Question to smarty pants RDMs II - Debuffing

[Rubicon Scarlet]

Like bono's post but different senario:

I'm a 62 RDM/WHM and I really love debuffing. To me it's vital and I find myself casting it when other mages ignore their purpose. I want to enhance this as much as possible. Do I need to focus more on MND than anything else?

Cost isn't an issue so throw whatever out at me.

[Wrath]

You are going to want INT for Black Magic Enfeebles and MND for White Magic Enfeebles

[bonovoxpsu]

yay for teh smarty pants line! congrats on getting your "smart pants RDM II" spell ^^

ok, here's the deal, apple pie can back me up on this too.

i started doing this recently and i really wish i had done it sooner. equipment macros. i lubs them and they're not too hard to pull off mid battle (changing rings/neckpiece doesn't make you disappear). since your rdm/whm, your strength most defintely is mnd. but that doesn't matter. if i were you, i would make two macros - one for +mnd equip and one for +int equip.

your mnd macro should be a +int/mnd wand, +mnd rings, and whatever badge you can get (justice or promise). your int should be whatever int you can get a hold of - eremite rings, black neckchief, etc. then macro em up! for example:

/equip Main "Yew Wand"
/equip Ring1 "Saintly Ring"
/equip Ring2 "Saintly Ring"
/equip Neck "UUBER MND BUFFTHING +48"


etc etc. mnd matches up with dia, slow, para. int matches with gravity, bio, blind, and nukies.

eventually, your equipment macros may grow. right now i have a couple - mnd, int, nukes, sword, wand. i lubs them - something i thought i would never do. they are bound to change when i start to get the enfeebling/elemental torques.

hope this helps, and enjoy.

[edit] didn't see you were lvl 62 - grab the +3 line rings - aquamarine and zircon(ithink), for mnd and int. promise badge is a must. there is no real equivalent of it. ebony wand +1 if money is no option (or whatever wand is the best at your lvl). get roast mushrooms for the mnd boost. your slow and para's will stick like crazy.

[DM337]

I have a question to add onto this topic: do the elemental staves increase debuff effectiveness? I didn't think so earlier, but I recently spoke with a RDM on my server who said she saw a noticeable increase oof effectiveness of the Paralyze spell after she bought an Ice Staff. She said it allowed her to stick Paralyze reliably on Toramas. (I haven't fought them personally, but I suppose they have high resistance to Paralyze)

If this is true, then it seems like I should start saving up for an Ice Staff and an Earth Staff to compliment my Dark Staff.

[Deodorant]

From my personal usage of ice staff vs that +8mnd/+8int wand, well ... I don't really notice any difference in paralyze effectiveness, really. On most level mobs I very rarely fail to land it, except on Aura Statues in Tu'lia, which (I find) are fairly more resistant to magic in general anyway.

[Patchinko]

I did notice a difference in resistance using the Rose Wand +1 and the Ice Staff on Paralyze, but since I'm rarely resisted with the wand equipped anyhow, it isn't that necessary. I wouldn't buy an elemental stave solely for that purpose when a wand will do almost as good a job.

[Chucklez_1]

This is what i noticed when it comes to enfeeblings:

enfeebling skill + > mnd + (or int+)

so get those spider/enfeebling torque once you get to lvl 64/65

[Rubicon Scarlet]

I gave in to all the hype and purchased a set of Zircon rings and a set of Aquamarine rings (+3 INT and +3 MND respectively). I changed all my enfeeble macros to implement the equipment changes. I bumped up my belt to RKBelt +1 for the extra boost. I hold a Ebony Wand I think, the +6/+6 one.

Needless to say 90% of my enfeebles are sticking on first cast. I have no problem with Raptors at my lvl and Toramas only give a slight headache (Ninja usually takes care of remaining debuffs). Peryton still sucks but I think it's because he's wind based and para doesn't like to stick on him.

Anyway, I highly encourage any RDM to set up equipment changes in their macros if they can afford it. I'm sorry I went so long without doing it.

