SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

[Spazz]

Welcome! If you are reading this it means you are either a Blue Mage (BLU) already or you are looking to become one and wanted to do some research before you got started. Either way, please enjoy this guide that I have put together through extensive research and many hours of game play.

I also would like to thank the Blue Mage community for working hard and fast to make sure all theories and rumors were tested so that the truth about this wonderful and amazing job could be released. Thank you all for your hard work and input!

Chapter 1: Introduction

Before we get started into the vast information you are about to read on Blue Mage, I wanted to take this time to share with you some details about myself. My name is Mike but my friend’s call me Spazz. My character in Final Fantasy XI is a level 75 Tarutaru Black Mage. I’ve been playing for 3 years… started during Japanese import and continued on during the North American (NA) release. I started on the Ramuh server but quickly found myself drawn to my friends on the Midgardsormr server – which is where I currently reside. As of the moment you are reading this guide, I am a level 62 Blue Mage who has experimented with almost every subjob in the game.

Chapter 2 : Who? What? When? And Where?

Alright! Time to get down to business… When Square-Enix announced a new expansion pack would be released for FFXI, we all expected big things – and we were right. Square-Enix announced not only would new areas and monsters be added, but a huge new city and new jobs for players to choose from. After much speculation on message boards about what these new jobs would be, Square-Enix finally made it all clear and announced Blue Mage would be one of the new jobs (and later Corsair and Puppetmaster would be announced shortly there after)!

So what is a Blue Mage? Well to answer that question we look back at the history of Final Fantasy and where it originated from. Blue Mage was always a magic based class that’s main intrigue is the ability to learn and use the skills that monsters used against you. Now unlike a Beastmaster, Blue Mages did not need to charm a pet and have the pet use the ability… The Blue Mage could use the ability all by himself at a small cost of magic. Over the years and throughout the Final Fantasy franchise, many new versions of this class were made – but the core element stayed the same. Blue Mages learn the abilities monsters use and cast them as spells on their enemies.

When the expansion pack was first activated… the Tenshudo Guild was packed with eager players waiting to get their boarding pass so they could enter the new city of Al Zahbi. I personally was the 8th person to enter the new city on Midgardsormr. During the first frantic hours of the expansion… people had found the following information about the Blue Mage Quest:

Starting NPC: Wouda in Aht Urhgan Whitegate @ (J-10) on the 2nd Floor.

He will ask you a series of questions… the answers are as followed:
- Forge
- Occasionally
- Read the scroll
- Without
- Mix
- If
- Cut
- Grant
- End
- Follow
*Credit to AkariShyni*

After answering the questions… he will ask you to bring him 1 of 3 items. He only gives hints as to which one he wants you to bring him… but he usually says a color. The item needed varies by person but here is a small guide to help:

Blue Gem = Siren’s Tear
- Can be found in Northern Gustaberg near the closest bridge outside of Port Bastok. Just examine the ??? and you will get it.

Red Stone = Dangruf Stone
- You need to talk to Horatius in Bastok Markets @ (I-9) to activate a quest called “Breaking Stones”. Then go to Dangruf Wadi and examine the ??? that is between (I-5) and (J-5). It has to be sunny weather in order for you to get the stone.

Golden Sand = Pinch of Sunsand
- Examine the ??? on the boat on the Siren Sands beach located in the Valkurm Dunes. You can only get the sunsand either during or after a sandstorm.

Once you have the item he wants, head back to Wouda and trade him the item. You will get a small cutscene with him telling you it’s for a friend but he can’t take it so you will need to deliver it for him. He asks you to take it to Aydeewa Subterranne. Don’t sweat it people, we are almost done ^_^. To get there you need to head to the main gates of Al Zahbi by heading west through the center of Aht Urhgan Whitegate. Exit out of the Northern most gates into Bhaflau Thickets and make your way to (I-7) which is a lighthouse. Once you get there, look around and you will see a cave that will take you down into Aydeewa Subterranne. Once you have zoned into Aydeewa Subterranne, make your way down to the first large room and drop down a hole into a room with things called Diremites. From here, its as simple as following the ramp on the wall past all the leeches until you see a large circle that is glowing blue… it looks pretty much like a huge teleporter pad. Just run and stand in the middle of the pad and you will get an awesome cutscene where a Blue Mage will come and ask you if you want to become a Blue Mage. Say “Yes” to both questions and he will make you a Blue Mage.

