How to gear BLM best

I'm trying to improve THM/BLM as it's my favorite class/job and I haven't managed to get much useful advice. What's the usual agreed order of stat focus? MAB > INT > MACC? Some other order? Thanks in advance for advice/help :D

the question you ask is way too broad...

The following is just my thought...
(what's MAB anyway?)

Attack Magic Potency (AMP): raising magic damage base. it's equal to elemental magic potency.
Int: raising little magic damage base, and more on the combo which bonus on damage, such as thunder > thundra
Magic Acc: once you get resisted, you stop your combo process and dmg can be 50%-20% (I think) and there is no benefit to be 200% acc. so enough acc is good enough.

with basic understanding of that... then you can gear up your blm according to the situations... For example, Cutter's Cry dungeon... the first part you usually just Flare and Firaga everything... AMP is better than Int in this situation. Even you are using Fire > Fira > firaga combo int won't help more than AMP. However, in the boss fight, the final cutie lion has lots magic eva I think, so you might want to have little more acc rings. and you use thunder > thundra > thundraga a lot... so in this case int "might" help you better than AMP. It's hard to say...
however, that's what I'll do.

I don't think the formula changed much... so here is my previous test result: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ack-Magic-Test

to sum up, I'll say Look > all just wear whatever you feel better.

I prioritize m.acc to the point where you stop getting resists against your target (I use 480 base m.acc vs. Garuda, ~450-460 against everything else), then it's a toss-up between INT and m.atk depending on what you're doing. If Thundara is the bulk of your damage, then INT is slightly better, but for everything else, m.atk is better point-for-point.

Noted. I appreciate it folks. Also, sorry for the MAB slip. Played XI too long.

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Originally Posted by carraway

I prioritize m.acc to the point where you stop getting resists against your target (I use 480 base m.acc vs. Garuda, ~450-460 against everything else), then it's a toss-up between INT and m.atk depending on what you're doing. If Thundara is the bulk of your damage, then INT is slightly better, but for everything else, m.atk is better point-for-point.

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Carraway is dead on about acc. I like to go a bit higher but he is pretty spot on.

On Garuda I am getting to the point where my Thundara is doing 1k non crit and Thundaga is doing 1300 Crit. However, if Thundaga doesn't crit then it is pointless to use it since Thundara does so much. This is with 410+ int

I don't remember my stats off the top of my head, but i'm hitting ~1400 thundaga crits on garuda. I went with double macc in weapon, double int on head, double attack magic on feet, double int and pie on legs (int and mnd prolly better, but expensive). I also use double int rings, but thinking of going back to one int and one black pearl for things like garuda. Still using AF hands and body, but working on some double meld crit hands.

Just cast the spells and do the damages.

I tried to follwo a claimed expert on BLM, then spoek with the japanese linkshell, and the claim that INT MIND and piety last stats is best doesn't work in all cases. Watch gear use and restat based on it.

While they changed some aspects of MIND around, it affects cure magic potency, and some magic accuracy, but piety will increase enfeebling. There isn't anythign I can't sleep, but when I shifted to more mind, I was resisted more, and mobs slept short periods where as I coudl sleep them and take a small break before.

Anyone have something realistic for those of us that are newer players and don't have millions of gil to blow on double/triple melds?

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Originally Posted by Alkimi

Anyone have something realistic for those of us that are newer players and don't have millions of gil to blow on double/triple melds?

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Start with BLM AF. Add in order Coral or Black Pearl Rings, Spinel Choker, and Black Pearl Bracelets.

For a weapon, use a Lightning Brand with a Hell's Eye IV (if you can afford it. You may have to buy some cheap things to try and make one yourself).

A couple of things you can do from here to improve performance are to replace the feet with mahogany pattens with Hell's Fist and to replace the head with either felt hat with INT materia.

If you cannot double stack mahogany pattens, then just use AF. It'll do more dmg.

Really? I figured the AMP would be worth more than the 9 INT. I guess I should look in to upgrading my footwear.

I stack m.acc till I hit 559-568 with food (button is damn expensive), but I found out there are too many mobs/bosses are immune to status like Sleep T_T

That's just overkill. Only m.acc I use is Garuda's Van, and Mage's rope belt from time to time, depending. (Macro in 34 m.acc head, and mage's choker for sleeps).

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Originally Posted by MariyaShidou

I stack m.acc till I hit 559-568 with food (button is damn expensive), but I found out there are too many mobs/bosses are immune to status like Sleep T_T

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That is def overkill. You can probably go as low as 490 but I like to be right around 500. If clearing trash mobs you can get away with 440 mag acc.

560 Magic Accuracy...? My god.

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Originally Posted by MariyaShidou

I stack m.acc till I hit 559-568 with food (button is damn expensive), but I found out there are too many mobs/bosses are immune to status like Sleep T_T

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Hi Mariya,

Wow, very nice. :) If I may ask, what's your gear setup to achieve that M.ACC amount? (I'm guessing you might have Triple Melds for INT / AMP as well?)

