Black Mage Guide

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This is a guide covering basic mechanics and a few optimization tips for Black Mages.

Fire and Ice

Black Mage play is all about managing Astral Fire and Umbral Ice, stacks of which are indicated by your Elemental Gauge.

  • Astral Fire ("Fire Phase"), indicated by fire crystals on your gauge, increases fire damage. Use fire spells as much as possible until your MP is close to 0.
  • Umbral Ice ("Ice Phase") allows quick mana restoration. Stay in ice to let your MP regenerate back to 10,000.

You will be able to have 2 stacks of each at level 20 and 3 stacks at level 40. Using some fire spells like Fire.png  Fire in ice phase will eliminate all your stacks (and vice versa, some ice spells will eliminate fire stacks) - you don't want this to happen. Therefore,

  • Before level 40, use Transpose.png  Transpose to switch from fire to ice when your mana is dry, and ice to fire when your mana is full.
  • After level 40, use Fire III.png  Fire III to switch from ice to fire, and Blizzard III.png  Blizzard III to switch from fire to ice against single targets. (For multiple targets, look below.) This means you should always be at either 3 fire stacks or 3 ice stacks - nothing in-between. There is little reason to use Transpose at this point.

Fire Phase

  • Before level 60, the combo is Fire III.png  Fire III - spam Fire.png  Fire and use Fire III.png  Fire III whenever you gain a free proc (a zero cast time, zero mana cost attack).
  • After level 60, the combo is Fire III.png  Fire III - Fire IV.png  Fire IV three times - Fire.png  Fire - Fire IV.png  Fire IV three times
    • The reason why you have to use Fire.png  Fire in the middle is because Fire IV.png  Fire IV does not refresh Enochian, and you never want Enochian to expire; Fire.png  Fire refreshes Enochian.
    • You can get away with using Fire IV.png  Fire IV four times before Enochian expires - do so if there is nothing else to do.
  • After level 72, end the fire phase with Despair.png  Despair.

Ice Phase

Other Spells

  • Enochian.png  Enochian (Lv. 56) should be cast the moment the fight begins (after your starting Fire III.png  Fire III or Blizzard III.png  Blizzard III), and whenever it drops off (but don't let it drop off).
  • Cast Thunder.png  Thunder (Lv. 45: Thunder III.png  Thunder III) whenever it falls off the enemy, or whenever you have a Thundercloud proc and the proc is about to disappear.
  • Use Ley Lines.png  Ley Lines (Lv. 52) whenever up; it is a significant DPS increase.
    • But try not to put it in a death area.
  • Use Aetherial Manipulation.png  Aetherial Manipulation (Lv. 50) (teleport towards friendly target) and Between the Lines.png  Between the Lines (Lv. 62) (teleport towards Ley Lines if any) to aid your movement.
  • Manafont.png  Manafont should be used to extend your fire phase. After you have Despair.png  Despair (Lv. 72), use it after Despair.
  • Umbral Soul.png  Umbral Soul (Lv. 76) is useful for keeping Enochian between mob groups in dungeons or during boss transition phases.
  • Triplecast.png  Triplecast (Lv. 66) and Swiftcast.png  Swiftcast can allow you to move while casting.
  • Lucid Dreaming has no use for Black Mages.
  • Stack(s) of Polyglot (Lv. 70) should be used for Xenoglossy.png  Xenoglossy (Lv. 80) or Foul.png  Foul (Lv. 70-79, or against multiple targets at Lv. 80) without overflowing.

Multi-target Spells

Multi-target DPS is a mess for lower level Black Mages, so here are some rough guidelines:

  • Freeze.png  Freeze (Lv. 35) is superior to Blizzard II.png  Blizzard II with very few exceptions. Use it to switch to ice phase (you may need to Transpose first before Lv. 72).
    • Freeze.png  Freeze is also helpful for single-target: it can be used to recover if you drop Enochian.
  • Before level 68, you want to cast Fire II.png  Fire II when there are four or more targets, and end fire phase with Flare.png  Flare (Lv. 50).
  • After level 72, your AOE combo is Freeze.png  Freeze - Flare.png  Flare - Flare.png  Flare (repeat) (5+ targets) or Freeze.png  Freeze - Fire III.png  Fire III - Flare.png  Flare - Flare.png  Flare (repeat) (3-4 targets). You can use Manafont after Flare to get another Flare.
  • Keep Thunder II.png  Thunder II (Thunder IV.png  Thunder IV) up against the targets.

Other tips

  • Black Mages abhor movement, even more than other mages because movement could cause Enochian to drop. Be prepared to adapt to the fight and save up some movement options until you know the fight. Your movement options include Swiftcast, Triplecast, Thundercloud proc, Xenoglossy, and Scathe. (It's better not to have to resort to Scathe.)
  • A cheap mana potion can allow you to cast more spells in fire phase.
  • Astral Fire does not boost the damage of Thunder and Polyglot moves. You can use those moves in Ice phase when appropriate.
  • It is quite possible not to need a filler for ice phase. Server ticks govern mana regeneration. If you see a mana tick before or right after you start casting Blizzard IV, you can cast Fire III after it and have full mana.
  • A "weave window" is a window of time in which you can use an oGCD (off Global Cooldown ability - anything that doesn't trigger a global recast cooldown) without delaying your next spell. All of the above movement options are weave windows, plus Fire III and Blizzard III. For example, it is best to use Sharpcast in a weave window. Xenoglossy is a good way to create your own weave window. For example, you can end the fire phase with: Fire IV -> Fire IV -> Xenoglossy -> Swiftcast -> Despair. Without the Xenoglossy, Swiftcast itself will delay Despair, reducing the advantage of swiftcasting it.


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