Thaumaturge 101 (FFXIV)  

Death is only the beginning.

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3/1/2012 PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING IS NOW OUT OF DATE - I do however plan to update this guide and include BLM at some point-edy

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Contents [hide]

Prologue What is a Thaumaturge? Thaumaturge Abilities List Thaumaturge Tactics Basic Tactics Advanced Tactics The Thaumaturge Guild Weapons list Staves Scepters Brands Cudgels Equipment list Shield Head Body Legs Hands Feet Waist Ear Finger Neck Wrist Obtaining Harlequin's Gear Useful abilities Hunting grounds Attributes Macros The Soloist vs The Party mage Credits Author Bio

Prologue

This guide was originally created in April 2010 on the SE Beta Testers website, but has been continually updated ever since. I have tried to compile as much information from my experiences of playing this class. I hope that when you read this guide you will get some useful information that helps you in your quest for fun and excitement.

If you have any feedback it would be greatly appreciated and of course if you can add to it please do so.

What is a Thaumaturge?

Disciple of Magic: Thaumaturge (THM). In the hands of a skilled practitioner, thaumaturgy can be a force of terrifying destruction. At the heart of this school of magic lies the ability to call forth and command the latent aether within oneself through deep introspection. To then mold that aether into sorcery, the thaumaturge makes use of a scepter or staff, within which is housed a medium -- a natural stone imbued with magical properties. The guild is centered at the Arrzaneth Ossuary in Ul'dah, within those hallowed halls are said to reside powers of life, death, and the beyond.

Role: Thaumaturges are unparalleled in their powers of destruction, eclipsing even the Disciple of War. By enfeebling enemies and enhancing allies, thaumaturgy can prove to be an invaluable asset, particularly in battles of attrition. For further information on this relating to the real world check out this link.

• Starting as a Thaumaturge

I recommend that if you are reading this guide before you have created your character, you start out in the city of Ul'dah as it has the Thaumaturge Guild there but also because it has the Goldsmithing Guild in it, Alchemist Guild and Miners guild – The Goldsmithing Guild is very useful to you as you may want to rank up this craft to make and repair your weapons as you continue your journey. I know I found this very useful. Also mining can be very good for your Goldsmithing (collecting mats etc) so it all ties together very nicely.

Your starting gear is limited but proficient enough for you to get to Rank 10 with. You may want to purchase better gear as you make those first few ranks but if you play well you will get to Rank 10 very quickly and your purchases may soon become out of date. You will get Gil if you complete regional levequests. This will give you the means to purchase new gear if you need. I stayed with my low level gear (Mostly all called Weathered 'insert name of item' etc) and my Onion Helm until about Rank 12 before I bought anything new.

• The Roles of a Thaumaturge

Type	Information	Spell Sets	Useful for
Nuking	Use your powers to unleash the full force of your high damage spells, most likely in combination with some of the Conjurer's elemental spells.	Thunder	Battle Leve's/NM Battles.
Healing	Main healer. Not as good since 1.2 update as can only use Cure.	Pretty obvious really. Cure and Sacrifice I, II and III or just II and III.	Situational - NM battles, general grinding.
Balanced	A combination of all. Situationally fluent.		Grinding Parties and NM battles.

More information on all of the types of spells you can use is in the Thaumaturge Abilities section of the guide.

• Umbral, Astral and Neutral Affinity

According to Lodestone the following is true:

• Umbral = Earth, Ice and Water

• Astral = Fire, Thunder and Wind

• Neutral has no affinity

So when planning your spell builds for different occasions it is important to bear in mind what spells to set according to...

a)What you will be doing when fighting

b)How you have assigned your elemental points

Thaumaturge Abilities List

One of the biggest draws for me when I first started playing was the spells! Here is a list I have compiled of all the abilities you get as you progress. Some are more useful than others and some are very situational. Later in this 101 I have discussed this further but for now here are the spells you will get each time you rank up.

Name	Rank	Information
Flashfreeze II	50	You can incapacitate with this spell.

Thaumaturge Tactics

Essentially playing the class of Thaumaturge entails quite a lot of skill if you want to get the most out of the class. In the next section I have outlined the important ones and split them in Basic and Advanced sections.

Basic Tactics

• AOE

A suggested stance	Positioning in group situations.

I think one of the first things you will need to learn as a THM is the usefulness of your conal AOE and its range. If you have already played Conjurer (CON) you will be used to being able to heal in a completely different way. So the correct positioning of a Thaumaturge is most important.

• MP Conservation

For a mage, managing your MP is one of the most important things. Recent patches in FFXIV have meant that it is harder to ensure you always have a full bar. If you run low or completely out of MP during a fight this can mean a party KO and people will not be pleased with you. So if you just go nuke or Cure happy and suddenly find yourself not being able to cast, check your MP guage.

It seems obvious to some but I'm surprised at how many Mages waste MP by over-nuking or over-healing. If your Sacrifice is doing 350 HP + HP regen then don't heal your tank when hes only been hit for 50. It's just not MP efficient. The same goes for when you are using Siphon MP on a mob, don't do it unless the amount you siphon is less than the total amount of your full MP bar.

Damnation

Not as good as you think to help recover MP as it only gives you a small percentage of MP back in relation to how much damage you did the mob, however in combination with other methods and the fact that it can do some damage its not a bad spell to set providing you have the spare ability slots. Bare in mind that Damnation is not a 100% hit.

Siphon TP + Damnation - Don't do it!

If you cast Siphon TP to generate enough TP to cast Damnation, the amount of MP you 'may' get back is not really worth the effort so unless its very low level mobs (you will get more MP back from these) it's not really worth it. You would be better using Flashfreeze.

Passive MP regen

Remember that all classes have a passive MP regen ability. To make this work all you do is put your weapon away and stand there. If you sit it seems you regen quicker.

Spiritbind If you have Spiritbind use this if you are not required to run around too much as this can save you lots of MP.

Stygian Spikes

You will probably only be using these if you solo but these are very useful and if kept on all the time can easily keep you topped up. I use these often when soloing Notorious Monsters or NM's.

Exaltation

I always use this as a last resort, if I simply can't regenerate my MP. Depending on your MND you can get 550+ MP when using this spell. Bare in mind that the cooldown timer is 10 minutes.

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• General Strategies

Sacrifice I, II or II?

