After playing this job, I'm going to say the same thing that most women do when they meet me in real life. "I never want to see that thing again" Happy Valentine's Day Travelers
This job is pain incarnate. But I've always wanted to play it every since FFXI was the MMO. Never had a strong enough PC or a PS4. So a little over a year ago I bought a PS4 Pro. I learned that I hate BLM because your skill level depends on how much you obsessively know every single encounter in the damn game. But I can't drop it, because I've been wanting to play BLM for over a decade. I am a BLM whether I like it or not. BLM in 5.0 and above is the absolute worst.
@@SilverRiMiX depends on the fights. some are actually horrible (looking at you, Dalriada) but others are well managable even with little knowledge about them. The more you play BLM the more comfortable you get with weaving in your triple, swiftcast, xenoglossy and proccs whenever something forces you to move you didnt anticipate. Sure, you dont go 100% potential, but 80-90% is managable even without knowing the fights. ...unless they are horribly designed and force you to move extended periods of time. Then there is no way around it.
I personally watched this about 7 months ago for the giggles I think. But about 2 days ago the way you worded a lot of stuff made it really easy to help my friend who insisted on starting as black mage get the most out of it as he leveled. It also helped me when i picked it back up and had to relearn rotations on the fly while in synced dungeons *shivers* Thanks again for the effort.
"also known as the 'are you fucking kidding me' combo" "dying is the worst possible thing to happen to your damage" as a BLM main i felt that. i also dont even know why im watching this video.
I'm levelling BLM atm and i'm bad at it. But scathe does have one single use: In lower level dungeons, you can cast it while running as your tank pulls wall to wall. It ain't much, but it's honest damage.
I keep Scath for this exact reason (and the mobs that live with 1 hp....) It’s also great for the times you have to do low level content as a max character and want to feel even more badass as you flick your wrist and one shot everything.
He thinks he's bad. I forget to see my mana is low and can't read the prompt bc of flashy fighty fighty lights and keep pressing fire without actually casting anything for about 20-30 seconds and when I realise it, my mana is too low to switch to ice so I just stand there for another 30 seconds as man's regenerates. Yes I started as a THM.
I almost gave up playing BLM multiple times while leveling because the spells all seemed so disjointed. Once fire 3 and Firestarter and freeze got unlocked the class started making more sense.
This is why I tell people you can not judge a class until it's max level. Especially in this game, you have no true concept of the class until you have it all done. Back in the day with Bard, once you were max level you got cast bars to your arrows meaning you couldn't move and shoot. People leveling bard said it was the best class, then I would tell them hit max level first before you say that. Then they got the cast bars and hated the class
I almost gave up because of the fuuucking queue waiting. I have almost only played tank or healer so waiting 15-20 min on most if not every duty is seriously annoying. I thought 5min was long.. even roulette takes sooo much time, I'm convinced 50% of the leveling progress is waiting for a duty pop.
