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One of the rarest Critical Engagement is all Occult Crescent, let alone the North Horn. This is because the requirement for spawning this four-headed plant monster ensures players have to go to the most dangerous areas of the map and kill mobs that will one shot most. It’s a nice change of pace in Final Fantasy XIV, especially Dawntrail.

It requires quite a bit of coordination and generally a couple of players, but if they do it, they will be rewarded with this fantastic Critical Engagement, one of which is required to complete the Blue Mage catalog of spells. Because of this, most players don’t know the mechanics behind this creature. Thankfully, we have a guide for you.

Similar to most of the Critical Engagements and raid bosses we’ve become used to, Pelekys will start the fight with a strong raidwide attack, dealing roughly half the health of all players who aren’t shielded or mitigated against. The worst part of this is that it gives everyone a 15-second poison called “Toxicosis”.

This is one of the more annoying mechanics of the fight, not necessarily in the beginning, because it’s easy to read, but it is overlapping with others down the line.

Central and Side Gardening is a cleave that the boss will do depending on which is cast. He will always do one after the other in the beginning.

• Central: Pelekys will hit a straight line from his front to his back. Be sure to stay out of his hitbox along with in front and back.
• Side Gardening: This is the opposite. Pelekys will cleave everything to the sides of it, taking up the rest of the arena if you’re far out.

The next major mechanic, the Pelekys will cast two pools on two sides of him and then do the same on the other side. They will always be opposite of one another, meaning one will be east and west while the other is north and south.

These small AOEs don’t do a lot of damage when they go out, but these are pools of poison that will expand to the edges of the arena. You will need to identify which puddles went down first and run to the edge of the arena in-between the two.

You will need to hug the edge and when it dissipates, run along the death wall 90 degrees because the other two puddles will be expanding at a slightly delayed time.

As soon as you get to the final safe spot on the outer ring of the arena, there will be a sense of safety for a second, but this couldn’t be more wrong. This is because Pelekys will then cast either Central or Side Gardening. You will need to quickly identify where the boss is pointing and then adjust either to the middle or to his sides. It’s something that catches a lot of players off guard.

The next mech of the fight, Pelekys will summon four moths from the outside of the arena and lure them in. You will need to disengage a little bit because it will use Devour to eat all four.

With these eaten, Pelekys will cast Pollen Heart, which will spawn random AOEs around the field. The most annoying part goes back to the Central / Siden Gardening attack as, once again, he will cast one and then the other while this mechanic is going off. It catches quite a few players off guard as they are dodging a bevy of AOEs to begin with.

The final mech of the fight, there’s not much to this one. After the Pollen Heart attack, he will begin casting Venom Mist where three of Pelekys’ heads will send a cone attack to their front.

To avoid this, be right in the middle, and as soon as the telegraph pops up, move into the spot. This is a very tight window, so you should be as close to the middle as possible, otherwise there’s a good chance you’ll get hit.

Afterward, Pelekys will continue his rampage, repeating the various mechanics above until the Critical Engagement concludes.

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

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

Released July 2, 2024

ESRB Teen // Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence

Base Game Final Fantasy 14

Developer(s) Square Enix

Publisher(s) Square Enix

Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

Engine Proprietary

The fifth expansion to the award winning MMORPG, Dawntrail takes the franchise into a whole new direction, hopefully kicking off another ten-year long adventure.