Hume Black Mage for higher HP/Str....Is it worth it?

[Flarez]

Tomorrow I finally get FFXI for PS2 and I was wondering if it is worth becoming a hume black mage for a bunch of different reasons. One was that I dont really like the way tarus look. Two is that humes get higher hp, str and vitality, and evasion. This would be much better when I plan to get a red mage side job later, which would stack on more spells and debuffs. So would it be better to become a hume blk/red mage or a taru blk/red mage? :confused:

[GeNiN]

pick whichever you want, stat wise taru would be best, I wish i had chosen taru for race, not for stats but for....well they're just cool hehe :sweat:

[Coinspinner]

Hume BLM for higher HP/STR/VIT: No, not worth it.

Hume BLM to avoid being a Taru. Yes, worth it.

[almighty_boof]

Can I answer your question with a question? Are you going to be meleeing up there with the PLD and the MNK, or are you going to be sitting back with the TARU and blasting the $#!t outta the bad guy? I'm a TARU and it is fun being able to blast the crap outta the bad guy, while I got my nice pet meat shields to gaurd them from me. If your a TARU, you won't be able to withstand more than 2 or 3 hits, but you deal so much more DMG! Also a HUME would last longer than a TARU, but you shouldn't be getting hit anyways. The STR, VIT and such don't really matter when it comes down to it, because you are a mage class, mages don't really use it very much. I'm not going to suggest either to you, because it is your choice. TARU you have more DMG dealing and are limited to a few classes that you can actually excel in. While with a HUME, you will live a little longer, and can pretty much decide on a different job if you get sick of one (But how could you get sick of BLM?! ^_=)

I think both are pretty good choices.~

[riceburner4540]

i dunno, i sometimes find myself wishing i had better meleeing capabilities...

hume blm/whm love my race/job...wish i had more mp and int but i'm offsetting these with equipment. just got my dark staff which helps with healing a LOT O_O!! current int bonus is +27 with food, once i hit 54 it'll be +29. still, i'm not quite as strong as a good taru blm in terms of damage but i'm as good as the average taru, except i look much sexier.

ideally, you won't ever get hit if you have an awesome tank so the hp boost of being a hume is worthless...however, we all know things almost never happen "ideally". is it enough to choose hume over taru? probably not. planning on becoming a hard core black mage? go taru. otherwise a hume is perfectly acceptable.

[AtraposBLM]

if you plan on playing basically just blm and rdm, stick with a taru. The extra MP you get for free is a real help in all levels.

If you want any chance to play other jobs without waiting longer for parties, pick a hume.

Personally, I'd pick a taru. You'll be able to learn the mage jobs easier (more MP to work with, more room for mistakes), and when you want to melee, you'll have the knowledge to make it work (good gear, meat mithkabobs, smart playing, etc.).

If you want to start off playing a melee job, pick a hume. By the time you want to try being a mage, you'll have the knowledge to make it work (good gear, melon pies, MP conserving, etc.).

Knowledge can overcome any racial handicapping, but the "best" races are definately easier to learn with than the less-than-ideal races. I wouldn't tell any first time player to play a Galka blm, simply because to play one effectively, you need expensive gear, and you need to really know how a BLM works to be effective. Similarly, I wouldn't tell a first-timer to pick a Taru warrior (or monk), as they'll probably just get themselves (and a lot of parties) killed. Once you learn the game, you'll be able to make anything work.

For first-timers who can't make up your mind, pick hume or mithra. You'll be able to play anything well without *much* experience, and you'll be able to change if you don't like what you're playing. If you know you want to be a mage, pick a taru off the bat and save yourself the trouble of having to buy astral rings and other expensive gear until much later :P

[riceburner4540]

i picked hume even though i knew i wasn't gonna be anything other than a black mage...when i first started, i couldn't stand the sight of tarus ^_^;; i've grown to love them though, sometimes i wish i had chosen taru instead, but i dunno if i'm willing to give up my hume sexiness

[almighty_boof]

AtraposBLM, you said that he/she should choose HUME or MITHRA for balanced classes. Well, i didn't thinik MITHRA was a very balanced class. They are just fast, aren't they?

[riceburner4540]

same hp/mp stats as hume, slightly lower str, vit, chr, mnd. much higher dex/agi

[AtraposBLM]

Mithra's make arguably better mages, and melee's (accuracy being more important than damage, as damage is easier to compensate for) than humans, and clearly better THF's and Ranger's.

To be honest, mithra's are the better "general" character than Humes, although I'm sure they'd argue otherwise.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter much. In the beginning, I regretted picking a taru as I wanted to try out some of the melee jobs. With some inspiration from players like Locjai, Soy, and Hamasaki, I've found that Taru melee really IS possible, and that with some determination, anything will work in the game.

