Question for Melee Professionals

O

Onidori

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Jun 10, 2004
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Hi,

My main char is a Taru RDM. Since I naturally have low VIT / STR, I have not really focused on melee skills. Since I usually have 80 - 100 more MP (with Apple Pie) than Hume / Elvaan RDM at my level, in most parties I get to fill the WHM / BLM gap. However, I have always wanted to raise my attack ability to help me farm and fill the melee gaps better.

Last night, I played with another taru RDM at same level, with same sword (Fire Sword dmg 15). We had similar armor, and the only big difference is that he has a pair of gloves that is attack + 3, and he popped a mithkabob. Somehow, my attack was only 89, while his was 124. I couldn't believe the difference these two things make. So my questions to the professional meleers are: Can the attack +3 equipment make that much difference? How can I further raise my attacks?

Onidori
-- Windurst Taru, RDM 27 / WHM 14 / BLM 13
 
The attack +3 does help, but the Mithkabobs help a LOT. That's really what brought his damage up so much, because not only do they boost STR but they also boost DMG by a certain percentage as well. If you want more damage output, by all means, eat some Mithkabobs or Chiefkabobs.

However, keep in mind that at later levels, your little Tarutaru RDM'ey self won't put out as much melee damage anymore, relatively speaking. While I still melee and add my bit (hell, the en-spells are there for a reason), I don't expect to be a melee DD anymore at 30+. Around that point, it's probably a good idea to switch over to eating pies for MP instead of Mithkabobs for melee, because your intermittent nukes in between swings will do more damage overall than your blade.

But don't put down your blade for a staff or wand. Hell no. :) Fight to the finish! (As long as you can do your RDM'ey duties, of course.)
 
Nyahoho said:
The attack +3 does help, but the Mithkabobs help a LOT. That's really what brought his damage up so much, because not only do they boost STR but they also boost DMG by a certain percentage as well. If you want more damage output, by all means, eat some Mithkabobs or Chiefkabobs.

However, keep in mind that at later levels, your little Tarutaru RDM'ey self won't put out as much melee damage anymore, relatively speaking. While I still melee and add my bit (hell, the en-spells are there for a reason), I don't expect to be a melee DD anymore at 30+. Around that point, it's probably a good idea to switch over to eating pies for MP instead of Mithkabobs for melee, because your intermittent nukes in between swings will do more damage overall than your blade.

But don't put down your blade for a staff or wand. Hell no. :) Fight to the finish! (As long as you can do your RDM'ey duties, of course.)
Click to expand...

What she said ^^. I still melee as a 52 RDM, but my damage output isn't that exciting. ^^
 
What's your combat skill level for the type of weapon you were using compared to his? If you are admitttedly low level on melee weapons (such as your sword which I think you said you were using) and he wad developed the skill much farther, then it could explain why his attack was much higher than yours.

Mithkabobs can only go so far.

Go into "Status" and check "Combat Skills" (I'm writing this from memory so hopefully I'm not giving you the wrong labels).

Regards
Tim
 
I don't melee much. Because most of the time people ask me to sub whm. Whm sub is not helping me with MP management and I have more things to do in addition to my Rdm job. Up till maybe 50s you fight melee easy things. But when you reach 60s you will notice you will be fighting more high evation, devastating AoE status or damage or even both, and much more. Unless you want to spend extra cash on melee gears I wouldn't go much on melee side.
 
im a mithran rdm, and i always love joining the melee, save for 2 things,

1: there is no AoE, i HATE undead in eldiemene necropolist for bloodsaber (drain AoE) and anticans are a nasty piece of work to( silence AoE >.<)

2: i'm doing something that generates hate, like main healing, alot of whm dont have their clubs maxed. why? you know that space between where you and mob + rest of party are fighting? if you suddenly get more hate then the pally or something its gonna take few seconds to get to you (if it has weight, i love gravity GREAT spell) and those 2-4 seconds could be all the times the pally needs to voke again.

in a fight though (49 FYI genkai done, and coffer keys for eldiemene necropolis and all the materials for AF2. [curse AF, i'm learning it was never made to be plesant])
anyway..... I still have my natural race qualitys of dex++++ and so i dont generally miss. the only problem, that 2-8 damage a hit dosnt exactly add up[, ill assure you. and I can do just about as much damage with a spell with the 20 mp a pie gives you (as a non-taru rdm, morre mp is VERY helpful post 40 [convert])

whoops, double post, it says i can't delete in this forum, (wanna change that sculli ^^;) sorry
 
keeping your melee skills up is important, especially for RDM. Should you choose to take the job into high levels you will be one of the most powerful farmers out there to take in your own loot. Yes, I am aware of NM, HNM fights but even if, I would skill up anytime possible so you can get the quested WS's post 70.

