Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Questions and Answers.

I am trying to learn more and more about BLM as I am leveling it. I have read several of Kaeko's blog posts about BLM and I understand it conceptually, but often times that does not translate immediately in practical knowledge. I do understand the need for balancing Elemental Skill and INT, but I would like to know how Magic Attack Bonus fits into the equation. Should I get my requisite Elemental Skill and INT for end-game and then pile on as much Magic Attack Bonus as I can in the slots that are left? Is Magic Attack Bonus more important than Elemental Skill and INT and therefore I should be willing to give up some of those stats to accomadate MAB? How much MAB is good enough to justify giving up Elemental Skill and INT?

Another thing I wanted to know about was the importance of certain items like an Elemental Torque or an Elemental Earring. Should I get these items even though they tend to be very expensive? Can I compensate for not having these items with other gear? Is one better than the other and can I just get one and not the other?

Last night I had hoped to be able to get through some of the AF quests for BLM, but sadly because of a lack of weather to spawn the Water Elemental and my general tiredness I was only able to do a small portion of the quests. I just need to stop by Windurst to pick up my Wizard's Sabots. Tonight, I have the Versus event, then Einherjar, then Salvage, but even after that I would like to try to get in the rest of the quests even if I can't get the coffers and Dark Spark out of the way.

8 comments:

Evilpaul said...

If you have elemental magic skill merits capped, then you can mostly just go with MAB and INT everywhere.

This is my nuking set: http://www.ffxiah.com/item_sets.php?id=23473

Things I would change would be the feet. I'd like Yigit and would use those if I had them. I switched from Rostrums because I'm tired of them after ~2 years. The Uggy Pendant also doesn't do anything above 50% MP, obviously. I use a Snow Ring instead of Sorc's Ring on resistant targets or when mages are Chainspell Cure 3'ing me out of the latent effect. Use a P.rope if you don't have a relic belt.

You basically want to put MAB anywhere that it will out damage INT in general. You only swap in the INT/Elemental skill pieces when you're nuking very resistant targets. Wizard's Gloves first, Elemental Torque and Sorc's hat next.

I wouldn't bother with an Elemental Earring, but the Torque is practically a necessity on resistant targets. I guess you could also use a Prudence Torque (that's the INT+5 one right?) if you had it too.

Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

basically it breaks down that everything over 10 int over the mobs into should be mab so for xping and what not go with MAB for sky elemental/int 320/120 for sea MAB znm's MAB and so on and so forth if there is any info that wasnt there that you can use then there you go

Anonymous said...

for my MAB set i use

"Morrigan's Cuffs";
"Morrigan's Robe";
"Wzd. Petasos +1";
"Penitent's rope";
"Jupiter's Staff";
"Moldavite earring";
"Uggalepih pendant";
"Novio Earring";
"Mahatma Slops";
"Ixion cape";
"Sorcerer's Ring";
"Yigit Crackows";
"Snow Ring";
"Omega Ring";

and for Elemental i use

"Wzd. Gloves +1";
"Genie Weskit";
"Sorc. Petasos +1";
"Penitent's rope";
"Jupiter's Staff";
"Moldavite earring";
"Elemental Torque";
"Abyssal Earring";
"Mahatma Slops";
"Merciful Cape";
"Goliard Clogs"

Kallo said...

This is one of the issues I've been having a lot of trouble with as well Ring. The general consensus seems to be..."For HNMs and Big Things, get 320Skill\120INT, then do whatever the hell you want with the rest." For Exp Mobs, "Full Skill Merits and you can go crazy with MAB."

I once had a conversation with Elfy while waiting for Salvage where he broke it down for me in very simple, mathematical terms. I can't remember for the life of me what it all was...but he gave me exact numbers for INT in relation to Skill, and how much of each you need to never get resisted -- then told me past that concentrate exclusively on MAB.

I haven't been able to talk to Elfy in a long time (Obv) so I'm at a loss and have settled with "This is the gear you want."

=)

Anonymous said...

Wear AF gloves and elemental torque full-time until at least 73 - better to hit a little less hard and resist a whole lot less often. Once you start getting elemental merits, you can replace some skill gear with MAB.

-- cele

Tuufless said...

Hmm...simply put:

Elemental skill- primarily determines whether your nuke is resisted, does not affect damage.

INT- slightly affects whether your nuke is resisted, increases damage _linearly._

MAB- Does not affect resist rates, increases damage _exponentially_.

Tuufless said...

Sorry, not exponentially, geometrically.

Anonymous said...

also if you have read it is true that 1 MACC is the equivilant of 1 skill