Jack Of All Trades: A Guide To Red Mage

ItemSet 370278

I linked yours to reference what you're using, whereas this is what I am currently using (doing what I can to get stuff that might be as good, or nearly as good) as yours. But missing a lot of magic accuracy, in comparison to what you have.

Went back in with Tropical Crepes, did manage to get the Enspell damage to normalize pretty well, Hachirin-no-Obi helped a lot. Think I am going to take a break for a while until I can either find a Bard to go in with, or perhaps get some JPs on RDM. A little more gear probably wouldn't hurt. Appreciate the input!

never seen this posted, and still kind of testing it, but it appears there is a hard cap on enhancing magic duration of 10X the unaugment base.
aka no mater what you do a 3 min duration spell can never be made to last longer than 30 mins including increasing the base duration with merits or relic gloves. Haven't had a chance yet to see if rolls will allow this to be exceeded, though I don't think it will.

ok tested cor roll, no effect as expected

tho I was able to learn, that for any spell that isn't pro or shell, it seems there is a hard duration cap of 30 mins period, even those with a 2.5min duration like refresh

Everything that works with Composure is hard-capped at 30 minutes as far as I'm aware. It's not a cap of 10x their base duration or whatever.

i just came back about two weeks ago or so, after being gone since about 2013/4 range. Anyone want to help me with Figuring out what comes next?

I've been able to get pretty far along on my own but I've started to hit a plateau point where my gear is getting to an ok/acceptable point, but im still having massive struggle issues on breaking into the later contents (omen/divergence/reisen fetes).

to give a scope of where im at right now Heres the basic sets im using. (i have hybrid versions, and accuracy versions on these sets as well- this is just to give an idea of where im at).

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TP JSE Cape is : Dex > Dualwield > Acc+Attk> Acc + DT.
Nuking Cape is : INT > MAB > MACC + MAD > MAD
Telchine pieces are augmented with 8/9% Duration
Taeon pieces are Augmented with 2% TA.
Merlinic shalwar is +30 Macc +30 MAttk + 10 Burst

i can comfortably solo any of the Macrocosmic fights on VD, and Most of the hardmode BC's on normal (but still only VE for maiden II. Lillith tears my *** up on E.) So far. none of the lottery spawns in escha/reisen have given me any issues at all. i did my first trist into omen, but ive been told i need to be in a group for any real progress into that. I havent managed to get into Dyna D yet, as basically every group i ask, tells me flat out no (which i understand if i dont meet the gear i dont meet the gear). I still cant get into vagary, because im still working on Adoulin MSQ (4-5 atm), but some friends took me through it and got me some clears of it.


Ive only managed to get about 190 JP so far just through farming out stuff in escha and other activities. My gut is telling me that JP are likely whats holding me back at this point. I havent managed to find a group doing apex that was willing to take me yet. If its JP holding me back, what are my effective soloing options?

Omen can be soloed for Cards to at least get you to +2 AF, for +3 you will need a group (though I have seen the rare solo, I have not seen enough to make my own attempts). if you are not capped on CP, work on that since it offers a lot of passive things like bonuses to Skill that will help push you further.

Maxentius would be a superior casting piece unless you are concerned about losing TP on cast. I am not sure where you are on Enfeebling, but that is going to be a very important set for any sort of group content you are doing (I see you have HQ abjuration gear for nuking, so if you can swing it get yourself some Kaykaus Cuffs +1 as they are very beefy. Dls. Torque +1 can be bought and improved without entering Dynamis Divergence, but the improvement will cost you a bundle. at the very least, it is a strong, semi-affordable piece prior to augmentation that is worth investing in (if you are swimming in gil, go for the +2). there's been some back and forth regarding Grio vs Maxentius, so your min maxing there is going to be up to your own patience with the random augments system.

beyond all of that plus Regal Earring and potentially Regal Gem, I would be hard pressed to find what you really need to improve to be Dynamis ready, as a lot of the upgrades I can plainly see are going to come from it.

i've burnt out all of my upgrades from ambuscade this month unfortunately, so next month i'll be grabbing the kaja rod; the pulse version is out of reach for a bit still on any of my items sadly.

