Disclaimer: If this is in the wrong forum, please move it and I'll edit this top bit accordingly. Just checked around and couldn't find anything that covered this using search - at least not a guide as such.
Now - I know what you're first thinking - I'm a man's man! I don't play dress up. That's OK, no one needs to know you have one of these little beauties and they help immensely with storage. A lone Mannequin will grant you seven spaces of storage in your MH and you can have up to eight Mannequins. That's
fifty six - 56!!! - spaces of stuff you can store for eight slots of safe. A good deal in my book,even if you don't want to play dress up with them with your old Artifact Armours and Rare/Ex gear that you don't use but don't want to part with (But they do look really cool when you make them look nice).
So - now that you've decided you want less muling hassle and more storage, how do you acquire one of these fabled items, let alone eight of them?
Read on... I promise it'll be between just you and me.
Firstly - you need to hit Mhaura to start the quest: It's raining mannequins. You do this by speaking to the NPC Fyi Chalmwoh in the Goldsmith's Guild at (G-8). I'm not quite certain how much fame is needed to start the quest, but I would assume a healthy amount 4 - 6 should suffice (For my recollection, I believe I was at 4 fame, but I cannot confirm this yet).
Once you speak to her - she'll send you off to find another NPC, Ramona in Selbina, inside the Clothcraft Guild there at (H-9). Speak to her and get the "
Ye Olde Mannequin Catalogue" Key Item. She'll give you more background on the fateful posers and send you off looking once more. This time - head to Northern San D'Oria Woodworking Guild and speak to Cheupirudaux at (F-3). He'll give you more history on these wonderful things and the Key Item "
Mannequin Joint Diagrams". Head back to Fyi Chalmwoh in Mhaura and speak to her again.
Now comes the hard part.
The Mannequin Pieces! Mannequin Legs and Mannequin Feet:
Now, the legs and feet can either be very very difficult to acquire or very very easy. For these, you need to do Garrisons - and Taodyn has provided a very cool
guide to Garrisoning (
once more writing a guide on one of my favourite topics - so I'll leave it at that, and just threaten him if he does the lowbie Dragoon guide) - here. If you do what this guide says, you'll have mannequin parts galore, and other bits too.
Mannequin Body: Crustacean Conundrum - Waughroom Shrine
This is a rare drop from various BCNM's, but is a 100% drop from the BCNM Crustacean Conundrum. It's a hard BCNM. When I say hard... I mean - you'd rather be eaten by Jormy and have your skin burned off in Dynamis that do this place - unless you're prepared. And funny to speak of it, but I'm going to prepare you - with what I feel is the perfect formation for it (and I've won/lost with various setups so I'm speaking from experience).
Here's the good news: You have to kill 3 mobs with around 30 Hp each. Yes - 30 Hp.
Here's the bad news: Most you can do in a single attack/spell/ASTRAL FLOW - is 1 damage. O_o
Party setup:
Grab someone who knows/likes tanking. Balls of iron and nerves of steel are important - as this requires someone with a cool head. He goes as Red Mage/Warrior. Grab another mate and you two go as Red Mage/Ninjas. Yeah, you guys get to melee in this 20 cap BCNM. No, the world will not implode.
Equipping your team:
Gear wise - get the most damaging/low delay swords you can for this level - Auriga Xiphos is godly if you have it. Your tank eats tanking food, while you two Rdm/Nin eat attack food. The tank needs good tanking gear and the other two need a mix of casting gear and melee gear - which they should swap mid fight to hasten the process. If you're pushed for space on the swap rings - Mighty + Vision ring are ideal for this fight. They'll help push your acc/attack up enough to just about damage the crabs (Which is important). Hi-Pots and Hi-Ethers, Yag Drinks and Au Laits are important. Keep enough stocked up on you.
