(lol)melee RDM gear setup.

[Redness]

So first off, I'd like to get it out there that I don't have much melee job experience, my DRK is all of 45, and that's the highest real melee job I have.

My RDM is very near completion on the casting side of things, so seeing as how I love this job so much, I've started putting together a melee build, for farming and whatever other use I may need of it.

So anyway, lets assume this build will be for RDM/NIN, dual wielding Blau Dolch main/Joyeuse offhand. (Open to other suggestions here as well.) We'll also assume I have full dagger/sword merits (almost, need more merit parties ~_~, but this is hypothetical for now anyway.)

For the sake of humor, we'll call our test mobs Greater Colibri.

From what I understand, you want 2 sets of gear, 1 for building TP, 1 for WS. Building TP being a bunch of haste/accuracy, and WS stacking up on whatever stats are needed, based on the WS you're using.

Since Evisceration seems to be the best WS out of the bunch that RDM gets (at least/nin and with dagger, Vorpal Blade needing a less attractive sub job to be accessed) I've decided to build my gear set based on Evisc.

RDM has a B in dagger(250 skill, 266 with full merits), which isn't amazingly horrible, but it's not great, so I'll assume you're going to want *some* accuracy in your WS build (especially seeing as it's 5-hit.)

So I want to get into detail, and see what other people's opinions are, slot by slot, piece by piece, so that any other RDMs who might want to do so will be able to get an idea from here as well.

Now for the questions:

Wiki says Evisc.'s mod is 30% DEX. I don't actually know what that means, does that mean 30% of the damage is based on how much DEX you have?

How important is Attack Vs. that DEX in the modifier? (The same could be asked Vs. STR I suppose?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, now the piece by piece. I'll leave just the slots name if I have no idea what to put there. Suggestions welcome, even alternatives for what I put down are welcome. Altana knows I don't know wtf i'm doing lol.

TP Build

(Blau Dolch)/(Joyeuse) (Range) (Ammo)
(Walahra Turban) (Love Torque) (Ear 1) (Ear 2)
(Scorpion Harness(+1)) (Dusk Gloves (+1))(Woodsman/Snipers(+1)) (Rajas?/Acc ring)
(Back) (Swift Belt) (Legs) (Dusk ledelsens(+1))

WS Build

(Blau Dolch)/(Joyeuse) (Range) (Ammo)
(Head) (Love Torque) (Ear 1) (Ear 2)
(Assault Jerkin) (Hands) (Ring1) (Ring2)
(Amamet(+1)/Cerberus(+1)) (Waist) (Legs, maybe dusk?) (Feet)


Anyway I think i'm about done typing now. Any ideas, suggestions, etc. etc. all welcome! and thanks. ^^;

[Raineer]

On anything higher than EM you don't care about DEX on RDM, it's allllll attack for Evis (assuming your accuracy is there.) I'll post a line-by-line when i'm not running through aggro

edit: Your line-by-line is pretty good. Blau/joy is the highest dmg you can get short of relic.

Suppa/Brutal is probably the best earring set you can get. I used rajas/acc even to melee (instead of acc/acc), I never really soloed anything that needed THAT much. HQ Dusk wherever it fits and RDM can get to some sick Atk ratings.

[Baha]

TP Build

(Blau Dolch)/(Joyeuse) (Range) (Ammo)
(Walahra Turban) (Love Torque) (Ear 1) (Ear 2)
(Scorpion Harness(+1)) (Dusk Gloves (+1))(Woodsman/Snipers(+1)) (Rajas?/Acc ring)
(Back) (Swift Belt) (Legs) (Dusk ledelsens(+1))

Goliard, Pahluwan and Nashira body are nice too. Legs I guess Dusk (atk), Nashira (haste) or Pahluwan(acc)? Not very familiar with mage melee gear. Ammo Tiphia, or the WoTG grenade item. Earrings Suppa/Brutal. Back Forager's or Amemet+1 clearly.

WS Build

(Blau Dolch)/(Joyeuse) (Range) (Ammo)
(Head) (Love Torque) (Ear 1) (Ear 2)
(Assault Jerkin) (Hands) (Ring1) (Ring2)
(Amamet(+1)/Cerberus(+1)) (Waist) (Legs, maybe dusk?) (Feet)

Head, probably best to keep on ohat. Earrings Hollow, Pixie or Minuet (yeah, hollow probably not an option), Adroit and Triumph work too of course. One of those paired with Brutal.
AJ, SH or pahluwan body. Hands : Tarasque+1, maybe AF+1. Rajas/Flame or Rajas/Thunder for rings, unless lacking acc, then go Rajas/acc.
Warwolf for belt, or potent if acc problems. Dusk pants, but tbh I'd go for pahluwan. Pahluwan feet too, but maybe ogre worth looking into.

