Soloing Mission 2-3 Dragon BCNM

[Tomato_Kai]

So, I'm planning to solo the BCNM 25 Mission 2-3 fight on my MNK/WAR soon.
Here's what I've got planned so far to do this:

TACTICS: Making sure that I've boosted up to max, am protected/shelled/hasted, and have eaten my food, I'll enter the event. I'll open with immediately tossing Focus, Dodge, and Hundred Fists with the intent of immediately decimating the Eye as soon as possible. This is to decrease the overall amount of damage I take, because the longer they're both alive, the harder it will be for me to stay that way. Assuming I kill the eye before HF wears off, I'll hold off on using my TP until it does wear off. Either way though, I don't want to waste the spare hits that a WS and the ensuing delay occurs.

Once HF wears off and/or the eye is dead, I'll focus on the dragon, boosting every time it is up. From there, it seems pretty straight forward to beat it until it dies.

Notes:

I've thought about going MNK/NIN for this, but it seems that between staying on the front lines and being susceptible to interruption and the fact that it's not going to save me much damage anyhow... /WAR seems most efficient. I'd rather be hitting harder and having higher def than having to worry about tossing shadows every now and then.

You may also note below my gear choices. Every one of these is intentional, but I'm more than willing to admit they may be a little off. Specifically, you may call into question using Bone Earring +1 vs. Beetle Earring +1. Well, the difference is two attack and two eva. I'd honestly rather keep 2 eva for this fight than get 2 attack. Furthermore, I'm using martial slacks over republic subligar for the same reason: more agi and eva vs. more attack.

GEAR:
Federation Hachimaki
Federation Tekko
Federation Gi
Federation Kyahan
Bone Earring +1 (x2)
Courage Ring (x2)
Nomad's Mantle
Purple Belt
Martial Slacks
Spike Necklace
Lynx Baghnahks

FOOD:
Selbina Milk
Meat Chiefkabob

OTHER:
Potion
Antidote(s)
Scroll of Reraise


So, there's the plan, folks.

What do ya think?

[Malevolent]

am protected/shelled/hasted

not sure if it goes for this type of BCNM but any buffs done outside of the BC will wear off when you enter. so the only haste you'll have is from your purple belt. I'd scrub the Selbina Milk i don't think it will really be effective, never was when i used it for low lvl grinding. Stick with hi pots if you can afford it about 500gil.

[Murphie]

I'm not sure why you'd suggest scrapping the Selbina milk. Sure, it's only 1hp/tick, but I've had that 1hp save my life more than once. And it's not like you are giving something else up by using it.

And as for not being useful for low level grinding? I disagree, but that's based on my own experiences. Maybe it hasn't been so great for you.

[Tomato_Kai]

This is one of the rare BCNM Mission fights that you can buff up before the event begins. Also: Selbina Milk is only being used for a cheap extra 120 hp or so. It's not meant to be a battle turner.

Also: I'm not bringing huge potions because I don't want to use them *at all*... has really nothing to do with being able to afford them or not.

Perhaps it's just a point of pride, but I'd rather not win a fight like this because of a pot.

[Murphie]

If you're going to use outside buffs you wouldn't normally have, isn't outlawing potions kind of silly?

[Tomato_Kai]

I'm not outlawing potions, just bigger ones. I'm *not* going to lose this fight, but I mostly just don't want to have to say "Yeah, I suck - even after all that preparation I had to use a bigass pot to win."

... So, yeah.

It has less to do with the actual buffing of myself, and more to do with bragging rights >.>

[Murphie]

It just seems like six of one, half a dozen of the other to me. But good luck with your attempt, regardless.

[Tomato_Kai]

You know, you're absolutely *not* wrong, Murphie.

I'm just trying to beat this while not trying to overdue it too much. Thanks for the best wishes, I appreciate it.

One more question: I had no clue what the food effects were - I had always assumed meat chiefkabob was actually more effective by virtue of it being HQ. Now that I'm reading the stats on some foods though, I'm more interested in some of the others...

In fact, Navarin seems ideal for a fight of this nature. Apparently, it adds:

HP+3% STR+3 VIT+1 AGI+1 INT-1 Attack+27% (C30)
Ranged Attack+27% (C30) Evasion+5

Which is pretty significant over:

STR+5 AGI+1 INT-2 Attack+22% (C60)

PS: This whole conversation is rife with contradictions... please ignore the inherent logical fallacies that pop up when reading it ><

[Ziero]

This is one of the rare BCNM Mission fights that you can buff up before the event begins. Also: Selbina Milk is only being used for a cheap extra 120 hp or so. It's not meant to be a battle turner.

