How to BC40 Giddeus

[Vilurum]

Heeey. Never thought of doing it that way. I'll have to try that next time. Thanks for the tip.

Btw, as for the Flood target running away. Be sure to emphasize that they either disengage or unlock target (preferably unlock target, disengaging takes time). If you move away from something while "locked on" you back away very slowly and will not get out of range in time. (As for where to go? Head back to the vicinity of the Burning Circle at the entrance. If you're fighting the black mandy anywhere in the big circular arena, that's enough distance.)

All of my melees who've tried to run from Flood and died to it anyway, have died because they were too incompetent to do this (even though I explain how, every single time -.-).

[Dark Aphalite]

You don't need Mary's Horn, you don't need Monster Signa, heck you don't even need a Bard!

Yesterday I did 6 runs with my LS and we won every single one in under 8 minutes.

The setup was:

BLM/WHM, BLM/WHM, BST/WAR, BST,WAR, BST/WAR, BST/WAR

We all line up just out of the large circle area.
One BLM uses Elemental Seal + Sleepga on all the mandras then all the BSTs run in and each charm a white mandragora. BSTs then all attack the black mandra.
The BLMs stand together by the bridge and wait for the remaining 3 white mandras to wake up, when they do wake up and start running to the BLMs the other one uses Elemental Seal + Sleepga.
By then the black mandra is dead/nearly dead and when it dies the BSTs start releasing a single pet, kill it then release another one until they are left with the 3 mandras that BLMs are Sleeping.
The charm 2 of them then pick one by one.

I hope you made sense of what I said, hehe.

I am serious though, we did it 6 times (each person used an orb) and didn't even come close to losing or dying, and we didn't even use 2hr once.

[Opie]

Originally posted by Dark Aphalite
You don't need Mary's Horn, you don't need Monster Signa, heck you don't even need a Bard!

Yesterday I did 6 runs with my LS and we won every single one in under 8 minutes.

The setup was:

BLM/WHM, BLM/WHM, BST/WAR, BST,WAR, BST/WAR, BST/WAR

We all line up just out of the large circle area.
One BLM uses Elemental Seal + Sleepga on all the mandras then all the BSTs run in and each charm a white mandragora. BSTs then all attack the black mandra.
The BLMs stand together by the bridge and wait for the remaining 3 white mandras to wake up, when they do wake up and start running to the BLMs the other one uses Elemental Seal + Sleepga.
By then the black mandra is dead/nearly dead and when it dies the BSTs start releasing a single pet, kill it then release another one until they are left with the 3 mandras that BLMs are Sleeping.
The charm 2 of them then pick one by one.

I hope you made sense of what I said, hehe.

I am serious though, we did it 6 times (each person used an orb) and didn't even come close to losing or dying, and we didn't even use 2hr once.

you got mad skillz doin it without a brd..........and you DONT need a tank you need damage and there is a time limit so with a tank you can get timed out if your not getting enough damage

[UnnamedGalka]

You don't need Mary's Horn, you don't need Monster Signa, heck you don't even need a Bard!

Yesterday I did 6 runs with my LS and we won every single one in under 8 minutes.

The setup was:

BLM/WHM, BLM/WHM, BST/WAR, BST,WAR, BST/WAR, BST/WAR

Key phrase: I did 6 runs with my LS

I think you're forgetting that the average player, putting together BCNM PTs on the fly, would have quite a hard time recreating your PT setup. Good luck finding four BSTs who'll be willing to join two BLMs for a BCNM PT.

[Peanut_Midgard]

I have done a lot of BCNM and I definitely prefer instant separation approach. We have done it either by the BRD sleep the black one or have the black one elemental seal + silenced (the black one doesn't come with the white ones).

Then all the white mandies are at the ramp while the rest fight the black one in the middle of the BC. BRD has no chance of being paralyzed.

One note about elemental seal + silence, with +MND gear it almost always lands for me. I have had it last the entire fight with the black one BUT more often than not it wears off at some point. You have to have a backup elemental seal silencer in place. Even so, I have had the black one cast flood right the second silence wears off, and ended up having to run from it anyway.

And you don't need a BRD if you have a substantial number of BST Haven't you guys heard of 6 BST mad BCNM40 runs? It's so easy for themy. Charm 6 of them, have 2 beat on the last one and 4 beat on the black one. Then just release/recharm.

[Seeker_Onos]

Speaking as a Tarutaru BRD that quite possibly has the worst BCNM40 Giddeus record in all of FFXI... (I'm at 12 losses, two wins) ...

One win was before the pre-battle buff (read: stoneskin+blink) nerf put in the last patch.

The other win was due to the Instant Separation method, which an LS team we put together (WHM, BRD, RDM, DRK, RNG, PLD) did on a string of 7 rounds.

Most of the losses seemed to stem from the WHM's inability to target me due to my frequent swapping of Mary's Horn (Horde) and Maple Harp (Ballad).

After that, I fixed the macros so I only had Mary's Horn equipped for the bulk of the battle (only used harp to Foe Lullaby the BLM mandy).

On at least one loss, it was a botched Horde about 3min. into the battle when I panicked after 3 mandies woke a couple of second before the rest... the other 4 were still slept - until they woke up a half second later and reduced me (and not too much later, the rest of my PT) to a pulpy mess.

The other loss was due to me loosing a few mandies from the sleeping group for some reason (WHM might have over cured - Curaga II - and drew hate from two of the early wakers that was slapping me around).

There has got to be a way to do this better (notwithstanding my mistakes like not waiting for all the mandies to wake up and landing a hit on me before re-sleeping them).

Could it be our PT was also lacking damage? Every time I look at Faranim's landmark BCNM video, all I see is a sh*tload of RNGs unloading into the BLM mandy and knocking it down so incredibly fast.

My thinking is (if I can ever convince people to ever do BCNM40 with me again ; ; ) to get 2 RDMs and 3 RNGs to go with me.

On another note, what about subbing /BST ? I'd lose the ability to keep hate by using cures, would charming a white mandy and using it to gain hate from the other mandies / early wakers be a workable idea?

Outside of all that, I'm very much tempted to level BST and find other BSTs with which to more consistently rape BCNM40 with.

[Vilurum]

WHM targeting - everyone should probably have a special macro set just for BCNM, so have the WHM just make some macros with /ma "Cure II" Seekeronos or something.

I forget whether the <st> cursor is disrupted by equipment switching like the normal targeting cursor is, but the WHM might have more luck by using an <st> macro, hitting the macro, F-whatever to target you, then enter.

Or, of course, you could avoid switching instruments. Keep in mind most of the time you're being healed should be while the mandys are asleep (since that's most of the time period), therefore the WHM has plenty of opportunity to retarget you even if you do change equipment.

As for WHM getting hate and pulling mandys away from you, the very simple solution is to park the mages right on top of you. If they get hate, who cares, the mandys aren't moving anywhere. Make sure the melees (and mandy of the moment, esp. black mandy) are *far* enough that you're out of range of AOE, but *close* enough that the mages can heal the melees without moving.

The botched horde lullabies is something you'll just have to learn on your own. You have just time enough for a Cure II and two buffs (with Mary's Horn sleep), if that helps you get the timing down. Count the waking messages too, and turn on chat filters if necessary. Also, the more +CHR you can get, the fewer early wakers you have, and the less frequently you get them at all. (But still don't use the signa, esp. as a taru.)

You can get reasonably priced +18 at least (+21 if you use Royal Spearman's Horn rather than Mary's Horn, but go with the latter if you have it) as any race. +20 if you get Loyalty Rings. Garrison items have too low defense to be worth using for the CHR.