BLM Merits

[Tajin]

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

Almost true, but you forget the /WHM argument

what argument?

[Shuemue]

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

Almost true, but you forget the /WHM argument

what argument?

Which sub, /whm or /rdm?

(You're gimp if you don't have all three of /whm, /rdm and /nin in my opinion though if you want to be a useful endgame BLM)

Kerberoz I'm looking at you.

[BRP]

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

Almost true, but you forget the /WHM argument

what argument?

Which sub, /whm or /rdm?

(You're gimp if you don't have all three of /whm, /rdm and /nin in my opinion though if you want to be a useful endgame BLM)

Kerberoz I'm looking at you.

You are obviously forgetting /SMN... oh shi- we just went full circle.

[Shuemue]

blm/pld for cures, flash, auto-refresh, sentinel when you pull hate?

[Tajin]

BLM/DRG to shred hate yo.

Edit: Jump with claustrum, makes Raptor jesus wet in the pants.

[Seditedi]

Main reason why I was saying elemental vs mab merits is comparable to combat skill vs str is accuracy even though a combat skill does add attack as well. Combat skill and elemental skill are much more effective in improving your damage/total damage compared to STR/MAB which is why skill is better to merit first than potency for BLM. Even in exp on VT/ITs the elemental magic will allow you to be more consistent in your spell damage. I'd rather nuke unresisted consistently then add +10 MAB to my spells instead of having stronger nukes with more resists. <_<

[Sci]

My only input on this whole thread is that you might want to put some merits in +Dark magic instead of +Enfeebling. BLM already gets a lot of gear with tons of +enfeeb on it, which should be enough to let you land enfeebling spells on most exp type stuff reliably enough. But even with gear and maxed merits, you'll struggle to enfeeble some HNMs that RDMs can and should take care of. But every bit of Dark magic skill should help on HNMs. Since BLMs are often responsible for stunning, and newer HNMs tend to occasionally resist Stun. Nice Drains and Aspirs are always welcome too.

[Shuemue]

I disagree, with 8 enfeebling merits, then the basic torque/lappa/tiara/af1 body, your skill is at 283, that's high enough to have a chance at filling a gap if the shit hits the fan or you have low numbers. Add in the 'luxury' items, enfeebling earring, genie tiara/lappa, wizard's coat +1, you're looking at what, 292 skill? That's not to be sniffed at.

[Tajin]

Cant you put 8Ele/8Enfeeb/4Dark anyway?

Or 2 Dark and 2Healing, so people can laugh harder at my WHM ._.

[Shuemue]

Nah, magic caps at 16, it's combat that you can put 20 in.

[Sci]

I disagree, with 8 enfeebling merits, then the basic torque/lappa/tiara/af1 body, your skill is at 283, that's high enough to have a chance at filling a gap if the shit hits the fan or you have low numbers. Add in the 'luxury' items, enfeebling earring, genie tiara/lappa, wizard's coat +1, you're looking at what, 292 skill? That's not to be sniffed at.

A naked RDM with maxed enfeeb merits has 294 skill. And by wearing nothing but +skill gear, you gimp the potency of the enfeebles anyhow. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have the potential of landing enfeebles if the situation arises. But no amount of gear or merits are going to allow you enfeeble like a RDM can. And at least for me, most of the enfeebles I cast on HNMs are coupled with Elemental Seal. So I'd just prefer +16 dark magic skill over +16 enfeebling magic skill for most situations.

[Shuemue]

Fair point, if that works for you, good stuff. For me, I'd much rather have sleep land than drain for an extra 50hp. Situational etc.

[Kaylia]

You can't really compare magic to melee, so it's kind of a poor point to bring up.

Yeah. Right. Sure.

Simple fact is that elemental magic skill is accuracy. If you're going to do anything other than solo xp on blm, you should merit ele magic. That's where the main difference lie in elemental skill. The opposite is also true on HNM (melee get "decent" accuracy, while blm struggle to land a nuke)

Go ahead and toss 1-2 merits each in potency, and grab Burst II, but if you want to do end game stuff with your blm, your primary focus better be 8 ele merits before you're anywhere close to capping potency.

As I stated above, you seem to ignore the fact that your accuracy on BLM will be close to the soft cap all the time on exp mobs and weaker, while your accuracy on melee jobs is going to be miles away from cap.

what argument?

Kerberoz trying to justify that /WHM sub is useless at 75, when it's probably the best subs for most HNM.

[Shuemue]

You can't really compare magic to melee, so it's kind of a poor point to bring up.

Yeah. Right. Sure.

Simple fact is that elemental magic skill is accuracy. If you're going to do anything other than solo xp on blm, you should merit ele magic. That's where the main difference lie in elemental skill. The opposite is also true on HNM (melee get "decent" accuracy, while blm struggle to land a nuke)

Go ahead and toss 1-2 merits each in potency, and grab Burst II, but if you want to do end game stuff with your blm, your primary focus better be 8 ele merits before you're anywhere close to capping potency.

