Nyzul Isle Investigation

Rules
Unlike other Assault areas, Nyzul Isle Investigation incorporates a random progression of floors. The rules are as follows:


 * As with other Assault missions, Nyzul Isle Investigation requires an Imperial Army I.D. Tag.
 * Assault Points will not be earned from successful completion of this mission. Instead, Tokens are earned.  The amount of Tokens earned is determined by how many floors are successfully cleared before exiting, and how high the floors were (higher floors offer slightly more Tokens).  Tokens are used for two things directly related to this Assault.
 * Tokens are required to start the Assault at a higher floor (no tokens are required to start a run at floor 1).
 * Tokens are also required to purchase temporary items from the treasure chest in the lobby at the start of the Assault.
 * While not directly influential in the progress of this Assault, 150,000 Tokens are required to purchase the Wyrmseeker Areuhat, which is a necessary step in completing the Mythic Weapons quest, Duties, Tasks, and Deeds. Successful completion of this Assault is the only way to acquire Tokens.
 * Unlike other Assaults which offer you a "complimentary" reward of 100 Assault Points in the appropriate area even if the mission is a failure, no such reward in Tokens is given if this Assault is finished unsuccessfully.
 * The weather is always single light weather during the assault.
 * A single run through "Nyzul Isle Investigation" consists of progressing up through various floors, where each floor has a random objective that must be completed before the party will be allowed the choice of moving on to the next floor, or exiting the Assault area. The standard goal of this Assault is to progress through five of these floors within the time limit of 30 minutes, although the amount remains somewhat arbitrary and is not restricted to just five floors.
 * Upon beginning this Assault, the party will show up in a "lobby" area. The lobby is not randomized and contains no monsters, and consists of a single room with a Rune of Transfer and a "Vending Box" where players can spend Tokens to get temporary items to be used inside Nyzul Isle only (see below table for possible items and how much they cost). Players may use this area to buff up and prepare for their run, but bear in mind that the 30-minute Assault time limit keeps counting down while in the lobby, so it is best not to linger in this area for long.
 * Treasure chests containing more temporary items may be dropped by various enemies throughout the Assault. They can also be found on "free" (no objective) floors.  These items will usually be items that can already be bought from the lobby's Vending Box, but there will also be a few exclusive items that cannot be purchased, such as Revitalizers.  These chests will be blue and gold in color, and behave in similar fashion to the temporary item chests found in Salvage; a player must examine the chest him/herself and choose the item from the displayed list to obtain it, as temporary items cannot enter the party's treasure pool.  Alternatively, after examining the chest, the player may elect to take nothing, in order to leave the item for someone else to take.
 * Any member of the group can use the Rune of Transfer to select the starting floor for his entire party using the recorded progress on his Runic Disc. If the floor chosen is higher than floor 1, that person will be required to pay a certain fee in Tokens.  Nyzul Isle consists of 100 floors, and the highest available starting floor is 96.
 * If you have completed at least up to a level which is a multiple of 5 and successfully finish the run by using the Rune of Transfer and choosing to exit, the progress made will become saved on every eligible party member's Runic Disc, allowing you to start from the next floor on a subsequent Assault run. (eligible meaning your own disc's progress must be at least up to the same point of the floors that were cleared -- EX: if your party started on floor 41, has just cleared floor 45, and exits the Assault, but your own disc's progress is only up to floor 20... no progress will be saved to your disc.)  So if your data is recorded up to floor 5, you earn the ability to start from floor 1 or floor 6 on a subsequent run.  If your data is recorded up to floor 40, you can start from floor 1, 6, 11... all the way up to floor 41. You can start from any floor which is a multiple of 5 + 1 (e.g. 6, 11, 16, etc.) up to the highest level recorded on your disc plus 1.
 * The number of Tokens required to start from a specified level increases as the level gets higher. The amount of Tokens rewarded for completing a certain series of floors (assuming the floor numbers are the same each time) will always the same, no matter what the objectives were on each run or how many enemies were defeated (as stated above, the objectives for each floor are randomized, even when repeating a floor). See the chart for details:



