Demolition Man

## Careful, you're playing with fire

Are you nuts? Black Mage? Do you have a death wish? Yes. Yes you do, and that's exactly why you're here. Thats what its all about, Black Mage is about the flash, its a glass cannon damage dealer that wants to light things up as fast as it can, even if that results in its (honestly, inevitable, and likely) death for doing so. But to call Black Mage a one trick pony isn't exactly right either. Of course your first job is throwing magical damage at targets, its literally your thing! Big booms, little rapid ones to keep you from getting your face chewed off, single target, multi target, its all great! But beyond that, you can stack quite a few Damage Over Time spells, Bio, Bio II, Burn, Choke, Shock, Rasp, Drown, Frost, Poison, Poison II, and while you can only have Five of those up at one time, they can make fights a bit shorter for your allies. And not to toot your own horn, but you're pretty good at debuffing too! Sleep, Sleep II, Sleepga, Sleepga II, Bind, Blind, these can make fights safer, or handle unruly interruptions, making big pileups turn into rapid funneling of targets safely and efficiently for your party, or alliance! And when all else fails, you can put that hefty MP to use providing backup cures, status removal, and heals (Subjob permitting,) to keep your party happy and healthy. Its all about knowing when and what you need to do, and if you stick with me, kid, you're gonna go far! And if things go wrong, just cast Warp and get the hell out of there!

### Skills, What ones do I use?

As a Black Mage, you're kinda allergic to front line combat. Its the last thing you want to do, but even so, looking at your skills, you do have options. They're not good options mind you, but you have em.

* Staff - Probably your best option for actually hitting things reliably. That said, other than all jobs accuracy pieces, you don't get a whole lot to raise the odds of this working. And to make matters worse, you have HORRIBLE weapon options for this. Thats not to say there aren't any, but by the time you can amass any good ones, you're probably gonna be well and beyond needing melee tools. Still, a Mekki-Shakki can do some damage with Full Swing on occasions, and otherwise, you're gonna be rocking staves anyway for the status bonuses provided by them. And a cheeky Spirit Taker to restore MP on some squishy stuff if you have friends tanking them can be a nice little pick-me-up, so having this skilled can prove useful.
* Club - Ugh, even worse than staff, you're not on any good clubs, your skill with them is bad, and you don't get ANY good weaponskills. For low levels, you're gonna wear these though since they're great sources of INT. If only Starlight/Moonlight worked on Era, then you could at least have an excuse for using them for MP generation, but sadly, thats just not the world we live in.
* Scythe - Okay, this is an asterisk weapon. Your skill is HORRIBLE with Scythes. Literally, at best, you're getting 200 skill, and even then, with some of the best gear, thats not gonna do much. Further, you don't get much for weaponskills worth using with them, and your scythe selection honestly is about 10 for the entire level range from 1 to 75. But the reason its an asterisk, is the damage rating for Scythes tends to be pretty high, and if you're just beating up on Easy Prey or Too Weak monsters anyway, this can be a nice toy to save your MP for other things. And some of them have okay spell casting stats. I'm not saying wear a scythe over a staff to cast spells, I'm saying "If you're gonna use a Scythe for cakewalk stuff, some of them will help if you need to cast magic while doing so."
* Evasion - You have some, but not much. Same rating as Scythe. If an enemy misses you, its more likely it was their low accuracy, not your high evasion.
* Parrying - You wish you could Parry. Only whatever your subjob lets you have, so don't count on this saving you.
* Dagger and Throwing - You technically have higher skill in both of these than Scythe by a few points. But you also have crap for weapon selections for either of these. Hope you like Pebbles and 21 damage daggers when other jobs are rocking 30+ DMG ones. I guess Thanatos Baselard is okay, but you also still have no weaponskills for it. But those pebbles or other generic throwables could be handy if you're in an area with a lot of magic or sound aggressive monsters and you need to pull something.

But the real main event is about your magic anyway, and what a main event it is!

* Elemental - This, This is you. Your elemental magic and thus, your accuracy with elemental magic damage spells, is nigh-unrivaled. That said, even piling on all the skill and magic accuracy you can, there are just some things you can't kill reliably with magic, and if thats the case, you may be on backup healer duty, sleep duty, stunning, or sitting out that content.
* Dark - Another potent skill for you, this governs Drain, Aspir, Bio, and Stun effectiveness. And if you're some weirdo subbing DRK, their absorb spells also fall into this category.
* Enfeebling - This is better left to Red Mages and Scholars, but even so, you're just a bit better than a DRK or a WHM at landing these, and the presence of Sleep, Sleepga, and Bind make this a valuable skill to have ready for almost any situation!
* Enhancing - This is a weird one, Technically, it improves your Ice, Blaze, and Shock spike spells, in some small way, and its also tied to Warp, Retrace, and Escape. Not something you need leveled, but if you're subbing another mage and get spells that benefit from it? Then enjoy it. This actually can make for a weird ultra-niche setup subbing Red Mage, stacking enhancing magic gear, and using a Kraken or Octave club to mow down fodder mobs with enspell assisted bonks.

### But I get some pretty cool abilities and traits, Right? ...Right?

Well, Yes, but really, No. We don't get much as Black Mage really. Like, at all. What we get is enough though for a good foundation.

* LV1 Manafont - Its 60 seconds of unlimited MP. And thats awesome. But you only get it once an hour being your Special ability, so use it wisely.
* LV10 Magic Attack Bonus I - Offensive spells start doing more damage, nice.
* LV15 Elemental Seal - On a 10 minute timer, you get a massive boost to magic accuracy for one spell. Like Manafont, its not around frequently, so be mindful and use it wisely.
* LV15 Clear Mind I - You recover MP faster when you're healing. Thats really all it does.
* LV20 Conserve MP - Sometimes, you get some discounts on spells you cast. Neat, but not reliable.
* LV30 Clear Mind II - More-er MP recovered while healing
* LV30 Magic Attack Bonus II - Offensive spells start doing more-er damage, nice-er. Last you get as a subjob.
* LV45 Clear Mind III - Do I have to say it?
* LV50 Magic Attack Bonus III - More-er-er.
* LV60 Clear Mind IV - I'm not doing it.
* LV70 Magic Attack Bonus IV - The peak of our base Magic Attack bonus traits
* LV75 Clear Mind V - And the last one. Its still not enough on its own either.

But thats just Mage life in general. The real showstoppers are the spells. Due to how many there are however, I am going to mostly cover them in the leveling sections in nice, manageable chunks.

### How about those subjobs?

Great question, glad you asked! Theres some debate, but in my personal opinion, your subjob options from most to least used in order, and why, are listed below.

