Standard EXP Party Guide - Black Mage

CAUTION!

This article is only a guide. Information expressed in a guide is usually more opinion than fact and should be taken as such. Guides are written by players, based upon their experiences, successes and mistakes, and are meant to aid other players. However, there may be differing opinions than those expressed in a guide. Strategies and information in guides may not work for everyone.

Tired of burning or soloing your exp? This guide is for you. Playing as a black mage in a standard party can be a literal blast. The black mage is a heavy damage dealing job with a touch of utility that can fit well into a standard experience points party. However, like thief, the black mage is a bit technical and requires their party members to cooperate with them to perform well.

Party Preparation

Spells spells spells. Unlike melee who rely on their armor and weapons for dealing damage, black mages should be up to date on all of their spells to perform well in an exp party. The higher level a spell is, the higher base damage it has. Many scrolls can be bought from NPCs in towns. Some scrolls require you to do a quest to obtain them. And some scrolls are a drop from monsters. You can find all the scrolls on the auction house for sale as well. As you level up you will notice that scrolls become more and more expensive. You will need to start making gil to keep up with the costs. Common ways of making gil are farming low level mobs for valuable drops/crystals to sell on the auction house, crafting, and fishing.

In addition to scrolls consider buying food. Like melee, black mages will perform better in combat if they are eating food. You want to aim for foods that give +INT, usually fruit pies.

Equipment-wise, you want to stack as much INT as you can find/afford. INT impacts the damage and accuracy of your spells. The basic formula is the higher your INT is compared the mob's the more damage you do. At later levels you want to obtain a set of elemental staves. They are expensive but they add even more damage and accuracy to all of your spells. The Dark staff is incredibly useful in boosting your MP regeneration while resting. Consider first buying a dark and then ice staff. The light staff is not as necessary for the black mage compared to the summoner and white mage. Save that one for last.

For a sub job for standard parties, red mage is highly recommended. Fast cast will help you be able to double magic burst. More on that later.

Party Composition

The standard party consists of a tank, 3 damage dealers, a healer, and a support. You will be working with the other 2 damage dealers (usually melee front line jobs but rangers can work as well) to dish out the damage and kill mobs quick.

Unfortunately black mages are a bit misunderstood and don't get as many party invites as the other DPS. Many black mages either solo or mana burn to gain levels. It will most likely fall on the black mage to be the party leader and invite folks if they want to standard party.

Coordinating with the Melee

As a black mage your main job in the party will be to magic burst after the 2 other melee do a skillchain. Black mage DPS will be mediocre if they don't have a skill chain to burst off of. You will need to communicate with your party mates to make a skill chain. Pretty much any two melee can skill chain with each other. You just need to figure out what weapons your melee are using and what chains with what.

• Ex: "WAR are you using Great Axe or Axe?" "DRK are you using Scythe or Great Sword?"

Make sure your melee can see each other's TP by using TParty/HXUI so they know when to chain with eachother. Some folks like to use a macro that announce how much TP they have or when chain is starting.

Some melee have their preferred heavy hitting weapon skills. Usually they are happy to either open or close as long as they get to use their heavy hitting weapon skills. If partying with a melee that uses /THF though they probably want to close a chain.

