The Minstrel's Ballad: The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate)

The Minstrel's Ballad: The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate)

Level

70 (Sync: 70)

Item Level

350 (Sync: 375)

Difficulty

Ultimate

Party size

Full Party
8 man • 2 2 4

Unsyncing

Allowed

Time limit

90 minutes

Tomestones

 100 

Entrance

Yanxia

Patch

4.36

“

Just as warriors temper their spirits in battle, so too does the wandering minstrel hone his craft through colorful retellings of heroic deeds. His rendition of your triumph over the Ultima Weapon takes the threads of history and weaves them into an epic tapestry. However, his ballad contains so many embellishments and fabrications that it bears little resemblance to your own tale, and you wonder if he was even listening to you. Nevertheless, you find yourself utterly captivated─whisked away to a battlefield that exists only in your mind's eye...

— In-game description

The Minstrel's Ballad: The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate) is a level 70 raid introduced in patch 4.36 with Stormblood.

This duty is commonly referred to as "UwU" by players.

Unlock

• After completing Sigmascape V4.0 (Savage), speak with the Wandering Minstrel in Kugane (X:11.6 Y:12.6) as a level 70 Disciple of War or Magic.

• Can only be accessed via the Raid Finder after forming a party of eight players who have all completed Sigmascape V4.0 (Savage).

Guide

This fight requires parties to have at least 1 Caster and Melee DPS each for mechanics later in the fight. Throughout this fight, the arena will be surrounded by a wall that will cause instant death if touched. Players can be revived after a short while. Finally, it is important to note that this fight has multiple strategies and different methods that can be employed. Therefore, it is recommended that parties learn what works best for their individual party and use this as a base line to start with.

For each phase, the bosses will perform mechanics that can be handled with a specific method. When these mechanics are resolved this way, the boss will receive a stack of the Aetherically Charged buff. Once the boss reaches 4 stacks of this buff, they will begin to glow and receive the buff Awakened, which gives them new abilities and changes mechanics of existing abilities. If a boss is defeated in this state, a pillar of light will appear on the ground. If a player passes through this, they receive the buff Beyond Limits which will refill the Limit Gauge when the buffed player uses a level 3 Limit Break. This is required to progress through the fight.

Phase 1: Garuda

Abilities

• Down burst: Heavy-hitting frontal cleave tankbuster with no cast bar. If the boss is buffed with Awakened, the attack hits both tanks and can be split with the entire party.
• Aerial Blast: Heavy-hitting raid wide damage. Mitigate and heal through.
• Mistral Shriek: Raid-wide damage. Mitigate and shield through.
• Mistral Song: A healer receives a green marker over their head. The boss will turn towards the marked healer and fire a line AoE in their direction, dealing heavy damage. A tank must mitigate by breaking the Line of Sight of the attack. The first player hit by this attack will have a large wind AoE spawn underneath them.
• Slipstream: A large frontal cleave that deals heavy damage and debuffs anyone hit by it with Stun. This attack is only telegraphed by its cast bar and can be avoided by not standing in front of the boss.
• Feather Rain: The boss will disappear and spawn several small AoEs under players. If players are hit by these, they take massive damage and receive a Damage over Time Windburn debuff, which also deals heavy damage per tick.
• Eye of the Storm: The edge of the arena will be marked by a purple AoE and be covered by a cyclone. Touching this will result in immediate death. This effectively shrinks the arena down even smaller, so players need to be careful when maneuvering around.
• Friction: The boss will turn to a random player and mark them with an AoE that deals splash damage. Any player hit by this attack receives a stack of the debuff Thermal Low.
• Mesohigh: The ads tether to a random player, deals damage and dispels any stacks of Thermal Low they may have, damaging the party. If the player has no stacks of Thermal Low, the attack will kill them.
• Wicked Wheel: Point-blank AoE that will instantly kill anyone hit.
• Wicked Tornado: When the boss becomes Awakened, the party is hit by an instant-kill raid-wide AoE that can only be avoided directly in the boss's hitbox or far opposite of it.

