Guide to the New NM SystemFollow

Lots of confusion around this new picture taking system and how it works, so I thought I'd clear some of it up with the info I've found so far (most personal experience, some second hand).

Getting Started

To get zeni, you have to take pictures of mobs, just like in Pankration. Grab some imperial coins (a couple gold pieces will go a LONG way), and head to The Pit. When you zone in, look left and talk to the guy with his hands down his trousers (Zandjarl). Trade him your coins for jettons, the Pankration currency. Now talk to him, browse his wares, and select 2 jetton items. Buy a Soul-Trapper, and a couple stacks of soul plates. If you're using the 2-jetton Soul-Trapper, you'll need to buy a new Soul-Trapper after each trip, so try not to forget.

There is a more expensive Soul-Trapper 2000 under the 500 jetton item list. This one has more charges (48, instead of 12) and a quicker reuse time (30 seconds instead of one minute). It costs 200 jettons. It's up to you whether the convenience is worth the 250x cost. I personally carry one of each soul-trapper at all times to take pictures more quickly, but if you're a more casual picture-taker, the NQ alone should cover your needs just fine.

There's also HQ Soul Plates called High-Speed Plates. I have never noticed a difference using these.

Picking Your Target

Now that you have a camera and frames, you need to know what to take pictures of. Head to Whitegate, near the Al Zhabi zone, and talk to Sanraku, then Ryo. Ask Ryo what the current subject of Sanraku's interest his, and he'll give you a mob type. These seem to change on a random or timed basis (idk yet why it changes), but so far it's been about once every 2 hours or so. Now, find the highest level version of that mob you can think of that type you can handle holding solo (or with your group, if you're bringin' friends), and that will be your target.

Taking Pictures

Head to the zone with your target in it, and equip your soul-trapper in the ranged slot. Now, put your soul plates in the ammo slot. To take a picture, use the Soul-Trapper from your inventory. Once all the charges are used up, toss it, and head back to the Pankration NPC for a new one. Likewise, when you run out of plates, you can buy more from him.

Find your mob, and start snapping! See below for tips on how to get the most points for your pictures though!

Turning Them In

After you've got your pictures, head back to Whitegate and trade them to Sanraku to see how many points you got. You can trade them to Ryo first if you want to know how many zeni they are worth beforehand. The limit is 10 soul plates traded to Sanraku per game day.

Also, don't forget a new camera!

Making the Most of Your 10

As I said, you can only turn in ten pictures per game day. Obviously then, you want to make them good ones.

Here are the things I have found to increase the number of points you get for each picture:

-Low HP. The lower the mob's HP%, the more points you will get.
-Claim. Taking pictures of a mob that is CFHed or claimed to someone else will get you very low points. Make sure your party has claim on your mob.
-Front. Stand in front of the mob, so it's facing you.
-Lock. Lock target on it so that it is centered in the frame.
-Level. High level mobs give higher points.
-Distance. Standing right in front of the mob (very close to it) seems to yield the most points.
-I have not found any difference between NQ and HQ camera, and NQ and HQ plates. HQ camera just seems to let you take more pictures before needing a new one, and has a shorter reuse time. NQ and HQ plates could have a higher success rate, but I've been having about a 90% success rate with NQ plates anyway, so I can't be bothered.
-Sleeping the mob helps a ton, both in keeping it facing one direction so you can stand in front, and in keeping it off you while you wait for the 1 minute cool down on your Soul-Trapper. A sleeper makes an enormous difference, so bring one if at all possible!

Getting Your Pop Item

Talk to Sanraku and ask about the monsters. He will list all of the NMs by name. Select an NM and he will tell you how many zeni it costs for the pop item. This cost seems to go down by 100 per gameday, and up by 100 whenever someone buys one (?). Once you have enough points, buy the information, and you'll get a pop item specific to that NM.

There is also an option about information about the inlet. If you pay the 500 points, you get a salt item. This allows you to access the previously un-travelable islets via the stone slabs. The salt is lost when you teleport out there, so each person needs a salt to get there. There is only a ??? on the islets. They are used to pop the new Hydra/Cerberus/Khimaira NMs, according to the hints in the ??? text and the data-mined pop items. The islet is instanced too; only people in your alliance with the salt item can travel out there once you've "reserved" it.

For the time being, the salts are useless, unless you have a friend with tier-4 access doing one of the khim/cerb/hydra fights and want to watch/help, or unless you have tier-4 access yourself.

Finding the ???

