Fighting Maat

[Nzinga]

So I have been playing this game for a couple months now and have finally leveled my RDM to 70. Which means the Maat fight. I heard stories about how it is the hardest fight and after stalking the wiki I think I am going to go for the sleep/nuke tactic. Which basically involves me going in and putting up all my buffs. Then sleep Maat, then dispel, then Aero III, and then sleep and repeat.

I was wondering if there are other RDM who fought him and if you had any advice. Thank you!

[Swords]

I fought him back in the olden days when he was at his hardest, took me 2 tries but this is what I did.

Cap your Evasion/Enfeebling/Elemental Skill
Get x2 Bat Earrings
Equip NQ/HQ Wind Staff
Bring at least 2x Blind Potions and whatever meds you might need, I highly recommend you stay away from Ethers lower than Pro-Ether because they have a long cast time and give little mp in return.

A general rundown of the fight:

When you enter immedately run up to where you can see Maat, DO NOT buff yourself until you can see what Maat's buffing himself with. This is important because Maat might cast blink off the bat, if you try sleeping him and he has it up you leave yourself open to Asuran Fists without warning and that can ruin the entire fight.

After you've run up too Maat and buffed, and used a blind potion on yourself, if he's casted blink use quick spells like tier I nukes to wipe his shadows asap then sleep him. Get some distance, dispel his buffs, and enfeeble him, if he's about to wake up wait to resleep him before you start nuking.

From there you can keep Nuke>Sleeping, reapplying debuffs, using meds, and blind potions as they wear. At roughly 60-50% of his health you can Chainspell to finish him off which he'll give up roughly 15-30% hp (it seems random).

[cidbahamut]

Don't gear retardedly.
Eat Creampuffs.
Sleep/nuke.
Win.
Celebrate with fireworks.

It's a pretty straight forward fight.

P.S.
Swords is giving you bad advice. RDM has the evasion of a wet brick and the goal is to never let Maat get close enough for evasion to matter.

[Swords]

I really don't know how tough Maat is on RDM anymore. I just posted what I explicidly did back then, considering I did this back in 04/05 and he's been nerfed twice, we got new gear, food, and whatnot since. I don't really know how long you've been playing, but back then it was a dark age for RDM if you went up against Maat for your 75 cap quest. It was not unheard of to listen to horror stories about RDM's going 30+ fights without a win, only to give up in frustration and level another job to beat Maat with. Since I was in the OP's shoes at that point, I thought it would be best to prepare for whatever possabilities that may arise.

Anyways while yes I do agree with you RDM's core evasion sucks against most things, Maat's melee skills are equivilant to that of a RDM's, skill B accuracy 228 and D evasion 201 at 70. Even discounting the use of the Bat earrings, capped evasion does make a significant impact avoiding his melee/Asuran fists in those times sleep gets resisted, he wakes early, or whatever reason he might get close enough to you to wail on you.

[cidbahamut]

No, that's what Blink and Stoneskin are for. Besides, you won't be landing Sleep or Bind while you prance around in evasion gear.

Gear intelligently, land Sleeps and he's a breeze.
Gear foolishly (ie, for evasion), get resisted, eat a few Asuran Fists and go back to farming up another testimony.

[Supersun]

Bring Sprinter's Shoes.

Use them immediately as you enter and run to Maat as fast as you can. Seeing what that first spell is and potentially being able to stop it is very valuable.

[Nzinga]

ok thanks!
Yeah for gear I think I was going to focus on INT and after thinking about it I should probably sleep him right away upon entering, and then take care of buffs/dispel...
Ans I was thinking about getting a wind staff so that way Aero III would have more damage... I hope I am reading that right :/

[magnius]

Don't gear retardedly.
Eat Creampuffs.
Sleep/nuke.
Win.
Celebrate with fireworks.

It's a pretty straight forward fight.

P.S.
Swords is giving you bad advice. RDM has the evasion of a wet brick and the goal is to never let Maat get close enough for evasion to matter.

This.

Sleep, buff, use MP meds, Chainspell, nukex4-6?, Sleep/Bind, Convert, Meds, nuke, win. That's how I did it. If you had my luck though, you get resisted(even with INT gear/food) and he Asuran Fists you back to back. I beat him with MP gear/food. No resists. Go figure.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

I nuked him until he himself chainspelled, then slept him until his chainspell was gone, I then chainspelled to finish him off. May be a good idea to take a Vile-Elixer +1 with you, since they're rather cheap now.

If Maat gets to close too you it can be the difference between win and loose, since he loves to spam Asurian Fists.

PS. Good luck in your fight, however you decide to fight him.

