Final Fantasy XIV continues to drop updates and content for the fans of Final Fantasy XIV. In this new update in 6.2, we get to have a bit of some story going here, as well as some exciting (and difficult) boss fights. In this guide, we will be focusing on how to fight Barbariccia, the Empress of the Winds. While she is powerful in the normal trial, the extreme trial will put you and your party to the test, as she does not hold back whatsoever. Follow this guide and we will show you how to beat the Storm’s Crown Extreme trial.
Storm’s Crown Extreme Guide – FFXIV
One of the many mechanics you will see when fighting Barbariccia is Savage Barbery. The boss will face a random direction, and then an arrow will point to where she will throw her sword. There are two possibilities of what will happen, but the tell is hard to see.
The first one is when the sword is facing down. When you see the arrows point somewhere, move to the opposite of it and into the hitbox. Barbariccia will do a donut attack that will damage anyone outside of her hitbox.
The second one is the same thing as the first, but this time if the sword is facing upwards, then you go out of the hitbox.
Once she performs Savage Barbery, she will then do Hair Raid. There will be two ways she can perform Hair Raid. The first one is when she is hunched over and facing the direction of her sword. She will dash to her sword and perform a cleave, which does AoE damage. Once she runs to the sword, make sure you follow suit and stay on her sides when she performs the cleave.
The second Hair Raid attack is when she floats into the air and holds her hand up, like she’s making the sword come back to her. If she does this, do not move outside her hitbox, as she will perform another donut AoE attack that does damage to anyone outside her hitbox.
Barbarricia will soon do another mechanic, which is called Teasing Tangles. Four hair cones will pop out of the ground in all four directions and will randomly pull two party members to each cone. It will be randomized, so you can’t expect to be pulled in with a specific class. When in the cones, you will move super slowly and if you do get out of the cone, you will receive fatal damage that can potentially down you, so it is best to stay in the cones.
When in the cones, four players will receive large spread AoE’s, two players are going to get an enumeration two person markers, and the other two players will receive nothing. As you can see, you will be quite in a pickle because of the large AoE’s, which means that the closer they are to each other, the more catastrophic it will be for everyone.
To counter this, all players with the large AoE’s must run to the edge of the A and C areas, and all players with the enumeration markers must run to the B and D areas.
However, the boss will then perform Secret Breeze, which has a cone area of effect damage. The four players with large AoE’s on them must move closer to C and A in order to avoid the damage.
Once the Secret Breeze attacks goes off, so will the large AoE’s and the two enumeration AoE’s. Afterwards, spread out. You will be attacked by another attack that will damage each player, so make sure not to be near another player to avoid more damage.
Curling Iron is the boss’ transition to its second phase, and this attack hurts a lot. If you are all at low health, the healers need to work quick to get everyone to full health. Because the boss will jump up into the air and slam down on the ground, dealing a lot of damage that you cannot avoid. It also turns the edge of the arena into poisonous hazards, so watch out for those.
After the boss arrives back down, you will need to separate from each other and go back into a clock position. All tanks and healers will then have these tethers on them, which is bad news.
The boss will randomly dash towards a player and hit them with a line AoE attack. After attacking the first player, they will immediately dash towards the next until all tethered players either get hit or have dodged successfully.
Have both tanks move north after the dash attacks are done. Both tanks will be inflicted with a double tankbuster. There will also be a spiral AoE attack, so be sure to dodge that too. After the attack is done, spread out once again, but both tanks need to stick together.
A bunch of clones of the boss will appear on the edges of the arena and will perform an AoE attack. The only safe place is the center, but you need to wait until the red void in the center disappears before moving in for safety.
While grouped together, you will notice that you are all afflicted with something. This is a puddle AoE that will surely deal a ton of damage if all of you are grouped together. Don’t spread out just yet. Wait until the red void comes back before you all spread out far from each other to minimize the AoE puddle.
There will be another AoE attack, as well as four players that will be afflicted with a stack. Each player must go clockwise and partner up with a player who does not have the stack. Together, they must move quickly to avoid the AoE attacks.
After a while, the boss will do an area wide attack that will damage all players. The party must group together so the healers can heal everyone while the attack happens. There is no way to escape this, so the healers must be efficient.
Afterwards, the boss will tether to players again and perform dashes. However, it will be accompanied by AoE puddles. To deal with this, you need to move clockwise just as the puddles appear. Keep doing it until all four puddle attacks are done.
The next mechanic will be the Teasing Tangles again. This time, there is a pattern. Each player will be grouped with a DPS player.
To counter this, have all tanks and healers move to the left side of the cone while the DPS move to the right. You will be attacked by AoE attacks, but the only thing you can do here is dodge.
Eventually, you will once again be hit with the two person stack enumerations. Since you are all separated from each other, each player must find the nearest stacked player close to them (like the image above).
The next set of attacks is called Entanglement. Each player will have symbols above their head. Those with the same symbols must run to the other player with a matching symbol.
Just like the Teasing Tangles, you will be inflicted with an AoE around you that forces you to move slow. You and your partner must maneuver to your positions shown above afterwards.
The boss will perform Secret Breeze again. Use the last method to dodge this attack again. After that, the boss will do Savage Barbery again, which you can dodge using the same method as long as you know which position the sword is in. This will be followed by another Hair Raid. This segment reuses old attacks, which you should know how to counter.
Phase 4 is essentially the same with Phase 2, but with minor changes.
Once you get past Phase 4, you will be entering the boss’ enrage stage. This means the boss will be able to one hit kill all of you if you do not kill the boss first. If you do, then you have successfully completed the boss fight.
Huge thanks to Hector Hectorson for this amazingly informative strat to do the trial. If you want to learn more, you can watch his YouTube video that goes in depth of how to do the trial and many more: Storm’s Crown Extreme Guide
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