RDM Group 1 merits

[Delekii]

There is no correct answer as it depends entirely on your situation, the other RDMs whom you play with, and what you do most with your RDM.

When all is said and done, I will be going with Ice5 Convert5 Para2x3 Slow2x3, because it suits my playstyle.

[MikedeeFenrir]

Ice 5/5
Wind 5/5

But I'm deciding if I want to max out Earth ever since I maxed out Slow II ><

[G-Rod]

I think convert merits are a slam dunk, and overall have probably had the most value to me over any other merit. I also believe DS +Cure IV after convert is a huge waste of DS and shouldn't even be a consideration in deciding to merit convert. I can't even remember the last time I nuked for a group event unless it was preceded by chainspell, because I can still easily find more productive ways to use my mp if there happens to be some to spare. Lastly, no way is 5 merits spread across accuracy going to save you more mp than convert, especially considering how fickle FFXI can be about landing enfeebles.

[pogle]

Convert merits are total win for merit parties. Also total win for soloing stuff in various forms. I'm at 4/5 convert, and 2/5 ice at the moment for my RDM. Ice accuracy will help for Bind/Paralyze if you ever want to pull off those crazy RDM solos you see videos of, as will convert merits. And I've yet to be in a merit party where i couldnt *effectively* spend more mp to aid the party and meet my quicker convert timer.

And hi, first time posting here and all that.

[Metah]

I soloed Guardian Statue for my own pimp hat at level 62 does that count as crazy RDM solo?

[Kyreth]

Yes. That is madness. Glorious Red Mage Madness.

As for the joys of Convert- I never, ever see having more MP to burn as a bad thing. Convert gives me that MP. A faster Convert gives me that MP more often, which means I function better as an RDM.

5 Convert + 3/2 Ice/Wind is where I think I'd go with this after reading up on this here and elsewhere.

[Sady]

I definitely agree that 5/5 Convert merits are worth every single limit point. 1:40 reduction on a 10:00 ability is huge! With or without uber gear such as Dalmatica and/or AF2 hat (I capped tier 1 merits long before obtaining these items), the increase to your potential mana pool is significant, especially once have a good convert build (I push around 1020-1100 hp to mp as a mithra depending on subjob and food).

I have to agree that there are many raids where you wont use it to it's full potentail. For example, sometimes in dynamis I will only convert a handfull of times over the course of 3 hours. On the other hand, there are also a large number of other tasks where the extra mp is crutial, namely merit parties (main heal rdm/whm) and solo (mana burn style, not so much for dot+kite) where 8:20 can feel like an eternity.

As far as elemental accuracy is concerned, it comes down to preference. Ice and/or Wind are definitely the most popular choices because they each effect two key debuffs (para/bind and silence/grav respectively). However, once you have full enfeebling merits and some decent gear these accuracy increases become rather negligible. Endgame mobs are typically either succeptable to specific debuffs or for all intensive purposes immune...

[Sylphet]

5/5 Convert is win for every situation. NO you may not always use it but when you need to damn you'll be happy you have it. Granted I have some very good gear for enfeebling but It's really invaluable for everything from XP to soloing to HNMs.

As others have said: take into account what you will be using RDM for (soloing used bind/paralyze and gravity more (and susbsequent utility of ice and wind accuracy) but HNM relies more on slow II so earth accuracy is nice for that.

I realize you asked about Group 1 merits only but I reccomend taking Group 2 merits into account when you are deciding group 1.

Personally I have Convert recast and Earth Accuracy. Why?

Because of my Group II merits. I built my RDM merits around a tank party HNM build, maxing out both Phalanx II and Slow II. I used earth accuracy so that for my slow II macro I can load up on as much MND as possible, so that my Slow II can be as potent as possible. I have litterally gotten 2 resists on Slow II ever since I got the spell, using it practially daily on something or other.

So, say you want to merit Paralyze II? Ice accuracy will help with that. Slow II? Earth accuracy. Meriting the elemental accuracy allows you to stack on the MND (eg for slowII and para II) and make them more potent.

[Talus]

I solo a bit, exp a bit, and do endgame stuff on RDM so I just decided to do 4 convert, 3 ice, and 3 wind and I haven't had any significant problems in any of my RDM activities. Just do whatever you want to, other than meriting water accuracy (nice Poison II landed wheeeeeeeeeeee).

[Metah]

Hey, let's not be dissing Poison II here, what'd it ever do to you

Thanks for the help everyone.

[theo]

As a few others have already stated, I also went for 4 Convert 3 Wind 3 Ice. This selection was geared towards an all-around type of RDM, with a little bit of everything.

For me the Convert is priceless, and I'm considering dropping an Ice merit to bump Convert up another notch. The problem is I do not yet own any Auto-Refresh gear, as many of the RDMs on this board do. So when eight minutes come around and you have gained a couple hundred MP from your Dalmy or Chapeau (or both), my MP pool is hurting pretty badly. I can't tell you the number of times my Convert macro has saved my ass, and no its not because I'm bad at managing MP. Shit happens, you know?

Now when I chose elemental accuracies, I tried to choose based on what would make or break a given scenerio.

3 Wind was a no-brainer because of Silence and Gravity. Not landing Silence can mean the difference of a mob landing that nasty spell, and not landing Gravity means your basically fucked for a while.

3 Ice... well at the time I was a frequent solo'er. In these circumstances landing Bind can mean the difference between surviving or eating dirt. However recently I haven't been doing much of that kind of work anymore, so I'm considering dropping it and putting more points into Convert/Wind.

Meritting Earth imo is pointless, if Slow doesn't land cast it again. Its not like a resisted slow is going to cause your alliance to wipe.

