War/blu could it work?

[iDrizzle]

So I"ve been bored lately, and am trying to figure out if there is a new "tank" combo that people will start to love like they did with NIN/WAR.

My thoughts on war/blu is that you get all the fuzzy goodness of war (zerk, defender, warcry, voke, double attack etc) plus you get things like pollen (not sure how much hate this causes), cocoon (50% def bonus), metallic body (stoneskin), healing breeze (if you need the AOE cure hate) and a bunch of other goodies.

I originally was trying to work blu/war, but the lack of heavy armor made it kinda tough, and the lack of dmging weapons to keep hate str wise. However, war/blu can use any beef weapons a war could use, and has the heavy armor.

So a war/blu, could work early on, but I"m more talking 37+, could use metallic body, cocoon, and even if they needed to use defender, which with those three have more than 500 def easy....then use zerk plus warcry for WS, and cast spells if they have the MP, I think it could work.

The only hinderance would be the MP issue of having a mage sub, but honestly I took galka pld to 75, so I know MP isn't much of an issue 41 on as long as you are constantly refreshed...

This also might seem like a war/whm idea, but the difference between war/blu and war/whm is not only the fact that war/blu has a lot more def because blu is more of a melee mage, but you also get some key spells like cocoon and metallic body that you don't get with whm til way later.

So post your ideas on how this would work. I might try it, but being a galka a 45war/blu would have probably enough MP to cast metallic body and cocoon maybe once lol, then have to wait for refresh to fill my whole MP bar. We'll see though ^^

[Lmnop]

Re: War/blu could it work?

I had heard (still haven't even unlocked BLU) that Cocoon doesn't stack with Defender. I.e. with this combo, Defender is utterly useless.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Re: War/blu could it work?

I saw a screenshot of a lvl 75 WAR with 900+ Defense from using Cocoon. But their attack was also really low, so I'm guessing they also had Defender up (I didn't bother checking all the status icons).

Even if they didn't stack, at least Cocoon would be a defense boost without an attack penalty. Defender isn't exactly useless without /BLU, but it is rather situational.

took galka pld to 75, so I know MP isn't much of an issue 41 on as long as you are constantly refreshed...

Methinks there would be a significant difference between PLD/WAR (where the main job innately has MP) and WAR/BLU (where the MP only comes from the subjob).

Also, what's the casting time on Cocoon?

[iDrizzle]

Re: War/blu could it work?

The MP would be the biggest issue. It is a combo I"m pretty sure a galka couldn't pull off, without sacrificing a bunch of gear on mp gear. However, a galka could possibly do blu/war, because of their already naturally higher def, vit, and hp, they could take that and wear the medium armor.

I'm pretty sure the best class mp wise for this would be taru, but their hp and def are a hinderance, so I"m assuming a hume or mithra could pull this combo off.

As far as the cocoon casting time I'm not sure. I know metallic body is a long ass casting time, so I"m assuming to make it work you'd use both cocoon and m body during the pulls, then have them up when the mob gets to you. If they happen to wear during the fight instead of recasting, you would just throw up defender, if it did infact not stack with cocoon, or just use pollen to gain some additional hate.

Once again, it would be awesome if pollen generated hate, but I'm not sure if it does. It would also be nice if pollen went up with lvl, which it might, I'm not sure about that either. Because I know it cures for like 32ish in the dunes, so not sure if it ever gets any higher than a cure I would, and I know that cure I loses it's effectivness outside of the jungles >.>

[kazuri]

Re: War/blu could it work?

http://www.ffxizone.com/board/data/M...er_def_240.jpg

prepare yourselves.

[Freyr]

Re: War/blu could it work?

http://www.ffxizone.com/board/data/M...er_def_240.jpg

prepare yourselves.

Now that is scary Iria. The mobs in Qufim=OWNED. What were all the status effects on you. Whats your base def, defender, cacoon, and Def food.

Why did you bother blocking out your names

[LoneGamer]

Re: War/blu could it work?

There's a high level BRD in that shot, who cast double Minne on her. How much would that add, or Protect 4?

[Caspian]

Re: War/blu could it work?

