The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate) Guides Ultima (2024)

Due to Lahabrea being such a short and easy to understand phase of the fight, it has been includedon this page alongside Ultima. Lahabrea will disappear once you've satisfied the Limit Break requirementsthis Ultimate imposes on you; Defeating all three previous Primals with Woken status.

Ultima itself can be separated into three categories. Active Phases, Intermissions and Primal Roulette.In total there are two Active Phases and three Intermissions. The fight ends on a finale of PrimalRoulette where Ultima summons all three absorbed Primals to unleash one last devastating attack on the party.

This phase will consist of the party having to use four Level 3 Limit Breaks ina row, taking advantage of the Beyond Limits buff that drops at the end of each primal.The phase begins with four large pillars dropping on the cardinals of the arena whichdeal proximity-based magic damage in the form ofFreefire. Make sure playersare stacked in the middle of the arena and shielded appropriately. Six Magitek Bitswill then spawn across the arena, each beginning to cast a 12 secondlong Self-Destruct.These must be destroyed instantly with a Level 3 Caster Limit Break. Keep in minddamage variance may result in Caster Limit Break not completely destroying some MagitekBits. All other party members should be hitting the Magitek Bits while the Caster Limit Break is being used.

Soon after the Magitek Bits are destroyed, Lahabrea will appear and cast Blightplacing all player's HP at one and inflicting both aneight second doom and a four second Down for the Count debuff. This doom must be dispelled via aLevel 3 Healer Limit Break. Lahabrea will then become targettable and begincasting Dark IV, a 17 second cast dealing 999,999 damage. As Lahabrea takes significantlyless damage, the only viable way to defeat him before Dark IV finishes casting isvia a Level 3 Melee Limit Break. After Lahabrea is defeated the Ultima Weaponwill appear and begin casting Ultima,a raidbuster dealing massive magic-baseddamage that must be mitigated via shields and a level 3 Tank Limit Break.Essentially, you will have to Caster LB3, then a Healer LB3, then a Melee LB3,and finally a Tank LB3.

The caster LB3 should be used as soon as Freefire damage appears on the screen,and the Healer LB3 should be used as soon as Down for the Count resolves.All other LBs can be used as soon as they become available, which means yourmelee and tank can spam the LB button when it is their turn and they will correctlytime their Limit Breaks.

The Ultima Weapon absorbs all abilities from previous primals, as well asgains the following:

• Ultima Aether:Duty Gauge that is present throughout thie entire phase. Ifit reaches 100 before the end of the fight, Ultima will gain a Damage Up buff,likely wiping the raid. It increases gradually when Ultima casts some abilitiesby four, and also increases by four with every death.
• Ultima:Massive raidbuster dealing extremely heavy magic damage. Must bemitigated via the use of a Level 3 Tank Limit Break.
• Tank Purge: Raidbuster dealing heavy magic damage.
• Homing Lasers: Very heavy tankbuster (~125k unimitigated) targeting theplayer with the second highest enmity in a small circle around them.
• Viscous Aetheroplasm: Attack applying the Viscous Aetheroplasm debuff whichexplodes after a short period of time for heavy magic damage that can be soakedwith the party. It is a small circle AoE and any players near the target will geta Viscous Aetheroplasm debuff if they are also hit.
• Diffractive Laser:Tankbuster with no cast bar dealing moderate magicdamage. Cleaves.
• Aetheric Boom:Knockback originating from Ultima hitting all players. It isaccompanied by four sets of Aetheroplasms.

This phase alternates between complex series of mechanics (which will bereferred to as 'Intemissions'), and burn phases where the boss is targettable,but with significantly less complex mechanics (which will be referred to as 'ActivePhases'.)

After Ultima, the Ultima Weapon will devour all of the primals in a fairlylengthy in-fight cutscene, and proceed to useTank Purge,followed closely byHoming Lasers,before casting Ultimate Predation.

For the entirety of the phase, please reference these Toolboxesfor a detailed view of how each mechanic is handled.

