FFXIV Novus Stats Melding (Recommendations)

A nice guide to help you find out what stats and materia SUITS YOU for your Novus Relic Weapon!

So you’re done with the hellish Animus Grind – Welcome to the grindy world of Novus! But wait – What stats should you meld on your Novus!? If that’s what you’re wondering you’ve come to the right place. Let us guide you through the different ways you can meld your Novus Relic!!! Good luck! Each weapon recommendation has My FC Mates Mainclass recommendations. and My preference.

Navigation

TankCurtana / Holy Shield Novus (PLD) || Bravura Novus Stats (WAR)
Healer: Thyrus Novus Stats (WHM) || Omnilex Novus Stats (SCH)
Melee: Sphairai Novus Stats (MNK) || Yoshimitsu Novus Stats (NIN)|| Gae Bolg Novus Stats (DRG)
Caster: Stardust Rod Novus Stats (BLM) || Veil of Wiyu Novus Stats (SMN)

Novus Stats FAQ

Novus to Nexus stat bonus? Huh? for each 22 of a stat, you get a small bonus when upgrading to Nexus. Each weapon can have 3 of these bonuses and we aim to capitalize on it (44 on a stat makes this bonus twice). Sadly, PLD Curtana/Holy Shield can only cap out on 2 of these bonuses.

Accuracy on DPS Novus!?!? Yes. Each DPS class (and tank class) has Accuracy on my “practical” melding recommendation. WHY? For added flexibility choosing the best gear. What happens if you dip below accuracy and are forced to use Skill Speed gear (I’m looking at you, Bard) – oooo I bet you wished you had ACC on your Novus now! Besides RELIC will almost always be filler to final boss weapons.

I MADE A MISTAKE MELDING MY NOVUS!? HELP!? Chill. You can fix that once your Novus is complete. You just need 1 Alexandrite and 1 Materia for each mismeld you did.

If you had one – what melds would you use!? MY (Subjective) preference is underlined and bolded.

I’m poor! Help! The lessen cost melds contain no IV’s AFAIK – and are sometimes even better.

Curtana (Holy Shield) Novus Stats Melding

Defensive: 31 Parry, 22 ACC
+Holy Shield: 11 Parry 11 ACC

A full defense, full flexibility meld that helps you switch gear around for maximizing other stats. Overall, a GREAT choice for any PLD.

Defensive (lessen costs): 22 Parry 22 Accuracy 9 DET
+Holy Shield: 8 Parry 8 ACC 6 DET

Sacrifice a little flexibility for some balance (and money saving) DET on your Curtana/Holy Shield is still pretty damn good.

No Parry: 22 Accuracy 22 DET 9 CRIT
+Holy Shield: 9 DET, 13 CRIT

For the above meld, freely adjust your CRIT and ACC numbers. Max out on DET if you can.

No Parry (lessen costs): 14 ACC 16 DET  23 CRIT
+Holy Shield: 8 ACC, 6 DET, 8 CRIT

This meld is a little weird… you don’t get any stat bonus but save a couple million gil :D.

A note on curtana: It’s hard to save money WHILE shooting for stat bonuses since curtana reaches the Materia IV tier much faster. It’s a bit annoying how the stats are split between the two weapons, but what can we do…

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: Defensive (Lessen costs) – Since this is a tank class – removing ACC from your relic is folly. A good mix of Parry/ACC/DET is a solid build while saving money – what’s not to like!?

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Bravura Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 31 DET 22 ACC 22 CRIT
Practical (lessen costs): 22 ACC 23 DET 30 CRIT

I have to say this is a bit influenced by our groups playstyle. We try to make our Warrior OT as much as possible. IN MY OPINION, WAR OT is super effective due to debuff placements, this matters more since we run with a NIN. The melds above also serves as the “No Parry” Bravura melds.

Defensive: 44 Parry 22 ACC 9 DET
Defensive (lessen costs): 31 Parry 22 ACC 22 DET

Basic full defensive meld and a more balanced (IMO Superior) build that saves money and gives a great balance of stats.

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: Defensive (lessen costs) –  The more I look at that spread of stats, the better it seems. Since the benefit of CRIT isn’t that huge, 22 DET and 31 Parry seem like a great spread between offense and defense! HOWEVER since my group favors WAR OT HEAVILY, I’d personally meld Practical(lessen costs) for MY team.

