/rdm or /drg

[DR2D2]

As a general sub for blu, would /drg be better than /rdm. I know you would lose any mp boost from rdm(not to mention the enfeebles) but with /drg I would get a better damage rate than /rdm(which by definition a blu is more a dd than anything).


p.s.:I have read where blm is the best sub for blu so I know blm is probably better than both /rdm and /drg, but I like both rdm and drg better than blm .

[Tekumel]

Err...I really haven't seen either of those used. :x

Normally for DD BLUs I see /WAR, /THF, and /NIN...any sort of "back line" BLU I've run into (not many) has been /WHM.

[Taskmage]

Rdm is useful starting at 30 when you can get +5 sword skill from Rapier Belt and +1 hMP from Warlock's Earring. Subbed enspell isn't entirely useless vs T or lower, and native magic attack bonus at 40 gets you a 20% stronger Red Lotus Blade without spending set points and blue magic slots to get the trait that way. That's about it though. It's not useless but not an eye-popping sub either. I'm using /rdm currently to gauge it vs /thf. I'm not sure which serves me better atm.

I don't know why anyone would've told you blm is a good sub for blu. All it's got is magic attack bonus, which doesn't even apply to your physical blue magic spells. All the offensive spells from blm will be useless due to half skill.

/drg ... umm you get a 5% haste earring at 30. .... no. That's the only thing it has to offer and your recast times on attack spells are already low enough you won't even notice the difference.

Tekumel named all the staple subs. /war early on for tanking, /thf after 30 to stack Sneak Attack on your spells, and /nin after 50 when dual wield II comes into play to increase your DoT and give stat bonuses from the offhand weapon, plus of course Utsusemi. If you're playing support, /whm is indispensable for status cures and Divine Seal to double your Healing Breeze.

[DR2D2]

Err...I really haven't seen either of those used. :x

Normally for DD BLUs I see /WAR, /THF, and /NIN...any sort of "back line" BLU I've run into (not many) has been /WHM.



Joy, I get to lvl thf or nin(yuk). Between /rdm and /drg which 1 would be better as a general sub-job?

[IfritnoItazura]

/drg ... umm you get a 5% haste earring at 30. .... no. That's the only thing it has to offer and your recast times on attack spells are already low enough you won't even notice the difference.
Actually, every BLU I've ever parsed did more damage from sword swing than spells. (Especially at lower levels.) 5% Haste is 5% more melee damage, plus whatever from Jump. There's also the Attack Bonus, but the nicer Accuracy Bonus won't come into play until BLU60/DRG30.

[Murphie]

Joy, I get to lvl thf or nin(yuk). Between /rdm and /drg which 1 would be better as a general sub-job?As already stated (but I guess you don't want to listen to that), neither. But I guess if you had to choose, I'd say RDM.

[Malacite]

The big seller on /RDM is fast cast, but that won't matter until 30 and again at 70 (15 and 35 unless I'm mistaken on those ability levels?)

Combined with other haste gear and Refueling you can get some pretty quick casting times at the higher levels, but that's usually done for ballista and not exp.


Suck it up and just level THF and NIN, you won't regret it. They might not be fun at first but their usefulness is undeniable.


As for starting subs, I'd go with the following;


WHM until 20 (10 if you want to sub war and tank in the dunes)

RNG from 20 to 30 (for accuracy bonus. it makes a huge impact IMO)

Then from 30+ /WAR /THF or /NIN for DD. /BLM can be viable as well but I haven't seen many BLU try it yet. Then again, most BLU are of the mindset that the job can't main heal either >_>

[Taskmage]

Actually, every BLU I've ever parsed did more damage from sword swing than spells. (Especially at lower levels.) 5% Haste is 5% more melee damage, plus whatever from Jump. There's also the Attack Bonus, but the nicer Accuracy Bonus won't come into play until BLU60/DRG30.
Hmm, well it probably depends a lot on race, gear and food choices. I used Rice Dumplings for more hMP through the jungles, equipped clear mind as soon as I got it, and used pineapple juice as a fallback if I wasn't able to rest enough between fights in a fast chain. So understandably my spell damage passed my melee damage. I wasn't parsing my last party in Altepa, but I'm pretty sure even at that point with sushi and no juice that my spells were doing more total damage than my melee, but then again I'm taru so that may be naturally lower strength working against me.

