Mages are traditional archetypes we commonly find in games but very few are as symbolic as the Black Mage from the Final Fantasy series. Since the first title, the job has been present and in Final Fantasy XIV, Black Mage is the right job for those interested in playing a damage-focused caster.
In FFXIV, black magic has left marks in the history of Eorzea and you, as Black Mage, have mastered this destructive magical art. Unlike other casting jobs like Summoner and Red Mage, who can resurrect, Black Mage can only support themselves. This job is a one-person army and picking it to face endgame content means you will need to make the Black Mage’s lack of utility worth it by obliterating the enemy’s HP. To pull your weight and fulfill your role, you need to learn the FFXIV Black Mage rotation, burst window and many other aspects of this job.
The basics of the Black Mage job
Since level 30, the Black Mage’s core concept stayed the same — you will spend your MP casting fire spells during the Astral Fire phase then you use ice spells to recover MP in the Umbral Ice phase. All the other abilities you cast when playing Black Mage have the function of affecting it or are a by-product of this dynamic. You should try your best to never let either Umbral Ice or Astral Fire fall since this situation would affect your capacity for causing damage.
The whole party ends up dealing with the mechanics of a fight but due to each job’s characteristics, this might be more challenging to some. When playing Black Mage, you might be capable of dealing a lot of damage but to do so you will have to know to position yourself better than others. Black Mage is a pretty static job and, although you have some movement abilities, consider where you’re standing during a fight. Otherwise, you will have to constantly ponder between causing damage or staying alive. In both cases, you’ll affect the party’s overall damage.
However, before you start worrying about positioning, as you learn to play the job, the most important rule to follow is the “always be casting” rule. This is a basic concept that every player in FFXIV must follow. For Black Mage, this means to internalize the basic rotations and try your best to, during encounters, find a safe spot and start casting your next skill. Once this becomes natural, you have more room to focus on optimizing positioning.
Black Mage rotation
The Black Mage rotation in FFXIV has two phases: the Umbral Ice and the Astral Fire. In the first one, you will always start with Blizzard III, go to Blizzard IV, and finalize with Paradox. The idea is to only recover the MP spent in the previous Astral Fire rotation — or the opener. The single Blizzard IV is cast to give you an Umbral Heart, which reduces the MP cost of all Astral Fire skills to zero. The only exception is Flare which costs one-third. Once this sequence is complete, you’re ready to swap to the Astral Fire phase. Start with Fire III, followed by three Fire IV, Paradox, and other three Fire IV, and finish with Despair.
While it isn’t part of any of these two phases, Thunder III is an important skill that you need to constantly use to leave a DoT on the boss. However, what you want to do in most situations is to refresh this DoT with a Thunder III proc instead of hardcasting the ability. To do so, use Sharpcast followed by Thunder III to gain a Thundercloud proc.
A consequence of this rotation is that Enochian, one of Black Mage's traits, will be up when you’re under Umbral Ice or Astral Fire stances and every 30 seconds it will give you one stack of Polyglot. At level 90, you can hold up to two stacks of Polyglot, but you should weave a Xenoglossy during rotations to avoid overcapping the stacks. Xenoglossy is an instant cast ability with no elemental affinity, so you can use it regardless of the stance you're in.
To assist you in keeping track of all the aspects of this rotation is the Black Mage gauge. The Elemental Gauge works as a massive clock, showing you the buffs, stacks, and abilities that are available. In the top-left corner, it shows if you're under the Astral Fire or Umbral Ice aspect and, besides it, the time left for the phase to end. The lower-right corner shows when Enochian is up and how many Polyglot stacks you have. Lastly, the lower-left corner is where you find the Umbral Heart stacks as well as the marker for Paradox, letting you know when you can use it.
For situations when you are facing three or more enemies, you need to swap to the Black Mage AoE rotation. You want to start with High Blizzard II, followed by Freeze, then Thunder IV, finishing the Umbral Ice phase. After this initial sequence, you swap for the Astral Fire phase by using an initial fast-cast High Fire II and follow it with two other High Fire II. You can finish the sequence by casting two Flares. If you have Manafont, by weaving it at the end of the regular Astral Fire phase, you can cast a third Flare. Another variation is possible if you have a Triplecast available to replace the second High Fire II, which you cover the next High Fire II and the two Flares.
Black Mage burst window
Burst windows are important segments of a fight when you use a powerful sequence of skills to take advantage of the party's major cooldowns all at the same time, like buffs that increase the damage of the whole group. When it comes to performing this burst window as a Black Mage, there isn’t much you will change from your regular DPS rotation. In general, the idea is to fit as many powerful skills within these buffs as possible, which means casting Fire IV, Xenoglassy and Despair.
You will start the sequence as a regular Astral Fire phase, but use Ley Lines and Amplifier once they are out of cooldown. Because you will gain a Polyglot stack by using Amplifier, remember to use a stack before this moment so they don’t overcap. In addition to these two skills, Manafont will also be available and should be used after Despair, at the end of the regular Astral Phase rotation, giving you an extra Fire IV and Despair.
During the burst window, if you don't have a Thunder proc to refresh the DoT, don’t disrupt your burst casting Thunder III. Wait for the DoT to fall and wait for when the burst window is over.
Black Mage opener
Endgame encounters in FFXIV might differ from one another, so you may have to adapt the opener accordingly, especially if there is a specific mechanic at the beginning of the fight or a period of downtime. This opener is a solid option for fights with a more traditional design, where the initial segment is not interrupted.
- Sharpcast (-12 seconds)
- Fire III (-3 seconds)
- Thunder III
- Triplecast
- Fire IV
- Pot
- Fire IV
- Amplifier
- Ley Lines
- Fire IV
- Swiftcast
- Fire IV
- Triplecast
- Despair
- Manafont
- Fire IV
- Sharpcast
- Despair
- Blizzard
- Xenoglossy
- Paradox
- Blizzard IV
- Thunder III
Black Mage tips
Using the Polyglot stacks and the Firestarter proc correctly makes your life easier when playing Black Mage. One of the biggest challenges you will face when playing Black Mage is to keep uptime throughout a fight. While there are periods when you can follow the rotation without having to move, most endgame encounters will force you to reposition constantly. One of the best tools you have to deal with such situations is to use Xenoglossy and the Firestarter proc as you reposition to a safer spot.
As explained, you can hold up to two Polyglot stacks and you should avoid overcapping them. However, although it might sound tempting to spend all the Polyglot stacks, it’s advised to always keep one. Since you don’t need to stand still to cast Xenoglossy, this is a good tool to keep uptime in situations where you need to move to avoid or resolve mechanics.
The same goes for using Sharpcast paired with Paradox to force a Firestarter proc. This is not the most optimal use of Sharpcast, but there are situations in which a Firestarter proc is more useful and a Thundercloud one. Triplecast and Swiftcast can also work as tools to keep uptime, but you should prioritize using the procs.
