The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

the BLU probably can survive zantetsuken even on normal but the trusts can not. the only exception might be tank trusts with extra steps and if you bring tank trusts only everything from curing, erasing (i think at normal he gets also access to kaustra) to dispelling dread spikes and attack buffs would rely on the BLU.

it's the combo of zantetsuken and Geirrothr that makes it difficult. Geirrothr is most likely not lethal as long as you have 6 targets in range to split the damage. unfortunately trusts outside of tanks don't have enough defense (even with the stewpot and the memento) to survive zantetsuken and once one dies geirrothr becomes lethal for you and your trusts.

Is it possible that nothing was dropping because everyone have that item? If that's not the case, it's probably around 80% on VD for Alex, Odin, Caith.

I will believe it if you prove it. I honestly doubt that on Normal, trusts would not have enough def if you give them cocoon and apply -25% attack on Odin.

If that's not enough you can sacrifice a little kill speed and use AATT for Bio for another -10% attack

You can apply bio with Palling Salvo. The problem is you couldn't use RDM trust because it would probably overwrite it with dia III and RDM trust could be really useful for other debuffs.

Arciela doesn't cast Dia III so you could use her. Extra benefit of some AoE heals. Downside would be overwriting Cocoon so I guess use II and forgo the heals.

i haven't tried with cocoon, if he only zantetsuken once at 50% that might be a option but if that's the case i'd probably try for 1hour AoE harden shell instead.

i went with tizona/genmei shield offhand, think i even avoided AM3 to reduce threat from dread spikes and the extra def for zantetsuken, i used mighty guard, porter crab memento prized/prime crab stewpot for trusts (used antacid afterwards and went for omlette sandwich) and saurian slide. can't remember if i applied palling salvo but think i didn't due to RDMs Dia III, it only beeing Bio I and it beeing dark element so i'm not sure if it sticks.

did maybe 5-7 runs with different trust setups, one of them with multiple RDMs to make sure his attack buffs aren't active and only trust i remember surviveing zantetsuken was mnejing. lowest i got odin on normal was maybe around 25-40% HP.

Bio and Dia can't miss outside of a magic shield

i know but i'm not sure if pailling salvo version of Bio behaves the same and wiki doesn't mention a duration so it might not last long. wiki says "Zantetsuken X is used at <50% HP" so i suppose he gets access to it below 50% HP and doesn't just use it once at 50%? that would make the cocoon/harden shell strat unreliable.

You just need to kill it in 2min and 10sec from 50%. You actually can just use Harden Shell too, instead of cocoon (for some reason I tho harden shell is 60sec, not 90 like cocoon) and +100% def will be enough for sure. Killing on normal in 2 min should also be easy. Just set white wind to cure after Geirrothr and spam cdc. You can use 2hr to make it easier. Mighty Guard for yourself and Tourbillion, Cesspool and Tearing Gust on Odin. With 2hr you can also make a great damage with Sinker > Tourbillion > Bloodrake > Trashing > 3000 tp Savage. Then Trashing > Savage > cdc. I would stop at 51% and start this zerg just after Odin cast a spell, so you know it won't do dread spikes in middle of skillchain.

my blu can run VE very easily, but as soon as i tried E i kept dying to Dread Spike. I use Tank/Cherruki/Yoran/Kora and Brd as trust, turn everytime i see him cast Dread spike but still die .. Any suggest on which Trust to use that can keep him silence? 0/90 on any equipment too...

i don't think there is a trust that can keep him silenced reliably. either their macc is too low or it's not high enough on their AI priority.
they aren't fast enough dispelling either, even with multiple RDMs, ajoido-majoido and the 20% fast cast memento you still can die from dread spikes.

the only thing that provides somewhat reliable safety from dread spikes is single wielding instead of dual wield and avoding multi hit gear, just stay in malignance. it's multiple hits per round what gets you killed vs dread spikes.

Just learn the daley between it casts and you will know ahead that it's about to cast. Mobs won't cast faster then their AI let them.

Hello,

I saw in a video from Odyssey where the range from AoE spells like Dreamflower was visibly displayed. Anyone knows if this is an add-on or what function unlocks this?

It's a base function of the game that they added some years ago.
The AoE spells that have a range will be displayed as a blue circle surrounding the target of the spell, before you cast it, while you're picking the target.

