Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

[Shiro_Hayate]

I plan to sub NIN. My girl friend is a completely newb (new account). Would this be possible? I've been on a long break (2 years+) and I've heard it's possible to duo/solo to 75 with dancer and maybe someone else. Can someone confirm this and/or give me feedback? Thank you!

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

Its possible, but your RDM's elmental, enhancing and enfeebling magic skill, will likely suffer for it.

Is partying really that much of a problem? At 41+, no one should have any problem accepting both a RDM and a DNC into parties.

[Ellipses]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

It's possible to duo to 75 with anything. It's just really tedious with some combos.

I don't see why this particular combo wouldn't work fairly well, though. Especially once the DNC got Animated Flourish. Before then, you're likely just going to be bouncing hate and going a little slower.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

Almost anything will work duo at low levels at least. Duo tends to ease up on the requirements of soloing without demanding much specific in terms of synergy. The biggest thing duoing does for you in the first place is removes the matter of needing to do everything necessary for battle while under constant attack; the very fact of the mob's attention being divided between two people changes the whole flow of battle.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy that I can think of as for how DNC and RDM will duo at low levels compared to how they solo. At higher levels, DNC will become better at doing the damage while the RDM will have more breadth in terms of how they can affect the battle. I don't think you'll ever really reach a point where you want to totally delineate such a duo into particular roles, given the similarities in what each can accomplish.

[Callisto]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

RDM + DNC/NIN would be fantastic so long as you can find high enough Worms to support you XP-wise. Silence them and go to town. Basically the same as DNC soloing, but without the pain of Forceful Blow knockback into Stonega.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

Worms.

Worms, worms, worms.

Worms, too.

1-8 North Gustaberg
9-14 North Gustaberg (S)/East Ronfrare (S)/Konachat Highlands/La Thiene Plateau
15-20 - Maze of Shakarami
21-27 - Korrakola Tunnel

Take a break, pick on beetles in Sauromounge Champaign from 28-30

31-37 - Grauberg (S)/Attowah Chasm

Grauberg worms don't link, Attowah worms do.

Attowah has the wind elementals to watch out for. In Grauberg there is a Goblin Pioneer that can basically one shot you, but if you stay near the house on the low end of the zone, he won't really get that close to it.

This is the path I take usually when I'm soloing a sub, so you might want to skew it a level or two earlier for a duo, probably just one level to be safe. Really don't know where to tell you to duo beyond that. All the solo I know from 37+ pertains to BST.

[Karinya]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

I don't see worms as that big an advantage - sure, you can silence and aspir (samba) them, which is great, but you can silence and aspir mage-type beastmen, too. The big advantage of fighting worms for jobs like BLM, SCH and RNG is the permanent Bind, but that doesn't really help a combo that's going to be getting in their faces anyway. (The RDM *could* stand back and nuke, but it doesn't play to the duo's strengths for them to do so. Getting in the worm's face to take advantage of samba is more efficient - but then it doesn't really matter that it's a worm in the first place.)

But the fact that you can't pull worms to safe spots to fight them, and that in many areas they pop right next to each other and link, is inconvenient, occasionally fatal. I'd target mage gobs first, and then possibly other mage beastmen, and worms only if those aren't available or are mixed with too many 0-MP beastmen. Gobs can blow themselves up and save you a lot of time (but if the gob is only T, which most of your duo targets probably will/should be, it won't hurt that bad).

P.S. If the RDM is using a dagger or Joyeuse, piercing weak mobs also seem like a strong contender. Especially piercing weak mobs with MP (lolibri).

[Armando]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

If you're using /NIN, and the worm is silenced, the permanent bind is pretty advantageous, not just for recasting Utsusemi but for buying time if you have to. Besides, as long as the person that stood back has hate, the second person can continue to pummel the worm in the meantime.

I do agree that mage beastmen are perfectly fine too, and that gobs also make fantastic targets though.

[Ryoii/Nonomii]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

Personally I think this is a great combo for duoing, but you may find trioing even more enjoyable. It is much more relaxing to have a dedicated tank (SAM, PLD, NIN, MNK, WAR, BLU). This becomes even more true as you get past Lv25. However, you may find evasion gear, evasion bonus, Blind, Slow, and Paralyze to be enough to keep shadows up, but then you will struggle with keeping hate. Adding a THF to the party would be another option. The RDM should be riding the hate line close enough to pull hate with a Blind or Bind/Blind combo.

