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FFXIV Turn 9: Nael Deus Darnus Guide

So, if you’re reading this, it probably means Nael bricked you from entering FCoB. It’s okay, cause we got your back! Turn 9 isn’t as daunting as you might think it is!

Navigation:
[Meteors] | [Golems to Megaflare] | [Heavensfall to Bahamuts Favor] | [Final Phase]

Turn 9 Phase 1: Meteors (Stardust)

This phase may seem very chaotic, but dont let it overwhelm you! In reality there are really only FOUR skills in this phase. This phase lasts from pull to Nael reaching 64% HP.

“The best thing you can do for your team in Phase 1 of T9 is to know the rotation”

Chunk 12345
StardustStardustRavensbeakRavensbeakStardust(?)
RavensbeakLunar DynamoStardustStardustDynamo (?)
Dive->ChariotDivebombDouble DivesDive->ChariotDivebomb(?)
ThermionicLAND ON MTLAND ON MTThermionicFORGOT
JUMP TO MTLAND ON MTFORGOT


Ravensbeak is just like Twintanias Death Sentence. A massive hit which your healers should preempt with shields (Stoneskin, Adloquium). It leaves a debuff on the target which explodes after a time (we call this Beak Poison). This promotes a tank swap strategy (As for this guide we’re going looking at a 2 Tank 2 Healer 4 DPS lineup)

Dive -> Chariot -> Thermionic these three skills always come together. Dive makes Nael go to a random party member, Chariot is a circle AoE that pushes (easily avoided) and Thermionic beam deals shared damage to all partymembers stacked onto the target.

Divebomb (Meteor Stream) chooses 3 random party members and deals significant AoE damage to them, and all those around them. Having a single member eat 2 of these is likely death… therefore spreading out is needed.

If you think of it this way, like mentioned earlier, the phase only has FOUR SKILLS TO LOOK OUT FOR. The very first step to beating this phase consistently is KNOWING THE ROTATION BY HEART. It’s been half a year-ish since I’ve seen the 5th chunk, so let me get back to you on that…

Here are the MAIN PROBLEMS groups face when tackling this phase:

Knowledge of the Phase Rotation (Fixed by studying the above table)
Meteor (Stardust) Placement & Positioning
Unexpected Ravensbeaks Killing MT

Meteor (Stardust) Placement & Positioning

ffxiv turn 9 meteor stardust placements Okay so basically putting 2 meteors close to each other is a wipe. The image on the left is an isometric view of how meteors can be placed. The little triangles on the “rune” mark the ideal meteor placements.

Failsafe 1: If you’re caught unaware by Stardust (SHOULD NOT HAPPEN), and the 2 Ideals next to you have meteors on them (usually happens in the melee pile)… put it on a DESPERATE node (The tips of the tenatacles).

Failsafe 2: If you guys accidentally put a meteor in a critical zone, AND IT DIDN’T BLOW UP, you can still salvage the run… you just have to adjust your GOLEM METEORS in the later phase.

Again, being NOT CAUGHT unaware is your best defense against non-ideal meteor placements. Like I said… KNOWING THE ROTATION BY HEART.

The melee pile (+tanks) have the highest risk of having full ideals. If this is the case, simply have the MT reposition to the nearest tentacle with a free ideal spot.

Ranged guys should use up all ideal nodes opposite of the melee pile first, then the middle nodes.

Desperate nodes aren’t so bad as long as you guys are experienced with the later golem phase (Meteor eating can get a little sketchy if too many meteors are clumped up)… the best situation you want coming out of phase 1 is a good and even spread of meteors.

 Unexpected Ravensbeaks Killing MT

Your tanks should have mitigation up for every beak. If timed correctly (right at the start of beak cast), it mitigates the Beak Poison damage too. But for the most part, healers can remove a chunk of damage from these beaks by casting (primarily) Stoneskin and Adloquium. TIMING is important here, though. Like I said before… knowledge of the rotation!

  • Ravensbeak 1: Begin casting shields 1 or 2s AFTER Stardust castbar.
  • Ravensbeak 2: Begin casting shields after ONE HEAL upon Naels descent.
  • Ravensbeak 3: Begin casting shields after THREE HEALS upon Naels descent.
    (At least this is how I time it in my head, should suffice as a guideline)
  • Use Eye for an Eye each time the tanks swap after beak.
  • Virus can be used (but not on all of them) and Sacred Soil help a ton.

“6 Meteors!?” Means your group DPS is on the low side, and have a REAL DANGER of reaching enrage. Work on gear/rotation when not practicing T9.

At 64% HP, Nael disappears from the arena – and onwards to Phase 2!

Navigation:
[Meteors] | [Golems to Megaflare] | [Heavensfall to Bahamuts Favor] | [Final Phase]

Turn 9 Phase 2: Golems, Meteor Barrage, Megaflare

Here are your objectives for this phase:

  1. Land golem meteors safely
  2. Feed existing meteors to golems (with certain RESTRICTIONS)
  3. Kill golems (Leaving no meteor)
  4. Land all 6 Meteor Barrages safely
  5. Land second set of golem meteors safely
  6. Feed remaining meteors to golem set 2.
  7. Kill golems (Leaving no meteor)
  8. Prepare for MEGAFLARE.

Phase 2A: Golems (First Set)

Once Nael flies back into the arena, 3 green colored meteors spawn on random party members. The same rules apply for the previous stardusts! Ideally you want to land them at the center of each circle (conveniently, there are three in the middle of the rune). “Help! We landed a meteor in the critical area during phase 1!” Chill. Use up any empty Desperate or Ideal nodes. make sure to make small adjustments based on misplaced meteors. As time passes, you’ll be experienced enough to land these well.

Three golems spawn (random location). Blue, Green, Red. Tanks pull Red & Green. DPS and/or Healers pull Blue. After a set period of time, the Golems will “Shuffle colors”… which we will call Color Change. Lets talk about the golem skills.

Green Golem Hits like a truck. Upon spawning and upon color change he will do a supercombo of Thunderclap -> Headbutt. Make sure your tanks mitigate this. Demolish is your general AoE spell that also hits hard.

Blue Golem Does almost no damage thru basic attacks. Magnetism attracts all meteors and players to it. This is the first skill he does so positioning Blue Golem in between 2 meteors is the best bet. !!EARTHSHOCK!! is a RAID ENDING skill… it MUST be silenced (preferably by Bard) or else your entire group is paralyzed and will likely die to the following mechanics.

Red Golem is also weak. His PACMAN (skillname) is pretty easy to avoid. but his other skill… we call it THE WORST SKILL IN THE GAME hahaha. Earthen Heart shoots a deadly AoE on the ground which leaves a nasty DoT. It’s unavoidable under some circumstances (multiple yellow meteors eaten) and kills outright sometimes (multiple reds eaten). Althought this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, it can be annoying.

“FEEDING METEORS!?” Yep. Golems must be lead near meteors for them to “eat” them. The best timing to feed them is when they’re nearly dead. Why? Eating a meteor gives golems superpowers!! So by feeding them when they’re really low you avoid the brunt of these effects. Yellow Meteor = Speed Up, Red Meteor = Damage Up. As a general rule of thumb NO METEOR may remain before the next mini-phase.

The best order of killing golems should be Blue > Green > Red. After about a minute these guys HAVE to be done FEEDING and KILLING GOLEMS. If not? well, back to Phase 1 for you.

 

Phase 2B: Meteor Barrage

While there are many strategies used to get past this… we call ours THE PAIN TRAIN. While there are prettier strategies to get past this, Pain Train has the least friction. It’s also very easy to teach newer players in the group. How is it done? Simple!

The Pain Train (a guide)

  • Stack up tightly together. Wait for first meteor sign.
  • On Sprint.
  • Run clockwise (or counter if rebellious)
  • Pray to Nophica (Althyk if rebellious)
  • ???
  • Profit.

I wish there was more to it. During the early days we made complex diagrams on how to get past barrage… but the only diagram we needed was a circular one. Have your healers Swiftcast + MedicaII/Succor after the third meteor. “How do we know if it worked?” If you return to the spawnpoint, or Naels life resets to 100%, Pain Train failed. Step 4 of the Pain Train miniguide should not be ignored. Do some AoE heals after this process stops (6 Meteors) and get ready for the second set of golems!

Phase 2C: Golems (Second Set) -> Megaflare

If you guys can get to this point, killing golems should be your middle name. I need not repeat any instructions regarding this since it’s pretty much a repeat of Phase 2A. The only thing that makes this phase unique is MEGAFLARE. After GREEN GOLEM dies, Stoneskin every non-tank partymember. Scholar should Succor + Sacred Soil when everyone is stacked on B and MT is on C. Same rules apply: All golems have to be dead, all meteors consumed.

