BLM Guide
My IGN is Laqi Thish and I’ve mained BLM for the majority of the game and have had reasonable raid success with it. This is my guide for playing Black Mage in high level content.
General Info
Abilities
If you’re in game, look at your Actions & Traits page. Read your tooltips. Read your traits, they alter tooltips sometimes. If you’re not in game, look at SE’s Job Guide page.
Abbreviations
- F1, F2, F3, F4: Fire spells
- B1, B3, B4: Blizzard spells
- F3P: Firestarter (F3 Proc)
- T3, T4: Thunder spells
- T3P, T4P, TC: T3 Proc, T4 Proc, Thundercloud
- AF3, UI3: Astral and Umbral buffs, 3 stacks
- LL: Ley Lines
- GCD, oGCD: Global Cooldown (Spells), off-Global Cooldown (Abilities)
AF and UI
Astral Fire and Umbral Ice do a lot of things. Skim over and make sure you’re not working with misconceptions, particularly about damage buff values. (Imgur Mirror)
Openers
Openers should put abilities on cooldown, fit strong spells within buff windows, and minimize clipping. All openers assume there is a pull countdown and the boss is pulled at 0. If your group pulls earlier, correct them as necessary.
Sharp Fire Opener
Precast: Diversion at 5s, B3 at 4s
Safe general opener. Naturally aligns Sharp with F1, unless it’s held or fight mechanics delay the rotation. Early TC should be used after F1, which will land under raid buffs. May not work at sub-1000 Spell Speed. See variations below, in that case.
Sharp Thunder Opener
Precast: Sharp at 10s, Diversion at 5s, B3 at 4s
Early precast Sharp will naturally align Sharp with T3, unless fight mechanics delay rotation. Can also transition freely into Sharp for F1. Has the same Spell Speed requirements as the Sharp Fire opener.
Variations
The openers above aren’t absolute. Alter them to fit fight requirements or personal preference. Add Swift after an instant-cast to cover an extra F4 or hold for fight mechanics. Using Convert later than the 3rd F4 can allow you to B4 immediately after B3, if you got a lucky MP tick.
Do not precast Swift or Triple. This puts you behind a GCD, due to waiting for the Recast before your next Spell. If there’s no pull countdown or you’re unable to precast (O6S), then precast Swift is fine.
Example
High Ping / Low Spell Speed, Sharp Fire Opener
Variation with single-weave oGCDs only. The one (very minimal) downside is that F3P must be used by the sixth F4, while using the F3P later for mobility is sometimes useful.
Rotation
Base Rotation
Base rotation before procs. This can be split into two parts: the Ice Phase and the Fire Phase.
Ice Phase
Use the Ice Phase to gain Umbral Hearts and refresh T3. Avoid ending Ice Phase with a non-proc T3, as this can lead to not enough MP for a 6 F4 rotation.
Skip T3 if the dot will still have 6s left, or if the target will die or phase before the dot gets enough use. Similarly, skip B4 if there’s not enough time for 6 F4s before the target dies or phases. If Foul’s close to overwriting, you can do two Fouls in Ice Phase, one after B3 and one before F3.
Examples
B4 First
Use if you have the MP to immediately B4 after B3.
Foul First
Use if you don’t have enough MP to immediately B4 after B3, or to fit Foul within a buff window (Infusion, Trick Attack, etc). Also use if Foul timer is close to overwriting.
T3P Last
If you have a TC that will fall off before F1, it can be worth using in ice to not jeopardize your 6 F4 rotation.
Fire Phase
The Fire Phase consists of 6 F4s. Use F1 after 3 F4 to refresh Astral Fire. If Foul will overwrite before reaching Ice Phase, use Foul here.
Try to always cast 6 F4 while also not letting any procs expire. If movement / mechanics / mistakes cause you to be at risk of dropping AF3 and Enochian, downgrade a F4 to F1 and figure out how to avoid the situation next time.
Use TC procs either when the proc is close to falling off, or when the dot is close to falling off. Overwritten TC procs are not a dps loss in single-target. Use Firestarter procs for movement or to extend AF3, or simply as the last cast before Ice Phase.
