Overview
Garlond Ironworks attracts a fair number of mechanically-minded lunatics, and even goes so far as to offer some of them employment. One in particular has taken it upon himself to craft likenesses of Garlean warmachina, including that of the recently defeated Ruby Weapon. A restored Allagan device uses it as a basis to project images of a foe far more ferocious than the one you had previously laid low, and your mind is filled with visions of what might have been.
Strategy Notes
- Your showdown with the Mark III Anti-Eikon Warmachina - otherwise known as The Ruby Weapon, an iconic boss from Final Fantasy VII - takes place within in a circular arena containing no death-walls or fatal drops.
- Once the explosions have detonated, Ruby Weapon will cast one of two possible abilities: Liquefaction or Undermine. Bear in mind that the ability will be entirely random and will always overlap with another mechanic, Ruby Sphere.
- NOTE: Assigning each player to cardinal or inter-cardinal locations before the battle is a great way of ensuring that everyone has a safe spot (crack) during Liquefaction and/or can divide easily into safe spots during Undermine.
- After Ruby Sphere + Liquefaction / Undermine has concluded, Ruby Weapon will retract its claws and the fight resumes as normal.
- After half of the dashes have been performed, Ruby Weapon will cease charging and extend one of its claws (indicated by Ruby Weapon landing near a claw-like icon), then resume dashing. From here on, players must now avoid being on the claw-side of Ruby Weapon during the remaining Ravensflight dashes. Near the end of Ravensflight, Ruby Weapon will also hit a 'quicksand' icon which essentially inverts Liquefaction. When this happens, the outer edge of the arena will become safe, whereas the arena centre will become quicksand instead for a brief period. As such, the final safe spot will always be at the outer edge of the arena.
- Once all Ravensflight dashes have been performed, the arena will normalize and the fight returns to normal after another cast of Optimized Ultima - the unavoidable raid-wide AoE - followed by another Stamp - the vicious tank-buster that applies Blunt Vulnerability, forcing another tank swap.
Boss Encounters
Mark III Anti-Eikon Warmachina: The Ruby Weapon
- Optimized Ultima: Unleashes unavoidable raid-wide damage.
- Magitek Bits: Spawns several mechanical adds around the edges of the platform. The adds are reminiscent of the 'bits' summoned during previous fights with the Ultima weapon - flying gadgets that will continuously shoot straight-line AoEs at random players that must be avoided.
- Flexiclaw: Causes Ruby Weapon to plunge its elongated claws into the ground whilst hovering in the air, indicating the arrival of a mini-phase.
- Helioclaw: One of two abilities used during Flexiclaw - causes three AoE circles to form beneath Ruby Weapon, as well as a tri-lined "fan" pattern on the ground. Just like normal mode, the AoE circles beneath Ruby Weapon will eventually explode while travelling in the direction of the pattern shown on the floor, except this time, there will be two rounds of Helioclaw back-to-back. However, players will also have to contend with Magitek Bits which will still be actively shooting straight-line AoEs at random players. To avoid, players should quickly recognize where the (very small) safe spots are located during each round of Helioclaw, but before standing in a safe spot, bait the Magitek Bits into shooting somewhere else. If players move to a safe spot without baiting the bits, they risk being shot for major damage by the bits, or take massive damage from Helioclaw if choosing to dodge the bits into an unsafe area.
- Stamp: Causes Ruby Weapon to stomp on its primary target with a vicious tank-buster. Unlike normal mode, Stamp will also inflict a Blunt Vulnerability debuff, essentially boosting Ruby Weapon's damage against that target for a hefty duration. As a result, tanks will need to swap after each Stamp.
- Flexiclaw: Causes Ruby Weapon to plunge its elongated claws into the ground once again, indicating the arrival of another mini-phase.
- Ravensclaw: Forms eight cracks in the floor which begin travelling in cardinal and inter-cardinal directions, alternating between long and short distances, with long cracks reaching the outer edge of the arena, and short cracks stopping beyond halfway to the edges. Eventually, an AoE circle will also spawn directly under Ruby Weapon, exploding for massive damage against anyone standing within its hit-box. Simultaneously, AoE circles will also explode at the end of all eight cracks that were formed (with no visual telegraph), forcing participants to figure out safe spots for themselves. A good rule-of-thumb is to stand at the edge of Ruby Weapon's hit-box, directly on top of a long crack on the ground.
- Liquefaction: Causes the entire arena (except for the cracks formed by Flexiclaw) to degrade into swirling quicksand that slowly pulls all players into the ground. To avoid being dragged to an early grave, players must stand on the cracks.
- Undermine: Causes all cracks to explode after a brief delay, indicated by a glowing red telegraph surrounding all crack lines. To avoid, players must move away from the cracks or stand between them.
