Blue Mage: Best thread ever

[Yugl]

I'll post my set up when I'm home, don't have it here at work.

Mobs were (variously) chigoe and gneiss leeches.


Edit: setup was 177 dex, 143 int, 96 MAB, +2 shoes, -10 MDB on the mob, HQ staff. before atma. (+.3 affinity, +50 dex +50 MAB atma)

I'll agree that the calculator says Blinding Horn should win, it just *didn't*. I may go out and see if I can figure out where it's numbers are off and how.

Tonight, though, there is cake and BBQ (not necessarily in that order.)

Just tested and leeches don't have any funny properties (Base damage as expected w/o adding multipliers such as MAB or HQ staff). The one I tested on had 69 INT. I do have to ask what you're doing to get so much MAB prior to atmas because I personally hit roughly 96 WITH 30MAB atma and you're hitting 146 (Roughly 30MAB difference), not that it matters for Blinding Horn v RR.

Assuming that is correct:
With RR is 5387 DMG
With Blinding Horn is 5694

Check and see if you get (roughly; if you want want precise values, do a INT test without any MAB or other multipliers) these values for each. If not, equip your gear beforehand and turn off spellcast/windower macros. You might have a case where your macro is malfunctioning.

Edit: Hmmm, should have edited old post instead.

[Foldypaws]

I do have to ask what you're doing to get so much MAB prior to atmas

/RDM 24
novio 7
hecates 6
Morrigan's 5
Artemis 12 (was full moon)
+1 hands 7
+2 feet 10
Ascetic's Tonic 25.

96.

[Yugl]

Ok, so the Artemis is the key player (7MAB more than I use otherwise). Also, when you do the test, I would take off Artemis/Hecates (Magic Crit).

[Foldypaws]

Ok, so the Artemis is the key player (7MAB more than I use otherwise). Also, when you do the test, I would take off Artemis/Hecates (Magic Crit).

D'oh. I probably actually did get a Magic Crit when testing, as I only used each combination once. (Was neutral day, I thought of that, but not the MCrits)

I keep forgetting that stat exists.

[Vegetatheprince]

Soloing Khalamari?

Is this possible on Blu? If so, how would one go about it without pdt swords? Haven't fought the thing since level 80. I'm looking towards making the double attack weapon and would need 30 of this sob.

Also, what are the pros/cons to the double attack and occ. 2-4 attack weapons offhand for Almace?

My understanding is DA is more damage and occ. 2-4 is more CdCs.

[Ladydeathstrike]

evasion set up blu has no problem soloing khalamari,
if you do not have an eva set up might need to use GH and an eva + atma

[Clash Perez]

Also, what are the pros/cons to the double attack and occ. 2-4 attack weapons offhand for Almace?

My understanding is DA is more damage and occ. 2-4 is more CdCs.

Double Attack Khanda or STR Shamshir for off-hand. 2-4 off-hand helps with TP gain, but is horrible for DPS due to the high delay and low DMG.

[Yugl]

Last resort: Pin him by the flowers. Kegsay has a blog for the pin (And other pins).

[Prothescar]

Soloing Khalamari?

Is this possible on Blu? If so, how would one go about it without pdt swords? Haven't fought the thing since level 80. I'm looking towards making the double attack weapon and would need 30 of this sob.

Also, what are the pros/cons to the double attack and occ. 2-4 attack weapons offhand for Almace?

My understanding is DA is more damage and occ. 2-4 is more CdCs.

Khalamari is an incredibly easy solo for BLU. I had 0 issues with Auroral Drape up on it, didn't even need my EVA set (it still helps to have it though). As for DA vs OA4 vs something else: STR sword.

DA Khanda, for now anyway, is slightly behind STR shamshir when it comes to overall boost in damage.

[Vegetatheprince]

Good stuff guys, thanks.

[Valisk]

I just returned to the game last week from a very long hiatus. I got BLU to 90 and am working on spells at the moment. My question is about AF3+1/+2. I was curious to know if someone can give me a short "guide" that tells me what mobs/quests to target to upgrade the AF as soon as possible. I am targeting legs>body>head>feet>hands in that order. What's the fastest way to build resistance credits? Any mobs I can solo for seals/coins/jewels/cards/stones?

[shukudai]

I just returned to the game last week from a very long hiatus. I got BLU to 90 and am working on spells at the moment. My question is about AF3+1/+2. I was curious to know if someone can give me a short "guide" that tells me what mobs/quests to target to upgrade the AF as soon as possible. I am targeting legs>body>head>feet>hands in that order. What's the fastest way to build resistance credits? Any mobs I can solo for seals/coins/jewels/cards/stones?

I believe I can help you with this, as I recently returned from a long hiatus as well.

Your order seems about correct, although I did my legs/feet/head before quitting.

Head/Legs/Feet: Best to duo/trio in most cases (duo even if you can solo usually, if you can get a BLM to come proc yellow)

Legs:
(Paper) Cep-Kamuy in Misareaux.
(Coin/Card) Ciren-Croin, Sobek, Glavoid

Feet:
(Paper) Chhir Batti in Vunkerl. I did this at 85, but I bet it's pretty duoable now.
(Coin/Card) Carabosse.

