RDM First Impressions (and perhaps advice) Thread

[Maeka]

Well, I'm not concerned about the PF because I wouldn't be using RDM for that anyways. I mainly wanted a DPS that I could bring to FC/Linkshell stuff when people want 8man runs or something but the heals and tanks are already filled.

That, and I wanted a good DPS for solo questing too, preferably one that can self-heal (like RDM can, and it seems to be the one and only one that can at that), and also Eureka when I want to do something like a challenge log or something (takes stinking forever to kill anything as PLD).

I have zero intention of doing Ex Primals, Savage Raids, etc.

[Shiroe]

Well, I'm not concerned about the PF because I wouldn't be using RDM for that anyways. I mainly wanted a DPS that I could bring to FC/Linkshell stuff when people want 8man runs or something but the heals and tanks are already filled.

That, and I wanted a good DPS for solo questing too, preferably one that can self-heal (like RDM can, and it seems to be the one and only one that can at that), and also Eureka when I want to do something like a challenge log or something (takes stinking forever to kill anything as PLD).

I have zero intention of doing Ex Primals, Savage Raids, etc.

in that case, Rdm is perfect for you!

[Maeka]

in that case, Rdm is perfect for you!

Indeed!

I'm now almost 61 and it is fun as heck, and very OP in lower level roulettes lol. I love showing up to <Lv50 stuff and just destroying everything in my path.

[Maeka]

So... I'd like to ask... what Role Actions am I supposed to take?

Swiftcast is a no-brainer, obviously.

But otherwise, I'm looking at the list.... MP does not appear to be an issue, and if RDM damage falls off at higher levels, Lucid doesn't really seem like anything I'd be needing.

I thought of maybe taking Erase, I guess? But I wonder how often I'd actually use it.

The other choices just seem so... lack-luster. There's Mana Shift, and while MP isn't an issue, I don't know about handing lots of it off to other people is a good idea either, it's not like I'm a BLM that has infinite MP.

What I would love to get is Second Wind, but no of course we can't have THAT, lol.

[NewAgeDoom]

snip

On the contrary, Lucid is kind of mandatory, both from a threat perspective, and a mana regeneration point of view. All of your aggro generation is frontloaded, and Red Mage is the only caster without any sort of fast way to say "I WANT MANA NOW".

Diversion is for similar reasons as Lucid, but that's good for DPS in general.

Swiftcast people have already covered.

It can be situationally useful, but I've come to get a LOT of mileage out of Surecast, for potential cheesing of mechanics.

[ChaoticCrimson]

Yeah, I'm going to second what was said about Lucid: It's absolutely essential for a RDM. If you're in a situation where you either rez a lot or get rezzed yourself, without Lucid you have no other ways to speed up your MP regen. You can use ethers, but that's hardly a reliable way of doing things.

Surecast has its uses, of course. Perhaps not vital, but good to have on hand. Swiftcast, while a bit undermined by Dualcast, is certainly helpful to have, especially if you want to fish for procs. Diversion can also be used in a pinch if Lucid is on cooldown, as RDMs can accidentally rip aggro in dungeons with their bursts if they're not careful. For the last one, I'd say it's situational. I keep Mana Shift for dungeons to help the healers out, though Addle and Apocata could be helpful for certain bosses. The other role actions are essentially useless, and you should pretty much never use them.

[Rongway]

RDM operates on an MP deficit. Without Lucid Dreaming, you'll run out right about the 4 minute mark. You won't feel it in a dungeon, but during a trial or raid Dreaming's refresh effect will be the difference between being able to cast 2 spells per 2 GCDs or slogging at 2 spells per 4 GCDs for the second half of the fight. And remember that Verraise costs 1/4 of max MP, so every time you cast it you lose a minute's worth of MP. Dreaming's hate drop effect is also important. If you play well, you can find yourself creeping up on the tank even with Diversion.

Mana Shift is nice on a BRD singing Requiem or a BLM in the middle of a Fire phase, though more often you might find yourself using it on a healer who's been nuking a lot, or worse, a healer you've just raised. Verraise+ManaShift costs 45% of your MP, and the decision to do this or not will be situational. The healer should have some means of refreshing his own MP, but if heavy party-wide damage is coming soon, party survival is worth the MP cost.

Surecast is a great choice in any fight with a blockable knockback, because it lets you dictate where you're going to stand. Without it, you can be knocked away in the middle of an Enchanted skillchain, or forced to reposition before the knockback and then again after.

If the fight does not have knockback, consider Addle or Apocatastasis. Addle weakens enemy magic and is good for AoEs, while Apocatastasis is good for protecting a single target from enemy magic.


Must-haves: Diversion, Lucid Dreaming
Not-100%-needed-but-should-really-be-on-your-bars: Swiftcast, Mana Shift
Situational: Surecast, Addle, Apocatastasis (if unsure/newfight, take Surecast)

[Wayfinder3]

Lucid Swiftcast and Debatably Addle are mandatory, I say Addle is mandatory is because it’s rare that it’s not worth using and mitigating any damage is better than mitigating none

Diversion is “kinda” mandatory, in higher levels of organized play you won’t need it as things like shadewalker and smokescreen in conjunction with your lucid allows you to control your tanks Aggro and allows you to take mana shift for the possible bard/healer mp refresh.

Surecast is needed as fight dictates
Apoc is very good for certain encounters, the best known is UCoB where it’s another tank cooldown. Otherwise Tanks/healers usually are fine without it

Lucid/Addle/Swiftcast are your mandatory slots

Diversion is your 4th
slot and the 5th is dependent on the encounter

[Maeka]

Okay so I just got a huge dose of why Lucid is awesome.

Did a Sohm Al with a rather bad healer.

Got to the last boss, she dies at 60-70% left on Tioman. So, I pick up role of main healer while throwing Fleche when possible. The 2nd DPS (a SAM) dies right after the wings phase. It was just simply impossible to keep 3 people up with Vercure, though I tried to keep him up as long as I could because we needed what little DPS we could get.

Constantly casting Vercure over and over and over and over again, fight took absolutely forever, we got her down to 20% and I only had 1k MP left. Popped Lucid and it was enough to carry us through the rest of the fight. I won with like 1200MP to spare though I think if the fight had gone on another 5 seconds, I might have gotten clipped with her star attack, I didn't notice it while casting Vercure and I was like "oh crap oh crap not now" and then the screen went black and WHEW. We won.

[Wayfinder3]

thats a rather niche application but it is an application regardless. well done