Blue Mage Compilation(Setups, Gear, Etc.)

Obviously I can't stop talking about blue mage since...I know little in comparison to the rest of the jobs

Made this thread for 40-75 starting at lv 40 since thats when we start to get the more powerful spells.

Post the traits you feel are the most useful for what you do in a exp pt, solo, or something specified. Obviously there are many things you can do so specify each list should be used for. Dont have to make a list for every lv but you can if you want and some gear options would be appreciated

Also spells you think (from any level) should be a permanent slot in every setup just for pure usefulness and such.

Like imho Sheep Song- very strong sleep and little resist has a wide range and useful during soloing

edit: some spells arent used enough and some are used too much so thats why this thread was made=)

*hit start button*

Khidir said:

Like imho Sheep Song- very strong sleep and little resist has a wide range and useful during soloing

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I dunno, I never had much success sleeping anything in exp PTs, be it with Sheep Song, Soporific, Pinecone Bomb, or Yawn. on things lower than VT though, no real problems.

Anyway, one obvious "permanent" spell would be Head Butt. Post-60 though, I'd use the AF body if you're gonna cast it in exp, or else the stun won't go off near as much (from my experience anyway).

As far as must-have job traits: Auto Refresh and Accuracy Bonus. I never went for Clear Mind, because I rarely ever rest in exp. Some people like to use Attack Bonus, but it's only +10 attack if memory serves correctly; not that impressive.

When I have room, I like to keep Uppercut on, at any level. 3 points for STR+2 DEX+1 is nice. Pinecone Bomb is nice at most levels, too; STR+1, and it's a ranged physical sleep that does decent damage (~200 in the mid-60s vs. VT-ITs, iirc).

As for attack spells... that depends on your level. I used Jet Steam and Mandibular Bite until probably around the late 50s to early 60s. Sickle Slash is also very nice until the mid-60s or so. I found Bludgeon to really drop off in damage by 50, and stopped setting it then, unlike some BLUs, who still use it at 75. -_-; Frenetic Rip, Hysteric Barrage, and Disseverment are all spells you'll always have set from the time you get them all the way to 75. And of course, Death Scissors is awesome for stacking with Sneak Attack until you get Cannonball at 70. Cannonball is also quite nice if you cast Cocoon first (and have Protect IV :3), especially when stacked with SA or CASA. Spinal Cleave is decent, but kinda overshadowed by Death Scissors unless you're fighting an Arcana.

As far as other spells... MP Drainkiss is pure awesomeness vs. Colibris. AF body and head make it even more worthwhile. On IT Greater Colibris at 73, I was getting over 150 MP when unresisted (with AF body/head; remember amorph > bird). I had similar results on regular colibris in the mid-60s. Vs. other mobs, not so great unless they are lower level, from my experience. Warm Up is quite nice as well, especially if you're lacking a bit in the accuracy department. Blank Gaze is nice if you don't have a dispeller or if they are too slow for your tastes, and is also quite nice vs. imps if your dispeller is a RDM (imps resist Dispel a lot, cuz it is dark-based, but Blank Gaze is light-based). The only annoying part is that you hafta be in front of the mob to use it, since it's a gaze attack. And finally, another obviously permanent spell from the time you get it: Refueling. It's only a 10% haste, unlike the Haste spell (which is 15%), but it costs a bit less MP than Haste, and you don't have to trouble your WHM or RDM with hasting you along with other DDs and the tank. It also lasts for 5 minutes on the dot; Haste only lasts 2 minutes and 58 seconds.

EDIT: Forgot to mention my total disrespect for Metallic Body. It's pure crap, and should never be used by anyone. It can't even absorb a whole hit most of the time.

Once you can get Clear Mind 2, I always had those 4 spells equipped unless I had a refresher in the party, preferrably RDM since with a BRD you gotta run away from the fight, to the mages. And even after that, the BRD is going to run back and give the melee some songs... So its annoying.