[Rubicon Scarlet]

Delete please

[Altruist]

I'm kind of suspicious about enfeeble skill. The magic pot in QS for zilart M whatever still confuses me, I've chaincast silence on it many times. I don't remember the number but I maxed out my mnd skill, and have enfeeble at 308, I could not silence it. A whm 2 levels lower, and over 60 skill points lower, with 2 lower mind could consistently silence it . . .

At least I could silence ghost etc... easily at King Ramps, whm's tend to fail a lot at that.

[bonovoxpsu]

glad to have converted you, rubicon. equipment macros (especially for rings/neck/belt/range) are really well worth it.

[Gman]

I'm getting fairly ticked off with my lack of success enfeebling Robber Crabs in Bohyada. I usually start with Gravity when crab is almost at camp, which sticks probably 90% of the time. I'm satisfied with this spell. After that I will cast shock (or BLM will) to increase chance of landing slow and para. This lands almost 100% of the time. Then comes the frustration. I cast Slow, then Paralyze. I would say both land first cast at a 10% rate. One lands, one doesn't at about a 50% rate, and both fail at a 40% rate.

My enfeebling skill is maxed, and I have +23 MND, and +19 INT (before food). I can't see any legitimate reason why I keep failing. It's not like the crabs are super IT either, as some of them only check VT to our level 56 and I am 55. Anyone have any suggestions?

My stat boost equips btw are:

Rose Wand +1 (+6 MND, +6 INT)
Promise Badge (+5 MND)
Zircon Ring (+3 INT)
Aquamarine Ring (+3 MND)
Tact Mag Coat (+1 MND, +1 INT)
Red Cape +1 (+3 MND, +3 INT)
Royal Knight Belt (+2 MND, +2 INT)
Magic Cuisses (+3 MND, +3 INT)
----------------------------------------
+23 MND, +19 INT

So I usually eat apple pie to boost int more, but maybe I'll have to start eating roast mushrooms

[Altruist]

You might want to try the mushroom, and btw, it gets worse. As a hume I had +28 mnd and still had some failures against processionares. With +40 whatever mnd I have now I can land paralyze 1 out of 3 times on fafnir. I can sleep it w/o ES as well, which is cool. But I haven't done a hnm in over 2 months so I haven't tried with mst. cst. or anything yet.

[Rubicon Scarlet]

When I hit 65 I plan on getting the Enfeeble Torque. The stat boost will help all my Enfeebles, correct? I don't know if there is a better neck piece for a RDM (unless you are Healing or nuking) but this is what I plan to get here in a few lvls.

What belts are you referring to? The only thing I saw later on is the Ocean Stone but it's a bit out of my price range for now. (1 mil I think).

Last thing, I haven't checked but is Silence MND or INT? I've heard lately it's MND but I've yet to see if it was a WHM spell or BLM.

[Uroboros]

Silence is MND. Enfeebles are such a diceroll anyways, I don't stress on them too much. Most people at high level recognize they're a diceroll and can obviously tell whether you have good gear or not...if you have good gear, there's nothing else you can do really. It's fun having over 25+ MND and having an Ice Staff in hand and casting Paralyze over and over and it's resisted three times in a row, then the half-ass Taru WHM casts it once and it sticks. Ha ha funny joke Square! But anyways, actual useful info...

When I want to make sure stuff works I have Ice Staff in hand, Custom hume boots on, Elemental Torque, and I Shock the mob until Shock sticks. Then I Slow with Earth Staff, Paralyze with Ice until those stick. With Shock on first it's usually not an issue at all. After Slow/Para are on I bother with Gravity (just use Mythic for this) and Frost (back to Ice Staff).

I've changed my focus on enfeebles a lot over the various stages of the game... currently I feel Slow/Para are both important, and that's pretty much it. Gravity is of questionable importance, especially when all melees have Haubergeon/Hauberk/Snipers/whatever (and Frost is better anyway), and I've also come to the conclusion that Dia/Bio families are wastes of time and MP apart from on some NMs.

But yeah, do swaps where appropriate for certain enfeebles, get the obvious gear and you're OK. Staves aren't really necessary but they're nice insurance and most have multiple uses (i.e. Dark helps med but also helps Sleep/Dispel/Drain/Aspir/Bind, Ice helps nukes but also BLM enfeebles and Paralyze, etc.). Also most are pretty dirt cheap now so why not.