New ???s can be found all over ToAU areas. These are the new NM pop spots, and each gives a hint to the pop item when examined. Gather your group up, and when you're ready, pop the NM by having one person trade their item. The other people in the group do not need the item to participate in the fight. Kill the NM, and it will drop one rare/ex item specific to that NM 100% of the time, plus a <100% chance of dropping one or more of the new armor/weapon/items. Whoever traded the pop item should probably get the rare/ex item for fairness, but that's up to your group.

Repop times on the ???s seem to be about 3 minutes(!) from mob death.

Difficulty Ratings (note that in some cases, difficult can also mean "hours of longness and boringness if done with less than recommended number"):
1/5 - Relatively easy solo for some jobs, or easy kill with 4-6.
2/5 - Somewhat soloable with specific strategy. Should be fairly easy with 6.
3/5 - Difficult/impossible solo. 6-9 people recommended.
4/5 - Difficult, even with a full party. 9-10 people in a well-balanced group recommended.
5/5 - Difficult with 12 people. Alliance recommended.

Here are the NMs:

Tier 1

Turning in the 100% drop from *one* NM from Tier 1 gives you access to all 3 Tier 2 NMs of that color via a Key Item.

Vulpange (Puk) - Karura Hachigane, Sylphid Epee
???: Hellcage Butterfly => Wajaom Woodlands, (D-10)
Notes: Spams an AoE for 800ish damage, which is blinkable. Recast utsusemi after every Wind Shear and limit the number of melee to prevent spam so that melee can keep up with utsu timers, or you will wipe. Better with low numbers.
Also is cured by elemental magic of the day of the week, along with wind damage.
Difficulty: 2/5

Chamros (Colibri) - Erato's Cape, Dragoon's Earring
???: Floral Nectar => Mamoook, (J-9)
Notes: Uses Wisecrack (Charmga) once, also casts Aeroga 2 frequently. Reflects all magic cast against it (even blue magic).
Difficulty: 2/5

Cheese Horder Gigiroon (Qiqirn) - Armadillo Cuisses, Beast Slayer
???: Rodent Cheese => Ruins of Alzadaal, (F-9) Runic Portal Map
Notes: Freqeuntly flees from battle, dropping bombs that do 400 AoE damage behind it. Stand still and let it run back to you, or split up with half your group at one end of its path and half at the other, so you can fight it in between running phases without dealing with bombs.
Difficulty: 2/5

Brass Borer (Wamouracampa) - Ritterhenzes, Lion Tamer
???: Shade Leaf => Mt. Zhayolm (I-7)
Notes: Very high defense, manaburn/kite strategy recommended. Cannonball damage seems to get much higher the closer you are to the mob (1500ish from pointblank, 500ish during kiting). Will always use Cannonball on the closest player, regardless of who has hate - but will only use cannonball when the player it is chasing is within range. Therefore, as long as your "tank" (preferably a nin or /nin) is the closest person to the borer, it will always use cannonball on them.
Difficulty: 2/5

Claret (Clot) - Kerykeion, Almah Torque
???: Pectin => Mt. Zhayolm (J-8)
Notes: Very high phys. damage reduction. Anyone standing near it receives a strong poison. Manaburn/kite strategy recommended for kill speed and avoiding poison.
Difficulty: 2/5

Ob (Automaton) - Coiler, Attuner, Steam Jacket, Equalizer, Drum Magazine, Mana Channeler, Guignol Earring
???: Cog Lubricant (lolz) => Ruins of Alzadaal (G-7), near Bhaflau Remnants entrance
Notes: Very high damage from Slapstick and Magic Mortar, can Cure IV itself. Magic Mortar damage seems to increase when closer to Ob. Kiting strategy recommended to lessen Magic Mortar damage.
Difficulty: 3/5

Velionis (Skeleton) - Corsair's Belt, White Joker
???: Golden Teeth => Arrapago Reef (G-11)
Notes: Very strong undispellable(?) blaze spikes which deal about 250(!) damage per hit.
Difficulty: 2/5

Lil' Apkallu (Apkallu) - Numerist Pumps, Hakke Habaki
???: Greenling => Arrapago Reef (I-9) (need one Lamian Fang Key)
Notes: Will occasionally use TP move Yawn, and then run around in circles for ~30 seconds. After done running, uses Wing Whirl (high aoe damage, blinkable), sometimes multiple times in a row. Keep mages back out of aoe range, and have melee sub nin to blink whirl. Can use Hundred Fists multiple times. Very resistant/immune to stun/slow/grav/bind/sleep.
Difficulty: 1/5

Chigre (Chigoe) - Blood Ring, Insect Ring
???: Spoilt Blood => Aydeewa Subterrane (E-8)
Notes: Has enpetrify, encurse, enblind, enpoison, enparalyze, envirus, enslow, ensilence, and endrain. Whoever he is attacking seems to lose hate much quicker than normal. Can not be one-shotted by crits/weapon-skills/job abilities like normal chigoes can. Curse is very potent.
Difficulty: 2/5


Tier 2

Turning in the 100% drop from *one* NM in Tier 2 gives you access to all 3 Tier 3 NMs of that color via a key item. You will lose your key item from Tier 1 when you select a tier 2 NM, so you will have to redo Tier 1 to reclimb the path you selected.

