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.

Black Mages, are you bored of burning or soloing your exp? Party leaders, are you tired of the "unga bunga"? How about adding some firepower instead of a support in your backline? This in-depth guide is for you.

The black mage is a heavy damage dealing job with a touch of utility that can fit well into a standard leveling party. However, the job is a bit technical and requires players to be knowledgeable of a few game mechanics to perform well: specifically melee preferred weapon skills, skillchains, and their elemental properties. Partying in a standard group as a black mage will also test your communication skills with your party mates, awareness, managing your macros with some finesse, and timing. You'll also need to be keeping a careful eye on the front line and their TP gain.

This in-depth guide will help fellow black mages perform well/rival the melee DPS in a standard party from the middle to later levels and to encourage black mages to start their own standard leveling parties to show other players what we're all about!

This guide will also help other party leaders understand the mechanics and perks of including a black mage in their next exp party instead of a support job if they already have a main healer tank and puller covered!

TLDR: Black mages can certainly rival, even beat, melee DPS jobs on the damage charts in the mid to late levels if black mages have at least 1 skillchain to burst off of in their regular party (combined with free nuking). This issue can be solved by including a THF as the puller (instead of a BRD) in their traditional parties along with 2 other melee, a tank, and a healer (4 frontline, 2 backline). Nix the support job! Get some pew pews in your group! Additionally, black mages need to make full use of their dark magic, drain, to up their DPS (except when facing bats or undead, just use low tier nukes instead).

Please be advised: This guide in no way states that standard groups are better/worse than other types of groups. Only that a standard group of play is absolutley viable in leveling your black mage with your friends. Play how you like! Have fun!

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. This includes all single target tier 1-4 spells, -gas, drain and aspir. Yes, that's right! -GAS are just as important as the single target nukes if you want to be a good DPS. 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'll need about 50,000 gil to buy all scrolls from NPCS up to level 30 with 0 fame. Not including Drain, Warp, Tractor, Aspir. You will need to take some time away from leveling and find ways to make some gil to keep up with the costs for spells and equipment. That's a whole other thing that this guide will not cover but common ways of making gil are farming low level enemies for valuable drops/crystals/clusters to sell on the auction house, crafting, HELM, and fishing.

The only spells that you may consider passing on for leveling in a standard party are the level 50-60 ancient magics, i.e. Flare. More on that later.

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 your enemy's, the more damage you do. At later levels (51+) you want to obtain a set of elemental staves. They can be 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 as well as enhances your drain and sleep spells. Consider first buying a dark and then ice staff. The light staff is not as necessary for the black mage compared to the summoner, red mage, and white mage. Save that one for last.

Don't worry too much about HQ elemental staves. Black mages can easily rival melee dps with NQ staves. You can consider the HQs as luxury, not necessary. If you're going for HQs, consider upgrading in the same order as getting NQs

In addition to scrolls and equipment, 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 or rice cakes.

Consider leveling cooking to at least level 30. Pineapple juice is cheap to make and useful for less downtime during the lower levels, and if your party doesn't have a refresher at the higher levels. Melon and yagudo drinks are great too if you have cooking 40 or 60. Grape juice ain't bad either at cooking 50.

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. You'll also get a bit more INT for your spells damage with RDM sub.

Having your elemental, dark, and enfeebling magic skills capped is very important! If your skills are under leveled your spells will be resisted quite a bit and your DPS will suffer. If your skills are uncapped, most of the time due to syncing at lower levels, take some time to level those up by skilling up on worm-type monsters. You can silence them and then spam spells on them until you cap. Check out this page for locations of worms and their levels around the world: https://horizonffxi.wiki/Category:Worms

Finally, and arguably the most important thing to do before partying, is load up the TParty or HXUI addons for partying! You want to be able to see your melee's TP.

Macros

Standard party or not, you want to be able to quickly access your spells. All spells are important and you want to be able to access any spell on the fly along with the proper equipment swap. You're going to need to access lower level nukes when you need to quickly kill a monster before it may kill you/when you need to chain nuke something down. Here are some examples of how to set up your macros for easy/quick access so you don't have to waste time searching through your menus. Each macro set will have your single target and -GA nukes in the same position for each tier (1-4). With this macro set up, you can quickly scroll through your tiers of single target spells and -GAs. You will also have access to resting, drain, aspir, and stun on each page, also in the same position. Each macro will have the spell as well as appropriate gear swap for each spell (staves, skill+, etc) Ex: /equipset 10. The "CloakMP" macro is for equipping Black Cloak for some refresh while idle. The macros labeled "DEBUFF" and "CURES" at the end of each set will jump your macros to the appropriate macro set via "/macro set x"

Tier 1 Nukes and -GAs Tier 2 Nukes and -GAs Tier 3 Nukes and -GAs Debuffs

Party Composition

A quick rundown of a standard exp party: consists of a dedicated tank, 3 dedicated damage dealers, a healer, and a puller.

Party Leaders: A traditional exp party does not necessarily need a support-type job in it if there is already a tank and a healer in it, and especially if 1 of the DPS is a BLM. Consider nixing the support role job in favor of more DPS to defeat mobs faster if you already have a tank and healer!

You, the black mage will be working with the frontline (usually melee front line jobs but rangers and summoners can work as well) to dish out the damage and kill mobs quick. If you have a THF puller in your party, you, the black mage, will most likely be making friends with them because they want to make a chain like you do. Tanks can consider working with the melee DD and summoner avatars for more skillchaining opportunities as well!

With a BLM in your party, 1 of the front line melee (or BRD) will need to be a puller (brings mobs to the camp for the party to fight).

• Party Leaders: BLM synergizes quite well with THF. You can stop yelling for a BRD for hours if you have a BLM. Unless there is a THF or BRD in the party, make sure 1 of the frontline is ok with pulling. Some melee do not want to pull. Some melee are fine with pulling because getting exp is better than no exp. It doesn't hurt to ask!
• Notice: Your exp party does not need a BRD if you have a THF. Both are pullers. Your EXP party can be a good one without a BRD but with a THF + BLM.
  • Black mages actually synergizes a bit better with THF than BRD puller. With THF pulling, there will be 4 frontline (tank, THF, 2 melee) and 2 backline (blm, healer) in the party. More frontline = more skillchain opportunities and THF will nearly guarantee there will be at least 1 skillchain. At higher levels (74+) a tank may not be necessary with all 4 frontline using Ichi and NI shadows via /nin.

The "tricky" part of having a BLM in a regular party at the higher levels is the need for a puller, nixing a support-type job, and for the coordination of at least 1 skillchain for the BLM to burst off of. This can be solved by having 4 melee/frontline, having a main healer, and including a THF in your party. BRD is fine too but there may be less opportunities for skillchaining with only 3 frontline.

Many party leaders prioritize a support role job like BRD RDM or SMN for their groups in addition to having a main healer....(That is old-school FFXI) But if you already have a main healer a tank, and a puller/THF, your party can be a good one by inviting a black mage as a blackline instead of a support. No need to keep searching and yelling for a support when you can get some firepower instead!

Your party can make quick work of mobs with 3 dedicated-non-puller DPS instead of 2 by nixing the support if you already have a tank and healer roles covered.

Woah woah woah! What about a refresher?
Refresh is nice but actually not that necessary. Certain jobs and job traits have been era+ on horizon to get around not having a refresh in your party. If you nix the support/refresher for another dedicated DPS, you can defeat mobs much faster than if you had someone on refresh duty and doing less (or no) DPS. It's always a good idea to aim for at least 3 dedicated DPS + puller in your parties.

