The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

I haven't tried, but I think it should be perfectly possible. You would just need to recast Magic Barrier to maintain 0 damage taken. Also probably White Wind, since PLD is main healer normally and it would maybe be required to AoE Exuviation at start to build enough hate, so DD wouldn't need to hold damage, but maybe just optimal use of high jump and super jump would be enough too.

I upgraded empy to +2 for 3 full sets of the jobs I play the most and still have 30 or 40 saphires left. I also found at least 3 octahedrite and holding 10 by now but I didn't find a single starstone the entire free campaign.

Solo I only get 1-3 chests/run with a starstone chance so a reliable way to solo dhartok for another starstone chance would be quite handy.

I currently only have the hashishin kavuk +3. If I'm not mistaken only a combo of hashishin head + body at +3 out do a augmented cohort cloak +1 although the set bonus might pull a head even at +2.

You mentioned amalric hands, legs, feet and swapping them for empy. This is absolutely essential as it's a 95 macc difference, not counting all the other stats involved. This is a basement Sortie boss, not some omen trash, you can't be using garbage-tier macc and INT and hoping your spells will land and do damage.

There are better defensive stats on the head and body rather than using the Cohort Body for next to no increase in damage.

EMPY+3 and EMPY+2 body.
STR+57/DEX+58/VIT+53/AGI+53/INT+74/MND+75/CHR+60
Macc +115
MAB +100
MDB +20
Evasion +169
Magic Evasion +251
Def: 286
HP +143
DT -12
Refresh +3

Cohort Cloak +1 r15
STR+55/DEX+55/VIT+55/AGI+55/INT+76/MND+76/CHR+68
Macc +110 to +120
MAB+100
MDB+12
Evasion+77
Magic Evasion +156
Def: 218
HP +91

Massive difference in defensive stats for +5 macc and a couple of points into VIT/AGI/INT/MND and +8 into CHR.

I have full empy +2 set, I just didn't use it during my first attempt. My basic nuke set has almaric pieces but I also have a resistance set with cohort cloak +1 and hashishin +2 hands, legs and feet which I used in a second attempt. IIRC my numbers were still ~2-5k behind what marutai did, not counting the empy set bonus procs.

I noticed he uses a Perfervid Sword swap, probably for searing tempist. Maybe he also uses weatherspoon ring for blinding fulgor but no clue how to push my anvil lightning DMG.

absolutley, but defense didn't seem to be my issue, trusts healing was sufficient enough, DMG and MP sustain are the main problem.

Perfervid Sword is probably a terrible swap. It has the fire affinity sure, but has 0 magic damage, low macc skill, no macc, and no MAB. Even under ideal conditions I think it's unlikely to make a difference.

You also mentioned not using (having) osash. This is a gigantic boost to damage and would explain a large chunk of the difference in your sets.

I think macc skill doesn't matter when it's in sub slot but yeah, lack of macc and mab might have a negative effect. I remember testing it for red lotus blade once and it did around 4k more dmg than other options vs fodder. He didn't seem to have trouble with resists and his numbers were consistantly higher than mine but yeah, no macc might cause more resists due to my empy only beeing +2.

I have both, osash and augmented Acuity Belt +1.

Why bother asking for help when you are just dismissing it?

I said marutai uses (presumably visble at 23:48) perfervid sword swap for searing tempest in his video and that his numbers are higher than mine while also acknowledging the concern of the macc drawback of this sword.

I few this as some sort of brainstorming with information going back and forth because I imagine it's tiresome to give advice without any feedback regarding what has been tried befor, what worked and what didn't.

I'm greatfull for any input and I'm not sure where I dismissed something.

This is what I would wear:

ItemSet 396769

The rings/neck could possibly be swapped if you're not running into resists, but to be on the safe side, I'd just stick with this. Swap +3 for +2 empy in any slot where you don't have it.

If you're running into MP problems, are you bringing Vile Elixir/Vile Elixir+1? If it gets even worse: Coalition Ethers.

I'm not seeing any dismissal here, looks like idea bouncing/discussion. Looks perfectly fine to me and a lot of us do this sort of thing on a daily basis at work or with friends for all sorts of things.

Shiggles Scenario:
"Wayz says we should turn left."
"Nah, left passes by all the crack houses, we might save 10 minutes but we might get mugged."
"Good point, let's go right."

More like:

I think since we are in the Blu forum, it's understood that the empy +3 set for Blu is amazing.

And, it really is. Lucky Blus.

ftfy

good idea, ty.

Also have a eye on septoptic +1 too.

