Thunder IV

INT vs MAB

2009-08-26T02:30:00.001-07:00

At Level 75, a fairly common rule of thumb is that “2INT ≈ 1MAB,” which has been largely shown to be true from general observation.

A much more accurate figure can be derived using the following formula to solve the equation ???INT = 1MAB,

\[\triangle I_Y=\frac{\frac{B}{\lambda}+I_Y-I_M}{M+100} \]

To use, simply plug in your known values for each of the variables. For example, if I were to nuke Thunder IV (541 base damage, tier modifier is 2) on an Ebony Pudding (89INT) with gear that gets me 125INT and 71MAB, I get:

\[\triangle I_Y=\frac{\frac{B}{\lambda}+I_Y-I_M}{M+100}=\frac{\frac{541}{2}+125-89}{71+100}=1.792 \]

Therefore I need approximately 1.8INT to match 1MAB’s worth of damage.

Mathematical support

The damage formula is as follows:

\[D=k(1+\frac{M}{100})[B+\lambda(I_Y-I_M)]\]

k = product of all the modifiers from elemental staves, day, weather, magic burst and type of mob.
M = total Magic Attack Bonus from both Job Traits and equipment.
B = Spell’s base damage.
λ= Nuke’s tier modifier.
I = Total intelligence (base INT and gear). Subscript refers to either You, or the Mob.

Through algebraic manipulation, the two partial derivatives of the above equation with respect to your Intelligence and to your Magic Attack Bonus work out to be,

\[\frac{dD}{dI_Y}=\frac{\lambda k(M+100)}{100}\]
\[\frac{dD}{dM}=\frac{k[B+ \lambda (I_Y-I_M)]}{100} \]

By the principle of small changes, we can write

\[\frac{dI_Y}{dI_M}=\frac{\triangle I_Y}{\triangle M} \]

Therefore as ∆MAB=1,

\[\triangle I_Y=\frac{dI_Y}{dM} \]

Then, use the chain rule with the two partial derivatives to derive dI/dM:

\[\triangle I_Y=\frac{dI_Y}{dM}=\frac{dI_Y}{dD}\frac{dD}{dM} \]
\[\triangle I_Y=\frac{dI_Y}{dM}=\frac{100}{\lambda k(M+100)}\frac{k[B+\lambda (I_Y-I_M)]}{100} \]

Finally, simplify the expression.

\[\triangle I_Y=\frac{\frac{B}{\lambda}+I_Y-I_M}{M+100} \]

BLM solo merits- Xarcabard [S]

2009-08-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

For BLMs that can meet the required standard, the Xarcabard [S] pet camp offers the best solo xp/hr currently in the game, coming as BLM/SCH.

Tigers here are level 75-76, which gives an average of 172.5xp/kill after Chain #4.

If you kill one mob every minute, your xp/hr will be about 172.5 x 60 minutes = 10,350xp/hr.

But in reality, I was killing one tiger every 50 seconds on average. 3600 seconds/50 seconds per kill = 72 kills = 172.5 x 72 = 12,420xp/hr!

The actual meriting process is very simple- walk up to a Gigas’ Tiger and nuke. Parsimony whenever it is up, saving the other charge for Alacrity in case of emergencies. Rest for one or two ticks, depending on how far your next mob is, before continuing.

Minimum standards

The minimum standard: To deal 1400 damage on an unresisted nuke consistently.

The entire camp revolves around being able to one-shot a Gigas's Tiger. If you cannot do this, you would probably be better off sticking to Ebony Puddings. This number is a lot easier to meet with frequent ice weather and day bonuses, but such things are inconsistent- to truly benefit from this camp, you would want to be able to come here at any time.

To give the reader just what kind of standard is required, this is my current nuking set for neutral day/weather:

I work with 8/8 Elemental skill, 5/5 INT and 5/5 Lightning potency merits, with 133INT and +29MAB in gear.

My neutral Thunder IVs land for just 1369 damage, off my estimated minimum requirement by 31 damage, so I still have to wait for Ice/Lightningsday to come around before I can feasibly merit in this camp!

Camp orientation

Actual knowledge of the camp and its surroundings is very important here. First, you will never stay at one stationary spot. You will keep moving around, depending on several factors.

In total, there are five Gigas Floggers in the area. One of them is to the far west, the other towards the eastern tundra. The other three are all clustered very close to each other in the center, and it is these three that you want to focus on.

Your target mobs are clearly, the Gigas's Tigers. They have 55INT.

Two Beastmasters are sufficient to maintain a cycle of pets, so a good idea would be to just alternate between the two Beastmasters until one of them moves into an unfavourable location.

Be warned- this camp is very mentally taxing. Because you are /SCH, you have very little defense should something go wrong, other than perhaps Alacrity-Sleepga. Once you reach Chain #5 and above, pressure is constantly on you to keep the chain, which means you have to be able to answer the following questions quickly:

Where is your next tiger? How far is it?
Do I have to stand up early to get to the tiger in time?
Where are the surrounding Gigas?
Where are the Greater Amphipteres?
How close should I stand when I nuke to avoid the pet moving out of range mid-cast?
How far should I stand when I nuke to avoid aggro from the beastmaster?

As a rough gauge, if you have the Distance plugin on the unofficial Windower, a player character moves at a base speed of 4.0 yalms per second, so you can use that to decide whether you should stand up early to move to your next tiger.

However, your chain is entirely dependent on your not getting resisted. As the accuracy cap is currently estimated to be 95%, drawing parallels between melee accuracy, your chain will most likely end on that 5% chance your nuke gets resisted.

With proper mana management, it is far more likely that your chain be broken by a resist than by lack of mana. As you can see in the picture below, I'm at Chain #40, and still have approximately half my mana remaining.

Because of this characteristic, this camp is more suited for short solo merit sessions, or for recapping experience points, rather than longer, more committed meriting.

Camp mechanics

Soloing merits here abuse one game-mechanic regarding Beastmaster AI. Normally, a common speed bump in pet camps is that you have to wait for the mob to turn its back to you, or navigate your way around the camp until you are behind the mob so that the master does not see its pet coming after you.

However, if you can one-shot the pet, you can nuke from any direction because the master will not link with a dead pet.

In addition, you save a lot of time because two nukes obviously take longer to fire off than just one, especially if you need to Bind or Sleep in the middle.

Together, these two factors result in immense time savings, which become invaluable when you need to meet the 60-second time limit for everything beyond Chain #5 and still rest sufficient mana to continue the chain.

BLM/SCH!

Today, /RDM has become the default subjob of choice for Black Mages everywhere, and it's not difficult to see why. Here's what you get from /RDM:

Fast Cast II
Dispel
Gravity
Phalanx
Stoneskin
Blink

Of these, the most valuable are Stoneskin, Blink and Gravity. These are all defensive in nature, and provide Black Mage with the survivability required to function effectively.

However, if you can one-shot pets, there is no need for defense!

Your concern shifts from survivability to one wholly focused on pure mana conservation, which is where /SCH shines. This is what /SCH has to offer:

-10% mp costs through Dark Arts.
-10% cast time and recast time.
-50% mp cost through Parsimony (using one charge.)
-50% cast time through Alacrity (using one charge.)

You are most interested in the mana conservation through Dark Arts and Parsimony, whose effects add up immensely:

Let's say that with a cooldown of two minutes, you would Parsimony every third nuke. Thunder IV costs 154mp under Dark Arts, and 77mp under Parsimony.

Thus, you consume 385mp in total for every set of three nukes, in the following cycle:

Thunder IV → Rest two ticks → Thunder IV → Rest two ticks → Parsimony → Thunder IV → Rest two ticks → Repeat.

