Unstable cluster

[raidenn]

Ive been reading a bit on how to prevent this NM from self-destruct and since I havent fought it yet, Id like to hear some good strategies from people who fought it before.
So far what I got is:
Have DDs come as /nin
The more stunners the better
Dont use too much tp (is this right? I guess this is necessary if the NM uses tp to blow up)

[Icemage]

Stunners (read: Dark Knights, BLMs, Blue Mages) are the way to go.

Using TP is OK. /NIN isn't because of TP gain, it's because Utsusemi defends against his AoE attacks other than his Self-Destruct.


Icemage

[Necropolis]

I've never been overly concerned with blocking Self-Destruct. Barfira, and any fire resistance gear you can find for the level helps.

nin, /nin, mnk or /mnk help slows it TP gain with subtle blow trait, but unless you go with just those jobs you won't really notice a difference.

Over all, it's no too bad of a fight. I've won with a party of 5 with no stun (used occasional stun ws), but usally go with about 11 people or so.

[raidenn]

Isnt lowering the times it uses Self Destruct gives you a better chance for the item drop?

[Necropolis]

Personally I've never noticed a corraltion between Self-Destructs and the item dropping. It's always been pretty much 50% drop rate over that 40 or so times we've fought him.

The advantage is when it self-destructs on of the bombs go away and will decrease attacks per round. Little easier to tank with a smaller group if you can get through the first two self-destructs.

There maybe a connection between drop and destructs, but I can't say that I've analyzed or kept any data to assume that there is. I've seen it drop 8/10 times one run, and 0/8 or so another time. Just seems random to me.

[Icemage]

Personally I've never noticed a corraltion between Self-Destructs and the item dropping. It's always been pretty much 50% drop rate over that 40 or so times we've fought him.

The advantage is when it self-destructs on of the bombs go away and will decrease attacks per round. Little easier to tank with a smaller group if you can get through the first two self-destructs.

There maybe a connection between drop and destructs, but I can't say that I've analyzed or kept any data to assume that there is. I've seen it drop 8/10 times one run, and 0/8 or so another time. Just seems random to me.
50% seems very high to me. I'd peg it closer to 1 in 3, but might be bad luck on my part. Have killed this stupid thing at least 20-30 times over a number of trips.


Icemage

[Callisto]

I've also seen about a 50% drop rate in my experiences, about 10 runs. I really don't see the need for anything special on this, generally an alliance of 2 normal parties, mages put up barfira and stand out of AoE range, melee whack away, and it goes down pretty easily. The real challenge is not dying of boredom during the 15 minute respawn window when you've already killed 30 clusters and noone can hold any more ashes or tars. XD