Ultima Hard Mode

Ultima Hard Mode

To unlock this fight, you first must beat the main story up to the point it ended at version 2.0. Upon doing so a quest will become available in Mor Dhona, inside the tavern. Speak to Alys to get the quest, and then to the Wandering Minstrel who, after speaking with, will let you queue up for the battle in the Duty Finder.

When entering the fight, you will notice that it is the same arena as the one from the story. Ultima will stand alone at the far side, and your group will have a fairly large area in which to battle him. The battle is broken up into two phases, with his attacks changing as he progresses through each phase. Ultima has a few attacks that will be used throughout the fight, no matter the phase. The main one is Viscous Aetherial Plasm. It will strike the tank, dealing damage but more importantly it applies a debuff to the target. Should the debuff reach 5 stacks, that person will instantly die. For this reason, tanks should alternate hate back and forth every 3-4 stacks to ensure they do not die. Tank Purge is another attack that will not change as he lowers in health. It is a large AoE that radiates out from his body, dealing anywhere between 1500-2500 damage. It can not be stopped, and simply must be tanked through.

Phase 1 - Primals

Starting out, your tank will grab hate and tank Ultima just like any other single target fight. Keep in mind the info stated above about the Viscous Aetherial Plasm, which will require the tanks to swap hate on Ultima every few minutes to ensure they do not die. It is also important, as with most fights, that the boss face away from everyone, to help avoid any forward cleave based attacks.

During Phase 1, Ultima will first rely on Garuda and Titan. There will be two attacks you will see. One is a repeat from the story based fight, where Garuda will summon a storm around the outside ring, then Titan will slam down in the center. This can't be dodged entirely however it can be mitigated quite a bit. As soon as the purple AoE indicator disappears for the tornado, move into the AoE so that the Titan slam is as far away as possible. You won't take damage from standing in the tornado, and this will put you out of the way of Titan. This will cause it to do as low as 300 damage, possibly even 0 with stoneskin up. The second attack is a large cone that will be fired from Garuda, Mistral Shriek. It is the same as the one in her own fight, and is very easy to dodge. Ultima will use a knockback, in an effort to knock your character into the attack, but often times it just helps push you away.

Remember, the Ultima fight is a DPS check. If you are moving to slowly, you not only put yourself at risk due to the increased amount of AoE's, but your group will also risk failing the DPS check, causing Ultima to skip his final attack and instead cast the spell Ultima, wiping the party.
At 80%, Garuda will all out of Ultima, and he will lose her powers. At this point he will begin to employ Ifrit in his attacks. Again, similar to the story based fight, he will use Radiant Plumes, then quickly follow it up with Weight of the Land from Titan. The pattern is always the same, either causing you to dodge in, then out, or vice versa. Just make sure to move quickly, and you can avoid the damage entirely. Getting hit by one won't kill you, but it doesn't tickle either, so do your best to avoid them. This pattern will repeat until Ultima reaches 60%.


At this point Titan will now leave, making Ifrit the only remaining Primal inside Ultima. At this point you will have to deal with two new attacks. One is a set of Eruptions. Two players will be targeted, and Eruptions will begin forming at their feet as they move. Whomever is targeted should run along the back side of the arena, ensuring no other DPS or tanks are hit. The Eruptions have a large radius, but are slow to actually detonate, making them fairly easy to dodge as long as you stay moving. The second new attack involves Radiant Plumes forming around the arena while Ifrit appears and charges. The plumes always form in the same way, first in a square pattern, then in a line. Ifrit will wait until the line pattern erupts before charging, giving players 5-7 seconds to move before they are hit. This will repeat twice before the attack is over. Getting hit with the Radiant Plumes won't kill you, but Ifrit hits rather hard so make sure you get out of his way as soon as possible. At 45-50%, Ultima will shift into Phase 2.

