TURN 6

This is not a comprehensive guide, there are many details left out. This is intended for PUGs or new members to review to see how we handle each mechanic.


P1
Positioning
DPS: Stack on Waymark "B" to Rafflesia's stage right rear flank.
Healers: Stack on Waymark "B" to Rafflesia's stage right rear flank.
MT: Stand on Waymark "A", facing Rafflesia away from the group.
OT: Stack on Waymark "B" to Rafflesia's stage right rear flank.

Mechanic 1 - Yellow Mark / Spit
Whomever is marked with the yellow circle above their head moves to Waymark "C", as the yellow mark dissappears, that player then runs through Rafflesia, ending between Waymarks "A" and "B".

Mechanic 2 - Vines
Whomever is tethered together should break their vines, remember to not react immediately, see who is chained to you, who has the yellow mark, etc before breaking them.

Mechanic 3 - Tank Swap
Every time Rafflesia uses the ability "Spit," the tanks will Provoke-swap enmity. This can be done as "Spit" starts casting. WARs coming off from MT should turn off auto-attack and turn around. PLDs coming off from MT should turn off auto attack, turn around, and spam stoneskin on the new MT or other group members.

Mechanic 4 - Blighted Bouquet
Blighted marks the final part of P1, when it is cast, all members need to stop taking any action, including instant cast spells, movement, etc - hands should be off the keyboard/controller. It will be called out in TS3.

Mechanic 5 - Middle Briar
Whenever a Briar Patch spawns in the middle of the room (under Rafflesia) all DPS should be focused on that briar until it is destroyed.


P2
Positioning
DPS: Stack on Waymark "B" to Rafflesia's stage right rear flank.
Healers: Stack on Waymark "B" to Rafflesia's stage right rear flank.
MT: Stand on Waymark "A", facing Rafflesia away from the group.
OT: Stack on Waymark "B" to Rafflesia's stage right rear flank.

Repeating Mechanics - Blighted Bouquet, Tanks Swap, Vines, Yellow Mark / Spit, Middle Briar
Mechanics Removed - None

Mechanic 6 - Honeyed / Bees
A DPS will be marked with Honey. This will do some damage to them and mark them to be attacked by a Bee that will spawn. That person should stay at Waymark "B" with the rest of the group. Similar to Middle Briar, the Bee should become the primary focus of all DPS as soon as DPS players can damage it. During the Bee being up, we will have to deal with one set of Vines, a Blighted Bouquet, and possibly a Middle Briar. The person who is marked should NOT have to move, whoever is linked to them for Vines (if any) should be the person that moves.
After the Bee is destroyed, the DPS that was marked with Honey needs to be "eaten" by Rafflesia, so when the Yellow Mark mechanic next happens, that player should move to Waymark "C" and stay there in order to be eaten. They should do their best to break any Vines that may be on them, but their #1 priority is to be eaten. They will need heals as Rafflesia often spits that person out in her frontal cone of attack.

Mechanic 7 - Leafstorm
Leafstorm is a raid-wide AE that does roughly 2100 to all members. It is unavoidable and marks the end of P2.


Transition (2-3)
Positioning:
DPS: On Waymark "A" - Stacked (melee may do damage to Rafflesia until Acid Rain is about to start)
Healers: On Waymark "A" - Stacked
MT: On the perimeter of the circle, somewhere where there isn't a Briar up, as near to Waymark "A" as possible.
OT: Shadowing the MT

Mechanic 8 - Acid Rain / Slugs
Rafflesia will spawn slugs undernear her belly, which need to be picked up by the offtank immediately. The OT should be under her belly ready to use enmity skills. A single slug is marked "1" by the OT, and will be damaged by ranged DPS until 50%.
Acid rain will be cast a short time after the slugs spawn, and all players excluding the MT must stack on A, which will cause 3 AE circles which must be avoided. This will also cause 3 Slimes to spawn on top of each other.

Mechanic 9 - Super Slime
Once the slug marked "1" is damage to 50% it will rush to the stacked smiles and eat all 3 of them. The offtank should continue to hold enmity on the super slug, and the add slugs, while using their best CDs, as there will be a large amount of damage intake. The DPS should burn the Super Slug as fast as possible, while a melee uses whatever limit break is available. Once the slime is down, the remaining slugs should be killed to alleviate healer pressure and allow the OT to DPS.


P3
Positioning:
DPS: Stacked behind Rafflesia
Healers: Stacked behind Rafflesia
MT: On the perimeter, facing Rafflesia away from the group.
OT: Stacked behind Rafflesia

Repeating Mechanics: Leafstorm, Acid Rain / Slugs, Vines
Mechanics Removed: Blighted Bouquet, Super Slime, Honeyed / Bees, Middle Briar, Tank Swap, Yellow Mark / Spit.

Mechanic 10 - Swarm
This is a semi-powerful attack delivered to the MT, which should be healed through.

