King Elmer III @ ARR: Triple Triad

King Elmer III

Gold Saucer (3, 7)

	Cost	Reward
	30	117 (Win) 46 (Draw) 17 (Lose)
	Rules	Level
	Plus	7
Potential reward	Godbert Manderville — 7.92% Bahamut — 2.97%
Conditions to challenge	None

Drop rates have a color to illustrate their accuracy depending on the number of drop reports:
Red: inaccurate (less than 100 reports), Orange: somewhat accurate (100~1000 reports), Blue: accurate (more than 1000 reports)

Deck

Cards marked with a green circle are always in this NPC's deck.

Tips

Guide written by Miette Leuvoix

Using this stategy you can beat King Elmer III with the standard deck given to every player when they start Triple Triad. Note that this strategy only works when you go first and even then won't work every time. In a large number of cases however, Elmer will place cards in such an order that when you place the bomb in the middle at the last turn, the Plus rule will win the game for you. The success rate of this strategy is slightly above 50% and though you will still lose frequently, you will still gain more GP than you are losing, making it a valuable farming strategy for both earning his two cards (Bahamut and Godbert Manderville) but also a steady stream of MGP.

Note: Even if something happens to break the strategy, such as him placing a card that would break the order (which will always happen when he goes first), you can still win with these cards with knowledge of the Plus rule, so keep your eyes open.

Anonymous Player 19th February, 2021 @ 08:52 pm

This guide shown does not work at all. Its very rare he doesnt put his last card in the middle. Please remove or update the guide.

Skarthil 9th February, 2021 @ 11:04 pm

Oh dear...finally 119W/32D/17L : 6 Godbert, 1 Bahamut

Depso 9th February, 2021 @ 06:31 pm

56 wins 4 Godbert, 1 Bahamut took me 2 hrs my head feels light now, I need to sleep

Anonymous Player 10th January, 2021 @ 04:37 am

I'm having a hard time believing Bahamut drop rate is 3% (assuming independence chances each game). I'm at 150+ wins against him (150 over the last 3 games and who knows how many more in the few times I played last week).

Anonymous Player 25th December, 2020 @ 01:52 am

The guide by Miette does not work whatsoever.

Anonymous Player 15th December, 2020 @ 12:16 am

12/13/20 Anon here...ELMER IS DEFEATED! Final count: 44W/47L/4D. Godbert at 28 and 33. Bahamut at 44. Don’t give up! Take him ten or so games at a time and take a break. Good luck everyone!

Anonymous Player 13th December, 2020 @ 05:00 am

Alright, I’ve gone at him off and on over the years. Have Godbert. Decided to have a go at him tonight between open tourneys. Reporting to you live from Hell - 68 games, 32W/32L/4D. 1 Godbert at 28 wins. Used Miette’s strat. Also, I have no evidence to support the fact that stopping to /slap him around every 12 games triggers a few wins, but it made me feel better so I’m including it.

Anonymous Player 14th November, 2020 @ 06:02 pm

As a note, FFXIVFisher's strat guide over on reddit from a few years ago just does not work well anymore. I don't know if they swapped out cards or changed some of the placement of cards but he throws cards down in spots that do not correspond to ANYthing listed there.

Anonymous Player 5th November, 2020 @ 05:44 pm

Got Bahamut after 6 wins, no idea how I got so lucky

Raspberry Buttercream 30th October, 2020 @ 07:19 am

5 Win, 1 Bahamut!!! Kidding... The 5 wins are only just from today... More than 300 wins over the span of 5 months, finally! I hate you King Elmer III, time for us to say good bye!

Opera Morgana (zodiark) 24th October, 2020 @ 10:13 pm

after 5 years i got it

Anonymous Player 16th October, 2020 @ 12:45 am

HE FINALLY DROPPED IT! After a couple sessions of trying last week, I started today with 3 or 4 matches, went off to play Air Force One, came back, beat him, and got Bahamut!

Anonymous Player 13th October, 2020 @ 06:20 am

*7:30 pm

Anonymous Player 13th October, 2020 @ 06:19 am

I just got done doing 13 straight hours today, from 6:30 am to 7:30 am. I was incredibly dedicated. I never got one Bahamut. I feel busting all my controllers with a hammer. I repeat, 13 hours, nonstop, not even eating. No Bahamut. Rot in hell Elmer

Anonymous Player 11th October, 2020 @ 03:44 am

Got 2 Godberts in a row... this is gonna be an all nighter...

Anonymous Player 12th September, 2020 @ 05:18 am

100 games, 3 wins total. Lol

Anonymous Player 3rd September, 2020 @ 09:05 pm

Wow I got him after only 7 wins!

Anonymous Player 2nd September, 2020 @ 07:49 am

38 wins 1 bahamut

CardBegger 27th August, 2020 @ 06:21 pm

after over few years of on and off playing against him 257 wins were counted till I got 19 Godbert Manderville and 1 Bahamut, here is the acquisition order: G@005th win, G@031st win, G@049th win, G@051st win, G@056th win, G@060th win, G@091st win, G@115th win, G@127th win, G@129th win, G@141st win, G@142nd win, G@160th win, G@178th win, G@184th win, G@208th win, G@210th win, G@216th win, G@236th win, B@257th win

Anonymous Player 26th August, 2020 @ 06:22 pm

1 win 1 bahamut ez

Anonymous Player 14th August, 2020 @ 09:53 am

Over 200 wins and counting, probably closer to 300 by now- no Bahamut. I've stopped counting and just do 20-30 wins a day.

