Machinist Fight Optimization for The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) — Endwalker 6.55

The Omega Protocol is the fifth Ultimate, released in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker. The encounter is split into six phases, all varying forms of Omega: Beetle, Omega M & F, Omega Reconfigured, Blue Screen, Run: Dynamis and Alpha Omega. The fight in its entirety is 19 minutes long. This guide assumes a basic understanding of how Machinist works, while outlining specific optimization due to phasing and AoE situations. Machinist excels in this fight due to how flexible Heat and Battery are, so this page will also go over ways to recover from having a party member die to ensure a pull has the best chance of continuing after mistakes.

This guide is not for parsing. It's intended to showcase proper burst timings and mitigation to help users with their initial clear. As with all Ultimate fights, parsing is highly dependent on kill times and your ability to generate resources properly. Not all groups will enable this.

As of Patch 6.55, currrent BiS for The Omega Protocol is a mixture of Abyssos-tier gear, dungeon gear from The Lunar Subterrance, and the Manderville Relic.

Compared to every other phase in the fight, this is where Machinist will be the weakest. This is applicable to all resource generation jobs though, as the phase ends roughly around the two-minute mark, and you won't be expending most of your resources on Beetle. Rather, you will hold them for the burst window in Phase 2.

The opener for Beetle is cut and dry; you are required to use the Fast Tools opener because of the enrage timer. Ideally you open Phase 2 with Chain Saw, mainly for the cleave on two-target, but also to facilitate burst later in the fight. Using a normal opener that delays Chain Saw will result in minor problems later in the fight. If your group is smashing the DPS check in Beetle, consider moving Chain Saw up by a GCD if you find yourself unable to open Phase 2 with cleave.

Similarly, depending on kill times, pre-pull Reassemble will also be a gain in later phases, with tight timing in the Phase 3 opener. This job does not want to use potion in Phase 1. Preferably hold it for Phase 2 if you can.

Keeping the goal of Phase 2 burst in mind, beyond your opener you will opt to use Automaton Queen a single time after the opener, at 50 Battery and Hypercharge twice before enrage. This will set us up to enter with 100 Battery, 50 Heat, and an unused Barrel Stabilizer leaving Phase 1. Barrel Stabilizer should be used on cooldown to reach 100 Heat.

While your group is progressing into Phase 2, don't hold back from using these resources to make sure you see Phase 2 as much as possible. While the ideal situation for DPS is listed above, getting prog in and seeing more mechanics is always more important than keeping your rotation intact. In the event your group is lacking DPS, just make sure Automaton Queen is summoned early so she can get Pile Bunker and Crowned Collider out before the boss enrages.

• Tactician
  • Should be used prior to Pantokrator. It's possible to cover three of the four hits during this mechanic by using Tactician right before the Air Anchor at 1:20. The timing is a bit tight, so if you feel more comfortable, just aim to cover Missile 1 and 2.
• Dismantle
  • Also used during Pantokrator. With Tactician covering Missiles 1 and 2, Dismantle can cover Missiles 3 and 4 for full coverage on the mechanic. Dismantle being used after Tactician is ideal, as you can use Tactician while under the boss to hit everyone, and Dismantle is targeted and you won't need to worry about missing someone with it.

Phase 2 starts off with Omega M & F dropping down. You will have two GCDs to cleave them, meaning one of those two GCDs should be Reassembled Chain Saw. This is why early Chain Saw usage is so important in Phase 1; without it, the cooldown will not come back in time to hit both targets. Accompanying this burst will be your first usage of a pot, and it should be used before the boss is targetable. The burst phase is very short, and this pot will cover every instance of damage except the final GCD, which is typically a Clean Shot.

Upon the bosses leaving, you should be left with 50 Battery and 15 Heat.

Upon Party Synergy ending, Tools should be back up which will result in a required Battery dump. Open with Air Anchor → Chain Saw, putting your Battery and 90 and dump it immediately. This sets Machinist up to enter Phase 3 with exactly 100 Battery without overcapping, but you will hold the final Air Anchor in the phase, preparing it for the re-opener in Phase 3. Alternatively, you can opt to summon Automaton Queen at 50 Battery post-Party Synergy, then again upon reaching 60 Battery during the Limitless Synergy cast. Be aware, if timed improperly Queen may target the wrong boss when doing this, resulting in lost damage. This does allow for the using the last Air Anchor in Phase 2, increasing Phase 2 damage slightly. Opt for whichever rotation makes phasing consistent with your group.