Iriz Ima (Marid) - Ferrara, Avocat Pigaches
???: Senorita Pamama => Bhaflau Thickets (J-8)
Notes: Uses Onrush frequently, does not summon chigoes after TP moves like normal Marids do. Onrush resets hate, even if blocked by a shadow, and he uses it in sets of 3-4. Damage from Onrush seems to weaken drastically if out of melee range. Also uses Barrier Tusk (undispellable defense boost), Stampede (damage), Proboscis Shower (heals for ~200 hp), and Voracious Trunk (steals one buff from target, dispellable).
Difficulty: 2/5

Iriri Samariri (Poroggo) - Toad Mittens, Paddock Trousers
???: Samariri Corpsehair => Mamook (F-7)
Notes: Summons small helper frogs throughout the battle. They are resistant/immune(?) to sleep, but despawn when Iriri dies. Has Frog Chorus.
Difficulty: 3/5

Lividroot Amooshah (Ameretat) - Nobushi Kyahan, Reikyo Hairpin
???: Oily Blood => Bhaflau Thickets (H-9)
Notes: Respawns three times throughout the fight when killed, each time harder than the one before. Uses Extremely Bad Breath (Deathga) during 4th form. Bring a stunner and not too many melee.
Difficulty: 3/5

Antantaboga (Dahak) - Trilling Dagger, Hacchonenbutsu
???: Raw Buffalo => Mt. Zhayolm (E-6), Dahak camp
Notes: Bard Dahak mob. Sings Virelai (charm) and Horde Lullaby (sleepga) often. Silence recommended.
Difficulty: 3/5

Reacton (Bomb) - Reacton Arm, Magic Strap
???: Bone Charcoal => ???
Notes: As it grows in size, it casts higher and higher tier fire based spells. Self Destructs at about 10% health. Highly resistant to stun. Attacks quickly.
Difficulty: 3/5

Dextrose (Flan) - Achilles' Spear, Ruby Seraweels
???: Granulated Sugar => Halvung (J-6)
Notes: Sometimes runs away to heal itself off of nearby puddings for large amounts. Kill puddings near pop area first.
Difficulty: 2/5

Zareehkl the Jubilant (Qutrub) - Zareehkl Jambiya, Zareehkl Scythe
???: Merrow No.11 Molting => Arrapago Reef (I-10)
Notes: When it uses Leaping Cleave, will use it 3 times consecutively instead of just once (similar to Kreutzet with Stormwind). Uses Blood Weapon at low HP.
Difficulty: 2/5

Verdelet (Imp) - Muse Tariqah, Solitaire Cape
???: Mint Drop => Caedarva Mire (J-6)
Notes: Spams all tiers of magic.
Difficulty: 3/5

Wulgaru (Acrolith) - Hissho Hachimaki, Riot Shield
???: Opalus Gem => Ruins of Alzadaal (G-6), Runic Portal map
Notes: Detonates parts of its body during battle. Each body part lost lowers its attack and defense. When it is only legs remaining, will stop attacking and begin running around in circles until killed.
Difficulty: 2/5


Tier 3

Turning in the 100% drop from *three* same-colored NMs in Tier 3 will give you access to the Tier 4 NM of that color via a key item. Note that you will lose the key items you turn in. You also lose the Tier 2 item of the path of the Tier 3 NM you chose, so you will have to reclimb that path for Tier 4 access.

All Tier 3 mobs can drop up to 2 grips at random from the following:

Thunder Grip
Earth Grip
Water Grip
Fire Grip
Wind Grip
Ice Grip
Light Grip
Dark Grip

Armed Gears (Gears) - Tomoe, Oracle's Gloves, Aurum Sabatons
???: Ferrite => Ruins of Alzadaal (G-11), Runic Portal Map
Notes: Frequently heals itself. Very high defense, elemental weakness based on enspell it casts on itself. Manaburn or mage-heavy setup recommended.
Difficulty: 4/5

Gotoh Zah the Remolent (Mamool Ja) - Enkidu's Mittens, Aurum Cuisses, Naglering
???: Sheep Botfly => Wajaom Woodlands (F-5)
Notes: Casts tier3 ga magic and white magic. Uses Manafont and Benediction. Also uses Groundburst.
Difficulty: 3/5

