Direct Questions To Experienced BLMs

[WishMaster3K]

Being a BLM is a very different play style than being a RDM (which I am only 64), and as I have been raising my subs as of late, I have experienced many fun things that other mage jobs have to offer. As such, instead of asking what to do and being spammed with ppl giving me links to old or irreleveant post, I'm just going to post my current play style and request critiques from the older BLMs on the forum.

One thing I noticed is that gear for BLMs is very simple to get, if you know what to look for. At the current moment, I have 45 + 23 INT (68). I'm lvl 32 using the following:

Solid Wand (INT 5 MND 5)
Seer's Crown +1 (INT 3)
Seer's Tunic (hMP +1)
Seer's Mitts +1 (INT 2 MND 2)
Seer's Slacks (INT 1)
Seer's Pumps +1 (MND 2)
2x Knowledge Ring (INT 4)
Black Cape +1 (INT 3)
Mrc. Cpt. Belt (INT 1 and other stats +1)
Black Silk Neckerchief (INT 1)
2x Cunning Earring (INT 2)
Morion Tathlum (INT 1)

Some pieces were expensive, but nothing that broke the bank. (*Some of the gear, such as Seer's Pump +1, double for my WHM, which is the same lvl as my BLM ^^) In addition, I also was impressed with the amount of resist I get on mobs from T to IT+.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was being quite noobish by alternating between my strongest spells, THunder and Blizzard, and was upset with tanks not being able to hold hate .As I was told from a BLM a while ago, one thing to do is to find spells that do decent damage, have a low rate of resist and dont break MP. For instance, in the jungle, I've been cycling between Fire and Aero. They are both MP efficient for their damage and do not get resisted often. I save Blizzard and Thunder for killing the mob faster at the end of a fight and/or for MBs.

I also noted that among mages my level, I usually have the best MP conservation and control. What I mean by this is that in the instance I rarely get low MP, my food and equip help me get MP back faster. In addition to my Seer's Tunic, I eat Sweet Rice Cakes. They give me 17MP, 2 INT and i believe +2hMP. I used to be like every other BLM and eat pie, but I realized that having more MP healed to be able to throw around was better. So instead of eatting ginger cookies every five mins, I decided on SRK, which give both MP, INT and hMP.

I also use a Warlocks Earring since I sub RDM at the moment. This brings me to my next point- among the mages, it is fairly known that RDMs have the lowest MP count. But I find RDM to be an optimal sub for BLM and WHM at these low levels due to Fast Cast and the gear that is good for mages who sub RDM. For healing, I use the earring, and this gives me even better hMP.

And I dont really enfeeble, since all 6 of my magic skills are capped. All I do is Rasp and Frost, or if I have a WHM or RDM that wants to enfeeble, Frost and Shock. I cast Bio if I notice no one else casting, and if the NIN wants me to, I'll cast Blind and Poison.

I believe that is all I can think of at the moment. Input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advanced! ^^

[Jei]

As far as enfeeble go, normally I like to cast frost to help the melees. Blind doesn't help much on IT mobs imo so I don't cast it as often. For Bio, I cast it for PLD tanks. For Nin tank usind Dia is better imo.

Food, for exp PT I agree MP regeneration is more important than your max MP. As Blm you will get to sit whenever you want really. As I see you can go 2 paths. Eat pies and drink juice, or eat +hMP food like what you did. Juice is really good if you can keep yourself supplied and synth them on the spot. Also for short fights like BCNM, the pie+juice combo is much better.

Usually I start the battle with debuffs like frost and Bio to not pull to much hate to myself. Start nuking from weaker spells and slowly make my way to the stronger ones.

[TheMidg]

I personally would sub WHM during low levels so you can have access to the -na spells. I believe WHM gets Clear Mind which would probably around the same as warlock's earing.

For nuking, I think at that level I would pick my highest level spell, unless enemy is highly resistant to it, and cast it and wait until the recharge is up and that should balance the hate well.

And I think it's always better to cast Dia, never really a reason to cast Bio. If the enemy dies faster, it's going to do less dmg. Usually let RDM handle enfeebles but it's a good idea to stack whichever 3 elemental enfeebles that you think are best.

[Icemage]

- Most RSE boots are superior to Seer's Pumps (+1) for BLM. Actually, I'll go so far as to say ALL pieces of RSE are superior. The MND is meaningless to a BLM, and the extra MP is negligible. Elvaan/Hume/Galka RSE boots have more MP (which alone makes them superior), and Tarutaru/Mithra RSE boots have large amounts of +HP, which does more for you than the extra 5MP when you're pulling aggro. MP doesn't matter if you're dead.

