RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

[AlphaII]

Hello,

My friend and I have only been playing the game for a couple of months so please be patient.

My friend has soloed RDM up to 27 and I have finally been able to convince him to see what it's like on the other side of the fence (I.E. in a XP Party).

So we got him his Kazham Airship key and are planning on attacking the 2 jungles in the next couple of days.

I'm here today to ask for your help because he is a little leary of getting into a party and not knowing what to do or what spells to cast at which enemies etc...

From my little bit of experience in the Jungles (1 party) and the reading I have done on this site it looks like we will be mainly fighting Mandies and Goblins.

Could somebody out there give me/my friend some idea of what spells would be expected of a RDM27/WHM13?

I'm guessing he will probably be asked/expected to back-up heal but what kind of enfeebles will he be expected to cast? What other spells should he have macroed? etc...

I have looked through this forum and read several of the guides and nothing I have seen seems to contain the information we are seeking.

Thanks in advance.

Alpha

[JeanRC]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

rdm before lv41 which mean rdm without refresh main jobs are enfeeble + cure.
enfeeble = paralyze, slow, blind, dia, poison.
from lv27-40 u should be doing paralyze, slow, blind , dia and poison.
I suggest following this order dia, paralyze, blind,slow and then poison. inbetween if anyone need cure, cure them. when u get refresh at lv 41 and haste abt lv40 i think then u need to haste ninja or melee and refresh all mages.
Oh i forgot to add when u get dispel at lv 33+ u need to dispel the mob too when they do buff. Rdm itself is a very hard to play job as when u get lv41, u got tons of things to do and u need to have an order so you can refresh all mages, haste ninja , cast the 3-6 enfeeble spell and cure when needed and even mb a little if u can and have time. all this make u hardly able to breath.

[AlphaII]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Jean,

Thanks for the quick and thorough reply.

If I'm reading you right then I should tell him to cast the spells in this order:

1. dia
2. paralyze
3. blind
4. slow
5. poison
6. Cure, CureII as needed.

Is that right?

Does that list and/or order depend on the particular mobs we are facing? In other words, if it's a goblin should he cast paralyze then dia? that type of thing.

Thanks again.

Alpha

[tdh]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Personally I find that Paralyze, Slow, and Blind should be your first three. These will help your tank out more than Dia would.

I'd suggest making it a habit of using Gravity. The Evasion down helps your melee, and the slowed movement speed helps you and the WHM if you pull hate with a big Cure.

After you've landed your round of Enfeeblings, back up Cure, Magic Burst if you have time and MP, maybe throw out a nuke or two MP willing.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Assuming partying in the jungles...

What to do:
1. Stay out of Dream Flower (AoE sleep) range, stay out of Bomb Toss range.
2. Wake up any mage who can cure (WHM, RDM, or /WHM and /RDM usually) with Cure 1 if asleep.
3. Enfeeble monsters as soon as battle starts.
4. Cure.
5. Crowd Control.

How to Cure:
0. Use Regen!
1. If no WHM or SMN, then RDM is the main healer. Make other mages help out.
2. If has WHM, back up cure, but concentrate on enfeebling first.
3. If has SMN/WHM, share curing.
4. It's okay to leave Leaf Dagger poison on until after battle.
5. It's not ok to leave tank in red. ^_^;
6. Don't fully cure the PLD during battle if he has MP still; always leave him 100HP from full HP.
7. Kick out any SMN/WHM who won't cure, and find replacement for him.

How to enfeeb:
1. Dia, Paralyze
2. Blind, Slow.
3. Gravity if melee have trouble with accuracy, or if BLM in party is suicidal.
4. Poison, and elemental enfeebs from /BLM like Shock, Burn, etc. if you have them.
5. Bio if tank gets hit badly by goblins (skip Dia if using Bio; they don't stack).


Crowd Control:
1. Have a macro for sleeping extra mobs:

/ma "Sleep" <stnpc>
/p <call2> Sleeping <lastst>! Disengage! Do not attack!

2. Bind any mob you couldn't sleep.
3. Gravity bound and sleeping mobs before that wears off. Also gravity any mob not able to bind/sleep.
3. Put Aquaveil on if you have link or think you may have link.
4. If anyone casted any DoT (Dia, Bio, Poison, Shock, etc.) on the mob, you can't sleep it. But, still can Bind and Gravity.
5. After Lv.30: Elemental Seal (from /BLM) can really help a Sleep, Bind, or Gravity to stick.

