Breaking the Bonds of Fate: A Strategy Guide for Corsair Limit Break

Category:Guides
 
If you have any concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. for this guide, please post on the talk page for this guide. I have set up the talk page and any suggestions are welcome on that page. Please do not edit this guide without my permission and post it instead on the talk page. Thank you! --Nelka 22:40, May 28, 2013 (UTC)
I am Nelka on Cerberus. I am currently a level 99 Mithran Red Mage and a 99 Mithran Dancer. I have been playing as a Mithran Red Mage since I started the game back in Summer 2009 and it is currently my main job. I have done Red Mage Maat and was 1/10 on him before I won successfully. I also did this guide and fight before the Seekers of Adoulin expansion was released. I will be adding in items and consumables from that expansion for those players that have come into FFXI since its release. 
I have recently taken up Corsair and I wanted to make a mini-guide to the limit break in light of the fact that there is not much of guides for this limit break available, besides Mastering Chance: A Guide by Solzera and Corsair G5 Guide: By Jekyll. There is also not a lot of strategies suggested on the talk page of the quest Breaking the Bonds of Fate either. I am writing this guide to fill in that gap. 
As I have said before, I am writing this one to fill in gaps and to give suggestions that might help anyone who is stuck or needs encouragement to keep trying this fight. I am also dedicating this guide to the fellow COR's out there whom still keep this job worthwhile and alive, including Xanx from my server who has given me the inspiration to keep going on Corsair despite the long tough rough with it. 
I will say to those who are thinking about giving up because of losing, please know that it can sometimes take time and persistence to get through the fight. I am 1/10 on Red Mage Maat myself and Red Mage Maat resists magic spells even more than Qultada resists Quick Draw and Slug Shot. At least, you have an extremely fast fight of chances to land as many Slug Shots and Fire Shots on Qultada without having to worry about getting Asuran Fists to death. :) All I am trying to say is DON'T Give Up! 
==Notes about Corsair:==
Corsair has an interesting way of surviving due to the way it deals damage. To solo Corsair well, you need to maximize your damage output without sacrificing your wallet. As I soloed and duoed my way to 70 on Corsair, I usually used Dancer as my sub because I could cure myself easier while dealing more damage. If you need guides on Corsair as a job, please look up the main Corsair job page. 
If you are in need of other guides for this same fight for help in formulating a strategy to beat Qultada with, please look on the bottom of Corsair.
==Assumptions to be made about this Guide==
This guide is being written as a guide strictly for the Qultada fight, otherwise known as Breaking the Bonds of Fate. I am also including strategies that I have not seen used previously based on all the other information that I have read on Corsair. 
I specifically chose not to wait until level 75 to attempt this fight, since this would be less of a challenge and would give me no sense of honor as a Corsair. I also felt that doing this fight at 75 or higher would not prove to me that I know Corsair well enough to finish taking it up to 99.
I am also writing this guide based on what strategy I used for the fight and am 1/1 on level 70 Corsair on May 28, 2013 with a time of 5 minutes 32 seconds and broke the time record for my server. I also have evasion fully capped for my level 70 Corsair plus fully capped Evasion Merits. I also had 10 DEX merits and 11 STR merits as well at the time I did this fight. I also went into the fight with capped Marksmanship. I am noting that in here because merits from higher levels on other jobs do actually affect your performances in these limit break fights.
==Assumptions about Qultada==
*Qultada has high marksmanship skills as a proper Corsair should.
*Qultada has near perfect accuracy, so take precaution when deciding how much consummable items to bring into the fight.
*He can use Wild Card at any time during the battle that he feels like it, but he can only use it once. I will explain this later.
*He can use any Marksmanship weaponskill up to Slug Shot, which he will use most of the time. 
*Qultada is impossible to fight without having access to Slug Shot, which is level 175 Marksmandship skill. At level 70, Slug Shot is your best damage weaponskill to use against him despite how much it can miss without +RACC gear, +AGI gear, and capped Marksmanship skill. 
*He will swing his sword in addition to the ranged, which will hit a minimum of at least 100 dmg per hit. Stick to ranged combat for best chances of winning. 
==Observations on the fight after the fight==
*Qultada can use Wild Card at any point in the battle. In my fight, he used it around the 66% health mark. The best strategy is to use Wild Card when you need the abilities reset or the chance of TP to weaponskill. When I saw him using his Wild Card, I wanted to use the Icarus Wing but hit the Wild Card macro instead by mistake. I got lucky that it landed on a 4 on Wild Card and I was able to finish him off with that last Slug Shot for 538 damage. 
