Of course I'm not talking about strength and difficulty to beat since they're all the same level. I'm talking about the only purpose of hunting them besides completing the bestiary, and that is getting the halcyons. So really, the question is most annoying halcyon to get.

For me I would have to say the Diakon Entite/Halcyon was the bitchest bitch of them all. Especially since getting the thing to spawn was half the trouble.

According to various FAQs and stuff apparently the mist density is the "weather" in Giruvegan, but no matter how hard I try I could barely notice a difference. And even when I thought it was misty enough it took me several tries to find it. If anyone knows a good WORKING trick to do it rather than going around in circles in Giru and save/reload, to be able to know precisely when to expect the entite that would be greatly appreciated. I remember his Halcyon taking almost a day to find. This is my order of annoying to least annoying:

Diakon
Mardu (close second since the @$#% rain capacity constantly changes)
Undin (Although the weather changes on every move, it's in two places so that makes it easier).
Gnoma (Some might disagree here, but if you know the trick to get a sandstorm even after Earth Tyrant is dead, Gnoma is never absent during those)
Leschach/Sylphi (both the same)
Leamonde
Salamand (free Halcyon from July FTW)

I've heard people call Diakon easy, so I'd like an explanation.

Sylphi Entite is easy, iirc. I recall getting one of them to spawn in the area next to the save crystal in Ozmone Plain, so I was able to re-enter the area to greet the same Sylphi Entite repeatedly, and because of the fact that when you zone out, monsters tend to replenish their items, I was able to steal every time without actually fighting it.

I was about level 40 and on my way to the Feywood when I did this and managed to get about 5 Halcyons in about an hour using Thief's Cuffs, before I got bored and moved on with the story.

I'm sure there's probably a way of doing this (or something similar) with other entites, but other than that episode I really haven't bothered hunting them much (or at all).

The most annoying one for me was the one in the Sandsea. This is because I tried to kill him on my first trip through the area and was wiped out several times before I gave up and came back later. The others really weren't that bad for me because I got really lucky. They all just appeared on my 1st or 2nd try for the most part.

The one in the Sandsea is the one you get from July.

And yes, Sylphi and Leschach are both equally easy.

I'm not looking it up but the salamand entite was pretty hard, i didn't get to play long enoug to care about the others, just needed an extra salamand for balthiers weapon or tournesol or something, but just because you get one free one doesn't mean you don't need more.

The Mardu Entite was the biggest pain in my butt. I didn't have any trouble with the others.

I'm not looking it up but the salamand entite was pretty hard, i didn't get to play long enoug to care about the others, just needed an extra salamand for balthiers weapon or tournesol or something, but just because you get one free one doesn't mean you don't need more.

You NEVER need more than one Halcyon. You get one, that's all you'll ever need.

^aye it's true. serpantarius's yes but not the halycons, easily mistaken..was reading the guide out of a borders..

and just to throw it out there if anyone's having a party or barbecue or get together of any sort and they just have an empty slot lying around like a plane ticket or ride because I know there's alot of fat cats in this world - check out my pounced ad or ad on some other dating site and "help a brutha out" :_(

EDIT: Didn't realize this is a spam bot

For what it's worth at this point-- I never did get the free Halcyon from July. I suppose I could have looked out how you do it, but I never bothered. In fact, I've only just recently started this quest on my current playthrough-- never bothered with it on the last one. Certainly not needed for Order of Ambrosia. So far I have one Halcyon - the Gnoma Halcyon. Mardu Entite-- kinda surprised there-- I know the rain capacity is ever-changing, but I didn't have all that much trouble getting this to show up.

Agent - have you ever completed all the recipes? I know doing the recipes isn't needed for OoA, but I'm getting from your post that you haven't faced the Halcyon challenge?

And yeah the Gnoma Halcyon is better to get early. Mardu's not that hard to get to show up, but it's a bitch to have to do it over and over again until you score a Halcyon.

All I can say is, have fun getting Diakon. I know Giruvegan's lost city isn't a big place with a lot going on and generally you don't have much need to spend time there/visit it a lot for sidequests or hard marks/bosses, but honestly once you get the Diakon Halcyon you're never gonna wanna see Giruvegan again.

Nope, haven't completed anywhere near all the recipes. I guess I'll have to watch out for that Diakon one.


Does chaining entites increase my chances of scoring a halcyon? Also (tying into the previous question), do I have to steal it, or is it ever dropped?

It's dropped or stolen.

Depending on the Entite's appearance rate/pattern, sometimes it's better to go after it one way. I've never chained the Entites, but I'd imagine it does increase your chances. Meh, I never found it to be worthwhile. Like with Gnoma, if there's a sandstorm it's always in the screen right outside Zertinan, so keep going in an out of Zertinan, stealing, etc.

I'd imagine it'd probably be easier to chain if it's an Entite that appears in more than one screen and it's always there, like Salamand. But you can get THAT one for free!

Also have you ever gotten the Tournesol?

And one last thing, if you are going for completing all the recipes, it's crucial you don't forget to steal a Slime Oil from Orthros. You only need one, but the only two ways to get it are like that, and footracing 90 times in Balfonheim.

LOL, no, I haven't gotten the Slime Oil or the Tournesol ever and Orthros is long toast.

Salamand-- you did see that I already said that I never got the freebie, right?


Anyway, I got the Slyphi last night. Like you said-- easy if you just keep going in and out one section 'cause it just resets it so you can steal again.

Yeah.

But some appearances and weather effects make it hard to do that. Undin for instance. The only Entite that appears in two completely different places... of which I'd recommend Cerobi Steppe over the Pharos.

Yeah, Mardu is a bitch for that too.

Cerobi-- I'll keep that in mind.

I've never been compelled to do all the recipes myself (so much grinding for so little reward), and the only Entite I've actually gone after for the Halcyon was Leschach (for the Durandal).

However, I did just get the Tournesol - it didn't even take as long as I thought. The worst part is grinding for Wargod's Bands from Leynirs. 6% drop rate? And you need at least 4, assuming you got 1 Empyreal Soul from Montblanc? I'd take stealing Halcyons over that any day.

Well, I picked up the Mardu Halcyon last night. It seems to be one a night for me so far...

Diakon took me three days.

I'm not sure if chaining really helps or not. I've gotten all three so far through steal, not drop.

For some of them, Steal is faster anyway so it makes chaining not so worthwhile. I mean, why waste your time chaining Sylphi, which involves zoning to respawn it?

Diakon maybe, I kinda forget the horror of trying to get it to appear when I want, but I don't think I could kill it without getting rid of all the other monsters in the way, accidentally or not.

Well, my characters are high-leveled, so I don't really have any worries about having to fend off other monsters first. Sylphi-- of course. You'd have to be stupid to do that when you can just go out one section and then come back and try stealing again.