Tweet
Re: Job Adjustments and Additions Part II (03/30/2009)
No, and anyone who wants RDM improved at endgame needs to tell it to the puppetmasters. I get asked to bring my RDM over my other level 75 jobs all the time, even outside of chainstun fights.
That's why RDM wasn't updated for so long - it was already freakin' awesome, what are you going to do that doesn't break it completely?
So, if we're all done whining about how it isn't Elemental Seal on a 30 second timer or whatever it is some people actually want (and btw, if you want ES, you know where to find it; strategic subjob choice is part of the design of RDM), what can we do with what we're getting?
Want to bet the enspell II resistance down effect stacks with Death Blossom? (Which you will still get more of with Joyeuse, even if the second hits aren't proccing enspells. How that will stack up against E-sword I dunno, but I still expect them to leave daggers in the dust, except maybe against enemies where you want to Energy Drain instead of WSing for damage.)
If you just Death Blossomed, then necessarily, you don't have (much) TP, so you can afford to swap in a staff (along with other MAB gear) and nuke with the element the target is double-weak to (enspell + DB - triple-weak if you set it up to match an existing weakness) and then put your sword and melee gear back on to resume melee and accumulate TP again. Assuming, of course, that you save enough MP from Composure to allow you to nuke with some frequency. For maximum effectiveness you would want the mob to be weak (or at least not excessively resistant) to two elements adjacent on the wheel, so you can get unresisted enspell damage while still setting up a nearly-unresistable nuke with the adjacent element. I think lizards are weak to wind and ice, for example.
This reminds me, I've been meaning to try out some rdm/drk soloing now that I have DB - souleater DB, then drain with the magic eva down effect on to recover the HP lost from Souleater (and also because drain is a ridiculously MP efficient nuke). Follow up with aspir on MP using mobs before the effect wears. Of course this strategy can be combined with the above "swap in staves after WS" too - DB effect lasts almost a minute. Enspell for resist down, SE DB, swap in nuking gear, nuke, swap in dark staff + dark skill/etc., drain, aspir, then back to melee. If the magic eva down is strong enough an unresisted aspir could pay for the nuke - and you already have some amount of improved MP efficiency from Composure. DB + drain + nuke could easily be over 1000 total damage, more when souleater is up - and you still have the endurance, CC and all-around survivability of a RDM. You just have to shake the "must gain TP every second" mentality - TP is useful, but not the beginning and end of your solo ability, or even your solo DD ability.
Come to think of it, /sch might be even better - with composure, you don't have to recast your white magic spells that often, so being able to change arts only once a minute isn't so bad (while the combination of lower MP cost and longer duration is pretty nice); and unlike Vorpal Blade, Death Blossom isn't subjob dependent. You'd give up /DRK's attack bonus trait, Souleater, Stun, and some STR, but gain INT, max MP, Conserve MP and parsimony for your nukes, and still have drain and aspir. Better yet, your resist rates for the drain, aspir, and nukes would start from Dark Arts' B skill instead of your actual elemental and dark magic skills which are much worse. (The difference in dark magic skill between RDM and Dark Arts RDM/SCH is over 50.) Composure Regen II is a nice perk too, and I think /sch will even have reraise in the update, which comes in handy for campaign trains (and other places too).
With all that swapping, it's a good thing they've already announced more gobbiebags this update. >.>
None of this is going to make you a monk - nor should it, since monks can't sleep, bind, stoneskin, cure, or do many other things RDMs can. But these improvements will help an interesting playstyle unlike that of any other job, even though it's one that is not suited to all possible fights.
Originally posted by Taskmage
View Post
That's why RDM wasn't updated for so long - it was already freakin' awesome, what are you going to do that doesn't break it completely?
So, if we're all done whining about how it isn't Elemental Seal on a 30 second timer or whatever it is some people actually want (and btw, if you want ES, you know where to find it; strategic subjob choice is part of the design of RDM), what can we do with what we're getting?
Want to bet the enspell II resistance down effect stacks with Death Blossom? (Which you will still get more of with Joyeuse, even if the second hits aren't proccing enspells. How that will stack up against E-sword I dunno, but I still expect them to leave daggers in the dust, except maybe against enemies where you want to Energy Drain instead of WSing for damage.)
If you just Death Blossomed, then necessarily, you don't have (much) TP, so you can afford to swap in a staff (along with other MAB gear) and nuke with the element the target is double-weak to (enspell + DB - triple-weak if you set it up to match an existing weakness) and then put your sword and melee gear back on to resume melee and accumulate TP again. Assuming, of course, that you save enough MP from Composure to allow you to nuke with some frequency. For maximum effectiveness you would want the mob to be weak (or at least not excessively resistant) to two elements adjacent on the wheel, so you can get unresisted enspell damage while still setting up a nearly-unresistable nuke with the adjacent element. I think lizards are weak to wind and ice, for example.
This reminds me, I've been meaning to try out some rdm/drk soloing now that I have DB - souleater DB, then drain with the magic eva down effect on to recover the HP lost from Souleater (and also because drain is a ridiculously MP efficient nuke). Follow up with aspir on MP using mobs before the effect wears. Of course this strategy can be combined with the above "swap in staves after WS" too - DB effect lasts almost a minute. Enspell for resist down, SE DB, swap in nuking gear, nuke, swap in dark staff + dark skill/etc., drain, aspir, then back to melee. If the magic eva down is strong enough an unresisted aspir could pay for the nuke - and you already have some amount of improved MP efficiency from Composure. DB + drain + nuke could easily be over 1000 total damage, more when souleater is up - and you still have the endurance, CC and all-around survivability of a RDM. You just have to shake the "must gain TP every second" mentality - TP is useful, but not the beginning and end of your solo ability, or even your solo DD ability.
Come to think of it, /sch might be even better - with composure, you don't have to recast your white magic spells that often, so being able to change arts only once a minute isn't so bad (while the combination of lower MP cost and longer duration is pretty nice); and unlike Vorpal Blade, Death Blossom isn't subjob dependent. You'd give up /DRK's attack bonus trait, Souleater, Stun, and some STR, but gain INT, max MP, Conserve MP and parsimony for your nukes, and still have drain and aspir. Better yet, your resist rates for the drain, aspir, and nukes would start from Dark Arts' B skill instead of your actual elemental and dark magic skills which are much worse. (The difference in dark magic skill between RDM and Dark Arts RDM/SCH is over 50.) Composure Regen II is a nice perk too, and I think /sch will even have reraise in the update, which comes in handy for campaign trains (and other places too).
With all that swapping, it's a good thing they've already announced more gobbiebags this update. >.>
None of this is going to make you a monk - nor should it, since monks can't sleep, bind, stoneskin, cure, or do many other things RDMs can. But these improvements will help an interesting playstyle unlike that of any other job, even though it's one that is not suited to all possible fights.
Comment