UPDATED - Dawntrail Extreme 2 Guide

This is an updated guide to the trial 'Everkeep Extreme' (Zoraal Ja Extreme) in Final Fantasy XIV.
My updated guide corrects a few small errors and also prominently features the Bagel/Congaline strat for Projection of Turmoil. You can watch a POV of it in action here: • Extreme Trial 2 Projec...
A huge thank you to all of the commenters on the original guide who helped spot issues or gave suggestions of better ways of resolving mechanics. In particular, thank you Kilikx1x, Trance1215, Phiefer3, Runasth, NickWithAnF, and the many people who recommended Bagel/Congaline strat!
Tip me on Ko-Fi - ko-fi.com/hectorhectorson

[@HectorHectorson]

If following this guide in PF, Write “Bagel/Congaline HTTH” Not “Hector” It saves people who already know the fight from having to come watch a guide they don’t need.

[@keorei]

i see RMMR alot more imo. might be a primal thing tho

[@Falvern57]

​@@keoreitheyre functionally the same thing.

[@Marqin]

@@keorei on Chaos there is a lot of THHT

[@steveh1474]

id say start putting your strats in the descriptions or a comment like this. theres a whole lot of people who dislike you for making these guides, so get your name out of everyones PF boxes by telling them what strats you use. its not "hector strat" its "bagel" or "rinon" or whatever strat you show us. saves yourself the trolling and headaches as well, im sure.

[@kieragard]

if they haven't watch this guide they should.

[@andylawlzz]

omg finding a sword thats not glowing instead of trying to find a safe apot between the 2 that are is gonna be a life saver for me

[@seanbro33]

What I do is default to the south tile, find the platform of the south tile sword and the platform with the tile north of it. Both tiles are "middle" of the boss so you can adjust left or right inside the tile. If both platforms are glowing you can just move left or right tile of the south sword because the adjacent ones always become safe in that pattern.

[@chrispartain9126]

Same. Holy shit. I just tried progging this Extreme today and if I'd watched this video I wouldn't have died as much.

[@jimmorrison4ever529]

"YOU'RE ALL IN MY WAY" enrage at 1% nooooooooooo

[@online222222]

Conceptually the conga line might be the funniest way to resolve a mechanic I've seen

[@Suzushiiiro]

Tired: conga line Wired: cock spots (Alternately, since there's two heads: con ja ja line)

[@Aschentei]

you know how like when ppl do congas irl they go to the back of the line and grab their shoulders? feels exactly like that lmao

[@MyVanir]

Not the first time we had conga lines in strats.

[@Ohaimanabu]

@@MyVanir Pangenesis

[@MyVanir]

@@Ohaimanabu Dominion was a conga too.

[@TheSattocs]

I feel sorry for Hector. All he's doing is providing us with an amazingly well crafted guide to help us with difficult fights, all for free and yet people still find something to whine about. He's not the one telling people to refer to the strats as 'Hector strats', there's no reason people should take umbridge with him whatseover. He's out here doing a service to all players.

[@happiness7808]

Best to ignore the naysayers, people like that will always find something to complain about. Hector’s guides are fantastic, there’s a very good reason why his channel has blown up; he is the hero we don’t deserve

[@theladysnausages]

Why did I never think to look for the non-glowing sword to find a safe spot. Life changing indeed. Thank you as always, Hector!!

[@sl1ppey]

I just cleared my first on/near-release EX since ARR with help from this guide. The tip about visualizing the swords as “sliding” towards the middle as well as looking for a non-glowing sword to find a safespot were particularly helpful. Thank you and great work!

[@happiness7808]

Congrats, that’s great!

[@mr_oger]

To me the hardest part to wrap my head around were the flying swords. Just as a tip: solving this in 2 steps really helps - 1st: you look at the wind/fire sword and find out on which row you should be standing, 2nd: watch at the blue swords and determine on which square is the safe spot.

