Vana'diel Bestiary: Valkurm Emperor  

Okay so me and my bestfriend Maruko, we're camping Ve, as a lvl 30thf, 2 ranger and a lvl 56 whm 1 rng. We start at exactly 11 pm July 06, 2008. So we're camping, barely any competition, so we use the PH strategy and in about an hour. Valkurm Emperor pops and we're all over it. We kill it, no drop. So we encounter it 2 more times, both times no drop. It was about 1-2 hour intervals in between each Ve. So 7 hours have passed, and it's our fourth try. We were waiting for the ph and we find that Ve has spawned again frantically casting flee, but only to realize it was in front of us claimed it and finally it dropped. So we were 1/4, but now we had to get a second one. So Maruko decides to sleep, and I continue not encountering ve for 3 hours and killing the ph, I went to sleep and woke up three hours later. Apparently Maruko signed on, shortly after I did and continued to camp ve. She encountered ve for the fifth time and no drop. So we begin at 12ish, and we continue to camp ve. We've gotten claim each and everytime it has spawned. Our ls members Iordevan and Magani, decide to join us. Iordevan came as a lvl 38 sam/ 1 ranger and Magani lvl 75 Thf/37 rng THIII. There was a party, around camping ve, a player named Angel of Death began to harass us. So Valkurm Emperor spawned without us knowing because the party was killing all of the flies, and they end up claiming Ve. No drop, so we've encountered ve 8ish times by the time our ls members come. So after camping ve for over an hour and 30 mins. Ve pops, we kill it no drop. Magani had to leave so it was just me, Maruko, and Iordevan so we camp ve, and it spawned almost every hour. So I'm gonna jump ahead all the way to 11 o'clock, by this time we are 1/24, Iordevan leaves and our other ls member Champ comes as a lvl as lvl 47 thf/ ?rng. So we're camping it, we now have THII and around 11:30 Ve Pops. Beggin, ve to drop something, and it does! So we literally camped ve for 24 hours straight, 2/25 we got the claim 99 % of the time using thf/rng.

The time between each ph, is apprx. 5 mins.
The time between ve to ph, is apprx. 10 mins.
Ve can spawn anytime from 30 mins to 8 hourss
2/25 So good luck, we never gave up and now we get to sleep but anyways yeah good luck to everyone who is out there. Was spending all that time just to get these hairpins really that worth it? HELL YEAH! :) gl everyone and never give up :)

Edited, Jul 6th 2008 3:49am by RyuzakiQuetzalcoatl

What's the spawn time on this thing AFTER it is killed if PH is being killed.

Just got drop on first try...as bst/thf

Was bored so went to the Dunes to camp this thing. WHM/?? and NIN/WAR were running around killing everything. took a while but got placeholder in my list.

Killed it every 5 minutes. After about an hour, VE popped at bottom of list of flies, got drop.

*happy*

Camping right now! :(

had a Friend who needed the pin so i told him i'd help him with it.. first spawn, claim, drop.. now 2/3, and yes the PH methods are miraculous.. just get there and be patient..

tip

poeple will show up close to the spawn window but if you know the spawn time *5 minutes after PH death.you have a heads up on em

now sittin at LL ...

Edited, May 5th 2008 6:55am by Ambiance

Well, technically, I was 1/1, and 1/2 for a friend... But that was on previous character. >.>;

I headed out there tonight to get a Damselfly Worm, and figured I'd hunt in the area for the obvious reason. While only a 28/29 WAR/MNK (Leveled while hunting... XD), it was easy enough to dispose of the flys, and bloody bolts were very effective (70-80 on every drain).

Eventually, two higher level, Wide-scan using folks came along and did their thing. Of course, as usual, that's easily overcome, and as I was losing hope... I tabbed onto Valkurm Emperor. Turned around, claimed, and went to work.
Started with an Acid Bolt, but missed... Frankly, I was panicking a little. Hit Mighty Strikes, and unleashed a Sturmwind for 517 (Awesome! XD). The rest of the fight was scary, hanging on by a thread several times, but coming back with Bloody Bolts. They finally fell, but they weren't feeling generous.

