Can only be executed while under the effect of Astral Fire or Umbral Ice. Effect is canceled if Astral Fire or Umbral Ice end.
- ※Action changes to Fire IV while under the effect of Astral Fire and Enochian.
- ※Action changes to Blizzard IV while under the effect of Umbral Ice and Enochian.
The bread to…uh…Nevermind.
Enochian is your, at times, set it and forget it skill. Cast an elemental spell – Fire or Blizzard, pop this bad boy, et voila, you now have access to some real guns. To elaborate, once you pop Enochian, after casting either Fire or Blizzard, you have 15 seconds to cast tier IV spells of that particular element.
Your goal is to keep your Enochian timer refreshed and rolling, by either; swapping into the adjacent element (Fire > Blizzard/Blizzard > Fire),or, simply cast the same tier 1 element of the element that you are currently in (Fire > Fire/Blizzard > Blizzard). Successful execution of either will refresh your times back to 15 seconds and take you one step closer to Narnia… more on that later.
Ideally, you’ll want to always stay in Enochian; juggling and refreshing the elemental stance with a respective element. You will, however, drop Enochian when you are converting into Foul, but the road to Narnia will come in due time!
- Fire IV
- 1.8s cast/2.3s recast, 2000MP/2500 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals fire damage with a potency of 2,500.
- Can only be cast while under the effect of Astral Fire and Enochian.
- ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Alright, here we go. Put your damn toaster away, it’s time.
Fire IV.. yes, you read that right. Fire. Freaking. 4. Screw you roman numerals, you don’t control me.
It’s important to note the potency and cast time on this spell, it’s your second most damaging and not to be used frugally. The opportunity cost of this spell is set to bagel, and, offensively, it will make any seasoned veteran run for cover, unless they missed their tanning appointment, or something.
However, with great power comes great responsibility. In this case, it’s the MP cost. At full MP, 10000MP, to be exact, you only have 5 volleys in the tank. Your secondary concern is time related. In order to keep your fire volleys satiated, you must be kind to your Enochian timer – 5 casts will take generally 12 seconds to cast, leaving you with a tight and vulnerable 3 second window to swap to ice and refresh. Imagine getting CC’d in this 3 second window and losing your Enochian? Careful planning is crucial to success. Before you cast your next Fire IV consider your MP and time remaining on Enochian. More MP begets more power and pumping the brakes to refresh your Enochian is an investment in future power and CC. Move over Warren Buffet.
Always be mindful of the field while casting Fire IV. You are vulnerable while casting and will need to have eyes everywhere. Consider your positioning and the opposition’s response to your glowing balls of fire status.
Use Fire IV when you want to pressure the enemy with pure damage, a synced burst, baiting cooldowns and resources and in general to just make someone step off, man.
Do NOT use Fire IV when you’re required to cast Flare/Freeze, or, when you’re under a lot of pressure and need to reposition and… UH RUN WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS.
- Blizzard IV
- 1.8s cast/2.3s recast, +2000MP/1500 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals ice damage with a potency of 1,500.
- Additional Effect: Restores 2,000 MP
- Can only be cast while under the effect of Umbral Ice and Enochian.
- ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Crack open a cold one with the boys. Blizzard IV is your functional spell. Low on MP? Blizzard IV your way to the top! Be wary, though. You will totally hit like a wet noodle while you claw your way back to having MP. The opposing team will take notice that you’re in Ice phase, and you need to be prepared for them to burst while you restore your MP. Objectively, you are at your weakest during this phase, though, keep in mind that you can still proc Thunder III (Roman numerals, PLS) while you’re in Umbral Ice, making you a teensy weensy bit stronger had you just channeled your inner ice mage (it’s totally cool, I mean, we all HAVE one).
- Thunder/Thunder III
Thunder
- 1.8s cast/2.3s recast, 1500MP/500 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals lightning damage with a potency of 500.
- Additional Effect: Lightning damage over time
- Potency: 300
- Duration: 15s
- Additional Effect: Grants Thunder III Ready if target is dealt over 5,000 points of damage while under the effect of Thunder
- Duration: 10s
- Thunder effect is removed from target upon receiving Thunder III Ready status.
