16 magic merits

[BurningPanther]

Re: 16 magic merits

Imo RDM need some sort of ability like the WHM's Divine Veil only for enfeebls. It does feel like we should have gotten tier2 enfeebles as scrolls. It's kinda lame how we have to dump 12 merits into a slow spell that's not even as good as the BRD's free slow.
Also in terms of Drain/aspir/stun/absorb-mnd do you think 16 more points in dark magic would put a dent in the resist rate or should I just put them in elemental?

What we would do well with(and I'm pissed that BLU got it), was a JA boosting the potency of the next spell, like Elemental Seal for potency. BLU got it in the form of Convergence(and even got Diffusion for AoE sharing), and I've been seeing red about it.

I'd go with putting the merits into Elemental. you see, you may not be /BLM or DRK all the time, at which times you might be able to make up with INT. The only natural Dark spell we get is Bio, where +skill is necessary to increase the DoT on Bio. The 8 merits available for Dark won't give you much leg up on increasing Bio DoT.
However, you DO get Elemental spells natively, and a lot of them. Merits into Elemental ups damage, downs resists, no matter what sub you're on.

Of course, if you also level BLM or DRK, then Dark Magic skill merits aren't a bad idea, it's just that they don't do your RDM a lot of service.

[Taskmage]

Re: 16 magic merits

Imo RDM need some sort of ability like the WHM's Divine Veil only for enfeebls. It does feel like we should have gotten tier2 enfeebles as scrolls. It's kinda lame how we have to dump 12 merits into a slow spell that's not even as good as the BRD's free slow.
Also in terms of Drain/aspir/stun/absorb-mnd do you think 16 more points in dark magic would put a dent in the resist rate or should I just put them in elemental?

Not to mention dumping 12 merits into getting a Bio III that isn't even as good as a blm or drk's Bio II.

As for the dark magic, I wouldn't bother. Drain and Aspir are very erratic even with a blm or drk's level of skill. 16 points probably isn't going to make a really noteworthy difference. The important part of Bio II can't be resisted. I dunno about Absorb-MND. I only ever use the spell in Dynamis - Valkurm and Dynamis - Qufim, and I find my resist rates to be acceptable at a natural skill level.

Personally (I dunno if I said this in this thread already) I'm looking at putting one merit point into dark magic skill so that I can break into the 6dmg/tick skill tier for Bio II with relatively easy to obtain gear. More than that I would consider to be a waste, and even that I intend to reallocate eventually whenever I get crimson gauntlets or a merciful cape.

[Mhurron]

Re: 16 magic merits

16 points probably isn't going to make a really noteworthy difference.

To put it in perspective:

Dark Skill 75 RDM: 200
Dark Skill 60 BLM: 203
Dark Skill 60 DRK: 203

An extra 16 skill points would bring Dark Magic skill up on par with level 63 BLM and DRK's. Hardly much of a difference for what you're fighting at level 75.

I can't decide if I'll be doing 8 Enfeebling and 8 Elemental or spreading the 8 for Elemental between Elemental and Enhancing, so I'm going to level BLU for a bit.

[Taskmage]

Re: 16 magic merits

If anyone's going to merit enhancing magic skill, it's good to know the tiers for your important enhancing-based spells:

Enspell (base damage)
240-259 - 17
260-279 - 18
280-299 - 19
300+... - 20

Barspell
255-259 - 91
260-264 - 92
265-269 - 93
270-274 - 94
275-279 - 95
280-284 - 96
285-289 - 97
290-294 - 98
295-299 - 99
300-304 - 100
305-309 - 101
310-314 - 102
315+... - 103

Phalanx
250-259 - 23
260-269 - 24
270-279 - 25
280-289 - 26
290-299 - 27
300-309 - 28
310+... - 29

Phalanx II (level 1/level 2/level 3)
250-274 - 14/17/20
275-299 - 15/18/21
300+... - 16/19/22

Basically, Enspell has breakpoints every 20 levels, Barspells every 5 levels, Phalanx every 10 levels, and Phalanx II every 25 levels. After you've hit a breakpoint, successive increases to skill level do nothing to enhance the spell other than a miniscule reduction in your chance to be interrupted while casting it. I'd like to be able to hit 300, but I think I can do that with equipment alone. I guess I can sink a few points into enhancing to tide me over until I get the last few pieces, but like dark magic it's just a stopgap and not on the top of my priority list.

[Karinya]

Re: 16 magic merits

Wow, phalanx 2 is even more worthless than I thought.

Not only does it duplicate an ability that smn can do AoE without spending any merits, it's also weaker than phalanx 1 even after you dump 12 merits into it? WTF were they thinking?

Oh well, more points to put into Para 2, Slow 2 and Dia 3. Really, the fact that half of the Group 2 spells are worthless is the only thing that keeps me from being even more infuriated at how bad they are at level 1.

