FFXIV Thaumaturge / Black Mage Stats & Materia Guide

What’s a good thaumaturge stats build? What are useful black mage stats? Thaumaturge / Black Mage materia? If any of these questions brought you here, you came to the right place. Whether its by stat allocation, gear or materia, knowing what stats your Thaumaturge or Black Mage need should never be far from mind!

Thaumaturge (THM) & Black Mage (BLM) Stats

What are the thaumaturge or black mage stat weights?

INT > Critical Chance > Determination  > PIE  > Spell Speed > VIT

*These may vary slightly from patch to patch, or by personal preference. Following the recommendation above will always give you a good THM & BLM build.

Thaumaturge (THM) & Black Mage (BLM) Primary Stats Allocation

What stats should I add as a thaumaturge or black mage?

INT > PIE  > VIT

Since this is where people may mess up the most, I’ll explain it in word for word. When you allocate stats, put as much points into INT (Intelligence) as you can. If you cannot put any more points into INT, place points into PIE (Piety). If you cannot put any more points into INT and/or PIE, invest in VIT (Vitality).

Intelligence – INT = Magic damage increase. An obvious choice to stack.

PIE – A very interesting stat for these guys. Useless when in Umbral Ice phase, but extending Astral Fire phases by even 1 spell can be huge.

VIT – HP Pool. No other stat is even close to being useful. THM’s and BLM’s have the smallest HP pools in the game, every point in this is welcome.

Mahiko’s Note – Honestly, I think PIE is more important than determination, depending if certain mana pool thresholds are met. Again this is more advanced stuff, probably meant for the eventual page 2 of these articles…

 

Thaumaturge (THM) & Black Mage (BLM) Secondary Stats

What are good secondary stats for thaumaturge or black mage, and why?

Critical Chance > Determination  > Skill Speed

While you can’t allocate this directly, these will be heavily considered when picking gear upgrades and slotting materia.

Critical Chance – Hands down, THM’s and BLM’s want crit. Every spell done while on Astral Fire is too valuable. Maximizing each spell is the name of the game here.

Determination – Less desirable for THM’s, but still very good. You can even use the +healing! (Arcanist cross-class [Physick])

Spell Speed – While this stat isn’t really too good on THM’s, any DPS increase is welcome.

Thaumaturge (THM) & Black Mage (BLM) Materia

This is directly related to the first section. As you may know, all gear has a limit for each stat it can have, the higher its Item Level, the higher amount of stats it can hold. So the idea is to max out (or get close to maxing out) the left most, and work your way right. Again:

INT > Critical Chance > Determination  > PIE  > Spell Speed > VIT

Materia Name
INT: Intelligence
PIE: Piety
VIT: Vitality
Critical Chance: Savage Aim
Determination: Savage Might
Spell Speed: Quicktongue

See Also: Materia Guide | Melding Guide

Summary:

  • Overall THM  BLM stat importance: INT > Critical Chance > Determination  > PIE  > Spell Speed > VIT
  • THM BLM Stat allocation: INT > PIE > VIT
  • Secondary stats for THM  BLM: Critical Chance > Determination  > Spell Speed
  • Reference links: Thaumaturge FAQ, Black Mage FAQ.
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Have a question about THM /BLM? Chime in on the comments or in our Thaumatuge / Black Mage Forums.

6 thoughts on “FFXIV Thaumaturge / Black Mage Stats & Materia Guide”

    1. Hey xen!

      I’m aware of this chart, althought i have some gripes with it… It’s quite a long explanation, but ’tis a good resource for anyone to see! Determination still remains above spell speed for me in most occasions. And spell speed is never bad, of course.

        1. This is ancient, written in beta where SS was alot worse due to stat amount. The updated BiS reflects these, I should update these older stat guides.

  1. Can’t get in game right now to check, but doesn’t Astral Fire stop all MP regeneration? That’d make PIE useless, I’d think.

    1. Exactly – more Piety means more high damage spells cast in Astral Fire phase, thus more damage. You can cast more before having to switch to Umbral Ice.

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