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ZM6 - Through the Quicksand Caves  

Realm:Outlands
Start Area: Chamber of Oracles
Type:Mission
Related Areas:Chamber of Oracles
Related Mobs:Centurio V-III
Princeps V-XI
Triarius V-VIII
Mission:6
Min Level:65
Max Level:75
Rating
*****
(Average from 18 ratings)
This Quest requires Zilart
This Mission is Not Skippable
Previous Mission: ZM5 - Headstone Pilgrimage
Next Mission: ZM7 - The Chamber of Oracles
Last Updated: Mon Sep 27 09:51:03 2010

Contents [hide]

Summary

You must hurry to Zepwell Island's ancient temple.

Walkthrough

After collecting all the fragments in the previous mission, head to Western Altepa Desert. Go to C-11 to enter a hidden cave, then keep going and enter Quicksand Caves at D-12.

Once inside Quicksand Caves, head to I-9 where you must stand on a circular pad to open a door. You must have either a galka, three tarutaru or two of any other race combination stand on the pad for the door to open. After going through the door, head northwest and then go through another circular pad door at H-7. Head west until you come to a pit; fall down the pit.

After falling down, follow the path until it splits. Take the left (western) path and follow it north to the Chamber of Oracles.

In the Chamber of Oracles, you will enter a BCNM fight with three antican NMs. They are:

  1. Centurio V-III (PLD)
  2. Princeps V-XI (RNG)
  3. Triarius V-VIII (BLM)

Winning the fight marks the end of this mission. You will be ejected from the battlefield into a different part of the Chamber of Oracles. This marks the start of the next mission.

Battle Notes

Some notes about this BCNM fight:

  • Many parties choose to sleep the paladin NM first because it resists sleep. The other two NMs can be easily slept.
  • All three mobs can be slept with Elemental Seal + Sleepga II.
  • The black mage NM can be silenced.
  • Paladin tanks are recommended for this fight.


To read the transcripts for this quest, see the Through the Quicksand Caves Spoilers page.


Mission Series

This mission is part of the Rise of the Zilart mission series. The complete mission series includes:

Final Fantasy XI
Wikibase™

This page last modified 2009-01-19 18:56:34.
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Close, but no cigar
# Feb 16 2009 at 5:45 AM Rating: Decent
So, a friend and I decided to try to duo this mission.

BLM69/WHM34 and SAM75/NIN37 (me). The first time, the PLD wiped us both because for whatever reason the RNG wouldn't stay asleep.

The second time was a bit easier. We took down the PLD but the RNG, yet again, screwed us over and wiped us out.

The third time we had it. We took down the PLD and BLM and almost had the RNG out but time limit hit and we were kicked. I wasn't keeping track, but I'd say about 30 mins.

Point is, this CAN be duo'd by skilled players, but just in case, bring an extra DD or RDM. The whole idea is to keep the ants slept or you'll wipe faster than you can call for your mom.

We are going to try it again later when we have someone.
HELP?
# Sep 13 2008 at 8:08 AM Rating: Default
i looking this done i am in siren server and need help me anme is spikey can anyone from my server help please?
Need help
# Dec 17 2007 at 5:28 AM Rating: Decent
If you are in carbuncle server and need this, or just wanna help out, gimme a tell plz. Chars name is Zanno. anyone ever heard of this beeing solo btw? can you use your npc inside?
A wipe and a win
# Jun 20 2007 at 6:38 AM Rating: Default
Kept reading strategies and finally settled on one for this BC. People were all saying that it was easy and not much to worry about.

Setup:
75 Whm/Rdm (for gravity)
75 Thf/Nin
75 Drg/Blu
70 Drg/Sam (me)
65 Nin/War
65 Whm/Smn

We went Pld > Rng > Blm . . . at least initially. The 75 Whm was in charge of the blm. He kited him up and down the first hallway keeping him silenced and gravity'd. He said that sleep kept getting resisted and only stuck once, but silence was sticking every time, so he just went with that. The Nin tanked the Pld while the 2 drg pounded on it, which ended up turning into a hate crime spree. The Thf began soloing the Rng mob and was doing a great job.

Until she got hit with Magnetite Cloud (sp?) for over 600 and died from previous wounds. The Rng went to the Whm kiter at this point. Just nearly at the same time we killed the Pld and moved to the Rng while the kiter moved the blm into the other room. Well, the nin got EES'd for 1200 and dropped. And two drg cannot tank, so they went down. The Drg/Blu was silenced as well. The rng cleaned up both whm's.

