Blue Mage: Best thread ever

[Kyte]

I'd imagine koggelmander would best offhand since it provides a decent boost to your spells and low delay.

In terms of actual melee power Perdu wins, unless you find yourself sitting on TP a lot or you're fighting vermin.

However, if you're more concerned about spell damage, then Koggelmander wins out. Given the possibility for greater spell spammage with a Tizona, that is a valid possibility.

[Wolfknight]

Didn't know where else to post this, so figured this thread best place to ask:
So for blue who do salvage I wondering what best source of dmg is on mega bosses[well ZR specifically], I currently use CB and get 300 ish w/o CA and 500 ish w/CA on /nin w/pizza, I am mainly asking since trying to speed up Boss fight ZR since doing Mega and Frogs changing food nor sub is really practical to change since would slow down rest of run, so have any of you had better results with others spells and thanks in advance.

[Nicholette]

Another thing that needs to be tested is if multi hit spells have an accuracy cap. I believe they do, personally, as Disseverment still misses a hit every other or every 3 casts even with capped accuracy. :/

How much acc is needed to cap at that 95% on spells? Wont it vary?

[Kyte]

Does it vary for normal melee attacks? Physical spells really aren't that different from WS.

[Yvonne]

Ooooor maybe (.95)^5= 77%

>___>;

><; I hate these programmers.

[azagarth]

So if i am understanding it you need 367 acc for spells at say GC camp since spells have an bonus 30 acc then 10 with merits?

This to me seems very skeptical because that mean you wouldent really need any acc gear on spells are sword acc alone would be near that.. However I know my spell dmg is much higher on avg when i eat sushi, though technically my spell acc should be capped before then.... Hmmm..

Idk about the 30 acc bonus on all physical spells, maybe one hitters like how sams gekko and stuff it, i rarely miss spells when in full str gear if they are one hitters.

[Dimmauk]

So if i am understanding it you need 367 acc for spells at say GC camp since spells have an bonus 30 acc then 10 with merits?

This to me seems very skeptical because that mean you wouldent really need any acc gear on spells are sword acc alone would be near that.. However I know my spell dmg is much higher on avg when i eat sushi, though technically my spell acc should be capped before then.... Hmmm..

Idk about the 30 acc bonus on all physical spells, maybe one hitters like how sams gekko and stuff it, i rarely miss spells when in full str gear if they are one hitters.

You also have to remember sushi helps with spell Mods. +STR and +DEX will help the big 3 get higher numbers, plus the +ACC sushi gives.

[fantasticdan]

Spells likely work like WS and only get an acc bonus on the first hit. In the case of disseverment it might not get an acc bonus on any hits at low TP since it has an "acc varies with tp" mod.

[Yugl]

Spells likely work like WS and only get an acc bonus on the first hit. In the case of disseverment it might not get an acc bonus on any hits at low TP since it has an "acc varies with tp" mod.

It's like Penta Thrust, I don't know if the first hit on that gets a bonus, but if so, it's possible Disseverment does too.

[fantasticdan]

Penta isn't a good indicator of anything, as it used to be "damage varies with TP", and SE didn't necessarily go in and nerf it's base accuracy when they changed it.

Regardless of potential acc bonus on the first hit of multihits, you should be gearing to cap accuracy on the other hits anyway, which seemingly have no bonus other than a possible +10(?) from potency merits.

[Rysa]

Two questions:

Which would be better for the Big 3 spells with 8/8 Blue magic merits: Voyager Sallet or Mirage Keffiyeh?

Also, concerning the ACP body, I am stuck choosing between +10 Acc/+ 10 Attack or +10 Acc/ +Crit hit. I would strictly be using this for a WS piece only. I do understand that +Crit would only affect Vorpal Blade, but I am trying to get a nice Vorpal Blade build going. Which would give me an overall greater damage output?

[Wolfknight]

Full merits = Mirage is better.

[Yvonne]

Full merits = Mirage is better.

What he said.

Shame it's only +5 Blue Skill, but I've noticed higher damage on the big three with it than other head pieces, including Enkidu's Cap.

In terms of the ACP body, is it possible for you Rysa, to pick up an Enkidu's Harness? I'm just saying this because the ACP bodies are so much useful for other jobs and it'd be a minor difference if you had a Enkidu instead.

[Kyte]

That's what I'm trying to do right now. Right now I set my ACP body to +10 Acc +10 Attack, but I would like to switch it to something else eventually.

[Yvonne]

Oh, quick question for those that get invites as a DD at bird camps. What's the best way to conserve your MP without holding back? I have a lot of experiences in endgame with Ixion, Cerb, etc, but what should my game plan be for meriting? I've spent like almost my whole FFXI career meriting only on BRD, so I'd like to change it up a bit.

Here's some quick info about my current build:

Merits:
HP: 8/8
STR: 5/5
Sword: 8/8
Shield: 4/4
Parry: 4/4
Evasion: 4/4
Blue Magic: 8/8
Enmity +: 4/4
Critical +: 4/4
Physical: 5/5
Magical: 5/5
Enchainment: 5/5
Assimilation: 5/5

TP:

Purdu
Koggel
RSE (Elvaan)
Denali Head
Enkidu's Harness
Homam Hands
Homam Pants
Enkidu's Feet (Would love to get Homam here)
Fortitude Torque
Swift Belt
Cuchu Mantle
Ioto Ring
Blood Ring
Suppa Earring
Brutal Earring

Spells:

Purdu
Koggel
RSE (Elvaan)
Mirage +1 Head
AF +1 Body
Enkidu's Hands
Enkidu's Legs
Denali Feet
Kubira Necklace
Warwolf Belt
Cuchu Mantle
Ioto Ring
Blood Ring (or STR)
Suppa Earring
Delta Earring (or STR)

WS:

Mix and match from Spell build.

