If you’re looking for a challenging and engaging activity to add to your FFXIV weekly checklist, I cannot recommend Unreal trials enough, and the current one is Ultima’s Bane. In this post, you’ll learn all about the encounter and how to beat the boss!
The first ability players should be looking out for is the Viscous Aetheroplasm, which is a ruthless debuff for the main tank that happens at least once every minute. This debuff stacks, and if it reaches five stacks, the tank will die instantly. This is why it’s important for the tanks to swap before that happens, so make sure you’re aware of this at all times if you are one.
During the fight, Garuda will occasionally be summoned to join Ultima. She will cast a cone-shaped AoE attack you really want to stay out of. The tricky part is that Ultima will push back everyone just before she casts this ability, so make sure to position yourself in a way that you’re not being thrown into AoE. It’s probably best to stay around the center of the arena until you figure out where Garuda is and consequently, where she’ll direct the AoE, and then position yourself.
Garuda is not the only friend Ultima has, as Titan can also appear, slamming down in a ring shape that covers the outer circle of the arena. This move will sometimes be inverted, causing the center to be the spot where players receive damage. It is your job to determine where the impact area will be and conveniently stay out of it. Around 80%, Titan’s phase truly begins, and he’ll be trying to cause some serious damage by spawning puddles on the outer circle, followed by four inner circles with a tiny space between them to stand in if you so choose. It’s best to move into the middle as soon as you see the outer ring puddles, and then quickly move out if you’re not staying between the four inner puddles looking all cool. This mechanic also gets inverted, so you get the opposite kinds of puddles on the inside, and then outside, but you should still do the same thing regardless – just dodge them as they appear.
Tank purge is also something you’ll have a lot of fun with, which is a point-blank AoE around Ultima. If you’re a ranged player, this doesn’t affect you too much as you’ll probably be super far away, but if you’re melee, be aware of it and try to stay out of the way.
Ifrit will also join the fight, and during this phase, Ultima will also target two random players and cast AoE explosions beneath their feet. While this is happening, make sure they are spread out as much as possible to prevent damage to other party members. This is followed by four puddles spawned on the outside of the arena that you should dodge. Finally, Ifrit will do his iconic run-through-the-arena move depending on where he’s positioned, so pay attention, and move out of the way as quickly as possible if it’s looking like you’ll get caught in the beam.
Ultima will also be summoning purple-black orbs around the arena, and you’ll know this is happening as you’ll get knocked back from wherever you’re standing. They are to be picked up before they touch the orb they’re tethered to, and be warned – those orbs deal a bunch of unnecessary damage. It’s best if your tanks are the ones picking the orbs up when they pop invulnerability or at least some heavy defensive cooldowns, but even with that, sometimes you just drop dead with all your shields and buffs on because this mechanic is ruthless. So even if that happens, don’t give up and just give it some more time and practice, and you’ll be just fine! Oh, and be aware that soaking the orbs causes explosions that can actually be soaked between nearby players, so even if you’re not a tank, following one during this stage is how you can help them. You only need to pick up one orb out of the two that are tethered, so plan ahead and don’t mindlessly run into an orb when there’s someone on the other side ready to pick it up. The orb mechanic will happen three times and it will get gradually more difficult, as the orbs will be spawned closer to one another and you’ll have less time to deal with them.
Lasers and Magitek droids also get added to the fight, and it’s up to you to avoid the glowing blue stripes on the floor. Killing the Magitek droids ASAP can be really helpful, as they’re the ones firing off the lasers, so the sooner you deal with them, the easier it is to go through this stage. While this is happening, there will also be two impact markers spawned inside of the arena, and it’s up to you to get as far away from the impact point as possible. The safe points will be on the two edges of the arena that are as far as possible from the sides where the markers are. Later on, the safe spot will be in the middle, as there will be four impact points on the sides of the arena, and the center of the arena is the furthest point from all of them. While avoiding the four impact points, there will also be lasers running through the arena, including the middle spot where you’re trying to stand, so make sure to avoid all of it and hope not to die as the visibility will be somewhat limited.
That’s pretty much it when it comes to the fight. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments. If you’re more of a visual person, and you don’t mind getting easy wins in-game, you can check out all of this in my video – and subscribe for more awesome FFXIV stuff!
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