Enspell Burning(or not!)

[Callisto]

Just wanted to share my experiences from last night, was a pretty fun time despite getting eaten alive!

My LS was helping newer members with ZM5 yesterday while I was at work, and found Ash Dragon up. They tried to low-man it with 7 but failed, and decided to go back after we did Nyzul Assault. Unfortunately by the time we were ready to try again, only myself and 3 BSTs were left, but we said eff it let's try it out. After checking the lay we figured the best strategy would be the BSTs taking the links, and me soloing Ash Dragon. :huh:

I've never really done the Enspell Burn solo method for big fights, only DoT kiting. Things kind of started off poorly with the fact that I could only find one Ceremonial Dagger on sale, had to try an Onion Dagger for the other. Turns out that the Onion Dagger is not weak enough to hit for 0 consistently, so I ended up going with Ceremonial/Genbu's Shield.

We got out to AD, got setup, I popped a Glace, BSTs cleared the bombs, and we went to it. I opened with Slow II and Para II, both of them worked amazingly, especially Slow II. Utsu timers were pretty much always up a few seconds before they were needed, and Para proc'd well. The first problem became apparent right away: I couldn't hit the damn thing. My melee set is a mix of Acc/Atk/STR, but I only had about +41 Acc, which was nowhere near enough. One of the BSTs' bombs Self-Destructed in my range, I went down to about 100 HP, kind of panicked and hit the wrong macro which switched me to my BRD macros, fight ended a few seconds later, I had barely gotten him down to 98%.

The second fight I popped a Tuna Sushi, and the Acc problem was solved. Unfortunately, the problem of me having way too much STR and Atk was not. I whittled it down to 92% pretty easily, Slow, Para, and Poison all worked well, buuuut...I didn't hit for 0 every time, and eventually fed him enough TP to hit me with Chaos Blade(Curse that brings you to 10% HP/MP), which of course came right after I Converted, killing a brand new MP pool. :cry: I recovered from that, but fed him TP again, and he finished me with a Flame Breath a few minutes later.

So, lesson learned, need less STR/Atk. I'm looking to pick up some Aiming Bracelets soon, and I'm making a new macro book specifically for this kind of fighting, where my swaps will bring in Acc gear, but no STR/Atk, replacing my Chiv/Potent with Spectacles/Life etc.

He does have an absolute crapload of HP though, it took 5 rounds of unresisted Poison II as well as all my Enspell damage to get him to 92%, so well over 2k damage. Otherwise if you don't feed TP and have someone to take bombs, it wasn't too bad to tank, would probably be pretty easily with a BRD helper for March/Ballad in fact!

Anyways, if you guys have tried this or other fights like it using Enspell Burning, lemme know what you did and how it went!

[Mhurron]

I think you might be crazy.

[Callisto]

Maladjusted for sure, but I think I'm still technically sane.

[Celeal]

It must be very fun and epic ^^b

[Raydeus]

Having a BRD to duo with would make things way easier.

Requiem, Elegy and Threnody on the mob and Ballad II + V. March on you. It would take way less time and be much safer. :thumbsup:

That's one of the reasons I'm leveling BRD. :evil:

[Callisto]

Yeah our BRD ended up bailing last-minute. :/

That's why I leveled BRD too, b/c there's never one around when you need them, but I never get to use anything but my RDM lol. ^^;

[Mhurron]

Well that's the problem with leveling all these in demand jobs. You can only play one at a time so you always still need the other and well, you can never find them.

Which is why you leveled it in the first place. Which is a problem since you can only play one at a time ...

Now a more serious question. How much Enspell damage were you doing per swing, was Poison II the only DoT you used (i doubt it) and how long did it take you to get it down to 92%?

[Skoal]

You should rotate like 50 drgs in your party so you can have unlimited Ancient Circle! Make sure you find the drgs that merited Ancient Circle first.

[Callisto]

Enspell damage was all over b/c of resists, I wasn't sure of his element and it was lights/darksdays so I went with Enblizzard(I like the sound it makes). Unresisted was 22, otherwise saw lots of 4's, 9's, and 15's.

And yes, Poison II was all I used in terms of DoT, b/c Bio would've fed TP.

I'd say it took about 13-14 minutes to get him down to the 92%, I remember specifically getting through 4-5 buff cycles and 5 Poisons, but I wasn't able to do Poison near the end b/c of Chaos Blade killing my TP.

Add: Can one of you check one of the resource sites and check if it says what element he is lol? I can't access any of them from work, but I'm thinking it may be fire and I should've been going w/ Enwater.

[Dahlaine]

According to alla and wiki, Ash dragon is dark based, weak against light.

[Callisto]

Well, that's a whole separate issue that I've been complaining about forever lol. :wasted:

Thanks for looking it up for me!

[Aksannyi]

Well, that's a whole separate issue that I've been complaining about forever lol. :wasted:

Thanks for looking it up for me!
And what issue is this? No Enlight and Endark?

/em begs SE to give us these spells.

[Callisto]

Exactly. It's not a huge deal, it just bugs me that I can't utilize those weekdays/weather/elemental weaknesses like I can the other 6.

[Yellow Mage]

And what issue is this? No Enlight and Endark?

/em begs SE to give us these spells.

Personally, I'd rather have Enspells that were actually potent in the first place, rather than just more of the same in a different flavor.

Also, being Dark-based and fighting him on a Darksday may have made things a little more difficult.

Anyways, if you are able to, then find a high-level Scholar and have them Hailstorm you to maximize the use of your Enblizzard, not to mention any Ice-based Enfeebles you're using, though the Wind-based ones might take a penalty. This Ash Dragon doesn't need to be Silenced, I assume? ^^;

[BurningPanther]

/em begs for a bloody reduce in En-spell resists, shortening of Enhancing breakpoints, and raising of damage cap.

