The World of Darkness is a level 50 alliance raid in Final Fantasy XIV added in patch 2.5, and the third and last part of crystal tower raid series.
Story[]
In the twilight of his reign, the first and last emperor of Allag, Xande, desired power above all else. He turned to the terrible being known as the Cloud of Darkness, a ruler of the void, and asked of her strength to make the world kneel before his throne with a covenant of blood.
When Xande was slain, his ambitions were laid to rest alongside him. Yet the Cloud of Darkness still seeks to enter the material realm, and will soon find passage through the voidgate set to manifest within Syrcus Tower. With the fiend's coming, can the fellowship of NOAH brave the void and rescue the three souls able to stem the Cloud's flood of shadows, or will the expedition itself vanish beyond the rift in the World of Darkness?In-game description
In times long past, the Allagan Empire's resurrected emperor, Xande, forged a contract with the voidsent known as the Cloud of Darkness to link Hydaelyn and the World of Darkness and consume everything into the Void. Though the process resulted in the Allagans' downfall, the pact remained, and was eventually fulfilled after the Crystal Tower was unearthed following the seventh Umbral Calamity. After speaking with Rammbroes, G'raha Tia, and Cid nan Garlond, the Warrior of Light's parties assemble to rescue Nero tol Scaeva, Doga, and Unei from the World of Darkness, as well as to prevent the Cloud of Darkness from entering the material realm and conquering Eorzea.
Objectives[]
- Clear the Eye: 0/1
- Defeat Angra Mainyu: 0/1
- Clear the Nape: 0/1
- Defeat the five-headed dragon: 0/1
- Clear the Jaws: 0/1
- Defeat Cerberus: 0/1
- Defeat Cloud Of Darkness: 0/1
Maps[]
A much darker world area than the others, the World of Darkness consists mainly of floating platforms in a dark purple realm.
Progression[]
Dark Water[]
The Dark Water is where all parties initially spawn. From here, they will head up the stairs to The Eye.
The Eye[]
The first area (referred to as a "trash pool") contains only normal enemies. At first, only three Garms can be found. Each party's tank usually takes on each, although many area-of-effect spells will be cast around the battle, making it important for players to dodge. After the three Garms are defeated, several Two-headed Dragons and Sacrificed Ninjas will spawn. Once defeated, the area will be unsealed, and players can go to The Vista.
The Vista[]
This boss is Angra Mainyu, a large Ahriman enemy which has several complex mechanics. Its Double Vision attack is a floor-covering area-of-effect ability that grants a stacking debuff based on whether the player is standing on the red or white area affected. Increased stacks will cause more damage to be dealt every time the player is hit by Double Damage of that color, though being hit by the opposite color of Double Vision the second time will reset the debuff and deal no damage. The Mortal Gaze attack will inflict Doom on any affected player, so players should simply look away from the boss to dodge it (though they can stand on a pad to remove the debuff). Roulette is a spinning attack that will spin around pointing to one of the four quarters of the room, and when stopping will kill all players within it; players should destroy the Final Hourglasses on the outside of the room to stop it earlier, allowing players to avoid the death.
The only other notable aspects to this boss are its Angra Mainyu's Daewa additional enemies spawned which should be killed, and its Level 100 Flare and Level 150 Death attacks. Both form circles that will tether players to one player within them; the former will kill players if the amount of tethered players adds up to an even number, while the latter will kill if the number is a multiple of three. Players should run out to cancel the attack. After Angra Mainyu is defeated, the team can progress.
Three treasures will drop, one for each party. A chest may drop Demon Circlet of Maiming, Demon Hat of Aiming, Demon Hat of Casting, Demon Bracers of Striking, Demon Bracers of Scouting, Demon Gloves of Healing, Dmeon Tassets of Fending, Demon Sash of Striking, Demon Sabatons of Fending or Demon Greaves of Maiming.
The Nape[]
This next area is another trash pool that contains enemies from Syrcus Tower. Queen Scylla, based on Scylla from Syrcus Tower, has no real enemies that the teams should be concerned about, as Ancient Flare is much weaker than Scylla's Ancient Flare from Syrcus Tower. When Queen Scylla dies, Xande's Clone, based on Xande, will spawn, and similarly is a very simple boss. Additionally, several Forbidden Gates on the outside should be destroyed, to prevent Jormungand and Thor enemies spawned; any of which who do spawn should also be destroyed.