In endwalker the relevant level is 35. That's when you gain the third level of astral fire / umbral ice, fire III / blizzard III, and F2/B2 work like F3/B3 rather than F/B from the standpoint of umbral ice / astral fire transitions. Before that the job feels super misleading "oh spells of the opposite element cost 0 mana, guess I'll use blizzard then to transition to umbral i..." NOPE, using blizzard in astral fire just cancels it and you would need to use blizzard again to transition like a dumb little idiot
I’m not quite sure why I watched this, I have a couple hundred hours put into Black Mage, and I’m pretty okay with it, but 10/10 would despair with 8000 mp again
Hey, if a boss is gonna disappear or "disappear" - looking at you, Relict >:V - Despair is better than casting that one last Fire IV. ... IF you happen to be delayed for any reason, because I've found you typically have enough time to finish the Fire Phase right as they go to do their ironic Little Pigs act
A few quick points that I think are worth mentioning or clarifying: - With higher spell speed, you should precast Blizzard III at 3 seconds instead of 4. I run with ~3600 spell speed, which makes a hard cast Blizzard III close to a 3s GCD. If you precast at 4s, you're going to early pull, get autoed, & have your Thunder III interrupted. - Scathe is most useful as a quick hit before a boss becomes untargetable. If you don't have anything else instant cast, it's free damage. If you happen to be in ice phase with nothing else instant, it's also better than not casting for longer movements. Both of these are rare situations, but it convinced me to keep the cast on an easy to reach button while moving. - On the subject of nearly useless damage, don't forget to manually activate auto attack, since casters don't do it automatically. It's worth a whole 4 DPS, but... - If you have enough spell speed, it's often easier default to casting 4 Fire IVs before the Fire & only cast 2 Fire IVs before Despair. Since Thunder III is often cast as an ice filler, you'll get the most out of a Thundercloud by casting after the Fire this way, & the second half of your fire phase won't be as tight on timing. That Thundercloud is also a great time to weave Triplecast if it's ready, since it'll catch a Despair, making it worth more than if it was just used on Fire IV. If you need to move early, you can always drop back to the 3/3 rotation without issues. 4/2 is just a more comfortable default state. - If you have Triplecast & Manafont up partway through a fire phase, cast a Xenoglossy just before your Despair & weave Triplecast. This allows you to instant-cast 2 Despairs and a Fire IV. As long as you don't have to hold your Triplecast to do it, it's the optimal use. - If you don't need to hold it for movement, use Swiftcast on cooldown. It's a DPS gain just the same as Triplecast is, as long as you weave it. It's also just as useful on Blizzard IV as it is on Fire IV. - Outside of learning the base rotation, positioning is the most important part of playing BLM. IF a boss does multiple half-arena cleaves, drop your Ley Lines dead center so you can stay in them while dodging. If a boss does circle & donut aoes, drop your Ley Lines at the edge of the 2, so you can dodge while staying in. IF the boss targets you with a puddle aoe, drop it at one edge of the Ley Lines, & then stand just outside of it on the other edge of Ley Lines. You're going to use Triplecast on cooldown, so make sure to pre position where you need to be while using it. These tricks don't always work, but it's the kind of stuff you have to think about to get the most out of the class. - While hopefully you'll never need Lucid Dreaming or Blizzard, keep them on a hotbar somewhere. If you drop Enochian with 0MP, you'll need both to recover quickly. It isn't a mistake most will make often, but it does happen. - Also, just for memes, if you ever find yourself with 4000+ SpS, you can ignore Blizzard IV and Fire any cycle where you have Ley Lines or Triplecast. With either or both, you're fast enough to cast 5 Fire IVs and a Despair in one cycle.
you can already ignore blizzard 4 and fire 1 if you have enough sps to cast 4 fire 4s and a despair, depends if you know that you won't need to move for a bit. It ultimately depends on your resources and mana ticks as you enter ice. It's this kind of min max stuff that keeps me hooked on blm, frequent split second decisions.
@@Triggymash I have around ~80 ping, and I can fit in 4F4+Despair at around 11xx sps, which means realistically any lvl80 content can be optimized around never casting F1 or B4 (with proper planning). On the note of 5F4, I can fit in 5F4+Despair in LL's with 17xx sps.
@@brokenyew having more sps gives you more breathing room but like you said, you can totally cast 4 fire IVs + Despair at lower sps. You need ~3600 sps to execute the JP opener if I recall the name correctly. You can actually fit 5 fire IVs + despair if you use despair with Swiftcast at higher sps without leylines. Outside of rotation, I enjoy High SpS with DH and Det because it gives me more consistent result and I can more easily tell if I’ve improved. Unless you just like random big numbers (which I do but o well) or you are trying to get the top parses through super lucky crit rng.
was considering black mage as a starting job for when i actually start playing. your comment combined with this vid made me rethink that decision and i have decided to play monke instead. i will go speak with Curious George.
@@ThePiscesmMended honestly the job is simple at core, the rotation makes sense it’s just when it comes to hyper optimisation it can get very technical. It’s a pretty tough job to learn savage raids with, but outside of that I think it’s very enjoyable at lower levels of play :) The job evolves a lot as you level up, as with most jobs. Shadowbringers was a real holy grail for BLM, you unlock some key traits and abilities that really smoothens out the rotation.
