Alright, you've got access to all of your 80 Blue Magic spells and it's time to pick the 24 that you actually want to use. That's what this guide is for, to help you narrow down which spells you absolutely should take and which ones can best be left forgotten. With the addition of Aetherial Mimicry, this list is going to be a little more complex then my last one since there's basically four roles to cover here. I will break the spells up into ones that are good regardless of role, and ones that are more role-specific.
The Universal Spells are my must-have spells. The Role-Specific spells are just my recommendations for the those roles, but feel free to mix-and-match when you get to the bottom of the list. There's plenty of potential for crossover
**UNIVERSAL SPELLS*\*
That puts us at 18 Spells in total, leaving 6 spells that can be adjusted based on the role that you're playing. If you don't care about Libra, you can go down to just one attack spell and free up 2 additional slots.
**TANK SPELLS*\*
Tanking on Blue Mage isn't like tanking with other jobs. Your job is all about getting aggro on all the enemies, then weakening them so the rest of the party can kill them faster. All the tank's spells are chosen with that in mind.
**DPS SPELLS*\*
Not much to say about Blue Mage being a DPS since that's there actual role, so let's get into some of the heavy hitting spells you'll want.
**HEALER SPELLS*\*
Blue Mage plays a lot like a standard healer does while doing any higher end content instead of like a normal DPS. They have a DOT, they have a spammable damage spell, and that's about it. So, being a BLU Healer is an easy transition for the most part, except you have no oGCD heals to rely on.
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The Universal Spells are my must-have spells. The Role-Specific spells are just my recommendations for the those roles, but feel free to mix-and-match when you get to the bottom of the list. There's plenty of potential for crossover
**UNIVERSAL SPELLS*\*
- One Physical 220 Attack - Sharpened Knife (Fast Melee), Kaltstrahl (Melee Cleave), and Abyssal Transfixion (Ranged ST) are your options here, just pick the spell that best fits your playstyle and role.
- One Astral 220 Attack - Even more options here. Flamethrower (Cone AOE), Alpine Draft (Line AOE), Electrogenesis (Ranged AOE), and Reflux (Ranged ST) all work.
- One Umbral 220 Attack - You have limited options here. Plaincracker (Melee Circle) and Protean Wave (Line AOE) are the best fits, but neither spell is that great since Protean Wave doesn't track your target and the knockback is annoying. The Ram's Voice (Melee Circle) also works, but I've got it elsewhere on the list.
- Magic Hammer - 250 Potency + MP Recovery. It's on a 90s cooldown, but absolutely should be in your active spells.
- All 5 Primal Spells - Yup, we're eating up 5 spell spots here, but these aren't up for debate. You can pick whichever spells you prefer. For ease of use, I take Eruption, Shock Strike, Glass Dance, Quasar, and Surpanakha. For optimization with Libra, you'll want Eruption, Mountain Buster, Glass Dance, J Kick, and Surpanakha.
- Missile, Launcher, and Level 5 Death - These are your trash killers. They are all considered Death spells and won't work on enemies immune to Death. However, for trash pulls, these will be your best spells 99% of the time.
- Missile is good on a single target, dealing 50% damage if it hits.
- Launcher is for multiple targets as it doesn't miss like Missile does, but is very MP expensive and should only be used twice per pull.
- Level 5 Death is surprising good, and should kill almost every target in a trash pull if they are the right level. It has a 180s cooldown to keep it from being too overpowered, but just cycle it amongst the Blue Mages and you'll be golden. It has a very small range though, so wait until everything is grouped up to use it.
- Bristle + Song of Torment - Two spells that should always be used together. This is your strongest GCD attack that doesn't require any status effects to work. You'll be using it every 30s no matter what.
- Off-Guard - It's Blue Mage's Trick Attack, seriously. Target takes 5% more damage from every attack for 15 seconds on a 60s cooldown. It's Trick Attack, use it.
- White Wind - Restores HP to the party equal to your current HP. It doesn't matter what role you are, this spell is a must-have. For tanks, it's the easiest way to get aggro from the start of the pull. For healers, it's still your strongest heal. For DPS, it's the perfect back-up for when someone bites it.
- Angel Whisper - Another utility spell that everyone should have. It's a combat rez with a 300s cooldown.
- Aetherial Mimicry - To cap off the universal spell list has to be the spell that lets you choose your role. Aetherial Mimicry lets you mimic any PC's role that you find. It's main usage is before going into a dungeon/trial/raid, you find someone and copy their role.
- Mimic: Tank makes it so you take less damage. It's the worst of the three. If you're going to be tanking anything hard though, you'll want it.
- Mimic: DPS gives you a permanent Crit and Direct Hit buff. This buff is equal to having Devilment on all the time, it's huge. You can guesstimate this as a 15% damage buff.
- Mimic: Healer increases all healing potencies by five-fold. It's a requirement if you even want your healing spells other then White Wind to be useful, otherwise they're about as strong as SMN's Physick.
That puts us at 18 Spells in total, leaving 6 spells that can be adjusted based on the role that you're playing. If you don't care about Libra, you can go down to just one attack spell and free up 2 additional slots.
**TANK SPELLS*\*
Tanking on Blue Mage isn't like tanking with other jobs. Your job is all about getting aggro on all the enemies, then weakening them so the rest of the party can kill them faster. All the tank's spells are chosen with that in mind.
