AAC Light-heavyweight M1, known to players as M3 or R3, is the third turn of the AAC Light-heavyweight tier of The Arcadion 
Raid in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail.
Objectives[]
Normal[]
- Defeat Brute Bomber
Savage[]
- Defeat Brute Bomber
Story[]
Normal[]
Savage[]
Progression[]
Normal[]
I'll blow you to smithereens!!
Brute Bomber
Savage[]
This is going to be a blast!
Brute Bomber
This fight has multiple multi-hit raidwides and tankbusters to deal with, that only get worse as the battle progresses. You would do well to have your mitigations planned ahead to make most out of them.
The fight starts with a raidwide, Brutal Impact; Brute Bomber smashes the floor four times dealing physical damage. This is then followed by a tankbuster, Knuckle Sandwich, which is a double tankbuster to be shared by both tanks, but unlike in Normal mode, this has four consecutive hits for heavy physical damage. Keep Tanks together until the last hit is done, and don't forget to mitigate.
Next comes either Quadruple Lariat or Octuple Lariat. Brute Bomber does a point-blank AoE around him, and also shoots cones towards nearby players. Quadruple shoots four cones, that must be taken in pairs, and Octuple shoots eight cones, one for each player. Get far enough from him and if it is Quadruple, pair supports with DPS at intercardinals (recommend either Tanks with Ranged and Healers with Melee, or color pairs with waymarks), if Octuple, spread in clock positions.
Following the Lariat comes either Quadroboom Dive or Octoboom Dive. Brute Bomber turns towards one of the edges, preparing to jump there with proximity AoE. Get far away from the impact point and then spread around. If it was Quadroboom, spread in pairs, Tanks with Melees and Healers with Ranged. If Octoboom, each player will get hit, so spread the whole party around.
Brute Bomber jumps back to the middle, and then casts Barbarous Barrage. Six knockback-towers will spawn, either north-south or east-west, three on both sides. However, these towers will require a certain amount of players to soak them accordingly. The middle ones require four and the corner ones require two. The middle ones explode first, so have Tanks and Melees pair up in the north or east middle tower, so that you'll get knocked into the towers on the opposite side. Healers and Ranged do the same in the south or west middle tower. Make sure each pair gets knocked into one of the corner towers. As the middle towers explode, one more tower spawns into the center, that must be soaked by the whole party. Also, Brute Bomber jumps into one of the corners, preparing to unleash Murderous Mist. To evade this, you need to get behind him. When soaking the corner towers, get knocked towards the center tower, and then position yourself in such a way that you'll get knocked to the corner, where Brute Bomber is and evade Murderous Mist as well. Any towers you fail to soak here will cause a stacking damage over time-debuff, which gets very difficult to heal from 2 stacks onwards.
Brute Bomber jumps into the middle, and the dirty fighting begins. He uses Doping Draught to empower himself. From now on, Brutal Impact and Knuckle Sandwich hits six times. The Lariats and Dives also recieve a new version. To identify, what he uses, you need to look if he is flaming or not. He first uses flaming Quadruple/Octuple Lariat. The flaming Lariat is a donut AoE, so you need to be inside it. The pairs or spread is the still the same. Following this he uses flaming Quadroboom/Octoboom Dive, once again jumping to one of the edges, but flaming version is a heavy knockback nstead of proximity. Arm's Length/Surecast is recommended to use for this every time. Remember to pair up or spread depending which dive he uses. He then uses Brutal Impact and Knuckle Sandwich.
Next one is Tag Team and Chain Deathmatch. Tag Team summons two clones of him to the edges. Chain Deathmatch causes the clones to chain into every player. However, you can only see your own chain. When Chain Deathmatch-cast ends, every player gets a chain-debuff, that must be cleansed, or it causes a KO. To cleanse it, you will need to get hit by the clone you were chained to. The clones will then prepare to do the charges seen regularly in normal mode. Position yourself in front of the clone you were chained to and make sure you get hit only by that clone. In other words, go to the side, where that clone's flaming hand indicates and away from the side, where the other clone indicates. If done correctly, you will only get hit by your clone, and the chain-debuff will cleanse. The clones will then charge again, leaving only one corner safe. Quickly move there before the clones charge again. Brute Bomber casts another Lariat soon after, pay attention whether he is flaming, and pair up or spread accordingly.
