RDM Merits

So my RDM is 75, and i pretty much only use it for soloing with occasional events on it. i have 5/5 bio3, and was wondering which i should do, Para2 or Slow2.

Thank you for the help!

Kinda depends on what you do and gear setup really. Slow is a tad more consistent both in duration and effect but para2 can wreck some mobs

Slow 2.

This.
I was going for a mix of para2/slow2 myself, and then decide later. I think it's more of a personal preference.

5/5 Slow II is godlike, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Ever.

There was a thread on this the other day.

Bio II - Only for soloer, only viable at 5/5

Para II - A worthwhile upgrade from para I, even if it is just so you can over-write some gimp rdm's para, 1-5/5 are viable

Slow II - A great upgrade, like para II. really shines @ 3+/5

Phalanx II - Very situational, only really for super tanking and salvage. But when it is needed it is very powerful. Needs 3 or more upgrades to become 'worth it'.

Blind II - LOL.. don't bother Blind I is better for making hate (rdm tanking) and isn't going to give a meaningful increase in evasion rate for your tank on anything hard.

Dia III - At 1-2/5 it is great for zergs, merits, nyzul, salvage mobs etc. at 4-5/5 it is better than Dia II for long fights.

I am currently in the process of redoing my rdm merits, aiming towards:

Dia III 1/5 (zergs/merits etc)
Slow II 5/5 (general purpose)
Phalanx II 3/5 (just getting into salvage)
Para II 1/5 (for over writing rdm's with no MND build)

I kinda wanna mess with blind II. For soloing it might help offset rdms horrible evasion so they can solo blink tank on par with someone without a horrible evasion. For things that don't already have capped acc even blind has a somewhat noticable effect. But not sure I'd waste the merits trying.

Personally I still haven't done much with rdm merits largely cause of the options and well meritting other jobs that got to 75 after lol.

Bio III is a godsend for soloing though. Especially those mobs that resist poison and you don't want to kill them with lol 6/tic bio2

Personally I have 5/5 Slow2 and Para 2, as well as 5/5 Wind Magic Accuracy(for sticking Gravity while soloing mainly) And 5/5 Ice Merits(Para, Bind, Blizzard if you're nuking.) I've redone my merits 4 times, but I always seem to end back up with those merits.

Yeah. Breaking it down to what you prefer to do on RDM is pretty crucial.
I'm a solist RDM by heart, and I love it to death. 5/5 Bio III and 5/5 Slow II is what makes me capable of performing in a safe, "quick" solo way. Phalanx II is great for salvage 1f where alot of mobs will be hitting for 0-10. Great MP saver. For solo, paralyze II is really too expencive to keep recasting. From my experience and from when I had and tried it, the proc rate is still pretty random, as para I, and you really don't want to a tradeoff where you cut down on your slow II or bio III merits. Dia III; as said, great for merits/zergs. Blind II=lol, don't even bother. Just don't. :P I see you already have 5/5 bio III, but if I were to cap out ONE, just ONE of the RDM T2 merits spells, it would have to be slow II.

i personally have 2/5 Dia III (for Zerg fights on LS, 30 sec was not allways enough on all mobs)
4/5 Paralyze II
and not done but going for 4/5 Slow II (or 3/5 and 5/5 para not sure yet, at 2/5 atm)

i still have that old old Phalanx II merit, long time before SCH came out or Merits were raised to 5/5 in category 2 just 1 cause i felt it is very useless for me so i never bothered to raise it nor remove it (since still not capped in group II lol)


Personally i would allways suggest any RDM who lowman stuff much, but not neccessary solo NM's, and who has a MND build to try out Paralyze II.

Currently 4/5 and with my MND set (+71 MND, not logged in atm but i have 130+ MND i think) it proc rate is AMAZING. Last i remember was when me and my bf did that Treant NM in the Tomb and it proct 10 times in a row. It is random, but amazing if you build your gear for it^^

I find that Para can be an invaluable tool when using a good MND build, Though I do tend to agree its not realistic while soloing. Dia II is also a great tool for Zerging DL, Kirin, pretty much everything, and I've had it merited twice before. I just know other reliable RDMs in my LS have it, so I stick to Max-Para.

In my experience Para2 seems to really shine on harder mobs. Lower ones unless you really buid for it it's proc rate at least at lvl 1 is really on par with para 1. But when I'm fighting harder NMs/HNMs it procs way better than para 1 even at 1/5. It is kinda expensive though

they should make it so job merits can be removed and reused with out losing them like every conquest week, that would make things better :D

I personally think you should be able to delete a merit to obtain 500 limit points.

You guys know we're talking about asking SE to do that in their next update
...
...
...
/cry
please SE, let this happen ; ;

I was not aware, can you also ask them for a /ja for mnk call pray. +%mnd to bring the chi blast mnk back!!!!????!!!!

Bio2 @ 220skill does 7dmg/tick
Bio2 @ 276 skill does 8dmg/tick
Bio3 @ 220 skill does 8dmg/tick

Paralyze II: 39mp, each upgrades makes it easier to land ‘~” and increase its potency. HQ staff only helps landing it, It does not affect the Proc rate. Also like Para 1 it seems to be solely based on luck with Proc rate and some even say that para 1's proc rate kicks in more. I'm still testing this.

Slow II: 45mp, each upgardes makes it easier to land, and makes it even SLOWER.

