Brand new player, just hit 50 and unlocked RDM

[VarkingRunesong]

What is the standard rotation for a new level 50 RDM? I, unfortunately can not get more exp until I finish my main story missions so I was hoping to get a decent rotation down before I started them tomorrow. I can't play today since I will be at the girlfriends house. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I could go back to Paladin to finish the main story but I hate playing tanks.

[Brandedblade]

What is the standard rotation for a new level 50 RDM? I, unfortunately can not get more exp until I finish my main story missions so I was hoping to get a decent rotation down before I started them tomorrow. I can't play today since I will be at the girlfriends house. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I could go back to Paladin to finish the main story but I hate playing tanks.

Red Mage is intersting in the sense that it's harder to explain then to actually play.

You have two primary goals in your rotation.

1. Use short cast spells (Jolt, Verfire, Verstone for single target, Verthunder II and Veraero II for AoE) too trigger Dualcast, which will enable you to cast your long cast spells (Verthunder and Veraero for single target, Scatter/Impact for AoE) instantly.

2. Build your White and Black Mana in even amounts. Your Verfire and Verthunder (I and II) spells generate black mana, your Verstone and Veraero (I and II) spells generate white mana, and your Jolt and Scatter/Impact spells generate smaller amounts of both mana types.

Your goal is to, with the use of your Dualcast and procs from casting certain spells, too build both mana gauges to 80 in even amounts. If you accumulate too much of one mana type, it reduces the amount of mana the other color can generate until the balance is restored. Once you reach 80 of both mana types, you can spend them on your burst window, which for level 50-68 will be your melee combo only, at 68 and 70 you learn Verflare and Verholy, which are powerful finishers that can only be executed if you've successfully executed your burst melee combo, and level 80 adds Scorch, a final step to the process that deals MASSIVE potency.

Theres alot more nuance and cooldown management ofc, but I was only trying to give you the basic rundown of how the job fundamentally plays.

[VarkingRunesong]

Red Mage is intersting in the sense that it's harder to explain then to actually play.

You have two primary goals in your rotation.

1. Use short cast spells (Jolt, Verfire, Verstone for single target, Verthunder II and Veraero II for AoE) too trigger Dualcast, which will enable you to cast your long cast spells (Verthunder and Veraero for single target, Scatter/Impact for AoE) instantly.

2. Build your White and Black Mana in even amounts. Your Verfire and Verthunder (I and II) spells generate black mana, your Verstone and Veraero (I and II) spells generate white mana, and your Jolt and Scatter/Impact spells generate smaller amounts of both mana types.

Your goal is to, with the use of your Dualcast and procs from casting certain spells, too build both mana gauges to 80 in even amounts. If you accumulate too much of one mana type, it reduces the amount of mana the other color can generate until the balance is restored. Once you reach 80 of both mana types, you can spend them on your burst window, which for level 50-68 will be your melee combo only, at 68 and 70 you learn Verflare and Verholy, which are powerful finishers that can only be executed if you've successfully executed your burst melee combo, and level 80 adds Scorch, a final step to the process that deals MASSIVE potency.

Theres alot more nuance and cooldown management ofc, but I was only trying to give you the basic rundown of how the job fundamentally plays.

I love you. Will take a look at these as soon as I can play tomorrow. I will be doing story missions to be done being stuck at level 50 so I have a little practice before I start leveling again and head into dungeons.

[Archwizard]

So the best way to explain RDM is to categorize all of their main attacks into three types:

Shortcast Spells, with a cast time greater than "Instant" but less than the GCD (or recast time up to 2.5 sec).
At the start, these include Jolt, Verfire and Verstone for single-target, and Veraero II and Verthunder II for AoE.

Longcast spells, with a cast time greater than the GCD.
At the start, these are Verthunder and Veraero for single-target, and Scatter for AoE.

Melee skills, which are essentially all of your instants.
Riposte, Zwerchau, Redoublement.

RDM has an important trait called "Dualcast", which reduces the cast time of any GCD spell to Instant after casting a non-Instant spell. Note that this doesn't affect the GCD, and that activating Sprint can also consume a charge of Dualcast.
The ideal rotation is to manipulate this feature as often as possible, using your Shortcast spells to trigger Dualcast and expend them on your Longcast spells. (Swiftcast may be used as a free Dualcast on CD.)
You start with Jolt, then alternate with your choice of Verthunder or Veraero. Your Longcasts will proc Verfire and Verstone, which you use to replace Jolt as they proc.

Because their cast times are so long, you should never stop to fully cast a Longcast spell during a fight UNLESS you started it pre-pull and used it as your opening attack. Note that a Longcast spell CAN trigger Dualcast but only if it wasn't Instant at the time; you can use this in your opener to chain two Longcasts in a row.

As you cast spells, you'll build up your Balance Gauge by generating Black Mana or White Mana depending on the spells you use. You will want to build up both sides of the gauge as evenly as you can; if you push either side more than 30 points above the other, you will halve the generation of the lower Mana pool on subsequent spells.

Once you have 80 of EACH type of Mana, your Melee skills will become Enchanted and deal more damage while depleting the Balance Gauge. Chain together Enchanted Riposte, Enchanted Zwerchau and Enchanted Redoublement in a combo to maximize their damage. Never use your melee skills un-enchanted.

For a rundown on your remaining abilities -
Acceleration: Increases the proc rate of Verstone and Verfire. Use this on cooldown, either before the pull or after any instant spell while the GCD is still rolling
Fleche: Ranged damage. Use on cooldown after any instant spell while the GCD is still rolling.
Corps-a-corps: Gap closer. Use this when your Balance Gauge reaches at least 80/80 so you can do your combo.
Displacement: Gap creator. Use this after your melee combo, but be careful to position yourself so you don't get flung off a cliff!
Swiftcast: Use as a free Dualcast so you can get bonus Longcasts in on the rotation.

These principles will hold up as you level up. Moulinet is another melee skill but for AoE; Contre Sixte is used the same way as Fleche; Vercure is another Shortcast, but one you can use without an enemy target.

[thrashette]

Stole this from the Balance discord:

https://i.imgur.com/PccDEjm.png

I just picked RDM back up myself, and this really helped me jump right into the action.

[Rongway]

RDM has an important trait called "Dualcast", which reduces the cast time of any GCD spell to Instant after casting a non-Instant spell. Note that this doesn't affect the GCD

Just to be clear, because this is sometimes not entirely clear to new RDMs, what Archwizard means is that Dualcast doesn't allow you to cast two spells in one GCD--the second spell still takes up its own GCD by locking your spells for 2.5ish seconds after.

So it's not this:
Stand still for 2.5s casting Jolt, instant Veraero in the same GCD. Stand still for 2.5s casting Verstone, instant Verthunder in the same GCD. Four actions in two GCDs.

It's this:
Stand still for 2.5s casting Jolt, instant Veraero at the start of the next GCD, allowing you to move for 2.5s after the instant spell. Stand still for 2.5s casting Verstone, instant Verthunder at the start of the next GCD, allowing you to move for 2.5s after the instant spell. Four actions in four GCDs.

The Dualcast mechanic, besides letting you cast your 5s+ spells in the span of a normal 2.5s GCD, makes it so you only have to stand still for every other spell. Alternating a cast with an instant spell will give you more than 50% mobile time.