Drop Rates For High-tier Battlefields

So I'm a 99 BLU with mostly 119 armor (missing legs), but I can't get a 119 sword to save my life. I was thinking of trying to get one of the swords from the high-tier battlefields (Anahera Saber from AAHM, the sword from Ifrit, or the sword from Fenrir), but my linkshell has told me the weapons only drop on Normal difficulty or higher.

Is that true? My husband also plays and he says he got a 119 greatsword on Very Easy, so he thinks the weapon drops are just astronomically low on lower difficulties.

Also, any other tips on 'easily' obtainable 119 swords for BLU would be appreciated. Before you say so, I'm already working on my REM options, but that will take forever so I'm looking for something to hold me over. My linkshell practically laughed when I asked for help farming Colada from Ironside of Iris from Yilan, and nobody wants to help me with Unity fights. :( and I'm not well-geared enough to do Sinister Reign, I think...

The only swords besides REM that are really worthwhile for modern day content are:

Claidheamh Soluis
Colada
Nibiru Blade
Tanmogayi +1

They're all relatively easy to obtain, and don't be discouraged by this:


Easier said than done, but you should find another linkshell/new people to play with, and research the battles to set up the groups yourself. Having a support to play, like GEO, will go a long way in joining or creating groups.

What Shruiken says is very true.

But generally speaking, the best drop rates on High Tier battlefields come from Difficult mode, as your guaranteed at least 1 armor piece.
That being said, on Normal i'd say you have a 50/50 chance of armor dropping from that level of difficulty.

Of cause at the end of the day it is down to what you feel like you are prepared to do.

If you have delve cleared, and Plasm saved up, get a couple of Usonmunkus.

Nice placeholders until you can get
Also the Oboro JSE Sword Mimesis The BLU guide says "Avoid" but it was written before the JSE buffs. You can now augment this, and its a respectable sword, especially to hold place while you get the above. Expensive, but you can get this totally solo and not have to rely on anyone.

As for HTBFs, Angels are not easy for BLU to solo unless you are geared. Not saying don't try, just saying don't feel too disheartened if you get rinsed.

As mentioned above, drop rates on VE/E are low (but they DO drop!)

What you can solo fairly easily is Alluvion Skirmish for your Claidheamh Soluis Two ways of doing this:

1) A. Skirmish Yorcia. Doesn't drop weapons, but does drop wings (in my experience terrible drop rate). 3 wings = weapon or armor of choice.

2) A. Skirmish Rala. Should be very easy for you + trusts. Go in, complete objectives, mistmaw pops at the end of that, kill the mistmaw and a weapon will drop. Far higher chance of success.

In my own experience 2) was the easiest and quickest. Got myself a few weapons of choice for a few jobs by simply doing this. Each time the Mistmaw NM I wanted popped withing 1~2 floors, and dropped weapon within 1~2 kills.

However, as stated above don't plough too many $$$ into upgrades via stones!

To a fair point, it might depend on how well the other folks in your shell are geared. If they're in a comparable situation to you, then those may well be unrealistic targets for the time being. It might also be a matter of timing or something.

Either way...as mentioned, gear can drop at any difficulty for HTBs, the drop rates on VE/E just suck. I'd agree, N is probably 50/50. D guarantees a slot (unless everyone already has what was supposed to load), VD guarantees two.

Personally though, I don't think HTBs are the route to go there, especially if you're spamming low tier ones. None of them are particularly good.

IMO, the bang for your buck here would be Nibiru Blades. While a little light on base damage relative to Colada or Tanmogayi/+1 (or even a good Claid), you get a fixed augment path/cost, and a hefty ACC boost with path A (15 DEX and 27 ACC per sword).
While you likely couldn't go get them for yourself quite yet, both the UNM for pops and NM itself are pretty simple for a decently geared SCH to solo with Trusts, if you have one in your LS to ask.

Long term, you'd want to upgrade to Coladas, Tanmogayi +1, and ideally Tizona/Almace/etc. However, Nibiru Blades are a solid pick until then.

Other "get help from LS" options...

A well geared/JP'ed/etc BLU can (usually) zerg Yilan down pretty easily. TP move selection can potentially create problems. Iris is probably not worth specifically pursuing. Just saying, you don't need your LS as a whole there, just one capable person.