Head:
(Paper) Kharon in Attowha. Again, definetly duoable by any melee and a healer.
(Coin/Card) Itzpapalotl. People need it for Empyrean upgrade, always people doing this.

Body:
(Paper) Dhorme Khimaira in Uleguerand Range. I got mine when LS ran through a bunch, and got the remainder of my seals from teaming up with /sh JP. I would suggest either buying the pop items on the AH, or XPing/cleaving chests for the pop items.
(Coin/Card) Orthrus/Sobek/Bukhis.

Hands: Your choice. Wyvern, Mandy and Snoll all had poor BLU seal drop rates for me, I did about 20 of them all together before I got my hand seals.
(Coin/Card) Dragua.


The general trend from here is: Papers for Head/Legs/Feet are quick as hell to get from forced spawned NMs with quick repops, where the mobs near the ??? drop the pop item, Body/Hands are the same deal but a bit more difficult, but can usually be 3-4 manned.

All upgrade coins come from popular Empyrean Weapon upgrade NMs.

[Prothescar]

I just returned to the game last week from a very long hiatus. I got BLU to 90 and am working on spells at the moment. My question is about AF3+1/+2. I was curious to know if someone can give me a short "guide" that tells me what mobs/quests to target to upgrade the AF as soon as possible. I am targeting legs>body>head>feet>hands in that order. What's the fastest way to build resistance credits? Any mobs I can solo for seals/coins/jewels/cards/stones?

Overall, try to at least find a BLM that can help you out with all of this. Farming for seals and +2 items becomes a lot faster, easier and efficient when you have the ability to proc magic weakness. BLU+WHM+BLM can trio any monster that you'll need to kill for your set of +2. I'll be assuming you have that setup, but you can solo most of the monsters below, with the possible exception of hand+body NMs, with proper Evasion sets.

Legs: For seals, go with Cep-kamuy. He's an easy fight, the only close to nasty thing he can do is Seismic Tail (which is a joke). As for stones of balance, try Sobek. With yellow weakness he drops up to 3 at a time. His fight is fairly straightforward, try to stun Sleepga II and Blizzaga IV and be on your toes and ready for two things: one, Awful Eye, the easier of the two moves to avoid: just turn away as soon as he starts readying it and you won't be affected by the Petrification or hate reset. Two, Tyrant Tusk: this one is much harder to avoid. When you see it start readying it, immediately hold either left or right and attempt to sidestep its effects, it always has a chance to proc Death on you if it lands which will probably end that fight without another tank.

Body: The easiest two options for Mavi body seals would be the Ningishzida (Hydra) and Dhorme Khimaira. I personally did the Khimaira with little to no difficulty by having the mages stand on top of the cliff on the ramp near its spawn point to avoid Fulmination. The Hydra is probably much easier to deal with though, I've only duo'd him once so I don't have a large sample size to draw from. Serpentine Tail isn't particularly dangerous, but if he gets spammy with Pyric Bulwark it can be a long fight, especially since Hydras have a very high innate resistance to blue magic. Either way, both work; target whichever one you're capable of handling and drops seals that your benefactors may also want. If you were lucky, you already got a couple of stones of ardor from Sobek. In any case, the best source for them would be Orthrus. His fight and pop item are very easy to get and he can drop up to 3 with magic weakness. The only noteworthy parts of his fight are Gates of Hades and Acheron Flame, which are both perfectly manageable with a reasonable MDT or fire resist set.

Head: Kharon and Whiro are you best bets for head seals. Kharon is uninteresting, a normal skeleton DRK, just try to keep his Dread Spikes off. Whiro is soloable if you absolutely cannot get any help, just straight tank him and kite while he's spamming Cyclotail. Cards of Vision should be no problem provided you have somewhat decent luck with VNM abyssite upgrades. Lusca (T3 VNM in Attohwa) can drop up to 3 with magic weakness and is a pitifully easy fight. Before you go to kill it, grab a very low damage sword, preferably with equally low delay. When it enters physical absorb mode, equip the low damage sword and spam Sanguine Blade to supplement your BLM's nukes.

Feet: For feet, just spam the djinn NM. There's nothing about it that's particularly dangerous with proper support and debuffs, and it's completely manageable solo if you absolutely have to. Coins of Voyage are best found off of Sedna. She can drop up to 3 with magic weakness, however, she can be a pain in the ass to proc magic weakness on due to near constant spam of TP moves and magic. I would suggest trying to kite it around while the BLM shoots off their spells, although it may not be possible in the small confines that you're basically limited to. Other options are somewhat unattractive in that they can only drop one coin at a time, however if you have friends doing masamune, caladbolg or armageddon I would suggest tagging along with them for some Carabosse fights and seeing if you can lot the coins from her.

