Best ways to farm each of the best items now?

[Miku]

Let me know if you have any better suggestions than these. I'm not an expert in the complete list of good items or in what are the best quests. But I can say one thing, the new changes of sometimes +50% rare monster rate, sometimes +25% drop rate, and sometimes +25% rare rate likely changed things up. Idk if there's a good guide like this somewhere else, but it's likely outdated and doesn't take the new change into account. In general, it's now best to hunt from enemies that can be rare now since +50% is more significant than +25%.

I also realize that as I get more stuff, there are fewer things that I need to hunt still, meaning this list should be helpful to me, to make sure I'm still going for something that'll help me.

Spoiler: The List

Heaven Punisher:
Use the +50% rare monster rate on Bluefull and go for Hildebears from one of:
[Side Story] Forest of Sorrow (16)
[Retrieval] Rappy's Holiday (75)
[VR] Towards the Future, 1 in first room and 3 in the next room (4)
Note: Do the same but with Green/Purple/Yellow/White for Frozen Shooters.
Note 2: This is extremely rare and valuable right now. You should get to hunting this if you want to get rich.
Note 3: Lost Devil's Scepter from Skyly Sinow Spigell is better at getting this while you don't have the +50% rare monster rate, if you still want to keep hunting it then.

Heaven Striker:
Purple POD with +50% rare monster rate.

Limiter:
White POD with +50% rare monster rate.

Aura Field:
Oran Temple go for Mil Lillies with +50% rare monster rate in one of
Villainous Rift #1 (61)
Lost Shock Gungnir (79, but takes longer)
[VR] Maximum Attack 2nd (21)
Note 1: I wouldn't hunt Brightness Circle specifically, but you may also get it from doing one of these.
Note: Use the same but in Pinkal to go for Rambling May.

DOB:
Boomas in Red Forest. Use +25% dar for best rate. Try doing this:
[VR] Maximum Attack 1: Clear first room, enter laser door, clear two waves then enter the door closest to the start room (43)
If this is too boring for you, play TE on white and go for Mothverts. It has tons of 'em if you don't kill the nests too fast, and it gives you a chance at some other good stuff, like Frozen Shooter and Handgun: Milla.

Lame D'Argent:
Viridia Christmas Fiasco with +50% rare monster rate. Has lots of Dorphons early on. Yes, this quest is still available. Maybe I shouldn't say that since it may be a mistake and I don't want them to take it down.
Note: Do the same but with Blue for Asteron Belts, or Skyly or White to get Shourens.
Note 2: Can also try yellow POD with +50% rare monster rate for Lame if Fiasco is taken down. I don't think it can compete with Fiasco when it has so many dorphons though.

M&A60 Vise: Purple PW2 from Ul Gibbon. Use +25% dar for best drop rate.

Mother Garb+: Blue or Pink POD with +50% rare monster rate.

Centurion/Ability: Viridia, Green or Red POD with +50% rare monster rate.

Swordsman Lore: Skyly POD with +50% rare monster rate.

Liberta Kit/Dragon Scale: More POD things. Just look at the drop chart here: https://ephinea.pioneer2.net/drop-charts/ultimate/

Slicer of Fanatic:
Many options, not sure which is the best. Really just go for any of things that can drop it. Go with +25% dar. Since it brings dar up from 60% to 85% with 4 players, it's really 85/60 worth of a boost, whereas +25% rdr is only just +25%. 85/60 is really a +41.6~% boost. But if you're playing 1 player, then consider that the rare boost and or dar boost do essentially the same thing.

Sealed J-Sword:
Skyly with +25% dar from one of
[Extermination] Phantasmal World #4 end up at 2F (5)
[Extermination] Phantasmal World #1 Seaside (16)

Red Ring:
Any ID that gets it from Dark Falz in TTF, use +25% dar for the biggest boost.

PGF:
Any ID that gets it from Olga Flow in RT, use +25% dar for the biggest boost.

Guren:
Skyly/White Delsabers in Ruins. Use +25% dar for the biggest boost. Try one of
[Side Story] Doc's Secret Plan the first room (5)
[Retrieval] Lost HELL PALLACSH 1P route the first 3 rooms (8)
[Retrieval] Fragments of a Memory Ruins 1 (41)
[Extermination] Endless Nightmare #4 (38~42)

Holy Ray:
Blue TTF, stop after the dragon. Use +25% dar for the biggest boost.
Or go through De Rol Le if you also want Asteron Belt.
Do the whole quest if you also want DF Shield.

Ophelie Seize:
My favorite is either Purple or Pink MA4A, for 58 Merissa A. Use +50% rare monster rate for biggest boost.