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Thyrus Novus Stats Melding

Balanced: 31 Piety, 22 DET, 22 Spell Speed
A good balance of stats – everything your WHM needs!

Balanced (lessen costs): 24 Piety, 23 DET, 28 Spell Speed

Accuracy: 31 Accuracy, 22 Piety 22 DET (Not as good compared to Accuracy on SCH Omnilex)

Just like the Omnilex, the “best stats” for Thyrus will never be universal. Each healer prefers this or that, and depends on playstyle/group. The above are solid recommendations none the less.

Mahiko San‘s (Official FC White Mage!) Novus: (Balanced)

First of all, let’s start with the 22 DET and 22 Spell Speed: I chose this because I don’t want too much DET or too much SS. My playstyle and speed of progression, however, cannot permit me to ELIMINATE Spell Speed (clutch heals and handling mechanics favors SS, not DET). Also, having at least 22 on a Novus stat gives you a +1 stat bonus when it upgrades. So why not, right?

Alot of WHM’s really like DET and don’t like SS. If that’s the case then simply meld 31 into DET, but I personally would not recommend it. The main reason people hate on SS is that bosses are “scripted” and precasting heals + perfect play leads to not needing it. People forget that actual human beings (not robots) pilot characters, and while PROGRESSING FAST thru raids, perfect play isn’t always there since knowledge of the encounter isn’t “ingrained in memory” yet. I like SS a little more than DET, and I stick to that. But I wouldn’t want to live without either.

Rest in Piety (31): I really like Piety. The max is 33 but if you choose to max it out you miss on a stat bonus from another stat (supporting stats cannot reach 22). This seems to be a no brainer. The very minimum Piety I’d meld on a Thyrus is 22. But since it’s the stat I FAVOR MOST – I put as much of it as I can.

No Crit? Yes, no crit. I DO NOT LIKE CRIT on White Mages – plain and simple. If you like crit – by all means… But I personally cannot and would not recommend it.

Lastly, Accuracy on Thyrus? isn’t bad if your group knows how to use it. I wanted to, but ultimately would rather meld Accuracy into body pieces/accessories if needed.

Mahiko San’s preference: Balanced –  Well, for the sake of continuity I had to put this section. If it isn’t obvious by now I chose the Balanced strat. 31 Piety, 22 DET and 22 SS.

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Omnilex Novus Stats Melding

CRIT Heavy: SCH: 44 CRIT +(31 DET or 31 Piety)
CRIT Heavy(lessen costs): 31 CRIT 22 DET 22 Piety

The obvious crit focused builds. I prefer the lessen costs one here since you may drop too much piety depending on itemization.

Accuracy*: 31 Accuracy, 22 CRIT 22 DET

Don’t laugh. I’d meld my Omnilex this way if I had one.

Like the Thyrus – healing stats really vary from person to person. Adjust as you see fit depending on your statics needs and your own play. Adjust accordingly!

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: CRIT Heavy(lessen costs) OR Accuracy –  Depending on your groups need/speed, either of these two builds would work wonderfully. If you don’t DPS often, stick to the CRIT Heavy (lessen costs).

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Artemis Bow Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 44 CRIT 22 ACC 9 DET
Practical (Lessen Costs): 31 CRIT 22 ACC 22 DET

Heavy crit for more Bloodletters – no explanation needed here.

Brainless DPS: 44 CRIT 31 DET
Brainless DPS (lessen costs): Doesn’t exist

Well, trying to get as much CRIT as you can is a no-brainer. DET as a supporting stat is always good for any DPS class.

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: Practical – I would NEVER meld an Artemis Bow without Accuracy, but that’s just me. If you’re really poor, the “lessen costs” variant is still EXTREMELY SOLID. Again, the accuracy on Artemis Bow helps you make sure you don’t get gimped by your own gear drops (like in FCoB tier).

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Sphairai Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 31 DET 22 ACC 22 CRIT
Practical (Lessen costs): 30 CRIT 23 DET 22 ACC

Brainless DPS: 31 DET 44 CRIT
Brainless DPS (Lessen costs): 23 DET 31 CRIT 22 Skill Speed

DET ACC CRIT is a common theme amongst DPS relic weapons which you’ll see alot coming up.