Examples
No Procs
Standard rotation if no procs.
Thunder Proc
T3P placement is not strict. Use later if the dot still has time.
Movement and Uptime
BLM has no damaging oGCDs and a very simple rotation. To maximize DPS, always be casting and minimize uptime loss due to handling movement and mechanics.
Weaving and Clipping
All oGCDs have an animation lock that prevents another action for the duration. Anim lock is ~0.7s for most oGCDs (1.2s for Potions / Infusion / Ethers). Latency and hardware can make this longer.
You negate anim lock by using an oGCD during an instant-cast Spell’s recast. This is called weaving. Using an oGCD between two non-instant Spells delays the next GCD and is called clipping.
Whenever possible, weave oGCDs rather than clipping with them. For BLM, this means using at most one oGCD after the fast-cast F3 / B3 when swapping between AF3 / UI3, and at most two oGCDs after an instant-cast Spell. For higher ping, avoid weaving two oGCDs.
Slidecasting
You can start moving when a cast is close to finishing and still have the cast go through. The timing is ~0.5s before the cast ends, but varies based on latency and hardware. Practice slidecasting on a dummy to determine your personal threshold.
Slidecast to move short distances or dodge AOEs when you don’t have a proc or instant-cast available. You still lose some time between casts, but it is better than not casting at all.
Positioning
Many mechanics can be handled by preemptively being where you need to be. If you wait until a mechanic starts before moving into position, you’ll feel rushed and end up burning a lot of movement options. Instead, slidecast or leverage instant-casts to move into position at your leisure.
In general, try to stay near your party. Being in AOE heal range helps your healers. More importantly, it keeps you in range of AOE party buffs (Battle Litany, Battle Voice, Expanded AST Cards, etc).
Triplecast
Triple has the most value paired with 3x F4. If you clip to use Triple, most of the benefit is negated. It will often naturally line up with mechanics. Use on cooldown until you identify fight-specific sections where holding Triple is better.
Swiftcast
Swift is a marginal dps gain and ends up as a dps loss if it causes clipping. It’s often better to hold for mechanics / movement / panic purposes.
Ley Lines
Ley Lines should be used on cooldown where possible. If you can’t gain full LL value, it’s still worth using if holding would cost you a LL use over the course of the fight.
You’ll often be able to handle mechanics (stack / spread markers, AOEs) while never leaving LL by taking advantage of its radius. You can also leave LL for mechanics and then Between the Lines back in, ideally during instant-casts.
Aetherial Manipulation
Aetherial Manipulation is useful for long distance movement in a short window. Slidecast or preposition instead where possible.
Mana Shift
If you have a BRD, use Mana Shift either in the opener to extend Foe Requiem, or after the opener so the next Foe Requiem comes up sooner. Talk to your party and BRD to determine best use.
Don’t use Shift as your first oGCD in Ice Phase. It will transfer almost no MP. Using Shift after your last Ice Phase spell (even a T3P) risks entering Fire Phase without enough MP for a 6 F4 rotation.
Unfortunately, this means Shift generally causes clipping. This is worth the loss when used to extend or speed up Foe Requiem, and is especially worth the loss when used on a healer that needs MP.
Example Use
Shift in Opener (clipping)
Best-case Shift use with T3P
AOE
Base Rotation (from Umbral Ice)
The AOE rotation is free-flowing and should be adapted to the encounter. The primary sources of AOE damage are T4, T4P, Flare, and Foul.
T4 placement is not strict. Unlike single-target, procs should be used freely rather than waiting out the proc / dot timer. Use Sharp on T4, or on T3 single-target in preparation for adds. If possible, hold Foul until after Transpose to keep casting while waiting for MP. Otherwise, use Foul freely.
If not used for movement, Swift and Triple should be used on Flares to shorten the recast and increase the odds of an MP tick during the recast.
In a vacuum, F2 is a dps gain at high mob counts due to downtime after Transpose. In practice, enemies have limited HP and that downtime can be mitigated with Foul, T4P, or instant-cast Flare.
