The Unending Coil of Bahamut (Ultimate)

The Unending Coil of Bahamut (Ultimate) is a high-end duty added in patch 4.11: The Legend Returns. It can be unlocked by speaking to the Wandering Minstrel in Kugane ( 11.6, 12.6 ) after completing Deltascape V4.0 (Savage).

The minimum ilvl to enter this fight is i340, but can be bypassed with a full party. All gear of an ilvl greater than i345 will be synced down to i345, and have materia slots ignored.

Phase 1: Twintania 

Neurolinks

Throughout the first phase of the fight, Twintania will drop 3 neurolinks after reaching certain percentage points (74%, 44%, 0%). Standing inside of a neurolink will inflict players with a Neurolink status, heavily reducing their damage dealt and heavily reducing damage from hatches. Twintania will drop a neurolink under her hitbox, so the position can be manipulated by players. In order to facilitate mechanics later in the fight, I'd recommend placing neurolinks in a triangle, roughly shown below:

This is just one of many possible configurations. As long as neurolinks are somewhat close and equidistant to the middle, in a triangle, any configuration should be fine.

I'll divide Phase 1 into 3 separate parts, depending on when Twintania drops her neurolinks.

Pull (100%-74%)

Twintania's Abilities:

• Plummet: Cleave, dealing significant physical damage to its target.
• Twister: At the end of its cast, Twintania will place small tornadoes under players. Must move away at the end of the cast, as running into any of the small tornadoes results in instant death, and knock back any nearby players into the death wall.
• Fireball: Twintania will mark a player with a red triangle, and throw a fireball dealing significant magic damage that can be shared amongst the party.
• Death Sentence: Tankbuster dealing heavy physical damage to its target, and inflicting a Physical Vulnerability up. A tank swap is virtually required during the cast.

Twintania begins the pull with a Plummet on the tank and very shortly do a Twister + Fireball combo. All players must move away to place their twisters and then collapse into the middle to soak fireball. I'd recommend assigning a spot to each player to move out to. After soaking the Fireball, Twintania will use Death Sentence on the tank. A tank swap is required. Twintania will repeat this rotation until she is pushed to 74%. NOTE: Keep in mind that Shirk may not be available for every Death Sentence, as she casts it fairly frequently.

First Neurolink Drop (74%-44%)

Twintania gains the following abilities:

• Generate: A hatch (purple sphere) will appear under Twintania, and a random DPS will be marked. The hatch will slowly move toward said player. If a player is not standing in a Neurolink, the hatch will explode on the whole raid, dealing lethal damage and inflicting damage down. If in a neurolink, the hatch will explode in a large aoe (about the size of a twister), dealing menial damage to players inside a neurolink, and lethal damage to other players caught in the blast. Getting hit by a Hatch will inflict Mana Hypersensitivity, which will cause a second hatch to always deal lethal damage.
• Liquid Hell (Distance): Targetted aoe on a player, placing a fire puddle under them. Standing in the puddle will inflict a lethal burn dot, dealing 90k damage. Twintania will always target players who are further than a certain range away from her, so make sure an assigned baiter is always the only person far away from Twintania.

After dropping her first neurolink, make sure to move her to the second location as soon as possible, as she will begin casting Liquid Hell.

 

Assign 1 players in your raid to be in charge of baiting Liquid Hells, preferably a ranged DPS. Liquid Hell will always target a random player that's past a certain distance from Twintania. In order to bait Liquid Hells, make sure your assigned baiter is the only player past this range, and all other party members are somewhat closer to Twintania. If done correctly, they should be targetted by all 5 liquid hells. Make sure to not bait a liquid hell on Neurolinks.

 

 

Twintania will then cast Generate, marking a random DPS player with 3 circles rotating around them, targetting them for Hatch. The marked player must run inside of the neurolink before the hatch explodes on them in order to mitigate damage done. The hatch will explode in a fairly large AoE, extending outside the neurolink (about the size of a Shadowflare), and any other player caught in the blast will take lethal damage. During this, Twintania will also cast another set of baited Liquid Hells.

 

 

 

After the second set of Liquid Hells, Twintania will cast Death Sentence, forcing a tank swap. She will then use Generate once more, immediately followed by a Twister. Because of the delay of the Hatch spawning, players will have to bait twisters outside the neurolink, and move in after the cast is finished. Twintania will then use Plummet, and repeat her rotation until she is pushed past 44%.

Second Neurolink Drop (44%-0%)

A few changes are made to some of Twintania's abilities:

• Generate: Generate will now create two hatches, and target two players. Because Mana Hypersensitivity will cause damage from two hatches to be lethal, regardless of in a neurolink or not, hatches must be taken in separate neurolinks.
• Liquid Hell (Target): Twintania will gain a second variant of Liquid Hell. She will target a completely random player and shoot 5 liquid hells at them, regardless of their distance. This cannot be baited.

After dropping her first neurolink, make sure to move her to the second location as soon as possible, as she will quickly begin casting Liquid Hell, followed by a Generate. This is fairly similar to her previous rotation, except for the fact that she will mark two players. Right after markers disappear, Twintania will mark a random player with Fireball, as well as begin casting a targetted Liquid Hell on one player 5 times. After hatches are resolved, have all players (except for the liquid hell target) stack right behind Twintania to soak fireball. The player targetted for liquid hell should circle around the arena, and run into the stack after the 5th hit.