Right now im using this set for my enfeebling. i dont have the solo power for neak, or a group willing to do him just yet, so i'm using a junk tier belt with like +5 MAcc on it.

im waiting on the silly 80 domain points per day cap to get the 1000 point earring. i didnt notice how good it was and spent my points on other things.

ItemSet 370368

Pants are augmented with +35 Macc and +10 MND
Cape is augmented with MND > Fast Cast > Macc > Macc/D

I bought the +1 JSE neck, but i'll be saving for croeca before i even dream of dropping that much on the +2. 100m is a steep price considering how much other stuff i need. Once i get to the point where im getting the more pressing items out of the way, id for sure double back for the +2.

as for the kaykaus +1 hands- Is there a reason to take the +1? It looks like the only difference in regards to enfeebling is one skill point? or is it the +2 Mind +5 Macc from the augment? Just wondering since thats a steep price for that.


Where should i be working on CP Solo? On cerberus i cant find anyone but people botting apex mobs right now. i figure im stuck waiting until the next CP Campaign comes.

For someone building RDM from mostly scratch, I don't suggest getting a Crocea Mors yet unless you're really set on getting together a Crocea melee set. There are many pieces that are much more gil efficient for getting your RDM up to speed, including said Kaykaus +1 hands.

Kaykaus +1 has +1 enfeebling skill, +15 magic accuracy, +2 MND, -1 enmity over the NQ piece.

oh dont get me wrong. Totally willing to spring for the +1's if theyre worth it. i've still got to track down the gil for the amalric +1 feet, and a few other +1 abjurations as well too. i was more commenting about the 100m pricetag on the +2 duelist torque. I cant help but feel that gil would be better spent towards that sword, or a RMEA

for Kaykaus Cuff vs +1 is a difference of 17 M.Acc (12 base, 5 from Augment) as well as better MND and INT on the +1. personally, I say that is a big enough gap to easily recommend the +1, but YMMV. 2nd earring should be at least Gwati, preferably Dignitary's or Regal. def. get the Enhancing Earring from Domain invasion, gut tells me that the Enfeebling +10 from Domain Invasion will be trash comparatively and is not worth blowing points on. I would swap the Fast Cast on cape out for WSD - this turns the cape into a phenomenal Enfeebling AND weaponskill piece, especially when you are finally swinging around a Crocea Mors [C], and you're losing nothing because RDM will cap Fast Cast easily with other slots; RDM has so many options for FC it's far from ideal to keep a Fast Cast cape around (you end up with 30 from Traits alone, my precast FC set swaps 3 pieces not counting Crocea Mors).

if you are unable to find an open Apex camp to solo on, I suggest just suffering and killing ***in Reisenjima. with Vorseals and Trusts; you are in little danger and get the benefit of additional stones to throw at Augments for things like Grio.

yep, i've managed to pick up the Mimir earring already for the +10 enhance, but im still needing to get the Delve earring for my other enhancing earring slot.

Regal and Dignitary are slightly out of reach still until i can find a stable selection of people to play with.

My problem with Apex is less not being room, and more 'nobody's doing exp' other than some bots out there using trusts. Do i just do the same? Toss on some trusts and do apexes?

that's what i did for almost every job. rdm doesn't get to use sylvie very well, though.

Got a reccomended Config? i usually use Ayame as my skillchain partner just because shes the only one ive found that actually behaves the way i want her to. Smashes Gekko/Kasha as soon as i hit 100% Every time and i love it.

@Hideka,

Congrats! You've started a very rewarding journey and have a very solid, PRINCIPLE-BASED, start! I so prefer that to people who just try to copy/pasta a BiS set without understanding the why's behind it- once you understand WHY its BiS, you can then build your own "work in progress" sets logically.

