[Cotners]

Originally Posted by Armando

Gravity is also desirable because it lowers Evasion by 10.

While this is true, it means very little to blms.

[Solymir]

While this may not be pertinent to the original poster yet, this seems like the appropriate place to discuss something I need help with.

I have been soloing Blm lately using /Nin and should hit level 50 tonight. Now I need to decide what the best Support Job for me will be. The majority of people have said that Whm and Rdm are the two best Support Jobs post 50 due to the buffs they provide and the extra mp you get. Generally they list Stoneskin/Blink/Phalanx/Gravity and some other spells and Job Abilities as their reasons. I am going to create a list of what I consider to be the most pertinent spells and abilities for these as Blm support jobs at level 25 and see what y'all think.

I am only concerned with applying this to solo, if I accept a conventional party invite I am pretty sure I will choose Whm unless the leader requests something else.

White Mage
Spells: Blink, Invisible, Sneak, Barspells, Protect, Shell, Reraise, Cure III
Abilities: Divine Seal
Traits: Magic Defense Bonus, Auto Regen

Red Mage
Spells: Blink, Invisible, Sneak, Barspells, Protect, Shell, Gravity
Abilities: None
Traits: Magic Defense Bonus, Fast Cast

As you can see there isn't much to set these two apart at this level. At this time I am leaning toward using Rdm just for the Fast Cast. One thing I want to make sure people are aware of though is the fact that some of the spells people say are the reason they use these two jobs as their Support Job are not even available yet. My guess is they A. definitely didn't look up Stoneskin, Phalanx, Erase, or Dispel and B. did not remember correctly when they were able to start using those spells.

For the record here are those spells and the levels at which they are learned.

Stoneskin: Whm 28 Rdm 34
Erase: Whm 32
Dispel: Rdm 32
Phalanx: Rdm 33

Also, don't forget that using a mage job for the Support Job gives you a slightly better MP pool, and I believe using Rdm gives you a couple of more INT.

[Armando]

While this is true, it means very little to blms.

It should, since a solo BLM is /NIN more often than not >_>

[Cotners]

Originally Posted by Armando

It should, since a solo BLM is /NIN more often than not >_>

You still are not meleeing. /NIN is only for pet soloing and most of those you 1 shot anyway.

[Armando]

You still are not meleeing

Neither do most WHMs or RDMs, that doesn't stop them from directly boosting the melee's damage with Haste. A BLM in a party SHOULD care that Gravity lowers Evasion if you don't have a RDM in the party or your RDM doesn't cast Gravity for whatever reason. It's not just about the lowered movement speed - even if you had a terrific PLD and a THF TA'ing him on top of that, you would still want Gravity on the mob to help the party kill faster.

[Cotners]

Originally Posted by Solymir

I have been soloing Blm lately using /Nin and should hit level 50 tonight. Now I need to decide what the best Support Job for me will be. The majority of people have said that Whm and Rdm are the two best Support Jobs post 50 due to the buffs they provide and the extra mp you get. Generally they list Stoneskin/Blink/Phalanx/Gravity and some other spells and Job Abilities as their reasons. I am going to create a list of what I consider to be the most pertinent spells and abilities for these as Blm support jobs at level 25 and see what y'all think.

I am only concerned with applying this to solo, if I accept a conventional party invite I am pretty sure I will choose Whm unless the leader requests something else.


Also, don't forget that using a mage job for the Support Job gives you a slightly better MP pool, and I believe using Rdm gives you a couple of more INT.

You will want to stay with /NIN until you get stoneskin. /WHM is good for reraise if you dont have the money to spend on rr items. No subjob will save you in the event of a bad pull and/or resist so have rr up at all times.

---------- Post added at 03:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:19 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Armando

A BLM in a party SHOULD care that Gravity lowers Evasion if you don't have a RDM in the party.

We weren't talking about parties. We were talking about soloing, in which -eva means nothing.

[Armando]

We weren't talking about parties. We were talking about soloing, in which -eva means nothing.

You, perhaps, but I was mainly putting it out there for Tokitung, and his sub job question was general, not specific to soloing.

[Tokitung]

I solo on Rdm/Nin as well and understand the wonder that is Gravity. It's even better when you run low on MP and can Dot/Kite the mob around.

Soloing I understand pretty well, but in a party I think that /Sch would do better than /Rdm. They have a better version of fast cast (barring equipping items that would enhance it) and help greatly with conservation of MP. Most parties now days have a Rdm, many times as main healer, so the group would have Gravity from them. All of the other pros from /Rdm are for soloing pets. So I think for parties, I will stick with /Sch as long as there is not a serious need for a back up healer, then /Whm.

[IfritnoItazura]

Originally Posted by Tokitung

I think that /Sch would do better than /Rdm. They have a better version of fast cast (barring equipping items that would enhance it) and help greatly with conservation of MP. Most parties now days have a Rdm, many times as main healer, so the group would have Gravity from them. All of the other pros from /Rdm are for soloing pets. So I think for parties, I will stick with /Sch as long as there is not a serious need for a back up healer, then /Whm.

/SCH is harder to use, since you're restricted to switching back to Dark/Light Arts once a minute. It's also not a good idea to lose Blink and Stoneskin, unless you never plan on nuking big. In a normal pickup party, it's usually better to go /WHM for full-time access to -na and Curaga.

I admit bias; piling all the enfeebling, buffing, and curing work onto a single RDM sounds stupid to me. BLMs should go to parties with a co-healer attitude, unless there are already two healers.

[Tokitung]

Originally Posted by IfritnoItazura

/SCH is harder to use, since you're restricted to switching back to Dark/Light Arts once a minute. It's also not a good idea to lose Blink and Stoneskin, unless you never plan on nuking big. In a normal pickup party, it's usually better to go /WHM for full-time access to -na and Curaga.

I admit bias; piling all the enfeebling, buffing, and curing work onto a single RDM sounds stupid to me. BLMs should go to parties with a co-healer attitude, unless there are already two healers.

Well, luckily Cure spells are not limited to Light Arts, so it would only be necessary to remove debuffs. As for Blink and Stoneskin, again, I'm not even anywhere close to the level need to gain SS from my sub.

As for Blink, I use the advantage I have as Galka to conserve my MP: I can take more hits than most Blms if I get hate (at which time, as I watch and am very aware of enmity, I will back off.) Then I just use drain and heal up the rest of the HP manual while I rest for MP.

It's kinda nice that even with HP->MP gear I still have 450 HP with a 300+ MP pool at level 30 (go go HP/MP merits!.) Most tanks are barely hitting 600 HP at that time.

[IfritnoItazura]

Well, if you can make it work, go for it, but the cast/recast time (and MP cost) increase to White Magic spells makes it very annoying when needing to toss out two cures in a row, especially once you have access to Cure III.

The BLM/SCH's I've had make me skeptical; they always fell under the temptations of Dark Arts and cured little to none. No argument that when one is disciplined with enmity control, the tank is strong, and the party has plenty of curing power, BLM/SCH is great. But, that's three factors to bring into alignment, and a BLM can control just one of them in a pickup group.