[Aquilla]

I play ballista as black mage and as monk, and I'm by no means a veteran of either. What I have noticed is that there is a great deal of discussion as to what a melee should do in ballista.. most of blms I know do not play, or if they have ever tried give up after the first match.
What I'm hoping for is to hear from experienced blm players, as to some tips, suggestions, and strategies in different level caps.

I've only played blm in 60s and uncapped. My first match was as blm/rdm in 60s, and it was pretty wild (though I died, I think 6-7 times to the same thief...haha)
Blink, Ice Spikes and Aquaveil, I've found, are the most useful buffs. Blink does eat silence more often than not, and aquaveil lets me get a spell off even while being attacked. I've never tried /whm in 60s, or /nin, though I've seen blms sub either.

Spell damage - it's a little depressing to see tier III agas hit below 800dmg, but I've recently leveled to 73 and haven't really tested my weskit in ballista yet. I've been staying away from my earth staff, and using the staff corresponding to the element of the day, or my strongest spell. I've noticed that sometimes a tier IV single-target spell does more dmg than an -aga. Please feel free to brag, I know a certain taru blm who can break 1k easily, and I generally stay away from him


Do other blms cast enfeebles? I generally don't, my mp tends to get spent very quickly, other than silence on other mages and nins -- I've found though, that in uncapped, a lot of my silence will get resisted. Not as much in 60s.

Bind is really a beautiful thing against anything that isn't nin or /nin . I love gravity as well, sucky recast timer though.

I've never tried this, but I've seen it once -- what about melee damage? Anybody ever try capped dagger/scythe/staff?

I'm really sorry about the randomness of my questions, but it'd be fun to hear from other mages. I've (sort of) figured my own playing style out over many, many, deaths. I've been meaning to experiment a little lately, especially in uncapped.

[Jammin]

I've played a lot of ballista in all caps as black mage. It's really just how you want to approach the job. You can play sneaky and do hit and runs.. or just go for breaches and hope your teammates score for you.

If you go the sneaky route.. don't waste mp on things like Aquaveil.. it will not help you enough to warrant the mp expenditure. Ice Spikes is iffy, it never saves you and when you're only exposed to melee attacks for a brief time it's use is very limited. Blink/Stoneskin (depending on your cap and sub) are usually helpful enough to want. There are two basic sneaky methods: Sleepga the enemy for disruption or just burn them to the ground. The usual tactic while being sneaky is to hang around in the back while invis'd.. pick your moment wisely while all the melee's are busy or distracted.. and then slip in and land a good nuke or -ga. The key to this strategy is to waste enemy resources, not just get kills. If you do hundreds of damage to 5 targets.. they have to expend items or mp to cure that damage.. land enough over time and they enemy will be so crippled that the melee's or other damagers on your team will score breaches.

The blunt approach.. put up your buffs (including aquaveil) and just say screw it and land as many nukes and -ga's as you can before you die each time. I don't like this method but it's pretty popular. Most even extend this philosophy to hanging around in battle prep and spamming nukes the instant it wears off. You'll give the other team breach often doing this.. but again, it weakens and cripples the enemy to the point where it's sometimes a good tradeoff.

The last method is to play as a "helper" mage.. do small -ga's, sleepga's to strip blinks for your melee's.. keep your buffs up to frustrate anyone attacking you.. go in and out of the front lines, never stay still. Use bind, gravity, and stun to help your party get breach.. rely on your melee's, not your own nukes. This method is very good when it works.. it lets you quarry all day for petras and then go score when you get breach.

Overall tips: Never stand still.. it invites sneak attacks and sprinting melee's to use ws's on you. Use aspir and drain as much as possible.. they are so good for their short casting times and small mp usage. Sub rdm in higher caps, nin or whm in lower caps (below 50). +mp gear would be my suggestion over all others.. people rarely if ever resist you in ballista.. and int gear does not impact damage enough compared to running out of mp. Magic Attack gear is a staple, as always.

[Sudai]

I play ballista a lot as my BLM, always have. Generally, the best strategy is to invis up and either sneak up and sleepga (risky) or wait till your team engages them and then rain down with a thundering furry while everyone is distracted.

