Help me start a Limbus linkshell

[Seraph]

For your walkthrough of NE, are you somehow able to figure out which of the mobs/NMs opens the Vortex? For example, "2F Go for the NM boss first." Is there a fast way to figure out which is the primary vortex opening NM? Also, "3F kill big ass robot." There are multiple big robots, is there a way for detecting which one is the vortex opener?

For NE:

For the first floor, the vortex is opened by either the 'big white mandy', the 'big black mandy', or the boss. I know that one opens the vortex, one drops the item chest, and one does nothing. I have not noticed a pattern.

For the second floor, the item chest and vortex will both be given by birds with similar names (the first two encountered greater birds are paired, and the second two large birds are paired.) At worst, you need to kill 3 Greater birds to obtain both the item chest, and the vortex.

For the third floor, the number of 'large pots' and dolls is directly related to the number of parties in your alliance in a 1:1 ratio. If you have 6 members or fewer, you only need to kill the one large pot (for items), and the one doll (for vortex). There will be no other spawns. If you have multiple parties, kill the extra mobs accordingly.

For the fourth floor, the gigas which opens the vortex is random (as far as I can tell). I find Cronos to be the most annoying, since he is immune to melee, so I save him for last since we aren't a BLM intensive shell. The 'large monkey' will drop the item chest. It can wander all over, so i usually grab it once we are done with the Gigas to reduce the chance of getting a bad link. I also usually make it a point to farm the monkeys on this floor if there is time to spare, since there is only one more floor left and i believe each of them drop a coin.

Last floor: The final chest spawns with you kill all the Dhamals. You can skip the Manticores if desired (by running around them on the left side, hugging the wall and opening the chest from behind) , but they drop 2 coins each. if you pull the one manticore on the left from the side, you can separate them and fight them one at a time, which makes it much easier. The final chest can never drop an AF+1 item, only the zone clear chip, and possibly a Silver Chip.

You're Welcome.

[FailureMidgard]

For your walkthrough of NE, are you somehow able to figure out which of the mobs/NMs opens the Vortex? For example, "2F Go for the NM boss first." Is there a fast way to figure out which is the primary vortex opening NM? Also, "3F kill big ass robot." There are multiple big robots, is there a way for detecting which one is the vortex opener?

It sounds like you aren't really getting any time chests for NE and SW floors. Are you just zerging through every floor skipping all time chests?

Thanks in advance. My shell just started doing low man Limbuses and we've been using probably older strats. We typically try to do every run except the BLM one with 5 people, but ideally I think I'd like to get to that 4-man point.

IIRC, the first 2 big birds on 2f are item + vortex, so one of them. 3f only has multiple robots if you are dumb and bring too many people. 1 party = 1 robot, 2 parties = 2 or 3 robots.

NE, should get every chest on every floor. Unless you manaburn, then you're just giving up a free item chest for no reason...should never manaburn that zone unless you only have 3 people to do it IMO. If you're taking 4+, just use melee.

SW is a really shitty zone. You get bad coins/etc. As my post said, I disagree with how he does it. 1st floor, kill 2 fomor, take a chest (I prefer item). 2nd floor, ya, kill boss and port up, it's not worth the time to clear 16 more mobs for 1 chest. 3rd floor, clear, you get all 3 chests for killing like 8-12 mimics. Unless you get -insanely- unlucky (I've never seen it happen) and time is the last chest, you'll end up +coins, +item chest. Worst case, estimate how long it takes to kill 3 elementals, and port up with that much time + 1 minute.

[jimbobsonofgod]

SW is a really shitty zone. Worst case, estimate how long it takes to kill 3 elementals, and port up with that much time + 1 minute.

I agree its probably the worse zone apollyon side hands down but I always rush to the top floor and farm elementals, seem to have at least a 1/2 way decent drop rate on coins and mimics make my balls ache.

[Ned]

SW ...3rd floor, clear, you get all 3 chests for killing like 8-12 mimics.

You can do this even faster by having Person A with ranged attack stand at max (25) ammo range from chest and Person B open it. If its a mimic Person B runs while Person A simply shoots, gets hate even if miss and runs away from chest. Person A is too far to draw in (30+) but has hate so person B is safe too. Then move to next one.