[Awoir]

TP
Blau Joy - Tiphia
Turban Chram Brutal Suppa
SH+1 Dusk+1 Sniper+1 Divisor
Cerb+1 Sonic+1 Nashira Dusk+1

WS
Blau Joy - Tiphia
Ohat Chram Brutal Merman's
SH+1 Tarasque+1 Sniper+1 Rajas
Cerb+1 Warwolf Dusk+1 Rutters

[Metah]

I use Pahluwan Seraweels for melee. But I'm also poor

[Redness]

I really like these responses, thanks a lot guys.

Me and a friend who need rutters gearing up to go Air Tank farming now.

What about Pahluwan head? 7 Acc 5 Attack as opposed to 10 acc no attack?

There's no Tarasque mitts on AH, but that seems like the best choice for hands on WS. Maybe i'll go camp the little bastard and have some made.

Gonna do the WotG grenade quest, that seems like a good choice too.

I also totally forgot about Ethereal earring, and that earring with brutal seems to make the most sense to me.

Will do some more research and post back later. More thoughts and ideas! I love hearing them, it's helping me a lot.

Red

[Charismatic]

Make sure you notice the neck suggestion in Awoir's post.
Peacock charm is always your best bet when dual wielding two types of weapons!

[eva00r]

O Hat > P Hat for 5 hits ws such as Evis.

WS
Blau-Joy Tiphia
O Hat Charm Brutal/Diabolos
SH+1 Tara+1 Divisor/Rajas
Forager Potent Dusk Pahluwan

Well, for RDM, ACC > ATK always in both melee and WS.

5 Hits Evis is very prone to miss.

[AzazaelFenrir]

My only suggestion would be P. Body over SH+1.

When I go out for Hands and Feet I have Dusk (NQ ; ; ). Legs are all I am really missing (No blau, I go Justice/Joy or Diss/Joy), and for those I am thinking of going P. Legs.

[Kriz]

I'd be interested in finding some rare/ex melee rdm items for a friend, he has assault jerkin and that's about it. Pal. gear is out, cause he doesn't do assault

[Isiolia]

I'd be interested in finding some rare/ex melee rdm items for a friend, he has assault jerkin and that's about it. Pal. gear is out, cause he doesn't do assault

Joyeuse, Suppanomimi, Brutal Earring, Swift Belt, W. Turban, that sort of Rare/EX? Or the, "lets go try to get this to drop today" sort of Rare/EX, as there aren't many of those for RDM DD past the AJ.

[Kriz]

Darn, guess we'll just get Rutters for a WS swap piece and tell him to start doing stuff. Or farm some Tarasque for mitts!

[Vigilia]

Everything's been pretty much mentioned. If your LS is ever bored there's two really amusing NMs you could go kill too called Kurrea and Goblin Collector... Barbarian mittens are an option instead of Tarasque mittts +1s and Galliard trousers instead of Pahluwan for accuracy from pants.

< this smilie always makes me remember the gazillion Kurrea fights from couple of years ago.

[Loren]

My approach to RDM melee is purely Haste and En-element based since the benefit will apply to every mob, whereas Attack and Accuracy--while important--can cap on a lot of farming or Campaign mobs without a lot of effort and they're easier to cover with food.

Enhancing swap is pretty important to reduce En-element resists. AF legs + relic hands are a nice compact +30. If you get lucky in sea, then you break 300 by adding jupon, torque, and cape. With Hollow earring and Fencer ring active, that's 28-30 hateless/TPless magic damage per hit which adds up very fast when you're packing ~20% Haste gear (fun fact: obi will guarantee the higher number but Swift/Speed is still better).

As for Evisceration, Accuracy, Attack, and DEX are all valuable but you need to consider the target and your buffs:

- Accuracy: equip if you need it but if the target is evasive you're better off just using Sole Sushi. Acc-only items are kind of a waste on weaponskills IMO. If you're whiffing weaponskills even after food, then your target probably isn't meant to be melee'd.

Be aware that a 6-hit Evis with offhand will land full TP at most ~75-80% of the time so don't panic and pile on Acc gear after seeing your first -1 TP return--it won't have any effect.

