PM 3-5 Darkness Named  

Well this fight seemed easy for my 1st time dong it just it took a while. Our set up was as follow:

drk/thf(me)
drk/war
nin/war
blm/whm x2
whm/blm

Plan was simple, drks alternate stuns and blms nuke nin tank and whm cure. How simple was that lol. I plaid the safe route since it was my 1st time and did notcast no spells and delayed my weapon skills. When I mean delay meaning waiting after he did nightmare then do it. I wanted to make sure I was rady to stun him and not be caught off guard. easy fight, now off to 4-2

My linkshell got 10 people through this last night over 4 runs, the first two times each group wiped at about 20-25% left. The third run we won with three people in red thanks to two lucky nightmares. first group:
blu/rdm (me)(rdm sub for fast cast)
pld/war
war/nin
thf/nin
whm/blm
drk/nin (died after fight ended due to Bio III, I made it with 30 hp)

The run went incredibly easy, we successfully stunned Nightmare about 10 times, Head Butt is incredibly good on him.
blu/rdm
drk/war (same drk as first fight)
whm/blm
pld/war
blm/whm
blm/whm
No one besides the Paladin went below yellow HP and that only happened once or twice after a WS. Awesome run Virinis!

Just did this today.

PT was:

BLM (me)
SMN (Asteroth)
WHM (Silvyr)
PLD (Subzero)
SAM (Lunch)
SAM (Remahime)

And I've gotta say, first time we went in, we wiped, partly cuz I didn't really explain what was going on.

So 2nd time, we go in and wreck Diabolos, 2x SAM used Tachi:Hobaku whenever they saw "Diabolos readies Nightmare". Even the PLD used Flat Blade to stun.

Fight goes normal and we get him down to 30% and then the paladin falls down the lower level, but by this time both SAM have used their 2 hour as have I and the SMN,

we wrecked him

New clear record too ^^

Getting to the bcnm fight is a level 40 capped area, but the bcnm itself is uncapped?

After wiping to Diabolos twice (Mind you, we had NO stunner and got hit by about 5 Nightmares each time), we finnally beat him on our third try. Our LS static leader, Scandi, specifically levled DRK for this mission (thought it will help when subbed for his RDM). We still got hit by about 4 Nightmares. Some of his Stuns missed (changed macro pallete ftw), but he did Stun one, which saved our lives. I highly recomend you bring A Dark Knight, a Samurai, or Ninja with a sword, or pretty much TWO forms of Stun.

Dark Knight - Stun Magic Lv37, Weapon Bash
Ninja - Dual wield Sword + Katana allows for Flat Blade
Samurai - Tachi: Hobaku
Paladin - Shield Bash, Flat Blade

Next thing you will probably want is either a RDM or a BRD. Have them sub WHM, as if you do get hit by Nightmare, it will hurt, and you will enjoy a nice Divine Seal + Curaga combo. ^^b Also, have them Dispel Noctoshield at all costs. {Phalanx} {No thanks.} I prefer Red Mage for the debuffs and more curing power.

I have never tried a Paladin tank, and I don't think I want to. Crascindo (Spelling) will knock your tanks socks off, and being constantly pounded on while having a 23-25hp/tic Bio on you doesn't help either. Bring a NIN with a Sword. Have them bring an Au Lait, X-potions, Poison Potion (More on that later), and good tanking skills.

Damage Dealers. Best bet would probably be a Dark Knight and some other form of Melee/Mage. As a BLM I was doing about 3-4% of Diabolos' HP per cast. Most of the time I was helping the team recover from Nightmare with Curagas. Dark Knight is your best bet, however, a Samurai can be just as good. Have the Samurai Meditate before the fight (When you're in the BCNM so you don't lose TP), wait for Meditates cool down timer, then run in and attack Diabolos. This way, a Samurai can Stun up to two Nightmares, not including Meikyo Shisui. If the SAM is ritch, have him buy an Icarus Wing, just to show Diabolos that no matter how many times he throws Nightmare at you, you can stun it. If you already have enough Stunners, it would probably be best to bring a Ranger or someone with Utsusemi, just in case they take the hate and get thwacked on.

