The Black Sacrament -- A Guide To Black Mage

Yes, I know, but is the resist rate purely decided by MACC? I have read elsewhere that elemental magic skill factors into it, too. I have Laev and typically use Impact in my max'ed out MACC set and I still get really inconsistent duration, so wondering what others use more successfully.

I've been using full MAB/MB dmg on impact MB for aminon and the stat down seems to last the whole 3 min no problem

Elemental skill gives the same benefit as macc. It is macc in all but name.

Magic burst does give a pretty significant macc boost afaik

Sorcerer's Stole +2 "Magic Burst DMG +10%" contributes to the 40% MB 1 cap right? The DMG/% portion looks atypical but I assume this is just classic SE and their non-standard terminology

Yes, contributes to the MBD 1 40% gear cap

Your variance is likely target dependent unless you are seeing duration inconsistencies on the same mob? If the latter, it's Macc/Mob Eva issue.


https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Magic_Accuracy

It's dark elemental magic. So anything water/earth/ice and especially dark based mobs would likely have higher resist rates.

Duration basically depends on caster's Macc/target's Meva as well as target's base element(s).

Acuity Belt +1 augmented, Archon Ring (maybe?, It's what I use anyways) , Metamorph ring +1 augmented, Malignance earring, Enki Strap, (khonsu has more macc in total assuming Delta INT equality but in general you should not swap grips, in my opinion, when nuking with mythic or any staff tbh on BLM. I assume you nuke with Enki strap.), are the changes I would make in the set you posted without looking at head/hands/body/legs/feet.

The elements Water, Earth and Ice have absolutely nothing to do with Darkness element. -65535 Water, Earth or Ice resistance will have no positive effect on Impact / Sleep / Frazzle resist rates. Conversely +65535 Water, Earth or Ice resistance will also have no negative effect on Impact / Sleep / Frazzle resist rates.

Do not confuse the poorly translated L3 "Darkness" and "Light" skillchain effects with the actual Darkness / Light elements.

You retain the effect if your gear is removed and re-equipped. Doesn't require a precast, you gain the effect once you put them on.

Is that right? I could have sworn you lost the manawall bonus from the empyrean feet so most luas had something in there to lock feet swaps if manawall was active. Not seeing anything about it on BG but it is on old wiki:

Enhanced by Goetia Sabots +1 & Goetia Sabots +2

Enhances Mana Wall as if it had -10% damage Taken. Must be worn when Mana Wall is activated and during its effect or the bonus will wear off (cannot regain bonus by putting the equipment back on).

hmm. I actually never played BLM during the old abyssea days, so I never saw that prior comment. I don't have any sources that suggest the updated versions operate differently, so perhaps I am misremembering/confusing then with another piece of "gains effect while worn". Nor have I tested anything.

My mistake.

which Sortie bosses i should use impact on other than aminon?

C and G

I have had issues with impact on C/G. It lasts about 5 seconds, even if I use elemental seal. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with it.

Skomora and Triboulex both absorb darkness damage, which means impact will heal them. However, it also means you should land the effect for maximum duration. I only have twilight cloak and I can still land an unresisted impact on them. I just cast it at the start of the fight before the first volley of nukes and it always lasts the whole fight. I don't know why you would have issues with it. You can't get impact to stick on any of the other bosses, but those two should be freebies.

Ok I need a hand if possible please. Normally I research and plug but I am coming up empty. What is everyone using for their death sets for MB? Getting ready to start Aminon and wondering if the guide is still up to date on that. Also looking for absorb tp sets for blm.

I figured they would be readily posted but I guess not and I didn't find any absorb sets posted here or in any of the guides.

Thanks a ton!

I have bunzi's rod r25 laevateinn r15, and marin
just to confirm, If i not using AM i should use Bunzi right?
and marin if D/H is aero?

My testing found that Laevateinn without AM is slightly behind Bunzi, with AM it's slightly ahead (a few %). Maybe is behind both, though that will probably vary depending on the mob's INT, and of course it's better for wind magic regardless.

Considering how high the INT is on some basement bosses, the Marin might out-perform Laevateinn but IDK, I haven't tested in Sortie basement, I only did my testing on apex/locus mobs and low level trash so YMMV.

