Bravely Default 2: Dark Mage Guide

No other job in Bravely default 2 is better tied to Square Enix than the almighty Black Magus himself. A class as old as the company itself, the Black Mages have always been an essential part of any type of role-playing game entry produced by Square Enix. No matter what form they were introduced to, these mighty wizards were still able to cast destructive magic spells at anyone who opposed them, with great effectiveness. The purpose of this Black Mage guide is to dig deeper into their kit and features.

Black Mage guide and overview

In Bravely Default 2, Dark Mages specialize in exploiting the enemy's elemental weaknesses, while keeping their MP up to date to keep dealing big damage. After unlocking their Specialty II, they can even bypass enemy immunities and resistances, further enhancing their role in the party.

Dark Mage Abilities

1. Fire: Perform magic fire attack on one target/all targets - Cost 15 MP
2. Snow storm: Perform water magic attack on one target/all targets - Cost 15 MP
3. Thunder: Perform magic lightning attack on one target/all targets - Cost 15 MP
4. Poison: Attempt to poison a target – Cost 18 MP
5. Powered by Lunar: During the night, offensive magic, evasion and luck are increased, and 4% of MP is restored each turn – Passive / 1 slot
6. Fair: Perform a powerful fire magic attack on one target/all targets – 38 MP cost
7. Blizzara: Perform a powerful water magic attack on one target/all targets – 38 MP cost
8. Thundara: Perform a powerful magic lightning attack on one target/all targets – 38 MP cost
9. Vacuum attack: Restores an amount of MP based on damage dealt with the “Attack” command – Passive / 1 slot
10. Firaga: Perform an extremely powerful fire magic attack on one target/all targets – 66 MP cost
11. Blizzaga: Perform an extremely powerful water magic attack on one target/all targets – 66 MP cost
12. Thundaga: Perform an extremely powerful magic flash attack on one target/all targets - Cost 66 MP
13. To burst: Perform an incredibly powerful fire magic attack on a target - 80 MP cost
14. Freeze: Perform an incredibly powerful ice magic attack on a target - 80 MP cost
15. To burst: Perform an incredibly powerful lightning magic attack on a target - 80 MP cost

Dark mage specialties

• Specialty I: Regenerative Default – Default restores some MP. The amount restored depends on the level of the user.
• Specialty II: High Speed ​​Spells – Prevents all attack spells from being canceled or absorbed. Will not bypass damage halving or reflect effects.

Affinity with Dark Mage Weapons

• Swords: re
• Daggers: B
• Axes: E
• Spears: re
• Arcs: re
• Staff: S
• Shields: C

Introducing Black Mage

Like the Freelancer, the Black Mage Asterisk is available from the start. That said, it shouldn't be underestimated at all, as this class can deal heavy damage to any enemy, even later in the game. As you can see from their kit, the Black Mages have a unique role in the party. To cause as much pain as possible. This is both their advantage and their disadvantage, as I will explain below.

Other than causing damage to anyone in their path, Black Mages can't really do much more in terms of utility or party support and they're sorely lacking in both departments. In fact, even their passive abilities are very underwhelming, with only the Lunar-Powered skill having some use until mid-game. After that, I can almost promise that you won't be using any of their passives in a build/task combination, because better alternatives exist. Also, their unlocked potential doesn't bring much more to the table, other than three more powerful versions of their already existing elemental spells.

Even so, Dark Mages can be lone wolves when it comes to utility, but what they do, they do well. This destroys enemies in seconds. Not only do their spells hit extremely hard, but with their high-speed spell specialty, you can hit every enemy in the game even if they're immune to your chosen elemental ability. This is extremely useful, as you are not afraid to choose a spell, allowing you to do constant damage to everyone. As you can imagine, this is very useful with bosses that tend to have a lot of immunities to various elements.

Dark Mages shine the most when you pair them with other useful jobs, like Red Mage or Arcanist. The former can allow these powerful wizards to cast twice as many spells, thanks to the spell of the red mage, while the arcanist greatly enhances their already powerful explosions. Also, it is suggested that you invest for some time in Barding work to unlock their level 14 ability, Group-Cast. This way your AOE attacks will do full damage of a single target attack, which you don't even need to point out how important this is.

With that, we come to the end of this Black Mage guide and overview, and we'll focus next to their polar opposite, the White Mage. Another fan-favorite IP address from Square Enix.

Bravely default 2 is exclusively available on the Nintendo Switch.

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