How-To Guide: Blue Mage

Category:Guides 
==Blue as a Monster’s Blood==
Blue Mage is one of the most versatile and well-rounded jobs in Final Fantasy XI. Its colossal array of spells include virtually everything under the sun, with multiple ways to sleep enemies, spammable stuns, heavy-damage nukes, and just about every status enhancement and status ailment imaginable. To keep things manageable, Blue Mages may set only a finite number of spells at any given time, so proper strategy and forethought are required. Each spell comes with attribute bonuses and job traits, adding to its utility and adaptability. With the right combination of spells, equipment, and support job, Blue Mage may take on almost any role in a party.
This all comes at a price, however. The power of a Blue Mage comes not from a scroll, but from enduring the attacks of foes. The physical and mental toll are not for the faint of heart. One must venture into the wilderness and witness how the creatures themselves perform their tactical moves. Only then may you replicate the attack in the form of a blue magic spell.
Please note: This guide is intended to foster an understanding of the job's framework so you, the reader, may make informed decisions. This guide will NOT tell you specifics such as end-game gear sets. Experiment and enjoy the job for whatever it's worth to you!
==Job-Race Combinations==
Please note that race is the absolute last thing you should worry about when picking a job. Even by the end of the game, the most extreme differences in attributes between races are negligible. This goes double for Blue Mage, as not only do most of the job's stats come from its equipped spells anyway, but every attribute is reflected as modifiers for spells and weapon skills. Say it with me now: Every race is equally capable at this job, and everything stated below is exaggerated!
===Hume===
* Humes with their well-rounded stats, make for the most versatile Blue Mages. Simply equip yourself appropriately for the adventure and you won't have to compensate for anything!
===Elvaan=== 
* With top-notch strength and mind, Elvaan have fantastic stats to bolster nearly every sword weapon skill in the game. Higher physical damage means you won't have to cast as much, allowing you to equip more support spells in your repertoire. High mind means more potency from your healing magic as well!
===Tarutaru=== 
* The unrivaled intelligence of the Tarutaru makes a Blue Mage's "magical" blue magic hurt that much more, which is all the more noticeable when you start blasting whole hordes of enemies at once. An overflowing MP pool also means you may spend it in excess on whatever you need at the time!
===Mithra=== 
* Deft and agile Mithra Blue Mages ensure their attacks and "physical" spells hit their mark in those clutch situations. Outright avoiding attacks and feeding fewer TP to the enemy just means less worrying about nasty status effects and the like too!
===Galka=== 
* Standing always strong are the indomitable Galka. Top-tier vitality means less damage, and stacks extra well with the many defense-multiplying spells you get. Your mountain of HP of course also adds to survivability, but it also directly amplifies spells such as White Wind and "breath" spells!
==Equipment Choices==
===Weapons=== 
* Blue Mage has an A+ proficiency with one-handed swords and a B- with clubs. While this may look limiting, swords are inherently one of the most versatile weapons in the game, with a huge array of choice between raw damage-per-second, stat-loaded varieties, and everything in-between. Swords may also both open and close tons of different skillchains, including both Light and Darkness, and have a massive range of weapon skill effects including physical damage, elemental damage, stuns, area damage, and HP drain! The sword is the perfect companion to a job as variable as Blue Mage. Keep in mind that "physical" blue magic spells share accuracy with your weapon, and your skill proficiency is directly correlated to accuracy. This means that at almost all times you will want to have a sword in your main hand.
*The B- in clubs is no laughing matter, either. Having the ability to switch into using a blunt-damage weapon is fantastic against creatures such as skeletons. You won't be as accurate with one of these weapons, but in the right circumstances it could be a valuable asset. Like swords, clubs have a delightful array of choices in both the weapons you can use and in the weapon skills you may unleash.
*Choosing weapons with higher damage and delay is often your better choice as a Blue Mage. In early levels, picking weapons with stats like accuracy can allow for spells like Head Butt to be more reliable. Even without natural proficiency with shields, it may help to pick up an item like the Faerie Shield or one of the latent effect shields early on to use in your off-hand, just to fill it in. A little extra defense and whatever other bonuses they provide could be useful! Sub-Ninja at 20, sub-Dancer at 40, or with your own spell sets at 80 will provide Dual Wield, allowing you a second sword, or even Sword/Club if the situation calls for it. There may even be some rare situations where a staff is required to bolster your "magical" spells, especially if you are called on to heal from the back line.
===Armor=== 
* Unlike its binary choice in weapons, Blue Mage has an enormous selection when it comes to armor. Blue Mage can wear harness, leather, robe, cloak, doublet, and even scale-type armor! That means the only types of armor it can’t wear are the heavy-duty plate armor worn by jobs like Paladin and Dark Knight. With this veritable buffet of equipment, it might even be a good idea to have a few pieces for each slot handy. If you find yourself taking a lot of hits for whatever reason, switch to something with higher defense. If not, then don something with bonuses to your stats. Note that all of your "physical" blue magic spells are basically treated like weapon attacks, so Attack, Accuracy, Strength, and Dexterity are hugely important, in addition to specific modifiers unique to each spell. For example, the damage for Bludgeon is enhanced with Charisma. Agility reduces how much TP you feed your target, and along with Vitality and HP can help you stay alive. MP is also critical, especially in the earlier levels. Always be on the lookout for items that grant "Refresh".
*Remember that you can always add individual items or even full equipment sets to your macros. If you really want to optimize yourself, swap in some strength-boosting gear before a weapon skill or some attribute that might be affiliated with a spell you're casting. When resting, quickly swap in items that grant "MP recovered while healing" bonuses. Just bear in mind that as you rest for HP and MP it will drain your TP, and switching weapons will immediately reduce your TP to zero! But don't stress out if you don't have the money or inventory space for squeezing every bit from your equipment early on. Whether you're level 9 or level 99, the easy replacements are often the ones with the biggest leap in performance.
*Race-specific gear is some of the best equipment you can have on hand for Blue Mage. Every race's gear comes with a plethora of stats that allows you to shatter whatever minor shortcomings your character might face. Much of it is useful until very high levels, so it's a good thing to pick up. Don't forget about your artifact equipment, either. In addition to being very well-tailored to the job, the story you dive into while questing for it is dripping in sublime lore.
==Walkthrough==
===Advanced Job Quest===
An Empty Vessel
* Be sure to have some way to Sneak and Invisible, as you'll be running through some spots with aggro for low- to mid-level players. Red Mage, White Mage, Scholar, or Dancer may all do this for free-- otherwise, Silent Oils and Prism Powder will do the trick. Aside from that, this quest offers little danger.
*Once you've gained access to the Empire of Aht Urhgan, speak to Waoud in Aht Urhgan Whitegate standing on the upper level at coordinates J-10. He will ask you a series of questions, and you must give him the answers: 2-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-2-3. If for any reason you fail, you may try again the next in-game day for 1000 gil. 
*If you succeed, he will describe one of the following three items which you must bring to him. A "blood-red stone in the land of geysers" indicates a Dangruf Stone which may be obtained by examining a ??? spot in Dangruf Wadi I5-J5 when the weather is normal. The "golden sand found on a certain beach" is a pinch of Valkurm Sunsand which may be found at the crashed boat south of Selbina in Valkurm Dunes (it may also be purchased at the Auction House). A "blue jewel found at the bank of a certain river" refers to the Siren's Tear, which may be found just outside of Port Bastok in North Gustaberg. Note that in order to pick up the jewel, you must unequip your main, sub, ranged, and hand equipment slots.
