FFXIV Turn 9 - Nael Deus Darnus

by Lilac Merthelin <RGRK> on Adamantoise

13-minute enrage timer. For advice on tank/healer cooldowns & timing, check Solitudes guide.

Phase 1: 100% - 65.00%

You want this phase down in 3 minutes or less to beat the enrage timer, and ideally before the fifth Stardust (see
below).
Ravensclaw: The cleave. Goes out fairly often, has a very wide angle, and hits for a few thousand on a
tank. Dont stand in front of Nael if youre not the MT.
Ravensbeak: The phase 1 Death Sentence equivalent. Tons of damage when it hits, gives a debuff, and
the tank explodes in an AOE for another huge hit when the debuff expires. Can be straight tanked, or tankswapped after the initial hit but before the explosion. (At i100+, you probably wont even consider swapping it.)
Its not a big AOE, but its not tiny, either; melee classes should stay clear of the MT for phase 1.
Stardust: Raid-wide AOE damage (~1k) and meteor placement for phase 2. A red or yellow marker will
appear over a players head for ~5 seconds. When it disappears, thats the spot the meteor will fall, and you
need to get out of there, or youll take a ton of damage! Placing two meteors too close together wipes the raid in
a giant explosion, and dont take chances on that; they need to be pretty far apart. Where you place meteors is
up to your group, but ideally you want them in groups of two. Below is Mrhappys some innocuous, non-flamewar-starting person from the Internets suggestion, but dont stress about exactly one red and one yellow per
group.
Mrhappys Someones meteor placement suggestion

 Lunar Dynamo: A big donut AOE that heals the boss for any damage done. Can hit pets! Safe spots are
right on top of the boss and very, very far away. You may find it easier to start running when its coming up, since
its really big. Having a /p macro helps (see Solitudes guide for specific attack timings).
Thermionic Beam combo
1. Ravensdive: Jumps to a healer or ranged DPS for small damage, then immediately
uses
2. Iron Chariot: Avoidable circle AOE for lots of damage and knockback, and when its
done...
3. Thermionic Beam: Marker over a players head that is a turbo-charged Gaseous Bomb
from T8 (15k damage split among all targets). Everyone except the MT should simultaneously run out of
the Iron Chariot circle and into the center of the arena to soak the damage.
4. Ravensdive: Back to the MT, which is why they dont help soak Thermionic.
Melee DPS can usually keep DPSing Nael during this combo, especially MNKs, who will
want to keep their stacks up. Figure out what works for you.
Meteor Stream
1. Nael becomes untargetable, and white markers appear above several players heads.
2. Meteor Stream: High AOE damage with no ground marker centered on the marked
players. DO NOT STAND NEXT TO ANYONE WITH A WHITE MARK! One set of marks goes out on the
first Stream and two sets happen in succession on the second Stream. The latter may require targeted
healing if one player is targeted by both waves. Calling these doubles out in voice chat for a quick
Lustrate is helpful.
3. Dalamud Dive: Nael goes back to the tank with a high-damage small AOE. Melee should
not return to the tank until after this goes off.
Phase 1 rotation

Red dust > Beak > Beam combo > Yellow dust > Dynamo > Meteor Stream (x1) > Beak > Red dust > Meteor Stream
(x2) > Beak > Yellow dust > Beam combo > Red dust > Beak > Dynamo > Meteor Stream (x1) > Beak > Yellow dust >
Meteor Stream (x2)
You want to finish this phase before or immediately after the Stardust marked in red (i.e. four meteors on the field, it
drops the fifth) to be on track for the enrage and to have an easier time in phase 2a.
tl;dr - Place your meteors correctly, group in center following ground AOE (except MT), spread out for white marker

Phase 2a: 64%, lasts for 65 seconds

This phase is a single mechanic: the golem adds. When you move from 65% to 64%, Nael becomes untargetable and
green meteors appear over three non-healers heads. These are identical to Stardust meteors (including the raidwide
damage and wipe if placed too close to existing meteors), except they spawn adds at the point of impact instead.
Each golem has a color which determines its behavior. The colors/stances are:

Green - Normal Stance

Demolish: Raid-wide 2k damage. Not stunnable, but can be Fluid Aurad (risky).
Boulder Clap: Frontal, instant cone AOE for stupid amounts of damage. Tank facing
away from the raid.
This golem also hits much harder than the other two. It should be tanked by an actual tank
and may require defensive cooldowns, especially with one or more red meteor buffs (see below).
Blue - Subversive Stance
Earthshock: Three-second cast, followed by a 2k raid-wide AOE and very nasty
unhealable Paralyze. CAN AND MUST BE SILENCED! (BRD, PLD, Selene) Will probably wipe you if it
goes off. This attack doesnt happen until after the first color switch (see below).
Magnetism: Sucks in any nearby players, meteors, and golems. Will wipe you if it draws
in a golem.
Red - Aggressive Stance
Heavy Strike: Like Ballast from Turn 2, a 270-degree staggered AOE with huge range.
Stand behind the golem or far away to avoid. Calling this in voice chat helps.
Earthen Heart: A ground AOE that does lots of damage and a DoT if you get hit by it, and
the AOE becomes a DoT void zone after the cast. Run out of the AOE and dont run back in. With a
yellow meteor buff (see below), this can be hard to dodge, and calling out the cast bar is very helpful.
Golems will periodically rotate colors, in the order above (R>G>B>R). You want the one of them dead
before this happens, so only the remaining two will swap back and forth. With good DPS, the first swap will
usually happen immediately after the first golem dies, and you will not get a second swap.
Golems eat meteors if you pull them RIGHT on top of one. Red meteors give Damage Up, and yellow
meteors give Haste. The Haste buff makes all cast bars and AOE markers much quicker. Ideally, two of each
meteor will be out from P1, or perhaps three red and two yellow.
All meteors on the field need to be eaten by the golems before they die, ideally 1-2 meteors to each
golem.
If a golem gets too close to another golem, they become a super-golem and you wipe.
If a single golem eats four meteors, it becomes a super-golem and you wipe.
The red and blue golems auto-attacks can be tanked by any member of the raid until they get a stack of
Damage Up. The green golem should be tanked by an actual tank whenever possible.
Theres no single best order for killing the golems, though most groups leave red for last since its special attacks are
avoidable. Killing green first means no Demolish and no chance for aggro blip > turn > Boulder Clap > wipe, and killing
blue first means no Earthshock or misplaced Magnetism. An important consideration is whether youll kill the first golem
in time, which is a tight DPS check on a moving target. Focusing green first means youll be killing either the green or
the blue, and its what our group prefers, but many prefer blue first. Experiment and see what works for you.
Phase 2a goes something like this:

1. Place the golem meteors correctly, then run away from them so you dont die. Ideally, run to the center or
other gathering point for heals. If the MT still has Ravens Blight, do not stand next to them!
2. MT grabs green (because it does lots of damage to its target), and OT pulls either red or blue. The final
golem is pulled by the healers and/or Eos. Take each golem near a set of meteors, to be fed to it as its health
gets low.
If you have a PLD OT, have them grab red (if killing green before first switch), because it
will turn blue and use Earthshock soon after, which the PLD can silence.
Aggro management can be very tricky in this phase. Manage healing aggro carefully, and
watch your burst DPS on the first golem.
3. Focus down golem #1. If the MT and healers can handle it, feed it any nearby meteors as you do so.
4. Focus down the golem that is about to turn the color you want for #2, assuming you killed #1 before the
switch; otherwise, go straight to that color. Feed it any nearby meteors as you do so. If you meant to kill green
(for example) as #1 and you missed the switch, youll probably want to move to the new green.
5. Focus down the final golem, feeding it any remaining meteors. Depending on how fast you kill the
golems, the meteor markers for phase 2b may appear while this golem is still alive. A /p macro with warning
sounds at 55 and 60 seconds can be useful here.
tl;dr - Follow color order, dont let them touch, feed all meteors by the end of the phase, silence blues Earthshock

Phase 2b: Still 64%, lasts for 75 seconds

A repeat of 2a, with a slightly different start. Instead of the 4-5 existing meteors from P1, youll get six new ones that fall
rapidly at the start of this phase -- which is exactly 65 seconds after the first golems spawn and doesnt care how much
progress youve made, so it can overlap the end of 2a. The meteors still do raidwide damage, still kill you if you
stand underneath them, and still wipe the raid if you place them too close together. The six red/yellow meteors
are followed immediately by the three golem meteors. There are two popular ways to handle this wave of meteors.
Strategy 1: Run around the edge
If you can kill the final golem fast enough, this method is easy and fairly consistent. It works best with a timed /p macro
that warns as the first meteor is approaching (60 seconds after golems spawn), and the red meteor marker signals
when to start running. Everyone groups up on top of the final golems corpse, and runs clockwise around the arena in a
tight pack, not stopping until the green markers appear. This disperses the meteors evenly along the outside of the
arena, and lets you use the inner circles (fondly known in our group as the boob circles) for the golems. Due to
connection latency, your character should appear to be slightly ahead of everyone else on your screen.
Strategy 2: Fixed-position placements
This strategy is the most refined version Ive seen for just drop the meteors in specific spots. The raid splits into two
groups of four as the final golem dies, and moves to 12 oclock and 6 oclock. From there, you move to fixed points on
the ground in a clockwise direction, as per the instructions in this image (credit to Jager Bomb & Versus Oneshot):

