FFXIV Shadowbringers Navel (HARD) Guide for All Roles

[@brandonnj84]

Any reason not to go to middle for the circle pattern? Will that get you hit by titan?

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

So most people will say the middle for that bomb pattern but I disagree that it's the best way. First of all it'll likely cause your main tank to need to turn titan towards the group which is a no no (or they just eat a bomb which isn't necessarily that good of an idea either with how much damage people will be taking from failing mechanics). Secondly, it's extremely easy to see when that first bomb goes off when you're standing on the 8th bomb right next to it. If you're in the middle you will most likely need to keep one eye forwards on titan and one eye backwards to see if it's clear behind you. Also you might end up in a situation where e.g. the 7th or 8th bomb is behind you (and you can't so easily tell), meaning you will have almost no time to react once the bomb behind goes off. Generally there is just no downside to doing it the way I suggest, even as a main tank (as other players can still stack on that area without going in front of the boss) + that pattern gives you ample time to notice it, and then watch where the last edge bomb drops.

[@minrathus]

Groaned when I realized I had to complete the hard versions of the primals for the MSQ, but I was very happy to see how recently you had uploaded these when I searched for them!! Glad you're still posting! I've only been playing for about 2 months, but all your guides have been a great help. Yours is the first I click on, if available :)

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice! Glad to be of service, also welcome to Eorzea! :D

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

I just did these as well for MSQs. First two were easy, and then Titan was explosions and death everywhere. It was hilarious. Still beat it, though.

[@modhafferrahmani]

@@emeryltekutsu4357 I've just finished it, 2 min ago and we had a wipe on the first attempt and a clean one on the second once ppl knew that they can safely escape the bombs.

[@lycheemyusic]

I'm about to do this as a healer lmfao cant wait

[@Zarvain]

Just did this myself, somehow got knocked off the edge twice even though I thought I had gotten out of the way >_< Not one of my better tanks but at least we won glad my healer kept me and the other 2 who went flying up. =)

[@BladedAngel]

My desire to not wipe as a tank has kept me watching every guide you made before even queueing up. It's doesn't stop the fact that I watch DPS eat sh*t from the mechanics, but hey, at least It's not me dying along with them and causing the heals to panic!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Watching people die is part of the fun!

[@zeroonezero6270]

Watched this and still died several times each game as DPS. As melee DPS it’s because I am hugging the boss’s rear end can’t see very well. Edit: did it on the 7th try or so without dying. Had to back out a lot and use weaker DPS attacks. Overall not that fun of a boss with lame mechanics. Most of the ARR dungeons have been really bad. Raids have been much better. I hope the dungeons get better in Heavensward and beyond.

[@thuaners]

seriously that was the best explanation for the bombs and their patterns! thank you so much! Love your guides!!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Thank you. I haven't seen any guides that cover these enough imo and they are the main killer in the fight so wanted to do them right. Glad it helped!

[@Khemrikhara]

I recently (a year-ish) started FFXIV, and your videos were always my absolute favourite guides. Just the minimal exact info needed with a little sprinkle of comedy. I was so sad when I started out-leveling your writing/editing speed 😭 Don't stop! These are invaluable for new players! 😍

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

One day I will cover at least the whole MSQ. At least I hope :D But yeah there's a lot still to cover so I'm not sure how long it will be before a new player can rely on me for the whole shebang. Anyway thanks for the support!

[@res0zn4c]

Well I just got to this point, and watching while in work truck haha. Ty

[@bowwowbuddy]

If only every sprout (and a lot of veteran players, too) would take a few minutes to watch your videos. Forewarned is forearmed! As a sprout healer, dungeons are already nerve-wracking enough, but the number of players trying to destroy the fallen rocks rather than moving away from them makes it that much tougher. By watching your videos ahead of joining a group, it also helps ease that healer guilt when someone dies. I can see that It's bound to happen, and I can't necessarily save everybody.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Yeah, as a healer you can only do your best. Generally if someone dies they probably had a hand in it too so it's best not to take it too much to heart - or not at all all they just eat a mechanic for some reason! Though in this trial it for real seems like the majority are lost with these bombs, but we can show them the way!