Misc.:
1. Bring pineapple juice; better yet, make them yourself.
2. You will hit a lizard sooner or later if you use -ga spells (Diaga, Stonega, etc.) If you hit a lizard the party will likely wipe. Don't do it.

[Dryhus]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Itazura, very good info.

I use a very similar Sleep macro (<stnpc> for targeting, warning to the rest of the PT, and using <lastst>). I find that it works extremely well.

Also, good advice about Leaf Dagger's poison effect when fighting mandragoras. 1HP/tick in exchange for not getting slept is a bargain. If you're just dealing with melee, leave it on unless they're close to death. The only people I would Poisona are those who need to rest between battles. Again, Poisona will make Dream Flower's sleep effect wear after only 1 tick at a cost of 1HP/tick, which is great. If sleep potions were cheap, I'd keep them on full-time when fighting mandies in the jungle. If it lasted 3 minutes, you'd get 3 minutes of very effective sleep-resistence for a mere 60HP. Instead, sleep potions aren't cheap, and Leaf Dagger is free. {Yes, please.}

[Lambeaus]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

or if BLM in party is suicidal.

Double Post Edited:

2. You will hit a lizard sooner or later if you use -ga spells (Diaga, Stonega, etc.) If you hit a lizard the party will likely wipe. Don't do it.

There was a BLM that 'accidently' used firaga when we had a gob, and hit two lizards. Wasn't pretty

[Gwynn]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Most everything you need to do has been covered already (and quite admirably so), however, I thought I'd interject my own opinion on which enfeebles to put out first.

1. Slow. This will help your tanks quite a bit, although they and other party members (maybe including yourself) might not notice it.
2. Paralyze. Again, helping out the tank.
3. Dia. No explanation necessary, really... more damage is more damage.
4. Gravity/Blind. I put these on equal footing, because after you've casted Slow Paralyze and Dia, the other enfeebles don't have as much of an impact. Gravity can help your melees hit better, and can help keep the mob in one place, so its all good. Blind will reduce the enemy's accuracy, but its not as noticeable on PLD, and NIN should already have their own Blind (I believe). However, if you have a cheap NIN, then I suppose Blind would have a good impact.
5. Poison. Meh. EXP mobs don't usually live long enough for DoT to show full effect. On long, drawn out matches Poison is a godsend, but most of the time I really don't consider it to be worth the effort.

Of course, if you fought any Mage-type mobs (I believe there are some Mage Sahagin's in the Hidden Valley near the Sea Serpent Grotto entrance, but I've only EXPd there once... pretty nice place to level though) Silence would be a top priority.

[Aeni]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Crowd Control:
1. Have a macro for sleeping extra mobs:

/p Sleeping <stnpc>! Disengage! Do not attack! <call>
/ma "Sleep" <lastst>

2. Bind any mob you couldn't sleep.
3. Gravity bound and sleeping mobs before that wears off. Also gravity any mob not able to bind/sleep.
3. Put Aquaveil on if you have link or think you may have link.
4. If anyone casted any DoT (Dia, Bio, Poison, Shock, etc.) on the mob, you can't sleep it. But, still can Bind and Gravity.
5. After Lv.30: Elemental Seal (from /BLM) can really help a Sleep, Bind, or Gravity to stick.

OP is asking about 27-30. IIRC, Sleep is a level 20sh spell for BLM. I'm not sure OP's friend has BLM subjob (He only listed WHM) Secondly, RDM main would have to be 40+ to be able to use sleep. That's outside of the range of discussion.

Primary role of a RDM at these levels:

1. Main Healer (sub WHM)
2. Replacement Nuke (sub BLM)
3. General enfeebler/healer/nuker (sub either WHM or BLM)

That's basically it. Main reason why I had the most difficult time in the world getting a PT at these levels (Up to about 33sh or so until you get Dispel)

Double Post Edited:
Mmmm ... nevermind. It's been so long I've played RDM at those levels, I forgot RDM get sleep at low levels (I'm thinking more of a WHM main and a BLM sub)

Oh f*ck me.

[zagex]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Actually, Rdm get sleep at 25ish , Sleep2 at 46ish. Sleepga is the one that comes from /Blm. Also I like casting Dia first because it just casts so quickly.

