How-To Guide: Blue Mage

• Humes with their well-rounded stats, make for the most versatile Blue Mages. Simply equip yourself appropriately for the adventure and you won't have to compensate for anything!

• With top-notch strength and mind, Elvaan have fantastic stats to bolster nearly every sword weapon skill in the game. Higher physical damage means you won't have to cast as much, allowing you to equip more support spells in your repertoire. High mind means more potency from your healing magic as well!

• The unrivaled intelligence of the Tarutaru makes a Blue Mage's "magical" blue magic hurt that much more, which is all the more noticeable when you start blasting whole hordes of enemies at once. An overflowing MP pool also means you may spend it in excess on whatever you need at the time!

• Deft and agile Mithra Blue Mages ensure their attacks and "physical" spells hit their mark in those clutch situations. Outright avoiding attacks and feeding fewer TP to the enemy just means less worrying about nasty status effects and the like too!

• Standing always strong are the indomitable Galka. Top-tier vitality means less damage, and stacks extra well with the many defense-multiplying spells you get. Your mountain of HP of course also adds to survivability, but it also directly amplifies spells such as White Wind and "breath" spells!
  
  

• Blue Mage has an A+ proficiency with one-handed swords and a B- with clubs. While this may look limiting, swords are inherently one of the most versatile weapons in the game, with a huge array of choice between raw damage-per-second, stat-loaded varieties, and everything in-between. Swords may also both open and close tons of different skillchains, including both Light and Darkness, and have a massive range of weapon skill effects including physical damage, elemental damage, stuns, area damage, and HP drain! The sword is the perfect companion to a job as variable as Blue Mage. Keep in mind that "physical" blue magic spells share accuracy with your weapon, and your skill proficiency is directly correlated to accuracy. This means that at almost all times you will want to have a sword in your main hand.
• The B- in clubs is no laughing matter, either. Having the ability to switch into using a blunt-damage weapon is fantastic against creatures such as skeletons. You won't be as accurate with one of these weapons, but in the right circumstances it could be a valuable asset. Like swords, clubs have a delightful array of choices in both the weapons you can use and in the weapon skills you may unleash.
• Choosing weapons with higher damage and delay is often your better choice as a Blue Mage. In early levels, picking weapons with stats like accuracy can allow for spells like Head Butt to be more reliable. Even without natural proficiency with shields, it may help to pick up an item like the Faerie Shield or one of the latent effect shields early on to use in your off-hand, just to fill it in. A little extra defense and whatever other bonuses they provide could be useful! Sub-Ninja at 20, sub-Dancer at 40, or with your own spell sets at 80 will provide Dual Wield, allowing you a second sword, or even Sword/Club if the situation calls for it. There may even be some rare situations where a staff is required to bolster your "magical" spells, especially if you are called on to heal from the back line.

• Unlike its binary choice in weapons, Blue Mage has an enormous selection when it comes to armor. Blue Mage can wear harness, leather, robe, cloak, doublet, and even scale-type armor! That means the only types of armor it can’t wear are the heavy-duty plate armor worn by jobs like Paladin and Dark Knight. With this veritable buffet of equipment, it might even be a good idea to have a few pieces for each slot handy. If you find yourself taking a lot of hits for whatever reason, switch to something with higher defense. If not, then don something with bonuses to your stats. Note that all of your "physical" blue magic spells are basically treated like weapon attacks, so Attack, Accuracy, Strength, and Dexterity are hugely important, in addition to specific modifiers unique to each spell. For example, the damage for Bludgeon is enhanced with Charisma. Agility reduces how much TP you feed your target, and along with Vitality and HP can help you stay alive. MP is also critical, especially in the earlier levels. Always be on the lookout for items that grant "Refresh".
• Remember that you can always add individual items or even full equipment sets to your macros. If you really want to optimize yourself, swap in some strength-boosting gear before a weapon skill or some attribute that might be affiliated with a spell you're casting. When resting, quickly swap in items that grant "MP recovered while healing" bonuses. Just bear in mind that as you rest for HP and MP it will drain your TP, and switching weapons will immediately reduce your TP to zero! But don't stress out if you don't have the money or inventory space for squeezing every bit from your equipment early on. Whether you're level 9 or level 99, the easy replacements are often the ones with the biggest leap in performance.
• Race-specific gear is some of the best equipment you can have on hand for Blue Mage. Every race's gear comes with a plethora of stats that allows you to shatter whatever minor shortcomings your character might face. Much of it is useful until very high levels, so it's a good thing to pick up. Don't forget about your artifact equipment, either. In addition to being very well-tailored to the job, the story you dive into while questing for it is dripping in sublime lore.
  