Hands: The seals are fairly simple, you can spam any of the three NMs that drop them with little effort. The mandragora is the most notably annoying of the bunch, and the wyvern can become annoying if it decides to use Hurricane Breath. Aside from that, no worries. The coins, on the other hand, are a different story. I'd argue that these are the most annoying +2 item for a BLU to acquire. Azjada is the only monster that can drop up to 3 of these with magic weakness. If you plan on fighting her, I highly suggest you leave your WHM outside of the party and tank her on her tail. With the WHM outside of the party, they will not get hit by the ensuing spike flail and the fight should be fairly manageable if you and the BLM can stun the particularly nasty spells. All of the NMs that can drop the coins are somewhat annoying: if you are having great difficulties with Azdaja, I would suggest going for the iron giant in Misareaux Coast. It can only drop 1 at a time with magic weakness, but it's the easiest NM that drops these by far.


As for Resistance Credits: you can easily get the 1,000 necessary credits for your base pants in one or two resistance battles. Just burn down the weaker mobs like detectors and pots then focus on bigger stuff.

There you go, I hope that helps. You can find the basic pop requirements and movesets fairly easily so I didn't list them here. Overall +2 isn't tough to get, it just requires a bit of time. As I said previously, definitely try to land a BLM and a WHM to help you out, it will increase the efficiency and decrease the time it takes the complete your set by tenfold.

[Rez]

I just returned to the game last week from a very long hiatus. I got BLU to 90 and am working on spells at the moment. My question is about AF3+1/+2. I was curious to know if someone can give me a short "guide" that tells me what mobs/quests to target to upgrade the AF as soon as possible. I am targeting legs>body>head>feet>hands in that order. What's the fastest way to build resistance credits? Any mobs I can solo for seals/coins/jewels/cards/stones?

As far as seals that can be soloed:

Head: Whiro > Kharon
Legs: Asanosam
Feet: Chhir Batti

It's unlikely the remainder can be soloed, so look to grouping or quests:

Body: Slacking Subordinates (Altepa)
Hands: Getting Lucky (Grauberg)

For +2 solo, pickings are slim:

Head: Lusca
Legs: Cirein-croin

Be careful about trying to solo either of these if you are new to it, none of them are walkovers if you don't have experience.

The easiest and fastest way to build resistance credits is to simply participate in Bastion. You get more for landing the kill shot, so look to either snipe some kills with a high damage spell/ws or to quickly kill something weak such as a Surveyor. It's easily possible to have enough credits for a leg piece after about 2 minutes of your very first Bastion if you go on a rampage.

As far as general advice goes, unfortunately one of the biggest improvements you can make to Blu isn't gear at all, as far as Abyssea is concerned, but the appropriate Atma. Most of the good ones aren't soloable without difficulty.

The same applies to being up to date on your Abyssites, though a large portion are easy to obtain.

It'll take time either way, so just pick your way through it all as best you can, bearing in mind grouping up will usually be faster ( yellow !! Procs for +1/2, red !! for Atma/Abyssite, TH doesn't hurt for any drops).

[Rez]

Serves my right for not refreshing the page, beaten.

[shukudai]

For head seals, I find Kharon was faster, though Whiro was a longer repop

Legs, fuck that bat, again I did it when I was 85 and it was a longer repop, but I solo'd it as SCH, and it took forever. I'm still catching up, but Asanbosam still hits hard even at 90? Or do you /RDM -50PDT melee it?

As the Rez posted, Atma should be your priority. Minkin Monstrosity from Durinn is a top priority, Atma of the Lion, Blinding Horn, Razer Ruins, Gnarled Horn, Ultimate, and Apocolypse, I find myself cycling through these mostly as needed.

[Daruma]

Hey guys new poster here (long lurker) but I am just curious about my set for Quad. cont. Which parts are worth scrapping and what should be replaced. I'm not too concerned with my abyssea damage seeing as that is lolbroke even with gimpish gear.

Isador
Spiral ring
Mavi tathlum (str satchet needed?)
Aias bonnet
Ire torque (poor so no +1 for me yet)
Mavi earring (is this EVER useful ?)
Minuet earring (x2 STR or DEX earrings need to buy)
Aurore doublet (working on morrigans or loki atm - everyone hates Turul )
Heafoc mitts
Potentia cape ( vigilance +1 better?)
Beir belt (warwolf better?)
Mavi tayt +2 *just got these so no testing yet
Areion's Gamashes *gonna see if i can get dom notes boots with str +6 on them...but not holding my breath
Rajas ring
Soulsaber (only +4 Str atm still need to finish trial)

any help would be much appreciated.

[Prothescar]

For earrings 2x STR, body go with AF+1 (if you don't have AF+1 get it ASAP and wear NQ). Potentia > Vigilance +1. Warwolf > Beir.

Mavi Tathlum + Magus Jubbah +1 + Mavi tayt +2 = most efficient skill tier on DD spells.

[Yugl]

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/376...=1#post4615294

[Valisk]

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/376...=1#post4615294

What's Plantoid for the waist? Can't find it when I put it in any of the searches on wiki/ffxiah/etc.