Psycho Wand:
Purple Caves is probably the best now, with +50% rare enemy rate being a better boost than other enemies like Sinow Spigell can get. Try one of these:
[VR] Maximum Attack 4th Stage-A- (63)
[VR] Maximum Attack 4th Stage-B- or -C- (62)
[Event] Today's Rate Turn left at the first side-road and kill 12
[Extermination] Today's Rate at the first side-road, right side (9) and left side (3)

Prophets of Motav (probably not worth bothering): Dark Bringer from Orange Ruins. Use +25% dar for biggest boost. Try one of
[Extermination] Endless Nightmare #4 (13)
[Episode 1] 4-4 (10)

Spread Needle:
La Dominion from Green/Purple/Yellow Ruins. Try [Extermination] Endless Nightmare #4 Ruins 1 (37). Mae: Ruins was the best for this though. Use +25% dar for biggest boost.

V101:
Same old MA4B from any of the IDs that get it. Use one like Viridia and you can hunt Lame's or something else neat at the same time. Use +25% dar for best change at V101.
Note: Do the same but with purple during +50% rare monster rate to get V801.

V502:
PW4 Ill Gill on Red or White. Use +25% dar for biggest boost.

Yasminkov 9000M:
Purple Gorans. Use +25% dar for biggest boost. Try using
[Extermination] New Mop-up Operation #3 (106)
[Extermination] War of Limits 3 end up at 3rd ring with 3rd switch (76)

Yunchang:
Viridia/Blue/Red/White Morfos. Use +25% dar for biggest boost. I'd recommend one of
[Episode 2] 8-3 Turn left at the first side-road (3)
[Extermination] Phantasmal World #3 Seabed 1 (17) or at the first side-road left side + right side (3), and as a bonus you can break the big box room for more neat stuff.
[VR] Maximum Attack 4th Stage-B- (38)

Zanba:
Skyly Blue or Red Sinow Zele. Use +25% dar for biggest boost. I'd recommend Lost Chaos Calibur for 48 Zeles.

Yeah there are some other valuable items like Syncesta, Lavis Cannon, Book of Hitogata, etc., but honestly, I just don't think they're worth bothering as they don't seem nearly as good as they are rare.

 

[TiddlyWinks]

List is appreciated. Many thanks.

 

[Ryan]

Christmas Fiasco has been taken down until... well, Christmas, so you might want to update this.

 

[CritDraw]

Guren:
Skyly/White Delsabers in Ruins. Use +25% dar for the biggest boost. Try one of
[Side Story] Doc's Secret Plan the first room (5)
[Retrieval] Lost HELL PALLACSH 1P route the first 3 rooms (8)
[Retrieval] Fragments of a Memory Ruins 1 (41)
[Extermination] Endless Nightmare #4 (38~42)

Delsabers only drop Guren on EP2 Spaceship.

 

[Spuz]

No Tyrells ego?  Also FS, can do viridia ma2v2 in EP2 for hildetorr.

Lazy to go over it all right now but there is ALOT of good hunts your missing. Maybe I'll post some later.

 

[YOmap]

DoB in forest will only get you a maximum of 60%Hit iirc.

also, dar doesnt affect boss drops since they always drop something. Matt told me this a long time ago while I was hunting Asteron Belt.

 

[Matt]

Incorrect, rare items regardless of where they are found have the same chance of percents. You could even get a 100H Musashi in Hard if you're lucky.

 

[YOmap]

Incorrect, rare items regardless of where they are found have the same chance of percents. You could even get a 100H Musashi in Hard if you're lucky.

ah ok...so does that only affect non-rares then? I remember you saying that high hit (70+) starts around ruins 1.

@Matt is it correct that DAR doesnt affect Boss drops since they always drop something?

 

[Matt]

Yes, rares are on their own exclusive percent table.

DAR does affect bosses if in a multiplayer game, but not solo. (since 80% DAR would happen in 2P normally, but you get 105% with boost, meaning it now has 100% DAR)

 

[Melirei]

...

Spoiler: My comments on the hunts.

In the paragraphs below, RER means Rare Enemy Rate.