[@DaturaNodana]

I always watch the videos beforehand, helps with my severe anxiety lol

[@mknoyle]

I facerolled my way through Ifrit and Garuda Hard, so I just waltzed into Titan Hard and boy did I regret it, the bombs got me every time. Thanks for this video!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

No worries. There are two types of players in this game: those who've died to Titan's bombs and those who lie about it.

[@laper3788]

Thank you so much for the new and updated guides! Tbh as a non fluent speaker of english, I sometimes find it hard to find guides that are easy to understand and updated. Glad to have you back mate!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Hey no worries, I'm glad to hear I'm (hopefully) understandable! It's at least intentional that I talk more clearly in these guides than my other videos. Thanks!

[@daniellaurent11]

I was a little nervous when I saw that I HAD to do these to keep going on the MSQ. I have Bipolar Disorder/Schizo-effective disorder, so my reaction times have taken a hit, so watching these videos and knowing what to expect have been a god send! Thank you for making these. Oh btw, I didn't "wipe" during this run. ;) Take care...Peace.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice good job! And yeah, the hard modes are a little bit of a ramp up compared to normal but should all generally be pretty accomplished. The main threat is just the bombs here really.

[@Arranthie]

Your guides gotta me my favourite so far - they're concise, provide clear visual aid for the most important stuff to look out for and offer multiple jobs' perspectives. Also, I appreciate the hefty amount of humour sprinkled all over haha

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Thank you! I was pretty happy with this one. I felt like those bombs needing a better explanation than just me showing fight footage. And good to know the humour's landing. Guides are not really about being funny but that doesn't mean we've got to take everything so seriously all the time ^^

[@tw4898]

Easy to understand and to the point with just the right dash of humor. You have earned my sub my lord.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Ah no need to call me lord. Plain old Ser will do 😀

[@RawrieLynn]

I so love your guides! Your humor is top notch, lmao. I'm about to do this dungeon so I'll see how it goes as a healer! xD

[@RandomActsOfReality]

You’re slacking. Had to do this for my MSQ 6 hours ago, normally you are ahead of me 😉 I play a healer, so my advice is to pay attention and try to not waste your instacast raise on players who’ve dived off the edge of the platform - in my run that was the main cause of death. ‘Why aren’t they raising?’ *looks over edge* ‘oh. Time for an instacast Medica2 instead then…’ I’m also rubbish at spotting the bombs, as I’m too busy wack-a-moling those who stand in AoE and my brain is old and slow, so I tend to stand on a bomb and eat the damage. Once again such a great video that even though I watched another one 6 hours ago, I still watched this one for the entertainment value 👍

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

pls 😭 In some encounters if a player falls out of the arena they do eventually have their bodies teleported back onto the ground. But not this one :)

[@MrMoogle]

Thanks for this guide. Even with it, half the party (me included) wiped in the last phase. But I knew why at least, haha. Too much going on and no way for 3 of us to get out of one of the AoE attacks. Instant death so nothing the healer could really do either. Thankfully, the survivors carried us so I never have to do it again, haha.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

If you don't die on your first titan attempt then you're missing out.

[@gutsofmud]

TSDS is GOAT! Thanks again.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Maaah! 🐐

[@nicolepruden276]

You weren't kidding. I just ran it for the first time and so many deaths. Happily, I, a BLM who likes to stand in things, somehow survived.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

:D good work!

[@zeyuzhou9147]

I always looked up for your video before entering the fight. They are sooo useful!

[@phenomonox]

As I sit here waiting for my party to form....I just want to say thank you. The high levels of sass and sarcasm is what I need right now in my life

[@phenomonox]

So just finished it. Healer got blasted off the map in the first minute. One healer managed to keep us up and alive! Just won first try. Thanks TSDS :D

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice one, good job! And no worries my dude, I'm English so being dry & sarcastic is just 'my culture'.

