Requiem of Sin Duo
Overview
In this post, I want to focus on the "X's Knife BC" or Requiem of Sin. Anyone not familiar with this BCNM, this is basically a 75 cap fight similar to the level 50 cap CoP mission against the 3 mithra sisters. This BC poses a number of rather annoying and unique challenges, which for the longest time, has hindered testing on potentially one of the best THF weapons in the game, X's Knife. Recently, tests have finally come out on this item, and it is now apparently extremely desirable for both Mandau and non-Mandau user thieves.
I'll go over the basics of the BC, why X's Knife is so good (although please forgive my lack of expertise in this, I'm not a melee expert), and our current personal solution/strategy to the problem - a Duo strategy. This BC has been soloed by a RDM/BLM; however, my focus is not to find the lowest number to win, but to find the best low-man strategy that is reasonably easy to reproduce, requires no deaths or medications, and is doable WITH a thief as one of the jobs. I've probably done at least 40 of these fights to date using a variety of strategies. This post will share on the one which I feel is the most unique and successful, using a duo strategy with a BLM and THF.
My experience with this BC has been through trying to help a friend get this X's Knife - we're currently about 0/35ish. While the drop rate has really sucked, I feel this strategy makes doing this BC a pain-free ordeal due to the fact that it only requires 1 player other than the person who wants the knife.
This is one of the posts I really hope people find helpful. This is a really good knife and I think any player that loves THF should strive to get this, despite it's difficulty. My hope is that this post makes attempting this BC reasonable and not quite as painful as it currently is. I feel it's also a good example of how good teamwork and skill can benefit you in terms of items and reducing headaches in this game.
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What's so good about X's Knife?
My knowledge of how melee damage works is really shaky at best, so please forgive any misinformation here. If anyone who is more knowledgable on the subject wants to provide equations or information, I'll be glad to post that.
The biggest point of contention with this item is how the "increased critical hit damage" worked. Recent tests have shown that this effect is a +10% increase to critical hit damage which is still active on the main weapon when used off-hand. Add the dagger damage increase update and this becomes an extremely good weapon. I think the consensus on many THF boards is that this is the best off-hand weapon for a Mandau user and may potentially be the best main hand weapon for non-Mandau users for endgame events. If this is questionable, I guess tell me, but a lot of thieves have recently been going after this since the tests were finally confirmed.
Why is this so hard to get?
Despite the fact that this has become a desirable item, it still remains one of the rarest and hardest to get. I remember trying to get this weapon for at least a year now with still 0 drops. There are numerous obstacles associated with this BC that makes it a HORRIBLE time sink and keeps the number of knife drops extremely low.
- This BC can only be done once per conquest update (once per week)
- There is a pre-requesite BC to enter this, so you cannot randomly invite anyone to help
- The BC is considered to have relatively high difficulty - most strats now involve SMN or BLM massing
- The drop rate is beyond bad - we're 0/35+
While I don't think there is much anyone can do about the first and last challenges listed here, I do think that proper strategy and good, skilled play can help alleviate the 2nd and 3rd issues. I know one big problem with this BC is the fact that you have to do a pre-requesite BC - it's hard to really gather random friends to help you on this because they will most likely not have done the BC needed to enter. In order to pull this off, you really need some type of static group.
The issues with statics is that most people that will join probably want the knife too. The drop rate and fact you can only enter once a week does not really make it worth-while to be in a static for this when multiple players want the knife. Most teams who do this consistantly also either go with 4-6 players (which I consider a lot to gather for something low-reward like this), or are able to go with fewer by hoarding BLMs or SMNs to do timed AoE attacks (ga3 spells or Astral Flows). These issues - the need for a pre-requesite BC and the difficulty of the BC, make it extremely hard for any thief without really good, trusting friends to even attempt this BC on a consistent, weekly basis.
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Solution Summary
The key to this solution is finding a strategy that limits the number of players to win, and limits the costs of performing this BC on a weekly basis (deaths, time spent, $$ for medications). In addition, I realize that if someone wants this knife, there is a strong chance that they will also be going as a THF, so including a THF in this strategy is also desirable. A certain amount of flexibilty is also a good thing since not everyone has certain jobs well-geared or merited.
I'll try to go over in detail how we do this BC, then possibly go over any flexibility associated with job setup changes. We basically do this BC with a THF/NIN and BLM/RDM - no deaths are required, no items are required, and it takes about 12-16 minutes to win this BC for us. In a nutshell, the THF plays the role of the kiter, while the BLM literally just picks off each individual and solos it 1 mob at a time. This probably does require a fair amount of team work, skill, and communcation; however, I don't think it's something amazing or that requires an immense amount of rare gear to pull off.
