One thing to add: BLM DPS would be about ~21.8k - 22k avg DPS at the 75+ percentile with food and G1 gemdraughts before this patch. Now it just does that much without any food or pots with the same gear lmao ~ Also context for the intro: Balance BLM opener not only feels and looks awful, it's the 2nd worst opener, just behind Blizzard III opener in PPS and I've hated it from the first second. lol
@@saitomitsurugi18The one I made is: F3 (-4s) > HT (Pull) > Triple > F4 > Amplifier > F4 > INT potion > F4 > Ley Lines > F4 > Triple > Despair > Manafont > F4 > Swiftcast > F4 > Flare Star > Xeno > F4 > F4 > Paradox > HT > Xeno > F4 > F3P > F4 > Despair It's pretty versatile and has worked on every fight so far and has dealt the most PPS and felt the most comfortable. At low SpS, you might wanna use the Paradox a GCD early, so test it for yourself.
I'm genuinely surprised that you only have 300 subs! Your video is incredibly concise, your editing is great and you boil everything down in a fantastic manner!
Thank you! This was a lot of fun making it and I'm just getting out of a personal rut with motivation. I've never felt so fired up before! I have a lot of focus on streaming but I'm definitely taking the time to work on videos more. I'm real glad this did well!
@@KitVT NGL this was so well done, I look forward to more! And it is refreshing to see someone love black mage in the wake of all of the negativity we've been receiving.
Feels like a step in the right direction but BLM still needs more help IMO. I still find it fun but it feels weirdly at odds with the fight design in DT to me.
"You know the class that pretty much requires you to sit still the entire fight? Yeah, screw that class. Let's make all of the mechanics in this expansion rapid-fire and numerous. And essentially insta-kill if you get hit by them."
@@mattstanford9673 I'm not sure if you finished the video but I stated how BLM has the ability to have back-to-back instant casts for up to 14-16 GCDs. BLM mobility has always been great, actually, and I've been saying it's actually the 2nd most mobile DPS caster since Shadowbringers. It's a shame not many people realize this, it's mobility got even more buffed by now.
@@KitVT Yeah, I did. I, personally, never really got into black mage that much. I *might* mess around with it this expansion, outside of my usual omni-max leveling. I'm more of a red mage kind of guy, though. But all that aside, I just like memeing on the stereotypes.
don't even play blm, but I see them spamming umbral soul out of combat and always thought...why doesn't it keep the duration out of battle instead? Finally lol
It takes Enochian 10+ seconds to fall off so you don’t actually have to spam Umbral Soul. It’s just more of a just in case thing in case you have to go through a zip line/cutscene
Im still salty they didnt improve the astral flare gauge (so that you dont lose your charges when switching to ice), but overall im happy with the changes.
The only major issue that remains imo is that you can just run out of thunder. If you refresh thunder right after switching to AF and then do a couple Xenos for burst, that thunder will expire before you naturally switch back to UI. With higher SPS this becomes less of an issue though and you can work around it by refreshing before switching to AF if it's about to fall off. Not sure how to quantify when that is optimal though since there are so many variables to consider, especially if you also take other player's buffs into account. Btw, apart from the better feel of higher SPS, the materia is also dirt cheap if you're overmelding the new crafted gear ^^
@@knexfan0011 Yeah, I agree it feels clunky. There's no "natural" way to refresh Thunder, just refresh it when the DoT itself is at 3 sec or less with a 3 sec window after it falls off for 0 DPS loss. Instant Paradox and the F3P from it make it not so uncomfortable, but hoping we get a change that allows us to just extend the timer to let us clip it in ice.
I’m still trying to understand why umbral soul give u a full ice phase reset (with giving u all hearts and stuff) while not in combat? But u can’t press the button? Without BEING in combat? Am I missing something here lmfao Edit: I was really under the impression that we would press it before any encounters so start the fight at max ice but guess that’s not the case
Ohhh my god finally someone else who doesn't hate Dawntrail black mage... I thought I was going insane because I kept seeing people complaining but I was having fun, just had to get over my memory from Endwalker!
I like Black Mage, but it feels like it should be renamed to Pyromancer! Currently it is all about casting Fire damage! I think we should get Wind & Earth too! Fire, Ice, & Lightening are good, but we should be able to rotate through the elements! This is just my wish & I know it will never happen!
So glad they fixed some aspects of BLM. The previous changes made it so I didnt want to play anymore because it's the only class that feels engaging to me.
