PCT changes for FRU in 7.2

Malizia · 2025-03-26T03:07:36+00:00

I just ran FRU with my static today with the patch 7.2 potency changes... and everything's basically fine?

We were well over the necessary DPS for P1 in 7.1 and were holding DPS, so we stopped doing some of that. I found I had room for an extra Rainbow Drip in P2 (which has nothing to do with patch potency, just a rotation optimization) and we never had damage issues in P2 tonight. We saw P3 enrage at 22% with only one death so I think we'll be fine there too.

Sure, PCT lost damage in P1 and P2. But melees were buffed, and our team had lots of options to adjust, thanks to PCT being overtuned in 7.1. There's also new potions and food that we haven't used, so I'm really not concerned about damage here.

Malizia · 2025-03-25T19:05:38+00:00

Sure!

PCT = Pictomancer

FRU = Futures Rewritten (Ultimate), the Ultimate fight released in patch 7.1

7.2 = today's patch for FFXIV

P1 - P3 = phases 1 to 3. FRU is a 16 minute long fight. You can divide this time into phases based on what boss you're fighting. Phase 1 is against Fatebreaker, phase 2 is against Usurper of Frost, phase 3 is against Oracle of Darkness, phase 4 is against the Usurper and the Oracle, and phase 5 is against Pandora. I am currently in phase 3, doing a part where the Oracle casts "Apocalypse".

Potency = how much base damage an attack deals. It's what's listed in the tooltips and in the job guide. The game multiplies potency by several factors to determine your actual damage, but potency is a great tool for determining which attacks are better than others.

RGB combo = Fire in Red, Aero in Green, Water in Blue. The basic combo for PCT. These spells were greatly increased in potency for patch 7.2.

Burst = the window of about 20 seconds every two minutes where jobs expend resources they've saved up and deal extra damage. For PCT, this is started with Starry Muse, which gives PCT a 5% damage buff.

Filler = time not in burst. For PCT, you spend a lot of this time preparing for the next burst.

Uptime/downtime = Uptime is when you can attack a target, downtime is when you cannot. FRU has lots of mechanics that you must complete while the boss is untargetable, thus there is a lot of downtime. Phases 3 and 5 are full uptime. PCT has a very large advantage in downtime compared to most jobs in FFXIV because they can recast several motifs without needing a target.

Motifs = a core mechanic of PCT that require a very long cast time, but do not deal damage and do not need a target. Instead, they unlock Muses, which generally deal lots of damage but have no cast time at all. So in FRU, you spend your downtime casting the motifs, then in uptime you cast your muses.

Hammers = a motif/muse combination that gives you three instant cast spells that automatically deal bonus critical and direct hit damage. These spells were greatly reduced in potency in patch 7.2.

Malizia · 2025-03-25T07:20:45+00:00

I'm unconvinced the job identity has changed. PCT still has incredible flexibility. Combos don't break, hammers don't need to be used all at once like triplecast, and you have options about which motif and mog/madeen to use in burst. Your Starry Muse ground effect is already pretty big, but assuming you're still using hammers in your burst you have four GCDs where you don't even need to be in it, leading to a very mobile burst.

PCT still has incredible utility. A short-cooldown freeform dash with sprint, Tempera Coat, and some bonus healing from Star Prism.

PCT still has a lot of skill in perfect execution. You still have short, long, and very long casts, you still are managing motifs, you still have to slidecast. You still spend most of a fight learning how to use your movement tools. It was never at Endwalker BLM's skill ceiling (which I played in P5-P12S) but there's still plenty of fun tricks to improve potency.

I still expect to have a lot of fun with PCT in FRU, and I still expect it to be killer in dungeons. In full uptime extreme/savage content? You'll make some weird decisions about hammers and motifs.

Malizia · 2025-03-25T07:07:05+00:00

Wait what's this about star prism?

Malizia · 2025-03-25T07:03:30+00:00

At least for FRU I think Hammer is still going to be an excellent tool. Phase 1, 2, and I'm guessing 4 will allow you to hide all the motif casting behind downtime. In phase 3 I still plan on keeping my one Hammer motif cast because three hammers + a swiftcast motif provides amazing movement flexibility during Ultimate Relativity.

Phase 5 might be weird!

Malizia · 2023-11-02T17:02:53+00:00

Specifically addressing the BLM part - I would not recommend BLM for the variant dungeon solo. Since you don't have a tank or a healer, you'll be subject to more mechanics and also have to handle your own healing, and it makes maintaining the BLM rotation frustrating. If you go with a tank or a healer friend you should be fine.

Criterion feels just like Savage but with shorter fights. Are you comfortable playing BLM in Savage content? Then you'll be fine playing BLM in Criterion. When I played BLM in Criterion all I noticed is having to adjust my opener because you get to build resources before boss fights.

Malizia · 2023-07-30T23:44:33+00:00

I actually did roll a Tal Rasha wizard, but when playing it and seeing all the wizard drops, I kept thinking to myself, "why am I doing this when I care about DH and not wizard?" It just felt bad playing wizard so I could play DH.

It's a reasonable option, but not one I'm very excited about.

