1. Mage Jobs and what they do
WHM - Main Healer, Cure Status Effects, Backup Enfeebler
BLM - Damage Dealer, Elemental Enfeebler, Backup Enfeebler
RDM - Enfeebler, Backup Healer, Backup Nuker
SMN - Damage Dealer, Group Buffing, Backup Healer
2. MND, INT and what they are for
Many people correspond INT to BLM and MND to WHM because INT induces more damage and MND "helps healing". The INT part is only half true and the MND part is wrong.
In the game there are 7 stats, of those 7, 6 of them can be broken down into opposites. STR <> VIT, DEX <> AGI, and INT<>MND. CHR is a standalone. With this, it should becomes apparent that then the Player's INT is greater than the mob's MND, more damage is inflicted to the mob (or less resisted). Same goes for the opposite. The more MND a player has, the less magic damage s/he will take.
But aside from damage taken and damage dealt, MND corresponds to "White Magic" and INT corresponds to "Black Magic". If you are confused on what is White Magic and what is Black, open up your magic list and look at the icon to the left of the spell. You will notice that all WHM spells have a lighter icon and BLM spells have a darker icon.
When working with enfeebles, INT and MND must be taken into account. If you are going to Paralyze, Slow, Dia a mob, you will want to use MND gear. For Gravity, Bind, you will want to use INT gear. This is why WHM = MND, BLM = INT, but RDM not only wants to have a balanced INT and MND, for fights such as HNMs, RDM will need swappable INT and MND gears to maximize their abilities.
As for SMN, I myself am not a summoner, but from what I understand, SMN's need +MND to strengthen their avatars. Hence many SMN armors have +MND.
3. Magic Skills
Healing Skill - Higher the stat, the more HP you can heal.
Elemental Skill - Higher the stat, the less resistant your magic becomes.
Enfeeble Skill - Higher the stat, the less resistant you magic becomes.
Dark Skill - Mainly for DRKs, but also applies to Stun users. More Dark skill means your Stun will resist less.
4. Order of Use
Because of the many different types of equipment out there, it is very difficult to maximize efficiency. In fact, you may/must obtain all those gears to use under different circumstances.
BLM: Elemental Skill+, Magic Attack+, INT+, MP Gear, Conserve MP
Elemental Skill - More Elemental Skill you have, the less resistance your spell is.
Magic Attack - A constant factor to the damage eqution. Magic Attack+ increases your overall damage, resisted or not.
INT+ - When INT > Mob's MND, your spells will be less resisted. When there is excess INT, each 1INT is added to your total damage as extra damage points.
MP Gear - This may seem like a big factor for BLM since spells take up alot of mana, but it is not worth sacrificing the other skills soly to obtain more MP.
Conserve MP - A BLM Best Friend. Need I explain more?
WHM: Healing Skill, Healing Potency, MND+, MP, Conserve MP
Healing Skill - WHM has the highest healing skill, no gear to increase this ability should be required. Anything past max skill (288?) will only add about 1-2points more to HP when healing.
Healing Potency - This is useful. An extra 10~15% potency will not only cure more, in the long run you will save more mana.
MND+ - WHM should only worry about this for XP parties since they may need to help enfeeble. But while in HNM fights, WHM should focus more on MP gear.
MP Gear - Priority for WHM. How can you heal without MP?
Conserve MP - I don't think there is one for WHM. Even if there was, Conserve MP is inconsistent in it's chances of being triggerred. Go for MP gear instead.
RDM: Enfeeble Skill, MND, INT, Magic Accuracy
Because of the versitility of the RDM class, it is also one of the few classes that require multiple gears. First concentrate on maximizing Enfeeble Skill to reduce resistance. Then increase INT and/or MND based on the enfeeble skill that is to be casted. MP Gear should be a lesser fact due to Convert and Refresh abilities which only RDMs have. Magic Accuracy Gear helps raise the probablility of landing a sucessful enfeeble but does not help with potency.
SMN: Summoning Skill, MND, Avatar Perpetuation Cost-
Summoning Skill - Thie higher the skill, the stronger your avatar will be (HP, STR)
MND+ - Because SE believes that the summoner uses MND to 'control' pets, MND is a stat that SMNs use to increase the strength of their avatars. Again, feel free to correct me here since I am not a summoner.
Avatar Perpatuation Cost- - Because Conserve MP only affects a cast, this is useless to a SMN. Instead, SMN have equipment that help them reduce mana usage while having their pets out. One of them is Avatar Perpetuation Cost- Gear. The second, are the Elemental Staffs.
5. Elemental Staffs and How to Use them
OK first let me state that Elementals based on FF-RPG games are the 6-elements. And Non-Elemental are Light and Dark magic. Don't confuse them with White Magic and Black Magic
Order of Elemental Magic and their properties:
Earth > Wind > Ice > Fire > Water > Thunder > Earth >...
Non-Elemental Property:
Dark > Light > Dark >...
Earth Staff
Wind Staff
Ice Staff
Fire Staff
Water Staff
Thunder Staff
Light Staff Healing Potency +10%
Dark Staff Healing MP+10
BLM and Elemental Staffs:
Equipping the Staff that corresponds to the magic that is being casted increases the overall damage of that spell. The HQ version of the staff will give more damage than the NQ version.
SMN and Elemental Staff:
Each avatar is correlated with one element. As each avatar is let out, MP is drained slowly from the mana pool. There are ways to decrease the rate of MP being drained. One is by Avatar Perpetuation Cost- Gear and the 2nd is the elemental staffs. A hidden effect for the staffs is that each element staff help reduce the perpetuation cost of the corresponding avatar. The HQ versions give more perpetuation cost-.
Carbuncle - Light Staff
Shiva - Ice Staff
Ifrit - Fire Staff
Levithan - Water Staff
Ramuh - Thunder Staff
Titan - Earth Staff
Garuda - Wind Staff
Fenrir - Dark Staff
WHM and Elemental Staff:
WHM will mainly use the Light Staff if they cannot get their hands on a healing staff. Healing Potency +10% helps save mana. Also a Dark Staff is useful to regen MP at a quicker rate while resting.
RDM and Elemental Staffs:
Each enfeeble spell has a corresponding element. Much like how BLM spells work, enfeeble spells work the same. The elemental staff will give the enfeeble spell an extra kick, making the magic more accurate, and last longer (more potent). This is assuming you have the proper gear to not get resisted.
OMG It's 4:40AM. I'm tired. I will probably not get to finishing this tutorial, but I'll answer any comments you may have. Over and out.
-Kirakun
