Guide [FFXIV] Dummy's Guide to Zodiac Weapons

[Aldotsk]

 

Written by Aldotsk (Anelia Sadowyn)

Relic weapons! Zodiac weapons! As far as prestige among your peers is concerned, only shiny weapons from SPOILER REDACTED can compare to showing off how hard you've worked. With that in mind, let's review what it takes to get the shiniest weapon Eorzea has to currently offer!

Relic - First Level

Getting Started, ilvl 80
So there it is. You've hit level 50, you've done all of your class quests and you're thirsting for something else to make you stand out amongst the rest of your peers. You get clued in to going to seek out an old weapon maker, and what does he have in store for you? Why, a million tasks! http://xivdb.com/?quest/66655/A-Relic-Reborn-(Bravura)

So what does Gerolt want? Easy! You just have to deliver a couple of items as directed via quest, culminating in a double-melded i55 weapon. These weapons are crafted from items found in the earliest level 50 dungeons (Wanderer's Palace and I think Ampador Keep?) and take two class-relevant melds, always two of the same. The specific melds required change depending on your class, so make sure you read your quest details in your journal!

Gerolt then sends you to kill the fearsome Chimera. This is a level 50 fight with no item level sync and is generally curb stomped by currency-hungry over geared folks.

The next step to forging your relic weapon is obtaining an Ampador Glyph. This is awarded upon exiting Ampador Keep (NOT Ampador City!) and is generally a formality at this stage in the game.

Next, Gerolt will task you will slaying a series of enemies. They are not difficult, though it might take some time depending on your class.

Gerolt's next task is to slay the formiddable Hydra. You MUST be wielding your unfinished relic at this point, so make sure you equip it! This is another level 50 non-synced fight and is routinely smashed in Duty Finder.

The next stage requires you to defeat each Hard Mode primal in sequence: Ifrit, then Garuda, and finally Titan. These are again all level 50 unsynced battles and, despite having some learning curve, are routinely defeated easily in Duty Finder. It helps to admit if it's your first run upon entrance, as many experienced players are happy for the currency bonus provided by new players.

After turning in the three key items obtained from the Primals, Gerolt will finally ask you for a Radz-at-Han oil. This is purchased in Revenant's Toll for a relatively cheap sum of currency, so take advantage of the pile you've obtained doing dungeons and primal fights!

Once you turn the item in to Gerolt, he returns to his force and finally grants you a new weapon and an achievement! Your relic is item level 80, but there's an easy upgrade available right away!
 

 Relic Regular Design just like concept art

Relic - Zenith Level
Continuing, ilvl 90
No one is satisfied with an ilvl 80 weapon. Let's make it better!

Purchasing three Thavnarian Mist items will allow you to improve your relic; Just "talk" to the forge next to Gerolt with the item in hand and trade it in! For you aspiring paladins out there, you still require 3 items to upgrade your sword and shield, but it's split 2:1 for your items. Yes, you can upgrade your shield before your sword for one Mist, but you're going to want to do both!
 

Zenith glowing color

This is the easiest upgrade stage of your relic process. Breathe easy, it's about to get serious.

Relic - Atma Level
Atma! Item Level "100"

Progressing your relic is a "simple" matter of beginning this quest right near Gerolt. It will task you with obtaining a dozen Atma, crystallized essences of enemies obtained by completing FATEs with your relic weapon equipped in specific zones.

Atma and Zones

• Central Shroud: Atma of the Maiden
• Southern Thanalan: Atma of the Scorpion
• Upper La Noscea: Atma of the Water-bearer
• East Shroud: Atma of the Goat
• Eastern Thanalan: Atma of the Bull
• Middle La Noscea: Atma of the Ram
• Western Thanalan: Atma of the Twins
• Outer La Noscea: Atma of the Lion
• Lower La Noscea: Atma of the Fish
• North Shroud: Atma of the Archer
• Central Thanalan: Atma of the Scales
• Western La Noscea: Atma of the Crab

All you need to do is complete a FATE with your Relic Zenith equipped to have a chance at the item dropping. It isn't guaranteed, nor do you need to "win" the FATE. You don't need Gold medals or anything besides participating in a completing FATE to have a chance at your Atma!
 

     Game Screen will remind you when you get Atma from FATEs.

 

Atma Redesigned Color

Yes, you can farm multiple sets of Atma at one time! As long as you have ANY Zenith weapon equipped, you can obtain an Atma from a FATE.

Once you obtain your twelve unique atma and turn them in back at Jalzahn, he will turn your weapon from Relic Zenith to Relic Atma! The item level will jump from 90 to 100 and it will get a nice new paint job, but hey, what gives? These stats are the same exact as they used to be! What's the big idea?!

[Aldotsk]

Relic - Animus Level

Books! Study up! Item Level 100, for real this time!

Jalzahn's got big plans for your relic weapon. As nice as the new paint is, it's not making you do your job any better! To rectify this, Jalzahn supposes you should follow the path of the Zodiac Braves, and this means working hard! There's a long series of books containing the trials and travels of the Braves and you need to get cracking!