Either way I still feel that any other sub mentioned in this thread so far other than blm would be more beneficial than drg.

[Taskmage]

Hmm, okay I'm curious. I'd never heard of blm being a viable sub for blu or that magical type blu spells were a viable alternative to the physical types, especially since so many of them have AoE that makes them unusable at many camps. Since others have apparently heard of it, what spells and strategies does a blu/blm employ?

[LilithAngel]

I actually used /drg for the haste earring, shield, *and* attack bonus cape at 30, and I noticed a tremendous increase in how fast my mp tended to drain away. >.>' Jumps added extra melee damage, and the added base Attack Bonus put my sword damage up there. My physical spell damage didn't really suffer much (if at all). Don't discount /drg...

As far as /blm, I would say higher up, it might be useful, and with the upcoming g2 merit ability to drop the AoE part for a MAB boost, it could actually create a very viable new sub (which, in turn, will mean I gotta lvl yet *another* sub -.-'). This should be interesting. That other g2 ability described would help to empower blu main heal. We shall see.

Once I hit 60, I started using /thf. I pulled enough hate before then that doing /thf without Trick would've been suicide. CASATA is some major fun.

PS: It also kinda helped that I used my drg at 75 to drop a few merits into sword. Yeah, I cheated a bit (not really), but that's the bonus I get for having a meritable job. :thumbsup:

[DR2D2]

As already stated (but I guess you don't want to listen to that), neither. But I guess if you had to choose, I'd say RDM.



it's not that I dont want to listen--im just trying to switch things up. I don't like thf, or war because there is really no self-healing that you can do if you have to solo them(when parties aren't available). Nin is too expensive for the amount of gill I have right now, so to change it up I was wondering if either /rdm or /drg would be an acceptable general sub job. I do listen to you guys, but I do like to try some "out of the box" things every now and then.

[DR2D2]

Hmm, okay I'm curious. I'd never heard of blm being a viable sub for blu or that magical type blu spells were a viable alternative to the physical types, especially since so many of them have AoE that makes them unusable at many camps. Since others have apparently heard of it, what spells and strategies does a blu/blm employ?


I seem to remember it being on a site that describes all the jobs(I think it was "somepage.com"). From what I could gather the writer thought that /blm would give better magic damage over time. I haven't tried it(it seemed like the info was off base).

[IfritnoItazura]

Hmm. Nothing will make your big MP attacks more efficient and damaging than Sneak Attack from /THF. My guess is that this is the best DD support job.

DoT increase from either /NIN (10% Dual Wield) or /DRG (latent gear for Haste and Attack) or Berserk from /WAR are pretty much the best options for one-handed sword user.

If you want to be "out of the box" without going into totally unknown territory, you're looking at /WHM for playing the healer role. BLU's MB's aren't too impressive from what I've seen, so I'm even more skeptical of free nuking using magical attacks. Then again, who really knows? NIN/BLM can be impressive, so maybe BLU/BLM as well? Anyone here tested BLU/BLM?

I don't think S-E meant to define BLU as DD only; every Aht Urhgan job is capable of hybrid roles, to some degree.

[Murphie]

There is a difference between being different because being different offers something new and interesting to the mix, and being different just to be different.

The latter is the one most people have trouble respecting.

[DR2D2]

There is a difference between being different because being different offers something new and interesting to the mix, and being different just to be different.

The latter is the one most people have trouble respecting.


Good point.

I will probably lvl thf as a sub for my blu. Like I said eariler I was just seeing what people thought about rdm or drg as a sub for blu(since most of the info out there seems to be about /war /thf or /nin).

