This guide is something for players who are not on the bleeding edge of endgame content (FCoB as of today) and is based on my own experiences. Your experience & server may vary, but I am confident that the demand for this (especially SCoB progression) is still very high. Please realize the people who are finishing up FCoB are the 1% of the 1%, so there are still a ton of players who haven’t even started FCoB yet and some who likely haven’t even started the first Coil yet. A heads up that this is not a guide on how to complete each turn, as there are already plenty of guides and videos on that.
So you want to clear T1-T9 eh? Great! Let me first start off by saying this takes patience and for best results, leadership. Leadership isn’t hard but it doesn’t seem like people are always willing to take that step. If you’re having trouble finding groups, that doesn’t mean that the demand isn’t there. It’s just possible that no one has stepped up yet to organize something. Let’s jump into it.
First, some definitions. Please label your Party Finders appropriately if you’re using PF:
- Farm party: “I have cleared the fight many times and rarely mess it up. We expect to win within a couple of pulls at most”.
- Clear party: “I have come close to winning or have won a few times, but often still make mistakes. We are willing to spend hours trying for a clear.”
- Learning party: “I have little to no experience in this fight. We expect to wipe for hours while learning the fight, and don’t expect to clear it.”
Now let’s touch upon Duty Finder. Duty Finder is cross-server but can be combined with Party Finder if needed. Use this when you don’t really need to organize a solid party or need to fill up the rest of your Party Finder.
Lockouts: There are no lockouts on BCoB or SCoB anymore.
Cross-server Duty Finder availability: As of Nov 11, DF is available for all of BCoB (Turns 1-5) and not available for SCoB (Turns 6-9). We expect DF to open for SCoB before patch 2.5.
Free Companies & Linkshells: This should go without saying, but make sure you’re in a LS/FC that you feel comfortable in and fits your playstyle. If it fits your playstyle, you’ll probably find some people often willing to help you out in Coil as you go along. If you don’t feel like you fit, that’s understandable. It may be time to pack up your bags, say some goodbyes and seek out another FC.
Etiquette: Be very honest how far you’ve gotten in a fight. Don’t join the wrong type of PFs (if you haven’t cleared it, don’t join farm parties) without asking the leader first. Joining a DF? Make it known you’re new and I have often found people jump in to explain the fight to you. Be honest, realize your mistakes, learn from your mistakes and be kind. When I ran T5, I chatted to the party when I saw I made a mistake and we wiped from it.
Now for the Turns. I won’t be writing guides on each turns are those are already available online (like Youtube). Also note that you can jump right into the last Turn if you want (T5 or T9) for the Coil that you have unlocked. You only need the last Coil Turn completed to unlock the next Coil.
Echo buff: Turns 1-5 have an Echo buff on all players (HP, damage dealt, and cure potency will be increased by 20%).
Learning style: Know your learning style; everyone has a different learning style. I personally learn the best by reading text, leaving it up on my 2nd monitor and practicing the fight (via a learning party). Videos are also available on Youtube if you learn better that way. It’s ideal to be aware of what the Turn holds before jumping into it, unless you’ve agreed in a party to be a blind run party or a learning party. So if you’re using DF, it’s suggested you read up on the fight first.
Calling a wipe: This is something you may have not experienced up until now. During this kind of high endgame content, it is common for someone to call for a wipe when things start to go wrong. Essentially someone will chat “wipe” or the sort to indicate the party should wipe and restart the fight. This is basically to save time as something went wrong (even if no one died). For example, perhaps the boss got too many stacks and the future damage it’ll output will make it pointless to continue. When someone calls a wipe, you should kill yourself (like running into the wall on T5). If you are leading a clear party or the sort, you should probably be the one calling wipes.
Turns 1-4: With the Echo bonus and high ilevel gear, these can generally be completed no problem using DF. These Turns, except for Turn 3, are still ran by players today. For example people are farming T1 for Soldiery or farming T4 for Nexus lights. Turn 3 is a jumping puzzle and has no drops. If you’re looking to clear this, you may want to try a PF to gather some interest. If you are having issues, follow the normal learning route below (learning->clear->farm on PF).