• Starting at 23 WARs like to use Sturmwind with Great Axe. This goes all the way till level 60 when they get Raging Rush. Sturmwind can either open Detonation, Impaction or Induration. Sturmwind closes Reverberation. Once WARs Hit 60 they can open or close Fragmentation. Raging Rush also opens Impaction. Some DRKs roll with Great Axe at lower levels too.
• Axe wielding WARs and BSTS they have a few options before they get Rampage at 55. Raging Axe closes Detonation, or opens Gravitation. At 33 Avalanche Axe opens Fragmentation and Impaction. Avalanche Axe also closes Induration. At 49 Spinning Axe opens Fusion and Liquefaction, and can close Distortion or Liquefaction. Once WARs and BSTs get Rampage they can close Disortion, or open Detonation Reverberation and Liquefaction.
• Starting at 49 DRKs who use scythe like to use Vorpal Scythe. Vorpal Scythe opens Distortion, Detonation, Scission, Reverberation, and Liquefaction. Vopral Scythe can close Scission. Some DRKs roll with Great Axe as well for Sturmwind. Starting at 60 DRKs REALLY want to use Guillotine on scythe. Guillotine opens Fragmentation and Impaction, and closes Induration. If you're partying with a DRK and WAR at 60+ get ready for some nice damage numbers.
• Great Sword wielding DRKs are versatile. They can open or close nearly any chain. The same is for SAM. SAMs tend to like Tachi: Enpi though. Until 60 when they get Yukikaze, which opens Fragmentation/Impaction, and closes Detonation.
• THFs want to close Distortion with Wasp Sting or Viper Bite. At lower levels you may need to nudge them to close Detonation with Gust Slash though if the other melee can't open Distortion. At lower levels you may also need to nudge them to open Reverberation if partying with a GA WAR or DRK to close. Starting at 60 THFs are really happy to close Detonation and Distortion with Dancing Edge.
• MNKs like to use Combo and starting at 41 Raging Fists. RF is good to close Fusion and Impaction, or open Detonation.
• DRGs are usually happy to open Distortion or Reverberation with Double Thrust until they hit 49. Then they REALLY want to use Penta Thrust. Penta Thrust opens Detonation or closes Gravitation.

Ideally you want to find a chain that you can burst your highest level spell off of, but your damage output shouldn't suffer too much if you are able to double burst.

Check out this chart to see how certain weapons skills chain with each other.

Battle Tactics

• Drain is your bread and butter. You should be casting it at least once a fight. Ideally as soon as the tank provokes. Quest for the drain scroll or buy it off the auction house soon as you hit 12. Drain scales super well and at higher levels you will be doing a lot of damage with it for only 21 MP. At later levels you may need to hold off from casting drain until the tank gets a bit more threat because of how much damage drain does.

• Aspir is great for mobs that have MP. Luckily mobs that BLM excels at (Crabs, Beetles) have MP for you to Aspir. Pick this spell up ASAP when you hit 25 as well.

• Cast an elemental debuff and poison on the mob at the beginning of the fight. Frost or choke are good choices for the melee. Refrain from using Bio. Dia is much better to use as it lowers defense. Usually the healer or support have dia covered. You want to save your heavy nuking towards the end of a fight or for magic bursting.

• Make use of the TParty or HXUI addons! You want to be able to see your melee's TP. That way you will know when they are going to chain.

• Make use of the points addon or any addon that will track how long you have until the next exp chain ends. If time is running out to make the next chain, that is your queue to chain-nuke to help the party get to the next chain! Cast your hardest hitting spells to finish the mob off. Usually this is happening when mobs are almost dead so the tank should have most of the threat by then.

• Ideally melee should skillchain before the mob's HP is below 40%. If they chain too late, your group will miss out on the full damage potential before the mob goes down. Sometimes your group may "Save" TP if the mob's HP gets too low. That way you can start the chain at the beginning of the next fight for a huge amount of damage in quick succession. While melee are saving TP you can free nuke to finish off the mob.

• This is a more advanced tactic but tanks can participate in a 3 step chain if they are up for it. PLDs may be using club for starlight/MP gain however so it depends. Tanks won't always have the TP. But when they do, your party can set up a 3 step so you can burst one spell on the first skillchain, and burst another spell on the second. The window for bursting closes as soon as another weapon skill is used on a mob so you won't be able to double burst on the first chain. But you can potentially double burst on the 2nd chain. This will take some practice but it is fun for the whole group to pull off. Note that you cannot create a level 1 chain after you've made a level 2. You can however create a level 1 chain after another level 1 chain.
  • Ex: DRK uses Vorpal Scyth, WAR closes with Sturmwind to make Reverberation. You burst Waterga 2 off that. PLD then uses Flat Blade to make Impaction. You then burst Thunder 2 and potentially double burst Thundaga off Impaction.
  • Ex2: PLD uses Circle Blade (Or NIN uses Blade: Teki), MNK closes with Raging Fists to make Impaction. You Burst Thunder 2 off that. THF then SATA Dancing Edge to make Detonation. You then Burst Aeroga II.
• If you are partying with a Summoner, consider including avatars in skillchains. They can chain with the tank when they get TP or can do a 3 step with the other melee. Avatars also make decent Magic Bursts so that's fun too if your party prefers the bursting to the chaining.
• Samurai and Black Mages can be great friends. Samurai can generate TP fast, chain with the tank and the other melee, and at later levels chain with themselves.

