The Way To Anima In 5.1

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Hey /r/ffxiv, here's my guide for the Anima questline in Shadowbringers.

Prologue: Why am I writing this guide


Some of you may know me from my Zeta weapon guides in Heavensward and Stormblood. For my second guide, even more people reached out to me over reddit and twitter as well as In-game and told me about their new Zeta weapons. The Stormblood guide even got Gold two times (Thanks a lot!)! Many people asked me if I planned to make a similar guide for the Anima weapon, and since I've recently acquired my Areadbhar Lux, I've refreshed myself on the questline as well as the changes that nerfs have brought to it. Without further ado, here's the guide:

Prerequisites (Optional, but optimal things marked in italics):

  • Capped Poetics (Seriously, you're going to need a bunch of them)
  • A lot of ARR/HW Beast Tribe Currency
  • Capped Company Seals
  • A Crafter Lv60+ with decent gear
  • Patience

If you are just starting out on this guide, I highly, highly recommend that you spend your poetics on the following things as soon as you are about to cap (Items marked in italics are items that can be acquired through other means):

  1. Unidentifiable Bone/Shell/Ore/Seeds (up to ten each) (150 poetics)
  2. Aether Oil (up to five each) (350 poetics)
  3. Umbrite (up to roughly 70) (75 each)
  4. Singing Cluster (up to 50) (40 each)
  5. Pneumite (up to 15) (100 each)
  6. Archaic Enchanted Ink (up to 1) (500 each)

If you are about to cap on Company Seals, buy these items:

  1. Adamantite Francesca (up to 4)(5000)
  2. Titanium Alloy Mirror (up to 4)(5000)
  3. Dispelling Arrow (up to 4)(5000)
  4. Kingcake (up to 4)(5000)
  5. Pneumite (up to 15) (4000)

Things you should know:

  • This guide is not to be taken as a complete walkthrough. I will point out tips and tricks for each step and explain them. If you are unsure where certain NPCs, the walkthrough of the FFXIV ConsoleGamesWiki is very thorough on this part.
  • This guide assumes that the job you are getting the weapon for is Lv80 with an Item Level of at least 430 with your best gear equipped. Better gear only helps slightly, so don't worry about not being BiS or getting better gear.
  • Never cap on poetics. This quest line is very poetics heavy, so every tomestone lost hurts you in the long run. If you're about to cap, look in the list above to see what you should get.
  • Make sure to keep yourself in check. Burn-out is a real thing and can take enjoyment out of things you used to love. That being said, creating an Anima is no where near as grindy as a Relic, if you don't consider farming poetics grindy.
  • There are no bad Anima weapons. Get yourself the one you want. Don't let the opinion of other people spoil your enjoyment of something.
  • If this is your second Anima, make sure you pick up the Daily and Weekly Quests for the Aether Oil and Singing Clusters.
1. "Feel my pain! Come, Anima!"... wait, wrong game - The Anima Weapon


Items needed for this step:

  • 10x Unidentifiable Bone
  • 10x Unidentifiable Shell
  • 10x Unidentifiable Ore
  • 10x Unidentifiable Seeds
  • 4x Adamantite Francesca
  • 4x Titanium Alloy Mirror
  • 4x Dispelling Arrow
  • 4x Kingcake

How to acquire the items:

Item Currency Where
Unidentifiable Bone 150 poetics Auriana/Hismena
3 Amalj'aa Tokens Ring of Ash
6 Vanu Vanu Tokens Ok' Gundu Nakki
6 Vath Tokens Loth ast Vath
18 Moogle Tokens Bahrr Lehs
3 Precision Gordian Bolts Sabina
300 Allied Seals Your GC
Unidentifiable Shell 150 poetics Auriana/Hismena
3 Sahagin Tokens Novv's Nursery
6 Vanu Vanu Tokens Ok' Gundu Nakki
6 Vath Tokens Loth ast Vath
18 Moogle Tokens Bahrr Lehs
3 Precision Gordian Bolts Sabina
Inside Timeworn Dragonskin Maps ???
Unidentifiable Ore 150 poetics Auriana/Hismena
3 Kobold Tokens 789th Order Dig
6 Vanu Vanu Tokens Ok' Gundu Nakki
6 Vath Tokens Loth ast Vath
18 Moogle Tokens Bahrr Lehs
3 Precision Gordian Bolts Sabina
Inside Timeworn Dragonskin Maps ???
Unidentifiable Seeds 150 poetics Auriana/Hismena
3 Amalj'aa Tokens Little Solace
6 Vanu Vanu Tokens Ok' Gundu Nakki
6 Vath Tokens Loth ast Vath
18 Moogle Tokens Bahrr Lehs
3 Precision Gordian Bolts Sabina
300 Allied Seals Your GC
Adamantite Francesca 5000 Company Seals Your GC
Titanium Alloy Mirror 5000 Company Seals Your GC
Dispelling Arrow 5000 Company Seals Your GC
Kingcake 5000 Company Seals Your GC

