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The Skydeep Cenote is a level 95 Dungeon inFinal Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, and the third Dungeon of the expansion’s storyline. After collecting all seven keystones, it’s finally time to find the city of gold and complete the rite of succession.
While the city of gold could be anywhere, you have a pretty good lead; that being the ancient caves within the Skydeep Cenote in Yak T’el. Below, we’ll take a look at how to beat every boss in this Dungeon, with detailed breakdowns of their attacks and mechanics.
How To Unlock The Skydeep Cenote
This quest is available after completing’The Feat of the Brotherhood’and defeating Gulool Ja Ja’s Glory in the solo instance Duty.
Feather Ray
The first boss of this dungeon is the Feather Ray. Its attacks and mechanics are detailed below.
Troublesome Tail
Debuff
Inflicts all party members with theNuisance debuff, which will cause them tomirror the boss’s next attack.
Worrisome Wave
Cone AoE
Turns towards a random player and fires aconal AoEat them. After a few seconds,each player will then mirror this attack, firing aconal AoE in the direction they are facing. Turn away from other party members to avoid hitting them with your AoE.
Hydro Ring
Ring AoE
Deals damage in alarge ring AoEwith asafe area around the boss. This attack will alsocover the edge of the arena in a dangerous AoEthat deals damage if you touch it.
Blowing Bubbles
AoE
Feather Ray will begin firing outbubbles in all directions. These will move slowly, but take care to dodge them.
Bubble Bomb/Rolling Current
AoE/Moving AoE
Several large bubbles will be created around the arena. Then, the boss will useRolling Currenttomove themto either theleft or right. There will be agap between bubbles; find where the gap will be moved to andposition yourself thereto avoid this combo.
Trouble Bubbles
Special
The boss will first useTroublesome Tailto inflict everyone withNuisance, then castBlowing Bubbles. While bubbles are fired out of the boss, you will also begin firing themfrom yourself. Spread out to make it easier for all party members to dodge all the bubbles.
The Feather Ray will repeat these mechanics until it is defeated. TheBubble BombandRolling Currentcombo has the highest chance of catching you off guard, as determining where the safe area will be can be difficult. Also, be sure towatch your positioning when inflicted with Nuisanceso that you aren’t accidentally hurting your party members with your AoEs.
Firearms
The second boss of the Skydeep Cenote is Firearms. Here are all of its mechanics.
Dynamic Dominance
Roomwide AoE
Deals damage toall party membersandcovers the edge of the arena in a dangerous AoE. Avoid moving here as you avoid the boss’s other attacks.
Mirror Maneuver/Thunderlight Burst
Line AoE
The boss will create ablue mirrorand ayellow orbsomewhere in the arena. Then, it will jump to another side of the arena and useThunderlight Burst, firing aline AoE at the mirror, which will then bedeflected toward the yellow orb. When these two make contact, theyellow orb will explode, dealing high damage in alarge area.
On subsequent uses of this attack,two mirrorsandthree orbswill be created,causing Thunderblight to bounce twicebefore hitting one of the orbs. Follow the path of the line AoE carefully and move to avoid it.
Ancient Artillery/Emergent Artillery
Firearms will summontwo orange glyphson random tiles in the arena. Then, it will castEmergent Artillery, causing these tiles toexpand in cardinal directionsbeforeexploding. Follow the trajectory of the incoming AoEs and move accordingly to find a safe spot.
Subsequent uses ofAncient Artillerywill createthree orange tiles, which will then cover even more of the arena whenEmergent Artilleryis used. Additionally, players will be inflicted withThunderlight Furryimmediately after Emergent Artillery resolves,marking each player with an AoE Marker. Spread out to avoid overlapping these.
Tankbuster
Dealshigh damage to the Tank. Use defensive cooldowns to mitigate.
Firearms will repeat these attacks until it is defeated. The most important mechanic to watch out for during this fight isMirror Maneuver. Following the path of the line AoE can be difficult, especially later in the fight when there are more mirrors and orbs.
Maulskull
The massive Maulskull is the final boss of the Skydeep Cenote. Here are its attacks.
Stonecarver
Maulskull willchannel power into each of its fistsbeforestriking that half of the arena. Its fists willlight up in the order they are going to strike in, so watch carefully to determine which half of the arena to move to first.
Skullcrush
Knockback/AoE Markers
Creates aknockback AoE in the center of the arena, pushing all players away from this point. Just before being knocked back, all players will bemarked with AoE Markers. To avoid falling off, position yourself in thesouthwest or southeastof the knockback circle,as close as you can getbefore you’re inside the AoE. Immediately after being knocked back,spread away from other playersto avoid hitting them with your AoE.
Maulwork
A series ofthree sets of circle AoEsfollowed by either alarge line AoEdown the center of the arena ortwo diagonal line AoEson either side of the arena. Move out of the telegraphs to avoid taking damage.
Deep Thunder
Stack
Creates aStack pillarnear the north part of the arena. All players will need togroup up on this pillarto spread out the damage of the incoming attack, which will hitmultiple times in a row.
Ringing Blows
Knockback/AoE
Combines the effects ofSkullcrushandStonecarver. You will beknocked back from the blue AoEat the north part of the arena before Maulskullstrikes each half of the arena. Remember to keep track of which fist charges up first as you are knocked back.
Wrought Fire
AoE Tankbuster
Dealshigh damage to the Tankin a circle around them. The Tank shouldmove away from the rest of the partywhile using mitigating cooldowns.
Colossal Impact
Knockback/Stack Marker
Creates ablue stack markerin thesouthwestor southeast cornerof the arena. Then, a random player will be marked with aStack Marker. Group up before the knockback, then stay together until the Stack Marker resolves to spread out its damage.
This attack will then be repeated, but players will be targeted withAoE Markers insteadof a Stack Marker, similar toSkullcrush. Spread out after being knocked back.
Deals damage toall party members. Recover with AoE healing.
Maulskull will repeat these attacks until it is defeated. All of the knockbacks in this fight need to bepositioned very carefully, as they willpush you back pretty far, andfalling off the edge of the arena means instant death. Other than that, the AoEs in this fight should be fairly simple to avoid.
