RDM AF+1 upgrades

[AzazaelFenrir]

I am getting the Body upgraded this weekend (thanks again classy ) and was wondering what other pieces (if any) are worth upgrading?

[Vaxx]

Head is good if you nuke on rdm, the rest aren't worth the coins imo.

[ninjafox]

feet are good if u wanna save inventory space on custom boots(hume)

[Isiolia]

Head is nice, particularly if you plan to redo the NQ set so you can just store it on NPC. It's also a very nice INT/nuking piece.

Along those lines, some RDMs who use the tights on a regular basis also upgrade those so they don't need the full NQ set out of storage to use them.

Personally I just have the HQ hat and body with the NQ set stored.

[Liseth]

I did body first, then head, and finally legs for Stoneskin specifially. Though I must say legs are debatable on getting for just two MND and five MP. Don't waste your time with the other two pieces.

[Zosi]

I have the hat and body, and I *might* do the legs some day. The hat is a great piece for nuking, body is great for resting because it has MP *and* 5 hMP. Tights are slightly better than Mahatma Slops for Stoneskin (15 skill + 5 MND = equivalent to 10 MND), and of course the same as NQ for Phalanx.

[Octavious]

I'd go pretty much the same route. I've done Hat so far, going Body most likely next, then lastly Legs. The hands would be semi cool I guess, but even with capped parrying I still don't see the need to use coins on the gloves, since I need to start my BLM AF+1 now >.> orz.

Oh, on a side jack kind of...I already did my WHM AF hands first, but I have another set of the Benedict yarn/thread in my mog locker...been there for like 2wks, lol. Which piece should I upgrade next? I'm debating between Head/Feet, primarily for the HMP+, since I could manage with Errant while resting till I obtain the +1 body.

Oh, and on BLM, Hat or Hands first? >.> I have Zenith mitts, so i think i'm leaning towards hat first, then maybe hands for things requiring higher skill?

[Zosi]

Oh, and on BLM, Hat or Hands first? >.> I have Zenith mitts, so i think i'm leaning towards hat first, then maybe hands for things requiring higher skill?

Depends on what you use your BLM for. Assuming you have capped +ele merits, hat is better for manaburn exp or soloing, hands are better for stuff like Tiamat or Bahamut v2. The body's also very nice for soloing. I did hat -> body -> hands personally, because my BLM is kinda gimpy and only really suitable for easy HNMs and exping.

[Byrd]

I did body first, then head, and finally legs for Stoneskin specifially. Though I must say legs are debatable on getting for just two MND and five MP. Don't waste your time with the other two pieces.

Hat for sure. The RDM hat will always be the RDM's best piece for nuking (barring intro of new gear), so why not make it even better? I actually upgraded gloves as well, I like the +5 Parrying skill they provide while soloing. I realize there are probably other, better options for melee damage, but I had the coins and the upgrade items...

[Osede]

Oh, and on BLM, Hat or Hands first? >.> I have Zenith mitts, so i think i'm leaning towards hat first, then maybe hands for things requiring higher skill?

Depends on what you use your BLM for. Assuming you have capped +ele merits, hat is better for manaburn exp or soloing, hands are better for stuff like Tiamat or Bahamut v2. The body's also very nice for soloing. I did hat -> body -> hands personally, because my BLM is kinda gimpy and only really suitable for easy HNMs and exping.

don't forgot pants for dark skill. Oh well, since i always dual box rdm+blm, so all the enfleebling will done by my rdm char, then my blm won't need any enfleebling equip >.>

but well.... u will find that u will got 4 pieces blm af1+1 in the end, if you plan to store the nq back into npc storage

as for rdm, hat, body and legs are worth to upgrade, then redo all 3 af and throw them back into af npc.

[ashke]

I'm upgrading W.Gloves over W.Petasos.

For headgear, I greatly prefer the Demon Helm +1 for damage and S.Petasos for skill. For handgear, I use Z.Mitts for damage, W.Gloves for skill, and S.Gloves for magic burst damage.

W.Coat would be my next upgrade after the W.Gloves, and then potentially W.Tonban since I carry them for the dark magic and like white boxes.

--

For RDM, I upgraded the hat first, but I'm a BLM main w/ elemental merits and am willing to admit I have a Blizzard III problem. >.>;

[Sylphet]

don't forgot pants for dark skill.

NQ and HQ pants have the same Dark Magic Skill (+15) The hMP on pants is nice (I guess) if you don't have any of the other hMP options for legs (Yigit (best) or Baron's Slops).

While on the topic of hMP, the af+1 feet for both WHM and BLM have +1 hMP however, since many people have multiple mage jobs at 75, a pair of arborist nails would be the best option for all jobs while saving inventory space.

