The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate)

The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate), also called Ultima Weapon (Ultimate), is a high-end duty added in patch 4.31: Under the Moonlight. The fight can be unlocked by speaking to the Wandering Minstrel in Kugane ( 11.6, 12.6 ) after completing Sigmascape V4.0 (Savage).

The minimum ilvl to enter this fight is i370, but can be bypassed with a full party.

Three Primals

Woken

Whenever certain mechanics are performed in specific ways (depending on the boss), the three primals will gain stacks of "Aetherically Charged," which can be seen on their buff bar. Once they reach their fourth stack, they will gain the "Woken" status, glow with a blue aura, gain new abilities, and change how other abilities function. When a primal is defeated with the "Woken" status, they will drop behind a pillar of light on the arena. When a player steps inside this pillar, it will disappear and they will obtain the status "Beyond Limits." This buff completely fills your Limit Break gauge when a Level 3 Limit Break is used by that person. This is required to progress past the three primals, so keep that in mind.

Phase 1: Garuda

Garuda's Abilities:

• Slipstream: Frontal cleave with a 2.5s cast time dealing significant magical damage and inflicting a stun. As Garuda stands still during this cast, it can be avoided by moving away from her front. Consider it an unmarked cone AoE that should be avoided.
• Mistral Song: A green marker will be placed on a healer. Garuda will then turn around, face the target, and fire off a line AoE in that direction dealing heavy magic damage. Must be mitigated by having a tank stand in front of Garuda, and taking the first hit. Garuda then will summon a cyclone under where the first player in line was hit.
• Downburst: Heavy physical tankbuster with no cast time that cleaves. When Woken, becomes a split tankbuster that the whole party can soak.
• Feather Rain: Garuda will shriek loudly, jump in the air, and spawn multiple small circle AoEs under players. Being hit by these will deal heavy magic damage and apply a "Windburn" dot, dealing massive damage (almost 14k a tick!) for 18s.
• Aerial Blast: Raid buster dealing massive magical damage to all players.
• Friction: Garuda will face a random player and hit them with small splash AoE dealing magic damage. Inflicts a stack of Thermal Low to all players hit.
• Eye of the Storm: The outer ring of the arena will glow purple to signify a cyclone appearing on the edges of the arena. Stepping on the edge when this cyclone is active will deal lethal magic damage.
• Wicked Wheel: Small circle AoE dealing lethal physical damage to all players in melee range.
• Wicked Tornado: Instant raid-wide donut AoE dealing lethal magic damage. Only appears when Garuda is Woken and immediately after Wicked Wheel. There are two safe spots: one in melee range and one very far from Garuda.

Begin by pulling Garuda to the north side of the arena. Shortly after, she will immediately begin with a Slipstream and mark a random healer for Mistral Song. Make sure to have a tank in between Garuda and the healer as shown below.

Alternatively, you can also forego all healer movement and just have the tank stack in front of the party, with the marked player in the party stack, but this will result in significantly more damage on the raid. You also have the option of simply using Cover on the healer, if you have a Paladin in your party.

Garuda will follow up with a second Slipstream, followed by a Downburst, and spawn 4 Satin Plumes, tethering to random DPS; and 1 Spiny Plume, which will tether to the first person to attack it. If left alone, Satin Plumes will explode, inflicting all players with a sleep, meaning they must be killed as soon as possible. Make sure to group up and AoE them down. Have your tank pick up the Spiny Plume as soon as possible. The Spiny Plume, on the other hand, will periodically cast Cyclone on the tank, dealing significant magic damage and inflicting a stack of Thermal Low. Before killing this Spiny Plume, it is very important that your tank takes two hits of Cyclone in order to gain two stacks of Thermal Low. While you're fighting plumes, Garuda will use Feather Rain. Make sure you listen for her scream, which will indicate when you'll have to move to avoid it. She'll immediately follow up with a Mistral Shriek.

Super Cyclone

Bubble left behind by Spiny Plume shown above.

When the Spiny Plume is defeated, it will use Gigastorm, exploding for a small AoE circle around it, and leaving behind a large green bubble. Stepping inside this bubble will give players Thermal High (heavily reducing all wind damage), dispel any Thermal Low stacks, and deal magic damage to the raid corresponding to the number of stacks in the form of Super Cyclone (1 stack will deal small magic damage, 2 stacks will deal significantly more magic damage, and 3 stacks will deal lethal magic damage that will wipe the raid). It's important to note that whenever a player dispels 2 stacks of Thermal Low, Garuda will gain a stack of Aetherically Charged.

Garuda will then follow up with two Frictions, targetting random players, and splashing everyone hit for damage and inflicting stacks of Thermal Low.

Here's a step-by-step guide of how I'd recommend dealing with Thermal Low Stacks:

1. Pre-assign a tank and 2 DPS to gain 2 stacks of Thermal Low. The chosen DPS will be cleansing their stacks via the puddle, and the chosen tank will cleanse their stacks via Mesohigh tethers. Make sure you carefully choose these players, as your remaining players with 1 stack will be in charge of mechanics in the Ultima phase, specifically Ultimate Annihilation and Ultimate Suppression. 
2. Have the chosen tank recieve two Thermal Low stacks from the Spiny Plume, and immediately defeat it while avoiding Feather Rain.
3. Heal up after Mistral Shriek, and have the tank with two stacks run into the puddle. Garuda should now have 1 stack of Aetherically Charged.
4. For the first Friction cast, have your whole party stacked for Friction, with your 3 pre-assigned players standing outside the bubble, and the rest of the party inside. Your 3 players should have 1 stack.
5. For the second Friction cast, have your whole party stacked for Friction, with everyone outside the bubble. You should have 3 players with 2 stacks, and the rest of the party with 1 stack.
6. Have the 2 DPS (preferably melee DPS) move into the bubble one by one, cleansing their stacks. Make sure to leave ample time for your healers to heal damage done by Super Cyclone in between each feed. Garuda should now have 3 stacks of Aetherically Charged.

