Welcome to the first step in your journey to conquering Omega Ultimate in FFXIV: the Beetle Omega boss! The first phase of The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) raid will test your ability to react to debuffs and move precisely while executing on high-focus mechanics. There are two main mechanics in this phase: Program Loop and Pantokrator.
Before we dive all the way in, however, you will need to divide the party into two groups. We’ll simply refer to these as Group 1 and Group 2 in this instance. Each group will have one tank, one healer, one melee DPS, and ranged DPS class, so make sure to work out who is with whom. Within these groups there will also be a priority system to adjust for a later mechanic. The priority is Tank > Melee > Ranged > Healer. Meaning the healers will never adjust and Tanks will be first to adjust.
Finally, here are the very basic stats you should know for the boss:
- Enrage Time: 2:07
- Damage Per Second Requirement: 66,800
Program Loop – FFXIV Beetle Omega
Near the start of the fight, Omega will cast Program Loop: assigning two debuffs to each player. One is called Looper (image right). This debuff allows you to soak damage from a tower that will appear in the arena. If this damage is not soaked, it will wipe the raid. Additionally, if you do not soak a tower by the time your debuff expires, you will become confused and wander the arena without any control of your character. Everyone needs to soak at least one tower lest they succumb to the confusion.
The second debuff it assigns will be one of the following for each player — First in Line, Second in Line, Third in Line, and/or Fourth in Line — with two of each debuff being assigned across all players in total. These debuffs match the expiration time of the Looper debuff, telling you what order you will be soaking towers.
Following this, Omega will assign tethers to two random players. Shortly after being assigned, the tethers will explode in a massive area-of-effect (AoE). Players hit by the tether explosion receive an HP Penalty debuff, temporarily setting their max HP to just 1% of normal.
Omega will also spawn two towers at random cardinal points of the arena with a slight offset. When the towers expire, if no one with a Looper debuff is in them, the tower will explode and wipe the entire party. When a player takes damage from a tether, or from a tower, they also receive a stack of Twice Come Ruin. If a player receives two stacks of Twice Come Ruin, they will receive a Doom effect which cannot be cleansed and kills them once the very short debuff timer expires. This process repeats four times in total.
As we mentioned earlier, this is where players soak the towers in order from First to Fourth in Line. To ensure that no one receives too many stacks of Twice Come Ruin, players need to alternate between taking a tower or tether and taking no damage.
Since the order you need to soak tower damage is already determined by the game, this leaves us with the following order of players to take tether damage: Third, Fourth, First, and then Second in Line. Meaning the players with Third in Line should take tether damage first, following by the players with Fourth in Line, and so on.
Here’s an image of the order to help better visualize this:
Now the remaining issue is the fact that there are two towers and two tethers. We need a system to decide who gets which tower and who gets which tether. If you are doing this fight through Party Finder, you will find the order is that Group 2 will take the first tower starting from the north and rotating clockwise. Whereas Group 1 will start in the west and rotate counterclockwise.
Here’s another visual aid for what this looks like:
The tethers are handled the same way. After a tower is soaked and tethers explode, players who had the tether will wait for the next “In Line” player to take it from them. This is done by standing between the player who has the tether and the boss.
The person who just took the tether will use the same priority on where to go to wait for their tether to detonate. In other words, if you are in Group 2 you will go to the first cardinal clockwise point from the north that does not have a tower. If you are in Group 1 you will go to the first cardinal point counterclockwise from the West that does not have a tower.
And make sure to stand at maximum melee range to avoid hitting anyone else with your explosion.
There is one exception to this rule for tethers: the initial tether. All players will stack south of the boss. The players with Third in Line will then move up and wait for the tethers to spawn. Finally, all remaining players will move to the towers before the Third in Line players move to their tether locations.
To throw one last curveball at you, two players in your group may receive the same debuff. If this happens, we use the priority system we set up at the beginning of this guide. That means Tanks > Melee > Ranged > Healer to resolve where to go. As an example, If the melee and the ranged DPS in Group 2 both have Second in Line, the Melee will instead take the first tower counterclockwise from the west. This is true for tethers as well.
Omega Protocol Program Loop Tips
- Healers need to be wary of the players with Third in Line and Fourth in Line debuffs. These players will soak towers after they are hit with tethers that reduce their hp to 1%. It takes roughly 1,400 healer potency to restore enough HP to survive the tower, which deals about 35,000 damage.
- If you are not picking up a tether, you do not pass the middle of the boss’ hitbox. A stolen tether will likely wipe the raid!
