RDM

in

Crystalline Conflict

by Veloce Visrin @ Faerie

Last updated: February 2026 (added "what to send damage/cc on" sections)

Disclaimer:

This is written in absolutes for the sake of clarity, but RDM has so many tools, the game happens so quickly, and there are so many variables that there will be countless ways to break rules and norms in a beneficial way. While considering your options in a game, think about what each button brings and how to maximize their effects while wasting as little of their value and your survival resources (HP, MP, guard) as possible.

RDM is one of the jobs that can choose to risk death for cool kills and sick jukes and unusual bait to win games, but in general, dying is the worst thing you can do and sometimes, especially to those who are still learning, weighing deaths in a trade becomes muddied by cope, and fundamentals are forgotten or dismissed. I believe in limit testing, but I also believe in learning the rules before mastering how to break them and that one cannot excuse incompetence using wit and strategy. So, this writeup will explain RDM in an honest and vanilla way, and from solid foundations you can then grow personality, take gambles, and have fun.

1. What is RDM

RDM is a supportive jack of all trades ranged DPS with:

  • Melee and ranged attacks, casted and instant
  • Damage that ignores Guard (melee combo)
  • AoE team buff (damage up/vuln down)
  • AoE CC (stun/silence)
  • Personal shields (from melee combo and Forte)
  • Personal mitigation (50% until Forte shield is broken)
  • AoE heals
  • Movement tools (2 gapcloses to enemy, 2 backsteps from enemy)

In exchange for versatility, their weaknesses are:

  • Low potencies (high scoreboard numbers are achieved through cleave and uptime)
  • Relies on enabling the team and filling in the gaps to win games
  • Inevitably must enter melee range
  • All their defensives have offensive qualities and can be misused
  • Despite high survivability if skillfully played, is ultimately a fragile job that is easily murdered by well timed counterplay

If some RDMs you encounter seem overpowered, it is not because they are tough and packed with strength, it is because they are scheming opportunists. They are aware of enemies and allies both, anticipate situations and enable/prevent them, and use each of their skills for their strengths in each specific situation, making those skill effects feel devastating and making you forget the low potencies those skills are tied to.

Therefore, in general a RDM should aim to:

  • Play with their team: help teammates finish their targets instead of bruteforcing the RDM's own; cleave the teamfight, and buff/heal as many teammates as possible.
  • Be aware: of what the enemy or their allies are doing/are about to do, and choose/hold/save the right skill for the right situation to enable/disrupt the situation.

Unfortunately, in order to achieve this, the RDM must:

  • Be knowledgeable in other jobs: it is essential for the RDM to know every other job's skills, gameplay, and goals so the RDM can enable/disrupt that process.
  • Be proficient: be very familiar with the cooldowns and buff timers of their own skills, because none of the timers sync up and one cannot make good decisions in the moment if one is busy reading the manual.
  • Know their responsibilities and limits: do not bite off more than they can chew, or be baited into leaving their team behind and operating as a lone hero.
  • Trust their team: and work with their teammates no matter how questionable their choices may seem to the RDM, and have the patience, discipline, and opportunistic mentality to make the most out of how the game is unfolding, for weal or woe, rather than despairing/egoing and trying to bruteforce their way to success with tiny numbers.

2. Skills

Things to keep in mind

  • Always be casting: if you press every button on cooldown, you only have 1.5 GCDs of time left for fillers before your skills come off cooldown again for reuse. Therefore as RDM you should always be using your non-filler skills to do as much damage as possible (unless you are anticipating your reflexes being checked by a burst and you need to not be GCD/animation locked, in which case it is acceptable and even recommended that you don't press any buttons so that you can reactively use defensives at a moment's notice).
  • Combos: none of your buttons break combos. Shuffle filler, combos, and procs in any order you like based on the situation without delaying your cooldowns.
  • Cleave: most of your skills cleave, save them for the right moment to cleave as possible to drain enemy resources faster.
  • Procs: 1 of your skills and 3 of your procs can be held for a long time for the right moment without impacting one another. Hold onto them for better opportunities to arise, but not so long that you lose usages or they time out.
  • Animation delay: 4 of RDM's spells and its LB have long animation delays. It may mean targets being able to guard your hits reactively, run out of reach and survive your hits leading that hit to be wasted, or it may mean you can press your skills before a target is susceptible to damage again (less than 1 second before their guard, invulnerability, or mitigation expires) to guarantee the hit lands before your target can use a defensive against your damage. Hit training dummies to get used to button press timing for damage and cc to register exactly when you need it to.
  • Heal down: a lot of RDM's defensives are shields and heals, which are reduced by heal down, and the RDM needs to be aware that they are less durable than normal when afflicted.
  • Low damage: many near dead targets are not actually killable by RDM due to their low damage and the game's excessive healing / shields / mitigation, greed can lead the RDM to overcommit to a pick and get themself surrounded and killed instead. Constantly reassess how much damage you have and how much resources your target has and know when to turn back.
  • RDM is predictable: RDM's rotation is loud, telegraphed, slow in animation, weak, and easy to Guard, so if you stay on a target, it will be obvious to them what you intend to do and they will Purify / Guard / run accordingly. Consider switching targets, building on different targets, or tracking guards/resources so you don't get easily countered or outrun.

