BLM Merits

[Darkyrm]

Errant are better than druid slop imo.
8int = 4m.acc and some dmg

Has this been proved?

I remember reading somwhere that some recent tests pointed to the whole 2int=1macc but Ive allways been very sceptic about that.

[Xhu]

To explain my situation I use BLM mainly for Dynamis and solo exp.

I would go AM2 (lvl1) > Potency > enfeeble> elem > AM2 finish > mp

1) AM2 is fun . Id get lvl 1 burst and freeze personally to play with then move onto potency upgrades. Handy for when you want to do a lot of damage at once - youll probably still use Tier 4 mostly anyway in most situations as they are more efficient but its only 6 merit point you can knock out in no time at all.

2) Potency merits make a noticable difference to damage for both solo/merits and for events. Id go 5/5 on these asap.

3) Enfeebling skill is great for dynamis and soloing. With enfeeble gear for BLM you can bring it to 269 without merit anyway easily so id still go for potency first imo but especially now you can go 8/8 for both it will be more of a help than elem

4) Elem does help and allows you to drops AF1 gloves to increase damage at all times so I would do it when you can. Also for really nasty mob you can go all out elem with gear too and see better return. You may want to raise enfeeble and elem at same time though persoanlly i see more resist on enfeeble than elemental and the enfeeble resist cause me a bigger headache so ive focused on maxing those first.

5) After that id max out you AM2 choice - i havent got there yet. 3/3 Burst and 3 other at 1 seems good idea to me.

6) MP merits are handy but as mithra Id still go for all of above first as increasing damage and lowering resist will make you more effective soloing mobs in any situation than another 80 mp. Get them once you have the rest done imo.

[Azuke]

4) Elem does help and allows you to drops AF1 gloves to increase damage at all times so I would do it when you can. Also for really nasty mob you can go all out elem with gear too and see better return. You may want to raise enfeeble and elem at same time though persoanlly i see more resist on enfeeble than elemental and the enfeeble resist cause me a bigger headache so ive focused on maxing those first.

Of course you get more resists on enfeebling, but then again, that's not what we BLM's are supposed to be good at either, the only thing you _really_ want enfeebling for when it comes to HNM's is for your sleeps.

And yeah, sure while AF Gloves is about the same as capped elemental magic merits it's not like you can throw away your AF1 gloves thinking you'll never use em again. Even with AF2 Hat, AF1 Gloves, Elemental Torque I still see resists on Wyrms i.e, it's not often, but it happens and it's annoying.

[evilpaul]

Recently reached 75 (yay me).

Curious to know the best meriting route.

I am inclinded to go elemental > lightning potency > burst2 (max cat), but would like to hear others opinions.

Thanks.

It depends what you do with your BLM. If you are going to merit on it, get level 1-3 ice/thunder potency before you max out Elemental Magic. As you'll get bigger improvements with fewer merit points and you really only need capped Elemental on HNMs anyway.

Errant are better than druid slop imo.
8int = 4m.acc and some dmg

Has this been proved?

I remember reading somwhere that some recent tests pointed to the whole 2int=1macc but Ive allways been very sceptic about that.

When I asked about it I got pointed to some dopey thread on KI saying "BLM1 parsed higher at Kirin than BLM2 and BLM1 was using 'SuperINT'!" It's a lawl worthy theory that I've never come across any real proof in support of yet.

"Lowering ice resist on JoL"? I'm sleepy and might be wrong, but if JoL is weak to ice, wouldnt wind heal it for 1k dmg? Kinda like that time I lowered shen thunder resist with flood 2...not a proud moment.

hehe, good thing there's always lots of WHMs on Shen runs, right?

[Blabj]

Capped Enfeebling Merits have a lot of uses if you do anything more than plain ol' nuking. However don't do them until you've finished potency, AM2 and Elemental.

[wop]

I remember reading somwhere that some recent tests pointed to the whole 2int=1macc but Ive allways been very sceptic about that.
When I asked about it I got pointed to some dopey thread on KI saying "BLM1 parsed higher at Kirin than BLM2 and BLM1 was using 'SuperINT'!" It's a lawl worthy theory that I've never come across any real proof in support of yet.