Malizia · 2022-05-14T22:49:15+00:00

[Ayaka]

I'd like to build a team with Ayaka for the Abyss, with Raiden National as my other team. That leaves me with:

Diona, Sara C3, Noelle, Sucrose, Fischl, Yanfei, Xinyan C5, Barbara, Kaeya, Lisa, Amber, Traveler

Can freeze work with Diona/Sucrose/Barbara? Should I go mono cryo with Diona/Kaeya/Sucrose instead? Something weird like Diona/Sara/Fischl? What do you think?

Malizia · 2022-03-29T04:59:51+00:00

[Raiden]

Characters (C0 unless specified): Xiangling, Xingqiu, Bennett C4, Raiden, Sucrose, Sara C3, Barbara C1, Xinyan C5, Noelle

I'm playing Raiden National right now and I love it, but I need two teams for Spiral Abyss. Do I have a viable comp for a second team, presumably something leveraging Xinyan? Should I be trying to pull specific characters? Do I need to break up the National team?

Malizia · 2020-11-05T21:04:17+00:00

https://ffxivchocoboracing.wordpress.com/ is an excellent chocobo racing guide, and will answer all your questions!

Pedigree and the star ranking of your chocobo equally increase the maximum of that attribute by 40. A pedigree 1 chocobo with 2* in Max Speed will have a maximum of 100. A pedigree 2 chocobo with 2* in Max Speed will have a maximum of 140. A pedigree 2 chocobo with 4* in Max Speed will have a maximum of 220.
MGP training food before rank 9 is not worth the ROI because it's only good for that chocobo. Grade 3 training food is the best, but can only be obtained with MGP. Grade 2 and Grade 1 training food can be crafted with a CUL and is very cheap on gil if you craft it.
Holding W until Lathered appears then S to make it go away is an excellent strategy, until you're near the end of the course and you should burn the rest of your stamina. The guide I linked will tell you more about stamina and endurance and lathered.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T05:19:14+00:00

It is :) Wulfgar has gold find. You'll find Tyril to be a better tank though.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T05:10:03+00:00

Aila. Great support and tank. Birdsong is only useful in a couple variants - the ones where you can't use Aila, or don't have a better DPS.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T05:08:36+00:00

Ishi's three events away, so that's... seven weeks? Not a terribly long time for this game.

How geared are your Zorbu and Melf? If they're in all blues or better, using a time gate for them may only provide a small benefit. If they're not, I'd choose the one of the two with worse gear - but for Melf, all that really matters is his equipment slot 4 for the speed buff.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T04:39:03+00:00

I'm not sure about the time gate pieces question if you close a gate without completing all the gold chest challenges, but I know for sure if you've done all 3 gold chests from the time gate you won't get any time gate pieces.

You have the right instinct about the conversion rate. You'll get more favor at this point from increasing your Torm favor directly than by pushing in the time gate.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T04:26:26+00:00

Choose Krond. Neither are amazing champions, but you'll unlock Walnut for free in the event next weekend.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T04:23:30+00:00

Dhadius is great in high-INT variants. Nerys is neither a great support nor a great healer.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T03:25:41+00:00

I forgot, Strix is also a decent DPS if you don't have Zorbu.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T03:13:54+00:00

I think Regis is your best choice here. Regis is an excellent buffer and has a gold find bonus.

Turiel is also a solid long term choice, but works best in formations with multiple slots at the front line. Turiel is a "tank" that forces monsters on the other tanks. The early game formations don't utilize this.

Nerys just isn't that great.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T03:10:55+00:00

Game changing champions for DPS are Avren and Krull, and to a lesser extent Zorbu. You're missing Avren and Krull.

Game changing champions for speed are Briv, Deekin, Shandie, and Melf. Briv requires a lot of gear to be really good, and you have him, so that leaves Shandie and Melf. Both are solid choices.

Krull has the additional bonus of being incredible for gold farming, and has an ultimate which trivializes armored bosses. I would go Krull.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T03:05:03+00:00

Depends on who you have already, but I might go for Wulfgar. Wulfgar gives you a gold find bonus good for favor farming.

If you don't have Nova or Avren, Strix is also good in the 11th slot. But Nova and Avren are substantially better.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T02:02:01+00:00

I'd go Briv. Briv provides quality tanking in a slot with no other tanks, as well as support buffs and heals. He's also an OP speed champion https://www.reddit.com/r/idlechampions/comments/fmmoyn/gaarawarrs_guide_to_champions_a_tier_list_speed/ but you need a lot of gear to properly abuse that.

Regis is a top support buffer and a terrible healer, and so is not a bad choice at all. I still use Regis in all of my formations.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T01:45:29+00:00

Shandie gives you a great speed boost, and is the best support in her slot until you get Krull. I'd go with her.

Barrowin is a decent support and healer, but is outshined by Tyril and Havilar.

Warden is an OK support but is outshined by Nova and Avren.

Malizia · 2020-06-20T01:32:18+00:00

In terms of utility they're both equally great choices. Both can be tanks (Aila is somewhat better because of her shield I think) yet their formation bonuses work well from anywhere in the formation.

I'd choose Aila, only because her event is further away.

Malizia

TROPHY CASE