Blue Mage (Final Fantasy XI)



Blue Mage is an advanced job that was added to Final Fantasy XI with the expansion pack, Treasures of Aht Urhgan. In Final Fantasy XI, Blue Mages are capable of dealing heavy physical or magical damage, healing and support, debuffing, or tanking, but due to prevailing playing styles, is most often physical damage-oriented. They can learn enemy abilities that either enhance themselves or deter their enemies.

The Blue Mage and the artistry of Blue Magic originated in the Empire of Aht Urhgan and is primarily practiced by a group of elite assassins and military tacticians known as the Immortals. In spite of their military decoration and praise, the Blue Mages of Vana'diel face an ominous initiation ritual. As living weapons wielded against monsters, the Blue Mage must, in essence, become a monster himself. By assimilating the essences of fallen fiends into their being, they risk succumbing to the so-called "beast within."

Blue Mages derive the lion's share of their strength from the blue magic spells they have learned. In particular, their own statistics are affected by the blue magic spells they have "set" for battle. This differs greatly from previous iterations of blue magic. For a complete list on Final Fantasy XI Blue Magic, please read this article.

Blue Magic in Final Fantasy XI possesses many facets. Not only are spells affected by the primary attributes (STR, DEX, AGI, etc), they also possess a type (magical, piercing, blunt, slashing) as well as an elemental affinity (fire, water, etc) or a skillchain element (Fusion, Liquefaction, etc). Furthermore spells take on the nature of the monster they were learned from; a spell learned from a crab will be aquan-based, which further affects the potency and accuracy of the spell against monsters of various families.

Becoming a Blue Mage
To qualify to become a Blue Mage, the player encounters a mysterious fortune teller named Waoud. He sees potential in you, the player, and asks a series of questions (Questions regarding mortality and the concept of gaining power). If one succeeds, Waoud then sends the player on a fetch quest in the name of his bed-ridden mother to test the player's knowledge, with his only instructions being very vague. After giving Waoud the item, he instructs the player to deliver the item to his colleague in the Aydeewa Subterrane. It is revealed by an Immortal named Yasfel after the delivery that the item was a ruse to test the player's suitability and desire to become a Blue Mage. Switching to a cutscene somewhere in the Imperial Ward, two scientists and a man resembling the fortune teller dressed in a Blue Mage's clothes discuss how you, the player, clawed your way from death after the modifications of cobalt to your body was made. Raubahn, the Blue Mage resembling the fortune teller, congratulates you on becoming a Blue Mage and surviving the modification to your body, but tells you that you at that point are nothing, and must strive to absorb the essence of your foes to become stronger.

Blue Mage Abilities
{| border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
 * valign="top" width="50%" |

Job Abilities

 * valign="top" width="50%" |

Job Traits

 * Blue Mages possess Monster Radar, like Thief, Summoner, Beastmaster, and Ninja, causing monsters to appear as red dots on the radar.
 * See Blue Magic Synergy for a list of the currently known available traits.
 * }

Blue Magic

 * Main article: Blue Magic (Final Fantasy XI)

Spell List
{| border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
 * valign="top" width="33%" |

Acquiring Blue Magic

 * Blue Mages have a chance to learn Blue Magic used by the monsters they defeat.
 * Blue Mage must be set as main job.
 * The monster must use the ability during combat, but the spell does not have to hit the Blue Mage. This includes both offensive and defensive spells.
 * The Blue Magic being used must not be too advanced (normally +/- 10 levels).
 * The Blue Mage must not be KO'd when monster defeated.
 * It is possible to learn spells from monsters that are Too Weak for your level.
 * It is possible to learn Blue Magic from BCNMs, Besieged, Assault and Salvage as long as someone within your alliance lands the final blow on the enemy and you are within range.
 * It is not possible to learn Blue Magic if calls for help, allowing others to fight the monster for him.
 * valign="top" width="33%" |

Using Blue Magic

 * Unlike other magic spells, it is not possible to use Blue Magic as soon as it is acquired. First, the spells you wish to use must be "set." Depending on which spells are set, the Blue Mage will acquire certain Job Traits.
 * Point Total/Maximum. Each Blue Magic spell is assigned a point value (Blue Magic points). The level of the Blue Mage determines the maximum number of points available for setting spells.
 * Maximum Number of Set Spells. The maximum number of Blue Magic spells that can be set to be active at one time is determined by the Blue Mage's level. This maximum number may decrease when the Blue Mage is under a level restriction and so the set numbers are assigned a color for easy reference.

