How to be a great FS/RM.

Well, I've been an RM pretty much my entire Flyff life(v5 - current). Through the Version changes RMing has become easier but I see so many RM's failing and making it hard for good RM's to get a partner.

I've decided to try and change this by helping RM's be better at RMing. There's 4 kinds of RM's that you'll run into, i'll run through them and then get to other things like what to do, when, how etc.

Types of RM's:

Type 1: Usually has never played an RM, or even Flyff. Tend to not do much except buff, Will talk way too much and end up distracting you or him/herself resulting in one of you dying. You'll probably have to tell them to SF/GT constantly. They have horrible positioning and will run a mile away if they get aggroed. Will barely ever HC unless you tell them to.

Type 2: This is the more seasoned RM, usually knows when to rebuff and heal. Will occasionally forget to SF or GT, but is rare. Isn't that great with Microing, Just as talkative as Type 1 except will react faster to certain situations, They have bad positioning and will run 0.5 miles away if they get aggroed. Will HC.

Type 3: A good RM. Will keep all buffs on, decent at Microing. Will run in a circle around you if aggroed as to alert you. Talks when He/She can, and has a good reaction time to certain situations and decent positioning. Over-all a very good partner, but there's still room for improvement.

Type 4: Pro RM's. These guys will do everything for you. Tell you when your self buffs run out, If aggroed they will run in a circle and HC or heal at the same time untill you can help. They're constantly microing making it hard to talk as much. Buffs are always on and will HC and heal all the time. Perfect reaction time and positioning. Your dream partner, but not too many are found.

Hopefully this will tell you where you fall and what you need to work on. Some of the words may be hard to understand for you, but i'll get to that. The first step is to find out what Type of RM you are.

Note: The above statements containing HC are for 1v1 partners. With an AOE partner it's a lot easier to RM since all you have to do is heal, RMing for AOE's was a lot harder in v5-v6...(I miss it )


Full Support builds

Azria Build: Full INT

Aggro area build: 40 STA Rest INT.

Use Flury/Wedge Set forever, or you can Opt out for the v6 set for HP
Use Guarding Stick Forever, If you can't afford it, Rori's are pretty cheap.
Use Plugs, Gores, and STA rings. The higher the +'s the better.
Pierce your suit with HP.

How to be a pro RM.

It may take you a while to grasp all the things you'll be doing and how fast you have to do them, not many partners will notice all the things you're doing for them because they can't see what you're doing, but the ones that do notice and say something make it worth it. "Don't forget politeness. The best way to ensure you get partners is to not only be decently well, but be a polite, interesting partner. Make your plvler's experience with you a nice, friendly one, and you have a partner/friend for life." - DS.

Always remember that being a Pro RM is a lot more about Skill than it is about EQ and Items.


Pro RM Advantages:

You'll get some kind of drops 90% of the time without even having to ask.
Very easy to find a perma partner.
Dood leik, u r pro ftw cookies.
Less likely to be owned in arena, unless obvious reasons.
Pro RM's make you feel good inside.
Someone telling you you're a good RM makes you feel good inside.



The 1vs1 Pro RM

This is where pro RM's really shine, you have to do a lot more things than compared to an AoE partner, soak it all in.


1vs1 Hot Key Bar:

Our first and most simple aspect of being a pro RM is being able to use your most effective buffs as fast and quickly as you can while HCing, healing, and positioning yourself. For demonstration i'm going to show my hotkey bar.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1108x50.


With my setup like this I am able to quickly use SF and GT while being able to heal and HC too, the buffs on the left make it easier to buff without having to change Fkey bars. A little tip you can do when putting buffs on your action slot is, instead of draging the icon; double click the skill in the skill window for speed/ease.

Not everyone has a big screen so if you can't fit all the buffs on the left Hotkey bar then this is an alternative.

Bar 1:


Bar 2+:



Micromanagement:

The basic idea is to know how long your SF and GT lasts so you can rebuff them before, or as they go out. Always keep tabs on them, an unbuffed partner is an unhappy and slow XP partner. GT has a limited range on it, you have to be fairly close to your partner for it to land. Practice learning how far GT can go, I'm never more than 2 or 3 steps away from them to cast SF faster as well as heal and make sure GT lands, practice HCing the mob, quicky targeting your partner to Heal and then click back on the mob before or as the spell casts. Also keep in mind that your partner doesn't have to be targeted for GT to land. When you're with a partner using Link Attack this comes in handy.

Lag can and will position bug one of you eventually there's not much you can do except trying to cast GT in different spots hoping it lands. Another bug is the worst one, it happens a lot, but it can also be used to train you. It happends when you're microing a lot of skills repeatedly. an example would be...

Casts Heal..
Casts FS...
Target Switch
Trys to cast HC, but doesn't come out.

I'm not sure what causes it truthfully, but it happens when a mass of skills is being casted. To use this as a trainer, practice moving after a skill; your skills will also cast faster this way. Once you have got it down you'll be able to click things faster as well as cast your skills faster. A simple tip is to click the center of your intended target, that's where all targets have their hitbox. Having the party window open makes for easy partner clicking by double clicking their name (the slender one, not the big square - doesn't always respond fast enough.).


Target Switching:

The aspect itself is pretty obvious, switching between your partner and the mobs needs to be done fast so you can HC, Check his buffs, and heal. Clicking the center of your intended target will make sure that it is targeted and that you don't miss click and run off somewhere. Miss clicks happen to everyone eventually, just try to re-group as best and as fast as you can.



