Capped Guarding MNK ?

[Xenophin]

Okay, I've been MNK for almost 4 years and I am really trying to find a fast/easy/how to do it way to level guarding @ 75. I would like to cap it out but just really do not know exactly what to do to level it up, its currently @ 115ish.

Any help would be appreciated... Thanks

[Jkun]

Genome is your hero.

http://genomeffxi.livejournal.com/2942.html

http://genomeffxi.livejournal.com/18269.html

[SamanosukeShiva]

ugh

[Horadrius]

If you're going to try skilling up in a signet area, don't get signet. You get a pretty nice evasion boost on top of mnk's already good evasion when engaged against EM enemies or lower. This doesn't apply to links, however.

[Cream Soda]

If you're going to try skilling up in a signet area, don't get signet. You get a pretty nice evasion boost on top of mnk's already good evasion when engaged against EM enemies or lower. This doesn't apply to links, however.

Dumb move, imo. Will have MUCH more downtime w/o signet resting bonus. If its missing too much grab more of the same mob till you can't handle 1 more.

[ringthree]

Elmer made this guide a while ago. It is very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP5rA_xZKWU

[Cream Soda]

Elmer made this guide a while ago. It is very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP5rA_xZKWU

The what to skill on portion of that doesn't work with mnk. Say you're at 260 skill, divide that by 3 and you get lv 86 mobs. Best way to do it in my personal experience is to find the lv your guard skill caps it. Say your have 90 guard and 90 happens to be cap for lv 30 mnk. You'll want to fight mobs EM-VT (T preferably) to a lv 30 mnk for optimal skill ups.

[Tulun]

It's cool to see guard so effective.

SE still needs to make it easier to do so, though. I can't imagine how many man hours that was.

[Tekniklie]

Been working on raising guard for some time now. I mainly just sit in kuftal /dnc without signet, and guard+ gear. I get roughly 2-3 skill levels, 5-6k exp, about 20-30k in npc loot in a couple hours. Nicer to get multiple stuff done then just sit around getting mad I didnt get any guard skill ups. With /dnc I can fight 3 crabs at a time, and unless something goes really wrong, I have no downtime.

[Cream Soda]

It's cool to see guard so effective.

SE still needs to make it easier to do so, though. I can't imagine how many man hours that was.

Its nice to have but I wouldn't call it "so effective". I have it capped myself, and really only see it proc occasionally in ballista, but in practical use, like tanking chariots, you will hardly ever see it because most of the time you're either absorbing hits with shadows or countering. Though it is nice to guard a chariot crit, the procs happen not very often in practical use.

[Silenka]

You could just do what Jinghles on Alla did and actually delevel your mnk to the level just above cap and keep capping guard before you allow yourself to get your next level LOL

[mdkuser]

Do Salvage. Not joking, guard 50-220 in 1.5 years of salvage. The 1F mobs still skill me up.

or

This: monk/pld, def gear and dualbox rdm. protect IV+ phalanx II caped, eat def food. Go in ayedewas subterrains in that room with 15 chigoes. Aggro 4-5 of them, then engage a different mob, while having chigoes in front of you. RDM cure bombs you until the chigoes die from counters. Rinse, repeat. I did guard 190-200 like this in 5-6 hours. I also did parry 150-235 ( cap on those) like that, at a rate of 2 full skill per hour :D

[fndragon]

The what to skill on portion of that doesn't work with mnk. Say you're at 260 skill, divide that by 3 and you get lv 86 mobs. Best way to do it in my personal experience is to find the lv your guard skill caps it. Say your have 90 guard and 90 happens to be cap for lv 30 mnk. You'll want to fight mobs EM-VT (T preferably) to a lv 30 mnk for optimal skill ups.

To figure out what to skill up on, there is one truism you need to know. You will always level to cap if you fight Even Match monsters. If you are a level 30 monk, your guard will cap if you fight level 30 enemies. If you are higher level, then you need to do some research to find out what effective level of guard you have; Otherwiki has some nice skilltables on each job's main page.

[Funbard]

Well, there are a multitude of ways to cap guard, I'll just share mine if it helps. Getting to 160 I would do in Sea Serpent Grotto as money is decent there, just bring plenty of room in your gobbiebag!

Job: MNK75/DNC37
Support: Not needed until 256 + (although with patience it can be done near a zone line to cap)
Food: On enemies that don't steal food, nearly any DEF food will do, tacos/shallops/fish-kebob. I didn't have to use food until the later levels.

