Oh, shut up and help me remodel the Anabaseios: The Tenth Circle page!
Anabaseios: The Tenth Circle, known to players as P10, is the second turn of anabaseios in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker.
Story[]
Normal[]
You steel yourself to brave Pandæmonium once again, but your advance is blocked by a familiar face: Themis, who has been molded by Athena from memories of the past and souls of the present. Although his voice is friendly, he says that the strings of his creator force him to face you as foe. Before he departs, the massive stones and impregnable gates of Pandæmonium arrange into a twisted form. This verboten being serves a singular purpose─to crush any who would oppose its mother's plans.
Duty Finder Description
Savage[]
Stone and steel moving by means of magicks or technology is hardly cause to raise an eyebrow, but the idea of inanimate objects being imbued with life is fantastic indeed. Nemjiji seems to agree, and to see the flourishes she adds to your report of the battle with Pandæmonium, you wonder if her power to create may rival even Athena's.
Duty Finder Description
Progression[]
Normal[]
Savage[]
The battle arena is unique. It consists one large middle platform, and two smaller side platforms. There are also six poles, four on the main platform, and one on the both side platforms, that play important roles during the fight.
The fight begins with a raidwide, Ultima, followed by Soul Grasp, a multi-hit double tankbuster to be shared by both tanks.
Next comes the first real mechanic: Dividing Wings along with Steel Web. Dividing Wings brings down two wings, which tethers into two separate players at the same time, when Steel Web is cast. Steel Web targets a random support and random DPS with stack marker. Those players are also marked by a web AoE. The stack must be taken by three players, and the players tethered to the wings need to be away from those players. The wings shoot a wide conal AoE towards the tethered player. The three players taking the stack need to be inside the AoE but they can't be too close to each other, because the web AoE tethers those three players with a web. The web prevents these players from moving, and the players handling the tethers will need to cut off those webs by walking through them, before the web inflicts 5 stacks of debuff on them, that will kill them. If the players handling the stack were too close to each other, when the AoE is resolved, the web becomes too strong to be cut.
After resolving the former mechanic, the boss casts randomly either Circles of Pandæmonium or Pandæmonium's Holy. Circles is a donut-shaped AoE outside boss's hitbox, and Holy is a point-blank AoE inside the hitbox. Evade these depending, which is used. Next, the boss casts Wicked Step, bringing out two towers with tankbuster-marks. Tanks need to stand inside these towers to soak them, but they need to be standing on precise spot inside the tower, because the tower will launch the tanks high into the air and away from the towers origin points, and they need to land onto the side platforms in order to deal with upcoming Entangling Webs. Entangling Webs targets both tanks and one Healer and one DPS with a web AoE, that must be baited into the small poles within the side platforms and poles on the main platform close to the side platforms. The AoEs must be touching each other in order to generate a web bridge between the poles. The poison between the platforms gives a stacking debuff and lasts 40 seconds, inflicting heavy DoT.
Next comes Pandæmoniac Pillars. Eight tower marks appear on the main platform, each of them to be soaked. If any aren't soaked, the whole party will receive raidwide damage and Sustained Damage-debuff. After these towers drop, either Circles of Pandæmonium or Pandæmonium's Holy will be cast, and the towers will then randomly create either point-blank or donut AoEs around them. Point-blank AoEs are generated by towers that spawn chains, and donut-AoEs by circling figures. Find a safe spot depending what the towers will do, and also according to Circles/Holy. If you get hit by point-blank AoE, you'll get fettered. If you hit donut-AoE, you'll get Doom with 5 second timer, that can be cleansed.
Pillars is followed by Silkspit. Every player is targeted by a web AoE. These AoEs cannot overlap at all, nor can they touch any of the poles. If that happens, players will get web tethers to each other or the poles, preventing them from moving and also getting a stacking debuff, that will kill them in 5 stacks, unless it is cut by another player. Spread out so that the AoE's don't touch each other or the poles.
