Final Fantasy XI (2002)

The Black Mage is a job favorite of people no doubt, but it might become an annoyance here to some people because you have to buy all your spells rather than just getting them. A Black Mage is the nuking job as it is called, you will blow stuff up or enfeeble things, though enfeebling is often left to the Red Mage But the job of Black Mage is an important one that most party will want and demand if possible, though not as required for parties as a White Mage is, Black Mage are a popular job that party leaders will seek out.

Being a Black Mage though is a job that require skill and timing, because not only is nuking fun, its powerful and creates enmity. Knowing when too much is a skill that Black Mage will learn quickly or else they die painfully and get the tank mad. Plus there is the importance of the Magic Burst will do even larger amounts of damage than a spell alone.

Attribute	Hume	Elvaan	Tarutaru	Mithra	Galka
HP	25	27	21	25	30
MP	24	22	30	24	18
Strength	5	6	4	5	6
Dexterity	7	7	7	9	7
Vitality	5	6	5	5	7
Agility	7	6	8	8	7
Intelligence	8	7	10	8	8
Mind	6	7	6	6	6
Charisma	6	6	6	5	5

 

Job Abilities

Ability	Level	Wait to Recast	Duration	Target	Description
Manafont	1	2 hours	30 sec	Self	Spells cost 0 MP
Elemental Seal	15	10 min	N/A	Self	Increases accuracy of next spell

 

Job Traits

Trait	Level	Description
Magic Attack Bonus	10	Increases power of magic spells
Clear Mind	15	Increases amount of MP recovered during healing
Conserve MP	20	Sometimes cuts down MP cost of spells
Magic Attack Bonus	30	Increases power of magic spells
Clear Mind	30	Increases amount of MP recovered during healing
Clear Mind	45	Increases amount of MP recovered during healing
Magic Attack Bonus	50	Increases power of magic spells
Clear Mind	60	Increases amount of MP recovered during healing
Magic Attack Bonus	70	Increases power of magic spells
Clear Mind	75	Increases amount of MP recovered during healing

 

Magic Spells

Spell Name	Level	Magic Skill	MP	Cast Time (sec)	Wait to Recast (sec)	Description
Stone	1	Elemental	9	1.5	6.5	Deals earth damage
Poison	3	Enfeeble	5	1	5	Slowly takes HP
Blind	4	Enfeeble	5	2	10	Reduces accuracy of enemy
Water	5	Elemental	13	1.75	7.75	Deals water damage
Bind	7	Enfeeble	8	2	40	Binds an enemy to a spot
Aero	9	Elemental	18	2	9	Deals wind damage
Bio	10	Dark	22	1.5	5	Weakens attacks and takes HP
Blaze Spikes	10	Enhancing	8	3	10	Defensive flames that deal damage when you are hit
Drain	12	Dark	21	3	60	Absorbs HP from enemy
Fire	13	Elemental	24	2.25	10.25	Deals fire damage
Stonega	15	Elemental	37	2.5	11	Deals earth damage to area
Shock	16	Elemental	25	2.5	10	Lowers Mind and takes HP
Blizzard	17	Elemental	30	2.5	11.5	Deals ice damage
Warp	17	Enhancing	100	4	10	Transports you to your home point
Rasp	18	Elemental	25	2.5	10	Lowers Dexterity and takes HP
Waterga	19	Elemental	47	2.75	12.25	Deals water damage to area
Choke	20	Elemental	25	1.5	10	Lowers Vitality and takes HP
Ice Spikes	20	Enhancing	16	3	10	Ice defense that deals damage when you are hit
Sleep	20	Enfeeble	19	2.5	30	Puts enemy to sleep
Thunder	21	Elemental	37	3	13	Deals lightning damage
Frost	22	Elemental	25	2.5	10	Lowers agility and takes HP
Aeroga	23	Elemental	57	3	13.5	Deals wind damage to area
Poisonga	24	Enfeeble	44	2	10	Poisons area
Burn	24	Elemental	25	2.5	10	Lowers intelligences and takes HP
Aspir	25	Dark	10	3	60	Absorbs MP
Tractor	25	Dark	26	3	10	Pulls dead character to your spot
Stone II	26	Elemental	43	3.25	14.5	Deals earth damage
Drown	27	Elemental	25	2.5	10	Lowers strength and takes HP
Firaga	28	Elemental	71	3.5	15.25	Deals fire damage to area
Escape	29	Enhancing	125	15	60	Transports party outside of dungeon
Water II	30	Elemental	51	3.5	15.75	Deals water damage
Shock Spikes	30	Enhancing	24	3	10	Lightning defense that deals damage when you are hit
Blizzaga	32	Elemental	82	3.75	16.5	Deals ice damage to area
Aero II	34	Elemental	59	3.75	17	Deals wind damage
Bio II	35	Dark	66	1.5	5	Lowers attack and takes HP
Thundaga	36	Elemental	95	4	17.75	Deals lightning damage to area
Fire II	38	Elemental	68	4.25	18.5	Deals fire damage
Stonega II	40	Elemental	109	4.25	19	Deals stone damage to area
Warp II	40	Enhancing	150	5	10	Transports a member to home point
Sleep II	41	Enfeeble	29	3	30	Puts enemy to sleep
Blizzard II	42	Elemental	77	4.5	19.75	Deals ice damage
Poison II	43	Enfeeble	38	1	5	Poisons enemy
Waterga II	44	Elemental	123	4.5	20.25	Deals water damage to area
Stun	45	Dark	25	.5	45	Temporarily stops enemy completely
Thunder II	46	Elemental	86	4.75	21	Deals lightning damage
Aeroga II	48	Elemental	138	5	21.75	Deals wind damage to area
Freeze	50	Elemental	307	17.75	41.5	Deals ice damage and reduces resistance to ice
Stone III	51	Elemental	92	5.25	22.5	Deals earth damage
Tornado	52	Elemental	332	18	42.25	Deals wind damage and reduces resistance to wind
Firaga II	53	Elemental	152	5.25	23.25	Deals fire damage
Quake	54	Elemental	337	18.25	42.75	Deals earth damage and reduces resistance to earth
Water III	55	Elemental	98	5.50	24	Deals water damage
Burst	56	Elemental	352	18.5	43.25	Deals lightning damage and reduces resistance to lightning
Blizzaga II	57	Elemental	175	5.5	24.5	Deals ice damage to area
Flood	58	Elemental	368	18.75	43.75	Deals water damage and reduces resistance to water
Aero III	59	Elemental	106	5.75	25.25	Deals water damage
Flare	60	Elemental	383	19	44.5	Deals fire damage and reduces resistance to fire
Thundaga II	61	Elemental	193	6	26	Deals lightning damage to area
Fire III	62	Elemental	113	6	26.5	Deals fire damage
Stonega III	63	Elemental	211	6.25	27.25	Deals earth damage to area
Blizzard III	64	Elemental	120	6.25	27.75	Deals ice damage
Waterga III	65	Elemental	231	6.5	28.5	Deals water damage to area
Thunder III	66	Elemental	128	6.75	29.25	Deals lightning damage
Aeroga III	67	Elemental	252	6.75	29.75	Deals wind damage to area
Stone IV	68	Elemental	138	7	30.75	Deals earth damage
Firaga III	69	Elemental	277	7.25	31.5	Deals fire damage to area
Water IV	70	Elemental	144	7.25	32	Deals water damage
Blizzaga III	71	Elemental	299	7.5	32.75	Deals ice damage to area
Aero IV	72	Elemental	150	7.5	33.25	Deals wind damage
Fire IV	73	Elemental	157	8	34.75	Deals fire damage
Thundaga III	73	Elemental	322	7.75	34	Deals lightning damage to area
Blizzard IV	74	Elemental	164	8.25	36	Deals ice damage
Thunder IV	75	Elemental	171	8.5	37.25	Deals lightning damage

