Guide for soloing blackmage 1-75 : FFXI Submissions

Ok, so for those who don't know, there's an incredibly easy way to solo blackmage, from early as level 1 all the way to elvel 75. The secret is this: pets. Pets in this game are EXTREMELY underconned. They have maybe half the xp a normal mob that cons the same would. So much so, more often than not, you can one shot pets. At higher levels, you will often use two nukes to kill pets as this is more mana efficient. Here's a guideline of the basic info:

AGGRO:
If attack a pet, theres a chance its owner will aggro. If you one shot the pet theres is no ened to worry, this will not cause aggro. However, on other mobs, it depends on what the mob aggros too. If its a mob that aggros to sound, its best to avoid the pet if you can't oneshot it (or kill the pet and run to zone). If the mob aggros sight, just make sure its looking the other way when you cast on its pet.

EQUIPMENT:
There are various peices of equip that will make your solo life alot easier. I'm not gonna bother posting the endgame gear as this stuff is out of reach for most players.

Main:
All 8 elemental staves are important, but the following are most important for the following reasons (get hq if possible):
Dark Staff: +10 mp regen and increase drain aspir. need i say more? Will also help with landing sleep.
Ice Staff: increases elemental damage, and for the largest part of your soloing career, you will be using freeze, which is boosted even more by this staff.
Earth Staff: Will save your life many a time when you have to run to zone bc of aggro. 20% dmg reduction is very significant.
Light Staff: [Cure] [Can I have it?] [All Right!].
All in all, its good to get all of the staves eventually as a blm. Each stave has a hidden trait that increases potency of the magic of its element. This holds true for both ENFEEBS AND NUKES!

Ammo: Standard morion and phantom thaltums here. At higher levels you can solo the ENM for hedgehog bomb (+30 mp).

Head: Seers crown +1. +3 int. Doesnt get much better than that.

Neck: Black neckerchief: can easily be quested or bought at ah. +1 int. at 65 get an elemental torque. If possible, ugglapeth pendant at elvel 70 (mgk atk bonus).

Earrings: Get moldavite (+5 mkt atk bonus )asap. Its found off of an NM in Labyrith of Onzozo. The other slot can go to a morion earring(1 int 4 mp) at 30 or a phantom earring at 60 (1 int 8 mp).

Body: Use seers tunic or rse early on. Blm AF body is moderately useful. When you get 60, get a black cloak ASAP. This baby has added effect: refresh ! Get errant body at 72 to switch in when healing for less downtime.

Hands: The AF hands are probably one of the ebst equips for blm in the gmae (+15 elemental skill). Get these and never take em off at level 54. Before that, you can use your RSE or seers mits (level 29).

Rings: Have a set of +MP rings (Astrals or Electrum )and a set of +int rings (Eremites, Zircon, Diamond, Snow).

Back: Use a black cape +1 at 32 (+3 int). Switch to red cape +1 at 43 (+3 mnd +3 int). At 71, get a rainbow cape (+9 mp + 9 hp + 3 mnd +3 int).

Waist:
At 60, get a penitents rope. This will considerably increase your dmg. Heirarch belt at 71 for +MPregen.

Legs: seers slacks are very good until AF legs. Get errant legs at level 72 (15k on my server for a very nice piece of gear ^^).

Feet: RSE or Seers boots are good until blm AF boots. Again, errant gear for cheap and sweet stats at level 72 ^^.

Strategy:
The basic strategy is simple. Chain off of pets. I will update this when have more time.

right, 1-75, easy as hell, chain of pets, would you like fries with that?

It is easy and there is a more detailed guide on Allakhazam or KI. Its just another way to level while waiting for an exp party.

I use to do this while looking for an exp pt on gobbie pets with smn. Dia pull the pet when gob turns around and run away to kill it -- repeat. Blm should be much easier but never tried it. Might try tonight seeing as blm pts have been angering me since I have had a bad streak with crappy tanks lately. My lvl 50 exp pt, static tank quit the game (he was awesome but I think he was a gil buyer)