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 The Voracious Resurgence |
 
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User:Chizel/Sandbox GobbieRDM
From FFXI Wiki
Introduction
The aim of this space is to provide a means for information access for new and aspiring Red Mages, and a place the entirety of the witching community can come together to fine tune our craft. It is not meant to be canonical in nature, nor a shopping list of BiS items, but will introduce players to some of the options and paths available to them. From there, your witchcraft knows no bounds. I would caution you, taking on the role as a Warlock amongst your peers will have you power-crazed and thirsting for more. But if manipulating power is what you desire, you've come to the proper place... right this way, friends.
Under Construction Notes
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/User_talk:Chizel/Sandbox_GobbieRDM
General Information
"It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers." - Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear
Roles & Functions
 Roles & Functions
| |
|---|---|
| Communicator | Whether you communicate to your party or your party communicates to you through /party chat macros or Discord voice chat, it makes no matter. At some point you or your party members will need to communicate in one way or another. It could be to let the CORs know that Dia III has been applied, that the Tank's Phalanx timer is getting low and now's a good time to reapply some buffs, or working hand-in-hand with the Tank on a Circle pull in Dynamis Wave 3 so that you can time your silence to land as those nasty RDM, BLU mobs are spooling up ugly debuffs. If you're the quiet type, /party chat macros are fine, just don't get too carried away with the <calls>. If you enjoy talking with others and making yourself heard, chances are you're going to have to at some point try to elbow your way into the conversation just for a quick update. Get used to it though, it's a busy job, and letting people know what's going on, what they need, and what you need are critical for success. |
| Enfeebler/Crowd-Controller | This is probably where the divergence is among Red Mages. In content where you're expected to buff, crowd control, debuff, and there are a prevalence of DPS jobs, suiting up /NIN or /DNC isn't always the wisest thing to do. Now if you can perform ALL of your primary duties (buffing, debuffing, crowd control) and the DPS is being rather lackadaisical, by all means whip out that  Naegling or  Crocea Mors and get busy! But early on in your path, you'll find that by the time you've completed your primary duties it's time for another round of them altogether. It's not usually until later on, when you've sorted out your Enhancing/Enfeebling duration that you'll start having time to melee, but even then you'll be limited in that capacity outside of solo or low-man content.
|
| Enhancer | RDM shines in functions both on the back line and front lines. The following roles are more of prioritizations than they are specifications, meaning that even though you'll primarily be supporting one class you're not off the hook for supporting in other ways:
|
| Healer/Healing Support | You're no Musa Regen V Scholar, nor are you Oprah Winfrey with your status ailment heals like Yagrush White Mages typically are, but you've got some tools available to you.
|
| Nuker | Feel the struggle. I'm not kidding. Black Mage's Magic Attack Bonus trait is ~43% higher than a Red Mage's. Their Magic Burst Bonus trait is ~86% higher, Magic Attack Bonus gifts are ~77% higher, and Master Level 0 with 16  in Elemental Magic Skill puts RDM at 394 vs. BLM's 512. Where RDM tends to shine is shifting the Magic Damage ΔINT table on Tier II and Tier III nukes. Specifically speaking, in any scenario that you'll be "nuking with purpose" there'll likely be a BLM there nuking with you. They get big help with Burn bonuses from their JSE but you also get Gain-INT which can further widen the ΔINT gap. Utilizing SCH as a support job also gives you access to  Dark Arts which will raise your Elemental Magic Skill to 404 and in later master levels grant you access to stratagems like "Ebullience". The job shares a lot of accessories with BLM so it's not difficult to find equipment for nuking, but don't go in expecting to nuke as hard as a Black Mage. Admittedly, though, it is a lot of fun.
|
| Combat Mage | If you came here looking to sharpen your Savage Blade, the wreckage of many a young mage hath been laid out before you whom traveled down this wreckless path. Yet, it is knowledge you seek, and I cannot deny you it. For knowledge is the bathing trickle of reflected sunlight off of the moon's surface, it's beauty is widely known but behind it the dawn will rise and a new world with it. Since you insist... Strength, Attack, and WSD are the things you seek. Now go, before I turn you into a frog or a newt.. Don't worry, you'll get better. Seriously though, melee or combat RDM is a special critter. If you're responsible for crowd-control and critical debuffs, just chill. You'll get your shot. Seriously, the number of things outside of group content and even in group content you can solo are just silly. This aspect typically is still a bit of an alternative magic damage dealer, as you get access to some insane buffs to Enspell & Elemental Weapon Skill damage through |
Abilities and Traits
| Job Traits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lvl. | Name | Notes | |
| 10 30 50 70 81 |
Resist Petrify (10%) Resist Petrify II (15%) Resist Petrify III (20%) Resist Petrify IV (25%) Resist Petrify V (30%) |
Gives you slight resistance against petrification. Starting at 10% and increasing 5% per tier to a maximum of 30% at level 81. | |
| 15 35 55 76 89 150 JP Gift 500 JP Gift 1125 JP Gift 2000 JP Gift |
Fast Cast (10%) Fast Cast II (15%) Fast Cast III (20%) Fast Cast IV (25%) Fast Cast V (30%) Fast Cast VI (32%) Fast Cast VII (34%) Fast Cast VIII (36%) Fast Cast IX (38%) |
Quickens spellcasting. Starting at 5% and capping out at 38% at 2000 Job Points applied.  Enhances "Fast Cast" effect +11~16% "Fast Cast" +12~15% Right Ear: "Fast Cast" +7~9% "Fast Cast" +10~20% depending on the quality of the JSE weapon.
| |
| 20 40 86 |
Magic Attack Bonus (20%) Magic Attack Bonus II (24%) Magic Attack Bonus III (28%) |
Improves power of magic spells. | |
| 25 45 96 |
Magic Defense Bonus (10%) Magic Defense Bonus II (12%) Magic Defense Bonus III (14%) |
Improves defense against magic spells. | |
| 26 | Tranquil Heart | Reduces enmity gain when casting healing magic. | |
| 31 53 75 |
Clear Mind Clear Mind II Clear Mind III |
Raises amount of MP recovered while resting. | |
| 60 | Damage Limit+ I (+26/256, ~0.1) | Grants a bonus to maximum physical damage. NOTE: this does not directly increase your actual physical damage but instead raises your pDIF cap. | |
| 85 95 |
Magic Burst Bonus I (+5%) Magic Burst Bonus II (+7%) |
Improves magic burst damage. Starting at 5% at level 85 and raising to 7% at level 95. | |
| 87 97 |
Shield Mastery I (+10 TP) Shield Mastery II (+20 TP) |
Grants bonus TP when blocking an attack with a shield. Also prevents spell interruption. Starting at +10 TP/blocked attack and capping at +20 TP/blocked attack. | |
| Job Ability | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lvl. | Name | Notes |
| 1 |  Chainspell
|
Allows rapid spellcasting.  : Enhances "Chainspell" effect. Adds 20 seconds to the duration of Chainspell.
|
| 40 | Convert | Swaps current HP with MP. Augments Convert - Restores 50% of the player's Maximum HP at the time of activation.Job Points: Convert Effect - Restores between 1~20% of the player's Maximum HP at the time of activation and is additive with Murgleis. |
| 50 | Composure | Increases accuracy and lengthens recast time. Enhancement effects gained through white and black magic you cast on yourself last longer. Increases the damage of enspells for the duration. ,  ,  ,  ,  Set: Augments Composure effect. Causes enhancing magic and enfeebling magic spells to have increased duration based on 2 or more pieces being equipped at the time of casting (+10~50% duration bonus), and does not affect enhancing spells cast on yourself.
|
| 83 | Saboteur | Spells you cast gain enhanced magic accuracy, and if they are enfeeblement magic, their effect and duration will be enhanced. Saboteur +11~14
|
| 95 | Spontaneity | Reduces casting time for the next magic spell the target casts. |
| 96 | Stymie
|
Greatly increases the accuracy of the next enfeebling magic spell. |
Merit & Job Points Progression
| Merit Point Recommendations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | ||
|
|
Description | Notes |
| Convert Recast | Shorten recast time by 20 seconds. | There's so much refresh available in this game and potency gear for your own casting of the spell it's generally not worth it to put any points into this.
