FFXIV Diadem Guide & FAQ (Exploratory Missions)

All about exploratory missions. Unlocking Diadem, FAQ’s about exploratory missions and protips on how to maximize each lockout.

Hello guys! Welcome to our Airship Exploratory Mission guide! I’ll be discussing and clarifying many things that have caused confusion about this newly implemented and slightly controversial content!

Quick Navigation: Basics & FAQ : Protips

Airship Exploratory Missions FAQ

First of all, I presume that Airship Exploratory Missions are the TYPE of duty, while The Diadem is the specific duty or place. It’s speculation but makes a bit of sense.

How do I unlock The Diadem? It’s not a quest in the usual sense. It’s unlocked by talking to the NPC Aurvael in the Pillars (X:14 Y:10).


 

How do I get in & participate in Airship Exploratory Missions?
  • Anyone can join Exploratory Missions with an EASY or NORMAL difficulty rating.
  • Only HARD MODE is locked behind FC Airships.
  • Entering Easy or Normal requires a Mission Ceruleum Voucher.
    • Can be bought in Ishgard for cheap.
  • Entering Hard-mode requires a Tank of Mission Ceruleum.
    • Purchased with FC points.
  • Queuing up for Easy or Normal is via talking to NPC.
  • Queuing up for Hard has a few more pre-reqs.
    • All members must have Tank of Mission Ceruleum.
    • For every 8 people, at least one open FC Airship is needed.
    • The FC must have unlocked hard-mode via ‘Airship Ventures’.
    • Every FC Airship must be level 50, and some minimum stats.
    • Entering is done from the Company Workshop.
  • Queuing up as max of 8 from Ishgard, max of 24 from FC.

Most NPC-related actions can be done in Pillars (X:14 Y:10)~ish area. I’m pretty sure there are other non-important prereqs such as “Completing MSQ” and “Being level 60”, but the above list should cover most of it.


What’s the difference between difficulties? Well, it affects a whole lot of little things. But one of the main concerns right now can be answered with the below quote:

210 Mistbreak (aetherial) can be obtained in any difficulty!

After getting that often asked question out of the way – what’s the main differencees?

  • Entering as more than 8 is only possible in Hard.
  • Difficulty scales upward with enemy HP & overall Difficulty.
  • Difficulty RANK of enemies is generally increased.
    • Higher rank monsters: More chances for better chests.
  • The type of ceruleum you need if different (look at the above section).
  • The instance you’ll be in will always have other groups. (Unless you’re first?)

While you can get the best gear in easy or normal mode, going hard more will increase the GENERAL QUALITY of chests that spawn – and giving you more and better chances at a nicely rolled 210 mistbreak. But AFAIK you can find the “ultimate” piece of gear no matter which difficulty you’re in – it just generally takes longer.


How to spawn star rank enemies? Honestly, I hate to discuss this as an “exact science”, but generally here’s the idea…

  • Killing enemies increases “bloodlust”.  You get prompted when this happens.
  • After some time, an interact-able object “Fresh Tracks” Spawn.
  • Interact with it for a sure-spawn star rank enemy.
  • Personally,  I’ve had more luck clearing one island at a time.

Care to chime in regarding other techniques of spawning these guys? Of all aspects of exploratory missions – this is the one I’m not so clear on

What’s the point of objectives? They don’t affect too much, but completing them yields bonus tomestones. I’m not quite sure what else you get from completing these. Once you complete 3, you’re done! Then freely spend the ne

What, DOL can get in on the mix, too? Yes. Miners, Botanists and Fishermen can contribute too. Gathering nodes has a chance to spawn chests! Nodes here have materials that are only seen in exploratory missions. YOU CAN ONLY SEE NODES AS THE CLASS, in case you forgot.

What’s the point? What are the rewards? Aside from powerful gear, you can also gain all sorts of stuff from participating in exploratory missions.

  • Useless gear can be turned in for: Brass Sky Pirate Spoils
  • DoL’s can rarely gather: Steel Sky Pirate Spoils
  • You can turn-in spoils for rewards.
    • Turn in NPC’s are within the mission and in Ishgard.
    • High rank materia is probably the best reward you can get right now.
    • Yes, you can get crafting/gathering materia.