[Raydeus]

For a truly general purpose subjob (not for xp parties) I'd say /rdm would be better because of the little things you get like m.att bonus, Dia, Fast Cast, etc; and while /drg does get acc. bonus very early the truth is if you are soloing or doing quests you wont need it anyway.

For xp parties it depends on your playstyle, as long as you play with skill and don't blow your mp at the beginning of the chain (did I mention how much I hate BLUs who do that? :vent: ) you should be able to deal some nice dmg regardless of sub.

[Spinnthrift]

I've played /Drg and /Rdm on Blu a fair amount - and while I definately see the straight forward advantages of /War, /Whm, /Thf and /Nin, my feeling is that the former are frequently overlooked. Mostly, because the benefits you get from them aren't as straight forward as Utsusemi or SATA.

With the belt, /Rdm offers increased sword skill, both acc/attack and improved fast cast via the cape. If my memory serves me correctly, it also means you get Weaponskills early.

/Drg is more of a physical DoT roles with the latent gear, as you don't reduce your tp, while increasing your swing speed (and later on spell recasts), +attack is a really nice trait (also consider /Drk for same reasons, but for an increased MP pool)

This is not to say that they are better than /Thf or /Nin.. they aren't directly. /Nin will keep your Whm's happy (as they aren't healing) and /Thf will make with the big hits (so you can put stuff in sigs and make threads about large numbers). /Whm is godly - as it fulfils both DD and partial healing when played properly, and /War is just /War.

My advice: Firstly level all the popular subs, and maybe one or two of the more unusual subs - if you play with a set that lets you experiment, do so... if you're seeking random pickups, use the standard subs. That way, you don't have to feel outcasted because you're not doing the standard thing, and when you have a willing audience, you can play with other things... In doing both, you'll probably also develop a far better 'feel' for things than you would do with just one sub choice.

Peace.

[Kyrial Arthian]

Then again, who really knows? NIN/BLM can be impressive, so maybe BLU/BLM as well? Anyone here tested BLU/BLM?

I've played with /BLM, but only at 75, with several blue magic skill merits in place (4 to be exact). I went with a BLM friend to fight King Buffaloes in Uleguerand Range, since he can solo them anyway and didn't mind me coming along. For reference, they are level 79-82 mobs. The (offensive) spells that I played with were Eyes On Me, Firespit, Mind Blast, Magic Hammer, Frost Breath, and Heat Breath. I shortly swapped Eyes On Me out, as it wasn't that impressive (about 300-350 damage with +25 or so CHR and Dark Staff). Mind Blast regularly did 350-400 damage + paralyze with about +46 MND. Firespit did about 450-550 (as high as 600 on Firesday) with +46 MND and +20-something INT. Frost Breath and Heat Breath are HP-based, and did about 450 and 550 respectively. Just for note, I only had Magic Atk. Bonus +2 from gear, plus whatever BLM sub gives, and Memento Mori active most of the time (which is apparently Magic Atk. Bonus +20). Wasn't anything to scoff at, though it was obviously child's play compared to the BLM (who was regularly doing 1500-2200+ with his spells). He was happy to have me there though, if only for the Magic Def. Down I could put on the mobs with Enervation (and the paralyze from Mind Blast that sometimes saved him from being hit). ;)

[Icemage]

Just a note:

/THF is a terrible subjob before level 30. Seriously.

Until then, since you already have it at level 15 (per your character profile here), I'd use your WAR 15 subjob. BLU/WAR is a very acceptable tank up through level 30, since Coccoon is just so insanely powerful.


Icemage

[Arctic Wolf]

BLU/WAR is a very acceptable tank up through level 30, since Coccoon is just so insanely powerful.

I can confirm this, I saw an awesome hume BLU/WAR tank, level 18, fighting Goblins in the dunes, while Power Leveling a friend.

[Malacite]

Cocoon + good def gear + Steamed Crab/Crayfish = disgusting amount of def.