SW Apollyon

South West Apollyon

Required Card: Red Card
Time Limit: 30 minutes

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SW Apollyon: First Floor

• x10 Fir Bholg (Fomor)

This floor has three total Armoury Crates; one time extension, one item crate, and one MP/HP/Ability restoration crate. However, you can only choose one of these Armoury Crates; opening one will cause the other two to disappear.

This Apollyon starts out with two sets of five Fomors; Galka Paladin x2, Elvaan Thief x2, Hume Samurai x2, Mithra Red Mage x2, and a Tarutaru Black Mage x2. Each Fomor tends to have around 4,500 HP and has the possibility of dropping a single Ancient Beastcoin.

Defeating one of the Fir Bholg at random will trigger the Swirling Vortex to appear. Another one, at random, will cause the time extension, items, and HP/MP/Ablity restore Armoury Crates to spawn in front of the vortex.

The Fir Bholg can be slept using Sleep or Lullaby, although they seem highly resistant to most types of magical damage. The Fir Bholg will link with each other from significant distances, so be cautious when pulling. One last thing to note, each Fomor can use its job's two hour (i.e. Galkan Paladin can use Invincible).

The items Armoury Crate will usually include 4-5 Ancient Beastcoins and 1 or 2 AF+1 materials. The time extension Armoury Crate gives a 10 minute extension.

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SW Apollyon: Second Floor

• x8 Jidra (Treant)
• x1 Arboricole Hornet (Bee)
• x1 Arboricole Raven (Bird)
• x1 Arboricole Opo-opo (Opo-opo)
• x1 Arboricole Spider (Spider)
• x1 Arboricole Crawler (Crawler)
• x1 Arboricole Beetle (Beetle)
• x1 Apollyon Sapling (Sapling)

This floor has three total Armoury Crates; one time extension, one item crate, and one MP/HP/Ability restoration crate. However, you can only choose one of these Armoury Crates; opening one will cause the other two to disappear.

The second floor of SW Apollyon is littered with trees—Treants to be exact. To make matters worse, these Treants are all inhabited with arboreal monsters: birds, bees, monkeys, spiders, caterpillars, and beetles. Each time you kill a Jidra, one of the smaller Arboricole NMs will spawn and immediately attack your party. The only exception to this rule is the marginally larger and leafless Jidra who is usually found near the center of this floor; it's uninhabited and, subsequently, will trigger the Swirling Vortex.

Although the large, leafless Jidra has always just 'been there' for us, there are some reports that say that you have to defeat 3-4 normal Jidra before it spawns—but from our experience, we find this to be false.

The Jidra themselves, never drop any Ancient Beastcoins, but the Arboricole they spawn have a possibility of dropping 1-2 each. Unlike the first and last floor of this Apollyon, you must kill every last Jidra (and offspring) in order to trigger the time extension, item, and HP/MP/Ablity restore Armoury Crates. When triggered, these crates appear a good distance south of the Swirling Vortex.

The Jidra are light-based, so they are immune to Lullaby, but they are weak to Fire and Darkness magic. The large, leafless Jidra has an attack called Leaf Storm which dispels every last one of your beneficial status effects (including food) and leaves you Slow'd.

The items Armoury Crate will usually include 4-5 Ancient Beastcoins and 1 or 2 AF+1 materials. The time extension Armoury Crate gives a 10 minute extension.

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SW Apollyon: Third Floor

• x7 Armoury Crate (Mimic)

This floor has a total of three static Armoury Crates; one time extension, one item crate, and one MP/HP/Ability restoration crate. Unlike the other floors of this particular Apollyon, you are able to open all three crates. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a catch.

The real Armoury Crates are hidden among seven angry Mimics. It is important to note that none of the Armoury Crates on this level are pre-determined; there is no way of knowing beforehand—it's simply the luck of the draw. Every crate is actually a Mimic in disguise until Final Fantasy XI decides otherwise. They don't open or aggro until they are examined. After which, however, the game will decide (randomly) if it's a legitimate Armoury Crate or a nasty Mimic.

If it's a Mimic, get ready for an obnoxious fight. These Mimics literally spam their Deathtrap ability, which is an AoE Stun coupled with a very potent Poison. Have your mages stay out of AoE range and keep double Paeon on the melees to counter the poison or have them bring their own Antidotes (good idea). Staying out of AoE range can be difficult because Mimics also use their Draw In ability. They don't seem to have any particular magical weakness, at least none that I was aware.

As long as you can counter their strong poison, Mimics are more annoying than they are dangerous. Killing one of them triggers the Swirling Vortex; depending on your your time and your party setup, decide whether to take your chances or skip the rest of this floor entirely.

Each Mimic tends to drop 1-2 Ancient Beastcoin. The items Armoury Crate will usually include 4-5 Ancient Beastcoins and 1 or 2 AF+1 materials. The time extension Armoury Crate gives a 10 minute extension.

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SW Apollyon: Fourth Floor

• x3 Air Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Dark Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Earth Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Fire Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Ice Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Light Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Thunder Elemental (Elemental)
• x3 Water Elemental (Elemental)

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