I do realize that there is a video of a Taru RDM/BLM soloing this BC - I just thought I would mention this before anyone tries to tell me "someone already solo'd this". The purpose of this post is to be solutions-oriented, not to prove "how low can you go". While very impressive to watch, it's not very practical to solo this BC using that method because 1) if you want this knife, there is a good chance you don't have a well geared 75 RDM, 2) it requires dying a good amount, 3) it looks pretty risky and I don't think he wins 100% of the time doing this, 4) he uses meds which is costly if you're going to attempt this every week. If one happens to be able to get their knife this way, more power to them, but I don't think it's all that practical for most players.
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How the "Requiem of Sin" BC works
A quick overview of how this works - there are 3 mithra trackers and 2 pet mobs (5 mobs total). All must be killed in order to beat this BC, including the resummonable pets...
- X - BST/NIN - uses dagger WSs, ninjitsu spells, summons a rabbit pet, and uses BST 2hr "Familiar"
- Y - DRK/MNK - uses scythe WSs, DRK magic spells, and uses DRK 2hr "Blood Weapon"
- Z - DRG/WHM - uses polearm WSs, WHM magic spells, and summons DRG pet
- X's Rabbit - uses typical rabbit TP moves
- Z's Wyvern - uses "Combo" WS (hand to hand) and breath attacks, including "Healing Breath III"
The arena for the BC is the same as all the Attohwa Chasm ENMs and Mission BCs. The mithras will stand in the exact same position as they did in the mission BC. Before the fight starts, here are things you want to know...
- 30 minute time limit
- Entering the BC does not case buffs to wear
- Z will begin casting WHM buff spells on herself and others right when you enter the BC
- X's Rabbit and Z's Wyvern do not spawn before you engage, but will immediately after engaging
- X does not cast prior to starting the fight (eg. will not pre-buff Utsusemi)
- Will not aggro until about 15', so it is possible to get an initial cast off if desired
Here is an overview of important information regarding the Mithra Trackers themselves...
- Each Tracker has roughly 4,000HP
- Sleep spells cap at HALF normal duration (ES sleep II is 45 seconds, not 90 seconds)
- Sleep does NOT land without Elemental Seal
- All mithras have significant TP regen
- Mithras run at normal speed (no enhanced speed movements)
This pretty much covers the basics of the BC. There are a lot of intricate details which I'll go over in a bit - in particular, the odd hate system and what to do in the event of a mistake or wipe.
Tracker Skillchains and the Awkward Hate System
I think one of the biggest reasons (besides the fact these are hard to sleep) this BC is considered difficult to "low man" is due to pretty well-made AI and teamwork between the mithras. Besides having a tremendous amount of TP regen, the 3 trackers can "call skillchains" to coordinate with each other - a /say message will be given as a warning when one of these is about to occur.
Because of this ability to call skillchains, hate can quickly shift and overwhelm individuals if you're using a non-tank oriented strategy. If you are using a tank-oriented strategy involved kiting "adds" and focusing on 1 tracker at a time, this ability to call skillchains will force the trackers together and decimate the tank. This happens extremely quickly and suddenly at times and can definitely catch groups off guard. The CoP item "grilled mutton" does work to lower the frequency of the tracker TP gain and Skillchain usage; however, again the focus is to make this BC as painless as possible - getting these on a weekly basis is pretty time consuming.
There are basically 2 major consequences to this type of helper system the mithra trackers use...
- It is impossible to fully control any strategy that involves "splitting hate" between multiple players
- It is impossible to "tank" this BC while 2 or 3 trackers are still alive due to the dangers of SC
While this system does add some challenge to the BC and a nice twist to typical boring fights, it is still pretty flawed when the right strategy is used and can be easily exploited as I will go over later.
Pet Hate System - Reraise Complications
I definitely recommend having Reraise for this BC; however, you should be very aware of the extremely complicated hate system that the pets have. Unlike the mithras, the pets do not have any type of teamwork based hate system, but they do have awkward aggro and link rules.
- EVERYTHING LINKS EVERYTHING ELSE - ZONE LINKAGE
If anyone in the zone aggros any one of these mobs, the entire zone now has aggro on all 5 mobs. This is pretty much full zone linkage, both inside and outside party. This makes it extremely difficult to recover from wipes if 1 player is in a bad spot or accidently aggros something right after a wipe.
