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The Dawntrail expansion forFinal Fantasy 14is notorious for its new approach to combat, with encounters being a considerable step up from what they were in previous expansions. Players can feel it from the very first dungeon, with more gimmicky and harder bosses. And of course, this is also reflected in larger-scale content.
A good example is Jeuno: The First Walk. Players had a blast with the expansion’s first Alliance Raid and its unique encounters, each with its specific rules. The raid is also themed after the series' first MMO, Final Fantasy 11, so get ready for some nostalgia.
How To Unlock Jeuno: The First Walk
To unlock the Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid series, you must complete the “Dawntrail” Main Scenario Quest, then speak with theHoobigo Messager in Tuliyollal (X:13.0, Y:11.6)to get the quest “An Otherworldly Encounter”. After a few cutscenes, you’re sent to investigate Yak T’el, and the raid will be unlocked on the way.
The First Walk is aLevel 100 duty for 24 players,divided into three Alliances (Full Parties) of 8 people each. As usual for these, each party consists of one Tank, two Healers, and 5 DPS. You need aminimum Item Level of 695 or higherto enter.
Jeuno: The First Walk Guide
The Raid is divided intofour different boss fights with some mini encountersbetween them.
As soon as you first enter, you’ll meet the first pack of minor enemies. They aren’t much of a threat, so don’t worry.Avoid standing too long between them, or you might eat up some AoEs without noticing.Use your 1-minute cooldowns as soon as you can, and they should be back for the real boss fight.
Prishe Of The Distant Chains
A well-known character from FF11, Prishe serves as the first encounter. Arguablythe most straightforward fight in the raid, but still very interesting. Here are her moves:
Knuckle Sandwich
Special
Prishe creates three circles of different sizes on the ground, the smaller ones inside the bigger ones, and prepares to punch them.The number of times she says “Wait for it…” determines which circle she’s hitting. If she says once, she’s hitting the first circle inside. Two times, the second circle. Three times is for the bigger, third circle.
Pay attention to her voice line and stay next to the attacked circle. Once the impact hits, enter the circle immediately, as the outer area is hit right after. Applies a bleeding debuff if you’re hit. Repeats twice at the start of the battle.
Nullifying Dropkick
Shared tankbuster
Tankbuster stack on a random tank.All tanks from the three alliances should stackto survive.
Banish Storm
Line AoE
Summons two scepters around the arena with pointing arrows around them. The direction pointed by the arrows will be hit by a following line AoE attack.Find a safe place between all scepterswhere no arrows can hit you.
Holy
Spread
Hits random players with a spread debuff. If you’re targeted,stay away from others with the same debuff.
Crystalline Thorns
Creates various spikes around the arena, leaving only some small safe areas. All players receivethree tethers on their backs pointing in different directions. They have the same colors as the Knuckle Sandwich circles. She then starts casting Auroral Uppercut.
Auroral Uppercut
Knocks you in the direction of one of the three tethers on your back. Prishe starts saying “Wait for it…”, andthe number of times she says it determines which tether you’ll be thrown to (exactly like in Knuckle Sandwich). If she says it twice, point the middle tether to the non-spike spots, for example. Be careful not to fall off the arena (instant death) or fall on the spikes (bleeding debuff).
Banishga IV
Orbs AoE
Raidwide damage, then creates various orbs around the arena that damage you after they grow and explode. Look for a safe spot, orwait for a nearby orb to explode to stand where it was.
Asuran Fists
Tower AoE
After using the Crystalline Thorns/Auroral Uppercut combo again,Prishe targets a tower where all players must stack to share damage.Heavy mitigations are needed here.
After Asuran Fists,Prishe uses combos of previously seen mechanics with little to no surprises. The moves and combinations she can use are:
After Asuran Fists,she cycles back to Banish Storm + Knuckle Sandwichuntil she’s defeated.
Once Prishe is down, you and Bakool Ja Ja encounter a forest with more regular enemies. Take care of them in packs as usual, butsave your cooldowns for the big fightright in front of you.
Fafnir The Forgotten
It wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy raid without a good dragon to fight. Fafnir has thefollowing attacks:
Dark Matter Blast
AoE
Raidwide damage. Creates apurple venomous circle around the arena, which is deadly for anyone who steps on it.
Offensive Posture
Fafnir starts glowing in a certain part of its body,indicating where its attack is aimed. There are three variations, and they always happen in the following order:
Fafnir’s tail starts glowing. The safe area isin front of Fafnir.
Fafnir’s claws start glowing and it starts to fly. The safe area isoutside his hitbox, almost touching the purple zone.
Fafnir’s mouth starts glowing. The safe area isinside his hitbox, as he burns the whole arena. The fire vanishes in the same direction it was applied. Fafnir immediately follows up with the claw posture, soget away from his hitbox as soon as the fire is gone. He finishes with another tail posture. Being hit by any of these attacks inflicts a Vulnerability Up and a stun debuff.
Baleful Breath
Stack AoE
Targets a Healer for a stack AoE.The whole raid must stackwith heavy mitigation.
