HQ Elemental Staves : Order of Importance

[theo]

If I feel compelled to cast a fire nuke for god knows why, I just use Aquillos <.<; Considering that I can't even remember the last time I cast Fire 3, I'm not terribly concerned.

ITT: Making up excuses for not having 8/8 HQ staves. :D

[Eldelphia]

If you're a BLM you'll eventually want all of them bar an Apollo's. I'd get a Vulcan's as a BLM, especially as a BLM will spend a good part of its career soloing. Until you unlock Ancient Magic II (and often after) you'll be rotating Thunder, Ice and Fire IV a lot.

The key staves as everyone has already said are Jupiter's, Aquilo's and Pluto's. If you might do dynamis as BLM in the future, you'll definitely want Pluto's.

BLM is what forced me into working on finishing my HQ set. I was halfway there when a friend quit and gave me the remainder. I started with HQ Earth and Light because I levelled BRD, then Ice and Thunder as BLM got there. The extra damage is really nice sometimes and when soloing can make the difference between oneshotting or not a beastman pet (especially if you're not a taru).

[Tomiko]

between BRD RDM and BLM you basically have to have 8/8 vulcan's for stuff like ice threnody, etc...I still have NQ water though. Fuck poison.

Way to have a gimp fire resist build >

[Ferien]

Honestly, if you're soloing through and past your 50s, get the HQ of your highest tier AM. The big three (Ice/Thunder/Dark) are extremely important as you go along, but if you're soloing with AM, the extra 5% damage can be the difference between one-shotting a BST pet or risking a whole slew of bad outcomes. Get them in order, keep the ones that are important, and ditch the others when you're done with them if you really need the cash.

Except for Pluto's. Keep that around no matter what.

[evilpaul]

Maybe I'm the only BLM who isn't Sleep-Nuking everything in 2007, but if you like Gravity-Kiting when you solo, manaburn, do Dynamis, etc, then get an HQ Wind after Ice, Thunder, Dark in whatever order you feel like.

[Gilanth]

I don't even have a NQ fire staff atm , I used to have 8/8 HQ but i quit and gave everything away since i been building from scatch i hav'nt got it as yet. Only mobs i find i would cast fire on are the ghosts in limbus.

[Geli]

HQ water is really noticeable when you're trying to land Poison II on chariots in Salvage.
Also extra 1 MND for maxed stoneskin on BLM (worked for me till I got goliard feet).
HQ fire for ghosts in Apollyon NW and Einherjar maybe, don't remember anything else where I would use it.

And it's another story if you ever planned to level SMN, then these 2 can be really useful.

[Alibeemac]

HQ Thunder, Ice and Dark are the must have top 3. No BLM should be without these. The rest as NQ are acceptable as long as you have them.

I tend to use Flood 2 a lot and sometimes Tornado 2 (Ouryu on Windsday etc) so the HQs of those are nice to have for that.

NQ Earth is a must have just for an idle/kite macro. NQ light is a must have for cures. Fire isn't all that useful for BLM unless you merit Flare 2.

I have all 8 HQs just because I have all mage jobs levelled and there is a time and place for every HQ Staff between all 5 mage jobs.

[Senji]

Honestly, if you're soloing through and past your 50s, get the HQ of your highest tier AM. The big three (Ice/Thunder/Dark) are extremely important as you go along, but if you're soloing with AM, the extra 5% damage can be the difference between one-shotting a BST pet or risking a whole slew of bad outcomes. Get them in order, keep the ones that are important, and ditch the others when you're done with them if you really need the cash.

Except for Pluto's. Keep that around no matter what.

[SephYuyX]

I dont see why people are hating on Vulcans and Apollos, some BLM, mostly only taru like their HP merits and other HP+ gear, so why not get an item that can save you and get the most out of your cures? As for Vulcans, true 75 BLM dont cast Fire spells all that much, but every now and then you will, it's your back up nuke. I personally dont have HQ fire, water, wind or earth, but I plan on getting vulcan next when ever I feel like wasting money. And honestly, I went hella long without HQ Dark (got HQ light before dark cuse I was lvln BST) and never had any real trouble with drain/aspir/sleeps.

Id suggest Ice, Thunder, Dark, Fire or Wind (depends if you solo alot of grav resist stuff), Light, Water, Earth.

Ice and Thunder are mandatory, everything else is just a nice bonus, and can get to it when it's most convenient to do so.

[OctavoGilgamesh]

Having RDM and BLM @ 75 I kinda need every HQ but Fire and Light.

Can someone please explain to me why you need an HQ Water Staff?

HQ water is really noticeable when you're trying to land Poison II on chariots in Salvage.
Also extra 1 MND for maxed stoneskin on BLM (worked for me till I got goliard feet).

Both reasons are solid. I was going to mention the mnd for a stoneskin macro but Geli beat me to it. It's actually a really nice place to put mnd for stoneskin because you don't lose any mp by swapping your weapon in and out like you possible could in other slots. But both rdm and blm should have at least the nq water staff for poison and/or stoneskin.

[Byrd]

Both reasons are solid. I was going to mention the mnd for a stoneskin macro but Geli beat me to it. It's actually a really nice place to put mnd for stoneskin because you don't lose any mp by swapping your weapon in and out like you possible could in other slots. But both rdm and blm should have at least the nq water staff for poison and/or stoneskin.

