Red Mage (Final Fantasy XI)



The Red Mage is one of the most versatile job classes in all of Final Fantasy XI. They are therefore dubbed the Jack-of-all-Trades, having abilities to cast both White Magic and Black Magic as well as fight with swords and daggers. Their wide variety of skills, though, also means that they are not a master of anything with the exception of Enfeebling. They can neither remove all status ailments or heal as proficiently in high levels as well as a White Mage. They cannot do nearly as much damage as a black mage with offensive magic having no access to Ancient Magic or higher tier Black Magic spells. In combat, they are not as deadly as blue mages with a sword or as handy as a thief with a dagger.

Red Mage is a job that can be played in many different ways. Over time they have been played more and more in place of white mages at higher levels as healer of the party, being acquired as a dual healer and support role since Red Mages do have unique spells that only they can cast, like Gravity and Refresh and the most powerful Enfeebling Magic skill of any job in the game making it easier for Melee's, Tanks and other mage classes within a party to perform their duties. They are also responsible for crowd control when the puller within a party inadvertently brings back a link mob.

The Red Mage is considered one of the most capable classes when it comes to soloing quests, missions and fighting mobs otherwise considered too difficult to take on when outside of a party. Though they take much longer to reduce an enemies HP to zero, their survivability is matched by few other classes when played appropriately.

All races of Vana'diel can make a competent Red Mage. From Tarutaru, who are primarily chosen due to highest MP totals, while Galka which lack in the MP department are more survivable due to higher HP totals and Vitality. Note that as with any job chosen by any race in Final Fantasy XI it is the player that makes the difference in playing a job on a skilled level.

Becoming a Red Mage
A player can begin the game as a Red Mage. If he chooses to do so, he will be given an onion dagger as well as a scroll of their first Enfeebling Spell Dia in addition to his normal racial starting gear. Otherwise, he can choose to become a Red Mage at any time simply by changing his job at his mog house or at a nomad moogle.

Spell List
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Red Mages in Final Fantasy XI
Red Mages have a multitude of utility in Final Fantasy XI since they bridge the gap between White Mage and Black Mage and have additional abilities only available to their job. They are skilled with swords, though not to a impressive extent, and have the capacity to do decent damage in that manner. Where they really shine, though, is through enhancing and enfeebling, to boost the abilities of themselves and their allies and impose debilitating status ailments on the enemy.

Strengths

 * Can use both White Magic and Black Magic as well as use his or her weapon. Red mages with the correct equipment can also fight in melee, but doing so in parties is controversial.
 * Best Enfeebling Magic and Enhancing Magic
 * One of only four jobs that can Dispel enemy buffs.
 * Phalanx and Stoneskin, allows Red Mages to solo a great deal of enemies.
 * One of only two jobs that can use Enspells.
 * Fast Cast allows much shorter casting times.
 * At Level 41, they get Refresh which gives them 3 MP every three seconds, for a total of 150 MP. This spell gives the Red Mage nearly unlimited MP, making it possible for the Red Mage to begin serving as Healer within a party.
 * Due to having the highest Enhancing and Enfeebling skills in the game, Red Mage is capable of soloing many difficult monsters - including the "elemental" Avatars - given enough time and patience.

Weaknesses

 * Magic and Melee abilities are less effective than those of more specialized jobs.
 * Generally takes more of a support role in EXP parties, and healer role in the higher level EXP parties.
 * Before Level 40, Red Mages recover MP at a slower rate than other mage classes.

Support Jobs
Since Red Mage is one of the more versatile jobs in Final Fantasy XI, there are many viable subjob choices. Below is listed the most commonly used subjobs and their applications but there are certainly instances where players may want, use, or enjoy trying something different.

Black Mage
Black Mage was, for a long time, the most common of all Red Mage subjobs. It remains one of the two most workable subjobs for Red Mage in party and alliance based combat. The major draw of subbing Black Mage is its Conserve MP trait, access to area effect damage, Drain, Aspir, and Sleepga spells, and the ability to cast Escape which can make the difference, while partying within an area where Escape is applicable, in a complete party defeat. At higher levels, the Black Mage is the main subjob for all Red Mages that participate in Dynamis events.

