The Baldesion Arsenal

The Baldesion Arsenal

Level

70

Difficulty

Normal

Unsyncing

Allowed

Time limit

25 minutes

Entrance

Eureka Hydatos"{{{entrance-coordinates}}}" is not a number.

Patch

4.55

“

The Baldesion Arsenal is a brutally difficult open dungeon that can be challenged by up to 56 players at once. To enter, you will need to complete the main Eureka storyline and prepare for the worst.

— In-game description

The Baldesion Arsenal is a level 70 duty introduced in patch 4.55 with Shadowbringers.

See also: The Forbidden Land, Eureka Hydatos

Requirements & Entrance

The Baldesion Arsenal is a challenging open-dungeon that can only be accessed by Disciples of War or Disciples of Magic who have completed the Eureka storyline and also sport an elemental level of 60.

Assuming you are up to date with the storyline and meet the above requirements, access to the dungeon is gained via portals around the map that can only be spawned by completing the Boss FATE: "I Don't Want to Believe". Whenever this happens, it'll be indicated by a special notification, usually when the weather is Umbral Turbulence. The FATE can also be somewhat coaxed into spawning by repeatedly slaying Sprites that inhabit Sprite Island. However, keep in mind that the FATE will not spawn at all if there are players currently inside The Baldesion Arsenal.

Once the FATE boss (Ovni) has been defeated, a large number of blue portals will appear throughout the zone, and all players who sufficiently participated in the FATE will be granted a special 10-minute buff (Aetherically Primed) that allows them to enter one of the blue portals immediately. If you wish to enter the dungeon but did not acquire the buff, don't worry - the portals will eventually turn red after 5 minutes of real-time, meaning that they can now be entered even without the buff.

Prepare for the Worst

Before delving into the depths of the dungeon, be sure to rally your allies, stock up on appropriate Logos Actions and form a versatile team. As an open duty, parties are not role-restricted (i.e., you don't have to enter with 2 tanks, 2 healers and 4 damage-dealers), though it may be wise to form something similar for the upcoming challenges. Considering that various mechanics and raid-wide AoE's can easily slay an unprepared player and end their run, make sure you (and/or fellow teammates) are sporting enough defensive and utility-based actions. Your run will end if you accept a KO-Return, or leave the instance for any reason (such as teleporting out or losing your connection).

Unlike standard content, players cannot be raised by normal means. Should you fall for any reason, you can only be raised by someone carrying the Sacrifice (Logos Action) or a Healer-based Limit Break 3. As a result, all players (regardless of role) should be extra cautious whilst travelling through the dungeon. Not only will you face packs of dangerous enemies, but you will also encounter devastating Trap Tiles that can only be spotted by players with Perception (Logos Action). If you are not one of them, make sure to stay behind someone who does.

There are four boss encounters in total within The Baldesion Arsenal, all hiding behind a gauntlet full of dangers, including trash packs that can hit surprisingly hard, not to mention the trap-laden rooms and corridors. Seeing as being KO'd can end your run prematurely, it is wise to give tanks a little extra time to generate enmity before you attack, and never stray far from your designated Perception scouts even if you think the area is safe.

Lastly, the duty timer will start at 25 minutes, yet you will gain additional time whenever you successfully conquer a major room or boos encounter. Furthermore, this will also extend your Hydatos (outside) duty time, not just your in-dungeon time.

Boss: Art & Owain (The Twin Spears)

Before taking on your first boss encounter, participants will need to split up and head down one of two routes - one leading to Art, the Black Spear and the other to Owain, the White Spear. However, should a group reduce a boss to 1 HP, it will remain alive for as long as the other has more than 1 HP.

Below is a list of notable mechanics from both bosses:

Art, The Black Spear

• Thricecull - a vicious tank-buster.

• Acallum no Senorach - unavoidable (moderate) raid-wide damage.

• Spears - the boss will create a collection of spears around the arena that will tether themselves to the boss and mimic the bosses next Legendcarver or Legendspinner shortly after it has been executed. Whenever spears are present, be ready to avoid mechanics from the boss and immediately reposition yourself to avoid the same mechanic from the location of the spears.

• Legendcarver - a point-blank AoE. If there are any spears present within the arena, they will also project their own point-blank AoE shortly after the boss has executed its own version. As such, players will need to dodge the bosses point-blank AoE, then immediately move away to avoid further point-blank AoE's from the spears.

• Legendspinner - a donut AoE. Just like above, players will need to position themselves to avoid a donut AoE (centered on the boss), then reposition themselves to avoid donut AoE's from the spears shortly afterwards.

