Copperbell Mines (original)

Abandoned once purged of ore, Copperbell Mines lay untouched for nigh on three centuries until Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern reclaimed the shafts—the guild's sights set on expanding the mines downward in an attempt to tap yet undiscovered veins of valuable metal. Unfortunately, it was not riches the powder kegs uncovered, but sheer terror, for when the smoke cleared, out poured an army of raging giants from the darkest recesses of the mines. The hecatoncheires—thralls of the lost Thorne Dynasty—were, at last, free from their lightless prison, three hundred years of hate fueling their madness.

Duty finder description.

The original Copperbell Mines was a Dungeon in Final Fantasy XIV. A recently reclaimed mineshaft, the miners dug too deep and released a clan of hecatoncheirs that had long been trapped beneath the surface. It was the last of a trio of consecutive low-level dungeons, along with Sastasha and The Tam-Tara Deepcroft, all sharing the same loot and serving to acclimatize new players to partying with others. The dungeon was overhauled in patch 6.1, with all the boss encounters completely redesigned in response to the dungeon's unpopularity.

History[]

During the 13th century of the Sixth Astral Era, a little over 300 years before the events of Final Fantasy XIV, the Thorne Dynasty of Ul'dah had enslaved a tribe of gigants known as hecatoncheirs to assist in their mining operations by way of enchanted helmets. Though it is not known how, in 1272 the enchantments broke, and the hecatoncheirs revolted against their masters in the Great Giant Revolt. Fearing their might, the then ruler of Ul'dah, Baldric Thorne, ordered the mines collapsed on the gigants' heads, hoping they would either be crushed or suffocated to death. When no further hecatoncheirs emerged, the ploy was thought a success. The Copperbell Mines, believed to be purged of ore anyways, were abandoned, leaving the gigants to their fate.

Three centuries later, Amajina & Sons sought to reclaim the mines in hopes of finding some heretofore undiscovered mineral veins. Unfortunately, they dug too deep, and freed the hecatoncheirs who had by some miracle survived the centuries trapped in the depths of the mine, during which they had plenty of time for their hatred of their former masters to stew. Simultaneously exalting their newfound freedom and enraged at the sight of what they saw as their former masters, the hecatoncheirs vowed to never be enslaved or trapped again and began furiously attacking any other spoken they came across. With the hecatoncheirs once again posing a threat to Ul'dah, the city-state called upon adventurers to find a more permanent solution to the problem.

Progression[]

Ground Level[]

Shaft A1[]

The Ground Level consists only of a single trash pack in Shaft A1. This pack will drop a Tiny Key that will open the Sealed Blasting Door behind it, granting access to the lift down to Shaft B1 in the First Drop. Ensure all party members are on board the lift before activating the Lift Lever.

First Drop[]

Shaft B1, Maneater Rip, and Shaft B4[]

The path through the First Drop winds through Shafts B1 and B4. The party can optionally clear Maneater Rip along the way for a bonus treasure coffer. Spriggan Copper Carriers patrol throughout this area, potentially joining a battle in progress, and at one point a Hecatoncheir Stonehauler will burst through a wall as the party approaches. All Hecatoncheires in the dungeon have an instant frontal cleave in Grand Slam, and should be faced away from the party.

Towards the end of the section the party can find two bags of Six Onzes of Firesand, one on a lift just off the walkway in Shaft B1 and the other along a pile of debris in Shaft B4. Both must be collected and then placed in the Powder Chamber at the end of Shaft B4, allowing the party to use the nearby Blasting Device to open the way to the Screaming Dark.

Unlike most dungeons, some of the enemies in this section will leash after a certain distance, alleviating incoming damage when chain-pulling.

The Screaming Dark[]

Upon entering the Screaming Dark the party will find a single Spriggan Sifter that they will likely quickly kill, initiating the first boss encounter. Initially the party must simply face waves of Sifters, which will spawn in the corners of the room and descend from the walkway above. The Sifters are extremely frail and pose little threat. More dangerous are the Flambeaus that will begin spawning on the walkway, as their Self-destruct can inflict massive fractional damage. Any Flambeaus must dealt with promptly. Shortly after the third Flambeau spawns, Kottos will descend from the walkway. Kottos has no particular abilities to be wary of aside from his Grand Slam and has low HP, and should go down quickly.

Upon defeating Kottos he will drop another Tiny Key allowing passage into the back half of Shaft B4. After one more trash pack the party will find another lift that descends to Shaft E1 in B2. There is also a treasure coffer in this section around a sharp corner that can be easily missed as the party runs past.