The Vermiculary[]
This area contains Five-headed Dragon. It is often useful to tank this enemy to the edge of the area, mostly due to its huge cone area-of-effect attack, White Breath, which deals heavy damage and reduces healing taken. This attack should be avoided at all costs. Another mechanic is the purple mark that the dragon will place on players; dealing major thunder damage, and players should avoid death by grouping up with others to spread damage. Poison Slime enemies spawning should be killed immediately, to prevent them from forming into more powerful Toxic Slime enemies. Red birds tether to players, but can be removed by passing by another player giving them the debuff.
Ice puddles will spawn, inflicting Freeze on any player standing within them. Another mechanic, Heatwave, affects all players with a debuff that will damage them over time for five seconds. Players should simply avoid using abilities until it wears off. The final and most important attack is Discordance. The Head of Fire, Head of Ice, Head of Thunder and Head of Poison become targetable, and should be destroyed to prevent Discordance being used, which can potentially kill every player.
Once defeated, Five-headed Dragon may drop Demon Circlet of Striking, Demon Circlet of Scouting, Demon Hat of Healing, Demon Mail of Maiming, Demon Tabard of Aiming, Demon Gauntlets of Fending, Demon Belt of Aiming, Demon Belt of Casting, Demon Belt of Healing, Demon Skirt of Casting or Demon Caligae of Scouting.
The Jaws[]
The final trash pool, three platforms are scattered throughout this player, which contain two tiers. The parties are assigned to one. The Howling Atomos, Moaning Atomos and Roaring Atomos each occupy one of these, and will receive power from the Prime Atomos in the center which no party can directly attack. The top tier has several pads to activate the jump pads for the tier below, which allows them to jump back up if knocked down. The Atomos will use Devour, which will mark a single player and pull them in to render them unable to move and then spit them out to the bottom tier. To avoid this, all party members should run to the opposite side of the player, while the player should jump down to avoid being devoured, and jump back up using a pad. Atomos will also cast Shockwave which will knock off players too close to the edge; players should stand closer to Atomos to avoid this. It will also spawn a Sacrificed Soldier which should be killed, and several burning area-of-effect attacks which should be dodged. The Atomos Prime in the center will be killed when it has revived the other surrounding Atomos too many times at the expense of itself, allowing all players to proceed to the next boss.
Plutonium[]
Plutonium features the penultimate boss, Cerberus. Cerberus will use Tail Swipe, a cone area-of-effect attack that affects all behind him and adds stacks reducing their blunt resistance, causing this ability to deal more damage the more players are hit with it. When unchained, Cerberus will continuously stack Haste on himself, and should be fettered to prevent this. He will then drop a Gastric Juice and Slabber. Players should stand in the Gastric Juice area to be affected with Minimum, which will reduce their damage and shrink them, but mean that when they stand in the Slabber and are eaten by Cerberus, they will enter his stomach (whereas doing this without Minimum will kill them). However, several Wolfsbane adds will spawn around the Slabber that can kill players with Minimum, so ranged DPS and off-tanks should kill Wolfsbane. The players who enter Cebrerus' stomach must kill the Stomach Walls to cause him to slump to the ground, while also killing Unknown enemies within his stomach which threaten to stop players from doing so. After all Stomach Walls are destroyed, Cerberus will take massive damage and slump to the ground. This will repeat itself only once before the next area is unlocked.
Cerberus may drop either Demon Helm of Fending, Demon Chestpiece of Scouting, Demon Gauntlets of Maiming, Demon Gloves of Casting, Demon Sash of Scouting, Demon Breeches of Fending, Demon Sarouels of Striking, Demon Skirt of Healing, Demon Boots of Aiming or Demon Sandals of Healing.
The Verge[]
Nothing is contained with the verge other than steps leading up to a teleporter which takes players to the final boss.
Pitch Black[]
The final area features the final boss of the raid, the Cloud of Darkness. She is found around the edges of the arena where she randomly shows up after a time. As such, tanks can only manipulate who she damages as opposed to where she moves.