[Bkbahamut]

I have maxed category 1 and 2.
Category 1 being:
4 Wind ; more to wind cuz im a gravity whore.
3 Ice
3 Earth

Category 2 being:
2 Paralyze II
2 Slow II
1 Phalanx II
1 Bio III

I am debating on taking out the Phalanx merit, although im actually finding times to use it more, its really on good on big fights like wyrms and shit, and im rarely in tank pt so >.>
And Bio III i NEVER use it sucks its completely worthless unless u fully merit it, Bio II is barely less DOT and lasts 2mins where 1 merit into Bio 3 lasts fuckin 30 seconds for like 54 mp? crap, I wanna go 3 Paralyze, 3 Slow

[Metah]

For Group 2 merits I decided on 3 Phalanx II, 1 Dia III and 2 Paralyze II.

As such I'll probably go Wind/Ice but you guys are persuading me into going Convert too.

[Celebrindor]

For Group 2 merits I decided on 3 Phalanx II, 1 Dia III and 2 Paralyze II.

As such I'll probably go Wind/Ice but you guys are persuading me into going Convert too.

I know a lot of RDMs will base their decisions of what spells to merit in order to compliment another RDM in their Linkshell, and rightfully so.

Based on your choices I sincerely hope that you have a RDM in your shell who has Slow II.....the consensus by far seems to be that Slow II is the definite "win" of the tier II spells. I have Slow II/Paralyze II, and I can honestly say there is no comparison. Slow II ftw.

[theo]

I know a lot of RDMs will base their decisions of what spells to merit in order to compliment another RDM in their Linkshell, and rightfully so.

This is a good point, which reminded me that I have a question of my own...

See, 3 RDMs in my LS who attend 99% of all events have SlowII and ParaII. Therefore meriting either of those two spells would be largely pointless, except for the rare event that one of them does not show up.

So my question is, what else is worth meriting in your opinions? Right now I'm considering maxing PhalanxII and DiaIII, for LS events and Merit parties respectively. Does that sound like a decent plan, or should I just say fuck it and merit ParalyzeII/SlowII anyway just in case I end up needing them?

I seem to remember reading that BlindII wasn't worth it, but I don't have the source. And BioIII just seems meh.

[Ambir]

I did: 3 wind, 3 ice, 4 convert

Same.

As for people meriting Earth... -sigh- lol, just not worth it.

Any mob that you can't land slow on with a terra's staff, can't be slowed.
I did 5 wind, 5 ice

You haven't played much endgame, have you?

[Metah]

My reasoning for Phalanx II/Dia III/Paralyze II was this

Phalanx II is just an awesome spell for any event. -20 damage per attack is nothing to scoff at.

Dia III deserves 1 merit cause of its defense down and its DoT helps too (I'm gonna guess its not higher than Bio II though) in long battle situations. In merit parties mobs don't usually last longer than a minute at most so...

So with 4 merits out, we're left with Slow II, Bio III, Blind II and Paralyze II.

Slow II will be overwriten by Hojo: Ni unless its got 3 merits into it.
Bio III, not really interested, though its DoT might be nice.
Blind II -> See Slow II except put in Kurayami: Ni

Paralyze II overwrites Jubaku (since there is only an Ichi form) even with two merits and Paralyze II in its own is a good spell. Extra proc rates and duration never hurt either.

[Celebrindor]

I know a lot of RDMs will base their decisions of what spells to merit in order to compliment another RDM in their Linkshell, and rightfully so.

................
So my question is, what else is worth meriting in your opinions? Right now I'm considering maxing PhalanxII and DiaIII, for LS events and Merit parties respectively. Does that sound like a decent plan, or should I just say fuck it and merit ParalyzeII/SlowII anyway just in case I end up needing them?

I seem to remember reading that BlindII wasn't worth it, but I don't have the source. And BioIII just seems meh.

I've contemplated Phalanx II recently.....I just got my Duelist's Chapeau, meaning I theoretically have the most MP to use of the RDMs in my sky shell. Course it also means I have the highest enfeebling score (currently, they'll get theirs from their own Dynamis shells in time I'm sure). So I usually end up in the tank party with the deeper refresh cycle as well as hasting duties. Phalanx II merited even twice is great in Dynamis, and "ok" at gods. Its not gonna let you survive a Seiryu Hundred Fists, but it might stretch your WHM's MP further over time.

So now my call is phalanx II for two merits, meaning 2 less in something else, or a mix of:

slow II 3 merits
para II 2 merits
dia III 1 merit

which is my current plan. If I opt for phalanx it likely means giving up 1 merit in slow II, and Dia III altogether....a hard call. I as well would love to hear more about phalanx II and the varying levels of it.

[Damen]

hmm to my knowledge Kurayami and BlindII (1 merit) are mutally exclusive to each other. Meaning that if Blind II lands first, Kurayami will have no effect, but if Kurayami lands first Blind II will have no effect. At least that's what I remember from testing on EP colibris.

I did SlowIIx3 ParalyzeIIx2 and BlindIIx1. I'm very pleased with Slow II, but Paralyze II is sorta eh. It's random just like para I is. Only reason I did Blind II is that I often duo with a THF friend and also none of the other merits seemed worthwhile. I never use Bio2, so meriting bio3 would be pointless. Dia3 is decent, but I really would want it with 2 merits (1min) duration. PhalanxII isnt bad either, but since it had no personal benefit to me (being weaker than phalanx I) and the fact that pld/war standard parties are non-exsistant at 75 I decided to go with BlindII.

They all have their uses, so you have to decide what you want to do with them. I chose the way I did because I solo a lot on red, but honestly, the only new merits I use is SlowII, as the benefit for the others doesnt justify the mp cost over tier 1. Which again, only really matters when you're trying to conserve MP.

[Carbon]

Blind II with three merits can be overwritten from a NIN that has capped Ninjutsu merits and/or gear.

Fail.