- X's Rabbit does not reaggro and remains passive in the event of a wipe
- X's Rabbit can still link to the other enemies in zone
In the event of a wipe, X's rabbit is pretty much harmless as an aggro mob. It will still link to the other mithras I believe, I'm actually not sure since it's pretty rare for us to have to wipe. If X is not dead when the wipe occurs, X's rabbit will still follow it around obviously, so if you're close to this rabbit, X is going to aggro you more than likely if it's still alive.
- Z's Wyvern does NOT return to starting position in the event of a wipe if Z is dead
- Z's Wyvern DOES aggro
- Tractor does not work in this BC
This is the really difficult part of this BC when you wipe. The DRG pet is going to most likely be on top of the last player who died, and it won't move if Z is dead. You cannot tractor in the BC so you cannot get the dead player out of range. If that player gets up, the pet is going to aggro, then link the zone, then everyone goes into a panic. This is really the hardest part of restarting this BC. Hopefully using the strategy, deaths won't happen so you don't have to worry about the odd hate system. Defintely keep these points in mind in the event of a wipe and recovery.
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The Kiter - THF/NIN
As mentioned earlier, this strategy basically takes 1 player as the full-time kiter, while the other player solo manaburns each mob individually. This position is conviniently well-suited for a THF due to high evasion stats and gear choice, speed movement enhancements, and a nice bail-out 2hr, Perfect Dodge. While this position is certainly not limited to a THF, I will write this in the perspective of a THF since that's how we happen to do this and I think it's a job that any group wanting this BC is most certainly going to have access to (why else would you want this knife?). Honestly, I could probably play this role as a BLM, although not as well; there is a great deal of job flexibility in this one. Unless the person who wants the X's Knife is a very good BLM or RDM, this is probably the spot they'll be in.
The main goal is obviously to stay alive for an indefinite amount of time, allowing for the other player to pick of mobs one at a time. There are some key stats to look for when doing this kind of BC, some of them not being all that obvious.
- Movement Speed +12%
- HP Regen
- Physical Damage Reduced
- Evasion/Evasion Skill
I won't really go into equipment by slot for this since most of it should be pretty self-explanatory in my opinion. There is one point in particular I would like to stress, however.
The Importance of Regen Equipment
It's very important to realize that you are most likely going to get hit as a kiter. Even more important, you have to realize that the other player can't reliably heal you - he has his own duties to focus on. Because of this, regen becomes a big factor in this type of scenario. There are basically 3 items to look for as a THF - obviously other jobs may have other types of regen equipment no applicable to a THF.
- Orochi Nodowa (Neck)
- SnakeEye (Ranged)
- Garden Bangles - (active only during the day)
SnakeEyes can be slightly dangerous due to the fact that it has a nasty poison latent effect if you happened to get poisoned. Tracker Y does have access to a weak poison I due to having DRK magic, so that can be dangerous if you forget to take it off. I think that that situation is pretty rare considering you have Utsusemi; either way, it's not hard to just take off if you get poisoned, or carry Remedies/Antidotes.
If we consider Regen from just the first 2 pieces (2HP/tick), a setup like this gets 40 HP a minute, or about 600-800 HP in the average fight for this style (15-20 minutes). Considering you are expected to get hit, but not often, this is a tremendous help - you don't have to do anything to heal yourself. Add in Garden Bangles during the daytime and this becomes even more significant.
Kiting Routes and Exploiting Bad AI Pathing
Despite the fact that the kiter has to maintain as many as 4 mobs at 1 time (2 trackers, 2 pets), this actually isn't all that bad considering how obscenely large and filled with obstacles this arena is. You have access to the huge pillar, which just about any mob would have trouble pathing around; in addition, the arena itself is very large and has awkward terrain changes - all of which the mobs in the zone have issues taking the shortest path around.
The general kiting strategy is to make WIDE TURNS. Do not just limit yourself to kiting around the pillar area's edges. This may work fine when 1 mob is following you, but not 3+. Use the entire arena to kite. Because the mithras can all cast, limiting yourself to just the pillar will eventually cause them to change directions on you due to casting stoppages.
I really can't say too much about this beyond that. It's something you really have to try yourself. Regen gear, Evasion, Damage down equip all help you get away with mistakes, but they won't save you if you cannot properly use the arena to your advantage. This is not really all that difficult - I think anyone who tries doing this and makes wide turns will quickly realize how bad the AI pathing is. Besides this, the mithras LOVE to attempt WSs. If they ever get close, they will most likely charge up for a WS and promptly miss if you continue running out of range. Really the biggest reasons you'll get hurt are from Jumps, and the 2 pets, which rarely/never stop for any reason.
I don't really have much to say beyond this as far as the kiting is concerned. It's not the most difficult kite ever, but it probably does take some practice. I think any reasonably skilled player with movement speed could pull this off easily. As a THF, there is always Flee and Perfect Dodge as "bail out" moves.
