Sortie Release - Info

What is your current route? I've found the most efficient route for my group is: F Boss > H Boss > Upstairs Objectives > DCBA Bosses > Aminon > E Boss > G Boss.

This requires you to "fix" your KI with a prep run, but it really helps with consistently having time leftover to do NMs/Nakuuls/Misc chests.

For the Upstairs Objectives, we split the group up and all meet at D Boss once done. BRD and GEO do A Objectives (use the Acuex headed towards D). COR solos B Objectives. RDM solos C Objectives. PLD and DNC do D Objectives. Once objectives are done, we start with killing D Boss and run around the zone counter-clockwise to finish up Bosses C, B, and A before heading to Aminon. After that, E Boss then over to G Boss.

Even with terrible bitzers, we still have a minute or 2 leftover. With good bitzers, we have time to go back and kill all upstairs NMs and zone back into H for the Blue Chest. With GREAT bitzers, you can fit in F Zone Nakuuls as well.

I would start with modifying your route, then based of your observations, make changes to shave off time with each run.

We do lots of fill-in/subs with our group so we stick to the same route.

KI Farm > D > H > CBA > F > G > E > Aminon

This route lines up 3 of the 4 mini NMs so getting Aurum adds only a couple minutes depending on DDs path.

For Downstairs Bitzers the PLD goes to the off path/wing in F and H so the party can be buffing while they wait.

It sounds like your 8 boss is dialed in, Adding Aminon really just takes the right jobs and you'll probably find it easier than melee 8 boss.

Haven’t run sortie in a while (thx limbus) but we used to do in order, KI, ABCD FGH E Aminon. So I do not think the order matter much. Most important thing is the tiny things, pre roll so you can double up at NM/gather and roll second roll right away, touching up buff in a timely manner, bolted asap, are you done with all initial buff/KI and back at the original blitzed with 55-56 left on the clock? Are you done e with upstairs by 40 on the clock? …. Tiny efficiency will also add up tremendously over time. Just keep doing what you doing, it will suddenly come in place.

Good suggestion Buukki and Dodik, I'll see about having our WHM start doing that in F & H basements to help process of elimination.

I am currently shamelessly emulating Sterk's route he shared. Sticking together the whole time, DCBA -> FHEG, with the idea that if we could find more ways to clean up our runs E & G would swap so could theoretically end on E and go directly to Aminon. We do currently aggro 3 acuexs to bring into D so we simultaneously do D & A's shard objectives, but currently for C and B we are doing those separately in the room just before boss ramp. Would certainly be open to changeups to cut down time.

Group composition for the record is MNK, BRD, COR, GEO, DRG, WHM. BRD is my manual dualbox and GEO is the COR's manual dualbox. DRG previously was RDM but swapped to DRG for a fun trial run after getting stage 3 polearm and they've been doing surprisingly well, so they've stuck on it for now.

If you find yourself standing in boss rooms waiting for buffs for extended periods, find ways to cut that down. We aren't standing around waiting for buffs when arriving at any boss aside from H, but it's not time wasted since we're rebuffing while our GEO is making his way back from checking the side room for the bitzer since our GEO doesn't melee and thus doesn't need buffs.
D/C bosses: Songs are already up from T/N at start of run while doing A/D objectives.
B boss: Songs are already up from me reapplying 5 minute songs while we're fighting Umbrils for B objective.
A boss: No buffs are up at arrival. I sing SV songs while people are fighting boss, not before. It's an extremely easy boss and is dead by the time I finish singing my 6 songs (DD songs + Ballad on RDM).
F boss: Songs still up from singing at A boss.
H boss: I reapply T/N songs at boss while GEO makes his way back from bitzer scouting.
G boss: Songs still up from H boss.
E boss: Songs are up from me singing 5 minute songs while we're doing the 30 second stare at G's Bitzer

It cannot be overstated how important it is to avoid downtime waiting for people to catch up. I think that's a huge benefit to multi-boxing (assuming the rest of multi-boxing is efficient). Having multiple characters being controlled by one person means they're all going to be arriving to objectives/bosses at the same time. Being able to just send it as soon as all 6 members are in the room is such a big time saver.

I think a lot of people overestimate how much time is going to be saved by improving gear or gaining MLs past 30. They absolutely do help, but the biggest area of improvement groups will benefit from is coordination. Don't fall into the trap thinking that MLs (ML30 is super reasonable to attain) or Bumba v20/v25 clears are required to 9-boss.

For C/B objectives:

* Port everyone to C bitzer
* One half of the party goes to ele room - with cor
* Other half of the party goes to corse room - with big balls and brd for lullabies
* Do objectives at same time
* Meet up and head to <next upstairs boss>

Our party did C/B objectives together right after coming up after D/H. After porting up from H, go to C, objectives, head to C-B then acuex and A. Back downstairs for EFG in whatever order.

Either ele room path to C or corse room path to C take roughly same time.

Order will vary if you do 9-boss, but C-B objectives together stays the same.

There's a lot of places you lose time that adds up over the course of a run. The difference between very good groups and middling groups is they minimize things that waste time, and it makes a massive difference.

- IMO Rolling anything besides Samurai on upstairs bosses is a waste of time, specifically if the COR doesn't have Bolters ready (because he rolled mid-fight) when the boss is dead. This extra 10+ seconds per boss "i'll bolters at the bitzer/downstairs" adds up. This is why I always suggest basement rolling for groups, to make your second roll that much easier.

- If you don't have a DNC and you've lost 5 songs somehow (either to 8B B/F wind hands, someone dying, or BRD missing the resing window), throw up a Mazurka to compensate for Haunt, if you're not getting C/G metal. You get to maintain close to or max movement speed.