Delve scales down a lot for a 3-person group, so while Buramenk'ah might not be that awesome anymore, one well geared person (plus you and your husband) could likely go do Morimar and get you that (or able to buy it with plasm). Plus, if you don't already have Oboro access, that'd do it.
As mentioned, Usonmunku(s) would not be bad either, and it has the benefit of being usable by a wide range of jobs.

With any of that - or for other future stuff - I'd second the notion that, if you haven't already, having a support job or two available may help. For as much as some folks do dual box, you and your husband could do even better.

If you really really can't get any help, then look at Alluvion Skirmish stuff. Alluvion Yorcia is easily soloed, and is a good way to get some additional 119 armor as well (and a lot of spells). My experience is also that the drop rate for Mellidopt Wings sucks, but you'll get them eventually. Also something you can use Red Mog Pells on, if you have one to spare.

Tojil is the easiest sword to obtain apart from oboro jse which only requires gil.
Im sure there are many swords throughout the unity nms.

The saving grace of the Mimesis (Oboro JSE) is that while it is expensive in terms of gil, it is something that can be acquired solo and without relying on an LS or PUG etc.

Mimesis isn't a bad sword by any means, it's just an expensive one, which some people will then argue makes it not-worthwhile.

What I'd keep in mind about it is that Oboro access still has to be unlocked in the first place. If someone's limit is doing VE HTBs or something, then they're probably not able to "unlock" Oboro without help.

In turn, fully augmenting it takes finishing RoV, and some of the last few missions there can prove difficult for lesser-geared folks (by design). You've also got all the prerequisite missions to potentially consider.

That, to me, is what puts a damper on it. You more or less have to prove you could get some of the better options just to be able to build it. The cost is kind of secondary to that, though it's still a consideration.

Thank you guys for the replies! I've been trying your recommendations, and here are some troubles I've been having.


So, maybe I'm not playing my job entirely correctly or something, but unfortunately, I've tried fighting the Mistmaw that drops Claidheamh Soluis solo/with trusts, and it's slaughtered me every time. It hits my whole party with enfeebles and then blasts us with Meteor. Any ideas as how to survive this?

Also, I'm trying to provide the pop items for the NMs that drop better weapons (like for Nosoi, etc) like you guys suggested, but I can't buy them from the Unity NPCs yet and can't solo the mobs that drop them.

I do have a GEO, but I don't have Idris and the job isn't Mastered, so I have some trouble getting people to take me seriously.

Totally false. On normal, you're looking at possiblya 5% drop rate. It's not even close to 50%.

I'd say between Nibiru and Mimesis, those are your reasonable options at this point. Mimesis is dumb expensive atm, and probably not worth the gil. You could probably just as easily pay someone to help you farm Nibiru. If you're desparate for a 119 sword, consider doing some Delve Morimar. At this current state in the game, that delve is unbelievably easy and if you have shouted for help or have friends, many would not scoff at the idea of trying to help you get a Buramenk'ah, which is still a respectable entry level 119 sword.

I'd discourage you from seeking Claid, since it could potentially require millions of gil to even see worthwhile stats (mine has stp+4 acc+15 att+15 dmg+19 and it cost me over 30m...)

Tanmayogi+1 is tough to get at your level.

That's my two cents.

Are you throwing away/muling away unwanted gear drops every time? I don't even get 5% when I do Easy. My personal experience is Easy is about 20% with TH, normal about 40% without TH and close to 50% with TH.

If you don't get rid of unwanted stuff though, for item's you're currently carrying that potentially would have dropped you'll just see a pool with no gear.

Maybe getting the EXACT piece of gear you want is low, but drop rate for something on Normal is not bad at all.

Someone without even 119 weapons certainly can't solo D+ and would most likely be a liability to any group actually doing D+.

Odd as it may seem, some people actually like to do stuff, not just have other people do it for them.

We can debate all day 5% or 40%, 50%, whatever. All of our numbers are pretty much all over the place, but I'm going to agree to disagree.

Yes, I am dropping unwanted items, and even those aren't even dropping after a significant amount. I have literally done maybe 20 fenrirs before I ever saw an item. I can't even elaborate on how long it took for me to get the sword and cape to drop. Over 60 runs.

Omega was a bit worse, and I personally remember doing 7/night after meriting and it took several weeks to get body/head, significantly longer for earring.

Promathis is another scenario where I'm just at a loss right now. Took forever to get legs, but sword dropped very quickly. I'll never see this body, and the other thing just never drops. But I definitely don't think 40-50% is even close by any means.

