You can do whatever you want solo.

Suggesting that using a useless sub like /BLU in an xp party is a horrible idea is just "getting caught up in the meta" is ridiculous though. A party is 6 people that all have a role. Someone subbing /BLU isn't doing their role as well as they could, and for what purpose? Another 5 people aren't usually down for using their time suboptimally for you to get some weird sense of fun out of doing things poorly.

...TopShelf told Nas to roll back all your ZNM gear, do the gilpocalypse and nerf Fishing/RNG into the ground.

Of the many job combinations in XI, there are some jobs you just shouldn't be using as a sub at any point in time. Blue Mage is one of those jobs. Ranger can be used as a sub, but its applications are extremely niche and require an advanced understanding of the game as well as specific pieces of gear to even be worthwhile. //

subbing blue mage provides minimal benefit. As it stands, Blue Mage's greatest asset is its ability to set job traits. The problem with this, is that the better job traits don't come until after level 37 making that aspect of the job worthless as a sub. BLU's limited mp Pool also means you will get to cast maybe 3-5 spells at level 75 since both Warrior and Thf have 0 native mp. There are some arguments for subbing it to Paladin, but I personally haven't ever seen anything overly meaningful come out of that combination either.

If you want a good sub for Warrior THF or SAM is the way to go if you're 2 handing primarily. Ninja is the alternative for dual wielding. Monk is an alright sub if you have no other alternatives available to you.


Pre 30 you can sub Monk on Thief to great effect. Combo is a threefold attack making it just about the strongest early weaponskill, and when paired off with Sneak attack it has absurd damage output. Post 30, or arguably 24 if you have it sub Ninja is the best way to go for thief for arguably the rest of your career as a THF.

If you are trying to have a unique sub job just because, then don't. Save yourself the headache and just conform. People won't invite you unless they are desparate, and no shortage of people will harass you over your job selection. It's really not worth it. The game is over a decade old, people know what the best way to do things is for this especially dated content.