Alexander - The Burden of the Father (Savage)

Level: 60 (Sync: 60)
Item Level: 205
Difficulty: Normal

Party size: Full Party
8 man • 2 2 4
Unsyncing: Allowed
Time limit: 90 minutes
Phoenix Down: Not Available
Duty Finder: Savage Raids (Heavensward)
Tomestones: 15
Req. quest: A Song of Steam and Steel
Location: The Burden of the Father
Region: Dravania
Stone, Sky, Sea: Available
Patch: 3.05
The Echo: Permanent +20%

What fun is there in merely restating the facts? Never one to be content with the truth, the wandering minstrel has taken the liberty of retelling the tale of your journey into Alexander with his trademark embellishments. Some may question the value of such entertainment, but none can deny the skill with which he weaves his tapestry of song and verse, immersing you in memory...

— In-game description

Alexander - The Burden of the Father (Savage) is a level 60 raid introduced in patch 3.05 with Heavensward. Also known as A4S, it is the final sector of Alexander: Gordias (Savage).

Strategy

The Manipulator

The Manipulator has five phases: four leg phases and one final body phase. They are completely immobile and only use ranged attacks.

This fight requires heavy DPS pushing, as the fight has a hard enrage timer of 13 minutes and 10 seconds. Pushing DPS harder will get players through the various phases faster, leaving more time to deal with the boss before the enrage.

The Manipulator's legs can be destroyed in any order. Every time a leg is destroyed, The Manipulator's body will be temporarily vulnerable for 12 seconds (or until it loses 5% health) before transitioning to the next phase.

Players should only focus one leg at a time. When a leg is destroyed, all other legs will fully heal with the start of the next phase.

Note: When attempting this fight solo, upon successfully attacking the main boss after destroying the third leg to enter Phase 4, you will be immediately be provided with both of the Judgement Nisi mechanic de-buffs as the sole player which will kill you shortly after with Final Sentence. The final leg must quickly be destroyed. Pooling resources is recommended. Once the last leg is destroyed, the phase will end, and the mechanic will fall off, allowing a simple DPS burn of the final targeting of the main boss.

Pre-fight Setup:

Three players (preferably Melee DPS and/or the main tank) should be assigned to the northeast, northwest, and south for Jagd Doll management in phase 3 onwards.

Each healer should be paired with a ranged/magical DPS for Decree Nisi juggling.

One spot away from The Manipulator should be assigned for Decree Nisi A to stand, and one spot for Decree Nisi B to stand.

A preferred order of which legs to destroy first should be established.

Phase 1 - First Leg

While the order the legs are destroyed does not matter, it is recommended to start with the hindlegs as they are harder to reach.

Phase 1 Abilities
Name	Description
Hydrothermal Missile	High damage in a small AoE shot at the main enmity target periodically through the fight. Players should avoid standing near the main tank at all times.
Seed of the Sky	Dodgeable AoEs are placed under random players— either four simultaneously or in two sets of two. Simply move out of the danger zone.
Discoid	One player will be marked by a blue circle. Two sets of three Steam Gasket orbs will spawn from two random points on the edge of the arena. These orbs will slowly make their way towards the marked player, speeding up after 12 seconds. Each orb explodes for a ~3500 damage AoE when it touches a player. Orbs will spawn from six potential areas, spawnpoints being the six "tracks" on the arena between the red circles.
Perpetual Ray	One of The Manipulator's living legs will begin emitting steam and lose its Stun Resistance. If the leg is not stunned, two players will be hit with high magic damage and lose 3000 MP. If the leg is stunned in time, two random players will be hit for negligible damage. This attack occurs infrequently enough that stun abilities will be ready again by the time it's recast.
Emergency Quarantine	The off-tank and a random DPS will be Quarantined to a separate arena to fight a Panzer Doll. Once the doll is defeated, both players will be returned to the main arena. The Panzer Doll will inflict stacks of Blunt Resistance Down which will slowly build up over the course of the fight. If players are killed in the Quarantine zone, their bodies will be stuck there and they can not be resurrected. If the off-tank is dead, a random second player will be quarantined instead.

This first phase will primarily involve dealing with Discoid. The party can either rotate the orb damage between different players, or have the two tanks tank three orbs each. In the case of the latter, a DPS will need to handle stunning the Perpetual Ray leg.

