A1S – Oppressor

Encounter Overview

A1S – Oppressor is the savage version of Alexander: The Fist of the Father and serves as an early Heavensward DPS and execution check. While mechanically similar to the normal version, Savage introduces significantly higher damage, strict mitigation requirements, and precise add control, turning the fight into a coordinated execution test rather than a simple introduction encounter.

The encounter consists of two major sections: a Faust DPS check followed by a two-boss Oppressor phase. Success depends on clean positioning, disciplined add handling, and synchronized boss kills to prevent a hard wipe from Self Destruct.

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For a full breakdown of raid difficulty across all tiers, see the FFXIV Raid Rankings.

Arena Overview

The fight takes place on a circular arena with enough space to fully separate both Oppressors. Positioning is critical in Savage—bosses must remain split at all times to avoid stacking permanent Damage Up buffs. The arena is also used to manage Resin puddles and missile placements, so edge control becomes important during phase two.

Boss Mechanics

Faust – DPS Check

Pressure Increase: Faust gains stacking damage every 20 seconds, reaching enrage at 8 stacks. This creates a hard DPS check (~160 seconds total).

Kaltstrahl: Frequent frontal cleave. Tanks must keep Faust faced away from the group at all times.

Sturm Dolls: Adds spawn continuously but are intentionally ignored. The off-tank gathers them and survives while DPS focuses Faust entirely.

Strategy: This is a pure burn phase. Tanks manage positioning and adds, while the raid commits fully to killing Faust before tanks are overwhelmed. Any hesitation here will cascade into failure later.

Oppressor – Core Mechanics

Royal Fount: Frequent untelegraphed frontal cleave. Tanks must maintain proper facing at all times.

Gunnery Pod: Repeated raid-wide damage. Healers must keep consistent uptime on raid healing.

Hydrothermal Missile: Applies Prey to random players (one per boss later). Targeted players take multiple hits and require sustained healing. Position slightly away from the group to reduce overlap risk.

Photon Spaser: Large line AoE with heavy damage and knockback. Clean sidesteps are required—late movement is often fatal.

Resin Bomb: Drops AoEs at player locations. These leave puddles that slow movement and apply bleed. Placement is critical—keep edges clear and avoid trapping movement paths.

Emergency Deployment: Spawns Alarum adds (two per boss). These tether to the first player who hits them and ignore enmity. They must be intentionally claimed and positioned correctly.

Alarum: Transfers Nanoparticle stacks to their target. At six stacks, the player is minimized (takes more damage, deals less). When killed, leaves a puddle that also inflicts Minimum. If not handled properly, they will overwhelm players or disrupt positioning.

3000-tonze Missile: Four missiles target locations marked by lasers. These deal massive damage and apply heavy debuffs unless shrunk. Killing Alarum under the missiles creates Minimum puddles that shrink them, nullifying damage.

Hypercompressed Plasma: Heavy tankbuster on both tanks simultaneously. Requires major mitigation or invulnerability.

Emergency Liftoff: Bosses leap, drop sequential Resin Bombs on players, then land with proximity damage. Requires coordinated stacking and repositioning.

Self Destruct: Triggered if one boss dies too early. Raid wipe if the second boss is not killed quickly.

Encounter Flow

Phase 1 (Single Oppressor)

The fight begins with a standard rotation of raid damage, tank cleaves, and movement checks. Resin Bombs should be placed toward the edges to preserve movement space. Emergency Deployment spawns Alarum that should be killed quickly since missiles are not yet active.

At ~85 seconds, Oppressor 0.5 spawns in the north. The off-tank must immediately pick it up and separate it from the original boss.

Phase 2 (Dual Oppressors)

This is the main fight. Both bosses must be kept separated at all times to prevent stacking Damage Up.

Missile sequences define the phase. Identify laser positions, drag Alarum into those positions, and kill them to shrink incoming missiles. Failure to do this correctly results in massive raid damage and debuffs.

Resin Bomb placement becomes more important here—keep puddles controlled so players can still move Alarum freely. Avoid trapping lasers or cutting off safe zones.

Hydrothermal Missile now targets two players (one per boss), increasing healing pressure. Hypercompressed Plasma introduces heavy tank damage that must be planned with cooldowns.

Emergency Liftoff forces stacking and repositioning. Stack center to condense Resin drops, then move out quickly to avoid proximity damage.

Final Phase / Enrage

The fight repeats Phase 2 patterns until enrage (~8:30). Boss HP must be kept within ~3–5% of each other. If one dies too early, the other casts Self Destruct, wiping the raid.

Final kills often involve coordinated burst or Limit Break usage to finish both bosses nearly simultaneously.

Timeline (Simplified)

Faust DPS Check → Oppressor Phase 1 → Distress Beacon (Oppressor 0.5) →
Missile Cycles Begin → Alarum Handling → Tankbusters + Liftoff →
Repeat Pattern → Enrage (~8:30)

Key Strategy Notes

• Ignore Sturm Dolls entirely during Faust—this is a hard DPS gate
• Always separate Oppressors immediately after jumps
• Assign Alarum targets intentionally—never random
• Place Resin cleanly at edges to preserve movement space
• Kill Alarum under missile markers every cycle
• Keep boss HP even to prevent Self Destruct wipe