For more information on Blue Magic, including point tables and detailed spell list, please consult the following: Blue Magic (Final Fantasy XI)
 * }

{| border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center" width="100%"
 * valign="top" width="50%" |

Combat Skill Ratings

 * valign="top" width="50%" |

Magic Skill Ratings

 * }

Blue Mages in Final Fantasy XI
As its name suggests, Blue Mage is primarily a magic-user class, but unlike other mages, is found at the front-line and most frequently played as a "Damage Dealer." Because their physical spells can be enhanced directly by Tactical Points obtained by striking enemies with their swords, Blue Mages have always had strong incentives to equip swords and engage enemies. Previous to the level cap increase, the MP-efficiency and potency of physical blue magic overshadowed magical-based, enfeebling and support spells, but recent gameplay adjustments have allowed Blue Mages to embrace a more back-line function when the situation demands. Due to their extreme versatility, they are able to solo effectively or fill several different party functions as needed. Though they have been historically viewed as MP-dependent and undesirable due to the amount of Tactical Points their spells give to enemies, recent developments have greatly enhanced their standing as damage dealers, nukers, and supporters.

Strengths

 * As the only job that can cast spells that deal physical damage, they are able to "zerg" enemies extremely quickly by using MP rather than TP, which must be accumulated by striking the enemy.
 * Due to the low cast time and MP cost of their physical spells, Blue Mages can generally defeat an enemy many levels above them with relative ease.
 * Blue Mage possesses a high combat rating in Sword, adding damage-over-time from melee strikes, spike damage from weaponskills and enhanced physical spells using "Chain Affinity" with their accumulated TP.
 * Blue Mage has access to the most job traits of any job, which can be customized for individual situations.
 * The vast majority of blue magic spells carry an attribute bonus or detriment (e.g. STR+2, INT-1), which can allow Blue Mages to tailor their base attributes as well as HP and MP solely by their selection of spells.
 * Blue Mage possesses some of the most potent, MP-efficient healing and support magic of any job.
 * The spell Head Butt is a near-instant source of stun with an extremely low recast time, making Blue Mages the fastest stunners in the game. Unlike the standard spell, Stun, Head Butt faces 2 accuracy checks: a physical accuracy check that determines whether the spell lands at all, and a magical accuracy check to determine whether the Stun effect processes. Additionally, recent gameplay changes have made monsters gain a powerful resistance to stun when it is used too frequently.
 * The Thief-specific job abilities, "Sneak Attack" and "Trick Attack," can be used in conjunction with physical blue magic spells. The forced critical hit effect of "Sneak Attack" greatly enhances the damage dealt by physical spells, making Thief a common support job choice.
 * The blue magic spell, Cannonball, is the only physical attack in the game that can be used as far as 21 yalms away from its target, just 4 yalms below the maximum distance of a standard ranged attack. Unlike ranged attacks, Cannonball can also be used in conjunction with "Sneak Attack" and/or "Trick Attack."
 * Until the introduction of the Empyrean Weapon line and the Samurai job adjustment, Blue Mage was one of three jobs capable of creating Level 3 skillchains entirely by itself without the use of items (the other two being Samurai and Dancer) and was one of two capable of creating both Level 3 Skillchains entirely by itself (the other being Samurai).
 * Blue Mage is currently one of four jobs capable of magic bursting its own magical spells on its self-made skillchains (the other three being Paladin, Dark Knight and Scholar).
 * Blue Mage is currently one of three jobs capable of opening and one of two capable of closing skillchains without using any Tactical Points whatsoever (the other two being Scholar and Dancer).
 * Blue Mage is one of the most effective jobs at dealing both physical and magical damage. This functionality is especially effective for enemies such as Proto-Omega, which can change its resistance to physical or magical damage.
 * Blue Mage is one of the most effective jobs at dealing multiple types of damage, including slashing, piercing and blunt. This functionality is particularly useful in areas such as Einherjar where the type of enemies that appear is randomly determined.
 * Due to their balanced combat roles, any number of Blue Mages are capable of tailoring their party functions effectively to suit the situation. A party consisting entirely of Blue Mages can still feature a devoted tank, healer and supporter, damage dealer, and debuffer.
 * Most recently, adjustments to the "Abyssea" regions of Vana'diel as well as the introduction of the spell, Charged Whisker, has allowed Blue Mage to become the single most effective job at defeating low-level targets en masse. Due to the nature of Abyssea, defeating as many as 15 enemies simultaneously can yield high EXP and Cruor rewards as well as chests filled with items, time, and EXP if the Blue Mage's Abyssean lights have been built up.
 * Additionally, within Abyssea regions, Blue Mages are among one of the only jobs able to effectively build each colored light by themselves (azure, amber, ruby, pearlescent).
 * Recent additions to Blue Mage's job traits and the introduction of the sword weaponskills, Sanguine Blade and Chant du Cygne, have allowed Blue Mages to deal damage with melee strikes and weaponskills more effectively than ever before.

