Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn – How do I Beat Ultima’s Bane?

Collect your level 80 accessories by defeating the Ultimate Weapon with ease!

The best gear and accessories in Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn come from the second Binding Coil of Bahamut. However, you can’t begin to take down even the first Coil without the proper gear. As you increase your average item level, the level 80 neck and wrist pieces that drop from fighting Ultimate Weapon in The Minstrel’s Ballad: Ultima’s Bane can be very useful. They’re better than Darklight accessories and go well alongside Extreme Primal rings, Coil rings, or Myth rings.

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There are a few party arrangements you can use to best Ultima, but at the very least you need two tanks and two healers. A Bard is extremely helpful during this fight as healing can be intense during the latter half of the battle. In addition, White Mages tend to perform better than Scholars, simply because Medica II and Regen are very helpful. While Scholars can use Whispering Dawn, it has a lengthy recast and simply isn’t as effective as Medica II or Regen. It’s possible to win this fight without a Bard or White Mage, but both jobs are preferred.

Ultima should be tanked just west of due north. No party members should be in front of Ultima aside from the tank. Ultima inflicts a debuff on its current target (should always be one of the tanks). When this debuff reaches three stacks, the tanks should switch off. During a tank switch, the current off tank should use Provoke, followed by an attack that generates enmity, while the main tank stops attacking to allow the off tank to take the hate. This process continues throughout the entire battle.

Phase One

Ultima goes through more phases than almost any other battle in the game. However, the phases are relatively short compared to many other fights. During the first phase, Ultima summons the power of Garuda. Garuda appears in the middle of the area and casts a very wide area of effect (AoE) attack. It’s important to pay close attention to the direction Garuda is facing as the attack always points in that direction. The best way to avoid the attack is to stand behind Garuda, but near the edge of the area. Just before the attack executes, Ultima uses a knockback attack. Make sure you’re in a position that won’t knock you into the AoE attack.

After this AoE attack Garuda uses Eye of the Storm. This creates a circle around the outer edge of the area. It is important that all party members move to the inside edge of the circle. You should be almost touching the circle, not standing anywhere near the center. As soon as the circle begins to dissipate, immediately run to the edge of the area. This allows you to avoid Titan, who lands in the middle of the area, inflicting significant damage to anyone even remotely close by.

Depending on the speed of your damage dealers (DPS), Garuda generally repeats this series of attacks twice. When she appears in front of Ultima and vanishes, the phase is over.

Phase Two

Titan is summoned for the second phase of the battle. As soon as Garuda disappears, the main tank should move toward the center of the area just enough to keep Ultima in position, but no longer be standing at the edge of the area. The tank should basically be standing right at Ultima’s head. This allows you to easily dodge Titan’s first attack, which is Ifrit’s plumes (don’t ask). The plumes engulf the outer edge of the area, which forces everyone to move toward the center. However, immediately following the plumes, Titan uses what is essentially his Weight of the Land attack. Titan summons four circles of sand that engulf the center of the area.

You have two options to avoid this attack. You can run to the very center of the area to find a small spot between the four circles to avoid the explosion that follows. If you’re not confident getting to the small spot, simply run back toward the outer edge as soon as Titan’s circles appear.

After the first combination attack, the positions of the attack swap. Ifrit’s plumes appear in the center of the area, followed by Titan’s circles around the outer edge. To avoid these attacks, stay along the outer edge, then run to the small spot between Titan’s circles when they appear. It’s much easier to get to these small spots than it is to get to the center in the previous attack series.

Ultima also uses Tank Purge during this phase and all remaining phases. It’s an arena-wide AoE attack that inflicts moderate damage to the entire party. Sometimes Tank Purge comes between the two attack patterns (before they swap), other times it comes after both attack patterns have completed.

With average DPS it’s unlikely to see this pattern repeated more than twice. When Titan appears in front of Ultima, phase two comes to an end.

Phase Three

The final phase of the Primal portion of the Ultima battle features Ifrit by himself. Cracks appear beneath two randomly targeted party members. As the party members move, four more cracks appear (for a total of five), all signifying Eruptions are to follow. Both party members should run in the same direction along the outer edge of the area. To make it easy, pick clockwise or counter-clockwise before the battle begins. Do not run anywhere near the tanks. The tanks should not have to worry about dodging the Eruptions.

