How to Hunt NM: Dragonscaled Bugaal Ja

Dragonscaled Bugaal Ja (DBJ)
Spawn Location: Mamook (D-7)
Respawn time: 59 to 62+ hours
HP: ~16500
Drops of Interest: Beast Bazubands
Special Notes: True Sight, 3x Tyrannobugard pets

I have been hunting DBJ for over six months now and am rather jealous at Monsters Inc.'s success. While this NM is not very difficult to claim or kill, DBJ has an abysmal drop rate and is fairly difficult to low-man. As such, this post explores DBJ's behavior and possible low-man strategies.















The quickest (and safest) route to DBJ is by taking the Mamool Ja Staging Point entrance into Mamook. Once inside, head to G-8, climb the stairs near Hundredfaced Hapool Ja, and run along the cliff until you cannot continue further north. Drop down the cliff, and head up another until you can enter the cave south of DBJ.

To scout if DBJ is up, simply walk to where I am standing above (around G-8), and see if the NM is up on "Widescan." I believe that DBJ might have a similar respawn time to that of Merrow No. 5, and on average, DBJ usually respawns around sixty hours after his last Time of Death.















Regarding low-man strategies, you will need a party unless you plan to Zombie DBJ, and furthermore, you will need to split the party to handle both DBJ and his pets. While I prefer to kite DBJ's pets using a 2hred Slime, I would assume a RDM or PLD/BLU with movement speed would work as well. Moreover, kiting DBJ's pets via Evasion jobs do not work very well because the Bugards possess very high Accuracy.

Since DBJ is a fairly strong NM, you will probably want a standard TP burn setup and spells such as "Barfira" or "Fire Carol" to lower damage from "Firespit." If you are really hurting for help, two well-geared SAMs (using their 2hrs) can skillchain DBJ to death in one minute, but they will need to be well-merited and coordinated for this to work.



















Now for the fun part. It turns out that DBJ cannot be stunned, and although anecdotes suggest DBJ's pets can be slept via "Lullaby," I am fairly sure they cannot. More importantly, DBJ's 2hr has a hidden effect; if you search DBJ's discussion page on FFXIclopedia, a certain BST claimed that he could kite all three Bugards indefinitely or so.

This is only true if DBJ used "Familiar."

Why? DBJ's pets gain the effect of Regain ("Meditate") immediately after, and they will try to spam back-to-back WSs as a result. By waiting for DBJ's 2hr and kiting the Bugards around the square ring (D-5) above, my pet could last as long as ten minutes, but if my PT needed longer than that, the fight usually went in DBJ's favor.















As for the drop rate, I ended up going 1/7 over a six-month period, and the most difficult part was finding enough help for DBJ. A special thanks goes out to everyone who helped me through this hellish nightmare.

Summary:
1/2 on Beast Bazubands with TH1
0/5 on Beast Bazubands with TH3 or 4

Estimated drop rate on FFXIclopedia: 33%
Theoretical odds of not getting the gloves six times: 8.77%

As such, either I won an unlucky lottery, or the drop rate on DBJ is lower than documented.

GUPS 018

Sometimes, I am dead. Other times, I am dead tired. Since my fall semester will be starting soon, I have decided that future posts will be mostly filler until next spring. As such, this will be the last major post of the year, but look forward to some side stories nonetheless.

First of all, I have leveled my SCH and DNC to 37 and my RDM, THF, and NIN to 75. As such, I now have a grand total of seven (of fifteen) Maat jobs, four of which were raised in this year alone.

