The first limited job available in Final Fantasy XIV is the Blue Mage. This unique job offers an uncommon spin on the familiar content the game has to offer, allowing you to revisit areas you haven't had a reason to return to in a while with a pair of fresh eyes. While Blue Mage is undoubtedly side-content, it has a lot of variety to it and you won't tire of the options and opportunities it provides.
How to Unlock Blue Mage
In order to gain access to this limited job, there are a few requirements you must meet.
- Level 50 combat job
- Have completed the Main Scenario Quest The Ultimate Weapon.
When you meet both of these requirements, you'll be able to take the unlock-quest, Out of the Blue.
Introduction to Blue Mage
Playing as a Blue Mage is vastly different from playing any other of the jobs available in FFXIV. It has a unique spell system, making this side-content a change of pace from the normal flow of learning a traditional job. In order to gain new skills, you'll be fighting enemies in various settings. Some will be in the open world, and some will be in instanced content.
While you might initially think that this job is a DPS, the Blue Mage can tackle any and all roles not just by slotting in skills that fit those roles, but it can quite literally copy a role from surrounding players through the use of Aetheric Mimicry.
What makes the Blue Mage so popular for farming FATEs or level synced Duties is that their spells are not affected by level sync. If you've ever seen one tearing up FATEs in the world, you might have been able to tell that they are extremely effective in the right hands. They might not be able to access every feature of the game, but what they can do, they can do extremely well.
Blue Mage Limitations
Blue Mage is a limited job, which means that it comes with a bunch of restrictions. These limitations are as follows:
- Its max level is currently 80, and does not receive regular updates like other job do.
- It cannot queue into the Duty Finder - Blue Mages can still enter this content, but it must be done through a pre-formed or undersized party. Even so, the following duties will still be inaccessible:
- Duty Roulettes
- The Forbidden Land, Eureka
- The Bozjan Southern Front
- Variant and Criterion Dungeons
- Deep Dungeons
- PvP content
- Stone, Sky, Sea
- Hall of the Novice
- It cannot progress through the Main Scenario Quest.
- A Retainer cannot become a Blue Mage
With these limitations does come one boon to the Blue Mage job, which is key to leveling it: Blue mages gain more experience from defeating enemies out in the world than regular jobs do. This bonus does not apply to FATEs, but it's a substantial boost.
Blue Mage Book of Spells
You can find the Blue Magic Spellbook under the character menu. Opening it will present you with all the spells currently available to you, as well as your list of active actions. This is where you'll go whenever you want to change your loadout of spells, and to see where you can get the spells you're still missing. All the spells you collect will have their descriptions listed here as well. Get familiar with this interface; it's vital to your journey of progressing Blue Mage.
By defeating an enemy after it has used the skill you are trying to acquire, you have a chance of obtaining that spell for yourself. In the open world, this is usually not guaranteed. Outside of a few enemies that were added in a later patch, you might have to defeat a handful of opponents to get your hands on your target spell. In instanced content however, as long as you are doing the content without using a limited party, you are guaranteed to learn the spell when you defeat the enemy after it has shown you the right ability. If you are alive at the time of the kill, you will have succeeded your mission.
There are a vast amount of spells for you to hunt down as a Blue Mage, and collecting them can be a fun distraction from the regular content the game has to offer.
Blue Mage Log
The second tab in the Blue Mage Spellbook is a little different, and is content you will have to unlock before you can access it. To get this expansion of your spellbook, you'll need to complete the job quest Blue Scream of Death. To get this quest, you'll need to do your Blue Mage job quests up to level 60.
Upon opening your newly unlocked Blue Mage Log, you will be greeted by a list of Duties to complete. The list is separated by expansion as well as by Duty type, much like they are in the Duty Finder. It also provides you with an easy way to look for a party, either by highlighting the Party Finder icon in the list itself, or by using the "Recruit Members" button to start forming your own. The log also lets you start the Duty when you have your group together by hitting the "Commence Duty" button.
