FFXIV: Stone Vigil (Hard) Dungeon Guide

Stone Vigil (Hard) is more about positioning than anything. This dungeon tests your awareness in ways most don’t. In this guide I’ll cover the three bosses of Stone Vigil (Hard), and what to expect from them.

Gorynich:

This fight is less complicated than it seems. The trick to it is have a dedicated DPS for the adds. When the adds spawn this DPS drags them to the opposite side of the room from the boss. The reason for this is the adds give Gorynich a damage and a haste buff if they die too close to him. Vigil Heirs will either use Swinge or they will explode upon death, I’ve yet to figure out what effects this.

Attacks:

Rake: This attack hits the person with aggro on Gorynich.

The Lion’s Breath: This is a conal AoE attack that appears to be shot out at a random player.

Swinge: Both Gorynich and the Vigil Heir adds use this move. It’s a conal AoE ability that deals considerable damage. Gorynich will use Swinge after walking to a wall, so don’t bunch up during this. The area of coverage for Gorynich’s Swinge is a lot larger than that of the Vigil Heirs. From what I can tell, Vigil Heirs only use Swinge upon death, and not all of them use it.

Cuca Fera:

This is by far the easiest boss fight in the dungeon when done right. Cuca Fera only does three things: a room wide blast, a barrier, and a fiery spin attack. Instaead of actually fighting Cuca Fera, you’ll use the cannons placed in the four corners of the room. Remember that there is a minimum firing range on the canons so keep an eye out on your party members. It’s possible for a player to get over run by the adds, so throw a few Iron Kiss shots their way if it looks like that is happening.

Cannon Abilities:

Iron Kiss: Deals damage, use this on Cuca Fera and adds. Cuca Fera will reflect this shot if it has the barrier active.

Spindly Fingers: This shot is used to interrupt the room-wide blast, and destroy the barrier. Spindly Fingers has a longer cooldown so make sure you set a rotation and say when you use it.

 Giruveganaus:

This fight is all about dodging. It’s impossible to tank this fight because the dragons start attacking randomly. The trick is being able to predict what they are going to use. All of Giruveganaus’ attacks add Infirmity which reduces healing done with magic. At 50% a second Giruveganaus spawns. Make sure you kill the original one first since it’s closer to death, there is no special mechanic that requires you to kill them a certain way.

I’ve noticed Giruveganaus only seems to do four attacks: a should tackle, a circle AoE fire blast, a tail swipe, and a frontal fire breath. The first three have specific animations that let you know he’s about to use them.

• Shoulder Tackle: Giruveganaus lowers his right shoulder when he’s about to do this attack. There is a brief pause before the move goes off to allow you to dodge.
• Fire Blast: For this attack, Giruveganaus rises on his hind legs and brings his hands together infront of him. Again there is a momentary pause, I recomend standing behind him when he does this move.
• Tail Swipe: This attack seems to go off at random intervals. Giruveganaus raises his tail in preparation for this attack. Try to stand on the right side of him to avoid it.
• Fire Breath: This attack doesn’t have any tells, and doesn’t seem to be avoidably. Luckily it doesn’t seem to do much damage so it’s not a huge threat.

This wraps up my Stone Vigil (Hard) guide. For more, please check out my FFXIV guide directory.