Nexus Zodiac Weapons/Quest

Novus <<< IL 110

Nexus Zodiac Weapons Item Level 115 Patch 2.38 Starting Location Jalzahn - Hyrstmill, North Shroud (X:29.5, Y:19.6) Notable NPCs Gerolt - Hyrstmill, North Shroud (X:30, Y:20). Quests Mmmmmm, Soulglazed Relics Reward

Zodiac Braves >>> IL 125

Upgrading Novus to Nexus

Players needs to speak to Jalzahn in North Shroud (x29,y19) with their Novus Weapon equipped. After completing the Mmmmmm, Soulglazed Relics quest, players can speak to Jalzahn to choose the weapon to soulglaze. If you are a paladin, make sure to soulglaze both the Curtana Novus and Holy Shield Novus prior to farming "light". With the soulglazed Novus weapon equipped, the player will earn light by completing dungeons, trials, FATEs, Treasure Hunt, Alexandrite Maps, and PvP. After gaining enough light and returning to Jalzahn (option "Relic Weapon Novus Enhancement"), the Novus weapon will transform into a Nexus weapon.

• You can't get light from The Hunt, Guildhests or any duties in expansions after A Realm Reborn.
• The Borderland Ruins (Secure) is the only PvP content that still gives Brilliant light as of Patch 7.2.
  • This is almost certainly due to the fact that The Borderland Ruins (Secure) is the only form of PvP available when the weapons were introduced that still remains available.
• Unrestricted Party will gain you light, making speedrunning low level content an alternative to long queues.

Different activities give different amounts of light. Light earned will appear in the chat log after completing the activity. Light levels are Feeble Light (least light), Gentle Light, Bright Light, Blinding Light, Brilliant Light and Newborn Star (most light).

• Each type of Light has a secret value that advances your Novus into Nexus. Players will need to reach 2000 light points.

• Once the weapon's aetheric activity level has reached "bursting" (2000 light points), speak with Jalzahn (weapon must be placed in your Armoury Chest or inventory) in North Shroud (x29,y19) again, and select the "Relic Weapon Novus Enhancement" option to upgrade to Nexus.

Light Points

Light Levels	Light Values
Feeble	8 points
Gentle	16 points
Bright	32 points
Brilliant	48 points
Blinding	96 points
Newborn Star	128 points

Light Tiers

Players need to reach 2000 light points to upgrade Novus into Nexus.

The amount of light in the currently-equipped weapon can be checked by using the Zodiac Glass item. This will not give the exact number, but a vague indicator for certain ranges of light. The meanings of each indicator are listed below:

Light Indicator	Light Points
No Activity	0-199
Indistinct Activity	200-399
Faint Activity	400-599
Slight Activity	600-799
Modest Activity	800-999
Distinct Activity	1000-1199
Robust Activity	1200-1399
Vigorous Activity	1400-1599
Intense Activity	1600-1799
Extreme Activity	1800-1999
Bursting Activity	2000+

Light Events

• Each event you complete has a base light value and a possible bonus, which is usually the tier above it.
  • Only certain duties will have bonuses active at a time.
  • The pool of duties with bonus light will randomly change every 2 real life hours.
  • Bonus light activity is determined at the start of the duty, not after defeating the boss.
  • It is not possible to view which duties have bonus light at a given time. The only way to tell is after completing the duty, which will give a bonus system message.
• You must have the relic weapon equipped on the last boss of the duty in order to get light credit. For PvP, you must have the relic equipped when a winner is decided.
  • For The Borderland Ruins (Secure), since this duty allows switching jobs, it is possible to queue as one job (which will receive the exp), play the actual match on a second job, and then equip your relic for a third job right before the match's winner is decided.
• FATEs in other expansions also give light, but this isn't recommended solo since your weapon is only iLevel 110 and you cannot unsync them.
  • This also includes Eureka Notorious Monsters and Elemental Conflicts (Bunny Fates), as well as The Bozjan Southern Front/Zadnor Skirmishes.
  • However, Critical Engagements do NOT give light.
  • Note that Bozja/Zadnor scales gear up so your low weapon iLvl won't be an issue. Eureka doesn't scale gear, though if many people are in the zone and you're in a group, it won't be as big of an issue. Both are solid choices to passively gaining light while inside those forays.
• If working on the Resistance Weapons quest Change of Arms, running Crystal Tower alliance raids can collect items for that quest, as well as providing a lot of light for your ARR relic.

