Mastering Chance: A Guide by Solzera

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guide

Author's Note
This is a Guide to the Corsair's Genkai 5 quest Breaking the Bonds of Fate.

Corsair was my first job to get this level and it was my first job to complete Genkai 5 with so don't base your Maat fight solely on this guide, ask around! I'm writing this because corsair seems to be the only job that does not have a Genkai 5 guide. As this is a guide, everything written reflects MY thoughts, any strategies written here are not guaranteed to work nor is it the only way to go about this battle. I play Solzera on the Carbuncle server, if you have any questions feel free to send me a /tell

Prerequisites
You must be level 66-70 and have completed Against All Odds before this quest will unlock.

Obtaining a Testimony
The Corsair's testimony is probably the hardest testimony to get, next only to the Blue Mage's testimony. There are nine(9) monsters in all of vana'diel that drop the Corsair's testimony. I don't mean nine types of monsters, I mean nine in total. Lamia Fatedealers and Merrow Icedancers are the two Corsair type monsters that drop the testimony. Keep in mind that the testimony is not a 100% drop rate.

You WILL need help getting these testimonies. All monsters that drop the Corsair's testimony are level 73-75. The monsters can be solo'ed by a level 75SMN with good equipment, but it is still risky.

Abilities:


 * They both can use:


 * Gusting Gouge: Wind Damage and Knockback (be careful or they may knock you into other monsters)


 * Tail slap: Physical damage and Stun


 * Dukkeripen: Will either: give itself 10 shadows, restore HP, or AoE Paralyze.


 * Lamia Fatedealer also can use:


 * Hypnotic Sway: Causes amnesia on target. It is a gaze attack, avoidable by facing away from the Fatedealer.


 * Merrow Icedancer also can use:


 * Torrent: Single target, will remove all equipment.

Where are these nasty snakewomen?

Caedavra Mire:


 * There are two Lamia Fatedealers that will drop the testimony here. Both spawn (I-7) of Caedarva Mire's first map. Although these have a respawn time of 5 minutes, I do not recommend obtaining your testimony from these Lamia. These monsters are surrounded by Reserve Draugar, Chigoes, Elder Trent and an Orderly Imp(truesight). All of these aggro and spawn in close proximity to the lamia and range from levels 62 to 82.

Arrepago Reef:


 * There are three(3) Lamia Fatedealers in this area which will drop the testimony, though I have not been able to find any them.


 * You're second option in Arrepago Reef are Merrow Icedancers. The only problem with the Icedancers is that their respawn time is 16 minutes, but they seem to be the safest choice (easiest to pull and fight without drawing aggro from other monsters.) There are four(4) Merrow Icedancers in Arrepago reef and I have found three of them. One spawns at (I-7) on the first map. This is probably the safest Icedancer to camp, there is a safe spot just south of it's spawn in (I-8) (beside the iron gate.) Two Icedancers spawn at (F-8), one on the small island with a tall rock in the middle and one just across the bridge to the west with two Reserve Draugars near it. There is a safe spot in (H-8) on the island beside the boat if you need to rest for a long time. Since the Merrows have a respawn time of 16 minutes, my party (70COR, 75RDM 75THF) were able to kill the Icedancer on the island, and then pull the icedancer across the bridge and rest before they respawned. This was my preferred spot to farm the testimony as there are two monsters who are relatively secluded from other monsters and there was more than one of them to fight.


 * If you chose to obtain your testimony in Arrepago reef, it is advised you take the Ilrusi Atoll Staging Point. There are about 4-5 Heraldric Imps (level 80+ with truesight) in a small, enclosed area. So watch your step. If you chose to enter through Caedavra Mire you will need to obtain a Lamia Fang Key and look out for Heraldic Imps on the way. If you chose to fight the two near F-8 in arrepago reef via caedavra mire you will also have to watch out for a Soulflayer. Souldflayers in this area are level 82-83 and are incredibly strong, avoid them at all costs! These guys also have true hearing, detect by magic and by job abilities. Also note that you can only obtain one Lamian fang key per conquest tally per person from the ??? in Caedavra Mire. It is suggested that you get a party member to open the gate with their key so that you can open the gate yourself when you come back to initiate the battle.

Pre-battle Preparation
Still in one piece? Well you're not done yet!

Be prepared to spend some gil on this fight, you'll need all the help you can get.

I recommend getting to level 70 for this fight, I'm not certain what the battle is like at lower levels. Just be sure your at least level 66 or you won’t be able to start anyway.

As with most Genkai 5 fights, the plan is to hit Maat (or in this case, Qultada) with everything you’ve got all at once, and when the dust settles, hope that you're still standing and he isn't. Prepare for a quick battle, you won’t have the time or the defence to tank too many hits from Qultada.

Keep in mind you will have no subjob for this fight, so theres no need to stock up on Shihei or anything like that.

