Black Mage macros

/assist <p0>
/wait 1
/attack <t>

Picks up whatever your party leader is fighting and attacks it. Keeps the whole party on one target without anyone calling it out loud.

/p Pulling now, hold your hate
/ja "Provoke" <t>

Announces an action to the party. FFXI has no combat log overlay by default, so telling people what you just did is how coordination actually happens.

/recast "Provoke"
/ja "Provoke" <t>

A macro fires whether or not the ability is ready. /recast prints the remaining timer to your log, which is how you check without wasting the attempt.

/check <t>
/echo Check the con before pulling

Checks a target to gauge its level before you commit. FFXI punishes pulling something too strong far more harshly than most games, so this habit is worth macroing.

/follow <t>

Follows your target automatically. Long overland travel in FFXI is slow, and following someone who knows the route is a time-honoured tradition.

Nuke with Gear Swap

Black Mage

/equip neck "Eddy Necklace"
/wait 1
/ma "Blizzard IV" <t>
/wait 4
/equip neck "Justice Torque"

Swaps into magic attack gear, casts, then swaps back into something that will survive the hate you just generated. A Black Mage that pulls aggro in this game dies immediately.

/echo Part 1 done - press part 2
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>

/echo writes to your own log only. Useful as a reminder inside a long macro chain, telling you which half of a two-macro sequence you just fired.

Sleep a Chosen Enemy

Black Mage

/ma "Sleep II" <stnpc>

Puts a specific add to sleep with a sub-target prompt while your party keeps killing something else. Sleep is FFXI crowd control and it needs precise aiming.

/ma "Cure III" <stpc>

<stpc> opens a player selector rather than casting immediately, so you keep your enemy target while choosing who to heal. This is the FFXI answer to a mouseover macro and it is genuinely better.

/equip head "Uk'uxkaj Cap"
/wait 1
/ws "Savage Blade" <t>

Equips a piece before an action so its bonus applies. Gear swapping inside macros is a foundational FFXI technique — the right head piece on a weapon skill is a real damage increase.

/macro book 3
/macro set 1

Changes which book and which Ctrl or Alt set is active. Players who subjob frequently keep one book per job combination and swap with a single macro.

/ma "Cure IV" <stpc>
/ma "Cure IV" <t>
/ma "Cure IV" <me>

The whole system in one macro. <t> is your current target, <me> is you, <bt> is your battle target, <stpc> prompts you to pick a player and <stnpc> to pick an enemy. Getting these right is most of writing a good macro.