*One game day must pass, and then trade Waoud the item. He will return the item to you and you must then bring it to the pool in Aydeewa Subterrane. To get there, head outside the Ironbound Gate at Aht Urhgan Whitegate H-7 into the Bhaflau Woodlands. Use the entrance at coordinates I-7 to zone into the Subterrane. Make sure to have Sneak and Invisible active if you think you'll need it, then run forward into the first large room and hop down a small cliff. Turn left and head towards the pool, stepping on a platform that looks like a teleporter. With the item still in your inventory, go into the center of the pool.
*At this point you will receive a cutscene. Be sure to answer "Yes" to both questions, as answering "No" to either will make you restart the quest. You will be automatically teleported back to Aht Urghan. Congratulations! You may now become a Blue Mage!
===Learning Blue Magic===
* The only way a Blue Mage can learn a spell is by fighting a monster and bearing witness to it using the appropriate TP move and then staying nearby while the enemy is defeated. Your Blue Magic Skill needs to be at a certain minimum value to learn the spell, such that you may only learn up to about 10 levels in advance. For example, if your skill is capped at 63 for Lv.20, you can learn a spell that can be used at Lv.30. But if you were power-leveled to 60 and your skill is only 126 (the cap for Lv.41) you could only learn up to Lv.51 spells.
*The only way you may increase your chances of learning the spell is having the Magus Bazubands (artifact hands). Nothing else. Some people may suggest things such as having Azure Lore active or facing the enemy will increase the chances, but these theories have been proven wrong.
*Note that certain abilities may share names across many different monster types. Be sure you're trying to learn the spell from the correct monster family. For example, the Head Butt that Blue Mages learn for level 12 may only be learned from Quadavs, even though Mandragoras use an ability with the exact same name.
*Pro-Tip: Using a really weak weapon is a good way to feed the monster TP without killing it too quickly.
*Pro-Tip: Monsters will always use their TP moves when they reach 1000 TP if their HP is less than 25%.
*Pro-Tip: Any amount of damage will be enough to feed a monster TP. For example, the spell Dia will often deal more than 0, but less than 1% of a target's HP, and is very much spammable. (Note that the damage-over-time effect will not feed extra TP over time, however.)
===Equipping Blue Magic===
* Unlike other mages who simply have access to their spells once they're learned, Blue Mages must strategically prepare in advance the ones they wish to bring into combat. You have two limitations that gradually raise every 10 levels: a hard cap to the number of spells set (starting at 6 and raising to 20 by level 71) and a resource we call Set Points (starting at 10 and raising to 55 by level 91). Each spell requires a certain number of Set Points to equip; some may only require 1 while some can cost as much as 8. You may rearrange your spells at any time, even in combat. However, any change at any time will lock you out of using your spells for 60 seconds, so it's best to prepare them in advance.
*Your goal is to try and anticipate what you need before combat begins. Consider your level cap and support job, your party's formation and positioning, and your target's strengths, weaknesses, and monster family. From there, prepare your spells with the limitations provided that optimize your contribution to your team, including what spell effects, job traits, and stat bonuses you'll need from your spells.
*Remember that certain spells will combine to make Job Traits. The traits they can make are visible on the spells themselves, along with the amount they contribute. A Job Trait will unlock with 8 points, and most spells contribute 4. Most traits will also increase in tiers with every multiple of 8. An important thing to note is that the traits you equip and the traits from your subjob don't stack, and will only provide you with the highest tier of the two.
*Pro-Tip: Equip spells for their effects first. Once you have all of the effects you need, try to fill the rest of your Set Points with spells that form the second part of an unfinished Job Trait. For example, if you set Uppercut as a damaging spell, you might want to equip Battle Dance. Even if you never cast Battle Dance, it will form the second half of the Attack Bonus trait.
===Levels 1 to 10===
* Even though Blue Mage is an extremely capable solo job at these levels, the process of learning spells will really slow you down. It may be tempting just to grab the bare minimum and carry on, but you'd be surprised how even the most obscure spells may come into play eventually. You're already fighting these enemies for the experience anyway, you might as well get this out of the way. Your teammates will thank you! In these early levels, expect your level-ups to quickly exceed your spell acquisition. By the time you get your three Lv.1 spells you'll likely be Lv.8 and be behind another ~6 spells. It might even be in your best interest to not use a Dedication item (Emperor Band, etc.) until you've at least caught up. I strongly advise subbing White Mage during these levels. In addition to offering spells like Cure and a large bonus to your MP gauge, its lack of Hand-to-Hand skill means that fighting empty-handed will throw very weak punches that supply the target with roughly 150 TP per strike. White Mage also allows you to cast Dia, which is decent way to feed the enemy TP once they get to 25% HP.
*With that out of the way, I would recommend starting in the Windurst area. Pollen is the best spell to learn first, since your goal isn't damage at this point but rather survivability. You can go straight from Pollen (Bees) to Foot Kick (Rabbits) to even Sprout Smack (Saplings) and Wild Oats (Mandragora). Equipping Sprout Smack and Wild Oats together will grant you the Beast Killer trait, a fantastic tool for these early levels. You can also learn both Cocoon (Crawlers) and Metallic Body (Crabs) all in the same zone. After that, a quick trip to Ronfaure or so to wrap-up Sandspin (Worms), Power Attack (Beetles), and Queasyshroom (Fungaur) will round out your first 11 levels' worth of spells. And of course, before you head outside, don't forget Signet!
*Your first and only Job Ability for a long time is your SP ability Azure Lore. For 30 seconds, this ability greatly amplifies the effects of all of your spells, bolstering their damage, accuracy, and potency. Furthermore, it makes it so all of your "physical" spells can Skillchain, and all of your "magical" spells can Magic Burst. Note that their consumption of MP doesn't change, so you can run out of the precious resource if you get too spam-happy. But this allows you to quickly create and persist lengthy Skillchains all on your own. Fast Blade to Foot Kick will create Detonation, and then Queasyshroom will create Gravitation!
===Levels 10 to 30===
* It's around this point that Blue Mage starts to transition from tedious to straight fun. Your solo play is still plenty adequate, especially with trusts. But if you have a group of people you can really shine. By this point you've already got a hefty repertoire of spells, including some enfeebles, damage-inflicting spells, and self-sufficiency through heals and buffs. Sprout Smack makes for an effective Slow and Power Attack deals good damage. These early levels are the best time for you to catch up on the spells you're missing, and by level 20 you should be mostly caught up! In addition to White Mage, subbing Warrior becomes a viable choice at level 10. Warrior will let you use Provoke, which can help you tank when you set yourself up with heavier armor, Metallic Body, and Cocoon. Pollen will help you to reduce the burden of your party's healer as well. 
*Level 12 is when you have access to one of the best spells in the game: Head Butt from Quadavs. Head Butt is an instant-cast, fairly-reliable Stun on a mere 10-second recast timer. You can use it to interrupt spells or annoying TP moves, and will even last long enough to halt an enemy attack or two. It will save you and your party (or trusts) a ton of MP on healing. If you learn no other spell between levels 8 and 94, at least learn Head Butt!
*Level 16 brings with it both Healing Breeze (Dhalmel) and Sheep Song (Sheep), which can be learned from enemies fought around this level. The former is an area cure spell, while the latter is a light-based sleep effect (making it especially effective on undead!), and if set together for 6 points will combine to form Auto Regen. Sheep Song is a fantastic spell to have set in case of emergencies!
*At level 18 you may set Bludgeon, learned from Cardians fought within the Outer Horutoto Ruins. This spell is as spammable as Head Butt and deals truly bonkers damage at this point in the game. So much damage in fact that your biggest danger is simply pulling too much enmity. Use it wisely! Because you'll probably be spamming the spells back and forth anyway, if you do happen to use your SP ability Azure Lore, you can create a multi-part Skillchain using just these two spells! Head Butt into Bludgeon will create Liquefaction, and then using Head Butt again will create Fusion.
