Having trouble with Endwalker’s first dungeon, The Tower of Zot? Or just wanting to know what you’re getting yourself into? Fear not! We’re here to help.
FFXIV: Endwalker has just been released beyond early access, meaning there’s a whole bunch of new content for us all to enjoy (when we can get in-game). And mechanics, of course. There are definitely Endwalker and The Tower of Zot spoilers ahead, so beware, but I’ll do my best to keep them to a minimum.
Endwalker’s first dungeon starts at level 81. Unless you’ve been keeping up with daily roulettes, you probably won’t have access to your first trait or new abilities just yet. If you have, now’s the best opportunity to see them in action!
The initial trash packs in Endwalker’s first dungeon, The Tower of Zot, are fairly easy to deal with. You’ll just have to watch for the Zot Armored Fiend’s large AoE that comes directly from the mob himself called Spoforic Gas.
Zot Sky Armors will also telegraph a frontal cone AoE named Garlean Fire that should be fairly easy to dodge too. Then comes your first boss of the expansion!
Minduruva
Minduruva has a few abilities to watch out for, making this fight quite hectic for the uninitiated. But you’ll be dancing around her abilities in no time at all, once you know what to expect.
- Mansuya Bio: A tank buster that applies poison. Easily cleansed by Esuna.
- Mansuya Blizzard III: Minduruva will create an AoE in a large fan that you can’t miss seeing. Just make sure to stand in a safe zone and not on one of the white stripes. Getting hit gives you a stack of vulnerability.
- Mansuya Fire III: This one will turn the arena into an AoE with the only safe zone being a small circle around Minduruva herself.
- Mansuya Thunder III: Minduruva will create a series of circular AoEs that progressively move in a cross formation across the arena. These should be fairly easy to dodge.
- Mansuya Bio III: Minduruva will telegraph a huge AoE cleave that takes up a majority of the arena. Healers might want to keep Rescue handy for this one.
- Transmute X: This ability will make Minduruva’s next elemental spell cast itself from a circle at the back of the arena. A red orb will float towards it, letting you know just how much time you’ve got until it activates. Just like her other elemental spells, the transmuted one will act fairly similarly to their normal counterparts. Just beware that later on, transmuted spells will be cast twice, so keep an eye on which elements she chooses and where those red orbs are to plan accordingly.
- Dhrupad: An elemental debuff is applied to everyone but the tank and can’t be cleansed. Time for Healers to “adjust”.
Between Minduruva and the next boss, most of the mobs are pretty easy. But the Zot Death Claw might take unsuspecting tanks by surprise, dealing a consistent amount of damage to them, so just remember to cycle some defensives or smack that one down quick.
The Zot Hypertuned creature has a left and right arm slash that cleaves 180 degrees in whichever side is telegraphed.
Sanduruva
The second boss of Endwalker feels slightly less hectic than Minduruva, but maybe a smidge frustrating until you know what’s going on.
- Isitva Siddhi: The Tank buster.
- Prapti Siddhi and Mansuya Stop: This is an AoE that targets each party member, one at a time. Later into the fight, Sanduruva will cast Mansuya Stop and freeze players into place once she begins using Prapti Siddhi. Don’t get frustrated if you can’t seem to escape it. Just spread out to minimise the damage for your healer.
- Mansuya Berserk and Mansuya Confuse: Spheres will pop up with only one area seemingly safe. The actual zone where you’ll be truly safe is quite small, so head to the centre of that spot at the very back of the arena. These spheres will turn into dancing versions of Sanduruva herself when she casts Mansuya Confuse, with only a single version standing there statically while the rest use random emotes. That’s the one that you’ll want to be hiding behind. Getting hit by this ability doesn’t hurt initially. But you’ll end up with the ‘berserk’ debuff and lose control of your character as you relentlessly smack the boss’s legs.
- Prakamya Siddhi: Directly following Mansuya Berserk, those hit and debuffed with ‘berserk’ will be slammed by this smaller AoE directly around the boss. This applies a stack of vulnerability, so avoiding Mansuya Berserk is pretty important.
got the tower of zot scythe pic.twitter.com/wi4MRwMlMP
— Saroline (@Quantumfetus) December 4, 2021
The last pack of mobs have a surprisingly large number of AoEs, so I’ve listed them all below to make life easier. Just note that each of them is pretty massive in comparison to your character, so larger pulls will make your footwork harder.
- Zot Predator uses Magitek Ray, a line AoE ability.
- The Zot Roader will initially use a thick, line AoE called Haywire so just sidestep and you’ll be right. They also use an untelegraphed tank buster, so keep the defensives rolling.
- Zot Gunships do a medium sized, circular AoE named Garlean Fire.
- Zot Colossuses will also use a decently large lined AoE named Exhaust.
- The Zot Armored Weapon drops a mid-sized, circular AoE named Diffractive Laser.
The Magus Sisters
Here we see a little from both of the previous bosses – plus some funky additions from the third and eldest sister, Cinduruva. This boss is absolutely the most hectic of the three. You’re bound to get unexpectedly smacked by a mechanic or two if you’re unprepared.
As a quick note before we launch into things: kill Cinduruva first.
- Samsara: An AoE from Cinduruva that will deal party-wide, AoE magic damage. Simple and easy.
- Delta Attack: This ability combines the spells of the three sisters based on the element named in the text box. There will be short moments of downtime between casts of this somewhat terrifying blend of abilities. “Glacial ice” “Thunderous tempest” and “Insatiable flame” all relate to a corresponding element and function as follows:
- Ice will cause each sister to create a conal AoE (much like Minduruva’s from the beginning) that will progressively move across the room. A proximity explosion will also drop onto one side of the room, followed eventually by the other, forcing players to make their way to safety through the chaos.
- Thunder creates large circular AoEs that turn into smaller ones that travel across the arena in a cross formation. All while line AoEs also shoot out across the battlefield.
- Fire creates line AoEs in random directions, before creating a small safe zone that players must stack in. But beware, because directly afterwards is a spread mechanic that might catch you off-guard.
Between casts of Delta Attack, Minduruva will use Dhrupad, and Sanduruva will cast both Prapta Siddhi and Isitva Siddhi. After Cinduruva is killed, the combination attacks stop entirely.
With her gone, both of the remaining sisters will revert to more basic abilities.
Hopefully that gives you some insight into what to expect in The Tower of Zot, your first dungeon of Endwalker. Good luck, Warriors of Light!
FFXIV: Endwalker is available now.
Next up: watch our full walkthrough of Endwalker’s second dungeon, The Tower of Babil:
