The Mithran Red Mage: A Guide to Red Mage

Note this is still a work in progress and I soon hope to finish this guide as soon as I have some free time available to do so.

I do apologize that this guide is rather long and upon the request of one of my ls members, I am trying my best to cover everything that I can while trying to condense the guide down. Please bear with me as I do the necessary edits to this guide. Thanks!

If you have any concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. for this guide, please post on the talk page for this guide. I have set up the talk page and any suggestions are welcome on that page. Please do not edit this guide without my permission and post it instead on the talk page. Thank you! --Nelka 15:27, October 23, 2010 (UTC).

Table of Contents:

I. Introduction

II. Starting Tips to Keep in Mind

III. Red Mage Specific Tips to Keep in Mind while leveling from Low to High

IV. Gear Suggestions for the levels up until AF1

V. Skill Up Suggestions & Tricks for Effective Skilling Up

VI. Subjob combinations and how this can affect your gear choice

VII. Gear & Tips on picking out what gear is good to get

VIII. Preparations for one of the hardest Maat Fights in the whole game

IX. Maat Fight itself

Ok, as stated before by the warning, this guide is geared towards Mithra and a different take on Red Mage. I know that my take on Red Mage is different than the standard and that Red Mage has so many options and possibilities as a job class.

I. Introduction:

I am Nelka on Cerberus and I am currently a level 99 Mithran Red Mage. I have been playing as a Mithran Red Mage since I started the game back in Summer 2009 and it is currently my main job. I am writing this guide as a way to share what I have learned from many players in FFXI as well as some tips and tricks learned along the way. I truly do hope this guide helps out in understanding some of what Red Mage can be and all of the options available to Red Mage in general as well as from a Mithran point of view.

Please Note that I am NOT writing an Endgame Guide here. This Guide is Strictly for a different perspective on Red Mage from a Mithran Red Mage on how to play Red Mage. If you are looking for an Endgame Guide, please go back to the main Red Mage page to find a Red Mage Endgame Guide. Thank you!

Post Adoulin Note: It is becoming imperative that one must be able to solo well and please activate the quest for Records of Eminence to further your efforts and gain extra experience points while soloing. This will help you build up sparks for items, gear, and upgrades as you go along!

That having been said, I will be highlighting any necessary points, such as tips, tricks, and things to remember for Mithran Red Mages or Red Mages in general. I hope this helps in finding the few tips you need here and there.

I am also taking Mithra race into account, since playing Red Mage as a Mithra has a few other side things necessary to know that other races may not need to know. Mithra has lower HP and VIT than some of the other races and this will affect how a Mithran Red Mage plays.

Red Mage is a hybrid job. Red Mage gets to cure, nuke, enhance, enfeeble, wear light to heavy armor, and is overall a well-rounded job. Red Mage can use a wide range of sub jobs with some success for soloing as well as for missions.

Mithra and Red Mage gives a whole new take on Red Mage because much more can be taken to factor than other combination. Mithra gets a decent amount of MP, INT, and MND. Mithra also gets a high DEX and High AGI to start the game with. High AGI means high evasion skill ups fast, which can often save your neck against a mob but don't rely on it to save you from aggro. Likewise, do not rely on High DEX to save you either even though it does enhance how often you consistently land your hits against mobs.

II. Starting Tips to Keep in Mind:

A few starting tips that a Red Mage can learn from a Blue Mage:

Always keep your magic skill capped or as close to the cap as possible from the beginning. Even though Red Mage cannot learn magic in the same way that Blue Mage does, keeping Enhancing Magic and Healing Magic skills capped at all times will help out the majority of the time.

Always keep up with your spell learning from the beginning--this will help you get skill ups easier in addition to having to pull out of an emergency situation. I have had to make the choice of casting Diaga to save my party from complete wipe out (in this case a Ghost type mob) and taking hate long enough for them to finish off the mob or allowing the mob to take down the whole party wipe out. The fact that my Enfeebling Magic was high enough to land on the mob successfully helped me get enough hate that the party survived at the cost of my death. In the case I mention above, Sleep will not work on a Ghost type mob so pulling hate towards me and giving my party a chance to run if they wanted to was the best option at that level at the time.

I will also note here as a reference that most of your enfeebling magic, like Bind, Blind, Dispel, and so on will usually result in more hate than DoT types, such as Dia, Bio, Burn, Shock, and so on. However please keep in mind that DoT spells will prevent Sleep from sticking, so again make sure not to use any DoT spells if you plan on Sleeping the mob.

Contrary to some opinions I have heard, Red Mage and Blue Mage can acquire hate much faster than most of the jobs in the game. Red Mage can effectively act as an emergency tank if you can pull hate fast enough while curing yourself fast enough and as long as you know what you are doing. This is especially true for Mithra because of the high DEX and AGI enabling better accuracy and more hits to often hit the mob. Although a Mithra cannot hit as hard as an Elvaan, Hume, or Galka, Mithra can maintain hate pretty close to some of the best Elvaan Paladins and Galkan Paladins. Soloing levels 1-20 will help in finding what your playing style is and what you can do as a Red Mage. Enhancing Magic, Enfeebling Magic, and Healing Magic will pull hate in general; however, enfeebling magic will help generate hate faster than Healing Magic or Enhancing Magic. Blue Magic also generates hate quickly on its own. If you would like more details on how Blu pulls hate, please see Janeth's Guide to BLU Tanking.

Note: The new job trait "Tranquil Heart" does make it much, much harder to get hate by curing now; however, it is still possible to get hate by curing. You do need to know what you are doing to get hate this way. Also, the curing spell that gives the most hate in general is usually Cure III or Cure IV.