- ※Action changes to Thunder III while under the effect of Thunder III Ready.
Thunder III
- Instant cast/2.3s recast, 0MP/2000 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals lightning damage with a potency of 2,000.
- Additional Effect: Lightning damage over time
- Potency: 300
- Duration: 15s
- Additional Effect: Grants Thunder III Ready if target is dealt over 5,000 points of damage while under the effect of Thunder
- Duration: 10s
- Can only be cast while under the effect of Thunder III Ready.
- Thunder effect is removed from target upon receiving Thunder III Ready status.
- ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Alright so, if you’re like me, the wording of this tooltip was a little confusing. Namely, I’m almost certain you thought Thunder operates the same way as it does in PvE. No RNG here, however.
Instead, you can think of the PvP version of Thunder via this age old adage: When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
To elaborate: any time you cast Thunder on a target (target meet nail, nail meet target), you have 15 seconds to pound 5000 damage (hello hammer!) into that proverbial nail. If you need a refresher on what your hammer is uh… just look above. Or below. 🙂
One point to note is that the DoT damage is accounted for in your grand quest to reach the 5000 damage threshold, a helping hammer, if you will. If a server tick occurs approximately every 3 seconds, for a total of 15 seconds, we can therefore assume the total damage over time inflicted by Thunder is 1500.
However, for the sake of consistency and in order to eliminate server tick shenanigans, we are going to count on 1200 DoT damage. 4 ticks, to be precise, as the wittle hammer. This leaves us with the big hammer having to make up for 3800 damage on that same target, that same nail. Once you’ve hammered that damage home, your Thunder button will now turn into Thunder III, a 2000 potency, GCD tied, zero MP tool to smite the unruly. Today I fight not for Olympus, but for myself!
When unleashed, Thunder III will begin the same process anew when reapplied on a target and allow you, to once again ask the question.. Are you ready, for 1.21 gigawatts?!
If you’re willing to take it one step further, you can attempt an advanced method of looping your Thunder III indefinitely. In order to do so, you need to have precise management and awareness of how much damage you ARE doing, how much damage you WILL do and, how much damage HAS been done, already. In a perfect scenario, the technique is simple enough, however, when dynamic outliers are introduced, the difficulty spikes. Be wary.
Here is a visual example of some Thunder III looping:
Click here for the Twitch clip of this GIF
As with Fire IV, Thunder is an offensive spell, and should not be used in situations where a more preferential cast, such as Flare/Freeze is required of you, or, if you’re under tremendous pressure from the enemy team. Do no stand and eat damage while casting your Thunder.
The triforce. Sandy, Cindy and Mindy.
- Convert
- Instant cast ability – 60s recast.
- Restores 25% of maximum HP and MP.
- Additional Effect: Resets Swiftcast and Aetherial Manipulation recast timers
- Can only be executed while under the effect of Astral Fire or Umbral Ice. Removes Astral Fire or Umbral Ice upon execution.
- Swiftcast
- Instant cast ability – 30s recast/10s duration.
- Next spell is cast immediately.
- Aetherial Manipulation
- Instant cast ability – 30s recast, 25 yalm range.
- Rushes to a party member’s side. Unable to cast if bound.
These three abilities work in tangent to augment your BLM kit in defense, mobility and instacasts… and of course, Convert can force Delta Attack, or Foul, whatever!
Convert runs the luxury of being a defensive cooldown, in that it restores 25% of your HP, a resource cooldown; in that it restores 25% of your MP and restores your Aetherial Manipulation/Swiftcast timers, and, finally, an offensive cooldown, in that when used with a polyglot active can force you to throw your elemental properties out the window, into an eagerly awaiting Foul.
It is a tactical ability that has many uses, as mentioned above. An ability that can be used reactively and proactively, a rare luxury.
Aetherial Manipulation is your answer to the long cast times. With a 25 yalm range, you can zip around the battlefield quickly and in style. Traditionally a defensive cooldown to get yourself out of a less desirable position FAST, and, in some cases, an offensive cooldown, to get closer to the action and unleash hell.
