Cinder Drift (Extreme)

This article is about the optional story-mode level 80 trial. For the level 80 challenge-mode trial, see Cinder Drift.

Cinder Drift (Extreme)

Level

80 (Sync: 80)

Item Level

470

Difficulty

Extreme

Party size

Full Party
8 man • 2 2 4

Unsyncing

Allowed

Time limit

60 minutes

Duty Finder

High-end Trials (Shadowbringers)

Roulette

Mentor

Tomestones

 25 

Req. quest

Weapon of Choice

Entrance

Eorzean Alliance Headquarters (X:6.2, Y:6.1)

Location

Cinder Drift

Region

Gyr Abania

Stone, Sky, Sea

Available

Patch

5.2

The Echo

On wipe: +5% (max +25%)

“

Garlond Ironworks attracts a fair number of mechanically-minded lunatics, and even goes so far as to offer some of them employment. One in particular has taken it upon himself to craft likenesses of Garlean warmachina, including that of the recently defeated Ruby Weapon. A restored Allagan device uses it as a basis to project images of a foe far more ferocious than the one you had previously laid low, and your mind is filled with visions of what might have been.

— In-game description

Cinder Drift (Extreme) is a level 80 trial introduced in patch 5.2 with Shadowbringers.

Guide

Video guide by MTQcapture

Mark III Anti-Eikon Warmachina: The Ruby Weapon

(Phase 1) Ruby Weapon's Abilities

Your showdown with the Mark III Anti-Eikon Warmachina - otherwise known as The Ruby Weapon, an iconic boss from Final Fantasy VII - takes place within in a circular arena containing no death-walls or fatal drops.

• Optimized Ultima: Unleashes unavoidable raid-wide damage.

• Magitek Bits: Spawns several mechanical adds around the edges of the platform. The adds are reminiscent of the 'bits' summoned during previous fights with the Ultima weapon - flying gadgets that will continuously shoot straight-line AoEs at random players that must be avoided.

• Flexiclaw: Causes Ruby Weapon to plunge its elongated claws into the ground whilst hovering in the air, indicating the arrival of a mini-phase.

• Helioclaw: One of two abilities used during Flexiclaw - causes three AoE circles to form beneath Ruby Weapon, as well as a tri-lined "fan" pattern on the ground. Just like normal mode, the AoE circles beneath Ruby Weapon will eventually explode while travelling in the direction of the pattern shown on the floor, except this time, there will be two rounds of Helioclaw back-to-back. However, players will also have to contend with Magitek Bits which will still be actively shooting straight-line AoEs at random players. To avoid, players should quickly recognize where the (very small) safe spots are located during each round of Helioclaw, but before standing in a safe spot, bait the Magitek Bits into shooting somewhere else. If players move to a safe spot without baiting the bits, they risk being shot for major damage by the bits, or take massive damage from Helioclaw if choosing to dodge the bits into an unsafe area.

• Stamp: Vauses Ruby Weapon to stomp on its primary target with a vicious tank-buster. Unlike normal mode, Stamp will also inflict a Blunt Vulnerability debuff, essentially boosting Ruby Weapon's damage against that target for a hefty duration. As a result, tanks will need to swap after each Stamp.

• Flexiclaw: Causes Ruby Weapon to plunge its elongated claws into the ground once again, indicating the arrival of another mini-phase.

• Ravensclaw: Forms eight cracks in the floor which begin travelling in cardinal and inter-cardinal directions, alternating between long and short distances, with long cracks reaching the outer edge of the arena, and short cracks stopping beyond halfway to the edges. Eventually, an AoE circle will also spawn directly under Ruby Weapon, exploding for massive damage against anyone standing within its hit-box. Simultaneously, AoE circles will also explode at the end of all eight cracks that were formed (with no visual telegraph), forcing participants to figure out safe spots for themselves. A good rule-of-thumb is to stand at the edge of Ruby Weapon's hit-box, directly on top of a long crack on the ground.

Once the explosions have detonated, Ruby Weapon will cast one of two possible abilities: Liquefaction or Undermine. Bear in mind that the ability will be entirely random and will always overlap with another mechanic, Ruby Sphere.

• Liquefaction: Causes the entire arena (except for the cracks formed by Flexiclaw) to degrade into swirling quicksand that slowly pulls all players into the ground. To avoid being dragged to an early grave, players must stand on the cracks.

