Red Mage - Endgame Gear List?

[Hellfury]

Business as usual, right there along with Osode, Suzaku Zune-ate and lots of other stuff that (fortunately) slip my mind :/
/rant

[fishstix]

Shouts for Nyzul? I haven't seen -any- on my server, save when they first came out

After calculating current prices, it will take....

4852500 for All HQ staves minus Fire and Light, and 2 Snow Rings, Prism Cape, mahatma slops, enfeebling torque, and pern rope, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

You could try starting your own shout, or get together 5 other friends for Nyzul? You can survive with NQ staves/gear perfectly fine, depending on what type of events you'll actually be doing. You're fine with errant slops, red cape +1 or rainbow cape offers 9 hp/mp more, since those are just 1int/mnd less each, saving you at least 600k. Penitent's rope drop is pretty good. There's a lot of things that RDMs can solo, Fire in the sky for woodman's/ether ring/cloud evoker, Brother's enm.

Don't look at things as a whole, if RDM isn't your main job. Think of it like, oh hay, I have some extra gil I don't need, I'll go upgrade a piece. Just look at the prices of NQ vs HQ and how much you benefit from it, on if you really "need" this piece right now. On my server, most pieces of armor is about 300k gil for that extra 1 INT on hq. Meriting your RDM job also, will be the fastest way to become "better". You could spend 2M for an enfeebling earring/torque for 10 skill, or 5 enfeebling merits will get you that for free.

[Byrd]

Fishstix has some very good advice, I would like to expand upon a couple of points.

Shouts for Nyzul? I haven't seen -any- on my server, save when they first came out, unless they are part of the 100% Japanese shouts that go around that (obviously) are excluding non-Japanese players from joining.

I would think that joining a shout group for Nyzul if you didn't speak the language would be difficult. Communication is key for that event, even with an experienced group. Joining a shout group for a normal Assault would be recommended.

4852500 for All HQ staves minus Fire and Light, and 2 Snow Rings, Prism Cape, mahatma slops, enfeebling torque, and pern rope, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Don't think of it in as a bulk amount. Think of it as one item at a time. Every change you make will be a small improvement. What do you want first? Which of these items are you spending a lot of money (Diamond Rings vs. Snow Rings/Rainbow Cape vs. Prism Cape) for moderate improvement? And which of these will produce a noticeable difference (Penitent's Rope/HQ Staves) immediately? Which can you get away with NQ gear (i.e. Errant gear)? Which of this gear is largely for soloing that won't really matter since I will be soloing on BST? Will I ever need to melee? You can pare that list down quite a bit.

Many of the items that you list as unattainable are more reachable than you might think. Even without an HNM LS for Dynamis, Sea or Sky drops, if you can get a solid static group of 3-6 people together, you can get an Assault group together for Grandiose Chain, Intensifying/Invigorating Cape, Hale Ring, Antivenom Earring, and a full set Yigit Gear for Auto-Refresh. None of these take any gil, just Assault points. Standard Assault gear takes zero luck and zero gil, just time, and can be done with as few as 3 people. With the meds that drop at the end of each run, you'll probably even make some gil.

You can take that same group of 6 and run them through Nyzul Isle for Goliard gear. This can be done with your current gear set (or with your BST). FYI, Goliard Clogs are (arguably) the best all-around endgame gear for feet, and are a drop off floor 20 in Nyzul Isle. This is also completely free to do.

A couple of other things: Remember that many of the people that post here are amongst the best geared RDM's around. It's not fair to compare yourself to people who have been collecting gear specifcally for RDM for years, and can be very discouraging. Don't let the fact that you can't be the best geared RDM today discourage you from the fact that you want to be the best geared RDM eventually. Rome wasn't built in a day, your gear set won't be either.

Finally, while gil is important, skill > gear. I'll take an intelligent RDM in full AF1 over a Duelist's Chapeau wearing yahoo any day of the week. There's a lot a RDM can contribute to any event, and although the effect may or may not always be noticeable if the RDM is doing his job, you can certainly identify a poor RDM. In my opinion, a RDM with basic merits and AF1 can do 90% of what a fantastically geared RDM can do. If you can improve your skill quickly while improving your gear slowly, I think you'll be fine. Also important is understanding how your gear works and when to macro in different sets of gear. If you can master everything in this paragraph, you'll be a better RDM than most.

