Apex CP Guide

[Rooj]

--=[PREPARATION]=--
1. What is an Apex party? It is a group of 6 players who are interested in earning Capacity Points, which convert into Job Points. An Apex PT will nearly always consist of 2 melee and 4 back line jobs. There are virtually infinite ways to set up an Apex group, but that is generally what you’re going to see. The primary goal of an Apex PT is for the melee to pull mobs and skillchain as quickly as possible, while the mages magic burst on the skill chain - this will almost always result in an instant kill, especially since Apex mobs are designed to take extra damage from skillchains and magic bursts. Seekers of Adoulin dungeons partially negate the amount of experience point split that occurs thus providing huge amounts of points even while in a full party. Since Apex monsters only exist in Seekers of Adoulin zones, it is highly recommended you get the Ionis buff before heading to your camp. Your party will typically be fighting Apex Crab or Apex Jagil using a Darkness skillchain.

2. Can my job succeed in an Apex party? Yes, any job in the game can reach Master status via an Apex group. You will however meet players who prefer to play with specific setups and jobs, though this is completely unnecessary. Just because someone is asking for a particular job in a yell or shout does not mean that they will decline your inquiry for an invitation, as long as you are willing and capable of filling the needed role. Be aware however, that due to your party’s setup, you may be asked to use a subjob you aren’t used to.

3. What are the requirements for joining an Apex party? You will need the Seekers of Adoulin expansion and be level 99. Melee will want around 1150 accuracy and as much multi-attack as you can find. Type “/checkparam <me>” to find out what your melee accuracy is - make sure you have the right buffs, food, and equipment on before checking! Also keep in mind that many jobs can increase party members’ accuracy or lower an enemy’s evasion, so watch for opportunities to drop a little bit of accuracy on your gear for more multi-attack. As a melee you should make sure you have every weapon skill available to you, since half of what causes an Apex party to function is the skillchain. It is likely that the SC for your PT will be Darkness, so make especially sure you have the appropriate WSs for that at least. Mages on the other hand want as much Magic Attack Bonus, Magic Accuracy, and Magic Burst Bonus as they can find. Magic Burst Bonus gear is very important for Apex PTs!

4. What items should I bring? A.) Capacity Point Bonus cape. In my opinion one of the first events you should try participating in after reaching 99 and acquiring your i117 Spark gear is Incursion, particularly a “cape farm” group. It is very simple content that is mostly just trash mobs. The mobs and bosses there drop coffers that once used, provide you with a chance to earn a “Mecistopins Mantle.” This mantle has a random Capacity Point Bonus modifier on it ranging from 1 to 50%. You also have the option of purchasing an Aptitude Mantle (25% Cap. Bonus) or Aptitude Mantle +1 (30% Cap. Bonus). A tip: what I do when I want to keep my CAP bonus cape equipped is equip the cape then dump all of my other capes into a non-Inventory/Wardrobe Mog space, such as the Case. This isn’t the only method available, but don’t forget to get your capes back out when you’re done!

B.) Capacity Point Bonus rings. There are 4 of them:
Capacity Ring - Bought for 5000 Sparks. Always make sure you have at least around a half charged ring. If you only have 1 or 2 charges, you may want to simply destroy it and buy a fresh one.
Trizek Ring - Adventurer Appreciation Campaign. Unlimited charges with a 2 hour cooldown. Due to the low cooldown and long duration, many people will use the ring if it is ready before they log off for the day/night, and will have 2 fresh Trizek buffs ready for the next day.
Facility Ring - Can drop from Domain Invasion and chests in Escha zones.
Vocation Ring - Adventurer Appreciation Campaign.
You can only have one EXP buff on at a time. Once one wears off, use one of your other rings if you have one!

C.) Food. Most melee will use Sublime Sushi for accuracy. Bream Sushi works also (or really just about any Sushi). Most mages will use Pear Crepe for magic accuracy. These foods are not your only options.

