Daurdabla Guide

This is a guide regarding my experience and advice for those trying to create the final form of the Daurdabla. This is a work in progress and I have only completed Step 2 so far. This guide will ONLY feature my actual progress as I can't provide advice or info on the routes I DIDN'T take.
==Iron Plate - Need 50==
Having THF with any TH gear is SOOOO helpful. It took me from 15 min per plate to ~7.5 min per plate (and may also have been a factor in receiving more than one plate per Iron Giant kill).
I chose Aby-Grauberg. Conflux 8. Used AAHM, Ulmia, Joachim, King of Hearts, Apururu. Atmas: Razed Ruins, Stronghold, Mounted Champ.
Kill bombs NE of 8, get Darkflame Arm.
Head North to the Pots. Flee brought me to the nearest Pot within 2 seconds of it wearing off. Kill Pots to get Bubbling Oil.
Use Bubbling Oil on the ??? to the west in front of three trees that form a W. This NM does decent -ga IV spell damage, but was generally no problem for Ambu+1 geared THF. Shock Spikes WILL be an issue though, and will kill a multi-hit player if they're not looking out for it. So pay attention. You want a Teek. Fragment from this NM.
Head SE and check for a ??? halfway between the Pots and Bombs. Use the Fragment and Arm to spawn the Giant. I like to run South a bit to get on even ground before engaging. The Giant isn't a hard fight. 
==Colorless Soul - Need 75==
Brand new to this step and Abyssite in general. Learning it all on the fly. I'm finished with RoV so my Abyssite gets upgraded for sure. Just spawned and killed Air Elemental @ I-12 (NE of #2) in Aby Grauberg.
The page for Gamayun indicated the Pot area is a potential spot. Popped Gamayun @ K-5. Very easy kill. Got upgraded Abyssite.
Popped Maere @ J-5 (tough pop, apparently very fast, took several /heals). Nightmare is annoying but only took 30% HP after full duration. Did Nightmare again before fight was over. TA and SA Eviscerations were great. Got 2 Colorless Souls on first kill. Overall time, ~15 mins?
Got a new Clear Abyssite. Found Air Elemental again NE of #2. Once again getting a hit North of #8. Popped @ J-5. Not getting a hit right away this time on T3.
Maere FFXIclopedia page says spawn area is North of #1 all the way to #6, then East to the Monitor area NE of 8. How do you farm something that's INVISIBLE and has a path THAT LONG?! Guess I'm just going to check in @ 8 and to the north every once in awhile? This part seems much more annoying because it's so...luck based? As I was typing that I went back to North of 8 and I'm getting a hit. It's in the Monitor area. I think Maere travels so fast it's best to try to meet again in Monitor/Pot area. 2 Colorless Souls on 2nd kill.
This will be my farming strat from now on. If I stray, I'll document it. Otherwise, just assume this is the method I found to be most effective. :)
Getting the Elemental is easy and reliable. Head North of #2. I've been finding it to the west with the Pugils mostly.
Pretty sure Gamayun spawns in the farthest NE corner of Aby Grauberg. L-10 area.
Still on THF. Changed to /DNC to avoid Monitor, Pugil, Goblin, Crab, Bomb aggro. Got 2 Colorless Souls 5 times, 1 on the most recent kill.
Last Maere kill was @ about 13 mins in the zone. It still doesn't seem to have pathed up to the Pots area @ the 35 minute mark. This is assuming it really does spawn around #1.@ the 36 min mark in the Pot area I got a heal message saying the NM was in the Monitor area...So I have no idea where it spawns or what the path is. This is fun...This kill gave 2 Souls again. Killed around the 39 min mark.
Killed Dark @ ~45min. @48mins Gamayun was in the Pot area. Killed @ 50min. No hit on Indigo Abyssite. Trying Monitor area. No hit there. Possible next "hit" won't be until 54 or 59? Hopped in an Ambu so couldn't test timing.
Went straight back to North of 8. Found first hit 160 yalms N of Iron Giant ???. Killed @ 5min, 2 souls.
Next "hit" was @ 28min, Monitor area. Kill @ 31.5min. 1 soul.
Next hit @ 47min, Monitor area. Killed @ 49:40. 2 souls.