 

 

 

 

 

Twintania will then cast Death Sentence on her target, followed by another double Generate into Twisters, similar to the pattern done in the earlier phase. She will follow up with a Plummet, and then repeat her rotation until she is pushed to 0% or enrages.

At 3:00, Twintania will become untargettable and cast Aetheric Profusion, dealing lethal damage to all players, serving as an enrage. Twintania must be killed before this, or your party will wipe.

After defeating Twintania, she will fly away, signifying the end of Phase 1.

Phase 2: Nael Deus Darnus

The phase begins with Heavensfall, a raid-wide aoe with a knockback dealing damage based on how close you are to the center. Make sure to mitigate,. Immediately after the knockback is resolved, a set of glowing Thermionic Bursts will appear on the floor, dividing the arena into pie slices. Standing in this AoE when they explode will deal lethal damage, and inflict paralysis if you manage to survive.  At the same time, Nael will Meteor Stream a total of 8 party members, in 2 sets of 4. These are splash damage, so all players must spread out across the arena to prevent doubling up on damage. Afterwards, Nael will use Dalamud Dive and jump on the tank who held threat on Twintania, dealing significant damage. This is also splash damage, so make sure to stay away from her target (being the tank).

Nael has the following abilities:

• Dalamud Dive: Nael jumps onto her target, dealing significant splash damage. Make sure to spread away from the tank to prevent any extra damage.
• Bahamut's Claw: Physical tankbuster consisting of 5 successive hits to her target.
• Iron Chariot: Nael will spin around with her spear, dealing lethal damage and a knockback to any player in melee range. Has no AoE indicator or cast bar.
• Thermionic Beam: Nael shoots a laser at a random party member, dealing massive magic damage which can be soaked across party members. Has no cast bar or AoE indicator.
• Lunar Dynamo: Instant raid-wide AoE dealing lethal damage, with only 2 safe spots in melee range or very far away from Nael. Looks like a donut.
• Raven's Dive: Nael will randomly jump on a party member, knocking back all other players hit except for her target.
• Ravensbeak: Tankbuster dealing significant physical damage to her target, and inflicts Piercing Resistance Up II. Forces a tank swap.
• Hypernova: Sphere targeted on players. Standing inside will pull you to its center, apply a deadly bleed, and deal significant damage.

Nael's Quotes:

As many of these moves don't have AoE markers, you'll have to use Nael's unique tell to predict what attacks she will use. These tells are present in the form of quotes. Nael's quotes will appear over her head and in the chatbox, and she will perform a different series of moves depending on her quote. Possible quotes are shown below:

• O hallowed moon, take fire and scorch my foes! – Lunar Dynamo > Thermionic Beam
• O hallowed moon, shine you the iron path! – Lunar Dynamo > Iron Chariot
• Blazing path, lead me to iron rule! – Thermionic Beam > Iron Chariot
• Take fire, O hallowed moon! – Thermionic Beam > Lunar Dynamo
• From on high I descend, the iron path to call! or From on high I descend, the iron path to walk! – Raven's Dive > Iron Chariot
• From on high I descend, the hallowed moon to call! – Raven's Dive > Lunar Dynamo
• Fleeting light! 'Neath the red moon, scorch you the earth!  – Dalamud Dive > Thermionic Beam
• Fleeting light! Amid a rain of stars, exalt you the red moon! – Meteor Stream > Dalamud Dive

These quotes are not entirely random, and are usually present in sets of two throughout the phase (excluding the end). I highly recommend either using ACT triggers or have a person in the raid always call out what each quote means.

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After landing on the tank, Nael will immediately use Bahamut's Claw on her target, and follow up with Bahamut's Favor, gaining a damage buff and summoning 5 dragons outside the arena, signifying the start of the Elements phase. Each of the dragons signifies a different element, and each does different abilities, explained below:

• The Thunder Dragon inflicts Thunderstruck on any two players. When Thunderstruck ticks to 0, it does splash damage + paralysis, other players cannot get hit by this splash, especially not each other.
• The Ice Dragon casts Iceball on all 8 players, one by one, inflicting Icebitten, unless the target is suffering from Firescorched, in which case it will be removed. Icebitten can be removed by getting hit by a fireball. If a player is hit by Iceball and suffers from Icebitten, they will take lethal damage.
• The Fire Dragon will tether a random player, targetting them for Fireball. Fireball will splash the fire in a radius, inflicting all players without a debuff with Firescorched, unless suffering from Icebitten, in which case it will be removed. Firescorched can be cleansed by getting hit by an Iceball. If a person with a Firescorched debuff gets hit by a Fireball, they will die.

• The Light Dragon will cast Wings of Salvation, placing white puddles on the ground under random players. Standing in these puddles when they disappear will deal lethal damage. After they disappear, they will leave behind a small white circle. Walking into the circle will remove the Doom debuff.
• The Dark Dragon will periodically inflict Doom on random party members, each with different durations. When Doom counts down to zero, the player will instantly die. This debuff can be cleansed by walking into a white circle left behind by Wings of Salvation.

