The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

Fairly sure some EU players have confirmed it doesn't work in the off hand

To whoever decided to lock the Armoured Chariot trial behind earth day waits: I hope you get castrated by a pair of rusty nail clippers.

Yeah there is no reason for that zone to still have the lock...honestly should have been changed at the time everything else was because the reason it was favored was fixed at that time.

Question about the new gear sets.
1) The begrudging ring is on the high tier CDC set I guess because it gives a boost similar to the rancorous mantle? What is the crit hit bonus if so?

2) Top tier CDC set. "*** Herculean Gloves NEED 10+ DEX, 4 crit rate, and some attack to be superior to Adhemar Wristbands."
-- Path A NQ adhemar is like 53 dex, 15 str, TA+3
-- Unaugemented Herc gloves is like 39 dex, 16 str, TA+2
I have herc glove augment of 11 dex, 30 acc, 4 attack, and 2 crit hit. Thats 50 dex, 16 str, TA+2, and crit hit 2%.

My question is why does herc need 4 crit hit rate to be superior for CDC if the pieces are so similar? 1% TA is the only thing lacking on herc gloves aside from the dex. TA makes that big of difference?

3) Dream set CDC. ***Herculean Vest augmented with 15 DEX, 30 acc/atk, 4 crit rate. If you put this in place of the Abnoba Kaftan can it be better? Can Abnoba kaftan be skipped for herc vest if herc vest even if herc isnt paired up with HQ adhemar?

4) Top Tier Tp set
Why is NQ path A or B adhemar bonnet better for tp gain than max augmented dampening tam? Isn't it like 3 triple attack vs 3 quadruple attack?

Thanks Oraen for the gear set update!
And thank you in advance for any answers to these questions.

1. Begrudging ring functions exactly like Rancorous Mantle and Rancor Collar. Cap of 5% crit rate based on Tonberry Hate. Sadly, we can only have one "Tonberry's Grudge" effect at one time. As we have better ring options than we do back, we keep Rancorous Mantle and opt for Epona's/Hetairoi.

2. You're right that those Herculean will outperform Adhemar on average for solely CDC damage. The reason I had Adhemar pulling ahead was because of the additional STP on them, cutting the time to next WS down just enough to provide superior overall damage. However, if you have sufficient STP in your TP set, Herc Gloves are unmatched by anything that isn't HQ Adhemar with the set bonus.

3. Yes, an absurdly well-augmented Herculean Vest is better than Abnoba by a decent margin. However, you're looking at either the guaranteed performance of Abnoba, or praying to every divine being you know that you can get 13+ DEX, 4 crit rate or damage, and a bunch of att/acc on Herculean. Herc is definitely our best option, but given the absurd randomness involved in getting one to surpass Abnoba, I list the kaftan as a very close alternative.

4. Dampening Tam does lower your overall rounds/WS, but the reason that Adhemar Bonnet provides superior DPS is because of that crit hit damage +5%. We're blessed with absurd amounts of DEX, making our native crit rate quite high, and we even have crit hit bonus III to compliment that. Add even more onto that with Adhemar, and your overall DPS will be higher than Dampening. However, if you're looking solely for your lowest rounds/WS set, Dampening Tam or a 4TA Herculean Helm are your best choices. Both can also offer more accuracy, so the DPS loss from Adhemar to Dampening is one of the best accuracy tradeoffs you can make.

Does Hetairoi ring's damage bonus on TA work on an AM3 proc and if so is that only on the OAThrice? I'd assume not because they aren't the same thing but hey, I wouldn't mind if it did.

Can't confirm, but safe to say it doesn't.

No Tizona to test, haven't seen any information on it, but I'm gonna say no.

Thanks Oraen! I have a question though and you are going to have to bare with me as I am new to using a spreed sheet. So your answer makes complete sense and I never though about that. What I wanted to do is see the effect of putting more stp gear in my CDC set. When I did that the WS/attack round unfortunately just stayed the same. Am I doing something wrong? I went form like my STPless herc gloves to perfect STP/DEX her gloves and adhemar A path and it didn't change.

Quartz tathlum is 1 mnd higher than hydrocera.
Carmine is more accuracy than damp tam.

