Final Merit Build: Advice?Follow

Well after long thought, this is my final proposed build. Almost 10 merits to commit now so just wondering if somebody could advise before I take the plunge.

I will use RDM mainly for soloing smaller HNM via dot/kite, refreshing batteries of BLMs, and assist-kiting sea & sky gods.

So my priorities are a good bind/gravity, and perhaps convert time, a little MP.

I therefore propose:

A) MAGIC

Full Enfeebling natch, done
Remaining 8 points into Elemental, I am pretty sure, as and when.

B) RED MAGE

I then propose to put 6 into Ice, and 4 into Wind. This should give me the best possible compromise between maxing accuracy of Blizzard III, and getting both Ice and Gravity to land.

This means I give up any Dia III, Bio III or other Group 2 spells. They seem so fraught with downsides, that I think I am better just hitting the accuracy of Gravity and Bind, the two main spells I wish to be able to land.

....and after that in order of preference

C) 5 INT+
D) Max MP
E) Spell Int 5, Enmity -5
F) Sword 5, Parrying 5, Dagger 5, Eva 5


So the only thing I have slight doubts about is B. Basically if I could get away with one or two points less, so I could invest in Bio or Dia III and a little on convert recast, I would feel more rounded, but I just don't want to compromise on the accuracy of Bind & Gravity, nor the duration.

I guess other relevant info is that as RDM/BLM my max INT build gives me 70+49, my enfeebling skill is currently 312, and I am close to both Altruistic Cape and Nashira Seraweels so can easily break 325 with the Enf. Earring if I bought it, I have HQ staffs for Ice, Wind & Pluto's.

I can add in Magic Accuracy to this as required.

Max MND build gives me 65+41 as RDM/BLM.

I have MAB of +9 at the moment in my Nuke build, still to get Ugly Pendant.

Advice? Anything else relevant I should tell you?

Convert timer is -by far- the most useful way to spend merits. I have mine down to 9 minutes (3 upgrades), and I am splitting the remaining points in RDM Cat 1 between Ice and Wind Acc. Cat 1 and Cat 2 are completely seperate, So I don't know why you think you cant get tier two enfeebles....... Slow II + ....... Since you said you were going to be DoT Kiting small hnm.... Bio III.

C) Why??? If you are going to do anything stat wise (unless you are leveling/have leveled blm) Mnd would be best. Also, as expensive as these items are most people leave them for last.

D) Move this up in your list. This + convert timer are god-sends for meriting.

E) I'd stay away from meriting emnity. This is something you shouldn't need to merit, if your tanks are half good. If you are pulling enough hate that you really need to be considering meriting -emnity..... quit nuking so much. If you ever decide to level a tank job, you'll hate yourself for meriting -emnity.

F) I understand sword, dagger, maybe even parry..... but eva??? we evade like pallets of cinder blocks..... even 5 upgrades isn't going to change that. spend those merits elsewhere.

yup, no question if you plan on DoT kiting smaller HNMs, more often than not this also includes burning MP when convert is up with some nuking, and the more accurate they are the better.



I'd say 4/3/3 convert/ice/wind. Although you logic is fine for this one. Let's not forget that those 4 ice acc merits help not only your binds/paras, but also your blizz 3s.



Para2 is an almost waste. Slow2 is the CLEAR winner of the RDM group 2 merits. To be honest....A fully merited Bio3 will remove the exact same amount of HP as Bio II with 211 skill or more. At least from all the studies I've seen of it. To me, the only benefits of Bio3 are in the -str% given, which is greater than Bio2. But for kiting, this really doesn't matter.



In my opinion, the Stat merits (and this is just my opinion for all jobs, not RDM, and it is FAR from the be all, end all of the discussion) are best spent with all 5 in one category. I can get 2 INT from bumping up from a rainbow cape to a prism cape and a morion earring to a morion+1. Doesn't seem like that big of a deal. However, 5 INT IS a big deal- its like wearing a 3rd snow ring. I was thinking full MND for a long time....or a split as you mention. But many RDMs who do big solos do merit INT fully (also, they usually have BLM up to level as well :D) and it will help your nukes (again, don't discount these on those Kite solos, they almost always play a role).



Never forget that those kite solos are done /NIN, not /mage. Getting over 1k while /nin is not as easy without those 80MP from merits. Its doable for tarus, but I'd wager you'd sacrifice a lot of stats for the first 200MP or so.