1. Scholar - This subjob gives you everything you want, just about. Strongest cures out of any subjob, the ability to cast your spells faster and cheaper while being able to occasionally make them cast faster or cheaper still, an ability to bank and/or restore MP, even having Reraise, Raise, Status removal spells, and a powerful DOT spell line, and Dispel! Its hard to argue that Scholar is a powerful (and hugely undervalued) subjob for mages on Era. What you lose for choosing it is Stoneskin, primarily, but you retain Blink and Aquaveil and get Regen II. And if that wasn't enough, while under the effects of either arts book, your magic skill levels are artificially boosted so it makes a great early subjob to maximize spell effectiveness, and a late-game subjob to maximize spell efficiency.
2. Red Mage - Bringing many of the same perks as Scholar, it does however lose some things. It grants less MP, no way to restore MP either, no status removal spells, no raise, and no Reraise. What it does have, however, is the fastest casting of any subjob, a healthy dose of defensive spells, single target barspells, and a selection of enhancing and enfeebling spells like Dispel. Its also the only subjob granting Gravity which is valuable for some solo tactics.
3. White Mage - This is the subjob I see the most, but primarily by players who never experimented with other subjobs, or run multiple characters and insist in only leveling a few for their alternate character(s), You get a mix of perks from Red Mage and Scholar, but largely not enough to be chosen over the others. White Mage has less INT than either of Red Mage or Scholar, although it does provide many of the same enfeebles and enhancing spells as red mage, still keeps Reraise and Raise, gains the first three teleport spells, some low level AOE cures, status removals, stoneskin and blink, protectra and shellra, and area of effect barspells. You also have access to the ten minute recast ability Divine Seal which doubles the potency of your next healing spell, but unless you need some of these specific perks, Scholar will give you the best returns.
4. Summoner - Sadly, not a great subjob. Its probably better to tell you what you lose than what you gain with this subjob, but since gains are shorter, I'm going to cover those. You get a larger MP Pool, some INT, one, or two decent buffs, and Autorefresh. Thats it. You lose easy to cast cures, debuffs, buffs, stealth spells, cast speed bonuses, shell, protect, reraise, regen, raise, all for a few more MP points and slight MP regeneration that are largely inferior to sublimation. Honestly, I'd sub Paladin for the autorefresh since at least that has cures, protect and shell, and you get Sentinel if something starts biting your face off. I'm not suggesting you sub Paladin, but I'm also not suggesting you sub Summoner either.

* Honorable Mention: Ninja - Early game this is useful when solo leveling or for the dual wield to grant you access to high +INT wands in both hands. In late game situations, it gives you what it gives every job, though Utsusemi and stealth spells which help you get around and not die as easily. It doesn't hurt that it has decent INT too.
* Honorable Mention: Blue Mage - An odd choice, but for stacking int and mp through set spells, or retaining access to some buffs, and heals, its not the worst option. I'd use blue mage over Summoner, but when Scholar, Red Mage, and White Mage are already waiting, its not a great option. Still, if you're already leveling Black Mage and have Blue Mage leveled too? You could do way worse. Also you could set Headbutt and stand next to a big scary thing and use it and Stun to prevent scary things. I wouldn't rely on a Black mage to be reliable with headbutt, but if stun is down, it might stop a spell casting.

### Okay but what do I actually do as a Black Mage?

Honestly, your job isn't all that complicated or hard. Read a situation, and prepare the proper sized explosives. Big things that need to die yesterday? Start throwing the biggest spells you got. Buncha little things that need to explode right now? Time for the Area of effect magic. One too many things to kill right now? Sleep, stun, bind it. Way too many things to fight at once? Sleepga them. Long fight where you don't want to take hate? Stack debuffs, damage over time spells, and rapid fire lower attack spells, throwing a Drain or Aspir in where applicable. Thats about the size of it. You either explode things, help damage along, or perform crowd control duties.

Beyond that, a short primer on magic bursting wouldn't hurt. Its less important at lower levels, but learning what skillchains look like and what spells magic burst off of them, you can increase your damage, or magic accuracy when placed in a position where you can layer spells over a skillchain. Since most endgame will have larger groups, or small groups with diverse jobs, the important things to know are the Light skillchain allows magic bursts from Light, Fire, Lightning, and Wind spells, and Darkness skillchain allows magic burst from Dark, Ice, Water, and Earth, Theres other common Skillchains which are split from the other two (Fusion is Light and Fire, Gravitation is Dark and Earth, Fragmentation is Lightning and Wind, and Distortion which is Water and Ice) which may be more common in parties with jobs that can easily self-skillchain such as Blue Mage, Samurai, Dragoon, and Dancer, but unless they give you advance warning, its going to be hard to magic burst off any skillchain as the window is generally shorter than your larger spells take to cast.

As for how to dress, and what stats you want? INT, Magic Attack bonus, Magic Accuracy, and Elemental skill are your main four desired equipment bonuses followed by autorefresh, MP, and MP recovered while healing. You also may want Enfeebling skill from time to time. Generally you probably want four sets of equipment as a black mage. High potency, for enemies that aren't overly magic resistant, stacking INT and Magic Attack Bonus will net you some impressive numbers. For resistant enemies, stacking magic accuracy or elemental skill (they behave the same, take the larger value when possible) and INT again will ensure your spells land and still retain some damage more consistently. MP recovery is where you stack Refresh, or MP recovered while healing to shorten downtime as much as possible and keep the damage flowing. Lastly, an enfeebling set for landing debuffs and sleeps would be nice, and consists of magic accuracy or enfeebling skill (Again, take the largest value) and INT, or, MND if attempting to land White Magic enfeebles. Optionally you can also consider a Dark Magic skill build for Drain and Aspir, and a High-MP build so you can throw some less potent spells early in a battle for essentially free. And if you have time to prepare with a high-MP build, you may also want a high-HP build, as the MP reserves generated by Sublimation depend on your max HP, so being able to increase your HP by a large amount can mean a larger return on MP later in an event, though these last few builds will really have pretty limited use, and just means you collecting far more gear than you really, REALLY need.

As for Races, Tarus make the best general Black Mages due to their high INT and MP, followed by Humes and Mithra which have comparable INT and MP to one another. After that, Galka actually pull slightly ahead of Elvaan. While they have less MP, they have more INT, and a lot of Race-Specific Equipment that grants large amounts of INT and MP, making for some great pieces early, mid, and maybe even late-game! Elvaan have a bit more MP, and are functional, but their low INT and MP make being a Black Mage difficult for them.