And I assume you're one of those BLM's that ask for Double Ballad instead of INT Etude at Kirin, amirite.......


8)

[evilpaul]

I did actually ask for an INT etude at my last Kirin. But that was more to drive my BRD friend crazy than in the belief I'd get 10 Macc or whatever from it.

I got mauled several minutes later and the BLMs with Ballad weren't. So, I'll posit my unsubstantiated, baseless theory that the STAT+ on etudes comes with an equal, hidden Enmity+ as well.

I personally would prefer to be SMN at Kirin or have a RDM+COR in a BLM party. Trying to gather BLMs for Ballads looks like trying to herd cats.

[Shuemue]

Wow at this thread.

To any blm that merits potency before ele skill, you're a fucking idiot.

You'd melee in STR rings too I guess? That's basically what you're doing if you don't cap ele.

[sb]

I agree with Shuemue. Why go for a bigger bang if it will be resisted. Consistent damage is more important. Also, unlocking and using AM2, without potency (and skill) merits, is a waste of mp.

[Sylphet]

If you're a BLM main there's no reason not to cap both elemental and enfeebling merits.

Both are extremely useful and can save your life, whether it's sleeping mobs in dynamis, nuking HNMs, soloing, or anything else.

As far as AMII goes, whether you chose to fully merit or unlock multiple is really up to how you and your ls chose to play. Personally, I can't remember the last time I saw my LS magic burst (Yes the additional macc is nice but often not considered worth it). Besides, Tier IV nukes are still far more MP efficient than AMII so I don't think that they should be as large of a priority as people make them when it comes to picking what to merit.

I only pull out my BLM once every couple months or so due to my other jobs but my merits are:

5/5 Ltng. Potency
5/5 Ice Potency
1 Burst II
1 Freeze II
1 Flood II

I have enfeebling magic fully merited now and I haven't had the time to merit enough to start working on another category. I'm BRD for ~95% of all large linkshell events so I might just end up doing wind

If I had to chose an order to merit in it would be:

1) Elemental Magic (because getting resisted sucks more than doing slightly less per nuke)
2) Ltng. Pot. (because Thunder is your most powerful spell even against things like Tiamat and Fufu, MB with Light)
3) Burst II (to make use of those Ltng. Potency merits)
4) Ice Pot. (next most powerful spell, MB with Dark)
5) Freeze II (make use of Ice Potency merits, huge e-peen numbers in Uleguerand Range on Ice day)
6) Other AMII or maxing out Burst II and Freeze II

[Shuemue]

If I had to chose an order to merit in it would be:

1) Elemental Magic (because getting resisted sucks more than doing slightly less per nuke)
2) Ltng. Pot. (because Thunder is your most powerful spell even against things like Tiamat and Fufu, MB with Light)
3) Burst II (to make use of those Ltng. Potency merits)
4) Ice Pot. (next most powerful spell, MB with Dark)
5) Freeze II (make use of Ice Potency merits, huge e-peen numbers in Uleguerand Range on Ice day)
6) Other AMII or maxing out Burst II and Freeze II

Bingo, but to be honest it really wouldn't matter if you got all the lvl 1 AM II that you intended to get before doing your potency.

[Xhu]

Wow at this thread.

To any blm that merits potency before ele skill, you're a fucking idiot.

You'd melee in STR rings too I guess? That's basically what you're doing if you don't cap ele.

Yeah fair enough but from merit/solo point of view or the other stuff I do with my BLM I dont feel I get many resists - i notice them when I do as they are rare.

For me having 5/5 potencies meant being able to kill a pudding/wamora without needing to sleep it and rest MP as I did such a significant amount more damage. And maybe 1/10 id get a resist which meant I couldn't do that and I have to sleep anyway but im better off 9/10. Elem magic would help no doubt but it would mean I still couldnt do enough damage to solo as effectively so for me potency was more use.