Blue Mage can pull a lot of hate because the amount of damage is usually consistent and usually ends up being a lot of hate. A normal DoT spell like Dia will not pull as much hate as Bind unless you are spamming it. Healing Magic will always pull a lot of hate if you spam Cures (mainly Cure IV) and same goes for spamming Nukes as well. I am going to say that the correct term I am looking for is Damage per Second rather than DoT. I will not go too much into Blue Mage here since this is a Red Mage guide. If you need more detail on how BLU can tank, please see Janeth's Guide to BLU Tanking

• Also, please keep in mind that if you do get aggro and are able to successfully sleep, bind, paralyze, slow, and gravity the mob--do it! This will up your chances of surviving a higher level aggro. Just make sure not to dia, bio, poison, rasp, choke, burn, shock, etc. the mob before you Sleep it! Any spell with a lasting effect will cause sleep to fail automatically. You CAN Dispel and Aspir a mob that is sleeping without fear of waking it up!

III. Red Mage Specific Tips to Keep in Mind while leveling from Low to High:

Other Tips and Tricks to keep in mind early on:

Learn how to use your 2-hour ability, in this case Chainspell, and all other job abilities, such as Convert and Composure effectively. Knowing how and when to pull these abilities off when you need them is important.

Make sure to get a hold of the spell Phalanx as soon as you are able to and hold onto it until you are able to use it. Phalanx is an extra buffing spell for yourself that works extremely well for soloing, kiting, PLing, and emergency tanking among other applications.

Learn what you can Dispel and what you cannot Dispel. This will help you in the long run. You CAN Dispel most spell effects on Mobs, such as Rhino Guard and Berserk. This helps more in parties, but it will also help in soloing. There is a guide for dispelling effects out there on the main Red Mage page, so I will not explain too much of it on it here. I also recommend that you do read the Talk Page on the Guide to Dispelling Effects page, as this will include player comments and information updates that may not be present in the actual guide. In this guide, I will only point out cases where that particular guide does not point out some of the things that I have done myself.

Quest for Drain, Aspir, and Warp as soon as you are able to and hold on to them for later. This will help when you are needing to land enfeebling magic as well as for soloing, questing, or any time you need Warp. Drain and Aspir help when you are too low on MP to cast Refresh at Level 41+ or too low on MP to do Cure II on yourself.

Remember that Red Mage does have a Native Dark Magic Skill, but not a Native Staff Skill.

Take the time to also skill up your Evasion as well. While Evasion is not essentially the most critical part about being a Red Mage, it is very important to Mithra in general. A Capped Evasion will make dodging higher level mobs much much easier and also helps increase your chances of survival. Again, while having a High Evasion will not stop you from getting killed by a mob, it can certainly help you survive a bit longer in a tough mob situation.

Do skill up your dagger, sword, and staff skills. Skilling up your weapons also helps make meleeing much much easier. Also, note that you need to skill up staff on a different job than Red Mage because otherwise you will not get any skill ups for staff. I do recommend skilling up your weapons because it will help you in other situations where magic is not appropriate and or soloing situations. Generally, a staff has a much higher delay than either the sword or dagger, so why not skill up the weapons you can damage mobs with in case you have to melee?

Learn to Blink tank yourself. This will become a key skill in almost any situation where you are likely to get hit with damage. Once you hit level 50+, please go out and solo in Bibiki Bay on the Island Rarabs and learn to Blink tank yourself effectively. If you also plan on taking Red Mage all the way up to level 75+, you need to blink tank yourself if you are going to fight Maat. I cannot stress this enough as another essential skill on higher level Red Mage. I will also explain Blink tanking briefly later in this guide as well for a point of reference.

Get to know your own strengths as a gamer. I cannot stress this enough. While it is fully possible to play Red Mage without macros, please do use macros for situations where timing and timed gear changes are key, such as Maat fight and Dynamis. This way you won't have to memorize a lot more stuff than what you already need to know.

IV. Gear Suggestions up until AF1:

Quest for the Mithra RSE (a.k.a. Savage Armor Set (Mithra)) as soon as you are able to. For other races, the RSE may not be as vital but the Mithra RSE set makes the stats even better than most of the races in the game get! This is a major regret of mine that I was not able to quest for it until at higher levels. If you are not able to get the Mithra RSE in time to use it, then a nice substitute with good defense (while not as stat-boosting as the RSE) is the Mercenary Captain's Doublet Set, Windurstian Doublet Set, or Federation Doublet Set.

Red Mage is also the Only other Mage class besides Blue Mage that can wear light armor along with Mage Gear. With this fact means that you can customize your gear for both more defense in addition to improving your INT, MND, STR, and other stats in one shot. Being able to improve your defense on a Mage job that usually gets a low defense rating is important, especially if you are soloing. Even at level 64 without all of my AF armor quests done, I'm still using gear from 3 different sets of armor to increase my defense, MP, and stats without earrings or rings at the moment.

'Please quest for your Red Mage Artifact Gear as soon as you are able to. I cannot stress this enough because the artifact gear will literally make you much stronger on Red Mage and give you skill boosts as well.'

DO NOT be afraid to experiment with different sub jobs and/or different job/subjob combinations. Red Mage makes for both a great main job and a great sub job at the same time.

The Best way to learn a job fully and truly down to the minor details is to play it firsthand!!!

You will want to play Red Mage solo for the first few levels (Levels 1 - 15) with no help. This is key because it will teach you how to solo.

In soloing, you MUST always check mobs for level. Do not take on a mob that reads anything higher than "Decent Challenge because you will die if the mob reads anything higher than that until you get to the higher levels. Always grab a Fields of Valor page every time the page is available. Note that this will change as you are getting closer to Maat fight range at levels 65+ due to the access to much more accurate Sleep/Nuking if you do not want to melee.

At higher levels, please learn how to sleep possible aggroes when soloing or in party situations. This has saved my neck numerous times and it is well worth learning how to kite as well. Most mobs that aggro can be slept, but definitely know which ones cannot be slept with Sleep and which ones are completely immune to sleep. Knowing your mob families will help you in cases of aggro. As a last resort, call for help (/help) is an option. Keeping a mob slept while your party finishes off the regular mob so that they can then kill the aggro is a tactic that still works at level 70+. For kiting information, please see the Kiting page on the wiki.

