Design A Primal Battle!

[Shurrikhan]

So, this leviathan fight would likely occur on the natural bridges across the La Noscean upper coastline (though, probably lower lower ones than we've seen thus far)? Could make for quite the scenic setting.

[JDR388]

Nope, underwater in a bubble. Players can see leviathan swimming outside, above, and below them.

[Duuude007]

Nope, underwater in a bubble. Players can see leviathan swimming outside, above, and below them.

Im not prepared to request stuff so far outside the norm that it pidgeonholes their battle design. A ship combat, however, has already been done, and can be effectively choreographed without forcing the underwater factor this early into 2.0's life.

[Shurrikhan]

Im not prepared to request stuff so far outside the norm that it pidgeonholes their battle design. A ship combat, however, has already been done, and can be effectively choreographed without forcing the underwater factor this early into 2.0's life.

No reason why underwater can't be an equally fun design though. Honestly, I hope we'll actually be getting multiple repeat-worthy fights per primal, each with diverse gameplay perspectives.

[IndigoDarkwolf]

I had an idea for a primal fight with Fenrir. I tried to draw inspiration from his summons in previous Final Fantasy games (such as Elemental Decay from FF9), his association with Warp, Banish, and Stop from FF6, and Red XIII's attacks from Final Fantasy 7, since Red XIII and Fenrir seem to share some imagery and thematic elements. I was also very much impressed by the Van Darnus fight, so I have some inspiration from there, as well. I was thinking it could be a 3-stage fight, but so far I've only brainstormed 2 stages. I don't have time to flesh out the idea further just yet, but here are my thoughts so far (if I can't edit this later, I'll post a more complete version and try to take in feedback as time allows me).

I don't envision any sort of time limit on the fight, but did imagine it would take 30-40 minutes. I don't think time limits in the elemental fights were common in 1.0, I just remember hating how I felt like I had to skip the cutscene for the Van Darnus fight even though I could go back and re-watch it later. I'm sure there would be some narrative moments interspersed in the fight, possibly wedged between phases, but I'm more concerned about describing what I hope is an interesting fight here.

Since I don't remember if 1.0 had a Berserk condition, for the purposes of this fight I'm defining "Berserk" as a status ailment that forces the party member to charge the nearest enemy and perform normal attacks against them. No command actions are allowed, and the party member can't choose how to move their character. A lot of the special attacks have some way to cause Berserk, which is intended to either magnify an error that somebody made, or to temporarily shut down party members by preventing them from using their command actions without relying too heavily on vanilla Stuns.

Fenrir

The arena for the fight is a large center with three medium-sized elevated platforms radially connected at North, South-east, and South-west.

Party starts in the center, Fenrir starts on North platform. Assuming there's some sort of cutscene to play at the start of the fight, Fenrir lets the party make the first attack before starting, so party members can watch the cutscene at their leisure.

Fenrir's normal attack set:

• Step forward and bite party member. (50%)
• Swing head/body and strike party members in forward arc. (25%)
• Leap and bite party member hard, small pushback. (15%)
• Glow purple for 2 seconds, howl to deal light AoE damage and causes "Berserk" status to hit party members for 15 seconds. (10%)

Every 30 seconds of normal fighting, Fenrir begins a special attack, starting with Set 1.

Fenrir special attack set 1:

• Teleport highest enmity party member to a random platform, reset enmity, and begin attacking nearest target.

  (Intended strategy: Backup tank will be needed and needs to be positioned to acquire enmity before melee DPS gets killed.)

• Teleport self to a random spot selected from several options that are placed between the paths that lead to the elevated platforms, reset enmity, and begin attacking nearest target.

  (Intended strategy: Ranged characters will need to watch where Fenrir lands and possibly flee towards tank until tank can reacquire enmity.)

• Howl to AoE stun nearby party members for 3 seconds, do a 2 second wind up with a charging animation (it's the tell for the attack), then damage an AoE line of party members between the start position and random location. Think of Red XIII's Sled Fang limit break. Reset enmity and begin attacking nearest target.