As for gear, go as much -damage/physical damage as possible then as much DEF after that. I've noticed MATB doesn't do much in ballista since our spells are nerfed so I usually fill those slots with DEF+ or Ele Resistance+ (it's nice to full out resist silence.) Eat DEF food and keep up SS/Blink/Phalanx/BarIce/Barsilence/SHOCK Spikes. The stun really is a lot more useful than the para IMO, since most times if you're being hit, you'll be wanting to move and if they get stunned, that gives you a good second lead on them so they won't be able to hit you anymore~

With my set-up, I've been able to completely nullify damage from jobs such as THF and ACC Build NIN.


Even through all this, I prefer to go as MNK XP

[Zedd]

I posted this a while back on Allakhazam. This is pretty much my strategy for 60 cap ballista.

Well in 60 cap, that's where all the fun is. I am often one of the first to engage in the conflict, and on average I only hit the ground around 2-3 times per match, sometimes I don't at all. Very often the time to strike is when an opponent trys to run in, get a kill and get out quickly, or when you can catch an opponent alone. I personally like to get a stonega, stun, bind combination in to immobolize them, and depending on the job, sleep (although sometimes they would have had a poison potion earlier) and silence. Focusing on one person, for me, is the key to success. Another thing that some people forget are major DoTs. If an opponent is getting low on HP and starts to flee the combat, stick a Bio II and/or Poison II, and if you get lucky, that could actually take them down. At last, don't forget about Drain and Aspir. The spells which keep you involved. Spikes are handy to have up, but you will most likely forget about them completely (I do all the time).

[Jammin]

I was mostly refering to general black mage tips Sudai.. without Phalanx focusing on defensive gears really doesn't help you a lot (even earth staff rarely cuts things down enough to save your life in 60 cap matches.) Down in the lower caps I prefer +mp gear almost exclusively. Not sure how you think magic attack gear isn't noticable in uncapped.. I sure notice it lol.

[Wunderkind]

I like killing taru BLM's~

[Sudai]

By not noticeable, I mean doing maybe 100 less damage without MATB gear as opposed to with it. Then again, my lay style isn't taking people from full to dead, it's taking down multiple half dead people in one swipe so the MATB doesn't really help much unless I'm trying to take down galkaan, MNKs, or WHM.

[h337 l4x0r]

honestly, you want the truth?

sleepga, bind, thundaga 3, stun, sleep, blizzaga 3 = dead hoes. No matter what.
works wonders in uncapped.

[Xellos]

A list of general advice. I'll leave the gear to your preference.

- Always keep your buffs up. No point in being a easy GB for someone. In the same vein, eat defensive food.

- Know your enemies. Use /sea ballista to scan the opposite team and pick the softest targets. Taru blm are particulary tasty. Also, you can scan the other team to mark good players to harass (or avoid).

- Be alert. Keep an eye out for invisible people. Always keep moving. If you feel like you've been in a place too long, you probably have been. Learn when to pursue and when to hold back.

- Invis is your friend for sneak attacks and for general stealth (e.g. scoring petras in a rook behind enemy lines).

- Be aware of the surroundings. Don't get backed into a corner. Use natural terrain features to hide your casting (e.g. the little canyon in jugner by the OP).

- Always keep /quarrying, since keeping your mana up is half the battle unless you have a refresher. Easy to forget to quarry when you're in the thick. If you're in match that allows items, it's good to make or buy juices.

- Save incenses for emergencies (offensive or defensive).

- If you have a player at your mercy (i.e bound), make sure you give him the full treatment; sleep if possible, silence for any casters, paralyze, and grav. There's been times where I should've had an easy GB, but I rushed it and they went on to run out of range of stun or sleep after bind wore, or cured themselves, etc...

- Know what nukes to use for different situations. -ga 3 isn't everything. At the same time don't interrupt your casting, even if it looks like it's going to be overkill. It sounds stupid, but I have interrupted casts sometimes cause I felt like the nuke was going to be too big for the health left on the target. Don't let that xp mentality pervade into ballista.

- Stick with your team.