[Yellow Mage]

/em begs for a bloody reduce in En-spell resists, shortening of Enhancing breakpoints, and raising of damage cap.

Exactly what I mean. Though, I would honestly rather have the "frontline" update first. Preferably something that reduces the stress of a Red Mage's currently accepted duties in a party.

Real heroes don't just accept the world the way it is.

They fight it.

I cannot agree with this quote any more. Who said it?

[BurningPanther]

I stole the quote from one of the final episodes of "Angel." It was actually one of the bad guys that said it, which is what carried so much weight. It's been my motto in the previous year, both in-game and reality.

[Yellow Mage]

Not familiar with the series, but I feel I may be perfectly familiar with the sentiment. Similarly to you, both in game, and in reality.

As for a motto, I prefer to use something like Amor Vincit Omnia, or just simply Amo. <3 Latin.

/derail

[BurningPanther]

I prefer to use something like Amor Vincit Omnia, or just simply Amo. <3 Latin.
/derail Kewl. What's it mean?


The manner of changes that would result in a change in RDM's current role would have to be rather drastic, and the sort of things that the majority would dislike.

The introduction of "new spells to move Red Mage to the front line" means the developers' hearts are in the right place, however, they remain unable or unwilling to understand what really keeps the job stagnant.

Until then, a simple change to En-spell damage calculation would be a HUGE step toward the front line.

Back on topic...

I tried Bune one day, solo, using the En-spell burn method. I knew right off that Atk and STR mods would work against me, so I excluded it from the intended setup(which was easy, I still lack a lot of Atk and STR gear). I was fortunate to find two Ceremonial daggers, so I didn't worry too much about Atk reduction items. I simply piled on the +Acc and DEX I could get my hands on, in addition to a Quick belt(Haste +2%). Slow 2 predictably worked it's magic, Paralyze 2 was wort of underwhelming.

I managed to last five minutes, and whittle away maybe 10... 15% of his health.

What did me in was either:

A) Bune's attack speed, maybe Slow 2 not working quite as magically as I'd hoped, or

B), Lack of credible Haste/Fast Cast gear, suffering hits while waiting for Utsusemi timers to run down again.

I'm thinking mostly B, though it's possible Slow had gotten a resist. In the future, I'm looking to obtain a Swift belt, in addition to perhaps Dusk gloves and ledelsens. I'll entertain notions of Nashira when I manage to do Limbus.

As far as En-spells, I have full Ice MAcc merits, and so Enblizzard worked wonderfully. Averaging perhaps 17 damage/hit, notable resists dropping damage to about 5-7/hit.

[Aliekber]

Kewl. What's it mean?

I'll take a stab and guess it means Love Conquers All. But that's just my rusty picked-up-from-dictionaries Latin guess.

Back on topic, I would have to agree that adjusting the Enspell damage calculation, or adding Tier II (Scroll! Not merited!) Enspells, complete with Enlight and Endark (Endrain and Enaspir, if I'm feeling greedy), would be a great thing for our meleeing abilities, particularly on Ceremonial Dagger solos.

[Armando]

Callisto: The key to hitting for 0 is having an fSTR of -1 on a DMG:1 weapon. That brings you to a grand total of 0 DMG. Your Attack is irrelevant. Basically, just drop all your STR. That'll probably do the trick.

Also, casting Dia with a Dark Staff may allow you to land it for 0, adding one more DoT.

[Callisto]

Armando, you do realize you should quit PLD and take RDM all the way, don't you?

[Armando]

I'd emanate too much awesome and kill you all.

Or I'd be bored to tears.

The Party Red Mage is just not for me, I think. Plus, if you think about it, given the nature of my most recent research, I should be...BST?!

[Yellow Mage]

(Endrain and Enaspir, if I'm feeling greedy)

Herro Drain and Aspir Sambas~!

Seriously, I would rather party with a co-operative Dancer than bother having to give this benefit to myself, and still use my existing Enspells while I'm at it.

Fixing Red Mages' native melee > new, flashier Enspells.

Seriously, give One-handed weapons the Accuracy boost you gave Two-handed weapons (they can keep their Attack boost), and for the love of all things {Holy}, if you bother giving White Mages a B+ skill in their weapon, at the very least match it for our own!

(Also, you hit the nail on the head: Amor Vincit Omnia = Love Conquers All, but I had already let BP know via PM. He would have figured it out eventually anyway, I'm sure.)

Army Edit: BLU might be for you.

[Armando]

I like BLU. I'd probably level it (past 37 that is) if I didn't still have to A) get NIN to 37 (40?), B) get PLD to 70, and C) pimp out my PLD.

Plus I don't have Sea access lol.

[Yellow Mage]

Blue Mage, assuming the ideal for every job, should act as a sort of marriage of Red Mage and Beastmaster. Which is why I thought it'd suit you well, when you mention your recent research.

Also, ignoring Utsusemi, /NIN wouldn't be much of a problem for you if BLUs had a friggin' Shield Skill! I mean, seriously, give only combat skills in two one-handed weapons (both of which are significantly greater than the respective skills Red Mages get) and no Shield skill (despite the BLU-only Shields), then some people are going to prefer you to use your off-hand slot for other purposes. Also, I am now no longer ignoring Utsusemi. That is all.

(Yes, Dual-Wield is pretty lol, or so I've heard, but, still . . . )

[Callisto]

I'd emanate too much awesome and kill you all.

Or I'd be bored to tears.

The Party Red Mage is just not for me, I think. Plus, if you think about it, given the nature of my most recent research, I should be...BST?!

Maybe lol, but you seem like the type that would be prone to min/maxing, and no job gets more mileage out of that than RDM. :thumbsup: