ZM4 NM fight - what firepower needed?

[hongman]

Hi all

So Im getting frustrated (as normal) trying to get people to do ZM4 with me (i'm very impatient) :)

Just wondered what kind of firepower need to win this fight? Ill be going as 70RDM/BLM/WHM....what else do I need?

Wiki only states the mob types, nothing about what kinda firepower I need. I.E if I am told I need at least 2 75's then I wont go without them, etc. Or I'm thinking if I keep the other 2 slept/kited, could a 75 WAR/NIN solo each mob blink tanking?

Thanks

[Timian]

It's perfectly possible to duo the fight with a pair of 70+ people,
but seeing as you'll need 4 lanterns to get to the arena, you'll
probably end up with 4+ people anyways - which makes the fight cakewalk.
Trust me, as long as you bring a sleeper (yourself) you'll have no trouble.
Just be sure to reset Tonberry hate before you all enter.

[hongman]

Ah dammit, I thought Wiki said you could do this without 4 lanterns.... I just checked and it looks like I was thinking of another mission further on. Grrr.

EDIT:

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/ZM4

"You can actually light all the lanterns with fewer than four Unlit Lanterns; you just need to make multiple trips between the Altar and the stone lanterns."

I am thinking it is faster than shouting all day in WH/Jeuno for help...

[Timian]

I guess it's possible, but navigating Rancor's Den up and down like that just seems like more trouble than it's worth, in my opinion...
*shrug*

[hongman]

I would rather do that than shout...just knowing am actually moving forward (albeit slowly) is better to me than waiting, knowing there is a high chance I am wasting my time.

[Mhurron]

AFAIK, the cap when these battles were introduced was 60 or 65. A party with people over that is plenty. 4 75's is probably overkill but lets you have a tank, DD, healer and a support job.

[Kirsteena]

I know I have duo'ed it with a nin friend before, with someone as a leech. Four is good just for the lamps purposes, and dealing with the inevitable aggro in Den of Rancor.

Reset hate beforehand. We kind of forgot that the first time I did it - Everyone's Rancor did something like 12k damage to our lil' taru Sam - she wasn't happy, especially as it was her husband who forgot to reset hate!

[hongman]

LMAO

12k.....ouch

I'm going to do some legwork tonight, get my Paintbrush of Souls (solo) and my lantern... then I'll shout for a bit... if no luck then I'll try bribe Haste with copious amounts of something....

[Sevv]

i tanked this as drg had a 60 rdm 60 whm and a 70 war do it everyones rancor hit me for 81k lol (i kill tonberrys for fun but now they kill me 2). This is a very easy fight.

[Mhurron]

I tried to solo my lantern last night, that wasn't the best idea I've had recently.

Throat Stab hurts. It didn't kill me but going through SS and leaving me with 29 HP is the closest to death I've been in a long long time. Damn bee aggro wasn't really bad but was a bit irritating.

[Necropolis]

You can do the laterns part by your self, but I would aquaint yourself with the den of rancor first and do a couple practice runs so that you know where it's safe to reapply sneak, or die/reraise if aggroed :x

When I got sky it was my first day in my end-game shell. I went from ZM all the way to sky in about 8 hours. We had a party of 4 with whm(me), brd, war, and another whm. The bard tanked all the fights, but this was before the Mazurka nerf, so you might want to bring a real tank.

Lots of running around and general pain-in-the-arse cutscenes like normal. So just brace yourself for a long day.

[raidenn]

Too bad you're not in my server, I need to do that too :)

[Taskmage]

I soloed ZM4 as rdm/blm. Throat Stab and Lateral Slash do suck, but it's nothing you can't survive as long as you fight one at a time and don't forget to Aspir whenever it's up like I did for my first 1.5 tries. >.>; Just open up with ES+Sleepga and fight thf > blm > smn. If they build sleep resistance it isn't fast enough to matter.

Fynlar told me he usually solos this as rdm/blu. I guess with Cocoon in addition to your normal buffs it's easy to tank all three of them. The thf is the only one that hits hard, really. Personally I prefer to stick with Sleepga so I don't have to track silence on the blm while I fight the thf, and don't run as much risk of a nasty combination of Throat Stab + Astral Flow or the like.

[hongman]

So i managed to get a group together by som miraculous miracle...

Currently all laying dead with ~10 mins left on death clock by the Altar of Rancor :)

<3 wipes.

Not.

[Aksannyi]

My group wiped near the lanterns, too. I got a different group to go with the second time, and since we went with the philosophy of "kill them all!" we got through with no problem. I don't know whose idea it was to sneak/invis the whole way and then MAYBE not get aggro when we use our lanterns. What a stupid idea.

[Taskmage]

What went wrong with your fight?

[hongman]

Complete.


FINALLY.

[Timian]

Congratulations.

[Taskmage]

Woot, grats

[hongman]

The wipe was due to one member aggroing a bomb, then was an idoit and ran into some bats...then a slime joined...