- Keep your weapon lvled (I'm guilty of not doing it). It's not a game breaker, but it might come in handy when you're OOM and have TP to WS.

- Know your methods of destruction. There are times for the sneak attack and times for the strip shadow > stun/bind/enfeeble > nuke.

- Help your teammates out. If you play ballista regularly, you'll get a rep for being a team player, and people will be more likely to help you later on. At the same time, it's OK to run away from a hopeless situation, lol.

- Most of all, have fun, and don't get angry. BLM isn't the end all for ballista, but it's pretty damn fun once you get used to it.

[Metticus]

Black Mage Guide to defeating your opponent for Dummies:

--So you wanna ballista as a Blackmage right? "No brainer right? Just go in and nuke" right?,...wrong? Belive it or not it takes alot of skill and courage to fight as a blackmage in ballista. You have armies of enemies saving their TP and rusing at you to "one-shot"you. What can you do, panic? Screw that! You stand firm, grab your nuts and scream "Come get this bitch!" Because you possess the power that can change the entire outcome of the match. So be brave, and belive in youself.


Armor Types
There are three different types of armor choices you can go as in ballista: Nuking, Defence, and -Spell interrupt armor.

Nuking: When fighting in your Nuking armor you gotta remember, avoid being hit or seen. Sure your nukes are more powerful, but any hit what so ever to your body will interrupt your spell, then you will be killed in a few hits. Best stradegy for this type is to :
1: Stay far back as possible, let the fighters get the enemies attention.
2: As they are fighting nuke from a distance.
3: After it is casted, run back a little. The enemy wont know where it came from.
Defence: Good offence is always a good defence. Defensive armor is attainable from lvl 40+(40+ for Taru, all other races 50+) A good investment if your really intrested in going the defensive way would be: Phalanx Rings, Cheviot Cape, Jelly Ring, Earth Staff, and a Scorcerers Earring. This type of armor can make you takes hit like you wouldn't imaging. You can make NIN hit you for 0, MNKS question themselves, had this one guy say "WTF im hitting like a puss" Atvantage for this is.
1: You can move in closer to battle and make you spells hit even further.
2: Taking hits better will allow for less interupted spells, and your solo ability skyrocket.
3: True story.... I was just standing in one spot while 2 DRGS and a THF were attacking me. While they were focusing on me, and my health going down slow, my WHM had enough time to Spam cure me, while my teamate DRG killed all of them one at a time.
-Spell Interupt: This type of armor is best for low lvl matches, from lvl 30 to lvl 50. The name says it all, less interupted spells. Bad side of this choice would be lack of defence and magical attack. However, what good is spell damage and defence if you can't get a single spell off! With this armor choice, always have on Aquaveil. Best equipment for this would be : Ermite Wand(-25%), Will Power Torque(-5%), Heko Obi+1 (-8%), Druid Rope(-10%). **Always have on Aquaviel**
1: When like this, you dont ever have to time your spell properly, they will go off regardless.[Unless Stuned, or the use of a weapon skill]
2: Combine this with defence armor and you got an unstopable killing machine. This one time I had Penta Thrust used on me as i casted a spell... guess what... it still went off.

----How to kill your opponent

Each enemy has it's own strengths and weaknesses. While im not going to type up how to kill each and every job >_>. Ill just give you the basic, what to look out for.


==THF==
The main goal of a thf is to steal, SA, Flee, Run, and Score. Thfs just love to be invisible and try to SA an unsuspecting BLM. What you need to always be doing is checking around TAB, making sure no one is invisible. And listen very closley, if you hear the sound of SA, even in the disatance, be on guard, cauase 9 out of 10 says that SA has your name on it. Dont panic, what you can do is first. DONT PANIC!, then find where the THF is(most of the time somewhere behind you), then target the THF, the Lock-On to the thf, lastly zig-zag left and right to make sure he does a regular attack and not a SA on your back. Most of the time this works, sometimes it dont, but this gives you and edge. Once SA is out of the way, dont bother casting Stun or any tier spells. That THF bastard is going to have Shadows on. Cast Sleepga on him. If it's resisted, then Bind, or Stun, just try to keep him in place. Because once you damage him, he's gonna start running

