AAC Light-heavyweight M3 (Savage)

See also: AAC Light-heavyweight Tier (Savage) and AAC Light-heavyweight M3

AAC Light-heavyweight M3 (Savage)

Level

100 (Sync: 100)

Item Level

710

Difficulty

Savage

Party size

Full Party
8 man • 2 2 4

Unsyncing

Not Allowed

Time limit

90 minutes

Duty Finder

Raid Finder (Raids)

Tomestones

 30 

Req. quest

Talk to Gabbro after completing The Neoteric Witch

Location

Blasting Ring

Region

Xak Tural

Stone, Sky, Sea

Available

Patch

7.05

“

Gabbro invites you to picture the Brute Bomber in a somehow even more degenerate light─one in which the now uncrowned champion would readily stoop to lower lows to seize victory. Surely, such an engagement would be more explosive than the last…

— In-game description

AAC Light-heavyweight M3 (Savage) is a level 100 raid introduced in patch 7.05 with Dawntrail. The raid is also known as M3S.

Phases & Abilities

Animated guide by Hector Hectorson

Vile Heat: Brute Bomber

The arena is surrounded by a fire AoE that will instantly kill any player who touches it. Failing mechanics will typically inflict a non-stacking -38% Damage Down debuff or a stack of Sustained Damage.

Strategy

Each player should be assigned a clock position, with DPS on intercardinals and supports on cardinals, along with light parties. In certain mechanics, each support will be paired with either the melee or the ranged DPS in their light party.

Phase 1

• Brutal Impact: Four hits of raid-wide physical damage, requiring mitigation.
• Knuckle Sandwich: Targets the main tank with a telegraphed split damage tankbuster dealing four hits of physical damage. Should either be taken solo with an invulnerability cooldown or shared between both tanks with mitigation. If taken solo, be careful that tank enmity order does not change during the hits, because each hit will automatically target the highest enmity player.
• Quadruple Lariat or Octuple Lariat: One of two similar attacks depending on the cast name. Regardless of the cast, the boss also uses a concurrent late telegraphed point-blank AoE, so all players must be outside of melee range. Anyone hit by this will die.
  • Quadruple Lariat: A narrow, split damage conal AoE (Blazing Lariat) targeting all supports or all DPS, inflicting Physical Vulnerability Up. Each support should rotate and stack tightly with their partner.
  • Octuple Lariat: A conal AoE targeting all players and inflicting Physical Vulnerability Up. All players should spread in their clock positions.
  • Both attacks deal high damage and should be mitigated.
• Quadroboom Dive or Octoboom Dive: The boss faces one wall of the arena and jump to it, dealing proximity damage with a late telegraph. Afterwards, there are one of two follow-up attacks depending on the cast. Melees should immediately gap close to the boss once it lands.
  • Quadroboom Dive: A split damage circle AoE (Diveboom) targeting all supports or all DPS, inflicting Physical Vulnerability Up. Tanks/melees should be paired and healers/ranged DPS should be paired.
  • Octoboom Dive: A circle AoE on all players inflicting Physical Vulnerability Up. All players should spread.
  • Both attacks deal high damage and should be mitigated.
• Brutal Impact
• Barbarous Barrage: Will initially spawn six knockback towers, three on opposite walls (north/south or east/west)
  • The middle wall towers require four people to soak and will resolve first.
  • The corner towers require two people to soak and resolve second.
  • Typically, tanks and melees will prioritize the north or west four-person tower, while healers and ranged go to the south or east four-person tower.
  • They will position to be knocked back diagonally to the opposite two-person towers, with group 1 being knocked left and group 2 being knocked right, facing the middle. (While it is possible to use knockback immune on the towers, it is preferable to save this for a future mechanic.)
  • Afterwards, an eight-person tower will spawn in the center of the room, so each player should position to be knocked back towards the new tower.
  • The boss will jump to a random corner and cast Murderous Mist, an untelegraphed 270 degree frontal cleave that inflicts poison, so players should then position to be knocked behind the boss.
• Doping Draught: The boss receives one stack of Dangerously Doped, increasing damage dealt by 10% and augmenting some of its attacks for the remainder of the fight.

