Voidwatch newbie, no clue how to BLM hereFollow

I was asked to BLM in Voidwatch, which I have only ever done BRD for before. When I asked my fellow BLMs wtf I am supposed to do, no one said anything...

So, what does BLM even do here? I have all spells but Meteor. At once point the alliance leader said "BLM1" but the Wiki guides are silent on what this means.

In the end I just tossed a lot of Stuns whenever I could...

Help!


Edited, Aug 25th 2012 12:59pm by catwho

Thanks! So how do I know which spells will proc? Is it completely random?

Sooooo just cast and hope I see a message? Is there a strategy to casting, like doing tier Is for message like in Abyssea?

I will recommend though not using Bio as a spell to try and learn weakness, since Diaga is a potential Light white magic stagger, and since Diaga cannot overwrite Bio (but Bio overwrites Dia and Diaga), until that Bio wears off you wouldn't be able to stagger with Diaga. When trying to determine magic weaknesses, you don't want to use debuff spells that overwrite and block the effects of potential procs if it can be avoided. Another common example of this is Bard with Elegy. Since both Battlefield and Carnage Elegy can be Earth Bard staggers and Battlefield will have no effect if Carnage is applied, a Bard should never cast Carnage Elegy on the mob just for the sake of debuffing it.

For trying to learn weakness, it's best to spam T1 nukes or Dia.

Generally good advice here. Split up spells by type with your fellow BLMs. Start the fight by making sure RR is up, use Fools/Fanatics if appropriate, pop Gnostics, and start nuking at random, as fast as you can, with lowest cost triggers. I usually take the entire -ga/-ja series with the groups I go with, so I'll just start right up the line with stonega, waterga, etc., until I get a hint or someone calls one out. If you get a hint that hasn't been called out, call it out for everyone else. Then nuke every spell of your group until you proc or run out of triggers. Cover for other dead blms if necessary. When you proc something where a hint has been called out, call out that you finished: e.g "Fire BLM done."

On easy mobs, wait until red is capped before popping ascetics/bravers. Otherwise, pop those as soon as hate is established. Spam ethers/powders/mist as necessary. Standing together with other BLMs is beneficial, of course.

There are a handful of mobs, like Bismark, where magic damage is important. On Bismark in particular, a group sometimes will dedicate one BLM to damage while assigning others to procs.

Depending on the mob, it may be safe to pop a wing and go for the occasional WS stagger as well, although your time is usually better spent going after BLM procs if there are any open. Many mobs are too evasive to hit reliably with physical weaponskills, but you can easily run in and proc with something like Cyclone.

And yeah, if staggers aren't happening as often as they should, throwing stuns is always appreciated.

I realize that having done VW on BRD, you know a lot of this already. But I figured I'd be comprehensive for others' benefit.

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 3:12pm by VxSote

I don't directly know the answer to this, but now I'm curious as well. And the answer MIGHT vary, depending on the potency of the Frost.

Frost will normally overwrite itself if the version being cast is the same or greater strength. Back at 75, when I was one of the few BLMs with a 150+ INT build, BLMs who were in the -149 tier couldn't overwrite me with same element debuffs. Now that 150 INT is more or less trivial, most BLMs should be casting Frost in that tier. I don't know if a higher tier was ever discovered. But in any case, we should see if potency matters.

It's also conceivable that a BLM's Burn could lock out a Cold Wave. I'd like to find out if that is the case or not, as well.

And lastly, I'll point out that unless someone has locked out the overriding elemental debuffs with a three-debuff combo or there are elemental immunity issues, you should be able to remove any offending elemental debuff with the next element up the order.

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 5:07pm by VxSote