spells not having very much effect

[murz]

I am very new to blm, I am currently at lvl 16 partying in dunes.

Sometimes, when fighting mobs for some reason my spells seem to just go down in effect, fire (which usually does 25-50 dmg) all the sudden is doing like 6 dmg. And it usually happens with my other spells too.

Is it something that I am doing? I thought maybe i was casting spells too quickly, but waiting doesnt usually fix it.

Is there any special technique to keeping your effectiveness up? I know things like melon pie improve int, but you should be able to do more than 6 dmg without a pie, right?

[Omnitank]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Don't cast the same spell on the same mob again and again. Change them up a bit. Like cast Fire, throw in some enfeebles, then cast a wind or Ice.

[Deeke]

Re: spells not having very much effect

What you're seeing is normal. It's that pain in a BLM's arse known as Resistance.
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/index.php/Resist



Briefly, to reduce Resistance/increase Accuracy (same thing really):


Maximise your INT (or MND if you find yourself responsible for Dia, Paralyze, Slow... >.<)

Research what Elements the EXP area's mobs are weak to. (Can't stress this one enough.)

Similarly, but less frequent, research any immunities (don't ever bother casting Water on a
Pug..(>.o) )

Don't cast Fire on Watersday. (Do cast Fire on Firesday.^^)

Note any active Weather.

Use Elemental Weaknesses provided by BRDs, etc. to your advantage.

Make use of Elemental Seal.

And use Magic Bursts wherever possible, on both Nukes and Enfeebles.

[Icemage]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Don't cast the same spell on the same mob again and again. Change them up a bit. Like cast Fire, throw in some enfeebles, then cast a wind or Ice.

This doesn't help. See Deeke's post above for techniques to minimize Resistance.


Icemage

[Gyfford]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Fire on a water mob is just a bit better than water on a water mob :/

Fire is weak to water, crabs are water based. *edit*[Your]*edit* resist rate will be higher on that. If you use lightning you'll land more consistant (but you don't have it yet).

Black mage is all about learning your enemies weakness and making him eat it. You can look at the Alla Beast.... by area. Get a idea where your next leveling is going to take place (Ex: after dunes you will more than likely hit Qufim, Look up the mobs in Qufim - pretty much the same crab/fish, a few worms and giants. So learn the worms and giants weakness, and use it.)

Changing spells does not work. You need to keep chipping at the mobs weakness, not change to a 'non weakness' spell. In the dunes I remember casting a lot of wind, never water unless vs fly or gobbies. Fish and crab = higher resist.

*edit* crabs also have that shell move, which will increase your resist / lower damage rate

[Icemage]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Fire on a water mob is just a bit better than water on a water mob :/

Fire is weak to water, crabs are water based. You're resist rate will be higher on that. If you use lightning you'll land more consistant (but you don't have it yet).

Actually crabs are strong against water, weak against ice and lightning, and neutral to everything else. Fire is no more or less effective than Aero against them other than base damage.


Icemage

[Gyfford]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Actually crabs are strong against water, weak against ice and lightning, and neutral to everything else. Fire is no more or less effective than Aero against them other than base damage.

tell me you joking

So how does earth based Kirin resist almost every stun (thunder) and thunder spell? Because he's earth based > than lightning, also why would we use our wind spells vs kirin when our best spell is thunder IV? Cause earth based kirin, will restist you so much it's not worth it.

You can also look at our bar- spells. Barfira element is what? Oh yeah water.

As barthunda is earth based.

[Icemage]

Re: spells not having very much effect

tell me you joking

So how does earth based Kirin resist almost every stun (thunder) and thunder spell? Because he's earth based > than lightning, also why would we use our wind spells vs kirin when our best spell is thunder IV? Cause earth based kirin, will restist you so much it's not worth it.

You can also look at our bar- spells. Barfira element is what? Oh yeah water.

As barthunda is earth based.

There's a tendency for enemies to be weak to elements, but it's not consistent, and you shouldn't infer weaknesses from strengths and vice versa.

Bombs are fire based and weak to fire.

Scorpions are earth based but are weak to light and fire.

Aquans (Pugils, Sea Monks, Crabs) are all strong against water and weak to ice and lightning.

