Any Good Non-Magian Swords For BLU Out There?

It really depends on what you need your blue mage for, OP.

I'm perfectly happy with Sanus+Isador here, but then again Sanus may not be an option for you and/or you may prefer something better than either of those two weapons. I rarely use blue mage for much more than whisker burning (where I only melee to build lights initially). Nice swords make me feel happy, but not so happy that I'd invest millions of gil worth of time or resources to upgrade from here. Based on all the feedback so far, you just need to decide what your time is worth and go from there.

Blu is a job that eats up free time, what with learning spells and all... and it takes effort and dedication to make it shine. If you don't want to put forth the effort to attempt to make a magian sword (at least up to +1 or +2) then it's gonna come back to bite you.

If you're just looking for something temporary until you can finish some magian swords, then the augmented firmaments may suit you just fine. A few others have made other suggestions such as the Isador, or the Sanis Enis which are also suitable, but may prove to be much more time consuming than actually making a magian sword.

I definitely know where you're coming from when it comes to limited free time to play the game, much less actually doing something enjoyable instead of repetitive and tedious. When I first leveled the job, I didn't ever have the time to finish a STR sword, so I worked on one while also working on another easier magian sword at the same time so I could at least have something better than my firmaments.

tl;dr start a STR sword and work on it when you get the opportunity.

More like you can't get my point for my every post to begin with.

5.5M for 100k geode, or 3.3M, it doesn't matter. It doesn't change the fact that STR magian is hell lot more expensive than AH sword. I did not argue that 3.3M on STR sword suddenly makes it not expensive compare with AH alternatives.

So it's completely up to the OP to choose which sword to get. Maybe he only want to settle with 750k and get it done with and never want to bother with a better one.

But just because he can "afford" 750k, doesn't mean he want to spend 2M+ more gil for a better one. It has nothing to do with income, it only has something to do with choices and priority.

Say if he can make 100k a day avg, and after 7.5 days he can afford AH sword, doesn't mean he'd want to spend 20 more days to farm STR. Maybe rest of his income goes to other gears/food, relic and w/e. Even if his income increased, and makes 2M a day, doesn't mean that 2M will go to STR sword either.

You're right. I don't get the point of your posts sometimes because I don't bother to read them when they begin with useless dribble.

For example, you say that that 5.5M verse 3.3M doesn't matter. That's a 2.2M swing.
But then later on, you say maybe the OP doesn't want to spend an extra 2M.
So does 2M not matter or does it matter? Contradiction.

Now to address one of your points: "Maybe he only want to settle with 750k and get it done with and never want to bother with a better one."

If that is the case, then, like I suggested, he can settle for the Firmaments he currently has and save himself 750k. When people are looking to better their characters, I'm going to give them the best advice I know. Which I did. I even wrote a small little "guide" on how to do the STR magian trial, because it seemed to me that he was ignorant of how easy it actually was.

My point is this: set yourself up for future success.
If you buy an AH sword and settle with it, then that's fine, but more than likely you will eventually want something better. With an AH sword, you have no alternative but to sell the sword (at a net loss, usually) and find something better. With a Trial sword, you can make a Shamshir +2 (probably a better sword anyway, I don't know), and then over time, upgrade to STR Shikargar. Whether you get it there soon or not, at least you've made a good investment that isn't replaceable.

I'm not going to address the rest of your rubbish. If you want to go down bunny trails, you'll have to do it by yourself.

If you're considering augmented firmaments you can also use hannibal's sword for inside abbsyea pending your level

firms (rarely) max out at +9 damage which puts it at 53 base at best

striker sword looks pretty cheap also until apais.

Whenever you did want to get started into a magian that's more flexible you could start on agi shikargar as there are quite a few wind zones outside abby and you aren't locked to day.

Hard to answer your question since I'm not sure what you want to do with blu. I could guess you want the core utility of it and say do double agi swords for farming dyna/limbus/nms/etc.

Additionally a tip for farming flame geodes is camping Cape Terrigan and waiting for fire weather. I've gotten the best results there doing my fire sword trial and getting geodes because the *** are papermache @ 99 and can be cleaved easily with or without help.

This should be separated into short term and long term goals. Short term are things that can be done with minimal time and will create a base upon which to build from. Long term could take awhile and / or rely on specific conditions / groups.

In that mind set, grab an Isador then spend time building the STR Magian and eventually an Almace. Due to the latter two's requirements (time of day / building pop sets) they'll take longer and you need something that will service ~now~.