All I got was a measly insect wing, and 120 EXP.
Still, outclaiming, and winning a tough fight was almost worth the whole time spent camping. What a rush.

... However, I think I'll go gain another level or two before trying again.

Edit - Claimed again (Sorry folks... x.x;). 0/2.
Edit #2 - I finally slipped up, and missed a claim last night. ;.; This morning, I came on, and with no competition (One person, but they left), I killed VE again... 1/3!

As usual, no wide-range, no PH junk. Just keeping on my toes, and knowing what to do.
Though, strangely, it appeared in the same spot all three times. *Shrugs*

Best of luck.

Edited, Apr 24th 2008 7:45pm by Aneirin

Hello all. I see this mob is still hunted relentlessly. It is good to see that a lot of you have been successful at getting the claim, and some of you are even proud owners of the Empress Hairpin. Congratulations!

Although I still haven’t returned to the game (yet), I decided to drop in to see how the game is going, and to see how things have been with the NM’s I used to hunt day in, day out. I am so happy to see that Allakhazam has put my PH information for all to see. It would seem it has been helpful. After reading some of the posts concerning this and other NM’s I decided to post a FAQ in hopes to eliminate any false information, and answer commonly asked questions about this particular NM.

So without further ado…

Valkurm Emperor FAQ:

Q. What level should I be able to solo VE?

A. Level 38-40. Can you do it sooner? Yes. Should you? No. Gobbies in the dunes can aggro until the low thirties I believe. This can make things extremely difficult if attempting to do this while getting agro from other mobs, so be careful if around that level. VE is a level 30 NM. You also want to give about 5-6 levels of additional difficulty to NM flies. At 40-45 you should be able to handle VE with very little difficulty. Basically, if you need to use your 2-hr to kill it, then come back another day or use a stronger job if you have one.

Q. Does TH really help?

A. If it helps with other drops, then why wouldn’t it help with this one? Nowhere in TH’s description does it say, “Guaranteed to make VE drop Empress Hairpin”. Nor does not having TH mean that you wont get the drop. I will not get into a thorough discussion on how TH works here, but ultimately, it is up to you wither or not you think TH is helping. In my experience, the hairpin has dropped more often that not when TH is active.

Q. Some of the other campers are killing all the flies, and I can’t lock down the PH. It’s effin up my strategy, why do they do this? /fume

A. They are killing all the other flies because they don’t know which is the PH, or when VE is going to pop. However, they DO know that if they keep killing all the flies, VE will eventually pop. These guys are actually a benefit to you since the sooner the PH dies, the sooner VE will pop once its window is open. Plus they cover more ground decreasing their overall opportunity to claim VE all the while killing the flies for you. The campers you really need to watch out for are the ones that don’t even move. Make no mistake. They ARE using the same strategy you are.

Q. So what do I do?

A. If there are other hunters, you don’t even need to be the one that kills the PH. You just need to know which it is, when it dies, and when it despawns. This is easily done when all four flies are present and accounted for. If they are not, it is much more difficult to figure out which one is the PH.

Q. So how do I figure out which is the PH?

A. Sheesh! Inquisitive aren’t we? Ok. Take the topmost fly in the list, claim it and hold it, i.e. DO NOT KILL. If there is only one, that is fine. Don’t wait for two, just go and grab it. You can sleep it, or simply put up with its attempted punishment for several minutes (another reason why I recommend being a higher level). Remember that VE’s PH is ALWAYS the top fly in the list. This means if you have the correct fly in your possession, ALL subsequent flies that spawn will populate the Wide scan list beneath of your fly. If the next fly that spawns appears above your fly (you need to check WS frequently), then you have the wrong fly. Kill your current fly, and grab the next one – repeat until all spawns are beneath your fly. It does not matter if someone kills another fly so long as YOU know it appeared below your current fly. Once you have the PH, DON’T LOSE IT! Use your JA timers like a precise robot.

