BCNM40 Equipment

[Catano]

I'm @400 to 39 Brd/Whm and doin so farming for money so i wondered what armor is best for bcnm40 besides RSE?

[Stolin]

RSE is not always better. I used, before i deleted my bard, all out defense/VIT gear with the exception of pearl rings, Lv 1 harp, juices, fish mithkabob, paper knife.

That Lv1 harp owns mary's horn i swear i've never gotten a resist from it on mandies/rabbits and I have had a lot with mary's horn. Plus the harp will be a lot safer with the wider range, just make damn sure you keep it capped.

Reason you don't stack up on too much CHR is because they will wake up on different times and thats how you die. But if you want to use the Hume/ F soft core porn RSE go ahead no one will care.

And the most important gear you will need- NO IDIOTS. Make sure you check every person in your party to see what foods/equip they have. Its a little harsh yes but better than wasting everyones hard earned beastmen seals. Explain your battle plan thoroughly and repeat it 5 times.

[Vilurum]

... eh? The more CHR you have, the more likely it is that Lullaby will be unresisted and a mandy will sleep the whole time. Same for Mary's Horn vs. any other instrument, Lullaby +1 also means decreased resistance (same for all other +1 and +2 debuff instruments in addition to any other effects they may have).

I use harps for my initial sleeps for the pure purpose of hitting a larger radius while they're all still moving around. And those are the only times I ever see full resists, and usually I see that happen at least once in a round of six BCNMs. Even with no full resist, at least half are early wakers, and that's with +20 CHR.

Then I switch to Mary's Horn once they've settled into permanent positions, and after that I maybe have one or two early wakers per sleep round, if I have any at all (a good 40% of the time or so, they all sleep the full duration).

I seriously don't see how decreasing CHR and using a non-Lullaby instrument - both of which will increase your partial resistance rate - will make the mandys' wake time *more* predictable. You can still have unresisted sleeps which you will have to wait out, but in the meantime you will have a much bigger pile of partial resists who are awake and hitting you halfway through.

I can, however, see why you'd need more defense in such a situation. You'd be getting beaten up way more. :D

Personally, I do it with hume RSE, Corsette +1, Paper Knife, Noble's Ribbon, MP earrings, Pearl Rings, Wolf Mantle +1, Bird Whistle. I'd throw in an Elegant Shield too except it's still vastly overpriced for what it does, and I don't BCNM40 much any more anyway.

Instrument is a Harp +1 for my initial sleeps (when I just want range and mandy aggro), then Mary's Horn once I know they're not moving anywhere. Harp +1 doubles as the minne instrument (duh), and I also use it for ballad and paeon and prelude. I also bring a Traversiere +1 and Horn +1 for playing the respective songs.

Never had a problem with taking too much damage due to using RSE instead of Cuir. I don't have a perfect success rate, but our failures were due to more basic strategic things and not due to my taking just a bit too much damage per hit (one time the mages simply never bothered healing me ...).

Basically if you can take the hits, and if you can reliably sleep the mandys and usually have them stay asleep the whole duration (you don't really *need* +20 CHR for this, but try for somewhere in the teens at least), then it's all a matter of party setup and battle strategy after that.

You don't really need to worry about equipment as much as you need to worry about keeping a level head (do NOT resleep until all mandys are awake ... just take the hits from early wakers) and having everyone know what they're doing and how they should each react to situation X, Y, and Z.

[Stolin]

I vaguely remember the reason why I thought harp was better than the mary's horn. It may be a situational thing but still I've had more success with the harp.

For one thing CHR on those level mobs seems to do hardly anything. I've even tried a BCNM with no CHR gear at all and still slept all the mandies...

Another thing is that theres some relationship between your level, an unseen skill cap on songs and instruments, and the level of weapon and song you are using.

Some good examples that probably every bard sees is that Valor Minuet 3 will still bring your attack up mroe than Valor minuet 4 until your skill reaches a certain level. Or if you just hit 60 and used that paeon +1/2 harp you will notice the range of the song won't be as high as using a lower level harp.

I'm not a smart guy so theres no way in hell I will try to understand the formulas that go into this, the only thing I can say is that I've had more success with the Lv 1 harp than the Lv 14 mary's horn in Lv 40 BCNMs.

[sun2mid]

i asked this same question a while ago here: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/sho...threadid=44265

i've found the cuir armor works perfectly, and with mary's horn i've never had a problem with range or partial resists. I've never died in bcnm, and only had a tie once, so take that as you will. And good luck, keeping a level head is the hardest part the first few times you do it.

[Beaginator]

I've done bcnm40 giddeus over 50 times successfuly now...I kinda lost count...

I pretty much use full Cuir equipment, with a Noble's ribbon instead of the headband. For a weapon, paper knife works fine. I've done it with signa, the -VIT might be troublesome but I made it through just dandy wearing it. Rings, I usually use the +CHR ones, or electrums if I'm using signa. Earrings, those -2 attack, +2 evasion ones, whatever they're called. Waist, corsette +1, back doesn't really matter, I guess wolf mantle +1 is pretty good.

I've always used mary's horn in this battle, never tried it without. It's not a neccesity though, it's definitely possible to win without it. I guess a harp +1 would be good for minne, I never bothered though.

[Dux]

Extremely useful information. You just saved my sanity by telling me I don't have to camp Monster Signa for an age.

[Dux]

/raise "Raise II" <Thread>

Been looking at EQ for BCNM40. I am a TaruTaru BRD and have a specific question regarding RSE vs Cuir EQ for this purpose.

I have two possible combinations of EQ I want to wear. However having never played a melee class my understanding of the mechanics of how DEF and VIT work is pretty limited.

Here are the two EQ setups that are concerning me.

