Soloing the Primes

A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to try soloing the 6 Prime Avatars (the Celestial Avatars) in the "Trial by (element)" quests. Lots of people have done this, but I just wanted to see how I'd fare. I was mostly worried about Garuda and Leviathan, since they can heal themselves, so I thought I'd start out with Titan.

However, I mentioned this in BEB one evening, and Yobun needed Shiva, so my first "solo" ended up being a duo. Yobun didn't really do anything, though. In fact, he sat down to watch after casting one (resisted) spell. This was a good way for me to try out soloing, with a SCH standing by in case it didn't go so well... I did go back a few weeks later for a true Shiva solo, just to keep it consistent with the others.

One the things this exercise reinforced was just how much better the Paladin job is now than it was back in the day. Yobun had tried soloing avatars years ago on his PLD, but had either timed out or been blasted by a two-hour. These days, with the changes to Rampart, Shield Mastery, Sentinel, and new things like Atonement and Reprisal, Paladin really has come into its own. Not to mention there's a lot of really nice gear available now that wasn't around back then.

The fights took from just under 8 minutes (Shiva) to nearly 13 minutes (Leviathan), so they weren't slam dunks by any means, but for most of the fights I never felt like I was in any danger of dying or timing out either. Ramuh proved to put up the biggest fight of the 6, mostly because of his en-stun effect.

I went to each fight as PLD/RDM, for the bar spells as well as innate magic defense bonus. For gear, I wore a hybrid magic reduction set with accuracy where appropriate. Valhalla Helm, Avalon Breastplate, Iron Ram hands and legs, Askar feet, Joyeuse, Ice Shield. I used Parade Gorget to help with MP recovery.

I cast Protect IV, Shell III, and Stoneskin and then rested to full MP before entering the arena. Once inside, I cast Phalanx, and the appropriate bar- and en- spells, then ran up to face the avatar. I didn't recast Stoneskin after it was broken, but in at least one fight, it lasted until the avatar was nearly half-dead. The other buffs I'd reapply when they wore, and would cure myself as needed. I saved Rampart for the Primes' two-hour abilities, which drastically reduced their power:

I would use Atonement whenever I had the TP. I think for Ramuh I did need to use Chivalry, but I didn't run out of MP on any of the other fights. It was a fun "experiment", and I even made 50k gil out of it, and got a Water Belt for my fire kit too!

Quests: Summoner Preparations Complete!

I had been on a Carby Mitt run awhile back with a group Plumpixie and Chanell had put together, but I was only there for the first fight. I knew that I would probably not be able to stay the whole run, since I would have to get to Dynamis-Beaucedine, so I said I would go last. I didn't want to be a "got her mitts and ditched the rest" type of person. Sure enough, after our first kill, I was summoned to the Glacier, as another LS was gathering, and we needed to get people there early to make sure the zone wouldn't be stolen from us by another group (we're using the Rusty Bucket calendar, and wish all the other linkshells would as well). I knew I'd have another chance some day, and there certainly wasn't any rush for me to get mitts that can only be worn by a level 20 Summoner.

Now that Goto's actively leveling his SMN, he really could use a pair of Carbuncle Mitts, so I tried to get some people together to help. Thanks to Luiss dragging his friends into it as well, we had a decent little group with me (PLD), Goto (WHM), Luiss (BLM), Yumex (WHM), Madbender (BLM), Itera (MNK) and Fabian (MNK). Gilgameshrulz, another BLM, wanted to join us, but got girlfriend aggro just before we got the spawn area for the Crimson-toothed Pawberry, so he had to leave. On our way there, we stopped to pick up another offering, which was for Gil, but since he left, that offering was used for Madbender instead. Yumex also had an offering, so we fought the NM 4 times.

The fights went really well, with Rampart on my party preventing any damage from the first Searing Light, but I don't think we would have been damaged much even without it. We didn't get any Light Spirit Pacts to drop for our helpers, but we got the four pairs of mitts that people wanted.

I had Balu-Falu out as a Fierce Attacker for the last fight, since Itera had to leave. Balu-Falu leveled up to 57 when we were clearing the regular Tonberries out of the room, so that was nice too. He was nearly done in by the first Searing Light, but hung in there and fought with us until the next AOE got him.

Then on Sunday, Anrita put together a team for Diabolos Prime, which Frobro and I needed. He recruited Itera, Allia, and Habanero, and needed another MNK, so I asked Thoron if he'd like to go as well. He needed it too, so was very eager to join in. The seven of us made our way to the Shrouded Maw, and the three MNKs all slept for 100% TP. We headed into the arena for the fight, with Anrita waiting outside to raise us, just in case things went wrong.

The MNKs boosted a few times, Habanero used Soul Voice and gave us double attack songs, Itera Chi Blasted Diabolos and we were all drawn in. Allia let loose with Chainspell Stun, and three MNKs tore into Diabolos with Hundred Fists and their weapon skills. I cast Cure IV on Itera, then on Thoron, and then a Cure III on Thoron, and it was over. The poor avatar never stood a chance. I feel like it was cheating, but after my 6 failures and 10,000 exp lost to Diabolos Prime last year, maybe it's not so bad. I was just making the best use of available resources. Yeah, that's it. At any rate, it was pretty impressive to see them demolish him so easily.

I headed to Windurst Waters and claimed my pact with Diabolos, and ran out to play with him for a few minutes before heading to Jeuno for Sunday's Limbus. I'm still not sure if/when I'll ever level Summoner, but if I do, I'll have a full set of avatars on hand to do so. I'm still missing three of the elemental spirits, I think: Thunder, Light, and Dark. I think the prices have come down a lot, so even if I resort to buying them, it won't be too bad.

New title: Heir to the Realm of Dreams

Quests: The Moonlit Path (Fenrir)

A couple of weeks ago, Anrita gathered together a group to fight Fenrir Prime. At least one of us (me) had never beaten him and a couple others wanted items for the Evoker's Ring quest, and still others just wanted to help out. We had Anrita (WHM/BLM), Allia (RDM/DRK), Habanero (BRD/???), Frobro (MNK/NIN), Fliggity (WAR/NIN), and Tsakiki (PLD/WAR). The fight started out pretty well, but we didn't do enough damage during Allia's Chainspell-Stun, and ended up wiping, with Fenrir at a sliver of health. We sort of hoped Anrita's Dia II would be enough to finish him off, but it wore pretty quickly. We agreed to try again in two weeks.

So yesterday, the same group gathered, only with Itera joining us as MNK/NIN instead of Fliggity. We went over our strategy in detail before heading in, and confident that we knew what we were going to do, we headed into the burning circle. Frobro, Itera, and I slept for 100%TP, Anrita buffed us up, Habanero used soul voice with madrigal and minuet and we ran in to fight the big puppy. As usual, he was hitting pretty hard, but Anrita kept us well-healed. I used Sentinel and then Invincible to help hold hate and keep my damage down. Once Allia started using her chainspell-stun, both Monks used 100 Fists, and I pretty much didn't have hate for the rest of the fight.

Fenrir managed to get his two hour off between stuns, but we all survived. I missed the message that he was readying it, and didn't get Rampart off, which might have saved us a lot of damage. Anrita ran in for Benediction, and Fenrir didn't even look her direction - he was too mad at the monks to bother with the little white mage. Frobro took a huge Eclipse Bite, knocking him down to 28 hit points and I ran over to cover him, but Itera had pulled hate, so cover didn't really do anything. We got Frobro's HP back up, and cure-bombed Itera to keep him going. Then all of a sudden, it was over. Fenrir was defeated! Finally I could have a pact with Fenrir, after 5 failed attempts.