Dea (Wivre) - Cletine, Enkidu's Subligar, Oracle's Pigaches
???: Olzhiryan Cactus => Bhaflau Thickets (F-7)
Notes: Frequently uses Demoralizing Roar, followed by Crippling Slam (AoE damage + paralyze). Melee should sub nin to blink the damage and paralysis from slam. Manaburn or mage-heavy setup recommended. Alternately, a stunner for Crippling Slam works as well. Can be duo'd by kiting around one of the towers with one character while ranged DDing with the other.
Difficulty: 3/5

Nosferatu (Vampyr) - Labrys, Enkidu's Leggings, Aurum Gauntlets
???: Pure Blood => Aydeewa Subteranne (E-9)
Notes: Normal Vampyr TP moves, summons Fomor, bat, and undead dog pets during the fight in sets of 3. The mobs use a TP move and then despawn. Uses Astral Flow once, which summons all its pets at once for a TP move orgy.
Difficulty: 3/5

Khromasoul Bhurborlor (Troll) - Simba Buckler, Enkidu's Subligar, Oracle's Gloves
???: Vinegar Pie => Mt. Zhayolm (H-8)
Notes: Summons troll helpers frequently throughout the fight in sets of 3.
Recommended to have a party fighting the NM himself, and 1-2 people repeatedly grabbing the adds with an aoe spell and zoning them to make them depop.
Difficulty: 3/5

Achamoth (Wamoura) - Organics, Aurum Sabatons, Oracle's Braconi
???: Rock Juice => Halvung (H-4)
Notes: Spawns a Wamouracampa once per minute that is weak to either melee or magic. Maximum of 2 can be out at once. The babies turn into moths if left out too long and become much harder to kill. Off-tanks recommended to pull them away. Alternately, you can pull it to a zoneline and have some designated to grab the spawns and zone them, which causes them to depop.
Difficulty: 3/5

Mahjilaef the Paintorn (Soulflayer) - Oracle's Braconi, Legion Scutum, Aurum Gauntlets
???: Exorcism Treatise => Caedarva Mire (H-7), Hediva Isle
Notes: Need to break his immortal shield (rampart/stoneskin effect) to damage him. With 2 shields up, casts ga3 and AM2. One shield = ga2 and AM1. Casts enfeebles with no shields up. Magic damage recommended.
Difficulty: 4/5

Experimental Lamia (Lamia) - Enkidu's Leggings, Mekki Shakki, Aurum Cuisses
???: Myrrh => Caedarva Mire (F-7), Dvucca Isle Staging Point
Notes: Summons helpers ("Dancers", hawt) once during the fight. These high have hp and should be dealt with early. They each also 2 hour. Tank the main mob from far away to avoid melee attacks/Hysteric Barrage.
Difficulty: 3/5

Nuhn (Orobon) - Oracle's Pigaches, Enkidu's Mittens, Oninohocho
???: Rose Scampi => Arrapago Reef (G-6), Third Map (Need 2 Lamian Fang Keys)
Notes: Uses Vile Belch and Deathgnash often, other usual Orobon TP moves.
Difficulty: 3/5

Tier 4

Turning in the 100% drops from all *three* of these NMs may give you access to Tier 5 via key items. You will lose the three key items when you select a Tier 4 fight.

Tinnin (Hydra) -
Oracle's Cap,
Enkidu's Cap,
Enkidu's Harness,
Hachiryu Sune-Ate,
Alkalurops,
Shusui,
Hydra Fang,
Hydra Meat,
Hydra Scale
???: Trade Sicklemoon Salt => Wajaom Woodlands (H-13) Stone Tablet, then Monkey Wine to ??? on Islet there
Notes: ALL PARTICIPANTS NEED A SICKLEMOON SALT (500 points) TO ACCESS THE FIGHT. Starts fight at 50% health with one head. Later in the battle, a second head will spawn, and he is healed 25% health. Eventually a third head is spawned, which heals him for another 25% and gives him access to Nerve Gas (if all 3 heads are up at any point). Ranged/BLM damage recommended to avoid AoE damage. Heads are removable by critical hits. Melee should sub nin to absorb Trembling. Uses Mighty Strikes once.
Difficulty: 4/5

