take rdm out if ffxi

[Dale]

I am going for Excalibur in the first of my quests to collect REMA swords, especially for the attack.

Overall I've breached 1100 Accuracy with Sublime, though I can solo Apex Rapters/efts/etc with Marinera Pizza just fine, which is great cause I'm attack starved.

Working on Fiota Gorget, as I've gotten the belt. Working mostly around skillchains, the 2% chance of not expending TP would be nice, on top of the equipment stabilizing my SC damage.

Noted that there's also a decent WS headpiece from Tenzen too (+30 WS accuracy, decent attack str and dex stats) I'll be experimenting around with these and other WS items in an attempt to improve my WS damage in the event that I'm closing or recovering a Skillchian.

I'm considering building a weekly static for Skirmish, as stat customization there is rather nice for specific situations (can be a powerful boost to Phalanx if we can get the Dusk stones for it.)

No need for fettering blade as Egeking is in the process of augmenting and I've gotten Claideamh Solius.

I wouldn't mind advise on Nuking sets, though keep in mind I have intentions to doing so while swording as well as backline, so perhaps two separate sets for that anticipating Sword-based or lack of dedicated weaponry there may be a consideration. Tenzen also has a decent neck piece there for nuking - which makes him my number one Merit Sink for a while.

All and all I'm happy I'm making progress with all this. Game feels good to me, especially now that I have a group that supports me gearing up all aspects instead of just pink-maging it.

I prefer the Fettering blade over Egeking and Claideamh Solius because of the magic accuracy.

If you're looking for a good neck piece for nuking - I'd get the Sanctity Necklace from Quetzalcoatl instead of the one from Tenzen. I think it's better.

[Rydal]

Fettering Blade is better than Egeking in every way BEFORE you fully augment it. Fully augmented, Egeking gets 30 Magic accuracy. As an offhand, magic accuracy skill doesn't matter so it is more useful for the stats it does provide. Mainhand, Fettering Blade is overall better but it also depends on what you're doing.

Sanctity necklace is better than the Tenzen neck piece only if you're not magic bursting. Magic bursts make the magic accuracy from the sanctity piece not a big deal so you want as much damage as possible, which the Tenzen piece provides.

[Longjohn]

Hello. I am also a RDM main that has to deal with the fact that RDM is mostly pushed to the wayside, especially in the last year. I'll give you a few suggestions, although most of the best gear is not (easily) soloable.

-Egeking fully augmented gives a huge amount of accuracy if you find yourself needing some. It's better than most other options when accuracy is an issue.

-Nibiru Blade (Escha Ru'aun T2) is a great sword to have. Try to get a party for it.

-Fettering blade is a great main hand sword that gives great stat boosts (and it looks cool).

-Ginsen from the Tenzen 2 fight is a must have. Lupine cape from Fenrir 2 is great as well. You can spam them both during the campaign on Normal or Easy. Partying for Difficult or higher will yield better results but I got both from Normal.

-Now is the time to spam Alluvion skirmish to get augments on your Claideamh Solius and Taeon sets. Unless you can get hold of Carmine+1, Taeon is pretty much the best melee RDM can get.

-You can buy Voodoo Cuisses and Greaves for Carmine+1 (roughly 10m each, which is waaay cheaper than most HQ abjurations). You'll need to obtain the abjurations from T1 and T2 Escha Ru'aun NMs (shout or get a party) but they are well worth it. The NQ versions (probably under 50k each) are useable if you don't have 20m (or want to spend that much on 2 pieces of gear).

-Ambuscade cape- get at least 3 (1 for enfeebling, 1 for nuking, 1 for melee, and possibly a 4th for weaponskills)
-Accessories that are easy to obtain: Brutal Earring (Ancient Beastcoin exchange), Suppanomimi (Divine Might 1), Asperity necklace (Delve), Rajas Ring (CoP story).

-All the better accessories will require a party: Petrov Ring (Escha Ru'aun T1), Dignitary's Earring (Reisenjima T2), Combatant's torque (Combining all the Warder torques in Escha Ru'aun), Sanctity Necklace (Reisenjima Domain Invasion), Reiki Yotai (Escha Ru-aun Kirin), Hetairoi Ring (Reisenjima T3), Kentarch Belt+1 (Unity), Sarissaphoroi Belt (Reisenjima T2)

-Might be worthwhile to make an Excalibur (easiest REM to solo)

That's all I can offer for melee at the moment. If you want advice on magic sets I can do those as well.

Hi there,

Veteran player coming back after few years break (7).