As you progress and get these spells you need to think carefully about which one to use and when. There is some strategy to making the right choice. For example to cast Sacrifice you will need enough HP to cast the spell (see image - the amount of HP you need to cast the spell is in orange). If you do not have enough HP then this is where you will need to use Cure as this only costs MP. Cure and Sacrifice both have the same casting times, Cure uses a little more MP (very small difference) and both share the same recast times for each tier of the spell. Sacrifice is the better of the two spells as it regens your targets HP over time after the initial HP replentishment, Cure does not have the HP regen after casting. Cure and Sacrifice replentish a similar amount of HP (Cure slightly more) but if you ass the HP regen Sacrifice is the clear spell of choice. When you are full healer in a party you will often start the cycle with a Sacrifice and then use Cure if and when needed. I always set Cure II and II and Sacrifice II and II (I am Rank 50 though). If you don't have the thrid tier spells yet then set I and II for both cure and Sacrifice.

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Punishing Barbs, when do I?

Punishing Barbs is often used as a last resort when in a party. It sheds hate (because the enemy has to hit you for it to work) and damages the enemy and can quite often take a sizable chunk off the enemy's HP bar. Timed right, Punishing Barbs can be devastating sometimes winning a fight for you. In a solo situation its an added damage spell. A useful tip when fighting solo and using this spell is to make sure your mob does not have Paralyze, Blind or Absorb ATT on it or that you dont have Shock Spikes set. This is because you want the enemy to hit you and if its incapacitated in some way it won't hit you as much! In terms of timing I always use this spell just before I predict the monster is going to hit me with its most powerful move. Depending on your enemy it can hit you three to four times if timed right.

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Basic Umbral and Astral Cycle

The basic cycle is very simple. Start by casting your umbral spell Scourge, check that the umbral weakness has stuck and then cast any umbral based spell such as Poison or Bio. The same goes for the astral spell Banish. Cast this before you cast Dia, Gravity or Silence. The reason for this is simple: If the enemy has umbral or astral weakness your next spell has a higher chance of hitting, sticking and causing more damage.

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Emnity management

As a Thaumaturge , you will need to learn how to manage your emnity well because many of our spells, especially the AOE ones generate lots of hate. Where you stand in relation to your party, is paramount in getting the best out of the job. THM's can stand quite far away from the mele classes in battles and avoid most enemy AOE, this gives THM's an advantage over CON's who often need to be closer. Ensure you tell party members that they should not attack until you have buffed everyone in the party (see the macro section below). If you get too trigger happy with your Bio and Dia cycles the mob is likely to turn on you! If this happens stop casting for a couple of cycles and it is sometimes useful to cast Punishing Barbs (if you have it set) but bare in mind that this also generates emnity. Keep your next cures Tier I or II only (unless you in a desperate situation) and do not ast any debuffs until you sure your tank has emnity back on him/her.

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Chainspell Resurrect

Simple: Cast Chainspell before you cast resurrect and you can raise two people in the time it would normally take you to raise one. If you have the Conjurer's Raise you can raise three people in your party very quickly. I even have this as a macro but don't use it that often.

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Chainspell Stoneskin

Simple: Cast Chainspell before you cast Stoneskin for a very quick cast. Also if you have set the CON ability Roaming Soul you can extend Shock SPikes to nearly that of a fully fledged CON.

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Guildmark essentials:

Buy and set these as soon as you can.

Firm Conviction

Fastcast

One with Nature

Transcendence

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Dark Seal only used once

Dark Seal is a powerful spell and which almost garuantees your next debuff sticks but remember that whatever spell you cast next, Dark Seal will disappear. Dark Seal I and II both share the same timer so you only set one on your hotbar.

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Understanding elemntal affinity

To get the most out your nukes, debuffs etc then understanding elemental affinity is very important. For example whenever I can I use an Ice Brand to cast Paralyze or Flashfreeze and I also have my stats set up for an umbral spell set. In other words I assign most of my points into Ice, Water and Stone (the umbral elements) - To remember which ones are umbral is quite simple. Umbral elements are ones that you can physically hold in your hand, astral ones you can't (Fire, Air and Lightning).

If you can know your enemy's elemental weaknesses and exploit these to the full. If your enemy is strong to Ice then the chances of Flashfreeze incapacitating it or Paralyze sticking is lessened. If its weak to Ice then the chances are greatly increased.

Fire melts ice, but is extinguished by wind.

Ice obstructs wind, but is melted by fire.

Wind Extinguishes Fire, but is obstructed by Ice. Fire > Ice > Wind > Fire

Earth grounds lightning, but is eroded by water.

Lightning boils water, but is grounded by earth.

Water erodes earth, but is boiled by lightning. Earth > Lightning > Water > Earth

To see which enemy has what element you can look here. Just pick a monster and see its statistics.

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Stygian Vs Shock

Just don't forget that Shock Spikes and Stygian Spikes over write each other. In other words if you cast Stygian Spikes when you have Shock Spikes on then Shock Spikes will disappear. Most of the time you will want to be casting Shock Spikes on party members.

Advanced Tactics

• When to Nuke, when to Cure, when to debuff and how to do all three!

As a Thaumaturge you should be able to do all three of these things depending on the circumstances. If your ability setup allows, set some Conjurer nukes in with your Scourge, Banish and Shadowsear. Check out the mobs elemental weakness before hand as you will find that you can nuke well using CON abilities (even better with the trait One with Nature. Managing your Mp is important (as it is with all things we do) but when you are debuffing, healing and nuking it is even more important that you pay attention to your MP guage and use all the facilities at your dsiplosal to ensure you keep MP topped up. If you are playing as part of a team and are fighting a NM ask other members of your team what they want you to do, but don't be afraid of telling them what you can do! If other mages are on the team then decide with them who is chief healer, nuker, buffer and debuffer - a little organisation goes a long way. By the time you are at r40+ you may be starting to take on the higher NM's and these tactics are very important to ensure success and lots of happy faces at the end of the battle.

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• Supporting your team

Even though the Thaumaturge can be an excellent soloist we often play with other people in our quests for glory, gear and gil. Communication is very important. Organising a battle before you go in is essential and this includes SP grind as well as HNM's. Some people prefer to use a verbal communications device such as a head set mike using a VoIP software program such as Ventrillo. This can help a lot as when you are in the heat of the battle typed messages can get missed or sometimes you don't have time to type! When you are playing as part of a team you are all trying to achieve a common goal so supporting your team is the key. We all want those glory Nukes/ moments in the game where we can shine but never put this in front of making sure you are still healing your fellow members, supporting the tank/DD, supporting other mages, raising people so less delays with weakness etc.

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• Notorious Monsters

NM Hunting is one of the things I really enjiy doing. It gives you an immense sense of achievement bringing down one of these beasts and also quite often some very useful rare loot.

Your part in a party NM Hunt:

Heres my hotbar top row set up for fighting the Great Buffallo NM.