## Leveling up Black Mage

### Level 1-37, getting a feel for things, and deciding if you like it.

Did you start the game as a black mage? Great, if so, you have Stone, and an Onion staff. Thats good foundation, If not, hopefully you have subjob unlocked and some gil to buy Stone, And while you're at it, set your subjob to White Mage, or Red Mage, so you can also cast Dia or Cure. If you're a Taru or a Mithra who happened to start in Windurst. congratulations on having a good starter ring with some INT and MP! Now find the nearest gate, Nearest BRO Moogle, and the nearest Mandragora, and bonk it with your stick and stone spell, and start leveling. If you're in San d'Oria or Bastok, look for worms, rabbits, and bees. The good news is once your elemental skill starts taking off, getting to level 12ish shouldn't take you long at all! Just check for Easy Prey and Decent Challenge, and damage race them down. Don't be scared to die, get used to it, its part of being a Black Mage, and you're gonna die a lot. Besides, until you hit 31, no EXP loss, so set your homepoint near where you're grinding EXP, and just run back outside after that Rabbit is done chewing on your corpse. And don't forget to get signet. Now that you've made it this far, its time to consider looking for some gear upgrades! **Also be aware, you will want to make generous use of the !mobstats command to help you find ideal targets if soloing.**

Some good pieces of gear and spells to pick up once you're around **level 12**:

* Royal Footman's Robe (LV10) - With +1 INT, and not too many other options, this can be great early on. Bonus points if you have someone craft it when you hit level 15, to gain a few points of MP and Defense out of it too.
* Sage's Circlet (LV12) - Another +1 INT piece, its a high-quality crafted item though. Its not a bad thing to consider if you can get one since it frees up your body slot for some body with some MP you may want instead, or just something with more defense. A sidegrade to Footman Robe.
* Hermit's Ring (LV1) - From some scarce monsters in Dangruf Wadi, its a great ring to start with. If you can get a few, and contact a crafter, have them craft them into Eremite Rings or Eremite Ring +1s for 2 or 3 more INT. If you get the +1s, these are good all the way up into the 70s
* Friar's Rope (LV14) - Not the best piece, but without too many early game options and this being quested, its a good source of MP for just a little bees wax
* Scentless Armlets (LV16) - Quested, and may be out of your league to complete early game, there aren't many good black mage gloves for a while, so these giving 5 Evasion are kinda the best you can get.
* Astral Ring (LV10) - If you have some, you can pop em on. Its risky, you lose a LOT of HP doing this, but, it does give you a greater volume of MP to fuel your spells
* Windurstian/Federation Slops (LV15) - Another piece that only adds some MP to your reserves. Optional for sure.
* Onyx/Energy Earring (LV10) - Another piece to get some more MP into your setup.
* Willow Wand/+1 (LV9) - 2-3 INT for your hand, and you can pair it with a Pelte. This much INT will push your damage when stacked with the other items on this list. If you manage to get the high quality wands, you can skip Yew Wands later, otherwise, use the normal quality, then upgrade to Yew/+1 around 20 (if you can)
* Water (LV5) - The second weakest element of damage spells, but its an upgrade to stone, This trend will continue all the way to endgame.
* Aero (LV9) - The Third weakest element of damage spells, but its an upgrade to Water, This trend will continue all the way to endgame.
* Poison (LV3) - Your first Enfeebling and Damage over time spell. Handy for doing some damage for low MP costs.
* Bind (LV7) - Your third Enfeebling spell and this one is valuable all the way to endgame. Get it, it will save your life.
* Blind (LV4) - Your second enfeebling spell, this benefits parties more than solo play, but it will make life easier on healers and result in a few less casualties if you manage to get a party for leveling.
* Drain (LV12) - The one, and ONLY method for a black mage to restore their own HP actively without subjob assistance. Its received from a quest in San d'Oria that requires you to be on Nation Mission Rank 2-3 and to provide a Beastman Blood.
* Bio (LV10) - Your first Dark spell, its also a Damage over time spell that lowers attack. Further it stacks with Bio and can help you beat an enemy before they kill you, or layer on an enemy and then begin kiting. Bio is also impossible to fully resist under normal circumstances.
* Blaze Spikes (LV10) - One of Black Mage's few Enhancing spells, its a buff that causes enemies hitting you physically to suffer some magical fire damage, which again, paired with other tools, can help you kill them before they kill you.
* Fire (LV13) - The third strongest element of damage spells, but its an upgrade to Aero, This trend will continue all the way to endgame.
* Blizzard (LV17) - This is the second strongest element of damage spells, its an upgrade from Fire, This trend will continue all the way to endgame. You're getting this for the future
* Warp (LV17) - A spell to send you back to your homepoint, you get it from a quest needing a slime oil in Bastok. Handy for travel needs.
* Thunder (LV21) - This is the strongest element of damage spells, its an upgrade from Blizzard, This trend will continue all the way to endgame. You're getting this for the future

Now that we have some equipment, spells, and levels under our belt, we get to have some fun! As always, its better to get a party when you can, in which, you generally want to start throwing spells at a monster when it's HP is below half, or feed a slow trickle of stones into it to help kill it faster. Unless you manage to find a mageburn party, then its find some worms that are about 5-10 levels higher than your group, silence them, and bombard them hard from range! If you're soloing, welcome to danger mode! You're gonna find beastmen pets, usually elementals, bees, leeches, beetles, rabbits, bats, or otherwise, and your whole deal is gonna be waiting until the master has its back turned, and dumping spells rapidly into the pet before it comes to murder you in two or three hits! Beastmen pets have generally slightly lower levels, and stats, and drastically lower HP than the monster they escort, so they're a perfect target for a black mage soloing. A good place to look for your first pet to kill is actually in Meriphataud Mountains. Yagudos here will have elemental pets somewhere around level 10, but with how fast they can be killed, they can make for some decent exp. Sadly, there is a small gap between these and your first good beastmen pet option, so you're gonna have a bit of a slog until you hit around level 16 or 17. At this point You're gonna want to employ a Yew wand, and hopefully get the items for your subjob, but if you still can't manage that, haven't gotten help from other players or the items needed in a exp party, they you're just going to have to stay the course.

At 17 or 18, it may be a bit risky, but you can actually try to go to Qufim Island, and enter Delkfutt Tower (welcome to the ten minute cutscene start of Chains of Promathia, and be prepared for another when you enter upper jeuno) and once the cutscene has ended, hopefully you have some tabs from doing pages, or some stealth items, You want to make your way either forward and camp the two gigas bats in the central room (Risky!) or explore the next few floors. Gigas bats (Single bat) in Lower Delkfutt tower are the lowest consistent beastman pets you can find so you're gonna be here until exp returns drop off around level 21ish. Which is when you can move onto any of a few new camps. Feel free to climb the tower a bit to get to Goblin's Bats which should be adequate to take you to 23ish, though you can also simply check other areas like Rolanberry Fields or Pashow Marshlands for Goblin Bees, Battalia Downs for Goblin Dragonflies, or Sauromugu Champaign for Goblin Beetles. Once you're in the early to mid 20s, its back to Qufim where you can kill Gigas Leeches. These can be great or disappointing since they range from level 21 to 30, and will also link Acrophies which are in the early 30s themselves and quite mean. If you want something more consistent however, there is always making a lengthy trip to Yhoator Jungle to kill more Goblin bees that have more consistent levels of 28-30 and you should be able to kill them somewhat reliably around level 25. If you have subjobs opened by now, you can sub Red or White mage and cast Aquaveil which will give you a more likely chance of killing pets before they interrupt and kill you first. Experimenting with Killing Monster Pets should eventually get you around level 30, so its time to go shopping again and get some gear upgrades and maybe unlock some jobs!

