Final Fantasy XIV 5.45 arrived February 2nd, and included an update to the Save the Queen storyline featuring a new instanced duty named Delburum Reginae. It also included an update to the Blue Mage limited job with new quests, increased level cap for Stormblood content, and new spells to collect.

For the uninitiated, Blue Mage is a different affair than all other combat jobs. Built around recreating the experience of learning unusual magic spells from enemies like in other Final Fantasy titles, the Blue Mage isn’t designed so much for current progression or endgame raiding, though the community will organize coordinated raids for older content.

Blue Mage starts off at Level 1, but has a modified experience curve weighted towards mobs fought outside of duties. If you’re starting fresh, my sage advice is to find a buddy to power level you the current level cap. Level 59 mobs in the Dravanian Hinterlands, and 70 mobs at the Kholusian coast well-suit this purpose and set you up for learning spells without too much fuss.

Instead, Blue Mage prioritizes its own ecosystem of content, such as the Masked Carnivale, housed in Ul’dah’s Celestium. It’s here that the Warrior of Light and their mentor Martyn set up shop, seeking to bring the Whalaqee art to Eorzea and lands beyond. In the latest chapter, blue magic finds its way to Kugane, where an unscrupulous moneylender named Kageyama seeks to profit from stolen job stones. What we come to learn is that he also has a secret weapon, a familiar face who we come to battle in the latest encounter added to the carnivale.

These battles are specifically designed around the blue mage’s repertoire of abilities, and bringing the right ones along is your key to success. There’s now over 100 spells in total, yet all may not be valuable for any one fight. There’s a degree of planning involved as well as improvising on the fly when things don’t go well. In the video below, the two-act showdown starts off with learning the ins-and-outs of your adversary’s abilities and then applying them consistently as mechanics have you dance around the arena. Not captured are my half-dozen failures and careful pruning of my spells. Each encounter requires a good variety of techniques and their clever, sometimes amusing applications.

The blue mage log also provides rewards for clearing duties up to Level 70, namely another method of collecting Centurio Seals. It’s an entertaining way to experience some of the older raids without tightly-tuned abilities and less-than-usual party compositions.

Final Fantasy XIV is now available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, and Mac. It is compatible with PlayStation 5 with a dedicated version starting beta on April 13th.