Tanking Blu?

[-Skye-]

I have been blue mage for a while but i never have tanked as one. I know they are not the best tank in most situations but I know some NM they can be a good tank. Can someone explain what kind of Gear/Spells/Atmas would be good for tanking? Thank You!!

[Prothscar]

Just DD and you'll tank. Setting anything specific for tanking is pretty much useless in abyssea unfortunately.

[Defiledsickness]

well you can always eat a Tavnazian taco and cast Cocoon (will pretty much max your defense). You used to use Exuviation and Actinic Burst to grab hate and/or sub war to use provoke. In abyssea you have to out damage everyone else to keep hate and curing others helps too. Unfortunately atma of the Minikin Monstrousity has Enmity- so you'll probably want to use a different refresh atma. with your AF3+2 head/legs/body and a twilight belt, its very easy to cap haste and keep DoT enmity up. (dusk hands/feet will cap you).

delta thrust is good damage, low mp cost, lowers the enemies TP, and has a quick recast (probably worth spamming). you can set spells for Defense Bonus (though you get from subbing war i think). you could also sub Dnc and use Animated Flourish (like provoke but a little less enmity). there are also a few atmas with Enmity on them. one also has haste i think, but all haste atmas count towards Gear haste (caps at 25%) so if you use then you can fulltime spell mod armor or ws mod armor i suppose (or enmity+ or defensive armor).


and remember that taking damage will lower your hate so shadows and evasion can help you avoid getting hit, increasing your chance to survive and your hate.

blue mage gets lots of access to PDT- gear and you might want to macro in a magic defense set for magic casting enemies. and/or cast Saline Coat (low duration, can use amplification as well with a longer duration but less defense). Also Magic Shield is like stoneskin for magic only. so it'll stay up until the monster casts a spell on you.

my last point: HEAD BUTT!!! head butt is amazing as it will stop most mobs from hitting you. with enough haste/fast cast you can keep the enemy from barely attacking at all. it requires Magic Accuracy to actually stun and will slow down your auto-attacks. i normally just use to stop spells or TPmoves when enemies are susceptible to it.

[Kwate]

well you can always eat a Tavnazian taco and cast Cocoon (will pretty much max your defense). You used to use Exuviation and Actinic Burst to grab hate and/or sub war to use provoke. In abyssea you have to out damage everyone else to keep hate and curing others helps too. Unfortunately atma of the Minikin Monstrousity has Enmity- so you'll probably want to use a different refresh atma. with your AF3+2 head/legs/body and a twilight belt, its very easy to cap haste and keep DoT enmity up. (dusk hands/feet will cap you).

delta thrust is good damage, low mp cost, lowers the enemies TP, and has a quick recast (probably worth spamming). you can set spells for Defense Bonus (though you get from subbing war i think). you could also sub Dnc and use Animated Flourish (like provoke but a little less enmity). there are also a few atmas with Enmity on them. one also has haste i think, but all haste atmas count towards Gear haste (caps at 25%) so if you use then you can fulltime spell mod armor or ws mod armor i suppose (or enmity+ or defensive armor).


and remember that taking damage will lower your hate so shadows and evasion can help you avoid getting hit, increasing your chance to survive and your hate.

blue mage gets lots of access to PDT- gear and you might want to macro in a magic defense set for magic casting enemies. and/or cast Saline Coat (low duration, can use amplification as well with a longer duration but less defense). Also Magic Shield is like stoneskin for magic only. so it'll stay up until the monster casts a spell on you.

my last point: HEAD BUTT!!! head butt is amazing as it will stop most mobs from hitting you. with enough haste/fast cast you can keep the enemy from barely attacking at all. it requires Magic Accuracy to actually stun and will slow down your auto-attacks. i normally just use to stop spells or TPmoves when enemies are susceptible to it.

believe it or not in addition to this strategy I use Reactor cool, the paralyze is extremely effective as well for those hits that get thru Occultation.

[Defiledsickness]

the problem with Reactor Cool is you cant stack it with Cocoon, you waste 5set points and get int/mnd from it. also it doesnt make any job triats and it doesn't last very long.

it would be more efficient to use Mind Blast or Frost Breath (especially if your tank build includes HP) for paralyze. if only for cocoon, although you can argue its use inside abyssea or if you already have capped def over the monster. (personally i dont test for those things so cocoon makes my life easier.)

