A8S – Brute Justice Guide | FFXIV Alexander Midas Savage

Encounter Overview

A8S – Brute Justice is the Savage version of Alexander – The Burden of the Son and the final encounter of Alexander: Midas (Savage). This fight is one of the most demanding Savage raids in Heavensward, built around layered mechanics, strict phase control, and several wipe conditions that punish even a single major mistake.

The encounter pulls together mechanics from across the entire raid tier, then asks the group to execute them with near-perfect consistency. Before the pull, the raid should split into two light parties made up of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. The group should also place a marker in advance for later debuff passing.

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If you want to compare this fight against the rest of the tier, see the FFXIV Raid Rankings.

Arena Overview

The arena changes in function throughout the encounter, but most of the fight is built around controlled positioning, debuff handling, and knowing where to place or bait mechanics without blocking movement for the group. Several phases rely on using the outer edges of the platform cleanly, while later phases ask the raid to identify safe zones between wall hazards, mines, and line attacks.

Because many mechanics overlap, the fight is less about surviving one individual attack and more about preserving clean space for what comes next. Poor placements, mistimed pushes, or extra deaths can easily create a wipe condition or make later mechanics impossible to recover.

Boss Mechanics

Phase 1

Hydrothermal Missile: Targets the main tank and deals splash damage. Other players should avoid standing near the tank whenever this resolves. This attack appears periodically throughout the encounter.

Seed of the Sky: Random players are targeted with ground AoEs. Step out cleanly and avoid dropping them in paths the party still needs to use.

Megabeam: The boss turns toward a random player, charges briefly, then fires a lethal beam. There is no cast bar, so players must watch the boss carefully and react to the turn and charging animation.

Execution: Four black squares appear in the arena, each containing either a Steam Regulator A or Steam Regulator B. These adds explode after roughly 20 seconds if not killed. Once a player enters a square, they cannot leave until their add dies or it will explode and wipe the raid. DPS should handle these adds. Entering a square grants Direct Attack, which restricts the player to attacking their assigned add. During this mechanic, the boss continues using Seed of the Sky and Megabeam, so players should bait seeds into the corners of their square and dodge accordingly.

Perpetual Ray: A heavy tankbuster that applies Vulnerability Up and then hits the tank four times with Perpetual Ray. The main tank will not survive the full sequence after the debuff, so a tank swap is required during the cast. This is followed by another Megabeam.

Legislation: Each DPS and one healer are tethered to an orb, while the DPS receive 1 to 4 stacks of Final Punishment. The orbs slowly move toward their tethered players and kill them if they connect. Touching an orb also spawns an AoE on the ground, and sharing that AoE causes more damage.

Illegal Operations: During Legislation, the boss checks for several failure conditions that will wipe the raid. These include dying with Final Punishment stacks, allowing stacks to expire without removing them, or pushing the boss into the next phase while any player still has stacks.

Final Punishment Removal Plan: Players remove Final Punishment stacks by taking damage. The common strategy is to number the DPS based on how many stacks they have, then stack them with the main tank so Hydrothermal Missile removes one stack from everyone. The player who began with 3 stacks then pops the orb on the player with 4 stacks. The player who began with 4 stacks then pops the remaining bubbles, clearing their own stacks. This leaves two players with one stack remaining. The boss continues using Seed of the Sky, Megabeam, and Perpetual Ray during this sequence. When the next Hydrothermal Missile resolves, the remaining debuffed players share it to remove their final stack. The raid then pushes the boss to 1% while continuing to handle mechanics until it departs.

Phase 2

In this phase, the four robots from The Cuff of the Son (Savage) appear at set intervals and use the same mechanics from that fight. If all four robots are active at the same time, they explode and wipe the raid. Each robot also uses its signature mechanic at exactly 50%, so players must be careful not to push multiple robots to that threshold simultaneously.

Blaster and Brawler: Blaster and Brawler spawn first. Brawler remains fixed in the center but can still attack at range. Blaster should be moved east and kept away from center because Brawler casts Auxiliary Power, which buffs any robot standing in its AoE. The raid should focus Blaster first.

Blaster at 50%: At 50%, Blaster summons a mirage. If the mirage stays too close, it tethers to Blaster and makes him invincible. The off tank should provoke the mirage and pull it away toward Brawler. Blaster also casts Mindblast, which must be interrupted or the raid wipes.

Swindler Entry: Swindler drops into the arena around this point. The tank holding Blaster should also pick up Swindler. Swindler reintroduces the height mechanics from its original fight, so players need to resolve those correctly while finishing Blaster. Once Blaster dies, the mirage disappears as well.

Brawler at 50%: At 50%, Brawler becomes invincible and summons Beta Orbs and Gamma Orbs. These work the same way as in Brawler’s original fight. One Beta Orb should be stunned so they do not hit the boss at the same time, and Gamma Orbs should be popped properly.

