ENM - Sheep in Antlion's Clothing

**Circa** Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:23 pm

I know some of you guys do this regularly. Thought I'd document the strategy. Survive, Sim, Gren, and I used to do this the old fashioned way, but Surv and I now duo it easily. I'm sure it could be soloed with meds, but its pretty mindless with two people.

Any combination of DD and Healer can duo this ENM. It helps if the DD subs Ninja and the Healer is either a WHM or /WHM. I've had friends that have duo'd it as SAM/NIN and PLD/WHM. I think DRG/Mage can solo it, but time might become a factor, as you only have 15 minutes.

Basically there is an antlion type mob NM that buries itself every 25% of its life, and it's up to you to find him. The catch is that there are also 3 other antlions that are hidden under the ground. You spawn a mob by running on top of it.

If you are going to do this efficiently, obviously you do not want to spawn any of the non-NM antlions. What if you could see where the antlions are hiding? Enter apradar. Yes, it's a third party tool, so you have to be using a PC. If you don't like using apps, you can try .dat swapping the NM to promathia, and the non-NMs as dahamels. I hear that works, but I havn't tried it.

Buffs do not carry in, so when you enter, buff up. Once you are ready, run in. At the start, the NM is always in the narrow passage that opens up into the main area. Have the DD/Tank run in and pop the NM. It will do "Pit Ambush" to start, which will deal a chunk of damage. It will also wipe shadows. Engage and own it. Once it gets down to ~75%, it will bury itself, and you have to go find it. If you are using apradar, the NM will show up, and you can run in, kill, and repeat until its dead. If not, have fun running around.

There are several decent gil drops from this ENM:

Galatia: Clothcrafting material that is used to make blessed gear, as well as the male wedding body piece. ~150k
Forager's Mantle: Excellent DD mantle. ~500k
Hagun: Awesome Samurai Great Katana. ~3M.
Cloud Evoker: Rare/Ex pop item for Ouryu, prereq to Bahamut v2. Can sell for at least 500k to an endgame linkshell. This can sometimes be used to trade for other endgame services.

You can repeat this ENM every 5 earth days. We have received a ton of galatias, ~8 Mantles (including a double drop), ~6 Haguns, and 3 Cloud Evokers over the last year or so of doing this.