Category:Ambuscade

Ambuscade is a new type of battle content wherein the enemies within change every monthly version update, first released in the April 5th 2016 Version Update^[1].

Ambuscade has a variety of difficulty levels, so everyone from seasoned veterans to those just starting out should find a challenge equal to their needs. With varying rewards to match. Those wishing to tackle the strongest foes are advised to select “Very Difficult” and be prepared for a valiant struggle!

Getting Started

Complete the Stepping into an Ambuscade Records of Eminence objective and speak with Gorpa-Masorpa in Mhaura at (G-9) for an explanation about Ambuscade.

• Players must have completed the First Step Forward Records of Eminence objective in order to undertake Stepping into an Ambuscade.
  • Stepping into an Ambuscade can be set from the Tutorial section of the Records of Eminence menu under Basics:

Quests → Objective List → Tutorial → Basics → Stepping into an Ambuscade

Be in possession of either the Ambuscade Primer Volume One or Volume Two Key Items.

• All party members must be in possession of one of these two Key Items.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to participate, players must satisfy the following:

• Complete either the Ambuscade Primer Volume One or Volume Two objectives in order to obtain the Key Item for the corresponding volume of the primer for the type of battle players wish to complete.
  • Players may have only one of each of the Ambuscade Primer Key Items.
    • Objective targets vary by month after a version update, opponents are rotated out, and generally not repeated.

• The Ambuscade Primer Volume One and Two objectives can be undertaken from the Ambuscade category of the Records of Eminence menu.

Quests → Objective List → Content → Ambuscade

Dynamis and Abyssea monsters do not count for kills required

Entry and Progression

• Examine the Ambuscade Tome in Mhaura (G-9) and select the type and difficulty level you would like to attempt.
  • Only the party leader may register the group.
  • The party will be registered so long as the system detects that there are no issues with the layer area or registering party members.
    • Players will be unable to register if:
      • Any player is not in possession of an Amuscade Primer Volume One or Two Key Item.
      • The number of registrants exceeds the maximum of fifty reservations.
      • A party member already has a reservation.
        • To cancel a reservation:
          • A player may cancel their reservation via the ambuscade tome.
          • Three minutes has passed from the time the player is notified that their instance is ready.
          • The registrant boards a boat.
          • The registrant leaves Mhaura in any way.
  • Adding new party members after registration will not cancel the registration, but the party may only enter with the number of players it registered with.
• A message will display for the party leader when entry is ready.
  • As of the July 2016 update^[2], automatic entering was added.
    • The default setting is "off" and may be changed by having the party lead examine the Ambuscade Tome and selecting the Toggle auto-transport function.
    • In line with this, having the auto-transport function off has a notification sound played when it is the party's turn.
      • This may be disabled via the sound settings in the Config menu.
• Examine the ambuscade tome within three minutes to enter.
  • The time limit for an Ambuscade is 30 minutes (Earth time).
  • Between 1~6 players may participate.
    • Trusts may be called after entering Maquette Abdhaljs-Legion.
      • The number of alter egos that may be called forth will depend on the number of players initially registered.
    • Player HP and MP will be restored to full and any status ailments they are suffering from will be removed upon entry.
  • Key Items will only be lost upon victory.
    • Meaning that should a player or group lose, they may reattempt the battlefield without having to reacquire new Key Items.

Upon victory, a special currencies known as Hallmarks and Badges of Gallantry, which may be exchanged for rewards, Experience/Limit Points, and Capacity points will be given to all players.

Notorious Monsters inside Ambuscade do not drop any treasure directly.

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Battle Information

A Word On Enmity

• Enmity functions abnormally in just one way during Ambuscade, and this has entirely to do with enmity gain upon self/party actions.
  • Any action (buff, cure, job ability) at any time (before/after pull) taken upon yourself or a party member will gain enmity on all mobs for the person initiating the action.
    • Any action before the monsters have been aggroed will the minimum level of enmity (1 CE/VE).
      • This explains why the mobs often go straight for your WHM upon the pull. Protectra, Shellra, and two Bar-spells equal 24 (6*4) party action enmity events if 6 players are in range.
  • To counter this have your tank use self/party-target enmity actions before the pull, and enmity abilities (Sentinel, Rampart, Pflug, Foil, etc) immediately after the pull.
    • The tank should not use their enmity abilities before aggroing the enemies in Ambuscade as they will gain almost no enmity with them before the pull.

Battle Type & Levels

There are two types of Ambuscades you may attempt. Entry into either is determined by which Key Item you posses.

