Thinking of making an MRD/THM

I'm trying to make a type of Dark Knight class so i figured mrd/thm would be the best way to go. Right now I'm just looking for suggestions on how not to screw this up, any advice would be welcome.

Only good THM skills on a MRD are: Sacrifice III, Siphon MP II, Siphon TP, Emulate, and Contagion. All the debuff spells suck when cross classed, especially on a melee character.

Would it be better to go with /conjurer or would the spells end up being to weak?

CON nukes are worthless on a melee class. Shockspikes and Shockspikes II would be your most useful spells on MRD. That's about it. THM has more useful skill on a melee class, IMO.

If you were to get both CON and THM to rank 48, so that you could equip your MRD with Cure III and Sac III, your MRD would be pretty much invincible as long as you have MP.

Ya that's definitely a good idea but that would make my guy more of a paladin then a dark knight, I was thinking about melee class that can debuff but if debuff spells suck on melee classes like you say that I'll figure something else out.

If you're in a party, the only THM skills you should have are Siphon MP II and Siphon TP, and Emulate if you're tanking (and maybe Sac III for emergencies if you healers die or something). You are a melee DPS first and foremost. You can't buy more than +10 cross class affinity, so any kind of magic you try to do will suck horribly. Don't try to be a Dark Knight or Paladin. Be a MRD first. The game is not set up yet for the kind of melee/magic hybrid that you're invisioning.


When I solo, these are the only mage skills I have equipped:

Siphon MP II
Siphon TP
Emulate
Sac III
Cure II
Shockspikes
Transcendence

All the other spells aren't worth it.

Ok good to know, thanks a lot :D

I tried this. Both my marauder and thau are 36. Honestly it doesn't seem worth to equip debuffs and such... cure II and sac II are things every melee should have IMO, but that aside... everything goes down really fast like for it to be worth it.

I use MRD/THM. It does worth using as soon as you have the "correct" point distribution. You just can't expect miracles...obviously a MRD magic accuracy isn't like THM one since just the weapon base m.accuracy already put 20 m.accuracy over MRD.

But having at least 80 points in PIE and using 4 darksilver rings help a bunch while playing mixed.

Absorb spells are pretty helpful at MRD, helping not with the accuracy but with damage too.

I really would suggest you to at least try it at higher rank! ^^

My favorites from THM have been the Absorb skills, it seems to help a ton in duo/solo play the most and not many people seem to do it too.

This is what I'm doing, and it works quite well. It's heavily dependent on how you lay your stats out. Remember that you're going to want to pump at least about 80-85 points into piety by the time you're rank 50 and you'll be able to stick a lot of debuffs. On top of that you have Siphon MP II, Siphon TP, and Sac III. Also you can buy Transcendence to raise your affinity with Thaumaturge abilities on your MRD which will help you stick your enfeebs more frequently, and make your cure's and siphons more potent as well. Also, remember regardless of class Siphon MP works best on a mob after it's dead and the body is still laying there.

for now ya mar/drk but 6month --1year you you can just unlock the job dark knight by the look of the interview i hoping they go with get a class 50 and you can do a quest to unlock job A or B i don't really enjoy the tree thing that much.

I Open (Invigoriate) follow up with abs-acc/atk/def(meanwhile my tp regens) & i will even open with scourge 2 to lower dark resistances , i use 4 darksilver rings & have 80 pie at 36 MRD. highest Maim on a tough mob is about 600~700 dmg~ with certain buffs like fero/RR(1) its important to remember absorb-def also increases your damage as well as abs-attack. Pair all these skills with fast cast and MP resorting abilities (stygian spikes if soloing or siphon MP in PT)Cure2/Sac2 it happens very fast. (3/4 of the time my debuffs land)

I have been having a fair amount of success with absorbs but due to my lowish pie (39) i have to use dark seal to stick them at a decent rate. Guess i could make the jump to 4 darksilver rings and rejigger my stats a bit more. My only real issue with them is there short duration.

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Originally Posted by Griss

My only real issue with them is there short duration.

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Yeah, that's a big problem. Why even bother if the buff is only going to last 1 minute?

The problem is, cross classing is only useful when the class your using to supplement your main is not present in a party. So usually solo or duoing. In addition, they're fairly ineffective as well.

That doesn't mean its still not useful to level a caster class for the attribute traits. But, other than those traits, you won't find many reasons that would justify leveling another class, as your main class's abilities are better suited for your role.

I'm confused, are you referring to just leveling a caster class for abilities or all other classes in general? Just off the top of my head raging strike, cadence, invigorate, and ferocity are all abilities you'd want from other classes as a marauder alone.

I play duo most of the time and the absorb spells work nice in this setting as well as cure II and sac II. But in a regular party they don't seem to come into play much.

It's not so bad!