- Regardless of which ability is chosen, all players will also have to contend with Ruby Sphere, marking all raid members with a large circular AoE mark. Whilst Liquefaction or Undermine is underway, all marked players will periodically drop up to three mines on the ground (the same size as the Ruby Sphere marker itself), and each drop of a mine will also inflict a stacking Magic Vulnerability debuff. Due to Liquefaction or Undermine reducing the number of safe areas in the arena, as well as the stacking Magic Vulnerability against all players, the entire raid must co-ordinate themselves so that their three mines are dropped in a manner that allows everyone to avoid the other mechanics safely. Should any player walk into a mine (no matter who it belonged to), the mine will explode and likely result in a gruesome death.
- If Liquefaction is underway, the only available safe spots are on top of Flexiclaw cracks. As a result, players should each be assigned a crack to stand on and use these to slowly drop each of their three Ruby Spheres along their assigned crack. If done correctly, all players will finish dropping their spheres whilst standing close to (or inside) Ruby Weapon's hit-box, with enough space for everyone to get there without colliding with a mine.
- If Undermine is underway, all cracks are completely unsafe, meaning that the only available safe spots are in between cracks or at the outer edges of the arena. Due to the size of Ruby Sphere mines, the raid should divide into even groups and utilize the safe spots to drop their mines safely. If a safe spot is too crowded, players may collide with mines or risk being slain by the exploding cracks.
- Ruby Ray: Causes Ruby Weapon to face a random player and charge up a massive straight-line AoE that will slaughter anyone standing in its path. As the name implies, Ruby Ray is indicated by a swelling of red energy. Once you see Ruby Weapon charging up, move behind it as soon as possible. As soon as Ruby Ray has concluded, the raid will be bombarded with another cast of Optimized Ultima, the unavoidable raid-wide AoE.
- Flexiclaw: Causes Ruby Weapon to plunge its elongated claws into the ground yet again, except this time, Liquefaction will be cast immediately, turning the outer edges of the arena into quicksand, indicated by multiple circle markers on the ground. To avoid being sucked under the earth, all participants must stand in the centre of the arena - the only part of the arena that is safe to stand on during this phase.
- Ravensflight: Causes Ruby Weapon to leap to the outer edge of the battlefield and begin charging up. After a delay, Ruby Weapon will repeatedly dash across the arena in different directions, inflicting high damage to anyone caught in its path. Whilst charging up, telegraphs will display the order (and direction) of Ruby Weapon's flight, giving players a brief opportunity to discern safe locations. However, Liquefaction will persist during this time, forcing the raid to stay in the arena centre and use very limited space to avoid the dash attacks. Anyone caught in Ruby Weapon's path will suffer high damage, so watch out!
- Ruby Dynamics: Causes Ruby Weapon to dash to the edge of the arena and prepare to swipe the entire arena with its extended claws. Unlike normal mode, Ruby Dynamics comes with absolutely no telegraph. To avoid, players must move within Ruby Weapon's hitbox as soon as they notice Ruby Weapon extending its claws. However, two players will also be marked with stack-mark AoEs due to Homing Laser, forcing the raid to split into two groups and help soak each marker. Due to being forced to stand within Ruby Weapon's hitbox to avoid the claw attack at the same time, participants will have limited space to work with. To avoid both mechanics, simply have the two stack-marked players stand at opposite sides of Ruby Weapon's hit-box and ensure that enough players are standing in each stack marker to soak the damage.
- Homing Laser + Cut & Run: Marks the entire raid with large AoE circles, forcing everyone to spread out. After a brief delay, all circles will explode simultaneously for high damage. As always, make sure not to overlap other players with your own AoE circle. At the same time, Ruby Weapon will prepare to walk through the centre of the arena while swiping left and right with its claws, slicing anyone in its path into ribbons. To avoid both mechanics, the raid should divide into two groups (4x4) and spread out at the outer edges of the arena. This gives all participants enough space to avoid overlapping their Homing Laser AoE markers and also leaves enough room for Ruby Weapon to charge through the centre without hitting anyone via Cut & Run.
- Magitek Charge: Spawns proximity markers at the east and west of the arena during the end of Cut & Run. To avoid, players should run into Ruby Weapon's hitbox as soon as Cut & Run has concluded. After a brief delay, Ruby Weapon will then cast Ruby Ray (the massive straight-line AoE aimed at a random player), and Optimized Ultima, the unavoidable raid-wide AoE.
- Flexiclaw: Ruby Weapon plunges its elongated claws into the ground once more, followed by Ravensclaw, causing eight cracks to travel in cardinal and inter-cardinal directions just like earlier, except this time, Ruby Weapon will follow-up with Liquefaction or Undermine (whichever was NOT randomly cast beforehand). For example, if Ravensclaw was followed by Undermine earlier in the battle, then Liquefaction will be used here instead, or vice-versa. Similarly to before, all players will have to contend with Ruby Sphere - forcing all players to use the limited number of safe spots to distribute 3x mines each.
- Liquefaction: Turns the arena centre into quicksand, leaving the outer edges safe to stand on.
Duty Information
- Duty Finder: High-end Trials (Shadowbringers)
- Roulette: Mentor
- Time Limit: 60 minutes
- Tomestones: 25 poetics
Achievements
Music
- Phase 1: Ultima (The Primals)
- Phase 2: Rise of the White Raven (Orchestral Version)