We RR'd up, rested and went back at it. We blitz'd the rng while the blm was kited once more since it was the easiest to do that with (you can't really kite a rng mob in a BC). Then we moved onto the rng and ripped it a new one. It seemed to be bad luck, as Magnetite Cloud was doing 50-100 normally. The idea actually had been to have the Thf fighting the Pld while the Rng shot at her from a distance, but the Thf engaged the Rng directly and fought side by side with it. She got it down to 50% that way, though I think we'd have killed the Pld faster otherwise and would have been able to take out the Rng. Plus we'd have had a better control of hate with the THF on the pld. Could also have easily taken out the BLM first as well, since the Pld can be gravity kited too. Either way we won, though in 27 minutes.

The Pld did not Invincible on us that I noticed. The RNG EES'd the nin, 1 shot'd. The Blm did use Mana Font while he was still silenced and never got off a single spell. He began casting quake and we just let him, as it was interrupted, and the nin had shadows up anyway. Some say to kite the Blm, others say the Pld. If you don't have someone that can silence (which wouldn't be wise) you should slaughter the blm ASAP and use poison pots.
Buffs
# Jun 13 2007 at 3:03 AM Rating: Decent
Not sure if this is new, but buffs get removed when entering this and the Duke fight (I'd assume all ZM bcnm fights) now. Did this on June 9.
no sleepga
# Apr 22 2007 at 7:03 AM Rating: Good
*
164 posts
Setup: pld/war, war/nin, drk/war, smn/whm, rdm/nin, whm/blm (me)

Went in, have the pld and DDs take down centurio while the rdm/nin keeps the princeps busy by tanking it. The rdm just stood at a distance away and kept shadows up while the princeps shot endless arrows, much easier than keeping it slept. And the triarius(blm) was my responsibility, I started off with ES + Sleep but ES wasn't really needed. As a 75 whm/blm I was able to sleep it without getting resisted once and I also kept it silenced. I had to resleep it 4-5 times over the course of the battle since it had to stay asleep for the duration of the centurio and princeps battle and again I had no problem doing that.

Overall easy fight with this strategy
easy
# Apr 10 2007 at 6:29 AM Rating: Decent
went in with 6 ppl, lvl 64-75. wasn't too hard. Bring a Slamurai :D
whm/nin duo
# Feb 28 2007 at 3:51 PM Rating: Good
*
207 posts
Just solo/duod this fight. Guess technically just duod. . . i was playing my brother's Character Chyme (75nin) on my laptop, and myself(75whm) on my desktop.

I was bored and decided to solo/duo zm-5, which went pretty well other than the death and hp for both our characters thanks to the ash dragon ^^;. . . anyway, after i was finished i was still bored, so i decided to try this one out.

Fight went really bad the first round. i went /blm to try to sleepga the blm and rng while I had Chyme take out the pld. . . would have worked out well too, if sleep stuck for more than 45 seconds, which it didn't. Anyway, i got hit with a bunch of arrows and the blm finished me off with flood. I kept chyme going as long as i could, but the fight ended with with the rng and blm unharmed, and the pld at about 25%.

Luckily i had RR up so i waited to get transported out, raised myself and Chyme, then got ready for round 2.

This didn't really go all that well, but it did go a lot better. this time i made sure chyme was the only one who had hate so i could drop the big cure bombs without having to worry about aggro. Killing the pld took a long time, and i almost ran out of mp thanks the the blm and his -ga spells taking out chyme's shadows, but with resting in between casts i had enough mp to wait the pld out. once he was dead the rest of the battle was relatively simple.

Went straight for the blm, who went down pretty fast and with chyme's stun katanas he never got off another -ga spell.

After he was dead the ranger wasn't even a challenge. I was a little worried that he might get lucky with EES, but it was absorbed by a shadow.

It was a pretty fun fight, and definitley duoable.


er. . . i forgot to eat food. may have made it a little easier.

Edited, Feb 28th 2007 7:55pm by Bradbury
My Experience
# Feb 26 2007 at 3:01 PM Rating: Decent
***
1,104 posts
Bored at work so I thought I post my experience last night.

Party was a pick up party I got in White Gate. Wasnt doing nothing else and I needed and thought why not. Once we got a full party it consisted of:

(Pretty sure I am correct on job, maybe not lvl)
NIN/war 75
MNK/war 75
THF/nin 75
PLD/war 70 (me)
SMN/whm 70
WHM/blm 75 (I think)

Over all it wasnt bad being we didnt have a Blm or Rdm with Sleep II or Sleepga II. Went in with the strategy that Shiva would Sleepga and if need be WHM/blm would ES+Sleepga. Shiva's landed but only slept the RNG. We went in order of BLM, PLD, RNG. BLM went down pretty easy getting off a Flood on somebody and managing hate with the PLD to keep on us melees being he did not fall to Sleepga. PLD went to mages just as we killed BLM. Started working on PLD and wasnt to tough. We bounced hate but wasnt easy for me to get it being I was up against a NIN, MNK an THF all 75 with merits probably.

