Feast of Swords 2009/Guide

=Guide=
 * These are just some helpful hints for the person that would like to solo the different type of Armors that are roaming the lands.
 * This will help you get the most out of what jobs are helpful and some equipment that can help keep you alive longer.
 * This will show which items are better for using to keep you alive longer.
 * You can NOT have someone power level you while you fight the Armors on your own.
 * This means, nobody can heal you from an outside party unless they have the Level Restriction on them as well.
 * Spells from Black Mage Lv.1 as in: Stone will not hurt any of the Armors.
 * You can use a Ranged weapon to engage a Armor. But, it will never inflict damage on the Armor.

Overview
Talking to the moogle inside the town gets you an Ibushi Shinai. Talking to the moogle outside of town gives you a level cap, and increased movement speed. This is necessary to actually attack the Armors, as you're given a special enchantment that causes your attacks to do 1 point of additional damage (normal attacks do 0 damage). While under this effect, normal monsters wont attack you and you wont lose EXP from dying. It is recommended to bring a job with high HP and subbing WHM (PLD/WHM works well). Also, if you have the spare tabs, getting Regen and Refresh from the Field Manual is a great help. (Using Selbina Milk bought from the region vendor is a great help and saves tabs. It makes them soloable if needed.)

When the Armor uses Aetheral Toxin, immediately activate your Ibushi Shinai. It's suggested to make a macro [ /item "Ibushi Shinai"  ] as Aetheral Toxin is relatively fast, and you have a very small margin of time between its activation and when it connects. You have maybe a full second after it shows up in the log to activate your Ibushi Shinai.

When the Armor uses Edge of Death, count out about 5 seconds and then activate your Ibushi Shinai. If you accidentally activate it right away, quickly move to cancel the activation, wait a second or two, and then activate it again. Otherwise, you can run out of range (far enough that your character automatically disengages) to avoid the attack. The range is quite far, so running far enough to disengage is a certain method of avoiding it. If you use the Ibushi Shinai too early before Edge of Death, a useful strategy is to start casting a Cure just before the TP attack goes off. If you do this correctly, the cure will land just after you get hit by the Edge of Death, and may save you from a quick death.

Successful absorbtion of malice will give you the message "A protective energy absorbs the malice of your enemy!", and the attack will be completely nullified. This *only* works for the two previously mentioned TP moves. Nothing is gained from trying to "absorb" an Armor's normal attacks.

Do your best to avoid the Omodake Armor (Mithra) that runs around, as it's quite capable of killing a player in one shot. There is little point to fighting them with other viable mobs running around.

After killing an Armor, unequip your Ibushi Shinai and trade it to the ??? to receive a reward. The amount of times you absorb a special attack with your Ibushi Shinai determines what tier of rewards you receive an item from. Note that you don't have to trade your Ibushi Shinai to the ??? after every battle. It will keep track of how many times you absorb malice, even if you die or zone.

It has been noted that casting WHM spells such as haste and protect prior to talking to the Moogle will stick after the restriction (in past guides). Any past years this worked, it will not work this year. Reraise, protect, shell, and haste have confirmed to drop if on prior to talking to the Moogle.

Also noted in previous guides, an Automaton activated prior to talking to the Moogle would retain its former level. However, this is not the case this year. When you talk to the Moogle, your Automaton will deactivate automatically, and you will either have to wait out the 20 minute recast or change jobs in a mog house to reset the job ability. This is presumably the same for dragoons' wyverns, but is unconfirmed.

Technique in Absorbing Malice
Since there are only two different attacks you have to absorb, I have found it best to begin using the 'Absorb Malice' enhancement earlier to be better.

The idea is to use it when you see the enemy starting to use its TP move.
 * You can anticipate the attack when the enemy lands 7~8 attacks.
 * 0 damage hits do not count as successful enemy attacks.
 * Attacking it will not make the enemy charge up TP any quicker.

The real trick is to keep a close eye on your log.
 * If you notice the enemy is using Aetheral Toxin, then you are fine, assuming you used absorb malice fast enough.
 * However, if you notice the enemy is using Edge of Death, then you have to quickly interrupt yourself by running around.
 * This gives you enough time to stop, and re-use absorb malice in order to perfectly absorb Edge of Death.

