Dealing with a RNG

[Zempten]

Hi guys.

Two nights ago was my first time dealing with a RNG in the PT. Obviously I casted Hunter's Prelude on him, but the thing is that we all know we can only keep 2 songs on each person. So I figured if it was RNG he would probably want the best of accuracy. So I played Valor Minuet 2 and then Madrigal and then played the Hunter's Prelude on him. Is this a correct way to approach having a RNG in the PT? Thanks for all the help.

BTW, do you BRDs actually use the Etude line spells? I talked to a high level friend on mine and he says it's basicially useless if everyone has up to par equiopment but I'm not sure what to think so I'll ask you guys, thanks again ^^

[Rones]

Swd madrigal doesn't help his ranged accu. So do swd mad, then minuet, then prelude. This way you get him with the +atk and the +ranged accu.

[Schozie]

If the Rng is pulling them its usually a good idea to madrigal the rest of the party while he is out, then try and land minuet just as the Rng is coming back into range. Then you can prelude the Rng and have the buffs up in the shortest possible time.

As far as etudes go, they've been discussed a number of times since the update, its really up to you as far as I can see, they may be useable in certain situations, but i wouldnt reccomend replacing either minuet or madrigal in favour of an etude.

the few instances I can see them being useful (that i use them myself for)

dex+agi for the thf between pulls (if theres someone else pulling) or occasionally (very rarely) if i have time towards the very end fo a fight. The problem i find with this is that alot of parties (not just thfs responsibility) are a bit slow at getting SATA off, so by the time it happens i've already atleast written over one with madrigal. I've never had a thf tell me it makes a lot of difference either, so as i said, its a personal prefrence thing.

INT for blm before MB. thats pretty self explanatory.

VIT for "1st voker" between pulls. This is another thing i sometimes randomly do if the pulls arent coming fast (so i'm unable to keep mad+min up 100% of the time). Just throw a VIT etude onto them before pull, so they may take a little less damage in the first few hits they take. Again, this really isnt necessary, and i'll only do it if i really dont have anything better to be doing.

Maybe MND for a mnk if he chi blasts at start of fights, but again, only if i dont have anything better to do, and it wont be causing him to lose songs from previous fight.

Appart from that etudes arent that useful imo (and those ones i stated above arent even that useful) i'd advise against vit etude on the tank, agi etude on the rng, and i cant really think of any others you'd even want to try. In all these cases other songs would seem more beneficial to me.

Oh, before ballad II i guess you'd always stick INT and MND on the mages, so those ones are useful i suppose.

[Vilurum]

Minuet also gives ranged attack. Even though the number for ranged attack is hidden just like accuracy, ranged accuracy, and evasion stat (which is different from evasion skill, fyi - if you ever equipped an item that said evasion+x and your evasion skill was unchanged, that's why), it nevertheless quite obviously increases damage per ranged hit, and it gets more obvious at higher levels.

(In one many-hours-long party with a RNG in my 60's, the difference between a Sidewinder with Minuet and the occasional Sidewinder without Minuet was a very reliable 200 damage. And Sidewinder's damage is pretty damned consistent, so it's no coincidence that the only times it "happened" to do 200 less than usual were the times when the RNG decided to use Sidewinder at the point in my buffing schedule where he had Madrigal + Prelude rather than Minuet + Madrigal or, preferably, Prelude + Minuet. If you're wondering why he got Madrigal at all, let's just say pulls were a bit too fast to put Madrigal on melees before he got back. It was ... a very nice party.)

Anyway, point being, all that Madrigal does for a RNG is help them land their melee hits. A good RNG is not gonna depend much on the TP from melee hits (TP from ranged attacks builds much faster), nor are they gonna have their melee be anywhere near a significant percentage of their damage output. (A cheap RNG who wants to avoid using arrows, well, that's another matter.) So Madrigal is pretty pointless for them.

But Minuet means more damage on every single arrow, which means that the gil they spend on that arrow resulted in more damage, and thus fewer arrows needed to total the same amount of damage. Meaning gil savings for the RNG and faster kills for everyone.

Be a friend to your RNGs and give them Minuet + Prelude. If they're *really* blinged out with ranged accuracy equipment, and if it's viable (considering the other party members) to do so, you can even give them double Minuet.

[Dusk]

For RNGs, I go Madrigal > Prelude > Minuet. There's a little debate as to which Rangers would prefer more in addition to ranged accuracy. Most RNGs I deal with prefer to see the extra damage with minuet than assurance of dagger/axe damage coming (although the extra TP from those landed attacks would help a little as well).

If you ever get a TWO RNG pt, it gets a little more complicated. Not really *complicated*, I suppose, but it involves a little waiting on your part.

Madrigal for the other melees (although there may not be another melee... two RNG renkeis I've seen haven't been fantastic tho)
Prelude the first of the two rngs
Minuet (overwrites the madrigal for the first rng, he's properly songed up)
Prelude the second of the two rngs (now the second rng has only minuet and prelude. the remaining melees (or the tank if it's NIN) will have min and mad)

The only reason I say it's a tad more complicated is most likely, you will have to wait a few seconds on recast for Prelude the second time around. Probably not more than 3 to 5 seconds, but when you want to get your routine done, they can be the longest 3 to 5 seconds you ever deal with. :p

As for Etudes, I saw their effectiveness the most PRE-ballad II. I, unfortunately, did not use etudes all the much even before ballad II, but I've seen fellow BRDs that run etudes all over in the early game. The fact that the low level etudes are targetable now makes it MUCH easier for a bard to throw those around. The first set of Etudes weren't all the practical back then as you hit EVERYONE (within range) with them. Nowadays, I throw myself dual CHR etudes before debuffs to improve the debuff casts (Requiem, Elegy... you know this XD). Occasionally I'll throw an INT etude on the blm or rdm if time permits.

[{Pug}]

Try a 3 RNG PT. Now that was pure hell.

[Drachol]

3 RNG not that bad, I did 3 RNG and 1 melee and once we got our positions down it was really easy to keep everyone preluded + madrigal for the melee.

[Akiro]

I was just in a party where the ranger didnt want Madrigal but Minuet II so i just did the Madrigal while he was pulling and then Prelude when he got casted Minuet

[Laehn]

Often times when dealing with multiple rangers or just one really good rng that lands hits most the time you can stack minuet and get a very good effect and save some worrying on your part. Ive also had some good results with regular bows and +str etudes. Its a good idea to try different things so you understand what they do.

You forgot to mention +chr etudes. Those are very useful.