What Should I Get Next? Help Me Be A Better BLM!

Here is some background:

- I am Elvaan, yet I play mage-types almost exclusively *sigh*
- I play on PS2 (no Windower)
- 75% of playtime is with LS of 4 other IRL friends
- Never done Dynamis or Salvage
- Just started doing Limbus
- Almost done with CoP, will get a Tamas Ring
- Rarely do Campaign (have ~1,500 pts)
- Have 3 merits: 1 MP, 1 INT and 1 Elemental

So until recently, I always had my gear focused on MP first and INT second. After doing some research I realized that wasn't the best way to go even though I'm Elvaan, so changed up a bunch of my gear. I would like to be able to solo for XP so I can level to 80 as well as get the rest of my merits, plus be able to support my LS activities when we get together to do missions, etc. Even with the new gear focusing on MAB and INT, I'm still woefully sucky. I know I need to get HQ staves for at least earth, ice, thunder and dark but other than that, I don't know what's the priority.

Any suggestions on where to go from here would be appreciated.

Nuke Set:


Enfeeble Set:


Healing Set:


hMP Set:


Sorcerer's Ring Proc Set:

Do not rest in an autorefresh. Rest in an errant body / af+1 and an hmp head. Something to keep in mind when resting is don't equip so much hmp that you lose out on max mp. Great to have +30 hmp, but if you have 80 max mp less, when you swap back into nuking you'll have wasted all that mp.

INT first. Elvaan lacks so bad in INT. I was maxed merits on blm and I still fell so short due to the INT.

Get igqira legs for enfeebling.

Spend the time to build a dark magic set. Drain is the best damage to mp ratio spell in the game.

Best thing to do. Get your HQ staves.

Since you started Limbus try to shoot for AF Gloves +1 ^^ Elemental Magic +15 with the INT+3 is good.

I know I'm probably not the best person on this site to give BLM advice but If I get anything wrong I'm sure someone else can correct me D:

Nuke - You seem to have money judging by your Mahatma, Sorc. Ring, etc. so I'd reccomend buying or farming a Ugg. Pendant if you don't already have one. Also, AF gloves for hard stuff or get something like Zenith mitts/Goli Hands for trash like flans. Also Yigit feet are really nice and can be obtained by spamming the simplest assault ever Lebros Cavern Rock Buster or whatever it's called.

Enfeebling - Igqira Legs fo sho. Goliard feet. And maybe Goliard hands? Also Oracle's gloves if you can do ZNM. And that sorc ring isn't doing anything for your enfeebling, anything with MND or INT (depending on your enfeeble) or Mag. Acc. (Omega's ring comes to mind) would be better.

hMP - I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure Errant Houppelande beats a Refresh piece in the long run and If you can get a hMP hate like goliard hat or even a Cobra hat, which should be cheap, would be even better.

Finally, as far as staves go Thunder, Ice, Dark are the big 3, anything else is extra.

Keep refresh piece on for 18 seconds then swap to errant, once it ticks, swap back to refresh for 2-3 ticks or 6-9 seconds and swap back to errant before the next 10 second hMP tick comes in. Rinse repeat.

(Kind of joking but it maximizes hmp =P)

There are plenty of easy, and not so easy upgrades you have available.

#1 Above all else!! Get HQ Ice, Thunder and Dark staves, upgrade the others in order that you use them, and when gil can afford.
Ice Thunder Dark

First, start doing some assaults. Lebros Cavern is your friend ; ) You need to rack up 20,000pts to get you some Yigit Crackows

Sky would be a good place to low man Genbu pops for Zenith Mitts If you can't shake that, take up any shouts you see for Floor 60 Nyzul Isle and try to lot you some Goliard Cuffs If that is yet elusive, work on Mamool Ja assault and save 20,000pts for Yigit Gages Any of the three (in descending order) are an upgrade from what you currently have.

