RDM as a DPS

[Madrone]

Break the xi mold(this. Ain't. Xi) and make it a tank. If it's interesting enough we might see a freaky thing occur and actually experience a balance of roles lol

Popular job, popular role, i.e. dps. Make your own RDM tank build. I've read several.

It breaks tank paradigm by not wearing the same heavy armor sets or using STR. Being an actual caster (not all spells instant) while taking hits in the face is a rough way to try to play. As you said, not XI, so no Utsusemi. Defensive buffs and self-healing, it could have a-plenty. There are still some "______ Knight" jobs out there that could come in as tanks.

I've got a question. It says that Spellblade has infinite duration AND recasting reapplies stacks.

So then, it's a "stance" that can't be turned off? Because that just seems odd.

Yes, its like Aetherflow. You use it and it stays on unless you instance zone. You can use up the stacks, which makes it so you can't use SpellBlade-powered abilities, but you don't lose the SpellBlade damage bonus or element trait effects. Its also a little like NIN Poisons, in that it gives you a permanent damage bonus, and shifting element may change added effects on a skill, the way switching the Poisons does. It has a very tiny Dash of Grit- no constant mp drain (that would be messy to combine with Astral Fire), but it does make the skills that change Spellblade's element (and AF/UI too) cost a little mp.

Probably should note that it either resets cooldown or stays on through death. Its mandatory to have on all the time or your damage will nosedive.

What about blaze/ice/etc spikes, *reduces targets damage taken by 10% and reflects elemental damage half of that" or something lol

That would be much more useful if it was a tank and/or had hate abilities, unless you mean those to be cast-able on someone else? I gave it a couple of defenses, and Phalanx is better to use on the tank most of the time.

Sounds an awful lot like the DRG rotation with a smattering of the SCH's aetherflow, BLM astral/umbral mechanics, and PLD block and self-healing.

It does meet the requirements of a tank, healer, and mage with this, but it's pulling too much from all the RDM variations in the FF history. Pick a single concept (like dps) and figure that out first. You can leave abilities blank and fill them in later with all the utilities you want. I just see a bunch of tank, mage, and melee abilities mashed together that end up feeling the same as those existing classes.

Also, you should never have any junk abilities. Every class has marginally less useful abilities, but there are technical uses for them that just don't matter because of the current meta or specific dungeon fights. They're never designed specifically not to be used.

Thank you for your feedback. Its supposed to be a bit of everything- blm/whm spells and a sword/shield user. I gave it some identity with classic signature skills and "grease the gears of the party engine" support skills. CNJ cross class basics and mediocre efficiency for Cure does not a healer make, and that was the cut made to make it fit the dps role.

One/two defensive moves are pretty standard even for a DPS. Phalanx is really meant to be used on others unless you're solo or in trouble- most of the support abilities are. I make you make the choice between using them selfishly or not. It cannot steal hate except maybe with a Chainspell nuke spree (but that's what Quartata enmity shedding is for). It is not particularly tough- same phys def & hp as BRD/MNK/NIN/MCN, just better mdef & a shield. Buckler type shields would have a low block rate, but I can change it to a parrying dagger if its too much of a defensive advantage. Thin sword and no off-hand feels wrong to me. I gave it one melee positional skill, and its odd/risky- front. RDM is already full of tactical decisions about utility & spellblade resource use, and makes a tight rotation, so a lot of positionals didn't seem like a good fit.

The goal was to stay a little true to its jack of all trades heritage, just gut the healing capacity and align it to DPS w/ utility. I wanted to borrow/mirror THM style magic but keep it low tier and bend and twist it to fit the sword/spell combos. Since it uses two resource pools without much worry of running out, I figured a 3rd resource to manage was needed. Aetherflow's template seemed like a better fit than Wrath or Ammo. Stretch out the timer a little, and give it RNG procs to get some extra stacks between reuses so that's its not a static use one of A, one of B, and one of C every minute, and I force it to babysit a DoT and rotate its combo as part of the deal.

Yeah "junk" just means abilities that aren't all that useful. Riposte is that type. En Garde's not that great. Thunder totally replaced by Thunder II (for RDM, not BLM). Most jobs have at least a few.