(Note: The Adamantite Francesca, Titanium Alloy Mirror, Dispelling Arrow and Kingcake are all craftable. I find the recipes to be incredibly more time consuming, but if you're willing to gather and craft them, go ahead. While they are also craftable, they're also able to be put on sale at the Market Board. Therefore, if you have the gil available, you can also choose to buy them. The prices ranged from 50k-200k á piece on my home world, Lich.)

Starting off your Anima weapon journey, the first task (aside from teleporting to various places and talking to NPCs) comes from Syndony. She will give you the Astral and Umbral Nodules Ardashir requires to forge your Animated weapon if you fulfill one of her requests. You can either give up your Zeta weapon that you worked so hard for, or you travel to the Heavensward areas, complete FATEs there and acquire a Luminous Crystal for each area. Since this step now only requires one crystal per area (nerfed down from three), this step is a lot less tedious, making the trade-in of your Zeta less worth it. Keep in mind that it does not matter which class you complete this step in or which weapon you have equipped. Therefore, if you have any jobs to level between Lv50 and 60, feel free to acquire some EXP alongside your farming. I completed this step in about 40 minutes. I'm not sure if they drop rate got buffed, but it sure felt like I got the crystals faster than when I completed my Deathlocke back in Heavensward.

Zone Element of the Crystal
The Sea of Clouds Wind
Azys Lla Fire
Churning Mists Lightning
Coerthas Western Highlands Ice
Dravanian Forelands Earth
Dravanian Hinterlands Water

Once you have one of each, return to Syndony, trade them in for the Nodules and return to Ardashir to attain your Animated Weapon, which look like the i200 HW AF2.

Ardashir's next task is to take said Animated weapon to pretty much every dungeon between Snowcloak and The Vault. You are allowed to run the dungeons un-synced and you only need to have the weapon equipped as you exit the instance after defeating the final boss. Therefore, you can have your best gear equipped and be at Lv80 as you easily complete the dungeons. Make sure you remember to equip the dungeon after completing it. Running the dungeons un-synced is easily done, but for the sake of efficiency, I recommend taking a second person with you for the Heavensward dungeons if you want to complete them ASAP. But I managed just as well by myself. Once finished, Ardashir will awake your weapon, giving you the Awoken version of the i200 HW AF2 weapons. They look the same, but now have some swirly effects around them (Deathbringer Awoken looks really good!).

Now for the "fun" part. This next step is probably what put off most people of working on their Anima, as this is possibly the most tedious step of them all. You have to acquire the items listed above, to trade them in at Cristiana for four items Ardashir requires to complete your Anima weapon. While this step has been heavily nerfed since, I still consider it the worst step. Getting all of those items is no small feat and drains your ressources that you would otherwise need for the steps to come. My tip: If you can manage it, make sure you spend the least amount of poetics as the following steps need them. Luckily for me, I still had a bunch of Vanu Vanu, Vath and Moogle tokens left over, saving me from an insane tomestone grind. The "easiest" way to farm those items, if you lack any left over beast tribe tokens, would be in my opinion to grind tomestones passively with the daily roulettes. This is by no means "the fastest" way. I haven't tried it, but if you've got friends and/or helpful FC members, ask them if they can run A1-4N with you so you can get the Gordian tokens. It shouldn't take longer than two minutes to complete the instance, giving you 6min per item or 60min for all ten.

As for the Adamantite Francesca, Titanium Alloy Mirror, Dispelling Arrow and Kingcake, you can either craft them yourself, buy them for Company Seals (my preferred option as I'm always capped on these) or simply buy them on the Market Board if gil is not an issue for you. Going by Lich's prices, I'd say it takes you roughly 1.5m gil for all 16 items.