• Undermine: Causes all cracks to explode after a brief delay, indicated by a glowing red telegraph surrounding all crack lines. To avoid, players must move away from the cracks or stand between them.

• Regardless of which ability is chosen, all players will also have to contend with Ruby Sphere, marking all raid members with a large circular AoE mark. Whilst Liquefaction or Undermine is underway, all marked players will periodically drop up to three mines on the ground (the same size as the Ruby Sphere marker itself), and each drop of a mine will also inflict a stacking Magic Vulnerability debuff. Due to Liquefaction or Undermine reducing the number of safe areas in the arena, as well as the stacking Magic Vulnerability against all players, the entire raid must co-ordinate themselves so that their three mines are dropped in a manner that allows everyone to avoid the other mechanics safely. Should any player walk into a mine (no matter who it belonged to), the mine will explode and likely result in a gruesome death.

• If Liquefaction is underway, the only available safe spots are on top of Flexiclaw cracks. As a result, players should each be assigned a crack to stand on and use these to slowly drop each of their three Ruby Sphere's along their assigned crack. If done correctly, all players will finish dropping their spheres whilst standing close to (or inside) Ruby Weapon's hit-box, with enough space for everyone to get there without colliding with a mine.

• If Undermine is underway, all cracks are completely unsafe, meaning that the only available safe spots are in between cracks or at the outer edges of the arena. Due to the size of Ruby Sphere mines, the raid should divide into even groups and utilize the safe spots to drop their mines safely. If a safe spot is too crowded, players may collide with mines or risk being slain by the exploding cracks.

NOTE: Assigning each player to cardinal or inter-cardinal locations before the battle is a great way of ensuring that everyone has a safe spot (crack) during Liquefaction and/or can divide easily into safe spots during Undermine.

After Ruby Sphere + Liquefaction / Undermine has concluded, Ruby Weapon will retract its claws and the fight resumes as normal.

• Ruby Ray: Causes Ruby Weapon to face a random player and charge up a massive straight-line AoE that will slaughter anyone standing in its path. As the name implies, Ruby Ray is indicated by a swelling of red energy. Once you see Ruby Weapon charging up, move behind it as soon as possible. As soon as Ruby Ray has concluded, the raid will be bombarded with another cast of Optimized Ultima, the unavoidable raid-wide AoE.

• Flexiclaw: Causes Ruby Weapon to plunge its elongated claws into the ground yet again, except this time, Liquefaction will be cast immediately, turning the outer edges of the arena into quicksand, indicated by multiple circle markers on the ground. To avoid being sucked under the earth, all participants must stand in the centre of the arena - the only part of the arena that is safe to stand on during this phase.

• Ravensflight: Causes Ruby Weapon to leap to the outer edge of the battlefield and begin charging up. After a delay, Ruby Weapon will repeatedly dash across the arena in different directions, inflicting high damage to anyone caught in its path. Whilst charging up, telegraphs will display the order (and direction) of Ruby Weapon's flight, giving players a brief opportunity to discern safe locations. However, Liquefaction will persist during this time, forcing the raid to stay in the arena centre and use very limited space to avoid the dash attacks. Anyone caught in Ruby Weapon's path will suffer high damage, so watch out!

After half of the dashes have been performed, Ruby Weapon will cease charging and extend one of its claws (indicated by Ruby Weapon landing near a claw-like icon), then resume dashing. From here on, players must now avoid being on the claw-side of Ruby Weapon during the remaining Ravensflight dashes. Near the end of Ravensflight, Ruby Weapon will also hit a 'quicksand' icon which essentially inverts Liquefaction. When this happens, the outer edge of the arena will become safe, whereas the arena centre will become quicksand instead for a brief period. As such, the final safe spot will always be at the outer edge of the arena.

Once all Ravensflight dashes have been performed, the arena will normalize and the fight returns to normal after another cast of Optimized Ultima - the unavoidable raid-wide AoE - followed by another Stamp - the vicious tank-buster that applies Blunt Vulnerability, forcing another tank swap.

• Ruby Dynamics: Causes Ruby Weapon to dash to the edge of the arena and prepare to swipe the entire arena with its extended claws. Unlike normal mode, Ruby Dynamics comes with absolutely no telegraph. To avoid, players must move within Ruby Weapon's hitbox as soon as they notice Ruby Weapon extending its claws. However, two players will also be marked with stack-mark AoEs due to Homing Laser, forcing the raid to split into two groups and help soak each marker. Due to being forced to stand within Ruby Weapon's hitbox to avoid the claw attack at the same time, participants will have limited space to work with. To avoid both mechanics, simply have the two stack-marked players stand at opposite sides of Ruby Weapon's hit-box and ensure that enough players are standing in each stack marker to soak the damage.