[Suiram]

Oh, quick question for those that get invites as a DD at bird camps. What's the best way to conserve your MP without holding back?

Birds are pretty straightforward. If you just stick to disseverment (due to the piercing bonus), cast it whenever the timer is up (unless mob almost dead, obviously), WS when you have TP (again unless mob almost dead, obviously), pop CA after WS whenever it's up after a WS for the WSC bonus on your next Dissev, and you do respectable damage without really running into MP issues. You listed Enki for body, but I'd use AF2 or Morrigans if you have it for TP set, and you'll have 6 mp/tick, which pays for a Disseverment every 34~35 seconds after you factor in Conserve MP.

Even with that, if you're casting often enough, you'll slowly be losing MP, so I would just try to stay in a range of 200~400 current MP at any given time. Depending on how often you drop below that, you have a few options. You can just slow down a bit, you can try to sneak in an MP drainkiss occasionally when the delay from casting will least upset your melee DPS, or if you know one of the BRDs you can work out with them to Pia ballad 2 whenever you drop below 150ish or so, and then go back to regular songs when you're back above 300ish. Or some combination of the above.

A lot of times you'll see people advance the opinion that since a BLU has such a nice variety of helpful spells, they should be tossing out Magic Fruits and Head Butts and Hasting themselves, etc. in merits. I agree fully with this view when you're talking about "meritish endgame events" like Nyzul, Salvage, Assault, what have you. But in my view, actual merit PTs are strictly business, and you are basically taking the spot of some other DD that wouldn't have those things, so if the party is well-built they shouldn't need that from you, just the same as if you were on some other job, so you should be able to use your MP to focus just on increasing your overall damage (and thereby increase everyone's EXP/Hour).

Also, you didn't ask this but with the gear you listed you should be at or close to the accuracy cap on birds with march/march min/mad, so I'd use your cheapish meat of choice. And aside from the Refresh body question, I don't see any glaring disputes with the gear you listed, either.

[Meian]

MP Drainkiss is pretty great on birds too since it also has the weakness factor I believe

[Kaslo]

Birds are pretty straightforward. If you just stick to disseverment (due to the piercing bonus), cast it whenever the timer is up (unless mob almost dead, obviously), WS when you have TP (again unless mob almost dead, obviously), pop CA after WS whenever it's up after a WS for the WSC bonus on your next Dissev, and you do respectable damage without really running into MP issues. You listed Enki for body, but I'd use AF2 or Morrigans if you have it for TP set, and you'll have 6 mp/tick, which pays for a Disseverment every 34~35 seconds after you factor in Conserve MP.

Even with that, if you're casting often enough, you'll slowly be losing MP, so I would just try to stay in a range of 200~400 current MP at any given time. Depending on how often you drop below that, you have a few options. You can just slow down a bit, you can try to sneak in an MP drainkiss occasionally when the delay from casting will least upset your melee DPS, or if you know one of the BRDs you can work out with them to Pia ballad 2 whenever you drop below 150ish or so, and then go back to regular songs when you're back above 300ish. Or some combination of the above.

A lot of times you'll see people advance the opinion that since a BLU has such a nice variety of helpful spells, they should be tossing out Magic Fruits and Head Butts and Hasting themselves, etc. in merits. I agree fully with this view when you're talking about "meritish endgame events" like Nyzul, Salvage, Assault, what have you. But in my view, actual merit PTs are strictly business, and you are basically taking the spot of some other DD that wouldn't have those things, so if the party is well-built they shouldn't need that from you, just the same as if you were on some other job, so you should be able to use your MP to focus just on increasing your overall damage (and thereby increase everyone's EXP/Hour).

Also, you didn't ask this but with the gear you listed you should be at or close to the accuracy cap on birds with march/march min/mad, so I'd use your cheapish meat of choice. And aside from the Refresh body question, I don't see any glaring disputes with the gear you listed, either.

I would agree with magic fruit for this camp only (since no one should ever need one) but if you are doing mamools it may just maintain a chain to save someone from dieing after a bad Firespit or 4x hit WS.

[jimbobsonofgod]

I don't think a blu should ever leave town without magic fruit set and it pains me when I see gimp ass blus not have it(then again I never merit on or with blu's anyways.), then fucking eat dirt when shit hits the fan.

Its 3 points, you can spare it.

cause eventually shit will hit the fan and the extra cure can't hurt in a pinch.

Not say you should use it all the time, or spam cure or even that you need to cast it, but when its needed it should be there, like a security blanket.

[ronin sparthos]

I don't think a blu should ever leave town without magic fruit set and it pains me when I see gimp ass blus not have it(then again I never merit on or with blu's anyways.), then fucking eat dirt when shit hits the fan.

Its 3 points, you can spare it.

cause eventually shit will hit the fan and the extra cure can't hurt in a pinch.

Not say you should use it all the time, or spam cure or even that you need to cast it, but when its needed it should be there, like a security blanket.

This.

I cannot think of one time where setting Magic Fruit is going to be detrimental outside a Cannonball setup.

If your doing anything on BLU, setting Magic Fruit can and probably will be useful to you and there are very little excuses to not having it set given the few set points.

Actinic Burst is sorta in the same boat but that sets up Auto-Refresh.