Phalanx II

[hongman]

Ok, so I have always merited towards what I deem most useful, and now the circumstances have changed.

I am now going for Phalanx II full, dropping Para II.

Wiki isnt working for me atm ; ;

I was looking for some firm stats of damage reduction, skill levels, duration, etc etc.

Anyone care to enlighten me?

[Kirsteena]

You mad fool you....

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 180s.
Damage prevented Formula for this spell is [(enhancing magic/25) +1 + (3 x MeritLv)] (example: Level 2 merits with 275-299 enhancing skill will give the target of this spell -18 damage taken)
Max damage resisted with 3 merits (in Phalanx II, none in enhancing magic and no equipment): 20
Max casting range is 25' which is useful for casting upon kiting tanks.

To calculate damage reduction etc. http://www.forsakenhearts.net/ffxicalc/

[hongman]

Nice app!!

DIT: Kirst, you think I am doing the right thing? For the LS i mean?

[Kirsteena]

I'll be honest - we have too many rdm with the same merits - Phalanx II IS a useful one - of the other four, it is the one I half wish I had done. I have too many other jobs to merit though, and half the time I'm on blm anyway, so really, you are the logical person to do it - think of the other two rdm who I suggested...

[Taskmage]

Damage reduced by Phalanx II by merit level and enhancing skill:

Phalanx II (level 1/level 2/level 3)
250-274 - 14/17/20
275-299 - 15/18/21
300+... - 16/19/22

[hongman]

Well, yeah. It was a hard decision to drop all my Para 2 merits, and when I do so in game Ill probably shed a little tear, (lol) but it seems to make sense.

Ohter 2 RDM - who? lulz they are never at any events bar Dynamis.

[hongman]

What kind of gear do I need to hit 299? If its not anything overly silly, I may actually go 8/8 on Enfeebling and put some into Enhancing

Maybe 8/8 on Enfeeb
4 in Enhancing
4 in Nukage

[Taskmage]

Well ..

Warlock's Tights +15
Duelist's Gloves +15
Enhancing Torque +7
Glamor Jupon +3
Augmenting Earring +3
Merciful Cape +5

That's 256 + 48 = 304 from just gear. Everything but the gloves and the cape are pretty easy to get ahold of, and you can replace the cape with a single enhancing merit to get over the 300 threshold.

[Callisto]

I have no merits, and I'm at 293. AF1 legs, AF2 hands, and a torque. I'm working on Merciful cape and 1 merit, which will put me at 300 even. It's not that hard to get to.

My personal recommended setup is to drop Bio III and Dia III, and keep level 2 Para II and Phalanx II, and level 1 Slow II and Blind II. I get an absolute ton of use out of Phalanx II, and Para II is great when boosted, while Bio and Dia III really do not give that much higher returns for their MP cost and merit space, but that's my opinion.

[Kirsteena]

Frankly, I'm not that impressed with Para II - compared to Slow II, the benefits are harder to see.

[Callisto]

Since putting up to level II I noticed a pretty nice boost in Proc rate, at level I I wasn't to keen on it. Also, Slow is generally easier to land fully at level I in my experiences, and bumping up won't make it exceed the 37% Slow cap as far as I'm aware. I'm not sure exactly what bumping it up actually does aside from increased accuracy, my guess would be that you'd need a lower MND difference to land it fully.

[Kirsteena]

Fully capping it puts it at the 37% slow rate, assuming the mnd difference is great enough. Level 1 I believe it is about 30%. I noticed a huge difference when I was levelling it up from 1 merit in it to 3 merits and a mnd set up.

Para II is just more variable.

[WishMaster3K]

After a bunch of discussion, I see no need to level Phalanx II past it's second level.

Well, this is my personal opinion. Might be a different story for other RDMs out there.

I just can't imagine not having Para or Slow II, so I'm going to take all 3 of those to the second level or merits.

[Mhurron]

a mnd set up.
How much MND are we talking about here and against what?