[Kirsteena]

God, I love Den of Rancor...

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Throat Stab and Lateral Slash do suck, but it's nothing you can't survive....
According to wiki regarding distances of attacks (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Distance), Throat Stab can be avoided by moving out of melee range just after it's readied by the Tonberry. It looks like the key is to keep yourself just barely in melee range of the Tonberry. And when you see it ready Throat Stab take a step back (or even to the side, according to Fynlar) and you should be able to avoid Throat Stab.

[Sevv]

The wipe was due to one member aggroing a bomb, then was an idoit and ran into some bats...then a slime joined...
Ouch >.<;
Congrats tho, on your win.

[Mhurron]

I soloed ZM4 as rdm/blm. Throat Stab and Lateral Slash do suck, but it's nothing you can't survive as long as you fight one at a time and don't forget to Aspir whenever it's up like I did for my first 1.5 tries. >.>; Just open up with ES+Sleepga and fight thf > blm > smn. If they build sleep resistance it isn't fast enough to matter.

I didn't know this could be soloed, I'm going to try this. Can you add any more to the strategy? What foods should I think about getting? Any special gear to up any particular stat? Anything special I need to look out for?

Are they all Apirable?

Any other ZM battles that can be soloed? :P

[Sevv]

Any other ZM battles that can be soloed? :P


A few of the NM's from ZM5 can be soloed, I know that the weapons in BD have been soloed. Caezar soloed Zi'tah NM as a 68 Nin. Also the Pot fight right before sky can be soloed very easy.

[Mhurron]

Maybe I'll actually get Zilart Missions done then.

[Sevv]

You may be able to solo the Cape Terrigan part of ZM5 as well.

ZM4: Can Solo

ZM5-
BD-> Can Solo
Zi'tah-> Can Solo
Cape-> Possible (Duo atleast)
Jungle-> Duo/Trio

ZM6 -> Safer to go with a full party

ZM8 -> Drg + 2 mnks = win (angon and hundred fist is a win in under 1 min.)

ZM12-> Solo the pot easy.

GL if you try it all Mhurron, let me know how it all works out.

[Taskmage]

According to wiki regarding distances of attacks (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Distance), Throat Stab can be avoided by moving out of melee range just after it's readied by the Tonberry. It looks like the key is to keep yourself just barely in melee range of the Tonberry. And when you see it ready Throat Stab take a step back (or even to the side, according to Fynlar) and you should be able to avoid Throat Stab.That's true, but I'm not really practiced at it.I didn't know this could be soloed, I'm going to try this. Can you add any more to the strategy? What foods should I think about getting? Any special gear to up any particular stat? Anything special I need to look out for?
Are they all Apirable?
Any other ZM battles that can be soloed? :PI'm not sure, but I think the summoner's elemental is always a light elemental, and thus particularly suceptible to Aspir. All the mobs in the fight are aspirable except for the one with the crown. I think I used a sis kebabi and my melee set is pretty decent. A kite-nuking approach might also work with the abundance of mp that's available, but personally I only ever do that if staying in melee range is unviable.

If you can practice dodging Throat Stab on other tonberries, that'd remove most of the danger of the fight. Just make sure the mobs you're not engaged on stay asleep (especially if you get hit with Lateral Slash), keep your buffs and their debuffs up and they should all die before you do. Just don't forget to keep your mp up with Aspir. Curing away stabs and slashing chews up the mp.

Personally, I'm going to try soloing up to the ark angel fight. I've been putting it off though since I don't really care too much about sky and my friends wants to be able to say he knows someone who got sea before sky. X3 Some of the ZM5 fights look like they'd take some creativity to solo, but I'm willing to bet large chunks of experience that it's possible. The ZM6 BCNM seems to be just like the ZM4 fight except with Antica instead of Tonberry. A stack or two of Echo Drops and Barstone + Barpetrify should take care of their worst moves handily. The fight after that is .. err ...Kam'lanaut (there might still be some people who don't know I guess)I think there's a video floating around somewhere of Avesta or some other high profile red mage soloing this fight. After that the only fight between you and sky is a pot in QSC, which you can't get to solo because of pressure plates, but I suspect would go down easily to either blinktanking or kiting.

[Taskmage]

Hrm I couldn't find that solo vid. But it seems like his only really bad move can be stunned or absorbed with a shadow, so /drk or the old standby /nin should do the trick. Just bring echos and keep Barparalyze/Barblizzard up.

[Timian]

After that the only fight between you and sky is a pot in QSC, which you can't get to solo because of pressure plates, but I suspect would go down easily to either blinktanking or kiting.

You can solo the pressure plates if you're Galka. :o

[Mhurron]

You can solo the pressure plates if you're Galka. :o
Then you'd have to deal with the shame of being a Galka.

[Timian]

Then you'd have to deal with the shame of being a Galka.

There's no arguing with that. :biggrin: