Azure Lore: Kyte's Guide to Blue Mage

Note to any onlookers: I'm obviously not done with this, so go ahead and ignore for now.

Azure Lore
Obtained at Level 1 Recast: 2:00:00

Blue Mage's 2 hour ability. Should you use it during your early levels, you will likely be unimpressed and think to yourself "Damn, blues got shafted." However, at later levels it becomes rather powerful.

The ability enhances blue magic. For physical blue spells, this means that it increases the TP modifier to 350%. The stronger the TP mod, the bigger the increase. This is why for spells like bludgeon, you won't see much of an effect; on the other hand, you'll see a large damage jump for Death Scissors.

Burst Affinity
Obtained at Level 25 Recast: 2:00

This job ability makes it possible for your "magical" blue spells to be used in a magic burst. At the time at which you get it, this may or may not be viable. Magical blue spells tend to run a higher MP cost than the physical ones, and are typically inefficient. Be that as it may, it does at least appear impressive when a blue mage performs a self-skillchain, followed by a self-magic burst.

Chain Affinity
Obtained at Level 40 Recast: 2:00

A complement to burst affinity, chain affinity makes it possible to skillchain with your physical blue spells. At the time at which you obtain it, self-skillchaining is often the best option. However, later on when you get spells like Death Scissors, which have powerful TP mods, using the ability to simply enhance a blue magic becomes a better option.

On top of its function of enabling SCs, it also doubles the secondary mods for physical blue spells. It is for this reason that even when used with 0 TP, a CA'd spell will do more damage than it would otherwise.

Job Traits
One of the most unique things about blue mage is that it has no native job traits; instead, you gain them through special spell combinations.


 * [| Guide to obtaining BLU job traits]

The above link shows exactly how this is done, and gives all the possible combinations. Blue can get most of the job traits in the game, and knowing what ones to equip when can be critical.

=Subjobs=

Blue Mage is a wonderfully diverse job. As such, it is capable of taking advantage of many different sub job combinations.

Ninja
The most common subjob that you will see other blue mages using. However, it is very important to note that this subjob is not the best for every situation. In fact, until higher levels when you start getting the powerful multi-hit spells such as Hysteric Barrage and Disseverment, it is rather lackluster in my opinion.

Job Traits


 * Stealth- Level 5
 * Dual Wield- Level 10
 * Dual Wield II- Level 25

Spells


 * Tonko: Ichi- Level 9
 * Utsusemi: Ichi- Level 12
 * Monomi: Ichi- Level 25
 * Tonko: Ni- Level 35
 * Utsusemi: Ni- Level 37

How this subjob should be used:
 * Ninja is decent between 20-30, and later on at 72+, when you are most likely to be doing burn parties, and have all the multi-hit spells available. It's also great for soloing and sneaking around via Tonko and Monomi for quests and whatnot. It can potentially be used for tanking. Blue eventually gets access to some pretty good melee equipment, such as Homam and Dusk. The haste on these items compliments Dual Wield well.

Thief
My personal favorite. Sneak Attack stacks with most physical blue magic, making this the best subjob for boosting physical spell damage.

Job Traits


 * Evasion Bonus- Level 10
 * Treasure Hunter- Level 15
 * Resist Gravity- Level 20
 * Evasion Bonus II- Level 30

Job Abilities


 * Steal- Level 5
 * Sneak Attack- Level 15
 * Flee- Level 25
 * Trick Attack- Level 30
 * Mug- Level 35

How this subjob should be used:
 * Do not use until level 30, when sneak attack becomes available. After that point, the subjob is viable all the way to 75. It is used to greatly enhance our spells, particularly the single hit ones. Once trick attack becomes available, you can use that for hate control. Endgame, blue mage can put out some impressive numbers with SA Cannonball and SA Verticle Cleave.


 * It also has obvious application for farming, via Treasure Hunter.

Warrior
With berserk and double attack, this subjob does a fine job at boosting sword damage. However, it gives nothing to boost spell damage, aside from giving slightly more STR than most other subjobs.

Job Traits


 * Defense Bonus- Level 10
 * Resist Virus- Level 15
 * Double Attack- Level 25
 * Attack Bonus- Level 30
 * Resist Virus II- Level 35

Job Abilities


 * Provoke- Level 5
 * Berserk- Level 15
 * Defender- Level 25
 * Warcry- Level 35

How this subjob should be used:
 * It is primarily a tanking sub. Blue mage has Cocoon to enhance defense, and many of our spells give +VIT. We also get several healing spells. What this means is that a BLU can tank in a similar fashion to a Paladin, using Provoke and Healing spells for hate. Head Butt also helps, reducing the number of times an enemy attacks in a given battle. Later on the difference between paladin and blue mage increase, although with proper mage-line support, via Enfeebles, it could probably be done at later levels as well.

