Crustacean Conundrum  

I really don't understand these tactics ...3 rdm/nin or 2 rdm/nin ...why? I'm also a rdm so i know that rdm sucks at lvl 20 ....and sub nin sucks too ...
3 drg/mage could be a perfect choice,or drg - pup - drg ...this is the best formation in my opinion ...

is BST/NIN any good for this BCNM? and what would be a good party for this with a BST/NIN or BST/WHM in mind

i have done this bcnm like 20 times the body is 100% drop or at least it was the last time i did it and we just go all evasion gear bee sting and platoon dagger and go in buff up with enthunder and pro and shell and one binds the middle one binds the one on the left and the other silences the middle crab then the other comes right to us we murder it then the next one then the middle one then your done some times it can go back if the middle crab starts draining every hit just dont cast any DOT spells on it, it seems to do its drain a lot more if you do that and dont do it on darks day cause it like to drain at lot then to.





75rdm
67drg
63bst
63blu

these guys are at like, 25 hp and 15 hp, but you can only deal 1-2 (if any) dmg at a time...
well, has anyone tried using drk and pld with weapon bash and sheild bash? ive noticed in normal leveling they tend to do the same amount of damage regardless of the mobs defense or your own attack. so would using weapon/sheild bash allow you to pull off more damage? or would it to drop down to 0-2 damage?
Ive only done 4 bcnms, 1 wings of fury and 3 treasurse and tribulations, 1/1 on astral ring and 0/3 on T&T, so im kinda new to bcnm.

I hope you all realize that nin sub is 100% useless at level 20. Not only is one weapon faster than 2 at that level (it's only when you get dual wield 2 at lvl 25 nin that it gets faster, i.e. lvl 50 main job), but you also have no utsusemi shadows. Bravo, way to use your heads people!

any1 wanna help with this ask me im dude on remora

any1 wanna do this im dude on remora

I was wondering if anyone has thought of some new strategies for this bcnm? I have a couple that I wanted to try. I was thinking that maybe 3 blms. They go in and each of them elemental seal > bind one of the crabs. they then choose one crab to cast on and spam dia, bio, and stone on each crab one at a time starting with the big one.

another strategy could work but I'm not sure about the DoT spells. It would use a similar set up with the mages except the mages just cast bio on the mobs and let the DoT kill them. However, I read in one of the earlier posts that DoT doesn't work on these mobs. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

Ok we tried the nin/war rdm/nin x2 with great sucess, the key is high evasion gear and fastest daggers you can find (platoon daggers). Rdm/nin binds one smaller crab, nin/war vokes large crab and attacks other small one, dia. poison form a rdm, all three beat down litte guy, move to next little one, on large crab rsm silinces it, and take it down quick. On our third run ever we set record. btw no hi-pot/drinks all i had as nin/war was squid sushi and if you do it right and run fast enough it can last for 3 fights mine did, Good luck hope you can get your manequin

not as fast as other record but at least i tell you the set-up

Tried this bcnm for the first time with a friend of mine who had leveled pup. We went as nin/war rdm/nin and pup/whm. It went horribly the first time cause we didn't know what the heck we were doing lol but went AMAZINGLY well the second time. Here's what we did.

Battle Plan:

The nin/war voked the big crab and the puppetmaster sent his puppet on one of the small crabs to tank and the rdm silences the big crab to get rid of that pesky waterga.

The rest of us wail on the third little crab til he dies then go to help the puppet on the second little crab. This crab dies fast and we turn to the main crab. and victory is ours.

Even though the crabs drain a total of 94 hp through out we had no problems at all. Only items used was selbina milk the pup noticed he had on the second run.

Sidenote: Do not underestimate Dia/Bio for this fight DoTs are always good.

Morale of the story have fun with the new jobs see what you can do ^^

Not to brag or anything.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v672/whohasmysock/CB2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v672/whohasmysock/CB.jpg

::::EDIT::::
For the record, we dont go RDM/NIN RDM/NIN RDM/NIN, we dont go MNK MNK MNK (+hundred fists's), and as a static the three of us have gone on literally a hundred runs over the course of a year+ and not lost once. Only once or twice have the mann. hands dropped, so yes they do drop, but the drop rate is worse than bounding boots...
We are all on Shiva Server, send Sakae, Mordakai, or Dreng a /tell if you see us around.