Lv25-41 will probably be the slowest in a duo. You will both have to stay in the fights to keep from having extremely slow kills. These levels the RDM does not typically gain back enough MP between pulls to avoid down time. RDM/DNC post Lv30 helps this and makes good use of their TP. Their enfeebling and sword skills should stay nearly capped, but they will not gain much dark, elemental, healing, or enhancing magic skill. None of this is really a problem because it can be raised on worms or in campaign. Also the RDM doesn't require staffs to reliably enfeeble T enemies or even VT enemies once they have their AF body.

Have fun!
- Ryoii/Nonomii (SAM + RDM duo)

[Shiro_Hayate]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

Actually, here's an even more screwy combo.

My main is a DRK (41). I plan to get the DRK to 75 (I like big oversized weapons on my Manthra...I mean Mithra). Would DRK/DNC + RDM/X work?

And in terms of SJs for RDM, should she just go the old fashioned RDM/BLM

I haven't played my RDM forever. And we may infact have a trio, but I know the 3rd person will insist on playing MNK.

[Armando]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

DRK/BLU (Cocoon, Souleater spell spam) and DRK/NIN (Utsusemi, duh) may be more advantageous than /DNC for duoing. But there's no reason why DRK/DNC + RDM wouldn't work. RDM is a good duo partner for almost any job.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

DRK/DNC can work pretty well at higher levels in small parties, I trio with this. It does depend on the situation. Overall, I'd say DRK/DNC is primarily useful on aspirable mobs at 50+; earlier levels or non-MP mobs you'll probably want something else. Especially as you have a main job MP pool to work with and a fairly high weapon delay. DRK/WHM is probably worth some consideration, especially if the RDM is subbing something other than WHM. I haven't yet tried DRK/SCH but I imagine that could be pretty useful as well.

[Ryoii/Nonomii]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

MNK/WAR, DRK/DNC, and RDM/DNC sounds like loads of fun for everyone.

If your MNK can obtain Cross-Counters or Retaliators, he will want to focus on stacking as much Counter, Haste, Accuracy, and Attack gear while eating sushi Lv50+. Otherwise substitute Evasion+X gear for Counter gear and avoid Evasion-X gear.

My experiences duoing as WAR/NIN with RDM against crabs in Kuftal Tunnel have taught me a few things. Rank C evasion with lots of Evasion gear and Blind barely gets you above the minimum evasion rate against tough enemies. You're better off with all that nice Evasion-X gear. Recasting shadows just makes fights take too long for chains, so DRK/BLU will definitely be your best option in a duo with a RDM who should be wearing the Crow Jupon set in available slots. Also Great Axe will produce more damage until you get Guillotine at Lv60. RDM/BLM is a good option if they don't mind resting most of the time to regain MP between Cure IV casts and enfeebles (Paralyze, Slow, Bio II).

P.S. - I know WAR/MNK or WAR/BLU with Great Axe or Polearm would be better today, but this was back in 2005 before I even knew to stack more INT when casting Blind and more MND when casting Paralyze and Slow.

[Moaku Hyena]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

DNC/NIN and another job with a /WAR sub (that's built for melee) work exceptionally well from my experience.
Also, take care when you pick mobs (They have to be no stronger than T).

Of course, I've only duoed on rare occasions (due to lack of being able to start a party due to having either no healer or tank).

May want to consider a trio party if you're partying with just a Red Mage.

[MrMageo]

Re: Duo Party - RDM + DNC, will it work?

Should not need to worry much about MP post 25 if you go with DNC, RDM. As long as you stick to worms (which can take you pretty far up to low 40's if you follow what BBQ said and add in western altepa desert worms which only come out at night unfourtunatly). Aspir Samba will yeild great MP recovery for the RDM.

The only drawback to worms is for the most part their status enfeebles (dex/acc down will hurt) however once you hit 35 and get healing waltz it will help. If possible I would have the RDM sub ninja as well, simply for the extra weapon for DoT, until you get Reverse Flourish you will want to conserve your TP so chances are the RDM will be doing most of the damage being able to weaponskill more.

I currently do a duo with my DNC/NIN and a WHM/NIN Aspir Samba is great and currently I do less damage per fight simply because the TP cures are more EXP friendly then the MP ones. Really the only spells that need to land are Dia and Silence, both of which will be near 100% with a RDM or WHM simply because silence is a wind based spell.

Don't waste your TP on weaponskills unless your sure the MP restoration of your mage is enough not to kill your exp gain rate Aspir Samaba works great and since you cant pull worms there is little to no time to rest. If you cover the curring and status removal the generally slow levels where exp starts to ramp up (30-50) will go by much faster. Also the added MP will be usable for honing of necassary skills (enhancing/enfeebling). Good luck with the duo you should be fine.