BLM Merits

[Shalafi]

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.

[BRP]

Two or Three AMs(Burst II and Freeze II are most likely going to be the ones you should pick) -> Lightning Potency(5/5) -> Ice Potency(5/5) -> Enfeebling and/or Elemental Skill(it sort of depends on what you do usually, and what jobs you have. Order doesn't matter much) -> If your LS does SCs(assuming you have an end-game LS of some kind) more merits in your AMs might be a good idea.

[Kaylia]

If you are not in HNM ls or arent planning to use blm on HNM, go for enfeebling before elemental. You dont really need elemental skill outside high level NM, and enfeebling is a life saver in your daily situation. Personally, I would get 1 point in burst 2 and Freeze 2 as soon as possible to add more strong spell to your rotation. After that, it doesn't really matter where you put your point, just go for the cheapest upgrade.

Four merits to increase your elemental/enfeebling/ice&thunder potency is better than increasing any of those trait twice (3merits). If you are not taru, it might be a good idea to throw a few point in mp and int when you will have enough merit.


For the "ancient" category, I think getting at least 3 of them is the best. Flare 2 is pretty useful when the mobs you are fighting resist thunder or ice, and having 3 ancients in your manafont rotation help. I got all 6 because I love flashy spell, but I never use quake/tornado

[BRP]

I'd say Tornado II is the third most useful AMII if you do Sky enough. From my experience, you can't really cast anything but Wind spells on Kirin and that's probably one of the few NMs people who normally don't SC will do SCs on. But again, I guess it matters more on what you fight. I don't get to fight Jorm and I can't think of any other Ice based monster who is that magically resisted than I wouldn't just cast Thunder on.

[Kaylia]

Havent fought kirin in 1 year, last few fight were zerg anyway. I got tornado for ouryu, but did the fight only once since then. I think more mobs resist wind than fire, but I might be wrong..either way, they both work against undead, which is mainly the reason why a 3rd ancient spell help.

Flood 2 is pretty good against tiamat/nid and lower thunder resist. Can't be overlooked

[Suiram]

You should unlock Burst II and Freeze II at least, then having decided what you're going to max out at, I'd recommend proceeding by unlocking them by whichever takes the least merits to upgrade at that particular point in time, at least until you get to Lvl 3 where magic skill costs cap and job-specific doesn't, then just alternating upgrades.

[Nirokun!]

i think i did lightning/ice potency alternating (1thunder, 1ice, 2thunder, 2ice, etc), then unlocked burst II/freeze II, then capped elemental skill

as i play blm more and more i think i'll end up doing Lv3 Burst II, Lv1 Freeze II, Lv1 Tornado II, Lv1 Flood II, but i still havent really decided yet

(just really pains me to cast anything that isnt thunder/blizzard whyfor must i lose 10MAB? but tornado/flood are useful [AND PRETTY] spells, and i'd like that :Q~ besides, burst2 actually gets bursted on occasion in my LS, doesnt have its own +skill like freeze2 [aquilo's staff]... yeah im tired)

[Kaylia]

Wouldnt 3 freeze be better than 3 burst? I find myself using freeze more often than burst on HNM (15 ele on staff, and many strong monsters have natural thunder resist). It's true burst II magic burst are more popular on old NM, but those are weak an easy

[spooky]

Burst x2, Freeze x2, Tornado x1, Flood x1.

[Kiro]

FUCK TORNADO!

5 Ice/Lightning
8 Elemental
3 Burst II
2 Freeze II
1 Flood

[Azuke]

Max out elemental magic first (Unless you have your AF2 hat already, which I doubt) so you can start switching in more damage gear (Ele Torque > U. Pendant etc.). That'll give you a higher DoT vs. HNM's which to me is way better than a Burst 2 that has a high chance of getting resisted + the fact that even when you hit the jackpot your damage will be weaker since you have to use a full elemental magic setup.

I did:

Elemental Magic > Thunder Potency > Ice Potency > Burst II 3/3 > Freeze II 1/3 > Flood 1/3 > Tornado 1/3

But since it changed recently I'd do:

Elemental Magic > Enfeebling Magic > Thunder Potency > Ice Potency > Burst II 3/3 > Freeze II 1/3 > Flood 1/3 > Tornado 1/3

I maxed Burst II cause that's the only spell I'll actually MB with, Freeze II is most damage, Flood II is nice for Tiamat, Fafhogg etc. + the fact that it lowers their resistance against Lightning, and Tornado II for things like Kirin.

[BRP]

Thunder/Ice Potency will increase your damage so much more than Elemental Skill ever will. Potency is % I do believe which makes it far above MAB... but even if it was MAB, it's much better than Elemental Skill(even if you do switch out gear for it... which really only includes Torque in most set ups that don't already include Pendant/Prud Torque).

[Suiram]

It's MAB

[Kaylia]

Potency is 2 m.atk. Learned it the hard way in a forum argument (was certain it was 2%).

As for the overall damage on HNM, the 16 elemental have a bigger impact than 10m.atk imo. It's not quite the difference between z.mitt and and af1 hand (only 15 ele vs 5.matk), but the difference on the glove is noticeable. I would assume the merit have similar impact.


I still think going for the cheapest merit is the way to go for blm tho

[BRP]

I'd have to disagree with Elemental Skill first still, as you won't need it for getting more merits, but Potency merits make a really big difference in solo exp.

Also, if you aren't fighting Wyrms(or similar), then Potency > Elemental Skill all the way. (Speaking of AF gloves, you are actually better off with wearing those and have potency merits than you are with Zenith Gloves and Elemental Skill).

Maybe I'm a bit biased because I'm a Taru...

[Kaylia]

I believe I mentioned "HNM" every time I said elemental skill is better than potency. Obviously, m.atk is better when you solo pudding or weaker mobs, but not everyone do that. It all come down to the situation where you use your blm. I prefer getting my merit on warrior instead of manaburning on blm. Not that it matter anymore for me since almost everything was capped before ToA .

Capping elemental to equip z.mitts on hnm is retarded, I never mentioned such thing. >_> People should use every elemental gears they can get until they reach the "soft cap" of 95% accuracy

[spooky]

FUCK TORNADO!

5 Ice/Lightning
8 Elemental
3 Burst II
2 Freeze II
1 Flood

Tornado isn't just for Kirin, has other uses too like Ouryu and lowering Ice resist on JoL.

[Kaylia]

"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.

[Azuke]

There's quite a bunch of pieces I remember using back in the days, it's not just the torque.

Elite Beret (AF2 Hat), AF1 hands, Torque and in some cases even Druid Slops and Ice/Aquillos even on the "wrong" spell.

If you have top notch gear that's 16 INT, 13 MAB and an additional 15% damage increase from the right staff that you're switching out for Elemental Gear which is more than just the potency increase.

And of course your statement is right if you're just going to EXP, although you'll still see resists about 20-30% of the time.

[Kaylia]

Errant are better than druid slop imo.
8int = 4m.acc and some dmg
5elemental = 5m.acc (or maybe 4.6 if it's similar to normal accuracy)

I might be wrong with number, but I doubt they are far from the real thing.


As for using the wrong staff, there is still a good chance they give a m.acc bonus (unless someone proved that wrong?)