Basic Concepts
Starting with extreme basics of lvl 90 BLM, the building blocks of the job are important to have a firm understanding of what abilities do before we can jump into rotations. A lot of information isn't provided in tooltips, but has a major impact on high-level play. The following information is for single target.
Traits
Umbral Ice
Umbral Ice allows us to gain mp. Each stack of Umbral Ice has different properties. While there are obvious bonuses of gaining mana, there are hidden negatives to having Umbral Ice stacks. Each stack of Umbral Ice will provide the designated mana as seen below when the Mana Tick goes off. Other bonuses are that ice spells decrease in mana cost (Blizzard 3 and Blizzard 4) and fire spells will have a short cast time with the only acceptable fire cast being Fire 3.
Note
Fire spells have decreased damage per stack of Umbral Ice. This opens up the world of high level BLM gameplay to avoid these losses.
| Umbral Ice Stacks | MP Regen | Fire Spells | Ice Spells | Unlocked by | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP cost | Damage | Cast time | MP cost | |||
| 1 | 3200/stack | 0x | 0.9x | 1x | 0.75x |  Lv. 1 (Aspect Mastery) |
| 2 | 4700/stack | 0x | 0.8x | 1x | 0.5x |  Lv. 20 (Aspect Mastery II) |
| 3 | 6200/stack | 0x | 0.7x | 0.5x | 0x |  Lv. 35 (Aspect Mastery III) |
Astral Fire
Astral Fire gives additional potency to fire spells for increased mana cost. Multipliers are applied at each stack of Astral Fire. At 3 stacks of Astral Fire, ice spells have a short cast time with the only acceptable ice cast being Blizzard 3. An important note is that Paradox is not affected by Astral Fire bonuses.
Tip
Astral Fire has a negative effect that ice spells do reduced damage. Ice spells have decreased damage per tick of Astral fire. This opens up the world of high level blm gameplay to avoid these losses.
| Astral Fire Stacks | Fire Spells | Ice Spells | Unlocked by | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP cost | Damage | MP cost | Damage | Cast time | ||
| 1 | 2x | 1.4x | 0x | 0.9x | 1x | Lv. 1 (Aspect Mastery) |
| 2 | 2x | 1.6x | 0x | 0.8x | 1x | Lv. 20 (Aspect Mastery II) |
| 3 | 2x | 1.8x | 0x | 0.7x | 0.5x | Lv. 35 (Aspect Mastery III) |
Basic GCD
Fire 3
Introductory uses of Fire 3 will be to transition from Umbral Ice to Astral Fire or begin the fight. Note that Astral Fire’s timer starts at the END of the Fire 3 cast. There’s a 40% chance you will be given a Fire Proc when using Paradox in Standard Rotation. In early learning of BLM, you can ignore this and Insta Cast Fire 3 when entering Astral Fire, although it’s very important to realize this starts your Astral Fire at the BEGINNING of the cast.
The easiest dps gain in the job is to Transpose and cast the Fire Proc after Umbral Ice. This takes an Insta Cast which in this case Paradox is always available in Umbral Ice. The gain is from ignoring the Umbral Ice 0.70x effect and utilizing Astral Fire 1’s 1.4x buff. This results in Transposing the Fire Proc being a 182 potency gain overall. If you really want to avoid this and play with a longer timer, you can use a macro for /statusoff Firestarter which will take off the Fire Proc buff.
Fire 4
Fire 4 is the most used spell in BLM and provides the biggest source of DPS. There are restrictions to be able to do this. While Fire 4 can be cast at any stage of Astral Fire, it loses the majority of its multiplier if not used exclusively in Astral Fire 3. Even though the tooltip shows a potency of 310 it’s important to know that with the Astral Fire 3 multiplier the true potency is 558. While Fire 3, Fire 1, Despair, and Paradox refresh the Astral Fire timer, Fire 4 does not. It’s important to know that since Fire 4 has a longer recast timer than your GCD it will always be a dps gain if Triplecast or Swift Cast are used to Insta Cast Fire 4.