[@walwal6449]

A tip someone told me that made me go holy shit is that if you get any of the wind swords, you can stand at the same lane as where it starting from as long you pop knock back immune If you were like me at the start, you can also just always pop knock back immune if you are unsure whether it's wind or fire... Better be safe than sorry lol

[@herpesinflammation]

Heard horror stories about this trial over the past week; watched this guide before going in, joined a "hector strat" first timer group, and cleared it in one lockout. Great job man.

[@WolfDreamer101]

What server/world are you on?? This would never happen in Exodus with a first timer group 😭

[@RoseArtemis24]

Looking forward to trying this fight out, thanks for making a guide for it - have been watching your guides for years at this point and you always explain things thoroughly which I like!

[@dc8836]

Thank you so much for the PF search info jargon. Helps me know what I should bring and expect from groups

[@richiemahon8132]

your guides are amazing dude, thank you so so much, glad to see you making these still. happy adventures dude!

[@szss_d]

've been watching you for sometimes and your animation definitely improves alot they are much smoother ^^ keep up the good work

[@davimachadosilvestrin138]

Glad you are back Hector you guides are always my preferred ones! Hope you having fun on DT and thanks for your hard work!

[@TheRealLink]

Thanks for yet another clear and concise guide! I was catching up and so first raid night our static threw me into this "blind" but with very good explanations. Watching how the tethers and positioning for enumerations worked certainly cleared up a couple minor points for me.

[@Zyantastic]

Just wanna say thanks! Im not really a visual learner from video guides and such, but yours are always easy to digest and understand. I have cleared a few EXs thanks to you

[@keppakappa5033]

Hey man thanks for both the great guide and also for not showing massive spoilers in the title or thumbnail for the video. I have friends that were spoilered for the last fight only a day or 2 after release by a guide that showed up on their for you page... if only every guide maker was as considerate as you lol

[@silverancient7840]

Yea there are some really stupid content creatora out there

[@aeRaijin]

Little note to melees during congaline: Don't hesitate to go for your positionals as you will need true north stacks just after.

[@QiaraIris]

Finally got my first clear with this guide. While I still struggle with the gate fire wind swords, finding non-glowing swords was an amazing tips. Thank you

[@TenzieTV]

my brain trying to solve what square is safe absolutely haunts me. I lose sleep over if I'm in the right spot or not. this guide though was very helpful seeing it it this way vs seeing it in action. gives u a better view of exactly what's happening. much appreciated! I can say it is now on farm, although I still lose sleep lol

[@d4MikeJones]

Liked for the useful guide, subscribed for the spoiler-conscious thumbnail and intro

[@Saruchi_]

Thank you, Professor Hector. Best Guides Ever!

[@latias347]

Oh so that's what conga line means! My blind group tried LP stacks and we had a bit of trouble, but that's so much more simple! Thanks for the excellent guide, Hector!

[@freakindon5710]

Your guides are great man. Strong work.

[@icyyyyy]

Thank you for the updated guide! ♥

[@TheCyberkitten]

New to your guides and I am very grateful. Thank you. ♥ /bow

[@hecticryry]

Thanks for the guides as always!

[@SM......]

Only gripe I have with this fight is the visual clutter during half circuit.

[@HectorHectorson]

This. 100%!

[@Very_Bord]

The visual clarity this expansion in general has been god awful. Like, I don't mind difficulty of mechanics, but I do mind being able to actually see my screen. Doesn't help that apparently "zoom out mods" are highly discouraged, despite SE refusing to actually fix the issue that causes players to use them.

[@deederelict]

Thank god it's not just me, the visual clarity ruins this fight for me alone

[@Very_Bord]

@@PKrazorleaf My guy, I have Everkeep on farm. It's literally easier that Valigarmanda, which is already easy. Complaining about visual clarity doesn't mean that the fight itself is difficult.

[@PKrazorleaf]

@@Very_Bord And yet you literally just admitted that you would consider cheating in a piss easy extreme trial fight lmao. But again, the visual clarity is fine and apart from that, complaints like this just makes them not wanna experiment more and limits their options, thats my opinion.

[@mxdusza]

ty hector, got a kill in about 1.5hs in pf, works wonders

[@De_Gecko]

Did i clear this today 11 times, and still watch this? Yes. 😂🤷🏼‍♂️ GJ 👌🏼

[@joshferguson4532]

Same bro

[@scottwagner2566]

Thanks for this. I cleared this today, and it my first time clearing an EX in PF.