• WHM has Devotion at 45, it's an MP bomb every 10 minutes.
• WHM has Divine Veil at 50. This will double the strength and length of the next regen spell after Divine Seal is used. WHM can use it on the tank and rest a lot of MP up without having to worry too much about healing while they are down.
• PLD has Chivalry at 45, it's another MP bomb every 15 minutes.
• PLD also has access to hammers and can make use of Starlight, an MP battery weapon skill.
• If your healer is RDM then you already have a refresh
• The Resting MP formula and Clear Mind traits have been era+ (boosted) on Horizon for faster MP regen via rest.
  • Especially for WHM. They can get MP back pretty quickly by resting.
• DRG/RDM or DRG/WHM (at level 60+) can be an effective co-healer + dedicated DPS.
• It's always a good idea to bring drinks and ethers to your exp parties for additional MP support.
• With a THF closing a SC+ BLM MB coordinated in a party, the flow of battle changes...your party will start to be able to take out every other mob quickly. The healer will not be needing to get up from resting as often in this case.

Unfortunately black mages are a bit misunderstood (by even themselves!) and don't get as many party invites as the other DPS. Especially in the mid to upper levels. To compensate many black mages either solo or mana burn to gain levels. That's not to say black mages will decline a traditional party invite. Traditional parties are arguably much more interesting than soloing or manaburning. This guide will help fellow black mages fit right in their standard parties!

Currently, it will most likely fall on the black mage to be the party leader and invite folks if they want to standard party though. Understanding how black mages work in a party can be tricky so many party leaders pass them up...But...Black mages, people who are LFG/seeking most likely will accept your invite if you decide you want to be a party leader and start asking people to join up. Everyone seeking wants exp like you do.

Horizon is an active server and usually there are many players seeking parties at all level ranges, especially during (NA) prime time. There are many more party seekers than folks that are willing be a party leader. If you invite, they will most likely join. Everyone seeking wants to exp, just not that interested in putting a party together. If you want to learn more about how to put an exp party together check out: EXP Party Leader Guide.

If you're up for being a party leader for a traditional/standard exp pt on BLM...A good job to look for your EXP party as a BLM is a THF. They A) will be the puller and B) will also be very interested in coordinating a skillchain. All you'll need after that is 2 melee, a tank, and a healer and you're set!

Party leaders: if you can't find a tank you can get another melee and have all the frontline sub /nin as well. BLM will need to adjust a bit in watching their hate with free nukes however and may need to support the healer a bit more.

You can certainly party with a BRD instead of THF to be puller however consider having only either a THF or BRD in your party as both are pullers. However, more melee on the frontline (THF in stead of BRD) = more opportunities for skillchains.

Perks

Having a Black mage (along with having a THF as the puller) is an alternate strategy to having a bard in an exp party. Party leaders, if your exp party is lacking a bard, or another support-type of job, don't panic! Tank, THF/puller, 2 front-line melee dd, healer, BLM is a solid lineup for defeating mobs quickly. A good black mage with all spells up to date and who knows how to double magic burst (more on that later) will save a party leader from yelling for a bard or another support for hours for their party when they already have a healer and a tank. The magic bursts/damage a black mage provides their party, is comparable to the buffs a bard/support gives the party, to kill mobs quick. Black mages can also manage any links/aggro with sleep and bind much like a bard/support can as well.

Having a black mage in your standard exp party will allow you to target higher level enemies (~10 levels). Even without a bard. This is because a skillchain and (double) magic burst combo will deal a significant amount of damage (more on that later). At around level 54 when black mages can start using elemental staves and AF gloves (elemental skill+15), the party's damage output significantly increases for even faster exp gains.

Your exp chains will give more exp targeting mobs at least 10 levels higher than the party. Your party will also be able to exp longer, as your party will take longer to out level a camp. Your party should definitely be eating food (Sushi for melee! Seafood for the tanks! Pies for the blm!) to make up for the greater level difference.

Having a BLM in a higher level standard party can free up the melee to use a subjob other than the commonly used /NIN (2-hander melee will appreciate /SAM, MNKs will love being able to use /WAR) and allows the tank to focus more on their role.

Why is melee/nin not so necessary in a standard party with a Black Mage? Subbing war, sam, or thf is more DPS than /nin for melee jobs. With a tank, a thf, and a skillchain +magic burst combo, an exp mob is usually defeated before a melee takes too much aggro from the tank. A melee closing a skillchain without the help of a THF or that is soloing their DPS may have issues though so they may need to sub nin or be more careful with their hate (not starting a fight with a weapon skill, before tank has more aggro, and/or making use of third eye/seigan). Melee DPS that do not sub NIN may not be able to have haste if they are not watching their threat and taking too much damage. Black mages also have stun at level 45+ that will support the melee that may take aggro.

Having a black mage in your group will be less stress on the healer. Black mages are DPS that can usually take care of themselves with drain/blink/stoneskin/regen/stun/etc. Black mages also won't be asking for haste.

Having a black mage in the exp party will establish the skill chain openers and closers. Meaning less stress and competition/stepping on each other's toes for the melee. Melee usually want to participate in a chain.

Utility

On top of DPS the black mage offer their party utility. This is why having a support role in a standard party with a BLM DPS in it is not that necessary:

• If the puller gets a link or aggro, or if a party member gets aggro on the way to camp, the black mage has sleep, bind, sleepga, sleep 2, and sleepga 2 for crowd control. You can guarantee the spells will land by first using elemental seal. Some camps favor a BLM and/or BRD in party due to lots of links.

• At 25 BLM gets tractor which is handy if someone dies near aggro. Pull them to a spot they can safely raise at.

• At 29 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.

• Subbing RDM gives you access to cures and regen. BLM can toss out a cure/regen here and there to support the party (and themselves) as needed.

• Subbing RDM gives you access to sneak(40) and invisible(50) as well. Your party members will love you for helping them save some gil and/or their life by tossing them sneak and invis on the way to camp.

• At 45 BLM gets stun. Stun is helpful if you are partying with a NIN and shadows are down or if another party member takes hate and starts getting beat on. It's also fun for when you are going all out with blink/stoneskin on and finishing off the mob. Give the tank a little break!

• At 64 RDM sub gives you Dispel which is VERY handy against certain mobs if you are partying without a RDM or BRD (SMN WHM on heals/support).

A Word on the Early levels

As started earlier, the early levels (1-30ish) involve mostly free-nuking. You may luck out with geared and coordinated melee that chain in low level parties but generally melee accuracy is pretty low for consistent chaining and TP gains.

The best thing you can do at the early levels is cast drain on cooldown, free nuke (casting a damaging spell that will not burst/is not after a skillchain) your highest spells (uncluding -agas, they deal a lot more damage than single target nukes, just watch for any close by mobs), being mindful of mob resistances(you probably don't want to cast water on crabs and pugs...), and watching your hate. Be on the lookout for any links the puller brings to the party as well. Elemental seal + bind/sleep will save your party. Have those spells macroed up for quick access.

