After completing the main story of Endwalker, we finally have access to all the endgame content of Final Fantasy XIV: among all the fights in which we can participate, we see in this guide how to beat Hydaelyn in his high-end trial
Yes, after so many years of expansion, the story of Final Fantasy XIV ended with the last. Thanks in fact to endwalker (of which you can find our review here) has ended a narrative arc that began in 2013 and that has fascinated a large number of players over time. After having finished the whole adventure, we will finally be able to access the contents of the endgame: among all the fights available, useful for obtaining the higher level gear, there is also the extreme version of Hydaelyn.
Who is used to fight by endgame will know that, by itself, i trial extreme e i raid savage are not exactly difficult, but they need to be learned to be able to complete them, due to mechanics that must be understood to avoid running into certain death. Thanks to this guide we will see step by step how to beat Hydaelyn in Final Fantasy XIV, in the trial The Minstrel’s Ballad: Hydaelyn’s Call, in the hope of being able to offer you a complete guide to help you face this complicated trial. No more chatter, let's start immediately in the next paragraph with the first phase.
Phase 1: the start of the trial
In this first phase you will see most of the standard attacks by Hydaelyn that will be repeated also in the other phases of the trial. You won't find anything difficult, but there are some mechanics that will need to be learned in order to get through this and the next steps. Let's start with Hero’s Radiance, an AOE ("area of effect", or area attacks) raid-wide (ie that will cause damage to all parts), and then continue with Shining Blade, a powerful attack for which the party will momentarily regroup to share the damage, and for which it will be necessary to use the right skills to mitigate the damage.
Later when you see Hydaelyn launch crystallize, will present one of the first mechanics peculiar to the boss. Crystallize indeed presents three different modes, distinguishable with the elements water, earth and ice (when he launches the attack, just look at the effects around the boss and hear the sound to recognize the element). With Crystallize water version it will be necessary to form two separate groups who will have to group together to share the damage (better define the groups before the start of the fight to avoid confusion); with Crystallize ice version it will be necessary distribute themselves throughout the arena staying as far away from party members as possible to avoid hitting each other; finally, with Crystallize ground version, you will have to group all together to share the damage, as with Shining Blade. Remember: the first Crystallize will always be in the water version, while subsequent ones may vary.
As soon as Crystallize is launched, however, the attack will not immediately activate: Hydaelyn first will change their weapon, making it appear around itself green, blue, or red icons, with various effects that will occur before Crystallize. If the icons are green, get away from the boss to avoid the AOE it will launch around itself; if they are red, you will have to group yourself under the boss; if they are blue, Hydaelyn will throw a cross attachment (in the form "+", not "x"), so you will have to position yourself in the north-east, north-west, south-east or south-west points to avoid it. Remember, in any case, the order: the first attack to be activated will be that of changing the weapon, and immediately afterwards the effect of Crystallize will occur.
After the first Crystallize, they will follow in order Mago’s Radiance (another raid-wide AOE) and a random attack between Aureole e Lateral Aureole. These are two AOE attacks that take almost the entire arena: in the case of Aureole, you will have to position yourself on one of the two sides of the boss to avoid taking damage, while in the case of Lateral Aureole you will have to position yourself in front or behind. After this couple of attacks, another Crystallize sequence will start with a weapon change, and then continue with Mousa’s Scorn (a tankbuster to be shared by the two tanks) and another Aureole / Lateral Aureole. After the third and final Crystallize sequence with weapon change, you will have completed the first phase: in the next paragraph of this guide on how to beat Hydaelyn in Final Fantasy XIV, we will see the second phase, also called "Crystal phase".
Fase 2: Crystal of Light – Final Fantasy XIV: guida a come battere Hydaelyn
From the beginning of this phase, the arena will change its appearance, introducing precisely i Crystal of Light. It is 6 crystals arranged in a circle across the arena, and each of them will have their own life bar. Also, after the crystals appear, two summons will be summoned east and west of the arena Echoes of Hydaelyn. In addition to all this, one will also appear gauge (i.e. a bar for those who don't thoroughly chew English terminology) called Conviction that will fill up as time passes. The objective of the party is intuitive: they will have to destroy all the Crystal of Light before it fills up to 100% Conviction, certain death penalty. How to destroy them, however, we have to understand how to do it.
