Jack Of All Trades: A Guide To Red Mage

Hello there, I recently got back into the game and I've never got a job past 70. Recently I found an old guide describing Rdm/Drk and thought it sounded awesome, but very dated. Is it still viable at all? With trusts I'm sure I can get away with subbing dark knight for leveling and simple content, but I'd like to do some of the harder content down the road. My primary goal is to finish all of the story content. Can I get away with subbing Dark Knight?

If you only want to do story content, your subjob isn't really going to matter until you get towards the end of Adoulin/RoV probably. Even then, Red Mage does pretty damn well regardless of subjob.

As for what /drk adds to RDM...not much. Iirc, Absorb spells do not stack with Gain spells, but I'm not sure. Since RDM has no 2hd weapon, Last Resort is just an attack boost. You get Stun, but you also get that with BLM. You also get drain with both subjobs, so that's moot.

You do get souleater, although it's a bit underwhelming as /drk. It's potentially a neat trick though, and Red Mage can use it better than most jobs can.

As far as overall viability, it's not particularly good anymore, but it's not as bad as subbing, say, Monk. It just isn't as good as most other options.

The /drk meta for any job is long gone, particularly because it's not a large DPS gain relative to other subjob options (and in order for it to be close, you'd be killing yourself literally) and if you want to Stun on harder content you would /blm for elemental seal.
That being said RDM is a very versatile job and with optimal gear can be a healer, nuker, enfeebler, and/or DD. The only other job close to being able to accomplish all of this is BLU.

As for lower level content, you can do whatever you want. Trusts are very strong for the early game and will be doing more damage than you anyway.

I disagee in the case of RUN using Lionheart, for battles under three minutes. In that instance, Desperate Blows is either the same or greater JA haste as Hasso while getting the extra attack from Last Resort and Smite II(and atk bonus III). Also, Souleater just ain't that dangerous for RUN. It's niche but it's a thing.

In all other instances, including Red Mage, I agree.

Okay. That confirmed all of my suspicions. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer that.

I do have one more question. As a Red Mage using trusts leveling up, I find the King of Hearts and Apururu doing my job for me. I find myself casting Frazzle, Bio, Poison, Nuking, and melee dps (Ninja). All of which is very underwhelming and not efficient at all I realize. If they are going to be doing my job for me I feel like I should just sub black mage and nuke or just continue to sub ninja and melee instead of what makes the most sense and subbing scholar.

I guess what I am getting at is what should I be casting/doing since the trusts are doing all of the buffing, healing, and enfeebling?

I'm thinking that DRK may be a viable SJ when you need stun AND melee. Since BLM sub isn't boosting your dps but DRK sub can.

You mean the only job that CAN accomplish that. You also mean the only job that can do certain roles better than jobs specialized specifically for them(blue magic gravity > rdm's gravity for current ambuscade lolol) :^)

Wahhhh, cry some more

This isn't a BLU vs RDM thread.

NO. Very, very bad.

Lol it was a joke.
:^) = trolling/joking face.

edit: Kind of sad you can't make a joke without blue mage mains immediately coming in and telling you to "stop whining".

You could probably sub out Koru for another DPS trust. You'd want to use dia as well instead of bio. Focus on distract/distract 2 and keeping your melee hasted and Apupu refreshed. IDK what your normal setup is outside of Apururu/Koru but I'd recommend Zeid II/Semih. This way, you can Flurry/Flurry 2 Semih as well and she does pretty amazing DPS.

This would solve everything, lol, and is what I'm going to do. I've been using Distract too and Dispel has been really handy. I just rolled a fresh character a week ago and all I have is Apururu, King of Hearts, Valaineral, Nana Mihgo, and Semih. I can only use 4 trusts at this point so I've been switching Nana Migho and Semih depending on what I was doing.

I'd like to get Zeid II and Shantotto II, but I have to wait until they are available again if I read right?

I wasn't sure if Distract was worth using or not and I've been casting Bio because Apururu has been casting Dia.

Thanks for the tips!

Bio overwrites Dia. Defense down from Dia is probably worth more than attack down from Bio

Updated with TP and WS sets, as well as Phalanx and Stoneskin. Brain is kinda fried and didn't feel like adding lower tiered TP sets atm. Will try later. PM me anything I missed or I should add or whatever.

