Blm AM2

Which ones are worth it? i have burst 2 and freeze 2 unlocked, are any of the others worth getting?

meh, I unlocked flare too, but I don't know what I'm doing. I'd just upgrade the others?

For the most part AM2 are a waste of MP and not worth casting. If you happen to be in a shell that regularly does SC > MB on HNMs having those 2 5/5 is a good idea.
back on topic...
When you cap out ice and thunder potency there's almost no point in casting other elements so freeze2 and burst2 is all you'd end up casting anyway.

EDIT: I also think you should get rdm37 before you spend 3 merits on a new spell.

I ended up getting them all because there is simply nothing else in Group 2. As being worth it...

If you really need the merits for something, hardly merit, or 3 points feel like a lot, then I would say no it's not worth all those points. Potency for Thunder/Ice and Elemental Skill would all be way more 'worth it' now.

I don't ever use them because with potency merits/HQ staffs for Thunder/Ice, even using T3, nets me more DMG/MP. If you have or plan to get say all the Obi/HQ staffs/AF2 pants.. then they would be more useful but still probably not as good as Thunder/Ice with the extra potency..

But overall I think that they are fun, look cool, and sort of makes the line up feel complete- I have em if and when I want, and that is worth it to me.

5/5 Thunder 4/5 Ice and then leave the last one to what you do most. I.e. if you do Kirin a lot, Tornado II is useful.

The only thing you have to keep in mind is they all do the same amount of damage, so the only things you have to keep in mind are resistances and which day/weather/obis/staves you have. You could go 1 in each and still make good use of all of them, but that's not really recommended.

Since roughly 80% of the mobs in FFXI are weak to either ice or Thunder, max those first.

idk about rdm to 37... i have a hatred for rdm lol. i am, however, planning to get sch to 37 for a sub. and thx everyone else for your advice

Ya.. I hated rdm, went /whm forever, till I leveled rdm, now I'm not sure how I lived without it.

It is wise to have the unlocked, especially if you use all elemental obis. Especially in solo cases, opening nuke with an AM2 can be the difference between killing a mob in 3 nukes or in 4, and depending on the target, gravity may not have a long duration / perhaps there's little kite room.

Accutally, it's better to go 5/5 Freeze II rather then Burst II, they both have the same base damage unlike ThunderIV vs. Blizzard IV. And since your getting the INT bonus from Ice/Aquilo's Staff, you can hit Freeze harder then Burst.

A valid point, but you have to keep in mind more mobs are weak to Thunder than Ice. That additional +25% damage on a mob weak to Thunder is going to do more than the INT+5 and Elemental skill+10 on Aquilo's Staff.

Doesn't matter if you open with AMII or T4. Mobs are still going to die quickly.

As for DMG/MP, if you are really anal about that ***, you would cast only Stone I all the time >.>

AMIIs, if done right, can lead to one-shotting stones in dynamis, trading hate on MNKs when they 2hr (again, in dynamis) or just basically soloing in sky/sea.

/rdm on blm ftw

Each AM II is only worth it if you cast it at that right time...
What I mean is if its cast along side with a Skill Chain and it is Magic-Burst. That's the only way you will truly get its full effect. I have unlocked them all for that chance to Magic-Burst any element at anytime.
I mainly use most AM II for show cause that just look/sound cool!
But Freeze/Tornado/Quake/Burst are the ones I use the most for End-Game.
...and what Korpg said is so right on! Black Mages can burn threw their MP so fast and pull hate really easy and wined up dead and no MP. I get kick out of Black Mages that go all ape $hit and get all pissy at the healers and tanks cause they die.

Weaknesses most of the time doesn't have any influence on damage, just on accuracy, any decent blm wouldn't get resisted tho. When wiki is saying "week to [element]", 99% of the time if you use a neutral element, damage will be the same, so it really doesn't matter if a mob is "weak" to lightning. Therefore that +25% damage ain't gonna to do more.

Take fomors as example, weak to fire, not like you'll do more damage with Flare II than Burst II... Anything neutral works. Burst II is just fine. Same with Archaic Machinery and Ice. When certain monsters family got -25%/-50% to a specific element, you simply doesn't use it, so there's no debate about freeze or burst.

If you take neutral mobs in consideration (or monsters who resist both), more benefit to have Freeze II maxed than Burst II. The +5INT/10skill bonus is just priceless on neutral monsters. And people usually nuke more neutral monsters + weak to ice monsters than ice resistant monsters alone.

Usually I find that Thunder and Blizzard (T4) do about the same dmg, unless I accidently use blizzard on an undead or somthing... and when that occurs it's only in limbus really.

As for AMIIs I'd say they were honestly not worth it unless you had the pinnical of gear and can do a consistant 2k. I'd have to agree with Akajoyroth and reserve them for MBing. Unless you have the merits now, in which case I'd suggest to put them elsewhere.

You have the two AM2s that are generally considered "worth it." Sure, you may get occasional use out of the other 4 AM2s, but you won't use them nearly as often as Burst2 or Freeze2.

