Red Mage

Write the weakness, then cut it open

Red Mage fights at the front with magical strikes and hexes that weaken an enemy's defenses, offense or casting. It begins with Arcane Thrust and Frailty, and new spells keep arriving roughly every ten Base Levels from 30 into the post-99 game. Red Mages have more health than other spellcasters, closer to a fighter's, to suit their place in melee.

Choose the path at Novice Job Level 10 through Iona in Archer Village, under Other paths, and complete her short trial. The Arcane Mentor in Geffen teaches your later spells and lessons. Red Mages stay at Job Level 1; growth comes from Base Levels, spell mastery and passive lessons.

Fragments, inscriptions and the mentor's trials

Fragments support a lesson; finding one does not teach the spell by itself. Once learned, Red Mage spells are always available, with no preparation slots.

1. Open your spellbook with S or the Skills button. Read the clue for the spell you want and the Base Level it opens at.
2. Collect its bound fragments from the right family of monsters, or find its inscription out in the world.
3. Accept the mentor's trial when one is needed. The mentor lends you the spell for the trial, which may ask for a duel, a party hunt or a well-timed finisher.
4. Return to the Arcane Mentor to finish the lesson and learn the spell.

Cadence: hex, thrust, hex, thrust

Red Mages fight in a rhythm of spell and steel. Finishing a hex grants Steel Ready: your next Arcane Thrust, Fleche or Crimson Reprise hits harder and recovers faster. Landing a Thrust, a Fleche or a Riposte counter grants Spell Ready: your next hex casts instantly. Both show as status icons.

Doing the same thing twice, such as two hexes in a row, earns nothing, and auto-attacks never count. Normal delays still apply.

Marks are ammunition

Arcane Thrust strikes through whichever of the enemy's defense or magic defense is weaker, so Frailty and Breach both open it up, and it takes your Edge's element. Red Mages share marks: another Red Mage's mark never blocks yours, recasting keeps the stronger one, and both of you keep training from it.

Crimson Reprise is your finisher. Like Arcane Thrust it strikes through the weaker of the enemy's defense and magic defense. It is strengthened by up to three of your marks and spends only those, oldest first; other marks stay. Each mark it spends bursts with its own effect, so choosing which marks to lay down is a real decision. Crimson Cue spends marks the other way: each one gives a Boost Point to the party members who have been hitting that enemy.

The Edge Wheel

Ember Edge, Tide Edge, Gale Edge and Stone Edge set your weapon's element to fire, water, wind or earth, and Hallowed and Umbral Edges add holy and shadow after Base Level 99. Your Edge also colours Arcane Thrust, Fleche, Riposte and Crimson Reprise. Swapping Edge is instant, with a short shared cooldown: read a revealed weakness, swap to match it, and chip the shield.

Every Edge shares Ember Edge's mastery, which adds damage to your hits in that element and, at high rank, adds a small magic echo to your auto-attacks. With a second Edge you gain Weakness Reader: the first time your Edge's element strikes a newly revealed weakness, you gain a Boost Point. Edges are for you alone; endowing allies remains the Sage's job.

Blade builds and spell builds both work: Vermilion Sear and the Edge's echo on your auto-attacks use your weapon attack or your magic attack, whichever is higher, and Fleche is a strong opening strike.

Spells along the road

Disenchant: safety or spoils

Disenchant removes the most dangerous thing it can from a monster. It defuses a Rare or Mythic monster's death burst or death cloud for good; failing that, it strips the monster's night empowerment, along with the extra loot and experience the night gave it; failing that, it quiets a Frenzied, Fleetfoot or Spellbound power for a while. Bosses often resist, and it never removes ordinary monster buffs. On a night hunt, your party decides between safety and spoils.

In a party and out in the world

• Small crimson pips under a monster's Break shield show how many different Red Mage marks it carries, so the party can read the setup.
• Wellspring keeps casters going, Exposed makes everyone hit harder, and Crimson Cue turns your marks into the party's Boost Points.
• On Lantern Watch, an active mark of yours on the hunted monster counts as taking part, even from a distance.
• Chainspell, the Red Mage's Latent Power: for a few seconds your hexes cast instantly, cost half the SP and recover faster.

Hex Codex, Duelist's Ledger and class stats

The Hex Codex tab in your spellbook records which marks you have landed on each monster family; completing a family makes your hexes last longer against it. An MVP that falls carrying three of your marks adds a page to your Duelist's Ledger, and pages raise Hex Dominion: Quietus learns to Muffle a boss's casting instead of silencing it, Languor learns to slow a boss a little, and your hexes last longer on bosses. Neither ever shuts a boss down completely.

Your total spell mastery also earns class stats, up to +30, shown on the same tab.

Gear routes and titles

From Base Level 40 the Arcane Mentor sells two Duelist Focus offhands. The Sigil Duelist Focus follows the hex route: your hexes last longer and land more often. The Edge Duelist Focus follows the blade route: Arcane Thrust, Fleche and Crimson Reprise hit harder. The mentor's blades lean the same ways: the Hexbound Rapier lengthens hexes, and the Emberglass Runeblade strengthens your strikes.

Your class title shows in the spellbook and under your name: Red Mage, then Carmine Duelist at Base Level 40, Spellblade at 70, and Vermilion Magus through the Valkyrie. Titles are cosmetic.

Two lasting lessons

Check the Passives tab and visit the Arcane Mentor for lessons. Each passive has five ranks, and every rank can be earned by mastery rank 7, through the required practice and a field exercise followed by a return visit. Both are automatic while you are a Red Mage.

• Spellblade Discipline improves normal weapon attacks, Arcane Thrust, Fleche and Crimson Reprise.
• Measured Hexes extends Frailty, Languor, Breach, Enervation, Addle and Vermilion Sear.

Vermilion Magus

At Base Level 99 a Red Mage can take an advanced form through the Valkyrie, by the same offering and road to Valhalla as transcendence (see Transcendence). You stay a Red Mage and keep every level, spell and piece of gear.

The Vermilion Magus gains the transcendence package (25% more maximum HP and SP, and 52 extra stat points), the title, a Magus Mantle, and the class capstone: Crimson Reprise counts and spends up to four of your marks instead of three.

Laurels: mastery past rank 10

Mastery a spell earns after rank 10 is not lost: it becomes Laurels, and your spellbook shows your progress toward the next one. The Laurel Steward beside the Arcane Mentor in Geffen trades Laurels for classic headgear, a replacement mantle for an advanced form, or a reforge that rolls an unequipped Magic or Rare weapon's affixes again while keeping its rarity, refine, cards and runes.