Grandiose Chain, Hierarch Belt, Warlock's Earring, Errant Houppelande are all relatively cheap AH buyable hMP upgrades

Enfeebling- Enfeelbing Torques are getting cheaper with the new gear, although so is your Spider Torque. Igqira Lappa There are lots of items with MAcc+ on them most of which are in events you don't do, or will come with upgrading your MAttk (Goliard Cuffs/Yigit Gages are enfeebling upgrade over your current choice)

As far as your Sorc ring proc set, if you can activate sorc ring, and have either a macro setup, or are quick to burn through the gear swaps, there's no sense in upgrading this until you've upgraded all your DMG and enfeebling sets first. The only improvements you can make here are maxing MP for "free mp" to buff yourself with before engaging, and making the latent activate with less pieces of gear, allowing for more macro/inventory room.

I've just caught the tip of the iceberg, but I thought I'd give you some pieces that would be easily obtainable with a few weeks of good effort, a little bit of farming, and without requiring you to delve into an event that will be difficult to set foot in new at this day and age (Dynamis). As you progress I can offer more extensive upgrades and more challenging rewards.

Free (easier to get) and only thing that has same power as Zmitts.


Pretty cheap and also a nice option for AM II and Tier V in the future.

But always nuke first in RSE hands so you don't waste that 55mp...



Best option for Tier IV spells.

Concentrating on AH and easy to obtain gear since you're obviously not very endgame orientated =P. But a properly geared AH BLM is just as good (almost) as an endgame geared BLM.

Good observation, I had Zmitts before this came out so I always forget about offering it to people as an option.

EDIT: You ninjad those Igqira hands in there ><

XD Sorry I was working on the post as I was pulling pics lol.

Yeah, I helped a bunch of my friends get VMuffs, lacks the MP but with Elvaan RSE, after the first nuke, who cares XD.

Personally I think



are better than



Very rarely with any spells yet, you'll see 1 MAB beat out 2.5 INT. And 5 INT > 4Macc + 2MAB (For damage anyway). Both are nice to have. Goliard takes some luck. Yigit takes dedication =P.

I Deffinatly afree on the V. mufflers, the next thing after that would probably be a errant body for HMP

Oh yeah once you're fully merited you'll run into lazy pudding days, eg. nuking and falling asleep at the same time...

Just nuke and rest in full Yigit to fight off the somnolence lol.

(Also kind of joking but also works =P)

GL getting past chain 2 until the level cap rush calms down...

Only thing, eh?

Oh damn, it's that bad these days? lol...

Well I guess Full Yigit will work then haha. Or hell you could just nuke in resting MP and by the time you run out the pudding should be dead. I guess that's kind of counter intuitive to the thread but oh well XD.

Yes, since the OP said he doesn't do Salvage, it's the only thing.

Only thing available for him, not only piece that match zmitts in power! :P

Well if you want to get technical, Morrigan's Cuffs are available to him. He just has to do salvage.

That's true too!

But yeah, for OP:

Elvaan have an amazing MP+ and INT+ belt, should maybe get that for your first nuke, like with your RSE gloves.
But as you play on PS2 I can understand it might be tricky gearing up like that >_<

wow, thanks for all the advice! Lots to think about... So I should focus on INT first and MAB second? I did notice that if I have on my Nuke Set but wear my Ixion Cloak instead, I have several more points of INT - of course I lose out on MAB. Should I sell the Ixion Cloak to fund some of these upgrades?

Also, equip swaps are tricky because no Windower, so don't know how much more swapping I can easily do on the fly. Things like feet and gloves and the 2 slot of rings/earrings tend to stay in place except for my HPoff and HPon macros to activate the S ring.

Thanks!


