Red Mage Asphodelos Encounter Advice

For information on Addle and Magick Barrier usage, see https://bit.ly/3AHEMxZ

P1S

Intemperance

Embolden should be used on cooldown, with the two-minute and six-minute buff windows occurring during Intemperance.

For the first Intemperance, as there is a delay between the Intemperance cast and the first set of tiles exploding, you can stand in the center of the arena to cast Embolden before moving out to your tile. If you are the designated swap person, you can take advantage of your melee combo to easily accomplish this without losing any uptime.

The second Intemperance can be trickier and will depend on your designated tile or pattern. Depending on how party members stand, it is easy to miss people standing on the opposite end of the arena. If possible, the group should try to align it after the second crystal resolves, but before the in/out mechanic occurs.

Potion Timing and Manafication

If killing close to enrage, potions should be used on cooldown as the fight allows you to get three usages. Otherwise, potions should generally be used in the opener and then subsequently for the six-minute buff window due to common kill time ranges.

Moreover, for optimized or fully geared groups, it is common for kill times to fall under the 7:30 range. If you are in such a group, it is better to align Manafication with Embolden for every two-minute window.

P2S

Fleche and Contre Sixte

In the first few minutes of the fight leading up to downtime mechanics such as Channeling Overflow and Kampeos Harma, any significant drift on Fleche and Contre Sixte will cause it to come off cooldown during downtime, likely resulting in a lost usage. Doing the general purpose opener will result in these abilities drifting, leaving us with two options for our opener.

The first option is to weave your potion and Fleche together if you can do so without a significant clip and move Contre Sixte forward to be weaved after Enchanted Riposte. This makes it possible to use those abilities before the downtime for Kampeos Harma, but will require strict execution.

The second and preferred option is using your potion in the two-minute window instead of the opener, but that requires a specific killtime. By weaving Fleche and Contre Sixte after your second GCD where you would normally use a potion, you can get both abilities on cooldown faster for more leeway. With either method you should plan your Accelerations and Swiftcasts to keep these cooldowns rolling as significant drift will push them into downtime.

Manafication

Due to the downtime caused by Kampeos Harma, it is common for groups to delay the four minute buff window until 4:30. As Manafication already has a shorter cooldown than Embolden, holding Manafication until after Kampeos Harma can easily result in a lost usage. Therefore, for most kill times it will be optimal to use Manafication when it comes off cooldown before downtime. The only killtime where you will be able to hold Manafication for Embolden without losing a usage and getting the full combo off will be between around 8:50 to 9:30. If your killtime does not fall within this specific window, you should use Manafication on cooldown.

Potion Timing

As many groups will clear this fight faster than nine minutes, it is optimal to use your first potion in the two-minute buff window rather than in the opener as you can use more melee combo finishers under your potion. Due to the forced downtime pushing burst windows back 30 seconds starting with the four-minute window, your second potion will naturally align with buffs again at 6:30. If your killtime is slower than nine minutes, allowing you to use three potions, you should use a potion in the opener and the subsequent two on cooldown.

Sewage Eruptions

As the first set of Sewage Eruptions occurs soon after a buff window, using a melee combo for movement here will not always be an option. It is possible to bait your Eruptions away from the group, making movement easier for you as you will only have to dodge your own Eruption baits. Doing this allows movement to be handled easily by slidecasting or with a single Acceleration or Swiftcast use.

Example with Acceleration:

Example without Acceleration

GCD Speed

Lowering your GCD to 2.47 will allow you to gain an extra GCD before Channeling Flow and Kampeos Harma if you do not clip during the first few minutes. This can be achieved by swapping your food to Thavnairian Chai, putting you at 2.47.

P3S

Fleche and Contre Sixte

Doing the general purpose opener allows you to get the last usage of each before the adds phase if used strictly on cooldown. If you are using your first potion during the two-minute window, you can move both Fleche and Contre Sixte forward in your opener to give more leeway if it is needed.

Experimental Gloryplume

Movement for Experimental Gloryplume can be handled easily by just slidecasting and can be done with or without Sprint. Later Experimental Gloryplumes can also be handled with a melee combo to have free movement and make spread mechanics easier.

