[EMS] That 6000 day milestone / Farming "Urus Leg Accessory"

Hi guys! Today marks the 6000th day* since my character has been created! The journey continues...

*Information about items that keeps track of how old your character is can be read here, although none of these have been reissued for a while.

Big news update! The Destiny revamp blogpost is scheduled for next month! I'm currently aiming for the symbolic 12th of April (which was the release day of EMS). I'm almost done with the images and tables, which gives me about a month for one final proofreading. I'll also make sure to advertise it on the right menu and upcoming EMS blogposts for the remainder of the year, alongside giving it its own category (called "Article") to make it easier to find.

Truly, no job is too challenging for the greatest thief in Maple World, huh. Don't see that every day. What a steal.

In last month's blogpost, I wrote about trying to get my hands on the remaining Urus rewards before he leaves EMS for good this Summer. At the time of publishing this blogpost, I was unable to obtain the fabled "Leg Accessory", even with applying the best of my knowledge. That was, until I had a recent breakthrough that finally brought the solution...

You see, after examining footage of several Bowmaster runs I did, I've noticed something odd about the distribution of my attacks. When you attack Urus, the appendage that is hit will blink briefly. It's pretty straightforward. Hit the head, the head blinks. Hit the leg, the leg blinks. At least, that's how it should be. That was not the case with Bowmaster.

For whatever reason, when Bowmaster attacks, all of the hitboxes of Urus blink simultaneously. That explains why I never was able to gather enough hits on the legs; the high rate of fire was spread thin. Pretty much all of the hits went elsewhere. So, assuming that this problem would also occur on any other hold-down skill that shoots projectiles rather than working with a static hitbox, I chose Phantom as it's one of the few that works with a hold-down static hitbox.

Phantom pretty much did the trick. Within 6 to 7 minutes, you are able to break the legs solo. You'll also have ample of time left to break the shoulder and head armor, so you can have your cake and it eat it too. Here's what you need:

• 4th Job Phantom, any level as long as you have the Skill Points to max out Noir Carte. At least 1 SP invested in Ultimate Drive. 5th Job and upgraded gear are not required. You can do this on a cheap mule.
• Boost its Critical Rate to 100% (if not, as high as possible) to activate Noir Carte on every critical hit.
• Always use Judgement Draw on Auto Mode to maximize your rate of fire and to keep Noir Carte alive.
• Mandatory steal:  Heal (Bishop, 2nd Job) because 20 potions isn't enough to stay alive for 10 minutes. 
• Mandatory steal: Arrow Platter (Bowmaster, 3rd Job) to summon it to further increase your rate of fire. 
• Optional steal: Frozen Orb (I/L, 4th Job) to boost that rate of fire to even greater heights.
• Optional steal: Fire Aura (F/P, Hyper Skill) because we're bullying Urus at this point. Requires Level 140.
• Optional: if you struggle with MP consumption, Evan's Union character effect and Monster Life's "Slime and Snail" improves your MP recovery at set intervals. You do not need to invest in increasing your MP (i.e. Skill Links, Hyper Stats, Union, Additional Options) or MP cost reduction Potential.

And it's really as simple and easy as holding down Ultimate Drive the entire run and aim for the giant forearm*. Focus only on the head and shoulder appendages when Urus is toppled, you'll have ample opportunity to do so. Tempest of Card is not recommended. Use Heal often to keep your HP high. Potions are not needed, but are nice for emergency. Arrow Platter must be reset often, because Urus moves around a lot. Luck of Phantom Thief provides death protection once every 30 minutes. If you want to increase your hit count, use Rose Carte Finale, Frozen Orb and Fire Aura when available. Remember to use quick slots. I would recommend to watch my video to familiarize yourself with how to do it.

*Standard Urus strategy still applies. Avoid the big red claw. Stay inside the giant forearm. Climb on top of Urus when he falls down on the floor.

One final advice regarding damage: you do not need it. When it comes to breaking Urus appendages, the game is only concerned about hit count, not damage dealt. In fact, the more damage you deal, the harder it becomes to farm these materials. The lower Urus' health is, the more attacks he'll unlock*. To maximize your chance at success and have an easier time doing this, unequip every Arcane/Grandis Symbol and Enhancement Cores ("trinodes").

*95%: ground attacks. 90%: eat/grab. 85%: dirt. 70%: bombs. Any of these can end the run immediately. Just unequip your symbols and trinodes.

As for the reward distribution, after breaking the legs, shoulder and/or head, you're eligible to receive between 0 to 3 materials from each respective appendage. It is common to not receive materials. Even with 3 runs every day, expect to only receive 1 to 2 "Urus Leg Accessory" a day. If you are going for the chair and the two damage skins, you'll need one hundred of these. The outfits and pet are not permanent, they expire after 30 and 7 days, respectively.

Anyway, with that said, this strategy is something pretty much anyone playing this game can do. It's not complicated, and you do not need to learn how to play Phantom properly. It's pretty much as easy and accessible as it can get. Though there's a lot of technical stuff that went behind optimizing this strategy. I've left that out intentionally for the sake of keeping it simple. I do wonder though, why this strategy hasn't been covered before. This should've been possible since its release in 2015. There's gotta be some foreign post I missed... I can't possibly be the first one, right?

Good luck hunting Urus until the Dreamer update, Maplers! I'll get back to work. There's still much left to do...

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!