question for smarty pants rdm III!!!! high lvl soloing and you.

[bonovoxpsu]

i'm nominating this as topic of the week!

ok kids, here's our topic: i'm approaching the lvls where all of a sudden, rdm's really start to become this insane solo machine (there are a couple threads where apple pie and others show off ). its not too unknown that lvl 75 rdm/nin's tend to solo HNM's (serket) along with other nasties.

so, my question is somewhat general: what lvl can i solo something monstrous? what i'm really thinking is the avatars. nothing would bring me more joy then taking down ifrit.

any other examples are allowed. lets hear some bragging on this thread! please note the lvl and sub you solo'd whoever at.

my first is this:

lvl 60/15 rdm/thf. i was up in xcarb running around. i saw Shadow Dragon. i thought "F it!" and engaged! took one scary convert, and afterwards nuked him to death.

i later found that it was a lot easier if i gravity kited him, poison2, bio2, then chained thunder2-->blizzard2 or fire2. takes a convert still.

i don't claim i'm ubber for it, but not many other classes can do this. especially when he petrifies them (gravity kiting can help avoid this). and that's the biggest fish i've solo'd .

and yours? ^^

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*side note - what lvl pt can do the avatars (i mean ifrit, garuda, titan, shiva, and ramuh - not levi or fenrir) - the pt consists of pld, mnk, rdm, blm, rng, and whm. 62? 64? 65? thanks

[Gman]

I'm only 55, so no major soloing for me yet, but I would like to know the required level to beat the Gobbie NM in Ozonzo that drops Moldavite earring. Do I have a chance to solo it anytime soon or will I need help?

[DrowII]

I just hit 57 and am also curious about my ability to obtain the modavite earing solo. By the way I love these smarty pants redmage threads.

[Uroboros]

http://ffxi.cogn.net/forums/showthre...threadid=44720

[Zempten]

You can solo titan at 69, once you get Aero 3. Just Gravity and run around casting Aero 3.

P.S You can also solo the Crawler Hunters in CN and the crabs in Kuftal Tunnel

[Jonnyram]

Soloed a few crabs in Kuftal at lv59 for 130 exp each, and some monstrous skill-ups. It's a lot easier to solo them a couple of levels later, though, so more efficient.

[Viev]

Hmmmm.... I think I had most fun soloing Shadow Lord, Sewer Syrup, and Aquarius.

[Gladesinger]

As a rdm i enjoy to solo, its a nice change of pace.

As i usually solo for some xp and loot i havnt done many of the monstrous things yet, killed Miser Murphy and the Guardian Statue (our AF3mobs) solo is probably the biggest ones.

Generally a number of generic soloing methods is what i use.

1. Tanking
2. Kiting
3. Zoning
4. /nin tanking

Tanking,
involves getting out your sword and beating the ¤"#¤ out of the mob.

It works well against things that hit slow, dont have mean close up WS, and generally can be hurt in a meaningful fashion with our melee skills.

Me :
En-spell + Phalanx + Spikes of your choice (optional) + Protect + Shell + Stoneskin + Blink (optional) + atk or def food.

The Mob :
Slow + Gravity (optional) + Paralyze (optional)

Since our buff line last about 2 mins, i melee until they begin fading away, when the spikes wear off i either 1. Sleep the Mob or 2. Rebuff while fighting, depending on difficulty.

If you are going to sleep the mob, you dont want spikes on if you do, the server can screw up the order of hits and actions that you and the mob do due to latency, so you can end up sleeping a mob which hits you moments before, it then takes your spike dmg, and wake up ><

Anything that be reliably Slept and tanked can be stringed along pratically forever with this approach, as you can convert or rest your mp quite a bit (dark staff is your friend) during a Sleep II.

Efficiency,
Tanking generally works for single attack pr round mob (fx. crabs and pld type mobs) up to mob 4-5 levels above you.

For mobs that can double hit or have nasty WS's it generally works till 2 levels above you.

It doesnt work well against undeads as we cant sleep them, and we are very buff dependant while tanking.

Kiting,
Is the process of either enhancing your own movement or slowing the mobs movement so that it cannot bring you into melee while you dmg it from afar.

