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i just added the updates that airspirit made.
Red Mage 101
Edited and updated on 5/15/04
Updated on 5/18/04 with 102
SO FAR THIS GUIDE IS GEARED TOWARD LEVELS 1-65. THIS IS NOT APPLIED TO POST-70 END GAME. ENOUGH DEBATE ON THAT PLEASE ... BY THAT TIME YOU SHOULD HAVE FIGURED ALL OF THIS OUT ON YOUR OWN AND ADAPTED AN ACCEPTABLE PLAYSTYLE THAT FITS YOUR CHARACTER.
There is enough BS on this and other web boards about what being a red mage is all about that it makes me sick. To correct this, at the cost of my karma, I am submitting a red mage guide to lead you from the start to level 65 in the easiest way possible and providing information on the BEST way to play this class. Unfortunately, being a very adaptable class, many red mages have taken other ways of playing this class and held them up as proper when they are anything but. I have watched hundreds of other red mages in action and no other way is as effective as this, I guarantee you. To back this up, I am currently the most desired red mage for all purposes be it partying or questing under level 65 on Fairy server. If you play your job right you will be loved and sought after ... if you don't you will be a desperation pick from people that just want you to be a refresh whore or dispel tank for their party. I'm going to be painfully honest and blunt in here, so please refrain from the immature whining that always comes from people that don't like hearing the truth.
I must clarify for those that seek to nitpick: there are other EFFECTIVE ways of playing this class, but none prior to level 65 that are AS EFFECTIVE. I am a staunch advocate of adding melee damage WHEN IT MAKES SENSE. This does not mean you should be out begging for sickle slash, silence, or curse from mobs. Further, on mobs that take an excessively long time to kill and have deadly weapon skill melee combat with a weapon that does MELEE damage (not enspell damage) is not recommended or you may find a member of your party dead. For higher level red mages that start encountering these weapon skills an investment in the art of dagger wielding an a Beestinger will be most appreciated.
--- Races ---
Many have criticised this portion of the guide. Other than the Galkan race, there is no "terrible" race to play this class in. Each race has its strengths and weaknesses and allow for different styles of play. As far as general effectiveness and adaptability goes, however, there are some races that have more abilities available to them than others and whose stats are suited for the broadest spectrum of party and solo play.
There is only one perfect match for this job, and that is Hume. The other jobs, while they may look good on paper can never match the effectiveness of this race. Combining decent dexterity, intelligence, mind, strength, and MP/HP, this race will allow you more options than any other to excel. I am biased here since I am a hume myself, but having played with all other races with the exception of Galka I find that if all things are equal the Hume red mages are more effective overall due to their annoying average traits in everything. One of the largest advantages of this and the Mithran race is their balance of melee performance and survivability without sacrificing much in the way of magical strength. Where a Hume or Mithra can usually find themselves readily able to swap tank or emergency tank as needed a Taru can not. More will be covered on this later. The other advantage is due to their perfect balance of melee and magical powers in this class it makes soloing very easy, and they are second only to Mithra in their abilities to solo regular and NM enemies.
The second alternative, and one that is almost equal in performance is Mithra. Besides looking snazzy in AF, they have added dexterity at the cost of strength. Since this is not a powerhouse job it is up to you to decide whether this will help you or not: you will always do less damage than a Hume but on high evasion mobs you will hit more ... mostly this is an aesthetic choice, but it will be slightly more difficult to play this race over Humes in the long run. This race is without peer when it comes to soloing due to their extremely high DEX and AGI. Though in party play as an HNM tank an Elvaan is more survivable, when on their own a mithra will hit more often due to their DEX which usually balances their slight loss in damage. Though this isn't a large issue with Humes who nearly never miss on EM/T mobs, a Mithra will miss so rarely it is something to be amazed at. On more powerful enemies, however, the difference in melee damage will be more noticable as their STR falls farther behind the VIT of the enemy.
The third alternative is the Taru Taru race. You will never be able to stand long on the front lines playing as a Taru Taru and this will heavily limit your effectiveness. Your HPs are low along with your strength and vitality, limiting your adaptability in battle. Unlike your Hume and Mithran brethren you will never be able to safely swap tank and will be more likely to die from AOE attacks. Your MPs, while nice, will not make up for this since after level 30 your elemental skills will fall far behind those of a black mage, though if you want to be a back line red mage for your entire career this isn't a horrible choice. This can be done quite well if you are willing to spend exorbitant amounts of gil on equipment to assist you in blowing your enemies up. Another penalty of this race is that you will never be able to solo like the above two races can. It can be done, but it will be more difficult in the long run. While more suited for backline play due to their enhanced magical abilities they will never find it as comfortable to be on the front lines.
The only other real alternative is Elvaan. Your STR and VIT, while nice, will never make up for your lack of DEX and MP. You will not have enough MP to properly chain mobs later in the game even with the best equipment available (i.e. tens of millions of gil) and due to your DEX you will find it near impossible to actually land blows later in the game unless you forsake any MP boosts for DEX/ACC equipment. This race will start to pale drastically to the above three once you hit 41 and most elvaan red mages drop the job by the time they reach 50. This is the race to be at 75 for HNM tanking, though in solo and party play their feeble DEX will make it much more difficult to hit the enemy. Their higher HP, however, will make it less likely when hit that their spells will be interrupted which makes them eminently suitable for swap and trick tanking or taking on NMs with a party.
I've only ever seen one galka RDM high enough to wear AF. This race is so pathetically gimped in MP, INT, and MND that you shouldn't even consider it unless you like punishment. I don't think I need to say anything more about this lousy choice.
If you are an improper race should you even bother? Unless you are a Galka the answer is yes. With that exception the other races can find themselves useful even later in the game (especially post 72 when the elvaan can use Errant gear to make up for many of their most woeful magical attributes) if you have exceptional skill. All things being equal though, the first two choices are and will always be your best bet.
