Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

[Kailea]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

Thanks for all the info. I actually have all the Genkais finished except five. I failed 4 times as RDM now and twice as DNC. So I just started up with WHM again from 51 and hoping for the best.

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 PM ----------

Well reading some more of the post. I have Rdm AF and Enhancing and enfeeble close to level 66 cap and elemental the same with healing right behind. I tried to skill up from a very low skill due to getting caught up in Campaign. I have DNC capped on all skills and failed against Lailia and even follow two of the most recommend strats on that fight to fail. I know easy sounds bad and stuff, sorry. Thanks for the criticism and tips again though.

*slaps forehead* did you not read what they.... nevermind *walks away*

[Karinya]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

No, seriously, why did you post asking for an easy way out as opposed to asking for help on the Red Mage Maat fight? We'd be more than happy to give you tips on how to do it, and multiple ways, too. In fact, I'm sure I can give you one right now: see that piece of trash that I know is in your left hand right now? That Darksteel Buckler? Get rid of it and go to Aht Urghan right now and get yourself one of these babies. You have minimal loss (like, one-and-a-half Attack points and 4 DEF?) and maximum gain (more damage absorbed overall from being a Kite Shield, and Haste is always nice).

Uh... you're suggesting a *shield* for *RDM Maat*? Have you done it at all? RDM Maat has Asuran Fists, compared to your best WS at level 70 no sub, which is, um, fast blade? You do not want to let him into melee range. That's pretty much your first priority, in fact.

Start by rushing toward him as soon as you enter the BC. You don't want to give him too much time to buff. Sleep him as quickly as you can (be prepared to cast a few quick cheap spells to get through blink if he has it - blind, para, anything other than DoTs), dispel any buffs he does have on, *then* buff yourself and use food etc.

I'm not sure whether Composure would help or not - longer duration isn't really relevant to Stoneskin or Blink, and the increased recasts on Stoneskin, Blink, sleeps, Bind, and Gravity could really hurt you. It might be better to just activate it during your original sleep on him, refresh and maybe regen and phalanx yourself (if you can spare the time), and then cancel it so it doesn't hurt your recast timers for the rest of the fight.

Most of the fight is grav/bind/sleep and aero III. Enspells and spikes aren't important because you shouldn't be spending time in melee range. Try to rest a few ticks in between CC, backing off, and your next nuke - you're going to need more than double your max MP to get through his HP.

Paralyze can be useful; even if he doesn't get into melee range, it can interrupt some spellcasting. (Which reminds me, bring some remedies. It takes some luck to recover from being paralyzed, but it can be done. Echo drops too - he's immune to silence, but you're not.)

And just hope he doesn't start using blink after chainspell - if he does, it's very hard to get crowd control on him before he pounds your face. He has a big enough advantage in HP, MP and melee/WS damage that if you both play equally smart, he will win. So you need him to be dumb, which he is sometimes, but if not, you just have to farm another testimony. The most dangerous part of the fight is right after he 2hours (duh, I guess, but for some jobs it doesn't make that big a difference - for RDM it makes a HUGE difference.)

Sleep him through his chainspell, then use your own to aero III him until he gives up (you don't have to actually kill him, he will give up at 10% or so IIRC). Keep gravity on him during chainspell and start from max casting range, to maximize the number of nukes you can get in before you have to sleep/bind and back off. Make sure your Convert is well covered with buffs and CC on Maat, and bring a few MP recovery items so you don't run out of MP before he runs out of HP.


One more thing: everyone knows how much of a bastard RDM Maat is, so don't be afraid to ask other mages in your LS to borrow their HQ wind and dark staffs, elemental and enfeebling torques, or any other non-ex gear that you don't have that might be useful. Unless your LS is full of jerks, some of them will loan it to you for such an exceptional occasion.

The first guy to ever get Maat's Cap was interviewed by SE and said that RDM was the only job he thought was hard to beat Maat on. (That was before WotG, though, so I don't know how hard DNC G5 is.)


P.S. As for the thread topic, I would say probably BRD, but if you already have a job at 70, leveling a new job might not be harder than G5 but it is definitely more time consuming, even with all the failed attempts and refarming testimony.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

Uh... you're suggesting a *shield* for *RDM Maat*? Have you done it at all? RDM Maat has Asuran Fists, compared to your best WS at level 70 no sub, which is, um, fast blade? You do not want to let him into melee range. That's pretty much your first priority, in fact.

I thought YM isn't high enough for Maat, yet? Anyway, he's probably a firm believer in melee RDM.

Maat will convince him RDM is a mage first and a fencer second. Three to five tries with a sword (or dagger) and shield ough to do it.

I'm not sure whether Composure would help or not - longer duration isn't really relevant to Stoneskin or Blink, and the increased recasts on Stoneskin, Blink, sleeps, Bind, and Gravity could really hurt you. It might be better to just activate it during your original sleep on him, refresh and maybe regen and phalanx yourself (if you can spare the time), and then cancel it so it doesn't hurt your recast timers for the rest of the fight.

Absolutely sage advice there. Unless Maat is sleeping, don't even think about using Composure for buffs--and get rid of Composure before any offensive spell.

Most of the fight is grav/bind/sleep and aero III. Enspells and spikes aren't important because you shouldn't be spending time in melee range. Try to rest a few ticks in between CC, backing off, and your next nuke - you're going to need more than double your max MP to get through his HP.

