Leveling up magic skills

[Anakron]

Okay, so I started XI last week, and am currently a RDM. I've solo-ed all the way until 10, and then started partying in the dunes. Right now, I'm level 13, but the problem is that my magic levels are ~22 and ~27 for Enfeebling and Healing, respectively. These are far below their caps for my level, but I can't see what I'm doing wrong. When soloing, I would Dia virtually all enemies, and Cure as necessary after or during a fight. I basically did the same in the dunes, except I would occassionally toss a Paralyze or Blind as well. So...am I doing anything wrong?

Also, for the next few levels (up to 18, for example), what should be the enfeebling spells that I cast for every fight? Right now, I just plan on doing Dia and Slow, but the latter has a 20-second recovery time, so I'm not too sure about that one. Any suggetions?

I'm a Hume if that makes any difference (no subjob, since I just started).

EDIT: My Enhancing skills are even worse (below 5, I think). The only thing I used was Protect while soloing and since WHMs do Protectra, I never use any Enhancing skills anymore.

Thanks.

[Sukashi]

As a RDM, you should usually put up Dia, Slow, Paralyze enfeebles at that level. Since our specialty is enfeebling magic, parties usually recruit us for that and keeping a Refresh order alive, while Magic Bursting and backup healing That's why a RDM should always keep his/her enfeeble magic maxed out.

In Valkurm however, I don't see how the main enfeebles don't seem to stick very well.. they should :S If it's possible, buy yourself a pair of Ascetic's Rings, they should be relatively cheap, and give a +1 to your MND. A higher MND means a boost in white enfeebling magic. In EXP parties, ALWAYS cast Dia, Slow, and Paralyze. You can cast Poison and Blind too (Black enfeebling magic, reliant on INT... Eremite's Rings give +2 to INT and are equippable at lv10) as that will raise your enfeebling magics as well, but Bio counts as a Dark magic (which you should also raise, if you are planning on subbing BLM, as they get Drain and Aspir which are Dark magics as well ^^).

Even at higher levels, spamming Dia is very good for raising your Enfeebling magic, since it is an 8MP spell and has a very short cooldown time. Spamming Dia at lower levels is okay, but you should definitely watch your MP count ^^ Also, if your enfeebles are not sticking the first time, subsequent castings will eventually get the enfeeble to stick, but not sure how long.

Enhancing on the other hand, you can bring up by yourself from simply Stoneskin, En- spells, Protect/Shell self. After you hit 41, that will go up faster since Refresh is an Enhancing magic, and you will be casting that spell so much :D Healing magic seems to go really slow, but powerlevelling friends of mine brings that up quickly...

Does anyone ever notice how you cast Cure II and Cure III in EXP parties so many times with no gain, but when healing others while powerlevelling or in field with Cure, it goes up by 0.3? ; ;

[skoreanime]

That's natural for a RDM. When you start subbing BLM, your elemental magic skill will most likely be capped for every lvl. Healing and Enfeebling are a different story. My Healing Magic Skill has never been capped, and my enfeebling only occasionally. :spin:

[Anakron]

Originally posted by Sukashi
In Valkurm however, I don't see how the main enfeebles don't seem to stick very well.. they should :S If it's possible, buy yourself a pair of Ascetic's Rings, they should be relatively cheap, and give a +1 to your MND. A higher MND means a boost in white enfeebling magic.

Well, it's not that they don't stick--they usually do, unless it's a long battle, in which case some of the effects go away.

I have the +2 MND rings (Saintly?) and a Justice Badge for a total of +7 MND, so my Cures and White Enfeebles are working well in a practical manner. I was just worried about the fact that their skill levels are numerically low.

I've read some guides and it seems like most people use <stpc> in their macros for healing. I'm doing that right now, but have some trouble tab-cycling through the targets (I sometimes get other people that aren't in my party if they're in my field-of-vision. I didn't think this was possible, but I swear sometimes I'm not targetting anybody in my party while tab-cycling.). It's not that big of a deal now, since my Cures usually aren't urgently-needed, but it's still a bit annoying. And clicking on the screen is worse, since while fighting, all the melee guys are sorta clumped together. Anything else I can do here?

