Black Mage game play

[Kenyon]

Love my Red Mage but since its Level 90 now am looking for something else to play. Black mage looks interesting BUT it does not appear to have self healing? I could not have defeated Zenos without Vercure so am wondering how does a Black Mage defeat Zenos, for example?

[Kabooa]

Love my Red Mage but since its Level 90 now am looking for something else to play. Black mage looks interesting BUT it does not appear to have self healing? I could not have defeated Zenos without Vercure so am wondering how does a Black Mage defeat Zenos, for example?

Main Scenario solo instances have a buff that increases damage and provides ramping HP regeneration. All jobs get this, so long as you avoid taking hits one after the other you are generally fine.

[Rilifane]

Love my Red Mage but since its Level 90 now am looking for something else to play. Black mage looks interesting BUT it does not appear to have self healing? I could not have defeated Zenos without Vercure so am wondering how does a Black Mage defeat Zenos, for example?

You don't need selfheal; it's a good crutch if you get hit by things you shouldn't get hit by but every solo duty can be cleared without dipping into class or even role-specific selfheal/ mitigation.
I cleared it on BLM, it's really just a matter of not getting hit by things because natural regen, enhanced with the solo duty buff, takes care of every unavoidable damage and then some. It's better to drop damage and just run to avoid something, dragging the fight out a bit longer, than getting hit by something.

[Darkpaw]

Mobility and evasion is key, slidecasting, triplecast, swift cast, proc usage, instacast abilities like xenoglossy, and in a pinch you got that lovely lovely manaward.. it was actually pretty easy on blm.

[Rongway]

In the vast majority of duties BLM actually self-heals more than RDM vis à vis Manaward, because RDMs don't cast Vercure except as a downtime Swiftcast in party duties.

And while some RDMs might lean on Vercure in solo content, solo MSQ duties are meant to be clearable by any job, and can be cleared without a single self-heal regardless of the job you're playing if you just read all the telegraphs, mechanical cues, and NPC statements in combat correctly.

[ThorneDynasty]

You can tough it out easier on some DPS jobs with self-heals (let alone tanks and healers), but self-healing is not required to beat anything. If you end up having a lot of trouble despite dodging AOEs, it's usually a good sign you are either getting undergeared or missing a fight mechanic.