*It is critical to also take advantage of Wild Card regardless of what number it lands on. It is preferable to have it land on a 3 or a 4 for more TP to get in another Slug Shot. If you have right damage build set up, you should have no problem winning regardless of what number Wild Card lands on. 
*The successful timing of the skillchain is not crucial to this battle if you come prepared. While it is recommended to time that skillchain out, you can still win without pulling off that skillchain.
*You want to bring that Icarus Wing with you so you can get in an extra weaponskill.
*You can get the win while you build up for that last weaponskill if your Quick Draw hits get Qultada into the area where he gives up, even if you only got off a Slug Shot during the entire process. 
*Marksmanship skill needs to be high enough for you to use Slug Shot, which is Marksmanship skill level 175.
*Making macros and macro'ing in your gear swaps (both in and back out again) really helps make this fight much faster and improves your accuracy for damage.
*You want to be capped in Evasion skill and Marksmanship skill before the fight if you can help it. While the evasion skill will not save you from Qultada's sword, it will be a start in case you aren't able to get off a minimum of 2 Slug Shots and 2 Quick Draws. Having a decent parrying skill will increase the chances of his normal melee hits not to damage you. 
*Using a charge on the blink band will help mitigate some of the damage you take during the fight to help you stay standing. 
*Qultada will tend to favor using Fire Shot as his preferred Quick Draw shot. I went in on Earthsday and he was still using Fire Shot.
==Speed Damage on Corsair==
For this fight, you have to consider yourself a damage dealer for the entire fight and not worry about healing yourself. This means using Slug Shot and Quick Draws every chance you get. You might want to consider using a Selbina Milk and Poison Potion in case of Light Shot or Dark Shot; however, I found that I did not need them during the fight. You want to Slug Shot every time you have enough TP to weaponskill. The goal with this fight is to get in as many weaponskills and Fire Shots as possible before Qultada kills you.
==Gear==
Note: You do not need to go with the HQ's in order to have a successful fight. You want to be reasonably well geared, but getting yourself broke just for this fight is not good, especially since Corsair is still pricey even if you craft your own ammo. Here is the gear I used for mine and none of the items individually cost over 60k, except for the Amemet Mantle +1 (which on my server is 100k and the NQ is well below 30k) and the Corsair AF which can get pricey depending on your server's prices. I also had the Fire Staff and Moldavite Earring already from my Red Mage, so I carry it over to my Corsair as well. The only gear you really do need is the mantle, but you can get away with some substitutes to what I had without an issue.
Main Hand: Fire Staff - the HQ is not absolutely necessary. Please do not try to use a Chatoyant Staff or a Iridal Staff if you can help it--you actually want the ranged attack and strength bonus from the Fire Staff for this fight. 
Neck: Lleu's Charm - I actually spent the time to farm this myself from Mind Hoarder. For ranged attack and racc in the same slot with AGI+ to boot, this is the best neck piece I have seen around plus it is all jobs. If you can farm this to use for the fight, this piece is free and worth it. If you are unable to get a Lleu's Charm, you can use a Peacock Charm. 
Head: Corsair's Tricorne 
Body: Corsair's Frac
Hands: Jaridah Bazubands
Legs: Jaridah Salvars (I usually solo in these because they are better than the Corsair's Culottes and they have but for this fight the RACC+ and RATTK+ 
Feet (TPing/Quick Draw): Corsair's Bottes
Feet (WS Only): War Boots
Ranged: Trump Gun
Ear1: Drone Earring
Ear2: Drone Earring
Ear2 (Swap in for Quick Draw/Fire Shot): Moldavite Earring 
Ring1: Marksman's Ring - If you aren't able to get the Jalzahn's ring, at least shoot for this one (no pun intended). This ring costs about 5k on my server but drops from some of the more commonly done bcnm's and is one of the only RACC+ rings without sacrificing damage and the only RACC+ ring with a decent defense that you can use at this level.
Ring2: Jalzahn's Ring - I chose this ring since I had beaten ToAU mission storyline already plus I was hoping the Assault bonus on it was going to kick in for the fight. I also chose to go with this ring because it has both RACC+ and RATTK+ on the same piece, which is rare.
Back: Amemet Mantle +1 - if you cannot afford the HQ, use the NQ or the Psilos Mantle. 
Waist: Commodore Belt - While this drops from Dynamis, this belt is the best balance of STR+, RACC+ and RATTK that you can use at this level for this fight. You need rank 6 for your nation and a level 65+ job to enter Dynamis. 
==Consummable Items==
Corsair's Testimony
Squid Sushi +1 - I used this for the accuracy this food gives.
*Side Note: Sole Sushi and other sushi does have a Resist Sleep trait attached, eat after you get the TP not before.
