User:Aramachus/Black Mage Guide

Black Mage Guide

Where to get Spells

The really important spells are bold. Get the rest when it's cheap for you, some might become useful later.

1-10

01 Stone - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst) <100g

03 Poison - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst) <100g

04 Blind - AH <100g, dropped by Tier 1 Beastmen Caster (Amber/Amethyst Quadav, Orcish Mesmerizer, Yagudo Scribe)

05 Water - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst) <100g

07 Bind - AH <100g, dropped by Tier 1 Beastmen Caster (Amber/Amethyst Quadav, Orcish Mesmerizer, Yagudo Scribe)

09 Aero - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst) 220g

10 Bio - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst) 400g

10 Blaze Spikes - Windurst Quest Know One's Onions

10-20

12 Drain - San d'oria Quest The Rumor

13 Fire - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst)

15 Stonega - Tier 2 Shop (Windurst/Selbina)

16 Shock - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst)

17 Blizzard - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst)

17 Warp - Bastok Quest Mean Machine

18 Rasp - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst)

19 Waterga - Tier 2 Shop (Windurst/Selbina)

20 Choke - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst)

20 Ice Spikes - AH, dropped in BCNMs

20 Sleep - Tier 1 Shop (Bastok/San d'Oria/Windurst)

Gear for the budget BLM

1-9. as if there is any.

Basic Gear

• Hermit's Ring x2 (Level 1, +1 INT). Can be farmed in Dangruf Wadi if having another job to farm the Giant Grubs (Level 9-12) or bought for a few k gil from AH.
• Maple Wand/+1 (Level 1, +1/+2 INT)
• Willow Wand/+1 (Level 9, +2/+3 INT). The +1s likely aren't as expensive as you'd think.

10-19. At least some gear that makes you feel like a BLM.

Basic Gear

• Royal Footman's Tunic (Level 10, +1 INT). Occupies head slot too)
• Eremite's Ring x2 (Level 10, +2 INT)
• Yew Wand/+1 (Level 18, +3/+4 INT)

Rich people gear:

• Sage's Circlet (Level 12, +1 INT)
• Erudite's Headband (Level 14, +1 INT)
• Garrison Boots (Level 18, +1 INT)
• Garrison Gloves (Level 18, +1 INT)

20-29. Now we start cooking.

Basic Gear

• Seer's Tunic Set/+1 at Level 29. Only Seer's Crown +2 INT, Seer's Mitts +1 INT and Seer's Slacks +1 INT offer INT, but you probably won't have something better in the other slots so might as well get the full set and finally look like a respectable player.

Rich people gear:

• Baron's Chapeau (Level 20, +2 INT)
• Baron's Saio (Level 20, +1 INT)

• Black Silk Neckerchief (Level 20, +1 INT) quested

Levelling

1-10. Starting area, hit the lvl1 mobs. Even at lvl9, when they only provide 30 exp, they die with two hits or one spell + one hit with the club. It is still faster than fighting a stronger mob. With aero at lvl9, you can potentially attack one mob and meanwhile one-shot another mob with aero, effectively killing two mobs at the same time. Rest when mp is spent and repeat. Worked attacking a Tunnel Worm and blowing up a nearby Wild Rabbit with aero. The tunnel worms also drop flint stones 4 of which can be used for the quest Starting a Flame. Worms and Rabbits both drop earth crystals so expect to go home with quite a few stacks of those.

10-20. Party play, Valkurm Dunes or similar. Good strategy is to wait the first 20%-30% of the mobs HP for the tank to establish hate. On horizon, Provoke seems to be not purely volatile enmity as it was on retail at some point. I'd argue though that right after the first provoke, get a big damage spell in and then wait. This lets the volatile enmity part of your spell decay, making it enmity-cheap damage by the time you resume nuking. You can rest mp as long as you are more than half your casting range away from the mob without generating enmity (see enmity). If your party can make a Skillchain it's a fun minigame to try to Magic Burst with them. Also adds considerable damage and magic accuracy to the spell.