Phase 2

• Quadruple Lariat or Octuple Lariat: Conal AoEs that function similarly as before, but the boss will always be on fire during the cast, indicating that he will use a donut AoE instead of a point-blank AoE, requiring the party to be in melee range while spreading or stacking.
• Quadroboom Dive or Octoboom Dive: The boss will be on fire and will use a late telegraphed knockback originating from where he jumps to instead of a proximity AoE, followed by the spread or stack AoEs that function as before. Players should preposition to their stack/spread locations and use knockback immune.
• Whether or not the boss is on fire for future usages of the Lariat and Dive attacks is random, so players will need to pay attention to his animation.
• Brutal Impact: Now hits six times.
• Knuckle Sandwich: Now hits six times. If taken solo with an invulnerability cooldown, should use late in the cast to ensure it covers all hits.
• Tag Team: Summons two untargetable clones of the boss (Brute Distortion) on adjacent walls. All players will be tethered to one of the adds, although for clarity, they can only see their own tether. Everyone will receive a Chain Deathmatch debuff for 11 seconds, indicating they will need to be hit by the clone's next attack to cleanse the debuff, or they will die if the debuff expires naturally.
  • Each clone will use Brutal Lariat, a dash that hits two-thirds of the arena on the sides of their glowing arm. Each player should position to be hit by the clone they were tethered to (which will deal reduced damage and not inflict Damage Down) while avoiding the dash from the non-tethered clone.
  • After the clones dash once, they will use another dash through the arena, requiring the party to dodge both clones. The safe corner will always be the one that was initially hit by both dashes (or directly opposite the first corner that was not hit at all).
• Quadruple Lariat or Octuple Lariat
• Brutal Impact
• Final Fusedown: Eight untargetable Lit Fuse bomb adds will spawn, four on the cardinals and four further out on the intercardinals. These will either have a short or long fuse. Similar to normal mode, the short fuse bombs will explode as late telegraphed circle AoEs, followed by the long fuse bombs.
  • In addition, each player will also either be given a short or long fuse. All DPS will receive the same fuse lengths, and all supports will receive the other fuse lengths. This causes players to themselves emit an AoE (Explosion) that deals damage and inflicts Magic Vulnerability Up. The short fuse players will explode at the same time as the short fuse bomb explosions. Afterwards, the long fuse players and long fuse bombs will explode.
  • The fuses on players are not indicated by debuffs, so each player must look at the fuse length on their character.
  • There are only two possible patterns of bombs: (1) The three bombs towards the northeast corner and one southwest bomb will have long fuses, while the others are short. (2) The three bombs towards the southwest corner and the one northeast bomb will have long fuses, while the others are short.
  • The four players with short fuses will need to spread near the long fuse bombs to avoid the short bomb explosions and hitting the long fuse players with their explosions, as the lingering Magic Vulnerability Up will make their subsequent detonation lethal. The other four players with long fuses will stack in a small safe spot near the middle of the arena to avoid the short explosions. Specifically, this safe spot is the "diamond" in the middle of the arena and leaning towards the three long fuse bombs in the corner.
  • Afterwards, the four players with long fuses will spread to where the short fuse bombs exploded to safely resolve their explosions, while the four short fuse players stack in the safe spot near the middle of the arena. The safe spot is again in the diamond but on the opposite side as the first safe spot.
  • Melees/tanks whose fuses are about to explode should prioritize cardinal spread locations to be within melee range, but to avoid hitting the players in the middle, they should be in max melee range (past the curved white lines).
  • Ranged/healers whose fuses are about to explode should prioritize intercardinal spread locations away from melee range.
  • Group 1 should prioritize north and west while group 2 prioritizes south and east.
• Quadroboom Dive or Octoboom Dive
• Fusefield: The boss will spawn either a short fuse or a long fuse on the intercardinals and cardinals. There will be four short fuses and four long fuses, but the arrangement is random. The boss will receive the Fusefield buff for this mechanic.
  • In addition, each player will receive a Bombarium debuff lasting either 26 seconds or 44 seconds. All supports will have the same debuff length, and all DPS will have the other debuff length. Any dead players will not receive the debuff, but this mechanic is still resolvable, although they will die again.
  • Bombarian Flame: Summons a Sinister Spark at the end of each fuse.
  • The sinister sparks begin to move! The sparks will begin slowly moving towards the puddle in the middle of the arena. If any spark reaches the puddle, it will detonate and instantly wipe the raid. In addition, the puddle will inflict burns to any player who steps in it.
  • Each of the eight sparks must be disarmed by contacting it. Due to the hit detection, it is recommended to walk into it head-on, or stand still and it it come to you.
  • The short debuff players should disarm the short fuses, and the long debuff players should disarm the long fuses. Contacting a spark will cleanse the debuff and inflict moderate raid-wide damage (Mana Explosion), requiring mitigation and healing to used throughout this mechanic. It will also inflict a 2 second Magic Vulnerability Up on the party, requiring players to space out their spark detonations (after the debuff has fallen off and the party has sufficient HP) to avoid inflicting lethal damage.
  • If a player without a debuff touches a spark, they will disarm it but will also take lethal damage.
  • To determine which player takes which fuse, tanks and melee DPS can prioritize the first two fuses corresponding to their debuff length, starting from north and scanning clockwise. The group 1 player will take the first fuse and the group 2 player will take the second fuse. Healers and ranged DPS will stand on the third and fourth fuses, with group 1 taking the third fuse and group 2 taking the fourth fuse.
  • Once all players are on their fuses, the short fuse players should sequentially disarm their fuses starting from north and going clockwise. After all short fuses are disarmed, the long fuse players should disarm their fuses following the same priority.
• Knuckle Sandwich
• Doping Draught: The boss receives a second permanent stack of Dangerously Doped and a 34 second Doped and Detonative buff that will last for the upcoming mechanic, causing the boss and his hitbox to enlarge slightly.