[Swords]

Blink and Stoneskin can easily be taken out by an Asuran Fists because its an 8-hit WS, and Maats been known to spam it in succession. Unlike most multi-hit WS Asuran Fists first hit does not account for a major portion of the damage, so even taking half the hits you still stand to take some decent damage. Stoneskin might live through one round if you've managed to cap it out macro swapping gear, but back then was a very daunting task at 70 (and still is by my recollection).

Anyways, you seem to think I went full out evasion and that I'm suggesting in doing so, I merely posted what I did when I had done the fight. I assumed I could get away without posting my actual gearset being I only mentioned the earrings for Evasion and not any other pieces or refrence to evasion equipment. Since at the time RDM's were limited to Morion, Phantom, and the Moldy Earring and all were retardedly expensive and hard to come by from overcamping, sacraficing the ear gearslots for +30 Evasion when I did not have many options is a reasonable suggestion.

Anyways my setup was as follows since my suggestion seems to be taken a bit too literally. Keep in mind, this was when CoP and BCNM had just been introduced so of course the gear options are limited and out of date.

Mythic Wand+1/Wind Staff/Dark Staff
Phantom Tathlum
Warlock's Chapeau
Warlocks Tabard/ Blue Cotehardie
Enfeebling Torque
Bat Earrings x2
Marine M Gloves
Saintly Ring +1 x2 / Eremites Ring +1 x2
Red Cape +1
Royal Knights Belt
Custom M Boots
Custom M Slacks / Warlocks Tights

[cidbahamut]

All I'm hearing is "I fulltime my gear".

[Neisan_Quetz]

I ate 2 asurans back to back when I did it at 70 and took 200 damage total, learn what PDT gear/Phalanx does. Although if going for quick run Phalanx isn't needed either, it's just extra security.

[Septimus]

My advice is probably going to be more outdated than Swords' since I beat Maat several months before CoP, but here's my two cents anyway since I have been playing this job longer than most of you whippersnappers.

Remember, you can enfeeble Maat. Paralyze, Slow, and Blind are three of the best spells in your arsenal for pretty much anything, but especially soloing. Decreasing his attack speak by 20% is nothing to scoff at; preventing attacks or helping him to miss isn't guaranteed, but can save your life if and when they happen. Gravity will also save your life, giving you precious time to get sleep back up in the case of a resist. (I am not sure if he is susceptible to Bind, but pretty much every other enfeeble works on him, so no reason this one shouldn't.) Do not forget that you can Silence him, it probably won't last a long time, but it can put a crimp into his Chainspell should Sleep and Sleep II fail. Also, Sleep lasts for 60 seconds, Sleep II for 90 seconds- you can buy yourself a lot of time by casting Sleep then Sleep II in case of an emergency. (Although in this fight time is of the essence.)

A trick that we used to do back in the day was to solo the Ruby Quadav in the entrance to the Qulun Dome. (Where you have to go for Genkai 3.) I am not sure if you can easily disable your subjob any more, but back then there was a glitch that allowed you to turn off your subjob by changing your main and support jobs very quickly. This will show you how much HP and MP you will have for the actual fight, as well as being a good practice for being cool under the pressure of a mob that wants to eat your face off, also a good test to make sure that your macros work correctly. Additionally, Ruby Quadavs drop testimonies, consider it a reward for training hard.

Beyond that, cap enfeebling, enhancing, elemental, and evasion skills. (My entire generation of mages on Bahamut owe a certain Paladin a debt of gratitude for helping us to cap our Evasion in his XP parties.) I am not suggesting that you equip evasion gear, but having capped evasion can be the difference between a spell being interrupted and victory. The fight has been spelled out well in this thread. Don't forget a Vile Elixir and Vile Elixir +1, they are dirt cheap now. For gear, use common sense, HQ elemental staves, Enfeebling and Elemental Torques and Earrings, MND where needed, INT where needed, Cream Puffs, so on and so forth.

Good luck.

[Shadygrove]

Hit the ground running. Do NOT stop to buff. While you buff, so does Maat. Maat cast blink = 90% chance you die.

Sleep Maat, Dispel Maat, buff yourself, have a refreshing Yagudo Drink, Nuke - sleep - bind. Rinse, lather, repeat. (Full disclosure: I did Nuke - Nuke - Sleep - Bind.)

Have a Vile Elixir or VE +1 on hand. Use Yag drink rather than Refresh. Never silence Maat. Convert ONLY directly after a sleep.

RDM Maat isn't hard per se, but he is random. Some with BS gear "just seeing what the fight is like" beat him first go. Some with uber gear, and tons of practice on RDMs like Ruby or Weapons, take 20 tries.

