Category:Spells

Magical spells are a fundamental part of FFXI's battle system and are employed by many of FFXI's jobs. The primary categories of magic are Black Magic, utilized by Black Mages, Dark Knights, Red Mages, Geomancers, and Scholars, White Magic, utilized by White Mages, Paladins, Red Mages, Rune Fencers, and Scholars, Blue Magic (Blue Mages), Summoning Magic (Summoners), Geomancy (Geomancers), Songs (Bards), and Ninjutsu (Ninjas). Black magic and white magic are further divided into classifications defined by the spell's functional type (such as healing magic and enfeebling magic).

This chart shows the elemental relationships of the eight prime elements. The six elements in the loop are each "ascendant" to the element that follows, while light and darkness are "opposed."

• Black Magic
  • Dark Magic
  • Elemental Magic
  • Enfeebling Magic
  • Enhancing Magic
• White Magic
  • Divine Magic
  • Healing Magic
  • Enfeebling Magic
  • Enhancing Magic
• Blue Magic
• Summoning Magic
• Geomancy
• Bard Songs
• Geomancy
• Ninjutsu

Each spell has a number of properties associated with that particular spell:

• Cast/Recast: All magical spells have an associated casting time (the duration from the point a spell is selected to the time when its effect activates) and recast time (the delay until the spell can be cast once again) specific to the spell.
• Duration: Many buffing or debuffing spells have an associated maximum duration - the length of time the spell's effect will remain on the target.
• Cost: Songs and summoning magic have no associated MP cost, ninjutsu consumes ninja tools as its cost, and the casting of white, black, and blue magic spells and geomancy is performed at a MP cost particular to each spell.
• Elemental Alignment: With Meteor and physical Blue Magic as the sole exceptions, every magic spell is associated with one of the eight prime elements. Enemies are generally weak (less likely to resist) to the element that is ascendant (or opposed) to their natural alignment, and often strong (more likely to resist) to their own element and the element they are ascendant to. For example, an enemy aligned with ice may be strong to ice- and wind-based spells but weak to fire-based spells. Reference the elemental alignment chart for more information.
• Targeting: Each spell is associated with a particular type of target. Spells may be either single-target or area of effect (AoE) and hit multiple targets. Spells can be either enemy-targeted or player-targeted. Player-targeted spells are further divided into self-cast (spell must be cast with the caster as the target), party-only (spell may only be cast on members of the player's party), or any target (spell may be cast on any player or player-assisting NPC).