Some good pieces of gear and spells to pick up once you're around **level 30**

* Astaroth Cane (LV27) - Less INT than wands you've likely been grabbing along the way for the last 20 levels, but this is still great, with 2 INT and 3 magic accuracy, it will keep your spells nice and consistent. If you're /NIN just keep 2 high INT clubs though.
* Seer's Crown/+1 (LV29) - Nice +2 or +3 INT, hard to beat.
* Seer's Mitts/+1 (LV29) - Another 1-2 INT, great!
* Seer's Slacks (LV29) - And another point of INT, and some MP. The other two pieces of Seer's are not really needed, and theres not much else worth wearing in body or feet slots, so if you find something with MP, feel free to wear those.
* Lizard Strap/+1 (LV30) - Some more MP, optional
* Black Cape/+1 (LV32) - 2-3 INT more, if you get the +1, its fine to take this to 75 until you can get a better back.
* Morion Tathlum (LV25) - As you can guess, its more MP and INT.
* Black Neckerchief (LV20) - One point of INT, quested, but needs you to kill a NM out in Rolanberry fields, get a bit of help!
* Shaman's Belt (LV28) - Another paltry amount of INT and MP,
* Elder and Magna Set (LV27-33, Galka only and Elvaan only respectively) - Tons of INT and MP, making most of the other armor pieces obsolete on this list.
* Custom M/F Boots (LV29 Hume only) - 3 int and 12 MP, hard to beat, even into endgame!
* Morion Earring (LV30) - More int and MP! Can wear these for a good while!
* Sleep (LV20) - A good spell for helping save yourself from getting got while out in the field.
* Aspir (LV25) - A spell to steal MP from mage monsters and select species with MP like Crabs, Handy.
* Stone II (LV26) - Next tier of Stone
* Water II (LV30) - Next tier of Water
* Sleepga (LV31) - Sleep, but area of effect.
* Aero II (LV34) - Next tier of Aero
* Fire II (LV38) - Next tier of Fire

With all of these gear upgrades, we're actually in a really good place since theres not all that much better gear until 50+. So with that in mind, back to partying or soloing. More of the game honestly to push toward 37, Being 30, we can certainly risk some more challenging camps if we have some decent subjobs in the mix. Scholar will let is cast faster and cheaper, Red and White mage give us Aquaveil to help get our casts off, and Ninja if we have it will let us use Utsusemi to absorb a few hits too. Beaucedine Glacier has some nice Gigas Tigers right near the outpost, but a lot of other mean creatures so this is a tricky, risky place, but its generally fast to get to if you need to pop Elemental seal, sleepga, and warp away. Besides that, you're looking at Goblin Bats in Oldton Movalpolis, but if you can manage to get to 35 or so, its off to Zi'Tah to kill Goblin leeches! A mix of mid to late 30 beastmen pets and you'll be 37 in no time. Just don't take too many risks, since now we lose EXP when we die!

### Level 38-70, blasting our way to the top!

All those deaths, and the costs didn't scare ya off eh? I knew you had what it takes. I'm proud of you. But now the slog begins. I hope you've been gathering those footprints and advancing through your nation missions because you're gonna need every cent you can to keep up with things to come! If you got some nice stuff from the previous list, then you're honestly in a pretty good boat, all told. Really, all we need to do is supplement our INT with some creampuffs and head off to the next camp! Where is that? Well you have some choices, but I like heading to Xarcabard and killing more Gigas Tigers for a bit. Its a familiar comfort that you should be used to, so it will let us squeak up a few more levels. After 42 or 43, you can keep going for a bit here at reduced EXP, or if you're feeling particularly brash, off to Cape Terrigan and blow up some goblin bunnies for big EXP gains and it should get you up to around level 50 before the pace becomes too painfully slow. Along the way, I hope you picked up the other two single target spells, Blizzard II and Thunder II, as you're gonna need them. But once you hit level 50, its time to go shopping again!

Some good pieces of gear and spells to pick up once you're around **level 50**

* Freeze (LV50) - This is your first ancient-magic spell, a high costing, hard hitting spell that with the right support, can reliably kill some targets in one hit. However, Ancient Magic is expensive! Still, you want this. You need this. The rest... Optional?
* Stone III (LV51) - The third tier of Earth magic, powerful, a bit pricy, but fantastic. With Freeze, assuming no resists, you likely won't need anything else for a while since if Freeze doesn't quite finish a monster, a followup Stone III will finish it.
* Sleep II (LV41) - More sleep, you can use this to extend how long an enemy is kept asleep, or sleep it longer. This is a must.
* Ice Staff/Iridal Staff (LV51) - Unless you have a Chatoyant staff or the money for one, Iridal or Ice staff will get you by for a while. Its a 10% damage boost for Ice(or all if iridal) elemental spells, and increased accuracy. This replaces your Astaroth Cane, and you're gonna use an Iridal for a long, loooong time.
* Moldavite Earring (LV49) - 5 magic attack bonus is huge, and its off a timed spawned NM, get a THF friend to kill the NM for it, and better yet? He drops all the highest level lightning magic. Burst, Thunder III, Thunder IV, and Thundaga III. Big savings, Big Value.
* Mohbwa Scarf/+1 (LV40) - +1 or 2 INT/MND, and 5-10 MP, maybe get someone to craft some of these to get a HQ and it should last you a very, very long time. It does almost everything you want.
* Black Mage Artifact (LV52-60) - There are two pieces here you likely want more than anything, the Wizard's Petasos, a head with +4 INT and some MP, and the best piece your Wizard's Gloves with +15 Elemental Magic skill and more MP. With both it should further reduce resist rates on your spells
* Shaman's Cloak (LV56) - Its a pain to get, but it does a little more for you than your artifact body and head. You get the same 4 INT, but also some elemental and enfeebling magic skill. Also the lottery spawn NM drops some earth spells so it may save you some gil if you go after it with a friend. But be prepared for a long camp session.

Now that you're dressed for success again, best to keep doing what is working, finding parties, or soloing monsters. If you're confident and capable, you can get your black mage to levelcap in about two weeks or less (wow!) as long as your can find reasonable camps. Don't be afraid to check the Shadowreign areas for beastmen pets, places like West Sarutabaruta (S) and Sauromugue Champaign (S) for Yagudo or goblin summoners and beastmasters to EXP off their pets.

### Level 70-75, looks like we made it!

Congrats on making it you little firestarter you! And now begins the interesting phase of maximizing your equipment! Thankfully? We have some great gear options that should be reasonably affordable or obtainable on Era with little investment. With that said, below, I list what I think are the most obtainable fresh to levelcap black mages!

