The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

First off, Congrats on unlocking the 1200 gift and thank you for helping to keep the guide updated.

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing in the guide are the SC properties of the physical blu spells, at least the ones with L2 and/or L3 SC properties. While physical spells aren't as useful as they used to be, it would be nice to see what the SC properties are in case someone wants to make a multi-step SC with Azure Lore up. Also, for me personally, I used to like messing around with Club in the main hand before the major boosts to sword wses and it was annoying having to figure out what spells could make Light with Black Halo or Realmrazer.

Congrats Oraen! Where's the Tizona and Death Penalty? :P
I second the club build, just for fun and some niche fights :)

Is there a better multi-step skillchain to use besides just going CDC-> CDC in extended fights (I also sometimes do Expiacion->Requiescat after unlocking AM3 for darkness just to change it up). Usually one skillchain is enough to kill a mob for farming CP points but for longer fights wasn't sure..

Which brings me to my other question, for soloing CP (with trusts) is melee the way to go or is there a good aoe burn that would yield better results?

Some information has popped up concerning the set bonuses for the new HQ reforged hexed/cursed gear:
http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/112776-Dev-Tracker-Findings-Posts-%28NO-DISCUSSION%29?p=6493795&viewfull=1#post6493795

As long as this information is accurate, Adhemar, Amalric, and even Carmine just became even more ridiculous than before. I haven't run it yet, but with the set bonus, 4/5 Adhemar +1 and Samnuha tights might be the BiS for CDC.

Club builds and spell properties are some great ideas, I'll definitely work on them. As for building Tizona...my massive stockpile of 2 million won't quite cut it >.>

As far as better multi-steps, we really don't. CDC is just such a colossal weapon skill that 2 uses and the combined skillchain will outdamage any multi-step we could make by a considerable amount. We do have other skillchains, but none that provide superior damage output.

Personally, I cleaved my JPs, as it is a far superior option to melee. However, this requires a capped DT set and a large amount of defensive buffs (occultation, cocoon, barrier tusk, carcharian verve). I went to the bats in Woh Gates (Marjami teleporter to Woh, requires having done Marjami WKR) and the adjoining Umbrils and Dullahans. Gather them up > entomb > spectral > searing and most everything will die. If your MAB sets are not great, you might need 4 spells or more, or to go out with fellow BLUs for help. The main priority is safety, hence why I lead with entomb. The petrify effect is exceptionally potent and will work on all mobs I listed more often than not, barring resists. Spectral's terror will allow you time to cast your next big nuke, which should finish everything off.

Another good camp is acuexes in the Sih Gates hidden map (Ceizak G11 teleporter, then J7 in Sih). They do not aggro, only link, and are vulnerable to sleep, but not petrify. Gather them together > dream flower > burst affinity > Tenebral crush and you will one-shot them with a good MAB set.

Again, take into consideration the fact that this strategy requires very good gear all-around, so if you have difficulty with it, I would suggest Escha Ru Aun for single-target JP farming. As long as you avoid the UFOs and pray to all that is holy that you don't pop Absolute Virtue, you're all good.

It wouldn't be worth it for just the skillchain damage alone (so don't do this while you're solo), but it could be worth it if you're cooperating for a MB:

Red Lotus Blade-->Circle Blade-->Savage Blade-->CDC


I prefer to just outright kill them with BA+Spectral Floe and skip the sleeping. That said, Escha really isn't any slower than Sih Acuex. I wish I had turned on Pointwatch while I was doing it so I could say that quantitatively, though.

You're right, I should have mentioned the MB capabilities. In situations where you're setting up bursts for your mages, multi-steps can be quite good. In situations when you're the primary DPS, Zorro all the things.

I rely on the sleeping as my fast cast set is exceptionally squishy, and if enough of them hit me in that without shadows I'm either dead or my aquaveil is gone, which results in death shortly thereafter.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll try those cleaving camps. I do need some slit so may try Ru Aun also- do you remember which teleporter/target you used for a good camp there?

I like portal 9, myself. No aggro in the beginning space, and both Hpemdes and Aerns aren't particularly dangerous.

He's totally REAL!

For JTB2, I haven't done all the testing I want to yet, but I can confirm:

Attack bonus 6 (no 7, unfortunately)
Accuracy Bonus 6
Store TP 5

Given that, and to back up what Kyte has already mentioned, it's safe to assume that all job traits we have can only go as far as previously established limits. Exceptions include magic accuracy bonus (which SE has stated follows the same tiers as accuracy bonus) and magic evasion bonus, as those traits are unique to us.

I plan on testing all of the traits eventually, but for now, we don't break the cap on job traits.

Also, for what it's worth, when testing DW tiers, I found something odd. Using two wax swords, no gear, no magic haste, no traits aside from DW, I got differing TP returns per hit. With all DW spells aside from Molting Plumage, I was receiving 55/hit. With all DW spells including Molting Plumage, I was getting 54/hit. Using some formulas on BG for DW calculations it seemed as if that gave 1% additional DW. However, I don't know how accurate my calculations were. As I'm not exceedingly knowledgeable about the deeper mathematics behind the game, if anybody could explain this so I would have a better understanding, I would greatly appreciate it. For now, if you have the 1200, just don't set them all until we have more information.

