What is a raid but a miserable pile of trials? But enough talk — it’s time for the final fight of Pandaemonium Asphodelos! While Final Fantasy XIV tends to look towards other Square Enix games for inspiration, it’s clear that this boss design looks elsewhere. My man definitely shops at the same stores as Castlevania’s Dracula.
This encounter pits you against Hesperos, the keyward of Asphodelos. The corruption of this place goes to the top, but for now, you’ll have to be content with beating up the local middle management. You’ll fight within a square arena and you should be warned that the edges are instant death.
Be warned that raid guides contain spoilers. If you prefer to preserve the surprise of raids for yourself, give them a try first before referring to a guide. Then, come back here for some help if you have trouble!
How to Defeat Hesperos – Phase One
After Hesperos discards his stylish glasses, the fight begins in earnest.
- Elegant Evisceration: The vampire starts with his single-target tankbuster. Tanks, use your cooldowns.
- Decollation: A raid-wide AoE attack. Heal through it.
- Hell Skewer: A line AoE aimed at a random raid member. Move to avoid the damage.
- Setting the Scene: Hesperos lays his cape down on one or more quarters of the arena. (It’s one quarter in Phase One, growing in number later.) When the cast finishes, this quarter will change into a different environment. Don’t walk through the center of these sections, as they’ll debuff you. This leads into…
- Pinax: The boss summons a tiny black hole in the center of the arena. In a few seconds, this will resolve into a different attack depending on what Setting The Scene turned each section into. Each available quarter of the arena will pulse when active, letting you know which attack you should expect next. The attacks are:
- Levinstrike Mekhane: The Electric region will cause Pinax to have a radial AoE marker. The closer you are to it, the more damage it does, so run to the far corner to minimize damage.
- Well Mekhane: The Water region is the opposite. It creates a huge knockback marker. Get as close as possible, positioning yourself so you’re pushed towards the far corner. If you position elsewhere, you’ll be knocked into the wall and die instantly.
- Acid Mekhane: The entire raid will be marked with circle AoEs. Spread out to avoid stacking the damage.
- Lava Mekhane: A stack marker. Stack to share and minimize the damage.
- Bloodrake: The boss absorbs your aether a setup for the next attack.
- Belone Coils: Hesperos creates four circle AoEs around the arena, each with a tank, healer, or DPS marker. The orbs that float down need to be absorbed by a player who is *not* the role indicated. So, for example, you want a DPS or Healer to absorb the Tank orb.
- Belone Bursts: This summons orbs around the arena that tether to each raid member, marked with that player’s role. You want to drag the orbs so they collide with a player that’s not the same role. Alternatively, you can help out by running into an orb that isn’t your role. That said, you’ll get a debuff called Thrice-Come Ruin, which actually kills you if you get a two stack. (You’d think it’d be a three-stack, but a healer definitely bit it after two.)
- Northerly/Easterly/Westerly/Southernly Shift: Hesperos aims towards the side of the arena named in the cast bar and marks the location with an icon. If it’s a sword, the boss will teleport to that location and attack with a cone AoE. Hug the sides nearby to avoid. If it’s the cape, he’ll teleport and hit with a knockback. You want to be positioned to get knocked back to the center of the arena. If you’re on the sides, you’ll get knocked back into the spikes.
Phase Two – The End of All Things
This… isn’t actually a second phase, per se. At around half health, Hesperos will keep using the attacks above, just with more intensity. Setting the Scene will always include an element in all four quarters, and usually will be joined by another attack like Belone Coils, one of the Shift attacks, or Hell Skewer. It’s not hard, but it is a lot at once.
And with that, you’re all done Pandaemonium Asphodelos! It’s time to re-run these encounters while we wait for the Savage versions and the next raid wing, Abyssos, to unlock. If you somehow missed them, here are the guides for the first three circles:
- FFXIV Raid Guide – Pandaemonium Asphodelos: The First Circle
- FFXIV Raid Guide – Pandaemonium Asphodelos: The Second Circle
- FFXIV Raid Guide – Pandaemonium Asphodelos: The Third Circle
If you need help getting prepared for the Pandaemonium raids, be sure to check out our Tomestone of Aphorism and endgame gear guide. And if you want to get different Jobs to level 90 and raid-ready, you can use our fast leveling guide for alternate Jobs. Pandaemonium isn’t the only endgame content available in Endwalker, so make sure you’ve unlocked and played through the optional level 90 dungeons Smileton and The Stigma Dreamscape.
