User talk:ShadowKatze/Salvage

Ventrillo is a better system in that it is clearer and we can have a private server. I currently have a server rented. Cost is pretty low ($6 a month for 15 users). I will let those interested know the settings/password. If you have no access to a PC, you can not use the vent system. This is fine, but the more people we can get on voice to talk the better the runs will go (with the exception for random chatter). You an use this system if you play on PC either full screen or window mode. It runs as a backgruond program. If you play on Xbox or PS then you would need a PC in the room with you to access it, but we have several doing that. ShadowKatze 17:22, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
Xbox users can talk to Terrous or Balivia about chat on there. I would rather have you vent directly, but that is also an option.

Our group has the following people going for the following sets. Under each set, members are listed by timed served. Names in () are main on another set, but 2/3 on certain pieces they want from other sets. If a Primary/Secondary has a ? by it, that means I think that is what you want, but you need to tell me for sure.
Ares:
Balivia (Head 15-25, Body DONE, Hands 15-25, Legs DONE, Feet DONE) Primary ?hands? Secondary ?head?
Exotic (FULL ARES DONE)
(Shadowkatze Head 15-25 Body DONE Hands 15-25, Legs DONE Feet DONE)
(Motograder Head 15-25)

Skadi:
Motograder (Head 25, Body 15-25, Hands 0, Legs 15-35, Feet DONE) Primary USU LEGS Secondary ARES FEET
(Shadowkatze Head DONE Hands DONE Legs DONE Feet 15-25)
(Punishr Feet DONE)
(Brido Feet DONE)

Usukane:
Exotic (Head 15-35, Body 15, Hands ???, Legs 15-35, Feet ???) Primary HEAD Secondary Legs?
Punishr (FULL USUKANE DONE) Will Lot Skadi
Brido (FULL USUKANE DONE) Will lot Ares?
Terrous (FULL USUKANE DONE) Will Lot Ares?
(Shadowkatze Head 15-25 Body 15-25 Hands 15-25, Legs DONE Feet 15-25)

Morrigan:
Psycosmic (FULL MORRIGAN DONE) Will Lot Usukane?
Mishakal (Head 15-25, Body 15-35, Hands 15-25, Legs DONE, Feet 15-25) Primary BODY Secondary HANDS
Shadowkatze (Head 15-25, Body DONE, Hands 25, Legs DONE, Feet 15-25) Primary USU BODY Secondary HANDS

Marduk:
Shadowkatze (FULL MARDUK DONE)
Mishakal (FULL MARDUK)

General Idea: We apparently need a system. This is the one the people I have talked to want. If you don't like it, or have questions, please let me know and we can work on it some more.

Each person should pick 2 items to lot. Your Primary Target and Secondary target. They should also pick a main set they want. Once you reach your Primary Target you can replace it with your Secondary Target or you can choose another peice of gear.
NOTE: There will be no changing your Primary and Secondary lots, once they are set thats the way it is until you reach that target.

Level 15 gear: Anyone attending can lot the level 15s from their set regardless of time in group. This is due to the greater frequency at which 15s drop and the fact many are forced pops with 100% drop rate. For Card popped NMs, the person trading the card has first right to the drop if it is from their set. They could also designate a person wanting that set as main to get the drop, if they wished. If they do not want/need the piece, it goes to the rest of the people seeking that set and then finally to free lot (although rarely pop card NMs without a reason). Most runs are not geared toward seeking 15s specifically, because they are easy to obtain if you have the other pieces. If someone becomes 2/3 on a piece without getting the 15, it is my feeling that the next run should target that 15 specifically to complete a piece, but not my decision.

Level 25 gear:
If you can beat the Boss then there shouldn't be an issue, as the boss guarantees 2 drops. If needed instead of free lotting and for the purpose for completing gear, this is the proposed order:
1: Primary target & 2/3
2: Secondary target & 2/3
3: Primary target or Secondary target or 2/3 in designated set.
4: Designate Set.
5: 2/3 Nondesignated set.
6: Anyone else.

Level 35 gear: This is where the problems arise, since the NMs are easy to pop and kill, but drop rates suck. Here is the proposed order.
1: Primary target & 2/3
2: Secondary target & 2/3
3: Primary target or Secondary target
4. 2/3 in designated set.
5: Designate Set.
6: 2/3 Nondesignated set.
7. Will upgrade piece.
8: Anyone else.
NOTE: In the case of two or more people being tied for Priority, Time served will take precident. "Time served" is the amount of runs you have been on without receiving or after recieving your last completed piece of gear. When you receive all three pieces for a set, your time served is reset.

Alexandrite: With the 9/9/8 patch, Alexandrite has become much more plentiful. Now that the average number of drops has jumped from 1-5 to 20-40, and especially since they drop in pouches now, I feel it would be fairer to pool the alexandrite and split it evenly after the run. Those in the LS that want it for mythic weapons could then buy it from the other members at an ageeed upon price. Personally, I feel this price should be set at slightly below market average. Currently if we do a run with only singles dropping they remain free lot with the understanding that if you win one you will pass the rest until everyone gets one (which usually won't happen if we only get singles). On runs that drop pouches, I will lot all the Alex (including singles) and divide them evenly at the end of the run (/random for extras, which I pass on as a general rule). We are also not allowing those getting items they want on the run (25s or 35s) to share the Alex split. This makes it fairer for people that come just for the Alex such as Aldavis.
Final notes:Several in our group would like to obtain more than one set, however, in the interest of fairness, we only allow the lotting on one set, with 2 exceptions. First, if everyone with that set as main has the item, it goes to free lot. Second, if a person wish to have one set as their main, but an item(s) from another set(s) as their priority item(s), I am fine with this. If no main/priority lotters need/want a piece it then becomes free lot to the entire group including any new people. I would like to add that free lot does not mean grabbing stuff for no reason. If you do not plan to get the salvage armour for a given set you should not lot. If you do not want a piece, just pass it and let it fall to someone who may use it. I will say that since most level 15 pieces get passed by people, it is fine to just not lot pieces you probably won't upgrade. If they auto drop to you, obviously no one else had an interest and they are not bad pieces to use when leveling subs. As we beat more bosses (AR is somewhat like this now) this will also apply to unwanted 25s. However, please ask before lotting a piece not in you main set.
Our focus had been on obtaining the level 35 drops with some success. We have collected a fair amount of incidental level 15 drops in this process. Our current focus has shifted to include boss runs (farming 35s when short of jobs for boss) which we are starting to show some success with. Obviously this is a long term project and only people willing to commit to that time frame should come. To date we have 12 completed salvage pieces (4 bodies) and 20+ pieces that are 2/3.

Current group is as follows (Italics have not run with us for over a month, Bold are ones missing only rarely and with notice). I have noted some that can only attend 1 run per week normally:
Terrous MNK (WAR)
Baliva WAR (DRG, BLU)Saturday Mainly
Psycosmic RDM (BLU, BLM, THF, BRD, WHM, SMN, NIN)
Shadowkatze BRD (RDM, BLM, WHM, SMN, PLD, NIN, DRK, THF, SAM, WAR)
Brido MNK (BLM, THF, SAM, SMN, PLD, RNG, WAR) Saturday mainly
Aldavis WHM (RDM, MNK, SMN, SCH)
Exotic WAR (DRK, NIN, SAM)
Punishr PUP (MNK, BRD, SAM, RNG, COR)
Mishakal BLM (WHM, SMN, WAR)
Magis THF (DRG, SMN) This a 2 box character with Mishakal.
Crazyjuice RNG
10 is to many for some of runs, but not often that all show up on same night. People without anything to gain from run will not be held to blame from passing for the night if their job can be replaced and the run is a lowman effort to target a specific item (this means the ZR 15s mainly, but applies to a number of runs since 85 cap in place).

Each run is a little different for Cell order, so I'll note that in the individual runs as I go, but this is a simple list of what each does. Also please note that since the update, they now say what they do on them.
Incus=Weapons/Shield
Undulatus=Range/Ammo
Castellanus=Head/neck
Cumulus=Body
Radiatus=Hands
Virga=Rings/Earrings
Cirrocumulus=Back/Belt
Stratus=Legs/Feet
Duplicatus=SubJob
Opacus=JobAbilities/WeaponSkills
Praecipitatio=Magic
Humilus=HP
Spissatus=MP
Pannus=STR
Congestus=VIT
Fractus=DEX
Nimbus=AGI
Pileus=MND
Velum=INT
Mediocris=CHR

Chests are a little more straight forward. Most have minor items that can help, but all the toys from Besieged are available if you are lucky. All are temp items so you might as well use them. However, since they are R/E, be sure you take only the ones you can actually benefit from. The following is a list and my idea of who should get them. Please note these generally say what they do on them as well, although sometimes power is unclear (like refesh per tick and such)
Assassin's Drink = Magical ACC boost - BLMs should get and save for NMs. After BLM, I would say BLU, SCH, RDM, BRD, Free.
Barbarian's Drink = ATT bonus - Melee DDs starting with tank. Save for NM.
Body Boost = 50% extra HP - Melee DDs starting with Tank. After DDs, Healers then Nukers. WHM with Devotion/Martyr should get as first healer for those abilities. Save for NM. Especially nice for Megaboss runs.
Braver's Drink = +15 to all stats - Melee DDs starting with Tank. After DDs, Nukers then Healers. Save for NM.
Champion's Drink = Crtitical Hit Rate boost - Melee DDs starting with tank. Save for NM.
Cleric's Drink = AoE Negative Status Remover - Melee or Buffer should get first to remove effects on Melees during NM fights. It will remove most ailments, but not all (such as charm)
Dusty Elixir = 25% HP&MP - BLM first then Main heal followed by BLU then free. Use as needed, but try to save for NM.
Dusty Ether = 150 MP - BLM, Healers, Magic DDs. Use as needed. If extra in chest, use and grab one for the road.
Dusty Potion = 300 HP - Melees & Puller first. Use as needed. There are almost always extras so be sure to check chests again if backtracking. If no backtracking planned, all should take one.
Dusty Reraise = Reraise 3 (10-15 minute duration) - Melees and puller first. Save for NM or sac pulls, because of sort duration. All mages should have reraise of some sort up anyway is why I would give this to the others first.
Dusty Wing = 300 TP - DDs. Great for Self Skill chain. Save for NM.
Fanatic's Drink = Invincible to Physical damage - Melee DDs starting with Tank. Save for NM. Especially nice for Megaboss runs.
Fighter's Drink = ACC bonus - Melee DDs starting with tank. Save for NM.
Fool's Drink = Invincible to Magical Damage - Melee DDs starting with Tank. Save for NM. Megaboss damage is generall covered under physical damage regardless of the animations.
Gnostic's Drink = Enmity down - Healers and Range/Magic DDs. Who gets first is dependent on situation. For what I've seen, RDM seems to need the most, then BLM. Save for NM.
Healing Powder = Curaga 2 effect - Melee or Buffer should get first to use on Melees during NM fights or whenever it is called for.
Hermes Quencher = Flee effect - Situational but usually Puller or whoever loses the vote on the sac pulls should get first. Use as needed, but remembr it gives medicated effect.
Mana Boost = 50% extra MP - Healers then magic DDs. Save for NM. Especially nice for megaboss runs A RDM with body & mana boost has almost unlimited MP due to convert.
Mana Powder = 25% MP to those in area - Any mage. Use on NM or if needed sooner.
Megaelixir = Full MP/HP. Healers, Nukers, Melees. Save for NMs. Especially nice for boss runs, but quite rare.
Monarch's Drink = TP regain of 1 per second for 3 mintues - DDs starting with tank (on Megaboss run, back up DDs can use this better for run in WS strat). Save for NM.
Oracle's Drink = Magic ATT bonus - BLMs should get and save for NMs. After BLM, I would say BLU, SCH, RDM, Free.
Revitalizer = (Very Rare Item) Resets all ability timers - COR should get first (2x Wild Card). Then MNKs (2x Hunderd Fists) or other main DD. After that BRD, then the other melee DDs followed range/magic DDs and lastly healers (if you need multiple benedictions, things are going pretty poorly). Definitely save for NM. Great for Megaboss runs. Make sure people taking these have JAs unlocked (or will have)
Shephard's Drink = Heals Your Pet - PUP is primary pet job in Salvage. After that DRG, BST, SMN, /SMN. No one else should really need. On our runs typically only person that can use is /SMN.
Soldier's Drink = ATT bonus - Melee DDs starting with tank. Save for NM.
Spy's Drink = 30% Haste for 3 minutes - Melee DDs starting with tank. Save for NM. It's nice if you can tell the mage healing you when you use it and when it wears so they don't haste you during it.
Strange Juice = Refresh 3 per tick for 3 minutes - WHM, BLM, BLU, RDM, free (SCH or /SCH can't use this if sublimation active). Use as needed but try to save for NM, especially if it is a megaboss run. Nice to tell your RDM when you activate it and when it ends so they don't refresh you during.
Strange Milk = Regen 5/tick for 3 minutes - Melees and puller first. Use as needed. I find it the most valuable on the early floors when MP low and on bosses for support jobs to save healers MP.
Vicar's Drink = Remove Multiple negative status effects from self - Melee's first then healers (for silence). Use as needed.