*Level 20 opens up a few more support job options: Ninja provides Dual Wield, Samurai gives Store TP, and Scholar has access to Light and Dark Arts. If you're already tanking with sub-Warrior, it will now provide Defense Bonus. I would still recommend sticking with subbing White Mage or Scholar until level 30, though-- the bonus MP and the utility of cures and status removal effects are more helpful than anything else.
*Level 24 lets you set Soporific from Flytraps. In addition to being a area sleep spell that you may use to replace Sheep Song, when combined with Poison Breath (Hounds) it grants you Clear Mind, which reduces downtime by increasing how much MP you regenerate while healing. It's a very noticeable bonus at these levels
*You gain your first non-SP ability at level 25: Burst Affinity! After activating it, your next "magical" blue magic spell is amplified and may be used to magic burst. I recommend playing around with it, but not relying too heavily on it. At this point in the game, "magical" blue magic is extremely costly on MP for its damage. You can always just use it whenever it's ready for a little bonus damage on a spell you've already got set.
*Other noteworthy spells: Battle Dance (Orcs - combines with Uppercut at level 38 for Attack Bonus), Cursed Sphere (Flies - low-SP contribution towards Magic Attack Bonus), Blastbomb (Warmachines - fire-based area Bind effect), Blood Drain (Large Bats - low-MP, low-SP Drain spell), Claw Cyclone (Tigers - contributes towards Lizard Killer), Screwdriver (Pugils - decent one-hit damage and contributes towards Evasion Bonus)
===Levels 30 to 40===
* Level 30 is a huge milestone for Blue Mage. This is where your support job choices really branch out, and the key reason is a little spell called Wild Carrot learned from Rabbits: your first targeted healing spell, and it's about as potent as Cure III. Wild Carrot also combines with Pollen to create Resist Sleep, which can be a life-saver if your opponent is prone to sleeping your party! You may now drop the White Mage or Scholar support job without losing too much party utility. Your damage output with spells like Bludgeon should still be high, so Warrior and Dark Knight (which now provide Berserk and Last Resort, respectively) may not be ideal. At this point, Ninja adds a fair amount to your weapon damage output thanks to Dual Wield (which has been available to you since level 20), and Utsusemi: Ichi (level 24) can let you overtake the tank's enmity level without suffering too much damage. You may also opt for a support job that boosts your MP, such as Black Mage or Summoner with set point-free Clear Mind and high base MP. Black Mage also provides Elemental Seal with nearly guarantees the effects of your Sheep Song or Soporific to save your party's life, while Summoner has the Max MP Boost trait and can call forth Cait Sith for Raise II.
*Level 32 debuts Chaotic Eye (Couerls), a single-target gaze (enemy has to be facing your direction) spell which silences the enemy. Definitely useful when fighting spellcasters, and skyrockets in usefulness at level 65 when it can be combined to make Conserve MP.
*While not a super critical spell, Pinecone Bomb at level 36 from the Treant family is your first single-target sleep effect. This makes it a lot less dangerous to use in a crowd of enemies. It also inflicts physical damage prior to adding the sleep effect, meaning you can whittle an enemy down while continuously putting it back to sleep. 
*Level 38 comes with a bunch of extremely useful spells. Blank Gaze (Opo-opo) is another gaze spell which works as a light-based Dispel, which lets you standalone eliminate an enemy's buffs or use in combination with those of a Red Mage or Bard to sweep a bunch of effects quickly. Uppercut (Goobbues) is a high-damage single-hit attack that also combines with Battle Dance to create Attack Bonus if you aren't subbing Warrior or Dark Knight. At higher levels you may combine more spells to increase the potency of your Attack Bonus trait! Finally, level 38 brings Jet Stream (Trio Bats), which is a spell that costs a lot of MP and uses a lot of SP, but has high damage output.
*Other noteworthy spells: Grand Slam (Gigas - physical area damage and contributes towards Defense Bonus), Sound Blast (Cockatrice - low-SP contribution towards Magic Attack Bonus), Smite of Rage (Weapons - decent single-hit damage, combines with Bludgeon to create Undead Killer), Digest (Slimes - decent Drain spell)
===Your AF Weapon=== 
* It’s a great weapon and you’ll surely use it for a few levels at least. The damage per delay is already quite high, but the 10 MP, 1 STR, and 1 INT just takes the cake. Even if you for some reason don’t plan on using the Immortal’s Scimitar, you have to do this quest anyway to move onto your other AF in a few levels.
* First off, I hope you’ve acquired all of your Staging Points already. Going to each of them is pretty much the gist of this quest. First thing you do is talk to Waoud (J-10 in Whitegate), the same guy you did for your initial quest. Choose “Gaze Away” and then wait three in-game days. After the third day, talk to him again and choose “Gaze Away” one more time. Be sure you wait the full three days and don’t talk to him in between it or you’ll have to do the question and answer segment you had to do for the initial quest. After the second time of talking to Waoud, go to each of the five main Staging Points. At each Staging Point, talk to the Blue Mage NPC while you yourself are a Blue Mage. In Ilrusi Atoll, talk to Meyaada. In Dvucca Isle, talk to Nahshib. In Halvung, talk to Waudeen. In Mamool Ja, talk to Daswil. And in Azouph Isle, talk to Nareema. Each one of these NPCs will launch an attack at you. Don't worry, you'll be fine! And the NPC will give you their “brand”. Head back to Waoud and receive your reward.
===Levels 40 to 60=== 
* You gain your second ability at level 40: Chain Affinity! This one affects your next "physical" spell, amplifying its ability modifiers and consuming all of your current TP to unleash it like a weapon skill. This also means you may use it in sequence for a skillchain! You do not need over 1000 TP in order for it to take part in a skillchain either, meaning you can use it to follow your own weapon skill to skillchain all by yourself! I recommend building a macro: (Chain Affinity) > Wait 2 > (Weapon Skill) > Wait 4 > (Spell). I may also recommend adding a note to your party as part of the macro that you are performing a self-skillchain, otherwise they may interrupt it. Below are some examples of what you can do right off the hop:
**Red Lotus Blade into Uppercut or Jet Stream creates Fusion (Fire/Light)
**Red Lotus Blade into Queasyshroom or Terror Touch creates Gravitation (Earth/Dark)
**Red Lotus Blade into Screwdriver creates Scission (Earth)
**Fast Blade or Seraph Blade into Bludgeon creates Liquefaction (Fire)
**Fast Blade or Seraph Blade into Foot Kick or Smite of Rage creates Detonation (Wind)
*You may now also add Thief to your list of fun (if a bit niche) support job options. Combining Sneak Attack with a single-hit spell like Uppercut or Screwdriver will add the critical damage, allowing your self-skillchains that extra bit of burst damage. Dancer provides the same level of Dual Wield as subbing Ninja for the next 10 levels here too. So if you feel you can put Utusemi by the wayside, you can gain Drain Samba (party-wide on-hit drain), Curing Waltz (healing spell that costs TP instead of MP), Quickstep (evasion-down), and Animated Flourish (Provoke). 
*MP Drainkiss (Leeches) at level 42 is fun to use. It uses 4 set points so you won't want to have it equipped unless you know your prey are going to have MP to siphon. Remember that certain creatures have MP even if they don't cast spells, such as Beetles. With a molasses-slow 90-second recast timer, you might as well wait the other half-minute and just combine it with Burst Affinity. If you can actually magic burst it, even better!
*Geist Wall (Efts) available to set at 46 is another Dispel ability. Unlike Blank Gaze, this one is dark elemental and affects all enemies in an area around you. Having at least one of the two set is always a good idea. Nothing slows things down like an enemy with a potent self-buff.
