Congratulations on reaching the end of your long journey! If it’s heavenly amounts of loot you want, well, you have to work two, three notches harder for it. Sure, farming resources and selling them can give you a couple of grands within a much shorter span of time (minus the ridiculous amount of effort), but there’s something so fulfilling about reaping the rewards the hard way. And by ‘the hard way’, we mean completing dungeons and kicking world bosses’ butts. Nothing quite beats that feeling when the boss falls and drops insane loot. For today, we’ll guide you through the world boss, Bahamut Prime, on your Final Fantasy 14 account.

Introduction – Bahamut Prime for FFXIV Account Holders

Bahamut Prime is a superboss from Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Bahamut Prime serves as the final boss of the Binding Coil of Bahamut storyline. Despite being smaller than Bahamut, Bahamut Prime is actually a manifestation of the elder primal whom the Adventurer faces after being teleported into the subspace within Bahamut’s crystal core by Alisaie and Alphinaud. The fight against Bahamut Prime will test most of what you’ve learned so far in the game, and is by no means easy; however, with upgrades, gear, and proper preparations, this boss encounter can be significantly easier for you and your raid. Let’s jump right into the four phases of the boss battle.

Phase 1: Bahamut Prime for FFXIV Account Holders

Final Fantasy XIV account holders are likely to be familiar with Bahamut’s MEGAFLARE. Once Bahamut Prime casts Megaflare, a number of people in the party get tagged by Megaflare’s initial damage. This is an AoE damage, so make sure you spread out and distance yourself from other party members. Meanwhile, those not hit by the initial AoE become “Friends”. Friends are marked by a ring around them, and they must stick together. Then, 3 random people get a large, circular ground effect under them that explodes after some time – so get away, and don’t drag your team members along! After Megaflare, Bahamut Prime will cast FLAME BREATH. Flame Breath is a massive elemental damage cleave. Next is a lethal attack called FLATTEN, an early Tier-13 anti-tank. It deals a significantly heavy damage—hence able to KO any unlucky squishies who get hit—so tanks must mitigate this just to be safe. In turn, healers must always cast shields and protects. Remember that Flatten will always be followed by four Flame Breaths in Phase 1.

Counter-Tactics: Phase 1 Bahamut Prime for FFXIV Account Holders

Healers should always be alert, and members should be used to this as you progress through the fight. Tanks should also always spend a mitigation skill here once available! Your MT must have a large health pool, because the Flamebreath before Flatten can be extremely lethal if slacked on regeneration. Make sure the raid is well-prepared for that. After the first wave of attacks, the long Flatten channel time begins. Stoneskin and Adloquium should be cast on the team’s tank. Once Flatten is completed, pre-cast Cures and Physicks to prepare for the next 4 Flame Breaths. But this doesn’t mean that you should just spam Cure II and Adlo, though; save some mana by adjusting the cure needed depending on how heavy the damage is.

Bahamut Prime will cast EARTHSHAKE, wherein he will choose two random people between all DPS and offtanks. After a short delay, Bahamut will fire lasers that damage everyone in its path, towards each selected member. Upon each impact, a pool of sludge will remain, and this will occur 3 times. Don’t even dare standing on the sludge because it will easily deplete your health for about 3K a second! Maximize efficiency by having each of the targeted members line up the sludge in opposite corners. Channeling your heal right after the marker disappears is generally a safe timing. The safest rotation would be: Cure II, Cure I, Regen, then Adlo, Physick, Physick. Each healer should choose which ‘side’ they’re going to heal. The afflicted members, of course, have to travel to opposite sides quickly.

Gigaflare: End of Phase 1 Bahamut Prime for FFXIV Account Holders

At 75%, GIGAFLARE will signal the phase change. And yes, this deals an awfully extreme amount of damage! As such, your arcanist’s / scholar’s Virus should be saved for this, and make sure there is no antibody. Get everyone up to full health via Cure III if needed. Try Succor and Soil and hope the odds will be in your favor as casting Succor at 76% may prevent a lot of damage, and Bahamut Prime may cancel his Flatten combo to phase. Make sure your scholar casts Virus immediately—and by immediately, we mean pre-empting the cast more than you’re used to!

With that, you’ve more or less survived Phase 1 of Bahamut Prime’s boss fight on your Final Fantasy 14 account.