Eden Server Red Mage guide, by Elysien

= Overview =
Over the many years of Final Fantasy XI, Red Mage was coined the moniker "jack of all trades, master of none", this was particularly prominent in the 75-capped "era", in addition to other such names that all come to surmise a similar meaning. However, I've never believed this to be true, when you explore all the (many) facets of Red Mage, you come to see that it does in fact, have mastery. Quite exceptional, too. From being the best support-healer choice in a low-man setting, due to it's array of top-class enfeebling magic, enhancing magic, and MP management that is second to none with serviceable healing potential to boot, to the hands down best "solo" job, even putting jobs that were conceived on a design level for this purpose, such as Beastmaster, to utter shame (At Lv.75, anyway). Arguably, it could also be named the games best crowd-controller, up until the release of Scholar. In closing, situationally the games best "tank" job, but otherwise an all around incredibly powerful tank in the right hands. It's pretty easy to see that Square Enix were folly in their design of Red Mage, granted a lot of this stems from a by product of the introduction of the Ninja class by way of Sub Job, that ultimately culminates Red Mage into what is probably the most powerful job in the game in terms of the scope of what it can do. I like to think of Red Mage as almost two jobs in one, one side being your support healer, the other an exceptional tank, and it's quite able to do this on the fly, to accommodate many situations.
== Weaknesses and Strengths ==
Red Mage doesn't have many weaknesses, but as great as Red Mage is, it is not without weakness. That being said, even with the few shortcomings Red Mage has, there is never a situation where having at least some around, isn't the optimal choice. On the side of support-role healing, while Cure IV is a good recovery spell, it can however at times fall short, being limited to single-target. When you're involved in battles and events with significant area of effect damage and a high number of participants, it's not particularly efficient to heal with, both in MP cost, and opportunity cost. Furthermore, the spell generates an exceptional amount of enemy "enmity" ("threat"/"aggro"), and while this particular aspect of Cure IV can be spun in Red Mages favour, typically it probably isn't going to be. In addition, it doesn't have native access to status ailment removal spells, this essentially forces the Red Mage into taking "White Mage" as their sub class for many situations, as the ability to remove these effects is invaluable---and under no circumstance of the 75-capped "era", is Red Mage able to cast "Stona", a spell that removes petrification from a player. This weakness can manifest itself quite apparently in large-scale events that demand much healing, and enable you, as well as encourage you, to take in numerous players which creates a good milieu for main job White Mage.
However, due to Red Mages overall arsenal, as aforementioned, it is never not optimal to include it in your party, or alliance, either as tank or support. On the topic of it's support-role side, what Red Mage lacks in it's healing prowess, it makes up with it's exceptional ability to weaken an enemy, thereby reducing the amount of damage an enemy can deal in succession, as well as offering a serviceable level of healing. In addition to it's enfeebling abilities, it doesn't just excel at MP management for itself, but others as well through the use of a spell unique to Red Mage, the coveted "Refresh" spell. This spell, which is fairly cheap itself to cast, will gradually increase the targets magic points (MP) by 3, every 3 seconds for 150 seconds, for a total of 150 MP. In many cases, this spell alone is indispensable, and is gained fairly early on, being able to cast it from Lv.41 onwards. It's at this point Red Mage really finds it's identity, and breaks free from essentially being a weaker White Mage (consequently, this is the exact moment main job White Mage as a whole, starts to lose much demand in low-player scenarios, such as experience point parties, and certain "end game" activities, which quite frankly, speaks volumes for this singular spell).
With use of the sub job "Black Mage", Red Mage gains the ability to become quite an exceptional crowd controller (CCer, for short) through the use of the spell "Sleepga" that it inherits. This, in addition to the spells that came natively to Red Mage, such as Bind, Gravity, Sleep, and Sleep II can make Red Mage the best choice for crowd controlling, due to it's second to none skill with enfeebling magic, of which all the aforementioned spells belong to, but also because of a very powerful job-trait that is unique to Red Mage (and few equipment) "Fast Cast". This enables Red Mage to not only cast spells significantly faster than other jobs, but the trait will also reduce the recast, enabling you to cast them again sooner better improving your role in this particularly strategy. This does come at a cost though, you lose the ability to remove status ailments (in addition to a pretty weak, but passable area of effect healing spell), but typically your party composition should hopefully accommodate for this, either by having an actual White Mage present, or another job that has White Mage sub-classed, such as Bard. 
On to the "tank"-role side of Red Mage, first and foremost, allow me to emphasize that Red Mage "tanking" is, for the most part, strictly an "end-game" avenue. It is not something that can truly be harnessed until Lv.75, where it has everything it can have, available to it. So this is to say, while you could have Red Mage tank say, low-level experiences parties or capped-mission content if you well and truly wanted to, it's objectively much inferior to other more suited options, and you'd only be the summoning the question of "why?". Once you reach that sweet, sweet Lv.75 though, you've gained potential no mere mortal was meant to wield, power you were perhaps ignorant of. 
When it comes to Red Mage "tanking", it has just one weakness. It doesn't really do damage. Depending on the circumstances, this could be a significant weakness, but for much of the games most challenging content, having a Red Mage tank isn't just acceptable, it's exceptional. 
Red Mage has a wide-array of tools, most which are native to it, that help with it's ability to "tank", and I'll briefly touch on them and elaborate further below as necessary. In essence, Red Mages, through certain black magic spells that are native to Red Mage, generate exceptional amounts of "enmity", and Red Mage is able to rapidly cast these spells, due to their Fast Cast trait in addition to the spells in question having a pretty low cast and recast time to begin with. Red Mages' amazing MP management also makes this possible, even in a low-man scenario where MP-regeneration support is limited, in such scenarios where a Paladin or Ninja would struggle, a Red Mage can quite easily prevail. 
Through the use of certain spells Red Mage has, in addition to the equipment Red Mage has access to, it boasts some of the highest damage mitigation potential in this game, particularly when it comes to magical damage, more on this below. 
== Race Selection ==
As you're no doubt aware, Vana'diel offers you five different races to choose from, and you may be a "min/max"-er wanting to know which race Red Mage performs best on. The bottom line is, there is no clear-cut answer here, for each facet of Red Mage, and depending on the circumstances, a certain race can excel over the others, but each race do have strengths and weaknesses that I will touch on. I have my own opinion and reasoning for which race could be considered the best overall highlighted below, but this is not objective, ultimately, what is best is what racial stats accommodate you better. 
Hume: Hume is pretty much an all-rounder, it doesn't particularly stand out in any particular areas, they're kind of even-levelled, albeit being just "good" in essentially every area is a good stand out I'd say, for a job like Red Mage. As Red Mage can undertake significantly different roles, a well balanced stat paradigm makes this fairly easy to fit into.
Mithra: Very similar to Hume for the most part, the only notable difference is Mithra have slightly more MP, while Hume has slightly more HP, but for the most part the difference is extremely trivial when it comes to comparing these two in the light of Red Mage.
Tarutaru: Lowest HP of the bunch, quite significantly when compared to Elvaan and Galka, but makes up with it with it's second to none MP pool, and intelligence, both of which are very important stats for a Red Mage. Tarutaru's HP deficit can be overcome though, through proper gearing, food, and merits.
Elvaan: Exceptionally high HP and the highest Mind, both of which are great stats for Red Mage, tank Red Mage in particular, but have quite low MP and intelligence. Similar to Tarutaru, Elvaan's MP woes can be accommodated through merits and equipment, and even through "buffing" in the right circumstances, which is quite powerful indeed.
Galka: Highest HP, significantly higher than that of Tarutaru, but lowest in pretty much all other areas, quite significantly too in the case of MP and Intelligence. As with Elvaan, through proper gearing, Galka Red Mage can work fine in basically any capacity, but it would need to make certain gear sacrifices to maintain a MP-pool that is suitable. All in all, Galka is best suited as tanking on Red Mage, but it's limitations as a support Red Mage can be alleviated with good MP-regeneration support from other jobs, such as Bard and Corsair. 
My outlook: I'll preface this with this is entirely my opinion, and by no means the "right" answer, but in terms of a Red Mage hierarchy of which race is best, I would have it as so:
* #1: Tarutaru.
* #2: Hume/Mithra.
* #3: Elvaan.
* #4: Galka.This would be the hierarchy for Red Mage as a whole, not for simply one aspect to Red Mage, such a tanking.
MP is the lifeblood of Red Mage, and no race has it better than Tarutaru. The situation changes somewhat in favour of other races when you're in specific high-buff scenarios where you're receiving high MP-regeneration support, but you aren't always in this position, and even when you are, if you're playing Red Mage to a high-level, even Tarutaru can find itself wanting for MP. I've played Red Mage a lot, and experienced Red Mage on three different races, the one that I personally found to be the best at being all-encompassing to every facet of Red Mage, is Tarutaru.
Purely playing as support, the large MP pool is undeniably useful, particularly in low-man scenarios without much MP support, which you may find yourself in more than you realize. In a supporting capacity, Tarutaru's low maximum HP doesn't have much impact at all, as you aren't typically the target for attacks, and in the brief periods that you are, you have the mitigation to make trivial news of it. Even in a supporting capacity, Red Mage can be very sturdy; it has access to a lot of damage mitigation equipment, and great spells as well.
Playing as a tank, the HP deficit of Tarutaru is equally undeniable, however through specific gearing, food, merits and buffs, Tarutaru can quite easily achieve enough eHP (effective HP) that the difference between say, Elvaan, becomes more trivial. It's important to mention however, that it is only more trivial if you're skilled with tanking on Red Mage. Between these two races in particular Tarutaru would certainly have a higher "skill" ceiling than say, Elvaan, as Tarutaru's HP does leave less room for error. Red Mage has much by means of mitigating damage though, and so there comes a point where more HP isn't necessarily doing a whole lot more, in this "era", there are few attacks that are fatal, or even particularly damaging, to a well-played, properly buffed and equipped Red Mage. 
With all that said though, when it comes to RDM "tanking", there are situations where Elvaan and Galka, are pretty clearly superior to Tarutaru, and the other races. This is high MP support tanking scenarios, where you're receiving a hefty deal of MP regeneration buffs, that significantly offsets the MP advantages of Tarutaru, Mithra, and Hume. It's when you aren't receiving significant MP support, that the MP shortcomings of Elvaan and Galka are made more apparent. 
These kinds of scenarios happen more than you may think, and sometimes unexpectedly, such as perhaps a HNM/NM has spawned and you're tasked with holding it until more support arrives, with very little to no support in the meantime. Or perhaps you're attempting to solo an NM/HNM, in any case my experiences with this is the more MP I've had, the longer I've been able to last, even with the lowest maximum health of Tarutaru, this goes back to me saying MP is Red Mages' true lifeblood, so to speak. 
In terms of tanking, with certain equipment choices, you may even say sacrifices, Tarutaru can maintain pretty respectable HP by "full-timing" certain high HP equipment in slots other races would perhaps fill with other equipment, such as equipment that would increase potency of the spell, more enmity, etc. By "full-timing" these items, your HP will not actively change so wildly when changing equipment, so you're able to maintain a good working amount of HP. You might be thinking that Elvaan or Galka could make this same sort of equipment sacrifice, only using MP instead of HP, however this isn't near as effective largely because typically equipment that has a good level of HP on it, often comes with other great stats such as Haste that you would be wanting to swap into regardless, so the sacrifice isn't as detrimental. HP pieces quite often offer higher HP than that of pure MP equipment, too. It could also be said that the very redeeming MP pieces, such as the Loquacious Earring, are still great for Tarutaru--when you have little MP-regeneration support, there really isn't such a thing as too much MP. 
As I mentioned previously however, it's obviously a dangerous game--if you aren't quite skilled and/or equipped enough, playing as Tarutaru tank can be a rough venture. Whenever you see a Tarutaru Red Mage holding something of particular strength, it tends to end in one of two ways: they either last awhile, or they are defeated very, very quickly. 
The bottom line is, I value Tarutaru the most, not because it makes the best tank, it doesn't unless you're perhaps in a particular situation, but how it is able to encompass Red Mage as a whole, more effectively than other races.
== Job Abilities, Traits, and Spells of note. ==
=== Job Abilities ===
==== - Chainspell ====
* Required Level: 1.
* Duration: 60 seconds.
* Recast: 2 hours.
The infamous Chainspell, as the name implies, it allows the user to cast any single spell they currently have access to, instantly. Spells cast under chain spell also have no recast time, that is to say, while chain spell is in effect, you can use the same spell back-to-back-to-back, until your MP fails you or the effect expires, if you were so inclined. Easily one of the games most powerful job abilities, you wouldn't find much opposition in saying it's just plain overpowered, quite frankly.
==== - Convert ====
* Required Level: 40.
* Duration: N/A.
