targeting as blm

G

grumbles

Fresh Adventurer
Adventurer
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
3
Location
UK
Hi i'm fairly new to the game and enjoying life as blm ^^
I've been looking round a few forums on blm and came across different targeting macros... namely <bt> and <stnpc>
I only use <t> as that is what my friend told me to to but i would like to know what <bt> and <stnpc> do. i think i read that <stnpc> helps with claiming nms but not too sure...
any help will be appreciated
thanks ^^

-Grumbles-
 
<bt> = Battle Target, or the mob that is currently "Claimed" by your party and has its name in red.

<stnpc> = Select Target Non Player Character, which targets the closest Non Player, or mob to you.

As a PLD and DRK I stick to <bt> for most of my targeting needs.
 
Only use <t> for any spell macros you might have, since nearly every spell you have will do damage to any slept mobs that might be closer to you than the actual mob being fought.

I have a /ta <bt> macro for quickly finding the monster you're fighting if there are no links around, and I also have a /ta <stnpc> macro for when I'm doing things like Dynamis where there are lots of people & mobs around, but I'm guessing you might not need that for a while yet.

Another good one to have if you like to edit macros when you join partys is to have /assist <tanks name>, as this will automatically bring up the mob that your paladdin/ninja is currently engaged with. This is another commonly used Dynamis macro, it really does help.

Using <stnpc> in macros will probably only help with Sleep spells and Refresh as a RDM. Perhaps WHM with curing, although I'm sure pressing the F keys if you're in a party situation is much easier.
 
<bt> is a problematic one, because it can target mobs that are asleep if they're closer to you than the one the tank is on. <stnpc> does help with claiming, because your target cursor will only appear if theres an NPC in range. However, this counts avatars, spirits, wyverns, automatons, and beast pets as NPCs.
 
I use <stnpc> for all offensive enfeebling spells, and <st> for all healing spells. I use <t> for all elemental spells, stun and flash, since those usually need to go off instantly, and I often have the target already targeted then. Haven't misscast anything in ages doing this.
 
Truth is, you don't even need <t>. "/ma Blizzard" works. It just casts the spell on whatever you have targetted anyway making <t> a superfluous addition.

I normally use <t> for everything except sleep spells (<stnpc>).
 
Eliott said:
Truth is, you don't even need <t>. "/ma Blizzard" works. It just casts the spell on whatever you have targetted anyway making <t> a superfluous addition.

I normally use <t> for everything except sleep spells (<stnpc>).
Click to expand...

Ya, I know :p but I like using <t>. It makes me feel safer :p
 
Don't use <st> for healing spells, Uzor. <stpc> skips the mobs. ^_^;

The OP brings up an interesting point. There are a huge number of non-explained things for macroes in this game. <scan> is another one not everyone knows about: hits Widescan's target.

<lastst> hits the last target you used <st> <stpc> or <stnpc> on.
<r> hits the last player to /tell you (kind of useless).

EDIT:
There are a ton for targeting specific party and allience members:

Macro Target
<p0> Targets self
<p1> Targets second party member, and so on to <p5>
<a10> Targets top most alliance, first member, and so on to <a15>
<a20> Targets second alliance, first member, and so on to to <a25>

In a high-lag environment, or if the character names are too long, or if you're just trying to hit someone instantly and can type much faster than targeting with <stpc> (this is my case), these are amazing. The 0 to 5 numeral is based on the list of names on your screen, so if you tell someone to target "<a12>" it might produce a different name than their "<a12>".

EDIT2: Those shortcut tags are the secret to spelling people's complex names right in conversation chat all the time. ~_^

EDIT3: Note that in addition to being a liability around slept mobs, <bt> might fail you if you are fighting in an alliance, since the target you want has the name in purple. Because of this, the game defaults to try to cast any spell with an incorrect target on whatever you are currently targeting. On occasion, I've hit my <p5> Cure macro when in a party of 5 people and it messes up. Since I scan from the bottom of the party listing as "<p5>"... it'll cast on the monster and I get grumpy.

Note that my RDM has two lines of Cure-Alt spells, III in mainline and IV in subline - for a job that cures often this just makes more sense to me than having one macro, then tab, then cast. After a while, it means the cure response is instant. Whereas for BLM I can either use one Cure III <stpc> (90% of the time) or click up twice to the full bar cures. Since my Bard is so low level, I've offset it one macro bar UP (that is, from macro-1 to macro-10) so I can have Cure II, and the familiar "click down to next tier of Cure" gets me Cure III once it's unlocked.

Also, if you're on a PC or play console with a keyboard handy, SHIFT+ALT+NUMBER will give you direct access to that number's Ctrl- Alt- macro bars.
 