Protips and Maximizing each lockout

go for the highest possible difficulty you can zone in to. It’s tough to swallow but the fact remains. Yes, entering hard is a bit of a hassle – use party finder or mission linkshells to do this!

Grouping up is infinitely better than going around with your group only. The faster stuff dies – the more chests spawn – the more star monsters appear. Actively go around helping other groups! Not only is it appreciated, it’s more value!

DoL’s are surprisingly good at getting chests, I’ve been pretty successful spawning a bunch of silver chests – I personally haven’t gotten gold yet from a node – please chime in on this. Each time you clear an area quickly switch to see if there are nodes that are safe to gather. Or you can try hunting for safe nodes all on your own!

Always go 1 tank 1 healer 6 DPS for as long as the encounters allow it. The bosses are quite simple but have a ton of HP – so any competent and geared healer/tank combo can easily manage alone.

Attune to aether currents ASAP, it’s basic advice, but worth throwing it out there.

Be courteous and follow the loot rules of your group. Don’t be that guy, please.

Expanding your social circle indirectly affects progress per time spent, not only in exploratory missions but any sort of content. It’s a worth it investment – more so in this case! You can use lodestone to search for linkshells, and probably reddit. It’s a good start!

Any tips you’d like to share? Comment! These are the only ones I could think of off the top of my head.

Quick Navigation: Basics & FAQ : Protips

Well, that’s about it! Good luck exploring deez islands!

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FFXIV Void Ark: Quick boss guides, Loot list & FAQ

Void Ark simple Boss Strategy Guide, Loot list and FAQ such as how to unlock Void Ark, etc.

How to Unlock Void Ark!? Unlocking Void Ark is done via the quest chain Sky Pirates, found in the Pillars (14,10) NPC: Unquiet Trader (Nearest Aethernet would be Athenaeum Astrologicum). Its only pre-requisite is beating the main story quest (Heavensward).

Void Ark is a 24 man raid that drops iLevel 200 gear, and an Item you can trade in for Illuminati Gobcoat and Illuminati Gobtwine. The duty is in a weird place, design wise, since Diadem Gear is better than this and it was implemented in the same patch. I won’t question SE’s intent, I’m just here to help you guys out lol.

As with any 24 man raid in FF, When in doubt, avoid the shiny colorful AoE. Another useful tip is to always focus target the boss so you will know if it’s casting something funny.

Update note: Mechanics are fully fleshed out (the really important ones, or at least the ones I can remember). I cannot update item links since XIVDB wont go live with 3.1 until after the weekend! Will fix on second pass.

 

Void Ark 1st boss: Stingray (Cetus)

Adds! Have a line AoE that you can “reduce” by WALKING TOWARDS it.

Green Marker, Divebomb: Boss travels from his current location to the marked guy, while dropping water bombs with a large AoE. If you’re the target, try to make the “least hassling path” for the group. Don’t stress, the divebomb is really slow.

Donut AoE: after some divebombs he will land at a certain place, wherein the safe spot is right around him. Don’t be too far from him.

Help, we’re drowning! Chill, just kill the nearest water ball near you. People inside can’t help people outside and vice versa. It’s a mini DPS check.

Void Ark 2nd boss: Dog and Pole (Sawtooth & Irminsul)

!Important – Boss Proximity: Tank them away from each other. The pole pulses periodically (purple AoE). If it hits the dog, it gains a permanent damage+ buff. At 16 stacks, it will begin one-shotting people.

!Important: After a short time each of them gains a certain buff: One will always be immune to magic, one will always be immune RANGED.

  • Melee can hit anything.
  • BRD/MCH has to hit the magic immune guy.
  • Casters / Healer has to hit the “immune to ranged”.

Mucus: Tethers a bunch of people together, rendering them useless. Breaking these chains is easy – simply “cut” it by walking across them!

Muddy AoE: This grey bubbling AoE spawns randomly, and also spawns wherever adds die. While the damage isn’t really noteworthy – if enough (16?) people get hit the boss goes into enrage mode that will probably wipe the party shortly after.