I don't think that's true, the only BCs I know of that allow buffing outside are the Solo Smn Mini Avatar fights. I know I've always had to recast buffs and such every time I go into this fight.

I'm not outlawing potions, just bigger ones. I'm *not* going to lose this fight, but I mostly just don't want to have to say "Yeah, I suck - even after all that preparation I had to use a bigass pot to win."

... So, yeah.

It has less to do with the actual buffing of myself, and more to do with bragging rights >.>

If you're going to solo this fight, as a Mnk/War, you'll need a stronger regen then Selby milk and a few meds.

And just for the record, you have a damn good chance of losing this fight, even if you *do* bring tons of meds. One stray Petri eyes or head on breath attack and you'll be out of it. Just soloing the mission is grounds for bragging rights, especially if it's a 'non-solo-friendly' job like Mnk. Using a few Hi-pots and an I wing wouldn't take anything away from that.

Edit: RE food. Yes, Navarin would be a great food for this fight. The Att boost will be similar to any meat dish you could eat, including Chief-bobs, while giving that nice Eva+. Another good food would be Jack-o-lanterns, with a solid +10 Acc/Eva.

But yea, overall, meat-bobs aren't really the best food till late 40-early 50 depending on the job and the Att set-up.

[Celeal]

I don't have access to Wiki at this location (proxy....), if I remember correctly, the dragon have a move that can Paralyze you.

If I have to fight this BCNM solo, I would stick with Hi-potions, and grab a Icarus Wing, bring meds that can remove Blind/Paralyze.

For food I would go for Jack-O' Lantern (10+acc, 10+eva), and gear a bit more +eva. At level 25, mnk still can evade a bit if gear properly, and accuracy helps Counter-attack.

Heck, I would go as far with MNK/DNC for Drain Samba and evasion bonus:

MNK/DNC's Drain Samba + Hundred Fists ..... sounds good on paper.

[Tomato_Kai]

Here's the deal: I've been told that the Windy version of the dragon doesn't use Petrify, and instead uses a Poison AoE. If that's the case, that's even more reason to go with a good regen item, like Pamama Au Lait. As far as the other stat effects go, I'm definitely coming prepared.

Rawr, the more I psyche myself up for this fight, the more I psyche myself out.

Also; the only way I can get more eva for this fight is through an Emp. Pin... and that makes me sad, because I don't want to spend 700k on an item for *one* fight ><;

I've been thinking about Jack-O-Lanterns... but I'm not sure that ACC is going to be a huge issue. I guess I'll find out when I get there.

Icarus Wing... I like these, but I'm not sure when I'd use it. Would it come after the First WS following Hundred Fists, or before I activate Hundred Fists? Seems like that extra TP would go to waste if I just slap it onto a Single Combo, but is it a good idea to use it in the middle of a fight?

[Ziero]

The faster you do some Dmg the better your chances and an instant 100 TP could be a potential self SC (not sure if Combo > Combo works) and is certainly a boost to your dmg output. Personally, as a Mnk, I think it would be best to use it after your first WS so you can drop two, back to back, right at the beginning of the fight with the Dragon itself.

And I don't really recall the Windy dragon doing any bad Poison moves, but I do know he has a *nasty* AoE Curse which can cripple you far worse then poison. And there's always L5 Petrify from the eye if you get unlucky, which will not miss.

As for regen drinks, Au laits are MUCH better regen items then Selbina Milk. Milks are great pre 10 for soloing with low hp/low dmg situations, but at 25 they're a drop in the bucket.

And as for food, 10 Acc would be real nice to ensure that those hits of yours land, especially during Hundred Fists as you need to kill the eye before it wears off. While the Dragon itself is no pushover, the Eye ups the difficulty of this fight far more into their favor. And without a way to sleep the Dragon, you'll be getting hit on two sides, which will also allow the dragon to build it's own TP.

It can be done, I've seen it done, and I'm sure you'll do it, but you need to go in prepared for the worst because they'll make sure to bring just that.

[Tomato_Kai]

Unfortunately, after pouring over the SC charts, the only self SC I can do would be Shoulder Tackle > Combo for an Impaction SC. That.. that's not an impressive SC, and I pretty much regard Shoulder Tackle as a waste of TP unless I *need* to stun something. I think I'd rather just toss a pair of combos. But, yeah, what you're saying makes sense.

