Feast of Swords 2008/Guide

===Starting Out===
*Head to Bastok, San d'Oria, or Windurst and talk to one of the Event Moogles to obtain your Ibushi Shinai.
**Northern San d'Oria (D-9)
**Southern San d'Oria (J-9)
**Bastok Mines (I-9)
**Bastok Markets (G-9)
**Windurst Woods (K-10)
**Windurst Waters (F-5)
**Port Windurst
*Next, head to the outside area and find the Event Nomad Moogle there. Talk to them to receive an enchantment. The enchantment restricts your Level to 1 and gives you a Flee-like effect. When you die you do not lose Experience Points at all, regardless of whether you are raised or return to your Home Point.
**West Ronfaure (I-6)
**East Ronfaure (G-6)
**North Gustaberg (L-8)
**South Gustaberg (L-8)
**West Sarutabaruta (J-8)
**East Sarutabaruta (G-11)
*Find and kill the armor mobs in the same zone, collecting malice as they use TP moves. Anyone with the level restriction on can engage the armor.
===Recommended Macros===
Malice
 /item "Ibushi Shinai" <me>
Remove
 /equip main
Equip
 /equip main "Ibushi Shinai"
Milk
 /item "Selbina Milk" <me>
===Tips===
*DO NOT engage the Omodaka Armor with a party or alliance! Should one member of your party/alliance get hate, ALL members will get hate and she will pursue everyone until the party/alliance is dead. 
*All of the Armors can been seen with the Ranger and Beastmaster ability Wide Scan.
*Buffs used before accepting the level cap do stay, such as Reraise, Stoneskin, and Protect.
**Be aware that the Armor will not gain TP while hitting you for 0 or missing you.
*Unlike previous years, automatons do not stay out when the level cap is put on.
*If you and others wish to participate in this event solo, it's recommended that all Chat Filters are turned off so it can be seen when the Armors will start to use their TP moves. This allows you to time your Absorb Malice accordingly.
**You do not want to filter any of the Special actions filters.
*The Armors perform two TP moves: Aetheral Toxin and Edge of Death.
**All Armors are able to use their TP moves after landing 7~8 hits which have dealt at least 1 damage.
**Aetheral Toxin - AOE 20-60 damage. Short casting time, less then 4 seconds.
**Edge of Death - Reduces HP to 1, AOE. Long casting time, about 6~7 seconds.
*Foods and Drinks are helpful
**Simple HP+ food such as Boiled or Colored Eggs, Grilled Corn, or Roasted Almonds makes a lot of difference at level 1.
**If you have Cure, MP+ food and drinks can be helpful.
===Strategies===
====Soloing with Selbina Milk====
Using Regen drinks such as Selbina Milk can make the armors soloable, provided you have enough milk and are able to dodge or absorb Aetheral Toxin, as the Armors' hits will in most cases be canceled out by the milk's Regen. It is generally advisable to solo the armors that spawn furthest from the zone's entrance, so as to not take them from players that want to fight them as a group. NOTE You can use Dream Robe +1 here to extend the Selbina Milk duration by 30 seconds.
====Soloing with Buffs====
This works for Tarutaru (and maybe Mithra too, since you need high evasion). Having your main job as WHM, using Protect IV is more than enough to lower your damage taken to 0~1, even on a Tarutaru with no armor. This gives you 1~3 cures, depending on your race. You have a chance to rest while the armor is attacking you, which is where evasion comes in handy. The armor missing or dealing no damage to you ~5-6 times consecutively would allow for enough time to rest for one tick. This should be more than enough to keep yourself alive and absorb malice forever.
===Obtaining Malice===
The only real way to gain malice (and thus gain the prizes) is to use the enchantment on the Ibushi Shinai BEFORE the armor uses its TP skill. If timed properly, you'll get a message stating "A protective energy absorbs the malice of your enemy!" Malice absorbed will carry over from one armor to the next if you do not trade your Ibushi Shinai to the ??? which spawns where an armor has been defeated.
NOTE
*You do not lose malice points from dying, zoning, or logging out.
*Malice points accumulate from enemy to enemy.
*You can only gain malice from enemies with which you have gained enmity (as in enemies which you have attacked, or the enemies of people you have aided in some way).
*You will lose all of your malice points after trading your sword to the ???.
*The ??? points exist for 30 seconds.
*1 to 4 Absorbs - Mochi of the matching race. (e.g. Elvaan Mochi from the Hizamaru Armor).