This is all the items I have seen in chests, so unless SE adds new ones or there are super rare items, that covers the list.

This run is very exact about cell drops. This was obviously designed as a 6 person run where everyone is mostly unlocked.
Chest has:
2 Weapons - Main DDs. You will get 4 more of these by clearing the first room in each wing so a party of 6 will all get them. Give them to DDs in order of damage output (including BLMs). If you want more, clear the Puk wing to farm them.
1 Subjob - Main heal, assuming you are using a RDM/WHM or a WHM/SMN. Otherwise BLM or SMN for /WHM or tank for /NIN. You will get 4 more clearing the same rooms as above and more can be farmed by clearing the bugard wing. They should go to /heal and /NIN.
1-2 Job Abilities (1 shared with Magic)- Main tank/DD, second DD. You will get 4 more as with the above cells and extras are farmed in the Raptor wing. A party of 6 will get should have everyone unlocked except a BLM (everyone if 2 are in chest). Order is by physical DDs since they also unlock weapons skills. RDM should get convert after DDs, and WHM is after RDM.
1-2 Magic Use (1 shared with JA) - Main heal. You will get 4 more as above. Getting 2 in the box is rarer than getting 2 JA cells. If you need more, farm the Ziz wing. A party of 6 will have 5 for sure possibly 6. If no one can live without magic, consider holding 1 to duplicate on the next floor rather than farming. After Main heal cells should go to any magic DDs then /NINs. Back up healer would be last.
Last 4 box drops are random so I will discuss the cell types by floor:
F1: As covered above. These drops are SJ, WS/JA, Magic, Weapon. Once you leave this floor do not plan on getting any further drops. Every room has 2 droppers and 2 non droppers. The first room of each wing drops 1 of each type, but then the rest of that wing drops only 2 of the given type per room.
F2: All gear cells (other than melee weapon) drop here. Once you leave this floor do not plan on getting any further drops. For reference, the drop pattern in each room is the same. The group at the door will have 1 drop. The group to the left of the door (towards back of room) will have 2 drops. The group to the right of the door (towards the back of the room) will have 1 drop. Each drop will be 2 of a set type (by room) with TH possibly generating a body piece (and in the NE room rings & ranged).
Body - These are random drops for all dropping mobs on this floor (meaning TH helps). Main Tank/DD, then DDs, then anyone with refresh on a body piece, and finally free lot.
Range/Ammo - These are random drops in the NE room (TH helps). BRD, Puller (if not BRD), RNG, then free. Note on a frog hunt to make sure the 3 main people get these. Duplication is an option.
Rings/Earrings - These are random drops in the NE room (TH helps a lot). Main Tank/DD, Then DDs (all types), then Healers (refresh ring would move them ahead of DDs). Note on a frog hunt to make sure the 3 main people get these first as they are usually the rarest drops. Duplicating is always an option.
Belt/Back - 8 drop in the NE room. This is usually the room cleared on a frog hunt so everyone can have. Main Tank/DD, DDs, Mages.
Hands - 8 drop in the SE room, although generally you won't clear this room. THF (for TH4) Main Tank/DD, DDs, Free (unless someone has exceptional gear) after main 3 on frog hunt.
Legs/Feet - 8 drop in the SW room, but who wants to kill that many Wyverns. Main Tank/DD, DDs, THF (for Flee with AF) after main 3 on frog hunt, Free.
Head/Neck - 8 drop in the NW room, but again with the wyverns. Main Tank/DD, DDs, RDM (with refresh hat), Free after main 3 on frog hunt.
F3: Only the mobs to the west drop cells. They drop all the stat cells and also the MP/HP cells. The MP & HP cell rates are affected by TH. On a frog hunt the main 3 should get all cells first (including MP even if they have no MP). I will list the following however more for a boss run (or after main 3 unlocked).
HP - Main tank/DD, Melee DDs, Puller, Main heal, Any remaining DDs, Free.
MP - Main heal, Any Magic DDs, Back up heal, Free.
STR - Main Tank/DD, Melee DDs, Range DDs, Free.
VIT - Main Tank/DD, Melee DDs, Main heal, Free.
DEX - Main Tank/DD, Melee DDs, Range DDs, Free.
AGI - Main Tank/DD, Range DDs, Melee DDs, Free.
INT - Magic DDs, Enfeblers, Weapons Skills based on INT(?), Free.
MND - Main heal, Back up heals, Weapon Skills based on MND(?), Free.
CHR - BRD, DNC, Weapon Skills based on CHR(?), Free.
F4-F6: Mobs on these floors have a low percentage chance (even with TH) of droping random cells. If you are relying on this to get cells you are probably screwed.

This run requires a THF (for Treasure Hunter) to get enough drops on F2 and to get drops fast enough on F3. It is also a low man run. 6 is perfect and once you go over 8, it slows you down too much to complete all the frogs. However, depending on your goals, this may not be a problem. This run will describe how to equip a party of 6, but I will note where the other cells can be found if you need more. This area is very uniform about cells, so if you don't get one of an available kind before going to the next level you are out of luck. NOTE THE DAY YOU ENTER, as this will be needed later and frogs will all be immune to that element (so do not go on thunderday because immune to stun sucks).
Cell drops for 6-7 person frog hunt
Cell drops are listed in run, but here is a quick overview.
F1
Weapon - 2 from box to main DDs (nonMNK first). 1 from each of the first 4 rooms to other DDs then mages. On a 6 person run, everyone will have.
SJ - 1 from box to RDM for /WHM. 1 From each of the first 4 rooms to /NIN then /WHM. 5 people will get.
Magic - 1-2 from box to RDM then BRD. 1 each from each of the first 4 rooms to mages then /NIN. 5 for sure and if you need more farm another room of Ziz. Stun is a must, so make sure DRK gets one if present.
JA - 1-2 from box to MainDDs. 1 from each of the first 4 rooms to DDs, THF, BRD, RDM. 5 for sure and if you need more farm another room raptors. Make sure at least 3 people get all 4 cell types. For us it's the 2 main DD and healer.
F2
Gear - Any from box is bonus and goes to DDs. All gear is main 2 DDs then RDM. Should get 4 of each type, plus Belts/Backs and Body for all and a random number of rings and range. 4th Feet&Hands go to THF. 4th & 5th range goes to BRD then THF. 4th of other gear goes to refesh gear then free.
F3
Stats - Any from box is bonus and goes to DDs (except MP to RDM). Alls stats (including MP) go to main 2 DDs then RDM then free.
F1: Since the latest "tweak" to salvage, this run is altered somewhat. There is no longer much reason to pop the F1 frog so we will be skipping that. For reference, you pop him by having no one use cells until one entire wing of mobs is cleared (used to be easier). Every room has 4 mobs. 2 will drop cells. 2 will not. Treasure Hunter does not effect drops on this floor. If possible, leave any mobs in the room after getting 2 that drop. The exception to this will follow. There is a mamool gaurding each wing in the hall after the first room of that wing. Killing him will generate a chest, but no cells. The first room of each wing will drop 1 SJ, 1 JA, 1 Magic, & 1 Weapon Cell (2 cells from each dropper). The rest of the wing will drop 2 cells of the same type in each room. The best plan to farm extras with a bigger group is to send a few people (a BLU and a healer can duo) to the hallway passed the second room and then pull mobs from rooms 2 & 3 in that wing. They will need sneak/invis to get to this location and back.
Room 1: Puks. Clear this room. If you need extra weapons, head east until you have enough. Otherwise head North.
Room 2: Ziz(DO NOT silence them unless you like dying, this includes WSs). If you need more magic, head north until you have enough (note that your 2 main DDs should get magic even if they cannot use it). Otherwise head West.
Room 3: Raptors. If you need more JAs head West until you have enough. Otherwise head South.
Room 4: Bugard. If you need more SJs head South until you have enough. Once these first 4 rooms are clear, farm any additional cells needed while sending one person with sneak to the NE warp. Warp when all cells needed are found.
F2: 3 People need to be fully unlocked for this run (in a low man run I'm assuming everyone got each type of cell on F1), so before run you should designate a lot order for gear and stats. I would go with 2 main melees (or maybe your RNG) and the main heal. Gear/stats after that would be free lot for those that can use.
Room 1: Kill everything starting to the south of pad and circling to the west. Make sure to have treasue hunter on these mobs (THF MUST HIT EVERY MOB). Lot, but do not use any ring and/or range cells until you are sure your 3 main people will have enough. You should get 8 back/belt cells but a random number of the other 2 as well as random body cells.
When all lizards are dead, a Mamool will pop. Kill him. He will also drop cells of these same types and a chest.
After looting the chest, trade the type of cell you want more of the Socket here. This will pop a Frog Madame. Notes on fighting frogs. Healers need to back out of range of Waterbomb. It does heavy damge (barwatera) and silence (echo drops a must for all). She also has AoE charm. Charm has bigger radius than water bomb so try to be close enough to be charmed but not so close you are silenced. With the latest update charm is again a killer so make sure to keep DoTs on the frog to avoid her regening while everyone is charmed. If possible a range DD (THF or BRD would work for this) should stay out of range of charm so that they can kite the frog and anyone charmed. Also there is an easy quest in whitegate for a locket that will resist charm. Not a bad idea for frog fights. BLM should attempt to stun any large ~ga spells (single target spells should be absorbed by shadows). It should be noted that Madames can cast Death, which just sucks. When killed she will drop 2x the cells you traded (not affected by TH). Head south out of room and then south to SE wing.
Room 2. Sneak past lizards at start of room and kill the 3 in the NE corner (only 2 of these drop anything, so if you get lucky, let the third one live). You will get 4 Hand cells and random body cells (extra to THF for TH4). Sneak back out of room and head west to the SW wing.
Room 3: Invis past Wyverns at start and kill the three (again only 2 drop) in the SE corner. You will get 4 Feet/Legs cells and random body cells. Best to give the extra feet cells to THF for extra flee time on AF (see why later). Invis back out of room and head North to NW wing.
Room 4: You can have 1 person stay at the porter to save time if you are confident in your group. Invis past Wyverns at start and kill the three in the SW corner (again 2 drop). You will get 4 Head/Neck cells and random body cells. If not there, someone should head for the porter now. At this point your 3 main people should be fully geared (including range and weapon), have magic (even if unneeded), have SJ, & have JA.
There is a slot in this room to trade the SSR Card to. When party ready pop this mob and kill it. Sleep any wyvern that aggro on pull or during fight. The Skadi 15 Body drop is 100%. Fighting the imp burns time, but is required since the latest update. If you do not have a SSR Card, you must pop the F1 frog to reach the F6 frog, but really not worth it in my opinion. As soon as imp dies, warp.
F3: Head West. Cells drop fast here, so being able to lot fast and still fight fast is essential. IF you can only do one, please choose FIGHT, as the cells can be sorted out later and the deaths slow us down. Each small room contains 4 mamools of the same type. The final big room has 12 of mixed types. Each mamool usually (not 100%) drops 3 stat cells (all the same) with a chance to drop a HP and/or a MP cell (Completely dependent on TH). Again let you main three get the first 3 of each type. This applies to MP EVEN if they don't use MP. It's most important for these 3 to lot their cells fast as most likely a lot of cells will auto drop. Don't worry about using the cells as much as fighting (HP cells the most important, but not getting others killed is more important).
Room 1 in NIN mobs. Room 2 is DRGs. Room 3 is BSTs. The fastest way is to pull all 4 mobs and sleepga, but be careful on the pet mobs. You should easily have all stats unlocked for your main 3 by the time you clear these 3 rooms. Have one of them hold a cell for later that they do not need (such as MP for MNK). In main room be more careful about links, but still pull groups and sleepga as possible. Speed is important.
When all are dead kill the rampart (store TP on last mobs to make this quicker).
Now send one person with invisible back east (very important to use that warp pad). They will follow that path east past the start, then north, then west, then south to a door and the exit (THIS IS NORTH WARP PAD). The rest of the group should kill the Frog Madame that spawns when the rampart dies (she is non aggro so rest if needed). She will drop 5 each of MP and HP cells. Warp immediately as time will be getting short.
F4: 1 Person heads east to the exit (least damage should go so probably a healer). The rest head west and invis past the room full of mamools. You can start sorting out any extra cells now, but have 1 of the 3 fully unlocking people continue to hold the last stat cell they need to unlock (if they forget and unlock that's ok too, just a little safer the other way). If for some reason you screwed up and do not have 3 people fully unlocked, the mamools have a low chance to drop HP/MP cells and the frogs in the room north of the start have a very low chance to drop random cells. However, this is usually not worth it at all and you should be looking to farm gears for cards and alexandrite on F5 at this point. Party will find 4 numbered ramparts in room after mamools. You must kill one to unlock exit. Which depends on the day you entered. Fire/Earth = 1, Water/Wind = 2, Ice/Lightning = 3, Light/Dark = 4. It can call a marid to help, but just sleep it and warp as soon as rampart dies.
F5: Finish sorting cells (still hold last to unlock) and buff. Head north into the hall. Have THF enter the room to the west and aggro (truesound&linking) all 8(!) gears mobs and train them back to the start using perfect dodge as needed. The rest of the party runs into the room and then south to the room with the ramparts (non aggro). Party should head for the SW corner (if frog up, carefully). When THF hits the start room he hits flee and loses aggro on the gears by out running them to the party. They should lose aggro in the room they started in (or slightly before), if this was done correctly.
At this point the last person to be fully unlocked should use their stat cell. This pops the Frog Madame, so if it was used prior to this she will be up when you enter the room. Kill her as you did the previous ones (less room for kiting charm though). The ramparts are non aggro, but if you hit one with a spell you are probably screwed. Sleep it and hope you get charmed before it wakes up (there is a chance it will reset while you are charmed, but you still need to pull fight out into hall at this point). Remember to limit the melees on the NMs. When she dies she drops 0-3 of the following level 35 Pieces: Marduk Body, Skadi Legs, Usukane Hands. Low drop rate here as with all 35s.
After frog is dead, THF needs to head to the exit. Have Reraise up. Use Flee as needed (thus the AF boots). I like to have 1-2 others follow the THF in case he doesn't make it all the way to the door, but if he has reraise he can probably still reach after getting back up. Those following should have reraise and sneak up (a few of the mobs are not truesound). The first room is the same mobs the THF trained earlier. Head west and south from there and pick up a second room of gears and a rampart. Head West and South from the room to the main room. There will be a bunch more gears and a chariot here. Exit door is to the east (behind the chariot). The door will ask if you want thru (duh, why you think I clicked on you?) so if solo you must get it open before dying. The warp also asked if you are done here (this I get a little more). If others following, THF can just kite around the main room while they open the door and warp. Chariot is sound aggro, the rest are truesound. The risk here is that if the THF loses aggro (or dies) before getting to the main room, the gears can head back and catch the followers (which is why I send 2).
F6: You appear in a large mostly empty room. There is a chariot, but he is non agrro (see boss run for info on it). To the south will be the final Frog Madame. This frog is only present IF you killed 4 others NMs (Madames and Imp count). Kill her as normal. When she dies she will drop 0-3 of the following level 35 Pieces: Marduk Head, Ares Feet, Morrigan Feet. If you have time left after this, you had an amazing run. If you have 30+ minutes left (possible with skill, luck, and practice), check out the boss run below if you want to try that as well. Otherwise, firefly.