With Clear Mind V and +24hMP in my healing set, I get back 51mp on the first tick, and 54mp on the second tick for a total of 105mp restored through resting in between nukes, for a total of 315mp restored through healing per cycle.

If I nuke every 50 seconds, the whole cycle will take 2:30. With 1mp restored every three seconds from Sigil, Sigil restores 50mp in that time.

Thus, the total mana restored per cycle is 365mp.

Therefore, you have a net mana consumption of just 20mp every three nukes!

Resists

Sadly, your chain is practically dependent on resists, or the lack thereof. Theoretically, you can still keep the chain by timing an Alacrity-Tier III nuke in between tiger swings, but there are two problems to this.

One is more focused on player skill. Because resists are so unexpected, when they do occur, I find myself in a sudden state of panic even though I planned for such contingencies. With experience, I ought to be able to react accordingly and maintain a smooth flow.

The other, bigger issue is that if you nuked the pet in front of the beastmaster and your nuke was resisted, the beastmaster will see the pet and link, thus ending your chain even though you manage to kill the pet in time.

Yes, you could maneuver around the beastmaster to set yourself up for an ideal nuking spot, but if you focus too much on that, you forgo one large benefit of being able to one-shot pets. All I can say is that at least the Xarcabard [S] camp here has the benefit of choice, and with multiple Gigas Floggers around, at least you have the luxury of picking and choosing from the tigers available.

ENM75: Shell We Dance duo.

2009-07-24T22:54:00.001-07:00

You will need:

Miasma filter
Manafont (if BLM)

This is an ENM in Boneyard Gully (Attohwa Chasm) involving two Uragnite mobs- Parata (melee) and Bladmall (mage). Defeating both gives you 3000xp as your reward, and a crate which can drop any of the following:

Stone-splitter
Frenzy Fife
Cassia Lumber
Eltoro Leather
Dragon Bone
Scroll of Army's Paeon V
Blau Dolch
Cloud Evoker

Note that two Blau Dolches can drop from the same crate!

General strategy
As with all ENMs, all buffs are wiped upon entry. Both Parata and Bladmall are immune to Sleep, Bind, Gravity and Silence.

The recommended number of participants set by Square-Enix is twelve. However, it can be duo'ed by two mages. One should be either SCH or BLM with Manafont, while the other can be either SCH, BLM or RDM.

Over the course of the fight, each of them will enter its shell (stopping to do so) and spawn a miniature version of itself, called a Nepionic Parata/Bladmall. When it does so, the parent will stay in its shell for a few seconds, during which time you need to quickly dispose of the child before the parent comes out of its shell.

As the two players in the fight operate independently of one another, I'll split the explanation into two.

Part 1: Parata

Parata is the melee mob, with about 11,600hp.

The person that solos Parata should be either a Black Mage with Manafont or a Scholar. The reason is that the Nepionic Parats have slightly more HP than the Nepionic Bladmalls (about 2600hp), and unlike Bladmall, Parata is not so easily controllable. Thus, it is important that you quickly kill off any Nepionic Paratas that spawn.

A Red Mage will have difficulty killing the Nepionic Paratas in time, which is why Red Mage is not recommended for this role.

Upon engaging Parata, the person should immediately beeline to the rock structure towards the right, and start kiting Parata anti-clockwise around it. The key to actually defeating Parata lies in taking advantage of two facets of Parata's AI.

The first is that mobs in general have difficulty traversing slopes. In the case of this ENM, there is a sloped portion on your kiting circuit, easily recognisable by the bone on the ground towards the west side of the rock. What will happen is that you simply hug the rock, while Parata will take a much wider arc around it, thus gaining you distance over Parata.

Because of this, the bone makes an ideal point to cast your offensive spells.

Secondly, like other kited fights, Parata will always try to use a TP move on you when you get into range. Usually, this is Gas Shell, which is just a 19hp/tick Poison, easily negated by your Drains.

Together, you can use this to your advantage by casting a Tier-III nuke at the bone. Parata will take a detour to get to you, and once it catches up, will use a TP move, by which time you can probably run out of range.

Part 2: Bladmall

Bladmall is the mage, with only 10,000hp or so. All his attacks are water-based, and include Water III, Water IV, Waterga II, Waterga III and Flood. Bladmall can also cast Protect, Shell, Cure IV and Curaga IV.

Bladmall can be handled by either a second Black Mage or Scholar. Unlike Parata, a Red Mage will also work against Bladmall.

Bladmall is much, much easier to handle compared to Parata, thanks to his ridiculously stupid AI. Like Qiqirn rangers, Bladmall will never run up to you and melee. Instead, he will run towards you, stop at about 19.5" away, pause for a few seconds before casting a spell. You can then move away, whereby he will then start running after you again, interrupting his cast only to stop at 19.5" again, repeating the whole process.

Like Parata, Bladmall will also spawn three Nepionic Bladmalls over the course of the fight. These have less HP than Nepionic Paratas (2000hp) and follow Bladmall's AI- that is to say that they will also run up to you, pause, start casting and so forth.

Because Bladmall and the Nepionic Bladmalls can cast Cure, don't worry too much about actually killing Bladmall. It is often easier to just hold Bladmall and wait for your partner to finish with Parata before the two of you team up with enough firepower to finish Bladmall off through his cures.

What makes a better BLM?

2009-05-07T08:40:00.001-07:00

I did some browsing around some blogs, and uncovered this quote which I took from Anexia's blog.

The only tip you’ll ever need to properly play BLM:
LEARN TO SOLO.

And I’m not talking about a too-weak mob you can melee with your ice staff. I’m talking go to sea, and solo quest your obis. Solo your relaxing earring. Solo Fortitude and Ix’MNK trigger sets. When you get better at enfeebling, you can start solo popping Ix’DRG, Ix’DRK, and Temperance while your LS is out farming somewhere else. Sea is by far the best training ground for learning to solo BLM.

If you dont have sea access, you can farm Diorite in sky for the same difficulty level of solo.

You will soon realize how much stronger of a BLM you become in group environments once you’ve learned to effectively solo.

- Sovereign (Diabolos)

I can definitely agree with some of what Sovereign said, and I'll keep this quote around here for the time being for me to muse on later.

KS30- Operation Desert Swarm

2009-04-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

You will need:

Lachesis Orb
Manafont
Pro-Ether

Operation Desert Swarm is a fairly easy fight to solo, making it a good starting point for Black Mages who would like to get their feet wet in the solo arena.

By now, several mercenary BLM groups have probably caused the overall price of the drops to plummet, but there are still a few choice items here and there if you're willing to put your seals on the line.

Here are the basic facts:
- 6 Platoon Scorpions.
- Each has exactly 5,000 HP.
- Not particularly resistant to sleep.
- Run at normal speed.

The basic sequence is as follows:

- Buff with Protect II, Aquaveil, Stoneskin, Blink, Phalanx.
- Rest to full.
- Thundaga III → Sleepga (reapply Stoneskin and Blink)
- Blizzaga III → Sleepga (reapply Stoneskin and Blink)
- Take medicines (Pro-Ether in my case, see below)
- Thundaga III → Sleepga (reapply Stoneskin and Blink)
- Manafont
- Blizzaga III → Sleepga
- Thundaga III → Sleepga
- Firaga III (win!)

There are two tips you ought to know before you enter this KSNM:

1) You will need mana items.
Assuming your gear is not of a very high standard, chances are you will be casting six -ga spells, in between at least five Sleepgas, not to mention reapplying Stoneskins, Blinks and Phalanx.