B2[]

Shaft E1[]

Shaft E1 emerges into a room with the path forward blocked and another blasting device nearby, with two chambers branching off to either side, one of which contains another treasure coffer. To progress the party will need to retrieve more two more pinches of Firesand from both chambers. The Blasting Caps encountered in this section can also Self-destruct, with the damage it deals increasing the lower their HP is. The party may wish to focus down the Blasting Caps before they Self-destruct rather than AoEing the packs as a result.

One both firesands are acquired the party can progress to the Crying Dark. Another firesand can be found just before entering the room which will be needed later.

The Crying Dark[]

Ichorous Ire is an unconventional boss that cannot be defeated through normal means thanks to its gargantuan HP. Instead the party must use the Improved Blasting Device to spawn Blasting Caps and then allow them to Self-destruct within range of the boss. This will cause the boss to split into two smaller slimes with still massive HP. This process must be repeated two more times, reducing the boss to quarters and then finally eighths. Once reduced to eighths the individual fragments of the boss can be quickly dispatched.

The boss itself has no abilities beyond auto-attacking and poses little threat. So long as the party ensures they don't get caught in the Self-destruct themselves they should be in little danger. After the first split Spriggan Quenchers will begin spawning to attack the Blasting Caps. As the party needs the Caps alive and DPSing the boss is futile until the final phase, they should instead focus their DPS on the Quenchers.

Once the boss is defeated the party can collect another Firesand proceed to Shaft E2. The party should have already collected the second required Fireand before entering the boss chamber.

Shaft E2[]

The first half Shaft E2 contains tight, branching passages with blind corners, making it easy to accidentally stumble into a trash pack. A sneaky party can avoid a couple of these packs by hanging left as they enter the Shaft and jumping down into a small crevasse, following the crevasse, and then immediately turning right into a larger room, though this method will miss a bonus coffer tucked away in this section. Once in the large room the party will encounter a Hecatoncheir Stonebreaker. The Stonebreaker is a particularly dangerous enemy owing to its Smite of Rage, which will grant it a Boost that will drastically increase the damage of their next Grand Slam, dealing heavy damage to the tank and allowing it to potentially one-shot frailer characters. Chain-pulling can be dangerous in this section owing to the danger the Stonebreaker poses.

Another bonus treasure coffer can be found in a side chamber on the final approach to the Cold Throne.

The Cold Throne[]

Gyges the Great is a more straight-forward boss encounter than the two preceding bosses. Upon pulling Gyges will quickly destroy one of two Boulders in the room before turning his attention on the party. Gyges will start out using Grand Slam before switching to Colossal Slam. Colossal Slam affects a larger area and deals much more damage, but is also telegraphed. He can also use Smite of Rage with Colossal Slam for potentially massive damage even for a tank, so Colossal Slam should be avoided at all times.

Aside from Gyges, the main mechanic in this encounter is his Stone Servants. Once the first Boulder is destroyed, Stone Servants will begin spawning out of the wall behind it. The Servants will then move to the second boulder and begin wearing it down. This is a longer process than the first as the second Boulder is much tougher and the Servants don't deal as much damage. If the second Boulder it destroyed, it will also start spawning Stone Servants, and all the Servants will turn their attention on the party.

The encounter can fairly trivial, if slow, if the party focuses their efforts on protecting the second Boulder while slowly whittling down Gyges and avoiding his Colossal Slams. A more confident party can easily ignore the Stone Servants in favor of burning down the boss. This in effect turns the fight into a DPS check to defeat the boss before the Servants can overwhelm the party.

Encounters[]

Enemies[]