8 year black mage main?!? :O, i just recently started playing it again in DT to try to out DPS pictomancers :D (Spell speed BLM, awww i just want MAX CRIIIT, no wonder i tank the floor so much)
Max Crit BLM is very viable, no worries! I just happen to strongly prefer Speed BLM. The DPS difference between them is like...incredibly negligible. Usually like...less than 0.5% DPS. And this expansion, it's even less (~0.2%) LMAO
I actually just checked the tooltip but yeah! It still says 500, strangely enough. But I just tested the damage and can confirm the 520 potency is really there.
@@ChandaniAranka I tested it without ACT, using Scathe as the base since it's 100 potency. Then I just did some math comparing what it would be at 500 vs what it should be at 520. Fortunately, the numbers match up to 520, so this is just a visual bug on the tooltip.
It's a good start. BLM damage is up but it's still not competitive with Pictomancer sadly. I think the three changes I would make would be: 1) Thunder DoT lasts longer or casting Thunder extends the DoT 2) Astral Soul stacks do not reset going into Umbral Ice. 3) Despair is instant cast at 6 Stacks of Astral Soul
Actually, the statistics so far has Black Mage higher in aDPS than Picto by a notable amount, even among averages. Picto just BARELY eeks out above BLM in rDPS, thanks to Starry Muse. On average there, they're neck-and-neck. The changes you bring up could be neat ideas and make short Fire lines more viable; hard agree on the Thunder change idea.
It’s pretty close in rDPS to picto though? The killed what made black mage fun at a high level and its less popular but still performing within 1% of picto
@@KitVT Hopefully things should become clear as we get more data. As ti stands we are looking at a lot of "First Clear Parses" so it will be super interesting to see how things shape up over the coming weeks when gearscaling and experiene with the encounters ar a factor as well.
@@dillon268IMO, if BLM and PCT are equal in rDPS, everything is fine. The main issue of rDPS is trusting your party will have buffs aligned to extract the most of your buffs. Great for statics, not as great for PF. Since both are (theoretically) turret casters, it's a good tradeoff.
@@ArchonRahal There are a lot more logs on Extremes with Picto having 3x as much parses than BLM...and BLM is substantially stronger than Picto in both rDPS and aDPS; have a feeling this will reflect on Savage soon (so far only 1 BLM has cleared M4S)
Might be a dumb question, but can you get multiple copies of raid and tomestone gear?. I always wanted to try spell speed BLM but I hop between them the casters for fun ( I don’t do anything above the occasional EX), and I thought it would be bad for the other jobs who want crit. Is it just a sacrifice I have to be willing to make?
If you mean you can get the exact same gear piece, no; they're classified as Unique. You can make gearsets and have one job wear the tome set and the other wear the Savage set (mix-and-match). The other jobs do focus on Crit and too much SpS can be bad on them since it messes with their rotations and timing, Red Mage especially. BLM is the only job where full SpS is viable. That's the main con with going high SpS BLM, it locks out playing the other casters efficiently
Going over this again on stream but we realize you might be talking about having different melds on the same piece. Use your Chocobo Saddlebag to put Unique items in it and you can purchase it again after. HOWEVER, I don't know if I can agree with this method. The way gearing works is you either wear a tome piece or a raid piece. One has SpS, the other has Crit, and you should meld based on what's already there. IMO just get both full sets. One goes on SpS BLM, the other goes on the rest.
@@KitVT I appreciate the info! I figured i couldn’t. I’m probably gonna bite the bullet, since I’m pretty casual I typically just prioritize Ilvl and the other casters will just have to deal with it. Honestly a Spell speed RDM sounds so cursed I might actually have fun with it lol
In terms of damage output, how do you think it compares to picto now? I've been a blm main since I started playing but switched to picto because of the low damage output, but I'd love to go back to blm because of how much I love playing the class.
BLM now is neck-and-neck in rDPS compared to Picto in Savage. In aDPS, even average numbers, BLM is higher than Picto by a notable amount. BLM is WAY HIGHER than Picto in Extremes on both metrics LMAO
@kitVT Hey I just started playing blm and honestly it feels really good. I am still levling in 60's about to start shadowbringers. But it already feels better than the other casters, and i have been saying it feels more mobile than people say it is. But you know a bunch of people who dont play blm say its not mobile so. What do we know.
That's awesome to hear! Here's a tip: If you have Swiftcast ready, use Flare as a finisher when you're low on MP until you're 72, when you get Despair. It deals almost as much DPS as a Fire IV if instant cast.