Sarameya (Cerberus) -
Oracle's Cap,
Aurum Armet,
Oracle's Robe,
Hachiryu Haidate,
Foolkiller,
Pachipachio,
Cerberus Hide,
Cerberus Claw,
Cerberus Meat
???: Trade Silver Sea Salt => Mt. Zhayolm (I-10) Stone Tablet, then Buffalo Corpse to ??? on Islet there
Notes: ALL PARTICIPANTS NEED A SILVER SEA SALT (500 points) TO ACCESS THE FIGHT. Casts Fire spells such as (lol)Burn, Flare II, Firaga II, and Firaga III. Uses Chainspell at lower HP. Also spams Gates of Hades at low HP. Fire resistance build for tanks strongly recommended. Strongly resistant to (but not immune to) stun. Magma Hoplon gives a strong regen when the Blaze Spikes are up, but the spikes are dispellable. Attacks occasionally poison, which deals 30/tick damage.
Difficulty: 5/5

Tyger (Khimaira) -
Aurum Cuirass,
Aurum Armet,
Enkidu's Cap,
Hachiryu Kote,
Antares,
Enforcer
Khimaira Mane,
Khimaira Horn,
Khimaira Tail
???: Trade Cyan Deep Salt => Caedarva Mire - Hediva Isle (H-6) Stone Tablet, then Singed Buffalo to ??? on Islet there
Notes: ALL PARTICIPANTS NEED A CYAN DEEP SALT (500 points) TO ACCESS THE FIGHT. Immune to slow and elegy. Gains access to Fulmination at 50% health. Builds stun resistance as usual.
Difficulty: 5/5

Tier 5

AtnmTest
Doesn't drop anything.
Difficulty: 0/5
???: Pandemonium Key => Wajaom Woodlands, right outside Whitegate
Notes: I wish I were joking. It is a level 1 goblin that drops nothing when killed.

Now what?

Enjoy your new gear, if you got any. You can head back to Whitegate and trade the 100% drop to Sanraku for a key item.

Known Issues

-If Ryo asks for "arcana, especially from the crab family" he means Bombs. This is assumed to be a mistranslation.

Color layout and lots of drop info from BG.

Edited, Jun 22nd 2008 11:19am by Drexis

Edited, Jun 22nd 2008 10:15pm by Drexis

Wow, thanks for the tips to take the best pictures!
Good work!

Thanks for the info!!

If it goes down by 100 every game day, but goes up by 100 everytime someone buys a pop item, I hope there is an 'upper limit'. Otherwise we'll be seeing cost of 100,000+ points in 3 month's time for every single mob.

Nice, we should start a compilation of what drops what. Small grp from my ls will be poping some this week.

All great info and rate up for it. Question though:

What does it take to kill these new NMs? Are they soloable at level 50? 60? 75? Do they require a party of 2, 3, 6? An alliance?

Hmm at time of this post, all the NMs(First Tier) cost 1400 Zeni(Gilgamesh). I'm still interested at what level these NMs are. But looking at item levels, it looks like all the NMs are going to need at least a few 75s(Not including solo jobs) to safely kill(Doubt SE wouldn't make it THAT easy =( . .)

Edited, Jun 10th 2008 3:59am by Slavek

Do you happen to have the POS of any of these ??? ? I'll look for them, but a heads up would be nice too. Thanks =)

The Soultrapper 2000 has a much shorter /recast time than the normal Soultrapper, along with the quick casting photo's will help you with your photography whilst the mob is slept. Cant remember off hand but I think the /recast is about 10 seconds on the 2k. Maybe 15 seconds. Well worth the jettons (just fight a low level mob in Pankatron Diabolos, 100XP/Jettons a time, even when you lose)

Most of the NMs can be done with a party of 6, some are easier depending on the NM. I've heard the puk isn't much harder than a regular puk, except that his aoe does a lot more damage, for example.

I wouldn't try to solo them, but I imagine you could duo/trio some very slowly. Better to bring a party to be safe, though.

As for HQ soul trapper - eh, it does have a lower reuse time, but since you can only turn in 10 plates per game day, I didn't find that to be a huge deal. Jettons are pretty easy to come by so it's up to the buyer.

I'll add the ??? poses later, eatin breakfast and hangin with the family this afternoon.

Click your name in the upper right hand corner, and you can then click on your posts. You can look back through all the posts that you've made.





Anyone have some more information on this yet?

T3 Flayer is a mother (Majlaef the Paintorn), pretty much wiped the entire alliance in the end, but we downed him just in time.. Dropped Majlaef's Staff and Oracle's Braconi.

Edited, Jun 10th 2008 11:24am by Carrilei

You should probably rephrase this to be clearer. Nothing in sky is instanced. Instanced would imply multiple groups would be able to perform the same task in "the same place" at the same time. Sky simply locks the area off once one of the Gods are popped.

thanks for the info. i always hated camping nm's.