The Lesser Colibri dilemma

[Ceolwulf]

Cry welcome, yon Adventurers, for the evening has found us well met upon the field of battle and amongst the throng of thine enemies.


I felt it had to be said =D

Anyhoo, I'm here to discuss something that my friend and I have come across in recent weeks. It's more or less of an annoyance, but as I am not the players in question, I felt it necessary to come here <('.^<)

I am currently a level 63 DRG. Like all DRGs, I have time on my hands while I LFP, so I took soloing out for a spin. Subbing my WHM (level 72, so I'm not a complete nub >.>, I thought of areas to go to. Wajaom Woodlands seemed to be perfect, as the colibri in there are flying so maybe an advantage with piercing, and they don't double attack. That was at level 60, and three levels later... well, let's just say I only had one exp pt inbetween then My friend (a WAR/NIN) and I enjoy duoing every once in a while in the same place.

Now, at level 60, I could take on the colibri (checking T) for chain #1s and take on the VT ones one at a time, but needing a full rest after. This is why it baffled me that I would see players level 70, 72, 75 subbing NIN or WHM soloing these mobs. I only came across a few players in the 60's (SMN and a NIN), but they needed full rests. I would question to myself as to why a mob that appeared to be in the mid 60's be of any worth to a level 75? They certainly don't offer the same exp to me (I'm talking chain #3's with Sanction Refresh for 297 O.o; and the DRG/WHM in her 70's I talked to said she only got about 50 exp a kill (I wondered why she was there, as she could easily solo something more... meaningful...)

I was told that it was the kindred/beastmen seals and the IS, but I'm not satisfied. Can anyone share their opinion as to why they fight there or why would someone? I think I'm just missing something...

Thanks <(_ _)> oh and sorry for the length, more or less a rant in my own ways^^

[Balfree]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

IS, exp, seals.. they are easy mobs, and aht urgan areas give you extra exp if the astral candy is in possession of the good guys, all of that together makes up for a nice solo session, i know i do that alot on BLM... and at 75, "more meaningful" things are also considerably harder, trust me at 75 it still takes a bit to kill a lesser colibri, anything much harder than that is probably too much of a waste

[Feba]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

Because they're

• Right outside the city
• Safe and Easy to kill
• Can be killed pretty much nonstop in the proper setup
• In a safe area
• EXP/IS bonus in Aht Urhgan
• Easy Seals (like robber crabs, but safer and easier!)

There's a lot of great reasons to fight Lesser Colibri. If you really want to solo, i'd recommend you swing over to the Leypoint and see if anyone is there, typically there aren't.

[Nazo]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

I had a go at trying to solo skill up club on Lesser Colibris as whm / nin 75. They only conned as EP but they proper kicked my rear. I could only get around 25% of their hp off before I had to leg it for the zone line. Robber crabs in Kuftal, on the other hand, presented few problems. Maybe I'll have another pop at them now my skills are a bit higher. I don't hold high hopes it'll be any better though...

[Aeni]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

I had a go at trying to solo skill up club on Lesser Colibris as whm / nin 75. They only conned as EP but they proper kicked my rear. I could only get around 25% of their hp off before I had to leg it for the zone line. Robber crabs in Kuftal, on the other hand, presented few problems. Maybe I'll have another pop at them now my skills are a bit higher. I don't hold high hopes it'll be any better though...

Yeah, they're nasty as heck. Gives a 75 WAR/NIN a run for their money if there's no healer nearby...

[Mrfrodo]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

Actually, my wife is a mithra WHM, she was soloing them @72 as whm/blm to raise her club skill. She switched over to using Ice Spikes instead of paralyze, main buffs were haste, stonekin, blink before starting, debuffs flash, slow, bio2. Would take most of her MP pool, lot of downtime. Her skill was pretty high though, she was working on her trial latents, that probably has a lot to do with your troubles if your skill is fairly low, and the /nin for shadows probably doesn't last too long as quick as they attack.