Tiffany Faye ‘s (Official FC Monk!) Novus: (Practical)

I recommend the 31-22-22 (DET ACC CRIT) meld because the relic is your comfort weapon. Having accuracy on your main weapon will give you the best flexibility when itemizing your character.
Although the current BiS list for monk already has sufficient accuracy even with the Crit/Det Dreadwyrm weapon, new equipment with better stats might come out on other slots (for example, a Crit/Det rings to replace the Ironworks Str Ring). The Accuracy zodiac would allow you to use the new ring without dropping below the accuracy cap.

Another reason I prefer the 31-22-22 meld because it is MUCH cheaper (potentially save millions of gil by skipping Crit IVs)

Mahiko San’s preference: Practical – 31 DET on MNK is insane if you can afford it. There’s really not much else to say with these straightforward DPS relics like Sphairai.

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Yoshimitsu Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 31 DET 22 ACC 22 CRIT
Practical (Lessen costs): 31 CRIT 23 DET 22 ACC

Brainless DPS: 31 DET 44 CRIT
Brainless DPS (lessen costs): Doesn’t exist

Yoshimitsu Novus melds are part of the no-brainer relic pile.

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: Practical – SS is a junk stat on NIN as well. There’s not much else to say. If you’ve got the gil – this is the meld for your Yoshimitsu.

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Gae Bolg Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 31 DET 22 ACC 22 CRIT
Practical (Lessen costs): 30 CRIT 23 DET 22 ACC

Brainless DPS: 31 DET 44 CRIT
Brainless DPS (lessen costs): Doesn’t exist

Gae Bolg Novus melds are part of the no-brainer relic pile.

Eirlys Castillo ‘s (Official FC Dragoon!) Novus: (Practical)

Explanation for 31-22-22 Gae Bolg melding

(1) Reasons for maxing Det: Det is the most crucial substat for most classes. While crit is nice, an increase in det is a 100% increase in DPS, no matter how minor. Therefore maxing the Det component is something most would consider wise to do.

(2) Reasons for 22-22: The most important reason someone would want to meld 22-22 for the remaining 44 allowances is because 22 is the key number you want the substat to be at. For every 22 points into a substat, each upgrade will increase said substat by 1 point. Anything below 22 will remain that at that value through upgrades. Going 22-22 also means you don’t have to meld IV materias, which means there’s no chance of wasting copious amounts of gil.

(3) Reasons crit-acc: Crit is the next most important substat, some might argue it equally as important or even more so, but personally I think its Det>Crit for the reason stated in (1).

Accuracy is probably the most important substat for any non-healer class. Without sufficient accuracy, you risk missing which results in a massiva DPS loss, especially if it’s one of the big hits (Full thrust, Jump, etc.). While the i130 BiS list already has sufficient accuracy for T13 flanks, having spare accuracy on your weapon means more flexibility for BiS lists in the event of new equipment, especially accessories, being released (e.g. A crit-det ring)

Skill speed is definitely out of the question as it does nothing but help clip your DoTs, which means it’s actually a DPS loss.

Mahiko San’s preference: Practical – Since SS is a junk stat on Gae Bolg most of the time, this is the most feasible build. As always, if low on gil, do the lessen cost one.

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Stardust Rod Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 44 Spell Speed 22 ACC 9 DET
Practical (lessen costs): 31 Spell Speed, 22 ACC, 22 DET

Brainless DPS: 44 Spell Speed 31 DET
Brainless DPS (lessen costs): 31 Spell Speed 22 DET 22 CRIT

There’s almost NO WAY you can mess up a Stardust Rod Novus melding – all stats CAN be used by BLM.

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: Practical – The sheer power of Spell Speed when stacked cannot be ignored on BLM’s. 44 SS is extremely potent! The lessen costs variant is still very good for your Stardust Rod.

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Veil of Wiyu Novus Stats Melding

Practical: 31 DET, 22 ACC 22 CRIT
Practical (lessen costs): 30 CRIT, 23 DET 22 ACC

As long as there’s no Spell Speed – we’re happy.

Brainless DPS: 44 CRIT 31 DET
Brainless DPS (lessen costs): Doesn’t exist.

I’ll say it once, I’ll say it again… Say no to Spell Speed on SMN. These melds look very similar to the Melee Relics, ey? Again since Summoners are severely limited by mana AND Spell Speed scales horribly on them – it should NEVER appear on your Veil of Wiyu.

Waiting for FC input!