Below is a list of the absolute essentials you need for this fight, without these it will be an extremely difficult battle.

Essentials:


 * Icaris Wing


 * 4 Sleeping Potions


 * Opo-opo Necklace


 * 200 Marksmanship skill (you might be able to get away with less, but it is imperative that you do not miss with Slugshot)


 * Seafood (preferably Sole Sushi +1)


 * Elemental cards for Quick Draw (other than Light and Dark cards as they deal no damage)


 * Steel bullets


 * A gun (preferably a good one)


 * Corsair's Testimony (just in case anyone forgot!)

Don't worry, I'm not trying to burn a hole in your wallet, SquareEnix does enough of that already. I suggested Sole-Sushi +1 because of the high dexterity bonus, high ranged accuracy bonus, but most importantly the resist sleep that it gives. Cptn. Qultada has access to Quick Draw and may attempt to put you to sleep with a Light Shot. A lot of nice buffs from a little piece of sushi.

Here was the setup I used to beat Cptn. Qultada:

Corsair level 70


 * Main Archer's Knife


 * Sub ---


 * RangedMatchlock Gun


 * Ammo Steel bullets


 * Head Corsair's Tricorn


 * Blink Band


 * Neck Spike Necklace


 * Opo-opo Necklace


 * Earring Shield Earring


 * Protect Earring


 * Earring Shield Earring


 * Body Corsair's Frac


 * Gloves Corsair's Gants


 * Ring Marksman's Ring


 * Ring Carapace Ring


 * Back Amement Mantle +1


 * Waist Warrior's Belt +1


 * Legs Corsair's Culottes


 * Feet Corsair's Bottes




 * 12 Sleeping potions


 * Icaris wing


 * Sole Sushi +1


 * Light cards


 * Fire cards




 * Marksmanship 200


 * Evasion 171

You may notice I have no healing items. Although it would have been a smart idea, I personally found that the fight went too fast for me to even worry about my health. If you would feel safer with healing items, then by all means bring them.

For slots where you see two items, it means I used the second item (Blink band for example) to buff, then switched back to the first item (Corsair’s Tricorn) for the actual fight.

The ideal setup:

I don't expect any of you to go and buy or acquire everything listed here, but the more of this you can get, the better. If you can find better items, then by all means get them!



Corsair level 70


 * Main Fire Staff


 * Sub Fire Grip


 * Ranged Murderer (with Supremacy Earring)


 * Ammo Steel bullets


 * Head Corsair's Tricorn (or Diana Corona if you can wait for a full moon)


 * Blink band


 * Neck Uggalepih Pendant


 * Opo-opo Necklace


 * Earring Supremacy Earring (with Murderer)


 * Earring Moldavite Earring


 * Body Blue Cotehardie +1


 * Gloves Mages Cuffs


 * Ring Jadeite Ring


 * Ring Celerity Ring


 * Back Bullseye Cape


 * Waist Corsair's Bottes


 * Legs War Brais +1


 * Feet Royal Knight's Belt (+1 and +2 versions aren't much good as your nation can not control an Aht Urghan region)

As well as any other buffing gear (such as Protect earring) that you can get your hands on that you can swap out after use.




 * 12 Sleeping potions


 * Icaris wing


 * Sole Sushi +1


 * Light cards


 * Fire cards




 * Marksmanship 228 (cap at level 70)


 * Evasion 201 (cap at level 70)

Note: Fire cards, Staff and Grip can be exchanged for any element other then dark and light.

Last but not least, I advise you to set up some macros. Just one page should do. Order them however you’d like, I’ve given you my macro list below (I’m a PC user)



Alt-keys: Buffing macros

Alt+1: Double-Up

Alt+2: Chaos Roll

Alt+3: Hunter’s Roll

Alt+4: Icaris Wing

Alt+5: Protect then equip my other ring

Alt+6: Blink then equip my Corsair’s Tricorn

Alt+7: Swap Opo-opo Necklace for Spike Necklace

Alt+0: Sleeping potion

Ctrl-keys: Battle macros

Ctrl+1: Slugshot

Ctrl+2: Fire Shot

Ctrl+3: Light Shot (which I never ended up using)

Ctrl+4: Random Deal

Ctrl+0: Wild Card

Before you set your macros, I suggest reading ahead to the ‘battle’ section to get a taste of what you’re in for.

Battle

---

This battle has a 10 minute time limit, you will be restricted to level 70 (if your above that level) and you will have no subjob for this fight.

Now that you're ready and you've psyched up, head to Arrepago reef. Don't worry about what subjob you have, just take one that helps you sneak/invis if possible.

Go to the ??? at H-10 of the first map in Arrepago reef, this is the same ??? you’ve used for the Corsair Flag Quest and artifact equipment quests.