|
| Fire Magic Accuracy | Increase the accuracy of Fire spells by 3. | If you're a Sortie nuker, this isn't a bad choice. You'll be casting a lot of fire on ya' boys: Skomora and Triboulex. Can also increase the chance of landing Addle and Addle II.
|
| Ice Magic Accuracy | Increase the accuracy of Ice spells by 3. | If you're a dedicated Dynamis - Divergence support, meriting this increases the chance of landing spells like Bind, Paralyze II and Distract III.
|
| Wind Magic Accuracy | Increase the accuracy of Wind spells by 3. | If you're a dedicated Debuffer, meriting this increases the chance of landing Silence and Gravity II.
|
| Earth Magic Accuracy | Increase the accuracy of Earth spells by 3. | If you're a dedicated Debuffer, meriting this increases the chance of landing Slow II and Break. Not to mention there is a fair amount of Stone nuking in the "meta" these days, so this could be helpful vs. Ongo's giant squawk-box in Odyssey.
|
| Lightning Magic Accuracy | Increase the accuracy of Lightning spells by 3. | Sorry nukers. Gone is the way of the storm, new is the way of stone and flame. But what about Stun?! Stun has an SE-confirmed +200 Magic Accuracy. I can't recommend any points in this category, but it doesn't mean you don't have to!
|
| Water Magic Accuracy | Increase the accuracy of Water spells by 3. | Poison and Poisonga aren't generally something you want to land when performing crowd-control (let's be real, it's going to land anyway with or without points in this category.) And Water nuking isn't really done. Just like the drink, 0 points for creativity. Great surface tension, though!
|
| Group 2 | ||
| Enfeebling Magic Duration | Increases enfeebling magic duration by 6 seconds. | Prior to making progress through Odyssey NMs, I'd recommend more or all of these points be placed into the Magic Accuracy merit category instead.
|
| Magic Accuracy | Increases magic accuracy by 5. | For newer RDMs I'd recommend maximizing this category starting out, once you've obtained and upgraded your Lethargy Armor Set to +2 (primarily the body and hands) and acquired some key Relic pieces like Vitiation Chapeau +1 and Vitiation Boots +1 you can begin considering swapping to Enfeebling Magic Duration merits.
|
| Enhancing Magic Duration | Increases enhancing magic duration by 6. | Being a realist, most of your party's buffs are going to be done around a 10 minute window with the Corsair's rolls and the Bard's Nightingale & Troubadour recast timers. Utilizing the Composure set bonus on the Lethargy Armor Set alone is going to put you in a good spot to meet that standard.
|
| Immunobreak Chance | Increases chance of immunobreak occurring by 3%. | There are melee/enspell style Red Mages out there, and I'm not about to deny them their fun. But for content-oriented RDMs, this is your bread and butter and I cannot recommend maximizing this category strong enough. We'll take a surface level dive into Immunobreak later.
|
| En-spell Damage | Increases damage of Enspell effect by 3, and Enspell II effect by 6. | If you are a solo style Red Mage, points in this category will moderately increase your en-spell damage (up to +20 for Tier I enspells and up to +35 for Tier IIs when you use the Viti. Tights (109) or better. But if you're a content-oriented RDM, please consider one of the several other options available.
|
| Accuracy | Increases accuracy by 5. | You'll get a whopping 25 accuracy out of this category. There is plenty of accuracy available to you as you progress into harder and higher tier content. 10/10 do not recommend.
|
| Job Point Progression | ||
|---|---|---|
| Priority | 
|
Notes |
| 1 | Magic Accuracy Bonus
|
Almost a "no-brainer." Increasing our Magic Accuracy helps us land spells, to improve and grow at this job, landing crucial debuffs is paramount. |
| 2 | Saboteur Effect
|
Compounded interest, baby! Further increasing our Enfeebling Magic Accuracy under Saboteur to land critical debuffs will have us crippling NMs and trash mobs like seasoned witches in no time at all. |
| 3 | Enfeebling Magic Duration
|
This should round off our enfeebling category for now, and RDMs should be set to start working on Enhancing Duration for a while. |
| 4 | Enhancing Magic Duration
|
After making sure our opponents are sufficiently crippled, we want to look at increasing the duration of our enhancing spells. The big ones for RDM are going to be Phalanx and Phalanx II, Haste II, Flurry II, Refresh II and later Refresh III, as well as more RDM specific self-buffs like Gain Spells and Enspells. Not limited to these, all duration bonuses apply to any specific enhancing magic whether from Red Mage main job or chosen sub-jobs. |
| 5 | Stymie Effect
|
The capstone of our major roles as enfeebler/enhancer, this category should have developing Red Mages ready to try their craft in content with higher difficulty. (i.e. Divergence Wave III, Sortie NMs, and Odyssey NMs provided they have also been working through JSE progression. |
| 6 | Quick Magic Effect
|
Quick Magic is an interesting function. It has a 10% activation rate cap, but having your MP spent cost 40% less and getting an instant recast sounds like my idea of a good time. Otherwise, you still need 2100 JP to master, so here we go! |
| Player Choice 7~10 |
Magic Atk. Bonus
|
Nuking is another realm of Red Mage that has long been in the tool-kit of the class through out the entire Final Fantasy series, albeit not one of the stronger facets of the job. Such is the case with FFXI RDM, we will never be a Black Mage in our ability to nuke, but we certainly can put some numbers down. Onward, to 2100 JP and mastery! |
| Player Choice 7~10 |
Composure Effect
|
Now that our casting/crowd-control/crippling responsibilities are out of the way, it's time to pull out that blade! Melee/Solo RDMs out there may choose to maximize this category before a lot of the others and would be right to do so. Composure enhances a RDM's accuracy to begin with but also triples the base damage of enspells while active. Being able to physically strike our targets is the only way to ensure those enspell effects are in fact deadly, so any bonus to our physical accuracy is a nice addition. |
| Player Choice 7~10 |
Convert Effect
|
Congratulations! We've now reached the point (those of us without the coveted Murgleis) where we can prevent "Koru-Moruing" ourselves with some unnecessary mid-battle convert deaths! Onward to mastery! |
| Player Choice 7~10 |
Chainspell Effect
|
This is actually somewhat good for the nuker-style RDMs because Chainspell allows you to 0 our cast time and recast time, and magic damage significantly boosts lower tier elemental magic damage more than higher tiers. So 1~2 times per Sortie Nuke run, we can Chainspell low tier spam on bosses. Which ever path you have chosen, congrats! You are now a "Master Warlock!" |
Support Jobs
Throughout the Final Fantasy series Red Mage has been referred to as Jack of all trades, and Master of none. I feel that never is that more-so the case than in Final Fantasy XI simply with the amount the main job can do already. Throughout your adventures and career as a practiced Warlock, you will find that several, not a few, Support Jobs will slide your tool-kit in directions toward being Jack of all trades, and Master of a few. The expandable job cards below will talk in more detail about some support job selections and go into what they bring to the table and how they are typically utilized.
