Flare is a 
Black Mage spell from Final Fantasy XIV that deals damage area of effect (AoE) damage and grants Astral Fire.
Mechanics[]
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Use[]
Flare deals moderate damage to its target and splash damage to nearby enemies. While it suffers from a 40% potency dropoff after the first enemy hit, its naturally high potency means it is still one of the most potent AoE actions in the Black Mage's arsenal. However, Flare is held in check by the fact that it consumes all of the Black Mage's remaining MP. As such Flare is initally best used towards the end of the high-damage Astral Fire phase, casting 
Fire II until low on MP and spending the remaining MP on Flare before switching to the MP-regenerating Umbral Ice phase. Flare should generally only be used in AoE encounters; while it has the highest potency of the Black Mage's spells when learned, its long cast time gives it poor DPS in single-target encounters.
Black Mages can initially use 
Manafont to restore 30% of their max MP, allowing for an extra Flare in Astral Fire. In addition, the level 68 trait 
Enhanced Umbral Heart allows Umbral Hearts to reduce Flare's MP cost by one-third. These can allow the Black Mage a maximum of 3 Flares in a single Astral Fire phase, and with Enhanced Umbral Heart Flare is generally the only Fire-spell used in AoE situations, as even just 2 Flares will outperform any contribution Fire II could make.
While Flare grants Astral Fire III, its MP consumption means it initially shouldn't be used to enter the phase; 
Fire III should be used instead, despite being single-target. This changes with Enhanced Umbral Heart, though the Black mage may wish to still use Fire III in order to allow Flare itself to benefit from Astral Fire III. Either option can be viable depending on the encounter—against less targets or in longer encounters entering with Fire III can be preferable, while entering with Flare may be preferred against more enemies or in shorter encounters.
As Flare has a cast time longer than the global cooldown (GCD), it can pair well with 
Swiftcast and 
Triplecast. Swiftcasted Flare can even be viable in single-target encounters thanks to its high potency, before the stronger 
Fire IV is learned.
PvP[]
Flare no longer consumes all MP in PvP and no longer suffers from damage dropoff, though its high MP cost still generally restricts it to a maximum of 2 casts in Astral Fire. As in PvE, the Black Mage may wish to use 
Fire to enter Astral Fire so that Flare itself can benefit from it. If the Black Mage is using 
Manaward, its MP restoration can potentially allow a third Flare if Fire isn't used, though this is unreliable.
Patch history[]
| Version | Changes |
|---|---|
| A Realm Reborn | Added with no potency dropoff and a minimum 10% base MP cost. Granted the  Astral Fire III status for 10 seconds, and removed the  Umbral Ice status.
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| Heavensward | Potency reduced by 10% for second enemy hit, 20% for third, 30% for fourth, 40% for fifth, and 50% for all remaining enemies. |
| Patch 3.2 | Astral Fire III duration increased to 12 seconds. |
| Stormblood | Potency dropoff changed to 15% for second enemy hit, 30% for third, 45% for fourth, 60% for fifth, and 75% for all remaining enemies. Umbral Ice and Astral Fire are now part of the Elemental Gauge and are no longer represented by status effects. Astral Fire duration increased to 13 seconds. No longer available in PvP. New PvP-exclusive version added. See below for its patch history. |
| Shadowbringers | Minimum MP cost set at 800 with MP system overhaul. Potency dropoff changed to 40% for all enemies past the first. Astral Fire duration increased to 15 seconds. |
| Version | Changes |
|---|---|
| Stormblood | Added with 3000 potency, 2.8 second cast time, and 2.3 second recast. Potency reduced by 25% for second enemy hit, 50% for third, and 75% for all remaining enemies. Inflicted  Heavy for 2 seconds, reducing movement speed by 50%.Astral Fire increased fire damage dealt by 10%. Could only be used under the effect of Astral Fire and Polyglot, replacing  Foul. Polyglot ended upon use.
|
| Patch 4.05 | Heavy duration increased to 3 seconds. |
| Patch 4.3 | Base potency reduced to 2500. |
| Shadowbringers | Potency reduced to 2400. Potency dropoff removed. Cast time reduced to 2 seconds. Recast time increased to 30 seconds. No longer requires Polyglot. Shared a recast timer with  Freeze.
|
| Patch 5.1 | Potency reduced to 1600. Recast time lowered to 2.4 seconds. Now cost 5000 MP. No longer inflicts Heavy. No longer requires Astral Fire. No longer tied to Foul. No longer shares a recast timer with Freeze. |
| Patch 5.2 | Potency increased to 1800. |
| Patch 5.3 | MP cost reduced to 4000. Astral Fire damage boost increased to 20%. |
Behind the scenes[]
Final Fantasy XIV (version 1.0)[]
Flare appeared as an ability in the original version and it dealt massive fire-elemental damage to the target and nearby enemies. At the initial release, Flare was a Conjurer spell available for use at Rank 44 and it cost 4 action points to set. After the release of patch 1.20, Flare became a high level fire-elemental spell for Black Mages, learned by completing the International Relations quest.
Gallery[]
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