Mahiko San’s preference: Practical – Veil of Wiyu should never had Spell Speed melded… If gil isn’t a factor this should be your relic stats. The lessen cost alternative is always there if you’re a little low on gil.

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Remember, these are just recommendations and you can meld however you want or tweak these builds to your liking! Good luck farming Alex, and finishing your Novus Relic! Hurry up and get to Nexus and get depressed farming lights!

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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 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 RotationToken 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

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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FFXIV Good King Moggle Mog (Thornmarch) Extreme Guide

Moogles! Moogles Everywhere! If you’re saying “What killed me?!” – Read on! How to bring the Good King to heel in our Thornmarch EX Guide!

You’ve walked into Thornmarch extreme – then that means you’ve recently said “WTF”. Good King Moggle Mog is a pretty confusing fight, but once you get used to it – It’s a breeze! Use our handy dandy guide not get killed by seemingly random things again!

Navigation:
Page 1: Mechanics & Skills | Page 2: “Weird Stuff”, Phases, Tips & Loot
Main Mechanic | Moogle & King Skills | Tanking & Positioning

Main Mechanic: Life sharing

Killing a moogle causes the next phase to begin. The king is invulnerable to damage, and phase transitioning doubles up as the only method to deal damage to him. Here’s how it works: After one moogle dies, the king “gives” them any lost HP they have – damaging the king and healing everyone else to full (and reviving if killed). This has to be repeated three times before entering the final mini-phase. Having ALL MOOGLES AT LOWEST POSSIBLE LIFE BEFORE KILLING is your main objective. Overall, this is how the fight looks like…

Phase 1 -> Kill 1 Moogle -> Phase 2 -> Kill 1 Moogle -> Phase 3 -> Kill All Moogles -> Kill King (mini-phase).

“Moogle Basic Abilities” and “King Skills” will be active the whole fight. “Weird Stuff” will only appear in P2 and P3. This is all discussed below.

Moogle Basic Abilities

Paladin, Warrior and King Moogles have an aggro table. BLM, WHM, BRD, and Thief Moogles do whatever they want.

Paladin & Warrior – They each give a debuff that, long story short, makes tanking both of these moogles simultaneously impossible. Tanks should pick up one each.

===The following Moogles have no Aggro table===
Black Mage – FLARE can (must) be cancelled by dealing direct damage to the caster. Stun/Silence have no effect. He also does meteor, which places a bunch of AoE circles on the ground (blue). Just dodge meteor. [Always have 1 or 2 DPS assigned to cancel flare]

White Mage – Heals. (Amazing, right?)
Archer – Focuses on a random target and does a few basic attacks.
Thief – Approaches a random target and stabs him or her.
Bard – Periodically gives a short buff to surrounding Moogles. (Least threatening)

These abilities continue during the entire fight. If you’re looking for their “ultimate” abilities, and how to deal with them, that’s found in Page 2.

Delta – A combination attack between the Bard, Thief & Archer creating a triangular area of near-certain death. The damage is affected by the total amount of moogle buff stacks all participating moogles! This will leave you at critical HP in the best case scenario, but will most likely one-shot you. Staying away from the middle is the best defense versus delta, but you can also see it coming thru A) A buff on a moogle called “Pombination” which has 3 moogle faces on it. B) Them talking about “Delta! Delta!” & Moving for no reason.

 

King Moogle Skills

Cleaving attack that reduces mana (Skill name unsure). So healers watch out for this! Moogle Creation is a generic, but thankfully weak, laser attack.

Moogle Buff – Periodically makes nearby Moogles stronger. This is a soft tank swap effect, since the Paladin or Warrior moogles cannot gain too many stacks. Also, tanks must be aware of their position in relation to certain moogles, which will be discussed in the next section. (Skill name unsure)

1000 Kuponze Swing – A slow clunky double cone effect targetting the person who gets a cross-hair. Shouldn’t be a big deal. This skill comes from the two tanks.

Tanking & Positioning Summary

Positioning is very erratic in this fight, but one things for sure: Tanks must be along the outer ring.

“MT” gets Paladin or Warrior + King, “OT” gets whichever the MT didn’t. Once the moogle buff reaches 3~ OT provokes king until his guy reaches 3~ stacks. Tanks can focus target the opposite moogle so they can easily see when they need to taunt. Tanks must also remember to position away from Archer & Thief Moogles. Swap the King when the current MT’s secondary moogle has high stacks.