5. Are there any other bonuses I can take advantage of? Completing certain objectives will reward your character with permanent Capacity Point bonuses, and is highly valuable in speeding up the JP process. Here’s a list of where to get those bonuses:

A.) Storyline Missions. After completing any of FFXI’s main storyline archs, be sure to accept the Records of Eminence quests for Missions under the Tutorial category. Completion of each of the following provide a 10% bonus in Capacity Points gained: Bastok Missions, San d’Oria Missions, Windurst Missions, Rise of the Zilart Missions, Chains of Promathia Missions, Treasures of Aht Urhgan Missions, Wings of the Goddess Missions, Seekers of Adoulin Missions, and Rhapsodies of Vana’diel Missions.

Completion of the following Chapter 3 Rhapsodies of Vana’diel Missions provide another 30% bonus each: The River Runs Red, Penance, and Nary A Cloud In Sight.

You will need to speak with an Immigration NPC to change your allegiance between Bastok, San d’Oria, and Windurst.

It is recommended that you begin working on Adoulin fame as early as possible, as it will take many days of completing Adoulin quests and Coalition Operations to have enough fame to complete the storyline.

B.) Reives. Also accepted through Records of Eminence, these objectives can be found within the Content category. Although repeatable, these permanent Capacity Point bonuses are only acquired on first-time completion. Each of the 10 Lair Reives are worth 1% bonus a piece, each of the 14 Colonization Reives are worth 2% bonus a piece, and each of the 6 Wildskeeper Reives are worth 3% bonus a piece. It’s generally not recommended to attempt soloing the Wildskeeper Reives, a quick /yell in town will usually get a few people interested.

C.) Mog Garden. After progressing your Mog Garden to a certain point, you will eventually unlock Monster Rearing and Cheers. Cheers are permanent buffs that are active as long as a Cheer is selected. Different monsters provide a different amount of Capacity Point bonus, but they vary from 1 to 9%. Progressing the Mog Garden as well as utilizing Monster Rearing is very time consuming so I suggest you start right away.

D.) Other Bonuses. While you may never find yourself in an Apex party without 5 other members, the Kupofried Trust does provide a 10% Capacity Point bonus. A Corsair’s “Corsair Roll” can also provide up to a 24% bonus. Square-Enix will occasionally run campaigns that double the amount of points gained, though camps may become crowded during this time. And finally, spending Job Points themselves reward you with Gifts which also increase your Capacity Point gain, so in theory your progress can only get faster.

6. Where do Apex parties take place? The usual camp area is in Dho Gates map 1, accessed from Foret de Hennetiel bivouac #4 then heading southwest. G-11 is the normal spot and a favorite of players since it has no Jagils (they have more evasion than Crabs). You can find plenty of Crabs and Jagils all throughout G-11 to J-11. You’re not forced to pull Jagils either, they don’t agro so you can ignore them and just pull crabs. I’ve yet to be in a party that wasn’t doing Crabs or Crabs+Jagils though. I’ve seen a shout for a party doing Bats, but never done them myself.

--=[EXECUTION]=--
1. How should the party be set up? As stated before, there are virtually endless options when it comes to party composition for Apex. You are going to be playing with a wide range of player capability, as well as equipment quality - what works for one group may not work for another group even with the same exact job composition. Be prepared to improvise a little, as you may need to change your food, subjob, equipment, or actions during combat to best suit your party’s needs. The customary party setup is 2 melee and 4 back line jobs, but this is not a requirement - it is simply what you are likely to see the majority of the time. None of the melee need to be a traditional “tank” job, but they most certainly can be. The rest of the party will be made up of jobs that can magic burst or support the party in some way.
Skillchain jobs: WAR, MNK, RDM, THF, PLD, DRK, BST, RNG, SAM, NIN, DRG, SMN, BLU, COR, PUP, DNC, SCH, RUN
Magic Burst jobs: BLM, RDM, SMN, PUP, SCH, GEO
Support jobs: WHM, RDM, BRD, SMN, COR, DNC, SCH, GEO
Some sort of good enough healing jobs: WHM, RDM, PLD, BRD, SMN, BLU, COR, PUP, DNC, SCH, GEO
Not every party is going to need very much healing - some will need a lot more. It’s generally not going to be a whole lot though, so it’s possible to see a GEO main healing or even the PLD. Stranger things have happened! It’s also rare that you’re going to see an Apex PT without either a BLM or GEO, but it can and does work. You’ll probably need all 4 back line jobs nuking though.