These fights are sure a lot more fun when we win! Anrita escaped us from Full Moon Fountain back to East Sarutabaruta, and we ran to Windurst Waters to talk to Leppe-Hoppe and get our rewards.

I headed to my moghouse to switch to PLD75/SMN1, and headed out to West Sarutabaruta to pick on some tiny animals, just to play with my new puppy. Hopefully I can leech with a group of Monks and a RDM/DRK to win against Diabolos Prime, and have my avatar set complete. I'd still rather be an integral part of the team, but my 0/6 record on him is making that look unlikely. I don't really see that I'll ever level SMN, but I always wanted a complete set of avatars.

New title: Heir of the New Moon

Quests: The Day of the Primes

Several people in TheUltimates were interested in various prime avatar fights, so we had a group that did all six of the "normal" ones on Saturday. We started out with Anrita (WHM75), Luiss (BLM75), Sabella (RDM64), and Tsakiki (PLD75). We're all Tarutaru, so it was a pretty cute group. I was worried about not having enough damage, but it was a needless worry. The four of us fought Titan, Garuda and Ramuh, then Meshe joined us for Leviathan with his WHM75. Goto, also WHM75, joined us for Ifrit and then Shiva. I think Meshe felt a bit tall with the 5 Tarutarus.

We had a fun time, and the fights were all without incident. The avatars' two-hours scarcely touched us, between the bar-element spell and having Rampart up for them, we nearly always completely resisted. On one of them Luiss took a good chunk of damage, and I think it was Anrita who got hit a bit on another, but overall, a very painless trip to all of the cloisters.

Quests: Fenrir 3, Tsakiki 0 (The Moonlit Path)

I was standing in my moghouse early Sunday evening, wondering how best to use my time before Limbus, when Thoron sent a tell asking if I was busy. He was trying to put together a party for Fenrir, and was looking for a PLD. I've had my Moon Bauble for months, but our little group has been having a hard enough time being on at the same time for CoP missions and the Ninja Blues static, and our plans for getting purple puppies for everyone have been pushed aside.

Thoron (MNK/WAR) had lined up a DRK/THF, WHM/BLM (Kiki's little sister!), and SMN/WHM, and was looking for a BRD when I said I'd come along. One agreed, but then ditched us when we were all ready to head into the Hurototo Ruins in East Sarutabaruta. Fortunately, Yobun was just getting out of an exp party, and offered to join us with his BRD.

Our first run saw most of us dead shortly after Fenrir used his two hour. We got him down to about 20% before we were all dead. We learned we needed to keep the mages back further. Yobun and the DRK had used their 2 hours on this run.

On the second run, we learned that Fenrir has a move that knocks me back really far, and that if I have him turned 90 degrees from the mages, I get knocked out of their spell range, and die fast. Rather than have another full wipe, the WHM, SMN, and Yobun were able to get out of the battlefield.

The third run went remarkably well, but we couldn't quite pull it off. The DRK stunned Fenrir's two hour, saving us a great deal of pain. I used Invincible and Thoron cut loose with Hundred Fists. He ended up pulling hate and died, next was the DRK. The WHM used Benediction (but Fenrir didn't even look at her), and we got Fenrir down to just a sliver of HP before he wiped us out. If the SMN had had enough MP for Astral Flow, we definitely would have won. It was so close!

It gives me hope for my group of the usual suspects to be able to pull it off, with a bit of help from sleeping for TP and icarus wings. With the changes to Sentinel, Rampart, and Shield Mastery from the update on Monday, I'm actually quite eager to try Fenrir again.

Index: Quests

I love doing quests. Some times I think the only reason I leveled a job all the way to 75 was in order to be able to complete more quests.

