Guide to NM hunting : FFXI General Discussions

What spells or job ablities are effective in claiming NMs?
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Dia- This spell is the best pulling spell for RDMs, and while low lvl WHMs can use it too, at higher lvls they can use Flash, which has a faster cast time I believe.

Stun- This is what BLMs and DRKs have at their disposal. It has a very fast cast time, and good range, but can't beat provoke in speed.

Provoke- The spell that anyone with a war main or sub can use. This is one of the fastest pulling skills to use for NM hunting. The only downside is its short range, and the cooldown might cause troubles for you too(A mob spawns right in front of the NM).

Poison- A spell that has a fast cast time, but can be beat by probably all of the other skills on this list. If you have stun, use that instead. Although, its good as a backup macro, in case you stun the wrong target and need to get the NM fast and stun is cooling down.

Flash- This spell has amazing speed as well, but like provoke, it lacks in range.

Jump- This can be used to pull, but be warned, the cooldown can end up costing you the NM.

Chi Blast?- I'm not sure of the cast speed of this spell, but I've heard its pretty fast, not 100% sure though.

Ranged Attack- These can be used, but they are not effective for short spawn space mobs(Hoo Mjuu the Torrent for example).

Charm- An amazingly fast casttime, I think it has the same range/speed as provoke, so be on the lookout for BSTs as well.

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Classes to look out for when camping NMs.
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RDM- I have found Fast Cast+Dia to beat me on numerous occasions. Even if i start casting Stun before the RDMs Dia, i lose quite often. It's speed rivals provoke, only without the range problem.

THF/RNG or RNG/THF- These are generally used in camping large spawn area NMs (Valkurm emperor, Leaping Lizzy). The combo of Wide scan+Flee can be very deadly, so if you hear that flee sound, and you havent detected it yet, then you know you lost it ^^;

WAR or BST- These are used on small spawn space NMs, because Charm and Provoke have amazing speed, yet short range. These 2 are very large threats if it spawns near them, but if it spawns just a few feet away they cant reach it, so use that to your advantage by covering all the other spawn points .

reckoned with. With its long range and short casttime it is a very useful pulling tool.

WHM or PLD- These two have flash at their disposal, so they can be dangerous as well. WHMs not only have flash, but they have Dia as well, making WHM/THF very viable. PLDs might want to sub war for provoke, although THF is nice for TH.

BLM or DRK- Stun and Poison are both deadly spells, due to their fast cast time and range, they can cover wide areas with these spells.

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How do you people get it so fast? Hackers!
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Lol, I can't tell you how many times I've been accused of hacking because of my speed ^^; The secret is quite simple really, make macros on 1 and 2, and 9 and 0 reading this:

/targetnpc
/ma or /ja "Pulling skill" t

The reason for having this on multiple macros is because after mashing that macro for a few... hours sometimes heh, your hand will get tired (wow ya think? ;/), so you can easily switch to your, say 1 and 2 keys to your 0 9 keys without wasting any time. Also, pressing 3 or 4 buttons at once goes faster than just 1, making you get the mob as soon as it spawns, if your in range. You will still have to pay attention in case it spawns out of range, because if that happens you can still get it (I've had Hoo Mjuu spawn on the other side of a wall that a player was standing by, who didnt notice it until it was too late).

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JPs always seem to get it faster than me... I dont understand.
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I believe this is due to the fact that JPs have a slightly lower latency than NA players, so the mob will appear to them maybe a fraction of a second faster, though I'm not sure if this is true, I believe it to make sense because no matter how fast i press, a JP player can beat me a lot.

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I have been waiting here for 4 hours and it still wont spawn!! What is going on here?!
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For some NMs this is due to the fact they have a thing called placeholders, which are monsters that have the same model as them. For instance, youll have to kill yagudos near the spawn area for Hoo Mjuu the Torrent to get him to spawn faster, and damselflys for the Valkurm Emperor. Although sometimes the mob STILL might take 3 hours, this will increase the odds it will spawn sooner. I believe theres a system that everytime a yagudo is due to spawn, theres a chance Hoo Mjuu will spawn instead. This is why sometimes he takes 1 hour, and other times 2-4 hours!

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Man, theres 7 people here, theres no way I'm going to get it.
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Although this can be a problem, if your skills are good then it wont matter if theres 10 or 10000 noobs camping it with you. There is still the problem that there ARE decent players camping these NMs lol, so I try to camp the NM off of peak hours, like not late at night for the JP rush and not in the afternoon where NAs get home from work/school.

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Man, I'm 0/20 on Hoo Mjuu, this game hates me.
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If your luck is this bad, I recommend either subbing thf, or going for smaller NMs. Also please note, that NM hunting will cause extreme frustration and requires major patience. NM hunting is not for everyone, consult doctor before use

As usual you left out the possibilites of rng without war subjob to claim stuff.

It's Shadowbind (instant as Provoke but only a small range)
& Eagle Eye Shot (same as Shadowbind but higher range)

Shadowbind for Rager > ALL... never forget Shadowbind.

nice...very helpful on the macro..thx alot for tip ^.^;

Just so you know, Chi Blast seems to be about as fast as provoke with a ranged weapon's range. It can also be used while moving and that is a huge advantage over spell pullers. When I hunt NM that have larger spawn areas I go as a mnk/rng. The rng sub is obviously for the widescan and chi blast will beat any spell caster hands down. If you choose to do this I suggest going /anon while doing so as anybody without wide scan will key in on your every move and those thf/wars can easily outrun you to your target and voke long before your in any kind of range.

I think Flash is the first bst thing next to Dia n Stun.
Well I like using <st> when in crouded area, cause you will accidently pull the closet thing to you. I got Profblix. 2/3 this way cause it was too far one of the times. If you with someone else no need for it. Just use the Macro from above the get a friend to take it aout of range n kill it while you keep post.