Dzemael Darkhold



The Dzemael Darkhold is a dungeon from Final Fantasy XIV, located on the Coerthas Central Highlands. It is an expansive system of natural caverns originally planned to be used as a fortress in Ishgard's war against dragonkind. To gain entrance, players must begin (or have completed) any version of the Into The Dark quest and be in a full party.

Story
Dzemael Darkhold was intended to be Ishgard’s bastion in their continuing conflict against dragonkind. However, while mining the depths of the caverns for crystals, the Ishgardians found a strange statue that came to life as they tried to move it, killing most of the miners. Knights and hired hands were called to deal with the creature, but at the precise moment they rallied to arms against the malevolent menace, Imperial troopers had stormed the Darkhold’s entrance and had no trouble taking over the place.

News of the invasion of the darkhold, apparently led by Nael van Darnus of the VIIth legion, quickly spread over Eorzea, and the recently revived Grand Companies of Eorzea started operations to discover the reasons behind the invasion, reaching the conclusion that the Empire's interest is in the sizable crystal veins deep inside the caves, that they can harvest Ceruleum to power up their magitek weaponry, or, even worse, summon their our Primal and unleash it upon Eorzea.

Objective


The main objective when going on Dzemael Darkhold is to reach the depths of the crystal mine and defeat Batraal before the one hour time limit. To fulfill the Into The Dark objective, players must go to the area labelled as "Captain's Quarters" on the map.

Inside the dungeon, there are two ahriman-type creatures, the All Seeing Eye and the Soulgazer. They patrol the dungeon at specific areas and once in a while unleash a powerful attack, that may deal heavy damage (All Seeing Eye) or cause several negative status (Soulgazer). Both creatures are immune to all damage.

Various doors are locked, and must be unlocked by stepping inside glowing circles scattered over the place; there are three types of circles, each requiring a certain number of players inside it to be activated, shown by the symbols on the circle.

Treasures


There are various treasures all over the darkhold; each one may contain a piece of unique / untradeable gear or a Grade 5 Dark Matter.


 * Warlock's Pattens - a little bit before the first dead end.
 * Bladedancer's Jackboots - last dead end before the teleporter on the first area
 * Revolutionary's Bilaud - dead end before Deepvoid Slave.
 * Solid Scale Mail - spawn in the center of Slave room after he's killed..
 * Warlock's Buckler - room north of the Slave room, only spawns after all drakes in the room are killed.
 * Alpine War Jacket - Captain's Quarters.

Batraal treasures
Upon defeating Batraal, up to five treasure chests may spawn if special conditions are fulfilled.


 * Top left chest - Verdant Hora / Astaroth Cane - Kill NW-most Orobon inside the Chocobo Stables


 * Left chest - Canopus Bill / Canopus Shield - Activate all circles in the dungeon


 * Center chest (golden) - Claret Breeches/ Claret Coif / Helm of the Lone Knight /Mitts of the Lone Knight - Defeat Batraal (always drops)


 * Right chest - Verdant Bow / Templar's Falchion - Speed run chest; defeat Batraal with 35min or more to spare.


 * Top Right chest - Canopus Guisarme / Verdant Scepter - Get every regular chest during the run.

Speed run tips


The hardest chest to acquire in the Dzemael Darkhold is the "speed run" chest containing the archer and gladiator weapons; to get it, groups need to defeat Batraal in under 25 minutes. There are several strategies to reach this objective, but a few general hints are the following:

- Use Quickstride (Archer skill) whenever possible. However, do not use it if the group will reach a blue circle before the effect is over.

- Have the Fleet of Floot trait equipped

- Run from every monster unless absolutely needed

- Cast Sleep on toads before they use their slimy tongue move

- While it is possible to get every chest and beat Batraal under 25 minutes, players can save a lot of time by ignoring the other chests and conditions.

Monsters

 * Alpgrot Orobon
 * Bone Nix
 * Diamond Tooth Hedgemole
 * Forsaken Soul
 * Hellsbound Warrior
 * Lava Drake
 * Imperial Myrmillo
 * Imperial Primus Ordinarius
 * Imperial Velles
 * Recluse Hippogryph

Notorious Monsters
It is worth noting that only Batraal gives a lodestone achievement when defeated


 * Deepvoid Slave
 * Batraal

Related Quests

 * Into The Dark (Limsa Lominsa)
 * Into The Dark (Ul'dah)
 * Into The Dark (Gridania)