Rage over Sophia

[HyoMinPark]

You shouldn't have to pop 2 cooldowns to survive the tankbuster. It really helps if you have a SCH or Noct AST to throw a shield up on you before, and if you have someone Virus the tankbuster as well. For the adds, you don't even need to tank the Second Demiurge. Just let the DPS burn him down because he does minimal damage. One tank grab the Third, and the other grab the First.

People in RF/DF make the fight harder than it really is. Usually by messing up the sin and punishment mechanic (I always have people trying to stack with my partner instead of theirs, or people overlapping the circles), or messing up the part where you need to bait the Quasar meteors before she does the Thunder II Execute. Once you do the fight enough, it becomes very predictable. Don't give up on it just yet.

I'm not a "hardcore" player. Up until recently, I had only cleared Ravana Ex. SophEx was the second HW Ex primal for me to clear, and I cleared it on my DRK with an ilvl of 232. I have not been in NidEx, cleared BisEx and ThorEx literally last week, and I have seen SephEx to 2%. So I'm not hardcore. Just keep at it! Bring friends into a clear party, and use Discord or Teamspeak to have them call out mechanics to you.

[ForteNightshade]

You shouldn't have to pop 2 cooldowns to survive the tankbuster. It really helps if you have a SCH or Noct AST to throw a shield up on you before

Side note how did I know I would find you in here xD, Main Note a lot of the advice people are giving you is indeed accurate. You really shouldn't need to pop two Cooldowns for one tank buster. Its more like the first tank Buster gonna drop, Shadow Wall, and if it's your turn again and Shadow Wall isn't up? Shadow skin should be enough especially if the SCH/AST Shields you. It really does make a difference in the fight when the tank can get that shield or not.

[Crysten]

OP, there's already a thread for people to rage at how bad the PF/RF/DF is.

People consider Sophia to be easy just because of how damn forgiving it is. A guy can go into that fight blind, follow the crowd and dodge 90% of all mechanics successfully. People can fall off and get raised. Tank busters are a complete non-issue as the offtank should already be tanking it if you die anyway.

Any other extreme primal - a screwup usually results in a wipe.

After tanking her nigh 100 times, the only realistic ways a tank could die to tank busters is:

a) Non-use of cooldowns (a simple rotation of Rampart/Sheltron and Sentinel/Sheltron on PLD, Vengence and Raw Intution/Thrill of Battle on WAR is more than enough).
b) Your off tank isn't provoking it quickly enough, or you're not tank swapping correctly (as in you Rage of Haloned or something during the swap and kept hate after the voke)
c) Your healers didn't top you off after Cintamani. Virus, Stoneskin et. al is nice, but not required.
d) You kept screwing up mechanics and have vulnerability stacks. More than 2 can screw you up.
e) I see this a lot with DPS but you raise at a stupid moment (ie: just before tilts or a Cintamani) and die again nigh immediately, meaning you're dead during the next tank swap.

If Sophia is enough to make the OP cry out of frustration, they shouldn't be doing extremes.

[KarstenS]

It took me about 3 1/2 hours to learn the fight.

?.?

In earlier days, average groups practised around a week for the first kill. 3 1/2 hours is nothing for an ex primal.

[Mugiawara]

It's the easiest of the Primals in HW because there's no team jump rope mechs.
One person can screw it and we can all still be in the game and CAN recover.
As a matter of fact, I'm doing this on solo RF
and getting more clears than not. It's tough at first but it's a lot easier.

Don't do Thordan if you're scared of Sophia...all I'ma say.

And still no one is giving her useful information....amazing.
Doesn't matter if it's easy

That's not helping the person

Yes there is, it's up to her to read it or watch a video, or hell, Job change if she can't do it as a tank.
We can only do so much to help her when you really need to play it yourself to get it.
Here's two people here trying to help.

Just some quick things:

1. Don't need 2 CDs for 1 TB, just 1 (Shadowskin or Shadow Wall). Try and plan your Living Dead for a TB when your other CDs aren't up. DRK is unfortunately not the best for Sophia EX busters since they're physical and iirc her autos are magical (so no Reprisal). However this doesn't mean you need to stack CDs, 20% and 30% reduction are both more than enough to survive especially if you've got Grit on.

2. Sophia EX is easy for an EX primal, however it is a big jump in difficulty from dungeon bosses or the primal's own HM version. EX primals and raid bosses are all about memorizing the rotation of the boss (usually split into phases, sometimes not). There's only 2 true random things in Sophia EX, as an example, and that's whether she'll do T2 or T3 at certain points and the tilt (which side/short or long) - however these are easy to react to if you know how they work.

3. Plunge is pretty good for the knockbacks/tilts(?). Try and make sure it's up when those happen.

Bonus thing:

?. If you're willing to run Sophia 10 times then I'd recommend just going PLD as it makes the fight braindead. Tempered Will works on the tilts and the head knockback, you can also Cover someone to have them avoid it as well. Sheltron works on the TB so you can actually pair it with CDs for more mitigation at 0 cost. Divine Veil is strong for the AOEs and the ultimate ability for 2x WHM groups (or a lot of vuln up stacks/weakness). Hallowed is better than LD since you don't need to strain your healers or force them to save a Bene.

