Ahead of the Competition Critical Engagement Guide in FFXIV: Dawntrail

Cut off one head, two will grow back in its place. The hydra is one of the most iconic mythological creatures in history, spanning back to Greek mythology, so it’s no surprise that you’ll be able to find quite a few in the Final Fantasy franchise, let alone a variety of them in the MMORPG.

That is where the Phantom Hydra comes into the play. This rather small Phantom Hydra can be found in the Ahead of the Competition Critical Engagement within the Occult Crescent’s North Horn region. The fight itself isn’t overly complicated but is a bit of a mess of mechanics all thrown into a handful of attacks. Thankfully, we have tips for taking it down.

Critical Engagement: Ahead of the Competition

Weakness: Ice

Location: X: 19.8 Y: 31.0

Duration: 20 Minutes

Opening

Far Flung Eruption + Nigh-drawn Eruption

Right off the bat, the Phantom Hydra will start with a very quick attack that you won’t be able to dodge unless you already know what it does, and this is the best way to introduce you to it.

He will use both Far Flung Eruption and Nigh-drawn Eruption back-to-back, but it’s up to you to figure out which is which. Far Flung is in the name that it will fling AOEs on the outside of the arena, whereas Nigh-drawn will send five overlapping attacks right below him. The latter is far more of a deadly attack, as you can get venn diagramed if you’re not careful.

Either stay close or move out (no max melee – you will need to disengage).

Cycle

Elemental Cascade

This is the big mechanic of the fight, and a bit of a chaotic mess. Various AOEs will spawn around the arena, each one placing down an orb that will do something drastically different from one another.

• Fire: Line AOEs across the arena.
• Lightning: An expanding AOE from its origin.
• Poison: Expanding poison that will give you a debuff.
• Ice: Eight cone AOEs from where it hits.
• Silver: A gaze attack that you will need to look away from when the ring touches the orb.

It’s very difficult to avoid all of this while maintaining full uptime. Try to stay in the center as the lightning orb generally lands on the outside, allowing you to move in afterward. When the gaze appears, ensure you look away otherwise you’ll be petrified. You won’t die from one attack, but there’s a good chance you’ll get hit with multiple.

Far Flung Eruption or Nigh-drawn Eruption

After that chaotic mess, the Phantom Hydra will then begin casting either the ability where you need to stay in or break off from the boss and move out. Be sure to watch the cast bar to see which it is.

Discordance

Despite being three or four mechanics deep, the Phantom Hydra will cast its first raidwide attack, one that will do a lot of damage if you have racked up a good number of vulnerabilities. Shield and mitigate properly.

Many-headed Breath

Similar to the Cerberus phase in the Metamorph boss fight, the Phantom Hydra will cast Many-headed Breath where it will show you where it’s going to be attacking. It will essentially be hitting a third of the arena at a time and will hit each portion twice.

To avoid this, stand in the third attack and move into the first attack after it goes off. With that said, make note of what’s being hit after that. It’s rare for them to do the same pattern twice in a row, but you will still need to move into a safe spot afterward.

While this is going off, there will be a gaze coming from a random direction. Be sure to be looking away when moving into the AOEs.

Discordance

Afterward, the Phantom Hydra will cast another raidwide, finishing off the cycle.

The Phantom Hydra will completely redo the cycle until it’s defeated, you’re defeated, or the timer runs out. It’s a pretty short fight, all things considered, with very little variation. It’s just the Elemental Cascade that can give players the most trouble as it’s hard to maintain uptime while dodging so much stuff on the ground.

Guaranteed Rewards

• 260-420 Knowledge
• 720 Phantom EXP
• 10 Tomestones of Mnemonics
• 20 Tomestones of Mathematics

Potential Drops

• 1 Notes on the Phantom Hydra
• 10 Phantom Dispeller a (for Phantom Weapon step)
• Occult Bracelet of Blood
• Occult Bracelet of Magic