Generally, you’ll want to position yourself in a triangle with your teammates. Melee and tank upfront, healer in the back, yourself on the side, making for an easy escape – to the back, or front. Do NOT stand near your healer – you don’t want to endanger your healer by making them an easy swap target, and furthermore, creating distance allows you to Aetherial Manipulation into their loving arms, and out of danger.
Swiftcast allows you to bypass cast times, making for some improvisatory damage output, otherwise impossible without. Instant – cast spells improve your mobility, something to consider when you really need to get that damage out, but can’t afford to sit idly by the stove.
Imagine: Fire IV > Aetherial Manipulation to wherever on the battlefield to get a better vantage point, or secure nuking ground, into, Swiftcast Fire IV, Convert, Swiftcast Foul and then move, once again, wherever you want to on the field based on your team’s positioning with Aetherial Manipulation. Good times.
- Nightwing
- Instant cast ability – 60s recast, 25 yalm range/5 yalm radius
- Puts target and all enemies nearby it to sleep. Duration: 3s
Alright, mi gente. This ability, right here, is your ticket to stardom. Whether you use it to incapacitate the enemy healer for 3s, stop that damn PLD from covering for 3s, dissect burst or stop the melee LB… OR, get this, SLEEP EVERYONE… you can do some cool things. So get creative and flex.
If you use this ability on as close to off cooldown as possible, you will get, at most 5 uses out of it. Unless, of course, sudden death intervenes.
Good practice is to keep a keen eye on your Nightwing cooldown and plan how you’re going to use that ability around it. Some of the above are just examples, however, please consider.. A healer without purify being incapacitated for 3s is almost surely a kill – but on the other hand, Nightwing is also an excellent peel. The skill is truly personal, and no one BLM will agree entirely on how to use it, keep your style, do you. However you use it please just realize the incredible power that this ability holds.
- Cometeor
- 2s cast, 4000 potency, 25 yalm range/8 yalm radius.
- Deals magic damage to enemies near point of impact with a potency of 4,000 for the first enemy, 25% less for the second, 50% less for the third, and 75% less for all remaining enemies.
- Additional Effect: Increases target’s damage taken by 25%
- Duration: 15s
- Damage dealt is not affected by increased damage or vulnerability effects applied by other players.
- Can only be executed while the Adrenaline Gauge is full.
Opportunity cost is high with this ability as it’s based off your Adrenaline gauge. To clarify, a full gauge without any outside help takes 3 minutes to charge, the length of a feast match is 6 minutes, outside sudden death extension time. Adrenaline boxes, give 25% Adrenaline charge, each. 4 boxes pop per match. 4:30 and 1:30 game time, respectively. Proactively use this ability as a means of planning a forced vulnerability buff, or a combination of burst. Reactively use this ability to force zone the enemy team, a means of deterring and securing the travel path. The vulnerability debuff, a beefed up trick attack with a 25% damage boost to your entire team is absolutely colossal in securing immense pressure and a clear indicator of who to burst back, typically. Do not forsake this. Cometeor is a wonderful ability, combining utility and damage. The drawback comes in the form of the animation lock following the cast, which incapacitates you for 3-5 seconds; leaving you a viable target.
Click here for the Twitch clip of this GIF
- Freeze
- 2.8s cast/2.3s recast, 1500 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals ice damage to a target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 1,500 for the first enemy, 25% less for the second, 50% less for the third, and 75% less for all remaining enemies.
- Additional Effect: Bind
- Duration: 2s
- Additional Effect: Grants Umbral Ice, reducing spell cast and recast time by 10%
- Duration: 15s
- Can only be cast while under the effect of Umbral Ice and Polyglot. Polyglot effect ends upon use.
- ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
FREEZE, UTILITY, FREEZE, UTILITY?
Dear reader, please do not use this spell for it’s bombing 1500 potency, instead… *epic drum roll* use it for it’s utility! As one of the three CC properties in your repertoire, an AoE bind, given the circumstance can be an incredible deterrent. FREEZE! As it is a spell that eats up one of your polyglot charges, you will want to be mindful of how you use the limited resource to your team’s advantage. Generally, it’s a spell best used on enemy opponents that are most affected by bind – think melee, not ranged DPS.