[Scuro]

I personally use more Sub-Zero Smash for paralyze, Cocoon is the better choice, although Reactor Cool, is pretty cool. If you sub /RDM though you can use its spikes, Phalanx, and protect shell (even though its weak, its still somethin). Jettatura used to be a means to pull hate and was a stun, since it allowed you to terrorize the mob,and generates some good enmity. The same applies for Actinic burst which you should always have equipped no matter what, that spell is bread and butter for any type of tanking. I'm more of a supporter for eva tanking, since if you have the right stuff, and atma, you can be a pretty competitive eva tank on BLU, not fantastic as a NIN or a THF, but you can compete for sure.

[Kwate]

the problem with Reactor Cool is you cant stack it with Cocoon, you waste 5set points and get int/mnd from it. also it doesnt make any job triats and it doesn't last very long.

it would be more efficient to use Mind Blast or Frost Breath (especially if your tank build includes HP) for paralyze. if only for cocoon, although you can argue its use inside abyssea or if you already have capped def over the monster. (personally i dont test for those things so cocoon makes my life easier.)

True, but it works for me. Would like to see SE come down on the point count, i could careless about the mods on the spells too much, as i have mac sets for most things.

[Kwate]

Lol also I'm way too lazy to keep casting cocoon, I have an aftermath to maintain.

Too be honest I'm less than impressed with the para on Sub-zero smash, but again to each his own. :cool:

[Scuro]

I would love to see SE give us more defensive based spells, granted we certainly have some nice ones now, but I kinda wanna see more to increase BLU's tankability.

[Kwate]

yeah would like to see this round focus more on buffs.

[Raxiaz]

I would want an aquaveil type of buff, because I think that's pretty nice for a tank that casts spells.

[Kwate]

meh, our spells almost never get interrupted, especially compared to other jobs, a good phalanx, longer lasting DEF/Eva boost type spell is in order.

[Raxiaz]

I tend to agree with you, especially on physical blue magic, but magical blue magic like Magic Barrier and Plenilune Embrace can get interrupted quite easily depending on what you're fighting.

[Defiledsickness]

well the longer dmg spells can definitely get interrupted although you should be kiting or not tanking if using those. but when using Charged Whisker it could be nice. i dont like setting more then 1sleep spell and regurgitation is the only kiting spell i like on blu. but you can already /rdm and cast aquaveil so idk if they'd do that for blu (remember you have to learn spells from mobs).

unless they add new areas i doubt we'll be getting many more buffs.

[Kwate]

Nah I see crystalline cocoon in our near future, I truly believe that.

[Raxiaz]

BLU has a few buffs in store for it on the road to 99. I'm sure of it, even if just because it feels like most of our spells are self-buffs that do very little or feel not worthwhile.

[Kwate]

would love a worthwhile evasion spell, we evade like a brick, it can get rather annoying. But will work with what we get either way.

[Covenant]

/dark knight might offer some interesting buff/debuff options. Specifically absorb-ACC, absorb-VIT, absorb-AGI. Absorb-STR. This more of a damaging tank, but these spells tend to grab a lot of hate at least ad a Darkknight in Abyssea for me it does.
I haven't level blu in a while but I noticed that blu JA's has a ton of stun moves not only headbutt. A play of feather barrier and whatnot could help. AoE healing always grabs a large amount of hate and well as sleep moves. I think I remember several spells having the same level as provoke. Magic burst drains cause a great deal of hate

When i did tank as a blu up to lvl 60(or PuP) I did need to have at least one thief or several /THF jobs to SATA on me. With a bard and /or summoner to lower damage via songs or pacts could be increasing helpful. Unfortunately, this require PRE-Abyssean mentality and party dynamics not seen for a long time now. Most people use the old cookie cutter arguments..."why experiment when this works"....

[Neisan_Quetz]

Party dynamics like that that haven't been seen in a while because, they are inefficient compared to TP/Magic burning (assuming procs are done in Aby/VW/Dynamis) against... almost anything not an Adamantoise/Uraganite in Shell.