*Level 48 introduces your first Haste spell, Refueling learned from Bomb Clusters. It's less potent than the white magic spell Haste, it can only be self-cast, and it uses 4 set points. However, this spell makes you self-sufficient. You needn't rely on your party's support to keep you hasted, if you have one at all. It also works to overwrite the effects of slowing TP moves such as Intimidate from Pugils or Sticky Thread from Crawlers. 
*Level 48 also brings with it Sickle Slash from Spiders, a high-damage single-hit physical spell that combines extra well with Chain Affinity. Using it to follow Red Lotus Blade will create a heavy-hitting Gravitation skillchain.
*Level 50 unlocks a lot of power in a lot of different support jobs. Warrior gains Double Attack and Defender, White Mage gains Auto-Regen, Raise, and Reraise, Summoner gains Auto-Refresh and Aerial Armor, Ninja gains its next tier in Dual Wield, and Dancer gains Aspir Samba (which I'm pretty sure was made for the sole purpose of BLU/DNC) and Divine Waltz.
*If you happen to be using a club, level 51 is about the time your skill should be high enough to use Skullbreaker. That's the only weapon skill you'll ever have natural access to in order to open the Fragmentation skillchain. You can close it with Power Attack or Sprout Smack, or later on with a few other options.
*At level 58, you may set Auto-Refresh only by equipping a whopping five spells: Stinking Gas (Doomed), Frightful Roar (Tauri), Self-Destruct (Bombs), Cold Wave (Snolls), and Light of Penance (Tonberries); a total of fourteen set points! Eventually, other spells will provide more points towards the trait so you may set it using fewer slots and fewer set points.
*Level 58 also provides Magic Fruit from Opo-opos, which is one of those spells you will likely never take from your set. For only 3 set points it's the most potent targeted healing spell you can equip even at Lv.99. It's roughly equal to Cure IV and contributes to Resist Sleep to boot!
*Other noteworthy spells: Feather Barrier (Giant Birds - inexpensive evasion bonus), Radiant Breath (Wyverns - spell trigger in Abyssea), Filamented Hold (Mites - area slow, contributes towards Clear Mind) 
===Your Artifact Armor=== 
* Overall a solid set of equipment. The Lv.52 footwear and Lv.54 legwear are fantastic defensive pieces. They're good to have just as backup to swap in when things get troublesome.
*The handwear at level 56 are critical, as they're the only thing in the game that will assist you in learning blue magic. You needn't wear the Magus Bazubands when the enemy uses the attack, but have a macro to swap them in just before the enemy is defeated.
*The level 58 body piece is also top-notch. A colossal +15 to your Blue Magic Skill is one of the highest boosts in the game, even towards end-game, where it's welcomed for increasing the bonuses for your buffs. It also adds a huge +3 to both strength and dexterity, making it a potent piece to equip prior to casting many different spells at this point in the game!
*The head piece sadly doesn't get as much use as one would hope. Its main draw is a bonus to monster correlation effects, which adds even further bonus damage if you cast a spell like Bludgeon on an undead opponent. Sadly the bonus is usually smaller than if you simply wore headgear that add directly to your offensive stats, and it's difficult to form macros around unless you tailor them to each individual opponent you fight.
===Levels 60 to 75=== 
*The original "final road" takes you into some dangerous territory for learning spells. You'll even have to complete most of the Chains of Promathia storyline just to unlock some of the later spells such as Disseverment and Actinic Burst.
*Level 60 is another big spike from almost every support job. Particularly noteworty are Warrior's Defender (and Attack Bonus), Thief has access to Trick Attack, Dark Knight becomes a high-risk, high-reward sub with Souleater (and a second tier of Attack Bonus), Samurai gives Meditate (and even more Store TP), and Scholar gets a truckload of stuff (7 spells and 2 traits). Dancer and Summoner get a few nice boosts as well. And even jobs not mentioned all get at least one little garnish. By this point you should have figured out what works best for you. Warrior, Ninja, Thief, and Dancer will probably still be your go-to. But some situations may call for Scholar or Red Mage.
*Death Scissors (Scorpions) is a standout spell at level 60 as well. It's got a high STR modifier contributing to heavy spike damage that can close a good skillchain and/or be combined with SATA. Every minute you can (CA)SATA-Death Scissors to add some hate onto a tank. It also provides some decent stats, but at a steep cost of 5 set points. Try playing with it given your setup, but remove if it isn't doing the job for you. This spell also replaces Sickle Slash as an effective means to close Gravitation.
*Yawn (Apkallu) at level 64 is one of the better sleep spells in the game. Its element is light and it has a pretty significant range and duration. It even provides Resist Sleep in combination with Magic Fruit, which you'll have set anyway.
*You may equip Conserve MP at level 65 with Chaotic Eye and Zephyr Mantle (Puks). Both are fantastic spells anyway, and combined only use up 4 set points. There's almost no reason to not have it equipped at any time. Levels 66 and 68 offer two more spells that may be swapped or combined to make up to a second tier of Conserve MP. Though Frost Breath (Raptors, Lv.66) and Firespit (Mamool-Ja, Lv.68) cost a lot of set points and aren't as useful as the other two.
*Diamondhide from Trolls at Lv.67 is a fantastic spell. It's a party-wide Stoneskin effect for only 99 MP. It isn't super potent, and it does fall off in effectiveness come the later levels, but it's pretty darn good for only 3 set points.
*Level 69 brings with it Store TP. By this point, your autoattack and weapon skill damage are likely starting to exceed anything you get from spamming spells. If you notice that's the case, it's a good time to set this. Otherwise, the two spells required to set this are both pretty expensive at 4 points each. Sickle Slash from level 48 and now Tail Slap from Merrows. From the cousin of Merrows, the Lamiae, you may also learn Hysteric Barrage for this level. It's a costly 5 set points, but provides some decent stats and inflicts reasonable damage for its 61 MP cost.
*Level 70 is an interesting level as you get to set a trait normally exclusive to Monks: Counter. By setting Enervation (Trolls, Lv.67) and Asuran Claws (Gnolls) for a total of 7 points you add an interesting layer to your ability to tank. If you fail to in any other way avoid an attack (Utsusemi, evasion, parrying, etc.) you can stop an attack in its tracks and strike an enemy instead. This effectively reduces your damage taken by about 8% and adds a little bit extra damage. Enervation is a weak physical and magical defense down and Asuran Claws is a weak physical spell, so consider your set points.
*Level 70 is a milestone level for another reason: Cannonball. Learned from Wamouracampa (the larval stage of those giant moths in Halvung), this spell is extremely unique. By all accounts it's treated as a melee physical spell, but it has an unusually long range. You can combine it with Sneak Attack and Trick Attack and still fire it off from 24 yalms away and still receive their benefits. Also unusual is its secondary modifier of Defense. Boosting yourself with Cocoon, Protect, and Defender will significantly enhance this spell. But wait, there's more! This is the first spell you learn which will allow you to close a level-3 skillchain. Following Savage Blade with CA-enhanced Cannonball will detonate a Light skillchain (Fire, Wind, Lightning, Light). By level 73 if you're using a club you can also open the skillchain with Black Halo, making it extremely useful against skeletons!
*Additionally, 70 is a big level for a few of your support jobs. Scholar learns Sublimation, Raise, and Reraise, Rune Fencer gains an additional rune, Auto-Regen, and Blink, Dancer grants Drain Samba II and Healing Waltz, Red Mage gains Fast Cast II, and Warrior gets Warcry.
*At level 72 you can finally set Fast Cast. But strangely enough it's not quite even to Lv.15 Red Mage standards. In fact, it only provides about half as much as the first tier of Fast Cast. For 9 set points, the two spells you need to set are very likely not worth it. Bad Breath (Morbols, Lv.61) is awful, and Sub-zero Smash (Ruszors, Lv.72) is rarely worth using. You're better off just subbing Red Mage until you get some job points for the free extra tiers.
