Final Fantasy XIV Dzemeal Darkhold Speed Run Guide

Final Fantasy XIV Dzemeal Darkhold Speed Run Guide by Neversleeps

*** Updated 08/10/11 ***

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfGVL2hUIOY –> Video of a 5 chest speed run. Guide/tactics discussed starting on the third page on (can’t add any more text to this post =)

*** Original Post ***

I apologize for the length, but here we go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYWtisRBS-0 –> Video of the full run

Our Preferred Classes:
Aizen Hajime – Marauder (main tank)
Artanis Bluestone – Archer/Glad (switches to Glad to pull mobs away for certain parts, BRs)
Miko Neversleeps – Conj (BRs, DoTs)
Seiken Valk – Conj (Back up BR, DoTs)
Katsu Kobashi – Conj (Main Healer)
Leodegrance Peacemaker – Conj (Magic Burst, DoTs)
Kaeko Leta – Conj (Magic Burst, DoTs, Backup Everything)
Cursive Kassad – Thaum (Magic Burst, Debuffs, DoTs)

First Section:

Before entering, we assign each mage a buff (Pro II, Shell II, Stoneskin II, Shock Spikes II). The buffing times are as follows: Before entering, Ogre, and Batraal. We used Profundity II + Roaming Soul on all of our buffs except for Stoneskin II. We do, however, use Stoneskin II throughout the dungeon as needed.

Skip both the first and second cutscene. After the second cutscene, the entire party uses quickstride to get to the first Toad. We do NOT get any of the chests here, so we skip over the Warlock Patten’s chest.

Each mage is assigned a toad to sleep. There are three mages not assigned toads that will deliver a backup sleep if sleep gets resisted.

When getting to the first room that de-spawns mobs, we assign two mages to get the smaller magitek circle, while the other six party members go straight for the larger magitek circle. The tank ALWAYS enters first.

When entering the room with three magitek circles, the Tank (Aizen) enters first and pulls everything to the last circle. Mages sleep as necessary. Two people are assigned to the first magitek circle, two people are assigned to the second circle, and three people + the tank are assigned to the last circle. Always make sure to stay ahead of the AOEing Eye.

Mages are always tasked with re-upping stoneskin. In the video, you’ll see both Miko and Kaeko casting SS II on the tank as they run towards the exit.

Tank leads the way again while mages continue a sleep order. One getting the moles, others getting the toad.

When you get to the left tunnel (right before Bladedancer’s Boots), the tank and five other mages quickstride again all the way down to the teleporter. The Archer/Glad and one mage do not use their quickstride, as they will save it for the run right before the ogre. Again, sleep mobs as necessary, especially the Toad. The two people NOT using quickstride should be able to get to the teleporter by the time the magitek circle comes down.

Make sure SS is rebuffed in the next area. The Archer/Glad (he is a Glad at this point to take extra hits) leads the way with a mage. Both use quickstride. If done correctly (it didn’t happen in this video, unfortunately), the Glad should be able to get out of reach of the Toad’s tongue attack while training him to the Ogre room. The mage quickstriding behind is tasked with curing and ensuring he stays alive (note: Yes…Miko totally mistargeted him =). The 6 members following behind should not have any difficulty keeping up and should be able to avoid mob agro as they are focused on the Glad/Archer.

Once we reach the ogre, we buff once again using Profundity II and Roaming Soul. For the most part, we actually try to buff while in the glowing circle. Furthermore, the Glad switches back to Archer before the fight begins.

Ogre Tactics:

We use two mages here to BR with the Archer. One mage uses Levinbolt II/Radiance, the other uses Damnation (just in case he has to BR with the other mage). Both mages are equipped with Invigorate II and Siphon TP. The Archer repeatedly uses Bloodletter for his BR. The spells we use to “burst” on the Ogre is Aero II and Scourge II. One mage is focused only on curing the Tank.

We open the fight by skipping the cutscene. Then, everyone who is able uses punishing barbs while the Tank uses Disorient on the Ogre. The Tank keeps his distance and makes sure he is with the other mages so that he can force the Ogre to use his AOE. With Barbs up and Stoneskin, this can take about 10% of the Ogres HP away right at the beginning of the fight.

The Tank then proceeds to pull the Ogre up the ramp and to the position shown on the video, with his back to the wall. Mages position themselves either in the center, or to the left (from the video’s perspective) when the ghosts teleport to the inner circle.

