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

Thanks, but that doesn't work. I even raised the wait to 10. I can manually go into the menu and do Addendum: White in that time. So the server had it registered that Light Arts is active.

It just refuses to work in a single macro palette. I don't want to be typing out commands or using 2nd macros for stuff that go hand in hand together.

I have the same macro for dark arts addendum black and it works flawlessly, there must be some kind of error in what you're typing.
Are you leaving the space after the : ?

Something in your gearswap is preventing it is likely.

It appears that the name of the Addendum is what might be tripping you up as it is Addendum: White. The macro below will work to use both abilities in one macro.

/ja "Light Arts" <me> <wait 1>
/ja "Addendum: White" <me>

Thank you :) Finally got it working. As you wrote it above does work if the number is raised from 1.

Thats how long its been since I typed out my Addendum: White macro lol.

I think I can make macro O.o

I ran a damage simulator on RDM/NIN with malignance gear, but with:

• Crocea + Tauret | Cape w/ Crit or DA + DEX - CDC

• Maxientus + Tauret | Cape w/ WSD + STR - Black Halo

And I noticed Crocea goes up to around 3.7k DPS (3.9 with savage blade), whereas Maxientius goes up to 4.3k DPS. It amazed me a bit because I somehow felt Crocea would outdamage. Obviously this is from a simulator so isn't 100%, and depends on various things. I didn't mention the constants like haste II, Dia III, Composure on, Apex Bats enemy etc, but yeah does this sound about right for the damage?

(I'm just working on several weapons so I use the simulator to help me decide what I wanna farm for first, so yeah just noticed this).

I mean, you're missing +200% enspell damage.
If you changed to Crocea / Daybreak and switched to Seraph Blade, it'd probably increase a bit too.

RDM dps in 2024 is more about having the largest toolbox in the game in terms of options much more than having some silver bullet that once found, allows you to ignore the worry about other choices. Just for ML'ing I use 4 different builds depending on the mood I'm in and the mobs I'm fighting- there isn't one choice that just smokes the rest^^

So that being said- have fun with the job! I understand one must prioritize where to start and its a lot to build, but do help yourself longterm by remembering that its all fun, and it all has purpose.

In terms of pure DPS using Naegling/Thibron and spamming Savage Blade is probably gonna win above all other options.
And Maxentius/Thibron spamming Black Halo is likely second.

I love Crocea but the DPS spread is much different.
Crocea is fun and has a niche for diffent situations. If the target is resistant against physical damage and/or weak against magical damage and particularly weak against fire or light (so you can exploit Red Lotus Blade and Seraph Blade) then Crocea pulls out some really interesting overall DPS, but other than these and similar situations my experience is that Crocea Mors is lotsa fun but inferior to other options, for pure DPS output.
JM2C.

Solo with trusts, I would pick doing Empyreal Arrow > Savage Blade.

Duo with a COR on things that take both Dark and Light damage, Leaden > Seraph Blade > Leaden.

Just depends on what you're fighting and what you have with you. Sometimes the best option is Crocea+Bunzi doing Sanguine Blade to not interrupt others and bursting on what they make.

Thanks! Just had a few questions before I dig Crocea into a grave and forget about it until I need it lol:

• 
  Would Crocea w/ enspell work well in situations where an enemy has neutral resistance because of the free additive damage that's now also buffed because of Path C? For example, a goobbue takes 100% damage to wind, so not more or less. Would I benefit from using enaero for the extra damage?
  

• 
  I think part of the point of my question is; would I mostly encounter enemies resistant to magic around endgame, or does the above goobbue count as an enemy that's not weak to magic because it's neutral? I think in my use case I was thinking about using Crocea for a lot of older / solo content like Nyzul solo or just ambuscades (if going melee), and other general cases. If I was planning for high-end solo fights, I think I'd definitely first build more weapon sets (though this is still in progress). I was also not planning to always be using seraph/sanguine either, since I know without the proper build (which I'm still working on) they'd still be quite weak, I'd probably use CDC and whatnot over a DEX build.
  

Thanks.

As mentioned above croc's a strong sword but is likely always gonna be 2nd to standard naeg savage blade spam, even with the large boost to enspell/ele WS dmg its hard to beat raw SB power especially when paired with SC dmg.

But when you can't savage it's generally gonna beat most other oprions, the boost to both of the above can really crank RLB/seraph to respectable amounts, and sanguine is very consistent dmg that doesnt sc

Personally havent used CDC in ages beyond as a easy SC tool. dmg varies ws with a magian OH just have too large a gap compared to crit/multi-hit ws' and RDM has the easiest time covering the acc needed due to comp acc and distract

So the best use of Crocea is free wins on Tenzen. Sleep the taru,
WS until he does Yaegsumi and then just auto attack until you win on VD.

