The A.M.A.N. Trove BC

I went SCH for one run and SCH gear is basically my BLM gear because I don't play it; I mentioned to him that I probably shouldn't be resisting with my gear including mentioning I had Ea forgetting SCH doesn't even use it :)

A couple things to clarify.

Any SC, no matter what element, will change its elemental weakness alignment.

In phase 2 (70%-40%), any WS will remove the DT- for a short period (until the !! appears or it uses the reactive TP move?) the amount removed implies that there is some level of DT in the initial phase. Because of this mechanic, SCing to the correct element is a particularly effective method of dealing damage as the second WS that closes the SC will do "full damage".

Doing SCs in quick succession, we did experience once where we did a Light SC where it took damage and then a very quick Dark SC where the SC damage healed it. We haven't tried replicating this.

There's some inconsistency in MBing, sometimes what would MB would heal and sometimes it would do damage. I believe there is some level of fine timing and when exactly the elemental absorption changes based on these last 2 points OR it allows for 1 tick of magic damage (dia) or one spell during the MB period before it starts absorbing again.

And to reply to Josiahfk, no we didn't notice any changes based on day, all the behavior we've reported here was consistent over the many runs we did as far as we observed.

Not sure if this was already noted, but I learned a few things today:

1. Kathwack will still do 2696 to a Taru SMN with Earthen Ward. I forgot to cast Phalanx (*idiot*).

2. Next time around, I came as BRD/WHM with RR and Hymnus and was able to get up from Kathwack. I then decided to drop PT and run back to the exit, standing as far away as possible. Draw-in did NOT draw me in. In fact, even when I walked to the edge of the arena, I was not drawn in while the orb user tried to run away after RR'ing and running in vain (he was in Twilight gear).

So if someone wants to test this out, have the person opening chests open outside of the party when you start. Ideally, it should be the orb user if you do not trust your teammates from ninja'ing the good drops :-). I do not know if tractor is allowed, but I wonder if they can then be tractored to safety. Some questions I am curious about: What is the range of Kathwack? Does it hit you even if you stand past the burning circle? Does it hit outside PT members?

With only one person dead (and perhaps Arise afterward), it may save a few precious moments for getting everyone ready to actually battle the mimic.

Kathwack is negligible with only RR/ProShell/Scherzo/DT set. It has never been a danger for us. Also, it's been stated many times that hymnus doesn't do anything for kathwack. Kathwack range I haven't gotten a yalm marker for, but if you stand in the farthest half of the black walkway to the circle arena you'll be out of range once the the mimic spawns. The black path is split into 3 polygon faces or something and the middle one has a black circle in the middle, stand behind that and you won't get hit. (Stole a SS from a Youtube video for reference)

Draw-in is only single target.

This is complete nonsense. I'll just take tanking as a simple example. You can give someone who has played FFXI from the beta days and who has never played a tank job, but has done plenty of endgame content and has plenty of FFXI experience (i.e. they have seen plenty of tanks in action), and they would utterly fail at something like VD Ambuscade even after plenty of explaining and tutorials and Youtube videos -- unless you happen to vet out every single possibility of actions/reactions (which is for all intents and purposes, not feasible). Knowing when to use certain abilities to manage hate requires having played that job long enough so that your reactions are more-or-less innate and not a sequence of if-this-then-I-do-that that a newbie tank would go through. When you get fully dispeled, which buffs do you prioritize first while your healer is getting you back up to speed? That is very situational. I would wager your PT gets tired of a "newb" tank faster than said "newb" could learn how to properly tank -- HQ gear assumed. Maybe for GEO or BRD you can get away with it, but when your role makes or breaks a PT, I would rather have experience.

This is true of pretty much any high level content.

Odd, it seemed that after we RR'd everyone in aggro range was drawn in at once. Maybe it happened too quickly (due to low HP) for me to realize that everything was occurring sequentially.

I wouldn't say either is essential. It can be done without a BRD and it can be done without 2 DDs. WHM healer isn't entirely essential, but the fact that you can still get hit with death if your sleeper isn't careful or there's an unfortunately resist makes Arise pretty valuable and add to that the fact that it has a move that gives an AoE random enfeebling effect then Yagrush is quite enticing.

We've run with a lot of different setups at this point to try and figure out what the gimmick for phase 3 is but we've settled on WHM GEO(Languor/Frailty) BRD DD as our core. Last two slots can be pretty variable but, as I mentioned with occasional accidental deaths, having 2 DDs means there is a back up that can solo SC when one is weak.

I would say that a good BRD is probably essential given the massive accuracy benefits of 2x madrigal and honor march, along with the reliability of lullaby stunning Death...

Does /NIN help at all in avoiding death? Or does it go through shadows if you miss sleep?

Perhaps you're right, I've only played melee for this so maybe I didn't notice the other outside-of-melee-range char get pulled in when one did. Regardless, it only does this when the current hate target is out of range so it shouldn't be a problem other than trying to recover a wipe as it never force draws in for a big tp move. It's attacks are pretty negligible to the point we don't use any defensive geo spells and it only really punishes on WS usage and then the occasion unlucky petrifies/sleeps with all members in range (for this reason our DDs were subbing SAM for the waltz heal to wake others up)

Oops, misread. Haven't messed with shadows but seeing as shadows never blocked the spell death on any other mob that I know then I doubt it.

Alternatively, you have the option of a second geo + a cor to fulfill these roles probably adequately enough as well as gearing your DD a little into the accuracy side if still needed though I definitely stand by BRD as a much much better option.

I was able to land Sleep. I only cast it once so no idea about resistance or resist rate. It seems like it would also stop Death. I don't recall trying the actual Stun spell either, or Breakga. There may be methods besides Lullaby to deal with Death.

I feel it's possible to get it down to 40% within a few minutes with a variety of setups. It's finding the remaining gimmicks to finish off the last 40% that's blocking a win.

Same. I even had it hit 2 people not in the same pt at the same time before with one being far enough it wouldn't have aggroed on it's own. Though didn't hit the 3rd who was farther back.

I got the WSD+5% ring from Venus orb thud

has anyone else reported it dropping? it seems pretty rare

Mars has higher change of body?

After seeing a 9 noise Venus, I will be sticking to Mars myself.

66% more. Doubt we have anywhere near enough data points though to determine overall odds and such

clearly and who else got the new belt what was that from?

are the new things from venus only?

In Waughroom Shrine, Ka-Thwack will reach the burning circle and then draw-in whoever got thwacked on the circle. However, if you stand behind the rock just to the back of the burning circle, Ka-Thwack will not touch you and you will not get aggro even if in same party.

Hence, hate is NOT party based.

The aggro range of the mimic is about 10 yalms if it did not notice you when it initially popped.

I suspect the mimic has a very long range of party vision aggro from the initial spawn as it will draw-in from way in the back of Balga Dais past the burning circle. I did not get thwacked, but did get draw-in. Balga Dais is a straight path with nothing to hide behind.

I would theorize that Horlias Peak's long, L-shaped path, would provide a wall barricade for the party to hide behind while someone opens the chests.

i got kyrene earring, pet double attack and stuff, from mars.
dunno if its been mentioned, but ive gotten gear from a mars run with 6 noise boxes, no thuds.

with the lack of venus orbs and no guarantee of getting stuff from them. mars will be the only ones with any amount of information on them

you wound me good sir. I already have done some and plan on doing more venus. And others have reported some