Do BLMs really do that much damage?

[jeffos]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

I wonder, is it easier for BLMs to hit ITs because of the easiness of getting Elemental Skill?

The typical 75 BLM I examine has atleast the AF piece that gives +15 Elemental Skill, atleast a non HQ Ice Staff with +10 Ele Skill, and the +7 Ele Skill necklace, plus the +3 skill earing... some have more equipment with more +ele skill but this is just what I see on "average"

So just by looking at that it's +35 Ele Skill, If a DRK had +35 Scythe Skill he would probably land hits on ITs just as easily as a BLM, no? I've personally never seen any melee with +35 skill to a weapon, the most I've seen is +5-7 on any given melee.

And Coinspinner I disagree... BLM have always been pretty strong in FF games, FF9 has my favorite BLM Vivi, you could end fights with him just by using his AOE spells. Lulu in FFX was very strong too, and the old dude from FFIV was insanely strong. In FFX-2 the Black Mage job was pretty damn good too.

[Icemage]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

I wonder, is it easier for BLMs to hit ITs because of the easiness of getting Elemental Skill?

Yes. However, the comparison to weapon skills is not direct, since Elemental Skill doesn't affect damage, only resistance rates; fighting skills give both accuracy and attack, so they're somewhat more powerful in that sense, which is why we probably don't see items that give tons of +skill to fighting skills.


Icemage

[Karinya]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

All the people talking about parse results: Remember that the parser doesn't see any damage from Shock, Choke, Burn (or Rasp, Frost, Drown if you are doing that instead), Poison, and Bio (except the pathetic initial damage). So BLMs are usually doing more damage than the parser says they are doing.

Furthermore, 4 of their 5 DoTs are also enfeebles and either raise party damage to the mob (Choke, Frost), lower mob damage to the party (Drown, Rasp, Bio), make enfeebling easier (Shock) or all of those at once (Burn - only lowers mob damage on caster mobs though).

This is aside from sleep, escape and all the other useful spells that BLMs get and melee DDs don't, and the TP given to monsters issue.

BLMs are also absolutely necessary for Dynamis and for many HNMs (and even the ones that you could do without them, they are still useful).

[Kalel]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

LOL, melee can't outdamage black mages. Their best dd in game. They dont need skill chains or tp to do great dd. Black mages can do 800-1000+ easy every time they cast in most situations. Rarely did I ever see a melee out do black mages in damage. That is my experience. Of cause melees don't need to rely on mb to keep dd.

[Coinspinner]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

And Coinspinner I disagree... BLM have always been pretty strong in FF games, FF9 has my favorite BLM Vivi, you could end fights with him just by using his AOE spells. Lulu in FFX was very strong too, and the old dude from FFIV was insanely strong. In FFX-2 the Black Mage job was pretty damn good too.

Without going one by one, I'll just say that while they are strong, they are never the strongest. Also, FuSoYa is a Lunarian, Tellah is a Sage.

[a801227]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

There is a reason why BLMs can equip Herald's Gaiters :p...(Run from mobs coming at you)

There are certain mobs where melees just can't damage...you'll need BLMs for those.

My personal record at 75 for NMs is 1647 MB on Fafnir with Thunder IV and double thunder weather. On XP mobs, 1958 in Thundaga3 MB on Lufaise Big Birds with Diabolos boost.
Without MB, 1200(exact) on IT Aw'Aerns in Gardens of RuHmet.

Well, there are also the x2 mag damage mobs like Hpemde and Bugboy. Can do about 2500+ on those per shot.

But....you shouldn't really go all out in XP parties...The Whm will have a harding putting you back together.

[DigitalisAkujin]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

I'd like to start out by saying that this is not a flame, nor any condescending type of post.

I recently played BLM to 40, and plan on going further. However, all of my experiences so far tell me that BLMs will not do nearly as much damage as a well-equipped melee. Now if this is simply the truth, then I am fine with it, but there has always been a "BLMs do mad damage!" attitude going around. No doubt, the big numbers that BLMs put up contribute to this attitude, but I think that some people genuinely believe that BLM DoT is pretty good, despite many parser logs showing BLMs doing only around 2/3 of RNGs, and sometimes even worse than WARs and DRKs.

I just came back from a party with a DRK in Gustav, and here are some loose numbers:

Blizzard: ~110
Thunder: ~120
Aero II: ~188
Fire II: ~220
Blizzaga Burst: ~310

DRK average hit: ~50-60
DRK critical hit: ~80-90

Given that I can cast at most around 3 or 4 nukes a fight, that means that the DRK only has to connect ~10 times to match my damage from the numbers given above. The numbers above do not take into account resists, and I was getting resisted maybe 1/4 times on average, most of them coming from goblins, which have no elemental weaknesses. Now I didn't parse the party, nor did I count how many times he connected, but it certainly did seem like he was hitting very often (he was eating Sole Sushi +1). I have +32 INT with food, so I consider that to be pretty decent.