Attack of only 79 and only 72 mp. Those are your two biggest problems. Not totally impossible to overcome, but definately some pretty big hurdles. I know pollen doesn't hardly cost anything to cast, but the hp it cures doesn't exactly go up exponentially with your level either. Ofcourse that much defense at that low of a level is a little bit of overkill. Could probably sacrifice some defense for attack. That low of attack you will need something to help generate more hate.

[iDrizzle]

Re: War/blu could it work?

Assuming since she was 25 defender was also on, which I think war gets at 25, been a long time. Also the def would probably be moreso around 500ish, since you got minnes, and high lvl prots.

I'm assuming if the person would have taken off defender, and seen the attack then, it woulda been around 150-170, which is not bad for that lvl. The mp isn't too bad either I didn't think. 72 mp is pretty much what my galka worked with til like mid 50s...now I only have 170, which is because of some crimson gear and adaman, which adds both hp and mp.

I like the pic ^^, too bad it isn't at lvl 75 so we can see what the stats would be then, but still cool .

[Feba]

Re: War/blu could it work?

Why would you bother blocking your name... and then not the one floating over your head? XD


Anyway, more relistic around that level is 300-400, for a WAR/BLU

It could make a ghetto Paladin for awhile, but I don't see it working consistantly.

[Spinnthrift]

Re: War/blu could it work?

Feba - I dislike the connotation of using War/Blu as a ghetto Paladin.

You don't play War/Blu and try and hate by spamming Pollen as a hate tool. Well - you can, but you're missing the point of War/Blu if you play it like that.

Blue Mage spells give you some very tasty and variable stat options when you set them. Combine this with the immense Defense bonus from Cocoon (which takes a single tick of resting to replenish) - and you have a job combination which plays totally differently to Paladin or even War/Whm.

You don't self heal except when you *really* have to.

Things this combo does well are:

1: Hold hate while taking minimal damage. When I started this combo in Qufim - I was taking 30 damage max per hit from Pugils (barring Criticals) at 21 - using Cocoon + Berserk. You do lose Boost + Counterattack, which is kinda sucky, but you get much better stats if you have the spells.

2: Act like a Great Axe War - with some minor spell utility. While your spells don't do damage as they would if you were Blu main - with the accuracy of a Great Axe, you can happily land things like Head Butt and stun mobs albeit for a short duration. While it's not enough to Stun lock a mob as would be the case with multiple Blue Mages - it's enough to stop a Bomb Toss.

It's not like War/Nin where you get 3 shadows and dual wield, it's not like Pld/War where you self heal to hold hate, it's not like War/Mnk with it's Boost and Counter. It's War/Blu and when you play it like War/Blu - it's a different style again.

Being able to pick out Beast Killer early, add in things like Auto-Regen + Cocoon or adding in a set of Dex mods (for added Acc) when you know you won't need to tank make this a viable and variable combination. The hard part - is getting people to realise the benefits without saying many of the oft used "truths" to reassure themselves that you're not capable of performing a role.

- this said, every person bar one* who has seen me use War/Blu has been impressed with the results. They've liked the ability to tank and do damge, and they've like the hate threshold potentials the job can set. They understand the need to rest for a tick in between fights to replenish Cocoon.

Saeriel.

*The one person who wasn't utterly impressed was a member of my LS, who felt that a Ninja tank would be a better solo tank. At which point his wife, slapped him down for being a newbie - explaining that the Whm had gone to sleep and that she the Blm wouldn't have a problem mainhealing - as well as nuking as I was taking less damage than she could cure without draining her mp pools. This was when I was one level lower than the Whm, and two levels lower than the rest of the party. Since then - he's also taken my War/Blu as tank of choice for BCNM'ing. We will see how it fares in Promyvion and let you know. I need to get Sacrarium for my Thf/Drg tests as unfortunately... I had some invites to party which have put my plans to test the two side by side on hold.

[Wiseman40]

Re: War/blu could it work?

How well does this combination handle solo?
I know I sound like a broken record here...

I'll be trying a few blu related options for both party and solo.

rdm/blu and blu/rdm seem interesting. I'm also going to try soloing with pld/blu.

I hadn't even considered war/blu but after reading this thread it seems like a viable option.