Dark skill from sub with no staff is most likely floored unless it has innate Macc bonus i.e. Stun. all the absorbs short of TP (even casting this at high enough haste becomes questionable) are bad anyway you're better off just swinging for damage/enmity.

[Scuro]

ya I gotta agree with Neisan on the /DRK idea... it sounds really cool, but honestly the amount you get back for draining on /DRK isn't enough to really ake it worht while. Stun really isn't worth it because of the low skill unless your doing things out of abyssea, and even then its a bit of a long shot. It was a really high potential theoretical job around level 80.... It just never panned out, much like BLU/SAM to use Sekkanoki + Chain Affinity and create multi tier SC's. It was a really sweet idea, and is fun to do every now and again, yet was an idea that just never really panned out to make it worth while in comparison to subs like /NIN, /DNC, and /RDM. Even /THF is questionable at best these days with what the other 3 subs I listed have to bring to the table for BLU. I would agree that it would be nice to get more evasion spells, since honestly... BLU's that wear physical damage down gear.... no point, we take damage like a b*tch regardless of Cocoon or not. And the amount of evasion gear we can have on our BLU, on top of merits is not half bad. With atmas and such we can be tanks in a pinch and manage fairly decent. Yet there is a lot of untapped potential there lying in wait for SE to give the Green Light to. Although I doubt they would because it would make tanks like DNC, irrelevant.

[Covenant]

I forgot to mention using weapon type damage and killer effects. Picking mobs your strong against helps boost your effectiveness as bluemages. Yeah was just throwing it out there(/DRK) for the additional drain moves and stun. The /war is definitely the best bet or monk for evasion /JA.

Blue, like puppet master often are see duo'n to high level because there is some damage mitigation and "tank" potential. Is it the optimal choice? Of course, not neither is nin when face a multi-strike, AoE mob. Nor is paladin when face critical hitting mobs. Each "tank" have particular roles even within that field. Basically smart play, trump any damage-soaking skill.

If anything Bluemage should get the remaining "killer effects" and through items or gear increase their strength.

[Scuro]

I disagree when comparing BLU's tank capabilities to any other job. While other jobs can tank, and have effective methods of healing. BLU can actually tank in a party situation while others have trouble holding hate and tanking effectively. BLU has spells such as Jettatura which generate massive hate spikes as well as the only ability to inflict terror in the game from a PC; Temporal Shifts massive hate generation as well as stun; Actinic Burst for Flash; means for slowing, paralyzing, silencing, and dispelling; a spam-able means of stun that you can virtually stun-lock mobs with. Means to boost Defense, as well as evasion through spells, and also the killer effects can be utilized well, as long as the party is focused on the one mob the killer effect is targeting. While other jobs have basic methods to keeping themselves alive, BLU can tap into many tools to keep hate, and to also debuff and mitigate damage. To compare such utility to a job like PUP is just unfounded. If anything jobs such as RDM, PLD, and NIN are better comparison. The only reason why they are not used however is the fact that BLU just doesn't get enough innate skill or enough of a boost to make its tank-ability worth while. BLU at the end of a day is a mage; but SE should really take notice to this and actually give BLU the ability to tank more proficiently then it is now.

P.S
Again on the /DRK you have to consider that your drains and stun are at the level of a 45 DRK when a BLU is at 90. So while it can be nice out of Abyssea, in it you can't even hope to dream of landing a bit of it. The reason is that we BLU's are void of any other magical skill unlike other jobs that have multiple magic skills. While Dark Magic + gear effects MP Drainkiss and Osmosis, our Blue Magic Skill does not effect the potency of Dark Magic Skill. Also BLU has the most stun spells in the game, I hardly doubt it could use more, especially since using any other type of stun would be weak in comparison to Blue Magic Stun, since our Blue magic skill enhances blue magic better, then a subs magic skill. So pretty much, if its spells not augmented by Blue Magic Skill, and you are using them, they are not worth while unless the mob is relatively weak.

[Kwate]

I agree to a certain extent, I think evasion plays a big factor, which we heavily lack. I mean let's be real here, you see THF's tank on many more occasions than BLU. Occult is great, I love it, but the downside is....1 AOE move strips it. NI is a good fall back, but 3 shadows seem to wear the minute you cast them. I think it requires alot more skill to tank on BLU vs. some of the other jobs.