Other Stuff







New WSs:
Blade: Ku
Blade: Kamu
Death Blossom
Mandalic Stab

KS30 Weapons Unlocked:
Senjuinrikio
Coffinmaker
Destroyers

New Non-Rare/EX goodies
Red Mage: Yew Wand +1, Solid Wand, Rose Wand +1, Martial Anelace, Eremite's Ring +1 x2, Magic Cuisses, Crimson Blade, Beak Necklace +1, Qiqirn Sash +1, Elite Beret, Vermillion Cloak
Thief: Wagh Baghnakhs, Beetle Knife +1, Corsair's Knife, Darksteel Kukri +1, Thief's Knife, Harpe, Beetle Ring +1 x2, Horn Ring +1 x2, Carapace Ring +1 x2, Scorpion Ring +1 x2, Behemoth Ring x2, Warrior's Belt +1, Fluorite Ring, Spike Earring, Drone Earring x2, Alacrity Ring x2, Dragon Mittens, Dragon Leggings, Dragon Harness

Furnishings
Smithing mule: Thurible x3 (special thanks to Spikage)

These will be used in a future desynthesis set if I ever get around to it.

New Rare/EX goodies


















I will be following up on the pet items shortly, and although there is a bunch of items above, I should note that I have not made a GUPS post in over three months. In particular, one of the items took almost half a year to obtain, and to find help for an Armed Gears run, I let all but one pair of Oracle's Gloves go freelot from three Armed Gears pops.

Guttler Updates











So, I managed to find another Dynamis LS willing to sell an Axe Fragment, and despite competition from low-man Xarcabard groups and the difficulty of slaying my NM, Rellima and his LS, FashionablyLate, pulled off a miracle! For 3M gil, I now own a Runaeic Fragment, and as an added bonus, I got the Necropsyche for free.

I also found someone selling large amounts of discount currency, so I dumped all my remaining gil into One Hundred Byne Bills. As such, I am now about halfway to a Stage 4 Axe, so that leaves about 20-25M gil before I can see it happen.

Currently, I am working on Stage 3 -> 4 of my Guttler.

I have acquired:
[1/1] Dynamis Axe
[1/1] Attestation of Bravery
[25/60] One Hundred Byne Bills

Gil towards next 100-unit currency (subject to change):
[0/700k] One Hundred Byne Bill
Status: N/A


Crafting Status

Exemplar
[100/100] Fishing Skill
[78/100] Woodworking Skill
[20/60] Smithing Skill
[13/60] Goldsmithing Skill
[7/60] Bonecraft Skill
[38/60] Cooking Skill

Cooking mule
[100/100] Cooking Skill (+30)

Smithing mule
[28/100] Smithing Skill
[19/60] Goldsmithing Skill
[35/60] Leathercraft Skill
[7/60] Bonecraft Skill

Alchemy mule
[100/100] Alchemy Skill
[19/60] Goldsmithing Skill
[34/60] Smithing Skill
[16/60] Bonecraft Skill

Bonecraft mule
[30/100] Bonecraft Skill

The Blue Banner

Early visitors might recall the image above as my very first banner, and although I thought it looked great at the time, a friend later commented that my characters looked rather cartoonish. After much thought (and arguing), I agreed somewhat and decided to start on a new banner.

Starting with Snippy, I ended up creating a new skin (see Playbox banner) for her, but when I got around to Liabelle and Khaki, I ended up creating new characters from scratch. Eventually, I decided to redraw Snippy as well, but to my dismay, my friend found just as many flaws with the new banner.

Eventually, I managed to finish the banner despite my friend's comments, and to summarize my remaining thoughts, I have decided to use another self-interview.

Q: How long did you spend on the new banner?

A: The banner took roughly five days to design (while doing other things), and that is roughly the same time it took for my first banner. Unlike the first, I had a lot less learning to do, so I ended up experimenting a lot more.

Q: What are the major differences between banners?

A: The main difference between banners is the canvas size I drew them at. For the first banner, everything was drawn on a canvas the size of the actual image, but for my new banner, I used a canvas several times larger and shrunk it once I had finished. Apart from that, Liabelle and Snippy are now in reversed positions, and Lia appears slightly more shy. There have also been some subtle changes, such as adding shadows to help the text stand out more.

Q: Are you satisfied with your new banner?

