ML's RDM 101 v2.0 Guide/Part II

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Skills
Skills are rated (best to worst): A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, E, F. The only effect that the rating of a skill has is the skill's cap for a particular level. The +/- designations don't have any effect until level 60. Take note of an excellent skill cap calculator here. Without further ado:

Spell-based skills
Every spell-based skill is a little different, but they all share one common trait: higher levels of a skill will reduce your chance of being interrupted while casting a spell of that type. It it loosely related to the level of the monster that is hitting you.


 * Elemental (C+)
 * Elemental nukes, and Elemental enfeebles (Burn, Frost, Rasp, etc from /BLM) fall into this category. Your Elemental skill is basically just accuracy, the chance of the spell being outright or partially resisted. Because this skill is only C+, it's generally not advisable to free-nuke excessively at higher levels without bonuses from equipment or Elemental staves, because resists can be frequent on XP-level monsters. At low levels, the difference between A and C isn't large, and you can nuke as MP permits. At all levels, Red Mages are called on to Magic Burst on skillchains, since MBs get accuracy bonuses.


 * Healing (C-)
 * Unlike Elemental, your Healing skill isn't used much for accuracy purposes. Non-offensive Cures (ie: not casting on Undead) won't be resisted. Instead, Healing works with your MND stat to bring Cure spells closer to the soft cap.


 * Enhancing (B+)
 * We have the highest Enhancing skill of any job, and the skill has some scattered impact. It increases the effectiveness of all Bar-element spells, Bar-status spells, the damage reduction on Phalanx, the total "HP" of Stoneskin, the maximum duration of Sneak/Invisible, and the damage on Enspells. It has no impact on timered abilities like Regen and Refresh.


 * Enfeebling (A+)
 * As has been mentioned, this is our only A+ rated skill, and arguably the most important. Since we are the only job with A+ Enfeebling, we have the best accuracy with Enfeebling spells at all levels of play. This includes Sleep I/II, Slow, Paralyze, Gravity, Dispel, and Blind. Dia I/II are enfeebling spells, but are generally not resisted no matter the skill level.


 * Dark (E)
 * Natively, the only spells we have that use Dark are Bio I/II, which are both largely unresistable. The use of Dark comes with subjobs like BLM or DRK, where we can get Drain, Aspir, or Absorb spells. Typically E-rated skills are unreliable on XP-level mobs, but Drain and Aspir both work on a sliding scale of effectiveness so we can still make good use of them with appropriate equipment.


 * Divine (E)
 * Red Mages don't naturally have any spells that use Divine. The only time that this skill is used is when subbing /WHM for use with Banish spells, or at 74+ with /PLD subbed for Flash. Needless to say, that means it's usually not very useful.

Martial skills

 * Sword (B)
 * Swords are the only weapons we have availible that do serious melee damage. Red Mages don't have access to the heavy-hitting espadons or bastard-sword weapons that WAR/PLD/DRK have availible, but we can use all sorts of shortswords, longswords, broadswords, degens, epees, fleurets, rapiers, etc. Swords will do slashing or piercing damage based on the type, so it's important to keep a selection availible if you can (a good example is the piercing Royal Guardman's Fleuret, and the slashing Wise Wizard's Anelace). Typically this is your primary way of dealing "free" damage. As is the case with all melee weapons, your skill in Sword determines your accuracy, damage, and access to weaponskills. As a rule of thumb, every point of Sword gives +1 accuracy and +1 attack (+0.9 accuracy past 200 skill or so). Red Mages don't have any EX or SP Sword skills, unfortunately, so our selection of weaponskills is somewhat limited. When soloing with a WAR/DRK/PLD subbed however, we can gain access to Red Lotus Blade, Seraph Blade, and Vorpal Blade, which are all fairly strong WS's in their own right.


 * Dagger (B)
 * The selection of daggers availible to Red Mages is pretty abysmal, to say the least. We can only use a few dagger class weapons, generally we aren't able to access any knife or kris-type weaponry (the ones that actually deal damage). Red Mages get a few EX Dagger skills, Cyclone and Energy Drain in particular are pretty effective. The real advantage of Dagger comes with the low delay: wielding a dagger that has a 150 swing delay (such as Beestinger, Platoon Dagger, or Hornetneedle) allows you to quickly stack Enspell damage on monsters, as Enspells are hit-based. Daggers are what make us deadly in fights against physical-resistant Elementals, and allows us to deal damage to monsters without giving them TP (in the case of a Beestinger or Ceremonial Dagger). You won't be using this skill often, but you'll be glad you have it.