[Tashan]

For tanking you generally want to have an Evasion build. Disagreeing with posts made by Kwate and Scuro, the job has access to more than enough Evasion to be able to tank anything a MNK, NIN, THF or DNC would.

The difference between those jobs and Blue Mage is the requirement of equipment. Those jobs have enough natural Evasion to get the job done and can fortunantely stick with their Haste TP builds to do so.

With full merits and capped skill, a Blue Mage typically needs roughly 65 extra straight evasion to tank comfortably. With Gnarled Horn Atma, you need roughly about 40 more. I typically also try to use pieces with Subtle Blow on. It is possible to cap Subtle Blow with sets such as the Alcide's Harness, Heed Ring, Rajas Ring and augment Gules Harness pieces.

I personally like to keep a Full Evasion set also just to fall back on for things such as Ichi casting, but many don't find it neccessary.

Your support job options are /MNK or /NIN. /MNK is for Counter/Eva tanking and /NIN is for Blink Tanking. If you go with /MNK you need to use Gnarled Horn and Atma of Roaring Laughter to cap Counter with Counterstance up. You also need to cap Accuracy for the best success of landing the counter hit. If you go with /NIN you'll want to keep a Fast Cast/Haste Gear set for your shadows. Occulation works well, but if you're fighting a monster with single target nukes you'll want to use Utsusemi more often.

For meat tanking you want to stick with the tried and true defense increase with Cocoon and Taco. Other than that you want to get as much Physical Damage Taken%- equipment as you can. Some notable peices are Shamashir+2 (Earth path), Genbu's Shield, Augmented Dark Rings from [A] Konschtat, Cheviot/Umbra Cape, the Darksteel Harness Set, Twilight Torque, Denali Mittens, Louhi's Mask and the "A Shantotto Ascension" leg armor with the augments.

As for spells, Actnic Burst, Temporal Shit and Head Butt (if effective) are staples. The Evasion Bonus trait is helpful, as can be Occulation. Auroral Drape's Blind/Silence is good if it is effective. But otherwise you just want to deal as much damage as you can to keep hate coming your way. Also, don't ignore the Flat Blade. I find it to be the best, fastest and most reliable stun in most situations.

As advice from experience please leave your Haste, Refresh and Erase to your support if possible. The worst thing I find that happens to me is when some big TP move/Spell is coming and I can't either cast shadows/stun in time because I'm in the middle of a casting animation.

[Alienmonkey]

I have been blue mage for a while but i never have tanked as one. I know they are not the best tank in most situations but I know some NM they can be a good tank. Can someone explain what kind of Gear/Spells/Atmas would be good for tanking? Thank You!!

Please don't format your text like this.

[Kwate]

For tanking you generally want to have an Evasion build. Disagreeing with posts made by Kwate and Scuro, the job has access to more than enough Evasion to be able to tank anything a MNK, NIN, THF or DNC would.

The difference between those jobs and Blue Mage is the requirement of equipment. Those jobs have enough natural Evasion to get the job done and can fortunantely stick with their Haste TP builds to do so.

With full merits and capped skill, a Blue Mage typically needs roughly 65 extra straight evasion to tank comfortably. With Gnarled Horn Atma, you need roughly about 40 more. I typically also try to use pieces with Subtle Blow on. It is possible to cap Subtle Blow with sets such as the Alcide's Harness, Heed Ring, Rajas Ring and augment Gules Harness pieces.

I personally like to keep a Full Evasion set also just to fall back on for things such as Ichi casting, but many don't find it neccessary.

Your support job options are /MNK or /NIN. /MNK is for Counter/Eva tanking and /NIN is for Blink Tanking. If you go with /MNK you need to use Gnarled Horn and Atma of Roaring Laughter to cap Counter with Counterstance up. You also need to cap Accuracy for the best success of landing the counter hit. If you go with /NIN you'll want to keep a Fast Cast/Haste Gear set for your shadows. Occulation works well, but if you're fighting a monster with single target nukes you'll want to use Utsusemi more often.