Q. Where does VE spawn?

A. VE’s spawn radius is far greater than the circled area on the map. But in the 100+ claims I’ve gotten on this guy, I’ve seen him pop at five different points on the beach.

- Southeastern corner of E-9 (Where its known to decimate dune parties) - rare
- Against the wall at F-9 - rare
- Trees located at E-8 and F-8 (circled area on map) - common
- Against the western most wall at E-8 – common
- Northern most point of E-7 and F-7 – common

Q. What is VE’s spawn time? Really?

A. Allow me to expel the 30-minute myth. VE doesn’t pop in anytime less than one hour – ever. VE’s spawn time is 1-4 hours, OR 8 hours. Its average is 2-3 hours with a preset maximum of four. The 8-hour spawn is extremely rare, but it does happen when VE decides to skip its maximum spawn time of 4 hours. If VE doesn’t pop by hour four, it isn’t going to pop in hours five, six, or seven either – take a break, and come back to its GAURUNTEED spawn at hour eight. SE is subtly trying to save your eyes, and your sanity.

Q. Doesn’t killing all of the flies make VE pop FASTER?

A. No.

Q. Is there more than one PH?

A. No.

Q. Is it true VE can’t spawn at night?

A. No.

Q. Will I be back to answer more questions if there are any?

A. Yes

Edited, Mar 29th 2008 4:51pm by SmokesAlot

Camped VE with the assistance of THF/RNG friend (Dethdreemr), total camp time 15 minutes in left corner of (E-8). Proud new owner of the Empress Hairpin 1/1. Good Luck to everyone else.

I whent and camped VE tonight, and there was one other guy when I whent there. He Left after I killed the PH once, and I got my hairpin 1/1

So, I got tired of LFP on ninja (lvl 18 atm) and I decide to go camp this for the hour or so until besieged starts. I show up PLD75/RNG1 and find 3 campers, on appears afk, another seems bored and is killing anything around the trees, and the last, a RNG/THF that, like me ONLY moves when PH pops. I was about to give up because he beat me to every PH spawn for about 25 mins. Out of nowhere he leaves, besieged hits 8 preparing, I guess he had my same thought. I wait about, killing PH twice more, when the VE pops, I grab the claim, but being me and weird as I am, I invite the Taru that was bored who was there longer. He was japanese I say {Team up?} {Cast lots} {Understood}? he joins, I turn and hit the last shot on it, it drops emp. 1/1 on drop and claim, and i win the lots with 898 and his 274. Stupid to invite or not, I still got it and feel I did the right thing lol.

What is the spawn time on this nm? I am thinking of camping it.

Also, is it soloable at level 30 THF? or do I need to be higher in order to solo VE comfortably?

I dont even know what to think about this mob... on my galka, I went 1/22 or so and on my taru im so far 0/2. Every website says different things about pop conditions(altho most say 2hrs minimum), ive seen approx. 2hrs, 2-8hrs, faster when PH killed only. But on the other hand ive watched VE pop up on widescan an hour after it was killed, when there were 8 people runnin around slaughtering every fly in sight. A good friend of mine said when he got it, he claimed-no drop, then 15 mins later it popped again and he got the drop. As far as TH is concerned, they say it has no bearing but then why do i see more THF come away with it more than anyone else. If you ask me SE needs to quit feeding this thing whatever narcotics is makin it sooo effed up in the first place, beef up the drop rate a lil more. No reason there should be 6-8 people campin it for 3 days in a row(majority were the same people previous days) and give it a definite spawn time, instead of this floaty here and there spawn we have to deal with. It would be a whole different scenario if it were still the Rare only drop...anyways enough of my moaning good luck to all who camp this in the future, more then likely your gonna need it.

EDIT: 9 hours and four pops later now im 0/5 and 5 minutes ago a thf and his rdm friend stole the claim and got the drop... shennadigans on the "TH dont mean squat" clause...