Now sit back and enjoy the cutscene! Its kinda freaky…. But really cool at the same time.

Chapter 3 : Race – does it really matter???

Now a lot of people ask about, “which race is best for the job I want?” Well the answer to that question is… For Blue Mage… you can be whatever race you want and still kick some serious butt! Let’s break it down:

Tarutaru – Awesome MP like everyone knows and amazing INT. INT of course helps with the Magical Blue Spells, but Tarutaru’s do lack a lot of STR. STR, is of course, the main damage amplifier for all the Physical Blue Spells. So while Taru’s may not have a lot of STR to dish out the most damage physically, they make up for it by being able to use the same spells more times by having a massive MP pool. This race may be best suited for playing as a support Blue Mage – but don’t count out those Taru’s for damage dealers. They certainly can hang with the best.

Mithra – As well as being beautiful, Mithra’s have decent STR and decent MP. They have the best AGI, which of course will allow you to evade a bit more if you take too much hate from the monster, and awesome DEX, which will affect your accuracy. Again, not the most STR out of the 5 races… but Mithra’s can still kick some serious booty – plus they just look awesome when they are casting!

Hume – Also known as the “middle child” of the races… Hume’s do have the middle ground between everything. Hume’s have about average STR, DEX, INT, MND, AGI, etc to pretty much play whatever role they want to in battle. Hume’s do not have as much INT and MP as Taru’s but they certainly make up for it with their STR and HP.

Elvaan – Although it would be extremely hard to not notice a tall Elf casting Bomb Toss at you, Elvaan’s do not have the best of INT to support such Magical Blue Spells. Elvaan’s do have the highest STR and 2nd highest HP, but they are lacking in the DEX department. Their MP pool isn’t the worst in the game, but it does leave enough to show your enemies a thing or two!

Galka – Bruit force and amazing STR, but at the cost of what? MP! Galka Mages, not just Blue Mages, have one problem on their mind at all times… Magic. Your MP pool is almost non existent. You will more than likely end up decking yourself in MP gear rather than any other stat. Other than MP issues… Galka Blue Mages are a good choice for race aswell.

Chapter 4 : “Subjobs! What are they good for? Absolutely EVERYTHING!”

Now that you know how to learn spells and how to put them to good use… One of the most crucial pieces of information you can ever learn about Blue Mage is that whatever your subjob is, it needs to compliment your purpose. Now to kind of break that down… lets go over all the subjob possibilities:

/WAR – Warrior is decent at lower levels, especially for tanking with Cocoon. Some people like this for damage dealing because of the added STR you will get from subbing this job.

/WHM – While most White Mage Subjobs are common through the other mage jobs, a Blue Mage can sub WHM and help with backup healing as well as other –na spells like Poisona. At later levels, Magic Fruit makes the ability to main healer even more possible. The added MND and Divine Seal does stack with healing spells (Pollen, Healing Breeze, Magic Fruit, etc), which is also helpful.

/BLM – Black Mage is very situational. Higher INT and Elemental Seal works with BLU “magical” spells, and Conserve MP and Magic Attack Bonus are somewhat helpful, but they truly do not show to be effective enough to merit BLM as an awesome sub for BLU.

/RDM – This is one of the crowd favorites because of access to curing (when needed), several beneficial spells for easier soloing, the Fast Cast job trait, and the added INT and MND is somewhat decent. Red Mage is the most balanced of any sub due to stats. But if you are thinking about subbing Red Mage, remember there no Job Abilities with /RDM. Sad, but true.

/THF - Probably the best sub for Blue Mage for damage. Sneak Attack and Trick Attack does stack with the almost all “physical” spells – which allows an added increase in damage once a minute, but through Sneak Attack you are guaranteed to hit at least once a minute as well.