@Pel,
Some people have incredibly limited play time and they won't be able to wait a coupe of hours for Firesday to show up. We're talking people who can get on two to three times per week for two hours each time, and those hours are set and can't be manipulated. In this way it may very well be two weeks between the times they even see firesday. That is why they should pursue an immediate term temporary solution then work on long term permanent solutions. As someone who has very limited play time I feel his pain, thankfully I have the resources to "get sh!t done".

Damn, lots of responses... I'll try to answer/clarify some things.

First, I don't really have a "main" job or an specialty job. Given my lack of playing time I try to level what I can, learn how to play the job and gear it the best I can under my circumstances.

I don't have a "plan" for any job. I don't do a lot of "endgame", heck, I have never done dynamis, nyzul, salvage if you must know. Right now I do mostly abyssea and random VW runs when my LS does them and I happen to be online...

I am looking (if there's any) for a gear/weapon set that allows me to play the job decently. Of course I would like to have the optimal equipment but I simply can't at this time. Oh and it is not like a have millions of gil to spend either.

It isn't a matter of being lazy or not putting the work on it, but should I really spend 30-50% of my playing time on getting something that I really don't need for the things I do on a regular basis in-game?

with requiescat, you can play the job decently with any of the swords listed here. The problem is that the difference in dmg output between AH/VW swords and Almace/STR shikagar is dramatic.

This.

And to be fair, the shikagar trial doesn't seem too crazy so I might do it at some point. But like some said, I need something in the meantime besides the firmaments

Im not confused theres one post saying buy an Apaisante then this one below saying if you have money to buy one you have money to buy Flame Geodes. Should have told him/her to buy Flame Geodes from the start and not a rather useless sword they happen to see comes from AH and they probably think its a good idea to buy it because someone sugested that they should.

Just stick with the firmaments at least they offer a bonus to spells rather than the rest that dont. I highly recommend working on a dex and a str sword you can work on one or the other when the right day is up and there are quite a few zones with thunder weather. Like i said before you can burn through 2-3 trials per day.

As opposed to 3 of the swords mentioned with fastcast, acc, macc, str, mnd, dex, cure pot, haste, etc?

I would say to use easy to obtain swords, such as firmaments, as you work on magian trial swords. I don't think the agi/eva magian sword has been mentioned yet. Its a good dmg/delay sword, its much quicker/cheaper than the str path, and its the best option in some solo situations. I use mine vs. some DCs in dynamis or soloing NMs in abyssea.

You should definitely work on a str path though, it really makes that much difference for the job. So unless you're only using blu as a proccing job, get one. As for the dex sword, i've never found a use for it. Most things that have evasion that high, you generally won't bring blu to, like legion.

Firmament's damage is 53 max, I mean it's okay, but it is really a placeholder when you first get your blu up and should be replaced as soon as possible. Since trials, of any type, will likely take him a while I really recommend another weapon such as Isador or another weapon with higher damage for the main hand at least. Weapons are the one thing you should try never to go light on.

Sanus Ensis is great for when soloing

id go with a Mageblade or Isador if your looking for something fast to obtain. Both are regular drops off of aby nm's. No massive trials to worry about. They will hold you over till you have time to look at other things one day.

Wont argue against that weapon. Im just assuming that with his time contraints, that he doesnt have Provenance watcher access right now.

Sorry, but everyone has time to make a Magian weapon. It took me a month to finish my STR h2h while only logging in 2-3 times a week for a couple hours per day. If I was free and it was firesday, I went and killed ***for the trial. Exact same thing for my STR sword. For the geodes? I farmed dynamis on free days for them.

In short, not taking however long a person needs to finish a weapon is just laziness, and I'm lazy as hell.

The two posts aren't in conflict. You're still just confused.

I'm not sure why you need something besides firmaments. When it comes to FFXI, you get what you put in to it. If you only play a couple hours a night, a couple days a week, then you just have to face facts that it's going to take you a lot longer to get competitive gear than someone with more play time. If you spend your time and money on "quick fixes" then it will take you even longer to get competitive gear.

If you don't really need a STR sword, then getting other swords would just be a waste of your time too. Now, if your LS happens to be doing Cirein-Croin or Isgebind, and you can just ride the free loot train, then by all means take advantage.

But if you're asking what you can do to better your character on your own time, then magian trials are something you can work on in your solo time.

You my friend are an idiot'

Yes, I am. However, that doesn't change the fact that everyone has the time to complete a Magian weapon. If it takes a month(like it did for me, twice) or longer, it can still be done by even the most casual player. It may take the person 3 months, or 4, but it can still be done very casually.

Everyone has the time to make a Magian weapon, they just have to be willing to take the time to do it.

When i was working, i was lucky to get at MOST, 1 hour total a week where i could be on here. I could see trying to do a magian hoping on day/weather through all those trials on that kinda schedule. Technically you could consider it 'having time' but i wouldn't have liked to of spent the next 4 years on a magian weapon...

