Demon Wall: Ignore or focus Gnats?

Hey guys -

So last night I attempted Amdapor Keep for the first time. We spent about 3 painstaking hours trying to complete this dungeon, with no avail. We can't seem to conquer the demon wall. As the tank, here's what I'm doing:

-I never get hit by the black lines. I take the slight server lag into account and adjust according to that
-When he repels, I hug him in the center so that i dont fall all the way to the back where the pool of black stuff is


Should the party ignore or focus the gnats?

The parties I was with went for ignoring the gnats and just DPSing the boss; I tank the gnats right next to him so that when they aoe, they don't hit the party and I can just dodge them like a bullet hell. When the party tries to focus the gnats, the boss doesn't get DPSed down enough and we end up fighting him while we're in the black pool in the back of the room. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the whole time, we just had 2 BLMs.

TL;DR: demon wal hard wat do

Depends on the group.

Since you had two BLMs in the group using their limit break after you grouped everything up might have helped.


Before my gear could take handle the gnats damage I would have a dps use limit break and kill the gnats first.

Once my gear got a bit better I tank the gnats while dps burn wall.

Couple of things that might help. Go out of defiance. Your damage will go up again. And first part of the fight you don't really need to tank anyways. Use fracture and dots.
BLM has nothing to do with it unless they aren't that good at either their rotation or dodging.
Use limit at the beginning of the fight when there are almost risks. The fight is scripted and adds will always come after 2nd repel, regardless of HP of the boss so thats the safest time.
Also, for your fellow BLM. Manaward blocks the effect of repel so you can keep casting during a repel :)
Hope this helps

As a tank you have a very minor role in that fight. It's really dependent on the DPS.
If your dps is lacking Wall will be very annoying. If you're dps is good you can just pick up the bees, ignore them while dps burns wall.

Like Deroth said, if you have to kill bees then it is best if one of the DPS uses the limit break on one bee to kill it quick then focus on second and back to wall. You should have it done before you get to the ooze patch at the back of the walkway.

Deroth, Zeronic, CyanDvai -

Thanks so much guys. I'll try the limit break idea, since my gear isn't exactly up to par (dat ilvl48).

Zeronic -

Holy crap, i've been running this with my gf (who is one of the BLMs) and neither of us thought of mana wall. Also, you're right about Defiance. I kept it on for the extra health, but the extra DPS certainly would help. A lot of useful tips there - Thanks!

CyanDvai -

If we get a DRG, we'll try the LB idea :).

Here's a good rule of thumb for determining whether to ignore the gnats or not. Does the Demon Wall have 1/4 health or greater after the second repel? If so, go after the gnats. If not, you can probably pull both away long enough for them to not be an issue while the DPS takes care of the rest.

Tell the Healer to go Cleric mode and damage. Might have to throw 1 or 2 Medica II, that helps a lot.

Drop defiance. There is nothing to tank until gnats come out. Whether you kill or ignore gnats depends on the DPS output of your group. Grab hate on them. See if the WHM can heal you through it. Focus on the wall. If all goes well and you can't survive the gnats...

Drop defiance. Focus DPS on wall. Gnats pop, gather them up under demon wall, BLM pop LB. Go back to wall. You probably won't need defiance up regardless. The gnats aren't hitting for that much.

Small tip, when you know you will no longer be hitting the wall to handle gnats, everyone should make their last attack (if possible) a dot. Bio, Miasma, Fracture, Aero, whatever. The DPS from DoT might make the difference while you burn down the gnats.

Demon wall is all about doing DPS. Your ilvl48 hurts. Probably can still do it, but focus on doing damage. For warrior that means Defiance off until bees spawn, Berserk, str potion, Internal Release, mixing Maim/Storm's Eye and enmity combos... Healer should DPS too.

That assumes you've got the dodging black stuff and Repel down.

Also, Holmgang can stop Repel from pushing you. Minor difference, but it works. Just make sure you hit it a second or 2 early so that the animation finishes before Repel.

If your DPS is low, you'll want to kill bees. Once it's better then just go boss. Top DPS can kill boss before bees even spawn.

Only ignore if youre overgeared

If you really want to ignore for a prolonged period Whm can holyspam to stop their aoe if its confusing people