Heaven Punisher: What's good about the Hildetorr hunt is that it's easy (forest), and there's a very good custom quest you didn't include: Tyrell's Ego (52? Hildelts). Rangers with the right gear can solo that quest fairly quickly. However, the Hildetorr drop isn't that great since the original rate, combined with the rare enemy rate, is several times worse than the other options; 1/104857.6 compared to Spigell's 1/22405.47, and 1/12603.08 of Mericarol. Even with +50% RER boost, Spigell still has 3 times the drop rate per enemy, and Mericarols 5.54 times the drop rate, making TE more akin to 16.67 Spigells, and 9.375 Mericarols. E2 MU3 is probably the best quest for Spigell: 27 of them, whereas LDS first room is likely the best quest for Mericarol: 3 of them. Doing full Jungle (and finding hidden Mericarols) is another option, although likely not as fast. I have not timed the hunts myself, although I imagine either Spigell or Mericarol would be faster. Forest also means that the % drops there will be heavily skewed toward Native, although %s on Heaven Punisher is not that important.

Heaven Striker:
This depends on which you can farm faster, Kondrieu or Pyro Gorans. The rate for Kondrieu is 1/71.1333 when +50% RER is active, while Pyro's rate is 1/3433.67 without boost, and 1/2746.936 with +25% DAR boost (both cases assuming solo). Note that nuke Forces can clear MU3 very quickly, especially the one person mode version. According to Monster Hunting Guide and Wilhuf's spreadsheet, there are 44 Pyro Gorans up to the third warp in MU3, and 55 if the full quest is cleared. Again, the options need to be timed; I do believe that Kondrieu's option is not competitive at all when +50% RER boost isn't active.

Limiter:
Back when NDW was still a mod and he balanced the older charts, Girtablulu drop and Shambertin drop were considered roughly equivalent. The drop rate at the time was 1/393.85 Girtablulu vs 1/64 Shambertin, and the hunt quest considered was MA4C and PoD. Since even with RER boosts, Kondy drop rate is still inferior to old Shambertin drop rate, it's probably slightly inferior. However, PoD can be solo'd while MA4C generally cannot, hence PoD is not a bad option practically. With drop chart change however, 24 Bluefull Astark in WoL1 with rate 1/2409.41 is quite possibly the best. Again this needs to be timed. Adepts is not really necessary except for Spirit builds and certain max stat plans for newman classes. Spirit builds are only truly worthwhile for high end spirit weapons, such as Flowen's 3084, Guardianna/Spirit Cards, and perhaps Galatine. For nuke forces, it's more of a small QoL change; you won't run out of Trifluids even when you nuke, except for extremely long custom quests.

DoB:
This is the first time I've heard about the method you described, with 42 enemies it's probably decent. The options that comes to mind however, is Whitill PW2, where DoB drops from both Gibbons and Gees at very good rates, and there are a ton of them. Since Pinkal PW2 is very popular however, some might prefer to do that instead and have DoB as a side drop, which would be quite a bit slower in terms of DoB but probably more profitable. ANH/MSB also has a ton of Gees in the first room, which may or may not be a fast option. Note that this is only recommended on Ephinea since hit rate for E2 drops were changed to 5% across all IDs, whereas in vanilla it's 1% for all IDs except Yellowboze (3%). Also, there's a chance for certain classes to get 0~60h clean DoBs from the Lucky Roulette.

Lame d'Argent: E4 Fiasco is definitely the supreme Dorphon quest while it lasts, and perhaps Girta as well (MAE is probably better for Girta, and LSH might be better for Girta as well when it comes back). Pinkal PW2 and Skyly MA4C Crater aren't bad options however, even with RER boost for Kondrieu. Again this needs to be timed.

M&A60 Vise: only comment is that there's a chance for Rangers(?) to get 0~60h Vise in Lucky Roulette.

Centurion/Ability: I'd personally try to get this as a side drop while trying for Last Swan in BPD2. It's more of a midgame item than an endgame item, as none of the classes should be using this in their level 200 mat plans.

Swordsman Lore: not exactly sure since I didn't look into this. Girta and E2 Gilchichs are competing alternatives.

Slicer of Fanatic: Oran Lizard is likely the best, but may as well go for the option with the most side drops you want.

SJS: alongside the options you listed, MAE was great while it lasted for full quest Gi Gue hunts, as well as LHB up to 8th floor (not sure if this quest is updated since I last played it). For first/second room reset hunts, another option is Knights of Coral Advent, which comes with 3 Gi Gues + 3 Gees as first wave for its CCA path; somewhat comparable to PW4 second room hunt. With dialogue skip however, PW4 second room is probably the single best hunt as long as the dialogue skip works.