  (Intended strategy: Ranged characters will need to watch Fenrir's tell and move out of the way to avoid hit, melee characters can't evade hit at all, adding pressure to WHM/BRD to heal.)

At 75% HP, Fenrir switches to special attack set 2:

• Teleport self to a random elevated platform, howl to stun the entire party for 3 seconds. Maintain howl stance, summon 6 ghostly wolf heads around the platform. Wolf heads immediately assume 100% enmity (or "high enough to seriously challenge a good tank's ability to draw enmity away") against the nearest 6 party members: Sort party members by distance from Fenrir, wolf head 1 hates the nearest member, wolf head 2 hates the next nearest, etc). Ghostly wolf heads float slowly towards their targets.
  • Entering melee range with a wolf head triggers AoE damage and causes "Berserk" status to hit party members for 15 seconds.
  • If a wolf head survives for 45 seconds, it explodes for weak AoE damage and causes "Berserk" status to hit party members for 15 seconds.
  • If all wolf heads survive and catch the entire party in their AoE blasts, clothy party members might die in the series of explosions.
  • After all wolf heads have exploded or been destroyed, Fenrir returns to attack set 1 for 60 seconds.

  (Intended strategy: Wolf heads need to be kited by victims and killed at range within a time allotment)

• Teleport self to center of the arena, howl to teleport each party member to random spot on the 3 elevated platforms, and show a red zone or outline around Fenrir, large enough to prevent melee attacks without preventing ranged attacks. Fenrir begins summoning ghostly wolf heads at time intervals. The wolf heads take 30 seconds to travel to a random elevated platform center, where they explode for heavy damage against an AoE range that hits a party members across a little more than 1/3 of the field, the 1/3 of the field with the elevated platform that was struck. The wolf heads can be engaged freely and should be killable before reaching the platform centers, but should be summoned at a rate just greater than the party members could keep up with. Attempting to enter the demarked area around Fenrir causes the party member to be teleported to random elevated platform. After Fenrir takes enough ranged damage, he returns to attack set 1 for 60 seconds.

  (Intended strategy: Fenrir needs to be "knocked out" of his summon stance by ranged attacks within 60-90 seconds.)
  (And see, I totally ripped off the Van Darnus fight here, except I tried to reverse the roles between ranged and melee.)

At 25% HP, Fenrir would kick it into high gear with a third attack set that should truly challenge the party with a variety of status effects, possibly including Confuse because it's always fun to not only lose your tank but to watch them attack the party members they're supposed to be protecting. Possibly upgrade Fenrir's Sled Fang analogy to a Blood Fang analogy by causing it to absorb party HP instead of just damaging it, prolonging the fight. Possibly throw in a light AoE line-based hit against the furthest party member, just to force ranged attackers off-balance, force them to move around, and discourage grouping up around "safe spots" which people will inevitably discover. Definitely continue to reset enmity on a periodic basis so the tank(s) can't slack off and the DPS has to continue paying attention to how much enmity they're acquiring.

[Catapult]

Ok, now I'm tempted to design a fight against Azeyma and Menphina, goddesses of the sun and moon.

[yoshikwalla]

I'll go.

Jeff


The battlefield is the entire world. He shoots hot dog stands out of his eyes.

[JDR388]

Ok sorry for the delay everyone. This took a lot longer than I originally anticipated. but now i present without any further ado my take on leviathan.

Leviathan

Arena



This fight takes place in a non-continuous underwater arena, inside of a bubble. The battleground is divided into two sides with two land bridges connecting between them. Upon each side there is a cave where adds will spawn from. Upon the center bridge is an object called the Aquatic Candescence (I wonder how he got that name?). Players will need to keep this healed and protected in order to succeed. On hard mode the walls of the bubble will contract and expand depending on the health value of the Aquatic Candescence. See the below image as an illustration of this.