After the second golem meteors fall, its the same mechanics and strategy as 2a. Burn a single color down so you dont
have to deal with it, feeding it two meteors on the way, then repeat for the remaining two golems. Keep PLD or BRD
focused on blue following the first switch to silence Earthshock. Each golem should ideally eat two meteors, and all
meteors must be gone by the end of the phase.
When 65 seconds have elapsed, regardless of progress on the golems, Nael will announce Megaflare with a 10 second
visual countdown. This needs every possible piece of damage mitigation -- Galvanize, Stoneskin, etc. -- as it does 5k-6k
damage to everyone before that mitigation. Kill golems ASAP and hustle to get the shields in place. If any meteors are
left when Megaflare goes off, they will explode and wipe the raid. Golems wont wipe you directly if left alive, but it
probably means you dont have Succor and Stoneskin on everyone, which is a problem.

Phase 3: 64% - 47.00%

The arena changes to resemble the Carteneau Flats, and the MT should run to the east or west side of the arena ASAP.
Nael will immediately Dalamud Dive the person with the highest aggro for AOE damage, which should be the MT, but
Nael still tracks aggro during the golem phase. WHMs will need to pop Shroud in there somewhere to avoid getting
targeted by Dalamud Dive. Melee classes should not join the MT until the dive to avoid the AOE.
Heavensfall: Immediately after Dalamud Dive and at long-ish intervals thereafter, a giant Allagan tower
will fall in the center of the arena, killing anyone under it and dealing more damage the closer you are to the
center. However, it also has a huge knockback, and the wall kills you, so the ideal spot is 60% towards the
center (i.e. if you draw a line from the edge to the center, 60% of the line is between you and the edge).
Each tower creates yellow pulses on the ground to be avoided. The first one is a large
wedge from the center to the north and south walls, so tanking Nael to the east or west is ideal. The
second one, however, is a large number of smaller wedges that alternate (think Demon Walls void
zones), and those must be actively dodged. The third set moves like a wheel around the arena, but
ideally you wont see that one.
The tower itself, like the edge of the arena, also kills you if you touch it.

 This move has a cast bar, so you have a few seconds to get into position.
Many groups find it helpful to have a waypoint denoting a safe place to group up for
Megaflare (group heals) and Heavensfall. There are spokes pointing to the boob circles in phases 1
and 2 -- an ideal waypoint spot is centered on the small dot at the tip of each spoke.
Nael no longer uses Ravensbeak or Ravensclaw (so standing in front is safe), but auto-attacks deal
more damage and there are several new mechanics.
Bahamuts Claw: Multiple physical hits to the MT for high damage. This isnt a huge problem right now,
but it will be in phase 4.
Garrote Twist: A random-aggro debuff that applies a stack of Garrote at regular intervals. Nine stacks of
Garrote will kill you, but nothing bad happens until then.
The Ghost of Meracydia: The adds for phase 3, one after each Heavensfall. Picked up by OT.
Tail Whip: A single-target (not cleave) hit for 5k-6k damage.
Fire Breath: Liquid Hell. Persistent fire AOE that ticks for 1.5k damage.
Their auto-attacks also hit for up to 2k. Everything coming out of the Ghost hits hard.
Binding Chain: At 50% HP, it stops hitting the OT and channels this skill on two random
players, who will be marked by Holmgang-like chains from the Ghost. This cast takes about 10 seconds
and adds Garrote stacks to the chained players as it goes. If the add isnt killed by the end of the cast,
those players die, no matter how many stacks of Garrote they have. Save all cooldowns and burst
damage for this.
Death AOE: As it dies, the Ghost marks a huge circle AOE on the ground that needs to
be avoided. Melee should start running as soon as they use their final GCD. Its not instant death, but its
not good.
Finally, each Ghost produces three white circles on the ground upon death which heal
Garrote Twist and Garotte when stepped on. These are precious resources that disappear when used,
so only players with Garrote TWIST -- not just regular Garrote stacks from the add -- should pick them
up! Naels second cast of Garrote Twist will happen right before Heavensfall 2, and you can grab a circle
right away as long as youre positioned properly for the knockback immediately after.
Super Nova: These are cast during the second Heavensfall, and are black AOE void zones (with no cast
indicator) on two random players. Get out of them immediately. If you step in them after the first second or so,
youll take lots of damage and a Heavy debuff, which makes dealing with Heavensfall very difficult. They
disappear fairly quickly.
Most groups use their LB3 during this phase in one of three ways. You can melee LB3 the second Ghost to get it out of
the way quickly; you can caster LB3 Nael and the first Ghost to push the phase; or you can kill the first Ghost and
melee LB3 Nael after Heavensfall #2 to push the phase before ever seeing the second Ghost. The latter two methods
require high DPS and are not recommended for new groups (melee LBing the second Ghost is more consistent).
Its important to get Nael to 47% before the third Heavensfall, and ideally with all Ghosts dead or almost dead. That
Heavensfall is a huge pain to deal with, and the Ghost being dead or mid-cast for Binding Chain means its not hitting
your OT while Nael starts phase 4. Basically, you dont want any of the P3 mechanics happening when P4 starts.
tl;dr - Dont stand in the yellow slices or void zones, focus adds, save DPS cooldowns for Binding Chain, death AOE