White Mage
Job Traits


 * Magic Defense Bonus- Level 10
 * Clear Mind- Level 20
 * Auto Regen- Level 25
 * Magic Defense Bonus II- Level 30
 * Clear Mind II- Level 35

Job Abilities


 * Divine Seal- Level 15

Spells


 * Cure- Level 1
 * Dia- Level 3
 * Paralyze- Level 4
 * Banish- Level 5
 * Barstonra- Level 5
 * Poisona- Level 6
 * Barsleepra- Level 7
 * Protect- Level 7
 * Protectra- Level 7

Dark Knight
=Equipment=

When looking for blue mage equipment, Accuracy and strength, along with attack and dexterity are the most important stats. Accuracy and attack will help your normal melee the most, while strength will boost your spell strength. Attack does not affect blue spells. Physical spell accuracy is based off blue magic skill and melee accuracy, so you will need to maintain a good accuracy percentage or your spells will fail.

Subbing thief for sneak attack allows you to macro swap in as much strength as you can without worrying about the spell missing (provided of course that it's a single-hit spell, otherwise the subsequent hits will be eligible for missing given poor accuracy). Many single hit spells also have DEX modifiers, so throwing some of that in where you can't get strength isn't a bad idea either.

Weapon
If I put a +1, that simply means that there is a +1 available, although by all means get the HQ if possible. The difference between HQ and NQ can vary.

Swords

 * Wax Sword+1: Level 1
 * Xiphos+1: Level 7
 * Royal Archer's Sword: Level 10
 * Scimitar+1: Level 13
 * Flame Sword: Level 18
 * Nadrs: Level 24
 * Gladiator: Level 27
 * Mithran Scimitar: Level 28
 * Centurian's Sword: Level 30
 * Republic Sword: Level 34
 * Immortal's Scimitar: Level 40
 * Combat Castor's Scimitar: Level 40
 * Shotel+1: Level 42
 * Immortal's Shotel: Level 50
 * Musketeer Commander's Falchion: Level 55
 * Greed Scimitar: Level 60
 * Ifrit's Sword: Level 65
 * Wing Sword+1: Level 69
 * Perdu Hanger: Level 73

Club
Chances are, you'll never use a club while leveling BLU. However, I will include in a few that I feel are notable.


 * Flan Smasher: Level 68
 * Mistilteinn: Level 70
 * Seveneyes: Level 71
 * Perdu Wand: Level 73

Staff
Blue Mage has no native staff skill; however, the elemental staves are of varying importance to BLU.


 * Light Staff: Level 51
 * Dark Staff: Level 51
 * Fire Staff: Level 51
 * Earth Staff: Level 51
 * Ice Staff: Level 51
 * Thunder Staff: Level 51
 * Water Staff: Level 51
 * Wind Staff: Level 51

Shield
Blue Mage has no native shield skill, and can equip barely any shields. However, the few that we can use are noteworthy, and quite useful.


 * Tortoise Shield: Level 30
 * Astral Shield: Level 58
 * Astral Aspis: Level 68
 * Genbu's Shield: Level 74
 * Archeron Shield+1: Level 75

Note about shield useage-
 * Shields perform three purposes for BLU. First, and most obvious, they give an added layer of defense. While we lack shield skill, many of our subjobs give at least some to us. Even with low skill, it can still help. In addition, they give added points of defense, which brings me to my next point. The second purpose of Shields is to boost Cannonball damage, which is partly based off our DEF. For that purpose, the Archeron Shield is best. Third, many give helpful extra stats, such as MP.


 * In terms of pure protection, the Genbu Shield is best. The damage reduction and evasion can be invaluable for enhancing survivability, perfect for any tanking BLU. The defense on it is only a few points lower than the Archeron Shield, so if you had to choose one for inventory space's sake, I would pick this one.


 * Another note: When soloing as /NIN, you don't necessarily need to dual wield. Remember- you solo with /NIN for its shadows. If you feel that the added protection would benefit you more than the added damage from an off-hand weapon, then use this shield.

Important Links
Here are links to a few articles that I feel give valuable information.

Calculating Blue Magic Damage

Blue Magic Hunting Grounds