But I managed to take some hits and helped with shadows with Flash. Pld went down and we went to RNG. RNG wasnt very hard either other then me eating a Eagle Eye Shot to the face for 713 damage. Brought me to red and was out of MP but Mages were fast to heal me.

Again, over all it wasnt bad with party HP dipping to low Yellow but restored by either a Curaga II or Carby and me taking a EES to the face. We didnt go supper prepared being the only thing people brought was Echo Drops. They may have brought some MP drink but I never noticed them using it.

All you need is Sneak Oils to get to the BCNM area.
Finally! XD
# Jan 30 2007 at 10:22 AM Rating: Decent
We finally got my boyfriend ZM6 <.< lol we did it with just 3
LVL 70BRD/WHM
LVL 75PLD/WAR
LVL 75RDM/BLM (me)

I went in and Elemental Seal +Sleepga the Ants. We went BLM > PLD > RNG.
BRD was helping keeping the PLD asleep. I was silencing and enfeebling the BLM and PLD. As the PLD used Invincible, I was nuking a tad. Our PLD healed himself most of the time, with occasional Cure IIIs thrown in by me and the BRD. The only one DDing was our PLD, for the RNG, he used Earthstaff til after EES, then used Shield and Sword again. It went all pretty smooth without anyone being in danger. I converted after the PLD and nuked the RNG for a bit of DMG. We needed 19mins and 9secs. Didnt get the Record but hey, we beat it! XD Was pretty much fun, since the last time I did this it was with a whole PT of 70+'s, this was really nice thing.
done
# Jan 22 2007 at 4:30 AM Rating: Decent
Completed this mission ^^
was kinda easy lol

Setup:

whm68 (me)
whm71
bst67
brd75
rdm69
cant remember the last one, thought pld75 >.>
Four Just as Easy
# Jan 18 2007 at 8:27 AM Rating: Decent
*
166 posts
Did this last night with 4 ppl. Setup:

73 Pld/War (me)
73 Nin/War (Azimov)
73 Whm/Blm (Meowphttphtt)
73 Rdm/Blm

I tanked the Pld, Azi tanked the Rng, our Red Mage slept and silenced the Blm, while dispelling the mobs, nuking and keeping us refreshed. Nice smooth fight, Meow kept us all healed, hasted and moving without once grabbing hate. :) Rng went down 1st, and Azi and I duoed the Pld. Let our mages rest while the Blm slept, then took it down quick. No sweat, minimum effort. Took 20+ minutes, but it was a fun fight. Who needs Sleepga II? :p

Tyreewere
Lvl 73 Galka Paladin
Ifrit Server
5 bst
# Jan 12 2007 at 12:00 PM Rating: Good
*
134 posts
Did this with 5 best 70,72,73,73,75. One death to lvl 70. The lvl 75 set a CC on RNG and BLM and rest killed PLD, he took a while to take down and the RNG killed 2nd CC as we killed PLD. BLM seemed to do less dmg. If doing again I would say take BLM 1st then RNG and PLD last.
BST party
# Dec 30 2006 at 7:26 AM Rating: Decent
Gonna try this with 6 BST party.
Six 70+ Bst and 6 Carries should be able to rape this.
But I am a little nervous of not sleeping them.
Anyone try this yet?
BST party
# Jan 12 2007 at 12:02 PM Rating: Good
*
134 posts
Did this with 5 best 70,72,73,73,75. One death to lvl 70. The lvl 75 set a CC on RNG and BLM and rest killed PLD, he took a while to take down and the RNG killed 2nd CC as we killed PLD. BLM seemed to do less dmg. If doing again I would say take BLM 1st then RNG and PLD last.

complete
# Oct 24 2006 at 8:12 PM Rating: Good
*
164 posts
Did this fight today with:

75 war/nin
75 war/nin
72 mnk/war
70 blm/whm
62 rdm/blm
75 whm/blm (me)

The fight went fairly smooth, we followed the order of the guide killing the pld ant, rng ant, and finally the blm ant. The blm and rdm took turns keeping the ants asleep while the melees went to work. The important thing to do here for people who aren't starting with the blm ant like us is to keep the blm ant silenced at all times, even while asleep. I had little trouble keeping the melees alive and we ended the fight in 6 minutes.
Skeleton crew
# Sep 07 2006 at 5:31 PM Rating: Decent
42 posts
This can be done with as few as 3 people, probably less. I did it last night with:
71NIN/WAR (me)
75NIN/WAR
75BRD/WHM
I'm fairly certain that I just made it easier, and the 2 of them would have been able to duo it if I hadn't been there. Order killed: PLD, BLM, RNG

