Alexander - The Arm of the Father

Alexander - The Arm of the Father, known by players as A3, is the third turn of the raid Alexander: Gordias in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. After clearing the Cuff of the Father, the party arrives in the ruins of what appears to be a several-story building inside Gordias, and deep within, faces off against a monstrosity known as the living liquid.

Story
Cid nan Garlond reveals that he is bothered by the Illuminati's decision to broadcast instructions for entering Gordias over the airwaves of the Dravanian Hinterlands; shortly after, Redbrix sports Brayflox Alltalks, who has snuck into Gordias, suggesting that she is a spy for the Illuminati who needed a way to reenter the giant. However, [Biggs and Wedge (Final Fantasy XIV)|Wedge]] deduces that the spy must have been an impostor. The party thus embarks on another expedition into Gordias, in pursuit of the Brayflox impostor.

After purging the Arm of the Father of the enemies the Illuminati left lying in wait for the party, the Warrior of Light encounters Quickthinx Allthoughts again, who proclaims that he plans to create a utopia of reason through the destruction caused by Alexander. The Warrior of Light escapes with Mide, and plans to shut down the core of Gordias to prevent Alexander from being summoned again.

Objectives

 * 1) Clear the Strategeion: 0/1
 * 2) Arrive in Condensate Demineralizer #9: 0/1
 * 3) Defeat the living liquid: 0/1

Strategeion
The Strategion is a the ruins of a three-floor tower that the party must climb up, and then down, to progress. Along the way, they will encounter various trash packs, including Echioceras and Ogrebons, that drop a yellow goo inflicting Heavy. At the bottom of the tower is a tunnel leading into Condensate Demineralizer #9.

Condensate Demineralizer #9
This circular boss arena is surrounded by a ring of electricity; the living liquid will spawn in the center. Stepping or being knocked into the electricity inflicts Paralysis and a DoT known as Electrocution, and thus should be avoided at all costs.

The living liquid is based on the Liquid Flame of Final Fantasy V, and as such as three forms: human, fist, and tornado. It starts the battle in human form, transforms into fist form after a certain amount of time, transforms into tornado form after more time, and then the cycle repeats.

In its first human form, the living liquid has access to the following abilities:
 * Sluice: Splash damage on four marked players, followed by an AoE centered on where those players are standing.
 * Protean Wave: Narrow cone AoEs that will knock back affected players into the electricity ring.
 * Splash: Unavoidable party-wide damage in several hits.
 * Cascade: Unavoidable party-wide damage in one blast.

In its hand form, the living liquid must be tanked in the center of the demineralizer, as otherwise it will knock party members into the electricity ring. It has access to the following abilities:
 * Wash Away: Unavoidable party-wide damage that knocks back targets in random directions, slightly less than the radius of the platform.
 * Split: The living liquid loses half its health to create a liquid limb. The limb should be pulled by the off-tank, as both the boss and its clone will begin to stack debuffs on the tanks, and a single tank will not be able to deal with the damage from both. After a time, the limb merges with the liquid, giving back all its remaining health.
 * Splash

Tornado form acts as an add phase. The living liquid suffers a DoT during this phase, and cannot be targeted; a circular puddle of water that inflicts a DoT known as Dropsy on anyone who touches it will surround the living liquid. Gear Lubricants and Piston Lubricants will continually spawn, and must be defeated before entering the electricity. The invulnerable liquid will have access to the following abilities:
 * Drainage: A yellow tether will form connecting the tornado to a random party member. A tank should intercept this tether, as it is a tank-buster attack that will inflict heavy damage on its target.
 * Ferrofluid: Two random targets will be tethered and assigned magnetic polarities. If they have different polarities, the tether will pull them together; if they collide with each other, they will be inflicted with Atrophy (-30% to all stats), and if they collide with the water, they will be inflicted with Dropsy. Therefore, two different-tethered players should spread out so that the tether forms a line tangent to the innermost circle to avoid both effects. If they have the same polarity, the players will be pushed apart, and should stack near the Dropsy circle so that they are not knocked into the electricity and inflicted with Electrocution and Paralysis.

At 35% the living liquid returns to human form and begins using abilities from all three forms. In addition, three Dropsy puddles appear throughout the room, and the main tank is inflicted with a stacking debuff that forces a tank swap. After 12 minutes, the living liquid enrages and uses Cad

After the ninth wave is defeated, Hangar 12 is cleared. The party will be able to roll on four of either a Tarnished Gordian Lens, Tarnished Gordian Crank, or Tarnished Gordian Spring.

As of Patch 3.07, Savage A3 has been cleared by under 20 groups. The reasons for the low number of clears include an extremely harsh DPS check, complex mechanics such as Digititis, the restrictions on Gordian and Esoterics gear that can be earned in one week after Patch 3.05, and the fact that the living liquid uses several mechanics at the same time.