Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better!: RDM Guide

Does relic hat (with 5/5 enfeeb duration merits) give more duration than emp head composure bonus?

No it doesnt.

Edit, I’ll amend and say that as long as the base duration is more than 70 seconds it doesn’t.

There isn't a point at which elemental resistance is worth more than magic evasion past the first point for full resist, is that correct? We don't get resistance tiers like monsters do.

My understanding is that you have at least a positive elemental resist from equips/barspells/carols/runes and that's all you'll ever need. From that point on the best piece is the one that has the highest number (elemental resists + magic evasion) and you can worry about dstat which is probably INT for magic damage and MND/CHR for enfeebles.

Gear-wise, yes. Elemental resistance is still very worthwile buff-wise, since there's no other buff than Attunement that gives meva, so barspells and carols are still damn powerful. You can get your elemental values up in the 500-600s easily.

I asked about BLU vs RDM a little while ago and I appreciate all the answers so thanks!

I've gotten all spells on BLU so far and have it mastered, though working on malignance gear now since it's running ambu mostly, with naegling + thibron.

While I find BLU very useful, I can't argue with how convenient it is to have all spells ready to go for RDM, and being able to use so many buffs which last for so long. Unfortunately my RDM is very feeble and low with damage when using the same gear as BLU so I was curious, at which point would RDM close some of the gap with BLU?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming I'll need:
- Mastering and Crocea
- A proper enhancing set to make best use out of all those buffs
- And of course, malignance would make a huge difference I imagine.

One issue I find with BLU is that I need to sacrifice utility spells to be able to maximize on DPS traits so the damage probably closes nearer to RDM once BLU goes for more utility too.

While I'm a big advocate for Crocea for its uniqueness, I doubt it would increase your raw DPS beyond what you can do with Naeg+Thibron with SB spam.

Crocea is Niche and won't apply to that many ambus. Most of the time you'll have a better result using physical damage.

I'd work on gearing up and make sure you're buffing appropriately too. Remember the more buffs you have the more attack you get with Naegling, so throw random stuff like Aquaveil, barspells, etc.

is anyone willing to share their OA set for rdm? mainly for aminon fight

BLU can be very good at lots of different things, where RDM can fill lots of rolls at the same time. You can do 1 or maybe 2 things better on a BLU at a time than you can on a RDM, but you can't do everything better at the same time. RDM brings a lot of utility through debuffs, can still do damage/haste/refresh/phalanx and basic heal without worrying about timers or cooldowns. BLU still has good niche spells and the ability to maximize itself towards specific fights and doesn't usually need a specific subjob in order for it to function.

Ullr is very good in the right situation. Maxentius is also much better than it should be. If you don't have them, I would pick them up.

Once you get Malignance sorted and Mastered, you should be more resilient than most jobs vs magic. With a good Phalanx set and MLs for more HP, you'll find you're going to alive much longer than other people. You can sit in 50 DT in almost all of your casting, tp, and WS sets if you choose to gear that way.

You will never get anything close to Natural Meditation from BLU for attack. Closest you'll get is Building Flourish on /DNC or Last Resort on /DRK, but at least you'll have Temper II. It's 40 triple attack at ML50 with max gear.

ItemSet 353162
Cape is Store TP. You can do Merlinic Body and Head for regular nukes. Malignance is a good starter if you're having trouble with Oseem.

mine looks exactly like Iocus's set except for a few changes:
ainia collar => bathy choker +1
dedition earring => dignitary's earring

This is only because I favor the extra subtle blow over the extra TP. Not because they are actually better than the pieces he has.

tyvm guys :)

Negative Status Rank Hit Rate Testing with Rayke

Previously, I have shared this testing that found Rayke had no effect on the behavior of Trusts when attempting to modify monster magic evasion to get them to cast Slow or Paralyze indicating no change in the monster's magic evasion for those spells. Months ago, I did some testing using Stymie's interaction with the highest resistance ranks to show Rayke had no effect on negative status ranks. EDIT: This is an invalid test. See here for more info.

For this entry, I wanted to do some definitive hit rate testing at much lower resistance ranks focusing on Rayke and it's relationship with negative status ranks.

The target: Lvl 125 Apex Chapuli in Sih Gates, Dark rank E (70%), INT-208. Monster stats found here.