 * Archery (D)
 * The D rating of this skill, coupled with the fact that Red Mages can only use shortbows, keeps many people away from Archery. We also don't have access to Archer's Knives, which makes the accuracy problem worse. As a result, you aren't going to see much use for this in an XP party. The real advantage of Archery is in solo, where we can actually land shots. We have access to the good arrows, so the lack of bow selection isn't a big deal: you can easily outdamage your Sword with level-appropriate ammo. As a nice bonus, +ranged accuracy equipment tends to be on the cheap side. If you sub RNG, you'll have access to the EX Archery weaponskills, including Sidewinder at level 59.


 * Club (D)
 * There isn't much use for this skill for Red Mages. We use wands for casting, but since we don't use wands to deal damage, there isn't any need to have accuracy/attack bonuses with them. As far as weaponskills are concerned, the only one really worth considering is Hexastrike, but we can never use it. Starlight restores a small amount of MP, so has potential in solo if you gain TP with Archery, but that's a stretch. Generally you don't need to worry about this skill.


 * Evasion (D)
 * Evasion is your ability to avoid hits. It's not going to help you very much in XP parties because of the low rank, but capped Evasion is handy for soloing, or the odd situations where you find yourself tanking.


 * Throwing (F)
 * Not much use for this skill at all. It's ranked too low to be meaningful, and we don't have any interesting things we can throw anyway. The only use for this might use throwing Darts to pull with, but Archery is better for pulling (longer range) anyway. If Red Mage is your main job, you might find it useful to cheaply skill up Throwing for a job like Ninja.


 * Parrying (E)
 * Blocking attacks with your weapon, provided you have a weapon out and the enemy is in your frontal arc. This is a useful skill for soloing, but don't expect to have it anywhere near capped.


 * Shield (F)
 * Using your shield to reduce some damage from enemy attacks, provided you have one equipped and the enemy is in front of you. Shield is more useful than Parry because it doesn't require you to be in attack mode in order to work. The rate of shield blocking and the amount of damage it absorbs is tied to the size of the shield: bucklers (smallest) tend to fire often but only block a little damage, round and kite shields will fire less often but abosrb more damage per hit. We are not able to equip Tower Shields.

note: We have no native skill in Staff, or Hand-to-hand, so when using these weapons, our skill is capped at the level of our subjob (if any). This also applies to spell-based skills like Ninjutsu, Summoning, etc.

Job Traits
The in-game descriptions for the various Job Traits aren't really very good, here is a quick run-down of what you can expect to acquire as you level up. For passive traits, we essentially get a smattering of both WHM and BLM traits, but at a later level and more slowly. Many of these traits are upgraded, but it's difficult to tell when it happens because the icon doesn't change, and no feedback is given. Some of the figures here are best guesses.


 * Fast Cast
 * This RDM-unique trait has changed many times over the course of the game. Essentially it does two things: it reduces the casting time of spells, and cuts the recast time. You get Fast Cast I starting at level 15, and upgrades at 35 and 55. The first level of Fast Cast reduces cast/recast by 10%, each attidional upgrade reduces it by an additional 5%. Our AF hat serves as an additional level of Fast Cast.


 * Magic Attack Up
 * You'll notice a huge increase in nuke damage once you first get this skill at level 20. It adds a whopping 20% bonus, and increases to 24% by level 40.


 * Magic Defense Up
 * The opposite of Magic Attack Up. It reduces all magic damage that you take by a certain percentage. Granted at level 25, and upgraded at 45.


 * Resist Petrify
 * Sort of useless, but occasionally helps, like most "resist" traits other jobs have. Don't count on this skill to save you, but if you ever see a message like "Resisted!" at the begining of the line, you'll know its your job trait and not just a regular resist.