Purchasable Temporary Items
100 Tokens

200 Tokens: 300 Tokens:


 * At the beginning of every floor of Nyzul Isle is a Rune of Transfer. The Rune of Transfer has the following properties:
 * Clicking the Rune of Transfer before the objective is complete will display the objective.
 * Clicking the Rune of Transfer after the objective is complete will give you options of exiting the assault or proceeding to the next floor. If you choose to exit the Assault, it will be deemed a success, regardless of how many floors you've completed, and you will be awarded with a certain number of Tokens depending on how many floors you progressed through.  In addition, if five floors were cleared and any party member's Runic Disc is eligible for having its progress updated, it will be updated at this point upon exiting.
 * The player with the armband receives a 10% bonus to the number of Tokens earned.
 * You have to record the data on floor n*5 (eg.5, 10, 15 etc) - it will not save on your Runic Disc just by entering floor n*5+1 (eg floor 6). Progress will ONLY be saved by exiting the Assault.
 * Nyzul Isle Investigation counts as an Assault for purposes of Mercenary Rank Promotions. You get five points for the first successful mission (defined as exiting successfully, acquiring Tokens), and one point for each run after that.  The floor entered upon has no impact upon this; you do not get five Mercenary Rank points each time you clear a new set of floors; just the very first time you successfully exit any floor.
 * If you choose to proceed to the next floor, you must complete its new objective before you have another opportunity to exit. If you are short on time, you may not wish to choose this option, because if you cannot complete its objective in the time remaining, you will lose the Assault and gain no Tokens.
 * Occasionally at the beginning of a floor, players will experience a beneficial or detrimental effect. In either case, the effect is very potent.  These Pathos seem to be random, and may have huge impact (i.e. no casting of Ninjutsu) or minimal impact (i.e. CHR down).  Regardless of the effect, it will only last one floor and seem to be relatively uncommon.
 * At the end of a floor, occasionally the choice will be given to go either "left" or "right" when moving on to the next floor. It is unknown what effect this has on the next floor's layout at this time.
 * Following the September 2008 version update, the person who used his Runic Disc will retain the ability to begin this Assault on any unlocked floor upon defeat of the enemy leader on floor 100 and obtaining the Runic Key. Prior to this update, the defeat of floor 100's enemy leader would erase the disc user's progress, forcing him/her to start again from floor 1.  (If a player had his/her disc progress erased prior to this update, he/she will now be able to access all floors once again via use of the Runic Key.)

Possible Enemies
Just as Nyzul Isle has randomly generated maps, the enemies encountered are chosen out of 17 possible "enemy layouts". These enemies are spawned from the archaic rampart found on each floor with enemies on them.


 * Possible enemies:
 * Layout 1 (Aquans): Greatclaw x6, Stygian Pugil x4, Kulshedra x2
 * Layout 2 (Amorphs): Bouncing Ball x3, Thousand Eyes x3, Mousse x4, Black Pudding x2
 * Layout 3 (Arcana): Killing Weapon x2, Ominous Weapon x2, Magic Flagon x2, Friar's Lantern x4, Sweeping Cluster x2
 * Layout 4 (Undead): Garm x3, Tainted Flesh x3, Draugar x4 (Black Mage x2 / Thief x2), Bhoot x2
 * Layout 5 (Vermin): Carmine Eruca x3, Spinner x3, Wamouracampa x4, Wamoura x2
 * Layout 6 (Demons): Imp x10, Psycheflayer x2
 * Layout 7 (Dragons): Puk x10, Wyvern x2
 * Layout 8 (Birds): Marsh Murre x3, Lesser Colibri x3, Ziz x4, Peryton x2
 * Layout 9 (Beasts): Wild Karakul x3, Wajaom Tiger x3, Manticore x4, Marid x2
 * Layout 10 (Plantoids): Death Cap x3, Puktrap x3, Leshy x4, Ameretat x2
 * Layout 11 (Lizards): Sand Lizard x3, Deinonychus x3, Bull Bugard x4, Wivre x2
 * Layout 12 (Amorphs #2): Bouncing Ball x5, Thousand Eyes x5, Mousse x2
 * Layout 13 (Other): Peryton x10, Mousse x2
 * Layout 14 (Other #2): Draugar x10 (Black Mage x5 / Thief x5), Mousse x2
 * Layout 15 (Amorphs #3): Mousse x6, Black Pudding x6
 * Layout 16 (Arcana #2): Killing Weapon x3, Ominous Weapon x3, Magic Flagon x6
 * Layout 17 (Dahak): Dahak x1 and other random monsters. Dahak will randomly be mixed in with one of the other floor layouts. Dahak will only spawn when the floor objective is to kill all the enemies.