*Level 72 also brings Disseverment from Aerns in Lumoria. It's one of the better physical-damage spells, and imposes a halfway-decent poison to its target. It costs 5 set points, but it also contributes towards Accuracy Bonus. Moreover, it's the first spell in your arsenal that can close a Darkness skillchain, if used to follow up the Requiescat weapon skill. If you'd rather use Savage Blade, you can use Disseverment to close Distortion instead.
*Learned from the Ghrah monsters in Lumoria and equippable at level 74 is Actinic Burst. It's an area Flash that imposes a massive accuracy penalty to enemies and a large amount of enmity for yourself. Moreover, it contributes 4 points towards Auto-Refresh, making it capable of replacing up to 3 spells and refunding up to 4 set points. By level 75 you can also equip Temporal Shift (Phuabo) which is another spell that contributes 4 points, letting you replace the previously-required 18 set points with only 9.
*Another important Lv.74 spell is Magic Hammer, learned from Poroggos. It's a light-elemental Aspir spell that also inflicts damage. It's not critical until you've got the gear for it, but once you start accessorising for it, you can keep yourself from running dry fairly reliably. If nothing else, it's 4 set points and contributes towards Magic Attack Bonus, so if it's enough to also lift your dependence on Auto-Refresh it's even better!
*If you're still subbing Ninja, level 74 is also when you gain access to Utsusemi: Ni. "Nii'd" I say more?
*Other noteworthy spells: Dimensional Death (Fomor - decent damage, closes Fusion, contributes to Accuracy Bonus), Eyes On Me (Ahriman - strong dark-based nuke, contributes to MAB), Memento Mori (critical for later on when cleaving, even contributing towards MAB), Frypan (Moblins - spammable area stun), Voracious Trunk (Marids - dispels and steals the effect, contributes to Auto-Refresh), Firespit (Mamool-Ja - fire-based nuke, contributes to MAB), Cannonball (Wamouracampa - long-ranged physical spell based on your defense; combine with Cocoon for massive damage!), Saline Coat (Xzomit - enormous reduction of magic damage that can be combined with Diffusion for your teammates), Temporal Shift (Hpemde - reliable area stun that also contributes to Attack Bonus), Exuviation (Wamoura - self-target Erase with a small HP recovery attached), Vertical Cleave (Euvhi - inexpensive heavy damage and can close a Darkness skillchain)
*Now you've reached level 75. Congratuations! This is a huge milestone! For a long time this was it: the highest level in the game. Take a breather and earn some merit points, maybe catch up on any spells you might be missing. After this you've got some pretty significant levels ahead.
===Merit Points=== 
* At level 75 you may finally switch to earning merit points after speaking with the Nomad Moogle next to Maat. If this isn't your first job to Lv.75, you might even have some merits stacked up already. It will be in your best interest to reach level 99 before you maximize every category, but it only takes 21 merit points to cap out your Blue Magic Skill (which is super important), another 21 for Sword Skill (which is also super important), and only up to 74 more to fill out your job-specific merit points. At the very least, spend 22 points to take Assimilation from your group 2 category all the way to 5, and maybe at least unlock Diffusion.
*Group 1: Honestly, I feel like this is entirely up to you. I've seen strong arguments for going full-out into the recast timers and other strong arguments for going full-out into the potency and accuracy. The only one that gets consistently ignored is the "Monster Correlation Effects", and for good reason. My recommendation is the potency and accuracy, as the recast on both Chain Affinity and Burst Affinity makes them almost niche abilities in the content I've attented. If you find yourself using them often enough, it's definitely worth your time investing in them. You can always switch them around later on if you see fit!
*Group 2: This one's a bit more cut and dry. Assimilation is absolutely the most important thing you can merit. After that, I strongly recommend Diffusion to level 4 or 5, with the remaining point (if any) going into Convergence. Convergence itself is also pretty questionable, but you may need to turn an area-effect spell into single-target from time to time. Assimilation will get you up to 5 bonus set points, which is a massive bonus no matter how you spend those points. One or two extra job traits and spells, plus the bonus stats they provide. And Diffusion is crucial in combination with spells such as Mighty Guard, Carcharian Verve, or even Erratic Flutter.
*Other Categories: As stated before, Blue Magic Skill is paramount. Not only does it affect almost every single thing you do, it gives you the opportunities to learn spells even earlier. Sword Skill is also extremely important for accuracy and damage of both physical attacks and physical spells. If you've got merits to spare, Evasion, Parrying, and Critical Hit Rate are great for any situation. Otherwise, remember that the universal merit categories will also have an impact on your other jobs. Even pre-75, every 10 levels gives you 1 level from every category. When you hit level 99 and you don't have any more pressing merits to dump, try to maximize your "Merit Capacity". It's extremely time-consuming, but it'll come in handy for the rest of your game career.
===Your Relic Armor=== 
*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<WORKING ON IT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (Everything below this line is extremely outdated; read at your own risk)
===Levels 75 to 98===
* (Continue discussions of spells, traits, support jobs, etc.)
===Level 99=== 
* (Discuss the many, many things available to you at level 99 and beyond)
===End-Game=== 
*(Discuss Blue Mage's role in end-game content. What do other players expect from you?)
*Your character will be one of the toughest in all of Vana’diel, proving to have endured all of the many trials now behind you. Congratulations! Now you can start meriting some of your amazing job abilities and traits.
==Support Jobs==
Blue Mage is the only job in the game capable of successfully subbing any job. As a result, I’m going to post the ups and downs of every possible job if used as a support job for Blue Mage.
===Warrior===
* If you want to tank in the earlier levels, you’ll have to sub Warrior. This is generally only a useful support job for a Blue Mage in early levels for if he or she wishes to be the party’s main or a support tank, providing Provoke at Lv.10 for tanking (and Defense Bonus at 20). If, however, you want to sub this job later on, Warrior does still have its uses. For example, Warrior can use Berserk to enhance its physical attacks. This is actually a great job to take into duoing situations. Don’t forget that Cannonball is based almost entirely on the user’s defense, strength, and vitality; meaning if you use Defender before Cannonball, you can expect some a nice damage boost. Double Attack at Lv.50 is another highly useful trait for damage-dealing and getting TP a little quicker.
===Monk===
* A very overlooked support job. Due to its incredibly high vitality and HP, subbing Monk can actually benefit your spells as well as your survivability. Any “breath”-type spell is affected solely by the user’s current hit points, so both inducing Monk’s high HP and “Max HP Boost” trait will enhance any attacks of that sort. Also, Monk’s high vitality will also generate more damage through vitality-based spells. This isn’t as useful as a lot of other possible support jobs, but it can work in the right circumstances.
===White Mage===
* Probably the best choice for the average Blue Mage between levels 1 and 29. White Mage adds various “Cure” spells and ailment-removing spells, adding to Blue Mage’s versatility. On top of this, White Mage adds a fair bit of MP into the mix. Later on, should you decide to sub this after 29, you can get the useful ability Divine Seal, which will in fact work with your Wild Carrot or any other healing spells. At Lv.40, you get Clear Mind, alleviating the need to waste useful Set Points and spell slots for the same effect. You can also get the useful spell Raise at Lv.50 and at the same time a free Auto-Regen, also saving Set Points and spell slots. It should be noted that healing magic skill raises HP healed for the Blue Magic type of healing spells, therefore increases your ability to heal yourself and allies.