Strategy

before the boss is pulled, assign 3 DPS to receive 2 stacks of Thermal Low later in the fight. The main tank should pull the boss close to the northern edge of the arena and faced away from the party. The boss will then cast Slipstream, and a healer will be marked for Mistral Song and should move away from the party and towards the main tank. The main tank should then move in between the healer and Garuda. After the attack, the boss will perform another Slipstream, then a Downburst on the main tank, and spawn 4 Satin Plumes and 1 Spiny Plume. The Satin Plumes will tether to 1 DPS each, and the Spiny Plume will tether to whoever attacks it first. If the plumes are left alone, they will inflict Sleep on all players, so they should be AoE burned down quickly. A tank should grab the Spiny Plume, as it hits with Cyclone, dealing heavy magic-based damage, and also debuffs with a stacking Thermal Low. The boss will also cast Feather Rain here, which players will need to avoid., then follow up with a Mistral Shriek. Thermal Low is a debuff that deals raid-wide damage when the debuff is removed. If a player receives three stacks, the party will be wiped when the debuff is removed. The debuff can be removed either by stepping into the bubble left behind by the Spiny Plume's attack Gigastorm when it is defeated, or by a tether from the boss called Mesohigh. This debuff persists through death. The tank should be sure to take no more than 2 hits of Cyclone. When they debuff 2 stacks, the boss will receive a stack of Aetherically Charged. The boss will then cast Friction twice in a row on two random players which will deal splash damage and inflict Thermal Low. To handle this part of the phase correctly, it is recommended that the tank holding the Spiny Plume only take two stacks, then defeat the ad. After the boss casts Mistral Shriek, the healers should top everyone off, then the tank can cleanse their debuffs in the large bubble left behind by the ad. Garuda will receive 1 stack of Aetherically Charged. Once the boss casts the first Friction, have all players stack inside the bubble, except for the three pre-assigned DPS, which will stand outside. This will give those DPS their first stack of Thermal Low. For the second cast, all players should move outside the bubble, giving all players at least 1 stack, while the pre-assigned DPS will have 2. After this, two of the DPS with 2 stacks should cleanse their debuff in the bubble one at a time, giving healers the time to top everyone off between each cleanse. After this, the boss will have 3 stacks of Aetherically Charged, 5 players will have 1 stack, and 1 player will have 2 stacks. After this, the boss will cast Eye of the Storm, then summon Chirada and Suparna. These ads will have the same skills as the boss. Immediately after summoning the ads, they will cast another Feather Rain and mark a DPS and healer with Mistral Song and jump to two of the four cardinals. While this is happening, the boss will cast Wicked Wheel. Pull the boss to the edge of the arena so players can simply avoid the attack. The tanks will then move in front of the ads at the edge of the arena and intercept the Mistral Shrieks while the rest of the players stack in the center. Tornadoes will appear under the tanks where the attacks hit. Once the tornadoes drop, pull the boss back to the center of the room, as she will follow up with another Eye of the Storm, and summon 4 more Satin Plumes. Pull them together and burn them down quickly. The ads outside the arena will move to the east and west and tether to players with Mesohigh. Have the player with 2 stacks of Thermal Low and one other player with a stack intercept the tethers. The main tank should turn the boss away, as it is about to cast Downburst. After Mesohigh resolves, the boss will receive its final stack of Aetherically Charged and receive the buff Awakened. The ads will cast another Feather Rain, and Garuda will cast Slipstream, then follow up with Wicked Wheel and Wicked Tornado. To handle this, players need to move out of melee range, then back into the boss's hitbox. The boss will use Downburst which now needs to be split between at least two tanks. Another Slipstream will come out, then the boss will enrage, and cast Aerial Blast, wiping the party. If the boss is defeated before this, A pillar of light will appear. A melee, caster or healer need to pick this up and receive the buff Beyond Limits. The tanks and healers should also have a stack of Thermal Low each.

