Neo ExDeath: Rdm or Smn?

[EvilJoshy]

I'm usually a SMN main. I was bringing that to raid until like 2 weeks ago. I had lvled rdm when we started raiding because everyone was saying "SMN is broken". I was the lowest dps when we started deltascape. My raid group did coil back when that came out so they are understanding. They asked if I wouldn't mind lvling rdm for the sake of progression until SE adjusts SMN. Turns out it was just my opener was all wrong and there were some things I didn't know about. So my SMNs DPS is fine now.
By the time I got rdm to 70 we were already practicing Neo ExDeath. FFlogs said SMNs on average do more dps during that fight than RDM so it felt like it was all for nothing. The gear is mostly the same and we had tomes in abundance because we were killing Halicarnasus and I didn't want all that work to go to waste. Once I got the rdm weapon I started switching out in the first 3 fights. First time I brought RDM to regular ex death we couldn't down him in time. My DPS was the lowest that match so I switched back to SMN so we could practice Neo for that week. I looked up a rdm opener and that fixed everything so i started bringing rdm to neo again.

Last night we killed Neo ExDouchebag. I was using my rdm. It was a perfect run for us. Nobody died and we killed him when he was about half way through his final almegest. Our parser said I did 3825, which is actually good for me. Between rdm and smn the highest I ever got I think was 3900 on os2-3. After downing neo with my rdm I don't feel comfortable trying this next week with my smn now. I still love smn but I feel more relaxed as rdm for a variety of reasons.

RDM:
dual cast+rez for when someone screws up (#@$% happens)
Vercure without dual cast is better than physick. I'll pop 2 cures on myself when were about to eat holy/flares
A gap closer and gap creator. The back flip is very useful for quickly getting out of delta attack at the last moment
Embolden beats devotion PERIOD (Seriously SE, make devotion AoE or something)
Unless I die or have to rez people I never run out of mp on rdm and refresh is always rdy when I need it. I don't even consider running out of mp.
Less button mashing
Not having to worry about a pet whom you can't heal cause SE took away sustain
My melee combo takes about 5 seconds. Easier to squeeze that in between phases
A few off GCD's that are instant and don't require aetherflow.
As RDM I actually can pull hate if I go all out when neo resets hate. Doesn;t happen often but it's one thing SMN doesn't have to worry about.

SMN
More button mashing. I'm looking at you Garuda!
Have to keep pet alive sometimes.
Need more time to do my big dmg rotations. DWT takes about 16 secs of being able to stand still vs rdms 5 secs for melee combo+discount flare-holy and you can be moving while doing this.
Lots of management. Not only keeping aetherflow, dwt, and bahamut on cd. There's also watching rouse, enkindle, aerial slash, devotion, maintaining dots, shadowflare, tri disaster, contagion.
I can run out of mp while using SMN even if I am not rezzing. Sometimes I get too carried away with Ruin 3 but mp management requires attention. RDM mp does not.
Trying to get tri disaster, contagion, addle and such all in sync for when I smn bahamut.
Death as a SMN is a big dps loss.
Swift Cast is a 1 min cd. Rdm has dual cast along with swift. (For anyone asking why have swift cast on rdm, it's for when I have to move to avoid flood of naught and still want to dmg when fleche and contra six are on cd)
Your party buff, Devotion, is a good buff but it only hits 1 person and it's a 5% dmg done, dmg taken reduced, healing done. Embolden is 10% dmg dealt for everyone and wears off slowly.
Devotion goes to the closest person near your pet.
Our setup is pld, war, whm, ast, sam, blm, brd, smn/rdm. Contagion only benefits casters. Embolden benefits ALL.
Bahamut is clunky and requires several off GCDs to get the most dmg from him. Those said off GCDs could be used for other things. Example, addle the grand cross omega or almegest.


In conclusion. I haven't kept track of my numbers but I actually do more dmg as my SMN but it leaves more room for error and requires more effort and it's not that much more dps than my RDM. I love smn still but I am finding rdm to be less work for the same gain. Sometimes more gain. I know my static sam enjoys embolden over devotion. When is SE going to adjust some of our many issues?