Sometimes its hard to justify spending crazy gil on one piece when you need....oh 15 or so. Like RDM often is when first building. So in the end it boils down to finding those pieces that give you the best bang for the buck if you will.

Kaykaus+1 hands are one of those pieces that have had a great lifetime so far, and probably aren't going anywhere soon. Plus, while steep for a new player, they're very reasonable these days for what they are.

A way to entice groups to do a bunch of Neaks with you is to find your Light DD friends in need of Herculean Bodies, and what light DD doesn't really want a 5th body or so to save clean for the next DM campaign? Its one of those augmentable pieces that you can always find another use for. I've found setting up a ranged attack for Neak to be both very successful and rewarding with even just 1 RNG, 1 COR, tank, whm, and GEO. Adding more shooters and GEOs just makes it easier. Work with a hill like the pop west of the #2 portal (across the bridge, past the beetles and mantid mobs, then on the right).

The advice on a Crocea is great- right now, there are cheaper options that are incredibly potent for enfeebling sets that will give you almost 95% of the same results as a high end weapon like Crocea or Murgleis without the immense costs. They're both amazing, and there's nothing like either in the game for us- but they're bucket list items to grab once you've really put finesse into your sets. Don't worry- they aren't going anywhere either.

Vagary can be a pain to convince people to do. Work your tail off to find a group willing to do a once weekly run by enticing their pocketbooks with the weekly RoEs for free drops (x2!) for every boss, plus the lootpools. There's still some very valuable stuff in terms of money drops from there due to upgrading Relic/AF/Empyrean gear. Then you'll get great gear options that even to this day are solid plus have some stockpile of materials for your own upgrades.

For Dyna-D...do a shout for 2 other people to just ENTER dyna-D on RDM. Then you can make the +2 version for the slot of that zone (ie- enter Dyna-D windy on RDM, literally do NOTHING and now you can at least make your Duelist's Chapeau+1 into a +2!). Then, work on getting a group of 3-6 with the intent of ONLY killing the Wave 1 statue boss- its an identical fight regardless of zone, and having a Tank, GEO and COR all who can handle their own basically guarantees a victory. Bringing a RUN tank means you can have the COR pop tripleshot once the RUN has good hate, and do a 3 step SC of "Ground Strike" > "Leaden Salute" > "Wildfire" for double darkness that you on RDM and the GEO can burst Blizzard spells off of. A quick Acumen on the backline shooter and nukers as well as a Malaise on the statue and you'll see crazy numbers and it should die in less than 5 minutes...less than 3 for people used to the fight and well geared.

Defeating the statue boss alone in a zone then unlocks the +3 version, and in most zones can be done by simply one-shotting a few statues in the way by a COR with Leaden Salute (use tactician's roll to build TP w/o popping a single monster) and you'll never encounter a single fight on the way to the statue bosses. After you get your +3 unlock for that zone, get on out of there, and slowly either build your own farming group or find one to join.

4 zones x 3day wait means that in less than 2 weeks you theoretically could have every slot on RDM unlocked for +3 relic gear. Or, if you just want to start with getting the +2 unlocks by simply zoning in, then do the statue bosses, in about 3 1/2 weeks you've got 'em all.

Good luck! And keep truckin'.

i half *** it when i cp solo. i just did cdc > cdc and let shantotto II burst. i don't really have an "optimum" way to solo as RDM since i didn't put a lot of thought into it and just slapped on whatever gear i had available

Oh god tell me about it lol... ive been doing a ton of ambuscade and just burning the currency for gil as much as possible, but its never enough. Im still sitting on the Amalric feet/leg abjurations because im out of gil for this month, with nothing but the bigger items left for ambuscade this month. i must have dropped at least 100m on gear pieces this month alone. (my friends thankfully helped me out a bit, and is helpin me work towards putting PLD together since i cant be JUST a rdm when we go to do things.)

i've been working on soloing Very easy Maiden of the dusk II for the Malignance sets, and i've managed to pick up the Pole/Ear, but nothing else in about 10 runs. I havent found anyone who wants to tackle Normal and higher as a larger group yet. I figure malignance is probably some of the best gear i can use.

