Level 60, ilvl 142
60, i180
Azys Lla (X:21.4, Y:22.5, Z:8.7)
Heavensward
Your pursuit of the archbishop has brought you to the Aetherochemical Research Facility, at the heart of the floating isle of Azys Lla. However, he and his knights are not the only threat for which you must be prepared; shortly before your arrival, the VIth Imperial Legion entered the facility in search of the secret to mastering primals, and their presence will serve to complicate matters. With multiple factions and their ambitions set on a collision course, your mission promises to be fraught with danger and uncertainty both.
In this encounter, the boss has several mechanics that players need to be aware of. Firstly, the boss will stun the tank and then follow up with a high damage attack. It is important for healers to be ready to heal as necessary. Additionally, the boss will summon turrets during each phase swap, with an increasing number of turrets each time. These turrets will self-destruct if not killed in time, causing damage to the entire room. There are two types of turrets - Magitek Turret Is and Magitek Turret IIs. Magitek Turret Is will target a random party member with a visible line and continuously attack them, while Magitek Turret IIs will target random party members with circle AoEs. It is crucial for players to prioritize killing these turrets. Furthermore, after transitioning to Phase 2, the boss will move to the walls and repeatedly cast Magitek Slug, which is a line AoE that can be easily dodged. Finally, at the end of Phase 2, the boss will cast Magitek Spread, a large AoE that hits everywhere except for a wide cone behind him. Players should position themselves accordingly to avoid taking damage from this attack.
During the boss fight, it is important for party members to position themselves on different sides of the boss whenever possible, only stacking up when needed to mitigate the Ballistic Missile attack. The boss will change forms in the Weighing of the Heart phase, and the form will be announced, but with very little time before the change. There is no cast or announcement prior to changing back to the Sphinx form. In the Sphinx form, party members should be aware of the Riddle of the Sphinx, which is an easily dodged circle AoE, and the tank will periodically be attacked with an unmarked cone of Poison. The boss also has an Anti-Cobra form, where it will perform a high damage tank buster attack. In the Anti-Naga form, party members should be cautious of the Petrification gaze attack, which will cause 10 seconds of Petrification unless they look away from the boss. Additionally, the boss will perform an instant AoE called Circle of Flames that targets multiple party members, so it is important to stay spread out to avoid stacking damage. In the final form, the Anti-Machina form, the boss will target a party member with the Ballistic Missile attack, indicated by a small circle on the ground. To prevent the damage, one other party member should stack on the targeted member, as more than two people sharing the impact will not prevent the damage. The boss also has an instant cone AoE called Gaseous Bomb that will randomly target a party member.
In Patch 6.3 of the game, a change was made to the battle against the Ascians, Lahabrea and Igeyorhm. Previously, the battle would end when their health was reduced to 50%, but now it will only end when their health reaches 0.1%. Additionally, both Ascians will always be targettable during the battle. Lahabrea has several attacks, including the unavoidable Raidwade damage called Shadow Flare, and the summoning of five untargettable Burning Stars that explode in AoE circles. There is also an alternate version of this attack, called Esoteric Fusion, which results in two pairs of Burning Stars that are tethered together and explode upon contact. Igeyorhm, on the other hand, uses attacks like Grip of Night, a frontal cone AoE, and Circle of Ice, where she summons Frozen Stars that detonate in Donut AoE circles. Similar to the Burning Stars, the Frozen Stars can also be tethered together with Esoteric Fusion, creating a larger donut AoE that requires players to stand in specific safe spots to avoid damage. Another attack used by Lahabrea is End of Days, which is a line stack marker, requiring players to line up between Lahabrea and the targeted player. He also uses Dark Fire II, which places circle purple AoE markers on all players, who need to spread out to avoid overlapping. Lastly, if there is a significant health difference between the bosses, the one with higher HP will transfer some of its health to the one with lower HP.
After defeating Lahabrea and Igeyorhm, the dungeon doesn't end. Instead, there is a long but skippable cutscene showing the two merging into an Ascian Prime, the real final boss. The Ascian Prime has various abilities including Shadow Flare, a raidwide damage that cannot be avoided, Height of Chaos, a tankbuster, and Dualstar, which involves combinations of Burning Stars and Frozen Stars from the previous battle. Players need to pay attention to the distance of the tethers to determine which stars will collide first and react accordingly. The boss also uses Universal Manipulation, which causes room-wide damage and gives players five debuffs. Each debuff has a different effect and detonates into mechanics such as Bleeding, Ancient Circle, Dark Whispers, Ancient Frost, and Burning Chains. There are no portals to hide in to avoid these mechanics. The boss also uses Entropic Flame, a line stack marker. Arcane Revelation is a reprisal of Lahabrea's ultimate ability from The Ultimate Weapon. During this phase, the Ascian Prime becomes untargetable and summons an Arcane Sphere to siphon power from it. Shades of Lahabrea and Igeyorhm periodically appear to unleash mechanics on the party, including Chilling Cross, Dark Fire II, Dark Blizzard II, and Shadow Flare. If the Ascian Prime's Power gauge reaches 100%, it will use Annihilation, causing heavy raid-wide damage that wipes the party. Additionally, the boss uses Ancient Eruption, causing AoE circles to appear under each player. These mechanics repeat until the boss is defeated.