/DRK - While the STR and INT are both decent stat boosts, it really isn’t worth it. The Magic Skills like Elemental and Dark do not help much with BLU “magical” spells. Seeing how so far there is no known record of any Lv70+ Blue Mages that sub Dark Knight… I can not speak on how their all of their Absorb spells work.

/BST – No offense to anyone, but Beastmaster subjob is practically worthless unless you have your BST leveled up. If you do have it leveled up, BLU/BST can solo quite well and still be able to make some decent experience points.

/SAM – Although tested, the Store TP job trait and Meditate with a 60 second recast (and only giving around 60% TP) puts a small damper on it. Although the added STR and DEX is nice, because of the job ability recast times for both BLU and SAM… I can’t see this working very well for EXP Parties. Might do well for Gods and HNMs though.

/NIN – Although most Blue Mages do like the Ninja sub due to being able to use 2 swords…. You need to look at the whole picture. Ninja doesn’t give very much of a stat increase so your dependant on your gear and weapons. Now granted, because you can use 2 swords, you do gain TP faster, but you still have a 2 minute recast timer on Chain Affinity to make a Self Skillchain. Granted the use of Ninja tools and spells is an added bonus, but unless you are really trying to solo monsters or do quests that you could be taking damage on…. The Ninja spells don’t really come into play very well. Sure this is a decent subjob for BLU… but I find myself out damaging any BLU/NIN with the same TP and Same Spell. Unless you are a huge part of a skillchain and not using Chain Affinity very often, I really can’t recommend this subjob to anyone over level 30 for exp parties.

/DRG – Although of course the added STR is nice, but the only real job abilities you will be able to use is Jump and High Jump… which are more prone to miss than anything. The lack of ability to use the Dragoon’s Wyvern makes this job not really suitable for a subjob.

/SMN – The added MP is awesome, but because it lacks other stats it’s really not as useful as the other subjob possibilities. At Level 50, a Summoner subjob gives you Auto-Refresh before getting access to it via spells. At much higher levels, some of the avatar blood pacts are decent, but that’s really about all a SMN sub is good for.

Now I have not tested the possibilities of subbing Corsair or Puppetmaster, but if you have tried and would like to make that addition to this guide, my email is MWalters92487@yahoo.com. Please feel free to send any input you may have.

[Spazz]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Chapter 5A : Blue Mage 101 – How to learn Blue Magic!

First of all let me tell all of you reading this that learning spells is the hardest and most tedious part of the job. 9/10 of all Blue Mages quit the job before Lv30 because they hate how long it takes to learn spells and how much time they have to spend learning when they really want to be EXP’ing. This is a very sad but true fact. So… if you are a REAL Blue Mage who is serious about taking up the BLU job… do not give up! It’s hard and painful, but its very well worth it in the end.

Now with that said… Blue Mages learn spells through fighting certain monsters that use the desired ability. In order to learn spells you must follow these guidelines:

1.) The monster must use the learnable ability in battle!
2.) You do not have to be hit by the ability to learn the spell, nor do you even have to be engaged!
3.) Your main job must be Blue Mage – you can not learn spells when you are subbing it.
4.) You can learn spells from Too Weak monsters! YOU DO NOT NEED TO GET EXP FROM THE MONSTER!
5.) You can also learn spells that are a max of 10 levels above your current level! EXAMPLE: Sickle Slash is Lv48 but you can learn the spell at Lv38.
6.) You have to be within viewing distance of the monster when it uses the move to learn the spell!

Now to learn spells all you need to do is pick a monster and start fighting…. If its HP gets low, the best thing to do is unequip your weapon and start hitting it hand-to-hand. This will keep giving the monster TP from your hits but it will not kill it fast so the monster can still have time to use the ability. Once it uses the ability, kill the monster. Rinse and repeat. You will have to do this many times on most occasions. It is very common for it to take hours to learn 1 spell. Please be patient – later you will be able to take pride in learning spells.

Blue Mage spells also do not have tiers (like Stone, Stone II, Stone III, etc.), because almost every Blue Mage spell will become stronger with level. So don’t worry about learning the spells again or having to learn new versions of it.

Chapter 5B : Blue Mage 101 – How to use Spells effectively!

