Targeting the Captain  

I have done this quest about 10 times now for the pants and I am 1/10ish on them and the Hands. I normally try to 4 man this but I have 5 manned it [which was much easier.] And although I have heard that it can be 3 manned, I don't know if one can get all 3 chests with that number of people. At first I did this with THF/NIN, which was a bit tough bc THF is very weak against the Captain [normal melee dmg was 1-10 dmg, with TA+WS being @300-350dmg] because of his crazy high defense and large number of hit points. It is MUCH easier to kite the Captain on THF due to THF's high evasion but since SE flat out said that Treasure Hunter has zero effect on Ancient Lockboxes, I felt that RNG/NIN might be a better choice against him.

4 man strategy with PLD/WAR, RNG/NIN [me], BLM, RDM or WHM:

Use food before entering the Assault as it will not wear and save a few seconds [Buffs will wear though]. Items with Assault latent effects will work in this [i.e. the ToAU rings] so use them. We would buff up upon entering, then I'd proceed to open the door to the hold and pull each of the 2 imps out on the deck with a ranged attack [to avoid detection and not alter Bubbly's pacing pattern]. After the imps have been disposed of then everyone would proceed into the hold, while I go to the Captain's Cabin to "Sneak Attack" him. If you were not detected by the imps [which you should not have been with /ra], the Captain [Cutthroat Kabsalah] will be facing away from you looking outside the window and Bubbly will be pacing back and forth along the deck directly behind him at a very fast rate. To accomplish the "Sneak Attack" and avoid Bubbly aggroing me first, I would engage at the top of the stairs into the cabin, wait until Bubbly is on the opposite side of the Captain and then use a pair of Powder Boots. Then I'd wait a couple seconds for Bubbly to go behind the Captain and then start turn away from him to run to the other side. At that moment I'd proceed to Flee towards the Captain and hit him in the back with a melee attack. He says, "Ugh, What?!" [which indicates you performed the "Sneak Attack" properly] and then both him and Bubbly will aggro you. Afterwards I'd run out of the cabin, at which point the rest of the party so graciously takes Bubbly off my hands, while I take the Captain out onto the Deck to kite him up and down the stairs. Be aware that since RNG has so much less evasion than THF, the Captain rarely misses his ranged attacks on me and they hit for 130-250, so you must be very cognizant of the number of shadows you have remaining and the status of your Utsusemi timers. Normally I try to Shadowbind him at the top of the stairs when Barrage is up and then proceed to Barrage --> Slug Shot on Bubbly to help the damage a bit. Sometimes he can go a little crazy with Magic Fruit [can heal up to 2k] and be a little harder to take down. After Bubbly is properly disposed of, the PLD proceeds to come onto the Deck and kite the Captain up and down the stairs as I did, while myself and the BLM burn him down. Of all the ranged weapons at Ranger's disposal, I feel that OBOW + Acid and Holy Bolts work the best. Defense Down helps the BLM do more damage, the added effect Light damage is substantial [sometimes equal to the normal damage of the actual bolt] and will help to keep him off of you and onto the PLD. His "Aegis Schism" special is a killer, must be Erased asap. Normally we kill the Captain with about 3-4 minutes remaining and get all 3 chests.

NOTE: When we first started to do this fight we tried to tank the Captain straight up, which is MUCH MUCH more difficult. He is a juiced up Corsair with a Joyeuse and crazy attack speed. He is ten times easier for a PLD/WAR to kite with an Earth Staff. His Ranged Attacks do maybe 30-60dmg but still can be dangerous if you underestimate him. It also seems as if the 3rd chest, for executing the "Sneak Attack", can either be a ???Box or the ???Gloves. The one time we got a ???Box, it turned out to be a PUP Attachment [Reactive Shield]. The other ???Box, which you get for killing Bubbly, seems to mostly always be a HQ2 Gem.

Edited, Dec 7th 2007 7:45am by turbotortuga

I just posted my results from this BC about Barbarossa's Zerehs, this includes the drop rate, static, and strategy.