Turn 5: This is it. This is where you’ll be spending most of your time in BCoB. No amount of Echo bonus or gear will save your party here. My suggestion here is read up on the fight and then join or start a learning party on PF. Be kind. Have patience. Spend a couple of hours in it, then go back to guides and read them again. As you go along, keep your eye out for how people play. This may be your chance to form a static (8 defined people) to clear T5 with. If you feel PF is less populated, start posting on your server forum on the official forums and other places like /r/FFXIVrecruitment. You’re going to want to continue learning parties until not only a party gets past Twisters but you yourself are no longer getting hit by mechanics like Divebombs, Twisters etc. If you feel confident in all mechanics, it’s time for a clear party. Start up or find a clear party on PF. Be open with people, communicate and talk about how things are going. Pay attention to other people. If you are seeing someone wipe, explain the mechanic. If the party is getting worse over time, it may be time for a break. Don’t underestimate breaks, even if you don’t come back to it for another day or more. Your time working on T5 may vary, but it could be weeks among weeks of working on T5 before you start to get close. The less you stick to specific people (like a partial static), the more variance you’ll have in terms of a win and how long until you’ll see that win. Running T5 in DF (or sometimes even PF) is like rolling dice. You need all 8 people, including yourself, to be on ball for this. Someone doesn’t know Twisters? Well almost half of you are going to probably wipe if someone steps on a Twister. Communicate and be a team.
Turn 6 (SCoB turn 1) and on: No Echo buff, no DF. You’re basically going in raw, although T6 is generally considered to be a bit easier than T5. The same organization plan for T5 applies to T6 and on. Use PF by starting with learning parties. Learn the fight first then start focusing on other people and helping them out. It’s possible we’ll get some slight adjustments to SCoB when DF opens up, so keep your eye out. As you get to harder content (especially T9), I do recommend trying to form a static or getting to know specific players to party with. Also, communicate. What’s the strategy? For T6 for example, are you doing LOS? Burn? Superslug?
Turn 9 (SCoB turn 4): This is it. The same as T5, this is the final Coil for the SCoB and where you’ll be spending most of your time learning and working on the fight. No extra suggestions from the T5 notes above. Practice makes perfect, and the more static people you have the more consistent your fights will be.
I don’t have a lot of specifics on each SCoB turn (more will be added later, especially when it hits DF), but realize ilevels are higher now and should assist slightly with some SCoB fights. Have patience, be kind, be understanding, help other players out and you should progress over time.
Savage: Uh you’re going to want a static. Yeah…
Personal experiences: I ran T1 and T2 back at launch. I did not attempt T4 & T5 until last month, and did not clear T5 until recently. I skipped T3. I am on Cactuar, and finding people for T5 was never very tough. I pretty much always got a full party in PF when starting a PF. I progressed from learning to clear to a farm, but it was not quick. My 2nd to last party before winning was a party using Teamspeak who could not get to snakes. Don’t get discouraged. Keep at it, but don’t forget breaks.
SCoB is a different story. Without Echo, I did not do random PFs for very long. I’m not saying they’re bad, but it’s inconsistent. So last week I formed a Linkshell for SCoB, and within an hour I had 25+ people in it. The majority of people were players looking to progress SCoB, as well as some players just there to help us out. We probably have 35+ people in it now, and a small group of us in the LS cleared T6 for the first time on Sat. Do not underestimate leadership. If you’re not willing to lead, never assume someone else is. The demand for SCoB almost looked low… until I tried forming that LS. I now realize the demand for it and BCoB is still high. I once got a tell while running a T6 learning party from a player asking for help with T5 so he could get into our T6.
tl;dr: Older endgame content is not dead, don’t give up! Statics aren’t required to clear all this (although it does help). Give it a shot, try organizing some PFs and keep at it!
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