Maintaining your tank buffs, healing people up, AND then also offensively casting will drain your MP like there's no tomorrow, put a strain on your gambits, weirdly impact your gearing choices, etc. There's limits to how useful flexibility is, simply because you are restricted by actions and by resources. No other combo provides the level of utility Rdm/Shikari does in the early/mid game imoThe problem is mostly that this looks great on paper, but isn't actually that great in practice - simply because you never actually GET to do everything effectively or efficiently. However it will never render a blm useless because a blm always does a lot more damage because of the staffs damage bonuses, but its nice to have elemental spells nonetheless. It can easily assume main healer role in this stage of the game rendering whm useless. Originally posted by Nezkeys:Early game Rdm/Shikari no contest. No fire boost AGAIN, and so what do you really gain from being a Red Battlemage in that combo? Not much.

Knight/Red Battlemage is okay-ish, but probably also just worse than pairing Knight with either Black Mage (for offense) or White Mage (for defense). what, exactly? Its best attack spell can't be boosted, and the one spell it can boost (Dark) will hit a ton of immunity at endgame because so many mobs are undead. White Mage/Machinist for example is much better here, since it can tank with Reverse and also maintain both Bravery and Hastega on two Berserkers - whereas Red Battlemage does. At endgame, you again can't boost fire element, and don't have the good white magick spells. You get the midgame guns, but Red Battlemage does nothing to improve those, and since you'd ideally run around in Berserk with them anyway spellcasting is useless. Red Battlemage/Machinist is in a similar spot, it's just a worse Red Battlemage/Archer.

There is really no objective reason to pick Red over White when pairing a Shikari. The high-end shields from Red are basically irrelevant because almost all endgame enemies ignore evasion (and those that don't you can easily just tank with other shields). There is practically no situation where you'd rather have black magick on your tank instead of the super useful high-level white magicks like Curaja and Bravery/Faith. It also cannot boost fire, which is THE single biggest weakness of Red Battlemage. It looks great because of ALL THE THINGS, but most of that isn't actually useful and highly impractical to use because of gambit bloat. Red Battlemage/Shikari is mostly a worse White Mage/Shikari when it comes to tanking. Even though many late-game bosses ignore Evasion, the shields and measures still give pretty great Evasion for mobs and early/mid-game bosses, not to mention you'll gain access to buffs with measures. This combo is also pretty tanky: it gets Decoy, shields and measures, and it can heal too. If you give this combination Fafnir, your Red Battlemage will almost behave like a Time Battlemage since you'll have access to high-level time magick in addition to the Red Battlemage's own low-level time magick. No Focus/Adrenaline for boosting gun damage, though. Machinist's guns ignore defence, and Red Battlemage's Black Robes boost Machinist's Dark Shot. Red Battlemage + Machinist: This class combination is mostly for utility support. There is a lot of redundancy with the Black Mage, and I especially don't like like combining two classes that use the same armor type (Mystic armor in this case), but at least you'll get some healing, low-level time magick and dark spells to support the Black Mage. Red Battlemage + Black Mage: another class combination that gets access to the boosted Ardor setup with Flame Staff + Oil + Ardor.

Before that, the class combination is decent. Unfortunately, Ardor won't be available until the third ascent of Pharos, so you won't be able to use the powerful spell setup until you've nearly beat the story part of the game. Red Battlemage + Archer: basically a one trick pony, with Burning Bow + Oil + Ardor. With Exodus, you'll gain access to high-level Heavy Armor, which makes the combo even tankier. Also gives Shikari Black Robes for Yiazmat killing. Cuchulainn is a great Esper for the combination, as it gives you Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga, Sleepga, Protectga and Shellga. Gets Decoy, healing and some offensive spells too. Red Battlemage + Shikari: one of the best tanks in the game. The best one depends on your party composition, intended role and playstyle. There's a few effective Red Battlemage combos.

Final fantasy 12 zodiac age quickmap