For BLM AF+1, hands and hat are by far the best pieces as has been stated. Head = damage and hMP, hands = for HNM situations where skill needs to be boosted. Both are nice, and worth the upgrade imo.

For RDM, hat is the best imo since it makes it the best hat for nuking. I'm not as huge of a fan of body for most people since it's really just a fancy hMP body. You don't even gain an inventory spot because of it since unless you have Crimson body, you'll still need to carry around errant for the MND and INT boosts. Legs offer a bit more MND and a bit more MP than NQ. I use NQ for enhancing magic skill and that is unchanged. Any level 75 RDM should easily be able to cap Stoneskin w/o the extra MND on HQ legs so I find them kind of uneccesary too.

For WHM, I only upgraded hands and hat, body again is an option if you want to lose errant for hMP. Hands are the best end game HNM hands for WHM. Hat is the highest MND on a head slot making it ideal for a Cure V macro (and hMP if you wish/don't have yigit).

Basically, upgrading the bodies is a fairly minor improvement which for most people doesn't change much. The increase in enfeebling skill on WHM and BLM bodies is minimal so it's only worth it if you're breaking a tier. If you have the mats and the coins, go ahead clearly no harm done but I do think that for most cases they're more of a luxury item that should be upgraded last.

[Bagel]

Convince me not to drop my AF Hands/Feet, GO!

[Byrd]

Convince me not to drop my AF Hands/Feet, GO!

Storage for the other pieces of gear if you're short on space. It's not bad gear for level 60 caps. If you don't find either of those reasons persuasive, then toss them.

[Vigilia]

For RDM I did hat, body and still waiting on items to get legs done as well so can re-quest and store NQ set.

Hat bonuses have already been mentioned. I only did the body recently for +34MP for convert as I have full yigit for the brief moments when I actually rest and no better body piece for +MP. Legs are very useful if you have Phalanx II merited. Hence I can't keep them on storage NPC so they're getting upgraded as soon as I can.

[Septimus]

Body > Hat > Legs is the proper order.

Body is a resting MP item with a fair amount of MP on it. (Which most resting MP body pieces do not have.)

Hat is nice for some extra INT for our LOL nukes and some extra MP.

Legs are the winner for stoneskin. Only Morrigan's Slops can give you the same potency, and you don't see those everywhere. Yeah, you could macro in more gear to get to cap, but if you don't use windower macros or you want to leave an item in your mog house while soloing, these are nice.

These are the three pieces that you should carry on you at all points in time as a RDM, so it makes sense to upgrade them since they actually give you some amount of benefit.

[Malinn]

I might get laughed at for this, but I decided on a different piece first for my RDM+1. Since hat is a minimal upgrade of +2 INT (Really not that big a deal) And everything else I already have gear that beats it out, I chose to upgrade hands for soloing.

+6 Dex is nice for Evisceration, and +15 Parrying skill is pretty impressive. They're a nice defensive solo piece to say the least. Everything else is rather subpar, but these give the most DEX and Parrying a RDM can get for hands WITH 2 INT/MND as a little added bonus for solo.

But I'd say Chapeau first if you're not concerned with solo.

[Cesaria]

I did hat first and waiting on the second item to do body (which I get outlotted on every time it drops) - the reasoning behind it was that our AF2 drop rate for RDM hats makes me cry and a white boxed normal hat looks cool, plus I could redo the "quest" AF and have it stored again, then only reopen hands and coffers at a later point when I needed to get my body upgraded. Just seemed like the minimal fuss way to get it done without blocking myself out of doing AF for other jobs I was levelling.

Planning to go body > legs next (I carry legs around for stoneskin / phalanx - not sure if they have an effect or if it's psychological though).

[Zosi]

Planning to go body > legs next (I carry legs around for stoneskin / phalanx - not sure if they have an effect or if it's psychological though).

For Stoneskin, NQ legs are equal to Mahatma Slops. 15 Enhancing and 3 MND works out to equivalent to 8 MND. HQ legs have 2 more MND, making them them tied with Morrigan's Slops for the best Stoneskin pants in the game.

For Phalanx it's more complicated, since it depends on your other enhancing gear. If you're wearing zero enhancing gear, you'd end up with 256+15=271 skill, which won't get you over the 275 threshold to gain another point from Phalanx or Phalanx II. If you carry around AF2 gloves or an Enhancing Torque, then equipping either of those with AF legs would push you over the 275 threshold and get you one more point of damage absorbed by Phalanx. HQ tights don't gain any more Enhancing skill, so they're equal to NQ tights for Phalanx, and the same rules would apply regarding other gear.

[AzazaelFenrir]

ok silly question. Did I miss where they said Stoneskin cap had been raised or removed? I was under the impression it was set. I can already hit the cap with other gear I carry, so for me pants aren't a worry. (unless I missed the cap change)