Magic Support Jobs
 Scholar
|
|---|
The content-aligned Red Mage's go-to choice for support job. Scholar brings a lot to the table.
|
| Recommendation: HIGH |
| Abilities Added: |
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: |
| Master Level Abilities Added: |
|
| Master Level Traits Added: None Available |
| Master Level Spells Added: |
|
 White Mage
|
|---|
| Early on, as you discover all the finer trappings of the Red Mage class, utilizing White Mage as your support job can bolster your ability to main heal lower tier content in your progression. A lot of the mid-level progression is open to full alliances, so throwing a bunch of TP feed at mobs and NMs isn't typically a good idea. It's here that you can get a better feel for status healing with the -na line of Healing Magic and learning to watch your buff duration timers and when to re-apply them. At more advanced master levels other support jobs may take the lead in their utility, but if you support your group from the backline, White Mage is never a bad choice for a support job. Especially with higher tier access to curaga spells. |
| Recommendation: MEDIUM (For starting/non-mastered Red Mages: HIGH) |
| Abilities Added: |
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: |
| Master Level Abilities Added: None Available |
| Master Level Traits Added: |
| Master Level Spells Added: |
|
 Black Mage
|
|---|
| Black Mage as a support job has some pretty specific use cases and should be made available as content progression occurs. Chainspelling stuns on our ole' boy Zerde is a common use of RDM/BLM as well as another amorph fight in Peach Power. I would recommend unlocking and leveling this as a useful support job, but it may not be a primary option for newer, unmastered RDMs. Advancing into master levels can make this sub compete with /SCH in the crowd control department with access to Sleepga II. |
| Recommendation: HIGH |
| Abilities Added: |
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: |
| Master Level Abilities Added: None Available |
| Master Level Traits Added: |
| Master Level Spells Added: |
|
Physical Support Jobs
 Ninja
|
|---|
| The primary use of /NIN is going to be for its Dual Wield trait. With Haste II in your pocket, and Gear Haste capped at 25%, it will take a DW of +31 to reach the standard Delay Reduction of 68.75%. (For Gear Info users, and typical FFXI Enjoyers, that will translate as the 10-bit value 704/1024.) If you cap your Magic Haste at 43.75%, then you only need +11 DW to cap your Attack Speed. Adding DW beyond that will diminish TP returns. Dual Wield is typically utilized when a RDM wants to melee utilizing their powerful Enspell bonuses and gear to do a significant amount of magic-based "white damage".
Another major benefit to the support job is through the use of shadows to mitigate certain types of damage while soloing. Utsusemi shadows do a far better job at mitigating damage than Blink Shadows because the proc rate of Blink is not 100% and any AoE damage will strip the blink shadows entirely. The types of damage mitigation and behavior of Utsusemi shadows are as follows:
Lastly, and specific to RDM cases, sometimes where the melee benefits of /NIN are limited or non-existent, there exists the ability to Dual Wield for achieving higher Magic Accuracy options in the off-hand slot than can be gained through the use of a Shield or a Staff & Grip. Typically these situations are for simply testing purposes or scenarios where critical debuffs are necessary and not so much for the melee aspect. |
| Recommendation: HIGH |
| Abilities Added: None available. |
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: |
| Master Level Abilities Added: None Available |
| Master Level Traits Added: |
| Master Level Spells Added: None available |
 Dancer
|
|---|
Do a little dance! The other side of Dual Wield, /DNC allows a RDM to utilize a main and off-hand weapon still, albeit to a lower effect. With Haste II in your pocket, now you must have +41 in DW to reach that coveted number of 704/1024 Delay Reduction. Aha! But you have another tool in your bag! Haste Samba which will grant you and your engaged party members +5% Job Ability Haste and allow you to meet the same Delay Reduction with just +35 DW gear. Top off your Magic Haste and you're good to go at +21 DW without Haste Samba and +9 DW with it. Like /NIN, the Dual Wield property is primarily used as a means of attacking with two weapons imbued with powerful Enspells.
Like /NIN, dual wielding offers RDMs the opportunity to equip something with a more significant amount of Magic Accuracy in the off-hand. But the real target of /DNC are its job abilities:
|
| Recommendation: MEDIUM |
| Abilities Added: |
|
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: None available. |
| Master Level Abilities Added: |
| Master Level Traits Added: |
| Master Level Spells Added: None available. |
Specific Use Cases
 Dark Knight
|
|---|
| Utilizing the tool-kit available to /DRK isn't nearly as much about maximizing the group damage output as it is controlling the opponent's damage output. Still a mystery to the player-base as to whether Absorb-TP scales or is limited by Dark Magic Skill, and after many attempts by SE to retrospectively nerf the spell, it is still one of the best methods by which to control TP accumulation and Regain on some NMs that will flatten you without so much as a sympathetic glance in the rear-view mirror. It is one of a handful of methods classified as Meta in some higher end content. I presume at some point in your enthralled warlock lives, you'll stumble across needing this tool-kit. |
| Recommendation: HIGH |
| Abilities Added: |
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: |
| Master Level Abilities Added: |
|
| Master Level Traits Added: |
| Master Level Spells Added: None Available |
 Rune Fencer
|
|---|
| The large benefit to this support job is the sheer amount of Elemental Magic damage mitigation and enmity generating tools available that only serve to amplify what you can naturally do on Red Mage. Primarily, this will be used in back-up, solo, or niche tanking situations. Access to the Tenacity, Inquartata traits, and RUN JAs will make a decent impact defensively for both yourself and any party members around you. |
| Recommendation: MEDIUM |
| Abilities Added: |
| Traits Added: |
| Spells Added: |
| Master Level Abilities Added: |
|
| Master Level Traits Added: |
| Master Level Spells Added: |
|
Progression Overview
I know a lot of what's found hereafter will be basically "shopping list" material for the vast majority of players. However, if you're intent on making the most of your time as a Red Mage in FFXI, be sure to expand some of the notes in each set and read through the provided context and section introductions. Hopefully they'll provide some insight and useful information as you progress as a RDM!
The intent behind the progression sets (i.e. Beginner → Mid-Tier → High-Tier) is to show character/job progression through certain stages or levels of "Content." (Indicated by the "top caption" of each equipment set that falls under those 3 categories.)
Beginner
Post-Rhapsodies of Vana'diel
Players at this level of progress should be close to, if not completely done, with the entire RoV storyline. To be completely honest, this is the real work on Red Mage. A lot of this content will 100% carry over into the next stages of progress.
Some ideal content & gear progression:
- Domain Invasion
You should be intimately familiar with DI by now, hopefully you've acquired the items necessary to flesh out your RDM a bit more, but here's a list of noteworthy items you can focus on:
| Domain Invasion Rewards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 100~200 Points | 600 Points | 800 Points | 1,000 Points |
- Ambuscade Gear
Work towards obtaining the NQ armor sets if you don't have a small group of friends to gather Gallantry with, otherwise use the Ambuscade Chit +1 items to grab the +1 variants of Ambuscade Gear. An alternative path comes with the updates to Ambuscade in the March 10th, 2025 Version Update, in particular the Total Hallmarks cap was dropped to 16,000 from 25,000 and the ability to craft a full +1 set of both the Salvage and Nyzul/Limbus armor variants was implemented. In a huge benefit to new/returning players, 5,600 Total Hallmarks is enough to land an Ambuscade weapon complete to the Kaja stage, and 9,600 is a full weapon shy of meeting the Pulse Weapon requirement.
| Ambuscade Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ambuscade Armor | Ambuscade Capes | Ambuscade Weapons |
- Unity Base Items
Level 119~128 mostly, but there'll be one or two items from the 135 tier that you'll want to try and grab early on. Work toward upgrading these to their +1 variants by trading them and 50 of the Unity NM's material items to any of the Unity NPCs in the 3 starting nations at a cost of 10,000 Unity Accolades per weapon, armor piece, or accessory. The sheer number of items to upgrade and the associated cost in Accolades can bite into newer players' means of obtaining quick & easy gil through Sparks & Accolades, so be sure to try and farm up as many of the upgrade materials from the NMs as you can. You will likely get lucky on several of them and obtain the +1 variants right from the coffer. Efforts are doubled during Unity Wanted Campaigns, so be on the lookout for those events. This list is comprehensive but not exhaustive, there are a lot more items you may find yourself wanting as you develop your RDM, and they are noteworthy even if out of the scope of this guide.
| Unity Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unity Weapons | Unity Armor | Unity Accessories |
- Vagary
The wonderful thing about Vagary is that if you can put together a group of motivated and capable players, you all can set a weekly Content → Vagary RoE objective and earn extra upgrade materials simply for clearing the NMs! Three weekly objectives is likely more than enough to acquire the materials you need for upgrading JSE.