Despair
Despair is always to be used at the end of a Fire Line in almost every case. Despair will use all of your remaining mp, but only requires a minimum of 800 mp. Despair refreshes the Astral Fire timer to be able to guarantee you can enter Umbral Ice when using Blizzard 3. It’s important to know that since Despair has a longer recast timer than your GCD it will always be a dps gain if Triplecast or Swift Cast are used to Insta Cast Despair.
Fire 1
When casting Standard, Fire 1 will always be considered as a mistake if used.
Blizzard 3
Introductory uses of Blizzard 3 will be to transition from Astral Fire to Umbral Ice. Note that Umbral ice’s timer starts at the END of the Blizzard 3 cast. This is important as if you’re panicking and you’re running out of Astral Fire’s timer. You could cast Blizzard 3 to enter Umbral Ice, but the cast has to finish in Astral Fire or you will drop Enochian prior to finishing the cast. Whenever Enochian is dropped, use Blizzard 3 > Lightning > Blizzard 4 > Fire 3 to Re-enter Enochian.
Blizzard 4
Blizzard 4 can only be used in Umbral Ice. It provides 3 Umbral Hearts. Blizzard 4 will have a mana cost unless you have Umbral Ice 3.
Blizzard 1
When casting Standard, Blizzard 1 will always be considered as a mistake if used.
Paradox
Paradox is the most versatile ability in BLM. In Umbral Ice it will be an Insta Cast and in Astral Fire it will be acting as a way to refresh the timer in Standard. Paradox gives a stack of the respective Enochian stage it is in. The most interesting fact about Paradox is that it is Unaspected Damage. This means it will not be affected by the damage multipliers in Umbral Ice and Astral Fire. It is always 500 potency.
Xenoglossy
Xenoglossy is going to be the core of Insta Casts. In basic levels of play it is going to be important not to forget and overwrite your procs you receive every 30 seconds and from Amplifier. The fundamental idea surrounding Xenoglossy is that it will allow for Movement and Weaving which are both very structured in BLM. It’s important to notice when and how many slots are available when casting a Fire Line. In Standard there are normally going to be 2 unless more are created using Triplecast.
It’s important to notice when and how many slots are available when casting a Fire Line. In Standard there are normally going to be 2 unless more are created using Triplecast.
Thunder 3
Thunder 3 should always be used with Sharpcast. “Hard casting” Thunder 3 without the Thunder 3 Proc is one of the biggest dps losses in the job. In basic Standard play, reapply Thunder 3 every time you are in Umbral Ice or in one of the slots before Paradox during Standard. It’s okay to clip or drop the dot to do so since blm has different restrictions of dot uptime. It should be avoided to use Thunder 3 after the Paradox in the standard line. Paradox uses Sharpcast which would make Sharpcasting the Thunder 3 properly after difficult. Wherever you cast Thunder 3 when you spam Standard lines, it will not move from there since a Standard line is roughly 30 seconds.
Umbral Soul
Scathe
Unbind. If you find yourself in a pinch follow a general rule of thumb for emergency movement. Xenoglossy > Thunder 3 (if around 12 sec are left of dot) > clip weave Triplecast or Swift Cast > clip weave Transpose and then Paradox > Thunder 3 (at any dot timer). Using scathe is reeeeeally bad. It is more dps in a lot of cases to just not cast at all and run rather than Scathe.
Basic OGCD
Ley Lines
The constraints in leylines are obvious. There’re a lot of fight/strat constraints that may prevent you from using leylines since it locks you down in a spot for 30 seconds. It’s important to know when you have the availability in a fight to use leylines as well as having the ability to weave it. When in basic Standard lines, you don’t have to worry about when leylines is used in the rotation. Keep in mind that when leylines is used it has an effect on all leylines windows after. This leads to prepulling leylines being worth it to keep it as early as possible. Or in the opposite scenario where P12S Phase 2 is an ideal case. Opener and 2 minute windows are comfy but pangenesis is impossible to leylines during the 4 minute window with pf strats. This results in not only a delay in the 4 minute leylines but now it forces you to leylines out of the traditional buff window at 7 minutes. Every fight has to have an understanding on how each leylines window will impact a future one.
