The Shadow Lord Invades

Introduction

 * See also: Announcement

Overview
Final Fantasy XI Event

Challenge Shadow Lord in a raid event and obtain points to get various individual and ranked rewards. You will also get raid coins by fighting the raid boss, which can be used for limited time raid summons.

To fight the raid boss, one raid orb will be used. You will gain one orb per hour, for a maximum of five orbs. Orbs may be refreshed with 100 Lapis or by ranking up. You will obtain event points and coins (10% of points) by fighting the raid boss. The amount of points gained is based on the stage, the raid's global level and the amount of damage dealt to his HP in percentage. Defeating the boss is not required but doing so will net you the maximum amount of points, coins and experience.

The raid boss will have a global level and HP displayed within the vortex. This level indicates a bonus point multiplier (+8%/Level) that will be applied to points gained from each boss fights. Anyone on the server can contribute to this by fighting the raid boss. This takes into account damage dealt to its HP. Once its global HP is depleted, its level will go up and a few hours will be added to the timer. If the entire server is unable to kill it before time runs out, its level will decrease by one and the timer will reset. Keep in mind that the raid's global level has no impact on the raid boss itself, with the fight's difficulty remaining unchanged.

Story
Vana'diel. A world blessed by the gods...

Their land ruined during the Crystal War in which man and beast clashed, a new age has begun thanks to the efforts of adventurers who fight on the side of justice and faith.

However, the threat of the "Shadow Lord", perpetrator of the great war who was supposed to have been defeated by the heroes of the five races, has yet to be truly vanquished.

And now, this menacing threat has crossed dimensions and appeared in Lapis.

Rain and his friends must now ready themselves to fight a monster with a deep hatred for all the likes that few have seen.

Rewards
You can check your points and rank by clicking on "Achievement Status" inside the raid vortex. All rewards will be sent to your mailbox. Individual rewards can be collected as soon as you get enough points, but rank rewards will only be distributed once the event is finished. 

Raid Summon
Summon various rewards by using raid coins obtained by fighting the raid boss. You will gain 1 coin for each 10 points you obtain from the fight. Each summon will cost 100 coins. Batch summon up to 100 summons at once for 10000 coins.

Battle Info
INT=

The Shadow Lord Invades - INT
ADV=

The Shadow Lord Invades - ADV
PRO=

The Shadow Lord Invades - PRO
ELT=

Tips

 * See testimonials and discussions.
 * The Shadow Lord debuffs his SPR or DEF by 98% every 3rd turn, switching between them by casting dispel on himself.
 * Using the first turn to buff your party is needed, as you shouldn't be able to deal any significant damage in the first turn.
 * Fryevia and Veritas of Light can be incredibly useful here, as they will cover both Physical and Magical damage. Veritas of Light also pairs well of Light debuffers such as Ace and Orlandeau.
 * The Shadow Lord's Magic attack is dark elemental, a green Mage that covers Darkness would be nice to have on your team. Notably:
 * Cloud of Darkness 30%
 * Rikku 40% on turn 2
 * Cerius 50%
 * Marie 50% (low chance to counter with 70%)
 * Minfilia 70% (Limited unit)
 * Artisan Lid 70% (Limited unit)
 * Dark Veritas 70%
 * After the Shadow Lord switches from Physical to Magical or vice versa, be sure to re apply, atk/mag debuffs and elemental debuffs.
 * The Shadow Lord uses both Physical and Magical attacks, but only one type a turn. Bringing a physical evade unit can be useful if you need it, along with immunity to dark element.
 * He Casts Blind when he's Weak to magic, and Silence when he's Weak to physical, these status effects will have little to no effect to your team unless you go past turn 6.
 * Shadow Lord Defense Pattern:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Turn !! Pattern A !! Pattern B
 * Turn 1 || Weak to nothing || Weak to nothing
 * Turn 2 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn 3 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn 4 || Weak to Physical || Weak to Magic
 * Turn 5 || Weak to Physical || Weak to Magic
 * Turn 6 || Weak to Physical || Weak to Magic
 * Turn 7 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn 8 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn 9 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn X || etc || etc
 * }
 * Turn 6 || Weak to Physical || Weak to Magic
 * Turn 7 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn 8 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn 9 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn X || etc || etc
 * }
 * Turn 9 || Weak to Magic || Weak to Physical
 * Turn X || etc || etc
 * }
 * }

Strategy

 * Bring an elemental defense buffer such as Minfilia or Marie to protect against his dark-element attacks, or wear equipment such as Hero's Shield, Demon Mail, or Cupid's Sandals. Note: Tilith's Rainbow Veil does not provide dark-element defense.
 * Equip gear or materia to defend against Blind, Silence, and Paralyze such as Jeweled Ring or Discernment, or bring a multi-target status effect healer such as Rem or Luka, or use Lakshmi's Waking Protection ability.
 * Be sure to bring an ATK/MAG debuffer such as Ling, Warrior of Light, Meliadoul or Orlandeau, his damage output is tremendous otherwise.
 * Similarly, bring an ATK/MAG buffer to increase your own damage output, since you have a limited number of turns before Shadow Lord changes up his defense.
 * Demon Killer / Man-Eater and accessories such as Sun Barrette are effective against Shadow Lord, although the effect of each is halved because of his dual nature.
 * Diabolos has both Demon Killer & Man-Eater with 50% Dark resist.
 * Consider bringing an attacker who can debuff Shadow Lord's elemental defense with an element he and your other damage dealers can also attack with (with the exception of dark-element debuffs), because he has 0% elemental resistance except for dark, which is set at 100%.
 * This includes units such as Ace when equipped with Holy Rod, Orlandeau when equipped with Excalibur or Durandal, Olive, etc.
 * Depending on the type of damage your team is set up to deal, consider defending on the turns during which his DEF or SPR is not debuffed. You could also close and reopen the game after seeing either Swarth of Silence (def debuff) or Damning Edict (spr debuff) to hopefully get the desired one.
 * Unit with 100% evasion plus 100% Dark resist will be immune to all of Shadow Lord's attacks.
 * Using Jump (or similar ability) with all remaining units right before the pattern change makes the boss skip out on rotating his debuff, and 3 turns later he will apply the same debuff that he already has. His moveset still rotates, though.

Notable Units:
 * Minfilia is immune to status ailments, can buff dark-element defense, DEF/SPR, and ATK/MAG, and if equipped with Protection of the Twelve, can and will likely heal your team, considering the number of Shadow Lord's attacks per turn.
 * Warrior of Light can debuff Shadow Lord's ATK/MAG, and Light is with us! can provide tank for the entire team. Be sure to equip him to high-HP and possibly dark-element resistance.
 * Ling can debuff Shadow Lord's ATK/MAG, heal status ailments, and act as an MP battery if necessary.
 * Meliadoul can debuff Shadow Lord's ATK/MAG, can buff DEF/SPR.
 * Marie can buff the entire party for status immunity and DEF/SPR with an enhanced Lovely Guard on turn one, and then elemental resistance and heal over time with an enhanced Love You All on turn two. Rotating this every cycle, with defending on turn three, should ensure the full party's survival.

Event Period
Event Period:
 * Start: 9/15/17 00:00 PST
 * End: 9/29/17 23:59 PST

Raid Summon Period:
 * Start: 9/15/17 00:00 PST
 * End: 10/4/17 23:59 PST

Make sure to use up all raid coins on raid summons before it is over!