[Taskmage]

Re: 16 magic merits

Well even though P2 is weaker in magnitude, it's stronger than Noctoshield and Phalanx simply because of context. Noctoshield because it's on rdm, and unlike smn we can use it in parallel with our other party support abilities rather than consuming a BP "slot" and Phalanx because it can be cast on a job class that's otherwise set up to mitigate damage and hold hate, which we're not exactly top class at.

P2 is the one group 2 merit I'm actually pretty satisfied with, though I agree that the others probably should've been scrolls. Hey though ... at least we didn't get screwed on merits as bad as nin. >.>

[hongman]

Re: 16 magic merits

I still think P2 is really not worth it.

P2 is not even conceivably worth jack unless you dump full merits into it which means you are taking up merit allocations which could be used elsewhere.

My thinking is, Id rather go full Para 2 becuase just 1 paralyze proc is probably stopping more damage done than the entire P2 buff.

imho of course.

[BurningPanther]

Re: 16 magic merits

True enough. When Paralyze procs, everyone in the party avoids damage, When Slow reduces turns, everyone staves off a potentially lethal blow, whereas Phalanx 2 focuses on just the one.

[hongman]

Re: 16 magic merits

Very well put BP, excatly what I meant.

[Taskmage]

Re: 16 magic merits

It depends a lot, honestly, on what you're doing and who you're doing it with. If someone is holding hate solidly then it doesn't matter that Slow affects all attacks the mob makes regardless of target and Phalanx only affects attacks made to a particular target because those sets of attacks are identical.

If as an example, I have a mob that's hitting my tank for 100 damage a hit and my Phalanx II reduces his damage taken by 18. That's 18% off his damage taken on top of whatever Slow reduces it by. Let's say my slow reduces attack speed by 25% since my mnd isn't too great. So ...

TotalDamage x (100% - 25%) x (100% - 18%) = TotalDamage x 61.5%

his total damage taken would be reduced by 38.5%, slightly better than a maxed out Slow II would do (37%). Yes yes, I know this supposes something like a merit party with a pld tank which isn't exactly the standard, but Slow II and Para II are very poor in any merit party setup due to their mp cost vs how often you have to recast since the debuff dies with the kill. This is an example of a possible situation in which Phalanx II could excel.

The only endgame I do is dynamis, and we usually have an abundance of rdms in our group, so I'm rarely able to land Para or Slow before someone else gets to it, and even if I do that just means someone else's mp goes to waste instead of my own. I'm happier being able to provide some protection in parallel to those debuffs landing instead of in competition of them. And of course, Phalanx II is pretty nifty vs Hundred Fists, mitigating a whole lot of damage in a very short time.

In other endgame activities like HNM where the mobs hit a lot harder and AoE is a bigger concern, sure Phalanx II is garbage. It can't knock off a significant percentage of those attacks.

I don't really do that though. Most of my time spent in-game (at least, back when I used to have time to play other than for dynamis) is spent in small groups or casual duoing, more often with plds and misc DD than with ninjas. P2 works great for that.

Moreover, I feel like Phalanx II is the only ability of the bunch that's actually "new." All the other spells are at best 1.5x more potent than their predecessors at 2-8 times the mp cost. Not to say that they're not worth it, but putting Phalanx on other people who can use it better than me is something I've never been able to do before whereas I've been casting Slow and Para for years.

[Mhurron]

Re: 16 magic merits

How many merits have you put into Phalanx II though?

[Taskmage]

Re: 16 magic merits

Only two. As Fynlar points out, that makes its duration identical to Refresh, so it's easy to keep track of at level 2 by threading it into your Refresh cycle. Technically I could squeeze out another 4 points of damage reduction from it, but I don't feel it's worth it.

[hongman]

Re: 16 magic merits

I guess thats fair, if for your RDM you rarely get to cast Slow or Para before someone else does then why not.

I think I should have added that this is my way of thinking for MY activites...Dyna/Sky/Meripo/Random stuff

For me, Phalanx II has veeeery limited used compared to the rest.

[Taskmage]

Re: 16 magic merits

I think that's entirely likely - that my context will be in the minority compared to the situations of players for whom Para II/Slow II will be more worthwhile. It's not junk either though.

So long as we're talking about group 2s .. I was thinking of getting Slow II as a one pointer just for its ability to overwrite Haste, but thinking about it I fight very few mobs that Haste themselves. To the people that have it, how often does that aspect of Slow II come into play for you? I'm thinking I may put that one point into Dia III for merit instead, just so I can cast a useful debuff again.

[Gobo]

Re: 16 magic merits

Rare if ever. Usually Haste is either dispeled or never takes effect because Slow II is on already. In fact, I can't think of a time I've ever used Slow II to override a mobs Haste.