20-30. Party play in Qufim Island. Clippers from 20-23. Greater Pugils from 22 on. MP starts becoming a relevant stat as Blizzard and Thunder cost you a bit and resting takes longer with the bigger MP pool you have.

You can try soloing too. There's Giga's Leeches in Qufim Island which are Level 21-23. But you'll need close to capped enfeebling skill if you want to fight them at 20. Went back at 23 with enfeebling skill ~40 and elemental ~50 and was able to kill them consistently for around 90 exp a piece with thunder + blizzard. Resists can be scary, have a macro for Elemental Seal + Sleep. You want that anyway in case you get a link or aggro. Also remember that Manafont makes your spells uninterruptible. If you have NIN at 24 Utsusemi:ichi makes your life so much easier.

Solo Play

20-30. Your elemental skill needs to be close to cap or you will get plenty of resists. If you came out of Valkurm sync parties, one party in qufim at 20 is a good way to get your elemental skill up. I fought Gigas's Leeches (21-23) at 23/24 while waiting for a party that never came. Being mostly decent challenge, they gave between 80-90 exp a kill and I could consistently kill them with thunder + aero. The occasional resist isn't a problem as dc mobs they only hit for around 40 dmg so there is plenty of time to cast more spells.

The method that worked most efficiently was wait until the Gigas moves (so he doesn't move again in the next few seconds), then get behind him and cast thunder on the leech. Run away to pull the leech out of the Gigas link range. Then run into the leech and start casting aero or fire or blizzard. Running into the leech consistently worked to time getting hit by it with the spellcast not getting interrupted. You'll get hit anyway, this way you can control the timing much better than having to guess when it will arrive and hit. If the leech resists the second cast, immediately follow up with another spell. The timing between hits and the casting times of the tier 1 spells makes this work without interrupt even for a fourth spell. Then rest up and wait for the Gigas resummon its pet. This can be quick but occasionally also can take a while.

Afaik any of the gigas can respawn as a Gigas Trapper so it comes down to luck how many are up and where they are. At one point, I had three Gigas Trapper within reach in the open area close to the tunnel to Jeuno, which sped up the exp only needing two spells per leech. An issue, unfortunately, is other players running around killing mobs like solo BSTs levelling of anything they can get their hands on. Good to be proactive and tell any high level player you spot please not to kill the Gigas Trappers. No point in shouting at people who killed the Gigas not realizing that you're expin on their pet. You could also benefit from other players killing the other Gigas so they have a possibility to respawn as Trappers.

Be sure to find a good spot with a Gigas Trapper before nighttime as nighttime makes Qufim Island a hellhole with the IT whights spawning everywhere and blocking the narrow passages. Their blood aggro can be really dangerous if you happen to aggro a worm and have it cast on you, dropping you into yellow hp with one big spell. Also: you can't reliable sleep the wights even with Elemental Seal (I've had it resist). ES + Bind should work I guess. If you get any aggro, Elemental Seal + Sleep or Bind is your friend, as is warp (if you set your HP to Qufim Island) and Manafont so you can't be interrupted. The latter is especially important if the Gigas sees you pulling his pet and you have both coming at you.

24-27 Goblin's Bee in Rolanberry fields or Goblin's Beetle in Sauromugue Champaign, both right outside of Jeuno. Same as with the leeches at this level. Decent Challenge to Even Match. Without resists, they die with two spells. The time between respawns seems to depend on the time the mob summoned the last pet, not when it was killed. Thus, immediately pulling and killing it fast won't speed up the process. You can use this to get some enfeebling skillups. I'd pull the mob when it was up with thunder, get it away from the goblin, then, if the thunder wasn't resisted, sleep + blind + paralyze + blind + poison + dia and then finish it off with the second elemental spell. Then rest and the goblin will have its pet up pretty quickly.

27-31 Bibiki Bay, Goblin's Rarab. Man that thing hits like a truck at low levels. If you have /nin and utsusemi:ichi, good for you, gives you 3 extra spells. If not, too many resist kill you rather quickly. Requires some good judgement when to use ES + sleep and cure back up before it kills you. A reraise scroll is a good idea there.