Notorious Monsters
There are also various non-beastman Notorious Monsters (NMs) found throughout Vana'diel that are summoned by the archaic ramparts of Nyzul Isle. The HP and overall strength of these NMs will not be as it is outside of this Assault, and their power will be scaled (generally upward) to be appropriate for a level 75 party to fight.

Upon defeat of one of these NMs, it will drop a treasure chest (brown and gold colored to distinguish them from the blue/gold chests that contain temporary items), and opening one will bestow a ??? Item that can be appraised, which has a possibility of becoming the special/unique item that the NM normally drops in the outside world. (See "Rewards" below for more information.)

Be aware that unless the floor's objective is to "eliminate all enemies", it is never required for one of these NMs to be defeated. Because they can take some time to defeat due to their (usually) increased strength, it may be wise to pick and choose your fights, and leave behind NMs that do not need to be defeated, or have drops that are not particularly useful or valuable.

Every 20 floors, there are 18 different NMs that may spawn. They are as follows:

Floor 1-Floor 19: Bat Eye, Shadow Eye, Bomb King, Juggler Hecatomb, Smothered Schmidt, Hellion, Leaping Lizzy, Tom Tit Tat, Jaggedy-Eared Jack, Cactuar Cantautor, Gargantua, Gyre-Carlin, Asphyxiated Amsel, Frostmane, Peallaidh, Carnero, Falcatus Aranei, Emergent Elm

Floor 21-Floor 39: Old Two-Wings, Aiatar, Intulo, Orctrap, Valkurm Emperor, Crushed Krause, Stinging Sophie, Serpopard Ishtar, Western Shadow, Bloodtear Baldurf, Zizzy Zillah, Ellyllon, Mischievous Micholas, Leech King, Eastern Shadow, Nunyenunc, Helldiver, Taisaijin, Aquarius

Floor 41-Floor 59: Fungus Beetle, Friar Rush, Pulverized Pfeffer, Argus, Bloodpool Vorax, Nightmare Vase, Daggerclaw Dracos, Northern Shadow, Fraelissa, Roc, Sabotender Bailarin, Aquarius, Energetic Eruca, Spiny Spipi, Trickster Kinetix, Drooling Daisy, Bonnacon, Taisaijin

Floor 61-Floor 79: Golden Bat, Steelfleece Baldarich, Sabotender Mariachi, Ungur, Swamfisk, Buburimboo, Keeper of Halidom, Serket, Dune Widow, Odqan, Burned Bergmann, Tom Tit Tat, Tyrannic Tunnok, Bloodsucker, Tottering Toby, Southern Shadow, Sharp-Eared Ropipi, Taisaijin, Ungur, Unut, Vouivre

Floor 81-Floor 99: Panzer Percival, Vouivre, Jolly Green, Tumbling Truffle, Capricious Cassie, Amikiri, Stray Mary, Sewer Syrup, Unut, Simurgh, Pelican, Cargo Crab Colin, Wounded Wurfel, Peg Powler, Tom Tit Tat, Jaded Jody, Maighdean Uaine, Taisaijin

