Dark Knight Tank Tips for Asphodelos Savage — Endwalker 6.1

Pandaemonium: Asphodelos is the first raid tier released for the Asphodelos series of raids in the Endwalker expansion for Final Fantasy XIV. It consists of four fights, with the fourth fight having two different phases with a checkpoint in between:

1. Asphodelos: The First Circle (Savage) - Erichthonios
2. Asphodelos: The Second Circle (Savage) - The Hippokampus
3. Asphodelos: The Third Circle (Savage) - The Phoinix
4. Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle (Savage) - Hesperos

Disclaimer: This document is meant to be used as a suggestion and as such is not the only way to handle these fights on Dark Knight. If the raid group you are running with decides to change buff placement or mitigation use, you may be doing things differently than as listed in this document.

At higher gear levels, this boss becomes increasingly unreliable at breaking your pre-pull The Blackest Night (TBN). You can get around this by having whichever tank is pulling swap to a gearset missing several pieces of gear, and then swapping back to their regular gearset after TBN is applied to them. If this is not an option, you can insert an Edge of Shadow after your first Souleater, move Salted Earth back to replace the first Plunge, and move that Plunge to the end of your opener.

This is a full-uptime fight. Make sure to keep your GCD rolling through all mechanics, including Intemperance and Fourfold Shackles. Additionally, there are no intermission portions to reset cooldown alignment, so stay on top of your rotation.

If you are pulling, cast Rampart at around five seconds on the pull timer to cover the first Heavy Hand. Using Shadow Wall immediately after your pre-pull TBN is also an option.

Warder's Wrath deals physical damage, so Dark Missionary has no effect Shining Cells and Slam Shut deal hefty raidwide magical damage, making those casts the best options for Missionary.

This section contains a rough plan for The Blackest Night plus any Edge of Shadow uses outside the norm to properly set up two-minute burst windows. This is a bare minimum, so remember to use TBN as needed for mitigation in addition to the timings listed here.

1. TBN the main tank for the Warden's Wrath cast following the second set of Gaoler's Flails.
2. TBN either tank for the Pitiless Flail tankbuster during the first Shining Cells phase.
3. TBN the main tank for the Warder's Wrath cast following Fourfold Shackles.
4. TBN the main tank for the second Warder's Wrath cast of the second Shining Cells phase.

As with Erichthonios, Hippokampos becomes increasingly unreliable at breaking your pre-pull The Blackest Night (TBN) at higher gear levels. You can get around this by having whichever tank is pulling swap to a gearset missing several pieces of gear, and then swapping back to their regular gearset after TBN is applied to them. If this is not an option, you can insert an Edge of Shadow after your first Souleater, move Salted Earth back to replace the first Plunge, and move that Plunge to the end of your opener.

This fight has an untargetable phase in Kampeos Harma about four minutes into the pull. Hold your resources and offensive cooldowns until after the boss returns. You will have to spend mana to avoid overcap just before your second tincture is ready, so saving it until the six-minute burst window is preferable.

Communicate with your co-tank about which Doubled Impacts will be handled with invulns and which will be shared. If possible, have your co-tank pull so that you do not need to weave cooldowns for the first one. When not tanking the boss, it is fine for your HP to drop very low, so long as you survive, because you will be topped up by AoE healing.

Use Reprisal just after the first Doubled Impact, as the boss is moving itself to the center, to cover the following Sewage Deluge and have it available again for the Murky Depths cast just under a minute later.

You can use Rampart shortly before you get stunned during the first Channeling Flow, and it will last through the following Doubled Impact.

Dark Missionary is useful throughout the fight due to the frequent magical raidwides. Sewage Deluges are great places to use Missionary. You can also cover multiple instances of damage by using it after the red markers appear on everyone during the Dissociation mechanic around seven minutes into the fight.

This section contains a rough plan for The Blackest Night plus any Edge of Shadow uses outside the norm to properly set up two-minute burst windows. This is a bare minimum, so remember to use TBN as needed for mitigation in addition to the timings listed here.

1. TBN either tank during the first Coherence (tether plus line stack) mechanic.
2. Use one Edge of Shadow and then TBN the main tank for the Sewage Deluge cast following the second Doubled Impact.
3. TBN the main tank after the Cataract cast following the first Channeling Overflow.
4. TBN either tank for the Doubled Impact around 7:30 into the fight, following the second Dissociation mechanic with Tainted Flood and Coherence. Alternatively, TBN the main tank for the Murky Depths or Sewage Deluge casts immediately after the Doubled Impact.

All uses of Salted Earth can potentially be held to align with raidbuffs. This can be done in the first phase regardless of killtime. Post-add phase uses should be held unless your killtime is around ten minutes or longer.

You can target one Dark Fire add and run into the hitbox of an adjacent one for a three-target Shadowbringer.

Dump all of your resources before the add phase if your group allows for it in order to deal the most possible damage to the boss itself. Longer add phases are also preferable for cooldown alignment. You should bank resources gained during this phase if possible, but be ready to spend whatever is necessary to kill all adds before they enrage.

60-second cooldowns will come up as you are killing the small birds. They can be used immediately and come back up in time for the post-adds reopener, provided your group does not finish the phase too quickly.

