Ancient Vows

Mission Name	2-5 - Ancient Vows
Locations	Rivernse - Site #A01
Level Cap	40
Estimated Time	2-3 hours
Special Items:	Yellow Liquid items off the AH under Medicines. I recommend the tank bring a lot them, like 6 or so. EX Dragon Scales farmed inside Riverne.
Difficulty:	Medium-high. This is the first “sticking point” in CoP.
Medicines Needed:	Nothing special, but bring more than you think you need. Tanks should bring a lot of potions. Mages, more yags and ethers. An Icarus Wing is a nice touch for jobs with good weapon skills at level 40. All player need Prism Powders.
Recomended Jobs:	WHM, tank, two kitters, two DD. I hear varying strategies for this, but those are the basics. Form your party based on the description of the BC and who wants to go.
Brief synopsis:	Head into Riverne and defeat Firedrakes until you have 2 scales. Use these two scales to stabilize unstable portals. Reach the BC area, Monarch Linn, and defeat 3 unsleepable enemies.

Ahhh, beautiful Riverne. After the creepiness of Promyvion and the cramped dark sewers, I was beginning to wonder if there were any nice looking CoP mission areas before Al’Taieu. And there are two. Riverne A and B. Oh well. Enjoy it while you can, and that will likely be quite a while, because both Riverne missions are somewhat nasty.

Many people get "stuck" here because they don't think they have the right jobs to get farther into CoP and start leveling SMN or BLM or something. While you DO need jobs that can perform certain tasks, there are two spots for general direct-damage jobs in my ideal party setup, so you could take a BLM, or a DRK, or a RNG, or generally any job that can do damage. So don't despair totally if you're a melee. Find some people that can fill the other rolls in the party and get to it!

Scales and Portals:

Riverne is cut up into several smallish areas with trees and large mounds and foundations of houses. Connecting these islands are shimmering “Spatial Displacements.” If you get under a displacement and select it, you are given the option to warp wherever it goes. Almost all of these are two-way, but there are many that lead in directions you don’t really want to go in.

Some of these silly things are “Unstable Displacements,” however. In order to make them work, you need a dragon scale. Come to think of it, I have no idea how the HECK you would know you need a dragon scale. The game doesn’t give anything that hints that you need one, and the description of the dragon scale is also vague. But you do need them.

Fortunately (and conveniently), there are Firedrakes roaming many areas of Riverne, and yes, they drop dragon scales. They aggro sight, but you’ll need to fight a few of them. They aren’t terribly strong, but they have an attack that paralyzes and silences, so have your WHM ready to remove this from the tank.

All mobs get harder as you progress further into Riverne, so fight the Firedrakes before going through the next Spatial Displacement until you have two dragon scales (EX). If you get more from fighting aggro, keep them. It can be easy to get lost.

The first Unstable Displacement you want to use is in the very upright corner of (G-10). If you aren't close to it, it may seem like it is in (H-9) so stand right under it and check position. Have everyone gather under it and have the person announce they are using the scale. The displacement will flash and light up and get bigger, so dive through. Like portals in promyvion, it only stays open for a short time, but I’ve never seen anyone get left behind if they were ready.

Farming:

Obtained: drop off of all wyverns in Riverne Site A. Cannot be bought or traded; must be farmed.
Number needed: two
Optional or mandatory: mandatory
Use: pass through Unstable Displacements.
Notes: one scale is traded to the displacement to allow passage for a short time. After trading the scale activate the dispacement and choose to pass through. Anyone in or outside a party can pass through, but the displacement will become unusable again after a short time. A new scale is needed for each displacement. At minimum, two are necessary to reach Monarch Linn.

Other Fun Riverne Denizens:

Hippogryphs, and the later upgraded stronger Cloud Hippgryphs, have true sight and a dispelga move. They can drop some cool stuff, but nothing you need, so avoid them if you can. Luckily Riverne has many wide areas so they’re not hard to avoid. Your main concern is them aggroing when you’re fighting Drakes. Find a good camp up against a wall.

Atomic Clusters are several bombs working together to destroy you. Obviously they magic aggro (being bombs) so use your powders. You'll find them after your first Unstable Displacement trip. At the end of the Atomic Cluster island is the second Unstable Displacement you need at (E-10).

Riverne-A isn’t too long once you have the scales and if you know which distortions to go in. After your second Unstable Displacement you have one island full of Cloud Hippogryphs to avoid, then a totally empty island. It won’t take very long to get to Monarch Linn. If you get to a distortion that says that you sense the presence of a terrestrial avatar on the other side, be happy. You’re there.

Monarch Linn and the BC:

Okay. This ain’t easy. After a decisively cool cutscene you will need to fight three Mammet-19-Episolon enemies. They have goofy names and silly cloaks, but they’re strong. For one, they can’t be slept. They can be bound and paralyzed and silenced and slowed, but not slept, so you’ll have to deal with them all at the same time. Next, they can change jobs at will. You can tell what job they are by their weapon. Warriors have swords, dragoons poles, mages staves, and they have an unarmed state as well. Each time they change they gain some HP back. They all have some AoE moves. Warrior-types can do AoE WSs, and mages have AoE magic. Finally, they have both a physical and magical shield move that they can put up when they change jobs. Physical shield regains HP from physical attacks, magic from magic.

Yeah. They suck, and there are three of them. You never see anything like THIS outside of CoP! Do some dry runs, then get ready for a fierce melee!