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Soloing a Tracker - BLM/RDM or RDM
My experience on this is obviously going to be as a BLM/RDM, although I do not really see any reason why a good RDM (especially Hume, Mithra, or Taru) could not do this as well. Generally, I'd say a BLM could more easily pull this off due to much higher nuking strength - the mithras themselves do not have particular high HP or damage resistance, so a RDM could easily kill one through nukes as well on a 800ish MP pool.
I will only go over how to specifically kill each tracker - I'm just assuming the pets can be easily solo'd. Also, the THF can probably kill the pets once all 3 trackers are dead since they are so easy.
Pulling Order
The general pulling order I have been following goes like this...
X (kill) > > Z's Pet (kill) >> Z (kill) > Y (kill) > Rabbit (hold)
My reasoning is this - killing X first has 3 main advantages - 1) I feel it's the hardest of the 3 to solo using a Manaburn Strategy because it has access to Utsusemi, which can severely hinder timing or important debuffs, 2) killing X causes X's pet to become non-aggro in the case of a wipe later on, 3) Leaving X to be kited adds the risk of Shadowstitch landing on the kiter (bind effect), which can cause quick death.
EDIT: Should kill Z's pet next - it cannot be resummoned as it is a 2hr ability and has only 1500-2000 HP. This will prevent issues link and aggro issues if you were to wipe after this.
I generally kill Z next due to it's access to buffs. It also uses Jump attacks, which are annoying to the kiter since they are impossible to dodge and cause shadow loss. Y is then taken 3rd while the 2 pets are saved for last. Once the 3rd tracker dies, I immediately gravity and seperate the rabbit. Since the pets do not share hate, it comes off very easily. This leaves the THF to solo the Wyvern - I know a good Dancing Edge will do about 60% HP off this Wyvern so it's pretty easy to solo as a THF/NIN. We then duo the rabbit last.
I will generally blow Manafont very quickly on the X and kill X and Z in succession without resting. Manafont is not needed, but it will speed up the fight and help relieve stress off the kiter quickly. Resting between solos is ok as long as you trust the kiter.
Soloing a Tracker
There are some key basics when soloing a tracker...
- Bind works well
- Gravity will resist outright or land, then wear off within 5 seconds (don't use this)
- ES sleep works, but the duration is always halved
With about 4000 HP, I can 3 shot a tracker with 1 AM2 and 2 IV spells usually. If the BLM lacks the upper end gear, that's perfectly fine as well, but it will require some finesse and kiting most likely. It's always possible to get 2 free shots off on a tracker without Elemental Seal usage, or 3 free shots with Elemental Seal...
1) "Pull" with the strongest single target spell possible (an AM2) - free shot #1
2) Bind lands well and will last long enough to get another IV+ nuke - free shot #2
3) Elemental Seal Sleepga is a 45 second duration - possible free shot #3
Just make sure you are "pulling" (taking initial aggro off your target) with a strong nuke. Trackers can get nasty with WS spam, so you definitely want to take advantage of that free damage. Bind is probably the best follow-up spell - it does resist at times, but it's rather rare in my experience if you're using a good enfeebling set. This will get you that 2nd free nuke. MP Efficient Spells are not a big deal unless you're ELV or GLK! Use the strongest spells possible - speed is more important than MP efficiency in this.
I will general save ES for an emergency, so I"ll go over how to finish a tracker off without using it. All 3 trackers will cast spells. After that second free nuke after you use bind, it's a good idea to just run and kite - no gaiters required. What will eventually happen is the tracker will stop to cast something. When she does this, you can get off a quick 3 nuke unharmed. You can also just kite and wait until bind is ready again and kill it that way. It is a good idea to just kite in tight circles around the pillar - the THF shouldn't be doing this, but since you only have 1 mob to worry about, you should.
Tracker X has some particular difficulties associated with it due to it's use of Utsusemi. The problem with this is you cannot use ga3 just anywhere, since if it touches another mob, you will take adds. If this occurs, you will have to quickly isolate it and not nuke pre-maturely. This is why I would kill this one first and blow Manafont on this one (since ga3 spells are not MP efficient). Just be very careful with this one - screwing up on this kill is the only reason we've lost using this duo attempt before (our first try at this). It is incredibly important to communicate with your kiter in the fight - if you have to isolate X, you need to tell the kiter to stay away from you so you can safely ga3 it. There is plenty of room to kite for both players.
There are some bumps in the road with this strategy that I'll go over in the next section. Both the Soloer and the Kiter must keep on their toes and watch for how the Mithras call out skillchains.
