Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Guide - AAC Light-heavyweight M4 (Normal) Guide (2024)

The sudden appearance of the thought-to-be-disappeared Wicked Thunder, this wild stallion has been looking for a way to cure her disease. Unfortunately for you, she has found it, and it comes at the cost of your own soul. Take down the Ixion infused beauty before she can end your life in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail's final floor of their light-heavyweight division.

Opening

Wrath of Zeus: A down and dirty raidwide that needs to be shielded and healed through.

Sidewise Spark: Wicked Thunder will hold out her hand to one side and light it up with a purple lightning effect. This indicates which side of the arena she is cleaving.

Shadows’ Sabbath: Thunder will summon a clone of herself on one side of the arena. That clone will be casting Sidewise Spark on half the arena. Simply move to the safe side (be it north, east, south or west) to avoid.

Wicked Jolt: A single-hit tankbuster that actually doesn’t hit too badly. Still, mitigate it if you’re a tank.

Gun Mode

OK, this doesn’t exactly have a specific cast, but it’s an important mechanic that needs to be talked about. Thunder will jump to the northern side of the arena and spawn a giant gun. She will then aim it either slightly west or slightly east. Depending on this, she will start blasting three-quarters of the arena. After five hits, she will do a devastating final attack that will completely destroy the platforms, killing anyone still standing on them. Now only a small vertical quarter of the arena is accessible.

Threefold Blast: Thunder will teleport to the middle of the four tiles and begin to cast this attack. An indicator will appear on the front and back of the gun she’s holding. Mesmerize these three patterns as it tells you where she’s attacking. If the indicator is in front, you will need to stay in the back. If the indicator is in the back, you’ll need to get to the front. These blasts come out pretty quick, so position yourself on the line between the two tiles for minimal movement.

Fourfold Blast: As the name suggests, this time there will be four blasts instead of three. The difference now is that there will be a slight jebait in the pattern. You will notice that somewhere in the indicators, it will either do back, back, or front, front, meaning that at that point in your movement, you’ll need to stay put. After this is resolved, a few party members will get puddles under their feet. This is a leading killer as people forget that these appear.

Wicked Bolt: The arena will repair itself, and this multi-hit party stack will appear on one player. Be sure not to move out too early as it will hit five times, and unlike a lot of multi-hit stacks, it doesn’t have a loud sound effect to indicate when it’s done.

Bewitching Flight (Winged Mode)

Wicked Thunder grows wings and flies to the edge of the arena. Instead of blasting three-fourths of the arena, she will instead use her laser wings to cut through the tiles vertically. Be cautious of lasers on the outside as they will cut vertically from north to south. All you need to do is move in-between them. At this point, Thunder will get off the wall, but the scorch marks from the lasers will start to light up. Watch which glow first as they will do a large vertical explosion for about one and a half tiles. This will happen five times, all while players will get personal puddles below their feet to keep them moving.

Sidewise Spark: While the final scorched mark is exploding, Thunder will begin to cast a cleave that will hit half the arena. It can be paired with a nasty combination depending on where the final explosion is, but if that’s the case, just be close to the middle and then move onto the safe side because the Sidewise Spark happens a couple of seconds after everything finishes.

Shadows’ Sabbath (part 2): This is the same as the first at the beginning of the fight, but she will do it four times in succession. You will need to continue to move (unless you get a blessed pattern) to avoid the half-room cleaves, and be sure to watch out for the boss as she’s doing her own cleave right at the end.

Fivefold Blast (Gun Mode part 2): Just like fourfold, there will be one part of the cast that will require you to stay on one side for two turns. Outside of that, instead of puddles below your feet, everyone gets their own personal AOE that needs to be spread and not overlap as they do give you a lightning vulnerability that will kill you instantly.

Bewitching Flight + Shadows’ Sabbath

Wicked Thunder will summon a clone of her and put it on the east side of the arena. Take note of it. She will then teleport to the northern edge and cast Bewitching Flight. This is the same as the first time she did it, but now her clone is doing it, making fewer safe areas. Be sure to line yourself up in-between both the boss and the clone’s lasers. After this, the scorch marks will once again glow, but this time explode in a cross pattern.

Witch Hunt: While the explosions are finishing from the last mechanic, Wicked Thunder will head to the middle of the arena and cast a new ability. This will start to spawn AOE circles from either the edge of the arena, circling in, or starting in the middle and circling out. If it’s moving inward, you are able to dodge it fairly easily by moving into the first AOE after it goes off. If it starts from the middle, then it’s much harder to dodge, as you have to start at the last place it’s going to hit. Generally, if it’s the latter pattern, it’s best to just take a single hit because you’re more likely to get hit multiple times trying to dodge it.

Soaring Soulpress: Wicked Thunder has decided to jump on a single person instead of using her multi-hit Wicked Bolt. Gather together to share the weight of the impact.

Wicked Hypercannon (Gun Mode part 3)

At this point, you should be close to completion. Wicked Thunder will jump to the northern wall and summon her gun once more to destroy three-quarters of the arena. Head to the safe side, but instead of hopping to the middle, she will shift to the northern part of the four tiles and begin a new cast. This is a soft enrage as she’ll repeat this attack until you die or she does. She will just do a constant blast of energy in a line AOE that lasts ten seconds. After ten seconds, four random individuals will get puddles below their feet that need to be avoided. This is what catches some players if they’re too spread out.

And that’s it. Wicked Hypercannon is Wicked Thunder’s final attack that just repeats over and over again. This is one heck of a fight with a phenomenal musical track that will no doubt be remembered for a long time.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail

The fifth expansion to the award winning MMORPG, Dawntrail takes the franchise into a whole new direction, hopefully kicking off another ten-year long adventure.