What would the Final Fantasy world be without the mysterious Black Mage? A little sadder, probably, and a little less enigmatic.

Granted, Black Mages don't look quite the same in Final Fantasy III for the DS. Their eyes are quite visible under their pointy hats, along with every other part of their faces. The differences end there, however, and the Black Mage on the DS is the same as the Black Mage in pretty much every other game.

Black Mages are designed for high-power magical combat. All of their spells are created to demolish the enemy, and they do so with exceeding ease given their high intelligence stats and copious amounts of elemental spells. A well equipped Black Mage can take on any enemy he or she wishes and destroy it handily, often taking out powerful enemies single-handed with only a few spells. Their might is such that particularly tough battles will rely solely on a Black Mage to kill defensively powerful enemies, which can happen more often than you might care to think about.

Their power comes at a cost, however. Black Mages are physically frail creatures with low HP. Unless they have a decent bow on hand they can't hit hard in normal combat, and probably shouldn't bother unless they're stocked up with potent arrows. Their defenses are pathetic and there's no reason a Black Mage should be in the front row, as you'll have trouble enough keeping them alive even in the back. They're also virtually useless without spells, so don't go on extended forays and expect your Black Mage to remain strong forever. Their capacity expands with time, true, but at the start Black Mages can be troublesome to train.

Black Mages also aren't lasting classes. They're GOOD, true, but there are other, superior magical classes with access to better forms of magic. A dedicated Black Mage is a shoo-in for a Magus, as the only real difference between the two classes aside from higher stats is access to the rest of the black spells. The two jobs even look relatively similar, so you won't lose much in the process. Make the switch as soon as Warlock is unlocked.

Black Mages can learn the following spells:

Level 1: Sleep, Blizzard, Fire.

Level 2: Thunder, Blind, Poison.

Level 3: Fira, Blizzara, Thundara.

Level 4: Shade, Blizzaga, Break.

Level 5: Thundaga, Raze, Erase.

Level 6: Firaga, Bio, Warp.

Level 7: Breakga, Quake, Drain.

Learn more about this author, Matt Bird.
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