- Attack: nice if you find large amounts (Ogre+1, Assault Jerkin, Dusk trousers). However, be aware that these items will do nothing on EP-DC mobs where you're eating meat, or if you're in a heavily Minuet/Chaos-buffed situation. If you only melee T+ mobs then an Attack set for WS should serve you well.

- DEX: may or may not add more damage than an +Attack item depending on the choices available but this is the only way to increase your maximum damage once Acc/Atk are capped, plus it helps the critical hit rate. I would use a DEX set for farming/Campaign. Mix of DEX/Attack is fine too, just use common sense for each slot.

The 30% modifier means that your DEX * 0.3 is added to your weapon's DMG rating when executing the weaponskill (there are some other level mods etc. but that's the gist of it).

there's two really amusing NMs you could go kill too called Kurrea and Goblin Collector

Ugugug...
I remember wanting Barbarian Mitts for RDM once upon a time, but after spending 300k per pop and going 0/9 on the drop-- and each fight requiring Chainspell Stuns and lots of Raises--I came to realize that the mob was just a giant joke from the dev team.

[Neosutra]

The best melee rdm setup is actually an elemental stave and good enfeebling/mnd setup. You dont actually engage the mob, and you provide awesome support/enfeebles for your party/alliance. Just take all the damage that is added from the melees not getting the shit beat out of them, having haste on them at all times, and having the mages refreshed as damage that you are actually contributing, instead of weak damage you couldnt have done even with the best melee DD gear; and feel happy that your outparsing everyone in the party via the performance boost you add.

[Neisan]

... That wasn't the question he asked.

Thanks for the info everyone else that reads.

[Neosutra]

... That wasn't the question he asked.

Thanks for the info everyone else that reads.

I realize the question he asked, but I just had my meripo rdm show up in orge atire and pull out their martial sword and start wacking away. So I have some frustration to vent.

[Dooom]

I realize the question he asked, but I just had my meripo rdm show up in orge atire and pull out their martial sword and start wacking away. So I have some frustration to vent.

Sounds like a rdm I used to do Dyna with; would show up in full ogre gear minus mask (empty head slot gogo), sleep mobs with light staff, and cure with dark staff -.-;;;

I second the idea of going for haste and en-spell damage. I don't melee much on rdm (campaign, goofing off; that's it), but a few bits of haste gear (swift belt, walmart turban, dusk gloves + feet) and Joytoy make it fun. That being said, with the exception of P. body and Joytoy, all my melee rdm gear is carried over from other jobs >.>;

[Redness]

... That wasn't the question he asked.

Thanks for the info everyone else that reads.

I realize the question he asked, but I just had my meripo rdm show up in ogre attire and pull out their martial sword and start whacking away. So I have some frustration to vent.

Actually, what he said is entirely correct. I realize this is the newbie area, so I would mention to all the newer RDMs who may read this thread that your first job in any sort of a party is to keep buffs and debuffs up at all times - not bust out your sword thinking it's going to do something compared to your other melee.

(As a note, I melee in merit parties with friends sometimes for fun, we all know how to do our jobs, and there's no harm done. But like my quoted friend heres' earlier merit party as an example, know how to do your main duties first before you do anything else (like melee.))

Though in my situation, like I said in the OP, my casting set is near complete, i'm missing 2 pieces of morrigan's (fuck you Gate Widow/QQTH), a relic hat, and some odds and ends to be done.

This thread however is not about the reasons and or arguments for/against melee RDM. It's about gearing those who would have a use for it at some point. So back on topic:

Everything's been pretty much mentioned. If your LS is ever bored there's two really amusing NMs you could go kill too called Kurrea and Goblin Collector...

My ls has 40~ active people, unfortunately it's never not busy, but I like those pants. -DEX sucks though. :/

I might go with the P. legs for WS, and nashira for TPing in. Maybe just make a full haste build and stack accuracy everywhere else. So maybe Walmart Turban, Goliard body, dusk gloves, swift belt, nashira seraweels, dusk ledelsens = 24%. Stack on our spell (15), and dual wield (trait 5%?) suppa (5%) we're looking at roughly 49% haste.

You wouldn't be able to get enough accuracy elsewhere then. Life's a bitch eh? :D

Thanks guys, got Omega, will type more later.

Red

[Raineer]

Never saw in his posts where he was specifically talking about meleeing in a party.

Colibiri happen to be an amazing self-xp target on RDM. Before I left FFXI, on the birds at the Olduum Ring spot, I could solo 3k/hr on those EPs. While it isn't a merit party, it was fun and solo xp/merit is always win. This was 2 years ago, and while there are other ways to get XP solo, doing it with melee whenever the hell you want is also pretty nice.