Salvage question

[sleekmotorwurkz]

Our nyzul static was thinking about picking up a few of our solid ls members and giving salvage a shot. We are looking at probably at least 4-5 ares bodies first priority (Yes I know the time frame/scope of what Im dealing with). Since im assuming we will be spending a great deal of time in arrapago. Im thinking of trying to maximize what we can pull from it. Skadi/Marduk/Morrigan/Usukane would be sweet, all of our members have multiple jobs that can use them, but basically looking for time fillers between the QQA's so we dont just do them and waste the rest of the run. Ive been browsing the arrapago thread in the event strategies and a lot of it is greek to me, ive only done salvage 5 times, and it was when it first came out and nobody knew anything about it.

We shouldnt have a problem getting the right setup of jobs, we have plenty of ls members im sure will join, and all of us have multiple jobs to change to. My only dilemma is this though. From what im seeing so far (not counting people we "might" recruit we have 2 mnks, I am one of them. From what im seeing at least 2 mnks are ideal, but when we are hunting Deimos, we are obviously going to want TH4 as opposed to TH3 yes?

[Wizerd]

Our nyzul static was thinking about picking up a few of our solid ls members and giving salvage a shot. We are looking at probably at least 4-5 ares bodies first priority (Yes I know the time frame/scope of what Im dealing with). Since im assuming we will be spending a great deal of time in arrapago. Im thinking of trying to maximize what we can pull from it. Skadi/Marduk/Morrigan/Usukane would be sweet, all of our members have multiple jobs that can use them, but basically looking for time fillers between the QQA's so we dont just do them and waste the rest of the run. Ive been browsing the arrapago thread in the event strategies and a lot of it is greek to me, ive only done salvage 5 times, and it was when it first came out and nobody knew anything about it.

We shouldnt have a problem getting the right setup of jobs, we have plenty of ls members im sure will join, and all of us have multiple jobs to change to. My only dilemma is this though. From what im seeing so far (not counting people we "might" recruit we have 2 mnks, I am one of them. From what im seeing at least 2 mnks are ideal, but when we are hunting Deimos, we are obviously going to want TH4 as opposed to TH3 yes?

TH4 vs TH3 won't matter. Unless you want to spend extra time on 1F for a *chance* at a hands cell (your only chances before 2F are the 1F Rampart and the starter chest), you won't need Armlets.

2 MNKs is ideal, sure, but half the time we don't even use 2 MNKs anymore because other combinations can work just fine; such as replacing one of them with a DRK/NIN or WAR/NIN (provided you want to do boss or fight the chariot, if not DRK/SAM or WAR/SAM would be better). You'll want to have a THF for sure, though.

Since your main goal is QQA, the first few runs I'd suggest bringing 4 melee and 1 BLM if you have that available; then you can lower it to 3 melee (MNK MNK THF or whatever combination of 2 melee + THF) and you won't need a BLM. He can Warp faster than you'd expect, so be prepared.

Also, being that you want QQA mostly, I'd say spend your first few runs taking a little time on 1F to make sure you get the means to kill the NMs. They're definitely not hard but they take some getting used to.

Eventually, you'll probably end up going in with MNK [strong DD] THF WHM BRD RDM, plus some extras (BLMs, or another DD and move the THF to the extra party), simply because it works best.


If the Treasure Hunter thing was your only question, I apologize. <_< If it wasn't, I probably missed your original point to the thread anyway.

[sleekmotorwurkz]

sorry it was a 2 part question, I went off on a tangent. While our main goal would be for QQAs, I want to make best use of the rest of the time in the run to get other pieces. In other words, what to fight other then QQA's to make best use of the time for a successful all around run.

*Edit

This was from divisortheory's post int the arrapago forum:

We had THF DRG MNK MNK MNK BRD WHM RDM BLM BLU.

1F - We went to the far SE. Killed all 4 of those lamia, then fought skeletons until we got 1 HP cell (was 2nd or 3rd skele). Backtracked to SW wing. Killed all 4 lamia, then fougth qutrubs until we got 1 weapon cell. We actually ended up getting 2 weapon cells though. Warped.

