Which does more damage? Elemental spell or -ga spell?

[Kamakazik]

In some of my EXP PTs (as another job), the BLM casted Firaga instead of Fire on 1 single enemy. He said it did more damage and was more MP effective.

Just want to know if this is true or not:
Do -ga spells do more damage than just the elemental spell?

[bbcradical_ed]

-ga will do more dmg to a single then a normal 1 target spell.

The way I look at it (may not be right but makes sense to me), is that for a -ga spell, lets take Firaga and Fire. Fire will target 1 mob and do dmg. Firaga will target as many mobs in its area. The more mobs mean the Firaga dmg, which could be considered to be at 1 dmg limit, would be split among the mobs.

Example:
Fire vs a gob - 100 *making these numbers up*

Firaga vs 10 gobs - (lets say base firaga dmg is 1,000. 1,000 divided by 10 = 100 per gob, so each takes equal dmg).

But Firaga vs 1 gob - 1,000dmg because that base dmg of Firaga has no otheres to split between, so that 1 little gob takes all the dmg.


Hopes it makes some sense

I don't know how they actually calculate the dmg and all, but this is how I look at it

[Yuanlung]

The -ga version of a spell is about the same strength as the single target spell of the next level up.

It's only MP efficient if you are using it on a burst.


Also don't forget that when ever you cast -ga, you are taking a risk of splashing onto something near by and cause an add. :sweat:

[Olliey2k]

I remember the first time i used Stonega not realising that it attacked more than one enemy at a time. Managed to aggro about 15 mobs :p

[zorca]

I don't think those -ga spells are more mp efficient...however, there're times (ie: exp chains) u wanna MB with the best spell u've got and that's the only time u would wanna use -ga spells in an xp pt

[AtraposBLM]

-ga spells are weird in exp parties. Without elemental seal, my firaga III does ~550 or so damage. With elemental seal, it does ~800 damage. In a burst, it does ~1000+ damage. IMO, the only times to use -ga are on chain 5 with elemental seal, or in a magic burst. Their huge amount of bursting damage is usually the most mp efficient spell you can cast. I've found that -ga's are more easily resisted during regular spell casting, so it's generally not worth it to cast them then.

[zorca]

Emm, not really The -ga spells are just like all other spells, so they should have the same resistance rate.

Also, for example, after I got firaga3 I always MB-ed with it when I know I wouldnt steal aggro (ie: thf doing fuidama on nin tank to end a renkei) then I would restup (with darkstaff) a bit, and finish off the mob with more nukes.

If your melees like to renkei at start, then maybe it's not a good idea to MB with the best -ga spell. It really depends how good is ur tank, and ur knowledge about doing the best dmg w/o stealin hate (aka gameplay experience lol).

[riceburner4540]

the damage on -ga spells is really odd. it is indeed the strongest spells for bursting while being reasonably mp efficient, but as far as doing equivalent damage of the normal version 1 level up (i.e. firaga = fire II) on 1 target, it seems correct so far but i've seen firaga III doing way more damage than fire IV. maybe there's some exceptions.

as far as damage on mobs, they're much, much, much more efficient. for example, my firaga II damage does about 500-550 damage non-bursted. on 2 mobs, it would do about 450 to each, on 3 mobs 380-400 to each, and it goes down the more mobs i get. if i get 10+ mobs, it'll do exactly half of its max damage on everything, so instead of 500-550 to 1, it'll do 2500+ total. kinda like casting fire II separately on every single monster. since using them in occasions like this are rare (unless you -ga farm or something), they're generally used to MB only when its safe on the later chains.