Refrain from being "sleepy" in your parties and resting too much. BLM MP management is unlike a healer's where it's fine to use up a lot of mp quickly if it's going to push the enemy to death and get exp faster. Casting a free nuke to deal a big chuck of damage, and/or finish a mob off is worth missing out on full mp. Consistently resting to full mp = holding your party back on exp gains

Coordinating with the Melee

Starting around level 30 or so, as a black mage your main job (although not the only job) in the party will be to magic burst after 2 melee make a skillchain. Black mage DPS will be mediocre if they don't have at least 1 skillchain to burst off of. You will need to communicate with your party mates to make at least 1 skillchain. Also 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.

Sometimes mid-to-late level parties will be smooth from the start and melee will know what chains with what/using an addon that will tell them what chains. You can easily follow suit and burst after. But sometimes they won't and you'll need to coordinate with the melee to make a skillchain. It does requires a bit of research to know what weaponskills chain with each other and what the elemental property of the chain is. But the RnD is worth the DPS!

Make friends with a THF. If your party has a THF, they will be very interested in making a skillchain! THF DPS relies on making chains (Distortion and Detonation are popular with THF at lower levels). Making friends with a SAM isn't a bad idea either. They like chaining too (will open for the THF)!

Before around level 30, melee don't have such great accuracy for consistent skillchains. You might want to consider just focusing on free nuking/draining at the lower levels. It's definitely possible though, especially if you're in a 2 mage, 4 melee type of party. The other mage being a healer.

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 strategizing: "WAR are you using Great Axe or Axe?", "DRK are you using Scythe or Great Sword?", "OK Great. Can DRK open for WAR please?" , "Vorpal Scythe > Sturmwind => Reverberation." , "I'll burst Waterga II off that."

No need to use TP ready and SC ready macros (That is old-school FFXI). That can actually DELAY the combo and reduce the party's killing rate/exp gain. Everyone should be able to see each others' TP with addons. You want your melee to SC ASAP. Advise your skillchain opener to use a weaponskill as soon as they and their buddy have full TP.

Melee do have their preferred heavy hitting weapon skills. But usually they are happy to open or close a chain as long as they get to use their heavy hitting weapon skills. It's more fun to have a buddy to skillchain with rather than spamming weapon skills as well! If partying with a THF or melee that uses /THF, they probably want to close a chain.

Some tips on your melee party mates's weapon skills:

• THFs using Daggers want to close Distortion or Scission with Wasp Sting or Viper Bite. Tip: become familiar with how dagger weapon skills chain with other weapon skills. You most likely will be working with THFs/Daggers in your groups. At lower levels you may need to nudge THFs to close Detonation with Gust Slash though if the other melee can't open Distortion. For example, your party has a Great Axe WAR or DRK using Sturmwind and no other melee to work with the THF (Maybe there is a BRD in the party taking up that melee spot). Luckily Gust Slash has been era+ to hybrid damage so it actually does some decent damage with sneak/trick attack. Starting at 60 THFs are really happy to close Detonation Scission and Distortion with Dancing Edge.

• 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 and Fragmentation. Once WARs Hit 60 they want to start using Raging Rush which can open or close Fragmentation, and closes Induration and Reverberation. Raging Rush also opens Impaction. Some DRKs roll with Great Axe at lower levels too.

• Axe wielding WARs and BSTS have a few options before they get Rampage at 55. Raging Axe closes Detonation, Impaction, and Fusion. Raging Axe opens Detonation Liquefaction and 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 Distortion, or open Detonation Reverberation and Liquefaction.

• DRKs who use Scythe tend to like Shadow of Death starting at level 23. Shadow of Death closes Fragmentation, Induration, and Reverberation. Shadow of Death opens Impaction and Induration. Starting at 49 Scythe DRKS really want to use Vorpal Scythe. Vorpal Scythe opens Distortion, Detonation, Scission, Reverberation, and Liquefaction. Vopral Scythe can close Scission. Starting at 60 DRKs REALLY want to use Guillotine on scythe. Guillotine opens Fragmentation and Impaction, and closes Induration.

• Great Sword wielding DRKs are versatile. They can open or close nearly any chain. They could close Distortion with Hardslash. They do tend to like using Frost Bite at 23 and Freezebite at 33 though. Both open Fragmentation and close Induration. Freezebite will also close Detonation and open Scission. However at level 55 they really want to use Crescent Moon which closes Distortion and opens Reverberation, Liquefaction, and Detonation. At 60 Great Sword wielding DRKs prefer to use Sickle Moon which shares the same properties as Crescent moon and also closes Fusion and Impaction.

• Similar to Great Sword DRKs SAMs with Great Katanas are versatile. However they tend to like Tachi: Enpi. Which opens and closes Distortion and Scission (THFs and SAMs will like working together). Enpi opens Reverberation, Scission, Detonation, and Liquefaction. At 49 SAMs like to use Tachi:Jinpu, which opens Reverberation, Liquefaction, Detonation, and Gravitation. Jinpu will close Distortion, Scission, and Detonation. When SAMs hit 60 they prefer to use Yukikaze, which opens Fragmentation/Impaction, and closes Detonation.

• MNKs using Hand-to-Hand like to use Combo and starting at 41 Raging Fists. Both are good to close Fusion and Impaction, or open Detonation. At 24 Monks get One Inch Punch. It opens Detonation and closes Gravitation. At 33 Monks get Backhand Blow, which is also pretty strong and closes Detonation. Backhand Blow opens Scission and Gravitation as well. Starting at 60 Monks like to use Howling Fist. Howling Fists opens Distortion, Reverberation, Liquefaction, and Detonation. Howling Fists closes Fusion and Impaction.

• DRGs with Polearms 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 and closes Gravitation. At 55 DRGs get Vorpal Thrust which opens Distortion and Induration. Coax them into opening! The overall party DPS is worth it! At 60 DRGs get Skewer which opens Distortion, Detonation, Reverberation, Liquefaction and closes Impaction. But at 60 they could go back to opening Detonation again with penta if you're also partying with a THF that can close with Dancing Edge.

• RNGs using Guns or Bows shouldn't have any issues opening Distortion, Reverberation, Induration, or Fusion until 55 when they get Sidewinder/Slug Shot. Then they want to only use those WS. Sidewinder/Slug Shot will open Impaction and Gravitation...but you probably want RNGs to be a closer for Fragmentation Reverberation or Detonation with Sidewinder/Slug Shot. Reason being it does A LOT of damage and will pretty much pull hate from any tank and can mess up the next melee's weapon skill, "Too far away".
• If you are partying with a Summoner you can consider including avatars in skillchains. They can open/close pretty much any chain with their avatars. They could chain with the tank when they get TP or can do a 3 step after the melee do their chain. Or pick 1 melee and just chain with them. If you have a PLD tank, Red Lotus Blad > Burning Strike makes Fusion. Avatars also make decent Magic Bursts so that's fun too if your SMN prefers the bursting to the chaining.

• Sword-wielding PLDs are versatile and can open nearly any chain; notably Fusion, Gravitation, and Distortion. NINs can open quite a few chains with katanas as well; notably Induration, Distortion, Gravitation, and Fragmentation. Both jobs aren't bad at closing chains either. At higher levels PLDs can gain TP almost as fast as the front line. It is a good idea to coordinate another chain for your tanks. Thf has a partner that is opening for them. Pld is opening for their partner. Ideally your party wants to aim for chains where a melee DD or summoner can close with a strong WS/BP for extra skillchain damage. Make sure your tanks are eating accuracy tank food (sushi, ikra gunkan) so they don't delay a chain too much.

