The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

I saw the 12 INT difference tho, but might be easier to get nice augments freely and more MACC tho :)

I'm sure they're more or less interchangeable when it comes to practical differences, but it will largely depend on the quality of the rest of your casting set. Like, the vamp coat will probably perform almost as good as the Hagondes, plus if you have a group that you can reliably do SR with it'll be a lot cheaper and probably less time consuming to get one with good augments.

The problem with Samnuha Coat for us is the drastically lower INT in comparison to other options. 12 less than Hagondes +1, 18 less than Count's garb, 18 less than Amalric, and 19 less than Gyve. It's not bad for lower content, but in anything where macc matters, it will fall behind.

Then I need better augments on my Hagondes Coat +1
:)

Anyone find out if the Refresh +1/2 from Amalric head boosts Battery Charge or not?

Im stuck between path a or path b on Adhermar Bonnet, acc isnt a huge issue as I have Nibru blade as well but damn im not sure. Advice?

Thanks Floppy

Afraid I don't have amalric head to test, sorry.

Both A and B are great paths. Depends on what level of content you're tackling.

For Macc, 38 macc>>12 INT.

Regarding the GearSwap file in the OP:

It has casting sets for offensive spells in the following categories:

STR
STRDEX
STRVIT
STRMND
AGI
INT
HeavyStrike
ChargedWhisker

But the spells that fall under each set seem to be outdated (I realized this when Spectral Floe wasn't switching into nuking gear).

Regarding the physical spells, is it at all better to equip anything other than STR at this point? Benthic Typhoon, Spiral Spin and Final Sting, for instance, are under the "AGI" set, but those spells are pretty much depreciated now.

Are the nukes all strictly INT/MAB based? People using the Gearswap file might want to update to include stuff like Tenebral Crush and Spectral Floe.

Well yeah, the file doesn't magically update itself. You'll have to add the spells to each category manually and perhaps make some new ones (such as DarkINT and LightINT).

Right now, every nuke that matters is dINT based. That said, there may be some cases where certain things pull ahead of other options for individual spells due to variable WSCs.

Really didn't even think about updating that. It's probably missing every spell since around the Sweeping Gouge update. I made it as intuitive as possible, should be easy enough to figure out which parts you need to copy/paste and change some names here and there to get it working optimally with new spells.

If I get the time I'll update it with recent spells and gearset options and update the PB link, but no promises.

Dang, too bad. Because +2 refresh on a 3 refresh spell over 5 minutes is quite a boost. 100 ticks, so looking at 300 MP over 5 minutes vs 400/500 MP over same time! Pretty sick if it does boost it.

I'd be pretty surprised if it doesn't based solely on the fact that things like Grapevine Cape affect Battery Charge.

I'm pretty sure that my Gishdubar Sash increased the duration, though I'll doublecheck that later when I log back on.

I wrote an updated post on what ilvl119 Tizona is like.
http://www.ffxiah.com/item/19006/tizona

It is a lot of work to make it but if you really dig blu it's worth it. When I do high level events I am often highest on dps and the utility of having getting mp back and the tp gain of AM3 are just amazing. With tp and acc gear, healing gear, nuking gear, and fast cast gear it just makes you feel like you can do so much more than any other job and Tizona is the icing on the cake!

Edit: If you have any questions I can tell you all about it.

Mos def true. I did say at the end tho "in my opinion" so just puttin it out there.

As for new spells there's MG, Cruel Joke, Cesspool, and Tearing gust, right? I read cesspool is kinda like delta trust (maybe just aoe). What about Tearing gust? MG our best upgrade this go-round?

MG's the only one worth worrying about. Wouldn't stress over getting the other 3 except for completion.

For whatever reason, I completely forgot about the additional macc augments. No clue what's wrong with me. You're correct.

Mighty Guard is the only new spell that is essential. Others are cool just to have.

Setting just DW3, Adh body and Taeon feet makes 34 DW which is very close to capping delay when capping haste, so why is this a problem? Genuinely confused, as my haste-capped tp set uses Taeon feet for exactly that reason.

EDIT: Oh you're probably setting DW4. I guess maybe it's an argument to drop down to DW3 in order to utilize best gear without risking overcapping with DW?

yes. Be sure to look under the code 'function midcast(spell,act)' I realized that a bit ago also very confused. just make sure you can find any new spells; search works

Alrighty! Well here is a question for you (and others).

Any tips on how to better myself as a BLU in defensive situations? The offensive side is cake at this point but I have admittedly never been great at protecting myself or knowing how best to plan ahead going in to a battle. Part of that comes from having a champ WHM as a wife.

Other than a simple occulatation, cocoon, etc, are there certain go-to steps that are standard for you when going in to a fight where you are tanking and possibly don't have that great of a healer other than yourself or a trust? Defensive job traits that are worth it? Spells to slow the opponent's roll that work well?

I understand every fight can have a different strategy of course but I'm just looking for a simple checklist or few guidelines that would be wise to follow any time I actually have to be on my toes and can't simply just Z it's face until the win.

The best defensive move in my spell set is probably sudden lunge, tbh. It's one of the few spells I have a macro for.

You have to know generally what you're fighting in terms of selecting your defensive spells. Occultation isn't a catch all, for instance. Some mobs are just going to wipe it all the time(and not just mage mobs) so you're better served with something like saline coat or barrier tusk.

Only 3 feathers

Depends on a lot of stuff. How many things are you tanking? If it's a lot, Whirl of Rage and Actinic Burst / Blinding Fulgor can help keep you in shape long enough to get healed. Carcharain Verve is usually top priority for AoE killing. Subduction is probably the best defensive spell we can use in this manner. Kiting is a joke in most cases like that.

Mano a mano, Cocoon is hot for blood tanking. For something that doesn't constantly wipe Shadows, Occultation and its 11 Shadows is sick. Cap PDT in your full defense set, and have varying degrees of PDT in your hybrid sets. Telchine with magic evasion can be useful in making sure enemy debuffs can't land, or chopping enemy nukes into pieces. I've seen straight "Mahayaya resists the spell." messages, not just "Resist!" on ilvl content just from sporting Telchine with meva augs and having Fulgor set. With gifts, I'd recommend setting at least Fulgor if magic tanking. Entomb or another defense combo if blood tanking.

If you're /RDM or have a RDM in party, there's also a threshold to consider with Barrier Tusk. If the enemy hits really hard, Tusk will come out ahead, if enemies hit low, it's likely Phalanx will be the winner. Sudden Lunge is also great, but reserve for emergencies on any content that's worth a crap. The resistance build to it is quick. Might be best to save for below 25% in most cases, since that's when mobs get spammy in TP moves.

I should point out that I rarely do anything higher than like 125 on BLU. So my advice should be taken with a certain grain of salt.