Big thank you to Tenkei and Fahzoo for the attempted-suicide mission that worked out great!
Fun
# Jul 14 2006 at 6:46 PM Rating: Decent
Did this and Z8 last night with my LS

67PLD/WAR (me)
67WAR/NIN
67MNK/WAR
71RNG/NIN
73BLM/WHM
75SMN/WHM

After full SMN buffs we went in. BLM ES Sleepga2 with me ready to Voke the PLD, but sleep stuck on him.

Fight was going well, RNG and MNK doing Light and WAR using Rampage. I went full Enmity and used JA's to keep hate on me.

Only problem we had was the BLM got Flood on me (Stun wasn't up) followed by Fire IV. I had just swapped to a Staff so I could Spirit Taker to get some more MP for the mobs, and Shield Bash wasn't up.

I went down like a ton of bricks. WAR grabbed hate and started tanking. I reraised, popped a Yag Drink and stood back healing. WAR and MNK worked hate, Eagle Eye Shot smacked the MNK for 900+ but he made it.
Not a problem
# Apr 11 2006 at 3:13 PM Rating: Default
Heres the Set up....

69 Drk/Thf (me)
75 thf/nin (Blaine)
71 war/nin (Baetaucant [sp?])
69 Whm/Blm
72 Nin/war
72ish Blm/Whm

we go in ele seal sleepga 2 the thf pulls the rng and the rest pull the pld....not a problem we ping off the pld quick (I nuked while he had invincible up not that it did much but eh every lil bit helps right?) And then onto the blm. While we pull the blm we see EES go off and the thf is still at 1k HP. LoL sucked to be that Rng. The blm fell with a quickness to Light. The to the polish off the rng which was now at about 1/4 health and took all of like 6 minutes for everything. This same party proceeded to do Zm12 NM after (our war needed it) and then ZM 8 NM. Had a little problem with ZM8. Nin moved forward no shadows on got aggroed died in a hurry. War didn't have hate I did...light blade ended me so from here on the thf tanked for the most part with the war back him up. All and all this its nice to be this far in ZMs. And go Blaine for all his thf skiznillz. Tonight. ZM 12 NM....then into the SKY I go!
The party
# Mar 29 2006 at 11:10 AM Rating: Decent
31 posts
Last night I logged in and my someone from my LS was putting a ZM6 toghther so i just at the chance i wanted to do it. SO we shout and shout and a few LS guys go so it ends up we have party of 61rdm/blm me
66 rdm/blm
2 whm at least 70 i think
war and bst of 70-75 both sub nin

We went in 66 rdm sleepaga with ES and I ES/Silence. And they proced to bash the PLD. SO two rdms are refreshing 2 Whms pretty good mp lvls all through the fight. Pld falls as we keep sleeping the blm and rng no real problems. They take the blm and he goes pretty fast. No deaths yet, we get to the Rng and every thing is great. Healing refreshing, enfeebling, it just full out beat down War gets to 600 hp whm's and rdm's cure him quick. War dies drops to 0 RNG EES. But we still kill him and poof 10 mins later we win. Not a bad fight but like everyone says Sleep bard, blm, rdm. Even at 61 my sleep II was sticking but I had my enfeebiling almost capped and most of my JSE on. Good luck and have fun

Edited, Wed Mar 29 12:27:52 2006
Party Setup
# Mar 23 2006 at 11:08 PM Rating: Excellent
46 posts
Fought it twice. Died first time. Beat it second time.

First setup:
74 NIN/WAR (me)
68 WHM/BLM
65 DRG/WAR
64 BRD/WHM
63 THF/NIN
61 WAR/SAM

Plan was to have BRD Lullaby and fight like normal. It became clear early in fight that lullaby was getting resisted and would wear quickly. Needless to say, we managed to kill the PLD before we all died. Got tired that night and went to sleep. Meanwhile, the DRG insisted that if he changed to his 61 NIN, it would be easy.

4 days later, second setup:
75 NIN/WAR (me again solo'd 11k :P)
68 WHM/BLM
64 BRD/WHM
63 THF/NIN
61 WAR/SAM
61 NIN/WAR (same DRG from above)

This time, plan was to have the other NIN tank the PLD near entrance while we killed the BLM and the BRD and WHM tried to keep the RNG asleep. I was a little skeptical about the 61 NIN staying alive.