Last edited:
thank you for all your replies ^^
I'm now lvl 32 and so thinking about how end game blm macros would look like. I think i will generally stick with <t> as i usually always have the monster on target anyways.
I still need to get the hang of magic bursting as i don't know what elements to use and noone seems to tell me ; ;
 
In my case, I used to use /ma <bt>, but I've found that /ma <stnpc> works best, so no matter what the situation is, you can tab off to another target (enfeebling sleeping mobs, for instance)

As for magic burst... With teir 1 and 2, wait for the skillchain animation. Teir 3, as the second WS goes off, teir 4, you'll probably be manaburning at that point, but as the first WS goes off.

Elements are:

Lv1 Transfixion - light / Liquefaction - fire / Impaction - thunder / Detonation - wind / Compression - dark / Scission - earth / Reverberation - water / Induration - ice

Lv2 Distortion - water\ice / Fragmentation - thunder\wind / Gravitation - earth\dark / Fusion - fire\light

Lv3 Light - thunder\wind\fire\light / Darkness - water\ice\earth\dark

Really, just look at the skillchain itself.

Transfixion / Compression / Liquefaction / Induration / Detonation / Scission / Reverberation all have rather obvious elements by their colors, and Impaction (thunder) is rather colorless.

Level 2's are a bit of a trick to remember the other element, but there's only 4 of them, so it doesn't take long. Distortion - liquid / Fragmentation - air / gravitation - ground / fusion - sun, if you need a helper to remember.

Level 3's are 65+, so you'll know them by the time you get there. :3
 
Last edited:
grumbles said:
I still need to get the hang of magic bursting as i don't know what elements to use and noone seems to tell me ; ;
Click to expand...

Go here: http://www.adennak.com

His "Aden's Renkei Chart" is the best in the biz, and I'm not just saying that because I know the guy.

It's helpful for us BLMs too because learning the skillchains helps us eventually anticipate them, which helps for later-game magic bursting when you'll be using spells with a long casting time. You'll have to hit the macro when you see "Briddy readies Rampage." or similar.
 
Always nice to see someone enthusiastic on a low-level BLM in this post-ToAU world. x_x;

But seriously, check out FFXIclopedia for more renkei information. :biggrin: (They have the chart Solitia linked to there as well, it really is amazing. He even made one for BLU.)

For 65-72 or so I was soloing and duoing, except for a few memorable parties crazy enough to *gasp* invite a BLM and renkei. :wacko: That meant a very careful macro set designed to keep me alive. It carries over to these days in the form of utility - knowing that when I touch-type a macro combination I get the exact spell I want.

At endgame I'm mostly in pudding cannons, meaning I just nuke and kite. This is eerily similar to what I was doing solo/duo. Now, due to an overabundance of gear, I have a lot of non-main macro lines (since you're blm main that might mean the line one click down from the normal line... it gets weirder the more jobs you play). Think of the lines you see when you hit Ctrl or Alt right away as "main" and ones you have to click to as "non-main". After each use of an non-main line I return to my main lines.

These non-main lines run from standing equip swaps (two macroes, dammit, give us more than 6 lines SE) to healing macroes (two, again) and dummy macroes for when I get obis, Relic pants, and other gear that has to go on only occasionally. Also multiple macroes for Enmity Down, INT, Elemental skill, Enfeeble skill, Max Dark skill, and so on.

So that I remember to actually cast spells and not just blink in and out of existance all day with equipment flying everywhere, my main Ctrl+number is (from 1 to 4) utility spells, then (from 5 to 0): Aero, Water, Fire, Bliz, Thunder and then a Drain/Aspir/Silena the ninja (gets switched around) macro.

The Alt+number on main includes from 5 to 9 the -ga versions of those same elements, with 0 being Stoneskin. 1-4 are sequences of DoT (the elemental enfeebles). Those are quite complicated, especially to get 3 spells and equip swaps in 6 lines. For Frost + Rasp + Drown for example, I have:

/equip main "Aquilo's Staff"
/ma Frost <t>
/ma Rasp <stnpc>
/equip main "Earth Staff" (yes, no HQ earth staff, you can all flame me later)
/ma Drown <stnpc>
/equip main "Neptune's Staff"

That means Frost goes off right away with the correct stave on, but it won't switch to the right stave for Rasp until I hit enter again (or ESC to stop) and similarly with Drown. (For the other BLMs, should I be stacking INT wand+Astral Aspis instead of HQ staves on DoTs other than Frost? I already swap on INT gear to other slots, since I know INT effects the slip damage.)

When I got new spell tiers, Alt-4 was a temp Stone/Stonega spell in case of that being the MB element. Now it's Thunder III, for those oh-no-quick-lower-tier spell moments.