There are 3 other frogs to fight for gear and a possible alternative to popping the F6 frog. However, these frogs exclude the other runs for the most part (possible exceptions noted), so are only useful if people need a specific item to complete a set. I will list them separately for this reason. Please note that when I say farming cards it means that all mechs in this area can drop the ZR card that is used to pop the NM dropping the level 15 Ares AND Morrigan bodies in SSR.
F1 FROG This frog can drop any of the 15s that drop in this area, but it is totally random. Since the latest "tweak" SE made, it is no longer possible to pop this frog using the log out method. Therefore no one in the run may use cells until one entire wing of F1 is cleared, including the frog Gent that will pop when the wing is cleared. This makes this frog a waste of time in my opinion, so we will not be talking that much about him.
F3 FROG A larger group can do this run if you want. Have them split as soon as possible into 2 groups able to farm cells to increase speed on F1 and F2.
F1: Stays the same as frog hunt.
F2: On this floor you can stay until everyone is geared if you want (I hate fighting wyverns, but that's me), but time will not be an issue. Pop frog madame and Jakko the imp if desired.
F3: If you have 2 groups, one goes west to farm stats and HP/MP cells and the other goes east. With just one group check your time and farm west until you have HP/MP or until you have 50 minutes left. Personally, I would skip some gear farming on the previous floor to have HP/MP here, but that is a group decision. Once headed East, kill everything.
Room 1 is WHMx4. Room 2 is BLMx4. Room 3 is BLUx4. Big room is WHMx6, BLMx6, BLUx8. Everyone of them must die, so this can take a while and links must be handled well. Also, NONE (as in 0) will drop cells.
Once they all die, kill the rampart and anything it summons.
When it dies a Frog Madame will pop. Frog will not aggro so you can rest then kill using the normal strategy above. When she dies she drops Ares Hands AND Morrigan Hands 100%. Both pieces are level 15. If you have time left, you have 2 options. First option is that if you were paying attention and unlocked 3 people fully you can use the warp behind the frog and go to the F4 section of the Frog Hunt run. By doing this you can fight the F5 Frog and if you popped the frog and imp on F2 (and have time) the F6 Frog. Option 2 is to still warp up, but instead of aiming for another frog to farm mechs for cards and alexandrite. You can always firefly as well.
F4 FROG This is really a 6 person run. It's all about speed. Any extras should be aware that no extra cells will be farmed so they are probably just leeching.
F1: Kill first 4 rooms. Hoping you only have to kill 2 in each room. When entering last room, have THF sneak and flee to the NE warp. Warp as soon as the second set of cells drop from the 4th room.
F2: Have 1 person (NOT THF) head south for warp as soon as you enter the level. Rest kill as many lizards (group to northwest best target) as they can before the warp.
F3: Group heads west and starts killing. 1 Person Invis and heads east. Who depends on time check. You must warp onto the next floor prior to the 30 minute mark. And at the same time you need TH to get HP/MP. Only send THF to warp if flee needed to reach it in time. Let party farm until 29 minute mark and then warp. Note that this is the North warp. There is a bonus frog that pops for using the south warp in under 47 minutes, but no gear drop has been recorded for that frog (possible chest).
F4: If you reached the north half of this floor in 30 minutes or less, a Frog Madame will be in the room to the north (with a dozen Frog Gents). Go west and clear the room of Mamools for more HP and MP if needed, but be careful of links. When ready, attempt to clear Gents to pull madame. You should have a lot of time so be careful. When Madame dies she drops all the following Level 15 Pieces 100%: Skadi Head, Usukane Feet, Marduk Legs. Once dead you can continue to the F5 to farm cards and alexandrite if desired, but may be best to firefly. See Frog Hunt to unlock door to warp. You could also try boss, but you will be severely underpowered because of skipping so many cells.
Alternate F5 Frog If your party does not need any of the drops from the F5 frog or is more focused on reaching the F6 Frog or including the megaboss in the run or you reach F3 and someone (one of you main 3) suddenly remembers they didn't get a cell they needed, then you can go this route. It is easier to pop and slightly safer to reach F6 this way, but has no recorded gear drops (should drop a chest).
F1: Same as Frog Hunt.
F2: Same as Frog Hunt except only 1 person needs to be fully unlocked. You can still unlock more as time allows but you can split gear for better use. If aiming for F6 frog, you must still fight Jakko the imp.
F3: Same as Frog Hunt except only 1 person needs to be fully unlocked and different exit warp. You can still unlock more as time allows but you can split stats for better use. Good chance everyone gets stats by the time you clear the floor anyway. When you exit this level make sure you exit to the SOUTH on this run. This is the opposite of the normal Frog Hunt.
F4: Same as Frog Hunt except all directions are reversed.
F5: This should be handle the same as the regular Frog Hunt with 2 exceptions. First all directions are reversed since you are on the opposite half of the map. Second (and more importantly) the Gears Mobs are replaced with Gear Mobs. This makes training them much easier. Everything else is the same so kill this frog (loot chest it drops) and then warp to F6 just like on the regular Frog Hunt.

Plan I would do is thus:
1F: farm until all who need have JA and magic. SJ if needed, but not as vital
2F: clear the usual room (because of the ranged/ring drops). *maybe* do a little more gear farming, but likely not.
3F: head West, as usual. kill 1st room (for Int cells, mainly, but Dex and Agi are nice, too), -skip- 2nd room (drops Agi, str, and chr). kill 3rd room (str, vit, mnd...I think chr, too) hope for HP drops, if not many, keep killing to try and get more. Warp South
4F: kill rampart, warp up.
5F: skip, warp.
6F: *should* be around 45-50min in by here. even 60 would likely be ok. sac chariot. IF we have 12ppl, be split already into 2 balanced groups. Each group picks a different camp corridor so we don't step on each other, and kill the room. Very important to limit # of DDers on gear(s)/chariot because of their deadly TP moves. On chariot: only allow Terr and Bal (or other main DD's) to melee. Even though B would hate it, I would sit his blu for that fight (his main spells each give ~40-50tp i.e. hysteric barrage, etc)
7F: time check should be ~70-80min here. 70 would be better for comfort, but I think 80 would be fine. DD would just be Terr and Bal again...maybe a Sam, too, if we had one. Everyone else gather inside discoid range, but outside normal AoE range. Anyone with RA can shoot away at it, brds and cors keep their rolls up. rdm's (or rdm and whm) would be on tank healing duty, while I'd put MrB on pt healing duty. I think that we'd honestly have a good chance at winning with this plan. also with 12ppl+2 pets (automatons), =314dmg/discoid. definitely doable. especially when you consider shell would reduce that, too, as well as diamondhide, etc. And discoid is only 1 of the TP moves it could do. *likely* wouldn't spam it, but just do every so often.

Regarding MrB and my comments up there for 6F and 7F: I value B as a heavy DD, but I don't know quite enough about BLU to be definitive on that. I'm basing the 50tp/spell comment on what Tso told me. Maybe if we had him switch to single hit spells, would be better? I dunno. --Seeko 17:45, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Listing is max NMs + Boss for listed run. NMs will be skipped if no one there for drops or run going slowly and higher priority people need drops later. Of the 2 runs, the choice is made on F2.