Each book can be purchased in Revenant's Toll for 500 Soldiery. It used to be 1500 Mythology then 500 Solidery, and will likely be adjusted in the future as currencies change again, so get working! Each book is unique and will require you to kill 10 enemies from 10 families, totaling 100 kills, complete 3 FATEs that range from easy to rarely popping, complete 3 Levequests that are sometimes Grand Company Leves, and completed three dungeons.

This is a lot to digest all of a sudden! The 10x10 enemies are strictly "get credit for killing." The Leves can sometimes be hidden by other, lesser leves being offered. Similarly, FATEs are sometimes part of a chain that aren't immediately obvious. It is highly recommended you use a website like XIVDB to know exactly what is required of you. The dungeons require you to defeat a specific boss enemy, always appearing at the end of the dungeon, but be warned! You only get credit if you are alive at the time of death! Being KO'd will result in you not getting credit in your book, and this is no bueno.
 

Animus Book Layout

Animus Colors, Different from Zenith

You must complete NINE BOOKS, totaling 900 enemies killed, 27 leves, 27 FATEs and 27 Dungeons. You're going to need 4500 Soldiery to complete this stage and books are unique, so you can only hold ONE at a time! This is just a taste of the process, but completing each book will grant you a bonus to your Atma weapon. Once you've completed all nine books you can obtain your Relic Animus! This is an actually-statted-for-i100-weapon, but there's no time to celebrate because...

Relic - Novus Level
The grind is real! ilvl 110!

No rest for the weary. Jalzahn's got an idea on how to upgrade your weapon, so there's no time to rest! He requires you to obtain a Sphere Scroll, which is easy! You just need to scrounge up 750 more soldiery to obtain 3 of these babies. You'll take them to Central Thanalan and obtain a Sphere Scroll pertaining to your relic weapon. Paladins again take note: You'll split inks 2:1 for your sword and shield. You don't have to upgrade both at once, but you're going to want to. Trust me.

You're now going to need to infuse this Sphere Scroll with materia to increase the power of your relic weapon. In order to infuse a materia, you'll need an Alexandrite as a catalyst. Your bonding rates being at 100% but will quickly drop below that. If you explode a materia, you won't lose the Alexandrite but you will die a little inside as you lose your materia.

This is where you begin customizing your relic weapon's stats! Tired of inferior secondary attributes? Erase them! Every materia you meld to your sphere scroll will replace the stats on your Animus weapon. Players can upgrade additional stats such as Piety, Determination, Accuracy, Spell Speed, Skill Speed, Critical Hit Rate and Parry up to a total of 75 points. Accuracy, Spell Speed, Skill Speed, Critical Hit Rate and Parry cap at 44 points each. Piety caps at 33 points and Determination caps at 31 points.

If you stick to two stats, you're going to need several Tier IV materia to meld. Be warned, the success chance drops off very quickly on these materia and it is very possible to explode several million gil in materia gems as a result. It is possible to avoid Tier IV materia by doing a combination of three stats, and the stat difference is almost negligible in the long run. A "Budget" Novus weapon is more than sufficient! No shame in spending thrifty!

Alexandrite: An Exercise in Frustration

There are three and a half ways to obtain an Alexandrite gem.

• Completing a FATE with your Animus weapon equipped will rarely (estimated 1% or less) give you an Alexandite, similarly to how you obtained Atma.
• Alexandite are purchased with Allied Seals if you are stockpiling while doing Hunts.
• Completing a Mysterious Map objective.
• Mysterious Maps are awarded daily for completing this quest (Click the Link) that requires you to run Expert Roulette.
• Maps are also available for purchase in Revenant's Toll for 400 Soldiery each.

Mysterious Maps are tricky fights; It is recommended you bring a friend to cover your butt while clearing them. Better safe than sorry, I say!

You will eventually obtain the 75 Alexandrite required to fully meld your Sphere Scroll and the materia used to slot inside of it. Once you've completed the process, you're back to Jalzahn to hand everything over. Once he's done, you'll obtain a shiny new Novus weapon!
 

What the Novus Sphere Scroll looks like

Novus Weapons glow brighter than Animus.

Don't relax, though...

Relic - Nexus Level

Grind! Grind! Grind! i115!

Jalzahn and Gerolt have a theory. You can increase the power of your relic by locking in souls! This surely has no moral quandary and will be fine.

Soul-glazing your relic will allow you to obtain "lights" by completing almost every task in the game. Do a dungeon? Lights! Kill a primal? Lights!! Doing Coil? LIGHTS! Just killing time in PVP? LIGHTS!!

As long as you have your Novus weapon equipped, finishing instances will give you lights.
 

• PALADINS, MAKE SURE YOU SOUL-GLAZE BOTH YOUR SWORD AND SHIELD.

It's possible to finish one and not the other and then you have to do the whole process over again. Values and thresholds are below.

 

Light Points
Light Levels Light Values
3.0 Updates have Changed. Will be Announced.