Edited, Mon Apr 10 04:35:28 2006

People have had success several ways.

Easiest way to do reguardless of what anyone says.

RDM/NIN x3 cheapest.

Nin/??? x3 more expensive.

We do this several times as 3 taru RDM/NIN's no items needed each of us takes one crab.

Setup protect and enthunder with 2 of the quickest daggers you can find. Speed is the key all damage will hit for 1 reguardless of what you do. so to make this work well and quick.

Each dagger with an enthunder will now hit for 2 points 1 for the dagger and 1 for enthuder, using dual weild u know hit for 4 points each turn. Timeing your cure's inbetween mob hits is somehting that should be learned and easily done by lvl 20.

A more expenisve way is buying elemantal daggers like wind and equipping a wind fan. i haven't tried this but gives the effect of 4 damage per turn just might have a problem with cures unless u sub RDM or WHM.

We just tried this very strat only to do 1 damage a piece per mijin gakure. I say this myth is busted. We went in 3 nin/war all 2hr on one crab and bam... NOTHING!! lol. Anyway.. this does not work unless SlothManMordy left something out nin 2 hr is useless.

-nari (asura)

rdm/nin huh, try 3 mnk/war. have them all 2 hour a crab and you'll beat it fairly fast.
can't do it as often, btut hey, it works

What you are fighting:
You will be fighting 3 NM Crabs. Each one has an additonal effect of drain on their attacks. The drain cannot be stopped with any spell. Just gotta hope to make them not hit you. Heavy metal Crab has 25 HP, and the two Metal Crabs have 15 HP. Your plan of attack here is Enthunder. Enthunder lets you essentially hit twice every attack. Enthunder also seems to land with damage more often then your regular dagger. You want to keep them from hitting you, they can't drain what they can't hit. And you want to try to stay alive. With every spell you cast, thats 2-3 dagger strikes you didn't land. Keep that in mind.


Party Setup:
Rdm, Rdm, Rdm.
Your subjobs are up to you for the most part.
/Nin - I know what they say about DW1, but I've watched it from a 3rd vantage point, and DW1 does give some sort of help. In 1 minute a Rdm/Nin with 2 daggers will do 5% more hits than a Rdm/War with the same dagger on the same mob.
/Pld - Def Bonus with a little bit extra mana.
/Thf - Evasion Bonus is good
/War - Def Bonus is good
/Whm - Is very handy for 1 of the members. BarWatera helps a lot. And Protectra saves some time with spelling up.

Alternative setup, is to have a Thief/Warrior in the party. When you switch to the Heavy Metal crab and start attacking it, when it is debuffed and you are buffed and cured, the Thief can hit Perfect Dodge, and Provoke the crab. Which will keep it from its Drain Attack for long enough to have it be killed.


What to bring:
1-2 Hi-Potions per battle.
1-2 Juices per battle.
1 Bream Sushi per battle.
1 Orb per battle - hehe.

Hipotions help you heal w/o depleating your mana supply. Also if you do run out of MP keep at least 20 or so for when Enthunder wears off.
Juices keep your MP up, it won't be a long battle, but you'll use a lot of mana.
Bream Sushi keeps your accuracy up, you need to hit as much as possible, the Damage doesn't mean anything, just need to land the hits. the added Vit helps a bit too.


What to wear:
I went in with 3 rdms in full Bone +1 armor, with +eva earrings, and +agi rings. He can't drain what he can't hit. Platoon Daggers are the name of the game here. 150 delay is perfect for these things. Anywhere you can't put +eva or +agi, put +vit. These things can pack a bit of a walop.

Main:	Platoon Dagger 
Sub:	Decurions Shield or Platoon Dagger 
Ammo:	Fortune Egg 
Head:	Compound Eye Circlet 
Neck:	Black Silk Neckerchief (anything you want really) 
Ear1:	Silver Earring +1 
Ear2:	Silver Earring +1 
Body:	Bone Harness +1 
Hands:	Battle Gloves 
Ring1:	Reflex Ring +1 
Ring2:	Reflex Ring +1 
Back:	Traveler's Mantle 
Belt:	Warrior's Belt +1 
Legs:	Bone Subligar +1 
Feet:	Light Soleas

Should look like this

This should leave you with 150 delay weapon, plenty of Def, +22 Evasion, +4 Agility, and +4 Vitality (assuming you have a fortune egg) - Before Food. Obviously you don't NEED all +1s of all this stuff, but the non +1 bone doesn't have evasion, so keep that in mind. But I understand that blowing 200-250k isn't exactly in everybody's abilities... If you had that kind of gil to throw around, you might not be doing the BCNM in the first place.


