Disclaimers

MT in BA is very different from MT in other content. As such, while this guide is aimed at providing all of the beginner information, this should be considered an "Intermediate" level guide and it is usually recommended that you do one of the following prior to attempting to MT:

• Cleared BA several times before and watched how other MTs handle mobs

• Make arrangements to have a veteran MT mentor you through your first attempt at BA MT.

Regardless of how you would like to approach this, it is highly recommended that you read through this guide prior to attempting to MT BA. In addition, please be sure to let the raid know that you are inexperienced with the following message in /yell chat:

MT { This is my first time } { I'll do my best }

There are also only slots for 3 MTs for an entire run of BA (and only one should be doing the bulk of the pulling for the run). There is a decent chance that you may not be selected as MT even though you are prepared for it, please be respectful to the raid organizer/leader and follow their guidance if another MT is designated.

MTing for the Content Achiever's Learning Run

We want you to learn to MT (if you are interested).

Content Achievers hosts a monthly learning run that is the best place to practice your roles in BA. If you would like to learn to MT there is no safer place to get some experience under your belt. We will have veterans who can serve as backup and the run is provided with full callouts.

If you would like to MT, please mention it in the comments in your signups as a tank and mention your gear level so that the organizers can know.

Disclaimer: There are only the 3 MT slots available as follows:

• 2 MT until the first boss

• 1 MT from after the first boss until the third boss

• 3 MT for the final boss

We will try to accommodate as much as possible, but MT requests will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis due to the few positions.

Main Tank Guide

Main tanks in BA, have the critical role of managing pull order and maintaining aggro. Due to the damage difference, fulfill the normal tanking role you have the following priority:

1. Maintain aggro at all costs.

2. Do mechanics.

3. Stay alive.

4. Do damage (so long as it doesn't come at the cost of any of the above).

Preparation

It is not advised to attempt main tanking without at least the Kirin's Osode of Fending for the additional survivability from the elemental bonus. The Cryptic Seals required for this can be purchased from the market board on any world in your Datacenter.

Bring the current expansion's raid food (any tier suffices, including the current) for the extra 10% HP.

Magia board needs to be set to 5 defensive magia and needs to be spun to the defensive element for each mob as you progress through BA. If you receive the 6th and 7th magicite, you can slot those two into offensive to provide you with increased damage and aggro generation.

As a new MT you have the choice of either of the two following wisdoms:

• Wisdom of the Guardian is the defacto tanking Wisdom for BA. It has more than enough defensive power to tank BA from start to finish, but has lower overall defense than Wisdom of the Indomitable. This guide assumes that you will be using Wisdom of the Guardian.

• Wisdom of the Indomitable is a stronger and more expensive tanking logos. This is optional to bring, but can allow you to clear BA safer and faster as the MT. Please refer to the Indomitable guide for more details.

When First Inside BA

Due to how important your role is, typically you will want to check a few points prior to declaring MT.

1. Does a healer in your party have Refresh L?

2. Do you have Protect L and Shell L available?

3. Do you have a Food buff?

4. Is your preferred wisdom activated?

5. Do you have either of the following:

• magiaboard set to "/magiaauto defense"

• A macro with /magiadefense

Dungeon Mobs

Dungeon mobs are tuned with the expectation that they will be tanked with the 50% damage reduction and increased defense provided by the defensive wisdoms listed above. As a result, all mobs in the dungeon are significantly more dangerous to your party members than in normal dungeons. Most mobs can kill a DPS or healer in one or two auto-attacks unless they have Wisdom of the Platebearer active (Note: DPS players should not typically run wisdom of the platebearer outside of specific scenarios while inside BA).

General Tips

• When in doubt about mob aggro (such as if it looks like it's running to a DPS/Healer) provoke it.

• Pull mobs away from the packs to avoid having others accidentally pull more mobs than can be handled (such as via blood/magic aggro, aoe ability usage, or mis-clicking and auto-attacking them).

• Check your remaining magia charges before every pull.

• Be mindful of the element of the mobs and be sure that your magia board has locked into the correct element before pulling. 

• Try to pull only mobs of the same element for safety and raid DPS efficiency.

• Be aware of where patrolling mobs are located and prioritize those with dangerous aggro types.

