Becoming a better Red Mage

[Slip]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

Just a quick question: Why is it that Justice Sword seems to get so much more love the Joyeuse?

Justice Sword
DMG: 34, Delay 236, Str +7, Double Attack by eating Justice Stones

Joyeuse
DMG: 35, Delay 224, Double Attack all the time.

So with Justice you lose a point of base damage, take a (microscopically) longer delay and have to burn a consumable resource in exchange for +7 Str. Does the extra Str make that much a difference?

[Mhurron]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

Well for one, with the effort needed to get the Justice Sword over the Joyeuse, I'm betting that those that have it just feel better about it.

Second, I don't see people liking the Justice Sword more, rather they like it a lot with the Joyeuse. It's the closest thing to having 2 Joyeuse's.

[Icemage]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

Justice Sword isn't really better. But the +7 STR helps a lot with WS damage., and the fact that it is slashing damage instead of piercing damage can come into the equation too. Dual wielding both can net you some improvement in performance by putting Joyeuse in the off hand due to the attack speed improvement from Dual Wield traits.


Icemage

[Shinhiryu_Kage]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

J/J certainly is a very sweet goal to aspire to for any and all RDMs it seems, per these posts.

However, in the meantime, for the broke, newb blokes on FF11...... what works well in the interim? Hornetneedle + [Insert Dagger/Sword here]?

I just Hornetneedle and a Shield, personally. I let Poison2/Bio2 help me + Spikes for DoT. Seem to do perfectly fine. On my old character, I remember goin up against Gobbues in the Boyardee Tree when I was skilling up dagger/sword. I could solo those easily, but usually used a shield.

I like using a shield. I think its great personally. But at that time, I had Genbu shield too and about around 28% damage reduction from gear. lol

That's another thing too. Damage reduction gear sure is a great thing to have if your soloing.

[Raydeus]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

If you like using Hornet and a Shield then subbing WAR (lvl50+) would be better if you don't need Utsu. Double Attack kicks in very often with Hornet and Haste on.

You also have to consider that even though Hornet has a good DoT rating because of En-dmg you wont have any good dmg WS (unless you can use Cyclone often and even then it's still kinda weak) till you get Evisceration.

However for fighting Elementals and Arcana (or any Aspirable mob) both WAR and DRK are great if you are using a dagger with a Drain WS. You'll finish the fight with full MP/HP most of the time and the extra MP can also be used for nuking to improve your overall dmg.

[Shinhiryu_Kage]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

Oh wow, that's interesting, never thought about subbing WAR.

I will have to check that out then and level up WAR from 10. w

I remember using Cyclone pretty often on my previous character. It would usually hit in the 300-400 range on any mob and hit for more if I used any INT/MAB gear. I remember specifically, because me and my taru rdm friend use to try to go solo the ENM's at Bearclaw Pinnacle and when he would gear up, his Cyclone could do well into the 500-600 range with full gear, while my peasly mithra only hit for the 3-400 lol.

I'm not familiar with using Evisceration, but he did have it. Is it any good for damage?

[Raydeus]

Re: Becoming a better Red Mage

Evisceration is as good as Vorpal Blade damage-wise (sometimes much better), specially after the change on what the amount of TP does.