In order to battle against the Extreme Mode versions of Garuda, Titan, and Ifrit, you must first complete the Hard Mode fights. Garuda’s Extreme Mode battle retains many of the attacks she used in Hard Mode, and the Extreme Mode version of Titan is very similar. If you haven’t checked out our strategy to defeat Hard Mode Titan, check it out to get a general understanding of the basics that go into the battle.
Extreme Mode Titan takes everything you know and hate about the Hard Mode battle and amplifies it. Titan retains all of his previous abilities, but everything is harder to dodge and hits for far more damage. In fact, if you do not have a solid connection and a PC capable of displaying the game at 50-60 frames per second, this fight will be almost impossible to win. PlayStation 3 players can do this battle, but it’s not easy. There are many times when you’ll almost have to preemptively move to avoid taking damage.
The basic party setup for EX Titan is fairly straightforward. You should have two tanks, two healers, and four damage dealers (DPS). It’s very helpful to have at least one White Mage for Medica and Medica II, as well as a Summoner for the area of effect (AoE) Limit Break, and a Bard for Mage’s Ballad. A Black Mage also gives you an AoE Limit Break, but this battle has a lot of movement, which makes it difficult for a Black Mage to dish out consistent damage.
Phase One
Titan Rotation: Landslide > Weight of the Land > Mountain Buster > Tumult
The battle begins with the main tank pulling Titan to the for north side and turning so that Titan is facing away from the rest of the party. Everyone else in the party should stack right behind Titan and stay close together. This makes it easier to dodge Titan’s attacks, especially Weight of the Land.
Healers need to keep a close eye on the main tank throughout the entire fight as Titan uses Mountain Buster right from the beginning of the battle. In addition, Mountain Buster also adds a debuff to the tank which increases damage taken. Because of the debuff, tanks need to swap out every two stacks.
Weight of the Land randomly targets five players. If you’re stacked just behind Titan it should be relatively easy to dodge. However, because you’re stacked, all five circles will also be stacked, meaning a single hit and you will die. In addition, Titan uses four stomps during Tumult for the entire battle. White Mages should have Medica II going as soon as possible once this begins.
This phase repeats depending on how powerful your DPS jobs are. In most cases you will only see one full rotation, and possibly the Landsilde at the beginning of the second rotation. If you get up to the second Mountain Buster, you should probably examine your DPS jobs because they’re lagging behind.
Just like in the Hard Mode battle, all phases (except the heart phase) end with Titan jumping into the air and a red circle engulfing the outer edge of the arena. Make sure you’re inside the red circle as anything outside of it will drop off into nothingness.
Phase Two
Titan Rotation: Geocrush > Landslide > Rock Throw > Mountain Buster > Upheaval > Landslide > Tumult > Weight of the Land > Mountain Buster > Landslide > Weight of the Land > Bomb Boulders > Mountain Buster > Landslide > Rock Throw
With the arena much smaller now a few things change about the fight. Landslide now goes in three directions instead of one, but it’s not particularly difficult to evade. Bomb Boulders and Rock Throw make their first appearance in this battle, alongside Upheaval, which is a new attack that knocks all players back. This is indicated by Titan raising one foot into the air. When you see this, all party members (including the main tank) need to move behind Titan to avoid getting knocked off. If you’re too far away from Titan, you can get knocked off of the platform, unable to return.
When Rock Throw is used, the attack targets two party members, one DPS and one healer. The DPS should remain just behind Titan, but the healers should run to the south side of the platform, then to the left or right (to avoid Landslide) just before Rock Throw is used. If the two Rock Throws are too close to one another, they get a huge defense buff, which is why the healers need to run to the south side. The rest of the party should focus on the DPS class encased in rock first, followed by the healer once Upheaval has been used.
The key point about this version of Rock Throw is that the party member trapped inside will die if not freed in a timely manner. As long as you free the DPS first, then get the healer out shortly after Landslide, you should be fine.