* Black Cloak (LV68) - a direct upgrade to the Shaman cloak, 4 INT, more elemental skill, and best of all, refresh. This piece is wonderful for a first body to wear since it helps you cast accurately, and also recover MP and shorten downtime. Paired with your AF gloves, you're doing good!
* **Phantom Tathlum (LV66)** - And heres the upgrade to Morion Tathlum. If you had one, consider converting your morion Tathlum to a Morion Earring, or see about getting a second Phantom Tathlum into a Phantom Earring.
* **Igqira Weskit (LV73)** - This is the staple of Black Mage elemental magic damage bodies. It has elemental skill, and magic attack bonus. And with some people pushing to get a HQ body, this is usually reasonably priced and affordable!
* Errant Houppelande (LV72) - Similar to the Weskit above, this gives you a healthy dose of INT and MND and MP recovered while healing. Its performance is a bit closer to that of Black Cloak in usage, but its a good staple piece that also some push for HQ on and can get to pair with the weskit when not casting elemental magic or to recover MP.
* Elite Beret (LV74) - I wouldn't worry too much about this since you can likely get your Relic hat which fills most of what this offers, but its not a bad option to have!
* Demon Helm/+1 (LV73) - Easy to get, and +5 INT makes this a small upgrade to your Artifact hat if you aren't using a robe. Don't feel required to get it, but if you can get the +1 for a reasonable price, you can push your numbers a bit further.
* Philomath Stole (LV61) - 3 in in the neck, theres better, but if you don't have a +1 Mohbwa Scarf, this will do for a good while!
* **Snow, Diamond, Genius Rings (LV54-75)** - 4 to 5 more INT in each finger will do great things for your damage and consistency. Get whichever ones you can afford. If money is tight and you're gonna touch other mages that may need them? Get the Genius rings since they come online 21 levels earlier!
* Errant Cuffs (LV72) - 5 int in the hands? If you're capped elemental skill and not being resisted, this is a great way to gain some damage, and not a bad option for casting sleeps or other debuffs.
* **Errant Slops/Jet Seraweels (LV72)** - 7 int and mind is crazy good! That said, it will depend on what you can find, and what you need, I prefer the Jet to even the Mahatma, but those aren't even the strongest options on Era for Black Mage casting pants but these are great.
* Penitent rope/RSE Ropes (LV60-70) - this is your belt most likely. If you're not a Tarutaru, these come bundled with 4 INT and a nice chunk of MP, otherwise Penitent Rope has 5 INT and MND, and will last you, worth every gil.
* **Select RSE boots (LV27-63)** - Humes and Galka have great boot options here with 3 or so INT and some MP on their lower level RSE boots, and if you can find someone selling the LV63 ones, or save up a pile of Kindred Seals, you can get boots with 4 INT for Mithra and 3 for Elvaan.
* Rainbow Cape (LV71) - Great back, not better than a Red Cape +1 or a Black Cape +1 for damage, but will give you some MP and some MND too.
* Ixion Cloak (LV74) - Rare, a bit pricy, but with 13 int, refresh, and magic accuracy, it gives most the other head/body options on this list a bit of a run. Not something I would be overly concerned with, but sincerely pretty solid.
* Igqira Manillas (LV73) - Giving up a lot of Magic Accuracy, but boosting damage, a bit more accurate, and a bit less powerful than Errant gloves, but Errant has some MP
* Druid's Slops (LV64) - Cheap, easy to get, if they're up, it has more magic accuracy, but less potency than Jet or Errant pants. It will come down to if you want a bigger boom, or just to be to most consistent you can be.
* Ixion Cape (LV74) - Like its cloak cousin, very nice, a bit pricy, and ultimately? Hard to find on the AH, but great stats. Don't worry if you can't get one, some content will have cape upgrades for you!
* Elemental Spell IV (LV-68-75) - Your bread and butter spells, get at least Blizzard and Thunder IV.

Wow! Thats a lot! We don't need all of it of course, and some of these can be made by buying items and asking a crafter to make them cheaper, or camping some NMs and getting some of these for free. Now looking at endgame content for us!

## Black Mage in Events

Hey superstar! What? Okay, yeah, I have been beating you down a little verbally to this point, but that was to toughen you up. And now? Well, love it or hate it, Black Mages? They're the most popular for a LOT of endgame content. No, I mean it, really! And thats why we covered the auction house stage before this one. You gotta bring the fire, literally. You need to perform. But the good news is an Auction House geared Black Mage is 90% or more of a best in slot gear'ed black mage. So now you get to go to content and get the goodies! First stop? Lets look at a few NMs, start off nice and slow. Theres not really a lot to hunt, but

**NM Hunting:**

* Vicious Mufflers (LV70) - This comes off Blood Lapper, and you need Gnat Pellets to spawn this, but these do great at boosting damage and are matched with Zenith Mitts so you can get a preview for what those will do. Don't feel required to get these, but nice.
* Uggalepih Pendant (LV70) - Another popped NM, and the drop is a bit rare and its a heck of a fight. I am personally not a big fan of this neck as it only kicks in if at time of spell cast you have less than 50% of your max MP, but its a huge +8 Magic Attack Bonus so it can do huge things for your magic damage. Optional if you ask me.
* Helenus's and Cassandra's Earrings (LV60) - A pair of earrings that are upgrades to Moldavite and Morion earrings, this will pair further for magic accuracy for landing sleeps, debuffs, and damaging spells as accurately as possible! Low drop rate, lottery drops off Blighting Brand and Eldrich Edge. Optional, but a great thing to have this set.
* Rostrum Pumps (LV72) - Yet another popped item. Good? Not amazing. Its got some good INT, and MND, and decent MP, just be prepared for another unpleasant fight. If you lack RSE boots, these are my first choice for a fairly quick pair of boots.
* Sleepga II - This is quested, but has a nm fight, you're gonna want this for endgame content.

With those out of the way, onto running events!

### Black Mage in Dynamis

This is your playground! A well geared Black Mage can earn some EXP in Dynamis, and it can earn a lot of currency here, its your privilege as a black mage. In a group dynamic? You clear monsters in a team fast and efficiently, you help burn down bosses, and you can even help people farm their relic armor or weapons. You're mostly gonna cast single target spells, Blizzard IV, Thunder IV, occasionally Burst or Burst II, Freeze or Freeze II, and RARELY Thundaga and Blizzaga III, but that will generally apply to every event. As for what you want?