Wildfire comes off cooldown early in the enrage cast of Laser Shower. While most jobs will not burst here, Machinist has the two options here, depending on comp and DPS requirements in their own groups. No matter what, Barrel Stabilizer should be used here on cooldown, which will result in a final Hypercharge window to finish the phase out. This can be accompanied by Wildfire if it helps make the phase more consistent. Specifically when playing with Reaper, they will almost always use Arcane Circle here. While the buff is not massive, it does provide a small boost in damage for Wildfire, while possible crit buffs won't have an effect.

The decision to use Wildfire at the end of Phase 2 should be talked about with your group. However while progging Phase 2 and attempting to beat enrage, Wildfire should be used no matter what to ensure more consistent prog. Keep in mind, Machinist has a ton of burst potential that can be used in Phase 2 if there is mistakes or deaths. Don't be afraid to send Automaton Queen, an extra 2,000 potency can make a huge difference due to how small the health pool is on Omega-F.

• Tactician
  • Tactician will get a single usage in this fight. It should be used to cover Optimized Meteor and Cosmo Memory. Debuff mitigation ( Addle, Feint) will not work here, giving Tactician a ton of value. The tell for when you should press the button is the application of Beyond Defense on one of the tanks. This happens right after a cast of Drill if using the suggested rotation in this guide.
• Dismantle
  • Dismantle is not used in Phase 2.

Machinist continues to play into its strengths in Phase 3, offering extra mitigation on the initial Hello World cast and flexible burst, covering for the DPS check. Groups can opt between two different damage strats for this phase; either using Melee Limit Break 3 shortly after Hello World resolves, or sending full raid buffs twice in the phase. Regardless of what your group chooses to do, not much changes for us. If you've sent Wildfire a second time in Phase 2, you can still burst with the group at the start of Phase 3 with the Heat and Battery you've stored from the previous phase. If this is how you've chosen to burst, be aware that Wildfire comes back up while the third set of towers is resolving in Hello World. The timing is nearly perfect, as it won't require you to delay any Tool GCDs to facilitate using Wildfire on cooldown. Similar to before, Reaper will also generally burst here, allowing you to take advantage of the slight DPS boost.

In the event your group chooses to send raid buffs twice in Phase 3, and you also decide to do the same, skipping the Wildfire cast at the end of Phase 2, your second Wildfire in Phase 3 will coincide with Oversampled Wave Cannon (Monitors). Prioritize getting Wildfire out as soon as possible (it should be used right before your Chain Saw cast) so you are not attempting to aim your monitor while in a Hypercharge window. If this is proving to be a problem and you'd rather stay consistent with the mechanic, just hold Wildfire for the start of Phase 4 when your facing does not matter.

• Tactician
  • If used early enough, Tactician is capable of covering the first set of towers and Patch breaks during Hello World, as well as the Critical Error cast. To facilitate this, press Tactician at the very beginning of the first Latent Defect cast. This will render Tactician useless for Phase 4, but we have Dismantle to cover for that.
• Dismantle
  • Dismantle will get used a single time on the initial Hello World cast. Preferably you will use this before entering burst to avoid sloppy weaving.

Regardless of what you've been forced to do in previous phases, Blue Screen should act as a hard reset for all of your resources and cooldown timers. Since Phase 5 is so strict with timings, this is perfect to ensure we can set up properly to deal burst as well as provide party mitigation for the Run: Dynamis casts.

Open the phase by pre-summoning Automaton Queen. She only gets used once, so you will always enter Phase 5 with either 80 or 90 Battery, depending on how many Hypercharge windows you entered in Phase 4. Wildfire can be used all the way up to the point of taking the second instance of stacked Wave Cannons without interferring with Phase 5 burst.