Test #1: First, for this test it is necessary to verify whether the Apex Chapuli's Dark resistance rank matches it's Sleep resistance rank. According to this magic accuracy table, 828 magic accuracy is required to reach the 95% hit rate cap on a Lvl 125 Apex Chapuli at Dark rank E (70%). With a specified amount of magic accuracy, Sleep is cast repeatedly on the Apex Chapuli and durations are measured. If the Chapuli's Sleep resistance rank matches its Dark resistance rank, then hit rate should fall between 60-70%. If its Sleep resistance rank does not match, then hit rate will be outside of this range. No testing on Light/Darksday. Only neutral weather present. Enemy level determined by casting Blizzard and finding the ones that took the most damage.

Relevant Stats:
M lvl. 25 RUN/RDM
189 Enfeebling Magic skill
Job point gifts-Magic Accuracy +36

Equipment:
Main: Epeolatry R15-Magic Accuracy Skill +242, Magic Accuracy +30
Ammo: Yamarang-Magic Accuracy +15
Head: Erilaz Galea +3-Magic Accuracy +61
Neck: Enlightened Chain
L Ear: Crepuscular Earring-Magic Accuracy +10
R Ear: Erilaz Earring +1-Magic Accuracy +15
Body: Erilaz Surcoat +3-Magic Accuracy +64
Hands: Ayanmo Manopolas +2-Magic Accuracy +43
Ring 1: Stikini Ring +1-Magic Accuracy +11, All Magic Skills +8
Ring 2: Stikini Ring +1-Magic Accuracy +11, All Magic Skills +8
Waist: Luminary Sash-Magic Accuracy +10
Feet: Ayanmo Gambieras +2-Magic Accuracy +42
All other slots empty
Total INT: 127+81=208, 0 dINT Magic Accuracy bonus
Total Magic Accuracy: 795

Test Data
Full Duration: 63 (63%)
Partial Resist: 21 (21%)
Full Resist: 16 (16%)

This data verifies that the Apex Chapuli's Dark rank matches its Sleep rank.

Test #2: With the same setup as above, use the Rayke job ability with 3 Tenebrae runes on the Chapuli and cast Sleep while it is under the effects of Rayke. Using the magic accuracy table linked above, if Rayke with 3 Tenebrae runes lowers the Chapuli's Sleep resistance rank to H (115%), then only 775 magic accuracy will be needed to reach the 95% hit rate cap which should be reflected in our hit rate. If Rayke has no effect on Sleep rank, then hit rate will be similar to the test above.

Test Data
Full Duration: 62 (62%)
Partial Resist: 23 (23%)
Full Resist: 15 (15%)

No real change was observed. This is verification that Rayke has no effect on negative status resistance ranks. In conclusion, the above results mean that any spells that rely on these separate resistance ranks will not benefit in any way from the use of Rayke.

I'm making a Sanguine Blade build for my pretty newish RDM. I see in the first page that Nyame mail is chosen for the body. But that Empy Body +2 (which is what I have) has an extra +14 Macc and +19 MAB.

Are we assuming that the Nymame is fully augmented with +WSD on path B? My Nyame mail is fully auged on that path but is only R15.

Also, I don't have Orpheus sash. So would Hachirin-no-Obi be a good replacement?

And what is best offhand for this WS? I just got the Pukulatmuj +1 but not yet auged it. Also got Bunzi's rod with no augments either.

- Using Nyame, definitely assumes max augments, generally at rank 25 since it's not that hard to obtain either with a carry or with a merc. Due to WSD and MAB being multiplicative for magical WSs, where the cutoff point is can be debatable. Personally I am willing to say that Nyame Mail still wins at R15 as that 8% WSD is multiplying all the other MAB that you have in the set. Can try using Izanami's python calculator to check, but you'd have to add R15 Nyame on your own I think.

- Hachirin would only be good for Sanguine under Dark weather or during Darksday. Dynamis and Odyssey both have permanent double dark weather so it will help there, outside it depends. Next best option is probably Sacro Cord.

- Best offhand is Bunzi R25+, Daybreak right after. Then if memory serves it's Maxentius then Bunzi R15 or less, but I might be wrong here. If you go back a bunch of pages, you will see someone already did the ranking.

In general Empy +3 will be just as good as Nyame r30 for elemental weapon skills. Some pieces loose slightly, while others win slightly (though empy feet just trounces everything).

