Final Fantasy XIV Gil

Not long ago, Final Fantasy 14 released the latest patch 7.2 on March 25, bringing a series of new content, such as New raid, dungeon, trials, & PVP updates. Among them, the most attractive and rewarding one should be the level 100 raid AAC Cruiserweight M4.

AAC Cruiserweight M4 will first be launched in normal difficulty, and will open Savage difficulty for you to experience a week after the release. If you want to take this opportunity to earn more FFXIV Gil and your character is strong enough, don’t miss this opportunity!

More specifically, AAC Cruiserweight M4 is actually a raid series, which contains 4 specific bosses, namely Dancing Green, Sugar Riot, Brute Abominator, and Howling Blade. In this order, later the boss, the higher the difficulty, and the final challenge, Howling Blade, is obviously the most difficult. So ensuring you can complete the entire AAC Cruiserweight M4 successfully, we will bring you a guide to Howling Blade raid.

Howling Blade Overview

This raid consists of 3 phases: phase 1 phase 2 and the additional phases in between. When the fight begins, the boss will cover the right edge of the arena with an AOE effect, and if you step into it, you will suffer bleeding damage. Therefore, you must try to avoid this area while avoiding the boss’s attacks throughout the fight.

Boss Skills In Phase 1

To successfully avoid or deal with the boss’s skills, you need to know what skills he has and how they work. Here are the specific functions of each boss skill in phase 1:

1. Extraplanar Pursuit

As a full coverage AOE skill, Extraplanar Pursuit will damage your entire raid team, and can only be healed by your healing skills that also have the AOE effect.

2. Great Divide

This skill allows the boss to target one of your team’s tanks with a line stacking marker and output damage, so it is recommended that the two tanks in your team are as close as possible to share the damage, or use defensive cooldowns to reduce the damage. In addition, non-tank teammates should avoid getting close to or hiding behind tanks when facing Great Divide.

3. Wolves’ Reign

This skill causes the boss Howling Blade to release an AOE combo after completing the cast. First, four circular AOEs will appear around the arena, and the boss will rush to one of them, then continue to rush across the arena to the other side, causing linear AOE damage to you, and then release a cone AOE from the new position. To avoid this attack, you need to first move to the other end of the boss’s sprint direction, and then move slightly to the side to avoid the upcoming linear AOE and cone AOE.

4. Heavensearth

This is a boss skill that deals with damage by stacking markers that target random players in your group. You and your teammates just need to gather together to spread the damage.

5. Beckon Moonlight

After using this skill, the boss will summon four Moonlit Shadow clones that appear in sequence around the arena. They will then rush across the arena and damage half of the arena according to the direction of their swords and the order in which they appear. To avoid them, you must examine their order and the direction of their swords.

6. Shadowchase

Summon five clones near the center of the arena. Each clone will move forward and cast a straight line AOE. Fortunately, there is a corresponding safe area behind each clone. Move there to avoid their attacks.

7. Bare Fangs

After casting this skill, Howling Blade will summon its glowing fang fragments in the arena, and they will attack you in a straight line AOE in pairs. To avoid them, be sure to carefully observe the timing and order of each fang.

8. Terrastrial Rage

While using Bare Fangs, Howling Blade will continue to perform Terrastrial Rage to create a circular AOE around the arena, after which the boss will use Heavensearth again and summon Wolf of Stone and Wolf of Wind via Tactical Pack.

Add Phase

During this phase, the boss will become invincible, and his Saber Intensity gauge will increase over time, and during this phase, the previously summoned Wolf of Stone and Wolf of Wind will cast Weal of Stone and Weal of Wind on you, damaging you and your party in a straight line in front of them.

Once the wolf is defeated, the boss will continue to cast Ravenous Saber, dealing varying amounts of damage to you based on Saber Intensity gauge. To avoid fatal damage, it is recommended that you defeat the wolf before this gauge reaches maximum, and the battle will then enter the second phase.

Phase 2

Once this phase begins, a notification will be posted indicating that the boss’s attacks will appear more frequently, hit harder, and will also have some new abilities added, including:

• Wolves’ Reign
• Terrastrial Titans
• Shadowchase
• Tracking Tremors
• Beckon Moonlight

In addition, the barrier that previously protected you from falling from the arena has disappeared, so you must not only be careful to avoid the enemy’s AOE attacks, but also be careful not to fall out of the arena. Howling Blade will then repeat these attacks and mechanics until defeated, and then you can get various loot, including FF14 Gil.

The above are some precautions for dealing with Howling Blade. I hope it can help you complete all AAC Cruiserweight M4 raids as soon as possible! Good luck!