[@phenomonox]

@@TomScottDoesStuff thank you! I'm not going to lie....dodging those rocks...sucked at it....luckily my armour was good enough that it didn't matter lmao. I did have to do some summoner raising though lol

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

@@phenomonox Half of this fight is not wanting to "be that guy" who got blasted off the side it feels like. Though, tbh, playing it was less stressful to me and more hilarious as EVERYTHING was blowing up. We somehow managed to win with so many bodies on the ground. I think I got a commendation just for being alive at the end lol

[@Jacksonnn33]

thanks for this guide as someone who's doing this the first time playing FFXIV i very much appreciate how easily you layout his attacks for anyone to understand

[@clericneokun]

Once, I was planning to off-tank because I wasn't in the mood that day but realized immediately that my fellow tank was still fairly new to this one so I had no choice but to take the lead. We made it through to the end with just us two tanks alive. That was funny af. Big thanks to your bomb patterns guide. It definitely helped me keep my cool and minimize damage when there were no longer any healers keeping the two of us alive.

[@frantastic_fran_]

Those videos are great! I initially wasted my time by watching long and detailed old guides to content that is, frankly, not very hard anymore. This is much better, tells me what I need to know!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice, I'm happy to hear it!

[@damonr-fk5rp]

After the third Geocrush, which is when the circle pattern will first appear, I'll tank Titan right in the center where he lands. When the bombs appear, I have everyone including me get inside Titan's hitbox with me in front and everyone else stacked behind him. As soon as a bomb explodes behind me, I'll drag him straight backwards while everyone else scatters to the outside to the first clear spot they can get to as the bombs explode. Or people can stand in the last bomb in the circle to fall, whatever is easiest for them, I'm just not eating a bomb. For the 9 bomb grid, I'll drag Titan to the nearest corner that's behind me in the 3rd row of bombs to fall. I have everyone stack in the opposite corner behind Titan in that same row. As soon as the Landslide goes off, I'll move to the center row after those bombs explode, then RETURN to the exact same corner once the 3rd row explodes. This will keep Titan from rotating and cleaving someone. I've had a lot of success doing Titan this way. Most deaths occur from people ignoring the bomb mechanic or from tanks just tanking Titan where ever and not paying attention to where the rest of the party is. This trial is supposed to teach the party how to execute their rotation while moving, how to stack in cramped spots out of danger, and test the main tank's ability to reposition the boss without cleaving the party.

[@peterdarmawan5166]

Thank you for the great guides!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

No worries, I'm happy to make them!

[@OcioCamaraMx]

This is one of the most complete guides I've seen not only telling where to move but why. The landslides are what always kills me as DPS because I can't run on time, once I went as a tank and couldn't understand why the Titan ignored the DPS unlike my DPS runs. Now I know they focus off tank and in all my other runs off tank was with the group xd

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

To be fair if you don't die on Titan at least 8 times can you truly say you've played FF?

[@OcioCamaraMx]

@@TomScottDoesStuff Fair, but due to the wi-fi quality in my country some times it's quite hard to dodge in such little time xd

[@CrimsonTentacle]

Our party wiped twice before I shortly explained the bombs the way you did and then it all went smoothly! congrats on saving some of our sanity at least xD

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice, good job 🥳

[@ganmerlad]

I hate the bombs. I got killed by them, I think (seemed there were several things going on at once), on the normal Navel more than once. Hopefully for Hard I'm calmer and a bit more seasoned so notice where the last one lands. But still, I expect to die because I hate them enough to get flustered. I wish they blinked before they blew up so I knew for sure to run away from each particular one. Anyway...I love your how-to's. Keep them coming.

[@ganmerlad]

Well I didn't die. But we got an akward mechanic that hurt me pretty badly. Everyone ran to the last bomb dropped as we were supposed to, and Titan did his line aoe right at us. And I ran out of the aoe the wrong direction, a bit too close to the first bomb as it exploded. :/ Still, didn't die, so it went well. :p

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

If you did Titan Hard and didn't die, you are already in the top 20% of players. Nice job!

[@Silvamoon]

Great guide. Best one I've seen

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Hey thanks, good to know!

[@00110000]

Thanks for the pictures. My smooth WAR brain actually understood it.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

No problem, it's good to know the visuals helped!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Oh sorry that might have been too advanced, let me rephrase: Is good good, no have thank thank.