Just make sure you don't have to walk back past the chest again or it'll agro. Once you see the floor layout you can pull them in a certain order so you never have to walk back past them again.

Can clear the floor, getting all 3 chests, in a few mins once you get it down.

[mackerel]

SW can be won easily with 2, BLM/RDM and BRD/WHM, but as stated above this is not a coin farming run.

[Ned]

Omega can be won easily with PLD PLD DD RDM/DRK WHM BRD + BLM BLM BLM/NIN RDM/DRK

BLM/NIN for peeling pods obviously. DD like a SAM for standing mode

Omega dies in 10 mins max if you arent farming chips and just targetting the normal 2 pods(first mode change and last 25%)

Great set up - one of the strengths of a set up like this, or any other low man set up, is limiting Omega's TP. There is quite a difference in frequency of his TP moves even with 1-2 melee on him compared to just tanks. SAM/thf is superb for helping keep hate on tanks so BLM can open up more and always ready to plant a good TAWS on when timer is up on 2 legs.

Even without a DD 3 BLM can do enough damage in 4 leg mode, even from T2-3 nukes & DOT, that fight is done in 10-15 min even if you take it real easy.

When you limit his TP he is so much easier to handle.

[Yugl]

For your walkthrough of NE, are you somehow able to figure out which of the mobs/NMs opens the Vortex? For example, "2F Go for the NM boss first." Is there a fast way to figure out which is the primary vortex opening NM? Also, "3F kill big ass robot." There are multiple big robots, is there a way for detecting which one is the vortex opener?

1st Floor: Goobue/Big Mandys (White/Black) [Random]
2nd Floor: Tiazi that is not next to the portal (The one that has the 2hr chest) [Not Random]
3rd Floor: Take a PT or less and you'll only have one NM [Not random in this case]
4th Floor: Three gigas [Random]
5th Floor: Clear mobs except manticore [Not random]

It sounds like you aren't really getting any time chests for NE and SW floors. Are you just zerging through every floor skipping all time chests?

Thanks in advance. My shell just started doing low man Limbuses and we've been using probably older strats. We typically try to do every run except the BLM one with 5 people, but ideally I think I'd like to get to that 4-man point.

As mentioned earlier:

NW: 2-3 BLMs
NE: 3-4 BLMs (This may or may not take time to learn depending on your LS's skill/leadership)
SW: 2 BLM + BRD (VERY easy to do. Just sleep/nuke stuff. No need to waste members overkilling this)
SE: BRD + RDM or WHM + 2x DD (Ones that can change weapons)

My group tends to lag on SE for some reason (Possibly because the only remaining people for this are DRK/THF and DRK/DRG/BST onry.

[mackerel]

2nd Floor: Tiazi that is not next to the portal (The one that has the 2hr chest) [Not Random]

This is not correct. In my experience it has always been one of the Bailozar, but it can be a Thiazi. The correct big bird is random, but always paired with the bird that drops the chest.

[Yugl]

This is not correct. In my experience it has always been one of the Bailozar, but it can be a Thiazi. The correct big bird is random, but always paired with the bird that drops the chest.

Every single run I've done I've started with that bird (Since we tend to manaburn the zone). 100% Vortex.

[WANG]

Do you ever fight the smaller birds? In all the responses so far, it sounds like you just pull the big bird. If that's the case, do you sleepga the small birds to grab the chest?

[Yugl]

Do you ever fight the smaller birds? In all the responses so far, it sounds like you just pull the big bird. If that's the case, do you sleepga the small birds to grab the chest?

We have one BLM/SCH on the side for Gravity and another BLM/SCH for silence sit on the side while 1-2 BLMs ES + AMII nuke the big bird from max distance. From there you can 2hr + Kite + Nuke the hell out of the big bird. The smaller birds don't link, so once the big bird is dead, you have time to buff up before doing ES + Sleepga II. Grab the 2hr Chest, run to big bird near the portal, Sleepga II (Sleeps minis and aggros big bird), bind big bird, hit the TE, and take the portal.

Edit: That's how you kill the big bird. The mini ones we sleep after killing the big bird.

