BLM Merit Group 2.

[SephYuyX]

Ok, I havent merited since these new groups came out, I had left over points and tossed them in Burst and Freeze just for the hell of it; while planning on meriting again soon, I wanted to know what the majority of BLM are doing with these.

I was considering just getting them all because they do the same damage and I like how the spells look, but I never found the answer in how much Burst 3 does over Burst 1.

First of all, these effects only work in MBs, right? And does the +3 Magic Burst per level include the initial level (+9), or just lvl2 and 3 making it a total of +6?

In what formula are these bonues considered in? The Magic Burst Bonus as a multiplier along with tonbon, or do they work as a MAB as +6 being 0.06?


Basiclly.. what it comes down to is theres one of 3 ways I want to do this:
1) Id want to merit them all just to have them.
2) Burst3 and Freeze3.
3) Burst3, Freeze2 and Tornado1.

Obviously #3 is situational, and also doesnt really matter. No my LS doesnt loltpburnkren, but having Tornado1 would probably end the fight 2minutes quicker anyway, so it sort of doesnt really seem worth it.

What it boils down to is, whats the dmg difference btwn Burst1 and Burst3, id like to unlock all the spells, but if there is a significat difference btwn the dmg, ill go with #2.

Yes, im also aware that technically freeze does more dmg than burst, but go go light renkeis.


Thanks.

[Sidanoir]

I encourage my BLMs to get more than just Freeze/Burst....

SCs for us aren't very common, so the extra merits would be wasted...pretty much only thing we regularly skillchain is Fafhogg

[Bxbaby]

I myself have gone the route of Burst II (3), Freeze II (2), Tornado II (1). For me this combination has worked out very well. A point that you may have failled to realize is that meriting AMII spells not only gives added damage to MB's, but it also increases the magic accuracy of the spell. I have noticed that the extra merits in my Burst II and Freeze II have decreased my resist rates a lot. More over than the added MB damage, the acc bonus is what makes it worth it to me.

[Nuriko]

I personally like Flood II over Tornado II for the fact it lowers resistance to Thunder for a short while. I honestly have no idea by how much it lowers or it's duration, but at the least think it's more beneficial for other blms in your group who may not be maxed out on skill or you are fighting mobs with higher magic def.

[Tumibumi]

common thing i've seen quite a bit is blm getting the entire set, personally i have burst freeze and flare currently. the flare was a request made when setting up bahamut v2 run for summons. i may in the end go level 3 on burst and 2 on freeze and dump the flare for tornado it seems logical if you do kirin enough to give a shit. the route of maxing burst and freeze makes sense, and the point of resist rate is good. i've seen some strange behavior with am2 it can be spotty.

ultimately it is a decision i'm still making, i've been curious what people think on the matter.

[Suiram]

Someone on these forums (I think Nerull?) tested the MB bonus and it worked out to be about a 3% difference, so it's likely calculated separately similar to AF2 hands and static earring. No clue yet where/how it actually figures into the formula, though (something we've been meaning to get around to lol).

As for Sidanoir encouraging people to get them all, I'm not convinced that's always the best advice. Your most efficient nukes (with respect to damage vs. MP) are still going to be Blizzard and Thunder tiers III and IV, since the vast majority of BLMs are going to have 5/5 potency merits in those elements. You're not often in a situation where you are cycling through all of your spells as quickly as possible, and when you do, Freeze and Burst are more than enough to handle the intervening period. In that case, the accuracy bonus from lvl 2 or 3 freeze/burst--however marginal--would probably be a greater benefit than a large arsenal of spells that are going to be doing 6-8% less damage anyway. And this is assuming you don't routinely magic burst, which many LSs still do.

[Not Kuno]

Lvl 3 Burst2
Lvl 1 Freeze2
Lvl 1 Flood2
Lvl 1 Tornado2


With that setup I get what I want (max burst2) with the other AM for the odd LS event where it's needed. I only really ever MB with burst2 so that setup works great for me. If you do ls stuff where you'd need Flare or Quake then put that instead.

[Shadida]

We recommend that our mages pick up Flood II when they ask what else they should get, it comes in handy vs Fafnir/Nidhogg if you're into that.

[Judai]

Get them all. I had Lv2 Burst 2 and opted to take it out and get the others. They all have a nice use somewhere. I personally think having them all will benefit you more then doing an extra 200 dmg or so on the MBs that come around every once in a blue moon.

Quake2- MountZ xp when you say shit, Earth whether! Toss on AF2 pants and you got yourself Burst 2 damage all over again. (Get an Earth Obi and you can have your most powerful xp spell during Earthdays and weather)

Flare2- Great spell, can be used again in MountZ during Fire weather when Freeze 2 sucks. Also great for Ghosts and plenty of other mobs. (Get an Obi again and take advantage of Fire weather for xp if you want)

Flood2- Uh, idk really but it's cool looking and a solid spell! Oh ya, nice for Suzaku too I guess. (With ES it's solid on Cerby too, if you ever go to him as BLM..)

Tornado2- Greatfor Kirin or JoFaith if your LS still kites or uses BLMs on them.

Versatility is best imo.

[Sidanoir]

Only reason I encourage people to get more is that a fair amount of end game mobs are Ice immune or Thunder Immune..
Having Aero and Flare counteracts that imho..
Not to mention that if everyone spams thunder/ice only (lol chelvnik is a good example) the mob takes such a reduced amount of damage it sucks...spell flexiblity is nice sometimes

The accuracy is definitely the only reason I would get more than one merit in said categories.