Primer Volume One Type Difficulty Content Level Halmarks Earned Gallantry Earned Intense Ambuscade Very Difficult ??? 3600 300 / 600 / 900 / 1200 / 1500 Difficult 134 2400 240 / 480 / 720 / 960 / 1200 Normal 129 1200 180 / 360 / 540 / 720 / 900 Easy 124 600 80 / 160 / 240 / 320 / 400 Very Easy 119 200 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100

Primer Volume Two Type Difficulty Content Level Halmarks Earned Gallantry Earned Ambuscade Very Difficult 129 300 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 Difficult 124 200 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 Normal 119 100 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 Easy 114 75 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 Very Easy 109 50 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Intense Ambuscade(Primer Volume One)

Volume 1, April 2024, Qutrub

Difficulty Foes Notes Very Difficult Bozzetto Bigwig THF/NIN () Gains access to Enforce. Sudden Lunge gets resisted. Difficult Bozzetto Bigwig THF/NIN () 1st Summoning: Bozetto Astrologer(BLM), Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) x2 2nd Summoning: Bozetto Astrologer(BLM) x2, Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) x2 Susceptible to Sudden Lunge Normal Bozzetto Bigwig THF/NIN () 1st Summoning: Bozetto Astrologer(BLM), Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) x2 2nd Summoning: Bozetto Astrologer(BLM), Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) x2 Easy Bozzetto Bigwig THF/NIN () 1st Summoning: Bozetto Astrologer(BLM), Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) 2nd Summoning: Bozetto Astrologer(BLM), Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) Very Easy Bozzetto Bigwig THF/NIN () 1st Summoning: Bozetto Tormentor(DRK) Does not summon adds at 30%. Notes: Bozetto Bigwig will use the following TP moves: 100~80% Animating Wail, Mangle, Leaping Cleave 80~60% The Bigwig's weapon will break, summons adds, and uses Hex Palm as well as Spinal Cleave. 60~30% The Bigwig equips it's secondary weapon. Gains en-death while adds are out wand will use Unblest Jambiya as well as Gen'ei Ryodan Unblest Jambiya - 15' AoE drain (removes shadows). Gen'ei Ryodan - Conal damage, stun, and a single dispel (removes 5 shadows). 50% Uses Perfect Dodge 30~0% Weapon beaks again, summons adds, and casts Utsusemi: San frequently. Loses the en-death effect while adds are out and will use Phantom Whorl as well as Enforce (on VD only). The Bigwig may be silenced to stop the Utsusemi spam, but this will require an immunobreak to land. Phantom Whorl - Very high damage single hit attack, absorbed by shadows. Has a short range and is speculated to be damage. This move will generally 1-shot players. It is recommended to shadow tank the NM at around 30% HP and under as even with Indi-Wilt and Damage Taken equipment the move will still do ~3-6k damage. You may also run out of range of this move. Enforce - 15' AoE drain based on the current player's HP. This move can not drain more HP than the player has, and returns more HP than is drained. Frequent use of this on players with high HP will render the Bigwig undefeatable. Players must fight with a lower HP to return less to the Bigwig when it is used. Adds are immune to sleep. Adds will use their respective 1-hour special abilities and standard Qutrub TP moves. The Astrologers will cast typical BLM spells including, T4 nukes, Sleep II, Poisonga, and Ice Spikes. The Astrologers are susceptible to silence. When the Bigwig is at 30% or lower the adds will gain access to a move named Triple Reversal. Triple Reversal - Drains HP from the target based on unknown conditions. This effect can be seen draining over 30,000 HP from a player. The name would lead you to infer it is inflicting back triple damage from something during the fight. The rate of activation on the Bigwig's endeath effect increases the more players continue to damage the Bigwig. The effect is removed once the adds have been defeated. KI Camps: Survival Guide -> Caedarva Mire Dvucca Isle Staging Point Setups and Strategies: Very Difficult: RDM, BRD, PLD or RUN, BLU or a DD/nin, NIN x2 NINs tank in the corner and the PLD or RUN kites the adds around. Adds will not spawn again at lower HP. BRD does March, Mad, Mad, Min and keeps elegy up on the Bigwig. Slow (II) from the RDM helps prevent DDs from dying after shadows are wiped. At 30% when it begins spamming Enforce just let the DDs sit at single digit HP. NINs should toss out some vokes before WSing to keep the lesser shadow DDs from getting eaten by a potential multi attack. Fight should take around 9 minutes. Keep the kiter alive and it should be easy. Difficult: Normal: BRD/RDM, RDM/NIN, DD/NIN (x3), PLD Can use similar strategy for Very Difficult. However, reversing the roles also works -- i.e. rather than having the PLD kite the adds, the PLD tanks the adds and someone else with /NIN kites the NM. We found that killing the adds makes the fight much safer (but prolongs the whole fight; limit points and capacity points make for a decent consolation prize, though). BRD should double March and Madrigal until the adds pop. Switch to double March and Hymnus for the pops. Make sure to silence (easy to land) the Astrologer. PLD should try to grab hate on all the adds. At this point, someone (RDM) should kite the main NM. A simple weapon skill should be enough (or self-light using CDC if you need even more damage) to get the NM's attention. Elegy, Slow II, and Paralyze II should make the kiting process super easy (esp. with /NIN sub). BRD can then switch to double March and Minuet to kill the adds once the NM is away. The adds can be easily dispatched with double-light skillchains or better (we had BLU, SAM, WAR, and used four-step skillchains). With the NM being kited, the BRD can easily main heal (not much healing needed for /NIN). When the second set of adds pop, use double March and Hymnus for safety until the NM is separated from the adds. Then switch to double March and Madrigal (or Minuet). If BRD can play more than 3 songs, even better. Same strategy as above. Use Troubador/Nightingale to speed this part up and get back to the NM. Easy: NIN or DD/NIN (x3), BRD, SMN, Apururu(U) Very safe strategy March x2 + Hymnus to help with Utsusemi recast; Hymnus is just in case the main NM sneaks in a move during recast of shadows so we don't have to deal with raising mid-fight or MP issues. If you can cast more than 3 songs, have at it. When adds pop, whichever DD has hate kites NM while the others focus on Astrologer. The SMN then focuses on the Tormentor. When adds are dead, group back up on the NM. SMN can probably be replaced by 4th DD who would kite Tormentor until the Astrologer is down. SMN can optionally do spike damage on NM during kiting phase so that the DD kiting the NM can rejoin in taking down the adds.