Example
Quad Flare (in AF3, at least 1 Umbral Heart)
Burn Triple, Swift, Convert, and a Max-Ether to chain four Flares.
Spell Speed Thresholds
Instead of reading the job gauge mid-fight to determine what you should cast next, know in advance what you can get away with and execute those spells under the assumption they’ll work out. The following is a list of different rotation thresholds and minimum SS to execute them. Latency and hardware will affect these numbers. I tested them at 26ms. Test them on a dummy before assuming they will work in a fight.
Without Ley Lines
564+ SS: B3 Foul T3 B4 Foul F3
Fit 4 casts inside ice phase
648+ SS: F1 F4 F4 F4 T3P B3
Fit 3x F4 + T3P after F1
1004+ SS: F1 F4 F4 F4 F4 B3
Fit 4x F4 after F1
922+ SS: F3 Triple F4 Swift F4 F4 F4 F1
Fit 4x F4 before F1 using Triple and Swift
1524+ SS: F3 Triple F4 F4 F4 F4 F1
Fit 4x F4 before F1 using Triple
???? SS: F3 F4 F4 F4 F4 F1
Fit 4x F4 before F1
With Ley Lines
564+ SS: F3 F4 F4 F4 F4 F1
Fit 4x F4 before F1
1264+ SS: F1 T3P F4 F4 F4 F4 B3
Fit 4x F4 + T3P after F1 in opener
Cross-Role Things
Movement
- Swiftcast: Incredibly useful for movement. Short CD. Can be leveraged for DPS gain as well.
- Surecast: Amazing for the things it works for (Knockbacks in O9S and O12S Twins).
Threat
- Lucid Dreaming: 50% aggro dump is huge. Delay using until either very close on aggro or a mechanic is coming that you can’t be 1st/2nd aggro for.
- Diversion: Use pre-pull, or shortly before an add spawns.
Utility
- Addle: Coordinate with healers / static for best use. Generally for dangerous or frequent AOEs.
- Apocatastasis: Coordinate with tanks / healers / static for best use.
- Mana Shift: Shift your BRD or healers as needed (See Mana Shift Use). Ideally only use in Ice Phase.
- Erase: Free DoT cleanse and 200p heal on a target every 90s. Pretty mediocre.
- Break: A weak heavy if any fight ever called for it.
No
- Drain: Complete trash.
About Gear
Optimizing substats gives the least return on DPS when compared to being proficient at your job, having high uptime, handling mechanics efficiently, having a good raid comp and kill time, being efficient with AOE cleaves, and many other “skill”-related factors.
BLM has no bad substats. Infinite resources and lack of damaging oGCDs makes Spell Speed (SS) a strong stat. More SS can make the job feel smoother to play, though too much leads to Foul not being ready in your opener and second rotation, depending on procs. Aim for higher iLvl gear and get SS to personal preference and comfort level. After that, worry about your performance rather than gear.
If you need mathematical backing, this sheet lists different BiS sets and can be used to determine BiS for new gear, or what the correct upgrade path is when choosing gear purchase / upgrade priority. The biggest takeaway is that as long as your gear is max iLvl and fully melded, the difference between best and worst sets for BLM is less than 1%.
Misc
Changelog
Sept 4, 2017
- Doc is done, yo.
Sept 5, 2017
- Rejiggering, etc.
Sept 10, 2017
- Add proc highlights to opener images.
Nov 28, 2017
- Minor updates. Shill youtube / twitch.
Mar 12, 2018
- Major updates for 4.2.
Mar 14, 2018
- Minor updates per feedback(s).
Oct 14, 2018
- Patch 4.4 updates: Cross-roles, Hardcast Thunder refresh, Diversion in openers, Opener Speed requirements, removed Swift for Shift nonsense.
Oct 22, 2018
- Update link to gearset comparison sheet.
About
Laqi Thish of Sarg of Aether of Earth. Laqi#0795 on Discord. Youtube and Twitch.
Special thanks to every BLM main and most caster mains.
Very, very special thanks to Aymeric’s Waifu of Levi of Primal of Earth for coloring everything purple and adding bold text in random spots.