You can pretty much assume that. As you mentioned, outside of Macc Bonus and Meva Bonus which are unique to BLU, no settable traits can go beyond the value of another job's natural trait. Has been this way since Clear Mind/Magic Attack Bonus were our only scaling traits.

If you were getting DW6, you would be losing more than 1TP and likely receiving more than an additional 1%DW unless they decided "hey, BLU is a pretty cool guy. Let's give him the exact amount of DW necessary to cap delay reduction at max Haste". There's likely something wonky happening with the way they're including DW for BLU that leads to rounding errors.

Send me your data and maths in PM and I'll have a look.

An aside: BLU is prolly the best job ever for CP. These AoE spells are broken as ***.

Yeah, was getting 50-70s Jps an hour on BLU. Didn't mind at all. Just going to feel horrible doing other jobs

Hrrm, there does seem to be something weird going on. When I checked the first time, I had no difference in TP/hit but after taking off whatever STP that could be causing different rounding results I am.


x2 240 delay swords (base TP/hit: 75)

8 points set: 61 tp/hit

16 points: 58 tp/hit

24 points: 56 tp/hit

32 points: 55 tp/hit

I'll look more into this when I'm less tired (unless someone else gets to it first).

Yeah, BLU JP parties are just insane. A friend and I were cleaving entire rooms in seconds, 3-4 JPs a room. I think we were getting 70/hour or something absurd like that.

Yeah, I sincerely doubt DW6 would ever be something as minuscule as an additional 1%, so I'm betting it's some rounding issue with Square's formula. I'll send everything I have when I get back to the computer, Proth. Thanks for looking into it.

Well, technically a 55 TP return from a 240 base delay weapon could come from as much as 39% DW.

I'll try some other delays that would floor differently.

The only value that matches the data that Kyte posted is 37%. Oraen's data can help narrow it down further, multiple samples at multiple delays is always useful.

You can put on Taeon boots (4% DW) and still hit 55 TP return with 240 delay weapons while using 24 points of DW.


However, 216 delay weapons have narrowed it down more- it's definitely less than 3%.

24 points: 54 TP/hit

32 points: 53 TP/hit

It's most certainly less than 3. Even from the numbers you (and Oraen's Wax Sword numbers) posted before, only 37 matches every value, 38 or 39 would not fit some of them. It leaves 36 or 37, which means there's either an error with the way BLU gains DW, or SE decided to give us perfect, or near perfect, delay reduction with capped haste using nothing but traits.

A trait surpassing the other jobs' natural traits is strange though, so I'm more inclined to believe it's the former.

It isn't about DW6 being useful, because 1 or 2% DW is not worth 8-16 set points and 1-3 set slots. It's about the fact that DW6 is an anomaly.

looking at regearing a friends blu while hes M.I.A. and im looking to get some mel. wings with his pell for a quick boost, what im wondering is claidx2 still pretty viable, or is there something new from recent updates that i should just hold out on? as of now hes sitting on bura/anah. he has no alluvion armor either, but armors seems easier to get then weapons, everyone tends to hate alluvion-rala it seems.

In the short term claid mainhand with bura offhand is very good, only niburu blade is a better offhand. I wouldn't use a mog pell for wings, though. If he needs alluvion armor anyway, you'll get wings doing alluvion yorcia while hunting for it and will end up with far more than you need.

Thanks for the tip on Carcharian Verve, I had it but never bothered to use it, it makes a world of difference for cleaving! Stuff like that would be helpful in the OP, all of the guides on AH are sort of like "Here's what the job can accomplish, here's the gear to do it in, here's the descriptions of the JAs" but rarely does anything say how to play the job well. Naturally we all learn with practice, but just describing how you handle some common scenarios like that would go a long way to helping people understand the flow of a BLU fight.

Would you mind sharing your spells equipped? I'm near 15/15 on points and would love to get into the cleaving part. Been hesitant cause I'm rather squishy :)

Thanks bud

I've recently come back but have tried to keep up with the flow of the game when away. I'm not too worried about gear as no one else I knows play, I don't have a linkshell, and my primary goal will be to finish making my Mythic so I can bridge that gap later/when I need a break from that grind. I mostly went and did the current RoV missions to get the 6 key items, and plan to spend today catching up on new Home Points and Survival Guide warps.

I do have a few questions though.

A) Savage Blade apparently got buffed like crazy. Is it worth using over CDC in mediocre gear or does CDC's power + skillchain capabilities trump it outside of outliers? I haven't heard much mention of Req anymore so I'd assume outside of Bhaflau-II farming I would't use it much.

B) Is there a list of what BLU spells were introduced in what patches (and/or where to get them)? The old BLU hunting ground site isn't updated anymore and the last set of spells I was on involved Restoral/Diffusion Ray/etc.

C) I know 119 Empyrean armor requires Vagary kills to unlock slots, but does the 109 have any special requirements?

I saw Orean's comments about updating the gearsets so I won't comment on anything there.

Outside of skillchain benefits, Savage Blade doesn't get stronger than CDC until around 2100 (which isn't including Moonshade). The exact TP value is going to depend on your ratio, as Savage Blade gains ground at capped ratio. Holding TP just to boost Savage Blade is never worth it.

As long as you've done Limbus in the past, you're good to go on reforging Empyrean to 109.

BG wiki has a list of all blue magic spells. If you're looking for suggestions on where to find some, you can search this thread.