But, I normally only have about 3 physical spells equipped, and the rest are for support, ever since I hit 50 its been this way. My spells look something like this:

Head Butt
Mandibular Bite (or Death Scissors)
Sickle Slash

Refueling
Cold Wave
Wild Carrot
Magic Fruit
Poison Breath
Venom Shell
(something else to make clear mind, I forget the spell)
Soporific
Blank Gaze

I may have went over in points, I may not have used enough. But this is what my spells almost always look like. Solo and partying. (I definitely have Clear Mind 2 when I solo.) Some can be switched out and such, for things like metallic body and cocoon.

Pinecomb Bomb is a sure sleep and the range is out of control. Some traits you need on top of what was mentioned are: Store TP, Conserve MP, Max HP Boost +30 (MP Boost is only +10 lol) and Magic Attack Bonus (+20).

I always have Head Butt set. It is by far my most used spell ,I spam it so much, I could be called the headbanger BLU, lol (corny I know >.<). Magic Fruit is ALWAYS set. Not for regular cures, but for emergencies. Nothing like being able to cure the party's healer when they've taken too much hate from a bad situation. After that, I just try and go with the best DD spells available to me at my lvl, and going by sub. Death Scissors is all but pointless w/o /THF. And something someone in here said a while ago, and I've done ever since, TA> Frenetic Rip/Disseverment is a great alternative to trying to get your party to keep lining up for CASATA Death Scissors. AF Body + any acc gear seems to do well for me with this. As far as JT's, Auto Refresh (number of BLU's disagree with me on this, but I stand by it), Accuracy Bonus are the main 2. After that, it just depends on what I have room for, usually going to Store TP/Conserve MP, then maybe Attack Bonus. This setup allows me the most flexibility, making it much easier to adapt to any sudden bad situations. (I sometimes have Pinecomb Bomb set, but most of the time we have competant sleepers, and if the Sleep doesn't kick in, you run the risk of waking the mob that was just slept).

In the end, figure out how you like to play the job, and set everything accordingly. That is the beauty of the job.

Your permanent spells are as follows:

Head Butt (always)

Refueling (always... unless you are lucky enough to be in a party where they care to haste u as well Refueling 12% haste Regular haste 14%, this rarely happens and I almost always have this set)

Magic Fruit (always when I'm soloing, most of the time when I'm in a party, I occasionally take it out when there is really no time I'm healing to take my str up a little)

Some form of Auto Refresh (The only time I dont set it is when I do sky gods that arent Kirin... in which case I completly skip it in favor of stat boosts) I added all blu's auto refresh info at different levels below. When you initially set it you only have so many set points and it seems to take up all of them. Don't fret just keep the rest of your spells very focused to the situation u are in and use them well.

Conserve MP (3 spells Chaotic eye, Zephyr Mantle, Fire Spit. You only have to pick 2 of them. I usually go with one of them and Firespit for the +str but if you're trying to squeeze some more spells in do the other 2 together)

Accuracy Bonus (Basically at 75 this is always set just because Disseverment and Frenetic Rip are both good and make this ability as a combination before that I didnt set it unless I was missing alot)

Cocoon (+3 vit for 1 set point, 10mp for 50% defense boost. I always try to squeeze this in... I do however sacrifice it sometimes to squeeze something else in... before I had sea this often happened trying to get in Hysteric Barrage)

The mention about MP Drainkiss and the colibris above is very important when selecting your spells. When you pay attention to your monster correlation you can get a big boost out of them, 1.2x normal damage (or with AF hat 1.4x normal damage). Bad blus dont pay attention to the correlation at all... dont be one.


Auto Refresh
The points system for Auto Refresh has nothing to do with Blue Magic set points (the ones you use to equip spells) - it's specifically about obtaining Auto Refresh.

Different spells weigh more/less toward triggering Auto Refresh when equipped, which is where the points system came from. You can have Auto Refresh by any combination of the spells listed below as long as the sum of their Auto Refresh points add up to 8 points or higher (based on that list, not on set points).