This is the run plan when we have ZR cards to use. It is a Floor to Floor breakdown. Mainly the things to note here are which directions we are going, since opening a door to go one way will generally lock the doors going other directions. Everyone should bring sneak and be aware of blood aggro for this area
F1: East (see below for possible west run). I actually prefer the west run for F1, but here is the east run. Formors are fairly weak but drop completely random cells. This will be a very different effect than in ZR. Each fomor drops multiple cells, so we want to kill them all quickly and keep moving. Still very important to lot/pass quickly.
Room 1 has only 1 Fomor.
Room 2 will have 2.
We will camp there and pull from the east and west. 4 Fomors in each direction (2 in each room).
Once they are dead, we head south and kill 2 more.
The next room holds 8 more that are a little tougher, but have set drops:
HumeMNK=weapon,magic,str,feet
ElfCOR=JA,HP,mnd,feet
HumeRNG=SJ,head,rings,vit
MithraRDM=range,MP,body,waist
Depending what we have for random drops and time we will kill some or all of these to get our main Melee's geared up to kill things.
After we are done in this room we contiune west then north to a big room with a group of 16 Fomors. Note thae if we leave early, one person with sneak should go while rest kill.
IF we have some time, we will farm these before the warp. But should always send one person with sneak to warp in case things get out of control. These fomor have about 500 HP and will follow you in the room even with sneak up. They will not aggro unless attacked, sneak drops, or low HP. The idea would be to gather them all up and ~ga3 them. They have a low drop rate though so not staying here long(nuking them once or twice would be good though). They respawn almost immediately.
Should be off this floor in 40 minutes roughly but will stay as long as it takes to clear room of 8. 30 minutes is perfect run, but we should have time even with a slow run here since mostly skipping most of F2.
F2: Immediately head south from start. We have 1 person left with Skadi or Marduk as main. If they do not come, we then head East and North from main room. One person will sneak thru large room of fomor/imps (careful of imps truesight) and warp us. If we need more drops and have time, we can farm these fomor/imps for them. Puller should note that links here are not the normal ones you expect. Imps link to fomor by sight and Fomor link to imps by sound. Imps do not link imps and fomor do not link fomor.
IF people do want Marduk or Skadi drops, we head West and North from main room. NM deadpan Devilet is gaurding the door. Kill him. He has a lot of HP and all the normal imp moves. When he dies he drops 10 cells and unlocks the door. He also pops the real NM here, Dekka.
Dekka is about the same as Deadpan. There are 4 crates in this room, so we need to get them as the items will be useful in the fights. Killing Dekka is a long fight because of HPs. He will drop Skadi Level 15 Feet 100% with a small chance to get Marduk Level 35 Feet as well.
Once he is dead one person needs to hurry to the warp just north of this room, while the rest buff and get any items left in the crates. Need to be off this floor before the 1 hour mark to give us time on F3 for the fight as it is really 3 NMs in a row. I would prefer to be on F3 with an hour left to be honest, but 40 minutes is plenty of time.
F3: Head East (west if we did Deapan/Dekka) from start and south to main room. Need to clear 8 gear mobs. Consider Carby pulls on these. 10 minutes is good goal, but 15 more likely. These gear mobs can drop the Silver Seas Card that give the Skadi Level 15 body in ZR. This card will also make it possible for us to trigger another NM frog (F6) in ZR when we run there again.
One note about the gear mobs is that they move in a circular pattern and have both a large circle and small cirle set up. Since they link by true sound, the small circle can make clean pulls difficult and it may be better to wait it out. Also, they move and then stop for a while sort of like a real gear turning in a clock, so pulling right after they rotate is best.
Killing all 8 pops a NM Gear mob. 10 minutes is realistic goal. May go faster depending on his TP moves. It will be best to let only 2 DDs hit him with melee to slow TP build. Having 1 healer assigned to each and everyone staying back out of AoEs. Killing it will drop Marduk Level 15 Hands 100% with a small chance of Skadi Level 35 Hands also dropping. As with Dekka, we could skip this fight for time constraints. However since our main goal is also in this room, we will probably be forced to kill the gear to have clear area to fight and since we still have people needing the Skadi drops this is plan anyway.
Also in this room is a Devilet. It flys at flee speed (or faster) and does not aggro. When attacked, he fights, but will go back to patrol after 10-15% damage inflicted on him. He must die to pop our target mob (thus the need to clear the gear NM). 10 Minutes to kill him is the most it should take (would be quicker if he would just fight). Having a PUP (or other pet) to chase him down is nice here. He will drop 5 armour cells when he dies (2body, 1 each of hands, legs, head). If pressed for time, it is possible to split up and fight gear mob by pulling it out into hall (so no overlap on AoEs) while the rest kill the devilet.
A slot will appear near the center (south side) of the room when devilet dies. This is our main goal for this run. Trading a ZR card to this slot pops a NM frog. Hopefully we have 10-15 minutes left for this and can 2hour and put him down quick. Only main Melee DDs should engage (for TP reasons) unless very short on time. This fight will be easier than the ZR F5 frog, due to the room being clear of other possible aggro (if NM gear is dead). He will still use all the normal frog moves that everyone is so fond of. Must keep DoT on him at all times. He does both the AoE charm and a single target charm. When he dies, he will drop Morrigan Level 15 Body AND Ares Level 15 Body. When he dies, we are done with main goal for this run so lot fast(see below for NM to kill if time allows).
After doing this run more, I would like to add this about the frog. His Water Bomb is no joke. Much larger radius than the ZR frogs. Only the 2 Main DDs should engage melee and only the 2 mages healing them should be anywhere near them (I would suggest max casting range for cures). These 4 people should have echo drops if they plan on casting. Any other healers in the group (including BLUs, SMN, BRDs) should stay well back and focus on healing the healers after water bombs. BRDs & CORs should still run in to buff the respective people, but are on their own for healing. Anyone with Stun should attempt to stun the Water Bombs and the Frog Songs, but again would be on their own for being healed. When charm is used, kite/Sleepga the frogs and kite the NM. If only the DDs are charmed (especially if only one with the single target is) sleep him (them) and have next DD(s) ready to jump in until charm wears. We have won this fight in 7 minutes so reaching the goal with time to spare should make for reliable win.
If skipping F2, then we can also attack another NM on this floor. After killing frog everyone heads south then east. This room holds 4 gear, 4 gears, and 4 ramparts. All 8 gear(s) mobs need to be killed. They can drop Silver Seas Card as above. They are truesound and link with each other and the ramparts so pulling can be tricky (carby?). Once the gear(s) are dead a NM Gears mob pops. Kill it with the same strat as the Gear NM and the Frog. When it dies it will drop Ares Level 15 Head 100% with a low percentage chance of dropping Ares Level 35 Legs as well.
To access the next floor, one of the ramparts must be killed. It will show up on widescan as the 9th mob in this room (first rampart), when the room is full. At present, the next floor would be of use to us as a card farming area mostly, as we will be out of time shortly into it. However, there is also NM here that can drop gear(Morrigan Level 15 head 100%, Usukane Level 35 Body Low %), so as we get the items from the other mobs and start skipping them we will focus on this. See F4NM run for more info on him.
Other things to note about this run. This will be pushing our time very close, but will get three to four (depending on pathing) 100% drops with a low chance at 1-2 more. I think that for time we should decide who's card to use at the first and who will lot. Since the Card mob drops 2 sets, the person popping may not need both and one will go up for lot to people listing that set as primary. However, since we do have a good supply of cards I would not have a problem with the card holder taking both if they can use them. Either way, we should discuss this before the run.

F1: West from start.
Room 1 has 1 fomor.
Room 2 empty camp here. There are 2 rooms east of here and 2 west.
Each has 4 Fomor and 4 chests (be sure to get and use items).
On most boss run clear all 4 rooms.
On NM runs clear only the 2 adjacent to the camp room, unless cell drops exceptionally poor.
When all dead head south.
Next room is empty but conitune south to large room. It has 6 Fomors in a party. Kiter (mov+ is good) should grab one and head toward the start until they lose hate (or die if they are slow).
With 2DD + 2healer set, each DD grabs a Fomor on the way by. Pull them to the south side of the main room and kill them.
As the others lose hate and return the DDs should be able to continue to grab one each. If any extra link, the kiter should be able to pull them back off again and lose hate. Everyone should have reraise up anyway of course. There are generally some dusty reraise scrolls in the chests prior to this room. These Fomor each have a set drops.
Southern Hume MNK: Magic x3, Vit
Northern Hume MNK: Weapon x3, Hands
Hume RNG: SJ x3, Ranged
Mithra RDM: HP x3, MP
Mithra RDM: Body x3, Feet
Elvaan COR: JA x3, STR
When the 6 die, NM Fomor pops in room. He'll go down fairly fast after short rest to full. He has no 100% drop, but has low drop rate on Usukane 35 head (rumor is extremely low). When he pops, the door in this room unlocks, so one person (NOT THF) exits thru the big room as with the other path here (only 1 exit from F1), while others fight.
F2: Everyone heads South, East, South to a big room. It contains 16 fomors and 4 imps.
In this room imps link to fomor (by sight) and fomor link to imps (by sound?) so puller needs to be very careful. This is most dangerous at the start of the room clearing, because a mistake can bring so many angry mobs down on the party.
Party should be almost fully unlocked by the time this room is cleared though. Fomor drops are random, but Imps drop 2 pairs of cells from the following list: HP, SJ, JA, Weapons, Magic, Body.
When room cleared, NM fomor pops. He will die easy like the first one after a full rest. He drops Ususkane 15 Legs 100% and has a small chance of droping Morrigan 35 Legs as well. It is possible we will not have a lot of time left after he dies, but if we do, we will warp to the next floor using the pad north of this room.
F3: East from pad to large room full of various mechs. If time is short, we can farm these for cards as mentioned on other run(although maybe should just firefly). If time is good we would like to bypass this room and go north then east. Gears are true sound and magic aggro so depending on positioning it may be tricky to bypass, but if you run straight here from pad, you should be able to make it thru the room before the ramparts start summoning undead. Once past this room, we are back to the same Gears NM that we fight on the card run. See that section for strategy and plan for going to F4 (although doubtful on time).