Alternative Battlefields were added that will allow solo players the ability to unlock access to the Empyrean Armor Reforging process. These alternative battlefields come with no additional drops or rewards from the NMs within, so for any upgrade materials like Etched Memories and NM specific upgrade drops you'll either have to spend hard-earned gil or brave the eerie depths of Ra'Kaznar afterall!
| Vagary Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Accessories & Armor | JSE Upgrade Materials | JSE Upgrade Currency |
|
||
- Delve
Like Vagary, this content requires a minimum of 3 people in a party to enter, but there are a number of items and upgrade materials that can be grabbed from doing this content. Additionally, as you do this content you'll be rewarded with Mweya Plasm which can be used to purchase rewards from NMs you have cleared or stored up and used for Rune Fencer and/or Geomancer
Ergon Weapon forging.
| Delve Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Accessories | Weapons | JSE Upgrade Materials |
| ||
- Reforged JSE
Work on getting your JSE armor sets to their +1 variants.
- BEGIN! Omen
With your Artifact JSE reforged to Item Level 119, maybe even a little bit before then if you have a group to run with, now is the time to start getting to know the ropes in Omen. Upon entry for the first time you gain access to your
Atrophy Armor Set +2, and soon thereafter you'll gain access to your +3 Artifact JSE after defeating either 100 foes in Omen or one of the Glassy (Empty) mid-bosses. You'll need a moderately sized pile of 
P. RDM Cards anyway, so get in as often as you can!
- BEGIN! Dynamis - Divergence
Same goes for having reforged your Relic JSE to Item Level 119, it's a great time to start getting into Dynamis - Divergence or "Dynamis-D" as it's popularly called. You'll often play a pivotal role in Dynamis-D as a RDM with having the longest duration Phalanx available most times, you'll be tasked with sticking with the Tank on your runs and taking care of priority debuffs like Silence on the magic casting foes, Addle on the NIN and BST targets, and Distract on the THFs, MNKs, and DNC foes. If these are your first experiences with this content, do NOT hesitate to ask questions! Any group worth their weight in gold is going to be as informative and helpful to you as possible. GOOD Red Mages are hard to come by! On first entry, you'll gain access to
Vitiation Armor Set +2. Like Omen before this, you'll swiftly gain access to your +3 Relic JSE after killing either 100 trash mobs, or the Statue mid-boss looming over Wave 1.
- Special Note on Spending: in no way is this an attempt to redirect how players spend their hard-earned gil, but I feel so very often the advice of the more established players gets washed in a mix of "... just buy X item to be good," and "... save your gil for your AF, Relic, Empyrean upgrades." For me personally, I like to suggest players follow per slot spending limits for the purpose of saving for item progression.
- Try to stick to a 1,000,000 gil/equipment slot limit for this tier of progression. This should give you enough overhead to complete your 119 JSE equipment, pick up a few of the more pricey NQ crafted items, and even throw a little extra Unity augmenting materials at any +1 items you might currently have.
Mid-Tier
Omen/Dynamis Progression
Players should typically be involved with groups that regularly attend Omen and farm both Wave I & Wave II (Divergence) at this stage in their development.
- Ambuscade Gear
By now, you should be working toward or close to finished upgrading your armor sets to their +2 variants.- Continue working on your never-ending list of Ambuscade Capes, hoarding up as many of the cape augmenting materials as you can each month.
| Ambuscade Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ambuscade Armor | Ambuscade Capes | Ambuscade Weapons |
| Unity Rewards | |
|---|---|
| Unity Weapons & Armor | JSE Upgrade Materials |
- Omen
You should be familiar with this content by now but this stage of progression will focus mainly around completing this content and gearing up for harder challenges yet to come. This content can vary in difficulty from soloable "card/detritus" farming to Caturae NM battles. Teaming up with a group up to ~18 people strong is possible, but not required at all, even for the Caturae NM battles in many cases.
| Omen Rewards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Midboss Accessories | Caturae NM Gear | JSE Upgrade Materials | |
| |||
- Vagary
Continue participating in this content. It will always be a fairly decent source of additional income long after you've acquired the upgrade materials you need.
| Vagary Rewards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| JSE Upgrade Materials | |||
| |||
- Delve
Continue participating in this content, as well. Another source of additional income.
- Dynamis - Divergence
You should be somewhat familiar with this content by now. Entry into each zone will gain you access to Relic JSE +2. Defeating 100+ squadron foes in Wave 1 of the corresponding zone, or defeating the Mid-Boss Statue will grant you access to Relic JSE +3.
| Dynamis - Divergence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Zone for Clear | +2 Upgrade Materials | +3 Upgrade Materials |
 Dynamis - Windurst (D)
|
| |
 Dynamis - Jeuno (D)
|
| |
 Dynamis - Bastok (D)
|
| |
 Dynamis - San d'Oria (D)
|
| |
All Zones Clear |
||
- BEGIN! Odyssey
- Sheol A, B, C
Lustreless Scales: Used to Augment Level 119~122 Unity Gear.
Lustreless Hides: Used to Augment Level 125~128 Unity Gear.
Lustreless Wings: Used to Augment Level 135~145 Unity Gear.
- Sheol: Gaol
Consider starting up or joining a group of players at similar points in progression as yourself. Start tackling some of the Gaol NMs. Even at Vengeance 1 these NMs are not terribly hard with some thoughtful organization and party composition planning. I would not recommend Vengeance 0 at all as the rewards for gaining access to the gear are overshadowed by the ability to "RP" anything gained from Vengeance 1 up to
.
- Sheol A, B, C
- BEGIN! Sortie
The focus here should be to enter the zone and gain access to your
Leth. Armor Set +2. You can just as easily in the same instance get access to your 
Leth. Armor Set +3 by entering one of the basement (E~G zones), which will give you the 
Peerless red mage's soul; H zone is locked out by a rather tough objective to solo, and can even put some groups willing to try on their heels. That one will come later when you're actually doing full blown NM runs with a group. Farming Gallimaufry and Ra'Kaz. Sapphires for upgrading to your 
Leth. Armor Set +1 → Leth. Armor Set +2 are the only current objectives.
- Reforged JSE
Work on upgrading your JSE to their +2 variants.
- Special Note on Spending:
- Try to stick to a 5,000,000 gil/equipment slot limit for this tier of progression. This should give you enough overhead to complete your 119+2 JSE equipment, perhaps splurge a little on a +1 crafted item here and there, and keep throwing extra Unity augmenting materials at the ever growing number of +1 Unity items starting to clog your inventory.
High-Tier
Sortie/Odyssey Progression
By this stage, you should have a handful of jobs available, and be running with groups that regularly work on Odyssey NM progress and likely even Sortie NM runs.
- Ambuscade
At this point, Ambuscade will primarily be about making gil or gathering currency to build REMA Weapons. Continue spam-buscade at your leisure to facilitate this endeavor.
- NOTE: Not ONE of these weapons are even remotely necessary to play the job efficiently and to high-performing capacity.
- Unity
If you're all caught up on upgrades and most of your augments to this gear, Unity Wanted Campaign is an excellent way to supplement the farming of
items for your REMA building process.
- Omen
Continue with Omen to get ahold of some of the Regal accessories, if you haven't quite gotten everything on the list yet. Otherwise it can be a viable alternative source for gathering
Astral Detritus to augment any of your REMA weapons you happen to be building.
