Titan (Extreme): the Speed Kill Challenge

[carraway]

We've put in two sets of attempts on Titan (Extreme) with a 1-tank/1-healer setup and so far our best time is 4 minutes, 13 seconds from pull to death.

http://youtu.be/q8SgT6Hdnis

Our setup used was: PLD BLM SMN BRD BRD MNK DRG WHM.

We know this has been done by many successful groups already, but we wanted to see how fast of a kill we could clock. We're curious to see what the community can come up with, because as hungry as we are, we always know there's someone better out there. 2.2 is still probably a couple of months away, so if you're bored and looking for something to do, why not give this a shot?

(We were incorrect about the kill time at the end on TeamSpeak; pull was at 27:36 time remaining, Titan dies at 23:23 time remaining (4 minutes, 13 seconds of combat). Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to attempts and strats. We definitely feel like there are several spots where we can shave off more time ourselves.)

(Shameless plug: we're still recruiting, see here for more info)

edit: new personal record is 4 minutes, 5 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Q6apoKy_8
edit2: new personal record is 3 minutes, 59 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK4EBoLAZAw

Other groups have also been pushing their times:
≪SHIMAMURA≫ on Chocobo has clocked 4:10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfRmWAgZHQ4
≪ShinRa≫ on Phoenix has clocked 4:10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDOVuexZeGg

[bokchoykn]

Sweet.

We did a 1-tank, 1-healer Titan EX over the weekend, but didn't time or record it. I highly doubt it was faster than 4:13 though. A lot of us were on lesser-geared alt classes. I think only three of us were actually i90. Titan died during the first superbombs (We ignored the bomb and burned him down).

Our set-up was: PLD MNK MNK BRD BRD BLM SMN WHM

We'll try it again soon with a full i90 team and see how our times compare to yours.

We also want to try 1-tank, 1-healer Ifrit EX.

[carraway]

Our set-up was: PLD MNK MNK BRD BRD BLM SMN WHM

We'll try it again soon and see how our times compare to yours.

We also want to try 1-tank, 1-healer Ifrit EX.

Nice. Yeah, we were discussing the potential benefit of having a second MNK instead of a DRG and whether the math would work out, especially if one of the MNKs does the flank/rear rotation and the other MNK does a heavy rear rotation.

For 1-tank/1-healer Ifrit, our main concern is just people blowing up eventually because if we push the fight as hard as possible, we end up skipping every set of Crimson Cyclones, so stacks never fall. The encounter feels somewhat "gated" to us, unfortunately, so it's a little less fun to push it, but I'm still interested in seeing what the ceiling is.

[Noahlimits]

Our setup used was: PLD BLM SMN BRD BRD MNK DRG WHM.

It's well known that BLMs do by far the worst DPS in Titan EX (to no fault of their own). If you're going strictly off of speed, maybe replace the BLM with another ranged? Possibly SMN or a third bard?

Edit: Actually just realized your blm was somehow doing the most damage since you had a parser on screen (which you might want to remove due to all the controversy about it lately) during parts of the video. Is that accurate?

[bokchoykn]

Nice. Yeah, we were discussing the potential benefit of having a second MNK instead of a DRG and whether the math would work out, especially if one of the MNKs does the flank/rear rotation and the other MNK does a heavy rear rotation.

To be honest, we didn't really put any thought into our team composition. Both MNKs (myself included) were WAR mains. One of our BRD was a WHM main. Our SMN was WHM main. We just went with whatever we had.

If I had to remake the team comp though, it would probably be about the same, except maybe swapping the BLM for a DRG.

I think with two BRDs, it's best to have a DRG for Disembowl.

For 1-tank/1-healer Ifrit, our main concern is just people blowing up eventually because if we push the fight as hard as possible, we end up skipping every set of Crimson Cyclones, so stacks never fall. The encounter feels somewhat "gated" to us, unfortunately, so it's a little less fun to push it, but I'm still interested in seeing what the ceiling is.

Maybe the best way is to consciously try not skip the Crimson Cyclone. It adds to the kill time, but I think dropping Incinerate stacks is too important going into the final phase.

[carraway]

It's well known that BLMs do by far the worst DPS in Titan EX (to no fault of their own). If you're going strictly off of speed, maybe replace the BLM with another ranged? Possibly SMN or a third bard?

We've tried a few different compositions and we're definitely open to further experimentation, but when we went to a 2nd SMN, we noticed that certain parts of the fight weren't as smooth. And we know that the patch notes said only LB2/3 were affected by job diversity, but we were far more consistent with having LB1 for the gaolers after switching back to having a BLM instead of another SMN (we can't say conclusively that diversity affects LB1 but it kind of seems like it; we need to do more testing). It is really unfortunate that BLM (and DRG and MNK) get disproportionately punished by gaols compared to BRDs and SMNs, and that proc streaks or droughts can completely ruin the time on an otherwise amazing attempt.

[Langureion]

What's the average ilvl on the dps?

[Noahlimits]

What's the average ilvl on the dps?

Considering it's BG, likely full i90.

[carraway]

Yeah, full i90 but not necessarily BiS across the board due to how coil drops work.

I should also add (and I edited this into the original post): we know this has been done by many successful groups already, but we wanted to see how fast of a kill we could clock. It's inspiring for us to see lots of people pushing boundaries.

[carraway]

If I had to remake the team comp though, it would probably be about the same, except maybe swapping the BLM for a DRG.

I think with two BRDs, it's best to have a DRG for Disembowl.

Maybe the best way is to consciously try not skip the Crimson Cyclone. It adds to the kill time, but I think dropping Incinerate stacks is too important going into the final phase.

Going heavier melee on Titan is definitely an option. And yeah, for Ifrit, we would have to call DPS stops at certain points to force Crimson Cyclones (which is why we feel it's somewhat gated). We don't like stopping