I ran The Aery for the first time in months earlier tonight, and I realised that, having not run it for months owing to being at the level cap, I had forgotten almost everything about it. So in an attempt to brush up on my Heavensward dungeons as I continue to level Dark Knight — and also to provide an excuse to write a guide, which is something I enjoy doing — I present to you some information on how to beat the dungeon bosses in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. Largely for my own reference.
The Dusk Vigil
Level: 51-52
Boss 1: Towering Oliphaunt
Towering Oliphaunt has a few abilities to watch out for. Firstly, there's Rear, which is an easily dodged area-effect attack around himself, and Prehistoric Trumpet, which hits the whole room.
You should also be aware of his other abilities: Rock of Ages will stun a non-tank player, Wooly Inspiration is a conal pull attack, and Rout is a charge attack. Similar to Wild Charge in The Final Coil of Bahamut, Turn 1, Rout's damage can be split between a party member and the targeted player. It's a good idea for the tank to get in between Oliphaunt and the targeted player when this happens.
Tank tank, healer heal, DPS DPS and this shouldn't present too much difficulty.
Boss 2: Ser Yuhelmeric
Tons of adds appear in this fight. There are two main types: melee adds have a few area-effect attacks, while caster adds have the ability to buff everyone around themselves, including the boss. The tank should try to keep the boss away from the adds.
The only real ability Yuhelmeric has that you need to be aware of is Death Spiral, an attack somewhat similar to Nael's Lunar Dynamo in The Second Coil of Bahamut, Turn 4. In other words, it's a doughnut-shaped attack that you can avoid completely by ensuring you're in melee range when it goes off.
Boss 3: Opinicus
This is the most complex fight in Dusk Vigil. Opinicus has several different abilities, some of which are easier to deal with than others.
Alpine Draft is a simple line attack that can be avoided without too much difficulty.
Freefall is an attack where Opinicus jumps at a player, destroying any piles of rubble they're standing near. These piles of rubble are important, so try and stay clear of them when you don't need them.
Whirling Gaol is a room-wide ability that causes you to be repeatedly "pushed" towards the middle. If you reach the middle, you'll be stunned and hit. To prevent being dragged in, hide behind one of the piles of rubble.
Winds of Winter is an ability that covers a reasonable area and stacks Wind Vulnerability Up on anyone hit, making Opinicus' other abilities more dangerous. This attack also destroys all current piles of rubble and causes new ones to drop from the ceiling.
Sohm Al
Level: 53-54
Boss 1: Raskovnik
This is a considerably more forgiving version of the Rafflesia fight from The Second Coil of Bahamut, Turn 1. If you've completed that, you'll know what to do here.
Acid Rain is a circular area-effect ability that takes aim for all players.
Sweet Scent causes Dravanian Hornets to spawn and slowly move towards the boss. These deal no damage, but should be killed if your party has low DPS, since they buff the boss if they're in range of Devour.
Devour is an ability that goes off after a player is marked and stunned for two seconds. It's a circular AoE attack, and any hornets in range will give Raskovnik a stacking damage increase.
Finally, Spit is a room-wide attack to simply be healed through.
Boss 2: Myath
Myath will periodically spawn jelly adds around the room, and use attacks based on which ones he consumes. When he consumes a blue add, move away from the party member with a blue marker. When he consumes a red add, stack up on the party member with the red arrow. Remember, blue is poo, red gives head. Or something.
The only other thing to be aware of here is the big green snot add. Kill this as a priority when it appears.
Boss 3: Tioman
Sohm Al's final boss has a number of different mechanics.
To minimise damage from the frontal cone attack Abyssic Buster, tanks should ensure that Tioman is facing away from the party.
Chaos Blast places AoE markers on each player, so avoid these.
Comet is the main ability to be aware of here. Two players will be marked and AoE circles will appear on the ground. When the marks fade, comets will fall where the players were standing, dealing room-wide damage to everyone based on how close they were to where the comets fall. To minimise damage from this, marked players should move away from the party — ideally to an edge — while the rest of the party keeps their distance too.
At around 45%, Tioman will become invincible and you must destroy her wings to continue damaging her. During this time, she will use Heavensfall, which marks a player and then spawns a cluster of circular AoEs on top of them. The marked player should move away from the rest of the party to minimise damage.
Finally, Dark Star is a room-wide AoE that you need to heal through.
After the wings are destroyed, the fight continues as before.
The Aery
Level: 55-56
Boss 1: Rangda
Rangda only has two main abilities to concern yourself with. To avoid being hit with Electric Cachexis, move into melee range with Rangda, similar to avoiding Nael's Lunar Dynamo or Chimera's The Dragon's Voice.
If you get marked with Prey, move to one of the tall pillars at the outside of the room to transfer it and stay safe.
You should also kill adds as they spawn; none of them are particularly tough. Rangda also has a few other AoE attacks, but none of them hit particularly hard, so just heal through them.
Boss 2: Gyascutus
Gyascutus will gain a damage-up buff for every cloud of poison it farts out around the room. To get rid of these, use the Mustard Gas bombs that spawn occasionally to eat one or two of the clouds, then kill them. If the bombs eat four clouds, they will self-destruct, deal damage to the whole room and poison everyone four times. Don't do this.
Boss 3: Nidhogg
Nidhogg's go-to attack is The Crimson Price, which shits out fiery orbs at you. These burn for a few seconds, then blast a line AoE. If Nidhogg faces you and you're not the tank, he's going to cast one of these at you. Step aside to avoid damage.
The Sable Price is Nidhogg's jailing ability. One player will get trapped, and the remaining party members must destroy it before Sable Weave casts, otherwise the trapped player will die.