Reactively, as an example, you can use Freeze in a bind (GET IT??) to peel the enemy in dire situations; think, your healer just died and you’re retreating… pop that Freeze on the enemy melee to root, and I can almost guarantee that you’re going to bind the tank who was mid bro-hug with the melee as well.
Proactively, as an example, using Freeze to set up a Cometeor cast on a group of enemies can be super powerful and highly rewarding.
As mentioned, be mindful of how you use Freeze as it does tap your precious Polyglot resource – it is, once again a highly personal spell, so do with it as you please.
- Flare
- 2.8s cast/2.3s recast, 2500 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals fire damage to a target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 2,500 for the first enemy, 25% less for the second, 50% less for the third, and 75% less for all remaining enemies.
- Additional Effect: Heavy +50%
- Duration: 3s
- Additional Effect: Grants Astral Fire, increasing damage dealt by 10%
- Duration: 15s
- Can only be cast while under the effect of Astral Fire and Polyglot. Polyglot effect ends upon use.
- ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Alright, so if you ever played Overcooked(2) you can basically skip over this entire debrief, what it do, dawg.
I guess you haven’t played that gem of a game(s)? I got you, dawg.
Flare is your final iteration of available CC – bringing on the awesome power of slow, or heavy, whatever your flavour. However, Flare is no slouch in the potency, as opposed to it’s icy counterpart – Flare, similarly as Fire IV, comes in hot with 2500 potency along with AoE drop off damage; doubling up as a great pressure spell, it’s only downfall being Polyglot sap and the 2.8s cast time.
Reactively, as an example, Flare can come in handy if you absolutely need to slow the enemy team while simultaneously providing excellent single target damage and AoE pressure; think – the enemy team is grouped up in phalanx formation, pushed up in their base, slam them with a Flare, revel in the AoE pressure and watch them run… or crawl.
Proactively, as an example, you can use Flare to refresh your Astral Fire in order to keep the sauce flowing with a healthy serving of Fire IV. Charred. Not grilled.
Situationally, the spell is once again highly personal – season as you deem fit.
- Foul
- 2.8s cast/2.3s recast, +2000MP/1500 potency, 25 yalm range.
- Deals unaspected damage to a target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 4,000 for the first enemy, 25% less for the second, 50% less for the third, and 75% less for all remaining enemies.
- Can only be cast while under the effect of Polyglot. Cannot be cast while under the effect of either Astral Fire or Umbral Ice. Polyglot effect ends upon use.
- ※Action changes to Flare while under the effect of Astral Fire and Polyglot.
- ※Action changes to Freeze while under the effect of Umbral Ice and Polyglot.
Boasting the highest damage out of any spell/ability outside of limit break cheese, Foul is an absolute monster! When in doubt, damage, lots of it, is usually the correct answer.
Foul is strictly gated behind your Polyglot resource and the lack thereof; it’s unique in that regard. To elaborate, Foul is available upon reaching Polyglot and allowing Enochian to run out; as Foul is an unaspected element, you must drop Astral Fire or Umbral Ice while in the possession of a Polyglot charge; i.e allowing Enochian to lapse or using Convert to force the change.
In order to keep Foul ready and charged, you will need to figuratively jump through hoops, at times. Patience and forethought will be important.
As a Black Mage, your primary purpose will almost consistently be to always be casting(ABC), BUT… do not be scared to idle opportunistically and position yourself wisely while you wait for your Enochian to fall in order to access Foul; we recommend not waiting more than 5 seconds in battle, as that is a lot of time to not be putting out pressure.
Nonetheless, keep Foul in your thoughts as the closer to any full burst. If synced correctly, it is guaranteed to create unhealable damage. Furthermore, as a more advanced tip; you can almost outright delete any Paladin, pending circumstance if they cover(covering aoe damage will transfer all the damage intended to the PLD twice fold) at the same time your Foul hits. Enjoy this GIF of a PLD being deleted:
Additional PvP Actions
If you’re a beginner, or a veteran, the safest pick will always be Safeguard + Recuperate. It is typically hard to go wrong with this tried and true combination. For more advanced combinations, feel free to tap into your creativity and experiment.
