How to WHM/SCH in T12

[Hippo]

Hi everyone, it's Miru again.

Fresh off the conquest of the three-headed dog of T11, I ventured into T12 yesterday. Boy, if T11 is tough, T12 is toughx3. Revelation hits so hard and black fire timing is so tricky.

Can anyone share their tips and clear experience?

[DreamWeaver]

Phase 1 (Should be 2 revelations tops)
1st Revelation, after Bennu spawn, count 2 GCDs, and stoneskin the tank for Revelation.
2nd Revelation, after Bennu spawn, if you just finished cast a spell, 1 GCD then stoneskin, if you were already casting a spell when Bennu spawns, straight Stoneskin (Use Surecast here, if the OT is slow in grabbing Bennu, you may get hit once, and from my experience, its a 100% interrupt, so Surecast before Stoneskin).

Phase 2 (revelations are way more predictable)
Revelations happens after every ODD Redfire (#1, #3, #5 and so on).
Phoenix will cast Redfire -> 1 Auto attack -> Revelation
Start your Stoneskin cast around 75% of Redfire's cast, this will ensure the Auto attack will not break your stoneskin, and you have enough time for another cure (if you need it) during the revelation cast time.


Brand of Purgatory/Flames of Unforgiveness Mechanic.
Most likely healers will be handling this, a nifty trick I've been using as a WHM to heal Brand + Flame damage is as below:
1) Bump into my healer partner to trigger the swap.
2) immediately cast a heal spell on original brand victim
3) Utilize the "There's still 0.3 sec left to cast finish, but I can start moving already due to server latency" secret technique to move out before the brand explodes again.

Personally for me, if I were to move in, brand explode, move out THEN only cast a heal spell, more often than not, it'll be too slow and the Flames damage will have already registered.

Good luck in t12!!

[Tranquil]

Gonna be long, kind of bored... Here we go.

Phase 1 (100-80%):

Be expected to mostly soloheal this is as a WHM if DPS is being pushed as it should be. The SCH should know the timings for the Revelations though and then pre-Adloquium it up for them. (Also potentially pre-Adloquiuming the OT to help the Bennu pickup heals). Everyone should know the spawn timings for Bennus to make it easier to prepare stuff, but basically: Bennus spawn exactly once every 60 seconds, so when you see the first Bennu spawn, you can mindmap the time on your encounter timer. (Eg. if one spawns at 84:48, you'll know that the next one spawns at 83:48 and so forth, mindmapping that :48).

The SCH might also be expected to solo Blackfires while they are at the DPSing anyway, so decent enough maintenance healing will be enough, barring the spikes. The SCH can solo blackfires by Baneing them (no shit!), a SMN Bane won't be necessary. You should try to maximize your DPS on Phoenix himself so getting into the habit of having your SMN Fester instead of Bane for the Blackfires (if you have a SMN that is) and having the SCH's dots solo Blackfires is good.

For the Whitefire explosions, you can Regen the people who got hit or then just leave it to the fairy, or do a Medica II. Latter depends on how vigilant your tanks are with the Bennu pickups, though it should not cause problems anyway.

Phase 2 (80-53%)

Mostly the same shit from a healer PoV, except it is very likely you will need to handle Brands/Arms + Flames of Unforgiveness and their swaps. Just assign a person who always moves for the swap when the Flames' castbar starts, because if you both move, it's possible you'll miss the swap. (The debuff is kind of...slow at times). In our group it is the SCH who moves, ie. me. Remember that the person who initially had the debuff will always get hit with the 2nd hit in succession as well, so remember to cast a heal on that person after the swap has been done. In our group it is always the WHM landing a heal on the person, regardless of who had the debuff. So basically, the SCH moves, the explosion goes out, the WHM heals the initial target before the Flames hit them, done. Do remember to cast a Stoneskin + Adloquium on the current Brand/Arm target each time after a swap, so the mitigation is up before the swap needs to take place. If this is half-assed, the initial target might die or will need 2 heals instead of one, before the Flames hit them.

Apart from this, try to have decent non-SCH Virus rotations on the Bennus, whilst having the SCH Virus all Revelations that they can. As DreamWeaver said, Revelations will come after every odd Redfire. If your SCH is pushing DPS here, memorizing the bennu spawn times as written above in the phase 1 -section is good because that way they can refresh their dots (even some minor clipping) pre-Bennu spawn for a sweet Bane. I am pushing 300+ DPS in p1+p2 and that is with me pre-Adloquiuming for Flame swaps, pre-Adloquiuming the OT pre-Bennu pickup and also Adloquiuming for Revelations. The healing in p1+p2 is not hard if you take care of the Flame-swap mitigation and heals as well as the occasional spike heals in general.

Also, I use Selene for p1+p2 and then swap into Eos as we transition to the adds. Do not refresh Fey Light after around the 58%~ mark of the boss HP, as you will want to have Fey Illumination up on Eos when you get to the adds.

Phase 3 (adds)

You will need to have a solid positioning/movement strategy here in general for the group and that on top of the controlled but high DPS might require more timing from your group than the actual healing finetuning. Regardless, try to be smart with your heals here. Tanks should also try to have their best cooldowns used during the first half of this phase, with cost-efficient ones like Rampart used early so that they are up again after the halfway point of the phase. The damage of this phase late into the phase gets kind of low apart from the AOE heals, as there will be lesser Bennus alive and most of the damage coming from the AOE itself. The tank healing feels the heaviest at around 3-8 stacks.