In order to mark a Duty as complete, indicated by a red checkmark in the log, you'll need to complete that Duty as a party of only Blue Mages, and with the undersized party option disabled. Each completed Duty will reward you with Allied Seals, Allagan Tomestones of Poetics, and gil. Rewards for a first completion are higher than they are for any subsequent completion of the same Duty.
In addition to the normal rewards for first and subsequent clears of instances in your log, there are also the Weekly Challenge Duties. These are marked by a silver or gold star in the log, and can be easily found by navigating to the Weekly Challenge page of the log. While the silver starred Duties will also appear in the other sections of the log, the gold starred ones are not part of the other sections due to their difficulty.
There are two types of Weekly Challenges, the ones listed under Standard Duty, and the ones listed as Prime Target. The Standard Duty targets are marked with a silver star and are easier to complete. The Prime Target list is filled with more difficult Duties to attain victory in, and are marked with a gold star. These Duties are of the Extreme and Savage variety and require a lot more preparation than the silver starred Duties.
How to Level Blue Mage Fast
Unlike the main jobs in FFXIV, the Blue Mage cannot take advantage of the normal means of leveling up fast. To compensate for the restrictions the job has, it has one major benefit: Blue Mage receives a significant boost to experience gained by defeating enemies. That, paired with another cheeky leveling method, makes for very fast and efficient leveling. All you need is a friend willing to help you out.
To use this method, you will need to learn the spell Flying Sardine which can be picked up from Apkallu in Eastern La Noscea. There are several of them around the beach (X:27.2, Y:36.4), so even if you don't learn the spell on your first attempt, you will before running out of enemies. Simply group up with a friend, have them aggro the Apkallu, and wait until you see one throw a fish. Once the fish has been flung, the enemy can be disposed of. It will be very obvious if you gain the spell for yourself. Large blue text will appear on your screen, informing you that you have learned a new spell.
With this new spell equipped, you are ready to start the leveling process. There are a few areas that loan themselves well to this endeavor, the most popular being the beach south of Stilltide in Kholusia (X:33, Y31). There are a large amount of enemies in this area that are easy to kill, the main target being Hobgoblins. In order to gain experience, you can't be in a party with your helpful friend and you must be the first to attack the target.
Make sure your friend is with you, but not in your party, then fire off a Flying Sardine to attract the enemy's attention. As soon as your sardine alerts the walking bag of experience to your presence, your friend should immediately fire off a skill of their own, protecting you by taking over aggro. If done right, you will get the full amount of experience for the kill, rapidly leveling you up. This should get you to level 70 relatively quickly, without much effort at all.
To get from level 70 to level 80, you have two good options. First, you can repeat the trick described above, but instead of Kholusia you will be heading to a beach south of The Great Works in Thavnair (X:12.2, Y:26.8). The target here is the Akyaali Crab. There are just enough crabs to make this spot efficient, though if you are especially fast you might end up waiting around back at the start for a little before respawns happen.
The second option to get from 70 to 80 is a solo option. This is less fast and easy, but does not require a friend. Equip yourself with Aetheric Mimicry: Tank, and use Mighty Guard to protect yourself. With both of those spells active in addition to the Flying Sardine you should now be used to, head over to the northern most area of The Tempest (X:27, Y:5). You will find both Clionids and Deep-sea Leeches in this area. Simply fire off a sardine towards a leech and lure it towards a Clionid. The Clionid will kill the leech, and just as with the friend-method, you gain the full amount of experience for the kill. These enemies do grow with each leech they eat, so make sure not to overfeed them. If they eat more than one or two leeches, they can one-shot you.
