Completely New To Bluemage Any Advice?

Going to go do that right now. Tyvm guys this has helped a lot.

Currently what I use for magic fruit, can normally pull out around 650 hp cured with just that. I use magic fruit just because its easier on mp.

If you use a decent MND build for Filamented Hold, then no. If I remember correctly, Filamented Hold is ~20%+, and Cimicine Discharge is somewhere between 15%-19%. But Cimicine Discharge won't change based on how much MND or Skill you put to it, it's a constant, so if you don't macro in a MND build, you might be better off using CD.

The difference may not matter to you, so you're welcome to use Cimicine Discharge if you really want. I just like ensuring I have the most potent slow I can get since it makes shadow management a bit easier.

Also, you might want to set Mind Blast and use it right after the Corse casts a spell(so you don't accidentally heal it). Para proc helps and it adds a little damage to the fight.

Yea looked it up after you posted. Thought Discharge would more potent since it's such a higher lvl that's kind of sad that it's so much weaker. Oh well Thank you again :)

Filamented Hold's potency isn't affected by MND... think it's 25% slow but not completely sure on that and not inclined to check right now.

Cimicine's draw is the large radial AoE.

If you're not using the MKD augment head for anything else, a cure potency hat for BLU wouldn't go amiss. If you have some gil to throw around, Galenus and augmented Genbu's Shield will get you up to 15% cure potency in the main/sub slots if losing TP isn't undesirable.

Early testing showed that its potency was dictated by MND. Slow and Haste aren't the hardest things in the world to test(unlike paralyze) so I would imagine "MND affecting potency" would be falsified by now - two years after it was tested - if it were untrue. Yet it still remains on the wiki page, 2 years later, unverified.

I'm open to the fact that it could be something other than MND, or a more complex algorithm, or static, or completely variable, but want to see the testing for such first. Until then, the Ballista MND testing is enough to keep me using MND gear.

Might have been thinking of SZS, if I can find my token I'll look into it later.

Notable that the testing appears to indicate a cap at dMND=0 so you really wouldn't need much if any MND gear to cap its potency if that is the case.

EDIT: Actually, you know what? I was thinking of Mind Blast. Herp. Hopefully my token is here with me somewhere.

I figured I'd post this here since it doesn't really need its own thread.

Are BLU's capable of soloing a decent amount of things in/out of Abyssea?

I'm mainly interested in things like Turul, the Almace NM's and some Sea/Sky stuff. Are these eventually going to be possible once I get my gear/skills in order?

Also, is BLU a group-friendly job? Do you guys find yourselves getting looked over when you try to join seal groups/other events or are people generally happy to pick you up?

BLU can solo most of the seal NMs easily, and probably duo every abby NM with a WHM.

BLU is a proc job both in aby and VW, so it's a very group-friendly job.
You should be able to solo almace nms np, but with the lack of (red)procs, it might take awhile.
With 1-2 evasion swords and a decent evas set, you should manage to cap\close to cap your evasion on mostly everything in abyssea, so you'll probably manage to solo pretty much anything pre-heroes, if you take your time.

Blue Mage Hunting Grounds.

As a Blue Mage, this is your spellbook.
Bookmark it. Use it. Love it.
Happy hunting!

In VW don't think your some uber god, sit there, and proc like a good boy.

None likes a rebel.

More like gauge the party before you head out.

If it's a mediocre party, set nukes along with your procs, stand back and nuke from afar. Regurgitation, Dark Orb, Everyone's Grudge are all good nukes and keep you out of AOE range.

If the group looks a bit more intelligent you can make the decision to DD and leave proc slots open for any vulnerabilities that pop up.

***'s situational.

Lets not get this thread locked like the last. It's old just drop the argument.

:)

BLU is a very good and complex job.
It's one of the most versatile ones this game has to offer but you need to put a lot of work and thoughts into it to use most, or all, aspects it has to offer.

It's not an easy and "auto-good" job like NIN would be in Abyssea (with decent atmas and any gear).

But, usually, if you enjoy playing the job a bit, you will find at least one useful thing about BLU, which can also be very helpful for groups.
Be it cleaving, for yourself or to help farm time/KIs/lights for your group, proc'ing, inside and outside of abyssea, soloing or just adding some DPS.

Generally though, since you have NIN lvled already, I would advise you to stick to that and enjoy BLU when the situation allows it.
NIN is insanely easy to play and useful in Abyssea and should help you to achieve some of your goals a lot quicker than other options.

Whats optimal spell set at 99 I have been not playing that much since lvl 90 but am getting back into it and have not checked out any new spells.

Quad. Continuum
Delta Thrust
Barbed Crescent
Blazing Bound
Animating Wail
Mortal Ray
Empty Thrash
Heavy Strike
Acrid Stream
Demoralizing Roar
Sudden Lunge
Fantod

There's your core set. Gives you store TP, triple attack and DW3. The rest you can fill in with utility spells depending on your situation.

My advice to all new BLUs. Go solo. Best way to learn the job is seeing its true nature soloing anything and everything you come across. Learn mobs and what to stun and what you can eat if one of your stuns are down. Learn every spell because you will find a use for every one of them regardless of what people think. Have patience because spell learning can take hours. And most importantly have fun the job was the only reason I continued to play for so long.

Pretty much. Learned so much doing this back in the day.

this ^^^ for most part

Awesome, good to know nothing has changed between 6~10 months and now in terms of spells.

While soloing can teach you a lot about soloing, it doesn't really stand to teach you much about any other aspect of the job. Optimal play varies dramatically based on what you're doing. Your best friends are a medley of this and this. Both have a lot to offer in regard to spell mechanics; the former building a framework for spell mods, and the latter filling in some of the more technical holes. Your secondary partner will be this. Trait optimization is extremely important, particularly in any of the many instances where spell usage should be kept to a minimum.

Beyond that, unless you're going for completion, don't waste your time with most of the early spells. BLU pride etc, but most of them are absolutely useless. Use the above resources to figure out what's an Abyssea proc, a VW proc, part of important traits, and useful utility/damage. Skip everything else.

Voidwatch procs:
Firespit
Lowing *
Heat Breath
Thermal Pulse
Blastbomb

Sandspin
Magnetite Cloud
Bad Breath
Cim. Discharge

Acrid Stream
Maelstrom
Corrosive Ooze
Cursed Sphere

Hecatomb Wave
Mysterious Light
Reaving Wind
Leafstorm

Infrasonics
Ice Break
Frost Breath
Cold Wave

Temporal Shift
Charged Whisker
Blitzstrahl
Mind Blast

Actinic Burst
Radiant Breath
Light of Penance
Blank Gaze

Sandspray
Eyes on Me
Death Ray

Zelus/Loki's is decent if you're not interested in VW, or until you get any drops from it. Dusk Gloves +1 and Portus Collar would also be imporvements.

Or Zelus/AF3+2 body/serpentes hands or feet depending on time in situations when you need some extra refresh.

I'm really diggin that "core blu set" that was just posted. I appreciate it. The DW3, so I can solo /war and still DW is nice, as well as STP and TA. Big ups to that set's originator. Thanks a lot