Turn 1 – Caduceus

Encounter Overview

T1 – Caduceus is the opening encounter of The Binding Coil of Bahamut and introduces early raid mechanics centered around add control, positioning, and buff management. The fight consists of a short mini-boss phase followed by a main boss encounter that revolves around managing stacking buffs and splitting the boss into two targets.

While simple compared to later raids, this fight teaches core raid fundamentals such as interrupt priority, add control, and coordinated damage distribution. Mishandling slimes or allowing buff stacks to build uncontrollably can quickly overwhelm the party.

If you want to compare this fight against other raids, see the FFXIV Raid Rankings.

Arena Overview

The arena consists of multiple connected platforms with glowing sections that become hazardous during the encounter. When Caduceus is active, the yellow crystal pathways apply a Bleeding effect to players standing on them. Players should avoid lingering on these paths unless necessary for positioning mechanics.

Later in the fight, specific platforms will glow and spawn adds, making positioning and awareness critical for managing space and controlling mechanics.

Boss Mechanics

ADS (Mini-Boss)

High Voltage: Raid-wide damage that applies Paralysis. This must be interrupted every time. Failure to interrupt will result in constant stuns and heavy disruption to the party.

Repelling Cannon: Point-blank AoE around the boss. Melee players should step out when this is cast.

Piercing Laser: A line AoE aimed at a random player. Move out of the line to avoid damage.

Nodes: Adds spawn at the entrance and move toward ADS. If they reach the boss, they tether to it, restoring HP and increasing its damage. These adds must be killed before reaching ADS.

Enrage: ADS will self-destruct after approximately 4 minutes, dealing massive raid-wide damage.

Caduceus

Hood Swing: A non-telegraphed tank cleave with a large radius. Tanks should face the boss away from the party at all times.

Whip Back: A rear cleave triggered if players stand behind the boss. Avoid unnecessary positioning behind the boss.

Regorge: Targets a player with a poison puddle that deals damage over time. The targeted player should move away from the group to drop the puddle safely.

Steel Scales: The boss gains stacking buffs that increase physical damage dealt. These stacks do not fall off naturally and must be managed through slime interaction.

Dark Matter Slime: Glowing platforms spawn slimes that fixate on the player who triggered them. If the slime moves too far from its target, it will explode and deal heavy AoE damage.

Devour (Slime Interaction): If Caduceus consumes a slime, it loses one stack of Steel Scales but heals based on the slime’s remaining HP. Slimes should be weakened before being fed to the boss.

Split: At approximately 68% HP, Caduceus splits into two identical bosses, each with reduced HP and damage. Both will continue to gain Steel Scales over time.

Merge: If the two bosses get too close, they merge back together, combining HP and rapidly gaining Steel Scales stacks.

Enrage (Final): If one boss dies significantly earlier than the other, the surviving boss will rapidly gain Steel Scales stacks and overwhelm the party.

Encounter Flow

ADS Phase: Interrupt High Voltage consistently while avoiding AoEs and killing incoming nodes before they reach the boss.

Opening Phase: Position Caduceus properly and begin managing Steel Scales stacks by spawning and controlling slimes.

Slime Management: Assign players to trigger slime spawns. Reduce slime HP to around 20% before dragging them to the boss to safely remove Steel Scales stacks.

Split Phase: At ~68%, split into two light parties and handle each boss separately. Keep the bosses apart to prevent merging while continuing to manage slime feeding.

Final Burn: Lower both bosses evenly and defeat them at roughly the same time to prevent enrage from excessive Steel Scales stacking.