Promyvion Guide

Source

NEEDS ADDITIONAL/BETTER WIKI EDITING

Author/Editor: Wingchild

Started: September 24th, 2004 Rewrite: December 13th, 2004 Last edit: 01/21/2005 - It's been a month since the last update and the information here is now static; I expect no further major revisions for this guide. You may consider it to be a complete work - all the information inside is tested and verified. Added some notes about the Memory Flux gates. Still no data on NM Remnants.

Short form of the Emptiness access quests:

 * 0) You must have Chains of Promathia purchased and installed. Remember to register the Content ID.


 * 1) Visit Lower Delkfutt's Tower. Cutscene as you zone in.


 * 2) Visit Upper Jeuno. Cutscene as you zone in.


 * 3) Go to the Upper Jeuno infirmary (on the map), talk to Monberauxe. It's his infirmary. Cutscene.


 * 4) Go to Ru'Lude Gardens and head into the palace. Proceed left around the main stairweel go through the door. You'll have entered the guard room. Talk to Pherimociel for the last cutscene you need.


 * 5) Go visit a shattered crystal. Each of the three main telepoints has one. If this is your first visit, or if your memory is erased, you'll be prompted twice before entry.


 * 6) You'll spawn the Hall of Transference. If this is your first time in, talk to the Large Apparatus. If you have been in this Promyvion before, you can walk up to the Cermet Door and talk to it for entry.

General details about the Emptiness:

 * You're going through this stuff because it's the only way to access the Tavnazian Archipelago. If you ever want to get to that part of the world, this is the way. It's CoP's version of the Khazam Key quest.


 * The level cap is 30.


 * Experience will be earned here. If you are at or below level 30, you will earn experience as you normally would. If you are above level 30, your experience is reduced. All XP earned is applied to your main class. All deaths received carry a Lv30 penalty (350-400 after returning to your Home Point).


 * Experience earned in a level-capped zone is either...
 * Formula 1) You earn the xp you'd get if your class were at it's full level.
 * Formula 2) You earn 1/2 the xp of your capped job.
 * ... whichever is greater. If you're on a lv31 main capped down to 30, you'll get lots of xp and can do xp chains. If you're on a 60 main capped down to 30, you'll get 1/2 the xp a lv30 would earn, and you can't do xp chains.


 * Promy zones are keyed upon entry; if you've gone into Dem you can skip the entry cutscenes by talking to the Cermet Door in Dem. Conversely you can't warp directly to Mea and enter the crystal there. You'll receive no message explaining your inability to enter. If you want to leave the Promy you're working on and go elsewhere, use the Large Apparatus on your way out. The Apparatus will erase your memory, allowing you to enter any Promy zone.


 * Erasing your memory does not remove drops acquired, experience earned, or key items obtained. It is only there to untie you from a given Promy zone.


 * Enemies in Promyvion are called `the Empty`. There are several classes, detailed below.


 * Each Promyvion has four floors of enemies.
 * 1st: Easy Prey to Decent Challenge
 * 2nd: Even Match to Tough
 * 3rd: Very Tough to Incredibly Tough
 * 4th: IT++


 * To go up a floor, you must find and defeat a Memory Recepticle. MRs show up on Wide Scan. MRs always appear on platforms and the platform locations are fixed (thus memorizable/mappable). When you beat an MR, if you're fortunate, a portal to the next level will appear. Some MRs will not generate portals. More MR details are found below.


 * MR Portals last for three minutes. Do not panic and rush the Portal, lest you leave someone behind. Make sure you take the time needed to clear any residual strays before ascending to the next level.


 * If you need to go down a level, search for a platform that has a live portal, but no MR sitting on it. That will be the portal down. Try not to get separated from your group!


 * The fourth floor has no MR; instead, you must find and enter the Spire. The Spire is a tower-like structure and has an archway that you zone through. Reaching it can be highly entertaining.


 * The Spire is an empty room with a door at the end. The level-cap is removed inside the Spire. The door acts like a Burning Circle; talking to it lets your party enter for a BCNM battle against the Spire's boss. The level-cap is re-applied when the battle begins and all non-food buffs will be removed.


 * Enemies drop several types of items, but the most important are the Recollections. These rare/ex items can be synthed into special animas by Harith (found in Ru'Lude in the building past Maat). Farm recollections and make the special animas before the boss fight. Farming these should be mandatory! See the appropriate section below for more information.