After casting Bahamut's Favor, Nael will yell out a quote, and 2 random party members will be inflicted with Thunderstruck. She will then use Lunar Dynamo. The party must account for 2 thunderstruck AoEs, and a safe spot for the party, while preparing to dodge the upcoming Lunar Dynamo. I'd recommend having the two thunderstruck players positioned in the back left and back right flanks, with the rest of the party stacking north, as shown below:

Nael's quote will determine what move she will use immediately following Lunar Dynamo, being either Thermionic Beam ("O hallowed moon, take fire and scorch my foes! "), or Iron Chariot ("O hallowed moon, shine you the iron path!"). At the same time, a fire tether will appear. Be sure to have your whole party dodge in the same direction if Chariot is chosen, if you're planning to keep this Fireball in. Afterwards, 2 random players will be marked with Doom (with durations of either 6s or 10s), and Wings of Salvation puddles will appear under random players. Have the player with the shortest Doom duration take the first white circle after Wings of Salvation resolves, and the second shortest take the second white circle.

After a very short pause, Nael will use another set of Bahamut's Claws on her target, and another fire tether will appear. Two players will also be marked with Thunderstruck after a few seconds. Because there is no Lunar Dynamo present, Thunderstruck players are free to just move away from the stack to avoid their splash damage. If you're planning on keeping this fire in, make sure Thunderstruck players take the fire first before spreading out, as Fireball resolves before Thunderstruck.

Nael will then say her second quote, determining if she will either use Thermionic Beam > Lunar Dynamo ("Take fire, O hallowed moon!"), or Thermionic Beam > Iron Chariot ("Blazing path, lead me to iron rule!"). Because Thermionic Beam is always present, I'd highly recommend preparing mitigation for it. The Light and Dark Dragons will then preform the same Wings of Salvation & Doom combination they did earlier, except this time there will be 3 players marked with Doom (durations of 6s, 10s, and 16s), and 3 Wings of Salvation will be cast. At the third Wings of Salvation dance, Thunderstruck will be applied on two players, and a fire tether will appear. Contrary to the second fire, Thunderstruck will resolve BEFORE Fireball, so have Thunderstruck players spread out their thunders first, and then stack in for fire if you're planning on keeping this fire in. Nael will follow up with another set of Bahamut's Claws on the tank.

Nael will then say her third quote, determining whether she will use Raven's Dive  > Lunar Dynamo ("From on high I descend, the hallowed moon to call! "), or Raven's Dive > Iron Chariot ("From on high I descend, the iron path to call!" or "From on high I descend, the iron path to walk! "). Raven's Dive will always be present. In order to prevent Raven's Dive from knocking back other players, but still keeping Nael close enough to everyone to easily react to mechanics, I'd recommend assigning a clock-position based spread, as shown below:

During Nael's second move (either Lunar Dynamo or Iron Chariot) a random player will be marked by a fireball tether. Shortly afterwards, 2 players will be marked with thunderstruck. In this case, Thunderstruck resolves after Fireball, so have your thunders get hit by Fireball before spreading out their thunders. Immediately after, the Light and Dark Dragons will do the exact same Wings of Salvation + Doom combination, once again with 3 players marked with Doom. After the third Wings of Salvation is resolved, Nael will use Ravensbeak on her target, forcing a tank swap. Immediately afterwards, Nael will say her 4th quote, and a green marker will appear on a random player, signifying the beginning of Divebombs.

Divebombs:

A series of 3 green markers will appear above 3 random players (not including the current main tank). Dragons will dive in the location the markers disappear, so the goal is to bait them into locations keeping the center safe. Dragons always appear in exactly cardinals or intercardinals, and appear after the Bahamut's Favor cast, so there's plenty of time to determine where they are, and the order they'll dive. The dragon's dive order depends on their position in the arena. Starting true north (12 o'clock) of the arena, and moving clockwise around the arena, the first two dragons will dive as a group, the third will dive alone, and the last two dragons will dive last as a group. They will always dive in this 2-1-2 configuration. Divebombs should be baited in locations where dragons will dive away from the center, ideally diving tangent to the edge. An example is shown below:

During divebomb baiting, Nael will be throwing out Hypernovae at the furthest targets from her, which ideally should be the people baiting divebombs. Make sure the divebomb marker over your head disappears before moving away to dodge Hypernovae. If possible, always dodge Hypernovae by moving clockwise.

Nael will also say her 4th quote, determining whether she will do Meteor Stream > Dalamud Dive ("Fleeting light! Amid a rain of stars, exalt you the red moon! "), or Dalamud Dive > Thermionic Beam ("Fleeting light! 'Neath the red moon, scorch you the earth!"). This determines whether you should spread out during this phase, to avoid doubling up on Meteor Streams, or to stack together and soak Thermionic Beam. Make sure that nobody is near the main tank, as Dalamud Dive's splash damage will be lethal to anyone that is not a tank. Meteor Streams will occur during the second divebomb, so make sure the party is spread out away from the second waymark. If Divebombs have been marked correctly, the center will always be safe, making it the perfect stack point for Thermionic Beam.

