Blue Mage: Best thread ever

[ronin sparthos]

None of the spells are ice-based so Frozen Mist is off the table?

[Julian]

back updated targets >.>

[Gojiras]

18MP fire-based buff with 4-second cast time and 11-second recast..

Any monster skills that give Blaze Spikes?

EDIT: On second thought it could be Berserk. God I hope it's Berserk instead of Blaze Spikes or Enfire or some lame shit.

[Prothescar]

Flame Armor, Magma Hoplon, Thornsong, Heat Barrier are the only ones afaik. The first two are obviously out, leaving Thornsong or Heat Barrier if it's a blaze spikes-type buff. Here's to hoping for heat barrier with the enfire still in tact, and with a decent duration. If it isn't blaze spikes, who knows.

[Gojiras]

Heat Barrier seems unlikely simply because we already have two moves from Wamouracampa and iirc there's no precedent for taking three moves from a single mob family. Who knows, though.

[Vriska]

If it doesn't have a recast longer than its duration it's unlikely to be Berserk... I don't hold out much hope tbh. It's probably better that way.

[dasva]

I'm betting on something that doesn't make sense.

[Nightfyre]

If it doesn't have a recast longer than its duration it's unlikely to be Berserk... I don't hold out much hope tbh. It's probably better that way.

This, along with the low MP cost.

[Helel]

I'm betting on something that doesn't make sense.

This made me laugh, but very true. Reminded me of the SNL episode with andy s. who's like, "yeah I think something bad's gonna happen." Life story of BLU.

[Esvedium]

I don't hold out much hope tbh. It's probably better that way.

^ this.

[Spencerlutz]

Just started to ungimp and gear my blu. What are the must have spells and can anyone show me some good gearsets to shoot towards? And what atmas for general DDing? Currently using VV RR and MM

[Esvedium]

Looking for spell sets that people are using @ 95 on BLU. Not for CW, but for general DD purposes, Dynamis, etc. Also, what spells would you take out if trying to keep 3 abyssea proc spells equipped at all times and just changing them as the day changes?

[Kegsay]

Gear:
main: Almace (STR or DEX sword subs, or VW glowy sword, or Isador)
sub: STR or DEX swords, DA sword, I guess OAT under some circumstances
ammo: Nothing stands out, flame/thunder sachets, probably something I'm missing here

As for armor, depends on what you're doing. I usually keep haste on till CDC @ 100TP, but for those without, most of your damage will be from spell spam. Good rule of thumb is to shoot for STR DEX and skill, you shouldn't really 'need' accuracy if you have full merits etc. There tends to be four main 'modes' on blu: CDC, magical spell (think CW burns), physical spell spam (good on weaker stuff), physical spell (one hitters usually, think benthic/cannonball/v.cleave/etc). I pretty much only use magical spell and CDC sets, but that's based off what I do.

I'll base the following armor off the physical spell spam set:

head: aias bonnet (af3+2 for CA), think there's a better head out there now
neck: mavi if it takes you above a tier, else STR or DEX necks like sea torques
ears: STR/DEX

body: af1+1
hands: heafoc works well provided not a huge DEX mod
rings: str/dex e.g. rajas, pyrosoul

back: potentia/vigilence+1
waist: warwolf/pipilaka/beir+1
legs: af3+2
feet: augmented dom ops feet (STR/Blue skill)

There's a lot of flexibility, for example, consider twilight belt for waist if you want to cut down recast timers more and take a small hit to damage, etc

----

Spell wise, depends on the activity again. The major outliers for me:
Abyssea = occultation, no battery charge, no d.thrust/vanity dive, all 3 relevant trigger spells (change when day changes)
Outside (non-VW) = battery charge, delta thrust, vanity dive, heavy strike
Outside (VW) = battery charge, low recast ranged spells to get weak messages (regurg/cannonball, though if you're /rdm you can just cast a spell), some relevant HQ triggers when necessary
Magical = whisker, pulse, grudge, can do enervation + memento/amplification, mab trait spells if not /rdm (should really be /rdm)

Core spells = actinic, winds of promy, animated wail, sudden lunge (replaces head butt), disseverment, quad con, cocoon, benthic (sometimes), metallic
Extra spells (situational) = dream flower, sheep song, yawn, whirl of rage, auroral drape (great -acc), white wind, blank gaze, saline coat

Probably missed a few.