Level Available Spell Set Point cost Auto Refresh points
44 Stinking Gas 2 1
50 Frightful Roar 3 2
50 Self-Destruct 3 2
52 Cold Wave 1 1
58 Light of Penance 5 2
64 Voracious Trunk 4 3
74 Actinic Burst 4 4
75 Plasma Charge 5 4

These are possible Auto Refresh combos, but of course, you can make other combinations as at least 8 points are applied from this set.

Level Available Spell 1 Spell 2 Spell 3 Spell 4 Spell 5 Set Point Cost
58 Frightful Roar Self-Destruct Cold Wave Light of Penance Stinking Gas 14
64 Frightful Roar Self-Destruct Cold Wave Voracious Trunk 11
64 Frightful Roar Self-Destruct Stinking Gas Voracious Trunk 12
64 Frightful Roar Self-Destruct Light of Penance Voracious Trunk 15
74 Actinic Burst Voracious Trunk Cold Wave 9
75 Frightful Roar Plasma Charge Self-Destruct 11
75 Actinic Burst Plasma Charge 9


Good Luck and Happy spell hunting!

the traits I set are:

Auto Refresh
Conserve MP
Accuracy Bonus
Attack Bonus

I usually do something like this:

Frenetic Rip
Disseverment
Head Butt
Uppercut
Battle Dance
Fire Spit
Chaotic eye
Actinic Burst
Plasma Charge
Warm-Up
---------
37/45

These are my main spells. Head Butt for stunning, Warm-Up for buffing. If I'm without a RDM or WHM, I set Refueling. If the RDM gets low on MP or w/e other reason there might be, I also set Refueling. Otherwise I leave it out. If need be, I also set Magic Hammer or MP draining spells, depending on situation and mobs we're fighting. I might also set a healing spell, but most of the time I don't.

Lastly, with the left over spells, I set things to boost stats.

with in regard to my lv Sheep Song has never ceased to amaze me

it sleeps mobs of every tier to me ^_^ but I have to take in account that 50+ mobs gain a lot of magic resistance

some good info didnt look through it all but will soon

I'll post my spells in a bit some I plan on using until i get better

what about suggested gear? do you gear yourself for your main attack spells or do you spread them out to enhance all of your spell abilities?

edit: what about terror touch it's one of those physical spells how well does it do?

Khidir said:

with in regard to my lv Sheep Song has never ceased to amaze me

it sleeps mobs of every tier to me ^_^ but I have to take in account that 50+ mobs gain a lot of magic resistance

some good info didnt look through it all but will soon

I'll post my spells in a bit some I plan on using until i get better

what about suggested gear? do you gear yourself for your main attack spells or do you spread them out to enhance all of your spell abilities?

edit: what about terror touch it's one of those physical spells how well does it do?

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I think Terror Touch is about as effective as Bio (just without the HP drain.) But idk.

Also, Soporific has always been useful to me whenever things get ugly. It rarely fails to sleep any of the mobs I use it on, and the AoE range isnt all too large to hit things that havent linked. Pinecone bomb is also all well and good too, but seems to take effect less when I use it compared to Soporific. But when I have TP, I definitely use it with pinecone bomb if the situation calls for it.

Negorissimo said:

Pinecomb Bomb is a sure sleep and the range is out of control. Some traits you need on top of what was mentioned are: Store TP, Conserve MP, Max HP Boost +30 (MP Boost is only +10 lol) and Magic Attack Bonus (+20).

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I always saw BLU's Store TP as kinda useless. Wasting points on Screwdriver just for .1 more TP per hit? Bleh. Max HP Boost? Why on earth would you ever waste 6-7 points for 30 HP? Or more accurately, why would you waste ANY slots for HP... unless you are going to Spirits Within something. I know breath attacks are HP-based, but they also get resisted too much to be useful. And Magic Atk. Bonus... the only use for that I can see is for boosting Magic Hammer damage.

Conserve MP I forgot to mention though. If you have free slots, Conserve MP is kinda nice. I don't go out of my way to get it in there, though.