[Panthera]

There are many problems with trying to keep a Limbus linkshell small. One problem is that if someone doesn't show (and this DOES happen), you might not be able to go at all, and then you run the risk of losing people if you don't go. On the other hand, you choose to go short handed and lose. The fewer people you go with, the smaller the margin of error you have, either with player error or bad luck. Also, you have to account for turnover. People hop servers, go with another group for whatever reason, have RL complications, get what they want and leave, or just quit the game. Don't go into Limbus with the attitude that you have something to prove by doing it with as few as possible. Try to go in with as many as it takes to win consistently. Only low man when you're comfortable with the zones and with your team mates.

You'll have a hard time finding people who 1) still have an interest in Limbus 2) can go during your time frame on both days 3) have the jobs you need 4) have outstanding gear on every slot and are fully merited 5) know what they're doing 6) are team players with good attitudes 7) won't screw you with coins, af+1 materials, chips and chip sets, homam / nashira gear. All of that must come together for a shell with a small roster to work. Realistically, to fill out the roster you'll need people who can only show up a week, might not have maxed out gear and merits, but at least give it their best effort and work well with others.

Try to get people who can do both mage and melee jobs, especially Black Mages. As mentioned, Black Mages can kill do Apollyon NW with small numbers, as well as Temenos West and Temenos 2nd Floor. Further, you'll need them for Omega and *especially* Ultima. Our group uses no melees whatsoever on Ultima, and just use summoners for physical damage. Skillchains are not necessary for blms to do damage, and melees just feed him more tp and are just more people you have to cure. However, melees are good on all the other zones.

Big problem with SW is the fomors have blood agro, link and have party hate. One bad pull and you bring the entire fomor army upon your group. If you do, just focus on killing the chest or portal opener or both. Pick off whatever mobs you have to to get at the ones you need, take your time, and be careful. The Tree floor isn't much fun either; if you're going for the chests, you'll have a lot to kill, and the boss is no pushover. Once you get to the chests floor, you've got it made.

SE is the easier zone; start off with this one. First floor the only problem is Fluid Toss can do a lot of damage; melees CAN NOT get lazy about shadows. Monks are good if they have Vampyric Claws for slashing damage on the crab floor; they'll own the bones floor once they can go back to Destroyers. There's a cluster of crabs in the NE that will need a sleepga. Puller should focus on pulling and not DD at all on the bones floor. Rangers aren't so good at this zone. For the Bones floor, don't move up too much as the bones blood agro from a mile away. Be ready to sleep charmed people on bones floor boss, and hope it's doesn't charm a hundred fisting Monk! Remember to kill everything! or the boss will be very difficult. The Sea Monk boss can be zerged down; get used to a pattern of clearing normal mobs 2 hour on boss and run back to the restore chest.

NE is tricky. Support jobs are your friends. Remember there is no need to clear everything. The Gobbue boss hits VERY hard and can one shot non-Paladins. Sleepga spamming mandies can be annoying. The birds floor can be a pain. Use sushi AND Madrigal, the lesser birds are extremely evasive. Piercing weapons are obviously the way to go. The greater birds also hit hard and have devastating TP moves; worry less about DDing and more about shadowing. The Gigas / monkeys floor is all luck. The trick to the Dhalmel floor is to have mages turn their backs and they won't get hit by conic silence; and have melees spread out, and point the dhalmel away from the mages anyway. Pull the Manticore on YOUR left first, then the second...skip them if you're running short on time.

Temenos North is forgiving in that at least it's the chests are a sure thing. Bring a Paladin to tank the monk types. Have the Paladin a DD take the Summoner to the far end and solo it till it does Astral Flow, then send everyone else in. Tonberry floor can be difficult due to Summoners; can just kill the first THF type and sleep everything in your way and go on up. If you're really after the chests, it's possible to sneak past Tonberries when their backs are turned, but do so in small groups; not everyone at once.

Temenos West is an exercise in luck and knowing when to skip stuff. The Tigers AOE paralyze can shut down the melee party; can just kill one quickly and move on up. Same can be said for Mandragoras. Full clear lizards and beetle floors; kill one slime on slime floor and move on up. How many you kill on Pugil floor is up to how much time you have left.

Temenos East is just a manaburn area. Go for items when you can, time when you must.