- I would recommend swapping to WHM sub at that level. Lower level BLMs pull a lot of enmity, and using /WHM with a Healer's Earring for -1 enmity helps you ride the wave of hate a little better. /RDM isn't bad for the Warlock's Earring, but I think having access to Poisona, Curaga, Divine Seal and extra -enmity is better than +1 hMP and Fast Cast at your level. Actually Fast Cast is a complete non-issue at those levels, since the casting time for Tier I and Tier II spells is so low. You won't notice much, if any difference in time between /RDM and /WHM.

- Sweet Rice Cakes are an excellent food all around. Superior to non-HQ pies, IMHO.

- I wouldn't bother Rasping an enemy unless you have a ninja tank. Rasp won't help a Paladin or Warrior tank avoid hits much, if at all, and isn't justified by the MP expense. Ninjas are a different story, since they have excellent evasion, which can capitalize on a Rasped enemy's lowered Dex.

- Shock should only really be necessary if you have a WHM that's doing the enfeebling, or you're fighting IT enemies. Good RDMs can generally land their enfeebles within 1-2 casts (and if you're casting Rasp, then Shock is obviously out of the question), and Shock won't help their ratio that much, unless you're fighting incredibly tough enemies.

- I notice you make no mention of Drain. It is by far your most efficient offensive spell when fighting anything not strong against dark magic (Anticans, Funguars, Undead). Don't be fooled by the "drains 0 HP" text. It still deals the alotted damage, it's just that you won't see the amount if you have no damage to heal.


Icemage

[kuu]

Like all jobs, your have sometimes expanding roles and sometimes limiting roles.

Well lfg pick up pts, style:

At earily levels you play like a redmage, debuff, cure, mb. If you have another job doing something, then you do something else.

At mid levels you start into the the support role, or power mode. Either you throw some cures, a elemental dot, mb OR you nuke and sit.

At late levels, you're in it for one purpose, and that's heavy artillery. Sit most of the time then once SC goes off, you MB with your strongest, followed by whatever most damging spell, followed (if needed) by another, and finish off the monster before it realizes to take you down.

For more customized static PTs, you basically fill in whatever the PT needs. If you have whm-brd-blm, you nuke and debuff with the whm, so on.

On power PTs, with 4melees, you become more support.
On mana burn PTs, you dish damage.

Equipment wize, refer to above. If you're in it to nuke, you get more defensive equipment. A blm taking hate isn't a bad thing as long as you finish the job. IF you're support, conserve mp more.

I personally think INT stuff is crap to a blm, as oppose to mp, or defense and other things. Don't see much change in magic accuracy, rather just a few more damage. But depends on your style of playing. If you're job is a closer, expect to take 1-2 hits.

Ginger cookies or other sweets for more MP while healing is better then rice cakes imo, most blm sit their way through pts these days.

[Tetsura]

Most of what needed to be said was already addressed by Icemage, Jei, and TheMidg, that's solid advice (except I side with Jei on Bio > Dia on Pld tanks, but that depends on how long the mob is living). And In Yuhtunga I would stick to Aero and Fire and just cast more regularly to make up for damage, it's more mp efficient that way and wont get you killed as often, as you already have seemed to notice. You'll always want to stick to the element the mob is weak to, at least untill you get 54+ for AF1 Gloves and elemental staves.

Enfeebling should always be present in a normal tanking pt, so if your Whm or Rdm isnt stepping up to the plate take it upon yourself to get it done.

Int really does make a big diference at these low levels, try nuking with all your int gear off and then on and you'll see the diference it makes. Then consider the number of spells you're casting is much higher then that of later levels, so you're getting more use out of the damage bonus of each Int you add.

If you have the money, invest in Eremite+1's, they do help. I always used Shaman's belt for the extra +mp assosiated, it's not much but it may help. Melon/Apple Pie +1's are a great food to use, giving nice +mp +int and +hmp all at the same time, Apple Pie+1's are also cheaper and better then Sweet Rice cakes on my server (Pandemonium).

Of course, this is just from my personal experience as a Taru Blm. Play style/race may lead you to come to diferent conclusions for yourself. Try your best to fully understand the job you're playing by reading some of the old topics that have been created, then you can use your own judgement.

[WishMaster3K]

Thank you everyone for the awsomely solidly solid information. I'm mostly pleased with the depth of each resonse, and I'm happy that I've been, for the most part, doing things right.

In hindsight, subbing RDM gives a couple more INT, but perhaps the abilities given by subbing WHM just plain outclass 1 or 2 INT.

And I was a bit suprised to find out that i could cast 3 elemental enfeebles, given that they didnt negate each other. This actually made sense, and now I'm wondering why I only cast 2. I'm guessing that since the elemental wheel goes Fire - Ice - Wind - Earth - Thunder - Water, and example of three I could have at the same time would be Burn/Choke/Shock, right? Then the only other combination would be Frost/Rasp/Drown, correct? I'll try this next time I party, thankx for that new tidbit i hadnt previously thought of.