Light Indicator Light Points
No Activity 0 – 199
Indistinct Activity 200-399
Faint Activity 400-599
Slight Activity 600-799
Modest Activity 800-999
Distinct Activity 1000-1199
Robust Activity 1200-1399
Vigorous Activity 1400-1599
Intense Activity 1600-1799
Extreme Activity 1800-1999
Bursting Activity 2000+

 

The Relic at starting stage.




The Relic being in Full Burst 2000+ Stage

 

What Nexus Looks Like

There are constantly areas that grant "Bonus" light. A hard mode Primal ordinarily grants Gentle Light, but if, say, Garuda HM is the Bonus window, it will grant one stage up, resulting in Bright light. The most common tactic is to find a farmable Bright window and demolish is as much as you can in the 120 minutes the bonus is live. It is random where bonus windows go and sometimes it won't move after 120 minutes, resulting in long, long sessions where madmen kill Garuda dozens and dozens of times.

There is now way to speed this stage along. Efficient grinding will only take you so far, and even at the fastest time you are still looking at sixteen hours of killing Garuda before you're finished.

Eventually, though, you WILL complete your light show. Turn that junk back into Jalzahn for a super-shiny, can't-see-the-weapon-anymore Nexus weapon.

Don't rest yet, though...

Relic - Final Zodiac Level

 

Zodiac Weapon! i125!

First complete this quest. Finishing it will allow you to flag this, this, this, and this quest.

 

To obtain all of the items required for these quests, players need: over 400k gil, 80k Company Seals, 6400 Allagan Tomestone of Soldiery, drops from 16 dungeons, Many 3 star HQ crafted items, many desynthesis items and some miscellaneous items.

 

Purchased Materials

Item Cost Where

• 4 Bombard Core - 80,000 Company Seals (20,000 each) Grand Company Quartermaster
• 4 Sacred Spring Water - 2000 Allagan Tomestone of Poetics (500 each) Auriana in Mor Dhona (x22,y6)
• 1 Bronze Lake Crystal - 100,000 Gil Junkmonger in Upper La Noscea (x26,y26)
• 1 Allagan Resin - 100,000 Gil Merchant in Southern Thanalan (x15,y29)
• 1 Furite Sands - 100,000 Gil Merchant in Coerthas Central Highlands (x13,y16)
• 1 Brass Kettle - 100,000 Gil Vendor in North Shroud (x29,y19)

 

Crafted items

• Furnace Ring (HQ) Goldsmith ?
• Basilisk Whetstone Goldsmith 40
• Perfect Firewood (HQ) Carpenter ?
• Mahogany Lumber Carpenter 39
• Perfect Mortar (HQ) Armorer ?
• Perfect Pestle (HQ) Blacksmith ?
• Perfect Vellum (HQ) Leatherworker ?
• Peiste Leather Leatherworker 38
• Perfect Pounce (HQ) Alchemist ?
• Shark Oil Alchemist 41
• Tailor-made Eel Pie (HQ) Culinarian ?
• Pie Dough Culinarian 14
• Perfect Cloth (HQ) Weaver ?
• Linen Yarn Weaver 32

Each quest will require one bombard core, one spring water, one 100k material, four dungeon drops (only obtainable when the quest asks for them, no farming ahead of time!) and two crafted items, requiring the entire gamut of desynthesis skills.

Once you complete this substantial list of objectives, you'll be able to complete His Dark Materia and be able to kill God obtain your Zodiac weapon. It's been a long time coming, but you've got a new weapon to swing around!

 

   Your Zodiac Weapon Finally Attained

Edited June 22, 2015 by Aldotsk

[Aldotsk]

 

Final Saga: Zodiac Zeta Weapon

Searching for the Sign of Zeta

 

Zodiac Zeta! Item Level 135!

So you've come a long way. You've beaten primals, collected tokens, read lots of books, killed more primals, ran dungeons, crafted things. Are you ready to all of that AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME IN THE LIGHTNING ROUND?!

The next quest starts when you return to Jalzahn and begin Rise and Shine. The quest ends up with you in Swiftperch speaking to a shady specter of Gerolt's past, and boy does he have a deal for you. Super-rare mega-atma called Mahatma! He'll bind them to your weapon so you can acquire more soul energy!

...Gee, this sounds sort of familiar...

All for the low, low price of 200 soldiery each! And there's only twelve of them!

There are different light values for doing the same tasks this time; Primals are going to be your go-to in terms of effort/reward ratio. Each mahatma requires 40 points to collect, but don't have a heart attack yet. The light value's been tinkered with a little.

 

 

 

Zodiac Zeta's Weapon through Glass looks different from the Nexus Glass

 

(3.0's Patch Points are Updated. Will be changed once we get further information)

Feeble: -
Faint: -
Gentle: -
Steady: -
Forceful: -
Nigh Sings: -

There's... Not a lot to this stage. You can grind in any of the same ways you did previously for Nexus, and you'll get a notification when it's time to buy a new Mahatma. It'll end up costing you a total of 2400 soldiery, but you'll likely make back most if not all of that just killing primals/doing dungeons.

 

 

 

 

Zodiac Zeta's Glowing Animation

When the grinding is all said and done, return to Jalzahn and let the cutscenes play. Congratulations!

Edited June 22, 2015 by Aldotsk