Avatars

01/2006: Trial By Wind (Garuda Prime)
03/2006: Trial By Ice (Shiva Prime)
06/2006: Trial by Lightning (Ramuh Prime)
06/2006: Trials by Earth and Ice (Titan and Shiva)
08/2006: Diabolos Prime 6 - Pickup Party 0
09/2006: Trial by Fire/Trial by Wind
09/2006: Prime Avatars and the Moon Bauble
09/2006: Titan and Ramuh
10/2006: Ifrit, Leviathan, and Ramuh
12/2006: Fenrir 3, Tsakiki 0
03/2007: The Day of the Primes
05/2007: The Moonlit Path
05/2007: Waking Dreams

WSNM, BCNM, KSNM, ENM and ISNM

11/2005: Automaton Assault (Mine Shaft #2716 ENM)
11/2006: Celery (Qu'Bia Arena BCNM60)
11/2005: Creeping Doom (Balga's Dais BCNM30)
10/2006: Creeping Doom with 3xBLU
08/2006: Double Dragonian (KSNM30)
05/2006: Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee? (Old Wounds)
08/2007: Like the Wind (Boneyard Gully ENM)
01/2006: Operation Desert Swarm (Waughroon Shrine KSNM30)
03/2007: Operation Desert Swarm, Melee Style
12/2005: Pulling the Strings (Mine Shaft #2716 ENM)
09/2006: Promyvion ENMs
03/2007: Under Observation (BCNM40)
03/2007: Sheep in Antlion's Clothing (Boneyard Gully ENM)
10/2006: Undying Promise (Qu'Bai Arena BCNM40)

Maat

02/2005: Genkai 1 - Complete! (In Defiant Challenge)
11/2005: Riding on the Clouds (Genkai 4)
03/2006: Shattering Stars (PLD)

Experience Scrolls

02/2006: Escort for Hire (Bastok)
06/2006: Escort for Hire (San d'Oria)
06/2006: Secrets of Ovens Lost
02/2007: Experience Point Scrolls

General Quests

02/2005: +Accuracy? Yes, Please! (Chasing Dreams)
03/2006: A Bait and Switch
11/2006: A Chocobo's Tale
11/2006: A Question of Taste
03/2006: An Undying Pledge
09/2007: Apocalypse Nigh
02/2007: Artifact Armor +1
09/2007: Artifact Armor re-Quest
01/2006: Beastmen Treasure
01/2006: Behind the Smile
11/2006: Better the Demon You Know
12/2006: Blade of Death
09/2006: Bombs Away!
11/2006: Cargo
10/2006: Cid's Airship Quests
11/2006: Cid's Secret
02/2005: ClanTen Friday Night Quests
07/2007: Divine Might
07/2006: Elderly Pursuits
03/2006: Even More Gullible's Travels
12/2006: Faded Promises
08/2006: Friday Night Fun
02/2005: Friday Night Quests
12/2004: Grym and Kiki Get Their First Artifact Items
01/2006: Holiday Quest Wrap-Up
01/2006: It's Raining Mannequins!
10/2004: Kiki Gets Her Power Sandals
07/2006: Luck of the Draw (Corsair Flag quest)
06/2006: More Titles to Add to the Collection
06/2006: No Strings Attached (Puppetmaster flag)
11/2006: Personal Hygiene
07/2007: Promotion: Chief Sergeant
05/2007: Promotion: Corporal
10/2007: Promotion: First Lieutenant
09/2007: Promotion: Second Lieutenant
07/2007: Promotion: Sergeant Major
04/2006: Quest Catch-Up
04/2005: Saturday Morning Quest Cleanup
07/2007: Shadows of the Departed
05/2007: Spice Gals
01/2007: Storms of Fate
08/2006: The Die Is Cast
02/2006: The Lost Cardian/The Kind Cardian
11/2006: The Opo-opo and I
01/2006: The Search for Goldmane
11/2006: The Usual
07/2006: Tuning Out
11/2005: Valkurm Dunes Garrison
12/2005: Valkurm Dunes Garrison #2
08/2006: Walahra Turban
06/2006: What Friends Are For
11/2006: Wondering Minstrel