[@rosalina2938]

is it as hard and stupid as it looks?

[@rtiq270]

@@rosalina2938 At first, but you don't learn it all in one go. Get one mechanic down, progress to the next. Go as far as you can and get the muscle memory down, your movement will get cleaner and you can focus harder on DPS. Before you know it, you're clearing (PF willing). If you did EX 1, this is a step up but not impossible at all. And the hardest part imo (gateway stuff, I have a hard time reading this mech mid combat) can be dorito'd,

[@rosalina2938]

@@rtiq270 sounds like its just another thing casual players get excluded from. Well, at least I have boring dungeons and an outdated island left over :3

[@rtiq270]

@@rosalina2938 Casuals are only excluded if they want to be. There's absolutely nothing stopping you besides your own willingness to learn.

[@rosalina2938]

@@rtiq270 well, I am willing. Unfortunately I don't have 10 hours a day and the content is already dead. Its Friday evening and there is one half empty practice party and its mine. Can't wait to see how completely insane they make the savages.

[@stopasking2639]

Question about projetion of turmoil: Can a paladin, with cover/invuln. cheese this mechanic, for themselves, as well as a party member? (Detonating their own first, outside of the allies range ofc. Then immediatly run and cover for someone)

[@BeneaththeMask69]

Just tried this today and wiped on enrage 3% and i still have no idea what im doing as a tank. thanks for the really helpful video!

[@ggn92]

I'm so dumb because i thought that the boss was in the opposite side of what we are seing in the screen because of his body aspect. So in my mind the mechanics of backward and forward dash was a nightmare. Anyway thank you very much for the guide !!!

[@chi3fy554]

Hey tanks for this guide. could i ask here someting? projection of triumph - if the mt side get - for example - the little donut aoe line of his side, does the boss always did the same moves?

[@Anna-my6bn]

I have this on farm and the only thing which still gets me is Forward Half/Backward Half. I go near/away from the glowing sword depending on the cast and he still ends up cleaving the side where me and the party are standing. It's really annoying me at this point. Having a vuln from it is not the worst thing in the world, but I'd still like to be able to execute it properly.

[@gentarox]

I find it the easiest to look at the 4 swords in the middle. There are 2 platforms with 2 middle swords each. If both these platforms light up the outer edges (not corners) are safe, it one or none of them lights up, look at the unlit one and pick the safe spot on the side that isn't being cleaved

[@austinish]

You can also do this with the 2x2 at the top or bottom if you can see that one quicker. Works out the same way

[@NovaStella_]

That’s a really good start for melee!

[@Forever18or21]

how do u even identify the safe spot for backswards or forward half? i mean i know its left or right, but sometimes i saw theres multiple emtpy spots and i end up going the wrong one??

[@BrulaMalice]

Thanks for the work dude

[@thiboulettechrystel7769]

ty for the guide , do u have sth about markers ? TY !

[@happyhealsgaming7614]

Additional advises if people are having some trouble: For Swords, Look only for the 2 platform that has swords in the inside 4 square. Majority of the time, 2 Squares under the boss (2 In front, 2 to the side) will be safe, so adjust yourself to only these 2 platform will be easier. Only when all 4 square in the middle is unsafe, go directly left/right of the boss and to the edge (Corners are NOT safe). For Project of Triumph 1, position yourself to either side of the boss and do the donut/point blank AoE there first. When he does forward or backwards, this will provide much-shorter distance, and way less time deciding on where to go, and give you more visual on the incoming lines to do Donut/Point Blank AoE as needed. For Project of Triumph 2, position yourselves in front or directly behind the boss. Simply do Donut/Point Blank as needed, but this will provide you with a MUCH shorter run-distance to avoid left/right cleave + In/Out. For Forward/Back if people are still finding trouble, outside of Platform phase, he'll ALWAYS, face north before he does this mechanic. Just remember if it's Forward, Go North and the SAME SIDE of the glowing Sword. If it's Backward, go South and OPPOSITE side of his sword. During 2 Platform phase, which platform he's facing will be RNG.