* **Sorcerer's Petasos**: Dynamis Xarcabard or Dynamis Tavnazia, its Elemental and enfeebling skill, its strictly for landing your sleeps or elemental spells with less resists.
* Sorcerer's Tonban: Dynamis Bastok, these are weird, and I like them at times. 3 INT isn't much on its own, however, if you're matching the day and your spell? These can PUMP your damage in pretty remarkable ways.
* Sorcerer's Sabots: Dynamis Jeuno, If you don't have anything better in the boots slot, these are pretty nice. But I'd use RSE or Rostrums before these.
* Sorcerer's Coat: Not really worth using. Dynamis Beaucedine or Tavnazia. Get if you need the refresh, but Black Mage has at least 5 other bodies that can provide Refresh in one way or another. (Yigit via set, Dalmatica, Black Cloak, Vermillion Cloak, morrigan's robe)
* Sorcerer's Gloves: Dynamis Windurst? Good for drain, and if you can manage a magic burst, however Wizard's Gloves are gonna be your hands of choice in most content where you might be trying to magic burst anyway.
* **Sorcerer's Belt:** Okay, now we're talking, Dynamis Valkurm or Buburimu, and this has 6 int, some HP, and spell interrupt rate down.

### Black Mage and Assaults

Your job, unsurprisssingly, is to blow things up, and cast debuffs. Sound familiar? Yup. But what do we get out of running them? Well, honestly? Truth be told, two great pieces, and some iffy ones!

* **Yigit Crackows**: From Lebros Cavern, these are top tier Black Mage boots. 3 INT and MND matches most competition, and 2 magic attack bonus. Good for nuking, decent for debuffing.
* Yigit Gages: These are a subject of opinion, however I place these in the top tiers of Black Mage gloves, 5 INT and MND which is competitive with 'most INT in the slot' and better yet? 2 Magic Attack Bonus. These trade blows in raw power with Zenith and Vicious hands. They will land debuffs and damage more consistently, albeit maybe for a hair less damage. Underrated, and a lot of work to get, but don't sleep on these.
* Yigit Seraweels: Not bad for MP recovery, but not much else, but paired with gloves and boots, its 1/tic refresh. Should be from Leujaoam Sanctum.
* Yigit Turban: Ilrusi Atoll its MND, Magic Attack Bonus, and 1 HMP. But you can make a case for using this and the seraweels and the next piece for better MP while resting with refresh, while using better resting hands/feet.
* Yigit Gomlek: This LOOKS great, but with no magic accuracy, its a lot of work for something worse than the Errant, Weskit, or Oracle Robe from ZNM. It brings some power, but not much more than the competition, and is more of a BRD piece. But it does have good HMP and using this, turban, and seraweels will actually outperform Oracle head, body, and legs for MP recovery,
* Goliard Cuffs: 4 Magic Accuracy and 4 Magic Attack, These will perform about the same as Yigit hands. But could be much easier or harder to get depending.
* Goliard Clogs: 4 INT 2 Magic accuracy and a bunch of HMP, these are nice and might just be an upgrade for you unless you got those Yigit boots above.

### Black Mage in Sky

You did Rise of the Zilart missions and got to sky? Cool. You're gonna be doing magic damage and debuffing, and occasionally casting stunning I guess. Sensing a pattern are we? But what do we get out of it...?

* **Zenith Mitts:** While I don't use this personally, these are a lot of people's must have hands for black mage. Point for point with Vicious mufflers, but with 50 HP > MP conversion. Get it High Qualitied and you're sitting pretty. Comes from Genbu.
* Genbu's Shield: Why? I mean, its fine, sure, but just wear an earth staff. Its off Genbu.
* Zenith Crown: Off Byakko or Genbu, its the same MP from every other piece of Zenith, but with just 3 INT and MND in the head slot. Meh. That said, its not bad to have a high MP setup for preparing for content, spending your surplus buffing, or just throwing essentially 'free' spells and damn be the performance of them. They're free after all, right? At least this has some INT.
* Zenith Slacks: Seiryu or Suzaku, but... why? Its mind and charisma, you generally use neither of these so really, its JUST the MP then. But see the comment on Zenith Crown.

Yep thats about it. So we're moving on!

### Black Mage HNM Hunting

Cast nukes, stuns, debufffs. Some HNMs have different rules in the same way some sky bosses do, but the formula sticks the same. So what are we looking for from these?

* Zenith Mitts: See prior section. They're off Fafnir.
* Zenith Pumps: Upgrade from Sorcerer's Sabots, downgrade from Rostrum and Yigit. Fafnir and King Behemoth.
* Dalmatica: Big MP, and refresh, but doesn't do anything really beyond that. Off Niddhog and Aspidochelone
* Crier's Gaiters: Move speed up? Awesome for any job. Off Tiamat. Be prepared for a big fight!
* Ree's Headgear: A few points of INT, Magic Accuracy, and Magic Attack bonus. Its objectively great. The best? Well.... not quite. And I will add some notes at the bottom of the guide to help you discern why some pieces may be better than others, but this is still probably a top 3 head.

### The Limbus Black Mage

Are you casting nukes? Debuffs? Stuns maybe? Nice. Its a kill stuff and go event. What do we get from it?

* Nashira Crackows: Most magic accuracy for your nukes you can get? Pretty nice.
* Nashira Seraweels: And for your enfeebles.
* More Nashira pieces: Mostly the body but the hands and maybe head too, most haste Black Mage can get, decent for casting stun?
* Items to upgrade your artifact: **Wizard Gloves +1** get more INT, making them even better for accurate nuking, while your body gains enfeebling skill, and legs for casting drains, aspirs, maybe more accurate stuns? Mostly get your +1 gloves I guess?

### Black Mage in ZNM

Nukes, Stuns, Debuffs. Treats?

* **Oracle Robe**: Small upgrade/all in one piece, better than Igqira Weskit, a bit worse than Genie Weskit, but have MP, and work for debuffs and stuns making them land more consistently.
* **Oracle Cap: I**f you don't have your Relic Hat, this is an okay substitute. MP, MP recovered while healing, not bad.
* Other Oracle Pieces: They all have high HMP, making them great to rest in.
* Omega Ring: Currently off ZNM, in the future, from Einherjar, 3 INT, MND, and CHR, and some magic accuracy, worth having.
* Witch's Sash: A sidegrade to Sorcerer's belt and usable by more jobs, nice, but don't lose your mind if you don't get one.
* Elemental Grips: Theres eight, collect em all, and use them accordingly. Though you can skip light unless you want to use it for Luminohelix.
* **Magic Strap (Augmented)**: Off Reaction, with a recent update, you can take the eight elemental grips marked above, and three Tier-3 ZNM trophies, an combine them to make a new strap that has 23MP, 5% spell interrupt rate down, and 2 magic accuracy, making for arguably the best grip for Black Mage.

Theres also the drops from Pandemonium Warden, but those are gonna be a serious challenge to get with a lot of competition, so focus on the attainable treasures first.