Next, Pandæmonium casts Dæmonic Bonds, inflicting all players with two out of three possible timed debuffs:
- Single person: This will always be received. Hits every player with an AoE, when time runs out. Only the player alone can be hit with this.
- Two person: This will be received randomly. Hits either all supports or all DPS with an AoE, that must shared by two players. Pair one support with one DPS.
- Four person: This will be received randomly. Hits one support and one DPS with an AoE, that must be shared by four players. It's best to have supports share one, and DPS the other.
These two debuffs have two different timers, shorter and longer. Be on the lookout, which debuff has which timer, as this can vary. Before these debuffs are resolved, Pandæmonium casts Pandæmoniac Meltdown, a line stack, but with a twist compared to normal mode. It also targets two random players with a red mark, and these players will be shot by a narrow laser, that damages everyone in its wake. Have these two players move away from the rest of the party, while they stack up to deal with the line stack. Once this is done, Pandæmonium prepares to use Touchdown; he will jump on to the main platform, and anyone on the platform, when he jumps will be knocked out of the platform. Have the whole party move to the side platforms, and while there, prepare to deal with the debuffs received earlier; the one with shorter timer is resolved first and the second is dealt right after. Remember to keep enough distance, so that the AoEs only hit those they are meant to hit, otherwise you'll certainly face KOs.
After resolving the bonds, move back to the main platform before Pandæmonium casts Ultima again, followed by Soul Grasp. Ultima destroys the web bridges. Then, Dæmonic Bonds is cast again, this time inflicting single person- and two person-debuffs, timer order varies. Pandæmonium then casts Pandæmoniac Turrets, bringing down eight towers, four to the northern edge of the main platform and four to the southern edge. Have Tanks and Melee DPS soak the northern towers and Healers and Ranged DPS soak the southern towers to maintain uptime. These towers are turrets that will be dealt with next.
Divide into normal light parties and look at the turrets. They will have dots from 1 to 4. These dots indicate the order they will fire their laser. This laser inflicts Dark Resistance Down-debuff to the player, that first gets hit by the laser. This means that every player can only take one hit from the tower as the first in line. The towers will fire their laser towards the player closest to them. However, the catch here is that this laser is too powerful to survive alone (except for a Tank), and thus has to be shared by at least one other player. The most common order of resolving this is to use the order MRHT (Melee, Ranged, Healer, Tank). Have the party prepared to take their turrets. Melees take 1, Ranged take 2 and Healers take 3. Tanks will take 4, but first they will be needed to help others to survive their turret laser. For number 1 turrets, have Melees go right next to them and make sure they point it towards inside of the platform, as these lasers will also cause a knockback. Then, a Tank joins them, but in such a way that Tanks are behind the Melee. This way, the damage is shared between Melee and Tank and Melee will be the only one to receive the Dark Resistance Down-debuff. Repeat this with Ranged and Healers respectively. With the 4th turrets, Tanks will take them alone. Right after the turrets are finished, deal with the bonds and then watch out for Pandæmoniac Ray. Pandæmonium blasts either the western or eastern half of the arena, depending on which direction his extended head will look at. Go to the opposite half and after the ray, eight orbs appear. These will fire a narrow line AoEs. Avoid these by standing between the lines of these orbs.
Following the turrets and Ray, Pandæmonium then does a number of repeated mechanics in the following order: Ultima, Soul Grasp, Wicked Step, Entangling Webs and Silkspit. Deal with these like before. Next comes one of the trickiest mechanics. Basically none of the things in this mechanic is new, but it can be confusing, because there's a lot deal with and very little time to deal with each step. First, the party receives Dæmonic Bonds, this time the single player-debuff and four-player debuff, once again the timer order varies. Pandæmoniac Pillars is cast next. Soak the towers like before, and find a safe spot according to Circles/Holy, and the towers. Pandæmonium then casts Pandæmoniac Ray, making one half of the main platform dangerous. Move to the safe side, and also at the same time, deal with the first bond. Remember to check the timers, which is done first and act accordingly. The orbs from the Ray are also generated, which narrows down safe areas for the second bond.