Doing the math, your mana spent (not accounting for Conserve MP) would be:

Thundaga III: 322mp
Sleepga: 38mp
Stoneskin: 29mp
Blink: 20mp
Blizzaga III: 299mp
Sleepga: 38mp
Stoneskin: 29mp
Blink: 20mp
Thundaga III: 322mp
Sleepga: 38mp
Stoneskin: 29mp
Blink: 20mp
Phalanx: 21mp

MANAFONT

Blizzaga III: 0mp
Sleepga: 0mp
Thundaga III: 0mp
Sleepga II: 0mp
Firaga III: 0mp

Total: 1225mp

1225mp spent before the Manafont is very high, even for a Taru. As it is, my current nuking gear puts my MP at 1006, so I'm still 219mp away. Thus, medicines are in order.

Based off my nuking mp, I need to make up 219mp somewhere, so a Pro-Ether comes in handy. This will vary from individual to individual, so be sure to check you can make up 1225mp somewhere without the aid of Manafont. Non-tarus will probably have to look into drinks in addition to a Pro-Ether.

I have to admit, I really really wanted to be able to do this without the use of anything out of the ordinary (nothing more than maybe a couple of Yagudo Drinks), but given the gap in mana, that does not look likely for me, at least not now. You can try to use Convert HP→MP gear (like Zenith) to fire off an opening Thundaga III that won't do as much damage but "costs less MP." If you are able to push your maximum MP to over 1225mp, you may just not have the need for any special medicines.

Of course, should you get lucky on your Conseve MP, by all means save the Pro-Ether for another day! ^^

2) Damage reduction in your Sleepga macro

The main trick to beating the fight however, is the ability to control all six scorpions. That is to say, you need to be able to Sleepga reliably.

You must be able to land Sleepga with your Stoneskin still intact. Now, it is possible to actually avoid getting hit at all (especially if you have Herald Gaiters), but chances are, you would expect to get hit some times, and your Stoneskin had better last. Once Stoneskin is down and your Sleepga gets interrupted, there is no way to recover. Thus, it is imperative that Stoneskin remains up.

Here's why regular enfeebling setups aren't quite enough:

* A Platoon Scorpion hits me, in Enfeebling gear for, on average, about 90 damage/hit.
* With capped Enhancing Magic skill (200), Phalanx reduces all hits by -18 damage.
* A scorpion thus hits me for around 72 damage/hit.

* With 114 MND, Stoneskin is capped at 350 damage.

So, with Stoneskin and Blink up:
Case 1: Two shadows absorbs, 4 hits- 288 damage (Good)
Case 2: One shadow absorbs, 5 hits- 360 damage (Risks interruption)
Case 3: No shadows absorbs, 6 hits- 432 damage (Risks interruption)

As you can see, the problem above lies in the reliance of both Blink shadows absorbing two hits from the scorpions. Should even one fail, then you risk being interrupted, and thus lose the KS30.

So, I needed a way to prevent some more damage while still in my Enfeebling gear. Fortunately, this can be solved by using a Terra's Staff instead of a Pluto's Staff in my Sleepga macro.

Now, with the damage reduction from the Terra's Staff, the numbers look like the following: (Note that the damage reduction from the Terra's Staff is applied first, then Phalanx is applied.)

* A Platoon Scorpion hits me, in Enfeebling gear for, on average, about 90 damage/hit.
* With capped Enhancing Magic skill (200), Phalanx reduces all hits by -18 damage.
* A scorpion thus hits me for around 72 damage/hit.
* With 114 MND, Stoneskin is capped at 350 damage.
* Terra's Staff reduces all physical damage taken by -20%.

Thus, I take:
(90 x 0.8) - 18 = 54 damage/hit.

Giving us the following three cases
Case 1: Two shadows absorbs, 4 hits- 216 damage (Good)
Case 2: One shadow absorbs, 5 hits- 270 damage (Good)
Case 3: No shadows absorbs, 6 hits- 324 damage (Good)

As you can see, the inclusion of a Terra's Staff dramatically improves Stoneskin's duration. Now, there is almost no way the scorpions will be able to break through your Stoneskin before your Sleepga goes off, even if all six Scorpions successfully connect, and you even have some room to play around with should a scorpion land a critical hit on you.

In fact, even if you gave yourself an error margin and assumed that scorpions hit you for 100 damage/hit instead of 90, a Terra's Staff setup would still let your Stoneskin last five hits without wearing off.

By wearing a Terra's Staff instead of a Pluto's Staff, my Stoneskin will go off, but the chance of resists will go up.

That being said, it is still very easy to sleep the scorpions, especially if you have Enfeebling merits, so I wouldn't worry too much about this. If you get a partial resist like I did in the video above, don't /panic, and just Sleep it next to the rest, layering with Sleepga II if possible.

2b) Sorcerer's Earring

Another piece of equipment you may want to consider is a Sorcerer's Earring, which can be obtained fairly cheaply off the AH. The latent effect is activated when your HP below 25%. Now, for obvious reasons, it's no point wearing the Sorcerer's Earring in your Sleepga macro at full HP, so if you choose to use a Sorcerer's Earring, you will have to reduce your HP to under 25% of your base HP prior to entering the Burning Circle.

Fortunately, this is quite easy to do- just train the Quadavs outside and just stand there letting them beat on you until you see your HP cross the mark, then zone into the Waughroon Shrine. With the earring, your damage reduction during a Sleepga is pushed to the -50% cap, which means it will be almost impossible for the scorpions to break your Stoneskin. However, the tradeoff here is that it can get a little dicey when you Manafont and are under time pressure- you may not have time to reapply Stoneskin, which makes you a lot more vulnerable since you have low HP as well.

There are a few other things you may also want to consider- I also ate a Tavnazian Taco instead of traditional mage food, and also used a Stone gorget to increase my Stoneskin potency. Either way, the key point is to keep your Stoneskin intact, in which case this KS30 should be a piece of cake.

Brothers ENM

2009-03-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

You will need:

Manafont (if solo)
Elemental Seal

For those who aren't very familiar with this ENM, you are up against two Taurus, an Eldertaur (the small one on the left) and a Mindertaur (the large one on the right). The Eldertaur is immune to Sleep, while the Mindertaur can be slept, although it's recommended you back it up with Elemental Seal first. Both are susceptible to Gravity and Bind, and will try to cast Cure V once their HP drops below 50%.

Solo Strategy:
When you enter, buff up as per normal and make sure you have Reraise on.

You will need to Elemental Seal-Sleep II the Mindertaur, and then solo the Eldertaur before the Mindertaur wakes up. Use Manafont if you have to, the priority is to kill the Eldertaur.

Once the Eldertaur is dead, run back to the start point, and let yourself get killed by the Mindertaur (you don't lose xp while in the ENM). Once the Mindertaur has left, reraise and rest up.

Once you're fully healed again, take on the Mindertaur solo.

At all times, be careful of Shell III and Unblest Armor, both of which give very strong Magic Defense Bonuses to the taurus- essentially, you'll see your nuke damage halved if either are on. In addition, make sure you do not face the taurus to avoid getting Doomed by Chthonian Ray.

Some additional hints:

Try to sleep the Mindertaur towards the starting point. This will buy you a few extra seconds to kill the Eldertaur since the Mindertaur has to walk all the way back once it wakes up.
You can do this by aggroing both taurus, then turning back to the start point. Bind the Eldertaur, then Stun and Elemental Seal-Sleep II the Mindertaur. You can now Gravity the Eldertaur and begin working on it.
Consider Elemental Seal-Silence on the Mindertaur to prevent it from casting Cure V.

