Proto-Ultima Fight

Copied from a thread from BG

Before you consider anything below - DO NOT GO IN ON LIGHTSDAY OR EARTHSDAY!!! It resists stun on Earthsday, and obviously just don't do lightsday. Anything else is fine.

Your setup looks good with 1 exception - I do not see the point in putting a WAR in the tanking Party. Put a BLM in that slot if anything. Other than this, I wouldn't change it, especially if that's the setup that puts your members in their most comfortable spots and jobs. Things look good on paper but don't quite work out so well sometimes because you can't expect everyone to play perfectly.

Also, consider /THF sub for your melees.

For tanking, well I think it's standard to take 3 for normal fights. Obviously, you can solo tank it as it's been done before, but I wouldn't recommend it. Solo tanking just shows the weaknesses of Ultima and how to exploit them. I'm sure you know most of these but I'll just recap to stress the important parts of the fight you'll want to bang into the head of your group prior.

EDIT: Tanks DO NOT ENGAGE. Any benefit you get off parries is infinitely trumped by the random hits you land on it for free TP.

1) Everything lands on Ultima so debuff it with everything at all times

The most important one is again, Elegy, Slow II and Para II also work great on this. I'd try to stack DoTs as well - Poison II, Bio II, and the 3 elemental Debuffs. Ultima has 0 regen, so you can pretty much count it as straight damage, which is really really nice for a duration fight like this. Bang it into your BRDs' heads that the #1 thing is Elegy.

2) It does double attack and has a unique attack pattern.

The issue about double attacking adds a little issue. It hits really hard, so it would be nice to keep at least 2 shadows up at all times. When we did the 7 man on this, our tank maintained 2 shadows at all times in order to account for both Double Attacks and random Holy IIs. This is a crucial part in surviving Ultima, especially as a solo tank. This sounds impossible, but with its semi-blindness, slow attack speed with debuffs on, high para proc rate, and generally piss-poor resist to stun, it isn't really as hard as it sounds.

3) Ultima has no TP regen, but does have HP timed attacks

You can use this to your advantage by playing a TP control game. Of course people have mentioned the whole Dissapation thing. My recommendation for controlling this to slowly nuke it down to 40/60/80%, then have 1 BLM time nuke the strongest nuke possible. Have the others ready stun but react to the HP going down, NOT the log (you'll miss this unless you're a stun god). I'm generally a terrible stunner that can't even stun GoH reliably, but I can stun this if I watch the HP and not the log.

4) Holy II occurs in 2 ways - be ready for both of them!

Holy II gets spammed a lot once it gets access to it because it can use it in 2 ways - sometimes back to back. It can use randomly and any player in range on the hate list. Any mage in range (namely going to be BRDs here) need to keep stoneskin and blind up to protect themselves against this. It can do nasty damage. The other method is that it will use Holy II after EVERY WS. This actually includes CB too. Sometimes you will survive the nasty TP move, but if you're not quick with shadows, the ensuing Holy II will kill you watch this. To help control this, use stun liberally.

5) TP moves to be extra careful with

Chemical Bomb is the Slow + Elegy move that requires double Erase. Designate 2 players to Erase this! Don't fumble through shit after you're in the fight, make sure you know who's taking care of this - even assign 3 people just in case since you have the numbers. Anitmatter is also very nasty, especially for your NIN, who may not have enough HP and innate MDB to survive this. Gear your NIN to protect against the 1 shot kill of this move. Some gear sets our on my LJ, but it should be kind of obvious with the merman's gear. Dissapation we already went over - just remember it CANNOT use this outside the designated HP%s.

6) If both tanks wipe DO NOT PANIC!

Ultima can be Gravitied for a good 5-6 times before you see any kind of resist (this is coming from a BLM/RDM too). You can also bind it as many times as you want without any fears of resist building. I was able to land this on BLM even. Considering you got an army of them and RDMs, you should honestly have no problem doing this. Remember, Ultima also can regen TP, so holding is quite easy outside of the occassional Holy II if you're deep enough into the fight. Honestly, you could probably do Ultima by kite just abusing Bind if you were ballsy enough.

All this info really only applies for the first 80% of the fight. Nothing here really applies for the last portion.

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General Scheme

Your tanking scheme of NIN/DRK and PLD/NIN is a good combo for this. A free stunning tank is really great for this, but PLD becomes so much stronger than NIN in the last 20%. It's also a generally strong tanking combination that a lot of the really upper-end LSs use commonly.

As far as general scheme, I would keep the melees back and just use them for the last 20%. The DRK is still useful during this with Absorb TP. I think the resist rates are rather high for this, but it's still helpful. 4 BLMs is a ton of firepower on this - especially in a 60 minute fight. I suggest you stick with the 4 BLM DDs for the first 80%. As everyone has said, it's the last 20% that matters anyway. Just a reminder - coordinate the nuking for the Dissapation times and keep the BLMs at max nuking range to avoid Holy II. Someone needs to layer elemental DoTs.

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Last 20% - CB Phase

Make sure all melees have a full 300TP and an Icarus Wing at this point - use Sleeping Pots. I cannot stress how dangerous this phase is so you want to make sure you have every possible preparation. Ultima has no regen so you don't have to worry about lowering its HP to 21% and sitting on it, then it regening. Slowly nuke its HP down with 1 or maybe 2 BLMs when you get close and stop at 20-21%. Take it slowly! The gank will require that you do 10,000HP.

When you want to begin, I suggest having your melee come in from the flank for better spacing. Make sure the PLD has his JAs ready - Sentinel, Fealty, Rampart. BRD needs to switch to Melee PT for soulvoice melee songs.

