[IfritnoItazura]

Tanking Colibri the other night, I was thinking how lousy it was to keep getting Flash mimicked and sent back at me. I was also reminded of how when I was RDM fighting those things, it was so incredibly boring since the only thing I thought I could do was Slow (which had no effect on the PLD who was hasted).

But, thinking about it today, I thought "Wouldn't it have been nice if WHM would Erase me right after Flash"? Maybe that's not so important for a 12 second accuracy down on a turtle PLD, but what if it's for Paralyze and other spells?

Has anyone tried to use enfeeb/status-removal in tandem for Colibris? Since you know exactly when your tank would be enfeebed and with what, you can have the -na/Erase spell ready and the tank would never have to suffer longer than 1 or 2 seconds. A RDM/WHM (or even BLM/WHM or WHM/BLM) can line up macros to enfeeb/remove status very efficiently, one would think.

It may be bad for NIN tanks who'd have to lose a shadow image for each enfeeb, but I don't see a PLD in white or yellow HP going down that fast with any enfeeb RDM can toss at the Colibri. Even a NIN tank may agree it's worth three shadow images for Paralyze, Slow, and Dia II may be well worth the trouble.

As for BLM nuking, how about sticking to a few big, single target nukes, and only when Stun is up or if the NIN is sure to have shadow images? Is Stun fast enough to stop Colibri's mimicry? A BLM/NIN may be able to intentionally overnuke and let Utsusemi absorb the mimicked spell.

It's be great if people who have experiences doing this would share their thoughts.

* * *

Just found this before posting: FFXIclopedia says Colibri can be silenced, which would stop its mimicking ability. Anyone has first hand experience? I had thought it would absorb all wind based spells...

Edit:
Nevermind the "absorb wind" bit; I think I got Colibri confused with Puk.

[Malacite]

BLU is the only job that can safely debuff greater colibri since they don't mimick blue magic.

[BurningPanther]

Colibri can indeed be silenced, it's just extremely difficult. I have to pop a Goblin Mushpot, Elemental Seal, and Auster's staff and still cross my fingers that Silence will land.

[hongman]

Good idea, maybe for LS parties and such.

Too much organisation to be expected from PUG's I think.

[IfritnoItazura]

JP info: http://wiki.ffo.jp/html/1882.html

Very detailed, and a bit beyond my ability to translate. Anyone wants to take a stab at it?

[Draconi]

I've never had much luck silencing them, plus, when silence wears off, they will mimic any spells cast upon them while they were silenced. So I don't even try silencing them anymore. I think the "enfeeb/status-removal in tandem" tactic would unneccessarily burn alot of MP. They go down so fast that it's usually just easier to kill them.

Also note, in addition to Blue Magic, they will not mimic Summoning Magic, except for elementals.

[Necropolis]

For colibri it varied for me leveling whm. Usually there was enough fire power to kill them fast that enfeebling wasn't overly needed. If I recall correctly they do not mimic ninja enfeebles (Greater ones do I believe) so a ninja could safely lock them down.

The main problem I've found is that the colibri doesn't always cast on the caster, it appears to be on the person that has hate at that moment. So while the ninja tank may have spare shadows, the war/mnk that just too hate with rampage will be eatting the paralyze, dia, or nuke from the mages.

For cure bombing pld tank that were low on HP, and avoid me stealing hate, I would cast cure on the Colibri. Cure on a mob is no hate, and then the bird would turn around and cure the tank for me (usually).

The most effective strategy I've seen for these though, is to have a bard spam songs on them. If the mob is casting, it's not attacking, and I could really care less if pld has Therondy on him or not. Sometime you can sneak enfeebling inbetween bard songs and the bridie will just skip over it and start singing again.

[NicasinXS]

I did this recently with my red too. Colibri xp partying is done well with just one (red) mage, the other slot can be taken up by a supporter or another melee and the Colibris will drop very quick. Enfeebles are a waste of time with them I wouldnt worry about trying to get around it just keep blms out of the party. Red mage >>> White mage here.

[Icemage]

RDM/WHM can debuff Colibri in relative safety. Dia II is counterable with Erase if it happens to hit someone important, otherwise Regen I fixes it nicely. Paralyze has a high rate of success against the Wind-aligned Colibri, and you can easily zap it with Paralyna. Blind I/II also works, and Blindna is relatively inexpensive to cast as well (heck, you can start with Blind I/II and laugh as the Colibri blinds you in return if you're on RDM).


Icemage