Phase 4: 47% - 0%
This phase starts when Nael casts Bahamuts Favor for the first time as you move from 47% to 46%, which summons
three untargetable dragons around the edge of the arena -- Fireclaw, Iceclaw, and Thunderclaw. Unlike P1, all players
(including ranged classes) should group on or very close to the MT until a mechanic dictates otherwise. DRG and MNK
will want to learn when Thunderstruck (below) is going out and time their rear/flank attacks appropriately.
For all of this phase, and unlike phase 3, prioritize learning the mechanics over taking risks and pushing your DPS. It
takes long enough to get here, and there are plenty of mechanics to learn.
Bahamuts Favor: The move itself gives Nael a stack of Damage Up, making this phase progressively
harder to heal as the stacks add up, but the real problems are the dragons attacks.

Fireball: A player will be targeted by a yellow line, and after a few seconds, theyll do a
fire AOE around them (think Scyllas fireballs in Syrcus Tower). This does minimal damage and applies
the Firescorched debuff...but it kills anyone who is already Firescorched (bad) and removes Icebitten
(good). The accepted strategy is that Fireballs are alternately taken out of the group and brought into the
group (fire out, fire in), starting with out. If you are targeted by a fire out, however, youll need to
watch your stacks and ensure you dont get hit by a fire in if you still have Firescorched.
Iceball: No line or marker, just a chunk of ice that flies at you and gives the Icebitten
debuff. Like Firescorched, getting Icebitten a second time will kill you. Iceclaw will go through the whole
party list before targeting you again, so you have that much time to stand in a fire AOE to remove the
debuff. If youre already Firescorched, Iceball will remove it. If youre not targeted by a fire out, you
never need to worry about this debuff. Just make sure you get hit by each fire in.
Thunderstruck: Doesnt interact with the above two, but also doesnt have an obvious
line or marker. A visible bolt of lightning will strike a random player and grant the Thunderstruck debuff,
which explodes in a medium-ish AOE after five seconds. Anyone hit with the AOE will take lots of
damage and get a crippling, non-healable Paralyze. The player with the debuff is not affected, so running
out of the group negates the entire attack.
Bahamuts Claw: As in P3, but with more hits and way more damage. This is the
tank/healer mechanic for this phase, and it becomes very challenging as Bahamuts Favor adds up. With
one Favor stack, a single PLD can survive with a ton of cooldowns, but youll want to tank-swap it later
on. You can either swap right before, have the OT take every hit with cooldowns, and then Provoke it
back, or Provoke mid-Claw to have each tank take half of the hits.
Lunar Dynamo combo
1. Ravensdive: As in P1. If your aggro is set up normally/correctly, the Ravensdive will
always target the person who got the first fire out.
2. Thunderstruck: This happens at the same time as Ravensdive, but the explosion
happens during Lunar Dynamos donut.
3. Lunar Dynamo: Immediately after Ravensdive, and thus not centered on where the MT
was standing. Everyone needs to quickly follow the Ravensdive or get hit by Dynamo. The trick to
managing Thunderstruck here is for most of the party to stand behind Nael at the new position -- i.e. not
too far from where you were before -- and for the Thunder target to stand ahead. Naels facing doesnt
change after Ravensdive, so this boils down to the Thunder target just needs to run a bit further than
everyone else. This is also doable a bunch of other ways, so figure out what works for your group.
Iron Chariot/Beam combo
Iron Chariot: Now it starts the combo, and will start its cast a second or two after the red
line for the second fire out. Its not preceded by a dive, so its just a circle around the boss. Then a few
things happen at once:
Thunderstruck hits a non-MT target;
Thermionic Beams marker appears over a different non-MT target;
and three Super Novas are cast on three more non-MT targets. To handle this, everyone
but the MT and the Beam target should stay scattered following Iron Chariot, and NOT in the middle of
the room. As the second Super Nova hits, everyone converges on the center to soak the Beam damage,
leaving the third Super Nova behind them. Thunderstuck explodes around the first or second Super
Nova, and that player can head to the center as soon as it does.
With careful positioning, melee DPS can form a triangle around Nael to continue DPSing
during this combo (especially MNK to avoid losing stacks), but be very very mindful of the Super Novas.
A fire in Fireball also goes out right after Beam, so make sure to get hit by that
(excepting possibly the target of the fire out from Iron Chariot, if they still have Firescorched).
Divebombs
For this attack, the placement of the dragons from Bahamuts Favor is key. There are
exactly three possible dragon layouts, and each pattern will appear only once until all three are
exhausted. The divebomb pattern from the first Bahamuts Favor will be random out of the three, the
second Favors divebombs will be one of the other two, and the third Favors will be the final pattern.
There are two actual divebombs, with a marker for each; one with two dragons at once,
and then one with just the final dragon. Since there are only three possible patterns, its a matter of

