Level 80, ilvl 490
80
Ul'dah - Steps of Nald (X:10.7, Y:11.4)
The Flames of War
Long have the sweeping plains of Paglth'an been home to the nomadic Amalj'aa. Though the herding of livestock keeps them constantly on the move, the permanent settlement of Zolm'ak forms the seat of power and center of their society. It is there the Telophoroi would wreak destruction, dispatching a vast host comprised of both imperial soldiers and tempered dragons, with Lunar Bahamut at its head. Yet even against these heretofore unimagined foes the Amalj'aa stand strong, with Estinien, the recently freed Tiamat, and the Eorzean Alliance at their side and eager to turn the tide.
During the encounter with Amhuluk, there are several abilities that players must be aware of. The first is the tankbuster called Critical Rip. Amhuluk will also cast Lightning Bolt, which creates large targeted circle AoEs on all players, with additional ones appearing on random lampposts on the edge of the arena. Players must pass their AoE off to a lamppost that doesn't already have an AoE to avoid taking damage and being inflicted with Lightning Vulnerability Up. Electric Burst is an unavoidable moderate party-wide damage ability. Thundercall is another ability that summons several lightning orbs along the edge of the arena, which occasionally pulse for damage. This ability is always cast before Lightning Bolt from the second cast onward. Amhuluk also uses Wide Blaster, a wide cone attack from its front, which is immediately followed by Spike Flail, a narrow cone attack from its rear. Players must be prepared to avoid these attacks as there is no time to react between them.
The primary objective is to defeat the Magitek Core, which is protected by a force field. In order to reach the Core, the party must overcome waves of additional enemies. While battling these enemies, two out of the three cannons on the fortress will charge up blue energy and unleash a damaging blast ahead, also inflicting a stack of Vulnerability Up. The first wave of enemies includes three Tempered Imperials and two Telotek Predators, followed by six more Tempered Imperials emerging from the sides of the fortress. The Telotek Predators use a move called Magitek Claw, which involves jumping at their primary target and causing moderate damage. Additionally, there is a large circle area of effect attack that occurs below a random player. Once a wave is defeated, the cannons deactivate, the force field is disabled by the Amalj'aa outside of the arena, and a jump pad to the Core becomes available. The Magitek Core will retaliate with a high party-wide damage ability called Defensive Reaction when directly attacked. When the Core reaches 50% health, it will eject the party back into the arena, reactivate the force field, and a second wave of enemies will appear along with new mechanics for the cannons. The second wave consists of six Tempered Imperials, two Telotek Sky Armors, and a Mark II Telotek Colossus. Eventually, six more Tempered Imperials and two Telotek Predators will join the battle. The Telotek Sky Armors will use Aethershot, a circle area of effect attack below a random player, while the Mark II Telotek Colossus will use Exhaust, a line area of effect attack in the direction of a random player. In addition, there will be missile attacks where five sets of three missiles travel across the arena from east to west, and a ground-to-ground Ballistic attack that inflicts light damage and a strong knockback from the center of the arena, but is only used when the center cannon is not firing.
During the Lunar Bahamut fight, several abilities are utilized. The first one is called Twisted Scream, which inflicts damage to the entire party and spawns eight nails in staggered sets of two. The nails explode in a large circle area around them in the order they appear. After the third usage, three sets of nails will appear instead of two. Perigean Breath is a cone area of effect attack that Lunar Bahamut releases from its front towards a random player. Akh Morn is a stack marker ability that deals moderate damage four times in a row to a random player. Megaflare places orange markers on each player, who must spread out to avoid overlapping damage. After the initial explosion, a second circle area of effect appears where each player was standing during the first strike, exploding shortly after. Megaflare Dive involves Lunar Bahamut becoming untargetable, moving to one edge of the arena, and dive bombing in a line across, causing high damage and knockback to any players hit. Prior to this attack, Lunar Bahamut uses Twisted Scream to leave nails in the safe areas for the dive bomb. Kan Rhai targets a random player with a short cross area of effect. After a few seconds, energy erupts from the ground where the player was standing, leaving a lingering area of effect that deals high damage each second for a few seconds. If the fight prolongs, subsequent casts of Kan Rhai will target multiple players. Lunar Flare covers the arena in purple circle area of effects that gradually shrink over time, gradually revealing safe areas. This attack can leave four safe areas along the edge of the arena or a single safe area in the center, but not both simultaneously. Gigaflare inflicts high unavoidable damage to the entire party. Flatten is a tankbuster ability used late in the fight and is often skipped if there is enough DPS.