- Safeguard is the safest pick among the DPS spectrum, tanks included. For you, the squishy glass cannon, this ability will be instrumental in ensuring survival. While you’re still learning, always use this ability as one of your default picks. Use it proactively and reactively, offensively and defensively. Use your awareness to sense when you’re being targeted for a burst, or focused by pressure. Expand it’s usage by giving yourself a cushion to turret out of position.
- Recuperate is another safe pick for a newer BLM player. Coupled with Safeguard, you’re sure to make your healers life easier. If you do find yourself using Recuperate and Safeguard, be sure to prioritize Recuperate first, in sequence. Due to its lower recast and respectable heal potency, Recuperate should be enough to thwart most burst attempts. It’s hard to go wrong with this ability, as it does compliment your Convert heal, in dire situations as well to give you a nice healing boost.
- Purify is commonly picked by healers in order to break out of crowd control (CC) effects and continue healing themselves and their teammates. You generally want to use Purify to break out of a stun or sleep, as these are two of the more deadly CC effects. Universally, Purify is an advanced skill and should be considered after due experience. Latency and reaction time need to be, at times, superb to make the most out of this additional.
- Concentrate benefits from proactive thinking. You’re vulnerable to quite a few CC abilities and having Concentrate up prior to your burst or pressure phase, or even in a situation where you can’t afford to get CC’d will prove to be invaluable. Solid pick to consider if you’re facing a more CC heavy composition or if you’re not confident enough to track your own diminishing returns (DR – windows in which you are on CC resist).
- Muse can be extremely useful. Recovering 2500 MP every 60 seconds may be key to pumping out extra pressure or contributing to a burst if you’re just shy of needed MP. Be weary, as using this additional ability is strictly offensive, foregoing a direct defensive boost for additional MP recovery.
- Bolt is generally not as useful as the other options. Due to your cast times, you’re forced to move incrementally – coupled with the size of the current Crystal Tower map; Bolt will not have as meaningful of an impact as the other options.
PvP Traits
Black Mage trait choices are very, very personal. All the Black Mages involved in making this guide have a set that they swear by. Be it an all out offense build: MP+, DMG+, Speed+. Turtle build: HP+, DEF+ DR+ or just a general mix and match, you have a lot of viable choices. Easy choices to rule out would be DR trait, if vs a Warrior. The rest will depend on you, your choice of additionals outline above and how you handle yourself on the battlefield.
- Increased MP regeneration is an offensive choice, ala muse. It offers an additional +50 MP per tick, to augment the natural 200MP/tick.
- Increased Damage Dealt is a foolproof trait. Maximizing your damage output as a Black Mage is a fundamental aspect of your role. Sloting this trait will assist in pushing out just that much more pressure, and, perhaps prevent near failed bursts; 1% PTSD.
- Increased HP is a very comfy choice. The trait will bump your super scary 12, 000HP to a slightly more bearable 12, 500HP – in return buffing your Recuperate and Convert potency up by +125, each; from a flat 3000 to 3125.
- Decreased Damage Taken will assist in neutralizing potential incoming damage by 3%, however, math dictates that 500HP is a better net gain in the long run if we’re accounting for burst phases and not just training the BLM through pressure damage.
- Increased Action Speed can be very helpful to combat high latency situations, and unlike physical DPS, the trait can augment your cast speed and the recast thereof. Picking this trait will take an adjustment period in regards to slide casting and knowing at what time your spells will finish casting, per meter.
- Increased Resistance Duration extremely useful if you’re being harassed by a tank, spamming CC on you, on cooldown. There is not much worse than being spammed with a stun, silence, every 10 seconds. Rendering you practice useless. Net gain if you feel you’re up against such a tank and you know your positioning will be unable to circumvent.
“Rotation”
This is PvP and therefore, ability usage is situational. Dynamic and functional damage output will be the key to success. The same flow and combination of damage may not always yield the same results. Adapt and react according to situations as they present themselves.