• Predation
• Annihilation
• Suppression

• Garuda spawns in a random quadrant near the center of the arena, slightly offset.Ifrit and Ultima spawn in a random intercardinal. Titan spawns in a random cardinal,shifted to either right or left of the direct cardinal.
• Garuda begins to use a Woken Wicked Wheel, which means it is followed followedby Wicked Tornado. This Wicked Tornado can be outranged.
• Ifrit will use a Woken Crimson Cyclone, leaving behind afterburner coveringthe cardinals.
• Titan will use a Woken Landslide, making it hit twice, exactly like hisprevious phase.
• Ultima will use Ceruleum Vent, covering its entire quadrant.
• After all is resolved, Garuda will use Feather Rain.

While this mechanic seems daunting at first, it is actually very simple. Thereare runes around outside of the arena that will make finding the safe spotsignificantly easier. Find Garuda and Ifrit, and make sure you are positionedopposite Garuda's quadrant (i.e. if she spawns Northwest of the center, go toeither the East, Southeast, or South edge of the arena), and make sure you aredodging Ifrit's Crimson Cyclone. The spot you are dodging to cannot have eitherTitan or Ultima near it. After the Crimson Cyclone resolves, count four runes fromeither side, and stand on that spot.

This should be a safe spot from everythingthat goes on in the second half of this Intermission. You might have to dodge alandslide during the first half, but simply dodge into the rune after the firsthit. Below is an example of a theoretical "worst-case scenario" and how to dealwith it.

Begin by locating the primals. First, find the spot opposite Garuda that issafe. As Titan covers up East, and Ifrit covers Southeast, the party will runsouth. Be careful of the landslide, and you might have to dash a little intoUltima's quadrant.

After the first Landslide and Crimson Cyclone resolve, move as fast as possibleinto the fourth rune, away from Ultima. Stay there as everything else resolves, andyou will avoid all damage.

Make sure stay together to bait the upcoming Feather Rain, and move towardthe middle on the shriek. Ultima will teleport back to the middle of the arena,and become targettable.

Ultima will teleport to the middle of the arena, Spawning the three primalsout do to a variety of abilities. In order:

• Ifrit spawns at the north edge of the arena, and casts a proximity-baited Eruption.
• Ultima casts Radiant Plume along the edges.
• Titan spawns far from Ultima, so this position is baitable.
• As soon as Radiant Plume resolves, Titan throws rocks along the center ofthe arena, in a clockwise fashion.
• Ultima and Titan both use Landslide on a random player. Only Titan uses awoken landslide.
• Titan begins to use Tumults while Ultima uses Viscous Aetheroplasm on thecurrent tank.
• Sisters spawn at the East and West of the arena, and use Wicked Wheel.
• Garuda spawns at the center of the arena, and uses Mistral Shriek. At thesame time, sisters will jump and use Feather Rain.
• Ultima will cast Homing Lasers on the player with the second highestenmity.
• Garuda jumps and uses Feather Rain.

While this seems like a lot, many of these mechanics are fairly simple toavoid by pulling the boss near south, baiting Titan away from the party. Belowis a diagram that shows my recommended strategy. You are essentially sitting inthe south of the arena, and most mechanics should resolve themselves.

Ifrit will be north, so have two players bait by moving south.

When Radiant Plumes appear, make sure the party is tightly stacked south,right on the edge of the plume, and move into the explosion animation.

The movement done previously should position the party to avoid any rocksthat land in the middle of the arena.

If the party is south, stacking together, it should be able to bait thelandslides in a way that makes them trivial to dodge. Simply move into the firstlandslide hit after dodging it.

Afterwards, have your current tank separate to take the Viscous Aetheroplasmalone, and stay separated to take Homing Missle safely, without splashing damageon the rest of the party. It's not a bad idea to have a tank use an invulnerabilityhere and have them take all of the tank damage.

