Trying to get better as a RDM

[AphraelAmarantha]

Hello, so I am trying to get better as the title suggests, but I really do not know what I am doing wrong. I want to be able to do the required DPS for the raid but I just cant seem to do it. I have a vid here so people can see what I am doing and what I am doing wrong. Thx for anyone willing to take the time to help me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id1CzkF3Dj8

Extra: Tbh, I'm actually thinking of giving up and switching to healer. How hard is it? I haven't already tried because I don't do very well under pressure and I don't want people getting mad because I messed up my heals or healer dps D:

[LadyAveria]

Don't give up! Red Mage seems more complicated than it is! Just practice! It is a new job after all haha

[Ceallach]

For one thing, you shouldn't try to double weave Fleche and Contre Sixte. The animation lock slows down your global cooldown, and that's never good.

I personally don't take Swiftcast at all on my red mage. I take Lucid Dreaming, Diversion, Apocatastasis, Addle and either Mana Shift or Erase depending on the fight. Dualcast is more than enough.

I also only really use Corps-a-corps and Displacement for positioning. The main idea is you get in close (sometimes early to avoid mechanics), use your melee combo and Displacement to both get away and dodge. In Deltascape V1.0 (Savage), though, you want to be really careful with Displacement. You could go flying right off the edge and die.

Manafication is mostly to add another melee burst, which includes Corps-a-corps and Displacement. You don't use it primarily for the recast reset, but for the mana doubling.

I hope these tips help!

[AphraelAmarantha]

Don't give up! Red Mage seems more complicated than it is! Just practice! It is a new job after all haha

Thx :3

snip

I am not for sure what you mean by double weave. Can you explain?

And yeah in learning parties I've derped and flew right off the edge, lel. It is so easy to misjudge your positionign in relation to the edge x_x

[Rongway]

For one thing, you shouldn't try to double weave Fleche and Contre Sixte. The animation lock slows down your global cooldown, and that's never good.

I am not for sure what you mean by double weave. Can you explain?

He means don't use both Fleche and Contre Sixte in the same GCD. Their animations are both long, Fleche a bit more so, and you'll end up delaying your next cast as much as a whole second if you try to do them both. Split them up into separate dualcasts.

Double weaving can be done with a low ping.

Fleche with a self buff or movement ability, sure. But the specific combination of Fleche and Contre-sixte is best avoided altogether.



You spend an awful lot of time at range. You should spend most of your time in melee distance so you get auto attacks with each dualcast. Don't Displace unless you can dualcastspells>Corps-a-corps after, or you plan to run back to melee range during a dualcast. Decoupling your melee combo from your movement abilities will allow you to use them more often or use them for mechanically important movements. By being in melee range by default, you'll also have an easier time dealing with many mechanics, and will never be out of range of beneficial party AoEs.

Use Embolden before starting your melee combo. Getting an extra 10% on E.Riposte is better than an extra 1.85% on a Verfinisher and maybe an extra 2% on a Verslowspell/Verfastspell before expiration.

Avoid starting a melee combo with equal mana gauges. For example, at 1m57 you had 82|82. You could have done another dualcast for 91|93 without an overflow. If time-sensitive mechanics are not pressing you to burst, you don't necessarily have to melee combo immediately upon getting your mana high enough; postponing for one dualcast will usually be no worse, especially if you've decoupled your melee combo from your movement abilities anyway, as explained above.

For similar reasons, don't Swiftcast>Verslowspell just so you can melee combo one GCD sooner unless it's a mechanically important burst step.



If you're entertaining the idea of playing heals, it's worth learning at least one of the healer jobs even if you ultimately decide you want to continue RDMing. It might help give you a better idea of distances and effective caster positionings. If you're very nervous, just casually inform your party that it's your first time healing and they'll prolly be understanding.

[AphraelAmarantha]

snip

I see, interesting indeed. Thx for the double weave explanation.

Yeah I see mage and I think range casting, not used to a caster class casting spells in melee (then again I guess I'm still used to BLM more than I thought, lel) plus I'm afraid of getting hit by non-telegraphed melee attacks some bosses have (Clamp anyone?).

Also, why do you not want to start a melee combo with your mana bar even? I don't get that one. O.o

snip

Yeah, I am slow in activating abilities, I don't really have the dexterity I used to have from ten years ago. Plus my mind always jumbles up where my inputs are so I pause a moment to remember where the next ability is at. x_x

[GospelVhae]

For one thing, you shouldn't try to double weave Fleche and Contre Sixte. The animation lock slows down your global cooldown, and that's never good.

No, it doesn't
https://youtu.be/dBC-IknFYFc
Not my video

I also have insane lag on non-savage instances - which is what I suspect as to why his GCDs were delayed when he dual weaved Fleche and CS
Swiftcast is useful for extended movement/fishing for procs

[Ceallach]

No, it doesn't
https://youtu.be/dBC-IknFYFc
Not my video

I also have insane lag on non-savage instances - which is what I suspect as to why his GCDs were delayed when he dual weaved Fleche and CS
Swiftcast is useful for extended movement/fishing for procs

It always slowed mine down. And if this isn't your video, you can't really say what helps this or not, can you?