 * Clear Mind
 * We don't get to use this as much as WHM, BLM, and SMN do, but every little bit helps. Every level of Clear Mind adds +3MP to your resting regen per tick. We earn it at level 31, and have two upgrades. The highest level of Clear Mind that we acquire increases the speed that MP regen ramps up, to +2 instead of +1 per tick.

Spells
This list of spells is not meant to be exaustive, but intended to give you a good idea what situations you should be using certain abilities in. This list includes a few spells from other jobs that you can only get subbed, but I've indicated which ones. Note that you should be leaning on +MND equipment for White Magic, and +INT equipment for Black Magic.

White Magic

 * Dia
 * Dia will reduce the target's defense by 5%, 10% for Dia II. Unless you have a caster-heavy party or a weak tank, this is usually the spell of choice. Dia can't be resisted with any frequency, so you can pass Dia duty to the WHM if you need MP. Dia has a minor damage over time component and a fixed duration, so don't Dia anything that you intend to put to sleep. Important: Dia and Bio will not stack with each other. The spells overwrite in this order: Bio II > Dia II > Bio > Dia


 * Cure
 * You'll have four flavors of Cure spells over the course of your career. If you haven't levelled a job with Healing Magic before, the first time you get a new Cure spell it will be comparatively weak. Generally your highest Cure is considered an "emergency" cure, because it's less MP efficient until Healing and MND catch up. Each of them has a "soft cap" at which point additonal Healing skill or MND has no effect. Here are the approximate soft caps for each spell:
 * Cure I: 30 HP
 * Cure II: 90 HP
 * Cure III: ~170 HP
 * Cure IV: ~350 HP


 * Curaga (WHM)
 * Targetted group heal. You won't get any better than the second tier of this, so it's good to combine it with Divine Seal if you badly need to heal people.


 * Regen
 * We only get the first version of this spell, but getting 125 HP over ~2 minutes for only 15MP is no joke. It's an excellent spell when you first get it at 21, and remains useful through most of your career (eclipsed a bit once WHMs get better versions) for a cheap way to replenish HP over time.


 * Enspells
 * If you are in melee, put an element-appropriate Enspell on. The spell lasts three minutes, and does damage based on your Enhancing skill. Like most forms of magical damage, Enspells can be fully or partially resisted (you can minimize this effect by using an elemental the target is weak to), but the damage is guaranteed if you hit, and damage from Enspells won't give the monster extra TP.


 * Bar-element spells
 * Examples of these would be Barstone, Barfire, etc. Essentially they increase the chance that you will partially or fully resist an elemental spell of that type. Red Mages only get single-target version of these spells, but White Mages get self-targeted group versions. Note that these spells work on more than just damage, they also give you a chance to resist elemental enfeebles, such as using Baraero for silence, or Barwater for Poison.


 * Bar-status spells
 * Similar to Bar-element spells, except that these reduce the duration of very specific effects. They stack in a limited fashion with Bar-element spells, so put on Barblizzard and Barparalyze for the ultimate protection from Paralysis.


 * Protect/Shell
 * Protect increases DEF, and Shell reduces all magical damage by a set percentage. Red Mages only get single-target versions of these spells. If you find yourself without a WHM, you may find it useful to cast the weaker Protectra/Shellra spells on everyone, and give your tank the best single-target versions. It's too much of a drain to cast 12 of these spells back to back every 30 minutes.


 * Aquaveil
 * Reduces interruption rate. This spell isn't terribly useful in parties, but you'll find it invaluable for soloing. It's not too expensive, and lasts a few minutes, but has a long casting time so make sure to put it up before engaging.


 * Paralyze
 * You'll almost always want this enfeeble on the monster. It's a steal at only 6MP, and makes the monster randomly lose attacks over the duration of the spell. Even if the effect only fires ONCE, that's damage the tank didn't take. If that hit would have cost a Cure to fix, this spell just paid for itself.


 * Slow
 * Another enfeeble you'll almost always want to have applied. The effect of Slow varies depending on your MND vs. the mob's MND, but is typically around a 15% attack rate decrease. For only 15MP, you can't lose. Not only does it decrease the monster's damage over time, it also gives PLDs more breathing room to self-cure, and Ninja extra time to recast Utsusemi. A Ninja's Hojo: Ni will over-write this spell.