-- Equipment ---
With that said, lets start with equipment and what levels you should be picking things up at. This is not a cheap job: I currently have over 1.3 million in spells and over 2.3 million in equipment. If you aren't prepared to spend time earning gil through farming or crafting then you will be limiting your options and will never be in the top ranks of red mages on your server. There are many areas of gear that you will have to focus on as well as keeping your spell list full to do this job properly, and I will touch on all of these briefly before going in depth into what you need at which levels to excel and alternatives for the cheap.
--- Weaponry ---
Regardless of what most red mages say, melee is a part of your life from the beginning of the game until the end. You have two classes of weaponry that will be mandatory that you use to be as effective as possible during the game: sword and dagger.
Swords are simple to pick: you want the most powerful sword you can get at all times, preferrably one with the lowest delay possible for that damage amount. You can melee fine, but you will never rival the damage of a primary melee after level 25. Using a weaker sword should never be an option except for the few cases I will point out in the weapon/level list.
Daggers are more difficult, though there are few options that will make sense for you to use. The one trait you want to pay attention to is delay. These weapons are used for only one thing: attacking very quickly on high defense mobs so your enspell damage will do more than what you could with a sword. On elementals, especially, having a 150 delay dagger with the proper enspell can usually kill it up to 50% faster than having the most powerful sword available in your hand. You will find, though, that the times that a dagger are useful are few ... it is always handy to have one or two around just in case.
Along with one of each of the above (at least) you should also always carry a wand for extremely resistant mobs. Damage does not matter at all on these: you will not be meleeing with them at all. You want the highest INT/MND boost you can get out of them, and you will only have one equipped when you are casting before you switch back to your trusty sword. Always carry a relatively current wand with you in case you find that your enfeebling magic isn't landing properly.
Since you will be subbing mage classes most of the time a staff is also an available choice. You can't level this skill with a red mage and there wouldn't be a reason to anyway. The paltry MP/HP bonuses you get off of some of these are not worth the benefits from one of the above choices and since your skill is low in it you will never land blows anyway with one. Red mages with staves make baby jesus cry, unless they are level 51 elemental staves, and these should be equipped only when their skills are being used. Since these range from 300-600K each, I will not be touching on them in this guide. You will probably begin acquiring a couple of these in your 60s before doing Genkei 5 against Maat in order to make that fight easier.
Weapons by level:
1: Wax Sword +1 (7dmg/218del/Acc+2) alt: Bronze Sword (6dmg/231del)
7: Xiphos +1 (9dmg/222del) alt: Xiphos (8dmg/228del)
7: Beestinger (4dmg/150del/Dex+1/Agi+1)
9: Spatha +1 (12dmg/233del) alt: Spatha (11dmg/240del)
9: Willow Wand +1 (INT+3/MND+3) alt: Willow Wand (INT+2/MND+2)
11: Bee Spatha +1 (14dmg/227del/Acc+2) [FARM FOR GIL, THIS IS MANDATORY!!!]
18: Flame Sword (16dmg/218del/Fire) alt: Fire Sword (15dmg/225del/Fire)
18: Yew Wand +1 (INT+4/MND+4) alt: Yew Wand (INT+3/MND+3)
20: Platoon Dagger (8dmg/150del) [DO BCNM20 FOR THIS!!!]
27: Gladiator (18dmg/222del) alt: Gladius (17dmg/228del)
Your melee will start to decline at this point. It is unfortunate, but you MUST keep your sword skill capped or you will find it nearly impossible to level later on. Your sword skill should be prioritized above levelling your dagger skill ... it is far more important and useful.
30: Centurion's Sword (19dmg/225del/Acc+3/Atk+4) alt: Broadsword (19dmg/233del)
32: Solid Wand (INT+5/MND+5) alt: Chestnut Wand (INT+4/MND+4)
34: Republic Sword (21dmg/213del/Acc+3/Atk+4) alt: Batokan Sword (20dmg/219del/Acc+3/Atk+4)
36: Holy Sword +1 (23dmg/219del/Light) alt: Holy Sword (22dmg/225del/Light)
38: Divine Sword +1 (24dmg/227del/Light) alt: Divine Sword (23dmg/233del/Light)
41: Fencing Degen (22dmg/224del/MP+10/INT+1/MND+1/AF1) [STATS MAKE UP FOR DAMAGE!!!]
Through 47 you will find melee combat painful. If you kept your skills up you are now in for some treats.
47: Knight's Sword +1 (32dmg/233del) alt: Knight's Sword (31dmg/233del) [DO NOT SELL YET]
48: Rose Wand +1 (INT+6/MND+6) alt: Rose Wand (INT+5/MND+5)
48: Hornetneedle (16dmg/150del/DEX+1/AGI+1/RE) [You won't be getting this until much later!]
49: Crimson Blade (28dmg/231del/MP+10/INT+5) [USE THIS ALONG WITH YOUR KNIGHT'S SWORD!]
If you thought that things were expensive before this, you are going to go nuts at this point. Weaponry will become insanely expensive, but you must keep up with it. The Hornetneedle is a Rare/Ex item that you will get in your 60s with a bunch of friends willing to help you. This dagger involves hours of farming of level 57 bees and is more difficult to get than any coffer key or genkei item ... be prepared for countless hours of frustration, though a good level 60 red mage can solo these without too much difficulty if they take the proper precautions. I just added that there since that is the level you can use it. It is perhaps the last dagger you will ever use. Until you get it use either the Beestinger or Platoon Dagger (keep them both). Here comes the pain ....
55: Wise Wizard's Anelace (34dmg/226del/14Atk) [Your damage sword]
55: Royal Guard's Fleuret (33dmg/215del/Acc+5/Parry+5) [Your accuracy sword]
Use these both depending on what you are fighting. If you can hit it easily then use the anelace. If you miss alot use the Fleuret. Many things you will fight in the 50s are highly evasive, though you will find ther Anelace is exceptionally suited for those that are not or for when you are farming or soloing. Prepare to spend 200K to get the pair of them.
