Leviathan Extreme Guide

Important Mechanics:

Healers need to stand away from DPS as they are targeted with whirlpools that deal AoE damage to everyone near them.

Leviathan will inflict the off tank with a debuff and every time you cure them you will gain a stack. The more stacks you gain, the lower your healing range. After gaining 16 stacks you will be unable to move so it is best to swap healer to allow the debuff to wear off.

The tail will reflect magic damage. The head will reflect arrow damage. So BLMs and SMNs should never attack the tail while BRDs should never attack the head. During the first 10% of the fight this does not apply as there is no tail to attack.

The Elemental Conversion bar is for surviving Tidal Wave. More on that at the end of the phase 1 section.


Dodging:

Leviathan has two main attacks that cause the majority of party wipes. These are dives and slams.

Dive: This is the attack that goes from north to south and back, or vice versa. The way to dodge it is to first take note of which side of the arena Leviathan is at and ensure your camera faces that direction. His first dive will be from that side, in one of two positions. It is best to stand roughly 1/4 of the way from the north or south end of the arena for the best chance of getting away from them. He will then dive across the arena and perform another dive from the opposite end so spin your camera around after dodging the first.

A water splash appears outside the boat to let you know which of the two paths he will take across the arena. If you get hit this will cause around 3500 damage and cause a knockback in the direction Leviathan is moving. The attack is survivable but quite often if you mess up the first you will get hit by the second, or get hit by whirlpools on the floor. These act like Titan's Weights and will deal around 2500 damage if you get hit.

If you are having problems dodging this then it may be worth increasing the speed in which you can move your camera (if you do not play with the mouse). This can be changed in Character Configuration > Control Settings and at the bottom Camera Speed. BLM, SMN, WHM and SCH can also make use of Sprint. Use it when you see Tidal Roar and it will last for the duration of his Dives and Slams. If you are a BLM you can hit Manawall and the attack will be avoided in the same way Titan's Landslide is.

Slam: Slam is always used after Dives, so you learn a pattern of Tidal Roar > Dive > Dive > Slam that works for the majority of the fight. In some cases this pattern isn't true however, such as the Dive during the Spumes. This attack will causes the arena to tilt and people will slide across it. To dodge this you need to be at the side of the arena that is furthest away from Leviathan. This is more important in phase 2 after the railings have been removed.

Other attacks that will need dodging are ground attacks, water bombs and whirlpools but it is better to focus on learning the harder ones. Water bombs will target players during Dives and you must run out of the circles.


Phase 1:

In phase 1 the main things to be aware of are the Dive and Slam attacks. You will know they are coming when you see Tidal Roar. This is an arena wide AoE that deals around 1300 AoE damage to everyone and gives a watery effect on the screen. About 5 seconds later he'll dive out the arena. Be ready for the first dive from the north or south side nearest where he was being tanked.

At around 85% Leviathan will spawn two Sahagin adds. These are pretty weak and the off tank should pick them up. DPS players should use Quelling Strikes if they have it, to prevent them running around.

Another round of Dives and Slams will come, and after which you will have to deal with a single add. This one is dangerous and needs to be constantly stunned otherwise Hysteria can hit players. This causes uncontrolled movement and will reapply itself if the movement causes you to step into the Hysteria puddles. The off tank should pull it towards the corner where the tail is being tanked and repeatedly stun it until it dies.

After this you should see another round of Dives and Slams, followed by the first Spumes.

Four Gyre Spumes will spawn in the corners of the arena. This is a DPS check and all DPS cooldowns should be saved for these. This is not a suggestion, it's a must because using the LB on these is a terrible idea. I'll say why later. The four Spumes need to die not only before Leviathan uses Tidal Wave but with time to spare. This is because you need at least 30+ on the Elemental Conversion bar to survive Tidal Wave. It will tick while Spumes are alive but since they drain it every 3-5 seconds this is why you need to kill all four with time to spare.

Around half way into this phase Leviathan will use his Dive attacks so be prepared to dodge. Once they are all dead go back to DPSing Leviathan. You will see an Elemental Converter on the south side but do not use it until after the Dive he's about to use. This allows the bar to fill further. The higher the bar goes, the less damage you take - hence needing roughly 30+ to survive Tidal Wave. This takes away the railings, meaning you can now fall off the edge.


Phase 2:

Right after Tidal Wave, start looking for a splash on the west side. I'm talking even while the barrier is still up. His first attack is a Slam and if you do not position yourself for this then you will fly off the edge and be out of the fight. It will come unexpected if you're stood there waiting for the barrier to disappear.

This phase is much the same as phase 1 when it comes to dodging Dives and Slams. After roughly 30 seconds of DPS on Leviathan you will have two Sahagin adds to deal with. These are nothing complex, just kill them quickly. You won't get the single add in this phase but you will get double Tidal Roars so be ready for an AoE cure as that is around 2500 damage per person.

At around 40% four more Gyre Spumes will spawn in the corners, like with phase 1. Again this is a DPS race. However you should have LB3 by now. The caster in the group should LB the Gyre Spumes, and depending on the strategy this will either mean pointing the circle in a way that will hit all four or pointing it so that it will hit two plus Leviathan. I personally prefer the latter. If you opt for the former you should make sure all four of the Spumes are red for the damage to register to all. With this strategy you risk all four exploding too quickly causing people to die. The other DPS should focus on the two nearest the tank as LB3 will only take around 80% off their HP. DPS then moves to the other two.

Something new happens now. Four Wave Spumes spawn in the middle of the arena. These will link anyone with hate on them and apply a DoT to them. Eventually they will explode and deal around 1000 damage if you are near them but less if far away. The idea is that the off tank takes them away into a corner out of the way.


Phase 2:

After the second Tidal Wave Leviathan will immediately spawn the single add that you saw in phase 1. This should be stun locked the same way and killed as quickly as possible. Hysteria needs to be avoided at all costs here because it can cause you to run off the edge.

The rest of the fight is just the same dodging that you are used to. There is an enrage timer on the fight however it is not something you have to worry about providing people stay alive.