If this method doesn't work well for you, you could also try adjusting your chat filters so you can see when the armor is about to weapon skill. Don't forget, this shows what weapon skill the armor will use in your chat log, so you will have to watch it, also - you need to use the 'Absorb Malice' enchantment as soon as you see it say "______ Armor readies Aetheral Toxin" or two seconds after, if it says "_____ Armor Readies Edge of Death" to absorb the malice.

Party Caution
Whatever your party member has enmity on Omodaka armor, then that armor has enmity on the entire party. Regardless if you haven't engaged or assisted any party member. Therefore if you aggro Omodaka Armor and get KO'd, it will continue to chase down the remaining party members within the area.

Job Choices

 * This will show you which Jobs will help you stay alive longer with no items for you to use.
 * Jobs that give you DEF, STR, or any stat boosts do not help at all. You will get hit for 1-4 HP even if you are a PLD/WAR. It is better for you to use jobs that will give you MP and the chance to Cure yourself.


 * 1) White Mage
 * 2) Why is it good to have White Mage as a job for this event?
 * 3) * It can help you Cure yourself at least 2 times while you are fighting the Armors.
 * 4) Is there any equipment that can help me have more MP to use Cure more?
 * 5) * You can buy a Copper Hairpin that will give you MP+5, HP-2, so you can use Cure 3 times.
 * 6) You can Cast Haste, Protect, Stoneskin on yourself before you get the level cap effect.
 * 7) Black Mage
 * 8) Why is it good to have Black Mage as a job for this event?
 * 9) * This will also give you a nice MP boost that, if you have White Mage as your main or sub job, will let you Cure yourself up to 4 times.
 * 10) You must also use the Copper Hairpin to get the extra MP+5, HP-2 to Cure up to 4 times.
 * 11) Summoner
 * 12) This is the same as Black Mage as it will help you have a larger MP pool.
 * 13) This will also let you use the Radar to see enemies near you.
 * 14) Beastmaster
 * 15) This will also let you use your Radar as does Summoner, but will not help your mana (MP) in any way.
 * 16) Paladin
 * 17) I thought you said Paladin wasn't a good choice. Why is it on here?
 * 18) * Paladin is a good choice so you can use Invincible in case you find Usukane Armor and you think might be able to live. (I don't think you will...) But, mainly use this just in case you do not have any items that will help you gain life back or have no more MP to cast Cure.
 * 19) Thief
 * 20) Thief, why?
 * 21) * You can use this the same way as Paladin, if you don't have Paladin unlocked yet. Use Perfect Dodge.
 * 22) Ranger
 * 23) And why would I use Ranger for this?
 * 24) * Simple, it is much easier to look at your map and use Widescan than to run around and find them, which can be a long time.
 * 25) Monk
 * 26) Monk may also be a good choice, with the use of Hundred Fists you can cause some serious damage to an armor before it runs away again.
 * 27) *Also with White Mage subbed, you can Cure yourself since Hundred Fists may generate a good amount of enmity.

=Armor Locations= There are five different armors and they usually patrol a certain region of the map. The following chart gives you the region they patrol.

=Rewards=

Mochi Race of the Armor
 * Ibushi Shinai +1
 * Shinai
 * Hardwood Katana
 * Lotus Katana
 * 8 pieces of Hume Mochi
 * 8 pieces of Tarutaru Mochi
 * 8 pieces of Galka Mochi
 * 8 pieces of Elvaan Mochi
 * Republic Stables Medal
 * (10 Teleports to the Bastok Chocobo Stables.)
 * Receive in a location controlled by Bastok. 10+ absorbs malice
 * Federation Stables Scarf
 * (10 Teleports to the Windurst Chocobo Stables.)
 * Receive in a location controlled by Windurst. 10+ absorbs malice
 * Kingdom Stables Collar
 * (10 Teleports to the San d'Oria Chocobo Stables.)
 * Receive in a location controlled by San d'Oria. 10+ absorbs malice