Duo Strategy:
I usually go BLM+BLM or BLM+SCH. Essentially, have one person that is able to land an Elemental Seal-Sleep II, and have that person sleep the Mindertaur while the other Gravities the Eldertaur. After that, both players take out the Eldertaur first.

With the Eldertaur gone, the Mindertaur should be easy pickings.

I've provided videos of some of my solo runs to facilitate greater understanding, but more importantly, to point out areas of improvement so you, the reader may benefit.

Run #1 (05th March 2009):

Observations:
Okay, some commentarus- first, yes, I'm on Windower. Let's get that one out of the way first. Eventually, I'd like to be able to do it without the various aids that the windower gives me, namely without Recast, TimeStamp and Distance to make this more of a "true" solo attempt.

[00:03] First of all, you might notice that I entered on Lightningsday, for the obvious damage boost with Rairin obi. You don't actually need this bonus, but I figured it'd be nice to have anyways. ^^

[00:19] With regards to the pull, you will notice that I only go ahead far enough to aggro both taurus before turning back into the tunnel, which was something I got from Avesta's video. The idea is to pull and Sleep II the Mindertaur far into the starting tunnel. That way, when Sleep II wears, you buy yourself extra time because the Mindertaur has to walk all the way back to the main arena.

[00:19 - 00:50] The actual starting sequence is the same as Avesta's video- aggro both taurus, Bind the Eldertaur, Stun the Mindertaur, run a bit, Elemental Seal-Sleep II the Mindertaur, Gravity the Eldertaur and start working on it. As you work on the Eldertaur, pull it away from the Mindertaur to build distance should you not kill fast enough.

[02:06] This should've been Thundaga III- neither mana nor longer cast time leading to spell interruption is an issue because of Manafont, and should the nuke get resisted, a Thundaga III would've dealt more damage than Firaga III.

[02:20] Not sure why I stopped and turned around here- probably force of habit. In this particular case, I wanted to get killed, and the sooner the better. :P

[04:24] You might notice I put Reraise on again. This is not necessary, just an extra precaution since I still have time to die, rest and try again if I don't manage to kill the Mindertaur.

[05:24] Yes, I forgot to use my Yagudo Drink at the start of the second half. -_-

[06:24] There should've been a Silence before this nuke to prevent the upcoming Cure V.

[07:02] Elemental Seal-Silence was something I got from Metticus's video. You don't really need to sleep the Mindertaur again, but you do want to prevent him from Cure V'ing himself, especially since your mana pool is a lot more constricted this time around. In my case, I should've Silenced him earlier than I did, making the fight safer overall.

[07:30] This last Blizzard IV nuke was risky. Yes, Gravity wore off unexpectedly, but still, I should've tried to Bind or at least Stun the Mindertaur after the Thunder IV first, just in case. Had the Mindertaur double attacked, got lucky and broke my Stoneskin through Blink, I could've had that Blizzard IV interrupted and now I'm cornered with a speedy Mindertaur on my heels.

[08:12] What exactly is the correct legal jargon for this sort of thing?? /confused

[08:19] Love it or hate it, I just can't like the weather in Uleguerand Range. -_-

I'm still a little bit worried about the Mindertaur solo- if you count up all the mana costs associated with solo'ing the Mindertaur, the grand total comes up to 1144mp, which is definitely more than what I carry around. Of course, this is not taking Conserve MP into account, nor the one Aspir I made for 96mp. If I were to take that Aspir into consideration, the total goes down to 1048 which just barely makes it into my mana pool (1083mp total).

Admittedly, the Mindertaur fight could've gone slightly better- that Cure V that went off probably cost me an extra III-nuke's worth of mana, which an earlier Silence could've saved. In addition, looking at how close the total MP spent comes to my max MP, a Yagudo Drink might actually be relevant. :o

Of course, one further trick I could do would be to first nuke in a real max-MP setup, with my Zenith Crown +1, Mahatma pigaches and Morgana's Choker on for +120mp. The damage won't be as high, but it covers 73% of a Blizzard IV in mana, so that might be something to look into.

Run #2 (11th March 2009):

Observations:
[00:03] Again, I entered the BC on Lightningday. This was not intentional- I actually logged out behind the ice wall the day before, and it just happened to be Lightningday when I logged back in.

[1:23] I don't think keeping Ice Spikes up is a good idea anymore because of situations like this. Sure, the Paralyze proc might be more potent than a regular Paralyze, but in this case, the Ice Spikes proc could've broken my Bind, leaving me with an unsleepable mob without Bind or Gravity. Taking away Ice Spikes will also let me use Bind more aggressively in the future.

[2:17] As you might notice, the Mindertaur had woken up and is now within my sight range. You can see the benefits of sleeping it some distance into the tunnel as means of buying some extra time while you kill off the Eldertaur.

[2:34] In retrospect, I don't think Thunder IV was the correct nuke to use here- I failed to play around Cure V, and the small sliver of health the Eldertaur had at the end made it even more painfully obvious. That being said, I'm not sure what I should've used instead- Blizzaga III is clearly out of the question because the damage would be split with the incoming Mindertaur, but Burst II might've taken too long.

[4:16] I thought it would be safe to reraise by now in the interest of saving time, so you can imagine my surprise to see the Mindertaur turn around! With no reraise on, Priority #1 was simple- get RR on.

Note to self: the Mindertaur has a very large aggro radius to sound.

[4:28] There should have been a Gravity here to buy even more time, especially since I still had to wait for the Reraise Earring's equip timer to finish! This technically almost cost me the run- I was lucky that the Mindertaur persisted in using non-damaging spells and abilities, allowing me to put on Reraise in the nick of time. Had Bind worn off earlier, or the Mindertaur cast a Banish II, I probably would've lost the ENM.

[4:45] I've considered replacing my Sorcerer's Earring with a Reraise Earring in my standing set because of situations like this. A Sorcerer's Earring will not kick in until I'm under 25% health, and in this case, the additional damage reduction wouldn't even matter. On the other hand, there have been times where I've needed to put on Reraise immediately after getting up. By equipping a Reraise Earring as part of the standing set, the timer gets to count down even when I'm unconscious, so I can get up and immediately use the earring.

[7:02] It turns out that I didn't see the Mindertaur buff with Protect when I first reraised. That being said, when I saw that Protect was dispelled, I decided to Dispel again just to make sure Shell was not on.

Two points to note- first, if you want to cancel a spell, just /heal. Running around like a headless chicken takes longer. Secondly, I remember reading somewhere that there is an order in which buffs are dispelled- that is to say that Protect would get dispelled before Shell does. I'm not sure whether this is true, since it's been a long time since I read that. Ix'MNK's Crystalline Cocoon (which puts on both Protect and Shell) contradicts that statement, since sometimes Shell is taken off first, though maybe Crystalline Cocoon behaves differently?

[8:51] This time, I end up with 344mp left, which is much more compared to my previous attempt. I totalled up the MP used to take out the Mindertaur, assuming Conserve MP did not kick in, and I got a total of 1009mp this time around, compared to 1169mp the previous attempt. The extra 160mp used the last time can easily be attributed to the extra Blizzard IV (164mp) I needed to win the last time due to a Cure V that my Silence this time prevented.

From the above, killing the Mindertaur without drinks or ethers would be very doable (well, at least for myself) assuming Cure V does not go off, though it doesn't really leave much room for error. My current nuking setup carries 1083mp, which means that I'll only have 74mp leftover if Conserve MP doesn't kick in at all. As such, non-taru BLMs will probably need to find ways to boost their MP to 1000+ to effectively solo this, at least using this method.