* Recast: 10 minutes (can be lowered via merits, more on that below)
This ability will instantly swap your current HP and MP, if your MP is 0, this ability will not execute as you would otherwise be, incapacitated. Another extremely good job ability, this is one the big reasons to why Red Mage's MP management is in an entire league of it's own. When your HP is full, or at least higher than your max MP pool, use this when your MP is at least >0 and you will have a fresh, filled MP pool once again. If your convert set is good enough, you'll usually have enough "free MP" to cure up to full or near full. What I mean by free is MP in convert sets typically contain a lot of MP, significantly more than any other of your equipment sets. If you use convert and healed up your converted HP from this convert set, when you swap out of this set, your maximum MP is going to drop sown significantly, but you'll probably still be full or close, as you already used the excess MP during the time you were in the higher maximum MP set.
=== Job Traits ===
* These effects are passive and always active when you unlock them at their respective levels.
*You can receive the Job Traits that are unique to other classes, by sub-classing that job, but you will only gain job traits of up to Level 37 of your sub-class.
===== - Resist Petrify I =====
* Required Level: 10.
* Effect strength: 10%.
This trait gives you some resistance to the "Petrify" status effect. Each job gets traits like this that give you a certain degree of resistance to a certain status ailment, and they're kind of underrated and/or misunderstood, the good ones at least. How these effects work is they just give you a flat chance to straight up resist the ailment from any source, be it from a spell, or an additional effect from a enemy TP ability/auto-attack, regardless of your level vs. the enemies. It's quite potent, especially when used in conjuction with "buffs" and equipment that would further provide resistance to the ailment in question. Honestly, petrification isn't a too common status effect, and it's a pretty nasty ailment that everyone should endeavour to take the appropriate measures against (bringing a White Mage to simply cast Stona on the afflicted) so a chance at resisting this particular effect isn't too amazing as it should hopefully be handled quickly by your White Mage anyway, but there are times you may find yourself solo and battling an enemy that can inflict petrification one way or another, and this in addition to stacking resistances against petrification, such as Barstone/Barpetrify/Earth resist equipment, are useful. 
- Fast Cast I
* Required Level: 15.
* Effect Strength: 10%.
A trait that Red Mage is renowned for, and much of the reason that it is sub-classed by other jobs. This trait will increase the casting speed of any spell, be it white magic, black magic, summoning magic or even ninjutsu by 10%. It isn't made clear in the description of the trait, but this trait has a secondary effect, it also decreases the recast time for all spells. The amount of time the recast is reduced by is exactly half the Fast Cast strength. For example, in the case of this trait, it will grant you 10% Fast Cast, so the recast reduction that it also provides will be approximately 5%.
==== - Magic Attack Bonus I. ====
* Required Level: 20.
* Effect Strength: 20.
As it sounds, this trait will increase the damage of your magical attacks, it also works on weapon skills that are magical in nature, such as burning blade, etc. The effect strength is pretty vague, but rest assured that +20 Magic Attack Bonus is actually much stronger than it sounds. I'm going to omit running you through the magic damage calculations, as they're a little complicated, and it isn't particularly necessary to understand how it works, all you really need to know is it's pretty strong, especially at +20.
==== - Magic Defense Bonus I. ====
* Required Level: 25.
* Effect Strength: 10.
This trait is the other big reason for the desire to sub-class Red Mage, these traits are actually quite strong indeed. The spell "Shell IV" will cut magical damage you take by a percentage amount, in the case of Shell IV, it reduces all oncoming magical damage by 23.4%. This Magic Defense Bonus works similar, but not quite the same, and it "stacks" with Shell effects and -% Magic Damage Taken equipment. 
To give an easy to understand explanation of the strength of this trait, take a look at this item:
As you can see from this image, "Magic Damage Taken -%" (MDT) is actually a different stat entirely from Magic Defense Bonus (MDB), and as mentioned prior, they stack. The item in this image will reduce all magical damage, be it from a spell or magical TP abilities such as Cursed Sphere, flat by the said amount. In simple terms of comparing the effectiveness, -1% MDT to 1 point of MDB, the single point of -MDT will reduce damage by 1%, while 1 MDB will reduce damage by 0.8%--MDB doesn't work on percentages, but in essence it works like this for comparison sake. So as you can see, both effects are pretty similar in strength, however -MDT has a cap of -50%, you cannot reduce magic damage any further using -MDT once you have -50%. However, you can decrease the magic damage you take by continuing to stack MDB, as the effects stack, and MDB actually has no cap.
==== - Resist Petrify II. ====
* Required Level: 30.
* Effect Strength: 5.
This is an upgrade to the Resist Petrify trait you obtained at Lv.10, it adds an additional 5% chance to resist petrification effects, for a total of 15%.
==== - Clear Mind I. ====
* Required Level: 31.
* Effect Strength: 3.
This trait raises the amount of MP you gain from resting by three. This trait does not stack, both Red Mage and, say, Black Mage get this trait natively, at different levels. If you were to sub-class Black Mage, you will not receive this trait again, for even more MP while resting.
==== - Fast Cast II. ====
* Required Level: 35.
* Effect Strength: 5.
This is an upgrade to the Fast Cast trait you obtained at Lv.15, it adds an additional 5% to casting speed, and a 2.5% reduction in recast speed, for a total of 15% casting speed, 7.5% recast speed.
==== - Magic Attack Bonus II. ====
* Required Level: 40.
* Effect Strength: 4.
This is an upgrade to the Magic Attack Bonus trait you obtained at Lv.20, it adds 4 more points of Magic Attack Bonus, for a total of 24.
====== - Magic Defence Bonus II. ======
* Required Level: 45.
* Effect Strength: 2.
This is an upgrade to the Magic Defense Bonus trait you obtained at Lv.25, it adds 2 Magic Defence Bonus, for a total of 12.
==== - Resist Petrify III. ====
* Required Level: 50.
* Effect Strength: 5.
Upgrades the Resist Petrify trait again, by 5, for a total of 20% resistance against Petrify.
==== - Clear Mind II. ====
* Required Level: 53,
* Effect Strength: 3.
This is an upgrade to the Clear Mind trait you obtained at Lv.25, it adds an additional 3 more MP when resting, for a total of +6.
==== - Fast Cast III. ====
* Required Level: 55.
* Effect Strength: 5.
Upgrades the Fast Cast trait again, by 5% casting speed and 2.5% recast speed, for a total of 20% increased casting speed, and 10% recast speed.
==== - Resist Petrify IV. ====
* Required Level: 70.
* Effect Strength: 5.
Upgrades the Resist Petrify trait for a final time, by 5, for a total of 25% resistance against Petrify.
==== - Clear Mind III. ====
* Required Level: 75,
* Effect Strength: 3.
Upgrades the Clear Mind again, adding an additional 3 more MP when resting, for a total of +9.
=== Spells of note ===
Red Mage has many spells under it's belt, and I'm not going to go over all them, but I will talk about the truly redeeming ones.
==== - Refresh: ====
* Required Level: 41.
* MP Cost: 40.
* Effect Strength: MP regeneration, 3 MP every 3 seconds for 150 seconds, for a total of 150MP.
*Element: Light (Light potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Light Staff have no barring on this spell).
First up, the spell Red Mage is best known for, and well, undoubtedly it's signature spell. I already touched on this above, but it's just that awesome that it gets another mention.
This spell is truly unique to Red Mage, and unlike Red Mage' other unique spells that can be used on other jobs by sub-classing Red Mage, no other job but main Red Mage, can cast Refresh. 
==== - Phalanx: ====
* Required Level: 33.
* MP Cost: 21.
* Effect Strength: varies with current Enhancing Magic skill upon casting.
*Element: Light (Light potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Light Staff have no barring on this spell).
Another unique spell to Red Mage, although other jobs can access this if they were to sub-class Red Mage (though it may be much weaker, depending on the job, as this spell scales with Enhancing Magic). This spell will shave off a certain amount of damage from attacks, situationally it's a very potent spell, if it doesn't seem like it at first. The strength of this spell scales with the value of your Enhancing Magic skill at the time of casting it. 
At 300 Enhancing Magic skill, which isn't too difficult to achieve at Lv.75 Red Mage with some equipment and Merits that increase Enhancing Magic, this spell will reduce any kind of attack, be it physical or magical, TP ability or otherwise, by 28 points. 
Doesn't sound like much, but it is when you consider how it functions along with -%Physical Damage Taken equipment (-PDT), or -%Magic Damage Taken(MDT).
-PDT (and -MDT) work on a percentage basis, which is too, incredibly strong in it's own right, and certainly better overall. However, it can never bring oncoming damage down to 0, due to -PDT/-MDT capping at -50% (similar to -MDT, discussed above). However, with enough -PDT equipment, you may be able to bring an enemies attack down from 40 points, to 20 points, with -50% PDT. If you apply Phalanx on top of that, that doesn't work on percentages, it will simply knock off a certain amount (in this case, let's say 28 points as is the case at 300 Enhancing Skill) you effectively bring that enemies attack down to 0. When you're super-tanking many enemies at once, that don't deal high damage individually, but all those 20's would add up, adding phalanx on top to bring all of their individual attacks down to 0 is incredibly strong. 
In this "era" the highest tier of Phalanx is achievable only by Red Mage, at 300 Enhancing Magic skill, which is the strongest possible Phalanx effect obtainable, at an effect of -28 points of damage. This can be moderately difficult to achieve, depending on your needs. If you fully merit Enhancing Magic, then it is very easy to achieve, you simply only need to use AF1 legs(Warlock's Tights, and AF2 hands (Duelist's Gloves). 
If however, you cannot spare the merits to do Enhancing Magic, due to having other jobs that need to use the limited about of combat magic merits you're permitted, then you can achieve it purely through equipment, though it will take quite an amount of equipment, a few of which can be of some difficulty to obtain.
In this case, you would require the items "Merciful Cape", "Glamour Jupon", "Enhancing Torque", "Duelists' Gloves", and "Warlock's Tights". to achieve 300 skill with no meriting. As a Red Mage only, there could be reason to merit Enhancing Magic as it helps with some other spells, but it's pretty niche and if you have, or plan to play, any other mage such as Black Mage or Bard, it is highly recommended to not merit Enhancing Magic.
This spell has an upgraded version, that you can only obtain through meriting Red Mage, and can only be used on Red Mage. If fully merited, it is just as strong as the regular version, however, this version can actually be targeted onto other players, whereas the regular version cannot. 
==== - Haste: ====
* Required Level: 48.
* MP Cost: 40.
* Effect Strength: 15%.
*Element: Wind (Wind potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Wind Staff have no barring on this spell).
This spell isn't unique to Red Mage, as White Mage also learns this natively, and earlier even. However, it is pretty much a "god tier" spell in that it is optimal and indispensable in every conceivable situation the moment it is unlocked, with the exception of perhaps pet-job activities, and even then it's useful.
This spell will increase melee attack speed by 15%, it will also decrease recast timers by 15%, making it an exceptional buff for front-line and back-line jobs alike. 
==== - Dispel: ====
* Level Required: 32.
* MP Cost: 25.
* Effect Strength: N/A.
*Element: Dark (Dark Weather, Dark's Day, and Dark Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
As the name may suggest, this spell will remove a positive effect from an enemy, such as Haste, Attack Boost, Defense Boost, and so on. This spell is unique to Red Mage, however it can be used by other jobs when Red Mage is sub-classed. In addition, Blue Mage and Bard have their own forms of Dispel. but it's worth mentioning nonetheless.
It is also worth noting that this spell is inherently incredibly accurate, due to having more "checks" in the land rate formula. To put it simply, there are additional chances to sucessfully land the spell. The majority of the games spells only get the one check, but Dispel (and a select few others, such as Stun) get three checks, which effectively means three chances within the equation to produce a successfully landed spell. This is the reason spells such as Dispel, and Stun, were pretty easy to land even with jobs that did not inherently have Enfeebling/Dark Magic skill, such as NIN/DRKs regularly landing Stun on even things of HNM-level, despite not having any native ability in Dark Magic.
==== - Gravity: ====
* Level Required: 21.
* MP Cost: 24.
* Effect Strength: 26%.
*Element: Wind (Wind Weather, Wind's Day, and Wind Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
Another spell of Red Mage's unique arsenal, but again, can be used by other jobs sub-classing it. This spell will reduce an enemies Movement Speed by 26%, effectively reducing their normal speed of movement by slightly over half. Very effective for kiting purposes and crowd control, many enemies are quite susceptible to this spell, though there are some that are out-right immune or resistant, but that is limited to powerful end-game enemies, for the most part. All notorious monsters in this game however, have the inherent ability to build resistance against Gravity after awhile, some much quicker than others. 
In an outgoing note, Gravity has a secondary, hidden effect that also reduces an enemies evasion by 10, if it lands, making it a nice "debuff" for physical damager dealers as well.