Man you guys are gonna be scratching your head cause here are my stats.

Int - 350
Mag. Att - 550
Mag. Acu. - 414

Now this without food and its very rare I ever get a resist on Garuda. My thundara normal hits her for 850-1k & thunders crits for 1.6k+. So I'm happy with it though I should start triple melds, maybe I'll do that today after reading this.

If you wanna do the silly garuda burn while it lasts then just as a minimum to get by you should get a x2 int crown and x2 int wand then use mag acc rings. You wanna aim for 450 + mag acc and 350+ int, as a minimum really to be able to pull your weight damage wise on the parser and not hold the party back.

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Originally Posted by V0lg

Man you guys are gonna be scratching your head cause here are my stats.

Int - 350
Mag. Att - 550
Mag. Acu. - 414

Now this without food and its very rare I ever get a resist on Garuda. My thundara normal hits her for 850-1k & thunders crits for 1.6k+. So I'm happy with it though I should start triple melds, maybe I'll do that today after reading this.

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Without food I am at

409 int
535 mag atk
435 mag acc

I pretty much see the same results you are seeing with slightly higher top end numbers.

For fun I popd a mega int pot and collusion pulled with thundaga for around 1700+

From what I've read/experienced:

INT increases combo damage
MATK increases base damage

Magic Accuracy of about 460~ is enough to not get resisted most of the time.

For those unable to spend a lot on gear, prioritise MACC and INT above MATK. I'd recommend Electrum Scepter + Shield (one with macc on) especially if you're Twin Adder (Gridanian Shield) as these are 2 of the best pieces gear outside of melds for MACC. AF is fine but if you have the gil for single melds I'd recommend upgading the hat and legs first - Felt Hat of Intelligence and Woolen Tights are my personal choices. For the hat you can meld either INT or MACC, and the legs you can meld INT and MND or INT and PIE - whichever you choose is up to you.

From then on I'd use your jewlery slots to boost your MACC to the required level then focus on INT - filling in the slots with MATK when there are no alternatives. Your belt is best used for an emnity- meld but those are expensive so you may not be able to afford this.

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Originally Posted by Meatdawg

Without food I am at

409 int
535 mag atk
435 mag acc

I pretty much see the same results you are seeing with slightly higher top end numbers.

For fun I popd a mega int pot and collusion pulled with thundaga for around 1700+

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Nice thundaga...

If your Grand Company is Grid, you could give a shot at the "mask,earring, Grid Shield" Mask is 20 Mag. Attk, earring is 4 Mag. attk, Grid Shield is 10 Mag. Acc. If you wanna go mass Grid Company Seal farming (Grid only remember, dont know the other GC stats) can get the pants too, Int +8 with -20 enmity with the other items in conjuction. would allow you to nuke more with less worry of hate build.

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Originally Posted by Kiara

Hi Mariya,

Wow, very nice. :) If I may ask, what's your gear setup to achieve that M.ACC amount? (I'm guessing you might have Triple Melds for INT / AMP as well?)

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Not really, except for the Mahogany Pattens I double meld as many M.Acc as I could >_> just for fun lol. If they ever make Garuda vulnerable to Sleep, I mind try 600 M.Acc.

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Originally Posted by MariyaShidou

Not really, except for the Mahogany Pattens I double meld as many M.Acc as I could >_> just for fun lol. If they ever make Garuda vulnerable to Sleep, I mind try 600 M.Acc.

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SillyBLMs>.>

GC grid belt also have +3int on it. I save the mask for int hat since I use thundara combo pretty often.

I still not sure how's int+10 boots vs M.att+20 shoes on "whole" thunder combo damage tho.

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Originally Posted by Alkimi

Anyone have something realistic for those of us that are newer players and don't have millions of gil to blow on double/triple melds?

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I don't have millions of gil and managed to create a pretty decent blm gear set in a few days. On anything other than boss fights wear nq necklaces and spiritbond them for a good rate of return on INT materia, sell the lower tiers and keep the tier IV. Natalan wolf parties can see you spiritbond four or five necklaces easily and any spare materia will subsidise your build. Good gil can be made using aoe rapega on cursed eyes in nanawa mines to sell the chocobo feathers for arrows, I've made a million a day from the eyes before. Have a crafter make you something with a couple of T3 materia on it, you are almost guaranteed to make a good profit especially if you have produced the materia yourself. There are loads of ways to make gil quickly in this game without having a high level crafting job yourself.

Edit: apparently the price of the feathers has crashed since I last farmed them, Vulture feathers still sell well for good gil though. Spending several minutes browsing the item search counter before farming usually highlights something worth farming on any particular day.

Yeah from prices I've seen retainers you could pretty much just buy a piece of gear+materia from markets > stand in Ul'dah til a passer by melds it for you > put it back on retainer and sell for a profit.

People are dumb I guess.