Good hunting.

[Xikeroth]

I melee'd maat to death years ago. you DON'T have to nuke sleep him if you play properly so don't rule it out. There are plenty of youtube videos giving examples you can always follow them.

If you fight him BLM style dress as a BLM, melee style dress like a PLD and use as much def as you can. Asuran fists is a joke he hit me 5 times with it on RDM and I didn't go down the key is very simple, when he starts using asuran fists chainspell and stoneskin every time he uses it using cure4 in between. You won't die if you're enhancing skill is ar a fairly decent level for phalanx and stoneskin.

If you want to go the easy way, nuke em. I never had to nuke him and I used to fight him for fun just because the fight wasn't that easy and I have yet to lose to the old fool on any job.

Maat fight is, no joke, nerves. A lot of the people that lost to him went about the fight all wrong. I didn't even use meds on my mule and still won. Maat is just a stepping stone and isn't very difficult if you just relax.

One thing I will note, turn composure off so your recast times don't take a slap in the face.

In terms of gear I believe some people hit nuke style on the head...

Now in days your BIGGEST concern is getting all your skill levels capped. You wont beat maat with a nuke strat unless your enfeeb, and elemental are BOTH capped. you can beat maat melee style without having all skills capped. I have done it lol

[Luso]

If you're going the sleep/nuke way, make sure you try and get as many of the NQ Elemental Staves as you can. They help out a lot and can let you land enfeebles more accurately. All I used besides the basic RDM AF Armor were 2 Phantom Earrings, a Spider Torque, Red Cape +1, and a Penitent's Rope, and oh, a Phantom Tathlum. I got as much INT as possible, since I was going to go the Chainspell method from the start:

I immediately ran to him at the start and Sleep II'd him; cast Protect, Shell, Blink, Stoneskin, cast Dispel 2-3 times on Maat, and Paralyzed, Blinded, and Bound him. Before doing this all, I made sure to use a Yagudo Drink before hand and I also used one Apple Pie my friend gave me for good luck. XD

But yeah, I then used Chainspell before he awoke and started spamming the two tier 3 spells I knew, which were Stone III and Aero III. When my Blink and Stoneskin wore I immediately cast Stoneskin back only. No need to waste on Blink since Chainspell will only last so long. I managed to win after Converting once and repeating the strategy. I even broke the record on that attempt. ^^

Make sure you have good macros for this fight, and test them out before you enter the battlefield. I've seen people make them and not bother testing them out, and then they get a command error when trying to use said macro. Wastes time and your HP.

[Kuvo]

It has been a long time since I fought him as rdm back in 05 i think. Anyway the sleep and nuke method is key. Capping your skills are also very important and gearing for sleep, bind, gravity are a must. I fought him using Aero 3 as my main nuke which ended up being not the best idea for me. I went through 5 fights doing that and lost. My advice is don't only use aero 3. Use your other teir 3 nukes as well and for god sake don't use any DoT.

I also used pro ethers and i think a marron glace (at the time it gave the most MP boost). Just sleep, bind, gravity and use all nuke 3 spells then sleep, bind, gravity again as needed. Also remember that you don't have to wipe all HP from maat. Keep him slept during his chainspell and rest. Once he wakes up, sleep again and get ready for your chainspell and nuke 3 his butt until he gives up.

[Devrom]

Bring Sprinter's Shoes.

Use them immediately as you enter and run to Maat as fast as you can. Seeing what that first spell is and potentially being able to stop it is very valuable.

it would be faster just to start running immediately. 12% movement speed wont make a difference in such a short distance, plus the time you spent using the shoes so no.

don't bother with buffing yourself as you enter, just run in and see if he casts blink. if he does, buff yourself then cast fast spells like stone till you take both of his shadows, sleep him then buff yourself and dispel maat. if he doesn't, just sleep him, buffs and dispel. also brink yagudo drinks so you dont have to deal with the mp cost of refresh. other than that, nq/hq earth staff and your basic INT based enfeebling set and nuking set. slow/para isn't really necessary so just save your mp for sleep and nukes (bind and grav in emergency). most important staves here would be ice, earth, wind, light and dark. so get hq ice, wind and dark staves when you can if not already.

[Supersun]

it would be faster just to start running immediately. 12% movement speed wont make a difference in such a short distance, plus the time you spent using the shoes so no.

don't bother with buffing yourself as you enter, just run in and see if he casts blink. if he does, buff yourself then cast fast spells like stone till you take both of his shadows, sleep him then buff yourself and dispel maat. if he doesn't, just sleep him, buffs and dispel. also brink yagudo drinks so you dont have to deal with the mp cost of refresh. other than that, nq/hq earth staff and your basic INT based enfeebling set and nuking set. slow/para isn't really necessary so just save your mp for sleep and nukes (bind and grav in emergency). most important staves here would be ice, earth, wind, light and dark. so get hq ice, wind and dark staves when you can if not already.