==== - Stoneskin: ====
* Required Level: 34.
* MP Cost: 29.
* Effect Strength: varies with current Mind and Enhancing Magic skill upon casting. 
*Element: Earth (Earth potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Earth Staff have no barring on this spell).
Another exceptional, but not unique spell native to Red Mage's arsenal. This spell will absorb a certain amount of magic and/or physical damage, effectively acting as a supplementing "HP shield", you can think of it as an over-shield or something of similar description from other games, a HP shield to protect your actual HP, in essence. 
The amount this absorbs is dependant on your Mind and Enhancing Magic skill together. This spell has a hard cap, and at Lv.75 Red Mage, this spell is fairly easy to cap, you merely need 271~ Enhancing Magic skill, and 85~ MND. 
When capped, Stoneskin is worth approximately 350 points of damage, this can be increased over the hard cap, by 30 points, when equipped with the "Stone Gorget" item, for a total value of 380 points. 
==== - Aquaveil: ====
* Required Level: 12.
* MP Cost: 12.
* Effect Strength: 25%.
*Element: Water (Water potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Water Staff have no barring on this spell).
This is perhaps the most underrated of Red Mage' spells, albeit, it's not unique to Red Mage as White Mage also obtains it natively. This spell will give you a 25% chance for any spell, be it enhancing, black magic, ninjustsu or even summoning, to not be interrupted by enemy attacks. Even by itself, this spell is quite strong, but the real strength comes with stacking equipment and merits of the same effect, all the way to 100%, achieving this makes it so an enemy is incapable of interrupting you. It cant be overstated how powerful this is, especially for tanking with Utsusemi shadows. 
==== - Blink: ====
* Required Level: 23.
* MP Cost: 20.
* Effect Strength: random. 
*Element: Wind (Wind potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Wind Staff have no barring on this spell).
This spell is similar to that of Utsusemi from the Ninja job, in that it will create shadows that absorb attacks for you. However, unlike Utsusemi, it has a pretty long cast time, it doesn't grant as many shadows (2, as opposed to Utsusemi's 3), and it doesn't activate 100% of the time, like Utsusemi shadows do. 
Has pretty good use however, when you aren't sub-classing Ninja and in a supporting capacity, it's never a bad idea to have Blink active, in case you cause the enemy to attack you by generating enough enmity on it. It can also be used pre-emptively when tanking, when you're down on your last Utsusemi shadow, and you know the timers for both Utsusemi's are down, it's good practice to cast this while you have one shadow left, so that when that last Utsusemi shadow is consumed, Blink shadows will be up shortly after, giving you some chance to absorb further attacks while you wait on Utsusemi timers. This can be life-saving, and has saved me many, many times. 
- Slow: 
* Required Level: 13. 
* MP Cost: 15. 
* Effect Strength: varies with current Mind vs. an enemies Mind. 
*Element: Earth (Earth Weather, Earth's Day, and Earth Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
Effective enfeebling magic spell, this spell will reduce an enemies attacking speed. It has a secondary effect of increasing recast timers of those inflicted, however, this does not apply to monsters, only players. 
Base strength of this spell is 7.3%, and it caps at 29.2%. As the maximum potency of this spell entirely depends on your current Mind vs. the enemies upon casting, it's difficult to know just how much Mind you need, as each enemy has differing values of Mind. As such, it's typically good practice to make two different equipment sets for this spell, one that contains a moderate amount of Mind, and a lot of Enfeebling Magic skill to help land easier on resistant enemies, and another that will land pretty easily enough without a full-focus on Enfeebling Magic, focusing on Mind instead to maximize the strength of the slow effect.
This spell has an upgraded version, that you can only obtain through meriting Red Mage, and can only be used on Red Mage. Naturally, it's a stronger effect than the regular version, and will overwrite the regular version, even if the Slow II effect is weaker, due to inferior equipment/merit level.
==== - Paralyze: ====
* Required Level: 6.
* MP Cost: 6.
* Effect Strength: varies with current Mind vs. an enemies Mind. 
* Element: Ice (Ice Weather, Ice's Day, and Ice Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
Similar to Slow, in that it's maximum effectiveness is dependant on your current Mind upon casting, vs your enemies. The base activation chance is 5%, and caps at 25% with enough Mind. Same idea with Slow, players create two kinds of sets, a "potency" set to land on easier enemies, and a resistant set, catered towards more resilient enemies.
When activated, an enemies auto-attack, magic spell, or ranged attack will be interrupted and wont occur (the latter is hidden in the log). The effects of this for players can also activate upon using a consumable item or job ability, so keep that in mind. 
This spell has an upgraded version, that you can only obtain through meriting Red Mage, and can only be used on Red Mage. Naturally, it's a stronger effect than the regular version. As with Slow II, Paralyze II will overwrite the regular version, even if the regular version was a stronger activation chance.
==== - Blind: ====
* Level Required: 8.
* MP Cost: 5.
* Effect Strength: varies with current Intelligence vs. an enemies Mind.
* Element: Dark (Dark Weather, Dark's Day, and Dark Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
Again, similar to Slow and Paralyze in terms of increasing it's effectiveness. Minimum effect is accuracy -5, with the maximum being -50. In the right situations, this spell can be very strong, though there are also a good number of cases where it will do quite little, as an enemies accuracy is just so high this does little to help with that. 
An amazing spell for your Thief, Ninja, Monk or even Samurai companions though, when stacking evasion, and lowering an enemies accuracy, amounts to something feasibly worthwhile. 
This spell has an upgraded version, that you can only obtain through meriting Red Mage, and can only be used on Red Mage. Naturally, it's a stronger effect than the regular version. Again and as with the other two debilitation spells, Blind II will overwrite Blind I, even if the latters effect is stronger.
==== - Dia: ====
* Required Level: 1.
* MP Cost: 7.
* Effect Strength: 1 damage, every 3 seconds. Decreases enemy defense by 5.27%.
* Element: (Light potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Light Staff will increase the initial damage this spell does, but not the damage over time effect, or the defense down effect).
Amazing spell for experience point parties, and just generally whenever you're playing with physical damage dealers. The spell Bio is this spells opposite, and Bio will overwrite Dia completely. 
==== - Dia II: ====
* Required Level: 31.
* MP Cost: 30.
* Effect Strength: 2 damage, every 3 seconds. Decreases enemy defense by 10.27%.
* Element: Light (Light potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Light Staff will increase the initial damage this spell does, but not the damage over time effect, or the defense down effect).
Upgraded tier of Dia, again great for experience point parties, and just generally whenever you're playing with physical damage dealers. The spell Bio is this spells opposite, and Bio II will overwrite Dia II completely, however Dia II will overwrite Bio I. When Dia II is actively on the enemy, a Corsair using Light Shot will increase the Defense Down effect to 15.27%.
==== - Dia III: ====
* Required Level: 75 (merit spell).
* MP Cost: 45.
* Effect Strength: 3 damage, every 3 seconds. Decreases enemy defense by 15%.
* Element: Light (Light potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Light Staff will increase the initial damage this spell does, but not the damage over time effect, or the defense down effect).
Upgraded tier of Dia II. I didn't feel the need to make separate mentions of the merit spell versions of Phalanx, Slow, Paralyze and Blind as they're pretty straight-forward in what they do, but this spell could use some deeper analysis. 
Honestly, this spell is very strong. there aren't many ways by which to reduce an enemies defense, as such this is quite the hefty debuff, and can be very desirable, and important, for "TP burn" strategies in particular, but it's really good to have anywhere you have physical damage dealers, quite frankly. Even better, Corsair's Light Shot ability will increase this effect to 20% defense down when used after Dia III is applied, very strong.
Base duration of this spell is 30 seconds, and is increased by another 30 seconds with each following merit, for a total duration of 150 seconds.
As with the other forms of Dia, Bio is it's opposite, and Bio III will overwrite Dia III completely, but Bio II cannot overwrite Dia III.
==== - Bio: ====
* Required Level: 10.
* MP Cost: 15.
* Effect Strength: the damage over time effect strength varies with your Dark Magic, this spell will also reduce enemy attack by 5.27%.
* Element: Dark (Dark potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Dark Staff will increase the initial damage of this spell, but not the damage over time effect, or reduced attack effect).
A pretty good spell for solo play, particularly at the lower levels, but as it overwrites Dia I, not at all recommended for experience point parties. You may even before Dia when solo if you're meleeing, particularly again at the lower levels.
The initial damage over time effect starts at two damage every three seconds, and caps at three damage every three seconds with high enough Dark Magic skill.
==== - Bio II: ====
* Required Level: 36.
* MP Cost: 36.
* Effect Strength: the damage over time effect strength varies with your Dark Magic, this spell will also reduce enemy attack by 10.01%.
* Element: Dark (Dark potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Dark Staff will increase the initial damage of this spell, but not the damage over time effect, or reduced attack effect).
This version of Bio is actually pretty great, and has some decent end game applications. It's still not recommended in experience point parties or basically anywhere you have physical damage dealer jobs present, but for solo play, particularly at Lv.75 where you generally aren't dealing physical damage to gain the benefits of Dia's defense down, it's pretty solid. 
The attack down is actually pretty considerable, and again as similar with Dia, there are very few ways in this game by which to reduce an enemies attack directly. This attack down can see applications when you're fighting something that isn't actively being physically damaged, but tanked and "mana-burned" down. The attack down can potentially reduce some of the damage the enemy does, and the increased damage over time will make the fight somewhat faster. With Dark Shot applied afterwards by a Corsair, the Attack Down effect is increased to 15.01%. 
Your Dark Magic skill will increase the amount of damage over time this spell does, the max Dark Magic Skill Red Mage can achieve without merits is 236 at Lv.75 (otherwise it's 252 with max Dark Magic Skill merits). The damage over time for this spell works in tiers, as shown below.
Even with max merits, Red Mage would not be able to reach the next tier of 7 damage per tick, however, main job Black Mage would be able to.
==== - Bio III: ====
* Required Level: 75 (merit spell).
* MP Cost: 54.
* Effect Strength: the damage over time effect strength varies with your Dark Magic, this spell will also reduce enemy attack by 15% 
* Element: Dark (Dark potency effects through weather, day of the week, or Dark Staff will increase the initial damage of this spell, but not the damage over time effect, or reduced attack effect).
Bio II, but better basically. You would use it in the same situations as Bio II noted above, whether this is worth the limited merit allocation to gain, is up to you. Image below will show you how much more damage over time you can get from this version over past iterations, note that in this "era" Red Mages absolute max obtainable Dark Magic skill is 252, max merits included, as well as equipment not yet obtainable on Eden (Dark Earring). As with Bio II, Dark Shot will increase the Attack Down effect to 20%, when Bio is actively on an enemy at the time of using the shot.
==== - Poison: ====
* Required Level: 5.
* MP Cost: 5.
* Effect Strength: four damage every three seconds.
* Element: Water (Water Weather, Water's Day, and Water Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
Not too much to say here, ok spell at low level, though the duration is quite low, but it stacks with all other damage over time effects so there is that.
Current information on typical FFXI wikipedias suggest this spell scales with Enfeebling Magic, however this is not true for our "era". The damage over time effect is static at four damage every three seconds, regardless of your Enfeebling Magic skill.
==== - Poison II: ====
* Required Level: 46.
* MP Cost: 38.
* Effect Strength: ten damage every three seconds.
* Element: Water (Water Weather, Water's Day, and Water Staff improve the land rate for this spell further).
Significantly better than Poison I, both in damage and duration, and no reason not to cast this unless you plan on sleeping an enemy, as it stacks with all other damage over time effects.
As with Poison I, current information on typical FFXI wikipedias suggest this spell scales with Enfeebling Magic, however this is not true for our "era". The damage over time effect is static at ten damage every three seconds, regardless of your Enfeebling Magic skill.
== Sub Jobs options ==
Red Mage has a good few sub-class options, ranging from extremely niche to extremely good, staring with the most niche:
-Warrior:
There's not a whole lot to say here really, the best use is the job ability "Provoke" for claiming purposes, or if for whatever you reason, you were hell-bent on making RDM tank in the earlier levels, it would be useful for that as well. Other than that, access to the job abilities "Berserk" to increase physical attack, as well as access to "Defender" to increase physical defense somewhat, in addition to some decent traits for physical damage in general. Grants Red Mage access to the sword weapon skill "Vorpal Blade", that it cannot use natively.
Ultimately, I wouldn't use this for anything more than provoke. Sub-classing Ninja would be better for physical damage per second, and there are other sub-class options for better mitigation than Defender.
-Thief:
Again, not much to say here. Used to gain the Treasure Hunter I (TH1) job trait from Thief, that increases enemy drop rates. Pretty much it, though a case could potentially be made as a claiming tool as well, as sub-classing Thief would allowing you to see enemy locations on the in-game radar, and it does give you a job ability claim "Steal", albeit at very limited range, and "Flee", temporarily increasing your movement speed from 50% to 100%, for 30 seconds.