At about 30% HP, Nidhogg will retreat to prepare his ultimate attack. During this time, you must defeat all the adds and ensure that Estinien remains standing. Tanks should grab the adds as quickly as possible, and healers should divide their attention between the party and Estinien to ensure he stays healthy. When the final add falls, Estinien will put up a shield, which you should dive inside to protect yourself from Nidhogg's ultimate.
After this, the earlier mechanics simply repeat.
The Vault
Level: 57-58
Boss 1: Ser Adelphel Brightblade
The first phase of this fight is a simple tank-and-spank — kill Adelphel's companions first, then knock him down. He'll change form and the fight proper will begin.
When Adelphel casts Holy Shield Bash, he'll jump to a player, stun and hit them. Paladins can Cover this.
Holiest of Holy deals damage to the whole room. Heal through this.
Finally, Adelphel will occasionally charge around the room and leave big explodey balls behind. Do not be near his balls when they explode, otherwise you'll be very sorry indeed. (Huehuehue.)
Boss 2: Ser Grinnaux the Bull
Like Adelphel, Grinnaux has a trash phase first. Batter him down to start the fight proper.
Most of this fight is about dodging the various ground AoEs that Grinnaux applies around the room, but there are a couple of specific abilities to watch out for.
Hyperdimensional Slash lays a red AoE in front of Grinnaux in the direction of a random player. When this goes off, anyone in the way will take damage, and an Aetherial Tear will appear where the attack hits the wall. These Tears will tether to anyone near them and damage them, so ideally bait them all to the same part of the room.
After two Hyperdimension Slash attacks, Grinnaux will cast Faith Unmoving, which will knock everyone directly backwards when it finishes casting. Make sure your back is to part of the wall that is free from Aetherial Tears to stay safe.
Boss 3: Ser Charibert
Filthy rats! Charibert has a bunch of nasty abilities that you need to watch out for. It's a good idea to tank him near the entrance to his arena rather than in the middle.
Altar Pyre is a simple room-wide damage attack. Heal through it.
Holy Chain tethers two players together — run apart to break it, otherwise you'll both take damage.
Heavensflame causes flame rings to appear on the ground. Avoid them.
Charibert's most annoying ability is to summon a row of knights, who will march across the arena and Slow anyone they trample over. Each row will always have a gap in it, so position yourself so they'll pass you by safely or run through the gap to avoid this.
At about 50% HP, Charibert will disappear, then reappear with a bunch of Holy Flames around the room. Kill as many of these as possible, because Charibert's next attack deals more damage the more Holy Flames are left. You can leave one or two Flames up and still be safe when this happens.
After this attack, the cycle repeats, though both Heavensflame and Charibert's knight-summoning become more dangerous: Heavensflame has two sets of flame rings, and two rows of knights appear instead of one.
The Great Gubal Library
Level: 59-60
Boss 1: Demon Tome
This is very similar to Demon Wall in Amdapor Keep, albeit without the time limit. Instead, there are some new abilities to watch out for, including an instant-kill.
The first thing to do is avoid Demon Tome's line AoEs, since these apply a Slow effect. The lines will come down the middle of the room first, then the sides. Position yourself ahead of time to avoid these.
Dark Blizzard III is a circle AoE that targets a random player during the line attacks. Avoid this.
Disclosure is Demon Tome's instakill ability. When it starts to glow, run around the side until you're behind Demon Tome to stay safe. If you're in front of Demon Tome when Disclosure finishes casting, you'll die.
Finally, Words of Winter is a ground freeze attack that causes you to slide while it is in effect. Plan your moves carefully, particularly when Disclosure is casting, and only move when necessary.
Boss 2: Byblos
When Byblos runs to the centre of the room, two books will spawn, with the ability to cast Death Ray at you, a line AoE that, despite the name, doesn't do all that much damage.
When they die, orbs will tether to players. Tethered players need to position themselves so the orb hits Byblos to break his invulnerability period.
In subsequent phases, Byblos will spawn clouds of fumes. Party members should take it in turns to disperse these by running through them, since this causes damage. It's important to manage them, though, as they can interfere with the orbs.
When Byblos isn't invincible, he'll perform Gale Cut on the tank. When this is being cast, the tank should run through Byblos or to the side to avoid it. He also has a Tail Swipe attack on anyone behind him.
Finally, Head Down is a charge attack similar to the one seen in Amdapor Keep (Hard). The targeted player should ensure the line AoE doesn't intersect with any other players to minimise damage. The easiest way to deal with this is simply to run straight at Byblos.
Boss 3: The Everliving Bibliotaph
Three times during the fight, The Everliving Bibliotaph will use Void Summon as a supernatural "Help Wanted" advertisement. In order to prevent his questionable hiring practices, you need to stand on the glowing platforms on the ground. The number of players who need to stand on a platform is indicated by how many lights are lit up on the platform in question. Multiple platforms will highlight at once, so be ready to spread out.
If you get targeted by Bibliotaph, run away from the party to bait the AoE he's preparing for you. Everyone should keep away from this, as it pulses several times, applying damage and Vulnerability Up in the process.
At around 55% HP, Bibliotaph will cast some combination of Deep Darkness and Magic Burst. Deep Darkness covers the outside of the arena and causes a Heavy debuff for about 30 seconds. Magic Burst, meanwhile, deals damage and knockback. Neither are pleasant.
If you're new to Final Fantasy XIV and want some more help, I wrote a bunch of guides during my time at USgamer; some of this information is a little out of date now, but the basic boss strategies and suchlike are still valid.
And then, of course, like Second Life, there's the self-expression element of everyone's avatars thanks to the "Glamour" system, whereby you can make one piece of gear look like another.