[Taskmage]

Well, according to Armando, most mobs have attribute ratings of C or less, so assuming a C rank for race, main and sub job, a level 80 will have 87 mnd. According to this post (http://miruka.livejournal.com/139964.html) Slow II level 1 caps out at 33.33% when your mnd exceeds the target's by 64, and Slow II level 3 caps at 37% when your mnd exceeds the target's by 70-80ish, so you would need 151 mnd in the former instance and 157-167 mnd in the latter. That's to cap. According to the same post, Slow II reaches 30% slow at about target+40 mnd, which is the same value that Slow I reaches at about target+75 mnd.

[hongman]

Slow II I love. Elegy and Slow II landed = mob that just stands there getting beaten to a pulp.

In my case (and understand every RDM's careers are different)

Para II doesnt get cast all that much in Meripo anymore, mobs die too quick.
Para II doesnt land/proc on the big stuff
Solo, Ice Spikes + Af2 pants is MUCH more potent.
Phalanx II mitigating 22points of damage over the course of 1+hours is a huge amount

Its funny coz a little while ago I was arguing the exact opposite :P But in my defense, my LS's tanks have asked for this, and in my reasoning, it seems far more useful for me to merit Phalanx2. Plus, all the RDM's in my LS seem to be meriting the same thing.

[hongman]

Before I rip out all my merits though, I want to test how Para I and Para II fare against each other on the same mobs. Ill this in meripo.

[Taskmage]

I think that really, comparing the 3 spells side by side is meaningless. The much the way we choose subs or roles in parties in our early-mid levels, the best combination of merit spells is whatever fills in the gaps in your shell. 5 rdms casting pimped out Slow II on a mob aren't any more effective than one doing the same thing. Redundancy = waste.

[WishMaster3K]

Agreed. All I do in Merits nowadays is cure anyway. Won't stop me from meritting Enfeebling though.. Those level caps *cough* CoP *cough* are a bitch and a half, but seem easy with only +6 enfeebling... Interesting..

[Callisto]

I think that really, comparing the 3 spells side by side is meaningless. The much the way we choose subs or roles in parties in our early-mid levels, the best combination of merit spells is whatever fills in the gaps in your shell. 5 rdms casting pimped out Slow II on a mob aren't any more effective than one doing the same thing. Redundancy = waste.

I totally agree, another reason for my chosen setup, as most RDMs I play with have Dia/Bio III if needed, but as I have the highest Enhancing Magic I like having Phalanx II at level II to buff up the PLDs(and DRG tanks when I do DRG burn!).

[WishMaster3K]

Just put merits into Dark, whydoncha, Callisto!?!?!?

RDM/DRK NAZI!!!!

[Raydeus]

What happened to all the talk about how good Para II was compared to all the other merit spells?

I guess it was all just to justify having spent merits on it, eh? :rofl:



PS > In the end you should merit whatever you feel will help you the most, if Phalanx II will help you more than Para then go for it. Just pretend you never got those merits you used on Para. :thumbsup:

[WishMaster3K]

Well Para II is very awesome. But put it in perspective:

EXP/Merit mobs don't stay alive very long to merit (pun intended? maybe) it's usefulness, and end-game mobs usually resist our enfeebles anyway.

And now, if we were to go to one of the older camps (Ie, Lufaise or Sky), the melee would be blowing huge chunky holes into the mobs, so it wouldn't last long there either.

And if we were to go to a lvl capped event, it wouldn't be available for our usage.

I only see it being used in maybe KSNM99 that aren't BCNMed versions of HNMs, like maybe some uber hard lizards or something..

All in all, based on the current metagame, it's functionally situational even though it's a very useful spell. Not worth it's 120,000 exp though..

[Taskmage]

Well put, Wish.

[WishMaster3K]

Thanks.

I really want to love Para II, I really do.. But Phalanx II seems more functional. However, I don't forsee myself taking that to level 3, so I'm probably going to go with a LvL2/LvL2/Lvl2 spread for ParaII/SlowII/PhalanxII.

But honestly, I haven't even started Group II merits. But that's a good thing, because ever since they released them, my opinions have changed every few months.

(I guess since I'm raising PLD now, I see how much it helps when your mage backs you up..)