Best Blue Mage Spells
There are currently 124 spells a Blue Mage can collect, and while pretty much all of them can be useful, some or considered more important to have than others. While the goal you have in mind will alter which skills are the best to have equipped, here are a few important ones and where to get them.
| Number | Name | Description | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | White Wind | Basic healing spell | Whalaquee totem after learning 10 spells |
| 24 | Flying Sardine | This spell can be easily obtained and used in order to level your Blue Mage, but it is also an interrupt, making this an important spell to have | Apkallu in Eastern La Noscea (X:27.2, Y:36.4) |
| 30 | Mighty Guard | Reduces damage taken by 40% while reducing damage dealt by 40%, also increases enmity | Whalaquee totem after learning 10 spells |
| 39 | Moon Flute | Increases damage dealt by 50% and movement speed by 30% | Whalaqee totem after clearing 10 stages in the Masked Carnivale |
| 44 | Feather Rain | Wind damage and damage over time | Garuda in The Howling Eye (Extreme) |
| 50 | Bristle | Increases the potency of the next spell cast by 50% | Wild Boar in East Shroud (X:17, Y:23.4) |
| 64 | Whistle | Increases the potency of the next physical damage spell cast by 80% | Dhalmel in Sea of Clouds (X:16, Y:32) |
| 77 | Aetheric Mimicry | This is one of the most important spells to have as a Blue Mage. It allows you take on a different role. It not only alters your stats, but also changes the way some spells function to better suit the mimicry you have chosen | Corruption adds during the first boss in Pharos Sirius (Hard); Ghrah Luminary |
| 78 | Surpanakha | Multi-hit earth damage point blank AoE | Ravana in Thok ast Thok |
| 80 | J Kick | Jumping AoE physical attack | Brute Justice in Alexander - The Burden of the Son |
| 81 | Triple Trident | Threefold physical attack | Abisu Catfish in Yanxia (X:27, Y:7) |
| 82 | Triangle | Deals AoE lightning damage, and increases the potency of the next physical damage spell case by 100 | Abisu Catfish in Yanxia (X:27, Y:7) |
| 90 | Rose of Destruction | High unaspected damage | The Temple of the First - Ivon Coeurlfist |
| 104 | Nightbloom | Unaspected damage and damage-over-time | Castrum Fluminis - Tsukuyomi |
| 122 | Sea Shanty | High potency water damage | Matoya's Relict - Nixie |
The Masked Carnivale
A piece of content that only the Blue Mage can enter is the Masked Carnivale, a series of combat challenges you will have to complete solo. Unlocking the Carnivale is done via completion of the Blue Mage job quest The Real Folk Blues at level 50.
The interface for the Masked Carnivale shows a series of stages. You will have access to 25 of them to start, with additional stages unlocking for you as you complete further job quests, for a grand total of 32 stages. There is a lot of information on the screen, showing you an overview of the arena you will be fighting in, what monsters will be where, how many acts there are, what each monster is weak to, completion time goals, and rewards.
Much like the Blue Mage Log, the Masked Carnivale has weekly challenges, indicated by stars. A blue star for the novice challenge, a silver star for the moderate challenge, and a gold star for the advanced challenge. Completing these challenges gives you additional rewards, and can be a good way to acquire Allied Seals.
There is a lot to this content, with each stage providing a unique challenge. There are many achievements and titles to be won here, and we recommend heading over to the Blue Academy discord server or YouTube channel for detailed guides on not only the Carnivale, but also high-end Blue Mage content.
Blue Mage Tips
- Use the Party Finder. Even if there is nothing listed, you can throw up one of your own for a specific spell or to clear a piece of content for your log or an achievement.
- Gather as many skills as you can before you dive into the harder content. The Blue Mage community is generally kind, and willing to teach others, but you have to come prepared. Try all the roles as a Blue Mage, find what you are comfortable with, and practice.
- Take your time. This content isn't meant to be rushed in a week. There is a lot to learn about Blue Mage, and some of it can be tricky or frustrating. Take a break if you grow tired of it, this is side-content, do not burn yourself out on it. Just because the job is called Blue Mage, does not mean it should leave you feeling blue.