Once you traded those items in at Cristiana, bring those back to Ardashir to recieve your Anima Weapon!

2. Conducting your hyper into your weapon - The Hyperconductive Weapon


Items needed for this step:

  • 5x Aether Oil
Item Currency Where
Aether Oil Weekly Quest: Gift of the Archmagus Koh Rabntah (Mor Dhona)
350 poetics Hismena

Ardashir sends you off to bring him five bottles of Aether Oil. This step can either be really short if you have the poetics saved up (5x 350 = 1750) or rather long as you need to farm the poetics. You can also take the slow approach and complete the above mentioned weekly quest that rewards you with one Aether Oil. If you do so, make sure you avoid capping your poetics by buying Umbrites (see above).

With five bottles in hand, return to Ardashir and get your Hyperconductive weapon, which is your Anima weapon with Swirly effects (really liking the Hyperconductive Nothung here). __

3. I need some reconditioning myself after this step - The Reconditioned Weapon


Items needed for this step:

  • 60-75 Umbrites
  • 60-75 Crystal Sand
Item Currency Where
Umbrite 75 poetics Hismena
Crystal Sand See Ulan's Note Ulan

This step is really lengthy, but in my opinion, it's been nerfed so much it's actually kind of enjoyable. The process is easy: You turn in an Umbrite and one pinch of Crystal Sand, you get three pinches (for the first 120 Points) and between three and six pinches (for the remaining 120) of Treated Crystal Sand. You use it to amass the substats for your Reconditioned-Weapon-to-be. Once it reached 240 of substats in total, you can bring it back to Ardashir. Since there is some RNG to it, the minimum Umbrite and Crystal Sand needed are 60, the maximum 80. However, I've never seen anyone actually taking more than 75. If you have six or less remaining stat points when you turn in an Umbrite and Crystal Sand, you get the remaining points needed as Treated Crystal Sand. For example, if you're on 235/240, you get five Treated Crystal Sand the next time. Which stat you increase really doesn't matter if you work on these weapons for glamour purposes, but since there's no penalty you may as well invest in the substats that are best for your class.

There is no way to speed up getting the Umbrites. As for the Crystal Sand, my preferred way was to complete the Custom Deliveries, thus capping out on yellow crafter scrips, turning them in for Rowena's Token (Blue Crafters' Scrip) in Idyllshire and in turn trade them in with Ulan for two Crystal Sand per five tokens (125 Yellow Crafter Scrips). If you do not have a crafter or gatherer available, I highly recommend leve-ing (no, I did not misspell leveling) up one just for this step as all the other options are not viable anymore in my opinion. The trick with the Amber-encased Vilekin has been heavily nerfed, taking you close to twenty leves per item. If you're dead-set on farming poetics, the best way would be to get the five Superior Enchanted Ink & 5 Thavnarian Mist (adding up to 225 poetics per two Crystal Sand). If you have leftover beast tribe tokens, you can try to get some with the Unidentifiable Items, but that would require too many resources. Believe me, you want a Gatherer/Crafter for this and with the recent increase in Leve EXP, it shouldn't take long to get one.

Once your weapon has been saturated with Treated Crystal Sand, bring it back to Ardashir to get your reconditioned weapon! Those are entirely new models. I don't like a lot of them, but they're really unique (Flame of the Dynast is my favorite!).

4. Not entirely sure how you sharp a book but you do you - The Sharpened Weapon


Items needed for this step:

  • 50 Singing Clusters
Item Currency Where
Singing Cluster 40 poetics Hismena
Weekly Quest Reward: Seeking Inspiration x18 Amphelice (Idyllshire)
Daily Quest Reward: Cut from a Different Cloth x1 Angelet (Idyllshire)

This step shouldn't take too long. You should definitely do the Weekly Quest, which requires you to complete three Duty Roulette: Leveling. The other 32 Singing Clusters are only 1280 poetics. If you're the patient kind, you can also continue doing the quests until you've amassed all fifty Singing Clusters, which should take exactly two weeks (2 x 18 + 14 x 1 = 50).

Return to Ardashir once finished, and get a glowing version of the Reconditioned Weapon, called Sharpened <weapon_name>.