Since Final Fantasy 14 launched its own Dawntrail expansion last summer, players’ opinions and comments on it have been in an unstable state: at first, the content in the new expansion brought a lot of freshness to the players, but since late July, players have begun to be dissatisfied with the speed of introducing new content, and feel that it can’t keep up with the speed of players’ exploration.

But in the spring of 2025, this situation will improve, because on March 25th FFXIV will launch its own Patch 7.2, called Seekers of Eternity, which will bring a lot of new content and game improvements to players, such as new dungeons, trials, major updates to PVP, and large-scale new exploration content.

From a lot of information leaked so far, it can be seen that Seekers of Eternity strives to provide some new playable content for players with different play styles. This guide will introduce you to what new game content you will experience in the upcoming Patch 7.2 based on some information released by Square Enix and leaked by the player community.

In-Game

Like previous major patches for FF14, Patch 7.2 will continue the game’s main story quests and expand on some of the events introduced in the previous Dawntrail. The most exciting thing for players may be the addition of a new dungeon, The Underkeep, and some new mechanics and challenges will also be added to the game with the addition of this new dungeon.

In addition, the new Trial Recollection will provide players with two difficulties, Normal and Extreme, giving high-level players another opportunity to test their characters’ abilities against powerful enemies. Similarly, the most proud raid content in Final Fantasy 14 has also received a major expansion: The Arcadion - Cruiserweight has been added.

This new raid series will be launched first in Normal difficulty and is expected to be opened to Savage difficulty for players with higher abilities a week later. You can expect to experience very complex combat mechanics and some high-intensity combat in it, as the setting of this raid is one of the most difficult content in the game so far.

It is also worth noting that Hells’ Kier (Suzaku) will return to the game as Unreal Trial, which may bring a nostalgic but very fresh gaming experience and challenge to some old players.

The Occult Crescent, a new wild exploration area expected to be added in Patch 7.25 on May 27, has aroused great interest from players. The design of this large multiplayer game mode is actually very similar to Eureka and Bozja in Dawntrail. It will take players to a mysterious island in the Shades Triangle and provide some large-scale boss stations, a raid content with up to 48 players to explore in a group, and a progression system that encourages exploration.

Players will increase their Knowledge Level in The Occult Crescent so that they can challenge more difficult content. However, it must be mentioned that this operation is somewhat risky, because at higher Knowledge Levels, once you experience death in it and are not resurrected by other players in time, the experience points and FFXIV Gil you earn in it will be lost.

If you use Phantom Job system, you will use exclusive and unique job abilities in this explorable area. At the beginning of exploration, only Freelancer jobs are available, but as you explore in it, you can unlock more Phantom Jobs, such as Geomancer, Ranger, Time Mage, Berserker, and Cannoneer.

Compared to The Occult Crescent, Cosmic Exploration may be launched earlier, expected in Patch 7.21 on April 22, and it introduces a new mode designed for in-game crafters and gatherers. This new cooperative activity will allow players to develop new planets over time: you need to start by building a base, and then expand the entire planet under the progress of tasks and time.

Note that the progress of each server is unique and also provides players with single-player and team activities. At the same time, some special rewards, Star Contributor system, and a large amount of FFXIV Gil will also be added to increase your interest in this new mode. This is very beneficial for players who like to craft in the game and strive to get all the collectibles.

Quality Of Life Changes

Not only has Patch 7.2 changed the content available to players, but the quality of life provided to players has also undergone some changes, such as the ability to sort food, potions, and sprints by players, so as to facilitate a more seamless and smooth gaming experience.

A new fuel color, Metallic Cobalt Green, has also been added, as well as a new set of crafting gear to facilitate the smooth implementation of Cosmic Exploration. In addition, Duty Support system will also include The Sunken Temple of Qarn, making it easier for single players to experience this interesting dungeon with NPC allies.

In terms of combat, some melee DPS jobs will receive some damage buffs, but Dawntrail’s newly introduced Job Pictomancer will receive some nerfs to ensure the balance of the entire game. For PVP, Series 8 will take over from the soon-to-be-ended Series 7, so players may need to claim any remaining rewards in Series 7 before the official release of the patch on March 25.

With the current release of Final Fantasy 14’s Patch 7.2 and subsequent minor patches, Square Enix has begun to listen to players and maintain a steady update cadence in order to rekindle player interest in the game.

But whether these new additions can maintain player engagement is still worth thinking about. Regardless, with the next chapter of Dawntrail and this new patch, players will have a lot to look forward to. I wish you a happy gaming!