Enemy	Pic	BNpc		Level	HP	Hitbox	Abilities	Areas
		Name	Base
Blasting Cap ブラスティング・グレネード, Burasutingu Gurenēdo?		555	947	17	738	0.6y	Attack, Self-destruct	The Crying Dark
Blasting Cap (ブラスティング・ボム, Burasutingu Bomu?)		1303	1400	17	1051	0.6y	Attack, Self-destruct	Shaft E1
Copperbell Coblyn (カッパーベル・コブラン, Kappāberu Koburan?)		629	1395	17	1051	1.65y	Attack	Shaft A1, Shaft B1, Shaft B4
Errant Soul (エラントソウル, Eranto Sōru?)		984	1399	17	1051	0.8y	Attack	Shaft B4, Shaft E1, Shaft E2
Flambeau (フランボー, Furanbō?)		983	945	17	276	0.6y	Attack, Self-destruct	The Screaming Dark
Gyges the Great (豪腕のギュゲス, Gōwan no Gyugesu?)		101	112	17	11,955	3.04y	Attack, Colossal Slam, Grand Slam, Smite of Rage	The Cold Throne
Hecatoncheir Stonebreaker (ヘカトン・ストーンブレーカー, Hekaton Sutōnburēkā?)		1302	1403	17	2013	2.47y	Attack, Grand Slam, Smite of Rage	Shaft E2
Hecatoncheir Stonehauler (ヘカトン・ストーンハーラー, Hekaton Sutōnhārā?)		97	1398	17	2103	1.9y	Attack, Grand Slam	Shaft B1
Ichorous Ire (イコラウス・アイル, Ikorausu Airu?)		554	948	17	184,500	3y	Attack	The Crying Dark
			949		147,600	2y
			950		110,700	1y
			951		110	0.5y
Kottos (憤怒のコットス, Fundo no Kottosu?)		548	107	17	2,214	2.47y	Attack, Grand Slam, Immortalize	The Screaming Dark
Lightning Sprite (ライトニングスプライト, Raitoningu Supuraito?)		117	1397	17	1051	0.8y	Thunder	Shaft B1
Living Fossil (リビング・フォッシル, Ribingu Fosshiru?)		986	1402	17	1051	1.3y	Attack, Gas Shell, Painful Whip	Shaft E2
Pit Hippocerf (ピット・ヒッポセルフ, Pitto Hipposerufu?)		987	1401	17	1051	1.65y	Attack, Beak Snap	Shaft E2
Spriggan Copper Carrier (スプリガン・カッパーキャリアー, Supurigan Kappā Kyariā?)		1342	1421	17	1051	0.9y	Attack, Jittering Jig, Romp	Maneater Rip, Shaft B1, Shaft B4, Shaft E1
Spriggan Copper Copper (スプリガン・カッパーカッパー, Supurigan Kappā Kappā?)		631	1396	17	1051	0.6y	Attack, Frenetic Flurry, Haste	Maneater Rip, Shaft A1, Shaft B1, Shaft B4, Shaft E1
Spriggan Quencher (スプリガン・クエンチャー, Supurigan Kuenchā?)		985	946	17	110	0.6y	Attack	The Crying Dark
Spriggan Sifter (スプリガン・シフター, Supurigan Shifutā?)		716	944	17	110	0.6y	Attack	The Screaming Dark
Stone Servant (ギュゲス・サーバント, Gyugesu Sābanto?)		988	267	17	738	1.9y	Attack, Grand Slam	The Cold Throne

Allies[]

Name	BNpc		Level	HP	Hitbox	Abilities	Areas
	Name	Base
Boulder (岩壁, Iwa Kabe?)	1262	433	5	142	1.5y	Cannot be healed	The Cold Throne
			19	840

Items[]

Throughout the dungeon, the player may encounter the following optional chests:

• Treasure Coffer 1 - Maneater Rip (8, 8): Potion or Ether.
• Treasure Coffer 2 - Shaft B1 (9, 6): Potion or Ether.
• Treasure Coffer 3 - Shaft B4 (12, 10): Potion or Ether.
• Treasure Coffer 4 - Shaft E1 (13, 12): Aetherial Brass Gorget, Aetherial Brass Wristlets, Aetherial Bronze Plate Belt, Aetherial Rope Belt, Plundered Ear Cuffs, Plundered Earrings, Ether, or Potion.
• Treasure Coffer 5 - Shaft E2 (9, 14): Aetherial Ash Mask, Aetherial Bronze Celata, Aetherial Bronze Cuirass, Aetherial Cotton Cowl, Aetherial Cotton Tabard, Aetherial Hunting Hat, Ether, or Potion
• Treasure Coffer 6 - Shaft E2 (9, 13): Aetherial Bronze Gauntlets, Aetherial Bronze Sabatons, Aetherial Cotton Tights, Aetherial Hard Leather Boots, Aetherial Hard Leather Ringabands, Aetherial Padded Hempen Trousers, Ether, or Potion

Quests[]

Script[]

Musical themes[]

"Below" plays during the intro to Copperbell Mines. Like many low-level dungeons, "The Promise of Plunder" plays during battles, "A Fine Death" plays during mini-bosses, and the final boss's battle theme is "Nemesis".

Other appearances[]

Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]