60: Ebony Wand +1 (INT+7/MND+7) alt: Ebony Wand (INT+6/MND+6)
62: Gold Sword +1 (39dmg/233del) alt: Gold Sword (38dmg/240del)
You will probably never see a Gold Sword +1 in stock. This is the ultimate RDM damage weapon unless you are looking at multimillion gil swords such as the enhancing sword and such until you reach the 70s. They are also exceptionally difficult and rare to make. A regular Gold Sword will still put you back a good 50-60K. Sell your anelace at this point and keep your fleuret. Once again you will swap between the two as needed depending on the mob's evasion rate.
65: Mythic Wand +1 (INT+9/MND+9) alt: Mythic Wand (INT+8/MND+8)
And that is it going from level 1 to level 65. Unless you are levelling obscenely fast (not your first job, levelling to 30 in 3-4 days) don't skip any weapon tiers: you will find yourself gimped compared to what you could be doing. This is the reason that most red mages don't believe in meleeing: they refuse to spend money getting the equipment they need and keeping their skills up to date (or they are elvaan/taru ... poor buggers).
--- Armor ---
Yes, I said ARMOR. Unless you are a Taru you shouldn't be wearing frilly robes, and even if you are you should be looking at armor most of the time. You are a front line mage meaning you will take damage: reduce this as much as possible with good gear. I will keep this rather generic except for certain special items.
1: Bronze Armor
7: Leather Armor
7: Leaping Boots
Can you afford them? They come in awful handy later when you have accuracy problems. I would recommend camping them if you want them, and only once you reach the 40s ... anything before that would be a waste of your time and effort.
10: Royal Footman's Tunic with Scale Armor
16: Bone Armor (optional if you can wait one more level)
17: Lizard Armor
21: Beetle Armor
27: Brass Scale Mail
30: Full Centurion's Mail (this will pay off heavenly)
At this point you will start getting your RSE equipment. Use it in conjunction with Centurion's Mail as you see fit to be as effective as possible against that which you are fighting. This is very conditional, so I won't even attempt to go into the various combinations and conditions. Elvaan should definitely be using their RSE, however, as this will assist them in overcoming their general gimpiness in this job. As we continue up through 50 you will want to keep your Centurion's Mail and RSE and mix and match pieces with the next armor classes to be as effective as possible. Until I got my AF I always brought 3+ full sets of gear into the field so I could mix and match to become as effective as possible. This is a fine art and can't really be covered in depth ... this is where you can really make a name for yourself though.
45: Brigandine +1 alt: Brigandine
If you can afford Brigandine +1 it will pay you back in the end. Even with regular brigandine armor you will find yourself more survivable and accurate than with most all other gear. Regardless of your race you should be wearing one of these two items.
50: Tactician Magician's Coat
Not a robe! OMG! Keep the Brigandine armor and use these two conditionally for a while. Once you hit level 52 sell the Brigandine (Keep it if it is Brigandine +1) and get –
52: Gaia Doublet +1 (36def/VIT+5/Earth+12) alt: Gaia Doublet (35def/VIT+4/Earth+10)
Again, swap as needed. In conjunction with phalanx the +VIT equipment is godly for soloing or for situations where your tank has trouble keeping aggro. You will find even AOE damage will be reduced by the +VIT items, so use them as they are needed. These will come in especially handy when dealing with the things you will fight for your AF ....
55: Royal Knight's Aketon [DO NOT BUY!!!]
I weep when I see red mages wearing this. Of all the stupid things to waste money on ... it may somewhat match your AF pieces you have so far (I think it looks ridiculous on females with the gogo shorts) but only at the cost of very helpful stat boosts. Don't do it people!
59: Black Cotehardie
Very nice for enhancing your melee performance. Swap between your Warlock Tabard and this as needed. Keep in mind that you can't take hits as well and your Cure IVs will be hurt by this piece of equipment. This is most useful for the elvaan among us. This item IS NOT CHEAP!
59: Vermillion Cloak
Do you have 3.5 million gil laying around? Didn't think so. If you do, then buy this as an added boost to lower your resting times. Using this in party play otherwise is just an idiotic thing to do. Personally, I don't think it is worth it.
61: Carapace latency gear
What you say ??
You will not be using these in party play ever. These are for soloing. When your HP gets into the yellow hit your equipment change macro and swap into your latency gear for a massive defense and attack boost. This takes a great deal of skill and finesse, so unless you are on your game you will find this exceptionally difficult to do. You will find that only the most hardcore red mages will do this ... most find soloing too difficult to begin with let alone adding more difficulty to the mix.
69: Blue Cotehardie
Very nice melee boosts but still rapes your healing abilities. Again, this is most useful for elvaan. If you have 15 million laying around look at the +1 version if you can ever find one ... they are rare to the point of absurdity.
Anyway, I think you get the picture. Keep multiple sets of gear on you to enhance your performance as much as possible.
--- Capes ---
This is a very simple category. Get the highest def you can get at all times until you can get +INT/+MND gear. Save up and spend 90K at level 43 and get yourself a Red Cape +1 ... it will be part of your arsenal for a very long time. Once you hit 55 many of the R/E national capes are handy for solo play depending on your race. It would be wise to look into these.
--- Earrings ---
+MP is king. Buy the most powerful +MP earrings you can afford at all times. Unlike most other pieces of equipment the +1 version of these is never worth the cost. Save it for other more important things. Once you hit 30 consider a pair of morion earrings if you can synth them, otherwise save the 180K for Phalanx ... a much more important investment. At 60 look into a pair of Phantom Earrings if you can afford them, otherwise your Morions will still do fine for you. Another wise time investment is to farm the NM goblin in Onzozo after you reach 60 (unless you have friends willing to help you) who drops the Moldavite Earring (R/E). The +5 Magic Attack bonus will make a big difference in the power of your elemental spells and will reduce the number of resists to your enspells.