Ok, now that you have unlocked Blue Mage you need to know a couple things. Blue Magic is fairly simple to master but can also be a challenge because of the spells you will learn. Each spell you learn will have a monster type and is stronger/weaker to certain monsters. EXAMPLE: Power Attack which is learned by Beetles is a Vermin spell. Now because it’s a Vermin spell, this means 2 things… It means the spell is strong against Plantoid monsters like Mandragoras but weak against Lizard monsters like Lizards and Raptors.

To better explain this, here is a chart better illustrating this.

http://www.terracide.org/imgdump/blue13.jpg
~ THIS IMAGE WAS MADE BY Ayukawa ~

Its kinda like a big game of “Rock’Paper’Scissors”. Now if you look at the chart, you will notice that some of the monster types that are in the same ring are not connected. This means they are not bound by the chart and will deal normal damage. EXAMPLE: Sickle Slash is Vermin… and I’m fighting Rabbits (which are Beast). Now because Vermin is neither strong nor weak to Beast type monsters, my Sickle Slash will deal normal damage and will not be affected.

Now on some of the types of monster types, they only have arrows arrows like this <-- -->. This means that they are opposites. The most common you will find is Arcana VS. Undead. All this means is that Arcana spells are strong against Undead type monsters and vise versa. Once you have mastered the types of spells and the chart above, you will be able to deal some intense damage.

As you level up, you will get a few spells that do not cause damage but will play a big part in your Blue Mage career. To attain information about certain spells, please refer to this guide’s Leveling chapters as well as the Spell list.

~ MORE COMING! ~
Later installments of this guide will include Skillchaining, Foods to use, aswell as usefull information for leveling!

[Cyprian]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

/cheer This is an awesome guide! Though there is one thing that I noticed that is incorrect: Elvaans have the highest STR not 2nd. They also have high MND which is good for healing and buffs. Awesome chart thing, too.

[chalom]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

10 thumbs up!!
sticky it!

[Sergeant]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Great post so far, very good info. I would like to tack on about BLU/THF.

While Blue Mage fits into many roles very well, our BEST role is that of a DD. In my opinion, our top DD sub is /THF. While /nin does offer decent tp gain and shadows, it offers NOTHING else. /WAR offers berserk, which has no bearing on our BLU magic, double attack, and an extra 2 points or so of STR, NOTHING else.
Now on to /THF our spells are they way we do dmg, sword dmg is just a nice enhancer to dmg we do with spells. That being said a sword or dual swords IS NOT our focus, we need to focus on spell dmg. Sneak Attack is the single most powerful way to amplify our spell dmg for both conventional use and in Skillchains. A BLU/NIN will spam spell after spell for decent dmg, but end up blowing through 1/2 of their mp every fight to do it. A BLU/NINs Sickle Slash Vs an IT will only do 120ish with Chain Affinity and 100%tp. A BLU/THF with just a Sneak Attack will do 280ish with the same spell. Add Sneak Attack + Chain Affinty and it will do 390ish, Sneak Attack + Chain Affinty + 100% tp will do 475ish to an IT mob. See my point, 4 times your dmg for the same mp cost of one spell. The higher the base Dmg on your spell the higher the SC closing dmg will be, was doing 245ish last night with a Gravitation, add in a MB with Death Ray for about 190ish. In all honesty closing a SC for 475 dmg + a 245 dmg Gravitation + 190 dmg MB thats 910 Dmg for 87 MP. A BLU/NIN would have to blow almost all of his mp in the course of one fight to get that much dmg in a battle. Not too many other classes in the 40s can boast SC numbers like that. Now add in our sword dmg, and our usual headbutts, and the occasional bludgeon, and enfeebles and youll see why we BLU/THF DESTROYS BLU/NIN in the DD arena.

Now optimizing on extreme dmg for reletivly low MP costs, we can do that every single fight for a very extended amount of time with rest in between fights, throw in a refresh and we can maintain this sick level of Dmg indefinately! That is why i believe /THF is the best DD sub for blue Mage. Thing to remember is we get more and more powerful single shot spells as we go up in lvl, so the dmg only gets better and better. SA + CA + 100%tp Death Scissors /drool.