• Homing Laser + Cut & Run: Marks the entire raid with large AoE circles, forcing everyone to spread out. After a brief delay, all circles will explode simultaneously for high damage. As always, make sure not to overlap other players with your own AoE circle. At the same time, Ruby Weapon will prepare to walk through the centre of the arena while swiping left and right with its claws, slicing anyone in its path into ribbons. To avoid both mechanics, the raid should divide into two groups (4x4) and spread out at the outer edges of the arena. This gives all participants enough space to avoid overlapping their Homing Laser AoE markers and also leaves enough room for Ruby Weapon to charge through the centre without hitting anyone via Cut & Run.

• Magitek Charge: Spawns proximity markers at the east and west of the arena during the end of Cut & Run. To avoid, players should run into Ruby Weapon's hitbox as soon as Cut & Run has concluded. After a brief delay, Ruby Weapon will then cast Ruby Ray (the massive straight-line AoE aimed at a random player), and Optimized Ultima, the unavoidable raid-wide AoE.

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• Flexiclaw: Ruby Weapon plunges its elongated claws into the ground once more, followed by Ravensclaw, causing eight cracks to travel in cardinal and inter-cardinal directions just like earlier, except this time, Ruby Weapon will follow-up with Liquefaction or Undermine (whichever was NOT randomly cast beforehand). For example, if Ravensclaw was followed by Undermine earlier in the battle, then Liquefaction will be used here instead, or vice-versa. Similarly to before, all players will have to contend with Ruby Sphere - forcing all players to use the limited number of safe spots to distribute 3x mines each.

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• Liquefaction: Turns the arena centre into quicksand, leaving the outer edges safe to stand on.

• Ravensflight: Causes Ruby Weapon to repeatedly dash across the arena in different directions (just like earlier), inflicting high damage to anyone caught in its path. Players can use the telegraphs on the ground to discern the direction of each dash and pre-position themselves into safe locations.

Unlike before, Ruby Weapon will hit a 'quicksand' icon during the earliest dashes, inverting Liquefaction quicksand so that the outer edges will become unsafe whilst turning the arena centre from quicksand into a safe location. After dodging the initial dashes, players must be ready to move from the outer edges to the centre. Soon after, Ruby Weapon will once again hit a 'claw' marker, extending either its left or right claw before continuing to dash across the arena. From here on, players must now avoid being on the claw side of Ruby Weapon during the remaining Ravensflight dashes.

Once all Ravensflight dashes have been performed, the arena will normalize, followed by another Optimized Ultima - the unavoidable raid-wide AoE.

Ruby Weapon will begin to enrage after the second set of Ravensflight dashes have resolved, giving the raid a window of opportunity to defeat Ruby Weapon before the raid is wiped.

Once Ruby Weapon is defeated, players are treated to a transitional animation into a new phase. Just like normal mode, reaching the next phase serves as a checkpoint. As a result, wiping during the second phase will simply restart the fight at the beginning of the phase (rather than force the group to restart from the first phase).

(Phase 2) Nael Deus Darnus Abilities

Contrary to normal mode, the outer edge of the arena during phase 2 will become a 'death wall' - slaying any player who touches it.

• Meteor Project - starts a background timer that eventually leads to the summoning of Dalamud. The timer's progress will be indicated via text-comments throughout the course of the battle. Players will also notice the backdrop gradually undergoing various changes. At the timers climax, Dalamud crashes down into the background, resulting in a catastrophic spectacle that heavily damages the entire raid.

• Negative Personae - spawns two Nael-themed adds - each called Raven's Image - which must be tanked away from each other, one add per tank. If the adds are kept close together, they will tether to one-another and become completely invulnerable to damage until they are separated.

Unlike normal mode, all players (and each add) will be also afflicted with either an orange (Rage) or blue (Grief). As a result, each add can only be harmed by players of the opposite colour. For example, one add will be orange and one will be blue - so half of the raid (blue) will need to focus on the orange add, whereas the other half of the raid (orange) will need to contend with the blue add. If you attack an add of the same colour, the add will be completely invulnerable to your damage. Whilst these adds are alive, Nael van Darnus will remain untargetable.