-Paladin:
This is very niche, but actually has a few useful end game applications. RDM/PLD is useful for tanking the end-game enemy "Jailer of Love", who is pretty much always stationary and not attacking you with melee hits, making shadows not really necessary. Gives access to Flash, which is a very nice enmity spell, and the job ability Sentinel, which is weaker when sub-classed, but is still quite a useful ability for some quick and decent mitigation for when the astral-flowed adds come out, it also gives you the Auto-Refresh, and the Resist-Sleep trait, which is niche, but can be useful.
Paladin is also a good sub-class for RDM when tanking Ouryu v2, the uncapped end-game battle version. Conventional strategies for this battle sleep Ouryu when he's grounded, making Utsusemi-tanking redundant for the most part, so you gain Flash for a great enmity option, as well as Sentinel and again, Auto-Refresh. You may also make a case for essentially anything you're kiting with Gravity, such as King Behemoth, Jailer of Fortitude, Jailer of Temperance, Kirin, etc (assuming you aren't soloing them.). In those cases, as they're being "kited" with Gravity on, Utsusemi shadows and such are, for the most part, pretty redundant -- so sub-classing Paladin to gain access to some quick enmity spike tools, such as Flash and Sentinel, can come in handy to keep them off your Black Mages more effectively.
-Blue Mage:
This sub-class is great for situations you'd want to "super tank", which is when you're tanking multiple weak-ish enemies at once, making Utsusemi-tanking worthless. Cocoon is a very powerful defensive spell, increasing defense by 50%. Combined with Defense food, Phalanx, Protect, and -% Physical Damage Taken equipment (PDT), you can bring down hordes of Lv80+ trash-level enemies attacks to single-digits, if not 0.
-Black Mage:
Top tier sub-class, offering access to Sleepga that will significantly improve ones ability to crowd control. In addition, it also gives access to some nice utility such as Drain and Aspir, as well as improving magic damage when you're using that as a means of killing something.
Elemental damage over time spells(DoT spells), such as Choke, Rasp, Frost, etc are great. Enables the job ability "Elemental Seal", which is situationally amazing to land Slow II or Sleep on particular resistant end game monsters, it's a one-use ability on a 10 minute recast, casting a spell with this active will essentially ensure the spells success, providing the enemy isn't immune to that spell, or hasn't built heavy resistance on the spell due to repeated casts in quick succession.
Also, free warp yo.
This sub-class is a must.
-Dark Knight:
Top tier sub-class, this sub class is used for essentially one thing and one thing only, but it's use is paramount in some battles. Sub-classing Dark Knight will give you access to the spell "Stun", which prevents an enemy from taking any actions for 1~ second, it will also interrupt TP moves and prevent them from executing at all, if cast when an enemy is readying an ability. Combined with Red Mages' Chainspell ability, you can effectively lock-down a monster for 1 minute, this is extremely powerful for "zergs", and pretty much a necessity for some battles.
Certain absorb spells could also be nichely useful, with the best-in-slot (BIS) Dark Magic Skill set Red Mage can obtain in this "era", absorb spells can absorb up to 17 points of an attribute, which is actually pretty significant, as it takes it away from the enemy as well, making it exceptionally easier to cap the potency of Slow and Paralyze spells with Absorb-MND.
Absorb-VIT and Absorb-AGI could also be useful for your physical damage dealers, but probably in most cases that you bring /DRK, you aren't likely to get the opportunity to cast these. However I can think of a few cases, such as perhaps: Proto-Omega, Proto-Ultima, Cerberus, and Khimaira (granted on the latter two, it would be exceptionally difficult to land). these are battles you don't typically "zerg", but where a Red Mage stunning could be useful, depending on the availability of Dark Knights and Black Mages.
This sub-class is very valuable, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily a must, it depends entirely on what you plan on doing end game-wise, and how many Red Mages have this available, but it really cant hurt to have.
-White Mage:
Most likely the sub-class you will spend the most time on, particularly as a support-role only Red Mage, gives access to a kinda weak, but serviceable area of effect healing spell (Curaga II), as well as the all important status removal spells, such as Paralyna, Silena, Erase, etc. 
Gives you the job ability "Divine Seal", this ability doubles the potency of your next healing spell, it's one-use with a recast timer of 10 minutes. Essentially a Cure IV will land in the 800s or so with this up in a decent healing equip set. Typical practice with this ability is to use it after you convert, so you can pretty much full heal yourself with just one Cure IV, saving MP.
Also, teleports yo.
This sub-class is a must.
-Ninja:
And finally we have Ninja, an unrivalled sub-class for tanking, generally speaking. This sub-class is simply amazing and does much for many jobs, but for Red Mage it is quite unbalanced. Square-Enix made a mistake allowing Utsusemi: Ni to be used as a sub-class, as a result combined with the tools Red Mage already had, especially native Fast Cast, in addition to equipment with large sums of Fast Cast, a complete monster was born of it, wielding it better than Ninja itself. 
This sub-class grants access to two spells of note, Utsusemi: Ichi, and Utsusemi: Ni. These spells work in similar fashion to Blink in that they grant you shadows that will absorb physical attacks for you. The difference is Utsusemi shadows guarantee you evade the physical attack, blink shadows do not. You're granted three shadows per use of these two spells, and they will absorb physical attacks, and physical TP abilities, directed at you. Thanks to Red Mages' native Fast Cast traits and equipment, along with Haste equipment Red Mage is able to keep these shadows up with very little down time, effectively shielding them from typically the most dangerous attacks in the game. There are a few exceptions though, the shadows will not absorb area of effect magic, such as firaga, sleepga, etc. These spells will wipe the shadows, as well deal full damage to you. There are as well, magical TP abilities that will do the same thing, they will however, shield you from single-target magic spells and abilities, with the exception of the spell "Death" that is single-target, bypasses any and all shadows, and will incapacitate you.
-Summoner:
Honestly, this sub-class is deceptively good, and for the most part, it only does a single thing, gives you the Auto-Refresh job trait. Summoner gets this at Lv.25, much sooner than Paladin's Lv35, in terms of how this effects your main class. So by sub-classing Summoner, you will obtain this trait at Lv.50 RDM, as opposed to Lv.70 RDM via Paladin. For how this is useful as opposed to other sub-class options, it's a little niche, but it comes into play when you aren't dealing with enemies/content that are debilitating (debuffing) your party, warranting sub-classing White Mage for the -na spells/erase. A prominent example of this is EXP-parties, specifically, the highly demanded Lesser/Colibri camps. For the Greater Colibri camp specifically, sub-classing White Mage would be more ideal due to these Colibri variants possessing the ability to mimic player spellcasting. This would be to erase effects such as Dia, and, although your Bard probably should not be casting it, Elegy that are casted on the Colibri, that are then casted back on to players by the Colibri itself. In addition, you'll likely be fighting the local Wivre as well, and erasing the attack down debuff they inflict is important. As a rule of thumb though, in places you don't need the benefits of sub-classing White Mage and Black Mage, or any other sub-class options for that matter. sub-classing Summoner is a pretty good choice, more Refresh is always nice, and we know how good that effect actually is, over time. You may also put to use the actual Summoner abilities, but summoning avatars and using them is largely ineffective as a sub-class when dealing with enemies higher level than your sub-class. Still, you might be able to make some sparing use of pulling or kiting using an avatar, or using the various support bloodpact abilities, such as Glittering Ruby -- again though, very limited use, if this is worth doing at all, really.
== Merits ==
Merits are a system on how you can improve your character even further, after it has reached max level. It's worth noting however that Merits are limited in allocation, therefor careful thought and consideration is necessary when planning them.
There are two categories to merits.
Character-specific merits:
These merits will have an effect on any job that you play, they're universal in nature.
Job-specific merits:
These merits are tied only to the specific job, and are not accessible from other jobs.
Starting with Character specific merits, the sub-categories are:
"HP and MP": You get to merit this sub-category up to eight times, choosing either MP or HP. Each merit will give you +10 to each stat respectively. Honestly, there isn't really a right or wrong here, and this kind of applies to much of meriting as a whole, a lot of it is personal preference, especially when it comes to these character-specific merits. As a Tarutaru tank, either Paladin or otherwise, the obvious answer may be eight points into HP (and if you were to build Excalibur, I would 100% agree with this), that being said, going 8/8 MP, even as Tarutaru isn't a bad idea either, especially for jobs like Black Mage, Summoner, and White Mage, but it can still be put to use even on the very well MP-managed Red Mage. I did personally do 8/8 HP though, as a Tarutaru, though this decision was made on the fact I will never play anything other than Red Mage on Elysien, that I frequently tank on as well.
For Galka it may be more clear-cut to go for MP, particularly if you only plan on playing mages, but more HP on even the likes of Galka can be useful for melee/tank jobs, especially something like Dark Knight, or again, Excalibur-wielding, due to how that weapons additional effect functions, and how HP is fundamentally tied to a Dark Knights arsenal. 
"Attributes": The total point allocation here is five, and each point into an attribute will increase that attribute by 1. Again here, very dependant on what you actually plan on playing, but typically here, either Intelligence or Strength are generally considered to be the most commonly accepted "meta" when it comes to this particular sub-category. I'd say that if you have any desire to play a melee job, just go 5/5 on Strength. 
"Combat Skills": The total point allocations here are twenty, and each skill can receive up to eight points, so you could put eight into two skills, and four more into another. Each point will increase the combat skill in question by two skill levels. Honestly, the only reason I'm even mentioning this sub-category on a Red Mage guide is for the sake of it really. This character-specific category is very important for melee jobs, so if you plan to play any of them, dedicate this category to them. For Red Mage specifically, if you happen to be a weirdo like Elysien and only plan on ever playing Red Mage, Sword and Dagger are good I suppose--I'm not much of a melee Red Mage, and you aren't going to see much mention of it in this guide at all, but I do have a few uses for a certain melee strategy on Red Mage involving the use of an item called "Ceremonial Dagger", so by that light, some dagger merits may be good for the added accuracy (granted, the strategy involving the ceremonial dagger involves the desire to hit 0, and combat skills also increase attack when wielding that weapon, so caution advised there). 
I'll make a shout-out to Kraken Club though, if you happen to own one of these and use it on your Red Mage, definitely get those club merits. 
"Magic Skills": Total point allocation here is 16, you can put eight into each skill, and each point increases that skill level by 2. If you plan on playing Red Mage as a "main", putting eight into Enfeebling Magic is paramount, period. Doesn't just help with landing spells on the most resistant enemies in your max magic accuracy sets, it also makes wielding "potency" sets much more effective and viable, as well as other certain sets, more on that below. Even as a "main" Black Mage, it wouldn't be a bad idea, due to their prominent use of the Sleep-line of spells, and other enfeeblings. After that you have eight more points to allocate, if you plan on playing Bard seriously, you're going to want to seriously consider putting this into Singing Skill, but Elemental Magic is also very considerable for both Red Mage and Black Mage especially. Sadly, wanting to "main", or take seriously all three of those jobs is somewhat difficult, you will need to make some sacrifices; I think the least damning, if you did desire to play all three of those jobs to a strong level, would be 4/8 Enfeebling Magic, 4/8 Elemental Magic, and 8/8 Singing, as the latter isn't just tied to the accuracy of songs, but also song strength of certain songs. 
I myself actually did 8/8 Enfeebling Magic, and 8/8 Enhancing Magic, the latter is for a specialized reason, I don't plan to play other jobs, and I don't actually cast Elemental Magic on my Red Mage very often. The extra Enhancing Magic is to increase my Bar-spell potency for when I'm solo, but it's also to allow me to not have to swap out of certain high-HP equipment, in order to reach the cap on Phalanx and Stoneskin when I'm tanking. As I said, this is a pretty specialized reason, I would not advocate this to anyone unless they're very similar to me. 
"Other": Total point allocation here is eight, and each statistic in this sub-category can receive a maximum of 4 points each. This sub-category is actually quite significant, if you ever want to play a physical damage dealer job, an absolute answer is to put the first four into Critical Hit Rate, no brainer there. The other four points are a bit dependant. If you don't ever plan to tank, you can go ahead and just stick them into -Enmity. However, if you plan to ever tank, I'm going to highly recommend you put the last four into Spell Interruption Down Rate. The reason for this is these merits are an absolute necessity to make a very good 100% non-interruptible casting build (SID builds for short). 
You might be thinking as a tank, you want that +Enmity, and you're kinda sorta not wrong in your idea of thinking, however, the Spell Interruption Down Rate is simply a much better use of this limited point allocation. Moreover, the plus four Enmity that you get for 4/4'ing +Enmity really isn't all that significant, especially when you reach, or hover near, the hate cap, which occurs pretty quickly on Red Mage especially, when you try to. 
