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This guide is all about how to effectively mine in places that are much above your current level. Generally you will want to do this in Ifrit's Cauldron with a low leveled job so that you don't lose much experience, more about the ideal set up below. Mining in Ifrit's Cauldron can be challenging, but it is probably the most fun I have ever had mining and on top of that there is the potential to get some expensive items. Above all, do not get discouraged; Adaman Ore and Orichalcum Ore are very rare. You will make some decent money off of your other finds though. Also, you will die - a lot. In fact, that is part of the strategy.
Pre-expedition Preparations
Don't think that you can just grab some pickaxes and go on down to Ifrit's Cauldron and come back rich. There are a bunch of things that you need to consider well in advance of your trek to fortune. Following is a short list of important things to have set before you get started:
- White Mage or Red Mage job level at least 25. Sneak and Invisible learned.
- Ninja job level at least 9. Tonko: Ichi learned.
- Dancer job level at least 25. Spectral Jig learned.
- Smithing craft level at least 20, ideally above 55.
- Goldsmithing craft level at least 20, optional.
- Field Boots, Field Gloves and Field Tunica equipped.
- Chocobo Pass and Support Job unlocked.
- Printed out map of Ifrit's Cauldron next to you on your desk.
- Several Ice Cluster, Fire Crystal and Pickaxe with one stack Shinobi-Tabi and one optional stack Wind Crystal. The rest of your inventory should be clear.
Obviously, you will want White Mage or Red Mage as your main job with Ninja as your sub-job. In this case you will want to choose the one that is closer to level 25 to avoid losing experience for your main job. We will be using the main job for the spells Sneak and Invisible and the Ninja for Stealth and Tonko: Ichi. Now, Invisible and Tonko: Ichi might seem redundant, but it is worth noting that Bomb type enemies aggro to magic and sight. However, ninja tools aren't magic and neither is dancer's jigs
Smithing and Goldsmithing are somewhat important if you start to get good at sneaking around Ifrit's Cauldron. You want to leave because you died, not because your inventory got full. One of the items you will find fairly often is Iron Ore. These don't stack. However, x4 Iron Ore with a Fire Crystal yeilds a stackable Iron Ingot with a possible HQ of a Steel Ingot for a level 20 Smith. Level 55 Smiths will also be able to combine x4 Iron Sand and x4 Bomb Ash into Steel Ingot with a possible HQ of Tama-Hagane. Getting to level 20 Goldsmithing is less important. You will find a few colored rocks on your way. These don't stack, but use one in a Wind Crystal and you will be able to stack the results. Alternatively you can just drop the colored rocks as they don't sell for much.
The last confusing thing for this section is the Ice Cluster. At some locations there are flame geysers. These will recede if you trade them an Ice Cluster or simply wait long enough. If you opt to wait, make sure you stay away from any monsters, they can still aggro you through the fire.
Strategy
Now that we are all set it is time to learn how to mine. Set up macros for Invisible, Sneak, Tonko: Ichi and /item pickaxe <t>. Take a chocobo from Kazham to Ifrit's Cauldron. Here's where it gets fun.
You will want to keep Sneak and Invisible up as often as possible because if you get aggro you are likely to go down really fast. If a bomb is near by, use Tonko instead of Invisible, then get to a safe distance to cast Sneak. A bomb's aggro range to magic is much more than to aggro range of sight. Take the time to learn what monsters detect by what. The major advice is that the Ash Dragon has true sight and the Hecteyes family monster Dodomeki (interestingly enough) detects by sound, not sight. It is best to try to avoid all engaged monsters altogether. You don't want to be killed by someone else's AoE attack. Finally, study the maps on this site. Print them out and make notes as you play. You will want to establish a fairly reliable route through the area that takes you by several mining points. Camping one is boring, not likely to make you any money, and very likely to get you killed, so don't do it unless you are going in with a large mining party and camping all the possible spots.
After your route is set and you are sneaking and invisible, set out on your journey being very aware of your surroundings. When you find a mining spot look around for any near by monsters. You will have to drop invisible in order to mine. If you cannot mine safely do not worry about it. Either wait for the monster to leave/get killed or move on with your route. While mining, do not try to mine to exhaustion right away. Pay attention to avoid and patrolling bombs in the area. When your inventory starts to get full, find a safe spot. Sort your inventory to re-stack your axes. Synthesize any complete recipes you have. Sort again. Reapply sneak and invisible then keep moving. Your big payday will come when you find an Adaman Ore or an Orichalcum Ore, although these are pretty rare.
Your mining expedition will end when your inventory is full or you are out of pickaxes. Either way, don't worry, you are sure to have come up with quite a bit of items to sell. Make a quick note about what happened. Did you run out of crystals thus filling your inventory with raw ore? Bring another stack of crystals next time. Did you run out of axes with a lot of room left? Bring more axes next time. Did you run out of room but still have crystals and axes? Do gobbiebag quests in Jeuno or bring fewer items next time. After this brief meditation on the day, run into battle and get killed in order to return to your home point (better strategy would be to use a warp device, such as Instant Warp). Then it is just a matter of listing your stuff on the Auction House of your choice (usually Bastok or Jeuno) and waiting for it to sell. If you have a lot of stuff consider setting up a shop for the night. If you lost level 25 for your mage job, level it back up before heading out again.
Important Notes
I cannot stress how important it is to, at the very least, have Smithing at level 20. This will turn all that ugly Iron Ore into nice Iron Ingot with the occasional Steel Ingot. Higher is obviously better as you will manage to create more Steel Ingot for yourself from the Iron Ore but also you will find a use for the Iron Sand and Bomb Ash you find. When you get your Smithing level this high you will find that it is almost difficult to fill up your inventory before dying.
Do not get discouraged if you die. We are using low leveled jobs to avoid much experience loss. Death, here, is not a big deal. It can be said that we are basically trading experience for gil.
I briefly mentioned the concept of a mining party. Basically you will want to get a group of friends together. Each of you will then make a short route covering a few of the points so that collectively you will cover every point. At the end of the day you will split the profits. The theory behind this is that mining a point right after it spawns will cause the next point to appear sooner, thus, more items are created and you get more working as a team. This requires a bit of trust with people and a massive amount of organization.
Above all, good luck and have fun.