- Dynamis Wave III
By now, you and your group should be well versed in the basic mechanics of the game. Enough that you should be able to work your way through and to victory in Dynamis - Divergence: Wave III. This will round out your development when it comes to REMA weapons since it is the single largest source of Astral Detritus in a single sitting. Just remember, less is more when it comes to planning a winning strategy. Too many groups often go in unprepared for the significant jumps in required Accuracy, Magic Accuracy, and just general attentiveness and situational awareness.
| Dynamis - Divergence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Zone for Clear | Disjoined NM | Augment Clear |
| Dynamis - Windurst (D)
|
Disjoined Tarutaru | |
| Dynamis - Jeuno (D)
|
Disjoined Mithra | |
| Dynamis - Bastok (D)
|
Disjoined Galka | |
| Dynamis - San d'Oria (D)
|
Disjoined Elvaan | |
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- Odyssey
Here's (in my honest opinion) where the real challenge and fun begins. As you progress through Odyssey Vengeance levels, you will find some of the most challenging content that you have ever and likely will ever face in Final Fantasy XI. As such, some absolutely fantastic rewards will come to your RDM. A lot of the following rewards you should have at least some progress on RP-wise or at the very least have acquired them as you worked through Mid-Tier progression:
| Odyssey Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Atonement 1 & 2 Rewards | Atonement 3 Rewards | Atonement 4 Rewards |
- Sortie
As you work through Odyssey RP progress, you'll likely get into some Gallimaufry &
Ra'Kaz. Starstone farming in Sortie to upgrade the Lethargy Armor Set +2 → Lethargy Armor Set +3
Additionally, the higher and higher your RP accrues on your Odyssey Gear, the more likely you'll be working toward possibly building some of the most powerful Ultimate weapons in the game - the Prime Weapons. Red Mage's options:
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- For more information, go here.
- Limbus
Beginning with the June 2025 Version Update, players are now able to reforge their Artifact and Relic gear even further to new 119+4 JSE variants. Only minor individual attribute increases were provided with these sets along with some significant "updating" to the Evasion & Magic Evasion attributes. The Magic Accuracy portion of RDM work will acquire some moderate uplift in the use of the Artifact set when combined with Regal Accessory & set bonuses. Regrettably, none of the job trait bonuses or augments saw any increases. So you may consider these items more or less capstone pieces as you continue to advance well beyond the need of this guide. Here they are in their simplest form showing only the value increase to attributes affected:
| Limbus | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Atrophy Armor Set +4 | Relevant Attributes Increased | Vitiation Armor Set +4 | Relevant Attributes Increased |
 Atro. Chapeau +4
|
MND+5 M.Acc.+10 Eva.+40 M.Eva.+25 |  Viti. Chapeau +4
|
STR+5 INT+5 Acc.+5 Att.+10 M.Acc.+5 Eva.+25 M.Eva.+40 Enf. Skill+1 WSD+3% |
 Atrophy Tabard +4
|
MND+5 M.Acc.+10 Eva.+40 M.Eva.+25 Enf. Skill+1 |  Viti. Tabard +4
|
INT+5 M.Acc.+5 Eva.+25 M.Eva.+40 Healing Skill+1 Enh. Skill+1 |
 Atro. Gloves +4
|
MND+5 M.Acc.+63 Eva.+40 M.Eva.+25 |  Viti. Gloves +4
|
INT+5 M.Acc.+5 Eva.+25 M.Eva.+40 Enh. Skill+1 |
 Atro. Tights +4
|
MND+5 M.Acc.+59 Eva.+40 M.Eva.+25 Enh. Skill+1 |  Viti. Tights +4
|
INT+5 M.Acc.+5 Eva.+25 M.Eva.+40 Elemental Skill+1 |
 Atro. Boots +4
|
MND+5 M.Acc.+66 Eva.+40 M.Eva.+25 Shield Skill+1 |  Viti. Boots +4
|
INT+5 M.Acc.+5 Eva.+25 M.Eva.+40 "Mag. Atk. Bns."+3 Enf. Skill+1 |
- Reforged JSE
Complete your JSE armor upgrades to their +3 variants and start working toward +4 reforges at your leisure.
- Special Note on Spending:
- Try to stick to a 10,000,000 gil/equipment slot limit for this tier of progression. This should give you enough overhead to complete your 119+3 JSE equipment. At this point, rounding out sets will be all about saving for the higher end +1 crafted items, and still throwing extra Unity augmenting materials at the absolute infestation of +1 Unity items utterly destroying any hope of inventory management you thought you had. Focus your prayers here.
JSE Capes
Ambuscade Capes
Below is an entirely incomplete list of some cape augmentation examples that you may need as you play RDM.
 Sucellos's Cape Builds
| |
|---|---|
| Abdhaljs Materials | Notes |
| Hybrid-Enfeeble/Enhancing | |
|
This was one of the first useful capes I ever built in my progress on Red Mage. And it carried me up until just around  Aurist's Cape +1. For it's purpose, a mix of MND, INT, Magic Accuracy, Fast Cast, and Spell Interruption Rate down for most of your Enhancing Magic/Enfeebling Magic needs. You'll likely needle this one later into something that fulfills another purpose.
|
| Cure Potency | |
|
This should be another priority cape early on to boost your curing power as a support class, especially in content where it's less likely you'll be asked to come /NIN. Later on, you'll likely needle this to Enmity -10 from "Cure" Potency +10% as you'll have better and better sources of curing power available. |
| Dual Wield | |
|
I won't pretend melee Red Mage isn't a thing, it very much is. For the enspellers out there, this will get you just that much closer to the Attack Speed cap. Consider a needle for this later on from Accuracy to more DEX. |
| Savage Blade/Knights of Round | |
|
Just your run of the mill STR based Weapon Skill cape! Looks like all other Savage Blade capes, but this one is red. |
| Seraph Blade/Sanguine Blade | |
|
Seraph Blade and Sanguine Blade will become staples of your Red Mage damage kit. While they function differently as magical weapon skills their WSCs are both primarily MND based. Depending on the buffs you have while performing either of these weapon skills, Weapon Skill Damage and Magic Attack Bonus augments could be interchangeable. |
Skirmish Cape
- The
Ghostfyre Cape is insanely good at one thing, and okay-ish at some others. You'll have this in your Enhancing Magic Duration toolkit until the sun blackens and time fades into nothingness (by the way, that's your tank's Phalanx timer, stop what you're doing and tell 'em to get in their pajamas.) You can obtain this item from Reives located anywhere in Ulbuka including the Wildskeeper Reives. Alternatively, you can also obtain it by trading any combination of 3 other Reive Capes to Makel-Pakel in the Celennia Memorial Library.
- After you've obtained your handy-dandy cape, take it on over to Detrovio, found just inside the staging area of the Inventors' Coalition in Western Adoulin (J-10). There you can start trading him both your Ghostfyre Cape and
Refractive Crystals you've been saving from spamming Emperor Arthro day in and day out to start augmenting your cape. Ultimately, you're aiming for the following:
- Magic Accuracy +10 (+1~10)
- Enfeebling Magic Skill +10 (+1~10)
- Enhancing Magic Skill +10 (+1~10)
- Enhancing Magic Duration +20% (+1~20%)
- The Enhancing Magic Skill and Enhancing Magic Duration are the kickers here since you'll often be trying to reach for 500 Enhancing Magic Skill in your enhancing sets, any little bit helps. Additionally, the +1~20% Enhancing Duration comes in as a separate duration multiplier to any enhancing spells cast on yourself or other party/alliance members.
Equipment & Knowledge Progression
About Overlays
Special Note on Overlays: Among the equipment sets below, you'll see collapsed overlay sets which are typically just pieces layered over base sets to achieve a desired effect, duration, skill, or defensive parameter. For the sake of completion, a lot of these sets will be filled out completely, but not always. They'll be denoted characteristically as Equipment Set+ for example. These sets are generally Mid-Tier progression or higher. As such, they will contain components that can sometimes seem spread out amongst content-difficulties. These are done this way simply to save space in the guide and are not meant to leave anything out or ignore any alternatives.