RDM don't need it for Stoneskin (well, pre-endgame, they would, I suppose.) With my Enfeebling Skill (344), Poison resists are so rare on mobs that aren't 100% resistant to Poison that it's just not worth the inventory space to me. I had one for a long time and realized how little I used it. But, if you choose to carry it (and it makes sense to me for a BLM or SMN), more power to you. As a WHM and RDM, however, I feel I can use the inventory space much better.

[DanielRemora]

For Stoneskin: http://wiki.bluegartr.com/Mythic_Wand_Plus_1 + Numinous Shield/+1 sub.

RDM Should have it for stoneskin and Slow/Para at least. It's really cheap, and helps a lot. Red Mage especially - It's very simple to land a full MND enfeebles on many things, HQ kings included. For BLM, it's usefull for not swapping out INT gear with MP, for MND gear.

Neptune's for Water on Fafhogg etc, and landing poison on anything at all.

BLM:
Aquilo's > Jupiter's > Pluto's > Auster's > Vulcan's > Terra's > Neptune's > Apollo's
RDM:
Pluto's > Terra's > Aquilo's > Auster's > Jupiter's > Vulcan's > Neptune's > Apollo's for RDM

In my opinion.

[Shuemue]

Neptune's is rock 'n roll for Fluffy, Nid and Tiamat.

[Sylphet]

As everyone else said, the first three you should get are Pluto's, Aquilo's and Jupiter's.

While this is ok for leveling, once you get to 75, there is a lot that you can manaburn and/or solo. For this you'll really want to get Auster's so that you can land gravity. Slow can also be helpful, as is poison for anything you can't sleep. You'll make use of the potency bonus on these staves more so than the damage bonus but the ability to effectively enfeeble on BLM is quite important in certain situations. I am of the mindset that if you want to be a endgame BLM, you really should get the full set (ok you really don't need Apollo's but one NQ just looks so damned out of place with the other HQ). Also, I'm elvaan so my INT is craptastic and I want to maximize the damage and potency of all of the spells I cast, no matter how situational they may be (e.g. Using Vulcan's for killing bombs or on undead). Once you have the full set you're basically fully geared in the weapon slot for any mage job at 75 so it's a worthwhile investment.

[Akroma_Seraph]

HQ water is really noticeable when you're trying to land Poison II on chariots in Salvage.
Also extra 1 MND for maxed stoneskin on BLM (worked for me till I got goliard feet).
HQ fire for ghosts in Apollyon NW and Einherjar maybe, don't remember anything else where I would use it.

And it's another story if you ever planned to level SMN, then these 2 can be really useful.

I use Kirin's Pole for StoneSkin, and I have 8/8 HQ due to all of my jobs. I actually bought 8/8 HQ for my lolBRD back in the day that money was something everyone had far too much of.

As for BLM only, here is the order I would suggest the HQs:

Ice -> Thunder -> Dark -> Wind -> Water -> Fire -> Earth/Light (You don't truly need the HQ's of these. When the fuck do you cast stone, or when the fuck would +1 VIT matter when kiting?)

[DanielRemora]

When the fuck do you cast stone, or when the fuck would +1 VIT matter when kiting?)

I think you missed out one of the most important things about this staff...

Edit: nvm, you were talking about HQ My mistake^^;

[Seditedi]

Having RDM and BLM @ 75 I kinda need every HQ but Fire and Light.

Can someone please explain to me why you need an HQ Water Staff? I so rarely cast Water, and Poison has a very low resist rate and it has a static duration and HP/tick. I suppose if you're casting Drown, maybe, but to me that's not worth Inventory -1. When casting Water, I substitute an HQ Ice for the +INT and +Elemental Skill. It's not quite as good as an HQ Water, but considering how often I cast Water....

Am I missing something? As RDM, I carry around 5 HQ, 2 NQ (Fire & Light) and no Water. I even frequently leave the Fire Staff at home....

I haven't taken my fire staff out of mog in longer than I can remember LOL..
HQ water staff for BLM has a few uses, but I usually don't carry it around full time, but its good for Faf/Nid(when melee wanna be lame and make you MB darkness), Tiamat, Suzaku(if you do sky). Also good for Poison II accuracy. RDM doesn't really need fire for any reason outside of casting a Fire III nuke... which you'll basically never do, because if you're nuking on RDM 9/10 times it will be ice in a solo situation. As for fire on ghosts I guess it's arguable.. when fighting ghosts as BLM I'll usually just do Thunder IV->Thunder III then wait for Thunder IV recast, usually only a few seconds after Thunder III casts Thunder IV will be back up.

[Aerides]

It's mentioned briefly above, but since leveling BLM these days is often now following the gobbie pet solo route, check to see which AM you'll be using at the camp you chose. The HQ staff will often make a difference between one-shotting the pet vs. being seen by the goblin and slaughtered. Since OP is 51 chances are good he'll be taking this route.

I remember specifically guides recommending using Flood in the first Moval camp, or I'd probably still never have picked up Neptune's.

[Kerberoz]

I wouldn't suggest Neptune's for BLM Stoneskin because Kirin's Pole is dirt cheap and 5 more MND... remember you need 114 total. I also wouldn't recommend nuking with actual Water spells on anything but Suzaku, because they'll have the exact same resist rate as Thunder on Fafhoggmat, but Flood II is awesome on those mobs, especially Tiamat where you really want to get in, blow all your MP, and get out quickly without being resisted. More useful than Vulcan's and Terra's, imo.