Alternatively, you can have the final Aetheroplasm stack with the party tosplit the damage, and have the OT take the homing missile alone. Just be warythat the Viscous Aetheroplasm application is a cleave. After all ofthis is over Ultima will begin casting Ultimate Annihilation.

While labeled as an Intermission, Ultimate Annihilation is different inthe fact that you can stilltarget and hit the Ultima Weapon throughout this phase.The phase goes as follows:

• Ultima teleports to the north edge of the arena, Garuda spawns at the south,Ifrit and Titan both spawn at either the southeast or southwest of the arena.
• Titan uses Weight of the Land while Ifrit marks a random non-tank for FlamingCrush. Garuda uses Eye of the Storm.
• A second set of Weight of the Land puddles appear and Garuda tethers a random playerwith a Mesohigh tether.
• The third Weight of the Land puddles appears and an Aetheroplasm orb spawnsnear the southeast of his hitbox.
• A random healer gets marked with Searing Wind and Garuda uses Feather Rain.A secondAetheroplasm orb spawns near the southeast of Ultima's hitbox.
• Titan uses a Woken Landslide and Ifrit dashes in a straight line through anintercardinal.
• Titan uses his second Landslide hit and Ifrit leaves afterburner in a crossthrough the cardinal points of the arena.
• A third Aetheroplasm orb spawns near the southeast of his hitbox.
• Garuda uses Eye of the Storm and tethers a random player with Mesohigh.
• Ultima begins casting Tank Purge. A fourth Aetheroplasm orb spawns near thesouth-east of his hitbox (about halfway through the cast).
• Garuda uses Feather Rain.
• Tank Purge cast finishes.

The most important part of Ultimate Annihilation is the Aetheroplasm orbsthat spawn throughout the phase. When a player is inside the orb's AoE, theywill take menial damage and be tethered to Ultima, increasing his Ultima Aethergauge by one per player. The more people that take an Aetheroplasm orb the greaterthe tether between two orbs will be during the Aetheric Boom phase, which meansthe more time you will have to take said orbs in the Aetheric Boom phase. Each orbthat spawns corresponds to an orb in the Aetheric Boom phase, with the first orbbeing north-west, and continuing on clockwise. More info can be found in theAetheric Boom portion of this guide.

Prepare for these orbs during Ultimate Annihilation by having three players soakthe first and second orb and one player (preferably a tank) soak the last two(a 3-3-1-1 orb setup, if you will). This will give you enough time to be knockedback into the first set of orbs, heal up to full, and take the second set.If you are confident in your damage and want to have some extra breathing room,consider a 6-3-1-1 strategy for some extra time in taking a final orb, but thisshould not be necessary. A recommended strategy can be seen below.

Begin by baiting the first Weight of the Land at melee range, near thesouth-west of Ultima's hitbox. Move toward the south-east to dodge.

The second Weight of the Land should appear at the south-east of Ultima'sh*tbox and a Mesohigh tether will tether to a random person. Have a pre-assignedplayer (preferably a ranged DPS) move out of the stack to take the tether outwhile the rest of the party dodges back to the south-west. Flaming Crush shouldresolve here.

Have all players in charge of taking Aetheroplasms dodge right while therest of the party dodges left. The number of people dodging right depends onyour Aetheric Boom strategy.

The orb group should take the second orb here. Everyone except for theSearing Wind healer should then move behind Ultima, while the Searing Windhealer moves toward the south near the wall, to avoid Ifrit charges andLandslides. Make sure to bait the Feather Rain before you move.

Have players move into the Ifrit charge, in the location of the TitanLandslide, in order to dodge the second hits. Your Searing Wind healer should doa similar movement, standing close to the wall behind Titan's landslide. Thereis merit in dodging toward the north-west, regardless of Titan's position, so ifthe party is having trouble with the Aetheroplasm hitting unwanted players,I would recommend trying it out.

A tether will appear on a random player, and Eye of the Storm will begin.

The Searing Wind healer should take the Mesohigh tether while everyone elsedodges the Eye of the Storm.

