The Zodiac Weapons are a continuation of the process that created your Zenith weapons in the quest
A Relic Reborn. You need a Zenith weapon equipped before you can even begin this process, so if you do not have one then read up on our guide for details on that.
Atma Grind
Assuming you have a Zenith weapon you should go to Gerolt in North Shroud (X:30, Y:20) and pick up the quest "Up in Arms". He will give you a tedious quest that involves collecting 12 atma stones from around the world. I say tedious because to obtain one of them you have to run around participating in low level FATEs and hope an atma drops at the end of it. The drop rate for an atma is somewhere around 2% and you need 12 of them, so expect to complete at least 600 FATEs.
You will need one of each atma and any FATE in the zone can drop it. You will need your Zenith weapon equipped in order for it to drop and you will need to ensure you have inventory space for when they drop otherwise you will lose it. You do not need a gold rating on the FATE in order for it to drop but no one knows whether bronze and silver give an even lower drop rate so we advise you not to risk it.
The 12 atma stones and locations that you need are listed in the table below.
Atma |
Location |
Maiden |
Central Shroud |
Goat |
East Shroud |
Archer |
North Shroud |
Scales |
Central Thanalan |
Bull |
Eastern Thanalan |
Scorpion |
Southern Thanalan |
Twins |
Western Thanalan |
Fish |
Lower La Noscea |
Ram |
Middle La Noscea |
Lion |
Outer La Noscea |
Water-Bearer |
Upper La Noscea |
Crab |
Western La Noscea |
Once you have collected all 12 of your atmas you should take them to Jalzahn in North Shroud, who is located near Gerolt. This will give you your atma weapon that has the same stats as your Zenith.
Books
If you thought collecting the atmas was time consuming just wait until you get to the next bit. Fortunately there is no random element in it but it is still a big grind. You will need to complete 9 books before you can fully upgrade your weapon to the stats that an i100 weapon should have. These books will cost 1500 Mythology Tomestones each so that is 13500 you will need in all, which will take 270 runs in the new dungeons to obtain.
As you can see, the books contain four categories of content that you need to complete. Completing the books is actually fun, unlike the grind to obtain the Tomestones required to purchase them. The categories are described below:
Enemies: As shown in the screenshot above you will have to defeat 10 types of monsters 10 times. These tend to be level 50 monsters in far off corners of the world.
Dungeons: You will be given three dungeons to complete out of all of the ones that are in the game.
FATEs: You will be given three FATEs to complete and you must obtain a gold rating on all of them. This bit can be annoying because some FATEs can take hours to respawn.
Leves: Three guildleves will be listed that you need to complete. These may be battle leves or they could be grand company leves. If you can't find the leve listed at the NPC in the area it is because it only displays 2 or 3 at a time and to show others you must first complete one from what is available.
Once you complete all 9 books the weapon will be converted from an Atma weapon to an Animus weapon, which has the expected damage rating of an ilevel 100 weapon. More chapters are to come in future patches.
Novus Upgrade
This was added in patch 2.28 and is a continuation from the Animus weapon. This brings the weapon to i110. This quest mostly involves farming Alexandrite from a number of sources and using it to attach materia to a sphere scroll. This can get very expensive if you use tier 4 materia. To obtain your sphere scroll you must first purchase 3 Superior Enchanted Inks from Auriana in Mor Dhona for 250 Soldiery each.
Alexandrite can be obtained by completing the quest Morbid Motivation from Brangwine in Mor Dhona and completing the Mysterious Map that comes as a reward. Mysterious Maps can also be purchased from Auriana for 400 Soldiery. Another way of obtaining Alexandrite is by doing F.A.T.E.s
You will need 75 alexandrites in total in order to upgrade your weapon, and each one requires materia. Materia can be added to stats such as Accuracy, Determination, Critical Hit Rate, Spell Speed and more and you must use the materia that corresponds to the stat. To begin with you start with tier 1 materia until you reach its cap, then tier 2, 3 and 4. Using tier 4s is where it gets very expensive.
It is possible to alter your stats in the same way once you have completed this step, and you will only need as many alexandrite and materia as the number of stats you would like to change.
Nexus Upgrade
This was added in patch 2.38 and is a continuation from the Novus weapon. This brings the weapon to i115. This stage of the relic is quite simple in execution, however it can be very time consuming.
Your task is to Soulglaze the weapon with light. This means completing trials, dungeons, F.A.T.E.s, maps, PVP and treasure hunt in order to gain points. Each activity is assigned its own value and there is also a bonus that seems to be random - meaning an activity can give more than its usual points when under bonus. Your goal is to collect 2000 lights and to know how close you are to completion you can examine your Soulglass and compare to the info below:
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+
The number of points an activity is worth is determined based on the message you receive upon completion of the activity. You will see a message with one of the following keywords in it:
Feeble: 2
Gentle: 4
Bright: 8
Brilliant: 12
Blinding: 24
Newborn Star: 32
Once you reach 2000 you can upgrade your relic to Nexus.
Zodiac Upgrade
This was added in patch 2.45 and is a continuation from the Novus weapon. The weapons have changed name and appearance and they are now ilevel 125.
This is a long questline - there are a number of different things that you must obtain. To begin with there are four main quests called "Labor of Love", "Method in His Malice", "A Ponze of Flesh", "A Treasured Mother" that form the relic upgrade and you must complete all of them to finish the relic upgrade. Each quest is described below:
Labor of Love
This quest is given by Guiding Star in Mor Dhona at 21,6 and you will have to perform a number of tasks for him:
Buy an Allagan Resin from the Merchant & Mender in Southern Thanalan at 15,29 for 100,000 gil.