Kirin is strong to earth and weak against wind. He's neutral to lightning, but resistant to the Stun spell (explicitly), resistant to Silence (but not other wind magics). Both of the spell resistances do not correlate to Kirin's elemental resistance.

Behemoth/King Behemoth, Adamantoise/Aspidochelone, and Fafnir/Nidhogg are all immune to Stun, but only Aspidochelone has any significant resistance to lightning. Adamantoise and Aspidochelone are both water-based, but they're also completely immune to both Slow and Elegy.


Icemage

[Gyfford]

Re: spells not having very much effect

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.h...84444990728816

I started a thread on Alla, still getting responces in. This is by no means a pissing contest. I never change my way of thinking from what 1 person says... I need a general consenus from the majority. I am always looking to better myself in job / knowledge.

Yeah I knew that about the bombs (which I don't know what SE was thinking making bomb weak to fire XD ), you would think water... but no.

[Icemage]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Translate this page via Google or Babelfish and you'll see the base resistances for all basic monster types.
http://ff11.s33.xrea.com/

Bear in mind that NM versions of monsters can have vastly different resistances from their source monster families.


Icemage

[Balfree]

Re: spells not having very much effect

bombs are weak to fire, in the same sense that when they explode they also die, they arent made of fire, thus not weak to water element, they are simply volatile and prone to explode, thus when you burn them they get damaged

think of a hot hot sphere of metal, inside theres hot fire, but not outside, if you toss water at it, the water just fizzles into vapor, because the surface is hot, but if you burn it, it becomes even hotter and prone to blow up

on a crab, fire does just the same in terms of resistance and base damage as wind for example, because the crab does have a shell, its not mushy outside, know what i mean? so its not weak to that particular element

its these little details that i love about ffxi >

[Hamlet]

Re: spells not having very much effect

That post icemage has listed has crabs listed as water-based (and thus strong to water, I'm assuming), and weak to ice and lightning. Fire seems to be noted as neutral.

[neighbortaru]

Re: spells not having very much effect

'bout the same info in english:
http://www015.upp.so-net.ne.jp/reaver/monster.html

[Icemage]

Re: spells not having very much effect

That post icemage has listed has crabs listed as water-based (and thus strong to water, I'm assuming), and weak to ice and lightning. Fire seems to be noted as neutral.

Ask any BLM who has survived the 50s and they'll tell you that crabs are definitely weak to ice magic, since that's almost exclusively what you level on in that level range, from Kuftal to Teriggan to Gustav.

More specifically, that page indicates that crabs have low resistance to ice and lightning, and are 50% resistant to water effects.


Icemage

[Gyfford]

Re: spells not having very much effect

Those are some nice sites. The one I could read says this in the key: ◎：Ok ○：Weakness □：Resistant △：10%↓ ▲：25%↓ ×：50%↓ XX：75%↓ ？：Unknown ☆：, but I did not see any mob that had 10%, 25%, etc.

I'll hit B. tree by Ramuth zone tonight, there are a few shells in the tunnel and easy zone spot. Everything I've seen ever, has mentioned what the mob is based on, do don't cast those spells on it. I've seen great examples when using demonic pugs vs warlocks. He cast flood on my fish for a whooping 50 damage.

Unfortunatly, I don't recall if he ever fire IV or w/e on it.

Avatars would be another example yes? No thunder on Titan? No water on ramuth? etc. It just seems to me that no one tested if fire on a water mob is just Neutral... or if it'll get resisted a bit more.

So far ffxi as been pretty constant with the elemental everything.
-In crafting, you craft with the current day xtal, you're more likely to HQ or not crit. break your synth. If you synth on the day the xtal is weak to, you got a much better shot at breaking the synth.

-Our bar- spells are the element that the bar- spell is strong vs.

-Our staffs: Fire staff gives Ice resistance, etc.

-Our spells hit harder when using them on the elemental day (Fire on Fireday)

-Avatars are much harder on their elemental day, then on a off day, and weaker (Yes.. no test on weaker, just an observation) on the day they're weak to.

I'm just saying why chance the OP question. Sure when you get thunder, you really don't need to worry about this so much. I however will not cast fire on a aqua mob, I exploit their weakness (as everyone else does).