A: For the most part, I think the banner looks great, but I did notice a few problems upon shrinking the banner. Moreover, I do not like how Lia turned out: her jaw looks misaligned and is supposed to look more like:












In addition, Lia's jaw appears closed (until you zoom in on it), and the shading along Khaki's lower face should have been more smooth.

2011 EDIT: These issues have been addressed. The banner has now been updated.

Q: What is Liabelle wearing?

A: She is actually wearing a pink Demon's Harness (as a homage to the original banner), but for those of you who prefer purple, I have posted an unused sketch below:







Q: Do you own an Adaman Hauberk now?

A: Unfortunately, no. Originally, I was not going to release this banner until I did, but knowing that could be a long time, I decided to show my loyal readers something special. I have also posted the lower half of my Hauberk below because some of the detail has been obscured by text.

Government

A few weeks ago, my LS hosted a "miscellaneous help" session, and more accurately, everyone was invited to a Rostrum Pumps run. For this event, I got to form a BST detachment outside of the main alliance, so Liabelle became my personal healer for the run! While this event is not new to me by any means, I decided to use the opportunity to test my latest BST gear.















Pop NM - Alastor Antlion

There are three roles a BST can fulfill:

1. Pest Control - A BST can "Charm" nearby Antlions to keep would-be links under control.
   
2. Kiter/Secondary DD - When multiple Executioner Antlions are up and the main alliance is occupied, a BST detachment can easily kite or stall Antlions to give the group more breathing room.
   
3. Backup Tank/Primary DD - Often, the primary tank drops dead or the whole alliance ends up petrified. Under either situation, send your pet to stall Alastor, and if you are brave enough, charge into the fray yourself.
   

KS99: Early Bird Catches the Wyrm

This was a tough battle to get the hang of, and we lost all but our fifth and sixth attempts (with my orb being the latter). Judging by our successful runs, having a good number of healers and ranged DDs seems pivotal for success, but unfortunately, I did not win anything special from this KS99.















Limbus - Proto-Omega

And here we have our third Omega win after wiping on both our previous attempts. In the end, we were rewarded with a Homam Corazza, Cosciales, and Manopolas (along with a disturbing message by Frenesc).















Sea - Jailer of Hope

We also started tier 2 Sea jailers this week, and for once, I had no idea what I was doing. Although this jailer had nothing on my wishlist, it was a fun fight to keep up with because I was the only WHM for an entire alliance. No torque from this NM.















Sea - Jailer of Justice

After losing thrice to this NM using the crowd control strategy, the LS decided to zerg JoJ and called my DRK for some action. As a result of our astounding success, we have decided to zerg JoJ from now, and to be honest, I prefer one to two minute fights as well. Again, no torque dropped.















Sea - Jailer of Temperance

If you thought Government bought its tier 2 jailer pops, guess again! After several members complained that we had nothing but JoF (both JoF) runs as of late, the LS agreed to try new jailers, and the Zdei NM graced us with its presence.















Again, another tough fight for only one WHM, but I ended up being the only casualty thanks to my medicines, sharp reflexes, and kiting instincts. Thankfully. I managed to beat the only other person who wanted the Axe, but once again, no torque as per usual. Sadly, I would have received the torque as well since the only other person who wanted it was absent, but I am happy with my new toy nonetheless.

Mog Bonanza 3

So, another year, another Mog Bonanza, and another chance to complete my Guttler without doing any work. Compared to last year, there were more rank 1, rank 4, and rank 5 winners, but a lot less rank 2 and rank 3. I suppose the monetary prizes have been rather disappointing as well, but in addition, SE also removed the HQ Ground King bodies from this year's rank 1 selection.













And this time I have won... only rank 5 prizes; hurray for wasting 140k gil! If you are curious which column represents my main character above, it is the fifth.












As mentioned in my previous post, I chose a statue set for one of my mules, so the rest of my characters ended up with exp scrolls.