OK since everyone says they read my walk thru and everyone still is sorely confused by what to do and yet won't ask any questions I am writing it again. I'm writing it in such a way that it would insult me to read it, but if no one will ask questions, then I can't figure out where all the confusion is until we find a new spot each run. I always think that is a last point of confusion, but people keep finding new ones. Also, I know it's not any one person that screws up every time. Sometimes it's me. I need everyone thinking the same plan is main goal.
Start Time We gather in whitegate at 7PM Mountain Time. This does not mean farming whatever the #!@$% you want until 7 then saying "I'll warp to whitegate soon, and by the way I need points to go". If you need points be there early. If early not an option, I've online every day. EVERY DAY. Sure I'm busy sometimes, and wasting my time getting points is annoying, but not as annoying as waiting over an hour to start because people need multiple point runs. If I'm not in a party I'll come help you get points anytime. If I'm not seeking a party, I probably won't even be muttering to myself while I do it. Aldavis is also able to help with points this way. Psycosmic and Brido also have SMN if you are low rank. The higher rank ones are any job trio. Some people are getting home about that time so I don't honestly expect to start right on time. I do expect people to be there getting ready if they possibly can. If you are going to be late tell me. If you have a NM popping around that time, let me know and we can wait a little while. Not an hour, but I'm not completely insensitive to NM windows, especially if I already know others will be late.
FLOOR 1
Enter.
Open door.
Open box.
Lot/pass Cells as instructed.
Weapon to THF and a nonMNK DD. Magic/SJ/MP to RDM. JA/HP to mainDDs. Gear to Main DDs unless stated otherwise. Head/Body to RDM if they have refresh on them. Range to BRD then THF. Feet to THF for Mov+ or Flee+. Melee stats to Main DDs. INT/MND to RDM. CHR to BRD.
Open door to WEST.
Run along hall to Room 1.
Kill Fomor.
Lot/pass.
Continue thru room to south and follow hall to next room.
Stay in middle of this room while someone pulls. Fomor Blood Aggro. This is important to know.
Kill 4 fomor from west room.
Lot/pass.
Kill 4 fomor from east room.
Lot/pass.
Loot the 4 boxes west.
Loot the 4 boxes east.
GEAR NOTES: MAIN DDs GET ALL GEAR BEFORE BACKUPS. This means if they haven't passed and item don't freaking lot it. I know sometimes items are lotted slowly, but try to stay with it. I try to call items in party if no one lots them quickly OR IF THE WRONG PERSON LOTS THEM.
ALL MAGES GET MAGIC/MP BEFORE BACKUP DDs. This should not be a continual problem.
Gear goes MainDD, MainDD, RDM, WHM, BLM, BackupDDs, BRD, THF. This is order every time with the exceptions noted.
Magic goes RDM, BRD, WHM, MainDD, MainDD, BLM, BackupDDs, THF. This order pretty well set.
BOX NOTES: THF GETS A DUSTY RERAISE SCROLL. They are going to die and it's RR3.
MAIN DDs GET THE FUN TOYS FIRST. Monarchs, Soldiers, Barbarians, Body Boost, Bravers, Champions, Fighters, Spys, Wings, Revitalizers. This is not a debate. If you are a BackupDD ask first.
MAIN MAGES GET THEIR TOYS FIRST TOO. Megaelixir, Mana Boost, Elixir, Ethers. Again, not a debate. Ask first if you are not the RDM or WHM.
BLM GETS MAGIC DD TOYS FIRST. Assassins, Oracles.
EVERYONE IN MAIN PARTY SHOULD GRAB HEALING POWDERS & CLERIC'S DRINK.
ALL MAGES IN MAIN PARTY SHOULD GRAB MANAPOWDER. If all mages have the melees should also take extras.
If there is a Fanatics Drink on this floor. THF takes.
The Remaining items are free to everyone without need to ask. Potions, HiPotions, Vicars, Juice, Milk.
The following are rare items. Shepard's - heals pets so not much use to use unless WHM/SMN. Fool's - Immune to magic damage, which usually isn't an issue. Gnostic's - Enmity Greatly reduced for time. Just not on mainDDs.
After Looting return to center room.
Open Door to South.
Go South.
When you reach the large open room with 6 Fomor Stop by doorway and buff.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ROOM.
GENERAL THINGS: LOT/PASS FAST. We are killing in order to get drops we need. Mainly Magic and JA so lot fast so we have them. FOMOR BLOOD AGGRO so stay the #@$@#$! away from the ones we aren't fighting if you are fighting or hurt. Use Potions, ethers, healing powders, vicars as needed in this room. Save the big stuff though.
THF: Use RR. Range Attack (if possible) the Fomor farthest to the left (North). Flee (if possible) back to starting room of area. Slowly return to the room either after you lose hate or after you reraise. If reraising remember the FOMOR BLOOD AGGRO and the Blood Aggro range is much larger than most aggro ranges. We only need you back in the room for the NM, so play it safe especially if weakened.
DD1: Once THF pulls you need to pull the southernmost fomor. You should have some JA that allows this, but in the unlikely event you don't (or timer not ready). Please tell us so a mage can pull for you. Pull the Fomor ALL THE WAY TO THE SOUTH WALL to kill it. Once it dies, grab another as it wanders back to the room. Repeat until all 6 are dead. If there is a link, target the melee mobs first and ignore the RNG.
DD2: Once THF pulls you need to pull the Elf fomor (second on the north/left). You should have some JA that allows this, but in the event you don't (or timer not ready). Please tell us so a mage can pull for you. Pull the Fomor ALL THE WAY TO THE SOUTH WALL to kill it. Try to be close enough to DD1 that BRD and healers can easily hit both of you. Once it dies, grab another as it wanders back to the room. Repeat until all 6 are dead. If there is a link, target the melee mobs first and ignore the RNG.
BackupDDs: Assist either of the other DDs to kill faster. Likely you are still restricted by cells and healing is short, so don't try to solo one. I know this one is rough, but if you are a DRK don't use Soul Eater. If I'm the healer, I'll let you die. If I'm not they'll heal you and run out of MP for the others. Either way is bad. Make sure to fight against south wall. If there is a link, target the melee mobs first and ignore the RNG.
Mages: If both unlocked, each heal a DD while trying to stay together for ballad. If only one unlocked make sure to be in range to heal both. If the back up DDs are dying and MP low, the mainDDs are priority and the backups should have some potions from the chests. If there is a link ignore it if it is a RNG. Gravity kite for BRD to kite if it is single melee. If RNG ignore and if multiple links let BRD sac.
BRD: Try to keep Marchx2 on DDs and Balladx2 on healers and elegy on Mobs. Finale the mithra (RDM) as needed. Kite any link if not a RNG.
Once all 6 are dead, lot/pass and loot boxes. NM will have popped so REMEMBER FOMOR BLOOD AGGRO.
When MP ready, attack NM.
When NM is about 30%, one person with sneak should head to the warp. Ideally this would be the person doing least damage to the NM. Person will need Sneak AND full HP. Head east. Open door. Head north. Open door. Head north thru large room of fomor. They will follow but not attack as long as you sneak and have full HP. Open door. Wait at Warp for NM to die and chest to be looted.
Rest of party kills NM.
Loot Chest if any
Use any cells remaining.
Full buff if time.
Warp up.
TIME CHECK 25 MINUTES ELAPSED.
FLOOR 2
Head south.
In first room head west.
Open door.
Go thru then south again in first room.
Open Door.
Continue South to Large room with Fomor and Imps.
Camp by Doorway since FOMOR BLOOD AGGRO.
Pull fomor and imps as fast as can without links, but allowing party killing safely.
NOTES: Fomor link to Imps by SOUND.
Imps link to Fomor by SIGHT.
Imps do not link to Imps.
Fomor do not link to Fomor.
IF YOU LINK 2, KILL IMP AND KITE FOMOR.
IF YOU LINK MORE THAN 2, PULLER DIES AT ENTRANCE OF ROOM SO PARTY WILL ON AGGRO.
This Room is solely for the purpose of unlocking the remaining key cells.
Killing the 4 Imps should do this, but make sure to pull safely as we should have time.
We will warp up when one of the 2 things happens.
FIRST: Clock hits 1hour. This is our deadline. Should be well ahead of this.
SECOND: Unlock the following: MainDDs-Full, MainHealers-Full, Rest-Magic/MP/HP/JA/SJ. Clock at 45.
After last pull, puller can sneak and head to warp. This is on north wall of room. Open door. stand on warp. Wait for last mob pulled to die. Let party Buff if needed. Warp.
TIME CHECK 45 MINUTES ELAPSED.
THIS IS WHERE WE START OUR WORST SCREW UPS SO PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.
Floor 3
Head west from pad.
South in first room.
South in second room.
Then east to door.
Open door.
Apply sneak.
Go thru door to large room.
STAY ALONG THE WALL.
Head NORTH to exit of room.
STAY ALONG THE WALL UNTIL YOU GET THERE.
GEARS ARE TRUESOUND. AGGRO MAGIC. AGGRO JA.
UNDEAD AGGRO SOUND AND BLOOD.
IF YOU AGGRO DO NOT DIE IN THE ROOM. DO NOT FIGHT IN ROOM. If you just have one on you we probably have time to kill it and help you. If you aggro the whole room, not our problem. Pick a hall to die in so you can be raised safely. Even if you have reraise up you need to be out of the room. DO NOT DIE IN MIDDLE OF PARTY.
Once out of room to north, Open door.
Go thru and head East.
In next small room head east again.
This is large room with gears, gear, and ramparts. Everyone gather at doorway and buff.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ROOM.
GEAR/GEARS AGGRO TRUESOUND, SPELL CASTING, AND JOB ABILITIES.
THF: Use Reraise. Use Shadows. BE COMFORTABLE WITH DYING. Enter room and aggro a gear/gears. Head straight for the nearest rampart. Make a circuit of the room making sure to run past each rampart AND each gear/gears. When you start taking damage, use Flee to get ahead and then reapply shadows if possible. If you have a fanatics drink use it instead. Once you have all the mobs on you, stop at entrance to make sure they are following and take them out of the room. Use Perfect Dodge if you have to, but better if you don't. KEY IS YOU HAVE TO KEEP THEM ON YOU UNTIL YOU GET BACK TO THE MIDDLE OF THE AREA. Then out run them to the west if you can. If you have Powder boots, use Flee to gather them all up then wait until they on you again and use the boots to get out. IF you have Mov+ (not sprinters) you should be fine to kite this without flee or Perfect Dodge until you are ready to escape them.
DD1: Enter room after THF and follow in his path so as not to aggro any gears. As soon as you see the rampart that aggros but can't follow, attack it. Kill it. Make it dead. Try to stand on the corner side of the rampart so pillars don't block mages line of sight for healing.
All Other DDs: Once follow DD1 and kill what he kills. Do not aggro anything in the room. Try to stand on the corner side of the rampart so pillars don't block mages line of sight for healing.
Mages: Follow the DDs and keep them alive. Stand in the corner of the room by the rampart they fight so as to limit aggro when gears start returning. As gears aggro, Sleep them as needed.
BRD: March on DDs. Ballad on Mages. Lullaby on any adds. Elegy on Rampart.
Once Rampart dies, the door to the North unlocks. Warp up as soon as possible as lot of gears coming back or already there.
TIME CHECK 1 HOUR ELAPSED.
Floor 4
Head west.
Next room North.
In next room start looting boxes.
Exit room to South.
This room has more boxes to loot.
NOTES ON LOOTING: You should have about 5 minutes to loot before the mobs show up.
Taking an item from the box will make the box respawn in a few seconds with a new item.
With that in mind if item in box is useless, TAKE IT and force the respawn.
Main goal with looting Revits for THF (only if PD used last floor and no fanatic's drink) then Main DDs , Body Boosts for Main DDs and Sleepers, Fanatics Drink for THF (only if PD used on previous floor) and BLM.
As on first Floor the Melee toys should go to the MainDDs first, but it's not as vital.
NOW THE FIGHTING.
Everyone should be in the 3rd room. MINIMUM BRD, BLM, AND MAIN DDs.
Train of 6 gear mobs will come thru the doorway on the east. It will be better if BRD is in that hall so he can see them coming form farther away and warn party.
BRD: Target lead Gear with Horde Lullaby. Expect some to resist. During fight continue to try to help sleep/kite more than buffing, but buff as possible. If you can have a Hermes Quencher to kite the train if BLM goes down.
BLM: Elemental Seal Sleepga as soon as lullaby used. Try to let BRD finish casting the song so that using JA and casting doesn't drag any out of train. If BRD dies he'll be OK with that. I can say this since I am the BRD. Your job during fight is sleep control. Landing Nukes is cool if you have the time though. Use fanatics if you can and Manafont if you need to. If you have a Hermes Quencher to take the mobs back to start that's cool. They should lose hate on you by then.
DD1: Target the lead gear and kill it. Whatever you think you need to do to kill it. Once it dies pick a new target and keep killing until all 6 are dead.
Other DDs: /Assisst DD1 and kill what he kills. IF WE HAVE 4 DDs, WORK IN PAIRS. Use whatever drinks and abilities you feel are needed to kill faster.
WHM: Heal and buff DDs only. Don't help sleep things unless it is obviously getting out of hand.
RDM: Heal and buff first, debuff second. Try to limit hate on the mobs being slept/kited unless you are /BLM. If you are /BLM then you are main sleep and BLM will focus on Nukes.
Once all train is dead, Rest/buff as needed and loot again.
Then thru east doorway and stop at doorway to large room to south.
WE NEVER DO THIS RIGHT. NOT ONCE EVER. SO PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS PART CAREFULLY.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ROOM.
THF: Use Reraise. Use shadows. Make sure DDs are ready. Enter room. Aggro something. Hit Perfect Dodge or Fanatics if possible. Gather up EVERY mob in the room. Use Flee. Head SOUTH. SOUTH. SOUTH. Keep running until you die or they lose hate. Warn party they are coming back (although shouldn't matter). Once safe Reraise and slowly come back looting all the chests on the way. If you find a Revitalizer or Fanatics you are set up perfect, but take everything you think you need since TH won't matter for this part of fight and you need to be unweak anyway. Once you get to the room full of mobs, wait to be unweak AND for party to be done killing their mobs (loot during this time?). Once the Party says it's time, Flee thru the room back to the very start of the level. This should lose any mobs. Be sure to hit Flee before you enter the room so as to minimize aggro. Use fanatics or perfect dodge if you have. NM should be at the start when you get there. If you haven't lost all aggro before then, die in last room before pad and then get up when safe to get TH on NM.
DDs: While THF getting ready, TALK TO EACH OTHER and each pick a Rampart to pull. There are 4. One in each corner of the room. NE, SE, NW, SW. Target your rampart before THF enters room. As soon as he clears the path to your door, go claim it and pull it back NORTH to the room we fought the Train in. THAT IS NORTH. NORTH. NORTH. Several things to note about this pulling. DO NOT USE SLEEP to pull. DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF DOT to pull. DO NOT PULL BEFORE THF HAS AGGRO ON ENTIRE ROOM. Ramparts are slow and can lose aggro so be sure it follows you all the way to the room. Once in room EVERYONE /Assist DD1. Kill these as fast as possible along with anything they summon (efts, raptors, lizards). Use drinks and any abilities you have left to speed this along. Once everything dead, head back to the very first room and wait for NM to be brought there. Loot boxes on way for more toys. DD1 will stay to help with pulling NM. DD2 can if desired. Rest better be in the first room when we get there. Kill NM. Get drop. Be happy.
BRD: When THF and DDs ready, Soul Voice buff. Songs depending on if they plan to 2hour. If not 4 DDs, also will pull a rampart. Once all ramparts are in the room we are fighting in, Horde Lullaby them. Repeating this as needed. Buffing is important, but sleeping more so for at least the first little flurry. Once all the mobs are dead, head back to the room full of mobs the THF sacced. There should be a new Rampart in it. Wait patiently for it to summon a big turtle. Make sure reraise is up. Pull the Turtle with a song since mechs don't aggro songs. Nothing will link with Turtle. However, gears still aggro truesound, JA, and Magic so be careful. If BRD screws up and aggros gears, DD1 should be there to pull turtle off him with range attack while BRD dies. Take Turtle back to very start of level for party waiting to kill it. Turtles are slow(?) so be sure not to lose hate on it.
BLM: If needed pull one of the ramparts using a tier one nuke or stun, but shouldn't need to. Once all 4 doors are in the room we are fighting in, Sleepga them. Elemental seal as needed. You will be assisted by BRD lullabying them so should be able to keep everything asleep. Nuke as possible, but main job is crowd control. Once all mobs dead head back to the start of the level and wait for NM to show up. Loot on way. Assist killing him like any normal NM. He should be weak to ice.
Healers: Once the 4 ramparts are pulled back to the fighting room, keep the DDs alive while they kill. Debuff as possible and assist on sleeping as needed. Once all the mobs are dead, head back to the very start of the level and wait for the NM. Buff those that go with you. Loot on way for fun items.
ONCE NM DIES: Lot items if they are yours. Pass items if not. You can go loot boxes until time runs out if you want to try for a revitalizer. Or we can kill gears for alex and SSR cards. Run is over though and you can firefly if you want.
WE HAVE NEVER COMPLETED THIS RUN. PLEASE TELL ME YOU READ THIS OVER. ENCOURAGE EVERYONE ELSE TO READ IT ALSO. AT A BARE MINIMUM I NEED EVERYONE TO READ SOME FORM OF WALK THRU ON THIS RUN. EVEN IF IT IS NOT THIS ONE.
This is the most frustrating run to me do to the shear nature and number of times we've screwed it up. I know we've taken a while on runs to get them down before, but we seem to get worse every try here.

