Please rate my equip for BCNM40? Where can I improve?

[Trell]

After hitting lvl 40 and taking a break for a week, my group will be doing BCNM40 Giddeus tomorrow for the first time. This is what I have for equipment:

Weapon: Monster Signa
Head: Noble ribbon
Neck: Bird Whistle
Ear: Black Earring
Ear: Enhancing Earring
Body: Royal Squires Robe
Hands: Custom gloves
ring: Electrum Ring
ring: Electrum Ring
Back: Wolf mantle +1
Waist: Corsette +1
Legs: Custom slacks
Feet: Custom boots

I plan on using Steamed Crab and Pineapple Juice for the fight. I also have Mary's Horn, which I plan to use to sleep the Mandras. I used to have 2 hope rings, but I replaced them with the Electrum Rings because I wanted more MP. I now have 198 MP. I figured that with having the Monster Signa, I could sacrifice 4 CHR for 40 MP. Is that ok? I shouldn't have any trouble sleeping the mandras, right? I can't see where I could improve on my equip, but if there's something I missed that might be better, please let me know. We bards play such an important part in this battle that I don't want to let my team down.

Regards,
JR.

[Vilurum]

Seems decent. You may want to look into higher-defense alternatives to your RSE, if they justify the HP (and for two pieces, CHR) loss.

The Electrum Rings also make me kinda uncomfortable. Unless you anticipate losing the battle because healers are 40 MP short, you don't really need that extra MP, and remember that the rings lower your HP too.

Your job isn't the usual "buff everyone else and keep downtime to a minimum" ... it's "stay the hell alive and keep the mandys asleep, and only help others beyond that if you have the luxury of doing so". And I'd see Hope Rings with their +CHR (without -HP from Electrum Rings) as being a better choice for that goal.

Of course, the HP loss from the rings shouldn't - ideally - matter, if you sleep them properly and your healers are on top of things. But it's best not to rely on that ideal.

P.S. Remember that the Monster Signa, along with its lovely lovely +8 CHR ... also has an evil evil -5 VIT. You will take more damage with it equipped.

[Peltar]

Looks ok. When I did BCNM40's I changed my electrum rings to CHR rings (pearl I think?)... More so to avoid the 40 HP loss though than for the CHR gain. (Fragile Taru I am!) I don't think CHR is such a huge deal, as I never had problems sleeping the mandras before using monster signa either.

As for DEF, I just ate boiled crabs or fish mithkabobs and sang Minne and was ok... If you stay on top of your sleeping it shouldn't be such a huge issue.

And worst case, if it does seem that your sleep gets resisted a whole lot, you can always slap on Soul Voice.

Good luck!

[Rekiem]

Drop the monster signa and equip Bard AF1 dagger. Remove Electrum Ring and equip +2 VIT and an Aegis Ring.

CHR is not an important stat for BCNM40 because the monsters are very easy to turn asleep. When I mean easy, I mean really easy, they shouldn't even resist at all. The monster Signa here is not needed and the -8 VIT is a disadvantage. Theres two really important thing, you need to have a very high HP, above 600 and some skills, its all you need. Mary Horn is a plus but some Bards to it with a Harp for bigger range and I heard its great. You should first practice sleeping multiple monsters at the same time before doing BCNM. Otherwise, if you fail to sleep them, you will lose. Because once you enter the ring, your hands and knees will be shaking from the huge stress and pressure, mostly the first time. Just be carefull and

Goodluck ^^

[Trell]

Sounds good, guys. I don't have my AF1 yet, so I'll equip my Windurstian. I'll try to favor Vit more with rings and I think I should be fine. I'll train a bunch of bees somewhere and practice group sleeping, hehe.

Thanks,
JR.

[kywyn]

I agree with Rekiem in that extra CHR is not required for sleeping the onions ^^ Basically you should dress and eat like a paladin. When I do bcnm40 in giddeus I have the following:

Fish Mithkabob or Boiled Crab
Cuir Armor set
Warrior's Belt +1
Mary's horn

The extra VIT and defense make a big difference, and it's almost easy if you have minne on the entire time. Being hume you can probably get away with electrum rings but it's risking death if you're a taru like me ><

In terms of singing every onion to sleep: to be safe you want all of them to hit you once first so all the onions are in position around you in a semi-circle. Eventually when you get good enough at it you can sleep all the onions from a distance as they come at you without taking any hits at all

[Trell]

I could always keep the 2 RSE parts that give big MP bonuses and replace the other 2 parts with the highest defensive gear I can. I still want to have a decent amount of MP, so I can cast a few Curagas to get all the hate, If ever the mandras scatter too much. I will definately take my 40 HP back by using vitality rings. I also plan on using Minne 2 on myself and the rest of the PT.