Well, he managed to prove me wrong and didn't die. We killed the BLM first, then took the PLD while other NIN voked the RNG while still hitting the PLD since the RNG just stands there and shoot arrows anyways (it was asleep most of the time anyways).

I decided to kill the RNG last because wanted the best chance of avoiding death from EES. Also, it is easier to tank since it mostly just uses Ranged Attacks with higher delay. Anyways, after the BLM went down, the rest went smoothly. I think the fight took about 10-11 minutes.

Afterwards, we took the same group and beat ZM8 first try with no deaths. ^^
60+
# Mar 14 2006 at 12:51 AM Rating: Decent
***
2,727 posts
to those who say 65+ DD is required, is dead wrong. i was a 61 war/nin, and i outdamaged the nins 65 and 66, the 70 outdamaged me when he used meikyo and 3 tachi: gekkos.

the key to this battle is sleep. we went pld >> rng >> blm. pld has roughly 16k hp, the other 2 have 8k each (give or take 1k on pld, and 500 on the others)

remember: rdms and blm (we had 2 rdm) is the key to winning. keep them alive, and you will be fine

our setup: 66 nin, 65 nin, 70 sam, 61 war, 70 rdm and 63 rdm
Heh
# Mar 06 2006 at 8:04 AM Rating: Good
*
221 posts
Did this with my static group and a ls friend who came along to help us out. Easy fight really, 2 of us died but it was kinda our own fault >.> Set up was:
68WHM/SMN <me>
68BLM/WHM
68SAM/WAR
67 or 68 PLD/WAR (sorry Spod! >.<)
68RDM/BLM
75BLM/WHM

Basically kept sleeping them, killed the PLD first. However, I managed to run out of mp... kinda my own fault, I wasnt healing when I could have been. Got cocky and didnt conserve mp properly! So I sat down, told someone else to cover my cures, but no-one did XD so PLD hit the dirt lol. He should have invincibled imo though >.> anyway to save the SAM I ran up and Benedictioned, so I died lol, had RR up though so no biggy, I got back up, RDM raised the PLD, and just sleep nuked the other 2 to death XD while me and PLD rested back up. RNG did EES on our Taru BLM.... (Blink) lol. Pretty fun fight, but I enjoyed the heshe thing in Dellys tower better. >:D
Easy as pie
# Feb 05 2006 at 3:28 AM Rating: Decent
O.K. I don't understand why so many people fear this mission! Honestly, finding a tele was harder! I'm on Unicorn server and this is my story:

I was bored on Saturday night [best time to shout for missions] so I decided what the heck, I'll try for Zm6. So I shout a few times, and a 74 RDM [Rhyuh] joins me. Sweet. Shout a few more times and I see my NIN friend [Drew] run by, I send him a /tell. He says he'll help.

We go, just us 3:
60 BLM/WHM <me>
74 RDM/BLM
75 NIN/WAR

We get to the BC. Buff inside, reset timers, get full MP. I go in and ES Sleepga II. Drew walks up, takes the PLD and runs to the back. The RDM alternates sleeping with me, we both -na [blind paralyze silence] the NIN when needed. PLD goes down after about 6 min including his 2hr. Next is the BLM, I ES silence, and he does down in about 2 min, he also used his 2hr. RNG is last, NIN had NI and ICHI up, EES didn't phase us one bit. He goes down in 2 min.

Easiest fight ever, just takes a bit longer than most! Don't rush and keep them slept and you can cake walk this mission!
easy :D
# Dec 06 2005 at 4:55 PM Rating: Decent
43 posts
My party was:

WAR/NIN 74 (me)
BLM 75
SAM 60
NIN 75
WHM 64

Even without a refresher it was a very easy fight D: Once ya sleep the anticans, they are very easy to smash. I think the antican BLM lasted like 1 min...
Fun Fight
# Nov 06 2005 at 12:18 AM Rating: Good
**
692 posts
Just did this today with 4 people - BST, WHM, WHM, and BLM. Looks fishy, eh? BLM kept the ants slept while BST and WHMs smashed the PLD. We moved onto the BLM and took him out pretty quick. Finally we rest as the RNG sleeps, and laugh as we try to figure out who exactly is going to die to EES. We started beating on him, BST tanking. It was my job to throw Benediction first, so when the BST got to red and I tossed it. WHAM, Eagle Eye Shot, right to the face. Fortunately, we had gotten it to around 1/3 life at this point, and my three teammates were able to finish it off. Even though I died, I still had great fun! Gewd luck to all you ZM-hopefuls.
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