Low man Xarcas.

[thestalkmore]

If this topic is more predisposed to a home in the newbie forum then please move it. Anyways, I'm looking to start up a low man Xarcabard group and I was wondering how much success other groups had had/what job setups they used/what routes and time extensions they shot for or avoided.

[Vinen]

how low are you taking about?

[thestalkmore]

6-12

[Kaylia]

I think we killed most NM with 7 member once. Required a lot of sac pull and we were getting them one by one.

[Medivac]

seems like a waiste of time, money, and xp, but if you are desperate to get af i guess it could be done

[thestalkmore]

seems like a waiste of time, money, and xp, but if you are desperate to get af i guess it could be done

I've seen some screenshots of a 6 man netting a bunch of AF with relatively low sacrifice.

[Budonez]

seems like a waiste of time, money, and xp, but if you are desperate to get af i guess it could be done

If your going with a few good friends, you can fairly easily get an xarc AFII without much comp. I would do it if I had a lot of gil. Overall, it would be pretty successful if you hit all the NMs you all need/want. We usually only farm with 14-16 people and we've gotten a fair amount of drops.

[Therin]

Do you really think that would be worth the 1,000,000 gil pricetag?

Anyway, if you think so, I would say a good setup is something like this:

NIN or PLD/NIN
NIN
RDM/NIN
RDM/NIN
WHM
BRD

BLM
BLM
Melee
Melee
WHM
BRD

Two tanks, two kiters/holders, two BLMs for needed Sleeps and Stuns, two good melee and their support.

I've done Xarc with 16 with a similar setup, just a few extra people. I know you can 6-man any NM pulls with a NIN, a BRD, RDM and BLM and a lot of sac-pulls. Go for it, if you want.

[thestalkmore]

Do you really think that would be worth the 1,000,000 gil pricetag?

Anyway, if you think so, I would say a good setup is something like this:

NIN or PLD/NIN
NIN
RDM/NIN
RDM/NIN
WHM
BRD

BLM
BLM
Melee
Melee
WHM
BRD

Two tanks, two kiters/holders, two BLMs for needed Sleeps and Stuns, two good melee and their support.

I've done Xarc with 16 with a similar setup, just a few extra people. I know you can 6-man any NM pulls with a NIN, a BRD, RDM and BLM and a lot of sac-pulls. Go for it, if you want.

What was your 16 setup?

[Soraan]

I used to do several low man Xarcabards. I'm talking 6-8 people ones (each dualboxed usually).

We got total: 3 RDM hats, 1 BRD legs, 1 WAR legs, 1 BLM Hat, 1 PLD body, 2 THF hands, and 1 SMN horn.

(I think we did like 8 runs or so and got those)

[Belkin]

If you really wanna get go as low as possible, maybe the most practical setup would be:

NIN - Possibly subbing DRK for extra stun
Melee - SAM and WAR would be ideal in my mind. As they can both pull hate pretty quickly if needed and can both be decent backup tanks. (SAM using Seigan of course)
BLM - Stun and a good source of damage, especially if you setup a skillchain between the NIN and the melee.
BRD - Obvious reasons. Backup sleep, songs, what have you.
RDM - Main Cure, Haste, Refresh, Enfeebles, Raise, etc. Highly recommened that the RDM subs WHM or DRK. If the RDM subs DRK, the BRD and BLM should sub WHM for Blindna and Erase.
THF - TH, alternate source of damage and possible skillchain. Also good for sac pulling, as you will need to do this to get NM's isolated. Although "sac" pull may not be the correct term, as there are ways around dying.


Enter, MGS around the first set of eyes, go down that little hill by the spine. The first time extension is to your left as you probably already know. What my LS used to do is have a SAM 2HR and kill the statue, then try to get as far back to the spine as possible before they died. Tractor them as needed, raise and continue up the hill.

You obviously can't compete against the 8 eye's that give the next time extension, skip it and head north. Pull the eye that is in the way to the east. Have the BLM, RDM, or BRD sleep the demons and kill the eye first. Kill the demons, NIN being last to avoid Mijin Gakure wrecking your party and all the demons just reseting themselves and you basically got nowhere except for killing the eye. The SMN demon will never link with those 3 other demons. Leave it and head behind the first NM tower.

The next part you could go either way with. Behind the first NM tower is 3 sets of eyes, each popping 3 demons. If you pull them from the left so they run up the hill, they don't all link. The first set will be an Eye, a RNG, a SAM and a DRG. Dispose of them like you did the last pull. Next pull the middle eye up the hill to you. He comes with a PLD, a THF, and a SMN. Eye first, then SMN, then PLD, then THF. Killing the eye pops the 30 minute extension statue. After the 3 demons are dead, pull the statue and kill it. You can kill the last eye which pops a BLM, a NIN and a DRK or you can simply skip it, as it is not needed to get that 30 minute time extension.

If you decide not to due the above mentioned step, head west behind the NM tower then south to be in front of it. There will be the 3 eyes on the tower and the one eye in front of it (Which pops more mobs than you can handle with 6 people). So we have to try to avoid contact with that eye in the front. The NM's run hella fast, fast enough to keep up with Ninja Kyahan, so I don't recommend trying to pull the NM's too far away from the tower, as it may result in the NIN dying and the NM just going back to the tower, resulting in just EXP loss. Make sure the THF has at LEAST AF1 boots and possibly even Powder Boots on top of those. I assume you will be pulling the RDM or maybe the BRD NM here. I would suggest the THF aggroing, fleeing, running behind the tower and then running back toward the entrance. When the THF gets to the 8 Eye tower, you can have them throw away their glass (If you have a mule outside) or have them Warp. The THF should be the only one in front of the tower when he or she aggro's the mob, as the Demons have the potential to aggro somebody other than the THF if that person is the first in their line of sight. Have the party wait up in the north west corner of the wall and have the NIN behind the tower along the wall ready to pull whichever NM you want. Provoke it as it runs by and head back to the party.

RDM Strategy - Duke Berith: This is a tough one, as Chainspell has the potential to kill a solo NIN tank very fast. It cannot be silenced. Have the RDM toss Dia II, Paralyze II and Slow II on it, as they greatly reduce his efficiency. Stack an Elegy on top of the Slow II and the NIN should be very well off. He will repeatedly try to buff himself. Dispelling his buffs does 2 things. Number one is that it makes the melee and mages hit harder. Number two is that he will keep trying to buff himself, essentially keeping him from attacking you. The fight should be fairly easy, just have the NIN keep as many shadows up as possible, as Quadrastrike with 1 shadow could mean instant KO a NIN in standard gear. Have the NIN use Utsusemi Ni whenever its up to reduce the chances of 1 hit KO. As for Chainspell, I recommend setting up a small stun order between the NIN/DRK, the BLM, the RDM and the melee (Using a stun WS). After the stuns are off, it could be dangerous. If no recasts are up and shadows are down, you may get knocked out pretty quick if he uses 2-3 Tier3 nukes in a row. Try to keep him dispelled through chainspell, as he may waste a lot of time rebuffing himself with Protect, Shell, Stoneskin and Phalanx, rather than casting Tier3's on the tank. When chainspell wears off, it should be clear sailing. If this is the only NM you are attempting, 2HR's can be used to dispose of him quickly. Chainspell Stun his Chainspell if you are using 2HRs.

BRD Strategy - Marquis Decarabias: This one isn't too tough. Again, Elegy can be stuck along with Paralyze II and Slow II, greatly limiting his offense. Dispel him whenever he casts songs on himself. His Minne is actually pretty burly. Soul Voice is nothing to worry about, his songs get dispelled all the same. Have mages out of Lullaby range. Nothing else really to say.

If you are trying to kill the WAR NM for god knows why, its pretty easy too. Mighty Strikes can be brutal if he gets some Double Attacks off, but a good NIN will have no problems with debuffs stacked on the NM. Moving on.

The next NM set is WHM, BST and MNK. The MNK is nearly impossible with a 6 person setup. as Hundred Fists will down the whole party in a matter of seconds unless you do some crap with the THF and perfect dodge. I assume you will skip this set, as all of those AF2's are pretty lackluster.

The next set you may be interested in is the BLM, the NIN and the DRK. Have the THF flee with the mobs to the counterclock wise around the tower. The party should be waiting against the east wall and to the north a little bit. When the party gets the NM you want, have the THF head as far west as possible along the wall. He can die and RR, Warp, or drop his glass, his choice.

BLM Strategy - Marquis Orias: He will usually start casting something as soon as he pops, which could be Sleepga or something dumb like Blaze Spikes. Have the THF use a poison potion just in case. When it gets to the party, you can enfeeble the hell out of him as you have done to the other NMs. The NIN/DRK and BLM MUST save their stuns for a -ga3. If none are up, have the melee do a stun WS. Make sure one stunners is always available...IE: If the BLM has just starting casting for a MB or something, make sure the NIN/DRK's stun recast is up and he is ready. Manafont isn't a huge deal, just means his spells won't get interrupted from normal melee hits and WS's. Stun still works to interrupt his casting. Not hard at all.

