FFXIV: M4S Wicked Thunder Guide
Wicked Thunder is the last raid boss for this tier of the Arcadion. And this fight is one of the hardest encounters in the raid. It can be a doozy even for experienced Savage raiders, which is why we’ll explain each of this boss’ mechanics and how you can best resolve them to get a fast clear and obtain the Moonwheel S1 mount.
Of course, as always, it’s best to assign clock positions, support/DPS pairings, and light party formations for smooth mechanic dodging and stacking.
Table of Contents
Wrath of Zeus/Bewitching Flight
Wrath of Zeus is your standard raid-wide AoE, so everyone should mitigate as usual. After the raidwide, the boss will cast Bewitching Flight and grow wings, as well as summon electric orbs that line up at the west side of the arena.
The cubes and lasers on her model will glow and intersect each other. There are gaps between the line AoEs that you can stand on to avoid the damage
Electrifying Witch Hunt
After Bewitching Flight comes Electrifying Witch Hunt. Keep an eye out for the leftover laser marks left by Bewitching Flight as these will explode after a short while.
Keep an eye out if it’s the two outermost lines or three innermost lines that starts glowing, and watch the electric cubes forming at the eastern side of the map before spreading in or spreading out accordingly.
Afterward, either support or DPS players will get hit with a physical vulnerability stack and Forked Lightning debuffs before casting her next mechanic.
Witch Hunt
During Witch Hunt, the boss will place telegraphed diamond markers on her for a very short moment. The boss will place a marker on them, which is either colored Purple or Pink. Watch the boss as this will indicate which mechanic will start first.
If the diamonds are Purple, players farthest from the boss will get hit by Witch Hunt, while Pink means that the closest players will be affected.
To avoid dying, players that have no physical vulns must be the ones to get hit by Witch Hunt, while the ones with the Forked Lightning debuff will soak damage and get healed.
Narrowing or Widening Witch Hunt
After Witch Hunt ends, Wicked Lightning follows up with either Narrowing Witch Hunt or Widening Witch Hunt.
While Wicked Thunder casts either of these mechanics, the Purple and Pink diamonds will reappear on the boss, so make sure to note them while resolving the primary mechanic.
Narrowing Witch Hunt
If the boss casts Narrowing Witch Hunt, everyone must take their assigned clock positions. After the outer AoE detonates, everyone must immediately get away from the boss as she will make a point-blank AoE next. After that, everyone will spread out to spread their AoEs, then go back inside to avoid the baited AoEs. In essence, you are going Out, In, Out and In
Widening Witch Hunt
If the boss casts Widening Witch Hunt, take the same clock spots but do so away from her since she will start with a point-blank AoE. After the inner AoE circle goes out, spread out and bait the AoEs depending on your party assignment. For this, you are essentially going In, Out, In and Out.
When either mechanic is executed, there will always be 4 baitable AoEs. Depending on the type of Witch Hunt cast, it will always alternate between In and Out or Out and In. Immediately after, the boss follows up with a Wrath of Zeus, so pop heals and defensives as needed.
Electrope Edge/Witchgleam
Wicked Thunder casts Electrope Edge, summoning 4 electric cubes at the edges. Everyone must take their assigned cardinal positions with main tanks at North and everyone else at South to avoid outgoing AoEs later.
Wicked Thunder will also cast Witchgleam, which hits the cubes with line AoEs that charge the,. The cubes that are hit once will only explode in their respective tile, while the cubes that are hit twice will have a massive AoE that strikes the three adjacent tiles next to it. So keep an eye out for the cubes that are hit once to mark the safe zone.
Symphony Fantastique/Sidewise Spark
Symphony Fantastique is the skill that detonates the electrified cubes, which will happen at the same time as Sidewise Spark, so be ready to dodge acordingly when you see this casted.
During Sidewise Spark, either four orbs paired together or eight scattered orbs will appear on top of Wicked Thunder. Four orbs mean that players must stack as pairs while eight orbs means that players must spread to avoid overlapping AoEs.
Wicked Jolt (Tankbuster)
Wicked Jolt targets the main tank and applies a magic vulnerability stack on them. The main tank can pop their invulnerability skill to survive this attack, but if it’s still on cooldown, they must do a tank swap to spread the damage equally.
Electrope Edge II and Witchgleam
Electrope Edge will be cast again, meaning that everyone must take their assigned clock spots as the arena changes. After Electrope Edge is executed, all players will receive the Electrical Condenser debuff, giving either supports of DPS a 22-second timer and the other a 42-second one.
During Witchgleam, the boss targets four players with AoE columns four times, so take note of how many times you got hit during this mechanic. If you took the slow debuff, you will have to reposition yourself in order to get hit twice with a mechanic that will come up later.
Lightning Cage
After Witchgleam, the boss casts Lightning Cage, and specific tiles will start to glow. To overlap each other’s AoEs, supports can reposition to the western side while DPS takes the eastern side. The pattern of AoE will always be the same, no matter what.
Players with the slow debuff should immediately head to the southern tile to safely dodge the mechanic.
Immediately after, the boss casts Sidewise Spark on True North. While this occurs, watch the boss as she will either show four orbs stuck in pairs or eight orbs spread out together since this is another mechanic indicator.
Wicked Bolt
Wicked Bolt is a simple party stack mechanic and as such, everyone should stack while popping cooldowns as necessary.
Ion Cluster/Stampeding Thunder
During Ion Cluster, all players get 3 stacks of either a blue or yellow debuff. Wicked Thunder will then cast Stampeding Thunder, which is 5 cleaving AoEs on an entire side of the arena that destroys the floor. The side she cleaves is indicated by the direction Wicked Thunder turns to face.
