Solo RDM Advice

[shukuffxi]

Not sucking at Utsu is useful too I dunno, I guess they could practice on normal XP mobs and such, but people give hard RDM solos the whole "Yeah, anyone can do it, just don't go to the washroom" thing, but it's more than that. The tougher solos offer plenty of pressure, because while you feel invincible, you're never that far from death from one small screw up, and there's often a group just going "Wait until it goes yellow, then it's fair game!" I think a big part of being successful at this comes from dealing with that pressure, as well as screw ups, if you can recover and keep going.

[Raineer]

Not sucking at Utsu is useful too I dunno, I guess they could practice on normal XP mobs and such, but people give hard RDM solos the whole "Yeah, anyone can do it, just don't go to the washroom" thing, but it's more than that. The tougher solos offer plenty of pressure, because while you feel invincible, you're never that far from death from one small screw up, and there's often a group just going "Wait until it goes yellow, then it's fair game!" I think a big part of being successful at this comes from dealing with that pressure, as well as screw ups, if you can recover and keep going.

Which is my point, soloing T/VT melee without the benefit of utsu-spamming helps you understand that pressure.

Gotta crawl before you can walk

[Callisto]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but have you guys ever noticed Zipacna being much harder on Iceday? I just got the absolute shit kicked out of me 2 fights in a row. the first he opened w/ Ice Break, Para II didn't proc once, dead in 30 seconds. The second fight I cast Bind, and it wore off almost instantly, the 'The Zipacna is no longer bound' message went into my log before the 'Callisto casts Bind yadayada' message did.

I'm now 3/6 on Zip solo, and every single loss has been on Iceday, and the same crap each time, ridiculously short Bind durations(you'd think it'd be the opposite since it's, y'know, Iceday and all...) doom me before I even get it under 90%...

Maybe it's just placebo, but w/e figured I'd ask.

[Belkin]

Can't say I've had that Iceday problem. It is a son of a bitch when he opens with Ice Break or Thunder Break though, I feel your pain. The Bind thing is kind of normal, especially if you are missing some pieces of Enfeebling gear or merits. It would happen to me a lot before I really started to understand resists and proper gear setups and all that jazz. I'm sure Iceday has nothing to do with it. Zipacna has no affiliation at all with Ice other than having one Ice based TP move. :/

[Alman]

Skeet come back to valefor and duo with me! all my merits on RMD are HNM.

[Callisto]

Can't say I've had that Iceday problem. It is a son of a bitch when he opens with Ice Break or Thunder Break though, I feel your pain. The Bind thing is kind of normal, especially if you are missing some pieces of Enfeebling gear or merits. It would happen to me a lot before I really started to understand resists and proper gear setups and all that jazz. I'm sure Iceday has nothing to do with it. Zipacna has no affiliation at all with Ice other than having one Ice based TP move. :/

I may have just gotten a higher level pop then, because the last few times have been really easy, I'm sitting @ 317 skill, +11 MAcc, 99 INT, w/ an Aquilo's and 3 Ice Acc merits, there isn't much I'm missing aside from AF2 hat now.

The worse news is my Gem of the East didn't sell last night lol, I bought a Pluto's that left me at 1.5k gil, but I'm 4/8 on staves now. I get to walk to Xarcarbard because I can't afford the OP to go do Brothers. xD

[Zoot]

Nashira is far from the only way to go for it. Really, the only slot that it's the only/best option is the legs.
For the body you have Relic, which has a Fast Cast enhancement. Goliard body has 4% haste as well.
Head, Walahra of course, hands and feet there's Dusk. Swift Belt, Loq. Earring as well.

I hope by saying this I'm not coming off as being nitpicky, but I just thought I'd point it out because sometimes people just don't seem to realize. Warlock's Chapeau has recast -5% and spellcasting -10%, and is probably a much better choice over the turban.

[Tajin]

NMs pop at different levels too? Think I read something about that somewhere...

@Raineer: What would be the benefit of going RDM/NIN if you are not going to use Utsu (for the learning process) subtle blow and extra DoT from offhand?

[Raineer]

Well, if you're really going to push yourself it always helps to have that emergency Ni if needed

Blau/Joy was always nice to me (or Justice but such a meh WS), I don't know what the best combo is now.