Who to send damage on:

  • Safety first: if you are trying to survive, do not send damage unless it helps you escape (heals, cc, shields generation). sending damage breaks your Sprint and impedes your escape. It is ok to do no damage and focus solely on survival.
  • Do not trade your life to kill an enemy. Your target selection should be one that does not get you killed. It takes at least 25 seconds from dying, through respawn animation/black screen/walking to get back to your team. During this time, you lose 20 seconsd of LB generation and huge amount of DPS/CC/support for your team. If every target is too dangerous to go on, simply stand afar and cast your filler/ranged attacks. While exceptions to this rule exist, those exception would only ever be relevant in perfect and optimal gameplay. You may get kills and win games now with it, but it will be detrimental to your growth as a player and it is imperative to grind this fundamental into your gameplay.
  • Priority: In general, your prio for sending damage should be:
    1. Target that will die to your next hit of damage.
    2. Target that your team has marked with a 1 / is focused on killing, or targets that have a lot of of enemies around them to be cleaved by you.
    3. If your teammates are not focused on a target, mark and hit the closest target to your team such that most/all your teammates can hit them, in the order of: 1. targets that have exhausted their defensives ( Guard, defensive skills); 2. targets that have low HP/MP; 3. targets that you and your team can hit with the least repercussion.

Who to send cc on

  • Safety first: If you are at risk or dying, spend everything you have for surviving, not your team's kill targets. Prioritize ccing your pursuers and spacing them out to put distance between you and them, or to disrupt their burst on you so you have a second to Recuperate enough HP to survive their damage. If there is no chance of surviving, then send everything on who your team is attacking before dying.
  • Ideal outcome of cc usage: your cc should result in enemy death/out of commission (cc your team's target when they're already low on hp/mp), or force enemy Guard / Purify expenditure (they're low enough or positioned such that if they didnt purify your cc, they will die), or save your teammates (interrupt an enemy's burst or chase attempt). if you cc someone and they could afford to wait out the cc without purifying and escape alive, then that usage was wasted. The only exception to this would be if you are able to cleave 4-5 enemies with your cc. Otherwise, hold it and look for the aformentioned opportunities.
  • Priority: In general, your prio for sending cc should be:
    1. Target that will die to being locked in cc. ie. target your team has marked/is killing whose Resilience has just worn off and they cannot Purify for another 2 seconds, or targets your team is hitting who has no more mp to Purify and will die to damage while cc'ed.
    2. Enemies who walk out/run up to burst you or your teammates, including using their offensive LB. Learn all job animations and buff icons to better understand when the enemy is poised to strike, and which enemy to cc to desync their biggest source of damage/deadly cc.
    3. Enemies running after your teammate if your teammate is in danger of dying. Stun creates distance from the pursuer, and stun/silence delays 1 gcd of damage which may mean life or death for your teammate.
    4. Enemies positioning to use their LB or skills for teamfight/survival/saving a teammate, even if that target is not your team's burst target (aka cross cc). Cc can delay a Cover, prevent a Contradance extension, disrupt heals, foil timely Riddle of Earth / Macrocosmos / Pressure Point activation, and so on.

Filler

Jolt III âžś Grand Impact
Grand impact is an AoE instant cast that can be held for the duration of Dualcast.

Melee combo

3 fast GCDs of melee attacks. RDM's main source of consistent damage.

  • Combo resets after 15s of last combo button press, but cooldown starts on first hit.
  • Combo is not broken by any other skill.
  • Each melee hit gives a short duration shield.
  • Damage ignores Guard.
Ideal usage:
Attacking an injured target in Guard.
Generating shield for self if under attack, or for use to bait SAM's Zantetsuken.
Normal usage:
Roll for damage because of its low cooldown.
Notes
  • Keep it on cooldown: melee combo's reset time is the same as its cooldown (15s), so you should always start the combo to get its cooldown running, then hold the next hit and use other skills as buffer to bide for a good time to finish the combo, so that you can start the next oombo cooldown immediately again, in order to maximize the number of combos you can finish per game and increase your total damage output.
  • Chaining: one melee combo can be chained to the next one if the combo is held until close to expiration before being finished, allowing you to effectively use 2 full melee combos continuously if you are chasing down a target and need to keep pumping damage.
  • Using on cooldown vs using situationally: if the RDM delays melee combo for too long and starts the next combo late, it lowers their overall DPS. While ideal usage trumps braindead parsing, I believe it is important to be able to do the basics well first before optimizing, and I recommend practicing both (using skills on cooldown and using skills situationally) separately.
  • Run in front of your target: RDM's melee combo damage is broken down into many small hits, and if you cannot finish the last melee hit before the target gets out of your range, you cannot use the combo finisher or start the next combo. Without cc, targets can simply sprint away from you. Make sure you run in front of the target by using other enemies as gap close targets, or use your backflip in the direction your target is running for example, so that you can keep in melee range of your sprinting target with your non-sprint move speed while you attack and cast spells.
  • Heal down: Shield value is based on heal potency, and is reduced if cast while the RDM has heal down on them.