The problem is that not everyone has that required talent, so I still say that you should pick the race most suited for your job.

Best race for job:
BLM - Taru by a wide margin. Best INT and best MP, the only 2 things a blm cares about. Other races will have a hard time, and will have to learn about MP conservation and resting mid-battle much earlier than a taru will. However, Taru BLMs tend to overaggro and get themselves killed...so caution :P

WHM - pretty much any race can make a good whm. Best 2 races (imo) are Taru and Elvaan. Taru's for having the most MP, and Elvaan for having the most MND. An elvaan's additional MND won't really be noticeable until the upper levels, so they're harder to play at early levels, but they start to shine around lv50+.

RDM - IMO, a taru by a wide margin, due to having about the same HP as MP, so a Taru that converts gains more than any other race. However, all races can make good RDMs, as most groups just want a Refresh-Hoe, so the extra MP is just bonus

DRK - any race can make a good drk. Best IMO is a GLK, as the drk really doesn't cast very often, so a Galka's limited MP pool isn't such a problem here. Higher str from a galka, with better dex and vit than an elvaan, and you have a job that galka's can shine in. Needs a lot of +dex and +accuracy gear to work

SAM - any race makes a good one. Humes and Mithra's make the best

RGN - Mithra's only should be the warning on this. Taru's and Hume's can also make decent rangers, but other races will spend a SHIT load of gil on wasted arrows. In later levels, +ranged accuracy isn't so hard to find, so other races aren't so gimped, but getting there will cost a lot more.

NIN - anything. With damage negation, HP are almost not needed. Anyone with a lot of gil for blink powders can make this work as a tank. As far as a damage dealer goes, I have no knowledge, as I've never seen a damage dealing ninja :P

PLD - Arguably hume's make the best PLD's. Good stats everywhere it counts, and no real shortcomings. Better MP than elv/glk, better hp than taru/mithra, better chr than a mithra/galka, Hume's are very good paladins. Any race can make this job work, however, and each race requires a little different playing style. Hardest is arguably Taru, but I've seen some Taru pld's that do amazing things.

THF - Again, Mithra's make the best thf's. I haven't seen a non-mithra thf above lv35 (they exist, I'm sure, but I'm saying I haven't partied with one since the 20s or so), so I don't know how well other jobs are at it, but THF really shines with a mithra.

DRG - Arguably Galka or Elvaan. With +acc traits (drg has them), any race can make this work.

SMN - Taru, without question. Only race to have enough MP to really pull it off, but this class is so gimped it really doesn't much matter. I've only seen 1 summoner above lv37, and he was also a lv75 whm (name of Kulgan on Midgardsormr) who had Fenrir and every other summon.

BRD - +Chr gear is so easy to find that just about any race can pull this job off. Needs an active player to be good. Best race is probably Taru, as they'll have the most mp from a /whm sub, but that shouldn't matter much.

WAR - Warrior is so versatile that pretty much any race will make it work, provided they work towards their race's advantages. Warriors are highly underestimated after the 40's, but are also surprisingly good.

MNK - Anything but a taru will work good enough. I've heard the arguments for and against taru monks, but from what I can tell, this may be the one job that a taru REALLY can't do. Who knows, maybe I'll sign on on sunday and see a lv75 taru mnk to prove me wrong. Ah well.

[thebizzy]

If this is your first char, I'd go with hume if you don't know if you really want a caster for life. Thing is, if you're taru you have to consider not being picked for AE groups and goblin bombs. Like at level 60 most taru's can't take a bombs after another. But if you do go hume, you can take the hp to mana route. Basically by level 70, it starts becoming good to be taru becuase your exp areas have a lot more space to survive and play backup healer a good load since your mp will be better than the WHMs. Kinda hard to start a taru early till you get stoneskin + blink since you die in few hits.

[wyzat]

is the MP and int diffrence so noticalbe big between taru and hume? I wanna go hume beasue i alwasy wanna play a thf drk or ranger somewhere along the line but im starting with blk/whm and possible brd lol idk.... But it just seems if theres 2 same level blks one hume one taru the taru will get picked :/ isnt there hp to mp gear to make up for the less mp of a hume....? I would think with the right gear hume is more all around being able to either take more hits or area of effect attacks or havcing same MP as a taru

[thebizzy]

Originally posted by wyzat
is the MP and int diffrence so noticalbe big between taru and hume? I wanna go hume beasue i alwasy wanna play a thf drk or ranger somewhere along the line but im starting with blk/whm and possible brd lol idk.... But it just seems if theres 2 same level blks one hume one taru the taru will get picked :/ isnt there hp to mp gear to make up for the less mp of a hume....? I would think with the right gear hume is more all around being able to either take more hits or area of effect attacks or havcing same MP as a taru


During high end game there's plenty of hp to mana equip for nearly every slot, but taru do have more base int and mana that's noticable. Taru that don't have stoneskin and blink are stuck with getting hp gear since at lower levels they'll be killed easily, which is why people dislike tarus as WHM, since they're so important. depending on what you fight, humes can be better in situations i.e. sleep required. Taru brds can have a hard time at BCNM's because they go down too fast to heal.

