Final Fantasy 14 players clear one of the hardest fights in the MMO with only casters and healers: "Tank LB3 is a suggestion, not a requirement"
The Epic of Alexander (Ultimate) has nothing on this static
One of the most difficult fights in Final Fantasy 14, an Ultimate raid from Shadowbringers, has just met its match in a static comprised entirely of casters and healers.
If you've ever done The Epic of Alexander (Ultimate) yourself, then you probably know how challenging it can be. I still have nightmares about the wormhole phase to this day, and it's been literal years since my group took on the revamped Heavensward bosses.
That raid – the one that took me a whopping three months or so to finally clear – is apparently easier to some of than others, though… A static has just managed to clear it with no tanks, after all.
Not only did the group clear with no tanks, however – it's a group made up of three healers (in this case, White Mages) and five casters (Black Mages, to be precise). That tank Limit Break during Perfect Alexander? Psh, they evidently don't need it.
You can watch the static tackle TEA over on YouTube, with each member juggling aggro back and forth as there's no Dark Knight, Gunbreaker, Paladin, or Warrior to take it themselves.
It's quite a moment to behold, honestly. This is a nearly 20-minute fight that groups with normal compositions struggle to do… and unsurprisingly, the community is impressed.
"I love when people just clear old content with really silly combos, and here I am, unable to even find a group to start doing it," reads one comment. Another jokes that "tank LB3 is a suggestion, not a requirement." It would seem so, anon. It would seem so.
One person jests that "the BLM parties from FFXI are coming to XIV, I see," referencing Square Enix's previous (and still active) MMO: Final Fantasy 11. My favorite response comes from a tank, though. "As a tank main, I can barely survive the tank buster, and here you are BLM take it like a champ."
I'm a healer myself, but this resonates with me so much. I hate feeling like I'm overhealing in raids, but TEA genuinely felt so tight sometimes.
I suppose that speaks to this group's skill… and I'm sure that as the new Kefka Ultimate – Dancing Mad – becomes "contemporary," we'll see more impressive clears like this.
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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.
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