 * Boss fights are single-party only. If you went up with a partial alliance someone is going to sit out during the fight. This can be good or bad...


 * If you die against the boss, you are ejected back to the Spire after three minutes is up. If someone's there, they can Raise you. If you win, your party is teleported back outside the shattered telepoint. If someone is left behind in the Spire, the only way to retrieve them is to go UP. (It pays to bring a warp scroll.)


 * The Memory Flux gates are not used during the original Promyvion runs. I am told they come into play while doing Promyvion-Vazhl, a later CoP mission, which is outside the scope of this document. Don't worry about them.

What enemies will I encounter?

 * Each Promyvion zone has three regular enemies, plus an additional crag-specific beast. All Promy enemies can be thought of as Sight aggro, and all of them have True Sight. It is possible to stalk through without a single needless engagement.


 * The crag-specific enemies are important, as the NM in each crag is based off that class, as is the boss waiting in the Spire. If you want to learn how to fight the boss, spend some time fighting the crag-specific enemy - the boss typically gets one extra special attack. Not that it matters; you should be slamming it with Hysteroanima instead of eating it's special attacks.

Normal Enemies:

 * Wanderer: Floating wisps of memory; these are the most common creature and are sometimes found in packs.
 * Special Attacks
 * Aura of Persistance - Defense boost.
 * Mirage - Evasion boost.
 * Vanity Drive - Single target damage attack.
 * Empty Beleaguer - AOE damage attack.


 * Weeper: These look like dinosaurs; specifically, like a tiny stegosaurus. Quite common and often found near Wanderers.
 * Special Attacks
 * Hexagon Belt - Defense boost.
 * Empty Cutter - Single target damage attack.
 * Vacuous Oscillation - Damage attack + poison, one target.
 * Auroral Drape - AOE Silence + Blind.
 * Memory of  - AOE Elemental damage based on the Weeper's core; be careful fighting a green Weeper on Windsday, etc. I've seen this spammed fairly hard before.


 * Seether: Walking eyeballs. Less common but still appear from time to time. Most parties refuse to fight these.
 * Special Attacks
 * Occultation - Utsusemi-like skill, unsure of total # of shadows.
 * Vanity Strike - Single target damage attack.
 * Empty Crush - Single target high damage attack.
 * Lamentation - AOE damage attack.
 * Wanion - AOE Transferrance; any debuffs stacked on the Seether are pushed to your party.

Crag-specific enemies:

 * Gorger (Dem): Large ticks, fat and lumbering.
 * Special Attacks
 * Stygian Flatus - AOE Paralyze.
 * Quadratic Continuum - Single target damage attack.
 * Promyvion Barrier - Defense boost.


 * Craver (Mea): Sort of an obscene Daddy Longlegs. They stand straight and tall; the central leg is a whip-like tail. These can be a pain to fight.
 * Special Attacks
 * Material Fend - Evasion boost.
 * Brain Spike - Single target damage attack.
 * Empty Thrash - Single target high damage attack.
 * Murk - AOE Slow + Gravity.
 * Promyvion Brume - AOE damage + poison + hate reset.


 * Thinker (Holla): Sort of reminds me of the living trees in Jugner, but more squat in appearance. Two clearly defined eyes.
 * Special Attacks
 * Winds of Promyvion - Erase.
 * Stygian Vapor - AOE Plague (sets TP to 0, stops TP growth).
 * More?

Notorious Monsters:

 * On 12/9/2004 NMs were added to the Promyvion zones. The NMs always appear on the third floor of the zone. The NMs can range and have no predefined area or movement pattern that I can find; we wound up chasing the Coveter for quite some distance after he killed my party.


 * The NMs drop a rare/ex Remnant keyed to their type, and may also drop Memodrops for that crag. See the relevant sections below.


 * The NMs are hard, but can be beaten by a party of six; alliances should worry only about the AOE skills. Animas cannot be used against the NMs. My Promy strike-team was able to take the Coveter and the Cerebrator in the same evening. The fights are hard; there isn't much difference between the NM and the boss, save for a single skill and the boss having a few more HP. NMs are significantly harder than their crag-specific counterparts.


 * Dem / Satiator (Gorger type)
 * Drops: Remnant of a satiator, Beryl Memodrop


 * Promyvion Barrier - Defense boost.
 * Vanity Drive - Damage attack, one target.
 * Quadratic Continuum - Damage attack, one target.


