Redmage specific merits

[OctavoGilgamesh]

Just think of it this way Tulun. One missed silence can damn near wipe an alliance, where as a missed slow can be casted again until it sticks. Therefore the need to merit wind before earth.

[Isiolia]

Mobs also don't tend to develop a specific resistance to Slow...whereas Gravity is deliberately picked on in that way. It also has a painfully long recast timer, and it sucks to have resisted when you really need it. Same with Bind (which is Ice based).

Of the elements we can merit accuracy for, Wind and Ice have the do-or-die spells associated with them (that we regularly can use, Thunder might count with Stun, but outside /DRK it'd be irrelevant).

[Tulun]

Thank you this has been good info.

I believe messer monkey is planning on something like this:

3 Convert, 4 wind, 3 ice.

3 Slow, 2 Paralyze 2, 1 Phalanx 2.

[Septimus]

Mobs also don't tend to develop a specific resistance to Slow...whereas Gravity is deliberately picked on in that way. It also has a painfully long recast timer, and it sucks to have resisted when you really need it. Same with Bind (which is Ice based).

Of the elements we can merit accuracy for, Wind and Ice have the do-or-die spells associated with them (that we regularly can use, Thunder might count with Stun, but outside /DRK it'd be irrelevant).

I imagine that stun would be one of those spells where no amount of accuracy would really matter. It either always lands without issue, or the mob is just a jerk and resists when it feels like it.

[Isiolia]

Yeah, that's be the other factor for that. I think the only element that *would* through a kink into things would be if we could merit Darkness accuracy.

[RakEx]

Thank you this has been good info.

I believe messer monkey is planning on something like this:

3 Convert, 4 wind, 3 ice.

3 Slow, 2 Paralyze 2, 1 Phalanx 2.

That LVL 3 slow is going to be wasted if he doesn't get at least some +EARTH ACC. Depending on what he is fighting. Cerb/Khim/Tiamat and some others will resist a lvl 3 Slow 2 fairly consistently with 340 Enfeeb Skill.

I have recently changed my merits to +5 Earth Acc and I am having a much easier time landing slow on these mobs. This is huge when holding Khim/Cerb/Tiamat with a low number of players and a huge help for Khim at all times, even though he's such a puss.

I'd suggest dropping the Wind ACC. With AF+1 body/Austere's Staff and some enfeeb merits you should hardly ever get resisted on exp type mobs. Silence is hardly ever if ever used on any HNM so its not huge for the group, neither is gravity for that matter.


3Convert 3Earth 2Wind 2Ice - This would be a better option for him imo.

I am currently at 3 Convert. 5Earth 2Ice. Slow is by far the most important spell for me and the mobs that I routinely fight.

[Khamsin]

Thank you this has been good info.

I believe messer monkey is planning on something like this:

3 Convert, 4 wind, 3 ice.

3 Slow, 2 Paralyze 2, 1 Phalanx 2.

That LVL 3 slow is going to be wasted if he doesn't get at least some +EARTH ACC. Depending on what he is fighting. Cerb/Khim/Tiamat and some others will resist a lvl 3 Slow 2 fairly consistently with 340 Enfeeb Skill.

I have recently changed my merits to +5 Earth Acc and I am having a much easier time landing slow on these mobs. This is huge when holding Khim/Cerb/Tiamat with a low number of players and a huge help for Khim at all times, even though he's such a puss.

I'd suggest dropping the Wind ACC. With AF+1 body/Austere's Staff and some enfeeb merits you should hardly ever get resisted on exp type mobs. Silence is hardly ever if ever used on any HNM so its not huge for the group, neither is gravity for that matter.


3Convert 3Earth 2Wind 2Ice - This would be a better option for him imo.

I am currently at 3 Convert. 5Earth 2Ice. Slow is by far the most important spell for me and the mobs that I routinely fight.

Tiamat isn't that bad, Cerberus can be a bitch, but you'll stick it within a few casts if you're really having trouble. Khimaira, on the other hand, you may as well go /BLM and ES a full MND Slow II on him.

[RakEx]

Thank you this has been good info.

I believe messer monkey is planning on something like this:

3 Convert, 4 wind, 3 ice.

3 Slow, 2 Paralyze 2, 1 Phalanx 2.

That LVL 3 slow is going to be wasted if he doesn't get at least some +EARTH ACC. Depending on what he is fighting. Cerb/Khim/Tiamat and some others will resist a lvl 3 Slow 2 fairly consistently with 340 Enfeeb Skill.

