Hiya!
In the interest of promoting useful black magery, I'd like to go point by point here and then wrap it up with some things I do to keep the DPS going as best I can.
Firestarter- I never have an issue with it's pop up. Usually I can get a barrage of fire spells going that has two (sometimes three) freebie firestarter fireballs in the mix. If it gets a buff to its RNG pop, that'd be kinda sweet but I don't see a need to alter it.
There duration is perfectly fine too, but sure it would be better if it was longer. I've been able to combo up a few things before letting loose the firestarter fireball at 1 second.
Thundercloud really depends on your use of the thunder spells, so if you're not using them then it's not going to pop up much. Sometimes, unlike Firestarter, it will pop over and over again which can really skyrocket your burst DPS.
Scathe isn't so bad, it can mete out sustainable DPS well every once in a while when you need it or save some MP by finishing off an add. Is it really special? Nah, but it does the trick for an instant bit of damage.
Apocastasis - if you use it, it's helpful. I never use it so I wouldn't mind something else entirely.
Aetherial Manipulation - Hehehehehe, I call it "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS!" cause that's what it looks like. Use? None. Like evasive jump for Dragoon, I've only made it successfully function once or twice if I'm lucky.
Manaward and Manawall - If you stagger them properly, their cooldowns aren't too bad. Manawall is more of an "oh s--t" button than part of a chain for me. When used in conjunction with Physick (available for BLMs from ACN) it gives you some quick safe healing to keep in the fight. Manaward has a shorter cooldown and shortening the cooldown on it seems like an exercise in god-modding. No offense.
Now then, here's what I've found for boss fights. Someone may have a much better rotation, but I like it and it seems to get the job done just fine.
Battle Start - Repeated Fires for Astral Fire build up. Fire 3 off the bat is just a waste of time and mp unless it's a firestarter freebie. Tax down your MP to near 100 and if you've got a firestarter popped at the end, save it. Ice 3 with that 100 MP and then after the first MP rejuvenation, launch Thunder 3. It'll finish off at the end of your full MP rejuv at which point transpose and either release the firestarter freebie for auto-astral fire 3 or restart the fire spell cycle. Repeat. With decent spell speed, it doesn't really affect your dps to stick and move some and if you have to cancel a spell by moving, swiftcast it or manawall and cast it anyways. It's a simple and dirty rotation and with the way I've geared Galen, his crits are pretty constant and impressively powerful. Also, ARC's raging strikes is a great quick-tap when you've got a firestarter freebie lined up at the end of your rejuvenation from ice 3's umbral ice 3. Pop raging strike, unleash fire 3 and go to town with fire 1 spells. I've zenithed the stardust rod and I'm sitting at i87 right now, but like I said. This works for me.Â
For mobs, three fire 2s and a flare, transpose, freeze spell drop, wait 2 seconds for full rejuv and repeat.Â
Cheers!
-Black Hat
In the interest of promoting useful black magery, I'd like to go point by point here and then wrap it up with some things I do to keep the DPS going as best I can.
Firestarter- I never have an issue with it's pop up. Usually I can get a barrage of fire spells going that has two (sometimes three) freebie firestarter fireballs in the mix. If it gets a buff to its RNG pop, that'd be kinda sweet but I don't see a need to alter it.
There duration is perfectly fine too, but sure it would be better if it was longer. I've been able to combo up a few things before letting loose the firestarter fireball at 1 second.
Thundercloud really depends on your use of the thunder spells, so if you're not using them then it's not going to pop up much. Sometimes, unlike Firestarter, it will pop over and over again which can really skyrocket your burst DPS.
Scathe isn't so bad, it can mete out sustainable DPS well every once in a while when you need it or save some MP by finishing off an add. Is it really special? Nah, but it does the trick for an instant bit of damage.
Apocastasis - if you use it, it's helpful. I never use it so I wouldn't mind something else entirely.
Aetherial Manipulation - Hehehehehe, I call it "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS!" cause that's what it looks like. Use? None. Like evasive jump for Dragoon, I've only made it successfully function once or twice if I'm lucky.
Manaward and Manawall - If you stagger them properly, their cooldowns aren't too bad. Manawall is more of an "oh s--t" button than part of a chain for me. When used in conjunction with Physick (available for BLMs from ACN) it gives you some quick safe healing to keep in the fight. Manaward has a shorter cooldown and shortening the cooldown on it seems like an exercise in god-modding. No offense.
Now then, here's what I've found for boss fights. Someone may have a much better rotation, but I like it and it seems to get the job done just fine.
Battle Start - Repeated Fires for Astral Fire build up. Fire 3 off the bat is just a waste of time and mp unless it's a firestarter freebie. Tax down your MP to near 100 and if you've got a firestarter popped at the end, save it. Ice 3 with that 100 MP and then after the first MP rejuvenation, launch Thunder 3. It'll finish off at the end of your full MP rejuv at which point transpose and either release the firestarter freebie for auto-astral fire 3 or restart the fire spell cycle. Repeat. With decent spell speed, it doesn't really affect your dps to stick and move some and if you have to cancel a spell by moving, swiftcast it or manawall and cast it anyways. It's a simple and dirty rotation and with the way I've geared Galen, his crits are pretty constant and impressively powerful. Also, ARC's raging strikes is a great quick-tap when you've got a firestarter freebie lined up at the end of your rejuvenation from ice 3's umbral ice 3. Pop raging strike, unleash fire 3 and go to town with fire 1 spells. I've zenithed the stardust rod and I'm sitting at i87 right now, but like I said. This works for me.Â
For mobs, three fire 2s and a flare, transpose, freeze spell drop, wait 2 seconds for full rejuv and repeat.Â
Cheers!
-Black Hat
What a colossal waste of time and energy.