Note: If you obtained a Lamian Fang Key from the ??? in Caedavra Mire at (H/I-7) to farm the testimony or for any other reason, you will not be able to obtain another until the next conquest tally. If you can’t wait, ask a friend to get the key and open the door for you.

Examine the ??? for a cutscene of Captain Qultada asking you to obtain a Corsair's Testimony.

You do not have to zone to receive the next cutscene. If you have the testimony, trade it to the ??? for a second cutscene. You will be warped to Talacca Cove if you have not already defeated Captain Qultada.

When you are ready to fight, trade your Corsair's Testimony to the Rock Slab at (F-6).

Let's Play.

Captain Qultada didn't become captain of the Seagul Phratrie crew by having a neat name, he is a corsair and has access to the same abilities you do. He will use Wild Card when he reaches roughly 50% of his health. He will use Phantom Roll and Quickdraw on you, so watch out! He wears full Corsair artifact equipment, uses the Trump gun in one hand and has what looks like a Bloody Rapier in the other. (It just looks like the Bloody Rapier, it doesn’t have any special enhancements like the Bloody Rapier.)

Captain Qultada will not engage you until you either engage him first or get close to him. This gives you time to buff and build your first 100 TP with the sleeping potions + opo-opo necklace combonation.

The general strategy is to fire as many Slugshots as you can. Then Fire as many Quick Draw shots as you can using Random Deal to try to get more Quick Draw shots, then Wild Card to repeat this process. You may get a free Slugshot if you roll a 3 or 4 as well.

Captain Qultada's sword and parrying skills are second to none, DO NOT get close to him! Even with maxed evasion skill. parrying skill and decent defence, he will probably be doing 200-300 damage per swing without missing. This is a Corsair’s duel, stick to ranged combat.

Once you engage Qultada you will not have time for any more buffs, please don't try to use Phantom Roll mid-fight, it will just end in tears.

Here is the step-by-step strategy I used for my fight.

Note: Fire shot can be replaced by any element other then Light or Dark.


 * Use any buffs that last 10+ minutes such as food


 * Chaos roll


 * Sleep


 * Sleep


 * Sleep


 * Hunter's Roll (if it has reset yet)


 * Sleep


 * Short-term buffs such as Blink


 * CHAAAAAAAAARGE!


 * Slugshot


 * Icaris Wing


 * Slugshot (Skillchained with the previous Slugshot for reverberation, any extra damage helps)


 * Fire Shot


 * Fire Shot


 * Random Deal


 * Fire Shot (if Random Deal reset the timer)


 * Fire Shot (if Random Deal reset the timer)


 * Wild Card


 * Slugshot (if Wild Card rolled a 3 or 4)


 * Fire Shot


 * Fire Shot


 * Random Deal


 * Fire Shot (if Random Deal reset the timer)


 * Fire Shot (if Random Deal reset the timer)

After this, the dust settles, if Qultada is still standing, you're in trouble. You can try a ranged attack and pray for Rapid Shot to kick in or try to swing whatever weapon you're holding, but survival at this point is doubtful.

If you like backup plans or if you panic, you can try putting him with Light Shot, then sleeping yourself with additional sleeping potions for TP. However, I am not sure if Captain Qultada is immune to sleep. This was my backup if I saw Qultada's hp was still high after all this but I managed to bring him down quickly.

You do not have to kill Qultada, you bring him down to about 10-20% health before he’ll stop you.

You will have to deal roughly 1550 damage to get Qultada to submit.

Post-Battle
If you have defeated Captain Qultada, Congratulations! You will be given a scroll of instant warp for fast travel back to your home point, you will have "Master of Chance" as your title and you will be able to level up to 75 if you couldn't already.

If you did not defeat Qultada don't get discouraged! It may not have even been your fault. A good part of this battle is luck; luck that your random deal doesn’t fail, luck that you get a good number on Wild Card, luck that Qultada doesn’t dispel anything too important.

I failed my first attempt for two reasons. I got too close to that nasty sword of his, and he rolled a 4 on Wild Card, from there he decided to use his weapon skill with 300% TP.

If you don't have chat filters on, scroll up and read your chat log, see exactly what happened. Take what you've learned from the fight and use it to prepare for your next attempt.

It is possible to defeat Qultada with two Slugshots and one or two Quick Draws, if you fired any more than 4 Quick Draws and managed to get your third Slugshot in, start looking for equipment with Magic Attack Bonus or Agility bonuses to help with your Quick Draw.

If you missed any(and I mean any) of your Slugshots, you should skill-up your marksmanship skill and look for equipment with Ranged accuracy bonuses.

If you were below level 70, I suggest levelling up before trying again.

One last thing, don't let this be your only guide on the Corsair's Genkai 5 quest, ask around! There are pleanty of helpful people on FFXI. Ask friends, Linkshell members or even strangers, look up some 70+ corsairs with "/sea all corsair".