Scorch

Instant cast finisher AoE granted by finishing the melee combo.
Circle AoE around the target for upfront damage and leaves a DoT.

Usage:
Cleave as many enemies as possible, buffed with at least Displacement.
Buffed by Corps-a-Corps Displacement, and Embolden, comboed with Southern Cross for AoE nuke damage/heal on a group.
Notes
  • Damage: the total damage makes it RDM's hardest hitting skill, but because half of its damage is in the DoT, it is bad for burst and better for resource burn cleave.
  • Snapshotting buffs: animation is long so unless you have high ping, you can Corps-a-Corps OR Displacement (not enough time for both) immediately after Scorch to both add to the damage dealt in an instant, and for the damage buff of Corps-a-Corps or Displacement to apply to Scorch despite those skills being used after Scorch.
  • Predictable: animation is slow and telegraphed along with sound cue, any burst attempt with it can be guarded / mitigated / invulned reactively.

Resolution

Targeted line AoE that does damage to and silences all targets.

Ideal usage:
CC target for kill or interrupt enemy burst/gameplay while cleaving as many other targets as possible in its path.
Normal usage:
CC as many enemies as possible for cleave damage and force Purify use to drain MP.
Notes
  • Cleave: aim at someone far away to line up the cleave on other enemies in between easier. Move to include more targets in your cleave during the animation. If you don't have high ping, you can Resolution on one target, then gap close to a second target to include them in your cleave.
  • Cleave conditions: if the target is more than 25y away by the time the skill registers, only those within 25y of the RDM in the line aoe will be cleaved. The original target will still be hit.
    If the target ducks behind a wall near another enemy who is also behind the wall, the target will be hit, but the other enemy will not be cleaved because they count as being out of line of sight from the RDM. Anyone else in front of the wall in the path will be hit.
  • Burst guarantee: if you intend to CC to guarantee your own LB/burst, the target may be able to Purify and Guard before your damage registers because RDM's spell animations are so slow. To guarantee the hit, prioritize targets without Guard and use CCs on targets that have little MP.
  • Silence: Silence does not stop a target from running away out of line of sight, but does hinder them from using defensives and Recuperate, so it is ideal for targets that are entering / staying in / intending to stay in the fight. Make the silence serve a function; if not possible, it is better to hold it for a better opportunity as AoE CC is too valuable to waste.
  • Kill secure: RDM does not have much damage by itself, the CC is better used on lower resource targets that you are sure you have damage to finish, or to help allies lockdown theirs that you know they have the damage to finish. Avoid using CC to start a burst on a healthy target by yourself, unless you are cleaving for value, as they will simply Purify, Recuperate, and run away.

Embolden

AoE buff centered around the RDM.
Increases damage dealt and reduces damage taken by teammates who get the buff.

Usage:
Buff as many teammates as possible right before a fight begins to amp/mitigate as much damage as possible, then continuing to use it on cooldown if the fight persists.
Use it on cooldown for mitigation and Prefulgence's heal if RDM is near death and being chased.
Notes
  • Coverage: it has a 30y radius for some reason and ignores walls, so there is no excuse for you to miss any teammates unless your team is split.
  • Elevation: it is affected by elevation. eg. Embolden cast at spawn will not reach the teammates who already jumped down out of spawn.

Prefulgence

Embolden becomes Prefulgence when pressed, Prefulgence is a proc on a timer.
Circle AoE oGCD around a target that does damage to the enemy and heals allies. RDM themself also gets healed irrespective of targeting.

Ideal usage:
Hold for the right moment under buffs to cleave as many enemies and allies as possible to both do damage and heal (eg. enemy DNC LB, enemy or ally's Salted Earth.
Buffed by Corps-a-Corps Displacement, and Embolden, comboed with Southern Cross for AoE nuke damage/heal on a group.
Normal usage:
Cleave as many enemies or allies as possible.
Heal self when being chased.
Notes
  • Heal: use Prefulgence for both its damage and its heal if possible to get max value, amp with Displacement if possible.
  • Slow animation: animation is long so the button press has to precede/anticipate enemy damage, especially if it's used to clutch heal near lethal damage.
  • Snapshotting buffs: refer to this point.
  • Predictable: animation is slow and telegraphed along with sound cues, any burst attempt with it can easily be guarded/mitigated/invulned reactively.

Forte

A small shield on the RDM.
Before the shield expires or is consumed, it gives the RDM 50% mitigation.