Idle Set Progression
Damage Taken
| Damage Taken Information |
|---|
| Sadly, one of the biggest things I see new players skip right past is damage mitigation and new Red Mages are not exempt. The best thing you can do for your own progression and to ensure you and your group's success is set yourself up to be able to survive even the most dire of situations. Damage Taken gear is so prolific in the game now, albeit can be a bit more split between specific damage types early on. Generally speaking, you'll want to aim to protect yourself from hard hitting magic, and the auto-attacks of enemy targets as you get things under control. You're no good to your group if you're silenced or face down in the dirt. |
| Early Progression Damage Taken (DT) targets: |
All base Damage Taken categories cap at -50%
|
| Note on Malignance Gear |
 Malignance Attire Set: while this is a great DT, Evasion, and Magic Evasion option, it is not a set that is entirely necessary if your intent is to play more of a "backline/support" RDM role. The sets below reflect this.
|
Idle Sets
|
| Overlays: Refresh+ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
+ Refresh +1~3
Fast Cast Progression
Fast Cast & Quick Magic
| Fast Cast & Quick Magic Information |
|---|
| Fast Cast |
| "Fast Cast" is, without question, the most noteworthy trait on RDM. Sometimes getting lost in the heaps of Fast Cast gear available to just about every job in the game at this point, RDM absolutely does make the very best use of the trait while also needing the least amount of it when fully Mastered. This makes a TON of room available for great pre-cast options like Magic Evasion and Damage Taken reduction gear. |
| Quick Magic |
"Quick Magic", sometimes listed as "Occ. quickens spellcasting" on gear, is not unique to RDM, but Red Mage does make the most significant use of the trait acquired through gear only. Red Mage gains benefits to the use of "Quick Magic" through the Category: Quick Magic Effect. 20/20 JP in this category gives RDM an automatic 40% reduction in MP cost for spells that are cast under a "Quick Magic" activation. The additional major benefit to a "Quick Magic" activation is that the spell is cast instantly and has an instant recast.
|
Fast Cast Sets
|
| Overlays: Quick Magic & Alternate Fast Cast Sets | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Healing Magic Progression
Healing Magic
| Healing Magic Information |
|---|
Curing spells have some of the most misunderstood (or perhaps misinterpreted) mechanics behind them in the entirety of FFXI. I am definitely not going to go into overbearing detail about what all goes into that. If you want the deep dive, check this out. What I did try to focus on was a number of important curing stats, utilizing Healing Skill sparingly for the Tranquil Heart trait, Damage Taken reduction gear, and progressing Enmity reduction gear along the way.
Admittedly, healing is one of, if not the worst aspect of my knowledge. Much of the information here is fine tuned from conversations with a close friend and one of the best healers in the whole game. Yes, I'm biased. My tendency is to default to stay-alive-while-curing, so I generally go for very defensive cure sets. One of the best things that can be done defensively is practice positioning. Meaning, you want to be able to reach both your DPS players and Tank players with your cures AND be out of range of the enemy's nasty Area of Effect maneuvers if any. This is a joined effort most of the time, meaning groups will have to communicate effectively to achieve desired results. |
Cure Sets
|
| Overlays: Weather Cure+, DT Cure+ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Status Removal Sets
|
| Overlays: Cursna+, Cursna-Received+ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Enhancing Magic Progression
Enhancing Magic
| Enhancing Magic Information |
|---|
Red Mage has an A rating in Enhancing Magic which is the highest in the game and tied only by Scholar while under the effects of  Light Arts. At 99 a Red Mage should have 8 points into their Enhancing Magic Skill category which brings them to 420 skill. With no additional gear, a RDM will be at 456 skill when they attain Job Mastery.
Some spells cast with Enhancing Magic are skill dependent while others are skill capped. Others yet can be free from skill dependency entirely and instead become spells you'll want to try and optimize around their durations, potency, and generally not dying while mid-cast. The sets below should assist you in developing your support class nature on RDM and provide you with plenty of space to grow or prioritize your own needs. |
| Composure Job Ability Bonus |
Composure: The coolest trick in the book for RDM. Verbatim, this ability reads:
The degree by which your physical accuracy will increase is resolved by:
Now, let's talk about calculating self-directed Enhancing Magic. Composure triples the duration of enhancing magic effects cast on yourself, but comes in as a separate multiplier to various gear that has Enh. Mag. Duration +η%.
|
| Lethargy Armor Set: Augments Composure Bonus |
| Additionally, Composure isn't only the coolest trick in the book for RDM, but those you'll be buffing with your Enhancing Magic will love it too! With the Lethargy Armor Set, having Composure active will confer a set bonus to your Enhancing Magic Duration when cast on others. Obviously we'll have to balance sets with necessary skill bonuses for certain spells, like Phalanx II which has an Enhancing Magic Skill component to its potency, or Refresh which utilizes some non-Lethargy pieces for its potency. Sometimes that means giving up one or more pieces from the set to meet that early on and even sometimes later in your progression, but overall it's a fantastic bonus when your tanks and mages glue themselves to your presence knowing they'll get significantly more potent and longer lasting buffs. It also increases the duration of your Enfeebling Magic spells, so just like your party friendos, those monsters are just going to love you to pieces!
The set bonus takes effect at Estoqueur's Attire Set +2 and up and you can mix & match pieces between this set and any item from the reforged set (Lethargy Armor Set) beyond it. This makes it incredibly easy to find some early Enhancing Magic Duration bonuses when casting buffs on party/alliance members and Enfeebling Magic Duration bonuses for those feisty lil mobbos. From the Lethargy Armor Set description:
|
Enhancing Magic Sets
|
| Overlays: Duration+, Skill+ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Composure Sets
|
If you haven't upgraded your 
Aquaveil, Stoneskin, Barspells, etc.
| Aquaveil, Stoneskin, and Barspell Information |
|---|
| Aquaveil |
|
| Stoneskin |
|
| Barspells |
|
| Overlays-Self: Refresh, Aquaveil, Stoneskin, Barspells | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| Overlays-Others: Refresh, Aquaveil, Stoneskin, Barspells | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Phalanx/Phalanx II
| Phalanx Information |
|---|
| Phalanx Page Notes |
|
| Notable RDM Phalanx Tiers |
"Phalanx" received +η gear directly increases the value of (F) and can exceed the skill-capped value of -35.
|
| Enhancing Magic Skill Progression through Job Points |
|
Phalanx I Sets
|
Phalanx II Sets
- Note: The below sets are also literally your Light Arts/Accession - Phalanx sets. You will want to recast Phalanx II on yourself in phalanx gear for a stronger and slightly longer lasting phalanx.
|
Enspells
| General Enspell Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The base damage for tier I and tier II Enspells available to Red Mage is based solely on the caster's Enhancing Magic Skill and calculated via the following formulas:
Damage is subject to rounding errors (1024/1000, or about ~2.4% increase in expected damage) To calculate full Enspell damage, use the following formula: (((Base Enspell damage + RDM Group 2 Merit Points + RDM Enspell Job Point Gifts + Sword Enhancement Spell Damage +n) × (Composure + Sword Enhancement Spell Damage +n% The base damage of the first tier of Enspells is determined only by the caster's total Enhancing Magic Skill at the time of cast.
The additional effect damage of tier I Enspells is applied to all physical melee strikes of an attack round.
Tier II Enspells follow the same formula as their tier I counterparts to calculate base damage with some major differences in how damage is applied.
| ||||||
| Special Effects of Tier II Enspells | ||||||
If it wasn't enough that tier II enspells work completely different from tier Is, they also will lower the target's  Magic Evasion to the element ascendant to the element being used by -10.
|
Enspell Sets
|
Odin HTBF
This is NOT an exhaustive list, but should present a handful of options outside of the meta Aern/Esikuva/Ceremonial daggers being used. Daggers are ideal for their significantly lower Delay, but not strictly required. I've always found this fight to be more enjoyable with others, but being able to solo some of the grindy bits (like this fight/farm) definitely helps progress along.