Further areas of improvement would obviously include not being so sloppy when things go wrong- I've mentioned that I got away lucky from that attempt, and I do not doubt that statement. In lieu of this, however, I should probably experiment around a little bit more with carrying a Reraise Earring around to see how it feels.

Run #3 (17th March 2009):

[1:52] A number of things went wrong here, which caused me to almost lose- the obvious tell-tale sign is that I was left with just 31hp after my Firaga III. First of all, I definitely should've moved further away to Manafont, or at least moved away some more after using Manafont before starting to cast Firaga III. Secondly, I could've just cast Bind on the Eldertaur after my Dispel, reapply Stoneskin and then Manafont. This moment just goes to show how much damage the taurs can deal in a short span of time- a double attack here would've cost me the run.

[2:14] This was extremely risky. Bear in mind that I've just bound the Eldertaur, and I know Gravity wore off. I have neither Stoneskin nor Blink on, so had the Eldertaur survived, there would be very little chance I'd survive to make my next attack. I should've Gravitied first, then proceeded to Thundaga III. Yes, you give more time for a possible second Cure V, but I could've easily plowed my way through that with a Blizzaga III, which would undoubtedly deal more damage than the Cure V restored.

[5:36] Bio II and Poison II here are efforts to try and conserve MP. Assuming they last two minutes each, Bio II deals roughly 320 damage and Poison II about 400 damage, which is very respectable for just 36 and 38mp respectively.

[7:18] I'm really not sure why this Thunder IV got interrupted. It could've been lag, but I was sure I was standing still prior to the start of casting.

[7:43] This should've been the Elemental Seal-Silence instead of the Thunder IV to prevent Cure V, thus saving mana. As I ended the fight with just 94mp, things definitely could've been done better, though not unsalvagable since you can always Bind and run away to rest a tick.

[9:16] Always good to end on an up note. :D

BLM75 Equipment Guide

2009-02-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

"I can't tell exactly what the hell intelligence does. All I know is that when I stack it my blm is full of win, and when I don't I die constantly."

-Thydonon

Last updated: 28th May 2009.

Compared to other jobs, Black Mage is fortunate in that functionally, much of your gear can simply be bought. Of course, there are several end-game RA/EX items that will further enhance your play, but for the most part, you can build a very solid foundation with just the almighty AH.

This equipment guide is not the absolute best you can be. The intention is to provide a very thorough overall foundation for a BLM75 to work towards, while trying to keep costs down.

There are at least eight sets I think about when it comes to gearing up a Black Mage:

A standing set.
A nuking set.
An enfeebling set.
An elemental build set.
A Stoneskin set.
A Dark magic set.
A resting set.
An elemental debuff set.

I've intentionally left out a Sorcerer's Ring set here because the overall set is rather costly, and I wouldn't really focus on a Sorcerer's Ring build until you have these basics tied down.

Because of all these sets, it's a little difficult for me to talk about gear when I sort them into their equipment slots, so I'll first get the basic slots out of the way, before breaking up the rest in terms of their sets.

Before I start, here are some rules and assumptions I made when compiling this list:

1. First, you need to have access to Vana'diel. The assumption is that you have main storyline content done, have sky access, and completed CoP. If you're not up to this stage, make it one of your priorities.

2. You need to be able to do at least some end-game events. That's not to say you're in a full-time HNM LS, but you should at least have access to an LS that does some end-game content, so you become an "end-game player" and not a "player with a job at 75."

3. While I do try to keep costs down, you will be expected to spend a decent amount of gil to get the gear you need. Not everything needs to be HQ, but I will suggest HQ pieces where I think the money is well worth it.

General

These are the slots that pretty much stay the same, no matter what you use, so I'll just address them now and leave it at that.

Weapons- When I say BLM weapons, the first thing that should immediately come to mind are your almighty Elemental Staves. At absolute bare minimum, you should have an Earth, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Fire and Dark staff. However, to really shine as a Black Mage, you will need to get the HQ versions.

Simply put, HQ staves are hands-down, the most powerful weapons a BLM has in his arsenal, surpassing both BLM relic and mythic weapons because of their hidden boosts to both damage (+15%) and accuracy (+30MAcc). That being said, you won’t need to get all eight HQ staves. At the very least, get your Jupiter’s Staff and Aquilo’s Staff first, followed by a Pluto’s Staff for more reliable sleeps. You can pick up the rest as you see fit.

Grips- I would personally just stick with a Bugard leather strap +1 for the 1 INT, seeing as how it is the only grip that has any INT on it. I wouldn’t consider the elemental grips.

Ammo- This one’s easy- Phantom tathlum. Tarus can use a Sweet Sachet to get the same effect, but the tathlum has 10MP over the Satchet, and isn't too pricey, either.

Rings- As a BLM, you really only have INT to worry about as far as stats go. As such, you can function perfectly well with two Snow Rings. If you’re considering going to magery full-time, Tamas Ring is hands down the best ring for a mage out there. Snow Rings can be a little pricey though, and Diamond Rings provide a much more affordable alternative with just a little bit of damage lost.

Other more situational rings you may want to look into are a Balrahn’s Ring for Assault/Salvage, and an Omega Ring to round off your Enfeebling set.

Now that the basics have been taken care of, I’m going to move onto the various sets:

Standing set

Popularized by Kaeko, the idea behind the standing set is to reap as much benefit out of your idle times, while waiting for cooldowns to reset, as well as giving you the best chance at survival if you pulled hate and need to survive long enough for the tank to get the mob back.

At the very least, you should have a Black Cloak for Auto-Refresh, and couple that with an Earth Staff for the -20% damage reduction. If you want to enhance your standing set even further, you can look into a Cheviot Cape and a Sorcerer’s Earring for the damage down effects, although these last two pieces are more debatable. Bear in mind that because a BLM's DEF is so weak, you are looking for gear that applies a direct percentage mitigation to the damage you take instead of focusing on your DEF rating.

For those fortunate to have Herald's gaiters, macro your gaiters into your standing set too. Also take note that because the movement speed does not kick in until the blinking animation has been completed, you will also want to macro your gaiters into pretty much every other macro except your nuking ones.

Nuking set

This is usually the first thing people focus on when it comes to gearing up a Black Mage. After all, your main purpose in any group is (usually) to deal damage. As a general rule, you want to focus on Magic Attack Bonus first, then INT. This, of course assumes you have sufficient skill so your nukes are not resisted. Thus, you may want to consider a hybrid of this nuking set and an elemental set until you complete your Elemental skill merits.

Much of the Nuking set focuses on INT where Magic Attack Bonus is not available. As with many of your other spells, INT determines their effectiveness, so you can easily take parts of this set and use them in any of the other sets where I have not mentioned anything.

Head: In terms of damage, either a Yigit turban or Demon Helm +1 will give you the biggest boost to your damage. Personally, I hate how either looks and I love pointy hats, so I stick with my Wizard’s Petasos +1. ^^

Body: Your body piece is easy- get an Igqira weskit. Long gone are the days where these used to cost an arm and a leg to get, so there really is no excuse not to have one. Alternatively, if you have completed A Crystalline Prophecy, a Royal Redingote (with "Magic Attack Bonus +4" Augmented) surpasses the Igqira weskit and even comes very close to a Genie Weskit, at least in terms of damage.

Neck: Your neckpiece should be an Elemental Torque for the resist rates. Once you are comfortable with your resist rates, you can choose to opt for additional damage with a Prudence Torque. I personally wouldn’t trade the Elemental Torque for any of the other neckpieces that give intelligence. An Uggalepih Pendant rounds off your basic nuking neckpieces.

