The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

This is probably what will (continue to) hold Sequence back in multi-DD setups. Without solid paths that include both Requiescat and a CDC closer, you end up sacrificing a lot to make full use of the weapon. There are quite a few jobs that could supply both fragmentation and fusion in a 5-step as I suggested above, but whether or not that's the best setup available with any of those jobs is another question entirely. Umbra obviously requires that you use Requiescat at least twice, which means you're either using nothing but Requiescat (fusion>Req>dist (dark)>Req) or two Requiescat and one CDC/Expiacion (fusion>Req>frag>CDC/Expi>grav (dark)>Req) if you're splitting WS duties evenly.

If BLU is acting as the skillchain closer, it seems more practical to simply pursue a grav>Savage>fusion>CDC skillchain if at all possible. WAR and RUN are the only notable DDs I can think of that can't cover both properties. WAR should close instead (CDC/Expi>Upheaval>Savage Blade>Ukko's or possibly Upheaval if aeonic), and with RUN you're basically limited to Dimidiation+CDC or Lionheart Resolution+CDC if light is your goal.

If we're frequently using Savage Blade and possibly Expiacion then Sequence mainhand may have some value for the TP bonus+500, but we're still left struggling to tap the weapon's full potential. Whether or not that'll even bring it on par with Almace mainhand remains to be seen.

EDIT: DNC doesn't have a fusion WS. Probably best to set up a double dark/umbra Rudra's as long as the target takes decent damage from dark elements.

Also noticed that Aeneas is the only Aeonic that can follow that pattern and end with either Radiance or Umbra:

GravWS > Exenterator > FusionWS > Exenterator
TransfixionWS > Exenterator > GravWS > Rudra's

The requirements being:
1. Can close both Umbra and Radiance
2. Can close a level 2 SC based on the merit WS level 1 property
3. Said level 2 SC is opposed to its merit WS level 2 property


Back to BLU, I think a Sequence user could team up with a mythic SAM or DRG -- or really, whoever's capable of getting TP fast enough to cover two steps for every step the BLU does -- for a 5-6 step that doesn't require lots of TP holding.

Another reason why Aeonics should have come with their own unique ws... Preferably with properties and subproperties that fill in the gaps for that particular weapon type. Such potential... Much fail.

Savage Blade's fTP at 1k TP is probably 4.0 as previously believed.

Expiacion's fTP at 2k TP is 9.390625, or 9+50/128. The cited source on the wiki actually suggested 9.5, so the 10.25 fTP value reported by the wiki (and thus used in the spreadsheet) was probably an oversight (10.25 is the suggested fTP for Savage Blade at 2k TP in the same post). Interestingly, the same post also (correctly) ruled out the possibility of a 3.75 fTP for 1k Expiacion.

Expiacion's fTP at 3k TP is either 12+3/16 (12.1875) or 12+25/128 (12.1953125).

I'm pretty worn out by this point and need a break, so that's as close as I'm gonna get it right now.

Amazing job, thanks.

I'm now convinced I should do a STR Cape for BLU.

I've been away from BLU for a long time, I thought that they had finally added a way to save your magic sets based on jobs, but I can't seem to find that information.

Has it been implemented? If so, what is it?

You'll need to use the AzureSets addon for that. No official way to save spellsets.

All right, I'll look into it, thanks.

Hi all. I was wondering for those of you who solo (as in you +trusts) Tenzen BCNM on Very Difficult, what setups do you use. Right now, I'm using Kupipi, Sylvie (UC), King of Hearts, Qultada, and Shantotto II.

Essentially, I'm not sure what to use for the last trust spot to maximize damage. Haste is capped from Mighty Guard + Erratic Flutter, so I don't see much of a point in using Joachim/Ulmia (acc is capped as well, and MP isn't an issue with Tizona). Is there a better nuker out there or another trust that fares better than Shantotto against Tenzen?

You could get more attack out of Qultada by using Zeid II. Mostly their acc/macc is going to suck, so you're not going to get a lot of damage out of any of them. Though, Joachim probably would give you better results, since you are most likely going to take longer than five minutes to kill Tenzen VD solo.

Thanks for the suggestion. Tried it out, Zeid did less than Shantotto II in terms of comparing parses, but it was worth a try. At this point, my M.Acc set still needs some improvement (i.e. still need Amalric Coif), so I keep having to reapply Sleep and Silence to the Tarus. Right now, I'm using Silent Storm and Dream Flower, but I'd be interested to see if any BLUs with great M.Acc sets can get away with just one out of the two for the entire fight.

Zeid II is just for the attack bonus for having a DRK in the party for Qultada's Chaos roll.

Ah ok makes sense. So an extra 10% from chaos, which probably outweighs the loss of DPS in terms of Zeid II vs Shantotto II. Gotcha.

Chirich Ring
Accuracy+7 "Store TP"+5 "Subtle Blow"+7 "Regen"+1

Chirich Ring +1
Accuracy+10 "Store TP"+6 "Subtle Blow"+10 "Regen"+2

Stikini Ring
MND+5 Magic Accuracy+8 All magic skills +5

Stikini Ring +1
MND+8 Magic Accuracy+11 All magic skills +8 "Refresh"+1

Mache Earring
DEX+5 Accuracy+7 "Double Attack"+1% "Martial Arts"+10

Mache Earring +1
DEX+8 Accuracy+10 "Double Attack"+2% "Martial Arts"+13

Staunch Tathlum
Resistance to all status ailments +10 Spellcasting interruption rate -10% Damage taken -2%

Staunch Tathlum +1
Resistance to all status ailments +11 Spellcasting interruption rate -11% Damage taken -3%

HQ Chirich is a really strong acc TP option, as is HQ Mache. Stikini and Staunch are the real standouts though, two incredible items there.