After another Brutal Impact, Brute Bomber casts Final Fusedown. Eight bombs with two different fuses will spawn. Also, every player also gets a fuse, either short or long. This is spread according to roles: if supports have the short fuse, DPS will have the long fuse, or vice versa. Have the ones with long fuse group up in front of three bombs that have long fuse, and the ones with short fuse will go their pre-determined location to make sure their fuses won't blow up on anyone, and also not to get hit from the bombs with short fuses. After this, the long fuses will be dealt with the same way, the short fuses will need to go in front of the lone bomb with long fuse. After, Brute Bomber does another Dive, remember to check if he is flaming.
Next mechanic is Fusefield. Brute Bomber generates a bomb field around him, that is lethal to touch, with eight fuses sticking from it, four short and four long fuses. Players will also receive a timed debuff, which is again spread according to role; if supports have the short timer, DPS will have the long timer, or vice versa. Position every player on top of a fuse in such a way, that short timers are on short fuses and long timers on long fuses. The fuses will then ignite, and you will need to put them out one by one, but you have to careful; each put out fuse will cause raidwide damage and Magic Vulnerability Up for 2 seconds, meaning you can't put out the next fuse until this has run out. It is recommended to have pre-determined positions and order, in which to put out the fuses. A common order is this; for supports = MT, OT, H1, H2, positions clockwise from north. For DPS = M1, M2, R1, R2, positions counter-clockwise from north. Note, that when putting out the fuses, the game needs a little time to register it, so just walking into the fuseflame will not automatically put it out, you need to stand in the flame about 1 second. If any of the fuses reach the bomb field, the whole party will wipe. And if you don't have a debuff, putting out the fuses will instantly KO you. Once the Fusefield is dealt with, deal with another Knuckle Sandwich.
Brute Bomber use another Doping Draught, embiggening himself and becoming even more powerful. Now, Brutal Impact and Knuckle Sandwich hits eight times. After doping himself, he uses either Quadroboom Bombardian Special or Octoboom Bombardian Special. This is eight hits in the following order: four consecutive raidwides, a point-blank AoE, a donut AoE, which leaves only his hitbox safe, a knocback field in the center and finally, either spread or pairs depending if the Special is Quadroboom or Octoboom. The real killer of this mechanic is the knockback. You need to be on the intercardinals and right on the edge of the knockback field to have enough distance so that you don't knocked outside the arena for an instant KO.
Next comes a complex mechanic, that starts with Fuses of Fury, followed by another Tag Team and Chain Deathmatch. Fuses of Fury brings out the same eight bombs seen in Final Fusedown, but this time you don't have fuses of your own. Tag Team and Chain Deathmatch are mostly the same, but this time every player will also get chained to Brute Bomber as well. Check, which clone you are chained to and then evade the bombs; the ones with short fuse blow up first. After the bombs are gone, the clones will prepare to charge again, but Brute Bomber will also cast Murderous Mist. Since you were chained to Brute Bomber as well, you will need to get hit by your charging clone and Brute Bomber as well at the same time. Find a spot where you will get hit by your clone and the Murderous Mist, while evading the other clone. Then, once again move to the safe corner from the second clone charges. Once this is done, Brute Bomber uses Knuckle Sandwich. To save healers the trouble, Main Tank is better to use his tank invulnerability for this.
The next mechanic is Fuse or Foe. For this, remember your pre-determined Lariat spread position, as it is vital to survive this mechanic. Each player gets a fuse, either short or long, but if you do this according to this strategy, it really doesn't matter. Brute Bomber prepares to shoot out cones according to the direction shown, and AoE fields appear, that will then turn into donut AoEs. Group up at the opposite side from the direction, Brute Bomber will shoot, and then evade the AoEs, once they start to blow. Another set of this will happen to the opposite direction. Once you have evaded these, move to your pre-determined spread position, and stay close to it. Keep evading the AoEs. Ranged and Healers, who are usually on intercardinals, should go as far as they can, so that Tanks and Melees have more breathing space and also able to maintain uptime. If you do this like this prperly, the fuses will blow up harmlessly.
Brute Bomber does another Barbarous Barrage. Deal with this like the first one, but be on the lookout, as he then prepares the familiar charge from normal mode. At the last tower, get knocked back to the side that he won't cleave, and then check on which side of the arena you will need to move to evade he second charge. After this, Off-Tank should take aggro, since he will do one more eight-hit Knuckle Sandwich, and Main Tank won't have invulnerability ready for this.
The fight then reaches it climax. In desperation, Brute Bomber uses Doping Draught for a third time, and then uses his enrage, Special Bombardian Special. This the same as the Bombardian Special seen earlier, but the knockback at the end can't be evaded, it will knock you out of the arena no matter what. You need to defeat him before this happens, or wipe is all you get.