An Empty Vessel

• Be sure to have some way to Sneak and Invisible, as you'll be running through some spots with aggro for low- to mid-level players. Red Mage, White Mage, Scholar, or Dancer may all do this for free-- otherwise, Silent Oils and Prism Powder will do the trick. Aside from that, this quest offers little danger.
• Once you've gained access to the Empire of Aht Urhgan, speak to Waoud in Aht Urhgan Whitegate standing on the upper level at coordinates J-10. He will ask you a series of questions, and you must give him the answers: 2-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-2-3. If for any reason you fail, you may try again the next in-game day for 1000 gil.
• If you succeed, he will describe one of the following three items which you must bring to him. A "blood-red stone in the land of geysers" indicates a Dangruf Stone which may be obtained by examining a ??? spot in Dangruf Wadi I5-J5 when the weather is normal. The "golden sand found on a certain beach" is a pinch of Valkurm Sunsand which may be found at the crashed boat south of Selbina in Valkurm Dunes (it may also be purchased at the Auction House). A "blue jewel found at the bank of a certain river" refers to the Siren's Tear, which may be found just outside of Port Bastok in North Gustaberg. Note that in order to pick up the jewel, you must unequip your main, sub, ranged, and hand equipment slots.
• One game day must pass, and then trade Waoud the item. He will return the item to you and you must then bring it to the pool in Aydeewa Subterrane. To get there, head outside the Ironbound Gate at Aht Urhgan Whitegate H-7 into the Bhaflau Woodlands. Use the entrance at coordinates I-7 to zone into the Subterrane. Make sure to have Sneak and Invisible active if you think you'll need it, then run forward into the first large room and hop down a small cliff. Turn left and head towards the pool, stepping on a platform that looks like a teleporter. With the item still in your inventory, go into the center of the pool.
• At this point you will receive a cutscene. Be sure to answer "Yes" to both questions, as answering "No" to either will make you restart the quest. You will be automatically teleported back to Aht Urghan. Congratulations! You may now become a Blue Mage!

• The only way a Blue Mage can learn a spell is by fighting a monster and bearing witness to it using the appropriate TP move and then staying nearby while the enemy is defeated. Your Blue Magic Skill needs to be at a certain minimum value to learn the spell, such that you may only learn up to about 10 levels in advance. For example, if your skill is capped at 63 for Lv.20, you can learn a spell that can be used at Lv.30. But if you were power-leveled to 60 and your skill is only 126 (the cap for Lv.41) you could only learn up to Lv.51 spells.
• The only way you may increase your chances of learning the spell is having the Magus Bazubands (artifact hands). Nothing else. Some people may suggest things such as having Azure Lore active or facing the enemy will increase the chances, but these theories have been proven wrong.
• Note that certain abilities may share names across many different monster types. Be sure you're trying to learn the spell from the correct monster family. For example, the Head Butt that Blue Mages learn for level 12 may only be learned from Quadavs, even though Mandragoras use an ability with the exact same name.
• Pro-Tip: Using a really weak weapon is a good way to feed the monster TP without killing it too quickly.
• Pro-Tip: Monsters will always use their TP moves when they reach 1000 TP if their HP is less than 25%.
• Pro-Tip: Any amount of damage will be enough to feed a monster TP. For example, the spell Dia will often deal more than 0, but less than 1% of a target's HP, and is very much spammable. (Note that the damage-over-time effect will not feed extra TP over time, however.)

