Zaroua wrote:
BLU dmg is pretty poopy until 60. Your physical spells won't do anything with SA, and SACA won't do impressive levels of damage until 60. Anyways, the core spells I've used while leveling were Sandspin, Wild Oats, Cocoon, Head Butt, Sheep Song/Soporific, Wild Carrot, Jet Stream, Refueling, Magic Fruit, Death Scissors/Dimensional Death, Frenetic Rip, Zephyr Mantle, Warm-up, Hysteric Barrage, and Cannonball. Infrasonics and Frost Breath could potentially be useful in Boyahda since Flies and Crawlers are both weak to Ice, but you'd probably either need a NIN or BRD to reduce the mob's resistances to land stuff consistently. Don't have Sea unlocked, so missing those spells. You'll want to have auto-refresh spells and a few Clear Mind spells, too.
I think the biggest problem is that most BLUs I've seen don't play very well. Some spam multihit spells and feed the mobs TP, some just empty their MP bar and then rest a lot, some try to land magical based BLU spells (good luck with that on this server without the appropriate staff, full INT/MND/CHA gear and a parfait), some don't come to group as /THF (don't be that guy), and most don't try to coordinate skill chains with their group. Makes BLU look bad.
BLU damage is fine below 60, if you want we can go to 40 or 50 cap and try it out. If you have your heart set on using SA pre-60, use Mandibular Bite, Sickle Slash, or if you're fighting beasts use Uppercut. /THF is good for damage but /NIN is good if your tank is crappy, or you're doing merits, limbus, etc. All "SC coordination" when you're /nin or not using SACA DS/VC, etc. usually involves telling people to not mess up your solo level 2 SCs. I've seen a number of BLUs that are surprised to learn that they can do solo SCs and that is really the way if you're not SACA Death Scissoring etc.Main SCs you will use before 65 are Red Lotus > Jet Stream/Uppercut = Fusion, Red Lotus > Sickle Slash = Gravitation (MB MP Drainkiss, strong vs birds with mp, i.e. lolibri).
You will always want to use appropriate gear for any spell you cast anyway (if you're not swapping gear a lot, do it more), parfait won't make or break your resist rate, and besides Frost Breath's cast time and mp cost would make it pointless to cast in exp anyway. Macc seems fine at 75 for what it's worth. Also some of the best spells are in sea so that's pretty important to have too.
Honestly you should try to get all the spells, just like any other mage. You will be lfp for a bit anyway, don't be gimp! The spells are easier to get now than they ever were, and I don't just mean ToAU spells. I remember trying to learn Jett in 40cap Riverne way back when only to find out it was impossible.