A not so nice variation is using the terrain to effect the mobs pathing (As we all know pathing isnt perfect and mobs will often path in ridiculous ways over terrain, hills being a good example).
I dont particular like this variation as it tastes of exploitation.... but it exists and some use it....

Almost a few types of mobs, move slower than the players or can be kiting by virtue of the tendency to spell cast.

Movement enhancements,
Only one i know of for a general solo purpose is the Crimson Leggings +12 movement speed. There are some special situation movement enhancements (movement speed up during sandstorms and the like), but they are not really all general purpose useful.

Movement Detrimental spells,
Gravity

The standard method is straight forward...

Gravity the mob (or affect its movement to your in some other way) and run it around while you nuke or whatever. Given your patience and Gravity's ability to stick, and your mp pool / mp regen, you can kill off most things (Aquarius being the most common example, but it will work just nice against most things and NMs regardless of their building Gravity resistance)

NMs will gain increased resistance to your Gravity pr cast of it that lands, which translates into lower duration of effect.

Zoning

Hm, dont like this one much either. But it works and some use it...
be considerate if using this, dont drop big mobs at zone lines and get people killed, also if a PT drops by that can take the mob by regular means and needs it drop (for quest or whatever), try to show some class and bow out and leave or negociate the mob to them/them + you...

As you can solo it and they probably cant you can always come back and grab it another time and they will be happy...

The trick to this is that mobs do not regen straight away when you zone and leave them in the zone you just left. Also your Spell will continue to effect the mob even though you are no longer in the same Zone /boggle

Method,
Pull the NM or whatever to a Zone line, preferrebly one that isnt used much.

Dot (Damage over Time fx. Poison II) it with something to keep it busy and keep refreshing the Dot.

Cast spell on mob, Zone out, Buff (normally blink or stoneskin) or refresh. Zone in, repeat until mob is dead.

Using /NIN
This is just a melee variation, it used the /nin ability to Blink.

Basically you can Blink away the mobs melee, reducing melee oriented mobs to impotent pixels.

Combined with our great resilence and stamina as rdm, we can wear pretty much anything within reason down this way.

This is the most popular way, lvl74+, as it requires little effort and is very effiecient once you get a little experience with it.

Fairly straightforward mobs with this is Serket and Amemet (turn to avoid the petrify).

Bit off tropic i know, but i felt like it

[bonovoxpsu]

heh, yeah, lvl 75 rdm/nin. kids, rdm/nin is only endorsed at LVL 75 !!!! dont' get any ideas.

i tried the "turn the other way to avoid petrify" against shadow dragon once. it didn't work. does that really work? or is it a rumor?

solo'd shadow dragon last night again - i was low on MP at the start, but gave it a shot. converted and nuked away - he resisted me a bit, which was worrisome. with 13 MP, i tossed a stone I, and that was enough to kill him. XD

who says stone I is worthless? :spin:

[Wind Adept]

Well, Serket petrifies by 'Baleful Gaze,' right? If Shadow Dragon petrifies by something else, that's probably why turning around wouldn't work.

EDIT: Oh, sorry; I got Serket and Amemit mixed up. I've never actually fought the stuff, so that doesn't help my memory too much. XD

[Sadeira]

i don't think i've ever seen serket petrify. however, serket DOES have bindga.

[Apple Pie]

If Shadow Dragon petrifies by something else, that's probably why turning around wouldn't work.

That's right but high-LV RDM has something to prevent themselves from being petrified or to minimize the effect.

[Patchinko]

Is Shadow Dragon really that big of a deal at 62? I've been considering taking him for the past few days when I've been in Beucedine farming just for fun and the pretty gil, but have been wary only because all the undead mobs in the area are still Easy Prey to me.

Shadow Dragon only cons Decent Challenge, so I figured he wouldn't be that hard by himself. Maybe Barpetrify would be worth getting beforehand? A free 8k and a fun fight at the end of each farming expedition would be welcomed.^^

[Apple Pie]

Is Shadow Dragon really that big of a deal at 62?

I'm afraid not. LV62 RDM with Phalanx and def+ food can easily take it.

[Patchinko]

On that subject, which +def foods do you prefer?

I've used Fish Mithkabob in the past, but I've heard Boiled Crab may be better because it doesn't harm MND (and of course HQ versions of both).