Camp Summary
160-202 Wajoam Woodlands, The Boyhada Tree; many camps depending on competition
Target: Lesser Colibri (WW), Mouriche (TBT), Robber Crabs(TBT), Moss Eater (TBT)
I mixed these camps depending on what I had to do in game. Wajoam presented a convenient way to skill guard up and also get great xp without any effort or leaving ToAU areas! The Sanction Regen and xp bonus were a plus also, pre-Sept patch. When I wanted to go hardcore skilling though, I headed to the Mandragora camp in TBT with signet. Grabbing anywhere from 2-5 depending on support (I usually soloed, but I would occasionally dual box Fluteloop's 61 WHM to grab more than 3). Open coffers if available for ~10k a pop (sometimes more, sometimes less) if no one is looking for it. Often I found myself alone in the zone or <5 people a majority on Steelshells.

202-213 Toraimarai Canal, map 2, G-6 (very fast skills, surprisingly!)
Target: Mousse (63ish-66ish)
Physical damage resistant mob, what can be better? Mobs last forever, and no competition. If I remember correctly, these mobs lasted on average 10 mins (+/- 2 mins) with full guard skill gear (shown in previous entries). Skill up rate was fantastic on these enemies. You'll need to be at keyboard for these, although there is an area of non-aggro for stepping away after battles to take care of RL events.

213-223 Valley of Sorrows, entrance from Southern beach in Cape Terrigan. (north beach entrance is "ok" if there is another player skilling in south entrance)
Target: Velociraptor (LV66-69), Peryton (LV69-72)
Great money to be made here, considering you are skilling and getting some xp at the same time. Not much to say here, pretty straightforward.

223-256 (260 is possible) The Boyhada Tree(225+), Sky (~235 max)
Target: Korrigans (TBT), Flamingos (Sky), Steelshells/Upper Tier Goobbues (TBT)
Basically I have been aiming for Decent Challenge enemies, until I see higher proc rates I will move up on enemies as listed from left to right. Flamingoes in sky are a decent alternative if TBT is full or competition is too heavy from less diplomatic players. Stop using a Cavalier's Mantle about here and use a Boxer's Mantle, earlier if you don't have 4/4 Evasion merits or a different sub.

256+ Den of Rancor and/or The Boyhada Tree
Target: Puck (DR) or Bark Tarantulas (TBT)
Use these to cap your guard skill. You can solo and sometimes chain the EM Pucks if you're merited/geared correctly, but the zone line will make things safer if you have a bad pull or a demon mandragora. Mobs con from DC-Tough in Den of Rancor. Bring a mage friend to work on a latent, or skill a combat skill to cap! Bark Tarantulas, the alternative will make you glad you invested in Arhat's Gi/Jinpachi (or HQ, which I have), although Kirin's Osode will work as well, solo and is possible to chain EM-Tough, again the zoneline is close as the Sickle Slash can and will hit you anywhere from 200 to just under 700 (without food). Invigorate merits really shine here if you have them capped!

I have used these camps firsthand, so I know they work at the stated skill level. Skill rate is anywhere from a low of 0.3 an hour to 1.5 an hour. Persistence is more key than anything else.

Aiming for a bit of steady gil, xp as well as guard skills is the path I chose. (Got a Boxer's mantle via coin purchases and other items out of it!)

[Kohan]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned rukenshin's method. I can't find it on his journal, but I did find a thread on KI (which Mr. Vegetto coincidentally created). This was created after rukenshin's original post, since /DNC didn't exist back then:

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums/l...p/t166482.html

The fastest way of doing this is to bring a mage with you (akin to what Funbard mentioned near the end of his post). You'll train a bunch of mobs (be they crabs or mandies) while running up against a wall, trying to make all of them line up and face you. As you know, if you want Guard to fire off, they'll need to be attacking you from the front, which is why you're running up against a wall; you want to coerce them into moving in front of you instead of attacking your flank.

After firmly establishing hate on the leader, you engage one that's near the back of the pack, and let them beat on you continuously while you're getting cared for.

[LakshmiToralyn]

anything over 150 skill, get all your -dmg gear. and +guard gear and head to Den of Rancor.

Youll need a RDM with capped Phalanx2. a bard always helps playing Minne and Ballad on the RDM's. With tect/phal2/taco/-dmg gear, you should be getting hit for 0-10.

Pull the 6 puks from the circle room back to the bridge and engage on a mob below the bridge. This works 100% flawless for parry however with guard, you will eventually Counter the mobs dead, could use blinding potions to reduce your counter or just repull when you kill them.

Here is a shitty map
http://snd-ls.net/ss/DoRcomp1.JPG