I am not sure when Nyame overtakes Empy +2 but I would wager it is r20~25

If you're looking to know what's best with your current gear, magic WSs are very easy to test. Just go outside of adoulin and WS the mandys. Sanguine Blade doesn't scale with TP, so just throw it whenever you have tp and adjust gear. For ones that scale with TP, just do it at 3k tp so you know your max values.

Things to avoid while testing:
Weather or Day of the week bonus/penalty
Trusts that give magic/stat buffs that can wear off like ygnas, monberaux, excenmille[s]
Sroda ammo

Anyone have a Ruthless Stroke set they could post? Looking for some idea to improve mine.

For Magic bursting looking at the sets... I have Bunzi's gloves but no augments. Would that +8 Magic burst damage on Bunzi's beat out the higher stats for Macc, MAB and Mdmg on the Empy Hands +3?

Not sure that question is correct, but maybe I'm the one missing something.
How are you capping MBBI on your Magic Burst set?
From the way you worded I assume you are not using Amalric+1 body and hands.

I mean the stats on Empy+3 are clearly better, if you are already at the MBB1 cap then no way unaugmented Bunzi would win.
They might have a chance with augment (compared to unaugmented: more mab, more macc and mostly MBBII) but without that no way.
Unless... you are not MBBI capped, even then I doubt Bunzi would win but who knows? You can check it on Izanami's all jobs damage calculator btw.

There is always amalric gages +1 path D.

Comparable INT, somewhat lower macc, comparable matk. MBB II +6

@Lawii

Here is my base Ruthless set and my AtkCap Ruthless set:

ItemSet 396618	ItemSet 396619
Cape: STR + WSD	Cape: DEX + WSD Not a lot of PDL options for RDM, and Malignance doesn't seem to have enough to do better than Nyame. Notable possible exception is Gloves due to massive amount of dex.

Thank you :) No, it was me missing something. I wasn't capping MBB1. I didn't know it capped at 40%. But with your help my Burst gear now includes:

Bunzi's rod (+10), Ea Hat (+6) Mizu.Kubikazari (+10), Empy legs +2 (+10), Jhakri Pigaches +2 (+7)

So giving a total of MBB1 +43 and MBB2 +6 from the NQ Ea Hat.

I will stick with Empy Hands +3 for now then, until I get some augments on those Bunzi gloves.

I went with the PDL TVR ring and I don't regret it. But I also haven't played with either Prime Weapons on RDM.

Bunzi body could be another PDL option.

Thank you Shadowmeld, your normal Ruthless is close to what I kind of ended up with, I am using Ilabrat in place of Cornelia's.

For AtkCap Caro is a really nice addition, I was struggling with a good piece for that slot, and totally forgot about that.


For Bunzi Body over Nyame, I have never had favorable results on RDM

bunzi's gear has incredibly low stats. I would not really consider it an option there.

Edit: Illabrat and Epaminondas's Ring will actually perform very similarly on this WS so if you ever do pick up Cornelia's Ring or Ephramaud's Ring it's a good stand in for Epaminondas's

Edit2: Ephramaud's Ring is absolutely the best ring in all situations where you are at attack cap and you aren't already hitting 99k damage. I've tested it and it's about 2-3% above Cornelia's ring. The only reason I like Cornelia's though is because I'm not always at attack cap. To each their own though, I have no issues with pretty much any ring choice from TVR.

Yeah I don't like Bunzi's body as a PDL choice. The PDL should have been on head/hands/feet instead because I wouldn't give up nyame legs either.

If the PDL ring didn't have 10 Dex + 20 acc, I would not have picked it. Cornelia's was my first choice and it performed exactly as you'd want it to, you just can't swap 10 WSD for 10 PDL or do better than 1:1 anywhere else.

The lack of WSD for magical WSs is a little annoying, but you can always swap it for free every week so it's not the end of the world. If only 1 of them existed tomorrow, I'd be happy with whichever it was for RDM.

OK a bit of a n00b question here. And I might kick myself when I get am answer.
I basically want one macro that will do Light Arts, and then do Addendum: Light. I'm trying to use a /wait command between the two. But the game just isn't having it.

Strange thing is, I can do this same kind of thing on THF for SA/TA and then WS. So why does it not work on RDM for this?

/em prepares to feel silly if this is so obvious :p

The server needs to know that you have Light Arts active before you can use Addendum: White where as SA/TA don't need a buff active to use them. Put in a <wait2> at the end of Light arts and you will be fine.

/ja "Light Arts" <me> <wait2>
/jq "Addendum: White" <me>