I wanted to get most spellspeed possible and see how much is worth it to deal good damage, do you have any tips on materia or in general? Stepped into blm to get most explosions a minute as a joke though
@@Vilithos For high Spell Speed, your meld priorities should be SpS > Det >= DH. Crit should be as low as possible to none. You can get down to a 2.24 GCD at iLv730.
I've always favoured spell speed over crit. Tried crit in Endwalker and it was fun to see the bigger numbers but it felt weird. I wish they would make Thunder a OGCD spell to help more with weaving High fire potency must be buffed as I'm just Flare Flare Flarestar which feels a bit weird to have a pretty newly added ability, made redundant and unused. But why is Scathe still a thing lol
@@ChandaniAranka Scathe is a crutch for newer players for dealing damage when you can't cast for 1-2 GCDs. I defend it actually but I've been begging for Blizzard 1 to be deleted for years LOL
@@KitVT and I want the old 1.0 spell names back. Back in 1.0, it was Thunder Thundara Thundaga and Burst. Same with Fire Fira Firaga etc I was hoping Burst would return. Maybe at the end of the new Thunder dot if it lasted the whole duration, it became Burst etc
@@ShadowEmpyreanOn my 2nd hotbar. I press 2 and my spells to the left change to their AoE counterparts. High Thunder > High Thunder II, Despair > Flare, Xeno > Foul, etc. Then I press 1 to go back to single-targets.
@@KitVT Hey one more question if you don't mind. I have been wondering if I should make Aetherial Manipulation into a macro and I see that you made yours into one. What did you turn it into? Did you make it into a mouse over or does it target a specific party member or something completely different?
@@ShadowEmpyrean I made it a mouseover macro. Extremely useful. I recommend like this: /merror off /ac "Aetherial Manipulation" /ac "Aetherial Manipulation" /ac "Aetherial Manipulation" /micon "Aetherial Manipulation" This way the mouseover takes priority, but if it fails, the target can be a backup and it works like normal.
all well and good but the 1st boss on strayborough deadwalk is fking hell for blm, its like I dont have flare star there. I,ve played Ex and savages that require way less movement than this. I burn through my insta casts like nothing
So the changes are good, but thunder needs to last longer the fights have too much movement to refresh this buff properly without dropping flare star or losing dps to do so, speaking of flare star, why does it do less damage than paradox when its harder to get, adding a critical direct hit guarenteed to flare star would actually help it. Leylines needs to do more than it does to be viable to bring black mage to savage content. But it does feel better to play at the moment. Spell speed black mage seems like the most viable option at the moment.
I agree Thunder could use a change still. Having it last longer would be a good idea. I've had the idea that it could be re-applied and add to its timer like Death's Design up to 60s, could actually add more mobility too. Flare Star does not deal less damage than Paradox; it's the 2nd strongest spell Black Mage has. Don't look at just the tooltips, they're deceptive. Enochian is a 33% magic damage buff and Astral Fire III makes fire spells 80% stronger. Both of those together makes Flare Star's true potency at ~958, NOT 400. Paradox is unaspected so it's not affected by AF, just Enochian, so its potency is at ~692. I don't know if I agree with Ley Lines because I've felt pretty comfortable with it. Retrace has been real useful, it's just a matter of getting used to a fight and finding the right positioning, like always. SpS BLM is very much still viable and I'm a fan of it. I'm gonna be making a video going more in-depth with Black Mage and explain things further and to show the better opener I came up with. There's a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to it, so hoping to help the bad reputation its having that it just doesn't deserve.
yay, we got back something that should never have been removed and a qol feature we've been asking for since shadowbringers launch, that totally makes up for the job feeling like shit to play
One thing to add: BLM DPS would be about ~21.8k - 22k avg DPS at the 75+ percentile with food and G1 gemdraughts before this patch.
Now it just does that much without any food or pots with the same gear lmao
~
Also context for the intro: Balance BLM opener not only feels and looks awful, it's the 2nd worst opener, just behind Blizzard III opener in PPS and I've hated it from the first second.
lol
I know it varies by fight but what would be the best opener then?
@@saitomitsurugi18The one I made is:
F3 (-4s) > HT (Pull) > Triple > F4 > Amplifier > F4 > INT potion > F4 > Ley Lines > F4 > Triple > Despair > Manafont > F4 > Swiftcast > F4 > Flare Star > Xeno > F4 > F4 > Paradox > HT > Xeno > F4 > F3P > F4 > Despair
It's pretty versatile and has worked on every fight so far and has dealt the most PPS and felt the most comfortable. At low SpS, you might wanna use the Paradox a GCD early, so test it for yourself.
