Nin/drk is really only a consideration where you need a lot of fire resist or can start getting evasion checks working for you. Everywhere else rdm or pld is going to be better.

Where skill is constant, the general order of strength in my opinion is: decently geared pld < decently geared rdm < pimped out rdm < aegis pld. With some exceptions.

Things that can affect this:
1) How much support do you have? A really good rdm/nin can solo hold many HNM for a considerable amount of time. Aegis plds usually run out of tricks a little after the ten minute mark. That said, rdm is already basically at the magic recast reduction cap, so marches aren't going to help them. They already have 5/tick refresh and convert, so they don't need as much evokers roll/ballad/devotion/refresh. They have a larger MP pool and fast cast so they can restore more of their own HP. They can cast bar-spells nearly as good as a whm, and better than a rdm/whm. Pld on the other hand has more damage mitigation with their aegis and job abilities. The end effect of this is that two rdm/nins will be better suited for tanking the HNM than two aegis pld/nins, but as you add support into the tank party, the pld/nins start to take the lead.

2) How fast is the mob hitting? The faster the mob hits the more things tilt in favor of the aegis pld. Once the mob's delay gets lower than rdm's utsusemi ichi casting time, they lose a big tool out of their bag of tricks. Rdm averages about 18 utsusemi shadows per minute and 2-3 stoneskins; once the mob is attacking faster than that, rdm can only sit in physical damage reduction and cure itself, pld still has abilities and shield blocks to carry it much further. (as a result jailer of prudence and absolute virtue tend to favor pld tanks)

3) Are there a lot of aoe's or hate resetting moves? The aoe's wipe out rdm's shadows, which they rely on more than plds. Pld is better at spiking cheap hate in the first 30 seconds of the fight, after 30 seconds a good rdm will pass the pld and can hold hate until the PLD's CE is capped several minutes later, but there's a catch: the rdm has to expend a lot of MP to cap hate quickly, meaning it can't just do it over and over again. (As a result vrtra, and again absolute virtue tend to favor pld tanks)

4) How much magic evasion does the mob have? Lower magic evasion benefits the rdm. Pld has flash one could argue, but a rdm tank carrying enfeebling gear has a decent chance of landing emergency debuffs. Think emergency gravity on low HP tiamat because your cotank and some of your support just got knocked out.

5) Can you melee the mob for hate? Melee and cure cheats are the only way for pld to gain CE, if you take away melee then their hate generation potential is tied into their refresh, which they already need more of than rdm/nins. If you have plenty of support it's definitely workable, but in an alliance without a cor or ghorn brd, even aegis plds will feel the pain of trying to generate CE. (this means that tiamat tends to favor rdm tanks)

Overall the cool thing about rdm tank to me isn't its raw strength (which is considerable) but rather the fact that you can set one up by simply doing AF quests, purchasing about a mil in gear, and killing a few misc NMs. Do all that, and you've got a better hnm tanking setup than anything pld can do all the way until they get aegis. Especially considering that newer people and newer shells aren't going to have luxuries like a full tank party and relic bards, I would probably level rdm tank first and tank with it all the way until I built my aegis. In a vanilla server especially, the group that can get a few rdm tanks going the quickest, is going to be able to kill the endgame mobs the earliest.

You must be mistaken. I have a 25%+ drop off in damage from sweet spot to max range. I also have more than 50% drop off from sweet spot to point blank.

I love when people who have no idea what they're talking about make general statements about a job.

Edit: Maseki is an idiot, nothing new. Guy who wants to start talking shit just because someone comes out and watches Khim.

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This society is really tryin me, ain't no hide and seek
I hide to be far from anxiety, I need my space,
I need my privacy, I need some signs please,
You're all too loud you don't speak quietly, opinions violently.
Deft/Drop

I think Maseki provides valid points. Bitch all you want nothing is going to change

Yeah you adapted by buying an Aegis.

Pretty solid plan imo

Thanks for the detailed information about RDM tanking, I appreciate it. Something else to level I guess!

How is RDM as a PLD sub for normal partying? Can you leverage Bind aggro and such?

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Baleful Badger

Buy me an Aegis please

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/wave Camper how that merit party go after I had to leave last night

Well now that's not nice of you! I'm not the one complaining because they don't know how to effectively utilize their job. Maybe there's a glitch for you somewhere to exploit to gain all your power back! You're pretty good at that!

By the way about khimaira: Nexus and we had that on lock without a single topshelf person in sight when we killed. We always wondered if there was a leak in LS when you guys suddenly showed up. Good thing we trust our people or that could've got ugly.

I suppose that's for another thread though.

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~Respect is earned~

Stating the obvious but can always just search a zone and figure out when things are up. Not necessarily needing the ToD to be leaked.