After all divebombs are resolved, dragons will no longer do any actions for the rest of the phase, so you no longer have to worry about Iceballs, Fireballs, Thunderstruck, Doom, or Wings of Salvation. Nael will follow up with another set of Bahamut's Claws, and proceed to say two more quotes. These quotes can be any of the previously seen quotes (excluding divebomb quotes), so be ready for anything. Nael will then follow with a Ravensbeak, forcing a tank swap, and attacking her new target with a set of Bahamut's Claws. Shortly after, she will become untargettable, and begin casting a lethal Megaflare, wiping the raid and serving as an enrage.

After Nael is killed, she will jump away, signifying the end of Phase 2. This phase can be pushed before her rotation is complete. Be sure to prepare mitigation and stack together once more to prepare for this phase transition.

The transition to Phase 3 begins with Seventh Umbral Era, a raid-wide AoE dealing damage and doing a knockback, very similar to Heavensfall. There will then be a set of 3 Calamitous Flames, followed by a Calamitous Blaze, which is just raid-wide damage to the whole party.  Calamitous Blaze cannot be survived without a Tank LB, with a Tank LB3 being heavily preferred. In order to effectively mitigate these, have one of your tanks use Tank LB as soon as you get knocked back by Seventh Umbral Era. (A tank LB2 should be popped before the first hit, as it has a longer duration.)

Phase 3: Bahamut Prime

Bahamut's Abilities:

• Flare Breath: Conal cleave dealing very significant magic damage. Treat it like a mini-tankbuster.
• Flatten: Physical tankbuster dealing massive physical damage, that must be mitigated.
• Earth Shaker: Bahamut will place a marker over a party member, targetting them with a huge conal AoE between Bahamut and his target (The range is approximately a full 90 degree slice of the arena). Deals significant physical damage, and leaves a fire puddle (not unlike Liquid Hell puddles). Standing in the puddle will inflict Sludge, a heavy and severe dot that will likely kill you.
• Tempest Wing: A tether will extend from Bahamut to a random target. This tether can be intercepted by standing between Bahamut and it's target. Deals magical spash damage that knocks back and stuns any party member except it's target.
• Megaflare: 2+ players will get marked by a circle surrounding them, indicating them to stack. Splash damage will target random players, so everyone must spread out. Players without splash damage must not get hit by another player's splash damage, as they likely will likely either die, or not have enough HP to survive a later mechanic. AOE circles will also appear on the ground to dodge.
• Gigaflare: Raid-wide AoE dealing massive magic damage.

Bahamut's phase consists of small periods to do damage divided up by large intermissions called Trios. Throughout these trios, Nael, Bahamut, and Twintania will all do a combination of their mechanics at the same time.

The phase begins with Bahamut quickly using a Flare Breath, immediately followed by a Flatten. Afterwards, Bahamut will summon Nael and Twintania, and begin Quickmarch Trio.

Quickmarch Trio

• Bahamut + Nael + Twin Line Divebomb
• Twister + Dodge Dives
• Megaflare (3 DPS) + Earth Shaker (2 healers 1 DPS) + Tempest Wing

Nael, Bahamut, and Twintania will all appear in a line on the edge of the arena, and will dive across the middle of the arena. This leaves two safe spots in the edges of the arena. Assign each player an assigned position in either the left or right safe spot, and get ready to move to avoid twisters as soon as the trio dive (I'd highly recommend using Focus Target to see when the cast finishes, as that's when you have to move. The enemy list also shows the end of the cast). Immediately afterwards, Megaflare begins, marking three random DPS with circles around them, while hitting four random players with unavoidable soak damage, so you must be spread out. Keep in mind players can be targetted by both Megaflare circles and Megaflare splash damage. At the same time, both Healers and the non-marked DPS will recieve an Earth Shaker marker over their heads, and two random players will be tethered to Bahamut via Tempest Wing.

The best way to deal with this trio is to assign mechanics to a quadrant of the arena. We had our Megaflare stack in the south, in max melee range of the boss, and each healer was assigned east or west, accompanied by a tank to intercept the tether. The last DPS with Earth Shakers would go north. Have your tanks intercept the Tempest Wing tethers and position themselves in front of the two healers, regardless of if they'll be hit by Earth Shaker, as it does menial damage to tanks. After this, the first Trio is resolved. A diagram is shown below:

After Quickmarch Trio resolves, Bahamut will repeat the same Flare Breath into Flatten combo done earlier. Once again, Bahamut will summon Nael and Twintania and begin using Blackfire Trio.

Blackfire Trio

• All three bosses appear in a triangle outside the arena.
• Liquid Hell + Divebomb marker
• Thermionic Beam — Comes out during the fourth liquid hell, everyone has to move together
• Megaflare markers (1 tank 1 healer 2 dps) + 4 pillars
• 4 Hypernovas 

This trio begins with a Bahamut divebomb marker appearing over a random player's head. Bahamut's markers work differently than the elemental dragons in the earlier phase, in which Bahamut will dive to where the marker appears, not disappears, so you must bait beforehand. During this time, Twintania will be targetting a random player with Liquid Hells, and Nael will be using Thermionic Beam (during the fourth Liquid Hell). You must be stacked together in movement, making sure nobody receives the burns from puddles left behind.

There are two main strategies to deal with the first part of Blackfire Trio, which I will call the edge method and the center method.