Thank you so much. I took a pause when the initial BLM changes were made. Now I gotta hit up post EW and get DT 😭
I'm genuinely surprised that you only have 300 subs!
Your video is incredibly concise, your editing is great and you boil everything down in a fantastic manner!
Thank you! This was a lot of fun making it and I'm just getting out of a personal rut with motivation. I've never felt so fired up before! I have a lot of focus on streaming but I'm definitely taking the time to work on videos more. I'm real glad this did well!
@@KitVT NGL this was so well done, I look forward to more! And it is refreshing to see someone love black mage in the wake of all of the negativity we've been receiving.
Feels like a step in the right direction but BLM still needs more help IMO. I still find it fun but it feels weirdly at odds with the fight design in DT to me.
"You know the class that pretty much requires you to sit still the entire fight? Yeah, screw that class. Let's make all of the mechanics in this expansion rapid-fire and numerous. And essentially insta-kill if you get hit by them."
At this point, I feel like since BLM is Yoshi-P's favorite class, the duty designers specifically go out of their way to torment him. Lol.
@@mattstanford9673 I'm not sure if you finished the video but I stated how BLM has the ability to have back-to-back instant casts for up to 14-16 GCDs. BLM mobility has always been great, actually, and I've been saying it's actually the 2nd most mobile DPS caster since Shadowbringers. It's a shame not many people realize this, it's mobility got even more buffed by now.
@@KitVT Yeah, I did. I, personally, never really got into black mage that much. I *might* mess around with it this expansion, outside of my usual omni-max leveling. I'm more of a red mage kind of guy, though.
But all that aside, I just like memeing on the stereotypes.
don't even play blm, but I see them spamming umbral soul out of combat and always thought...why doesn't it keep the duration out of battle instead? Finally lol
We blm mains been asking ourselves the same question for more than 4 years.
I pretty much only play black mage to level it (sometimes just for fun, but not very often), and spamming Soul out of battle infuriates me.
Same reason monks had to form shift multiple times before they made it just give all forms the bonus. 😂
I still keep spamming it now as it is so ingrained into my brain that it will take take to stop doing it xD
It takes Enochian 10+ seconds to fall off so you don’t actually have to spam Umbral Soul. It’s just more of a just in case thing in case you have to go through a zip line/cutscene
Spell spleed bbalck mage supremacy
Im still salty they didnt improve the astral flare gauge (so that you dont lose your charges when switching to ice), but overall im happy with the changes.
Despair should give flare gauge 100%
Big true @@ArchieGamez
I came back to blm after a couple of expansion of being a drk main and it just feels so right. It has replaced reaper as my secondary.
The only major issue that remains imo is that you can just run out of thunder. If you refresh thunder right after switching to AF and then do a couple Xenos for burst, that thunder will expire before you naturally switch back to UI. With higher SPS this becomes less of an issue though and you can work around it by refreshing before switching to AF if it's about to fall off. Not sure how to quantify when that is optimal though since there are so many variables to consider, especially if you also take other player's buffs into account.
Btw, apart from the better feel of higher SPS, the materia is also dirt cheap if you're overmelding the new crafted gear ^^
@@knexfan0011 Yeah, I agree it feels clunky. There's no "natural" way to refresh Thunder, just refresh it when the DoT itself is at 3 sec or less with a 3 sec window after it falls off for 0 DPS loss. Instant Paradox and the F3P from it make it not so uncomfortable, but hoping we get a change that allows us to just extend the timer to let us clip it in ice.
i am JUST about to do BLM 90-100. i didn't vibe at all with picto and while RDM is fun i need a bit more impact. Seeing this has motivated me loads!
I used to main black mage, but I main dancer now, I still occasionally go back to throw spells, it's good fun to see big booms.
I’m still trying to understand why umbral soul give u a full ice phase reset (with giving u all hearts and stuff) while not in combat? But u can’t press the button? Without BEING in combat? Am I missing something here lmfao
Edit: I was really under the impression that we would press it before any encounters so start the fight at max ice but guess that’s not the case
Ohhh my god finally someone else who doesn't hate Dawntrail black mage... I thought I was going insane because I kept seeing people complaining but I was having fun, just had to get over my memory from Endwalker!
I like Black Mage, but it feels like it should be renamed to Pyromancer! Currently it is all about casting Fire damage! I think we should get Wind & Earth too! Fire, Ice, & Lightening are good, but we should be able to rotate through the elements! This is just my wish & I know it will never happen!