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Target Switching - Soloer Becomes the Kiter
As mentioned previously, all Mithras have the ability to call out skillchains on their target. They generally like to call out SC targets (and hence shift hate) after taking damage. Because of this, the soloer can sometimes become the target of all 3 mithras - this is really the only time that this duo strategy becomes difficult in my opinion. It's really not that hard to deal with if you're prepared for it though.
First of all, the soloist has to be extremely mindful after each nuke. The mithras will always do a /say call when they want to call SCs, so if you see a SC being called, run immediately, then check for who the SC was actually called on - the key here is run first, check target second. Not all soloists are built or skilled enough to run away from 3+ mobs, so it's also important for the kiter to reestablish hate.
The kiter needs to try to regain hate - the best way to do this is to have your soloist be a good kiter, but if this is not the case, the kiter can retake hate by damaging the mithras themselves and forcing them to call a SC back to the kiter. Spamming Bloody Bolts is a good way to accomplish this quickly. Even so, the soloist has to be able to kite reasonbly well for a good 30+ seconds.
We've found that generally, the mithras will avoid calling SCs on the soloer if they are spaced far apart. For this reason, we generally try to avoid each other on the kiting paths as much as possible - it's worked really well so far - I think we haven't had an instance where the kiter lost hate due to a SC call in maybe 6 runs. It is still important to be aware that this can happen though.
Free-Nuking - Calling SC on the Kiter
One funny little exploit on this is that if the mithras call SC on the kiter, you can sometimes get free nukes off without any mithras changing hate to you - it's almost as if the SC has to be attempted before they will switch back or something like that. You can sometimes just straight up nuke one to death without pulling hate, which makes the fight go by much easier. I'm honestly not sure how this works right now.
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Conclusions
I think that pulling this off does require a fair bit of experience with the BC in general since it is rather unique; however, the overall difficulty once you understand the BC itself is not all that bad. It's probably a good idea to get a bigger group to start if you can, but I would definitely try to limit this to a duo static in the end to avoid complications. As far as flexibility, I think BLM is the best soloer for this setup, but RDM, especially a Taru, could do really well too. A good Taru RDM could probably kill 2 mithras right off the bat with Chainspell and Convert.
I really like this BC as far as the uniqueness of the fight is concerned just because it really stresses kiting, the ability to think on your feet, and team work. It's probably a good skill builder if anything. The ultimate purpose is really to get an X's Knife though - I don't know many people who would do this BC just for fun... My hope is that this post sheds some light on this BC fight, which up until now, has had very little information shared among endgame circles beyond a SMN or BLM burn strategy.
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Pic of the Day
So people in LS have been getting some really odd tells from other players asking about TK lately...
Usually the initial "canned" response is "who do you know in the LS" - one of these responses was kind of odd because the guy lists 3 names - only 1 is actually a member. "Sakura" is probably "Sakurato" but there is no one named or even closely named to "Coffeegood" in the LS so I was a bit confused...
Then a month later I find this beauty in the shout spam in Whitegate...
I tell everyone about this and we actually go and find the guy and this is what we see...
That's right... an imposter LS, with the name blatantly taken from ours. I guess that should be flattering in a way but it causes so much confusion. Not really sure why anyone would bother doing something like this but it's pretty awkward. This is what the actual shell is supposed to look like - I'm glad he didn't use the same color or it really would have been confusing.
Drama Thread of the Day
http://bluegartrls.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24580
The infamous "list" - a large list of FFXIAPP buyers and the 40+ page BG thread to go with it.
No, no one in TK is on it obviously. I think despite this, a lot of people still claim we do something wrong but just "didn't get caught". All I have to say to that is it's been over 4 years and no one in here has ever admitted, been 'caught' on a forum/BBS, or been banned or suspended by a GM for any reason (including things like bots).
I think this is such an amazing drama thread anyways though, just for the simple fact that the one thing you can count on, no matter who is or is not on the list, is that everyone is going to do a ton of shit-talking. The LSs on the list will get laughed at, then become defensive, then shit-talk about the other LSs not on the list. The result is just renewed tension among all king-camping HNM LSs on just about every server.
For this reason, I think that this drama thread ranks pretty high among other epic threads just because it effects all king-camping LSs on all servers, whether they had players on the list or not. HNM LS tension never goes away - it's always at or near the surface, just waiting for the slightest thing to occur and blow up again. Recently, I've heard references to buried Odin HNM LS dramas over 3+ years old now - all brought up because of this thread. It's quite amazing how good some people's memories are about this game and is incredibly entertaining.
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