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Did Promyvion Dem Last Night ^^.

Party Setup was:
THF/NIN <- me
RNG/NIN
RNG/NIN
WHM/BLM
BLM/WHM
WAR/NIN

we went in got to the top floor and because someone messed up we went into the ENM fight first. immediatley after finishing the ENM fight with only my 2 hour and one of the RNGs 2 hours we went into the Promyvion main Fight. we stomped the crap out of that fight ^^.

Hi i just completed P.Holla and i thought id share some tips I learned. Dem is not the easiest one. Dem is still very hard. Try and defeat the Dem NM in 5 mins cause the offspring suck.

We did it with a party of 6.
1. The Mobs All have True Sight, common knowledge just thought id reiterate it.
2. I suggest not going as an allaince. We had a lot of success just going as a complete party.
3. Youll have the most success with a couple Rngs or Smns in your party. The Orbs that you must kill to teleport to the next level are range and magic only and the Damage Dealers really help during the BCNM.
4. Some of the Orbs are duds. Just a warning.
5. Just becarful and treat the mobs as if you were dodging goblins in the dunes. If there not looking at you, you wont get aggroed if you stay some distance away. I also suggest hugging the borders. Have your party stick close together. First 2 floors we got through with a couple of aggros and one big add battle, but once your party gets the hang of it, you can run all the way to the top. We didnt get aggroed on the 3rd and 4th floor. On the forth floor when we got clost to the spire we just hauled *** and zoned a bunch but other than that it was smooth sailing.

During BCNM:
1. Bring at least one poison potion(all members for holla) and some echo drops. Id suggest a couple drinks for everyone as well.
2. The NM will take away buffs or a large amount of HP so make sure you have lots of buffs on.
3. Have the Mages stand on the Stairs, and each ranger on opposite sides of the room to stall the NM when the hate changes.

Whole thing took about 2 hours. I didnt think it was that bad
How to get an Anima?
Talk to the NPC just inside the Arch Dukes House. Trade him a Rare EX Memory item and 2k and boom you have an anima. I had something like Fear of.... and it gave me a bottle of Psycho..... When you use it close to the enemy it will react with it. They all do different things. Mine made the NM run around a bit kinda wild.


Edited, Sun Apr 3 01:21:13 2005

In Promy-Mea the Delver has got a strong WS : Impalement : a war/nin lv 30, before WS: full life, after WS : 13HP.

Would I be ok to go as a 29 war/nin with full shade gear or is lvl 30 an absolute must? I really hate lvling warrior lol it was 30 at one point but I used it on death missions

I just did mea with a Rdm/Blm (myself), Blm/Rdm, Thf/Rng, Nin/War, War/Nin, Thf/Rng and we didn't have any problems what so ever. Fight ended and everyone left with full hp. I used 1 Hi-Ether, 1 Re-raise (really didn't need it though, just a pre-caution), 1 Yaguda Drink and 2 Rolanberry pies (1 at the entrance to the 1st floor and the other during the NM fight). Spent the time dodging mobs and made out way to the spire with minimul fighting. i had heard the Mea was the hardest, but now it seems like Holla will the the challenging one to complete. Oh well, another day, another post.

[ Promyvion: Dem - Notes & Strategies ]

Since there seems to be a lack of information on Promyvion: Dem, I thought it wouldn't hurt to write this up.

To provide an opening summary, the point of the Promyvion missions is to enter the various Promyvions, defeat the Memory Receptacles on each floor to proceed, and ultimately, to conquer the BCNM in the tower at the very end.

[ Items to Bring Along ]

1. Potions

Everyone, including mages, should have Potions and/or Hi-Potions. I personally brought along a couple Hi-Potions, but numerous Potions, since those can be used instantly. Though I did not have to use them all, you never know when things may go wrong, but I'm sure many mages have died while waiting for their MP to regenerate.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, Potions regenerate Hit Points (HP).