What to do:
When you enter the BC, run up to the ramp, and start spelling up. Food, Protectra, Shell, Aquaveil, EnThunder, Rest.
Rest up to 100% MP. Get up. Engage the far right Crab (one of the easy crabs) - Don't get aggro yet, just stay just within casting range. Get ready for a synchronous cast. 2 should cast bind on the Heavy Metal Crab and the Metal Crab you're not attacking, the 3rd should pop the engaged metal crab with slow at the same time. The 1st crab should die before the other 2 un-bind. Attack the other Metal Crab next, keeping the Heavy Metal silenced. Try to keep the 2nd Metal crab slowed and paralyzed. But again, with every cast of any spell, thats 1-6 dmg (6-40% of its total HP) you're not doing.
Now the 2nd is dead. Move on to Mr hometown, Heavy metal Crab himself. Don't worry about Dia, Bio, Poison, or any other DOT spell, they all do 0 damage per, and just wastes your MP, and time you could be attacking. Keep this punk Silent, Slow, Paralyzed, and blinded. Keep yourself cured, you've probably used a Hi-Potion or two by now. About now you're EnThunder will start wearing off, recast it before it does. Once everybody is cured, and the mob debuffed. Start wailing (This is where a Thief/War would voke and Perfect Dodge), and try not to stop to re-apply anything unless he drains it back. 25 HP is NOT a lot, and with 3 attackers, doing 0-2 dmg per strike, 1 strike every 2 seconds, This guy can die in as little as 8 seconds. He will not stop draining, and he uses shell which will make your EnThunder almost worthless, which is why you need to keep him as debuffed as possible. He can't drain what he doesn't hit.


Whelp... Theres the strategy. Happy Hunting.

Edited, Jul 16th 2006 at 9:19pm EDT by FenrirValendros

** DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN BALL **

Congratulations, Somoz and others, on developing a strong strategy based on RDM plus NIN/WAR. Inspired, I've levelled my NIN past 10 just so that I can do this BCNM as RDM/NIN.

But now I'm there, and studying this battle carefully, I don't fully understand what /NIN brings to it and wonder whether the strategy can be refined even further.

Presumably, the RDMs sub /NIN to take advantage of dual wield; but (surely) DW1 simply adds all of the weapon stats together? According to posts in the NIN forum, reduction in delay doesn't appear until DW2 at NIN level 25. As far as the stats themselves go, DMG is unimportant. The Beestinger offers +DEX and +AGI but is "rare"; Beestinger and Platoon Dagger both have delay 150. So Beestinger + Platoon Dagger gives a double attack (and two En-spells if they both hit) every (150+150)=300 time units. This produces exactly the same damage over time as a Beestinger alone. So the extra weapon slot could surely be used to increase some other stat important for this fight, such as ACC or EVA. Here's an extreme example: equip Tropical Punches +1 to add +12 ACC; the drawback with this is the 480 base delay on Hand-to-Hand weapons -- you'd hit every time, but a lot more slowly! More practically, a Decurion's Dagger (DLY=178, ACC+2) will increase the time between swings by 10%, but might make up for that by allowing you to hit more often. Then again, since keeping the Heavy Metal Crab silenced is a key factor for success, it might be worth equipping Silence Daggers (+1) [or even better, a Hushed Dagger, if you can find an alchemist to make them!] Any views?

To round off thoughts on different weapon choices, does anyone know whether the "additional effect" on the Spark Dagger (+1) really does its additional damage on these crabs? Or whether that additional damage stacks with En-spells (easily tested outside the BCNM)? If so, this would add 50% to the damage done by a Platoon Dagger at a small extra delay.

Then again, if my thought that Beestinger+Platoon Dagger does no more damage over time than does Beestinger on its own, why sub /NIN at all? I see others using the RDM+NIN strategy have used RDM/WHM and RDM/THF. /WHM gives Barwatera to add some protection to the NIN and save the other RDM casting Barwater, in addition to "Magic Defence Up I". /THF gives the "Physical Evasion Up I" trait.