 Odin HTBF Daggers, Swords, Clubs
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Damage | Delay | Notes |
 Daggers
| |||
| Hedron Dagger
|
DMG:1 | Delay:150 | Obtained from the Crystal Paradise Master Trial battlefield. |
 Aern Dagger
|
DMG:1 | Delay:180 | Obtained from the Absolute Virtue Campaign event. |
 Esikuva
|
DMG:1 | Delay:180 | Obtained from Synergy (Amateur) with the  Norgish Dagger from the True Love (Battlefield) and  Lion's Roar from A Fond Farewell (Battlefield).
|
 Infiltrator
|
DMG:1 | Delay:180 | Obtained from A Fond Farewell (Battlefield). |
| Norgish Dagger
|
DMG:1 | Delay:180 | Obtained from A Fond Farewell (Battlefield). |
 Ceremonial Dagger
|
DMG:1 | Delay:183 | Obtained from Magicked Bones in Inner Horutoto Ruins or purchased from the Auction House. |
 Swords
| |||
 Ibushi Shinai
|
DMG:1 | Delay:228 | Obtained from the Feast of Swords special event. |
 Aern Sword
|
DMG:1 | Delay:240 | Obtained from the Absolute Virtue Campaign event. |
 Excalipoor
|
DMG:1 | Delay:240 | Obtained from Repeat Login Campaigns or from the Festive Moogle by trading in a  Mog Pell (Green).
|
| Fermion Sword
|
DMG:1 | Delay:240 | Obtained from the Black And White Master Trial battlefield. |
 Twinned Blade
|
DMG:1 | Delay:240 | Obtained as a reward for the completion of The Voracious Resurgence Mission 3-5. |
 Clubs
| |||
 Apkallu Scepter
|
DMG:1 | Delay:216 | Obtained as a reward for the completion of The Voracious Resurgence Mission 5-5. |
 Tengu War Fan
|
DMG:1 | Delay:216 | Obtained from a cutscene at the end of The Voracious Resurgence Mission 6-3. |
 Thunder Hammer
|
DMG:1 | Delay:216 | Obtained from a cutscene at the end of The Voracious Resurgence Mission 6-3. |
 Heartbeater
|
DMG:1 | Delay:264 | Obtained by trading a Mog Pell (Green) to any Festive Moogle.
|
| Club Hammer
|
DMG:1 | Delay:300 | Obtained from Moblin Maze Mongers by spending 400 Maze Marbles in Chatnachoq's Souvenir Shop. |
| Overlays-Self: Enspell Engaged Sets | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Enfeebling Magic Progression
Enfeebling Magic
| Enfeebling Magic Information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enfeebling magic is used to cripple or hinder your target's abilities to perform various functions against you or your party members. They fall into several categories and subcategories that will have you gearing for Enfeebling Magic accordingly. They are:
Procedural Note: You may be asking yourself, "Why would I cast lower tier enfeebles in a higher magic accuracy loadout and then switch to potency on the higher tier?" Sometimes you need the target to have slightly lower magic evasion to land a higher potency something else, at the same time, said target has a higher magic evasion than normal to begin with. Rather than casting the same thing over and over with no result, it can be beneficial to just land something lower potency with higher magic accuracy and move to the higher potency enfeeble you desire. Examples like rather than waiting for immunobreak cycles (discussed later) to land Silence, simply landing a high-magic accuracy Frazzle II will be enough to stick a subsequent silence. Other examples include using Frazzle II to land full potency Distract III, or full potency Frazzle III. As with anything, some surface level knowledge of your target as well as the tools available to you will be beneficial in helping you figure out the quickest and most accurate method of applying enfeebling magic on your targets. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Magic Accuracy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Part of accurately and reliably applying enfeebling spells to your targets will depend on your magic accuracy. The below information is pulled from the Magic Accuracy page to illustrate better how this stat is utilized.
There are several components of Magic Accuracy:
In addition to the above categorization of enfeebling spells and consideration of Magic Accuracy, determining the hit rate of such spells also takes into consideration the target's Negative Status Resistance Rank. The following information is included directly from that page to explain the topic in more detail: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Negative Status Resistance Ranks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monsters use separate negative status resistance ranks for the hit rate calculations and resist states of certain effects inflicted upon them.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Modifying Negative Status Resistance Ranks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Immunobreak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Immunobreaking is a unique mechanic to enfeebling and a vital aspect of playing RDM. Understanding how it works and being able to apply it in a multitude of different scenarios will serve you very well as you develop your skills playing this job. The information that follows will address some of the key factors of immunobreak and its uses.
An Immunobreak occurs when certain Enfeebling Magic spells are resisted which results in the monster's resistance rank to the negative status effect that triggered it to lower by one rank. This reduction results in the lowering of the monster's magic evasion to subsequent casts of the same negative status effect. Any Immunobreaks triggered afterwards by the same Enfeebling Magic will stack in a cumulative fashion and further lower the monster's negative status resistance rank. This rank will stay at its modified level until the corresponding negative status effect successfully lands.
The chance for an Immunobreak to occur varies from monster to monster, and can even vary between the different Immunobreakable negative status effects of a single monster. It is possible to increase the chances of one occurring in the following ways:
Currently, there is only one piece of armor in the game with the "Immunobreak +1" stat:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Potency/Duration Calculations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
MND Based Enfeebling Sets
|
While you can build 2 separate 
INT Based Enfeebling Sets
|
| Overlays: Potency+, Skill+, Immunobreak+ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Extra Magic Accuracy
For what it's worth, if you're needing a little bit more Magic Accuracy at the expense of a little dStat modifier (based on the spell), its contribution to overall magic accuracy, a small chunk of enfeebling duration, and/or a bit of enfeebling potency, the following items may assist:
Null Loop boasting a handsome M.Acc. +50 will grant you (more or less, depending on the tier of JSE neck used) +25 magic accuracy over 
Duelist's Torque +1 with MND/INT -12 and Aug.Enf.Duration -20%
Null Belt with M.Acc. +30 will give (more or less, depending on your waist option)
- +15 magic accuracy over
Acuity Belt +1 with INT -23. - +20 magic accuracy over
Luminary Sash with MND -10. - Note: Null Belt will generally be a wash compared to
Obstinate Sash with Enfeebling Magic Skill adding 1:1 Magic Accuracy to the +15 already on the piece, effectively totaling +30.
- +15 magic accuracy over
Null Shawl has M.Acc. +50 and competes (more or less, depending on your back option) with:
- +0~49 magic accuracy over Sucellos's Cape, for a trade-off of: MND/INT -0~30 and enfeebling potency -10 (values will vary depending on augments applied.)
- +17 magic accuracy over
Aurist's Cape +1, trading off MND/INT -33.
- +0~49 magic accuracy over
Special Note: As with anything in this game, your situation will vary widely based on live circumstances, the specific content and its difficulty, and the completely unpredictable human element. I wouldn't generally recommend utilizing more than 2 of these pieces in combination at any one time to account for the significant loss of any dStat modifier or magic accuracy components, as well as any resulting changes to needed/desired enfeebling potency. The 
Null Masque has been left out of this consideration purely for the fact that the 
Vitiation Chapeau beyond +1 already carries a comparable amount of magic accuracy when coupled with its enfeebling magic skill as well as its INT/MND attribute.
Elemental Magic Progression
Magic Damage
| Magic Damage Information |
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| Magic Damage |
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Damage Dealt = D × MTDR × Staff × Affinity × Resist × Resistance Rank Reduction × MB × MBB × Day & Weather × MAB/MDB × TMDA × Potency Multipliers Damage Dealt is calculated by multiplying the following terms in order (see above). After each multiplication step, the product is floored to the next lowest integer before continuing to the next multiplier. Each term after D starts with a base of 1.0 and is increased or decreased by caster and target stats and attributes as well as other effects.
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| INT Adjusted Base Damage |
INT Adjusted Base Damage (D) is defined by the equation:
Some important things to note about base damage:
From here the other 42,971 terms of overall magic damage will start to factor in. |
| Magic Attack Bonus vs. Magic Defense Bonus |
This will be the other significant factor (outside of magic bursting) toward your Magic Damage output that you can somewhat control. The term itself is a multiplying factor on base magic damage.
Using the same
Ignoring all other terms and factors of the magic damage equation this results in:
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| Magic Burst |
Magic Bursting and Magic Burst Strategies will be a large part of getting the most out of elemental magic casting. This part of the magic damage equation is a direct multiplier on magic damage and depends entirely on the number of skillchains performed without breaking the chain.