--- Range ---
Face it: your ranged skill sucks. Some do decently with a bow and arrow set, but it will become a drain on your finances that most of us can't afford for a very paltry gain (assuming you can actually hit the target). I would recommend only Mithras look into that option. Otherwise tote your fishing pole around until 25 and get yourself a Morion Tathlum for the stat boosts. Don't do what I did and accidenally use it after you buy it: 35K to pull a crab is not something that you will live down easily. Grab a Phantom Tathlum at 65 for the extra INT/MP boost.
--- Rings ---
Get a collection of these. +INT/+MND is nice. So is having a pair of Astral Rings when you hit level 10. Since you probably won't have those until you reach the 40s or higher keep a variety of +INT/+MND/+DEX/+STR rings on hand and mix and match them to suit the mob you are fighting. I carried six rings on me at all times once I reached the 30s ... I hope you did your gobbiebag quests. Once you can equip Electrum Rings buy them, and replace these with Astral Rings as soon as possible ... these seriously make levelling some of your subs a walk in the park.
--- Head ---
Do you see those pretty hairpins? BUY THEM! This is why red mages don't wear tunics ... get all the MP you can get and use hairpins until you get your pimp hat.
--- Shield ---
This is a simple matter, really. Get the shield with the highest defense at all times. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however:
40: Balance Buckler (Acc+3)
Add this to your +Acc arsenal for when you need a little nudge.
55: Musketeer Commander's Shield (AGI+3)
Use this until you can get a Darksteel Buckler. The extra evasion is better than nothing.
59: Darksteel Buckler (Atk+3)
Get a Spiked Buckler if you're obscenely rich ... the extra Atk isn't much, but will pay off more than the added evasion.
68: Astral Aspis
This is one of the RDM ultimate shields. Added MP and +INT makes this extremely desirable, but you have to kill the NM to get it. Most will never see one of these.
--- Neck ---
What can I say? Get +MND gear as you can get it. Justice Badge->Holy Phial ... you'll have to decide for yourself whether the MP hit with the Promise Badge is worth the +2 MND ... I've tried both and I prefer the Holy Phial. Once you hit 65 there are a number of exceptionally nice torques to raise your elemental and enfeebling skills. Invest in one of each of these.
--- Waist ---
Friar's Rope -> Merc Capt -> Royal Knight. At 48 buy a life belt for the times when you need the accuracy desperately. This is a hard call, since it will not be a great bonus (you are losing +2 in all stats except VIT) ... this is up to you.
--- Subjobs ---
There are many possibilities here and it is useful to level up all of them as subjobs at various times. The first and most useful of these is BLM.
RDM/BLM: This is the most useful subjob until you hit level 50. While you should also have WHM levelled up in case you need some of its qualities the elemental debuffs, warp, and AOE spells will make this an exceptionally useful job. This is perhaps the most common combination at all levels of play.
RDM/WHM: Use this for curaga (AOE sleep mobs) and status repair. Don't think that this will make your heals more powerful as it will not be noticable. This is useful for dual RDM or RDM/BRD later in the game. Using it as your primary and only sub will only gimp you compared to the effectiveness of a RDM/BLM. This combination will give you a slight MP penalty as well: not advisable for elvaan.
RDM/NIN: Once you hit 50 level NIN up to 25. Before you recieve dual wield 2 there is very little melee benefit to NIN, and the MP penalty you will get from subbing a melee class will overcome the slight melee benefit you recieve. This sub is best used for questing and NMs, since between blink and utse you will find yourself almost unkillable. Being an unkillable mage has its perks. If you can manage to land ninjitsu debuffs it is even nicer, but landing half level debuffs on mobs will grow exceptionally difficult later on. Keep this handy as an alternate sub, but remember that in most situations a mage sub will greatly exceed it in effectiveness. Late game when you have Utsesemi: Ni this will make you the most powerful tank in the game and one of the few that can solo avatars and HNMs with ease.
RDM/SMN: This is the one and only chain machine. You lose out on elemental debuffs, but post 50 you will be refreshed at 4MP/tick. Combine this with the occassional blinkga when fighting tricky and uncontrollable mobs and it is a very potent combination. If you will need the elemental debuffs for effectiveness or escape for safety (post 58) you will want to stick with BLM as a sub. I use this maybe one in three groups.
RDM/WAR: This is insanity, people. You lose MPs for provoke and a very slight gain in combat effectiveness. There is never a time that a RDM/WAR will be more effective than one of the above class combinations regardless of your race or equipment. This is why most of the bright eyed noobs will drop this combination in a heartbeat once they get a clue. RDM/WARs make baby jesus cry. On rare occassion you will find yourself in a party for skill-up or NM purposes in which a provoke or two could help. If you are not in one of these situations DO NOT DO THIS. I have found exactly one NM that this sub would be useful and that is Death From Above since a RDM is more survivable on it than any other class. In all other situations there are no benefits to this, so don't waste your party's time please.
RDM/BRD: If you are very skilled you may be able to pull this off. Personally, I would consider RDM/SMN superior to it. That's just me though. I'd love to be proved wrong here, but I've never seen someone pull it off decently. While it looks good on paper ... who knows.
RDM/THF: Unless you are in desperate need of hate control this is NOT a good combination for party play. Once you get Cyclone at 125 dagger skill, however, you can turn this into a money making machine with a 150 delay dagger. Run into your favorite haunt with stoneskin and phalanx up, make a massive train, gather them all into a tight bunch, then (with ice spikes on to lessen the absorbtion stoneskin takes) go into regular attack mode (haste up if you have it yet). Once you get 100 TP dump cyclone on the mobs and keep doing it over and over again. While you will kill slower than with a BLM sub you will get more gil and items making the trade effective.