If you’ve survived Megaflare.. you’re about to see Phase 3 of the fight! If things were rough up to this point for you, bust out the Allagan Lubricant – THIS AIN’T NOTHIN’ YET!

Navigation:
[Meteors] | [Golems to Megaflare] | [Heavensfall to Bahamuts Favor] | [Final Phase]

Turn 9 Phase 3: Heavensfall, Scourge

Ahh If it’s your first time here, Heavensfall will likely kill you purely by it’s power of over the top visual / audio effects. Or it will kill you because it is a ONE HIT KILL MECHANIC (as it descends). Nael lands on your MT and the aformentioned skill happens a few seconds later. Here are your objectives for this phase:

  1. Survive and position well for Heavensfall 1
  2. Kill the first Scourge (dragon)
  3. Cleanse any Garrote Twists
  4. Survive and position well for Heavensfall 2
  5. (HIGH DPS GROUPS PHASE HERE)(47%)
  6. Kill the second Scourge (dragon)
  7. Cleanse any Garrote Twists
  8. (NORMAL DPS GROUPS PHASE HERE)(47%)
  9. —-On to Final Phase—-
  10. Position for Heavensfall 3 (Preferably Optional from here on)
  11. Die
  12. Point fingers
  13. Harvest a smegma of pride by trying to be the last guy alive
  14. (CHUMPS PHASE HERE)(47%)

Reaching bullet point #10 means a failed run, in case you read that wrong. So let’s discuss what goes on here. Let’s begin with Heavensfall.

Heavensfall has a few effects. Getting caught near the middle will kill you or any pet standing in the immediate vicinity of Heavensfall. There are 3 Heavensfall patterns (yellow floor). We will not be discussing the third. Standing on any yellow lit up floor UPON ITS EXPIRY will result in damage and paralysis (not good).

  • The first pattern (“Hourglass”) is largely ignored with superior positioning. (Hopefully you followed the waymarks we provided)
  • the second patter (“Pizza”) is an alternating pattern that looks like a pizza.(Has 2 supernovas… will discuss this later)
  • The third? hehe.

Garrote / Garrote Twist is a debuff you’ll notice Nael throws out during this phase. The red one can pretty much be ignored (Garrote)… the PURPLE (Garrote Twist) one is a critical mechanic that HAS TO BE DEALT WITH. How? That comes in the next step…

Phase 3b: First Dragon

A dragon spawns randomly in the map. Watch out – he hits like a TRUCK. Pre-emptively shielding the off-tank is a good idea here. Both tanks mitigating when a dragon is present should be standard practice! These guys have a few skills

“Fire Breath” leaves a fire AoE on the ground. Obviously, avoid this.
“Death Sentence” is usually his very first attack once it spawns. Be ready for it!!
Binding Chains is the main mechanic here. If the add stays alive for too long, it will bind 2 random players (they are stunned). If the Binding Chains castbar finished – they die. How to avoid this? Kill them as fast as humanly possible. This would be a great time to use Magic Limit Break, hitting both Nael and Dragon.

Killing dragons cause them to drop “CANDY” which is the only way to cleanse GARROTE TWIST. These candies can expire, so make sure both victims of garrote twist are FAST at picking them up.

The first Garrote Twist should be cleansed ASAP. The second one can wait till after 2nd Heavensfall.

Phase 3c: Heavensfall #2, Possible 2nd Dragon

Heavensfall 2 happens and as advertised earlier: It really does look like a Pizza. Allagan Pizza. With Lasers. There is something new here, though! Supernova.

Supernova is basically a landmine. Nael puts them DIRECTLY ON TOP of 2 random raid members here. GTFO of these black circles. After a few seconds pass, these supernovas will be “armed” and being near one will suck you in, do massive damage, paralyze, and is all around a sucky thing to happen to you. What do we do here? Bait Supernova to hit the edges of the screen. Heavensfall -> Pushback -> (Dont reposition yet) -> Supernova 1-2 -> Reposition. This way, novas are clearly away from the group!

IT IS VERY POSSIBLE TO PHASE NAEL HERE (47%). If not, a repeat of phase 3b happens, which isn’t that bad anyway. If you do NOT phase after second dragon you will likely see Heavensfall 3. Don’t ask.

Navigation:
[Stardust, Ravensbeak][Golems to Megaflare][Heavensfall to Bahamuts Favor][Final Phase]

Turn 9 Phase 4: Ice, Fire, Lightning, Favor/Claw & Divebombs!!!

Well well well! Final phase of turn 9! You’re moving up in the world! It’s time to bust out the Allagan Speculum…

“It don’t matter if ya got 4 or 5 X-Potions, Claw and Divebombs are rough- hope you brought Allagan Lotion!”
-Mahiko MC, Turn 9 Rap.

Once Naels HP reaches 47% HP the final Phase of T9 begins. It’s marked by Nael casting “Bahamuts Fervor” which leads to “Bahamuts Claw” (More on this later) a quick summary of how the final phase goes…

Elements -> Thermionic -> Divebombs (R1) -> Free Phase -> Elements -> Thermionic -> Divebombs (R2) (REPEAT)

There’s really only 4.5 miniphases going on here. Namely: Elements, Thermionic, Divebombs (Rotation 1 and 2) and Free Phase.

Turn 9 Phase 4: Elements

The first thing youll notice are the debuffs Fire and Ice. 

  • Fire randomly targets a raidmember (signified by a red line). The target will explode and give the Fire debuff to all players nearby.
  • Ice targets the entire party 1 by 1, and continually cycles.
  • A player getting hit by fire twice leads to death.
  • A player getting hit by ice twice leads to death.
  • Fire and Ice debuff cancel each other.

While this may seem complicated, there is a popular pattern to handle this almost automatically. The “mantra” is as follows:

First fire out DYNAMO : Second fire in: Fire out CHARIOT : Prepare for thermionic. Again there are some small exceptions to this…
(Dynamo and Chariot are the skills you’re probably familiar with from P1)

  • If you were the target of any Fire out, be careful that you dont have the debuff in the next Fire in. (Happens more often than you think)
  • If you have Ice during any Fire out, CHASE THE FIRE (Not always necessary, but very very safe)

Lastly, after every fire comes a Lightning. Lightning targets a random raidmember. After a few seconds this party member explodes for massive damage and paralyzes all nearby allies. This does not affect the person who was initially targeted by lightning. This is easily solved by having the lightning member move BEHIND Nael, while your party stacks in front.

If no one panics, this subphase is a breeze. Next, thermionic

Turn 9 Final Phase: Thermionic / Supernova

Again some very familiar skills return here. Thermionic Beam from P1 and Supernova from Heavensfall phase. You will be entering this subphase from these previous skills of nael: Fire out CHARIOT -> Lightning.

The initial preparation for this is to have your Fire victim and Lightning victim hug the walls. That keeps the middle SAFE (where you’ll be stacking for thermionic, like P1)

Nael does these skills in order: Supernova, Supernova, Supernova, Thermionic Beam, Bahamuts Claw.

First of all, Sacred Soil in the middle once this pattern begins. Have everyone stay AWAY from the middle. DO NOT move in for thermionic until AFTER the 2nd Supernova. The timing here can be a little tight… right after 2nd Nova, get to middle to stack ASAP. This Thermionic Beam is much more painful that the one from Phase 1.

What kills most groups here is either FAILURE TO STACK QUICKLY ENOUGH, or TANK DYING TO CLAW right after beam. Healers and tanks, keep this in mind – after every thermionic is a claw.

What’s Bahamuts Claw? It’s a direct upgrade to Ravens Beak from P1. It’s a tank-buster that does extreme damage. Be sure to have Virus on, Stoneskin/Adloq, and tanks use a mitigation skill. It gets stronger and stronger each time it happens! Note that you can actually can provoke a few hits off it WHILE it’s happening! So offtank can soak one or two slashes.

Turn 9 Final Phase: Divebombs

Ahhh… the infamous divebomb yet again. As if we haven’t seen enough in t5? Divebombs happen twice each time it comes up in Naels rotation.

  • R1: Divebomb -> Meteor Stream -> Divebomb -> Meteor Stream -> Freephase. OR
  • R2: Divebomb -> Chariot -> Divebomb -> Lunar Dynamo -> Freephase.

For R1: Meteor Stream is the Divebomb from P1. DON’T STICK TO EACH OTHER! and as usual, healer does AoE heals in between Meteor Streams.

For R2: Much easier, avoid chariot as always. Lunar Dynamo might hit the guy who baited divebombs. How to dodge divebombs!?! I’ll be posting about that in the next update but for now Check out this image by Encore FC.