To experienced players, you probably understand what a Fields of Valor page means. For newbies, a Fields of Valor page refers to the Field Manual you see at the entrances of certain zones and you get extra experience, tabs to use in the field for field support, and gil. This becomes important because this will help you when you get into partying and need tabs later. The pages can provide a temporary form of gil to get new armor, weapons, spells, and other items until you are able to farm or find another way of bringing in ingame income so you can purchase more spells. As this goes without saying, Spells are expensive!

As may or may not have been stated before, due to the nature of Red Mage and the armor types, weapon types, and spells available to Red Mage; Red Mage is NOT a cheap job class.

I am also suggesting that taking up a crafting skill or set of crafting skills will be useful to you, even though it is generally not recommended at the earlier levels. The early crafting will help you learn what items you use the most in addition to being able to help supplement what you need to buy (e.g., spells) with armor, weapons, and items that you can make yourself.

I strongly recommend working on multiple crafts when you get to higher levels because you will need a lot of different items and being able to craft most of them means that you will be able to save gil in the long run. If you choose to level a craft, it should be one that you tend to find yourself using items out of a lot and to keep it cheaper, please farm both synth materials and crystals for yourself unless you have no choice. If you need to see leveling guides, please look at some of the guides on their respective pages. I do recommend Xarchangel's guides and some of the other guides on the their respective craft pages since most of the guides do work depending on your style and server, see Easy Alchemy 1-60, Ayashe's Cooking guide Cooking for Noobies by Ayashe, and many others. I have had luck with almost all of the guides listed for fishing, cooking, alchemy, woodworking, smithing, and goldsmithing--the best strategy I have found is to look at all of the guides and see which one will fit your circumstances. If your circumstances change or you need ideas on how to change a leveling synth, then see the other guides for that category. Also, don't be afraid to substitute a different recipe that is easier to acquire the ingredients for for a level or two--I had to do this once or twice because finding that particular synth materials was hard to get on my server whereas another synth was much easier. If you are unable to find a synth in any of the guides, go to the craft's main page and look up the level range you are at--chances are high that you will find a suitable synth in there to level up a little bit until you can move onto a better synth. Most of the consummable items you will tend to use will be usually from the Cooking or Alchemy categories in general, with the notable exception of ninja tools. If you are interested in seeing what levels you need to be to make your own ninja tools, please see Ninja: Guide to Ninja Tool Recipes and Saving Money.

Do comparison shopping when you are going to buy a spell/weapon/armor/item that you need. Nothing is worse for Red Mage than to realize you could have bought a spell 10k cheaper at the Auction House than at the NPC selling the spell. Get to know your server prices for the Auction House, since now all of the Auction Houses are linked. Get to know all of the different NPC's that sell spells and stop to compare prices.

If you can farm a spell safely with a group, then by all means try to farm for a particular spell rather than buy off the Auction House or NPC. Farming a spell will give you the cheapest alternative to getting a spell than you can get, except when friends throw a spell scroll your way. If you can use a scroll that another player offers you, then by all means please accept it. It is then one less spell to have to buy and will help you balance out the cost of your spells in general.

Get to know other players on your particular server. This is one of the greatest resources that you have available to you. Having the support of other players when you need help is a great asset when you need it. Just make sure that you help out in exchange as well.

Ok, enough of me saying what tips I know. Now, onto the actual guide....

• • This might vary in your case if you are starting on Red Mage from another job class. I started with Red Mage from the outset and will be using that point of view in this guide.**

For the early levels (Levels 1-10), you will want the basic armor set, Bronze Sword, Lauan Shield, and Dia. The best gear that will be available to you is the leather armor set. Please avoid using the mage gear at this level. The mage gear at this level is too low to really help you defense-wise and besides, if you can wear armor that gives you better defense than the usual mage armor--you might as well use it! If you're a Windurstian native, please use your Windurstian Ring.

The Windurstian Ring can be used at any level and will help out your stats with an MP bonus to boot. I still use my Windurstian Ring for the stats boost it gives me on my lower level jobs until I can get better gear, despite it being a level 1 ring.

• • Note: As I prepare for my G5 fight, I do not use my Windurstian Ring on my 68 (now level 72) Red Mage, but I still do use it on lower level jobs when soloing. It is definitely worth holding onto if you have it!

At level 7, you can upgrade to the Leather Armor Set, which I do recommend because it gives you better defense that is necessary at this level. You can wear the Leather Armor set up until level 17-20 without a problem.

At level 17-20, you can upgrade to a better armor set that you can use until level 30 unless you are able to solo for your RSE, the Savage Armor Set (Mithra).

Once you hit the level that you can use a Degen or Degen +1, then upgrade your weapon at that point. After you are then high enough for a Fleuret or Fleuret +1, then you will want to use a Fleuret until you are able to get your AF Weapon, which is Fencing Degen.

Also, acquire Dispel as soon as you are able to. This will greatly help you in parties and in solo, since you will make more enfeebling effects on mobs than most jobs can do. The enfeebed mob is much easier to take down in either party or solo situation when it has no buffs on it.

As a Red Mage, swords and daggers are more important than staves in general plus that Red Mage has a good Native skill ranking in swords and daggers and no Native Staff Skill unless Black Mage is your sub job.

As a side note, Red Mage is the one job so far that I have seen that is equally as good with swords as they are with daggers. Please keep this in mind when skilling up.

If you are Windurstian, please save your conquest points for this next set of armor because it is worth your while up until level 50-55: the Mercenary Captain's Doublet Set. If you are able to upgrade it yourself, then please do so. The Windurstian Doublet Set or Federation Doublet Set is worth your while as well for those levels until you are able to acquire the Savage Armor Set (Mithra) or in conjunction with it.