Phantom Dart: Flashfreeze II: Siphon TP: Scourge II: Bio II: Poison II: Paralyze: Blood Rite II: Dark Seal II

In my setup there are many more spells on the the next two rows but these are the ones I try to keep my eyes on for timers etc. I put Siphon TP next to Flashfreeze so that when the timers are ready I can fire again as soon as possible. I have put Scourge then bio, then Poison and then Paralyze because they all seem to stick well on that particular NM and are all Umbral meaning that you should be firing a Scourge before firing the other spells. I also include the last two spells on that bar to keep up to date with thier timers. Of course it is fairly easy to scroll down and see your other spells on the other bars but sometimes this can get tricky in the middle of a fight.

MP Replenishment

Often while fighting the long battles with the higher NM's you will be using a lot of MP. Especially if you are the solo mage in the party you may find yourself running low. Most NM's have a finite amount of MP and so eventually run out and if the battle is especially long you will need another source. One trick to keeping a pool of MP replenished is to grab a low level mob that is wandering around the environment (sometimes this is difficult) and agro it so it starts attacking you. Keep it and the NM in front of you so you can continue with your duties. Use this new enemy to drain MP from.

Solo

We are one of the few classes that can successfully solo tough NM's such as Dodore. Usually there are certain spells that become very useful when soloing a NM. Spell set ups are essentail to get right when fighting a NM so do your research before hand, find out what the mob is weak to, what its big moves are and what likey nasty debuffs it will try and stick on you. Sometimes it is necessary to go buy/make some potions to help you when magic is not an option (for instance if the mob casts Silence it would be wise to have some HP potions).

I have various spell set ups for every mob I fight and for every situation I find myself in. Adapt and learn is the key. unfortunately at this moment we don't really have enough Macro slots available to change a whole set of spells in one click but hopefully SE will change this at some point.

Contagion

This spell can be a very useful way of turning the tide on mobs who have nasty Debuffs of there own and can cause them more harm than you if you cast this spell. It lasts a fairly long time but you have to keep remembering to cast it.

Emulate

An extremely useful spell when fighting NM's as these are the ones usually with higher elemental affinities than most ordinary mobs. You can pretty much keep this on a mob all the time and, as in the case of Dodore can negate much of the power of his attacks and that of his minions.

Here are a couple of great video's of Keaka (A fantastic Thaumaturge!) soling two NM's.

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• Kiting

This is done by having characters with high evasion, defense, or some other methods to avoid taking massive damage kite the monster(s). In FFXI this is often used in conjunction with Utsusemi, Flee, Bind, and Gravity, and sometimes Charm. This method is popular for some special mission fights but as we don't have these yet in FFXIV it is less used. A Thaumaturge can Kite however you would have to kit yourself out with Hig EVA and Defence gear. We don't have things like Utsusemi or charm but we do have emulate, Quickstride, Bind, gravity and paralyze which can all help when trying ti Kite an enemy. I must admit that I haven't had a lot of experience doing this yet although I have treid it. One thing to remember is that the mob that is following you will eventually deagro and return to its terratory if you run too far out of range.

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• Initiation

Initiation is a vry effective buffing technique but it it important that you make the correct selection of Absorb spell and you get it on your party member as quick as you can. Some people make a macro for this to let the player know that the buff is coming. Absorb Def is one of the most popular spells to use as this mostly benefits all of your party members because it not only lowers your enemy defense therefore making your party members hit for more but also gives your Initiation target (usually the Tank) higher def which equals less HP lost > less healing needed >> more MP saved. Other variations are more class specifics so it depends on what your players need. In some cases EVA/ACC and ATT are useful. Most Pugalists that I have played with prefer Absorb Attack but ask the players what they like before selecting which spell.

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• Double Nuke! - Chainspell

Don't foget that the Conjurer spell Chainspell has more uses than you think and used well this can give you very nice results. Combine this with Spirit Bind + Profundity II + Blood Rite II + Shadowsear and you can get fantastic results: The order of casting would be:

Spiritbind> Profundity II> Blood Rite II> Chainspell> Shadowsear> Shadowsear (Thereby halving the amount of MP getting and initial shadowsear and chainspell gets rid of the longer casting and longer recasting timer giving you another go!)

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• Flashfreeze II and NM Incapacitation (+ Siphon TP)

I have only got good results on the Buffalo NM with this but Using Siphon MP and then using Flashfreeze II can Incapacitate it and turn the mob onto its side so your DD can get off some well timed Incapacitating moves of their own. It's a great feeling when you can down a NM several times in a fight.

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• Giving up Phantom Dart

If by R50 you are still using Phantom Dart there is something wrong I think, yes use it to gain TP if you really need that but you should be concentrating using all of your magic arsenal at this time. Those early days with PD are over for now!

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• Battle Regimen

There is planned changes for this very soon so it might all become moot.

There is a great in-depth guide here provided by AureliousSilverbreeze

Battle Regimens are an excellent way to help you in your fights. They are not as hard as people are saying and you should be both familiar with them and know how to execute them.

The Thaumaturge Guild

A map of the guild in Ul'Dah.	The entrance to the Guild.

The Guild is located in Ul'Dah and there is not much you can really do there until you are R20 apart from spend any Guildmarks you may have (more of this later but you may not get many of these for a while anyway)

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• Thaumaturge Guild Quests

Your first guild quest can be taken at Rank 20 and you have to be at least at Mission 15 or above in the Main Storyline.

Quest Name	Rewards	Guide
The Big Payback	20k Gil, 2k Guildmarks.	Youtube:The Big Payback
Revelry and Rivalry	30k Gil, 3k Guildmarks	Guide Link
Law and the Order	36k Gil, 3.6k Guildmarks	Guide Link

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• Spending your guildmarks

Guildmarks are awarded from leves. They replace the gil reward but sometimes you can still get an item reward in addition to guildmarks. If you can, trade completed leves for leves that give guildmarks as a reward, as you can double or treble the total amount of guildmarks you get. You can only recieve your class specific guildmarks if you complete the Leve as that class (This is now made clear at the point of initiating a Guildleve at the aetherlyte crystal).

At first you might find that you are not receiving many guildmarks but they eventually will start flowing to a point where you will have more than you could possibly need.

Name	Rank	AP	Type	Marks	Information
Silhouette	20	0	Action	6,000	Not a bad ability to get early on. Can diminish hate on you with a few hits.
Complete Control	20	2	Trait	6,000	Converts an attribute point allocation of Mind +5 into Dex+5.
Driven by Faith	20	2	Trait	6,000	Converts an attribute point allocation of Piety +5 into Vitality+5
Firm Conviction	30	0	Trait	8,000	Before it was nerfed in the Nov. 2010 patch this was a 'must have' ability. It's still very good to have but damage mitigation is not nearly as good.
Will to Power	30	2	Trait	8,000	Converts an attribute point allocation of Intelligence+5 into Strength+5.
Complete Control II	40	3	Trait	10,000	Converts an attribute point allocation of Mind +10 into Dex+10.
Shadowfall	40	0	Action	10,000	A multi-hit AOE version of Phantom dart. Great at getting you TP from multiple mobs but also good at getting you hate. Useful on solo guildleve's.
Driven by Faith II	40	3	Trait	10,000	Converts an attribute point allocation of Piety+10 into Vitality+10.
Will to Power II	40	3	Trait	12,000	Converts an attribute point allocation of Intelligence+10 into Strength+10.
Transcendence	50	3	Trait	12,000	Increases your affinity with thaumaturge-actions by 10, up to a maximum of 100.