Objectives
Eliminate enemy leader.
 * There is exactly one enemy on the floor that will unlock the Rune of Transfer.
 * The leader always checks Impossible to Gauge, and is usually "out of place" with respect to the other monsters on the floor.
 * Possible leaders:
 * Mokke, Mokka, Mokku (Imps)
 * Vile Wahdaha, Vile Ineef, Vile Yabeewa (Soulflayers)
 * Uriri Samariri, Eriri Samariri, Oriri Samariri (Poroggos)
 * Ginger Custard, Anise Custard, Cumin Custard, Nutmeg Custard, Mint Custard, Cinnamon Custard, Caraway Custard, Vanilla Custard (Flan)
 * Gem Heister Roorooroon (THF), Stealth Bomber Gagaroon (THF), Quick Draw Sasaroon (RNG) (Qiqirn)
 * Shielded Chariot, Battledressed Chariot, Long-Gunned Chariot, Long-Horned Chariot (Chariots)


 * The leader will never be a Notorious Monster that appears in other parts of Vana'diel. Instead, the leader will always be an Imp, Soulflayer, Poroggo, Flan, Qiqirn, or Chariot NM without its respective family's usual design.


 * On each twentieth floor, you will encounter a HNM that appears in other parts of Vana'diel that can drop pieces of the Goliard/Denali/Askar sets, with the pieces varying for each floor. Whichever HNM is present, it can drop a piece from any of the sets, but the equipment slot that it's for depends on the floor that it drops on. The enemies, which floors they appear on, and which armor pieces they drop are as follows:
 * Floor 20
 * Slot: Feet (Askar Gambieras / Goliard Clogs / Denali Gamashes)
 * Possible enemy leaders: Adamantoise, Behemoth, Fafnir
 * Floor 40
 * Slot: Legs (Askar Dirs / Goliard Trews / Denali Kecks)
 * Possible enemy leaders: Adamantoise, Behemoth, Fafnir
 * Floor 60
 * Slot: Hands (Askar Manopolas / Goliard Cuffs / Denali Wristbands)
 * Possible enemy leaders: Khimaira, Hydra, Cerberus
 * Floor 80
 * Slot: Body (Askar Korazin / Goliard Saio / Denali Jacket)
 * Possible enemy leaders: Khimaira, Hydra, Cerberus
 * Floor 100
 * Slot: Head (Askar Zucchetto / Goliard Chapeau / Denali Bonnet)
 * Possible enemy leaders: Khimaira, Hydra, Cerberus
 * These versions of the HNMs have some substantially lower stats than their standard Vana'diel counterparts (HP, defense), whereas others (attack, magic resist) may be similar, and Fafnir's Hurricane Wing is actually stronger than the Dragon's Aery version. Additionally, some special abilities used by the normal versions might not be used here, or they may be modified (e.g., Adamantoise's Tortoise Song acts as a full "Dispel" instead of simply removing song buffs). Fafnir can use Spike Flail just like the normal version.
 * The floor 100 bosses can use the TP moves previously restricted on floors 60 and 80. Floor 100 Khimaira can use Fulmination, Hydra can use Nerve Gas, and Cerberus can use Gates of Hades.  As with their outside world counterparts, these moves will only start to be used once the HNM reaches a certain percentage of HP.
 * Heavy DD that are expecting to pull hate on the HNM fights are recommended to purchase a Fanatic's Drink (Invincible effect, immunity to physical damage for 30 seconds) for 200 tokens from the Vending Box at the start.
 * Samurai who will be using Meikyo Shisui along with a Fanatic's Drink are also recommended to purchase a Dusty Wing for 200 tokens. The wing will give you an instant 300 TP, and if Meikyo Shisui is still in effect, will allow 3 additional Weapon Skills.

Eliminate all enemies.
 * You must defeat every enemy on the floor to unlock the Rune of Transfer.
 * Despite "all enemies", gears are not included; you will not need to kill them.
 * You must kill the Archaic Rampart on the floor.

Eliminate specified enemy.
 * There is exactly one enemy on the floor that will unlock the Rune of Transfer.
 * The correct enemy to end the floor will not have the name of a Notorious Monster. It will be a seemingly regular enemy that checks as Impossible to Gauge, such as a Lesser Colibri or Mousse.
 * The correct enemy will not always be the only one of its family on the entire floor. If multiple members of a specific family are present, the correct enemy will be the only member of its family that checks as "Impossible to Gauge".
 * Example: There are multiple Lesser Colibri on the floor, but one checks as Impossible to Gauge. That specific monster is your intended target.
 * The target is never the Archaic Rampart, nor is it any of the Archaic Gear or Archaic Gears on the floor if they are present.