Edge

Begin the trio stacked together as a party in the wall, and find Bahamut. Move along the arena away from Bahamut (i.e. if the party is at 6 o'clock, and Bahamut is at 10 o'clock, move counterclockwise). In the event that Bahamut spawns directly in front or behind the stack, moving in either direction is fine, but I'd recommend assigning a default. Move along the wall, making sure nobody gets Burns from Liquid Hell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Center

Begin the trio stacked together as a party in the center of the arena, and find Twintania or Nael (either can be used as a waymark, just make sure everyone uses the same one). Move toward Twintania or Nael's spawn, to make sure the party remains stacked. Be sure to make very small stutter-steps to make sure you don't reach the wall before all five Liquid Hell puddles are placed, but not slow enough so that people are inflicted with Liquid Hell's burns. As long as you just move to the edge of the Liquid Hell puddle every time, you should be fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Immediately after the fifth Liquid Hell, Nael will mark 2 random DPS, 1 random healer, and 1 random tank with Megaflare circles. All Megaflare marked players should stay stacked together where the party finished moving. At the same time, four pillars will appear in each quadrant of the arena, forming a square. These towers spawn based on Bahamut's location (i.e if Bahamut is north, towers will spawn in North, East, South, and West). A player must be inside a tower when it explodes, or it will deal raid-wide lethal damage. This is where unmarked players come in. Assign one tower to be the unmarked healer's tower, one tower to be the unmarked tank's tower, and have your remaining 2 unmarked DPS spread out into the remaining towers. It doesn't matter which tower each player is sent to, but I'd recommend your healers and tanks have an assigned tower on one half of the arena, and have your DPS towers on the other half of the arena, calling to go either close or far. Nael will be using Hypernovas before towers explode, so you must bait them outside the towers. You're safe to move into the towers after the second Hypernova, so wait until you see it before moving in.

Immediately after Blackfire Trio, Bahamut will begin casting Gigaflare, so make sure to mitigate appropriately. Bahamut will follow up with 3 Flare Breaths in a row, and once again summon the other bosses and begin Fellruin Trio.

Fellruin Trio

• All 3 appear closer to the middle, in a triangle formation. Their location is random.
• Nael uses a random RP attack. All 3 neurolinks need to be used. Party on one, MT on one, OT on one. Tanks need to pick up tethers. Need to be in neurolinks by aetheric profusion.
  •  If Nael says "From on high I descend, the moon and stars to bring!" >> Raven's Dive > Lunar Dynamo > Meteor Stream
  •  If Nael says "From hallowed moon I descend, a rain of stars to bring!" >> Lunar Dynamo > Raven's Dive > Meteor Stream
• Tempest Wing x2
• Aetheric Profusion (needs Neurolink)
• Meteor Stream

The trio begins with Nael, Bahamut, and Twintania appearing in a triangle formation around the middle of the arena. Their location in the triangle is random. Nael begins by saying one of two quotes, corresponding to either Raven's Dive > Lunar Dynamo ("From on high I descend, the moon and stars to bring!") or Lunar Dynamo > Raven's Dive ("From hallowed moon I descend, a rain of stars to bring!"). I'd recommend using the same assigned positions as used in the earlier Ravan's Dive's combo in Phase 2, surrounding Nael. After Nael's first move, Bahamut will tether two random players with Tempest Wing, which each tank must intercept and pick up. Very shortly after, Twintania will use Aetheric Profusion. Your party must use one neurolink, while your tanks use the other two neurolinks to avoid the knockback from Tempest Wing. Immediately after Aetheric Profusion resolves, Nael will use Meteor Stream, so your party must spread out as fast as possible.

This trio is immediately followed by a Gigaflare, so make sure to heal and mitigate appropriately. Afterwards, Bahamut will use a Flare Breath, followed by a Flatten, followed by another Flare Breath. Afterwards, Bahamut summons the bosses again and begins Heavensfall Trio.

Heavensfall Trio

• Bahamut + Nael + Twin appear at the edge of the arena.
• Bahamut Divebomb Marker + Twintania Divebomb Marker
• Twister
• Megaflare + 8 Towers spawn (on the edge)
• Heavensfall (rotating circle type) + 3 Hypernovae
• Fireball Stack

The trio begins with Bahamut, Nael, and Twintania jumping to a random edge of the arena. They will always be adjacent to each other, but in a random position (i.e. You may see from left to right [Bahamut, Nael, Twintania] or [Nael, Bahamut, Twintania], or any other combination of the three). Begin by stacking in the middle, to bait Bahamut and Twintania's dives. There are two ways to dodge dives, depending on Nael's position in their configuration.

If Nael is not in the middle

Dodge this almost exactly like Quickmarch Trio's dive, using the same safe spots.

If Nael is in the middle

Have two players dodge toward the north quadrant, two players to the east, two players to the south, and two players to the west, You can use the same safe spots as Quickmarch trio, albeit with small differences. Your members who are the furthest north should just move to the north quadrant, and the southernmost players should move toward the south quadrant. all other players should have the same safe spots.

Immediately after dives, Twintania will follow up with a Twister, and Bahamut will spawn 8 towers in random areas across the edge of the map. After a short while a Heavensfall will drop. Your goal is to have all 8 players use the Heavensfall knockback to knock themselves into each of the 8 towers. In order to quickly determine what player should go to what tower, I'd recommend using Nael as a waymark (12 o'clock) and assigning each player a number, corresponding to which tower they should take starting clockwise (i.e. player #1 would take the first tower going clockwise, player #2 would take the second tower going clockwise, etc etc). You can use Quickmarch trio safe spots as a basis to determine what number should go on what player.