Weapons list

The Thaumaturge one-handed and two-handed weapons have a large effect on what damage our spells do. The weapons available vary and loosely fit into four catagories: Staves, Scepters, Brands and Cudgels. (More to come about this topic).

So which weapon should you be using?

Well let me start off by assuming you don't have your shield ranked up to 50. If this is the case then you should be using a shield and a one-handed weapon purely to rank your shield up. At the time of writing this is ‘free' SP and, in most cases, would supersede the need for the extra boosts you might get from using a stave, certainly when you are just ranking up.

Now things get a little more interesting if you already have your shield ranked up or you just don't want to do that. Lets look at the four kinds of weapons in a little more detail.

Staves

Tend to have higher Critical Hit rate statistics than scepters, brands and cudgels. Do not allow you to wear a shield. Have a higher parrying rate than most other weapons. The R35 Decorated Horn Staff is still worth using at R50 as it has high magic accuracy and is easily repaired.

Name	Optimal Rank	Repair Class Dark Matter Grade	Craft Rank and (Subs)	Crit. Hit Rate	Mag Acc	Mag Pot
Bone Staff	5	Goldsmith + 2	Goldsmith 5	88	88	46
Decorated Bone Staff	15	Goldsmith+ 2	Goldsmith R20	104	104	57
Horn Staff	25	Goldsmith + 3	Goldsmith R30	124	124	91
Tenfinger Tallstaff Magdef +10	30	Goldsmith + 3	Goldsmith R30	132	132	110
Decorated Horn Staff	35	Goldsmith+ 4]	Goldsmith R35	135	135	118
Ivory Staff MA+10, MCR+10	49	Goldsmith+ Grade 5 Matter	Goldsmith R50

Scepters

Higher magic accuracy than staves. Abundant and fairly easy to purchase and make. The R41 Ornate Silver scepter currently has the highest magic accuracy in the game, however the vintage is not far behind.

Name	Optimal Rank	Repair Class Dark Matter Grade	Craft Rank and (Subs)	Crit. Hit Rate	Mag Acc	Mag Pot
Weathered Scepter	1	Goldsmith + 2	Can be purchased in every city for the price of 1,392.	76	84	38
Copper Scepter	6	Goldsmith+ 2	Goldsmith R7	85	94	47
Decorated Copper Scepter	11	Goldsmith + 2	Goldsmith R18	93	102	57
Silver Scepter	21	Goldsmith + 3	Goldsmith R27	110	121	77
Decorated Silver Scepter	31	Goldsmith+ 4	Goldsmith R30	124	137	104
Ornate Silver Scepter	41	Goldsmith + 5	Goldsmith R48	133	148	128
Electrum Scepter AP +7, MA+17	43	Goldsmith + GRD5	Goldsmith R48	?	?	?
Verdant Scepter INT +3, MND +2, Magdef +6	50	Goldsmith + GRD5	Goldsmith R48	144	159	152

Brands

Higher overall stats compared to most other weapons. The elemental Brands have the highest Magic potency so if you cast using the right brand you will get 100% of that element for maximum damage. If you know your spell affinity then using an Ice Brand with Bind, Paralyze or Flashfreeze should net you better results depending on your elemental point assignment. The Anathema is also an excellent weapon beating the Vintage Cudgel for magic potency.

Name	Optimal Rank	Repair Class/Dark Matter	Craft Level and (Subs)	Crit. Hit Rate	Mag Acc	Mag Pot
Brand	23	Goldsmith + 2	Goldsmith R30	114	114	92
Lominsan Brand Int+2 MP +5	30	Goldsmith + GRD3	Goldsmith R30	124	124	1115
Anathema Int+4 Mag Def +5 MP +24	35	Goldsmith + 4	Goldsmith R30	128	128	128
Wind Brand	43	Leatherworker + 5	Leatherworker R27	135	135	145
Earth Brand	43	Leatherworker + 5	Goldsmith 25	135	135	145
Lightning Brand	43	Leatherworker+ 5	Goldsmith R25	135	135	145
Fire Brand	43	Goldsmith+ 5	Goldsmith 25	135	135	145
Ice Brand	43	Goldsmith + 5	Goldsmith 25	135	135	145
Water Brand	43	Goladsmith + 5	Goldsmith 25	135	135	145

Cudgels

Only 4 available. The Vintage Cudgel has the highest Critical Hit rate in the game.

Name	Optimal Rank	Repair Class/Dark Matter	Craft Rank and (Subs)	Crit. Hit Rate	Mag Acc	Mag Pot
Brass Cudgel	17	Armorer + 2	Goldsmith 30 + Can be purchased in Limsa Lominsa for the price of 82,280.	118	108	64
Damaged Cudgel	34	Armorer + 4	Dropped from R30 Faction Leve's	67	73	53
Iron Cudgel	37	Armorer + 4	Blacksmith R49 (Alchemist 30)	150	137	114
Vintage Cudgel	44	Armorer + 5	Blacksmith R50	158	144	126
Lominsan Cudgel MP+10, INT+3	41	Goldsmith + Grade 5	Goldsmith R48	166	151	141

Equipment list

A mages Gear is generally going to enhance MND, PIE, INT, VIT and DEF with the addition of Magic Potency and Magic Accuracy being important considerations - You also get gear with extra MP on. So when gearing your mage use these statistics as a general guide to maximize your potential. In the tables below are a selection of gear available in-game that can do this.