Ideal usage:
Time the use to mitigate damage in place of Guard for slow but hard hitting burst (eg. LBs, Wyrmwind Thrust, Analysis Drill, and other telegraphed burst skills).
Normal usage:
Mitigate any damage in order to proc Vice of Thorns.
Notes
  • Reactive usage: if your ping is low enough, Forte's animation is fast enough to be used reactively upon seeing enemy animation/buff change even if you don't have gamer reaction time.
  • Intention: try to use Forte with intention; the better you know other jobs and other players' playstyles, the easier it will be to maximize the mitigation you get from Forte.
  • Mitigation: mitigation applies as long as the shield exists. Best used to block hard hitting single hits of damage, like MCH LB or DRG LB.
  • Multiple hits: most skills that are split into multiple hits are mitigated as a single instance of damage, eg. RDM LB, BRD'S Harmonic Arrow, and NIN's Zesho Meppo, so Forte's mitigation applies even to the hits that land after the shield is broken. Some skills count as separate instances of damage, like NIN's bunshin bonus damage and MNK LB, and only the initial hits before Forte breaks are mitigated.
  • Non-player entities: mitigates damage from entities like Clockwork Castletown's Samurai doll and tatami mats, Cloud 9's tornados, and Volcanic Heart's bombs.
  • Environment/fall damage: does not mitigate damage like Red Sands' Cactuar and heat wave, or Cloud 9's fall damage. The shield will still count.
  • Guaranteed damage: Does not mitigate Zantetsuken under Kuzushi as the number is static ( shield will still count), or Seiton Tenchu and Perfectio under the required HP thresholds as they are executes ( shield is ignored).
  • Breaking the shield yourself: use predictable environment damage to proc Vice of Thorns yourself if needed, like walking into a tornado intentionally.
  • Ensuring Vice of Thorns proc: Good players will stop hitting the RDM when they see Forte, or even when the RDM positions too confidently like they are ready to react Forte at some point, in order to deny the RDM Vice of Thorns proc. Avoid preemptive Forte unless you are certain you will get cleaved because the 50% mitigation and Vice of Thorns are too powerful to be wasted.
  • Heal down: Shield value is based on heal potency, and is reduced if cast while the RDM is afflicted by heal down.

Vice of Thorns (Forte)

Forte becomes Vice of Thorns when its shield is depleted, Vice of Thorns is a proc on a timer.
AoE oGCD stun around a target.

Ideal usage:
CC injured enemies for burst/kill, prevent injured enemies from escaping, or to interrupt enemies' burst/combo.
Normal usage:
Stun as many enemies as possible to drain their MP through Purify use.
Notes
  • Burst guarantee: refer to this point.
  • Predictable: the enemy can see your Vice of Thorns buff and will sometimes Guard / Purify in anticipation. Vice of Thorns's animation is fast enough that it cannot be Guarded / Purified by reaction, so instead be patient and practice holding onto it for longer to checkmate the enemy when they've expended those cooldowns.
  • Kill secure: RDM does not have much damage by itself, the CC is better used on lower resource targets that you are sure you have damage to finish, or to help allies lockdown theirs that you know they have the damage to finish. Avoid using CC to start a burst on a healthy target by yourself, unless you are cleaving for value, as they will simply Purify, Recuperate, and run away. Get into the habit of holding onto the proc and checking ally targets or enemy party list for a good opportunity every time you get a proc.

Displacement

Backflip from an enemy, giving yourself the Displacement buff that increases damage and healing done by your next spell.

Usage:
Buff finishers or cleaves ( Scorch, Prefulgence, Resolution).
Reposition.
Notes
  • Instant damage: useful for interrupting Elixirs.
  • Clipping corners: RDM can Displacement across a corner, as long as the corner is small and the end point is valid accessible ground, and land behind line of sight of the corner. This technique prevents the pursuers from dashing to the RDM to close the distance, or casting skills on the RDM to kill/stop them from escaping.
  • Positioning: melee combo is on a quick enough cooldown that it can be held for its cooldown duration and chained with the next use after the finisher. Make sure to save charges of movement to stay in range of your target; forgo the Displacement buff if it you need to stay close to your target and chain melee.
  • Snapshotting buffs: refer to this point.
  • Predictable: its buff and the backflip movement is a tell for the enemy that you are about to use a finisher and they may anticipate the damage and Guard. Respect this information and hold your damage or switch targets. Similarly, your melee combo is a tell that you are most likely about to use Displacement to amp your damage and/or back off into a safe distance. Anticipate being bound / drawn back in to danger (eg. Blota, Salted Earth) right after your backflip movement by watchful enemies, or prepare the amp ahead of time in the middle of your melee combo to throw the enemy off.
  • Rationing: RDM relies on movement to both kill and survive, make sure not use all your charges for damage and leave yourself with no escape.

Corps-a-Crops

Gap close to an enemy, giving them the Monomachy debuff that increases damage dealt by you to them and reduces damage done by them to you.