DPS adjust accordingly, while avoiding middle if possible.

Healers have no reason to stay away from the edge, and SHOULD NOT BOTH BE TOO CLOSE TO PALADIN MOOGLE (More on this in “weird stuff” section).

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Navigation:
Page 1: Mechanics & SkillsPage 2: “Weird Stuff”, Phases, Tips & Loot
Main Mechanic | Moogle & King SkillsTanking & Positioning

FFXIV Leviathan Extreme Mode (Whorleater) Guide

Heads or Tails!? Don’t let this fight be 50/50! Learn how to smash Leviathan EX in our Whorleater EXTREME Guide!

ffxiv leviathan whorleater extreme mode ex em banner

So you’ve made it to Leviathan Extreme Mode, eh? This is an extremely fun fight that starts with lame music (but makes it up later)! Let our epic guide help you out beating Whorleater Extreme!

Navigation:
Page 1 – Abilities & Adds | Page 2 – Phases, Tips & Loot
Spinning Dive & Body Slam | Adds | Minor Abilities | Briny Mirror

Leviathan Extreme Mode Abilities

As we mentioned above, discussing Levi EX by phase can be a bit confusing. So instead, understanding his abilities first is more important. These two abilities are the most important in the fight, and you’ll be seeing them often –

ffxiv body slam safe spots leviathan extreme mode

Body Slam, often followed by “Oh Sh*t”

Leviathan emerges from the water, (signaled by a “geyser” animation), and slams the platform with his body, pulling everyone toward that side. If you’re too near him, you take heavy damage – and may fall off the platform resulting in instant KO (when the railings are down). Basically, run to the opposite end to where he spawns. Check this out:

Body Slam Dodging Tips: Look at one side only. If you do not see the geyser – run forward! It only means it’s behind you. Using headphones also helps! If he spawns in A – run to B! If he spawns in B – run to A!

It’s quite easy to dodge, honestly, but panic and or complacency can get the best of us! Just remember in the later phases – this means instant Death. So get used to it quick!

ffxiv levi divebomb spiral dive dodging leviathan extreme modeLeviathans “Divebomb” (Spinning Dive)

(See diagram on right) This may be extremely disheartening at first for newer players, but after you get used to it, it’s a piece of cake! This ability is popularly called Divebomb, after Twintanias skill.

The “starting point” of Spinning Dive is, like body slam, marked by a geyser. It will travel all the way across the platform following the lines (the black lines in the diagram). These divebombs are pretty thick. The blue area signifies this. The “Vertical” spinning dives take up exactly 50% of the map, while the “Horizontal” ones take up 33%

To make matters worse, These water balls fall from the sky on random raidmembers before each Spiral Dive. It does significant damage and a slow.

This skill has some quirks, though. If he begins his Divebomb on the North Side (Vertical), the next Divebomb will start from the South (Could be Vertical of Horizontal). Horizontal Divebombs are trickier, though. He will also always begin his dive from the side he was tanked at.

The Horizontal divebombs are a bit messier. Of the three possible horizontal setups, the middle one happens most often. The horizontal divebombs do not seem to follow a strict rule (or they are too rare for me to have observed patterns; please chime in on the comments if you have info)

This skill is often followed by “Oh Sh*t”, excuses or both.

 

Adds – “The Fat & Thins”

Leviathan spawns two kinds of adds (that fight back). In our FC we call them the Fat, and the Thins.

Thin adds (Wavespine Sahagin)

There are many strategies as to which tank pulls which add. One pulls both is fine, or one each is also fine – really depends on what you guys are used to, and what your composition looks like.

After a certain time – they cast a skill called Hydroshot, leaving a circular AoE on the ground. If stepped on, you get a MASSIVE water DoT! (Is it Esunable? We haven’t got hit by this in a while)

The Fat (Wavetooth Sahagin)

Have a tank pick this one up (Usually the tail tank). If you’re the tank remember this – After the fat casts his 3rd skill, start chain stunning. Kind of like DK’s in T5. This can be hard if you have two warriors.

You see, this guy gets very pissed off after three skills. He casts one of two things, both with extremely unfavorable results. Dreadstorm leaves a circle on the ground, that if stepped on, causes you to run around in fear for 9323478 seconds, and you can step on it again while feared. If the railings are down, this can cause you to walk off. Dreadwash is a medium AoE shout that fears you for roughly 9323478 seconds, If the railings are down, this can cause you to walk off. Yes I copy-pasted that.

