Red Mage Love Thread

[Hyrist]

Do you have any tips for RDM PvP? I was having some issues with it since we have none of our off-CD damage spells, No Vercure, No Tether or Break and our only Heavy-applying move is a melee ability with a 2 second duration. I am likely doing something wrong but I have quite a lot of issues stopping people either walking out of my spell range or charging in, landing a stun and nuking me in melee.

+ Don't forget Monochrome, which reduces a targets damage to you, and gives you a damage bonus.

+ Take up Casting speed bonus instead of cast damage bonus. You'll thank yourself for getting off those spells you're missing. This is about the only time cast speed is better for RDM because it allows us to get our initial casts (and therefore our dualcast procs) off more reliably.

+ Store up your Mana slowly, pot shotting enemies and remember that your quick cast gives you nice burst. Play like a caster until you have 75 Mana, poking at enemies from the safety of nearby your healers looking for enemies that are straying too far forward. If it's a tank, keep your distance and just poke them down. If it's a Melee DPS or healer, try to finish them before they get too close to their group again.

+ Don't waste your time with a target that's getting focus healed unless you have a lot of backup to focus them down, and don't even bother then if the target is a tank. Better to have distributed damage that the enemy is not healing to test who has healers backing them up and who doesn't, then finish off weaker targets.

+ Limit break to zone or weaken opponents. The Vulnerability Up debuff is huge, and can make the difference in a fight, so enemies will try to avoid it. It's great to give your allies some cover, focus down an objective, or turn those tanks into squishes. Just remember to give yourself some space to cast it, as it makes you stationary and therefore a target.

+ Take the time to read the field - if it seems like a bulk of enemies is closing in, don't bother with that extra cast, run until you have better ground to fight on. Attacking from High ground where the enemy has a hard time reaching you is good, but be sure you have a route to run if a Warrior or Dark Knight attempts to pull you down. Your AoE gives weight so it can buy time for your team to retreat if you know you're going to die, or to secure kills by making it difficult for enemies to run away.

+ Note, you can use your Corpse-de-Corpse as a chase skill. If you see someone fleeing that is isolated, and you're in good health and advantageous condition, this will help you keep in spell range. Use your AoE melee skill to tag them with weight and cast poke and/or burst Melee them down.

+ Jolt and Impact are powerful here - they give you 10 of each Mana and a nice touch of damage to boot. But they're skills that drain your MP. Use it to build up your Mana quickly if you want to burst someone/something down, but be mindful of how you deplete your MP.

+ Use your Melee Combo as a finisher - you output a lot of damage with it in total and it as hard if not harder than a Melee LB in total for about as much time spent. Use it wisely to secure kills.

+ Have fun - lots of DPS are queuing, not many healers are. So keep pots on hand, use the healing skill, and don't take the fights too seriously. It's free EXP and builds your situational awareness. So enjoy. If I think up any other pointers I'll list them out.

[Amulrei]

Some great tips there. Thanks for the advice!

[Rhena]

I hadn't read the forums since Early Access and was shocked to see the RDM hate! I love the job. I started as a SMN main, but my RDM ended up taking over. Even though I'll still play SMN a lot, I plan on giving both jobs about equal play time because they're just so much fun. Now if only we could save glamours to our job instead of directly on gear. I love my SMN's usual glamour but how can I be a RDM without the fancy duds?

[Amulrei]

I hadn't read the forums since Early Access and was shocked to see the RDM hate!

I think the only real RDM hate stemmed from people who forgot RDM stands for "Red MAGE" not "Red Guy With Sword Who Casts Spells Every So Often". It would be nice if the Black/White mana built up a little faster so you could use your swordplay more often though I hear that does smooth out more once you get Verflare/Verholy.

In fact my only real RDM complaint is you have to wait until lv 70 to get your core rotation where most classes get it at 60 or so with the last ten levels usually giving abilities to strengthen that core rotation. It makes things rather annoying when you are syncing to lower level dungeons and don't even have your main nukes, Manafication or Vercure. SE did a much better job with the SAM skill allocation giving them their main damage moves pre-lv 50 with the last 20 levels being ways to enhance those moves and deepen the main skill rotations.

That said, the class does play very smoothly and the utility is decent if a little overrated (it is good for bailing out people still learning an encounter though I don't think Verraise or Vercure will be nearly as useful once people learn the new fights). The AoE rotation (if you could call it a rotation) is shallow but the single target one feels involved and rewarding without being bogged down with too much senseless RNG (which would be the main reason I dropped MCH). It definitely is the most fun I have had in an MMO for years and the developers should feel proud with the quality of workmanship.

Now just please don't mess it up with the patches to come...

[Kumori_Kumo]

My husband has mained RDM since early access (and asked us to help him powerlevel it to 60, which we obliged), and he's consistently been in love with it- so much so that I'm really starting to consider it myself!
Buuuut the FC still needs a tank, so you know how it is!

[hexee]

Seriously the most fun I've had with a class in this game so far! As someone who was a BRD before it feels similar in being light on its feet with casting (talking 3.X BRD mind you). I just love the playstyle of throwing spells then getting up close, and of course dualcast. Quite Bursty! Very glad it was the first job I took to 70 and through the SB storyline.

Actually wanted to see what materia everyone was melding? I was going for Crit/Direct Hit but I hear Spell Speed is actually quite good. Almost would think a Crit/SS split would be better. Thoughts?

[Seyer]

Love RDM so far I use to play Astro for 2yr until they simplify all the healers making them way to boring to solo.

[Kastion]

Wanted to throw my red hat in the ring and say that I had leveled Samurai up to 60 first, convinced that was going to be my main. When I tested the Red Mage after the fact, I haven't looked back. Way too much fun to give up and I wouldn't have them change a thing!