If done correctly, you will have 5 players with 1 stack of Thermal Low, and 1 player with 2 stacks of Thermal Low.

Garuda will follow up with an Eye of the Storm, and summon Chirada and Suparna (aka Sisters), untargettable adds that have similar skills to Garuda. After being summoned, they will immediately use Feather Rain (remember to listen for the scream!) and mark a DPS and healer with Mistral Song, jumping to the edges of the arena. Sisters will always jump to two of the four cardinal points of the arena. Drag Garuda to the wall as you dodge Feather Rain so you don't have to worry about Wicked Wheel, which she will cast next. Have your party stack directly in the middle, with tanks in front of each sister (but not at the edge, as Eye of the Storm will be active) to intercept the first hit of Mistral Song. I'd recommend having one tank take the first sister going clockwise starting from northwest, and the other tank taking the first sister going counter-clockwise starting from northwest. Remember tornadoes will spawn under the first hit players, so you may have to reposition the party to avoid them.

Only two sisters will appear. This diagram shows all 4 possible locations for sisters to spawn. Purple indicates Eye of the Storm, which is an unsafe area.

After tornadoes resolve, drag Garuda back to the middle, as she will use another Eye of the Storm. She will then summon another set of 4 Satin Plumes, so burn them quickly as you did in the start of the fight. At the same time, the two sisters will appear in the east and the west sides of the arena and tether random players with Mesohigh, dealing heavy magic damage that must be mitigated with at least 1 Thermal Low stack. I'd recommend having your tank with 2 stacks and a DPS with 1 stack (preferably ranged) take the tethers, while the party stacks together defeating Satin plumes, and the other tank takes a Downburst. If you've been following the outlined strategy, and your last 2 stack Thermal Low player takes a tether, these tethers will give Garuda her final Aetherically Charged stack, making her "Woken."

Yellow dots indicate the players who will be taking the tethers. Alternatively, if you want your tanks to take these tethers, you can rotate the diagram and have Garuda face east or west, with the other tank taking the other tether. Keep in mind that tethers will do a point-blank AoE around their target that will cleanse Thermal Low stacks, so be careful to not stack together with people taking tethers.

As soon as Mesohigh tethers resolve, the sisters will shriek and jump once more, using Feather Rain, followed by Garuda using another Slipstream. Garuda will then follow up with a Wicked Wheel into Wicked Tornado combo, as she is woken. Make sure to avoid the wheel first, and then move into melee range as soon as the marker disappears, as Wicked Tornado has no cast time. She will follow up with a woken Downburst, which must be taken by at least both tanks as a split tankbuster. She will then use a final Slipstream, before enraging.

At 2:55, Garuda will become untargettable, jump in the air, and use a Feather Rain followed by a lethal Aerial Blast, serving as an enrage.

If this phase was done as described, you should be defeating Garuda with 4 players having 1 stack of Thermal Low (one tank, one DPS and 2 healers), of which 3 you will need in later phases of the Ultima Weapon. After defeating Garuda when she is Woken, a light puddle will appear where she is defeated. Make sure your pre-assigned healer, caster, or melee picks up this puddle.

Phase 2: Ifrit

Ifrit's Abilities:

• Radiant Plume: Large red circles will appear in the arena, in different configurations, which will then explode in a pillar of flames after 4 seconds. Standing on these circles when they explode will result in lethal magic damage.
• Crimson Cyclone: Ifrit will jump outside the arena and will begin to charge up for 3 seconds. Afterwards, he will dash across the arena in a straight line, dealing lethal magic damage to all players hit. When Woken, this charge leaves behind an afterburn in the shape of a cross 45 degrees off from the woken charge, dealing lethal magic damage to all players hit.
• Hellfire: Raid buster dealing massive magical damage to all players.
• Vulcan Burst: AoE covering a large radius around Ifrit dealing small magical damage (approximately 5-5.5k damage) but a very large knockback. When shielded so that the attack does 0 damage, knockback does not apply.

• Incinerate: Tankbuster dealing heavy fire-aspected breath damage to it's target, and inflicting a Fire Resistance Down II debuff.
• Infernal Fetters: A random DPS and the player second in enmity (usually a tank) will be tethered together, both being applied with an Infernal Fetters debuff, reducing damage done and inflicting a menial DoT. Moving far from each other will increase it's stacks. The more stacks inflicted, the more severe the damage down and dot applied.
• Inferno Howl: Ifrit turns around and faces a healer and inflicts Searing Wind on them for 18s. Healers with this debuff will periodically explode with an AoE similar to Vulcan Burst, but dealing significantly more damage. Searing Wind will still explode even if the player who has the buff is incapacitated. When Woken, Searing Wind has a 30s duration.
• Eruption: Red markers appear under players, which will then explode after 2.5s, dealing lethal magical damage. Can usually be baited by the furthest players from Ifrit.
• Flaming Crush: Ifrit will target a random DPS with a red triangle marker over their head. Ifrit will then aim a fireball at that person and hit them with a split AoE that must be shared. When Woken, Flaming Crush inflict Accursed Flame, a heavy DoT (10k/tick), on all players hit, with the duration of the DoT decreasing the more players hit. A 6 player stack will result in only a 3s duration, but a player taking it alone will have a duration greater than a minute. This DoT persists through death. On six people, the fireball does about 30k with no extra dot ticks.
  