2. Ethers

All mages should have some Ethers, if not Hi-Ethers. Drinks can only do so much. If you're in a pinch, and you need that MP, that's it right there: You need that MP. Alternatively, you can bring along Mulsum, which gives you less MP, but which also works instantly. I personally had two Ethers and did not have to use them.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, Ethers regenerate Mana/Magic Points (MP).

3. Regen/Refresh Items (e.g. Drinks)

For the sake of the Promyvions, I brought along Yagudo Drinks, and I highly recommend them to any mage who is going to Promyvion. Naturally, if you can't afford a whole bunch of them -- I took seven -- try to at least buy some MP regenerating juices. For melee, you can bring along HP regenerating items if you want to, but you won't want to use them in the middle of the BCNM battle. Having HP regen isn't nearly as useful as having a Potion or a Hi-Potion in that inventory slot instead. Still, if you have room to spare, and want to bring some, by all means; just make sure you have the essentials taken care of first.

4. Anima

See the next section for an explanation of anima and their value.

[ Anima & Traveling to the Goal ]

If you haven't farmed for anima before, know that you should. They can make or break the battle against the boss of any Promyvion, and although they're 2,000G a pop, they're still worth it. Why? Here's a few reasons: The drop itself is free, and relatively common -- if you're used to coffer key drop rates, you'll love this in comparison -- and you'd have invested much more money into Potions, Hi-Potions, Ethers, Yagudo Drinks, and more that you could potentially lose with nothing gained.

In short, consider anima to be Promyvion insurance: It won't guarantee that you'll be completely satisfied in case of an accident, but you'll have some coverage, at least.

Go with a PT to your Promyvion of choice, kill mobs, and get Recollections (e.g. Recollection of Guilt). Bring these to Harith in the Grand Duke's Palace in Ru'Lude Gardens of Jeuno (the small building next to where Maat is standing). {Trade} him the Recollection and 2,000G. It will be instantly made into an anima for you, which you can use on the enemy like any other item. (You do not {Trade} it to the enemy!)

Read the following item descriptions to gain an understanding of what they do, and where their respective Recollections drop:

[link="http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=5886"]Psychoanima[/link]
[link="http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=7024"]Terroanima[/link]
[link="http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=7025"]Hysteroanima[/link]

Now, on to your journey to the ENM! Most likely, you won't have a map. Don't be worried about that. The Promyvions are vaguely maze-like, but there are no walls, so you can see across a gap and get your bearings. Furthermore, you'll need someone with Wide Scan, and I'll get into another reason for that shortly; the first is because they can find the Memory Receptacles. Those are your goals.

[ Warp (Memory Receptacle) Locations ]

On fighting the Memory Receptacles: Make sure that everyone stays away from them! Your tanks can {Provoke} them, but unless they can somehow manage good DMG against them, it's better to keep them far away. The Memory Receptacles' AOE attack will send you flying out of melee range anyway, and it will build up to a lot of DMG over time. The best strategy is to have a SMN's Avatar (suggestion: Ramuh), a BLM's nukes, and a RNG's Ranged Attacks doing the dirty work. Let the melee kill the Strays, and the RNG if absolutely necessary. Keep defensive buffs up, too.

The first gate I entered was not far from the entranceway at all. My party ran in a straight line, and got right to it. Our Wide Scan user, a RNG, found it easily.

The second gate I entered was at (D-8).

The third gate was at (G-13), but on the third floor, you may run into a fake Memory Receptacle. This is another reason why having someone with Wide Scan is essential. Without it, you may run around Promyvion for hours, risking life and limb, only to find a Memory Receptacle that winds up being fake in the end.

On the final floor, you won't have to fight a Memory Receptacle, and your best plan is to run for the zone while avoiding aggro. That's right, there's a zone! Considering, if you do get aggro, get ready to haul. If you don't make it, don't drag your party members into your death; let your WHM {Raise} you when it's safe to do so. If you don't think your EXP is expendable, you should not be doing Promyvions.

Using POS reports as checkpoints, here's a rough idea on how to get to the big tower (zone): 1. Run to (K-5). 2. Run from here to (J-6). 3. Run straight from there to (I-7), and take a right at the corner. 4. (1-8), which is right around the corner, is your destination. Really, as long as you know you're going to (I-8), you're golden.