[@Yacobey309]

Dude! Your guides have been incredible! Cheers

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

No problem, thank you for the high praise!

[@angelojaeger]

Hey mate, i just started playing this game and this guide was alot more helpful than the MTQcapture one from years ago with the fear and loathing lmfao.... armed with knowledge now, wish me luck!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Well it's still pretty lethal but hopefully you did okay 🥳

[@angelojaeger]

@@TomScottDoesStuff i did wonderful, rip the drg tho

[@mattguxxxtt9629]

U get this a lot but seriously ur guides are the best. Thank you.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Hey I'm always happy to hear it again, thanks! 😅

Somehow you always upload the exact guide I need to progress my msq. This time even just 20 minutes before I search for it... It's getting creepy. Next time it'll just start playing ingame . Great guide tho

[@callmeobsequious]

Lol instead of a cutscene it's just "Hello and welcome to this updated video guide-"

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Listen, just go refill your drink and queue up. No need to think about silly things like who's spying on who or how many pictures my digital camera can hold.

[@thuaners]

same lol!! im up to doing this fight and it wasnt until i read your comment that i looked at when this video was uploaded! too perfect hahah!

[@MirKat792]

Wow, this guide helped so much! I'm very surprised, no one in my party died this time around lol

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

You must be blessed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@dankdill8286]

Already done this but I’m here to show my support for our guide

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Thank you 🥳

[@stanislavjohnson3605]

I laughed so much, good one! :D cheers as always!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

You're welcome! Thanks for letting me know ^^

[@gwelengu]

excellent guide. the graphics you make are helpful

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice! I'm happy to hear the graphic breakdown was useful 🥳

[@moistraven1849]

Favorite guides ever ty, also your Au Ra has the same Hair and Horns I do, freaked me out lmao

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well 👌

[@timtaylor8953]

Great job as always mate

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Thanks Tim, glad to hear it.

[@flonzi]

just got through it as a healer, thanks!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice, I hope you had a better time than I did 🥳

[@makerallie]

"And good f*ckin' luck" Me, as a sprout SCH waiting in a queue: T___T

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

You'll be okay. Maybe.

[@makerallie]

Update: my co healer died in the first phase, falling off the platform. We completed it with mostly everyone still standing until the last set of bombs went off LOL. Then it was just me, my tanks, and a DPS.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Nice, sounds like you had a good run then 😅

[@makerallie]

@@TomScottDoesStuff Only because of your bomb guide! Thanks for all that you do.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

No problem! I'm glad you were able to not die!

[@lynnspencer6166]

I'm doing the Dragonsong War quests in Heavensward expansion and I just hit the Navel Hard MSQ quest. I'm confused. Am I actually in Shadowbringers? I thought I was still in the Heavensward content.... Love your videos by the way! Been using them for all the content as they are concise yet thorough. Thanks so much for making these!

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Hey, the expansion in the title just refers to the latest expansion that was live when the video was made - which dates the video so you know how up to date it might be 👍

[@caltho6295]

Love your guides, so funny.. and so helpful !

[@connorrrimo]

TsDs: 'Thanks for watching and good f***ing luck!' I f***ing love this guy! LOL

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

😎

[@JRay80]

Dang it! Got to 6 raises. Ohh baby that was front seat on the struggle bus 😂 Got it done though! God dang it I love WHM

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

WHM MVP of healing. Everything else is just WHM but X. Also r.i.p. your run 🙏

[@windfalls.5015]

Best guide! :)

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

ty :D

[@willrivera3638]

For some reason my raid blew right through this. I got worried that I accidentally queued for the normal version. I was the only death 😟

[@callmeobsequious]

Those bomb boulders messed me up the first few times i did this and i could not tell you why

[@callmeobsequious]

For some reason my brain just didn't register "go to the LAST ONE to drop and then move into the spot where the FIRST ONE used to be" until like. third or fourth run. lol

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Well I suppose the 3 different patterns makes it harder to learn/remember. So many people seem to panic here and end up eating multiple bombs when trying to work out how to avoid them. On the positive side I think I only saw a single person fly off the arena this time around :D

[@callmeobsequious]

@@TomScottDoesStuff At this time I did tend to panic seeing new things lol, the bomb boulders kind of made me go AHHHHH and run around like a chicken with its head cut off the first time. Fortunately I've gotten a lot better about mechanic anxiety to the point where I know that all I really need to remember are the first and last boulders/sets and it really isn't so bad.