So you’ll be coming into this phase from:
Thermionic > Bahamuts Claw > (Ensure markings are set) > Divebombs > R1/ R2 > Divebombs > R1/R2 > Free Phase

Free Phase is exactly that: Nothing happens here except a Bahamuts Claw. After sometime, the rotation goes back to Elements and repeats until he is dead. The enrage is at 13 minutes: Nael casts megaflare and will instakill your party.

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Navigation:
[Meteors] | [Golems to Megaflare] | [Heavensfall to Bahamuts Favor] | [Final Phase]

FFXIV Summoner (SMN) Cross Class skills guide

What are the best Summoner Cross Class Skills? Find out the best cross-class skills of SMN and the best way to get them!

Click on our
Caster DPS Role Actions Guide
for the updated version!

What are the Arcanist -> Summoner Cross Class Skills? Here, we will be strictly discussing the cross-class skills Summoner can get from the other base classes.

How many cross-class skills can I get as a Summoner? Any job class may only equip five (5) cross-class skills.

From what other classes does Summoner get skills from? Archer and Thaumaturge.

What are the best Summoner cross-class skills? This is discussed below.

Full list of Summoner (SMN) Cross-class skills

NameIconLevelDescriptionFrom Class
Raging Strikes4A large damage boostArcher (ARC)
Surecast8Your next spell cannot be interrupted by damage.Thaumaturge (THM)
Ice II12Weak AoE bind.Thaumaturge (THM)
Hawk's Eye26+DEX and +AccArcher (ARC)
Swiftcast27Causes your next spell to have no cast time.Thaumaturge (THM)
Quelling Strikes34Reduces Enmity GeneratedArcher (ARC)

 

Summoner (SMN) Cross-class skills discussion

Raging Strikes: A low level skill, but a damn good one. Learn to maximize this in raids!

Surecast: You’re only equipping this since you can’t really use anything else. While borderline useless – it has the rare application.

Ice II: A weak potency AoE attack, with a bind effect. Only useful for around 3+ enemies. Better than spamming RUIN!

Swiftcast: THE BEST CROSS-CLASS SKILL of all time. For summoner, using this with Resurrection is a great addition to any raidgroup.

Quelling Strikes: Make it a habit to use this on pull and on newly spawned adds in raids. Your tanks will thank you.

Hawk’s Eye: Absolutely useless to you. +DEX and +Accuracy (physical) have zero practical use for you.

Ideal Summoner (SMN) Cross-class progression

  1. Archer to 4 for: Raging Strikes.
  2. Thaumaturge to 15 for: Unlocking SMN. (Unlocks Blizzard II along the way)
  3. Arcanist to 30 for: SMN Requirement.
  4. Summoner to 50 for: Maximum level.
  5. Thaumaturge to 27 for: Swiftcast
  6. Archer to 34 for: Quelling Strikes (All Cross-class skills obtained)
    You got Hawk’s Eye along the way: USELESS FOR YOU.

Summary

  • Summoners use skills from: Archer and Thaumaturge.
  • Add Swiftcast to your repertoire! Using this for Shadowflare is probably your default.
  • Raging Strikes – learn to time this well in raids! Combine it with Contagion for PROFIT!
  • Quelling Strikes, while not super important for SMN… use it at the start of fights! Also on adds that spawn!
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FFXIV 2.4 Patch Information, Patchnotes & Changelog

READY FOR 2.4!? FFXIV reveals a MASSIVE patch with a chunky amount of new content! Find out MORE about 2.4 HERE! (Release Date, Information, Patchnotes)

ffxiv 2.4 patch notes changelog information

FFXIV Patch 2.4  is finally here!!! Here’s our “human friendly” FFXIV 2.4 patchnotes and changelog! As usual we will have 2 major chunks in this guide, a starting quest table and new content guide.

Navigation: 2.4 Starting Quest List | 2.4 Patchnotes & Changelog

2.4 Starting Quests Chart

We will be putting together a table of quests in 2.4 that unlock newer content, much like in our 2.3 Patch post. It will be up as soon as the specific information is available.

Traitor in the Midst
(Story Quest Continuation)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
The Rising Stones (X:6 Y:5)
NPC: Minfilia
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “Brave New Companions.”
Fragments of Truth
(FcoB)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
The Waking Sands (X:6 Y:4)
NPC: Urianger
Players must first complete the quest “Alisaie’s Resolve.”
Eight-armed and Dangerous
(Hildebrand Continuation)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Eastern La Noscea (X:32 Y:30)
NPC: Ellie
Players must first complete the quest “A Case of Indecency.”
Death of a Mailman
(Delivery Moogle)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks (X:10 Y:11)
NPC: Deputy Postmoogle
Carrier level 12
It’s Definitely Pirates
(Sastasha Hard)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:22 Y:8)
NPC: Bloezoeng
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”
The Wrath of Qarn
(Sunken Temple Hard)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:22 Y:8)
NPC: Hugubert
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon,” and have completed The Sunken Temple of Qarn.
Peasants by Day, Ninjas by Night
(Ninja)		Rogue level 30 / Pugilist level 15
Limsa Lominsa – Lower Decks (X:8 Y:16)
NPC: Jacke”
Players must first complete the quest “Cloying Victory.”
The Path of the Righteous
(Snowcloak [Middle of story quests])		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Coerthas Central Highlands (X:12 Y:17)
NPC: Drillemont
Players must first complete the quest “First Blood.”

Navigation: 2.4 Starting Quest List | 2.4 Patchnotes & Changelog

 

What we know so far?

(FFXIV 2.4 Patch Official Trailer)

New Class and Job: Ninja and Rogue

ffxiv 2.4 ninja and rogue preview

For the first time in FFXIV:ARR a new class and job are introduced! Rogue and Ninja! As far as we know the Rogue and Ninja are Melee DPS classes which HOPEFULLY uses DEX as their main attribute so the loot distribution will be more even. Since Ninja is an advanced job, we currently do not know what the other level 15 class requirement is. We will be updating that when we can!

On Ninja Gear & Stats: Ninjas will be using any gear Monk can use that was introduced PRE 2.4. Coming 2.4 (FCoB Allagan drops), Ninja will have their own unique gear drops. Their main stat is DEX, and as such will be sharing right side drops with Bard. Ninja Primal Weapons and Relic weapon will be introduced as well.

The Rogue class cannot be chosen upon character creation. If you’re a new player wanting to be NINJA you should choose Pugilist then level it to 15, then proceed to become Rogue.

ROGUE GENERAL GUIDE is up as well as NINJA GENERAL GUIDE.

Preview of Rogue Skills | Preview of Ninja Skills

New dungeons!

Snowcloak: A brand new dungeon featuring FENRIR! The BGM of this dungeon is super sweet!
Sastasha (Hard): It’s DEFINITELY Pirates!
Sunken Temple of Qarn (Hard): Avoirdupois, come back…

New Primal Battle: Shiva

Well, finally! One of the three primary elemental summons(in the FF universe): Ifrit, Ramuh and Shiva are finally complete! The Shiva encounter location name is: The Akh Afah Ampitheatre. (Shiva preview in trailer)

The Final Coil of Bahamut

The sweet name on that one! 2.4 DELIVERS with, almost certainly, 4 more bosses! Is it time to see… “Him”? Item level is 130. Supposedly boss 3 and 4 are “Huge Spoilers”. The Oil of Time and Sands of Time system will be re-implemented in this coil (with different name of course). The new High Allagan gear (130) is called DREADWYRM.

You have come far… to know the truth.

Turn 10: “Allagan Behemoth”
Turn 11: “Allagan Hydra”
Turn 12: ???
Turn 13: “Is it Bahamut?”

Preview FCoB in trailer.

New tomestone: Poetics. (Tomestone Gear)

Mythology is now gone, Soldiery taking its place. Poetics is the new highest tier tomestone. Poetics tomestone gear is called IRONWORKS, with raid drop upgrades AUGMENTED IRONWORKS.

i110 Crafted Gear, New Glamor Gear

i110 Crafted left-side is confirmed. i110 right side (accessories) will probably come in a future patch.

Crafter & Gatherer Updates

New gear and recipes will be available for DOH and DOL classes. Here’s the breakdown…

New slots for both DOL and DOH

  • Off-hand
  • Hands
  • Legs
  • Feet

DOL ONLY

  • Chest

IXALI OAKNOTS are very important for these upgrades. So if you’ve been lazing off in your Ehcatl Nine quests… (like me) it’s time to help some beastmen.

Future Plans for FFXIV (Possibly 2.4-2.5)

3.0 Expansion: Heavensward announced. [Link: Heavensward Trailer] A token based loot system to mitigate RNG
The ability to help train friends in coil even if your loot lockout is finished.