Swindler at 50%: Swindler casts Bioarithmetics, dealing heavy raid-wide damage that must be healed through.

Vortexer Entry: Vortexer then drops into the arena and should be picked up by either tank. The raid should finish Brawler, then focus Vortexer and bring it to around 50%.

Even Burn Requirement: At this stage, both remaining robots should be brought to roughly 50% to 60%, but neither should die too early. If one dies before the other, the survivor casts Self-Destruct, which wipes the party if not prevented. The two robots must also be kept separated, since Swindler can cast Auxiliary Power and buff Vortexer.

Vortexer at 50%: Vortexer uses Super Cyclone, dealing raid-wide damage and knockback. Swindler also uses Enumeration on the tank, requiring the correct number of players to stack in the circle. Vortexer then casts Elemental Jammer, applying Compressed Lightning to a player. This debuff must be passed at the predetermined marker and continued until both bosses are defeated.

Phase Goal: Continue burning the bosses down evenly until one dies, then immediately kill the other before it can explode.

Phase 3

Brute Justice forms at the start of this phase and deals raid-wide damage. The main tank should pull the boss to the center.

Flarethrower: A frontal cone of fire. Move away from the front of the boss.

Double Rocket Punch: A heavy tankbuster that must be shared by both tanks. If split correctly, the damage is divided between them. If more than two players are hit, the damage is reduced but applied to each player struck. If anyone dies to this attack, the boss gains a permanent Damage Up buff.

Short Needle: Unavoidable raid-wide damage.

Seed of the Sky: Random players are targeted with ground AoEs.

Prey Markers: Marked players will later be hit by Long Needle and need to separate from the party to avoid overlapping damage.

Long Needle: A stack marker appears on a player and the group must gather to mitigate the hit.

Seed and Needle Sequence: A common strategy is to stack on the flank of the boss to bait Seed of the Sky, move out of those AoEs, then separate or stack correctly for the following Long Needle mechanics.

Super Jump: Brute Justice targets the furthest player and jumps to them. The off tank should bait this attack at the west wall while the party stays grouped in the boss hitbox.

Apocalypse: The boss turns toward a random player and fires a large frontal attack. Players need to move behind the boss to avoid it. Anyone hit takes heavy damage and gains Vulnerability Up.

Follow-up Pattern: The boss follows Apocalypse with Flarethrower, Double Rocket Punch, and another Flarethrower, then repeats attacks from Short Needle through Super Jump. This is the main damage window before the boss leaves the arena.

Phase 4

This is a movement-heavy phase focused on dodging mechanics. Any death here gives the boss a permanent Damage Up buff.

J Kick: Heavy raid-wide damage. Mitigate and heal through it.

100 Megatonze Shock: Proximity-based raid-wide damage. Move away toward the wall, then group at the center of that wall for the next mechanic.

Mirages: Four players are targeted by mirages that charge where the markers are dropped. Marked players should spread along the wall, place their markers, then return to the wall center to avoid the charges.

Double Buster: Targets a tank and requires the party to stack on that tank to share the damage.

Steam Chakrams: Chakrams spawn at the arena edge, with two on each adjacent wall, leaving safe zones between them. Players must stand in those safe zones to avoid damage. A Megabeam fires before the chakrams resolve.

Earth and Ice Missiles: Ice Missiles target random players and leave growing AoEs behind, while Earth Missiles create puddles. Both should be baited near the outer edge or wall to keep the center clear. This is followed by a height mechanic that players also need to resolve correctly.

Phase 5

This phase is a direct repeat of Phase 3, but all attacks hit harder. Execute the same positioning and mechanic solutions while pushing the boss to 0% so it leaves the arena again.

Phase 6

This phase is another mechanic-heavy dodge sequence. Players should begin stacked in the south of the arena for the opening J Kick and heal through it.

Onslaughter Entry: Onslaughter drops in and deals raid-wide proximity damage. Move away and recover.

Brawler Entry: Brawler spawns in the north and uses Double Drill while summoning two red mines and two blue mines. The red mines remain visible, while the blue mines disappear.

Double Drill Bait: The drills target the closest and furthest players, which should be baited by the tanks. Afterward, the tanks should move to detonate the invisible blue mines safely.

Megabeam: The boss then fires another Megabeam, so the party should move south to dodge it.

Mirages and Steam Chakrams: More mirages spawn and are handled the same way as Phase 4. Steam Chakrams also return and must be resolved by finding the safe lane.

Ultra Flash: The boss charges this attack and players must break line of sight by standing behind Onslaughter’s legs. Enumeration circles also appear during this mechanic. Players with circles should stand directly in front of the legs, while the rest of the group stands further back but still behind them so line of sight remains broken while circle counts are resolved correctly.

Phase 7

This final phase combines several layered mechanics that can easily cause deaths or wipes if handled incorrectly.