P.S. I'm a chick (^.^)*

Sell cloak. Not very useful. Zmitts as said would be the biggest bonus due to retaining MP while increasing your damage. The only other suggestion I could offer would be INT/MP merits if applicable, or using AF+1 head, 1 less INT but 25MP. Small but maybe enough to fire another nuke. That'd be a balanced set for you, though ignoring MP loss you could upgrade to Yigit Crackows, aside from HQing pieces, the only easily obtainable upgrade would be say, Goliard clogs for enfeeb/hmp/dark set.

I rest in full Yigit. D:

The forest rope is an awesome option for elvaan blm. Not sure if that's been mentioned yet.

Has anyone mentioned the 320/120 build? Is that still effective?

As far as I know, I geared my blm (2nd char) to have 320 elemental skill & M.acc, and 120 int (base + gear). Everyone gears it different, it just depends on what your current options are.

I'm not allowed to give blm advice anymore ; ; buuuuuuuut I was say, def get V muffs unless u can buy a genbu pop and solo it >.> HQ staves are also a must (at least the main 3)

Ugh, Genbu is a total joke and I seen a 67mnk solo it, but ***, it takes like 3hours lol. I wouldn't recommend anyone solo that ***, maybe merc it or do it with a few friends.

Genbu's easier with mage jobs like BLM and RDM because they have access to Bio II/III and high dark magic skill allows them to get more damage/tic, whilst doling out the odd nuke.

@Alternanthera: Most of what you need has been said already. HQ Staves, Vicious Mufflers, Errant for healing. I generally take as a rule: 2INT = 1MAB, but I don't know how accurate that is any more. If you can get access to Nyzul, then Goliard Clogs are nice for BLM. Merits would be a big must: Try getting some Ice and Thunder potency merits for nice boosts to damage, and AM2 for when you want to show off.

I think for what you need (Depending on how freely Gil is available to you): Aquilo's, Pluto's, Jupiter's, Errant Houppelande, MAB gloves.. Then whatever you can get your hands on.

Also, do you have separate sets of Elemental Magic/Resists and MAB/INT?

My suggestions for people are normally free or cheep upgrades, however it looks as though you have some gil so I'll put some more expensive ideas in there as well.

nuke:
Hands Yigit Gages/Vivious Mufflers/AF +1/Z mitts (might need to merc)
Feet Yigit Cacrows
Head AF +1 sidegrade loose 1int gain 30mp and -4 emnity and inventory+1
Neck Lemegeton Medallion/Ugg pendant *note medallion will probably drop in price as sernergy is now 10 levels higher making it easier to HQ.

enfeebling:
Body AF +1
Neck possibly dark torque for drain/aspir
ear/finger MaB does nothing for enfeebling. consider stat or macc

healing:
Body Errant Houppelande
Head Yigit
ear/finger MaB does nothing for enfeebling. consider mnd

hmp:
Waist Hierarch Belt
Neck Beak +1/Grandiose Chain
Full Yigit (5/5) OR
Body Errant Houppelande/AF +1
Head AF +1

sorc ring proc:
Ammo Tiphia Sting (-25)
Weapon Asklepios (convert 30)
Ring Ether (convert 30)
Feet Rostrum Pumps (-30) might need to merc this one
Hands Z mitts (convert 50) might need to merc this one

with those you can get rid of astrial ring/earring, sickle, cape, hairpin and necklace. that would save you gil that could go towards merc of Z mitts

I would add the following sets
Stoneskin: focus on mnd > skill
Idle: focus on refresh and -damage taken

general advise: go for AF +1 body, head, hands, Yigit (feet at least but full has its uses), and honestly now days go farm some curor and get teal set if you have expansion. Get hq ice thunder lightning first then worry about the rest. For merits get elemental skill, ice/lighting potency/AM2/enfeebling before doing mp or int.

That will raise your damage significantly. Most of the expensive stuff will drop in price soon due to expansion. The game is changing, but your merits wont ever devalue and going for free stuff takes the sting out of devaluation :)

good luck

never done doesn't=doesn't do, just means that they haven't done it yet.
big difference.

I have nothing else of merit to say here.
*hides*