OFFICIAL 2.4 PATCHNOTES: [FINAL?][Preliminary]

Navigation: 2.4 Starting Quest List | 2.4 Patchnotes

Well I think that’s about it! If you have anything to add, or we missed something let us know! As always, like us on Facebook for updates!

FFXIV Ramuh Extreme Mode (The Striking Tree)

How to beat Ramuh EX! Strategy Guide & Loot list! Find out all about thunderstorms, rolling thunder, overcharge and BALLS!

So you’ve gotten to Ramuh Extreme Mode? Don’t be shocked by this electrifying fight! Learn all you need to learn about this encounter – so you can beat up old men – get those i100 rings! This fight isn’t very confusing mechanics wise – It’s all in the Execution, or Electrocution! Defeat the Lord of Levin EXTREME in no time with our strategy guide!

“Those balls are mine! Don’t touch them!” – Common Ramuh party chat

Ramuh EX Mechanics

Ramuh EX has alot of mechanics that persist throughout the whole fight. Don’t be a chump and take these to heart!

Thunderstorm – is basically like Weight of The Land (Plumes). Except they FOLLOW whoever was chosen to get hit by it. There are also “Neutral” thunders that just stay on the ground wherever they spawned. The more BALLS present in the map, the more painful Thunderstorm gets. Do not stay in the water when Thunderstorm hits (or you die). Like plumes, Thunderstorm may hit you multiple times. Thunderstorm also has the benefit of removing Chaos. Speaking of Chaos…

Chaotic Strike – chooses 2 random party members. This happens after every other Thunderstorm. This is marked by a cross-hair. After a short delay, these guys will be “stunned” (Charmed). And start walking towards Ramuh. This is bad, because the next PBAoE attack Ramuh does will INSTANTLY KILL any charmed players. As mentioned earlier a Thunderstorm hit removes the “Charmed” status. (For initial position, see diagram below)

Strategy for Chaotic / Thunder: Use a waymark right behind Ramuh to signify WHERE CHAOTIC affected guys stack. From here we use a numbering system to “save” them. usually from 1-4.

  • If a Black Mage is around usually they are 1. Why? to minimize movement. They stay on the stacking waymark always.
  • Bard & Summoner make the second best savers because they don’t lose much DPS by moving.
  • Healers are the next choice. But they should be lower in the list, since they need to heal.
  • Melee DPS probably make the worst savers.
  • Of course, move out of venn diagrams and unnecessary thunders.

When “saving” people from chaos – do not create a Venn Diagram of Clusterf*ckery. There is alot of space to spread out Thunder from hitting one another.

In his mind, he is the Venn Diagram. It’s him. – Mahiko “Charles Barkley” San.

The “Balls” – after each thunderstorm, balls spawn on the ground. Picking up 1 or 2 balls does nothing. Picking up 3 gives you a buff that protects you from Ramuhs “Cleave”. If you do not have this buff you will die. This is basically a tank-swap mechanic. Picking up a fourth ball results in “Overcharge”. You will still be protected but take significantly reduced healing. Overcharge can have 3 stacks. 3 Stacks means you will get little to no healing. Ideally you will never overcharge, but practically, you will need to OC on every phase change. Random balls lying around will increase damage of Thunderstorm significantly. It should go something like this

Thunderstorm > OT picks up  3 > Provoke > Thunderstorm > Random ball “cleanup” > Repeat. a good reminder is around 20s left on immunity – find them balls, son.

 

Ramuh EX Phase 2: Adds

Six adds spawn in a circle around Ramuh. They don’t really have any remarkable attacks. However, they must be killed before Judgment Bolt is cast. Or else, you guessed it, it’s a wipe.

All of the previous mechanics are still happening in this phase. The largest problem most groups have during this phase is position. People getting cleaved, Chaotic Stack too far… stuff like this. So we decided – “Why not have the position remain the ‘same’…?”

ffxiv ramuh extreme mode chaotic strike thunderstorm safezone phase 2

Key: Red Square (Adds), Blue Circle (Chaotic Stack), Paladin Shield (Tank).

SO WHAT DOES THIS DIAGRAM MEAN? The best way to deal with this phase is to “shift” your whole teams position as each add dies. It’s practical because whatever your position in P1 was, it’s the same starting position for P2. Here’s the rundown of what needs to happen:

  • Position only shifts after each add dies.
  • Waymark should be moved (preferably).
  • Otherwise, “Chaotic Stack” is always to be between Ramuh and an Add.
  • Tank should always be looking at an add (positional reminder)

Upon entering P2, the current tank should overcharge to prevent random BS.

This way people always know where to go for Chaotic, DPS wont be randomly cleaved and killed, and tanks wont bother the whole process of killing adds and saving people. Before this phase ends (Judgment Bolt is cast) make sure there arent too many random balls lying around.

Ramuh EX Phase 3: Rolling Thunder

Again to prevent BS, you may have the current MT overcharge. All of Phase 1’s mechanics still persist into the final phase The only addition is…

Rolling Thunder: Creates a tether between two people. If either of these two people do any action, they take damage. The more actions you take, the more shocking the damage gets. Picking up 3 balls removes the tether.

Basically, instead of the  “ball cleanup” phase – it becomes a “Rolling Thunder removal” phase. Here are some reminders regarding Rolling Thunder:

  • A person afflicted by Chaotic Strike may be tethered.
  • DPS should STOP COMPLETELY until tethers are broken.
  • Healer should only use LARGE HEALS when absolutely NECESSARY.
  • Be smart about who should clean the tether…
    • OT>DPS>Healer

OFFTANK should have tether cleaning priority since they need the insulation anyway. DPS should be next in line not to bother healing. Healers should stay still (unless tethered to each other). Healers who aren’t tethered should put up shields/regen on those who are, to be safe.

Nothing much else happens in P3. The adds spawn again but they cannot be targetted. They only do random lightning lasers which should be avoided!

 

Ramuh EX loot list

Ramuh drops i100 rings and i100 weapons. A ring drops every time, but the weapon is quite rare.

Ramuh EXRingWeapon
TankJudgment Ring of FendingThunderstrike (PLD)
Thunderstorm (WAR)
HealerJudgment Ring of HealingAdjudicators Gavel (WHM)
The Law of Levin (SCH)
MeleeJudgment Ring of SlayingThundercrack (MNK)
Thunderbolt (DRG)
CasterJudgment Ring of CastingAdjudicators Staff (BLM)
Ona Ramuhda (SMN)
BardJudgment Ring of AimingThunderdart (BRD)

Again, this is our in-house strategy, and what we used in our first kill. If you have any suggestions or something to say – hit the comments below!

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FFXIV Syrcus Tower (ST,CT2) Loot List & Boss Guide

Syrcus Tower Loot List by class and by boss! A short Guide on each boss so you won’t be a chump in front of 24 people.

You’re in Syrcus Tower, ey? If you’re here, you’re probably here for one of two things:
Syrcus Tower Loot Lists | Syrcus Tower Boss Guides

Syrcus Tower Loot List By Boss

Scylla (1)Glasya Labolas (2)Amon (3)Xande (4)
TankTank Hands
Tank Belt		Tank Boots
Tank BodyTank Head
Tank Legs
HealerHealer Hand
Healer Belt		Healer BootHealer Body
Healer Head
Healer Legs
CasterCaster BootCaster Hand
Caster Belt		Caster Head
Caster Legs		Caster Body
MNKMNK Hand
MNK Belt		MNK BootMNK Head
MNK Legs		MNK Body
DRGDRG BootDRG Hand
DRG Belt		DRG Head
DRG Legs		DRG Body
BRDBard BootBRD Belt
BRD Hand		BRD BodyBRD Head
BRD Legs
MiscOil of Time
Unidentified Allagan Tomestone

Final Boss has a chance to spawn a fourth chest which can drop:
Throne Gem | Wind-up Onion Knight < These items do not count towards the 1 item weekly limit.

Syrcus Tower Loot List By Class

HeadBodyHandsBeltLegsBoot
Tank431142
Healer431142
Caster342231
MNK341132
DRG342231
BRD432241

The number respresents the boss. 1 = Scylla, 2 = Glasya Labolas, 3 = Amon, 4 = Xande. Links to be added.

Scylla (Boss 1)

Phase 1: Spawns orbs that follow random people. There are light pillars (3) which mark the spots where you can break the tether. These “generators” light up and gain an elemental charge for each type of orb it abosrbs.

  • Fire (RED): Does single target damage and MELTS ICE.
  • Ice (GREEN): Freezes a guy. Use fire to melt
  • Lightning (GREEN): Small AoE damage.

Melting frozen guys is key here. Having people stunned sucks – obviously. It also leaves a water pool on the ground which gives a huge fire defense buff for Ancient Flare. If you dont have a pool to stand on don’t worry – it’s not THAT strong.