• Spiritcall - marks numerous players with downward-pointing (red) arrow markers. To avoid taking damage, all marked players should stack with other players (preferably other marked teammates) before Spiritcall detonates.

• Gravity Ball - causes Art to leap away, leaving behind a proximity marker than will eventually deal damage to all players depending on how close they are to the point of impact. As such, the entire group should move as far from the marker as possible. To complicate matters, one member of the group will also be marked with an AoE that will eventually chase them around the room for a period of time, repeatedly detonating each time it moves. As a result, the player marked with the mobile AoE should make a point of running away from the rest of the group and staying on the move until the AoE dissipates (whilst also staying as far away from the proximity marker impact zone as possible).

• Legendary Geas - causes the arena floor to visibly turn black. Once this happens, any player who moves will acquire a Heavy (slow) debuff that will drastically cripple their movement speed. Soon after, players will be forced to avoid various line-AoE's. Assuming you haven't acquired the slow-debuff, they will be easy to avoid, whereas players who moved whilst the arena turned black will find it infinitely harder to move out of harm's way.

Owain, The White Spear

• Thricecull - a vicious tank-buster.

• Acallum no Senorach - unavoidable (moderate) raid-wide damage.

• Elemental Shift - causes the boss to shift to either Fire or Ice. For a visual aid, keep your eyes on the orbs that float around the boss - they will adopt a fire or ice theme depending on the chosen element.

• Mythcall - causes the boss to summon a ring of spears around the battlefield, all of which are attuned to either Fire or Ice. As a rule of thumb, any spear that has the exact same element as the boss will also cast its own version of Elemental Magics (see below) at the exact same as the boss - no delays.

• Elemental Magics - causes the boss to emit a point-blank AoE that should be avoided at all costs. Furthermore, if there are any spears present within the arena of the same element as the one being used by the boss, they will also emit a point-blank AoE at the exact same time, so be sure to keep an eye out for identical elements.

• Spiritcall - marks numerous players with downward-pointing (red) arrow markers. To avoid taking damage, all marked players should stack with other players (preferably other marked teammates) before Spiritcall detonates.

• Hands - the boss summons a collection of targetable hands that will tether themselves to various players. Whilst alive, each hand will acquire a persistent Damage Resistance buff and slowly move towards their tethered target. If the hand reaches its target, the victim will be auto-attacked for tremendous (possibly fatal) damage. To avoid this fate, tethered players can stop their tethered hand from moving by looking directly towards it. In addition, the Damage Resistance can only be removed once the tethered player moves close enough to their respective hand. If you are one of these tethered victims, simply look towards your pursuing hand to root it in place, then carefully move close to it. Once the resistance buff has been removed, you (and fellow teammates) will be able to slay the hand. However, make sure not to turn your back to the hand whilst close by or it may potentially one-shot you.

Boss: Raiden

The second boss, Raiden, awaits you within a circular arena atop his faithful steed. After some introductory mechanics, he will erect an electrified death-wall around the arena, so make sure you are not standing too close to the outer wall beforehand.

• Shingan - a vicious tank-buster.

• Spirits of the Fallen - unavoidable raid-wide damage.

• Thundercall - causes the arena to generate an electrical death-wall for the remainder of the battle. Once the outer edge has been electrified, any player who touches the wall for any reason will immediately be KO'd, so avoid at all costs!

• Booming Lament - a telegraphed ground-AoE. Unlike various other telegraphed AoE's, Booming Lament takes time to resolve, so do not rush back into the marked area too quickly or you may face delayed consequences.

• Ame-no-Sakahoki - Raiden prepares to execute an evasive backflip in a certain direction, followed by a very quick (and very large) AoE being dropped at his previous location. For best results, be ready to pre-emptively move away from the boss before (or during) the backflip rather than waiting for the telegraph itself. In a lot of cases, Raiden may use Whirling Zantesuken or For Honor after each flip, so be ready to dodge the initial AoE and be ready to react to a follow-up mechanic.

• Whirling Zantesuken - Raiden visibly raises his sword in the air. After a brief delay, the entire arena will be blasted by an electric donut AoE from his current location. If you see Raiden raise his weapon, quickly move into his hitbox to avoid the upcoming blast.

• For Honor - Raiden visibly lowers his sword towards the ground. After a brief delay, he will execute an untelegraphed frontal AoE, somewhat similar to the chariot AoE used by Rofocale in The Royal City of Rabanastre.