And having Phalanx II gurantees me in the Tank PT. I refuse to be a RDM that sits out on the side afk because 50 showed up to Genbu that night.

[Callisto]

I still get solid use out of Para II, and it works well when I use it. Of course I don't use it in XP anymore, but most of the time I'm a puller anyways, so I'm focusing on claiming rather than debuffing. Some instances where I have used it recently it has worked well though:

Duo'd the Evsiceration WSNM with a NIN. Para II absolutely destroyed this mob, and this was when it was still only at level 1. The duration left a bit to be desired, but the proc rate was great.

Landed it on Apocalyptic Beast the last time I did Dynamis-Buburimu, right when he used Manafont. It stole several large spell casts from him, saving loads of MP for the alliance.

Used it in PvP and it proc'd as well as Ice Spikes does, let me use Shock Spikes(which also worked very well in PvP, much better than it does against mobs).

I definitely wouldn't base your group 2 merit choices off of what you use in XP party, as for MP reasons you're better served using lower tier spells on fodder mobs anyways, and if you only went for XP mobs you really wouldn't have use for any spells outside of Dia III. Getting buffer and merit points is the smallest part of a 75 RDMs adventuring, you should base your merits on what serves you best in Dynamis/Limbus/Sky/HNM/Missions, the 'real' fights.

[Raydeus]

Sorry Wish but you didn't get the point of my post. :P

[WishMaster3K]

/slap

So explain!

Callisto, that's a great point, but what's the landing rate on these mobs and how much skill is required? I have no end-game gear except for maybe a couple pieces hear and there from soloable and/or duoable NMs.

No Relic, No Sky, No Sea.

But you have all those toys, so tell me how your duration/landing experiences are, because at my current gear choice, meriting spells to lang on the big mobs in End-Game activities is a bit out there...

[Kirsteena]

And that is why merits are for your to tailor as you see fit. 5 rdm in a shell having Slow II and para II meritted fully is a total waste of effort. At most, for the big fights, you are going to have two, maybe 3 in an alliance anyway. Phalanx II is useful for tank party, and I don't blame them for asking for it. I claim squatters rights as primary rdm, with Bautier as my second!

In a way I'm glad the discussion came up. I would have considered it - AFTER I finish the whm merits (Shellra V capped, barspell etc), and the blm merits I need.

[Callisto]

/slap

So explain!

Callisto, that's a great point, but what's the landing rate on these mobs and how much skill is required? I have no end-game gear except for maybe a couple pieces hear and there from soloable and/or duoable NMs.

No Relic, No Sky, No Sea.

But you have all those toys, so tell me how your duration/landing experiences are, because at my current gear choice, meriting spells to lang on the big mobs in End-Game activities is a bit out there...

It depends on the fight obviously, but here's what I got:

My Enfeebling Skill with gear/merits is 317. In my debuffing set both my MND and INT are at right about 100, and I have 2 merits each in Earth/Ice/Wind Acc.

Against Promathia, I was unable to land absolutely anything outside of Slow II without Elemental Seal, except I landed Para II once and Gravity once over 6 fights. Para proc'd ok but wore off quickly. The same deal went for Apocalypse Nigh.

Aside from ones that have a specific elemental resistance against it(i.e. Genbu vs. Poison), Sky gods I can debuff in 1-2 tries. Seiryu is easy to land Para II on, and it procs pretty well, I haven't tried it since getting it up to level 2 though. I haven't done a Kirin fight in ages, so I'm not sure how easy it is for me to Grav/Silence him.

Dynamis/Limbus Trigger NMs/Floor Bosses I rarely get resisted from unless it's an ice-based mob. Para II lands in 1 try usually and gives me at least 5-7 procs before wearing.

The Apoc Beast I noted above did resist the first cast or two of Para II, but when it did stick it worked like gangbusters.

I'm fighting Proto-Omega tonight and Proto-Ultima on Sunday, I'll post how those go after I get a shot at debuffing them.

