New JA animations:MNK BRD PLD JAs and Enspell II,Wyv breaths

[Don Katsu]

I plan to melee, but that's only because I never rest in merit parties anyway. Now I really want a Morrigan's Robe!

[Caerith]

I too fear the kind of gimps that will use it as an excuse to melee in parties. Hurray for full Wise Gear RDMs!

Every job has it's gimps, it always amuses an amazes me when RDM meleé is argued down for fear of a wave of gimps, which is part of the learning process.

If RDM meleé wasn't so violently rejected as it has been, rather, a little more commonly accepted, players of the job would have more room to become experienced on the matter, and become better at it.

But, since RDM meleé is only just being considered acceptable, and S-E is only just providing it's support in the idea, it's inevitable there will be a wave of inexperienced RDM doing it wrong. After all, if the first thing that comes to your mind for Acc gear is Scorpion harness, why wouldn't you go for that first? It's not like you've had any experience to know better.

But then, six months to a year down the line(a conservative estimate), someone who has endured the trial and error will write a guide on how to frontline as RDM, without über expensive/75 exclusive gear.

You're on to something. Maybe somebody who knows what they're doing should preempt the wave of gimps and write the guide now. A lot of the "enduring trial and error" can be guessed through, and the gimps will read it like a bible. If they're going to melee anyway, might as well teach them how not to be gimp and slip on their responsibilities while they do it.

[Marootsoobutsu]

D ring works best if you tank is not blink tanking and you can't really compare the value of D ring to Phalanx. -10% damage is totally different from -28 damage per attack.

My math says you'd have to be hit for 289+ for Phallanx to be worse than D. Ring. That sounds like a lot for a tank to be eating 1-3 times per round... I've not done much in the end game so I can't speak with authority, but that sounds unrealistic. And if the average hit is anything less than 280, then Phallanx 2 is going to be superior. Not that it makes D. Ring useless, but it really doesn't make it "totally different".

And, while Cure III may be more MP efficient in strict terms of HP/MP, damage prevention > damage cured.

[BerenTebogo]

Facts:

Phalanx II makes your tanks take 0 damage in the air from tiamat with fire kit.
Phalanx II makes melees take 0 damage on the first 2 floors of almost all salvage areas.
Phalanx II allows any PLD/anything to generate massive amounts of AoE hate on Einherjar mob waves with a DEF build and take 0-5 per hit.
Phalanx II is much more merit worthy than Paralyze II or Blind II, these excuses are lame, and you're all full of shit.

I don't care if you don't want to merit Phalanx 2 because you're a lazy piece of shit, or because you only use RDM for soloing and have 3/3 Bio3 and slow 2, but saying it isn't worth it makes you an ignorant asshole, and you're wrong, period.

[Virtuous Saint]

Facts:

Phalanx II makes your tanks take 0 damage in the air from tiamat with fire kit.
Phalanx II makes melees take 0 damage on the first 2 floors of almost all salvage areas.
Phalanx II allows any PLD/anything to generate massive amounts of AoE hate on Einherjar mob waves with a DEF build and take 0-5 per hit.
Phalanx II is much more merit worthy than Paralyze II or Blind II, these excuses are lame, and you're all full of shit.

I don't care if you don't want to merit Phalanx 2 because you're a lazy piece of shit, or because you only use RDM for soloing and have 3/3 Bio3 and slow 2, but saying it isn't worth it makes you an ignorant asshole, and you're wrong, period.

Well put. that guy is a fucking moron

[SamanosukeShiva]

Phalanx II makes melees take 0 damage on the first 2 floors of almost all salvage areas.

this is the part that make me insist my salvage RDM to get lv5 phalanx

with lv3 phalanx, mnk can just aggro the whole room of fomor @hammer and take it like a champ np even without -phys eq

[Starr]

Facts:

Phalanx II makes your tanks take 0 damage in the air from tiamat with fire kit.
Phalanx II makes melees take 0 damage on the first 2 floors of almost all salvage areas.
Phalanx II allows any PLD/anything to generate massive amounts of AoE hate on Einherjar mob waves with a DEF build and take 0-5 per hit.
Phalanx II is much more merit worthy than Paralyze II or Blind II, these excuses are lame, and you're all full of shit.

I don't care if you don't want to merit Phalanx 2 because you're a lazy piece of shit, or because you only use RDM for soloing and have 3/3 Bio3 and slow 2, but saying it isn't worth it makes you an ignorant asshole, and you're wrong, period.

Well put. that guy is a fucking moron

Seriously.

[Kenji]

While Phalanx 2 is good, you can have a SCH/RDM do something that's just about as good, and then get full benefit from a fully merited para II, slow II, Bio 3, dia 3, etc. End result = less damage taken and faster kills.