Example of both patterns:

Darkened Fire

Melee combo finishers can be used to kill the Fires more efficiently and also to get cleave damage on the boss. Depending on your number and how you time your melee combo, it is possible to hit an add and cleave the boss with Verholy/Verflare and Scorch, and possible to hit two adds and the boss with Resolution’s cleave. Additionally, a Contre Sixte or Impact targeted on an add will hit the boss for free cleave damage.

Example using Resolution:

Potion Timing

Similar to P2S, common killtimes in this fight will allow you to use your first potion in the two-minute window and your second farther in the fight. Where your second potion is used may depend on when your group is buffing, which is further dependent on your adds killtime. Two common options are the six-minute window after Fountain of Fire or the eight-minute window if you see a full usage of buffs there. As with P2S, opt for three potions if your killtime is long enough, with your second being used on the reopener after adds.

Reopener after Adds

If your group is good at keeping uptime during adds phase, you should generally not need to spend a melee combo there, which allows you to build resources for a better reopener on the boss. As both Embolden and Manafication will be available, you can reopen with a triple melee combo.

Fountain of Fire

You can cover the movement required during this mechanic with either a melee combo or a single Swiftcast/Acceleration depending on when you are using buffs.

Example with melee combo:

Example with Swiftcast/Acceleration:

Flames of Asphodelos

You should save enough mana for a melee combo during this mechanic for the Searing Breeze baits, allowing you to easily keep your GCD rolling while dodging the AOEs and positioning for the knockback.

Example:

P4S Door Boss

Pinax Uptime

Because of the flexibility of your melee combo, Red Mage can easily handle each possible Pinax pattern by taking advantage of its finishers to align with heavy movement when the boss is not in melee range. Even if you’re holding buffs until after Pinax, you can still use a melee combo during the mechanic and have enough mana to get two sets of finishers under Emboldens due to Manafication. Your exact combo timing may vary depending on the pattern and by group, but you should be able to utilize it along with Swiftcast/Acceleration to keep full uptime during this mechanic without hindering your buff window.

Example:

Belone Burst

Movement during this mechanic can be handled easily with a melee combo. Using a melee combo when you are moving through the boss will allow you to move out to pop the orbs while your finishers are active.

Buff Timings

For most groups at most points of the raid tier, using buffs on cooldown will be the common solution, with killtimes commonly falling under the mid to late six-minute range. However, if undergeared or progging to beat enrage, it is also viable to use buffs at 2:30-4:30-6:30, which was a common strategy among early week groups for more comfortable burst windows and less movement. In both these scenarios, you can align Manafication in alignment with Embolden without losing a use.

If your group is killing fast enough to skip the six-minute buff window and second Pinax, they may opt to do buff timings of 0-3-5. In this scenario it is likely you will still want to use Manafication on cooldown, desyncing it with Embolden and party buffs but allowing you to get a fourth usage in.

P4S Phase Two

Act 1

Movement for this mechanic can be handled with either a melee combo or by slidecasting and using Acceleration or Swiftcast. If you are in an outer tower, a single usage of Swiftcast or Acceleration allows you to keep full uptime here and will not cause any oGCD drift as you will be using a combo shortly after.

Example using Swiftcast/Acceleration:

Act 2

This mechanic can be handled by starting a melee combo shortly after the tethers appear, which lines up your finishers for the required movement afterwards. After the mechanic is resolved, Embolden can be used off cooldown in the middle of the arena to catch everybody.

Example:

Act 4

As this mechanic occurs during a buff window you should take advantage of your melee combo to keep your GCD rolling during it.

Example:

Potion Timing

Potions should be used in the opener and then subsequently for the six-minute buff window as the fight is too short to use three potions, and common killtimes will also make a two minute potion unreliable. For the six-minute buff window, you should begin your first melee combo around 17 seconds before your Embolden comes off cooldown. While this is generally recommended for most fights, in this specific instance it also allows you to avoid losing uptime from your third melee combo on the boss if you are the first person to move out to break tether during Curtain Call.