<br><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%"><tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#5A719D" valign="top" colspan="3" style=" margin: 0px"> <font color="#00FFFF"><b>Job Traits</b></font> </td></tr><tr> <th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Trait</th><th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Level</th><th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Description</th></tr><tr> <td align="left">Magic Atk. Bonus</td><td align="left">10</td><td align="left">Improves power of magic spells.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Clear Mind</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">15</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Raises amount of MP recovered while resting.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left">Conserve MP</td><td align="left">20</td><td align="left">Occasionally cuts down MP costs of spells.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Magic Atk. Bonus II</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">30</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Improves Magic Atk. Bonus trait.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left">Clear Mind II</td><td align="left">30</td><td align="left">Improves Clear Mind trait.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Clear Mind III</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">45</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Improves Clear Mind trait.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left">Magic Atk. Bonus III</td><td align="left">50</td><td align="left">Improves Magic Atk. Bonus trait.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Clear Mind IV</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">60</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Improves Clear Mind trait.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left">Magic Atk. Bonus IV</td><td align="left">70</td><td align="left">Improves Magic Atk. Bonus trait.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Clear Mind V</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">75</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Improves Clear Mind trait.</td></tr></table><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%"><tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#5A719D" valign="top" colspan="5" style=" margin: 0px"> <font color="#00FFFF"><b>Job Abilities</b></font> </td></tr><tr> <th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Ability</th><th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Level</th><th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Duration</th><th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Interval</th><th align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Description</th></tr><tr> <td align="left">Manafont</td><td align="left">1</td><td align="left">30 secs</td><td align="left">2 hrs</td><td align="left">Allows spellcasting without using MP.</td></tr><tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Elemental Seal</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">15</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">1 Spell Cast</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">10 mins</td><td align="left" bgcolor="#46587C">Enhances the accuracy of your next spell.</td></tr></table><p><font color="#00FFFF"><b>Job Overview</b></font> <p>Black mage may be one of the starting basic jobs but it's one of the most valuable basic jobs around and the most demanding jobs when people are looking to form a party. By definition, a black mage is a damage dealer in the party. Your role in a party is to sit back and blow up or nuke the mob till it's dead. Not all players like to just sit back and cast spells on mobs which is why there aren't that many black mages around when compare to the melee damage dealers who are in the thick of things when it comes to going toe to toe with a mob. Another downside to being a black mage is the cost of keeping your equipment up to date and having all your spells up to date. By the time you're in the 60s, you'll be one poor black mage who's goal is to collect gil for spells and nothing else. The advantage of being a black mage however is that the job is in very high demand in all parties. While melee damage dealers may sit for hours looking for an invite to parties since there are so many melees around, a black mage can just put their looking for group flag up and within a few minutes they will get an invite right away. In this game, almost all the mobs have some sort ofelemental weakness that a party can exploit. Who better to exploit elemental weakness than a black mage? No one. Then there's a function of magic bursting in a skill chain. In the higher levels such as post 50, it's a must have to have at least someone that can magic burst from a skill chain. There are other jobs that can magic burst butthe fact is that no other job can magic burst better than a black mage.<p>Similiar to white mages, the two main weapons of choice is staff and club. You'll be switching them around during different occasions. Once a Black Mage level ishigh enough, they can equip certain types of scythe weapons. These are the ideal choice for a Black Mage that are out soloing or want to melee a bit.<p><font color="#00FFFF"><b>Sub Job Combos</b></font> <p><b>Blm/Whm:</b> This is by far the most logical and ideal choice of job combos with Black Mage. While your main function is to blow up and nuke the mobs withhigh level powerful elemental spells, having a white mage sub jobs give you the function as a back up healer and status curer. Every party needs to have at least onemage serving as a back up healer incase the main healer is low on MP or having problems keeping everyone healed and cure of status ailments. By balancing betweennuking the mob and helping take the curing load off of the white mage, a black mage will help the party continue the steady exp chains while the white mage is able to rest to restore MP. A good black mage is one that knows when it's time to go all out and nuke and when it's time to hold off on nuking and help cure the parties for the good of the party overall. You also get the benefits of extra boost in MP, additional defense against magic attack, and more MP regeneration traits when subbing white mage.<p><b>Blm/Smn:</b> There's not much advantage when you sub summoner with black mage for your exp party. You won't be able to back up heal for your party the way you can with a white mage sub. And you don't have enough MP pool like a true main Summoner does to be wasting on calling out your avatars. The advantage for subbing summoner is more directed toward you than your party. With summoner job as your sub, you get the added MP boost as well as the importantAuto Refresh trait from the summoner once your black mage level is high enough. But all that is not worth it if you can't back up heal for your party or even back up Raises when party members are dead, including the white mage.<p><b>Blm/Rdm:</b> Don't even bother. A red mage is a half black mage and half white mage combine. If you sub a red mage, you won't get half of either jobs, youget a quarter only and that's not worth it. And there are no real bonus traits as well.

I am really surprised that there are no replies to this topic, and nearly every melee and other mage topic there were comments.

I just started playing two weeks ago, and wish I had started sooner. Started as BLM, and subbing WHM, I have to say that BLM is by far the most enjoyable class to play. It's nice to fire off a spell and watch the monster's HP drain, while the melee are hacking and whacking and getting nowhere. It's also probably a little easier than most classes, as you really only have one target and it's a simple game of debuff, delay, nuke, delay.

WHM on the other hand... *shaking my head.

You can have it. lol. Hard to keep track of the battle in that class.

BLM is fun, and I hope to see more BLM in the game in the future. We're a sparse population at the moment, which makes it easy to find a party.... But I was in a party once a WHM and lower lvl BLM and let me tell you, battles went quick. And there were too many of us firing off random spells for the monster to keep track of who to hate so none of the mages ever took a hit. Good job tanks!

Three cheers for BLM!

Hmm the html codes you posted don't seem to work when your account was suspended, Chi. I always wondered how you did that though. I guess it was something only you could do, for some reason.

<- 75 BLM, indeed it is a fun job to play. On my server everyone and their mother has BLM leveled, but we don't get much respect. D: I want a Novio..

Played BLM to lvl 62, it's a fun job (though i like rdm better). Very easy and relaxing to play up until lvl 45, then gotta concentrate on stunning mobs.