• Meteor Stream - causes all damage dealers to be marked with a blue-circle AoE shortly after the adds arrive. These circles will eventually inflict high damage to all marked players (and anyone else caught in their AoE circles), so be sure to spread out and avoid overlapping.

• Greater Memory - provides both adds with Damage Up. Once buffed, each add will cast either Iron Chariot (a point-blank AoE underneath each add) or Lunar Dynamo, a large donut-AoE centred around each add. Bear in mind that these attacks can be of any combination and will be executed simultaneously. For example, one add might cast Lunar Dynamo while the other casts Iron Chariot. As such, each add should be kept far enough apart so that dodging either of these attacks will not put players at risk of being hit by mechanics from the other add.

• Negative Effect - spawns two floating heads of Nael that will each tether themselves to two of the furthest players and begin travelling towards them. If a floating head reaches a tethered player, that player will immediately be slain. Instead, tethered players must lure their floating head so that it collides with each Raven's Image add, as doing so will not only destroy the floating head, but also remove Greater Memory (damage up) from the add, reducing its damage. However, all damage-dealers will have to contend with an additional cast of Meteor Stream (AoE markers) whilst Negative Effect is in play.

• Raven's Claw - causes both Raven's Image adds to simultaneously assault their primary target with a devastating 5-hit tank-buster. Due to being a multi-hit combo rather than a single blow, tanks may be caught off-guard by the staggered damage. Make sure to utilize mitigation cooldowns!

• Change Of Heart - inverses the colour of both Raven add debuffs from blue to orange (or vice versa), forcing the entire raid to swap their attention from their original add to the other. As a result, tanks will have to be especially careful as this requires a full tank-swap which, if sloppily executed, may result in adds moving close together and becoming completely invulnerable to attacks until separated once again.

After Change of Heart has been executed, the adds will enter a mechanical loop until they are both defeated. Once both adds have been slain, the raid can turn its attention to Nael Van Darnus.

• Negative Aura - causes Nael to charge a gaze-attack which will inflict confusion on any player who looks directly at her when it is fully cast. Simply look away to avoid losing control of your character.

At this point, the invisible Meteor Project timer will conclude, causing a noticeable change of atmosphere and background, with Dalamud fully visible as it hurtles towards the ground. By now, both adds should either be slain (or close to death). Once Dalamud has fully descended, the entire raid will take tremendous damage. Assuming the raid survives, Nael will recast Meteor Project, creating a new background timer that will lead to another summoning of Dalamud.

• Meteor Mine - causes Nael to consecutively tag players from 1-8 with a large circular marker. After a brief delay, players (in order from 1-8) will drop a proximity marker at their location. One by one, small comets will eventually land at the proximity marker dropped by each player, inflicting damage to the entire raid depending on how close they were to the impact zone of each comet.

• Magitek Meteor - causes Nael to summon an enormous meteor that will slowly descend into the battlefield over time. To avoid a fiery death, players must make sure that they hide behind a Meteor Mine (comet) when the Magitek Meteor hits the ground. However, due to the arena edge being a Death Wall and the fact that Nael will soon cast an AoE knockback before the Magitek Meteor detonates, a good method of dealing with the overlap is to have all players from 1-7 spread out and drop their comets at the outer-edge of the arena, whilst the eight and final comet is dropped at the edge of Nael's hitbox (away from the deathwall). Once all proximity markers are present, the entire raid should move into Nael's hitbox and prepare to mitigate the damage inflicted by the comets.

• Screech - inflicts a raid-wide knockback from the arena centre, punting the entire raid outward towards the death wall. Seeing as the Magitek Meteor will collide with the ground shortly afterward, players should aim themselves so that they are pushed behind the 8th comet (which was dropped just outside of Nael's hitbox). If players aim themselves incorrectly or are too far away during the knockback, they risk being slain by the Magitek Meteor explosion, or by being pushed into the death wall. It is worth noting that Knockback Immunity cooldowns will negate the knockback, allowing players to pre-position themselves behind the 8th comet ahead of time and simply nullify the knockback of Screech entirely.

• Meteor Burst - causes all comets to explode in the order they were dropped, inflicting major damage on anyone close by. Seeing as the comets explode in order from one to eight (and assuming you have utilized a strategy that allowed you to hide behind the eighth comet to avoid Magitek Meteor, all other comets around the arena will explode first, giving everyone plenty of opportunity to move into a safe location away from the explosion of the eighth comet.

