BLM 50-60+ body armor advice needed

[grunion]

sorry for the noob question. i'm 48 on BLM and up til now i've had 2 body armors:
Seer's Tunic while resting, for MP Regeneration +1
Baron's Saio for INT+1
i'm taru so i don't get +INT on RSE, so really these were the only 2 decent body items.

but at 50-60 suddenly there's a ton of options and i can't decide what to use. i'm taru BLM with all +INT and +MAB gear possible, all HQ staves, etc.

duende cotehardie +4 conserve MP
Tactician Magician's Coat +2 INT+1, MP+20
Shaman's Cloak, no hat (effectively -4 int from that), MP+25, INT+4, enfeeble +5, elemental +5
JSE coat MP+16 enfeeble +10 enmity-3
Healing Justaucorps INT+2 HP+10
Justaucorps +1 INT+3 HP+15
royal cloak no hat (-4 INT loss) MP+20, MP+1%, refresh
Flora Cotehardie INT+3 MP+30 HP-30

seems like for MP purposes i want RC whenever im not casting. when i'm casting i want shaman's cloak. but the cloak is really INT+0 because of hat loss, so wouldn't that make it worse than some of the other options?

i'm just confused by the overabundance of options. some tips would be great. thx

[Koga]

.

ibtl

Flora or Shaman Cloak.

[Soul Side]

Shura

[Turlos.]

There wern't this many options when I leveled BLM. In most of the xp parties I was in, usually I was underleveled compared to the rest of the party (for whatever reasons back then most parties seemed to grab BLMs 2 levels below everyone else alot). Because of that I used Shamans cloak alot or the majority of the time. The +elemental helped with resists.

If you are ok resist wise, at least for the magic bursts you could consider the Cotehardie + AF Hat for a slightly bit of extra damage. If you are getting resisted much at all though, just stick with shamans cloak. 0 resists are better than 5-10 extra damage here or there.

I swapped in my royal cloak when I wasnt casting just for slight bits of mp regen, but its a luxury item for BLMs till black cloak at 68.

[Lordwafik]

nukes : duende or flora

enfeebles : af1 body.

I wore TM because that was the only option pre AF1 body back in the day.

I also wore a yukata because i was bored

[Tilo]

I was piss poor when I leveled blm and used TM until AF which I used until the Black Cloak. I also had the same problem of parties inviting me when I was 2 levels lower than everyone else.

[Jeryhn]

Nuking before 60: Shaman's Cloak
Nuking after 60: Wizard's Petasos + Flora Cotehardie OR Justaucorps +1
Resting: Vermillion Cloak
(Royal will be a waste for a BLM, save the HQ ePeen for Demon Cloak at 68.)
Enfeebling/Sleeping: Wizard's Coat

[Palin]

Shaman's, nothing beats Elemental Magic at that level, especially with the tendancy to overhunt.

[Mifaco]

Stuck with AF, I'm a BLM, I can gimp out on gear unlike melees LOL

[Lordwafik]

Stuck with AF, I'm a BLM, I can gimp out on gear unlike melees LOL

didnt you wear mnk af1 to 75?

[Machazareel]

Meh, mnk af1 is decent, at least. I'd react more to a SAM using AF until... actually, using it at all would be nab o<

[Xerlic]

Agree with Palin.

I did Shaman's Cloak till 68 when I switched over to JSE.

It really all depends, though. If you're at the tail end of the level spectrum of your party or you're fighting on IT++ and see a lot of resists, you're gonna want elemental magic skill. So go with the cloak.

If you're not getting resisted cuz you're the highest level in your pt(lol) or fighting weaker stuff, then switch to a damage setup of AF1/Rep. Circlet for head and Justeucorps/Cotehardie for Body.

[thegod]

wafik wins

i wore Shaman's 99% of the time

Af1 when enfeebling

Flora when reblic circlet is active and i'm not fighting anything i need the +5 ele skill from shaman's.


IMO shaman's is your best bet, gives you highest ele skill set up you can have, same MP and int as Af1 hat, and a bit of enfeebling skill so the loss of af1 body doesnt hurt that bad(macroing it in is still good for 5 more enfeebling skill)

[Not Kuno]

I went with af1 body and hat combo. Worked well and was free. Tanks sucked at those lvls so the -enmity was good.

As for needing elemental skill, you hopefully shouldn't have a problem when you get af gloves and staves. Back in the day nobody had staves and nowadays you shouldn't get resisted with af gloves + hq ice. Or even nq ice.

BLM gear is pretty straightforward. Coteharte is ugly as fucking hell.

[Koga]

I went with af1 body and hat combo. Worked well and was free. Tanks sucked at those lvls so the -enmity was good.

As for needing elemental skill, you hopefully shouldn't have a problem when you get af gloves and staves. Back in the day nobody had staves and nowadays you shouldn't get resisted with af gloves + hq ice. Or even nq ice.

BLM gear is pretty straightforward. Coteharte is ugly as fucking hell.

remember when having a Set of NQ staves made you leet?

[amlaruil]

Naked all the way.

[macbain24]

Honestly nothings gonna make a big difference at lvl 50-60...just be a cheapass like I was and wear AF noone cares because your blm lol.

p.s. Why has noone flamed this person? This is such an allakhazam topic.

[aurik]

Because he put actual thought into his post.

- He gave the context. Not "Which is better, A or B?" but rather "I'm exping my blm 50-60..."
- He referenced his list of options and their stats for us.
- He applied some of his own critical thinking to the list "gee RC is only good for resting, and it seems like shaman cloak is pretty good but it has less int..."

[Septimus]

Because he put actual thought into his post.

- He gave the context. Not "Which is better, A or B?" but rather "I'm exping my blm 50-60..."
- He referenced his list of options and their stats for us.
- He applied some of his own critical thinking to the list "gee RC is only good for resting, and it seems like shaman cloak is pretty good but it has less int..."

Or maybe the BG forums are all flamed out. Maxx made us so tired that we no longer have the will to burn people.

[Not Kuno]

Honestly nothings gonna make a big difference at lvl 50-60...just be a cheapass like I was and wear AF noone cares because your blm lol.

Elemental staves. Huge difference 50-60.