Our group has killed this boss and this is the run we use for it. It seems very repeatable to me.
F1: West from the start and clear everything just like a usukane run above. Kill NM and warp up.
F2: Southwest exit. Skip everything unless you need cells or want to try on of the NMs above. Not recommended to try the other NMs on the first couple boss runs. Get used to fighting him before you try extra stuff. Also this group does not need the imp and the fomor will burn time. Farming cells here is a good plan though as it will save time over farming gears since imps have set drops. You can do this with the SE fomor NM, but if you die much on the run you will likely time out on the boss.
F3: West exit. Skip everything unless you need cells or want to try an NM. This is a good floor to farm cards/alexandrite on if you need cells too. If you do fight the NM you will have to exit East which makes next floor much harder.
F4: Skip unless you need cells or want to try an NM. This is a good floor to farm cards/alexandrite on if you need cells too. Same note as F2. May want a THF to flee thru here to door as everything is truesound. Reraise should definitely be up on this person. With practice you may be able to do this NM on the way to the boss, but since we have not yet tried it, I would advise against it for now. Note that to do the NM you must exit the previous floor to the east as stated above.
F5: This boss goes down a lot faster than the others. At least he does while you are hitting him. The basic dedicated healer strat is fine here and should not lead to any abnormal problems. However, his special move sucks, so I will review that. Brainjack: a move SE invented when you thought they couldn't screw you worse. Brainjack is a single target charm that also inflicts a 24/tick damage. The boss can use it multiple times in a row and honestly if he can charm the whole party, that may be best sometimes. If that is your plan though, you need to make sure you have good DoT on him. Another way to do him (and more reliable) is to have someone with move+ gear kite him when (not if, when) he charms your tanks. He's not overly fast (he has mov+ but corners horribly) so any speed gear is good for this. Kiter needs to be careful not to lose hate though since the auto-regen on unclaimed megabosses is 10%/tick (yikes). WHM should definitely try to keep regen 3 on the tanks. This helps negate the brainjack damage and may shorten duration. One nice thing is that if you die charmed it's no XP lose. As with other chariots, Paralyze should be removed immediately, however, since he'll likely charm the tanks at some point, if he binds them first, it's all good. Just leave them bound and have a good laugh about AIs. If you have quick tanks (anyone else can do this too) have them macro to unequip/change weapons when he goes to jack them. If you stand to the side, he will turn to face before using Brainjack, giving you a chance to hit a weapon swap/unequip macro (and to start kiting if you are fast). A RDM with move gear is great for this, since as healer they are probably next on the hate list if the tanks get charmed anyway. I have found that it seems easier to pull the Megaboss down to the start area and then kite him thru the 3 rooms there during brainjack. Doing laps in the main room works as well, but is riskier, especialy without mov+ gear. Brainjack is usually used on everyone in melee range when he decides to do it (although he has to hit you 1 at a time). It's best to just let all the tanks be charmed (some people prefer to let the tanks kite, but they need to disengage fast if they plan to do this) and have the Healer kite him or have a THF accomplice the healer and kite him if healer does not have mov+. Having a hate macro to see who he is after when the kiting is going on is very very nice. Macro would look something like this:
/assist <t>
/wait 1
/p <t> has HATE!
One thing to note about brianjack is that it is not a TP move. He will brainjack evey 25% HP or every 2.5 minutes regardless of TP. Once he enters a brainjack cycle, he will exit it after either 90 seconds or 6 WS attempts (this counts out of range failures and all brainjackings). We have some question about the 2.5 minute timer. I personally am unsure if it restarts immediately after the first jack or after the final jack of the cycle. I lean towards the second option. As long as they have a healer, melees should reengage immediately when charm wears off, IF they are healed and the current cycle has ended.
When defeated, it drops 2 of the following at 100% (can be 2 of the same). Morrigan Hands, Marduk Legs, Skadi Head, Skadi Body, Ares Hands, Usukane Feet. All level 25.

THF has a large impact on cell drop rate here so always bring one. That said, cell distribution is a huge key to this run. Here are my thoughts on that. The opening box has these cells:
2 Weapons: We give these to a Melee (nonMNK if present) and THF (TH3). Then other MeleeDDs (nonMNKs first). On a rat run BLM needs before leaving F1, otherwise next would go to healers.
1 SubJob: I would give this to your main heal. You will not get another until F4 (can steal one on F2). Tanks don't need shadows until then and the healer does need the other spells. I would also make this healer the RDM and I will explain as I go. When you do get more drops, they go to /nin melees (starting with tank obviously) next and then /whm and backup heal.
1-2 Job Abilities: 1 for sure the other drop is 50/50 with magic. First JA goes to Main MNK because Asuran Fists kills things quickly. Order after that would be DD (to kill), COR (to buff), THF (steal), DD, RDM, BRD, Free. THF needs before F2 to steal. TH is automatically on from what I have read, so THF can be later drop on F1, but these only drop from Lamia, so you can get hosed by the drop rate. When doing Boss run you can switch THF and BRD. Soul Voice is very important and Feint can wait until later (Last drops are F3 though).
1-2 Magic: 1 for sure other drop 50/50 with JAs. First goes to RDM. This is for healing, refresh, and dispel. All other spells are just bonus. Second goes to BRD (if present). After that, BLM, BLU, back up heal, /NIN (starting with main tank obviously). As with JA cells these only drop from Lamia, so may not get what you would like on F1. More will come later, but BLM needs before you exit F1 if doing rats.
Next 4 share 2 spots. Might get 2 of the same, but probably not.
0-2 HP: This would be nice, but you also will get these dropping for sure from skeletons so probably best to get something else. Order Main Tank, DDs, Puller, RDM, back up heal, BLM, Free. BLM needs because of his job nuking rats after F1 but, since you should try to have for everyone before leaving F1 can be moved down in the order. They drop from Skeletons and even a low rate shouldn't hurt you. If it does they also drop on F2 & F3 Skeletons (and F6 trees).
0-2 MP: This would be nice. They only drop from Lamia so even though few needed, you can end up short. Order Main Heal, BLM, Back up heal, BLU, Free. BLM second because of needing MP to nuke.
0-2 Body Armour: This and all Armour (see below for exception) should go to Main tank then second DD. After that, Mages with Refresh gear, then BLM to nuke, then free. Usually not a lot of Armour drops, but will discuss more later.
0-2 Range Weapon: This is mostly a "luxury" for the puller (as in not having to sight or blood aggro). Order would be BRD (instrument), Puller(if not BRD), Range DD (if any), Free (some people have really nice gear here, so if you don't, pass like I do).
Rest of the cells share 2 random spots. Could be 2 of the same although unlikely.
0-2 Armour (other than body): As I said above, gear tank and second melee then Mages with refresh, then BLM to nuke. One exception would be if you have a THF with TH gloves. He would be first (We tried TH4 and did not see much increase in drops).
0-2 Stats:
INT = BLM (nuke), BLU(Spells?), RDM(Enfeebles), THF (Steal?), DDs (WS?), Free.
MND = RDM(main heal), WHM(or other back-up heals), MNKs, BLU, BLM, Free.
CHR = BRD, THF, COR, Free.
STR = Tank, melee DDs, Free.
DEX = Tank, melee DDs, Free.
AGI = Tank, ranged DDs(puller included if not BRD), melee DDs.
VIT = Tank, Melee DDs, Puller, Free.
As I said above (and say again below), this run is light on cells (until you hit F6). The test here is how you distribute them for maximum benefit. A group of 6 can be reasonably geared and the rest are not as important. You want DDtank, DD, Nuker, Healer, healer, Buffer to be unlocked as much as possible and the rest is bonus (add a THF as 7th as he only needs weapon and JA).

On a rat run, it is better to just have 6 people (max 8) because of the low cell drop rate. If more are present, they should know up front that they will not be getting unlocked and will be leeching most of the run. They will become somewhat useful on later floors depending on drops, but they should be prepared to be bored and in all honesty, if they are not after a drop that night, they should save their points for another run.
F1: Room 1 Clear. Head west.
Clear room. Head north.
Clear Room. Head east.
Clear Room if needed, but pull lamia first if possible (Do not wait just to pull her though). Head back to room 1. Make sure to get items from the chests that drop as doing this and restock on way back.
From room 1 head south. Clear room
Kill Lamia SMN in the hall south and the COR in the room south. Then back to Room 2.
Head east. Clear room.
Head east. Clear room.
Head south. Clear room.
Head west. Clear room.
At this point, you should have essential weapons, JAs (THF important), HP, Magic, MP. If you get all these things prior to clearing all the rooms, you can exit early to save time. Exit thru SE Warp (where you end on this walk thru). Ideally, will have spent 30 minutes here but possibly an hour (although this will eliminate some rats from end of run). One variation to this plan would be to exit thru the SW Warp if you are short on 1 type of cell (See other options for details).
F2: Room one should be skipped unless you need the cells for your main 6 (see Other Options for NM here), Although you may wish to pull 1 to build TP for the rat NM. Lamia drop Magic, MP, and JA. Skeletons drop STR, HP, INT, AGI, Belt/Back.
When you exit the room, be careful to look for your first rat. He will be in one of the hallways connected to the central room (where the warp pad is) at random. All doors except the one you enter from will be locked. Rat is a BLM and immune to stun and silence. He will usually resist sleep (all forms), gravity, & bind. He will fight a little and then retreat a little. Kill him as quickly as possible, because if he reaches the telepad he will eventually warp (usaully farily quickly). If the target of his spells runs out of range, he will follow, but this is useful only if a BLM is MP burning or DoTing him. He has around 6k HP. THF should Steal from him if possible as this will get a SJ cell, which are quite rare here. The best way to steal is to hide, then steal to open the fight. When he dies he will drop a few cells and a chest. He also has a small chance to drop the Ares Level 35 Body piece. Once he is dead or warps, warp up to next floor (if he died get items from chest first). 10 minutes for this floor covers it well unless you are farming for more cells and can be done in 5.
F3: EAST! (unless you really enjoy the soulflayer experience - see Other Options section). 2 options:
If you still need cells clear rooms 1 and 2 (probably skip this step most runs).
Everyone sneak/invis and head to warp pad.
Stand in the Northwest corner of the room to fight.
Have BLM nuke the rat and then engage with everyone. He is THF and drops bombs as he runs. he will fight then run. When he runs, LET HIM GO. Everyone stay in that Northwest corner and wait. He will come back shortly to see why no one followed him. Let him enter the room and whack on him til he runs again. Repeat until he dies. Based on our runs I would say he needs to return 2-3 times. When he dies, he drops a few cells and a chest. There is also a small chance of him dropping the Morrigan Level 35 Body Piece. Once he is dead (and chest checked if present) warp. 10 minutes for this floor with no farming. If something happens and the rat doesn't come back right away, don't wait long. I would wait until the DoT on him wears. After that he will come back, but will be full HP again. Better to go to next one.
F4: East (unless you did the soulflayers last floor in which case you have my condolences and you should go west). Room will have a door (if not you went wrong way), a warp and another rat. This rat is identical the to the one you just fought, just less distance for him to run, so you can chase this one (just watch the bomb drops 50-100 damage). He also has a small chance of dropping the Morrigan Level 35 Body Piece. Once he is dead (and chest checked) warp. See Other Options for another NM on this floor. 5 minute floor. If you are 1 hour (or a little less) in at this point you are doing great. If you have 20 minutes left you are doing ok.
F5: North (or south if you running other path for some reason - only 1 exit either way).
Clear first room of gear mobs (Three in room). They will drop SJ cells which should start helping. All mech (gear, gears, ramparts, chariots) can also drop the Level 15 pieces for Ares Legs, Skadi Hands, Usukane head, Morrigan Legs, and Marduk feet as well as the Card needed to pop the NM dropping the Marduk Level 15 Body Piece (See the BR run).
Head south (or north) from this room and kill gear in hall. 1 person (NOT THF) head to main room (this person should have reraise up just in case) while rest continue to room at end of hall. When door in main room is openned, a rat will pop here. He is the same as the first rat you fought back on F2 and can also drop the Ares Level 35 Body Piece. He will also fight / retreat toward the warp. If he makes it to an occupied room, LET HIM GO! Linking the entire floor will only result in deaths. Remember that Mech mobs generally aggro truesound and casting (although ramparts seem to me to aggro sight?/sound in addition to casting). After Rat dead (or out of reach), have everyone fully buff. If brd present they should soulvoice the melees with whichever songs they think are the best (haste/attack?) once everyone ready have the person at exit warp (see Other Option for NM here). Ideally at this point you have 20 minutes or a little more left. However it will likely take a number of runs to get the timing down and some runs will always be unlucky, so if you time out here (or earlier) don't get down on yourselves.
F6: The clock is running as soon as you enter this death trap so don't wait. There are 4 gears, 4 gear, and 2 ramparts in the main room. The ramparts can summon seasonal Treants. Everything in this room must die in under 7 minutes. If it becomes apparent that this will not happen, pull back and take your time. As above, all mech can drop the level 15 pieces so this is not a wasted floor even if you fail the 7 minute goal. Have some melees 2hour the first rampart and the rest 2 hour the second, as they are the most dangerous things and the treants add time if they are summoned (they are usually called regardless). Mages need to remember that gear/gears aggro casting. These should be slept/kited (if they aggro) as possible until first rampart dies, then the gears (they being more dangerous than the gear mobs) on that end can die. Since it's highly likely that cells/armour will be dropping quickly here, everyone that needs the level 15 pieces should be responsible for lotting them as they drop. No need to pass until room clear, unless time very short. If you make the 7 minute mark, which really takes practice and/or luck, you pop 2 more Rat NMs by the warp-in pad. They are the same type as you fight in floors 3 & 4 and also have the low drop rate on the Morrigan Level 35 Body Piece. They do the whole fight, flee, fight, thing (mines included) as well. You can fight them one at a time. When they die you can lot and firefly. If you have any time left, you were amazing. You can exit this floor to the north and see the Mega boss here, but should not have time to fight him. See below for that info.
Other info on Rat Run You can of course skip rats for time or to focus on certain sets. Fighting all the rats on the same run is possible, but takes practice and some luck. There are other level 35 drops here as well, so read the Other Options section for some suggestions on which rats to skip if you wish to include some of those. All in all, this would be my run of choice to do repeatedly for a starter group. SSR is also a good option.