Well if you've got 4 extra combat merits and no plans on leveling another job, then sure. If however you plan on leveling a melee job at some point, I'd suggest specializing yourself for either sword or dagger, and going 8/4 there, and saving 8 merits for your "other" job. Example: I plan on leveling WAR after my BLM is done. So I plan on putting 8 merits into sword on RDM, but I will be saving 8 for axe (doing a solely merit build WAR). I rarely use daggers, so I "may" put 4 into it, I might not.

All in all you have some decent ideas, but some are clearly not as valuable as others. It all depends on what you do (which you realize) and what tools you need to do it.

hp/mp- cap of 8 single, 8 for category. I took 8 mp. I'm hume. I could get better convert with some extra hp and use more hp > mp gear, but I like full mp when subbing any job without mp, works well for soloing /rdm or /whm on MNK, and +80 mp is just fine and dandy for BLM.

stats- cap of 5 single, 5 for category. 1 str and 1 int so far. These are pricey, but I'll take 2 more str and 1 more INT. (I'm a MNK and BLM also, but have plans for other melee jobs)

magic skills- cap of 8 single, 16 for category. I'm 5/5/1 so far on enfeebling, elemental, enhancing. My plan is 7/8/1. That one enhancing let's me free inventory space from augmenting earring and still have 280 skill to break phalanx and enspell tiers. If I ever get relic or the sea cape, I can remove it and dump it in enfeebling.

combat skills- cap of 8 for weapon, 4 for defense skills, category cap 20. I'm 8 H2H, 1 sword, 4 evasion currently. My plan is to take sword to 8. Other jobs play a big part of decisions here. I'm going to level PLD, BRD, and BLU in the near future and all can use swords (my joyeuse).

other- cap of 4 single, 8 category. 4 -interrupt, 4 crit hit+

RDM tier I- cap of 5 single, 10 category. I took 5 Convert recast, 2 Ice, 2 Wind, 1 Thunder. My nuking gear is up there on skill (nearly 300) and still have plenty of MAB/INT(AF2, yigit, etc), and I make use of Thunder III as my secondary nuke to Bliz III, so that's why I tossed that last on Thunder acc. It was also cheap. Convert recast is simply awesome when you make an effort ot burn your mp quicker to take advantage of it. Great for solo and fast-paced events.

RDM tier II- cap of 3 single, 6 category- I took 2 Dia III, 2 Slow II, and 2 Phalanx II. I feel this gave me diverse capability with minimal trade-off compared to someone who went 3 upgrades in any two of those merit spells. Phalanx II's duration is exactly the same as Refresh with 2 upgrades, which keeps things simple for casting it on PLDs. One minute Dia III is perfect for merits, especially BRD-less/mediocre parties where mobs last a little longer. A tiny bit less acc/potentcy on Slow II for 2 upgrades vs 3 is not a big deal to me.

Edited, Jul 11th 2007 7:04am by madrone

I personally am going to go half and half with max HP and max MP, mostly because I want to do several different jobs. It's like leaving -/+emnity alone since I'm likely to do PLD as well.

Just some thoughts for the OP...

HP/MP: 8/8 MP for sure. An extra 80 HP might save your *** once in a blue moon, but an extra 80 MP is always useful when you can never have enough.

Stats: If you're using RDM mainly for soloing, mana battery-ing, and generic crap, don't even waste time meriting stats. That's 360k XP you could NOT spend on RDM, and have available for another job down the line.

Magic: 8/8 Enfeebling/Elemental is a good choice for what you're doing. Higher skill in both categories will result in easier and/or faster solos.

Other: 4/4 Crit should be a done deal. Everyone should get 4/4 crit if they ever want to melee anything. If most of the stuff you're looking to solo is minor HNM-ish, you might consider enemty crit down over spell interruption. You're going to get interrupted the vast majority of the time by stuff 10 levels higher than you, while enmity crit down might save you a broken Stoneskin here and there.

RDM: 5/5 Convert for soloing, period. No questions asked. Accuracy merits have a small but useful effect, but you should never sacrifice time off your Convert recast for a couple MAcc. Being able to use all your MP in 8:20 instead of 10:00 turns into a huge amount of MP over time. For Cat II, I'd do 3 Para II, 3 Slow II for what you're doing. Dia/Bio are junk for your purposes, Phalanx isn't going to be that useful to you, and RDM doesn't evade anyway, so lolBlind.

Edited, Jul 11th 2007 11:16am by Amastacia

Madrone: I have roughly tested, and proven to myself that INT certainly does make a difference. I didn't really have confidence until I built more data, but maybe it will help outline my thought process.

As RDM/NIN, 94 INT plus 28 enfeebling skill from gear alone, with no magic accuracy from gear, enables me to land Bind 100% on Aura Statues and Zipacna.