Phase 2 - The Boons

Upon reaching Phase 2, Ultima will cast Aetheric Boon. All players will be knocked back. A moment later, 4 orbs will spawn, with tethers attaching them in 2 pairs. They will slowly move towards each other and if they touch, they will wipe the group, so players must run through the orbs to detonate them. Only one orb out of each pair must be touched, as the other disappears when it loses it's partner. However, don't run in by yourself. The orbs detonate in a AoE, and the damage is based on the number of people in the AoE, so if one person hits it, they will instantly die. If 3 or 4 do though, they will only take about 1000 damage. For this reason, your healers and DPS should work together to run through the orbs as a group, limiting the damage and allowing for easy AoE heals after each orb.

Before beginning the fight, it is best to mark a party member as a leader for this section. When the Boons appear, everyone can follow the marked player to ensure your group moves as one and hits the same Boon at the same time. Confusion and chaos during the Boon phase can quickly lead to a wipe, as your group only has a few seconds to deal with them before they explode.

After the first Aetheric Boon, he will then give you a brief moment to catch your breath, then about 30 seconds later, Ultima summons 6 Magitek Bits in the center of the arena. All DPS should shift to them and kill as many as possible. 15 seconds after the Bits spawn, two large AoE indicators will appear. This is a sign that airships are going to crash into the arena, so quickly move to the back of the area where the circles overlap the least. Hopefully your group killed a few of the Bits, so that they aren't all blasting at you while you dodge the crashing Airships.

With the airships gone, kill the remaining bits then quickly get back on Ultima. You want to get your DPS going again quickly, as every second wasted brings your group closer to failing the DPS check and letting Ultima wipe the party with his spell, Ultima.

During Phase 2, Ultima will begin using two new attacks. One is an Orb, similar looking to Aetheric Boon. The orb will target a single party member and slowly float towards them. If it hits, it will deal heavy damage, but it is rarely fatal. The second attack is the line based AoE, the same one that he used in the story. This attack is easy to dodge, and is a great time for your group to have a small breather, getting everyone healed back up..
As you DPS him down, he will cast Aetheric Boon a second time. There will be 3 sets of orbs this time, so repeat the same process your group used before, just make sure to do it faster as you have less time. With the Boons cleared, you will have about 30 seconds before he summons the next round of Magitek Bits. This time they will spawn around the outside of the arena. Just as before, try to focus down a few of them as you only have about 10 seconds before the airships begin falling. This time there are 4 airships, and the safest spot is in the center of the arena. Safe is used liberally, as it may be safe from the airship AoE, but you still have to try and dodge the lasers being fired at you. This part can be tricky, and a little luck is involved. If you have any defensive skills, make sure to pop them, and use any personal heals you might have the moment you start taking damage, any little bit helps. Naturally, having higher level gear can greatly mitigate the damage you take here, so if you find yourself constantly dying during this attack, come back a bit later with better gear and more health.


Surviving the impact, your DPS should try to kill the Bits as quickly as possibly, then get back on Ultima. Depending on your overall damage done, you will learn pretty quickly if you passed the DPS check. About 1 minute after the airships crash to the ground in the previous attack, Ultima will either begin casting the final Aetheric Boon, which is good, or you failed the DPS check and he will use the spell Ultima and wipe the party. Let's assume he is using the third Aetheric Boon. Just as it finishes casting, a tank should use the LB3. This will give your party about 5 seconds of near invincibility. With it in effect, have everyone dash through the orbs quickly. There will be 4 sets of orbs this time and they are very close, so it is vital that the LB3 get used, else you risk dying to the massive AoE damage that your group has to run through.

With the third Aetheric Boon completed, the last 20% of Ultima will be easy. The DPS check is over, so even if you lost a few DPS during the last Boon, it is still entirely possible to win. He has no more tricks up his sleeves, and simply must be killed at a slow and steady pace to win. Tank Purge is the only large AoE to be concerned of at this point, so just ensure your healers get everyone topped up quickly after that final Aetheric Boon.