Black Mage Spell Questions

Sanoske

Sanoske

Half man, half amazing.
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Joined
Oct 9, 2004
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39
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BlackMage-Male
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I'm saving up money so that when I get home from college I'll be all set for leveling to 60+. I've already bought TM Coat +1, Ice Staff, Dark Staff, Freeze, etc. I also plan on buying Water Staff because I hear that Water III replaces Freeze as the popular MB pretty easily.

Anyways, I was wondering about a few things. How important are the AM spells? I've bought Freeze and plan on buying Burst because they are inexpensive. However, all the rest are in the 150-200k range. I don't have the money right now to spend on these... I'd rather start saving for Phantom Earrings and hopefully at least 1 Genius Ring.

Also, the numerous -Ga spells. I hear that they become used somewhere around 55 in Valley of Sorrows... but before that they're not really useable. I plan on buying the approptiate ones at 55... but until then.. will I really need them?
 
There are only a few levels where AM are really of any use (I'm thinking it was around 50-52 or so) and that's just Freeze. Usually it's more mp efficient to just MB with whatever your strongest non-AM spell is. Some people get that ZOMG high over AM MBs but most of the time they'll just setup Distortion for it so you'll be fine with Freeze.
 
i used freeze a few times for magic burst, but the mp/damage ratio just wouldn't cut it for higher chains. i never used the other AM in exp parties.

the -aga are pretty important, i think, as they become used more and more for magic burst.
 
The only practical time I used AMs was the Maat fight. Even then I coulda gotten by without. Save your money for the high priced, yet much more useful, sleepaga2
 
I agree with Alanon that AM is useless pretty much and that Sleepga 2 is important.

Actually I think Ga spells are fairly useless too. Still a worse dmg/mp ratio... and even bursting them being worth it is very iffy.. I mean... well, I won't argue against getting every spell, but if you're going to skip some based on price AM and the attack -GA are expendable.
 
you won't use AM spells unless you have a really good pld in the party and no ranger. The reason being is cover. Ranger needs cover for whenever he uses his weaponskill. I have NEVER used Tornado in a party. Furthermore I have never been in position to use Flare in a party, but I don't know how well it works because I don't have it.

It's all very dependant on your situation as to wether or not you can use AM. It's useless if you don't burst with it.

here is what your macro will look like

/ma <Freeze> <t>
/wait 1
/p <Casting Spell> <Freeze> <Ready to Start Skillchain> <Distortion>
/wait 4
/p GO NOW!

It will do 1000-1400 damage.
All in all, If you are worried about saving money, just buy Freeze.

Burst looks really cool tho :-)
 
alanon said:
The only practical time I used AMs was the Maat fight. Even then I coulda gotten by without. Save your money for the high priced, yet much more useful, sleepaga2
Click to expand...

I would highly suggest you all stop this damn AH and go quest Sleepga II and save yourself 200k or whatever ungodly price it is now.
 
Tsumaru said:
alanon said:
The only practical time I used AMs was the Maat fight. Even then I coulda gotten by without. Save your money for the high priced, yet much more useful, sleepaga2
Click to expand...

I would highly suggest you all stop this damn AH and go quest Sleepga II and save yourself 200k or whatever ungodly price it is now.
Click to expand...

Was curious to the price as well. so went on and checked.... 400k... ><

I will definitely quest this spell if possible.

EDIT: Just checked the quest for this... there's definitely a reason this scroll is 400k. Not only are the quests you need to complete beforehand a pain in the ass.... but the wtf is with the quest itself? You need 12 lvl 70's to fight an NM in Boyahda? That's just a ridiculous amount of work for this spell.
 
I agree with my fellow blm's here, sleepaga II is invaluable compared to spells like Quake and Tornado. Sure they were fun to show off with for a while but that wears off very quickly.

Flare and freeze are your best investments (freeze for bursting, flare for matt) ....Id even suggest burst and maybe flood but Tornado and quake are definately useless at your level.

Sleepaga II is expensive but it is definately worth the money. Time to start farming!!!
 
Just want to comment on AM; it's very MP-intensive, but it does a lot more damage than just about any other spell at your level. It's got a bad damage/MP ratio, but I believe it has a good damage/time ratio when MBd compared to other spells you could use. If you're usually low on MP and have to rest during fights, then you shouldn't cast AM. But if you've got a lot of MP left over, you mgiht as well spend some of it on the AM.

Plus, if you MB with AM, the melee pretty much have to watch you and only SC when you're ready. All too often I've seen people SC without giving much warning to the BLM, and so he misses the MB.
 
Levelling to 75, I had only two parties try to burst with AM... neither particularly successfully.

It virtually uses all the BLMs MP, to AM burst every fight, so the BLM really can't do much else.
If the mob doesn't die from the burst, the party aggro is screwed, and you use a tremendous amount of MP trying to save the BLM.
If the mellees aren't used to the timing, (because the BLM starts the renkei) the burst misses, the mob doesn't die, and again you have to save the BLM.

Really, it isn't efficient, it screws aggro, and it's much harder to consistently pull off....
 
Every party seems to love distortion.........
so freeze is the only AM you'll ever need.

Alot of BLMs will say not to even bother with AM, but screw'em.... AM is fun.
/p ok guys you start the sc when I say so!!!!
like how cool is that???
ffxi is a game... have fun ^-^


As for me and the other ancient spells.....
freeze - must have (till you get bored of AM around 55ish)
tornado - 2nd AM spell... i dunno wind magic is sorta iffy to me most of the time.
burst - cant say it looks THAT cool to merit purchasing if its to expensive. Some parties like fragmentation as well.
flood - probably my fave AM... looks cool!!! not that useful in a pt really
flare - when it costed 30k i still didnt buy it.... call me gimp if you want... i dont got it.
quake - costs to much... dont buy it....

if spells cost alot then you can always try farm them. I joined a skillup party once in monastic cavern... got quake.
Zha Da Adamantking popped, while clearing the room water 4 dropped, i got that then.
I was missing all -ga spells between waterga1 and aeroga2 (so a whole series), got 1 of those missing spells somewhere too.
Stonega2 drops from same quake mob.


As far as equips go.... for a BLM alot of equips are just for show. 1 INT is like 2 dmg extra on your spells so you dont have to go out of your way to get that super +1 equip. I'm not saying equips are totally useless to mages, but in comparison to a melee character, they almost are.
 
Although my BLM is only 30, i have all the aga spells. I dont really have any experience using hte AM magic, but the agas have been useful for me. In smaller areas with more enclosed camps, i used my aga for bursting quite a bit. Also -agas are awesome for Garrisons if you happen to do any! Trust me on this one :)
 
Sleepga II is way overpriced for the use it'll get. It's a level 56 spell. If at level 56+ your party is pulling hoards of aggro, there's a lot more wrong with the party than the blm w/o sleepga II. I'm level 53 right now, and while I don't remember when I got sleepga, I know I've had it for a long time. Aside from a session of BCNM 40 vs the worms, I've never needed AOE sleep. Occasionally, it's necessary to sleep an add, or maybe the puller makes a small mistake, and such a mistake is often best handled with a single target sleep. If you're fighting in a zone so wide open that you can sleep adds with AOE spells, your party would have to try really hard to grab a whole hoard. And at 56? If you find yourself saving your party from destruction by sleepga II'ing hoards of bad pulls and adds, save yourself the hassle and disband. That said, Sleepga II is good to fill out your spell roster. You already bought a dozen plus spells that parties never need or want you to use. Might as well go for the gold. I'm going to be pretty concerned if my sleepga II gets more use than my Elemental Spikes trio.
 
I've never bothered with AM spells. I have bought only Burst and Freeze because they were really cheap at the AH. The Damage/MP ratio is worse then most spells, and it isn't really feasible to burst with them in parties when you are SC'ing every battle.

My two cents.
 
sorry, im a melee :cry: , i know what freeze, flare, etc are, but im curious about the AM letters, what they mean?
 
Ancient Magic, the collective name for the 50-60 big ass spells that BLMs get, Flood, Burst, Flare, Tornado, Freeze and Quake
 
You don't really need any ancient spells, but you should get Burst and Freeze since they are so cheap. Also, Sleepga 2 is important. You might not use it much when you first get it, but it's invaluable down the road when Sleep 2 gets resisted... or if you're fighting hnm in a dangerous zone full of aggro, or when doing dynamis (sleepga2 is top priority for blm in dynamis). The standard elemental-ga spells are also very important, especially the level 3's, as people still burst with those at 75, or some nm/hnm/whatever will have weaker helper mobs that follow it around and blm's need to cast their ga spells to get rid of them to make fighting the nm easier (ie, mother globe in sky).
 
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