Genmei earring would be an im provement in dt set.
Loricate Torque/+1 over twilight.

If taeon feet are still being mentioned then so should carmine+1, especially with tizona buff tonight.

I tested yno vs. escha stone for belt and yno always came out on top.

Perfect hagondes legs can still beat out adhemar nq.

WSD max with fern stone is +5.

Weapons should really be included in the nuking sets

Loquacious earring is more fast cast than etiolation.

With all the salvage I have been doing, my main focus is improving my blue mage's efficiency with magic spells because mage mode is best until reaching the NQ and HQ boss.

Is there a spreadsheet that allows you to see magic damage from a variety of BLU spells given the job traits, gear, buffs, etc., or has more of the research been directed to melee DPS?

The approximate formula is ((level+2+WSC)*fTP+fINT+MDmg)*all this stuff. Item level is not used. I say "approximate" because I get slightly different results (~1% off) when testing known targets vs calculated values. Not sure where the discrepancy originates.

As for a spreadsheet, it's important to remember that results vary based on target INT (or in Hammer's case, MND) and MDB. I don't think we have much info on current mob stats, and I doubt there's much interest in figuring it out for Salvage given that we can already oneshot anything worth nuking in there.

Physical spells, Ratio uncapped: I have Tati/+1 coming out ahead of stat earrings; kuwunga earring beats all with latent active. shukuyu ring is BIS for ring slot. Other pieces such as well augmented Herc head/legs may also warrant attention in such a situation given their high potential stat+ and attack+ augments. Worth a thought with the coming pDIF adjustments.

I'll include Quartz.

NQ Carmine is not more accuracy than Dampening. As I've mentioned, all HQ abjuration gear was excluded from consideration due to reactions from the last big update. I goofed, apologies for the mistake.

That set is already overcapped on PDT as it is, and I mention to mix and match pieces as people see fit.

I'll include NQ Carmine.

YNO and Eschan should be swapped, that's my goof.

I'm assuming you mean Amalric legs, and yes, exceptional Hagondes legs can beat them. However, that requires dealing with *** augmentation and losing upwards of 20 macc, both tradeoffs that I do not consider to be worthwhile.

I use Taupe stone caps for WS gear calculations, as the additional STR or DEX will outweigh the 1 extra "bonus" augment.

Nuking weaponry is a work in progress.

The posted set already overcaps you on Fast Cast if you have JTB2 and almost caps you with JTB1, but I'll include Loquacious.

I completely forgot Kuwunga existed. I kept Lilitu and Samnuha over Herculean simply for the combined STR/DEX augments on them, but you're right. With attack playing a large role, particularly with this next update, I'll swap em around.

I'm trying to get the spreadsheet in the OP working with the AM3 support. Motenten had a post about it Here. Though it is slightly out of date with AM3 now being 180 seconds but I think the rest is fine. This isn't too hard to do however it does mean that berserk calcs have to be done separately for up and down for berserk.

Also, in the OP it is mentioned that there are a few problems with the sheet.


How many of these are still issues? I did a few quick tests and wasn't able to find a problem with TA in set 1 but it might have been specific slots I didn't test. I know a bit about excel formulas but I wanted to check before I go and do so much testing and modification especially since damage calculations may be changing soon and I know damn well I won't be able to fix the sheet after that happens.

I need to update that section. Thanks to Langly, who, unlike myself, is not a complete novice with spreadsheets, the big errors have all been cleared up.

I will need to be updating ratios and formula come this update, so if people can assist, it would be greatly appreciated.

Actually, he is right.

Dampening has 34 DEX and 35 acc (max augments)
Carmine path B has 35 DEX and 38 acc.

But that involves getting two heads, one for FC and one for acc. Also, it is unlikely that the loss in acc is worth it.

I was only looking at path D on Carmine and completely forgot about path B. 100% my mistake.

Apologies if this was answered somewhere, but does AF with chain or burst affinity have to be used only when the JA is activated, or throughout the entire action?

They need to be used through the entire action.

Consider using Herc head for FC instead. 1% less, fairly easy to get since you only need the one augment, can still hit 80%.

