I want to use this spot to express something that has been on my mind for quite some time now that I want get off my chest before we receive official confirmation. I hope that the LB3 for Blue Mage will be Protostar. I want to walk through my investigation process to show how I came to that conclusion. (Minor spoilers ahead.)

LB3 represents the pinnacle of what a job can do. It is their ultimate attack. In the case of Blue Mage, their ultimate attack is something borrowed from a powerful foe. There are basically two ways that SE can go about it. Either they can take something from previous Final Fantasy games and establish it as BLU's LB3 in this game, or SE can use something from an already established foe that exists within FFXIV.

I started my investigation by looking at what has been already established. The first place I looked was at the Behemoth which use Ecliptic Meteor. Behemoth's are a well established and iconic enemy in the Final Fantasy franchise. There's a reason why it was used to represent FFXIV in the Monster Hunter: World crossover event. However, there was an issue with Ecliptic Meteor. Visually, it was nearly identical to the Meteor cast by Black Mage. I think it's important to have each job's LB3 be distinctive. So for that reason, I eliminated Ecliptic Meteor as an option.

Let's take it further. What, or who, is the strongest non-Primal monster that exists within FFXIV? That can be debated, but I concluded that Midgardsormr was worthy of that title. In a fight against Midgardsormr, an ultimate attack called Protostar is used. Visually, it was distinctive, which was ideal. It proved to be a solid option.

But now to take it even further. It was around this time that I heard about the rumor that Blue Mage would learn spells from Primals. I was skeptical, but if true, then that would raise the bar in terms of what could represent the ultimate attack of a Blue Mage. So then, who is the apex predator of Primals? Well, obviously, that's Bahamut. Summoner already had that covered. So what's next?

My investigation brought me to Shinryu. And here is where things get interesting. The ultimate attack used by Shinryu in FFXIV is none other than Protostar. Both Shinryu and Midgardsormr use an ultimate attack of the same name. Though visually, they appear different from one another, which potentially opens the door for Blue Mage to invoke its own take, like giving it a blue color palette, for example.

But there's more to Shinryu that makes this option appealing. Shinryu knows the actions of other Primals. Aerial Blast, Diamond Dust, Earthen Fury, Hellfire, Judgement Bolt, Tidal Wave. Shinryu uses all of those. This mirrors what Blue Mage can do with evidence of Glass Dance and Eruption being shown. Thematically, it fits incredibly well.

To make a long story short, if SE decides to have the LB3 for Blue Mage be based on the ultimate attack of an already established foe, I think Protostar would be a great option.