Eldering Staff is a rodlike add doesn’t seem to have aggro. Just kill them. They periodicaly do a ring AoE.

So you have a few goals for the first phase. Make sure each generator has 1 of each elemental charge. Else, “Daybreak” will stun EVERYONE for like 30 seconds.

For the remainder of the fight (Phase 2), some random adds spawn which aren’t notable. Just keep melting frozen guys, and it should be smooth sailing. Otherwise the fight is just a rinse/repeat of Phase 2.

 

Glasya Labolas (Boss 2)

The #1 rule of CT applies to this guy most: Dodge the colorful AoE. This guy’s pretty funny…. he charges a massive attack that does chumpy damage. Then he does it again and kills you… how to prevent this?

The robots – make them block the lasers that give him power. Note that sometime during this charging process, if this whole robot laser blocking ordeal is done properly, Teleporters to other platforms light up. Fight and preferably kill the Spanner Rooks in these platforms – when they do their skill just jump to the next platform.

Once you can go back to the main platform, do so. The rest of the fight is pretty much brainless.

Amon (Boss 3)

Orb following you? Will shrink you if you get hit. You can land it on the add “Kumkum” to make them smaller.

Experiment slimes? Should be killed before reaching the boss. (AoE damage otherwise)

You turned into a frog? Just deal with it, lol. You can continue to do damage while in this form.

Curtain Call is just like Behemoths Meteor. Hide behind iced players! Overall, nothing that special with Amons Mechanics.

There will be a smattering of Adds that spawn, just kill them. As far as I know only Kumkum can be shrunk.

Xande (Boss 4)

Yellow circles will spawn on the ground – step on them to activate it. ALL of the yellow circles must have at least 1 person in it.

at 70% and 30%, Xande goes away from the stage and a mini DPS check begins. B Alliance (usuall) kills middle orb while A & C kill the side objectives. These side objectives attract a meteor. I’ve never seen it fall but I assume it’s not good. Once the sides are clean A & C can help the middle.

The blue circle that appears on a random player IS NOT DANGEROUS. It spawns a tornado that everyone should stand on to avoid getting killed by Quaga. If you’re in the main tanks Alliance, it would be nice to go to him and drop the levitation circle there.

Navigation:
Syrcus Tower Loot Lists | Syrcus Tower Boss Guides

That’s about it for Syrcus Tower! I decided to go for a TL;DR approach for the boss guides since they’re not so complex. Have fun getting your loot!

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FFXIV Patch 2.3 Changelog, Patchnotes and Information

What’s new coming in FFXIV Patch 2.3? A more human-friendly version of the patchnotes & Changelog of 2.3!

ffxiv-2-3-patch-notes-changelog-information

Patch 2.3 in FFXIV is comin up, and it’s a big one!!! Here’s our version of the 2.3 Patchnotes, with a more “human friendly” changelog, haha. This guide has 2 major chunks, 1 – Starting quest locations and what they’re for and 2 – Our notes.

Navigation: 2.3 Starting Quest List | 2.3 Patchnotes

The Great Divide
(Leads up to Ramuh)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
The Rising Stones (X: 6 Y:5)
NPC: Minfilia
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “Through the Maelstrom.”
Syrcus Tower
(CT 2)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:30 Y:12)
NPC: Rammbroes
Players must first complete the quest “For Prosperity.”
The Business of Betrothal
(Hildibrand continuation)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Western Thanalan (X:13 Y:14)
NPC: Ellie
Players must first complete the quest “The Three Collectors.”
Of Errant Epistles
(Delivery Moogle)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:30 Y:13)
NPC: Klynthota
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”
Sing Me Another Song
(ScoB Brutal)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:21 Y:8)
NPC: Alys
Players must first complete the quest “The Ultimate Ballad” and have completed the Second Coil of Bahamut – Turn 4.
Simply to Dye For
(AF Dyeing)		Level 1
Mor Dhona (X:21 Y:8)
NPC: Alys
Players must first complete the level 50 job quest for a Disciple of War or Magic, and also have completed the quest “Color Your World.”
Bird in Hand
(Chocobo Raising)		Level 30
Central Shroud (X:20 Y:21)
NPC: Luquelot
Players must first complete the quest “My Feisty Little Chocobo” and also belong to a free company which owns an estate.
Gone to Pieces
(Desynthesis)		Disciple of the Hand level 30
Ul’dah – Steps of Thal (X:4 Y:10)
NPC: Syntgoht
Players must first complete the quest “Life, Materia, and Everything.”
Magiteknichal Difficulties
(Mount emotes?)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:21 Y:7)
NPC: Slafborn
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon,” and have also acquired a magitek mount.
The Greatest Story Never Told
(Winebaud’s Riddles)
(New type of Puzzle Quest)		Level 1
Western Thanalan (X:18 Y:17)
NPC: Valiant Hart
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”
DUNGEONUNLOCKS
King of the Hull
(Hullbreaker)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:22 Y:8)
NPC: Bloezoeng
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”
Corpse Groom
(Tamtara Hard)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Ul’dah – Steps of Nald (X:12 Y:8)
NPC: Paiyo Reiyo
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”
Blood for Stone
(Stone Vigil Hard)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
Mor Dhona (X:21 Y:8)
NPC: Faillicie
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”
——
Like Civilized Men and Women
(Frontlines)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
YOUR GC BASE
Players must first complete the quest “A Pup No Longer” for any of the three Grand Companies.
Let the Hunt Begin
(Hunting & Marks)		Disciple of War or Magic level 50
YOUR GC BASE
Players must first attain the rank of Second Storm Lieutenant.
The Greatest Story Never Told
(Winebaud’s Riddles)
(New type of Puzzle Quest)		Level 1
Western Thanalan (X:18 Y:17)
NPC: Valiant Hart
Players must first complete the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon.”

 

Navigation: 2.3 Starting Quest List | 2.3 Patchnotes

New Primal Battle: Ramuh (The Striking Tree)

Just like Levi, there is a Hard (story version, pretty much) and Extreme (LOOTS!). EX required ilvl 85+.

Ramuh, the Lord of Levin finally makes an appearance in 2.3!
Drops: ilvl 100 Weapons and ilvl100 Ring.

Completion of new story quests is required to fight Ramuh!

Second Coil of Bahamut: Brutal / Type Zero

A new version of each boss in SCoB, which are supposedly extremely difficult. There are no loot rewards, but there are titles gained from each boss killed. (Lockout is shared with normal coil). The only real requirement to undertaking these turns is completing ScoB Turn 4 (Turn 9).

Boss (Turn #) : Title

Rafflesia (Turn 6): Rafflesias Reaper
Melusine (Turn 7): Melusine Mauler
The Avatar (Turn 8): The Avatar
Nael (Turn 9): Domitor

Yes, the turn 8 title isn’t a typo.

The Hunt has been added!

There are no quest requirements to begin hunting – they’re only there for tutorials!

There are two types of hunts. Elite Marks which reset weekly, and Normal Marks which reset daily. Mark Bills are found on a new job board in each Grand Company headquarters.

Completing Marks give you special currency that you can exchange for the following: (Major rewards listed)

  • Sand of time
  • Oil of time
  • Alexandrite
  • Minions
  • Special Weapons
  • Special Armor

Regular Marks are different per player, Elite Marks are shared by everybody.

3 New Dungeons!

Hullbreaker Isle – Starting Quest from Mor Dhona “King of the Hull“.

Tam-tara Deepcroft (Hard) – Starting Quest from Ul’dah, Steps of Nald “Corpse Groom“.

Stone Vigil (Hard) – Starting Quest from Mor Dhona “Blood for Stone“.

Each dungeon has a requirement of at least item level 70 – rewards are currently unknown.

Syrcus Tower or “CT 2”

The second level of Crystal Tower has been added, rewarding iLvl 100 armor pieces in all left side slots!

The same weekly item limit applies to this floor too, sadly. Characters may only loot 1 Item per week. The final boss of CT2 may spawn a fourth chest (not 100%). The item inside DOES NOT follow the 1 item per week rule.

Frontlines PvP

A new form of group PvP has been added to FFXIV!! Players are able to go up against each other in Grand Company vs Grand Company fashion.

The only requirement is being level 50, and finishing the quest “Like Civilived Men and Women” from your GC HQ.

Crafting Updates & Desynthesis

A higher level weapon is available for crafters. They seem to be upgraded versions of the original blue weapons. New mastercraft recipes are available.

More powerful right side accessories can now be crafted. Naturally we will be updating our crafting gear guides to account for this.

Desynthesis… the details arent really fleshed out on this. AFAIK you can desynthesize anything if you have the crafter level for it. There is also a Desynthesis Level. All 8 crafting classes “share” a Desynthesis EXP pool. You cannot max all of them. You will usually get Shards/Crystals/Clusters and relevant crafting materials as you desynthesize. However, there are special rewards that can only be obtained thru desynthesis.