ItemSet 145362
^That's 82% with FC2 if you sub in Herc head (81% with NQ feet), 87% for blue magic with Hashishin Mintan +1. Caps QM too. Could also switch Lebeche Ring and Impatiens for FC items and switch to the QM+4% back, but I like Impatiens for -SID sets so that's my configuration of choice.

Yeah, it's a very different setup from when all we could do was gear for WSC or blue skill. You can potentially get away with sticking to the STR/attack pieces for spells with a STR mod, but when you contrast gearing paradigms for a spell like Sinker Drill with Ratio uncapped:

vs capped:

Quite a lot can potentially change, if only slightly at times. Visible slots gain a decent chunk of attack for very little loss in base damage, while most of the accessory slots change dramatically since it's hard to find good combinations of DEX and skill/attack/STR in those slots.

Not sure how much existing info we have on monster pDIF equations beyond the basics of where the caps are. Might take a while to nail everything down again.

Probably going to switch over to Sylvie UC with this update. Fury + Frailty, even without any Geomancy+ bonuses, will be a very welcome boost to damage output. Also started building a GEO alt recently, so I'll have those two buffs in combination with whatever mix of Wilt/Vex/Malaise/etc I want. Should be fun. Just need to work on my White Wind set to offset losing Apururu's curagas.

Speaking of White Wind, I'm irrationally excited for the new Cassie Earring. I love White Wind far more than I should.

It's such a good spell! Especially in Escha with all the vorseal bonuses. Also one of our more iconic spells in the series.

One of my friends was missing White Wind for the longest time and I kept bugging him to go get it. I finally broke down and just logged on his char and got it for him. He still doesn't set it. I hate you, Vasche.

Let's talk about White Wind. I'd love suggestions for alterations to this set.

ItemSet 341855

Telchine cap with 7 cure pot received, hands with 6 cure pot. Considering dropping Gyve for path A despair, then changing cap and hands to both +8% cure pot. Net gain of 78 HP, but a loss of 2 potency received, as well as having to actually carry disgusting despair gear around. I'd love to hit 30% received and 50% potency at the same time, but I'm really not seeing a way to do so without sacrificing too much HP.

Oh hey, I forgot about Despair path A.

Hm... Personally, not terribly concerned with capping +received for WW. Gishdubar and Kunaji are good trades if you really need to push your own HP up in a hurry. Would have to play around with it for a while to see how anything else shakes out. Kind of depends on the situation, whether you need to prioritize your own HP or someone else's.

This is what I'd look at for pure potency, no +recieved:

ItemSet 135533

Telchine with curepot+8% augs all around, and they can also get HP+50 augments. Just over HP+1k total with this set, and a bit more if you've got a Gold Moogle Belt to use in place of Oneiros Belt. I never managed to get one :| Should hit 1.2-1.3k+ depending on traits, food, vorseals/Ionis, etc. There's three HP+60 necks, you've already got one, doesn't really matter which you use obviously.

I do recommend keeping a cap with received+7% around if you can though, as it's a great piece for Fruit/Embrace and also potentially useful in a hybrid set for tanking/lowman purposes.

White Wind is one of my favorite spells. I love using iconic spells from the series (main reason I wish Bad Breath had more use.) Something I'd note is that Hippo. Socks +1 are a really nice idle piece if you don't care for the refresh in feet slot. I've been wearing them and the proc rate on flee is decent and have had things like monsters outside of Einherjar proc it and while in the chamber, so it seems to be upgraded over the old version. IIRC that one you had to be much lower level unless I'm thinking of the knife.

Fire up your Beitetsu, it's Tizona time!

Dat mining is starting to come in, will edit this post with relevant items as we get them.

Almace
DMG:158 Delay:224 DEX+50 Magic Damage+186 Sword skill +269 Parrying skill +269 Magic Accuracy skill +255 "Chant du Cygne" Aftermath: Occasionally attacks for triple damage Afterglow

Tizona
DMG:147 Delay:236 Magic Accuracy+40 Magic Damage+186 Sword skill +269 Parrying skill +269 Magic Accuracy skill +255 Occ. converts damage dealt to MP V "Expiacion" Aftermath: Increases Accuracy and Magic Accuracy Occasionally attacks twice or thrice Afterglow