Hit em twice. Actually, this will be a good opportunity to see how much more damage a 220 tp (how much I expect to have after Hundred Fists) Combo will do vs. a 100 tp combo.

In an unrelated matter, I started saving 300 tp per combo the other night in an xp party, and was hitting in the range of 5 times harder with 300 tp vs. 100 tp. I know the math can't be right, and I was probably missing the a couple of the hits from the 100 tp combos... but the difference between 45 damage and 277 damage is pretty dang significant. My party leader actually asked me to stop so I would take less hate XD

But yeah, that's unrelated. Back on task here: Can you cancel a food effect to switch to another food effect? It would make sense to me to start with a jack-o-lantern and then once the eye is dead, swap over to a Navarin.

[Ellipses]

But yeah, that's unrelated. Back on task here: Can you cancel a food effect to switch to another food effect? It would make sense to me to start with a jack-o-lantern and then once the eye is dead, swap over to a Navarin.
You can use an Antacid to cancel food effects.

[Celeal]

Another use for Icarus Wing is to save it until the NM's HP is below 20%, when it starts to spamming special moves as soon as TP is ready.

[Tomato_Kai]

That is a great idea.

[Neomage]

I also think that /DNC would work well. I am not sure if you need the extra HP, but the extra damage will help ALOT with something like Hundred Fists. Or, if you are up to it, you can climb Pandama Tor in Ahwatta Chasm(sp?) and get an Enfire or Blaze Spikes Feather that you can use to give yourself the effect. Since a Lv1 newbie can technically get these items just by taking the time to travel (Though Aggro may still pose a problem, still I could do it on a lv 1 mule) It's not breaking the contract as much as other things...

[Armando]

You don't need a Jack-o-Lantern, you DO want to use TP as soon as it reaches 100 (I won't get into the math behind this, but a LOT of damage is wasted from holding on to large amounts of TP past 100, and doing a WS only halts your autoattack cycle for like 2 secs,) and some flavored Milks will go a long way.

Holy Water because Curse (See: Chaos Blade) WILL kill you. Obviously not directly, but it will. And about Hi-Potion or two to get back on your feet if you do get hit by Chaos Blade.

[Tomato_Kai]

...you DO want to use TP as soon as it reaches 100 (I won't get into the math behind this, but a LOT of damage is wasted from holding on to large amounts of TP past 100, and doing a WS only halts your autoattack cycle for like 2 secs...

I think under normal circumstances I would agree to this, except for in that if in this case, I think by the time I have 100 tp, the Eye mob (which should be about EM to me) will be dead or nearly at it, and so tossing a WS for 250 damage will be wasted if the mob only has 30 hp left. Likewise, the whole issue with the dragon fight itself was basically if I could kill the eye fast enough to get to the dragon before my hp dropped below unrecoverable levels.

I'm gonna make my first calibration attempt at this tonight, running it without meds, some of the gear I've got planned, and other things. I don't expect to win, but mostly at this point, I wanna see what kind of things I'll need for a serious attempt: more hp, more eva, more acc, etc.

Just out of curiosity, am I totally off my rocker for thinking this is possible? The LS I'm in seems to think that it's not only impossible, but especially impossible for a DD class like MNK.

I thought I had things pretty well layed out, but doubt has definitely begun to nag at me.

[Armando]

It's far from impossible, though it's not easy for many jobs. MNK isn't one of those jobs though, because Hundred Fists is so good and technically speaking the BC mobs have poor defense and evasion.I think under normal circumstances I would agree to this, except for in that if in this case, I think by the time I have 100 tp, the Eye mob (which should be about EM to me) will be dead or nearly at it, and so tossing a WS for 250 damage will be wasted if the mob only has 30 hp left. Likewise, the whole issue with the dragon fight itself was basically if I could kill the eye fast enough to get to the dragon before my hp dropped below unrecoverable levels.Then just do the WS at the dragon, while still targeting the eye.

[Ryuuhikiuu]

Are mission 2-1 and 2-2 soloable? I think I might try this when I hit 25 as well

[Ziero]

Just out of curiosity, am I totally off my rocker for thinking this is possible? The LS I'm in seems to think that it's not only impossible, but especially impossible for a DD class like MNK.

I thought I had things pretty well layed out, but doubt has definitely begun to nag at me.