• Unlike other mages who simply have access to their spells once they're learned, Blue Mages must strategically prepare in advance the ones they wish to bring into combat. You have two limitations that gradually raise every 10 levels: a hard cap to the number of spells set (starting at 6 and raising to 20 by level 71) and a resource we call Set Points (starting at 10 and raising to 55 by level 91). Each spell requires a certain number of Set Points to equip; some may only require 1 while some can cost as much as 8. You may rearrange your spells at any time, even in combat. However, any change at any time will lock you out of using your spells for 60 seconds, so it's best to prepare them in advance.
• Your goal is to try and anticipate what you need before combat begins. Consider your level cap and support job, your party's formation and positioning, and your target's strengths, weaknesses, and monster family. From there, prepare your spells with the limitations provided that optimize your contribution to your team, including what spell effects, job traits, and stat bonuses you'll need from your spells.
• Remember that certain spells will combine to make Job Traits. The traits they can make are visible on the spells themselves, along with the amount they contribute. A Job Trait will unlock with 8 points, and most spells contribute 4. Most traits will also increase in tiers with every multiple of 8. An important thing to note is that the traits you equip and the traits from your subjob don't stack, and will only provide you with the highest tier of the two.
• Pro-Tip: Equip spells for their effects first. Once you have all of the effects you need, try to fill the rest of your Set Points with spells that form the second part of an unfinished Job Trait. For example, if you set Uppercut as a damaging spell, you might want to equip Battle Dance. Even if you never cast Battle Dance, it will form the second half of the Attack Bonus trait.

• Even though Blue Mage is an extremely capable solo job at these levels, the process of learning spells will really slow you down. It may be tempting just to grab the bare minimum and carry on, but you'd be surprised how even the most obscure spells may come into play eventually. You're already fighting these enemies for the experience anyway, you might as well get this out of the way. Your teammates will thank you! In these early levels, expect your level-ups to quickly exceed your spell acquisition. By the time you get your three Lv.1 spells you'll likely be Lv.8 and be behind another ~6 spells. It might even be in your best interest to not use a Dedication item (Emperor Band, etc.) until you've at least caught up. I strongly advise subbing White Mage during these levels. In addition to offering spells like Cure and a large bonus to your MP gauge, its lack of Hand-to-Hand skill means that fighting empty-handed will throw very weak punches that supply the target with roughly 150 TP per strike. White Mage also allows you to cast Dia, which is decent way to feed the enemy TP once they get to 25% HP.
• With that out of the way, I would recommend starting in the Windurst area. Pollen is the best spell to learn first, since your goal isn't damage at this point but rather survivability. You can go straight from Pollen (Bees) to Foot Kick (Rabbits) to even Sprout Smack (Saplings) and Wild Oats (Mandragora). Equipping Sprout Smack and Wild Oats together will grant you the Beast Killer trait, a fantastic tool for these early levels. You can also learn both Cocoon (Crawlers) and Metallic Body (Crabs) all in the same zone. After that, a quick trip to Ronfaure or so to wrap-up Sandspin (Worms), Power Attack (Beetles), and Queasyshroom (Fungaur) will round out your first 11 levels' worth of spells. And of course, before you head outside, don't forget Signet!
• Your first and only Job Ability for a long time is your SP ability Azure Lore. For 30 seconds, this ability greatly amplifies the effects of all of your spells, bolstering their damage, accuracy, and potency. Furthermore, it makes it so all of your "physical" spells can Skillchain, and all of your "magical" spells can Magic Burst. Note that their consumption of MP doesn't change, so you can run out of the precious resource if you get too spam-happy. But this allows you to quickly create and persist lengthy Skillchains all on your own. Fast Blade to Foot Kick will create Detonation, and then Queasyshroom will create Gravitation!