5. Anima Weapon Complete but somehow not - The Complete Weapon


Items needed for this step:

  • 15 Pneumites
Item Currency Where
Pneumite 100 poetics Hismena
4000 GC Seals Your GC

Also known as the Light Farming step. Back when I started working on my Dragoon weapon, I already dreaded this step. Luckily, thanks to being severely overleveled and some nerfs, this step took about an hour. After completing the three dungeons Ardashir asks you to run (Sohm Al (Hard), Gubal Library (Hard) and Lost City (Hard)), this step is divided into two quests you can pick up at the nodes opposite of Ardashir. One asks you to bring it 15 Pneumites (see above on how to get them), the other sends you off to acquire Aetheric Density by completing duties with the weapon equipped. All duties (dungeons, raids, trials, etc.) make the Aether of your weapon more dense, some more than the others. If you hate basic social interaction, running Brayflox' Longstop (Hard) a bunch of times is the most efficient way to do so. It should take you roughly 50 runs.

However, if you know how to set-up a Party Finder, you can have this step completed in an hour. Basically, you want to run A9S (The Eyes of the Creator) 21 times. With a party of four people, this instance takes (Faust included) no longer than 2 minutes. Party setup does not matter, a tank would be nice, but it is by no means required. You don't need a healer either. Basically, your party can be made up of any jobs as long as everyone is Lv80. You pretty much just blast The Manipulator into orbit before he can throw any serious mechanics at you. It took me 15min in the party finder to get a party of six people, and we all got our Aetheric Density in an hour. Maybe you even get lucky (I didn't) and A9S will be on bonus, halving the runs needed.

With both quests completed, head back to Ardashir to recieve your Complete Anima Weapon! Their glows have really unique designs, and all of them look great. Sure, some may not suit your taste, but I don't know any weapon that is not loved by someone. Yet, despite the name, your quest does not stop here.

6. Wait a second, this isn't KHUX - The Lux Weapon


Items needed for this step:

  • 1 Archaic Enchanted Ink
Item Currency Where
Archaic Enchanted Ink 500 poetics Hismena

Despite being the last, I always thought this last step was a leisurely cruise towards the end of your journey. Ardashir asks you to complete all of ARRs and HWs Primals in their Hard mode (not Extreme!) while having the weapon equipped. All of them up to Sephirot are soloable, Sephirot and Sophia are duoable, Zurvan required me to get a few more people. You can also just queue for them. Once finished with the trials, hand over both your weapon and the above mentioned ink to recieve your Lux version, thus completing it. Congratulations!

FAQ

  • Any tips on acquiring poetics?

I didn't do any special poetic grinding, so I may not be an expert on this. From time to time, first timers for old raids (Bahamut, Alexander, Omega) will open up a Party Finder group and ask for people to tag along with them for the First Timer Bonus. Make sure you watch out for them as they give a respectable amount for a low amount of work. Other than that, if you diligently do your daily roulettes, you can also amass a lot of poetics over the time. Watch out for your cap and spend them as you approach it.

  • Is there any relevancy left in the weapon?

Yes and no. It is technically the best weapon you can use for Lv60 duties, but the difference between it and a weapon that has been synced down is negligible. It is however very relevant when it comes to Glamour and Achievements. I personally really like the design of the weapons and I still exclusively use my Deathlocke Lux on my Machinist, despite it being almost three years after I got it. You should figure out for yourself if the "work" is worth it to you by the standards that you have set for yourself.

  • Will you be covering the Eureka weapon and armor?

Probably not before 2021. While there have been substantial nerfs to the grind, I simply don't have the time right now to get one. I finish university in 2021, so maybe if I allow myself some leisure between getting my degree and getting a job I will work on a Eureka weapon. I do however lack the motivation, as I don't really think any of the weapons look good enough to justify the grind. The armor, on the other hand, is a different case.

  • Will you update the Zeta guide for Shadowbringers?

No. The Zeta questline will probably not get changed anymore due to it already being easy to do on Lv70, let alone Lv80. If for some reason any substantial changes are being made to the questline, I will consider it.

Conclusion


I'm already on the Anima Complete step with my BRD relic, so I personally enjoyed this questline more than the Zeta questline since it doesn't have any books to do (good riddance!). Some people don't like the Anima weapons, I personally like them a lot. As I said many times in this guide, don't force yourself if you don't want it. If you don't push yourself to complete the weapon asap, you can acquire poetics passively as you play along. Doing it that way lets you finish it without any real effort being put into it (aside from the Unidentifiable items shudder).

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me either via PM, twitter or in-game (Elleane Seciere @ Lich_EU).

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