If you're like me though, and don't ever plan on playing a melee job, but plan on tanking, you can go ahead and do 4/4 on +Enmity, and 4/4 on Spell Interruption Rate Down. 
On to Job-specific merits, and the cause of much debate: 
It's here again where I preface this with there isn't technically a wrong answer, there is a niche for every option. Ultimately, you'll need to make the decision on what best accommodates your team(s), and how often it comes into play, the latter is an important part of your decision here. 5/5'ing Blind II is great and all, but how often are you really making good use of it, as opposed to potential other options? 
There are two sub-categories in the Job-specific category, "Group 1" and "Group 2". Each Group allow you to allocate up to ten points total, with the abilities being able to be allocated 5 points to max. 
Group II: 
It's easier to talk about Group II first, as what you choose in Group II sort of dictates what you should do in Group I. 
The options here are Phalanx II, Blind II, Slow II, Paralyze II, Dia III, and Bio III. 
All of these can be useful, some more so than others. I'm going to preface this by saying typically, it really isn't worth doing just two or three into these spells in my opinion, if you do, they end up barely, if at all, better than the "NQ" versions of the spell, (with the exception of Dia and Bio, their only benefit to more point allocations is their duration) making your merit point allocation potentially wasteful. My personal belief here is you should probably choose two to 5/5, and that's that, but there are definitely good arguments for other combinations. 
For example, a spell at 4/5 is notably better than the "NQ" version (with the exception of Phalanx II), and you can make a case for Dia III and Phalanx II, that you may only require 1/5 into these.) 
For Dia III, 1/5 means a thirty second duration, at 45 MP per cast, it's extremely expensive to keep having to cast this, however, in a "zerg" battle that typically end very quickly, the thirty seconds isn't too big a deal. That being said though, you'd probably want to 2/5 Dia III, unless you're confident your group can end the fight in approximately thirty seconds, or less. 
For Phalanx II, at 1/5 it's exceptionally weaker than the "NQ" Phalanx, however it stills retains it's ability to be cast on other players, so it's still kind of decent. This spell in particular is pretty good to cast on a Paladin super-tanker, that do not have Phalanx native to them, and typically sub-class BLU for Cocoon. Honestly though? Phalanx II as a whole is only really good for that exact kind of scenario, Phalanx II, even at 5/5, doesn't really do much to help a Paladin, Ninja, or melee tank when they're fighting enemies that hit for hundreds of damage even after a lot of -PDT equipment. So unless you have a Paladin who frequently does super-tank many weakish enemies at once, I'd give a pass on Phalanx II entirely, there are better options available to help reduce the damage enemies can deal to your party, such as slowing them down better. 
You may make the case of "Well, my linkshell has so many Red Mages already that have 5/5 Slow II, 5/5 Paralyze II, etc" -- sure, that's probably true, but trust me, and this is particularly true if you partake in "HNM-camping", you're going to run into many times when it may just be you whose around, available to Slow II. And in some cases having a bunch of Red Mages capable of casting Slow II and/or Paralyze II is a good thing, some of those nasties are exceptionally resistant to these spells, especially depending on how good your equipsets actually are. There is also end game content where you are going to be the only Red Mage there, and Slow II is certainly more effective at reducing "boss" damage, than Phalanx II+Slow I. 
With Blind II, it can either be really good, or quite mediocre. This one depends a lot on how casual you are, if you don't do much end game content, and only really do mid-range difficulty NMs for the most part, such as Charybis, Bune, Serket, Capricious Cassie, Big Bomb and NMs of that kind of "tier", Blind II is actually very strong, as it is pretty easy to evade these enemies without much support, so Blind II makes a genuinely worthwhile difference. But if those NMs are kind of sideshow to your more frequent routine of Sky Gods, Sea Jailers, HNMs, Limbus Bosses and what not, Blind II really sees it's value fall, as evasion tanking isn't often the optimal choice, or choice in general, for those encounters. That being said though, a Ninja with a max evasion build, and buffs such as Mambos and Ninja Roll, can effectively evasion tank essentially every monster in the game (bar stupid things like AV/PW), so Blind II can be quite powerful in this case, if you're inclined to strategies of that nature -- those tend to be quite lowman strategies though, the more players you're able to bring, the more strategies such as that fall in effectiveness. 
Bio III is very much a solo-only spell, frankly I believe this to be a very weak option, but it entirely depends on how much party play you do with others, and how much solo play you do. The more solo endeavours you do, the better this spell may be, as the damage over time is pretty good. If you're going to do this spell, you really want it at least 4/5, it's expensive, and it may only be MP efficient at this point. Personally, I'd just take the slightly inferior Bio II, but I can't fault someone for forgoing perhaps better options in terms of surviving for increased kill speed if they're confident, as someone who does enjoy speed kills and taking part in speed records, and there maybe something to say about the attack down it has over Bio II. 
And now we come to Slow and Paralyze, I guess you could say these are the "big boys", at least that's what most people would say. To cap the potency on Paralyze II, you require 40 MND over an enemies MND, this will give you a 34% paralysis rate (25% for normal Paralyze). For Slow I and II, you will need 75 MND over an enemies to cap potency, the result being 39.1% attack speed reduction (29.2% for Slow I). For now on Eden, a best in slot MND-potency set will contain +72 MND, and depending on your race, your base MND will fall somewhere in the high 50's to high 60's at Lv.75 for a total of around 128~135 depending on race. Many enemies, including HNM/endgame bosses, have their mind in the 60-70 ranges, which Paralyze, and Paralyze II, can cap on. However, it would be quite a deal harder or even impossible for Slow/Slow II. especially with some enemies whose MND soars up to the 80s or even 100s or so, until our Mind builds are better, such as being able to acquire such items like Morrigan's Pigaches/Slops, Muse Tariqah, etc, On HNM/most endgame bosses particularly, I wouldn't use Paralyze II on them in a potency build unless I had Elemental Seal up, it will resist very often, and it's quite an expensive spell, same applies to Slow II, though most HNM at least, are much more susceptible to Slow than they are Paralyze. There are some that it will land on pretty easily though, such as the limbus bosses "Proto-Omega" and "Proto-Ultima". 
In my honest opinion, Paralyze II is overrated. For starters, it's only 9% stronger than "NQ" Paralyze at 5/5 and at max potency (Mind build). A max Paralyze I will occur 1/4 (25%), which itself is quite considerable; the extra 9% just doesn't really change much when you're dealing with a rate that good already, at the expense of other options for your merits. Furthermore, many end game enemies are either extremely resistant to Paralyze as a whole, even in a max magic accuracy set, or are just out right immune to it. Slow I/II can land on basically everything bar a few exceptional enemies of note, and Slow II is actually exceptionally better than Slow I at 5/5, even if it doesn't really seem like it is. 
Overall, I think it's almost objective to say every Red Mage should 5/5 Slow II, the other 5 points are fine to use as you see fit, would be my honest advice. 
Something like: 
* 5/5 Slow II. 
* 4/5 Paralyze II. 
* 1/5 Dia III. 
Would be good for a end game Red Mage, though this would assume your Linkshell can typically end a zerg fight quickly, if it cant, 5/5 Slow II, 3/5 Paralyze, 2/5 Dia III isn't an awful decision either, though your Paralyze II's at max are only 7% better than regular Paralyze at this point. 
As it happens, this is my choice--I have Dia III 5/5 and Slow II 5/5, but I'm so rarely playing solo, and I'm not often in a situation where Blind II would be good often either. I'm either killing something "dual-boxed", at which point a long-lasting Dia III is great. Or perhaps killing a NM/HNM of particular strength outside of zerging, typically with melee, of which again, a long-lasting Dia III is great, or low-man content where there is only one Red Mage, again, long Dia III's are great. It's true that you only need one Red Mage around with 5/5 Dia III in a lot of cases, certainly. On paper it sounds reasonable to collaborate with your Linkshells Red Mages on what they should bring merit-wise, but in practice, it might not work out. Those same people may be asked to come another job suddenly to fit the needs of the LS at that moment, aren't actively online, quit, or anything else under the sun to make that collaboration not effectively work. Then there is also certainly times where there will only be one Red Mage in certain low-man content of note. 
Group I: 
There is just one objectively right answer here, and it's a no-brainer; 5/5 Convert recast. I'm not even going to elaborate why. Do it, period. 
For your last 5 points into this group, it's kind of debatable, and there is an argument to be made for some, but by process of elimination, Fire, Water, and Lightning Magic accuracy are not good options, do not do these. You may think Lightning Magic accuracy may be good for some niche in Chainspell-stunning, but trust me, it isn't. Stun is similar to Dispel, it's granted multiple checks or "chances", making it inherently easier to land. Typically you will only resist Stun when an enemy is building a resistance to it (or if you're just very unlucky and hit that base hard land rate cap of 95% for all magic), such as the Khimaira-species, or Bahamut v2. In these two cases, the increased Lightning Magic accuracy will not even help you to land more often, with resistance building, the ceiling is being lowered, in other words you're being hard-capped to a lower value than 95%. 
For example, for an enemy that hasn't built any resistance yet (or has direct Thunder "SDT"/resistance as a base which does not decay, such as Thunder Elementals, etc), the magic land rate hard cap is 95% (you will always have a 5% chance to fail, regardless of your magic accuracy, similar to the physical accuracy cap.) Let's assume you have enough magic accuracy to reach this hard cap of 95%, now let's assume resistance was occurring due to repeated cast of a certain element a monster gains resistance to, in the case of the Khimaira-species, it's Thunder. The hard-cap is now 85% as a result of repeated Stun spells in short succession, your magic accuracy hasn't been lowered per se, it's still the same amount, and no more additional magic accuracy is going to help you surmount this, as it is a new (temporary) active hard cap, which you will still have a max land rate with, in the sense the land rate just cannot get better than 85% in this case. Therefor, Lightning Magic Accuracy merits are not useful in this case, because Stun is inherently quite an accurate spell to begin with, in a good Stun build you should easily meet capped land rates at any point for essentially every monster, without these Thunder Magic accuracy merits. 
So what's left is Earth, Ice, and Wind Magic accuracy. To be honest, in a similar fashion to Stun and Lightning Magic accuracy, you could argue that Wind Magic accuracy is good for landing Gravity. Gravity is typically easy to land, but it is very dependant on your equipment. Unlike Stun, it only has the one resist check, so it is a lot easier for enemies to resist, however notorious monsters also build a resistance to Gravity, lowering it's hard cap land rate in the same fashion as Stun as discussed above. I'm not saying Wind Magic accuracy merits are worthless, but I do find when your equipment reaches a certain point, it isn't as useful as the other two options, because generally when you're getting resists on gravity, it isn't because you don't have enough magic accuracy, it is simply that your land rate is capped lower, but you're still probably maxed to that cap. 
And now we're left with Ice and Earth. Both of these two are good. To be honest, what you do here depends on what you've chosen to do in Group II. If in Group II, you decided to Paralyze II, it makes sense that you'd want to maximize it's land rate, and merit Ice Magic accuracy. If you chosen both Slow II and Paralyze II, it makes sense to kind of split it between them, and if you've only done Slow II between these two spells, then it's Earth Magic accuracy 5/5. 
== Equipment Sets ==
* First and foremost, obviously, these are end game sets, and in most cases are perhaps sets you should aim for, rather than things you can put together right now. I'm not going to bother running you through pre-75 equipment as I largely believe that it is pretty evident and self-explainatory as to what to use; essentially for the most part, just stack MND and MP, possibly consider some INT swaps too for "Chains of Promathia" missions. It's all auction house gear, so it's pretty apparent, just grab what's available, grab your artifact body and head especially, and your Lv.51 elemental staves. Early mage equipment is much less demanding than melee equipment, so don't be too ashamed about being cheap about it, your spells and MP are the biggest things.
*A lot of the equipment in these sets are what I use, and some of these sets are built with Tarutaru HP in mind, if you would like to build your sets off these examples, and aren't Tarutaru, it might be worth filling in the slots in question with equipment that you see more fitting. Some of these sets are by no means the definitive answer, but I'll try to mention what replacements could be made for other races when it's particularly Tarutaru-thought heavy. My tank sets are built to maintain me at 1300~1400 HP (food included).
* You'll see many high-quality items, often ranging from expensive to extremely expensive. Don't feel too inclined to have to get the HQ before you make such sets for your self, in almost every case the NQs of the HQs are perfectly fine, so if you're lacking the HQ, just use the NQ in it's place.
*Personally, I don't actually use ashita-cast, gearswap, or anything like that, and the reason for that is I simply prefer not to; the game is more fun for me that way. So with that said, below are equipment sets that I use, but as someone who would use ashitacast and such, you would use these sets differently, and in some cases wouldn't have that specific gear in place period, so that's worth keeping in mind. In general, you'll run a pre-cast/end-cast on all your spells, I'll include things like that to the best of my ability, but naturally as someone who hasn't actually used it, my general understanding of execution and getting the best out of it is limited at best.