• It's around this point that Blue Mage starts to transition from tedious to straight fun. Your solo play is still plenty adequate, especially with trusts. But if you have a group of people you can really shine. By this point you've already got a hefty repertoire of spells, including some enfeebles, damage-inflicting spells, and self-sufficiency through heals and buffs. Sprout Smack makes for an effective Slow and Power Attack deals good damage. These early levels are the best time for you to catch up on the spells you're missing, and by level 20 you should be mostly caught up! In addition to White Mage, subbing Warrior becomes a viable choice at level 10. Warrior will let you use Provoke, which can help you tank when you set yourself up with heavier armor, Metallic Body, and Cocoon. Pollen will help you to reduce the burden of your party's healer as well.
• Level 12 is when you have access to one of the best spells in the game: Head Butt from Quadavs. Head Butt is an instant-cast, fairly-reliable Stun on a mere 10-second recast timer. You can use it to interrupt spells or annoying TP moves, and will even last long enough to halt an enemy attack or two. It will save you and your party (or trusts) a ton of MP on healing. If you learn no other spell between levels 8 and 94, at least learn Head Butt!
• Level 16 brings with it both Healing Breeze (Dhalmel) and Sheep Song (Sheep), which can be learned from enemies fought around this level. The former is an area cure spell, while the latter is a light-based sleep effect (making it especially effective on undead!), and if set together for 6 points will combine to form Auto Regen. Sheep Song is a fantastic spell to have set in case of emergencies!
• At level 18 you may set Bludgeon, learned from Cardians fought within the Outer Horutoto Ruins. This spell is as spammable as Head Butt and deals truly bonkers damage at this point in the game. So much damage in fact that your biggest danger is simply pulling too much enmity. Use it wisely! Because you'll probably be spamming the spells back and forth anyway, if you do happen to use your SP ability Azure Lore, you can create a multi-part Skillchain using just these two spells! Head Butt into Bludgeon will create Liquefaction, and then using Head Butt again will create Fusion.
• Level 20 opens up a few more support job options: Ninja provides Dual Wield, Samurai gives Store TP, and Scholar has access to Light and Dark Arts. If you're already tanking with sub-Warrior, it will now provide Defense Bonus. I would still recommend sticking with subbing White Mage or Scholar until level 30, though-- the bonus MP and the utility of cures and status removal effects are more helpful than anything else.
• Level 24 lets you set Soporific from Flytraps. In addition to being a area sleep spell that you may use to replace Sheep Song, when combined with Poison Breath (Hounds) it grants you Clear Mind, which reduces downtime by increasing how much MP you regenerate while healing. It's a very noticeable bonus at these levels
• You gain your first non-SP ability at level 25: Burst Affinity! After activating it, your next "magical" blue magic spell is amplified and may be used to magic burst. I recommend playing around with it, but not relying too heavily on it. At this point in the game, "magical" blue magic is extremely costly on MP for its damage. You can always just use it whenever it's ready for a little bonus damage on a spell you've already got set.
• Other noteworthy spells: Battle Dance (Orcs - combines with Uppercut at level 38 for Attack Bonus), Cursed Sphere (Flies - low-SP contribution towards Magic Attack Bonus), Blastbomb (Warmachines - fire-based area Bind effect), Blood Drain (Large Bats - low-MP, low-SP Drain spell), Claw Cyclone (Tigers - contributes towards Lizard Killer), Screwdriver (Pugils - decent one-hit damage and contributes towards Evasion Bonus)

• Level 30 is a huge milestone for Blue Mage. This is where your support job choices really branch out, and the key reason is a little spell called Wild Carrot learned from Rabbits: your first targeted healing spell, and it's about as potent as Cure III. Wild Carrot also combines with Pollen to create Resist Sleep, which can be a life-saver if your opponent is prone to sleeping your party! You may now drop the White Mage or Scholar support job without losing too much party utility. Your damage output with spells like Bludgeon should still be high, so Warrior and Dark Knight (which now provide Berserk and Last Resort, respectively) may not be ideal. At this point, Ninja adds a fair amount to your weapon damage output thanks to Dual Wield (which has been available to you since level 20), and Utsusemi: Ichi (level 24) can let you overtake the tank's enmity level without suffering too much damage. You may also opt for a support job that boosts your MP, such as Black Mage or Summoner with set point-free Clear Mind and high base MP. Black Mage also provides Elemental Seal with nearly guarantees the effects of your Sheep Song or Soporific to save your party's life, while Summoner has the Max MP Boost trait and can call forth Cait Sith for Raise II.
• Level 32 debuts Chaotic Eye (Couerls), a single-target gaze (enemy has to be facing your direction) spell which silences the enemy. Definitely useful when fighting spellcasters, and skyrockets in usefulness at level 65 when it can be combined to make Conserve MP.
• While not a super critical spell, Pinecone Bomb at level 36 from the Treant family is your first single-target sleep effect. This makes it a lot less dangerous to use in a crowd of enemies. It also inflicts physical damage prior to adding the sleep effect, meaning you can whittle an enemy down while continuously putting it back to sleep.
• Level 38 comes with a bunch of extremely useful spells. Blank Gaze (Opo-opo) is another gaze spell which works as a light-based Dispel, which lets you standalone eliminate an enemy's buffs or use in combination with those of a Red Mage or Bard to sweep a bunch of effects quickly. Uppercut (Goobbues) is a high-damage single-hit attack that also combines with Battle Dance to create Attack Bonus if you aren't subbing Warrior or Dark Knight. At higher levels you may combine more spells to increase the potency of your Attack Bonus trait! Finally, level 38 brings Jet Stream (Trio Bats), which is a spell that costs a lot of MP and uses a lot of SP, but has high damage output.
• Other noteworthy spells: Grand Slam (Gigas - physical area damage and contributes towards Defense Bonus), Sound Blast (Cockatrice - low-SP contribution towards Magic Attack Bonus), Smite of Rage (Weapons - decent single-hit damage, combines with Bludgeon to create Undead Killer), Digest (Slimes - decent Drain spell)