Weaknesses

 * Blue magic must be learned from enemies, some of which reside in remote, dangerous or unlockable locations.
 * Unlike previous iterations of blue magic, even when the enemy uses the desired spell in battle, learning the spell is not guaranteed. As such, obtaining blue magic can be a very time consuming and frustrating process.
 * A standard Blue Mage is heavily dependent on his/her selection of blue magic. As such, a Blue Mage lacking certain spells, or who is often low on MP, is highly ineffective in combat. As noted above, the sword weaponskills, Sanguine Blade and Chant du Cygne, have vastly mitigated this weakness.
 * A Blue Mage does not have access to all his/her spells because the number of spells that can be "set" at any given time is restricted.
 * After setting spells, the Blue Mage is completely unable to cast any blue magic spells for a full minute.
 * Blue Mages tend to generate a high level of enmity by rapidly casting damaging and healing spells, which can cause them to draw attention of the enemy.
 * Physical blue magic spells deal 10 Tactical Points to the enemy for each time the spell hits. Thus, spells that hit several times, such as Disseverment, give the enemy a lot of TP, effectively allowing it to use its unique abilities much quicker than it would otherwise.
 * Unlike its analogue, weaponskills, physical blue magic receives no natural accuracy boost and is unaffected by stats from equipment and abilities such as critical hit rate and double attack.
 * A vast majority of magical blue magic spells are applied to an area, which can occasionally catch undesired targets in their area-of-effect.
 * Though Blue Mages are often played as front-line damage dealers, they are restricted to light armor and are dependent on support spells such as Utsusemi to mitigate damage from area-of-effect attacks.
 * Blue Mages have relatively low max MP, which is further exacerbated by their selection of support jobs, such as Ninja or Thief, which possess no native MP. Additionally, because Blue Mages are often played as damage dealers, their equipment also lacks MP boosts.
 * Magical blue magic spells have comparatively high MP costs and casting times and are rarely MP-efficient, restricting their use to highly specific situations in which magical damage is preferred over physical damage.

Support Jobs
Blue Mage is a job that currently offers players a wide array of subjob choices, possibly partly due to its relative new status. Blue Mages are still not commonplace so different blue mages build themselves into different roles in parties. Thus, they have a lot of different options for subjobs, not even limited to these listed below. This is simply a list of common subjobs and their usage as of now. Convention may eventually result in limiting some choices.

Ninja
Ordinarily, a Blue Mage's off-hand is never used because they do not have a significant access to shields, and they also have no shield skill even for shields that are available to Blue Mages, so shields hardly function. One of the most obvious solutions to a Blue Mage's empty second hand is to put another weapon in it. Since Ninja learns Dual Wield earlier than any other job, Ninja is an obvious choice for Blue Mages wishing to function in a melee or direct damage role. Furthermore, Blue Mages have very poor evasion and weak defense, making Utsusemi a vital spell in the BLU/NIN's arsenal.

Thief
Thief has emerged as an extraordinarily popular subjob, particularly in levels between 30 and 55 where the Blue Mage would have access to Sneak Attack but before the time when a large amount of attack bonus through gear can be attained. Sneak Attack can be used in conjunction with Chain Affinity and a physical blue magic spell to do a great amount of damage.

Black Mage
Black Mage is a useful subjob for Blue Mages hoping to focus on their magic skills. Though the statistics do not lend well towards great melee damage, magic attack bonus will increase the damage of blue spells and conserve MP will reduce the MP cost of Blue Magic spells. Both free up some space for the Blue Mage to choose different types of spells rather than focusing on creating blue magic synergies that create that effect.

Dark Knight
Dark Knight, while not a common subjob for any other jobs, offers a unique twist on Blue Mage abilities. Their combination of magic and offensive melee attacks make them reasonable to have for a subjob. Though most Black Magic spells will not land versus experience mobs, stun will at least interrupt casting most of the time. Dark Knight also has boosts in terms of attack bonus and statistical advantages for dealing melee damage.