===Black Mage===
* A very good choice for the average Blue Mage between the levels of 30 and 49. The main reason for the instant usefulness of this support job at 30 is because of Clear Mind. This trait is very useful and normally consumes a lot of Set Points to have. Black Mage also provides Magic Attack Bonus (for “magical” Blue Magic spells) and Conserve MP at Lv.40+. Conserve MP will actually save you a lot of MP. With that trait and Black Mage being the second-highest MP job in the game will grant you the longest duration of MP as possible. Even Summoner cannot stack up to this potent mage support job in that way. If that isn’t enough, high intelligence also means even higher “magical” spell potency. Finally the spells that this sub provides: Drain, Aspir, Warp, and Bio. A lot of other spells won’t work very well due to low skill. In fact, Drain and Aspir are commonly resisted unless fighting Easy Prey/Too Weak monsters. Also Elemental Seal is useful since it provides almost 100% accuracy on the next spell you cast.
===Red Mage===
* This support job is generally like White Mage, except you don’t get the same kind of support spells as it does. You won’t get ailment-removal spells and you won’t get Curaga. With that said, you won’t even get any useful Black Magic spells. Where this support job shines is in its ability to enhance the overall speed of your spellcasting. Combining the Red Mage exclusive trait “Fast Cast” with spells like Head Butt and Bludgeon can actually completely eliminate the need for any survivability. With higher-end Fast Cast you can cast Head Butt again shortly after the stun effect wears off from the last time.
===Thief===
* One of the best support jobs in the game for any Blue Mage Lv.60 or higher. Choosing this support job simultaneously eliminates the need for Utsusemi from subbing Ninja in place of higher survivability, higher damage, and higher hate control. No other way can Blue Mage perform self-skillchain total damages of over 2,000 damage, and simultaneously give the majority of the enmity to the tank. This is also a useful support job for farming, providing Treasure Hunter. Oh yeah, and Thief’s naturally highest dexterity and agility are no laughing matters either.
===Paladin===
* Once you hit Lv.70, this support job makes a great way of tanking. Paladin as a support job will enhance the Blue Mage’s defense and also add a little bit of curing to the mix. On top of this, Flash can help you keep enmity. Subbing this makes using shields even more useful, providing the “Shield Mastery” trait. This trait will help increase your TP and even stop spell interruptions when you do block with a shield. Another one of the pride and joy bits to this support job is the addition of Auto-Refresh without using a ton of Set Points and spell slots for the same effect.
===Dark Knight===
* For those Blue Mages who just like a ton of damage out of both physical attacks and “physical” spells. Dark Knight provides a plethora of strength and attack power. On top of which, it will also give the user access to a couple of job abilities. Last Resort will increase your attack even more at the expense of defense, and Souleater will actually consume your own HP to enhance the attack power of your spells. Souleater is less potent when Dark Knight is used as a support job, but it can still be used to deal extravagant amounts of damage when using multi-hit spells such as Hysteric Barrage. Dark Knight also has a number of spells, albeit generally useless. You will have access to Bio and a few of the Absorb-spells. Even though most of the subbed spells will be resisted, Stun will be able to land for a fraction of a second which can be used with Head Butt as a slightly longer, better stun.
===Beastmaster===
* A useful support job for a Blue Mage trying to learn spells. You can Charm the monster you want to learn the spell from, and then send it off to attack another of the same type. Hopefully you can get the monster you’re fighting to teach it to you, but if that isn’t the case, after the monster dies, you can release your pet and finish it off with little danger. Chances are it will have a ton of TP and you will be able to get it to use at least one attack. Beastmaster as a support job also enhances charisma by a lot, increasing Bludgeon damage. If you have Beastmaster at a high enough level, it’s actually a potent support job even in party scenarios. Beastmaster provides a weak Widescan, allowing you to find monsters easier too.
===Ranger===
* An underused support job for many jobs. Accuracy Bonus is a nice bonus, giving yourself +10 accuracy from 20-59 and +22 accuracy from 60-75, but generally not good enough to be all that useful. Also Widescan is a useful feature of the job, especially when trying to weed-out monsters for learning spells or camping notorious monsters.
===Bard===
* This support job adds a lot more of a support-role to your job. Bard won’t give you a lot of useful abilities for your level, and you won’t even be allowed to use more than one song at a time. However, if you really like the whole support role in the party, this may be a decent option. You can give all of the mages Ballad for Refresh and all of the front-line fighters enhancements to attack or accuracy. You can even hit yourself with an Etude to enhance the potency of a particular spell, or lower the monster’s resistance to a particular element with a Threnody, but with halved skill and no instrument, expect the enemy to resist it.
===Summoner===
* Summoner adds the most MP in the entire game, and at Lv.50+ can also add a free Auto-Refresh. On top of this, Summoner also adds Clear Mind at Lv.30+. Unfortunately the avatars are set as the same level as your sub, and therefore it is difficult to get much use out of them due to their low accuracy and attack.
===Samurai===
* Samurai provides its user with a ton of TP. This support job may not be as useful as others, but having additional TP means more weapon skills. Store TP with Samurai will increase your TP per hit, and Meditate at Lv.60+ will almost instantly grant you 60% TP. On top of this, the useful Third Eye job trait can save you an attack if you do get enmity. Since this support job isn’t useful until Lv.60, you’d be better off subbing Thief in a lot more cases.
===Ninja===
* Probably the most common subjob for Blue Mage. Ninja provides the Dual Wield, Stealth, Subtle Blow traits, as well as Tonko, Monomi, and Utsusemi Ninjutsu. Dual Wield gives 10% delay reduction until about Lv.50, giving the user no additional TP, but a modest amount of additional damage over time. Utsusemi will allow the Blue Mage to deal a ton of damage and go well over the hate threshold with minimal care. Ninja also provides Tonko, a cheaper alternative to Prism Powders, and Monomi, a cheaper alternative to Silent Oils. One might choose to sub this starting at 40 because of Chain Affinity and how it might leave you tanking most of the fight, or even as early as 20, to make use of the oft-empty Offhand equipment slot, but it can also be highly useful for soloing and learning spells.
===Dragoon===
* An often overlooked support job simply because you can’t use a wyvern. However, Dragoon has one of the best sets of support job equipment such as the Wyvern Earring that provides +5% Haste, the Wyvern Mantle that provides +6 attack, and the Wyvern Targe that provides a Haste+1% buff. On top of this, Dragoon also has great job traits; namely Attack Bonus (at level 20) and Accuracy Bonus (at level 60). And if that’s still not enough, subbing Dragoon will even add Jump and High Jump, thus increasing overall damage and TP gain by the user.
===Corsair===
* Identical to a Bard support job. This is simply to increase your support role should you want it. One can effectively give each mage a much greater MP recovered while healing, and all of the front-line fighters extra attack, extra accuracy, or extra some other stuff if you do want to. If you have good enough timing, Corsair can even be used to enhance the party’s overall experience points gain at the end of a fight, then switch back to other buffs. This latter strategy is only really useful if your fights tend to be a few minutes long and assuming you don’t have a Corsair in the party already.
===Puppetmaster===
* As Puppetmaster, you can in fact call your automaton and equip it with a wide variety of things. Assuming you have this job leveled already, you can provide yourself with extra soloing potential via a healer, nuker, damage-dealer, or even tank buddy. Though certainly not as useful as a normal Puppetmaster, your automaton can also open skillchains for you. With your ally opening skillchains, you can close ones that you normally couldn’t with only a sword.
