Seeing Red - A Complete Red Mage Guide

[Hyrist]

Something I haven't seen here.

But isn't it more potency and a better start off in our opener to Accelerate + Swiftcast VerAero or Verthunder at the start of a combat encounter? It's both more DPS and more Mana gain, it's also an instant start to good mana gain, and, provided the realism of a combat situation, swift cast's 60 second cooldown will have that ability back up in fairly short order to make use of it again whenever available.

My primary use for Swiftcast thus far has been opener, and to push Mana to ~80/80 to save a GCD. (As opposed to using Jolt/Impact to proc Dualcast.)

Opening with Swiftcast also opens up me using Fletche/Contre Sixte Earlier in my opener, so that's nice.

Also Silverquick, Garotte14 is correct. What you are thinking is cast times. No matter what we do, if we hit a main spell, we're triggering a Global Cooldown. It just so happens that our cast time can be pushed lower than our GCDs with Dualcast. Best way to show/prove that. In a Dualcast situation, remember how there's still a downtime after you instant-cast a spell. That's the Global colldown triggering. You don't notice it on the first cast because of the cast time. Global cooldown starts at the beginning of cast time.

[Rinion]

Using Swiftcast early

I don't mean to sound stupid (cus I've only got RDM to 52 myself XD) but wouldn't it be better to pre-cast veraero/thunder (like how sch/smn used to start casting shadow flare just before the pull happened). Then you get to save swiftcast for when you need it/can use it on either veraero/thunder (whichever you didn't use as the first cast). Although it does make sense to also use swiftcast so that to can use fleche right at the start ^^

But yeah, didn't think about using Swiftcast until you said this tbh (cus of Dualcasting being instant) ^^ thanks for the idea Always better to have even more mobility as well if you need it <- more of a note to myself XD

[Rbstr]

I don't mean to sound stupid (cus I've only got RDM to 52 myself XD) but wouldn't it be better to pre-cast veraero/thunder (like how sch/smn used to start casting shadow flare just before the pull happened).

The problem with this is that your dualcast is now procing on the wrong spells, if that makes sense. You'll now swift the readied stone/fire, which forces you to jolt to get dualcast ready for the next aero/thunder. If you swiftcast the opening aero/thunder you hardcast the stone/fire and have a dualcast to go right into the next aero/thunder.

Basically, swiftcasting or getting dualcast with a vercure will keep dualcasts in the right order and keep you from having to use jolt inbetween.
IMO, precasting Jolt as the opening spell isn't that bad of an idea either. If it's well-timed there's not much functional difference in any of these options.

[Sacerdos]

Basically, swiftcasting or getting dualcast with a vercure will keep dualcasts in the right order and keep you from having to use jolt inbetween.
IMO, precasting Jolt as the opening spell isn't that bad of an idea either. If it's well-timed there's not much functional difference in any of these options.

When you open with a hardcast Verthunder/Veraero, your next cast is the opposite spell, then Swiftcast Verthunder/Veraero if you don't have a Verready proc for one of them, then Verfire/Verstone.

Acceleration -> Hardcast Verthunder -> Dualcast Veraero -> Swiftcast Aero if no Verstone proc -> Verfire -> Dualcast Verthunder-> Continue Hardcast/Dualcast rotation

At least that is my understanding of it. I don't see why Vercure is necessary, Verready procs are 30s duration and it isn't necessary to consume them right away, just make sure not to override procs.

[Rinion]

Helpful respone ^^

Someone else replied with what I was mostly thinking, I just wanted to thank you for your advice (cus I still have a problem every now and then trying to hard cast veraero/thunder DX), so thanks ^^

Also guys! I have a different question now (sorry XD) I'm 62 now. yay! =D What I was wondering is, on 2 mob pulls, it is better to use scatter -> veraero/thunder, isn't it? (obviously assuming you don't have verstone/fire and I've still only got jolt 1 atm). I know it's a bit technical (and that it doesn't matter by 70 but it does for 50/60 ^^').
And for Cross Class I've got Diversion, Shroud, Apocatastasis, Virus and Swiftcast. Is this ok? I know some people say that we've got Shroud of Saints for aggro management but I've found that I've been rotating that and diversion on bigger pulls. But yeah, what do you guys think ^^

[Rawrz]

