Tanking Blu?

[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