  Only one of the two marked spots in the diagram will be safe. Make sure where you're running is safe before you sprint there, as if you double back you'll likely die to Radiant Plumes.

After Garuda is defeated, Ifrit will appear at random cardinal, and begin charging across the arena via Crimson Cyclone. At the same time, the entirety of the arena will be covered in Radiant Plumes, leaving only 1 of 2 possible safe spots at the perpendicular cardinals of the arena, as shown in the following diagram. Stack in the middle of the arena, look for the safe spot as soon as the plumes appear, and sprint to it.  It is possible to time your dodge so you slide in to safe spots covered by Ifrit's Crimson Cyclone, but it's more trouble than it's worth.

Ifrit will then land and begin casting Hellfire, following up immediately with a Vulcan Burst. Make sure this is shielded to avoid being knocked into the wall. Ifrit does not share an enmity table with Garuda, so your tanks need to grab enmity as soon as possible. Ifrit will then follow up with three Incinerates, which can either all be taken by a single tank with invulnerability CDs, or a tank swap in between each cleave (i.e. tank A gets hit by 1 cleave, tank B provokes and gets hit by the second, and tank A provokes back and gets hit by the third). After a short pause, Ifrit will then summon four nails.

Infernal Nails

Keep in mind nails will not always be in this exact position, so you may have to rotate in order to make your position match this diagram.

While the positions of Infernal Nails is random, they will always spawn in the same formation of two close nails, and two far nails, as shown in the following diagram. When an Infernal Nail is destroyed, it will explode for raid wide damage in the form of Infernal Surge, dealing moderate magic damage and inflicting a 1s stacking Vulnerability Up, preventing players from destroying multiple at the same time. When an Eruption puddle hits a nail, the nail will grow in size, gaining a stacking Vulnerability Down (~10% damage down per stack) and Damage Up buff. When a nail with 2 of these stacking buffs explode, not only will the Infernal Surge result in doing more damage, but Ifrit will also gain a stack of Aetherically Charged. In order to give Ifrit the Woken status, all four nails must be destroyed when they have been hit with 2 Eruptions, thus having 2 stacks of Damage up and Vulnerability Down. The order that Infernal Nails are destroyed will determine the order of Ifrit's Crimson Cyclone charges in a later phase (i.e. the first Crimson Cyclone comes from the same location as the first nail that was killed).

Drag Ifrit in-between the closer nails as shown in the diagram. Very shortly after summoning nails, Ifrit will target a random healer with Infernal Howl. Have this healer run to the back of the room, as close to the wall opposite Ifrit as possible. Ifrit will then use Infernal Tethers, tethering the off-tank and a random DPS together, and begin casting Eruptions on the two furthest players from Ifrit. Make sure that at least two Eruptions hit every nail, in order to successfully wake Ifrit. Bait Eruptions like shown below:

Not 100% to scale, but make sure that your first two eruptions hit the first nail on your side, and the last two eruptions hit the second nail on your side. Also on this diagram is the recommended kill order for nails. To be safe, it is possible for the last eruption baits being placed near the middle to hit both nails, just in case one side misses their nail.

Kill the nails in the order shown above in order for Crimson Cyclones to dive in line, easy to dodge by moving counter-clockwise later in the phase. Make sure you remember the location of the last nail you killed, as this will be where you begin the second set of Crimson Cyclones.

When all nails are defeated, Ifrit will jump to the center of the arena and use another Hellfire, following up shortly by using Infernal Howl on a random healer, and immediately following up with Eruption. As this Infernal Howl is woken, the Searing Wind debuff will have a longer duration, so be wary. After Eruptions resolve, Ifrit clones will dash along the arena through the cardinals. In order to deal with this, have your current tank pull Ifrit toward the SW edge of the arena as soon as Hellfire resolves. Have two pre-assigned (preferably ranged) players stand near the back of the arena, ready to bait Eruptions along the wall toward the SW edge of the arena. The goal is for these players to end in the same place as the party, already in a safe spot to dodge eruptions. Your healer with Searing Wind should move toward the NE edge of the arena as soon as possible. This movement should look something like shown below:

Your Eruptions should be baited at a cardinal ~135 degrees away from the stack point. Bait all 4 Eruptions along the wall before stacking. At the same time, make sure your Searing Wind Healer moves into position.

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As soon as this movement is over, Ifrit will use Infernal Howl once more on the other healer. For a short while, you will have two Searing Winds in the arena, so be wary. I'd recommend having this healer move to one of the two free intercardinals. While both Searing Winds are out, Ifrit will mark a random DPS with Flaming Crush. Make sure everyone (aside from the healers) is stacked for this fireball. A targeted Deployment Tactics Adloquium or Cure III works wonders. One of your Searing Winds should wear off here.