As MRD50 I have 122 Piety with Asceticism I and II and 4 Malachite Rings.
85% of the times the Absorbs spells inside BR are working with big NMs.
It's pretty cool and "different" from standards! :)

I think you are doing MRD an injustice trying to turn it into a DRK. At level 50, with Hawks Eye, Raging Strike, Ferocity II and Bloodbath II plus Maim I don't need to use Cure II and Sac II much at all. If you are clever and on the ball, Fracture II and Skull Sunder II are all you'll need to wear a mob down, if you HP is getting low pop Comrade in Arms and Invigorate to quickly max your TP and hit the mob with Maim. I've done a 1700+ Maim giving me back 900 HP with Bloodbath II. On occasion I will use Absorb Acc if I find the mob is too evasive.

Marauder is a damage constant with good tanking and some support skills (Skull Sunder and Disorient). It is a great tank or a great (consistent) dps job, it's definitely not a DRK.

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Originally Posted by Grundy

I think you are doing MRD an injustice trying to turn it into a DRK. At level 50, with Hawks Eye, Raging Strike, Ferocity II and Bloodbath II plus Maim I don't need to use Cure II and Sac II much at all. If you are clever and on the ball, Fracture II and Skull Sunder II are all you'll need to wear a mob down, if you HP is getting low pop Comrade in Arms and Invigorate to quickly max your TP and hit the mob with Maim. I've done a 1700+ Maim giving me back 900 HP with Bloodbath II. On occasion I will use Absorb Acc if I find the mob is too evasive.

Marauder is a damage constant with good tanking and some support skills (Skull Sunder and Disorient). It is a great tank or a great (consistent) dps job, it's definitely not a DRK.

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This is what i thought, before exping my thauma to rank 20.
It can be a great DRK too, inside an 8 men party. You can focus on debuffs and thaumatuges can do magic damages.
The worst thing of Marauder is accuracy. I realized that with Absorb ACC, Hawk's Eye, Still Precision and Keen Flurry, you can easily take you DEX down and raise your PIE up.
It's all about finding the best way to merge physical damages and magic accuracy. I don't want to heal myself or do magic damages, but i want to debuff the mob and take away work from mages if needed. Then with Invigorate i can always have TP for enetering Battle Regimens.

It's pretty cool, and it's different from the standard! So fuck yea to DRK! XD

I've mentioned this in another thread about the Mrd accuracy issue and going for a drk build is NOT the answer, all you are doing is weakening every good aspect of the Marauder at the cost of nearly useless absorb spells.
Mrd has awful affinity toward any of the mage skills so you will be unable to use them effectively, you are better off just letting a real THM absorb, then transfer the effects to you with initiation, and thats the ONLY way.
PIE is a useless stat, keep it at zero for every class, it has no effect on sticking power, magic acc, magic dmg, or anything at all really, its totally broken. See below for detailed and extensive parser results on PIE testing over multiple classes. As well as testing on other stats if you don't mind a good read.

http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?foru...564&howmany=50

So in short, MRD/THM.. no, just no.

I agree with Filtiarne completely, personal opinion though. If you want to use THM skills then knock yourself out, it's just not my thing.

Well, i don't ^^: Lemme quote PIE part from the parse link:

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PTY
The Effects of INT PTY and RANK on Phantom Dart and Damnation by myself, Deus Bahamut.
The Effects of INT PTY RANK and ELEMENTAL POINTS on Scourge Scourge II Shadowsear by myself, Deus Bahamut.
**See each thread for my conclusions.
**Increasing PTY has ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT OR CORRELATION TO INCREASING ACCURACY OR LOWERING RESIST RATES for Phantom Dart, Damnation, Scourge/II, Shadowsear
Stick to using Phantom Dart on SP grind mobs with a maximized INT and minimized PTY.

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He only tested basic attack, WS and nuke. PIE does makes difference regarding resist rate of debuffs (AKA debuff duration and, for absorb spells, buff duration too). Indeed i never noticed any difference at nukes acc coming from PIE just like i never felt any difference in acc coming from DEX wen we talk about DD'ing, but for absorb spells it does makes difference.

Also, i like absorb spells because they are just an extra ATK buff at WS damage calculation since right now STR does not seens to affect WS damage (i LOLed at old six-arms...my bbasic actions were dealing like 2x my WS damage due STR value).

But its that thing...it all is supposed to change next month with battle patch so makes no sense discussing it right now. I'm really looking foward to attribute balancing that is supposed to come with battle patch. ^^

Thauma and conj abilities work extraordinarily well on marauder. You just need the INT MND and PIE to back it up, and you just can't use any abilities that rely on magic potency. Your magic accuracy is pretty good honestly.

Fortunately the system is so forgiving that it's worthless to get over 120 dex and str on MRD, freeing you up to cast.

Slow, any DoT, any debilitation, cure, siphons, sleep...all of these abilities are viable on a marauder with above 70 INT and PIE. My mrd cures for 515 every 5 seconds with 100% accuracy. Bloodbath is not even worth the time it takes to activate and hope it lands. Marauders who think that setup gives up a lot of DD output don't know they're simply wasting their points if they have over 130 STR or DEX. They just figure more is better. Plus, if you have mage levelled you have access to stat conversions.