2F - Pulled both Lamia, ignored all qutrubs. Killed the QQA and warped.

3F - Went east/north. Cleared the entire path including the 2 ghosts. In the long rectangular room we pulled the 2 icedancers. left the other ghosts/bhoots alone. RDM went to QQTH area, BLM waited in hallway between the gespenst / skeleton room, everyone else at porter. Went heavy on melee when it got to us, otherwise was a DoT fest.

4F - Ignored gears completely. Went straight for the QQTH > Bhoot. Warped.

5F - Killed the 3 gears in the path, then the 2 gears + rampart in the next room. Pulled Chariot immediately. Only MNK MNK BRD RDM participated against the chariot, so the rest of us went back and killed the gear blocking the path to the Astrologer. Waited for Chariot to die, ganged up on the Astrologer. Sent a BRD to the teleporter to warp us.

6F - Cleared the top floor in about 15 minutes. Warped.

7F - had about 20 minutes left.

Something like this - But for an unexperienced salvage group of experienced players. Im obviously not looking to get this much done right away.

[Xisin]

When we first started our salvage runs our main focus was the QQs in general, for machas and demios, but after a while we ended up hitting every nm plus a boss.

Farm the 1st floor and skip over the armlets that drop from the 1st floor rampart. you want to make sure you get most of your magic and ja unlocked here... weapons too. Seems people have different preferences when it comes to who gets what weapons first, i actually give my first weapons to whoevers tanking (be it a monk or w/e) and a thf for placebo TH!

anyways get everyone functional then port up to the 2f, build tp off a skele or qutrub, then go to QA and rape him. I go as blm and i actually pull the thing with tornado 2 (before you kill QA be sure to steal his SJ cell or try to) then run like mad, before it has a chance to even get to me my melees generally kill it. port up after that.

the third floor QTH can be more time consuming than the other qqs in my expereience, have a blm and rdm pair go to the porter and nuke him to flush out the rat, then dot him, have melees build tp then rape him when he comes to the start point, or you can have two people dot him back and forth til hes dead and finish him off with a nuke (he runs upon getting hit and turns back after a while. invising in a corner seems to de aggro it? but he keeps running) you can steal a body cell from this QQ.

after the 3rd QTH dies head up to the fourth floor head over to the port up to the 5th floor and kill the QTH while on the 4th floor, you can just chase this one around and beat on it if you like. after QTH is dead head over to bhoot... this guy can suck my ass. with a low numbers group you need to be able to stun every ga and stun perdition (death) a brd can dispel this guy so that helps. we actually kite him ... take him down fairly quick too. after bhoot is dead port up.

on the 5th floor you may need to farm some sjs off the gears (if QA didnt put out) we generally only farm a sj for one or two /whms at this point as the rest of our sjs tend to drop from the 6f. head to the door next to the port up and open it then pull the chariot w/o aggroing the gears in the room its in. kill the chariot then back track to where QA pops and tp burn him down. another SJ cell can be stolen from this QA as well.


Port up then tp burn the 6th floor or kill it as fast as you can. if you kill it in under uhh im not sure on the time but i think its 7 mins. two QQs will pop.

after the room is cleared port up and fight the boss.

Time and practice will make you better and faster so take it one step at a time!

edit - look up the mobs and what they drop from a wiki of some sort then plan th e run to your melees in terms of who gets what cells

another edit... forgot the fourth floor entirely lol

it also helps to have some one run to the port as you finish each floor, if you're not doing anything on a floor except running to a port with your entire group you are wasting time. and salvage is a race against time.

[Scorp]

If you are going to focus mainly on QQ's then having 2, balanced, 6 person parties may be worth considering. Double the runs and/or half the competition on lots depending how you see it.

6 should be able to do the first 4 rats giving you a chance at 2 deimos and 2 macha's each run.

Take a combination of the groups for other zones, as a single run.

[Wizerd]

Oh. Simple.