I understand that BLM is not all about damage over time, and has a little of "emergency handling," enfeebling, and burst damage for high chains going along with it, but I just wanted to ask--will well-equipped melees more or less always outdamage us?

Thanks.

I didn't read the entire thread but straight up I'd like to point out that at level 40 a BLM will nuke 2-5 times per fight and a DRK due to high delay will only hit 5-10 times on a one minute fight so it kinda evens out.

That plus a DRK's spells means s/he swings less.

[nugzkraka]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

Get to 75 then ask that question again.

[DJJGKWYA]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

Alot of times I find myself doing less damage then melee as well (I only nuke about twice per fight, in addition to doing my enfeebles) If the monster is dying reasonably fast and we're doing SC (sadly this hasnt happened often in my groups) I only nuke once to mb, sometimes twice. Because we dont want to pull hate the melee generally outdamages us (especailly for me since I'm a Taru).

I remember in a Qufim party a WAR had all HQs, Emperor Hairpin, Leaping Boots, and all HQ equips, his Sturmwind was doing more then any of my nukes could. Some of his criticals did as much as my nukes.

To note, I'm level 40, with +30 INT, most of my tier 2 spells do 200+ damage.

I suppose I could nuke more and chance pulling hate, but I prefer to just play it safe, nobody's complained yet.

I was recently in a party with a MNK (he had merits and decent gear, no HQs though) and he was outdamaging me landing 40-60 hits per. We were doing Soldier Crawlers in CN.

[Neomage]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

Everyone here is giving high burst damages to persuade you - Thats not the thing though. Early level BLMs are really, really weak. But once you get to 60+, where I am, you'll find that your damage output ups to ~40-50% of the monsters HP if you only nuke, like the melees will be only DDing. And unless you have 1 really, really, reallly reallllllllyyyyyyyyy good DD and a few realllllyy crappy ones, you will often be the top person.

It's all the the +hMP gear. Especially at a few parties... I was gaining MP back faster than I could use it >.> Had 400+ each time(600 MP max) Even using AM didn't lower it for long...

[Meepster]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

i'll be honest with you on damage... you can crush ANYONE. But it all depends on how you play, and of course, what the situation is. It also depends on the mob you are fighting. On a regular, non magic resistant mob, i'll average 2000+ dmg on my MB. I'll assist with the occasional cure or cast behind the rdm if his debuffs get resisted, but other than that i'll do burn/shock to do some DoT dmg and increase my MB dmg and i'll stun. I play with an uggalepih pendant on tho so i try my best to keep my mp at or below 50% in the pt. Most fights at 75 dont last that long anyways and that's just my play style. Example: Tachi Kasha > 1K > spinning slash > 1200 > light > xxxx> thundaga III 2500 > Pwnt. end of fight. theres no need to spend my mp in any other way, and this way i'm always ready for the MB. i also like to keep my hp in the yellow with poison/venom pots so i get the 10 MAB from my sorcerer's ring. This is a very risky, but fun and rewarding play style. If that's not your cup of tea, you could just bomb the hell out of the mob and probably die. I could just open up with thundaga III > burst II > thunder IV > Blizzard IV and if i didnt die or get interrupted i will have basically soloed the mob. Now i've wasted all my mp and caused a ruckus in the pt because each one of those nukes will do well over 1k dmg (1500-1700 burst II/thundaga III) (1400 ish Thunder IV) (1200-1300ish blizzard IV) it all depends on what you wanna do. Manaburns is where you'll really shine and get to show off.

you can also solo quite well if you know what you are doing. Gravity is a beautiful tool and i take full advantage of it. Elementals in sky are fun and you can make a few bucks off of clusters if you are fighting the right ones (Fire, thunder, light on ragnarok)

hope this helps :3

my name is meep and i approve this message

[greydaze]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

Don't dig up old posts. It really doesn't sound smart when you're refuting things that were mistaken two or three years ago but common knowledge now...

[Divi]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

I believe that a blm would "out damage" a melee if 1. The blm wasn't worried about hate (mainly get this in soloing), and 2. If they had unlimited mp. But, because blm can do more than just dmg and help out the party, I believe blm is a great addition to any party. And in my experience a mana-burn vs. a tp-burn is about the same, depending on the mob.

[eva00r]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

BLM did pretty low damage compared to melee. In any parse of my leveling up party, BLM did around 60% of any melee fighters. However, they can heal + sleep + debuff.

Also, this considers as a "good" BLM. The "bad" BLM will out damage anyone and die in 20 seconds later.

[Mog]

Re: Do BLMs really do that much damage?

Also, this considers as a "good" BLM. The "bad" BLM will out damage anyone and die in 20 seconds later.

QFT.

Blackmages don't really shine unless they're soloing or in a manaburn. In typical experience parties, you're playing your job well if you DON'T outdamage the melees, unless the tank is god, in which case, have a ball.