I suppose Phalanx 2 is worth it, if you can't muster up any SCHs.

[shirak]

What would you suggest then. Lay out your rdm merit plan for the populace to enjoy. If sath is refering to me, have you seen paraIIx5 yet? Have you considered that 1 merit in BlindII is good for a rdm tank? I find the viewpoint of a tank on rdm's phalanxII to be subjective.

Anyways, whats great is that rdm cat2 merits are so inflammatory, better than nin's choices at least.

[nekura]

If you're talking about putting a merit into Blind II for hate purposes when tanking, that's a pretty expensive spell MP-wise to use when Blind I generates the same amount of enmity and one of your cheaper spells should be available.

[Septimus]

Facts:

Phalanx II makes your tanks take 0 damage in the air from tiamat with fire kit.
Phalanx II makes melees take 0 damage on the first 2 floors of almost all salvage areas.
Phalanx II allows any PLD/anything to generate massive amounts of AoE hate on Einherjar mob waves with a DEF build and take 0-5 per hit.
Phalanx II is much more merit worthy than Paralyze II or Blind II, these excuses are lame, and you're all full of shit.

I don't care if you don't want to merit Phalanx 2 because you're a lazy piece of shit, or because you only use RDM for soloing and have 3/3 Bio3 and slow 2, but saying it isn't worth it makes you an ignorant asshole, and you're wrong, period.

Fact:

Any damage that Phalanx II will nullify now can be nullified with a SCH/RDM. Things will be different after the 5/5 merit, but I don't see how at best 5 damage improvement from what SCH have naturally is worth around a quarter of a million XP, and that a SCH/RDM can also throw some AoE stoneskin on top of that shiznit meaning and extra 350 buffer where someone is taking 0 damage and thusly not losing hate.

[Charismatic]

Fact:
Almost every Salvage group has a RDM... few have SCH.

SCH can do this and that, but I honestly don't personally know more than 3 75 Scholars.
I'd still merit Phalanx II.

[seiji]

Fact:
Almost every Salvage group has a RDM... few have SCH.

SCH can do this and that, but I honestly don't personally know more than 3 75 Scholars.
I'd still merit Phalanx II.

add that a RDM only need magic he get from start coffer, SCH/RDM need JA+magic+sub and he isn't first on any of those, if unlucky on cells he might not be able to phalanxga before 2nd or 3rd floor

(I think we are totally off topics, its about new ja/spells not about RDM merit)

[Ahlah]

Our groups have been doing salvage for 8 months and during the first 6-7 months we never have access to PhalanxII. We have consistently cleared all or nearly all NMs + megaboss in 4 salvage zones with 8-9 ppl. If you think a spell that cost 12k xp + 3 precious category II merit is worth getting esp. when it's only useful in the first 10-20mins of salvage then by all mean make your RDM merit Phalanx II. Don't make it sound as if no Salvage group is able to do well without it. We just ask our MNK tank to use Hi-pot, no1 knows when to cure the mnk tank better the mnk himself and using hi-pot also helps generating enmity.

If you are really desperate in need of Phalanx for other events such as Einherjar then why don't you get a SCH? their Phalanx is more potent (at least for now), will hit all the members in range and doesn't cost any merit point. If you can't find a SCH, SMN can do it too. I will be very surprised if any PLD/NIN actually need Phalanx II to hold hate, and if that's the case you definitely should get a SCH cuz Stoneskinga and Phalanxga are what you are looking for.

[Vail]

Our groups have been doing salvage for 8 months and during the first 6-7 months we never have access to PhalanxII.

so your salvage group uses not, I'm sure they'd rather not go back to not having it.

when it's only useful in the first 10-20mins

Those of us with phalanx II tend to use it thought he whole run, just because phalanx II doesn't bottom damage to 0 past floor 2 doesn't mean you stop using it, it's still preventing more damage then your willing to give it credit. All 4 bosses have AoEs that go through shadows. You think that phalanx II looses usefulness through the floors, while that's sorta true since past floor II it's not making your party an invincible speed killing, time saving team. but you'd be hard pressed to show many anything that does that: Hi-potions sure don't.

no1 knows when to cure the mnk tank better the mnk himself

(I don't think I should really comment, it should be obvious to everyone when people need a cure)

and using hi-pot also helps generating enmity.

non-stop punching and less damage taken does alot for enmity too

why don't you get a SCH?

some of us have phalanx II before SCH was even a job, and just because the job is now in the game doesn't mean they're all over the place. Even when I finish sch to 75, I'm still keeping my phalanx II merits, cause when I'm on rdm: guess what I'm not on my SCH- and I'd like to be able to do it on either job I'm on.