RDM/SAM: For all that is holy NEVER use this in a party. Seriously. You will NEVER be as effective in a party with this sub EVER!!! With that said, it is very effective agains NMs that have MP pools if you have a Hornetneedle. With haste on you can drain 60 MP every 22 seconds making your MP pool virtually unlimited. Unless you find yourself in a specific position in which you could use this sub it is probably not one you will ever want to worry about levelling.
There are no other options unless you are looking for ultimate gimpage. Just don't do it.
--- Role Progression ---
Early on you will be effective as primary melee. Early on you will be able to take hits like anyone else. Early on you will be able to nuke like a BLM. That ends once you get out of the noob pits and hit level 33. Most of the people that argue odd job combinations or other annoying crap are in this noob region and haven't had any real game experience yet. Your calling in life regardless of level is to enfeeble mobs. We will touch on the effectiveness of these spells later. Secondary to this is your melee abilities. Third is your healing and nuking abilities. Regardless of your level (after you reach level 7-8, since every class is about the same prior to this) you will start every fight by enfeebling the mobs with spells targetted to reduce its strengths and general spells to reduce its combat effectiveness. After this you will enter melee with an enspell on (after you receive enthunder, of course) unless you are fighting mobs that can kill you in one hit with AOE attacks. If you have mages or dark knights that can stun this hould not be an issue for you even late in the game. Most red mages use this as an excuse to hide their cowardice or ineffectiveness due to not levelling their combat skills or buying a proper weapon. Once in melee, use nukes and heals as needed. At lower levels (prior to 41) you can disengage when the mob is getting low in HP to regenerate some of the MP you used nuking and healing. If you are casting, however, you should ALWAYS AND WITHOUT FAIL be in melee to add extra damage to the mob and kill it faster. Speeding up combat and enhancing expierence gain for your party is what you are all about. Even in the levels between 30 and 46 when you have absolute crap for a weapon selection you should still melee: your enspell damage can really add up even if you are hitting for 0 damage with your weapon (in which case you switch to a fast dagger). Neglecting to melee will cripple your melee skills when you reach 47 and beyond when some nicer swords are available to you.
Once you acquire dispel (do not level once you reach level 32 until you get your hands on a dispel scroll or you are nothing but an XP leech!) at 32 the game changes. You will be unable to rest during battles since you must always remain on your feet to remove defensive buffs the mobs you are fighting will use. Once you get dispel you will find yourself unable to nuke as much since you will have a lowered ability to rest at the ending moments of combat (this is when a mob is most likely going to buff themselves). This is when a red mage really begins to come into their own ... and since you're standing, you should be swinging your weapon as fast and hard as you can.
At 41 you reach another drastic shift in your job once you acquire refresh. While most (terrible) red mages insist you stick to a static and unchanging refresh order to keep everyone's MPs full, this is where the good mages are seperated from the bad. Your job is to provide enough assistance through refresh to not only keep your MPs adequate for emergency situations and further chaining but keep the others in your group where they need to be to do the same. I will touch on this in great detail later, but to suffice it to say that your ability to rest will almost be completely wiped out at this point, and this is where the elvaan begin to seriously suffer.
At 50 your job will change again. You will find that mobs will buff themselves much more (i.e. more dispel), fights last longer (more finesse is required to achieve regular chain 5-6), mobs do more damage (you will now be healing more), and your accuracy will become a problem (I hope you bought the +acc gear I recommended) on certain mobs. You will almost never cast nukes except for busting when you have excess MPs for your point in the chain (even your bursts are rarely effective for the cost in MPs except on certain mobs) and you will now have Haste to worry about. Split haste duties with the WHM and using them only as needed (haste spam hurts chains more than it assists them: a sign of a terrible RDM is insistance on hasting every melee member every fight) to keep a chain going or if you have excess MPs prior to a convert you need to use.
Once again, at 55 your job will change again. With the benefit of more powerful weaponry you now have the ability to do 2/3 the melee damage of primary melee characters on mobs depending on whether or not you levelled your melee abilities. You will find that you almost never use nukes at all anymore if you are doing your job properly since your elemental skills are so relatively low that they will rarely pay off what they cost in MPs. Your melee skills will always do more damage to mobs than you would if you wastefully chain nuked from the back lines. Once bards receive Ballad II you will now be called into parties as primary healers on occassion, and with 6-7MP/tick refresh (depending on sub) you can keep chains alive forever. It is only in these parties that you will not melee much, since you require song seperation from the melee characters.
At 60 you go through another massive shift once you receive your pimp hat. Now that your elemental skills are enhanced along with your intelligence you can start effectively bursting again (remember: your elemental magic macros should always put your wand in your hand prior to casting and return your sword to your hand afterwards), though you will once again be limited to doing this only when you have excess MPs to burn. A good party at this stage (once everyone has full AF) can chain for obscene amounts of XP (in excess of 7K/hr in very good parties), and this can only be done if you are doing your job correctly. Refusing to melee or use your skills to the best of your ability will only slow down your rate of XP gain. If you have a BLM sub you are the one person that will keep your group alive in a dungeon, as escape will take half the time for you to cast as it would a BLM.
Past 65 your job will change a number of times still as your potential subs gain more abilities that will assist you. I'll go into these changes as I discover them myself.
--- Skills ---
At no time should you ever allow your skills to fall below the cap. Of these, your dagger and elemental skills are the most difficult to keep high since you won't be using the dagger much and you won't be nuking much later in the game. Here are some strategies to keep these high.
Elemental: When using your BLM sub use your elemental debuffs. Frost is perhaps the most useful, especially on evasive mobs. Using these will always keep this skill up once you leave the "gimped BLM" stage of your career. Neglecting this skill will prevent you from ever passing level 70, since it is through elemental magic that you complete Genkei 5.
Dagger: You're screwed here. If you don't use it then level it as high as you can on EP mobs then fight EMs at zone walls as long as you can before zoning to rest. Weapon skills are obscenely difficult to level to full if you neglect them too long.