One question Rydal: what about the Emissary & Colada sword in your ranking ?
To me, it looks like Emissary fully augmented is > to Egeking and Nibiru, (and so is Colada), am I wrong ?

[Rydal]

Emissary isn't that good. It looks good, but it's lying to you. As a base weapon, it looks like a good magical sword, but as a melee weapon, it's not much better than other options. Added with the fact that it's harder to get than both Egeking and Nibiru, it's not worth the trouble.

Egeking (fully augmented):
DMG: 124
Delay: 236
Magic DMG: +70
Magic Accuracy Skill: +188
Enmity: -10
Phalanx: +2
Enspell damage: +10
Accuracy: +50
Magic Accuracy: +30
Fast cast: +8

Nibiru Blade Path A (fully augmented):
DMG: 133
Delay: 236
Magic DMG: N/A
Magic Accuracy Skill: +188
STR: +5
DEX: +15
Accuracy: +27
Magic Accuracy: +15
Double Attack: +2

Emissary Path A (fully augmented):
DMG: 138
Delay: 240
Magic DMG: +130
Magic Accuracy Skill: +201
Attack: +15
Accuracy: +30
MAB: +14
Fast cast: +10
PDT: -3

Fettering Blade:
DMG: 134
Delay: 231
Magic DMG: +108
Magic Accuracy Skill: +201
STR: +12
MND: +12
Accuracy/R. Accuracy: +27
MAB: +14
Crit rate: +4

Bold means they are the best of the swords listed in the category
Italic means they are the only sword listed that has the stat

Egeking aside (which I'd only consider for when you need a high accuracy offhand), Emissary isn't better than Nibiru or Fettering on the mainhand for melee. Nibiru is much better for using CDC because of the high DEX and it has DA. Fettering is great for Savage Blade and Death Blossom because of the nice STR and MND. The damage/delay difference is minimal compared to what the other two swords offer. FC doesn't matter because RDM caps it easily without a weapon. As an offhand, you want Nibiru because of the DA and DEX.

If you want it as a magical sword, Fettering already is better because of the equal Magic Acc skill and MAB and it has MND on it. If you augment it for magic, then why aren't you using a staff (higher magic stats)? If you're dual-wielding it as a magic sword, then Nibiru clubs are better. Apparently the Sinister Reign dagger Malevolence is the ultimate dual-wield magic weapon for RDM if perfectly augmented but good luck getting 2 perfect ones.

As for Colada, it can potentially be the best weapon you have outside of RMEA, both for magic and melee. Colada outclasses Emissary in every way (easily!). You just have to get the augments right. If you get more than one, you can augment them for different things. If augmented correctly, it'll be the best offhand even if you get a RMEA sword. I currently us Colada main and Nibiru off for melee RDM and BLU. I have 2 Coladas but the second one I didn't get great augments on so I put it in storage.

[Longjohn]

Thanx Rydal for your expertise.

Looks like we got alot of choices, depending of the situation..

Since I don't think I'll get the Colada before long, and that I have :
- Emissary x2 (1 only fully augmented melee)
- Demersal NQ (dmg 109, delay 224)

SHould I forget the demersal and its twice attack (which seems to proc quite often) and go for Emissary + Nibiru ?
Also I'll try to get the Fettering, but not sure I'm able to solo that fight... even in Easy

[Rydal]

I'd suggest picking up an Egking and augmenting it because the accuracy can help tons when fighting higher level mobs early on. Nibiru is a must have though. CDC is our best WS and DA only increases our DPS so we need swords that carry those stats/traits since we can't get them subbing NIN or DNC. In the meantime, you can use both Emissaries. Demersal is only good when you don't need accuracy or the main hand is strong enough to justify the OAT proc. It provides nothing useful besides the OAT. I know a lot of RDM would offhand it with Murgleis or Excalibur, but that was before Nibiru and Colada. I wouldn't go near it now on high level mobs. Maybe on easy fights.

[Rooj]

You should be collecting multiple weapons for different situations anyway. And for the record, I'd like to make it clear that this obsession with Accuracy is HIGHLY exaggerated. Yes, you are going to want sets with more accuracy, and sets with more multiattack. You're going to be using both. People who think you need 1200 accuracy or anywhere close for T1 Zitah NMs are out of their mind. They just saw some other buffoon say it so they repeated it to make themselves feel comfortable. You don't even need that much for T2 NMs! And as a RDM you can adjust your accuracy easily with food, equipsets, Distract II/III, and GAIN-DEX. You're going to need less accuracy than others due to Distract (and can allow your party to use attack food instead as well). SE has also said they have acknowledged the accuracy requirements for meta-content and will be making adjustments.

