MRD Tips?

[Ehayte]

So, I just wanna say that at least up to rank 10 or 11 I have been having a freakin' blast playing PvP. i play with a buddy who goes as WHM, and I have gone as PLD, GLD, MRD, MNK, and BLM. 19 wins in 25 matches!!!

The queue times are never more than 4 minutes, and with us queuing as WHM/MRD, they are often instant. So now that my fanboy-ness is out of the way (and that is NOT the point of this thread):

I am trying to spec and strategize to be a healer assassin on MRD. Right now I've got the stupid i70 crafted weapon until I can find the 30 minutes to drag myself away from PvP and get my Ifrit weekly for Dual Hakken. The strategy I employ has 2 arms to it, and I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to point out flaws/make suggestions/give me a few gear tips:

I start off by trying to draw a sleep/stun/bind from anyone by running to the middle, and I just have my WHM friend pre-cast esuna on me, so I can usually eat one of those and then go about my business immediately. I then find and focus target the healer, and go find someone else to hit with heavy swing, then the real game begins.

I hunt down the healer and start with a Holmgang > Brutal Swing combo - trying to get him to use his purify right away, and maybe waste it on the stun. After that, my only goal for the next 6-ish seconds is to get in a Maim, Storm's Eye, and Straight Shot, which increases my dmg by 20%, his slashing resistance down by 10%, and my crit up by a bit. I then try to anticipate the direction he will run, usually away from me, trying to get in another HS>Maim>SE combo, or I will spam Impulse Drive if I feel like he might sprint, just to keep the pressure on. At this point of me keeping pretty constant melee damage on him, he will burn benediction and sprint, and then Phase 2 comes around.

At this point, its almost all over:Tomahawk > Invigorate > Tomahawk > Raging Strikes > Tomahawk > Internal Release > Tomahawk > Blood for Blood > Tomahawk > Berserk > Tomahawk > Tomahawk > Tomahawk > Dead Healer.

Anyone have any tips for doing something differently? I have 11 unspent points, and I am thinking Enliven should be my first purchase, based on my playstyle, but the off-GCD abilities are really tempting to add some extra burst at the start. Usually my fully buffed Toma's are doing about 300 reg 550 crit, which is a surprising amount of damage for healers to take from range. Just imagine with Dual Hakken > : D

I am currently set up in a mix of full i90 dps accessories with crit and skill speed build, CT/Allagan/Noct body slots, and the i70 crap-weap. My planned upgrades are Dual Hakken (tonight), and then I'm really unsure where to go with my body pieces/accessories. Is morale even going to help me at all with my playstyle? Its very rare for someone to surprise me enough to burst me down, with Second Wind, Blood Bath, and Thrill of Battle at my disposal (not to mentioned Vengeance), so I don't really see how morale is going to help me. I really don't want to give up the Str I get with my i80-i90 tank armors for some extra defense.

Is my logic flawed in terms of my gear?

Does my strategy have a major weakness in it besides, "Damn, that healer was really really good"?

What do you guys think: Enliven or one of the off-GCD abilities?


Thanks for anyone that spent the time to read this!!

[Almaxia]

MRD gameplay is really obvious (buffs -> burst)

Exemple of Burst :

Buffs : Straight shot > Internal release > (Sprint + Invigorate) > Blood for Blood > Raging Strikes > Berserk
Skills : "Full Swing > Brutal Swing > DPS skill > Holmgang > Mythril Tempest > DPS skill > Mercy stroke"

The difference between a good and a bad MRD will be your ability to succeed this burst.

[Edenlys]

MRD tips ==> play another class
Buff DPS class or nerf tank and heal damages, that's all !!!

[Yumi_umi]

When mrds try to burst me i just use sacred prism and throw divine seal + regen on me.
If i feel a bit silly then i'll just use equanimity and spam stoneskin. It's so awkward when a tank tries to 1vs1 me after using the above.
What baffles me is 8/10 tanks will blow all their cool downs on me when i have attunement up.
Other than that, just burst down a dps cuz if you're chasing and not making any progress with killing the healer for a good 1-2mins then you know it's about time you switch to someone less sprinty.
I sometimes use divine seal regen -> sure cast -> stoneskin -> shroud -> PoM -> stoneskin -> stoneskin -> stoneskin -> stoneskin -> stoneskin -> equanmity -> cure 2 -> medica 2 -> stoneskin -> regen -> attunement etc. whm can literally tank till getting hit with LB1

[Edenlys]

U wrong Yumi cause if you already have use purify, your opponents can beat you easily with debuff + stun in critical situation and game is over !!

[Ehayte]

MRD gameplay is really obvious (buffs -> burst)

Exemple of Burst :

So a good tip would then be to acquire those off-GCD damaging abilities to start that initial burst? I am also starting to think it might be better to go after their most stun-y DPS to keep the pressure off our healer.

I tend to shy away from buff-dumping on anything but Tomahawk spam due to the fact that I can easily miss combos or attacks via sprinting healers, etc. W/Dual Hakken I am expecting to be popping 400-600 dmg non-crit tomahawks against running healers.

And Eden - I kind of do want to play a different DPS class, I am gearing a SMN (and then learning how to play it, lol) right now, but the only other DPS I have on my main character is a MNK, and its really not the play-style I am looking for. I want the kills shots, and right now even with my flaws I'm getting 2-3 kills per round, and I have about a 75% success rate of downing the healer inside 1 minute.

[LateRegi]

If you think Tomahawk spam is how to kill any decent healer, you should probably just... not... PvP

Seriously, can't tell if you're being serious. Go back to the drawing board. Please.

[Yumi_umi]

U wrong Yumi cause if you already have use purify, your opponents can beat you easily with debuff + stun in critical situation and game is over !!

That's why in most situations if its just a dps & tank on me i'll wait out the stun.
If it's the whole team on me then of course i'll have no choice lol because the chances r really grim when you are getting harassed by the whole team including the enemy healer. XD
But the stoneskin spam still works wonderfully.

[Luwnax]

I really wouldn't pay much attention to any advice given. Most of it tends to be terrible. Keep PVPing and pay attention to what you did during the match and the outcome. Make changes until your teams success rate increases. No two people PVP the same and not all strategies work for everyone.

I do agree with Cali though... Please go back to the drawing board with the Tomahawk spam to kill healers. I am surprised it has ever resulted in a win for you... O.o