Ok everyone that plays FFXI knows one of the hardest fights you have to do (especially for a red mage!!) is to beat Maat in the game.  The reason it is so hard is that Maat is an old guy who you have to fight solo, and you cannot take anyone else with you. He also has this little thing about him in that his main job becomes whatever job you are and he will match your stats, meaning this is no joke- it’s you and him!  You can’t get around fighting him if you want to level past 70, and unlike you he gets to keep a sub-job on him (which is a monk). This means if he gets near you he is going to do more damange than you can possibly know.

Anyway, everyone says Red Mage is the hardest to beat Maat with. Why? I don’t really know but it is common knowledge that Red Mages across the PlayOnline servers cry, cry, cry when the Maat fight comes along.  In fact, I know two Red Mages who leveled other jobs because they couldn’t beat Maat!  Navaru (Azn PMS) is also a Red Mage and it took her 8 times to beat him; and I consider her a much better player than myself. 

So you can imagine how unbelievably scared I was when I had to prepare for this battle as I approached level 70.  I first got the scoop from Navaru who filled me in on all the details of the fight and how she finally beat him. Of course everyone and their mother also offered their opinions but I let it go through one ear and out the other, only paying attention to things I heard multiple times.  Navaru said to go on Darksday so my Sleep and Bind spells would stick on him. And so I set off for my first encounter.

Now, I had Sehanine (Cella PMS) and Navaru on my Teamspeak server when I went in, thinking that would help.  It didn’t.  When I zoned in for the fight I sat there talking to them about when to do, not knowing that Maat was sitting there casting a million buffs (spells that protect him from a million things) on himself.  By the time I ran up to him he was so buffed that nothing stuck on him and I sat there trying to sleep him over and over while he beat me to a bloody pulp with those Monk fists. I didn’t even get one hit in… 1-0 Maat…

The second time I landed my early spells.  I ran in and slept him right away this time so he wouldn’t buff. I then drank a Yagudo Drink so I wouldn’t have to waste 40 mana points (MP) on my refresh then buffed myself, dispelled him (which takes away any buff he might have gotten off), buffed myself, binded him so he wouldn’t be able to get near me when I nuked him with magic, then used Aero 3 on him- score! I then converted (an ability I have that allows me to switch my health points-HP-with my MP), slept him again, used chainspelled (a two hour ability that allows me to cast magic with no wait time for 30 seconds) then I spammed Aero 3 on him till my MP was out. He had only 1/4 his HP left! Unfortunatly, as I did not have my White Mage sub job, when I converted I did not get to cure myself, so when Maat used chainspell right back on me, I didn’t get to get anything else on him….. 2-0 Maat.

I proceeded to use the same strategy the next few times to no avail and didn’t get as close as I did the second time. 4-0 Maat.  However, by the 5th time I researched online before fighting him. You have to get a testimony in order to fight Maat EVERY time, and the testimony is not an easy thing to get. I had to rely on my friends every time I had to go hunting for one, as I can not simply go get it myself. The mobs are too hard. So I had lots of time in between these fights and they were not back to back.  Online I saw where someone used an elixir +1 which is a VERY expensive potion that instantly give you half your HP and MP back. Hmmm, I thought is 250,000 gil worth kicking maat’s butt? Uh, yeah it is…

I also read if you go in naked and then equip your gear it is easier, as it is rumored that Maat copy’s all your stats so you will be higher than him if you do this. I thought it was worth a shot so made some equipment macros and proceeded to strip for my fight.  I also went on Windsday since my Aero spells would hit much harder. I was only going to focus on nuking and pray my sleep stuck in the beginning.  This time I knew I needed every single MP I had so I slept him, debuffed him, buffed myself, used a Yagudo Drink, then RESTED for my precious MP.  He woke up before I was ready, so I slept him again. When my MP was almost full, I stood up, binded him, used chainspell and spammed Aero 3 until my MP was gone. I downed an elixir +1 and got half my HP and MP back (good thing too as Maat was now hitting me) and continued to spam Aero 3 on him.  THANK GOD you don’t have to kill him to win the fight (you just have to get him to a certain point) because when I beat him I only had 53 MP left- which means that I had no more mana left to cast more spells.

Anyway, while it is not the most exciting fight to watch because I was so slow to start and was cautious here is the video so you can see the glorious moment that I won!!!!  It was a big day for me and I can tell you I am grateful its over cuase this guy is one tough cookie!! 1-5 Fragdoll!

Click Here for the Video!