The Chrysalis is a level 50 Trial added in Final Fantasy 14's patch 2.5. You'll need to face the Ascian Nabriales in his interdimensional rift where he has kidnapped and imprisoned Minflia. While inside The Chrysalis, time manipulation and falling comets are just a few of the things you'll have to contend with in order to save Minfilia and defeat Nabriales.
Nabriales will use some new mechanics in this fight that can be difficult to deal with. Let's go over each of the phases of The Chrysalis, each of Nabriales' attacks, and how you can avoid them and complete this Trial.
How To Unlock The Chrysalis
This Trial is part of the main story and unlocks through the following quest.
- Complete the quest 'An Uninvited Ascian'
- NPC Location: Edelstein - Northern Thanalan (x:20.8, y:22.1)
Trial Walkthrough
This trial is divided into three distinct phases, in which Nabriales will add various mechanics to his arsenal. Each phase is listed below.
Phase 1
When the fight begins, Nabriales will use the following two attacks.
- Spark: Nabriales will deal moderate damage to the main Tank.
- Double: Nabriales will cast this before using Spark, making Spark deal damage twice in a row. Double Spark can deal extremely high damage, so be careful. As mentioned above, have instant-heals ready when Nabriales uses Double.
Orb Phase
When Nabriales reaches roughly 85 percent health, he will teleport to the center of the arena and begin spawning red and black orbs. These orbs will slowly move towards him, and will grant him a stacking damage buff if they reach the center of the arena.
To prevent Nabriales from gaining this buff, you and your party must absorb the orbs. Running through an orb will cause it to explode, dealing damage in a small area around the orb. The type of damage dealt depends on the color of the orb.
Additionally, depending on the color of orb you absorb, you will be inflicted with vulnerability up. Red orbs inflict magical vulnerability up, while black orbs inflict physical vulnerability up.
Similarly, red orbs deal magical damage and black orbs deal physical damage. You can not have both of these debuffs at the same time, but absorbing the same colored orb twice in a row will stack the relevant vulnerability. If you repeatedly absorb the same color orbs, each orb will deal significantly more damage for each one you absorb
Because of this, you will want to alternate which orbs you absorb. If you absorb a red orb then a black orb, for example, the inflicted magical vulnerability up will be removed and replaced with a physical vulnerability up. Repeating this process will ensure you don't stack the vulnerability higher.
Be sure to alternate which orbs you absorb, and make sure they don't reach the center of the arena. Work together with your party during this phase so that each member is absorbing orbs in the correct order.
- Dark IV: At the end of this phase, Narbiales will cast Dark IV. The damage of this attack scales with how many orbs he absorbed throughout the phase. Healers should prepare with party-wide heals.
Phase 2
After Nabriales uses Dark IV, phase 2 will begin. Nabriales will gain access to the following two attacks, which he will use in addition to his attacks from phase 1.
- Triple: Similar to Double, Nabriales will use this attack before Spark. However, as you may have guessed, Triple will cause Spark to be executed three times in a row, which will deal massive damage to the main Tank. It may be necessary to perform a tank swap if the main Tank's health gets too low during this phase.
- Tank swapping is the act of switching which tank is currently holding the Enmity of the boss. To perform a Tank swap, the current off-Tank should first activate their Tank stance, then use the role skill Provoke to put themself at the top of the enmity list. The current main Tank needs to use the role skill Shirk to help divert the enmity they build to the off-Tank. Doing this will cause the main and off-Tank to switch places in Enmity generation, allowing the off-Tank to become the main Tank.
- End of Days: Nabriales will teleport a moderate distance away and begin casting this attack, which will deal damage in a rectangular AoE to his front. Simply move to either side of the AoE to avoid End of Days.
- Quake III: Nabriales will deal damage to all party members. Have healers restore the party's health after this attack finishes casting.
Orb Phase 2
At roughly 40 percent health, Nabriales will once again move to the center of the arena and begin summoning orbs. There will be a few more orbs during this phase than previously, but the mechanics are identical to before. Alternate which color of orbs you run through until Nabriales uses Dark IV, and continue to fight him as normal.
When Nabriales reaches 20 percent health, the final phase will begin.
Phase 3
At roughly 20 percent health remaining, Nabriales will teleport away, creating a vortex in the center of the arena. This vortex will constantly pull all party members towards it. When you touch the vortex, you will be teleported to a different arena. If you run away from the vortex, you will be able to resist being sucked into the portal for a short while.
Upon being pulled into the vortex, any buffs or debuffs you currently have active while have their durations multiplied by ten. For example, Raging Strikes, which usually has a duration of 20 seconds, will now last for just over three minutes. Using all your buffs just before entering the vortex will give you a massive advantage for the remainder of the fight.
Additionally, when Nabriales creates the vortex, you will be inflicted with the Blight debuff, which deals slight damage over time. This debuff acts as a timer; when Blights duration completes, you will be pulled into the vortex regardless of how far away from it you are. Be sure to use your buffs before Blight counts to zero.
In the next arena, Nabriales will begin casting Meteor while summoning comets. These comets must be tanked before they land on the floor of the arena by standing underneath the circle created at the comets landing area. Doing so will heavily mitigate how much damage is dealt to all party members when the comet lands.
When the first comet falls, an Aetherial Tear will be created in the area it lands. This Aetherial Tear must be destroyed in order to end this phase and return to the original arena. If the Aetherial Tear is not destroyed before Nabriales finishes casting Meteor, your party will be instantly killed.
Have all DPS party members focus on destroying the Aetherial Tear while both Tanks run around the arena and soak up the comets. Healers should focus on keeping the Tanks alive.
It is recommended to save the Limit Break to be used by a melee DPS Job on the Aetherial Tear. Doing so will deal massive damage to the Tear, ensuring you are able to destroy it in time.
After destroying the Aetherial Tear, you will be returned to the original arena where Nabriales will be waiting with roughly 20 percent health. He will not use any new attacks at this time, so continue on as normal and defeat the Ascian.
