The first hunt - Darksteel - is a rather unimpressive one, but long overdue. This is the last Rank IV Mark, previously ignored because the critter you’re after is in the Sochen Cave Palace. Now that you’ve explored the place, however, there’s no reason not to go back and deal with this hunt, one of two hunts that take place in the Sochen Cave Palace.

To start out, find any notice board and pick the Darksteel Mark, after which you’ll need to travel back to Archades to find the Petitioner. The Petitioner - the Homesick Man - can be found in Vint’s Armaments, which is in the Nilbasse area. Talk to him and he’ll complain about wanting to go home via the most dangerous route possible, a task which is complicated by the monsters lurking in the Sochen Cave Palace, namely Darksteel. Agree to help him out by culling the most dangerous monster in Sochen Cave Palace (according to him, anyways) to begin the hunt.

Now that you’ve properly started the hunt, time for some final preparations and gear considerations. The Mark you’re after uses Dark magick as one of its primary attacks, so equipping Black Masks might be a good idea. Fittingly, it’s also weak to Holy, so if you picked up a Holy Lance in the Cerobi Steppe, now is a fine time to make use of it. Neither of these preparations are necessary for victory, but they might make things a bit easier.

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Pick up hte Darksteel hunt (left), then talk to the Homesick Man to learn the details (right).

Shelled Obstruction¶

When you’re ready, work your way through Arcades to the Sochen Cave Palace, ride the elevator down, then head south to the Temptation Eluded area, where you’ll find that all the normal beasties have all fled before the might of Darksteel. Speaking of which, you’ll find the inky black titanoise stomping about the area now, in the large room near the entrance to the Chamber of the Chosen area.

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An Uhlan equipped with a Holy Lance can deal massive damage to Darksteel (left). Return to the petitioner after defeating the mark to recieve your reward (right).

Darksteel has around 111,000 HP, and it’s Attack Power is nothing special compared to the Trophy Rare Game you fought earleir. It can inflict Slow with its attacks, but otherwise you should expect typical tortoise attacks, including Flatten, Meditate, Power Spin, Restore and Stone Gaze, as well as magicks such as Protect and Purify. Start out the fight by casting Dispel on it to remove the buffs it starts out with (Bravery, Protect, Shell) and hammer away at it, avoiding Dark-based magicks and weapons (which it absorbs) and elemental magicks in general (it only takes half damage from everything besides Dark and Holy). It’s weak to Holy, if you can exploit that, but there are few potent weapon you’re likely to possess right now capable of doing so, in which case, normal attacks work fine. When its HP are low it’ll start casting Darkra, and its magicks will cast instantaneously. You can mitigate this with Dark-resistant (or absorbing) gear like Bone Armor, Bone Helms, Demon Shields or Black Masks.

Otherwise, Darksteel isn’t too powerful of a foe, and is easily dispatched with brute force. It’s susceptible to the Blind, Disease and Poison status effects, none of which are likely to make a huge difference in this fight, and so can be safely ignored. You can steal Eye Drops, an Aged Turtle Shell or an Ancient Turtle Shell, if you care to.

Once vanquished, return to the Homesick Man in Archades to claim a reward for your prowess.