Black Mage 75 Gear

High Fashion for High Level Black Mages

Everytime I try to figure out what gear I want for my 75 blm I get confused. There are a lot of options, and it's difficult to compare them all all the time.

I'm going to use this page to keep some notes on blm gear, maybe it'll help you too.

I find it useful to think of blm gear as 5 different setups, each useful for a different sort of thing.

1) MP regen when you're resting, all that matters is +hmp
2) Max Damage +MAB, +int, +skill
3) No Resists +skill, +int
4) Long-Term Casting +conserve MP, +MP, +skill
5) Enfeebling +enfeebling skill, for casting sleep or some debuffs

Now, really, 5 sets of armor, you'd probably have 40 pieces of gear on you at all times. That's way to much for me, so I've got to find some compromises to reduce the load on my MH and carrying capacity.

My adventures are not average for 75 end-game players. I love Limbus, and any similar activity where KA traipses around Vana'diel as a team of 6-12. We never fight HNMs really, and it's not helpful for me to get hate or run out of MP.

Therefore for me, the most important things are: rate of MP use/regen, and not getting resisted. The next most important concern, is "how the hell do I get that gear?" Dalmatica and the related gear aren't even on this list, since I'll never get them. Also, though, they really only give +MP. For the most part, other gears are better overall.

Weapons
Not much to say here. Gotta have elemental staves, eventually HQ.
I carry Aquilo's, Vulcan's, Pluto's, Jupiter's, and a Light Staff. I haven't cast a water nor earth, nor wind damage spell at 75 since… ever. You don't need those staves, certainly not HQ versions. On the other hand, HQ of ice, thunder, and dark are some of the best investments you can make in blm gear.

Meleeing is usually silly for a blm, but if you want to do more than 30 damage a hit, you can pick up an Ivory Sickle or Kirin's pole.

Ammo
If you can get an Aerole, more power to ya. For the rest of us, the Phantom Talthum is probbably best.

Head
Here's where the fun begins. There are many really good choices:
Igqira Tiara

• used for enfeebling casts, very useful and dirt cheap.
  

• makes you feel cool, good against HNMs.
  

• the +1 of this hat is awesome, really, and if you get nothing else from limbus, this is what you want. Worth the effort.
  

• this is popular, but honestly it's a piece of crap compared to the Wzd. Petasos +1.
  

• the MAB on this means it's the universally accepted best gear while casting your damage spells. They're now dirt cheap too, so be sure to pic one up (and they look great)!
  

• this has refresh, plus it looks cool.
  

• this has refresh, but it blocks hats. Wear it while you're running from one place to another to get back a few MPs.
  

• this has +5 conserve MP, if you're really into that. Mostly it's used for 50 cap adventures.
  

• the +5 hmp is for resting, other than that it's just plain ugly.
  

• the nq is good for enfeebling, swap it in on your sleep and gravity casts.
  
• having the +1 means you can throw away your errant body, since the +1 has the +5hmp that you're using the errant for. Yay for +1 carrying capacity!

• #1 choice, by far.
  

• ok I lied, these are on par with the Seraweels, but they do a different thing and like all AF2, are much harder to get.
  

• these are the sucky things you wear if you can't get either of the other two.
  

• I like these, as a good compromise between the AF1 and Zenith Mitts
  

• I would need to test the +burst damage to judge these… and I'd need to have them to do that.
  

• These have nice +mp and conserve mp. I really like them for this slot, since the only other things you can really get are +int, which doesn't do as much as I once believed.
  

• these are the standard blm feet, +int, yadda yadda.
  

• these are nice since they have MAB on feet. I haven't had the chance to try out the whole set yet, it could be great.
  

• The must-have earring for blms, big MAB.
  

• Bigger MAB, but you need to kill Absolute Virtue… good luck!
  

• This is my choice for a second earring. It has a combination of excellent stats.
  

• many blms prefer this over the magnetic, but I don't know why. The effect is narrow (not always useful) and it lacks the other useful stats… I think it's total crap.
  

• this is the #1 choice of all career mages, it's the combination of 3 other strong rings, into one uber ring to rule them all! CoP is so fun too, you're missing out a lot if you've not beaten it.
  

• +5 int… not sure what else you'd want, though maybe +mp (astral?) would be better for some?