It's actually not as close as you think it is. I know when I did it I was surprised with how long it took to use the shoes and was thinking the same thing, but then I was even more surprised with how far away that BCNM was from the entrance XD

I got up to Maat and landed sleep 1 slightly slower then it too him to cast shell on himself. I'm pretty sure if he was casting blink I would of interrupted him.

[Alukat]

nuke could look like this:

Genius Ring*2
Warlock's Chapeau
Patrician's Cuffs (elemental magic,eva,healing skill+ [pretty nice piece])
Moldavite Earring
Insomnia Earring
Elemental Torque
Black Cape +1
Blue Cotehardie
Ogre Trousers +1
R.K. Belt +2
Numerist Pumps
and of course hq wind staff.

this offers elemental magic skill +27, int+23, (+30int with food) matb+5
i used this setup when i have done him, never resisted aero III + it took 7-10 nukes to get him down (can't really remember, it was 4 years ago) ^^

[Necrose99]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqK5rnN6dXw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxh-Mt69zM

both of them had part time tank jobs ohat or the like or good melle gear ups Maat Can be melle'd however you got more gabling skills than a Corsair. ...

however with the cost of Phalanx shooting up due to every paladin needding it as well as it being RDM's means that 30-50k now has jumped 500k-2.5 million , and you will need Phalanx to engage maat.

but the Tav. tacos are a great idea I've developed 70 rdm blm whm , so it's eassier to cap certian skills... and I can farm 3 tests and go for a win... as for WHM or the like first time you engage maat

however despite tav. tacos being tank/mage food thier not cheep , good mage and tank stats.... hp/mp recovery etc.

fist time on RDM maat was teflon despite having resonable enfebeling skills and stiping him of his buffs , 2nd sleep wore about as fast as the first. then i started to melle him as he fisted me , i was in a fight to try to live but if i was going ko least i wasnt sitting thier with a staff looking pretty, while he beat on me , since sword skills are neerly capped 223/227 i figged if i can keep him from casting as i'm casting i might be able too since sleep wasn't sticking and both sleep 1 n 2 were ticking down to recast ... this trip failed.


WHM i tried the kite methoid , began to panic and fumble a bit on timing ,

Abbyseea NM's .... Fight them in party feel the zen calm ... Maat has his weeknesses ... most of all dont panic if it's going badly then hash up a new fix , thier are videos on youtube galore and many guides , pick which fits you skills gil's and planing style. planing maat is a must just dont get too jittery like my first 2 , first rdm fight was a bust my skills wernt capped , but despite failing you get too feel him out and all.

I wasnt plaining on a Maat Meele except at the end sleep him tp wing WSkill for pure spite. if i could esle it was the classical sleep debuff sleep nuke.

[Carth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqK5rnN6dXw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxh-Mt69zM

both of them had part time tank jobs ohat or the like or good melle gear ups Maat Can be melle'd however you got more gabling skills than a Corsair. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x8q0axBchw

[Babekeke]

Anyone done this @90 yet? If so, is it extremely easy now? I hear that he caps @ 75 ^^

[Seriha]

If you can't beat him at 90, turn in your hat.

[Seveweyn]

I just recently beat Maat for the first time ever (even though I've been playing XI since '04) and it was on RDM. I was really nervous about this fight. Everyone says how hard it is and to expect to fail 7 or 8 times before you succeed. And given that this had been coming for several years, my anxiety about the fight was running somewhat on the high side. I feared I was going to be one of those people who is stuck at 70 forever because they can't beat Maat.

I went in at level 69, with AF gear. No special equipment really except for a darkstaff to heal up after my initial buffs and for landing sleep. My sword was a duel rapier. I also used a tav taco for this fight. I like to play RDM the way it is supposed to be played so most of what I say here will really only apply to the people that want to mix it up face to face. I didn't want to go with the whole 100% nuke from afar method, (nothing wrong with it, just not my style) however, even fighting with a sword I still nuked during the fight. You kind of have to given you only have 10 minutes, but I actually had no problem melee fighting maat with enspells while I did it.