I play brd but my dagger is 214, sword 180 and I plan to skill it up later today with my LS. Even though you mostly dont melee much in pts (which is expected to a point depending on PT setup) keep them up for yourself, when the situation gets hairy youll be glad to know you can depend on your weapon.

What is your skill lvl at?
 
Unless you are main healer with your RDM you should always enter melee. Which is why we rdm's get enspells, swords, and heavier armor. Its not that hard to enfeeble, backup heal, and refresh while melee. Just takes some used to getting to. Remember that every little bit of dmg helps :D
 
This is not true, and it has been my experience that RDMs past leel 30 in melee is pretty much a waste of time.

If the RDM is doing his job correctly, he wont get to swing his weapon often enough for it to count. Factor in his low combat skills, and you have a miss fest on top of the already low ammount of attacks. That extra 50 damage per fight you deal is quite literally nothing to the monsters at higher levels. If the mob has no AE and the RDM is good enough to keep on top of his job while in melee, its okay i guess; but that doesnt change the fact that your (RDM's) melee truely doesnt add up.]

The key word in Red Mage is Mage. Stay back and do that part of the job, because thats what got you into the party in the first place.
 
Two School of thoughts on RDM Melee

Thanks everyone for posting their thoughts. I see two different school of thoughts expressed here. The first is melee as much as possible while casting spells, the other is no melee, focused solely on spell casting.

Lately, as I do mostly WHM subbing work, i have not really done much melee work at all. While I am concerned that my sword skill is not being kept up, I have done much better at healing and timing magic bursts.

A case and point was a recent experience in a party with another RDM in Yhoator Jungle. We didn't have a WHM, so I choose to focus on healing full time. When the fight got tough, the other RDM was completely unable to assist me in healing. In fact, he barely had time to cast cure on himself. Let alone casting any enfeeb or elemental attack spells.

Despite that example, I think in terms of being able to solo and farm, melee skill is essential. I am going to try the enfeeb / heal / magic while melee style for a little bit and see how well that works. Any pointer on how to be effect spell caster while doing melee is greatly appreciated.

Onidori
-- Windurst Taru, RDM 31 / WHM 14 / BLM 13 <--- Time to level sub jobs :)
 
if you insist on melee while casting, have your macros end in <st> instead of <t>. This will let you choose your target with the FKeys after using the macro, rather than choosing your target and then hitting the macro like you would while sitting out.
 
Hello, I think that is a redmage wants to melle he or she should feel free to do so, especially on mithkabobs, they add 20% to your attack and 5 str which is enough to make any rdm including taru have some noticable damage, and the thought that 50 damage per fght isnt worth it i woud have to disagree with. i think ANY damage is ultimately better thn nothing. it may not e a deciding factor but it wont hurt. btw this is my first post.
im currently leveling beast so if you see me around please feel free to stop and say hello
 
ok lemme put it this way, we are not made to do damage, thats why we get buffing en-spells and also, they give us convert at 40 and refresh at 41, to keep blm and whm ahead of rdm not only do they not give us vital spells (raise 2 anyone, reraise?) and they also give us a very low mana pool compared to others. therefore you need to eat sweets and drinks. drinks for mp regen and pies, pumpkin adds 40 mp i believe and apple adds 20 or 25, i currently use apple because its more in my budget (thanks fell) thats extra 20 can help. because it could easily make a cure 3 with refresh.
 
The time a RDM spends trying to deal 50 damage is much better spent /healing. A tick or two of mana is another nuke or two, which means way more than 50 extra damage.

And, as was already covered; Mithkabobs are for melee. RDM should be consuming pies and drinks.
 
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