Have a single tank take the last two Aetheroplasms while the rest of theparty dodges. There is a Feather Rain here, so take note of it, and do notaccidentally dodge into the Aetheroplasm.

You are essentially baiting the Weights of the Land near Ultima's hitbox inorder to mantain uptime. Make sure you stay stacked as a Flaming Crush markerwill appear over a player. Have a pre-assigned player (I would recommend a ranged DPS)move out of the stack after the second Weight of the Land to take the Mesohightether. Have your Searing Wind healer move south to prepare to take the secondMesohigh tether, dodge Feather Rains as they appear, dodge Ifrit charges/afterburnerand Titan landslides, and the phase will finish with Ultima using a Tank Purge.

After the final Tank Purge, Ultima will teleport to the middle of the arena.Keep in mind that Searing Wind will still be active for a while after the phaseis over, so be wary.

This phase goes as follows:

• Garuda will cast Eye of the Storm.
• Ultima will cast Homing Lasers on the player 2nd in enmity.
• Garuda will cast Eye of the Storm, which will be immediately followed byIfrit using Radiant Plumes.
• Ultima will use an untelegraphed Diffractive Laser on the tank. Make surenobody else is standing in front of the boss.
• Vulcan Burst + Eye of the Storm. Vulcan Burst will knock you back roughlyhalfway through the arena.
• Ultima will cast Homing Lasers on the player 2nd in enmity.
• Another Vulcan Burst + Eye of the Storm combo.
• Ultima will once again use an untelegraphed Diffractive Laser on the tank.Make sure nobody else is standing in front of the boss.

As Searing Wind will still be active when the phase ends, the recommendedpositioning is shown below:

Drag Ultima closer to north, into the Eye of the Storm, just in case VulcanBurst is not shielded properly.

The key part of this active phase is shielding Vulcan Bursts that will comeout periodically. Make sure your tank who is ready to take Homing Lasers is secondin threat, as it will come by shortly. Afterwards, the primals will use an Eyeof the Storm into Radiant Plume combo. Stand near the edge of the Eye of theStorm and move into it as soon as it is resolved, dodging the Radiant Plumes.I would recommend taking this opportunity to drag Ultima into the Eye of the Storm,just in case the upcoming Vulcan Burst is not shielded properly. Ultima will cleavein the form of Diffractive Laser. Prepare for the upcoming Vulcan Burst by shieldingnow. Ultima will follow up with a Vulcan Burst into Eye of the Storm. If shieldsare not timed properly your tank may have to use their anti-knockback here.Alternatively, you can keep the boss north and have thetank run through the party, having everyone get intentionally knocked back.Ultima will then follow up with a Homing Laser, followed once more by a VulcanBurst into Eye of the Storm. Shielding here is fairly simple, outside of the tanktaking Homing Lasers, which is fairly tight.

When Ultima reaches 49.9%, it will begin casting Ultimate Suppression. Thiscan be pushed early, so be wary. If possible, the goal should be goal to attemptto push Ultima as soon as he begins casting Homing Lasers. This will leave himanimation-locked, and will allow you to push some extra damage before the burnafter Ultimate Suppression, giving you a bit more time before he enrages.

Ultima becomes untargettable and the following occurs:

• Garuda spawns at the north-west, Ultima spawns at the north-east, Titan spawnsat the southwest, and Ifrit spawns at the southeast. Sisters spawn near thecenter of the arena, slightly north-west and south-east of the center.Featherlances begin circling around the arena, moving counter-clockwise.
• 3 Eruptions go on three random party members.
• At the second Eruption marker, two random non-eruption players get marked withMistral Song.
• At the third Eruption marker a random target gets marked with Granite Gaol.
• At the fourth Eruption marker, Mistral Songs resolve, the Gaol marker becomesfettered, and Garuda uses a large fan AoE targetting a random player.
• After the fourth Eruption The sisters use Feather Rain and Mistral Songtornados appear. The Gaol begins casting Granite Impact.
• A second Feather Rain is used by Garuda. Light Pillar begins chasing a randomplayer (The non-tank who has not been selected by either Eruptions, Mistral Song,or Gaol).
• Ultima uses Aetherochemical Laser randomly shooting a line AoE through eitherthe middle, toward its left, or toward its right.
• A Mesohigh tether appears, Titan uses Landslide on a random player, andIfrit marks a random DPS with Flaming Crush.
• Titan's second Landslide hit at the same time Flaming Crush and Mesohightethers resolve.
• Garuda uses another Feather Rain.
• Ultima uses Tank Purge ending the phase ends.

