With the release of Patch 7.01, Final Fantasy XIV has now added its latest 8-player raid series, titled The Arcadion. Players will compete in an arena where all of the fighters take on the form of bestial souls and triumph as the grand champion. In this guide series, we’ll be going over the mechanics and how to effectively dodge them.
For the first installment of this guide, we’ll be going over how you can unlock the raid series quests, and the first fight, titled AAC Light-Heavyweight M1, with detailed explanations of the boss’s mechanics and how you can prepare yourself to masterfully dodge them.
How to Unlock the Arcadion in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
First of all, the Arcadion won’t be open until the completion of the Main Scenario Quest. Therefore, the first task will be going through the MSQ. Go at your own pace, because this is NOT a limited-time event!
Once you’ve cleared the LV 100 Main Scenario Quest “Dawntrail”, a quest called A New Challenger Appears will be available in Solution Nine. Players will need to talk to the Stylish Stranger, who will introduce themselves as a promoter for the Arcadion. For the first part of the raid series, there are three opponents to fight in the Light-Heavyweight category.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail – AAC Light-Heavyweight M1
Now that you’ve unlocked the quest, it’s time to fight our first opponent, named Black Cat. As her name implies, she takes on the feral soul of a feline.
Here is a list of mechanics that Black Cat will throw at you, as well as how to dodge them effectively:
- Bloody Scratch: This is a skill that will attack all players regardless of their position. This skill requires your party’s Healer to quickly shield the party or recover HP afterwards, so stay on your toes if you happen to be a Healer.
- One-two Paw: Black Cat will gather power in her paws, and attack either their left or right sides, signaled by a strong force on their hands. Once she’s done with one side, she’ll immediately move on to the next. It is recommended you stay near her, so you can quickly move to the sides.
- Black Cat Crossing: For this attack, Black Cat will place down two cross-shaped lines below. Then, she will attack in the order those lines appeared. Pay attention to where the first lines appeared, and dodge her two attacks.
- Biscuit Maker: This attack will hit either of the two Tanks in your party. If you’re the Tank, make sure no one is inside the red circle. Party members should also steer clear off that circle as much as possible. If you’re a Melee DPS where your skills depend on positional requirements, you may want to use the True North skill to maintain your optimal damage.
- Clawful: One team member will get a stack indicator. EVERYONE, and I mean, EVERYONE, should huddle together with that player in order to share damage.
- Mouser: Notice how Black Cat’s field is a 4×4 square. This is important to understand this attack. She will briefly mark each of the panels in a “Simon Says” fashion, and attack those panels in the given order. Some of these panels will be attacked more than once, which destroys them, limiting your field, but they’ll be restored momentarily. There will always be two squares that will never be attacked, so if you’re a Caster, pay attention to which ones and start casting your spells on those squares.
- Shockwave: This attack will knock players back violently across the battlefield. This is where you MUST use your knockback resistance skill. The skill is called differently depending on the class, but in a DPS class and Tank, it’s called Arm’s Length, and for caster-based classes, it’s called Surecast.
- Predaterous Pounce: This is another “Simon Says” type of attack. Black Cat will mark out her trajectory with cat paws and big claw circles. Once she’s done, she’ll follow the order that she marked out, by dashing forwards in the direction of the cat paws, followed by a huge AOE burts on the circles she denoted. Memorize her path and dodge accordingly! After she’s done with her attack, players will be marked with a spread circle. Stay far away from your players, and make sure your circles don’t overlap with each other as much as possible.
- Elevate and Eviscerate: One random player will be marked by Black Cat to be thrown. Align yourself so that the arrow points to a panel that was not broken and/or damaged by Mouser, the previous attack. If your position is correct, the icon will change color.
Phase 2 Attacks
Once Black Cat’s HP falls below 50%, she will enter Phase 2. This phase will have similar attacks to Phase 1, such as Bloody Scratch, Shockwave and Elevate and Eviscerate, but there will be some added mechanics that make them harder to dodge.
- Overshadow: A line stack marker will appear on a random player. Everyone should huddle together inside that line in order to mitigate the damage taken.
- Leaping One-two Paw: This attack is similar to One-two Paw, but here’s the catch. Black Cat will first jump to an area marked on the field and THEN proceed to do the attack. Take that into consideration, because this could change which area of the arena will be safe.
- Leaping Black Cat Crossing: This attack is identical to Black Cat Crossing, but just like the previous Leaping attack, she’ll try to mislead you by jumping to an area marked on the field and THEN proceed to do the attack.
- Copycat: At first, this attack will be similar to Predaterous Pounce, but shadow copies of Black Cat will appear on random sides of the field, and lash out attacks to distrupt you. Just like Predaterous Pounce, you must pay attention to her path and dodge accordingly.
And that’s it! Good luck on the first fight, and remember, it is okay if you die at first, because these fights are designed so that you slowly learn them! In the next guide, we’ll be going over the second fight, on the AAC Light-Heavyweight M2. See you then!