Since MP is a issue and magic hammer uses are limited I think the biggest leap forward would be a magic hammer set that doesn't get resisted but also doesn't drain more than is needed to fill my bar of around ~1400-1700MP.
Most magic hammers did around 3k if I'm not mistaken.

I was hoping that you would notice this from the video. Because he was taking less damage from the boss by using more defensive pieces Monberaux was able to throw more Ethers on the player rather than the healer trusts.

I didn't notice that, ty.

However, I think I had dhartok maybe at 60% or higher when I ran out of MP. 160MP on 90 second cooldown, assuming he feeds every one of them to me, that would only add up to 1066MP in 10 minutes.

The refresh set I used adds 270MP every 90 seconds which I was able to wear the majority of the fight. With some adjustments could push it to 330MP every 90 + what ever flume +1 and ethereal earring adds on top.

The only way I could see this approach making sense is if my current strat caused monberaux to target joachim which could prevent him from dropping below 75% MP and therefore favor other songs over ballad.
I'll rewatch it but I think marutai only had 4-5/tic refresh for the most part of the video.

These things stack; your refresh set and its potency has no interaction whatsoever with Monbro. If you want more MP, you should be accepting of all suggestion on how to get more MP, not dismiss them as inconsequential because they don't match or out-do other methods of obtaining MP.

This is what he said when he pointed out you're being dismissive. You're throwing up random objections when people give you advice and talking about why the idea sucks or isn't practical.

Also: if you're having MP problems, I've already solved all of them for you: bring vile elixirs and coalition ethers. You can have infinite MP if you want.

It doesn't matter how much refresh he had in his video, you are clearly not able to replicate that and should focus less on trying to do his entire setup 1-for-1 and focus more on fixing the problems you're having. Maybe he can do this with 0 refresh in his idle set, that doesn't change anything about you running out of MP, does it?

And here is me thinking you were bitching about MP issues.... clearly you dont have MP issues and dont need an extra 160 MP per 90 secs.

Also Ethereal Earring and Flume belt, if that haven't been mentioned yet.

The 2 vile elixiers will definitely help a bit but a one time 75% MP bar does not get rid of 60% of Dhartoks HP; and let's be honest, even if I had the inventory space for "infinite MP" via coalition ethers, that'd be the equivalent of dawn mulsum brute forcing. Nice for a demonstration video or a one time clear but not practical for daily farming.

I think it does. Let me explain, Creaucent's suggestion was:TL;DR: Go defense -> trusts waste less MP healing so monberaux can spend more of his ethers on me.

In order to go defense I'd have to sacrifice refresh options which would drop me from 9-11MP/tic to maybe 3-5MP/tic.
1 tic takes 3 seconds, monberaux's Dry Ether (160MP each) has a cooldown of 90 seconds, best case scenario:
90seconds / 3seconds = 30tics

Defense set: 5MP * 30tics + 160MP = 310MP
VS
Refresh set: 11MP * 30tics = 330MP

In reality I'll miss a bunch of tics due to casting and monberaux will not spend 100% of his ethers exclusively on either the trusts or me.
Unless my math is off or I'm missing something the refresh set should return slightly more MP.

If I was attempting to imitate marutais setup 1-for-1 I'd go full defense because that's what he did in his video. Instead I attempted to, at least partially, remedy my MP issue with a refresh focused set.

I genuinely don't see the "randomness of my objections" or that I'm overly dismissive. I'm trying to provide constructive feedback but apparently it's perceived as personal attacks.

Anyway, I appreciated the input.

The only suggested set anyone has given you in this thread was for your nukes, so I think you're mistaking the advice being given?

He's saying "Your nuking set has terrible DT, so you're taking a bunch of damage and then Monbro can't heal you"

Nobody has made any suggestions for your idle set that I've seen, unless I somehow missed them?

There's a lot of room for refresh in a defensive idle set, you don't need to put on 75% DT and every single meva piece you own, and nobody has suggested that. Maybe you're having discussion with yourself outside of this thread, or comparing two of your own sets that we've never seen before?

w/r/t coalition ethers, I don't really see it being unsustainable if you need them, they're 2500 bayld each. Even if you use 10 per run (1500 MP) that's like...1.5 coalition assignments, or maybe 10 minutes of your time? Assuming you don't have millions stockpiled already, of course.

Using Cohort and Amalric+1 are terrible for defenses, macc and also no refresh while casting unless you are sacrificing MAB in other places for refresh. With the EMPY+2/3 pieces you have much higher defenses and more refresh while casting.