[Jei]

I think you can do 2, Frost +Rasp, or 3 Frost+choke+drown. Not too sure tho i'll confirm you after I level my blm some more and try it out ^^ Or wait others respond.

[kuu]

You are alowed 1 elemental dot as far as I've known.

You are alowed 1 elemental (frost burn etc), 1 enfeeble(dia, bio), if I remember right poison doesn't count in those catagories, but i could be wrong.

So to dot something to death, you would elemental, enfeeble, posion, bard song, that's all i can think of for now.

Throwing something like wasp sting would just over write a poison if powerful enough.

This is obviously to limit the power of dot spells. Doing over 50 damage per second is much too powerful given the resistance for those is easily bi-passed.

There is an easy way to check this if anyone wants to do it. Goto a lvl 1 area, and cast frost on it. See how fast it dies. Cast 2 on it, see if it dies faster, cast 3 on it, see if it dies still yet faster.

[Tomoh]

Here's elemental enfeeble info:

Drown (Water, Str-)
Rasp (Earth, Dex-)
Frost (Ice, Agi-)
Choke (Wind, Vit-)
Burn (Fire, Int-)
Shock (Thunder, Mnd-)

You can throw the following 2 or 3 combos only:
1. Drown + Rasp + Frost (Any 2 out of group of 3 also works)
2. Choke + Burn + Shock " "
3. Drown + Choke
4. Rasp + Burn
5. Frost + Shock

I usually like to cast #1 or #5

[Jei]

what tomoh said. you can do 3 combo, or 2 combo. You don't have to wait till the mob dies. Becuase if it's a combination that doesn't work, you'll simply get the "has no effect" messege.

[Ghostraven]

i decided on going rdm to 75 recently and decided I would use /blm the whole way... Currently I am rdm 52, blm 38 and whm 0... lol
I noticed /whm would be so much more vital to some PT's I've been in. As a mage you have to be versatile according to what the current PT make up is.

Basically just saying have both subs available depending on the pt make up.

[Icemage]

The MP spent on elemental enfeebles is pretty hefty at level 3x. Unless you have a very pressing reason to cast one, it's probably better to spend that time resting and getting more MP to nuke with.

Of the various elemental enfeebles, I find Shock and Frost to give the most bang for your MP under most circumstances, and Rasp to a lesser extent. Choke, Drown, and Burn are all very situational, and I rarely if ever cast them.


Icemage

[Balfree]

Re: Direct Questions To Experienced BLMs

my blm life:

53BLM/30RDM - Sub WHM and be like the rest, or sub RDM and be better, i chose the last, i don't care what you say, altho till blm 30 i went WHM, but then i was enlightened, no more resists for me.

EQ Atm:

Dark and Ice staves.
Tct. Magician Coat (robe?)
+1 seer's: head, legs, hands, feet (need af... -.-)
morrion earrings and ermite rings (gotta get knowledge ring and sorc. ring... -.-)
shaman belt (1/1 on Ocean Stone, but wasnt my lot -.-!)
blck neckerchief and black cape +1
no tathlum yet..

its not the best EQ, but i have yet to have had a BLM better than me in my parties.

sometimes i overnuke, blame me, i have the means, tank better do a better job next time eh? =P jk lol sometimes i really cross the line, but never had any serious problem

start of the battle: Burn -> Choke or Frost usually, unless there's a request
enfeebles: Gravity is a must, i want the mob to move slow if im up for a freeze burst, or if im at the point where mob takes lotsa damage from my spells, gravity saves my but from everything, gravity then stun = time for a blink and possibly enough for the tank to steal hate back
elemental spells: as of late i decided to leave tier1 spells aside, because of ancient magic and the demand for more debuffs, i just cast a tier2 spell then work on debuffing some more, possibly heal the tank, there's allways a debuff that you can cast, ive found myself casting slow and paralyze every battle, along with silence and gravity->stun, then a well put aspir and i bet i need a re-blink by now, if not then just cast a tier1 or if im feeling naughty go tier2 again, rest a bit, pt members should have tp built up, time for freeze->stun->panic, ive been doing 1100freeze Mbs on anticans, then run to zone and reset hate, go back->aspir->sit->wait for next one, it has been working out for the past 5 lvls, but now it's time for kuftal, and i hear it's a whole different thing~ lets see.

[Dux]

Re: Direct Questions To Experienced BLMs

my blm life:

53BLM/30RDM - Sub WHM and be like the rest, or sub RDM and be better, i chose the last, i don't care what you say, altho till blm 30 i went WHM, but then i was enlightened, no more resists for me.

Balfree, what benfit do you see from both /RDM and /WHM in an EXP party? What was your rationale behind choosing /RDM over /WHM?