Great video! The best tip I’ve seen for reliable slide casting is adding an emote to your hot bars. Once it brightens/looks ready to use you can move without canceling your spells.
I actually used Sleep to save my party from a wipe situation on a trash pull, only me and the healer left and I gave the healer plenty of time to recover the party back to its feet
Yeah, still useful in dungeons. I've sleep-killed a pack that dropped the tank and healer a couple of times. Either keep them slept while the others run back or kite them one by one.
Not as hard as MNK Me on release: punch things? EZ Release Raid groups: bruh your dps is less than SCH fairy. Me as RDM now: HAVE AT THEE! Raid groups now: both healers down! Me: **Sighs and stops dps for quick cast ver raise then double cast ver raise**
Been a main for BLM since ARR beta. I've seen so much changes since then. I think BLM is one of the unique job that suddenly changes combos once you hit 50, 60, 70, and 80. Hence those useless spells like Blizzard II still exist. None of my Raid mates even tried BLM and they always say something like "oh this raid is BLM impossible". Here I am going on 7 years as BLM clearing every trials and raid content. I personally don't believe any raid are BLM impossible. When people ask me whats BLM like. I say to them it's kinda like having the same anxiety for first time tanking but for every new content. To be a good BLM, you need to know the mechanics. You need to stand exactly where at certain times. Know where the mechani will pull or push you back. The job cannot be reactive but rather responsive. It isn't uncommon for BLM to memorize floor pattern and realize it is there for a mechanic. It's an easy job to learn and also one of the hardest to master.
Yeah anyone who says BLM fight is impossible just don't play the class. THe one thing about BLM is that you do need to know the fights better than the other classes. Since BLM is all about optimizing being in one spot at all times if possible.
This right here is why I loved the addition of allowing the story characters to enter dungeons with you. I used it to learn all the mechanics (Or at least base mechanics) in all the dungeons. Obviously you have additional ones to learn after that on harder difficulties but it allows you to sort out how/where to go for each mechanic perfectly without bogging down a run. Agree with you 100% though. The difference between a decent BLM and a great BLM is knowing where to be and when to be there.
Well, I’m still a fairly new sprout 🌱 with a first leveling 72 PLD, 56 DK and now a 54 BLM as my only DPS and will likely be my one DPS fir a while. If learning to BLM properly is also predicated in learning and knowing many dungeon fights. Then it will just be symbiotic in my way of thinking also joking as two different Tanks primarily and having to know fights, mechanics and all that. A lot different than showing up and just go boom boom. So for me I find it encouraging even if mastering the class takes much effort. Because it just helps to make me even more aware as a Tank what is happening on the back side of the boss. What I’m understanding though and seeing as well, is that as you lvl a BLM the job undergoes many changes in how you play it and rotate spells as that changes much over the entire leveling process and finally getting to max. A bit different way to look at things, but that’s also how I’m looking at it, despite the job challenges in being at the right positions.
I use transpose entirely to preserve enochian during pulls because... because... _I must maintain._ I don't care if it's off cooldown, _I MUST MAINTAIN._ Also, I didn't know slidecasting was a thing until now, I just kinda always did it. Slidecasting has been baked into my mind since I was a Lv1 THM sprout. I slidecast while summoning my mount!
You pointed out something I didn't know that i've struggled with is weaving. I didn't realize i could weave when swaping astral to umbral because of the faster cast time
Not sure why I'm watching this guide as a BLM main who's dropped Enochian more times than I've been dropped on my head as a child, but it sure is fun. Keep up the good work!
the basic rotation on a dummy is like, 5 buttons lol. what makes BLM hard is that you have to fit the braindead rotation into the actual fight + movement. Just hitting the dummy teaches you nothing.