Verdict: All players receive combinations of Final Judgment and Final Punishment. Several orbs, four J Storms, and two zones containing Steam Regulator A and B also appear. Players must satisfy the conditions of their debuffs before the boss casts Gavel.

Tank Debuffs: Tanks receive Final Judgment: Max HP or Final Judgment: Min HP along with 3 to 4 stacks of Final Punishment. Tanks remove Punishment stacks by taking boss auto-attacks, then swapping. The Max HP tank must be at full or highest HP, while the Min HP tank must have the lowest HP in the party.

Healer Debuffs: Healers receive Final Judgment: Penalty 1 or Final Judgment: Penalty 2. The Penalty 1 healer has 3 Punishment stacks, while the Penalty 2 healer has 1. Each healer must end with the correct number of debuffs for their assignment.

DPS Debuffs: DPS players receive either Final Judgment: Nisi A or Nisi B with 1 Punishment stack, or Final Judgment: Penalty 3 with 2 Punishment stacks. Nisi players must kill their matching add, while Penalty 3 players need to reach 3 total debuffs.

Verdict Resolution: To solve the mechanic, players intentionally take specific hits. Penalty 1 players pop the south orb first, then split the two north orbs with the Nisi players after those players kill their adds. The remaining south orb is assigned to the Penalty 3 players. The Penalty 2 player takes the northwest J Storm, while the Min HP tank takes the other J Storm during Gavel so they remain the lowest-health player. When the boss casts Gavel, players pop the final orb to complete their debuff states. The boss then rises and crashes down with J Kick, which must be healed through.

Link-Up: A DPS is targeted with Compressed Water.

Final Punch: A tankbuster sequence that stuns and knocks back the main tank, then follows with Final Apocalypse and Final Beam. The main tank should use heavy mitigation before the stun. The off tank can turn the boss away for Final Apocalypse, then face it back toward the party so Final Beam can be shared correctly.

Blue Mines: Invisible blue mines spawn on one of the four middle platforms. At the same time, the raid also handles Long Needle, Seed of the Sky ground AoEs, and a Prey marker. The standard solution is to stack to bait Seed of the Sky, send Prey targets away from the group, and have everyone else stack for Long Needle while avoiding the platform with the invisible mine.

Enumeration Pressure: Enumeration circles are added into this sequence while Compressed Water is still active, making movement and spacing much tighter.

Compressed Water Sacrifice: A common strategy is to have the player with Compressed Water intentionally step on the blue mine and die. If the player is killed this way, the Water debuff does not explode and wipe the party. This also removes a major movement problem from the arena, and the player can be revived afterward.

Steam Chakrams: Steam Chakrams spawn after Long Needle. The boss should be pulled into the safe lane between them.

Megabeam and Enumeration: The boss follows with another Enumeration and then a Megabeam while these other mechanics are still resolving.

Super Jump Bait: While the mechanics continue, the main tank should step away to bait Super Jump.

Second Final Punch Sequence: The boss follows with Flarethrower and another Final Punch sequence. Tank invulnerability is often used here to reduce healer strain.

J Kick: The boss flies away and uses another J Kick. The raid should be ready to mitigate and heal through it, especially because the sacrificed player will return with Weakness.

Enrage – J Wave: The boss catches fire, begins spinning, and pulses out J Wave every 5 seconds. Each pulse hits harder than the last. This is the enrage sequence, and the raid must kill the boss before the increasing raid-wide damage wipes the group.

Encounter Flow

Phase 1: Open by handling Hydrothermal Missile, Seed of the Sky, Megabeam, and the Execution add squares cleanly. Swap tanks correctly for Perpetual Ray, then resolve Legislation and Final Punishment without triggering Illegal Operations.

Phase 2: Work through the robot gauntlet in sequence, keeping track of each 50% threshold, interrupting Mindblast, managing auxiliary buffs, and balancing the final two robots so neither triggers Self-Destruct early.

Phase 3: Brute Justice forms and runs through its first major mechanic cycle. Handle Double Rocket Punch cleanly, bait Super Jump properly, and use the central positioning pattern to keep Long Needle and Seed of the Sky organized.

Phase 4: Shift into a full dodge phase built around J Kick, proximity damage, wall positioning, mirage charges, Steam Chakrams, and missile placement.

Phase 5: Repeat the Brute Justice cycle from Phase 3 with stronger incoming damage and tighter healing requirements.

Phase 6: Handle the second mechanic gauntlet with Onslaughter and Brawler elements, invisible mines, Megabeam, more mirages, returning Steam Chakrams, and Ultra Flash line-of-sight positioning.

Phase 7: Resolve Verdict and Gavel correctly, then survive the compressed final sequence of Final Punch, Final Beam, mines, Long Needle, Enumeration, Chakrams, Megabeam, Super Jump, and repeated raid-wide damage until the enrage J Wave sequence begins.