[ About the Boss ]

Happy opening note: This ENM (Empty Notorious Monster), Progenerator, does not have AOE attacks! Enjoy.

The boss you'll be fighting is notorious for the small clones of itself -- henceforth referred to as "babies" -- which it spawns. If you think you can get away with it, they're so small of a concern that you can actually ignore them and defeat the boss regardless. Some people will suggest that you don't pay attention to the babies. My party did.

In our situation, the RNG handled the babies. They would use Ranged Attacks on them until they were defeated, and afterward, they would concentrate on the ENM again. If you have a SMN, {Thunderspark} from Ramuh is useful against the babies as well. Your BLM's -ga spells are not as useful as they are in other applications, but your mileage may vary.

To note, our PT consisted of a WHM/BLM (myself), two WAR/NIN, one RNG/NIN, one BLM/WHM, and one SMN/WHM.

Summarized strategy: Buff at beginning (Protectra, Shellra, Blink, Stoneskin, Utsusemi). Heal MP to full. SMN uses {Astral Flow} at beginning if available, and lets Ramuh own the Progenerator while the WAR/NINs hold it still. Make sure all hits connect! Whether the SMN had {Astral Flow} or not, you would proceed with the WAR/NINs holding it as still as possible. RNG, BLM, WHM and SMN keep their distance, in case they get aggro. (Why, considering that there's no AOEs? Simple: This ENM hits HARD.) Start using animas when it's about half-dead or in case of an emergency. Endure and win.

Now, you may be thinking: What kind of a strategy is that? It's simple, straight-forward, and it's what you have to do. This ENM's strength is its physical attacks. You must outlive it while steadily dealing DMG, and keeping yourself (and possibly others) alive.

[ White Mage Specific Notes ]

Considering that I went as a WHM, here's my little notes section.

1. Concentrate on MP+ gear, not MND+. This is usually expected of WHMs regardless of race and situation, but you will need it here. These battles are rather long, and you will need to {Cure} a lot. This enemy's physical attacks and specials will nearly rend your PT members lifeless (knocking them down from full HP to sub-100 HP in one strike). {Cure} IIIs will happen. You'll need the MP to make them happen.

2. Eat items that expire quickly and help with MP regen while traveling to the boss, like cookies. Bring along a pie for the final ENM battle. You will not need so much MP while fighting Memory Receptacles or general mobs, so go ahead and eat cookies -- I personally chose Ginger Cookies -- while making your way through Promyvion. This will help you /heal to full faster, and your PT will get to the end quicker. When you're about to go into the ENM battle, however, pop a pie and /heal to full again. I used a Rolanberry Pie.

3. Keep Blink and Stoneskin up, but not at the sacrifice of your fellow PT members. Cast it after you've just defeated a Memory Receptacle, when there's a tangle of mobs in your path that you're waiting on, or while others are /healing and you have a healthy amount of MP over them. Only cast it in battle if your tanks have {Regen}, your MP is in good shape, and, basically, your immediate Curing attention is not needed. Do not cast them during the ENM battle, only before. They should not wear off during the battle unless you take a very long time or are getting the stuffing beaten out of you (which, hopefully, won't happen much; I drew aggro twice, and was only hit once, even though I had to toss out {Cure} IIs and IIIs. Simply be careful). If they do wear off in the ENM battle, you should grin and bear it. Everyone else in your PT needs your healing power. Just be careful about how you distribute it.

4. Regularly pop MP regen drinks during the ENM battle, but don't waste them beforehand. Self-explanatory. I only had to /heal once during the ENM battle, and the BLM/WHM took up Curing while I did so. Those Yagudo Drinks are expensive, but you'll be spending even more Gil if your PT is defeated repeatedly. Pop 'em like candy.

5. Do not waste MP on {Banish}. In {Promyvion - Mea}, the regular mobs were, on average, weak to {Banish}. I had a lot of fun nuking and healing simultaneously (within reason, of course, my primary focus being my PT's health). In Dem, that's not the case. Additionally, and regardless of what Promyvion you're in at the time, don't bother casting {Banish} on the ENM.