This is all anecdotal, but the point that is clear is that D is always the way to go. Normal is garbage.

A perfect example of how lopsided Normal drop rate is I can attest to right now. Currently doing Promathia Dawn Normal, and all I have is sword + legs. Its all I have had for a while. That leaves mantle, belt, bow, and body. Not one of them have dropped in over 30 runs or so. It's just not that high, or I'm just unlucky.

Sometimes I swear there is some per character luck or something, for promathia I think I got at least a dozen mantles before sword ever showed up for me (I only wanted the sword).

I have the advantage that I have a 2nd char so I can always make sure all the drop slots are open just because I want to know for sure whether I'm repeating drops or nothing actually dropped, but I dunno, maybe you're really just THAT unlucky or something, lol.

I would not be surprised. I have no reason to, but I'll soon be doing Diabolos just for shiggles. I have never done it before, so it should be a good sample size to see how long it takes to get gear. Since I have nothing from it, and it can drop 5 items, should be a good test.

An Idris and job master is absolutely not necessary for a GEO to still be an incredibly in demand job that's very useful on the vast majority of content. You do need to make sure you have capped skill and at least get a Dunna from Oboro, but that's really the extent of the baseline GEO requirements and it's an excellent job to use to get yourself geared up on a DD job with higher equipment requirements.

People who are unwilling to bring a non-Idris/job master GEO to stuff like UNMs and Ironside are, quite frankly, fools. Or in the event they have multiple Idris GEOs around and aren't willing to help out someone with a very capable job who's trying to improve, just kinda jerks.

Conveniently enough for you, GEO is FANTASTIC on Sarama to get a Tanmoyagi (can upgrade to +1 with 50 hides), which is probably your best mainhand non-RMEA option. WHM GEOx2 BLUx2 (quality BLU) with some room for another player or two (say, an extra WHM, a COR, another BLU or other DD) is a terrific setup to spam the fight. Vex/Attune from one GEO, Torp/Frail from the other. If you're losing that, either your BLUs are too weak or your healer isn't curing.

Ironside is one of the easier T2 Reisenjima fights, and a GEO works well on that one too. A tank or two (for hate reset), backline with nukes (e.g. SCH and BLM). GEO works well to buff the nukers and add a few spells yourself. SC away and watch it die. I personally did tons, many with PUP tank + August trust, a SCH, and a BLM or two. Wouldn't have ever turned down a GEO either.

In the meantime, if you really need a good enough 119 weapon to contribute on endgame content, Oboro sword is fine as long as you understand it will get replaced eventually. If you don't even have any 119 weapons, it's certainly a big step up from what you have. If you're short on gil, farm Salvage or Dynamis for a few days to get some gil for 450 Riftborn Boulders to make the Mimesis and get it augmented.

Of course, BLU isn't just about getting a good sword - gonna need other good gear and the knowledge to set your spells right for a DD setup to do a good job, and at least getting to 100JP for gift is of major importance. But you can surely get there, the BLU forum has a lot of helpful info, and your GEO is absolutely a job capable of contributing to help you get gear to bring your BLU along.

I have to agree that the drop rates on stuff rises dramatically once you get to D, and are pretty crappy normal on below. 2 recent examples:

1.) Me and a PLD friend were farming Ultima/Omaga N (the highest we could safely duo). He wanted the H2H Weapon and I wanted a Cessance Earring. It took us about 2 weeks heading in once we were full merits, approximately about 35 runs to see 1 of each. He got his fists first and we never saw another pair by the time I got my earring. It's a small sample so hard to say exactly, but I have to believe under 10% for something to drop.

2.) Recently wanted to farm Headwinds for the the staff, and Normal was the highest I could solo. 3 nights in a row capped (24 runs) Not only did I not see a Staff, I didn't see anything other than crafting materials. Called in some help to bump it up to D - first run 2 katanas dropped, and 2nd run I got my Staff. Note - this one may work differently as the mithras actually drop the gear as opposed to it just popping in a treasure pool at the end.

Obviously it's hard to pin a number down - but when my experiences are 2/35ish and 0/24 - I can't see the % being as high as some people are mentioning in this thread. Whatever the number is, it's not a big one.

However, I also think the jump is exponential, not linear as you increase the difficulty. Drop rates are really good on D and VD.