Shock Spikes may buy you some room if being chased (like, Maat wakes up and head for you right as you press Aero III macro--don't sit to chancel--run!). May just be enough to make a recovery to stop Maat with a Sleep or something, and have items to recover from the HP loss. En-spell is a waste of time and MP, of course.

Paralyze can be useful; even if he doesn't get into melee range, it can interrupt some spellcasting. (Which reminds me, bring some remedies. It takes some luck to recover from being paralyzed, but it can be done. Echo drops too - he's immune to silence, but you're not.)

He's not immune. Very, very difficult, but not immune.

IIRC, I landed mine--finally--about 5 seconds before he Chainspell'ed.

[Ketaru]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

I thought YM isn't high enough for Maat, yet? Anyway, he's probably a firm believer in melee RDM.

Maat will convince him RDM is a mage first and a fencer second. Three to five tries with a sword (or dagger) and shield ough to do it.

Somebody who has posted here since October 2006 hasn't high enough to fight Maat yet?

[Solymir]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

Should rename this thread "what is the easiest job to beat genkai 5 with."

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

Somebody who has posted here since October 2006 hasn't high enough to fight Maat yet?

Sounds like he doesn't like exp'ing on RDM, or maybe just exp'ing in general:

I know already that I could fail Maat 100 times and I'd quit the game before I took the "oh I'm going to take this job to 70 as well just so I can beat Maat" route. Exp grinding would suck more than any NM battle would.

Also, sounds like he was under Lv.50 when Composure was added:

Before Composure and Enspells II, I dreaded approaching level 50 as I had feared that was when my preferred playstyle would start causing some white-hot friction to slow me down from ever getting anywhere lest I conform and be a good little Haste/Refresh whore. But even then, I looked forward to the Maat fight, one on Red Mage that has been widely regarded as one of the most difficult even back in the Zilart days. To me, it still had that "rite of passage" look to it, and as such I held it in no less regard than a truly epic fight. Composure and Enspells II have had minimal effect on how I feel about that.

... YM, it seems like your preferred play style already slowed you down plenty, as Ketaru points out. Maybe you should level BLU instead--it's sword and magic, and its 'image' matches well with its 'reality' (is that even a useable word for a game?).

Honestly, I think you will be happier.

[Ketaru]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

I would personally just say bite the bullet and play the way people want you to play in parties. They are the best source of EXP in the game. But if you're really so concerned about remaining true to some job identity, I think many people would agree EXP parties are rather poor representations of any job's full capabilities these days anyway. And even if they're the best source of EXP, that's all they're good for. You won't make money in them. You won't skill up all your skills in them (for example, Evasion is undoubtedly an important THF skill. But most THFs never cap Evasion in parties. And most endgame scenarios have little use for RDM's sword skill, but most don't exactly care about their THF having capped Evasion either).

No need to romanticize Maat either. He's not a "rite of passage". He's an annoying old man, a speed bump on the way to 75. Several people fight Maat several times for his cap. Maat's cap, and beating Maat many times, means nothing. I'm too often reminded of this when I join an Assault run and this one particular guy who has Maat's cap is also invited. Without getting into a full blown tirade, I'll just say apparently Maat's cap has given him the additional Job Trait of aggroing things that don't aggro.

[Nuriko]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

On a more practical note, that shield that was recommended? You need a mercenary rank a fair bit higher than you start with, and not too many people will want to go with a 70 to do assaults ... I don't think you can expect that sort of gear until AFTER you have something to 75.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

05-18-2009, 11:21 AM

Yesterday, 09:52 PM

/equip Main Chainsaw
/equip Range Shotgun

Sometimes I love this game, but ya know . . .

[Draconi]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with choosing an easier job to beat Maat on. RDM Maat is truly a pain. Took me 7 tries to beat RDM Maat and I know it can be really demoralizing. But it's a great learning experience and very rewarding if you stick to it. But I would totally understand if you chose to beat him as WHM. Alot of frustrated RDM's have leveled WHM for that sole reason.

I have some info on my web site about RDM Maat if you think it might help. There's some gear recommendations on the site, as well as some lessons learned. Saiph's Site |

I also recommend capping at least your enfeebling and elemental skills in beseiged prior to RDM Maat. It will make all the difference in the world.

Good luck.

[Karinya]

Re: Is WHM really the easiest job to take to 75 first?

(dumb graphic removed)
Sometimes I love this game, but ya know . . .

It's one freaking month, and the person who reopened the thread is the OP. Get over it. Internet threads are not made of raw meat that will literally spoil over time.

People who get upset about "old" threads (especially when they're not even that old!) are waaaaay more annoying than old threads. Unless there were at least 2-3 major FFXI updates between when the thread was posted and when it was reactivated, everything in it is probably still relevant (exception for threads of speculation about future updates, those become pointless as soon as the actual update arrives).

In this case, the only thing that has changed about RDM Maat in the last several *years* is Composure, which I had to speculate about because it didn't exist when I fought him. Every other word in the old part of the thread is just as true now as it was when it was posted. Furthermore, by whining about the thread age, you disrupt the new part of the thread. (If you had magic mod powers you could split the thread at the reactivation point and keep only the new part as a new thread... do you ever wonder why the people who *do* have mod powers don't do that?)

If the admins wanted to autolock threads over a certain age, or autosplit threads that are posted to after long periods of inactivity, I'm sure they could set the board up to do that. And they probably wouldn't set the age limit at one month anyway because that would be nuts.