My strat was pretty simple. I just went in for initial sleep, used composure and buffed myself, dispelled him once to get rid of his buff, and then rested up. Once I got back my MP, I landed some enfeebles, an initial nuke, and then ran in for some stabbity action. Now again, I'm one of those RDMs who likes to play the class the way it was intended by the developers, which means I don't remove composure. I spent a long time mastering timing for the longer casting times under composure so that I can time my recasts just right between enemy attacks. It can be a pain but, honestly, the extended buffs you get with composure for the long fights that require buff recasts, not to mention the accuracy bonus, are so worth learning how to do this properly.

Anyway, once I got him at about 60%, I chainspelled to start landing some nukes to finish him off. He ended up chainspelling almost right after I did. I managed to get off three AeroIII before I had no choice but to sleep him, so as not to receive return fire, and let the rest of my chainspell wear. While he slept, I converted and healed up and blasted him with a final AeroIII once I was sure his chainspell was gone and he gave up. He never even used Asuran Fists. I suspect not silencing Maat helped me here because he tried to use magic over his special melee. I was blown away at how easy the fight actually was.

One warning though. I sincerely believe that I owe are large portion of my success to skilling up all of my skills prior to attempting Maat. You need capped skills. I suspect that, with how easy it was for me to beat Maat, many of the claims that Maat is hard are coming, perhaps, primarily from RDMs who have been conditioned by the community into thinking a RDM is a WHM in red clothes. They go in with next to no sword or defensive skills, half leveled elemental and enfeeble, but capped healing and expect to walk away a winner. Not going to happen.

To take on Maat you will need, not only capped enhance/enfeeble/elemental skills but also sword/shield/evasion and take parry as high as you can stand skilling it. Properly skill your RDM before meeting Maat and I'm certain you will find that all your spells get through and you hold your own in melee against him because you aren't missing and you are mitigating his damage through evasion/parry/shield. Couple enspelled melee with nuking and it really isn't hard to take Maat down.

Good luck to everyone going into this fight. Just don't be nervous and come prepared. You will do just fine.

[Seveweyn]

however with the cost of Phalanx shooting up due to every paladin needding it as well as it being RDM's means that 30-50k now has jumped 500k-2.5 million , and you will need Phalanx to engage maat.


Just want to comment that any RDM in the level 66 to 70 range without Phalanx needs to turn in their membership card. Not only is it a signature RDM spell that defines the job, it is a level 33 spell dropped in many BCNMs in the 30-40 level range. There is just simply no excuse to not have it in my book.

[Babekeke]

If you can't beat him at 90, turn in your hat.

/em turns in hat

It seems that you need a lot more than 278 enfeebling magic skill with gear to land sleep on him, even at 90. My gear is pretty bad and I only levelled it for maat's cap, and because rdm af3 hands were the first item I got 8 seals for.

I'm a career BLM, so I went in all dressed up for nuking, ran straight to him to see him casting stoneskin so I immediately opened with sleep 2 which was resisted; sleep was interrupted; break was resisted. I obviously have both those HQ staves, but not the enfeebling skill. Going to get it over 300 before trying again >.>

I hadn't buffed up with any spells or items and got hit for 100-130 a hit and being taru, 5-6 hits took me down(including crits). At least this is just about the easiest test to get :)

[Raxiaz]

I went one out of one on this fight as my Elvaan alternate. I have a 90RDM Taru main so that could be why (but I never did the Maat fight except when I was at 80 once for fun).

I had this gear for him:
All HQ Staves
Bugard leather strap +1
Phantom tathlum
Warlock's chapeau
Elemental torque
Morion earring x2
Warlock's tabard
Warlock's gloves
Astral ring x2
Red cape +1
Penitent's rope
Ogre trousers
Mountain gaiters

When I think about it, that gear set is quite disappointing. Especially when I never switched any of it out except for the elemental staffs accordingly. But I was lazy. One thing I really had going for me was that I had capped out my enhancing, elemental, and enfeebling magic skills prior to battling Maat. Add in extra skill from my hat and torque, and the extra damage from auster's, it wasn't so bad of a fight. Just a little bit of a rush.

Gravity didn't stick at all 'til I got him down to 30-40%ish, at which point the battle was basically won. But without gravity, Maat is one fast old man. Keep that in mind and try to stay the maximum distance away from him when you're casting your nukes. Make sure ALL of his buffs are gone (Slow won't stick if Haste is up), and keep debuffs like Slow, Paralyze and Blind on him. You can use Bind if you need to. I casted it first to see if he had blink up, and I casted it once more in the middle of the fight to hold him off for a sec'. I also used a vile elixir, vile elixir +1, and a Hi-Elixir for getting MP back quick. When Refresh wore in the middle of the battle I didn't even bother putting it back up, and I never used Convert in the fight. All due to meds.

I just beat him today, so yeah. Ironic for me to see this post now. lol. Haven't read the topic, but good luck to all RDMs who have this ordeal ahead of them!