After towers resolve, get ready to actually dodge Thermionic Burst aoes caused by Heavensfall. While you are dodging, Nael will throw out 3 Hypernovae targetted at 3 random party members, so be sure to bait these at the wall if possible. After the 3rd Hypernovae, when Heavensfall resolves, a random player will be marked with a fireball marker. Have your party quickly collapse in the middle to soak Fireball, and prepare mitigation for the upcoming Gigaflare.

Immediately after Heavensfall Trio, Bahamut will use Gigaflare, followed by 3 Flare Breaths. Afterwards, Tenstrike Trio will begin.

Tenstrike Trio

• Triple Generate
• Meteor Stream x4 (4dps)
• Triple Generate (on same targets)
• Meteor Stream x4 (2 healers 2 Tanks)
• Earth Shakers x4
• Earth Shakers x4

This trio begins with Twintania appearing in the middle, and targetting 3 random players with Generate, this time sending two hatches at each targeted player. In order to prevent a wipe, you must have another set of 3 players intercept the second hatch by standing in the neurolink. At the same time, Nael will also be using Meteor Streams on everyone, one by one. She will always dive on all 4 DPS first, followed by 2 healers, followed by 2 tanks. I'd recommend having all players spread out to pre-assigned positions (cardinals and intercardinals) and have each of the marked players move into each of the Neurolinks. You can use your quickmarch positions for this, and they'll work pretty well. Keep in mind, you cannot run through the middle of the arena, as Hatches are present. At the same time, have unmarked players call which player's hatch they will be intercepting, and move into the corresponding neurolink after the first hatch is resolved.

Immediately after, 4 players will be marked with Earth Shaker markers. Players must spread out to 4 different sides of the arena, making sure no Earth Shaker hits any other and a safe spot is left for the remaining 4 players. The second set of 4 players should be quickly discussing what position they will be going for the second set of Earth Shaker markers, which will appear shortly after the first set resolves.

After this trio resolves, Bahamut will once again cast Gigaflare, followed by a Flatten into Flare Breath, and then following into Grand Octet.

Grand Octet

• 5 dragons and 3 bosses spawn in 8 set locations randomly
• If everyone is alive during the Grand Octet cast, each player will be marked once, and only once.
• Nael dives first
• 5 Dragons dive in succession
• Bahamut dives
• Twintania dives + Megaflare Stack + Megaflare Towers

There are a multitude of strategies to correctly preform Grand Octet. The strategy I present is one of many, but I think it's the easiest and most consistent strategy out of the ones I've found/thought of. Whenever 'dragons' are mentioned, this does not include Twintania, Nael, or Bahamut.

Here are the basic rules of Grand Octet (ty aya liz):

• The 8 locations dragons/bosses can spawn is always set, but their configuration is random.
• Nael will always be the first to dive. Her position is locked where the marker APPEARS.
• 5 Dragons will dive depending on Bahamut's position. Twintania will always be skipped. Their position is locked when the marker DISAPPEARS.
  • If Bahamut is in a cardinal position, dragons will dive in a counter-clockwise order, starting from Bahamut's counter-clockwise side.
  • If Bahamut is in an intercardinal position, dragons will dive in a clockwise order, starting from Bahamut's clockwise side.
  • If Twintania is between 2 dragons, she will be skipped.
• After all 5 dragons dive, Bahamut will dive. His position is locked when the marker APPEARS.
• Twintania will dive last, her position being locked when the marker APPEARS. Megaflare will begin at the same time.

Begin the phase by stacking in the middle. Determine where Bahamut is, and take note if he's at an intercardinal or a cardinal position. Also check to make sure Nael is not across the arena, opposite Bahamut. If Nael is not opposite Bahamut, wait for the initial divebomb marker to appear, and then run to the dragon opposite Bahamut. After Nael dives, you will begin running in a circle. If Bahamut was at a CARDINAL position, you will be running counter-clockwise (Diagram 1 & 2 shown below). If Bahamut was at an INTERCARDINAL position, you will be running clockwise (Diagram 3 & 4 shown below). Do not sprint until all divebomb markers appear, unless you're behind the party. Once the red Bahamut dive marker appears, run straight to the middle.

In the event Nael is directly across from Bahamut: If Bahamut was at a CARDINAL position, wait for the first divebomb marker to appear, and then run to the first dragon counter-clockwise Nael (Diagrams 1 & 2 shown below). If Bahamut was at an INTERCARDINAL position, wait for the first divebomb marker to appear, and then run to the first dragon clockwise Nael (Diagrams 3 & 4 shown below). The strategy then plays out exactly as outlined previously.

After all dives except for Twintania are resolved, there should only be 1 player who has not been marked by any dragon. Have them run to the right of Twintania, to bait her dive. At the same time, Megaflare Towers and markers will appear on random players. The player marked by Twintania can be selected for either mechanic, so they must be prepared to deal with either mechanic. For ease of access, have your Megaflare stack be on the left of Twintania, and have the tower closest to Twintania be for the player targeted by Twintania if they do not have a Megaflare marker. Your remaining members should be taking towers. There's no foolproof method I can think of that makes this tower set easy, so I recommend just calling out which tower you're going to and adjust on the fly. Immediately after the dive, Twintania will begin using Twister, so players inside towers must run inside them as to not trigger Twisters, and players in the Megaflare stack should move out.