For more information about gear, repairing and statistics please visit this excellent Equipment Guide by Osarion

Here I have just picked out the gear that is mage specific:

Shield

As mentioned earlier in the list using a Shield is free SP and its also useful for stats in some cases. In the section above you will notice that some of the best weapons at present are one handed weapons so if you can you might as well equip a shield when using one. Also you will notice that with some shields you get Magic Accuracy and other useful stats that should be taken into account when deciding to be one-handed or two.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
5	Square Maple Shield	Mag Acc +2
10	Worm-eaten Square Shield	Mag Acc +3
13	Bronze Buckler	Eva +3
15	Square Ash Shield	Mag Acc +3
16	Notched Buckler	Eva +4
17	Sheepskin Targe	Ele res. +3
20	Vintage Square Shield	Mag Acc +3
23	Ironclad Bronze Buckler	Eva +4
25	Thalassian Targe	+5 MP, +1 INT, Pie +1, Ele Res. +10
30	Shield of the Savage	HP +12, Str +1, Vit +1
30	Gridanian Targe	MP +5, Magdef+4, Eleres+4
32	Leather Targe	Ele Res. +4
33	Decorated Buckler	Eva +5
34	Lantern Shield	Att +6
36	Vintage Buckler	Eva +5
44	Bladed Lantern Shield	Att +7
47	Raptorskin Targe	Ele Res. +5
50	Warlock's Buckler	INT+2, MND+2

Head

The head piece for a mage is a funny one. If you are going with the Cowl Body piece you cannot equip a head piece and so lose the stats on it. However the Cowls are so good that you will generally not need to use these pieces.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
6	Hempen Hat	+18 MP
7	Lauan Half Mask	+11 HP, +11 MP
10	Hempen Sugarloaf Hat	+1 DEX, +1 MND
11	Cotton Coif	+12 HP, +12 MP
12	Copper Circlet	+12 MP
12	Cotton Bandana	+1 VIT, +1 INT
17	Willow Half Mask	+14 HP, +14 MP
20	Cotton Sugarloaf Hat	+1 MND
21	Canvas Coif	+16 HP, +16 MP
22	Brass Circlet	+15 MP
26	Canvas Hat	+28 MP
26	Moldering Jester's Cap	+2 MND, +2 PIE
27	Oak Half Mask	+18 HP, +18 MP
30	Divining Hat	+18 MP, MND+2, PIE+2, Ele res. +28
30	Torturer's Monocle	MagPot4, MagAcc+4, EleRes+29
30	Peregrine Helm	Att+1, Acc+1, MagPot+1, MagAcc+1, EleRes+22
31	Velveteen Coif	+19 HP, +19 MP
32	Silver Circlet	+18 MP
35	Woolen Sugarloaf Hat	+2 MND
36	Velveteen Hat	+34 MP
37	Yew Half Mask	+22 HP, +22 MP
40	Velveteen Sugarloaf Hat	+2 MND
42	Darksilver Circlet	+22 MP
46	Vintage Jester's Cap	+4 INT, +4 MND
50	Harlequin's Cap	INT +4, MND +4
50	Claret Coif	HP-14, MP+28, Mnd+4, EleRes+28

Body

For a mage the body piece is an important piece of gear. It provides us with the mist DEF and the Cowls tend to be the piece of choice, especially Seer's Cowl, which drops on Prince of Pestilence, located in the Mun Tuy Cellars.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
6	Hempen Robe	+23 MP, +1 INT
11	Cotton Tunic	+23 MP, +2 VIT
11	Cotton Half-robe	+6 HP, +24 MP
14	Hempen Cowl	+2 INT, +1 MND
16	Cotton Robe	+30 MP, +1 INT
21	Canvas Half-robe	+10 HP, +30 MP
21	Canvas Tunic	+29 MP, +3 VIT
24	Cotton Cowl	+3 INT, +2 MND
26	Canvas Robe	+37 MP, +2 INT
30	Loyalist's Bliaud	+3 INT, +3 PIE, +3 MND, Mag Acc +2, Ele res. +35
30	Ascetic's Half-robe	HP-18, MP+18, VIT-3, MND+3, Eleres+34
34	Canvas Cowl	+4 INT, +3 MND
35	Seer's Cowl	+30 MP, +3 MND, +3 PIE, Mag Pot +4, Mag Acc +4, Ele res. +37
36	Velveteen Robe	+45 MP, +3 INT
44	Velveteen Cowl	+6 INT, +4 MND
48	Vintage Robe	+57 MP, Int +4
50	Harlequin's Acton	INT +7, MND +4
50	Revolutionary's Bliaud	Int+5, Mnd+5, PIE+5,MagAcc+4

Legs

Not many options here at the minute and until you get the Harlequin's gear you will probably be wearing the Velveteen tights for a long time.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
11	Cotton Breeches	+15 MP, +1 VIT
16	Cotton Tights	+1 INT
21	Canvas Breeches	+19 MP, +2 VIT
31	Ascetic's Tights	HP-9, MP+9, Vit-2, MagPot+2, EleRes+31
31	Velveteen Hose	+23 MP, +3 VIT
34	Velveteen Chausses	+1 VIT, +1 MND
36	Velveteen Tights	+2 INT
50	Harlequin's Tights	MP +14, MND +3
50	Claret Breeches	HP-14, MP+28, Int+4, MagPot+3, EleRes+31

Hands

Again not much choice here at all at present. With only MP+ on the stats the only real reason to upgrade is the slightly higher DEF.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
8	Sheepskin Mitts	+14 MP
19	Dodoskin Mitts	+18 MP
29	Leather Mitts	+22 MP
39	Toadskin Mitts	+27 MP

Feet

Another low amount of choice. At least they come in different colours!

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
9	Sheepskin Leggings	+13 HP, +13 MP
19	Dodoskin Leggings	+16 HP, +16 MP
29	Leather Leggings	+20 HP, +20 MP
30	Torturer's Duckbills	Int-1, Mnd+2, EleRes+16
39	Toadskin Leggings	+25 HP, +25 MP
50	Warlock's Pattens	Int+3, MagPot+3, EleRes+15

Waist

Same here as above regarding choice. Even the Harlequin's belt doesn't offer that much.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
21	Leather Satchel Belt	+7 MP
31	Tarred Leather Satchel Belt	+8 MP
50	Harlequin's Belt	+8 MP

Ear

Nothing is useful in this slot. There are some earrings that give DEF but the fact they take up useful slot costs it is much better to use the rings.

Finger

Stat rings are very good for boosting your INT, MND, PIE and MAgic Accuracy. The higher ones take up a larger slot cost though and in effect wearing 4 R31 rings gives you a higher boost than the R41 ones.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
2	Bone Ring	+2 Mag Acc
31	Lapis Lazuli Ring	+5 MND
31	Malachite Ring	+5 PIE
31	Danburite Ring	+5 INT
32	Pearl Ring	+4 Mag Acc
41	Aquamarine Ring	+7 MND
41	Peridot Ring	+7 PIE
41	Goshenite Ring	+7 INT

Neck

Again the Chokers are not too bad if you need more Potency but again these items are outweighed by the rings.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
9	Copper Choker	+2 Mag Potency
10	Brass Choker	+3 Mag Potency
29	Silver Choker	+5 Mag Potency
32	Lapis Lazuli Choker	+2 INT
32	Malachite Choker	+2 MND
39	Electrum Choker	+6 Mag Potency
42	Aquamarine Choker	+3 INT
42	Peridot Choker	+3 MND
49	Mythril Choker	+7 Mag Potency

Wrist

The Bone gear is fine at the start when you can't get your rings but again the wrist items become outdated as soon as you can get rings.

