Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better!: RDM Guide

I use my STR/WSD cape for Black Halo, KotR, basically everything.

Make a MND and m.acc/m.dmg cape that just so happens to have WSD and you also double up for your MND enfeebling. Works for Sanguine, Seraph Blade, Flash Nova.

After that you're down the rabbit hole and you can stop anytime you want. INT magic wsd for Red Lotus Blade/Aeolian Edge/BLIND2!. AGI r.acc WSD for Empyreal Arrow. DEX crit for CDC. Waltz cape, AGI store TP for ranged tp, INT Store TP for Occult Acumen.

STR is a WS mod for Seraph Blade, Red Lotus Blade and Sanguine Blade (albeit a secondary, lower % mod for Sanguine Blade, but still a mod nonetheless).

In light of this a STR/AccAtt/WSD cape looks like a pretty solid compromise for magical WS for a Crocea RDM, if you want to save inventory space.
The loss of 20MDMG shouldn't really have a huge impact on the final WS numbers if I'm not wrong. 20 macc is mayhap more concerning but it still looks like a solid inventory-saving compromise to me, given how you can use such a cape for plenty of other physical WS.

Compromise =/= Ideal, but if you ask me it sounds like a really nice compromise.

Around 1% less on Sanguine with that cape, instead of MND/WSD/mDMG

Lacking M.acc can make you more aware that you're using a Pixie Hairpin more often on the damage side of things, but it's still going to be a full heal in basically ever situation.

If anything, I'm personally more curious about what everybody thinks on STR vs MND for a WS cape on RDM.

MND is often an equal and sometimes a better WS mod for many relevant RDM WSs.
So the direct damage contribute from stat alone should be equal if not sometimes better from MND vs STR.

But for physical WSs (Savage Blade, Black Halo, the first two that come to my mind) STR also helps with STR tiers and with attack, whereas MND does not.


The easy way out of this is to have 2+ capes of course, but I'm trying to evaluate pros and cons of both options in case of a single-cape-compromise scenario.

There is no scenario like that where you would choose mnd over str imo. STR cape is better for more WSs and is much less behind on halo, than MND cape on everything else. It's only a matter of doing MND cape as 2nd cape for Black Halo and Requiescat.

Yeah uhm, that enforces what I thought, eh... not worth it.


Anybody mind linking to me the post where someone found out Crocea Mors was "changing" Sanguine Blade from MND to INT or something like that? I seem to recall reading about it a long, long, long time ago in this thread.

It doesn’t trasform it. The 100% bonus just applies to the mnd wsc stat and not to the dInt stat

Basically, the 100% boost is to fTP and dINT isn't multiplied by fTP, while WSC is, so WSC becomes twice as potent, while dINT stays the same.

So for death blossom also you'd do str,acc/atk/wsd even tho it's 50mnd/30str? Intereesting. I admittedly never used death blossom and might never in my circumstances but still I might as well set it up in the set as it "should" be

I use Death Blossom when I want to feel pretty, prettier than Mayakov.

Unless maybe for R15 Murgleis owners, Death Blossom isn't exactly a particularly relevant WS for RDM eh.
You get those same SC properties from other, better WSs, it doesn't deal high damage regardless of how good you gear up to, I mean some could say why even bother with Death Blossom to begin with?

Of course if you're doing it for fun like Lili said, I see no issue with it.
But at that point your question suddenly becomes much less relevant. Because at that point, once your WS set is at least decent, why even care for the MND vs STR aug on the cape?
I mean...


Furthermore about the cape, don't expect huge results from that WS+10 slot. It's a 3hit WS, so...
Then again, since it doesn't transfer TP, WSD+10 is possibly still the best option compared to DA+10.

as Murg was my 1st rmea, I gotta say these days even using it (R15), DB is for proccing a tier of aftermath and really, that's about it. Even in long chaining while using Ullr (sometimes when I solo MLs on RDM I'll go with a Murgleis build just to vary the boredom!), its just not that valued to me.

Biggest benefits I see are the application of the -meva down and then hopefully a +macc with a high AM1 on some Ody fights. Not saying I don't ride AM3 when solo, just saying it doesn't keep up in a max buff situation any more. Sad, such a beauty is now outclassed if just looking at the raw data, but I do try and believe there's still a great use for it now and then with its unique applications vs trying to make it a DPS king.

If you use Death Blossom for fun on trash mobs, then damage optimization around 1.3% (30MND is 6more base damage over 30str from WSC alone) is most likely irrelevant . If you use it on anything serious, then you more than likely wont be capping fSTR in which case every point of str will be closer to 55% (30%wsc+25%fSTR) and you might also very likely need that 30 attack to either cap attack or simply get more benefit from PDL, making STR much better overall. If you are on the edge of capping fSTR and/or attack with STR cape, then this allows you to balance STR cape by using gain-MND, instead of gain-STR.