Megaflare will similarly target 1 healer, 1 tank, and 2 dps, which means you can have a general priority system to who goes to which tower. You can usually get away with just winging it, but I wouldn't recommend enforcing a priority system because of the need of having a tower open, as the Twintania bait might have to take a tower.

If you're confident in your adds phase DPS, you can instead opt to Tank LB3 approximately a second before Megaflare towers spawn to avoid having to coordinate the towers and Megaflare stack after Octet's dives. Make sure the tank who is LBing is in the middle of the arena and prepared to move for twisters. You still have to place Twintania's dive, but this completely nullifies the damage done by Megaflare, allowing any player to take any tower, regardless of if they have any marker. You still have to move to avoid twisters, so be wary.

Immediately after Grand Octet is complete, Bahamut will immediately jump to the background of the arena, and begin charging Teraflare.

Phase 4: Teraflare 

• Nael and Twintania become targetable.
• One tank per boss. Can be tanked back to back.
• Duty Gauge for an ultimate attack. 100 = wipe.
• Need to kill both bosses at roughly the same time, as upon death the other casts their ultimate. (Twintania: Twin Fury & Nael: White Fury)

The phase begins with Bahamut charging Aethertrail Attunement in the duty gauge, and Nael and Twintania becoming targetable, spawning at 45% and 40% HP respectively. They have all the same abilities they had in the earlier phases. They share the same enmity table as Bahamut. Have the tank who wasn't tanking Bahamut provoke one of the two bosses off the other. They can both be tanked in the same place, stacked on each other.

Have a players in position to bait Liquid Hells (ideally the same player who baited in Phase 1). I recommend placing a waymark down somewhere (ideally a location easily reachable by everyone) to use as an indicator of where to soak Thermionic Beam, and assigned positions to spread for Raven's Dive. Keep in mind the bosses must die at the same time, or they will cast Twin Fury/White Fury, fully healing the boss and giving them a damage up, as well as a vulnerability down. This is essentially a raid wipe. (you have a grace period of ~3 seconds).

The bosses will both begin by using their mini-busters (Plummet for Twintania, Bahamut's Claw for Nael). Twintania will then do her baitable Liquid Hells, identical to the ones in Phase 1. She will immediately follow up with a Generate + Twister combo, this time targetting 3 random DPS. As you have 3 neurolinks, each hatch must go in one and only one neurolink.

Assign a neurolink to each of the melee (one takes left flank, one takes right flank), one to the ranged, and have the second ranged be a floater. If you're soaking Hatch on a melee neurolink, you can bait twisters AFTER resolving Hatch. If you are using the ranged neurolink, bait your twister BEFORE resolving Hatch. Of course, use your best judgement if positioning is not perfect.

Immediately after Twister resolves, Nael will say one of 4 quotes:

• "From hallowed moon I descend, upon burning earth to tread!" – Lunar Dynamo > Raven's Dive > Thermionic Beam
• "From hallowed moon I bare iron, in my descent to wield!" – Lunar Dynamo > Iron Chariot > Raven's Dive
• "Unbending iron, take fire and descend! " – Iron Chariot > Thermionic Beam > Raven's Dive
• "Unbending iron, descend with fiery edge!" – Iron Chariot > Raven's Dive > Thermionic Beam

Nael will very quickly cycle through her 3-move rotation. Keep in mind Twintania is still using auto attacks, so take special care of your Twintania tank. Immediately after Nael finishes her rotation, Twintania will use another Twister, so make sure to dodge it. Nael will then follow up with a Megaflare, dealing a lot of raid-wide magic damage with must be mitigated. After Megaflare resolves, both Twintania and Nael will use their respective tankbusters (Death Sentence and Ravensbeak), which still inflict either a slashing or a piercing vulnerability, and therefore still force a tank swap. The easiest way is to just have each tank provoke the boss off of the other. You do not need to shirk each other.

Their rotation will then repeat once, all the way until after the final Twister. Instead of Nael starting off with the Megaflare, the bosses instead will use their tankbusters first, and then follow up with the Megaflare. You have these 2 cycles before Aethertrail Attunement reaches 100, causing a raid wipe. I'd highly recommend saving a caster or ranged Limit Break, in order to kill both bosses at the same time.

If Aethertrail Attunement is lower than 100 when you kill Nael and Twintania, Teraflare will still 'kill' you. However, Phoenix will cast Flames of Rebirth and revives you with full HP, no weakness, full LB3, and the buff Phoenix's Blessing. This buff doubles all damage dealt by players. However, this buff does not persist across death, so staying alive throughout this last phase is imperative to kill before enrage. You will have no statuses on you when you raise (i.e. no protect, etc), so make sure you take care of that during the small downtime you get before Golden Bahamut is targettable. 

Phase 5: Golden Bahamut

Bahamut gains the buff Lohs Daih, changing his appearance, and gains the following abilities:

• Akh Morn: Tanks split a big tankbuster (multiple times). Starts at x3 and increases by 1 each cycle.
• Morn Afah: Big party stack dealing massive magic-based damage. Must be mitigated appropriately.
• Exaflare: Spawns a series of AoE circles dealing lethal damage to all players standing inside. More info below.

