FFXIV Guide: Shiva Primal Battle

In this guide I’ll cover Shiva the primal that patch 2.4 was centered around. Shiva has a lot of fancy gimmicks, but the fight itself isn’t that hard. Below I’ll list all of Shiva’s attacks, what they do, and what to do against them.

Video footage of the fight.

Attacks & Abilities:

These are all of the attacks and abilities Shiva uses.

• Hailstorm: Shiva drops a large circle on three random players. These circles need to be run away from the rest of the raid they seem to do mediocre damage individually but I haven’t seem them stacked.
• Icebrand: This move is a very wide frontal cleave similar to Mountain Buster but wider. This move is unavoidable as there is no cast-bar for it. The tank should be the only one in front of Shiva though so other players shouldn’t have to worry about this move.
• Heavenly Strike: This is a wide frontal AoE that does mediocre damage and knocks players back. It’s another attack with no cast-bar.
• Dreams of Ice: Gives Shiva a stacking buff that allows her to deal more damage.
• Glacial Bash: a frontal cleave move similar to Garuda’s Slipstream and stuns players hit by it. In theory, you should be able to treat it the same way but I’ve yet to get the timing down.
• Icicle Impact: Shiva places circles on the ground in one of two patterns: an X shape or a circle. Both of these have a circle in the middle as well. The first is easy to dodge as there are gaps, the second is a bit trickier to do. You basically treat the second arrangement like Titan’s outer edge bombs. All players should run to the center and then move toward the original circle. once it disappears, the tank should move separately to avoid getting the group cleaved, or take a single Icicle Impact circle. Keep in mind that Ice Impact applies a stacking vulnerability up debuff for each circle that hits you.
• Absolute Zero: A room wide AoE that deals slight damage. Just heal through it.
• Perma Frost: This is a room wide AoE that applies Thin Ice and Frostbite. While Thin Ice is active moving causes the player to slide, if you hit the wall you’ll be locked in a block of ice similar to a Gaol from Titan. Players will have to break you out of this ice. Frostbite applies an ice based damage over time effect. Make sure you stop moving the moment you see Shiva starting to cast Perma Frost.
• Diamond Dust: This is Shiva’s big move. It appears to be connected to the four soldiers she spawns at around 60%, but not facts to back this up as every group I’ve run in has no problem with the adds. Shiva starts this by going untargetable and circling the room, when she reaches the center she applies Deep Freeze on all players. She then breaks Deep Freeze with Diamond Dust. Make sure as the tank you move towards the center before Deep Freeze hits you so repositioning Shiva is easier. Everyone else should just group up so healers can cap them off easier.

Other Mechanics:

Here I’ll list things that you’ll have to deal with that aren’t specific attacks.

• Frost Blade: This buff gives Shiva HP regeneration and Damage Reduction. This buff is cast without a cast bar so it’s very easily missed.
• Frost Brand: This buff gives Shiva increased damage, and looks like the Frost Blade icon, just with a staff. This buff is cast without a cast bar so it’s very easily missed.
• Adds: At around 60% Shiva summons adds, four big Ice Soldiers that need to die ASAP before Diamond Dust is used.
• Walls: After Diamond Dust, touching a wall will trap you in an Ice Boulder that other players need to break. This causes major problems in groups during Perma Frost. I’d say it’s the biggest cause of wipes in Hard Mode.

Positioning:

In this fight positioning is very important with the amount of frontal AoE damage Shiva does. As the main tank you want to stand towards the center due to the wall mechanic during phase 2. DPS and healers should remain behind Shiva at all times. As long as the off-tank isn’t getting hit by AoE from Shiva it doesn’t really matter where they stand. They are just there to pick up the adds.

If you follow these tips you should be able to take Shiva down no problem. To find my upcoming guides or even older ones, be sure to check out my guide directory.