Enfeebling: You should never have a problem here. If you do, then find IT worms. Cast blink on yourself, run into range, and drop a dia on the mob. Run out of spell range. Rinse and repeat until you are capped. Shame on you!
Healing and Enhancing: Make two macros. One casts Cure on yourself three times. The other casts three different barspells on yourself. Stand in front of your mog house and alternate these macros running in and out of your mog house to fill your mps. If you let this go too long you will find that it will take you days of spellcasting to cap your skills.
Sword: Shame on you! See Dagger.
Dark: See enfeebling, but use bio or drain/aspir instead.
Parry/Shield: Since you won't be tanking these are difficult to level up. Solo EP-DCs while levelling up weapon skills and this will raise at a glacial rate. Don't ever kid yourself that you will cap these skills.
Evasion: Find an IT mob, cast stoneskin and phalanx on yourself, let it beat on you, then zone before you die. If you are in melee range like you should be this will stay reasonably close to cap anyway when you get occassional aggro.
Divine: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, um, er, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is the most wasteful thing you can level. Don't even bother with this. Banish isn't worth a damn when you are subbing WHM anyway.
Club: Why are you attacking with one of these? Use a sword or dagger!
--- Spells ---
Always and without fail have every spell available to you at your level. If you don't, then farm until you do. There is one exception to this rule, and that is phalanx: this spell is used for tanking in parties and soloing. With this spell you become almost immune to most EP mobs and it will reduce your damage by ([enhancing]/7.5)-10 damage every time you get hit. Combining this with stoneskin makes stoneskin last dramatically longer. There is nothing funnier than running around Giddeus at level 50 with stoneskin and phalanx on, gathering up 80+ yagudos, and then blasting them into oblivion with AOE nukes. You literally are immune to their damage. This also makes soloing for various quests and farming a breeze. Even at level 60 I found myself taking equivalent damage to the PLD in my parties with this spell on, and if fighting lower level mobs to help PL or train weapon skills with others it always made me the tank over any other class since I wouldn't take any damage. A safe time frame to get phalanx is around 40+ and you can get this through BCNM40 if you have perserverence.
Slow (MND): Use this every battle without fail. This lowers the amount of times the mob will hit your party and enhance your survivability greatly.
Paralyze (MND): Some mobs are resistant to this. Find which mobs are most susceptible to it and use it strictly on them. Good examples are goblins, orcs, crabs, and lizards. Using this on coeurls is a bad idea.
Bio (INT): This dramatically lowers the damage output of mobs you are fighting. If it isn't damage resistant, start every fight with the most powerful Bio spell you have.
Dia (MND): This dramatically lowers the defense of mobs you are fighting. If your party can't hit it hard, use this regardless of how hard it is hitting you. The faster it dies the less MP you will use. Note that Bio will always overwrite this so make sure your BLM and DRK aren't trying to level their dark skill at the expense of the party. Arguing with the overwrite properties of these spells will just make you look stupid so don't do it.
Blind (INT): If you have a paladin don't use this. Let them use flash and save the MPs. If nobody has flash then use this to lower the accuracy of the mob.
Frost (INT): Lowers evasion. Very useful especially after level 50. BLM sub.
Burn (INT): Lower INT. Better nukes. Let your BLM handle this if you have one. If not don't bother unless you are going to be chain nuking. Yeah ... don't bother.
Sleep (INT): The end all and be all of crowd control. Use the most powerful sleep spell you have to knock mobs down. Don't count on your BLM to do this since this is tied to enfeebling: this is your job, cowboy.
Shock (INT): Lowers MND ... good for overcoming enfeeble resistance. If you're using a wand you shouldn't ever need this.
Barelement: Increases defense if hit by that element. Good for soloing elementals or when fighting AOE mobs. Even if your WHM drops it on the party use it anyway since your enhancing skill is higher (it is, isn't it? LEVEL IT!).
Barstatus: Good for soloing, otherwise let the WHM handle this with AOE spells.
Spikes: Only use when soloing since you shouldn't be getting hit anyway. Use blaze for damage, ice for paralyze, and shock if you are farming tons of mobs simultaneously (the stuns add up).
Drown (INT): Lowers the mob's strength. This is a nice spell to use if the mob has both high def and atk when you have to use Dia rather than Bio.
Bind (INT): When this skill actually works, it only buys you a couple seconds. If you need this you are probably screwed anyway.
Diaga (MND): This shreds through blink. Good for soloing or pulling with AOEs ... or against ninja mobs WHEN pulling.
Gravity (INT): Good for pulling when you don't want hit. Also good for when things get out of control aggrowise and the mob is horny for a piece of mage. The evasion reduction is minimal so never cast it for that reason UNLESS (big conditional) your party is barely on the cusp of hitting or not. This is a judgement call that is very hard to learn, and a reason most less experienced red mages just spam it.
Blink (MND): Use it when you are about to take aggro in a party. Also nice for when you are pulling.
Stoneskin (MND): I hope your enhancing is capped. Drop on a wand before casting it for even more damage reduction. Combined with blink and phalanx this can buy your group quite a bit of time if things are going bad, and it is godly when soloing.
Phalanx: Use this before pulling aggro to yourself in a party and always have it on when soloing even if the mob is worthless to you. It saves quite a bit of MPs in healing.
Refresh: 150 MP for them, 40 MP to you. We'll cover this later.
Poison: Stacks with either dia or bio. The DOT sucks, but it is nice for pulling.
Haste: About a 20% increase in attack speed. Use this on your heavy hitter to increase damage output or on your blink tank to let them keep aggro better.
--- Refresh ---
Some classes need this more than others. The priority is in this order:
1) RDM. If you don't have MPs you can't keep a chain going.
2) PLD. If the PLD can't heal he can't keep aggro as well, and if you are chaining properly they don't have time to rest.