- Mighty Guard - It's your tank stance. Damage taken reduced by 40%, Damage dealt reduced by 70%, Increased Enmity generation, and gains PLD's Trait of spells can't be interrupted. Quick note, Mighty Guard does not decrease healing power, nor does it affect HP% attacks like Missile.
- Diamondback - This is your only real damage mitigation tool. Damage taken reduced by 90%, but can't move or attack for 10s. Also has a very expensive MP cost, so use only when necessary.
- Condensed Libra - You were probably wondering why this wasn't in the universal spell list. Only one Blue Mage on the party needs Libra, and it might as well be the tank because your damage is gonna suck. Libra increases damage from all sources by 5%, but randomly selects either Physical (Brown), Astral (White), or Umbral (Black). Try to keep Libra up 100% of the time to boost your party's damage.
- Devour - Another one that easily could have went into the universal list, but I found I didn't use this spell as often in any the other roles as I did as a tank. It does deal 250 Potency on the GCD on a 60s cooldown, so it's good for any role. However, it does require you be in melee range to use it. It's main tank selling point is it has a "Thrill of Battle"-like effect on it as well.
- Bad Breath - While all the status effects of this spells are good, the main reason the tank wants is for the Damage Down effect you keep up permanently. It also causes Poison, so you're still dealing some damage with it. It also can work as your Silence/Interrupt if you Swiftcast it.
- Frog Legs + Cactguard - These are more for trial and raid situations. Frog Legs is your Provoke ability and Cactguard is an OT damage reduction spell on the GCD. For dungeons, you don't need these.
- Ram's Voice + Dragon's Voice - These are more for dungeons situations. Dragon's Voice lets you pull far away mobs that spawn, and Ram's Voice is good for Freezing them so you don't take damage. You could combo these for damage... but, you're tank and your damage sucks. You can use Ram's Voice as your Umbral attack spell to free up a spell slot.
**DPS SPELLS*\*
Not much to say about Blue Mage being a DPS since that's there actual role, so let's get into some of the heavy hitting spells you'll want.
- Moon Flute - 50% Damage boost for 15s, but can't do anything for the next 15s. Moon Flute was mostly used in conjunction with the suicidal spells. With the addition of Surpanakha though, Moon Flute can be used every 2 minutes for a sizable DPS gain. I hate giving numbers that aren't totally backed up, but it seems to be around a 10-15% damage boost if paired with Song of Torment, Eruption, Shock Strike, Quasar, and Surpanakha.
- White + Black Knight's Tour - Another spell combo that easily could have gone into the universal list, but the downside to the spell is really only one person can use it at a time. While the main purpose of this spell combo is for AOE damage in trash pulls, it also works extremely well on boss' that aren't immune to Slow. If you can slow your target, this combo averages at 300 Potency per GCD and is extremely easy to use unlike other spell combos.
- Whistle - Increases the damage of the next physical attack by 80%. This will be used in conjunction with the next three spells.
- Final Sting - Hey, feeling a little suicidal? How about being able to deal 150k damage in a single hit? That's Final Sting for you. Final Sting will kill you and has an effective 10m cooldown on it, so use this when you can get the most effect of it. Just hope your fellow Blue Mage's have Angel Whisper ready.
- Faze -OR- Bomb Toss + Sharpened Knife - You don't need all three, but you will want access one of the Stuns. Sharpened Knife can be swapped out as your physical attack if you want to save a spell slot. Whistled Knife deals approximately 810 Potency on a Stunned target, making it one of your strongest ST hits.
- Level 5 Petrify + Drill Cannons - I personally don't use this combo, but I have to include it here. First, Petrify and Freeze *count* as the same status effect, so you can't Petrify something that's already Frozen without overwriting the status effect. However, the boosted damage from Drill Cannons doesn't happen on Frozen targets. It's a screwy status effect. However, that being said, a Whistled Cannon deals 1080 Potency on a Petrified target, making it your strongest attack that doesn't kill yourself.
**HEALER SPELLS*\*
Blue Mage plays a lot like a standard healer does while doing any higher end content instead of like a normal DPS. They have a DOT, they have a spammable damage spell, and that's about it. So, being a BLU Healer is an easy transition for the most part, except you have no oGCD heals to rely on.
- Pom Cure - 500 Potency Heal. 200 MP Cost. It's your basic heal that you'll be relying on so you don't drain your MP spamming White Wind
- Exuviation - 300 Potency AOE Heal + Esuna. 200 MP Cost. Let me stop you right there, it's not your Medica replacement. Exuviation has a tiny 6y range on it, meaning you have to use it like Cure III. White Wind will still be your main AOE healing spell. This is mostly for the Esuna effect or if the party is stacked and you want to save MP.
- Gobskin - 250 Potency AOE Shield. 200 MP Cost. This is basically Succor without any healing. It's got great range, it's got a very cheap MP cost. I love this spell.
- Transfusion - Restores full HP and MP to one party member by sacrificing yourself. If both healers are out of mana and you need to make the sacrifice play to keep someone alive, that's the point of this spell. I've personally never needed to use it, but I've got to include it on the list since it's a "healing" spell.
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