Immediately after, Ifrit will jump, and spawn 3 other clones of himself along the arena, in a formation identical to the nails earlier in this phase. One of these charges will be a woken Ifrit, glowing with a blue aura. This ifrit will leave behind an afterburn ~3s after he charges. If the woken Ifrit charges from cardinal to cardinal, the afterburns will consist of 2 line AoEs that hit across the intercardinals. If the woken Ifrit charges from intercardinal to intercardinal, the afterburns will hit across the cardinals. The goal is essentially to dodge charges in a way where you end up in either a cardinal, or intercardinal point depending on where the woken Ifrit is.

Start at the position of the fourth Crimson Cyclone, (except for your Searing Wind healer, who should be opposite this location. If the nails were killed in the Z order shown previously, the charges will essentially be dodged if you just run into where charges resolve, in a counter-clockwise direction. If either the 1st or 3rd Ifrit is the woken one, you will dodge into the first Ifrit's dash, essentially rotating 45 degrees counterclockwise. If either the 2nd or 4th Ifrit is the woken one, you will stop between the 2nd and 4th ifrits, essentially rotating 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Your Searing Wind healer will be doing the same dodge, albeit from the opposite location of the party, standing opposite the 4th Crimson Cyclone.

Safe spots are interchangable. The Woken ifrit appears at a random position, so be wary of it. You will start on and opposite the 4th ifrit no matter which ifrit is woken.

« ‹ 1 of 5 › »

Ifrit will then land in the middle of the arena, and shortly follow up with another 3 Incinerates. Deal with these the same way as earlier in the phase, Ifrit will then use another Eruption, targeting the furthest two people. Ifrit will then use another Flaming Crush (all 8 players can stack for this one), enraging shortly after.

At 2:45 after the phase begins, Ifrit will become untargetable and use a lethal Hellfire, serving as an enrage.

After defeating Ifrit when he is Woken, a light puddle will appear where he is defeated. Make sure to wait before picking up this puddle, as Titan will land on the ground with Geocrush very shortly after Ifrit is defeated, likely killing anyone that's not right at the wall. Make sure your pre-assigned healer, caster, or melee picks up this puddle after Geocrush resolves.

Phase 3: Titan

Titan's Abilities:

• Geocrush: Titan will rotate and face a cardinal direction, and proceed to jump to the edge of the arena in that direction. Deals heavy magic damage based on proximity from his impact point.
• Earthen Fury: Raid buster dealing massive magical damage to all players.
• Rock Buster: Tankbuster with no cast time dealing heavy physical damage to it's target. Cleaves. This attack is always followed up by a Mountain Buster.
• Mountain Buster: Tankbuster with no cast time dealing severe physical damage to it's target. Cleaves.
• Weight of the Land: Ground AoE appearing under random players twice in a row, which then explode. When Woken, ground AoEs appear three times in a row.
• Upheaval: 3s cast knocking back all players from Titan's position.
• Rock Throw: Titan will throw rocks down on the arena. If a player is below where these rocks spawn, they'll take lethal damage in the form of Bury. After landing, rocks will also begin casting Burst, exploding in a small AoE circles around them.
• Granite Gaol: Titan marks a random (non-MT) player with a small marker under their feet. Shortly afterwards, this player will be inflicted with Fetters, being unable to move, and locked inside a Granite Gaol, which will begin casting Granite Impact. Players must be broken out before Granite Impact finishes casting by either DPSing the Gaol down, via Burst from a Rock Throw rock, or via the explosion of another Granite Gaol. When destroyed via Burst or another Granite Gaol, it leaves behind a large sludge puddle, dealing lethal damage to all players who step inside. When a puddle is under Titan, Titan will gain stacks of Aetherically Charged.
• Landslide: Five line AoEs will appear from titan. Being hit by these will result in heavy magical damage and a large knock back, likely pushing into the wall and instantly kill them. When Woken, Titan will follow up with a second set of Landslides, which will hit in between the first set of landslides, as shown below.

This diagram is not to scale. Brown landslides
are the first hit, while red ones are the second hit. Second Landslides are basically hitting in-between the first, and as long as you walk into where the first landslide was, you'll avoid the second.

• Tumult: Raid-wide attack dealing moderate magic damage to all players. Usually happens multiple times in a row, in quick succession.

Very shortly after Ifrit is defeated, Titan will land on the ground with a Geocrush in the middle of the arena. Make sure players are right at the wall to avoid lethal damage (and I mean right at the wall, even a step closer to the middle of the arena will result in lethal damage.) Make sure to pick up the light puddle after Geocrush resolves. Titan will then follow up with an Earthen Fury, so make sure all players are topped and shielded. Titan does not share an enmity table with Ifrit, so your tanks need to grab enmity as soon as possible. Titan will follow up with a Rock Buster into Mountain Buster combo, dealing heavy damage to his target, and follow up with a Weight of the Land. As soon as the second Weight of the Land is resolved, Titan will rotate to face a random cardinal direction, and jump toward it, dealing proximity damage in the form of Geocrush. This also makes the arena smaller by extending the death wall, so be wary. Have your party run opposite the direction Titan was facing (i.e. if Titan was facing north, move south) and prepare for Geocrush damage.

Upheaval

As soon as Titan lands, he will begin channeling Upheaval, as well as use Rock Throw, summoning 5 rocks in 1 of two configurations, shown below:

You'll have some leeway (but very little), so make sure you get knocked back into the safe spot.

Look at the feet to get a better feel for the spot. You'll be moving either left or right of the arrow depending on the safe spot, so be wary!