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 something lower tier. Some mobs have certain elemental resistances as well so your highest nukes may not be the best choice as well. Some versatile weapon-wielding melee will say, "I can use either weapon" when you ask about what they can use for SCing. Use that to your advantage to figure out a chain that you can burst the best nuke off of for the camp.

The most popular skillchain is Distortion. (Water and Ice spells are the most important spells to be updated on as BLM.) Many jobs can open and many jobs (THF) can close Distortion.

Check out these charts to see how certain weapons skills chain with each other.

Higher level party lineup/skillchaining tips:

• Starting around levels 65-66 skillchaining gets much easier. Melee learn powerful weapon skills that chain together easier to make level 2 and 3 skillchains. Level 3 chains are awesome! They do tons of damage and BLM can burst up to 4 elements off of those. It will become even more easier to create chains when melee unlock their final weaponskill.
• At higher levels (67+) THF+BLM+(any other 2 melee DPS) continues to synergize pretty well. All you'll need is a healer and a tank (unless all the melee want to sub ninja) and you're party is set. Some meta exp parties/players start to leave out THFs (unfortunately) at around that level so you will often find a few THFs seeking to invite. The same goes for PLDs. You can probably find a lot of PLDs seeking. PLD+THF+(any 2 melee DPS)+BLM can be strong as PLDs are versatile in opening/closing chains with sword. A THF closing light/fragmentation or opening Distortion with a trick attack Shark Bite on a tank followed by a BLM MBing can be on par with other party set ups for consistent exp chain 5+ against monsters 10-11 levels higher than the party. Trick attack will also solidify threat on the tank. Bonus points if the THF has Evisceration; they can then open/close Darkness or open Fragmentation for more options in creating chains.
  • If partying with THF and MNK melee DDs at higher levels, and MNK does not have Asuran Fists, the THF will most likely need to close Distortion with Dancing Edge; MNK opening with Howling Fist. Consider having a 4 front line party lineup (no bard) if partying with THF+MNK at higher levels so they have another melee to work with if the MNK doesn't have Asuran Fists.
    • THF could also close Fragmentation (Shark Bite) with the PLD (Swift Blade) or NIN (Blade: Ten/Ku) tank opening for them.
    • PLD or NIN could also close darkness after THF and MNk make Distortion if they have TP for multiple bursting opportunities every other mob or so.
    • PLD and MNK could make Fusion (Red Lotus Blade > Howling Fist), and THF close Light (Shark Bite) when all have TP as well.

The Magic Burst

When 2 compatible weapon skills occur in succession, a skillchain is formed. Skillchains have elemental properties. And if you cast a spell that matches an elemental property property of the skillchain, that spell will "BURST", meaning it will have a lot more accuracy and cause a lot more damage. Magic bursting is boosted on Horizon for extra accuracy and damage as well.

A review of each skillchain and their magic burst properties:

De­to­na­tion = Burst Aero
Im­pac­tion = Burst Thunder
Scis­sion = Burst Earth
Rever­be­ra­tion = Burst Water
Li­que­fac­tion = Burst Fire
In­du­ra­tion = Burst Blizzard
Trans­fixion = Burst Light
Com­pres­sion = Burst Dark
Fu­sion = Burst Fire and Light
Frag­men­ta­tion = Burst Thunder and Aero
Dis­tor­tion = Burst Water and Blizzard
Gra­vi­ta­tion = Burst Earth and Dark
Light = Burst Light, Fire, Thunder, Aero
Dark­ness = Burst Dark, Water, Earth, and Blizzard

Review the skillchain chart in the above section to see how your melee can skillchain. Luckily powerful weapon skills do chain with eachother so melee are usually happy to chain as they can still use their favored weapon skills.

...So you've got your party together, figured out a skillchain to burst off of, and you're at camp now and the front line are hitting the mob. While the healer is looking at HP bars making sure the party is healthy, you, the black mage, are looking at the TP bars and making sure you're ready for magic bursting....

You now see that the two melee (most likely going to be a THF and their partner) who are chaining are getting close to 1000+ TP. Get ready. Stand up if you are resting.

Do NOT ask the melee to wait for your spells. Be aware of what's happening on the front line. Follow the melee in their chain. Every second that delays the melee in their chain, delays mob being defeated/exp.

When you see the first melee weapon skill, start casting your hardest hitting nuke that will burst off of the incoming skill chain (Distortion, Detonation, and Reverberation are the most common chains especially at the lower levels).

-GA AoE nukes are highly recommended for magic bursting! Your party should not be camping by close mobs that will aggro/link/get caught in the -GA so you should be safe to -AGA. -AGA nukes generally do a lot more damage than the single target nukes of the same tier (Prioritize Aeroga over Aero for a Detonation chain).

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. Observe and acclimate to the "rhythm" of the melee after a few fights.

More tips on Magic Burst Timing:

• The First EXP Mob
  • It's not uncommon for the first mob pulled to be the "TP builder." Depending on how geared your melee are, they may not have TP until the first exp mob is below 50%. You can think of it as the dps machine needing a minute to get the engine started. Consider free nuking a lot more on the first exp mob to help melee kill it before they have TP for a chain. It's ok to blow a lot of MP on the first mob to kill it before the melee have TP to chain. Just make sure you have have enough mp to burst on the following mob when the chain is incoming. Advanced Tactic Alert: Consider using Manafont on the first mob to save a lot of MP. It will set you up with a big chunk of MP to work with after melee have the TP. After that first mob, opportunities for chains and bursts open up for the following mobs to have higher than 50-60% HP.

• If you are partying with a THF or a melee that is /THF closing the chain, consider giving an extra second or two before casting for SATA setup.

• Some melee will "buff" themselves before using a weaponskill (berserk, soul eater, aggressor, etc.). This will delay the skillchain a bit as well. Keep a close eye on the melee to make sure you are timing your casting appropriately.

• At lower levels you may need to delay your Magic Burst a bit as well due to the shorter spell casting time of lower tier spells.

Note: The window for magic bursting begins right after the 2nd melee uses their weaponskill. You do not need to wait for the skillchain animation to finish before you can burst. You can burst while the animation is occurring. Ideally you actually WANT to be bursting during the skillchain animation. More on that in the next section.

Congratulations! You should see a "Magic Burst!" in your log. Enjoy watching the mob's HP drop during the skillchain magic burst combo.

If you have a RDM or SMN in your party they may be joining you in bursting. WHM can burst too if the chain is Fusion or Light.

Note: Again, skillchaining/Magic Bursting opportunities are a bit limited until around level 30, when melee have access to more accuracy gear. This guide is more geared towards partying during the middle-later levels as a black mage. During the lower levels, it may be more efficient to focus on free nuking, casting drain, and debuffing in your party (all while watching your aggro of course).

See: https://horizonffxi.wiki/Magic_Burst for additional information on Magic Bursts.

The Double Magic Burst

So you've got magic bursting down... but if you really want to rival the melee DPS from the mid to upper levels, and shock your group in how much damage you can do, you want to look at double magic bursting.

There is about a 10 second window for magic bursting. It begins right after the 2nd melee uses their weapon skill. Before the skillchain animation finishes. This means you can pull off a 2nd burst. As soon as you are finishing your first bursting nuke, immediately start casting another bursting nuke for the skillchain.

Usually the combo is a single target nuke followed by an -AGA or vice versa (ex: Water 2 <-> Blizzaga after a Distortion chain), whatever is stronger at your level.

This is why being up to date on all your spells is important. You want access to both single target and -aga nukes to do as much damage as possible for double bursting.