[Shanisasha]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

*previously mentioned wife*

I have to admit the lesser colibris did kick my butt until I gave up on using Paralyze and started keeping Ice Spikes on. The spikes stuck much better than paralyze did. I did run into a few problems with Flash, but nothing a Cure V couldn't solve, since I wasn't blowing my MP on Paralyze by then. Also, Regen III is a good thing to have going as much as possible.

I did it with a Vermy on (I know, I know, -10 eva, what was I thinking?) but I think next time I'll do Sanction Refresh instead.

[Aeni]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

I do notice that Stoneskin fares poorly on a WHM than it does on a RDM. It's probably the absence of Phalanx in tandem, but I've gotten good mileage on Stoneskin before without it on my RDM...

I think you might just want to toss Bio II if you're subbing BLM. Otherwise, Ice Spikes are very good. Recasting Stoneskin over and over again might not be worth it, considering you spend more time casting it than hitting the monster, which may or may not directly affect your down time...

[Icemage]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

I can solo them with ease as WHM/RDM with a damage-resist setup (Earth Staff, Cheviot Cape). Could probably do it with Club/Shield instead as well. Phalanx owns them.

Incidentally, why the heck does anyone /NIN against these? They attack way too fast for shadows to be worthwhile unless you evade somewhat often.


Icemage

[Aeni]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

Incidentally, why the heck does anyone /NIN against these? They attack way too fast for shadows to be worthwhile unless you evade somewhat often.

I've only seen THF/NIN get good mileage from blinking. But you're right, which is why I said that a 75 WAR/NIN will get his workout from these critters without healing (The down time must be ludicrous for melees without healing)

[Feba]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

WAR/WHM could actually be fun to try against these. Hercules Earring, Sanction refresh, and that's just the easy to obtain stuff.

[Tirrock]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

I do notice that Stoneskin fares poorly on a WHM than it does on a RDM. It's probably the absence of Phalanx in tandem, but I've gotten good mileage on Stoneskin before without it on my RDM...

MND and enhancing magic skill factor into stoneskin's potency. RDM tend to wear more MND gear than most WHM and they have a higher enhancing magic skill, so their stoneskin will be stronger.

I've seen RDMs not lose their stoneskin (consistantly) to faf/nid's wing spam, while I'd always always lose my stoneskin and take more than 100 damage.

Going back on topic...
I'm actually a bit surprised a DRG could solo chain exp. That's pretty impressive, I think.

[Meatproduct]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

As DRG/BLU, I think it usually takes me about 30-60 seconds for me to kill a single colibri.
I get about 60 xp per kill (@lvl 70, I just recently hit 71 off these) without the Empress Ring, so 3600/hour isnt bad. With Cocoon, you'll spend less time casting for Healing Breath III, and more time attacking. Colibri have a pretty decent drop rate for Kseals, so that's another bonus.

[Ceolwulf]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

Going back on topic...
I'm actually a bit surprised a DRG could solo chain exp. That's pretty impressive, I think.

Well all I can say is that Scorpion Harnesses are your friend ><; With exp ring I can get about 397 for chain 3-4 at 63. The bad thing about these colibri are that...

1) Wind weather, which is common in the woodlands, buffs them up. They are noticably stronger in attack and defense during wind weather, and maybe even attack speed.

2) They attack fast as hell, sometimes I can't even time Dia right.

3) Anything more annoying than getting 99% TP and losing it instantly?

4) Pecking Flurry when you're already in the orange isn't something to take lightly.

Other than that, the absence of Double Attack and high critical moves ({Death Scissors} O.o;, along with 2 moves that do no damage and allow for cast time make it easy for DRGs to solo. I highly recommend any DRG who has a WHM sub to try it out.

[Skoal]

Re: The Lesser Colibri dilemma

These things arent that hard to solo. With sacntion refresh I can solo the dcs with my Drg65/Rdm 18 til they run out. I do have a little downtime if they respawn ems though. To answer you question OP, I fight them because of no "death" move, they are flying, drop seals, give IS and are easy to get too, and sanction exp bonus.