Usage:
Using distant enemies to reposition yourself/escape a bad situation, or to get in melee range for melee combo.
Keeping the debuff up for mitigation and amp on those attacking you.
Notes
  • Range: it is the longest gap close in the game with a near instant animation; with 2 charges, you can easily outrun pursuers with it, especially when combined with Displacement.
  • Instant damage: useful for interrupting Elixirs.
  • Rationing: RDM relies on movement to both kill and survive, make sure not use all your charges for damage/mitigation and leave yourself with no escape. Avoid overwriting existing Monomachy, meaning position properly in anticipating of chasing someone with your melee combo such that you do not rely on multiple dashes to keep up with your target. Practice proper positioning relying solely on walking/sprinting for movement so that Corps-a-Corps can be used purely for its strengths: buff, instant 25y distance, and instant damage for interrupting Elixirs.
  • Snapshotting buffs: refer to this point.
  • Uptime: Monomachy lasts 8s, has 16s cooldown, and has 2 charges. In a 1v1 situation, you can have 100% debuff uptime.

Southern Cross (Limit Break)

2 line AoEs on the target in an X shape relative to the direction the RDM is facing.
Each line damages enemies and heals allies, with the overlap in the middle doing double.

Ideal usage:
Combo with buffed Prefulgence or Scorch, and buffed by Corps-a-Corps and Embolden for AoE nuke damage/heal on a group to save ally/allies from lethal damage and/or heavy cleave, such as MNK LB and DRG LB, or to execute a target.
Normal usage:
Cleave and heal as many players as possible.
Notes
  • Macros: Southern Cross can be cast on enemies, allies, or self, defaulting to casting on self if you have an invalid target (dead player) or no target selected. To prevent misfire, check the Macros section for useful macros for specific targets. If you have a dead player selected, no matter which macro you use, the skill will go off on yourself.
  • Versatility: Southern Cross can kill and save groups of players. Its cooldown coincides with many LBs, it has long range, and can be targeted on anyone. Think about what the enemy's/your ally's upcoming plans may be and be prepared to make good use of both its healing and damage values in order to enable or–and especially–to intercept those plans. Southern Cross combos are some of the few things across all jobs that can nullify the impact of big enemy bursts well and should be used to their full potential.
  • Ability: Southern Cross is not a spell, and so is not buffed by Displacement.
  • Ghosting: do not use it in a pinch to save yourself from death unless you are confident you will survive long enough for it to go off; Southern Cross will ghost and not do any damage/healing if you die before the snapshot.
  • Dead target: if your target dies before Southern Cross damage/heals registers on them, it will still go off and cleave everyone else around the corpse.
  • Snapshotting: Southern Cross's animation is long and the 2x damage/2x heal numbers are delayed. The visual effect appears where you pressed the button, but the numbers snapshots where the target is at the time of snapshotting, so the AoE may not be where you think it is if the target is moving. Make sure players you want to cleave are running towards your target so the delayed snapshot will hit them.
    Southern Cross visuals are slow enough that it can be reactively Guarded unless the player's ping is high. Force out Guard through damage first, or send it on targets that you know have expended Guard.
  • Heal down: it is a significant burst heal that is affected by heal down, which may be the difference it being enough to save your teammate versus not, and Southern Cross being a clutch save versus a waste.
  • Range: its 30y range allows it to be used as a point and click source of burst to secure a game changing kill.

Niche stuff

DoT persists through Cover and DRG LB untargetability, so Scorch can kill through seeming safety if an enemy misjudges the situation and fails to take the DoT into account.
If you have a dead player targeted and press Limit Break, it will be cast on yourself even if you use the LB macro listed below that is supposed to prevent misfire on yourself.

3. Positioning & movement

RDM is a ranged job. The melee combo may be RDMs' identity, and RDMs need to know how to position and survive in melee range for their combo, but RDM is a ranged job and it should be played and positioned that way when possible, unless safety is verified using eyes and brain.

Because RDM needs access to both front and backline, keep count of your movement tool use and keep track of enemy positioning to make sure you can use them to move between where you need to be. If you are out of charges, position in between where you may need to go so as not to deny yourself the safety of range or melee access.

In both cases, the aim is to be somewhere where you can click on the enemy when you need to, while making sure the enemies can't click on you if you can help it. While players can intentionally position badly to bait and survive damage with Guard and other mitigation, it is often used as an excuse for poor awareness (eg. "I baited their LB", "I died but I made them waste x on me and that's good!") and does not encourage players to be self critical and do better, and I believe one should master survival before pushing limits.