If you are not able to get All of your AF Armor before level 55, then I would strongly suggest in getting the Level 55 Rare Cobra Coat Set, War Hose, and Strike Shield to use until you are able to get all of your Red Mage AF Armor. If you can get a Fencer's Ring or Fencer's Earring, please feel free to use them. I also would suggest getting a Qiqirn Sash, Light Staff, and a Dark Staff or the HQ versions if you can afford it at this time as well if you have not gotten them already. As of the time of the initial writing, I only have the Light Staff, Fencing Degen, shield, war hose, Warlock's Chapeau, and Warlock's Boots with no rings or earrings. I have since gotten an Ether Ring, which is a major bonus. Astral Ring is also sometimes suggested as well.

• • Note: After a while, you can probably go without the Ether ring as that you will have access to more gear later on that will give you MP as well.

I have seen at least one Mithran Red Mage who acquired her RSE as she got her AF gear and as she acquired piece by piece of her AF gear, would swap out the RSE for her AF gear until she had the full set. I have not been as lucky and I had to stick with the Mercenary Captain's Set.

V. Skill Up Suggestions & Tricks for Effective Skilling Up:

Skilling up is necessary on all jobs, especially since capped or near capped skills can help you survive a fight and/or kiting situation. If you need a further explanation of what skilling up is and the general guide on skilling ups, please see Skill Ups: A Guide by Kyrial as a starting point.

Upon request by fellow ls members and friends, I will include the areas I have skilled up my Red Mage on and the skill levels to make things easier. I tend to favor Windy areas because I know those better than Bastok or Sandy areas.

East Sarutabaruta/West Sarutabaruta Skill levels: 0-20 Skills to work on: Dagger, sword, archery, all magic skills Mobs: Any that you can handle in this area This area is a starter area and the mobs generally take longer to kill you, so why not skill up here?

Tahrongi Canyon Skill levels: 20-25 Skills to work on: Mobs:

Buburimu Peninsula

Bibiki Bay

Western Altepa Desert

Kuftal Tunnel

Cape Terrigan

The Bohyada Tree

Zeruhn Mines Skill Levels: Skills to work on: Mobs:

Abyssea

Misreaux Coast Skill levels: Skills to work on: Mobs: Note: I am including this non-Abyssea area in memory of Zedivar, whom recently quit the game and whom we all do miss. This was his favorite area to skill up in, even in the 90's. His favorite camp was by the Waterfall here with the Giant birds.

Jugner Forest (S) Skill levels: Skills to work on: Mobs: Note: This was another one of Zed's favorite skill up spots near La Vaule (S) in Jugner Forest (S). I am including his second favorite camp in honor of him.

However, it will also depend upon your playing style as to which set you will choose to go with. For the friend I mentioned above, her primary sub for Red Mage is White Mage, whereas my main sub for Red Mage is Blue Mage with me having been seeing subbing Black Mage for Warp and other Black Mage spells. I have since learned how to rely and use my Black Mage sub to my advantage; however, I have always loved and will always love Blue Mage as my sub for Red Mage. Another Mithran Red Mage friend of mine tends to wear mainly gear that is better suited for a Mithran Samurai; however, his main job is Samurai, which makes it no surprise.

I have heard of another player using both Red Mage/Ninja and Ninja/Red Mage with quite a lot of effectiveness from a different server, where that player tends to melee a lot on Red Mage.

I am glad to say that I can see the benefit of subbing Red Mage on Ninja once your Ninja is level 30 or higher due to the fact that Red Mage gets Fast Cast at level 15. Again, I am strongly emphasizing that you play around with different combinations and find what works best for you as a player. Experimentation will help you learn and gain the confidence you need to pull off almost any job that you desire.

In general, my playing style tends to be more towards having an open-mind and being more open to versatility than most of the players I know. My main sub jobs for my Red Mage are Blue Mage, Black Mage, Dancer, and Paladin rather than White Mage or Black Mage alone.

Some players would occasionally suggest subbing Scholar or Summoner on Red Mage as an unusual sub. While I can see the advantages of both, I see a major disadvantage in subbing Summoner. While Summoner may be able to boost your MP, Summoner also seems to slow down the Fast Cast ability, especially at the lower levels. To me, Scholar is hard to level up and you don't get your first job ability until level 10, which makes it a pain. However, it can be another useful sub. I have seen a few Scholars on the server who can play their job so well that I'm outclassed by them as a Main Heal in lower level parties. At the higher levels (think level 50+), you become a main healer due to both having Refresh, Convert, and Composure job abilities, which make being a Main Heal so much easier.

Even though RDM is usually considered to be a main heal at Level 50+, please note that a single Red Mage cannot heal an entire Abyssea alliance with success. In order to make that work well, you need at least 3 Red Mages in the alliance to make the alliance work in Abyssea. I am passing that along to you if you ever do plan on getting into Abyssea parties!

However, I do strongly recommend not taking Red Mage into Abyssea until level 65+ at the earliest due to the fact that you will be unable to learn the job well with the speed of exp that comes with an Abyssea party. If you want to learn Red Mage well, please stay outside of Abyssea until you are at least level 65.

My own personal suggestion on subs and which job to sub is to experiment and find what works best for you, not to cater to what other people on the server may look for, unless you are looking for a party. For me, I prefer Blue Mage followed by Black Mage and occasionally will sub Ninja or Paladin. If I do level my Dark Knight up, I probably would also sub Dark Knight. As of recently, Dancer has become a new favorite sub for meleeing and soloing because of the buffs stacking, enfeebs stacking, and that I can attack faster while dual wielding as well.

Also, keep in mind that Red Mage can effectively melee without having to sub Ninja for shadows. It is quite possible to solo tank on Red Mage with just Blink alone; however, you will have to watch the recast timers more than if you were using Utsusemi: Ichi or Utsusemi: Ni for shadows. The recast time for Blink tanking means that once one shadow goes down that you must immediately recast Blink to keep tanking this way; however, Blink will cover most damages but not all!