...I have no idea where to put AM2. It'll probably replace Water/Waterga and I'll retrain myself to think of Ctrl-6 as Burst II and Alt-6 as Freeze II. Be careful about that, actually. Retraining yourself to rely totally on putting your finger down and hitting the correct spell takes a while to fix. For a little bit in the level 50s range I was moving Aero and Water back and forth and confused myself. Decide where you like spells to be and keep them there, updating the numerals as new spells are learned. I highly advise some sort of "same number" correlation between single-target and AoE of the same element.

Don't forget those utility spells I kind of brushed off. Being a BLM is (or should) be more than just nuke-nuke-nuke. With Red Mage sub at high levels, Dispel and Gravity are wonderful. You'll need equip swaps for better Sleeps, and so on. If you care about it, I advise swapping in Enhancing gear + MND for Stoneskin (really do this post 65 when you can get a +7 skill torque for cheap, or post 73 when you'd have Weskit on but could switch to Errant easily. Heck, I carry around a Wand when on BLM just for Stoneskin. Going 59/60 now haha.)

Most of those could apply the same to any level, just less gear to swap early on (get Pilgrim's Wand before level 51) and of course the spell lines will be "II" or so, not "IV". I use [ /recast "Spell Name" ] as the first line, then cast [ /ma "Spell Name" <t> ], then stave and 3 equip swaps. Yes, somehow the "<t>" makes me feel safer. Psycho Mantis!

And, yeah, most of all have fun (by stacking MAB). ^_^;;

EDIT because I keep thinking of more stuff after I should be done.
 
Last edited:
What I would like is a macro function that let's you scroll through alliance members - something like <a1st> and <a2st> (used in conjunction with F0-F5). Would make curing in dynamis so much easier o. o;
 
The biggest drawback to <stpc> for healing is that when in an alliance as you begin the macro and start scrolling up your list of targets ANY equip changes will reset the macro. This is for controller and PS2 users, I have no clue how KB commands work. I used <stpc> for years until just recently when I had to change to <t> for sanity sake. Seemed I always had to scroll up to the target I was going to heal anyway, so the <stpc> just added an extra step.

<bt> is the devil. I can't even count the number of times I've been raped because somebody had this stupid command line. Just use <t> for your offense.
 
Eliott said:
What I would like is a macro function that let's you scroll through alliance members - something like <a1st> and <a2st> (used in conjunction with F0-F5). Would make curing in dynamis so much easier o. o;
Click to expand...

They already have one. <stpc> using a controller instead of the keyboard. Up/down on the d-pad scroll through the party, including alliance. I've accidentally done it on the keyboard a couple times, but I don't know what the key is. XD
 
OP, as you can see there are different strokes for different folks as far blm and spell casting is concerned. I am a 63 blm and all i've ever used is <t> and it has served me well...(well at least after I got owned by a worm because of auto target). Maybe i'm a little retarded but i have 5 macro bars for all my spells.

Set 1 includes all Cures and AMs, and an extra Stun macro
Set 2 includes tier I, II, and III nukes(I always keep 2 spells of each like 2 blizz, 2 thund, 3 more levels and it will be just tier II and III) with sleep, stun, aspir, drain, and ES
Set 3 includes all enfeebles, elemental and non elemental
Set 4 includes all -GA spells (don't want them too close to main nukes) accidents happen ~.~
Set 5 includes buffs, warp, warp II, and escape.

Sets 4 and 5 could be put together, but i use Set 5 for whm as well so having them seperate works good for me.

As someone stated earlier, it might be easier to have all the elements in about the same order on different macro bars. For me it is crucial, as I scroll through Sets to hit the spell i want. Stone, Aero, Water, Fire, Ice, Thunder on buttons 0-6, and that is the same for elemental enfeebles, -GA spells, and AM. Well, that's my basic setup, so now you have one more idea of how to set yours up. Good luck to you on leveling a fun job. Remember to get a Pilgrim's wand(Pre-51), and eat lots of cookies or pies and it will be a fun experience.

Stay Cool, Nuke Hard
Shmed
 
Last edited:
Mai Ikari said:
They already have one. <stpc> using a controller instead of the keyboard. Up/down on the d-pad scroll through the party, including alliance. I've accidentally done it on the keyboard a couple times, but I don't know what the key is. XD
Click to expand...
Oh man that sounds useful. Anyone know what the magical key is? Does it scroll through the entire alliance list in order?
 
I believe the magic keys are the up/down arrows. If you use them while the <stpc> targeter is up, it should scroll up and down the alliance list in the order it appears on your screen.

That said, though, you still have to keep an eye out for gear swaps while you're cyclin through :P
 
Reauland said:
I believe the magic keys are the up/down arrows. If you use them while the <stpc> targeter is up, it should scroll up and down the alliance list in the order it appears on your screen.

That said, though, you still have to keep an eye out for gear swaps while you're cyclin through :P
Click to expand...

Naw, I can assure you its not :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top