While looking to improve your skill, BG forums are a good place to go if you have specific questions but it's usually hard to find a general overview. Allakazham's Red Mage forum has a wide variety of opinions; some good, some bad, some wacky, but there is most of the same information you find here, just in a more condensed forum; you'll just need to filter out the good information from the bad, and that's often self-explanatory. I encourage you to seek out multiple opinions from multiple places. There is no one "right" way to play RDM, but if you can get to the point where you are making informed decisions about what gear is best to upgrade and what gear is best to let sit, you will understand the job better than most.

Btw, you should be able to sell your Red Cape +1 and buy a Rainbow Cape with money left over.

[Palom]

One thing that really gets overlooked is campaign gear. Although I use Seveneyes personally, Fourth Mace is a really good alternative (Bastok AN item), and coupled with Cobra Unit stuff (Windy AN items), you can get a really nice Conserve MP build for casting buffs.

[Hanyoko]

P.Rope BCNM NIN, WHM, anything once you get the hang of it its very very easy to do

Though it sounds like most of your 'friends' do 'your orb your loot'. Matter of oppinion, but I usually do KSNM/BCNM with lsmates doing equal splits.

After a good rdm merit party. I usually have 20k in crystals/npcable/AH items. Not including the value of the seals/points

Assaults; everyone needs them find some people; form a static, rank up earn points sell things for gil.

Farming milage may vary, but i used to farm elementals on rdm getting decent gil/hr (nevermind the personal satisfaction) There are many other things rdm can solo that has value.

Crafting: not for everyone but for those that know how, gil over time is your friend.

HELM: some people like running around with pickaxes and hatchets; some do not

[Pendulum]

Newbie/standard is 'be nice' but honestly, stop with the excuses about money.

farming is unprofitable cept for crafters these days.

This really makes no sense to me; how is an activity where your only real costs are paying to OP/get a teleport to said farming spot unprofitable? Of course you can get more money out of your farming if for example you could synth hides->leather but there's loads of farmables that sell decently via AH or npc.

Staves are probably the best item in the utility:cost ratio. HQ ice is under 200k on every server. 200k in a couple of nights is not impossible.

My rdm is nowhere near ideally-geared but I've filled in the 'big' slots and am heading slowly towards the "350k for 1 INT/MND" stuff Zosi mentions: I'm no moneybags, my highest craft is cloth5 and I rarely go on big farming trips.

You want to know an easy (roughly) 300k? Change nations and get rank 10, none of the missions are particularly hard and it's good fun. BLU can take out the rank 3 dragon+eye, just bring someone to sleep dragon, the only other part you can't really solo is the archlich fight in fei'yin but you should easily be able to form a shout group in one night. Then read up on the post rank5 missions and either find friend(s) willing/eligible to help or use search (need a blm to sleep the orcs in the Davoi church? /sea all win rank 8 blm - done!)

Please leave out impossibilities (Excalibur for a melee set, Dynamis Gear, Nyzul / Salvage gear), and elemental staves

Provided you are able to dedicate the time to regular runs, Dynamis is not an 'impossibilty'. You can learn more about playing your job and how it isn't just refreshing everyone in party who has MP, most shells would probably love to have someone who has more jobs than just being a DD. And as said above, assault gear is zero luck, just find a mission in an area that you can win easily and repeatedly and build your points up: yigit gear might not be the absolute best at anything but all the pieces have their uses.

[Remainder]

P.Rope BCNM NIN, WHM, anything once you get the hang of it its very very easy to do

Enter BCNM, Buff up, advance, WHM (E-Seal?) silences coeurl, coeurl proceeds to assault WHM till NIN vokes, NIN tanks as normal, gets attacked mercilessly until the silence wears, in which the coeurl supposedly only casts burst, burst is cast on a shadow (if sense is made), then he does petrification something, which 100% hits the NIN, WHM Stona's NIN, repeat @ "burst is cast on a shadow" with the attacks."

^That it? Even a DNC could fill the void as 3rd spot? (probably me if so.) I'll try it today if everyone isn't busy with their BLM's and SAM's and such..

ou can take that same group of 6 and run them through Nyzul Isle for Goliard gear. This can be done with your current gear set (or with your BST). FYI, Goliard Clogs are (arguably) the best all-around endgame gear for feet, and are a drop off floor 20 in Nyzul Isle. This is also completely free to do.

You mean BLU?

Also, I assume since it's SE's game, the drop isn't going to be Goliard 100%, a safe bet, I'm sure.

Provided you are able to dedicate the time to regular runs, Dynamis is not an 'impossibilty'.