 * Sneak/Invisible/Deodorize
 * Sneak and Invisible will allow you to skirt your way past monsters who detect by sound, sight, or both. The duration is random, but Enhancing will increase the maximum. It is castable on other party members. Deodorize will sometimes help you lose a monster that is tailing you and tracks by smell, but use of this is dodgy at best.


 * Diaga
 * AOE version of Dia. Usually not appropriate to cast, but it's the only offensive AOE spell we have natively, so it's handy for stripping Blink from mobs.


 * Silence
 * Puts those pesky casting monsters out of business. The duration is not reliable, so watch your chat log. This is a good spell to use when soloing worms from a distance, and will quickly shut down Beastmen casters. If something is casting dangerous party-wiping spells like Ancient Magic or -aga nukes, Silence is the #1 priority.


 * Blink
 * This is a defensive spell that will give you two shadow images. When you are attacked, either with a single-target spell or a regular attack, there is a chance that one of your images will absorb the effect instead of you, which destroys the image. The images have no damage threshold, so this spell is really useful on hard hits. It has a long casting time though, so is not worth using while you are under attack. If you're about to Convert and you think you might get the monsters attention when you Cure yourself out of the Red, this isn't a bad spell to cast.


 * Stoneskin
 * Blocks 100% of damage until it runs out of "HP". The amount of damage Stoneskin will absorb is impacted heavily by MND, and Enhancing to a lesser entent. Stoneskin will not protect you from more than one or two hits from XP-level monsters, but it's good Convert insurance against AOEs that Blink will not stop. In solo play, especially combined with Phalanx, this spell is amazing.


 * Phalanx
 * This is the spell that really sets us apart from other casters. It's a three-minute duration defensive spell that reduces all incoming damage by a certain fixed amount (depending solely on Enhancing skill). It can make Stoneskin last an order of magnitude longer, and on monsters that are TW or borderline EP it can often reduce the damage to 0. Against XP level mobs it's not as useful, taking 15 points away from a 200 point hit isn't going to save your life, but this spell enables you to solo/farm things that other classes can only dream of.


 * Raise
 * We only get the basic version of this spell that revives people from the dead. You'll sometimes be called on for Raises pre-50, but once XP loss begins to hurt, most people will look for a Raise II or a Raise III.


 * Refresh
 * In a nutshell, this is the job-defining spell that turns 40 MP from you into 150 MP for them. I'll go into this in great detail in a specific section for Refresh.


 * Haste
 * Increases attack speed of the target, and cuts down on their recast time as well. This is sort of a pricey spell, and largely the domain of the WHM in your party. Usually you want it on the heavy melee DDs of the party, and on the tank (easier to keep hate, also has the benefit of reducing recast for Flash and Utsusemi). Hasting every melee in the party is usually a Bad Idea, but we'll cover this later.


 * Status Cures (WHM)
 * WHM has all of the single-target spells that cure things like Petrified, Poisoned, Diseased, etc. We can get all but Stona from a /WHM sub, many of the useful ones are low enough level to allow us to help the WHM with curing, or take over the role ourselves. Spells like Blindna are particularly helpful to have two status curers on, because of the recast timer associated with it.


 * Banish I/II, Banishga (WHM)
 * The Banish line of spells does Light-elemental damage, and is based on MND rather than INT. Banish doesn't do a great deal of damage, and is not as MP-efficient as elemental nukes, but has a "hidden" property of reducing the natural resistances of undead-type monsters by a percentage (by "natural resistances", meaning a damage type the monster is usually resistant to. Does not reduce overall DEF like Dia, and has no effect on damage types the monster is already weak against). The effect is random, and only lasts for a few seconds. Avoiding a full resist with an E-rated skill on XP mobs is very difficult, but it gives you something to burst with on Transfixion chains.

Black Magic

 * Elemental nukes
 * There are six elements of nuke spells, and we have access to the first three tiers of them. They have no added effect, just deal damage to a single target. Make sure you're always targetting the weakness of the monster, to reduce resists. Also, don't spam the same element if you can avoid it, monsters will gradually build up a resistance to it (for example: alternate Blizzard and Thunder on crabs, which are weak to both).


