An Introduction to Dynamis...

What is Dynamis?

It's a set of areas designed as dark reflections of areas in the "real" game world where the beastmen rule. Players who participate in Dynamis have a chance to earn the second set of artifact armor for each job and relic weapons. It is an instanced area, which means that nobody except your group can enter while you are inside.

The Dynamis "Quest"

Once you are level 65 or higher and rank 6 in any nation, you can get this quest. It is a very simple two step quest... First travel to Xarcabard for a short cutscene (Yes, you can Tele-Vahzl in). After this, go to any of the Trail Markings and click them for another cutscene and a key item, Vial of Shrouded Sand. These Trail Markings are also the entrances to their respective Dynamis zones, and can be found in the following areas:

After completing the above "quest", you have access to the first 4 city zones and must get the win for each of them for northland access. You can get the win for city zones in any order. Once you have all 4 wins, you'll have access Dynamis-Beaucedine, then after you get the win for Beaucedine you'll have access to Dynamis-Xarcabard.

Winning

To win a Dynamis zone, you must defeat the boss of the area. In order to do this, certain "trigger NMs" must be defeated which will then spawn the boss. In Windurst (which is the hardest of the 4 initial Dynamis areas) there are 4 NMs that must be defeated in order to spawn the boss. In San D'Oria however there are only 2, and in Bastok 3. Once the boss has been spawned, and then defeated, a ??? will spawn on the ground where it died. Clicking it gives you one of the following key items:

This signifies that you've won the area. Always be sure to check your title or Key Items after first winning a zone to be sure. (If you want the Dynamis-Zone Interloper title again after you already have the win, you can click the ??? to change your title. Also doesn't hurt to double check that you have the win if you don't remember which you've gotten before.) After you've won an area, click the Trail Markings again for another CS when the run is done.

General Information on Dynamis

In order to activate a Dynamis area, a Timeless Hourglass must be purchased from a Goblin NPC in Davoi, Oztroja or Beadeaux (the goblins by the entrances of these areas). This costs 1,000,000gil to obtain (Bought by the sponcerer). When this Timeless Hourglass is traded to a set of Trail Markings, the Dynamis area is reserved and 60 minutes of time is given. At this point, the hourglass can be used to make as many Perpetual Hourglasses as is needed (and these in turn can make more Perpetual Hourglasses) all of which will be linked to that original Timeless Hourglass. Now, in order to get more than 60 minutes of time inside the Dynamis areas (which you will need), you have to kill certain mobs inside that give time extensions (anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes each). Warnings will be given when inside Dynamis when there is 10 minutes, 3 minutes and 30 seconds of time remaining.

After entering a Dynamis area, a player may not enter another Dynamis until 72 hours(IRL) has passed. This is based on when you ENTER the Dynamis area, not when time runs out.

While in Dynamis the spell "Escape" does not work, and the song "Mazurka" only works in Beaucedine & Xarcabard.

Each of the original Dynamis areas can take up to 64 people inside. If you leave dynamis (i.e. HP, drop glass or warp) you can re-enter by trading the same hourglass again, or having someone outside make you a new one. When you re-enter you will be in an extremely weakened state for about 10 minutes.

Preperation for Dynamis

If it is your first time doing a certain dynamis you must click the Trail Markings to get a cut scene before it will allow you to trade your hourglass. Before entering ANY Dynamis area it's a good idea to know the battle plan and know what you will need to bring. See the zone specific guides for useful items and strategies.

Turn off all your graphics that you can spare. You will be bundled in with 40+ other players and surrounded by mobs often, and the graphics lag can get enormous. This leads to delayed movements & casting, which leads to death... So make sure you turn down your graphics as much as possible (no shadows, no footsteps, low clipping plane, etc).

Please put vokes/sleeps/raises in /linkshell, and pay attention so tanks arn't trying to steal each other's mobs, and MP is not wasted on already slept mobs or raised people. Aside from this, make sure your macros use minimal party or linkshell chat lines so important messages are not missed. Also, do not flood the chat with spam and turn on as many chat filters as you can. You REALLY don't want battle spam.

Turn off autotarget (/autotarget off). This is to avoid accidentaly waking sleeping mobs, or meleeing mobs that should not be touched(i.e. statues, slimes, ect.). Also, do not wake sleeping mobs until after you have seen it voked. MPKing the sleepers is bad and makes them angry.

In Regards to Raising and EXP loss...

You must realize that it is COMMON for EVERYONE in a Dynamis area to die during a run at least once. If you expect anything more then a raise I, it is suggested that you bring Re-Raise items. If you choose not to, DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT GETTING A RAISE I. Mages do not have time or MP to Raise III everyone. If you de-lvl you can ask your PT's WHM nicely for a Raise II or III. However, if you DEMAND a Raise III, or refuse Raise I if it is given to you, people will probably be more likely to give you an R1 even if they could R3 you.. So don't be rude.

Monster information

All monsters in Dynamis see through sneak and invisible. All monsters have jobs, and all use their 2 hour abilities if given the chance. The initial monsters are slow-moving statues. When aggro'd, these spawn 2-4 beastmen (and sometimes other statues). The statues have 1000hp, and are highly resistant to melee attacks and moderately resistant to magic. MELEE SHOULD NOT TOUCH THESE, as it just gives them TP, and their TP attacks are deadly (group stun, silence, etc). When a statue with blue eyes is defeated, HP of all players within range is restored. When a statue with green eyes is defeated, MP of all players within range is restored. It is possible to steal currency from beastmen in Dynamis, but it is low success rate.

It is crucial that the mobs are killed in a certain order, because some jobs are more dangerous than the rest. These are the jobs which are of top priority and have to be defeated first:

The jobs below can be killed in any order:

And lastly these jobs should be slept until all others are killed:

What you should be doing...

/assist your tank. Stay with your alliance, let the tanks pull. Try to organize SCs with your party and use food, cheep food, any food helps. DO NOT RUN UP AND CROWD THE BLMS! DO NOT MELEE STATUES, or AVATARS!

If you are the main tank for your alliance or party, it is your job to provoke mobs off the main puller as they run by. Be sure to announce in your macro with both /l and /p what mob your taking so the other tanks can grab other mobs. If your not the main tank, still help to keep any mobs provoked off the BLMs and sleepers. YOU CANNOT TANK MONKS! KITE THEM PLSKTHX!!

Nuke the statues that the main puller brings. Do not be afraid to be the first to nuke. Drain and Aspir are extremely useful. Help kill PLD and THF mobs when 2hr. Help kill pets after the BSTs are dead. Keep Avatars slept at all costs! DO NOT USE DOT EVER UNLESS TOLD SPECIFICALLY! Sleepga will probably get you killed.

SLEEP AVATARS! Do not take your target off the avatar until it is dead. Spam silence on BST pets and keep them slept until the BST dies. Sleep any extra mobs left on the puller after the tanks each have a mob. DO NOT USE DOT EVER UNLESS TOLD SPECIFICALLY! Sleepga will probably get you killed.

If only a few people are killed Raise III or II is appreciated. In the event of a wipe, Raise III for those who de-level if you can, otherwise use whatever raise is available.

Lullaby hecteyes. They're resistant to Sleep.