3) WHM. If you're dead there is no need to refresh, is there?
4) SMN. Stack it on them to let them use their pacts more wisely. Since they will be filling in for a WHM most of the time see above.
5) DRK. While most are idiots and won't use absorb spells, insist that they do so to enhance the group's performance. You won't have to refresh them often. Browbeat them if they think they are black mages: that isn't why you are giving them MPs. Again, these guys can't rest due to being melee. Their weapon skills will outshine what your resident BLM can dish out.
6) Everyone else.
7) BLM. Before 50 give it to them sparingly, but make sure they are resting alot too. Clear Mind III gives them obscene regeneration, so make sure they take advantage of this after 50 and only refresh them if you have extra MPs. If you burn MPs on them you won't have any to keep the chain going. The only time it is advisable to refresh a BLM regularly is if they are doing the lion's share of the damage in your group: Torama in Onzozo at level 62 is a good example of this. Again: this is a judgement call.
While most people will scream and whine about the BLM issue, it is the reality of the situation. Once they get CM3 they can regenerate MP 10x faster than refesh while sitting. Since their spells are so o/l bscenely expensive you are giving them 1-2 more casts per fight only and providing them a way to get themselves killed through aggro. Further, doing so prevents you from having enough MP to continue the chain. The only time you refresh a black mage post 50 is if you have a bard in the group as well to make up for your lost MPs or if you need to dump MPs for convert.
You should make note at what pace your group uses MPs and advise them on their rate of use. Do not try to use refresh as a crutch to let them waste MPs: advise them on how they can be more efficient. Remember: you can never rest if you are chaining quickly. If you burn through all of your MPs in the first three fights on enfeebling and refresh spells you will not have enough MPs after convert to hit chain 6. You should time it so you convert during chain 4 and take over for your primary healer so they can med up and retake control during chain 5. If you don't have enough MPs to do this you need to consider where your mps are going: most likely you are burning too much MP on refresh or on elemental magic. If it healing that is holding you back, then you are either fighting things that are too hard for your level or your PLD and WHM needs a serious talking to. Your PLD should be burning around 180 MP per cast of refresh ... make sure that they are doing their part to lessen both your load and the load of the WHM.
--- Skills ---
Convert: While many think this will prevent you from ever running dry of MPs this is quite different. This provides you with a free refill once every 10 minutes less whatever MP it takes to heal you. The proper use of this is to go as low as you possibly can in MP before using it since 1 MP equates to about 3.5 HP in healing or more. The payoff is there. This is a tricky skill to pull off in battle since using it allows a perfect opportunity for the mob to one shot you via an AOE attack or to grab aggro when you dump a Cure IV/Cure III combo on yourself to pull you out of the red. If you are at all unsure of whether you can survive a combat convert use blink first. Most AOE will tear through stoneskin with additional damage so using it to save yourself is NOT ADVISED. If you are worried about an AOE death then run to double AOE distance, convert and heal, then run back into combat. Before using this skill use whatever MP you have remaining on hastes, cures, and refreshes to get yourself as low as possible. I typically have under 15 MP when I convert (15 HP left on an IT mob, lol) ... use your MPs wisely.
Though I'm loathe to say, there are times that you must convert without healing yourself. An example is in avatar battles where you need all the MPs you can get. If your tank can keep hate and you're out of AOE, just blink up and keep going. These cases are extremely rare and you must use extreme caution. I've done over a dozen avatar battles now in which I've finished the battle with under 50 HP due to MP conservation after convert and it works very will ... under the right circumstances.
Chainspell: The obvious use is in chainwarp or chainescape macros. Converting and unloading holy hell on a mob is another. Converting and healing like crazy is another. Coverting and blink tanking after dumping heals is another. Consider it a combination of benediction and perfect dodge ... definitely one of the most useful two hours there are, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I've saved many parties with this ability. Even chainspell + Sleep 2 can be a potent combination. Let your imagination run riot.
--- Tanking ---
What you say ??
When things get really bad you are the backup tank for your party. With phalanx, stoneskin, and blink you can survive an extremely long time against even the toughest mobs. If your paladin is suffering and the mob is raping your white mage heal the mage, dump blink, heal again, and prepare to suffer its wrath. I have saved many groups through Cure IV provokes combined with protection magic: don't be afraid to do this. Also, it is possible for you to be a potent fuidama partner. Use stone/blink/phalanx, pull the mob, and then when the others are in position dump SATA and the others can engage. Even during combat you can serve as swap tank if you are prepared ... let that DRK/THF dump a SATA Guillotine on you and you can hold up damage free until the tank pulls it back just by using blink.
--- Healing ---
No WHM can safely do what you can do. Especially once you get your AF3 hat you can dump cures at an exceptional rate while surviving the attentions of the mob should they turn. You must always have enough MP on hand to save your group should things get ugly.
--- Solo Play ---
No other class in the game can solo like us (BSTs don't solo ... they bring friends). Even in the 60s I can solo certain tough mobs with difficulty, and EP that shred through other classes easily can't hurt us. In order to solo properly you must acquire phalanx at all costs. At my level the extra 20 damage per attack I don't take adds up quickly, especially considering that that is 20 less damage to stoneskin ... by the time it wears off you can cast it again and never take damage. Don't bother with blink when soloing, or at least not during the fight. By the time it's casted the old one is stripped ... it is a losing proposition.
There are only two types of mobs that you must be wary of: mobs with silence skills (not spells, as these are easily handled through silence of our own) and mobs with sleep skills. Without our magical protection we are as vulnerable as any other class. It is the protection spells that let us solo things that no other class can dream of, and if they are not available we will surely die. On that same note, sleep can be devastating since our protections keep us from waking: the damage the mob does gets applied to our protection, and by the time it wakes us our defenses are stripped and we are vulnerable until they are reapplied.