Mechanic 11 - Rotten Breath
Rafflesia will cast Rotten Breath every other set of Vines that come out, she will turn to face a random group member 3-8 on enmity, and use a line AE that splits its damage between all players in its area of effect. All players should be mindful of this as they break vines to stay in a line from Rafflesia. Players should stay within the range of the Waymarks in the middle of the map.

Final notes: Slugs will spawn again, as well as slimes with Acid Rain, the OT should pick up the slugs and kite them for the duration. Player do not need to stack for acid raid, but should avoid getting caught in each other's Acid Rain AEs, and should avoid AE attacks so that they don't have their damage reflected to them by the smiles.

TURN 7

This is not a comprehensive guide, many details are left out. It is only intended to refresh current members and for PUGs to see our strats.


P1
Positioning:
mDPS: Surrounding Melusine
rDPS: Away from healers, away from Melusine, away from Kiter
Kiter: Away from healers, away from Melusine, away from rDPS
Healers: Center of map
OT: With mDPS
MT: Perimeter, facing Melusine away from group

Mechanic 1 - Renaulds
A Renauld will spawn every once in a while, the Kiter is responsible for aggroing the Renauld ASAP, and kiting it to Waymark "C", where we will stack all spawned Renaulds. Either the SCH or SMN (if present) will Miasma the Renauld to keep it in place on Waymark "C".

Mechanic 2 - Voice
Cursed Voice will afflict 1 Tank, 1 DPS, and 1 Healer. The tank and DPS should face away from the map, sending their voice out into the empty space to avoid hitting and petrifying another player. Healers should aim their voice at the active Renauld, which should be positioned with any other Renaulds via a Miasma or Shadowbind. If a Renauld is out of place after a Voice, it should be destroyed immediately.

Mechanic 3 - Shriek
Cursed Shriek will afflict one Healer or DPS player. That player must run behind the Waymark "C" and put the stacked Renaulds between themselves and the party in order to avoid petrifying them.

Add Phase 1
3 Adds will spawn at separate times, the first will be precisely where Melusine begins the instance, the second is roughly 120 degrees counter clockwise from that point, and the 3rd is roughly 120 counter clockwise from the 2nd Add's spawn point. The off-tank must pick up the add quickly and it must be DPSed down while dealing with all of the above mechanics. Our preferred method is to have the off-tank tank the first and 2nd Adds in place, while picking up the 3rd from behind Waymark "C" and dragging to end next to Melusine to avoid being petrified by the Shriek.

Notes: DPS may be called off prior to pushing Melusine into P2 (70%) in order to time Voices.

P2
Positioning:
mDPS: Surrounding Melusine
rDPS: Away from healers, away from Melusine, away from Kiter
Kiter: Away from healers, away from Melusine, away from rDPS
Healers: Center of map
OT: With mDPS
MT: Perimeter, facing Melusine away from group

Repeating Mechanics: Renaulds, Voice, Shriek
Removed Mechanics: None

Mechanic 4 - Exploding Rings
This phase will begin highlighting rings of the circular map (Outter, Middle, Inner, repeat). Players inside of the rings while they are highlighted will take roughly 450 damage per second from a Bleed, if they are in the ring upon it disappearing, it will instantly kill them.

Add Phase 2
4 Adds will spawn around the perimeter, 90 degrees apart from each other. They are un-aggroable and will assign their attacks randomly. They must be DPSed down quickly while dealing with all of the above mechanics.

Notes: DPS may be called off prior to pushing into P3 (35%) in order to time voices.

P3
Positioning:
mDPS: Surrounding Melusine
rDPS: Away from healers, away from Melusine, away from Kiter
Kiter: Away from healers, away from Melusine, away from rDPS
Healers: Center of map
OT: With mDPS
MT: Perimeter, facing Melusine away from group

Repeating Mechanics: Renaulds, Voice, Shriek, Exploding Rings
Mechanics Removed: None

Add Phase 3
A final add will spawn, who hits pretty hard. This add's main mechanic is Petrifaction.

Mechanic 5 - Petrifaction
If any player is looking at any mob that is casting Petrifaction at the end of the cast bar, they will be petrified.

The add will cash Petrifaction periodically, and will give Melusine the ability when it dies. The add should be picked up and tanked at Waymark "B". It should be DPS lightly by a single mDPS player while the rest of the party stays focused on Melusine. After it casts its first Petrifaction, the single mDPS player should use LB3 on the add, and then continue to DPS it down to about 5-7%, the rest of the party should stay focused on Melusine. After Melusine has cast her next Cursed Voice, the rest of the DPS should switch focus to the add and finish it quickly. Below is a quick timeline:

Add spawn > Petrifaction is cast > 1 mDPS uses LB3 > Melusine uses voice > DPS finishes add

Melusine will now gain the ability to use Petrifaction, and will do it right away. The rest of the mechanics remain in place, although we should have had 4 Renaulds stacked since before P3 started, which will stop additional Renaulds from spawning. One last mechanic is added in this final leg.

