Red Mage: Guide to Playing the Job

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Job Overview
Red Mages are called the Jack of All Trades by many, and this is an accurate description. Red Mages have the ability to cast white magic, black magic, and fight with swords and daggers. Though their healing, nuking, and fighting skills aren't as good as those of the specialists, White Mages, Black Mages, Paladins, and Thieves, they are still competent. Their real strength relies in their enhancing and enfeebling skills.

Strengths

 * Ability to use both White magic and Black magic as well as melee weaponry at user's discretion.
 * Most powerful user of Enfeebling and Enhancing Magic in the game.
 * Only job with access to the spell Refresh, which makes Red Mage a support powerhouse.
 * One of two jobs with the ability to Dispel enemy buffs, making Red Mage an essential part of nearly every party.
 * The spell Phalanx when used in conjunction with a repertoire of enhancing magic spells allows a Red Mage to solo a great deal of enemies.
 * The only job that can use enspells, spells that temporarily add an elemental effect to your weapon. For example, enthunder will allow you to have additional thunder damage every time you successfully hit a monster.
 * The only job that can learn the spell Refresh, which recharges MP just like Regen recharges HP.

Weaknesses

 * Magic and Melee abilities fall short of more specialized jobs.
 * Generally becomes more of a support/healing mage in higher level exp. parties.
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Race Selection
Hume: Humes want to be Red Mages because they can excel at all aspects of the job. Average stats means their Enfeebling, Enhancing, Curing, and Nuking will do well with proper equipment. Good HP means they can survive a few hits if they pull hate, and good MP means they can last longer without having to rest or use Convert.

Elvaan: Elvaan want to be Red Mages because they excel at melee. High strength means they hit harder, and high mind helps their cures hit for more, and white magic enfeebles hit harder. Lower intelligence can be remedied with gear, as can their lower MP pool.

Tarutaru: Tarutaru want to be Red Mages because they excel at anything magical. High intelligence means their nukes and black magic enfeebles hit harder. Tarutaru have the highest MP pool, making their use of Convert the most efficient when at full HP. If wanted, any physical weakness can be remedied with vitality and strength boosting gear.

Galka: Galka want to be Red Mages so they can dabble in magic, while still smashing monsters in the fray. High strength and vitality make their soloing ability impressive. Comparable mind to a Hume makes their cures just as good, as well as their white magic enfeebles. Lower intelligence can be remedied with gear, and their low mp pool will require them to rest more often without +MP gear.

Mithra: Mithra want to be Red Mages for the same reason as Humes. Their high dexterity and agility means they are more accurate in combat, and will evade more hits than a Hume. Like for any Red Mage, additional boosts in MP make their Converts better, and additional mind and intelligence will help with their spellcasting.

Support Job Options
The choices listed here are by no means the only ones available. Feel free to try out whatever combination suits your fancy.

Black Mage
Red Mages choose Black Mage as their support job for MP and Intelligence. The most popular sub by far, it also offers Elemental Seal, Conserve MP, and certain Black Mage only spells that many find exceedingly useful (Warp, Escape, Sleepga).

White Mage
Red Mages choose White Mage as their support job for Mind and Healing spells. In addition to Divine Seal, White Mage also offers the -na spell line (Poisona, Silena, etc.) and Curaga. Lastly, White Mage gives Red Mage the ability to utilize his Divine Magic skill with the Banish spells.

Ninja
Red Mages choose Ninja as their support job for Dual Wield and Utsusemi. This allows them to make incredible use of their enspells (e.g. Enfire, Enthunder, Encetera) and to dual wield stat boosting wands (or for that matter, any weapon that gives bonuses). Also, access to Utsusemi: Ni after level 74 makes them formidable indeed. As an example, some RDM75/NIN37 have been known to solo the prime avatars (Fenrir excluded).

Thief
Red Mages choose Thief as their support job primarily for farming. Treasure Hunter and Evasion Boost allow a Red Mage to make quick work of worthless prey with little harm to himself, and reap the rewards. At level 50, Flee allows him to do this even faster. In a party, Thief lets a Red Mage use Sneak Attack to add a little extra damage, but many parties will overlook the Red Mage/Thief.

Ranger
Red Mages choose Ranger as their support job for Wide Scan and Accuracy Bonus. Used primarily for Notorious Monster hunting, or hunting anything that spawns over a wide area, Ranger also offers Red Mage Sharpshot and access to bow weapon skills. In a party, sub Ranger can make a Red Mage an excellent puller, although many parties will prefer a full Ranger or Thief to fill this role.