Phase 2: Ifrit

Abilities

• Crimson Cyclone: The boss will jump to the outside of the arena, charge up, then dash across the arena. Any player hit by this will die. If the boss has the Awakened buff, the boss will leave a lingering cross-shaped burn on the stage which will kill those who touch it.
• Hellfire: deals massive raid-wide damage. Needs to be mitigated and healed through.
• Radiant Plume. Large AoEs will appear on the arena and explode into large fire pillars after 4 seconds. These can appear in different patterns. Players hit by these will die.
• Vulkan Burst: A large AoE under the boss that deals minimal damage but has a large knockback. If this attack is shielded, it will deal no damage and no knockback.
• Inferno Howl: The boss will target a healer with Searing Wind, a debuff that will explode in a fire pillar periodically during its duration. Players who die with this debuff will still explode. When the boss receives the Awakened buff, Searing Wind lasts for 30 seconds.
• Incinerate: Heavy-hitting tankbuster that deals fire-based damage and debuffs with Fire Resistance Down.
• Infernal Fetters: A DPS and the 2nd player in the enmity list will be tethered together and debuffed with Infernal Fetters. This debuff reduces damage dealt by these players and deals damage to them. If these players move away from each other, they will receive more stacks, which will further debuff their damage output and deal more damage to them subsequently.
• Eruption: AoEs will appear under players and explode after 2.5 seconds, dealing fatal damage.
• Flaming Crush: A random DPS will be marked with a red arrow. The boss will then fire an attack at them that must be split with the party. If the boss is Awakened, the attack inflicts Accursed Flame, which debuffs anyone hit with a heavy DoT that deals massive damage. The more players that split this attack however, the less time the DoT lasts.

Strategy

Once Garuda is defeated, Ifrit will appear at a random cardinal and begin casting Crimson Cyclone and cover the arena in Radiant Plumes. The only safe areas will be the cardinals adjacent to the boss. Players should move to these safe areas immediately when the boss spawns. After this resolves, the boss will return to the center of the arena and cast Hellfire and Vulcan Burst. Healers will need to shield this to make sure no one is knocked into the wall. From here, the boss will need to be picked up by the main tank, as it doesn't share enmity with the previous boss. Ifrit will cast Incinerate three times. The main tank can either take all three with an invulnerability skill, or tanks can swap for each attack. The boss will then summon four Infernal Nails. The nails will always spawn in a random location; however they will spawn in similar groupings: two nails will spawn close to each other, and two will spawn far away from one another. When the nails are destroyed, they deal raid-wide damage and debuff with Vulnerability Up. This debuff only lasts 1 second, but stacks. This prevents multiple nails being destroyed at the same time. The boss will target a healer at this time with Infernal Howl. The targeted healer should move to the edge of the arena and drop this attack. The boss will then cast Infernal Tethers, chaining players together. Finally, the boss will begin casting Eruption. Players need to make sure each nail is hit by Eruption twice, as this will cause the nails to receive Vulnerability Down and Damage Up buffs, but when they are destroyed, they will give the boss a stack of Aetherically Charged, buffing the boss with Awakening. The order the nails are destroyed in will determine where the boss will fire Crimson Cyclone from. After all the nails are defeated, the boss will move to the center of the arena and use another Hellfire, then Infernal Howl on a healer, followed by Eruption. Since the boss will have the Awakened buff, the Searing Wind debuff will last 30 seconds. After Eruption, Ifrit Clones will spawn at the edges of the arena at the cardinals and use Crimson Cyclone. These mechanics will fire in rapid succession, so to handle this, the main tank should pull the boss to the southwest edge immediately after Hellfire. Two players should move away along the wall on the northeast side of the arena to bait out Eruptions, then move towards the party. Finally, the healer with Searing Wind should move to the opposite side of the arena to the party. This will ensure all players avoid the Crimson Cyclones and the Eruptions. Once these mechanics have resolved, the boss will cast Infernal Howl again. Both healers will have Searing Wind for a short time here, so players need to be careful moving around them. After this, Ifrit will mark a DPS with Flaming Crush. Everyone other than the healers need to stack with this DPS to mitigate damage and the amount of time the Accursed Flame debuff lasts. Ifrit will leap to the edge of the arena and summon three more clones, charging Crimson Cyclone again. The clones will drop in line with where the nails had spawned. From here, the clones will charge in the order which the nails were killed. Players other than the Searing Wind debuffed healer should move to where the fourth nail was defeated, with the healer moving to the opposite side, and move around the arena to where each nail was defeated, dodging the Crimson Cyclones. when the boss charges across the arena, since it is awakened, it will leave behind a large cross of fire on the arena. If the boss starts at an intercardinal, it will charge and the cross will form at the cardinals, and vice versa. Players need to identify where the boss starts and end up in the safe zone based on this. The boss will return to the center of the room and cast Incinerate three more times. The boss will follow up with Eruption on the two furthest players, another Flaming Crush which can be mitigated with all players, then the boss will enrage, casting Hellfire. Once the boss is defeated, it will drop another pillar of light, which needs to be grabbed by a caster, healer or melee DPS player. Players need to wait until Titan spawns to pick this up however, as the boss spawns and immediately performs a knockback attack, sending anyone not at the edge of the arena into the wall.