- If a tether has just exploded, WAIT! Someone is coming to pick up your tether. Moving around, rather than waiting for them to grab it before you move to the safe zone, can cause this process to get messy.
- If you are currently not taking a tower or tether, stand near a tower — ideally away from the tethered players.
- If you have already taken a tower and no longer have your Looper debuff, you can stand in any tower and be safe. Just don’t scare your teammates!
Pantokrator – FFXIV Beetle Omega
For the next phase, you will be assigned three debuffs. The same First, Second, Third, or Fourth in Line information, but additionally, Guided Missile Kyrios Incoming and Condensed Wave Cannon Kyrios. At first this seems like a lot, but you only actually need to worry about the timer on Guided Missile Kyrios.
To explain, the number on your “X in Line” debuff always matches your Guided Missile Kyrios debuff timer. This debuff causes a personal AoE that knocks away any nearby players, so it needs to be soaked away from the party. The Condensed Wave Cannon Kyrios is a stack AoE that needs to be shared by three players. Otherwise it deals increased damage.
Next, Omega will have two cleave attacks opposite from one another that divide the arena in two. Both cleaves will rotate either clockwise or counterclockwise. While this is happening, every player will constantly drop moderate sized AoEs under them that must also be avoided.
We will again need to divide the party into two groups, both groups having one of each “In Line” debuff. Using the same priority as before, we will have Group 2 start northeast and Group 1 southwest. If the original AoE cleave from Omega intersects the groups, they will rotate clockwise to avoid it. This keeps both parties separate and organized.
Here’s a little cheat sheet for you:
Now for the execution and movement. Have the First in Line players stay near the center of the Omega’s hit box, while the remaining players go to the edge of Omega’s hit box in the center of the safe area.
After Omega cleaves three times, players will begin to drop the aforementioned AoEs and need to start moving. The stacked players will simply move along Omega’s hit box from edge of AoE to edge of AoE. Meanwhile, the First in Line player will drop one puddle in the center, move forward next to the rotating AoE, drop another puddle, be hit by their Guided Missile Kyrios, and drop a final puddle as they move to maximum melee range (or further) and circle back into the party.
Be very careful not to drop a puddle in front of the party! If you are not First in Line, you will want to move out as you are hit by either the stack AoE or a puddle later on if you’re blocked by another player moving late.
This will leave you with about five seconds left on your Guided Missile debuff. Using the same movement as before. Here’s a short clip on the exact movements:
There is quite a bit of damage that happens over the phase and players on both sides may not be easily reached by one of the healers. Make sure to use damage mitigation and heals in between hits!
Omega Protocol Pantokrator Tips
- Players do not always place puddles properly! Make sure to keep your eyes open and make small adjustments around errors.
- When you receive the missile debuff, do not block the party’s path! You want to have a nice and circular motion moving into the hitbox, forward, and back out. The better you place your puddle, the easier time your party will have.
- As a healer, watch out for players with low HP. You may have to spot heal!
Diffuse Wave Cannon – FFXIV Beetle Omega
As you finish the Pantokrator movements, three random players will be marked with the debuff Prey. This indicates that they will be hit with a line AoE from the boss that gives a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff. Immediately after this, three random players that were not initially selected will also be targeted. Meaning players cannot take two hits back-to-back. Additionally, Omega will hit the two players farthest from them with a large, conal AoE.
To resolve this, we simply assign static spots for everyone, making this mechanic almost irrelevant.
Have the two tanks stack north at maximum melee range and use their invulnerability cooldowns. The healers will, in turn, take the east and west flanks: the Group 1 healer being west and the Group 2 healer being east. The melee characters will be on the southeast and southwest positions of the boss, respectively, where the rear and flank meet. Finally, the two ranged players will be on the east and west sides of the southmost marker (put another way, they should stand at 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock positions). No one has to move, just make sure players have enough HP to take one hit.
Omega Protocol Diffuse Wave Cannon Tips
- Players may die near the end of Pantokrator. It is extremely important to raise them as quickly as possible! The DPS check for this fight is tight and if they are not resurrected in time, an additional player will die to the line AoEs from the boss by being targeted twice.
- Tanks! The timing of the Invulnerability can be tight. The Prey markers cause a “fwoom” type of sound to play. You can trigger your invulnerability skill by the fourth “fwoom” as a helpful point of reference.
Congratulations! If you manage to reduce Omega’s HP to zero after this point, you’re officially through the first phase. See you on the other side!
Return to The Omega Protocol Home Page | Phase 2 – Omega M/F Form Guide (Coming Soon)