Phase 1 Rotation
Attack	Strategy
Hydrothermal Missile
Discoid	Either have both tanks tank three orbs each or rotate damage between nearby players.
Seed of the Sky
Hydrothermal Missile	If the main tank is absorbing Discoid orbs, be careful of the extra burst of damage here.
Perpetual Ray	If both tanks are handling Discoid, a melee DPS will need to stun the steaming leg here.
Emergency Quarantine	The off-tank and a random DPS will be sent way. They must kill the doll as fast as possible to rejoin the fight.
Hydrothermal Missile
Discoid	The off-tank will likely be in Quarantine during this, so players other than the tanks may have to help absorb orbs.
Seed of the Sky
Perpetual Ray	A melee DPS will likely want to handle stunning the leg.
Hydrothermal Missile
Loop Repeat

After the leg is shattered, the boss's main body can be attacked for 12 seconds. Afterwards it will cast Mortal Revolution, a raid-wide attack that deals high damage. Mitigate and heal through.

Phase 2 - Second Leg

Three legs remain. It is recommended to take out the second hindleg and leave the forelegs for phase 3 and 4.

The boss will stop casting Discoid and instead replace it with the attack Carnage.

Phase 2 Abilities
Name	Description
Carnage	Small drones will appear at random points around the arena and mark one player with five interceptable tethers. Only three of these five tethers will fire, however. If the targeted player dies to this attack, The Manipulator gains a permanent stack of Damage Up. These tethers deal damage in an AoE around their target. Tethered players should not stand near others.

Players should ensure they take tethers when they can, as the boss gaining Damage Up stacks can easily lead to a wipe from Mortal Revolution.

It is recommended to have all players stand close to the leg during this phase for easier tether interception, as there are no other major mechanics during this phase.

Phase 2 Rotation
Attack	Strategy
Emergency Quarantine
Carnage	There will be two Quarantined players during this, leaving less available to take tethers.
Hydrothermal Missile
Perpetual Ray	The main tank should handle stuns from this point onwards to allow melee DPS more time to deal damage.
Carnage	Ensure the target doesn't die to avoid buffing the boss.
Hydrothermal Missile + Seed of the Sky	Be careful of AoEs.
Emergency Quarantine
Perpetual Ray	Main tank should stun the leg.
Hydrothermal Missile
Carnage
Hydrothermal Missile
Loop Repeat

Once again, once the leg is broken the main body will be vulnerable for 12 seconds before it casts Mortal Revolution.

Phase 3 - Third Leg

From this point onwards, The Manipulator completely loses the Emergency Quarantine ability— but like prior phases, gains a new one.

Phase 3 Abilities
Name	Enemies	Description
Summon Dolls	Straf Doll	A large doll in the center of the arena. Will explode any Jagd Doll that gets near, dealing party-wide damage proportional to the Jagd Doll's remaining health but permanently killing it. Attacks with Kaltstrahl, a high damage frontal cleave that inflicts Slashing Resistance Down. If left alive too long, will self-destruct with Wirbelwind. This deals no damage, but sets the entire party's MP to 0.
Summon Dolls	Jagd Doll	Three small dolls that spawn on the south, northeast, and northwest edge of the arena. Their max HP is low but, if killed normally, will revive itself after a few seconds with a stack of Damage Up. Will give nearby players stacks of Luminous Aetheroplasm. If one player reaches four stacks, they will explode and wipe the entire party. Can only be permanently killed by bringing into melee range of the Straf Doll. When exploded by the Straf Doll, will deal a base of 13,725 damage, multiplied by the Jagd Doll's remaining health percentage.

Due to the low health of Jagd Dolls, bringing them to 25% health or less before exploding them with the Straf Doll is a safe strategy. This leaves explosion damage manageable if staggered, but gives DPS a safety net in case an attack deals critical damage.

The off-tank should handle tanking the Straf Doll in the center. Two of the Jagd Dolls should be handled by one DPS each while the main tank can handle the third doll. The rest of the party can attack the Straf Doll.

It is important that only one person attacks each Jagd Doll due to how little health they have. Accidentally killing a doll will more than likely result in a wipe. Additionally the Straf Doll should not be killed before all Jagd Dolls are exploded.