Apparently, gatherers can also desynthesize.

Gathering Updates & Treasure Hunts

New nodes have been added and new items. Not so sure if they’re unspoiled, normal or both. Will be updating. In both good and bad news, GP CAP is increased with ilvl 55+ accesories.

There is now a Tier 2 treasure map. “Unhidden Leather Map” can be obtained in chest rewards from completing other treasure maps. Required level 50, and item level 70 is recommended for undertaking these challenges.

Timeworn Toadskin Maps now drop “Rush Grass”.

Chocobo Raising (NOT RACING)

After completing the quest “A Bird in Hand” (Central Shroud), and are part of an FC with a house – you can become a Chocobo Raiser! You can raise your chocobo level above 10 by using a Thavnarian Onion. (Ain’t nobody got times fo that!)

You can also give them food to increase their stats while fighting. (…yey)

Personal Chambers

You can have your own little room in your FC house! Only players with in FC House may have private quarters. (Note: Ward 6 has been added in all housing regions). It costs 300,000 gil. A current limit of 50 furnishings can be placed.

Class Changes

  • TL;DR – BLM’s do more single target damage.
  • Defiance and Oaths dont drop from tanks when dying.
  • WHM’s PoM is now a lot better.
  • SMN Bio II cost reduced, Aerial Slash is instant now!
  • ALL CC in PvP reduced considerably.

Miscellaneous

The Greatest Story Never Told – (Central Thanalan) is a new type of quest that supposedly gives no clues to the player.

AF1 Armor dyeable: Your old armor can now be dyed! Complete the quest “Simply to Dye For” in Mor Dhona. Then it requires an item we’re not quite sure on how to get (yet).

Chocobo respec: You can reallocate your chocobo skills using Raegan Pepper from your GC. It costs a whopping 48k marks.

Company Action costs reduced: A healthy reduction to most company actions. This is a welcome change indeed!

Reduced GC switching time limit: from 30 to 15 days.

Gardening: Gysahl Greens / Krakka Root / Thavnairian Onion / Curiel Root / Sylkis Bud / Mimett Gourd / Tantalplant / Pahsana Fruit / Onion Prince / Eggplant Knight / Garlic Jester / King Tomato / Mandragora Queen / Pear Roselle can now be obtained from gardening.

What do these guys do? who knows. And a very strange line in the update: Certain seeds obtained from intercrossing have been changed.

OFFICIAL 2.3 PATCHNOTES: http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/1b12a119f8bcda2698811c441c0982e8d9d7cd95

Navigation: 2.3 Starting Quest List | 2.3 Patchnotes

Well I think that’s about it! If you have anything to add, or we missed something let us know! As always, like us on Facebook for updates!

FFXIV Four Star (4*) Master Crafting Rotations (& More)

UPDATED! Master Crafting Rotations! How to make HQ token items (Intricate Silver Brocade, Calibrated Rose Gold Cog etc..) and 4* Equipment!

All you need to know about crafting rotations relevant to the FFXIV crafting current end-game (Three Star / Master), and a step behind (Two Star)! If you’re wondering how to gear up to reach this point, check out our Crafting End-game Gear & Materia. Let me preface this little guide with one thing: Everyone might be at different gear points and you can “upgrade” or “downgrade” these rotations to your liking. Please use http://www.ffxivcrafter.com/ to see if it’s up to scratch. That site is great for testing out these crafting rotations! As you get better gear, you can “upgrade” these rotations to increase your chances.

Navigation:
Four-star (4*) Master Crafting Rotation | Tier 2 Token Item Rotation | Tier 2 Token Item NQ Rotation
Three-star Master Rotation | Token Item Rotation | 2 Star 40 D | 2 Star 80 D | Crafting Food?

Four star Master crafting Rotation (Equipment)

This is for the 4* equipment such as Arachne Bolero, Wootz Sallet, etc… Again, there are a chunkton of rotations possible, the below outlines is a rather generic rotation with the following upsides:

  • All crafters can easily fit the crossclass required INCLUDING the Rumination + Reclaim escape pod.
  • Easily Reclaimable after all touches and Great Strides
  • REQUIRES only 1 ToT, or sacrificing one touch for Comfort Zone in the middle phase.

You need the following NINE crossclass skills:
Comfort Zone, Tricks of the Trade, Byregot’s Blessing, Hasty Touch, Steady Hand II, Piece by Piece, Rapid Synthesis, Ingenuity II and Waste Not II
This means ALL CRAFTERS can use this rotation. Your tenth skill SHOULD be reclaim. Eleventh should be Rumination (all classes should be able to support this)

Stats: 479 MINIMUM CRAFTSMANSHIP, any control above minimum, 395 CP+ToT.

/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Inner Quiet” <wait.2>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Ingenuity II” <wait.2>
/ac “Steady Hand II” <wait.2>
/ac “Piece by Piece” <wait.3>
/ac “Rapid Synthesis” <wait.3>
/ac “Rapid Synthesis” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Master’s Mend” <wait.3> (Changing to Manipulation is OKAY to save CP)
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Steady Hand II” <wait.2>
– The above fits into one macro: If you fail any Rapid Synthesis, reclaim at this point –

/ac “Waste Not II” <wait.2>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Steady Hand II” <wait.2>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Steady Hand” <wait.2>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
– The above fits into one macro: You NEED to have hit one ToT at this point. Check if you have 71CP at least

Manual Crafting Begins

Great Strides (SH~4)
Bait 1? (SH~3) (39 CP needed to complete) (Bait with Observe if CP>=50)(Innov if CP>=57)
Byregot’s Blessing (SH~2) (Last chance to Rumination/+Reclaim)
Standard Synthesis (SH~1)

For now, this is a good “general” rotation to follow. But, as always, core knowledge of crafting will always beat rotations in crafts as difficult as these (and much worse, the token items). Again, it all depends on melds… preference of safety versus risk…

 

“Four star token” HQ Rotation

Some feedback on this rotation says it’s too complex – will “fix” somehow.
It also works with all crafters, but not “rumination+reclaim” safe.
Will be redesigning this to find a middle ground.

OKAY, before anything else – there are MANY MANY MANY rotations and MANY variants, with many possible outcomes. ONE THING FOR SURE is that there is NO WAY to 100% HQ these 100% of the time. There is no BEST rotation, only rotations that are better at one thing or another (Maximum security, maximum chances (but high risk) etc etc).

TO PREVENT CONFUSION, these are the items in question:
Intricate Silver Brocade (WVR), Rich Tomato Relish (CUL), Concentrated Spirits of Salt (ALC), Water-Hardened Hippogryph Strap (LTW), Balanced Darksteel Hook (ARM), Reinforced Darksteel Wire (BSM), Calibrated Rose Gold Cog (GSM), Reinforced Sprice Plywood (CRP). We also assume you bothered with HQ base materials for 1494 starting quality. First, a gear check:

If you’re at this point, you probably have stats similar to one of these sets:
“Didn’t bother with some of the new stuff” “But I have to pick up the offhand” (link)
437 Craftsmanship 393 Control, 388 CP with food.

389 CP is actually useful: more on this later. Actually, I recommend it. If you’re looking for a right-side upgrade, I suggest the Mosshorn Earrings (replacing old-timers Red Coral Earring)

Anything lower than this is SUICIDE. These crafts are not for the feint of heart.

Mahiko “Semi-YOLO” Rotation

PHASE 1 (30%~ success rate)
/ac “Comfort Zone” <wait.2>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Inner Quiet” <wait.2>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Piece by Piece” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Ingenuity” <wait.2>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Steady Hand II” <wait.2>
/ac “Rapid Synthesis” <wait.3>
/ac “Rapid Synthesis” <wait.3>
/ac “Rapid Synthesis” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>

Looks shitty? Yeahp, I won’t even lie. If ANY RAPID SYNTH fails, you must reclaim. I start all of my synths in this tier with this macro. Watch it carefully. YOU NEED AT LEAST 1 ToT to be “safe”. So what you’re looking for here is 684+ Progress, and 340 CP. Progress failure is a MUST RECLAIM, Failure to ToT (5 chances!) is okay, but preferable.

Phase 2 A
/ac “Comfort Zone” <wait.2>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Master’s Mend II” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>
/ac “Steady Hand II” <wait.2>
/ac “Waste Not II” <wait.2>

Phase 3 (MANUAL CRAFTING COMMENCES)
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Steady Hand II” <wait.2>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Hasty Touch” <wait.3>
/ac “Tricks of the Trade” <wait.2>

Yeahp, that’s 9 Hasty touches. The tricks on the end is “free” NOTE THAT the rotation is designed to REPLACE ONE OF THE HASTYS WITH ToT (or more specifically, gain a ToT by the end) If it happens on the end, nice. In the middle – nice. In the middle and end? NICE.