I'd heard so many people talk about how important CHR is for that fight, but I guess it was a little overplayed I'll keep the corsette +1 and nobble ribbon just to be on the safe side CHR-wise. For the rest, I'll go for def, vit and HP.

Is it true that it is easier to sleep more Mandras if I stay close to the the sides of the arena? I tend to think it would, since none of them could get behind me and avoid being slept.

[FantasiaHume]

I agree with Rekiem about the hands and knees shaking... It's nerve-wracking knowing that if you don't time your sleep properly you're going to die- and if you die, it's game over. The first set of runs I did I was shaking terribly; but after that it's become almost routine, and, dare I say it?.... easy ^^

[Serif]

Originally posted by Rekiem
Drop the monster signa and equip Bard AF1 dagger. Remove Electrum Ring and equip +2 VIT and an Aegis Ring.

CHR is not an important stat for BCNM40 because the monsters are very easy to turn asleep. When I mean easy, I mean really easy, they shouldn't even resist at all. The monster Signa here is not needed and the -8 VIT is a disadvantage. Theres two really important thing, you need to have a very high HP, above 600 and some skills, its all you need. Mary Horn is a plus but some Bards to it with a Harp for bigger range and I heard its great. You should first practice sleeping multiple monsters at the same time before doing BCNM. Otherwise, if you fail to sleep them, you will lose. Because once you enter the ring, your hands and knees will be shaking from the huge stress and pressure, mostly the first time. Just be carefull and

Goodluck ^^

I kinda have to disagree with you. Well not disagree.

I am a BRD/WHM Taru. I use Monster Signa, Corset +1, 2 Drone Earrings, 2 +3 CHR Rings, Mary's Horn, Noble's Ribbon.

I really never have to worry about HP since they can only land 1 hit (2 since they are MNK types).

I usually end up with 200 HP and the WHM heals me right back up.

And if you say that is consuming too much MP, I can Ballad between songs. Also I only have used 1 Healer and 2 sub healersin all my BCNMs. BRD, WHM, PLD. BRD Cures himself with help from WHM. PLD cures everyone else with help from WHM. Never ran into any MP problems.

[Trell]

Victory!!

WOOT!! Thanks again for your input, my friends! I wish I could order drinks for everyone We tried it a few minutes ago and we succeeded on our first try!

Our set PT setup is PLD/WAR, THF/NIN, RNG/WAR, RDM/WHM, BLM/RDM and me, BRD/WHM.

My equipment:

Weapon: Windurstain knife
Head: Noble ribbon
Neck: Bird Whistle
Ear: Black Earring
Ear: Enhancing Earring
Body: Royal Squires Robe
Hands: Cuir Gloves
ring: Sphere Ring
ring: Sphere Ring
Back: Wolf mantle +1
Waist: Corsette +1
Legs: Custom slacks
Feet: Custom boots

I used Steamed crab and Pineapple Juice. I didn't even use the Signa, lol. It's definately not necessary and I was able to sleep the mandras every single time. We were able to elemental seal/Silence the Black Mandra, so we never had to deal with Flood.

You guys weren't kidding about the stress level, lol. It's obvious that success greatly depends on the Bard's ability to stay calm and collected. I had to run around once to bring the group of PO'ed Mandras to a stray who would'nt come my way, so that Horde Lullabye would hit them all (kinda looked silly, lol), but when I finally got them all toghether, it was smooth sailing till the end. I had one close call when I fell to 120HP, but that was as dangerous as it got. Just cycled through Minne 2, Ballad and some cures where it was needed.

One thing I noticed is just how much hate the sleep songs generate. It's most apparent at the end when there are around 3-4 Mandras left. They are some hard mofos to get off you, since you've been sleeping them many times till that point.

Well, anyway, we're very happy with the result and thank you all again for the help!

Regards,
JR.