1F - Northwest wing, clear the entire thing, skipping Qutrubs in the last room if you've already got weapon/head cells you want. Southwest wing, first room & the Lamia Dancer and Lamia Fatedealer in the next hallway/room. Backtrack providing you have your weapons/head cells. Southeast wing, clear until you have cells you need (sometimes you'll have everything you need, including magic and abilities), then port up Southeast. If you had bad luck with Ranged drops, pull the Merrow BRD to the north as you're passing the first room in the SE wing; it can drop Magic/Ranged.

[Goal: 25 minutes]

2F - If you didn't already save TP on the last couple mobs of 1F, or you need Abilities/Magic/MP (of which you'll have 1/1/2 shots at respectively based on the lamiae), then pull a couple things here for TP, only need 100. Find where QQA is without aggroing him. Set yourself up in front, have BRD use Minuet x2 (He has low evasion and low HP). Any nukers should get close enough to nuke, and synch nuke if there's more than one. The THF should attack first, with an SA->WS with the other melee already engaged and ready to fire off their WS. The other melee should watch closely; if QQA casts, WS, if not then wait until he stops. THF should steal right after WSing.

[Goal: 30 minutes total]

3F - South or north depends on your goal for 4F. If south, it may be a good idea to sneak to the third room and clear the two Psycheflayers. Depending on the size of your group, you may choose to bring everyone to the QQTH room and barrage it with nukes / WS right away, or have a RDM or BLM pull with nuke / DOT and the group kill it along its path. Some groups clear the first 3 rooms, some groups clear none or just 1 and wait until it gets back to where you ported up (or close). You'll figure out which is best for you. Barraging it with WS / nukes only works if your group is relatively large (3 melee + THF and possibly a BLM or two). The person with hate (everyone should, but in theory...) runs after it and goes as far out as they can against the wall to stay as close to QQTH as they can; it should turn around and come back, then this person runs back into the room and you get another shot to kill it. If you didn't kill it on its first time back, your group was probably too small to do this.

[Goal: 40-45 minutes total, 35-40 if lucky]

4F - If you choose to do the NM here, it'll be a Bhoot on the north side, Psycheflayer on the south. I don't reccomend doing either without a stun of sorts (WS stun works just fine) for -aga III (Psycheflayer) or Perdition. Bhoots nukes are managable with fast cures afterwards, but Psycheflayer can put up Magic attack bonus that only your BRD can dispel (limited timer, obviously). If you didn't get 2 SJ (1 from start chest, 1 from QQA), I'd suggest killing some gears before engaging this NM so you have 2 tanks. After you kill that, QQTH near the porter and port up.

[Goal: 50-55 minutes total]

5F - Kill the 3 gears in the first room, and the gear in the hallway leading to QQA. While doing this, the THF (or someone who knows what they're doing; I do it on MNK sometimes) should run to the porter to open the door, then run back. They should be back before the gears die; make sure you save TP on the last one. Murder the QQA and then head to the Chariot closer to the porter. If you're on the south side, sneak shouldn't be needed to pass the second room's rampart. On the north side, it's needed because it's too close to the door. Pull and kill the chariot. After the chariot, pull a gear and save TP, then gather the main party at the porter to the next floor without going up.

[Goal: 60-70 minutes total]

6F - In preparation for this floor, have your BRD Soul Voice Minuet/March and make sure your melees get Haste. Your WHM or RDM should also rebuff the party now, since MP is going to be refilled anyway. Your strongest melee ports up, and finds the closest gear, provokes or chi blasts it (or whatever works to make it stop moving) and WSes by the time the others are able to move. The mages should try to stay close since the BRD will want to put SV'd Ballads on while s/he gets the chance. There should be enough gears close enough that the melees are fine to kill the first one or two without the BRD pulling. After Ballads, the BRD should make pulling #1 priority, with RDM sleeping gears that come in. Before SV wears, the BRD should be sure to cast Minuet / March again, this time using Trobadour/Nightingale. Don't worry about Ballads, they're a waste of time now. Continue pulling after songs. For Ramparts, if you have MNKs, have one each use Chi Blast on each Rampart, or have your DRK Absorb-TP after a few hits, anything to reduce TP. I like to have our BLMs nuke @ 60% so their nukes go off around 25% (when it forces a TP move providing it has TP). If you cleared it in under 7min (doesn't look too hard with your setup; since you have Ridill, I'm assuming others have similarly pimp gear) QQTH x2 will pop. Kill those and port up to boss.

