Alexander - The Burden of the Father

Alexander - The Burden of the Father, known by players as A4, is the final turn of the raid Alexander: Gordias in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. Deep beyond the Arm of the Father, the Burden of the Father is the lift that leads down into the core of Gordias. Deactivating it disables Alexander's engines.

Story
Mide develops a plan to deactivate Alexander's engine, and the party sets off to accomplish this goal. However, in the Burden of the Father, they are attacked by a sentry robot, The Manipulator. When The Manipulator is defeated, the party rides the lift into the engine room, and Mide shuts off the engine. However, Quickthinx Allthoughts is not alarmed, and leaves, suggesting that he has a backup plan.

Objectives

 * 1) Defeat the Manipulator: 0/1

Progression
The Burden of the Father only contains two rooms: the circular boss arena, and a smaller circular area. The Manipulator is fought in the center of the boss arena, does not move, and is initially untargetable. At first the boss will have two Forelegs which must be destroyed, but as destroying one causes the other to be healed to full health, the party should focus on destroying one Foreleg, then getting some damage on the boss when it drops its invulnerability, and then destroying the other Foreleg; after this, the boss can be damaged.

Throughout the boss fight, the Manipulator will use Emergency Quarantine on the off-tank and a random DPS, causing them to be warped into the smaller area, where they must fight a Panzer Doll before being returned to the main fight. In addition, the Manipulator's attacks cause splash damage, forcing the party to spread out.

Party members with blue orbs over their head will be bombarded by orbs; the off-tank or another DPS should move to intercept these so that the orbs do not all kill the targeted player. Similarly, Magitek Bits will spawn and fire lasers at a party member that should be intercepted to spread damage. Jagd Dolls will pulse out an area-of-effect attack that causes the debuff Luminous Aetherplasm; four stacks of this is instant death and so they must be destroyed immediately.

Late in the fight, the Manipulator will target both healers with a 5-count countdown called Judgement Nisi. If somebody else touches a healer while Judgement Nisi is counting down, they will also be inflicted with Judgement Nisi; if the healers touch and pass Judgement Nisi to each other, they will instantly die. After each count, Judgement Nisi causes heavy damage to its victims, which must be healed through.

After the Manipulator is defeated, the party can obtain 4 of either Tarnished Gordian Shaft, Tarnished Gordian Crank, Tarnished Gordian Spring, Gobwalker Shielding, or Gordian Spring.

Musical Themes
The theme of the Burden of the Father is called "Metal - Alexander Awakes". Its lyrics do not begin playing until the party engages the Manipulator in combat.

Lyrics

 * Snap click crank wirr whizz wham boom!
 * Wheels humsing uplander doom!
 * Crack thoom snap bam bim bangy zoom!
 * Ah, nearsoon firebloom, crimson FOOM!
 * Stop dizzyheels of the wicked.
 * Defuse, pop! Debone, slup! Deflate...
 * No busydeals for the wicked.
 * Too late, far too late, far too late!
 * Wake the metal! (boom gobbiedoom!)
 * Create the Metal! (doom gobbieboom!)
 * Enfold the Metal! (boom gobbiedoom!)
 * Control the Metal! (doom gobbieboom!)
 * Embrace the Metal! (boom gobbiedoom!)
 * Reraise the Metal! (doom gobbieboom!)
 * Restore the Metal! (boom gobbiedoom!)
 * Live for the Metal! (doom gobbieboom!)
 * Slap tick clank purr kizz blam crash!
 * Bluehand back, uplander bash!
 * Whack vroom clap salm sing spinny splash!
 * Not farsoon we smash heads, we dash!
 * Boom! gobbie-bombs gobbie-neckbreaks
 * Again and again and again!
 * Doom! gobbie-hands gobbie-endmakes
 * The end! Oh, the end! Yes, the end!
 * Wake the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Create the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Enfold the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Control the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Embrace the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Reraise the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Restore the Metal! (Metal!)
 * Live for the Metal! (Metal!)