When these rocks land, all players under them will be killed by Bury, dealing lethal damage. Rocks will also begin casting a small circle AoE around them, Burst, dealing lethal damage to all players being caught in the blast. In order to be knocked back into the rock safe spot from Upheaval, you'll have to stand inside Titan's hitbox, a step to the right or left from the arrow, roughly shown in this picture:

Shortly afterwards, a second rock will land on the previously safe spot, and Titan will mark 3 players with Granite Gaols.

Granite Gaols

Titan will then use Granite Gaol on three random players, and begin channeling two Landslides in a row. Your goal is to have all three of these players position themselves in a line, having the player furthest from titan free themselves from their Gaol via the remaining rock throw rock's Burst. The Granite Gaols will then explode each other, similar to a daisy chain, leaving the last puddle underneath Titan, as shown below. Gaol'd players will have to dodge the first Landslide, but are safe to position themselves on the second Landslide without being hit. In order to make positioning easier, I'd recommend baiting the first Landslide through the middle of the arena.

Your first Gaol should be placed right outside the remaining rock's burst, your second rock should be placed on the left or right of the center of the arena, and your third rock should be placed roughly on the midpoint between Titan and the second rock.

Titan will then follow up with a set of 8 Tumults, so make sure everyone is stacked together near Titan for healing. Titan will then use another Weight of the Land, so dodge accordingly. If Gaols were done correctly, Titan should gain the Woken status at this point, and begin using his first woken Landslide. Make sure to dodge out of the first hit, and then move back in before the second. Once more, Titan will face a cardinal once more, and jump toward it, dealing damage in the form of Geocrush, and making the arena smaller. Have your party run opposite where he jumped, similar to how it was done earlier.

After landing, Titan will once again use Granite Gaol on a random healer, which must be destroyed immediately. Titan will then shortly follow up with a Landslide, into a set of 6 Tumults. Dodge and heal as necessary. After the 6th Tumult, Titan will use another Rock Buster into Mountain Buster combo, as well as summon 4 more rocks to drop in the center of the arena, working identically as before. They drop one by one in a clockwise formation, so make sure to avoid the middle. While this is going on, Titan will also use a triple Weight of the Land, followed by another woken Landslide. Keep in mind that throughout this dodge, the middle is not safe, so you'll have to dodge along the edges.

Titan will follow up with another Rock Buster into Mountain Buster, and then follow up with another set of Weight of the Lands. He will then Tumult 8 times. At ~2:45 after the phase begins, Titan will become untargetable and use a lethal Earthen Fury, serving as an enrage.

After defeating Titan when he is Woken, a light puddle will appear where he is defeated. Make sure either a healer, caster, or melee picks up this puddle. At this point, your caster, healer, and melee should all have a Breaking Limits buff, to prepare for the next phase.

The Ultima Weapon

Phase 4: Lahabrea 

This phase will consist of the party having to use 4 Level 3 Limit Breaks in a row, thanks to the Beyond Limits buff that drops at the end of each primal. The phase begins with four large pillars dropping on the cardinals of the arena, dealing proximity-based magic damage in the form of Freefire. Make sure players stacked in the middle of the arena and shielded appropriately. 6 Magitek Bits will then spawn across the arena, each beginning to cast a 12s Self-Destruct. These must be destroyed instantly with a level 3 caster Limit Break. Keep in mind damage variance may result in caster LB not completely destroying some Magitek Bits, so have players hitting them all individually while your caster limit breaks.

Soon after the Magitek Bits are destroyed, Lahabrea will appear and cast Blight, dealing damage equal to all player's maximum HP minus 1, and inflicting both an 8s doom, and a 4s Down for the Count debuff. This doom must be dispelled via a level 3 healer Limit Break. Lahabrea will then become targettable, and begin casting Dark IV, a 17s cast dealing 999,999 damage. As Lahabrea takes significantly less damage, the only viable way to kill him before Dark IV finishes casting is via a level 3 melee Limit Break. After Lahabrea is defeated, the Ultima Weapon will appear and begin casting Ultima, a raidbuster dealing massive magic-based damage that must be mitigated via shields and a level 3 Tank Limit Break. Essentially, you will have to Caster LB, then Healer LB, then Melee LB, and finally a Tank LB.

Phase 5: The Ultima Weapon 

The Ultima Weapon absorbs all abilities from previous primals, as well as gains the following:

The Ultima Weapon's Abilities:

• Ultima Aether: Duty Gauge that appears throughout this whole phase. If it reaches 100 before the end of the fight, Ultima will gain an insane Damage Up buff, likely wiping the raid. It increases gradually when Ultima casts some abilities by 4, and also increases by 4 with every death.
• Ultima: Massive raidbuster dealing extremely heavy magic damage. Must be mitigated via the use of a Level 3 Tank Limit Break.
• Tank Purge: Raidbuster dealing heavy magic damage.
• Homing Lasers: Very heavy tankbuster (~125k unimitigated) targeting the player with the second highest enmity, in a small circle around them.
• Viscous Aetheroplasm: Attack applying the Viscous Aetheroplasm debuff, which explodes after a short period of time for heavy magic damage that can be soaked with the party. It's a small circle AoE, so any players near the target will get a Viscous Aetheroplasm debuff if they are also hit.
• Diffractive Laser: Tankbuster with no cast time dealing moderate magic damage. Cleaves.
• Aetheric Boom: Knockback originating from Ultima hitting all players. Is accompanied by 4 sets of Aetheroplasms.

This phase alternates between complex series of mechanics (which will be referred to as 'Intemissions'), and burn phases where the boss is targettable, but with significantly less complex mechanics (which will be referred to as 'Active Phases'.)