[Goal: 75-85 minutes total]

7F - If everything went perfectly, you have 15-25 minutes for boss. More if you just plowed through everything, a little less if things were a little slower or, more likely, you're new to the area. He takes about 10 minutes to kill safely, and don't use your Ridill unless it's with Mighty Strikes or something.


First priority in terms of which NMs to skip to save time for you would be 3F QQTH, and possibly the 4F NM (although if you want that many Ares's Cuirasses, you may want Ares's Masks, I don't know). You should be able to comfortably take out all NMs after a few runs, if you don't try for boss.

There, that's the best I can do before heading off to bed.


Edit: For the record, MNK MNK THF WHM BRD RDM can clear 6F in under 6 minutes very reliably if everyone is doing things properly, including 1 treant pop per rampart. We do this regularly. Just make sure melees (including the THF) get gear first. MNKs have to 2hr of course.

[Churchill]

The most annoying part is having to spend a lot of time on the first floor.

Kalia's group ran larger than most people do now and so they were able to do things like kill Archaic Chariot while also killing gears/QQA on 4f.

Sometimes 1F takes 20-25m, sometimes it takes 40-50...those are bad days.

[sleekmotorwurkz]

Wiz thats exactly what I was looking for thanks, but....

If you are going to focus mainly on QQ's then having 2, balanced, 6 person parties may be worth considering. Double the runs and/or half the competition on lots depending how you see it.

6 should be able to do the first 4 rats giving you a chance at 2 deimos and 2 macha's each run.

Take a combination of the groups for other zones, as a single run.

This might be an easy way to start with just our nyzul static until we decide to finish nyzul alltogether and start doing salvage. Any suggestions for run setups?

me - THF/DRK/NIN/MNK/WAR - well geared on all jobs
DRG/MNK/RNG/BLM - Fully geared+merited on all jobs, best gear on drg but mnk close 2nd
WAR/PLD/RNG/BST/BLM - Good gear + merits on war and pld, not sure about the others anymore
WAR/SAM/NIN/RNG - Good gear on war and sam, decent on rng, not so much on nin
RDM/WHM/BLM/BRD/SMN/THF - not sure status on all jobs, but rdm/brd/smn definitely capped and full gear
WHM/DRG - our main whm, probably staying whm.

[aurik]

thf mnk war war brd whm

Would be better if one of the wars could come mnk or support mage.

[sleekmotorwurkz]

Actually one of the wars is working on it, I think mid-60's somewhere, we went out and got his b-kote and then he forgot about xping mnk

[Amastacia]

If you are going to focus mainly on QQ's then having 2, balanced, 6 person parties may be worth considering. Double the runs and/or half the competition on lots depending how you see it.

6 should be able to do the first 4 rats giving you a chance at 2 deimos and 2 macha's each run.

Take a combination of the groups for other zones, as a single run.

Provided you can get a good job split, this is really good advice.

Once you get some experience doing Arrapago, it's very reasonable to do all the NMs with 6, especially with a party setup like the one Aurik suggested. The only choice you have to make is whether you want to do lolflayer or bhoot, but it's not like you can't trade back and forth (and if your luck's anything like ours, you'll probably cap on drops from both long before you finish with QQs).

[Alibeemac]

Hey Sleek,

Have fun doing Nyzul and Salvage in the same week. It is a killer on the APs lol. I've had to give up getting Captain to spam RvB 3 times a week to keep enough APs for Salvage and still do 4 Nyzuls.

Anyway, our Salvage group does 6-man groups all the time. From your setup, I would tend to go with THF, MNK, BLM, SAM, BRD, WHM. This is the identical setup we ran the other night in Zhaloym and cleared 5F and 6F np. Very nice versitile setup.