I appreciate that this may be gilding the lily -- the strategy plainly works well -- but I'd appreciate responses, even if only to tell me I've got it all wrong.

Again, my thanks to Somoz and others who have developed this strategy for sharing it with us.

Ceridwen of Seraph

Edited, Mon Aug 15 15:26:59 2005

We went in as Mnk/War. Each of us attacked one crab. I attacked the Heavy Metal Crab and later, then the two other Monk's finished the other crabs, they helped me with the Heavy Metal Crab. We had very unique Equipment and we had all Cougar baghnakhs, Cotton hachimaki, Cotton Dogi +1, Warrior's Belt and Cotton sitabaki.
Everybody used directly at the beginning his 2 Hours ability Hundred Fists.

We three had each two hi-potion's with us, but we only needed one of them. The two, who attacked the "normal" metal crab used Meat mithkabob and I used a blackened newt.

We got these:
platoon dagger
bronze ingot
bettle quiver
mannequin body
mannequin hands

We made the new record on the Hades server. We killed the crabs within 2 Minutes and 44 Seconds. The old record was 5 Minutes and 7 Seconds, so we were much faster than the others.

We are playing on the Hades server. Our names are Medtoa, Cloudts and Danys. We are all
german and we have a german Linkshell with the name Darkfighter.

Edited, Mon Aug 15 14:46:41 2005

\..|_(>.<)_|../
Heavy Metal Crab!

I've done this BC 12 times now, 10 of which were wins. The manequin body is 100% drop rate from what I've seen, sell anywhere from 400k-700k on Odin. Recently I've seen the manequins hands drop twice, like 2 out of the last 6 that I've done. I think they may have added it in the last update but not sure.
I'm not gonna bother talkin about every pt set-up I went through, but I will tell about the best;
nin/war, food: Jack-o-lanterns
rdm/nin#1[healer], food: Rolanberry pie, yag drinks
rdm/nin#2[enfeebler(me)], food: Rolanberry pies, yag drinks
Step1: Eat pies outside BC, rest up (won't need max mp if you're lvl 21+).
Step2: enter BC, buff up. Rdms cast protect (one rdm casts protect on nin), shell (other rdm casts shell on nin), barwater, enthunder. Aquveil could be usefull, cause rdms might get a few spell interuptions. Blazespikes does 0 dmg always, or at least from what I've seen. Tried usin it 1st 3 runs, waste of time and mp. After those buffs, rdm eat yag drinks and rest up. Nin casts utsusemi, and eats a jack-o.
Step3: CHARGE!! All 3 run up to the lip of the circle, rdm#1 binds the left metal, rdm#2(me) silences heavy and keeps it silenced through the whole battle, nin vokes heavy. all attack right metal.
step4: After right metal dies, all attack left metal (which might be beating the rdms @$$ by now that cast bind on it). Nin will have to voke heavy and the one all are fighting, so the left crab might get to have some free hits before it's squashed.

Don't bother casting utsusemi this whole time, you'll most likely suffer interuption, and even if you do make the cast, 2 crabs on you is gonna tear away those shadows in seconds.

Step5: Heavy metal...this guy can be one mean SOB. This is the only semi-hard part of the battle.
As soon as left metal dies, nin casts utsusemi and uses every hate tool he has (voke, kurayami, and daggers :P) to keep it off the rdms. Rdm#2 enfeebles heavy with paralyze and slow (nin should have it blinded with kurayami, dia and bio are useless). If enfeebs wear of, cast them again without hesitation, ESPECIALLY silence. Heavy really likes to cast waterga as soon as silence wears off, which is devestating, but you might get lucky and get hit with blind. Rdm#2 cures. If heavy goes drain crazy don't panic, it happens.
Nin keep shadows up, rdms keep enfeebs and enthunder up and you should have np beating heavy.
Step6: Run over to the middle of the BC and open that big juicy treasure chest! :D

Important things to keep in mind through the whole battle: Keep heavy silenced, keep enthunder up, one rdm cures, other rdm enfeebs and cures other rdm + back up cures the nin, nin keeping hate on heavy.

Our 1st run we set the record at...{hmmm.}{I don't remember}, I'll find out and come back for edit.
Second run we did even better and beat our own record.
Third time heavy put up metalic body, which was a bit of a delay, so we didn't beat the previous record. With enthunder bein the only thing doin any real dmg, nin couldn't hold hate and rdms got drained a few times (one drain brings heavy back to full hp in most cases).

