RDM Balance ...

[Economizer]

To be honest, I was trying to avoid this thread, considering how some of the stuff the OP said is pretty... non-agreeable, but this line of conversation and learning the finer points to the perks of differing subs is pretty nice.

I've ridden SE the entire 60s before and the damage taken isn't anythings serious, we're RDMs.

I was going to ask about survivability, I have a Red Mage friend who tends to go along with Ninja sub for survivability, and I was wondering how survivable Dark Knight sub can be (especially over complaints that Black Mage sub is not very helpful for that).

The only thing I can think of at the moment would be the key sword weapon skill you pick up (still don't understand why it wasn't native like AE is). Care to give your experience with Dark Knight survivability?

[saevel]

Depends on your group. /NIN is mostly useless nowadays with all the dangerous moves wiping or ignoring shadows. Its ok in a small group vs lessor NMs, but vs anything you'd take an alliance on it's useless for defense.

SE is dangerous, it can rapidly deplete your HP if your not careful. Being a RDM you can survive better then most other jobs except a PLD and possibly a WHM. So if anyone could ride it full time, it would be RDM.

[Swords]

Yeah, one of the advantages of using SE on a RDM however is they can cure themselves and reapply stoneskin to absorb the impact of the damage thankfully. Typically, I avoid using it during the TP/proc phase, but it's nice to throw it out there when your zerging or WSing.

/BLM while it HAS it's uses in crowd control settings, it's far less useful for single mob (or 1 or 2 add) fights, and I can't really justify having it for ES unless there is an absolute pivitol point you must Sleep/Bind/Gravity/Silence during a 2hr on something resistant that doesn't have some of the new stupid resist rates. Last time I even recall where needing ES for something like that was maybe Suzaku if you didn't have or sub /DRK at 75, or Ouryu Cometh which was disappointing imo cause I never got resisted on him /WHM and w/o a staff.

[saevel]

Honestly if people want to talk about resistances and stuff, /NIN is your best sub. Use the appropriate ninjitsu prior to casting a spell, its the equivalent of +30 mag accuracy to the right element.

[Shiyo]

I think I just died irl from this conversation, talking about melee as /drk vs T4 VW NM's., then melee as /NIN vs T4 VW NM's, then ninjitsu for mevas down...

Wow.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Honestly if people want to talk about resistances and stuff, /NIN is your best sub. Use the appropriate ninjitsu prior to casting a spell, its the equivalent of +30 mag accuracy to the right element.

Aren't those spells killer to actually not get resisted, or was that another ninjutsu.

[saevel]

Aren't those spells killer to actually not get resisted, or was that another ninjutsu.

The -elemental resist part is unresistable, like Dia / Bio effect. The monster can resist the damage component, and they will if your /NIN, but the -30 resistance will still take effect and last for long enough to get the job done. I believe it's something like 15 to 30 seconds, but I could be wrong there (leaning towards 15).

Basically you'd cast Huton: Ni then cast Paralyze I / II or Blizzard IV. Only element it won't work for is Dark based spells like Sleep / Drain / Aspir and the like.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

The -elemental resist part is unresistable, like Dia / Bio effect. The monster can resist the damage component, and they will if your /NIN, but the -30 resistance will still take effect and last for long enough to get the job done. I believe it's something like 15 to 30 seconds, but I could be wrong there (leaning towards 15).

Basically you'd cast Huton: Ni then cast Paralyze I / II or Blizzard IV. Only element it won't work for is Dark based spells like Sleep / Drain / Aspir and the like.

Oh, okay.. I avoided those spells because I hate taking 6 slots up with tools.

[saevel]

6 inventory slots for tools vs 8 slots for staves, take your pick.

The whole /NIN Ni like is really to overcome ele resistance when your in melee mode, gives you similar mag.acc to what you'd get from the HQ staves. And honestly it's not really 6, I doubt you'll ever need to use water or wind, maybe even skip on fire to focus on earth / ice / thunder (Slow / Para / Nuke Damage).