Set 1.
Wonder Kaftan
Def: 18 HP: 36 STR: 1 VIT: 2 MND: 1
Wonder Braccae
Def: 12 HP: 21 STR: 1 VIT: 2 MND: 2
Cuir Gloves (or +1)
Def: 9
Cuir Highboots (or +1)
Def: 8

Set 2 (Max DEF)
Cuir Bouilli (or +1)
Def: 28
Cuir Trousers (or +1)
Def: 20
Cuir Gloves (or +1)
Def: 9
Cuir Highboots (or +1)
Def: 8

Whilst Set 2 does provide a signifiicant increase in DEF of 18 (or 20 with +1) it does provide 57 less HP and 4 less VIT than Set 1. How significant is VIT in this scenario? Is the extra 18 DEF more than enough to counter the HP + VIT you would get from Set 1. This particular aspect of TaruTaru is mentioned in passing but I can't find any concrete numbers to inidicate which is the "better" (if there truely is a better) option. Opinions?

[Rekiem]

Its more usefull to have higher HP and VIT because when 4-5 monster wake up to hit you, sometime you will take around 200 dmg or more per 4 seconds. The more HP and VIT you have, the more damage you will absorb. High HP is the way to go. If your finger slip during BCNM40 and you start casting a regular song and the monsters wakes up, you have to /heal to interrupt it and then cast Lullaby, you can take close to 500 damage from that in less than 8 seconds which could kill you. This is why high HP is the way to go.

CHR and Mary Horn are important also because if you dont have enough, the monsters will wake up earlier and screw up everything. I lost a BCNM40 once because I was too confident that CHR and Mary Horn was not nessecary for this fight. We all died under 3min because my Lullaby were getting resisted and most monsters were only affected for half the duration.

[tnt118]

First, I'd suggest simply not slipping up. I'm not sure equiping yourself so that you can make mistakes is the way to go.

I'm taru, and use full cuir set. If you are ready to resleep from the moment they wake (again, good planning on your part to not be doing something else) you should never have a problem resleeping before taking too much damage.

Yes, your HP will slip into the yellow, you just need to not panic. I do the vast majority of my BCNMs with the same WHM... after each sleep cycle we each cast a cure II on myself, and that will generally get me to 90%+ of my health. With regen on, that's enough, and then the WHM is free heal the tank or rest a tic. We never come close to having problems healing.

Also don't forget that the def boost from food is a % boost, so the more you have to start the more the food will help. I don't use Monster Signa, so I've never experienced the firsthand effects of the -VIT. Still, beyond that I've never had a problem taking too much damage.

[Dux]

Originally posted by tnt118
First, I'd suggest simply not slipping up. I'm not sure equiping yourself so that you can make mistakes is the way to go.

I don't think anybody was suggesting that. :confused:


I will try this weekend with RSE Body + RSE Legs and Cuir gloves / highboots / Corsette +1 + misc other stuff and see how I go. I will also try and do it a 2nd time with full Cuir and provide a comparison in this thread.

Looking forward to it if I can actually get a team together.

[eviee]

i need some advice >.<

ive done steamed sprouts 4 times, and died and failed every time, i dont have marys horn (been trying for over a week to find mary) and i simply dont have the money to buy it, i have about 25k total. what is the best way to pull off the fight? i checked my chr, and capped at 40 with sandorian tea and etude its 42+17.

im really starting to hate bcnm, but my ls is trying to help.

i would be happy with any advice you can give me >.<

[Macht]

Originally posted by Rekiem
Its more usefull to have higher HP and VIT because when 4-5 monster wake up to hit you, sometime you will take around 200 dmg or more per 4 seconds. The more HP and VIT you have, the more damage you will absorb. High HP is the way to go. If your finger slip during BCNM40 and you start casting a regular song and the monsters wakes up, you have to /heal to interrupt it and then cast Lullaby, you can take close to 500 damage from that in less than 8 seconds which could kill you. This is why high HP is the way to go.

CHR and Mary Horn are important also because if you dont have enough, the monsters will wake up earlier and screw up everything. I lost a BCNM40 once because I was too confident that CHR and Mary Horn was not nessecary for this fight. We all died under 3min because my Lullaby were getting resisted and most monsters were only affected for half the duration.

/heal to cancel a song? Did they change that? I know I've always cancelled songs, spells, ninjitsu, item use, summons, etc.. by just hitting ESC. Much faster and less mess.

[Vilurum]

BCNM40 CHR equipment:

Paper Knife, +2: free
Noble's Ribbon, +3: ~10K-15K
Bird Whistle, +3: ~3K
Pearl Ring x2, +4: ~5K-10K (I don't think they were all that pricy)
Corsette +1, +6: ~40K (non-HQ is +5 and a lot cheaper, until you BCNM for funds enough to upgrade to HQ; keep in mind that this is endgame equipment too and well worth buying the HQ version)

That there is CHR+18, which is plenty, and you can Etude for +4 to +6 (depending on instrument) on top of that. Pile defense and VIT and MP into the other slots. Defense and VIT in particular since you're a taru. Before getting a Mary's Horn, use a Royal Spearman's Horn for an extra 3 CHR. CHR+3 doesn't have as good an effect on resist rate as Lullaby +1 will, but it's better than nothing, and only about 5K too.

(Don't bother with the HQ versions, San d'Orian Horn and Kingdom Horn, all you get for them is some piddly HP and MP - not worth it for BCNM, and in most parties - if you're good - you're gonna change instruments so much you'll never take advantage of it.)

Once your equipment set, it's all about strategy, being level-headed (i.e. do NOT resleep until they're all awake, just sit there and take the hits from early wakers till the rest wake up), and having a well-balanced party of competent individuals to do it with. General safe method is two healers and three melees (preferably high damage output such as RNG). You can vary that once you've had more practice.