[Paulus]

Here's my advice.

You don't want to start buffing yourself before you run to him. You don't want to give him time to but shell or Blink up.

When you are in target range of him sleep 1 him or 2 if you resist. The reason you want to use sleep one first is for MP considerations. In the end those extra MP saved will make the difference.

After you slept him you want to see if he snuck any buffs in. Throw out a dispel on him. Once that's done Blink and stoneskin yourself.

Make a little distance between him and yourself and throw out your first Aero III. Try to time your Aero III with your sleep 1 timer with about 2-3 seconds left.

Once the first Aero III hits sleep I him. (He likely casted a spell on you which ripped a shadow so reapply blink.
Make more distance between you and start casting Aero III again on him. Same timing as above.

This next Aero III and the events that will "likely" happen will win or lose the fight for you. In all my experience the third sleep usually resists. I always screw up and try tier II sleep which resists as well but if you can get ahead of the curb, use bind and away.

What will likely happen since your so exited is that you'll try to cast sleep I and he will advance on you through the resist. You might even go for tier II which will resist. If your in this situation you need to cast bind asap.

Once he's bound run back to about half way into the tunnel. Immediately reapply stoneskin and rush back to him for the fourth Aero III. This Aero III will trigger his chainspell. You need to sleep him here. Usually he is sleepable at this stage.


Assuming you have him slept you need to go for his nutts here. Get some distance from him, chainspell, convert, Cure IV, Cure II, Blink, Stoneskin, Aero III, Aero III, Aero III, Aero II.

He should give up at 10% health.

Just remember when shit hits the fan bind is your friend. Use sleep I for mp conservation on sleeps. Make sure he doesn't have stoneskin or Shell up. And after you sleep him while chainspelled you need the killer instinct.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Vile Elixir+1 helps, and is rather cheap now as well.

[Paulus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfrYRwFOrqA

This is a later attempt that I did. Even though I was at a higher level the fight generally should go like this as maat is usually a tough customer to handle without good instincts.

[ManaKing]

I melee'd maat to death years ago. you DON'T have to nuke sleep him if you play properly so don't rule it out. There are plenty of youtube videos giving examples you can always follow them.

If you fight him BLM style dress as a BLM, melee style dress like a PLD and use as much def as you can. Asuran fists is a joke he hit me 5 times with it on RDM and I didn't go down the key is very simple, when he starts using asuran fists chainspell and stoneskin every time he uses it using cure4 in between. You won't die if you're enhancing skill is ar a fairly decent level for phalanx and stoneskin.

If you want to go the easy way, nuke em. I never had to nuke him and I used to fight him for fun just because the fight wasn't that easy and I have yet to lose to the old fool on any job.

Maat fight is, no joke, nerves. A lot of the people that lost to him went about the fight all wrong. I didn't even use meds on my mule and still won. Maat is just a stepping stone and isn't very difficult if you just relax.

One thing I will note, turn composure off so your recast times don't take a slap in the face.

In terms of gear I believe some people hit nuke style on the head...

Now in days your BIGGEST concern is getting all your skill levels capped. You wont beat maat with a nuke strat unless your enfeeb, and elemental are BOTH capped. you can beat maat melee style without having all skills capped. I have done it lol

I agree with everything you posted. I had a fully capped RDM when went to fight him the first time. The only thing that wasn't capped was my throwing. I fully buffed and hit him with a demon arrow to start the fight, then hit him with Bio. Ooops attack down x 2 maat, have fun getting through my ice spikes and stoneskin. What's that Maat? You're paralyzed for the 4th time this fight, awww you must be getting old. I melee'd him for almost the entire fight.

I had full HP and almost full mana when he was at 40% health. He chainspelled, I chainspelled and macrod to caster equips. I honestly don't remember the rest of the fight because he died almost instantly from nukes. My roommate told me to stop freaking out on maat because he was dead. It was so much fun.

I tried a version of sleep nuke the first 2 times and he beat me mercilessly as an Elvaan. I had no interest in trying a strategy that seemed appropriate for a Taru. Melee was a lot more rewarding and fun.

[Naoruru]

I actually used the same Evasion-based as this a LONG LONG time ago, prolly 05. the main point of this entire idea was IF something goes wrong he will be blinded, hopefully, with paralyze and slow and gravity. With stoneskin as close to cap as I could come with very little gil and some gear borrowed from others, I still ate an asuran fists from a single resisted sleep, nearer to 50%, right before I was about to chainspell, on my first run. Second run I used the Bat Earring idea, as I had done on a friend's WHM for them, and won with ease. I fought him three times after that for funzies, twice melee killing him (I suggest capped shield, parrying, sword), and once showing a friend how to kill him via Kite-nuke.

