BML & chaining

[ravage]

How is it best to be in a party and chain mobs?

I was in a party last night taking on IT mobs and after each one I was at 0MP so I had to rest for ages

If it was a Very tough then I could be ok and have 50% left and then we could take on another VT and then i'd be at 0%

So the most I ever had was a 1 chain.

What am i doing wrong? What should I be doing?

[Coinspinner]

End each fight with about the same MP as the WHM. Not a whole lot you can do about it at level 10.

[riceburner4540]

coinspinner is right, you can't really do much at that level...it'll be much easier to chain later on...around when u get to valkurm

[Scatman]

I dunno, even at Valkurm chains and MBs don't really do a whole lot. It's good practice, but don't expect a great deal out of them until you learn all your elements and at least a couple II spells.

[Taga]

Originally posted by Scatman
I dunno, even at Valkurm chains and MBs don't really do a whole lot. It's good practice, but don't expect a great deal out of them until you learn all your elements and at least a couple II spells.

Try to magic burst with the -ga elements (make sure there is nothing around to agro you) and you should do decent damage. Then once you hit level 50 start magic bursting freeze
:sweat:

[Fippish]

Pretty sure this post is about exp chains, not MB and skillchains.

[riceburner4540]

as was i...my point was that at lower levels, you use up all your mp far too quickly and have to rest...whereas higher levels, it would be easier (imo) to conserve mp, thus, easier to maintain exp chains

[Calianeri]

I agree that you don't need to worry about it too much at level 10, and if you can't get chains don't sweat it. But it's good practice.

Remember that you have some time to spare between the first and second kills. Many people mistakenly assume they need to kill mob #2 immediately, and because they rush they actually lose their chains early. The amount of time varies by level, but it's enough to rest for more MPs, maybe even to nearly full, before you kill mob #2. The time decreases pretty drastically the farther you get into the chain. Perhaps try killing VT - rest 30 seconds - VT - rest 15 seconds - VT (or IT if possible). See what happens and adjust the timing.

Also remember that not all parties can coordinate sufficiently to pull of good xp chains... for the next 20 levels or so, consider yourself lucky if you are in one that can.

Keep trying it, and you'll be prepared for the future.

[Taga]

Originally posted by Fippish
Pretty sure this post is about exp chains, not MB and skillchains.

Think before posting?

Without MB and skillchains there is no way you are getting xp chains later on.

[Fippish]

Well I'd hazard to guess you could chain up to #3 or #4 without a single skillchain or magic burst at level 51. Not that I'd have any reason to try.

But my point was, the person starting this thread was asking how to best chain mobs, not how to do WS chains. Scatman and you obviously were not talking about exp chains. But no reason to argue about it, sure, skillchains and MB help get exp chains, so do those ravage :spin:

[ravage]

Yeah this thread was about EXP chaining, sorry for not having the correct lingo, I didn't realise there were other types of chaining.

What I was meaning was that after one battle I have very little MP and can't really attack more than 2 mobs in a row, so how can I fight 4 or 5 or even more in a row? Just sit back and use Aero once in a while?

[Arctyc]

Pacing. It's a very important concept for a Black Mage. It becomes even more important as you go on.

Every level, every spell, your strategy must change, but in general, the rule of maintaining an MP level comparable with the White Mage holds true. Take a couple of spare seconds between your casts; toss in debuffs before you start nuking if you don't have a Red Mage.

Also, as you may have noticed -- you can blow through your mana really quickly. You don't *need* to start the battle at the same time as the rest of the party (though this practice usually doesn't start coming in really handy until 20+) -- especially considering it takes 20 seconds to get your first 12 (15) MP back while resting anyway (then every 10 seconds after that).

[Calianeri]

For a BLM, MP conservation means slowing down your casting, casting only spells that the monster is weak to (Fire on mandragoras, Blizzard on crabs, etc), and casting the right spell to get a magic burst when your party does a weapon skillchain. Your highest-level spell isn't necessarily the best spell to use, though that's much more true when you get into the late 20s and beyond. Use foods like Apple Pie to increase your max MP temporarily. Also get +MP and +INT gear when possible, and rest as much as possible. There have been some good discussions on that in other threads in this forum.

[OnimeNoKyo]

bit out of topic

Originally posted by Fippish
Well I'd hazard to guess you could chain up to #3 or #4 without a single skillchain or magic burst at level 51.

That is a fact.

Was in a group few weeks ago 55-56 (War/Sam - Brd/Whm - Drg/War - Whm/Blm - Blm/Whm x2) and we were constantly chaining #4 (pretty close to #5) in Kuftal Tunnel deep inside, we had no skillchain going, the Drg was just constantly doing penta, the War armor break + the Brd magic finale.

Blm's were constantly casting Thunder/Thunder2 - Blizzard/Blizzard2 - Aspir. Exp was ok imo, i started with under 500 exp in 55 and almost 6hrs later i was 56.