Temenos 1st Floor: Use ramps to your advantage; have your tank stand at the side of the ramp, close to the wall so that if mages get agro, they have to walk around and up the ramp. Monks are good against the bone boss, and the souped up Pot stand little chance against them. Only tricky mob is the weapon. Limit the number of melees you have on it so as to avoid feeding it too much TP. Blm damage may be reduced and get resists, but it's better than feeding it too much TP. The eye really isn't that bad if you have a whm.

Temenos 2nd Floor: Rdm/smn to pull the light eles. Remove them from party before the pull. If it's a clean pull, /pcmd add them back. If not, let them die in a safe corner. A Pld/nin with with MDB gear can tank Carby. Whether you fight Shiva or whomever is up to you; it's just more coins.

Temenos 3rd Floor: all the lessers are very easy. The kill order is *critical* for the bosses. Orc is Paladin; kill him first; his defense is high enough as is, your melees will hit for 0 if you fight him last. Kill the Quadov White Mage next. Kill the Yagudo Summoner last. If you're gonna wipe to astral flow, it should be on the last mob you fight so that you're not fighting mobs with built up sleep resistance. A fast kill on the first two are needed, also due to the built up sleep resistances of the bosses.

[Seraph]

We have one BLM/SCH on the side for Gravity and another BLM/SCH for silence sit on the side while 1-2 BLMs ES + AMII nuke the big bird from max distance. From there you can 2hr + Kite + Nuke the hell out of the big bird. The smaller birds don't link, so once the big bird is dead, you have time to buff up before doing ES + Sleepga II. Grab the 2hr Chest, run to big bird near the portal, Sleepga II (Sleeps minis and aggros big bird), bind big bird, hit the TE, and take the portal.

Edit: That's how you kill the big bird. The mini ones we sleep after killing the big bird.

Should be noted that the small birds do not link with the larger bird, but they do link with each other.

[liquinas]

Best advice for limbus, business ventures, and just life in general when dealing with other people:

Always assume people are morons until they prove you otherwise.

When you don't follow this rule, the "we can do eet" effect occurs in which a ridiculously good player beats [insert fight here] with let's say a super pimp mnk with years of tanking experience on nin and pld, etc... Then random noob sees strat online, invites a full AF mnk using a staff because "we can do eet guys says on BG a mnk can tank it"

Case in point don't expect to be sending 2 blms you picked up by shouting to duo behemoth and be successful. See who sucks and who doesn't before you do this type of thing.

[TybudX]

There are many problems with trying to keep a Limbus linkshell small. One problem is that if someone doesn't show (and this DOES happen), you might not be able to go at all, and then you run the risk of losing people if you don't go.

Actually, this is the only problem, and it will never, ever happen if you (the 'leader') don't suffer from retardation.

Ten people in you shell? That's three zones. Only six show up? That's two zones. Not enough people to do a planned boss (lol, never happens)? Put chips on other people for the next set. And for the love of god, if you have ten people and doing any single zone hinges on one or two people showing up, just stop. You are an idiot who let all his DRK buddies join a Limbus group, expecting a single BRD and/or WHM and/or RDM and/or BLM to carry your group, in which case, you suffer from retardation.

Or, you know... you could have 20+ members, take screenshots, do points, maintain a website, deal with new morons when old morons leave, have people who only show up for boss fights, listen to people whine, bitch, complain...

Yes, there certainly are a lot of problems associated with having a small group to do Limbus with. Like who to sell your 11th pair of Homam pants to, and which piece of af to upgrade next.

[Yugl]

Actually, this is the only problem, and it will never, ever happen if you (the 'leader') don't suffer from retardation.

Ten people in you shell? That's three zones. Only six show up? That's two zones. Not enough people to do a planned boss (lol, never happens)? Put chips on other people for the next set. And for the love of god, if you have ten people and doing any single zone hinges on one or two people showing up, just stop. You are an idiot who let all his DRK buddies join a Limbus group, expecting a single BRD and/or WHM and/or RDM and/or BLM to carry your group, in which case, you suffer from retardation.

Or, you know... you could have 20+ members, take screenshots, do points, maintain a website, deal with new morons when old morons leave, have people who only show up for boss fights, listen to people whine, bitch, complain...

Yes, there certainly are a lot of problems associated with having a small group to do Limbus with. Like who to sell your 11th pair of Homam pants to, and which piece of af to upgrade next.