Mob Signals:

Another aspect of Microing is being able to HC and Heal your partner while being able to maintain the link affect if they have it. This means you have to have a general idea of when a mob is going to attack, all mobs have very similar signals of when they will attack but it isn't 100%.

When walking to your partner they will attack as soon as they stop moving - Use this to quickly target switch and heal and then Continue HCing. If you did it right you should heal right after your partner is hit.
After getting up from being Critted - Same as above.
Right after your partner attacks it - ( This Happens 99% of the time)
When they "Wiggle"(?) - ^
You can also use their attack animation if you're quick enough, just target switch when you see it, heal and then back to HCing.


Navigation and Casting:

Knowing where to go seems like a pretty simple task - follow your partner right? While that is the basic principle you may have as an FS, it is actually more efficient for you to lead them. Know where the mobs are around you and predict which mob your partner will attack next so you can get the jump on it with a quick HC > Heal > HC combo. To be able to do this effectively you have to know a few things. Know how much damage your partner does and how long it takes for the mob to die. Usually the last hit doesn't require an HC as a normal hit will kill it anyway, capitalize on this by HCing the next mob while your partner kills the previous. Casting SF and GT is also an option while they are doing the last hit.

GT can be casted another way also. While running to the mob with it targeted cast GT right before your partner gets to it and follow up with an HC > Heal > HC combo. Being in front of your partner on the way to the intended target is the best possible potition you can have as you can cast GT as they run past you.

Besides recasting GT SF and the like, you also have to keep an eye on your partners Self Buffs. Always let them know if their buff is going to run out, it doesn't matter if they seen it or not. This helps them maintain the most possible damage as fast as possible. This should be pretty easy to accomplish since you're going to be Target Switching a lot.


Some Casting Micro's:

HC > Heal > HC...
GT > HC > Heal > HC...
Heal > SF > HC > GT > HC...

There's plenty more, this is just to give you an idea of what to do. GT Micro's are a lot easier to perform since no target switching is involved.


Aggro Tactics:

Aggro's are bound to happen to you. The best defense is to take wide turns, Mobs follow the middle of your characters model. Make an imaginary path that it will take and use it. When you have a decent step on it cast HC on the mob your partner is attacking, or heal them if needed. If your partner is attacking the aggro, HC it when you have the step.




The Pro AOE RM

AOEing has become a lot easier with the version changes, but a few simple things can help speed up the process. Most of RMing for an AOE just requires knowing when to cast rebuffs and some basic navigation. I don't like AoE partners much since it takes away from my awesomeness, but that's just me.



AoE Hotkey Bar:

There's really only one minor difference from the 1vs1 Hotkey bar; Your action slot. Your AoE bar should look something like this...



You could opt out for two regular heals instead of using Heal Rain. Heal Rain is pretty risky since you never know if your partner is going to be posi bugged, or if they'll move slightly out of range while you cast it. The choice is really up to you.

You can use the buff slots showed in the 1vs1 section to place your other buffs.


Micromanagement:

None, your partner should always be targeted, so there's no need to micro anything.


Gathering and Casting:

This is where you need to be very good to be a Pro AoE RM, though it doesn't require as much skill as with a 1vs1 partner some things can help speed up everything. While your partner is gathering try to stay as close to them as possible, just holding your heal fkey is going to make things very hard, you want to move with them and heal. This can be done pretty easily by only healing after a mob attacks him/her and then moving. GT and SF is likely to go out while your partner is gathering, to take advantage of this you want to try and be infront of your partner while they're going to the next mob. It's usually easy to tell what mob will be next since they already have most of them, cast GT as they run past you.

You won't always be able to get in front of them so another way to cast GT while gathering is to cast GT right before they get to the next mob, try to cast it so your GT comes out when they hit the intended mob. This is why you want to be as close to your partner as possible while they are gathering.


Post-Gathering can be tricky if GT and SF run out while they're AoEing, you can either continue to heal, or try to re-cast GT and SF. The obvious downside is that they might die so it's safer to just wait untill the mobs are dead, this should rarely ever happen if you're casting GT and SF while they are gathering.


Aggro Tactics:

Aggro's are bound to happen to you. The best defense is to take wide turns, Mobs follow the middle of your characters model. Make an imaginary path that it will take and use it. When you have a decent step on it cast Heal on your partner.



Tips and Tricks/Recap

Never cast Protect without asking if they want it first.
Never cast Holyguard period.
Practice makes perfect.
Don't run 5 mile away from an aggro.
Everyone messes up sometimes.
A lot of these actions can be happening very fast.
Use the slender party window if you are unable to click your partner.
Don't always rely on the slender party window if you don't need it, clicking is much faster.
The faster you can do things the better of an RM you are.
Heal Rain is risky, be careful when using it.
+ing your gear is not necessary, money is hard to come across stock up until you can afford things you need more.
A Pro RM becomes A God RM With Activs and Holds.
A perma partner is always a good thing - Just make sure they're trustworthy and that you get along.

Something fun to do is, when you tele to flaris; on the side of the quest lady there's some leaves and the fence, jump up on the leaves and pretend you're a ninja by jumping all the way to central, you can use the other side on the way back - xDDD.


Credits

I hope this guide has helped you, feel free to ask any questions or if you want to add something. I hope this can help all RM's become better.

I also hope this guide will show other classes how hard RM's have to work to be able to do all the things that they want. Please help your RM by givving them something after training, it doesn't matter what it is; any item is a big ego boost.

If a v6 server is ever made I'll edit this to include things that you need to learn to be a Pro FS.

If anyone knows of a Free Screen Capture Program besides fraps that can record without a limit please let me know - GameCam doesn't seem to work for me.


Thank you for reading this.
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