Seeing Red - A Complete Red Mage Guide

[Rawrz]

Primals are one thing, but RDM only has lucid dream for mana managment. It doesn't seem wise to be kicking your mana off to others in a raid-type fight, in particular when the others, like BLM and PLD have strong mana regen capability anyway.

Look at our spell costs though. We got the Ast treatment. EVERYTHING is dirt cheap! Our most mana consuming spells are verflare/verholy at a whopping 5% of our max mp. VerThunder/VerAero are about 3% at 480 mp (same with scatter.) Jolt/Verfire/VerStone/impact are about 2% at 300... All on top of a break with melee gcds to allow natural mp regen. We have so much mana that it takes us dying or 4 teammates dying for us to have any mana issues. I use lucid dream for antiaggro than directly because I'm mana starving. xD Just my line of thought on it all.

[Sacerdos]

I can confirm, if you're using Lucid Dream on cd and have a BRD/MCH for Refresh too (might not even need that actually), you absolutely have the mana to use Mana Shift on cool down, assuming you don't have to Verraise at some point (which is saving your healer's mana indirectly too).

[Rinion]

Helpful respone ^^

Someone else replied with what I was mostly thinking, I just wanted to thank you for your advice (cus I still have a problem every now and then trying to hard cast veraero/thunder DX), so thanks ^^

Also guys! I have a different question now (sorry XD) I'm 62 now. yay! =D What I was wondering is, on 2 mob pulls, it is better to use scatter -> veraero/thunder, isn't it? (obviously assuming you don't have verstone/fire and I've still only got jolt 1 atm). I know it's a bit technical (and that it doesn't matter by 70 but it does for 50/60 ^^').
And for Cross Class I've got Diversion, Shroud, Apocatastasis, Virus and Swiftcast. Is this ok? I know some people say that we've got Shroud of Saints for aggro management but I've found that I've been rotating that and diversion on bigger pulls. But yeah, what do you guys think ^^

[Kogekigami]

So far I found I have only needed lucid dreaming if i have just been rezzed or rezzed a few people to help the healers.

[Rawrz]

Someone else replied with what I was mostly thinking, I just wanted to thank you for your advice (cus I still have a problem every now and then trying to hard cast veraero/thunder DX), so thanks ^^

Also guys! I have a different question now (sorry XD) I'm 62 now. yay! =D What I was wondering is, on 2 mob pulls, it is better to use scatter -> veraero/thunder, isn't it? (obviously assuming you don't have verstone/fire and I've still only got jolt 1 atm). I know it's a bit technical (and that it doesn't matter by 70 but it does for 50/60 ^^').
And for Cross Class I've got Diversion, Shroud, Apocatastasis, Virus and Swiftcast. Is this ok? I know some people say that we've got Shroud of Saints for aggro management but I've found that I've been rotating that and diversion on bigger pulls. But yeah, what do you guys think ^^

2 mobs use single target rotation.
3 mobs hardcast scatter then build mana with instant VerAero/Thunder to reach Moulinet faster.
4 mobs. Spam Scatter. Moulinet. Use manafiction to increase the number of times you can cleave.


Cross class i would use Erase or Mana Shift over Diversion. Even on single target pulls, if you precast a spell, then instant cast then Lucid Dreaming, you should have cut enough aggro for the tank to establish it. Really helps you open in Susano EX without having the NIN yell at you. q.q

[Zorzi]

I have a few questions, sorry if they've been asked before: if in a dungeon you come to a boss with 40+ in both manas, is it better to Manafication before the fight, and open with the melee combo? Or just build normally and use Manafication on the second go around?

Secondly, unless I get no procs during my opener, it's hard to fit in Corps-a-corps/Displacement before the first Manafication. Is using them more important than Fleche/Contre Sixte, or should I just do my best and ignore them if they can't fit?

Thirdly, if you get lucky with procs while you have Impact up, is it better to just ignore it and let it fall off, or use it and use the Dualcast on Stone/Fire? Is it worth using a Dualcast on Impact if its about to disappear?