Eliminate specified enemies.
 * There is a particular family of enemies, all of which must be defeated to unlock the Rune of Transfer.
 * These enemies will always be Imps, soulflayers, Poroggos, Flan, Qiqirn, or chariots.
 * These enemies will all check Impossible to Gauge. This is one way to determine "rampart-spawned" flan, soulflayers, and imps apart from those involved in this objective. The monsters involved with your objective will have different names than regular monsters.
 * Example: Black Puddings are normal monsters and do not need to be killed. Ebony Puddings, however, check as Impossible to Gauge, and therefore need to be killed.
 * Enemies that are not of the same family of the specified enemies do not need to be eliminated, and, in the case of flan and soulflayers, not all enemies of that family need to be eliminated. (See above.)
 * There will always be 2-5 enemies to kill.
 * Possible enemy families
 * Imps (Heraldic Imps)
 * Soulflayers (Psycheflayers)
 * Poroggos (Poroggo Gents)
 * Flan (Ebony Puddings)
 * Qiqirn (Qiqirn Treasure Hunters & Qiqirn Archaeologists)
 * Chariots (Racing Chariots)

Activate all lamps.
 * This can mean one of three things:
 * There is one lamp, and everyone needs to activate it.
 * When you use the lamp, it says "The certification code for all party members is required to activate this lamp." (Note: If a member of the party leaves the zone using the fireflies, they will not be allowed back in and this objective WILL fail if they had not already touched the lamp.)
 * There are multiple (3-6) lamps which must be activated at the same time.
 * When you use the lamp, it says "This lamp cannot be activated unless all other lamps are activated at the same time." and gives you the option to activate it. Do not activate it yet; wait until there is someone at all lamps, then everyone select "Yes" at the same time.
 * If you activate your lamp but the others aren't all activated at the same time, it says "All lamps on this floor are activated, but some other action appears to be necessary in order to activate the rune of transfer." This means you need to wait for them all to turn off (after ~30 sec), then try again. Despite the wording of this message, it will also be displayed if several lamps are lit at the same time, but 1 or more remain unlit.
 * After a lamp turns off, there is a cooldown period of ~30 seconds before you can activate it again. It says "It appears you cannot activate this lamp for some time..."
 * There are multiple (3-6) lamps which must be activated in an unknown order.
 * Activating a lamp doesn't turn it on. Activate all of them, and remember the order you used.
 * When all lamps have been activated, they all turn on. Lamps which were at the right place in the order remain on, while those at the wrong place in the order turn off again.
 * Adjust the order of the lamps that turned off and try again until all the lamps stay on and the level is complete.
 * When it's your turn to "activate" your lamp, even though the lamp may still be on, you need to activate it again while it's on. Just make sure you're in the correct spot of the order when you activate your lamp again.

Free Floor!
 * No objective; move to the next floor. There are also random Armoury crates on these floors you can open for some interesting items.
 * Very rare to receive this objective.
 * The way to tell if it's a free floor is when you click the Rune of Transfer for the objective, you get the option to move up to the next floor or exit the assault, like when you complete a floor. The Rune of Transfer will never say "Free Floor".
 * Another way to know is watching the top of the lamp you just entered from. If it's lit, you received a "Free Floor"

Avoid discovery by archaic gears!
 * This is a secondary objective, given along with one of the first five objectives.
 * You must accomplish the primary objective without aggroing a single Archaic Gear/Archaic Gears.
 * If you do aggro an Archaic Gear, you can still win by clearing the objective on the floor, however you will experience either a token reward penalty, a time limit penalty (-1 minute), or a random Pathos inflicted upon you (such as a Ninjutsu Restriction).
 * Pulling an Archaic Gear/Archaic Gears with Ranged Attack/Singing/Ninjutsu does not count as "discovery", and avoids the penalty. You can also pull with magic spells, IF you cast from outside magic aggro range (IE within 1-2 steps of max casting range). Care should be used as they may move closer while casting.
 * When this secondary objective is given on an "Eliminate all enemies" floor, the gears do not need to be defeated to complete the primary objective.
 * The number of possible single gears is 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20, and the number of possible triple gears is 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, with the amount depending on the map generated.
 * Archaic Gear/Archaic Gears will aggro to Job Abilities, White/Black/Blue Magic (just like other magic aggro monsters), they have True Sound, and the aggro range during wind weather is quite larger than regular monsters.