Phase 3

• Quadroboom Bombarian Special or Octoboom Bombarian Special:
  • Five hits of high physical raid-wide damage, requiring healing and mitigation.
  • After the fifth hit, the boss will use a late telegraphed point-blank AoE, requiring players to be out of melee range. Immediately after, it will use a late telegraphed donut AoE, requiring players to be inside his hitbox.
  • The boss will then spawn a blue knockback circle and belly flop on the middle of the arena, dealing high physical damage that requires mitigation. All players should be knocked back to their assigned corners.
  • Afterwards, players should stack with partners (if Quadroboom) or fully spread (if Octoboom) because they will be hit with untelegraphed AoEs (Bombariboom) depending on the initial cast.
• Fuses of Fury: Will spawn the eight Lit Fuse adds similar to in Final Fusedown. Players should preposition on top of long fuse bombs for the following mechanic.
• Tag Team: Functions similarly as before, but all players will be chained to the boss himself, in addition to one of the clones. All players will receive two separate instances of Chain Deathmatch.
  • Shortly after the chains disappear, the bombs will explode, so the party should dodge into a short bomb explosion after it goes off.
  • Both adds will use Lariat Combo. In addition, the boss will face a random cardinal and use Murderous Mist. Players must be hit by both their tethered clone and the boss's 270 degree frontal cleave to cleanse both their debuffs, or they will die. They will still be inflicted with poison from the boss, which must be healed through.
  • Afterwards, dodge the second hit of Lariat Combo from the clones similarly as before.
• Quadroboom Dive or Octoboom Dive
• Brutal Impact: Now hits eight times, requiring heavy mitigation and healing.
• Knuckle Sandwich: Now hits eight times. Highly recommended to use an invulnerability cooldown (used very late in the cast bar).
• Fuse or Foe: Gives each player either a short or a long fuse, similar to Final Fusedown. However, the fuse length can be ignored.
  • Infernal Spin: A telegraphed frontal conal AoE that will rotate in the direction of the arrows. The boss will complete one full circle, only hitting each section of the arena once. In addition, two telegraphed point-blank AoEs (Explosive Rain) will spawn on opposite quadrants that will expand outwards as telegraphed concentric donut AoEs. Once these begin to expand, two similar expanding AoEs will spawn on the other quadrants.
  • The party should dodge the AoEs by moving into the first section hit by the frontal cone. Regardless of the donut AoE locations, the party must dodge through the middle and move to their clock spots. For melee uptime, melee DPS can switch places with their group's healer.
  • Once the fuses ignite, the party should be fully spread, with tanks and melee DPS on the cardinals in max melee range and healers and ranged DPS on the intercardinals near the arena corners. This will safely resolve the fuse detonations regardless of which role has which fuse length.
• Quadruple Lariat or Octuple Lariat
• Brutal Impact
• Barbarous Barrage: Functions similarly as before, except the boss will jump to a random cardinal and use Lariat Combo, so players should position on the middle tower to be knocked away from the glowing arm side. After the boss dashes, it will use another telegraph another cleave, requiring the party to either stay in the original safe area or switch sides depending on which arm is glowing.
• Knuckle Sandwich
• Doping Draught: The boss receives a third stack of Dangerously Doped and Doped and Detonative, enlarging his hitbox.
• Special Bombarian Special (enrage): Functions similarly to the previous Bombarian Special, requiring the party to heal and mitigate the raid-wides and dodge out, then in. However, after the donut AoE, the boss will become untargetable and wipe the party with an unavoidable knockback if he is not defeated in time.

