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Darkness takes hold as we travel to the far reaches of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail’s Occult Crescent: North Horn region. While we’ve had to deal with some challenging bosses in the past, this one is the most frantic, sending waves upon waves of zombies at the player, all while having a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

The Phantom Necromancer is part of a standard Critical Engagement that fortunately doesn’t require anything to trigger. Dark Artistry will happen on a cycle throughout an instance, but this fight can be a bit tricky to overcome. Thankfully, this guide should help you get through it once piece.

Instead of a standard raidwide you’d normally see from a boss such as this, the Phantom Necromancer will turn to a random direction and cleave in front of him. Because he doesn’t jump to the middle of the room, be careful not to aggro him near a wall, otherwise there will be a small space for safety.

The animation may look like a big raidwide, but don’t be fooled. This is the major mechanic in the fight. If you look around, you will notice undead soldiers around the arena will begin to get up and glow a bright purple aura.

The whole idea is that these fallen NPCs will explode after getting up. There are essentially two animations you need to look for, specifically three or four tiles around you. There will most likely be at least one zombie rising from the grave, and what you’re looking for when he gets out of the ground, which he will reach his hand up and lay down. The second animation is him stumbling up to his feet.

As soon as you see a zombie begin to rise to their feet, that means they’re about to explode. You will need to move away promptly as it’s a large point-blank AOE around the zombie, killing them in the process, and dealing a good amount of damage to non-tanks and giving a stack of vulnerability.

There are six waves of this, and after that is concluded, there will be four black puddles that will emerge on four tiles. These will summon larger zombies, and instead of exploding in a point-blank AOE, they will explode in a cross shape across the arena.

What you will need to do for this part of the mech is look for where the two black puddles don’t intersect. If there is a black puddle parallel to you in any four directions, you will need to move away. This will happen three times.

While most fights put their raidwides at the beginning of the fight, the Phantom Necromancer puts it after the first major mechanic. Mitigate and shield properly to avoid any unnecessary damage.

This can be a tricky mechanic to spot the safe spots, but once you find it, it’s easy sailing. The Phantom Necromancer will summon three large circles on the ground and they will slowly flip vertically.

You will want to avoid where they are facing as they blast a beam in both front and back directions. Essentially, find the spot where the flat circle effects aren’t aiming at and get snug. There is usually a pretty large area that’s safe, as the game rarely gives the player little to play with.

To finish things off, the Phantom Necromancer will cast another raidwide attack, hoping to add more damage to anyone who got a vulnerability stack from the Arcane Revelation attack. Once more, heal, mitigate and shield appropriately to avoid anyone in the party dying due to a simple raidwide.

After this, the mechanics will repeat, with Dark II never to be seen again. It almost felt like this was meant to go in the second part of Rise of the Fallen, as there are generally two or more safe spots.

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

• 1 Notes on the Phantom Necromancer
• 10 Phantom Dispeller b (for Phantom Weapon step)
• Occult Necklace of Blood
• Occult Necklace 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