RED MAGE role in battle

[temejin]

Can any one tell me whats the exact role of a red mage in battle
and whats the best way to lvl up?

[Klades]

Support.
Enfeebling, healing, support nuking (good RDMs seem to mostly just nuke for magic burst), and most importantly, Dispel and Refresh.


The best way to level up is by killing monsters. :p

[InuTrunks]

By the time you hit 41.

Refresh the BLM
Enfeeble
Refresh the WHM
Enfeeble
Refresh the PLD (Or yourself if the pld isn't there, like say NIN).
sit
sit
sit.
Start at Refresh the BLM and come back down.

[Wind Adept]

Temejin, if you really want some in-depth answers, you probably wanna head over to the RDM forum..

And most RDMs start their Refresh (MP-restoring spell) cycle with themselves, then move on to the other members of the party depending on the makeup and who needs their MP more (ex. a Galka PLD using their MP constantly would be higher in the Refresh cycle than a taru BLM who is good at MP-management and knows when not to nuke to avoid hate)

You'd enfeeble in between casting Refresh, and also cast Dispel whenever the monster uses a "buff" ability on itself.

Basically, past 41, you'll be in a constant cycle of Refresh, trying to make sure the party members who are using MP often have it. In between casting Refresh, you'll be enfeebling, back-up healing, magic bursting, casting Dispel, and eventually casting Haste on the melees along with the WHM. Sitting is rare, because you have to keep refresh up, so we don't get to rest as much as the other mages.

When a RDM runs low on MP past 40, they use Convert to switch the amount of HP they have with their current MP. Such as..
600/600 HP
50/400 MP

The RDM uses convert, turning their HP into MP and filling their MP bar, ending up like this..

50/600 HP
400/400 MP

And then they heal themselves or have someone else in the party heal them. This is how RDMs eliminate others' and their own downtime.

[InuTrunks]

Wind, I don't play a RDM so I didn't know, sorry about saying that. I'm also a THF so I don't really pay attention to the RDM's refresh ^^.

[vulcan4d]

RDM's are pretty busy in PT's. Those smart realize that it's the combined ablities of RDM's that makes them great. So why stick a RDM in the back just to cast magic, when they can attack and cast magic both at the same time. Unlike bards which have a limited distance their songs have effect, RDM's magic is like any other and they can use refresh or whatever from a distance even when fighting. Sure they can't do as much damage as the rest of the melee fighters, but anything that helps with shortening he fight is a big plus.

Even though many here won't agree with me, I received many compliments in the game for being a melee RDM. That's right a melee RDM/WAR, and yes I kicked butt ^^. I realize that at lv41 that all changes and RDM's become more like mages but still they have melee abilities and can pretty much do what they want.

It all comes down to a great player IMO. If the player can fight and cast magic at the same time without any hickups, that's great but if they don't feel too confortable with it they should stick back with the other mages. No one in the party should tell a RDM which they should be, because the truth is a RDM is both a mage and a fighter and they can do both. I seen bards fight and run between fighters and mages to cast their songs, now that's a great player. Sure bards hit even less then RDM's do, but the fact is they are able to do both things and in the end it helps a lot.

[Chucklez_1]

So why stick a RDM in the back just to cast magic, when they can attack and cast magic both at the same time. Unlike bards which have a limited distance their songs have effect

By the time you get to later levels and realize you're weapon is missing 2/3 of the time, damaging way less than the paladin, and using a ton more mp to buff and debuff to the full extent, you'll start to realize that there's no point to this at all and would rather rest after all spells are casted. i'm not saying to stay at the back at all I mean you can attack while you're casting all those spells (usually takes 1/3-1/2 of the battle casting) but do consider how much mp you'll be using in the future before deciding to stay in the frontline.

[supertle]

another reason a rdm should stay in the back is so they can avoid AoE attacks or AoE effects from the mob considering they're almost useless at the frontline, so why bother and take hits

[Sugesuke_Plain]

I usually melee, right after I level to cap my weapon for Soloing

But after skill is maxed, there is no reason to melee.

[bonovoxpsu]

Originally posted by vulcan4d
RDM's are pretty busy in PT's. Those smart realize that it's the combined ablities of RDM's that makes them great. So why stick a RDM in the back just to cast magic, when they can attack and cast magic both at the same time. Unlike bards which have a limited distance their songs have effect, RDM's magic is like any other and they can use refresh or whatever from a distance even when fighting. Sure they can't do as much damage as the rest of the melee fighters, but anything that helps with shortening he fight is a big plus.

Even though many here won't agree with me, I received many compliments in the game for being a melee RDM. That's right a melee RDM/WAR, and yes I kicked butt ^^. I realize that at lv41 that all changes and RDM's become more like mages but still they have melee abilities and can pretty much do what they want.

It all comes down to a great player IMO. If the player can fight and cast magic at the same time without any hickups, that's great but if they don't feel too confortable with it they should stick back with the other mages. No one in the party should tell a RDM which they should be, because the truth is a RDM is both a mage and a fighter and they can do both. I seen bards fight and run between fighters and mages to cast their songs, now that's a great player. Sure bards hit even less then RDM's do, but the fact is they are able to do both things and in the end it helps a lot.

nope nope nope.

past lvl 50ish, you should acquiring equipment macros - check mine. i use them all in an xp pt except melee .

so i really can't be meleeing at all when i'm going from a wand to a staff. a sword benefits me in no way.

and a bard HAS to run bettween fighters and mages. its what they do - doesn't make them a good bard. and a bard should never melee. its useless. not sure what you're getting at there...

anyway, you're much more effective just staying out of the way and sticking with pure magic. if you melee, you tend to get to interested in how you're doing damage wise and you tend to lose focus on your casting- happens to me all the time. you miss enfeebles wearing, you miss your refresh cycle - it just isn't a good thing.

refresh+enfeebles+heals+nukes > melee.

[Jubbermuffin]

I disagree with the person who said a RDM sits during the party. The ONLY time I've sat during a party for the last 30 or so levels is when I've been low on MP and convert isn't ready. Often you won't have time to sit long enough to make it worth it, even with a dark staff for increased mp regen. If you're doing the status cures, you can't afford to sit. Sitting between parties is also difficult as you need to be ready to keep refresh going, particularly on DRKs and PLDs who benefit from saving tp that would otherwise be lost by resting.

[Chucklez_1]

I haven't really had a problem resting between battles. The bad part is that we rarely get to rest so for the most part, we do rely on the max of our mp. Although, with Dark Staff it's really worth resting...even if it's only 1-3 ticks, especially when your pt just keeps on going w/o having 1-2 minutes of resting and the resting between chains are VERY short. Also, I don't know how many times that 2 ticks from resting helped refresh me, dispel and keep the refresh going when i had less than 40 mp left and I had to cycle the refresh again. I don't either have any problem with starting refresh when I'm resting. Usually, they only lose about 3-5 seconds worth of refresh (6mp).

And seriously, I have no idea how you don't have to rest between battles. Usually in my case, hasting 2 members, refreshing 4, Dia II (I just don't let the whm do this. he'll worry about hasting the paladin and healing, I'll worry aout all enfeebles), all enfeebles and recasting them, and of course the infamous 2-4 times Dispel won't make my full mp last for long in 10 minutes. I can stay up though in certain cases when I can use the aspir spell. Other than that, i'm working my leg muscles in the back getting up and sitting down.

Gives me more MP to burst too