Its not personal attacks you are just dismissing everything you can change to make your set up better because its "20 less MP per 90sec". You also aren't factoring the time you are casting with NO refresh since you aren't using the EMPY+3 body.

So lets knock off a third of the 11mp ticks due to casting so 10 ticks.

220mp over 90sec and then with Monberaux it would be 380mp over 90secs.

Now lets factor in EMPY+2 body for those 10 ticks and Monberaux.

We are now at 410mp over 90sec.

TL;DR your math is wrong and you are actually getting less MP back in 90sec.

It would also help to know what pieces you are actually nuking in as well.

ItemSet 396786

Massive survivability, 11-13 tic refresh (6 if you don't have both swords), 5% damage converted to MP

He said, and I quote again:
He didn't mention the nuking set and common sense would suggest he's refering to idle/engaged because that's what I'd spend wearing the majority of the battle once magic hammer stops working and therefore also where most of the DMG taken takes place.

I mentioned that I got Dhartok to around 60% HP befor magic hammer stopped working, that were 5-6 magic hammers + refresh set to replenish my MP pool which is around ~1400-1700MP.

But let's say I get Dhartok down to 50% befor magic hammer stops working and vile elixiers were used up. Let's also calculate with 1400MP and 5 magic hammers just to make the math in favor of your point.
Coalition ethers are 150MP each:

5 * 1400MP = 7000MP
7000MP / 150 = ~46 coalition ethers

Coalition ethers are instant use but let's pretend I'll gain another 900MP while using the coalition ethers from sources like refresh and monberaux dry ether and we'd still be looking at 40 coalition ethers.



maxentius and kaja (considering septoptic +1 as suggested above),empy +2 legs, feet and hands, pemphredo tathlum, sanctity necklace or Erra Pendant, cohort cloak +1, stikini +1, metamorph +1, Rosmerta or Aurist's cape +1, Aurist's belt +1 or orpheus sash.

I only work with empy +2 body right now but you're right, body should fit in precast, midcast and engaged set and therefore benefit the 3 refresh full time. That's finally a legit argument to drop cohort for empy head + body, thank you for that.



If you suggest a 1 000 000+ gallimaufry weapon to someone asking for sortie solo advice who still struggles to +3 most of his empy set you might as well reply with:
"If you're having point problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but MP ain't one."

Half of the refresh in my idle/engaged set are based on defense sacrifice swaps, rawhide or herculean pieces, stuff like. Flume +1 and ethereal earring are already considered and implemented.

Prime weapons and odyssey equipment are completely out of my reach.

Considering we have been only talking about your nuking set, Cohort Cloak and Amalric, why would you think I was ever talking about your idle set?

That being said you are probably taking a lot of damage in your idle set too. What are you using for when you arent casting while fighting the boss?

Soooo I was kinda neutral to the comment, that you're being dismissive, but if you see that set and dismiss it, because there is one item there, that is out of your current reach, then I would say they are right about you.

I even assumed you don't have those swords and wrote the refresh value without them. the point of that set was to show many pieces that you can use. If you don't have something, you can get it or find alternatives. It sounds like you prepare for longer grinding, so I assumed you will try to improve your gear over time.

Doing a basement boss solo isn't person-who-still-struggles-to-+3-most-of-their-empy-set friendly. It's generally for anti-social masochists who want avoid meta/people or flex on their favorite job because they already have everything they need.

You can see BLU, RDM, and SCH doing this because it's fun for them. And then there was that 1 WAR that just absolutely spanked this guy and impressed a lot of us.

For every day soloing, I'd pick either a SCH or RDM because they are significantly easier to do consistently but they also require significant gear and understanding of their jobs and the mechanics of the fight. The answer to how do i solo this to speed up getting gear, is already have that gear. If you want to keep going on BLU, then keep trucking until you have more of it +3 and try it again.

Fledgling BLU here. Started playing the job after years of ignoring it and I love it.

I'm thinking about making Tizona instead of Burtgang now, but I wonder: is Tizona as mandatory if I already have Naegling and Maxentius?

Depends on what you mean by "mandatory". You can get by for a long time without it, but there are certain times when it will be essential or VERY helpful. Notably:

When Savage is affected by the WS wall, using Expiacion can make you still a viable DD
The MP conversion can be really helpful for the (admittedly rare) situations where you run out of MP while doing content
AM3 can help quite a bit with getting TP in situations where you're starved for other ways to get fast TP (Samurai Roll)

It's a fantastic weapon either way though, can't go wrong with picking one up.

In general: not mandatory at all.