CDC potential?

Certainly for a high acc set; it might even replace Brutal. Will definitely look into that at some point.

So what will be the best settup for the 3rd 4th Augment line on Capes? STR DEX Acc/Atk? or the Normal Capes but with MOAR Acc/Attack? I feel like it can really only come down to STR or More Acc/Atk. Anyone run spreadsheets on it this yet?

TP capes: Acc
WS capes: Whatever attribute it already has.

you can only get 10 Dyes per month, meaning you can only augment 1 cape per month.

wouldnt Dex be a valid alternative for TP capes? its only 7.5 instead of 10 Acc but assuming you r not caped on dDex it would provide you a CritRate+. And on stuff where you d need the 2.5 Acc chances are your dDex is not caped.

For TP capes its a no brainer for me; 10 Accuracy
For WS's mostly STR since I've already made custom sets for all my main ws's.

Capping hit rate takes priority over capping dDex. Disregarding that, though, with Almace I'm already running 374 DEX without any buffs. That climbs to just about 400 with Boost-DEX and about 430 in Escha. I'm confident BLUs cap dDEX on everything they'd be brought to.

Looking at all of the gear sets in the main post, I see very little to no reforged AF/Relic/Empyrean in there at all. Is that accurate or outdated?

Just wondering if I should bother going through the reforge process and which pieces I should focus on. Reforged 109 & 119 Relic feet and empyrean hands seem really good for MAB, and Reforged AF body 109/119 looks really good for BLU physical spells.

Any suggestions?

Most of the reforged gear is either replaceable, relegated to niche sets, or simply not worthwhile. I made a post on this a while back, but it's probably time to update that.

Don't bother:
-Assimilator's Keffiyeh
-Luhlaza Shalwar

Upgrades that are useful, but ultimately replaceable:
-Assimilator's Bazubands +1: Worthless once you've learned all your spells.
-Assimilator's Shalwar +1: Tied with HQ Carmine for BIS -interrupt, but the Burst Affinity enhancement isn't worth using so Carmine+1 is inventory+1.
-Assimilator's Charuqs +1: There are several items that can match or beat this for CA.
-Luhlaza Jubbah +1: Decent FC/recast piece, but not BIS (loses to Taeon with FC+5 augment). Probably not worth using for Enchainment once you get into abjuration and Reisenjima gear.
-Hashishin Mintan +1: nice for blue magic precast, but you can ultimately cap without it

Items that are sidegrades or minor upgrades once you're into Escha/Reisen gear:
-Hashishin Kavuk +1: Herc head just about matches it for base damage, while also offering more attack and can potentially match/beat it for accuracy.
-Hashishin Basmak +1: Beats NQ Amalric for nuking under BA, but loses to the HQ. Macc is nice for debuffs, but there are other comparable pieces for that.

Upgrades that retain value:
-Assimilator's Jubbah +1: blue magic skill
-Luhlaza Keffiyeh +1: blue magic skill
-Luhlaza Bazubands: Azure Lore duration bonus, not necessary to +1
-Luhlaza Charuqs +1: Diffusion duration bonus, blue magic skill
-Hashishin Bazubands +1: blue magic -recast
-Hashishin Tayt +1: blue magic skill

Of the items in the final category, the HQ Keffiyeh is pretty low in priority. The most significant skill value we can reasonably hit right now is 550, which grants another shadow for Occultation. That's best accomplished through Mavi Tathlum, Incanter's Torque, Assimilator's Jubbah +1, one of the skill rings, augmented Cornflower Cape, and Hashishin Tayt +1 unless you have a couple of the new HQ skill rings and a FC+10 Rosmerta's Cape, in which case you can substitute those items for slightly better recast reduction. Head (and feet) don't figure in either way, so at best that skill is useful for increasing the potency of Magic Barrier (1 skill:1 damage, could easily argue for recast reduction instead) and our drain/aspir spells (very niche nowadays).

Skill gear for physical spells isn't really a thing nowadays with the sheer quantity of stat+ available and the changes to physical spell attack calculations.

Thanks this is definitely helpful.

In regards to BLU skill on physical spells, the new rule is to slot as much STR/DEX as possible even foresaking BLU skill where possible? I realize I'm pretty much repeating what you already just said lol but it just seems counter intuitive from what I remember on how blue magic works I guess.

Under the old rules (which is still where my brain is at) Assim. Jubbah +1 looks untouchable for physical spells but now it seems like that isn't the case.

If i did right, so we must use gear enhances CA and BA during casting ?

yes

The "rule" (or rather, the math) hasn't changed much, what's different is the gear available. All skill does is add attack and 2 base damage per 9 skill. Back at 75 AF+1 body was the ***because there was really nothing to compete with it. Later on we got gear with a lot of STR/DEX, and it fell out of use (remember Ocelomeh/Toci's?) Reforge was solid for a while too, but then we got all this gear where you could augment a shitton of stat+ and acc/att+ on to it. Between that and the fact that attack+ affects physical spells now (Aug 2014 update), we're in that same sort of situation where new gear has simply outclassed our skill+ equipment.

Thanks for the explanation. It sounds like for progression purposes, the reforged af body/empyrean legs are two pieces that are worth getting anyway so I'll put those at the top of the list along with the others you suggested :D

1) Yes
2) WSD