[Mhurron]

Well, according to Armando, most mobs have attribute ratings of C or less, so assuming a C rank for race, main and sub job, a level 80 will have 87 mnd. According to this post (http://miruka.livejournal.com/139964.html) Slow II level 1 caps out at 33.33% when your mnd exceeds the target's by 64, and Slow II level 3 caps at 37% when your mnd exceeds the target's by 70-80ish, so you would need 151 mnd in the former instance and 157-167 mnd in the latter. That's to cap. According to the same post, Slow II reaches 30% slow at about target+40 mnd, which is the same value that Slow I reaches at about target+75 mnd.
Ok, these numbers scare me. What type of gear is needed to get these numbers? (I don't remember my current MND amount, bit I'm pretty sure I'm going to be embarrassed when I find out if I post it)

[WishMaster3K]

Ok, I'll see how much MND/INT I have in my builds. I don't have a lick of Enfeebling gear to my name outside of AF (sry I broke one of your RDM rules!! Gomennasai!) so we'll see how that goes. I don't waste my time enfeebling end-game, because other, better geared RDMs are there.

[Callisto]

Ok, these numbers scare me. What type of gear is needed to get these numbers? (I don't remember my current MND amount, bit I'm pretty sure I'm going to be embarrassed when I find out if I post it)

My thoughts exactly.

As W3K noted, I have lots of toys, and I don't sacrifice INT/MND for MP in the slightest, yet my stats only come out to 100-104 in my debuffing set, and I consider myself well equipped. If I'm supposed to be somewhere more around 150~, I really don't know where I should be improving...

[Mhurron]

my stats only come out to 100-104 in my debuffing set
Please tell me thats grand total. What do you have?

[Callisto]

I actually have even less than that, I was thinking of my nuking set.

My debuff set is:

Phantom Tathlum(INT+2)
Wise Cap
Enfeebling Torque
Enfeebling Earring
Warlock's Tabard
Duelist's Gloves(INT+4)
Hale Ring(INT/MND+3)
Tamas Ring(INT/MND+5)
Prism Cape(INT/MND+4)
Penitent's Rope(INT/MND+5)
Mahatma Slops(INT/MND+8)
Duelist's Boots(MND+4)

This gives me +31 INT and +29 MND, if /DRK I'm at 93/97, 95/99 as /BLM, with +25 Enfeebling Skill and +5 Magic Acc. This is pretty much the best I can do until I can get ahold of Yigit Gages and Yigit Crackows, AF+1 Feet, Goliard Clogs, or Morrigan's Pumps, and even then I don't see how I could be topping 150.

Add: I did a run-down of all the best MND gear I can think of, I can't find a way that I could break 150 even with Yigit Turban and Gages, Mahatma Houppeland, 2x MND+5 rings, Morrigan's Slops and Pumps, P Rope, and Prism Cape and 2 Geist Earrings+1...that would all leave me with around +63 MND, which would give 138 as Elvaan RDM/WHM(about the higest damn MND job setup in the game).

I can't see how those #'s are possible.

[Kirsteena]

I'll work out mine - after I come back from holiday. See you late next week!

[Mhurron]

This gives me +31 INT and +29 MND, if /DRK I'm at 93/97, 95/99 as /BLM, with +25 Enfeebling Skill and +5 Magic Acc.
I take it these numbers (93/97) are total, taking into account natural MND + gear?

[Callisto]

Yeah, that's my total INT/MND including gear without food.

[Taskmage]

Ok, I've got 60 mnd base as rdm/drk. +2 if /blm +7 if /whm. So if I want to cap Slow II against something like a god or Charby, I need something like +100 mnd. Let's start by seeing how much +mnd I can get from cheap gear. I'm assuming Earth/Terra's as the weapon, and head, body and neck are used for +skill gear.

sub Bugard Strap (5k) +1
ear Geist Earring ~45k +1
ear Geist Earring ~45k +1
hands Devotee's Mitts 8k +5
ring Sapphire Ring ~60k +4
ring Sapphire Ring ~60k +4
back Rainbow Cape ~20k +3
waist R.K. Belt ~30k +2
legs Errant Slops ~7k +7
feet Errant Pigaches ~7k +5
food Goblin Mushpot ~1k +10

total +43

Meh, a little less than halfway there. Let's see what max is.

sub Raptor Strap +1 +2
head Duelist's +1 +3
ear Celestial +3
ear Celestial +3
hands Devotee's +1 +6
ring Tamas Ring +5
ring Communion/Aqua/Celestial +5
back Aslan Cape +5
waist Penitent's Rope +5
legs Morrigan +10
feet Morrigan +10
food Goblin Mushpot +10

total +67

Well that gets me to the 30% slow mark ... lol umm ...