Aside from the WHM basics, like keeping {Regen} up on the tanks and melee, that about covers what I did specifically for Promyvion.

[ Closing Notes ]

Party Members of Pandemonium: Salya, Vauclaran, Silmaure, Robynbanks, Wicked, and myself, Kohan.

I hope this helped someone. Our PT did not know what to do and could not find a good guide, and we only proceeded thanks to the words of our fellow Pandemoniacs and one PT member who did it once prior. Good luck to you.

Holla is by far the HARDEST one ! The holla NM uses sleep and curse which totally screwed us up because it was'nt mentioned in this guide. My party was under the assumption that mea was the hardest and went into holla thinking it would be cake. Definitely NOT ! Bring poison potions,holy water,antidotes,hi-potions,pear au laits for melee,and drinks and such for mages. My LS party is attempting this again tomorrow night,this time we will be prepared. If your going to holla make sure your fully stocked or you will die !

Here is how I did all three on the first try:

Party Set Up:
-War/Nin, Nin/War (me), Whm, Blm, Rng, Smn
-ONLY 6 people. For all of them. An alliance is uneccessary. It is much easier to stay away from aggro with 6 people.
-Had 9-12 Animas for each fight. And 2-3 Poison potions per person.

How it worked:
1. At the start of battle we buffed, ate food, and took our poison (to keep us from falling asleep) which is useful for Holla.
2. We used Psychoanima in succession, to keep the boss from using physical attacks, while we pummeled away at him.
3. After the 4th Psycho, we used Terro animas. This will make the boss Kite. This is a good time for the mages to regain MP if needed.
4. Then we used the Hysteros. This kept the boss from using special attacks towards the end of the battle.
5. When he reached 1/3 HP, the SMN and Ranger 2 houred. Owned.

The end. :D

Edited, Fri Feb 25 13:32:25 2005

Did Dem, though the way we went at it, we could have taken any of the others, i'm pretty sure.

party went like this:

pld/war

war/thf (/thf, not /nin)

rng/nin (for wide scan...realised quickly that you can see the Receptacles from pretty far, so its not as needed as people say it is)

drk/war

blm/whm

whm/blm



Floor 1 to 3 are non-factors. All the strategies to fight the receptacles should go down the drain, they are useless. Most receptacles (well, all the ones we went by) are near an edge. Go behind the receptacle, so that if someone gets blown away, they don't aggro half the area. All melees go straight at the receptacle, and keep their back to one of the pillars, so they won't be blown back. Wack at it, with all ranged & paladin, and even the white mage (!) blow up the Strays (since now they are easily taken down in 2-3 hits by even a paladin or a white mage with a hammer, real DDs will 1 shot them). Just Curaga as needed, and wack at it. {Easy Pray}

You can fight mobs if needed on floor 1 to 3 without problems. Maybe a single blink tank could have problem handling links, but a paladin or multi-blink-tank setup wouldn't have any problems. The worse mobs on floor 3 are low IT, not much harder than an XP mob.

Floor 4 is hard. But not anywhere as hard as what people say. First, if you get about halfway to the Spire (if you dont have the map, make your way to the "M" in the middle of the no-map message), which is accessed by heading all the way west, and you get a link...just have the tank(s) get aggro, , the whm blink + stoneskin, and RUN for it. You CAN kill the mobs there, a link is -not- fatal for a party of 6 if handled well (aka: if you didn't get powerleveled through level 1-50 and actualy know how to handle a link or slightly stronger mobs in an XP party), but if you don't have to, don't.

We didn't know the zone was so close, so we fought. The drk died, and so did I (the pld), because of stupid mistakes (I woke up the link right after the blackmage slept it...i'm a ******), using the wrong foods, and panicking. Everyone said that getting 2 mobs on you on floor 4 was the death of any single group. Me and the others panicked and thought it was over, so we didn't handle it correctly.