Healers. White Mage, without a doubt, a *very* important job. Erase is definately needed incase Diabolos gets a Nightmare off, the Cures are most welcome considerign Diabolos HURTS Ninjas whose shadows are down. Haste is also a must have necessity. Benediction is sexy for that time when Nightmare lands and you need to get rid of that aweful Bio. Trust me, this Bio SUCKS.
In our party we also had a Redmage and Summoner healing (I was healing too, but often than not trying to chip away at Diabolos). Without either of these two healing, we would have wiped. They saved *** constantly ^^b Thanks Symblooble and Preech. :)

General strategy: Run in buff up (Prot, Shell, Whm Stoneskin, all other mages Blink, Reraise item, ect.) Here was the layout for the battlefield we used:

XXTXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXMXX
X - Tile
T - Melee
M - Mages

Anyways, some warnings: Crascindo (spelling), if it lands directly on one of the people in M, will knock them backwards. Don't. Take. Hate. It probably won't happen, but it's a fair warning to beware of. Keep tank hasted at all times. If you have a Dark Knight, KEEP HIM HASTED AT ALL TIMES, TOO. The faster a DRK can get Stun off, the better. The Dark should pretty much do his Dark Knight thing throughout the battle. Whack Whack Whack. Ninja should definately, errr, tank? Have at least one other person for back up cures, ect. Have RDM toss on debuffs and Dispel Nocto Shield. Just stick to what I mention above and below this paragraph and you should be fine.

Noteworthy things:
-Nightmare sucks. Even if your party is at 100%, it will quickly get down to around 30-50% if you let this sucker stay. TIP: *WINK WINK WINK WINK* Nightmare's sleep might not be overwritten by it's Bio, but it can sure as hell be overwritten by poison potions *WINK WINK WINK WINK*.
-Bring poison potions. They wake you up from Nightmare, and not only that, but Diabolos casts Sleepga I and Sleepga II! Think of the possibilities! Imagine you, the whm, sitting there asleep while your Ninja's shadows just got wiped by an -aga and he's taking the damage you would if you were being attacked. Sucks, doesn't it? Stay awake. ^^b
-Bring Au Laits. Mages and Melees. Reducing that Bio's damage from 23-25/tic to 19-21/tic is a LIFESAVER. Your WHM can't erase EVERYONE. Erase has a stupid recast time >.<. Not only that, but Au Laits keep you healthy in case you take unwanted hate.
-Drain/Aspir (Both on and by Diabolos). On Diabolos, I only drained 6MP =\ With capped Dark Magic. I don't know if it was an unlucky fluke or what, but it wasn't very effective. I drained him once, and I don't remember how much it drained because I was too busy recovering from a silly Nightmare that got let off. Drain and Aspir BY Diabolos is pretty much the same story. He Aspir'd me for 6MP (Take that, bish) and he drained someone else for god knows what (I think it took our NINs shadow, God Bless Mikrik's shadow.)
-Ultimate Terror I have no clue what it does. I guess it terrorizes you... but I think shadows MIGHT absorb it. It wasn't that bad of an attack.
-Diabolos' Attack power: High. Very, very high. Ninja tanks recomended +1.
-Diabolos' Defense power: Nothing to scoff at, but not so high that your Dark Knight can't hurt him.

At around 40% would be best to 2hour him. I do believe our SMN *tried* to Judgement Bolt him (Thunder day), but was needlesly hit with Nightmare. He tried again, but Ramuh died from hate before he could throw his sparkles. I Manafonted (ran out of meds and drinks, anyways) and started casting high tier -agas. I wasn't paying attention to the damage because our NIN was killed at around 20%. The WHM Benedictioned when everyone was in orange or red (Except the NIN, he was dead) and we did our thing. I got smashed, I RRed, layed on Dia and Poison (At this time Diabolos was at 3%). Half of our party was dead (RDM,NIN,DRK) and the other half (BLM,WHM,SMN) lived with each under about 10HP left. Ramuh finished him off with a thwach from his staff.