1-3 stacks: Have the SCH pop Fey Illumination + Rouse + Whispering Dawn from the start of the phase and then just tank heal accordingly. This combo will take care of the required AOE-heals for the first few stacks so that the WHM does not need to Medica at all. The reason Fey Illumination is stacked in here is because by using it at the start you are able to use it twice in this whole phase without wasting it.

4-8 stacks: The tanks should be on their game with the cooldowns here. There is a lot of Bennu damage incoming, because there's tons of Bennus alive and because there will be a big Bennu out as well, with the AOE damage also getting to be moderate already. The WHM should be able to manage this part of the fight with Medica II and potentially using a Medica here and there if the ticks feel a bit too slow and the WHM will estimate that the next Flames of Rebirth will hit that much higher. The SCH should Whispering Dawn on cooldown and fully focus on the tank healing. The WHM should be able to tank heal at this point as well, with some Regens and Cures for MP-efficiency.

9-10 stacks: The SCH should start Succoring pre-impact of Flames of Rebirth at around here, also popping Fey Covenant at around this point. Potential Mantras being used as well. If you have many Mantra-users, ramp up the Mantras so that the 5% Mantras are popped for minor help during the lower stack counts so that a MNK Mantra would be used here. If you don't have a MNK, use whatever Mantras you can at this point. The SCH can also Sacred Soil at this point if they are confident that they will have the stacks and availability to re-use it when needed at 12/13 stacks again. A WHM will start to have the need to pop Cure IIIs at this point to top people off sufficiently before a new Flames of Rebirth. At this point the tank healing is getting lenient with the focus on the non-tanks staying alive getting bigger.

10-11 stacks: Have the SCH pop Fey Illumination here and pre-Succor while everyone is topped off. This is sufficient especially if any pre-existing Mantra was up for these Succors. If someone has B4B on, either do a personal Stoneskin/Adloquium on them or then tell them to depop it before the Flames go out.

12-13 stacks: Everyone needs to be fully topped off and with a pre-Succor up. The SCH must use Sacred Soil for these stacks or risk a wipe. Soil lasts for 15 seconds and the cast interval of Flames is 12 seconds, so the Soil needs to placed a bit before the impact of the 12th stack so that it also persists through the explosion of the 13th stack. Do remember that Soil has an activation delay of around 3 seconds (and it also has the effect on the party for about that long after, even when it has disappeared), so don't put it up too late.

14th stack: Tank LB1 it up, or it's mostlikely a wipe unless you have many VIT-accessory guys in your group, with some lucky Succor crits up and whatnot. If you get a 14th stack and can't kill off the last Bennu in time, just Tank LB and you will survive this.

General add phase notes: try to have Viruses up on the big Bennus, taking turns in Virusing. Also, remember to utilize Eye for an Eyes. Try to minimize overhealing and MP-usage while doing the required amount of healing. If you pushed 4 Bennus, you won't need a Ballad at the end of the add phase. If you had 5 Bennus, it is likely you will need it. (Still possible without, though). As a WHM, be careful about your hate on some of the Bennus and call out for a Provoke/PLD Cover if you seem to be taking hate from one of them at like 9+ stacks into the heal spamming.

Phase 4 (52-0%)

The execution in here depends on who you leave on the Brand+Flames duty as well as how you're handling the Fountains of Fire. In our case we have 4 people do the fountains which is sufficient. (Healer #1, Healer #2, Bard, Caster #1). Tanks are doing the Brand/Flame swaps while also tank swapping while they hug eachother for the Flame-swap. Apart from that, the biggest deciding factor of this phase are the Phoenix-egis and not double dipping people with tethers, as well as not missing avoidable dodges.

Basically, prioritize healing on the person who is in a Fountain of Fire at the time over the tanks for the most part: Adloquium up as they enter, a Regen ticking, with huge heals at the ready if you also see that fountain-person being tethered into a bird that will go through them while they are in the fountain, no matter what.

Dodge the Phoenix-egis, be spread out enough and lure tethers into safe spots so that no one gets double dipped, heal up the people in the fountains, AOE-heal after a fountain has taken care of (as Phoenix will cast Flames of Rebirth then), buffer through Revelations, manage the plume phase, repeat, and done.

Here's the rough flow of our p4:

P3 ends -> the initial Brand target is selected -> said person hugs the OT and transfers Brand to the tanks -> Fountain of Fire spawns -> #1 goes into the fountain and stays till 2 stacks -> Revelation happens during this (Virus!) -> #2 goes into the fountain up to 2 stacks -> Flames of Unforgiveness happens during this (tanks pass the debuff and tank-swap with Provoke at this point) -> #3 goes into the fountain and stays till 2 stacks -> #4 goes in and does the same -> fountain disappears after 8 stacks have been soaked -> Flames of Rebirth -> repeat from Fountain of Fire spawning (and Revelation coming immediately thereafter, this can not be Virused due to antibody).

After the 2nd rotation, the plume phase will begin. Just keep spread out, dodge the non-tethered Phoenix-egis, heal through the tethered ones and repeat the p4 as before, with it starting from a Fountain of Fire spawning that then soon follows into a Revelation. You can Virus 3 out of 6 Revelations in this phase, ie. the first one and then the first one into a new rotation after both plume phases.

So basically: p4 loops twice (ie. 2 fountains are soaked) -> plume phase -> p4 loops twice -> plume phase -> Phoenix dies (or enrages) on the next repeat. The only difference is that the initial start-up of the phase will have the random Brand target selected with that being cast, but after the initial one, the phase will loop starting from a fountain spawn.

The last phase is all about coordination and spike healing. Be cautious of your surroundings, don't stack so that the Phoenix-egis will charge from awkward positions into clumps of players. Be vigilant with the fountain heals. Buffer through Revelations. Don't panic.

You will have a win soon enough!