Mechanic 6 - Venomous Tail
Melusine will now target a completely random player and afflict them with Venom, which will do damage over time to the entire raid as long as that player is afflicted with Venom. It should be Esuna'ed/Leeched immediately.

That's it!

TURN 8

This is not a comprehensive guide, there are many details left out. This is intended for PUGs or new members to review to see how we handle each mechanic.


In all phases, all players besides the Main Tank should be stacked to the Avatars rear (stage) left flank. The main tank should face The Avatar away from the party. The BRD will stay in front of the party to take and move the tethered missile away from the party.


P1
Tower "A" - UP: No Action
Tower "B" - UP: 2 Healer Tap
Tower "C" - UP: No action
Tower "MT" - X

Healers will tap B, which will cause the Dreadnaught to spawn a few GCDs after Homing Laser fires off. Dreadnaught is tanked by the OT next to The Avatar, rotating cooldowns.

P2
Tower "A" - UP: OT, BLM tap
Tower "B" - X
Tower "C" - UP: No Action
Tower "MT" - X

OT and BLM tap A, which will cause Landmines to fire off a few GCDs after Homing Laser goes off. OT takes care of the landmines on the party's side, MT takes care of the landmines on his/her side.

After landmines, another set of tether/homing will occur, then Ballistic Missile will fire off, which is the circle check. Typically, OT will be the operator on this, standing in the appropriate place, 2 other DPS will be marked as backups, voice chat is critical, as well as stacking properly.

P3
Tower "A" - UP: No Action
Tower "B" - UP: 2 Healer Tap
Tower "C" - UP: No action
Tower "MT" - X

Healers will tap B, which will cause the Dreadnaught to spawn a few GCDs after Homing Laser fires off. Dreadnaught is tanked by the OT next to The Avatar, rotating cooldowns.

After Dreadnaught, another set of tether/homing will occur, then Ballistic Missile will fire off, which is the circle check. Typically, OT will be the operator on this, standing in the appropriate place, 2 other DPS will be marked as backups, voice chat is critical, as well as stacking properly.

P4
Tower "A" - UP: OT, BLM tap
Tower "B" - X
Tower "C" - UP: No Action
Tower "MT" - X

OT and BLM tap A, which will cause Landmines to fire off a few GCDs after Homing Laser goes off. OT takes care of the landmines on the party's side, MT takes care of the landmines on his/her side.

After landmines, another set of tether/homing will occur, then Ballistic Missile will fire off, which is the circle check. Typically, OT will be the operator on this, standing in the appropriate place, 2 other DPS will be marked as backups, voice chat is critical, as well as stacking properly.

P5
Tower "A" - UP: 2 Healer Tap
Tower "B" - UP: Melee1 tap
Tower "C" - X
Tower "MT" - X

2 Healers tap A, Melee 1 taps B, This will cause Landmines to occur after Homing Laser, which are handled as in P2 and P4. After landmines, Dreadnaught will spawn, which is handled as in P1 and P3.

Allagan Field will also begin, targeting a random party member 3-8 on the enmity list, that person needs to back behind the group to avoid random damage. If they are assigned the Homing Laser, they need to rejoin the group and receive Stoneskin and Adloquim. If they must tag a tower, they should receive Stoneskin and Aldoquim before and after the tag. DR timing should be immediately after Allagan field wears off. This will stay throughout the rest of the fight.

P6
Tower "A" - UP: No Action
Tower "B" - X
Tower "C" - UP: OT, BLM, Melee2 tap
Tower "MT" - MT Taps

As soon as C pops up, OT, Melee2 and BLM need to tap "C", while the MT immediately taps "MT" tower, in order to avoid The Avatar getting a stack. In this phase, the Dreadnaught should have been down for a while. This phase has 2 DRs, 2 Allagan Fields, and will finish with a set of Landmines

P7
Tower "A" - UP: 2 Healer Tap
Tower "B" - UP: Melee1 tap
Tower "C" - UP: No Action
Tower "MT" - X

2 Healers tap A, Melee 1 taps B, This will cause Landmines to occur after Homing Laser, which are handled as in P2 and P4. After landmines, Dreadnaught will spawn, which is handled as in P1 and P3. This phase finishes with a DR from the uptapped "C" tower.

P8
Tower "A" - UP: No Action
Tower "B" - X
Tower "C" - UP: OT, BLM, Melee2 tap
Tower "MT" - MT Taps

As soon as C pops up, OT, Melee2 and BLM need to tap "C", while the MT immediately taps "MT" tower, in order to avoid The Avatar getting a stack. Depending on DPS, the Dreadnaught may have JUST been defeated, so it is important that Melee2 and BLM are able to move over to tap "C" tower as soon as it is down.

At this point, it is a DPS race, if Landmines go off you have probably lost the fight. Pop everything and burn.