The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

Alternative tp sets are provided on the front page of this thread. If you dont like Adhemar, look into geltis body instead. Gketis legs are also solid but I find i have a *** of a time capping haste without Malignance legs on. I always have kirin belt on my tp sets so can't make up haste there.

Also, for what it's worth, I use those Adhemar swaps in Dynamis a d never have issue with survivability. Don't understimate barrier tusk, cocoon and occulation.

My issue with the front page is it does not handle the difference between AM3 up/down (or cor rolls) which is a huge deal

AM3 down Eponas beats chirich +1 AM3 up its reversed
AM3 down Adhemar gloves is a big boost in TP speed. but with AM3UP its slight slower compared to malignance and missing the defensive traits
AM3 down DA cape beats STP cape. AM3 up STP cape beats DA cape
AM3 down coiste bodhar eats augur orb +1 with malignance set. but AM3 up is reversed.

AM3 and Cor rolls are huge impact on the balance between MA and STP in your TP set. keeping the same cape along can be a loss at up to 5% speedup of TP gains

It's a guide for new players. By the time a player gets Tizona + full malignance, they are going to be better off using the All Jobs python tool to min-max their own gear vs. a specific target, or getting into the weeds with other BLU here in the comments, rather than going with prefab sets.

There's nothing stopping you from writing your own guide if you disagree, however.

The author of this guide passed away earlier this year, so it's unlikely the front page will be updated again.

Savage -> Expi (Distortion) is probably ideal anyway to maximize DPS when self skillchaining, right?

I'm a relatively recent Tizona R15 owner, and while Expiacion is comfortably my spammable go-to for pure WS damage, I've had to adjust to Expi not SCing with itself like so many other jobs' notable WS. Since Savage with Tizona is pretty solid too, I've assumed (but not tested closely) that, in general, if I'm not getting SCs interrupted by others, Expi->Savage plus the additional Distortion damage is probably enough to make up for the decrease in WS damage from using a Savage Blade. Do people here disagree?

FWIW, using TP bonus Thibron offhand and pretty high end but not flawless WS set (e.g., no R30 Ody gear).

Some report savage->expi=distortion works best, others say requiescat->expi=darkness is better. I think it depends on target weakness so depending on circumstances both can pull ahead.
Advantage from darkness is you can add the occasional burst affinity tenebral MB on top which you'll have equiped most of the time and will have to cast for the def down anyway.

please read the context of which you are replying to.
I was not saying the guide was bad. I was responding to the prior post on why I wasn't just looking at the sets in the front pagee as he suggested

This debate started with me asking for thing I missed to swap in TP set for AM3 up/down.
Atrox78 then said "read the front page" not understanding why that is not the answer to my question
So I clarified why that is not the answer to my specific question.

besides weaknes you also have highly different dps factors here
SB +EXP = 2strong ws + 0.6 of a strong ws
Req +expir = weak WS + strong ws +1.0 of a strong ws

Napkin math you req has to do more than 0.6 of the damage of EXP/SB with you to come out ahead

in other word if you req sets is poor SB+exp is going to pull ahead

No set is going to make Requiestcat do close to 60% of Savage / Expiacion damage... atleast on any target that matters.

With "besides weakness" he already whiped away the case where I assume people observed it pulling ahead, not to mention the burst affinity TC MB.

I guess if you have high/max nyame augs it tilts in favor of savage->expi more often than not because I think both WS scale a lot better with it than what ever odyssey armors do for requie. If you're still dealing with a mix of adhemar +1, herc, ambu and REMA armor +2/3 imho it's a closer race between the two.

If you're in mostly beginner gear, getting up AM3 then spamming CDC isn't a horrible option

It's good to know your SC options regardless. Not only for when you can score the extra damage by hitting them but also so you can know when to NOT. Such as when *** mobs rage when they get hit with water element SC's or when you are forced to have WS variance by the WS wall(I hate you sortie).

Poor wording on my part if it sounded like i meant othewise. I agree with this
Maybe it should have flipped it said said if you SB WS set is crappy and req is good it could pull ahead.

But yeah SB +exp is my go to when not spamming ws with others

IIRC day/weather also impacts SC dmg. Dark weather is pretty much omnipresent in FFXI current endgame, so this should be considered, unless your distortion and darkness deals cap dmg by default.

Good point
I believe SC has chance to proc weather bonus, and you can force it with obi just like with spells