Leveling Rotations and Tips for Black Mage — Endwalker 6.4
Gear Options
When leveling up, you should always choose the piece of gear with the highest item level. You can exchange Allagan Tomestone of Poetics for gear in Mor Dhona at level 50, in Idyllshire at level 60, in Rhalgr's Reach at level 70, and in Eulmore at level 80.
Rotation Overview While Leveling Black Mage
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Base Single Target Spell Rotation
Blizzard.
Fire until you are low on MP, then use
Blizzard until you are back to full MP.
Fire until you are low on MP, then use
Blizzard IV in Umbral Ice until you are back to full MP.
Fire IV three times and refresh your Astral Fire timer with
Fire followed by another three
Fire IV. Use
Blizzard IV until you are back to full MP.
Fire IV three times and refresh your Astral Fire timer with
Fire followed by another three
Fire IV. Use
Blizzard IV and
Foul in Umbral Ice.
Fire IV three times and refresh your Astral Fire timer with
Fire followed by another three
Fire IV. Use
Despair to finish your Astral Fire phase. Use
Blizzard IV and
Foul in Umbral Ice.
Fire IV three times and refresh your Astral Fire timer with
Fire followed by another three
Fire IV. Use
Despair to finish your Astral Fire phase. Use
Blizzard IV and
Xenoglossy in Umbral Ice.
Transpose should be used to switch between Astral Fire and Umbral Ice.
Fire III should be used to enter Astral Fire and
Blizzard III when switching into Umbral Ice.
Thunder should be refreshed whenever the damage over time drops off. Prioritize refreshing in Umbral Ice if the damage over time drops off shortly before or after Umbral Ice.
Thunder should be refreshed whenever the damage over time drops off. Use Thundercloud procs when the damage over time is about to drop off. Prioritize refreshing in Umbral Ice if the damage over time drops off just before or after Umbral Ice.
Thunder III should be refreshed whenever the damage over time drops off. Use Thundercloud procs when the damage over time is about to drop off. Prioritize refreshing in Umbral Ice if the damage over time drops off just before or after Umbral Ice.
Thunder III should be refreshed whenever the damage over time drops off. Use Thundercloud procs when the damage over time is about to drop off.
- Firestarter procs should be used when available without cancelling your current cast.
- Firestarter procs should be used in Astral Fire before switching to Umbral Ice.
Multi-Target Rotation
Two-Target Priority
- Use
Thunder on both targets, otherwise follow above single-target rotation.
- Use
Thunder on both targets, and use
Blizzard II in place of
Blizzard, otherwise follow above single-target rotation.
- Use
Thunder III on both targets, and use
Blizzard II in place of
Blizzard, otherwise follow above single-target rotation.
- Use
Thunder III on both targets, otherwise follow above single-target rotation.
- Use
Thunder III on both targets and use
Foul instead of
Xenoglossy, otherwise follow above single-target rotation.
- Use
Thunder III on both targets and use
Foul instead of
Xenoglossy. Use
High Blizzard II and
High Fire II instead of
Blizzard III and
Fire III respectively. Otherwise follow above single-target rotation.
Three-Target Priority
- Identical to the single-target rotation.
Blizzard II
Blizzard II until you are at full MP.
Transpose then
Fire II x3.
Transpose back to Umbral Ice and repeat.
Blizzard II until you are at full MP.
Transpose then
Fire II x3.
Transpose back to Umbral Ice and repeat. Refresh
Thunder II whenever the damage over time falls off.
Blizzard II →
Freeze. Use
Thunder II if the damage over time is not currently up.
Fire II x4 then repeat. Use a second
Freeze in Umbral Ice if
Thunder II does not need to be refreshed.
Blizzard II →
Freeze. Use
Thunder II if the damage over time is not currently up.
Fire II x4 and finish with a
Flare before repeating. Use a second
Freeze if
Thunder II does not need to be refreshed.
Blizzard II →
Freeze. Use
Thunder II if the damage over time is not currently up. Use
Fire II x3 →
Flare x2 before repeating.
