Ambuscade Volume 1 - October 2018

Thanks for the tips guys, was finally able to get some Normal wins with a setup of PLD BLU COR GEO SMN WHM. Somehow we found it easier to beat Normal without songs. The SMN helped with buffs and damage here and there.

Dream Flower does land on VD. Landed 6-7 times before any resist. Still can be landed afterwards as well(no frazzle, or geo debuffs necessary)

Honestly we were just happy to get some wins on normal after many hours wasted getting zero wins. VD was very much out of our reach.

BLU seems to be a massive help this month. Utility with things like Winds of Promy to and other spells has been a godsend. Setup i've been running with some consistency is BLU COR and then either RUN/PLD GEO BRD WHM, or drop either the GEO or BRD for a RDM or another DD.

Had some minor success with COR COR RUN WHM BRD GEO, but BLU definitely made it more consistent.

Absolutely agree, our runs without BLU were really difficult. We've not once been able to try a RUN tank (it's hard enough finding six people to do the content .. nevermind finding the perfect setup) otherwise I think it'd been easier.

Keep seeing people asking to do VD but jesus .. this months was just, or perhaps even worse than last months. Points are points I say .. rather spam a bunch of Normals and use up seals then spend literally all day finding the perfect setup with jobs geared very high .. only to fail once and see everyone leave. We just have to work with what we can find sometimes. We really need to consider groups on servers who don't have the luxury of finding anything we want.

So with that said, no one should feel ashamed to spam Easy this month. If your group is struggling with Normal (which believe me is normal for many groups), just stick to Easy because it really is. My group could do 2 easys by the time we do one normal. Only do Normal if 1) you can actually beat it in 30 minutes, and 2) you have seals. Don't try too hard to get a group for D or VD, unless you're on a seriously populated server and/or in a group with crazy geared people playing everyday together beating wave 3s etc.

What set are you using I was being resisted when I tried and thought my set was good

When doing D+, consider not using a tank. BLU (using a hybrid spellset), DD (we used WAR), COR(DD), GEO, BRD, WHM works well. Sudden lunge works really well against the adds once the boss is down (did not try vs boss, but will next time), and Dreaming flower can sleep the adds which others have already mentioned. Rather than doing defensive songs, we chose to go all out offensive (Honor March, Victory March, Minuet 4 and 5) to keep the boss locked in edicts (as much as possible until amnesia hits). Our GEO used Frailty, Barrier, and entrusted Fury.

Support jobs really have to be on point; erase the defense and attack down, as well as keep other erase-able debuffs off so that you are not digging through debuffs to reach def/atk down). Keep hastes on the melees and re-buff songs whenever they are dispelled.

Casting lowers dps and this month happened to be a "the slower you kill the harder it gets" month.

I'd just tell whm to abuse misery Esuna, personally. They should be healing front line to get the barrier bonus to begin with, since aoe is bigger than max casting range.


I suggest DD swap to dt set immediately when they get def- even at full hp and swap out after its erased.

The same as your set, except AF+3 head/legs instead of Jhakri. Tizona has been augmented as well.

Not sure where you're getting that. As long as you don't cause the boss to level up it seems like the fight is pretty much the same for the duration. BLU just makes it a lot smoother. Let the WHM worry about keeping front line alive / him or herself alive.

Casting lowers DPS... but a blind party, para'd party, attack down party, or dead party lowers it a lot more. If BLU can help keep that smooth, that's a win.

BLU, Remedies, and WHM should all be there to help remove the multiple enfeebles you get hit with.

He's referring to this:


If you do enough DPS, you can almost lock it into using Edict.

Of course, not all teams will be able to put out that kind of DPS on D or VD, even with SV/Bolster on.

So it's less about the boss getting harder as the fight goes on and more about the boss not spamming AoEs if you're killing it fast enough. That's a fair point then.

I've yet to be in a group that could do that kind of DPS consistently, which is probably why I prefer having a BLU for a bit more utility.

I find it ironic:

A game with such a complicated battle system,\;

so many gimmicky fights,

and so many options for strategies, often comes down to:

"HIT IT HARDER"

Yeah, you have to either go full offense, or turtle and take it slow n' steady this month. If your group is caught in between, it's easy to wipe.