Since we pot in Phase 2, our pot window becomes available again in Phase 4. While you should absolutely be potting during prog, most groups may find the pot in Phase 4 to be overkill. On top of this, a Phase 4 pot means you must also pot during Run: Dynamis Omega, and some players may feel uncomfortable doing this. If you're feeling stressed, and your group is meeting the Phase 4 check just fine, you may forego this pot window, allowing you to pot instead during the Run: Dynamis Sigma burst window.

Overall, this phase is fairly straight forward, and the DPS check is very lenient. Use only the Heat needed to pass the check and nothing more. For a rough estimate, you should be entering Phase 5 with around 75 Heat and 90 Battery.

• Tactician
  • Tactician should not be used in this phase. The timing is very tight if you do, since you will need it at the start of Phase 5. It is much more comfortable to avoid using it at all here.
• Dismantle
  • Dismantle can be used on any of the Wave Cannons freely. Ask your healers where they would prefer it.

This is where the fight actually begins. From here on out, near everything we do is scripted. With this being the case, we will provide an example opener for every Run: Dynamis mechanic.

Since Blue Screen has a specific length, we can plan on always being able to do the opener below with success. Tactician is used in the earliest weave slot possible where it still covers Run: Dynamis Delta, while facilitating usage on the next two Run: Dynamis damage instances. This usage aligns with the second hit of Solar Ray. Pre-summon Automaton Queen before Omega-M shows up. Upon the boss becoming un-targetable and Delta starting, you should have 50 or 60 Battery as well as 45 or 50 Heat.

The above rotation includes a pot, however you may not be able to use it if you've used a pot in Phase 4. The rotation will not change regardless of where you've used your pot. Machinist does some heavy lifting for mitigation on the damage cast of Run: Dynamis Sigma with both Tactician and Dismantle. Using Tactician late may result in missing the Run: Dynamis Omega cast, so be sure to use it as soon as it comes off cooldown. Leaving this burst you will be left with nearly nothing for resources, but that is ideal. You'll have time to build back both Heat and Battery before the next Wildfire window.

Prior to Omega-F becoming targetable, pre-cast Reassemble to avoid overcapping on stacks. While getting the final usages of Air Anchor and Drill is easy when looking at a timeline, it would benefit you to open with both of these, in that order, before Chain Saw if you're prone to drifting Tools while doing your burst and the Omega dodges.

The buff window starts shortly after the damage instance from Run: Dynamis Omega. The burst below assumes you opened with Air Anchor, as stated in the paragraph above. the Automaton Queen used here will be worth 80 Battery.

From here on out, just build resources. It is possible to enter Phase 6 with 100 Heat and Battery, and that should be the goal. Phase 5 is prone to accidental death. With the theme in this guide being prog, don't be afraid to burn an extra Hypercharge to ensure getting to Phase 6 and being able to practice Exasquares and mitigation.

• Tactician
  • Tactician should be used on every cast of Run: Dynamis. Follow the rotations above for exact timings to make sure you are able to do this.
• Dismantle
  • Dismantle should be used on Run: Dynamis Sigma and can also be used for the final Solar Ray tankbuster in the phase.

Just like Phase 5, this phase is entirely scripted from a rotation point of view. Aside from the opener, everything is simplified to a basic rotation. The opener below can be used to avoid as much overcap as possible.

This does overcap by 5 Heat, but it is a necessary evil to get Barrel Stabilizer on cooldown as soon as possible. This burst window is very weave-heavy. Ideally your group allows you to avoid mitigating the initial Cosmo Memory since you really do not have the weave space for it.

Regardless of where you pot, you will only get one usage in the phase. Ultimately, it is up to you on where you use it. You will get the full usage regardless of where you use it, so your options are either on the second cast of Magic Number or right after the second Wave Cannon stack.

Congragulations on getting this far, and good luck on the clear!

Disclaimer: This is entirely group dependent! While we will suggest locations to use your mitigation, please take into account Party Finder or your own static may choose to do things differently. Always consult with your group, especially for this phase of the fight.

• Tactician
  • Tactician should be placed on the first Cosmo Dive and on Cosmo Meteor.
• Dismantle
  • This is fairly flexible, since the other Physical Ranged don't have percent mitigation. Using Dismantle on Wave Cannon (either the first or second) and then again on Magic Number (again, either the first or second) are good options.