Rank	Item	Notable Statistics
14	Bone Armilla	+13 MP
33	Lapis Lazuli Bracelet	+6 HP, +2 INT
33	Malachite Bracelet	+6 HP, +2 MND
34	Pearl Bracelet	+19 MP
36	White Coral Wristband	+13 HP, +13 MP
39	Black Pearl Bracelet	+21 MP
41	Blue Coral Wristband	+15 HP, +15 MP
46	Red Coral Wristband	+16 HP, +16 MP

Obtaining Harlequin's Gear

For each of these items you will need to fight T3 Faction point NM's and hope they drop an orb. If you are lucky enough to get the orb you trade this along with certain materials to Rowena an NPC in Ul'Dah. You will find her just opposite the Town crystal near the market wards, to the right of Bric and Brac.

To get the NM's you will need to accumulate at least 600 faction points for The Brotherhood of the Broken Blade or Azeyma's Shields.

Once you hit a certain rank (If I remember correctly it is 40) you get the option from your Faction Leves NPC e.g Piralnaut in Limsa Lominsa, Totonawa in Ul'dah and Gontrant in Gridania. You have to complete 2 lower tiers first i.e both cost 100 Faction points before you can get the Tier 3 NM that will cost 400. Beat that final NM and a chest will pop. That chest may contain an orb. You can link faction leve's and can still all get orb's when the chest pops. To beat the NM's you will need as large a party as you can get with everyone R40+ although as the game grows people are starting to be able to lowman these NM's. Once you get the orb take that and your mats to Rowena to claim your reward. A lot of the mats are not too hard to come by but you may have to get a high level crafter to make some of them for you. Once you obtain your item it can be sold/traded provided you don't already have one. This is a good idea because sometimes people have Harlequin's gear they want to trade for other classes gear.

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Harlequin's Cap

an Allagan runestone - Nophica, 3 bolts of wine-red velveteen, 6 darksilver squares

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Harlequin's Acton

an Allagan runestone - Nald'thal, 2 circles of wolf fur, 2 bolts of undyed linen

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Harlequin's Tights

an Allagan runestone - Nymeia, 3 bolts of raven-black velveteen, 9 spindles of karakul yarn

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Harlequin's Belt

an Allagan runestone - Oschon, 3 circles of peiste leather, 2 circles of storm-blue boar leather

Useful abilities

The way this game is setup means that you may choose to improve your Thaumaturge's effectiveness by adding in other abilities from other classes. I have compiled a list of abilities that you might find useful.

Class	Rank	Ability	Usefulness
Conjurer	1	Fire	All of the elemental nukes are worthy of using. Bare in mind that you will not get the same numbers as you would as a Conjurer. The Tier II's at R24 are better.
Conjurer	4	Cure	Cure is a simple healing spell, it starts off being pretty powerful in the 0-10 range then it starts to lose its way once mobs start to hit you for larger amounts than Cure actually gives you back.
Conjurer	8	Stoneskin	You will need this is you are going to effectively buff your party.
Conjurer	8	Shock Spikes	This is an extremely useful spell for solo play or party play. It not only damages the enemy but temporarily stuns them allowing you more time to recover.
Conjurer	10	Profundity	Very useful for getting the most out of your nukes.
Conjurer	16	Protect	Very nice to have around, regardless of level. Solo or Party useful.
Conjurer	16	Shell	Shell is brilliant against mobs that use lots of magic attacks. Solo or Party useful.
Conjurer	18	Spiritbind	Simply saving you MP. Useful for long fights where you will not need to move too often.
Conjurer	20	Cure II	Version II of Cure.
Conjurer	28	Paralyna	Occasionally useful to set if you are the only mage in the party depending on what mobs you are fighting.
Conjurer	30	Roaming Soul	Lengthens the buff duration of your next spell. Useful when used along with Shock Spikes to put the buff duration close to that of Protect and Shell.
Conjurer	32	Sleep	Very useful. Crowd control and combined with Dark Seal this is great.
Conjurer	38	Raise	Useful in that if set along with resurrect you can revive two party members without the wait for recast.
Conjurer	40	Chainspell	Long recast but allows you to instantly cast any spell, receive no recast time and zero stamina cost. Great when used along with Raise. Very nice spell to use with Shadowsear as you get two nukes for the price of one! Well almost.
Conjurer	42	Shock Spikes II	Version II Of Shock Spikes.
Conjurer	42	Stoneskin II	Version II of Stoneskin.
Conjurer	48	Cure III	Version III of Cure. Worth getting Conjurer to 48 for.
Conjurer	48	Protect II	Version II of Protect.
Conjurer	48	Shell II	Version II of Shell.
Conjurer	30	Fastcast	As mentioned before very worthwhile. Around 20% faster casting.
Conjurer	50	One With Nature	As you will be likely to be using many Conjurer spells then this is definately worthwhile.
Archer	22	Quickstride	Not as good as it sounds but can still be useful if you need to get away and you have set as a macro.
Archer	26	Chameleon	Reduce emnity.
Gladiator	4	Rampart	Improves defence. Useful for solo fights.
Gladiator	30	Self-preservation	Increases guard ability if needed.
Gladiator	34	Rampart II	Improved from Tier I.
Gladiator	36	Sentinel	Reduces damage dealt and slows emnity.
Pugilist	6	Second Wind	Add to your healing abilities.
Pugilist	12	Featherfoot	Evade a single attack. Can be useful for solo.
Pugilist	30	Prime Conditioning	Increases healing effects on you by 10%.
Pugilist	36	Second Wind II	Even more healing. Both Tier I and II share the same timer.
Marauder	10	Defender	Greater Defence.
Marauder	34	Barbaric Yawp	Inturrupts casting by mob.
Marauder	48	Defender II	Even greater defence.
Shield	10	Aegis Boon	Blocks and you receive a little HP back.
Shield	50	Deflection	Increases defence against frontal attacks.

Hunting grounds

Soloing your THM has changed many times over the past months since the release of FFXIV. At present it is possible to solo both by the more traditional 'grind' or by behest or leve's. A combination of all three seems to work best.