• Mark II Magitek Meteor - creates two small circle-telegraphs within the arena that will slowly move in a direction indicated by arrows within the circle. After travelling a short distance, comets will land at the final location. If a comet is allowed to hit the platform, the raid will immediately be wiped. To prevent this, players must 'catch' the comets by standing within the circle-telegraphs after they have stopped moving. However, 'catching' a comet will inflict continuous damage to the players and render them unable to act. Players who did not catch a comet will need to destroy the caught comets in order to save their teammates from being crushed to death. It is wise to have each tank pop spare mitigation cooldowns and catch a comet each - leaving damage-dealers free to nuke them down and healers free to keep the tanks alive until both comets have been destroyed. Bear in mind the Mark II Magitek Meteor will always overlap with Bradamante.

• Bradamante - causes Nael to mark two players with orange markers and eventually shoot straight-line AoEs in their direction. Due to being executed while the raid is trying to destroy Mark II Magitek Meteor comets held by other players, anyone marked by Bradamante must make sure that they angle themselves away from the comet-catchers so that the straight-line AoEs are not fired in their direction.

By now, the Meteor Project Timer (2) will be nearing completion, causing Dalamud to descend once again and inflict massive raid-wide damage. Assuming the raid survives the ordeal, Nael van Darnus will refresh the timer with a third and final Meteor Project.

• Outrage - causes Nael to bombard the raid with two bouts of unavoidable raid-wide damage that will require heavy healing/shielding.

• Meteor Stream (x2) - causes all damage dealers (or all tanks and healers) to be marked with a blue-circle AoE, just like earlier, eventually inflicting high damage to the marked players and anyone else caught in the AoE circles. Once the first wave of Meteor Stream has concluded, the remaining four players will be marked with a second wave of AoE circles.

• Outrage - Nael blasts the raid with two more bouts of unavoidable raid-wide damage one final time.

If Nael has not been defeated by the second Outrage, Dalamud's fall will obliterate the raid and force you to restart the fight from the beginning of the phase.

Unsynced guide

Video guide by Moonshadow Fantasy

With a level 90 unrestricted party, the following mechanics are of concern:

• Ravensclaw: Assign each player to a cardinal or intercardinal spot.
  • Undermine: Players with the long crack pointed at them move left. Drop off three AoEs at the back of the arena and move to the center.
  • Liquefaction: Players stand on the cracks, dropping off the overlapping AoEs as they move towards the center.
• Ruby Ray: Stand behind the boss.
• Add phase: Attack the add with the opposite color to your own debuff (red attacks blue and vice versa). Keep the adds apart.
  • Iron Chariot: The add casts an AoE around itself, move away
  • Lunar Dynamo: The add casts a donut AoE around itself, move into its hitbox.

Loot

See also: Ruby Weapons

• Each player will receive 1   Ruby Totem per kill. Collect 10 totems to exchange for a weapon or 99 for a   Ruby Gwiber Trumpet at C'intana in Mor Dhona (X:22.7 Y:6.7).
•  25 Allagan Tomestone of Poetics
•   Ruby Weapon Card (Drops at a fixed rate.)

Treasure Coffer

Name	Type	Item Level	Rarity	Quantity
Paladin's Ruby Arms (IL 485)	Other	N/A	CBlue	1
Ruby Battleaxe	Marauder's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Greatsword	Dark Knight's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Sawback	Gunbreaker's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Partisan	Lancer's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Cesti	Pugilist's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Samurai Blade	Samurai's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Daggers	Rogue's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Bow	Archer's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Knifelock	Machinist's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Chakrams	Dancer's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Rod	Two-handed Thaumaturge's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Index	Arcanist's Grimoire	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Hanger	Red Mage's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Cane	Two-handed Conjurer's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Codex	Scholar's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Astrometer	Astrologian's Arm	485	CBlue	1
Ruby Plating	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Ruby Weapon Coffer (IL 485)	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Ruby Gwiber Trumpet	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Faded Copy of Ultima (The Primals)	Orchestrion Roll	N/A	ABasic	1

Achievements

This duty is associated with the following achievements:

Name	Points	Task	Reward	Patch
Seeing Red	10	Defeat the Ruby Weapon at Cinder Drift (Extreme).	-	5.2
Mightier than Ruby	5	Complete the Cinder Drift (Extreme) with a party of only blue mages, Silence Echo turned on, and Unrestricted Party turned off.	-	6.45

Images

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Trials

Duties