For Arrapago spam you will definately need your THF. The drop rate on cells suck ass and if our THF aren't in attendance we tend to stick to Bhaf or SSR just cause the lack of cells can suck in the other 2 zones (Zhaloym especially when trying to unlock 5F/6F, no THF for us tends to mean no Range/Rings on 2F therefore a wasted run).

Once you get the hang of the zone you should be able to do the first 4 QQs and Chariot np.

[sleekmotorwurkz]

Well before we started nyzul we were a basic assault group, so for the most part, theres at least one zone where people have accumulated tons of points for they wont use. Im hoping going 1-2 times a week we can scrape by for another month or 2 until we are ready to say goodbye to nyzul and go salvage fulltime. Then we can pick up the few members in our ls that have been trying to get us to convert to salvage, and start spamming.

[fuergrissa]

Hey sleek =). Remarkably arapaggo has been one of our most successfull zones. We dont typically stick to a rigid timeline in salvage like many of the strats I've see on BG, and that probably results in us killing less than were able to most of the time, but full clearing arappago is not that difficult.

1F - We probably farm more than most on the first floor because we are usually mage heavy. Qutrub's enough to get weapons for all the melee and BLM's, Skelles for a few HP, and then clear all the lamia mages on the floor to get mp/magic. Have BRD waiting by port in the NE wing whe nthe last lamia hits the deck port up.

2F Kill the two lamia in the room you start in, then find which wing the QQ is in. BLM sneak/invis and get behind it, with melee's taying in front. Time nuke AM2 usually with 3 blm will take it under 50%, soon as nuke goes off you have to run away to avoid getting one-shotted, (you dont have HP and tier4's or 3's for that matter are dangerous) and the Melee's finish it off. Soon as it's dead somone ports up.

3F - Decide which NM you want on 4F and take appropriate path, the Bhoot is easiest, so for the purpose of a full clear North is the best path. 3BLM and RDM sneak/invis and run all the way up to the room with the porter in it. (this is a lot more difficult on south path from TS flayers) Once you get in the room with the port and the QQ you need to use a particular strategie because the path the QQ will run away through is inconsistant. He will definately run out into the giant room with the bhoot's, and if you follow him as far as possible without aggro he might come back toward port, but very often he will run all the way down to where you ported up from, and can regen without DoT on. Easiest way to do this is to have at least 1 BLM or RDM with abilitys (and SJ if RDM) position yourself just inside casting distance on the side of the QQ toward bhoot's (the direction he will run) Time nuke AM2, ES + Bind and Immediately time nuke Tier 4. That should definately kill it, but if not everyone has MP, it can be tricky. If you fail to kill it just go ahead and port up.

4F - Pull and kill the Big Bhoot' (I dont know if it links or what but our puller hasn't had a problem in the past). Kill the QQ and port up.

5F - Kill the 5 Gears and the rampart to get to the main room. Nuke with Ice, Stay back from tripples if possible, AOE hurts. Pull the chariot and kill it (seems to have a decent enough drop rate). Run back and kill the QQ. After its dead everyone gather around the porter. Pop SV and take care of your bard swaps, and hit the port.

6F - Slaughter fest. Zerg all the gears down, pop 2hrs wherever applicable and save the ramparts for last, nuke with ice, sleep links/reinforcements, and nock them down. Kill the two QQ in whichever order.

We did this run many times this way, with either the Bhoot or the Psycheflayer and it has gone well aside from one or two occasions. Figuring out a good way to save time on 3F took a long time, We couldnt figure out how to keep the QQ coming back to the porter room so we started clearing the first three rooms, leaving everyone there, and send somone to port to start it running, then have everyone chase it back and forth down the path, all of which is a huge waste of time. When we figured out this way to kill it was the first occasion we finished the 6F with a substantail amount of time left, decided to go for MB kill and actually pulled it off.

We usually go in with around 8 people, although lately its been more like 12.

BRD+RDM+WHM+MNK+WAR+THF (tank pt)
BRD+BLMx2-3 (other PT)

And yes it does suck farming that many magic, everythign else is nice though.