New Red Mage opener!

Hello! This is a good endgame opener for RDM out there, making use of all cool downs, and a few role class skills. Please note that I am not lvl 70 RDM, but please try out this opener before doubting it.

Pre-cast Swiftcast+Acceleration - Veraero/verthunder(Preference) - embolden - verstone/verfire - diversion - veraero/verthunder( Pick the one that balences the mana bars) - Fleche - Jolt 2 - Infusion/potion - veraero/verthunder - contre sixte- Then balance out the mana bars to their 40's, but have 1 mana bar slightly higher then the other(Preference) - Manafication - corps a corps - riposte - zwarchhau - fleche(If you have it) - redoublement - verflare/verholy (Depending on which mana bar is bigger) - displacement.


Note: You can swap out embolden for diversion if you like, I don't really see any difference.

And there you have it! Remember you can either go for a verholy or a verflare, it all depends on which mana bar is highest after getting them both to 80.

You probably want to use Embolden at 5 stacks for your melee combo + flare/holy.

Oh, does Embolden's physical damage buff affect you? The tooltip say's it affects nearby party members, but nothing else.

I apologize, if it does though, I know I should have gotten to 70 and tested this out for myself.

You don't need swiftcast at all for RDM, just simply cure yourself pre pull. Then i would do something like vercure > acceleration > diversion > veraero/verthunder > fleche > contre sixte (i can fit both without clipping) verfire/verstone > veraero/verthunder > corp-a-corps > displacement > then fill manas to 40/40 (with one more) > manafication > corps-a-corps > melee combo > displacement > embolden > verholy/verflare. This allows you to get maximum damage from corps-a-corps/displacement from manafication. I'm sure someone much more hardcore than me will get a better opener, but this is what i have come up with thus far

Wouldn't it be a little more damaging to pre-cast a veraero/verthunder right before tank pulls (so it lands right after he pulls), then dualcast the opposite spell? Would give you a headstart in mana generation too, I think.

My bet is yes, didn't even think of that. I was just using dualcast to my advantage in the pull. But it can also be a bad thing, because you manas will be exactly the same, and who know what you procs will be like before manafication. You want the mana to raise evenly, but also tilted.

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Originally Posted by Kontai

Oh, does Embolden's physical damage buff affect you? The tooltip say's it affects nearby party members, but nothing else.

I apologize, if it does though, I know I should have gotten to 70 and tested this out for myself.

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The phys dmg doesnt apply to you but when enchanted, your melee combo does unaspected magic damage. Benefiting from the embolden magic buff. Id weave it after enchant. Riposte so that its at 5 stacks for holy flare.

That's definitely a possibility, but lucky procs (or holding a proc, 30s is a nice time to save it) could easily amend that. I'd be curious to see more testing with it by level 70 players, I've only just now unlocked verflare.

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Originally Posted by Kontai

Pre-cast Swiftcast+Acceleration - Veraero/verthunder(Preference)

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Originally Posted by WaywardPilgrim

Wouldn't it be a little more damaging to pre-cast a veraero/verthunder right before tank pulls (so it lands right after he pulls), then dualcast the opposite spell? Would give you a headstart in mana generation too, I think.

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Yeah no idea why people want to swiftcast or waste a precast.

Rule of thumb:
If it is a pull, where you can hardcast without loss of dps, Always precast.

If it is in the middle of battle and the boss goes away for a moment, there will be no time to precast, therefore a swiftcast or even better, Vercure Dual Cast, will increase your dps over a 270 proc or jolt II.

There are a couple things I don't agree with, with this "opener" like the spots that obviously clip the gcd.

Ok ok! I guess I just got a little excited, obviously it wasn't as smart as I thought. Ill try not to bother anyone with more posts like this.

Couple things, some have been touched on but lets consolidate the goodness. This will unfortuantely be a 4 parter:

First: Fleche and Contre Sixte are physical damage. Don't ask me man, they just are. Embolden doesn't do crap for 'em. Your 'enchanted' melee combo is magical damage(again, don't ask me man), but Enchanted Riposte is crap potency. If you're gonna hold embolden (debatable if it's worth it, I hold for first melee combo and pretty much use on CD after unless i'm bout to melee real soon) use it after Riposte or Zwerchhau. This is a great time to check if you have swiftcast(and acceleration) up and weave it so you can swiftcast the Verthunder/Veraero to try to proc the Verfire/Verstone your Verflare/Verholy didn't. This will leave you casting higher potency spells through the heavy part of your Embolden. Weaving between the melee combo is only 1 oGCD per GCD, they're < 1.5 seconds for Riposte and Zwer and < 2.2 seconds for Redoublement. Don't clip.

