What to bring: * Dem: - Scroll of Reraise and/or Reraiser - You should only need one. Also, remember that at level 30, WHMs do not have Reraise. - Anima - One Psychoanima (keeps the boss from attacking for 30 sec) and one Hysteroanima (keeps the boss from using special attacks for 30 sec). Psychoanima comes from Recollections of Fear (Wanderers in Holla, Weepers in Mea) and Hysteroanima comes from Recollections of Pain (Wanderers in Dem, Weepers in Holla). - Hi-Potions - Bring a half dozen or so if you're a tank/melee and a couple if you're a mage/ranged fighter just for insurance. - Ethers - Since I'm not a mage, I don't know how many to bring, but bring some if you have an MP-using job. - Food - Bring whatever food is appropriate for your job. I was tanking, so I used Steamed Crab. - Au Laits - Bring if you're a tank/melee. Periskos Au Lait is the best but can be rather pricey. Pamama Au Lait is the next-best. - Yagudo Drinks - Bring if you're a mage. * Mea: - All of the Dem list where applicable. - Antidotes - The boss has a *nasty* AoE poison attack. Make sure you can cure your own status. * Holla: - All of the Dem list except food and Au Laits. - If you're a tank/melee, do *not* bring good food or Au Lait. The boss has an attack that steals your buffs and transfers them to itself. This includes food effects and HP regen. Instead, bring some kind of "junk" food like cookies or crackers. - If you're a mage/distance fighter, you'll probably be safe with your usual stuff. The boss' attack only steals from the current target, so as long as you don't have hate, you won't get your buffs stolen. If you're feeling extra-cautious, don't bring good food and instead bring junk food. Since the boss doesn't cast spells or have MP (to my knowledge), Yag Drinks should be fine. - Everyone should bring a half-dozen to a dozen Poison Potions. The boss also has a very nasty AoE Sleep/Curse attack. You will want to keep yourself poisoned at all times so the entire group doesn't get slept and subsequently whomped on. - If you want, bring Holy Water, though the Curse isn't as severe as most Curses, and you'll end up getting re-inflicted with it over the course of the battle. - Bring extra Hi-Potions, since you'll be poisoned and, if you're a tank/melee, won't have Regen on. How to get through: * Memory Receptacles: - Promyvions are made up of a series of "islands" linked by what are called Memory Receptacles. They're big glowing balls of light on a platform. When you first see them, they'll look like they're surrounded by a bunch of Wanderers, called Strays. To open up the portal to the next "island," you'll need to fight the MR. - When you start fighting, make sure to move *behind* the MR so you don't accidentally aggro any nearby enemies. - The MR has two forms of attack: an AoE knockback called Empty Seed, and spawning more Strays. Mages and distance fighters tend to target the MR while the melees take out the Strays. - If you're a melee and you want to join in on the MR fighting, make sure that you stand in front of the pillars on the platform. The Empty Seed attack will then slam you into the pillar instead of knocking you off the platform. Only do this if there aren't any Strays around. - After you kill the MR, a portal to the next "island" may appear. If it does, make sure you've killed *all* the Strays before entering. - If the portal doesn't appear, then you have to find another MR and do it again. * Following the tail: - You will not have a map of Promyvion. Getting the map requires getting a drop item from the crag-specific monster (Gorger in Dem, Craver in Mea, Thinker in Holla) and then trading it to a heavily-guarded ??? on one of the upper floors. Unless you're a completist, it's probably not worth it. It's very dangerous, so even if you do have one of the Memodrops, you won't want to be doing it on this run. You can find maps at http://www.ffxi-atlas.com and they're much more useful than the in-game ones probably would be. - So how will you know where you're going? Your guide, probably a RNG or /RNG for Widescan, will go out and scout for Memory Receptacle locations. *Wait* until he or she says it's safe to follow. Then follow the tail. I cannot stress the importance of following the tail. It may be confusing at times with a huge bunch of people all trying to take the same path, but you'll want to avoid aggro as much as you can. - If you get aggro, don't panic. Follow your leader's instructions. They may want you to pull it to a safe place, or they may want you to stay right where you are. Listen to him or her. - On the last "island," instead of looking for a Memory Receptacle, you'll be heading straight for the Spire Entrance. It's a mad dash that sometimes results in training half the zone. ;p Follow the tail, and you should be fine. * In the Spire: - You'll temporarily be uncapped. Rest up and plan. - The Web of Recollections is the entrance to both the