*I rarely partake in "RDM melee", so I haven't included sets for these. That being said, I do know everything that is best to use, in what situation, so if people are interested in such sets, I could include these. Give me a shout! 
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Red Mage Pre Cast - pretty self explanatory, for you gearswap/ashitacast users, here is what you would pre-cast all your spells with. Worth noting that the "Fast Cast" trait does reduce spell recast timers when the spell is executed with it equipped, so you'll likely have this stuff in your endcast too, depending on the spell of course. Your end cast will look a lot like the sets I use below, assuming the equipment choices are agreeable to you -- though there will be some changes an ashita-cast/gearswap user would optimally make. Conserve MP only takes effect upon actual execution, that is to say, the spell must finish with it. I believe Spell Interruption Down effects must be equipped all the way through, but I do not know this for sure.
* Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
* Earring One Slot: Loquacious Earring
Notes: The high-quality versions for the Warlock's Chapeau and Duelist's Tabard do not offer any additional "Fast Cast" over the normal quality versions.
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Red Mage Support Healing - Cure spells are quite easy to soft-cap, so you can see slots are mostly filled with -enmity in them, as opposed to MND or Healing Magic Skill. Cure IV in particular is Red Mages best recovery spell, which generates a lot of "aggro/enmity", so it's more important in a supporting capacity to suppress that, rather than a few more points healed from more MND/Healing Skill. Total -Enmity: 47, -50 with Tamas Ring. (-Enmity caps at -50, so if you reach -50 due to merits and/or owning Tamas Ring, eliminates the need to own extremely rare items such as the Mahatma Cape) 
* Main Weapon: Apollo's Staff (NQ: Light Staff)
*Sub Weapon: Staff Strap
*Head Slot: Hydra Beret
*Body Slot: Goliard Saio
*Mantle Slot: Mahatma Cape (NQ: Errant Cape)
*Neck Slot: Healing Torque
*Hands Slot: Hydra Gloves
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Hydra Brais
*Feet Slot: Mahatma Pigaches (NQ: Errant Pigaches)
*Earring One Slot: Novia Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Magnetic Earring
*Ring One Slot: Aqua Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Serene Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb
Notes: I didn't choose Tamas Ring personally, but if you did, use that instead of the Aqua Ring. If you didn't choose Magnetic Earring, use Heaven's Earring +1 (NQ: Heaven's Earring). unless you're already at -50 Enmity, in which case use Loquacious Earring. The Raven Set is a very good alternative to the Hydra Set, the latter of which is of some difficulty to obtain, and in terms of -enmity, they're the exact same.
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Red Mage Tank Healing - Some enmity mixed in with equipment to increase the amount healed, cast/recast speed, as as well as some equipment for maintaining a certain level of HP
* Main Weapon: Apollo's Staff (NQ: Light Staff)
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Cerberus Mantle +1 (NQ: Cerberus Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Harmonia's Torque
*Hands Slot: Storm Manopolas
*Waist Slot: Steppe Sash
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Heroic Boots +1
*Earring One Slot: Hades Earring +1 (NQ: Hades Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Hades Earring +1 (NQ: Hades Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Sattva Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad
Notes: If you didn't choose Sattva Ring, you could instead use a Mermaid's Ring . The Steppe Belt is Tarutaru-only, instead you could just use a similar option, such as your own races Lv70 RSE belt, or simply Warwolf Belt for the additional enmity.
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Red Mage Enmity Spellcasting - The set used to cast Red Mages' enmity spells, again, some HP equipment for maintaining HP as usual. For other races, the Bomb Queen Ring can be a Mermaid Ring, the waist could be Warwolf Belt, or Trance Belt when we're able to obtain it. The legs could be Nashira Seraweels for some Haste. You will spend most of your time in this set, as well as swapping in and out of it, ultimately I favoured using the Dusk Hands and Feet over direct enmity+ options for maintaining my HP higher; the haste also slightly improves recasting speed. If you didn't take Sattva Ring, I would personally keep in the Bomb Queen Ring, and pair it with a Mermaid Ring. 
*Main Weapon: Macuahuitl +1 (NQ: Macuahuitl)
*Sub Weapon: Macuahuitl +1 (NQ: Macuahuitl)
*Head Slot: Baron's Chapeau 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Cerberus Mantle +1 (NQ: Cerberus Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Harmonia's Torque
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Steppe Sash
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Hades Earring +1 (NQ: Hades Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Hades Earring +1 (NQ: Hades Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Sattva Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
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Utsusemi: Ichi - With Aquaviel up, and 4/4 Spell Interruption Rate Down Merit, this set reaches 100%, you will never get interrupted. I can't stress enough how powerful this is, though this set can be made slightly better when we have access to ZNMs, can obtain the Solitaire Cape from there, and use Dusk Ledelsens instead of Mountain Gaiters. This set is just two haste short from max recast reduction though, so with one March song, the loss of Haste from having to use Mountain Gaiters is made up. With all that said though, when we are able to get that cape from ZNMs, this set offers 100% SID, in addition to max recast reduction without a Bard. Simply ridiculous. 
*Main Weapon: Hermit's Wand
*Sub Weapon: Hermit's Wand
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Umbra Cape (NQ: Cheviot Cape) 
*Neck Slot: Willpower Torque
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Speed Belt / Swift Belt
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Mountain Gaiters
*Earring One Slot: Magnetic Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Ring One Slot: Jelly Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
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Utsusemi: Ichi(inferior) - a build for those who didn't choose Magnetic Earring, this build, with Aquaveil and 4/4 Spell Interruption Rate Down merited, also reaches 100% SID. It's a fare deal inferior, but still effective overall. 
*Main Weapon: Hermit's Wand
*Sub Weapon: Hermit's Wand
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Warlock's Tabard +1 (NQ: Warlock's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Umbra Cape (NQ: Cheviot Cape) 
*Neck Slot: Willpower Torque
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Speed Belt / Swift Belt
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Pigeon Earring +1 (NQ: Pigeon Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Jelly Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
Notes: This set reaches approximately 100%, meaning the high-quality version of the Warlock's Tabard is required here, as it has 2% more spell interruption rate down over the normal quality version.
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Utsusemi: Ni - Very similar to the Utsusemi: Ichi set, just with Dusk Feet instead of Mountain Gaiters, as Utsusemi: Ni casts so quickly, 100% spell interruption rate down isn't entirely necessary, though I personally still include a bunch to account for the potential of a unexpectedly timed physical TP attack going off on me as I'm casting Utsusemi: Ni, which would have the potential to interrupt the cast. In general though, there should be little issue getting Utsusemi: Ni off with little spell interruption rate down. This set reaches max spell recast reduction, however, as far as the recast reduction equipment in this set goes, the only thing that isn't necessary for that is the Dusk Gloves +1, everything else is required.
*Main Weapon: Hermit's Wand
*Sub Weapon: Hermit's Wand
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Umbra Cape (NQ: Cheviot Cape) 
*Neck Slot: Willpower Torque
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Speed Belt / Swift Belt
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Magnetic Earring
*Ring One Slot: Jelly Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
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Red Mage Stoneskin - with "Fast Cast" equipment to cast it quicker, and to improve recast, along with Haste. This build should cap anyone, even if you do not have any Enhancing Magic/Mind merits, as I've slightly overcompensated the MND to encompass all races. It's worth noting that this is 5 Mind too much for a Tarutaru, so you can replace the Prism Cape with Gigant Mantle for a HP swap if so desired, and quite a deal more if you happen to have Mind/Enhancing Magic merits. 
*Main Weapon: Seveneyes
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Prism Cape (NQ: Rainbow Cape)
*Neck Slot: Stone Gorget
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Speed Belt / Swift Belt
*Legs Slot: Warlock's Tights +1 (NQ: Warlock's Tights)
*Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Magnetic Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Communion Earring
*Ring One Slot: Aqua Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Aqua Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb
Notes: Stoneskin caps at 350HP, however, the "Stone Gorget" enhances Stoneskin by tacking on an extra 30HP, effectively giving you a cap of 350(+30). (As an aside, worth noting that the Stone Gorget will ONLY work for the white magic spell "Stoneskin", it will not work for Metallic Body, Diamondhide, and Earthern Armor).
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Red Mage "Nuke" - MAX Damage - For use when enemies aren't particularly resistant.
*Main Weapon: Aquilo's Staff (NQ: Ice Staff) - Staff is dependant on the spell, of course.
*Sub Weapon: Bugard Strap +1 (NQ: Bugard Strap)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Blood Scale Mail (NQ: Crimson Scale Mail) 
*Mantle Slot: Prism Cape (NQ: Rainbow Cape)
*Neck Slot: Uggalepih Pendant
*Hands Slot: Zenith Mitts +1 (NQ: Zenith Mitts)
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Mahatma Slops (NQ: Errant Slops)
*Feet Slot: Feet Slot: Duelist's Boots +1 (NQ: Duelist's Boots)
*Earring One Slot: Moldavite Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Novio Earring
*Ring One Slot: Snow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Snow Ring
*Ammo: Phantom Tathlum 
Notes: A much cheaper, and arguably better, body slot alternative is Mahatma Houppelande (NQ: Errant Houppelande).
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Red Mage "Nuke" - MAX Land rate - For use when enemies are pretty resistant otherwise.
* Main Weapon: Aquilo's Staff (NQ: Ice Staff) - Staff is dependant on the spell, of course.
*Sub Weapon: Bugard Strap +1 (NQ: Bugard Strap)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau)
* Body Slot: Blood Scale Mail (NQ: Crimson Scale Mail) 
*Mantle Slot: Merciful Cape
*Neck Slot: Elemental Torque
*Hands Slot: Goliard Cuffs
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Duelist's Tights +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tights)
*Feet Slot: Goliard Clogs
*Earring One Slot: Novio Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Moldavite Earring
*Ring One Slot: Snow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Snow Ring
*Ammo: Phantom Tathlum 
Notes: A much cheaper, and arguably better, body slot alternative is Mahatma Houppelande (NQ: Errant Houppelande).
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Red Mage MND Enfeebling - MAX Land Rate - For enemies that are highly resistant to enfeebling magic and/or very high level.
*Main Weapon: Staff is dependant on the spell.
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau)
* Body Slot: Warlock's Tabard +1 (NQ: Warlock's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Altruistic Cape
*Neck Slot: Enfeebling Torque
*Hands Slot: Devotee's Mitts +1 (NQ: Devotee's Mitts)
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Goliard Clogs
*Earring One Slot: Enfeebling Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Celestial Earring
*Ring One Slot: Balrahn's Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Aqua Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb 
Notes: Communion Earring is a much cheaper alternative to Celestial/Star Earring.
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Red Mage Mind Enfeebling - MAX POTENCY - For enemies that are pretty easy to land without use of a max land rate set. 
*Main Weapon: Mistilteinn
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau)
* Body Slot: Blood Scale Mail (NQ: Crimson Scale Mail)
*Mantle Slot: Prism Cape (NQ: Rainbow Cape)
*Neck Slot: Faith Torque
*Hands Slot: Devotee's Mitts +1 (NQ: Devotee's Mitts)
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Mahatma Slops (NQ: Errant Slops)
*Feet Slot: Mahatma Pigaches (NQ: Errant Pigaches)
*Earring One Slot: Celestial Earring (NQ: Star Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Celestial Earring (NQ: Star Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Aqua Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Aqua Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb 
Notes: A much cheaper, and arguably better, body slot alternative is Mahatma Houppelande (NQ: Errant Houppelande). In addition, an easier alternative to Faith Torque is the Promise Badge which is essentially the same thing, and can be purchased from the auction house. Communion Earring is a much cheaper alternative to Celestial/Star Earring. 
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Red Mage Intelligence Enfeebling - MAX LAND RATE - For enemies that are highly resistant to enfeebling magic and/or very high level.
* Main Weapon: Staff is dependant on the spell.
*Sub Weapon: Bugard Strap +1 (NQ: Bugard Strap)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Warlock's Tabard +1 (NQ: Warlock's Tabard) 
*Mantle Slot: Altruistic Cape
*Neck Slot: Enfeebling Torque
*Hands Slot: Mahatma Cuffs (NQ: Errant Cuffs)
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Goliard Clogs
*Earring One Slot: Enfeebling Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Morion Earring +1 (NQ: Morion Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Snow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Balrahn's Ring
*Ammo: Phantom Tathlum
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Red Mage Intelligence Enfeebling Set - MAX POTENCY - Used for Blind I/II potency, as well as Bind/Gravity, the duration of which is affected by your INT vs the targets, use the appropriate element staffs. In addition, it's a great set to cap the damage over time effects of the "elemental damage over time" spells, such as Rasp. Choke, etc, gained through sub-classing Black Mage. To maximize these spells, you require 150 INT, only Tarutaru can achieve this without having to use Intelligence merits, and Mistilteinn+Astral Apis. For the elemental DoTs specifically, use Warlock's Chapeau +1, I would also consider Wise Pigaches +1 over Goliard Clogs for elemental DoT spells, depending on your INT needs.