Hi,

I just want to thank you for putting this together. I have wanted to play RDM seriously forever and I've been following your gear suggestions as I prepare for it.

Did you ever share your GS file anywhere? I noticed it was on your to do list. I've found Kinematics file but it's fairly basic. I was hoping someone had one with tiered elemental magic modes, specifically for toggling accuracy, burst, etc. Do you have one you wouldn't mind sharing?

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to write all this out. It's helping me a ton.

Excuse me for the intrusion guys, I'm no competent RDM but I was wondering a few things about Murgleis.
How does exactly the enhanced convert work?
I've read it changes the HP>MP convert ratio from 1:1 to 1:2.
But I'm dumb and fail to see how this works.

If I have 500/1000 HP and 500/1000 MP, does it mean I'll end up with 500 HP and 1000 MP? Or 500 MP and 1000 HP?
If I'm correct the enhancement on Convert is the same regardless of the level of Murgleis, right?


How does Murgleis 119v3 + Forfend+1 compare to other options?

Murg+Forf: 56macc, 255 magic accuracy skill
Grio+Cler: 54(61)macc, 228 magic accuracy skill, 10(15)enf skill, ~7% FC, INT/MND+19 (at least!)

I considered 25macc and 10enf skill because it seems more "realistic" than seeing cap for both augments on the same Grio.
Enf skill and INT/MND help reaching the potency cap of some spells. I guess it's easy to reach it even without on the majority of spells? But for some recent stuff (Frazzle/Distract etc) I bet it's hard.

So basically I'm not really sure how "magic accuracy skill" converts into "magic accuracy" because SE gave us some slightly conflicting data about it, but it seems to me even if the conversion were 1:1 (I doubt it is) then a nicely augmented Grio + HQ Clerisy would still be better than 119v3 Murgleis/HQForfend?
Am I missing something out of the picture here?
(of course not considering AM, but that's not really very practical to keep up)

Sechs I am still convinced that they full derped on that Macc skill to Macc post. (They started with Carnwenhan, which alone is just like... wtf. But also their "it's ~1/2 the number" is something I'd only expect with Carnwenhan. As total BRD skill is halved for Macc. So given their statements of "it's like +X to skill"... pretty sure they used BRD for that whole page. Which also coincides with tests a LSmate and I did with BRD and Carnwenhan 119 and the Escha Ru'Aun ghetto mythic. My guesstimate numbers lined up with his results... and I was using Macc skill as +242 singing skill.)

Using their "it's skill" method, Murgleis should have ~269 Macc while an UNaugmented Grioavolr has ~220. Not including any relevant INT or MND. Splitting that potential difference brings Grioavolr up to ~234ish. All you would need is ~35 Macc to almost match Murgleis. So... good luck with that catching that dragon.

So while Grioavolr may have slightly less Macc than Murgleis... it's that INT and MND that allow it to be either better than or match Murgleis. Even with Murgleis' strictly superior Macc.
And obvs Murgleis is inferior for nuking... but I'm pretty sure you knew that.
But in terms of enfeebling, if you're fine with a slightly lower ΔINT or ΔMND... Murgleis has a lot of Macc. It really comes down to similar comparison of Lathi/Grioavolr and Laevateinn. Only in this case, there isn't something to make up for the loss in ΔINT (As Laevateinn Macc and Macc skill make up for the Macc part and its massive Mdmg makes up for the damage part).
But it's not a huge loss... and can likely be made up in other slots.

So.... I guess you could say both your set ups are equal? But personally... I'd favor the staff. Unless I was being frontline.

As for convert, I believe, to follow your example: if you had 500/1k HP and 500/1k MP and you converted with Murgleis, you'd get 500/1k HP and 1000/1k MP.

Tbf I think they derped as well... something is very off from that post. Either the original jap or the translation, I dunno, but something is off.

Not completely. If I remember correctly right off the bat the data me, Byrth (?) and a few others came up with some years ago, Sing skill converts 1:1 to macc (or something close to that) whereas Wind and String convert something like 3:1 to macc.
Back then it changed the perspective I had on several pieces.
But I digressed, I'll cut the OT sorry!