Red Mage
Red Mage is the middleground subjob between Dark Knight, Black Mage, and White Mage. With more balanced statistics, it offers no clear advantage or disadvantage there. Red Mages do get magic attack bonus and magic defense bonus, access to cure and regen spells, but not stun. Bio and Dia are both available through this subjob so it may be useful in that regard, but all other spells are unlikely to land or do significant damage versus hostile targets.

White Mage
White Mage is a very common job for use when a Blue Mage is soloing, especially at lower levels. This allows a Blue Mage slightly better healing abilities, but more importantly it gives both negative status removal spells as well as magic defense bonus to mitigate some incoming magical damage. Protect and Shell also serve to that end.

Beastmaster
Beastmaster is not a common subjob for any job, but for Blue Mages, it does offer a few unique advantages. Blue Mages, for one, are able to increase charisma higher than most other jobs, thus allowing them to more successfully charm enemy creatures. The use of a charmed pet does hurt experience, but the situations in which a Blue Mage might use this subjob, he would be likely trying to learn abilities. Thus, the charmed pet would both hopefully help take some damage and do damage as well, making the process significantly easier in some instances.

Warrior
Though Warrior offers no specific disadvantage other than the fact that it does not allow the Blue Mage increase to typical casting statistics, warrior is a very useful job if a blue mage intends to tank at lower levels, and abilities like berserk and double attack will help keep it as a competitive alternative for melee Blue Mages at higher levels.

Story
In Vana'dielian lore, the Blue Mage first originated in the Empire of Aht Urhgan generations prior to the present day. During the reign of Emperor Balrahn, an outbreak of alchemically-infused chimeras claimed the life of his son, the crowned prince. Enraged by the impotence of his palace guards, the Emperor charged his imperial alchemists with developing a means to defeat the chimeran menace. After countless failed attempts and sacrificed human life, the alchemists were able to develop a successful infusion that allowed the imperial guards to assimilate monster essence into their souls. The result was the "Forbidden Arts," Blue Magic, which brought the power of fiends into the hands of men.

The Blue Mages are the elite soldiers of the imperial military and sworn enemies of the Ephramadian brigands, the Corsairs. They operate surgically and efficiently and generally move alone or in small numbers. The Immortals command authority in the Aht Urhgan military, as they are seen giving orders to imperial soldiers and hired mercenaries. Furthermore, they are charged with the protection of the Empress, as seen in the Serpent General questline in which Amnaf, a prominent imperial Blue Mage, makes short work of a Mithran assassin's attempt on the Empress' life.

It is revealed in the missions of the Treasures of Aht Urhgan storyline that the ultimate fate of most Blue Mages is to succumb to the fiend essences they have accumulated in their souls. The end result is transfiguration into a gruesome Soulflayer - no longer human, but a monster. Amnaf ultimately loses herself and transforms into a Soulflayer during Mission 42, Path of Darkness. By progressing through the chambers of the Hazhalm Testing Grounds, one finds that even Balrahn himself may have become a practitioner of Blue Magic and lost himself, since he appears as a Soulflayer in one of its chambers. Additionally, the imperial vizier, Razfahd, though unable to wield Blue Magic, is shown to have been saved from a mortal wound by alchemical techniques similar to the creation of a Blue Mage.

It is further revealed in Blue Mage-specific quests (such as Artifact Armor) that the Blue Mages of Aht Urhgan are relinquishing their humanity in exchange for power and that Raubahn, the leader of the Immortals, has begun to fear your ever-growing strength. After receiving a commissioned set of Magus armor (also revealed to tame the raging "beast" within rising Blue Mages), you are sent on a suicide mission to dispatch a transfigured Immortal as Raubahn's attempt to eliminate you both. In the final Limit Break quest for Blue Mage, Raubahn fights you one-on-one, entreating you to "Join the Empire in death." Should you defeat him, he commends you on your victory and encourages you to pursue your path as an adventurer, rather than an Immortal, to save you from their fate.

In the final mission of the Treasures of Aht Urhgan storyline, Mission 44, Nashmeira's Plea, you are confronted by Raubahn. When defeated, Raubahn will arise to fight you with enhanced resistances to the damages his body "remembers" from his previous life. Raubahn's signature move is the deadly spell, Eyes on Me, which, prior to the level cap increase, was capable of fully K.O.ing a Galka Paladin at full health with buffs. As a result, it was a common practice to bring a Blue Mage to the fight to counter Raubahn's Eyes on Me with stun from Head Butt. After being defeated three times, Raubahn will stay down as you and your party confront Razfahd within the Iron Colossus.

True to his organization's namesake, Raubahn appears to be truly immortal, as he survives several mortal wounds multiple times in various quests in the Treasures of Aht Urhgan storyline.