I wanna thank you for this guide. I played black mage in stormblood but in shadow bringer it felt like I couldn't get a grasp on the flow of the job. The biggest issues I had was not knowing how to use my ogcds without clipping and trying to figure out how I get instant casts into my rotations to use my buffs in combat. Additionally I didn't know how to use xenoglysso at all. You thought me about the ability to use the ogcds when going form fire to ice and back. Thanks to you I'm playing and enjoying black mage again
really nice guide. i had lucid on Q and manaward on E, those are most comfortable hotbar keys to use and i wasted it on those skills. will be able to adjust it to something more useful thanks to you !
As a BLM main, I have to say that this comprehensive guide nailed pretty much every point I expected to see and even some I didn't from someone who doesn't main the class (lucid dreaming, scathe, the leveling rotation struggles as examples) and I can honestly say that while I enjoy your content mostly for the humor, this guide is actually extremely well done and is one of the best BLM guides I've seen. Truly, no other class can understand the rage-inducing, blood-vessel bursting moments where random mechanics in savage target you and cover your whole LeyLine, forcing you to move from it for an extended period of time. I'm looking at you, e11s. Overall love the guide, wish I could give more likes and subscribes.
Like pre-moving out of the way of all the boss mechanics And then the tank or healer moving to cover all but a sliver of one's ley lines. This guide is quintessential BLM.
It's worth mentioning that Surecast not only prevents movement, but it prevents certain damage abilities from bosses from interrupting your cast bar (Some mechanics, players Soak them and you end up interrupted. It's not that common though)
there's actually a ton of swag recovery combos I use. Friestarter proc into bliz 3, swiftcast bliz 3, drop enochian after 3 f4 casts then use firestarter and enochian to pick back up in the middle of the fire phase, casually cast bliz 3 and fire 3 back to back if you really f'd up and enochian is on cooldown when you need it. it's why I prefer to use sharpcast on fire rather than thunder because if I need to I can ignore my rotation for a bit and do some fancy stuff with firestarter to get back in it and that's really satisfying.
One thing to add: If you have a Firestarter proc and you go into the ice phase you can use Transpose after using an instant cast, like a thd 3 proc or xeno (and paradox) then after using transpose at max mana cast you can instant cast fire 3. This means your fire 3 will be using the dmg boost from astral fire 1 instead of reduction from umbral ice 3. one of the few transpose shenanigans that is pretty safe and improves potency per second by a little bit for free :D
I find scathe pretty useful for sneaking in extra damage just before an enemy dies, when you would otherwise have no way to cast something else (swiftcast / triplecast on cooldown). So basically on almost evert trash pack at least once. You can use sharpcast to massively increase the damage of scathe, though even in trash packs it's still better to use it on thunder 4, so it almost never good to use it for that.
4:00 This was me as a BLM main doing Emerald Savage, literally the most painful time I've had playing my main job. By the end I had 15k DPS and boy was I glad about that, although it doesn't seem to be that much damage, especially on BLM.
Another neat utility you can put to use is having a stack of Mega-Ethers in your hotbar. They restore 800 MP which is the minimum cost to pop a Despair/Flare, it's essentially a second Manafont with 2 minute longer cooldown.
Back when managing DPS aggro was a thing, Lucid Dreaming was a must-have for BLMs. Now it's just the "Oh crap, I need to rez the healer" button for SMN and RDM to help deal with that MP loss.
BLM main since HW here, Great guide! Loved watching clips of a learning blackmage and getting weird anxiety watching you starting a fire IV cast with 4 seconds left on astral. I am a huge advocate to teaching people the base of the class as just getting into the cookie cutter rotation can be a challenge as the leveling Rubik cube leaves a lot of people unsure about the class. Remember your ABC's of Blackmage Always Be Casting.
Nice trick on BLM is that use sharp cast on fire for fire proc, and if you lose enochain during fire phase, you can use your fire III proc and re-apply enochain, and finish your fire IV with despair.
