Pictomancer DPS Rotation, Openers, and Abilities — Dawntrail 7.0

When Dawntrail's early access begins on June 28th, 2024, players will be able to unlock and play as Pictomancer, a new magical ranged DPS class. While the information available for this class is limited until the Media Tour embargo is up, we've seen enough from gameplay in the Letter from the Producer Live to piece together some idea of how individual parts of the class work. This article will be split into sections, explaining how each part of the rotation works. This article will evolve as more information about the class is revealed, particularly once Media Tour tooltips are made available. Information is subject to change up to launch, as values and tooltips may change until launch.

There are two variations of the opener that we made decide to use, depending on if the first ends up being executable at Dawntrail's launch. As such, as with the rest of the content on this page, it should be considered heavily subject to change until we see the final potencies and tooltips from the launch version of Dawntrail. In the interest of completeness, both are provided here.

The opener, as presented, allows us to get three different Living Muse spells under buffs, as well as a useage of Mog of Ages. The timing of being able to fit these in buffs will be somewhat tight, but the opening 20-30 seconds of fights generally aren't overly busy. For fights where extremely early mechanics may interrupt the ability to meet this opener, another might need to be considered.

This opener, though less potent than the first, should also be considered a possible option at launch as well if the first is unable to be used.

Pictomancer also has many different possible setups for raid buff windows, due to a few different aspects of how the class is designed. For example, the normal "combo" sequence of the job is performed via a buff that doesn't have a time limit, called Aetherhues. This means that performing whatever sequence of spells in between one "step" of the combo will not cause the window to use the second "step" of the combo to time out as it would on some other jobs. You can also use Subtractive Palette at any point during the combo and pick back up from the same spot in the Subtractive combo. For example, if you execute the second step of the base combo, then hit Subtractive Palette, you can immediately use the third step of the Subtractive combo.

Once the final tooltips for the launch version of Dawntrail are confirmed, the guides here will delve into further intricacies, but for now, we'll quickly go over a few theoretical setups that Pictomancer may use for their burst windows once the expansion launches.

The first, most potent setup for a burst window we have will include a single muse and nine spells. This setup requires a fairly strict execution, as the timing to fit these all inside of the burst window is very tight compared to the other options we have, as well as causing the potential for our raid buff to drift if this isn't mitigated elsewhere. That said, it only requires a single Living Muse charge to execute.

The second setup we can use only includes eight spells (as opposed to nine) while still requiring only a single use of a Living Muse to execute. This has far lower potency than the first, but also has much looser timing requirements to execute.

The last setup we'll cover here also includes only eight spells, but crams three Muses into one window. This has a higher total potency than the 8-spell single muse setup and has less restrictive timing requirements than the 9-Spell Single Muse burst, but it's still a lower overall potency than the first example, and still has a relatively tight requirement to execute properly.

Aetherhue is the "filler" of the Pictomancer job, as well as its most basic concept. This combo consists of three parts and appears to generate a set amount of gauge, as well as either a white or black pip on another portion of the job gauge, though what determines this is currently difficult to ascertain due to discrepancies between the PLL gameplay and the job actions trailer, which could be caused either by differences in the builds being used or due a reason explained in a tooltip. The first bit of the Aetherhue combo appears to be a fire-flavored spell, followed by a wind-flavored spell, finished off with a water spell. This 1-2-3 combo appears (at the time of writing) to generate 25 gauge, as well as a white pip, which allows the Pictomancer to execute an instant-cast spell Holy in White.

At 50 gauge, the Pictomancer can execute an ability to invert the 1-2-3 combo, which features different spells that lead to a different-colored pip at the end of the combo. Use of this ability also appears to change one of the already-earned white pips to a black-colored pip. The inverted combo begins with an ice spell, followed by an earth spell, then ending with a lighting-aspected spell. These spells appear to cost 100 more MP to cast than the light combo, and seemed to do more damage during the gameplay shown off in the PLL. It's worth noting that this combo also seems to generate a light pip on the gauge, not a dark pip, so it remains to be seen if there's a way to generate dark pips without consuming 50 gauge to invert your combo. The dark pip can be used to cast Meteor in Black, in place of Holy in White from the light pip.

Pips can also be generated by a spell with a long cast time (unless you're in your Landscape, which we'll touch on below). This spell will immediately generate a white pip for your gauge, and will also be able to be executed instantly after casting five spells in your Landscape motif. Read on for more details about how these motifs work!

Pictomancer's resource gauge is comprised of a second half, called Motifs; three (initially) empty canvases that hold Motifs that the Pictomancer can prepare both before battle and during battle. Each of the canvases holds one specific type of Motif: the Creature Motif, the Weapon Motif and the Landscape Motif. While out of combat, these appear to be instant to prepare; during combat, however, these have varying cast times. Worth noting is that Swiftcast is able to be used to prepare these Motifs, and the cooldown for Swiftcast was announced to be getting reduced to 40 seconds during the PLL's caster changes section.

Beginning our deep dive at the Creature motif, this part of the Motif System allows you to prepare a portion of the creature, then execute it to perform an attack tied to the Creature Motif that you painted. You begin by preparing and executing a Motif and spell related to that of a Moogle pom, then render and execute a Motif and spell related to pair of wings. Once these two actions have been executed, the Pictomancer gains access to a Moogle beam spell. You keep these creature parts and execute and render two more Motifs (and their matching actions) (a claw and a set of fangs) and gain access to one more creature. The Madeen executes a hard-hitting spell that looks as though it may potentially be a line AoE, without any cast time. Executing this spell resets the player to the beginning of the Creature Motif combo, starting with the pom render again. The skill used to execute the creature motif holds up to three charges, with a 40 second cooldown on each. The skill to execute the Moogle beam attack, as well as the Madeen attack both appear to be skills off of the global cooldown (GCD) and have a 30 second cooldown on each use.