Any suggestions on gaining CP? i feel like not having Distract/Frazzle 3 and temper 2, and all the gift bonuses along the way is a big detriment for me right now.


unfortunately Shantoto II is out of reach for me. I also still cant self skillchain reliably even with capped haste. my set lacks too much store tp right now. the only time i can do it is when i get two sets of TA in a row, which is rare enough without temper III.

distract 2 should be more than enough to cap on the second tier of apex mobs without gifts or anything. highest level of second tier apex mobs have 1073 evasion, with even the worst distract 2 that's down to 1033. with 1033 evasion you'll need only 1081 mh/1073 oh accuracy to cap which can easily be done without even using acc food.

two ideas regarding CP solo as a RDM-

1. go /BLM and cleave in Escha Ru'Ann/Escha Zi'tah. RDM can easily get the -DT to survive pulling 8-12 mobs, and more as you get more familiar with doing it. Pull a bunch, sleepga. Then attack one using daggers, alternating between Aeolian Edge and another sleepga. Aeolian scales well with TP so saving up TP while waiting for your sleepga timer is no problem. Build your Aeolian Edge set with as much MAB gear as possible. Call trusts like Star Sybil (call 1st so always next to you) for an Acumen type bubble, and other trusts who don't attack/WS to avoid them waking mobs before you're ready or pulling too much hate. Quldata is a jackass.

2. go /NIN or /DNC and fight single mob at a time Apex mobs. Kill the Unity mob in the basement of Garliage Citadel- Mephitas- for a Ternion Dagger +1 in your offhand to speed up TP gain-and with enough work is close to free, if not completely. This "should" help you get closer to being able to self-SC at least CDC>CDC and self bursting. Again, trusts who interrupt your Skillchain are bad news- call both bards, Joachim and Ulmia, as they won't WS but you'll get more haste from them. Usually takes two in order to be sure you'll get marches because they can be a bit jerky in terms of song consistency. Or, stick with Ayame and SC with her and self-burst still. Light on most Apex mobs is usually the way to go, and Apex Crabs are extremely good targets for this style.

The former way will still be slower due to lower base CP of the mobs, but makes up for it in volume. The latter will push you more to build better melee sets because you'll directly see your needs.

Regarding the lack of frazzle3/distract3/temper2. Of those three only temper2 will really be the most dramatic change in terms of Apex farming. Distract2/Frazzle2 will be more than sufficient, esp that distract2 paired with Composure. Don't forget your enfeebles even while solo doing apex! A good slow2/para2 will keep you much safer, and a solid Dia3 will really speed up matters on the attack-starved RDM.

Don't ignore the taeon set. Its still some of the most potent DD gear we have for low accuracy situations (read: non-endgame situations) and Apex mobs w/ Distract2 and Composure, and possibly some sushi if needed, are exactly that situation. Plus, you'll want some Taeon gear augmented with "phalanx +3" for extra safety. Your usual goal for "DD stats" on Taeon will be capping accuracy/attack and adding in +2 Triple Attack when building a TP set. Getting a few pieces of well-augmented TP style Taeon gear, the Ternion dagger +1 offhand, and capped haste gear/magic make self-SC'ing a lot easier.

tier one apex would be 997/989 acc with distract II if you are really having trouble putting together the acc for the second tier of apex, they will have less defense as well.
i'd probably just use unity whm, qultard, brd, brd, arciella I (attack boost buff) on apex eruca, just tank them yourself.
this set will cap delay assuming your trusts actually keep march on you and should have enough accuracy to eat attack food on them.

once you get SU2 you can get an hepatizon or whatever it's called and do savage > cdc > swift blade for a three step darkness

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great posting of a very reachable set @Austar. we need more ppl doing these things to help out budding players who do it the RIGHT WAY.

actually forgot the 4 dw on boots, so ditch the suppa for now whatever else you have, like mache since it can be used for cdc as well.