After the Eruptions, plumes appear in the four corners, and Ifrit drops down at the edge of the area. Try to locate Ifrit as quickly as possible so you can avoid the following Crimson Cyclone attack. Immediately following the plumes in the four corners, plumes running north to south appear, then Ifrit dashes in a straight line, across the arena from his current position. A lot of dodging has to be done here, but if you pay attention to where Ifrit lands, you can easily avoid him while avoiding the plumes as well.

The first set of plumes is followed by another set of plumes in the corners again, then a line of plumes running east to west. Once again, locate Ifrit as soon as he appears during the corner plumes, then move accordingly to avoid Crimson Cyclone.

If your DPS is fast enough, you may not see this pattern repeat. When Ifrit dies in front of Ultima, the phase is over.

Phase Four

From phase four onward, Ultima gains a few new abilities. When he turns and a green line appears on the ground (Magitek Ray), be sure to move out of the green line to avoid taking damage. Tanks will take significant damage from Diffractive Laser, which you will not see coming (there’s no cast bar). Healers should keep the main tank as close to full health as possible, and White Mages should make sure the main tank has Medica II and Regen up at all times. Ultima will also randomly target one party member and an orb will track that player down. Run away if you are targeted in order to avoid any damage.

Shortly after phase four begins, the first of three Aetheric Booms is used. Four orbs appear in a plus sign formation with lines running between them. If any of the orbs hit another orb, a huge explosion follows. To avoid this, you need to run into one orb for each set (sets are designated by the line running between the orbs). It’s best to mark one party member before the battle and have the remaining party members (except the tanks) stack on the marked player. Then the marked player should run into one orb from each set while the other party members stay close to absorb the damage from the explosion. With a well-geared party, only the DPS jobs should do this. Tanks and healers can continue as they were.

Phase Five

With the orbs destroyed, phase five begins. A group of lasers appear in the center of the area. Take them out as quickly as possible. Shortly after the lasers appears, two airships arrive to deliver AoE damage to a large portion of the area. To avoid the AoE damage, all party members except the tanks should move to the southern tip of the area. Tanks should be on the northern tip.

Phase Six

The sixth phase features another Aetheric Boom. The orbs remain in a plus sign formation, but now there are two sets running east to west in addition to the single set running north to south. Focus on the single north to south set first, then take care of the other two sets. The off tank can handle one set of orbs with a defensive cool down ability.

Phase Seven

Once again, lasers appear in the arena. However, this time they appear around the outer edge. Four airships appear short after the lasers begin shooting. The safest area to avoid as much AoE damage as possible is the exact center of the arena. Do not rush to the center as soon as the airships appear. If you do this the remaining lasers will target the center, making it difficult to avoid the damage. Wait a moment for the lasers to target, then run toward the center.

At this point the main tank should remain where he is while the off tank heads to the center. The healers should be ready to cure the main tank as he will take significant damage during this phase. Have Medica II and Regen up on the main tank before the healers head to the center.

Phase Eight

The final Aetheric Boom occurs at the beginning of this phase. This time there are four sets of orbs in a circle around the middle of the arena. If you have a level 3 Limit Break, the off tank should use it at the end of the Aetheric Boom cast to ensure it’s active as soon as the orbs appear. With the huge defense buff from the Limit Break, party members should quickly run into the orbs and they won’t have to worry about dying.

If a level 3 Limit Break is not available, the off tank should use a defensive cool down and take out one set of orbs, while two other party members should sacrifice themselves taking out the other sets of orb. Healers should be ready to raise if need be.

Phase Nine

This phase only occurs if you have been fighting Ultima for 10 minutes. Once you reach the 10 minute point, Ultima teleports to the center of the area and starts a short countdown. If it is not defeated before the countdown comes to an end, the entire party wipes. Make sure you have decent DPS to avoid getting to this point.


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Author
Bryan Dawson
Bryan Dawson has an extensive background in the gaming industry, having worked as a journalist for various publications for nearly 20 years and participating in a multitude of competitive fighting game events. He has authored over a dozen strategy guides for Prima Games, worked as a consultant on numerous gaming-related TV and web shows and was the Operations Manager for the fighting game division of the IGN Pro League.