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The Dying Gasp is the final trial of the main scenario in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. The final fight is against the Ascian Hades.
Story
By Emet-Selch's own words, you are no one─nothing─your life a ghastly mockery of past perfection, utterly devoid of meaning. Yet despite his endless refutations of your worth, mankind has dreamed and struggled and survived. Even now, you fight to preserve your future, and spare two worlds from unimaginable destruction. The moment has come to make your stand, to call upon every last reserve of strength. Fight for those who shared your journey, and for those you met along the way. Fight for those who awaited your coming across the boundaries of time and space. From distant stars yet undimmed, you are joined by seven summoned champions, for only together can you hope to prevail against the staggering might of this ancient Ascian─the immortal and implacable Hades!
In-game description
Progression
Normal
With titles cast aside and everything on the line the warrior of light and his companions face off against Hades.
Hades has the following abilities in the first phase:
- Ravenous Assault - tank buster.
- Bad Faith - purple arrows will form on both sides of the boss, players must be on the opposite side of where the arrows are pointing.
- Double - next ability will hit twice.
- Dark Eruption - will mark players with pink AoE markers and at the same Time AoEs will appear under them.
- Broken Faith - orange circles will appear on the platform and discs will fall from the sky, on impact they will explode and give a stack of vulnerability.
- Shadowspread - two sets of AoEs coming out of the boss.
Once the boss is at 10% he will go invulnerable and begin filling his fervent of the ancients gauge, at this point in time players will have to deal with five waves of adds. Once the adds are dead he will cast Ancient Dark IV that deals raid wide damage.
Phase 2
In phase 2 Hades will now be massive on one end of the platform and any party wipe will restart in this phase.
- Titanomachy - Deals raid wide damage.
- Shadowstream - A ball will appear in front of hades and a large AoE will shoot down the center of the platform, only the sides are safe.
- Echo of the Lost - One arm will appear on one side of the platform and in a few seconds it will swipe across it. Players need to be behind the arm to avoid.
- Polydegmon's Purgation - Slams platform with both arms, center is safe.
- Hellborn Yawn - Two tanks will be marked and will have to run to the edges of the arena to create a safe zone in the middle.
- Captivity - Targets two players with an AoE that stuns them and puts them in an Aetheral Gaol, other players must break them free before Chorus of the Lost is cast.
- Dual Strike - Targets both tanks.
- Doom - Players will be affected with doom debuff, one player needs to stand in each white circle to dispel.
- Wall of the Lost - Knocks back players from the center of the arena.
- Nether Blast - 6 players (except tanks) will be marked with AoE tethers.
- Life in Captivity - An active time maneuver where players break free from their chains.
- The Dark Devours - Begins to cover platform in darkness and deals heavy raid wide damage, once the platform is engulfed everyone will get a bleed debuff and the boss will hard enrage with Black Cauldron.
Extreme
Unlike the normal version, the Extreme difficulty has no checkpoint, meaning if at anytime you wipe, you will start at the very beginning, and has multiple enrages in each phase if not burned down to a certain point in time.
Phase 1
Shortly after being pulled, Hades will begin by casting Ancient Double, which causes his attacks to hit twice. He will then follow with Shadow Spread, which are two consecutive conal AoEs that target everyone. All players must spread out close to Hades and take the first hit, and then sidestep to a safe spot for the second AoE. He then casts Bad Faith, and works just like Normal mode, though there will be a second set of nails immediately after the first, which can be dodged by sidestepping or by moving to the opposite end. He will then follow with Ravenous Assault, a tankbuster that inflicts a vulnerability up debuff on the first hit. This can be managed by tank swapping during the cast and using mitigation cooldowns, or a tank invulnerability. Hades will then follow with Arcane Utterance, which summons seven mirrors one in each clock phase. To handle this, find the area without a mirror and run behind the one across it, and when Arcane Control finishes casting, everyone should not not take damage from the lasers. He will then cast Broken Faith, which works exactly as it does on Normal mode, followed by a variation of Arcane Utterance that spawns orbs instead of mirrors. As with the mirrors, run to the spot without an orb and avoid the AoEs. He will then end Phase 1 with another Shadow Spread. If he does not reach 10% HP by then, he will become untargetable, cast Ancient Dark IV, and wipe the party.
Phase 2
Hades will become untargetable and Nabriales' Shade will spawn. The entire party must DPS him before he finishes casting Quake III, which will do damage relative to his remaining HP; the more HP he has, the more damage he will deal. While this is happening, four Shadows of the Ancients will cast line tethers on DPS players targeting them with Dark II conal AoEs, which must be aimed away from the party. At the same time, tanks must rotate around the outer section of the arena and soak comets in a clockwise rotation. This will then follow with circle AoEs on tanks and stack markers on both healers. Everyone but the tanks must stack into two groups of three and soak the damage, while the tanks must get away from everyone else. If Nabriales' Shade has 0.1% HP left, his Quake III will do minimal damage.