Ranged

  • Range: Most of RDM's skills–including their gap close, Corps-a-Corps–is 25y, the longest non-LB skill range for any job. Use that range to stay out of allies'/enemies' way and avoid cleave.
  • Position: apart but in the vicinity of your team and contribute damage to your team's target, heal, and buff your team.
  • Kiting: If you must kite, helicopter around your team to stay in range of your allies and the fight unless it is unsafe to do so. Use your 4 charges of Corps-a-Corps / Displacement to gap close away from and corner clip backflip away from melees that are chasing you to kite them and line of sight them.
  • Line of Sight: The only cast RDM has is Jolt III, so always duck into cover out of line of sight of the enemy between other spells to avoid taking needless damage.
  • Crystal anchor: Swap onto the crystal with your allies/frontline to help them anchor the crystal when they are low on defensives and resources and you still have yours, or when they want to move off and chase and you can reach the target from afar.
  • Crystal pushing: Take advantage of RDM's mobility, range, and low damage to stay behind and hold/push the crystal for your team while attacking the enemy; if an ally is already pushing the crystal, leave the crystal to help chase and finish the target with your gap closes, Guard pierce, CC and buffs.
  • Cleaving: Reposition behind enemy ranged to include them in your Resolution cleave if it's safe to do so.

Melee

  • Position: hug walls/corners and dodge your other frontline allies when you melee to avoid cleave and prevent enemy ranged from freecasting on you. Leave melee range when you are done to give space back to your frontline, unless you have used eyes to deem it safe to stay or you intend to melee again after Scorch.
  • Scan surroundings: constantly look behind and in front of you and at the party list and at the map to be aware of when it is no longer safe for you to stay in melee range (eg. enemies respawning, enemies flanking, ranged allies retreating or being attacked).
  • Chasing: if chasing a kill, check behind you constantly to see if your allies are with you, or if there are better targets around the crystal/where the team is fighting instead.
  • Tanking: when forced to fake frontline or tank the crystal, stare at the enemies within your range and time Forte to mitigate exactly the highest single hit incoming damage if possible, Guard to block bursts and CCs, and cleave Resolution and Vice of Thorns to buy yourself valuable seconds to escape or bide time for your cooldowns to come back up to extend your stay on the crystal.
  • Escape plan: always have an escape plan before you step into the frontline, and constantly reevaluate that plan/get ready to leave even when you have only partially expended your defensives.
  • When to enter melee range: If you can't envision how you can survive being in the frontline at any moment, simply don't be up there. It's ok to stay back and do nothing if it is the difference between life and death because dying is the worst thing you can do.

4. Weak points and counters

RDM is weak to chain cc and sustained heavy damage over time. RDM relies on movement skills and good positioning to survive, and their movement skills are countered by many cc effects if the enemies are watchful. RDM's defensives are good against single hits, not extended beat down, due to it not having heal or mitigation over time, therefore it is weak against jobs or playstyles that put out high sustained damage, and the RDM cannot afford become a focused target.

Job counters examples

In summary, these interactions generally involve the enemy job having more tools than the RDM has answers to them, guaranteeing a losing match up if the enemy is dedicated to countering the RDM.

WAR

WAR has 2+1 ccs that prevent / nullify movement/distance traveled by the RDM, and lethal damage numbers while in LB to a RDM. In contrast, the damage and cc RDM has cannot threaten WAR's high HP, self sustain defensives, and cc immune in LB. Therefore as long as the WAR has teammates with it, the RDM is at a disadvantage.

WAR can Blota the RDM right after Displacement to cancel/nullify their movement--even able to pull the RDM back from a wall corner they've clipped--in addition to slowing them, forcing them to use a second charge of movement to get away, or Guard in place. WAR has a second hard CC to then punish the RDM after their second attempt to run / Guard / Purify. All of these CC come with damage or damage button procs that further threatens the RDM's life if the WAR is patient and does not send any of it into the RDM's Guard.

If the WAR is in Inner Release (Limit Break), especially if the WAR used it on the RDM making it unable to Guard, the RDM cannot not survive the sustained damage, and the WAR will be immune to the RDM's ccs--its crucial defensives.

Answer:

  • Not many WARs do focus RDMs, so first identify if the enemy WAR is able to /has a tendency to single you out this way and do their rotation/predict your answers effectively enough to threaten your life.
  • If yes, you must respect the WAR's existence and play clear of them until they've used some of those abilities (ie. blota, primal rend), or become vulnerable before you engage.
  • When putting yourself within range of the WAR, position somewhere where the rest of the enemy team cannot reach you. A WAR cannot kill you by themself unless they are in LB or you are already very hurt.
  • If impossible, then play behind the safety of line of sight / your team and concede that if you show yourself, you may die.
  • If knowingly entering the match up, ensure that you Guard one of their ccs or their big bursts of damage, prepurify and nullify their draw-in if possible, and keep distance away from the WAR and escape towards ground potions or your teammates.

MCH

MCH's main threat to RDM is high damage from range. It brings a lot of raw single target damage and can burn through RDM's MP quickly from range, with high damage through Guard, which is RDM's most important defensive.. MCH has a damage amp debuff that makes the RDM vulnerable to other enemy damage. MCH's cc is also movement restricting and are dangerous in the context of their high damage.

MCH's damage can all be guarded except for one skill, which can be Forte'd. MCH's rotation is visible through their buffs, with long animations and loud sound cues.