[doctorugh]

^
Delta Thrust is an amazing spell and should be a staple also.

[Kyte]

Gear:
main: Almace (STR or DEX sword subs, or VW glowy sword, or Isador)
sub: STR or DEX swords, DA sword, I guess OAT under some circumstances

Spell wise, depends on the activity again. The major outliers for me:
Abyssea = occultation, no battery charge

Can't really agree with that, unless you forgot to preface the second part with "this is what you do if don't have Almace." If you're using Almace, then you should not be using MM- in which case you'll want battery charge available.

[Neisan]

I typically set Fantod to pair with lunge for STP, and typically go for triple attack, so if i need to set proc spells, I usually end up dropping down to double attack. This is with CDC though. Battery charge is set out of habit, even inside I don't like going without any form of refresh.

[Vriska]

Let's see if I can remember my set. This is with Almace and /WAR, though.

Dissev + Vanity (Acc Bonus)
Quad Cont + Delta + Animating + Blazing (DW2)
Acrid + Demoralising + Heavy Strike + Empty Thrash (Triple Attack)
Plasma + Winds of Promy (Auto Refresh)
Sudden Lunge + Fantod (STP)
Triumphant Roar
Battery Charge
White Wind (inside Abyssea), or Plenilune (outside)
Occultation

If anything needs to go for triggers, Battery Charge and the Auto Refresh spells are the first ones to go.

[Kegsay]

Can't really agree with that, unless you forgot to preface the second part with "this is what you do if don't have Almace." If you're using Almace, then you should not be using MM- in which case you'll want battery charge available.

Sorry yeah, I am presuming that it's without Almace.

[Viar]

Looking for spell sets that people are using @ 95 on BLU. Not for CW, but for general DD purposes, Dynamis, etc. Also, what spells would you take out if trying to keep 3 abyssea proc spells equipped at all times and just changing them as the day changes?

Sorry yeah, I am presuming that it's without Almace.

Even for none-almace owners /WAR with triple attack+DW2 job trait is probably still better than none stop spell spam with MM on higher lv NMs in Abyssea.

I usually just /WAR and set DW2+triple attack and spam vorpal with RR/Apoc/SS or GH(if tanking), and cast heavy strike whenever timer is up, cast QC if Efflux timer is up. Vorpal still has decent dmg with attack food+berserk/warcry. Every other spell dmg besides HS and efflux QC just doesn't cut it on higher lv NMs and takes too much time to cast. If I'm soloing or pt lacking heals I drop Apoc for MM, but that's quit a lot of dmg lose. You won't have much MP issue without MM tbh.

If fighting weaker stuff it's usually RR/MM/VV spell spam. But I rarely fight weaker stuffs in Abyssea, if I'm farming it's almost always CW, so I rarely use this combo.

Most common useful job traits are: DW2 for certain SJ, acc bonus, Triple attack, auto-refresh, evasion bonus(for solo/lowman), Magic def bonus depending on situations. In dyna I also set magic attack bonus job trait for Sanguine, with Anrin obi it can hit 900~1k dmg with nice HP recovery and save some TP/MP for cures.

Most useful DD spells are: Heavy strike(macro in acc gears outside of Abyssea, and A LOT of acc gears for VW) QC, Dissev, Delta thrust, Gob rush(only for SC, I don't really set this in dyna because doing light SC isn't efficient in dyna), B.typhoon, Vanity Dive(very good dmg in dyna when you want to kill mobs really fast after proc), I almost always set HS/QC/Dissev at least, then add others depending on the situations and how tough the mobs are.

[Vriska]

Embarassingly in the early days of Abyssea I used to /THF and SA Vert Cleave stuff. Or SA Benthic. I GUESS it still works, but its probably far from optimal.