### Black Mage In Salvage

Black Mages honestly... don't really do salvage. If you did? You'd be doing exactly what you're doing everywhere else though. But you want to get in there some how, even if its another job. Why? This is why:

* **Morrigan's Coronal:** 4 INT and 5 Magic Accuracy trump the Ree headgear easily, with little exaggeration, 99% of the time, this is the best raw damage black mage head. And it has some MP too.
* **Morrigan's Robe:** 8 INT, Refresh, and 5 Magic Attack Bonus. On its own? This piece is more or less a combined Dalmatica and Weskit, slightly higher damage, and slighlty lower consistency.
* **Morrigan's Cuffs:** 5 magic accuracy and 5 magic attack bonus put this above Yigit, and vicious, and Zenith, and it still comes with some MP.
* **Morrigan's Slops:** 10 INT and MND make these shine above anything but day and element matching Tonban+1. Shadow Trews are a close 2nd though.
* **Morrigan's Pigaches:** Leaving on a bit of a low note, 3 int isn't a lot, though the 10 MND is huge even if you don't usually use MND. With that said, these are on par with things like Rostrums, RSE, and lose to things like Goliard and Yigit. But where this shines, is completing the Set, for an additional 5 Magic attack bonus. With the combined set, you're looking at 25 int, 10 magic accuracy, 15 magic attack bonus, and some refresh to boot! WOW.

### The Sea Black Mage

You do what you do everywhere else. As for goodies...? Eh. One of the torques has INT+5 but is still not as good as a Lemegeton Medallion +1, and is close to the performance of the Elemental Torque. Beyond that? If you're crazy, some of the drops from Absolute Virtue are amazing, if you can actually bring it down. But like Pandemonium Warden, good luck, and good luck getting the drops anytime soon. No, what you really want from here is to get sea organs, the material for the magic skill capes, and maybe the Novio Earring off Jailer of Love. Make those elemental Obis so you can combine them into a Hachirin-no-Obi. But with that in mind, you may want another job leveled for some of Sea since not all bosses there can be nuked to death.

## Perfecting the Craft

Now that you have reached the zenith, the highest point, its time to look at your options the arguable best in each slot pieces you can pick from, and why, as well as setups for each. Elemental Magic (Max Damage) used for rapidly killing enemies closer to or beneath your level. Elemental Magic (Accuracy) for maximum consistency against the higher end targets where landing any damage at all is the goal. Enfeebling, where your objective is landing debuffs consistently. HMP, which is your set to recover MP as quickly as possible. And optionally you can carry a few more sets, a Damage Mitigation set, and an 'idle' set which will let you recover MP while on the move. These will be covered below.

### Elemental Magic (Max Damage)

* **Chatoyant Staff**/Claustrum
* **Elemental Grips**
* **Phantom Tathlum**
* **Morrigan's Coronal** / Ree's Headgear / Maat's Cap / Demon Helm +1
* Lemegeton Medallion +1 / **Uggalepih Pendant** (MP below half)
* **Moldavite Earring** / Cassandra's Earring
* **Novio Earring** / Helenus's Earring
* **Morrigan's Robe** / Genie Weskit / Oracle's Robe
* **Morrigan's Cuffs** / Zenith Mitts +1/Goliard Cuffs/Yigit Gages/Vicious Mufflers
* Snow Ring / **Sorcerer's Ring** (HP below 75%)
* **Galdr Ring** / Snow Ring
* **Hecate's Cape** / Ixion Cape
* Witch's Sash / Sorcerer's Belt / **Hachirin-no-Obi** (Matching Weather/Day only)
* **Morrigan's Slops** (Full set only) / Shadow Trews / Mahatma Slops / Sorcerer's Tonban [+1] (Matching Day only)
* **Morrigan's Pigaches** (Full set only) / Yigit Crackows / Goliard Clogs

In most cases I would aim for consistent gear in this list, Sorcerer's belt, Snow Ring, Lmegeton Medallion +1, over the situational pieces, but the situational pieces will have higher peaks and maximum damage over the others. This set is primarily for wiping out softer targets in one precise shot minimizing time spent doing so.

### Elemental Magic (Accuracy)

* **Chatoyant Staff**
* **Elemental Grips**
* **Sturm's Report**
* **Sorcerer's Petasos [+1]**
* **Lemegeton Medallion +1** / Elemental Torque
* **Cassandra's Earring** / Elemental Earring
* **Helenus's Earring** / Loquacious Earring (Augmented magic accuracy only)
* Sorcerer's Coat +1 / **Genie Weskit** / Oracle's Robe
* **Wizard's Gloves +1** / Wizard's Gloves
* **Omega Ring**
* **Galdr Ring**
* **Merciful Cape** / Hecate's Cape
* **Hachirin-no-Obi** (Weather/Day matching only) / Witch's Sash
* **Shadow Trews** / Druid's Slops
* **Nashira Crackows** / Goliard Clogs / Numerist Pumps

In this list, I would aim for consistent pieces again, however, In some cases, the gap between the most accuracy, and the next highest is one or two points, so while Druid's Slops have 1 more elemental magic skill than Shadow trews, you're giving up 4 magic attack bonus for it, and the same can be said for the Sorcerer's Coat +1 over either of the other two options. If you need that 2 extra magic accuracy at the cost of 10 or more magic attack bonus, then you may have room for other upgrades elsewhere. Generally its okay to trade one or two points for one or two here or there such as the case for Hecate Cape over Merciful Cape which trades 3 magic attack bonus for 2 magic accuracy when nuking.

### Enfeebling Magic

* **Chatoyant Staff**
* **Elemental Grips**
* **Sturm's Report**
* Igqira Tiara / **Genie Tiara**
* **Enfeebling Torque** / Spider Torque
* **Cassandra's Earring /** Loquacious Earring (Magic accuracy augment)
* **Helenus's Earring** / Enfeebling Earring
* **Wizard's Coat +1** / Wizard's Coat
* Oracle's Gloves / **Morrigan's Cuffs** / Bricta's Cuffs / Goliard Cuffs
* **Balrahn's Ring** / Snow Ring / Insect Ring
* **Omega Ring**
* **Altruistic Cape** / Hecate's Cape
* **Witch Sash** / Sorcerer's Belt / **Hachirin-no-Obi** (matching weather/day only)
* Igqira Lappas / **Genie Lappas** / Nashira Seraweels
* **Goliard Clogs** / Avocat Pigaches

Here pieces are aimed at casting things like Sleep, Bind, or other Black Magic based enfeebles, but the high quantity of Magic Accuracy should work for White Magic enfeebles too. In some cases, the gaps between pieces are 1-2 points higher or lower than others in the same slot