Someone else replied with what I was mostly thinking, I just wanted to thank you for your advice (cus I still have a problem every now and then trying to hard cast veraero/thunder DX), so thanks ^^

Also guys! I have a different question now (sorry XD) I'm 62 now. yay! =D What I was wondering is, on 2 mob pulls, it is better to use scatter -> veraero/thunder, isn't it? (obviously assuming you don't have verstone/fire and I've still only got jolt 1 atm). I know it's a bit technical (and that it doesn't matter by 70 but it does for 50/60 ^^').
And for Cross Class I've got Diversion, Shroud, Apocatastasis, Virus and Swiftcast. Is this ok? I know some people say that we've got Shroud of Saints for aggro management but I've found that I've been rotating that and diversion on bigger pulls. But yeah, what do you guys think ^^

2 mobs use single target rotation.
3 mobs hardcast scatter then build mana with instant VerAero/Thunder to reach Moulinet faster.
4 mobs. Spam Scatter. Moulinet. Use manafiction to increase the number of times you can cleave.


Cross class i would use Erase or Mana Shift over Diversion. Even on single target pulls, if you precast a spell, then instant cast then Lucid Dreaming, you should have cut enough aggro for the tank to establish it. Really helps you open in Susano EX without having the NIN yell at you. q.q

[Zorzi]

I have a few questions, sorry if they've been asked before: if in a dungeon you come to a boss with 40+ in both manas, is it better to Manafication before the fight, and open with the melee combo? Or just build normally and use Manafication on the second go around?

Secondly, unless I get no procs during my opener, it's hard to fit in Corps-a-corps/Displacement before the first Manafication. Is using them more important than Fleche/Contre Sixte, or should I just do my best and ignore them if they can't fit?

Thirdly, if you get lucky with procs while you have Impact up, is it better to just ignore it and let it fall off, or use it and use the Dualcast on Stone/Fire? Is it worth using a Dualcast on Impact if its about to disappear?

[Garotte14]

I have a few questions, sorry if they've been asked before: if in a dungeon you come to a boss with 40+ in both manas, is it better to Manafication before the fight, and open with the melee combo? Or just build normally and use Manafication on the second go around?

Secondly, unless I get no procs during my opener, it's hard to fit in Corps-a-corps/Displacement before the first Manafication. Is using them more important than Fleche/Contre Sixte, or should I just do my best and ignore them if they can't fit?

Thirdly, if you get lucky with procs while you have Impact up, is it better to just ignore it and let it fall off, or use it and use the Dualcast on Stone/Fire? Is it worth using a Dualcast on Impact if its about to disappear?

First, in dungeon content, it doesn't really matter. If you want to open with your melee combo, that's absolutely fine to Manafication pre-pull.

Second. unless your ping is really awful, you should be able to weave both Contre Sixte and Fleche in a single GCD. Then you'll have at least two more Dualcasts to weave CaC and Displacement under before manafication. But if you have to choose, Contre Sixte and Fleche are much higher potency so use them.

Last, you shouldn't ever be casting Impact if you have a Ready proc. Its 20 more potency plain and simple. Let Impact fall off. I don't have months of testing in a raid environment yet to say 100% on that, as I've not encountered every scenario. But at the moment, I see no benefit of casting Impact over a Ready proc. Also using dualcast on Impact would be a waste as well. If I discover differently or someone has encountered a scenario where that is incorrect, I will relay that information.

[Rinion]

2 mobs use single target rotation.

Cross class i would use Erase or Mana Shift over Diversion. Even on single target pulls, if you precast a spell, then instant cast then Lucid Dreaming, you should have cut enough aggro for the tank to establish it. Really helps you open in Susano EX without having the NIN yell at you. q.q

Thanks for that. I've taken Manashift now and I didn't realise it gave so much MP and I've taken to using a few attacks, then Shroud to halve threat =D Sorry, but what's the reasoning for the 2 mob thing (I don't usually play DPS ^^') I've been doing single target on 2 mobs now, I just don't understand why it's better =)
Sorry! Another Question! XD how many mobs should there be before I use Moulinet over the single target combo? Also do I have to wait for 60/60 before I can use Moulinet or is it 90/90? (basically, should I wait for 2 or 3 uses when it's applicable to use).