It’s been just over a year since Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood came out and introduced series fans to some incredibly memorable villains. From the emperor of elegance, Zenos yae Galvus, to the mighty Rathalos that’s just been added as part of a Monster Hunter crossover, there’s plenty of baddies to test your mettle against. However, one of toughest out there is currently FFXIV Tsukuyomi Ex — also known as The Minstrel’s Ballad: Tsukuyomi’s Pain. While the MSQ gives you a crack at Yotsuyu and demands that you dispatch her, the Extreme version of the trial takes some serious preparation. Check out our FFXIV Tsukuyomi Ex Guide and we’ll help you put down this primal once and for all.
FFXIV Tsukuyomi Ex Guide: How to Unlock The Minstrel’s Ballad: Tsukuyomi’s Pain
Unlocking The Minstrel’s Ballad: Tsukuyomi’s Pain is reliant on you clearing the trial on its regular difficulty – also known as Castrum Fluminis. Once you’ve emerged victorious, you can speak to the Wandering Minstrel in Kugane (11.6, 12.6). This will allow you to unlock Tsukuyomi Ex, which you can then queue for in the duty finder.
FFXIV Tsukuyomi Ex Guide: How to Beat
Actually completing FFXIV Tsukuyomi Ex is a whole different story. As with all the recent Ex and Savage versions of end-game content, Yotsuyu really packs a punch when you face off against here. We’ve broken down the essential skills that you have to watch out for in each phase.
Phase 1
Tsukuyomi will count as being in phase 1 until her health drops past 80%. As with most bosses, she can be pushed into phase 2 if your DPS is high enough so just be careful of the timing of her end-of-phase skill that your healers may need to deal with.
Tsukuyomi will cast 3 main spells – Reprimand, Nightfall, and Nightbloom. Reprimand and Nightbloom will damage the entire raid, and they open and close phase 1 respectively. In between those two spells, she will cast Nightfall.
Nightfall has two varieties: the gun (everyone has to stack on the targeted player) and the spear (she will cleave one member of each role in the party). When she’s wielding the Nightbloom spear, make sure that players are spread out according to their roles. Once you get her down to 80%, it’s time for the add phase.
Adds
This is very similar to how Castrum Fluminis works. Adds will spawn that will aggro onto Yotsuyu, and she’ll have a Suffering bar that grows depending on the damage she takes. As usual, your job is to keep the specters of her past away from her. Most don’t function on the usual enmity table, so it’s about just doing a lot of damage very quickly.
We recommend burning down the notable adds (i.e. Asahi, Specter of the Matriarch and Specter of the Patriarch) as quickly as possible. Secondary adds will spawn, and tanks should pick these up if possible to help group them for maximum efficiency.
When the Specter of Zenos spawns, he will use his trademark skill Concentrativity, which will do damage to the whole raid and apply Down for the Count for approximately 10 seconds. After this, the usual cutscene with Gosestsu plays out, before you have to burn Zenos in order to push phase 3. During this time, he will continue to do AOE damage with Dispersivity. Once he’s been burnt down, Yotsuyu will cast Nightbloom again, so make sure that your healers are prepped for that as you’ll enter phase 3 right after.
Phase 3
Tsukuyomi adds a whole new roster of skills to her arsenal, on top of casting the skills that she had in phase 1. It’s also worth noting that her damage in this phase is magical damage, so tanks should prepare accordingly.
Much like Castrum Fluminis, she will split the area into two halves of one moon using Supreme Selenomancy. Depending on whether you’re in the dark or the light half, you will gain a different buff. If you get more than 4 stacks of either Moonlit or Moonshadowed, you will die.
Tsukuyomi will cast the following skills on rotation:
Midnight Rain: The platform will become either white or black, and she will be able to cast Antitwilight or Perilune depending on the color
Antitwilight: Deadly damage to those without the Veil of Shadow buff
Perilune: Deadly damage to those without the Veil of Light buff
Zashiki-asobi: She spawns fans around the platform that explode after a certain time. Players should track the movement of the fans and preemptively move to where the last fan will drop before collectively moving back to where the first spawned.
Meteors will fall on the platform and these have to be avoided or they will give everyone a reduced damage debuff. Once Crescent Moon ends, the meteors will explode into either a white or a black floor, which will give players the respective buff from either color as well as Veil of Light or Veil of Shadow. Ensuring that you pick up the right Veil buff before she casts Perilune or Antitwilight is key for survival. If you’re having trouble guiding the Meteors while her other skills are going off, don’t be afraid to use your tank LB. Once Tsukuyomi hits 35%, she’ll go into her last phase.
Phase 4
Tsukuyomi will open this last phase by casting Dance of the Dead which slaps the entire raid. She then casts either Full Moon or New Moon, which will enable her to cast either Bright Blade or Dark Blade. To be on the safe side, you’re going to want the party to stack on her left or her right flank for a quick pivot to avoid her AOE attacks. Bright Blade will be an attack on her left, and Dark Blade is an attack on her right.
She will continue to spawn Dancing Fans during this phase of the fight, so players have to ensure that they stay coordinated for that and on their toes. She’ll also mark someone in the group with Lunacy, which will require everyone to be stacked to mitigate the damage.
Tsukuyomi will also cast Hagetsu on a member of each role, which will deal splash damage. When she casts Torment Unto Death, tanks will have to swap in order to deal with the Physical Vulnerability up debuff as well. She then repeats her skills in Phase 4 until she dies.
FFXIV Tsukuyomi Ex Guide: Loot
When you down Tsukuyomi Ex, you’ll be given a Lunar Totem. Like other primal tokens, you can turn them in at Rhalgr’s Reach to the appropriate vendor in order to get an ilvl365 Primal weapon. It’s not a big upgrade from the available augmented Mendacity weapon if you’re already proficient at clearing out Sigmascape, but Tsukuyomi Ex is a pretty entertaining fight if you’re up for the challenge. Now go forth and slaughter!