For meat tanking you want to stick with the tried and true defense increase with Cocoon and Taco. Other than that you want to get as much Physical Damage Taken%- equipment as you can. Some notable peices are Shamashir+2 (Earth path), Genbu's Shield, Augmented Dark Rings from [A] Konschtat, Cheviot/Umbra Cape, the Darksteel Harness Set, Twilight Torque, Denali Mittens, Louhi's Mask and the "A Shantotto Ascension" leg armor with the augments.

As for spells, Actnic Burst, Temporal Shit and Head Butt (if effective) are staples. The Evasion Bonus trait is helpful, as can be Occulation. Auroral Drape's Blind/Silence is good if it is effective. But otherwise you just want to deal as much damage as you can to keep hate coming your way. Also, don't ignore the Flat Blade. I find it to be the best, fastest and most reliable stun in most situations.

As advice from experience please leave your Haste, Refresh and Erase to your support if possible. The worst thing I find that happens to me is when some big TP move/Spell is coming and I can't either cast shadows/stun in time because I'm in the middle of a casting animation.

I agree, just too lazy to type this shit up. I tank lazy (when it comes to gear set), but am very effective with it, I'm guilty of keeping my haste gear on, my -PDT set consists of both dark rings, twilight neck and off hand -pdt sword to my Almace. I dont have the inventory slots to dedicate to all the extras. Generally with Cocoon, I personally use Reactor Cool (the paralyze is well worth it for me), Actinic Burst, and shadows I'm more than well off. I generally use GH, Cloak & Dagger, and RR, again whatever works for your style.

[Scuro]

I disagree with the idea of blood tanking with a BLU.... that generally doesn't end well, even with the most reduction gear you can get.... BLU just has disgusting defense, and thank god for Cocoon or we would be no better then a WHM taking hits. I can agree with Evasion, and by no means did I say BLU can't eva tank, it can, but its very selective. About as selective as the uses for PLD tanking. The job just isn't on par with other forms of tanking... which I guess makes sense since its not meant to equal or excede other jobs. Yet it would be nice to see more out of BLU's evasion and damage reduction spells... not gear. Because I'm sorry but pieces that give like 2% damaged reduction on a mage, won't save you from nasty NM TP moves.

I have looked into eva gear and you are right on that Tashan, and I do have proper eva atmas such as Cloak and Dagger, and the Sand Emperor atma. I was even hoping to maybe get Pantakrator's atma and do some field testing with that. Yet the issue is, we just don't evade enough to compare. While we can do a pretty knock out job, we are not sought after to main tank. We are an "Oh shit the tank just died! Throw the BLU at it!" tank. While we can manage, we can't capitalize on it, and that is what I'm getting at. I don't deny that a BLU can tank, hell I tanked Orthrus on my BLU while my party whiped and were getting people up to regroup. I don't deny its capability, yet it still has a ways to go before I would say it is a worthy tank job. And even though I would say don't bother with physical damage down gear, I would still be wearing a Twilight Torque and spam Coccoon, cuz lets face it, evasion is not a permanent damage mitigator. And these tools are some of the best a BLU can get.

Yet I still stand by the fact that BLU is not meant to be a Blood Tanker, but have the possibility of being a truly acceptional Eva tank. To say that a BLU can top a MNK... I wouldn't go that far. But to say a BLU can top a DNC, ok sure I can go with that. The BLU still has a ways to go before it rivals jobs like MNK in the tanking dept.

[Tashan]

I disagree with the idea of blood tanking with a BLU.... that generally doesn't end well, even with the most reduction gear you can get.... BLU just has disgusting defense, and thank god for Cocoon or we would be no better then a WHM taking hits. I can agree with Evasion, and by no means did I say BLU can't eva tank, it can, but its very selective. About as selective as the uses for PLD tanking. The job just isn't on par with other forms of tanking... which I guess makes sense since its not meant to equal or excede other jobs. Yet it would be nice to see more out of BLU's evasion and damage reduction spells... not gear. Because I'm sorry but pieces that give like 2% damaged reduction on a mage, won't save you from nasty NM TP moves.


At level 75, Blue Mages were able to get at least 800 defense with Protect, Cocoon, and Tavnazian Tacos.

You can near enough cap it at Level 90. And you can also cap PDT and MDT at 50% through equipment.

2% would be barely noticeable. But why would stop there?