Note: DO NOT CURE THE TANK! The Tank must able to take care of himself this early on in the fight. If you cure him too early, the mages WILL pull hate and the ogre will run all over the place.

Once the Tank has established hate, one mage and the Archer will immediately initiate a BR. Every mage should be involved in the BR EXCEPT for the main healer. The Thaum will attempt to land DoTs and Debuffs in between BRs. When the Ogre is at 60%, we try to land as many elemental DoTs as we can (everything except Burn and Frost, pretty much).

Skeleton Room:

This is probably the trickiest thing to do. After the Ogre is defeated, you have to be careful not to rush. Forsaken Souls can spawn ridiculously close to the exit, and you do NOT want them to agro. The Archer switches back to the Glad at this point. Both the Marauder and the Glad use quickstride, with mages following behind. MAKE SURE TO SLEEP THE TOAD.

Once in the skeleton room, the Tank (Aizen) will run along the left edge and gather up as many Forsaken Souls as he can. He will then pull them to the spot in the video and engage, with Katsu ensuring that he stays alive. The Gladiator is tasked with running down the center of the room (where the eye likes to spam his debuffs) and to gather as many forsaken souls as he can. He will train them and make a sacrifice pull all the way to the entrance to Batraal.

All other mages are assigned magitek circles that they must deactivate before joining the Tank in engaging the Forsaken Souls. At this point, the Tank will deactivate the last circle to spawn the skeletons. When he feels that there are not too many, he will agro the skeletons and pull the entire room to where the mages are.

This part is awesome. Let your AOE nukes fly. Banish II and Fire II work particularly well here as we spam them to death. Once this is done, we chainspell rebirth our fallen comrade and make him turn back into an Archer. We then proceed to Batraal.

Batraal:

Again, rebuff in the circle before engaging Batraal. The archer and two mages are tasked with one skeleton each. One gets east, one gets north, and one gets west. ALL of them have Provoke II on their bars to ensure that they can pull the skeletons. We leave Batraal alone with both the Tank and the Main Healer. Everyone else is on skeleton duty. Once pulled to the northern position in the video, we proceed to spam nuke them to death. We make the main BRing mage take care of curing the party as he does not use much MP during the actual Batraal fight.

NOTE: The Archer and the BRing mages do NOT use their TP on skeletons.

Once the skeletons are defeated, the entire party moves towards the barrier magitek circle. Once the barrier is down, we start to immediately BR him. In the video, the BR system happened to glitch on us and wiped the stack away for some unknown reason. If performed correctly and if there are no glitches, you should be able to perform three full stacks of BRs before the barrier goes back up.

Again, we assign two people to get the skeletons from the second wave. This time, however, we position them at the pond near the barrier circle. Proceed to kill the skeletons.

Same as above, only this time, we assign one mage to keep the main BRing party alive with sporadic curagas. After you start seeing the first skeleton glow and about to use a TP AoE attack, Spirit Bind, Cast Curaga II, and then proc Sentinel. Keep using Curaga II as needed and use Aegis Boon II when Sentinel fades. Once the skeletons are dead, run to the magitek circle to deactivate and have a mage cast SS while waiting. We do NOT kite Batraal to avoid the mages, instead, we keep him as positioned in the video and stack BRs. Mages should also be attempting to land DoTs and Debuffs in between each stack. Poison II seems to be the most effective DoT

For the third wave, you do the same thing as the second wave.

When Batraal starts to spam his AOE, we have our Tank make sure that Batraal is facing south. Whenever Batraal attempts to spam his AOE cone attack, our Tank will rotate around and dodge the attack. When Batraal attempts to AOE again, our Tank will then rotate back into place and have Batraal facing south again while avoiding the AOE. Rinse and repeat this to avoid Batraal’s attack. We also have one of our mages look out from word from our main healer to see if he needs backup. Otherwise, he will continue to stack in the BR or heal our BRing party from any ghost damage we may be taking. We have found that 8-9 BR’s will kill Batraal.

Continue to BR and deactivate the barrier until he is dead, and you should be able to complete Batraal within 25 minutes to get the Sword and Bow.

Final Note:

The above classes are NOT required, but we found them to be optimal for our play-style. Since there was extra time (and we still believe we can get faster times with this setup), you can probably get away with switching a class or two and still succeeding.

Also, make sure to assign the roles (buffs, which magitek circles, etc.) before entering.

Good luck!