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Blue Mage unlock and your first 10 spells

The short answer

Hit level 50 on any combat job, finish the ARR story (The Ultimate Weapon), then pick up Out of the Blue from the Zealous Yellowjacket in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (X:9.9 Y:11.0). You'll walk away with the soul crystal, a cannon, and Water Cannon. Everything after that is hunting.

1. Before you hunt: how learning rolls

You learn a spell by seeing the monster finish casting it, tagging the monster, and being alive when it goes down. In the open world that earns a chance, not a promise; higher-rank spells roll worse. Duties are different: run one with level sync on and the learn is guaranteed. And the roll is shared, so a party of Blue Mages learns together.

2. The first-hour route

These ten are close to the starting cities, learnable in your first session, and enough to make the job function. Grab them in roughly this order:

  1. Water Cannon (№1) yours automatically at unlock.
  2. Loom (№7) Flame Sergeant Dalvag, Northern Thanalan. A named spawn, so check the spell page for the window. Your escape button.
  3. Bristle (№12) Wild Boars, East Shroud (X:17 Y:23). The damage buff for everything below.
  4. Blood Drain (№17) Cave Bats, Lower La Noscea (X:26 Y:15). Sustain on a stick.
  5. Acorn Bomb (№18) Treant Saplings, North Shroud (X:26 Y:26). Puts things to sleep.
  6. Bomb Toss (№19) Goblin Fishers, Middle La Noscea (X:23 Y:21). Ranged stun.
  7. Off-guard (№20) a Whalaqee totem, achievement-gated. Note it and move on.
  8. Faze (№23) Qiqirn Gullroasters, Eastern La Noscea (X:26 Y:32). AoE daze for open-world safety.
  9. Sticky Tongue (№31) Laughing Toads, Western Thanalan (X:14 Y:6). Your pull tool.
  10. 1000 Needles (№36) Sabotender Bailaors, Southern Thanalan (X:16 Y:15). The meme that clears camps.

Exact coordinates, alternates, and per-spell tactics live on each spell's page in the Spellbook.

3. Leveling while you collect

Open-world kills carry a 10x experience bonus on limited jobs, so the collection route levels you as a side effect. Chain kills in the highest zone you survive. A high-level friend cleaning up after you tag (outside your party) is the classic accelerant. FATEs and leves don't get the bonus, and deep dungeons are closed to limited jobs, whatever an old guide told you.

Facts verified against the game data files and cross-checked community sources as of patch 7.5.