You can solo as a THM, in fact using our abilities many classes benefit from greater survivability when soloing. I recommend soloing from at least 1-10 as you will learn aspects of the job and these ranks are you initial training exercise. 10-20 you can solo with no massive difficulties but after about rank 15 you may want to start picking up your first party. The reason for this, simple you will start getting more SP, and you will find it more difficult to get maximum SP from a single mob but more importantly you will need to learn how to play the job with others around. Even though at the time of writing there is no end-game content in the game, there will be and I guess the THM will have its role to play. Post 20 I have found THM a difficult job to solo, not because we can't beat mobs, but because we just don't DD that well at low levels. The solo guides below are what I've found on my travels since the various updates of the game but first you may want to try these links from other people in ZAM:

Leveling Guide

Hunting Grounds

I must say that for early ranks BEHEST is the way to rank up real quick. This has recently been improved with the 1.15 patch (February 2011). Soling to r20 is very easy at present. Just take a behest in an appropriate area and you will be rank 10 very quickly. You can easily go from 1-20 in a few hours. Treat this time as spell aquisition and learning something about the class. You won't however get much chance to use your abilities though as in most behests you will be with lots of other people all fighting at once. You will find your self probably either healing or spamming Phantom Dart.

In addition to this, Levequests solo are still very good and easy SP. Use these up whenever you can for the rewards:- Faction credits, SP, gil and even items.

Attributes

If you're new to this then remember the following:

Statistic	Attribute
Intelligence (INT)	Increases damage dealt by magic attacks
Mind (MND)	Reduces damage taken from magic attacks. Increases maximum MP
Piety (PIE)	Reduces chances of your magic attacks being resisted. Increases your chance of resisting magic attacks of others.
Vitality (VIT)	Reduces damage taken from physical attacks. Increases maximum HP.
Dexterity (DEX)	Increases accuracy of physical attacks. Increases chances of evading physical attacks.Increases critical hit rate of physical attacks and resulting damage. Increases parry rate for certain weapons.
Strength (STR)	Increases damage dealt by physical attacks. Increases damage prevented when blocking attacks with a shield.

I would raise PIE/INT here in order for a few reasons. One, as a THM your biggest assest is your debuffs, much like a RDM in XI. Getting your para/slow etc to land and ultimately end up saving you much more MP down the road. Also with higher lvl mobs in parties a majority of damage done to them along with NM's is THM Dots which are based on PIE. Furthermore, PIE is the stat in which determines your effectiveness of your Absorb Spells and also Siphon MP.

Calamity Jane ffxivcore admin "- increasing piety yields significant results to Siphon MP."

Disciples of War rely most heavily upon the STR, VIT, and DEX attributes, while for Disciples of Magic the emphasis is on INT, MND, PIE. The only 'non-mage' stat I would definately raise is VIT to help with your survivability (along with high Def gear). This is useful to remember for players who wish to maximize their character's potential when allocating bonus points.

In addition, there are bonuses to the effect of magic spells that are also based on attribute values. Below is a list showing the general relationship between attributes and magic types. The conditions that result in such bonuses, however, varies between spells.

Magic Type	Attribute
Offensive (Attack/Counter)	Intelligence.
Healing/Defensive	Mind.
Absorb/Damage over time	Piety.

Macros

There is a very good basic guide on how to use macros here and you will find all you need to know about the basics.

Using a macro is a very effective way of improving your thaumaturge. The following ones are ones that I have found useful.

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• Area of Effect

Area of Effect off.	Area of Effect on.

Ok so one of the first things that I think is important as a mage is Area of Effect. In order to ensure you always have control over this I would assign your ALT or CTRL keys '1' and '2' to the following macros. You can also use the 'Z' key on your keyboard for this but assigning two seperate keys certainly helps me know and remember whether I have on or off which can be very important.

/aoe on

/aoe off

These are great in party situations so your THM can quickly switch from party heal, single target heal and aoe debuffs when no other mobs are around.

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• Example Scourge Macro

/aoe on

/action "Scourge" < t >

and obviously 'off' for single target

• When you use this method you do not have to hit enter, you do not see a green icon or a purple circle. (Also please note that I anything in this guide with a < t > or < me > at the end has no spaces between the < and the letter - Wiki formatting!).

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• Siphon MP

Some of you may know the Siphon MP trick off a dead mob already but I found a little trick that can get you a little more MP back, its not ground breaking I know but it helped me solo using lots of nuking and I didn't have to go to a crystal, rest or use exaltation.

I was fighting coblyns/Doblyns at the time I did this, and I know that this may not work with every mob out there. One of the things that makes this work well is that some mobs will take an interest in you and come and have a good look at you. This is where the trick comes in. Make yourself a macro that looks like this:

/aoe on

/wait 1

/action "Siphon MP" < t >

/wait 2

/aoe off

Now what you do is this:

Attack one mob as normal and hook another mob (2 if you can take the hits) and make it follow you, don't attack it or anything just keep on hitting the one you have already started fighting. If there are any other mobs around you might need to train them away a little from where you are standing. When you have killed the first mob, switch to the other quickly and hit the macro above. This will give you max MP back from the dead mob and whatever you get from your current mob! Hey presto more MP from one cast of the spell.

I found that doing this trick I was able to keep going for as long as I wanted without the need for exaltation.

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• Full Nuke

Another useful macro I have recently found is this one:

/action "Blood Rite II" < me >

/wait 1

/action "Profundity II" < me >

/wait 1

/action "Scourge II" < t >

/wait 6

/action "Phantom Dart" < t >

/wait 1

/action "Phantom Dart" < t >

If the timing is right then you can take the mob down with one macro press. But be warned that if some miss be ready to heal yourself or spam Banish or something.

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• Shell and Protect

When setting a macro it is important that you give party members information when you are setting off these speels and also where.

/p {Gather Together} in {front} of {Thaumaturge}

/p {Protect} + {Shell} in 5 seconds.

/aoe on

/wait 4

/a "Protect" < me >

/wait 6

/a "Shell" < me >

/aoe off

This will give members of your party enough time to know that you are casting and where to stand. The wait times will vary so customize these if you need to. Notice how I have added the AOE on and off? This is to make sure that you don't accidently nuke a load of mobs when you guys start to fight. Of course you might wish to do this and this is where the AOE off and on macro's become more useful. Another reason (and this can be embarassing) is if you gather your party around you and only have single casting set - I have done this a few times and it doesn't inspire faith of those around you!

The Soloist vs The Party mage

A Thaumaturge is able to function very well as a solist and as a full member of a party. There are some differences in play styles and different emphasis on job abilities.

• Solo spell combinations (first ranks):

Sacrifice>Phantom Dart>Damnation>Punishing Barbs>Slow>Scourge/Banish I would say at early levels (1-10) these are the best combinations I can find. Phantom Dart and Damnation are your best damage spells that take HP off the mob and Sacrifice is the spell that saves you most of the time. Punishing Barbs is a great spell but you have to time it right. I only ever really use it as a soloist if the mobs is hitting harder than I first thought it would after I had engaged it, if I just want to add to my DD and there will be no emergency, if it is part a group/link set of mobs and want to do some damage to the others while I attack one target (bear in mind you will lose SP on the other non-target mobs because of this), or if I am faced with a powerful mob that builds up its TP to basically one shot me – this is useful on difficult leves because although you'll die, as long as you have time you most likely will kill the mob with this spell and be ready by the time you get back to camp – This used to work beautifully with Devlet's Incantation move but now SE has lowered the damage so they don't always one shot you. Slow is a fantastic spell for a solo THM, it slows down the mob to a crawl and most often sticks. This can really help you get a hit>hit>heal combination going and stay on top of the battle. Scourge and Banish are a THM ‘s nukes and can hit for quite high numbers, I always have one set, if not both. If you have already taken a Conjurer class up to rank 10 then you will have some useful spells that you can set that will help you solo, of course one being Cure and others being stoneskin, profundity (good for nukes) and the elemental nukes.

