BST Subjob Solo Leveling Guide

(Work In Progress)

Solo /BST Camps aka No Jugs, No Problem

With the current state of Horizon, soloing on BST gravitates towards ①Call Beast and ②slaughter Easy Prey of your choice. If you're reading this, you probably know why:

• HorizonXI's Jug Pets are buffed vs. Classic FFXI
• The XP curve grants a lot more points for a wider range of EPs than it used to

With that in mind, what do you do if you don't have access to Jug Pets? Well here are some suggestions for aspiring /BST. This list will primarily focus on T/EM/DC vs. low EP camps that I've done and can recommend on BST and /BST. It is by no means a be-all and end-all guide. YMMV.

LVL	Pet	Max LVL Gap	Prey	Location	Notable Drops	Notes
14+	Dhalmels, Wasps, Grubs	13	Bees, Saplings, Yagudo, Goblins	Tahrongi Canyon (I-8)	honey, beehive chips, seeds	Lot of roaming, run a circuit to the Mea crag and back if needed. When EPs turn TW start targeting Dhalmels. You can ghetto Reward your pet wasp by being out of range when it uncharms, often causing it to use Pollen. Custom Mobs
14+	Dhalmels, high LVL Bees	13	low LVL Bees, Saplings, Yagudo	Tahrongi Canyon (F-5 / F-6)	honey, beehive chips, seeds	This spot works if the other canyon camps are crowded. No grubs or wasp pets, but there are some LV15-20 Killer Bees near the Tahrongi Cacti. Watch out for the higher level gobs though (or kill them). Also several nearby Excavation Points Custom Mobs (the bees and gobs near the Cacti are higher level custom pops)
20+	Flytraps	8	Digger Wasps	Carpenters' Landing	bleh :(	North Landing (via N.San d'Oria) Can come here earlier and use lower level Pugil (17-19) and Funguar (16-19) pets if you're sick of Tahrongi and/or not comfortable charming potentially T Flytraps (20-22), which feel fairly charm resistant. This is where Charming on the run at max distance with animation cancel will help, essentially giving you at least one free mischarm. The wasps (14-17) don't drop beehive chips or honey for some reason, making the camp far less appealing. And there's a few Orcs, bats (at night), and a bomb (during fog) that gum things up a little. Despite that, it's a chill/easy camp, and for San d'Orians this is as convenient as it gets. Can target beetles (15-18) too.
22+	Crawlers	9	Goblins	Maze of Shakhrami (G-7)	armor pieces, desynth items, gil	Map 1 Can start off using lower level Combats for pets, but be careful of links. Bring pickaxes if you don't mind lots of breaks for so-so returns. Also a usable scorpion that's LV25-28.
23+	Funguars	10	everything	Pashhow Marshlands (G-7 / G-8)	honey, beehive chips, gil	If you run out of mobs, you can bide the time doing other funguars, in which case there's a few more funguar pops from H-8 you can reel in.
25+	Poison Leech	12	everything else nearby	Ordelle's Caves (H-8)	seeds, minor scrolls, armor pieces, gil	Map 1 (leech room) Linking the leeches is fatal, so pet pull to draw one out and then Charm it. The nearby gobs are unfortunately higher level than is ideal, but are mostly the squishier mage types, so still worthwhile. Sneak/Invis vendor for 500-1000g each.
27+	Clipper	12	Fly Agaric, Hognosed Bats	Ordelle's Caves	mushrooms, dark crystals, bat wings	Map 2 G-6 (PLD job quest room) Charm Clipper > go downstairs and kill bats on the way to the shroom room > kill shrooms > grab new Clipper as needed. Drops are so-so and there's a lot of annoying running. Might want to skip this camp if others are available, but if you can put up with it for a few levels, you can progress to Goliath Beetles vs. Shriekers in the same room, which is a much nicer time. Can come earlier and use those Shriekers as pets also. The Stink Bats are also viable targets, but start turning TW at 28. If you're not killing these, you'll probably top out at 4 to 5k/hr, since your kill speed may outpace the repop speed of the 5 mushrooms and 3 Hognosed Bats.
28+	Big Bats, Leeches etc.	11	Worms, Bats	Korroloka Tunnel	zinc ore? meh	E-9 Map 2 leading to E.Altepa exit When the worms start turning Too Weak, you can move camp to the Sea Monk (L32-35, charmable) room and do Fish/Manta vs. Seeker Bats. Maybe bring some Iron Ore to pop Morion Worm when you're in your 30s? Never tried tho, so no guarantees.
28+	Big Bats, Slimes	8	Goblins, Triple Bats	Ranguemont Pass (F-9)	minor scrolls, gil, bat wings	Not the tastiest of zones, but good enough to tide you over for a few levels and easy to get to for San d'Orians.
30+	Goliath Beetles	7	Shrieker, Hognosed Bats	Ordelle's Caves	mushrooms, dark crystals, bat wings	Map 2 G-8 (PLD job quest room) May need a Clipper in your pet rotation if you accidentally lose 1 of the 2 beetles. If you run out of mobs, you can clear out the big bats and lower level mushrooms downstairs too. Similar to other early level camps, you should be able to hit some pretty juicy xp rates here. Use the poor man's Leave as necessary (see Miscellaneous Tips at the bottom).
30+	Goliath Beetles	9	Slash Pines, Seeker Bats	Ordelle's Caves	seeds, wings	Map 3 I-7 (Stroper Chyme area) Drops uninteresting here, so another filler camp for variety. The Goliath Beetle > Shrieker camp above is much better. Try not to aggro the Smithy in the middle of the Slash Pines.