Second:

Precast Veraero/Verthunder for your opener then cast the other one. Use acceleration and diversion before you start the precast. You'll (example) Veraero->dualcast Verthunder -> Fleche -> Contre Sixte in the first two seconds of the fight for 1320 potency and without diversion on for that you will likely rip hate. This also gives you 2 chances (3 with swiftcast!) to get a Verstone/Verfire proc after your guaranteed one (Verstone in this example) before you have to cast a Jolt. Example of 0 proc beginning of opener would be 6-7 seconds prepull Acceleration -> Diversion -> 4-5 seconds pre-pull Veraero -> Verthunder -> Fleche -> Contre Sixte -> Verstone -> Verthunder -> Swiftcast -> Veraero. That's 2190 potency in the first 4 GCDs/10 seconds before you would, worst case scenario, have to touch a jolt. The Diversion will last long enough to mitigate the bulk of it.

Third:

Never ever weave anything between a hardcast and the dualcast after it. Ever. Not worth the lost GCD time. The only reason I would ever not immediately use the dualcast on Veraero/Verthunder is if I was at 80+ of each mana and using it on one would waste most of its mana capping 100 and using it on the other would make them perfectly even. Otherwise, use that dualcast. Hell, I might even use it on the capping/capped one anyway.

Fourth:

You're wasting 260 potency before you use manification with that opener. You just reset the cooldown on a corps-a-corps and a displacement you never used. Jog up between dualcasts when you're starting and then weave 'em in such that you are still by the boss. Dual/swift casted Verthunder/Veraero -> Displacement -> Jolt/Embolden/Verfire/Verstone -> Dualcasted Verthunder/Veraero -> Corps-a-corps. After manafication you can still weave corps-a-corps at melee range for the potency and displace at the end of your combo. You have plenty of time to run where you need to between dualcasts. They have different cooldowns so before we even consider the waste of holding both of them for melee combo you're wasting displacements holding them for corps-a-corps. This is the riskiest with the smallest reward part of maximizing RDM, and you need to learn when you can get away with it in each fight, but it makes a difference.

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Originally Posted by Kontai

Ok ok! I guess I just got a little excited, obviously it wasn't as smart as I thought. Ill try not to bother anyone with more posts like this.

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Nah dude. Keep working at it. Even if you come up with a rotation that doesn't quite fit the bill don't put yourself down. If you think you have something then put it in the Red Mage guide thread so we don't flood the board. Absolutely nothing wrong with creativity. If your created rotations aren't as good as they can be, someone better can come along and make it better.

The only way to get better at this game is to play and figure things out.

I like to embolden before verflare/verholy. Everything else looks good, and edit: I don't know why I didn't think of vercure pre pull.

You didn't bother anyone! Keep posting. We can all learn from each other when we share our ideas :)

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Originally Posted by Sarynth

I like to embolden before verflare/verholy. Everything else looks good, and edit: I don't know why I didn't think of vercure pre pull.

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Enhanced redoublement is great potency and magical damage, I'd suggest using embolden after zwerchhau or even after riposte. Without a countdown, cure for dualcast before a pull is nice. With a countdown, if you can prepull hardcast veraero/verthunder you can back to back your 11 mana generating 300 potency spells. It is most delicious.

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Originally Posted by Kontai

Ok ok! I guess I just got a little excited, obviously it wasn't as smart as I thought. Ill try not to bother anyone with more posts like this.

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Please don't stop! Now is the time when people should be pitching their ideas so we can pick them apart, analyze, debate them. :)

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Originally Posted by Kontai

Ok ok! I guess I just got a little excited, obviously it wasn't as smart as I thought. Ill try not to bother anyone with more posts like this.

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No im not trying to be mean! I'm at work with little time to respond. Didn't mean to sound harsh. Meant to be succinct.