Glows Green:

-If you are the Main Tank, use a cooldown
-If you are the Off Tank, Provoke her

When Quasar Tethers go out:

-If there are Odd tethers, it is a Mild tilt. Run to the side that does NOT have a blue orb, and stand past the square design on the floor, between the lip and the design.
-If there are Even Tethers, it is a Severe tilt. Run to the side that does NOT have a blue orb, and stand on the VERY EDGE of the platform.

For both of the above, be mindful if Sophia is charging across the platform. Don't be on that half of the platform.

When she casts Thunder 3/2:

-Thunder 3 is a Donut AoE with a safe spot in melee range of her.
-Thunder 2 is a Cone AoE with a safe spot anywhere but in front of her.

Following Thunder 3/2, she will cast Aero, which hits in a circle around her. Do NOT get hit.

During these mechanics, she will tether demiurges. Watch which Demiurges are tethered for Thunder. Whichever ones those are, wait until the Sophia Head spawns on the platform, then move to the Demiurge that will not get hit by that head to avoid the head charge and the Thunder/Aero recasts.

If black/white marks go out:

-Have pre-determined DPS stand on pre-determined tank/healer. Pair each DPS with either a Tank or a Healer and Mark Them Accordingly

If there is one demiurge targeted by Thunder 2, she will cast Quasar. Everybody run to the corner that does not have the thunder 2 demiurge, drop quasars, then run behind the Thunder 2 Demiurge.

______________________________

That is the fight. It is an easy but well-designed fight that is not overly punishing for mistakes.

[Kotemon]

...

You are supposed to tank swap during the green aura. It hits hard and sticks you with a brief debuff that'll kill you with her auto attacks. It's the same concept as swapping out with OT for that goblin when he applies concussion on MT. Once the debuff drops, take her back from OT, and don't get caught in Thunder II, that debuff makes things harder. Keep her close to the middle to make dodging easier and keeps her from knocking you off. The footnote for scales is to run away from the side with the blue meteor. Then its learning light and hard impacts so you don't fall off or stop in front of the heads path. Either way the hardest thing is not having half the group turn into zombies just as the paladin dies. That's all the frustration from every attempt I've done. To many people turning into zombies.

[Colt47]

I think end game is a mess at the moment with EX fights, but it's got nothing to do with difficulty as much as presentation and rewards, which is ultimately the problem with Alex Savage as well. There are plenty of people who are just plane scared of the time commitment they have to make to do primal content because getting to Scripture cap (or whatever the new tome is at the current point in time), is equally important, if not more so, for progression.

Basically, FFXIV is an MMO that has literally created a crisis of effort vs reward across several vectors that many people can not meet, that actively prevents them from doing other content that is likely more fun or enjoyable than the content that gives the best returns. Wonderous tails is a perfect storm example of how not to handle this!

Also, may the gods have mercy on our souls when they get around to putting unique story content back into EX / Savage again. Because people want that can of worms opened again just after we got away from it with heavensward. I swear this is like watching a seesaw of pain.

[Pondera]

Sooo....yeah. I just got finished my 16th group of this, and you know what? This is stupid. I've wasted so much time doing this, and really, what's the point if I'm not having fun? This isn't enjoyable, and I really don't care if people think it's easy as compared to whatever. If that was even 1% true, a clear would have been possible with even ONE group. And for what, really? A 7% chance of actually getting the weapon I want? "But you can buy it in 9 more clears!" oh...oh wow, just....no... I mean....NOOOOOOOOOO...

This will be my final update to this thread. I give up. I'm throwing in the towel. Sophia wins, and I guess Square Enix wins. I'm completely and totally done. This is a massive waste of time. I've seen Sophia at 8% multiple times, but she just raises both middle fingers and kills us all. Because that's what ALL difficult fights need. A time limit. Nah, I think I'm going to do...well, literally ANYTHING else.

To Hell with this.

[HyoMinPark]

To Hell with this.

You can do what you want. By all means, don't do anything that you don't find enjoyable. But did you take any of the advice people gave you about asking friends, linkshells, or your FC? It really helps to do it with people that you know, and people that have multiple clears under their belt and are willing to give you the time and patience you need for a clear. Did you try doing it with people using a voice chat--be it Discord, Teamspeak, PS4 Party chat, Skype, whatever? That also helps to call out things like "Tankbuster incoming! Provoke/Pop a cooldown!" or "Safe spot is A! Run to A!" or "Hard tilt/Soft tilt!"

Like I said, don't continue to do things that you don't find enjoyable. I've just never been one to give up on things myself, and I don't like seeing others give up either when I know that people can clear this fight with time, practice, and patience.

[Cidel]

Well, that's unfortunate. Sorry to hear it...