So glad they fixed some aspects of BLM. The previous changes made it so I didnt want to play anymore because it's the only class that feels engaging to me.
8 year black mage main?!? :O, i just recently started playing it again in DT to try to out DPS pictomancers :D
(Spell speed BLM, awww i just want MAX CRIIIT, no wonder i tank the floor so much)
Max Crit BLM is very viable, no worries! I just happen to strongly prefer Speed BLM. The DPS difference between them is like...incredibly negligible. Usually like...less than 0.5% DPS. And this expansion, it's even less (~0.2%) LMAO
They seem to mess up buffing Paradox as it still says 500potency while the patch notes says it should now be 520
I actually just checked the tooltip but yeah! It still says 500, strangely enough. But I just tested the damage and can confirm the 520 potency is really there.
@@KitVT Are you able to test it without any use of ACT? I do not use any third party add-ons/mods
@@ChandaniAranka I tested it without ACT, using Scathe as the base since it's 100 potency. Then I just did some math comparing what it would be at 500 vs what it should be at 520. Fortunately, the numbers match up to 520, so this is just a visual bug on the tooltip.
It's a good start. BLM damage is up but it's still not competitive with Pictomancer sadly. I think the three changes I would make would be:
1) Thunder DoT lasts longer or casting Thunder extends the DoT
2) Astral Soul stacks do not reset going into Umbral Ice.
3) Despair is instant cast at 6 Stacks of Astral Soul
Actually, the statistics so far has Black Mage higher in aDPS than Picto by a notable amount, even among averages. Picto just BARELY eeks out above BLM in rDPS, thanks to Starry Muse. On average there, they're neck-and-neck.
The changes you bring up could be neat ideas and make short Fire lines more viable; hard agree on the Thunder change idea.
It’s pretty close in rDPS to picto though? The killed what made black mage fun at a high level and its less popular but still performing within 1% of picto
@@KitVT Hopefully things should become clear as we get more data. As ti stands we are looking at a lot of "First Clear Parses" so it will be super interesting to see how things shape up over the coming weeks when gearscaling and experiene with the encounters ar a factor as well.
@@dillon268IMO, if BLM and PCT are equal in rDPS, everything is fine. The main issue of rDPS is trusting your party will have buffs aligned to extract the most of your buffs. Great for statics, not as great for PF. Since both are (theoretically) turret casters, it's a good tradeoff.
@@ArchonRahal There are a lot more logs on Extremes with Picto having 3x as much parses than BLM...and BLM is substantially stronger than Picto in both rDPS and aDPS; have a feeling this will reflect on Savage soon (so far only 1 BLM has cleared M4S)
Might be a dumb question, but can you get multiple copies of raid and tomestone gear?. I always wanted to try spell speed BLM but I hop between them the casters for fun ( I don’t do anything above the occasional EX), and I thought it would be bad for the other jobs who want crit. Is it just a sacrifice I have to be willing to make?
If you mean you can get the exact same gear piece, no; they're classified as Unique. You can make gearsets and have one job wear the tome set and the other wear the Savage set (mix-and-match). The other jobs do focus on Crit and too much SpS can be bad on them since it messes with their rotations and timing, Red Mage especially. BLM is the only job where full SpS is viable. That's the main con with going high SpS BLM, it locks out playing the other casters efficiently
Going over this again on stream but we realize you might be talking about having different melds on the same piece. Use your Chocobo Saddlebag to put Unique items in it and you can purchase it again after.
HOWEVER, I don't know if I can agree with this method. The way gearing works is you either wear a tome piece or a raid piece. One has SpS, the other has Crit, and you should meld based on what's already there. IMO just get both full sets. One goes on SpS BLM, the other goes on the rest.
@@KitVT I appreciate the info! I figured i couldn’t. I’m probably gonna bite the bullet, since I’m pretty casual I typically just prioritize Ilvl and the other casters will just have to deal with it. Honestly a Spell speed RDM sounds so cursed I might actually have fun with it lol
In terms of damage output, how do you think it compares to picto now? I've been a blm main since I started playing but switched to picto because of the low damage output, but I'd love to go back to blm because of how much I love playing the class.
BLM now is neck-and-neck in rDPS compared to Picto in Savage. In aDPS, even average numbers, BLM is higher than Picto by a notable amount.
BLM is WAY HIGHER than Picto in Extremes on both metrics LMAO
@KitVT Thank God, I can finally go back to my main. I'll be practicing blm on normal raids once I'm on, then head straight into savage.