Sharp Spike
Triple tankbuster
Attacks all Tanks with an AoE tankbuster which they must mitigate heavily.Stay away from the Tanksso you won’t get hit by accident.
As soon as the tankbusters hit,Darters will start appearing in the arena.A Tank that isn’t tanking Fafnir should maintain them around the center, so everyone can use their AoEs to kill them quickly. Be careful with their Pestilent Sphere and their AoEs, which can hurt you severely if they hit.
Hurricane Wing
Fafnir flaps its wings, dealing damage to all players with each flap. After it stops,various tornados appear around the arena and start spinning around it.Smaller tornados knock you up slightly and give you a Vulnerability Up, while bigger tornados give you much more damage. Both inflict a bleeding debuff.
At the same time, either an expanding AoE fires off from the middle or a receding AoE comes off from the borders of the arena.
You mustdodge the tornados as well as the AoE simultaneously. Wait for the AoE to expand, then immediately enter the area that was just hit to be safe. This AoE fires three, so be careful.
Horrid Roar
After the second expanding AoE finishes,Fafnir targets three players with an unavoidable spread AoE. A red puddle drops beneath it, and everyone has to wait until it vanishes. Touching the puddle inflicts Hysteria, making you walk in random directions.
Same as before, butthe posture used is random, so be careful.
Healers cansave Hysteria-afflicted targets from walking into the dead wall with Rescue, but you gotta be quick to notice it.
Once the final repeated attack is done,Fafnir goes to a corner of the arena and stays there for a while. During this time, Melees won’t have to worry about positional requirements. More Darters appear, and Fafnir uses either:
Absolute Terror
Fafnir glows its body in purple and hits directly in its front.
Winged Terror
Fafnir glows its wings and hits directly in front of them.
Once the Terrors are done and the Darters are killed,Fafnir starts repeating all moves from the first phaseuntil it’s defeated. Grab your loot and keep moving ahead.
The next zone has a few more dangerous enemies. The first pack of mobs can usegaze attacks. If you look at them, you get a Blind debuff (which can be removed).
The Despot in the final pack has a pull-in attack, but you canuse your knockback immunityto resist it.
Once they’re all gone, it’s time for themost unique encounterin the raid.
Ark Angels
Instead of a single boss, you’ll be fighting five warriors at once, representing each playable race in FF11. This fight hasthree special rules:
With these rules in mind, we can go over thebosses' special moves.
Linksyou and your allianceto one of the three initial bosses.
Cloudsplitter
Tankbuster
Ark Angel MR targetsall Tanks with an AoE tankbuster. Stay away from them, and use your mitigations if you’re a Tank.
Meikyo Shisui
Ark Angel GK summons various ice lines around the arena, only leaving a few squares as safe areas, as well as setting a gaze at some point of it. The ice lines hit twice, and the gaze fires off after the second line hits. Make sureyou’re looking away when dodging it.
After the gaze hits, Ark Angels MR hits the arena with various cone AoEs. A pink circle AoE also appears, sododge these as well.After the AoE explodes, the whole arena is unsafe, except for a small circle where the AoE first appeared. Wait for the AoE to explode, then enter the safe spot while dodging the cleaves.
Meteor
Raidwide AoE
Ark Angel TT starts casting a Meteor that wipes the whole raid. Tanks or Physical Rangeds must useInterject/Head Graze to stop him.
Havoc Spiral
Spinning Cone AoE
Ark Angel MR jumps to the center and uses the same cleaves from before, but this time spinning.Spin in the same direction alongside her to be safe. Ends withSpiral Finish, which knocks players back. You can use knockback immunity on it.
Dragonfall
GK marks a random Healer of each alliance and jumps to them.At least four other playersmust stack with the Healer to save them.
Guillotine
TT covers the whole arena with a spell that deals constant damage, except for the zone behind him. Run to him as soon as you hear him saying"Cowardice dismembers!".
After this onslaught, the three bosses will jump away, andArk Angels EV and HM take their place. The debuffs are gone, so you can hit whichever you want.
Dominion Slash
Raidwide AoE thatleaves puddles on the groundfor a while. They damage anyone who steps on them.
Utsusemi
Starts with a raidwide AoE, thenHM marks random players with a special tether with a running person icon. The marked players will be chased by HM clones, so keep running until they vanish.
Cross Reavers
HM marks a cross on the arena that expands, sostay on one of the four safe corners.
Mijin Gakure
HM starts casting a long spell while EV holds a shield protecting them, making HM invulnerable.Destroy the shield to interrupt HM’s cast, which wipes the party if left alone.
Rampage
Special AoE
MR returns to the field and starts dashing through the arena, finishing with a big circle AoE hit.Dodge to a safe spot away from the linesand the final hit.
TT covers the whole arena with a spell, except for the zone behind him. Run to him as soon as you hear him saying"Cowardice dismembers!".
Same as before, but combined withCritical Reaver(Cross Reavers but as Critical Hits) andMeteor.
Cross Reaver
After using Critical Reaver, HM starts channeling another Cross Reaver thatcan be interrupted. Not interrupting itwipes the party.