Phase 3: Titan

Abilities

• Geocrush: The boss will face a cardinal direction and leap to the edge in that direction, dealing heavy proximity-based damage. This attack also shrinks the size of the arena, so players need to be careful.
• Rock Buster: A heavy-hitting frontal cleave tankbuster. This attack has no cast time. The boss performs this and follows up with Mountain Buster.
• Mountain Buster: A second frontal cleave tankbuster that deals heavy damage. This attack has no cast time.
• Upheaval: A knockback attack.
• Earthen Fury: Raid-wide damage. Mitigate and heal through.
• Weight of the Land: Random players will be marked by AoEs underneath them which explode shortly afterwards. If the boss is buffed with Awakened, the AoEs will appear three times in a row.
• Landslide: The boss will fire five line AoEs from its hitbox. Getting hit by this attack will throw players into the wall and kill them. If the boss has the Awakened buff, the boss will fire another set of line AoEs in between the spaces of the first set.
• Rock Throw: Rocks will drop from the ceiling. If they land on a player, they will die from Bury. Once the rocks land, they will begin casting Burst and explode in small AoEs around them.
• Granite Gaol: A random player is marked with a small marker underneath them. Afterwards, the player will be debuffed with Fetters, rendering them immobile, then they will be trapped inside a Granite Gaol. The Gaol will begin casting Granite Impact, which will kill the player trapped inside. The Gaol must be destroyed before this cast goes off by either player DPS or via Burst from a rock. If destroyed this way, the Gaol will drop a puddle, killing anyone who steps into it. If Titan steps into one of these puddles, it will gain a stack of Aetherically Charged.
• Tumult: Deals raid-wide damage. This is cast multiple times in a row.

Strategy

Immediately after Ifrit is defeated, Titan will spawn in the center of the arena and immediately use Geocrush, dealing most likely fatal damage to anyone who isn't close to the wall. After this attack resolves, a player can collect the light pillar. The boss will follow up with Earthen Fury, which needs to be mitigated and healed through. Have the main tank grab enmity from the boss and prepare for the Rock/Mountain Buster combo. The boss will follow this up with Weight of the Land, which players will need to dodge out of. Titan will then use Geocrush, turning and facing a cardinal direction then leaping to it. Players need to identify which way the boss is jumping and move away to the other side. Once Titan lands, it will begin to cast Upheaval and Rock Throw. The rocks will drop opposite the boss, and players need to get knocked back into the safe zone behind the rocks. If players get hit by the rocks or are knocked back too far, they will die. To handle this combo, players need to stand within the boss's hitbox and determine where the rocks will drop, then stand to either the left or right of the arrow on the front of the boss's hitbox. When it casts Upheaval, it will knock players into the safe zone behind the rocks. The rocks will also cast Burst, so players need to be careful and stay stacked. After this, another rock will drop in the previous safe zone, and the boss will mark players for Granite Gaols. After players are marked with Granite Gaol, the boss will begin casting Landslide. It will use this attack twice. Players marked for Gaols will need to create a line between the last rock casting Burst and the boss. This way, when the rock explodes, it frees the player closest to it and drops a puddle, creating a chain reaction, freeing players and creating puddles across the arena that lead to the boss. This will give the boss its first stack of Aetherically Charged and continue to do so while the boss stands in place casting Tumult. Players marked with Gaols will have to dodge the first Landslide but can position themselves and not worry about the second. After these resolve, Titan will cast Tumult eight times. Players should group up for AoE healing to make things easier. Following this, the boss will cast Weight of the land, so move out of the AoEs. By the time this resolves, the boss will have gained enough stacks of Aetherically Charged to receive the buff Awakened. The boss will cast Landslide, which will be the Awakened version, so a second wave of Landslides will fire after the first set, in the areas that were previously a safe zone. Titan will then face a cardinal and use Geocrush, so move to the opposite side it is facing. Once it lands it will cast Granite Gaol on one of the healers. This needs to be destroyed immediately, then players need to move out of another Landslide set. The boss will then go into casting Tumult 6 times in a row. Immediately after, the boss will use its Rock/Mountain Buster combo and drop more rocks in the center of the arena. These rocks will drop clockwise around the center one by one. The boss will use Weight of the Land three times and another Awakened Landslide. During this players will need to be careful as the rocks will still be dropping in the center. Finally, the boss will use another Rock/Mountain Buster combo and another set of Weight of the Lands. It will use Tumult 8 times in a row, then enrage and begin casting Earthen Fury, which will wipe the party. After the boss is defeated, it will drop the final pillar of light. By this point a melee DPS, a caster and a healer should each have the Beyond Limits buff, as several level 3 Limit Breaks are required for the next phase.

