Despite being an avidFinal Fantasy 14minion collector, I have something to admit. Out of all 428 minions that I currently own, none of them are the Verminion rewards. I know, I know. It seems rather odd that Lord of Verminion—the minigame that utilises minions in a battle strategy arena—is one of the things I have neglected, but there’s an obvious reason: I suck at it.
I always tell myself (and others) that I have simply too many minions and so I’m overwhelmed by which to choose for each battle I inevitably lose. My title of ‘Minion Master’ feels hollow in the wake of these defeats. So I’ve decided to start working on my minion backlog and mop up all the ones I’m missing, so why not start with the obvious?
It’s high time I actually address the shameful embarrassment of not owning the minions tied to the minion-specific minigame, Lord of Verminion. There are three Verminion-related minions players can bag by unlocking specific achievements:
At the very least, my aim for the week was to secure the Clockwork Twintania earned from completing the set challenges. There isn’t a tournament currently, so the Penguin Prince will have to wait. Having tried and failed the challenges a few times in the past, at least I wasn’t starting from scratch. It seems I reached Challenge 17 before throwing the towel in last time.
Maybe I was overthinking it and using fancy minions that were just no good on the battlefield. After doing my homework, it seems the minions that people recommend most are rather basic. Kidragora, Mammets, and the Wind-up Gentleman. I had definitely been too flamboyant in choosing my favourite minions and hoping for the best before now. No wonder I was struggling before.
I went into Challenge 17 with the recommended strategy of a whole party of Kidragoras and overwhelming each crystal at a time. I secured the win on my first attempt. I employed the same strategy on Challenge 18 and smashed that first time, too. At this point, I realised it was a little sad I had given up so soon previously. Challenge 19 was a bit more touch and go and I wasn’t sure I would manage it, but using the strategy of a full team of Wind-up Gentlemen and focusing on the boss while ignoring the crystals clinched the win in the end.
From there, a mix of the same few strategies helped me win every challenge. Challenge 24 took me a couple of attempts, mainly because the pillar attack being further away than anticipated took me by surprise, but once again, the win came fairly easily. I was right to be embarrassed about not completing these before. Come to Mama, Clockwork Twintania.
I tried queuing for some player battles to start working towards the Shalloweye minion, but the queues were neverending and ultimately I ended up without any matches. I might have to rope a friend or two into helping me grind that out eventually. Regardless, I have one extra minion checked off my list and taught myself that if things are too difficult, don’t give up at the first hurdle and approach them differently.
My aim is to look at the other minions I have yet to earn and start working on them. I really should work on getting Anima, but it’s such a snoozefest grinding those duties with that old weapon… This week, I scored some easy wins and mopped up the minions I’m missing from the optional item store while it’s all on sale. So now the real question is, which minions do I aim to get next? I have 79 minions left to get, gotta obtain ‘em all!