Phase 3 Rotation
Attack	Strategy
Hydrothermal Missile
Carnage	Take tethers and great ready to handle pre-assigned dolls.
Summon Dolls	The off-tank should take the Straf Doll while the pre-assigned players take their Jagd Dolls. If the Straf Doll is taking too much damage, DPS attack the leg until the Jagd Dolls are exploded.
Perpetual Ray	The off-tank can stun the legs here assuming only the forelegs remain.
Seed of the Sky
Hydrothermal Missile	Ensure the main tank doesn't die to a combination of this and Jagd Doll explosions.
Carnage
Perpetual Ray	Any tank can stun the leg.
Hydrothermal Missile
Summon Dolls	Ideally the leg should be destroyed before this point, but if not, the party will have to focus on dealing with the dolls before destroying the leg.
Perpetual Ray	Off-tank can stun the leg.
Carnage + Seed of the Sky
Hydrothermal Missile
Perpetual Ray	Any tank can stun the leg.
Loop Repeat

Players will need to shatter the leg quickly at this point, as the boss has the potential to enter an enrage in this phase. Allowing a second wave of dolls to spawn will significantly slow down the fight, making enrage harder to beat.

After the third leg is shattered, players can attack the boss once again. Be aware however, that the Mortal Revolution in this phase will hit a little harder.

Phase 4 - Fourth Leg

All prior mechanics except for Emergency Quarantine are brought back in this phase, with one additional mechanic added in.

Phase 4 Abilities
Name	Description
Judgement Nisi	One ranged DPS or healer is given Decree Nisi A and another given Decree Nisi B. These are both 30 second debuffs that deal damage over time and spread to other players who touch the afflicted. If two players with opposite buffs touch, they will instantly die. The damage over time is multiplied by the stack amount. The closer the debuff is to expiring, the less damage it deals. Both buffs must be kept active as it is needed to counter an attack in Phase 5.

The party should assign each healer a ranged DPS partner to pass Decree Nisi to once it gets close to expiring, as well as a spot away from both the party and the other Nisi group to stand in.

Healing will become very intensive now, having to manage all prior mechanics and potentially four active damage-over-time debuffs.

Phase 4 Rotation
	Attack	Strategy
Opening	Judgement Nisi	Only done at the start of this phase, so if debuffs expire, they're completely gone. Split the different buffs to different sides of the arena and have ranged players keep the debuff active.
Loop	Summon Dolls	All players should move to their assignments while making sure not to run into the players afflicted with Decree Nisi.
	Perpetual Ray	There is only one leg left that this can come from. Simply stun it.
	Seed of the Sky
	Hydrothermal Missile	Be careful of Jagd Doll damage overlapping with this.
	Discoid	Players will need to avoid running into Nisi afflicted players while absorbing these orbs. Healing will be intensive during this.
	Seed of the Sky
	Hydrothermal Missile
	Loop Repeat

Once again, attack the boss after shattering the final leg, preparing as well to mitigate and heal through the Mortal Revolution for this phase, which hits quite hard.

Depending on DPS output, it may be wise to stop DPS on the leg at 10% to intentionally wait for the second wave of Dolls. If Mortal Revolution is cast while Dolls are still up, the healers may not be able to handle the outgoing damage.

Phase 5 - The Body

In this final phase, mechanics will once again repeat, however some attacks will have additional mechanics to them, along with one new attack.

Phase 5 Abilities
Name	Description
Carnage Zero	A non-tethered version of Carnage; instead, three random players are shot with small AoEs. Players must stay spread out to avoid overlapping AoEs.
Discoid	The final orb is replaced with a Steam Pump, a giant black orb akin to Ultima Weapon's Aetheroplasm. This orb deals 14,000 damage divided across all players in range and inflicts Vulnerability Up to those hit. The length of the Vulnerability Up is also reduced the more players are hit. A solo player will take a 100 second debuff, two will get 50 seconds. Four or more will get the minimum 12 seconds.
Royal Pentacle	Shoots the main tank with five high-damage rays before ending with a high damage missile. Additionally, six Steam Regulators appear in the center. These are a random mix of red and blue, matching the colors of Decree Nisi A and Decree Nisi B. Running into a Steam Regulator with a matching Nisi debuff will destroy the Regulator, deal minor damage, purge the Decree Nisi, and inflict Vulnerability Up for 5 seconds. Running into a Steam Regulator without the correct Nisi debuff will kill the player, but still destroy the Regulator. It is possible for one person to suicidally destroy two regulators simultaneously by using Sprint. If Regulators are left up for 20 seconds, they will wipe the raid.