==NIN===
I hate Ninjas, not that i have anything against them personally. It's just that it's a waste of MP to be casting damn -ga spells all the time. SHEESH! When fighting a NIN always have Phalanx on. Cause they really can't hit for much unless they have /War Then damage would be like 10-25. So basically, all they got is Shadows. NIN can be easily taken out with DEF/-interupt armor, along with a good -ga Nuking

==MNK===
MNKS are the bane of BLMs existence. Their many punches can easily interupt a spell and leave them laughing at your face as they are punching you. Try this.. put on some DEF armor, Find a MNK, Sleep him, cast Shock Spikes, cast Parylze, then wake him. It will go like this: HIT,HIT, Parylzed,HIT,STUNED,PARYLZED,PARYLZED,HIT,PARYZLED,HIT,STUNED. Which is hilariouse if they casted their 2 hour. You need -interupt armor for MNKs, cause there is no way you can time your spells right, they just punch too fast. They got alot of HP so dont hold back on your spells.



One thing your goin to notice in ballista that all jobs will hesitate to engage you(blm). BUt once you are either slept, silenced, or gravitied, the entire enemy force will rush to attack you. However, you will also notice that once you are kicking someones ass from your spells, they are going to show how brave they are and run. Funny how that works huh. Good luck and I hope this helped a bit.

[Yorlan]

I haven't been playing Ballista much lately and rarely as BLM at that, but I'll chime in:

- +MP gear is the way to go over any other equip setup (and try not to equip many -HP +MP equipment).
- Never try and get below 25% MP. You'll never know if you'll get into a tight situation where having MP would've saved you.
- Try to not be in the front lines since BLM are easy gate breach.
- Learn to tab around since I find THF seem to like using Sneak Attack on unsuspecting BLMs more than any other job.
- Barsilence/Baraero do work. Use them if the opposing team has a fleet of silence happy mages. (You should also get into the habit of casting Silence on other mages.)
- Starting at 50 cap, /RDM owns. Stun+Gravity gives you time to run away from that melee sprinting at you that likely has TP (assuming they don't have utsusemi).
- If you are trying to just wipe shadows, don't use Diaga/Poisonga and rely on Stonega. You'll never know when you may end up attempting to sleep the opposing team (such as when the entire opposing team is running towards yours and sleepga seems a far better choice than a nuke -ga) and assuming the DRK/RDM/WHM on your team aren't blasting them with DoT -ga's.
- To expand on what Metticus said, small groups will likely retreat/hesitate when they see the BLM standing within/beside the members of the opposing team they were planning on attacking. Try not to stand too far in the back and provide intimidation to the opposing team sometimes.

[kang]

just something i noticed...wondering if this holds true with u blms...

i dunt go blm to ballista...but i <3 to kill blm. i usually go as sam/rng {/grin}. however, the dmg from blm seems to differ enourmously between 60 and uncap.....in 60cap if i see a blm casting on me...i still run toward him b/c it will usually only take off max 400 dmg. in uncap...if i see blm casting toward me, i run b/c it can go from 500 to 1k. does other people notice this? (why is this? is it b/c of the tier4 magics?) b/c for melee, the dmg per hit and the ws damamges really isnt that much different between 60 and uncap....maybe by 200-300 dmg at most.

[lilkyle]

Sudai :
and keep up SS/Blink/Phalanx/BarIce/Barsilence/SHOCK Spikes. The stun really is a lot more useful than the para IMO

....
I have a lv59blm and i do lv60 caps all the time and I only knew that ice spikes give you para.
No idea shock spikes stuned.... Amazing! :idiot

great Stuff you guys. I love just going invis and sneaking up on the other side while they are fighting and pop off sleepga and other -ga's they soon either aim for me or just get the hell out of there. Lmao!!! I think blm is so far the most fun in ballista, and i'm stoked for the new conflict "Brenner" (0.oa who names these things..... My mexican friend thought it said beaner when i said something about it... lol).

[rambus]

dont fear 200 mil weapons eather ..>.> all i have for defence was phalanx and earth staff to make the nin spam 0 on me