Blink Tanking 101:

• Cast your essential buffs before ever engaging in the mob. Essential buffs include in this order: Composure, Refresh, Stoneskin, Phalanx, and Regen with Regen being as needed.

• Check the mob before you engage it so you know what you are dealing with and pick your method of killing it. If you are meleeing, stick to mobs that read Decent Challenge or lower. If you are going to melee, do bother to use Haste on yourself because it will help you hit mobs at a faster rate. If you are Sleep/Nuke method, then only go up to Tough mobs until you learn this method well and you can skill using Haste on yourself to save MP.

• Use Instant Reraise or some form of Reraise, which can include Reraiser, etc. This way if you die, you will have guaranteed yourself a Raise of some form to minimize EXP loss should you die.

• Engage the mob and keep an eye on your recast timer of Blink and Stoneskin, mainly Blink. You should recast after one shadow is gone, but you can wait until after the second one goes depending on the situation that you are in. Also, recast Stoneskin as needed once it wears. Do not worry about recasting Phalanx as that it helps add to the damage reduction as well.

• If the mob is able to be slept, please sleep it if you need the time to recast a buff. Just keep an eye on your Blink and Stoneskin and their recast timers so you can always keep the damage to your HP to be 0. This strategy is going to be essential when dealing with Red Mage Maat fight and in solo situations where you will not have another person to tank the mob for you.

• As long as you keep up your main buffs, with an eye especially on Blink and Stoneskin, you should be able to accomplish this relatively easily. I suggested the Island Rarabs in Bibiki Bay at level 50+ because of how fast they move and how hard they hit. If you are closer to Maat fight range, practice on the rarabs first, then the Aht Urghan Attercops in Bhaflau Thickets, and finally working your way to Ruby Quadav.

• If Ruby Quadav becomes too easy for you to Blink Tank, then try pulling 2 of the Aht Urghan Attercops and Sleep/Nuking those. Sleep one, enfeeb without waking them up, nuke the other one, sleep that one, etc. This will also force you to pay more attention to your MP than with Ruby Quadav should you get the point of being able to solo Ruby Quadav in your sleep.

To melee on Red Mage, you need to know how to use Blink, Haste, Dispel, all of your En-spells, Stoneskin, Phalanx, Protect and all levels of Protect, Shell and all levels of Shell, Refresh, all of your Enfeebling spells, and all of your Elemental Spells. Knowing what to use on what mob will help you out when you end up having to melee something that you know can possibly cause a wipe out. Make it a point to get to know what spells work on what mob families because this will give you a better idea to guess than if you had no clue in the first place!

I have definitely tried Red Mage sub Warrior and had some luck tanking on certain quests, although it is not my preferred. I have found what works for me in tanking on missions with Red Mage sub Blue Mage because Blue Mage gets more AoE spells at lower levels than Black Mage does.

For Red Mage melee at higher levels, I have had much better luck with subbing PLD or DNC than /NIN. However, this is individual choice and what sub you will choose to use can be highly situational at times. If I am duoing with some friends, I may go /PLD to be able to tank a little bit; while at other times I will go /DNC to be able to be a better melee because Haste stacks with Haste Samba and I also get dual wield.

Some other tried combinations that vary by playing style does include, but not limited to: RDM/WAR, RDM/SCH, RDM/NIN, RDM/BLU, RDM/PLD, RDM/BLM, RDM/WHM, NIN/RDM, BLU/RDM, PLD/RDM, RDM/DNC, WHM/RDM, RDM/BRD (Tends to work best at much higher levels), BRD/RDM (tends to work best at much higher levels)

However, NEVER be afraid to try what works for you and ALWAYS experiment to find out what works best for you!

'I am also going to include a little mini guide on how to use Dispel (Spell) effectively, as in what effects can be Dispelled. In general, use the wiki to look up the mob you are fighting if you aren't sure; however, I will be making a general list here as a guideline just the same. If you need a more detailed guide, please see Guide to Dispelling Effects and make sure to read the Talk Page as that it can include information not actually listed in the guide itself..

Another key note, Lamia buffs, such as Blaze Spikes, and Aoe spells such as Belly Dance can be dispelled. Don't be afraid to cast dispel on Lamiae during Besieged.

As I am nearing my own Red Mage Maat Fight to break my level cap at level 70, I will write down some of the suggestions that I have been told when I have asked other players about it. With Red Mage Maat, it is better to successfully do the fight at Levels 66-68 from what I have been told. If you wait until level 70, Maat will get Asuran Fists which is an instant K.O. move that is not in your favor. I was also told to have the Elemental Staves for the spells I want to use in order, all of my Red Mage AF gear that I plan on using, having all of my magic skills capped, and a good number of consummables for the fight.

If you plan on fighting Maat on Red Mage, please keep in mind that Maat WILL have Asuran Fists at Level 66! I am confirming this because Maat did use Asuran Fists on me once during one of my tries at level 66. Please try to keep your distance from Maat so he does not land it on you unless you are going for a melee approach.

For some of the items I am planning on taking into the fight, I will need to have my Alchemy and Cooking leveled up or be able to afford the items that I will need going into the fight. I have completed my Red Mage Maat fight successfully as of April 3, 2011 by 11pm EST. Right now, I am 1/10 on Maat on Red Mage.

Some suggestions I have learned for Maat fight include:

• Keep your Weapon Skills and Magic Capped before you fight him! Having a Capped Evasion skill does not hurt either.

• Keep all of your Magic Skills, except for Divine Magic, capped before you enter the fight. If your skills are not capped, you have a very high chance of losing before you have really even begun. With the addition of Seekers of Adoulin expansion and the Records of Eminence, you can purchase with Sparks of Eminence skill up tomes to help you along as well as some different consumables that you would otherwise be unable to get such as Coalition Potions that heal for roughly the same amount as a Hi-Potion.