*Main Weapon: Staff is dependant on the spell.
*Sub Weapon: Bugard Strap +1 (NQ: Bugard Strap)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Blood Scale Mail (NQ: Crimson Scale Mail) 
*Mantle Slot: Prism Cape (NQ: Rainbow Cape)
*Neck Slot: Prudence Torque
*Hands Slot: Mahatma Cuffs (NQ: Errant Cuffs)
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Mahatma Slops (NQ: Errant Slops)
*Feet Slot: Goliard Clogs
*Earring One Slot: Morion Earring +1 (NQ: Morion Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Morion Earring +1 (NQ: Morion Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Snow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Snow Ring
*Ammo: Phantom Tathlum 
Notes: A much cheaper, and arguably better, body slot alternative is Mahatma Houppelande (NQ: Errant Houppelande).
----
Red Mage Enfeebling - Crowd Controlling - This set is pretty specialized; it necessitates good equipment/merits before using it instead of your standard INT enfeebling set. It's a strong set to capitalize the recast on your crowd control spells, as long as you're fully merited on Enfeebling Magic skill, and the equipment in it is good. In terms of Sleep, this set should land on most things without any increased direct sleep resistance/dark elemental evasion. Things like Bats, Ahrimans, Puddings, Undead, Demons, Black Dragons, Bombs, Paladins, etc: this set may be ill-advised. 
*Main Weapon: Staff is dependant on the spell.
*Sub Weapon: Bugard Strap +1 (NQ: Bugard Strap)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard) 
*Mantle Slot: Altruistic Cape
*Neck Slot: Enfeebling Torque
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Penitent's Rope
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Enfeebling Earring
*Earring One Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Ring One Slot: Snow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Balrahn's Ring
*Ammo: Phantom Tathlum 
----
Red Mage Physical Damage Reduction: -44% during the day, -50% during the night, thanks to the Umbra Cape hidden effect. Obvious improvements to this set are Defending Ring, however, as there are far less Defending Rings on the server than Relic Weapons, it seemed silly to include it, but if you're lucky enough to own one, you're capped on Physical Reduction all the time. 
*Main Weapon: Terra's Staff (NQ: Earth Staff)
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Darksteel Cap +1 (NQ: Darksteel Cap) 
* Body Slot: Darksteel Harness +1 (NQ: Darksteel Harness) 
*Mantle Slot: Umbra Cape (NQ: Cheviot Cape)
*Neck Slot: Ajase Bead Necklace
*Hands Slot: Darksteel Mittens +1 (NQ: Darksteel Mittens)
*Waist Slot: Steppe Sash
*Legs Slot: Darksteel Subligar +1 (NQ: Darksteel Subligar)
*Feet Slot: Darksteel Leggings +1 (NQ: Darksteel Subligar)
*Earring One Slot: Pigeon Earring +1 (NQ: Pigeon Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Pigeon Earring +1 (NQ: Pigeon Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Jelly Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
----
Red Mage Magical Damage Reduction - With Shell IV (+23% -MDT), this set is -48% Magical Damage Taken. With 5/5 Shellra V from a White Mage, this set reaches 54% (over-capped). What you can do in the situation of having Shellra V, or if you own a Defending Ring is drop the Coral Mail, and use Dalmatica +1 (NQ: Dalmatica) instead, which has MDB on. In the case of having Defending Ring, you're also able to drop the other Merman's Ring, and use Shadow Ring instead. Alternatively, you could always have Shadow Ring in here, regardless of Shellra V / Defending Ring if you wished, I personally don't like to use "gamble" items, unless there is absolutely no reason not to, though Shadow Ring does have a pretty high activation rate, in this set damage is reduced so much that it's basically trivial one way or the other to be quite honest.
*Main Weapon: Mistilteinn
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Coral Visor +1 (NQ: Coral Visor) 
* Body Slot: Coral Scale Mail +1 (NQ: Coral Scale Mail) 
*Mantle Slot: Lamia Mantle +1 (NQ: Lamia Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Jeweled Collar +1 (NQ: Jeweled Collar)
*Hands Slot: Coral Finger Gauntlets +1 (NQ: Coral Finger Gauntlets)
*Waist Slot: Resolute Belt
*Legs Slot: Coral Cuisses +1 (NQ: Coral Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Coral Greaves +1 (NQ: Coral Greaves)
*Earring One Slot: Merman's Earring (NQ: Coral Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Merman's Earring (NQ: Coral Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Merman's Ring (NQ: Coral Ring)
*Ring Two Slot: Merman's Ring (NQ: Coral Ring)
* Ammo: Lamian Kaman +1 (NQ: Lamian Kaman) 
----
Red Mage General Enhancing Magic - General Enhancing Magic set, things like Protect/Shell/Haste/Refresh/etc, emphasis on haste for recast and Conserve MP. 
*Main Weapon: Seveneyes
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Goliard Saio 
*Mantle Slot: Gigant Mantle
*Neck Slot: Ajase Bead Necklace
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Speed Belt / Swift Belt
*Legs Slot: Nashira Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Magnetic Earring
*Ring One Slot: Bloodbead Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
Notes: Various HP equipment is included for when tanking, in a supporting capacity you could prefer MP equipment instead in a different set, though even in a supporting capacity, it's useful to maintain a good level of HP to account for unexpected things, large range AoEs, etc. Also worth noting that below a certain current MP threshold, swapping into MP equipment does absolutely nothing, which isn't necessarily the case for HP equipment.
----
Red Mage Enhancing Magic (Phalanx/Barspell) - Enhancing magic set for spell effects that scale with enhancing magic. When casting spike spells (Ice Spikes / Shock Spikes, etc), cast with Duelist's Tights +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tights). 
*Main Weapon: Seveneyes
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Walahra Turban 
* Body Slot: Glamor Jupon 
*Mantle Slot: Merciful Cape
*Neck Slot: Enhancing Torque
*Hands Slot: Duelist's Gloves +1 (NQ: Duelist's Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Steppe Sash
*Legs Slot: Warlock's Tights +1 (NQ: Warlock's Tights)
*Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Magnetic Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Ring One Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bloodbead Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
Notes: Various HP equipment is included for when tanking, in a supporting capacity you could prefer MP equipment instead in a different set, though even in a supporting capacity, it's useful to maintain a good level of HP to account for unexpected things, large range AoEs, etc. Also worth noting that below a certain current MP threshold, swapping into MP equipment does absolutely nothing, which isn't necessarily the case for HP equipment.
----
 
Red Mage Fire Resistance - For use against high-level enemies that are consistently dealing fire elemental damage, such as Tiamat, Sarameya, Suzaku, etc. You could also swap into this when Cerberus is using Gates of Hades, in case a stun is missed/resisted. 
*Main Weapon: Sapara of Trials ("Unbroken")
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Black Ribbon 
* Body Slot: Scorpion Breastplate +1 (NQ: Scorpion Breastplate) 
*Mantle Slot: Cerberus Mantle +1 (NQ: Cerberus Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Jeweled Collar +1 (NQ: Jeweled Collar)
*Hands Slot: Scorpion Gauntlets +1 (NQ: Scorpion's Gauntlets)
*Waist Slot: Water Belt
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Power Sandals
*Earring One Slot: Harmonius Earring (NQ: Crimson Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Harmonius Earring (NQ: Crimson Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Harmonius Ring (NQ: Crimson Ring)
*Ring Two Slot: Harmonius Ring (NQ: Crimson Ring)
*Ammo: Lamian Kaman +1 (NQ: Lamian Kaman) 
Notes: Some easier alternatives in this set would be Green Ribbon instead of Black Ribbon, and a Dino Mantle instead of Cerberus Mantle/+1. If you have it. you could opt to use Shadow Ring instead of a second Harmonius/Crimson ring, but honestly? This is so much fire resistance already that you just aren't going to be taking any amount of damage worth concerning about one way or the other, the Shadow Ring is more suited to resist sets that can't be stacked as well as fire can, in my opinion. 
----
 
Red Mage Ice Resistance - For use against high-level enemies that are consistently dealing ice elemental damage, this is basically just limited to Jormungund really. Could be useful to block paralyze from certain abilities though, such as "Fulmination" from the Khimaira species, which is typically the most brutal aspect of that ability specifically. 
*Main Weapon: Dagger of Trials ("Unbroken")
*Sub Weapon: Ice Shield +1 (NQ: Ice Shield)
*Head Slot: Black Ribbon 
* Body Slot: Dalmatica +1 (NQ: Dalmatica) 
*Mantle Slot: Aurora Mantle +1 (NQ: Aurora Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Jeweled Collar +1 (NQ: Jeweled Collar)
*Hands Slot: Feral Gloves (NQ: Tiger Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Fire Belt
*Legs Slot: Feral Trousers (NQ: Tiger Trousers)
*Feet Slot: Blood Greaves (NQ: Crimson Greaves)
*Earring One Slot: Harmonius Earring (NQ: Crimson Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Harmonius Earring (NQ: Crimson Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Shadow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Omniscient Ring (NQ: Diamond Ring)
*Ammo: Lamian Kaman +1 (NQ: Lamian Kaman) 
Notes: Some easier alternatives in this set would be Green Ribbon instead of Black Ribbon, another Omniscient/Diamond Ring instead of Shadow Ring, and a Ram Mantle +1 (NQ: Ram Mantle) instead of Aurora Mantle/+1.
---- 
Red Mage Wind Resistance Set - For use against high-level enemies that are consistently dealing wind elemental damage, this is basically just limited to Absolute Virtue and Seiryu -- you can also make a case use for Voluptuous Vivian, if you were to swap into this during it's Meikyo Shisui, you will prevent silence from Bad Breath, this would allow you to be able to cure in between it's following TP attacks, if Bad Breath was chosen. I would change the set up somewhat for that use in particular, such as removing the Shadow Ring for a Gobniu's Ring, removing the Coral Cuisses for a Bahamut's Hose, and change the Tundra Jerkin to a Blood Scale Mail (NQ: Crimson Scale Mail), to help mitigate the damage of successive breaths. 
*Main Weapon: Sapara of Trials ("Unbroken")
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Black Ribbon 
* Body Slot: Tundra Jerkin (NQ: Northern Jerkin) 
*Mantle Slot: Aurora Mantle +1 (NQ: Aurora Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Jeweled Collar +1 (NQ: Jeweled Collar)
*Hands Slot: Mage's Cuffs
*Waist Slot: Ice Belt
*Legs Slot: Coral Cuisses +1 (NQ: Coral Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Blood Greaves (NQ: Crimson Greaves)
*Earring One Slot: Nimble Earring +1 (NQ: Emerald Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Nimble Earring +1 (NQ: Emerald Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Shadow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Nimble Ring (NQ: Emerald Ring)
*Ammo: Lamian Kaman +1 (NQ: Lamian Kaman) 
----
Red Mage Earth Resistance - For use against high-level enemies that are consistently dealing earth elemental damage, useful for Ouryu v2 and Jailer of Faith, but you could use it for Jailer of Love too, when it's in it's earth mode, to prevent getting petrified at potentially a bad moment/general earth damage, or for King Vinegaroon, to prevent being petrified by it's auto-attacks. Another worthy mention could be Jailer of Temperance's Optic Induration, as it's predictable, for the most part. 
*Main Weapon: Dagger of Trials ("Unbroken")
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Black Ribbon 
* Body Slot: Gaia Doublet +1 (NQ: Gaia Doublet) 
*Mantle Slot: Beak Mantle +1 (NQ: Beak Mantle)
*Neck Slot: Jeweled Collar +1 (NQ: Jeweled Collar)
*Hands Slot: Sand Gloves
*Waist Slot: Wind Belt
*Legs Slot: Beak Trousers +1 (NQ: Beak Trousers)
*Feet Slot: Blood Greaves (NQ: Crimson Greaves)
*Earring One Slot: Robust Earring +1 (NQ: Topaz Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Robust Earring +1 (NQ: Topaz Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Shadow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Robust Ring (NQ: Topaz Ring)
*Ammo: Lamian Kaman +1 (NQ: Lamian Kaman)
----
Red Mage Thunder Resistance - This set is used for tanking Jailer of Hope, for not only it's instant Thunder spells after it uses Plasma Charge, but also for it's En-stun additional effect on it's auto-attacks. I actually use this kind of how you would use a -PDT set, specifically for Jailer of Hope. Due to his en-stun that procs very often otherwise, you essentially have to swap into this set when you either have one shadow remaining (in case it double attacks), or if shadows are down entirely to block the oncoming attack rounds. Jailer of Hope will hit you pretty hard, but it's significantly better than being stunned, which is not an option. This set specifically is for the spells during Plasma Charge, you can include more -PDT for the auto-attack set, such as Umbra Cape, Darksteel Harness, and Darksteel Mittens. Another worthy mention for this set is King Behemoth, to avoid being stunned by Thunderbolt, which could make you vulnerable to Meteor, or a dangerous round of auto-attacks. 