Another probably super minor thing/question:

I thought for magic ws sibyl scarf was mildly better than baetyl due to INT but noticed on main page is baetyl, is it better and I've been mistaken for a while? I use sibyl on all jobs for aeolian but on rdm also on all the sets like sanguine/seraph <.<

depends, Sibyl probably better on Sanguine and Red Lotus, Baetyl better on seraph.

Without punctuation, I'm having trouble understanding what you use. I assume you're saying:

For all jobs that use Aeolian Edge, you use Sybil?
What about RDM?

Was checking out the all jobs gear from izanami's tool and noticed for seraph blade it suggests on the wiki page (so set made by him, not sure on the conditions link https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/All_Jobs_Gear_Sets/Red_Mage) that fotia gorget and leth gauntlets +3 are better than sibyl scarf/baetyl and jhakri cuffs +2.

I'm a bit surprised since I hadn't considered either in my sets as I thought the mab + wsd of jhakri +2 would still be better than leth +3 and well, was thinking the 10 MAB(or 13 of baetyl which I still don't have) would've been better than fotia entirely...

am I using the wrong items? <.<

edit: even duelist's torque +2 came to mind before fotia, forgot to say earlier

I brought that up about Fotia about a week ago in the thread. It ends up being because Seraph has a pretty low ftp for the WS, so it ends up being stronger than other options in the slot.

Edit: And INT doesn't do anything for Seraph Blade as opposed to Sanguine or RLB.

I did some real world testing just for you guys.
Target: Apex Cogs (Triple)
Used set on first page minus sroda tathlum (Aurgelmir orb +1 stayed on) and Cornelia's ring instead of metamorph, Mlvl 32, R20 nyame

3000TP Seraph Blade w/o Gain-MND
Jhakri Cuffs+2-26918 Empy +3 hands-26915
3000TP Seraph Blade w/ Gain-MND
Jhakri Cuffs+2-28045 Empy +3 hands-28022

The difference in damage is negligible, but I agree Empy hands are a better option defensively

Baetyl vs Fotia
1123TP
Baetyl-13022 Fotia-13189
2183TP
Baetyl-22168 Fotia-22069
3000TP (Performed on a different Apex Cogs (Triple) from above tests)
Baetyl-28193 Fotia-27947

Clearly the best option will depend on what TP you're firing Seraph Blade off at.


I wouldn't consider any of the listed options as "wrong." Use whatever works best for your situation. :D

Anyone know how much a max'd poison2 will tic for and how long it'll last?

I know the cited testing on wiki was using equipment limits from 7 years ago. Before ml and all that

Which duration do you want to know?

If gearing for duration: For me at ML 40
Base with BIS gear (104/tic 6:55) (4/5 Empy + Regal Cuffs, JSE neck +2, snotra, kishar, obstinate sash.... 5/5 enfeeble duration merits
Base with BIS gear + sabo (222/tic 11:59) (5/5 Empy + JSE neck +2, snotra, kishar, obstinate sash... 5/5 enfeeble duration)
Base with BIS gear + sabo on NM (144/tic 8:28) (same as above)

I'm assuming for max damage per tick

I'm not sure if this is BIS, but I can get 692 enfeebling skill for poison 2.

That is a base potency of 126/tic, but don't get any duration bonus from Composure.

Base: 126/tic 4:25 duration
Base + Sabo: 269/tic 7:42 duration
Base + Sabo on NM: 175/tic 5:33

Edit: this is if there really isn't a cap on skill for poison 2.

Because if we f**king can! And if we f**king can! We do.

When soloing I have found a niche use of Death Blossom, which happens when Valaineral opens the fight with Uriel Blade and sometimes it is helpful to connect it into a Distortion (e.g. to follow up with KOR > Savage). CDC will end it as a single Light, which is not always optimal.

But since this usually happens when I fight trash mobs and Death Blossom just functions as a bridge, its damage does not really matter. I just used Izanami's simulator to find a set based on my current gear (which ended up being the same as my KOR set) and stopped bothering about that.

What weapon combo you guys use for aeolian edge if acc is no issue?

I was considering tauret/thibron since my malevolence is only 5 int, I also was considering tauret/daybreak if acc becomes an issue but undecided honestly.

What would be the standard weapons for it that are the best? <.<

Tauret/Thibron is the combination suggested in the guide on the first page. This lies up with my personal experience and Izanami's simulator, that Tauret/Thibron is significantly stronger than Tauret/Daybreak when firing at 1000 TP.

Bunzi's rod has to be competitive.