On the off chance I miss dynamis, that's when the gaming god drops down and craps out any possible number of drops I need, in turn, leading to my "whining" of impossibility, and the lack of AF2 I have now. I only have 1 piece, and it's not on RDM x_x.

Thanks for all the help again, I'm slowly learning what I need to do through this thread...

[Sonomaa]

Id like to comment specifically that endgame gear is not accomplished by not doing endgame, you should really ask for "easily obtainable gear that is not HNM grade".

You cant go fast unless you get the big toys to do it, you can only go normal.

[Shojin]

I've been an endgame RDM for somewhere around 3-4 years now, and this is some of my gear sets, these were taken a while ago but they give you a gist of what to aim for.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...mfullskill.jpg
Questionable pieces: back=Altruistic Cape.
This is the full skill set, in conquest area's can hit skill of 349. But not many mobs in the game really require you to use so much skill, try to sacrifice some skill for MND on mobs that won't resist much, for potency.


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...fullmndset.jpg
Questionable pieces: neck=Faith Torque
This is my full MND set, purely for potency. I'll only ever use full MND set with ES, or on lower level mobs etc. On average mobs, I use a mix of this set and the skill set. The Numinous Shield +1 has since been replaced with a Muse Tariqah.


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...nick/mpset.jpg
This is my MP set, being Elvaan -HP gear really doesn't bother me, and this gear gives me a pretty good convert ratio.

My RDM has been built over many years, I started off with my fair share of gimpness. Depending on how you will be playing you can gear your RDM accordingly. If you're just using it to merit, you can probably get away with just an MP set, if you're looking to get in to end-game with it, try to build mind/int/skill sets to get the most out of your enfeebles.
I currently have MP/INT/MND/Enfeebling/-Enmity/Conserve MP/Fast Cast/Elemental sets... and it rapes my inventory space.

My two cents, hope it helps!

[malak]

All I see are excuses by the OP as to why you can't get any of the equipment mentioned, rather than thinking about how you can. If the rest of us can, then you can also. My main is RDM and after 3 years, it's still not completely finished. I'm still missing Dalmatica and Altruistic cape (fuck you ix'drk).

[Tomiko]

Raptor Strap +1

Intensifying Cape (all near impossible, currently with Red Cape +1

Swift Belt

The above are the items that are outside of my grasp, and will be for years due to gil/line (LS points)/lack of salvage/competent nyzul/einherjar team constraints.

If you can't afford a Raptor Strap+1, you have some serious money making issues.

Intensifying Cape - You can get this free from Assaults. Just join pick up groups if needed.


Your gear isn't as bad as you make it sound though. While it might not be all White Boxes and Sparkles, you're at least focused in the right direction. Don't worry about having NQ items instead of HQ, for the most part the additional bonus of HQ over NQ isn't going to make a huge difference, so just get them when you can.

[Eldelphia]

Just to add about Nyzul, even if you just decided to take a group to floor 20 and stop there - the shoes are some nice pieces of gear for several jobs and I think you'd have little problem convincing people.

[Hanyoko]

P.Rope BCNM NIN, WHM, anything once you get the hang of it its very very easy to do

Enter BCNM, Buff up, advance, WHM (E-Seal?) silences coeurl, coeurl proceeds to assault WHM till NIN vokes, NIN tanks as normal, gets attacked mercilessly until the silence wears, in which the coeurl supposedly only casts burst, burst is cast on a shadow (if sense is made), then he does petrification something, which 100% hits the NIN, WHM Stona's NIN, repeat @ "burst is cast on a shadow" with the attacks."

I always did it RDM/whatever (me) WHM/whatever NIN/WAR (but whatever could work)

RDM: enspell + melee doing debuffs/assist curing
NIN: melee the crap out of it blink tanking
WHM: take care of the status effects

From what I remember 2 melee on it interrupted most of its spells, though maybe we silenced it till it was in burst mode; dont remember exactly; but its a very straightforward and easy fight (not easy as in hands it too you, but average gear+attention can win the fight)

[Crizto]

You can also try and get a RSE Rope for extra MP on your INT and Nuke set ups. Especially if you like to solo a lot, it may be a good idea to also think about how MP conservative you are. I still have a P. Rope for my MND set ups, but I'm now using Ocean Rope as well for my INT specific spells, because previously my MP dropped far too low (was dipping very close to 725) when I was subbing NIN. My MND set up has even less MP than my INT because of Dvt. Mitts +1 and P. Rope, but for the most part those spells are used in a party or alliance set up, and not really used while soloing. So just watch out with what gear you're using and how you use it, because personally it always bugged me when I dropped 150 MP when I cast a certain spell; from my standing set up.