As far as BLM's Group 2 merits are concerned, there are two general patterns:

1) Go 5/5 in both Freeze2 and Burst2. People do this to get the greatest potential damage out of their Burst2 or Freeze2 on Magic Bursts. Note that the extra merits beyond the first add magic accuracy and damage to the nuke only when Magic Bursted.

2) Go 3/5 on Freeze2 and Burst2 and 1/5 on the other 4 AM2s. Some choose to go this route simply becasue they want access to the entire line of AM2 spells, but they sacrifice maximum potential damage on MB'd Freeze2 and Burst2 to do so.

I'm sure there are other less common merit patterns in Group2, but I'm assuming that's done for specific situations.

I can't see what merits you have, but I can see your gear and subjobs. Before dumping more merits into AM2s, I'd recommend leveling your RDM subjob to 37 as has been recommended earlier. It's not too tough these days with Level Sync and FoV. I'd also look into gear upgrades for your BLM and get them done as time/gil allows. As far as merits go, skip other AM2 merits for now and focus on lowering resists with Elemental and Enfeebling merits along with increasing Ice and Thunder spell damage with Group 1 potency merits.

If you don't get hate from casting any spells on a mob, you are not doing your job right, or you have a really good tank.

I got each of the spells, for the simple reason of diversity. I don't limit Black Mage to one or two HNMs, I use it for a variety of purposes. I'd prefer to be able to cast a powerful nuke for any occasion than a super charged nuke on skillchains on Ice and Thunder weak monsters.

Flood 2 is my favourite for the visuals, plus the "waaaargh" sound it makes when you cast. It's personal preference, to be honest. There is no right or wrong way of choosing Group 2. It's just down to what you want to use Black Mage for. It's nice to be able to use every firework when you want to!

PS. I was the same with /RDM, I had an absurd abverse fear to using it... And when I started, I wondered how I ever managed without.

Sounds to me that your play style is more casual than endgame, in that case, get them all.

Why?

They look cool of course, what more of a reason would a casual player need?

Putting extra merits on AMII that you already have is worthless if you aren't MB'ing on SC's.

Edit: I think all Main BLMs feel the same way at first about RDM, sub or main, and that is that its not worth the time as it cant do WHM or BLM as well as the respective jobs. That of course is the first feeling about it... Gravity, Fast Cast, and the addition of more INT are all solid reasons to have /RDM in your deck of cards.

This.

You can choose to be a duo spell mage, or a full spectrum mage.

Its all in how you play it.

What the hell is this, since when does Krapg agree that there's more than one way of doing things? Seriously, did I miss the apocalypse or something?

This discussion is for those who have BLM75 or who are getting BLM75 soon only.

Or for those who are thinking about getting BLM to 75.

This doesn't concern BLUs at all.

I have Freeze II & Burst II @ 3/5 merits

The other 4 have been unlocked.

The way I look at it, they're just other tools to have in the tool box. I've probably only ever used Flood and Tornado tbh. However, when each upgrade only increases magic ACC and MB dmg a small amount I'm not worried or concerned about being 5/5.

Given my gear and merits there's no need.

With all due respect, I don't think anyone does non-TP burn Kirin anymore.

Even then, SMN > BLM in that respect also. Unless you go 5/5 Tornado.

Guess I'm in the right place then, BLM is my next 75. Although I don't remember seeing that in the rules anywhere.

And with all due respect, pretty *** sure a lot of people still do non-TP burn Kirin, just because your LS doesn't is no reason to assume that nobody does, I imagine even you have better things to do than sit in kirin room all day and watch how other LS's do it.

With all due respect, even you should know how much easier and faster it is to do Kirin Burns.

And even if you do get BLM to 75, you have no opinion here until you understand the job. Beyond the point of "Freeze does more damage than Stone III."

I thought it, but I didn't want to say anything...

Correct, it is significantly faster to TP burn... However, and this is drawing from plenty of sky experience in rubbish, good and exceptional shells, it is not the most realistic method. I've been in quite a few Sky linkshells or helped friends with Kirins in theirs, and have only TP burned him in one shell. Unsurprisingly, that was an HNMLS.

To say "nobody" mage burns Kirin is just ignorant, to be blunt. A lot of people still do it. I know full well of a shell on Asura that does it because I have a friend in there.
Personally, I would choose TP burn over mage burning everytime, but not everyone can pull it off.

In before generic "then those DD are gimp" comment, it takes more than good gear to pull it off and lesser experience shells struggle.

Back on topic, though, Tornado II is very useful on Kirin fights.

Tornado II is also good for Jailer of Faith fights also, but people don't realize that, or want to say it.

As for Kirin kites, people still do that I guess. Since everyone loves to argue against me, and I don't feel like showing you many times over why its much faster to Kirin Burn, and much safer (considering that you die 2+ times per kite vs less than 1 per burn), I won't bother with this.