It only works if you're selecting the spell manually from the menu, or if you're using it with a command like <st> that will allow you to select a target before casting the spell.

The circle will be displayed during the action of selecting a target.

If I recall it doesn't work with <stal> and <stpt>.

Ahh! Thank you, I found it!

One thing to note (but this doesn't apply to BLU though) is that for spells that have a dynamic range, the circle doesn't update its size automtically.

Allow me to provide a simple example.
The range of the BRD spell Horde Lullaby II changes according to your String Skill. Once you reach a certain level of String Skill you reach a new tier and you're gonna gain +1 yalms of radius.

Let's use fake numbers for the sake of example.
Let's say at 400 skill you have 5 yalms radius and at 600 skill you have 7 yalms radius.

If you launch the spell with 400 skill, the blue circle displayed will be one with 5 yalms radius.
If while still selecting the target (while the circle is displayed) you swap your gear to 600 skill, the blue circle won't change, but when you finally pick the target, the spell will rightfully have its 7 yalms redius.



This was just for additional knowledge, as I mentioned before I don't think any of the BLU spells have dynamic range.
To be fair I think no other spell in game has a dynamic range and Horde Lullaby I and II are the only exceptions lol

Tiz/Thibron by far, unless you self skillchain.

Cdc>Cdc>Light is about even (Austar says its slightly higher, but imo it's not in practice) with Requiescat>Expiacion>Darkness. Its more about what element is your target weak too (or strong against). CDC setup also takes more points, since you need to setup Crit Damage trait. Nyame path B also potentially boost Expiacion even more, especially when you self SC with it.

WS spam situations, Tizona/Thibron with Expiacion is your go-to, hands down.

If you're solo or in any situation where you can expect to see skillchains consistently, adapt to the weakness of the mob you're fighting. Tizona/Almace or Almace/Zantetsuken with CDC > CDC will win for light-weak enemies, Tizona/Thibron with Requiescat > Expiacion for dark-weak.

Gonna be doing some decently big revisions to this thing here soon, making a sort of 2.0 guide that has updated info and more practical advice (and probably a very basic gear progression skeleton guide) while preserving the general flow and all of Oraen's work from over the years. If anyone has anything they'd like to see in this thing let me know.

Current ideas:
-Complete rewrite of the roles section
-Updating the SC section to be a bit more modern
-adding a new section to Spells highlighting and explaining general use cases for some of the most important spells as well as explanations on when to use damage spells
-maybe restructuring the trait section
-Cleaning up the weapon section and adding a couple of sets into the gear set section that are currently missing (like Evasion).

Proth - might be useful to consolidate some azuresets that are commonly used for those that use that addon (which I imagine is most BLU's) that can easily be copied and pasted into their settings files.

Spell sets for the various content that people do these days..

-DynaD cleave (w1+w2)
-DynaD NMs
-DynaD dps

-Odyssey
-Odyssey Evasion

-Omen cleave
-Omen bosses

-HTBFs
-Gaes Fate

Can help provide some sets I use if needed.

To add to the list that Wax has so thoughtfully put together, I would recommend a suggested TH set. I have a few, based on the specifics of what I'm doing (Omen, Odyssey, Salvage, Dynamis), and they're all different based on difficulty/danger of the content.

Why a few? You only need to "hit" your target(s) once with TH set to "tag" the target(s) with TH 4 (or less). After the target(s) are tagged, you no longer need to wear TH gear.

Based on a Malignace based DT set:
ItemSet 379679
Drop the hands when you get TH +2 on the feet

Using 2 pieces of Herc you are at 49% PDT, with feet only you cap at 50%. If you do not have access to shell, you will need the Vocane Ring to to hit 45% MDT with 2 Herc pieces and you cap at 50% MDT with the feet only. You can also just offhand the Sakpata's Sword and stay capped.

For most pulls in Odyssey, you can safely apply TH after you sleep/petrify everything.

He's talking about the TH spellset that adds ontop of the sets I listed.

I see, I have never used the trait TH since I put together a +4 TH set.

You probably don't need someone else to revise the node to be able to share spell sets you feel would be helpful.

I appreciate the set, regardless (I have one that's +4, as well). More, the point is that there are times that I care to keep my Evasion set as pristine as possible, or Magic Evasion, or whatever else. There's a trade off between keeping TH +4 in gear or getting it from the trait, and I think it's worth discussing in more detail.