--Having the 2% Jumbotender cheer can help you keep up, but just making sure everyone has 18% move speed is essential. At this point in the game, it's kind of a requirement for things. I would rather a person have Shneddick ring and always be able to keep up, vs Karieyh ring for a couple Regain ticks.

- If G Bitzer is along the way in boss square, the mage can do stare, since the group can start buffing without him and the fight can begin once he enters the boss room

- Speaking of C/G, a single Leg Sweep from DRG or PLD can stun Triboulex or Skomora a good 10+ seconds. Helpful to avoid TP resets on the group if you use it here and there (speeds up boss kill time).

- Everyone needs to carry Panaceas, especially for H. Waiting for the mage to remove your slow just slows down how fast the RDM can reapply Haste II on you, which is already hard to do mid-fight if he's trying to move out of fetter range and proc elements at the same time, in addition to removing his own enfeebles.

Come be my brd mule.

I'm sure I'm years late to the party on this, but this seems to be a pretty consistent way to avoid the dispel for me. Basically just aggro pulling him fairly far away from his initial position.

I just popped 106 old cases.

Didn't get a single +1...

Skill issue. Git gud newb.

There is definitely some nuance to it. You can't run too far or he draws you in early. It's never 100%, but it is quite nice when puller doesn't lose buffs.

but how many DRK earrings did you get?!

kidding they fixed that

Pretty dumb question but do people just face-roll Leshonn in wind hands when using a kite comp? Use Stymie on Aita and Chainspell for Gartell, so depending on the route might end up waiting on a handful of full length Gravity II recasts for Leshonn...which feels excessive for an upstairs boss. I guess it's late enough in the run that it won't mess too much up if he steals the 5th song since CC will be up for Aminon, but honestly things can still feel dicey depending on which buffs he steals.

Similar vein, debating trying out the subtle blow comps for variety/potentially better Aminon times. Is wind just not an issue for B/F since TP feed is reduced so much, and if wiki is to be believed he prioritizes Pro/Shell so they just die before they have a chance to strip real buffs?

We just put up every buff possible, even dumb stuff and steamroll him. (he loves Pro/shell and songs) We nitro before pull but even if he takes a song its not a big deal.

KI > DHCBAFGE > Amin is our order.

We also find he's in thunder mode most of the time if our KI DHC is on pace.

It's the other way around, you Chainspell Aita and Stymie Gartell. If you're gutsy, you can sabo > grav1 (immunobreak) > spont > grav2 (and have another just in case). Saves you Chainspell for Aminon. But that's quite a risky minimax which could be bad if Aita starts in ice form before you land Gravity. You may not be able to land it if he picks this move, so Spont > 2 Gravs is the lower risk option that retains Chainspell.

Lots of ways to kill the boss. We end up sabo-binding Gartell in our strat, then grav1 + spont grav2 + grav2. If it doesnt land there's normally enough time for a third grav 2 in one sabateur window. If it still doesn't work then we just deal with a non-sabo'd grav2 if random deal isn't available for a reset, he's still slow enough with a geo-grav.

This saves us both of our SPs for aminon when we have a suboptimal start so we aren't reliant on a wildcard reset.

What exactly are people benefiting from Chainspell on Aminon? We use it for pre-buff when available which is definitely a bit of time save, but could probably do without it. Absorb-TP spam so DNC can unload more liberally?

Stymie seems essential to land Distract III and the non-DNC WS accuracy suffers pretty meaningfully without it so if I had to pick one to be up it would be that.

For our group its to help speed up that mid-fight period ~60%ish where AM3 on Mpu Drops, so you can WS even if climactic is on CD and not be punished for missing out the extra 2-3% PDL. You still need to be careful + be in a subtle blow set (ty limbus) bc there's still the hard recast timer, but turns that ~40ish seconds without climactic into big uptime.

Also frees up geo to go a bit more crazy with Occult Acumen, and gives a few more Black Halos to the RDM. We don't have the fastest kill time with Dnc strat (Most days ~8min) but we were much slower w/o the additional cushion.

I don't think chainspell is entirely necessary either, so if it is easier to chainspell Aita (gravs tend to land second cast, first if really lucky), or Gartell for your group, do what makes more sense.

It's not a requirement for Aminon, but if you're already blasting through the other bosses and have no real use for it, Chainspell makes sense on Aminon. Technically speaking, Chainspell can be optimized for it's best use during Bolster on Aminon to allow the RDM to go crazy with absorbs/aspir/impact/thunder5 > WS. You're maximizing that damage window when its relatively safe to unload as much damage as possible. Also, if WC resets Chainspell mid-fight when DNC needs it, RDM also gets another Chainspell to use later, giving you Chainspell for the entire duration of Bolster. Whereas if you use it later and this happens, you only got one Chainspell during Aminon. This is my argument for doing it sooner rather than later.

I've also seen groups that don't use Chainspell on Aminon at all, or wait until the very end (around 15%) to use it for a final push. This is especially true if you're running short on time and need everyone to go HAM for a clear before time runs out. You can Chainspell and allow the DNC to engage and go balls to the wall. The problem with doing it here though is your Bolster is probably off, so you're not able to push as much in the same Chainspell window as you would during Bolster.

I don't think there's a wrong way to use it, but it definitely speeds up Aminon the more comfortable you get using it. You can also, to a lesser degree, get decent mileage out of Spontaneity, properly timing it for Impacts and getting it reset via RD>WC>RD. But that can be a little more random because you may not always know when RD is going out, and RD might not hit Spont (though for RDM it kind of always should if COR has correct merits, since there's no other JAs to use). Of course, you can and should use it for other bosses if your playstyle or group needs it to ensure the win, but most experienced groups have gotten beyond using it, so it's normally available towards the end of the fight.