[@dbull620]

Thank you for this simple Forward/Back explanation, makes a lot more sense now!

[@chr1st1an8]

Great guide!

[@Caesar512]

Good luck with your clear

[@zazza002]

Updated with Bagel! Yay!

[@R4z3rbl4d3]

I did find this useful Hector

[@deliciouscrabmeat5014]

good stuff king

[@paddylyo50]

Can anyone tell me where he got the assets from, or what tool he is using to create the raidplans?

[@wakekowatutu9954]

Cleared it with this. Thank uo

[@grizzly505gaming9]

Why doesn’t the tether connect to me when he does regicidal rage when I’m close to him it literally ends up killing me cause I have to position myself on the opposite side.

[@UpdateJM]

@HectorHectorson Why not having THMR for congaline? If someone messed up, soo many circle debuff on short lenght southside. Get your healers on safeside first.

[@Otacanthus]

Perfect timing, I just finished ex1 and got my weapon

[@BanneYetAgain]

Any tips on project of triumph? Or is it just a case of being laser focused? I always find myself running around like a headless chicken and following someone hoping they know where they’re going

[@GamersOfTheCouch]

right... conga line... that's definitely the name for it I've heard most frequently 👀

[@PuellaRider]

During the wind Vollok phase, what's the distance between the platform edges? Did a blind prog with froends last night, and we weren't sure if AoE heals would reach all the way over

[@xypher3ns]

If you have people come in towards the the middle edges of both sides, AoE heals will reach - we did that during our fights and it went pretty well.

[@SorasShadow1]

i remember asking people during ex1 prog which ex was "easier" and 5 of them lied to my face lmao this is a great guide, but zoraal ja can sit in time-out til i get better gear

[@Overdoseplus]

I can't figure out for the life of me where to stand safely in regicidal reign as tank/ot with my tether

[@blaidehwa]

I kept dying to Volluk spreads in PF and kept getting blamed for doing it wrong. I kept dying to double stacks in a square by myself. After watching this I now know it was a the other side standing in a weird spot killing me. Had no idea the other spreads copy over as well. Figures lol. Week one is such a train wreck

[@todestrieb3059]

Correction: PF is such a train wreck.

[@blaidehwa]

@@todestrieb3059 True that

[@bender1179]

For my understanding, theres no mechanics that actually call for light parties right? Just partners?

[@walwal6449]

yeah

[@Turret0pera]

hector is literally out here single handedly supporting every pf pug

[@icarusquack]

unrelated to the strats, but i'm curious what the cute cat at the end's name is!! (:

[@HectorHectorson]

Maverick

[@Danothyus1]

its kinda funny that the second projection of turmoil clearly indicates that they expect ppl to be taking those in some kind of light party or full party formation considering Zoraal Ja cleaves half the arena, which would force you to move to the same side and making much harder to organize. The conga line literally just laughs in the face of that.

[@JohnSmithlol2584]

9:43 stupid question but how do you swap and take it off the other tank?

[@HectorHectorson]

Tank 2 uses “provoke” and turns their tank stance on. Tank 1 uses “shirk” immediately after, and can also turn their tank stance off. This leads to clean swaps..

[@JohnSmithlol2584]

@@HectorHectorson Did you explain what "TRHM" is in the video? After looking at party finders they have this phrase. I know you mentioned HTTH and Conga in the video.

[@HectorHectorson]

@@JohnSmithlol2584 TMHR is often used to clarify the order for congaline, as shown at 0:38.

[@TheKillerham5ter]

@@JohnSmithlol2584HTTH will also be used for the Enums when launching players to the other platform in the second phase, the order that players stand in at the edge.

[@lecrab8090]

this fight blows man

[@Nem_FFXIV]

Hector: *releases conga start* the entire colliseum: *rousing applause*

[@Autaris]

Good guide but not sure why the light party and partners are required unless i missed something

[@walwal6449]

The partners are for the when you knock each other to the other platform... The only part that separates into light parties is also that part lol

[@FieldMarshall3]

EX1: Hard but fairly telegraphed mechanics EX2: Hard because it tries to trick and overwhelm you with visual clutter Its just so unnecessary.