When you're ready, have all 4 BLMs time nuke a Freeze II - when this hits, it'll alone do about 2,000HP, or 1/5th of what you need. Have the other stunners like RDM/DRK and DRK stand off to the side to stun Dissapation. Once the Dissapation is stunned (or even if it gets through), your gank officially begins and it'll be around 17% or better. From here, I'll go over all the individual duties for jobs to make things more clear on what I propose you do.

PLD: Pop Sentinel but SAVE Invincible. You need to have hate when CB starts. If you truly cannot get hate when CB countdown starts, THEN pop Invincible. If you don't need it, don't use it. Once you are sure you have hate after the countdown starts, use Rampart! This will pretty much ensure your survival of CB assuming you have reasonble MDB gear as well and full HP. After CB hits, use Utsu:Ni ASAP! It will Holy II after.

NIN: Stop using hate moves to make it easier for the PLD to get hate. The reasoning behind this is to make it more clear and decisive who has hate in this phase. Once it is clear you do not have hate, run back and stand about 25' from the PLD. You need to be out of CB range (20' from target the PLD), but the closest person to Ultima other than the target.

BLM: Free nuke your strongest nukes. There is really no need to 2hr here in my opinion since you should have started with full MP. If you see Mana Screen, call it out and obviously stop nuking to save MP if you can. I'd expect the BLMs to at least get off that initial volley then another 1 each for 4,000 damage before any shields go up (it won't have TP yet).

Melees: This will seem a bit unorthodox, but do not rush your melees in! Keep them at the flank and just outside Ultima's range 20'. Engage Ultima but do not rush in!!! Let the BLMs DD at this point. Watch the TP moves carefully for Particle Screen (Phy Immune). If you see this move go up, then just stay back - might as well wait for after CB hits. If it does not, wait for CB countdown, then run in and WS once and get the fuck out! You have plenty of time if you come in pre-engaged really. The reasoning here is you want to avoid Armor Buster, which is a crippling move due to Gravity - you won't get out in time if you get hit by this. By only rushing with 1 WS after CB phase starts, you avoid any retaliation. While waitng for CB to hit, pop your Icarus Wing.

Considering your setup, you have a DRK and 2 WARs - that can make for a really nasty 1 shot WS combo with Mighty Strikes or Souleater 300TP WS. Being just extremely conservative, that's at least 2000 damage. Your WARs may want to sub /THF for SA Steel Cyclone. Other subs may not be that useful. BLU, I'm honestly not sure what works best. SA Cannonball?

So CB#1 goes off and the PLD will survive this due to Rampart. Make sure the NIN is the closest person to Ultima outside of the PLD because after CB, it draws in the next closest player to pound on. Make sure this is the NIN/DRK. Being just super conservative, I'll say you had bad luck with shields and you're at about 5,000HP to go now. Honestly, if you're lucky you could probably kill it just at this point. 5,000HP is horribly conservative. At worst, 1 of the shields is still on (last 1 min).

Hate is going to be screwy at this point. Lots of draw ins, people taking shots. If Mana Screen is not up, pop CS Stun here. Just use 1 of you take 2 RDM/DRKs. You always want a backup.

BLMs: Pop manafont and nuke like crazy. Every volley is at least a good 500 damage in Manafont since you're using the strong nukes. Don't worry about being drawn in! If you do get drawn, don't run away! Just stand and nuke with 2hr active, you won't be interrupted beyond the initial draw in. Considering the fact that we were able to wipe the floor with Ultima 7 manned with 4 BLMs when it did not use Mana Screen, the only thing that really prevents you from owning this is Mana Screen.

Melee: Stay back and do not melee or blow your final WS. You should be backup in case Mana Screen goes up. If Particle Screen is not up when CB Countdown #2 goes off, then blow that final WS. Again, the key is to avoid eating Armor Buster, which really sucks.

PLD: Cure Bomb

NIN: Tank if Ultima is actually looking at you. If you, you can probably pop an Icarus Wing, put on some Katanas, and wait for CB phase #2 to go off like the other melees. Souleater Jin is pretty good. If you see Utlima really really close to death, Mijin is a very good DD move.

EDIT: For the RDM that is chain-stunning - if you see Mana Screen just stop Stunning and Cure. Mana Screen causes full resist to debuffs like Stun as well.

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If all else fails! - DoT Hold/Kill

Designate the RDMs to use Bio II if you are in the process of wiping. It takes a bit of time to kill 12+ people so you should be able to get like Bio II and Poison II off. During the gank, Dia II probably favorable, so Bio II will overwrite that (unless you're using Dia III). Either way, get some type of DoT on it and make it fresh during wipe. You better be close at this point because it can get really nasty. Remember though - Gravity and Bind.

Just make sure everyone is well versed on what COULD happen during the final 20%. It could be the easiest thing ever if Ultima chooses not to use Mana Screen. Come prepared - Sleeping Pots, Opo Opo Necklace, Icarus Wing, Reraise Items. A good tip is to use the actual reraise item, not the equip, since it's instant - could be useful if shit hits the fan.

I guess final thing is to realize 1 idiot can destroy the group in this in the last 20%. Make sure everyone knows what's going on, at least with his own duties. 2 tanks is fine as long as the debuffs are on and you play a TP limitation game. If you go in there without the proper debuffs and come in guns a'blazing, no amount of tanks can save you from it. This fight is truly one of the great tests of endgame strategy in my opinion. Lots of things involved, but still lots of ways to go about winning.