Drill in your mind that those mobs (at least since the last patch) are NOT as powerful as people say, even the strongest ones on the floor (IT++ Seethers and IT++ Crag-specifics were the 2 we linked) are still not the end of the world. Handle it as you would any hard situation, and if you have a handful of Hysteroanimas or Terroanima, you don't need your 2hrs on the Spire NM, so feel free to use them if you REALLY have to (still try to avoid it. Our RNG had to use EES because we had accuracy issue. Next time everyone is going to run on Sushi.)

Boss is {Easy Pray}.

Went in, voked, wack at it (most it ever hit me for was 41 damage) until 50%, 2hr, use an Hysteroanima or a Psychoanima to avoid the mob healing itself (not necessary, just good if you don't have a damage heavy party), it will go down within 40 seconds from that point on.

I beat Promyvion-Holla yesterday with a 6 person party. Myself (WHM/RDM), WAR/NIN, BLM/WHM and 3 SMN/WHMs.

We farmed for 40 minutes on the first floor for Recollections (We got 5 pains and 1 fear). We went to Jeuno, stocked up on Hi-Ethers, Hi-Potions, Yagudo Drinks, Holy Waters and Poison potions. I myself took 4 Hi-Ethers, 3 Yagudo Drinks, 3 Poison Potions, 1 Holy Water. In the end, I used 2 Poison Potions and 1 Yagudo Drink. Yeah, so much for stocking the hell up.

The plan was to engage as little as possible, only fighting if we got an aggro of 1. If there was an aggro of 2 or more, the person being attacked would run into a safe death spot and die, unless it was myself, the WHM. Then the others would grab the hate off me while I ran to a safe spot to hide.

We went through Floor 1 easy, no surprises. We did Floor 2 easy as well, but we had to kil 2 Memory Recepitcals since the first one was fake. Getting through the fence was easy enough, we just single pulled Empty until it was mostly cleared. While running through, we aggroed a Wanderer. He was swiftly destroyed.

Floor 3 was the hardest. Not only was the Cerebrator NM there (Which we didn't dare to engage) but it was so full of monsters we had to use tactical deaths to make clear paths. One SMN tactical deathed 3 times, and the BLM had died thrice as well. When weakness wore off for everyone, and the Strays by the MR Destroyed, (Our camp was 3 feet from it. The WAR/NIN and remaining Summoners would kill them while I would attempt to raise the BLM or SMN, or was resting.) we engaged the Memory Recepticle. This was hella dangerous. Empty Seed hit us all, but it was worth it. If we were out of range from Empty Seed, the Thinkers and Weepers would've owned us. I had to use Curaga when the MR was at 2/5 life, since it was using Empty Seed so often. When defeated, the portal opened and we made out way to the fourth floor.

Floor 4 was confusing yet easy. We had spawned in a different location than anticipated. We ran through on the edges of the walkways, behind the Empty's backs. We got lost at one point, but made our way to the bridge connected to the Spire of Holla. At this point, the plan was: Summoner's summon any avatar. Everyone runs like hell, through the mobs, around them, whatever. Aggro didn't matter. Just had to run for zone. We made it with no deaths, although the Tarutaru Summoner got into Critical/Red HP.

We were at the Spire. The plan was to cast Barstonra and Baraera constantly, and to have a Summoner Blinkra us, so when the boss used its Status Effect absorb, it would grab useless status effects. The Summoners would cast Shiva and Astral Flow at the same time. Warrior would Mighty Strikes halfway in. Black Mage would Manafont at begginning. I would Benediction if needed.

We entered the battlefield "Ancient Flames Awaken". We buffed up, and rested to full, while our enemy, the Wreaker, waited for us. We all used Poison Potions and Yagudo Drinks, and ran in. We did the plan above, using our Hysteroanimas in a predetermined order. Everyone except the trio of Shivas and the WAR/NIN staying out of AoE range. The Wreaker was constantly intimidated by Shiva, which was good. Diamond Dust x6 took out most of its life, with Mighty Strikes and Manafont helping too. Near the end we were out of Animas, and it slammed the WAR/NIN for huge damage, and quick too. I couldn't cast Cures fast enough (Even though I had Fast Cast). The Warrior died. It came after me, I took a few hits, bringing my HP to low-end Orange. Shiva grabbed hate from me, and it was hitting practically everyone. I used Benediction, healing everyone full, and I stood in front of the Wreaker, taking my hits 'till death, waiting for the Shivas and BLM to deplete the last bit of HP. I died, and it went and killed a Shiva and its Summoner. The remaining 3 finished off the Wreaker. We won.