• Actually do go in to Maat fight with a Red Mage Testimony before you fight Ruby Quadav so you know how fast he moves in comparison to Ruby Quadav. Although this does mean farming an extra Red Mage Testimony, it will give you a much better idea of how the fight will actually go before you practice on Ruby Quadav.

• If you do not normally use Macros, this is the one fight that you will want them for. This will speed up your reaction time and response time to give you a better edge against Maat.

• Plan in gear-swaps, items, and spells beforehand. Macro-ing these in is also not a bad idea either so you do not lose time planning in these swaps either. There is nothing worse than a /panic during the Maat fight to the point that you run out of time on Red Mage.

• When you actually do go fight Ruby Quadav, please consider one of 2 possible Sleep/Nuke Strategies. One strategy is to fight Ruby with just the Sleep/Nuke and enfeebling magic and to avoid using any extra buffs, including food. This is a good strategy that I use to solo Ruby Quadav for my Red Mage Test without wasting my gil on having to re-purchase food, medicines, etc. It helps me become more comfortable with Sleep/Nuke strategy since I do melee whenever I can as well and this is great practice if it takes you a while to learn macros, etc.

• The other one is to actually fight Ruby Quadav with no holding back in the exact same strategy as you are planning on using on Maat fight. This I personally don't recommend if you went into Maat and saw what the real thing is like once. However, it is always your choice. This can be a great option if you are testing to see if your method will work.

• Have your Evasion Skill as close to capped as possible. This will help you potentially get hit for less damage than if your Evasion skill is lower.

• If you are Sleep/Nuking Maat, know which elemental staves correspond with which spells. This will help increase the accuracy of the spells and also further help the damage that they cause. Note: If you are unable to get separate elemental staves, please try to go for a Chatoyant Staff which is all of the elemental staves in one staff. If you are unable to afford the Chatoyant Staff, an Iridal Staff will work in a pinch but more macc+ may be needed. Also, picking up or borrowing an elemental skill+ torque will be a great help and so will an enfeebling torque (or a spider torque) be a major help for macc+ on Maat.

• Increasing your INT, MND, Enfeebling Skill, and Elemental Skill will help you land your spells better if Sleep/Nuke is your strategy in Maat fight.

• If you are Windurstian and Rank 8 before your Maat fight, get the Master Caster's Bracelets as your hand piece for gear for this fight. This gear piece was far better than what I used and I was unable to acquire this until after my Maat fight. I would have way loved these for Maat fight the first time around - it probably would have reduced the amount of times I fought Maat before I beat him.

• Maat fight can be done melee as well, but this just depends on your style. If you want to melee Maat, then this section may not necessarily apply to you.

• Learn your macros that you are using very well before you go into the fight. Not knowing and having a newly created macro fail is one of the best ways to lose your Maat fight on the first try.

• Pick your day for the fight in advance. I have gone in on the days of my highest nukes at various levels and had some success. Picking a day that your nuke can overpower can also work too. I did not have any luck on Iceday, but it is a good option as well. I won on a Darksday, which is a surprise to me because usually all my Darksday attempts had even worse results than days where my nukes were stronger.

• If you do not win at level 66 after a few attempts, level up to level 68 and then try again. If you still don't win at level 68 after a few attempts, level up to level 70 and then keeping trying until you win. Red Mage Maat fight is not for the faint of heart but is totally worth it.

• If you need to, tweak your gear as you go along. For Nuking, INT+ gear, Magic Attack Bonus gear, and Conserve MP gear really helps make the nuking hit harder per nuke and hopefully conserve more MP per nuke. For example, I would have loved to have used Master Caster's Bracelets or Cobra Gloves but instead I went with Cobra Cuffs because that is what I had available to me at the time. Likewise, I probably would have swapped out my Warlock's Tabard with the Cobra Robe (only when actually Nuking) and swapped out the Magic Cuisses for Layqa Seraweels (only when enfeebling).

• Every bit of magic skill is required for this fight. Any bonuses in gear that you can get that will up your Elemental Magic Skill, Enfeebling Magic Skill, Healing Magic Skill, and Enhancing Magic Skill are a major help.

• Make sure that you increase your Enfeebling Magic Skill when you are going to use Sleep, Dispel, Bind, Paralyze, or Gravity on Maat. The higher the skill, the better chance of it actually sticking. Also, use the Elemental Staves that correspond with the particular spell that you are using to boost this accuracy even farther. If you are attempting this fight at level 70, you should also consider using a Dark Grip when you are casting Sleep or Dispel on Maat as this item will increase your Magical Accuracy on those two spells.

• Make sure that you do increase your Elemental Magic Skill when you are going to use your Nuke on Maat. This will help increase the damage done per nuke.

• Any bonuses in Magic Attack, Magic Defense, Defense, MP+, INT+, MND+, and possibly Conserve MP are major helps in this fight. While I was not able to get my hands on some of the gear that I would have truly liked, I went with what I could get my hands on that in the different times I went into the fight seemed to work well for me.

• Solo Sekhmet at least once at levels 65-68. This will also help you gauge how well you are doing plus give you a chance at the Layqa Seraweels for using when you are enfeebling Maat. This will also give you an idea of how to use your spells effectively when you turn around and solo Ruby Quadav, especially since Sekhmet is also another Red Mage NM and can be successfully soloed at that level.

• If you want to record your Maat fight attempts for future reference, then by all means feel free to do so. I do not have the capacity do to so, but please feel free to if that helps you tweak your strategy and or celebrate it later on.

• Always get the emotional support from your friends and linkshell if you have got it. This can help you stop the /panic reaction when you actually go into the fight.

I have since had a successful Maat fight myself and will be posting below what I had used and some suggestions in the long journey to Red Mage Maat fight completion. I am also listing the gear and items that I kept on hand in case anything went wrong. I will also list what my macros actually were for anyone whom might need ideas on how to set them up so that they work.