As the final enemy of the Crystal Tower story and one of the most powerful known Voidsent, the Cloud of Darkness is a force to be reckoned with. She uses a variety of Particle Beam attacks (many that inflict Vulnerability Up), each that must be handled in various ways:
- Zero-form Particle Beam - She teleports to a random spot on the edge of the arena, and then fires the attack. Players must be careful to avoid getting hit. Inflicts one stack of Vulnerability Up.
- Feint Particle Beam - One player is targeted (with crosshairs), and the attack strikes. A series of vertical beams chases them across the area. The targeted should sprint away from others until the attack ceases. Inflicts one stack of Vulnerability Up (per hit).
- Stationary Particle Beams - A glowing emblem appears at various places in the arena, with an energy beam slowly descending. Players must step into each pad to intercept it (indicated by a blue circle), damaging only those inside. Any isolated pads will cause the beam to damage the entire alliance, which can easily wipe the whole raid if multiple are left unchecked.
- Hypercharged Particle Beams - Three "Hypercharged Clouds" will spawn with an orange barrier eventually surrounding it, preparing a Particle Beam. Each party in the alliance must get to a cloud and destroy them before they can unleash the beams.
After teleporting three times, she will begin to prepare her Flood of Darkness by inhaling Dark Clouds and Dark Storms that spawn in the arena. Each that reach her will increase the power of the attack, so it is necessary to defeat them. Any player that stands between the boss and one of the Clouds will inflict Heavy status on it, making it easier for DPS to eliminate them. In addition, vertical Particle Beam pads will appear throughout this sequence. Once she says "Darkness take you all!", the attack fires, hitting everyone in the alliance.
After the first Flood of Darkness, she sends out several tentacle Shadowlurkers. These snakes will pop up and use Bad Breath or Black Lightning if left alone. However, they will retreat upon taking any damage, so ranged classes can easily drive them off before they can attack. Following another teleport, she will eventually summon Hypercharged Clouds to perform Particle Beams (see above).
After returning to the field, she readies Flood of Darkness again. There are more clouds to deal with this time, and Shadowlurkers will pop-up along with beam pads.
With all of these mechanics considered, Cloud of Darkness can be defeated eventually. Due to her high HP, it will be a long fight, but the mechanics are repetitive. Cloud of Darkness may drop Demon Armor of Fending, Demon Chestpiece of Striking, Demon Robe of Casting, Demon Robe of Healing, Demon Bracers of Aiming, Demon Tassets of Maiming, Demon Breeches of Maiming, Demon Breeches of Aiming, Demon Sarouels of Scouting, Demon Caligae of Striking or Demon Sandals of Striking. Additional, Syrcus Shard, Puff of Darkness or Onion Knight Card may drop.
Musical themes[]
"Blind to the Dark", a rearrangement of "The Dark Crystals" from Final Fantasy III, plays in all areas of the World of Darkness when not in combat. "Hamartomania", a more active-sounding arrangement of the same piece, plays while the raid alliance is in combat with regular enemies, Queen Scylla and the three Atomos.
"A Fine Death" plays while fighting Angra Mainyu, while "Nemesis" plays during the battle with the Five-headed Dragon. "Tumbling Down", a rearranged version of "Battle 2" from Final Fantasy III, plays during the battles with Cerberus. A muffled variation plays for players who are in Cerberus' stomach.
"The Reach of Darkness", a rearranged version of "Last Battle" from Final Fantasy III, plays during the final battle against the Cloud of Darkness. "Hunger", an arrangement of the opening of "Last Battle", plays during the cutscene introducing the Cloud.
Behind the scenes[]
The World of Darkness is based on the final dungeon of the same name from Final Fantasy III. Ahriman, Two-Headed Dragon, and Cerberus are based after bosses that can be fought before the Cloud of Darkness, with the Cloud itself depicted in its Final Fantasy III appearance. Most of the enemies fought in between bosses, like Garm, Queen Scylla, Xande's Clone, Jormungand and Thor, are based on normal enemies found in the dungeon.
Due to the raid featuring four boss fights, Echidna was the only boss not present. It would appear as the last boss of the next alliance raid, 
The Void Ark.
Gallery[]
