The Labyrinth of the Ancients is the first of three raids in the Crystal Tower Alliance Raid series. It’s also the first 24 player duty that most people will encounter in the game, and one of the more common ones to appear in your daily Alliance Raid Roulette.
For newer players keen to pull their weight, many guides they read or watch will have a ton of information rendered irrelevant due to experienced players safely ignoring specific fight tactics or skipping past boss phases with their high DPS.
My goal with this series of guides is to give you the information most relevant to how the content is played currently, and tips to help you still contribute meaningfully to the raid’s success. For each section, a couple of notes will tell you everything you need to know about playing the encounter as your chosen role. Below these I’ll put any other notes on the fight.
Alliance Raid Basics
– You’ll see two new elements in your HUD: these are the party lists for the other two parties in the raid. It displays the players’ jobs and health states, as well as a red box outlining the person currently holding aggro.
– You can target players by clicking on them in the Alliance Lists. Very useful for raising another group’s Healers or for healing the Main Tank if they’re in a different party.
– You can raise and single-target heal players in other parties, but some of your skills specifically only work on your own party members. For example, you cannot Shirk a Tank from another party, nor can you heal non-party members with an AoE heal like Medica, Succor, or Helios.
– Above your own party list it will tell you which party you are in (A, B, or C). Sometimes the parties will need to split up and waymarks are used to show where each party goes. If no waymarks are placed, usually A goes left, B goes middle, and C goes right.
Dungeon Mobs – Clear the Pools of Oblivion
– Stand on raised platforms to avoid the pools of poison.
– The Valefor mobs have front and back conal attacks.
Tank
– All Tanks should try to grab aggro of something and bring it to the group for AoE damage.
– Keep Valefor and Greater Demon mobs facing away from the party due to their untelegraphed frontal attacks.
– You can interrupt the Dira’s Void Fire II or Dark Mist AoEs with Interject.
Healer
– Keep a close eye on all party members health. Between the poison, untelegraphed cleaves, and potentially uneven tank aggro, damage distribution can be unexpected.
– The Valefor mobs have an untelegraphed conal breath attack that inflicts Disease, reducing movement speed and incoming healing. Dispel this with Esuna.
DPS
– Avoid standing in front of Valefor mobs to avoid their Disease debuff. To the side is safest.
– Help interrupt Dira casts with Head Graze or stun mobs with Leg Sweep.
Boss Fight – Bone Dragon
– Stand on a raised platform and focus down the Bone Dragon. Then kill Platinal skeletons and repeat.
Tank
– Main Tank pulls the boss far north while staying on a raised platform. Pick him back up when he resurrects.
– Evil Eye can be interrupted with Interject.
– Offtanks can grab the Rotting Eye mobs in the centre platform after the dragon’s second resurrection to prevent them aggroing onto a Healer.
Healer
– The Tank may be pretty far north so stay in range while avoiding the poison.
– Kill Platinal skeleton mobs after the dragon is down.
– When Platinals run to the dragon’s corpse, high damage goes out that ignores shields. Be ready with AoE heals.
DPS
– There’s not a lot of room to maneuver on the raised platform, but avoid cleaves on the tank.
– The boss can be stunned with Leg Sweep and his Evil Eye can be interrupted with Head Graze.
– Kill Platinal skeleton mobs after the dragon is down.
– Be ready to use Second Wind when Platinal mobs run to the dragon’s corpse and explode.
Dungeon Mobs – Clear the Walk of Lament
– Divide the alliances into A, B, C groups. Don’t start early; You need enough players in each lane.
– Four players must stand on the colored platform by the entrance so that another Alliance can damage their Atomos.
Tank
– Move forward to the Atomos. When adds spawn pull them towards the back platform so Healers and Ranged DPS can hit them.
Healer
– Stay on the back platform until it stops glowing.
– Hit the adds when they come into range.
DPS
– You need two DPS to stay on the back platform with the Healers until it stops glowing. Hit the adds when they come into range. Ranged and Casters are best for this.
– The other DPS should move forward and focus on the Atomos, with Melee DPS getting priority.