*Side Note: Sole Sushi, Sole Sushi +1, Squid Sushi, and Squid Sushi +1 are all comparable, except that Sole Sushi/Sole Sushi +1 have extra STR instead of AGI. I chose to go with the Squid Sushi +1 because it was much cheaper than Sole Sushi +1 and I wanted to go with more AGI+ since I was getting plenty of STR+ from my gear. 
Opo-opo Necklace
4Sleeping Potion
1 Icarus Wing - this is critical because it will instantly give you 1000TP. It also causes a medicated status effect that lasts at least 2 hours, so you will not be able to use any other medicated items in this fight.
Instant Reraise
Blink Band 
I chose not to use the optional items listed below to buff before the fight with, but these can be used if you so choose. You can win the fight without using any of the optional buffs. 
Optional buff items to use: Poison Potion and/or Selbina Milk, Stoneskin Torque
Note on optional Items: Since the addition of Seekers of Adoulin, you can also consider adding consumable items that were not previously available and be able to save that stoneskin torque for another day. Some of the items to consider purchasing with bayld include: Scroll of Protect, Scroll of Shell, and Scroll of Instant Stoneskin. All of the purchasable consumables come from the Peacekeepers' Coalition. 
==Strategy for the Fight==
*Before you even go to the fight, decide on how you gear up and prepare for the fight. This can determine any extra items to bring and will determine that you need to eat your food after you sleep for the TP. 
*After sleeping for the TP, use Slug Shot right away to open the fight. You do not want your TP to ever be over 100 for this entire fight because you need to put out as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. 
*Qultada will teleport you to the BC area, even if you have successfully completed another G5/Limit Break fight in the past, when you choose "I'm ready" option after trading him the Corsair's Testimony. 
*In my case, I had to sleep for the TP and open the fight with Slug Shot as soon as I was in range. Here is what I did during the fight:
#Farmed the Corsair's Testimony and traded it to Qultada.
#Watched the CS after trading him the testimony.
#Entered the BCNM and watched the CS.
#Used Instant Reraise. Put on the opo-opo necklace and blink band. (use any additional consumables here if you chose to use the Instant Stoneskin Scroll, Scroll of Protect, and Scroll of Shell) 
#Used Chaos Roll & Double-Up as necessary to reach the Lucky Number. 
Side Note: It is imperative that you do not bust on rolls during this fight. If you have to take a number that is neither lucky nor unlucky to prevent a bust, then do so. 
#Used 3 Sleeping Potions with the Opo-opo necklace
#Used Hunter's Roll & Double-Up as necessary to reach the Lucky Number.
Side Note: It is imperative that you do not bust on rolls during this fight. If you have to take a number that is neither lucky nor unlucky to prevent a bust, then do so.
#Used final Sleeping Potion
#After reaching 1000TP, used a charge on the Blink Band.
#Switched back to Corsair's Tricorne and Lleu's Charm
#Ate food
#Walked into attacking Range of Qultada and used Slug Shot.
#Used Fire Shot twice in a row.
#Attempted to use Random Deal, but hit the wrong macro and used Wild Card by mistake. (If you use Random Deal, try to use Fire Shot twice more.)
#Wild Card and hope for a 3 or 4. If you get no TP from it, use Fire Shot twice more and if you have enough TP, use Slug Shot again.)
#If you are unable to get a 3 or 4 on Wild Card, use Fire Shot twice more and try to Random Deal.
#If Random Deal worked, use Fire Shot twice more and try to manage to get out another Slug Shot. 
#Used Slug Shot with 3000TP due to Wild Card and won the fight.
#When you win the fight, you will obtain a Warp Scroll so you can easily get away from the BCNM area back to where you have your Home Point at.
==Conclusion==
I found this fight much faster and easier, at level 70, than Red Mage Maat was. I also found this fight much faster than Dancer despite that this fight was 4 seconds longer than the Dancer one was, which was a surprise to me. I was never in a panic at any time during the actual fighting part--I was panicking to make sure that I did not sleep away any TP that I had gained through sleeping for it. I had a much shorter time with this fight than Maat or Laila. 
I also found that using the Trump Gun for this fight will work just as well as other guns. I used the Trump Gun because I could not afford a different gun nor were any Matchlock Guns up on the AH. The Steel Bullets are necessary for better damage, but at least you don't need many of them for this fight. I found the fight was so fast that healing items are really aren't necessary for this fight. 
The major change that makes this fight easier is the Testimonies can be used up to 3 times before you must farm a new one. This should help for those who have not yet won a G5 fight as well. 
I wish you all the best as you attempt this fight!