Void Ark 3rd Boss: Tentacle Fat (Cuchulainn)

There’s a raid-wide bleed that increases in power the longer the fight goes. Healers don’t be afraid to use AoE healing! You can and will wipe if DPS is really slow.

Avoid the vomit! This skill is DEADLY. There’s no floor effect so be careful! It can and will kill you after only a few short seconds inside.

Tentacles Raised up! Go in between two tentacles so you wont get hit.

Floor turned to poison! Find the nearest safety platform – there’s on in every corner.

Slime adds! When these spawn, try to kill them asap. The boss will use a cone AoE. If it hits a slime, he will eat it and gain a permanent damage+. Pull them away from the AoE if they cannot be bursted.

Black Ball! Facetank this (run into it) if you’re near it. After a short duration it will do raidwide damage.

Void Ark Last Boss: Mantis Melusine (Echidna)

Petrifaction: Just like SCoB T7 Melusine – you must FACE AWAY from her so you wont get stunned & VUL UP. Thankfully unlike T7 it wears off after a few seconds. (Skillname unsure)

Abyssal Reaper – Circular AoE with no floor effect: it’s a large circle that gives VUL UP to all people afflicted. It’s the only worrisome mechanic here really. RUN OUT OF THIS!

Sickle Strike: is a basic tank buster. Pre-cast heals, and light tank mitigation preferred. Deadly with VUL UPs. Easily taken for granted, but don’t slack off on these.

Shared AoE: Large arrows appear on a random raid member. HELP THIS GUY by stacking with him/her.

Deez Snakes: Two of the three snakes will be tethered. You must bring them far away from each other. The two tethered snakes are always Dexter and the non-Echidna one (What’s his name again!?).

Void Ark: Loot list & Notable Loot

ClassHeadChestHandBeltLegsFeet
Tank1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3
Healer1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3
Caster1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3
BRD/MCH1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3
DRG1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3
MNK1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3
NIN1, 23, 41, 41, 32, 42, 3

Grats to SE for eliminating the question ‘Which boss drops what item!?‘ with very intuitive loot drops in 3.1. Note that the final boss also has a chance to drop Coffin Lid (Furniture Crafting Item) and Wind-up Echidna (Minion).

At the end of your first Void Ark every week you get a Mhachi Farthing. Trade these in Idylshire (5,5) NPC: Bertana, Wondrous Sundries I for Illuminati Gobcoat or Illuminati Gobtwine.

As the game enters later patches, weekly limitations on gear / turn-in item will likely be removed.

Important mechanics are all noted (If I forgot something critical please lemme know!). Item linking is the main concern here, but I can’t update that since XIVDB 3.1 won’t be up till after the weekend.

Good luck with Void Ark! While the gear is largely overshadowed by Diadem, these can be great for glamours!

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FFXIV 3.1 (Current Patch) and YOU: What’s new?

How the most current patch affects core gameplay! Changes in item / character progression, leveling and other important things are tracked here.

The purpose of this new guide is to show how the most current patch impacts you as a player – and changed you should be making to your daily gameplay to maximize it! Think of it like PATCH NOTES but boiled down to the most important in-game alterations.

Quick Navigation: General | PvE | DoL | DoH

If I missed anything – feel free to let me know!

Pre-discussion notes: Hmm… I think I have a lot of work to do this patch, as well as improvements to overall guide structures so you guys can more easily find what you need. In any case 3.1 has been the most impactful patch in a while. This is the first iteration and I’ll be updating as I play this weekend.

New Duties & Other Activities

Diadem (Airship Exploratory Missions): Arguably the most important update. 210 gear with 4 substats can drop here…

Void Ark: 24 man raid which drops iLevel 200 gear. Some decent fillers can be gained here I guess.

Thordan EX: 8 man duty which drops 205 Weapons – pretty decent.

Vanu Beast Tribe: New beast tribe that eventually awards minions/mount.

Minion Battles: Starcraft like mini-game called “Lord of Verminion”. This is kinda legit!

2 New Dungeons: Required to unlock EXDR: St. Moraines Arboreum & Pharos Sirius Hard

My updates needed: Small guides for each, Void Ark, Minion Battles, Thordan EX, Vanu Vanu. I may not be making intense dungeon guides, maybe 1 page for both.