Electron Stream
Once the floor is destroyed, Wicked Thunder will teleport to the safe zone and begin casting Electron Stream
The boss’ back cannons will glow with yellow beams at the front and blue beams at the back. Stand on the side that’s opposite of your debuffs (e.g. blue debuffed players take the yellow attack, yellow debuffed players take the blue attack), as taking the correct hit will cleanse the debuff. Each side’s tank should be positioned at the front of the party to mitigate damage.
Electrope Transplant
Electrope Transplant is an AoE attack that goes out in 8 directions from the boss 7 times.
When this mechanic hits for the 5th time, Lightning Point will be inflicted on either the support or the DPS teams while Lightning Current will hit the players marked by Lightning Point with a line AoE. Everyone must pair up and dodge the alternating fan AoEs. This marks the next phase of Wicked Thunder’s fight.
Phase 2: Conduction Point and Forked Fissures
After the fifth attack lands, either all DPS or all supports get hit by Conduction Point and will receive magic vulnerability debuffs.
On the last hit, the Forked Fissures will occur, which is a massive line AoE that should be soaked by players without the debuff to prevent lethal damage.
Soul Shock, Impact, and Cannonbolt
The boss starts to transform into a new form while launching consecutive raidwide damage, so the whole party must stack up and mitigate the damage as needed.
For the last hit, the party will knocked back towards the southward platform, so make sure you’re positioned properly to land safely.
Cross Tail Switch
Cross Tail Switch is another consecutive raid-wide damage mechanic, striking a total of 9 times. Once again, pop all cooldowns, if possible, but there are cases where parties can wipe even with cooldowns. So, just in case, the main tank should use LB3 to save the group.
Wicked Blaze
Hexaflare markers will now appear in the arena, and stack markers will appear on both healers. To dodge this, have one party reposition to the eastern edge and the other reposition at the western edge, with players popping whichever cooldown is needed.
Wicked Special
When the boss casts Wicked Special, she’ll either show an orange blade or purple claws. If she shows an orange blade, run to that side since this marks a safe zone. If it shows purple claws, get away from them, as this marks the danger zone.
Mustard Bomb
This mechanic requires everyone to spread for another AoE overlap mechanic.
Tether will be attached to random players in the party. The tanks must take the tethers and head towards the boss while the rest of the party stays in their positions as the AoEs go out. Only two players won’t be affected with a fire vulnerability, so the players without a debuff must make sure to grab the tethers from the tanks so that they survive the next hit.
Aetherial Conversion and Tail Thrust
Wicked Thunder will now store either knockbacks or orange circle AoEs during Aetherial Conversion in her tail, so watch to see if her tail glows blue or orange.
The boss wil then launch the stored mechanics with Tail Thrust. Again, note that Blue is knockback, and Orange is a circle AoE, so dodge accordingly.
Azure Thunder
The boss will deal raidwide damage and enclose the edges of the arena with an electrical field. All players should stack up at the center and prepare for the next mechanic.
Twilight Sabbath
Twilight Sabbath creates four clones of the boss, each of them casting Sidewise Spark that hit twice. Make sure to watch which clones spawn first as they will mark the first Sidewise Spark attacks.
Wicked Fire
This is a massive AoE attack that can be baited out with enough coordination. To avoid this, everyone must position at the center and wait for the mechanic to go off. Once the AoE goes out and the first hit lands, everyone must then get out to the safe edges.
Scattered or Concentrated Burst
Wicked Thunder casts either Scattered Burst, or Concentrated Burst. Split into pairs first before spreading. If she launches Scattered Burst, spread out first, then stack into pairs. If she launches Concentrated Burst instead, do the opposite.
While this occurs, clones will appear in the arena. If you see a winged clone, dodge towards them since they release a donut AoE. If you see a gun clone, dodge away from them as it launches a line AoE.
Make sure to look at the boss again to see which side to reposition as she casts another Wicked Special. She’ll follow up with another Wicked Thunder raidwide, so mitigate accordingly.
Flame Slash and Raining Swords
Once the boss starts casting Flame Slash, everyone should form into light parties and move to the two safe sides of the arena as the center portion will be destroyed.
The boss follows up with Raining Swords, which creates 4 towers on both platforms. So, make sure that each player stands on a tower and soaks the damage. The towers will leave behind swords that will emit lightning, so keep an eye out for Chain Lightning.
Chain Lightning
The boss will mark 3 swords with lightning, while leaving one safe. These swords will then arc to the other side, marking the damage and safe zones. This alternates four times, so it’s best to watch the order of swords to avoid being hit by the chain lightning.
Ion Cluster II
Ion Cluster will be cast again and deal raidwide damage. This gives the party both yellow and blue debuffs, with one having 23 seconds and the other 38.
Separate tanks and healers to the west and all DPS to the east as Sunrise Sabbath goes out and summons clones of cannons.
Make sure to bait the cannons and cleanse debuffs of the opposite color.
Sword Quiver
Wicked Thunder will cast Sword Quiver last, causing her to slash the arena four times and create an asterisk pattern on the floor that will explode into AoEs. This marks the enrage mechanic for this fight as she winds up the Wicked Thunder wipe. Players should spread into pairs and run to their assigned corners and prepare to heal incoming damage. After the laceration line AoEs go out, run to the center and get ready for a repeat of the mechanic, but be aware that she’ll slightly change the position of the horizontal AoE. Burst her down before she can execute her enrage.