NIN Strategy - Marquis Gamygyn: This is a tough one and almost depends entirely on luck. There is really no elevation you can use to your advantage in stopping Mijin Gakure and it can easily one shot the whole party if he uses it with more than 15% HP left. The fight isn't anything special, enfeebles like usual make him pretty easy. The only thing is Mijin Gakure. Now there probably isn't much proof to this theory, but I heard doing "chunks" of damage causes him to use Mijin, whereas steady damage makes him not use it. I've pretty much seen it all and would like to say that doing "chunks" of damage doesn't matter, but I can't say that I'm sure. Chainspell stun will not work because Mijin Gakure seems to ignore the "Marquis Gamygyn is stunned." phrase and they just do it anyway. I cannot count how many times people have spammed stunned NIN mobs in dynamis only for them to blow up WHILE stunned. If they are going to blow up, they are going to blow up, you can't stop them. You are on your own for this one, as he can use Mijin Gakure at any percent under 30 in my experiences. Good luck!

The last NM set you are probably looking for is the PLD, SMN and THF group. Each one of these AF2's is pretty good but the PLD and THF NM's are probably the most time consuming NM's in the whole Dynamis (Including Dynamis Lord lol...) so if you are interested in farming these AF2s, I'd suggest skipping all the other NM's to get to these. I would have your party hang out in the middle of the 3 NM towers in the large(Kinda) open area behind the PLD/THF/SMN tower. Have your THF flee around the tower once with them. NIN pull the one you want, bring it to the center of the open area.

PLD Strategy - Marquis Sabnak: Although very annoying and time consuming, it is not a difficult fight. Enfeeble and make sure you use Dia, as you need to reduce his defense as much as possible. Your melee will hit for piddly amounts of damage, even if he doesn't have Protect on himself (Which you should definitely dispel by the way). The skillchain and magic burst will be your main source of damage here more than likely, as he still takes the normal amount of magic damage (Unless he Shells himself, which should also be dispelled). Keep Posion2 and as many elemental debuffs as you can on him, as they can do a lot of damage of the course of this fight. The BLM will probably have a lot of hate due to the fact that your melee are probably hitting for 0's more often than not. So make sure your NIN has Ballad, Haste and Refresh so he can spam Sleep, Bind, Stun, Kurayami, and Hojo for hate. Invincible you can work through (Like you weren't hitting for 0 damage enough as it was). If your melee's have TP, they can still make a skillchain even if WS's hit for 0. He will attempt to Cure IV spam himself toward the end which can be highly annoying. At this point I would suggest using 2HR's or you will just play cat and mouse for about 5 minutes. A game which he usually wins because he will cure himself faster than you can do damage.

THF Strategy - Count Raum: Again, one of the tougher NM fights, especially for small groups. He has basically the same defense as the PLD, only in evasion form. I recommend one Madrigal and Sushi for this fight. Like the other NMs, he resists Gravity, so that isn't an option. Hit him with Dia II, Paralyze II, Slow II and Elegy like usual. Even with all these buffs on, Triple Attack is still lethal since he has increased critical hit rate. Once the THF in your party gets up and enters the fight, I suggest immediate use of Feint. Use it every time it is up, as it makes his evasion dirt poor. Perfect dodge is pretty much the same as Invincible except you can't skillchain. Damage over time spells work great for this fight like they did for the PLD. The THF is a little less annoying in the sense that he can't spam Cure IV on himself when he is low HP.

SMN Strategy - Marquis Nebiros: Quite possibly the squishiest NM in Xarcabard. He has little HP and piss poor defense compared to the other NMs. Have the BLM use Elemental Seal Sleep II on the Avatar. When it uses Astral Flow, immediately have the RDM and BLM switch targets to the avatar. Have the RDM be on Stun duty and the BLM on Sleep duty. If the Avatar wakes up, RDM and BLM both cast immediately to avoid full wipe. After that sleep, it should be asleep for the rest of the fight, so BLM and RDM can switch focus back to the NM.

I fail to see why you would waste 1M to farm DRG, RNG or SAM AF2, so I'll save myself the trouble. If you do want to farm them, they aren't hard, you can develop your own method of pulling and killing.

Any questions about pulls or strategies, you can PM me.

[Dammerung]

You obviously can't compete against the 8 eye's that give the next time extension, skip it and head north.

You only need to kill the 2 initial eyes for the eye time extension iirc

RDM Strategy - Duke Berith: This is a tough one, as Chainspell has the potential to kill a solo NIN tank very fast.