2. What is the role of the melee? Be sure you have around 1150 accuracy and a bunch of multi-attack. It’s preferable that one of the melee have either Provoke or Flash for pulling. Sometimes mobs die so fast that the melee have to alternate pulling. In the most efficient groups, the puller will have pulled the next mob before the first one dies, probably immediately after their weapon skill is used since the current mob should die shortly afterwards - this way the melee will auto-target (/autotarget on) the next mob automatically without having to go through sheathing and unsheathing animation locks. The goal for the melee is to skillchain as quickly as possible. The faster the SC gets out, the faster the mob will die from the incoming magic bursts. If the mob does not die from the first set of MBs, the melee are to once again SC the mob as quickly as possible, even if the mob has little health remaining. Skillchainers don’t need to worry about the strength of their WS or attacks, just their accuracy and multi-attack. Generally a large majority of the mob’s health will be taken out by the mages.

3. What is the role of the mages? Mages will want to start casting their nukes around the time the first WS of the SC goes off. The timing will take getting used to, and will also depend on which spell you’re casting and how much -casting speed you’re wearing (Fast Cast, etc). You’ll need to pay attention to how much time the 2nd melee takes to use their WS - if they’re slower, you’ll want to wait a tiny bit later to start casting your nuke. It is possible for a player to MB on the same SC more than once. Aspir can also be magic bursted if your group’s SC is Darkness. Scholars typically will cast Hailstorm II on the party, so if you have /SCH you can use Klimaform as well.

4. What is the role of the support? Obviously this depends on the particular job and party composition and needs. If you have access to any sort of healing, be prepared to use them. If you have access to a Dispel, cast it if an Apex Crab uses Bubble Curtain, which gives it Shell. Lower the mobs’ evasion, magic evasion, or magic defense if possible. Increase your party’s attack speed, spell cast speed, spell recast speed, accuracy, magic accuracy, and magic attack bonus if possible. Most mages are self-MP sufficient and won’t need any Refresh or Ballad support. You’re better off giving them Haste/Haste 2 or Fast Cast if you can, so that the cooldown for their best nuke is up again by the time the next SC comes out. Sometimes a support might sub COR for the COR roll, which affects CP gain. Important note for GEOs that I’ve noticed many don’t seem to know: your debuffs will not affect the mob unless you get some sort of hate on it first. This is why many GEOs will immediately throw a fast and cheap spell like Dia or Bio at the start of a fight.

--=[CONCLUSION]=--
1. What do I do once a party ends? Fix your capes if you changed them. Make sure you restock your Capacity Ring, food, and any other items you may have used. Entering your Mog House allows you to spend your hard earned Job Points. I suggest you spend your first points on anything that will make content easier, particularly Apex (accuracy, for example!). Also pay close attention to how many points must be spent to earn your next gift - sometimes choosing to spend a small amount of points on a category of lesser importance to push you beyond the requirement for your next gift is the better choice.