[@RyanScarbrough]

Gotta love Lea-rning with tom =)

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

That's me!

[@Memphis241]

I remember back when this was some of the hardest content in the game lol.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Bruh it still is from what I saw. And if it's not then yikes.

[@elanderan1104]

I would like if you made a separate video for each role: dps, tank, healer

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

So the first two guides I ever did was a tank only, and then a dps/healer guide for Castrum Meridianum. However when I then did the Praetorium afterwards, I found there was so much shared information that it seemed to make no sense to do separate guides. I've been doing 'All Roles' guides ever since. Generally there is just too much info that is important to every role so i would be almost duplicating the guides with minimal differences. And at least this way players may be able to help give tips to other duty roles if they see a bit about what e.g. healers should watch for etc. I hope that makes sense!

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

@@TomScottDoesStuff I think combined works pretty good. It helps to know what other players need to do as well, so you understand the entirety of the fight. As a DPS, for example, it's good to know what the tank needs to do so I can react accordingly.

[@echo_9835]

Quick somebody make a rock pun. Don't take this chance for granite.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

I took a few days because I wanted to think of a really coal pun but I hit rock bottom and have given up. That's the problem with doing puns, it's usually all ore nothing.

[@shadowrigg]

So many times I see people run to the middle for geocrush, and I'm like, "y tho?"

[@callmeobsequious]

To be a little fair, it isn't a proximity marker so they might see "oh the red ring is death" and instead of thinking "i need to be on the edge of it" they go "I NEED TO BE AS FAR AWAY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE". Dunno though!

[@shadowrigg]

@@callmeobsequious that's absolutely fair, and probably accurate.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

idk, if I'm giving a comm to a healer then they gonna have to earn it!

[@yesofcourse8520]

I was definitely one of the people who died while doing this 🥶

[@risquecat]

Question : How do you unlock it?

[@supahsteven]

I feel like towards the end of the guide, I like the tone of the video better. I find it a bit more entertaining when you use more casual language " also, rip that guy." Idk, it's your channel, but I find myself wondering why the entire video isn't like this.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Hi Steve, I'm glad to know you enjoyed the guide! As far as the tone/casual language goes it's a bit of a fine line. Ultimately people use guides because they just want to know what to do. I check out guides too now and then and if there's a bit too much 'fuckin around' and not enough 'just tell me what to do' I can see it getting annoying. And of course a lot of people who watch these guides have english as a second language so if I am too laid back with terminology it can be harder to understand for some. I have gotten a bit less strict with this as I made more and more guides but I do always try to be mindful of not wasting the viewer's time. Also that specific 'rip that guy' comment is pretty unique because that's one of the few times where I knew beforehand exactly what clip I will show when I wrote the script. But yeah also rip that guy. I revived him and he ran straight into like 2 bombs. But it is nice to hear that my ever-increasingly casual attitude towards the encounters is actually as, if not more, enjoyable! It might not be Final Fantasy related but my non-guide content is practically the opposite - all of that is just complete tomfoolery. Or should that be tomscottdoesstufffoolery 🤔

[@idesofmars]

this is the one thing i dont like about this game. you are gated by the MSQ to do these dungeons. if you can't complete it, you can't progress the story. its horrible.

[@TomScottDoesStuff]

Well it's not too bad. At least there are guides out there (and I don't mean just mine). Someone will probably die in this one but a Titan without at least 2 deaths is considered a dull affair 🥳

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

Having just done all three required in a row, it's not too bad. They used to be scary from what I remember way long ago, but now Ifrit and Garuda were easy, and Titan was crazy in a kind of fun way. Death everywhere... And yet we still won. And that's all you need to keep going in the story. Wait timers also seemed very short for them in comparison to some others. Probably took me twenty minutes to have all three of them done (or half an hour, maybe, for going and getting the quests and unlocking them). You don't have to be super good to beat these anymore.