[@walwal6449]

true but personally i found ex1 very easy for being able to clear it in 1 lockout with me just literally winging a whole full phase (ice) lol ex2 was the real shit for me though, like the mechanics are easy in theory but the amount of colours and details can easily make one confused but i guess that's just a skill issue of mine....

[@lecrab8090]

it's such a bad fight. this is wow design, visual clutter everywhere

[@keonrichards1083]

this is like school at this point

[@profanegaming2829]

14:40 Bitter Werewolf Inn

[@jeremyison8647]

Hector is the best player on my raid team 😂😂

[@SparkLisA]

Forward and backward half are just horrible but I didn't have much issue with the rest of the fight.

[@Torrens81]

Yea that mechanic is just cruel lol. Especially when you have the moving aoes

[@MrGamerCaptain]

i struggle so much with spatial transformations... cries

[@gravyjones2206]

5:30 ok but how do you figure out where to stand if your brain is slow? 😭

[@walwal6449]

THAT'S WHAT AM ASKING TOO i feel like i may get a stroke every time i try to figure it out while doing my rotation

[@gravyjones2206]

@@walwal6449 the worst thing is that the 2min burst comes up exactly at that moment T_T

[@walwal6449]

@@gravyjones2206 so true, it's at that point that idk whether to prioritise doing a clean burst and follow ppl or actually TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY I CAN DO BOTH AT THE SAME TIME

[@rekipstar]

so here's how i do it: look at wind/fire first. the wind and fire tethers are always the same. let's call the lanes 1, 2, 3, 4 from left to right looking at them. If the blade is in lane 1, it's wind and lane 3 will be the safe lane; if the blade is in lane 2, it's wind and lane 2 will be the safe lane; if the blade is in lane 3, it's fire and lane 4 will be the safe lane; if the blade is in lane 4, it's fire and lane 1 will be the safe lane. once i'm in the wind/fire safe lane, i look at the blue tethers. i haven't figured a fast way to do those yet, but if i get hit by those it's less deadly than either being knocked off by wind or being hit by both blue and fire, yknow?

[@walwal6449]

@@rekipstar bro I think you're cooking I may see if I can simplify and draw this up and use it as a cheat sheet cause this sounds like an easy way to think?? For me I've been trying to find a pattern and safespot with the blue ones first and I think I'm onto something myself but I could never figure out the wind/fire lol

[@Funguspower2]

why did the boss call it the xbox 360

[@johnsaunders7257]

When do you find time to attack 😂

[@BeginTheEnd570]

Watching your video I found an even easier way of resolving sync that works every time so long as your "favorite tile" is either the north most as MT or south most as anyone else (or if you wanna share a tile with MT). Step 1: check your tile Step 2: if safe, watch for cleave and adjust, if unsafe, check cleave East Cleave: north spot goes 2 spaces west, South spot goes 1 space west West Cleave: Reverse it, north goes 1 spot east, south goes 2 spots east I made a quick little video to show it since I don't think I explained well in my comment originally: kzbin.info/www/bejne/paXTg6SXrrxohJI

[@BeginTheEnd570]

You can also make the Pyramid spreads easy by assigning a north and south light party, have healers take the insides, tanks take the corners, and dps take left and right

[@MrNikh0o1]

basada la guia god

[@walwal6449]

5:34 THERE GOTTA BE A TRICK TO THIS, THERE IS NO WAY I CAN THINK THIS QUICK GAHH ive had 3 full lockouts and i still DONT KNOW HOW TO IDENTIFY THE SAFESPOT QUICKLY ENOUGH

[@IceFire1800]

look for the wind/fire one first, because that's the bigger threat i found. but you can generally survive a non-elemental sword hit if you oops that

[@frax1826]

Guides are fantastic, as usual, HOWEVER....your mic is picking up a BUNCH of low frequency thumping/popping/thunk noise, either from being mounted to your desk and picking up impact noise when you're clicking or something, or something else going on in the process. It also happens a lot on the Valigarmanda video (1:20), and examples of it here @ 4:20, 4:40, 4:58 and on and on and on.............might be as simple as just cutting off the very low end with a compressor filter. Would help the audio quality immensely IMO. It's really hard to listen to on headphones without wanting to stab my ears out after a minute or two.