This add is often followed by “Oh Sh*t”, then “Where’s the Stun!?”.

As a desperate measure, these things can be stopped by the WHM Fluid Aura or SMN Garuda Push. (Or at least we imagined it to be so, when it happened once; again chime in on comments if confirmed / busted)

Levi Ex Minor Abilities

Majority of the fight, the two tanks split up tanking the Head and Tail. Each end has it’s own abilities.

Leviathan Head Skills

Leviathans head reflects ranged physical damage, and cannot be back attacked – so Magic DPS should target this.

Dread Tide – A line attack that comes from the head. Hits fairly hard, about 3000 damage on a tank. Main tank should position himself away from the raid, especially during adds phases. He usually does this after 3 basic attacks or around every 25 seconds.

Tidal Roar – Raid wide magic damage. Insignificant in the early stages – massive later on. Can be Virused or Dragon Kicked to help reduce it a bit.

Water Spout – An AOE attack originating from both healers. Make sure to split up.

Leviathan Tail Skills

Leviathans tail  reflects magic damage, and is always a flank/back attack – so Melee DPS & Bards should target this.

Scale Darts – A single target attack that comes from the tail. Hits a tank for about 1500 damage.

Tail Swipe – A frontal cone attack that comes from the tail. The damage is shared among all targets hit. Ranged guys make sure to get out of this.

Briny Mirror – look below :)

Briny Mirror – How to deal with it

A Debuff that is applied to whoever has top emnity on the tail of Leviathan when it appears (usually tanks). Briny Mirror is an annoying debuff that applies a stack each time you heal the person who has it. Each stack reduces healing range. Upon reaching 16 stacks – the healer is stunned for a significant time!

You can “cheat” Briny Mirror by doing the following things:

  • WHM Stoneskin doesn’t give stacks.
  • REGEN and its ticks don’t give stacks.
  • EOS/SELENE ignore this mechanic.

So yeah, have your pet near Tail tank, have your WHM seal+regen & SS the guy. You can further make your life easier by using things like Eye for an Eye, Storms Path etc etc…

Stacks are, at times, unavoidable. If you have to get one don’t be too stressed about it. Medica / Succor will likely get you one. But dont sweat it – if you manage your heals well, you’ll never reach the dreaded 16 stacks, or even get close to it. After the Divebomb / Slap phase, make sure you be extra careful in waiting for existing stacks to fall off before you AoE heal again. (Or simply position so you wont hit the guy).

That’s it for Page 1. Understand these mechanics first of all! Page 2 has what we know of Levi’s Phase Transitions.

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Navigation:
Page 1 – Abilities & Adds | Page 2 – Phases, Tips & Loot
Spinning Dive & Body Slam | Adds Minor Abilities | Briny Mirror

FFXIV Gardening (Seeds / Soil / Crossbreeding)

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So you’ve decided to harvest moon it up, huh? Let our FFXIV Gardening guide help you out! Put your science hats on…

Navigation:
Basics | Seeds | Soil | Cross-breeding

FFXIV Gardening Basics

To garden you need two things, FC Housing (or Individual?), and a Gardening Patch. While we can’t help you getting the former, Garden Patches can be found in the housing vendor located in your respective ward.

To plant a seed you need two things. A Seed + Soil. Watering Plants isn’t so bad, and you only need to water them once every human day (estimate). And takes around 3-5 days depending on seed to grow (estimate).

Where do I get Seeds?  Seeds can be farmed by Botanists. There are a bunch, to say the least. (30-40+?)

What about Soil? Soil is obtained by Miners. It comes in three types and three grades. You don’t need specific soil to plant seeds, but full research may be needed if plants are grown on their “home-soil”, though unlikely.

Fertilizer!? You can fertilize a crop to make it grow faster. It can be placed once an hour(human). It speeds it up by an hour growth at minimum (estimate)

What does gardening give!? We don’t know yet, give us a few days to grow our seeds, lol. We will be tracking our Gardening Rewards & Items in P2 of this post.

 

Seeds – Where and how?

