Final Fantasy XIV never ceases to surprise. When Endwalker began its main story quest, some expected that Zodiark would be at the end of the line. Instead, you finished off Zodiark relatively early in the main scenario. And now you face your patron, Hydaelyn, as she tests whether you have the strength to finish this battle.
Hydaelyn is a three-phase trial. In one of her phases, the goddess has multiple forms she can take and each form has its own attacks. The second phase is purely a damage rush, where you’re working against Hydaelyn as she charges up for a major attack. Finally, the third phase is an enhanced version of the first. You’ll fight in a circular arena, but no worries of falling off here.
Be warned that trial guides contain spoilers. If you prefer to preserve the surprise of trials for yourself, give them a try first before referring to a guide. Then, come back here for some help if you have trouble!
Phase One – Hydaelyn Dawn
Like many first phases, this phase is here to give you a foundation. You’re learning about the Dawn’s Mantle mechanic, and how that factors into Hydaelyn’s attacks.
- Dawn Mantle: This is Hydaelyn’s form shift. She’ll move to the center of the arena and begin casting. At the end of the cast time, she’ll change to one of three forms determined by the symbols that float around her. She’ll also cast an attack dependent on that form.
- Mousa’s Mantle: The Dancer form, denoted by floating Red icons. Hydaelyn will attack with a large AoE that hits the entire platform, with the exception of the area immediately underneath her.
- Mousa’s Scorn: This looks like a stack marker colored red, but it’s a bit different. It’s actually a tankbuster that needs to be shared by both tanks. Also, avoid being next to the rest of the party, as they will share the damage.
- Magos’s Mantle: The Black Mage form, denoted by floating Green icons. Hydaelyn will attack with a sizable circle AoE underneath her called Highest Holy.
- Magos’s Radiance: Her second party-wide AoE, one that does less damage than Hero’s Radiance. Heal through it.
- Heros’s Mantle: The Paladin form, denoted by floating Blue icons. The boss will attack with a cross-shaped arena-wide AoE called Equinox. Move to the diagonals to avoid damage.
- Heros’s Radiance: A party-wide AoE that’ll drop most down to half health. Heal through this. Hydarlyn will cast this at the beginning as a wake-up call, without using Dawn Mantle.
- Heros’s Sundering: A cone-shaped AoE tankbuster on the primary enmity leader. Tanks, use your cooldowns, but remember to move away from the rest of the party.
Phase Two – Crystals of Light
At around 75% health, Hydaelyn will call out for Crystals of Light, casting a barrier around herself and summoning six crystals. A cast bar will appear for Conviction. You’ve seen something like this before. You have to burn down all of the crystals before Conviction reaches 100, or you’ll die. While you try to do this, the boss will cast a few different attacks.
- Hydaelyn’s Ray: This is a huge square AoE covering the entire arena. There will be a bright orange line bisecting the AoE and pulsing outward. You want to stand as far away from this as possible to minimize the damage.
- Crystalline Stone III: Standard stack marker. Stack up the whole party to minimize damage.
- Crystalline Blizzard III: Circle AoEs appear over every party member. You can’t avoid these; separate to avoid doubling up on damage.
- Exodus: This is the final cast. If you destroyed all the crystals, it’ll do a lot of damage, but you can heal up afterward. If you didn’t, this is a party wipe.
Phase Three – Empowered
Following phase two, Hydaelyn will cast Crystallize. This basically powers up Hydaelyn and each of her mantles will have additional attacks. She will also start using Crystalline Stone and Crystalline Blizzard at random during this phase, giving you more to dodge.
- Parhelion: This is the new attack for the Red Mousa form. During the cast, Hydaelyn will mark three different groups of five line AoEs. At the end of the cast, these will go off in the order they appeared. Each group of AoEs will leave chakrams at the edge of the arena. This is a setup for…
- Subparhelion: At the end of this cast, the chakrams will shoot across the arena, starting from their current position and passing directly through the boss. This happens in the order the chakrams were placed. This will cover the entire arena. To avoid damage, wait next to the first group chakrams, and once they’ve passed, move into the safe space left by their passing.
- Parhelic Circle: This is the new attack for the Green Magos form. During the cast, Hydaelyn will trace green lines across the arena. At the end of the cast, orbs with circle AoEs will appear at the end of each of these lines. Stay away from the end of the lines, and you’ll be safe.
- Radiant Halo: The first of the three new attacks for the Blue Heros form. Yet another party-wide AoE, but this one hits a little harder. Heal through.
- Lightwave: The second of the three new attacks for the Blue Heros form. This summons four waves outside of the arena that each have a rough square AoE pattern underneath. These waves will move through the center of the arena. Two of them move slightly faster than their counterparts. Avoid them.
- Echoes: This third attack is a maximum stack marker. Stack up the party and be prepared to share multiple subsequent attacks.
This phase will continue until the end. Dodge and damage to find your way through the end.
There’s still more to your story though. It might be time to make sure you’re the best tank or healer that you can be. Or check out where you need to go to get the rest of the aether currents on Mare Lamentorum. The Linkshell, our upcoming FFXIV vertical, is full of helpful articles and guides for all your FFXIV needs!
If you’re looking for other dungeon or trial guides, you’ll find the links to those below:
- FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: Tower of Zot
- FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: Tower of Babil
- FFXIV Endwalker Trial Guide: The Dark Inside
- FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: Vanaspati
- FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: Ktisis Hyperborea
- FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: The Aitiascope
- FFXIV Endwalker Dungeon Guide: The Dead Ends
- FFXIV Endwalker Trial Guide: The Final Day