 * Mea / Coveter (Craver type)
 * HP: ~3,600 (thanks, Prim)
 * Drops: Remnant of a coveter, Indigo Memodrop


 * Material Fend - Evasion boost.
 * Brain Spike - Damage attack, one target.
 * Empty Thrash - High damage attack, one target.
 * Murk - AOE Slow + Gravity.
 * Promyvion Brume - AOE damage + poison + hate reset.
 * Impalement - Huge damage, single target. Damage can vary. I've seen it hit for 100, I've also seen 500. Throat-stab type?


 * Holla / Cerebrator (Thinker type)
 * Drops: Remnant of a cerebrator, Teal Memodrop


 * Spirit Tap - Steals 1 status effect from one target.
 * Binary Tap - Steals 2 status effects from one target.
 * Trinary Tap - Steals 3 status effects from one target.
 * Spirit Absorbtion - Drain, one target.
 * Binary Absorbtion - Drain, one target.
 * Empty Cutter - Damage attack, one target
 * Negative Whirl - Damage attack, AOE.
 * Stygian Vapor - AOE Plague + hate reset.
 * Winds of Promyvion - Erase.


 * Utsusemi doesn't do a thing versus these attacks, as the enemy steals your shadows for itself.

Enemy core-types:

 * Pay attention to the core of the Empties; by noting the color, you can tell what it's elemental properties are -- and from that, you'll know what weakness it has. The excellent photos below are from Prim:

 ADD PHOTOS TO WIKI

Fire Earth Water Wind Ice Thunder Light Dark

How do I reach the Spire?

 * To reach the Spire you must locate and fight Memory Recepticles. MRs are large glowing balls that sit on the various platforms found in Promyvion. An MR will have a number of Strays surrounding it. Strays look like Wanderers and appear as a clustered group.


 * When you arrive at an MR it will not attack, though it's Strays will aggro. The MR remains inactive until engaged. Clear the Strays first, then set a camp to do battle from.


 * MRs fight using two techniques. First, they'll spawn Strays throughout the fight. You can see this happen when the MR goes up into the air. Second, the MR has an attack called Empty Seed. This is a high range AOE damage skill with an incredible knockback effect. It's lots of fun to get slapped by.

Best practices:

 * If you are a damage dealer, get on the platform with the MR. Set your back to one of the four pillars on the platform. This will keep you in melee range and prevent the knockback effect from sending you flying. It will also keep you conveniently close to one another for Curaga spells. Empty Seed can also be blocked with Utsusemi.


 * My recommendation is to have one attacker stand back with the healer. Let this attacker pull Strays as they're born and engage them solo. A Red Mage is completely capable of soloing every Stray created during the battle.


 * Keep up the damage and the MR will fall. As soon as it dies, the main combat team must engage and defeat any remaining Strays. Once the platform area is clear, pray that a portal spawns to take you upstairs.


 * If you are in an overstrength alliance, it pays to know that you don't have to call for help on a Recepticle fight. All available players may engage and kill the MR together.


 * `Fake` Recepticles


 * Sometimes you'll kill an MR and it won't give you a portal. You will have to kill a new MR to go upstairs. Sometimes they spawn on other platforms; sometimes one will respawn on the same platform you just fought. The rate of portal spawns is unknown, but is keyed only to beating the MR - not to a particular platform.

What kinds of drops can I expect, and what do they do?

 * There are four types of drops that occur in Promyvion. Note that Rangers cannot Scavenge here.

Remnant of a memory

 * There are eight types, one for each element in the game. Alchemists are able to synth these into Elemental Animas, which are used in a variety of other tasks. The recipes for Elemental Animas are Alchemy Lv75~ and require the guild key item. Here's the breakdown for which types synth to which elements:


 * Profane - Earth
 * Fleeting - Wind
 * Bitter - Ice
 * Burning - Fire
 * Somber - Water
 * Startling - Lightning
 * Radiant - Light
 * Malevolent - Dark

Memodrops

 * Memodrops are what give you the map to a given Promyvion. To get the map you must locate the ??? point inside the Promyvion zone. This point will be inside a blue structure; one of Promy's streetlights, if you will. It will be surrounded by enemies.