SMN can do it too.

Noctoshield is really gimp, I think it's only -10dmg taken static effect, and SMN isn't good in einherjar or salvage anyways

I will be very surprised if any PLD/NIN actually need Phalanx II to hold hate, and if that's the case you definitely should get a SCH cuz Stoneskinga and Phalanxga are what you are looking for.

Phalanx II will never be the make or break of hate, it's effect on hate is small (but is present) it's more like the difference of a freak crit causing the tanks HP to drop enough to get a DD or mage attacked on some odd occasion. The little things do matter in some cases

[Kenji]

Fact:
Almost every Salvage group has a RDM... few have SCH.

Someone needs to learn the difference between fact and "something I pulled out of my ass". Personally, every LS I know has a SCH, either at 75 or eagerly leveling. Sounds like your LS needs to recruit.

And if you really need Phalanx to survive in Salvage, you shouldn't be here anyway.

So, as we have concluded, Phalanx II is nice, but there are better things to spend the merits on.

[Ahlah]

The benefit of Phalanx II is pretty much lost once your MNK tank gets magic cells - no point wasting mp to keep phalanx II up all the time, save the mp to throw in cure when your tank gets hit, I usually pull as RDM in salvage and I can't imagine wasting my mp to keep PhalanxII on both MNK tanks all the way to megaboss. I don't see how PhalanxII can be mp efficient when it comes to AOE TP moves unless the mega boss spams AOE every 5 secs.

Initially I was under the impression that it will make significant impact, but there is no major difference before and after we finally have access to phalanxII. The RDM who has phalanxII now play DRG most of the time (Angon is sexy in salvage) and no1 even notice the difference. It only takes 2 secs to use a hi-pot which instantly restore 15-25% of your mnk tank hp and generates good amount of enmity. Don't get me wrong Phalanx II is a decent spell use it if you have it (probably give your melee excuse not to bring hi-pots) but it's definitely not going to make or break your salvage run.

Phalanx II will never be the make or break of hate, it's effect on hate is small (but is present) it's more like the difference of a freak crit causing the tanks HP to drop enough to get a DD or mage attacked on some odd occasion. The little things do matter in some cases

20+ damage mitigation off a critical hit from a HNM (most likely 300+) is not going to prevent major hate loss. Phalanx is only good if your tank is constantly taking damage and the total damage mitigation makes a huge difference over time. D ring on the other hand is a different story - we are talking about 10% damage mitigation not small fixed amount of damage like Phalanx.

[Charismatic]

Fact:
Almost every Salvage group has a RDM... few have SCH.

Someone needs to learn the difference between fact and "something I pulled out of my ass". Personally, every LS I know has a SCH, either at 75 or eagerly leveling. Sounds like your LS needs to recruit.

And if you really need Phalanx to survive in Salvage, you shouldn't be here anyway.

So, as we have concluded, Phalanx II is nice, but there are better things to spend the merits on.

Uh.
I said Salvage group, that's usually 6-10 people.

An Endgame LS is usually around 18-24ish(maybe more)... you do the math Mr. "something I pulled out of my ass"

[Ohemgee]

Fact:
Almost every Salvage group has a RDM... few have SCH.

SCH can do this and that, but I honestly don't personally know more than 3 75 Scholars.
I'd still merit Phalanx II.

add that a RDM only need magic he get from start coffer, SCH/RDM need JA+magic+sub and he isn't first on any of those, if unlucky on cells he might not be able to phalanxga before 2nd or 3rd floor

(I think we are totally off topics, its about new ja/spells not about RDM merit)

If you have a SCH and you don't prioritize those 3 cells to him first, you're not thinking hard enough. Having SS+Phalanx+Enspells on top of Regen2's not only makes farming easier, but you'll get cells more efficiently since you're killing more efficiently.

Sure it depends on your setup, but I don't see how any setup can't benefit from being buffed to hell from the start.

[Sunrider]

When I think of Phalanx, I think of paying for beer.


Asshole A jogs 3 miles to the store, pays $8 for ONE WARM BOTTLE of Budweiser, jogs back to enjoy his beer, or give it to his chick. Whatever.
When I think of RDM meriting and casting Phalanx 2, I think of Asshole A.

Asshole B runs a mile-long obstacle course to the store, and pays $12 for a six-pack of ice-cold Bud Lite. Goes back home to enjoy with friends.
When I think of SMN obtaining Diabolos to cast Noctoshield, I think of Asshole B.

Asshole C, now this guy is special. He strolls around the corner to the same store as Assholes A and B, and also pays $8... but for a six pack of ice-cold Budweiser.
When I think of SCH/RDM using Accession and casting Phalanx, I think of Asshole C.