Pull Order

When deciding how to pull, a good rule of thumb is to prioritize as follows:

1. Nearby patrols that might accidentally pull

2. Spell Aggro (sprites)

3. Blood Aggro (Ashkin) 

4. Normal Sight/Sound aggro

5. The nearest mob(s) of the same element

6. Big mobs with dangerous mechanics

Please see the "Main Tank notes" section of this guide for more recommendations on each leg of the journey through BA.

Communication

As there are 48 people in the raid, it is often necessary to communicate your intention to the raid. 

For example, at the first chest (after Art and Owain), The MT needs to be re-established. This is done by using yell chat and sending a message like "MT ノ" or "MT o/ { If you would be so kind }". While usually, the first to call will be the one to continue, but you should defer to the raid lead if both tanks decide to call.

If you wish to pull a specific mob away, saying "{ Wait, please }" in /yell chat will also allow the raid to know that they should not necessarily follow you.

[Beginner] Action Loadouts

If you want to MT, it is highly recommended to have the full holster expansion (6 trays) available.

The "Beginner tanking tray" is Wisdom of the Guardian and Cure III for the following reasons:

• Wisdom of the Guardian is the defacto tanking wisdom. This is the minimum required to be a proper MT.

• Cure III provides you with plenty of sustain to survive (most) things that bosses can throw at you.

• Cure III can also be used to generate a very large amount of aggro on bosses and mobs. (BLU tank style). Due to main tanks requiring the use of 5 defensive magia, aggro generation can sometimes be more difficult when DPS jobs bring certain actions or you are undergeared.

Note: Logos Action order affects which duty action it will be slotted into. Feel free to use the "Swap" action at the Logos Manipulator for the most comfortable keybinds.

On Entry

Crack the following two trays, in order Spirit of the Remembered first, ST Tray second.

Recommended Holsters

Recommended Tray Recipes

BA Main Tank Notes

General Notes

Recommended pull orders are not absolute pull orders, depending upon the timing/scenario, you may need to improvise and try to grab the next best thing or peel for the raid.

Traps do not pop the trap without first communicating with your raid. If there is an Indom tank, they may be relying on using the traps to maintain their healthboost. You can confirm this by saying.

/y { trap } { Do you need it? }

IMPORTANT - Always communicate with your healers about the availability of Refresh L. If you ever drop below 3 magia charges and don't see the Refresh L buff active, be sure to talk to your healers with { Refresh L } { Can I have it? }.

Paths to Art and Owain

Recommended Pull Order:

1. Demon Wall (Only option).

2. Mages - Pull them down the stairs as much as possible.

3. Frog - Make sure they are away from top.

4. Biblyos - One at a time. Face away from the raid. Stun during magic hammer to save newbies.

Art/Owain

The twins don't really have any special tank exclusive mechanics, however keeping them centered is helpful for resolving their main mechanics.

In addition, remember to use cooldowns on Thricecull which is the tank buster.

One note is that you will want to be sure to keep you magia board updated on Owain as it switches its aspected element periodically.

Path to Raiden

Remember to wait for the perceptor to clear the explosion trap after the first flight of stairs, and hug the wall while the perceptors find the bleed traps

The next is probably the first "meaty pull" of BA. Be sure to start the pulls from where the chest is located and pull mobs near the chest.

Recommended pull order

1. Sprite - Be sure to interrupt banish. Very dangerous if it goes off.

2. Doll (if near party) - Be sure to face away from the raid as it has a cleaving attack.

3. Ashkin - If it might get in the way near pull.

4. Mages - They spawn AoEs around them, make sure that there is room around the traps.

5. Centaurs - Note if they go berserk, you must invuln or you will probably die.

Each boss has unique tank mechanics and some have positioning requirements. Please check the associated sections of the BA Guide for more info.

Raiden

This fight has a lot more "tank centric" mechanics that you will need to handle and be aware of:

1. When the fight starts, pull Raiden near the edge of the arena away from the door to prepare for "Ame no Sakahoko", you may need to pop sprint to get out of it once it begins casting.

2. After Raiden disappears and does the half-arena AoE, try to keep Raiden centered in preparation for cloud to ground.

3. When Cloud to Ground is cast, you will want to move him toward the edge with the AOEs and then move behind the lightning strikes after they start moving.