(Node ID is in relation to: Botany Node Locations)

Seeds are a DoL “Rare Drop”, which means it will not always spawn when you inspect a node. There does not seem to be a way to increase the discovery rate of Seeds. You can also get seeds from a Botanist Retainer Venture (which is a pretty decent way to get them)

Where do I find certain seeds? They spawn in any node where you can gather the corresponding fruit. It’s no mystery but we can list them if needed…

Soil – Effects, Properties & Locations

Soil is also a “rare drop”. (See “Seeds” Section). (Node ID is in relation to: Mining Node Locations)

There are three types of soil in the game: Thanalan, La Noscean and Gridanian. Each type of soil has its own unique effects.

Thanalan Soil: Increases cross-breeding chance.
La Noscean Soil: Increases chance for an HQ crop.
Gridanian Soil: Increases crop yields.

Once we harvest a few crops, we’ll know more about the effects.

Crossbreding Seeds?

To be honest, we don’t know much about this yet. There are some question that are still unclear to us…

Crossbreeding is chance based (pretty much confirmed)
Do two seeds have to “grow together”?
Can a seedling Crossbreed with a plant?
Can a plant Crossbreed with a seedling?
Do “tier 2” Crossbreeds exist?
What are the possible rewards for Crossbreeding seeds?

We cannot know any of this without time and luck, so if you know anything – let us know!

Found outdated info? Wanna add something? Hit the comments below!

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FFXIV Halatali Hard Mode (HM) Guide

Areana? or ZOO? Have a look at our Halatali HM Guide! Includes boss strategy and loot list!

Don’t let goblin-gundams let you down. Let our Brayflox Longstop HM guide show YOU the way!

Basics | (B1)Pyracmon | (B2)Catoblepas | (B3)Narashima & Mumuepo | Halatali HM Loot List

Basics

Halatali Hard mode is unlocked by a quest obtained from Mor Dhona.

There do not seem to be any trash mobs of particular note in this dungeon.

If you’ve completed the Blacksmith Quest line, you’ll meet Bronze Bull as an NPC here (if you remember him. He’s actually still wearing the Cobalt Shamshir you gave him!)

Boss 1 – Pyracmon

You’ll notice a Mammet Activator that’s connected to an Admirer Mammet. When he does 1000-tonze swipe, the floor turns blue (you really cant miss it). During this long channel time, activate the Mammet Activator. The connected Mammet will then release a protective field which you can stand on.

His other abilities 100 tonze swipe – is a short-range circular AoE, sometimes accompanied by a suck, and swing again,

Eye of the Beholder hits all targets far from him. Finally Piercing Glower is a line-aoe.

 

Boss 2 – Catoblepas

There are 4 Shadowy Orbs near the boss. Activating a Shadowy Orb makes you immune to Catoblepas’s ultimate: Demon Eye.
You can Esuna/Leeches the debuff once demon eye is done casting, since it also reduces your Accuracy.

Every so often a “Tainted Eye” spawns at it’s head. Kill it whenever it appears. It continually gives a map-wide stacking Vulnerability debuff, so you really want to get rid of this fast.

His other abilities aren’t really noteworthy – take care of Demon Eye and Tainted Eye – and you should be good!

Boss 3 – Group Fight + Narashima & Mumuepo

The final encounter(s) of Halatali HM consists of 2 parts. The “Group Fight“, and finally “Narashima & Mumuepo“.

Group Fight

Silent Moss (Conjurer) – He’s the healer so you might as well kill him first.
Langloisert (Lancer) – Has no aggro table and can be an annoyance, kill him second (or third).
U’libho (Archer) – Can be killed second or third, squisy and deals ranged damage.
Franz (Gladiator) – Since he’s the tank kill him last.

There’s not much to note about this fight. Avoid AoE and follow the order above, you’ll be fine.

Narashima & Mumuepo

These two come right after you defeat the group fight. Both of them do the usual AoE that you should avoid. They only have 1 noticeable skill that can cause trouble:

Absolute Bind “chains” two people in your party. They cannot move or act, and it cannot be dispelled. To remove these chains simply interact with the staff that randomly spawns on the ground.

Narashima has a Tailswipe that has quite a big AoE, so you might want to stay at his sides. Killing Mumuepo first is also a good idea.

Halatali HM Loot List

Like most dungeons in this tier, alot of chests drop 2.1 Crafting Materials – stuff like Coke & Peacock Ore.

Halatali also drops an i70 item set (details to follow), and i70 Darklight Accessories.

Found some loot we didn’t? Want something to add? Hit the comments below!

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