Ambuscade (Primer Volume Two)

Volume 2, April 2024, Undead
Difficulty Foes Notes Very Difficult Lancer Jack () 3 rounds of adds; first set consists of three skeletons, followed by three hounds, and end with three ghosts. Easily slept with lullaby. Difficult Lancer Jack () Normal Lancer Jack () Easy Lancer Jack () Very Easy Lancer Jack () Notes: Uses polearm weaponskills. Will summon undead adds throughout the fight. Setups and Strategies:

We have tossed old battlefield information to the Ambuscade Archive page.

Rewards

See Ambuscade Rewards for specific item and equipment rewards.

Hallmarks

Hallmarks are the primary currency of Ambuscade. They can be used to purchase items from Gorpa-Masorpa.
There are two types of rewards available. Those received in exchange for Hallmarks and those received for total amount of hallmarks accumulated.

• Hallmarks are not expended upon receiving items from the list of rewards for total amount of hallmarks accumulated.
• The types of items available vary with the content of that month’s Ambuscade.
• Your total number of hallmarks will reset back to 0 after each month's version update.

Hallmarks and Badges of Gallantry are reset upon the next month's version update being implemented (usually set to happen from around the 3rd to the 10th of a month).^[3]

Gallantry

Badges of Gallantry are the secondary currency of Ambuscade. They can be used to purchase items from Gorpa-Masorpa, and are only given to those who participate in Ambuscade with other players.

• Like Hallmarks, your Badges of Gallantry will reset back to 0 after each month's version update.

Hallmarks and Badges of Gallantry are reset upon the next month's version update being implemented (usually set to happen from around the 3rd to the 10th of a month).^[4]

JSE Augmentation

Job-specific equipment obtained with hallmarks can be augmented by trading them along with certain items to Gorpa-Masorpa.

• See the JSE capes page for augment information for the Job Specific Capes.

To augment a cape:

• Trade the item to Gorpa-Masorpa along with either an Abdhaljs Thread, Abdhaljs Dust, Abdhaljs Sap, or an Abdhaljs Dye.
• Select the desired attribute, confirm your choice, and then repeat, repeat, repeat and then write SE an angry letter that it takes so long.
  • Augments may be changed by repeating the above steps.
  • Changing the augment path will not return any items used up to that point.
    • However, when using an Abdhaljs Needles to change the augment, the current potency is maintained.
• Further trading an augmented item with items corresponding to the attribute initially selected will increase the strength of the augmentation.
  • For maximum strength augments the following are all required per cape:

Abdhaljs Thread x20, Abdhaljs Dust x20, Abdhaljs Sap x10, Abdhaljs Dye x10

Armor Upgrade

To upgrade Salvage Armor Variant Ambuscade Armor trade either the NQ or +1 variant and the requisite Abdhaljs Metals to Gorpa-Masorpa:

Base Armor Piece	Trade With	Armor Piece +1	Trade With	Armor Piece +2

To upgrade Limbus and Nyzul Armor Variant Ambuscade Armor trade either the NQ or +1 variant and the requisite Abdhaljs Fibers to Gorpa-Masorpa:

Base Armor Piece	Trade With	Armor Piece +1	Trade With	Armor Piece +2