Edited, Nov 8th 2007 11:28pm by Hoofung

Yay, beat him as a THF32/RNG16!

Well, I decided recently that I finally wanted to get this blasted hairpin out of the way, so I spent most of yesterday in Valkurm Dunes camping it. I was there as a THF31/RNG15, fairly decently equipped with lots of bloody bolts and blind bolts (I actually leveled during the course of killing damselflies, waiting for VE to pop, up to THF32/RNG16). (I had actually been in Valkurm Dunes for a couple hours the day before as BRD63/THF31, but felt blind without widescan.)

The first spawn that day was early in the morning, and I had only one person competing with me, so it wasn't very difficult to claim. Unfortunately, no drop at that point. I wasn't sure how difficult the fight against the Emperor was going to be, so I used a Signal Pearl to err on the side of caution. Easy fight.

About two hours or so later, VE spawned again, equally close to both me and the other person (Also a Thf/Rng). Unfortunately, it spawned behind me, but in front of the other thief. As I heard his flee go off, I quickly refreshed Widescan to see where VE was, but by the time I turned around, the other thief had claimed him. Sure enough, just to spite me, VE dropped the hairpin for him (glad it at least dropped though).

After that point, I logged off for just shy of an hour for lunch before going back to camping VE. For a large portion of the time, I had no competition, and was killing the top fly from the group of four between the Thread Leeches and Snippers, as has been suggested on multiple posts. After about 3 hours of doing this with no results, I started killing the whole group of four (but still timing a 5 min ability (Scavenge) to the would-be PH). At about the 4 and a half hour mark since the last spawn, competition started showing up, but VE still wouldn't show his blasted face. It wasn't until about the 5 and a half hour mark that he actually spawned. (While I doubt that he spawned before that with me just not seeing him on widescan, I wouldn't say it's impossible.)

About 4 and a half minutes prior to the spawn, I accidentally hit my Flee macro instead of my Scavenge macro, due to a fumbling of my own fingers. About that time, my competition (which was a Rdm/Rng) left. The next damselfly that popped on Widescan I ran over to kill, and when it was about 25% from death, I checked Widescan to see, lo-and-behold, Valkurm Emperor. I disengaged from the fly I was fighting and hit my flee macro, disappointed to see that I had about 15 seconds left on the timer. When I finally got to the Emperor, I hit my Steal macro to try to claim it, to be greeted with the message "Your Inventory is Full" or something like that, indicating that I couldn't Steal. Ultimately, I had to claim it with a melee attack. I'm fortunate there was no competition at the time, because I surely wouldn't have gotten the claim otherwise.

Now that I had claimed Valkurm Emperor, I had him and the near-dead Damselfly to deal with. They were beating me down pretty fast, so I hit Perfect Dodge. While I kept melee attacks on Valkurm Emperor to keep the claim, I manually selected the other Damselfly to fire Bloody Bolts at as well as the Hot Shot WS (which missed ><). It died fairly quickly, about the time Perfect Dodge wore off. With just the Emperor to deal with, it was incredibly easy to fight him. I fired one Blind Bolt at him for the status effect, then proceeded to let loose lots of Bloody Bolts into him. Bloody Bolts healed me for 50-90 HP each Bolt, and I was hitting fairly consistantly (a lot of +rng acc gear, and Sharpshot). Valkurm Emperor was kind enough to drop the Hairpin I so desperately wanted.

All in all, once I was dealing with just the Emperor, the fight was incredibly easy, even for a THF32/RNG16. The key is having Bloody Bolts and decent marksmanship skill (+rng acc gear never hurts, like Archer's Knife). Two-hour isn't nessicary, assuming you're not dealing with a fly in addition to VE like I was. I had actually brought 2 Hi-Potions with me, just in case, but I didn't come near to needing to use them. Ended the fight around 80-85% HP, thanks to the Bloody Bolts.

1/2 on Hairpin, woot!

Edited, Nov 1st 2007 12:35pm by XaileA