It is reasonable to assume if you can't find the time to schedule the making a magian then you probably don't have the time to play this game. Now if that's a temporary arrangement, then fine but if your overall average is so little you can't, then it's probably a waste to be paying for the game.

BLU is not really a good job choice for an extremely casual player. I'm not saying it can't be done or that you should not play it. I'm just stating that because BLU is a very VERY gear dependent job in order to play the job to it's potential. Like others have said, if you're just there for procs, then you don't need gear anyway except perhaps the magic accuracy to make sure some of those proc spells land.
It doesn't sound like you want to play BLU as just a proc job though. So, just know that as a very casual player, it will be a very difficult task for you to play BLU competitively.

If you don't have the time or inclination to gear BLU properly, I suggest you find a job that you will be able to be effective at in your limited playtime. There are plenty of other jobs that don't require such a massive time and inventory investment.

Not every player wants to be competitive in endgame. Someone will say they'd never invite a "gimp" to an event, that's not the point. Some of my best times in game has been doing old content with fiends. Stumbling upon an nm while casually leveling blu and skilling/learning spells in a lower level zone.

A magian sword can be done by anyone sure, i built one sword while skilling up on blu. That doesn't mean everyone wants to spend limited leisure time doing trials.

If you don't want to do endgame on BLU, and don't care about getting gear that will improve the performance of the job, what's the point in even asking about non-magian swords? Time spent getting R/E swords instead of just buying whatever is on AH is time that could be spent gearing a job that can perform without optimum gearsets like BST, or, um, BST. BLU without gear is going to be crappy at melee, crappy at offensive magic, crappy at buffing, crappy at healing. I'm suggesting OP not waste their time if it's that limited, because the things people actually use BLU for (Dynamis and NNI mostly) will be far beyond their capability, and they could be working on a job that will actually be useful in whatever content they have access to.

TLDR: there is no point in half-assing BLU. Full-*** it, or half-*** something else.

This. If you're not going to put work into it, you're going to be very disappointed.

Lol this tread finally went into this direction.

Before it become another elite v.s casual debate, or "if you want to gimp BLU then don't play it" I have some suggestion to OP.


I feel this is the main issue why it generate such response.

99% of players in this game isn't going to have time to gear 10+ job perfect. So ideally, it's better to choose 1~2 jobs and focus on it, instead of having 10+ gimp jobs. You can only bring 1 job to event in this game. And majority of content's standard setup covers many job. Having 10+ jobs and try to spread your playtime and resource on everything just makes your performance worse and just makes your life harder.

Some ppl above replied "don't half *** BLU or else it will suck", this applies to every job in this game. A job not able to perform properly in event will just make your life(and everyone else's life) harder and that's it.

Of course, it's your 10$ a month and ultimately you're the one deciding what you want to do with your play time. If you just want to log on 3 days 2hr each and tag alone in LS abby/VW event with your 10+ jobs, that's fine. If you completely refuse to grind gear, and want to play BLU without invest time in gears that's fine too. Your choice, but in the end it will come back to you. And you won't fully enjoy this job because you won't get the best out of it.(And personally I can never understand what's so fun about taging alone LS event and not be able to contribute)

If you only want BLU in Aby/VW for proc, any sword works. In fact you can wear a staff and ppl probably won't care. But if you want to play BLU in event where it shines, and actually contribute to the team, not invest time in it means it won't be worth bringing, and that applies to every job too.


It isn't a matter of being lazy but,

What do you do on rest of the 50%~70% of your play time then XD

Aby/VW is grind gear too. Having well geared BLU doesn't make very big difference in VW, especially T6+. It make some difference in Aby. But it's most valuable in lower lv content like salvage/nyzul/meeble/dyna and so on. And to get the best out of it, or to fully enjoy BLU and have fun with it, invest 30%~50% of your time is necessary IMO.

I really suggest OP to focus on 1~2 jobs, doesn't have to be BLU. But you may ended up enjoying this game more this way, instead of feeling like never having enough playtime to get everything.

the isador and mage blade are ok, theres a couple of swords that drop from VW with drain hp and death effect that are nice...but i'd only suggest using these until you make a better weapon...you dont have to make an empy over the course of a weekend (even though you can). and imo its worth putting the time into...i dont think i need to tell you that everything about final fantasy was designed to eat up and waste time. if you dont have the time to invest then maybe FF isn't for you...might i suggest WoW? i heard it's very fun and has a very large fanbase.

we all know that... and yet for some reason, we still all desided to join the game anyway lol. Make ya wonder sometimes'