Brd/rdm?

[Selenitic]

Anyone play this combo? How is it? I would personally like to hear from someone who has done it, not from theory. Thanks

[Malachite]

Right now i'm 30whm/20rdm/20bard so I've messed around with a rdm sub a little bit. First of all, since I haven't gotten my bard to 30 yet I haven't had a chance to try out fast cast which would be my main reason for subbing rdm.

The main draw to rdm is being able to be a seconday healer, having refresh, convert & their superior enfeebling skills. First of all, with the current level cap you'll never get convert or refresh so you can disregard those. Second, bards don't have any magic casting skills and those all come from your subjob so your enfeebling skill will be low. With such a low skill it's going to be hard to cast those spells like paralyze and slow on creatures without them being resisted. Third, the level gap between those healing spells which are the main reason you take a caster sub is greatly increased. Example: As a main whm you get Cure 2 at lvl11, with a rdm main you get cure 2 at level 14. It's not a huge gap but now make those two your subs.. You get cure 2 at level 22, or cure 2 at level 28. That's a huge gap.

As you gain more levels creatures become tougher, and fights tend to be a bit longer. With these longer fights I generally don't have a problem with using songs for the melee, running the casters and singing another and then using Foe Requiem and a Threnody on the target. Fast cast would allow you to sing these songs faster, especially since they have such a long cast time. But, in most scenarios you really wouldn't need to cast them 1 second faster. After i'm done singing for the most part I become a backup healer and help the whm save some mp by covering a few heals. As a rdm sub you won't have the better heals at lower levels so you'll be stuck with weak heals for a longer period of time.

With rdm sub you're left with very weak offensive spells, heavily resisted enfeebles, and later level heals. So if you do anything besides healing you're going to be spending a lot of mp(and you have very low MP to begin with) trying to cast an enfeebling spell that another mage should have casted. Also, since you likely won't be meleeing those en<element> spells aren't going to be very helpful. Phalanx(which you would get at lvl66) would be helpful in the rare case that you actually get hit but such a spell isn't really something worth choosing a sub for I think.

Just a few things I like about whm over rdm:
- Curaga
- Status cures
- You get heals earlier
- Autoregen at 50/25(helps to recover from those area effect spells)
- Raise at 50/25

[kenn]

in regards to brd/rdm

there is already a thread that discusses brd/rdm in great detail, so if you would like to scroll down to "brd/rdm vs. brd/whm," it may help you further.

i decided to go brd/ rdm in the release after playing a whm in the beta to lvl 40, just to give myself a change of pace. up to this point, brd/rdm is loads of fun, and i have no problems finding parties.

when deciding a sub for bard, though, many will tell you that whm is a better choice. many feel VERY strongly about this.

from my viewpoint, it comes down to 2 things... which of the following would you rather have to help your party:

RDM: you get the nifty fast cast ability at lvl 15, which allows you to sing faster. also, you eventually get dispel to take the buffs off of problem mobs (there is a song for this, but the cooldown is quite the long one. dispel will come in handy). WAY into the job you will eventually get refresh, which will allow u to be the ultimate mana replenisher (in addition to ballads), although the current lvl cap restricts this.

WHM: you get divine seal, which is helpful for after battle curing to continue chaining, or for battle emergencies. you can use status curing magic, such as paralyna and poisana... these dont take much mana, but take much of a whm's time to cast instead of curing- so a brd stepping in to help with this is very beneficial. At later lvls, haste would be very nice to cast (and again, save the whm the time and mana) for your party. last of all, teleport is one heck of a nice spell to have, and saves you soooo much time. these last 2 spells are at this time not usable as a sub, as per the current lvl cap.

as to mnd (for curing), i was healing for the full amounts at lvl 20, so rdm or whm makes no difference there... also mana amounts and chr lvls are too close for a subbed whm or rdm to make too much of a difference. the str bonus for rdm isnt worth mentioning, as, if u are lucky, you might have time to get in 3-5 hits a battle after all the appropriate songs have been dished out.

overall, i enjoy playing bard with either sub ( i was also a brd/ whm in beta), although it takes a certain kind of person to like running back and forth between melee and casters nonstop for hours on end .

i hope this helps.

[Teffie]

Ya.. Kenn is right
I think BRD/WHM and BRD/RDM are equally good.
Why need Curaga when a Stacked Paeon does practically the same thing?
I dont know about you, but I spend lots of time running back and forth between melee and casters.

Run to Melee FIghting, Sing Minuet + Madrigal
Run back to the Casters, Sing Spirited Etude + Minne (don't have Ballad yet to replace Minne :/)
Run back to the Melee, Help them Fight/Cure Abit
Right before the monster Dies, Begin Casting Paeon II + Paeon I (eventually becomes Paeon III + Paeon II)
Sit, Regen what little MP you have in what little Time you Have.
Repeat Step One

Quite the Active Lifestyle ^_^;

[peptile]

I might be wrong about this (havent lvl'ed rdm to lvl 15 yet) but doesnt the fast cast just make it effect the target faster?

For example the bard spells take 8 seconds to cast, without red mage, after 7 seconds the song takes effect but there is still a 1 second gap where the song 'wraps' up.

With fast cast, it would still take 8 seconds, but the song would take effect at the 6 second mark, now leaving a 2 second gap for it to wrap up?

Keep in mind those are all just numbers that I came up with because they sounded right.