Thanks for the suggestions and any more would certainly be appreciated.

[csBahamut]

Dia/Bio - Use one of these, but not both. These do not stack. Bio lowers the attack of the enemy, thus lowering the damage the tank takes. Dia lowers the enemy's defense, which makes the enemy take more damage. Both also deal damage over time(DoT). Most of the time, Bio is the preferred spell. These never miss (at least I've never seen them miss).

Paralyze - Always use this. Recast as necessary. Random paralyzation of the mob will reduce the damage the tank takes. I consider this one to be the most important. The frequency of enemy actions canceled by paralysis will vary based on mob level and enfeeble skill. The higher the level mob compared to you, the less often they are affected.

Slow - Increases the enemy's weapon delay and casting times. It may not seem like much, but it can make the difference in whether or not the PLD can get a cure off, and the rate at which the tank takes damage.

Blind - I rarely use this in EXP parties. The effect of blind on an IT is negligable. For T and below, the effects can be noticed. Only use if you need to cap your enfeeble skill faster.

Gravity - I personally don't know how helpful this is besides making it take longer for the mob to go over to and attack a cast-happy mage, or damage crazy melee. Some people say that it reduces evade too. I always cast it now.

Bind - Has rare occational uses. Binds the enemy to one spot. You should be able to determine when to use this.

Poison - Just a DoT spell. It's cheap, but doesn't do much damage later on. Can be helpful in raising enfeebling skill.

Elemental enfeebles - These are based on elemental skill, and are gained from BLM sub. Usually the BLM uses these. Shock is the most helpful for RDM. Shock lowers MND, and thus makes it easier to land enfeebles.

In general, you should at least always cast Bio, Slow, Paralyze, and Gravity until they stick. Re-stick them if they wear off before the mob is down to 1/2 HP.

You should be casting a lot of enfeebles every battle, so you should be able to easily max this skill before you gain your next level(assuming you've been keeping it maxed).

One way to raise enhancing and healing is to cast on people you pass by, or casting in front of your Mog House(where you can enter you Mog House for a quick fill up). Later on, make use of Regen and Refresh. They will help keep enhancing up.

[DM337]

Originally posted by skoreanime
That's natural for a RDM. When you start subbing BLM, your elemental magic skill will most likely be capped for every lvl. Healing and Enfeebling are a different story. My Healing Magic Skill has never been capped, and my enfeebling only occasionally. :spin:

O.o A RDM that never gets her enfeebling capped? Enfeebling skill is just about the only skill that is capped for me. I can always get it up to cap within a little while of leveling.

[Tulen]

Through normal leveling partys I usually cap enfebeling quickly, elemental shortly after that, and eventually enhancing. My dark and healing are lagging behind a bit, but since I got aspir my dark has caught up a lot. For working up healing I like to go hunt undead and cure them to death.
Beyond the earily levels that go by to quick to cap stuff, you should always have enfebling capped if playing your role in a pt correctly.

[Sukashi]

Originally posted by Anakron
I've read some guides and it seems like most people use <stpc> in their macros for healing. I'm doing that right now, but have some trouble tab-cycling through the targets (I sometimes get other people that aren't in my party if they're in my field-of-vision. I didn't think this was possible, but I swear sometimes I'm not targetting anybody in my party while tab-cycling.). It's not that big of a deal now, since my Cures usually aren't urgently-needed, but it's still a bit annoying. And clicking on the screen is worse, since while fighting, all the melee guys are sorta clumped together. Anything else I can do here?

