RDM needs a little TLC

So when Red Mage was announced for Final Fantasy XIV I was super excited and decided to make it my main, switching from Summoner. At first, I was very happy with how they introduced the class to the game and I assumed the job would continue to grow and develop over time. Alas, in Shadowbringers I've only seen the job more or less stagnate to the point where I feel like i'm being pushed into playing Black Mage even though I love the aesthetic of the Red Mage. Oddly enough, I feel like the job can be improved in a few ways that would be fairly easy to implement and then in many others which would definitely take some work but I think would make the job more worthwhile.

Easy fixes
The biggest issue with RDM, in my opinion, is that it takes WAY TOO LONG to generate the mana necessary for the melee combo. I believe this could be very simply addressed by lowering the cooldown on Manafication to 55 seconds. To line up with this, I would probably also lower the cooldown on Corps a Corps to 30 seconds and Displacement/Engagement to 25 seconds. Some potency values might need to be slightly adjusted with this but the point is to make the job faster and more engaging while also slightly increasing its DPS.

Harder fixes
The other issues I have with RDM stem from its AOE abilities. The previous Stormblood version was abysmally boring and unfortunately the Shadowbringers version isn't much better. However, with the above changes in place I feel like SE could give RDM an AOE rotation who's function and flash are on par with that of the Dragoon. The first thing is to give the 50% proc of a second ability to Verthunder II and Veraero II. But instead of having them proc in the same fashion as the single target abilities, I would simply have them give an "impactful" buff which makes the next Impact generate twice as much black and white mana as it normally does. Then when you're at the prerequisite 80 black/white mana you should be able to do a true melee AOE combo in 3 parts which they can simply stack on the one button like they do in PVP...OR once you execute the first move of the combo, the single target combo moves transform into the AOE versions. I feel like SE could create some really beautiful sword attacks for this combo in the vein of Fleche and Contre Sixte but obviously they would have to make entirely new moves and animations for this so we'd probably not see anything like this until the next expansion but I'm putting it out there anyway.

Future changes
Finally, one thing I would like to see on Red Mage is a bit more white magic representation in its moveset. I certainly don't mean more healing abilities but Y'shtola, for instance, used some interesting conjurer-like abilities in her Shadowbringers toolset even though she seemed more or less a Black Mage and it would be cool to see things like this on the Red Mage since they are supposed to embody both Black and White magic.

AoE is not going to solve any of RDM's actual problems. RDM is just fine in dungeons which is the only place where AoE matters. We need buffs to our single target rotation and/or additional raid buffs to offer the party.

Am I the only one who wants more BLACK Magic representation in RDM's kit? Before more White Magic?

We have three elemental attacks from BLM and WHM each. But we only have those three Ver-Black spells when we have Vercure and Verraise for White Magic.

Actually even running dungeons on Red Mage is painful, other jobs seem to take enemies down faster then RM can.
I now just run as Machinist for my Expert dungeon, etc..
Is just faster and not so painful

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Originally Posted by Katie_Kitty

AoE is not going to solve any of RDM's actual problems. RDM is just fine in dungeons which is the only place where AoE matters. We need buffs to our single target rotation and/or additional raid buffs to offer the party.

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Our AoE dps is one of the worst in the game :p if you at logs we are not as good as u think. We are still one of the lowest.

The only thing rdm needs is to increase the amount of points you get for black and white magic for both single and multi Target. That would bump up damage. Aoe is fine and more engaging then any other job. You think melee doing the same 3 hit combo is any better? We either need more damage solved with higher return on white black points or we need a new strong DPS oriented party buff.

With the recent changes to Nin, i would say Red Mage is slightly above DNC is all atm
RM needs dmg buffs and other tweaks

The AoE situation is abysmal. Scatter Spam might not have been complex but the jackpot scenarios hit all the right skinnerbox levers, and it was unobtrusive enough to balance out.

Nobody has galaxybrain AoE, so I don't see why Red Mage unnecessarily expands the kit. All it needed was a Moulinet trait / combo skill that also activated Holy/Flare at reduced potency in AoE.

Which would naturally branch into a reduced potency aoe Scorch.

I’m sure we will get buffed in 6.0 kappa

Thunder and Aero increase to 320
Thunder and Aero 2 potency should be buffed to 140
E Reprise 280-300 Buff
manafication should just allow us to use 3 enchanted melee abilities while disregarding the BW resources while still giving you CaC and Dis refreshes
Fleche should be increased to 480-500 potency with a CD increase to 30secs


Embolden should effect ALL jobs, not just physical, RDM is the worst job in rdps and it's partly because it can't work with BLM which is a monster for rdps gains. Even DNC can work with BLM as well as bringing the free 1% making it better under the scope of the metagame. While i can't expect to get all of these changes, this is the most important one

Vercure should give you a guaranteed Stone proc, Verraise should give a guaranteed Fire Proc in-combat only (To pay us back in dps for using them, and vercure would increase in value during downtime)

I'd also like a mana dump but for now, these changes and buffs would be where i start.

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Originally Posted by Kabooa

The AoE situation is abysmal. Scatter Spam might not have been complex but the jackpot scenarios hit all the right skinnerbox levers, and it was unobtrusive enough to balance out.

Nobody has galaxybrain AoE, so I don't see why Red Mage unnecessarily expands the kit.

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What I don't get is why you seem to be so determined to see our V2 spells removed, since you've brought up your disdain for them in multiple threads. I think you're the only player I've seen speak on the subject who preferred Scatter-spam, whereas every other response I've seen on it has been about how it was a lazy, boring design for both the player and the devs, or about how happy they are to see some variance in AoE.

We saw 6 role actions and 4 spells removed from our kit or combined with other buttons giving plenty of room for all 2 additions, so a clutter argument doesn't apply. The potencies of each are higher and the reduced cost of Moulinet means we get more casts of it even without Enhanced Scatter, so I wouldn't understand a potency argument either.
Seems like it's just a matter of personal preference that nobody can dissuade you of, yet you're determined to drag everyone else kicking-and-screaming back into the spam-cave with you.

We are already 1/5th melee at the moment [1 our of 5 actions require melee range.] That's up from being 1/8th in STB.

We need flat overall potency increases and Embolden to affect Magical Damage. I should not find myself wanting to avoid BLM/SMN because I can't buff them. The healers should feel good when they see embolden, not jaded. Our AOE is a concern, but not so much in a raiding aspect.

Thats it really. Anything to do with VerRaise will have to be reworked in 6.0. .-.

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Originally Posted by Archwizard

Seems like it's just a matter of personal preference that nobody can dissuade you of, yet you're determined to drag everyone else kicking-and-screaming back into the spam-cave with you.

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It's an opinion. I don't like it.

You like it. that's an opinion.

I find it extremely dull, -and no less lazy or boring- than scatter spam. It just takes more buttons now.

Off of my limited experience on RDM so far:

I find that the need absolute need to do a Corps-a-Corps/Displacement combo a bit stifling given that there's plenty of times I'm not going to want to dash in or out and introducing Engagement later on just to solve that problem seems needless. If all three were on the same charge system (3 charges so that you can keep 2 in reserve,) with the same potency (so you aren't inching forward inbetween dualcasts to spam displacement) it'd be much more flexible.
Engagement can just become an untargeted dash that deals aoe damage so that it has another purpose given that the above change would just let you corps-a-corps multiple times instead.



I also find Acceleration to be pretty boring. Oh boy, 50% extra chance for a guaranteed Ver-stone/fire. I think it'd be more fun to make it a RDM equivalent of BLM's Triplecast, meaning that it's Swiftcast with an extra kick. Maybe just Swiftcast + a followup Dualcast so instead of just guaranteeing a Ver-stone/fire proc, you instead have a chance to fish for more procs while you start spamming Veraero/Verthunder. This spell is called Acceleration after all, if it was going to just guarantee a proc, it should have been called Focus or something. It should also get a trait for 2 charges for extra versatility and to emphasize the difference between RDM and BLM. RDM has 2 instant casts that they can stagger while BLM has 3 that they all spend at the same time.

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Originally Posted by Drayos

Our AoE dps is one of the worst in the game :p if you at logs we are not as good as u think. We are still one of the lowest.

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As a RDM main, I really don't understand this statement. I consistently out damage everyone in dungeons with only a handful of exceptions here and there, and even then only by a couple hundred dps. The reason for this is AoE. I gain so much of a dps headstart on AoEing trash mobs that it more than offsets the pitiful single target damage we do on the bosses. I.e. what I lose on dps during the boss is gained and more during trash pulls.

The rotation is very simple:

Verspell2-->Impact, repeat until 90+/90+, Embolden, 2x Enchanted Moulinet, Manafication, 5xEnchanted Moulinet, repeat. Interject Fleche and Contre Sixte on cooldown.

And it really doesn't take that long to get to 90 in each mana. It lines up perfectly with the Manafication and Embolden timers (almost - can we please make Embolden be 110s to match Manafication please?) so it's 2 minutes. One trash pack to build up mana, second trash pack to unleash melee combo is almost always the perfect timing if the other dps is pulling their weight.