For starters, I did the winning fight at level 70 with capped magic skills. I did the Maat fight while I was fully awake, on the phone, and talking to a friend ingame all at the same time which prevented me from zoning out and panicking during the fight. Not much is worse than losing your focus during the 10-minute fight and then losing due to running out of time on Red Mage. The best thing is to do what helps you focus, which was multi-tasking in my case while I was mad at something else ingame.

I was not expecting to win when I went in but I did keep my calm this time, even though I nearly almost forgot to use my Hi-Reraiser and Intelligence Potion during the fight.

Please keep in mind for the fight itself that you need a minimum of +28INT when you are actually nuking and at least a +18MND when casting Enfeebs for it to stick and be effective. Small numbers in these stats can make a difference when fighting Maat.

If you do not have the gear that you need for the fight, either borrow, quest, farm, or buy the gear that you need for it. Going into a Maat fight without any gear is going be a recipe for losing the fight.

Also, having echo drops in case of silence is a good idea but is not essential for this fight. On my winning attempt, I did not have echo drops with me even though I would highly recommend them if you have got the room in your inventory to spare.

Use the Elemental Grip for your Highest level Nuke and a Dark Grip during this fight. The grips at level 70, if you are going in at level 70, are a great help due to the fact that they will up Magical Accuracy for the element that they correspond to. On Maat, you want every bit of Magical Accuracy that you can get!

Mulsums are definitely a key item that you do not want to skimp on. I went in with 2 stacks of mulsum and I would have run out of MP sooner without them. I walked out of the fight with 10 left over, but plan on having 2 stacks because it will take a lot of MP to bring Maat down.

Save your MP for Sleep and Nuke (whether that Nuke be Stone III, Water III, or Aero III) rather than curing yourself. That's why you use the Hi-Potions need or Coalition Potions. oad.

Pick your Highest Nuke ahead of time and stick with the same one rather than alternating between them for nuking in between spell recasts. At level 66, this is Stone III. At level 68, this is Water III. At level 70, this is Aero III. Just remember to keep an eye on the recast timers regardless of your nuke choice until you Chainspell at either the beginning of the fight after the Pre-Fight Debuff phase or when Maat is at 50% health and after he has slept through his Chainspell.

Pick your 1 item that will leave you medicated for the rest of the fight ahead of time. If you are going to use a Pro-Ether +1, then do no plan on using an Intelligence Potion nor Icarus Wing. If you need more information on the Medicated Status, please look at the Medicated page on the wiki.

If you have leftover items after your successful fight that can be traded to a friend, then by all means go ahead and give them to a friend who is attempting their G5 fight as well. Giving back can certainly can benefit you and certainly helps pass along the good will of a successful Limit Break fight.

Gear:

Aquilo's Staff (borrowed from a friend)

Terra's Staff (borrowed from a friend)

Wind Staff

Light Staff

Dark Staff

Penitent's Rope (borrowed from a friend)

Qiqirn Sash - I use this to regain MP while resting

Bugard Strap +1

Dark Grip - this is going to be key for when you need to sleep him because it does help with Magical Accuracy

Phantom Tathlum

Bibiki Seashell - For added VIT if Maat was hitting me and as emergency Defense Gear

Phantom Earring

Moldavite Earring - This is an extreme necessity if you are going to Sleep/Nuke Maat due to increasing Damage

Genius Ring (borrowed from a friend)

Hale Ring

Savage Gauntlets

Cobra Cuffs - While the level 68 version would have been nicer, I used the level 55 version as a swap to up my INT and MND at the same time

Garden Bangles - This was my swap out gear for a defense boost if Maat was meleeing me and I was unable to sleep him or bind him

River Gaiters

Lamia Mantle +1 - I had used the NQ version before but eventually I was able to upgrade to the HQ version

Warlock's Chapeau - This is the must in the group when Nuking for it boosts your skill while enhancing Fast Cast

Royal Cloak - This wasn't essential but helps when needing to rest for MP

Warlock's Tabard

Elemental Torque (borrowed from a friend)

Enlightened Chain - This is the Neck piece that I use for healing myself and boosting my overall numbers

Beak Necklace +1 - This was in case I needed to rest for MP

Spider Torque - This is another extreme necessity in making your enfeebling magic stick and will work instead of an Enfeebling Torque

Food:

Rolanberry Pie +1 - this gives MP and Int boosts, which in my attempts proved better than the Cream Puff or Marron Glace options.

6 Yagudo Drink for Refresh - I had used my Refresh spell in past fights but I then used this in the winning fight for a change of pace. Either one will work, just make sure that if you plan on using one that they don't stack. However, the Royal Cloak (the HQ version of Vermillion Cloak) will stack with either one.

Medicines:

5-20 Hi-Potion/Hi-Potion +1/Hi-Potion +2/Hi-Potion +3 - all of the Hi-Potions are in case you need HP in a hurry without wasting MP on Cures

• Side Note: You can quest Soothing Potions instead of going with the standard Hi-Potions, but these can be harder to get. The Soothing Potions restore 250HP instantly instead of the 100 you get fHi-Potions or Coalition Potions. Coalition Potions are an option if you have Seekers oAdoulin expansion access.donsifacks of Mulsum - this has instant use timer and gives you 10MP in a hurry, so it is easy to spam should you need the MP

1 Vile Elixir - this is an emergency item that will restore your health that is near instant, but can only carry one of each. On my server, this was cheaper to get and was much easier to obtain. Go with whichever version of this suits your fancy, since you only need 1.

1 Intelligence Potion - this was my choice for my medicated item since I was going to be Nuking big time and wanted the extra damage per nuke so I would waste less MP

1 Super Ether +1 - while this does not have near instant usage timers, this was a big help after I was forced to Convert before I Chainspell when Maat was at 50% HP. Make sure Maat is fully asleep before you use this due to how long it takes to work.

1 Hi-Reraiser - this was my choice of Reraise item and gives the effect of Reraise II. I used to use both this and a Instant Reraise scroll, but this was good enough for the fight itself.

Macros:

I will add this section in when I have more time. I did macro in gear changes.

