Whorleater FFXIV | Basic Guide to Hard, Extreme, and Unreal

Leviathan is one of the original primals that you need to destroy in Final Fantasy XIV. This god of the sea has a horrifying temper, and you need to head out on a basic water platform to take it down. But… That water platform is awfully small, and it feels bad to die during the trial. So, if you’re worried about the mechanics that The Whorleater FFXIV brings to the table, this guide will help you out.

This guide is most applicable for Hard and Extreme. Unreal has most of the mechanics of Extreme, however Leviathan has a few tricks up his sleeve that we will not when we get there.

The Whorleater FFXIV

The Whorleater has a few major mechanics to look out for as a DPS, tank, or healer. 

All Leviathans have two “sides” that DPS need to attack. The head reflects ranged physical DPS, and the tail reflects magical damage. Melee DPS can hit both, but the tail has the rear of Leviathan. Melee Physical DPS should stay on the tail most of the time; however, if they wish, they may swap between tail and head for DoTs.

Leviathan has a few attacks to look out for, and a few mechanics that he does for Hard, Extreme, and Unreal:

• Body Slam: The Leviathan will cause an eruption of water on one side of the ship, and then slam his body onto the platform. This will cause the platform to tilt. It’s recommended that you get to the opposite side of the platform. Especially on the higher difficulties, since Leviathan blasts the railings off.

• Dive: Like Body Slam, the water will splash out. Do not be in a straight line from the splash of water to the other end of the platform, or you will get hit and take more damage from water attacks… Not great in this fight! For Extreme and Unreal, you may need to get on the other half of the arena for the dives.

• Whirlpool: He drops water, right on the healers (or a random target). This is a big enough ground targeter to dodge on reaction. However, grouping should be avoided most of the time, to not force too many people to move at once.

• The Wavespine Sahagin: Basic melee combatants. Tanks should pull these and DPS should take them out, but they are not overly threatening on any difficulty. Still, remove them to avoid the tanks getting overwhelmed.

• The Wavetooth Sahagin: Extremely important enemy to take out quickly. On Hard, they cast a small circle that can cause Hysteria, a status condition that removes control from the player. On Extreme and Unreal, it can both cast the circle and force other spells on specific players. Tanks should focus on stunlocking it when possible.

• Gyre Spumes: High priority, though tanks do not need to get off of Leviathan. It’s recommended to do so on higher difficulties to ensure that the Elemental Converter stays safe. These explode into Arena-Wide damage, so healers should get ready to heal in AoEs.

• Wave Spumes: Like the Gyre Spumes, but they attached to people with high threat and deal damage. They must be taken care of relatively quickly. Those with high threat should be a little bit close to each other.

• Tidal Wave: It is critical to have the Elemental Converter ready for when he uses Tidal Wave. However, on Hard, Tidal Wave attacks when Leviathan drops a large, circular water AoE on a party member. When that drops, someone must hit the Converter button. On Extreme and Unreal, Leviathan summons the Tital Wave after doing one to three dive attacks. After the first dive, it’s typical to pop the Elemental Converter.

In general, Healers should stay a safe distance away from the party at all times. That is because Leviathan will often drop bombs on their heads that may damage the rest of the party. Healers should be able to heal the party effectively while not hitting anyone else with their bombs. 

DPS must keep track of adds and take them out very quickly once they spawn. The tanks and healers should not be in trouble because of some random fishmen.

Otherwise, this fight is fairly standard. Just watch for ground AoEs and watch your footing. If not, you’ll sleep with the fishes!