Gear suggestions for a current-day Maat RDM :
Elemental staff
Bugard Strap +1
Phantom Tathlum
Warlock's Chapeau
Philomath Stole
(A Plus Int and a Moldavite earring if possible, or two +int, or two bat earrings)
Blue Cotehardie
Marine F Gloves
Genius Ring x 2
Red Cape +1
Ocean Rope
Ogre Trousers +1 or Magic Cuisses
Custom F Boots

Use Boiled Tuna Head if you're going the EVA route. If not, use a Cream Puff / Apple Pie +1 / Crimson Jelly (Look up the stats and the price, and see which appeals to you). Apple Pie and Jelly are dependent on your MP pool.

If you're going to cap SS, I'd look for the following gears:
-Circe's Hat
-Promise Badge
-(2 +mnd earrings)
-Vela Justaucorps +1 or Justaucorps +1 or Bishop's Robe +1
-Devotee's Mitts (+1 if possible)
-(2 +mnd rings)
-Red Cape +1
-Sothic Rope if you're going to fight him on the Full Moon (I love this piece. It is amazing if you know how to use it) or a penitent's rope.
-Warlock's Tights
-Ogre's Ledelsens (+1)/Cobra Pigaches

Depending on your selections, this will give you between 50 and 60 +mnd. Which is nice. 233 enhancing, if capped. This is overdoing it, as I think you need +44 or 45 mnd to cap SS at that level. That will cap your stoneskin at 350, with Phalanx absorbing ~21 a hit. A stone gorget (from the Promivyon areas) can increase your stoneskin to 380.

With that +mnd set, your cure IV should be doing between 380 and 390 also.

Your enfeebling should be capped to 251, your elemental to 215. If you choose to cap your evasion, it should cap to 201. And your healing caps at 210. With those capped, you should be absolutely fine.


If you're going to melee, use a Wise Wizard's Analace and a Numenous Shield. I'd suggest the Demon Arrow / Bio idea, because his attacks are a tad painful. Attack/Accuracy foods, +str +mnd +MP gear mixed together, or macro sets for Stoneskin / Melee / Nuking. Capped stoneskin and phalanx are EXTREMELY important for this strategy. Use Attack foods, and take both HP and MP potions.
Maybe a psilos mantle or a Cheviot cape, swift belt, assault jerkin, Ogre mask, Tarasque Mitts, Ogre Ledelsens +1 Merman's Earrings x2 on top of your +mnd build.

just thoughts

[idx1]

1/1 Maat here, and I've to say he was quite easy.

What you want is a +MP gearset and nuking gearset. If you got an enfeeble gearset that's great.

He may start off by buffing himself - if he starts with Blink just Sleep him ASAP and buff yourself while he's slept - slapping on a Sleep II somewhere down the line to overwrite it and buy yourself more time.

Once you're buffed, debuff him. Paralyze, Slow, SILENCE, and GRAVITY. Caps for the more important ones.
After that just Chainspell and nuke him to death with your nuke gear. You probably will have to convert, but with Gravity on him he's gonna be really slow and you can take your time with your Convert + heals if you need too.

[Seyrena]

Ran in with NQ gear, AF and a Wind Stave. No buffs, no pots, no foods. Ran up to him, chainspelled, Diaga'd him to dispel his blink. Three nukes, and I was low on health due to a couple of asuran fists.

...So I popped a page from Miratete's Memoirs and levelled to 70 midfight. Screamed "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, OLD MAN?!" and laughed my ass off while I nuked him to oblivion.

Not hard at all.

[Izzybella]

After losing to the old man 8 times I got drunk one night and decided to fight him...wish I could tell you how I won but I honestly don't remember >.>

[Zenoxio]

Don't forget about the XP scroll method. Ding in the middle of the fight. I went 1/2 on Maat with that method and I'm a crappy RDM.

I was getting destroyed too on the fight I won: http://heavenisticchaos.com/hcforum/viewtopic.php?p=875#p875

[Alderin]

Powder boots work better then sprinter's.

[Supersun]

I...totally forgot about those.

That's actually a good idea. I'm pretty sure you could get to Maat and silence him before his first cast easily with those.

[tifia]

After losing to the old man 8 times I got drunk one night and decided to fight him...wish I could tell you how I won but I honestly don't remember >.>

Old topic but this made me giggle. XD

Back in the olden days before they made any job adjustment changes and introduced new gear and all that crap (in the before time. in the long long ago. BEFORE CoP had an ending) this was the biggest pain in the butt fight for anyone, Elvaan and Galka for sure.

