Drain

[jasmill]

What does it hit for when you first get it at 12? Also, how is the ratio of damage to heal? In other words if I hit for 40, does it heal for 40? Just to give you a baseline, my Aeros are doing 45-50 on decent targets. The spell is sky high at the auction house and I know there is a quest, but I really don't feel like taking a break from leveling to do it. I woudl like to klnow what to expcet before I go burning up lot of gil for something I don't use.

[nervosa]

the quest is quite easy, you need to get beastmens blood witch is droped from a leech (or AH) and trade it with the guy walking around in the sand prison in the castle.

(im not 100% sure on the beastmens blood theres also fiends blood that leeches drop, maybe someone else can back me up)

[Zenyx]

I've read that you need high rank to get it (if you're not from that town, which alot of blm's are from Windurst). I've also read that you need alot of quests done (75ish), not sure if you need both, or if you need 1 or the other.

If that's true it makes it pretty difficult for Windurst blm's to get that spell without buying it from the AH (which it's really expensive in there).

[jasmill]

Both of you sound like you have the spell, but did not answer the question I asked. I know thatthere is a quest, and I also know I am not going to do the quest. My question was "what does it hit for" and "what kind of percentage return will I get heal wise". I appreciate the quest info, but I really just want to know these answers to help me make my decision on whether I buy it or not.

[Zenyx]

I don't have it sorry, for the same reason you don't :(

Wish I did, I'd gladly tell you if I knew. I'd like to know myself.

[Icemage]

When you first get Drain it will deal very little damage, as it is a Dark magic spell (the only other early Dark Magic spell you get is Bio). I can tell you that, with sufficient practice, it can deal well over 100 damage to a target. I've seen level 45 black mages drain enemies for 100+. Any damage the spell deals is given to the caster, so if your spell hits for 50, you'll heal 50 HP (or up to your max HP). Just remember to keep casting it to raise your Dark magic skill or it won't be of any use at all.


Icemage

[jasmill]

That sounds nice. One more question. When you say they are hitting for 100 with drain, how hard would you say they are hitting with their big nuke (assumig all things the same, no weakness or strength for the element, etc). I am just wondering where it will fit in with the other spells I cast later on in life.

On a side note. I am going to start casting bio on everything I see when in a group just to build up my darkness skill so that if and when I do the quest or have 9k laying around I won't have to suck at the beginning.

Thanks for your answer, if you could answer my second question I would be grateful.

[Coinspinner]

9k? Last I checked it was going for 12k-18k on my server. :dead:

[SAVAGE]

Drain is more of a Dark Knight type of spell, yes it is good at LVL 40 i could sometimes draing 150 HP from enemies. I havent seen many BLM do it but it would help you a little, but if you think about it its kinda a waste of your nukin MP.

[dreadlord]

What Level requires this quest ?
And where can I get it ?

[Icemage]

In general, I'd say that Drain hits for about half as much as a "standard" nuking spell. What is nice about it, however, is that it offers a black mage the ability to recover some HP while still putting on some offensive pressure. This is particularly good when your WHM is otherwise preoccupied or is out of MP and you get hit.

To answer the above post, Drain is acquired from a quest from an NPC named Novalmauge. He can be found in the Bostanieux Oubliette, the prison area beneath the Chateau in Northern San d'Oria. The quest requires that you be at least Rank 2 and have at least started Mission 6 for your native country - without those minimum requirements, you can not enter the Chateau (and therefore cannot enter the Bostanieux Oubliette). This quest also requires a fair amount of fame in the city of San d'Oria before it will be offered.


Icemage

[Awntawn]

It does the exact same amount of damage as it heals you, at my level it can range from 70~230 depending on the monster (some are highly magic resistant). I've also magic bursted on darkness skillchains and drained for up to 400 before though. Considering it only needs 20 or so MP, it's easily one of the best spells in the game.

The thing is, if it heals you to full, you will only see the number of how much HP you were missing. Say you are 197/200 HP, it will only say that you drain 3 HP, but it still does the full damage to the enemy. That's why when black mages use it, you often see that they drained 0 HP, but it still does around 200 damage, you just don't see the number.

[Aldo]

even though blm can use it, drk uses it the most. same with aspire. notice these are the only black magic that drk can actually use before blm, that should be telling you something already

[FF Fan]

Originally posted by Icemage
In general, I'd say that Drain hits for about half as much as a "standard" nuking spell. What is nice about it, however, is that it offers a black mage the ability to recover some HP while still putting on some offensive pressure. This is particularly good when your WHM is otherwise preoccupied or is out of MP and you get hit.

To answer the above post, Drain is acquired from a quest from an NPC named Novalmauge. He can be found in the Bostanieux Oubliette, the prison area beneath the Chateau in Northern San d'Oria. The quest requires that you be at least Rank 2 and have at least started Mission 6 for your native country - without those minimum requirements, you can not enter the Chateau (and therefore cannot enter the Bostanieux Oubliette). This quest also requires a fair amount of fame in the city of San d'Oria before it will be offered.


Icemage

I was planning to do the quest for it but I know now that I can't. This is crazy. I am from windurst and I got to get to Mission 6???? That is like level 35+. This spell is difficult to get.

[Harlequin]

First you can buy it at auction second you can get it without having finished mission 5. Rank 2 is sufficent if you are finishing mission 5. You have to enter the chateau to talk to Halver just go down into the obliette and get the quest. (It does require a high fame in Sandoria)

[FF Fan]

Now that I am level 12, I am seriously thinking of drain. It is around 9 K at my server. However, I check out the spell at the spell list and find that it costs 50+ MP to cast. Is this right? I mean I have about 140+ MP now and when going solo it will last 1.5 to 2 battles and if I use drain with it, I might have to use manafont!!! Can anyone confirm?

[dodger1v]

Ok first off. Yes drain uses quite a bit of MP. 51mp to be exact. Doing M6 is not as hard as you think. You need to be level 22-25 to be able to face the dragon. The level cap for the fight is 25. Also in terms of the amount of fame you need in SanD to get the quest for the guy. It takes alot. Ill tell you right now any level 12 mage in SanD getting this spell has done quite a bit of work to get it. I did about 25 quests in SanD and I was rank three already and still did not get the quest.

I think even though you can use Drain at lower levels it is a better idea to save it for later on when you can really do some damage with it and concentrate on using BIO for upping you Black magic skill.

[Reneir]

Drain costs 21 actually. Unless i have a different version. Or did they change the cost recently? Regardless, i find that while it is quite nice to have Drain at level 12, 20,000 gil is a bit extreme... Oh well... i didn't pay it so i guess i won out, huh?