Khidir said:

what about suggested gear? do you gear yourself for your main attack spells or do you spread them out to enhance all of your spell abilities?

edit: what about terror touch it's one of those physical spells how well does it do?

Click to expand...

STR > Accuracy > DEX. In that order. MND gear is nice to have on hand for Magic Fruit/Hammer, too, but try to macro it in rather than wearing it all the time.

I used Terror Touch a bit after I got it, with PLD tanks. The damage isn't all that great though, and if you're just trying to weaken the mob, Awful Eye is probably better; it's a pretty strong STR Down effect, and magical. If I remember correctly, the Attack Down effect is -10%.

Conserve Mp, auto refresh, and acc. bonus really...for me anyway. And Kyrial, I use bludgeon at 75 lol...18 mp for 200+ dmg is good in my opinion.

Icewolf said:

Conserve Mp, auto refresh, and acc. bonus really...for me anyway. And Kyrial, I use bludgeon at 75 lol...18 mp for 200+ dmg is good in my opinion.

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You don't think the 30TP sucks?

Courtney said:

You don't think the 30TP sucks?

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Well you are gonna give mass amounts of tp really regardless of what u do as long as you use:

Frenetic Rip

Hysteric Barrage

Disseverment

I see your point though but if im giving the mob alot of tp already...if bludgeon is efficient for me....yea i would use it

-Janko

Courtney said:

You don't think the 30TP sucks?

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Well, do you have any data showing that it acctually gives 30%? In that case spell learning would of been a hell of alot faster, so I doubt it's 30%. But even if it was 30%, mobs at that lvl are downed so quickly it doesnt matter, and the tp attacks they do are...meh. Yeah, I dont think it would be good on gods, nm/hnm, or that type of thing, but sure for exp.

Icewolf said:

Well, do you have any data showing that it acctually gives 30%? In that case spell learning would of been a hell of alot faster, so I doubt it's 30%. But even if it was 30%, mobs at that lvl are downed so quickly it doesnt matter, and the tp attacks they do are...meh. Yeah, I dont think it would be good on gods, nm/hnm, or that type of thing, but sure for exp.

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It's easily measured (and pretty easy to see solo at low levels where you rely on Bludgeon to do most of your damage). I don't have a screenshot if that's what you're asking, but it's common knowledge that Bludgeon gives 10TP per hit. I'll find you a link if you really need one.

Mobs at 75 do die pretty fast, but their specials are annoying enough that you still want to avoid them as much as possible. Cursed Sphere, and Deafening Tantra (sp?) alone mess you around enough that I would have thought that there would be better spells to deal damage with that have either a single hit, a higher base damage (Bludgeon caps at D21... Jet Stream even has a Damage of 39) or both.

Icewolf said:

Well, do you have any data showing that it acctually gives 30%?

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BLU/BST. Bludgeon, then Charm. Doesn't take a long drawn out test to realize Blue Magic multihits are considered individual spells for each hit, resulting in a flat 10% TP given to mobs per hit.

Courtney said:

It's easily measured (and pretty easy to see solo at low levels where you rely on Bludgeon to do most of your damage). I don't have a screenshot if that's what you're asking, but it's common knowledge that Bludgeon gives 10TP per hit. I'll find you a link if you really need one.

Mobs at 75 do die pretty fast, but their specials are annoying enough that you still want to avoid them as much as possible. Cursed Sphere, and Deafening Tantra (sp?) alone mess you around enough that I would have thought that there would be better spells to deal damage with that have either a single hit, a higher base damage (Bludgeon caps at D21... Jet Stream even has a Damage of 39) or both.

Click to expand...

Well, honestly, I don't think it matters unless you're fighting wyverns or mamool ja's. When I exp on imps, they die within 10 sec <.<; They only have tiem to use 1 or 2 abilities each fight, and that's without casting bludgeon. They wouldn't magically cast 3 just because someone casted Bludgeon

necroing my own thread(but i have a good reason!)

i'm at a dilemma/crossroad/etc. rather than making a new thread about similar issue I can just make my own 'reference' thread i'll bookmark and bump as I have questions. (if this is okay)

As Uzor has made a point in the Morrigan Body thread, blu spells before 61 have damage caps. I have been noticing them as I play with /thf on sneak attack.