[Garotte14]

I've finally finished leveling BLM so started a more serious look at endgame in my static with RDM. I have quite a few things to add to the guide for optimization purposes and for "Openers." I will add them to the guide shortly, but wanted to post them in here as well.

First, during your opener, assuming you have a countdown you should be hardcasting Veraero/Verthunder. Also its important to note that you want to be weaving both Corps-a-corps and Displacement right away. When you get to 40/40, Manafication will reset these anyways so not using them before Manafication is a waste of 260 potency. You should also should be weaving Contre Sixte and Fleche in a single GCD if your ping will allow this to be done without clipping your GCD. This is mainly so CaC and Displacement can also be weaved under party buffs.

Secondly, as I've seen others mention in this post, the optimal timing for Embolden for personal reasons, would be weaved directly after Enchanted Zwerchhau. Your Potion will be weaved the GCD before right after Enchanted Riposte. You do this to make sure both Enchanted Redoublement and Verflare/Verholy are getting the full 20%. Using more for party benefit will depend entire on if you have a ninja, then Embolden should be happening the exact time Trick Attack goes out. It will then line up with every other TA through the course of the fight.

So opener should look like this:

Precast Acceleration
Hardcast Veraero at 5 seconds
DC Verthunder
(Fleche + Contre Sixte)
Ready Proc
DC Thunder/Aero
(Corps-a-corps>
Ready Proc or Jolt II
DC Thunder/Aero
(Displacement)
Repeat until 40/40 then Dualcast
(Manafication + Corps-a-corps)
Riposte
(Potion)
Zwerchhau
(Embolden)
Redoublement
(Displacement)
Verholy/Verflare

Also its correct that the soonest you'll have 40/40 is 7th GCD and the latest is 9th GCD as others have stated in this thread. This information will be added to the guide when I have a few minutes to spare. More to come.

[TheChemicalCat]

As a rule you should be using Displacement/Corps a corps AFTER executing skills like Verflare/holy or Fleche.

Why? Because it looks cooler. Simple. Nothing like jumping away just as the explosion goes off, or diving in with your ice rapiers.

[Garotte14]

I have a few questions, sorry if they've been asked before: if in a dungeon you come to a boss with 40+ in both manas, is it better to Manafication before the fight, and open with the melee combo? Or just build normally and use Manafication on the second go around?

Secondly, unless I get no procs during my opener, it's hard to fit in Corps-a-corps/Displacement before the first Manafication. Is using them more important than Fleche/Contre Sixte, or should I just do my best and ignore them if they can't fit?

Thirdly, if you get lucky with procs while you have Impact up, is it better to just ignore it and let it fall off, or use it and use the Dualcast on Stone/Fire? Is it worth using a Dualcast on Impact if its about to disappear?

First, in dungeon content, it doesn't really matter. If you want to open with your melee combo, that's absolutely fine to Manafication pre-pull.

Second. unless your ping is really awful, you should be able to weave both Contre Sixte and Fleche in a single GCD. Then you'll have at least two more Dualcasts to weave CaC and Displacement under before manafication. But if you have to choose, Contre Sixte and Fleche are much higher potency so use them.

Last, you shouldn't ever be casting Impact if you have a Ready proc. Its 20 more potency plain and simple. Let Impact fall off. I don't have months of testing in a raid environment yet to say 100% on that, as I've not encountered every scenario. But at the moment, I see no benefit of casting Impact over a Ready proc. Also using dualcast on Impact would be a waste as well. If I discover differently or someone has encountered a scenario where that is incorrect, I will relay that information.

[TheChemicalCat]

Last, you shouldn't ever be casting Impact if you have a Ready proc. Its 20 more potency plain and simple. Let Impact fall off.

yeah this is pretty much it. If you have a ready proc, there's no reason to cast impact. Use your stone/fire ready procs until you manage to not get one, and then you use Impact instead of Jolt if impactful is still up. That's it.