===Scholar===
* Providing Blue Mage with a little bit of both White Magic and Black Magic. Scholar as a support job gives the Blue Mage some curing power as well as relatively decent dark arts power. This includes useful magic spells that can play the part of your ‘magical’ Blue Magic. Scholar also provides Clear Mind and Resist Silence. Scholar provides more useful spells than Black Mage. Drain and Aspir will be more useful due to a “B+” in the spell set thanks to Dark Arts. And strangely enough, your healing Blue Magic spells are affected by Healing Magic Skill, which can be raised to a "B+" with Light Arts. Also, Scholar will even provide Regen II at an early enough level to be used at Lv.74. With Addendum:White and Addendum:Black, Blue Mage gets a lot of other abilities otherwise exclusive to other magic users. Scholar also provides a wicked job ability for when you hit Lv.70 called Sublimation. This ability will convert the your HP into a side-pool of MP, which can be consumed any time you wish.
===Dancer===
* Since your Chain Affinity is generally still cooling down when you are finally at 100% TP, you can convert some of that TP into enfeebles and cures. Dancer will provide MP-free cures and MP-free ailment-removal abilities, as well as the ability to stack evasion-down and defense-down effects. Not to mention Aspir Samba, which can drain an enemy's MP every hit, assuming it has any. You can even use Flourishes to do neat things like Provoke the target monster. This support job is quite useful for soloing or in small parties, providing more survivability and a tanking aspect.
==Overview of Job Abilities, Traits, and Spells==
===Your Two-Hour Ability===
* Azure Lore is a very misinterpreted two-hour ability that is generally considered quite useless. I would have to disagree. Azure Lore increases the overall power and accuracy of all Blue Magic spells to a relatively high degree. Effectively, it increases the TP modifier to 350%, making it even more powerful than if you had full TP otherwise. This is useful at Lv.40 when you get Chain Affinity and are capable of self-skillchains. Providing you already have about 100% TP, you can use Azure Lore and then Chain Affinity, open your skillchain with a weapon skill like Red Lotus Blade, and then close it with a powerful Blue Magic spell. If you thought your self-skillchains were amazing at 5% TP, watch the sparks fly at 350%! Other than a last resort to squeeze the most out of your spells, Azure Lore doesn’t do a whole lot. It was rumoured at one point that Azure Lore also aided in learning spells, but this has been proven wrong.
===Job Abilities===
*Burst Affinity is your first non-two-hour job ability acquired at Lv.25. It doesn’t do much, at Lv.25 or at Lv.75, but a job ability is a job ability, and at least you don’t have to go outside and fight monsters to learn it. Burst Affinity sits on a two-minute recast timer and effectively allows your next “magical” Blue Magic spell to magic burst. The only problem with this ability is that most “magical” spells are either really weak, high cast time, too MP expensive and/or based solely on your current HP. The former meaning your bursts won’t do much extra damage, and the latter meaning the damage won’t go up at <I>all</I>. The only exceptions to this rule are spells like Bomb Toss, which are area-effect and therefore dangerous, and Mysterious Light, which cost far too much MP to be any useful, and a few others. Later on, there are a few spells that will work well with this ability, so don’t count it out. The best strategy when effectively using this ability is to use it along with Chain Affinity before a self-skillchain, and then using the spell after the skillchain. Try out a few combinations and see what works best for you. It should be noted that Burst Affinity gives a minor boost to Magic Accuracy, therefore it is effective to used before using a sleep spell.
*Chain Affinity… now that’s what I’m talking about! Here’s your Lv.40 ability that finally allows you to self-skillchain. The best thing about Chain Affinity is your spells aren’t required to have 100% TP to skillchain. Most Blue Mages go about their self-skillchaining by starting with this ability to get it out of the way (initial weapon skill or any ‘magical’ Blue Magic won’t consume the effect), and then use a weapon skill. Start as fast as you can, because it will only stay active for 30 seconds. You may also want to inform your party about what you’re doing so that they won’t interrupt your skillchain and to let the mages know what to magic burst with. After the weapon skill, start casting the spell. If it connects, you’ll have yourself a skillchain, which you can then magic burst on if you have Burst Affinity active as well. As you can expect, this combination is ruthless and deadly, but will also grab you a ton of hate. If you are partying with a non-Paladin tank, you might want to sub Ninja. Once you hit Lv.60, though, it’s best to have Thief leveled. Closing your own skillchain with a Sneak Attack - Trick Attack - Sickle Slash (or any other amazingly powerful spell) can produce upwards of 1500, maybe even 2,000 damage. And of course, with Trick Attack, all of that enmity goes straight to the tank. This means he or she shouldn’t lose hate to you or anyone else in the party for a long time, allowing you to perform even more powerful stunts! 
*<I>Diffusion</I> will make your next Blue Magic enhancing spell an area-effect so it will target your entire party. It’s one of the best things to merit as Blue Mage, as hitting everyone with Cocoon or Refueling could seriously kick ass. Unfortunately, this job ability begins with a 20-minute cool-down timer that can be taken down to 10 with full merits. You also have to be very careful with this ability, if you realize that you need a heal and in the middle of a buff, let that buff carry out, because if you use another spell while Diffusion is up, Diffusion WILL be lost.
*<I>Convergence</I> does the effective opposite of Diffusion. It will make your next “magical” enemy-targeted area-of-effect spell converge on a single target. It’s amazing if your end-game parties fight a lot of clustered monsters and you want to target a single one. Each time it‘s merited, Convergence will add +5 accuracy and +5% magic attack to the spell (up to 25% with full merits). On a recast time of 10 minutes.
===Job Traits===
* Blue Mage is a very interesting job in that it doesn’t get a <I>single</I> job trait! …Naturally. In actuality, you make your own job traits by combining spells at your leisure. Nearly every spell in the game can be combined with another to create interesting traits that are generally difficult to get. This just shows-off more of Blue Mage’s incredible versatility. It even gets its own Auto-Refresh and Store TP later on!
*Beast Killer is a very useful trait early on. Even Beastmasters themselves don’t get this trait until much later on in the game. Beast Killer allows you to occasionally intimidate beast-type monsters if they are directing an attack on you. You have about an eight percent chance to stop a monster in its tracks from attacking, casting a spell, or even using an ability on you. The trait is acquired by equipping both Sprout Smack and Wild Oats (and later on, a few others if you want), which are both Lv.4 spells and incredibly useful even without the trait effect. Have those two equipped at all times. The best thing about this trait is there are so many beast-type monsters in Vana’diel, and you’ll be fighting a lot of them in your quest to Lv.10.
*Auto Regen is another useful trait to have, especially when soloing. This trait is acquired at Lv.16 when both Healing Breeze and Sheep’s Song are active, but can be generated using other spells later on. This puts Blue Mage at the earliest to learn yet another trait. The downside is of course that Healing Breeze and Sheep’s Song are both very set point-heavy spells, and if all you want out of the two spells is this trait, you’d be better off using something else. Auto Regen will increase your HP by one every three seconds, making it useful for long fights or when soloing against easier monsters who won’t hit you for very much.
*Lizard Killer is, again, another spell you get before any other job. Lizard Killer is super useful for its level being 20, allowing you to battle the Easy Prey lizards in Valkurm Dunes for a while. Like Beast Killer, you’re given about a one-in-twelve chance to intimidate the monster, stopping any attacks or abilities it wants to cast. There are many lizards in the game for you to solo on, but they’re quite tough compared to other monsters, so they would probably be best-off avoided. By about Lv.22, you’re capable of soloing the worms near the cave’s exit in Qufim Island anyway.
*Clear Mind is a very, very useful trait, and I suggest you equip both Soporific and Poison Breath as soon as you can. Clear Mind brings your MP recovered while healing from 12, 13, 14, 15... to 15, 16, 17, 18..., allowing you to rest your MP even faster. Of course, this trait was a lot more relevant back in the day before Signet received its no-TP-loss-while-healing buff, but it’s still worth the incredibly large amount of set points. Once you hit Lv.30, you can sub Black Mage and get the same effect, without the cost in set points. The interesting thing about Blue Mage is that as time goes on, it can tack on more and more spells to increase the effect to tiers 2, 3, and even 4. This of course costs a ton of set points, but if you’re out of MP and have to rest anyway, you could even set the spells just for while you’re resting, since the traits are active immediately (remember that you can’t use your spells right away though, so change back with plenty of time to spare!)