After Ultima, the Ultima Weapon will devour all of the primals in a fairly lengthy in-fight cutscene, and proceed to use Tank Purge, followed closely by Homing Lasers, before casting Ultimate Predation.

Intermission I: Ultimate Predation

• Garuda spawns in a random quadrant near the center of the arena. Ifrit and Ultima spawn in a random intercardinal. Titan spawns in a random cardinal, shifted to either right or left of the direct cardinal.
• Garuda begins to use a woken Wicked Wheel, which means it is followed followed by Wicked Tornado. This Wicked Tornado can be outranged.
• Ifrit will use a woken Crimson Cyclone, leaving behind afterburns covering the cardinals.
• Titan will use a woken Landslide, making it a double hit.
• Ultima will use Ceruleum Vent, covering its entire quadrant.
• After all is resolved, Garuda will use Feather Rain.

Simply count 4 from the edge and you're in a safe spot!

While this mechanic seems daunting at first, it is actually very simple. There are these little runes around the arena that completely trivialize the mechanic. Find Garuda and Ifrit, and make sure you're positioned opposite Garuda's quadrant (i.e. if she spawns Northwest of the center, go to either the East, Southeast, or South edge of the arena), and make sure you're dodging Ifrit's Crimson Cyclone. The spot you're dodging to cannot have either Titan or Ultima near it. After the Crimson Cyclone resolves, count 4 runes from either side, and stand on that spot. This should be a safe spot from everything that goes on in the second half of this intermission. You might have to dodge a landslide during the first half, but simply dodge into the rune and you're golden. Below is an example of a theoretical "worst-case scenario" and how to deal with it.

Begin by locating the primals. First, find the spot opposite Garuda that is safe. As Titan covers up East, and Ifrit covers Southeast, have your party run south. Be careful of the landslide, you might have to dash a little into Ultima's quadrant.

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Make sure stay together to bait the upcoming Feather Rain, and move toward the middle on the shriek. Ultima will teleport back to the middle of the arena, beginning the first Active Phase.

Active Phase I

Ultima will teleport to the middle of the arena, Spawning the three primals out do to a variety of abilities. In order:

• Ifrit spawns at the north edge of the arena, and casts a baitable Eruption.
• Ultima casts Radiant Plume along the edges.
• Titan spawns far from Ultima, so this position is baitable.
• As soon as Radiant Plume resolves, Titan throws rocks along the center of the arena, in a clockwise fashion.
• Ultima and Titan both use Landslide on a random player. Only Titan uses a woken landslide.
• Titan begins to use Tumults, while Ultima uses Viscous Aetheroplasm on the current tank.
• Sisters spawn at the East and West of the arena, and use Wicked Wheel.
• Garuda spawns at the center of the arena, and uses Mistral Shriek. At the same time, sisters will jump and use Feather Rain.
• Ultima will cast Homing Lasers on the player with the second highest enmity.
• Garuda jumps and uses Feather Rain.

While this seems like a lot, many of these mechanics are fairly simple to avoid by pulling the boss near south, baiting Titan away from the party. Below is a diagram that shows my recommended strategy. You're essentially sitting in the south of the arena, and most mechanics should resolve themselves.

Ifrit will be north, so have two players bait by moving south.

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Alternatively, you can have the final Aetheroplasm stack with the party to split the damage, and have the OT take the homing missile alone. Just be wary that the Viscous Aetheroplasm application is a cleave, so be wary. After all of this is over, Ultima will begin casting Ultimate Annihilation.

Intermission II: Ultimate Annihilation

While labeled as an intermission, Ultimate Annihilation is different in the fact that you can still target and hit the Ultima Weapon throughout this phase. The phase goes as follows:

• Ultima teleports to the north edge of the arena, Garuda spawns at the south, Ifrit and Titan both spawn at either the southeast or southwest of the arena.
• Titan uses Weight of the Land, while Ifrit marks a random non-tank for Flaming Crush (Fireball). Garuda uses Eye of the Storm.
• Second Weight of the Land puddle appears, and Garuda tethers a random player with a Mesohigh tether.
• The third Weight of the Land puddle appears, and an Aetheroplasm orb spawns near the southeast of his hitbox.
• A random healer gets marked with Searing Wind, and Garuda uses Feather Rain. A scecond Aetheroplasm orb spawns near the southeast of his hitbox.
• Titan uses a woken Landslide, and Ifrit dashes in a straight line through an intercardinal.
• Titan uses his second Landslide hit, and Ifrit leaves afterburns in a cross through the cardinal points of the arena.
• A third Aetheroplasm orb spawns near the southeast of his hitbox.
• Garuda uses Eye of the Storm and tethers a random player with Mesohigh.
• Ultima begins using a Tank Purge.  A fourth Aetheroplasm orb spawns near the southeast of his hitbox (about halfway through the cast).
• Garuda uses Feather Rain.
• Tank Purge cast finishes.

What's critical of Ultimate Annihilation is the Aetheroplasm orbs that spawn throughout the phase. When a player is inside the orb's AoE, they will take menial damage and be tethered to Ultima, increasing his Ultima Aether gauge by 1 per player. The more people that take an Aetheroplam orb, the greater the tether between two orbs will be during the Aetheric Boom phase, which means the more time you'll have to take said orbs in the Aetheric Boom phase. Each orb that spawns corresponds to an orb in the Aetheric Boom phase, with the first orb being northwest, and continuing on clockwise. More info can be found in the Aetheric Boom portion of this guide.