Kill @ 12:30. 2 Souls. Next popped @ 27:50 in Pot area. Kill @ 30:47. 2 Souls. Pop @ 49:50, Monitor area. Kill @ 51:50, 2 Souls.
At this time I feel that I've gathered enough data for anyone to interpret as they want. I know my routine on this step. I hope anyone starting from scratch with no knowledge like I did can use this info to make things easier.
Overall this took an average of 15 minutes per Maere kill. With +5 TH gear (and native 3 from Thief) I got 2 Colorless Souls frequently enough that I was nervous to try on other jobs (like BRD for more move-speed). Sometimes I'd zone in and all 3 would be up making it 10 total minutes to travel to, find and kill the 3 NMs. If I went for another round right after a Maere kill, I'd generally be waiting 5ish minutes (or more) after killing Gamayun.
==Apademak Horn - Need 75==
Abyssea - Uleguerand. Kill Marids to get HQ Marid Hide. Kill Sisyphus (timed spawn, possible limiting reagent) to get Sisyphus Fragment. Kill Snowflakes to get Gelid Arm which is used to spawn Upas-Kamuy from which we want Snow God Core. Use HQ Marid Hide, Sisyphus Fragment and Snow God Core to spawn Dhorme Khimaira. Red Proc this guy to get KI Torn Khimaira Wing. Use that KI to spawn Apademak. Kill to get 1 guaranteed Horn, 2 if you're lucky.
I think someone mentioned this step before as a choke-point. The horns are used to upgrade Daurdabla, Kannagi (katana that gives Blade: Hi), Almace (sword that gives Chant du Cygne), and to upgrade SAM Empy Armor. This is the ONLY monster that drops this horn so...yeah. Competition! Yay...
I've done something like this before to upgrade SMN Empy gear. I leveled WAR and the necessary weapons and bought level 1 versions specifically for procs. I value all my TH gear too much to NOT try the final NM as THF. But, to save time and running back and forth, might do every step before that as WAR...maybe /THF for TH2 at least?
WELLLLLL, that was a quick "nope". 1 Sisyphus kill down as WAR/THF, no drop...15 minute wait. Going back to THF until Dhorme Khimaira. Updating Trust to Gessho, Ulmia, Joachim, Koru-Moru, Apururu for more time for TH to build.
Well I'm 1/4 on the Sisyphus Fragment, even with TH 8. And he's ANNOYING AF! Has Shock Spikes (with Stun effect), Ice Spikes (with Paralyze effect) and this Slow Aura that removes Haste II...a LS mate told me you can get the Fragment from Gold Boxes (build Pearl to max, Azure if you want Time Extensions, Amber if you want to increase Gold Chest rate, but only to about 1/3 of max). The chest method has not worked AT ALL for me. Gonna need more info from my LS mate. As of about a week and a half of farming these NMs, I've only ever received ONE H.Q. Marid Hide from a Gold Chest...and that was after I already had one in my inventory. Not a route I'd recommend.
Ok, now I'm 3/5 with my TH 8, 3/6 overall. That's better. It's a HIGHLY camped NM though so...could be looking @ 40+ minutes per Fragment if not lucky. I've been storing them up while competition is relatively low. They're on AH for 400k each (there's actually 19 of them for sale...too rich for my blood though).
2 Apademak kills down, 4 Horns received :) THF/DNC. August, Ulmia, Joachim, Koru-Moru, Apururu. MF'er uses either Conal or AoE Weakness. Conal(?) petrify. Think I got plagued as well. Definitely got Paralyzed. Was KINDA worried a couple times but overall the Cures from August, Koru, Apururu and Joa kept us all alive. Might go AAEV instead though...less animations, maybe more curing. Might also do Cherukiki instead of Joachim. Got another Fragment before Warping out too :) 5/6 with TH 8.
2nd round was AAEV, Ulmia, Apururu, Cherukiki, Koru-Moru. Felt MUCH safer. No one really dropped below 80%. I was mostly behind the mob. Didn't get hit with weakness that I recall. Fight was much smoother. Tried to proc Red just with my Dagger (to get Atma) but it was Lightning and THF can't use Polearm ;) Proc'ing Red on Dhorme was the hard part. I actually wasn't able to time Seraph Blade correctly so I didn't get Red proc but luckily still got KI. I managed to time Sunburst and Seraph Strike correctly so dunno about that damn blade.