Tactics:
Eat food - go in, buff up with Prot/Shell/Blaze Spikes/Mighty/Vision/Blink and rest to full, cast Enthunder and charge up. The tanking Red Mage vokes the Heavy Metal Crab, while the two of you start melee'ing a single Metal Crab, opening with a Diaga. With good enough weapons and enspell effects - you'll drop the Metal Crab in no time. Be warned though - the crabs EnDrain effect is very disconcerting when it heals back to full. This is why you double team them. If lucky and your attacks/spells breach it's Def, you'll have dropped it's immense HP bank in a few seconds. Make sure your tank is healed to full while you finish off the other Metal Crab. Now comes the hard part. The Heavy Metal Crab's EnDrain will heal it to full, and it procs a lot, and it's Def/MDef is so high - you won't be doing it a lot of damage. Slow/Para/Dia and patience is your friend. A single hit will register a large chunk out of it's HP, but it'll regain a lot. NEVER EVER SPAWN THESE ON DARKSDAY. Consider yourselves warned. Have faith and with a little luck, you'll be home and dry. Collect your shiny from the crate and repeat for friends. If you're really lucky, you could loot a hands or head too, and save yourself another BCNM.
Mannequin Hands: Charming Trio - Balga's Dias
Charming Trio. I love this BCNM. It's a good training ground for newer players to get a taste of BCNM'ing because one of the ideal setups doesn't require *any* advanced jobs. It's a battle against three Leech type mobs - with all their regular special moves plus a few new tricks. Be warned, just because the ideal setup isn't three Smn's or Brd's or Rng's does not mean it's to be underestimated. One mistake can still wipe your party. Good news - it also drops the hands 100% of the time.
Party Setup:
Ideally - Tank: War/Mnk*, Damage Dealer: Mnk/War or War/Mnk (Great Axe), Healer: Whm/Blm.
It's that simple - honest. Sure - you can swap about the DD with a Drg, or Sam or Rng, but Mnk/War is just peachy. Hell - a good Thf/War would probably be an asset here too. *My personal preference for tanking this is as a War/Blu, as it allows me to stabilize the fight much earlier, but has more room for error with MP and mistakes.
Equipping your team:
Decent gear for your role is all that's needed. HQ of Bone/Lizard is perfect for this, and if you're likely to repeat these or do Garrison's, having a 20 cap set is a must have. Healer does the same, except with White Magery type gear. Doesn't have to be ZOMG!1! gear -just, reliably good. Food: Crab for tank, Meat Jerky/Dhalmel Pies for DD, MP food for Whm. Two - Three Hi-Pots for the tank, some Au Laits, and Hi-Ethers/Yag Drinks for the Whm.
Tactics:
Eat Food - go in - buff up, Prot + Shell etc, tank pops an Au Lait. You three charge in. The tank vokes Pepper - the middle one first, and both Melee engage it. The Whm needs to prepare a Cure II at this time and the tank needs to ready a Hi-Pot. The either two Leeches will open with a mix of Drain/Aspir, and if you get a double Drain on you - that's a large chunk of HP's gone, enough to put you in trouble (if you're like me, a Taru, and invariably the tank O_o). Healer needs to Dia, Slow, Paralyse Pepper ONLY, and keep the tank alive. Weaponskill when ready and switch to Phoedme when Pepper falls. Repeat and finally attack and kill off Prune (the weakest of the three). Open crate and collect your Mannequin Hands. The Head and Body also drop here - but are rare drops.
Mannequin Head: Shooting Fish - Horlais Peak
Honestly - I don't know much about this BCNM, other than it can be soloed very quickly by a Summoner using Ramuh and multiple Astral Flows. If anyone is willing to post a working strat for this BCNM, I'll gladly credit them with it in this guide. The Head is also a 100% drop from this fight. I personally got my head via Charming Trio having a 2/4 Head drop on that session.
Taodyn has yet again written another
guide which does great things at explaining how to solo this BCNM. How does he keep doing it?
Finishing Your Mannequin!
Once you've amassed your five Mannequin parts - pat yourself on the back, it's an acheivement. Head back to Mhaura and to Fyi Chalmwoh and trade them all to her. She'll tell you that it'll take some time to make (next midnight Japan time from my understanding). Head off, chill out, say lots of props to your peeps - and please keep your receipts, and generally be a Suburban Homeboy for a while. Come back the next day and collect your mega storage device of ultimate shinyness (because we all know you won't be playing dress up Taru with it... not like I did immediately).
If you wish to change your Manne into say a Mithra (and you said you didn't do dress up.. O_o; ), you can exchange it for 10,000g or spend 250,000g to buy a new one (each different style - race/sex will cost you just 250k per whole one!). Much much cheaper than buying the component parts from Bazaars - and you'll now have much more storage to utilize.
Congrats!
- Saeriel.
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