• Charge Attack - causes Raiden to leap out of the arena and re-appear somewhere outside. Soon after, Raiden will noticeably prepare to charge through the centre of the arena and slash one half with his sword - indicated by a sword-waving animation that ends with Raiden holding it either to his left or right. However, before he charges, multiple circular AoE's will be dropped beneath random players feet, forcing everyone to move. It is wise to bait the circles by having the group stack in the centre once Raiden has exited the arena, which also gives everyone plenty of time to see which side of the arena the boss will slash, allowing everyone to dodge the AoE circles in the direction of the safe half of the arena. Once Raiden has charged, he will become targetable once more.

• Lancing Bolt - causes six random players to receive a large circle AoE marker. After a delay, a spectral sword will be dropped at each marked location. Once dropped, the swords will tether themselves to Raiden, who will begin long-casting an Ultimate Zantetsuken attack. The group will have a limited amount of time to kill each and every sword before the long-cast goes off.

• Ultimate Zantetsuken - an unavoidable raid-buster that may wipe the team if any spectral swords are active once the cast goes off. Players must burst down as many swords as possible - preferably all of them - in order to survive. Once all of the spectral swords have been slain, Raiden's Ultimate Zantetsuken cast will be cancelled outright.

• Cloud to Ground - Raiden rears up and begins to summon waves of exaflares -- AoE circles that spawn around the outer edges of the arena and begin to travel across the platform from one side to the other in a straight line. Due to the lane-like nature of the mechanic, an easy method of avoiding them is to simply stand beside a recently spawned circle, wait for it to begin travelling, then move behind it into the newly created safe-spot. However, Raiden will complicate matters by casting Bitter Barbs once the exaflares begin to travel.

• Bitter Barbs - drops AoE circles beneath random players feet, whilst simultaneously tethering pairs of players together with breakable chains. In order to break a chain, the tethered pair needs to move as far apart as possible until the chain snaps. Should a chain remain unbroken, both players will take continuous damage. Bear in mind that tethered players may need to weave between travelling exaflares and also avoiding the AoE circles dropped beneath party members in order to break their chains. Don't panic!

• Levinwhorl - a hefty and unavoidable raid-wide AoE that warrants as many shields and defensive cooldowns that you can spare.

If Raiden is still active at this point, he will begin to execute previously used mechanics with some degree of overlap or variation - but nothing you haven't witnessed already.

Boss: Absolute Virtue

The third boss, Absolute Virtue, has a super-buff that can only be removed by clearing out a total of six side-rooms, each of which contains a switch that will lock the door and spawn a wave of enemies.

The group should split up into six teams and head inside their chosen rooms. Much like the rest of the dungeon, players should also make an effort to scout for traps using Perception beforehand, just-in-case. Assuming all buttons are pressed, a new FATE (The Baldesion Arsenal: Expedition Support) will appear at the south side of Hydatos. If successfully cleared, Absolute Virtue will be respawned without the super-buff and an additional 8 portals will be created, allowing more players to join the fray.

Once you've regrouped, it's time to take on the boss - which is certainly more challenging than the previous two encounters.

Notable mechanics include:

• Meteor - summons forth a meteor that plummets into the arena, dealing unavoidable raid-wide damage.

• Auroral Wind - a vicious tank-buster with a light AoE component. If not tanking the boss, be sure to stay away from the main-tank.

• Medusa Javelin - causes the boss to emit a conal-AoE towards a random player that everyone should avoid. Seeing as the cone can reach across the entire arena, all players should remain somewhat close to the boss to make dodging easier and/or try to keep the boss in the centre of the arena as much as possible to make life easier.

• Eidos - causes Absolute Virtue to buff itself via a Light or Dark buff, indicated by floating rock-like orbs around its wrists that will spawn (on the first cast) or change colour (on any additional cast) to represent the buff-type. Keep the colour in mind as the buff will alter the effects of Impact Stream and Hostile Aspect later on.

• Hostile Aspect - creates several smallish-sized AoE circles within the arena that can either be Light or Dark. The trick is that pools of the same colour as Absolute Virtue's Eidos buff will drastically grow in size just before detonating. As a result, all players should double-check the colour of the orbs floating around the bosses wrists and make sure that give all pools of the same colour a very wide berth. Meanwhile, any pools of the opposite colour will detonate normally.

• Impact Stream - the arena will suddenly be split in half - one half being Light and the other half Dark. After a brief delay, both sides of the arena will detonate. The goal is to stand in the half that has the opposite colour of Absolute Virtue's Eidos buff. For example, if Absolute Virtue has the Light buff, players should immediately run to the Dark half of the arena. If you're unsure of which buff it currently has, take a look at the floating orbs around its wrists. However, players will only have a short amount of time to move before both halves of the arena detonate. Once the arena explodes, all players standing in the same colour will be slain, whereas players standing in the opposite colour will take high damage instead.