Ear: As a BLM75, there is no excuse not to have a Moldavite earring. Your other ear slot can be taken up by an Abyssal Earring for the INT. If you don't have access to an Abyssal earring, or if you chose a different Divine Might earring, go with either a Cunning, Morion, or Phantom Earring. Elvaan and Galka mages can try for their RSE earrings, the Desamilion's Earring or Gayanji's Earring respectively, both available from the ENM Automaton Assault.

Hands: If you don’t want to shell out the cash for a pair of Zenith Mitts (or can’t get the abjuration), you can use Vicious mufflers instead, although bear in mind that if you eventually want to use a Sorcerer’s Ring, it will be considerably harder to activate with the mufflers. If you don’t mind losing a little bit of damage, you can opt to use Yigit gages instead, which also doubles up as a Stoneskin piece. The difference is really quite minimal, so it may be something to consider if you are short on storage space.

Back: The cape that will add the most damage to your nukes (that is also free) is a Gleeman's Cape, obtained from Einherjar. Unfortunately, this does not come without its drawbacks, so most people stick with a Rainbow Cape/Prism Cape. If you're into ZNM, you can try for a Solitaire Cape, but it is very narrow in its use, and doesn't even make up for some of the earlier listed capes in terms of damage.

Waist: A Penitent’s Rope is rather pricey, but is well worth the money from BLM60 onwards. If you are looking for an upgrade in damage, you have a Sorcerer’s Belt to look towards, although bear in mind you may still need the Rope for Stoneskin, not to mention that the Belt usually has a decent queue. In addition, get your elemental obis- the damage bonus from a Hyorin and Rairin obi are too good to pass up, especially with SCHs around to fix the weather for you.

Legs: If you are short on money, Errant slops are your best option here. Later on, once you have saved up enough, you can upgrade them to Mahatma slops, which are second only to Morrigan's slops. Jet seraweels are another upgrade option, although I prefer the extra INT from Mahatma. If you can, also try to get ahold of a pair of Sorcerer's tonban to boost your damage when the condition is right (day of the week matches your nuke).

Feet: The best feet out there for damage are Yigit crackows, obtained by trading 20,000 Assault Points from Lebros Cavern. Fortunately, Demolition Duty happens to be one Assault a BLM is pretty useful for, if you decide to spam one Assault until you get the points. If for some reason you cannot do this, Cobra Unit crackows perform almost as well although personally, I find it less troublesome to just go and get Yigit.

Enfeebling set

As a Black Mage, nuking and blowing mobs up is not your only responsibiliy- thanks to four available Sleeps (two of them AoE!), Bind and Gravity (through /RDM), crowd control duties also frequently fall under a BLM's repetoire. That's not to mention the importance of landing your debuffs when it comes to soloing things- resists can mean the difference between you walking away safely, or facing the floor (if you're Taru.)

One thing to note- recent research into magic accuracy has shown a link between INT, MAcc and magic skill, which is a relationship I'll be referring back to every now and then. In short, as long as your INT is below the mob's INT+10, 1 INT = 1 MAcc = 1 Skill. After your INT exceed's the mob's INT+10, it becomes 2 INT = 1 MAcc = 1 Skill. You can read more about the test here.

Head: Igqira tiaras are both cheap and provide a very substantial boost to your Enfeebling magic skill, so there is little excuse not to have one.

Neck: At the very least, you should have a Spider Torque, although an Enfeebling torque is obviously preferred.

Body: Your Wizard’s coat serves you nicely here. If you can, upgrade your coat to a Wizard’s coat +1 for the extra 2 Enfeebling skill. Once you get used to low-manning Apollyon Northwest, the Ancient Beastcoin cost should be negligible.

Hands: If you can snag yourself a pair of Oracle gloves from ZNM, they will be the best overall piece for the slot. Long ago, you could carry around some Master Caster’s Bracelets, although nowadays these are probably not worth the slot, unless you happen to do a lot of {sea} activities.

Rings: Special mention goes to an Omega Ring for this slot if you want to use it. The combination of Magic Accuracy and 3 INT gives it an effective MAcc of +4.5~+6, while a single Snow Ring comparatively gives MAcc +2.5~+5. It's up to you to decide whether the extra accuracy is worth it to you or not.

Legs: Unfortunately, Igqira Lappas are a little bit pricey, due to requiring a drop from Megalobugard. if you can get ahold of them, Nashira Seraweels perform just a little bit behind the Lappas in terms of accuracy.

Feet: Which are better- Goliard clogs or Avocat pigaches? Either will be fine, although recent research on magic accuracy shows that Goliard clogs make the overall better choice, since in the worst case scenario, they are just as effective as Avocat pigaches, while in the best case scenario, they provide an extra 3 MAcc due to INT's role in MAcc.

Elemental set

An elemental set is something to look into once you start getting into HNM fights, where resist rates become a very real factor. You may have heard about the 320/120 rule, which is basically an eyeballed benchmark to reach (320 Elemental Magic skill + Magic Accuracy, 120INT). Ideally, you want to hit the 320 mark first, then maximize your INT after that. There are many, many options out there for a BLM to boost his/her Elemental Magic skill or Magic Accuracy, so match and mix from the options below depending on what’s available to you.

Head: You really should be aiming towards a Sorcerer’s Petasos for this slot. In the meantime, you can try to settle with an Elite Beret (+1) or Oracle’s cap until you get your Petasos. Of course, this argument is pointless if you ultimately decide to use your Black Cloak as part of your Elemental set (see below).

Neck: This one’s easy- like your nuking set, get an Elemental torque.

Body: I'm going to mention the Black Cloak here, in the event you feel that you absolutely must have the elemental skill. Bear in mind that the Cloak only adds +3 more Elemental skill and 4 INT over the Weskit (so an effective +5~+7 Magic Accuracy), not to mention takes away your ability to wear a hat, so the tradeoff is pretty steep. I'm not so sure I'd be willing to do it with a Demon's cloak either, but the option is there if you need a last resort.

Hands: Nothing beats Wizard’s gloves. Nothing, except Wizard’s gloves +1.

Back: You can go for a Merciful Cape, although be warned that the drop rate on Ix’MNK is close to abysmal.

Legs: Your option here is a Druid's Slops. Most of the time though, this tends to be overkill if you already have your purple hat.

Feet: Numerist pumps go here. Like Druid Slops, these tend to be overkill.

Stoneskin set

Due to the increasing amount of solo or lowman fights BLMs are called for, having a maximized Stoneskin is very important for increasing your survivability. For the record, a BLM’s Enhancing Magic cap is 200, so you will need to reach 114MND to cap your Stoneskin. Obviously, the gear you will need to accomplish this will vary according to your race.

Weapon: A Kirin’s pole is the easiest way to get the MND boost you’ll need for the weapon slot, and shouldn't be too hard to buy from sky linkshells that don't really need them now. If you have the means to add MND elsewhere, you can stick to a Water/Neptune’s Staff instead.

Head: The head portion is interesting because all three feasible slots also serve another role elsewhere. The biggest boost to your MND is a Goliard’s chapeau, which also fits into your resting set. If you find that you don’t actually need all 5MND, a Yigit turban works as a nuking piece and a Stoneskin piece. Later on down the road, you can shift towards a Zenith crown (+1) if you’re looking to find a piece that will also help activate a Sorcerer’s Ring.

Neck: There are several neckpieces that all provide decent boosts to your MND, such as a Promise Badge. However, I must stress that the absolute best item to have here, hands down, is a Stone gorget. Not only does it add 30hp to your Stoneskin (the next time you see an effective MND+30 on a neckpiece, let me know), it also allows you to surpass the Stoneskin cap of 350hp, so your Stoneskin now absorbs 380hp instead. In short, get one.