2. Anything else I should know? I want to go into a little detail about my own situation and also what I have seen in Apex parties. I recently returned after many years away - even before that, I didn’t play too much during the Abyssea/Voidwatch era. Most of my playtime was in the first 4 or 5 years after FFXI launched in NA. The game sure has changed a lot since then, and even though I miss the old days, I believe FFXI is currently the best it’s ever been. There is such a huge amount of content now, and I was super excited when I discovered that the traditional 6 man EXP party had returned and Abyssea EXP was no more. I switched to Red Mage around 2006 and it is the only job I’ve played since (and will ever play). It’s had its ups and downs over the years, in fact if you believe what many players say, it’s one of the weakest jobs in the game currently. But that didn’t stop me (and it’s not true anyway), so I got caught up on the stuff I needed to and began gearing for ilvl 119. I did not expect to be able to join an Apex PT as a melee RDM, so I worked on my nuking/magic burst gear. I’m one of those people that always waits (too long, longer than I should) to join content until I’m comfortable with my equipment and capability, but I was glad when I finally bit the bullet and joined a party. It went just fine. Later on, once I was satisfied with my melee gear and potential, I joined an Apex PT as a DD RDM and it also went just fine. My point is, don’t be afraid to join an Apex PT because of your job. Use the information written here to get yourself and your job prepared to gain capacity points. If you are still uncomfortable, or just need more help, try finding someone who has experience doing Apex as your job, and ask them for tips.

I’ve seen every single job in the game in an Apex PT and not once did I think to myself “that job doesn’t belong here” or “that job is weak.” Every single job has the appropriate tools to make Apex work. Here’s some examples of some crazy or neat things I’ve seen in Apex.
-A SMN SCing and MBing.
-A WAR as the only melee, solo SCing.
-A COR as one of the 2 melee, WSing for 25K+ causing 60K Darkness. In this party the mob was dying after 1 solo BLM nuke.
-A PUP with no pet as one of the 2 melee.
-3 melee with a 3 step SC.
-A RUN and DNC as the 2 melee doing a 3 step double Darkness SC DNC > RUN > DNC
-A BST pet solo SCing at will.
-Had a party once in the center of the huge room full of crabs and jagils at Dho Gates I-11. The crabs agro but jagils don’t. Mobs would spawn on top of us and my job as RDM was to sleep them. Was slightly chaotic
-A party with no BLM! The 4 mages were GEO SCH SCH RDM.
-A party with no GEO! The 4 mages were BLM BLM SCH RDM.
-A party with no SCH! The 4 mages were GEO BLM BLM RDM.
-I heard a story once about a BRD being one of the 2 melee. I’m sure it’s doable.

Now don’t get me wrong. You’re going to run across people who already have a party composition ingrained into their minds, who will refuse to play without that setup, and will even flat out ignore your tells. It’s not as common as you might think though - sometimes a little bit of communication goes a long way. There were times I had to convince people to let me into their party. It was frustrating at times and frankly a little insulting. IMO playing with the same few jobs every time is an incredibly boring way to play the game. And truth be told, when I did end up in parties with those players who were very classist, not once was I ever impressed with their capabilities as a player.. I was normally disappointed. Ironic eh? So forget about anyone who tells you you can’t join an Apex party as your job or that your job is weak. Find another party, it’ll probably have more fun people to be around in it anyway.

The last thing I want to bring up is that there is a massive difference between a Trust and a real player. Don’t mislead yourself into thinking you’re not ready for an Apex party because you decided to see how you’d fare alone with just your Trusts - I made that mistake myself. The difference between me with just Trusts and being in a full party of real people was night and day, though a player can certainly gain adequate points by soloing, especially depending on ability, Trusts, gear, and job.

3. Where can I get more information? The ffxiah.com job forums tend to have great guides for each job. It is probably the best place to learn and ask questions about your class. The official FFXI forums, ffxiah.com, Reddit, and BlueGartr are full of players who are eager to answer your questions.

[Rooj]

Reserved...

[BBWallace]

CP iS sTill to Hard!@@!!!!!! I wAnt 1 Mil CP a MOB!

[Zeldar]

LOL BBW. There are many other Apex areas throughout the game. Another popular spot is in Moh Gates, entrance by Morimar Basalt Fields Frontier Station. Zone into Moh Gates, turnleft at the big open room and killl the reives. Apex crawlers are all over the place there. Another tiny, well known tip is it is possible to deliver most CP+ rings from a mule to your main if they are on the same account. I have 3 mules, so my main has 4 Trizeks. I use one in town before leaving, then dbox it to myself and grab a fresh one from my dbox.

