What is my rotation?

Do your opener, then repeat that in each 2 minute window. Between them, Pictomancer is extremely freeform. You use your 1-2-3 combo and palette swap as necessary. Don’t let your hammer charges or monster motifs overcap, and enter each 2 minute burst with Hammer, landscape, and a monster. You want to have either fang ready, which gives you Madeen, or have Madeen ready with a Pom banked. You should be able to Madeen in almost every 2 minute window.

Is Holy a DPS loss?

Yes, but a very small one. A theoretical rotation using every possible Holy is a .6% dps loss over one that did absolutely 0. To get max damage, you will want to mostly turret to maximize palette swaps between bursts. Reality rarely works out that well though, so use them if you need to move. You have an extra Hammer between 2 minute bursts, which has priority for movement over Holy due to higher potency per second. One hammer will virtually always go into raid buffs.

How about in AoE?

Holy is a DPS gain on two or more targets – use it as you’d like!

Do combos break?

No, you can execute other actions between hits of your standard Red -> Green -> Blue combo, as well as during your three-hit hammer combo. You can also use Subtractive Palette during your standard combo. If you use subtractive after casting Fire In Red, you can then cast Stone in Yellow -> Thunder in Magenta -> Blizzard in Cyan. The potency is the same as doing 1-2-3, just in a different order.

How does Comet in Black work?

When you activate Subtractive Palette, you gain a buff with an infinite duration that allows you to execute ONE Comet. Comet and Holy are mutually exclusive, so after Subtractive Palette, you have to execute Comet before you are allowed to use Holy. This may change in live, but that seems unlikely. If you have no comet when you use subtractive, it will let you cast comet as soon as you finish Thunder in Magenta, which gives a white paint. The buff doesn’t actually “flip” anything, it just lets you cast Comet in exchange for a white.

What would a good leveling set from level 80-85 look like?

Please see the Best in Slot Page for examples of good leveling sets.