[@caliburny]

i heard a cat at 6:28

[@paupascualramirez9979]

15:58 Spoilers for the first boss of the DT raid series

[@KingEatable]

yeah cool, i could watch this all day, wouldn't help a bit

[@GoodnightMoon4]

this fight makes my ADHD ass want to throw up

[@PandaLord13]

With P1S - P12S being able to unsync now at 100, would you be willing to make a level 100 unsync guide for them? Or at least the end of each tier so P4S/P8S/P12S?

[@walwal6449]

I just did p4s unsynched with some from my static and randoms from pf and I can say, you only need to do 1st mechanic of phase 1 properly and you can just skim through pinax 1 and yolo most of the stuff (just don't get knock backed into death wall), if your DPS isn't trash it should be phase 2 by now On phase 2 you should know up to act 2 and will be able to kill the moment act 3 is about to happen if you did well prior (no DPS deaths and few to no damage downs) and DPS isn't trash but you should know what to do act 3 just in case aswell and that's it lol This is following hector guide

[@Gilgamesh-cx6wx]

*See the yellow triangle above the characters* Nononono, not those shits from E4S ☠️

[@ya9535]

CAT DEDUCTED *meow* 6:27 🐱 ! FEED OR PET HER IMMEDIATELY BEFORE IT TURNS OUT TO A MONSTER AND KILL ZORAAL JA

[@IceColdEevee]

Cleared thanks to your guide. I have one question though, why the hell are people calling it bagel when it looks nothing like a bagel? Honestly irritates me when the FFXIV community all seem to mindlessly call a strat some random word that has nothing to do with the strat.

[@HectorHectorson]

Named for the person who invented the strat.

[@cakescakescakes]

your ignorance is forgiven

[@Denka_]

I'm too stoned for this fight LMAO

[@Ravy_Nevermore]

6:37 meow!!

[@aeronkoss9338]

After the complete mess that is healing Valigarmanda EX I'm so excited to try this fight. It looks not as exhausting.

[@SM......]

lmk what you think of Half Circuit :3

[@Kamuyy]

It’s 10x worse than valigarmada imo

[@zoarialshadow]

Early for Hector

[@franciswilliam7694]

the worst thing about this boss is the mount’s drop rate 💀🤡☠️

[@user-nl9gs4fk4j]

Hardest part of this fight is the wind aoe 😂

[@jijonbreaker]

5:55 Oh god oh fuck not Titan again.

[@sc5the]

yooo.. savage boutta be hard as shit

[@Torrens81]

Nah usually the first Savage tier is pretty simple.

[@xandirnich_237]

I’m certain M2S is gonna be rough lol

[@orpheus0108]

These extreme trials are too much nowadays. I dont even feel like trying the fight because of how convoluted everything is

[@Smarfton]

Why do people think this stuff is fun.

[@rekipstar]

because different people enjoy different things. i progged this without a guide figuring out the mechs on my own and had a blast, but that's not for everyone and that's ok.

[@inekd]

because its fun

[@naitoyoru]

Prefer the first Guide you did more then this. This just looks awful that Bagel bullshit

[@diningdrivingdiving]

he doesn't make the strategies himself my man, just shows you how they are executed

[@HectorHectorson]

Bagel is actually pretty cosy. A lot less movement for healers and casters, and very little chance of an early explosion.

[@froman1522]

Get used to it. all pf finder uses is Bagel strat.

[@AirDur]

Looks "awful" but works perfectly well if goodly executed.

[@vielara]

Imagine getting mad at a guide maker for daring to include the strat that PF convention has decided to adopt. It's not Hector's fault PF opted to choose a primate strat you don't like. If you're doing it with a fixed group, do it whichever way you all prefer. But don't get upset because PF chose another way.

[@castoputa]

I heard a meow! 😻