Combat Classes in General

Combat Class End-game:

Duties mentioned above: Diadem, Thordan, Void Ark, 2x Dungeons.

210 Mistbreak BiS: Every non-weapon BiS is now a 210 Mistbreak item (from Diadem) with 4 Sub-stats and decent amount of the stats you want. This is very “Diablo 3”, and while I don’t personally like it – it’s here anyway.

200 Fillers: From Void Ark. Isn’t is weird how this gear is invalidated the very same patch it’s implemented?

180 Fillers: Less reason to bother with crafted. Pink 180 is easier to obtain and cheaper. There’s so much filler in 3.1 that the expensive crafted gear is really a subpar option.

Gobcoat and Gobtwine: Now available weekly in Void Ark. Great to speed up 210 upgrades on ESO. You don’t need a quest to get the item (Mhachi Farthing), it automatically gets in to your inventory after doing your first weekly void ark.

Law for Materials: You can now use your Tomestones of Law to get crafting materials. 1800? A little steep, but law is pretty much worthless anyway.

My updates needed: A small update for BiS in each class, stating Mistbreak as BiS. Lol.


Combat Class Leveling up:

I haven’t noted down any significant changes in the pre-60 process. Please comment if you noticed any (I’ll be rechecking as well)

My updates needed: I actually haven’t finished all basic leveling guides for JOBS. Notably the three new ones.


DoL: Gatherers

DoL End-game:

NEW Red Scrip Items that are NOT UNSPOILED (Always up!): BUT DON’T APPEAR IN THE LIST ALWAYS. They don’t give a lot but, still! This is a legit “downtime maximization” update!

  • Miner: Eventide Jade (A random spawn in MANY nodes, so you can choose which you’d rather grind).
  • Botanist: Periwinkle (Same as above).

Unlike the “usual” method, you can save drinking Cordial until AFTER you’ve discovered them.

More yields for Red Scrip / Favor: Trading favor items for materials now gives three times the usual amount.

My updates needed: Make a scrip FARMING guide?


DoL leveling up:

NEW Blue Scrip items which are NOT UNSPOILED (Always up!): BUT DON’T APPEAR IN THE LIST ALWAYS. Like the red scrip counterpart, this is balanced by giving a smaller turn-in value.

  • Miner
    • Tektite (58+)
    • Fossilized Dragon Bone (56+)
    • Both in same node: Churning Mists – Landlord Colony.
  • Botany:
    • Cloud Mushroom (58+)
    • Wind Widow (56+)
    • Both in same node: Sea Of Clouds – Voor Sian Siran.

The main implication of this would be that these nodes would be the new go-to grinding nodes in 56+.

My updates needed: Update MIN BTN (FSH?) Leveling guides?


DoH: Crafters

DoH End-game:

NEW Red Scrip ‘tier’: They added a TINY red scrip turn-in for a “basic material”. This isn’t so bad, but you’d have to make a TON to cap. It’s cheap, but laborous.

New Crafting Recipes: Mainly consistent of glamour gear & Furniture. There’s also 185 Combat gear that… honestly… I don’t know who would use this. There’s so much filler gear in this patch…

Specialist Specific Recipes: Let me get back to you guys on this… But supposedly a few were implemented.

More yields for Red Scrip turn-ins, you now get more materials than we previously did for red scrips. Three times the amount, I think!

My updates needed: I don’t think these affect any existing guides. Again maybe I should make a scrip farming guide.


DoH leveling up:

New blue scrip tier that starts at 55 (maybe? I’m 60 on all DoH and wouldn’t know when these would initially show up). It’s an ok addition but the rewards are frickin SMALL.

My updates needed: Mention the above on the DoH Leveling guides. But I actually haven’t updated 3 of the DoH Leveling guides to 60. I may as well add that tiny blue scrip tier.


This guide will forever be updated, and it’s a great way for YOU to keep track of how to change your gameplay in each new patch, and a great way for ME to track what I have to update. Enjoy!

If I missed anything – feel free to let me know!

