Black Mage DPS Guide — Endwalker 6.1
Welcome to our Black Mage DPS guide for Final Fantasy FFXIV: Endwalker (Patch 6.1). This guide will cover everything you need to know to play as a Black Mage in PvE, from the absolute basics of the job, to high-end optimisation.
Black Mage Overview
Black Mage is a caster ranged DPS that offers strong sustained personal damage without relying on raid buffs.
Black Mage cycles between two timed stances, Astral Fire and Umbral Ice. Astral Fire nullifies
MP recovery but in exchange grants a large damage buff to all fire-aspected spells. Your time
in Astral Fire will be spent maximizing your number of 
Fire IV casts with the
MP available before finishing with a 
Despair. Umbral Ice grants enhanced MP
recovery but does not grant a damage buff. The key to success as a Black Mage is to utilize both
stances effectively to ensure you cast as many of your high potency spells as possible while
maintaining your GCD uptime.
Black Mage Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
High personal damage without specific reliance on party performance/alignment with buffs.
- Variety of flexible movement tools and resources in order to keep uptime without loss.
Weaknesses
No combat raise, unlike the other two caster DPS.
- Mismanaged movement tools and resources can lead to a massive damage loss.
- Newer players to the job may have difficulty learning to adapt and maintain the rotation amidst mechanics.
Leveling Black Mage
Black Mage's leveling rotation sees its most substantial change at level 60 with the addition
of Fire IV. The leveling guide will help you with this shift and give a
detailed breakdown of the rotation as your number of spells increases throughout the leveling process.
Gearing Up Your Black Mage
Make sure to maximize item level when leveling. Substat priorities for melding can be found in the Black Mage melding guide linked below.
If you are looking for best-in-slot (BiS) sets for max level content, they can be found in our guide's BiS section.
Endgame as a Black Mage
If you have finally hit max level or just feel confident with the basics, you can find the in-depth max level rotation linked below.
Changelog
- 20 Apr. 2022: Updated for Patch 6.1
- 28 Feb. 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.