Subbing Red Mage gives you fast cast which will nearly guarantee you being able to burst a 2nd nuke. If you are using HXUI you can press the macro to start casting your 2nd burst at around 80-90% cast bar of your first bursting nuke. It will take some practice to get the timing right when to press the macro of your 2nd bursting spell. Some spell animations take longer to complete which will delay when you press the 2nd burst macro.

Note: The example double magic burst pictures are against an incredibly tough enemy at level 55 using a water staff and moldavite earring (Ifrit's Cauldron Camp). DRG (Vorpal Thrust) and DRK (Crecent Moon) melee making Distortion chain. BLM/RDM is watching the TP of the melee, starting Waterga II right after DRG opens for DRK, and casting Water III right after Waterga II to double burst.

Enjoy watching even more of the mob's HP drop. Double MBing most likely will finish a mob off or at least bring it to near death. It will take some more practice to time everything but it's very satisfying to pull off, and will skyrocket your DPS.

At higher levels, if melee have full TP at the beginning of a battle your party can take out an IT mob within seconds with a Skillchain + double magic burst combo. Very fun/satisfying to pull off.

It's possible to start double magic bursting as early as level 17 with blizzard + water on a Distortion chain. At level 19 double magic bursting grows in power with Waterga + blizzard. Blm can easily out DPS any melee with this strategy if you luck out with melee that can chain consistently in the early levels.

Starting at level 44 (Waterga II + Blizzard II), black mages can start double bursting for ~1K damage after a distortion chain. Boom!

• Note: Starting at around level 57, the higher tier spells (blizzaga II) start taking more time to cast. It may be harder to pull off a double magic burst with consecutive high tier nukes. To deal with this try using a lower tier spell to be able keep the double bursting up. EX: Blizzaga II > Blizzard or Blizzaga. Blizzaga II > Blizzard II may be trickier with the timing but it's possible.

Melee should be starting a chain before 50-60% of the mob's HP. The SC double MB combo should finish the mob off or at least make it close to being dead.

If melee are consistently getting 1000 TP below 40-50% of a mob's health, then that most likely means you are not free nuking enough.

If the melee start a chain and double burst combo at the start of a fight, and you don't have a THF, the tank may lose hate. Your party might want to wait a bit for the tank to get some hate.

Or, have blink (and later stoneskin) up 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. You can even start casting blink while you are taking hate to put on more shadows after the first blink ends. With shadows and stoneskin up you will have a window to free nuke some more to finish off the mob while it is trying to attack you after (double) bursting.

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 THF you should not have to worry about getting too much threat as they have a lot of tools for for controlling threat.

During the mid-levels, the most popular skillchains are distortion, followed by detonation and fragmentation. If you are low on gil, make sure to at least be up to date on all water, ice, and wind spells for bursting options.

Party Lineup Strategies

This section is filled with tips/strategy for party leaders who include a black mage in their group, or black mage party leaders for normal/traditional party lineups.

• 1 main tank, 2 melee damage dealers, 1 THF, 1 BLM, 1 healer:
  • This lineup will save you from yelling for a bard/support/healer for hours when you already have a WHM or RDM and there are usually THFs and BLMs seeking.
  • This lineup can be strong for a merit party setup as well. You can modify it to 3 melee damage dealers subbing /nin (with 1 as a WAR/NIN or SAM/WAR using provoke) instead of having a main tank.
  • Basically the THF is considered the supporting role in this setup, and will be pulling, debuffing with acid bolts, creating a skillchain, and managing threat.
  • You, the black mage, can act as a backup healer, to support the healer in emergencies.
  • If your main healer is WHM (instead of RDM), consider inviting only 1 other party member that uses mp. Ex: (PLD + DRK with WHM main healer can cause some MP issues as WHM can only devotion 1 party member at a time, every 10 minutes). BLM can usually get away without a refresh or devotion but bringing drinks is always recommended.

• Generally there will be at least 1 skillchain involving the THF with 4 front line, but there can be 2 skillchains (THF+melee, melee+melee, and/or Tank+THF, etc). The 3 melee and the tank can have a partner and will be skillchaining with each other while you (double) burst. At higher levels there could be even 3 chains.
  • If there are 2 chains coordinated, Consider coordinating the "priority chain" if all 4 frontline have TP at the same time (it will happen), organize which team will chain first. Having THF+their partner go first is a safe bet. THF closing a skillchain and BLM double bursting can quickly delete every other mob. Try to begin every other mob with THF and their partner with full TP.
  • With 2 chains coordinated typically the pattern is mob 1 chain A with burst, the next mob chain B with burst, rise and repeat. Your group may be able to skip skill chaining and magic bursting on a mob here and there if you're good with free nuking to push a mob to death before partners have the TP. You/the black mage will need to be paying close attention to the melee TP, ready to burst with whatever appropriate nuke. Without a support, expect to support the main healer via cures/regen/stun as needed.
  • At higher levels try to coordinate at least 1 light or dark chain. The other chain can be level 1 as long as the weapon skills are strong. Ex: Cross reaper > Evisceration for Darkness, and Blade: Jin > Slugshot for Detonation.
  • The melee who is chaining without the THF may take hate, especially if they are closing. Magic bursting + stun helps a lot. The mob should be defeated shortly after that.

• If partying without a RDM healer, consider bringing a few drinks or, if you have cooking leveled, a "drink making kit" to save some inventory space. Having a party member that can refresh is nice, but not necessary, for your exp group to be a good once.

• At higher levels with melee not subbing NIN, the healer may need to drop hastes in favor of keeping the frontline regened/cured, to keep up with mp in this setup. That's ok! This is a chaining strategy, not an unga bunga melee strategy. The extra DPS (instead of a support) + chains + magic bursts will make up for a lack of hastes.

• You could consider a DRG/WHM as one of the melee DPS that has backup healing support for your healer if you are facing mobs with aoes.

• Some melee line ups may not have a great chain to work with...especially if melee aren't versatile in their weapon use (Ex: Rampage WAR and Guillotine DRK can't chain...). In that case 2 melee may be soloing their DPS without chaining and there is only 1 chain between the 2 other frontline (Typically it will be a chain with the THF that is closing, ex: Swift Blade/Blade:Ten > Shark Bite).

• If you can find a summoner a similar setup can also work with a SMN + Healer: Tank, THF/puller, 2nd Melee, BLM, SMN, Healer setup.
  • THF/puller is pulling. SMN is assisting with support/off healing. Tank is opening for SMN avatar to close. THF and other melee are chaining. BLM bursting on both chains. At higher levels (70+) the summoner can use their high-damage rage pacts without making a skillchain and you can free nuke more.

• This setup could also work without a THF and including another DPS melee but one of the melee is going to need to be the puller and BLM will need to be more mindful of threat.

Black Mage Battle Tactics (In a standard EXP party)

If you want to be an effective DPS in a normal/standard party, you will need to do more than just wait for a chain and magic bursting. If the black mage is only magic bursting... then they are holding their party back in DPS/exp rate.

Consider being as active/aware as the melee/frontline. Partying in a regular group is different than manaburning. You're going to need to pay more attention with what's happening. If all you are doing is magic bursting and resting to full MP...your party's exp rate is going to be a slog, and it's going to be your fault.