 * Memodrops may fall very rarely from the crag-specific enemies; Gorgers in Dem, Cravers in Mea, Thinkers in Holla. They also drop from the Notorious Monsters.


 * There is a different color memodrop for each Promyvion. The colors and associated crags are listed:


 * Dem - Beryl Memodrop
 * Mea - Indigo Memodrop
 * Holla - Teal Memodrop


 * Previously I had directions in here but recent testing taught me something new. The ???-point for the map is not in a fixed location. It will always be on one of the heavily guarded lamp-like objects out in the zone, but which one gets the ???-point is a matter of chance.

Recollection of 

 * These are the most important of the four drops! These are what you'll want to go into Promy for to farm up before taking a shot at the bosses. Recollections are rare/ex memories that can be exchanged for special animas. The special animas act like anti-boss weapons.


 * The special animas can be used like any item or food would be; the target will be the Boss instead of yourself. Example macro: /item "Psychoanima" 


 * There are three types of recollections, and three types of animas to be made:


 * Recollection of Guilt -=> Terroanima
 * The enemy will become afraid and run around. Good as a defense if you're drawn unfortunate aggro. You can also try to ElemSeal+Bind and pound on the enemy; he will not fight back while he's trying to flee.


 * Recollection of Fear -=> Psychoanima
 * The enemy will be Intimidated for the duration. This will pre-empt any normal attacks. Special attacks may still occur while Pyschoanima is in effect. If you are able to use Psychoanima before the NM triggers a physical attack skill (such as Carousel), the damage will be negated.


 * Recollection of Pain -=> Hysteroanima
 * The enemy will attempt to use special attacks, but they will not execute. This is a fantastic anima as it prevents the boss from swarming you under with their most powerful attacks. Sadly there is no message to let you know that Hysteroanima is working, nor any to let you know when it stops.


 * These effects of these special animas <> stack <>. If you farm up Psychoanima to go with your Hystero you can shut down Physical and Special attacks for 25-30 seconds at a stretch. As long as you can do sufficient damage to the boss and kill it before you're out of animas you're going to be fine.


 * Some Recollections are easier to farm in certain crags due to the way they drop. Wanderers will drop one Recollection, Weepers drop another, Seethers drop the third. Seethers can only be found on the second floor and higher and are a pain to fight - it may be to your advantage to change to an easier crag to farm a particular Recollection.


 * Dem
 * Wanderers: Pain (Hystero)
 * Weepers: Guilt (Terro)
 * Seethers: Fear (Psycho)


 * Mea
 * Wanderers: Guilt (Terro)
 * Weepers: Fear (Psycho)
 * Seethers: Pain (Hystero)


 * Holla
 * Wanderers: Fear (Psycho)
 * Weepers: Pain (Hystero)
 * Seethers: Guilt (Terro)


 * I recommend Hysteroanima for your entire party at a minimum; Hystero + Psycho for best results. Terroanima has caused me more problems than benefits - I do not use it in combat.


 * Take these back to Harith in Ru'lude Gardens (the building back behind where Maat is). Trade him the Recollection + 2,000g to get your special anima back. There is a minor catch to this.


 * The animas are rare/ex, so you can't hold two.


 * If you synth up your Hysteroanima then give him a Rec. of Pain, Harith will take it. He'll even make the Hysteroanima for you. He just won't give it to you! He'll also refuse to do any other conversions while he's holding your Hysteroanima.

Remnant of a 

 * Each of the NMs drops a rare/ex Remnant; the Coveter drops a `Remnant of a coveter`, for example. The use of these items is not yet known. Things that don't work:


 * - Harith doesn't talk about them
 * - Trading to Harith, even with money, does nothing
 * - Won't trade to the 2nd floor Memory Flux gate
 * - Won't trade to the 4th floor ??? (map point)


 * I possess all three of the Remnants, but have found no use for any of them at this time.

What's waiting for me in the Spire?

 * Boss fights, of course. The Spire is a long room where your level cap is turned off. At the end is a door that you can talk to; doing so will start a BCNM-style fight called `Ancient Flames Beckon`. Your party is teleported into the arena and the battle begins. You will have time to buff and med on the inside of the door, so don't panic - just don't run forward after you zone in.


 * All bosses are a bigger form of the crag-specific enemy.