The Magic Burst

So you're tracking the melee's TP. You now see that they are both at 1000+. Get ready. Stand up if you are resting. When you see the first melee weapon skill, start casting your hardest hitting nuke that will burst off of the incoming skill chain. -GA nukes are highly recommended! Your party should not be camping by close mobs that will aggro/link/get caught in the -GA so you should be safe to -GA.

You should be finishing your nuke soon after the 2nd melee uses a weaponskill and the skillchain goes off for a magic burst. It may take some practice with your party mates to get the timing right. If you are partying with a THF or a melee that is /THF closing the chain, consider giving an extra second or two to before casting for SATA setup.

Congratulations! Enjoy watching the mob's HP drop during the skillchain magic burst combo.

The Double Magic Burst

There is about a 5-6 second window for magic bursting. This means you can pull off a 2nd burst. As soon as you finish your first bursting nuke, start casting the 2nd most powerful nuke you have for the skillchain. Usually the combo is a single nuke followed by a -GA or vice versa, whatever is stronger at your level. Subbing Red Mage gives you fast cast which will nearly guarantee you being able to burst a 2nd nuke. Enjoy watching even more of the mob's HP drop. This will take some practice but it's very satisfying to pull off.

Double bursting should finish the mob off or at least make it very close to being dead. If your group starts a chain and double burst combo at the start of a fight, the tank may lose hate. Cast blink on yourself (and later stoneskin) before the combo and you can act like a mini tank for a few seconds while the real tank works to get hate back or until the mob dies. At 45 you get stun which you can cast while you are taking threat and the mob is almost dead. Stun will give you a bit more time to free nuke and/or cast drain to finish off the mob. If you are partying with a thief you should not have to worry about getting too much threat.

Pacing

Unlike melee who are consistently dealing damage with their weapon swings, black mages deal damage in big chunks, similar to thieves with SATA. Save the heavy nuking for magic bursts and for the end of a fight. At the beginning of a fight you are most likely resting MP, casting drain/aspir, and DoTs. If you nuke too hard too early, the tank will lose threat and you can die.

If melees are saving TP at around 25% of the mob's HP left the tank should have most of the threat and you should be safe to chain nuke to finish off the mob.

If the mob is almost dead after (double) magic bursting, you should be fine to free nuke to finish it off. You may take threat but the mob should go down before it's an issue.

Consider what your highest spells are, what game day it is, what weather there is (if any), and the mob's elemental weakness for what spells to cast. Don't forget the -GAs.

Again, consider loading an exp chain tracking addon. If time is running out to get to the next chain, go all out to help the party get to the next chain.

Another helpful addon to consider using is Deeps. This can help track your DPS compared to the other melee. You should at least be on par with the other DPS if you are (double) magic bursting on the skillchains. If you are falling behind, that is your queue to start free nuking more towards the end of fights to catch up.

Make use of Blink and Stoneskin to ensure your survival if you find yourself taking a lot of threat. Even more so if you are a Tarutaru.

Utility

On top of DPS black mages offer their party utility.

If the puller gets a link or aggro, the black mage has sleep, bind, sleepga, sleep 2, and sleepga 2 for crowd control. You can guarantee the spells to land by using elemental seal.

If things get really tricky and the party is in a dungeon, escape comes in handy to safely warp everyone outside.

At level 40+ your party members will love you for Warp 2 after an exp party is over.