### MP Recovered while healing

* **Chatoyant Staff** / Iridal Staff / Dark Staff / Pluto Staff
* **Ariesian Grip** / Staff Strap / Elemental Grips
* **Bibiki Seashell** (augmented)
* Sol Cap / **Yigit Turban** / **Oracle's Cap** / Hydra Beret / Goliard Chapeau
* Beak Necklace +1 / **Phi Necklace** / Grandoise Chain
* **Antivenom Earring**
* **Relaxing Earring** / Rapture Earring
* Dalmatica / **Mahatma Hoppulande** / **Yigit Gomlek** / Errant Hoppulande / Sorcerer's Coat / Wizard's Coat +1
* **Oracle's Gages** / Genie Gages / Hydra Cuffs / Sadhu Cuffs
* **Celestial Ring** /Star Ring
* **Celestial Ring** /Star Ring
* **Invigorating Cape**
* **Qiqirn Sash +1** / Hierarch Belt
* **Yigit Seraweels** / Oracle's Braconi / Wizard's Tonban +1 / Baron's Slops
* **Numerist Pumps** / **Avocat Pigaches** / Oracle's Pigaches / Hydra Gaiters

This set here is likely the third most important, this is where you shorten your downtime and maximize your uptime, and you have a HUGE selection of gear for this. Better yet? Some pieces you already have may be doing double duty and will save you space! In general, 1 refresh is about equal to 5 healed MP. With that in mind, I find getting the Yigit Turban (1HMP) Yigit Gomlek (5HMP) and Yigit Seraweels (2 HMP) which when together are 8HMP, and activate the Autorefresh +1 (around 3-5HMP equivalent) will outperform the same three slots in Oracle's Cap (2HMP) Oracle's Robe (6HMP) and Oracle's Braconi (2HMP) which totals to 10HMP, but both are adequate.

### Damage Mitigation

* Earth Staff / **Terra's Staff** / Genbu's Shield
* Any grip with HP
* **Bibiki Seashell** (augmented for physical or magical damage reduced)
* **Merman's Earring**
* **Merman's Earring**
* **Jelly Ring** / **Merman's Ring** / Ring with HP
* **Defending Ring** / Shadow Ring / Ring with HP
* Cheviot Cape / **Umbra Cape** / Hexerei Cape
* **Goliard Trews**

Black Mage doesn't have too many options for this area for damage mitigation other than the usual suspects, that said, with an Earth Staff, Cheviot Cape, Jelly Ring, Goliard Trews, and Bibiki seashell, you're looking at 36% physical damage reduction, 41% at night, and a defending ring pushes that another 10%.

### Fast Cast

* **Loquacious Earring** (2%)
* **Warlock's Mantle** (2% when /RDM)
* **Rostrum Pumps** (2%)

Black Mage doesn't get much much Fast Cast, and a piece of it is only active while subbing Red Mage, so its a matter of taste. When /RDM and with the gear here, you have 21% fastcast, if you skip the cape and /SCH, you have 14%, but you also have 10% MP discount active.

### Idle Gear

* Sol Cap (Optional) / **Yigit Turban**
* Ixion Cloak / **Dalmatica (+1)** / Sorcerer's Coat / Vermillion Cloak / Black Cloak
* **Yigit Gages**
* **Yigit Seraweels**
* Yigit Crackows / **Herald's Gaiters** / **Crier's Gaiters**

Theres not too much to concern yourself with here, however, you could be wearing the above to have MP recovery while walking around in events, or something with a higher MP Pool so that you can use it for battle prep or early in battles in order to have some free low potency/accuracy casts just because. Whether you go beyond a simple few refresh pieces or not is up to you. Beyond that, one of the two move-speed up gaiters are better to get you from A to B when in content where you can't mount.

## Last Push, Relic and Mythic Staves

This is a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but, neither of these are actually needed, nor do they outperform the Chatoyant Staff. Claustrum? Its FANTASTIC, don't get me wrong, but, the sad truth is, even with the custom Era buffs to it, its better for Summoner than for Black Mage, and that is understanding it has 30 magic accuracy, 20 magic attack bonus, 11 int, 1 auto refresh, and converts 60 HP to MP while also giving 15 MP recovered while healing, and all of these? They're huge. I can't stress that enough. But Chatoyant grants +15% to both magic damage and accuracy, and with ideal gear? Its gonna be close, or better. Though both are realistically gonna be close enough in most instances, and Claustrum does way more with Magic Bursts, so if you want to push for it? 100% go for it, just be aware, you're in for a long process. Plus side? Level Thief as a subjob, and equip the Lotus Katana (hardwood Katana) and you're the best for solo-farming Dynamis Bastok and San d'Oria. But but your Iridal or Chatoyant back on when in Dynamis Windurst or Jeuno. Should you choose this, know that you need the most Jadeshells, the hardest to earn currency, and earn the staff from Dynamis Jeuno, the hardest area to farm solo. But in a group? This isn't unreasonable.

As for Laevateinn? This is another mixed one, and doesn't currently exist on Era, but, just like Claustrum, this does a LOT for you, 30 magic attack bonus, 20 magic accuracy, a bonus that boosts damage of spells cast with Elemental Seal by 10%, and if you're set up to melee by some weird miracle? Your weaponskill lowers magic defense, while your aftermath boosts magic attack and accuracy, so you might be able to outperform a Chatoyant staff with this consistently... IF you're willing to make all the sacrifices to get up in there into melee range. Its a lot of sacrifice for a little reward, but it will be you ultimately who will decide if its worth the time, effort, and costs.

## Notes about stats

So I mentioned earlier in the guide when talking about Ree's Headgear that it may not be the best piece for Black Mage heads, and now I am here to explain what thats about. Ree's Headgear has 2 Magic attack bonus, 2 magic accuracy, and 2 INT. In practical terms, 2 INT for black magic aligned spells, elemental, enfeebling, and the like, is roughly equal to 1 magic accuracy and 1 magic attack bonus. This is extremely simplistic, and magic attack bonus has a steep sloping effect as you apply more of it where it begins to pull away from this formula, but its still a general rule of thumb. I had done testing with Red Mage and Crimson Scale Mail (10 INT) versus Yigit Gomlek (5 Magic attack bonus) and the results with Thunder III with the rest of the gear identical, same target, the damage came out to 921 for the Crimson Scale Mail, and 923 for the Yigit Gomlek. So generally, the rule does apply. So when looking at Black Mage heads we can apply this rule in both directions. That makes our head options look like this:

* Ree's Headgear: 2 INT, 2 Magic Accuracy, 2 Magic Attack Bonus (3 magic accuracy/magic attack bonus | 6 INT)
* Maat's Cap: 7 INT (3.5 Magic Accuracy/Magic Attack Bonus | 7 INT)
* Demon's Helm +1: 6 INT (3 Magic Accuracy/Magic Attack Bonus | 6 INT)
* Morrigan's Coronal: 4 INT, 5 Magic Accuracy [set adds 5 magic attack] (7 Magic Accuracy, 2[+5] Magic Attack bonus, | 14 INT)

So with that in mind, Ree's Headgear is fantastic, but its not a undisputed king in its class. Also remeber to apply Morrigan's set effect to the whole set (or if lazy, add +1 magic attack bonus per piece) to determine the best set for your needs. Also remember that the more magic attack bonus you have, the further it climbs away from the 2:1 ratio of Int to Magic Attack.