• Turbulent Aether - spawns several light & dark circles within the arena, each one containing an orb of the same colour. Once spawned, all orbs will tether to random players and slowly begin to chase them down. To safely remove an orb, each tethered player should stand within a circle of the opposite colour before allowing it to collide with them. For example, if you are tethered to a white orb, run to an empty black circle and then wait for the orb to collide with you.

• Absolute Clones - causes the boss to leap out of the arena, leaving behind three proximity markers which everyone should move away from before impact. Eventually, three clones of Absolute Virtue will be present outside of the arena - each with their own Eidos buff (light or dark). All three clones will begin to use Impact Stream one after the other - slicing the arena in half (light & dark). Just like before, all players will need to quickly identify which Eidos buff the casting-clone has and then quickly move into the opposite colour, then repeat the process for the other clones. Once all three casts have gone off, a proximity marker will spawn in the arena (indicating where the real boss will land). Run as far as possible to avoid excess damage.

• Wyvern Adds (Lightning) - creates two Wyvern adds within the arena that are attuned to Lightning. A tank will need to pick these up while the rest of the raid burn them down as soon as possible -- and don't forget to swap to the appropriate element! If not killed in time, the adds will eventually detonate, inflicting raid-wide damage along with a Damage Down debuff. To complicate matters, the boss will also cycle through Turbulent Aether (orbs) and Medusa Javelin (cone AoE's) whilst the Wyvern adds are active, so watch out!

Now that you have witnessed all of Absolute Virtue's mechanics, they will cycle with various overlap. However, if the boss isn't defeated in time, it will eventually Enrage, gaining a major damage boost.

Boss: Proto Ozma

Proto Ozma is a variation of the Final Fantasy IX super-boss who previously made an alternate appearance in The Weeping City of Mhach. Players who are familiar with the Weeping City version are in for a similar experience, yet infinitely more varied and deadly by comparison. Just like in the Weeping City, each group will need to position themselves on one of three platforms located around Ozma and be ready to react to its ever-shifting forms. Weeping City Ozma used to treat players with a quick trip to an alternate dimension mid-encounter, whereas Proto Ozma can eject you from the duty altogether if you fail to position properly during Black Hole.

However, unlike the previous version of Ozma, the Proto version has an additional Spiked form, bringing in new mechanics, not to mention the fact that Ozmashades (mini-clones of the boss) will be executing their own version of the bosses mechanics nearby for the entirety of the battle. All players will need to keep a close eye on which form Ozma (and the Ozmashades) are transforming into, then react accordingly to each, one after the other. Lastly, Ozma's auto-attacks will also differ depending on its current form, each one being its own mini-mechanic.

Ozma always begins in Sphere form and its first Formshift will always be into Spike form, then become entirely random from then on. Below is a list of all its forms and form shift mechanics.

Sphere Form

Sphere - Form Shift: Whenever Ozma (or an Ozmashade) transforms back into a Sphere once again, it is usually to cast Black Hole - a mechanic that sucks up unfortunate victims and spits them out of the dungeon, ending their run. Before Black Hole goes off, 6 panels will light up around the arena. Each panel requires at least one player to stand in it to prevent all players from being sucked in. If there is at least one player on all panels, any player who is not standing on a panel by the time Black Hole goes off will be unceremoniously chucked out of the dungeon.

Sphere - Auto-Attack: Whenever Ozma is in Sphere form, the player with the highest enmity (from each group) will be frequently peppered with regular single-target auto-attacks with no additional components. However, Ozma may change targets and blast a squishy random if there are no targets present on the main platform.

Spiked Form

Spiked - Form Shift: Whenever Ozma (or an Ozmashade) transforms into a Spiked form, a large point-blank AoE will soon be emitted from its current location. All players will need to move away from the boss (or shade) to avoid damage.

Spiked - Auto-Attack: Whenever Ozma is in Spike form, random players from each group/platform will be bombarded with shared-damage mini-AoEs. For best results, each group should remain as closely stacked as possible for the entire duration of Ozma's spiked form in order to reduce the overall damage intake.

Triangle Form

Triangle - Form Shift: Whenever Ozma (or an Ozmashade) transform into a Triangle, it will eventually shoot a large column AoE down the platform. All players should be ready to move left or right onto the smaller walkways (off their main platform) to avoid the blast, then run back to their platform.