Phase 4 (Dont have 66CP? Reclaim, scrub)

Let’s take this step by step. If i haven’t mentioned already – LESS THAN 66 CP IS A RECLAIM. If you have 389 base CP you have the luxury of ensuring ONE OBSERVE during the BB Baiting phase.

(88 CP? Steady Hand is a filler option, or do it now)(ToT if its up after)
Great Strides (Baiting begins)
Not a good? Careful Synthesis II or ToT. (SH if you haven’t prior) (Observe if >=34 CP) (Innov if 46 >= CP)
Not a good? ToT or (CSII if you haven’t prior). (SH if you haven’t prior) (Observe if >=34 CP)  (Innov if 46 >= CP)
Last chance for Byregots Blessing. Make your decision now. RUMINATION+RECLAIM if you chicken out.
Careful Synthesis II x 2 (If you didn’t use it to bait earilier)

There are times you wont have 88CP for the Steady Hand -> that’s fine. It’s about half as risky as a reclaim at that point. Now, seriously, theres a million deviations to this rotation and a million variables to work to and against your favor. You need to make some decisions for yourself for MAXIMUM VALUE – but there’s always a trade off. These crafts are not for the faint of heart.

“Four star token” NQ Rotation

This rotation is a basic MINIMUM STAT required method to NO QUALITY a “Four star” or “Tier 2” token.

TO PREVENT CONFUSION, these are the items in question:
Intricate Silver Brocade (WVR), Rich Tomato Relish (CUL), Concentrated Spirits of Salt (ALC), Water-Hardened Hippogryph Strap (LTW), Balanced Darksteel Hook (ARM), Reinforced Darksteel Wire (BSM), Calibrated Rose Gold Cog (GSM), Reinforced Sprice Plywood (CRP). 

(also a macro)
/ac “Steady Hand” <wait.2>
/ac “Piece by Piece” <wait.3>
/ac “Piece by Piece” <wait.3>
/ac “Piece by Piece” <wait.3>
/ac “Piece by Piece” <wait.3>
/ac “Ingenuity II” <wait.2>
/ac “Careful Synthesis II” <wait.3>
/ac “Careful Synthesis II” <wait.3>
/ac “Careful Synthesis II” <wait.3>

There are of course many ways to do this. This rotation is only used to get NQ Tier 2 tokens for SUPRA WEAPON UPGRADE. It has pretty much zero use aside from this.

Three Star Master Crafting Rotation

Required Stats:
396 Craftsmanship
374 Control (minimum)
380 CP (345 + HQ Bouillabaisse)
or meld +1 CP on off-hand for NQ.

  • 1) Comfort Zone (Tricks?)
  • 2) Inner Quiet (Tricks?)
  • 3) Steady Hand II
  • 4) Waste Not II
  • 5) Hasty Touch
  • 6) Hasty Touch
  • 7) Hasty Touch
  • 8) Hasty Touch
  • 9) Steady Hand II
  • 10) Hasty Touch
  • 11) Hasty Touch
  • 12) Hasty Touch
  • 13) Hasty Touch
  • 14) Hasty Touch
  • 15) Manipulation (Tricks?)
  • 16) Steady Hand (Tricks?)***
  • 17) Piece by Piece
  • 18) Great Strides
  • 19) Piece by Piece**
  • 20) Ingenuity II
  • 21) Byregot’s Blessing
  • 22) Careful Synthesis II
  • 23) Careful Synthesis II
  • 24) Careful Synthesis II

*** This is what I call the “Byregot’s Killzone“. After pressing Steady Hand, if ever you get a Excellent just jam Byregot’s in. Failing this, after Great Strides, Ignore Innovation or Ingenuity if you land on a Good. Of course, make sure to do Ingenuity 2 before Careful Synths.

** Piece by Piece is a “filler” to try and get a better than normal condition after great strides. Ingenuity II acts the same way. Again, keep in mind the “Byregot’s Killzone”.

Hasty Touch Failures? Out of nine Hasty Touches, I would say the very least I would gamble with is 6 successes. You can consider reclaiming if 3 fail. If 4 fail, you’re gonna need some luck.

1 Tricks of the Trade? Replace step 20 with Innovation.
2 Tricks of the Trade? Replace step 14 with Basic Touch.
3 Tricks of the Trade? Replace step 13 with Basic Touch

Token Item Rotation (Silver Brocade, Gryphonskin Strap etc)

THIS ROTATION DOES NOT WORK FOR TIER 2 (Intricate Silver Brocade, Water Hardened Gryphonskin Strap) For that, please refer to the above (Tier 2 tokens)

Required Stats:
357 craftsmanship
371 CP (345+HQ Pea Soup)
318 Minimum Control (you’ll want more, though)

Note on these stats: For Craftsmanship you need 105 progress on Careful Synth 2, under Ingenuity 2. I get 106 with 357, so it might be lower like 353…) How do you reach 371 CP? I designed this rotation to fit around the popular base CP of 345. as I wrote above, just eat the Pea Soup.

This Rotation is used to craft the following:

  • Spirits of Salt (ALC)
  • Darksteel Wire (ARM)
  • Darksteel Hook (BSM)
  • Spruce Plywood (CRP)
  • Spicy Tomato Relish (CUL)
  • Rose Gold Gear (GSM)
  • Gryphonskin Strap (LTW)
  • Silver Brocade (WVR)

Token Item “Mahiko Token” Rotation:

  • 1) Comfort Zone (Tricks?)
  • 2) Inner Quiet (Tricks?)
  • 3) Steady Hand II
  • 4) Waste Not II
  • 5) Hasty Touch
  • 6) Hasty Touch
  • 7) Hasty Touch
  • 8) Hasty Touch
  • 9) Steady Hand II
  • 10) Hasty Touch
  • 11) Hasty Touch
  • 12) Hasty Touch
  • 13) Hasty Touch
  • 14) Hasty Touch
  • 15) Manipulation (Tricks?)
  • 16) Steady Hand (Tricks?)
  • 17) Hasty Touch***
  • 18) Great Strides
  • 19) Innovation
  • 20) Ingenuity II
  • 21) Byregot’s Blessing
  • 22) Careful Synthesis II
  • 23) Careful Synthesis II
  • 24) Careful Synthesis II
  • 25) Careful Synthesis II

***Byregot’s Killzone. If Excellent, use it. After Great Strides, if material condition good, use it.

Hasty Touch Failures? Out of eleven Hasty Touches, succeeding only 8 times is still okay. Most of the time you’re going to want to use HQ base materials, anyway.

1 Tricks of the Trade? Replace step 17 with Basic Touch
2 Tricks of the Trade? Replace step 14 with Basic Touch.
3 Tricks of the Trade? Replace step 13 with Basic Touch

2 Star 40 Durability Crafting Rotation

This is only relevant in end-game due to the items you need to submit for the Master Recipe Books.

Required Stats:
Craftmanship: 347
CP: 364 (345 Base CP + Stone Soup)

  • Comfort Zone
  • Inner Quiet
  • Steady Hand II
  • Waste Not I
  • Hasty Touch
  • Hasty Touch
  • Hasty Touch
  • Hasty Touch
  • Manipulation
  • Steady Hand II
  • Waste Not I
  • Hasty Touch
  • Hasty Touch
  • Hasty Touch
  • Hasty Touch
  • Steady Hand***
  • Great Strides
  • Ingenuity II
  • Byregot’s Blessing
  • Careful Synthesis II
  • Careful Synthesis II

***Byregot’s Killzone. If Excellent, use it. After Great Strides, if material condition good, use it.

With your Master Weapon, this needs only one Careful Synth II to fill under Ingenuity II (Exact craftsmanship threshold unknown)

2 Star 80 Durability Crafting Rotation

Required Stats:
Craftsmanship: 347
Control: 318 minimum
CP: 345

  • Comfort Zone
  • Inner Quiet
  • Waste Not I
  • Steady Hand II
  • Basic Touch x 5
  • Great Strides
  • Steady Hand
  • Ingenuity I***
  • Standard Touch
  • Great Strides
  • Byregot’s Blessing
  • Careful Synthesis II
  • Careful Synthesis II
  • Careful Synthesis II

***Byregot’s Killzone. If Excellent, use it. After Great Strides, if material condition good, use it.

While there are opportunities for Tricks of the Trade, and subsequent modifications, it’s not really needed. This rotation nails it 100% of the time NQ to HQ.

CP food reference chart

[to be added]

Navigation:
Three-star Master Rotation | Token Item Rotation | 2 Star 40 D | 2 Star 80 D | CP Food?