I think that RDM is a much easier job to play with a controller But with keyboard, try using the F1 ~ F6 keys. F1 is the first slot in a party (you), while F6 is the last slot in a party. Just hit your macro and the F key you want, and that should work :D

[Altruist]

Early on most of your skills won't be capped, quite honestly your enhancing will probably be abysmal before you get refresh. Right now for me only enfeeble and elemental are capped, if I go out and farm I'll cap enhancing, phalnax + stoneskin + spikes + en* + haste does wonders over a few hours. My dark is pretty low, of course I did do chainspell aspir on roc to get my mp to full for kicks, and got a few skill points ^^. And my divine magic is now at an impressive 10 w.

[Peltar]

My enhancing was really really low until I got Regen at 21 (and then Refresh at 41). As said by others, at Valkurm levels you should be casting Dia, Paralyze, Slow as enfeebles (and Silence if it's a caster) and it should cap out soon. My healing was close to cap from my WHM but on the RDM I don't have to use it that often. Elemental skill is capped out for me from occasional nuking (pre-40) and now just casting the elemental debuffs (post-40). Dark and divine are kinda low but lately I've been spamming bio's and drain's when possible to bring it up.

I've read some guides and it seems like most people use <stpc> in their macros for healing. I'm doing that right now, but have some trouble tab-cycling through the targets (I sometimes get other people that aren't in my party if they're in my field-of-vision. I didn't think this was possible, but I swear sometimes I'm not targetting anybody in my party while tab-cycling.). It's not that big of a deal now, since my Cures usually aren't urgently-needed, but it's still a bit annoying. And clicking on the screen is worse, since while fighting, all the melee guys are sorta clumped together. Anything else I can do here?

Use F1-F6 to target your group members. Tab-cycling takes wayyy too long.

[Anakron]

Hmmm...now that you guys mentioned elemental skills, is it really that important? So far, I haven't gotten any of the elemental spells (although I could if I wanted). It just seemed somewhat pointless to me to use them when they'd be doing so little damage. I've always been debuff/melee/backup-healer in parties so it seemed natural for me to get MND items instead of INT items. Furthermore, I haven't really had the luxury of having "extra MP" that I could blow on a elemental spells in battle. I plan on doing either RDM/WHM or WHM/RDM up to 30, so I probably won't touch BLM at all. As such, would it be that important for me to try and level up my elemental skills?

[Alcueid]

Like with most games, elemental spells don't deal very much damage until the higher levels. Though it is very important to level your elemental magic skill, you don't have to worry about it until after 30.

[Gman]

I worked very hard to get my enhancing skill up. On the selbina-mhaura ferry i would just sit in the first hallway and spam protect and barfire on myself. I actually managed to get my enhancing to a repectable level, and it still is I guess, considering i dont have refresh yet. I think it's at 87 or 88 right now and I'm level 37. My enfeeble skill is roughly 112 and it's close to cap. My Elemental is always capped too.

Last night at Garliage I had a certain order on the enemy. It helped me cap a lot. I would stand by the WHM while BRD casted Ballad, and I would cast Shock -> Paralyze (macroed to change equip to wand with +4 INT +4 MND) -> Slow -> Gravity (sometimes) -> Dia or Bio (depends on if enfeeble was capped) -> Regen on Tank (helps enhancing) -> Enthunder (macro to equip sword) -> melee. I would usually hit for 15-22 dmg + 8 en-damage, and I would notice that my paralyzer activated quite often. With 2 WAR, DRG, BRD, WHM, RDM this was a VERY good party. We got chain 5 on numerous occasions, and I leveled 2 times in 3 hours.

[Kilgraw]

Originally posted by Sukashi
Does anyone ever notice how you cast Cure II and Cure III in EXP parties so many times with no gain, but when healing others while powerlevelling or in field with Cure, it goes up by 0.3? ; ;

I've noticed this as well. I'll get a gain from Cure II every once in a blue moon, but when I use Cure, I gain like crazy... I don't get it. You'd think healing for higher amounts, using more powerful spells would give you better skill gains. :sweat:

[Alcueid]

After level 30 healing magic skill does not matter whatsoever.