I am recycling this previously written guide for this message board as well>
First I would like to say there are two intentions I have in putting together this guide. First and foremost I respect the blackmage job as the most deadly damage dealers in the game and hope to show why no party is complete without a blackmage. Secondly I would like to dispell the notion that blackmage is an easy job to play and bring to the forefront that ineptitude of the blackmage personally who say so. That being said, I will go into what it takes to be what I would consider the best. First off, always be prepared. For many I hope this is obvious but for some it is not.
Always have your subjob capped. Choose from the following subjobs> Whitemage, Redmage, Summoner. I prefer whitemage. Always have food. I suggest carrying 2 sets of food. Expensive and cheap, to use if at all at your discression. If your melees are too cheap for meat mithrakabobs, I would leave the party at certain levels, but at earlier I would just stay and not use food myself. For cheap food, I suggest just buying Kazham pineapples at the vendor in Windurst Waters. For expensive... your call as to what you can afford. Always have items that create sneak and invisible on you, even if eventually your subjob will be able to. Some monsters will attack you if you cast magic from a very wide range. Keep them in case. Also I suggest a hi ether on you at all times, in cast escape must be used but your 2 hour ability and MPs are gone.
Money is an issue, and will be your most formadible challenge. You must not fall behind on scrolls. Get them all, yes all of em. All your subjob's scrolls too. Get morian earrings at 30. Get +int rings. Get black cape at 32 and save for red cape +1 at 43. You will use until 71 so worth getting the +1. You want a wand from 1 > 50. Invest in the most int possible. At 51 you will want a dark and ice staff. Both of them. But if you are only going to get one, get dark staff.
Look at this huge investment before deciding on your race. Tarutaru is going to use this gear to the extreme. Other races will use this to catch up to poorly equiped tarutaru. Some races will have this gear and not even match up to poorly equipped tarutaru. If you are elf or galka already, I suggest making a new character for blackmage, unless only intended to level for subjob purposes. This is your choice of course, and I'm not going to make an argument out of this, but this is my suggestion, since int and MP are just about the only thing that matter to you.
The following terms are to be defined once for new players>
Nuke: When casting elemental magic. Stone, Water, Aero, Fire, Blizzard and Thunder. Agas and higher level spells apply.
Hate: Nuking creates hate. Provoking creates hate. Someone with the level 5 warrior skill provoke will be required in your party, because the monster must not hate you the most. Whoever has the most hate the monster will attack. Note: healing also creates hate, remember this when using subjob to cure. There should be one person in the party selected not for damage but their ability to create hate and withstand damage. My preference is Paladin.
TP: All members of your party who attack the monster physically or are hit by the monster physically will gain TP points. At 100 TP they can use a weapon skill. Note> Monsters also gain TP, so mages must not attack the monster physically. Cast, or rest. Do not hurt your party's exp by meleeing. Mages who do that disgust me personally.
Skillchain: When 100 tp is gathered by multiple members they can skillchain for additional damage of a certain element or set of elements.
Magic Burst/MB: You must cast a spell of the appropriate element to the skillchain in a 5 second window after the effect of the chain. It will do additional damage. Use a strong nuke.
Now to the more advanced part. Battle strategy.
There are 7 things you must take into account at all times. The order to which you rank them should be based on the specific party makeup, monster, level, player skill and style, ext. But pay attention to all of these. I usually rank them in this order.
Hate Management: This is the priority. It's possible you are going to be in a party with a paladin with kraken club and a thief who can SATA him, but the odds are, you're going to have to hold back a little bit. The best strategy is to not use elemental magic until a decent chunk of its HP is gone. What you do with that time is going to be based on the party. Do you need to rest for MP? Do you need to cast debuffs? This is based on your other members and how the battle appears to be flowing. Start safely with your nukes and nuke more and more and earlier on based on how much hate your tank can hold until you find the sweet spot.
"Why can't I just nuke? I can take a few hits!"
Well for a few reasons. For one, when the mob is chasing you the melees can't hit it. So you're hurting their damage and depriving them of TP. For another, the odds are it's not the tank who's going to voke it back, because the tank will spam voke every 30 if they're any good at all. It's some monk or darkknight of thief who can't take the damage. All this will lead to the whitemage being sapped of MPs, someone maybe dying and the chain unable to reach 5. Note: If your damage is so high versus your melee then in some instances treading the aggro line is ok. I will usually get hit once or twice every other chain. Just don't go overboard. But look for the sweet spot, it's where the best xp/hour is.
Exp Chain: You are in a unique position to pump in MPs when and how you want. As said earlier, you have to consider the timing of the exp chain. The timer for myself is internal, and I am unable to express so you can attempt with a stop watch, though I am sure you can find the times yourself if desired. If you're not going to make exp chain 5 and you know it, make sure you make 4. Cut your losses. Maybe you won't make exp chain 3 even, be sure to do your party and make 2 at least. As long as hate management allows, pump as many MPs as you need to do chain as high as possible.
MB timing: It's alright if you rest in mid battle, I do all the time. But pay attention to TP calls. Know when it's time to get up. When the time is right, make sure your MB connects.
MP Management: For many blackmage the most difficult. Hesitate from using such spells as Flare, Freeze, Tornado, Quake, Burst and Flood. They are MP killers. Only use Aga spells such as Firaga or Thundaga as magic bursts. Rest whenever not casting. Hold back nuking on earlier chains where it can be killed with less nuking in time. If the monster has MP, use aspir every minute.
Spell Variance: There are certain elementals monsters are weak too. Use those. There are days of the week that certain elements are stronger. If the monster is not strong, use those too. Try using your most powerful regular nuke if the mob is not strong against. These are the spells I like to vary when attacking. I find they give the damage / Mp ratio and damage / time ratio that blackmages need to have. Unless fighting undead, use drain every minute.
TP Management: Pay attention to your party members TP. When do they have it, when do they need it. Are they going to skillchain this mob? Should you hold back nuking because the skillchain will kill it anyway? Constantly ask youself these questions. I like to hold back on chain 4 until the melees all have 100 tp, and then finish the mob. That way they can start chain 5 mob with a skillchain and I follow with a powerful MB. This ensures the most amount of exp possible.
Elemental Seal: Use this every 15 minutes. I don't care if you use it to cast Slow to be sure it hits, or if you use it while MBing. I like to use it while casting Aspir. Just don't forget you have it.
Also, Elemental Enfeebles>> I will give credit to this writeup to Yuanlang of the warcry messageboard.
Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Thunder > Water > Fire
This is the order of elemental weakness.
Elemental debuffs erase each other in the same manner.
Burn > Frost > Choke > Rasp > Shock > Drown > Burn
This means you have the following choices:
Shock + Frost: Hit rate
This combo lowers spell resists and phisical evade. This is the most commonly used combo for exp party. It helps the melees hit better and helps enfeebling spells land.
Shock + Burn + Choke: Maximize damage.
This is used when the melees can hit without problem. So instead of lowering evade, you are lower elemental defence and physical defence. It's also very useful in magic intensive teams.
Rasp+Drown+Frost: melee debuff.
This can be used for skill ups. Lower enemy hit rate and damage, while increase your own hitrate by lowering enemy evade.
There are a few other 2 element combos, suck as Drown+Choke or Rasp+Burn, but they are less commmonly used.
I will point out that the above information is accurate but does not take into account how important the mob's element is in determining which debuffs to cast. If it will affect and/or if it will stick.
First I would like to say there are two intentions I have in putting together this guide. First and foremost I respect the blackmage job as the most deadly damage dealers in the game and hope to show why no party is complete without a blackmage. Secondly I would like to dispell the notion that blackmage is an easy job to play and bring to the forefront that ineptitude of the blackmage personally who say so. That being said, I will go into what it takes to be what I would consider the best. First off, always be prepared. For many I hope this is obvious but for some it is not.
Always have your subjob capped. Choose from the following subjobs> Whitemage, Redmage, Summoner. I prefer whitemage. Always have food. I suggest carrying 2 sets of food. Expensive and cheap, to use if at all at your discression. If your melees are too cheap for meat mithrakabobs, I would leave the party at certain levels, but at earlier I would just stay and not use food myself. For cheap food, I suggest just buying Kazham pineapples at the vendor in Windurst Waters. For expensive... your call as to what you can afford. Always have items that create sneak and invisible on you, even if eventually your subjob will be able to. Some monsters will attack you if you cast magic from a very wide range. Keep them in case. Also I suggest a hi ether on you at all times, in cast escape must be used but your 2 hour ability and MPs are gone.
Money is an issue, and will be your most formadible challenge. You must not fall behind on scrolls. Get them all, yes all of em. All your subjob's scrolls too. Get morian earrings at 30. Get +int rings. Get black cape at 32 and save for red cape +1 at 43. You will use until 71 so worth getting the +1. You want a wand from 1 > 50. Invest in the most int possible. At 51 you will want a dark and ice staff. Both of them. But if you are only going to get one, get dark staff.
Look at this huge investment before deciding on your race. Tarutaru is going to use this gear to the extreme. Other races will use this to catch up to poorly equiped tarutaru. Some races will have this gear and not even match up to poorly equipped tarutaru. If you are elf or galka already, I suggest making a new character for blackmage, unless only intended to level for subjob purposes. This is your choice of course, and I'm not going to make an argument out of this, but this is my suggestion, since int and MP are just about the only thing that matter to you.
The following terms are to be defined once for new players>
Nuke: When casting elemental magic. Stone, Water, Aero, Fire, Blizzard and Thunder. Agas and higher level spells apply.
Hate: Nuking creates hate. Provoking creates hate. Someone with the level 5 warrior skill provoke will be required in your party, because the monster must not hate you the most. Whoever has the most hate the monster will attack. Note: healing also creates hate, remember this when using subjob to cure. There should be one person in the party selected not for damage but their ability to create hate and withstand damage. My preference is Paladin.
TP: All members of your party who attack the monster physically or are hit by the monster physically will gain TP points. At 100 TP they can use a weapon skill. Note> Monsters also gain TP, so mages must not attack the monster physically. Cast, or rest. Do not hurt your party's exp by meleeing. Mages who do that disgust me personally.
Skillchain: When 100 tp is gathered by multiple members they can skillchain for additional damage of a certain element or set of elements.
Magic Burst/MB: You must cast a spell of the appropriate element to the skillchain in a 5 second window after the effect of the chain. It will do additional damage. Use a strong nuke.
Now to the more advanced part. Battle strategy.
There are 7 things you must take into account at all times. The order to which you rank them should be based on the specific party makeup, monster, level, player skill and style, ext. But pay attention to all of these. I usually rank them in this order.
Hate Management: This is the priority. It's possible you are going to be in a party with a paladin with kraken club and a thief who can SATA him, but the odds are, you're going to have to hold back a little bit. The best strategy is to not use elemental magic until a decent chunk of its HP is gone. What you do with that time is going to be based on the party. Do you need to rest for MP? Do you need to cast debuffs? This is based on your other members and how the battle appears to be flowing. Start safely with your nukes and nuke more and more and earlier on based on how much hate your tank can hold until you find the sweet spot.
"Why can't I just nuke? I can take a few hits!"
Well for a few reasons. For one, when the mob is chasing you the melees can't hit it. So you're hurting their damage and depriving them of TP. For another, the odds are it's not the tank who's going to voke it back, because the tank will spam voke every 30 if they're any good at all. It's some monk or darkknight of thief who can't take the damage. All this will lead to the whitemage being sapped of MPs, someone maybe dying and the chain unable to reach 5. Note: If your damage is so high versus your melee then in some instances treading the aggro line is ok. I will usually get hit once or twice every other chain. Just don't go overboard. But look for the sweet spot, it's where the best xp/hour is.
Exp Chain: You are in a unique position to pump in MPs when and how you want. As said earlier, you have to consider the timing of the exp chain. The timer for myself is internal, and I am unable to express so you can attempt with a stop watch, though I am sure you can find the times yourself if desired. If you're not going to make exp chain 5 and you know it, make sure you make 4. Cut your losses. Maybe you won't make exp chain 3 even, be sure to do your party and make 2 at least. As long as hate management allows, pump as many MPs as you need to do chain as high as possible.
MB timing: It's alright if you rest in mid battle, I do all the time. But pay attention to TP calls. Know when it's time to get up. When the time is right, make sure your MB connects.
MP Management: For many blackmage the most difficult. Hesitate from using such spells as Flare, Freeze, Tornado, Quake, Burst and Flood. They are MP killers. Only use Aga spells such as Firaga or Thundaga as magic bursts. Rest whenever not casting. Hold back nuking on earlier chains where it can be killed with less nuking in time. If the monster has MP, use aspir every minute.
Spell Variance: There are certain elementals monsters are weak too. Use those. There are days of the week that certain elements are stronger. If the monster is not strong, use those too. Try using your most powerful regular nuke if the mob is not strong against. These are the spells I like to vary when attacking. I find they give the damage / Mp ratio and damage / time ratio that blackmages need to have. Unless fighting undead, use drain every minute.
TP Management: Pay attention to your party members TP. When do they have it, when do they need it. Are they going to skillchain this mob? Should you hold back nuking because the skillchain will kill it anyway? Constantly ask youself these questions. I like to hold back on chain 4 until the melees all have 100 tp, and then finish the mob. That way they can start chain 5 mob with a skillchain and I follow with a powerful MB. This ensures the most amount of exp possible.
Elemental Seal: Use this every 15 minutes. I don't care if you use it to cast Slow to be sure it hits, or if you use it while MBing. I like to use it while casting Aspir. Just don't forget you have it.
Also, Elemental Enfeebles>> I will give credit to this writeup to Yuanlang of the warcry messageboard.
Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Thunder > Water > Fire
This is the order of elemental weakness.
Elemental debuffs erase each other in the same manner.
Burn > Frost > Choke > Rasp > Shock > Drown > Burn
This means you have the following choices:
Shock + Frost: Hit rate
This combo lowers spell resists and phisical evade. This is the most commonly used combo for exp party. It helps the melees hit better and helps enfeebling spells land.
Shock + Burn + Choke: Maximize damage.
This is used when the melees can hit without problem. So instead of lowering evade, you are lower elemental defence and physical defence. It's also very useful in magic intensive teams.
Rasp+Drown+Frost: melee debuff.
This can be used for skill ups. Lower enemy hit rate and damage, while increase your own hitrate by lowering enemy evade.
There are a few other 2 element combos, suck as Drown+Choke or Rasp+Burn, but they are less commmonly used.
I will point out that the above information is accurate but does not take into account how important the mob's element is in determining which debuffs to cast. If it will affect and/or if it will stick.
.