Through solo play our shield and parry skills will rise allowing us even more defense in parties when we happen to get aggro. Further it allows us to make money in ways no other class can. We have the power to tear through elementals safely where most classes would find even an EP elemental overpowering. Training spiders in Korroloka is a death sentence for even many level 60+ players yet I was doing it before 50 for spider webs. Discover what you can solo with little risk and jump on it for very nice gil rewards.
--- Paying For It All ---
You are the master at solo play. Farming is easy. So is mining or fishing in remote areas. What other class can mine in Ifrit's Cauldron as easily and safely as a red mage? Put the bomb to sleep, mine away, then escape if you have to. Hire yourself out as a mercenary for NMs later on to make gil, or be a sneak/invis tool for people doing quests or missions. At 10-20K a pop these things add up. The Ninja quest is soloable for a properly equipped 45 RDM ... hire yourself out to some people that need it at 5K a member to make quick and safe gil. There are always things that red mages can do that other people cant, so take advantage of them. Elementals are your prey of choice with fast daggers and enspells, particularly if you have energy draining weapons skills.
--- Notes ---
Always have your weapon out if you are standing. Regardless of what anyone might tell you, any damage you contribute to a mob is GOOD damage and helps your group kill it faster. Meleeing does not in any way get in the way of casting the spells you need to use. Further, if your tank is doing his job you should rarely if ever get aggro from the mob. Even AOEs are easily handled if the members of your party are doing their job (i.e. STUN). Don't ever be fooled by the hordes of terrible red mages out there that avoid melee like a plague that you will be ineffective at it: their issues are bad equipment and lousy skill. The only people with excuses for horrible melee are tarus and elvaan due to their respective lack of strength and dexterity. A properly balanced and equipped red mage can do a sizeable amount of damage at no MP cost during combat by a decent player. Further, remember that once you pass 32 your nuking days are in decline: you have more important things to be doing than trying to use your gimped elemental magic when you should be protecting and speeding up your group. Forcing your group to wait for you to rest and recover is the worst thing a red mage could ever do. Further, letting your skills go to pasture for any reason is inexcusable: each one serves a purpose that is necessary for you to function optimally. Red mages with low elemental skill can't layer on elemental debuffs later. Red mages with low enhancing will find it next to impossible to solo or save their group if things go wrong. Red mages with low healing will find that it takes twice as much MP to heal a party member. Red mages with low weapons skills will not contribute damage for their group. Red mages with low dark skills will find that they can't effectively leech mps from their targets. Red mages with bad equipment for any reason will never be comparable to those with the right equipment for their level. While it isn't a difficult job to play once you get used to it, this is the most complex job in the game. A good red mage can make a bad party good whereas a bad red mage will do nothing but drag his party down. What are you willing to be?
--- Arguments From Apologists ---
"I don't do enough melee damage so I'll nuke instead" - You are either a Taru or you're improperly equipped. Your nukes cause MP consumption which causes downtime. If you rest you're not available for emergency healing, dispel, or refresh ... in other words, you are not doing your job. On average it takes around 1/3 of your MP (hume) in elemental magic to equal your melee output ... is it worth it?
"I'm going to refresh everyone so we can use magic to be more effective!", "You suck because you don't refresh everyone!" - This is simple: if you burn refreshes on everyone something has to give. Either you're not debuffing properly, you're not healing, or you're resting and not chaining well defeating the purpose. If you refresh judiciously rather than spamming it your group will be more effective in the long run.
"I do a refresh order chain because it's b3ttar!" - Yeah, and you're wasting MPs. What happens if somebody didn't use enough to justify a refresh (i.e. a dark knight)? Are you still going to cast it on them and let most of the MP go to waste? Are you going to wait until they need it and let everyone else go without? Are you going to skip them altogether? Trying to keep in a set order will only cause extra downtime for the group in the long run because you're not adapting to the needs of your group rather just trying to make things easy on yourself and you're going to end up neglecting other duties trying to regain that lost MP.
"You said my race wasn't as good so you are stupid!" - Face reality. Other races can be played, but the simple fact is that they won't be as effective if all things are equal. Saying an Elvaan RDM can use astral rings is a self-defeating argument since a hume could too. Throwing +STR/DEX/HP equipment on a Taru will never bring them up to par with the melee capabilities of a Hume or a Mithra. Playing as a Galka ... well, lets just say it's not that smart.
"I want to play my way so neener!" - Go for it. You won't be as effective though. Have a blast and keep in mind you'll be a desperation invite once you get to higher levels. People know who is best and who sucks, believe me. This goes for people with gimped equipment too.
"RDM is adaptable so I can play different ways!" - Yes, and you can also play a dark knight like it was a black mage, but why would you want to? Again, you're going to be more ineffective doing it differently.
"
"Blah blah cookie cutter blah blah ... " - Ugly cookies are ugly. Cookies with motor oil in the dough suck. Play how you want but it won't make you special, except in the liberal definition of the word.
"WAR sub ROCKS! It is l33+!" - Wait until you're out of Elshimo and get back to me. If you still don't understand why it isn't as good as other subs there probably isn't any point debating the issue since you obviously don't understand the job at all.
"The class says MAGE so don't fight" - Historically red mages have always been quasimelee in all final fantasy games. Because Summoners don't have MAGE in their name does that mean they shouldn't cast spells? Same with DRKs, PLDs, or BRDs ... explain that to them next time they cast spells. Enough with the infantile semantics already please. There is a reason our AF enhances our melee performance: we are designed to be able to fight as well as cast. We are the game's one true hybrid class.
Anyway, enjoy and put this to use. I fully expect this to get rated down into oblivion like anything else that makes sense on these boards. Rate it up if you find it useful to counteract the drooling masses please.
Further, if anyone has any real life information on RDM/BRD I'd love to hear it ... theorists need not apply please.
EDIT: moved disclaimer to top, since it seems alot of people weren't noticing it at the bottom
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oh smurv....