I also disagree with adding any double attack to your set. It's fine as a stepping stone for now, but you should eventually be working towards removing every single piece of double attack from your set and getting as much triple attack as possible - at after you reach 1200 JP and acquire Temper II. When swinging, the game rolls to see if you double attack first - if failed, then it rolls to see if you triple attack. 'Occasionally attacks' are a different roll (you can proc OA and DA/TA/QA in the same swing) so it won't hinder you. Fighting something that needs less accuracy? Equip your Degen. Need more accuracy? Equip Egeking.

Welcome back. Have fun playing the job with the most multiattack in the game.

TLDR; What you are fighting is always going to affect what you are wearing. Don't make the mistake of gearing for 1 specific thing.

[Longjohn]

Thanx for your inputs

I’ll work on getting the Egeking then.
For any other question, I know the place now

PS: friend CP party on Apex crwaler aside, what would be a good alternative for soloing/duoing CP ?

[Hyrist]

Thanx for your inputs

I’ll work on getting the Egeking then.
For any other question, I know the place now

PS: friend CP party on Apex crwaler aside, what would be a good alternative for soloing/duoing CP ?

Apex Raptors in Woh gates is what I do. You need accuracy enough to reliably hit up to ilvl127 for that ,and be prepare to re-summon your tank and healing trusts. Occasionally I get a bad stint where my healer putters out and I end up tanking. /nin helps with that. However, keeping your healer reliably unsummoned/resummoned whenever you see the MP get low will fix that. I recommend a good 119 weapon before approaching that. Something like a midly augmented Skirmish Sword at minimum with a decent accuracy or, if you've got about 1050+ accuracy before food, a multi-hit offhand (Demersal Degen/+1) will help you TP faster. (I'm using a +19 dmg Colada main hand, if that helps justify the use of the OAT to you Rydal.)

I recommend Selh'theus and Shantotto trusts for reliable skillchain/bursting, Shantotto bursting will give you a lot of damage to help clear the mobs faster. It's by no means a Crabs CP party, but it's better than nothing.

Below that, progression wise I soloed Aerns with trusts in Escha Ru'aun. I'd watch your CP rate, it may be faster with Aerns if Apex Raptors are giving you trouble. Just be sure to have a Mollifer on in case you decide to kill something that can spawn a Warder on the side.

[Dale]

You should be collecting multiple weapons for different situations anyway. And for the record, I'd like to make it clear that this obsession with Accuracy is HIGHLY exaggerated. Yes, you are going to want sets with more accuracy, and sets with more multiattack. You're going to be using both. People who think you need 1200 accuracy or anywhere close for T1 Zitah NMs are out of their mind. They just saw some other buffoon say it so they repeated it to make themselves feel comfortable. You don't even need that much for T2 NMs! And as a RDM you can adjust your accuracy easily with food, equipsets, Distract II/III, and GAIN-DEX. You're going to need less accuracy than others due to Distract (and can allow your party to use attack food instead as well). SE has also said they have acknowledged the accuracy requirements for meta-content and will be making adjustments.

I also disagree with adding any double attack to your set. It's fine as a stepping stone for now, but you should eventually be working towards removing every single piece of double attack from your set and getting as much triple attack as possible - at after you reach 1200 JP and acquire Temper II. When swinging, the game rolls to see if you double attack first - if failed, then it rolls to see if you triple attack. 'Occasionally attacks' are a different roll (you can proc OA and DA/TA/QA in the same swing) so it won't hinder you. Fighting something that needs less accuracy? Equip your Degen. Need more accuracy? Equip Egeking.

Welcome back. Have fun playing the job with the most multiattack in the game.

TLDR; What you are fighting is always going to affect what you are wearing. Don't make the mistake of gearing for 1 specific thing.

I tend to agree. When you factor in Distract III/Accuracy food and the ease in which Red Mage can access effective melee gear these days - I don't really see a fully augmented Egeking being necessary to hit mobs. Chances are if you are fighting an enemy so evasive that you still can't hit it after all of that - the Egeking isn't going to make a difference as it's likely one of those insanely evasive mobs intentionally designed to where you need a ton of support to land on. In which case - I would argue more Magic Accuracy would still be better so the Red Mage can better fulfill their support obligations.

I remain of the belief that a serious melee Red Mage should prioritize Magic Accuracy on their sword. So if I were to go after an Egeking it would be more for the +30 to Magic Accuracy than anything else. The +50 to accuracy would be nice to have in situations where you find yourself having to eat magic accuracy food though. So the more I'm thinking about it - the better this sword is sounding actually.