Spell Resists... so frustrating...

[Gman]

I was wondering if anyone has any information that would be helpful in avoiding these situations.

I was in Shakrami leveling my BLM fighting maze makers last night, and when i leveled to 13, I was happy to get fire. My first cast, I was expecting about 40-50 damage... I got 4

At least when casting Aero, it was consistent, it would either hit for full damage (28-34) or get halved. With Fire, I was getting 4, 10, 20, 22, 44, 45... I never knew if I was going to smoke the mob, or scratch him. I was depressed...

What makes this happen? Do imaginary dice rolls (ala d&d) determine whether a monster resists or not? When I'm farming and fighting EP's my spells always do awesome damage. With my RDM 24/BLM 12 I was hitting gobs in Burubimu for 55 with Aero, 78 with Fire, and 87 with Blizzard... why is it nerfed so badly aginst IT's? More importantly, why does it seem like every other BLM outdamages me? Maybe I need to work on the INT+ equips. Right now I just have Willow wand +2MND, +2INT, and the Windurst ring. I could grab a couple of Ermites rings +2 INT, and maybe a +1 weapon...

Thoughts?

PS, I'm a Taru, so I should be outdamaging any other BLM non-Taru...

[Yuanlung]

Worms are actually mage type monster, so they have relatively high magic resistance. With enemies like these, you need to aim for their weak element, in this case, wind.

If you cast a natural element, or even the opposing element, you are more likely to get resisted. Just keep using Aero. THe recast timer isn't too bad for level 1 spells anyways, and you can always stand at max distance so you can step back out of its range when you are waiting for timer.

Other then that, +INT is the best you can do at this point, since +elemental skill items won't be availible until lv 51. Cap your elemental skill, and get all the +INT you can afford after scrolls. I think your choices are Yew Wand+1, Eremite Rings, and Royal Footman's Tunic or Erudite Hairband.

Apple Pies help a lot, but they maybe a bit pricy for your level. 1.2k/stack on Ramuh.

[riceburner4540]

elemental skill is the best way to reduce resists but like yuanlung mentioned, you can't get any +elemental skill until 51 (ice staff) and higher. til then, pump up on int...it seems to help during the low levels, but it doesn't seem to help any if at all higher up.

Apple Pies help a lot, but they maybe a bit pricy for your level. 1.2k/stack on Ramuh.

1.2k for 6 hours worth of +3 int, +25 mp is well worth it. on my server, apple pies are like 2-2.5k per stack while melon pies are 3-3.5k per stack. never leave home w/o a stack of pies

[Saitei]

Alternative BLM Food

As far as food for BLMs goes—I have no doubt that cooks will hate me for bringing this up—instead of blowing cash on pies, you can instead opt for grapes. The +MP is nice and all, but given how much money you're going to be spending on other things, I don't really see it justifying the cost difference between pies and grapes. San d'Orian grapes can be bought in South San d'Oria at the grocery store. They run around 80 with next to no fame, but the price drops to 68 (memory allowing) once you max your fame out, meaning you can score 6 hours of +3 INT for just 816 gil. The grapes can also be bought from the Ronfaure regional vendors at or near the same price, but countries tend to hold onto their starter areas fairly well, so I wouldn't hold my breath in waiting for Bastok or Windurst to seize the region.

If you ever get tired of those, you can switch to Buburimu Grapes, which give +4 INT at a cost of 180ea/2160stk (this is with hero-level fame again) from the regional vendors, assuming that by some miracle your server's population of idiot newbies has temporarily abandoned its primary timesink of "Lose Kolshushu to the Beastmen" in the name of something otherwise less destructive to your purchasing capabilities.

[Gman]

Well, those answers make sense... since I'm a Taru, I can probably do without the +25 MP boost from pies, and go with the grapes. Last night I changed to a Willow Wand +1 which gave me +3 mnd, +3 int. I tried to pick up a couple of Eremite rings, but they are sold out everywhere. (figures)

Anyway, I went to Valkurm last night, and I was in a pretty newbish group... um, REALLY newbish group, but luckily they were all willing to listen and learn. Got the Warrior to make a Provoke macro, and helped the THF with his sneak attack macro. Anyway, my point is, I was doing very good damage against Snippers and I was actually afraid to nuke too much. Stone was doing anywhere up to 30 dmg, Aero was up to 50, and Fire was up to 60. I was much happier.

My main job is not BLM, but it will be my primary subjob. Just got to 15 last night, and learned Stonega... my first cast hit snipper for 86 dmg, and created lots of hate ...oh well, it was fun bitch-slapping him with my fire spell when he was almost dead.

The thing I like about BLM is often being the only one that can do uber damage to IT monsters. Everyone else is hitting for 1-10 dmg, while I throw a Fire in there and it hits for 58 hehe... I love nuking...

[Rynhart]

Get Khazam Pinnapples. +3 Int and they are only 1k/stack on my server.

Edit: Had wrong +Int..

Edit2: Regional Vendor for Elshimo Uplands sells for ~70gil each! A merchant in Kazham sells them for around same price.

Enjoy ^^