Phase 4: Lahabrea

Strategy

The boss will begin with four large pillars dropping at the cardinals of the arena and dealing proximity damage. Players should stack in the center to shield and heal through this. The boss will summon 6 Magitek Bits around the arena. They will begin slow-casting Self Destruct which will wipe the party. These can only be defeated in time by using the level three caster Limit Break. This should only be used by the caster with the Beyond Limits buff. After using this, the Limit Gauge will refill. Players should also be attacking the bits to ensure the Limit Break kills them all. After they are destroyed, Lahabrea will spawn and immediately cast Blight, which will reduce all players HP to 1, inflict Doom which lasts for 8 seconds, and Down for the Count, which lasts for 4 seconds. The only way to survive this is by using the healer level 3 Limit Break. Again, make sure the healer with Beyond Limits uses the Limit Break. The boss will become targetable and begin casting Dark IV, which will hit for max damage. Use the level 3 melee Limit Break to defeat him while other players attack the boss to ensure it dies. After Lahabrea is defeated, The Ultima Weapon will spawn and cast Ultima, an attack that must be mitigated via shields, cooldowns, and a level 3 tank Limit Break.

Phase 5: Ultima Weapon

Abilities

The boss is able to call on all Awakened versions of prior bosses’ abilities, and also has its own:

• Ultima: Lethal raid-wide attack that must be mitigated with a level 3 Limit Break from a tank and several cooldowns and shields.
• Ultima Aether: A gauge for the boss. If this gauge reaches 100%, the boss will receive a Damage Up buff that will let it wipe the party.
• Homing Lasers: Heavy-hitting tankbuster targeting the 2nd player in the enmity list, hitting with a small AoE underneath them. Needs to be mitigated.
• Aetheric Boom: A knockback from the boss's hitbox.
• Tank Purge: Hard-hitting raid-wide damage. Mitigate and heal through.
• Ceruleum Vent: A large AoE that fires in front of the boss.
• Diffractive Laser: A frontal cleaving tankbuster with no cast time.
• Viscous Aetheroplasm: A frontal cleave that debuffs players with Viscous Aetheroplasm, which explodes and must be mitigated by the party.

Strategy

Immediately after casting Ultima, the boss will consume the other Primals, then cast Tank Purge followed by Homing Lasers. The boss will then cast Ultimate Predation. Garuda will appear randomly around the center of the arena, while Ifrit and Ultima Weapon will appear at one of the intercardinals. Titan will spawn at a cardinal. Garuda will start by casting Wicked Wheel and Wicked Tornado. Ifrit will use the Awakened version of Crimson Cyclone, which will leave behind the cross-shaped puddle through the cardinals. Titan will use the Awakened version of Landslide, meaning players will have to dodge out of an attack, then back into where it was to avoid the second hit. Ultima Weapon will follow up with Ceruleum Vent, rendering the entire area unsafe in front of it. Finally, Garuda will use Feather Rain to close out the mini-phase. There are several methods to dodging these mechanics, however players should be aware of where Ultima Weapon is and where Ifrit's attack will drop the cross-shaped puddle. Players should avoid standing in front of Ultima and dodge carefully between the Titan Landslides. After all these attacks resolve, the boss will appear in the center of the arena and summon all three Primals. Each one will prepare to fire their own unique mechanics:

• Ifrit will cast Eruption.
• Ultima Weapon will cast Radiant Plume at the edges of the arena.
• Titan will cast Rocks on the arena, which drop moving clockwise around the arena.
• Titan and Ultima Weapon will both fire Landslide. Titan will use the Awakened version of this attack.
• Titan will use Tumult, and Ultima Weapon will cast Viscous Aetheroplasm on its main target.
• Chirada and Suparna will spawn at the east and west and cast Wicked Wheel, so move away from them.
• Garuda will spawn in the center and use Mistral Shriek wile the ads move and use Feather Rain.
• Ultima Weapon will cast Homing Lasers on the player that is 2nd in the enmity list.
• Garuda will finish the mini-phase by casting Feather Rain.

A common strategy to handle this phase is to simply move Ultima Weapon to the south. This will cause Titan to move to the north, and many of the mechanics will resolve around the party with minimal dodging. Players should move out from the front of the boss to avoid Viscous Aetheroplasm. After all attacks have resolved, the boss will enter its next mini-phase. The boss will move to the north of the arena, while Garuda spawns in the south, with Titan and Ifrit in the southeast and southwest.

• Titan will cast Weight of the Land and Ifrit will cast the Awakened version of Flaming Crush on a random player. that isn't one of the tanks, and Garuda will cast Eye of the Storm, so players need to be careful near the edge of the arena.
• Weight of the Land will fire again, and Garuda will tether a player with Mesohigh. A player with a Thermal Low debuff will take the tether.
• A third Weight of the Land will fire, and an Aetheroplasm orb will spawn.
• One of the healers will be debuffed with Searing Wind and Garuda will use Feather Rain. A second Aetheroplasm orb will spawn.
• Titan will use the Awakened version of Landslide, while Ifrit uses the Awakened version of Crimson Cyclone.
• The second wave of Landslide will fire, and the cross puddle from Ifrit will appear. The third Aetheroplasm orb will spawn.
• Garuda will use Eye of the Storm and tether another random player with Mesohigh. Another player with the Thermal Low debuff will take the tether.
• Ultima Weapon will begin casting Tank Purge and spawn a fourth orb.
• Garuda will cast Feather Rain and the boss will finish casting Tank Purge.

This mini-phase, the boss will be targetable for the entire phase. While handling other mechanics, players will mainly need to handle the Aetheroplasm orbs that spawn. These directly affect the orbs that spawn in a later mini-phase. When a player steps into the orb’s hitbox, they will take some damage and tether to the boss. It is recommended that three players each step into the first two orbs, then the tanks each take one of the two remaining orbs. This will give players ample time in a later phase to handle the orbs later on. For the rest of the mechanics in this fight, a common strategy is to keep players stacked close together to bait Weight of the Land and stay stacked for Flaming Crush to mitigate the damage and length of the debuff. It also keeps players close to make grabbing the Mesohigh tether and avoiding Feather Rain easier. Players will need to soak the orbs and stack to mitigate and AoE heal through Tank Purge. After Tank Purge, Ultima Weapon will warp to the center of the arena. The healer with Searing Wind should move to the south, away from the party to avoid overlapping and dealing unnecessary damage. The boss will cast Eye of the Storm and follow up with Homing Lasers, targeting the second player in the enmity list (usually the off tank). This player needs to separate slightly from the rest of the party to avoid the small AoE from the attack. The boss will cast another Eye of the Storm and follow that up with Radiant Plumes and Diffractive Laser. After this, healers should get ready to use shields to mitigate the Vulcan Burst that follows. The boss will cast another Eye of the Storm and repeat the attacks with Homing Lasers and another Vulkan Burst/Eye of the Storm combo and another Diffractive Laser. When the boss reaches 49.9% HP, it will cast Ultimate Suppression. Players should try to push the boss to this phase after the first Homing Lasers to deal damage before the boss becomes intangible. In this mini-phase, Ultima Weapon will spawn in the northeast, Titan in the southeast, Garuda in the northwest, and Ifrit in the southeast. Chirada and Suparna will spawn near the center of the arena at the northwest and southeast. Featherlances will begin rotating around the arena.