P.S. for those of you non-believers who think these Dmg numbers are BS, sub thf and see for yourself, or PT with a BLU/THF and watch the sparks fly.

[Matera]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Great guide, but I'd like to add that Elvaan have the highest strength of all races, Galka being the second highest.

[JeanRC]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

before lv60 i think subbing nin is as good. subbing thf before 60 will only make u get hate easily and get damage and screw up hate in pt and also waste mp curing.
subbing nin mean u wount get hit easily as u have Utsusemi: Ichi to protect yourself and at the same time help tank a little. My blu now lv 42 is doing as good damage subbing ninja or thf. I dont even cast a lot of spells when subbing ninja, only cast like vit down, slow, and 1 bludgeon or even lesser and i just sit there and melee it with my sword and i will get hate from ninja tank. Once u get lv 60, subbing thf will be the best DD since u get sneak and sata or whatever its call in english version. Then u can easily transfer the hate to your tank without screwing the hate in pt up and getting hit.

In another words, there are pros and cons to all subs. Just learn it and see what u like and your pt need. This make you the best Blu or player in ffxi.

Another thing i wanna add is, learning blu spells can be a pain. I used to took more then 3hrs-5hrs to learn bludgeon and the stoneskin. But i think, remember is i think max your blu spells and get to the level of that spell you can use help you learn the spell easier at least to me. After i max my blu spell skill and try to learn spell the same level as me, it was so much easiler. Usually within the 1st to 5 use of the spells by the monster and i will learn it.
Before that, while i trying to learn bludgeon before i get to the level needed for it, i saw it for like more then 20 times and i NEVER learn it. until i had to log off and come back again the next day. Only after i get to the level that i can use the spell, i learn it within the first time i saw the monster use it. That is how big the different it is to me. Hope it help.

[Sergeant]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

before lv60 i think subbing nin is as good. subbing thf before 60 will only make u get hate easily and get damage and screw up hate in pt and also waste mp curing.
subbing nin mean u wount get hit easily as u have Utsusemi: Ichi to protect yourself and at the same time help tank a little. My blu now lv 42 is doing as good damage subbing ninja or thf. I dont even cast a lot of spells when subbing ninja, only cast like vit down, slow, and 1 bludgeon or even lesser and i just sit there and melee it with my sword and i will get hate from ninja tank. Once u get lv 60, subbing thf will be the best DD since u get sneak and sata or whatever its call in english version. Then u can easily transfer the hate to your tank without screwing the hate in pt up and getting hit.[

You make a valid point but.....When used in its entirety, the dmg alone from a BLU/THF isnt all there is. Add in the Monk who was opening the Gravitation SC for 250 dmg, then the Blm's Stonega II MB for 400ish, and the RDMs stone II MB for 120ish. Using my above example..... 250 + 910 + 400 + 120 = 1680 Dmg from a total SC in the late 40s it would damn near kill the mob in one SC. Yes i would take extreme hate at that point, but the mob only lived long enough to hit 2 or 3 times after that. With Cocoon up, wasnt hitting all that hard. That is an acceptable con to the pro of cranking out that much dmg in so little a time-frame.

[Suichi]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Good guide^^

[Spazz]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Thank you all for posting your comments... I have recieved many emails asking for my personal opinions aswell as additions to my guide! Thank you all very very much! With your help I will be able to write the best guide possible for this wonderful job!

P.S.~ I talked to alot of Elvaan and Galka BLUs and did find that Elvaan do have the highest STR at end game therefore I have altered the chapter on races and would like to appologize for that mistake. I have corrected it and thank you for letting me know.

[JeanRC]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

I can do as much damage as you said above with nin sub. maybe its due to my heavily equip str eq and spells so it make the different. i got like +24 str. I subbed thf at first and then try war and then nin to see if the damage different is big but dont find any big different of damage.

[Zempten]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Are you sure? When I use Dimensional Death without SATA it usually lands in 200s where as if i use it with SATA it lands in the upper300s-500s. The same happened with Sickle Slash. I would get around 100s without SATA and usually always upper 200s-300s with SATA. I believe THF's SATA helps make our Physical Blue Magic land as close to it's full potential as possible.