Answer:

  • Use Guard and Forte well, and when you no longer have those resources, respect the MCH and be out of the MCH's line of sight by always ducking behind corners.
  • MCH's damage can all be guarded except for Drill, which can be Forte'd.
  • MCH's rotation is visible through their buffs, with long animations and loud sound cues, so keep mental stock of what combos are available to them when you are in their range.
  • Guard the highest upcoming damage based on this information (ie. Wild Fire activation, Marksman's Sprite, etc), and Guard or prepurify cc that will lock you out of Recuperating or Forte'ing the next big hit of damage.
  • When the MCH puts Wild Fire on you, back out of line of sight so that the MCH cannot build the wild fire. If not possible, count the number of hits the MCH lands on you and Guard / Forte the 4th hit.
  • When the MCH has their Limit Break, if you don't have Guard / Forte, you must respect that they have enough damage to one shot you and you must wait for them to use up some of the components of the one shot combo, such as Wild Fire, Drill / Air Anchor / Chainsaw, before you can safely exist within their line of sight.
  • When the MCH has the Drill buff, If your HP is lower than the drill damage, even if you are in guard, you must be prepared to end guard early and recuperate in order to not die.

(Section is incomplete and I am recreationally adding to it on my free time)

5. Application & Examples

Choose your own adventure as long as you're maximizing value out of your skill traits. You can:

  • Maximize cleave and value by playing with your team at all times, or:
  • Use your mobility, CC, and damage through Guard to hunt/kill stragglers with a buddy, or:
  • Be a nuisance and bait attention onto yourself to distract and cause chaos in the enemy by being deceptively hard to finish off through cycling your defensives and kiting well
  • Etc

Your kit may be generally good for team fights, but oftentimes you could turn tides for your team through inefficient and niche use of your skills to guarantee a critical advantage. As long as you don't kill yourself, and what you do translates to pushing the crystal and does not weaken your team's pressure and presence around the crystal, you can play however you want that's fun and/or reasonable to you. In the end, use eyes and brain to find the best way to use your job to win the game, but always remember the true reasons why those exceptions were made, be wary of confirmation bias thinking, and never forget your fundamentals.

Below only act as examples of thought process and are not meant to be perceived as objectively ideal/correct solutions to counter a situation. Digest them for their intent and considerations, and not their exact execution.

Example general thought process at any point of the game:

Example specific scenarios and options:

Example 1: Both teams arrive at the crystal at the start of the match. The enemy DRK/WAR charge in to CC/engage your team, while their DRG prepare Wyrmwind Thrust and their PCT prepares Pom Muse and Comet in Black to cleave your team. You can:

  • Silence/ Prefulgence on your team's target to help lockdown and burst while healing your melees that are attacking the target, when the target Guards, gap close in to melee them through Guard to continue damage or force them to break Guard early and Recuperate, backflipping out back to a safe distance when melee is finished to Scorch them now that they no longer have Guard. Or:
  • Stay far off to the side and silence the WAR/DRK so they either cannot dash in, or dash in and immediately are silenced and cannot use subsequent skills to do damage/survive, causing them to take massive cleave from your team and either die or have to retreat. Or:
  • Stay far off to the side and silence the DRG/PCT so that they cannot burst your team in time, despite your team being locked down and AoE'ed by the WAR/DRK. Enemy WAR/DRK now must overstay and overexpend resources to drag the fight on longer to buy time for their DPS to do damage, giving your team resource advantage. Or:
  • Gap close in front of your entire team and be in a dangerous position, then when the enemy team bursts you, time your Guard to absorb all their CC/damage, and as the enemy is waiting for your Guard to time out and punish you, Purify/ Forte out of Guard to mitigate damage and immune CC, aim your silence to cleave the 3+ enemy melees that are waiting for you, backflip out into safety and save the Vice of Thorns you now have, as your team cleaves the enemy during this entire time, and stun whichever enemy that is in most danger of dying to enable the potential kill.
  • etc

Example 2: Enemy DNC and DRG both come in with LB. You also have LB. Your allies are focused on fighting and unwittingly clump up. You can:

  • Stay far away in safety and wait for the Contradance and Sky Shatter combo to occur, then Embolden and time your LB such that it mitigates and heals everyone at the right time, allowing them to survive the DRG LB to continue the fight. Or
  • Stay far away and CC either the DRG or DNC to prevent one of them from CCing in sync, allowing your team to be charmed for no damage or have time to Guard the Sky Shatter, survive and continue the fight. Or
  • Gap close in, and prep an LB nuke combo and CC/burst the unsuspecting DNC, killing them and/or making them ghost their LB, or dropping them low enough that they cannot LB safely and must retreat, forcing their DRG to delay their LB combo or using it without CC to prevent your team from Guarding the damage safely. Your team survives and is able to keep fighting.
  • etc

6. Macros & shortcuts

RDM has a different ideal target for every skill, uses enemies for movement/aimed line cleaves, and uses allies for heal/LB, so macros are essential for quick target swapping.

RDM's LB can be used on enemies, allies, or self. By default, without a target (ie. target dies, or misclick on ground), the game will send the LB on the RDM themself, which is not what most RDMs intend, but this can be mitigated with a macro as well.