Sequential rotation is as follows:
- Spell combinations for Fire IV, categorized into Soft burst(love tap, baby) and Burst(shoot to kill):
Soft Burst
- Fire IV + Blizzard / 3250 potency – 1GCD
- Fire IV + Thunder III / 4500 potency – 1GCD
Burst(+ swiftcast)
- Fire IV + Fire IV /5000 potency – 1GCD
- Fire IV + Flare / 5000 potency – 1GCD(+AoE drop off and heavy)
- Fire IV + Foul / 6500 potency – 1GCD(+AoE drop off)
2GCD + Burst
- Fire IV + Thunder III + Thunder III / 6500 potency – 2GCD
- Fire IV + Thunder III + (SW)FIre IV / 7000 potency – 2GCD
- Fire IV + Thunder III + (SW)Flare / 7000 potency(+AoE drop off and heavy) – 2GCD
- Fire IV + Thunder III + (SW)Foul / 8500 potency(+AoE drop off) – 2GCD
Thunder loop example:
- Match starts, Tank and Melee are charging towards your team, meeting in the middle.
- You open the fight by casting either Fire, let’s say, in order to get your Enochian rolling.
- Immediately afterwards, you would cast Thunder on the Tank, let’s say.
- Then, you’d cook the tank with a Fire IV. (approx. 2500 damage)
- Followed by casting Thunder on the Melee.
- We’d cook the tank again with a Fire IV, and, if the tank did not use a defensive skill like safeguard(we’re assuming they have tank stance on at this point like a good tank) we should have our Thunder III proc from the two Fire IV’s we used on them, and a little bit of Thunder DoT damage contributing to our 5000 damage total.
- We have a Thunder III ready and enough MP for a Fire IV. We’ll Cast Fire IV on the melee, immediately followed by our Thunder III
- Guess what, we have a fresh Thunder III ready again! If the target somehow survived your barrage, you can just repeat the process again… this time, however, you will be out of mp, so the destructive force of Fire IV may not be at your disposal.
As outlined in the steps above, looping your Thunder into a Thunder III is extremely efficient and oppressive, the downfall comes in it’s difficulty of use and the times it takes to master.
Click here for the twitch clip of this GIF
Positioning
Positioning as a BLM is arguably one of the concepts that needs to be at the forefront of your mind. You are a glass cannon at its finest. With such power comes great responsibility. Sitting in one place for too long can make you a target. Sitting too close (also known as “melee range”) to the enemy team makes you a prime target for a burst. To the right is a very “heart”breaking example of positioning gone wrong.
Although there were many other factors that contributed to our friend’s death, let’s do a brief reflection on the BLM’s contribution to their own demise:
- Although Safeguard was popped preemptively, it was clear that the BLM was still taking excessive damage and had Aetherial Manipulation as well as Nightwing for additional defensive tools
- Nightwing was used too late (let us shed a single tear)
- Aetherial Manipulation to the healer (the friend with the circle marker on their head) may have saved the BLM, but it could have also caused a swap to our healer friend
- Press F for our poor BLM friend
So, that’s all fine and dandy, but, LIKE, HELLO??? Where do you want to be as a BLM?
Generally speaking, as was mentioned before, you’ll want to position yourself in a triangle with your teammates. Melee and tank upfront, healer in the back, yourself on the side, making for an easy escape – to the back, or front. Do NOT stand near your healer – you don’t want to endanger your healer by making them an easy swap target. This can be hard to get used to, and if you are having difficulty, just focus on staying as far away from your team as possible while still being able to hit the enemy team. The nuances regarding positioning will come to you with practice and time.
Helpful Tips and Macros
Customize your playstyle as you wish, but do keep important basic factors in mind.
Cementing the basics will allow you to expand, improvise and adapt your personal design on the field.
- Always be casting
- Always be moving
- Position carefully
- Be proactive and reactive
- Use all of your tools
- Choose the right additionals and traits per situation
- CC wisely
Targeting Macros
Every role benefits from being able to switch targets on a dime. This becomes increasingly important for DPS as swapping targets quickly enables what is referred to as “hard swaps”, and hard swaps ENSURE kills.