[Shyles]

If it helps anyone, I thought I would share what I did for CP.

I soloed almost all of my CP for Dancer on Erucas in Moh Gates using trusts. During a Double CP campaign and after I was around 1200 JP, I was getting about 2mil to 2.5 mil CP an hour. What I did was basically eat ATT+ food, then I spammed 3-step double darkness over and over. When both climactic flourish and reverse flourish was ready, I would use them both before my closing WS, and it would hit for about 60k~99k every time. I just got in a rhythm of that, and eventually I was killing an eruca every 30 seconds as I got stronger.

It might be worth mentioning that I didn't use any tank or DD trusts and I didn't bother with the CP mantle or rings. The trusts I used were all support (Yoran, Koru, Qultada, Ulmia, Jaochim). I didn't use the CP mantle because I found that it would occasionally cause me TP too slow for 3-steps, so I actually got far more CP using Toetapper or Senuna's Mantle. Because of the additional double attack and sTP, I was able to complete 3-step skillchains without missing any. So the quicker kills actually ended up out-weighing the CP bonus from the cape..

As far as Trizek ring, I didn't find it worth slowing down to put it on. It only lasts 1~2 kills on Apex mobs, and it only gives you 1 additional JP every 2 hours. It wasn't worth potentially dropping a CP chain just to get 1 extra JP.

If you're struggling with Apex mobs especially as a Melee job, then my advice would be to stop CPing for the time being and focus on getting proper equipment first. Proper gearing is far far far more impactful than JP gifts.

First make a TP set with at least 1050 accuracy, which is enough for Erucas. Also make sure to cap gear haste, and get as much additional Store TP and multi-hit as possible. With haste buffs from trusts or party members, you should be able to 3-step skillchain comfortably, regardless of what job you are on. Then start working on making specialized WS sets for each of the weapon skills you use. Once you have those things, then you will have more success with Apex soloing.

[Mithlas]

Rooj and Shyles, thank you for the awesome info!

[Deirdre]

Excellent guide, well written and this will help a lot of people. Nice job!

[Rooj]

lol I was ready to go to sleep and left some things out.
Feedback and suggestions are highly welcome. If you believe this guide to be worthy enough, and you know someone who is struggling or may benefit from the info here, please link it to them.
I should have gone into more detail about how there are many more Apex camps than just crabs and fish. Honestly though I never see anyone fight anything else ;\
Definitely want to hear more personal Apex stories. Everyone's experience will be different.

I think a lot of people who are wondering if they should join an Apex party or not typically will go beat on one with a party of trusts. It probably doesn't go very well, or not as well as planned/hoped. And so they decide they aren't ready. But being in a party with real players makes a huge difference. I remember the feeling I had the first time I finally gave in and joined an Apex party. After the first mob, I was like "Oh."

I also left out that when in a SoA dungeon, party experience is not split as much, and is another reason why Apex is so rewarding.

And of course I forgot to write about the bonuses from doing expansions and all that stuff. Will edit later ^^ Any other data anyone feels is missing, let me know.

[Fahzewn]

Another tiny, well known tip is it is possible to deliver most CP+ rings from a mule to your main if they are on the same account. I have 3 mules, so my main has 4 Trizeks. I use one in town before leaving, then dbox it to myself and grab a fresh one from my dbox.

Another thing that can be done is if you know you won't be on the game for a while, use the ring charge and log off. Assuming you won't be back on for two hours, by the time you log back in, the ring is ready again and you still have the dedication on. Add that to the mail box swap and a relatively close XP location to a port, you could burn 3 charges in one shot (Yes you have to stop and leave your spot to get the ring from the Moogle).

[Zeldar]

Stopping to refresh everyones ring also gives the party a much needed 10 minute break for intake and discharge of liquids, to keep it PG. It also gives you a chance to spend those dozens of job points you just earned to make the next round a tiny bit easier.