Spirited Etude +2 +11
Logical Etude +2 +17

total +95

There! 37% slow. XD So it seems that as a taru, subbing whm, with the best possible +mnd gear, mushpot and fresh double etudes I can just barely reach the cap for level 3 Slow II on your average HNM. That seems pretty appropriate. Absolute best gear = maximum performance against most of the game's hardest targets.

[Aeni]

Abs-MND is a level 31 spell. Has any RDM tried to use it with DRK subbed and see how high they can hit (Fully buffed out the wazoo as well)

[Taskmage]

My stick rate with Abs-MND is just better than 50% I believe on a level 80 target, with 200 dark skill. Dark magic skill pieces are on my list to get, but I'm not really going to bother until I get crimson finger gauntlets. If the absorb lands, that's basically +24 mnd for the purposes of your next enfeeble, since it's +12 to you and -12 to them.

[Callisto]

My Dark Magic w/ gear is 224, with +10 Magic Acc and whatever the acc boost from Dark Staff gives, but I still would be hard-pressed to land it on any kind of crazy high level mobs. And although I see how it's possible w/ the setup you give, I really would hope you could max one of your most important spells without gear that would take years to get and still need a BRD's help. Compared to other jobs that don't need that kind of help maxing their skills, that seems a little extreme, but w/e.

[Taskmage]

Well, you could replace the etudes with Absorb-MND provided you can land the thing and get pretty much the same results. But keep in mind we're aiming for maximum results. Technically you could say that a bard isn't buffing at maximum without a gjallarhorn. But, to put forth that amount of effort into gear for 37% slow when elegy is 50% slow by default is a little disappointing. /shrug

[Callisto]

Yeah that was exactly my line of thought...not to mention that if the secret to maxing your debuffs means a ridiculous full-on MND set, that makes Enfeebling Skill+ gear somewhat useless. I usually go on the assumption that Magic Accuracy follows a similar formula to melee accuracy, so +100 MND would net you more accuracy than most of the best Enfeebling Magic+ pieces combined. Eh, w/e, I already gave up chasing the AF2 hat, I doubt I'd aim for the time and gil investment needed for 3/5 of the Morrigan's Set(this would probably be equal to or greater than getting a relic weapon) and several other crazy pieces. I guess I just have to judge my Enfeebling Skill relative to other RDMs rather than to the parameters of the game for the time being.

[IfritnoItazura]

total +43

Meh, a little less than halfway there. Let's see what max is.

[...]

total +67

Well that gets me to the 30% slow mark ... lol umm ...

Spirited Etude +2 +11
Logical Etude +2 +17

total +95

There! 37% slow. XD So it seems that as a taru, subbing whm, with the best possible +mnd gear, mushpot and fresh double etudes I can just barely reach the cap for level 3 Slow II on your average HNM. That seems pretty appropriate. Absolute best gear = maximum performance against most of the game's hardest targets.

Good grief. x_x;

Screw that! How about if RDM just land a whatever-MND Slow II, and make the COR "upgrade" it with Quick Draw? :wasted: Maybe it'll turn into a Slow III?

[Taskmage]

Do we know how the enfeeble-enhancing effect of QD works?

[Mhurron]

Ok, so after buying some gear I probably should have had for a while I have this:
(Since we're talking about Slow in a Phalanx thread I'll equip an Earth Staff
Total MND: 62+43 (before food, I use a Goblin Mushpot so add 10) = 115

Buggard Strap +1 - 1
Errant Houppelande - 10
Red Cape +1 - 3
Devotee's Mitts - 5
Penitent's Rope - 5
Geist Earring - 1
Aquamarine Ring (x2) - 6
Errant Slops - 7
Errant Pigaches - 5

Now that should be fine for most things except the highest of the HNM's right? Or what level are we talking this is good enough for.