Blizzard II →
Freeze. Use
Thunder IV if the damage over time is not currently up. Use
Fire II x3 →
Flare x2 before repeating.
High Blizzard II →
Freeze. Use
Thunder IV if the damage over time is not currently up. Use
High Fire II x3 →
Flare x2 before repeating.
- Use
Foul when available. Make sure not to let it overwrite.
- Use
Foul for damage, weaving, and/or movement as needed. Make sure not to let it overwrite.
Off-Global Cooldown Ability Usage
- Utilize
Transpose when ending uptime in Astral Fire to refresh MP.
- Utilize
Transpose when ending uptime in Astral Fire to refresh MP, and during downtime in order to maintain Enochian.
- Utilize
Transpose when ending uptime in Astral Fire to swap to Umbral Ice, then use
Umbral Soul to build up to Umbral Ice III with three Umbral Hearts, and maintain Enochian.
Manaward can help mitigate incoming damage to yourself.
- Use
Manafont at the end of Astral Fire phases to get additional MP to use before returning to Umbral Ice. For single-target it allows for two additional
Fire casts, for AoE one additional
Fire II cast.
- Use
Manafont at the end of Astral Fire phases to get additional MP to use before returning to Umbral Ice. For single-target it allows for two additional
Fire casts, for AoE one additional
Flare cast.
- Use
Manafont at the end of Astral Fire phases to get additional MP to use before returning to Umbral Ice. For single-target it allows for two additional
Fire IV casts, for AoE one additional
Flare cast.
- Use
Manafont at the end of Astral Fire phases to get additional MP to use before returning to Umbral Ice. For single-target it allows for an additional
Fire IV →
Despair, for AoE one additional
Flare cast.
Aetherial Manipulation can be used to quickly move to a party member, which can be useful for larger movement requirements where someone is already in the position you need to be at for the mechanic.
- Placing down
Ley Lines and standing in them grants a buff which reduces both cast and recast time of all of your spells. Use when available unless you know that you can get more uptime in them with a small delay.
- Using
Sharpcast grants a buff which forces a proc on the next
Fire or Thunder spell. Use it roughly on cooldown at the next available weave window on whatever comes next between the two spells.
- Using
Sharpcast grants a buff which forces a proc on the next
Fire or Thunder spell. Try to prioritize using it on Thunder to maintain the debuff with Thundercloud procs.
- Using
Sharpcast grants a buff which forces a proc on the next
Fire or Thunder spell. Try to prioritize using it on Thunder to maintain the debuff with Thundercloud procs. The second charge allows for a single additional use in a fight and helps prevent losing uses from minor delays.
- If you need to move out of your
Ley Lines for a mechanic, you can use
Between the Lines to move back to them.
Triplecast can be used to make longer spells instant for a DPS gain (
Fire IV,
Despair, and
Flare for example). It can also be used to help keep uptime when you need to move for a mechanic.
Amplifier grants a Polyglot stack upon use for an additional
Foul for AoE, or
Xenoglossy for single target. Use when available, but make sure to not overcap on Polyglot stacks.
Changelog
- 27 May 2023: Updated for Patch 6.4.
- 11 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 6.3.
- 28 Aug. 2022: Updated for Patch 6.2.
- 31 Mar. 2022: Guide added.
Guides from Other Classes
Rika Vanih is a long-time FFXIV player, starting back mid A Realm Reborn, then maining Black Mage since mid-Heavensward. She has cleared all savage fights on the job since then, often within the first week or two for each raid tier, as well as all three ultimate fights. With a passion for helping others learn and improve, she is an active Black Mage mentor on the Balance Discord, more than willing to assist players new to the job, seasoned veterans looking to min-max, and everywhere in between. You can most easily find her there, on various other FFXIV-related discord servers, or directly via Discord DM at Rika Vanih#1340.
Tsutsumi Tsumi is a Black Mage main that has been raiding since Heavensward. He primarily enjoys progression and has consistently been clearing Savage week 1 since mid-Stormblood. He can be contacted for any questions regarding Black Mage through his dms on Discord by messaging The Scarlet Devil#2637.
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