Macros I recommend:

LB target: works on your target, whether enemy or ally; if no one is targeted, the macro will error and the skill will not be sent, preventing misfire.

/merror off
/micon "Southern Cross" pvpaction
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <t>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <t>

LB self: a separate button for when you want to LB yourself without the need to untarget or click on yourself.

/merror off
/micon "Southern Cross" pvpaction
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <1>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <1>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <1>

Mouse overs: allows casting by hovering your mouse pointer over the party list or characters, while retaining your original target. I personally only have Resolution and Corps-a-Corps mouse overs.

/merror off
/micon Resolution pvpaction
/pvpac Resolution <mo>
/pvpac Resolution <mo>
/pvpac Resolution <mo>

/merror off = disable errors in chatlog if any lines in the macro cannot be executed
/micon = changes the macro icon
/pvpac = pvp action “Action Name”
Repeated lines = macros do not queue actions like button presses, so repeated lines ensure the skill goes off if it's pressed too early. Sometimes this causes misfire, especially with mouse over as it verifies your mouse position every line and targets may have moved during that time. Fill your 15 lines with this if you want, or keep only one line to rely on manual click spamming.

Other macros:

Target to attack 1 (spells or LB): some people would like to click marked targets faster for burst, or would like to conceal their target.This macro sends the skill onto the target marked with 1 without the player having to click on anything. Helpful with burst sync, but encourages a bad habit of not checking a target before sending damage.

/merror off
/micon "Southern Cross" pvpaction
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <attack1>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <attack1>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <attack1>

5 separate macros for the same skill for allies/enemies 1 through 5 on your party list: This allows instant skill cast without clicking on a target and is useful for situations that require instant reflex based on party list buff info. More useful for skills of other jobs like Paean, Guardian, Aquaveil, but can be useful for RDM if you have a lot of keybinds to spare or if you need help with targeting on a controller due to being unable to use mouse overs. for allies, use <1> to <5>. For enemies, use <e1> to <e5>.

/merror off
/micon "Southern Cross" pvpaction
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <e3>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <e3>
/pvpac "Southern Cross" <e3>

RDM relevant shortcuts:

Target Nearest Target is good for swapping to a nearby target quickly for backflip or melee combo.

Flip Camera is good for checking behind you without impacting your movement, to help maintain awareness when frontlining or running away.

7. How to practice

Hit a dummy (familiarizing with your own job):

  1. Press every button on cooldown.
  2. Press every button on cooldown but shuffling skills to maximize damage under Embolden, Corps-a-Corps and Displacement.
  3. Press every button on cooldown and maximizing numbers while moving around and aiming your Resolution to cleave different dummies.
  4. Press every button on cooldown and maximizing numbers/cleave while holding onto your Scorch/ Prefulgence for as long as possible without losing the proc.

Duel (familiarizing with other jobs and your job's interactions with them):

  1. Duel with (or play as) each job to get familiar with their rotation, and identify/anticipate burst and counters.
  2. Duel with each job and practice Forte, Guard, and CC timing based on watching your opponent's skill animation/buffs (eg. Wyrmwind Thrust, Analysis Drill, Marksman's Spite, Madeen, Purgation, Flare Star, etc).
  3. Duel with someone to practice kiting, line of sighting, and clipping corners with your backflip.

Watching VODs (practicing processing information and analyzing a situation):

  • I believe a large part of what makes a good player good is the ability to see well. Watch VODs of other job PoVs to practice observing/tracking/analyzing and understand them, and if you're watching a RDM PoV, watch the enemy, not just the RDM. Pay attention to how players move when they plan to do something, what buffs they have, what their animations look like, and what their team formation looks like. RDM is an opportunist, and so you will not find success in copying other RDMs' rotations 1-to-1 because, like copying an answer key, you will not understand their problem solving process to arrive at their button press choices. Use that answer key to deduce their thought process instead; think about why they used a skill and what else they may have been able to save it for based on the available information in the form of the map and the party list, and then practice applying that process to different situations yourself. The faster you can assess and absorb the information you have, the better decisions you will be able to make.

Crystalline Conflict (applying the above in game):

  1. Play casuals with the goal of building habits such as hugging walls, turning corners, cycling the crystal, and checking party list, making them second nature.
  2. Play casuals with the goal of observing the enemy rather than winning the game, and try to interrupt what you think the enemies are trying to do (eg. silencing/stunning a DRG in Life of the Dragon, silencing/stunning a mnk prepping Meteodrive or Riddle of Earth, saving Prefulgence to heal your group of teammates that are about to be cleaved, etc)
  3. Play casuals with the goal of surviving the enemy rather than winning the game, and dive 1v5 constantly with your resources and practice survival by using your defensives well.
  4. Most importantly, play tons of games for repetition and proficiency; it's better to unlearn bad habits later than to be unfamiliar with your job flow and the game flow from lack of practice.