On Grio you can get up to 30 macc and up to 15 enfeebling skill (iir). 30/15 looks very unlikely, but something like 25/10 is sorta within reason, and that would be more or less the same as the 35 you're talking off.
And that's before accounting INT and MND.
The best part though is that Murgleis offers "only" pure macc, whereas Grio offers potency as well (INT/MND and Enf skill), which while useless for many spells that you overcap, I assumed to be very useful on some newer spells hard to cap?

To be fair I don't know, it's kinda the reason why I was asking, I know ***about RDM, I apologize :(



Thanks for the other info in your reply :)

I currently have an augment of MND+3 Macc+30 Enfeebling+14 on my Grio. I stopped counting about 1500 stones ago. I'll keep trying for that 10/30/15!

I really wish Murgleis 119v3 was the superior weapon for Enfeebling w/o Aftermath. Convert is one of my favorite self healing tools with Murgleis and Job Points.

Let's start bitchin to give us perma-saboteur ala Yagrush's perma-Divine Veil!

I kid I kid...

I don't have murg, but from speaking to someone who did, my understanding is that it adds 50% of your max hp back in post convert.

So if you were at 1000/1500 hp and 200/1000 mp, after convert with murg you would be at 950/1500 hp and 1000/1000 mp instead of 200/1500 hp.

It makes convert much safer. Someone who has it can confirm that and explain however it interacts with the convert job points.

Convert ratio is 1:3 for lvl 99 and above.
In addition you get 20% hp consumed reduction from job points iirc.

For test i made, its not really true.
Murgleis + culminus get a little less damage but you get more magic skill on huge level target, and when you active after II, this combo win.

but i didn't play FFXI since 3 month so maybe i'm not so right now.

EDIT :

If AM 2 up (so 49 MAB max)
can have a complete bonus of :
* magic damage 292
* magic skill 255
* MACC + 40
* MAB + 69

The problem with all mage mythics (as a murg and laev owner who doesn't use either as much as he'd like I know) is that maintaining AM2 in any fight that matters is next to impossible. On the spreadsheets it makes total sense, but in practicality it's very difficult outside of short fights where you can start with TP. I use both weapons heavily solo, but my Grio gets more use on both jobs (augments: macc30,mab30,mbb3%mdmg3)

For potency the 119 Empy body wins over what you would get from a skill piece like Vanya Robe. You will also want to make a Sucellos's Cape with MND+ on it and in other slots where you don't have skill.

This was my potency set a few months ago:
ItemSet 345649

I See what you did thar.

Hi guys,

Anyone would have an updated lua file to share ?

Ty !

new relevant items from tonight:

Ammurapi Shield
DEF:47 HP+22 MP+58 INT+13 MND+13 Shield skill +107 Magic Accuracy+38 "Magic Atk. Bonus"+38 Enhancing magic effect duration +10%

Anu Torque
DEF:10 Attack+20 "Store TP"+7 "Resist Stun"+10

Atrophy Boots +2
DEF:76 HP+72 MP+73 STR+15 DEX+16 VIT+15 AGI+38 INT+22 MND+24 CHR+39 Accuracy+46 Evasion+65 Magic Evasion+117 "Magic Def. Bonus"+6 Haste+4% Shield skill +15 Chance of successful block +5

Atrophy Boots +3
DEF:86 HP+82 MP+83 STR+20 DEX+21 VIT+20 AGI+43 INT+27 MND+29 CHR+44 Accuracy+56 Evasion+75 Magic Evasion+127 "Magic Def. Bonus"+7 Shield skill +17 Haste+4% Chance of successful block +10

Atrophy Chapeau +2
DEF:106 HP+54 MP+48 STR+24 DEX+24 VIT+24 AGI+24 INT+32 MND+32 CHR+29 Magic Accuracy+44 Evasion+46 Magic Evasion+85 "Magic Def. Bonus"+6 Elemental magic skill +15 Haste+6% Magic burst damage +5 "Fast Cast"+14%