• Middle ranks (11-30)

At this point your options become more varied and depending how high your Conjurer is the choices become very environment specific. Spells that are worth setting as a soloist at these levels would be: Stygian Spikes, ABS Def, Siphon MP, Sacrifice II, Scourge II and/or Banish II, Paralyze, (Firm Conviction – actually available at R20), Blood Rite and Flashfreeze. Conjurer abilities you could mix and match would be: Protect, Shell, Cure II, Paralyna and Silena (totally dependant on mob you are going to be fighting), Fastcast (available at R20),

• High ranks (31-50)

Again this all depends on what you are doing and who you are doing it with. Solo THM's spell sets will involve defensive traits, but if you are in a party you might not need these. Very hard to write what to do here. Just go with the flow and choose combinations that best suit your situation.

As you get higher in levels there are some very good spells for soloing such as Stygian Spikes – which can virtually mean you can nuke freely up to a point (especially since the exaltation timer has been decreased to ten minutes from 30). Poison is a spell you get quite early on and I feel is underused as it is quite potent, usually sticks for a reasonable amount of time and doesn't cost much mp, so its dmg/mp ratio is very good. Blood Rite I have found recently to be a great addition as it really helps those spells get that little bit more damage. Again a good one to set if you have the spare slots.

Siphon MP can net you quite a lot of mp return if the mob is weak to magic or low enough and there is the dead mob trick that will usually net you the most return. Bio and Dia, although have moderate benefits do not seem as potent in FFXIV as they were in FFXI, this is not to say that I don't set them but they are only there if I have spare slots. These spells stack and along with poison can reaslly make a difference to damage over time. Dark Seal is a spell that has recently impressed me when used along side the Conjurers spell Sleep.

• Party Thaumaturge

In my mind the Party THM is where the safest and most SP is at. You'll be fighting some mobs that may be incredibly tough out in the field, or not so tough ones that are from leve's. I found party play to be the most exciting and least repetitive. It is important to note that there is a big difference with a THM in a Leve and in an SP Party.

• Leve quests

The Thaumaturge in a party is a difficult class to master at first. With the amount of emnity sacrifice and any debuff AoE's can generate, if you are not careful, you'll end up spending most of your shared-leves face down. With some careful playcraft you can eliminate this and mitigate any emnity (up to a point!). We are not a tank class however we are able to take a few hits and as firm conviction is a DEF buff we can survive often but not in a sustained way – we are no Gladiator. I find that using macro's is the key to being a party THM and keeping an eye on single target and aoe is essential. When in a battle situation make sure you tell any party members that they must wait for all buffs to be placed before they engage or else risk losing one of their team mates early on in the fray (see Macro section). Just be careful that when you start the fight you are not casting any buffs on your party as this will tend to generate massive enmity before your team mates can get off a provoke or taunt. Obviously as it's a party, the dynamics will depend on who you are with, what class they are and the party member total. Again in early ranks Slow is your friend and is still the debuff of choice (until you get to higher levels of course). Don't forget that Stygian Spikes overwrites Shock Spikes so if you want to cast this at all (which you probably dont!) then make sure you do it away from the other players!

One of the very popular techniques I have used as a party THM is Punishing Barbs - my team has won many a 5 star leve with me going in on a group of very tough mobs, everyone concentrating fire onto one mob and them getting hit with a large single damage hit which in turn reflects a considerable amount of damage back to the mob. On a dmg for dmg ratio, especially at early ranks, you are looking at doing around 10X the damage of Scourge or Banish using this spell, and of course if you can survive that first hit then the second hit usually finishes off the mob for good. Expect to miss out on some rank points doing this though as you are constantly running back from the aetherlyte and cooling down your PB timer while your teamates might still be fighting and getting skill ups. Of course when you get the guildmarks its quite worthwhile to buy Silouette, as again you can deal out more damage to mobs and not get as much hate. I have found that after around R35+ I wasn't using Silouette anymore mainly because my team mates generate enough enmity themselves. I've often found that as a mage I will stand back and cure during behest (tbh there is very little to do if it's a 15/15 party), but during leves I mainly nuke, drain (MP/HP), and cure. Very little time is spent debuffing mobs as they don't usually last long, but there are a few exceptions one of these being dogs. These things have a move that drains the targets hp and transfers it back to the hound. This can make for some very difficult fights. At R43 I sometimes would still only choose 2 stars for dogs. So here it is useful to have debuffs set. I have used Paralyze, Absorb TP, Poison, Dia and nukes. Scourge and Banish seem to hit these things high and if you have Shadowsear welcome to the world of high end nuking (well for us THM's anyway). Whenever I go to nuke I nearly always have Blood Rite II on and/or Profundity as these will increase the power of your nukes quite a lot. V's leve mobs in packs and aoe with these spells can easily turn the tide of battle, but be ready to spam your cure/sacrifice macro's straight after.

• SP Grind Parties

After the novemeber update many of the more traditional party plays were not as plausible so many people stopped partying in this way and have since switched to playing leve-link and Behest – both very good ways to gain SP quick. However there are still some people out there who prefer the challenge of being out in the field and chancing their luck well away from battlewardens and aetherlytes. In my fairly limited experience since the update (I was playing a lot in parties before this) I have enjoyed fighting ‘field' monsters and one of the things I have most enjoyed is playing about with Battle regimens. I have noticed that as a THM you can heal, debuff, buff and BR all during the same fight – its fantastic and interesting. I am sure after more tweaks by SE I will have more to say in this section than I already do but for now that is it. When you eventually get up to around R43+ you will likely be able to do a raptor party (I often see one being shouted for in LL or Uldy), and these parties are more like the tradional party grind setup.

Credits

- Teneleven; Obiar; RhysOnKujata; Puppy; Miayr; MavenRedux - - Thank you guys :) - If anyone has been missed I apologise! -

• Big Big thank you to Osarion for this - you gave it the polish it needed - many thanks!

Author Bio

Thaumaturge Guide.

Name: Edy Sormer

Server: Balmung (Besaid)

Playing since: First closed Beta courtesy of ZAM

Final Fantasy XIV Wikibase™