For an example we'll use the calculation including a 3-step skillchain (SCη>1 = 1). Once again, ignoring all other damage factors of the magic damage equation, and using our previous result from base magic damage and MAB/MDB of Magic Damage Dealt = 711, we find:
Nuking for the damage provided in previous examples during the first Magic Burst Window gives:
While nuking for the same damage during the second Magic Burst Window gives:
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| Magic Burst Bonus |
The last bit that goes into damage output considering things that are in our control (for the most part) comes with "Magic Burst Bonus" gear and the trait of the same name. To be utilized during MB windows, this component is yet another multiplier on our base magic damage.
Red Mage gets a Magic Burst Bonus trait equal to MBBt = 0.07, so we'll use that for the rest of this explanation. There are other things that can factor into your overall MBBtot value, but they are either not available to RDM at all, or not commonly applied to current "end-game" situations. Like in all the examples considering Magic Damage Dealt before this point, we'll be using the
Following the results from previous examples to Magic Damage Dealt (888 damage in the First MB window) we find:
It's important to note that there are limits to using this variable as well, such as the "cap for MBBG" is 0.4. As described on gear, it would read as "Magic burst damage" +40. We call this value MB1. Additionally, there is another "gear trait" that is additive with MB1 and has no known cap called "Magic burst damage II" or MB2. Now, we can even further optimize our overall magic damage by balancing and weighting in various capacities, all components we have learned thus far: |
| Affinity & Day/Weather |
| Two final components remain that we can utilize to further boost (or even sometimes hinder!) our overall magic damage. We'll go over them very briefly here.
First up: Elemental Affinity. We'll call this term MABaff. This term is a separate multiplier to overall magic damage linked to a specific element. For instance:
The
Next up: Day & Weather Multiplier which we'll call M(D+W). Yet another separate multiplier term to overall magic damage which mechanically depends on a completely randomized activation based on the spell's elemental alignment being either ascendant or descendant to the day and/or weather. The activation can be forced through the use of an Elemental Obi aligned to a specific element or the
This gives us our final Magic Damage Dealt result:
These have been incredibly simple evaluations to overall magic damage using only 3 gear components, but you can already see how much these terms affect your output as a nuking RDM. We went from a base Stone III damage value of 465 (with a single piece) to 2,075 (by adding two other pieces) and making some basic assumptions about the environment we're casting in. There are other factors to consider and making optimal use of them is where the fun is in nuking. I strongly encourage a deeper dive into terms found in the Magic Damage Dealt equation as well as developing a stronger sense of Resists and how they affect the overall outcome. |
| The Nuke Wall |
| Since we've talked about Affinity & Day/Weather modifiers, and how they can hurt your damage output as much as boost it, let's also briefly cover the "Consecutive Elemental Damage Penalty."
Also known as the "Nuke Wall", there is a penalty applied to any elemental magic [2] cast on a monster for 5 seconds after that first instance.
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Free Nuking Sets
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Magic Bursting Sets
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| Overlays: Impact, Impact MB, Seidr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dark Magic Progression
Dark Magic
| Dark Magic Information |
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| Dark Magic spells focus primarily around absorbing various attributes (like Absorb-INT) and debilitating foes in ways that aren't handled by other schools of magic (like Stun or Bio.) RDM comes with an E rating in the skill, capping out at 300 skill at level 99. Utilizing the /SCH role and Dark Arts ability, RDM can boost their Dark Magic Skill to a B+ giving 404 skill. Further increases come from gear and assignments.
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| Bio |
The Bio line of spells inflict an attack debuff on their targets and apply a damage over time effect that lasts for the duration of the spell.
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| Stun |
Stun is a spell that imparts a short duration, completely immobilizing effect on the target. It can be utilized in strategies in conjunction with RDM's Chainspell ability to effectively prevent a target from acting at all while chainspell is active by firing stun near instantly in rapid succession. Caution must be exercised in some cases where a target's resistance to Stun gradually builds up to the point that it no longer provides the desired effect. While Stun is classified as Dark Magic, it is elementally aligned with  Thunder. Stun also has a native Magic Accuracy bonus of +200.
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| Absorb-TP |
| There are various absorb spells available with the /DRK support job, but Absorb-TP is the primary use case for this line of spells. It is heavily used in any strategy where the foe has significant amounts of Regain or where a single TP move going off could prove to be disastrous. There is still a lot of mechanical mystery surrounding this spell, and it is currently unknown whether Dark Magic Skill affects it at all outside of added Magic Accuracy.
For the purposes of RDM you'll see gearing focus primarily on Magic Accuracy and Fast Cast for bringing the recast time as low as possible. |
| Aspir & Drain |
| Aspir will be the primary focus here, but don't forget Drain either. It may come in handy when you expect it least of all.
Aspir absorbs a certain amount of MP from the target and transfers it directly to the caster. There are higher tier aspir spells, but none are available to RDM regardless of sub-job choice. As it stands, Aspir is only available with the sub-jobs: DRK (Lv20), BLM (Lv25), SCH (Lv36). It is also available to GEO (Lv30), but it is an unlikely sub-job combination.
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Dark Shot.Aspir/Drain Sets
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| Overlays: Bio III, Stun, Absorb-TP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Melee Progression
Melee vs. Support
| To Melee, or Not To Melee? |
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| Sadly, the number of gear templates in the guide has reached critical mass and I'm not able to show you a visual progression of melee equipment through various stages of development. But that doesn't mean we can't talk about it a little.
The decision to melee or remain along the back line is entirely a cost benefit analysis. What content are you participating in? What's the party composition? What's the group's expectation of your role as RDM? While these also play into your decisions when choosing a sub-job, they will be your basis for determining how best to act in dynamic situations. My default position is to controlling the fight. This means assisting with breaks and sleeps; it means silencing casters so that they move in from the backline and become less problematic.
There will be content in which you are looked to for some significant damage output, but even in those cases, you are still one of the primary sources of controlling the fight. You may be geared to the teeth for Savage Blade, but I can promise you, if things start happening that a RDM is designed to prevent, folks will be unhappy, morale will diminish, and the fun starts dissipating into the aether. Don't be that RDM. |
| Noteable Traits & Thresholds |
Multi-Attack, Accuracy, Store TP, and maximizing Attack Speed are your priorities here. RDM has a massive benefit to melee conditions with things like
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| Dual Wield |
Straight from the Dual Wield notes:
Here are some noteworthy Dual Wield thresholds you can expect to face as either RDM/NIN or RDM/DNC: |
 Support Job: DNC → DWtrait = 15%
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Hastegear = 25% (256/1024), Hastemagic = 30% (307/1024)
Hastegear = 25% (256/1024), Hastemagic = 43.75% (448/1024)
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 Support Job: NIN → DWtrait = 25%
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Hastegear = 25% (256/1024), Hastemagic = 30% (307/1024)
Hastegear = 25% (256/1024), Hastemagic = 43.75% (448/1024)
1 where DWreq values are negative, you may begin removing any DWgear. Your modified weapon delay is not affected by HasteJA and will not adversely affect your TP gain. |
Weapon Skill Damage
| Weapon Skill General Information - Under Construction |
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Weapon Skills are a staple of the entire game. A lot of the time they are going to be the fastest and cleanest way to victory in many challenges we face as players. For RDM it's no different, but also comes with the necessity for discernment over whether it's a good time to get involved in damage dealing or not. Once at that point, knowing what weapon skill to use, how to gear for it, and how to incorporate it into a group strategy is going to be key.
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| Weapon Skill Damage Considerations |
| There are a handful of parameters we'll want to consider for generally improving weapon skill damage. In the next couple sections, we'll discuss "the four most commonly used weapon skills" available to RDM, the weapons, and some of the stats and bonuses we'll prefer to make the best use of them. |
 Physical Weapon Skills
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| Naegling
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 Maxentius
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 Magical Weapon Skills
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Magic Weapon Skill damage is affected by all the same modifiers as other sources of magic damage, but the base damage is calculated somewhat similarly to physical weapon skills:
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 Vitiation Sword
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