The second type of motif that the Pictomancer has access to is the Weapon Motif. This prepares a three-part Hammer combo. This combo appears to be guaranteed to crit and direct hit for each step of the combo, resulting in a nice bit of burst damage when executed. In addition, each step of the combo appears to be an instant cast, making the combo a strong option for movement without having to sacrifice potency while doing so. All three steps of the combo appear to be ranged, in spite of the weapon, giving players even more flexibilty. The skill used to execute the hammer motif appears to hold up to two charges, with a 60 second cooldown on each.

Finally, the third and final motif that the Pictomancer can make use of is the Landscape Motif. The Landscape Motif appears to be Pictomancer's raid buff, which allows the Pictomancer to place a ground AoE on the field, granting a wide array of buffs. At the time of writing, the effect of these buffs isn't yet confirmed outside of the aforementioned instant cast of an ability that normally has a long cast time and generates a white pip. It can be reasonably assumed that one of the effections will increase damage for the Pictomancer and their party, and another appears to reduce cast times for the duration of the buff. Once the Landscape is executed, the Pictomancer also gains access to another spell, which looks to be a finisher of sorts that allows the Pictomancer to deal even more damage in addition to the aforementioned benefits.

Pictomancer also has access to other spells that increase its utility in a group setting. Tempera Coat is a personal shield that grants a shield to the user for 20% of their max HP. This shield has a cooldown of 120 seconds, but if the shield is consumed in its entirety by damage, this is reduced to 60 seconds. You can also use Tempera Grassa when under the effect of Tempera Coat to spread this shield to your nearby party members, creating a shield for 10% of their max HP for each player affected by it. This comes with an identical cooldown to Tempera Coat, but is reduced by 30 seconds if the shield is consumed.

Lastly, Pictomancer also has access to Smudge -- a strong movement skill that allows the user to dash 15 yalms forward. This only has a cooldown of 20 seconds, so it's available to use relatively frequently. Stronger still is the effect it grants to the user: a movement speed increase that lasts for five seconds, which is invaluable in content that requires the caster to move often instead of remaining stationary.

Pictomancer's AoE rotation is relatively straightforward, though there are plenty of options. Amongst the strongest available is Star Prism, which is the job's level 100 capstone spell. This spell deals 1,300 damage to the first enemy hit, with a 50% fall-off after that. It also heals all part members with an AoE heal of 400 potency, bringing a good amount of utility as well, though this shouldn't be saved for the heal. This, however, can only be executed when you have the Starstruck buff from our 2-minute buff, so usage of this will be more restricted.

The next-best option Pictomancer has is the Hammer combo -- each step of which hits in an AoE and is guaranteed to direct hit and critical hit each enemy. These also have a fall-off of 50% after the first enemy hit, but with potencies of 520, 580 and 640 with each step, these are still a massive amount of damage that also allows for the Pictomancer to move freely due to their instant cast.

Pictomancer's living muses and portrait skills are the next strongest ability in its toolkit when it comes to AoE damage. Given that painting motifs is instant out of combat, the PCT should take care to make sure to prep another use of each they're able to in between pulls. While the cast after the first is a three-second cast while in combat, it's generally still ideal to use the muse you painted between pulls, then hardcast a second use to make the portrait -- be it Mog of the Ages or Retribution of the Madeen -- available to use before enemies start to die, as the value on these skills fall as enemies do.

Comet in Black hits for 780 potency, with a 50% fall-off, and similarly to the Hammer combo, is an instant cast. Due to this, it's still a strong option for AoE, though due to how Black Paint is gained, it's unlikely to be available as often as you'd otherwise like during dungeons. Holy in White is the next-best option to it when Comet in Black isn't able to be used, being 480 potency (also with the 50% fall-off), which is still a very strong option for AoE situations.

One of the odder options available after these is Rainbow Drip, which has a higher potency than the options following it. Rainbow Drip is 900 potency, with a 50% fall-off and hits in a line AoE in front of the caster. While this is a large amount of potency (even if it has a long cast), it's important to note that this spell doesn't generate any Palette Gauge for the PCT to access Subtractive Palette or Comet in Black, so using the next options instead of Rainbow Drip to be able to use Comet in Black on the next pull is a consideration to keep in mind.

Lastly, we have the two AoE combos that Pictomancer has. The better of the two is, of course, the stronger Subtractive AoE combo, which consists of Blizzard II in Cyan, Stone II in Cyan and Thunder II in Magenta. These spells have a longer cast time than the normal AoE combo, but have beefier potencies to make up for it, offering 160, 180, and 200 potency respectively. This combo also will convert White Paint to Black Paint when using Subtractive Palette to access this, which as mentioned above, is a strong AoE skill for large pulls, as well as giving you another White Paint (or Black Paint, if no Paint is currently held by the caster). The normal AoE combo of Fire II in Red, Aero II in Green and Water II in Blue close out the AoE options. Given their relatively low potencies (which may be fixed before final release of Dawntrail) at 80, 100 and 120 respectively, these should only be used when there are no other options and you need to build White Paint for Holy in White.

As previously mentioned, this article was written by referencing the Job Actions Trailer from Square Enix, as well as referencing the gameplay showcased by Yoshida during the PLL. Information contained herein should be considered to be tentative until we have confirmation on the translations and values in the Media Tour build and even then, potencies and other bits and pieces of job kits frequently change before final launch. Below are the videos this information has been pulled from, should you wish to watch it yourself! Names for the Holy in White and Meteor in Black spells were pulled from the PLL Digest released by Square Enix.

Pictomancer Job Actions Trailer Segment

Pictomancer PLL Gameplay Segment