Zodiac Braves Weapons/Quest
| Nexus <<< IL 115 |
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Zeta >>> IL 135 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Upgrading Nexus to Zodiac Braves
1. First complete 
Wherefore Art Thou, Zodiac.
2. Next Complete the following quests:
A Ponze of Flesh from Papana in Mor Dhona (22.9, 7.3): 
Book of Skylight- Labor of Love from Guiding Star in Mor Dhona (21, 6):
Zodium - A Treasured Mother from Brangwine in Mor Dhona (22.0, 6.7):
Flawless Alexandrite - Method in His Malice from Adkin in Central Thanalan (23, 13):
Zodiac Scroll
Note: the Quests are completed using a combination of items from the "Purchased", "Crafted", and "Dungeon" Items listed below to get the special quest items. The quests can be active simultaneously, and completed in any order. The "Dungeon" items can only be obtained once a quest has been started and reaches the step where the NPC asks for the item.
3. Next complete His Dark Materia from Gerolt in Hyrstmill, North Shroud (x30,y20).
4. Finally, talk to Jalzahn and select Zodiac Weapon Recreation. While the dialogue tells you that the process only has a 1.4% chance of success, and that the relic will be lost if it fails, the process is guaranteed to succeed, 100%.
You will need to unlock the following non-MSQ dungeons for some of the quest materials:
Hullbreaker Isle ( King of the Hull)- The Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard) ( Corpse Groom)
- The Stone Vigil (Hard) ( Blood for Stone)
- Sastasha (Hard) ( It's Definitely Pirates)
- The Sunken Temple of Qarn (Hard) ( The Wrath of Qarn)
All the Items Needed
To obtain all of the items, players need: at least 
400,000 gil, 
80k Company Seals, 
800 Allagan Tomestone of Poetics, drops from 16 dungeons, and 8 level 50★★★ HQ crafted items. The dungeon items are only available when a quest NPC requests that item.
- Since patch 3.0, some requirements have been severely lightened and acquisition rates are much higher.
Purchased Items
| Quest | Item | Cost | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| All (1 per quest) | 4x  Bombard Core |
80,000 Company Seals (20,000 each) |
Serpent Quartermaster in New Gridania, Maelstrom Quartermaster in Limsa Lominsa, or Flame Quartermaster in Ul'dah
(requires Second Lieutenant rank) |
| All (1 per quest) | 4x  Sacred Spring Water |
800 Allagan Tomestone of Poetics (200 each) |
Auriana in Mor Dhona (x22,y6). (Appears only after completing Wherefore Art Thou, Zodiac)
|
| Method in His Malice |
1x  Furite Sand |
100,000 Gil |
Merchant & Mender in Whitebrim Front in Coerthas Central Highlands (x13,y16) |
| Labor of Love |
1x  Allagan Resin |
100,000 Gil |
Merchant & Mender in Forgotten Springs in Southern Thanalan (x15,y29) |
| A Ponze of Flesh |
1x  Bronze Lake Crystal |
100,000 Gil |
Junkmonger at Jijiroon's Trading Post in Upper La Noscea (x26,y26) |
| A Treasured Mother |
1x  Brass Kettle |
100,000 Gil |
Tool Supplier & Mender in Hyrstmill in North Shroud (x29,y19) |
Crafted Items
The following items may be crafted or purchased from another player. They must be High Quality . The recipes are unlocked by the corresponding Master Recipes (1) book.
Each recipe requires an ingredient that comes from 
desynthesizing a specific item sold by the Merchant and Mender in The Silver Bazaar in Western Thanalan (x15,y29) for 3,000 gil.
- You do not need a high desynth level to get the ingredients, the RNG is the same regardless of desynth level.
- The chance of getting the ingredient from a desynth is estimated to be about 18%[1]( 16,667 gil per ingredient, on average).
Dungeon Items
The following items may only be gathered once the requisite quests have been started and the items are asked for as a quest objective. The items are rewarded upon leaving the dungeon. The dungeons do not need to be completed with the class that accepted the quests and do not need a relic weapon equipped to be rewarded the item. The dungeons can also be completed unsynced with an Unrestricted Party.
Notes:
- The turtle boss in The Stone Vigil (Hard) can take a long time to defeat solo unsynced, due to its damage reduction. However, the damage reduction can be bypassed by certain effects, such as
Blue Mage's 
Missile or 
Level 5 Death. - The Decaying Gourmand (first boss) in The Lost City of Amdapor has a move that will trap and then kill you if you are solo - unless your damage is high enough to skip it. Consider queuing for this dungeon if your damage isn't cutting it.
Parallel routing with Animus step
For players aiming to obtain multiple jobs' relic weapons, a major time-saver is to route the Zodiac Braves step to be done at the same time as another weapon's Animus (books) step. This is possible by weaving together book purchases and the material quest steps together, as there is a lot of overlap in the required dungeons.
A recommended ordering (according to this guide by K'lo Kay) is as follows:
Achievements
Zodiac Braves Weapons are associated with the following achievements:
| Name | Points | Task | Reward | Patch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lethal Weapon
|
10 | Obtain a Zodiac Weapon. | - | 2.45 |
 What's Nexus
|
10 | Complete the quest "His Dark Materia." | - | 2.45 |
References
- ↑ As of December 2024, tested with n=451, resulting in 81 drops. (n=31 spears, n=50 pestles, n=71 mortars, n=59 rings, n=73 grimoires, n=50 robes, n=59 phials, n=58 decanters. Resulted in 10 drops for each item, except robes which had 11 drops.)
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