From here,any remaining Ark Angel will simply repeat their previous attacksuntil they’re gone. As they share health, it won’t take long until they’re all down, and you’re ready for the final big boss.
Shadow Lord
The Shadow Lord comes as the Alliance’s final encounter, complete with his unending bravado and edgy battle cries. His moves are easy to follow, butcan be deadly if you’re not paying attention.
Giga Slash
The Shadow Lord creates an illusion of his sword slashing an area around him, then repeats it in the opposite direction. He then cleaves the areas shown in that order.Stand in the safe spot for the first slash(a small slice), then go immediately to the other side.
Umbra Slash
The Shadow Lord slashes all four directions once, with smaller AoEs appearing in sequence later.Dodge the first big AoE and enter the slashed zone immediately, then prepare to dodge the smaller lines. He follows up with another Giga Slash.
Implosion
Circle + Half-arena AoE
Summons two fire orbs in his hands. One of these orbs will grow, indicating the half of the arena that will be hit. He also summons an AoE around himself. Stayaway from the boss, then stand on the safe half.
Cthonic Fury
Transforms the arena intoa four-circled zone with lines connecting them, while also dealing raidwide damage. Touching the flames outside the zone gives you a damage over time debuff.
Hatred Sigils
Summons sigils around the new arena, pointing inward or outward to the circle areas.
Dark Nebula
Knockback
Knockback from one side of the arena to another. Position yourselfperfectly between the lines to avoid being pushed into flames, and land on the circles.
Same as before, butyou’ll be forcibly close to Shadow Lord, so be careful.
Similar to before, but there are extra sigils this time. Circles are always unsafe, and the new sigils are hitting either the upper or lower portion of the lines, sostand on the safe half.
Echoes of Agony
Multiple AoE hits on a random player. Thewhole raid must stack with them.
Reverts the arena to normal, while also dealing raidwide damage.
After returning the arena to normal, the Shadow Lord jumps to the wall and castsNightfall. While in Nightfall, he has no positional requirements (like Fafnir) and will chargeTera Slashfor 15 seconds.Tera Slash deals large raidwide damage, so mitigate accordingly. After he returns the normal, the Nightfall phase begins.
Giga Slash: Nightfall
Same as Giga Slash,but Shadow Lord adds a third, smaller slash at the endpointed either north or south. Be ready to move one more time.
Shadow Spawn
Summons two clones of himself. These clonesrepeat his attacks, so be careful with his next attacks.
Same as before, but after the third slash,go inside his clone to dodge another Giga Slash. The clone only slashes twice.
Same as before butwith a clone in the background. After dodging the original Shadow Lord, position yourself in a way that you can easily dodge the clone too.
Unbridled Rage
A line tankbuster on the three Tanks.Stay away from them if you’re not a Tank, and remember to mitigate if you’re one.
Same as before, but withextra hits.
Binding Sigil
Ensnaring AoE
Summons three sets of AoEs on the ground.Being caught by one of them binds you to the ground, making you take extra damage later. Dodging in the direction of one of the first AoEs after they’re fired off usually works.
Damning Strikes
Stacking AoE
Summons three towers that must besoaked by each of the Alliances. They deal heavy damage, so be ready to heal and mitigate.
Transforms the arena into afour-circled zone with lines connecting them, while also dealing raidwide damage. Touching the flames outside the zone gives you a damage over time debuff.
Same as before, butnow repeated four times. Make sure you’re always being thrown into a safe zone and never outside the arena.
Identical to the others, butthe cast starts while you’re still being knocked back,so be ready to dodge.
Same as the third Hatred Sigil from before. Stand in the line andlook for the safe half.
The same line AoEs from before, but nowwith a clone copying its attacks, so extra dodges are needed.
Doom Arc
Inflicts raidwide damage and a bleeding debuff to all players. The Shadow Lord alsogets a permanent damage buff.
Shadow Lord willonly repeat his Nightfall phase mechanics until he’s defeated. Be careful, as his damage buff will make this repeated assault more deadly.
Fortunately,he should be low on health by this moment. If you ever see him casting Doom Arc, it shouldn’t take much longer to kill him.
Jeuno: The First Walk Rewards
All players gettwoCracked Novaclusters and one Ordelle Coin. Novaclusters can be used to buy Level 100 Materia, while Ordelle Coins are used to buy Augmentation items for Tomestones of Heliometry equipment atUah’shepya in Solution Nine (X:8.6 Y:13.5).
Each boss drops a Treasure Chest, containingtwo random pieces of equipment from the Raid. Equipment loot is rolled separately between Alliances.
The final boss hasextra chests with special loot, rolled between all 24 players. He also drops four pieces of equipment at once.
Ark Angel’s Thighboots of Striking
Equipment
Tattered Music Sheets can be exchanged for the Raid’s musicin Lower Jeuno (X:6.5 Y:5.2), with the Peculiar Goblin.
As of Patch 7.1, players can only getone Ordelle Coin and one piece of equipment per week. The limit will be removed in future updates.