Things to bring:
-Prism powders and Silent oils for mages and melees not subbing WHM. You will need 5, as going through each portal drops sneak/invis.
-Mages: 3Ethers/HiEthers (I hate Hi Ethers the things take 10 seconds to use) and 3 yag drinks. Also bring 1 Au Lait (Will last pretty much the whole thing) and 4-5 Poison Potions.
-Melee: 4-5Hi Potions will do. An Au Lait, some form of food, Poison Potions, and your game face. :)
All: Bring ReRaise. I died like others in this fight and I got up with NO hate and started fighting some more. Though I didn't have enough for Fire II... I had enough to lay down Dia and Poison at the last 3%.

I want to thank the CoP static from the SpiritsCrusade LS for a fun fight :)
I would like to thank Scandi, my close friend and mentor, for without him I would still be on the Promyvions.
I would like to thank my mother, Symantha (Symblooble), for being a great Redmage and sticking in there when it seemed we wouldn't be fighting Diabolos.
Preech, bless his soul, was unnable to get off 3 Judgement Bolts, but he sure as hell did a great job at being a healer. He also delivered the killing blow, saved all of our asses, and did a wonderful job.
I want to thank Healer, our WHM, for being an awesome... Healer... and... Healing... our Party like no other TaruTaru could. Keeping our SMN alive to nail Diabolos (I think he might have Judgement Bolted once, unsure), and Benedictioning right before we were all going to wipe.
Mikrik, the only person in the CoP static who is 1/1 on this stupid mission, for being the hella Ninja tank that he is.

Hope this helped anyone who is thinking about taking this beast on. It's fun, just watch out for Nightmare and the stupid tile trick.

^^b

-Curcio-

We went twice.
The first party was:
[NIN]Retsujo
[WHM]November
[BLU]Aurias
[RDM]Bobslap
[WHM]Mynx
[DRG]Mistwalker

Because things went so well, we gathered together again for Alanthor:
[NIN]Retsujo
[WHM]November
[BLU]Aurias
[RDM]Bobslap
[WHM]Mynx
[DRG]Alanthor

Our first run with Mistwalker went a little awry. We chose to seperate the melee from the mages, and was doing well until mages took hate and Diabolos moved around. Aurias was focusing on damage, and I was focusing on Katanas. We failed.

In the next round, we decided to stay in the same spot, mainly for the Draw-in he uses. Aurias spammed Headbutt for Stuns, Mistwalker saved Leg Sweep to Stun Nightmare, I focused on Elemental Ninjutsu and did NOT engage, and we beat him with flying colors.

Mynx focused on healing, while November focused on enhancements and ailment removal. If Nightmare ever did go off, Mynx focused on Erase to help November get Bio off of everyone, and Bobslap focused on heals while Mynx was erasing.

We were all using Jack o' Lanterns for Dark+, and had Barsleepra up the whole time. Bobslap was using Marron Glace instead, for MP+. Aurias and Retsujo were the only two that had Haste focused on them at all times, for Headbutt and Ninjutsu recasts.

Everything went very smoothly. Mynx died, only because of grabbing hate at an inooportune time, and getting Camisado'd in the face. Ouch.

---

Being how fast we were able to finish the mission, we decided it would be best to get Alanthor past this mission as well, given how easy it was for us the first time. We all still had our food up, save for Bobslap and Alanthor who used something else.

Our first run with Alanthor, we wiped. We usually wipe on our first attempt, no matter what the circumstance is. Well, everyone was out of food, save for Alanthor who was using Dhalmel Steak, but we still managed to win with the same strategy.