*Resist Sleep is a great trait to have, albeit a little late to learn. By the time you hit Lv.30 and are capable of using this trait, you’re already done fighting Mandragoras in the Jungles, which are the only monsters you have to worry about that have an area-effect sleep. However, Resist Sleep is still good to have on if fighting sleeping monsters because even if it doesn’t fully resist the effect, it will lower its duration immensely. You get this trait by combining Pollen and Wild Carrot.
*Magic Attack Bonus is a trait that would have more relevance if your ‘magical’ spells weren’t so weak in the first place. They’re not useless or anything, but they’re generally there for enfeebling, not dealing damage. This trait is first learnable at Lv.32 by combining Cursed Sphere and Sound Blast. It will effectively multiply your spells’ power by an extra 20%, allowing your Magic Bursts to be even more destructive.
*Undead Killer is quite useful when soloing the buggers. Like the other two ‘Killer’ traits, Undead Killer will help you intimidate the monsters, bringing them to halt an attack, spell, or ability, which could save some hit points or ailment frustration. It’s first obtainable at Lv.34 by combining Bludgeon and Smite of Rage.
*Rapid Shot. You know, I actually chuckled when I first saw this trait available to Blue Mages. Here’s Blue Mage with not one proficiency in any ranged weapon, and they gave it Rapid Shot. I thought to myself, “who would sub this for Rapid Shot?” Then about a week later, they gave Blue Mages some throwing weapons. Blue Mages still have no native proficiency in throwing, so even subbing a job with the skill will give you only half. It’s not very useful, but if you have Feather Storm and Hydro Shot active already, just consider it a bonus. What Rapid Shot does is allows some of your ranged attacks to go off immediately as opposed to waiting the full delay of the weapon. Much more useful when you're subbing Blue Mage as a job that uses ranged attacks.
*Attack Bonus is your first ‘useful’ trait in a long time. Acquired by combining Battle Dance and Uppercut, this trait is first available for use at Lv.38. What it does is increases your attack points by 10, allowing your physical attacks and “physical” Blue Magic” to deal some extra damage.
*Max MP Boost is an iffy trait. If the 10 MP is worth using Metallic Body and Mysterious Light for, then by all means have it on. It certainly can’t hurt! Since Mysterious Light is learned at 40, so too is this trait available at that level.
*Defense Bonus is similar to Attack Bonus, in that it will increase by 10. This is relatively useful for soloing with Cocoon (increasing the bonus to 15), and incredibly useful once you get Cannonball at Lv.70. Of course, since you have to combine both Grand Slam and Terror Touch to get this effect, it’s available at Lv.40, meaning it has to wait a few levels before it’s really useful.
*Plantoid Killer again misses the mark by being too late with a trait. At any rate, there are still a large number of ‘plantoid’-type monsters that you will end-up fighting. Like the other ‘killer’ traits, this one will give an 8% chance to avoid attacks, spells, and abilities. It’s acquired at Lv.44 when both Power Attack and Mandibular Bite are equipped.
*Magic Defense Bonus is a very useful trait, especially for end-game scenarios. This trait is similar to Magic Attack Bonus, in that it will directly multiply magical attacks. The difference is it will <I>negatively</I> multiply damage dealt to <I>you</I>. Magic Defense Bonus will multiply damage taken by 0.9, effectively reducing damage taken by 10%. Since a lot of end-game monsters will cast powerful area-effect spells, this trait may very well save your tail. The only way to get this trait is to equip both Magnetite Cloud and Ice Break.
*Auto Refresh is debatably the best trait Blue Mages can get on their own. It will grant you one MP every three seconds, allowing you to last longer in heated battles, and resting faster. The downside is that when you can first get it at Lv.58, you have to use <I>six spells</I> and occupy <I>14 set points</I>! Later on, Auto Refresh won’t need so many, because the spells required to have this trait have a hidden ‘points’ system. As time goes on, you learn more spells that are worth more ‘points’ until you only need 2 spells at Lv.75. 
*Max HP Boost helpfully increases your HP by 10. As a mage, you shouldn’t worry about taking damage unless you go nuts with your spells, so this trait serves a different purpose. The HP acquired can be incredibly useful for using ‘breath’ spells whose damage is directly based on the user’s HP. To first get this trait, you must combine Flying Hip Press and Body Slam. It’s acquired at Lv.63.
*Accuracy Bonus is a lifesaver for some people, and just generally nice for most people. Accuracy Bonus produces +10 accuracy, allowing you to land your “physical” spells and physical attacks more frequently and leading to less frustration and less spamming of the same spell to get the same effect. It is available at Lv.63 by combining both Dimensional Death and Frenetic Rip.
*Conserve MP is an incredibly useful trait otherwise only obtainable by subbing Black Mage. Since by Lv.65 when you get this spell, you should be subbing Thief, or at the very least Ninja, this trait will be a breath of fresh air. Every so often, Conserve MP will kick-in to reduce a random amount of MP. This spell, achievable by equipping both Chaotic Eye and Zephyr Mantle, is irreplaceable. You know the spell Warp and how it costs exactly 100 MP. One time Conserve MP kicked-in and reduced the 100 by 92 and made it only cost 8 MP. Imagine that kicking-in when you’re performing skillchains. It’s a great way to last longer than normal.
*Store TP is a nice thing to have. An otherwise Samurai-exclusive trait now available to Blue Mage to increase TP gain by 10%. This means that you will get 100% TP in far less time, allowing your weapon skills to happen more frequently or more powerfully, depending on how you want to go about doing it. Sickle Slash and Tail Whip are both required in order to use this trait, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Remember, Chain Affinity can only be used once every two minutes, and it only takes about one minute to get 100% TP in a normal case. This trait is available at Lv.69. Certainly useful when subbing Dancer.
*Evasion Bonus will grant you +10 evasion, allowing you to avoid some more physical attacks and area-of-effect abilities from monsters. However, if you are subbing Thief at Lv.69 when this is available, Evasion Bonus is already available to you, and these traits will not stack. You get this trait by using both Screwdriver and Hysteric Barrage.
*Counter is a very handy trait normally exclusive to Monk. When a monster is attacking you, you may actually fully block the attack and counterattack with your own. You won’t get TP from it, but it’s a nice way to save yourself some damage and inflict some extra on your opponent. This trait is only available at Lv.70 when you equip Enervation and Asuran Claws.
*Fast Cast as of the 7/21/2009 update, Blue mage now gets Fast Cast with the set spells of Bad Breath and Sub-Zero Smash. This is a great trait because it helps cast your spells faster and it is normally only exclusive to Red Mages.
*<I>Enchainment</I> is one of two meritable job traits once you hit Lv.75 and doesn’t require any spells set to have. What it does is adds a TP Bonus to your Chain Affinity, giving it a relative amount of TP when used. This trait is quite useful for those who like self-skillchaining, as it will increase the effect of the closing spell and ultimately the final skillchain. Each time this trait is merited, 10 more TP will be pseudo-included into the effect, to a maximum of 50.
*<I>Assimilation</I> is the second of two meritable job traits. This one will increase the amount of set points you have to work with. Each merit will increase your set points by 1, to a total of 5. This trait is useful if you find yourself needing a few extra set points for some extra stats, job traits, or simply just spells. More set points means more effectiveness, but if you find other group 2 merits are worth meriting more than a few set points, then this may not be for you.
===Coming Soon...===
* Spells. There's a lot of spells. They will come eventually. Until then, please visit the Blue Mage spells section.
==See Also==