Ultimate Suppression is arguably the greatest wall of the fight, with mechanicsseemingly rapid-firing. The phase is fairly simple to digest, however, once it isseparated into its main components. The main thing to note is that each player(aside from tanks) will be marked with at least 1 mechanic, which means your goalis to find out who is marked for what as soon as possible in order to figure outwhat player will be targetted by Light Pillar, which will chase a party memberaround with a series of pillars of light dealing magic damage to all playersunder it when it falls.

Begin by starting at pre-assigned positions fanned out near Garuda in orderto figure out who are the Eruption targets. Bait the second Eruption moving towardthe middle and have players marked with Mistral Song move behind the tanks.It is possible to have a single tank take both initial hits of the Mistral Songby popping some cooldowns if you have any to spare. The rest of the party shouldcontinue moving forward, preferably baiting the third eruption forward the sistersas shown in the diagram below. A random player will be marked for Gaol, whichmeans at this point you will know who will be targetted by the Light Pillar viaprocess of elimination. The Gaoled player can safely stand inside the fourtheruption and not die as they will be fettered before the damage resolves. Dodgeout of AoEs, avoid Feather Rain, and break the Granite Gaol as soon as possible.Keep in mind you will be dodging two Feather Rains in quick succession. Make sureplayers not in the party stack do not accidentally Feather Rain the party stack.

Have the party fanned out in front of Garuda and the tanks standing in frontof Titan. (Tanks can also go on Ultima's side if you want, but you might haveissues with lasers.)

Three random non-tanks will be marked with eruptions. Everyone should movetoward the middle.

Two players will get marked with Mistral Song as the second eruption appears.These players should move behind the tanks near titan so the tanks can interceptMistral Song. The rest of the party continues moving forward.

At this point one player will be marked with Granite Gaol. There is oneplayer who has not been selected for any mechanics. This person will be baitingthe Light Pillar shortly.

Move out of the fourth Eruption/Tornado, avoid Garuda's fan AoE, and get readyto bait Feather Rain.

Make sure the Light Pillar bait moves along the wall (but not too close, asFeatherlances are circling around the arena) toward Garuda, hitting the GraniteGaol if possible. Everyone else should be attacking the Gaol and dodging FeatherRain.

After all of this is completed, have your whole party stacked in one position,as shown below, to bait Landslide. A random player will be marked with FlamingCrush and another player will be tethered by Mesohigh. Move together as a groupto avoid Landslide (out and back in) with a pre-assigned player (preferably atank) separating and taking the Mesohigh tether. Dodge a final feather rain andget ready for a Tank Purge, so have everyone stacked and shielded. After thisphase is over Ultima will teleport back to the middle.

The party does not have to be stacked in this exact position. Be wary thatUltima Lasers are going out throughout all of this so you may have to adjustyour position.

Have a pre-assigned player(preferably a tank) move out of the stack, whilethe rest of the party dodges back into the landslide after it goes off. Theplayer taking the Mesohigh tether should attempt to dodge into a furtherLandslide.

Heal up, dodge a Feather Rain, and prepare for a Tank Purge.