Chances are a majority of your members will be morons when starting off. It's not beneficial to cancel runs simply because of the six people you decided to recruit, only one is competent. Mass recruit them trim as you continue.

What he says is true when it comes to times where people are busy (The few weeks before holidays/Summer/Winter).

[FailureMidgard]

Yes, there certainly are a lot of problems associated with having a small group to do Limbus with. Like who to sell your 7th pair of Homam pants to, and which piece of af to upgrade next.

fixed.

Low-man limbus is decent income too. While doing everything else, you can expect ~75-100k profit per run from coins alone.

[TybudX]

We had 4 pairs rolled back.

edit - Jokes aside, yes, I'd love to take 6 people into Omega every 2nd or 3rd run (stupid gunpods dropping shit). We still do Ultima for drops though, so no dice on that end.

[jimbobsonofgod]

Been doing limbus since the day it started And the only real problem i've had member wise is.
WHM's.

So Treat them nice, cause chance has it, they'll be first to go, and you'll gotta replace.

Seems to be the biggest problem with most groups these days

Finding whms who are willing to play whm, that don't suck at whm.

[ringthree]

My LS is an Apollyon-Specific LS, so I cannot give instructions if you intend to do Temenos as well, but here are a few points for the Apollyon side:

1. BLM. With Apollyon, the more BLMs you have, the better. This goes for BRDs as well, but BLMs will be the major key. To give you an example of what I mean:

NW: 2-3 BLM
NE: 3-4 BLM
SW: 2 BLM + BRD
SE: Melee zone

Scholars work as well for some of those zones, but for NE, you really want BLMs in order to aga dhalmals.

2. Do not start with L-Man groups. Most people here will tell you that X Zone is possible with Y men. True, you *can* do these zones with less than normal amount of people, but considering you're starting the shell, and you're doing pick-ups, it's highly risky business. I'll even admit that after almost half a year, some people in my LS are clueless as to what is needed/where/plans for each zone.

3. Know your goal. Are you hoping to make this a permanent shell or a static for a specific shell? For me, it was more of a static, so I'm very strict on recruitment. If you plan to make it into a static instead of a LS, I gradually building your shell over mass recruitment. Over time, people will leave and some will use the LS to get certain pieces before ditching (Homam legs is the common one for Apollyon). Most of the people who do this are those with 2/4 or 3/4 Homam pieces (Note: Helm is not Homam). If you plan on making it into a continuing LS, then feel free to mass recruit and boot members as necessary. Even if it turns out that every member you picked up is good, you can still farm multiple zones for multiple chips.

4. Educate your members about each of the zones. I myself need to start cracking down on this. It's fine to receive questions about "Which teleport goes where?!" or "What monsters does XX Zone have?!" at the start, but it gets ridiculous later on. It's a simple fact that knowledge about each zone and the strategies associated with each allows your members to play more efficiently and adapt easily. It's especially important for zones like NE or SE where you need specific items that you wouldn't ordinarily need (Ranged Attack for BLM/SCH at NE and different Weapon types for SE).

5. Win your firsts. By this I mean whatever zone you're doing for the first time, you must win it. Not completing a zone will look really bad and drive away members. If it happens later on, it's usually something random that you couldn't account for (Like both Tanks + BRD DCing during Omega!)

6. Technicalities. Fix your schedule, and get your rules straight as early as possible. It's very difficult to change rules/schedule after the LS is running. You'll run into a lot of complaints about past rulings if you don't establish them thoroughly from the start. One advice I can give you is tiering your points system by time of arrival. If they're early-on time, give them more points than those who arrive late. If they arrive super late, give them even less points.

7. REMIND MEMBERS TO GET SOAP EACH RUN. I cannot stress this enough. People forget, and people will ruin runs because they do not bring their soap. Ever try Omega with one tank and no BRD? Not fun. Simple reminds of soap/items will go ways to preventing people from ruining runs.

Outside of the party set-ups (I personally feel that you can do all of the zones with melee as well as BLM burn) this is some incredible advice.

The people that are suggesting low mans have literally years of experience. It is very easy to become frustrated if you fail because you don't have enough people at the beginning. Work on learning the zones and teaching your members first, then start worrying about low-manning once you know everyone knows the zones like the back of their hands. You can always do split runs later down the road and you will be able to farm up Omega and Ultima sets faster that way.