Quick Navigation: General | PvE | DoL | DoH

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FFXIV Minion Battles (Lord of Verminion) Guide

FFXIV’s minion battles, or “Lord of Verminion” was released in Patch 3.1 (Heavensward era). It’s basically an RTS like a simplified version of Starcraft.

How to unlock Minion Battles? Travel to Gold Saucer, then go to Chocobo Square via the aether net (Or talk to the Lift Operator if you’re walking) Once you’re here simply walk to the right side (It’s a new wing) and make sure to attune to the new aether crystal there (Minion Square).

Click on one of the Lord of Verminion Tables, and if it’s your first time you’ll be prompted with the help text!

Lord of Verminion: The Basics!

If you’re a first timer click on (From the table) Play Guide > Hotbar Edition. This teaches you how to edit your minion hotbar! You can access this anywhere in the world via: Character > Gold Saucer > Verminion, or Opening your Minion Guide and pressing the new button on the lower right.

You can access every minion you own while in-game, but they’re much easier to summon from the minion hotbar. If you’re a beginner – It’s best that you try to complete as many of the Verminion Challenge’s as you can!

 

All about Minions!

Effectivity vs. Buildings: To easily remember these icons – “G E Sh A”, or Gate, Eye, Shield, Arcana Stones. So when in doubt, remember GESHA! If that memoir isn’t enough for you – too bad! I’ll be talking about these buildings in the next section

Effectivity vs Other Minions: Each minion type is more effective at defeating another minion type. With the exception of Gadgets (Grey), that have no bonuses
or weaknesses to any minion type.

Poppet (Yellow) > Critter (Green) > Beast (Red) > Poppet (Yellow) Etc…

Special Action: Each minion has their own unique ‘Limit Break’ (The official name is different, but it makes a lot more sense this way). Like player limit breaks, they must be performed in a light party of at least four! Keep in mind, it only works for FOUR OF THE EXACT SAME MINION! This LB seems to charge while doing anything, even movement!

Other Basic Stats: Basic stuff like ATK, DEF, HP also includes wether they do single target damage or AoE damage

All about Structures!

Gate: Portals from where your minions come out. A B or C. Disabling the structure disallows minions to come out of them until they respawn.

Shield: Protects your crystals with a shield that refreshed every so often. Killing this structure removes all shields from crystals until it comes up again.

Seeing-Eye: Allows you to see enemy units and movement. Having this structure disabled results in you not being able to see anything outside the range of your units & buildings. While quite a good target in PvP, I’m not so sure this works vs AI.

Arcana Stones: for all intents and purposes, your life bar. If you have none remaining, well, “You ded”. I call them Crystals at some points in this guide.

With the exception of crystals, all structures self regenerate over time if destroyed.

Lord of Verminion: Basic Strategy

Before I proceed, let me share a word of wisdom I always liked in regards to strategy games:

“In any game state, you could probably make 10 choices. 6 are wrong, and you might lose because of it.
3 are right, and will lead to your win – but there’s only one BEST move.”

Given the above quote, I cannot possibly give you advice for the BEST MOVE every time – that’s for all of us to figure out each time we play. I can give you the tools and ideas that might lead you to the 3 “correct” moves.

Send in groups of preferably five!

Using a pet limit break is such a game changer that ensuring it is worth the extra unit (moreso for lower cost units). If a straight 4v4 happened, whoever (semi RNG) loses the first unit will likely lose badly. Sending in packs of 5 or, in some cases even more is better! Basically insurance that your LB comes out is worth the small investment of an extra unit. This is more effective on cheap units, obviously.

Range: Risk vs Reward

While some LB’s are extremely powerful, they are gimped by RANGE. A large circle is much easier to aim than a cone! The LB always comes from the minion you clicked so be careful! This is why I value large circular LB’s over cone LB’s. While some of the smaller range LB’s might be good, again, It’s a risk vs reward thing. I find the consistency of large AoE more than make up for the lack of power. Even then, hitting more targets will easily outscale LB’s with a tiny AoE.

This also goes for traps. While you might not always hit with a trap ASAP, it’s fine. If you placed it on an important zone, enemies won’t just waltz in there without expecting a beating. Trap AoE is huge and gives a substantial advantage in battle if you know how to use ’em.