• It’s a great weapon and you’ll surely use it for a few levels at least. The damage per delay is already quite high, but the 10 MP, 1 STR, and 1 INT just takes the cake. Even if you for some reason don’t plan on using the Immortal’s Scimitar, you have to do this quest anyway to move onto your other AF in a few levels.
• First off, I hope you’ve acquired all of your Staging Points already. Going to each of them is pretty much the gist of this quest. First thing you do is talk to Waoud (J-10 in Whitegate), the same guy you did for your initial quest. Choose “Gaze Away” and then wait three in-game days. After the third day, talk to him again and choose “Gaze Away” one more time. Be sure you wait the full three days and don’t talk to him in between it or you’ll have to do the question and answer segment you had to do for the initial quest. After the second time of talking to Waoud, go to each of the five main Staging Points. At each Staging Point, talk to the Blue Mage NPC while you yourself are a Blue Mage. In Ilrusi Atoll, talk to Meyaada. In Dvucca Isle, talk to Nahshib. In Halvung, talk to Waudeen. In Mamool Ja, talk to Daswil. And in Azouph Isle, talk to Nareema. Each one of these NPCs will launch an attack at you. Don't worry, you'll be fine! And the NPC will give you their “brand”. Head back to Waoud and receive your reward.

• You gain your second ability at level 40: Chain Affinity! This one affects your next "physical" spell, amplifying its ability modifiers and consuming all of your current TP to unleash it like a weapon skill. This also means you may use it in sequence for a skillchain! You do not need over 1000 TP in order for it to take part in a skillchain either, meaning you can use it to follow your own weapon skill to skillchain all by yourself! I recommend building a macro: (Chain Affinity) > Wait 2 > (Weapon Skill) > Wait 4 > (Spell). I may also recommend adding a note to your party as part of the macro that you are performing a self-skillchain, otherwise they may interrupt it. Below are some examples of what you can do right off the hop:
  • Red Lotus Blade into Uppercut or Jet Stream creates Fusion (Fire/Light)
  • Red Lotus Blade into Queasyshroom or Terror Touch creates Gravitation (Earth/Dark)
  • Red Lotus Blade into Screwdriver creates Scission (Earth)
  • Fast Blade or Seraph Blade into Bludgeon creates Liquefaction (Fire)
  • Fast Blade or Seraph Blade into Foot Kick or Smite of Rage creates Detonation (Wind)
• You may now also add Thief to your list of fun (if a bit niche) support job options. Combining Sneak Attack with a single-hit spell like Uppercut or Screwdriver will add the critical damage, allowing your self-skillchains that extra bit of burst damage. Dancer provides the same level of Dual Wield as subbing Ninja for the next 10 levels here too. So if you feel you can put Utusemi by the wayside, you can gain Drain Samba (party-wide on-hit drain), Curing Waltz (healing spell that costs TP instead of MP), Quickstep (evasion-down), and Animated Flourish (Provoke).
• MP Drainkiss (Leeches) at level 42 is fun to use. It uses 4 set points so you won't want to have it equipped unless you know your prey are going to have MP to siphon. Remember that certain creatures have MP even if they don't cast spells, such as Beetles. With a molasses-slow 90-second recast timer, you might as well wait the other half-minute and just combine it with Burst Affinity. If you can actually magic burst it, even better!
• Geist Wall (Efts) available to set at 46 is another Dispel ability. Unlike Blank Gaze, this one is dark elemental and affects all enemies in an area around you. Having at least one of the two set is always a good idea. Nothing slows things down like an enemy with a potent self-buff.
• Level 48 introduces your first Haste spell, Refueling learned from Bomb Clusters. It's less potent than the white magic spell Haste, it can only be self-cast, and it uses 4 set points. However, this spell makes you self-sufficient. You needn't rely on your party's support to keep you hasted, if you have one at all. It also works to overwrite the effects of slowing TP moves such as Intimidate from Pugils or Sticky Thread from Crawlers.
• Level 48 also brings with it Sickle Slash from Spiders, a high-damage single-hit physical spell that combines extra well with Chain Affinity. Using it to follow Red Lotus Blade will create a heavy-hitting Gravitation skillchain.
• Level 50 unlocks a lot of power in a lot of different support jobs. Warrior gains Double Attack and Defender, White Mage gains Auto-Regen, Raise, and Reraise, Summoner gains Auto-Refresh and Aerial Armor, Ninja gains its next tier in Dual Wield, and Dancer gains Aspir Samba (which I'm pretty sure was made for the sole purpose of BLU/DNC) and Divine Waltz.
• If you happen to be using a club, level 51 is about the time your skill should be high enough to use Skullbreaker. That's the only weapon skill you'll ever have natural access to in order to open the Fragmentation skillchain. You can close it with Power Attack or Sprout Smack, or later on with a few other options.
• At level 58, you may set Auto-Refresh only by equipping a whopping five spells: Stinking Gas (Doomed), Frightful Roar (Tauri), Self-Destruct (Bombs), Cold Wave (Snolls), and Light of Penance (Tonberries); a total of fourteen set points! Eventually, other spells will provide more points towards the trait so you may set it using fewer slots and fewer set points.
• Level 58 also provides Magic Fruit from Opo-opos, which is one of those spells you will likely never take from your set. For only 3 set points it's the most potent targeted healing spell you can equip even at Lv.99. It's roughly equal to Cure IV and contributes to Resist Sleep to boot!
• Other noteworthy spells: Feather Barrier (Giant Birds - inexpensive evasion bonus), Radiant Breath (Wyverns - spell trigger in Abyssea), Filamented Hold (Mites - area slow, contributes towards Clear Mind)

