1000 Needles damage is split between all party mambers, alliance members , pets, avatars, and fellows in range.

Sabotender will only use Photosynthesis in the day time.

Sabotender are Monks, and will attack and kick just like them.

This spell can be soloed starting in the upper 50's. No party is needed for to kill the Sabotender, but to survive 1000 Needles, having others with you is a plus.

Not much in the way of special items are needed. One or two friends, pets, or fellows, to soak up damage from 1000 Needles. A Chocobo to get to camp, and a low damage weapon to feed the monster TP helps.

Zone into Western Altepa Desert and head to the small lake located at G-7 near Revelation Rock. It's noted above with a red circle. There are three Cactuar which live in the pool. There is aggro on the way to camp, and some beetles near the camp which will aggro via sight, and the Cactuars will aggro sound, but are non-linking. Take proper care.

This is the best camp because there are always Sabotender here, and you do not need to wander the zone to find them.

Many would think that Eastern Altepa Desert would be a better camp, as the Sabotender there are much lower in level, and not too hard to find. It would be, if not for one thing: Cactrot Rapido. He's a level 80 or so NM Sabotender that runs about the East Desert just looking for someone fighting a regular Sabotender. He'll link with what you are fighting, and then, while providing a righteous beat down, he might gift you with a viewing of 10,000 Needles. Needless to say, this can put a real damper on your spell hunting. Don't hunt in the East.

At the level which you can learn the spell, the Cactuar will present no challenge. But surviving the required view of 1000 Needles is needful! This is easily done by bringing at least two other people (or pets, avatars, wyvern, puppets, or Adventure Fellows) This will divide the damage between all of you, and you'll have no issues surviving the spell. Kill the Cactuars in the lake one at a time until you get the spell. They repop fast enough that you'll not need to stray for more targets.

~~~

If you find yourself needing to hunt the spell, and no friends are about to help, and you don't have a fellow who can survive a 500 point hit more then once, then you can still hunt the spell. You just need to be much more careful.

Here is a method used by a BLU/SMN, though it would work for /BST or /PUP with minor changes to fit the subjob choice:

First have carby buff you with Shining Ruby, and eat a meatkabob for ATT, and gear up for DEF, drank a Persikos Au Lait. Engage the target with Carby. Since Carby doesn't do much damage at all, he won't pull hate, so you will be tanking.

Start off with heavy DD spells, and lower the mobs health to under 40%, then rely on staff or club damage only. That way, after the mob uses 1000 Needles, you can spam DD spells quickly to kill it without worrying about it getting enough TP to fire off another Needles before it dies.

When 1000 Needles goes off, carby will probably die, You'll take 500 damage, but should still be in very good shape afterward, and finishing the mob off is easy.

Since carby is draining your MP quickly, you want to finish each fight as fast as possible. If you are closer to the level to learn 1000 Needles, your staff skill (if leveled) will allow you to hit the mob reliably, so you might consider using a Light Staff to help with carby's perpetuation cost. Remember that your physical spells will not land as well if you use a club or staff. So switch to your sword when you move to casting DD spells.

The Sabotender in Eastern Altepa Desert would make good targets but as mentioned above, Cactrot Rapido can make your spell hunt end very badly there. Hunt these at your own risk. A three unit party can do the job.

There are higher level Sabotender in the Quicksand Caves, and Kuftal Tunnel, but most will be harder to kill and get to, and will require help with to beat. So they are not recommended.