That earring makes it possible to hit the skill cap for Distract III in full potency gear.

ugggggggh. so for Enfeebles would Vor/Snotra be the go to earrings going forward?

ok so, last night went pretty good!

turns out i can ***on apex mobs now. im able to keep about a million CP per hour rate pretty reliably using the following trust config (which works amazingly well)

• Ayame: Her Skill chain AI Is fantastic. She has her AI set to Always open the best possible skill chain for whatever the last skillchain eligible weaponskill you (and only you) used was. But she also does not ignore the current skillchain element open on the target - in these cases, she will actually DOWNGRADE the skillchain to open a level 2 skillchain that is the precusror element needed for you to level 3 with your weaponskill. For example - If you used Eveisceration to open a window, and got 1000 TP before the window closed, She will instead of closing darkness with gekko, will instead use Enpi to close distortion, off of your previous Evi, To which you can close a multi step darkness.
  

• AAEV

• Apururu

• Joachim

• Kupofried

i used dancer sub for it, and was pretty reliably able to kill these mobs in 1-2 bursted nukes. Since i was fighting crabs/pugils i then could use Energy drain to maintain MP Very easily, which let me keep a constant chain of dark skillchains and T5 bursting going. I'm thinking of dropping AAEV for Ulmia and subbing nin, or just staying dancer sub and saying *** it. unsure of how that will go

Thanks to everyone for the solid advice. Slowly but surely im eventually gonna get all caught up lol

Anyone Want to give me a quick rundown on RDM/BLU tanking? I assume it revolves around just Keeping up SS/Phalanx/cocoon and spamming blue spells for enmity, and keeping capped PDT/MDT?

Any set critical pieces i should pick up for doing it? my friend and i are playing with the idea of having me tank Bashmu and Helix burn him down

The Malignance gear is great for that purpose.

The enmity gear available for rdm is kinda gross though.

And Tranquil Heart exists so your healing spells will not generate a whole lot. A toggle perhaps to offset the enmity reduction given by tranquil heart would come in handy as well.

Doing a Sch helix / magic burst thing holding hate will likely not be an issue though.


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Above is what I use when the 0.000001% need of it arises.

I use Excalibur here so I can justify having it mostly lol.

Crocea Mors is probably better? But things like sanguine blade and en spells generate little to no enmity.

Depends on how many Enfeebling sets you plan to use.
My choices:
Distract3/Frazzle3 Potency: Vor/Enfeebling
Slow2/Para2/Addle2 Potency: Regal/Snotra
Magic Accuracy: Malignance/Regal(Paired with Atrophy Tabard +3)
Hybrid: Malignance/Snotra

There's other Enfeebles that I'll be making other adjustments to based on preference but the above are how I'd pair with my main sets atm.

Can anyone point out to me what I'm missing with the enspell damage formula? Casting in a 614 skill set I'm hitting for 117 damage (naked no buffs other than enspell) but the formula on bg says for skill 500-?? it's Floor[(400/3098)(Skill+3.65)]

Floor[(400/3098)(614+3.65)] = 79

with 7 more from gifts that is 86, well short of 117, does anyone know what I'm missing? Just trying to see how much if at all the enhancing earring will help enspell damage when I get it.

Edit: forgot 15 from merits, but that's only another +15, 101 total still short for some reason.

Nevermind, it's +23 from gifts, I didn't read see the others on the gifts list on bg wiki for some reason, so that's the 16 I was missing :3

For RDM enfeebs should we aim for both the enfeebling magic + earring as well as the enfeeb magic duration earring?

Also are these send-able within accounts? I have a mule with reisen access so curious if I could shorten the wait time for this

they are not sendable (there is a tag on BG to look for). as for what to wear when, there's a tiny bit of discussion further up, but I am not going to worry about it until I get to where I actually have both, and I kinda have higher priorities.