BTW you missed a MND neck piece - Promise Badge +5 MND. Dunno if there were others.

[Callisto]

The only problem I see there is that you have to sacrifice 15-25 Enfeebling Skill, which would be 13-22 magic acc if the assumed magic acc formula i'm using is right, in exchange for still not capping potency; ;

At any rate, I did fight Omega tonight, we lost, but I did get the debuff info at least.

Everything but Blind landed on one try , I couldn't land it at all as he's strong to dark, and the other RDM beat me to Paralyze II, not sure how it proc'd. Poison 2 landed fine, as did stun. One of the easier big fights I've ever been able to debuff. Unfortunately, noone took the gunpod when it popped, and it wiped us; ;

[Taskmage]

I skipped Promise Badge because I was assuming Enfeebling Torque for that slot. Likewise for Warlock's Tabard and Duelist's Cheapeau in their respective slots. There are some other nice +enfeebling pieces but other than MCBs which don't always work, they're smaller in effect than those big 3.

As far as what's good enough, that depends on your personal standards. With that gear you're probably not going to hit the slow cap on anything higher than EP, but again that's a maximum. On DC-Ts your Slow II will be doing better than 30% and on anything higher a bit less than 30%.

[IfritnoItazura]

Do we know how the enfeeble-enhancing effect of QD works?
Have to interrogate BBQ and other CORs to be sure, but I think I've read somewhere that it upgrades Dia I into Dia II, so Bio I couldn't override it (before the QD update). Assuming the non-Light and non-Dark QDs do as Light Shot did pre-update, Earth Shot should upgrade Slow to Slow II, and etc.

This is from memory, though; I don't remember in what context I came across that info, so not sure where to search for references...

[hongman]

Well....DAMN!

I thought I was doing pretty well on my MND setup, maybe even hitting the 37% cap...didnt realise just how much I was off...

I need to revisit my macros I think, make sure I really am equipping the right gear. Also now I have AF2 hat, I can probably drop some skill elsewhere for +MND potency.

A few more pieces of gear to acquire though, like Prism cape, 2 x Snow rings, Mahtma set, HQ Staves...its pretty much just HQ'ing what I have already.

Being a Dhalmel helps I guess :P

[Taskmage]

Yeah, at least you're starting from a better place than me. Taru have the lowest ranked mnd, iirc. What is your base mnd as elvaan?

For my own part, my mnd gear is crap. I think I have a grand total of +20 from gear. In dynamis and standard merit parties all the spells I use are stat insensitive so for a long time I went with a build that focused on max mp and convert return (Insomnia Earring, Ebullient Ring, Intensifying Cape, Prince's Slops). When soloing I'm kiting 80% of the time now, which is primarily about nuke efficiency when soloing for merits and bind accuracy when soloing for peen/items. Pretty much the only time I use my defensive debuffs anymore is when I'm the only rdm at an NM or if I'm melee soloing.

Speaking of kiting, I've justified my decision to favor Para II over Slow II based on the fact that it's more useful when kiting. If a mob runs into melee range with slow on he's going to get a hit regardless, and it doesn't matter to me that his next swing will be in 5 seconds instead of 4 because in 2 seconds he should be bound and I should be across the room. If he's para'd, he might not get to swing at all and that's a shadow in the bank for me. These days I'm working in that context more often than I'm working with a tank who can appreciate the consistent effect of Slow II, so Para II is more valuable to me.

[Callisto]

Yeah, at least you're starting from a better place than me. Taru have the lowest ranked mnd, iirc. What is your base mnd as elvaan?


68 as /DRK, 70 as /BLM, and 75 as /WHM.

[hongman]

My base MND is 75, and on a full MND setup, I have around +45 iirc. I can check tonight.

Lets see now...

Promise Badge +5
Geist Earring x2 +2
Aqua RIng x2 +10
Errant Hpl. +10
Devotee's Mitts +5
Rainbow Cape +3
Peni Rope +5
Errant Pigaches +5
Jet Seraweels +7

Total = 52

Ok so slightly higher, and +10 if I chomp a Mushpot.