• Overall a solid set of equipment. The Lv.52 footwear and Lv.54 legwear are fantastic defensive pieces. They're good to have just as backup to swap in when things get troublesome.
• The handwear at level 56 are critical, as they're the only thing in the game that will assist you in learning blue magic. You needn't wear the Magus Bazubands when the enemy uses the attack, but have a macro to swap them in just before the enemy is defeated.
• The level 58 body piece is also top-notch. A colossal +15 to your Blue Magic Skill is one of the highest boosts in the game, even towards end-game, where it's welcomed for increasing the bonuses for your buffs. It also adds a huge +3 to both strength and dexterity, making it a potent piece to equip prior to casting many different spells at this point in the game!
• The head piece sadly doesn't get as much use as one would hope. Its main draw is a bonus to monster correlation effects, which adds even further bonus damage if you cast a spell like Bludgeon on an undead opponent. Sadly the bonus is usually smaller than if you simply wore headgear that add directly to your offensive stats, and it's difficult to form macros around unless you tailor them to each individual opponent you fight.

• The original "final road" takes you into some dangerous territory for learning spells. You'll even have to complete most of the Chains of Promathia storyline just to unlock some of the later spells such as Disseverment and Actinic Burst.
• Level 60 is another big spike from almost every support job. Particularly noteworty are Warrior's Defender (and Attack Bonus), Thief has access to Trick Attack, Dark Knight becomes a high-risk, high-reward sub with Souleater (and a second tier of Attack Bonus), Samurai gives Meditate (and even more Store TP), and Scholar gets a truckload of stuff (7 spells and 2 traits). Dancer and Summoner get a few nice boosts as well. And even jobs not mentioned all get at least one little garnish. By this point you should have figured out what works best for you. Warrior, Ninja, Thief, and Dancer will probably still be your go-to. But some situations may call for Scholar or Red Mage.
• Death Scissors (Scorpions) is a standout spell at level 60 as well. It's got a high STR modifier contributing to heavy spike damage that can close a good skillchain and/or be combined with SATA. Every minute you can (CA)SATA-Death Scissors to add some hate onto a tank. It also provides some decent stats, but at a steep cost of 5 set points. Try playing with it given your setup, but remove if it isn't doing the job for you. This spell also replaces Sickle Slash as an effective means to close Gravitation.
• Yawn (Apkallu) at level 64 is one of the better sleep spells in the game. Its element is light and it has a pretty significant range and duration. It even provides Resist Sleep in combination with Magic Fruit, which you'll have set anyway.
• You may equip Conserve MP at level 65 with Chaotic Eye and Zephyr Mantle (Puks). Both are fantastic spells anyway, and combined only use up 4 set points. There's almost no reason to not have it equipped at any time. Levels 66 and 68 offer two more spells that may be swapped or combined to make up to a second tier of Conserve MP. Though Frost Breath (Raptors, Lv.66) and Firespit (Mamool-Ja, Lv.68) cost a lot of set points and aren't as useful as the other two.
• Diamondhide from Trolls at Lv.67 is a fantastic spell. It's a party-wide Stoneskin effect for only 99 MP. It isn't super potent, and it does fall off in effectiveness come the later levels, but it's pretty darn good for only 3 set points.
• Level 69 brings with it Store TP. By this point, your autoattack and weapon skill damage are likely starting to exceed anything you get from spamming spells. If you notice that's the case, it's a good time to set this. Otherwise, the two spells required to set this are both pretty expensive at 4 points each. Sickle Slash from level 48 and now Tail Slap from Merrows. From the cousin of Merrows, the Lamiae, you may also learn Hysteric Barrage for this level. It's a costly 5 set points, but provides some decent stats and inflicts reasonable damage for its 61 MP cost.
• Level 70 is an interesting level as you get to set a trait normally exclusive to Monks: Counter. By setting Enervation (Trolls, Lv.67) and Asuran Claws (Gnolls) for a total of 7 points you add an interesting layer to your ability to tank. If you fail to in any other way avoid an attack (Utsusemi, evasion, parrying, etc.) you can stop an attack in its tracks and strike an enemy instead. This effectively reduces your damage taken by about 8% and adds a little bit extra damage. Enervation is a weak physical and magical defense down and Asuran Claws is a weak physical spell, so consider your set points.