 * Poison
 * The damage these spells do is based on your Enfeebling skill. The damage on Poison is fairly pathetic (but it's a cheap spell, no great loss), but Poison II does a pretty hefty amount of damage over time. In regular XP parties the monster may die too fast for it to take full effect, but in solo (provided you don't need to Sleep the mob), this is a solid spell.


 * Blind
 * This spell reduces the monster's accuracy significantly, and stacks with Flash. A Ninja's Kurayami: Ni will over-write this spell.


 * Bio
 * Opposite of Dia, reduces the attack rating of the monster by 5% and 10%. Bio also does a fairly decent amount of damage over time, depending on your Dark skill. Bio is usually not appropriate unless you have a caster heavy party, or a tank that is taking too much damage.


 * Bind
 * Holds a monster in place for a short period of time. Not reliable, emergency use only. This spell is a little handy at early solo levels, but you should probably be meleeing anyway.


 * Spike Spells
 * Blaze does damage, Ice causes paralysis, and Shock procs a stun. You won't use this in a party situation unless you happen to be tanking. For solo, these are good to cast. For farming hordes of monsters simultaneously, the utility of these spells are out-done only by Phalanx.


 * Gravity
 * This is an RDM-only enfeeble that reduces the movement speed of monsters, and has a small evasion reduction. If your melees need an extra accuracy edge, cast this spell. If the tank is having trouble controlling the monster, Gravity will make it more manageable. When you first get it, this is a pricey spell, and it has a pretty lengthy recast time (60 seconds), but it becomes more useful as you advance. Gravity also has use as a pulling spell, and for kiting monsters you are unable to Sleep.


 * Sleep
 * single target spell that takes the monster out of action until the spell wears off, or it takes damage and wakes up. Sleep II has a longer duration, lower resist rate, and will overwrite Sleep (use this to your advantage). As a Red Mage, you have the highest natural enfeebling, so crowd control is your job. However, since Sleep is dark-based, you'll have a lot of difficulty making it stick on undead and bats (leave this to the Bard and their light-based Sleeps).


 * Dispel
 * Besides Refresh, this spell is the other reason people invite RDMs to parties. In short, it removes a single buff from your target, but the Dispel section will go into much more detail.


 * Elemental Enfeebles (BLM)
 * There are six, one for each element.


 * Shock - MND debuff, lightning damage (decreases resistance to White Magic)
 * Rasp - DEX debuff, earth damage (decreases melee accuracy)
 * Choke - VIT debuff, wind damage (increases non-magical damage taken)
 * Frost - AGI debuff, ice damage (decreases evasion)
 * Burn - INT debuff, fire damage (increases magical damage taken, decreases resistance to Black Magic)
 * Drown - STR debuff, water damage (decreases melee damage dealt)


 * Each of these does damage over time. They stack, but oddly. Each one of them has an element, and it will over-write any element that is weak to it. For example, ice is weak to fire, so Burn will over-write Frost. The end result is that you can't have any two enfeebles that touch each other on the elemental wheel: Fire -> Ice -> Wind -> Earth -> Thunder -> Water -> Fire


 * In a party, you'll usually use Shock to help land Slow/Para, Burn to boost damage before an MB and help with Blind/Gravity, Choke to increase general melee damage output, and Frost to help the melees with their accuracy. The other enfeebles have their place, but are not as important. The stat reduction of each enfeeble appears to be tied to your skill, but is estimated to be about -10 or so. Note that the strength of elemental enfeebles does not decay over the duration of the spell, and they deal damage (so they will prevent the use of Sleep).


 * Drain (BLM/DRK)
 * For 21 MP, you deal damage to the monster, and heal yourself. At low levels of Dark skill, this isn't a great spell. At high levels, it's one of the most efficient nukes in the game, and an excellent way to recover some HP after taking damage in a party (stray hit or AOE). It's also nice to top off your HP after you heal yourself post-Convert.


 * Aspir (BLM/DRK)
 * If the monster you're fighting has MP, this spell is your best friend. Every time the recast is up, you can use this to try to steal some MP. Coupled with Elemental Seal and/or a Dark Staff, you can really get some nice numbers, especially on crab-type monsters.