ENM and the boss fights. You'll be wanting to do the ENM first if you're planning on doing both. - If possible, have someone waiting in the Spire who can revive you in case disaster strikes. - Before you go in to fight the boss, determine the order in which you will be using your anima and when you'll be using two-hours, if necessary. Our groups went for alphabetical order for anima use. It was easy enough to remember. - Make a macro that tells the party when you'll be using anima. - You might also wish to make item macros, i.e. /item "Hi-Potion" , etc. for any items you think you'll be using a lot. It's worth it to not have to scroll through your item menus. ENMS: - An ENM is essentially a mini-version of the Promyvion boss. It can be used as a warmup/practice. But be careful, they *can* be quite dangerous. - You can use anima in the ENM, but you don't want to. You'll want to save it for the real boss. - To enter the ENM, you'll need to get the corresponding key item from Venessa in Ru'Lude Gardens. She's standing close to the Upper Jeuno entrance, and she looks like me in glasses and a Seer's Tunic. You can pick up all three key items for the crags at once. - You can take up to 18 people into the ENM. You'll get fewer XP by doing so, but it will make some things easier. - You can only try each ENM once every five days. So you can do Dem, Holla, and Mea on the same day, but then it'll be another five days before you can do any of them again. - The ENM monsters have basically the same attacks as the bosses, but fewer HP/lower defense. Yes, this means if you try Holla, you're going to want to keep yourself poisoned, and if you try Mea, you'll want antidotes. - The ENM monsters have one thing that the bosses don't. They can summon lesser enemies to assist them. I'm not sure how often they spawn, but one of my groups wiped in Holla because it kept spawning Weepers on us. - If you win, you'll get 18000XP divided by the amount of members in your party (so 6 people will get 3000 a piece, 12 people 1500, and so on). You'll also possibly get clusters of memories (12 of some time of memory, sellable on the AH) and if you're really lucky, a Vision item. If you get a Vision, take it back to Venessa and she'll give you a Rare earring that can possibly go for a lot on the AH. Or you can cut a deal with your group. ^_~ - Make sure everyone's alive before you get the ENM reward so they get the XP. Bosses: * Dem: - Dem is generally considered the easiest of the three Promyvions. The boss doesn't have any nasty status-inducing or AoE attacks. It does have the ability to spawn an Offspring, a smaller version of itself. Kill it fast enough and they won't be an issue. The one problem is that if a lot of Offsprings spawn and start pounding on whoever has hate, said person could go down fast. We ignored them; one person went down near the end but we'd almost finished anyway. * Mea: - Mea is considered by some to be the hardest of the three. The boss has several nasty AoE attacks. Promyvion Brume is the nasty AoE poison attack that also resets hate. Bring antidotes so your WHM doesn't have to worry. Carousel is another nasty AoE attack; this one just does damage. - The boss also has a nasty single-target attack, Impalement. Supposedly it can get a tank down to the red realquick. Be careful. - To minimize the damage from the AoE attacks, keep the boss *away* from the mages. Put it in the center of the room and have the mages stand near the edges. If you have multiple tanks/vokers, have them switch off to keep the thing from running away. * Holla: - In my opinion, Holla is the hardest one, just as much for what you have to do to yourself as what the boss does. Your tanks/melees can't use good food or regen drinks, and you constantly have to keep yourself poisoned. Heck, using Protect and Shell is rather iffy, because you don't really want the boss to get those. - Use Hysteroanima as much as possible. You'll probably go through all six. Even then, some of its specials might slip through, which is why you need to be careful. - Keep your poison and junk food statuses up. Trinary Tap, the attack that steals three buffs from the target, will drain a large amount of HP instead if the target doesn't have any buffs/statuses. The good news is that the boss'll probably poison itself by doing this. ;p - Shadow Spread is the AoE Curse/Sleep attack. You do not want your team to be asleep. Helpful Links: * http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1096059496417947752&num=101 * http://nif.bounceme.net/fi/forums/index.php?s=1589d37ba6c2f08caa95367a51da438c&showtopic=300 In Conclusion: * Promyvion is hard and nerve-wracking, but in my opinion it's worth it. Tavnazia is beautiful and the CoP story (so far) is awesome. Getting there is a major accomplishment that not all players will even attempt. * If Ashn's in your party and he dies on the boss, don't worry. He does that a lot. ^_~