Do not destroy archaic gears!
 * This is a secondary objective, given along with one of the first five objectives.
 * You must accomplish the primary objective without killing a single Archaic Gear/Archaic Gears.
 * When this secondary objective is given on an "Eliminate all enemies" floor, the gears do not need to be defeated to complete the primary objective.
 * If you do kill an Archaic Gear/Archaic Gears, you can still win by clearing the rest of the enemies on the floor; however, your token reward or time limit (-1 minute) will be reduced, and you will also have a random Pathos inflicted upon you.
 * The number of possible single gears is 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20, and the number of possible triple gears is 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, with the amount depending on the map generated.

Both Archaic Gear and Archaic Gears run the same speed as normal players, and can be de-popped. So someone with movement speed increase gear (Example: Crimson Cuisses) can easily kite the gears and, as long as only the kiter has done something to engage the gear, eventually de-pop the gear.

??? items
The rewards this Assault mission are similar to that of the other 5 areas, but with a different twist. Throughout the mission, you (most likely) will encounter a few familiar Notorious Monsters while completing your objectives. Upon defeating them, an "Armoury Crate" will drop, and whoever opens it will receive a ??? Item (For example, the Cactuar Cantautor, which usually drops Kung Fu Shoes, drops ??? Footwear from its Armoury crate. Be warned that these NMs are not as weak as they are outside of the Assault mission and should be treated with caution.

All ??? Items must be appraised like normal in order to obtain the true (or different) reward. (Based on current speculation, higher floors could mean better chances at items and/or better item holding NM's appearing.)

Nyzul armor and weapons
In addition to these potential rewards, every 20 floors there will be a HNM boss that drops a Nyzul weapon and has a chance to drop a new piece of armor from one of these sets:


 * Askar Korazin Set
 * Goliard Saio Set
 * Denali Jacket Set

The footwear are dropped on Floor 20, leg pieces on 40, handgears on 60, body piece on 80, and headgears on 100. The bosses follow a similar pattern, with Fafnir, Behemoth or Adamantoise on Floors 20 & 40, and Cerberus, Hydra, or Khimaira on Floors 60, 80 & 100.

On top of that, the HNM on Floor 100 of Nyzul Isle will drop 2 of the 20 Nyzul Weapons. 1 weapon will be of the job of the Runic Disc holder, while the other weapon is of a random job.

Additionally, ALL (not just 20/40/60/80/100 bosses) notorious monsters encountered during the course of the mission have a chance of dropping a random Nyzul Weapon. {|
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Completion
Completing 1 or more levels of Nyzul Isle Investigation for the first time, as long as you exit via the rune of transfer will reward you with 5 points toward your Mercenary Rank promotion. Subsequent completions, as long as you exit via the rune of transfer, will reward you with 1 point.

A "Runic Key" key item is also rewarded to the player with the recorded data upon completing Floor 100. As of the September 2008 update, your disc is no longer cleared after completing floor 100, but you're still rewarded the Runic Key upon completion.

A Runic Key is required to begin An Imperial Heist, which is the first in a series of quests which allow you to upgrade the Mythic Weapons.

Game Description

 * Mission Orders: You are to scout out the remnants before the A.A.R.I. sends an official research team. No rewards are offered for these unofficial missions.

Map
The in-game map function cannot be used within Nyzul Isle. However, the level layouts are comprised of sectioned off areas of the maps below:

Only a portion of these maps are actually used, with various paths being randomly blocked off to create the floor layout of any given floor.