Body: All hail the mighty Errant houppelande.

Feet: Errant pigaches give you MND in the feet slot, but take note that they also take away HP in the event you want to work towards a Sorcerer's Ring set later on.

Dark Magic set

Two of your most important spells happen to be Dark Magic- Drain and Aspir. Drain is the most efficient damaging spell in your entire arsenal, damage/MP-wise, while Aspir shouldn't need much explanation other than these spells actually need to land in order to be useful.

Neither INT nor Magic Attack Bonus plays much of a role (if any!) in Drain or Aspir's potency. Thus, because Drain and Aspir are so good, but are restricted by a 1-minute cooldown, you can slot in Haste gear to lower their recasts, which may also come in handy when coupled with Stun.

However, there is one threshold you ought to aim for with your Dark Magic, and that is a total of 291 skill. Reaching this level lets your Bio II do an additional 1 dmg/tick, which can add up over longer solo fights. As a BLM75's natural Dark Magic skill caps at 269, you don't actually need that much +Dark Magic skill gear to satisfy this requirement, but I'll provide the options below.

Head: If you can get ahold of a Nashira turban, use it for the mix in both magic accuracy and haste. A much less troublesome alternative would be a Walahra turbun, purely for lowering the recast timer.

Neck: No brainer here- get a Dark Torque.

Ear: There isn't much to say here, other than good for you if you picked an Abyssal earring. Depending on prices, you may want to pick up a Dark earring as well.

Body: The undisputed champion here is a Nashira manteel, with magic accuracy, Dark Magic skill and Haste, all tied in one package! Alas, if the manteel is out of your reach, a Goliard saio will at least help with recasts.

Hands: Nothing beats Sorcerer’s gloves. Nothing, except Sorcerer's gloves +1.

Back: Your Merciful cape from the Elemental set also doubles up here as part of your Dark Magic set.

Waist: Going along the lines of reducing recasts, feel free to put in a Swift Belt here to lower Drain/Aspir timers if you can afford the space.

Legs: At last, one easy one to fulfill- use your Wizard’s tonban. The tonban alone more than makes up for half the difference you need to reach 291 Dark Magic skill.

Resting set

The next set I need to address will be your resting set. Usually, this is the set that doesn't get too much focus due to inventory issues, but also because an additional +1hMP doesn't really have much impact, so most of the time, extra hMP are bonuses slotted in here and there, usually with pieces that already have uses in another set. If you really want to dedicate the space to resting gear, full Yigit is one of the better options out there, although bear in mind that can still be surpassed.

Weapon: I should not have to say this here, but this is why people get a Dark Staff.

Head: You have several options here- a Goliard chapeau adds the most +hMP, although it’s only +1hMP over a Wizard’s petasos +1, or a Yigit turban. Yes, it's a sad day that BLMs can't wear a Mirror tiara.

Neck: To start, use your Grandiose Chain or Beak Necklace +1. If you really want to maximize this slot, you can try your luck at getting a Phi necklace through a chance appraisal from the Chief Sergeant Leujaoam Sanctum Assault, or a Gnole torque through Moblin Maze Mongers.

Ear: Be prepared to spend a lot of time in The Garden of Ru'Hmet to farm up a Relaxing earring. I personally wouldn’t bother with the other earrings that give +1hMP (and there are a lot of them!), although one to note is a Boroka earring that also doubles up as your nuking earring, if you don't have a +2INT earring or something better in that slot.

Body: The almighty Errant houppelande comes in here, especially since you can use the almighty houppelande for your Stoneskin as well. If you really want to maximize your hMP, you can aim for an Oracle’s Robe, although last I checked, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to get your hands on.

Hands: Oracle’s gloves provide the best +hMP here. Bear in mind that if you have Zenith mitts, you may want to swap out the gloves as you rest to take advantage of the additional MP the Zenith mitts give you.

Back: For completeness's sake, I'm going to list the Invigorating cape here.

Waist: Your best option here is a Qiqirn sash +1, which thankfully is also quite affordable.

Legs: For those who are looking to maximize their hMP set, use either Yigit seraweels or Oracle's braconi here. Bear in mind though, that the gain is only +1hMP over Wizard's tonban +1, which also has its use in your Dark Magic set, so decide for yourself if the extra +1hMP is worth an extra inventory slot.

Feet: Use either your Goliard clogs, Avocat pigaches or Numerist pumps here, whichever you have.

Elemental Debuff set

The last set which sees little play is your Elemental debuff set. Your Elemental debuffs refer to the cycle of Rasp-Choke-Frost-Burn-Drown-Shock. The priorities here, however, is your INT, as INT determines the reduction in the enemy's stat, as well as your DoT.

1 - 39 INT = 1hp/tic (-5 stat)
40 - 69 INT = 2hp/tic (-7 stat)
70 - 99 INT = 3hp/tic (-9 stat)
100 - 149 INT = 4hp/tic (-11 stat)
150 - ??? INT = 5hp/tic (-13 stat)

As you can see, the magic number to reach is 150INT, which is quite substantial even for a Taru. I am not sure if the other races can reach the 150INT mark- if not, then at least aim for 100INT on your build. Supplement any extra slots with +Elemental skill gear to prevent resists. The overall set will resemble your nuking set, just replacing +MAB slots with +INT where available.

Neck: A Prudence torque again, is the winner here, but if you don't have one, you may want to consider one of the lesser INT neckpieces, in which case a Philomath Stole is by far the cheapest option.

Body: Switch your weskit out for your Errant houppelande.

Hands: This is where Yigit gages users get to save a slot and have nuking gloves that help their elemental debuffs, too.

Further steps to take once you are comfortable with your gear would be to slowly upgrade the various pieces to their HQ components, as well as starting to plan/work towards a Sorcerer's Ring set. Then, there are always the "big three" to work towards- Herald's Gaiters, Novio Earring and Morrigan's Robe- good luck with those. ^^

As always, I do not claim this to be the end-all of all BLM gear guides- in fact, there are plenty floating around the various forums (with a bit of work), so if there are any questions and/or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment down below. ^^

Apollyon NW

2008-11-27T22:33:00.001-08:00

Apollyon NW is a very reliable source of Ancient Beastcoins for Black Mages. While a typical Limbus run would see each member come out with 4-6 Ancient Beastcoins, a BLM duo will usually come out with twenty coins each! With such high yields, it is easy for BLMs to provide the necessary ABCs for the RA/EX items, or simply to pay for AF upgrades.

Typically, coin runs would skip all the bosses in favour of Kaiser Behemoth and Cynoprosopi, although you can probably fit in one or both of the other bosses if someone wants a piece of AF upgrade.

BLMs have soloed the zone before, but if you prefer consistency, take a partner along with you.

Because of the mechanics of Apollyon, it is in your favour to burn off Manafont as soon as possible, in the event the portal pops on your first mob, unless you want to take on the floor's boss (with the exception of the last floor.)

You do not lose buffs upon entering Apollyon NW. The initial time limit is 30 minutes, with twelve 5-minute time extension chests for a total time of 90 minutes.

First Floor:
Mobs: 7x Bardha (Ghosts)
Boss: Pluto (Doomed)

Unfortunately, Bardhas have a lot of HP (somewhere around 8250hp!) so this floor could take some time if you are unlucky with kills. Bardhas can be slept, gravitied, and to a certain extent, bound. However, do not nuke with Blizzard spells.
Bardhas also link with one another by sound, and like all undead mobs, aggro low HP from a considerable distance.