Bind also works. Same for Gomory but I don't know why you would want to get Melee Crown.

NIN Strategy - Marquis Gamygyn: This is a tough one and almost depends entirely on luck. There is really no elevation you can use to your advantage in stopping Mijin Gakure and it can easily one shot the whole party if he uses it with more than 15% HP left.

If you stand 20.1 Mijin will not hit you.

[alphacat]

I've done countless lowman xarcs, like mentioned above it all has to do with sac pull. I would say, a typical low man run of 6~8 people, your sac puller needs to die at least the number of NMs you plan on killing. This is unless you have a thf that is extremely good and is able to kite for unlimited amount of time (which is unlikely, simply because there isn't enough room where you can kite and not get additional adds). I would say you have to rotate sac puller in order to minimize downtime. With a small group, you should probably just do the first ext. and then move on to NMs.

[Kaylia]

Every NM drop xp scroll, so with r3, or even r2, xp lost isn't *that* bad. Only method to do it anyway I think, no way to deal with 3 eyes 3NM with 6-9. 2 NM maybe, but it doesnt worth the trouble most of the time.

[Daveman]

A good sac puller would be a whm/thf if you kill mobs faster than flee is up (unlikely if it's that low number =P). First pull should be without flee since the NM's take a second to pop, gives enough time to run, and eyes all cast spells. Second pull which can be then done weakened needs flee to give enough time to pick out a NM, and for the last pull, you're just suicding the eyes which are slow. If you let the whm lot exp books from the NM you kill, should be an exp profit from the suicide pulls.

Of course bringing a rrpin accomplishes the same thing on any job, and if you're paying 1m to enter, I'm sure rrpin won't be a huge deal for a small group, but if you're killing NM's in under 5minutes the "flee the 2nd one" is still the best way to only have a single suicide puller supporting themselves if your aim is to kill 2 or 3 of the NM's in a box.

Just want to mention again, if flee is up between NM's because the kill speed is over flee's time, then the above isn't that great an order, that might be better suited for a 12-18 person run.

[Kaylia]

Powder boot cost 10k and will last you the whole raid if you have a job that can use.

[Okuza]

Low-count Xarca generally means doing a great deal of sacrifice pulling. You should be able to get all but two extensions even with as few as 6; you'll miss the "all NMs dead" one and the one past eye-wall.

If you're going to be doing a lot of sac-pulling, whm/thf is ideal: RR3 and Flee all rolled into one. Non-whm doing the sacrifice just means they have to use RR2 pins or you need to dedicate a whm to running around and R3'ing the puller. The other jobs are pretty much classic. Once you isolate your target with a sac-pull, the strategies for killing it are very straightforward.

BTW, while dynamis is FCFS for claiming the zone, I'd advise you to look into how your server tries to work around schedule conflicts for the dynamis zones. Some use a forum and some use http://www.dynamiscalendar.com and some use other methods. If you make a habit of regularly disrupting schedules with your tiny xarca runs, a lot of people can become very upset with you. This can come back to haunt you later.

[NynJa]

Enfeeble and make sure you use Dia, as you need to reduce his defense as much as possible. ...Keep Bio2 (Or 3), ...

sorry found this funny.

[Belkin]

welp im dumb.

[Judai]

You obviously can't compete against the 8 eye's that give the next time extension, skip it and head north.

You only need to kill the 2 initial eyes for the eye time extension iirc

This is true. Only the first 2 eyes have to die to pop the TE. Have someone Sac them very far, like all the way to the entrance since you are working with so few. Pull the eyes and have one person kite one around the tower or the spine nearby while you kill the other, then finish the second and kill TE.

Also, why would you even bother to have a SAM 2hr the first TE? Again, have someone run in and Sac the eyes up the hill and die behind the second TE tower. Have someone else pull the TE out of the train after all eyes have been aggro'd and popped their mobs, then just kill the TE.

Low man Xarcs usually take alot of sacing to be succesful imo. I've run plenty of 18 man Xarcs and such myself. We have cleared out all NMs, and all normal pulls up to the Wall, we usually then ran around and pulled some of the smaller pulls if we had time.

Takes alot more teamwork and people on the ball to accomplish but it's not bad, other then the sacing but like Kaylia said every NM drops XP scrolls. Also need to sac the NMs each time unless you have someone who can hold one or two of them, I usually just sac'd them each time and pulled one out unless the second was a wimpy one like the BRD, RNG, NIN or w/e, those are all very easy to hold.