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Originally Posted by tehbigdirty

Enhanced redoublement is great potency and magical damage, I'd suggest using embolden after zwerchhau or even after riposte. Without a countdown, cure for dualcast before a pull is nice. With a countdown, if you can prepull hardcast veraero/verthunder you can back to back your 11 mana generating 300 potency spells. It is most delicious.

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Thanks for the tips =^ω^= I'll give the a try now that I'm home from work. So start casting around the 3-4 second mark depending on much spell speed you have I take it?

In an optimized party comp, you'll want to embolden early in your rotation to line up with Trick Attack, Battle Litany, and Chain Strategem. It should be around the 3rd gcd.

Couple of things I've found is: Use Corps-a-corp and Displacement early in your rotation as fillers. I basically use them just like I use Fleche and Contre Sixte, and the reason for that is if I am using Manification in my opener, I get those off of CD anyway, so that's just extra potency I can throw in there, and adds up throughout the course of a fight. Basically, RDM already has so much potential for mobility, and I see so many RDMs use Corps-a-corp/Displacement ONLY for getting in and out of their melee - throw those bad boys in there!

Also, I do prefer Embolden early because I'm looking at the overall effective DPS I gain from it. Sure, it may not give me as much of a boost, but I have a 3 physical DPS comp and that extra deeps using it early on with cooldowns is pretty substantial.

Long story long: Use those oGCD fillers, even your mobility ones! And are you in a 4man? Save Embolden for yourself (after Enchanted Riposte). 8-man content? Share that Embolden love!

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Originally Posted by Nockvryca

You don't need swiftcast at all for RDM, just simply cure yourself pre pull. Then i would do something like vercure > acceleration > diversion > veraero/verthunder > fleche > contre sixte (i can fit both without clipping) verfire/verstone > veraero/verthunder > corp-a-corps > displacement > then fill manas to 40/40 (with one more) > manafication > corps-a-corps > melee combo > displacement > embolden > verholy/verflare. This allows you to get maximum damage from corps-a-corps/displacement from manafication. I'm sure someone much more hardcore than me will get a better opener, but this is what i have come up with thus far

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Why do you use embolden so late? The rest of the party debuffs will be gone by then and you've used all your skills before it? Surely you would pop this before you go in for melee combo?

Sorry! I forgot to check on this one...But uhm... Ive read all of these posts, all of you seem to have many ideas, and I just though why not change change the thread so that everyone can post their own RDM opener, and we can pick at them and stuff?

I'm reading your opener and want to understand the difference between your choices and mine.

So what I'll do prepull is pop acceleration and diversion, then hard cast verthunder > dualcast veraero > flèche > verfire > verthunder > contre-sixte > then the rest is based on procs verstone if I got it in my first casts, verfire if I have that, rinse repeat until I can manifaction and to the melee combo and embolden during that combo to try and get it off with trick attack and finish it off with my appropriate verflare/verholy and usually acceleration the opposite mana.

I notice you do hard cast verthunder/veraero then dualcast the next level spell of the same mana color. Is there something I've missed here that's losing me damage in my opener compared to what you're doing?

Mine is certainly not optimal by any stretch but it's done this way for reasons. 4 Sec pre-pull <Diversion> -> <Acceleration> -> <Swiftcast> -> <Fluid position><Embolden> -> VerThunder <Tired of <>>-> Fleche -> VerFire -> VerAero(Imbalance established) -> Contre Sixte From here it's a bit proc based and situational to 40+/40+ -> Manafication -> Melee Combo -> VerFlare/Holy. Before the salt begins, i do it this way to quickly get into the flow of casting, which means a lot more in the end then a bit more potency in awkward ways. Things like suddenly using Corps-a-corps and displacement runs a high risk of clipping a GCD at least for me, and in the time that it's going on i could be relocating to a more favorable position on the field as during the initial opener i haven't moved an inch from where i started.

Embolden is by default there simply to help the party's openers more than mine. So what if i get a little bigger hits on my melee, if the tanks and the other 3 dps are doing more over their entire openers it's worth it. The reason i say it's fluid position is it depends on the fight. It needs to be up for any DPS checks, so depending on the timing on those it may be moved farther back to line up better in that case. For example in that position it's coming up right at the first sword in Susano Ex. I can choose to use it there or at the second depending on the group comp and how our numbers are looking thus far. So it will move situationally.