Taya Tayuun 7th August, 2020 @ 07:26 am

In my long journey for Bahamut I finally won him tonight after 26 wins this attempt alone, also 1 Godbert in tonights drop of 26 wins.

Anonymous Player 21st July, 2020 @ 04:59 am

10 minutes, starter deck, around 25-30 games. 0 Godbert, 1 Bahamut, red started the game. RNG liked me this morning.

Anonymous Player 18th July, 2020 @ 05:33 pm

54 wins, 5 draws, 11 losses. 9 Godbert cards and one Bahamut. Followed this guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/4kdkoy/great_way_to_farm_king_elmer_to_get_your_bahamut/

Anonymous Player 13th July, 2020 @ 08:57 pm

5 hours...for 1 bahamut and 14 godberts... 5 fucking hours...

Anonymous Player 22nd April, 2020 @ 01:31 am

21 Godbert and 1 Bamhut :D

BaranSAMA 21st April, 2020 @ 09:58 pm

1 draw 1 lose 1 win bahamut LOL

Kid_Nicoras 3rd April, 2020 @ 09:29 pm

167 Wins, 10 godberts, 1 Bahamut

JayNyne 3rd February, 2020 @ 07:38 pm

There is a very long post on Reddit with a strategy that works most of the time but doesn't account for certain variations of moves that King Elmer will use. The most reliable deck I used to beat this guy and finally get my Bahamut was a fairly typical corner build consisting of Lyna, Lucia, Roundrox, The Griffin and Squall. Start each match if possible by putting Squall in the top left. Guard your weaker sides and take his cards pretty aggressively. Avoid placing Roundrox above Urianger if there is a space between them. Avoid placing The griffin and Lucia apart with a space between them, unless you are sure Hildi/Godbert have already been played/won't be played. Sometimes he'll create a space that Bahamut can flip with the plus rule. Identify and plug it. Most importantly bring patience this one took longer than any card I've gone after so far. Good luck.

Towkii Wartooth 8th January, 2020 @ 06:37 am

Got a Bahamut card after many tries.

Anonymous Player 3rd January, 2020 @ 11:10 am

already got bahamut cards multiple times but no godberts

Anonymous Player 25th December, 2019 @ 10:15 pm

first game, first win, got Bahamut lol

Anonymous Player 23rd December, 2019 @ 05:42 am

Bahamut took 47 wins. 32 Losses, 35 ties.

Anonymous Player 4th December, 2019 @ 09:08 pm

90 wins for Bahamut

Aerin Kyoha 20th October, 2019 @ 10:23 pm

Been spamming him all day, no trouble having wins but not getting bahamut. Got 4 godberts, no bahamuts

Christopho 20th October, 2019 @ 07:44 am

BY FAR the most consistent win strat: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/4kdkoy/great_way_to_farm_king_elmer_to_get_your_bahamut/ I've tried 4 different decks and NOTHING is consistent as the above. Win ratio is near 100% and on the rare occasion a loss might happen, you can turn it into a draw. Just be aware that his numbering is based off the numpad. Also, if you ever hit a point where the path strays from what he puts, try to look at the bigger picture and you can probably still turn it into a win (end result is almost always putting Moogle at 1). Would highly recommend copy+pasting that list into google sheets/excel so you can view it on a separate monitor. Be warned that it still took me about 8-10 hours of farming to get Behemoth but I probably would have gotten it sooner if I employed this setup right away (only learned of this deck during my last 2 hours of farming).

Christopho 19th October, 2019 @ 09:03 pm

There is no way Godbert is at 8% if Bahamut is 6% lmao. I've gotten 6 Godbert drops so far with no bahamuts. About 2 hours in so far. Win ratio around 50%.

Anonymous Player 5th October, 2019 @ 02:38 pm

So something strange happened to me. I had a high-power deck that was able to brute force about an 80-90% W/L ratio from Elmer, but at 200+ wins I hadn't seen more than two Godberts. Swapping to the starter and using the plus strategy In twenty wins I got five Godberts and the Bahamut. I don't know if there's a connection there but I do find it suspect that I got what I was looking for so fast after I started using his own mechanic against him. Not sure if it's related, but it feels like it.

Anonymous Player 1st October, 2019 @ 08:37 am

45 wins, for 1 Godbert, 1 Bahamut

Anonymous Player 16th September, 2019 @ 01:36 pm

8 Wins: 3 Godbert, 1 Bahamut...long time ago it was like 200 wins for 1 bahamut

Anonymous Player 23rd August, 2019 @ 10:20 am

4 Godbert and 0 Bahamut in 36 wins.

Anonymous Player 22nd July, 2019 @ 05:54 am

Used this strategy, works roughly 30% of the time, took me 186 matches to get Bahamut

Anessa 20th July, 2019 @ 09:43 am

I didn't try any particular strategy, because too much randomness seems to be involved in this battle, suffice to say, it took me over 100 victories (not just matches) to get Bahamut. Probably the worst slog in terms of TT in the game, since you constantly need to worry about Plus messing everything up.