Remember if Bahamut was not pushed past 60% in Phase 3, Bahamut will also gain a Damage Up buff, and deal unhealable damage, essentially serving as a raid wipe.

This phase is all about Exaflares, and planning out mitigation for Morn Afahs and Akh Morns. Any deaths will result in the player permanently losing Phoenix's Blessing, so you all must stay alive to beat his Enrage.

The phase begins immediately with a Morn Afah, so have all of your party stack together. This requires extensive mitigation, which I would highly recommend planning beforehand. You will see a total of 5 Morn Afahs before Bahamut enrages. As party composition is variable, you will have to discuss among your group where mitigation should be placed. For example, in a PLD/WAR/SCH/WHM/DRG/NIN/BRD/SMN composition, a mitigation strategy could be as follows:

• Morn Afah 1: Deployment Tactics Adloquium + Sacred Soil + Reprisal + Addle + Divine Veil + Shake it Off
• Morn Afah 2: Succor + Sacred Soil + Reprisal + Fey Covenant + Passage of Arms
• Morn Afah 3: Fey Illumination + Succor + Sacred Soil + Reprisal + Addle + Shake it Off
• Morn Afah 4: Deployment Tactics Adloquium + Sacred Soil + Reprisal + Divine Veil + Minuet Troubador
• Morn Afah 5: Succor + Sacred Soil + Reprisal + Addle + Shake it Off + Covenant

This is not the only way to mitigate Morn Afahs, and I'd highly recommend talking it over with your group. The bare minimum needed to survive is 3 10% CDs + Succor, more can be added for safety.

Right after Morn Afah resolves, have only your tanks stand in front of Bahamut, as he will begin casting Akh Morn. Much like Morn Afahs, Akh Morns need to have a planned set of mitigation for the highest chance of success. You will see a total of 4 Akh Morns before Bahamut enrages. The common CD rotation for tanks goes as follows:

• Akh Morn 1 – Invuln
• Akh Morn 2 – Cooldown
• Akh Morn 3 – Invuln
• Akh Morn 4 – Cooldown (everything you have)

After this Akh Morn is resolved, Bahamut will begin casting Exaflare.

Exaflare

Exaflare is a mechanic at first seeming very similar to Emptiness in O4S, but with key differences. Exaflares creates 3 waves of 2 markers across one of the 8 cardinals/intercardinals. Exaflares will always spawn in one and only one lane, and all 6 lanes will be used. Below is a diagram that shows how they come out. They appear at ~50% into the Exaflare cast.

There are three main strategies to dodge Exaflares:

3 to 1 Dodges/2 to 1 Dodges (Middle Strat)

This is a strat that requires a lot more effort, but is usually very consistent. We can label Exaflare waves in the format ######, wherein # is what wave it is. For example:

Try to find places where 3 and 1 Exaflares are adjacent to each other. After doing so, stand in the lane with the 3 Exaflare, wait for the 1 Exaflare to pass next to you, and then move into that lane. A diagram is shown below:

Sometimes, a 3 to 1 dodge will not be available, in which case you'll have to make do with a 2 to 1 dodge or a 3 to 2 dodge. The general idea of the dodge is the same, except timing is a lot more strict. Be sure to dodge into the top half of the marker, to make sure you aren't clipped by an Exaflare.

 

Straight Through (Lucrezia Strat)

This is the riskier strat, but will be very easy if done correctly. Begin by placing yourself in front of an Exaflare puddle marker. As soon as the puddle disappears, run through the puddle, onto the upper edge of the marker. If done correctly, it will look as if you ran into the explosion, but you'll still be alive. A gif of this being executed is shown below:

 

Wall Strat

Probably the safest and most recommended strat. Begin by positioning yourself near a wall, and stand next to an exaflare arrow. Wait for the arrow to disappear, and move inside it. It's very similar to the Lucrezia Strat, except moving into the exaflare from the side. The pros to this strat are you're reacting to the arrow disappearing, giving you more time to find and prepare for Exaflares.

Bahamut will follow up with another Akh Morn, this time adding an extra hit to the end. He will then use Exaflare, followed by Morn Afah, followed by Akh Morn, and repeat these three moves until he enrages.

Bahamut's Enrage will be a series of Morn Afahs dealing lethal damage, regardless of how many players are stacked. In order to gain a few extra seconds, have your party spread out so he hits every player individually one-by-one, depending on Bahamut's enmity. You may want to consider having your tanks shirk your healer who does the least DPS (usually the scholar) to maximize raid DPS.

 

If you've defeated Bahamut Prime, congratulations! You've defeated probably the hardest content in the history of FFXIV. You'll be rewarded with a Dreadwyrm Totem, which can be exchanged in Rhalgr's Reach for an i345 Ultimate Dreadwyrm weapon of your choice.

This fight is all about consistency. The number of times you'll have to do Nael and Twintania should make it seem like clockwork. I'd highly recommend focusing more on executing mechanics, instead of trying to push damage, as these DPS checks are very lenient.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below.

Special thanks to everyone involved in proofreading and creating this guide.