• Level 70 is a milestone level for another reason: Cannonball. Learned from Wamouracampa (the larval stage of those giant moths in Halvung), this spell is extremely unique. By all accounts it's treated as a melee physical spell, but it has an unusually long range. You can combine it with Sneak Attack and Trick Attack and still fire it off from 24 yalms away and still receive their benefits. Also unusual is its secondary modifier of Defense. Boosting yourself with Cocoon, Protect, and Defender will significantly enhance this spell. But wait, there's more! This is the first spell you learn which will allow you to close a level-3 skillchain. Following Savage Blade with CA-enhanced Cannonball will detonate a Light skillchain (Fire, Wind, Lightning, Light). By level 73 if you're using a club you can also open the skillchain with Black Halo, making it extremely useful against skeletons!
• Additionally, 70 is a big level for a few of your support jobs. Scholar learns Sublimation, Raise, and Reraise, Rune Fencer gains an additional rune, Auto-Regen, and Blink, Dancer grants Drain Samba II and Healing Waltz, Red Mage gains Fast Cast II, and Warrior gets Warcry.
• At level 72 you can finally set Fast Cast. But strangely enough it's not quite even to Lv.15 Red Mage standards. In fact, it only provides about half as much as the first tier of Fast Cast. For 9 set points, the two spells you need to set are very likely not worth it. Bad Breath (Morbols, Lv.61) is awful, and Sub-zero Smash (Ruszors, Lv.72) is rarely worth using. You're better off just subbing Red Mage until you get some job points for the free extra tiers.
• Level 72 also brings Disseverment from Aerns in Lumoria. It's one of the better physical-damage spells, and imposes a halfway-decent poison to its target. It costs 5 set points, but it also contributes towards Accuracy Bonus. Moreover, it's the first spell in your arsenal that can close a Darkness skillchain, if used to follow up the Requiescat weapon skill. If you'd rather use Savage Blade, you can use Disseverment to close Distortion instead.
• Learned from the Ghrah monsters in Lumoria and equippable at level 74 is Actinic Burst. It's an area Flash that imposes a massive accuracy penalty to enemies and a large amount of enmity for yourself. Moreover, it contributes 4 points towards Auto-Refresh, making it capable of replacing up to 3 spells and refunding up to 4 set points. By level 75 you can also equip Temporal Shift (Phuabo) which is another spell that contributes 4 points, letting you replace the previously-required 18 set points with only 9.
• Another important Lv.74 spell is Magic Hammer, learned from Poroggos. It's a light-elemental Aspir spell that also inflicts damage. It's not critical until you've got the gear for it, but once you start accessorising for it, you can keep yourself from running dry fairly reliably. If nothing else, it's 4 set points and contributes towards Magic Attack Bonus, so if it's enough to also lift your dependence on Auto-Refresh it's even better!
• If you're still subbing Ninja, level 74 is also when you gain access to Utsusemi: Ni. "Nii'd" I say more?
• Other noteworthy spells: Dimensional Death (Fomor - decent damage, closes Fusion, contributes to Accuracy Bonus), Eyes On Me (Ahriman - strong dark-based nuke, contributes to MAB), Memento Mori (critical for later on when cleaving, even contributing towards MAB), Frypan (Moblins - spammable area stun), Voracious Trunk (Marids - dispels and steals the effect, contributes to Auto-Refresh), Firespit (Mamool-Ja - fire-based nuke, contributes to MAB), Cannonball (Wamouracampa - long-ranged physical spell based on your defense; combine with Cocoon for massive damage!), Saline Coat (Xzomit - enormous reduction of magic damage that can be combined with Diffusion for your teammates), Temporal Shift (Hpemde - reliable area stun that also contributes to Attack Bonus), Exuviation (Wamoura - self-target Erase with a small HP recovery attached), Vertical Cleave (Euvhi - inexpensive heavy damage and can close a Darkness skillchain)
• Now you've reached level 75. Congratuations! This is a huge milestone! For a long time this was it: the highest level in the game. Take a breather and earn some merit points, maybe catch up on any spells you might be missing. After this you've got some pretty significant levels ahead.