Bit of a variation I'm throwing in due to CD of Warp Ring. Round 1 Pop Item farming: THF/BLM. Everything dies very quickly anyway. Try Sisyphus first, move to Bombs up north, back South (looking for Sisyphus again if you still need the Fragment) and down the ramp to Marids. /ma Warp out. Come back WAR/NIN (only using /NIN for Cyclone access), hope to pop Red weakness (2/3 so far, but still 3/3 on KI). Use Warp Ring. Come back THF/DNC (no real reason for /DNC really.../WAR is more DPS, already have plenty of survivability from Trust/Atmas) for Apademak. Kill. Run back up to check for Sisyphus. If I get a Fragment quickly, keep farming Pop Items before Warp Ring again. Otherwise repeat from beginning of this paragraph.
I've been doing this for about a week and a couple days. I'm up to 56 horns. It would be right up my alley to have gathered hard stats for this step as well, but I just...didn't. Here are my best guesses.
Fragment = Timed spawn is actually shorter than I thought. Maybe 10-12 minutes. I added WideScanTool addon and added Sisyphus as an Alert which makes searching Widescan WAY easier. Still killing this guy with TH8 every time. I'd say drop is about 70-75%. Some days it's hard camped, some days it's not. Bahamut Server. I actually have 7 Fragments in my Delivery Box, so when I hit 60ish Horns I'll be a bit more cavalier with just pulling one and using it, rather than waiting to farm another.
Snow God Core = I'd say similar drop rate honestly. There are times I've gone 1/1 several times in a row on the NM, and other times it has taken 3 kills to get 1 Core.
H.Q. Marid Hide = Sometimes I get one on the first kill. Other times I have to kill all the damn Olyphants to get 1.
Dhorme = As long as you can proc Red, it's 100% (or very close to). I've only had ONE instance where I COULDN'T proc Red (I'm WAR/NIN and it required Katana or Great Katana) when I didn't get the KI anyway. I choose to tank this NM and go Apururu, Cherukiki, Moogle, Koru-Moru, Ulmia. Very easy in +1 Ambu gear.
Apademak = I'd say with TH 8 it's about 75% again, maybe a bit lower, than I get 2 Horns. I've actually started using Mnejing as tank for a few reasons: Provoke, Flash, Shield Bash and if I wait till he has 1000k TP, I can open with Exenterator and he'll close with some Shield WS that makes Light, further adding to his threat. Plus I'm a PUP at heart and like having an Auto tank :) AAEV and August just really weren't cutting it on threat. Maybe AAHM would...I might try one. (I didn't lol)
I haven't been strict on time-usage/efficiency on this step. There's a lot of luck on drops. And procs. I can say having WAR appropriately leveled and geared to proc Red, and THF with some TH gear, and the proper Atmas (been running purely Apoc, Mounted, Plague honestly), and maybe the WideScanTool addon...all make life easier on this step. Time-wise it can be a short 20ish minutes in the actual Aby-Ule zone to do all 5 NMs if you're SUPER lucky (not counting leaving the zone to switch to WAR/NIN and then leaving again to switch back to THF/BLM[or w/e sub, but /BLM is most efficient unless you buy Instant Warp scrolls every time]. I'm confident calling it about 30-35 minutes ON AVERAGE per Apademak kill if you're maximizing your potential for each step to drop what you need it to.
Nothing changed for the remaining 25 Horns needed. Just got step 3 done :) Because I was storing some in my Delivery Box, and STILL farming Sisyphus whenever I saw him up, I have 4 left to sell for ~350k each :)
==Heavy Metal Plate - Need 1500==
I start this step with 166 Plates because I was dumb-enough to think I was getting the plates I needed for step 1...and then just kept them cause I saw I'd need them later. I KNOW I can get these via Ambu. Only 100 per month, and they're 200 HM each. Obviously not the best strat as the only strat, but if it takes more than a month to farm all the HMP, getting 100/month closer to your goal ain't bad.
And yay...I'm running into ANOTHER thing I really haven't done much of. Voidwatch. HMP comes from Voidwatch Ops in 7 different zones, or Heavy Metal Pouches from Voidwatch Ops in 3 other zones. This is the first step that can also be purchased from Bazaars and AH :) So if you have the money, yay! The first Bazaar I've come across that had HMP had them for 80k each. That's 120 million for this step :)