Hard swaps happen when a burst (or soft burst) may have started on a particular target or been faked on a target, but then the actual burst/damage happens on a different target. They typically happen extremely fast and require precise targeting. In order to swap targets quickly and accurately, you may want to utilize targeting macros.
Below, the default targeting system is used. Please keep in mind that the targeting selection can be adjusted. The examples provided will be system defaults for enemy selection. You can adjust these as necessary. Example: <e2> is equal to the 2nd enemy in the enemy party list.
Healer:
Melee DPS: Ranged DPS: Tank:
/target <e2> /target <e3> /target <e4> /target <e1>
Nightwing Macros
Nightwing macros can help us to quickly CC a target while bursting immediately after on another without the potential headache of misclicking.
Healer: Melee DPS:
/pvpaction “Night Wing” <e2> /pvpaction “Night Wing” <e3>
Ranged DPS: Tank:
/pvpaction “Night Wing” <e4> /pvpaction “Night Wing” <e1>
Aetherial Manipulation Macros
Use these to zip zip real fast and effortlessly! Friendly reminder, the numbers within the macro coincide with your party list. We’re using default positions within the macros provided within this guide. It probably goes without saying, but you cannot Aetherial Manipulate to yourself.
Healer:
/pvpaction “Aetherial Manipulation” <3>
Melee:
/pvpaction “Aetherial Manipulation” <4>
Tank:
/pvpaction “Aetherial Manipulation” <2>
You may, on occasion, see macros built with the action repeated. This is because macro’d actions/abilities do not “queue”, and by repeating the action line over and over, you ensure that your ability will be recognized and executed by the system.
Controller Specific Tips and Tricks and Other Useful Tools
To preface: Some tips given in this section apply to both keyboard+mouse and controller users. Ideas given here are up to user preference. We are simply presenting ideas that you can add to your toolbelt and decide what works for you and what doesn’t. Just because someone has a different HUD layout or keybind setup than you does not mean that their setup is better or worse than yours. Do what works for you.
Disclaimer: The visual aids provided in this section are of Migi Moo’s settings. Yours may vary. And it’s most certain that her settings vary compared to other controller players.
Enabling Expanded Controls
Instead of tabbing through multiple hotbars (which is totally fine if it works for you), you can simplify the amount of buttons you press and help reduce fumbling/potential misclicks, therefore shortening your reaction time to execute your burst, CC, or targeting ability by adjusting your hotbar settings.
- How do you do this on PS4/controller you ask?
Access the following menus in this order:
- Character Configuration—->Hotbar Settings—->Custom—->You can then choose either: Enable expanded controls with L2->R2 OR Enable WXHB with simultaneous L2 and R2 double tap.
- For now, enable each one separately, adjust your hotbars to your preference, and see which option works best for you and your playstyle. Muscle memory is going to play a huge role in PVP. See which option flows the best for you and adjust your hotbars as needed.
Adjusting Camera Speed
You may decide you want to whip your camera around faster than the default settings. Why? Because in PvP, seconds matter, and if you can cut down the amount of time it takes you to see where the enemy is positioned, you may just save your own skin.
- Go to Character Configuration—>Control Settings—>General
- Scroll down until you see Camera Speed. There are two options available–Analog Stick and Keyboard. For controller players, go ahead and play with the Analog Stick setting
- Again, see what works for you. This includes Legacy versus Standard movement settings
Click here for the Twitch clip of this GIF
Sound Settings
I (Migi) personally find the background music in Feast to be distracting. I disable it entirely as well as adjust some other sound settings. It’s a little “weird”, but it works for me.
HUD Layout
Although I could devote a whole other guide to explaining how to adjust your HUD to best suit your playstyle, I won’t. Instead, I will encourage you to change your HUD as you see fit. To access your HUD settings from the Main Menu, go to
- System–>HUD Layout
- Fun fact: If you’re at the Wolves’ Den Pier in game, you can adjust the Duty HUD (the one that has Feast specific party lists and layout)
- You can also “clean up” your HUD by disabling “Hot Bar Help”
Click here for the Twitch clip of accessing HUD
