[Taga]

I was sad to see someone say that elemental debuffs are useless so I am going to teach you how to use them effectively and make your parties much happier.

Spells

Frost - Lowers AGI (melee hit more)

Burn - Lowers INT (more damage against the monster)

Rasp - Lowers DEX (lowers monsters accuracy and chance of critical)

Choke - Lowers VIT (melee do more damage)

Drown - Lowers STR (monster hits for less damage and damage is more variable)

Shock - Lowers MND (all magic against the monster is resisted less)

How to use them

Opposite elements do NOT stack e.g. if you cast Frost and then cast Burn Frost will wear off and Burn will hit.

Rule of thumb - Water > Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Lightning.

Here are some basic recommendations for how to use them. If you are fighting beetles or something else with high evasion and you are doing good damage with your nukes but melees are missing, this is when you cast Frost. After Frost you can also cast Rasp and Drown because these 3 WILL stack~

If you are fighting something that resists your spells a lot e.g. Anticans, cast Burn. After Burn you can cast Choke and Shock because these 3 will also stack~

Some more combos.
Frost & Shock (helps melee and debuffs/resists)
Drown & Rasp (helps the healer)

There are a bunch more combos that you can play with. These are just my suggestions.

In most parties I start off with Frost and Shock then recast these when they were off but it depends highly on my party config which ones I use. BTW all of the elemental debuffs stack with ANY other regular debuff (dia, bio, blind, etc etc...)

Good luck and happy debuffing!


Edit: One last suggestion. Before magic bursting get a burn to stick. You will do around 50 more damage depending on your spell and level (speaking as a 55 BLM)

[Myrna]

Thanks! I'm starting up my blm sub soon, and was wondering about those ^^

[Afija]

2 questions.

Are these spells based off of Elemental skill or Enfeeble skill?

And, are these the only combos of 3 that you can cast without having them cancel eachother?
Set 1
frost, rasp, drown
Set2
burn, choke, shock?

[Taga]

Afija :
2 questions.

Are these spells based off of Elemental skill or Enfeeble skill?

Based off elemental skill.

And, are these the only combos of 3 that you can cast without having them cancel eachother?
Set 1
frost, rasp, drown
Set2
burn, choke, shock?

Correct.

[Orage]

They are actually based off of Elemental skill.

The canceling is based upon elemental weakness (water beats fire and so on). So just be sure you don't cast something that "beats" one you have alredy stuck on it, and you can work it out from there.

Water > Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Lightning

That should be it.

[Taga]

Orage :
Water > Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Lightning

Added that to main post to clear things up.

[b00sdr1v0rz]

ummm whoa. thanks taga thats good info

[emol]

earth -> lightning -> water -> fire -> ice -> wind -> earth
rasp -> shock -> drown -> burn -> frost -> choke -> rasp

so yes, there is only 2 combinations of 3 that will stack.

as long as none of the spells are next to each other in the above list they'll stack.

ex: rasp and drown will stack because they are not next to each other on the list but rasp and shock will NOT stack as they are directly next to each other.

[Afija]

Damn, I always wondered why BLM got them and not RDM :scream:dontgetit

[Taga]

You can get them if you sub BLM, just they don't land as often because of you reduced elemental skill and INT >.<

[Dark-Mage]

Thanks alot for the info Taga

[Jago]

Don't beat me for saying this, but I believe that in addition to what Taga says, these spells also lower the chance of the element that is stong weak against it (Example Blizzard is weak to Aero or Choke) being resisted. Several JP people have told me to cast Choke on mobs when I tend ot nuke BLizzard more often than not. I have found that it does infact tend to help, and in some cases hinder. If you cast one of the debuffs that is strong verse the spell you are nuking, I have found that you are resisted more than normal. Basically you are giving the mob that elemental property and whatever is strong against it, is resisted less, and vise-versus. So I would like to add to this very well worded guide the following:

Choke: Lowers Blizzard resistance rate, raises Earth resistance rate
Burn: Lowers Water resistance rate, raises Blizzard resistance rate
Drown: Lowers Lighting resistance rate, raises Fire resistance rate
Rasp: Lowers Aero resistance rate, raises Lighting resistance rate
Shock: Lowers Earth resistance rate, raises Water resistance rate
Frost: Lowers Fire resistance rate, raises Aero resistance rate

This isn't just my opinion, it is many others' as well and has been the topic of much debate in the past, thus the beating part.

[Taga]

I've heard that also many times but since there is no real proof and it is a contreversial topic I didn't bring it up.........

[Rahl]

This is a very interesting subject with us all being blm's we live and breathe on our ability to cast the most powerful elemental spells on mobs.

I would love to know if anymore research has been done on this topic.

Very Interesting....

[Jago]

I need to also clear something up that someone asked me in game about my post, it is not that the enemy becomes weak to the element like the effects of the ancient magics, it is that it is resisted less. So in other words, the spells are not going ot do more damage, they will do full damage more often than not. Any experienced BLM knows what I am talking about.

[motoh]

Now... regardless of specifics, my question regards the elemental resistance weakening. Does this stack with a Ninja's elemental weakens? Because that could make for a vicious debuff team, a Nin and a Blm teaming up.

[kryptlor]

very helpful information thank you very much

[Taga]

np, /bump

[Taga]

motoh :
Now... regardless of specifics, my question regards the elemental resistance

weakening. Does this stack with a Ninja's elemental weakens? Because that could make for

a vicious debuff team, a Nin and a Blm teaming up.

oh sorry for not

addressing this earlier. yes they do stack

[Einmel]

I give

this topic an A++ for helpfulness. ^-^b