Slay!
@kitVT Hey I just started playing blm and honestly it feels really good. I am still levling in 60's about to start shadowbringers. But it already feels better than the other casters, and i have been saying it feels more mobile than people say it is. But you know a bunch of people who dont play blm say its not mobile so. What do we know.
That's awesome to hear! Here's a tip: If you have Swiftcast ready, use Flare as a finisher when you're low on MP until you're 72, when you get Despair. It deals almost as much DPS as a Fire IV if instant cast.
I wanted to get most spellspeed possible and see how much is worth it to deal good damage, do you have any tips on materia or in general? Stepped into blm to get most explosions a minute as a joke though
@@Vilithos For high Spell Speed, your meld priorities should be SpS > Det >= DH. Crit should be as low as possible to none. You can get down to a 2.24 GCD at iLv730.
I've always favoured spell speed over crit. Tried crit in Endwalker and it was fun to see the bigger numbers but it felt weird.
I wish they would make Thunder a OGCD spell to help more with weaving
High fire potency must be buffed as I'm just Flare Flare Flarestar which feels a bit weird to have a pretty newly added ability, made redundant and unused.
But why is Scathe still a thing lol
@@ChandaniAranka Scathe is a crutch for newer players for dealing damage when you can't cast for 1-2 GCDs. I defend it actually but I've been begging for Blizzard 1 to be deleted for years LOL
@@KitVT and I want the old 1.0 spell names back. Back in 1.0, it was Thunder Thundara Thundaga and Burst. Same with Fire Fira Firaga etc
I was hoping Burst would return. Maybe at the end of the new Thunder dot if it lasted the whole duration, it became Burst etc
Where are your AoE spells?
@@ShadowEmpyreanOn my 2nd hotbar. I press 2 and my spells to the left change to their AoE counterparts. High Thunder > High Thunder II, Despair > Flare, Xeno > Foul, etc. Then I press 1 to go back to single-targets.
@@KitVT Oh thats really cool
@@KitVT Hey one more question if you don't mind. I have been wondering if I should make Aetherial Manipulation into a macro and I see that you made yours into one. What did you turn it into? Did you make it into a mouse over or does it target a specific party member or something completely different?
@@ShadowEmpyrean I made it a mouseover macro. Extremely useful. I recommend like this:
/merror off
/ac "Aetherial Manipulation"
/ac "Aetherial Manipulation"
/ac "Aetherial Manipulation"
/micon "Aetherial Manipulation"
This way the mouseover takes priority, but if it fails, the target can be a backup and it works like normal.
@@KitVT Ok thank you very much :)
pls what is the song
Starless Skyline - Theme of Solution Nine
all well and good but the 1st boss on strayborough deadwalk is fking hell for blm, its like I dont have flare star there. I,ve played Ex and savages that require way less movement than this. I burn through my insta casts like nothing
First boss of Strayborough is bad for everyone. No one likes it; it's just bad design.
So the changes are good, but thunder needs to last longer the fights have too much movement to refresh this buff properly without dropping flare star or losing dps to do so, speaking of flare star, why does it do less damage than paradox when its harder to get, adding a critical direct hit guarenteed to flare star would actually help it. Leylines needs to do more than it does to be viable to bring black mage to savage content. But it does feel better to play at the moment. Spell speed black mage seems like the most viable option at the moment.
I agree Thunder could use a change still. Having it last longer would be a good idea. I've had the idea that it could be re-applied and add to its timer like Death's Design up to 60s, could actually add more mobility too.
Flare Star does not deal less damage than Paradox; it's the 2nd strongest spell Black Mage has. Don't look at just the tooltips, they're deceptive. Enochian is a 33% magic damage buff and Astral Fire III makes fire spells 80% stronger. Both of those together makes Flare Star's true potency at ~958, NOT 400. Paradox is unaspected so it's not affected by AF, just Enochian, so its potency is at ~692. I don't know if I agree with Ley Lines because I've felt pretty comfortable with it. Retrace has been real useful, it's just a matter of getting used to a fight and finding the right positioning, like always.
SpS BLM is very much still viable and I'm a fan of it. I'm gonna be making a video going more in-depth with Black Mage and explain things further and to show the better opener I came up with. There's a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to it, so hoping to help the bad reputation its having that it just doesn't deserve.
yay, we got back something that should never have been removed and a qol feature we've been asking for since shadowbringers launch, that totally makes up for the job feeling like shit to play
I really wanna learn this class xD