Started FFXIV as a black mage back in 5.3 and cleared the tier at the time with it. Tried DNC for the first time after that and damn did I feel so good being able to move around the arena whenever I wanted to
I'm a 80 BLM and I never use sharp cast on thunder. I find that thunder procs by itself pretty well so I use sharp cast on fire. But I guess it is my play style. Interesting video! Also, macro AM to get to party members has saved me so much down time when I need to move long distances
The reason I picked up and leveled black mage was because I wanted the casting dress from Copied Factory, but I hated playing red mage and I very strongly dislike summoner, so the only caster I had left to try was black mage and I fell in love with it! It is definitely my favorite class at this point. Great video!!
I get the dislike for summoner, because I'm sure the class seems needlessly convoluted for most, but why the hate for red mage? Does it feel monotonous and boring?
You can manipulate cast time and set up all procs in a few seconds and mimic power of freeze when transition umbral fire and astral ice also can get more procs using the right ability at the perfect time and get 3-8 procs back to back to back combo
I usually find despair is the main reason enochian falls off. You have to be quite familiar with your cast time for despair at your particular spellspeed, and know when you can start to cast it in terms of seconds-remaining on astral fire. Failing to cast despair is probably the biggest hit to black mage DPS there is, since the cast simply fails if enochian drops off mid-cast. You lose enochian and a few seconds of cast time. Missing out on a despair for a fire 4 is also fairly impactful, so its worth casting despair early rather than a final fire 4 if you don't have time to do both. Despair refreshes astral fire, so as long as you can successfully cast it, you will be safe.
I laughed out loud in relief and shared pain at what you said starting at 1:46. Thank FUCK I am not the only person who goes to press Fire to keep AF up, and manages to press anything and everything BUT Fire as my mind blanks entirely, I die to a mechanic I had stopped paying attention to while trying to figure out where I was, and tears stream down my face as I helplessly watch Enochian disappear from my gauge for the third time in five minutes. I swear this job should not conceptually be that hard to play. But I absolutely, positively, FOR THE LIFE OF ME cannot wrap my brain around it, even at almost lv 78 and having spent time in Bozja playing it at lv 80.
Can someone tell me if there's any spoilers in this video so I can safely watch it? I just got to a point in the game at which I'm actually spoiler free (everything that was spoiled to me happen) and I'd love to avoid them 100% from now on.
I use scathe occasionally in dungeons at the end of trash mobs if the tank starts running away and/or the few mobs still alive have so little hp left yet aren't dead (aka when I either have to keep moving with the group or the mobs are likely to die anyway before I pull off any other cast, with xeno/foul being way too good to waste on it). Once or twice in my BLM life I've used sleep during trash mobs as well, in dungeons when the tank has died early after grabbing them all, as a life saving measure to give more time for healer to revive without having to worry about the hp of the rest of the party. While sleep has saved us from wiping, both skills are very niche still, and neither have a place in high-end content.
As a summoner main Black mages taught me all the places on the map that have the least amount of AOE on average. You can always count on the Black Mage to know the exact location to stand and not have to move for 30 seconds.
I keep lucid on my hotbar for one reason. I ran out of mana and dropped enochian after both dying and having used manafont already. And I proceeded to die again as it was my first time in Orbonne Monestary.
Actually the worse your ping is, the earlier you are able to slidecast. This is because the server knows you are currently casting, but there is a larger delay before it realizes you have moved. If you have 0 ping and attempt to move with 0.01 seconds left on the cast, it will cancel, but if you have 500 ping, you can slidecast anytime after 0.5 seconds remaining on the cast.
hahha love the style man, keep 'em coming :D was considering BLM but at first seemed a bit intimidating. Turns out not that much! Thanks! Off to roll one!
Wait where was triple cast in all this? It’s useful when you know you only have little time before you move out of an incoming aoe. Also i used swift cast often because having no utility, it’s an easy fix to speed your rotation. Also having ether is a lifesaver and also add that one last kick in your rotation. Having options will help because boss fights have varied timings.
It's so many Jalen's out here. At my gym I know of 7 Jalen's I play basketball with and 1 time when I was in there it was 5 Jalen's at once including me.