The main obstacle for this phase will be Royal Pentacle's Steam Regulators. There are two methods to handling them.

An example of handling Royal Pentacle's Nisi strategy with a 2:4 Regulator pattern.

The intended method is to have healers and ranged DPS juggle Decree Nisi A and Decree Nisi B throughout the entire fight. Once Royal Pentacle starts:
The jugglers with the lowest/absent debuff will touch the other player to refresh it.

The other juggler will run into one of the Regulators, purging their debuff and destroying the Regulator.

The now Vulnerable juggler will run back to their partner and refresh their Nisi debuff and wait for their Vulnerability to expire.

Meanwhile the non-vulnerable juggler will run into a matching Regulator.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all regulators are gone. As red and blue Regulators may not be equally distributed, one juggler may have to temporarily help the opposite Nisi side after purging their own debuff.
Non-jugglers can also help by grabbing whichever Nisi color Regulator is more numerous.

The other method involves sacrificing players, intentionally letting players get killed to destroy the regulators and resurrecting them after, often with a Healer Limit Break 3. This method is also often used as the fall-back if Decree Nisi expired or died prior.

Players will first want to wait one GCD to ensure Steam Regulators are fully tangible and destructible.
DPS and the off-tank will use Sprint and run straight through two Regulators at once, hopefully destroying both.
If all goes well, only three players should die. Unfortunately, more are often needed.
Assuming only four or less players died, healers can use their normal resurrection for the first Royal Pentacle and save their Limit Break 3 for the second.

Phase 5 Rotation
Attack	Strategy
Carnage Zero	Spread out to avoid overlapping AoEs
Discoid	Players should pop the yellow orbs first. Once all yellow orbs are gone, everyone that isn't the main tank should group close near the center(but without touching Nisi) and let the black orb run fly into the group.
Seed of the Sky
Hydrothermal Missile
Carnage Zero
Royal Pentacle	The main tank should either use all mitigations (this attack happens on a 120 second loop meaning all cooldowns will be back up) or an invulnerability. The rest of the party should use whatever preferred method they like to handle the Steam Regulators.
Carnage	Handle tethers to avoid giving the boss a Damage Up.
Summon Dolls	Handle the dolls as before and quickly. Stay spread if possible as Carnage Zero will be cast repeatedly afterwards.
Hydrothermal Missile
Seed of the Sky + Carnage Zero
Carnage Zero
Hydrothermal Missile
Loop Repeat

The boss will loop through these attacks until it enrages, casting Mortal Revolution on repeat.

Loot

Gordian Manifesto - Page 4
Gordian Gear Drops directly from boss, must be synced
Large Gordian Gear Drops directly from boss, must be synced

Treasure Coffer 1

Name	Type	Item Level	Rarity	Quantity
Paladin's Gordian Arms (IL 210)	Other	N/A	CBlue	1
Gordian Axe	Marauder's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Greatsword	Dark Knight's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Trident	Lancer's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Cesti	Pugilist's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Katana	Samurai's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Baselards	Rogue's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Longbow	Archer's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Musketoon	Machinist's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Staff	Two-handed Thaumaturge's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Grimoire	Arcanist's Grimoire	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Rapier	Red Mage's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Cane	Two-handed Conjurer's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Codex	Scholar's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gordian Astrometer	Astrologian's Arm	210	CBlue	1
Gobwalker Shielding	Material	N/A	ABasic	1
Gordian Chest Gear Coffer (IL 210)	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Gobwalker Gear	Other	N/A	ABasic	1

Treasure Coffer 2

Name	Type	Item Level	Rarity	Quantity
Gordian Weapon Coffer (IL 210)	Other	N/A	ABasic	1

Achievements

This duty is associated with the following achievements:

Name	Points	Task	Reward	Patch
Sins of the Savage Father I	5	Complete Alexander: Gordias (Savage).	-	3.05
Sins of the Savage Father II	10	Complete Alexander: Gordias (Savage) 5 times.	-	3.05
Sins of the Savage Father III	20	Complete Alexander: Gordias (Savage) 10 times.	-	3.05
Mightier than the Manipulator	5	Complete Alexander - The Burden of the Father (Savage) with a party of only blue mages, Silence Echo turned on, and Unrestricted Party turned off.	-	5.15

Music

Section	Theme
Main	Metal

Alexander - The Burden of the Father (Savage)

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