This is what I use for my Death casts and it seems to work rather well. Generally as long as MP is above 1600 or so should be 99 999 with standard support:

sets.magic_burst.DeathAccuracy = {
main={ name="Hvergelmir", augments={'Path: A',}},
sub="Khonsu",
ammo={ name="Ghastly Tathlum +1", augments={'Path: A',}},
head="Pixie Hairpin +1",
body="Wicce Coat +3", --0/5
hands={ name="Agwu's Gages", augments={'Path: A',}}, --8/5
legs="Wicce Chausses +3", --15/0
feet={ name="Agwu's Pigaches", augments={'Path: A',}}, --6/0 --+mAcc
neck={ name="Src. Stole +2", augments={'Path: A',}}, --10/0
waist={ name="Acuity Belt +1", augments={'Path: A',}},
left_ear="Malignance Earring", --+mAcc/FC
right_ear="Barkaro. Earring",
left_ring={ name="Metamor. Ring +1", augments={'Path: A',}}, --+mAcc
right_ring="Archon Ring",
back={ name="Taranus's Cape", augments={'MP+60','Mag. Acc+20 /Mag. Dmg.+20','MP+20','Haste+10','Phys. dmg. taken-10%',}}, --5/0
} --44/12, cap of 40 MBBI, 2242 Idle / 2254 FC / 2239 No MB / 2234 or [2072] MB, 28/25 Gear Haste + 64FC

Now there are a few optimizations that could be had here depending on your set up. Aminon is quite a funny fight because you not only want to factor in your Death damage, but also Death frequency, which is why I made a note of haste and FC to ensure I maximize recast. This set will not do it actually and be 8 FC short of capped recast without some help from Valiance, which will be noticeable by a few seconds, but not overly punishing.

Ultimately, if you are able to ride Valiance from your RUN full time, then you can drop the Khonsu and not be gear haste capped for a higher damage output. This will actually not help out on Death too much, you tend to have easy 99 999 anyways, but it will push your Comet damage higher which will not cap outside of Rayke/Gambit.

If you want to get really fancy, then you can ask your RUN how many Inspiration merits they have and optimize a set that way too for full time Valiance. If you can remove the Empy staff with it's hefty 50FC, still nearly cap Death recast, and replace it with something like AM3 Prime Staff, it can push Comet damage even higher. Won't make a big difference for Comet during Rayke/Gambit, that will often be 99 999, but outside those windows it can help. Once caveat is by dropping Empy staff, if Valiance does fall and you are unaware, it will plummet your recast significantly. Will just take some timing and practice, but it's very conceivable to kill him within a Valiance on engage, and reapplied via a mid fight Wild Card. Our first kill was far off that mark (25+mins), but with practice it's amazing how much progress can be made.

Anywhoo, gearing for Death is kind of funny because you need to make sure your Idle and Precast also have enough MP to not deplete your pool. And then Aminon is even funnier because you need to factor in recast timers and Comet damage, which can be very significant too. Keep in mind you will often be casting Comet just before Death, so factor that in for what sets you are using for Comet too so your MP pool isn't depleted too much from that too, as I personally don't have time to Aspir in between Comet and Death to replenish since we use aa 4 step to kill it and that last Darkness window is tight.

a highly RP'd Mpaca's Staff is a great option for "normal" Aminon as its still easy to get cap dmg Deaths with it, but its a lot stronger for Comet than the Empy Staff. And of course good TP usage from the BLM with Myrkr is a big deal on that fight, so you don't want to be swapping around.

For sure, nice little bit of FC on it too. Mpaca's is a great option.

At what point would you start using Opashoro as a normal replacement to Marin +1 (if it even is) im about 200k muffins from stage 4 and was wondering if this is the right choice as people are telling me mpaca is so much better (dont have arebati clear on any level yet).

Please tell me different lol

Marin +1 is better than Mpaca's staff up to around ranks 22-25 or so. Mpaca's staff doesn't really overtake Marin +1 until it's basically finished. An R30 Mpaca's staff IS superior to Marin staff +1 so there is room for improvement over marin, but you really have to work to get it to that point. I used my Mpaca's when I got it to Rank 25. I think at that point it's a hair's margin better than marin +1, but anything below rank 25 and I wouldn't bother.

mAcc+30 skill+269 MAB+70 mDMG+310 INT+30 Opashoro stage4 no aftermath
mAcc+55 skill+228 MAB+68 mDMG+217 INT+32~37 Marin +1 r15

the mDMG loss is a bit high even with max rank unity. I'd suggest opashoro unless you're nuking wind magic. t5 and 6 nukes are most likely to see the difference in favor of marin, going from 99,999 dmg w/ marin to only 99,999 dmg using opashoro instead.

You're going to hit 99,999s with proper buffs/gear with any of the top tier staffs if they are MB'd. Even on meta content.

At that point, your next most important stat is which one has more MAcc for consistency imo.

Unless you actually care about the dmg difference between nuke walled casts and lol free nuking.

You can also land Burn on A/E, C/G, and D/H (if it's in Icy Grasp mode) with no elemental seal, no problem.

B/F will not stick even with Elemental Seal.

be a nice guy and let the geo or sch land first and take the 99k