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

It always slowed mine down. And if this isn't your video, you can't really say what helps this or not, can you?

Depends on your ping, you can get away with it easily if its low enough, I can do it pretty safely. If its high, best to just weave in one oGCD.

[Rawrz]

For one thing, you shouldn't try to double weave Fleche and Contre Sixte. The animation lock slows down your global cooldown, and that's never good.

I double weave just fine as well. Try to avoid sps in favor of DH/CRIT/DET.

A few little tips while I sit on break at work:

Role Skills:
Lucid Dreaming, Addle, Swiftcast, Diversion and Manashift. If doing V4s prog, Surecast in place of Manashift.

Why not Apoc or Erase? Although both feel like you're helping to support the party, they dont actually contribute to DPS. Swiftcast is a dps gain. Manashift can extend foes by up to 9 seconds or give healers a couple extra GCDs until Lucid/other mana opportunities. Addle is potent in AoE and single target situations, a flexible instant mitigation worth bringing. Diversion. I was sooo against using it, but its a necessary evil. RDM is just too powerful on openers to leave to a lucid 1 second into the fight (costing you min/max dps delaying ogcd dps skills.)

Opener and proc management:
You can pick either VerThunder or VerAero. Just pick the one that fits your flavor. Im a thunder kinda guy ; 3.

10 second pull macro starts
9 seconds- Acceleration
7 Seconds- Diversion
5 seconds- Hardcast VerThunder [Verfire proc 100%]
0 seconds- Insta-VerAero [Verstone proc 50%]
Ogcd1-Fleche Ogcd2-Contra
Proc System management kicks in


Hardcast Verfire--- If no Verstone proc, Cast VerAero to fish for a Verstone to msintain balance, Cast Verthunder to fish for another fire if you got a VerStone proc already from opener.

If you receive no Procs after your initial accelerated verfire, Swifcast VerAero/Thunder for the one with the lower mana. If again no proc, revert to jolt/Jolt II. Use impact when you have neither a stone or fire proc or if your mana would become imbalanced using stone/fire. Example being: 50W/79B with a fire and impact proc. Impact-> VerAero brings you to 65W/79B with a 50% chance to give you a verstone. Much more balanced mana. If your mana deviates by 30 points from eachother the losing side has its mana gain cut in half.


First lets do some evaluations. What is dps? Damage per second right? So abilities that deal the most damage per cool down time should be prioritized first. Namely, Fleche and Contre. If youre really wanting to improve, write out each abilities potency and divide by its CD. I dont have my little sheet anymore with my calcs but its pretty simple.

1. Fleche
2. Contre
3. Displacement (Very close to corps and although its dps potential IS HIGHER the range limitation makes it worth less than corps on opener priority.
4. Corps (Read above)
5. Swiftcast -> Verthunder/VerAero
6. Manashift the BARD, if no bard, save for healers/SMN.
6. Acceleration (Accel is tough because it enures a 30 potency gain on your next hardcast, but there was a 50% chance it was going to gain that 30, therefre its only 15.

To simplify the opener im just going to call a fodder spell like jolt,impact, stone, fire HARDCAST and Insta VerAero/Thunder INSTA BIG SPELL so I can explain OGCD placement.


Personal DPS OPENER (No Ninja)

10 second pull macro starts
9 seconds- Acceleration
7 Seconds- Diversion
5 seconds- Hardcast VerThunder [Verfire proc 100%]
0 seconds- Insta-VerAero [Verstone proc 50%]
Ogcd1-Fleche Ogcd2-Contra
HARDCAST
INSTACAST BIG SPELL
Ogcd1-Corps
Ogcd2-Manashift Bard
HARDCAST
INSTACAST BIG SPELL
Ogcd1-Displacement
HARDCAST
INSTACAST BIG SPELL
Ogcd1- Manafiction.
Ogcd2-Corps
Riposte
TIGHT Ogcd- embolden
Zer
Redouble
Ogcd- Displacement
Verholy or Flare.

When choosing between the two, if your mana wont shoot past 30 from eachother both are near equal) and you already have the proc of your lowest mana, 20% fish for the other one. Example: 19W/20B with a stone proc. Verflare for a chance of a fireproc, then verstone to demarginalize the mana difference.


Running out of time! Please don't ever open with VerCure for dual cast. You lose 240 potency minimum if you have even 2 seconds to hardcast! You can use vercure during the fight during boss invulns or look aways, since you cant precast their return!

Manashift whenever you can spare the ogcd and mp for your aoe samming healer.

Make an effort to move in between each ogcd weave, inching closer back into healing range, after each displacement.

Be in melee when you can but dont cause extra AoE for the melee.

Also, take these pointers with a grain of salt. Certain fights and comps cause you to change your opener slightly. Just general direction to increase the depth of the class.

Hope this helps someone!