• At level 75 you may finally switch to earning merit points after speaking with the Nomad Moogle next to Maat. If this isn't your first job to Lv.75, you might even have some merits stacked up already. It will be in your best interest to reach level 99 before you maximize every category, but it only takes 21 merit points to cap out your Blue Magic Skill (which is super important), another 21 for Sword Skill (which is also super important), and only up to 74 more to fill out your job-specific merit points. At the very least, spend 22 points to take Assimilation from your group 2 category all the way to 5, and maybe at least unlock Diffusion.
• Group 1: Honestly, I feel like this is entirely up to you. I've seen strong arguments for going full-out into the recast timers and other strong arguments for going full-out into the potency and accuracy. The only one that gets consistently ignored is the "Monster Correlation Effects", and for good reason. My recommendation is the potency and accuracy, as the recast on both Chain Affinity and Burst Affinity makes them almost niche abilities in the content I've attented. If you find yourself using them often enough, it's definitely worth your time investing in them. You can always switch them around later on if you see fit!
• Group 2: This one's a bit more cut and dry. Assimilation is absolutely the most important thing you can merit. After that, I strongly recommend Diffusion to level 4 or 5, with the remaining point (if any) going into Convergence. Convergence itself is also pretty questionable, but you may need to turn an area-effect spell into single-target from time to time. Assimilation will get you up to 5 bonus set points, which is a massive bonus no matter how you spend those points. One or two extra job traits and spells, plus the bonus stats they provide. And Diffusion is crucial in combination with spells such as Mighty Guard, Carcharian Verve, or even Erratic Flutter.
• Other Categories: As stated before, Blue Magic Skill is paramount. Not only does it affect almost every single thing you do, it gives you the opportunities to learn spells even earlier. Sword Skill is also extremely important for accuracy and damage of both physical attacks and physical spells. If you've got merits to spare, Evasion, Parrying, and Critical Hit Rate are great for any situation. Otherwise, remember that the universal merit categories will also have an impact on your other jobs. Even pre-75, every 10 levels gives you 1 level from every category. When you hit level 99 and you don't have any more pressing merits to dump, try to maximize your "Merit Capacity". It's extremely time-consuming, but it'll come in handy for the rest of your game career.

• <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<WORKING ON IT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (Everything below this line is extremely outdated; read at your own risk)

• (Continue discussions of spells, traits, support jobs, etc.)

• (Discuss the many, many things available to you at level 99 and beyond)

• (Discuss Blue Mage's role in end-game content. What do other players expect from you?)
• Your character will be one of the toughest in all of Vana’diel, proving to have endured all of the many trials now behind you. Congratulations! Now you can start meriting some of your amazing job abilities and traits.