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Originally Posted by Meatdawg

Without food I am at

409 int
535 mag atk
435 mag acc

I pretty much see the same results you are seeing with slightly higher top end numbers.

For fun I popd a mega int pot and collusion pulled with thundaga for around 1700+

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Just curious how you got to these stats for you blm. You have to have triple melded brand (with at least 2x meld int) or Garuda's Van, and triple int hat, would be my guess? Thanks.

Managed to get myself to 401 INT with no double melds at all, although this is with sanction and food:

Lightning Brand (Single T4 +20 INT)
Flame Sergeant's Targe (+7 INT with 4 or more GC pieces)
Ul'dhan Officer's Cap (+40 INT with Sanction)
Ul'dahn Officer's Overcoat (+10 INT and +15 magic acc with Sanction)
Mage's Halfgloves
Mage's Rope Belt
Woolen Tights (+12 INT with T4 Wise Man's Vision)
Wizard's Crakows (+9 INT)
Mage's Earrings
Spinel Choker +1
Flame Sergeant's Bracelets (+7 INT with 3 or more GC pieces)
2x Zircon Ring +1 (+36 INT)
Buttons in a Blanket for food

Puts me at 401 INT, 501 atk magic, 464 magic acc

Granted it's not spectacular but it's still better than 90% of the BLMs out there and it's without any double melds. It will certainly do me until I have more gil to throw at some double melds or converting gear stops giving me MND III materia 90% of the time.

Oh yeah, just try not to die and have backup gear!

Hello -

I see lots of good reccomendations here, but do any of you know of a guide that shows the very best gear for BLM is money is NOT a hinderance? I am about to gear mine up and have been unable to find a detailed guide on optimal gear. Thanks in advance!

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Originally Posted by zzapp

Just curious how you got to these stats for you blm. You have to have triple melded brand (with at least 2x meld int) or Garuda's Van, and triple int hat, would be my guess? Thanks.

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At the time I had a triple melded Electrum Scepter with 48 int, but I have since sold that and just use a Garuda's Van. My int is not that high anymore and is down to around 350 with 481 mag acc.

w/o magic accuracy -
you'll get resisted - and do less then half the damage for twice as long of a wait.
w/o potency - your thunder and thudaga will be weaker.
w/o int- your thundara will be weaker.

now ask yourself this question what do you prefer?

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Originally Posted by Gukie

w/o magic accuracy -
you'll get resisted - and do less then half the damage for twice as long of a wait.
w/o potency - your thunder and thudaga will be weaker.
w/o int- your thundara will be weaker.

now ask yourself this question what do you prefer?

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Thunder and Thundara depends on INT
Thundaga and everything else depends on Magic Potency

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Originally Posted by Luxanna

Thunder and Thundara depends on INT
Thundaga and everything else depends on Magic Potency

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Thunder damage is based on a combination of Magic Attack Potency and Intelligence, with Magic Attack Potency being the major contributor (on a 1 to 1 comparisson). I.e.: 15 Magic Attack Potency did more to increase damage than 15 Intelligence.

I have done some research into this but I am not publishing any results as I expect it all to change at 2.0 where I will re-investigate.

Gukie is most closest with his summary.


Back on topic: I do not know of any guide, and the optimal outfit may vary depending on your grand company and if you wish to get Darklight gear or not. I recommend you find which skill/stat you want to focus on and then research what is best available to fulfill that need.

My biggest recommendation right now is to NOT invest heavily into weapons: New ones come out too quickly to warrant the investment (unless you are overflowing with hundreds of millions of gil and have absolutely nothing else to do with it).

BlueGartr has an extensive breakdown on their forums.

I've been on a melding spree lately, but I can't decide what body piece I'm going to make for BLM, any suggestions?

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Originally Posted by Alzelia

I've been on a melding spree lately, but I can't decide what body piece I'm going to make for BLM, any suggestions?

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The downside of crafted body for BLM is that the materia that is most beneficial is Piety, which is not really beneficial. (It boosts enfeebling, but that is not extremely helpful right now). Of course you can add HP/MP/DEF, but those usually do not contribute enough to be considered very important, even at double meld. Maybe if you were shooting for 3x or 4x on Tier IV it might make enough of a difference.

That being said, the 'popular' choice for crafted body is the Felt Bliaud (INT +5, MIND +5, Magic Accuracy +5/+6), and available in an assortment of colours. Another close option is of course the Coliseum Shawl (INT +4, MIND +4, Magic Accuracy +5). SLIGHTLY less stats (and slightly less cloth), but it is meldable.

or I use

Storm Sergeant's Bliaud 5000 Storm Seals

INT+8 MND+8 Magic Accuracy+10

I can't decide between the Mage's Choker or the Spinel, as it is, I'm capped on accuracy, sitting on 383 Int, but only 470 MATT. Since I'm capped on ACC, though, I use crown cakes instead of blankets, and if I switched out the choker I'd probably have to eat blankets instead. /boggle.