Final Fantasy 14 Thaumaturge to Black Mage guide: Level 1 – 50 in detail

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In this video, I walk you through all of the spells and abilities that the Thaumaturge, and later the Black Mage, learns in the first fifty levels of the game. I explain and show example for every action, and elaborate on when and where to use what, so you can safely approach the contents of the game. If you find things are going a bit fast, or maybe a bit slow, I do recommend pausing or skipping ahead. I do imagine there are some points where you may benefit a lot form pausing though!
Whenever your rotation changes throughout your levelling, I make sure to present you the new rotation you need to follow, which can normally be an issue for black mages due to how regularly their rotation changes as they level up.

If you have any questions or feedback, you are very welcome to leave a comment down below, and I will get back to you as soon as I am able!

For information regarding GCDs, oGCDs, Weaponskills, Spells and Abilities as well as Animation Locking, refer to my guide on these aspects:
https://youtu.be/4jZ9j7ti0Nw
This guide can be useful for understanding how slidecasting works, and how to optimize your use of firestarter and thundercloud alongside Tranpose, Swiftcast and Manafont through weaving.

Music Used:
Neath Dark Waters: An extended version of this song can be found here: https://youtu.be/7Dv5Ps1ehF4 , but be aware that it may contain spoilers for Final Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers specifically.

Chapters:
0:00 Level 1-10
3:42 Level 11-20
5:46 Level 21-30
8:33 Level 31-40
10:56 Level 41-50
12:50 Summary
14:12 Fun fact

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20 thoughts on “Final Fantasy 14 Thaumaturge to Black Mage guide: Level 1 – 50 in detail”

  6. This was an amazing breakdown of the first 50 lvls of Black Mage. It was extremely informative & you were patient enough to tell that it was less about the rotations and how to play it “optimally” and more along the lines of explaining the basics and letting people know what the spells and abilities do.

    If you continue to do these guides for for 60-80 lvls for the jobs I’ll definitely watch.

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  13. Welcome to Endwalker! Here are any significant changes related to this particular guide:
    Level 2: A high level trait has been moved down to level 1, meaning that using any spell of the opposite element to the one you are currently in (Using Fire 1 during Umbral Ice, or Blizzard 1 during Astral Fire) will cost you nothing. At this level you will still need to use Transpose however, so until level 35, this is not a huge deal.
    Level 6: Duration of Thunder has been increased slightly.
    Level 8: Addle now also reduces physical damage, so you can use it at any time and still benefit at least somewhat, regardless of what the boss chooses to do.
    Level 10: Sleep has been made a role action, but this does not change anything about it for Black Mages.
    Level 12: Blizzard II has been buffed immensely. Due to its longer cast time, it beats Blizzard ONE on 3+ targets. This spell is also no longer centered on you, but your target, and is effectively an ice version of Fire II.
    Level 18: Fire II has been buffed significantly, and now beats Fire ONE on 3+ targets!
    Level 24: Lucid dreaming got a 10% buff, but with some of the other changes, Lucid Dreaming is even less useful for Black Mages now.
    Level 26: Thunder II has had its duration increased significantly. I recommend using it over Thunder ONE on 3+ targets.
    Level 28: Thundercloud now lasts a whopping 40 seconds, so you now have no worries about finding time to use the effect at a convenient time!
    Level 35: The third stack of Umbral Ice and Astral Fire are learned at this level instead of 40, meaning that Fire III will immediately be able to cap out your Astral Fire. Additionally, Blizzard III is learned at this level as well, so any instructions regarding your rotation at level 40 for single target, can be used here at level 35 instead!
    On top of that, you can safely spam fire spells all the way down to 0 mana if possible, as you can use Blizzard III to enter Umbral Ice freely due to the level 1 change.
    Additionally, Blizzard II and Fire II will also grant you Umbral Ice 3 and Astral Fire 3 respectively, so for AoE of 3+ targets, you continue using Blizzard II and Fire II, but you can now use these to switch mode, rather than using Transpose!
    Level 40: Freeze is learned here instead, and no longer affects your Umbral Ice state at all. In fact, it requires you to already be in Umbral Ice to be used. It is better than Blizzard II, so if you need to stay in Umbral Ice for an extended amount of time, Freeze is better to use once you have used Blizzard II and applied Thunder II.
    Level 42: Firestarter now has a duration of 30 seconds, making it much easier to plan the use of this buff for when it is convenient for you.
    Level 45: Thunder III’s duration has been increased significantly to a nice round 30 seconds. Thunder II should still be used on 3 or more targets in my opinion.
    Level 50: Flare now deals less damage out of the box, but is buffed by an effect granted by using Fire II (Unlocked at level 56) while affected by Astral Fire III. At this level, you have a much more interesting AoE rotation than it used to be: Blizzard II -> Freeze -> Thunder II -> Fire II -> Fire II -> Fire II -> Flare -> Repeat without having to wait for mana or using transpose!

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