Reintroduction: The Rdm Merits

K. Ishitar

K. Ishitar

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I understand that the update increased the capacity of category points to 10

Has anyone any firsthand experience or data of the max potency of merits?

specifically para and slow II, blind II increases -5 acc with every merit but not really worth mentioning here.

Yes, I also understand that how you merit them should reflect your playstyle and what you're called to do ingame, but again this is a thread to share experience.

I'm curious if tier II of phalax maxed can outdo phalanx I since the max in the past was equal to tier I, but I'm not sure how/if SE has adjusted them(as they aren't always so keen to say so).

thanks ahead of time
 
What's the max Bio3 time now?
 
each merit should still add +30 secs

originally cap was 1 min and 30 secs, now it would be 3mins
 
K. Ishitar said:
I'm curious if tier II of phalax maxed can outdo phalanx I since the max in the past was equal to tier I, but I'm not sure how/if SE has adjusted them(as they aren't always so keen to say so).
Click to expand...

Phalanx II
Grants a party member a certian amount of damage resistance.
Increase Phalanx II duration by 30 seconda and damage reduction by 3.
Click to expand...

That is what I see when I look at it in my merit menu.

Wiki has this information:

FFXIclopedia.org said:
Merit Info:
Lasts 120 seconds upon first unlocking.
Each additional merit increases damage shield effect by 3 and increases duration by 30s up to a maximum of 240s.
Damage prevented Formula for this spell is [(enhancing magic/25) +1 + (3 x MeritLv)]
Adding more enhancing magic is useless unless you can break another 25 skill tier. (see examples below)
Max casting range is 25' which is useful for casting upon kiting tanks.
Click to expand...
 
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Talk:Phalanx

true, it seems to outdo phalanx only by a small margin meaning it still has a small window of usefulness and sacrificing that merit space for other merits doesn't seem worth it when sch exists.

still trying to catch up linh, but thanks for pointing that out.

I was just curious of the personal experiences/data with the other merits, phalanx was just an example

Edit: About to go soon but let me explain why i used phalanx II as an example, it's a merit I'm not sure about, since before update it was possible to reach the regular potency of phalanx with capped II merits and enhancing. I was even less interested in meriting it when sch came out. However there is a damage difference, and I am unsure of whether that -5 damage negation difference would make it worthwhile on the endgame scene, which of course leads back to what you do with your time.

However, I'm trying to draw in all different experiences and figure out how to spend them, the only thing I feel strong about is going 5/5 with Slow II
 
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i did slow 2 5/5
Para 2 5/5 (Noticed this 40% locking a mnk in dynamis northlands during hundered fist) Not much testing though.
Get a good mnd set with skill for both though. I read slow 2 caps at about 40% range so para 2 must be about that.
IMO the rest are very meh.
And as you say why spend ALL those merits when a sch can do it faster and aoe it.
You can say, "yea well bio 3 FTW. i'm a solo god."
If you can do it with bio 3, then you can do it with bio 2. Saving that extra mp for nukes.
Dia 3 good for zergs i guess.
lolBlind 2.
 
I say its still not as viable to do Phalanx II unless you do a lot of multihit NMs.. with no enhancing adjustments its only 3 points higher at 5/5. If the spell was 1.5 times the cost instead of double, or the formula was [(enhancing skill/15)+(3*merit lvl) cause then it would be only slightly better than Phalanx 1 when we could do 3/3 and that much better at 5/5.

They just did poorly when they set this spell up imo. The teir II should have always been able to cap out higher before this update. Phalanx 1 would still have been viable, because most wouldn't pay 2x the MP to add 2-3 damage resist to cast on themselves.


As for the others, I'm interested in if people found out how decent the Para II capped is. Slow won't quite reach Elegy level, so meh to that.
 
Been working on dia3 4/4 after VU, still waiting on confirmation of wether more merit either increase the slow cap, or just diminishes the amount of mnd needed to cap. If it increases the slow cap it's useless as you will not be able to land a +80 mnd on anything worthwhile. If instead it increases the effect at a given mnd if you are below the cap ill consider it.


Dia3 4/4 means diaIII has the same length as diaII which is sexy.
 
pchan said:
Been working on dia3 4/4 after VU, still waiting on confirmation of wether more merit either increase the slow cap, or just diminishes the amount of mnd needed to cap. If it increases the slow cap it's useless as you will not be able to land a +80 mnd on anything worthwhile. If instead it increases the effect at a given mnd if you are below the cap ill consider it.


Dia3 4/4 means diaIII has the same length as diaII which is sexy.
Click to expand...

Just making sure I didn't read update wrong, wouldn't it be DiaIII 4/5??
 
ya would not worry about phalanx just not worth it. So that leaves 3 good options.