Triangle - Auto-Attack: Whenever Ozma is in Triangle form, Ozma's auto-attacks will hit a random faraway player with a Bleed DoT, shot in the form of a mini-AoE. If all players are in melee range or clustered too close together, the results can get very nasty seeing as the AoE component can overlap bleeds and damage onto multiple people. As such, it is wise to have one player (per platform) stand a little further away from Ozma than the rest so that the bleed-attack can be baited and easily cleansed.

Cube Form

Cube - Form Shift: Whenever Ozma (or an Ozmashade) transforms into a Cube, it will eventually emit a very tight donut AoE. Players will need to make sure that they move in very close to Ozma (or the Ozmashade) to avoid being blasted. Also, floating orbs will also be spawned that will slowly eventually begin rotating around the small walkways. Off-tanks (with mitigation CD's) should make a point of popping these away from the rest of the raid before they float over to the platforms themselves.

Cube - Auto-Attack: Whenever Ozma is in Cube form, it will emit a straight-line AoE through the highest enmity member of each group - typically all three tanks. As a result, all other players should remain to the side of their respective tank for the duration of cube form to avoid being clipped by the frequent straight-line AoE's.

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REMEMBER: Both the Ozmashades and Ozma itself will be executing shape-related mechanics one after the other throughout the encounter -- Ozmashades first, then Ozma itself. For example, if you notice an Ozmashade behind you that is transforming into a Cube, and Ozma itself begins to transform into a Triangle, this means that all members of the group should first run to the Ozmashade to avoid the (Cube) Donut AoE, then immediately run off the platform to avoid Ozma's (Triangle) straight-line AoE. There are numerous combos, as well as other mechanics that can overlap them, so just keep in mind that you will typically react to the Ozmashade version first, then the boss itself.

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While dealing with Ozma + Ozmashade form-shift combinations, various other mechanics will overlap. These include:

• Meteor Impact - can only happen whilst Ozma is in Spike or Triangle form. Two players from each platform will acquire a massive purple meteor-AoE circle. After a delay, all marked players will drop a proximity marker at their current locations.

• Shooting Star - can only happen whilst Ozma is in Spike form. Causes all three platforms to gain a large Knockback indicator that will eventually punt all players on the platform a small distance. As a rule of thumb, all players should aim themselves so they are knocked either to the front of the platform (towards Ozma) or to the back of the platform (towards the Ozmashade). This becomes more apparent when Shooting Star takes place during certain form-shifts. For example, players may need to let themselves be pushed towards an Ozmashade that is transforming into a Cube (seeing as it will unleash a donut AoE shortly after) and/or away from Ozma or an Ozmashade that is transforming into Spiked form (away from their upcoming point-blank AoE).

• Meteor - can only happen whilst Ozma is in Spike or Cube form. Causes a random player to acquire an obvious stack-marker, forcing the raid to group up in order to absorb upcoming damage. Bear in mind that Meteor will apply a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff on all affected players, thus the main tanks should avoid stacking.

• Holy - can only happen whilst Ozma is in Cube form. Causes the boss to unleash a raid-wide AoE that inflicts a small knockback. All players should ensure that they are not positioned too close to the edge if they wish to avoid being punted into the void to their doom.

• Acceleration Bombs - can only happen whilst Ozma is in Triangle form. Causes players to acquire a debuff with a duration of 8-24 seconds. Once the timer is nearing its end, a countdown icon in the form of a downward counting dice will appear over affected players heads. If the player is moving or performing any actions when the dice countdown to zero, they will immediately be blasted to 10% health and receive a nasty Damage Down debuff. If you have this debuff and notice the dice icon above your head, it is wise to press escape (or sheath your weapon) to stop yourself from auto-attacking and refrain from pressing any movement keys whatsoever.

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Ozma will confuse and confound players will all manner of mechanical combinations from itself and its Ozmashades, but should you be successful, you will gain an achievement that automatically provides you with your very own Demi-Ozma (Mount).

Loot

There is various loot to be had from the Baldesion Arsenal - with most encounters providing Eureka Fragment and Cryptic Seal, alongside various boss-specific loot and other goodies.

• Eureka Fragment (All).
• Cryptic Seal (All).
• Damascene Cloth (Raiden, Absolute Virtue, Proto Ozma).
• Shin-Zantetsuken] (Raiden).
• Great Shin-Zantetsuken] (Raiden).
• Conditional Virtue] (Absolute Virtue).
• Turmoil Orchestrion Roll (Proto Ozma).
• Obscure Logogram] (Additional Coffers).