Red Mage strategy for Mission 5-1

[dirtyclown]

i recently tried this mission with some people. they were desperate for help so i agreed. i already know i should have been lvl 50, but we tried to work with what we were given. we never actually made it past ranguemont pass, since the white mage was lower than me at the time and got aggroed and died. most of us all died trying to save him.

anyway, the entire time i was getting different opinions and such about what my role was to be. i was just planning on healing our ninja and supporting the other party members and leaving the rest of the mage duties to the black mage and the other red mage. i'm going to try this with my LS when i hit 50 and was just wondering what i should be doing for my party. seeing as how it's not an exp party, i'm not exactly sure what i should be doing. normally i wouldn't bother posting this and just find info myself, but i figured you more experienced red mages could tell me better than a general battle strategy guide would. oh, and our party was BRD, 2 RDM, NIN, BLM, WHM.

[Beener]

The ArchLich really isn't that hard, just wait til you get to 50 to do it...

Really there's no point in rushing, you won't be able to get rank6 til at least 55, maybe 60

[Uroboros]

99% of missions your job is no different from in an EXP pt. Haste the tank, Refresh the other mages, debuff if you can. In that skellie fight the melees just ignore everything but the daddy skeleton so just make sure they don't die and Haste them and keep mages Refreshed etc. etc. One thing to note on missions is that you're just going for the win, not efficiency over time like when exping, so you can throw mana conservation to the wind.

That fight in particular is really easy though, as you can see by me going into it with no gear under level 51. =D

[Icemage]

43 is too early to do this mission, especially since, as noted, 5-2 can't be completed until at least level 55 or so.

Most important is to bring a paladin tank at level 50+ to the fight (not ninja!). Numerous additional skeletons show up during 5-1, and while they are relatively weak, they can disrupt spellcasters and cause other kinds of mayhem. A Paladin with capped Sword skill can use Circle Blade (AoE 1 handed sword WS) to help get control of the adds.

Keep in mind that the only monster that you MUST kill is the Archlich - the moment he dies, the battle ends, so if you've got him down on HP, Chainspell nuking is a valid tactic. Try to avoid using Convert late in the battle, his area attacks are still pretty potent and can hit you at the wrong moment if you aren't careful - if you do have to use it, make SURE you cast Stoneskin first, as skeletons have 2 AoE damage attacks (Black Cloud and Blood Sabre).


Icemage

[Yuanlung]

We went for a different stradegy. The Paladin runs around the areana collecting every skele he sees.

The rest of the party just go all out on the archlich with everything we got. The monk pretty much automatically becomes the tank here.

We have done 2 5-1 runs so far, both were quite successdul.

[Ithaqua]

5-1 Informationiano: Paladin, Monk, Monk, White/Red Mage. is enough to do this. At the beginning of the fight buff up and have the Paladin run in first hook around the mobs that aggroed the paladin and unleash hundred fist on his ass. Have the mage haste the Monk's and cure when ever. The paladin should cure himself until he is low/out of MP and then use invincible. This fight is pathetic even with gimpo equipment.

5-2 I had a level 75 white mage and 75 thief did it so i'm the only person 52- to become rank Six