ADL

allright here is my problem i got 8 ppl doing ADL 1st set up we tried was smn x2 rdm whm ddx4 both smn have capped skill but yet PD aint doing ***, so we tried rdmx2 smn whm ddx4, works great untill clones come, i pop PD a few seconds b4 clones and the rdm's keep ADL stunned, we do great, until clones pop even with PD and main ADL beeing stun from CS we still getting our *** handed to us, any suggestions on how to deal with clones, and if there is a better set up then what we are doing? cause we almost get win everytime its ust like i said when clones come all hell breaks lose

1. Don't bring ADL to below 40% when you first pop him, if you do he will split into more than 2.

2. If that's not the issue, but rather him splitting a 2nd time being a recurring thing, then you need more damage. However, splitting a 2nd time can and will still happen from time to time, especially if you picked the wrong clone after first split.

By the way, how do you know it's the "main" ADL that's being CS stunned? There is no way of telling them apart until they die. Unless you mean main as in the one the melees are fighting.


Edit: in my personal opinion and experience, lose the rdms and get a brd (marches makes a world of difference) and a cor, preferably another smn too. Shock Squall > CS stun.

Alot of strategies under the Dynamis link but yeah lose the RDMs. Lol. Still helps but like it was already mentioned shock squal wins. Have your 2 smns alternate that. I would say more but it would be redundant. Read the Dynamis section.

Alter your setup a bit. SMN is great for squall but you need to time it. You only need 3 heavy DD's (MNKs included) to kill ADL, just need them to be well geared. If they have delve weapons then there should be absolutely no problem with killing him. BRD + COR is a minimum preferably BRD x 2 + COR. Also BLU's are incredibly helpful as they can SL it early on while saving your SMN's squall for the more dangerous moments. BLU's can also do WoR for stun multiple ones but ensure their not messing with your SMN's squalls. CSS is doing nothing for you, it's a wasted party slot.

Not saying mnk is a bad job choice, but it's certainly not necessary - I've done my fair share of ADLs with war, war, sam (all exceptionally well geared mind you).

Either way, PD should take care of the tp move after first split. Then you honestly don't need squall until near 20%. Squall at pop (by the non-PDing smn) is also a good idea, sometimes ADL will be in magic mode and casts -aga3s from the start, which can be disastrous if you have no whm or a bad whm.

With 8 people, and assuming no mules, I'd lose both the rdms and get a brd and a smn instead. That's my personal preference though. Hell, you could even lose the whm (done plenty of ADLs without a whm) and get a cor instead, brd and smns would have to take care of raises if necessary though. Or just make sure everyone brings rr.

MNKx4 SMN SMN BRD (can have the BRD on the SMN's mule)

This setup allows you for 4 pops per run as 2H will reset after 1 hour.

pop > SMN1 does shock squall <bt> > SMN2 does PD 3 sec after >
MNKs do 4 x shijin spiral with rigor baghnaks
> ADL in unstunned > splits > SMN1 does shock squall >
SMN 2 gets ready to squall the second clone > meanwhile MNKs finish the first copy and use hundredfists if the 1st clone is the wrong one.

Even though PD was nerfed I'm getting nearly 100% win rate in the last 15 ADL. You have enough time to kill both copies. You rarely have to kill more than 2. The upgrade to rigor baghnaks lets you use shock squall right after split as you will still have time to kill it even if it only lasts a few seconds (previously you had to do it at 30% HP to avoid implosion/death).

Ohh MNK is by no means necessary, I just wanted to ensure it was included in the list of "heavy DDs" even though it doesn't wear heavy armor. Honestly damage on ADL should rarely be a problem, he's HP isn't that high nor are his defensive stats high. It's that SE programmed him to cheat, we just gotta get past that part.

all geat info i apreciate it, we are using mules so it makes it a bit tougher, anyway to just get mnkx6 hundred fist brd cor for win? try to just kill him b4 clones pop? im not very familar with ADL so trying to find best set up strat. for my group, we have also tryed brdx2 mnkx4 smnx2 but yea like i said clones are just to much i mean almost imediatly after they spawn we all wipe

Um... I'm a little confused here - you cannot kill ADL before he splits at least one time, the main thing is to hold your damage and not bring him below 40% before first split, otherwise you will have to deal with more than 2 copies.

It doesn't have to be mnk x4 - mnk, war, sam, drk are all great for ADL, people should bring their best geared job in my opinion. Of course if all 4 DDs have mnk leveled and properly geared, there's nothing wrong with mnk x4.

Also confused when you say you almost immediately wipe after split. PD should take care of the double tp move (only 2 clones if you don't take him below 40% at first, remember), and 3 of the DDs should assist the 4th one so you all engage the same clone.

Exactly.
You shouldn't try to kill before split.
We've bring it to 25% once by accident (some of us ws'd since start then SC), then on the following fight we were wondering if we could kill before split and went all out... it summonned all clones and pathetically wiped us with multi tera-slash spam.

Rule #1 on FFXI, don't listen to pchan.

You can't kill him before he splits, not gonna happen. Instead you want to beat him down to 45~50% HP then after he splits everyone attacks one and burns it down ASAP while it's stunned. If you chose wrong you have a very small window to engage and attack the 2nd copy and hopefully kill it before it splits into 3~4 copies and kills everyone. Do not PD at the start, you'll only waste time. Your SMN's need as much skill as possible to get you at least 45~50s of PD time. Have the first SMN start PD activation at 60~70% HP depending how powerful your DD's are. That PD should last you the rest of the fight.

But seriously though, three good DD's can blow through his HP in no time, he's got maybe 100~120K HP (I seem to remember about that much on the parse). The only real difficulty is timing your stuns such that he can't hit his "I win" button on you.