I have recently changed my merits to +5 Earth Acc and I am having a much easier time landing slow on these mobs. This is huge when holding Khim/Cerb/Tiamat with a low number of players and a huge help for Khim at all times, even though he's such a puss.

I'd suggest dropping the Wind ACC. With AF+1 body/Austere's Staff and some enfeeb merits you should hardly ever get resisted on exp type mobs. Silence is hardly ever if ever used on any HNM so its not huge for the group, neither is gravity for that matter.


3Convert 3Earth 2Wind 2Ice - This would be a better option for him imo.

I am currently at 3 Convert. 5Earth 2Ice. Slow is by far the most important spell for me and the mobs that I routinely fight.

Tiamat isn't that bad, Cerberus can be a bitch, but you'll stick it within a few casts if you're really having trouble. Khimaira, on the other hand, you may as well go /BLM and ES a full MND Slow II on him.

I can land on Khim now with about 30-40% consistency. But this is with full acc gear. I still think its better than ES because we usually only have 1 maybe 2 rdm/blm there so slow could be off for a fair amount of time with only 2. If you have 3 or 4 rdm/blm ES can work just fine.

Rarely ever got resisted on Tiamat before but now I can just use full mnd Slow.

Cerb well.. who really cares. So easy.

[Vail]

my record on khimaira when not /blm ESing slow II was 21 resisted cast of slow and slow II(alternating) in arow, with 328 skill and +15 magic accuracy

so landing slow with even a 30% accuracy rate on him seems pretty outlandish to me.

if you don't have 3 rdm/blm at cerb or khim (hell my LS usually doesn't) we use whm/blm often, if they pack on the mnd thier slow is barely weaker then a rdm's slow II

we also go the extra mile and bring brd/blm for ES troubdour elegy

[Carbon]

Didn't they say that Para2 and Slow2 have less chance to land on higher level mobs? I have capped enfeebling with +53 and I don't think I've managed to land a Slow II or Paralyze II on Kirin yet (both level 3). However, I can land Slow and Paralyze spells pretty well. Suggestions? Or is Kirin just a faggot.

[Vail]

Kirin just a faggot.

[Mifaco]

bumping this topic. recently, I got 75 RDM and I'm wondering what G2 merits I should focus on as a merit whore? I capped Slow II and I'm wondering if I should get 3 slow/2 para/1 dia?

[kalcia]

as many ppl said before, having dia or bio on lv1 only is a waste of mp, it costs so much and lasts very short.
my merits look like that:
g1:
4 earth acc
4 ice acc
2 wind acc

g2:
3 slow2
3 para2

I'm various jobs rdm, but mostly enfeeble on hnms or other endgame activities.
I duo stuff with war/nin and we do it pretty well.

Recently, SE added 2nd group for magic/combat skills.
I've been wondering what kind of magic skill I should merit more...
I have brd on 75 too, but I never planned to merit it max, I care more about my rdm
But as SE added that 2nd group for skills. I've been wondering if I should upgrade elemental (I nuke a lot as rdmXD I have mostly equip for that, not merits ^^; ), enhancing (that would work well, if I did phalanx 2 instead of para2 I think...), or wind skill for brd ^^;

[Xajii]

Should be noted that level II enfeebles seem to be geared towards the higher-level mobs (contrary to what someone else here said) - that is, enemies whose MND will indefinitely outclass your own. The way I tested this is with Too Weak things casting Para 1 vs. Para 2. Para 1 procs a lot more. So if you're not big into HNM, tier 2 enfeebles might be a little bit of a waste.

Some info, I am bringing this up from memory so correct if I'm wrong

Slow I cap is 30%
Slow II cap is ~33%, then 36%, then 39%

Anyway, I did this:

3x Convert (1min down)
5x Wind Acc.
2x Earth Acc.

2x Dia III
2x Slow II
2x Paralyze II

I generally have more trouble landing Slow on something that needs to be slown than I do with Paralyze on something that "needs to be paralyzed".

My Enfeebling skill is 324, with MND usually floating between 100 and 110 during casting.

Having a one minute long Dia III is very useful in exp. Most mobs will not live longer than that, and the extra 5% DEF down is nice. This is also useful when your melees are going at the HNM (ie DRKs sac'ing to JoL, etc.)