Mechanics

Rather than have a clear phase 1 and phase 2 division, Leviathan alternates between rotating parts of the fight until he is defeated. For the purposes of this document I will be referring to these parts as phases 1 & 2, however please try to recall that phase one loops back into phase 2 until the fight is ended.

Phase 1: Come my subjects, defend your master!

Phase 1 follows a fairly clear and predictable pattern, the trick here is learning to deal with each mechanic as it comes up while leaving enough time to dodge abilities, kill adds, and keep the hit points of theAaquatic Candescence in a safe range. Throughout phase one players can see leviathan swimming above, below, in front of, and behind them. During phase one he cannot be targeted or attacked.

[Healer Alert] Aquatic Candescence

The Aquatic Candescence (AC) is located at the center of the bubble. It's presence keeps the water surrounding the party at bay and allows the group to stay alive without drowning. The AC has an hp bar and will take damage (much of it unavoidable) as the fight goes on and needs to be healed fequently throughout the battle. If the AC ever looses all of its hp the waters will come in and all players will be affected with the "Drowning" debuff. On hard mode the bubble keeping the waters at bay will shrink based on the amount of damage the AC has taken, reducing the area that players have to move around. The Aquatic Candecence will not be the target of area of effect cures and heals that do not target it specifically.

[Deadly] Drowning

If a player ever finds him or herself outside of the bubble they will be afflicted with the drowning debuff, decreasing their movement speed to 25% of normal and inflicting 335 damage every second.


Leviathan

[Deadly] Tidal Wave

Throughout phase one Leviathan will periodically cast tidal wave, dealing 1500 water based damage to all players and hitting the AC for 30% of its HP pool. The damage from Tidal Wave is reduced by half (750) if the player is facing the blast when it hits. After a "Tidal Wave" Leviathan will enter phase 2.



Hydro Jet
Leviathan sticks his head through the bubble wall and fires a steady stream of water that spreads outward in an arc. Players hit by this stream take 570 pts of damage and are stunned for three seconds. There are sveral, large safe spots where players can go to avoid this. This attack will deal 20% hp damage to the AC. For every single "Tidal Wave" there will be 2 - 3 "Hydro Jets" to avoid.





Aqua Bolt

Leviathan will occasionally fire 1-2 "Aqua Bolts" at random targets while swimming outside of the battleground. Aqua Bolts travel slowly, taking anywhere between 5-7 seconds to reach thier target and deal 330 unavoidable damage to players when hit. Players Hit by an Aqua Bolt will leave an Umbral Puddle directly below them at the spot where they were hit.

Umbral Puddle

When hit by an "Aqua Bolt" an Umbral puddle will form beneath the player, creating a 5 -yalm radius blue puddle that deals 220 damage per 3 seconds for any player standing inside and reduces the movement speed of anything entering its radius (including enemies) by 50%. Puddles dissipate after 40 seconds.

Sahagin Protectors

Throughout the fight a number of Sahagin protectors will come to aid Leviathan, hoping to extinguish the AC. These protectors spawn from one of the four caves surrounding the arena. There will always be four sets of protectors for every "Tidal Wave". Protectors appear in packs with a set of five myrmidons and one special protector. On hard mode ten myrmidons and two special protectors will appear from two separate caves.




Sahagin Myrmidons

Five Myrmidons will appear and run stright toward the AC. Thier aghro tables cannot be influenced however they can be slowed, stunned, or bound. If left unchecked they will deal continuous damage to the AC.


Sahagin Knight

Tidal Stance

The Sahagin Knight raises his shield making him invulnerable to all damage from the front. A critical hit or damage strike over 1400 will break this stance.

Umbral Smite
A quick cleave attack that deals 380 damage to everyone directly in front of the knight. Can only be used during tidal stance.

Umbral Fortification
Empowers all sahagin forces with "Umbral Fortification", Increasing their defense and magic defense by 75%


Sahagin Templar

Whirlpool Cleave

The Sahagin Templar swings his sword in an arc, hitting everything in front of him for 455 and drawing all players on the battlefield toward the Sahagin Templar.