At the start, of these 6 crystals, 3 will light up (the 3 to the north or the 3 to the south): As long as those 3 glowing crystals are not destroyed, Conviction will fill up very quickly. The party will then have to give precedence to those crystals, hurrying to cause large amounts of damage in a short time in this phase DPS check. The Echoes of Hydaelyn provide the crystals with one shield which drastically decreases their damage taken: while the majority of the party will be busy destroying the crystals, the two tanks will have to take an add each and attract them to the opposite side than where the party is.
The whole will then result in a circular trend (whether clockwise or counterclockwise, you decide), in which Tanks and Adds must always be on the opposite side of the arena from the rest of the party, so as to allow them to destroy the crystals. Tanks must therefore be careful to use their own correctly defensive skills, so as to avoid dying against the add. As for the healers: if on the one hand their contribution to destroying the crystals is of vital importance, it can also be useful to keep an eye on the status of the tanks a minimum, giving them a hand with spell curative should they get into trouble.
Phase 3: First Lightwave - Final Fantasy XIV: guide on how to beat Hydaelyn
Once the threat of crystals has been foiled, the arena will return to its original appearance. At this point you will meet one short transition phase, characterized by Halo, a raid-wide AOE attack very similar to those seen previously. After this stage, Hydaelyn will launch lightwave, kicking off the new phase. You will find others again crystals scattered around the arena: in particular, in this first wave, you will find some 3 to the north and 1 to the south. You will also see, outside the arena, 2 waves of light of "shadowbringeriana" memory (forgive the unpronounceable neologism) directed towards the arena.
This step works as follows: whenever a wave touches one of the crystals, they will emit an AOE attack that will take the whole arena: to avoid it, you will have to use one of the other crystals as a shield, positioning yourself behind it. In this first wave, you will have to take a look where the two waves are: one will inevitably be in the center, while the other will be on one of the two sides: then go behind the crystal that is not touched from the waves, defending yourself first from the AOE of the central crystal, then from the other.
Next, you will need to be careful to defend yourself from the crystal to the south, which will be touched by the central wave. Before that, however, there will be a change of position: Hydaelyn in fact will soon launch Infralateral Arc, a series of three attacks whose damage must be shared by role: they will have to be formed then 3 groups, one with i DPS, one with the healer and one with i tank, and each will have to position themselves behind a crystal to protect themselves from the latest AOE as Hydaelyn launches their attack. Usually we act in the following way: the healers stay still in place, the DPS are positioned behind the central crystal and the tanks go to the opposite one, but it is up to you together with the raid to decide how to do it.
After this very first Lightwave, you will not have much rest: Hydaelyn will in fact start immediately to launch the same attack again, giving way to another phase similar in structure to the one we have just seen (there will always be the waves that will cause damage in contact with the crystals), but with a totally different tactic. In any case, now we are moving towards the conclusion of the first part of the guide on how to beat Hydaelyn in Final Fantasy XIV.
Conclusion of the first part
We conclude here the first part of this guide on how to beat Hydaelyn in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, hoping that the text and screenshots have succeeded together with give you a hand to understand how this first half of the bossfight works. About the screenshot: they were made by the writer of the article thanks to an integral recording of the bossfight, playing as Warrior. Understand therefore that all the tactics explained are then visualized from the point of view of the off tank. If you wish to see other articles of our coverage of Endwalker, we leave you here an article on everything you need to know before starting to play, and here instead a buying guide.
That said, we give you an appointment to the second part of the guide to complete the bossfight. If you want to stay updated on all the daily news of the videogame world and beyond, stay tuned to the {marca_origen} pages. If you prefer to buy game keys at discounted prices, you can do so via our link to Instant Gaming.