I keep STR DEX INT and PIE at 86, and MND and VIT at 80, then stat conversions and job gear do the rest. Yes, it's horribly generic. But horribly generic is superior in this game. It's the specialists that are gimp.

But the absorb spells don't last long enough to merit reapplying it. You're better off continuing to swing. IF the abs spells lasted longer, you'd better believe I'd have them right there by siphon MP.

A DRK setup is honestly more useful than a straight DD marauder is. If they're just DD-specced...might as well just invite the archer.

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Originally Posted by Peregrine

Thauma and conj abilities work extraordinarily well on marauder. You just need the INT MND and PIE to back it up, and you just can't use any abilities that rely on magic potency. Your magic accuracy is pretty good honestly.

Fortunately the system is so forgiving that it's worthless to get over 120 dex and str on MRD, freeing you up to cast.

Slow, any DoT, any debilitation, cure, siphons, sleep...all of these abilities are viable on a marauder with above 70 INT and PIE. My mrd cures for 515 every 5 seconds with 100% accuracy. Bloodbath is not even worth the time it takes to activate and hope it lands. Marauders who think that setup gives up a lot of DD output don't know they're simply wasting their points if they have over 130 STR or DEX. They just figure more is better. Plus, if you have mage levelled you have access to stat conversions.

I keep STR DEX INT and PIE at 86, and MND and VIT at 80, then stat conversions and job gear do the rest. Yes, it's horribly generic. But horribly generic is superior in this game. It's the specialists that are gimp.

But the absorb spells don't last long enough to merit reapplying it. You're better off continuing to swing. IF the abs spells lasted longer, you'd better believe I'd have them right there by siphon MP.

A DRK setup is honestly more useful than a straight DD marauder is. If they're just DD-specced...might as well just invite the archer.

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once again DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS PERSON, THEIR INFORMATION IS 100% FALSE

Marauder has atrocious affinity with magic based skills, DO NOT waste points in anything but vit, str and dex. Focus on vit. Piety has been proven to have ZERO affect over magic accuracy, magic damage, magic anything. See the following detailed and extensive testing that has been done on many different stats, including piety.

http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?foru...564&howmany=50

Right, listen to the marauder with a fisherman subjob and INT MND and PIE all at 15 lol... Because that's elite. He doesn't even have feint, so he's not even got his meleeing bases covered yet. His stat profile is a textbook example of how not to build a good FFXIV character, and his meleer suffers for it.

As sandboxy generic as the stat system is right now, it lets you do some pretty silly things with your off-class magic. I highly recommend all meleers to level a mage to 50. You will easily see the power in it. You just need over 70 INT MND and PIE and can't be dicking around with 140+ str dex and vit (IE wasting points).

I mean honestly...bloodbath? Get out of here, that doesn't even make it onto my bar.

The best meleers honestly have as many mage abilities on their bar as they do off-meleer abilities, because that's how forgiving the system is. They in essence overcompensated for how bad equipping magic on a meleer was in FFXI in this game, almost to a fault.

In a perfect world, all meleers in FFXIV would be DRK hybrids. It's VERY nice. Don't listen to the meleers who don't have any significant magical prowess. They're just falsely assuming this is FFXI-2.

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Originally Posted by Peregrine

Right, listen to the marauder with a fisherman subjob and INT MND and PIE all at 15 lol... Because that's elite. He doesn't even have feint, so he's not even got his meleeing bases covered yet.

Take your vitality down from 165 to 80, get siphon TP, bump your INT and PIE to 80 and make more use of yourself. Your stat profile is textbook FFXIV rookie mistake. 165 vitality...lol what a waste of potential.

As sandboxy generic as the stat system is right now, it lets you do some pretty silly things with your off-class magic. I highly recommend all meleers to level a mage to 50.

I mean honestly...bloodbath? Get out of here, that doesn't even make it onto my bar.

The best meleers honestly have as many mage abilities on their bar as they do off-meleer abilities, because that's how forgiving the system is. They in essence overcompensated for how bad equipping magic on a meleer was in FFXI in this game, almost to a fault.

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what part of PIE is useless didn't you understand exactly. I've got google dictionary open to help define useless, ineffective, proven and waste for you.

The part of PIE that you obviously browsed over on Thaumaturge lol...
PIE works. But like every stat, there's almost no point in getting it over 100. PIE is the difference between 20 MP siphons and 80 MP siphons. It's the difference between a useless duration on a debilitation and a full duration. Goblin Braggodocios are the perfect way to test how much PIE and INT really do work. Go learn something.

Oh wait, you can't, your mage is R30.

Your stats are so bad that I think my marauder could take yours. The shockspikes and slow effect would last an eternity, and I could sleep you at will. Probably wouldn't even have to. I think gravity and Choke would suffice.

Again, like I said, you just can't use anything requiring magic potency on your meleers: IE the nukes. Everything else is fair game, and actually kindof overpowered.