My alternate build (not carrying the gear atm ><) I believe sacrifices about 10 INT for 5 points of magic accuracy and Bind lands much more infrequently. I believe enfeebling skill and INT only to be of relevance at this level. More tests to do, but thats my belief.

So stacking more Magic Accuracy AND more INT from merits would presumably push me further over the INT equation cap (which I believe I am breaking to be 'on par' with this level of mob). This I do not have the INT to test yet.

I can't see the point on anything less than IT++ or (demi)Gods.

I like your reasoning for maxing Ice and leaving Wind to take 1 or 2 points, also the reasoning for maxing convert recast.

Finally you misread me. I don't kite in the group, I assist kite. I will Gravity the mob, cure the kiter, and they will voke off me so we trade hate and get 7 shadows each and my stoneskin and gravity every 45 seconds or so.

Celebrindor: So.... BioIII is wasteful for DoT kite, ParaII is wasteful, I will defo take advice on Slow II and merit that fully, but I just can't decide on the Group II spells. I have yet to read test data that convinces me where to lay my merits, and at this stage, I am happy to merit Slow fully, and leave my decisions and meriting any other Group II spells until I have the INT/MND situation dealt with.

And yes, I can get 20k/hr exp 9 times out of 10, I exp JP hours and have finally lucked out with a dual BRD, NIN, 2 WAR party of JPs who my timescales coincide with. We broke 32k/hr with band on, obviously only for about 30 seconds but still fun.

Edited, Jul 11th 2007 12:33pm by Aesica

I got 4/4 in HP and MP so I could have the maximum amount of benefit in level cap situations for the widest variety of jobs. I think most people that stick 8 in MP eventually run into the problem of MP overflow; that is, your MP starts to exceed your HP when you throw MP gear on for Convert. Maybe not if you're Elvaan or Galka, but whatever. I figured getting 4 HP merits would allow me some more room for improvement gear-wise. Just remember that HP does still factor in to your maximum Convert threshold; I'm already starting to learn to hate "-HP +MP" gear and to treasure gear that boosts HP and MP (hellooooooo Intensifying Cape, Insomnia Earring, Prince's Slops)

If INT really has that much of a worthwhile effect on Bind, I could see it worth meriting. Otherwise, I'd go with MND. Personal preference thing, really it's such a small difference for such a large amount of merits spent, nobody else is going to care or notice what you do here.

Combat merits seem unimportant for what you want to use RDM for; I would get those last.

If you're intending to use RDM to kite in group situations, I don't see why you'd want -enmity, but honestly, RDM is not a good kiter in a group. It is nearly impossible for RDM to build any sort of appreciable hate while on the move. RDM can tank given the chance, sure, but kiting is really only viable for solo. I maxed +crit and -crit. It really depends on whether or not you want to mess with enmity (personally, I don't).

I recommend 5 Convert and 5 Ice acc. The thing with Silence and Gravity is that the former tends not to work on any high level HNM spellcaster, and the latter tends to only work a few times on most NM/HNM before it starts to resist it. Certainly Wind Acc does help, but IMO not as much as the alternatives.

Max Slow 2. If you find yourself partying with blood tanks often, max Phalanx 2. Otherwise, I'd max Dia 3. Alternatively, you can put 2 in Phalanx and 1 in Dia, and only use Dia for short fights like in meripo.

I haven't been able to reach the point where my MP is exceeding HP until quite recently; I need food and situational gear like the Rep. Gold Medal to do it, and even then I can only BARELY do it. With the additions of gear like what I pointed out, even in my max MP setup it still doesn't quite exceed my HP, which pushes me on to keep looking for better gear. I'm sitting at approximately 1100/1060 right now as RDM/BLM with Marron Glace and my situational RGM active, something like that... can't check atm.

It is worth pointing out I don't have any Zenith equipment. I've had the abjurations for the head and hands for quite a while now (got these as consolation prizes from my various Genbu toyings; all I wanted was the shield) but I've had no pressing need to get their gear; I'd rather wait and see if I ever come across some -1 cursed stuff (and also have the gil to waste on it >_>)

Edited, Jul 11th 2007 8:29pm by Fynlar

Brilliant, thanks so much to you all.

Piping in and being slightly off-topic. For the most part I have been disappointed with Paralyze II. I've tried on everything from TW-IT and have not seen enough procs consistently to justify the huge increase in mp cost. The only times I have seen Paralyze II shine is duoing Cactrot Rapido and Proto Omega. Both get rocked by it if you land it in full mind gear. Maybe it has something to do with the mobs INT also, who knows. Of course then I see 0 procs on Bahamut, I don't know. But I agree 100% with what already has been stated, Slow II fully merited is the clear winner.