I don't remember how many times I attempted, but I kept reading about the Chainspell routine being the best method. Used a Vile Elixir each time (back then it was 150k kids, and that was a lot of money back then). I know it took at least a dozen attempts. One day I was so annoyed about something and happened to get a RDM Testimony. So I said screw it! Let's just try for giggles.

And I won.

Didn't use Chainspell. Didn't melee him. Just used my highest tiered damage elemental spell and did a lot of sleep, nuke, binding. He never got his 2 hour off. I think I used one Vile Elixir, but had half of my mp left by the end of the fight.

I'm sure it's a whole lot easier now then it use to be. For those seeking help, just be aware of Maat's actions. If you see him running up to punch you in the face, Sleep him. Chainspell isn't needed to win, but if you want to use it, that's your call. You could potentially melee him to death, but might result in a really bad headache in the morning. Just go with your gut, because no one method is the right method for RDM. XD

[Babekeke]

People keep saying to sleep him, like he has 0 resistance...

I know my RDM IS quite gimped, and I levelled it in abyssea to 90, with only the magic skills of a level 75 BLM. All because RDM AF3 hands were the first thing I completed and I wanted to wear them. However....

I'm now 0/2 on him. First time I had ~260 enfeebling magic, with +~50 INT and ~20 M. Acc (and of course Pluto's staff).
Sleep was resisted. I was being really cocky, and thought i9t would be a walk in the park so didn't buff up at all and tried to sleep him before he buffed. Easy win for Maat.

So I got my enfeebling up to 310 skill (+10 from hands +16 from merits) thinking that's about the same as the E-Peen RDM75s so I should be set now. I took the time to buff myself this time, but also allowing Maat to buff himself. He didn't use blink, so I went straight in with sleep. BAM! resist! Same with Break and gravity.
Someone please tell me, what the heck am I doing wrong?!?

I'm now at 337+26 (363) and wondering if it's even worth risking another test yet, or if I'm going to have to cap it ><

[Supersun]

Whoever said Maat was easy to enfeeble was lying.

I've heard plenty of horror stories of Elvaan Rdms getting terribly resisted and having a nightmarish loss ratio.

Throw everything you can at him. Even those Int potions you can buy off the Auction house help.

Just remember though. Essentially if Maat feels like making you lost, you likely will. The Rdm Maat fight will always depend on some level of luck of whether you get resisted or not and if he feels like being a jerk with chainspell.


Also, E-peen rdms at 75 were like in the 350 range :P

[Neisan_Quetz]

I was 1/4 at 70 mainly because I panicked one run and rushed 2 more before calming down and getting it right (Didn't even die the first run, timed out from being overly nervous, second run I got para'd and lost vert and 2h). Idr exactly what I had but my skill was capped for 70 + Pluto's and I think sleep was only resisted in 2 runs.

I had M.C. Bracelets if it matters, used INT potions in 1-2 of the fights not sure if it was one I won though.

[Seriha]

Perhaps as a contributor to Maat oddities, when I recently took my 90 NIN to him to kill off toward Cap, he'd evaded roughly 50% of my attacks. Now, this was with capped 354 Katana and all the benefits of higher DEX and what gear I had available to that level that would've completely crushed a level 70 NIN's potential. If he's rocking over 450 EVA for NIN, him having a bloated MEVA for RDM doesn't seem unheard of. Then again, he may have some small aspect of level correction applied to him that we'll unlikely ever really know.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Whatever level he is he acts as if he's level 70, at least spell wise. I really think it's just the computer is a cheating bastard sometimes.


Friend did Maat fight the other day at 90 on Nin and he gave up before one WS.

[Seriha]

I still beat him in under 90s (1:21, I think, no food/meds), sure, just the amount of times I missed surprised me.

[Babekeke]

Perhaps as a contributor to Maat oddities, when I recently took my 90 NIN to him to kill off toward Cap, he'd evaded roughly 50% of my attacks. Now, this was with capped 354 Katana and all the benefits of higher DEX and what gear I had available to that level that would've completely crushed a level 70 NIN's potential. If he's rocking over 450 EVA for NIN, him having a bloated MEVA for RDM doesn't seem unheard of. Then again, he may have some small aspect of level correction applied to him that we'll unlikely ever really know.

I was exactly the same with 90 NIN (used capped, merited dagger) but when I did THF, I spammed bolts during perfect dodge, and none of them missed... Marksmanship only ~280. I don't see how Maat has better Eva on NIN than on THF? Come to think of it, I missed more as 90 NIN than I did as 80 DRK using merc kris too lol. Iono