Here are some other important things you should be doing in your standard exp parties:

• CAST DRAIN! Drain is your bread and butter. You should be casting it at least once a fight. You could cast it at the beginning, as soon as the tank provokes. Or you could consider casting drain after (double) magic bursting. Or fit it in somewhere else that makes sense. Use a Recast/Timers addon so you know when your next drain is up. Quest for the drain scroll or buy it off the auction house soon as you hit 12. Drain scales super well with dark magic skill and at higher levels you will be doing a lot of damage for only 21 MP. It is the most mp/damage efficient spell in the game. You could consider drain as your "weapon swinging damage" that keeps you on par with the melee as they are building TP.
• Note: Drain is awful against Bats and undead. You'll have to adjust to using low tier free nuking in place of it when fighting these types of mobs.

Even if your dark magic skill is low and you aren't doing as much damage with drain, use it as often as you can as an opportunity to level your dark magic skill.

• FREE NUKE! Casting a damaging spell that won't be a magic burst (low tiers, high tiers, and -GAs) is just as important as magic bursting. Free nukes can be very strong and take big chunks of HP off the enemy's HP bar even without a burst. This is why it's important to have macros set up so you can quickly access spells. Chaining high level free nukes towards the end of a fight, along with magic bursting when a skillchain occurs will keep you on par with (when you are experienced, will keep you ahead of) the melee DPS and impacts the exp rate/how fast the mobs are dying. However, don't over-nuke to where you are getting so much threat you are tanking each mob at the beginning of each fight, annoying the frontline, and dying.
  • Free nuking is a bit of an art that takes time to develop a good sense of when to use the heavy or light nukes. You generally want to use lower tier nukes/drain at the start of a fight (where you won't get aggro), and save your heavy nuking later in a fight when the mob is getting close to dead. At that point there should be little concern if the tank loses hate to you because the enemy is almost dead. As you are learning your threat threshold, consider using blink and/or stoneskin. However as you gain experience in free nuking, you may be able to get away with being more aggressive and free nuking earlier in a fight without the need of blink/stoneskin depending on your party's set-up/skill. Watch for when the tank uses provoke/yonin/flash/sentinel/etc or when a melee or THF are using Sneak/Trick attack for best opportunities for the bigger free nukes.

• It is ideal to start a fight with THF and their partner with full TP ready to chain. Mob should be deleted quickly after chain and double MB. Then for the next fight the other two melee should be ready to chain while the THF and their partner are building TP again. If that is off then it is on you to free nuke to readjust the flow of battle.

• MP/resting is important but don't waste too much time resting. Do not be a SLEEPY/AFK Black Mage. This is what gives Black Mages a bad reputation in regular exp parties.... You do not need to rest to full MP. Don't spend too much time idling. Especially if you're on exp chain 3-5+. In fact, if you ever are at full MP during your party, you most likely are not DPSing enough and falling behind the melee DPS. Missing out on a tick of MP is worth the damage of a magic burst and/or free nuking/draining to finish an enemy off and keep the exp chain going. Learn how much your spells cost so you know how much MP you'll need to burst. If you are running out of MP consider nixing the DoTs and/or low tier nukes until you catch up on MP. Consider Manafont if you are running out of MP and a skillchain is incoming or time for the EXP chain is running out.

Consistently resting to full mp = holding your party back on exp gains

• Take care of yourself. You have drain, blink, stoneskin, cures, regen... BLM is the only DD that doesn't need the support of a healer. Give your healer a break to rest mp and/or keep buffs up on the melee. Let them know they don't have to cure you unless its an emergency.

• Pay attention to the front-line Do not go afk while resting mp...the front-line melee will usually start lining up before a skillchain. Sometimes they may go out of order or do a random skillchain that isn't planned. Pay attention to it so you can go along with it and burst.

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

• Consider casting elemental debuffs and poison(II) on the first exp mob your party pulls. Then free nuking a bit more than you usually would. That mob you want to take down quickly so its pretty low on HP or even dead before the melee have TP to chain. Again the first exp mob, you can consider the TP builder. Melee start out with 0 TP so they will take a little longer to get full TP for the first chain. The following mobs are easier for your party to chain + burst on as melee often have more TP to start with.

• At higher levels, elemental debuffs/poison may actually not be worth casting (after the first mob) if your melee are geared, eating good (sushi), and mobs are dying quick. Mobs may be dead before the dot's full effect ends. Adjust to lower tier nuking instead of DOTs as needed to save mp/max your dps output.

• Refrain from using Bio. Dia is much better to use as it lowers defense. Usually the healer or support have Dia covered. If partying with a RDM you might want to coordinate who's casting poison(II).

• Melee should be skillchaining before the mob's HP is below 60%. If they chain too late, your group will overkill if you use your highest nuke and you'll waste MP. If melee are consistently getting the enemy's HP below 50% before they get 1000 TP you can adjust to lower tier MB nukes to save on mp if that is the case... But there are some additional advanced measures you can take if melee are skillchaining consistently when the mob's HP is low:
  • As you party you can build a sense of awareness in recognizing when a mob's HP is going to be low before melee have TP to chain. Usually it's when melee start a fight with little to no TP. By the time partners get full TP the mob HP will be low...In these situations you can push a mob to death via heavy free nuking before melee have TP to chain. Melee will have TP ready for a skillchain at the start of the next mob then (might want to have blink/stoneskin on in case you take threat in these situations). This situation often arises on the first mob of an exp party. Melee start with 0 TP and need a little more time to get to 1000 compared to later mobs. Try to help the frontline kill the first pulled mob before they get TP to chain, or at least get it low enough so they are dissuaded from chaining. That way they will have full TP ready to chain at the beginning of next. Make sure you have MP to burst on the incoming chain though.
  • In the higher levels, lower mob HP (less than 50%) when melee get TP occurs more frequently. Recognizing this situation is more important and it will be on you to free nuke more to re-balance the "Melee TP to Mob HP ratio". Or else melee will keep skillchaining towards the end of each mobs' life and you will keep missing out on magic bursting to your full potential and overkilling/wasting MP!

• 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. Also, if you are taking a lot of threat, check yourself on your free nuking. Are you using high tier nukes at the start of the fight before the tank/melee have aggro? Save it for later in the fight when tanks/melee have more threat on them.

• Elemental Seal is great to ensure your next nuke will do full damage... Good to finish a mob at about 20% hp with your highest -aga. Or... it might be better to save ES for sleeps if you're camping by mobs that link.

• When ES is not up 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 when you are free nuking. The Mobdb addon is helpful for this. It will show you the mob's elemental weakness. Free nuking -GAs is a thing you can do as well towards end of fights!

• AGAIN, 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 cue to chain-free-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. You may take threat but the mob should go down before it's an issue.

• Other helpful addons to consider are Deeps and/or Parse. They will help track your DPS compared to the other melee. You should at least be on par with the other DPS if you are up to date on your spells, free nuking, casting drain, and (double) magic bursting on the skillchains with your highest nukes. If you are falling behind, that is your cue to free nuke the big spells towards the end of fights/low nukes at the beginning of fights, or check yourself on how often you are bursting and/or casting drain to catch up. Deeps doesn't track DoTs though so consider that extra damage as well.

• 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/satisfying 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.

• Outside of the MBing you do have a bit of freedom to be resting or free nuking or debuffing. Yes, you will be resting at times while the melee are DPSing. But unlike melee who are consistently dealing damage with their weapon swings and weapon skills, black mages DPS in big chunks with bursting/draining/free nuking that will catch up to, and absolutely has potential to, overcome the melee DPS.

