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.

[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.