Boss run will be essentially the same as the Rat Run with the obvious exception of skipping some (or all) of the rats. However, the pulling is slightly different so I will go over that floor by floor in addition to noting other changes from a rat run.
F1: Room 1 clear.
Head west. Clear room.
Head north. Clear room.
Head east. Clear room if needed, but get lamia first if possible.
Head back to Room 1. Remember to get and use potions/milk/ethers from chest as you go and restock on the way back.
Head south. Clear room. All DDs should have weapon at this point. If not you will have to pull extra qutrub (see below).
Pull and kill Lamia SMN in hallway to south (party should stay in room).
Then pull Lamia COR from the room to south and kill it (this is room of qutrub if you needed another weapon).
Once Lamia dies, head east. Clear room.
Pull bones from hall to east.
Pull Merrow from room to east (party should stay in room again).
Once merrow dies, head north.
We go north here for the chance to get rings off the ghosts. Clear room.
Continue north. Clear room.
Head east. Clear room.
Head south. Clear room. When fighting the ghosts, a decision will be made as to whether the group needs more Magic, JA, or MP based on what the Lamia/Merrow have been dropping. Based on this one of the party (NOT THE THF) will head to the appropriate exit to F2 (usually one of the mages since sneak/invis needed and we have extra healers). Ideally at this point everyone should have HP (if this is true, skip any skeletons possible) and on a perfect run everyone needing them would have JA, MP, magic.
The choice of exits is either NE (this is where we end up anyway) for more Magic drops (generally this is the path) or
SE for more JA/MP (1 magic can also drops this way).
F2: Time check: 40 minutes in is a great run. 1 hour in means we are running pretty slow to make the boss.
Group should head to door. Direction based on which exit from F1 used, but you can see it from where you start.
IF needed, puller should grab a Merrow (one on each side as facing door) on the way to door. If you are in the north room they are both the same and will drop magic/range. The south room should have a shadowdancer to the south and a kabukidancer to the north. Shadow drops magic/MP and Kabuki drops JA/MP. If people are still short on HP at this point, both rooms contain 4-6 skeletons to farm it from (although drop rate isn't the best).
As soon as the Merrows die, main party should stay and loot the chest. THF should look for rat and try to steal a SJ cell from him. 1 other person (should be BRD usually, but anyone standing around works) should follow THF and exit as soon as his steal attempt is made.
F3: Time check: 50 minutes in is good. Over an hour in is slow.
Head east immediately (one exception is if you need weapons there are qutrub to the west). If you need HP there are skeletons in each room east (however if you need weapon or HP at this point, the run is not going very well)
IF we pull any of these rooms, it is the Merrow only and based solely on minimum required cells to fight the boss. Any room we do not fight, we sneak/invis thru (bones aggro sound, merrow aggro sight). On a perfect run we would have THF just flee (with sneak/invis) to exit while the rest wait, but here are drops for the less than perfect run.
Room 1: Magic/MP.
Room 2: JA/MP.
Room 3: Magic/range.
The last big room will have 2 Merrow CORs. Both drop JA/range.
If THF steal timer is up, have him head to exit AFTER getting TH on last mob pulled. He will only need sneak. He can steal from rat at porter (body cell) and exit.
F4: Time check: target is to be under 1hour in here. A perfect run you will hit this floor around 45 minutes in.
Head east and exit. If steal timer up (obviously meaning you didn't just use it on F3) steal from rat at porter and exit.
F5: Time check: Must be under 1 hour in to be able to do F5 Chariot and boss. If you are over one hour and 10 minutes here, it would be best to cancel boss and just do this chariot and rat.
Head north (only path) and start pulling the gear mobs in room immediately. Clear this room both for safety and hopefully get both melees SJ.
Someone (usually an extra mage, since you want TH on the mobs) should go to the exit once path thru room is clear.
If we still need a SJ (only if fighting F5 chariot) then pull the gear to the south.
Then head west. Skip next room if possible. Gear aggro truesound and magic. Ramparts aggro sight and magic (and possibly sound in front of them? or maybe just when SE hates us).
In main room should be a chariot (spawns when exit door opens) with a gear and a gears patrolling in front of it.
IF boss only run, person at exit should exit as soon as they arrive.
IF fighting F5 chariot, that person should return to the hall before the big room and meet up with party there. Pull chariot when clear. It will link the gear and gears by sound if they are close, so if time is good, pull at least the single first (also drops SJ). Only fight chariot if you have 2 /NIN melees available. Fight should last about 5 minutes, but plan a little longer for safety.
F6: Time check: 30 mintues left will be cutting it close, but doable. Less is just for practice probably. Ideally you would have 40 minutes.
Head east or west from start based on which way is clear to hall (or has 1 mech to grab on the way). Key to pulling this room is speed vs party status.
There are 4 single gear mobs, 4 triple gears mobs, and 2 ramparts. All have to die (including the trees the ramparts can call) to unlock boss door.
Ideally, we start with a single and build TP to kill a triple faster, but pulling them as they come free is more important than order (links can be slept or kited, but it can get dicey). If we have to fight 2 triples in a row, it may require a rest for MP if they spam AoE damage, so communication with mages is important if puller in different party.
The trickiest fights are the ramparts. Unlike the gears, they do not roam so it's possible to pick when to fight them. Puller should warn party to save TP (easiest to save TP on a single gear) before a rampart, because killing them quickly will prevent the stupid call reenforcement move that gives us extra trees to kill. As long as the trees get slept, it's fine, just more time.
TH is not a big deal on this floor because everything drops a lot of stuff. When party is fighting last mob, someone (usually THF) should head to the exit door (north end of room) and be ready to open it when mob dies.
If you are over 15 minutes left at this point, make sure you check any chests that drop for items to help on the boss. Generally they will give you some help here. If anyone died in this room, it may be better to wait on the weakened to warp so they get full HP/MP (if you have time). Our best time on the Boss fight is 13 minutes with no deaths, but allowing 15-20 is safer.
F7: Time check: If you are anywhere close to 20 minutes you are golden. If you are under 15, you better step on it, but don't panic. Under 10 is just for practice.
Boss is Armoured Chariot. It uses all normal chariot moves (watch for Para and Bind). It's special move is Mortal Revolution. This is ~600 AoE Damage + Stun. NIN shadows will negate this. I would suggest just having 2 melees on the chariot for TP build reasons. All other melees should be held in reserve and if someone dies, they should be ready to jump in to replace them (if they have ranged attacks like Chi Blast, bow, Absorb spells, Etc. they can use them as long as TP build does not increase more than damage done). Also, if they can /SAM and use meditate (wings or opo necklace with sleep pots work too) to build TP then WS only (this works well). They should be careful early not to draw hate (especially with spells) as bouncing hate can screw this fight pretty fast (Mortal Revolution going off in the middle of the support characters for example). You should also have 1 dedicated healer for each of your 2 main melees. After that having 1 or more BRDs or CORs is nice for buffs and a third healer that can focus on buffs/debuffs is a bonus. As I said, 6 can do this as THF, DD, DD, Healer, Healer, Buffer. As a note, our 13 minute run was MNK, WAR, BRD, RDM, WHM, BLM, THF. THF used feint at the start of the fight and again at around 50% (when timer was up) and BRD-WAR-MNK 2houred on second feint. MP was good and time short, so WAR stayed in the whole fight (sometimes go to 1 melee after 2hours for MP reasons on a low man run). BRD was able to land Ice Threnody allowing BLM to do good damage with Ice Nukes. RDM used Convert and WHM used Devotion & Martyr. Boss died as Benediction was activated. Time remaining on run was under 30 seconds at boss death due to earlier bad luck. Everyone was able to lot/pass and items were acquired however.
I would say the key jobs for us have been BRD (soul voice) and THF (feint).
Key to winning run is to just keep moving all the time, which comes with practice.

This is a listing of alternate NMs to kill for Level 35 items (and 1 Level 15 item) when you are ready to skip some rats. Listing is by NM showing the gear and change to rat run route.

Vile Wehzil: Drop 2x the cells traded to spawn him. End F1 by exiting the SW warp. on F2, clear the room and then trade the desired cells to the socket to spawn him. This would only be worthwhile to get Magic or JA cells in my opinion and really I would not recommend it unless you are taking a large group on a boss run and need the Magic Cells. He will duplicate up to 5 cells traded so have 1 person hold those cells on F1 if this is your plan. In the case of Magic only unlock the main heal and save any others you find for this purpose.

Pricess Pudding: Drops Usukane Level 15 Body 100%.
Same path as Rat Run. On F2 there is a slot in the room you warp into normally (Southeast room). Clear this room (can leave some, but full clear much much safer). Then exit room and kill the rat on this floor. Really you mostly want the SJ cell you can steall, so can let him go if you like, but might as well kill for the other cells he can drop. Then return to the slot room and trade a BR Card when ready. Pudding will generally spam AM and nasty ga spells (a lot of times it will be earth based, but is random). It may be best to allow your tank the 1st SJ cell if this is your target instead of your main heal, but this is a judgement call and getting the second SJ from rat would be very nice. Once it dies, resume rat run with the first rat. This fight typically will slow the run quite a bit, especially if it gets in some lucky hits with spells.