 * Dem / Progenerator (Gorger)


 * Specials:
 * Fusion - Spawns an Offspring
 * Spirit Absorbtion - 200 HP drain attack
 * Promyvion Barrier (offspring only) - Defense Boost
 * Quadratic Continuum - Damage attack, one target
 * Vanity Drive - Damage attack, one target


 * The offspring are smaller than normal Gorgers and are weak. The Progenerator is immune to Sleep and Bind; the offspring are not. The maximum number of offspring in play is 6. Offspring will continue to be generated if some are killed off. Fusion seems to start happening @ 50% HP and can be blocked by Hysteroanima or by kiting the Progenerator around.


 * This NM is said to have a regeneration ability, though I did not see it in combat. The only major problem it caused for my party was that the offspring were generated faster than we could handle (our first run was with 0 anima in hand).


 * Kiting is possible and is fun; it's especially do-able with a blink tank and ElemSeal+Gravity. If you get an offspring and have no way to handle it, consider kiting the boss or using a Terroanima; that should give you plenty of time to handle the add.


 * Mea / Delver (Craver)


 * Specials:
 * Brain Spike - Damage attack, one target.
 * Empty Thrash - High damage attack, one target.
 * Impalement - High damage attack, one target. Damage varies oddly.
 * Murk - AOE Slow + Gravity.
 * Promyvion Brume - AOE damage + poison + hate reset.
 * Carousel - Higher AOE damage.


 * Carosel is a bothersome attack as healing your damage dealers often requires Curaga, which can shift hate in unpleasant ways. Utsusemi can block the Carosel. Utsusemi can't block the AOE poison effect from Promyvion Brume. This is an incredibly nasty skill to face; Hysteroanima will be your friend.


 * Make sure you bring Antidote potions to self-cure poison; your healer will not have time to give Poisona to people. The hate-reset also makes doing so a dangerous proposition.


 * This boss is incredibly hard to fight if let him spam his skills. Try triggering hysteroanimas every 20 seconds (or six weapon attacks) to keep him from ever getting one off. Bring poison potions - Brume resets hate; if your WHM is doing Poisona repeatedly he may find himself being chased. Running away with Gravity on is ... tricky.


 * Holla / Wreaker (Thinker)


 * Specials:
 * Trinary Absorbtion - Drain, one target.
 * Trinary Tap - Steals 3 status effects from whomever is targeted.
 * Empty Cutter - Damage attack, one target.
 * Negative Whirl - Damage attack, AOE.
 * Stygian Vapor - AOE Plague + hate reset.
 * Shadow Spread - AOE Curse + Sleep. This is what kills teams.


 * Bring poison potions (something slow) to make sure you don't sleep; bring Holy Water to fix the Curse status.


 * Hysteroanimas are your friend. Every 20 seconds will do it for you. My team fought this boss with six hysteroanimas on board; we used four by the time he died. We were not affected by a single skill, so I can't fully update his list. In truth, I never want to go up there to let him slap me around. Would you? ^^

Helping Others
People who have completed a BCNM fight are able to enter to help others, so long as someone who needs the battle triggers combat first. In all respects, it's just like the 2-3 Dragon fight, the the 5-1 Archlich Taber'quon fight, the 5-2 Shadow Lord fight, and many others.

Why do I want to do the Promy missions?

 * When you finish your third Promyvion BCNM, you will be automatically warped to Lufaise Meadows. This gets you a cut-scene and starts Chapter 2 of Chains of Promathia.


 * After you have started Chapter 2, you will be able to use the Swirling Green Vortexes in Valkurm Dunes and Quifm Isle.


 * Valkurm Dunes -=> Lufaise Meadows
 * Quifm Isle -=> Misareaux Coast


 * You will then be able to walk to the Tavnazian Safehold, where the next CoP missions await.


 * If you complete your last Promy run with a Level 30 character, it's important to know that there are aggressive enemies between you and the Safehold. Either wait for friends, recruit some on-site help, or back up 'til you find the Portal and jump over to Valkurm. Come back with Prism Powders (Orcs, Giants) and Silent Oils (Bugards).

So what happens next?

 * A new thread has been started, just for you.

Link
 * Phomiuna Aqueducts - The Minotaur - Get your game on!

Credits, etc
See Source

The following questions remain:

 * Wondering where the three new anima types come from (talk to Harith; recollections of animosity? what the..?).
 * No information on Remnant of a , the rare/ex drops from the Promy NM critters.