I agree that /NIN gives you ability to save some MP,but I always tell my PT that I'll self heal myself in those conditions with Healing Breeze + Sheep Song. I usually have those loaded so the auto regen takes care of it. I also agree that you get extra stats from your offhand, but playing for THF for awhile something dawned on me that the onehanded PLD or twohanded polearm weilding DRG/THF got the same TP pretty much(give or take a bit) whenever I got TP as a THF, so I don't see Dual Wielding as such a great TP gainer, especially without the extra Dual Wield JTs.

All in all, I was never a believer in set in stone SJ. Human beings are flexible and should also carry that to their PT. Sub what you believe to be beneficial to the PT as a whole and you'll get great exp in return. It's retarded to refuse to sub your /WHM when you completely realize the PT is lacking in the healing department. It's retarded to refuse to sub your /THF when you know your NIN needs some form of SATA onto them. It's retarded to refuse to sub /NIN when you know the reputation of your tank or main healer isn't top and you will be getting hit more then your self regen can take. Everyone agrees that BLU is flexible, so why can't people also agree BLUs need to be flexible with their SJs as well?

Double Post Edited:
BTW Spazz, I'm not sure if you clarified it or not, but for some reason when subbing WHM our Magic Fruit cures for more when subbing something like THF. Might want to note that in the /WHM section. In fact, I'm pretty positive that when we sub WHM all of our cure like spells (Pollen, Magic Fruit, Healing Breeze) get a boost.

Double Post Edited:
Also when you get in the SC section. I'm not sure if this means anything or not, but I think when you participate in a SC or do a self one it never hurts to use an elemental staff for your MB. Personally from what I SEE it seems to make the MB less resisted.

[Spazz]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

I keep testing the difference in sub jobs all the time... and so far... /thf is the best sub in terms of potiential and overall damage. Maybe because of your gear, JeanRC, that your able to produce close damage to what a SATA can bring...

And Zempten, I agree that all true Blue Mages should be willing to change subs to fit the party needs. I have changed many many times to be main healer because a main heal has been hard to come by as of late. I have also taken note that using the elemental staffs while magic bursting does allow the spell to do more damage and be less resisted. About the Magic Fruit doing better with WHM sub... I did say:

At later levels, Magic Fruit makes the ability to main healer even more possible. The added MND and Divine Seal does stack with healing spells (Pollen, Healing Breeze, Magic Fruit, etc), which is also helpful.

It implies that it helps, but If people would like me to change it so it does say it bluntly I will do so. Again, thank you for all the comments and feedback. The more chapters to this guide are nearing completion!

[Mouser]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

Just a note on /WAR since people seem to be missing it's best trait - Double Attack. While not as huge a deal since BLU uses fast 1-h weapons (compared to slow 2-h like DRG or DRK), it still is a good TP gain booster and, with Berserk, helps our non-spell damage rate. While we can only Self-Chain every 2 minutes, in enough parties we'll be skill-chaining with others and it helps to be able to alternate sword and spell chains to get the most out of our TP.

It is sort of unfortunate that there doesn't seem to be any way to figure out if Double Attack can activate on physical BLU spells, other than looking for anomalous damage spikes.

[Sergeant]

Re: SPAZZ's BLUE MAGE GUIDE

[QUOTE]I can do as much damage as you said above with nin sub. maybe its due to my heavily equip str eq and spells so it make the different. i got like +24 str. I subbed thf at first and then try war and then nin to see if the damage different is big but dont find any big different of damage[QUOTE]

In terms of Stat Bonuses i sport a +26 to str and + 24 to dex with my DD set up as BLU/THF. What lvl are you and what spells are you using? Theres not a huge difference in SA bludgeon and regular Bludgeon. Its the single Hit heavy spells like Mandibular Bite, Sickle Slash, and Death Scissors that will put up the extreme dmg. But i sub nin from time to time depending on pt set up and with around the same stat bonuses my spells NEVER even come close to what they do when SA is attached.

Zempton, I agree with you 100% bro, i sub what my pt needs, but if my PT needs a DD, imo what we do best, i advocate /thf over /nin or /warr.