The first set of Bomb Boulders covers most of the platform. To avoid death, run to the open area, away from the bombs. With most parties you will not see a second set of Bomb Boulders appear, but if you have slow DPS, the second set of Bomb Boulders will be in a circle formation. In addition, the bombs have a much wider blast radius, so you almost need to stand inside the bombs when you’re avoiding other explosions (this is especially helpful during phase four).
Phase Three
Titan Rotation: Geocrush > Weight of the Land > Rock Throw > Upheaval > Landslide > Tumult > Weight of the Land > Mountain Buster > Bomb Boulders > Landslide > Tumult > Weight of the Land > Earthen Fury
This is the heart phase, which is very similar to the heart phase in Hard Mode Titan. Once again, you have to defeat Titan’s heart before he unleashes Earthen Fury. If your DPS is not fast enough, Earthen Fury will wipe the party.
The arena is now much smaller again, and Landslide covers five directions instead of three. In addition, the Bomb Boulder pattern is the circular pattern from the Hard Mode fight. Stack in the middle, then run toward the position of the first exploding bomb to avoid the remaining explosions.
Earthen Fury marks the end of this phase.
Phase Four
Titan Rotation: Granite Gaolers > Mountain Buster > Bomb Boulders > Landslide > Weight of the Land > Rock Throw > Mountain Buster > Upheaval > Landslide > Mountain Buster > Tumult > Weight of the Land (x2) > Mountain Buster > Bomb Boulders (rows) > Landslide > Mountain Buster > Bomb Boulders (full) > Tumult > Weight of the Land > Geocrush
The fourth and final phase features a new addition to the Titan battle, Granite Gaolers. Just after Earthen Fury, the healers and ranged DPS jobs need to move to the south side, while the off tank gets ready to grab the two Gaolers (they appear on either side of the platform) and move then to the east side. Once the off tank has the two Gaolers in place, the DPS need to burn them down while staying aware of Titan’s other attacks.
Both Gaolers can use some of Titan’s attacks. They can use a single Landslide, as well as one Tumult. When they’re killed they leave an AoE on the ground that causes heavy and makes it very difficult to dodge Titan’s attacks. This is why they need to be killed on the east side to ensure that both AoE heavy attacks are confined to one small area.
While the Gaolers are up, Titan uses a new Bomb Boulder formation. Because of this, it’s best to kill the two Gaolers immediately following the Bomb Boulder explosions so you don’t have to worry about the AoE heavy making it difficult to evade the bombs. It’s also important to watch for when the off tank will need to swap with the main tank (due to the Mountain Buster debuff).
The new Bomb Boulder formation spawns bombs to the north, south, east, and west, then shortly after spawns bombs in the corners (northeast, southeast, etc.) and in the center. During the bombs, Titan uses Landslide, which makes it very difficult to know when and where to move. The best strategy is to stay by one of the bombs that spawn first (south for the healers and ranged DPS, east for the off tank and melee DPS). As soon as you see Landslide, run to the next closest bomb, which should be in the second spawn group. Wait there until the first set of bombs explodes, then immediately run toward the location of the recently exploded bombs.
Following the Bomb Boulders will be Weight of the Land, but this time Titan uses two sets (of five each) back to back, so you need to be ready to dodge twice. At this point you should be stacked just behind Titan again. With the AoE heavy to the east, the best strategy is for everyone to move west to avoid the first set of Weight of the Land, then back to the middle to avoid the second set.
Next up is the row of three Bomb Boulders similar to Titan Hard Mode. The difference here is that the explosion timing is a little different. Wait slightly longer before running after the first explosion. This will also give you more time to avoid Landslide.
The next set of Bomb Boulders encompasses the entire platform. The only way to avoid the explosions is to have the DPS focus on a single bomb to destroy it. It’s recommended to select the south bomb, but any will do. It’s best to avoid the bomb in the middle so that it’s easily to evade the Geocrush that follows. After the Geocrush, Titan repeats the phase continuously until he is defeated.