• Eruption will cast three times on random players.
• The second Eruption will be joined by players getting marked for Mistral Song.
• The third Eruption will be joined by a player not targeted by the other attacks being marked for Granite Gaol.
• With the fourth Eruption, Mistral Songs will also resolve and the Gaol marked player will become trapped. Garuda will use an AoE on a random target.
• The ads will cast Feather Rain and the Gaol will begin casting Granite Impact.
• Garuda will cast another Feather Rain' and a light pillar will appear and begin moving towards a random player who is untargeted by other attacks.
• Ultima Weapon will fire Aetherochemical Laser through the center of the arena and through the intercardinals of its hitbox.
• Garuda will tether another player with Mesohigh and Titan will cast Landslide while Ifrit marks a DPS with Flaming Crush.
• The second Landslide and Flaming Crush will fire and Mesohigh will resolve.
• Garuda will cast Feather Rain, and Ultima Weapon will fire Tank Purge.

These mechanics will come out quite quickly, and there are several ways to handle them. However, a common strategy is to stack loosely near Garuda and separate from the Eruption target. Move towards the center to bait the second Eruption. Tanks should intercept the Mistral Songs while the rest of the party moves towards the south to bait the third Eruption. The Gaol-marked player will be able to stand in the fourth Eruption without worrying about taking damage. The light pillar will appear and begin following the player not targeted by any of these other attacks. From here it is simply about dodging attacks and releasing the Gaoled player as soon as possible. From here, move together as a group to bait Landslides while the tether for Mesohigh and the Flame Crush marker come out. The player with Thermal Low will take the tether as players dodge out of Landslides and avoid Feather Rain. Finally, players should prepare for Tank Purge by mitigating and shielding. The boss will return to the middle and become targetable. Ultima Weapon will cast Ultima. This needs to be mitigated heavily and requires another tank Limit Break level 3. The boss will follow up with Aetheric Boom. This will knockback all players and spawn four sets of orbs. Players can prevent the knockback by popping their knockback immunity skills. The orbs will spawn and the tether between them is based on how the orbs from the previous phase were handled. Players need to run into the orbs and soak them, causing them to drop small AoE puddles underneath them. Having a tank take four of the orbs and the rest of the party handle the other sets of orbs is a common strategy, as long as the tank has enough cooldowns to help mitigate the damage. Once the orbs have been handled, the Primals will spawn in a random order around the boss. Ultima Weapon will use Viscous Aetheroplasm, debuffing random players. The Primals will cycle through their attacks in a set order:

• Garuda will use Wicked Wheel/Tornado, then Aerial Blast, and a Feather Rain.
• Ifrit will cast an Eruption that will fire twice. It will then use Crimson Cyclone firing from the cardinals. Ifrit will then follow up with Hellfire.
• Titan will fire three Weight of the Land and follow that up with Earthen Fury.
• During each Primal set of attacks, one of the Viscous Aetheroplasms will explode. It is recommended to use damage dealing Limit Breaks during Ifrit or Garuda, as players will be moving too much to execute a Limit Break.

Once the Primals finish their attacks, Ultima Weapon will move to the north of the arena and begin charging its gauge to 100%. Once it reaches 100% it will enrage. The boss will stun players and pull them to the center of the arena in the order of who dealt the least damage to who dealt the most. Once all players are pulled to the center of the arena, a long animation will play. It is imperative to have DoT skills up on the boss before they get stunned, as these can result in taking the final bit of HP the boss has. If the boss's enrage succeeds, Ultima Weapon will cast Citadel Siege and wipe the party.

Reward

• 1   Ultima Totem

The reward can be exchanged with Eschina in Rhalgr's Reach (X:13.8 Y:11.8) for Ultima Weapons.

Images

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