Moral of the story: There is no must. There is no nessessary. If you have some good gear, a few Hi-Potions or Hi-Ethers, Poison Potions and Holy Waters, and some good players, you can kill this sucker.

Edit: Sorry for double post

Edited, Mon Feb 21 04:10:55 2005

Lots of suggestions here for pty set up, the one i used was
pld/war
whm/smn
rng/nin
rng/nin
smn/blm
smn/rdm
as pld i ran in, voked boss-->took a few hits-->shield bash-->2hr-->cure 3, just to make sure i had good hate, then the smns went at it with there 2hr, shiva is best for dem and mea, and ifrit for holla, then rngs 2hr, and if needed barrage....for dem and holla was less then 40 secs off record, just an all out attack, didn't need any of the animas, and each mage only used one yagudo drink and hi-ether, i used 2 potions and a yagudo drink. they hit really fast, so for a pld tank, it is hard to get a cure 2 or 3 off, best to stick with potions and cure 1, and let the whm do their job.
first few times i tried this, didn't go so well, whm let me die, as soon as i went down the rest of the party was f***ed. only once did we complete it after pld died, and that was my first try at dem, went back to help a friend later.
when making your way through to top floor, have smns use avatars to kill the memory recepticals, and melee (specially rngs 1 shot kills) take out any strays. did holla as a alliance...that was bad...very bad, lots of lag and aggro and death, i died 7 times over the weekend, just glad i was losing exp at a level 30 rate. if you do an alliance, make sure you have 1 leader, and you don't go though in a big bunch, 1 pty at a time, but keep in sight of each other. on the last floor, best thing to do is use hermes quencher, and have the tank run through first, to grab any aggro and carry it past zone, while rest of pty runs behind (smns keep carby out for this) all using hermes quencher, and run to zone, safer, faster, less death. another thing i found out, have rng lead way with wide scan and pld bring up the rear to keep an eye on aggro, and to voke. if something does go horribly wrong and people start droping, make sure the whm lives long enough to Disconnect them selves, they can come back in 5 min when all aggro gone, and start raiseing, my whm did this accidently 2nd time through holla....saved us all from rezoning and having to try again, we were on next to last floor. if you plan ahead, and make sure you have 1 leader, and a good guide, you can make it through most of promyvs without aggro, just be patient, the mobs will eventually look away then it is safe to move past.

We did all the prom's in one night using this same strategy for all of them:


rng/nin, rng/nin, rng/nin, rdm/whm, whm/blm, nin/war


Everyone gets shadows up and buffs.
Rdm runs in casts gravity on mob
Nin/war (or war/nin) runs in and vokes mob and procedes to kite him (runs in circles as mob chases him)this also lessens the mobs use of AOE attacks
Gravity will allow the nin to outrun the mob and wont be able to get too many hits on him. This also allows the nin to recast utsusemi whenever needed.
Rangers run up each opposing stairs and fire away.
Going up the stairs will keep rangers from getting hit by many of the AOE attacks.
Whm heal as necessary.
Rdm recast gravity whenever it wears and whatever buffs as needed.
Most importantly nin and rng's keep utsusemi up AT ALL TIMES, this will make the whm's job MUCH easier.
Make sure everyone (tank especially) has hi-potions, poison potions and/or holy waters as each mob has different status effects.
Use anima's at about half HP depending on how the fight is going and 2hrs at about 30%-40%HP to insure a kill.




We beat each prom with the same stategy with no deaths in my party and no one even getting in the red at all until Holla.
Happy hunting!



Rate up if this was helpful to you {thank you}.