• Be on the lookout for any links or aggro. Have a sleep macro easily accessible (on all of your macro lines, ideally in the same place for muscle memory) for emergencies.

• You'll start building a sense of what your threat threshold is as you party. Depending on your party set up and skill you may be able to get away with more free nuking of high tier spells (Don't forget blink and stoneskin.) Be on the lookout for enmity producing abilities used by your party members (provoke/yonin/flash/sentinel/rampart/shield bash/hojo and kurayami/trick attack/big cures) for big nuking opportunities . As you experiment to test your limits (within reason), you'll see yourself topping the DPS charts/addons.
  • Keep in mind however that black mage cannot reach the top without the help of the melee skillchains. It's a team effort to produce the total DPS for destroying mobs.

• Partying with bards brings an interesting opportunity for additional DPS with a little risk involved. Usually the bard will bring a mob to camp while the party is still fighting another mob, and sleep it. Some other skilled pullers may be able to do the same as BRDs. You can use this as an opportunity to burst a -GA on both mobs! You will certainly take threat from the slept mob. It will be on you to deal with that. You probably want blink/stoneskin on for this situation. Have sleep ready to re-sleep the mob that was woken up by the -GA burst. Stun/bind is not a bad idea either. Surprise the melee that the next mob is down some HP already when they engage it.

The Later Levels

• At later levels (65+), when enemies start getting really beefy and have nastier abilities, consider using stun more often to help the party mate who took aggro, give the tank a breather, stop enemies from using their abilities, support the ninja/melee that has shadows down/casting utsu ichi, and to give the melee more time to build TP. Stunning after a Paladin's flash or shield bash wears off is very effective in delaying the enemy. Partying with a DRK is pretty fun too as you can both coordinate to stun-lock enemies at times with their own stun and weapon bash. Stun does have a lot of threat attached to it so don't use it too early in a fight. Keep your eyes on the front line for opportunities to stun! A well-timed stun will save the healer/paladin lots of mp.

• Make best friends with THFs. BLM + THF synergy is highly effective in all parties. THFs want to work with a skillchain, and will pull. Closing a chain with Trick Attack + x2 MB at the start of a fight can delete a mob in seconds while the healer is still resting MP, and able to keep resting while the frontline and blm are starting on the next mob.
• Make friends with BSTs, WARs, RNGs, and DRGs. THF + BST, RNG, or DRG can make light chains for you to burst off of. WAR's may prefer to stick with rampage or raging rush though until they unlock their WSNM skills.
  • PLDS and NIN tanks are friends too. They can gain TP almost as fast as the melee DPS. They do sync nicely with THFs for opening Fragmentation.
  • With unlocked WSNM skills you can make more friends with WARs SAMs and DRKs that can open Darkness chains for your THF to close with Evisceration.
  • Unlocked WSNM axe (Decimation) for WARs (and BSTs) can open Light for THFs. SAMs with Tachi: Kasha unlocked can open light for THF to close.
  • THFs partnering with MNKs is a bit tough at higher levels (66+). They can only make Distortion with lower level weapon skills...unless the MNK has Asuran Fists WSNM. Then they can partner to make Fragmentation. Might be better for the THF to chain with the tank or the other DPS melee (if you're in a party with 3x melee DD, 1 tank, 1 healer, 1 back mage setup that is.)

• At the much later levels (~73+/merit parties) enemies/camps start capping out at 9 levels higher than the party and melee gear starts to scale higher. Melee will start to take a mob's HP to closer to 50% and below before they get the TP to do a skillchain more often. Mobs will be going down faster. Melee will also start to chain more frequently. Especially if you have a Ninja tank.
  • At this point Black Mages starts to lose some of their luster in double magic bursting. Higher level spells will start to take more time to cast. It will become trickier to pull off double magic bursting, but a single magic burst will start doing about as much damage as a double burst in the earlier levels (a single -GA III/Tier IV MB will deal 1600-2000+ damage with a decently geared blm). Skillchains will start bringing mobs HP to lower % more often (or kill it before the magic burst even) where a higher tier nuke (or double magic burst) won't be worth it, as it will be overkill. Overkilling wastes MP. The MP saved from lower tier magic bursts can be saved for keeping up with the melee's more frequent chaining and mobs being defeated faster. EXP chains will start to go way further beyond 5+ (30+ even with a good/geared party). BLM personal DPS may drop a bit but overall party DPS should should maintain fast kills/longer exp chains.

• At these higher levels it's almost always better for the melee to chain as soon as they get TP instead of holding TP to keep the exp gain/chain going. As stated before, you will have to adjust to MBing with lower tier nukes to save MP and not overkill as much. There still will be times where the skillchain magic burst combo does line up when enemies have enough HP for a high tier nuke magic burst so pay attention. It just doesn't happen as often. To make up for the loss in MB damage, you can adjust to free nuking a bit more. You will need to pay attention more to the melee TP even more-so than the earlier levels, and be aware of the incoming skillchains, as there most likely will be multiple skillchaining opportunities at the higher/merit levels. And as discussed before, Try to see if you can nuke down an enemy before melee have TP to chain and the next mob can go down quickly. Don't forget drain!

It is ideal to start a fight with THF and their partner with full TP ready to chain. Mob should be deleted quickly after a chain and (double) MB. Then for the next fight the other two melee should be ready to chain while the THF and their partner are building TP again. If that is off then it is on you to free nuke to readjust the flow of battle.

• If you have a support/bard in party taking up a spot for a melee, you could consider coordinating with the tank to chain for 3 steps. Have them go at the beginning or end of 3 steps, outside of the other 2 melee DPS's main chain. Depending on the tank's gear/food setup, your group may only be able to do 3 steps every other mob or so though. Don't delay the other dedicated DDs chains on account of the tank's TP.
  • Paladins and ninjas can open fragmentation for thieves, dark knights, and monks to close. Then dark knights, samurai, dragoon, or warriors can make distortion afterwards. Or instead of distortion, rangers, warriors, beastmasters, samurai, and dragoon can make light after fragmentation.
  • Or, instead of opening fragmentation, Paladins and Ninja's can close darkness after distortion is made from the other melee DPS.
  • Paladins with Savage Blade unlocked can open distortion or close light like Sharkbite and Dragon Kick can. All in all, lots of options for making chains for the black mage to burst! More options open up as more melee unlock their quested WS.

• Some high level/merit parties won't have an established tank with melee/nins so you will have to watch your hate and the skillchaining even more so in that setup.
  • For standard merit parties you ideally want to aim to have 4 melee/nin frontline (1 of them THF/puller), a healer, and you, the black mage, in it. (Try to include at least 1 nin/war, war/nin, sam/war using seigan, or a pld/nin for a provoke or flash). That way you can have at least 2 skillchains to work with so your party can kill mobs quick. Melee will partner up. Chain A on mob 1, Chain B on mob 2 while the other set of melee partners are building TP again, repeat.