 * Absorb-MND, CHR, AGI, VIT (DRK)
 * The Absorb line of spells will drain a specific stat from the target, and give it to you. The effect decays over the course of the spell, but will stack with Absorb spells from other DRKs. Absorb-MND is particularly useful because of the dual effect of increasing the potency of your White Magic enfeebles, and reducing the monster's resistance to them.


 * Stun (DRK)
 * This spell does exactly what you'd think: it stuns the target, and cancels whatever action they were in the middle of (goblins throwing a bomb, mage casting AM/-aga spells, etc). Since you won't get this spell from your subjob until 74+ it doesn't have much use until endgame, but is useful in combination with Chainspell for 30 seconds of Stunning on Gods/HNMs.

Game Mechanics
For the math inclined, here are some numbers and formulas you may find useful (many thanks to Grendal for sharing them with us). Decimal results are truncated.


 * Phalanx: (Enhancing / 10) - 2
 * Enspells when Enhancing > 150: (Enhancing / 20) + 5
 * Enspells when Enhancing < 150: SquareRoot(Enhancing) - 1
 * Corresponding Date/Weather: +10% dmg, Corresponding Double Weather: +20% dmg. Effect of element day and weather will stack.
 * Bar-element spells : (Enhancing / 5) + 40
 * Stoneskin when Total HP absorbed < 200: (Enhancing / 3 + MND) * 2 - 60
 * Stoneskin when Total HP absorbed >= 200: (Enhancing / 3 + MND) * 3 - 190
 * Magic Atk. Bonus:
 * RDM20: 1.20x
 * RDM40: 1.24x
 * Moldavite Earring: +0.05
 * Blaze Spikes: ((INT + 2) / 12 + 4) * Magic Atk. Bonus
 * Ice / Shock Spikes: ((INT + 10) / 20 + 2) * Magic Atk. Bonus
 * TP gain:
 * Delay 000 - 180: Fixed at 5
 * Delay 180 - 480: [(Delay - 180) / 256] * 6 + 5
 * Delay 480 - 900: (Delay + 480) / 80

Weaponskills
Compared to DDs, Red Mages don't have very many spectacular weaponskills. Some of the strongest Sword WS's we have are EX, meaning we need to sub WAR, DRK or PLD in order to access them. Generally you'll only be concerned with Weaponskills in solo or specific-use parties when you'll actually have the TP to use them. This section will list some relevant skills, and the skill/level you acquire them at. For the exotic Sword weaponskills, it's noted where you'll need a WAR/DRK/PLD sub.


 * Weaponskill Name (Skill/Level acquired, EX)

Sword

 * Fast Blade (10/3)
 * For better or for worse, this is your best Sword WS for a very long time. It'a simple double-hit physical attack, with a minor STR and DEX damage bonus. Saving up extra TP will give you more damage, but the best TP efficiency is at 100%.


 * Burning Blade (30/10)
 * This WS will probably see some use in early parties. It does single-hit fire elemental damage, and adds a portion of your STR and INT to the final tally. Like most similar weaponskills, ramping up your INT will have a noticeable impact on damage. A nice property of Burning Blade is that it can open a Fusion skillchain, which can be particulary useful with a Monk to close it with Combo/Raging/etc. The "sweet spot" for burning Blade efficiency is between 100-200% TP.


 * Red Lotus Blade (50/17, EX)
 * Exactly like Burning Blade in most respects, but with more punch. RLB has a greater STR bonus component, and a larger damage multiplier. For some inexplicable reason, RLB is considered Wind element for a secondary position on the SC chart (it can close Detonation, open Gravitation, etc).


 * Flat Blade (75/26)
 * A single physical hit attack that will stun the target. It has a flat (heh) modifier to damage, so saving up TP will only make the stun more likely and longer lasting, not add more damage. Flat Blade adds a decent amount of your STR to the hit, but the numbers on this WS won't impress anyone. Primarily you'll use it to stop longer-cast spells (like higher tier -aga spells and Ancient Magic) and slow-acting special attacks (like Gobbie bombs). Anywhere a stun is useful, we have Flat Blade: for damage, use something else.