Atrophy Chapeau +3
DEF:116 HP+64 MP+58 STR+29 DEX+29 VIT+29 AGI+29 INT+37 MND+37 CHR+34 Magic Accuracy+54 Evasion+56 Magic Evasion+95 "Magic Def. Bonus"+7 Haste+6% Elemental magic skill +17 Haste+6% Magic burst damage +10 "Fast Cast"+16%
vs carmine+1D: INT+11 MND+16 ele+17 enfeeb-11 fc+2%
vs amalric+1D: int+1 mnd+17 macc-7 ele+17 fastcast+5

Atrophy Gloves +2
DEF:94 HP+33 MP+21 STR+16 DEX+38 VIT+30 AGI+10 INT+24 MND+38 CHR+24 Accuracy+43 Attack+20 Evasion+32 Magic Evasion+47 "Magic Def. Bonus"+4 Parrying skill +19 Haste+3% Enhancing magic effect duration +18 Weapon skill damage +3%

Atrophy Gloves +3
DEF:104 HP+43 MP+31 STR+21 DEX+43 VIT+35 AGI+15 INT+29 MND+43 CHR+29 Accuracy+53 Attack+30 Evasion+42 Magic Evasion+57 "Magic Def. Bonus"+5 Parrying skill +21 Haste+3% Enhancing magic effect duration +20% Weapon skill damage +6%
savage/blossom

Atrophy Tabard +2
DEF:136 HP+81 MP+88 STR+26 DEX+26 VIT+26 AGI+26 INT+38 MND+38 CHR+34 Magic Accuracy+45 Evasion+51 Magic Evasion+90 "Magic Atk. Bonus"+15 "Magic Def. Bonus"+7 Enfeebling magic skill +19 Haste+3% "Refresh" potency +1 "Refresh"+2

Atrophy Tabard +3
DEF:146 HP+91 MP+98 STR+31 DEX+31 VIT+31 AGI+31 INT+43 MND+43 CHR+39 Magic Accuracy+55 Evasion+61 Magic Evasion+100 "Magic Atk. Bonus"+20 "Magic Def. Bonus"+8 Enfeebling magic skill +21 Haste+3% "Refresh" potency +2 "Refresh"+3
vs BASE merlinic: int+3 mnd+10 macc+35 enfeeb+21 ~so new max macc enfeeb body, refresh midcast body, and higher meva/mdef than amalric+1 for idle set while still having good base eva/def/vit also.

Atrophy Tights +2
DEF:118 HP+64 MP+43 STR+30 VIT+17 AGI+22 INT+39 MND+34 CHR+24 Accuracy+39 Evasion+37 Magic Evasion+117 "Magic Def. Bonus"+7 Healing magic skill +15 Enhancing magic skill +19 Haste+5% "Cure" potency +11%

Atrophy Tights +3
DEF:128 HP+74 MP+53 STR+35 VIT+22 AGI+27 INT+44 MND+39 CHR+29 Accuracy+49 Evasion+47 Magic Evasion+127 "Magic Def. Bonus"+8 Healing magic skill +17 Enhancing magic skill +21 Haste+5% "Cure" potency +12%
beat carmine+1 for max enhancing skill.
vs VanyaB: mnd+5 healing-3 curepot+12

Erra Pendant
Magic Accuracy+17 Dark magic skill +10 "Absorb" effect +5% "Drain" and "Aspir" potency +5
macc alone makes it bis but lots of goodies

Ilabrat Ring
DEF:10 HP+60 DEX+10 AGI+10 Attack+25 "Store TP"+5
yea this is gonna replace hetaroi for cdc.

Kishar Ring
Magic Accuracy+5 "Fast Cast"+4% Enfeebling magic effect duration +10% "Absorb" effect duration +10%

Shamash Robe
DEF:140 HP+57 MP+88 STR+30 DEX+30 VIT+30 AGI+30 INT+40 MND+40 CHR+30 Magic Accuracy+45 Evasion+50 Magic Evasion+106 "Magic Atk. Bonus"+45 "Magic Def. Bonus"+6 Enmity-10 Haste+3% "Resist Silence"+90 "Refresh"+3 Physical damage taken -10%

Sherida Earring
STR+5 DEX+5 "Double Attack"+5% "Store TP"+5 "Subtle Blow II"+5
cdc, knights of round, evis

Enki Strap
INT+10 MND+10 Magic Accuracy+10 Magic Evasion+10
finally wkr strap replaced for BIS for para/slow potency