[OmegaKnight]

I just got them all. I somewhat regert it though because of the magic acc on them at lvl 1. Getting resisted and doing 150 dmg on KS99 wyrm 50% of the time is pretty bad. :S

[Sidanoir]

I just got them all. I somewhat regert it though because of the magic acc on them at lvl 1. Getting resisted and doing 150 dmg on KS99 wyrm 50% of the time is pretty bad. :S

In skill gear or damage gear?
Skill gear have a hard time believing that >.>
Considering I nuked him unresisted as RDM

[Nerull]

To answer questions:

No AM2 is not tiered. With same potency merits, and no staff, they do exact same damage. Here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/FFXI/AM2.jpg

each upgrade is +3% MB damage, not +3 dmg jeez. Tests, with same maxed potency merits and no staff, but level 1 Burst II and level 3 Freeze II:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...FFXI/AM2MB.jpg

1873/1755 = 1.0672... so approximately 6% increase in damage. Correctly corresponding to the +6 increase from 2 more merit upgrades.

(remember numbers are rather low, due to having no staff equipped)

It is obviously a % increase and not a MAB, or the numbers would be lower. My best guess would be that it is added to the MB multiplier same as relic gloves and static earring. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if a lvl1 AM2 has a MB damage +3 or not, would require some testing and number crunching.

As for how to spend the merits, you can see my sig. Think about it. If, like any typically meritted BLM, you have maxed lightning and ice potency, Burst II and Freeze II already have an inherent 10% increase in damage over any of the others. Freeze even more so due to the extra INT. The only time they would be comparable in damage is on the corresponding day, using relic pants and an obi. But who the fuck carries around an earth, water, wind, or fire obi? Just for the very rare occasion that you would want to cast one of those AM2. Even Freeze II and Burst II I don't use very often, since Thunder IV or Blizzard IV are much more MP efficient. Only possible use for Tornado II is Kirin, which, even aside from the fact that my LS doesn't let BLMs nuke Kirin anymore (/cry) I hardly see the value in spending merits on one fight that we do every once in a while. Do BLMs really have that hard a time getting resisted by fafhogg? If so they need to look at their gear more than having a BLM waste MP on Flood II for them, which from what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) doesn't give any more resist down than regular AM.

@Judai:
You confusing something? AF2 pants don't have an effect during weather...
and why are you casting AM2 in exp anyway? Use tierIVs for better MP conservation.

[Suiram]

Hey, I was right, it was you who tested it haha Anyhow, you're correct, it seems that the strength of the resistance penalty and its duration is the same for AM1 as AM2.

[Loren]

I got all six spells. Full obi set + relic pants means you can cast a very strong AM II in nearly any situation (except Darksday/Lightsday with no weather).

The MB bonus for upgrading them seems somewhat small, especially since big mobs that people SC on are likely to have non-Ice/Thunder weaknesses anyway (Kirin, Jorm, Tia, Ouryu, etc.)

[Suiram]

I got all six spells. Full obi set + relic pants means you can cast a very strong AM II in nearly any situation (except Darksday/Lightsday with no weather).

The MB bonus for upgrading them seems somewhat small, especially since big mobs that people SC on are likely to have non-Ice/Thunder weaknesses anyway (Kirin, Jorm, Tia, Ouryu, etc.)

So, am I to assume you similarly did your group 1 merits something like 2 in four of the elements and 1 in the other two, or maybe 1 in each and a few in elemental seal?

[OmegaKnight]

I just got them all. I somewhat regert it though because of the magic acc on them at lvl 1. Getting resisted and doing 150 dmg on KS99 wyrm 50% of the time is pretty bad. :S

In skill gear or damage gear?
Skill gear have a hard time believing that >.>
Considering I nuked him unresisted as RDM

In damage gear, but with merits and sorc pet. I rarely eat that many resists, unless I'm using AMII.

[Sidanoir]

I just got them all. I somewhat regert it though because of the magic acc on them at lvl 1. Getting resisted and doing 150 dmg on KS99 wyrm 50% of the time is pretty bad. :S

In skill gear or damage gear?
Skill gear have a hard time believing that >.>
Considering I nuked him unresisted as RDM

In damage gear, but with merits and sorc pet. I rarely eat that many resists, unless I'm using AMII.

Gotcha, on a side note I noticed same shit with RDM cat II merits...

With 1 merit Para II i was getting nonstop resisted on Demon NMs in xarc.....para I stuck everytime....

[Tumibumi]

hmm.. i'll walk around with all 8 obi (got light for the hell of it) and relic pants most of the time.
i feel dumb but then the off chance comes up to use said gear and i don't have them on me i feel worse. i guess that's all a matter of if you have space or not.
to be quite honest i'm very confused with this matter now, granted my potency merits are like any other blm so the logic of burst and freeze only is compelling but in the back of my mind things like what judai said are there. also take into account my ls rarely if ever would do fafnir, but we do kirin on a semi regular basis, along with the fact i usually keep most of my elemental skill stuff with me too (just having 1 75 level job at times has advantages i guess)

[Nerull]

If you have room to carry 8 obis, you must not be carrying stuff like enfeebling and dark magic gear, or ring macro -HP gear, or -enmity gear. Things that will actually benefit you every day, not once in a blue moon like a water obi would. In an ideal world with an unlimited inventory, sure I would love to carry 8 obis, along with a lot of other gear I just don't have room for. But I only have 60 slots, so I have to pick and choose.

It's not versatility if it's not helping you. Saying you're versatile because you have all 6 AM2 is like me saying I'm versatile because I can speak 4 languages, 2 of which are ancient languages no one speaks anymore, and 1 is pig latin.

edit: spelling