Loot

•  30 Allagan Tomestone of Heliometry
• 1   AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition III (Guaranteed; limit one per week)

Treasure Coffer

Name	Type	Item Level	Rarity	Quantity
Dark Horse Champion's Chest Gear Coffer (IL 730)	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Dark Horse Champion's Leg Gear Coffer (IL 730)	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Surgelight Solvent	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Surgelight Twine	Other	N/A	ABasic	1

Dialogue

All NPC lines are voice acted. Does not include conditional lines from Metem.

Brute Bomber: I'll blow you to smithereens! (upon pull)

Metem: The Brute Bomber has muscled his way into the ring! (first Brutal Impact)

Brute Bomber: Yaaargh! (first Quadruple or Octuple Lariat)

Brute Bomber: Die! (first Quadroboom or Octoboom Dive)

Brute Bomber: Boom! (Barbarous Barrage)

Brute Bomber: Don't mind me, throat's a bit parched! (first Doping Draught)

System: Brute Bomber's muscles swell from the doping draught!

Refbot: Banned compound detected. Combatant disqualified.

Brute Bomber: Out of the way, tin can!

Metem: My word, he just assaulted the referee! The scoundrel!

Brute Bomber: No more distractions! (doped Lariat)

Brute Bomber: Now we're playing by my rules! (Tag Team)

Metem: Oho, Chain Deathmatch! There's no escaping those adamant links! (Chain Deathmatch)

Brute Bomber: You should know that I have a short fuse! (Final Fusedown)

System: A fuse has been attached to you...

Brute Bomber: This is going to be a blast! (Fusefield)

Metem: The infernal Fusefield! How will the challenger respond? (Bombarian Flame)

System: Sinister sparks light the fuses...

Brute Bomber: No, I need somethin' fiery! (second Doping Draught)

Metem: The Brute Bomber is embiggening himself!

System: The doping draught lights a fire in Brute Bomber's muscles!

Brute Bomber: Get ready for an explosion of pain! (Bombarian Special)

Metem: Kaboom! The Bombarian Special!

Brute Bomber: I can't lose! I won't! (third Doping Draught)

Metem: The Brute Bomber is desperate!

Brute Bomber: Your time's up! (Special Bombarian Special enrage)

Images

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External Links

• Common party finder strategies for M3S - North America

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Raids

Duties