Ultima HM is really frustrating

[Lyrinn]

I just cleared Ultima in duty finder with another SCH, and as far as I can tell, enmity has little, if any, to do with the targeting. Anyways, what we did was we stood in two different spots opposite of each other so that if the bits all target one person, the other is free to spam Cure on the tank, and if the bits split, then we both have plenty of breathing room to move. I personally did Divine Seal + Regen + Swiftcast + Medica II + E4E + Virus all in one go, just in case I was too busy dodging. Turned out to be overkill as I could still clip Cures in while dodging.

[xEscaflownex]

Ive done this fight successfully many times as DPS, recently started TRYING to do it as tank to get the accessories...nightmare lol. I avoid everything its possible to avoid, I keep getting beat down by his regular attacks, is it a healer issue? I use my CD's appropriately, I just seem to go so long without heals all the time ><. Ive gone the whole duration of Hallowed ground, all my other CD's, all while spamming stoneskin on myself and still don't get healed.

[Espon]

Ive done this fight successfully many times as DPS, recently started TRYING to do it as tank to get the accessories...nightmare lol. I avoid everything its possible to avoid, I keep getting beat down by his regular attacks, is it a healer issue? I use my CD's appropriately, I just seem to go so long without heals all the time ><. Ive gone the whole duration of Hallowed ground, all my other CD's, all while spamming stoneskin on myself and still don't get healed.

I find some healers get too focused on healing the party when a large amount of damage comes in, such as during Tank Purges or when popping orbs. Unfortunately, Diffractive Laser does a huge amount of damage and most healers just aren't expecting it. It helps if the healers are given designated targets; one on tanks and the other on party. When I'm off-tanking I'll also use Stoneskin the current tank and then restore my MP with Riot Blade if I need it.

[xEscaflownex]

Ya, I've started doing that as well, diffractive laser hits around 1600-2k usually I think, I find myself sitting under 3k (less than half HP) quite often for extended periods of time for whatever reason, so diffractive plus auto attacks usually end in death. I even switched to heals for a few runs to see the fight from their perspective and didn't have any issues healing with everything going on, so its super frustrating, I'll just grab allagan castoffs or spend some myth when I'm done with other jobs, tired of trying this as tank, cant come across any decent heals in pugs.

[Stalkster]

That's the main issue I find, you can't really carry the other healer to the max. If your whm you should be aoe healing during large aoe, if your sch you should be focused on tanks during large aoe. If your job stacking figure out which healer is doing what role. Below 50% tanks need to stay near full health. His attacks are magical and I never seen them miss. War is the better tank here, more health/cure received. Outside of Pld poping hollowed during lazer don't expect them to be rotating CD's since they only have rampart(20sec duration, 90sec CD)/sentinel(10sec duration, 3min CD)/conval(20sec duration 2min CD). This is a healer based fight, if tanks are swapping @3stacks poping sentinal or hollowed/vengance during 2nd lazers, there pretty much doing all they can for the most part.

As ilv90 Pld just over 7k health i've died to this numerous times maybe 20/30runs.., as ilv77 whm I've died like 1time outside of a wipe in about 50runs. Both healers need to be on there toes, I'm sure HP helps here tho with about 32vit in ilv70 acc's/10points in vit+food i have about 4.7k health.

[AlrikRouge]

Because it is the only thread I've seen it brought up in without necro'ing old threads, it is good practice to play around with that extra .2-.3 seconds of cast time that still allows you to pull off a spell. This works for any and all castings. Getting the hang of it, I've used it as a PLD while tanking Titan HM to dodge plums when needed and I want to help mitigate something during chaos ensuing from DPS dropping, or Ultima HM as the OT on the MT and healers. While it can seem to be negligible, the little time saved by the above practice can be a lifeline. Especially as a healer.

Just my two cents. Others mentioned it above but I won't quote them as I'm too lazy to do it from my phone.

[AlrikRouge]

Because it is the only thread I've seen it brought up in without necro'ing old threads, it is good practice to play around with that extra .2-.3 seconds of cast time that still allows you to pull off a spell despite your moving before the casting is finished

EDIT: see above italics and bold. That's what it should have said. Stupid no edit on phone....

[whiskeybravo]

Didn't read everything here but there are some good tips. I've mainly cleared this tanking, with a few runs on Whm and Drg. You can bait some of the lasers by standing along the edge. Ideally everyone should be along the edge for that phase so lasers target out instead of in, then moving to the middle safe zone for the ships. Doesn't work 100% of the time but it can help. Also make sure DPS is focusing on the same laser bit, to take them out asap (something like a clock-wise rotation, if tank is at 12 o'clock start dps at 6).

Diffractive laser is a beast, he does it right after every other debuff (Viscous Aetherplasm or w/e the hell its called) stack. He does the debuff stack right after Cereleum Vent (close range AoE burst, it's blue). It's super hard to pay attention to all that, but if you look for the Cereleum Vent and see it, make sure the tank has good health cuz he may be eating the Diffractive laser next. It's really up to the tanks to keep track of when it's coming so they know when to use CD, but it's gonna do some heavy damage either way due to 3 or so attacks in a row (CV>VA>DL).

Other than that, it's important for DPS to stay alive the whole match. If any DPS is down for an extended period you aren't going complete before he casts Ultima. An over-geared group can compensate for that, but for the most part any DPS going down is gonna ruin the fight.

[Judge_Xero]

Biggest thing is probably to designate a party healer and a tank healer. Often both healers will be using AOEs to top the party up while the tanks drop off.
Also for the Bit phases if I happen to be OT at that time I've used AOE threat to grab the focus of the majority of the bits which helped the healers a lot. I'm not sure if you have to be the first to generate hate on them or if you just need to be the highest. But when you do just run East away from the party and dodge lasers.

[ZoroRoro]

I main WHM for this fight and this is the most difficult it part of the fight to heal through. Your PLD tank needs to save hallowed ground for when the second airships come down. (Holmgang for WAR?) If I am pugging a group I will ask the MT to save their biggest cooldowns for this phase.....

I do this fight as WAR and SCH (MNK less so), and from both perspectives (and perhaps because I'm no pro at either), it is definitely startling how quickly a tanks health may drop after a vent-diffractive laser sequence; one of these always seems to occurs just when you breath a sigh of relief having dealt with that crash and tank purge. Tanks definitely need to help out the healer here with their good CD usage.

Perhaps more appropriate for the tank forum, but from a WAR perspective its probably more situational what CD you use and may depend on gear. In addition keeping SP up, definitely want to IB before the crash and then use another CD. I've found can get away with just doing Thrill of Battle+Convalescence as well if you're close to being topped off and you're in a good position. If my health is closer to 2/3 with ToB up (so ~6667/10000 ish for me) I toss in vengeance if I have it, or (bleh) foresight. Otherwise better to stagger these CD though if you are in a good position in terms of HP.

I only consider using Holmgang up front if I don't think I'll survive the crash. Holmgang carries alot of disadvantages, the shorter duration, the root, and the fact that your health may be at '1,' (I've seen alot of healers unfamiliar with this ability just give up thinking that I died... good reason for a sound effect macro I guess). The 1st few times I tried it out, I either did it too soon or I rooted myself with about 6 or so lasers pointed at me and I'm still locked even though the invulnerabilty is over. I now like to save Holmgang in case I hover at 1/3 health after the crash for extended periods of time - its tough to stay this low and stay alive with the various attacks and diffractive laser coming up.