Umbral Frenzy

The Sahagin templar enters a frenzy for 30 seconds, increasing all damage dealt by 15% and the attack speed of all other sahagins in the battlefield by 20%. This effect may stack up to 5 times. The Templar will use this ability every 15 seconds. A critical hit or an attack above 1400 damage will interrupt this ability as it is being cast.


Sahagin Priest

The sahagin priest has no physical attack and focuses its efforts entirely on its allies.

Umbral Ecstasy
Causes all Sahagins on the battlefield to become immune to area of effect spells and abilities

Perfect Barrier
Magic surrounds the Priest, preventing her from being damaged by any spells or abilities directly.

Lifebind
The "Sahagin Preist" binds its life-force to all sahagin forces active in the battlefield, granting them a small regeneration bonus . Whenever a sahagin myrmidon affected by this bonus is slain the priest takes 30% hp damage. Whenever another sahagin special with this bonus is slain the priest takes 50% hp damage.


Sahagin Caller

The sahagin caller has no physical attack focuses its efforts entirely on summoning. The sahagin caller is weak to magic attacks.

Call Water Spirits

Calls three water spirits to continuously attack the AC and aid the myrmidons. A nearby water spirit dowses the effects of all magic on nearby targets. Water spirits are highly susceptible to physical damage and will also disappear when the Caller dies.

[Deadly] Umbral Bloodspite

The sahagin caller siphons the life-force from each sahagin myrmidon in the room. If all myrmidons affected by this ability are not slain within 45 seconds of its activation they will explode, dealing ~400 damage to all nearby players and 20% damage to the AC.



Phase 2: I will deal with you insolent wretches myself!

Leviathan will enter this phase of the fight every time he unleashes a tidal wave. In phase two leviathan will enter the bubble, become targetable and may take damage.

Leviathan

Crest

Leviathan breaks through the waters below or above to attack players himself. This can happen in one of five locations detailed on the associated map. While Leviathan is cresting he will attack whomever is in melee range with typical melee abilities.



Drowning Doom

For every five seconds that there is no target in melee range of leviathan he will channel "Drowning Doom", dealing 225 damage to all players and 10% damage to the AC.

Bite

Leviathan attempts to bite a random player in melee range dealing ~625 damage.

Grasp

After performing a bite leviathan will coil its body around and grasp any random player below 50% hp. A grasped player will take 5% of his or her HP in damage every three seconds. Any critical hit or attack over 1600 will break the effects of grasp. Leviathan will not use any other attacks while performing grasp.

Growing Torrents

Leviathan inflicts all players with the "Growing Torrents" debuff. This is a timed debuff that, upon its completion, causes the subject to explode in a torrent of water, dealing 750 damage to oneself and 1250 damage to all other players within ten yalms. The timer on this debuff is different for all players by a factor of 5 seconds the shortest duration for Growing Torrent is 25 seconds while the longest is 65 seconds.

Growing Torrent also has the secondary effect of increasing the damage and attack speed of all players within 5 yalms by 3% (stacking additively). Leviathan will use "Growing Torrents" at least once for every time phase two is entered.

Strategy

Like Ramuh this seems like quite a lot to take in but keep in mind not everything happens at once. This encounter, however, is much less scripted than Ramuh was so instead of detailing complete step by step walkthrough I will outline specific mechanics of the fight and how to deal with them. This is very much a healing intensive fight so the optimal group makeup for both normal and hard modes will always include two healers, one to take the party, and one to handle the "Aquatic Candescence. Proper use of MP conservation and avoiding damage wherever possible will be a huge boon for taking down this fight.

The first thing that happens whenever this fight begins will always include one to two "Aqua Bolts" spiraling toward a few random players and the arrival of the first pack of adds. The adds present this battles most unique challenge. There are four different special adds that appear alongside five myrmidon type adds that only attack the Aquatic Candescence (AC). Each add provides a buff to all other adds on the arena and the type of buff the provide will dictate how you deal with them.