As I stated above, you seem to ignore the fact that your accuracy on BLM will be close to the soft cap all the time on exp mobs and weaker, while your accuracy on melee jobs is going to be miles away from cap.

Read the bolded part again please.

[Kaylia]

A naked RDM with maxed enfeeb merits has 294 skill. And by wearing nothing but +skill gear, you gimp the potency of the enfeebles anyhow. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have the potential of landing enfeebles if the situation arises. But no amount of gear or merits are going to allow you enfeeble like a RDM can. And at least for me, most of the enfeebles I cast on HNMs are coupled with Elemental Seal. So I'd just prefer +16 dark magic skill over +16 enfeebling magic skill for most situations.

The enfeebling spell landing on BLM is far more important than potency of said enfeebling. Sleep/Bind/Gravity. A resist often mean death, or 30sec wasted running around (if you can afford running around, which isnt always true with link and aggro), it's usually the difference between a smooth fight and one that has high chance of death. Dynamis mobs (especially Xarc), anything manaburned in sea, limbus, salvage (where you dont have skill to backup pretty often) are place where you want your m.acc to be over the top. And there is many random situation that happen less often, but mean as much (ie:6 darters and random mess up).
More enfeebling will always give you higher m.acc, and I can think of many more situation where I want my spell to land. Hell, how many times have you died after an enfeebling resist, and how many time would you live because drain/aspir didnt resist (or stun >_>...if that thing ever resist)

I'm not sure how much benefit you get from 16dark on drain/aspir, but I doubt it's more than 10-15hp/4-5mp you might get.

http://picshome.com/v2/download.php?id=38A598221

Nice chart.

Read the bolded part again please.

I replied to your post because it imply m.acc and melee accuracy is similar, when the implication of both of those are completely different. The content isn't wrong, it's your justification of the analogy that is imo.

[Shuemue]

Read the bolded part again please.

I replied to your post because it imply m.acc and melee accuracy is similar, when the implication of both of those are completely different. The content isn't wrong, it's your justification of the analogy that is imo.

I think of it in simple terms:

Resist = miss
More skill = less miss

[evilpaul]

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

Almost true, but you forget the /WHM argument

what argument?

Which sub, /whm or /rdm?

(You're gimp if you don't have all three of /whm, /rdm and /nin in my opinion though if you want to be a useful endgame BLM)

Kerberoz I'm looking at you.

You are obviously forgetting /SMN... oh shi- we just went full circle.

BLM/SMN, BLM/SMN, ...BLM/SMN! Now we just have to wait a few seconds for Rambus to appear like Beetlejuice.

What are people using BLM/NIN for, btw? I've heard Dynamis Lord. I'm not sure what else though.

[Shuemue]

What are people using BLM/NIN for, btw? I've heard Dynamis Lord. I'm not sure what else though.

Best example is Jailer of Fortitude, you cast single target spells on him, IV and AM II etc, he takes full dmg and casts them back at you, and you blink them.

[Suiram]

Any situation where you're not expected or likely to need to provide support, where the thing you're fighting doesn't have heavy-damage, shadow-wiping WSs. In particular for fighting things that have blinkable AoE WSs, or in circumstances such as manaburn where you find yourself frequently the target of ordinary attack rounds.

[Kaylia]

I use blm/nin more than blm/rdm when it come to manaburn and solo situation. I'm almost always /whm for HNM, unless it's fafnir (I go /rdm to solo aquarius on the way >_>..and fast cast for stoneskin when the wyrm feels like spamming)

Where /nin shines the most is sea manaburn imo. Stoneskin/blink doesnt cut it against most aerns that hit like truck and multiple times. You also have little kitting room in most place for gravity, so /nin help a ton between sleep. It's also awesome to duo/trio Fortitude, Ix'mnk without gaiter (you need 1 healer in party tho), solo/duo Ix'drk. No reason not to sub nin for low man Hope and Prudence for survival issue. (justice and temperance are the only NM where /whm or /rdm win imo). I personally sub /nin for JoL too when I'm on add duty. 3 shadow for the 3 phuabo is conveniant if you nuke a little too early.

In dynamis, if you are sleeping a lot, you will want /nin over stoneskin/blink. Utsu: ni is reliable, cost no mp and can be recasted easily any time. Poisonga and diaga is your bane (I carry antidote), but I believe the advantage it give most of the time make it better.

In limbus, /nin + /rdm complete each other really well. You can easily have a blm "tank" and one to debuff. It worked better for me than 2-3 /rdm. I've duo'd NW apolyon with /nin x2 as well, work just as good (grav for the 3 behemot really help tho).

For assault, bc, random situation, it really depend what you fight. When it's a situation where you can pull hate, or mobs hit really hard, /nin is more reliable than /rdm. When it's a situation where you will never or rarely get hit, and grav kite, go /rdm.