Ultima will begin casting Ultima. This, once again, must be mitigated withheavy shielding and a Level 3 Tank Limit Break. Ultima will immediately followup with Aetheric Boom which will knockback all players regardless of if theytake damage from it or not. However, knockback cancelling abilities do work.This is where the orbs from Ultimate Annihilation come intoplay. The more players who take orbs, the longer the tether between the twocorresponding orbs is. The first orb corresponds to the north-western orb, thesecond orb corresponds to the north-eastern orb, the third orb corresponds to thesouth-eastern orb, and the fourth orb corresponds to the south-western orb.

Split in 2 groups: one with 2 tanks with defensive cooldowns, and the otherbeing the rest of the party. Sprint is nice here, to take the second set of orbsas soon as groups are healed.

If you have been following this guide, have each group get knocked back into oneof the southern orbs, and then sprint north to the second set of orbs after beinghealed.

After orbs resolve, Ultima will use an AoE Viscous Aetheroplasm, giving threerandom players the Viscous Aetheroplasm debuff. Ultima will then summon all threeprimals (Garuda, Ifrit, and Titan) in one of three orders: Garuda, Ifrit,Titan; Ifrit, Garuda, Titan; or Titan, Ifrit, Garuda. This means that you willbe able to accurately predict the last two primals after identifying the first.Each primal has a set rotation, including their ultimate raidbuster, and will beimmediately followed up by the next primal. During each Primal phase, one ViscousAetheroplasm will explode, so your party must be stacked while dodging all ofthese mechanics. As Primals are not targetable, targeted mitigation such as Addle or Reprisal will be ineffective during Primal ultimates. Make sure peopleare topped and shielded after every Viscous Aetheroplasm explosion, plus an extraform of party mitigation. Ensure your party has two set safe spots (ideallynear the middle of the arena, and on an intercardinal) to stay stacked.

Having set safe spots similar to these will help immensely when coordinatingto stack together.

Because of the chance that the Limit Break bar reaches 3 levels here, PrimalRoulette is likely the best place to use it due to the fact an extra LB bar may befilled from heavy raidwide damage. If your DPS is more than ahead of the check,however, it is a good idea to wait until all three primals are done to use Melee Limit Break 3just to play safe.

Garuda will begin by using a Wicked Wheel followed by a Wicked Tornado.The Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode as the Wicked Tornado goes off. Garudawill then follow up with an Aerial Blast, followed by a Feather Rain. It is fairlysafe to LB as soon as you dodge into the Wicked Wheel, you will have about 2-3s ofleeway to dodge Feather Rain.

Ifrit will begin by using a single set of two eruptions followed by a set ofCrimson Cyclones going across the cardinals of the map. I would recommend stacking together ateither a cardinal or near the middle, and moving to the intercardinal as soon aspossible. The Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode after Crimson Cyclones resolve,and will quickly follow up with a Hellfire, so make sure everyone is topped rightafter Viscous Aetheroplasm explodes. It is fairly safe to Limit Break during Ifrit, justhit the button as soon as you dodge Crimson Cyclone.

Titan will begin by using a triple Weight of the Land followed by hisEarthen Fury. The Viscous Aetheroplasm will explode after the second Weight ofthe Land resolves so it is imperative that your party is dodging the samedirection throughout all three Weight of the Lands. You can simply dodge right-left-rightfrom a set position and you should be fine. Because of the precise movement, Iwould not recommend using Limit Break during Titan.

After all three primals are done, Ultima will teleport to the north of the arenaand begin charging up his remaining Ultima Aether. As soon as Ultima reaches 100Ultima Aether, it will begin a fairly elaborate enrage. Ultima will gain adamage up and slowly begin to stun players one-by-one, pulling them into the middleof the arena, and raising them into the air before killing them with Citadel Siege.It will begin pulling everyone to the middlestarting with players who did the least total damage to Ultima and ending withthe player who did the most damage (usually ends up pulling healers, tanks, andthen finally DPS in that order). There is a somewhat long animation even afterall players are defeated so make sure to refresh dots for those final secondsof damage.

If you've defeated the Ultima Weapon, congratulations! You will be rewarded withan Ultima Totem, which can be exchanged in Rhalgr's Reach for an i375 Ultima weaponof your choice.