35+	Coeurls, Diving Beetles	15	Lizards	Sauromugue Champaign	occasional skins, eggs	Drops not that great, more of a filler camp to get through some awkward levels and get some subjob(s) to 37. The original Champaign Coeurls are LV30-34, but only one spawns in the vicinity. The others are higher level custom pops that can be charmed off the ledge to the east. Some bats that spawn at night and a lower tier Yagudo Votary to help flesh things out a bit.
42+	Leeches, Funguar	15	Smithies, Furriers	The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah (J-10)	helms, gil	A bit roamy, may want to start pulling next target while your pet finishes off current.
42+	Leeches, Flies	6(P)	Goblin Pets +α	The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah (H-8)	Not much other than seals, but...	Though this list is mainly focused on decent money camps, an exception can be made for this fun-paced XP-focused camp. Can do just gobbie pets, or have your pet fight bats/robbers while you solo pets. Either way, you can be lazy here and still hit 6K+/hr without Dedication effect.
46+	Crabs, Fish	15(P)	Beastmen, Bugards, 1 pet	Misareaux Coast (I-6)	used Gigas clothing, bugardry	Snack on the Gigas's Sheep while your pet is taking out other stuff.
48+	Cat, Fish	12(P)	Gob Pets	Yhoator Jungle (I-7)	Not much other than seals, but again...	Another 3-pet camp, more aggro than Zi'Tah previously, but 6K+/hr possible w/o ring. The notch in the big rock closest to the Den of Rancor tunnel is an aggro-free spot, but you'll still need to move occasionally to get in range. Tree NM sometimes pops here often already occupied
50+	Saplings, Lizards, Rumblers	6	Labyrinth Lizards	Crawlers' Nest	eggs, vendor fodder	North section. Not an extreme EP camp and the xp is bleh, but the drops can be pinata-like and worth it depending how much eggs are going for. 6 chest pops in your direct vicinity and the lizards drop keys. Some or perhaps all of these are Horizon Custom Mobs
55+	Migrant Dobsonfly	17	Beastmen, bugards, 1 cluster	Misareaux Coast (G-7)	gil and stuff	Custom Mobs Bring hatchets, there's one logging point nearby You may run out of mobs, in which case work in 1 or 2 Flytraps further north. Also a couple beehive chip spawns to the east that are sometimes EP.
55+	Scorps	12	Cockatrice, Goblins, Leeches, EP Scorps	Labyrinth of Onzozo (G-9)	cockatrice stuff, gil, blood, shells, claws
60+	Helm Beetles	15	everything in the ring, except Frank	Crawlers' Nest	jaws, silk, shells, shrooms	South section. Rumblers can work as pets too, but almost no level diff. Might as well go to a diff camp at that point.
63+	Scorch Dhalmels	16	Anticans, Beetles, Scorps	Western Altepa Desert (D-11)	jaws, claws, shells, Antican used clothing	Custom Mobs
67+	Succubus Bats	15(P)	Tonberry's Elemental	Den of Rancor	none (pet camp)	Many elemental pets in zone, but probably the most viable spot is G-11 in the basement (Map 2). Some space against the wall or in the dimpled area in the middle relatively free from aggro and 3 Tonberry SMN within pulling distance. Hassle to get here though, and everything aggros. Probably better suited to a mini-burn PT tbh. But if you're feeling adventurous...
70+	Moss Eaters	6	Spiders, Crabs	The Boyahda Tree (G-10)	webs, meat, shells	Moss Eaters max out at level 66. So why come here? And why wait til 70? A max lvl rabbit will beat any spider or crab solo w/o your help despite being similar levels, so it's worth it to convert and keep them at max with the help of Leave. This let's you read, watch videos, do other stuff while you farm. The 68 mandies are decent too, but slower and can get annoyingly intimidated. Another good reason to come here is that Aquarius is often an easy camp for 20-40K gil per kill. (Post-rebase note: quite a few NMs are buffed compared to pre-rebase, may need to re-evalute Aquarius feasibility at this level.)
71+	Torama	22	Goblins, Mantas	Labyrinth of Onzozo (G-6 / I-6)	skins, ingots, armor pieces, grenades	Peg Powler, Narasimha, Mysticmaker drop nice gil if you can pop/catch them. Treasure Chests are conveniently close compared to other zones. Torama vs. Torama can be worthwhile as well, depending on the price of skins. At 71, gobs and mantas used to not aggro and still yielded XP prior to rebase. Unknown whether this will be reverted or not.
71+	Tracker Antlion	15	Tulwar Scorpions	Attohwa Chasm (G-9)	claws, shells	West side. Supports 1 person only - the first scorp tends to repop by the time you've killed the last scorp. Simple, chill camp. Not as lucrative as the others though.
71+	Sulfur Scorpion	11	hecteyes, bombs	Ifrit's Cauldron	bomb arms/ash, Damp Hakutaku Eye	Map 7 H-11 Level gap isn't as great as prior camps, but suicide bombs often make up for that, and Damp Hakutaku Eyes can go for 5 figures. Bomb Queen trigger items too, but those move really slow in bazaar.
LV	mob name	gap	prey	zone name (pos[[File:Zone name/Maps|512px]]<span style="position:absolute; left:34px; top:px; z-index:15; width:32px; height:32px; background: 5555FF; opacity:0.5;">)	drops	notes