Life as a Black Mage

As a Black Mage you will most often been a career job or a sub to a White Mage or a Red Mage. Being a sub job as a Black Mage you will be taking advantage of the extra MP and spells that become available with the Black Mage. However, most White Mages use next to none of the spells of a Black Mage until higher levels with Escape and Warp become available. A Black Mage is more useful to a Red Mage, though their spells tends to overlap a lot to the point where the use of the Black Mages few extra spells are limited to an enfeebling spell and Warp and Escape making the situation as with a White Mage almost pointless as well.

A Black Mage is a fun job to be as a career job, you will have powerful spells and people will want you in the party. The only down side to being a Black Mage is that some of the spells in the higher levels will get expensive to buy. But considering it is only an one-time deal unlike other jobs, it's a small price to pay which you can make back up. As a Black Mage, the stats important you are Intelligence and MP, the more MP you have the better because you can cast more spells and having more INT will increase the damage of the spells. This makes the idea of having a SMN sub job questioned as a possibility, however considering the often need for healing back up, a WHM sub job is more advised for a Black Mage.

Leveling your Black Mage early on as you begin will sometimes become a chore because of the Black Mage's heavy reliance on MP to do any form of damage. This results in a lot of resting on part of the Black Mage. However, considering that the Black Mage's spells are quite powerful, easy prey enemies will no doubt fall at your hands with only one spell and maybe a nice whack from your staff. Because of this, it can be quick to level. However, to fight tougher monsters, your HP or defense will not allow you to stay in battle for long periods. A wise Black Mage uses Bind to their advantage holding the enemy at bay while you are free to nuke the monster till its dead. Remember though that the Magic Skill points come in very important in fighting monsters, especially enfeebling spells. The higher your enfeeble the better chances of it not being resisted and last longer. It is important that your enfeeble is high.

Why would you pick Black Mage as a sub job, because as anyone knows sub jobs power is cut in half. So why would you want half the power of a Black Mage. Well, you really do not want their power, per say, but some of the abilities and spells. Subbing Black Mage with a mage job will naturally give you the extra MP and the job traits that come with it, which is of great value. Though even more important are the spells Warp and Escape, lifesavers as many know already from experience. Being able to take your party to safety in the event your main Black Mage cannot is important. This is why you will find a great many WHM and RDM subbing BLM, also for the Warp, but that is just secondary.

Things to remember as a Black Mage are that your spells will create lots of enmity on the monsters. When you hit a monster for a hundred damage, they will not like you for it. But will ignore you because the tank is being more annoying. However, you hit them too much too often, they will find you more annoying than a tank. Thus enters the problem of the Black Mage, they have all this power and are unable to us it to full potential because they will die otherwise. Learning to know when it is safe to fire off another spell becomes important, and it will be something that you will learn and adapt as each tank is different, or else you'll find yourself dead a lot. And a note to those wanting to be Black Mages, important strategy on selecting spells to cast, never ever, I do mean never cast your largest most powerful spell first. Why? Because the tank has not built up the hate to hold the monster, you will quick find yourself facing down the monster, and all these melee shooting off provokes trying for the life of them to pull it off you. Then the White Mage goes and cures you a big Cure III and the monster hates that even more and kills the White Mage because all the provokes gone. There is nothing left to do and the party gets mad and screwed. Do not ever do that, start off small and work into it.