 * Shining Blade (100/34)
 * Much like burning Blade, except it does Light damage, and uses MND as a modifer. In spite of this, Shining Blade is actually earth-based on the SC chart. Mostly this WS is used when fighting undead, or something that's particularly strong versus physical damage.


 * Seraph Blade (125/43, EX)
 * The big brother of Shining Blade, it has a larger base multipler and adds a portion of your STR to the final hit.


 * Circle Blade (150/51)
 * This is an area-of-effect physical attack. At first glance it looks fairly useful, but feeding it TP will only give you a larger AOE radius. It adds a portion of your STR, but is not terribly effective for farming because of the damage issue. Still, if you are wielding a Sword, this is your only AOE attack.


 * Spirits Within (175/56)
 * Spirits is an odd WS, because it does damage based on your current HP and TP. It will deal anywhere from 4/32 - 15/32 (approximate) of your current HP. Clearly, this WS is most efficient at 300% TP, where it deals nearly half your health in damage. The most interesting property of Spirits Within is that it is completely non-elemental, cannot miss, and doesn't chain with anything (it won't even interrupt a skillchain in progress). For mobs that are both physical/magic resistant, or highly evasive, Spirits is guaranteed damage, making it ideal for NMs and HNMs. In general use against lesser monsters, the other Weaponskills will generally do more damage per TP. Spirits is one WS where Galka and Elvaan RDMs have a significant edge, because of their higher natural base HP.


 * Vorpal Blade (200/62, EX)
 * Vorpal is a four-hit physical WS that cranks out a lot of damage for a Sword skill. Feeding TP to Vorpal will only increase the crit chance, so you'll usually use it at 100%. It tends to be most effective on monsters without high evasion, as you'll want as many of the hits landing as possible (accuracy gear is important). Unfortunately you can only use it with a WAR/DRK/PLD sub, like all of the other EX Sword skills.


 * Savage Blade (240/73)
 * This is our quested Sword WS, that gives us access to Level 3 Light skillchains. It's a double-hit like Fast Blade, but has a much higher multiplier, adds a decent amount of STR damage, a great amount of MND damage, and actually scales up very well from 100-300%. The downside: we can't get it until 73.

Dagger

 * Wasp Sting (10/3)
 * A mostly forgettable WS. It's physical damage, procs a mild poison, only does a single hit, has no secondary stats, and TP will not ramp up the damage.


 * Gust Slash (40/14)
 * Gust Slash is a fairly decent WS. It does Wind damage, and adds a portion of DEX/INT to the total. We tend to hit harder with this than Thieves do because of our natural INT. The damage multiplier on this is very simliar to Burning Blade. Gust Slash does optimal damage in the 100-200% TP range.


 * Shadowstich (70/24)
 * Single hit, physical, adds CHR (very strange) to total, and has a bind effect. Added TP will only make the bind stronger. Not often used, Gust Slash will usually deal more damage.


 * Viper Bite (100/34)
 * Similiar to Wasp Sting, but has a much stronger poison and a secondary effect that multiplies your ATK for the hit. Viper is a boon for a Thief SATA, but doesn't generally do a lot for us because we can't use daggers with high DMG ratings.


 * Cyclone (125/43)
 * This is the WS that RDMs look forward to. It's an AOE attack, but it does Wind elemental damage. Not only that, but DEX/INT increases the damage (especially INT) and TP increases the base modifier, unlike circle Blade. The sweet spot for Cyclone is around 200% TP, for the most efficient damage. cyclone is very useful for farming, because it doesn't cost MP or suffer penalties on multiple targets like -aga spells do. On lower level monsters it's easy for us to cap the INT ratio, so the damage done can be fairly extreme.


 * Energy Steal (150/51)
 * Steals MP from monsters that have it, similar to Aspir. Unlike Aspir, it will give you consistent returns on MP stolen. This WS doesn't deal any damage. For the best efficiency, use at 100% TP.


 * Energy Drain (175/56)
 * An improved version of Energy Steal. It's about 25% more effective, but otherwise identical.


 * Evisceration (230/71)
 * This is our quested Dagger WS. It's a five-hit physical attack, with a DEX secondary component, and a modest damage multiplier with more TP. Evisceration opens up the ability to participate in level 3 Dark skillchains.