Anonymous Player 16th July, 2019 @ 11:16 pm

Only works if you put the cards first.

Anonymous Player 10th July, 2019 @ 11:07 pm

Remember it's all chance. I lost a lot using that strategy but I won him in 15 minutes with that deck compared to the two hours winning with another. Not sure if it helped drop rate or I was lucky but I got him.

Anonymous Player 8th July, 2019 @ 07:52 am

To those that have been saying this strat doesnt work anymore, check again, I have beat him 15 times in a row today with this strat. If you know how to Triple Triad even if he takes one of the spaces you could still be able to guarantee a win if you get most of your cards in the proper places.

Tacos Al'pastor 19th June, 2019 @ 03:15 pm

Having earned the Bahamut card on multiple other characters I have to see it feels like they've altered the drop rate. I'm somewhere over a hundred wins now, about 15 Godberts. Win rate about 80% Nothing

Anonymous Player 4th June, 2019 @ 12:55 pm

I beat this cheating bastard so many times and got like 10 Godbert Manderville and no bahamut fuck this rng.

Anonymous Player 28th April, 2019 @ 12:26 am

Obviously need RNG to be favorable, but still works.

Anonymous Player 16th April, 2019 @ 04:38 am

this NEVEr. EVER works, AT ALL, EVER. the person who wrote this BULLSHIT stratagy should be beaten with a cactus.

Anonymous Player 2nd March, 2019 @ 09:04 am

*gunshot*

Anonymous Player 18th October, 2018 @ 08:19 pm

played for 1h now and this deck gives me 30 to 50 procent win rate. 1 and 2 is fine on your turn, afterwards it depends on the cards he played. The AI will almost always play the same depending on the deck he has, so after awile u will learn the win patterns.

Anonymous Player 9th September, 2018 @ 12:37 am

Both Plus strats don't work reliably for me. It's much better to leave this guy until you get a good deck then just win, mostly ignoring Plus. I use Squall and 4 cards with 2 8s - Lucia, Hilda, Qitian, Griffin. Try to take what you can defensively while setting the 8s up for a Plus using your own cards (and his Hildibrand) in case you need to bounce back.

Santoryu 15th August, 2018 @ 12:41 am

no bahamut in gold pack, took me 10 try today to finally won the card, i did play around 70 match total~

Anonymous Player 11th March, 2018 @ 02:27 pm

I won bahamut in my first gold pack

Anonymous Player 17th September, 2017 @ 02:41 pm

The strategy above doesn't work anymore. Use this guide instead: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/4kdkoy/great_way_to_farm_king_elmer_to_get_your_bahamut/

Anonymous Player 23rd August, 2017 @ 04:02 am

285 Matches (Total) - 97 Wins / 26 Draws / 162 Losses 10+ Godbert Manderville 01 Bahamut

Cyen 31st July, 2017 @ 12:08 am

After winning 20+ Godberts and seeing no Bahamut for days I'm about to give up

Anonymous Player 8th June, 2017 @ 06:08 pm

12 Wins - 1 Bahamut - 0 Godbert

Anonymous Player 1st June, 2017 @ 03:57 pm

Win the first match and got Bahamut!

Anonymous Player 29th March, 2016 @ 11:12 pm

The above was a very good strat until Square put more randomization into Elmer's play style making it harder to win with just the basic cards.

Anonymous Player 6th March, 2016 @ 07:14 am

Who ever said the above strat is a 50% win rate is a liar. Out of the 50 games I've played I've won 3-4 times.

Anonymous Player 25th February, 2016 @ 07:45 pm

22 wins so far and I've only got 1 Godbert

Daerhys Hyurgoth 22nd January, 2016 @ 06:26 pm

14 wins and I got Bahamut (and 2 Godbert) !

Anonymous Player 29th November, 2015 @ 03:01 pm

When I had a small collection, I got the Godbert card in acceptable number of win times. I forgot the number of times. A week later I came back with 29 cards in my collection. I took about 10 wins to get bahamut. Surprisingly no Godbert at all.

Shyne Mask 20th August, 2015 @ 06:48 am

it took me 167 win to get it ..

Shyne Mask 18th August, 2015 @ 05:29 am

i have won 67 times the same day still didnt had any fucking bhaamu

Karandrass Nevermore 16th June, 2015 @ 03:01 pm

Essentially he has 3, maybe 4 or 5 variations. Once you start to play him repetitively you'll begin to work out your own strategy for dealing with those times when he doesn't 'play by the rules. Altogether he's not so bad once you get to know him.

Karandrass Nevermore 16th June, 2015 @ 03:00 pm

Hope it's ok to post this here, the above guide is really clear, simple and clean ^^ it's awesome! However as King Elmer has a couple of variations this link can also help: http://imgur.com/r/ffxiv/XA3WQVz