*Main Weapon: Terra's Staff (NQ: Earth Staff) 
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Black Ribbon 
* Body Slot: Dalmatica +1 (NQ: Dalmatica) 
*Mantle Slot: Lightning Mantle
*Neck Slot: Jeweled Collar +1 (NQ: Jeweled Collar)
*Hands Slot: Duelist's Gloves +1 (NQ: Duelist's Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Earth Belt
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Spagyric Nails
*Earring One Slot: Robust Earring +1 (NQ: Topaz Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Robust Earring +1 (NQ: Topaz Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Adriot Ring (NQ: Spinel Ring)
*Ring Two Slot: Adriot Ring (NQ: Spinel Ring)
*Ammo: Lightning Bow+1 (NQ: Lightning Bow) 
Notes: The gear options available for Lightning specifically aren't great, unlike the other elements. The main reason of this set is to resist stun effects, which the Shadow Ring will not help with in any way. In a set strictly dedicated to resisting thunder elemental damage, the Shadow Ring would be a better choice. Jailer of Hope's predictable spells and Jailer of Love's thunder mode are two good cases.
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Red Mage Support Idle(MP) - A good set to idle in when playing Red Mage in a supporting capacity, particularly when you're running around a lot/are idle for long periods of time. A lot of potential "free" MP to idle up, that you can use to buff party members with expensive non-potency spells, such as Protect/Haste, etc, before swapping into other sets that will lower your maximum MP. Just be wary of being attacked/area of effects, this build will lower your current maximum HP quite a bit. 
*Main Weapon: Seveneyes 
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Dalmatica +1 (NQ: Dalmatica) 
*Mantle Slot: Intensifying Cape
*Neck Slot: Beak Necklace +1 (NQ: Beak Necklace)
*Hands Slot: Zenith Mitts +1 (NQ: Zenith Mitts)
*Waist Slot: Hierarch Belt
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Blood Greaves (NQ: Crimson Greaves)
*Earring One Slot: Astral Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Ring One Slot: Vivian Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Serket Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb
----
Red Mage Tank Idle set (HP) - This set is a HP/MP idle set for moving around in, not a battle idle set. 
*Main Weapon: Seveneyes 
*Sub Weapon: Numinous Shield +1 (NQ: Numinous Shield)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Dalmatica +1 (NQ: Dalmatica) 
*Mantle Slot: Gigant Mantle
*Neck Slot: Orochi Nodowa +1 (NQ: Orochi Nodowa)
*Hands Slot: Feronia's Bangles (NQ: Garden Bangles)
*Waist Slot: Steppe Belt
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Blood Greaves (NQ: Crimson Greaves)
*Earring One Slot: Celestial Earring (NQ: Star Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Ring One Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Sattva Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad 
Notes: Some alternatives here for belt are your own race JSE Lv.70 belt or Hierarch Belt, Magnetic Earring instead of Celestial/Star Earring. I personally like to avoid convert x to x gear in this set, hence no Astral Earring, with the exception of (technically) Bloodbead Ring if you didn't take Sattva Ring.
----
Red Mage Tank Idle (Battle) - An idle set more suited to when you're actively fighting something, good set to regain some MP/HP while still maintaining a good level of -Physical Damage Taken, in case of a double attack with one shadow remaining/sudden physical area of effect attack.
*Main Weapon: Terra's Staff (NQ: Earth Staff) 
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Dalmatica +1 (NQ: Dalmatica) 
*Mantle Slot: Umbra Cape (NQ: Cheviot Cape)
*Neck Slot: Orochi Nodowa +1 (NQ: Orochi Nodowa)
*Hands Slot: Darksteel Mittens +1 (NQ: Darksteel Mittens)
*Waist Slot: Steppe Belt
*Legs Slot: Darksteel Subligar +1 (NQ: Darksteel Subligar)
*Feet Slot: Darksteel Leggings +1 (NQ: Darksteel Leggings)
*Earring One Slot: Pigeon Earring +1 (NQ: Pigeon Earring)
*Earring Two Slot: Pigeon Earring +1 (NQ: Pigeon Earring)
*Ring One Slot: Jelly Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ammo: Arco de Velocidad
----
Red Mage "hMP" (MP Recovered While Healing) - Self-explainatory.
*Main Weapon: Pluto's Staff (NQ: Dark Staff)
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Duelist's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Duelist's Chapeau) 
* Body Slot: Mahatma Houppelande (NQ: Errant Houppelande)
*Mantle Slot: Invigorating Cape
*Neck Slot: Beak Necklace +1 (NQ: Beak Necklace)
*Hands: Hydra Gloves 
*Waist Slot: Duelist's Belt
*Legs Slot: Yigit Seraweels
*Feet Slot: Goliard Clogs
*Earring One Slot: Magentic Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Relaxing Earring
*Ring One Slot: Star Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Star Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb 
Notes: Some easier alternatives: If you didn't take/don't have Magnetic Earring, use Antivenom Earring instead. Hierarch Belt instead of Duelist's Belt, and Genie Gages instead of Hydra Gloves (when the NM for the gages is implemented). The rings are very rare and expensive, there isn't really an alternative to these, so just equip MP in their place, such as Serket Ring, Astral Ring, Ether Ring, Vilma's Ring, Vivian Ring so that you can simply rest up a larger MP pool -- just be sure to spend the excess MP on something before changing out from your hMP set.
----
Red Mage Dark Magic - For everything Dark Magic, that is Aspir, Drain, Bio, Absorb Spells, and Stun. In the case of Stun, use Jupiter's Staff, for Drain/Absorb Spells, you could use Penitent's Rope and Nashira Turban for more magic accuracy.
*Main Weapon: Pluto's Staff (NQ: Dark Staff)
*Sub Weapon: Bugard Strap +1 (NQ: Bugard Strap)
*Head Slot: Walahra Turban 
* Body Slot: Nashira Manteel 
*Mantle Slot: Merciful Cape
*Neck Slot: Dark Torque
*Hands Slot: Blood Finger Gauntlets (NQ: Crimson Finger Gauntlets)
*Waist Slot: Speed Belt / Swift Belt
*Legs Slot: Mahatma Slops (NQ: Errant Slops)
*Feet Slot: Goliard Clogs
*Earring One Slot: Dark Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Abyssal Earring
*Ring One Slot: Snow Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Snow Ring
*Ammo: Phantom Tathlum 
Notes: Some alternatives: Glamor Jupon instead of Nashira Manteel for Bio specifically, other spells will want Mahatma Houppelande (NQ: Errant Houppelande), if no Nashira Manteel. For earrings, two Morion Earring +1 (NQ: Morion Earring) if you don't have Dark Earring/didn't choose Abyssal Earring. Diabolos's Earring is a small improvement over morion earrings during Dynamis. Diabolos's Pole instead of Pluto's is great during Dynamis as well, but your other slots would need to be pretty solid to justify the macc loss. Pretty niche, users of Ashitacast/etc could make decent use of Diabolos's Ring 
----
Red Mage Convert - This build will differ rather significantly between the races, every other race will pretty much want more MP equipment than this. I actually like to have Duelist's Tabard, Warlock's Chapeau and a few Haste pieces in my tanking convert set, so that if I have to quickly shift into casting Utsusemi: Ichi or Ni, due to a sudden enemy double attack/TP abilities, my timers aren't crucified, and I don't swap out of this set, wasting the convert. In a support convert set, I'd use Zenith Pumps +1 (NQ: Zenith Pumps), Alkyoneus's Bracelets, Goliard Saio, and Walahra Turban of what is presented in those slots here, but that's a Tarutaru set. Other races, particularly Elvaan/Galka, would prefer items such as Intensidying Cape instead of Gigant Mantle, Serket Ring instead of Bomb Queen Ring. 
*Main Weapon: Apollo's Staff (NQ: Light Staff)
*Sub Weapon: Raptor Strap +1 (NQ: Raptor Strap)
*Head Slot: Warlock's Chapeau +1 (NQ: Warlock's Chapeau)
* Body Slot: Duelist's Tabard +1 (NQ: Duelist's Tabard)
*Mantle Slot: Gigant Mantle
*Neck Slot: Ajase Bead Necklace
*Hands Slot: Dusk Gloves +1 (NQ: Dusk Gloves)
*Waist Slot: Hierarch Belt
*Legs Slot: Blood Cuisses (NQ: Crimson Cuisses)
*Feet Slot: Dusk Ledelsens +1 (NQ: Dusk Ledelsens)
*Earring One Slot: Loquacious Earring
*Earring Two Slot: Astral Earring
*Ring One Slot: Bomb Queen Ring
*Ring Two Slot: Vivian Ring
*Ammo: Hedgehog Bomb
If you aren't using ashita cast, and are just using the standard equipment sets the game provides in macros, here is a good way to utilize convert.
/equipset "number of you convert set" <wait 1> (the wait here will allow everything to properly equip before convert executes). 
#/ja "Convert" <me> <wait 1> (another wait one here, otherwise the next line will not execute).
#/ma "Cure IV" <me>
And this will execute fairly quickly without you having to go through menus, especially nice for when you're dual-boxing, alternatively, you could do this for when you're /WHM:
/equipset "number of you convert set" <wait 1> (the wait here will allow everything to properly equip before convert executes). 
#/ja "Convert" <me> <wait 1> (another wait one here, otherwise the next line will not execute).
#/ja "Divine Seal" <me> <wait 1> (another wait one here, otherwise the next line will not execute).
#/ma "Cure IV" <me>
And this will do pretty much exactly how it looks, divine seal will active, and shortly after cure IV will go off at double the potency.
==Generating Enmity for Tanking.==
Alright then, now for the final part of this guide, understanding enmity, the spells you need to cast, and when to cast.
So first let's talk enmity, there are two types of enmity; Volatile Enmity (VE), and Cumulative Enmity (CE). Both of these cap at a value of 10,000 units each.
The person on the top of the hate list will be the person who has the current highest TE (Total Enmity), this is the sum of your VE and CE value.
How enmity flows is Volatile Enmity rapidly decreases over time, approximately -60 units per second.
Cumulative Enmity you only lose when you take damage, the amount of damage you take in an instance of an enemy attack, the more CE you will lose. 
Cap your CE and VE values, and when your CE is capped, you will only need to cast CE-gaining spells after you take damage, before then, you're fine to just keep spamming VE-gaining spells, as you're losing VE constantly, you will need to do this to keep your Total Enmity the highest on the hate list.
Here are CE and VE unit values for Red Mage spells, this is their base value, before any +Enmity equipment.
Blind 	CE: 1 unit 	VE: 640 units	Base Recast:10 Seconds
Dispel 	CE: 320 units	VE: 320 units	Base Recast: 10 Seconds
Sleep 	CE: 320 units	VE: 320 units	Base Recast: 30 Seconds
Sleep II	CE: 480 units	VE: 480 units	Base Recast: 30 Seconds
For the most part, these four spells are what you will be casting, there are more decent enmity spells Red Mage can cast, but they're unnecessary, just put these into your rotation. When you're buffed with Haste and Marches, those recast timers will come down significantly, allowing you to spam these spells. So a good enmity rotation would look like this: Sleep I > Blind > Sleep II > Dispel > Repeat. This rotation will essentially ensure you aren't ever waiting on a spell, providing you're sufficiently hasted. You can only really "get a feeling" for when you're hate capped, but once you are, at this point just cast Blind and relax a little bit on the spamming, casting Blind every 4 seconds or so, your CE will stay maxed until you take damage, so all you need to do is keep re-maxing your VE, that decays. When you take damage, any damage, throw in a CE spell, if it's pretty significant damage, you can start the rotation again. Red Mage being able to spam these spells, spells that are fairly cheap to cast, makes them fiercely competitive at gaining, and holding, top of the hate list. Even before any +Enmity equipment, the CE/VE unit values on these spells is nothing to scoff at, for reference, Provoke, without any +Enmity is 1 CE, 1800 VE ------ Flash is 180 CE, 1280 VE, which aren't as readily available as Red Mage spells, the CE gain is pretty weak, too, especially Provoke.
As mentioned those CE and VE units are the base values, before any +Enmity gear. Each +1 Enmity increases the CE/VE values by 1%. At base, Blinds VE unit value is 640, but with +20 enmity or so, which is pretty easy for a Red Mage to gain (they can get a good chunk more than this), Blinds VE value soars to 768. Sleep II has an equal base 480 CE and VE, with +20 enmity, this becomes 576 to each, with caps of only 10,000 in each type of enmity, you'll find yourself capping quite quickly indeed.