※Max LVL Gap = Max LVL of Pet - Min LVL of Prey. As long as the prey still yields XP, the higher the gap the better in general.

Some additional notes:

• Re: Starting Level

Most of the starting levels listed are 1-2 levels below the max level of the main pet you'll want in that area. Yes, this means you shouldn't shy away from charming Ts if that's what is available, rather than spending time trying to convert to EM (no Leave anyway until 70) or settling for a worse camp just cause there are pets that cap at your level. With Horizon's Rebase, this is admittedly harder now. Mobs are noticeably (and imo rightfully) more difficult to charm. If you have a standard Charm set though (Corsette, CHR rings, Noble's Ribbon, Bird Whistle, Light Staff, HXI Trimmer's Mantle, certain Errant pieces for mages etc.) and are prepared for the occasional mischarm, this shouldn't be a big problem. You can play to your job's strengths. On NIN or THF, maybe that's your shadows and/or evasion. On BLM/RDM/BRD, maybe you can Sleep your target as your pet is about to die/uncharm (or play super safe and Heel > Sleep target > manage pet). On WHM, maybe you're cure bombing yourself occasionally during mis-Charms (with RR up ofc). Maybe you'll have to decide between keeping TP or sacrificing it to Charm with Light/Apollo's staff, etc.

• Re: Level Gap

The greater the difference between your pet and your prey, the better, so most of the info here highlights spots with pets that greatly overpower the nearby prey. Because of the current base XP distribution curve and its increased weight on EP point value, you will get about the same or more XP compared to doing the old school DC/EM vs. EM/T+. And you'll get more drops as well, thanks to killing a larger number of targets in the same amount of time. I've heard that EM vs. DC/high EP is the sweet spot, but this has not been the case for either XP or drops in my experience.

• Re: Drops vs. XP

The listed camps have a greater focus on drops in general, since the difference between 2k vs. 4k/hr is not so significant in my opinion. If you were really interested in XP, you'd just start/join a burn party to churn 10K+/hr. Better to think of soloing as farming with a bit of XP on the side. For that reason, I tend to pass on targets/camps with bad drops, even if the level gap is good.

• Miscellaneous Tips
  • Incorporating /displayhead into your macros or using LUA for equipset swaps will allow you to cancel animation lock, often increasing your survivability (also slightly boosts DPS in parties since you will be able to engage enemies sooner).
  • Before 35 (or 70 on /BST), you can do a ghetto Leave by being farther than 25 yalms from your pet when it uncharms.
  • After rebase, you can no longer run in circles with impunity waiting for the cooldown timer after a mischarm. Your target will catch up and hit you. In that situation, it's often better to turn and face the mob so you at least have a chance to get Block (don't need to be engaged) or Parry (must be engaged) procs.
  • Adding a "/target <bt>" to the end of your Charm macro will save you a lot of keystrokes and occasionally prevent mishaps, particularly if you find yourself having to swap pets in the middle of a fight while running away from your target (ex. soloing certain NMs) and don't have the luxury of stopping to turn your camera and manually bump the cursor back to your target. On that note, I recommend the Horizon-approved XICamera addon to expand your FOV and increase the camera rotation speed.
  • You can rest/cure/etc. without generating additional enmity by doing so 30+ yalms away from your (pet's) target. This comes in handy during longer fights where you just want to throw pets at something until it dies (ex. NMs). Your pet taking taking a swing at something will always shift hate away from you, as long as you haven't taken any other enmity generating actions.
  • Yes, /BST can use pet food.
  • Forget what else I wanted to add here...

Feedback/suggestions welcome on the Talk page.

(To-Do/Revisit Further: Maze, Ranguemont, Chasm)