[rrynn]

here's what i would consider a basic set of endgame gear for rdm, containing only ah, soloable, or gear questable with random pickup groups. i left out anything that would require a static, or a linkshell, or even more organized shouts (ie salvage). going with casting gear only, as melee is a whole nother ball of wax.

staves: light, dark/plutos, ice/austers, thunder/jupiter, earth/terra, wind/aquilo. water and fire i would recommend, but if you are looking to cut cost you would miss them the least.

wands: mythic/mythic+1, fourth unit mace-conserve mp for refresh/haste cycles, 30mp/hp and dirt cheap, whats not to love?

shield: numinus/+1

ranged: happy egg, hedgehog bomb, phantom thingicantspellatm, lamina bow, depending on your budget and your convert ratio.

head: af1, elite beret if you are having trouble landing enfeebles. wallmart turban can be a good convert peice (only for this please for the love of god) and is "free" with ip as well.

neck: spider/enfeebling torque. ( depending on your enfeebling skill in other slots, lack of af2 hat/nashira pants/that cape w 5 skill on it/enfeebling earring, it may be worthwhile to spend the extra on an enfeebling torque. spider at the least is necessary tho. ) grandios chain (from assaults) or beak necklace +1 (from ah) for resting. at the very least an int neck for nuking, if not an elemental torque. other torques are nice, but are much lower priority.

ears: if you have sea, loquatious earring. you can solo limbus enough to get the coins cheaper then buying them in bazars depending on your servers prices. or have this be soemthing you save up for. magnetic earring is also nice imho, depending on what your other jobs may want from this quest reward. if neither, moldavite for nuking (easy soloable camp) geist earrings for mnd, and/or mp earrings from assaults. enfeebling/elemental/dark earrigns are nice, as is wizards earring (5 ele skill when /blm,and usually cheap) but can wait.

body: af1, errant. also glamor jupon is easily obtainable w a small group and is nice for dark skill/50 cap stuff.

hands: devotee's mitts/+1 for mnd, errant/mahatma for int and-emnity. humes have very good rse2 hands and could get these in place of both. master casters bracelets if you are from windurst. can also just go with yigit from assaults as well if you are willing to shout/set them up.

rings: 2 mp rings to convert in (even if just electrums) 2 mnd rings and 2 int rings (the lv 72 4mnd/4int rings are very cheap)

back: intencifying cape (assaults), rainbow/prism cape

belt: heirarchs for convert and resting, pent.rope, maybe your rse belt depending on stats.

legs: af1 for phalanx II if you have it, errant/mahatma, something with mp for convert (check the stats on your af1 here, some races have a ton of mp on pants).

feet: errant/mahatma for mnd, wise for int, or yigit from assaults instead of both. cobra feet from windy past are great for merit pts (conserve mp ftw), numerist pumps are 4hmp and come from a first teir znm that can be easily killed by rdm/nin rdm/nin whm/anything. (could be soloed actually, but much safer trio).

[Shaard]

numerist pumps are 4hmp and come from a first teir znm that can be easily killed by rdm/nin rdm/nin whm/anything. (could be soloed actually, but much safer trio).

Actually there is a mistake in Numerist Pumps' description, it's hMP+3 instead of +4 ;_;

[rrynn]

damn. i've been resting in them since i got them. i still stand by them being useful things, even if it is 3 instead of 4.

[Amok]

Wouldn't Druid legs be good for nuking in certain situations? Those are very affordable.

[Vail]

Wouldn't Druid legs be good for nuking in certain situations? Those are very affordable.

wouldn't use them over errant/mahtma/jet on anything: I don't care how "resistant" it is: the extra 5skill isn't worth 7-8 INT you lose

[rrynn]

there are also other slots where you could put skill without sacrificing that much int. wizards earring if /blm is 5 skill on your ear, where at most you are giving up what, 2 int? or you could put 7 skill on your neck instead of 3 int. there are some situations where the 10 skill from duelist's tights might arguably be worth giving up the int from mahatma slops, but for 5 skill i wouldnt dream of dumping that much int. and really, if i am that worried about a nuke resisting i would probably just choose to cast blizzard instead of thunder for the extra 10 skill on that staff.