Related Guides:
Crafting End-game Gear & Materia |

Well good luck with the big boy crafting recipes! Hopefully, you won’t experience your first heartbreak of NQing a Master!

Wanna add something? Hit the comments below!!

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FFXIV Rafflesia (Turn 6) Strategy Guide

Thorns, bulbs, bees, honey & slugs! Don’t let Turn 6 get you down! Read our Gardeni… err… Rafflesia Guide!

Welcome to our Rafflesia (Turn 6) Guide! Hopefully we can share with you tips we learned to make this fight less stressful for you!

“Inside your eye sockets are things called eyes. I heard they are useful.” – Mahiko San, FFXIVGuild

Navigation:
[Page 1: Phase 1 & 2 ] [ Page 2: Phase 3 ]
P1 Abilities & Strategy | P2 Abilities & Strategy | Imporant Tips & Reminders

A useful link to have open is our: T6 First Kill Video.

Rafflesia Phase 1 (100%-70%)

Phase 1 Rotation
Thorn Whip – Bulbs – Thorn Whip – Devour/Spit – REPEAT.

Bloody Caress – A strong cleave that adds a stack of Vulnerability up on whoever is hit. Acts as a tank swap mechanic, and you should switch at 3~ stacks.

Thorn Whip – Links two or more people together with a visible tether. Targets will take damage as long as the tether is not broken. The “chain” is broken by moving AWAY from whoever you’re tethered to (a set distance).It’s much easier to break tethers if the initial chain is “short”. Meaning, the closer you guys are stacked for Thorn Whip, the easier it is to break (more on this later).

Dark Matter Bulb – Little plants that can spawn in one of eight possible locations (will never spawn in the same place twice in a row). These bulbs will create a continually growing briar patch until it has grown to max size, or killed (it stops growing, but existing briar will not vanish). Briar prevents movement effects, but also has a huge DoT. This is relevant because…

DEVOUR / SPIT – A Yellow marker appears above the target of “Floral Trap”, and this person will shortly be “Devoured”. Devour is a suction, cone AoE. Be careful – even if you are not the target of Devour, if you are BETWEEN the yellow marked guy and Rafflesia, you’re gonna get sucked in. If Rafflesia eats a guy, he gets a PERMANENT DAMAGE UP.

Blighted Bouquet – Haha, figuring this out the first time was pretty funny. If you take any action towards the end of its cast time – you will die. Simple as that!

Phase Notes
Overall this phase is a non-issue, and pretty much a tutorial for the torment to come. Anyone and their mother can get past Phase 1! Refinement of strategy will be discussed in the Tips & Reminders section.

 

Rafflesia Phase 2 (70%-40%)

Rafflesia Phase 2 Rotation
Bulbs – Thorn Whip – Devour/Spit – Honey – Thorn Whip – Blight – Bulb – Thorn Whip – Devour/Spit – Thorn Whip – Blight -REPEAT

“The briar vanished!” – Everyone.

Thornwhip, Dark Matter Bulb, Devour/Spit and Blighted Bouquet still make an appearance here. In phase 2, though, it is UNSAFE to use old briars to prevent devour. You must always dodge towards newly spawned bulbs/briars.

Again, this is important enough to repeat: If you are targeted by Devour – you may only use briars left by the NEWEST set of bulbs (During Phase 2). Now for the next unique ability of this phase…

Honey / Dark Matter Bee – Rafflesia will target one person to be “Honey Glazed”. This person, well, will attract Bees. Bees do NOT have an aggro table, but luckily they do not hit too hard! They will continue to attack the honey glazed person until he or she dies. Some notes:

  • While in Phase 2, if honey glazed target dies, it will be immediately recast to someone else.
  • If a second bee spawns while the first is alive, the first will begin casting Final Sting. (Hint: It’s not good)
  • If a honeyed guy exists when Phase 3 happens, bees will continue to spawn, likely causing a wipe.

Getting rid of Honey is key to phase 2. How? The Honey Glazed target MUST be devoured. You’ve worked very hard to be not devoured, so getting devoured on purpose should be a no brainer.

Rafflesia Tips & Reminders

Thorn Whip is often underestimated. The mechanic is very simple, and will very likely never cause your death directly. It does, however, start certain chains of events that can lead to strain or failure. We gained considerable consistency and stability when we applied one simple rule: Stack up before Thorn Whip. The shorter the whip, the easier it is to break! Everyone takes less chain damage, everyone has more freedom of movement, less accidental devours, less briar damage…so on, so forth. This lasts throughout the WHOLE FIGHT so you might as well get used to it.

Thorn Whip -> Devour: How? Dodging devour is pretty easy if you’re the one who has the mark. What if you’re chained to someone? What if multiple people ran the same way you did? To prevent all this BS, we applied a simple rule: WAIT FOR DEVOUR UNTIL BREAKING CHAINS!! We would all rather take a bit more chain damage than to risk the entire raid.

Honey/Bee Problems? Well, ideally you only want 1 honey but this isnt always possible. If middle bulbs spawn – you can’t dps the boss! So instead we just applied a rule of “ALWAYS TWO BEES” and “STOP DPS IF NEEDED”. This way, we’re not stressed for time.

Phase Transition happened but a honey is still around!? This guy has to die. Have him stand in ACID RAIN.

——————————————————

80% of this fight is getting through Phase 2 in a “salvageable” state. 20% is the Phase transition, because Phase 3 is actually easier. More on that in Page 2 of this guide!

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Navigation:
[Page 1: Phase 1 & 2 ] [ Page 2: Phase 3 ]
P1 Abilities & Strategy | P2 Abilities & Strategy | Imporant Tips & Reminders

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Sahagin Beast Tribe Guide (+Vendor Items)

All you need to know about the Sahagin Beast Tribe Quests! What items you can get, tips on quests and more!

The Sahagin are one of the beast tribes you can gain reputation with in FFXIV:ARR. Their home (and Beastmen Daily questing hub) is located in Western La Noscea, (Coordinates: 16,22). The nearest Aetheryte is Aleport.

You can unlock the Sahagin Beast quests by doing the quest: They Came From the Deep in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks.

Sahagin Vendor Item List

ItemPriceReputation
Table Salt2Neutral
Cinnamon4Neutral
Garlean Garlic5Neutral
Smooth Butter2Neutral
Sunset Wheat Flour4Neutral
Olive Oil8Neutral
Black Pepper13Neutral
Sun Lemon28Neutral
Night Milk84Neutral
Midland Basic111Neutral
?????????

 

Like all beastmen, the neutral items support a certain DoH Class. In Sahagins case it’s mostly Culinarian. Here’s some interesting stuff to know about the Sahagin Rewards.. The following items are commonly used “ingots” that were annoying to craft, but couldn’t be bought ready made… not anymore!

  • Table Salt – I mean, c’mon…
  • Smooth Butter
  • Olive Oil

And more Raw Materials that were never buyable from NPC before..

  • Sun Lemon
  • Night Milk
  • Midland Basil

Overall, reduces some hassles for culinarians and is worth getting Sahagin Neutral just for that.

Picture of Sahagin items

While it’s impossible to have our own pics of them at the moment, we can post the official SE pics of the Sahagin mount& Sahagin minion here in the meantime –

ffxiv sahagin mount and minion

 

Check out the Other Beast Tribes
Amal’jaa | Sylph | Sahagin | Kobold

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Kobold Beast Tribe Guide (+Vendor Items)

All you need to know about the Kobold Beast Tribe Quests! What items you can get, tips on quests and more!

The Sahagin are one of the beast tribes you can gain reputation with in FFXIV:ARR. Their home (and Beastmen Daily questing hub) is located in Outer La Noscea, (Coordinates: 21,17). The nearest Aetheryte is Camp Overlook.

You can unlock the Kobold Beast quests by doing the quest: Highway Robbery in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks.

Kobold Vendor Item List

ItemPriceReputation
Quicksilver4Neutral
Beastkind Blood7Neutral
Coral Butterfly18Neutral
Cloves16Neutral
Jellyfish Umbrella24Neutral
Aldgoat Horn238Neutral
Scalekin Blood73Neutral
Bomb Ash82Neutral
Morbol VineNeutral
Blue Landtrap Leaf128Neutral
Vitriol216Neutral
?????????

Like all beastmen, the neutral items support a certain DoH Class. In Kobolds case it’s mostly Alchemist stuff, but these types of materials can be used almost anywhere.

 

Picture of Kobold items

While it’s impossible to have our own pics of them at the moment, we can post the official SE pics of the Kobold mount& Kobold minion here in the meantime –

ffxiv kobold mount and minion

Check out the Other Beast Tribes
Amal’jaa | Sylph | Sahagin | Kobold

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