Need a new rod? You'll need to know how to get the Platinum Seahorse in FFXIV. It's one of the few fish needed to unlock the Augmented Splendorous Fishing Rod. It's a tricky beast to catch, but the game's community has been hard at work conjuring up the perfect conditions and a matching macro to make it easy.
We say easy, but the work the FFXIV community has put into landing the elusive sea critter for the 'A Dedicated Tool' quest has just made things a little easier. You'll still need to have a top-level fisher with matching gear and a proper understanding of the skill. You'll need a lot of patience, too.
For more FFXIV guides, check out our extensive look at Eureka Orthos. It'll help you climb down to the lows of the new Deep Dungeon. And if that means you're into battle content, read up on the new Manderville weapon designs and how to get them.
How to get the Platinum Seahorse - location, time, and fishing macro
The Platinum Seahorse is a catch you'll need to head back to The First to find. It's in Lakeland at coordinates X: 21,2, Y: 29,7. You will need to have a rating of 110+ to turn this in to grant two Splendorous Fishing Rod Components.
According to Reddit user Yuhi-Heroes, it's suspected of having a bite time of around six or seven seconds. The slim window makes fumbling around for your buttons a risk factor when waiting for it, which the user's macro aims to eliminate, saving bait and scrips in the process.
Paste the below script into the Macro menu and drag the corresponding button onto your hotbar. This one assumes you have the Splenderous Fishing Rod equipped and Collect and Patience II in effect.
/macroicon "Cast"
/ac "Cast"
/echo "Cast Countdown started" <wait.7>
/echo "Reel try" <se.1>
/ac "Precision Hookset"
The macro itself casts your line and attempts to reel it in after seven seconds - the average time it took its creator to land one. It also lets out a little chime to know it's time to cast out again.
But the Platinum Seahorse isn't the only thing you need to fish up to get your Augmented Splendorous Fishing Rod. At the request of an appreciative angler, the original poster offered some tips to catch the Clavekeeper, Mirror Image, and Spangled Pirarucu. Here's what they had to say.
For Clavekeeper it's a bit less straightforward as the time range is a bit wider (9~12 seconds from my experience). I used a similar macro but with a <wait.11> instead and it worked somewhat fine, but you can collide with two ! fishes. It's the only !! fish in the pool though.
Clavekeeper is located in Kholusia and can discovered when trying to fish in Seagazer Shoals. You will need a rating of 665+ to get two Splendorous Fishing Reel Components.
For Mirror Image, the same macro as in the original post. Can collide with Grey Skipper in the case the fish would bite at 8s though.
Mirror Image is located in Handmirror Lake in Il Mheg. You will only need a rating of 21+ to turn in two Adaptive Fishin Rod Components.
For Spangled Pirarucu the range is so wide that I don't think a macro would help (11~19 seconds maybe). But it's also the only !! fish in the pool.
Lastly, the Spangled Pirarucu is located in Lake Tusi Mek'ta in Rak'tika Greatwood. You will have to really lucky to get two Adaptive Fishing Reel components as it needs a rating of 998+.
So there you have it, that's how to get the Platinum Seahorse in FFXIV.
For one last Final Fantasy XIV article to read, be sure to check out our recent interview with the developers. We spoke about the resounding success of Crystalline Conflict and the wider efforts behind the game's PVP design.