White Mage
White Mage has become increasingly popular as a healer role for groups considering the scarcity of White Mages. While not as efficient as a White Mage, a Red Mage does offer some advantage, especially if a Red Mage can effectively bridge the gap between being both support and healer. White Mage offers Red Mages access to status removal spells and area of effect Curaga spells. Divine Seal helps make up for the Red Mage's lower healing power.

Dark Knight
Dark Knight is a common subjob for Red Mages participating in Sky or other end-game battles. This has to do almost exclusively with Dark Knight's early access to the spell Stun. Combined with Haste spells and gear as well as natural and worn Fast Cast, a Red Mage makes the best chain-stunner in the game, helping to disable the enemy from doing much of anything. For soloing purposes, this can also be an enjoyable subjob for the use of Aspir and Drain and access to heavy damage weapon skills like Vorpal Blade.

Ninja
Ninja is a very popular subjob used primarily for soloing and hunting NM's. Using Ninja subjob opens many doors for Red Mages, including the ability to solo the Avatar NM's and fight many high level normal monsters and NM's for EXP. This can only work by skilled use of the spells Stoneskin, Phalanx, Utsusemi: Ichi and Utsusemi: Ni which when combined can give 100% Damage Reduction for several minutes.

Warrior
Warrior is often used by red mages when helping other people with various tasks that do not constitute a large challenge. The spell Phalanx plus Stoneskin can make Red Mages pretty resilient to low damage amounts. Warrior abilities, like Provoke in particular, help the Red Mage tank relatively easy engagements versus some "decent challenge" or easier opponents. While a red mage tank is extremely durable, they are limited to using Provoke for controlling an enemy's attention. Red mage tanking is very useful for parties that are focused on raising weapon skills rather than gaining xp.

Blue Mage
A recent subjob choice, Blue Mage makes soloing quite a bit easier for Red Mages. While offensive spells will be much less effective, defensive and curative spells are still very useful.

Paladin
A subjob choice which can be used over Warrior, particularly for shield skillups and helping other people with various tasks that are considered 'easy' for RDM to solo. Paladin abilities such as Shield Mastery, Flash and Sentinel in particular help the Red Mage tank relatively easy engagements. Similar to RDM/WAR, RDM/PLD is generally limited to Flash or Sentinel for controlling an enemy's attention. Also of note, the Paladin latent job ability Auto Refresh further underscores RDM's 'infinite MP'. Also similar to /WAR, /PLD tanking is very useful for parties that are focused on raising weapon skills rather than gaining xp.

Scholar
Since its introduction, the Scholar has become something of a "definitive" mage subjob and no magic job feels all of the benefits to the same extent as the Red Mage. At level twenty, a Red Mage/Scholar gains Light Arts and Black Arts. Light Arts reduces the MP cost, cast time, and recharge times on all of the Red Mage's native White Magic by ten percent while boosting the Red Mage's Healing and Divine magic skill levels to a B+ rank. Dark Arts reduces the MP cost, casting time, and recharge times on all of the Red Mage's native Black Magic by ten percent while boosting the Red Mage's Elemental and Dark magic skill levels to a B+ rank. Light Arts and Dark Arts both increase the MP cost, cast time, and recharge times of the spells in the opposite school by twenty percent when they are active, something only the Red Mage feels to the same extent as the Scholar. At level twenty, a Red Mage/Scholar also gains Addendum: White which grants additional White Magic that would otherwise only be available with a White Mage subjob, along with strategems that reduce the MP cost of the next White or Black Magic spell by fifty percent. At level fifty, a Red Mage/Scholar has access to strategems that reduce the casting and recharge times of the next White or Black spell by fifty percent. At level eighty, a Red Mage/Scholar gains the Accession and Manifestation strategems. Accession turns select single-target White Magic spells into Area-of-Effect spells. Included in these spells are almost all of the Red Mage's native White Magic and the spells gained from Addendum: White. Manifestation does the same for almost all of the Red Mage's native enfeebling and dark spells as well as some enfeebling and dark spells gained from the Scholar subjob. Both Strategems stack with the Red Mage's own Composure skill and come with a cost of double the spell's base MP and triple the base casting time, but depending on the number of targets, the Red Mage can potentially become a far more efficient healer, supporter, and enfeebler than even when subbing White Mage or Black Mage.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Red Mage from Final Fantasy XI appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.

Gallery
Mago rosso (Final Fantasy XI)