All in all, race matters little. Humes will have a faster time to 70 but tarus that can control hate + have good elemental resists is preferred over an AEer since taru can cast and do decent damage with partial resists without having to wait for a certain element nuke's recast like a hume.

The only job taru is guaranteed to be well suited for is BLM and SMN, but generally should be mp dependent jobs. Galka is for highest end game melee damage.

[wyzat]

meh as long as my hume blk/whm gets invites and is just seen as a space filler im happy

[shwiggy]

The only time I'm actually thankful that I'm not taru is during bcnm events, since we do them without a bard and I have to sleep 4-7 mobs. When I get hit for 120 a taru gets hit for 150 with the same gear with 150 less total hp. In all other situations though, taru advantage is pretty staggering higher up =0

Hume look better though so pick your choice ;p

[AtraposBLM]

taru will have a ton more MP for free, and to be honest, AoE is EASILY avoidable. Just stand further away. As far as bards in BCNMs, taru's might have a harder time learning how to sleep as they die fast...but not by much. With all the defense he'll have (he's eating boiled crab for christ's sake, and will have Minne on), the mandra's will hit him like school girls, so his lack of HP isn't an issue. Then again, I've only had the bard die once, and it was because she had like +4 chr (she was a hume too).

Taru whm's are also sought after, as a whm will draw aggro *less* than a black mage, so their lower HP means even less. It does mean that early on, benediction = run or death, while an elvaan/galka might actually live till the mob is dead.

The difference in MP between a taru and a hume IS large. I tend to have 100-200 more mp than a hume with +mp gear, and 150-250 more mp than a hume with +int gear. A taru will always be a much more effective black mage. Does that mean a hume is useless? No. Just means the taru will get picked first.

You won't feel the difference until lv50-55, where grouping becomes harder and people start thinking that melee's can replace blm's (they can't).

With good gear, a hume can get like +100-+150 mp, meanwhile, a taru wearing JUST +mp gear (without resorting to things like astral rings or hairpins and the like) will STILL have 100-150 more mp than a hume. Yes, your mp is workable, but a taru will be able to kill that random extra-tough mob that gets pulled occassionally, while a hume will either have to Manafont or start resting.

Mithra's will have more MP than a hume, and their RSE gear makes up for the mp difference even further.

[Coinspinner]

Originally posted by AtraposBLM
Mithra's will have more MP than a hume, and their RSE gear makes up for the mp difference even further. [/B]

By 4, but only if the Hume decides not to wear his RSE Gloves. Although he could just get New Moon Armlets and have 4 more MP than the Mithra. And Humes will have 3 more Int from their boots.

[Flarez]

You people have confused me even further...lol. Anyway I turned out to be hume. Believe me, from what I've experienced so far, for more exp I've had to go solo a lot, and getting hit for a lot of damage each time puts me at a major disadvantage. Being a taru probably would have made it worse. And I also think that even if you are in a good party, if they dont have your back you should be prepared. Im so far lvl 7 and my vitality is 10 or 11 I think, most monsters at the same lvl that attack me don't take away too much.
I know I'm probably much weaker than a taru blk mage but later on in the game I might change jobs or melee a little more. Or I might be able to buy some good enhancing items. All in all, I think hume was a good choice so far, but I do think I'll find myself regretting my choice later on in the game...

Oh yeah, and one more thing! I've found that no matter how far away you stand from a monster if you're engaged it can still attack you. One time I was with a party I wasnt even engaged and somehow the monster got to me and almost killed me...:confused: whats up with that?

[Yuanlung]

:sweat: :sweat: :sweat: :sweat:


Ok, it will probably be very benificial to you if you would read one of the FAQ's that's stickied.


For level 1-10, most people play solo. Full parties do not really work out well at this point. However, a duo does. I leveled in a pair with a white mage through my lowbie levels, and it just made things much easier.

Black mage is not physically strong, no matter what race you are. You are not supposed to get hit. Even a Galkan BLM can go down pretty quickly.


When they talked about standing away from the battle, they meant to avoid area attacks directed at your tanks. At your level, it would be things like goblin bombs and yagudo leg sweeps.

In a party setting, if a monster goes after you, it means you have been nuking too much. Slow down. Wait for the melees to work on the monster a bit before you start. Wait a few seconds between each cast.