Missions: Ark Angels (ZM14)

Saturday night, we headed back to Sky to finish Zilart Mission 14, and fight the remaining 3 Ark Angels. Izan and Midget had real-life conflicts, while Itera was on an Optical Hat run, so we had a single, well-balanced, party:

Wendell WHM75/BLM37
Elboron BRD75/WHM37
Yobun BLM75/RDM37
Charcole MNK75/WAR37
Grymalkyn THF75/NIN37
Tsakiki PLD75/WAR37

We chose to face the Ark Angel GK, a Galka SAM-DRG. He has some fierce attacks, but it sounded like it would be a fairly straightforward fight, though his wyvern would need to be slept. We were surprised at how quickly the fight was over, and with no deaths!

Next up was the Ark Angel EV. He's an Elvaan PLD-WHM, with Invincible and Benediction abilities, meaning you basically get to fight him twice. He can use Spirits Within, has a really annoying shield attack that damages and stuns, and a cone AOE that does damage and silences, and we learned will dispell buffs like Wendell's Reraise 3. As annoying as the Ark Angel TT was the previous week, this guy took top place on my list of most hated fights.

Our plan was to kite the Elvaan until we got him down to 50% after he used Benediction. Yobun lent me his Terra's Staff, and we headed in. I figured I would have a bit of time to get some hate before starting to kite, but that was a bad assumption. I voked, I flashed, I started to shield bash and was ready to turn and run when BOOM, Spirits Within for 1875 damage (my max HP was ~1250). The guy must have used an icarus wing before we entered the arena, or else he stores TP up from previous fights. :p

Wendell raised me and we kept fighting, but it was going really poorly, so we ran away and escaped the arena.

Second fight, I merely provoked on the run and took off with the Elvaan chasing me. I'd stop and flash when I could, provoke when it was up, and tried my best to keep or regain hate while running around in circles, using all my job abilities when they were available. I believe on this fight Charcole, Elboron, and I all died at various points, but Wendell gave us Raise Is to save MP, and we continued fighting. When we got him to 50% (before Benediction), we stopped kiting and Yobun started casting one of his Ancient Magic spells. In the middle of his casting, the Elvaan used Benediction, so he wasn't killed. We continued to fight, but started being picked off one by one and we had a total wipe.

This was when we learned that Wendell's Reraise III had been stripped off by the cone AOE. Yobun got Ijin to come to Sky to get us all back on our feet again.

For the third fight with the Elvaan, we stuck to our original plan. Charcole died fairly early in the fight, and Wendell opted to save his MP and not raise him. I think Elboron died once or twice on the third fight, but somehow I managed to survive, running and running and running in circles, trying to keep hate, while Charcole and Grym would try to hit the Elvaan, and Yobun would use Gravity and damage spells. It took us nearly 25 minutes, but we finally killed him. I think we also used Benediction, Invincible and Soul Voice on this third fight with the Elvaan. I don't think I want to try that fight again.

Then we moved on to face the Ark Angel HM, a Hume WAR-NIN. We were worried about being wiped out by Mijin Gakure, but other than that, it sounded like it would be a pretty straightforward fight. He hit really hard, and I ended up losing hate to Charcole, who ended up dying the Ark Angel used Mijin Gakure. We killed the Ark Angel pretty quickly, and then we were done.

Wendell raised Charcole and we ran up to Shrine of Ru'Avitau for a cutscene, then headed to Norg for another cutscene. We're technically in the middle of Zilart Mission 15 now, but the end of the mission is another cutscene at Ru'Avitau before heading into the big fight for ZM16.