Back in Black - A Black Mage Guide

[Garotte14]

I have a question that's mostly irrelevant. I personally find the 6x Fire IV opener to be too tight for me to pull off reliably (I'm skirting 834* splspd at 214) and I've been using the standard rotation as my opener instead. Is the potency loss by doing this so dramatic that it would be noticeable? I'm currently upgrading gear and working in more splspd, but I'm not a raider so I've got little more than personal interest to push on that front.

If you're not raiding, then no. It doesn't really matter if you aren't doing the "optimal" opener. Once you get around 890 SS, is when you will start to see that opener a little easier to pull off. Over a thousand SS, and you can do it without a problem even if you have to move during it. I wouldn't worry too much about it though.

[Maero]

Well it does, but note for the rest of your gear if you can add determination, IV materia should suffice, save your weekly V Materia reward for Spell Speed and crit i would suggest.

[xxvaynxx]

I have a quick question.
With my current gear should I be able to beat the AS8 dummy clean? I have full 230 left side and almost full 230 right side, I have 2 ilv220.
Like...I'm able to clear it but its highly dependable on my procs and I can't clear it if I don't get much thunderclouds, I usually always hit 4% or 1%.
Also I'm not using Pots if I use pots I can beat it easily, I'm going in unbuffed aside form the Piety food so I can use the opener.

[Garotte14]

I have a quick question.
With my current gear should I be able to beat the AS8 dummy clean? I have full 130 left side and almost full 130 right side, I have 2 ilv120.
Like...I'm able to clear it but its highly dependable on my procs and I can't clear it if I don't get much thunderclouds, I usually always hit 4% or 1%.
Also I'm not using Pots if I use pots I can beat it easily, I'm going in unbuffed aside form the Piety food so I can use the opener.

I'm assuming you meant 230 and 220, and yes you should be able to clear it with that gear. With a high proc % you should be able to clear it at i220 with sephirot weapon. I'm assuming, your around i227-228 by what you said. At that level, you shouldn't have to rely too much on procs. There might be something you're doing that's not optimal in your rotation, but I can't say for sure without seeing it

[xxvaynxx]

Oops yeah I meant 230 (edit) and yeah I'm ilv228...so my rotation?
Hmm...seems like I'm doing things right..like..the first time I cleared it I had like 8secs but I haven't been able to clear it with that time ever since, it always 3secs left or I don't clear it at all.
I start with the new sharpcast opener, then I go from there. I do the normal rotation F4x2, F1(Thundercloud) , f4x2, B3, T1(Or B1 if thunder still ticking around 15secs), B4.

[Garotte14]

Oops yeah I meant 230 (edit) and yeah I'm ilv228...so my rotation?
Hmm...seems like I'm doing things right..like..the first time I cleared it I had like 8secs but I haven't been able to clear it with that time ever since, it always 3secs left or I don't clear it at all.
I start with the new sharpcast opener, then I go from there. I do the normal rotation F4x2, F1(Thundercloud) , f4x2, B3, T1(Or B1 if thunder still ticking around 15secs), B4.

Well there are a few things to consider. First, Because you can stand still for its entirety, Firestarter procs aren't going to make much of a difference for the dummy. Even though the PPS is higher on a Firestarter vs. a Fire IV, during such a short parse, it's hardly noticeable. So the two big factors that will effect such a parse is going to be Thunderclouds and crits. Crits make an even bigger difference in your opener. With Raging Strikes up, a crit on a Fire IV is like an additional 2% on that dummy. So if you don't get any crits during your opener, you could end the first 30 seconds at around 84% HP left. 3 Crits could put you about 78% in the same time frame. When you're talking about a game of inches, that can be the difference between clearing it with 8 seconds left and not clearing it at all.

It sounds as if you're doing everything properly so it could just be a case of bad luck. I would take a look at your crit %. I'd be willing to bet on the times you don't clear it, your crit rate is really low.

[Garotte14]

Just in case any Black Mages were wondering, The chest piece that drops in The Weeping City of Mhach is a great upgrade until you can get the chest from A8 and would be BiS if you don't do Savage. I've only seen it drop on Ozma so far, and I ran it 7 times this week.

[IceSpear]

Just in case any Black Mages were wondering, The chest piece that drops in The Weeping City of Mhach is a great upgrade until you can get the chest from A8 and would be BiS if you don't do Savage. I've only seen it drop on Ozma so far, and I ran it 7 times this week.

According to Garland Tools it can drop from Calofisteri too.

Edit~ I can confirm it does drop from the 3rd and final boss... The amount of times I ran for it... Never want to go again.