Obtain a Vale Bubo from Aurum Vale.
Obtain a piece of Voidweave from Haukke Manor Hard Mode.
Obtain a slip of Amdapor Vellum from the The Lost City of Amdapor.
Obtain an Indigo Pearl from Sastasha Hard Mode.
Obtain an HQ Perfect Mortar and HQ Perfect Pestle - These can either be crafted from items desynthed from items sold at the Silver Bazaar or bought on the market boards.
Buy a Bombard Core from your Grand Company for 20,000 seals.
Buy a Sacred Spring Water for 1600 Soldiery from Auriana in Mor Dhona.
Method in His Malice
This quest is given by Adkin in Central Thanalan at 23,13 and you will have to perform a number of tasks for him:
Obtain a vial of Tonberry King Blood from the The Wanderer's Palace.
Obtain a vial of Royal Gigant Blood from the Copperbell Mines Hard Mode.
Obtain a vial of Kraken Blood from Hullbreaker Isle.
Obtain a vial of Vicegerent Blood from The Sunken Temple of Qarn Hard Mode.
Obtain an HQ Perfect Vellum and HQ Perfect Pounce - These can either be crafted from items desynthed from items sold at the Silver Bazaar or bought on the market boards.
Buy a Bombard Core from your Grand Company for 20,000 seals.
Buy a Sacred Spring Water for 1600 Soldiery from Auriana in Mor Dhona.
Buy a Flurite Sand from the Merchant & Mender in Coerthas Central Highlands at 13,16 for 100,000 gil.
A Ponze of Flesh
This quest is given by Papana in Mor Dhona at 22,7 and you will have to perform a number of tasks for him:
Buy a Bombard Core from your Grand Company for 20,000 seals.
Buy a Sacred Spring Water for 1600 Soldiery from Auriana in Mor Dhona.
Buy a Bronze Lake Crystal from the Junkmonger in Upper La Noscea at 26,26 for 100,000 gil.
Obtain a Horn of the beast from Dzemael Darkhold.
Obtain a Gobmachine Bangplate from Brayflox's Longstop Hard Mode.
Obtain a Narashima Hide from Halatali Hard Mode.
Obtain a Sickle Fang from Snowcloak.
Obtain an HQ Furnace Ring and an HQ Perfect Firewood - These can either be crafted from items desynthed from items sold at the Silver Bazaar or bought on the market boards.
A Treasured Mother.
This quest is given by Brangwine in Mor Dhona at 22,6 and you will have to perform a number of tasks for him:
Buy a Bombard Core from your Grand Company for 20,000 seals.
Buy a Brass Kettle from the Tool Supplier and Mender in North Shroud at 29,19 for 100,000 gil.
Buy a Sacred Spring Water for 1600 Soldiery from Auriana in Mor Dhona.
Obtain lost treasure from Amdapor Keep.
Obtain lost treasure from Pharos Sirius.
Obtain lost treasure from Tam-Tara Deepcroft Hard Mode.
Obtain lost treasure from the Stone Vigil Hard Mode.
Obtain a Tailor-made Eel Pie and an HQ Perfect Cloth - These can either be crafted from items desynthed from items sold at the Silver Bazaar or bought on the market boards.
Once you have completed all four quests you can go to Jalzahn and finish the upgrade.
Zeta Upgrade
The final stage of the Zodiac weapon quest was implemented in patch 2.51 and upgrades your weapon to ilevel 135. These weapons are called Zetas.
Surprisingly this is one of the fastest stages of the weapon to complete and it is similar to the Nexus stage where you had to collect lights.
The quest leads to an NPC whereby you have to purchase 12 Mahatma for 200 Soldiery each - one at a time. To complete a mahatma you must gain light, just like the Nexus upgrade. However the difference this time is that the point values for your light are much higher.
Your goal is to collect 2000 lights and to know how close you are to completion you can examine your Zodiac Glass and compare to the info below:
No Sense: 0-199
Indistinct Sense: 200-399
Faint Sense: 400-599
Slight Sense: 600-799
Modest Sense: 800-999
Distinct Sense: 1000-1199
Robust Sense: 1200-1399
Vigorous Sense: 1400-1599
Intense Sense: 1600-1799
Extreme Sense: 1800-1999
Bursting Sense: 2000+
The number of points an activity is worth is determined based on the message you receive upon completion of the activity. You will see a message with one of the following keywords in it:
Feeble: 50
Faint: 100
Gentle: 200
Steady: 400
Forceful: 600
Nigh Sings: 800
After reaching 2000 points on a Mahatma you can then obtain the next one. Once all are complete you can upgrade your weapon.
Soldiery Grind
Currently the fastest way to get Soldiery is to carry new players through content and take the 100 soldiery bonus that comes with it. Create a party of 7 players and use the duty finder on fights such as primal extremes, Binding Coil turn 5 and Second Coil turn 1-3. Most of the time the 8th player who joins through the DF will be a new player, because people who have cleared these fights generally don't see it as worth their time to run them via DF.
Alternative ways of getting Soldiery include repeat runs of Brayflox's Longstop, Hunts and daily roulettes. You could also run lots of dungeons but it is better to keep to the fast methods.
The Weapons
Below are a list of all the Zodiac weapons that are available.
A guide by Xenor Vernix of Ragnarok server.