Good luck to anyone trying to do this! For 20 b-seals, 400-700k ain't bad :)

Edited, Tue Aug 9 03:22:38 2005

I can go into this as a SAM,NIN,THF and i can sub almost anything what would be a good party set up with me using one of those jobs please help me out im 0-3 on this

We went with
NIN/WAR (friend)
NIN/WAR (friend of friend)
RDM/NIN (me, with dual Platoon Dagger)

We only did one run, but our strategy was the same as the one my friend did just earlier, which he was was an incredibly easy win...

Well, it was. Standard buffs, Enthunder on myself, Yagudo Drink, NINs eat Jack'o Lanterns. Friend vokes and kites Heavy Metal (and aggros one Metal crab) while I Silence Heavy Metal. Meanwhile other NIN vokes the other Metal Crab, which we tear into, while I am casting debuffs on Heavy Metal and throwing the kiting NIN light heals. We grab the second Metal Crab and kill that just as quickly.

Then we get to Heavy Metal, where I refresh Enthunder. Silence is crucial, as its Waterga is unpleasant, but otherwise you are simply blink-tanking it between 2 NINs. We won before my Yag Drink wore off :O

As for the reason for me to sub NIN, he only said "well, 5% delay reduction is better than nothing, you're the damage dealer :P"

Other notes - we decided not to try Binding the second Metal Crab, because we weren't sure whether we would have time to throw another provoke on it, and one of those smacking me around would be trouble. Also, I did let one Waterga slip and it did about 80 damage. I didn't experience any resists on normal debuffs (Paralyze, Slow, Blind) and they seemed to help greatly.

Anyone know if Sneak Attack could break their defenses?

Also, a good idea might be 3 thieves using 2 hours so no draining. Can't repeat for a while but still could be effective.

First off, Metal Crabs are EXTREMELY weak. Granted they got the highest DEF and Magic DEF in the world, but meh. They don't have 25 HP, not even close. Can't be more than 15, and personally I'd say 10 each. The Heavy Metal Crab has about 35 HP, and better def, you'll hit 0's alot more on him.
We did it three times, setup was,
Taru Mnk/war <--me!
Taru Rdm/whm
Hume Rdm/war

We all used Tavzania Tacos, and the rdm's had Yagudo Drinks. I can't say exactly how they rdm's were equipped, but the taru was wearing bone harness set, and hume one had on lizard. This based from appearence only, no idea on weapons, I don't think I checked them at all. I was wearing All Cotton Gi set, Metal Knuckles, Stamina Ringx2, Warrior Belt+1, Dhamahl mantle.

We buffed with Barwatera, Shell, and Protect. Both rdms used Enthunder.

I provoked the Heavy Metal Crab, the rdm/war provoked the left one and cast silence on Heavy Metal and rdm/whm cast Bind on Heavy metal, then we all killed the right Metal crab, then left one, and finally Heavy Metal Crab.
First battle went off without a hitch, I don't think they drained us once.
Second battle the Metal Crabs died easily, but they Heavy Metal Crab kept draining over and over and I used Hundred Fists.
Third battle went just like first, although Heavy Metal Crab drained once, but he was only hurt about 5hp at the time, so it didn't matter, and he never drained again.

It is extremely hard to keep hate in this fight. Since you can't hit above 1dmg, you can't tank via damage, and although they don't hit hard at all, about 10-15 each attack, and Waterga was about 30 (had Barwatera and Shell up) the rdms got aggro from curing. I lost hate about 15 seconds after voking. We spent probably 40mins on this, about 10mins in each fights, the remaining 10mins was just running back to the Burning circle.

First Battle Results were
3000gil (1000gil to each of us)
Mannequin Body
Mithril Beastcoin
Platoon Axe
Fish Oil Broth
Bronze Ignot
Land Crab Meat
Crab Shell

Second Battle Results were
3000gil (1000gil to each of us)
Mannequin Body
Platoon Zaghnal
Bronze Ignot
Land Crab Meat
Crab Shell
Beetle Arrow Quiver

Third Battle Results were
3000gil (1000gil to each of us)
Mannequin Body
Fish Oil Broth
Land Crab Meat
Mithril Beastcoin
Brass Ignot

We each kept all the drops from our own orb, I was second orb, so I got all drops from second battle (except for the auto-located gil they other two received).