•Slow1: Caps 30% slowness
•Slow2 (1): 34% slow
•Slow2 (2): 37% slow
•Slow2 (3): 39% slow <-- estimate, can be slower.
•Elegy: Constant 48% Slow.
We all know Elegy is very slow, but if you fully upgrade a Slow2, added with Elegy, you are nearly slowing the enemy 90%, with a 2.4sec delay / attack from most mobs, you are slowing enemy’s attack by (2.4 x 48%+39%) = 4.48sec,

Blind II: I don’t know MP cost, 9% evasion naturally, 11% with blind1, 12% evasion with blind2 1 upgrade. To me it isn’t worth it. There are a few reasons

•Slower Attack over time = Null 1 attack. If its 10% slower, so that means the monster now hit 9 times instead of 10 times, basically means it nulls a hit.
•Paralyze an attack also nulls the attack, but then it can null both magic or JA’s
•Blind II not only does not null the attack, but its very evasion dependent. It would only help to evade more, but if the blindness % (hense the evasion increase due to Blind II does not outweight the Proc rate of Paralyze II or significantly better than Slow II.

Phalanx II is a different one. Its like Warp 2, you are now able to cast on party members. But here’s the deal, with 1 upgrade you start with a 16 damage potency (that’s lower than normal phalanx). Each upgrade makes it last longer, and increase damage reflection by 3. A fully upgrade is only 22 damage reduction. My phalanx with enhancing gear, is 23 potency. So if you really need it for HNM or Salvage, this would be a worthwhile upgrade. Then again I just bring a Sch/rdm for Phalanx AoE.

So personally, I think Slow 2 is more a constant debuff, the moment you cast it, the effect is on, its effectiveness is guaranteed. Paralyze “needs to kick in” but at least it can null attacks, but Blind doesn’t offer nulling attack so…


Proc: How many times it will kick in, a 100% Proc rate for 10 sec means during that 10 seconds, anything that the monster does for the next 10 second will get paralyze, Proc rate is basically (# of paralyzed attack / total attack).

HQ staves: After numerous testing, we’ve concluded that… HQ staves > enfeebling dagger helps with landing enfeebling spells. This is a fact. (at least to me)

The determinants for “duration” are from enfeebling skills, HQ staves, and MND. We know that HQ staves > enfeebling, and the number on the graph totally reflects that relationship, so at least to me, this is not complete ***.

Well rather you believe it or not, I’m goin summarize overall order of importance: MND > Enfeebling Skills > HQ Staves. MND plays a major role in the calculation of Proc rate AND duration, no doubt. Enfeebling is second because… it plays both a major role in both Proc rate and Duration… whereas HQ staves only helps on landing, doesn’t do anything about Proc rate.

So I guess if you are having trouble landing, you are better off with HQ staves.


I've taken a look at Avesta’s Merit Evaluation basically, he shares the same view as I do, Slow II ftw, Blind II is too evasion dependent, as I suspected, Avesta alos upgraded Bio III, she grades Paralyze II as C+.



Avesta’s RDM Merit Setup

*2006 9/7
HP +8
INT +5
+8 (Enfeebling)
+8 (Sword)
+4 (Dagger)
+4 (Enemy Crit Rate Lower)
+4 (Spell Interruption)
(RDM Tier I)
+5 (Convert Timer)
+5 (Ice Accuracy)
(RDM Tier II))
+5 (Slow II)
+5 (Bio III)

240 delay = 4 seconds not 2.4, and most of that ***is just copy/paste nonsense

Merit 5/5 Slow2. If you primarily solo, also merit 5/5 Bio III. If you do not, merit 2 Dia III. If you do salvage frequently, use your last 3 on Phalanx II. If you do not, use them on 3/5 Para2 or 3/5 Phalanx2 anyway.. neither is going to be a huge difference. Bio III is only worthwhile if you 5/5 it, and Blind II is worthless regardless.

Yeah didn't want to mention that or that it is 211+ that is the spot where bio2/3 changes dot dmg or to mention that duh HQ staffs are better than dagger being as HQ staffs provide a good 30 or so macc.

Ok for those who have merits in their RDM for solo play and dont need to worry as much about the Mag accuaracy this is a pretty good combo to be used with Astral Aspis. Yes we all understand how HQ staves help with duration and landing the spell but it does not help with the potency on say like Paralyze.

He said
Why suggest set-ups for salvage for when he says he only uses for solo most of the time and is asking between slow 2 and para 2.

Go with Slow 2 5/5 for sure as you don't have to pray it Procs in at the right time like you do with para and tbh para 1 has always sufficed for me alone.

Group 1 Convet 5/5 Ice 5/5
Group 2 Bio III 5/5, Slow II 1/5, Para II 1/5, Phalanx II 1/5, Dia III 2/5

Plus you think you can solo this with phalanx 2 and dia 3?

People were soloing long before Group 2 merits. That gives you necessary Bio Merits, Slow 35%?, Para II (Meh imo), Phalanx for those of us RDM who Salvage, & Dia for zerg/einherjar. There's nothing wrong in being a well rounded RDM.

i have 5 slow2 4 para2 1 phalanx2
slow 2 is a must have
para 2 is great, i notice 4/5 para 2 on Ultima its proc like 1/3 times sometimes i see it proc like 4-6 in a row lol.
phalanx 2 is just something nice to have
if your getting bio3 get it to at least lvl 3 or above thing thing below is a waste.