Psycho Wand: just like the Bluefull Torr hunt, this is not that great an option even with RER boosts. The alternatives are Oran Gibbles and Bluefull Delbiters, both having roughly 8.32 times the drop rate per enemy, or roughly 5.55 times the drop rate per enemy when RER boost is active. It's also more favorable for those two enemies when DAR boost is active (roughly 10.4 times drop rate per enemy). Best quest is probably PW4 first room (3 Gibbles) or E2 MU5 full (24 Gibbles).When neither has a boost, this roughly equates to 24.95 Lilies for the former or 200 Lilies for the latter. If you play by the weekly boosts, I expect DAR boosted Gibbles to be more worthwhile than RER boosted Lilies, as each DAR boosted Gibbles is roughly equivalent to 6.9375 RER boosted Lilies. Bluefull is slower than Oran, but there are very good side drops (Yunchang, Zanba).

PoM: best quests for Bringers are Simulator 2.0, Prospective Horizons, and perhaps Dark Research. Simulator 2.0 has about 20 Bringers a few minutes in, and roughly 60 for the full quest, but if you die in that quest you will be ejected to Pioneer 2 and cannot return. It's also a "kaizo" kind of quest with instant death trap fields and megid traps. PH is more forgiving and there are generally a lot of Bringers. Dark Research is a Ruins monster spam; it is very long and requires 4p if you want to enter Ruins 3/Ruins 1. Also features early bringers. I've also heard about "early" Bringers in Knights of Coral, but I don't know if it's worthwhile. Speaking of which, these hunts are probably very good for Redria Spread Needle as well.

Yunchang: E2 MU4 is the best Morfos quest.

Zanba: E2 MU4 is probably the best Zele quest as well. LCC is the other option, but I think MU4 may have more Zeles per hour; this depends on the party composition.

 

[Miku]

Rats the ep 4 fiasco is down, although it was still up a good bit longer than ep 1 fiasco. Someone once told me the chances of an enemy being rare were 1/256, but I guess it's not really that high, both from what you said and from my own experience.

Well, I really want to get a Heaven Punisher sometime. Kinda the reason I got my 45h Ophelie Seize. Anyone interested in doing A LOT of Lost Devil's Scepter or E2 MU3 runs with me sometime? Preferably some of both so I don't get as bored.

 

[Ayria]

This isn't a great guide.

In the majority of cases, rare enemy hunts are complete garbage and should be avoided at all costs.(even with a rare enemy boost). The only time they were even close to being comparible with other hunts was multiboxing 3+ accounts with DAR and spawn boosts to potentially get 4 items per rare enemy. It's still possible... but you'll have to hide your tracks well or fear the potential multibox banhammer.

E.g.

Your very first example: Heaven Punisher 1/200 Hildetorr or more than 1/100,000 per Hildelt.

Purplenum Mericarol ~1/12,000
Skyly Spigell ~1/25,000

All above numbers are listed before their respective boosts.

You're better off hunting unboosted Spigell than Hildelts with a 50% rare enemy boost.

At first glance Purplenum would be the best choice, but with the changes made to Lost Devil's Scepter you're probably better off hunting Spigell in MU3 as you'll kill more than twice the number of Spigell per hour and won't have to remake every 60 seconds.

Honestly, you should really opt for non-rare hunts wherever possible and consider rare enemies to be as likely as the 1/200k off-id uber drops... Better than nothing if you don't have a suitable ID, but really not a great idea for continued farming. Pwand, V101, V801, Limiter, POSS, HS and Lame are all significantly easier to hunt from their non-rare drops, and it's also the reason why hunting FS sucks complete balls.

A more simplistic guide, but one that requires the reader to do some legwork would be:

Hunt enemies with low dar during DAR week
(i.e. Enemies with 80% DAR and below or anything you can't solo.)
Hunt bosses during RDR week
(I.e. Enemies with 100% DAR)
Do whatever during Rare mob spawn as your usual hunts are still more efficient.

There used to be some fun things happen because DAR and Rare enemy spawn would be active at the same time before being further modified by the then HBR exclusive RDR boost. This meant the "best" hunt was actually changeable depending on how many kills the server attained, your HBR rank and how large your party was.

These new boosts only affect one stat at a time and are very underwhelming in comparison. As a bonus though these drop nerfs will supposedly make people want to play outside of events... somehow.

 

[Ayria]

Incorrect, rare items regardless of where they are found have the same chance of percents. You could even get a 100H Musashi in Hard if you're lucky.

This is incorrect too.

It is less likely for any Musashi in Hard to roll as 100h as difficulties below Ultimate are less likely to roll hit in the first place. (I believe the other %s aren't modified but feel free to correct me if you know otherwise)

It is possible to find one though, and there will be the same chance of it being 100h regardless of which floor it's found on...

It'll just be rarer than finding the same thing in Ultimate.