Edited, Wed Jun 21 09:47:19 2006

Won 4/5 on this fight using this technique, one problem you will have with this is that you will need CONFINDENT stunner. Diablos is nothing long as you stun 2 things, sleepga and nightmare.

Party Set-up: NIN, SAM, SAM or DRK, WHM or SMN, another potiental healer and for last any job.

What to do:
have NIN voke Diablos and take them to one end where it's safe to stand on, at this time all DD should be following NIN to same square. Mages take oppsite end safe square and take position there. Your goal is to wear his HP down. Do not worry about hurting him with your WS or Nukes. One false move can mean wipe for whole party. SAM and DRK already should have macro set to letting eachother know when Stun was used. To specify what stunners need to do, SAM shoudl already use meditate to get his TP up soon as his in the BCNM, SAM is first stun with Tachi: Hobaku, then DRK next stun. Once both stunners have their stun orders in check its a breeze all the way through. Good luck everyone

If anybody on Bahamut is doing this fight anytime in the near future and has an opening for a little Black Mage, send me a tell.

Went 1/3 on this *****:

-- Round 1 --

Dry run, no food/meds/2 hours/anything.

Got him to 50% then couldn't stun a nightmare, so we wiped.

-- Round 2 --

Used food/meds/etc, 2hrs were ready if needed, but none of them got used because he went nuts and floored everyone in 90 seconds.

-- Round 3 --

Same as round 2, but he used NO tp attacks. He did 1 nightmare, which we stunned. Ninja died with him at 4$, because we were too busy laughing how easy it was...

-- Anyway --

This fight, like a lot of them in CoP, is broken. Sometimes you just can't win. It's not down to player skill, gear, or anything. Sometimes you wipe without being able to even get a move off, which is ridiculous.

Other times, you win like you're fighting an EP mob.

I really don't get it, but I also don't care. Bring on the dragon!

Hey is the fight of diablos in the mission also 40 cap'd. Sorry for the newbie question. But i have heard different answers. I know the prime fight is not cap'd but i am wondering if the mission is cap'd at 40.

The title you get for defeating diabalos immediately is dreambreaker. Changes to transient dreamer after you talk to the doctor.

Edited, Wed Apr 5 19:04:11 2006

ok i just did im 1/3 on this fight (better then promies or mammet fight). heres my winning formation:

sam/war
drk/whm
whm/blm(me)
blm/whm
nin/war
smn/whm

me and the smn had attempted twice before but we only had a 37 drk (it worked as good as it sounded, we got 2 minuites into fight and drk couldnt keep stun on/ do at right time so nightmare (| Good evening!|)). smn wus left w/ 2hr and i still had all my supplies (i recomend 5 eths and 5 yag drinks to be on the safe side)so now a 54 drk is makin a new party. we also bring along a sam for stun ws (which will stick as long as he doesn use tp on other ws!). now a little thing people forget to post is what does the whm do? well to avoid drk from not having stun recharge keep him along w/ tank on haste. its 80 mp (which may be a lot) but its well worth it. with this not 1 nightmare landed. 50% atral flow nailed him. im off to fight dragon when my whm hits 50.

Edited, Tue Mar 21 08:58:04 2006

Tried and defeated this after a dry run and a failed run. Team was drk, war/nin, rdm, rng, nin, and mnk.

For the dry run, we just go used to the arena and Diabolos himself. First "real" run, I stunned the first nightmare, but he used it again when stun was @15 seconds. We knew it was over and just accepted the inevitable wipe. Last run, he used nightmare rather quick, but I was able to stun it. At about 50-55% health he dropped some tiles, at which point we began to zerg it with everything we had. He got off one nightmare at 1%, but the rng woke up rather quickly and was able to Eagle Eye Shot for the win.

Honestly, I find this battle to be more about luck than skill. The round we won, he used nightmare quite sporadically, and used the tile move and stuff like camisado and ultimate terror quite often. Oh well. Dragon time's next!