Recommended duties

Unrestricted (unsynced) runs of the following duties are recommended to farm light quickly:

• (For level 60+ jobs) The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (21~42 runs) - Simplified dungeon layout as of the patch 6.1 rework.
• (For level 80+ jobs) The Bowl of Embers (Extreme) (42~63 runs of <10 sec each) - Requires strong frontloaded burst damage (e.g. Ninja) to skip the invulnerability phase. To do this consistently, try to have the finishing attack take out 20-30% of Ifrit's HP in one hit. If failed, it might be faster to leave the duty and try again, as it takes 1-2 minutes to complete the nails phase.
• (For level 80+ jobs) Thornmarch (Extreme) (42~63 runs of 10-40 sec each) - Less reliant on upfront burst, but more reliant on AoE burst. Try to damage the king to below 41.9% before he summons adds, then one-shot all of the adds so the king spends his HP to rez all of them at once. This should be enough to KO. If the 41.9% threshold isn't hit, just AoE down the adds and make him rez them a second time, which should be enough.
• (For level 80+ jobs) The Aurum Vale (21~42 runs of 2-3 minutes each) - Smaller layout than Toto-Rak. Recommended once you can one-shot the bosses. Just run through and kill the bosses + big Morbols to break the walls; the small enemies can be ignored.
• (For level 100+ jobs) The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 4 (42~63 runs of 10-30 sec each) - Must kill before the long add phase starts. Slower than Ifrit with invuln-skip, but it's (barely) possible for low-burst jobs like Scholar to achieve ~30-second solo kills by keeping Bahamut's health above 80% until he starts casting Megaflare, and then bursting. For jobs with decent frontloaded burst damage, they can instead focus the boss down immediately for a fairly consistent 10-15s kill. This does require fairly high item level, but should become more consistent throughout the Dawntrail patch cycle as higher item level gear becomes available. In groups with at least two level 100+ jobs, this will most likely be the preferable option.

Be warned that there is a hard limit of 100 dungeon runs that can be played per day, after which the duty finder will be locked until the time that daily roulettes reset.

• This limit is unlikely to be reached when grinding a single weapon, but it may be reached when grinding multiple weapons back-to-back.
• Only dungeons are subject to this limit - trials, raids, etc do not have a limit.

Light Event	Base Light	Bonus Light
The Bowl of Embers	Feeble (8)	?
The Navel	Feeble (8)	?
The Howling Eye	Feeble (8)	?
FATEs / Notorious Monsters / Skirmishes	Feeble (8)	(None)
Treasure Hunt Maps	Feeble (8)	(None)
Mysterious Maps	Gentle (16)	(None)
Hard Trials (& Urth's Fount)	Gentle (16)	Bright (32)
The Porta Decumana	Gentle (16)	Bright (32)
The Minstrel's Ballad: Ultima's Bane	Gentle (16)	Bright (32)
The Howling Eye (Extreme)	Gentle (16)	Bright (32)
The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 4	Gentle (16)	Bright (32)
Extreme Trials (except Garuda & Ultima)	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
The Binding Coil of Bahamut Turns 1, 2, 5	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
The Second Coil of Bahamut (incl Savage)	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
The Final Coil of Bahamut	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Dungeons[1]	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Sastasha	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Tam-Tara Deepcroft	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Copperbell Mines	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Halatali	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Haukke Manor	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Brayflox's Longstop	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Sunken Temple of Qarn	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Cutter's Cry	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Stone Vigil	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Dzemael Darkhold	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Aurum Vale	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Wanderer's Palace	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Castrum Meridianum	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Praetorium	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Amdapor Keep	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Pharos Sirius	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Copperbell Mines (Hard)	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Haukke Manor (Hard)	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Lost City of Amdapor	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Halatali (Hard)	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Brayflox's Longstop (Hard)	Bright (32)	Brilliant (48)
Hullbreaker Isle	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard)	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Stone Vigil (Hard)	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Snowcloak	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Sastasha (Hard)	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Keeper of the Lake	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Borderland Ruins (Secure)	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
The Labyrinth of the Ancients	Brilliant (48)	Blinding (96)
Syrcus Tower	Blinding (96)	Newborn Star (128)
The World of Darkness	Blinding (96)	Newborn Star (128)

^[1] Some dungeons only give Bright (32) light, such as Copperbell Mines (Hard). Both Sastasha (easiest) and Aurum Vale (quickest) give Brilliant (48) (non-bonus).

Achievements

Nexus Zodiac Weapons are associated with the following achievements:

Name	Points	Task	Reward	Patch
Inspire the Nexus	10	Obtain a relic weapon nexus.	-	2.38

Upgrade To Zodiac Braves Weapons

Main article: Zodiac Braves Weapons

See also: Zodiac Braves Weapons/Quest

After obtaining a Nexus Zodiac Weapon (iLvl 115), it can be upgraded to a Zodiac Braves Weapon (iLvl 125) by starting Wherefore Art Thou, Zodiac.