Generally though I'm not very happy with ParaII and SlowII :/

[Auspice]

I can't decide what to do with my 8 extra points in magic. Enhancing, elemental, and dark all look like good choices but it seems like it would be a waste to spread the 8 points between those three.

The only jobs I have at 75 are RDM and COR with RNG coming up so really no other mage jobs. I have considered BLU and BLM at some point but those wouldn't be anytime within the next year or so. xD

Honestly I'm thinking 8 dark is the way I'm going to go just to help lower resists on drain/aspir. Enhancing seems kinda pointless since I already easily reach the stoneskin cap and 16 more skill would add 1 point to enspells at best plus I have no plans to merit Phalanx II since I'm capped on Para and Slow. Elemental also wouldn't get that much use from me except for sleep/nuking stuff and maybe tossing something out on a dynamis mob here and there.

[thestalkmore]

bumping this topic. recently, I got 75 RDM and I'm wondering what G2 merits I should focus on as a merit whore? I capped Slow II and I'm wondering if I should get 3 slow/2 para/1 dia?

You're in the same boat as I was. I wanted to level RDM for solo and merits because my lolblm (Genie weskit, zmitts+1, etc) always gets called to events. I am 5convert/5ice for group one because having convert up sooner can and will save your life while fighting some of the harder and/or time capped solo mobs. Ice is because most mobs build up a gravity resistance anyways and it's best to just save it for emergencies while none build up a resistance to bind. As for group two, I originally thought I was going to do 3 Paralyze II, 3 Slow II but when I tried out Dia III in my merit parties, I never went back and ended up doing 3 S, 2 P, 1 D. People bitch and moan about how much MP Dia III costs but as a taru RDM with full convert merits, dalm, and a shit load of mp, it isn't really an issue. Said people TEND to be whining because they don't have the skill/gear to maintain the cost of the spell. It won't turn your 10k/hr party into a 20k/hr but when you've got the colibri camp to yourself....it can really work wonders.

[Septimus]

bumping this topic. recently, I got 75 RDM and I'm wondering what G2 merits I should focus on as a merit whore? I capped Slow II and I'm wondering if I should get 3 slow/2 para/1 dia?

If you leveled RDM for the sole purpose of merits, only bother with 5 convert. The Tier 2 spells are too MP intensive to use in merit parties when a mob doesn't last more than 30 seconds.

[Repairs]

As with all job specifc merits, you need to work with your ls to maximize your results.

Dia3 = the second best defense down on mobs (agnon + dia3 = insanely low HNM defense) - not just HNM but it helps on all mobs. At least one of your rdm should have this @ level 2 or higher.

Paralyze 2 / Slow 2 = if you merit either of these, go max merits (and loadup on mnd - also have matching level1 merits earth and/or ice). If you don't put max your not maximizing your potential.... if you are also one of those people that do not macro change equip and are going to be casting slow and para in dalm - dont bother meriting these. note: who gravs anymore? silence? Think those are mainly for solo? At least for us, those are no longer as important as maximizing other merits. If you can't defeat the mob without level 5 wind for silence or grav... i think you might fail anyways.

Phal 2: great for certain circurmstances.

Bio/Blind: haven't seem much tests, but sounds like these are more for rdm solo.

Pending on what your ls needs. But try to maximize, it will help. Having 4 rdms in your ls having slow2 @ level 1 is not efficient...
Possible LS oriented suggestions:
1) level 1 merits = 5 earth, 5 ice; level 2 merits= 3x slow2 and 3x para2
2) level 1 merits = 5 convert, 5 wind; level 2 merits = 3x phal, 3x Dia3

Edit: the above is aimmed solely at LS activities. Like others have mentioned, 5 convert is nice to merit for merit pts; Dia3 is also nice for trolls/mam.

[theo]

If you leveled RDM for the sole purpose of merits, only bother with 5 convert. The Tier 2 spells are too MP intensive to use in merit parties when a mob doesn't last more than 30 seconds.

This is my thought as well. Merit Fast Cast would be sexy for merit parties if it existed though.

If you are the kind of person that just has to cap out those merits anyway, get 5 Wind. Silence and grav are probably the only enfeebles you will actually cast in a merit party anyway, not including Dia.

[NiggaFromHarlem]

agreed.