*3+ Absorbs - Ibushi Shinai +1 (First), or a Shinai, Lotus Katana, or Hardwood Katana after the Ibushi Shinai +1 has been obtained.
*10+ Absorbs - Kingdom Stables Collar, Republic Stables Medal, or Federation Stables Scarf, depending on which nation owns the area you are in.
*Note: You will not be able to obtain the items from last year's event or the nation stable warp items if you currently have them in your inventory or mog house.
*Note: You will reobtain items from previous Feast of Swords events that you have stored with the Event Item Storer NPC.
*Note: If you have already obtained all of the Rare/Ex event items, you will simply receive Mochi.
====A better way to absorb malices====
Since there are only two different attacks you have to absorb, I have found it best to begin using the 'Absorb Malice' enhancement earlier to be better. The idea is to use it when you see the enemy starting to use its TP move. You can anticipate the attack when the enemy lands 7~8 attacks. The real trick is to keep a close eye on your log. If you notice the enemy is using Aetheral Toxin, then you are fine, assuming you used absorb malice fast enough. However, if you notice the enemy is using Edge of Death, then you have to quickly interrupt yourself by running around. This gives you enough time to stop, and re-use absorb malice in order to perfectly absorb Edge of Death. If this method doesn't work well for you, you could also try adjusting your chat filters so you can see when the armor is about to weapon skill. Don't forget, this shows what weapon skill the armor will use in your chat log, so you will have to watch it, also - you need to use the 'Absorb Malice' enchantment as soon as you see it say "______ Armor readies Aetheral Toxin" or two seconds after, if it says "_____ Armor Readies Edge of Death" to absorb the malice.
===Obtaining Rewards===
Once an armor has been defeated, a ??? will spawn where it fell, and remain there for around 30 seconds. Unequip your Ibushi Shinai and trade it to the spot. If you do not have enough malice to obtain a reward, a moogle will let you know by saying "Kupopo! There's no malice here at all. Please absorb lots more and try again, kupo."
===Notorious Monsters===
There are five different armors and they usually patrol a certain region of the map. The following chart gives you the region they patrol.
{| border=1 width=80% cellpadding=3 cellspacing=2	 	
Area 	Name 	Location
East Sarutabaruta	Omodaka Armor (Mithra) 	
East Sarutabaruta	Hachiryu Armor (Galka) 	Patrols lower left region around H-9
East Sarutabaruta	Hizamaru Armor (Elvaan) 	Patrols lower right region around I-10
East Sarutabaruta	Tatenashi Armor (Hume) 	Patrols mid region around row 7
East Sarutabaruta	Ubuginu Armor (Tarutaru)	Patrols top region
South Gustaberg 	Omodaka Armor (Mithra) 	Patrols around and on Vomp Hill
South Gustaberg 	Hachiryu Armor (Galka) 	Patrols west of Vomp Hill
South Gustaberg 	Hizamaru Armor (Elvaan) 	Patrols north of Vomp Hill
South Gustaberg 	Tatenashi Armor (Hume) 	Patrols southeast of Vomp Hill
South Gustaberg 	Ubuginu Armor (Tarutaru)	Patrols Fumaroles
West Ronfaure 	Omodaka Armor (Mithra) 	
West Ronfaure 	Hachiryu Armor (Galka) 	Top part of the map
West Ronfaure 	Hizamaru Armor (Elvaan) 	
West Ronfaure 	Tatenashi Armor (Hume) 	
West Ronfaure 	Ubuginu Armor (Tarutaru)	Top part of the map
====Omodaka Armor====
This armor is able to deal more than lethal damage (60 or more) to characters. This damage will one-shot kill any character, regardless of job. She will aggro anyone in a party with a player she has aggroed and defeated, regardless of her distance from that player.
*The rewards from trading your Ibushi Shinai are increased one level due to the lack of Mithra Mochi. One to four malices will get either the Shinai, Ibushi Shinai +1, Lotus Katana, or Hardwood Katana. Five or more malices will get you a Republic Stables Medal, Kingdom Stables Collar, or Federation Stables Scarf. The neck rewards are based on the owning nation of the area you are fighting in.
===Possible Rewards===
* Hume Mochi
* Tarutaru Mochi
* Galka Mochi
* Elvaan Mochi
* Ibushi Shinai +1
* Shinai
* Lotus Katana
* Hardwood Katana
* Kingdom Stables Collar
* Republic Stables Medal
* Federation Stables Scarf