[Icemage]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

How on earth did your friend manage to solo to level 27 as a new player on RDM? I suppose it's possible, but talk about boring and tedious...


Icemage

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Hmm. I guess my prioritization on enfeebs may be slightly out of norm. I should probably explain:

1. Dia, Paralyze

Short cast time (esp. Dia), short recast time, low MP cost, and great benefits for the party. That's why high priority; easy on the MP and time budget to keep them up. I tend to make WHM cast Dia on my behalf, though. They get skill up and I get one more second to breath; Dia can't be fully resisted, so it's not whether important a RDM casts it or WHM or BRD...

2. Blind, Slow.

Still high on priority, but for different reasons. Blind is helpful to NIN, but good ones tend to cast Kurayami anyway. Even for PLD, if it averages out each cast of Blind saves one or two hits only, you already made back the MP cost and then some. I don't find it as impressive as Paralyze, though.

Slow is very good, just that it has larger MP cost and takes time to cast and has long-ish recast time. If I'm busy with other things, I may decline to recast it altogather once it wears off or if it's resisted.

3. Gravity.
The MP cost and recast time put me off during the jungle levels. If there's a Bard with Madrigal, I'm inclined to skip it completely unless the melees are really bad. I find myself using it constantly only when I don't trust the tank, WHM, or BLM. I really hated it when a mandy runs over to mages, all the melee run after it, then it uses Dream Flower. -_-

That said, this is very handy for adds and when you need to zone something.

4. Poison, and elemental enfeebs.

Well, shouldn't have mentioned the elemental enfeebs; you need /BLM, and you won't get the first one until RDM32/BLM16 anyway. >_>; However, when do you have them, Shock is useful for reducing the MND, making Paralyze and Slow more effective. (I think.) Burn can help the BLM and yourself make more out of the nukes, so that's good, too. However, the best reason to use them is to keep up elemental magic skill; I MB whenever I can and still it falls behind. If I ever get to use /BLM again, I'll definitely use them. <_<;

Poison is great damage for the MP cost, provided the battles are long. If MP is tight, I skip it. If it wears off while I'm busy, I don't worry about it.


5. Bio.
Usually, it's a bad idea; Dia weakens defense, which helps all physical attacks, while Bio weakens only the monster's attack. Unfortunately, Goblin Smithy hits very hard, and PLD or WAR/MNK tanks may need a little help. It does better DoT than Dia, I think, so it's not a horrible trade off when you need to use it. However, it really doesn't stack with Dia, so it's one or other other, never both.

I try to make BLM use Bio if the party needs it, though. Less MP cost to me... yay...

[Celeal]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

All posters above have given good advice. It would add a few spells on the list:

1. Regen. If the party member does not need to have full/high HP instantly, such as puller or DD that pulls hate from time to time. If the party member is dying, damp Cure on him instead Regen saves a lot of mp usage for the long run. For a tank, Cure + Regen works very well too.
2. Barfira when fighting Goblins, if your WHM does not bother to cast it.
3. Have Poisona on PLD at the end of mandies fight, if your main healer is not skillful on their job.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

All posters above have given good advice. It would add a few spells on the list:

1. Regen. If the party member does not need to have full/high HP instantly, such as puller or DD that pulls hate from time to time. If the party member is dying, damp Cure on him instead Regen saves a lot of mp usage for the long run. For a tank, Cure + Regen works very well too.
2. Barfira when fighting Goblins, if your WHM does not bother to cast it.
3. Have Poisona on PLD at the end of mandies fight, if your main healer is not skillful on their job.

I mentioned Regen already. (I like your more detailed explanation, though.)

Barfira is WHM Lv.17, which means RDM34, so you won't get that in the jungles. But, yes, definitely Poisona PLD at the end of the battle. If the PLD can't rest and has no MP, the mob will likely pounce on the poor RDM main healer the next battle.

[Gwynn]

Re: RDM Role in XP Party 27 - 30

Itazura:

Right you are on the casting times. Its been so long since I've been a low level RDM, I kinda forgot what its like without all the Fast Cast traits. So, I suppose that which spells you put priority on as a low level RDM would depend on your party set up... at higher levels spells take so short of a time to cast that it doesn't really matter one way or another... that and fights last so short of a time that enfeebling isn't as pronounced.