I’ve seen many groups start this fight early which is extremely annoying since it can add extra time at the end of the fight with one lane having barely enough players in it and the rest of the alliance just waiting for them to finish. If you don’t make it in before the 15 second countdown, you’re automatically placed in the leftmost lane (where Alliance A usually goes).
Boss Fight – Thanatos
– Alliance A starts with the ‘Astral Realignment’ debuff which lasts 60 seconds and lets them damage Thanatos.
– Every 30 seconds the next Alliance will get the tethers and debuffs and should start attacking Thanatos
– If you don’t have the debuff yet (or if it expired), kill the Sandman and Nemesis mobs.
Tank
– If your Alliance gets the debuff second, provoke Thanatos when it’s time to switch.
– Interrupt the boss’s Crepuscule Blade attack with Interject to avoid getting knocked back.
Healer
– The green pots can be healed if they get low, but this is skippable since enemies die quickly.
DPS
– The Nemesis mobs move fast. Melee DPS may need to stun them first with Leg Sweep, or go for the Sandman mobs in the middle.
– You can help interrupt the boss’s Crepuscule Blade attack with Head Graze or stun it with Leg Sweep.
This is another section where you should not pull early since it actually costs more time, not less. The astral realignment debuff only applies to nearby players at the start of the fight, so if Alliance A is not there yet, those party members are missing out on a full minute of damaging the boss.
Dungeon Mobs – Clear the Walk of Fire
– Divide the alliances up into A, B, C groups.
Tank
– Grab your assigned Vassago and keep it there away from the other groups. Pick up Allagan Balloons and ignore Napalms.
Healer
– Watch for AoE damage from Vassago or from Napalms if they reach the centre Allagan Bomb.
DPS
– Focus your assigned Vassago, breaking off to kill the Balloons and Napalms that spawn next to it.
– You can stun the Balloons with Leg Sweep.
All tanks need to be ready here since you need to keep the Vassago separate from each other. The napalms ignore enmity so tanks can leave them for the DPS to kill. They explode once they reach the centre. Healers can handle this but if there are too many left to explode it might get a bit hairy.
Boss Fight – King Behemoth
– With a green marker, place the comet outside of Behemoth’s hitbox, near the centre of the arena.
– During the Ecliptic Meteor cast, break line of sight with Behemoth by hiding behind a boulder.
Tank
– Main Tank faces Behemoth away from the group due to untelegraphed cleave attacks.
– Offtanks pick up the Iron Giant add and keep it facing the edge of the arena (remember to keep a boulder between yourself and the boss).
Healer
– The floor is electrified so watch the party’s bleed damage during the fight.
DPS
– Kill the Puroboros and Iron Giant adds
The Iron Giant adds have a cleave that damages player and boulders, so point them away from both. Remember that if a comet lands inside Behemoth’s hitbox, it will not protect you from Ecliptic Meteor.
Boss Fight – Phlegethon
– Divide the alliances up into A, B, C groups.
– Watch Phlegethon’s health closely. Around 50% and 25% he begins his Ancient Flare casts, so save sprint for this and run back to your group’s platform. You need at least four players on each platform to raise the barrier.
Tank
– After each Ancient Flare the boss attacks the Main Tank with a heavy line AoE so quickly get in position facing him away from the raid to avoid cleaving others.
Healer
– Stay near the edge of the arena to bait the Iron Claws and to get back to your platform quickly.
– Consider rescuing slow party members to get them out of the arena during the Ancient Flare cast.
DPS
– Focus down the Iron Claws that spawn behind you which grab the closest player to them.
– If needed, use skills like Elusive Jump, Shukuchi, or Aetherial Manipulation to help quickly retreat to your group’s platform during Ancient Flare.
If I had to guess, I’d say 20-30% of the time I see this fight we wipe to an Ancient Flare cast. Either because too many people are new or because not enough people are paying attention. That said, it’s possible for a good group to deal high enough DPS that you kill him before he finishes his second cast.
Pro tip: make sure to leave the instance quickly after Phlegethon’s down so you don’t get stuck with 8 pieces of old loot clogging your inventory.
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