Hades will then spawn Lahabrea's Shade and Igeyorhm's Shade. Igeyorhm's Shade will cast Blizzard Sphere, while Lahabrea's Shade will cast Fire Sphere, dealing heavy raid-wide AoE damage. Following this, one tank, healer, and two DPS each will be afflicted by a Fire Brand or Ice Brand debuff. Everyone with the Ice debuff must target Lahabrea's Shade while those afflicted with the Fire debuff must target Igeyorhm's Shade, and they must be separated. Four Shadows of the Ancients will spawn in the inter-cardinals and two of them will cast Dark Flame while the other pair will cast Dark Freeze. Anyone with the opposite element debuff should pick up these tethers and stay near the Shadows. The Shades will then cast Blizzard and Fire Sphere, changing everyone's debuffs, so swap targets once this happens. Lahabrea's Shade and Igeyorhm's Shade will cast their tankbusters Fire IV and Blizzard IV, and this will become a DPS check once they're done casting.
Finally, Ascian Prime's Shade will spawn and cast Universal Manipulation and will then follow with casting Blight, a raid-wide AoE that puts a bleed debuff. Universal Manipulation will give the tanks/healers and DPS three debuffs each. Tanks and healers will be afflicted by Doom, which must be cleansed by topping off the tanks' and healers' HP. They will also have donut AoEs around them, hitting anyone not inside, as well as Petrification, a sight-based AoE. The DPS will have three debuffs: Beyond Death, which must be cleansed by taking fatal damage, Forked Lightning which must be spread out, and Off Balance, will knock them back once they are hit; this cannot be nullified with Surecast or Arm's Length. To deal with all of these debuffs, the tanks and the healers must stand right in the Shade's cardinals, while the DPS must stand in the AoEs while turning away from the tanks and healers once the AoEs go off. done correctly, the DPS will be knocked back, Forked Lightning will go off, and they will be left at 1 HP. Healers must top off the DPS before Blight finishes casting. At this point, there's not much to this phase; Height of Chaos is a tankbuster, and Megiddo Flame is a split line AoE that targets the healers. Once the Shade is defeated, the fight will move to Phase 3.
Phase 3
Once Hades becomes targetable, he will begin casting Again the Majestic, which will repeat the comet mechanics from Phase 2. One healer will be targeted by Captivity, which is marked by a circle AoE that traps the healer and anyone else in it. Everyone else must DPS the Aetherial Gaol while the tanks must keep dealing with the comets; they are in melee range of the Aetherial Gaol so they can DPS it as well. Hades will then cast Captivity on a random healer again, and once the Gaol is broken, he will cast Again the Martyr, which marks the healers with stack markers and the DPS with puddles. This can be dealt with mitigation and by standing on a marker in the middle; assign each of the DPS to the four corners while the tanks and healers stick close to two DPS each. Once this finishes casting, everyone will be knocked back. He will then cast Again the Abyssal Celebrant, which marks both healers with line stack markers and AoE puddles on the DPS. Spread out and assign a tank to a healer, and "striped" conal AoEs in front of Hades. The AoEs will go off in this order: cones, lines, cones, lines, cones, lines, and finally puddles. After this, Hades will cast Dark Seal, which summons expanding spheres throughout the arena. While this is happening, Hades will cast Polydegmon's Purgation, which works like it does in Normal mode, though he will follow with Shadow Stream, a straight-line AoE that goes through the center. Keep avoiding the Dark Seal orbs while DPSing him, and once he reaches 30% HP, he will become untargetable and cast Life in Captivity, and just like in Normal mode, it is an Active Time Maneuver (If he doesn't reach 30% in time, he will be untargetable and cast Titantomachy, which is enrage and will wipe the party). Clear it, and you will move to the final phase.
Final Phase
Hades will begin by casting Dark Current, which are multiple circle AoEs moving in the direction of their arrows. Getting behind a circle after they go off is the best way to avoid them. Following that, he will cast Gigantomachy, a raid-wide AoE, then Quadrastrike, another raid-wide AoE with two tank towers, followed by bleeding. At this point, the mechanics just repeat themselves, and if not killed in time, Hades will cast Gigantomachy, his enrage.
Enemies
- Hades
- Shadow of the Ancients
- Aetherial Gaol
- Nabriales' Shade (Extreme)
- Lahabrea's Shade (Extreme)
- Igeyorhm's Shade (Extreme)
- Ascian Prime's Shade (Extreme)
Loot
- Hades Totem (x2, Extreme)
- Faded Copy of Invincible (Extreme)
- Hades' Auracite (Extreme)
Musical themes
The main theme that plays during the first phase is called "Who Brings Shadow", which is an edited version of "Shadowbringers". During the second phase of the fight, the track "Invincible" will play.