Up until 38(from 30) I have been subbing thf and spiking bludgeon with chr swap(About +13 thanks to bst gear and spells).

Now I have a new toy called Jet Stream, there is uppercut but it's not as potentially powerful since at my lv I exp off of vermin.

Doing tests solo, Jet Stream=230-280 ep mob or dc

Sneak Attack>Jet Stream= 276-350(somewhat rare) and newest this afternoon 376(i assume this is the cap)

exp pt (vt or it)

Jet Stream-80

Sneak Attack Jet Stream=175

Pre-Jet Stream

Bludgeon=110 solo ep-em

Sneak Attack Bludgeon- varies a bit usually by a large range 80-150ish on vt or it.


The choice seems obvious the problem?

Jet Stream is dex% related correct? Uppercut(when not used on vermin exp mobs should save a bit of mp but do similar results even though its one hit)

I stack about +21 dex and +13 str for my Jet Stream and str/dex related spells and swap to my chr set for using bludgeon(now not sneak attacked) for decent damage.

I dont understand how sneak attack and trick attack work, I'm also asking if stacking more dex and selling my str+ rings (puissance and courage) for dex rings will boost my damage more, since all I know is that sneak attack is dex related and trick attack is agi related.

As I get higher up are there any powerful agi% spells I could reserve for trick attack?

I'm thinking of splitting(when my lv reaches 60) Chain Affinity, Sneak Attack, Trick Attack.

Ie(using spells i know for my lv since I dont remember the ones at 60)

Lets say Shining Blade>Chain Affinity>Terror Touch= Gravitation

then Sneak Attack>Jet Stream or Uppercut

then Trick Attack> Another powerful spell

would splitting these job abilities improve my dot, or would it not make any difference since the figures would add up as if i did then all together at once ie CA>WS>SA>TA>spell=SC?

thanks i'll have to check back in the morn gotta run to work now hope my questions are clear enough

You haven't reached the Blue Magic Skill cap at the same level you get the spells. Bludgeon should cap out at around capped skill 40+ with capped blue magic

376 is simply the cap with your current blue magic skill and stats. The actual damage cap is higher then that.

edit: to be honest, I don't remember what blue magic skill the different spells cap at. I just know that the spells post-61 can't be reached with the current blue magic cap.

Also, DEX for SA and AGI for TA only matter for THF main. THF sub, be it for BLU spells or any melee's hit or WS, doesn't get the DEX and AGI modifiers. (For THF sub, a successful SA is just a guaranteed hit and guaranteed crit, and a successful TA will dump the hate from that attack onto the TA target. No DEX/AGI bonuses, and no Assassin either.)

For physical BLU spells, you only need to worry about the following:

- Blue Magic skill (read: AF body)
- Sword skill and accuracy (*unless* it's a 1-hit spell *and* you're SA'ing it, in which case all the (one) hits are guaranteed to land) - this is particularly true when you're using multi-hit spells and noticing a wide variation of damage due to some hits not landing
- STR
- Secondary modifier(s)

As for times when you have to decide between STR and secondary modifiers, if it makes it easier, think of STR's basic function in the damage calculations as being like a secondary modifier of about STR_25% (if it already has a STR modifier, add 25% to it). Then pick out gear to swap in, appropriately.

For example, Sickle Slash is DEX_50%, so a (insert gigas here) bracelet would be a bad idea for it, since the -DEX will count against you more than the +STR will count for you.

However, Frenetic Rip is STR_20%, DEX_20%, so you'd be *slightly* better off with a gigas bracelet, though obviously not as much better off as if you could get all that STR without losing DEX.

And Death Scissors is STR_60%, so the gigas bracelet is an awesome idea since the -DEX doesn't amount to a hill of beans (aside from the effect on accuracy, but Death Scissors is best used SA'd anyway...).