There are no rotational benefits of leylines in Standard other than having additional slots during the fire line. Leylines should also be weaved in the 2nd half of an oGCD weave window. Your sps is snapshotted at the beginning of your cast (which can be rolled back depending on your ping). The idea in casting it in the later half of the oGCD window is to cope and hopefully get that extra GCD in leylines at the end of the buff.
Amplifier
Buffs like Amplifier and Manafont are unique to blm in the case that drift does not necessarily result in a loss of dps. It’s kill time dependent. As long as the total drift of amplifier throughout the fight does not cause a loss of a use, there is no dps loss. Amplifier is comfy and brings us more Movement in our 2 minute window.
Manafont
Buffs like Amplifier and Manafont are unique to BLM in the case that drift does not necessarily result in a loss of dps. It’s kill time dependent. As long as the total drift of Manafont throughout the fight does not cause a loss of a use, there is no dps loss. Manafont will naturally drift spamming fire and ice (a.k.a. Standard). It should feel natural to Triplecast Despair > Fire 4 > Despair using Manafont for the mp to create the Fire 4 and Despair as long as the fight allows you to.
Triplecast
Triplecast will be your main answer for solving mechanics in Standard. Know that Swift Cast and Triplecast can be used at the same time, but Swift Cast will be used first if both buffs are applied. It’s important to know that Blizzard 3, Fire 3, Fire 4, and Despair will have their normal recast shortened to your GCD. Which highlights an important concept of why lower sps is a better solution for more experienced blm. More Movement is available the longer your GCD is when using Insta Cast where it is mainly prevalent using Triplecast.
It’s very important to plan when you can Triplecast in a fight. In basic play Triplecast will be a great way to Weave in your 2 minute window as well as solve mechanics and be a primary source of Movement for mechanics. This takes planning to know if extra Triplecast can be used for additional dps or if you feel that you need it for a mechanic in the future.
Swiftcast
Triplecast will be your main answer for solving mechanics in Standard. Know that Swift Cast and Triplecast can be used at the same time, but Swift Cast will be used first if both buffs are applied. It’s important to know that Blizzard 3, Fire 3, Fire 4, and Despair will have their normal recast shortened to your GCD. Which highlights an important concept of why lower sps is a better solution for more experienced blm. More Movement is available the longer your GCD is when using Insta Cast where it is mainly prevalent using Triplecast.
It’s very important to plan when you can Triplecast in a fight. In basic play Triplecast will be a great way to Weave in your 2 minute window as well as solve mechanics and be a primary source of Movement for mechanics. This takes planning to know if extra Triplecast can be used for additional dps or if you feel that you need it for a mechanic in the future.
Sharpcast
Triplecast will be your main answer for solving mechanics in Standard. Know that Swift Cast and Triplecast can be used at the same time, but Swift Cast will be used first if both buffs are applied. It’s important to know that Blizzard 3, Fire 3, Fire 4, and Despair will have their normal recast shortened to your GCD. Which highlights an important concept of why lower sps is a better solution for more experienced blm. More Movement is available the longer your GCD is when using Insta Cast where it is mainly prevalent using Triplecast.
It’s very important to plan when you can Triplecast in a fight. In basic play Triplecast will be a great way to Weave in your 2 minute window as well as solve mechanics and be a primary source of Movement for mechanics. This takes planning to know if extra Triplecast can be used for additional dps or if you feel that you need it for a mechanic in the future.
Transpose
Triplecast will be your main answer for solving mechanics in Standard. Know that Swift Cast and Triplecast can be used at the same time, but Swift Cast will be used first if both buffs are applied. It’s important to know that Blizzard 3, Fire 3, Fire 4, and Despair will have their normal recast shortened to your GCD. Which highlights an important concept of why lower sps is a better solution for more experienced blm. More Movement is available the longer your GCD is when using Insta Cast where it is mainly prevalent using Triplecast.
It’s very important to plan when you can Triplecast in a fight. In basic play Triplecast will be a great way to Weave in your 2 minute window as well as solve mechanics and be a primary source of Movement for mechanics. This takes planning to know if extra Triplecast can be used for additional dps or if you feel that you need it for a mechanic in the future.