5 para/slow

or

4 para/slow 2 blind

or

4 para/slow 1 bio/dia

personally leaning towards option 2. blind could have it uses on certain mobs and for soloing but needs more testing.
 
Not to take this off topic but I just wanted to mention that I don't think putting one merit into Bio/Dia III is really worth the MP cost because if i'm not mistaken, the spell only lasts 30 seconds. If you get at least 2 merits into the spell, it'll last you 60 seconds which is ideal for merit parties (Dia 3) and makes the MP cost a bit more worth it.

As for the Phalanx question, i'm not sure. I haven't gotten any done any new merits but currently I have 2 merits in Dia 3 (I do a lot of meriting, and this really helps the chains), 2 merits in Bio 3 (I tend to do a lot of soloing now and then) and 2 merits in Slow II (this seems to be the best out of all the enfeebles because of the guaranteed effect). With the new update, i'll probably add to Slow II and also get Paralyze II. Phalanx II seems to be only worthwhile if you find yourself in the tank party for endgame events most of the time.
 
hellstorm said:
ya would not worry about phalanx just not worth it. So that leaves 3 good options.
Click to expand...

Phalanx is totally worth it. Depending on what kind of fights you do.
 
Zerayla said:
Not to take this off topic but I just wanted to mention that I don't think putting one merit into Bio/Dia III is really worth the MP cost because if i'm not mistaken, the spell only lasts 30 seconds. If you get at least 2 merits into the spell, it'll last you 60 seconds which is ideal for merit parties (Dia 3) and makes the MP cost a bit more worth it.
Click to expand...

Yes ideal for merit parties, assuming your dd don't suck your MP and know how to blink tank and that you have refresh gear ; that's rather rare. I mean, 45 MP per mob, a typical fight last lasts like 30 sec or less, meaning a minimum of 90 mps per minute, 900 per 10 minute. That's a whole MP pool just for Dia.

Imo rdm merit I & II or totally usueless for merits, except limited situation like the occasionnal lolurker or wyvern. Just to keep debuffs up on every mobs (paralyze II + slow II + Dia3) you would need 126 MP/mob which is 2520 MP / 10 min .
 
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Situational as well, but HNM's that may require sleep it's actually BETTER to use Dia III with one merit. We used to use this strategy on Fafnir, using Dia III shortly before a SC and knowing that it would wear in 30 seconds incase trouble was a brewin.
 
jamal said:
Situational as well, but HNM's that may require sleep it's actually BETTER to use Dia III with one merit. We used to use this strategy on Fafnir, using Dia III shortly before a SC and knowing that it would wear in 30 seconds incase trouble was a brewin.
Click to expand...

Hmm, never thought about that situation but you make a good point. So I guess my comment would be directed to the kind of RDMs that don't find themselves in the HNM area =P

And I agree with what you said Pchan, but usually melee DDs are experienced enough that they can keep up their shadows decently. If you're fighting colibri, MP shouldn't be too much of a problem to keep Dia III on the mobs. The only time I have personally had issues with MP is when the party starts to get bored and they become lazy with keeping up their shadows.

As for having Slow II and Paralyze II on merit mobs (mamool), I haven't really been able to play melee with a RDM using them to see how these help but I still toss out a Slow II when the MP is available to help a little. The spells aren't necessary but they do help. Its just that other spells take priority obviously like gravity and dispel. So I wouldn't say they're totally useless.
 
Tyrath said:
Phalanx is totally worth it. Depending on what kind of fights you do.
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Even fully merited it is only as good as normal phalanx and from the test I've seen only smiget over that of sch. Difference is we have to place 5 merit in it leaving us to choose either slow or para to merit with it. Which in most cases both provided they stick can provide a better advantage then doing a job that a sch can do faster and in most cases better. As for dia/bio jamal hit it nicely.

slow/pra 2 on every exp mob kinda hard to do mp cost is pretty iffy if you are main healing as well and most mobs die before you could get all 3 buffs on anyway.
 
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hellstorm said:
Even fully merited it is only as good as normal phalanx and from the test I've seen only smiget over that of sch. Difference is we have to place 5 merit in it leaving us to choose either slow or para to merit with it. Which in most cases both provided they stick can provide a better advantage then doing a job that a sch can do faster and in most cases better. As for dia/bio jamal hit it nicely.
Click to expand...

I don't do a whole lot of soloing on RDM - I gets lonely! I duo frequently and do linkshell events, so Phalanx II is a decent decision for me to help support party members. I don't bother casting it on myself - I just use regular ol Phalanx if I bother putting it up at all.

And it was a good call, Jamal.
 
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