Battle Plan:

• • Make sure you know that you can do this before you even talk to Maat.

• • Double-check all items before you eat your food and go in without your gear on. If I had not done this, I might have /panic later. It is better to make sure you double-check your items and warp back to pick them up than be missing an important item for the fight itself.

• • Eat your food before you go in. Make sure you fully heal up before you enter the BCNM so you can cast buffs right away.

• • Once inside, gear up and cast your Blink and Stoneskin. Phalanx is optional. Pop a Yagudo Drink at this point. Use your Reraise item at this point as well.

• • Walk up to where you can target Maat. Sleep II Maat and then Dispel until Shell is gone

• • Aero III or whichever nuke you are using and then Sleep him again. If both Sleeps do not stick, then Bind him until Sleep 2 and Sleep are available.

• • Repeat Sleep and Nuke until Maat reaches halfway. Sleep Maat when he Chainspells. Convert and boost your MP up at this point, especially if your MP was a little low. Use your Intelligence Potion if you haven't already and then Chainspell.

• • Keep up Blink and Stoneskin throughout the fight and use your Hi-Potions, Mulsums, and other items as needed throughout the fight.

• • Hopefully you get the win at this point!

The players I would like to thank as inspiration for this guide are:

Xircon, for having truly helped me get the idea that any mage can be more than expected in the right hands. We will all miss you!

Thesehan, for giving me the inspiration to keep going when the going got tough and for taking me under their wing.

Lixanna, as my adopted sister and for helping me to know that even if the game throws curveballs that we can always try again to overcome any challenges. You've helped me realize how to truly adapt when I've needed it the most in game and that even an odd duo combination can still rock extremely well if given a chance. :) *hugs Sis*

Debreas, for giving me the courage to keep pursuing to play RDM, despite other players; for taking me into Dragonrealm and realizing that anything may very well be possible.

Kagekyo (who no longer plays), for helping me realize just how far a Red Mage can go when it comes to pulling out all the stops on healing a crazy Ninja Tank.

Newdefect, for you helped give me the inspiration to keep writing this guide, even if that was not your intention.

Exellus, for you helping tweak my strategy about why I kept losing Maat fight and helping me obtain items that gave me an edge in one of the Maat fights enough for me to learn how to better manage my MP use. This really helped me in the long run.

Feara, for showing me how to actually kite, sleep/nuke, and how not to panic with an aggro situation. If it weren't for you, I would have still been failing at my Red Mage Maat fight.

Kingdragon, for all of the insanity and Red Mage and Blue Mage mentoring that helped me get to be better at Red Mage. I wish you good luck at whichever game that you have gone onto.

Dbjj, for helping me along the way as well as mentoring me in Red Mage. I still have the original Light Staff you gave me a long time ago, which has saved me with my cures many many times.

Vraelia, for inspiring me to keep going on Red Mage, for helping me along the way, and also showing me that Red Mages can duo very well together depending on the playing style. :3

Hyipee and Alnora, for inspiring me to realize that Red Mage can certainly melee well if enough skill is applied. And especially to Hyipee for meleeing Maat and winning using a Crimson Sword! I should expect no less from an RDM who melees like a SAM! :)

Ayleen, for you have certainly helped teach me a few tricks along the way and kept me calm at times. I also want to thank you Ayleen for loaning me the more expensive gear that would have taken me months to acquire just long enough to use for Maat fight.

Dariaaa, for you have definitely helped me realize why I love Blue Mage and why I really still love Red Mage.

Alegna, for being my other in-game sister and helping me see that Mithras can totally rock on Red Mage if given a chance and work extremely well in duo. :3 We all miss you, Alegna!

Infamousblack, for helping me realize to laugh at the mistakes I've made as a Red Mage.

Oca, for still encouraging me to pursue Maat fight on Red Mage even when I keep getting comments to try Maat fight on a different job. Thank you for believing in me enough that I finally got through my Maat fight successfully on the 10th attempt.

I also want to thank all of the original Dragonrealm LS on the Cerberus server: Darkmadmax, Madmardigen, Ladynahtear, Zomzar, Zedivar, Haunted, Zanku, Ezarion, Holliday, Kerwyn, and many others. In your own way, you truly helped me realize what makes this game fun and why a great team ingame can total rock a mob despite the different playing styles.

I also want to thank my original LS when I started the game, MyOtherLink. Although there are so many of you that I can only remember a few by name, you truly helped me gain insight when I first started out. You are one of the reasons behind why a standard Mage does not truly exist.

I also want to thank all of the players that I have talked with, those who are on my friendslist, those who were in LSES with me in the past and present, and to those who have retired from the game: you truly impact every player in there and help other learn what FFXI is really all about.

I wish I knew your server, Mercy & Allowei & Aurora LS. You all have truly inspired me to learn how to do a better job at meleeing on Red Mage and set a standard of versatility in Red Mage that I had never thought was possible until I saw your work online. I thank you for that.

I also would like to thank Nanasai for your video on beating Maat at lvl 66. You have truly inspired me to pick up my Red Mage Maat fight again.

I also would like to thank Tempyst for your video on beating Maat that you did for your friend. This also helped me get the Bind timing right during my own fight the one time that I had to use it.

I would also like to thank Graspee for your video on your Red Mage Maat fights, this helped give me ideas on what to use for my own Maat fight.

I would also like to thank Kristine and Kytio for your own Maat fight videos for Maat's Cap. This helped give me additional ideas and the courage to keep going despite so many Maat fight losses on Red Mage.

I would also like to thank Seker for your Red Mage Maat video, as this also gave me an additional idea on an item to have on hand for the actual fight itself.

I would also like to thank Tontolina for your Red Mage Maat video, since this also helped me get additional ideas for my Maat fight as well.

I wish to thank anyone who comments on the talk page for this Guide, especially Janeth for clearing up some of my misinformation! Your comments do serve to help other players as well as yourselves learn and grow in the FFXI community!