You will only get two tincture uses unless your group pushes very close to enrage. Spending some Mana just before your second tincture comes off cooldown is required to avoid overcap, so shorter killtimes should hold that usage until the burst windows just after Fountain of Fire or Death's Toll.

Shadow Wall can cover the first, third, and fourth Heat of Condemnations. For the first one, you have enough time to execute your opener and immediately press your mitigation before it hits you.

Dark Mind can cover all four Heat of Condemnations. The second one needs to cast slightly in advance, about three GCDs after the Dark Fire adds die, to last through the tankbuster while still being available for the following one.

Rampart is useful for the second Heat of Condemnation, for the large bird adds, and for auto-attacks plus raidwide damage at Experimental Gloryplumes.

Dark Missionary has high value throughout the fight. It can often cover a tankbuster plus a raidwide, and most major mechanics involve heavy magical damage. Discuss with your healers where they will get the most benefit from Missionary.

This section contains a rough plan for The Blackest Night plus any Edge of Shadow uses outside the norm to properly set up two-minute burst windows. This is a bare minimum, so remember to use TBN as needed for mitigation in addition to the timings listed here.

1. TBN the main tank for the Heat of Condemnation following Dark Fire.
2. Use one TBN on the add phase, preferably when both big birds start attacking you. Additional uses may be necessary here depending on the healers, so make sure to prioritize your own survival.
3. When the boss returns after the add phase, use two Edges immediately to avoid overcap. With decent ping, you can weave two in a row between GCDs. Unless your party has only one or two raidbuffs, it is better on average to use Syphon Strike if it is your current combo GCD than it is to lead off with Bloodspiller in an effort to avoid further overcap.
4. TBN either tank at Experimental Gloryplume.
5. Cast Edge only twice during Flames of Asphodelos. If you used your tincture following Fountain of Fire, you do not need to bank a Dark Arts proc before the burst window at Death's Toll. If you are planning to use your tincture at Death's Toll, use TBN either on a non-tank for the Experimental Ashplumes stack/spread after Darkblaze Twister or on either tank for the following Scorched Exultation.

This encounter is fairly straightforward in terms of offensive cooldown management. Simply follow the standard rotation and try to keep uptime as much as possible.

Reprisal can cover both Inversive Chlamys (tether+debuff damage) and the follow-up Decollation raidwide in the beginning of the fight. Plan further uses of Reprisal and Dark Missionary with your healers and co-tank. There are quite a few instances of raidwide magic damage, including Bloodrake casts later on which will hit all eight party members.

Plan out how you will handle Elegant Eviscerations with your co-tank and healers. A common plan is to invuln the first and third then swap on the second. If your co-tank is a Warrior, they can invuln the first and third while you invuln the second. The second Evisceration coincides with a burst window, so try to cast your mitigation for it in advance.

Give Oblation to the main tank as you take the Belone Bursts orbs. This is also a good spot to use The Blackest Night to set up a burst window. If you are the main tank during the mechanic, using another defensive cooldown such as Rampart or Dark Mind will further aid the healers.

This section contains a rough plan for The Blackest Night plus any Edge of Shadow uses outside the norm to properly set up two-minute burst windows. This is a bare minimum, so remember to use TBN as needed for mitigation in addition to the timings listed here.

1. TBN the main tank during the Pinax cast to cover a string of auto-attacks.
2. As mentioned above, TBN the main tank while taking Belone Bursts orbs.
3. TBN the main tank again during the second Pinax cast, which plays out identical to the first.

The final encounter of Asphodelos (Savage) is another full-uptime fight without any particular quirks of timing. Be extra vigilant about avoiding any cooldown drift while going for the clear, as your last burst window will run right up against hard enrage.

You can pre-cast Rampart as the large AoEs flash during Akanthai: Act 1 and then Shadow Wall as you take your tower to cover the followup Nearsight/Farsight tankbuster.

There are only two Demigod Double tankbusters during the encounter, so it is common to invuln both of them. Some groups may prefer to share one Demigod Double in order to invuln Heart Stake instead. If your co-tank is a Warrior, they can invuln both Demigod Doubles and leave the Heart Stake for you.

The short cooldowns on Oblation and The Blackest Night allow you to use both on the main tank for the Nearsight/Farsight following Akanthai: Act 3, and then again immediately after for Heart Stake.

Take care to use your mitigation in the last section of the fight. Incoming damage is quite high, and the main tank will be taking auto-attack damage on top of the frequent raidwides. Note that Reprisal does work on the Curtain Call tethers.

This section contains a rough plan for The Blackest Night plus any Edge of Shadow uses outside the norm to properly set up two-minute burst windows. This is a bare minimum, so remember to use TBN as needed for mitigation in addition to the timings listed here.

1. TBN a non-tank as tethers go out for Akanthai: Act 2.
2. Your defensive TBN on Heart Stake is well-timed to set up for the following burst window.
3. TBN the main tank for the Nearsight/Farsight following Akanthai: Finale, just before the second Demigod Double.
4. If you are pushing enrage, you will have your pick of when to use TBN during the last portion of the fight. Remember to prioritize the survival of the main tank over having perfectly clean burst windows.