The most optimal way to prepare for these orbs during Ultimate Annihilation is to have 3 players soak the first and second orb, and 1 player (preferably a tank) soak the last two (a 3-3-1-1 orb setup, if you will). This will give you enough time to be knocked back into the first set of orbs, heal up to full, and take the second set. If you're confident in your damage and want to have some extra breathing room, consider a 6-3-1-1 strategy for some extra time in taking a final orb, but this should not be necessary. A recommended strategy can be seen below.

Begin by baiting the first Weight of the Land at melee range, near the southwest of Ultima's hitbox. Move toward the southeast to dodge.

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You're essentially baiting the Weights of the Land near Ultima's hitbox, in order to mantain uptime. Make sure you stay stacked, as a Flaming Crush marker will appear over a player. Have a pre-assigned player (i'd recommend a tank) move out of the stack after the second Weight of the Land to take the Mesohigh tether. Have your Searing Wind healer move south to prepare to take the second Mesohigh tether, dodge Feather Rains as they appear, dodge Ifrit charges/afterburns and Titan landslides, and the phase will finish with Ultima using a Tank Purge.

After the final Tank Purge, Ultima will teleport to the middle of the arena. Searing Wind will still be active for a while after the phase is over, so be wary.

Active Phase II

• Eye of the Storm
• Homing Lasers
• Eye of the Storm
• Radiant Plumes
• Diffractive Laser
• Vulcan Burst + Eye of the Storm
• Homing Lasers
• Vulcan Burst + Eye of the Storm
• Diffractive Laser

When the phase begins, Searing Wind will still be active on a healer. Position your party as shown below to more easily transition into this phase.

You may want to drag Ultima closer to north, into the Eye of the Storm, just in case Vulcan Burst isn't shielded properly.

The key part of this active phase is shielding Vulcan Bursts that will come out periodically. Make sure your tank who's ready to take Homing Lasers is second in threat, as it will come by shortly. Afterwards, Ultima will use an Eye of the Storm into Radiant Plume combo. Stand near the edge of the Eye of the Storm, and move into it as soon as it's resolved, dodging the Radiant Plumes. I'd recommend taking this opportunity to drag Ultima into the Eye of the Cyclone, just in case the upcoming Vulcan Burst isn't shielded properly. Ultima will cleave in the form of Diffractive Laser. Prepare for the upcoming Vulcan Burst by shielding now. Ultima will follow up with a Vulcan Burst into Eye of the Storm. If shields are not timed properly, your tank may have to use a knockback-cancelling ability like Arm's Length here. Ultima will then follow up with a Homing Laser, followed once more by a Vulcan Burst into Eye of the Storm. Shielding here is fairly simple, outside of the tank taking Homing Lasers, which is fairly tight.

When Ultima reaches 49.9%, it will begin casting Ultimate Suppression. This can be pushed early, so be wary.

Intermission III: Ultimate Suppression

• Garuda spawns at the northwest, Ultima spawns at the northeast, Titan spawns at the southwest, and Ifrit spawns at the southeast. Sisters spawn near the center of the arena, slightly northwest and southeast of the center. Featherlances begin circling around the arena, going counter-clockwise.
• 3 Eruptions go on 3 random party members.
• At the second Eruption marker, 2 random non-eruption players get marked with Mistral Song.
• At the third Eruption marker, a random Eruption target gets marked with Granite Gaol.
• At the fourth Eruption marker, Mistral Songs resolve, the Gaol marker becomes fettered, and Garuda uses a large fan AoE targetting a random player.
• After the fourth Eruption, The sisters use Feather Rain, and Mistral Song Tornados appear. The Gaol begins casting Granite Impact.
• A second Feather Rain is used by Garuda. Light Pillar begins chasing a random player (The non-tank player who has not been selected by either Eruptions, Mistral Song, or Gaol).
• Ultima uses Aetherochemical Laser, randomly shooting a line AoE through the middle, toward its left, or toward its right.
• A Mesohigh tether appears, Titan uses Landslide on a random player, and Ifrit marks a random DPS with Flaming Crush.
• Titan's second Landslide hit at the same time Flaming Crush and Mesohigh tethers resolve.
• Garuda uses another Feather Rain.
• Ultima uses Tank Purge, and the phase ends.

Ultimate Suppression is arguably the greatest wall of the fight, with mechanics seemingly rapid-firing. The phase is fairly simple to digest, however, once it's separated into its main components. The main thing to note is that each player (aside from tanks) will be marked with at least 1 mechanic, which means your goal is to find out who's marked for what as soon as possible in order to figure out what player will be targetted by Light Pillar, which will chase a party member around with a series of pillars of light dealing magic damage to all players under it when it falls.

Begin by starting in pre-assigned positions fanned out near Garuda, in order to figure out who is the Eruption target. Bait the second Eruption moving toward the middle, and have players marked with Mistral Song move behind the tanks. It's possible to have a single tank take both initial hits of the Mistral Song, by popping some cooldowns if you have any to spare. The rest of the party should continue moving forward, preferably baiting the third eruption forward the sisters, as shown in the diagram below. A random player will be marked for Gaol, which means at this point you'll know who will be targetted by the Light Pillar. The gaoled player can safely stand inside the fourth eruption and not die, as they will be fettered before the damage resolves. Dodge out of AoEs, avoid Feather Rain, and break the Granite Gaol as soon as possible. Keep in mind you'll be dodging two Feather Rains in quick succession. Make sure players not in the party stack don't accidentally Feather Rain the party stack.