EDIT: So say, 75 +52 +10 = 137 - Still nowhere near cap.

[Callisto]

As far as what's good enough, that depends on your personal standards. With that gear you're probably not going to hit the slow cap on anything higher than EP, but again that's a maximum. On DC-Ts your Slow II will be doing better than 30% and on anything higher a bit less than 30%.

Yeah, I was thinking about this yesterday, and I decided I'm not going to let it bug me. I'm one of the few RDMs I play with who can actually even land these spells on batshit crazy mobs, so I'm not going to feel bad about myself if I only get a 25% Slow out of the cast. As long as I stick it and it has a positive effect for the party/alliance/myself, and it's just as good as if not better than some other RDM on Ramuh is going to do, then it's good enough for me.

[Taskmage]

I wonder if trading 15 enfeebling skill from the tabard for 10 mnd from errant is a good deal for slow. According to this old thread from alla (http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=2;mid=114853354876329973;num=23;pag e=1), enfeebling skill is the best stat to boost for overall performance of paralyze, improving not only resist rates but the average potency and duration of the spell.

I had been working off the same idea for slow, but now that I think about it (correct me if I'm wrong) slow doesn't have a random duration like paralyze does, and the potency formula for slow that we've had for years doesn't care about your enfeebling skill at all, only the difference in mnd between you and the target. So really, the only benefit slow gets from +skill is more accuracy. If that's the case, maybe it's best to leave the accuracy for slow up to an Earth/Terra staff and relic hat if available and ditch the other +skill pieces in favor of more mnd.

[hongman]

Well, I have always worked off the assumption of +skill for lower resist rates which also affects duration

And then, Para and Slow alike, its the MND difference that affects proc rate.

Maybe there are tiers of resist for both potency and duration?

[Taskmage]

Well that is true. When an enfeeble is resisted it will have it's duration cut by some factor of 2, but most enfeebles have a fixed maximum duration, Sleep II lasts exactly 90 seconds when unresisted for example. When I cast Slow and Blind, if they're unresisted I can count on them to wear off one after the other in the order that I cast them. Paralyze, I believe, doesn't have a fixed normal duration. It wears off randomly in a range of time, like the way Drain and Aspir will give you a random amount of hp or mp around a value determined by your dark magic skill.

[Callisto]

My personal way of doing it has always been to go for as much Enfeebling Magic+ as I can get without sacrificing MND/INT. Right now I use Tabard/Torque/Earring, I'd use Crimson Mask or Chapeau if I could get it. Especially now that we see that maxing potency is pretty effing hard, I think landing the spell in the first place should be top priority, as no matter how high your INT/MND are they do you no good if you get resisted.

[hongman]

Look, Its Friday.

Sod all this thinking about + skill and MND, etc, lets just pull all our merits out and start dumping them into STR for melee purposes.

:P

[Callisto]

Now that's an idea I can get behind! I was going to do at least 2 STR when I got around to the stats, LoL. For now I'm working on capping Sword and MP for the melee DD action.

[hongman]

Actually, general question for you Callisto - do you have a static, build your own PT's or PUGs?

If PUG's (and even building your own) how do you get round the resistence of letting RDM melee and pull?

[Callisto]

I don't have a static per se, but I do merit predominantly with friends who care more about having fun than XP/hr. I rarely plan to merit or flag up, mostly it's when a friend has a 5/6 party and needs a puller or healer and they send me a /t. I've been on Ramuh for over 3 years now, by now most people I would end up in meripo I've met at least once before.

As far as dealing with pickup groups who think that I shouldn't melee, the 2 things that have generally worked is that I know when and when not to melee, i.e. if I'm puller in a crowded, competitive camp I focus on my job, and I've gotten lucky to do respectable damage most times that people complain. I never put meleeing in front of keeping my buff cycle going or making timely pulls, although I have a macro and gear setup that is very specific to letting me be able to melee while getting all my other stuff done. And a NIN can't bitch at you for 'feeding a mop TP' when you're doing more damage per swing than he is. :)