Next, Pandæmonium casts Dividing Wings and Steel Web, combined with Touchdown. The wings will be generated on the side platforms, and because of the Touchdown, Steel Web must be dealt with on the side platforms. Have the players tethered to the wings go behind the wings to direct their AoE away from the parties, and deal with Steel Web just like at the beginning of the fight. After this, you'll get a little breather, as you only have to deal with one Pandæmoniac Meltdown before Pandæmonium casts a third Dividing Wings. This is followed by Pandæmoniac Web, which in short is like Entangling Webs and Steel Web combined. Three players will be targeted by a personal web AoE, one player is targeted by a stack web and two players are tethered to the wings. Direct the wings AoE to east and west. Have the stack marked player stand about in the middle of the platform, and the three personal webs at the back of the platform, so that the AoEs overlap, and that two of them also touch the poles in the corners. The two players without anything will help soak the stack web. If done right, the personal webs will generate a web between the poles. These players will then have to cut the webs between the stack webs, because they will then receive personal webs of their own. They will then have to do the same like the previous ones, but carefully, as they need to set their webs at the back without cutting the current web and also to strengthen it. If this isn't done right, a wipe is certain.
The reason, why the strong web at the back is needed is because of the next mechanic: Harrowing Hell. Pandæmonium does nine consecutive raidwides within 15 seconds, that deal heavy physical damage, and finishes it with a tenth raidwide, that causes so heavy knockback it's impossible to survive with Arm's Length/Surecast, and will certainly knock everyone off the platform, unless the web at the back is done right. First, gather the party to the northern edge of the platform with the Tanks in front of others, since the closest players to the boss takes the most damage. You're going to need all possible mitigations for physical damage available to survive this effectively, and for Healers this is a heal check. Effective mitigations are:
- Tanks: Reprisal
- Melee DPS: Feint
- Ranged Magical DPS: Addle
- Ranged Physical DPS party mitigations (BRD = Troubadour, MCH = Tactician, DNC = Shield Samba)
- PLD: Divine Veil and Passage of Arms
- WAR: Stem Tide
- MCH: Disassemble
- RPR: Crest of Time
Note that DRK's Dark Missionary and GNB's Heart of Light only reduce magical damage: thus, they are unsuitable for Harrowing Hell. Every player should also use whatever personal mitigations they have available, and Healers put up all the shields they can. Tanks should also have their Invulnerabilities ready to be used, but because of their 10 second durations, they should be cast in around 3rd-4th hit. Before that, they should also use couple of their mitigations. If you survive the nine raidwides, a knockback field appears next. At this point, you should also be ready to deal with Dæmonic Bonds you received before Harrowing Hell. When Pandæmonium does the knockback, you will fly to the web, and if it was done right, you'll stay on the platform. Then deal with the bonds: remember to check the order.
From here on, Pandæmonium does repeated mechanics, with one exception: Parted Plumes. This works the same way as it did on normal mode: a circle appears in the middle that then generates AoE slices, that will resolve one slice at the time, completing two half circles, but with an added twist of Pandæmoniac Ray, forcing you find a safe side according to the plumes. This is instantly followed by Circles/Holy, so this may require some quick movement.
Pandæmonium's enrage is a second cast of Harrowing Hell. You can survive the nine raidwides with enough mitigation, but the knockback finisher can't be survived this time, since there won't be a web to save you.
Musical themes[]
The theme of the Tenth Circle is "One Amongst the Weary".
Behind the scenes[]
The voice of Pandæmonium is provided by Jeremy Ang Jones[1] in English, and Yuya Murakami[2] in Japanese.
Etymology[]
Pandæmonium comprises the Greek words pan, "all", and daimonion, "demon"; it can roughly be translated as "all demons". Pandæmonium is the castle of Lucifer and the capital of Hell in John Milton's Paradise Lost, and the word was invented by him. The word has also come to mean any wild disorder or chaos in English.