Knight

The Knight increases the defense of all myrmidons so you will want to kill him immediately. The Knight himself can make himself immune to all damage from the front so stacking all DD classes behind him will help speed things along. MNKs and BLMs should save "Blindside" and/or "Excruciate" to force a critical hit whenever he raises his shield so as to ensure that group DPS is not hindered. Once the knight is dead send anyone with an aoe to help take down the myrmidons as they can take down the AC fairly quickly.


Templar

The templar needs to be killed as soon as possible. His frenzy ability increases the attack speed of the myrmidons by 20% every time he uses it, stacking up to a full 100%. This ability can be interrupted by a critical hit or high damage but players attempting to do this will have to be quick on their feet. On normal mode the templar will usually die before the fourth frenzy in a decent group. On hard mode circumstances will necessitate either one or two interrupts or a full burn on the myrmidons as there are twice as many.


Priest

The priest is an oddball because it cannot be directly damaged. However dealing with it is fairly simple. Since the priest prevents all area of effect damage from hurting the myrmidons, and since it takes damage whenever a myrmidon (or other special) is slain then simply just organize your group to single target the myrmidons as quickly as possible. The priest is much more dangerous on hard mode where you will be dealing with two special sahagins instead of one.


Caller

The caller has the potential to be extremely dangerous and if paired on hard mode with the knight can be a bit of a nightmare. The caller does two things. It calls three water spirits which also immediately attack the AC and reduce the amount of damage all myrmidons take from magic based spells and abilities. It will also begin channeling "Umbral Bloodspite" which if left for the entire duration, causes the myrmidons to explode, dealing a large amount of damage to the AC. If any more than four myrmidons explode on a full health AC then the battle will end in a wipe. "Umbral Bloodspite" ends, however, when the either the caller or the myrmidons die. The caller also takes extra damage from magical attacks, making it much easier to kill than the others. "Bloodspite" can be extremely deadly to an inexperienced group but once the rhythm is learned it's not so bad.


Myrmidons

The myrmidons themselves are not too much trouble, they are small and do not have that much hp (however they do take some concentration to kill efficiently. The trick here really isn't to kill them as soon as they spawn but rather to use Leviathan's Aqua Bolt, or more specifically its resulting "Umbral Puddles" against them. See the below image for details.



In this manner you can usually rest assured that one or two myrmidons will die before reaching the AC.

The rest of phase one lies in avoiding hydro jets and tidal waves. On normal mode a the safe spot for "Hydro Jet" will always be on the side of the room that the special spawned on, making it easy for the tank and melee DDs to get there.


Tidal wave is also fairly easy to deal with, all you need to do is know that its coming, face the proper direction, and you will take an easily healable amount of damage. It is a fairly large attention check however so new players will need to be taught how to avoid it.

Phase 2

Phase two may seem much less complex but one mechanic makes for quite a lot of planning, on the spot thinking, and preparation. Once again healing is a big thing as unwanted "Grasps" should be avoided at all costs ("Grasp" may only be used on players below 50% hp)

For the duration of phase two most of the group will be stacked around leviathan wherever he crests up. This will be for two reasons, so melee can actually attack him, and so the beneficial effects of "Rising Torrents" are not wasted. Because Rising Torrents increases damage dealt and attack speed by 5% per instance of the buff players will want to make sure they are stacked up to create an area of up to + 40% damage and attack speed.

The downside to this is that after 25 seconds and every five seconds thereafter a single player will lose the "Rising Torrents" buff in a rather explosive manner, dealing a significant amount of damage to all players in a large radius. Players that have less than five seconds left on this buff will want to run outside of the group until they detonate and then run back in. This cycle should be repeated for every player until the buff has been wiped clean. See the image below for details.



Once phase two runs its course it is back to phase one again. The cycle continues like this on and on again until either the party wipes or Leviathan is killed. Usually a successful kill will take three cycles.