4. Levinswhorl, be prepared to tank LB if no other tanks in your party.

5. Mechanics soup, Raiden will disappear for Lateral and then be locked center until the spears are dealt with.

Path To Rooms

Next is a long series of pulls.

Stairs pull order, note that the stairs can cause issues with the telegraphs:

1. Wind mobs.

2. Big Book guy - Hit hard.

3. Doll - Pull when convenient, face away from group.

Hallway pull order

Always prioritize clearing the nearby hallway. Mobs in the hallway should be pulled one at a time.

1. Sprites 

• Patrol between adjacent rooms

• Casting a spell will aggro them so prioritize them first. You can also use this to your advantage to pull sprites without line of sight such as via:

  • Casting Cure L III (Such as in the recommended loadouts)

  • PLD Holy Spirit or Clemency

  • DRK Unmend/Unleash

• Be prepared to interrupt Banish

2. Logos - Ashkin and aggro when a nearby player has low health (or when attacked). Face away from raid.

Note: Keep an eye on perceptors as they sometimes will pull additional mobs when trying to scout the rooms.

For the rooms, coordinate with the perceptors and pull mobs out into the hallway. Typically clear the rooms in the following order:

1. Treasure room (should be scouted by perceptors)

2. Ice/water

3. Wind/thunder 

4. Stone/fire.

After teleporter order

1. Nearby patrols - Gesh

2. Ice aspected mobs - Note that the Vikings have an attack where they do a small telegraphed AoE on a random target in the raid, if someone gets mad at you for "not holding aggro", you can ignore.

3. Frogs - Pull one at a time. Toy hammer bypasses invulns and does a massive amount of damage, don't try it.

4. Doll - Pull when convenient, face away from group.

Path to AV

This should be mostly pulled in the order that you see them, but there are three important mobs that will wander around and can end up in a room (potentially behind the raid)

1. Frog - Be wary of toy hammer

2. Big Book guy

3. Centaur

Be sure to be on the watch for those. 

AV

• [Tank Buster] Auroral Wind has a small  AoE, be sure to be standing away from other players or they will die.

• Try to keep AV in the center of the arena as much as possible for medusa javelin.

Path to Ozma

• The Arsenal Strix's should be pulled one at a time.

• On the properties of Darkness should be stunned immediately (or folks risk losing their buffs).

Ozma

Your exact role/job will change based on each form shift.

General Notes

• Each platform needs an MT to stand on it or the attacks will go to the next highest on the aggro list.

• Meteor Impact:

  • Spawns adds that need to be picked up and brought to Ozma

  • Tank LB can and should be used when one or more of the meteors are misplaced (Unless you have LB3 and really trust your healer to survive and use it).

  • Try to go to the back of the platform if you get a meteor, but be prepared to adjust if the SAM/RPR/DRG/RDM/BRD/DNC immediately backflip to the back of the platform.

• Ozma Shades transition attacks should be handled the same as normal Ozma transitions.

Sphere

• [Autoattacks] are hard-hitting tankbuster-like auto attacks, be sure to mitigate them appropriately.

• [Blackhole] Be on the button on the platform to ensure that you can always take any auto attacks.

Pyramid

• During the transition attack, you should try be the last person on your platform to exit, so wait a few seconds and check the other side before hopping off the platform.

• Auto-attack bleeds - If there is no healer, you will need to bait the bleed. Stand at a range from the boss away from the party to do so. 

Star

• Auto-attacks deal shared damage, so you must stand with the party.

Cube

• Auto attacks cleave, so stand away from the party.

• Orbs will spawn, you need to be hit by them (use defensives to survive). Do so away from the party.

  • Intercept the orbs on the platform, but stand away from the group to avoid the shared AoE which applies a vulnerability buff.

  • If you get targetted by the stack when while you are MT, you have a few options to handle it based on your job:

    • PLD/GNB can use their invuln and stack away from the party.

    • WAR/PLD/DRK can stack with the party and use mitigation along with their personal shield ability (Shake it Off, Divine Veil, The Blackest Night) to avoid taking the magic vuln, then run back to the orb.

Once you have reached this point, congratulations! You've cleared!

Advanced Guides

The following advanced tanking topics are available in the Veteran Survival Guide once you are familiar with BA.

• Wisdom of the Indomitable 

• Double Edge L