The 2nd best use is if you run into something that just doesn't seem to be taking physical damage based on your buffs. If it takes light/dark/fire damage, you'll probably do pretty well. BUT most things take savage blade/black halo and the scenario i'm talking about generally means you are underbuffed. It's probably better to resolve that than plan around magical WSs (as much as i'd love to and would prefer it.)

Crocea is really nice, but niche. It's not your best damage weapon for every scenario it's the best damage weapon for very specific (and niche) scenarios.

If you're trying to avoid pulling hate off a mob, Crocea is excellent because the enmity is very low.
If you're attacking something strong against physical attacks (elementals) then it's great
If you have an abundance of magic buffs and the enemy has an abundance of magic debuffs (Dynamis W3) then it's excellent
If the enemy is really weak against a specific element (Zerde) it can do a lot of damage
If you aren't allowed to WS (Yaegasumi, amnesia, etc.) then it can do more damage than other options

It's definitely not a one-size-fits all weapon though, and most of the time, other weapons will do more damage. White damage is not the name of the game in FFXI, WS damage makes up a MUCH larger percentage of your damage and Crocea is not very good at doing WS damage unless the mob is weak against it or you're buffed/debuffed for it.

There is a lot to unpack in this post so I'll go into it point by point the best I can.


This is highly dependent on the mechanics of the fight you are engaged in, your strategy for said fight, and the gear and buffs you have available to you. Crocea Mors can be of great benefit to make up for RDM's lack of attack with Enspell and magical weapon skill damage when solo (as you mention later in your post). But, like with anything else in this game, it cannot be applied broadly to all situations.


I have a suspicion that you may be under the wrong impression about what those resistance numbers mean.



The percentages in the red rectangle denote a monster's elemental resistance rank by skillchain multiplier, not the percent of damage it takes from that element. These ranks also determine the mount of magic evasion a monster has to a particular element. The value circled in purple denotes a monster's resistance to magic damage.

For the purposes of Enspell damage, you will deal the same amount of damage with Enfire as you would with Enaero to this monster. The only difference would be the amount of magic accuracy needed to reach the 95% magic hit rate cap. The Resist page on BG has more info if you're interested.


There are many instances where magic damage is not ideal. The real question here is, would you even be on the front lines to begin with even if it was? Not all strategies revolve around a RDM swinging their Crocea Mors around. Your role as a RDM in "Endgame" will be to conform to your party's needs, and not your need to swing your sword around.


Building a Crocea Mors just to do ancient content like Nyzul is a waste. Strategies for Ambuscades can vary wildly depending on the month, group, strategy, etc.

Crocea Mors can be a great sword, but it requires the proper gearsets and the right situation to shine as a damage dealing weapon.

Haven't fought VD Shinryu in ages. Went back in today and found my kills were slower than I remembered (like 15+ mins?).
I have three questions for people who have a better memory than mine:

1) Utsusemi
2) TP Set

3) Seraph Blade

Looks more like you needed accuracy.

Utsusemi: don't use it, waste of time
TP set: I use r30 coiste, JSE +1 neck, ayanmo+2 hands, and orpheus's sash, and ride enspell the entire time. Sherida earring, dw cape, telos earring. R30 Bunzi's Cap. Offhand is Bunzi's Rod (mine is only R27 or so)

Seraph Blade: I don't use it. I use Sanguine 100% of the time wings up or down. This allows me to not have to self heal after Cataclysmic Vortex (which can sometimes hit 1500+) into a full cure, so I am never usually at risk of dying unless there's some bad luck (like stun, para, doom and vortex all happening at the same time I am trying to holy water/remedy/cure myself). Since I stopped bothering switching weapons or cure4ing myself, clears got faster.

I engage with sabo silence/para/distract, and then if i feel like it, throw up Poison 2/Bio3, sometimes Addle 2 and Frazzle 3. Honestly I could skip most of these debuffs but it's just a habit now. Stand behind him every time to avoid Cosmic Breath, bring a stack of remedies/holy waters/panacea every run, dispel Mighty Guard, but try to focus on getting off as many Sanguine Blades/WS during wings up if you can. The slowest part of the fight is when he puts his wings back down and damage is halved. Also having a Holy Water set (Nicander's necklace and Purity Ring is what I use) makes them a whole lot more reliable.

Fastest clears are just over 8min, average time is 9-10, sometimes its longer due to him being random and annoying with Mighty Guards, Atomic Ray and Supernova. Cosmic Breath and Gyve Charge are weak moves. Trusts are Cornelia+Star Sibyll (can be skipped, but I use her for MAB aura to slightly bump up sanguine damage).

Now if only I could find a way to reliably bump his drop rate up, since I have never seen a piece of armor or weapon drop from him and I am approaching 430 or so kills on VD...