Same way for that situation enfeeble is more use to me as a resist on grav bind sleep causes me more difficulties than a nuke getting half damage, which is more easily dealt with.

If a BLM only nuked and did HNM etc I can see the point of elemental 1st but as thats not me with BLM i gave my point of view ^^. I'm not saying it isnt important just that for me it wasnt top of the list.

[spooky]

"Lowering ice resist on JoL"? I'm sleepy and might be wrong, but if JoL is weak to ice, wouldnt wind heal it for 1k dmg? Kinda like that time I lowered shen thunder resist with flood 2...not a proud moment.

Yeah it would, but it's not always in wind/ice mode. Has other modes too, when nunking with ice is still just as effective and then lowering it's resist would be good.
I actually thought that when I made my original post, and thought someone will probably point that out and I should edit my post, but I just got distracted at work and didn't get round to it lol.

[Shalafi]

Wow, this has been excellent feedback. Thank you everyone.

I will try to provide a little more insight.

I am in an HNMLS but since my BLM just reached 75 I will not be doing faf, kirin, oruyu anytime soon; I need to get my merits. I am looking to solo and manaburn to get merits and would like to maximize my damage effectivness while I do this. Most of my time will probably be spent on puddings (maybe throw bugs, etc in there).

Now for the background info that I now realize should've been included with the first post.

Taru
My gear is typically as below with the exeption of a few switches for some spells (i.e. enfeeble skill for grav etc.)

Elemental Staffs
AF1 hat
Weskit Body
Rainbow Cape
Elemental Torque
Zenith Mitts
Penitent's Rope
Phantom Thalum
Moldavite Earring
Phantom Earring
Tamas Ring
Diamond Ring
Errant Slops
Manniquin Boots

I upgrade as items come available to me, but I am poor so it happens slowly.

[Shuemue]

That gear is fine, I'd still merit ele magic first though.

[Shalafi]

Ok, thanks everyone. I have what I came for; and I think this was the most help I ever got from a post before, usually they turn into flame wars

[solsovly]

You can finish off puddings as a hume blm with no merits without sleep. I would just go with whatever is cheapest.

I went:Elemental 1 Thunder 1 Ice 1
Elemental 2 Thunder 2 Ice 2
AM2 AM2
Now since upgrading elemental thunder and ice all cost 3, I just went with straight elemental as I think that's a bit more important than potency. The only time I need to rest soloing mobs is when I get resisted.

[Shuemue]

Ok, thanks everyone. I have what I came for; and I think this was the most help I ever got from a post before, usually they turn into flame wars

BLM's are cool like that, unless Rambus gets involved.

[SephYuyX]

Since I was a 75BLM long before merits came out, instead of showing you the way I went, id show you the way id go if I just now hit 75 with all these new merits released.

Ele > Enfeeb > Lighting > Ice > INT > AMII > MP > -Enmity > -Interruption

Everybody does AMII differently, heres a thread a bit about it viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18028

In the end I chose to unlock all of them.

[Hanyoko]

Thunder potency : for the hardest hitting nukes
Blizzard potency : for the 2nd hardest hitting nukes and the highest accuracy (due to ice staff)
Elemental magic skill : for reducing resist rate/allowing swaping of slots to int/MAB for more damage
Enfeebling magic skill : cause sleep, gravity are your solo best friends
Burst II, Freeze II : the most used AM II

AMII are often a debate, however I chose burst II/Freeze II to full lvl3 : Each level increase the magic accuracy which is usefull in salvage where you dont always have all your gear OR allowing to replace some gear slots with int/MAB.

That aside order should be in what will get you the most bang for your buck.

Personally I did:
elemental magic lvl6, enfeebling magic lvl2 (back when cap was 8)
ice potency lvl5
thunder potency lvl3
Freeze II lvl1
Burst II lvl1
thunder potency lvl5
MP lvl8
*wohoo 16 magic cap*
elemental magic lvl8
enfeebling magic lvl8
Freeze II lvl3
Burst II lvl3