What are the best minions?

“Another site lists all minion stats – check it out!”

While there is ALWAYS the absolute best minion to summon for each scenario, obviously the limiting factors are “Can you think of it fast enough?”.

First of all, I’ll put my own table of notable minions here. Then, in the bottom most secion are more specific notes on how to look for the minions you need! You can filter, sort and search by interacting with the table (also an option to increase rows shown).

As I was making my list of “imba minions”, the exercise became rather strange. For each time I thought “at this minion is good”, inevitably “ah but this guy counters it!”. Ultimately I’ll first of all list good practices in identifying great minions – it’s a far better resource than plainly listing “imba minions”.

Generic go-to Offensive minions

Poppet (Yellow) : Wind-up Ixal, Wind-up Shantotto, Wind-up Sea Devil, Wind-up Yugiri, Set of Primogs, Wind-up Zundu Warrior.

Critter (Green): Chigoe Larva, Wolf Pup, Mini Mole, Garlic Jester, Tomato King.

Beast (Red): Buffallo Calf, Wind-up Succubus, Zu Hatchling, Naughty Nanka. Behemoth Heir

Gadget (Grey): Wind-up Airship, Iron Dwarf (IMBA),

The most basic offensive minion has the (what I like to call), “ATK up: Racial” or “Party ATK up”. Since this ability has a different name per minion let’s just refer to it as those.  Here’s what this does –

  • ATK up: Racial – Increases ATK of all allies within range by 20 (40 if the ally is a critter). Duration: 6s (Example: Wolf Pup)
  • ATK up: Party – Increases action party ATK by 40. Duration: 15s (Example: Buffalo Calf)
  • ATK up: All – Increases ATk of all allies within range by 25. Duration: 6s (Example: Wind-up Zundu Warrior)

These abilities are so good because they’re a SUREFIRE way to increase DPS, and unlike reactive skills or nukes – they work AGAINST STRUCTURES. Note that Racial ATK up usually affects all allies in range regardless of type, and party ATK up only affects all minions in the battle party.

Defensive minions?

Any minion with high hp/armor make good units to delay the enemy from attacking your structures. They serve as great distractions – bonus points if they have multi-target attack. Extremely tanky minions do well as sacrifices when enemies are killing your base – imagine a stream of sacrificial minions 1 by 1 delaying their small group. It seems like value lost at first but you’re tying up their resources while not losing much yourself.

Healing minions are also very notable. They have their uses in PvE and PvP. I listed the ones I found below. While their base stats aren’t too good defensively, their survivability firmly puts them in the defensive minion categoty.

Healer Minions: Wind-up Warrior of Light (WHM)(Y), Louisoux(Y), Mandragora Queen (G),

Speed: how good is it?

Any minion with a high speed rating is godlike in its own regard. Here’s the general rule with speedy minions

“High-speed minions can travel fast, but generally lack BASE combat stats”

So, how is this good? It all depends on your playstyle. High speed minions tend to perform better with skirmish strategies – but given the difficulty of the current UI this isn’t as easy as it sounds. A great example of this would be Lesser Panda: a popular unit used to kill gates quickly.

Traps and Trap Clearing

Generally speaking…

“Planting traps are better than sweeping them”

It’s simple really. Since traps are mostly offensive (and insanely powerful), planting them on an objective is a great way to utilize your LB without the “is it the right time to use it?” factor bothering you. They’re likely to pay off no matter what.

Now, for clearing traps (Gobbue, Demon Box, etc) this is the reverse. First of all reactive LB’s are far worse and more difficult to use than proactive ones. (Debuffing is better than Esuna LB’s, for another example). Why? Because you’re not always guaranteed to have LB when you need it.

For example, if they put the trap, and you don’t have LB – value lost.
If you have LB, but there’s no trap – value lost.

The same logic applies for buff/debuff and esuna LB’s. You’re more likely to error on the cleansing then error on the application.


WELL, I guess that’s about it for now. I don’t know what else to write about but this seems to be a good beginners guide to LoV. This game is more strategically deep than I thought it was, and can be a stand-alone game in itself! GLHF and I gotta say they’re damn cute.

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