The tank should go after the middle and the two kiters pick an outer Mammet. When I went I had two SMNs with carby mitts keep the mammets busy. When carby died, the SMN was far enough away to have time to resummon. A RDM can fill the same roll with bind, gravity, and evasion gear. Meanwhile, have your DDs rip into the mammet that your tank is after. Kill it quickly. If you have a good damaging 2-hour, use it after the tank secures hate. Just watch for the magic and physical shield. Nothing bites more than an Eagle Eye Shot that totally heals a Mammet. WHMs, remember that you probably won’t be able to heal the kiters (especially if they are SMNs) without drawing aggro, so, you know, don’t. They’re on their own.

Remember the Yellow Liquid? It forces the Mammet to stay at whatever job they are in for a while. If you can catch them at a job that’s weak (such as DRG, sorry guys, but because of party placement polearm skills are weaker) then they will be unable to do their nasty AoE magic AND unable to change jobs to regain HP or set up their shields. Every time you kill a Mammet, between 0 and 3 Yellow Liquids will drop. Anyone can use a liquid on a Mamment, but since the tank will always be engaged with one, it's a good idea to put the tank on quartermaster.

Increasing knowledge has led to a new, much better move list for Mammets.

Mammet Strategies:

Move Name	Job	Effect
(draws a different weapon)	all	Changes job, regains some HP
Tremorous Tread	all	Stun and minor damage.
Transmogrification	unarmed	Physical Shield. All physical attacks heal the Mammet for a time
Mind Wall	staff	Magic Shield. All magical spells heal the Mammet for some time
Psychomancy	staff	Drains MP from nearby characters.
-aga magic	staff	Does AoE elemental damage to the party
Velocious Blade	sword	Nasty damage
Sonic Blade	sword	Damage
Scission Thrust	sword	Lower damage
Percussive Foin	polearm	Forward AoE damage
Microquake	polearm	High damage
Gravity Wheel	polearm	AoE damage

What this amounts to is this: staff mammets will bomb and blast with magic and drain MP. Sword mammets will hurt one person greatly. Poelarm mammets have mostly AoE attacks. Unarmed mammets don't have special moves but can put up that very bothersome physcal shield. Spread our damage dealers out and try to lock mammets in the polearm job to reduce the most of their damage potential.

Strategy tips:

Mammets cannot be slept so two must be kited while the party focuses on the third. It is a good idea to use powerful moves such as Eagle Eye Shot on this third Mammet in order to eliminate it quickly.
Black mages are the most dangerous, having -aga spells. Try to trap the Mammets in weaker jobs using yellow liquid. Target the Mammet then use the item. If you do find you're righting a BLM, they can be silenced.
Since most of the Mammet moves are AoE, the kiters and the rest of the party should spread out as much as possible to avoid damage.
Watch the log. If you're healing a Mammet with your hits, unlock combat and turn around for a time.
Healing a character that is kiting a Mammet can be disastrous as it will almost always take aggro. Only do so in the most dire circumstances. The kiters need to be self-sufficient and are the most vital players in this battle.
Alternate strategy, below.

BCNM-Specific Item

Obtained: drop off of mammet enemies. Can be traded and sold on the auction house (under medicines)
Number recomended: at least four
Optional or mandatory: optional but recomended
Use: prevents a mammet from changing jobs
Notes: forces the targetted mammet to remain in whatever job they are currently in when the item is used. Good for locking them in a job that your party can fight more easily. It will wear off after a time but lasts long enough to be worth using. Defeated mammets will drop more; have someone on quartermaster.

If you successfully kill a Mammet, you’re in good shape. Rush to aid whichever kiter is worse off while the other continues to tread water. Then focus on the third. Your kiters can use their 2-hours when they are not kitting so this battle gets easier the longer you fight. Kill all three for another pretty cool cutscene, and then you will find yourself in South Gustaburg for no real apparent reason.

Several ranting maniacs have insisted I include an alternate strategy that doesn't involve kiting. The tank, usually a PLD, goes in and aggroes all three monsters and attacks the center mammet. The other mammets two begin to attack the tank, but since no one has claimed them, as long as no one attacks them they won't build hate and the outside mammets will continue to only attack the PLD. I haven't seen this in action but I can already see a few logistical problems. Since noone is allowed to do ANYTHING to the mammets not being attacked for this to work (harming them in any way claims them and causes hate to build normally), you can't use yellow liquids on them to silence them. So if you get a BLM they'll have free reign to cast -aga spells. Since both all the melees and all the enemies need to be close for this to work any AoE attacks from any of the three mammets hit a lot of people. Those who do it this way insist that it works so well that my above strategy is totally obsolete but I have my doubts. Still, if you can't find any kiters and are totally at the end of your rope for this mission, give it a shot.

There are, in fact, a number of other strategies here. Three NINs and three WHMs can do this: each NIN solos a Mammet and the WHM keeps them healthy and happy. Multiple beastmasters using jug pets with courier carrie can hold off Mammets as well. This battle is one of the stragest in the game. Once you know the concept here (and really, that's what I wrote this for, to provide info, not a totally surefire "strategy in a can") you can develop your own ways to win based on who needs to get this mission done. By no means is the SMN/RDM kiting way the only possible solution here.

Two chapters done, six to go!

Exp reward for completion: 1000

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