Caveat

Some parties you join/put together may have a really strong line up and be killing enemies quickly... especially if your group is facing enemies that are not reaching higher than 6-7 levels than the group. If that is the case you may be better off focusing entirely on free nuking and draining on cooldown with an occasional magic burst. If you recognize this, don't hold the party back asking them to chain for you, just go all out like the melee/frontline are, while watching your hate and resting when needed (Don't rest to full mp. Get up when you have the mp to do a few free nukes.) Enemies are too low in level/have too low HP for a chain and burst combo to be effective. Exp gains per mob defeated will be smaller in this type of party, but the rate of exp is comparable to fighting higher level enemies that take a little longer to defeat with chain+burst combo. Parties like this most likely will have the 4 frontline + 2 mages lineup (or 3 frontline + bard + healer + blm lineup) and most likely will not have a main tank and/or a THF to work with. Don't expect to be top DPS with this type of party as there won't be a consistent chain for you to burst off of. You're role is important though as the DPS/stuns you provide is comparable to the buffs a more supportive role would be doing for the party for defeating enemies quickly.

A Word on Ancient Magic

It is the opinion of this guide's author that magic bursting ancient magic is not worth the MP cost and asking your melee to wait on you. Ancient Magic MB damage numbers are pretty but DPS/exp will be more consistent if the black mage follows the melee in their skillchains and double bursts with single target and -GAs nukes.

The same idea applies for magic bursting with non-ancient magic. Never tell the melee to wait on you. Always watch the TP and follow the melee. Every second that delays the melee to chain costs the party's total DPS output.

Challenging the Meta

On retail/in era Black Mages had a tougher time in regular parties. However, on Horizon, Black Mages have been era+ to fit well in a standard party. More specifically Magic Bursting has been substantially boosted in damage and accuracy against non-NM mobs. At higher levels a skill chain + MB combo will literally do thousands of damage, and can take out an IT mob with 100% HP in seconds. This is why your party can target higher level mobs without needing a bard if you have a Black Mage that is coordinating with the melee for consistent chain 5+.

Additionally, gone are the days of having to use macros for reporting TP and Skillchain ready. Everyone can now see each others' TP with addons (hxui, tparty, etc.) and can SC+MB as soon as possible. That means a faster exp rate.

Black mages that want to EXP/merit with a regular party should be encouraged to be a party leader and invite folks instead of waiting for hours for an invite. At the end of the day, everyone seeking wants to EXP and most likely will accept your invite. The ratio of party seekers to party leaders is unbalanced, leaning toward the seekers. Some players however may be skeptical of having a black mage in their exp parties due to their experience on retail or other private servers or for whatever reason. And some may outright refuse unfortunately.

Luckily there are tons of folks usually seeking, and you can just as easily find somebody else to fill the spot in your standard party with a black mage. Party leaders that have a black mage in their group/black mages that are party leaders just stick to the basics of coordinating a skillchain (or two) (which usually happens anyway, with or without a black mage in the group) and you'll do fine!

Here are some ideas about BLM in standard parties debunked:

It's faster DPS if melee just spam Weapon Skills Untrue. Skillchaining is still something melee do despite there being a BLM in the party or not. The DPS from the damage caused by the skillchain and the (double) magic burst coming from the Black mage will more than make up the DPS loss of a melee who waits a few seconds for their skillchain buddy to get TP. Skillchain damage has also been era+ to not be resisted. However! If a melee is SAM or /SAM, they can free weapon skill, while their skillchain buddy is still building TP, no problem. There may be a gear/food issue if 1 melee is not gaining TP as fast as the other melee and delaying the chain.

Black mages spells/Magic Bursting get resisted too much for it to be worthwhile Horizon has made era+ adjustments to magic bursting with increased accuracy and magic attack bonus as well as reducing enmity from magic bursting. A decently geared standard party that has a SC MB combo with a BLM bursting can get consistent high value exp chain 5s on mobs up to around 12 levels higher than the party with little issue. Resists do happen but not often. Especially once you get AF gloves (+15 elemental skill).

Black mages can't keep up with melee DPS Not true. If black mages have a skill chain to burst on/casting drain/free nuking, and your party is fighting higher level monsters, they can rival melee DPS no problem. Make sure to talk to your melee to coordinate a SC. The author of this guide can attest they have been able to (double) burst whenever melee do a chain with little issue in MP management. Just don't be bursting with ancient magic. The MP cost and the time it takes to cast AM/delaying the melee on their chain is not worth the damage.

• Note: Horizon has made era+ changes to the resting MP formula, ticks after initial tick have increased (from +1 to +4). The Clear Mind job trait has also been adjusted/increased to help mages keep up with the melee.

Black mages can't sky party Not true. Black mage can hold their own in sky parties. A decently geared standard party that eats food with a SC and MB combo can actually start exping in sky at around 62 (lower than the meta standard) with no issues for consistent exp chain 5s. Flamingos are pretty weak mobs overall (not just for piercing weapons). Black mages can burst about 1-1.1K Thundaga II/Blizzaga II off of Impaction/Distortion/Fragmentation chains on Flamingos (more damage if they are double bursting another spell). The ideal level sync for a sky party with a black mage is 62-65 however. Any higher and the melee start getting birds low on HP% before 1000TP.

MB ThundagaII Flamingo MB Aero III Flamingo Deeps Results for a 2.5 hour sky party. SAM/THF + WAR/SAM Chaining Fragmentation. BLM bursting Thundaga II/AeroIII + double burst Thunder/AeroII. Note: Deeps not including Skillchain damage Same Sky party as above image, but with Skillchain damage included. 1)SAM 2)BLM 3)WAR

Conclusion

Black mages can certainly solo and manaburn to gain levels. However, partying in a traditional/standard lineup is a lot more interesting and fun. Especially if you have friends that play other jobs.

Black mages require a bit more knowledge of game mechanics and planning compared to the other melee dps jobs to be effective in a standard/traditional exp party. They also need an exp party lineup that will support skillchaining (Best with a THF puller, with 4 total frontline and 2 backline). However, once they get the hang of it black mages fit well into a regular exp party on horizon and can certainly be top DPS!

Black mages that want to standard party, but are not getting invites, should not shy away from being a party leader and start sending /tells to invite. People will most likely accept.

All you need to do is coordinate at least 1 skillchain for bursting (get a THF, they will want to make that happen), target some higher level mobs (Aim for mobs that cap least 10 levels higher than the party), and ABCD (Always be casting drain). Don't forget to pepper in some free nukes. The DPS black mages provide along with their utility brings them to the table along the other DPS job choices for your exp party.

The benefit of having a BLM in your party is not needing a BRD or support job if you already have a healer, puller/THF, 2 melee dps, and a main tank. No need to yell for a bard/support for hours!!!

• Note: There was a mob evasion fix on horizon where mobs level 60+ are now more evasive. Unless they are super-geared, melee pretty much have to eat sushi(accuracy+ food) and forgo eating meat (attack+ food) now a days when fighting against IT mobs. This change makes black mages even more competitive with the melee DPS in leveling parties.

Chain 5 level 55 standard party with a blm double bursting off 2 melee skillchaining, no exp ring

No exp ring on, Chain 35+ merit party in Ro'Maeve: BLM WAR WAR MNK WHM BRD line up. WARs and MNK making Darkness and Fragmentation for the BLM to burst off of.

If you've made it to the end of this guide, congrats! You can now advertise "Black Mage that knows what they are doing, looking for party!" when LFG =) Please be encouraged to start your own party with the information from this guide. You got this!

This guide was created by Grayson on Horizon while leveling/meriting black mage via standard parties and gets updated every so often. If you're bored of manaburning and soloing (like I was), try out a standard group. It's quite fun, way more active, and will test your awareness and timing.

Please be advised: This guide in no way states that standard groups are better/worse than other types of groups. Only that a standard group of play is absolutely viable in leveling your black mage with your friends. Play how you like! Have fun!