Steam Cleaner Solo

[Shalafi]

I did some searches and only came up with SE joining Steam posts.


Anyway, I am looking to solo Steam Cleaner, and am wondering what does everyone do with the Caretakers that spawn first?

Do you just kill them or what?

[Tsuki]

http://belkinator.livejournal.com/　←　has the info you're looking for.

[Shalafi]

belkinator　←　has the info you're looking for.

Perfect thank you.

[Francisco]

I've always wanted to try and zerg it down solo on MNK/WAR... anyone ever try it?

[Raen Ryong]

The pull

Kill detector at entrance, buff yourself with Composure (use Barthunder too) and then run to basement. Wait for Detector to aggro you in the first room and run back. At the base of the stairs to the BASEMENT (ie, right behind you now) in about the middle you can sleep it without magic aggro from anything else.

Run around the corner and wait for it to summon. If it's Steam Cleaner, proceed to the bottom of my post. If it's a caretaker, run (do NOT get hit -- this will save time). When you reach the very first circular room if you did not sustain a hit, the caretaker will turn around and depop. Run back to the detector and make it pop another. Repeat if caretaker.

The Detector would've woken up at this point so sleep it at the top of the stairs to the basement. If it pops a caretaker here, run it towards the zone and it'll depop about halfway up. Repeat.

Finally sleep it halfway up the initial staircase and it'll do a 5th pop. That's 5 pops in one zone~

If it pops SC at the bottom of the stairs (ie, pop #1 or #2), run him to the top and when he reaches the top, bio2/3 => Grav if necessary => Poison2 and run it to the first stairs (if he starts casting something nasty, just run). He likes to go yellow a lot in this stage and drift back so be ready (fillmode is handy). If he popped here, the detector will simply depop by the bottom of the big stairs to the zone so you won't have to deal with it.

If it pops from #3/#4, stick a DoT on it and run and bear in mind the detector probably won't depop so you'll have to deal with it. If it pops at #5, pull it away from the Detector, bind it, and nuke out the Detector preferably before it wakes up.

The fight

Buffs: Keep up Shell IV, Stoneskin/Phalanx, Refresh/Haste and Barthunder.
Debuffs: Bind is usual, Gravity if you need to vert/composure or bind resists/wears really early and you need it. Paralyze can be kept up to occasionally interrupt -ga 3s when cornered.

The area I fight it in is on the big staircase leading to the zone where you have pulled it to. Just run up and down, keeping bio2 (WILL break Bind) and Poison2 (will NOT break Bind) on it. Nukes are very ineffective.

Sometimes you'll have to run past it, and it can DA. For this reason, keep 3 shadows up at all times so you don't get hit by Sleep/Sleep II. If you have only one shadow left after running past it when it's bound/grav'd, just run and recast at a distance. If you have 0, recast immediately. Getting slept can be fatal.

if it unbinds but doesn't move towards you immediately, STAY WHERE YOU ARE. It means it's casting (which it can do from an extended range without notification in your log) and you could be running straight into a Thundaga 3. He also occasionally deaggros for no real reason so be ready for that (nuke down last 1% or so just in case).

The final complication is the first detector you nuked down will respawn periodically, so be ready for it. Just have SC bound/grav'd near the top of the staircase and oneshot it with Blizzard3. Do it as soon as it pops because you don't want to get cornered with no MP and it behind you.

All of this is presuming no W Legs which may simplify the fight greatly. Good luck~

[Shalafi]

What location ( <pos> ) do you typically try to pop it? Does it matter?

[Raen Ryong]

It pops at 1-2, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-1 if you consider the starting island as 0 and each island ANTICLOCKWISE as 1,2,3,4.

I tend to just pop it at 1-2 since it's the area I'm most comfortable with and there are no coloured doors.

[Apelila]

I've always wanted to try and zerg it down solo on MNK/WAR... anyone ever try it?

Double attack would take you down before you took it down unless it did something silly like started by casting AM.

[Cairthenn]

MNK/WAR would not likely be possible, it's hard to interrupt and if it casts something hard-hitting you're screwed. On top of that, it can hit pretty hard.

Anything that can kill Detectors before they pop a statue and has movement speed could technically solo, though. RDM and BLM have it easy. Don't underestimate it though, it can spaz with -ga IIIs, and on the stairs theres less of a chance you can get away. However, it's still easiest to fight there.

[Raen Ryong]

If it starts casting a -ga and you know you can't get away, make sure bind or gravity are on it, preferably both. If you have time, throw a Paralyze and hope for a handy proc. Otherwise start running, second it lands throw Utsu: Ni, Cure IV, run out of range, Stoneskin, Cure III/IV (alternatively Composure Regen if you have to redo your Composure buffs at this stage). Continue.

Make sure you are running in a direction you have a lot of room to run in (ie, if he starts doing it near the top of the stairs, run past him so you have a large distance to kite etc (and he won't just catch you straight in another).

And yeah, this is probably a lot easier with movement speed. This is from the perspective of a RDM without W Legs.

[Spekkio]

It pops at 1-2, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-1 if you consider the starting island as 0 and each island ANTICLOCKWISE as 1,2,3,4.

I tend to just pop it at 1-2 since it's the area I'm most comfortable with and there are no coloured doors.

i've always thought about it as follows:
southmost pair of doors is curtana
middle doors are steam cleaner
northmost doors are zipcana.

no remembering numbers, indexes, counting, just visualize the map and you're good.

[Raen Ryong]

Haha, my mind works very differently I'm bad at visualising things like that and I find it easier just to remember a set of numbers. To each his own I guess!

