He kicked my ass back in 2014, and now the Final Fantasy XIV Sycrus Tower boss Amon is back with a vengeance. As the Dawntrail expansion made its debut on June 28, players scrambled back online as FFXIV servers went live to complete their roulettes and start leveling, but an Amon bug had other plans.
Syrcus Tower was of another era, and the 24-man raid turned into a bit of a breeze after A Realm Reborn content aged out of any challenge through levels and gear padding. Back in the day, those Crystal Tower bosses put up more of a fight, with fights like Amon’s shape-shifting, icy mechanics being among the more difficult. In recent years, he was about as threatening as a wet noodle, and the angry theatre kid came out of him with the 7.0 update. Instead of spawning ice blocks to hide behind as Amon typically would, the pillars never show up, and everyone explodes. Appropriately dramatic for him.
Okay, so he’s not entirely unkillable. With enough DPS and the power of friendship, you can indeed beat the Syrcus Tower clown boss and move on to the end. I tested it myself twice now, once unsynced with just three people to make sure it wasn’t an instant wipe situation, and another by going in synced with the Duty Finder. It makes for some extremely close calls, but you can kill Amon before he performs the party-wipe mechanic, Curtain Call.
This is all way funnier if you know more about Amon from later references in FFXIV’s story, but I won’t get into that for the sake of spoilers. Regardless, the bug is bringing out the best in the community, turning a frustrating encounter into a moment of triumph with 24-man raid groups banding together to really push damage. There’s a lot of good clips floating out there of the community finally killing Amon.
For the uninitiated, if you don’t know what’s happening here, Amon typically turns a few players into icy pillars. The rest of the alliance members must hide behind these pillars while he casts Curtain Call. If you aren’t behind one by the end of the cast, it’s insta-death. No matter how high level you are.
Thankfully, Square Enix knows Amon is back to being a menace. The FFXIV team is currently investigating what’s going on with his recent cheating streak, and should have a solution for those struggling in Alliance Raid on the way. Until then, don’t let Square Enix tell you it’s “impossible to progress.” If you try again, and again, and again, perhaps do some min-maxing in a 10-year old fight I usually nap through, then Amon (Ultimate) is clearable.
Apparently, it’s not just Amon that’s bugged, either. Other fights with important ice-related mechanics, like Shinryu’s Stormblood encounter, are also more of a pain. Fingers crossed there’s no encounter in the expansion ahead that’s at risk here, too.
Otherwise, if it’s just with Amon, I’m fine with leaving him like this for a while. I reckon it’s a good team-building activity for some of us and has spawned a flurry of cheeky Amon memes, earning him that new ‘Ultimate’ moniker. Good for you, Amon. Don’t let them do you dirty again.