Deviate Bhoot: Drops Ares 35 Head Low %.
Same path as Rat Run. On F4 kill the rat (can do before as well, but you get cells from the rat and that clears exit if things go bad). Also farm SJs from the gear mobs to the west. Tank and DD must have shadows for this fight. When ready pull the largest of the Deviate Bhoots (ghost mobs) from the room to the North of start. They all have the same name, but the big one is the NM. He does not link with the others, but all are sound aggro. He likes to cast a lot of ice spells (Blizzaga 3 is really bad) so barblizzra if possible. He also has a death move called "Perdition". This needs to be stunned if at all possible. With 2 stunners all ga3s and perditions should be stunned. Fight is really smooth if this happens. If he uses perdition the target dies instantly. Once mob dies, raise and continue as planned for rat run. This mob can really slow down a run with his perdition move so killing fast is important. One important thing to note is that if you are short on Magic cells, the "normal" Bhoots drop them, as can the Rat on this floor.

Psycheflayer: Drops Morrigan Level 35 Head Low %.
F3: You go west. This is much more dangerous, but if you can sneak everyone past the soulflayers (truesound) then you can kill this rat in the same way you do the one on the north side. It maybe better to just skip the rat though and have only one person sneak to the pad to warp. If you do fight the rat, stand in the Southeast corner of the warp room to do it.
F4: You head West to the door for the telepad and the rat. This rat is the same as the one from regular F4 Rat Run, so see that for strat/drop. Kill the rat (can skip if wanted or kill after other NM). Also remember to farm SJs for the /NINs from the gears to the west. When ready pull Psycheflayer from room to the south of warp in pad. All have same name, but the NM is the largest in the room. They will not link, but do aggro truesound and JAs. Flayers are dangerous and this one has all the normal moves. Once he dies continue the rat run.
F5: You are on the opposite side of the this floor, but run is still the same. Head south to gear room and clear. Send 1 person to open the door to the warp pad while the party clears north. When Warp room open the rat will appear here. See Rat Run for Strat. When you exit this floor you are back on the same path as normal Rat Run.

Archaic Chariot: Drops Skadi Level 35 Feet, Marduk Level 35 Hands, Usukane Level 35 Legs. All Low %.
F5: This is the easiest/safest pick up to the rat run. When you open the door to pop the rat on this floor, it also pops this chariot mob in the middle of the big room. After killing the rat, have everyone sneak past the second gear room (can kill if needed, but safer to bypass rampart at least). The Gear/Gears in the main room will link by sound when the chariot pulled if it passes by them, so best to pull and kill them first if you are good on time (They can be slept if needed). Chariot has a lot of HP and all the chariot moves (para is the worst for this fight). Once it dies, head to warp and continue Rat Run. You could also farm level 15 pieces on this level if time short, as it is safer here than the next floor (Could also farm if you have extra time before going up). It should be noted that it is possible to have multiple pieces drop, but considering that all are very low % drops this is quite rare.

There is one rampart on each floor that will spawn if you meet certain conditions. This is a list of the triggers and drops. You should plan your run to aim for the gear desired. It is unlikely that you will get to all 4 on any one run.
F1: WEST. Gear cells drop west and stat cells drop east. Also less aggro on the west when you want to skip mobs, but if you prefer you can go east. Whichever you choose the other door locks.
Room one kill bomb, skip bugs.
North. Kill bomb in hall.
Room 2 Kill bomb, skip bugs. Pull bomb from east or west (he switches randomly) room
Then North and kill bomb in hall.
Room 3 kill troll, skip bugs.
North to Room 4 kill bomb and trolls, skip bugs.
East then South to main room. Pull Moths from main room and kill. Remember Moths are true sound and link. You should have Weapons, SJ, JAs, Magic, MP, & HP. The moths are the only things dropping JAs and Magic, but if you are short on the rest kill the trolls in this last big room for them.
From last room kill your way back toward room 2. If you have widescan, have that person watching for the Mad Bomber. He will appear in one of the deadends off room 2. If you do not have wide scan, have someone manually check for him (a mage is good for this while they wait to have magic unlocked and they can do this as soon as you kill bomb in room 2). He will appear on each run since the 4/8/9 update.
DO NOT ENGAGE/AGGRO him until everyone ready. Once aggroed, you have 60-75 seconds to kill him before he self-destructs. Self-destruct can not be stunned or prevented. If you kill him without him self-destructing a dormant rampart will appear in the same room.
Click it to warp to another room with a reactionary rampart.
Rest to full then have someone aggro the rampart. It is better use a nondamaging spell/JA. Once aggroed the rampart will begin to call reenforcements. It will call 1 every 12 seconds and can have maximum of 5 out at any one time. Also it will lose 1% of its HP every 12 seconds (even if no reenforcements can appear). Reenforcements are chigoes most of the time, but rarely it will spawn a spider (Gate Widow). It can summon multiple spiders on any given run, but does not have to spawn any. It seems to spawn more spiders if area entered on Thunderday (more means 4 instead of 0). The faster you can kill the chigoes, the more chances you have of the spider spawning. Best to fight away from rampart so that party has time as chigoes approach and BLM(s) can us AoE. When Spider appears, Sleepga the chigoes and kill spider. Each spider has a small chance of dropping Marduk Legs and/or Morrigan Hands (Both Level 35). When rampart dies you are warped back to main area (even if fighting a spider at the time). You should be able to fight this rampart until it dies, but if you start to get overwhelmed by chigoes (or just want to move on) just kill the rampart.
Once back in main area head to the central room and warp.
F2: North. The central rooms are connected in a circle. There is a Flan in each room. They drop Magic & JA cells. You must kill all 4 while they have spikes on their heads to trigger the dormant rampart here. Any magic spell cast on them, any level 3 Skill chain used on them, and using formless strikes on them can all remove the spikes (random % each time), so it is best to strictly melee them. The North and South ones are weak to magic (if spell kills them they will not change) and the East and West ones are weak to physical. If done correctly, the rampart will appear in the room where you make the last kill.
Click on it to warp to another reactionary rampart room.
Rest then aggro this rampart as the one on F1. This one calls wasps and rarely a Pephredo(as before can be multiple or 0). Lucky day here is Earthday. Same startegy as F1. Pephredo has a low % chance of dropping Usukane Feet and/or Skadi Head (both Level 35).
Once back in main area exit level in any corner of the map. If you want more HP go east and more MP go west. It would be better to exit to the north half of the map most runs.
F3: Head directly to the center area.
There will be a slot here. If you have the AR card, you can trade this to the slot to pop a NM soulflayer who will promptly wipe you party. If you are prepared for this fight it is still hard, but NM does drop Marduk Level 15 Body Piece 100%. Do not do this fight unless you have to.
East & west of the central room are rooms full of gear mobs. Each room also has 1 gears mob. We choose to fight on either the east or west side, but some groups choose to fight in the middle room. We have found that links will usually deaggro about the middle room so safer to make the long pull.
Pull one and bring it down to under 5% and then sleep it (no DoTs obviously).
Then pull the other side gears mob and bring that one down as well (actual pull should be made during first fight with puller leaving as soon as first gears pulled and waiting for good pull and word first gears is getting low).
When both are low let your BLM ~ga them to kill them together. If done correctly a dormant rampart will spawn randomly in either room the gears were in (last to die). If gears do not die exaclty at same time you are allowed a window to kill them and still pop rampart. We estimate window at 15-30 seconds, but have not experimented with it much (not on purpose anyway).
Click rampart to warp to the reactionary rampart for this floor.
Rest then aggro as above (same strat). This one calls Colibri (with their magic reflect thing) and may (same multiple or 0 chances) call a Ziz (Zebra Zachary). Ziz has a small chance of dropping Ares Hands and/or Skadi Head (Both Level 35). Currently I suspect Thunderday to be the lucky day for this NM. NOTE: NEVER USE NUKEGA. Also when NM pops, Sleepga is also bad. Targeting NM may help this, but Birds seem to reflect even if they are not the main target of a AoE. Using poisonga then sleepga may work, if you can nerf poisonga so it is resisted. Bringing poison pots would also not be bad. Bird do not reflect SMN magic so using shiva or diabolos would also be an option.
When back in main area exit on either side.
F4: This floor sucks. Head out of room one (only one exit, direction dependent on exit from last level). Everyone stay well back in hallway.
Each of the small rooms has 2-3 Gear Mobs. If you kill all 10, first let me say congrats. They are cheap little weasels and the designers need to be shot. They aggro/link truesound and magic and JAs. During wind weather, their detection range is greatly increased. If they aggro or link they simply warp away. If they are pulled by magic (including NIN magic?, but not BRD songs) they warp. If they are pulled with any JA (such as provoke) they warp. Best to pull with normal ranged attacks. If you do not kill them within 60-70 seconds of initial pull, they warp. BLM is good for this as they can heavy nuke them (after pull obviously). However, they still have the gear TP move that heals for 1300+ and can spam it if they don't like you (it may be advisable to limit the number of melees you have on these gear mobs, especially if you have multiple BLMs). If you do kill all 10, a dormant rampart will appear in room where you kill the last one (see Boss Run for additional effect).
Note that the large room does not have any Gear mobs, but does have several Gears and a Chariot. This room should be skipped.
Click on rampart to warp to the reactionary rampart room for this floor.
Rest then aggro it as the others (same strat). This one calls birds (the brown ones) and may (same multiple or 0) call a Giant Bird (Peryton). Giant Bird (and he's not a push over) can drop Skadi Body and/or Marduk Legs (both Level 35). Based on other floors I would suggest lucky day for this NM is either Earth or Dark/Light.
Once back in main area, exit is in central room. This concludes door bashing. See boss run if you have time left.

You can include some door bashing in this run, but I would limit it to make sure you have time for the boss. The easiest one to include is the F4 Door, but see notes below for options.
F1: Same as the door bashing above, except probably skip bomber if present. You can still try the rampart if you wish as long as you watch the clock and exit early (not recommened until you are sure of the timing).
TIME TARGET 25 MINUTES
F2: Kill enough of the Flans to get the JA and Magic cells you need. You can fight this rampart a little if you wish too, but again kill it before waiting the full 20 minutes (only try this if you are sure of your group's timing).
Then head east for more weapons/HP cells if you need. These mobs will also drop stat cells.
OR head west if yu need MP. These mobs will also drop gear cells.
If you are going to be short of SJ/MP cells warp South.
OR if you will be short JA warp north.
TIME TARGET 40 MINUTES
F3: Go directly to warp unless you need SJ/JA/MP/HP cells. If you need the cells kill everything you can while sending 1 person (NOT THF) to warp. You could do the card mob, if you need too, but I would not recommend this rampart on a boss run (and would discourage the card NM as well).
You can exit either east or west and gain bonuses on the boss. See next floor for details.
TIME TARGET 45 MINUTES
F4: Fight this exactly like a Door run. If you pop the rampart by killing the 10 Gear mobs, you could use any "extra" time you feel you have to fight it, but I would do a chariot as described below. The more gears you kill, the weaker the main boss' Homing missle special will be so take your time on pulls and get it right. Our former 3x BLM set made short work of these gear mobs, but 1 BLM is fine as long as you rest MP between kills. Also RDM should focus on nukes here rather than healing (enfeebles are pointless because of the time limit).
Killing the chariot in the main room of the level will further nerf the megaboss. On the east path killing the chariot will reduce the Megaboss' attack rating. Kill the the one on the west path will reduce it's defense rating. Which is more useful depends on the group.
TIME TARGET 70 MINUTES (which leaves 15 mintues for rampart and 15 for next floor)
Note on target time. 15 is plenty of time to kill the boss and safely lot drops with time left, but never plan to kill it faster incase things don't go perfect.
F5: Boss is Long-Bowed Chariot. People say this is the hardest boss. I disagree although it is the hardest to reach properly. He hits really hard, but attacks slowly, so shadow tanks should be fine (especially if you can land slow & elegy). He has all the normal chariot moves (watch for para and bind). His special move is homing missle. At full strength, it does 90% damage AND resets hate. This will obviously wipe most parties. Each gear you succesfully kill on F4 reduces the amount of damage down to a minimum of 10%. 9 gears killed makes hate reset single target and all 10 eliminates it completely. He only uses hominig missle on targets in front of him, so tanks should stay to the sides if possible. If all gears and a chariot killed, he goes down fairly easily. If gears not killed, then yes he is probably the hardest boss. When defeated, he will drop 2 of the following at random (can be 2 of the same). Morrigan Body, Morrigan Head, Marduk Hands, Ares Body, Ares Head, Skadi Feet, Usukane Legs. All pieces are level 25. The normal strategy of only 2 melees, each with a dedicated healer works well here. Stun resistance builds quickly so only stunning Homing missile (on an unnerfed boss) or as needed to give time to apply shadows/heal (if homing missile is nerfed) is advised. We have should easily kill this boss if gears pulled cleanly, but wind weather can screw that up. Even unnerfed, we have chance though with our current set up.