[Lyltia]

Just wanted to add my own strategy for soloing the roflcopter:

The pull-

Go downstairs, find a Detector, and follow it around the loop til you find the other one. Continue following your Detector until the other is out of range, then Sleep it. Wait for it to begin summoning, count to 2, then Blizzard III it. Regardless of what pops, Bind > Gravity it, and run towards the other Detector. A slept Caretaker likes to chase you for long distances, but a Caretaker with Gravity will despawn quickly, so there's really no need to run all over the zone.

If Steam Cleaner pops, run to the other Detector and nuke it before it has a chance to summon; if a Caretaker pops, just run to the other Detector and repeat the process. Granted, this method only allows for two c8hances per zone, but in my experience if his window is open, it rarely takes more than two tries to pop it. If no pop, head over to the next basement and repeat. If it doesn't pop from those, you're likely wasting your time due to either the window not being open, or Steam Cleaner just being stubborn; in which case your time is likely better spent checking Zipacna or Faust and coming back later. Besides, if you have competition for the pop, eliminating the Detectors lowers their chances of getting it before you do.

The fight-

I see lots of people recommend pulling it upstairs and fighting it by the zone, a la Zipacna. Since Steam Cleaner casts -ga3 magic, I don't see why this is preferred. This is a longer fight due to his magic resistance; you will get cornered at either end, it will cast a -ga3, you will get hit. It is much, much more efficient to fight him in the basement regardless of which section of the zone you are in. There's 3 rooms you pass through with magic aggro and a stray pot or two in the small rooms along the hallways; you have long stretches in which it is safe to cast. You really have to try to get magic aggro from any of the other mobs along the kiting route. Since you have a complete loop in which to kite Steam Cleaner, it should never land a -ga3 on you, allowing for more nukes and a shorter fight. Simply Bio/Poison/Utsu/Blizzard when it stops to cast and continue running. Be aware that the Detectors will respawn towards the end of the fight; just nuke them as you come across them and they'll pose no threat.

[Antec]

That pulling method is far less efficient than the one Belkin has on his LJ. Even if you wanted to fight it downstairs which I don't agree with because of the the 2 detector pops, you would still be better off popping it with a variation Belkin's method.

When I farmed a few SC pops, I didn't exactly use Belkin's method however. I used a variation in which i just kept the detector slept at the start of the stairs. The groundskeepers will always stop coming once you reach the top of the stairs. That would be more efficient if you were to fight it downstairs.

As for being hit with more GA3's fighting it upstairs, you can just zone at the top if you run out of distance to avoid the cast. Obviously this wouldn't work when you have competition and I wouldn't do it if people were watching the fight, but I was all alone on most of my fights.

[Callisto]

What location ( <pos> ) do you typically try to pop it? Does it matter?

For what it's worth I try to stick to Suzy/Byakko side because I don't want the chance of someone monkeying with a door and mpking me if I'm @ one of the other two(I think Genbu side is the one with the door?).

[Lyltia]

"Far less efficient" how? Running all the way downstairs to pull, then running all the way back upstairs with two uncontrolled mobs on your tail to the zone for one shot at a Steam Cleaner, as in Belkin's strategy, is somehow efficient? I don't mean that as a slight at Belkin either, he makes it quite clear it's not something he spent much time on and acknowledged there were probably better ways to go about it. Besides, if you have some kind of a problem anticipating the two detector pops, or somehow think they pose a threat, then, lol.

Also, zone out at the top to avoid -ga3? Really? Do you zone away from Zipacna too? I thought this was the forum of the FFXI elite.

[Callisto]

Also, zone out at the top to avoid -ga3? Really? Do you zone away from Zipacna too? I thought this was the forum of the FFXI elite.

Ga-3 is extremely easy to avoid even on the stairs, and if it's cast at a time when it looks like I won't get a way from it I slap on my damage reduction set and it barely breaks Stoneskin. The benefit of the stairs is I can zone and catch a breather if I get hit with Mysterious Light.

[Raen Ryong]

Read my variant on Belkin's strategy posted above 5 possible pops, sometimes 6 per zone!

Stairs has one detector vs two and -ga3 can be nasty at a bad moment but it shouldn't end you (it's a lot nastier for us unlucky types without W Legs though).

[Lyltia]

Again, if it doesn't pop in a few tries, you're wasting your time. Lottery pop + unknown window means you could be down there for a very long time in which you could go kill something else. I won't deny that allowing for 5 pops off a Detector is more efficient in trying to get Steam Cleaner to spawn; however waiting around for 3 hours in which you could be killing other trigger NMs is about as inefficient as it gets. I find it hard to believe that anyone interested in killing SC would not be interested in killing other NMs while they're at it.

Detectors die from one Blizzard III, I hardly see how dealing with 2 Detectors in 30 minutes is more difficult than dealing with one in an area where you can easily get cornered by Steam Cleaner. -ga3 + Detector and Steam Cleaner attacking = interrupted nuke + Caretaker spawn. Of course this is a random confluence of events, but if it occurs, good luck making it up the stairs to the zone with 3 mobs chasing you. This is a ridiculously simple solo, but it can kill you in random situations as listed above. Kill it in the basement and you minimize the chances of this happening.

Mysterious Light? Lol. Kite it in the basement and it'll never hit you. As for w.legs, why are they even being brought up in this case? It stops to cast frequently, if you can't keep distance on it, well, I recommend another job.

[Raen Ryong]

W Legs add leniency to everything and often at least on the stairs can be the difference between outrunning a -ga 3 and eating it.

It's easy to kill that one detector because it pops predictably and only moves in a section of the kiting area you rarely use, meaning you can kill it at your leisure; you're not gonna suddenly run into it.