Have your party loosely spread in front of Garuda, and your tanks standing in front of Titan. (Tanks can also go on Ultima's side if you want, but you might have issues with lasers.)

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After all of this is completed, have your whole party stacked in one position, as shown below, to bait Landslide. A random player will be marked with Flaming Crush, and another player will be tethered by Mesohigh. Move together as a group to avoid Landslide (out and back in), with a pre-assigned player (preferably a tank) separating and taking the Mesohigh tether. Dodge a final feather rain and get ready for a Tank Purge, so have everyone stacked and shielded. After this phase is over, Ultima will teleport back to the middle.

You don't have to be stacked in this exact position. Be wary that Ultima Lasers are going out throughout all of this, so you might have to adjust your position.

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Aetheric Boom

Starting from here, all damage is vital to give you extra time for the enrage, so push as much damage as you can. Ultima will begin casting Ultima. This, once again, must be mitigated with heavy shielding and a Level 3 Tank Limit Break. Ultima will immediately follow up with Aetheric Boom, which will knockback all players, regardless of if they take damage from it or not. However, knockback cancelling abilities such as Surecast do work. This is where the orbs from Ultimate Annihilation come into play. The more players who take orbs, the longer the tether between the two corresponding orbs is. The first orb corresponds to the northwestern orb, the second orb corresponds to the northeastern orb, the third orb corresponds to the southeastern orb, and the fourth orb orb corresponds to the southwestern orb.

I'd recommend splitting in 2 groups: one with 2 tanks with some CDs, and the other being the rest of the party. Sprint is nice here, to take the second set of orbs as soon as you're healed.

If you've been following this guide, have each group get knocked back into one of the southern orbs, and then sprint north to the second set of orbs after being healed.

Primals

After orbs resolve, Ultima will use an AoE Viscous Aetheroplasm, giving 3 random players the Viscous Aetheroplasm debuff. Ultima will then summon all 3 primals (Garuda, Ifrit, and Titan) in one of three orders: Garuda, Ifrit, Titan; Ifrit, Garuda, Titan; and Titan, Ifrit, Garuda. This means that you will be able to accurately predict the last two primals after identifying the first. Each primal has a set rotation, including their ultimate raidbuster, and will be immediately followed up by the next primal. During each Primal phase, one Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode, so your party must be stacked while dodging all of these mechanics. As Primals are not targetable, targeted mitigation such as Addle or Reprisal will be ineffective during Primal ultimates. Make sure people are topped and shielded after every Viscous Aetheroplasm explosion, plus an extra form of mitigation (keep in mind primals are untargettable, so abilities that affect the enemy, such as addle, won't work). Make sure your party has two set safe spots (ideally near the middle of the arena, and on an intercardinal) to stay stacked. I'd recommend using waymarks for this.

Putting markers similar to these will help immensely when coordinating to stack together.

Because of the chance that the limit break bar reaches 3 levels here, the final Primals dance is likely the best place to use it, because an extra LB bar may be filled from heavy raidwide damage. If your DPS is more than ahead of the check, however, it's a good idea to wait until all 3 primals are done to melee LB3 to play safe.

Garuda will begin by using a Wicked Wheel, followed by a Wicked Tornado. The Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode as the Wicked Tornado goes off. Garuda will then follow up with an Aerial Blast, followed by a Feather Rain. It's fairly safe to LB as soon as you dodge into the Wicked Wheel, you'll have about 2-3s of leeway to dodge Feather Rain.

Ifrit will begin by using a single set of 2 eruptions, followed by a set of Crimson Cyclones going across the Cardinals. I'd recommend stacking together at either a cardinal or near the middle, and moving to the intercardinal as soon as possible. The Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode after Crimson Cyclones resolve, and will quickly follow up with a Hellfire, so make sure everyone is topped right after Viscous Aetheroplasm explodes.  It's fairly safe to LB during Ifrit, just hit the button as soon as you dodge Crimson Cyclone.

Titan will begin by using a triple Weight of the Land, followed up by his Earthen Fury.  The Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode after the second Weight of the Land resolves, so it is imperative that your party is dodging the same direction throughout all 3 Weight of the Lands. You can simply employ dodging right-left-right from a set position and you should be fine. I would not recommend LBing during Titan.

After all 3 primals are done, Ultima will teleport to the north of the arena and begin charging up his remaining Ultima Aether. As soon as Ultima reaches 100 Ultima Aether, it will begin it's fairly elaborate enrage. Ultima will gain a damage up and slowly begin to stun players one-by-one, pulling them into the middle of the arena, and raising them into the air before killing them with Citadel Siege, dealing 999,999 damage. He will continue pulling everyone to the middle, starting with players who did the least total damage to Ultima, and ending with the player who did the most damage (usually ends up pulling healers, tanks, and then finally DPS in that order). There's a somewhat long animation even after all players are defeated, so make sure to refresh dots for those final seconds of damage.

If you've defeated the Ultima Weapon, congratulations! You'll be rewarded with an Ultima Totem, which can be exchanged in Rhalgr's Reach for an i375 Ultima weapon of your choice.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below. If you would like to support the creation of this guide, and future guides, feel free to donate by clicking below.

Special thanks to Team ♿, the UPR/UAR discord servers, and all others involved in collecting information/proofreading for making this guide possible.