quickly identifying which pattern is active and setting waypoints accordingly. We use waymark A for
where to place the first divebomb, and waymark B for the second, with waymark C always at 12 oclock
for orientation. Placing these marks is an excellent job for the main tank at the beginning of the phase,
right as Favor is being cast. Pop your cooldowns for Bahamuts Claw and scope out the arena as follows:
If there is a dragon at 12 oclock, its north pattern, or pattern 1, or
whatever. Place divebomb #1 at 2 oclock (A), and divebomb #2 at 9 oclock (B). (images
courtesy of Stufoo)

If there is a dragon at 6 oclock, its south pattern/pattern 2. Place

divebomb #1 at 5 oclock (A), and divebomb #2 at 10 oclock (B).

 If there is no dragon at either 12 oclock or 6 oclock, its pattern 3.

Place divebomb #1 at 7 oclock (A), and divebomb #2 at 12 oclock (C). Note that there is no B
for this pattern!

Everyone who is not placing a divebomb marker should stay in the center of the arena,
loosely spread out for Meteor Stream (see below) but not so far that you get hit by a divebomb. When
placing markers, get as close to the wall as you can to minimize how much of the arena is hit by each
dragon. As divebombs are approaching, make sure you know where the waypoints are so you can start
running if targeted! Its also a good idea to pop Sprint after placing the marker to make sure you avoid
the actual divebomb.

 But thats not all! During the first and third Bahamuts Favor divebombs, youll have to deal
with a double Meteor Stream. Do not stand next to anyone with a white marker, and try to leave room for
the divebomb-placers to get back to the middle without running smack into a Stream. Like in phase 1,
this is followed by Dalamud Dive on the MT, so stay spread out until Nael lands to avoid that AOE.
During the second Bahamuts Favor divebombs, it gets even worse. Nael will cast Iron
Chariot (ground circle AOE) right after the first divebomb marker, single-target dive to the MT, and then
Lunar Dynamo (big donut) right as the final divebomb goes out. Depending on the divebomb pattern,
the person placing the second marker may not be able to get there in time, even with Sprint. Dont sweat
it, though. Better for one person to get hit by Dynamo than for the whole group to wipe to a divebomb.
First & Third Bahamuts Favor rotation
Claw > Fire (out) > Lunar Dynamo combo > Fire (in) > Fire (out) > Chariot/Beam combo > Fire (in) > Claw >
Divebombs (first 2) > Meteor Stream 1 > Divebomb (final) > Meteor Stream 2 > Dalamud Dive on MT > a brief respite
where Nael only auto-attacks before the next Favor
Second Bahamuts Favor rotation
(first row same as above) >
Divebombs (first 2) > Iron Chariot > Divebomb (final) > Raven Dive to MT > Lunar Dynamo > that brief respite again
tl;dr - There isnt one. Sorry. Phase 4 is hard.
Ideally you will kill Nael by the fourth cast of Bahamuts Favor or shortly thereafter. Once you get through a full Favor
rotation with everyone alive, youve totally got this. You can do it!