I have looked into eva gear and you are right on that Tashan, and I do have proper eva atmas such as Cloak and Dagger, and the Sand Emperor atma. I was even hoping to maybe get Pantakrator's atma and do some field testing with that. Yet the issue is, we just don't evade enough to compare. While we can do a pretty knock out job, we are not sought after to main tank. We are an "Oh shit the tank just died! Throw the BLU at it!" tank. While we can manage, we can't capitalize on it, and that is what I'm getting at. I don't deny that a BLU can tank, hell I tanked Orthrus on my BLU while my party whiped and were getting people up to regroup. I don't deny its capability, yet it still has a ways to go before I would say it is a worthy tank job. And even though I would say don't bother with physical damage down gear, I would still be wearing a Twilight Torque and spam Coccoon, cuz lets face it, evasion is not a permanent damage mitigator. And these tools are some of the best a BLU can get.
You need more experience than what you have.

If you'd like any examples, I can provide them in game for you. I haven't played in the past few days, but I last was tanking Carabosse, Briareus and Glavoid multiple times for my LS empyrean armor static. Tamtu can vouch for it.


Yet I still stand by the fact that BLU is not meant to be a Blood Tanker, but have the possibility of being a truly acceptional Eva tank. To say that a BLU can top a MNK... I wouldn't go that far. But to say a BLU can top a DNC, ok sure I can go with that. The BLU still has a ways to go before it rivals jobs like MNK in the tanking dept.

I'm never interested in main job comparisons, only the truth. For myself, it's not that I try to go out and compete against other players on tank jobs. That would be redudant. However, if I am the best tank available, I will tank.

[Scuro]

lol I've been playing since NA release, I'm just fine with my experience, I've tanked Glavoid with out an eva set and on /RDM, so that I can see easily, as long as Disgorger is managed fairly. Carabosse I can see with the right atmas, and enough echo drops to get you by, it shouldn't be hard. Yet Briarius hmmmm this I would like to see. I have my doubts, but then again I have not tested a eva set up, but even then its still a situational tank at best. Very much compared to PLD tanks in Abyssea. While I'm all for this eva set up, I would still like more eva capability or a physical damage taken down spell. Cocoon is nice, but I'm kinda looking for more. Not enough to break the job, but enough to make it competitive. Aside from Briarius many of your comparisons are NMs on par with the Mis. Coast NM that can be easily man handeled by a single RDM.

Also please provide me a list of these equips you are stating that will give 50% PDT and MDT. i would care to look into these because I can think of one set right now that offers a lot of PDT and its like 2-3% per piece, which in my eyes, when you can boost more into evasion.... makes it worthless.

[Tashan]

It seems as though you base your judgment purely on yourself and what you can do without any substantial research or investigation. That's why I feel you need more experience.

---

Are you comparing Meat Tanking to Eva tanking? Because I'm not.

---


Also please provide me a list of these equips you are stating that will give 50% PDT and MDT. i would care to look into these because I can think of one set right now that offers a lot of PDT and its like 2-3% per piece, which in my eyes, when you can boost more into evasion.... makes it worthless.

Shamshir +2 (Earth Path) x2
Dark Ring (Augmented @5%) x2
Twilight Torque
Umbra Cape(Considering Daytime 6%)
Desultor Tassets
Darksteel Harness
Denali Wristbands

[Scuro]

Ok thats a fair argument for blood tanking, the only thing I would dismiss is the Umbra Cape, because that is not a consistent piece, things that only work on certain days or times of the day I feel are not strong pieces. Of course I use an Artemis Medal, but at least that is based off of Moon Phase and does fairly well even on low moon phase for a BLU at least.

[Zagen]

Ok thats a fair argument for blood tanking, the only thing I would dismiss is the Umbra Cape, because that is not a consistent piece, things that only work on certain days or times of the day I feel are not strong pieces. Of course I use an Artemis Medal, but at least that is based off of Moon Phase and does fairly well even on low moon phase for a BLU at least.

Umbra Cape is 6% day time 12% night time >.> it always works at 6% minimum

[Scuro]

Ah ok then I stand corrected, I personally have not looked into much on the PDT MDT sets for my BLU so this cape was nothing to my knowledge, I was only working off of what was stated by the 6%