On the other hand, it's perfectly alright to nuke Pluto with whichever line of nukes you prefer. Pluto can be gravitied and bound, but I personally recommend that you Elemental Seal first before trying to sleep Pluto. If you plan on taking on Pluto, bring a Remedy or Tincture to counter Undead Mold, which inflicts a long-lasting Diseased effect.

Second Floor:
Mobs: 7x Mountain (Buffalo)
Boss: Zlatorog (Ram)

Mountain Buffalos move extremely quickly, even with Gravity on. Like Bardhas, they have a large amount of HP (about 9000hp) so this floor may also prove to be somewhat of a speed bump. They are easily slept, gravitied and bound, though are immune to Lullaby. Unlike regular Buffalo, Mountain Buffalo cannot be Aspired.

Try to use Bind more than Sleep, because if Bind is broken, the mob will actually stay still for a moment before coming towards you, unlike Sleep where the mob will immediately start moving towards you once woken up. This is particularly applicable for the Mountain Buffalo, whose movement speed is much faster than yours!

Zlatorog makes an easy fight, although just note that he can Mighty Strikes multiple times.

Third Floor:
Mobs: 7x Apollyon Scavenger (Bugards)
Boss: Millenary Mossback

The third floor isn't quite the land of milk and honey just yet, although thankfully, bugards have much less HP than either ghosts or buffalo (about 4750hp). They are susceptible to sleep, gravity and bind, and they link by sound.

Because of the nature of Adamantoise mobs, skip the boss.

Fourth Floor:
Mobs: 5x Gorynich (Wyvern)
Boss: Cynoprosopi (Wyrm)

Now coins start coming in. Each Gorynich drops two Ancient Beastcoins to start you off. Be careful when fighting them because they move faster than you do, and they can double attack and hit pretty darn hard. As Wyverns, they are also very resistant to Fire based spells. They can be gravitied, slept and bound.

If you are duoing NW for coins, you may want to consider taking down Cynoprosopi. If you are, save Manafont for the fight.

I personally find that while not terribly challenging, the fight against Cynoprosopi is more complicated than fighting Kaiser Behemoth, so inexperienced duos may choose to skip Cynoprosopi anyway. There is also a greater chance of things going wrong with Cynoprosopi, with moves like Absolute Terror and Horrid Roar. Also note that while very rare, it is possible to make Cynoprosopi Spike Flail if you are positioned wrongly.

Nuke Cynoprosopi using Thunder and Aero nukes only. He is fairly easy to Gravity, but like Pluto, consider using Elemental Seal if you want to Sleep him. Alternate your nukes so that hate is bounced in between both players. Be very mindful of when Gravity might wear off, and make sure you stay within casting range of each other so your partner can react to Gravity wearing off.

In the case of Absolute Terror, put on your defense gear set, and have your partner try to grab hate with Stun or Sleep and hold Cynoprosopi until Terror wears off.

Nuke Cynoprosopi until you are out of mana, then Elemental Seal-Sleep II him, Manafont, hit the HP/MP chest, and continue nuking until she goes down.

Fifth Floor:
Mobs: 3x Kronprinz Behemoth
Boss: 1x Kaiser Behemoth

The fifth floor is where all the money comes in. Each behemoth drops 5-6 Ancient Beastcoins each, so alone that's 15-18 coins just from the normal mobs. All Behemoths are immune to Stun and Sleep, so you will have to rely on Gravity and Bind only as means of controlling them.

Also, be careful when pulling- Behemoths link by sound, and Kaiser Behemoth links with the Kronprinz Behemoths.

Because of the way you fight Kaiser Behemoth, burn off Manafont on the Kronprinz Behemoths for faster kills.

Kaiser Behemoth is immune to Stun, Sleep and Gravity. Like King Behemoth, he can also cast Meteor, but you can use that to your advantage.

Kite Kaiser Behemoth moving anti-clockwise around the hole in the middle. The red spot marked out on the map is where you would nuke Kaiser Behemoth by taking advantage of the terrain as you'd nuke across the hole, where you'll be safe from Kaiser Behemoth. I prefer to nuke in Elemental Skill gear, and save MAB gear for Elemental Seal.

Other than that, mentally split the circuit into thirds, and cast minor spells on the other two points. If you want to play safe, split the circuit into halves instead. Use these points to keep Poison II, Bio II on, and don't forget to Aspir every round. If both DoTs are on, use the opportunity to Drain.

It is important that you do not try to cast another spell on Kaiser Behemoth too quickly because without enough time in between Meteor casts, he will simply forgo trying to cast Meteor and whack you instead.

If you are attempting this solo, Drain will make up the bulk of your damage. However, if you're duo, I prefer having one person secure hate and proceed as normal, while the second person just stays at the nuking spot and nukes whenever Kaiser Behemoth comes around. If you use this method, make sure the other person runs if he takes hate off the main kiter.

I duo NW with Sodalitas, a SCH, which helps since SCH's nukes do less damage than a BLM's nukes. However, the main advantage I find from duo'ing with a SCH is being able to add Noctohelix to the DoT repetoire. With a BLM + SCH duo, Sodalitas and I managed to down Kaiser Behemoth in approximately 12 minutes.

Ix'MNK

2008-11-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

Some prerequisites- you must have completed CoP 8-2 (A Fate Decided), and you will need some form of Auto-Refresh (this latter one, at least is easy).

You will also need to get at least one H.Q. Aern organ, dropped from Eo'Aerns in the Garden of Hu'Xzoi.

The ??? to pop Ix'MNK is in one of two spots in the basement of the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi. Because of the layout of the palace, as well as the numerous one-way portals/doors, it is easier to start with the western point first, since it's easier to go from west-to-east than it is to go from east-to-west.

Put on Reraise and buff up. Trade your HQ organ(s) to the ??? to spawn Ix'MNK. Make a dash for the Ebon Panel rooms, and make sure Ix'MNK follows you all the way, especially if you have Herald's Gaiters. Once inside the room, die in one of the far corners. When all the links have disappeared, activate reraise (Ix'MNK is not aggressive), buff up a little if you have time, and pull Ix'MNK. Note that if you have Gaiters, you can actually outrun all the links such that you will not need to suicide in the corner.

The trick to soloing Ix'MNK is to abuse FFXI's AI when it comes to mob pathing. More specifically, cut diagonally across the elevated portion of the Ebon Panel room to gain a little distance over Ix'MNK.

If you look at the picture, I'm in a pretty good casting position- the distance between me and Ix'MNK is 21 feet, so within range, and Ix'MNK still has the corner to navigate in order to get to me.

Getting your Merciful Cape

2008-11-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

Eo'Aerns are found in the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi, and while not a strict requirement, it is recommended that you be on CoP 8-3 before you start seriously looking into this.

Don't think about the solo xp/hr rate you'll be getting- there are far better places to solo for xp. Aerns are ultimately more dangerous than any other typical xp mob- they can reraise and link with one another.

So why kill these?
You want to kill Eo'Aerns for their organs- the N.Q. organs are used for Obis in the quest In the Name of Science, while the H.Q. organs are used to pop Ix'MNK, which in turn can drop a Merciful Cape.

There is a chance of the Aern reraising after the first time you kill it, although note that if it drops an item on the first kill, then it will not reraise.

Once you enter the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi, go farm Eo'Aerns on the western room- the Aerns there are RNG, BLM, DRK, WHM or WAR- 4/5 of the jobs either have low HP, or can be Aspired.

Here're some statistics that I've kept record of (TH0):
Total killed: 427

Reraises: 197
No reraise: 230

No drop: 327
Luminian Tissue: 21
NQ organ: 53
HQ organ 26

Lightning cluster: 1
Fire cluster: 1

2x double drop (NQ+HQ)
1x double drop (HQ + tissue)