I saw a vid of a Galka Mnk solo it a LONG time ago. A rdm friend in my LS soloed his, though it was his third time going through the missions and had a lvl 75 job with cap skills to help him out. And I came pretty damn close to accidentally duoing it as a war with a thf friend with niether of us being geared to duo it in any way shape or form. We were supposed to have a healer with us, but they forgot a CS, but we tried it anyway while they went back for it and came within a hair of winning. Had two bad Sturms (less then 100) and three whiffs in a row at the end, which combined with the thf forgetting to two hour, was what killed us.

Prepped up with proper meds and gear, I'm pretty confident I could take it as a War.

[Tomato_Kai]

So, I ran my first calibration attempt last night.

It went suprisingly well.

Essentially, I burned through the Eye, as was expected, and ended up with about 85% tp by the time he fell. The dragon was auto-targeted, and I had about 10-15 seconds left on Hundred Fists. I started pounding on him, and got him to 70% when he used Chaos Blade to drop my hp drastically. It was his first TP move. I managed to get a second WS on him in hopes that I'd be able to do like, 500 damage or something ridiculous, but it didn't work. I ended up dying with him at a little over half his HP.

Essentially, If I simply had a holy water - and *maybe* a potion with me, I would have succeeded. I doubt I would have even needed an icarus wing, though that's debatable.

What was my current gear like?

Lynx Baghnahks
Federation Hachimaki
Federation Tekko
Federation Kyahan
Cotton Doublet
Beetle Earrings +1 (x2)
Courage Rings (x2)
Rabbit Mantle
Martial Slacks
Purple Belt
Spike Necklace

My food was a strip of Jerky XD

I had no prior buffs, except for signet.



So, yeah. I'm pretty confident now that I'll be able to do this.

[Zoltar]

you'd probably do slightly better with Republic Knuckles (lvl15) for the Acc +2 Att +3 and get a lvl18 Dhalmel Mantle

[Tomato_Kai]

Actually, you don't wanna argue that first point with me. See, I made the mistake of arguing that with Armando, and ... Yeah. Apparently, he always wins.

The gist of it is, that the speed difference more than makes up for the higher attack and acc. I actually sold my republic knuckles when I hit 24. Honestly, I haven't noticed a significant difference either way, but, dps is dps.

To the point of the dhamel mantle; I'm using a rabbit mantle and cotton doublet vs. the gear I had originally posed because honestly - I haven't got that far in my farming yet. I'll buy upgrades before my final attempt, but for now, it doesn't matter to me that much when I'm doing calibration attempts.

[Tomato_Kai]

Please don't hate for the double post, but I thought I'd let folks know, I made my first real try on the Dragon last night.

And I won.
What was the situation?

Same gear set up as before, no changes.

Food used: Meat Jerky
Items Used: Icarus Wing, X-Potion & Holy Water (Accidentally~)

So, the fight went roughly like this. I had my LS wish me luck and entered the battlefield. Watched the cutscene, and went in. I immediately popped my macro which tossed Dodge, Focus, and Hundred Fists (in that order). I started pounding the Searcher (the eye) and took him down almost immediately. It really only took about 5-6 hits to kill him. He dropped nothing, gave me exactly 46 exp. That would equate him to roughly a EP mob. I was moved around so I autotargeted the dragon at that point, and started banging on him. I unleashed combo for about 250 damage right off the bat, taking him to 2/3 his health. Then accidentally hit my Chaos Blade removal macro, causing my char to use a holy water, then an x-potion. Little frustrated, but no biggy. Since I had about half my health at this point, it wasn't "entirely" wasted, but no problem. Hundred fists wore off, right about the time the dragon used "Lodesong" which I guess has the effect of gravity? It "weighed me down" but did no damage. After that, I had just enough tp to hit another WS, this one only for 75 damage, then popped my ica wing for another 145 damage. The dragon was basically dead at this point. I stuck him a few more punches, and ended the fight with about 45% hp.

All in all, the whole event took me 2:47. 17 Seconds off the current record. Had I been paying attention to speeding up the whole thing, I could have easily taken out the record with my 1 man party. XD

Anyhow, this was the most fun setting up and performing that I've had in this game. I'm glad I did it, and glad I got to do it. Thanks to everyone for their advice.

EDIT: Adjusted for continuity.

[Armando]

Congratulations. And yes, Lodesong is Gravity.

By the way, for future reference, if you're going for the record, you should enter the BC, leave it, and enter it again. The second time, you won't get the cutscene, which DOES take away from your record time.