Pandaemonium is the first set of FFXIV Endwalker raids, and this guide is to help you unlock and complete the second of the four raids, the Pandaemonium Asphodelos: Second Circle.
Final Fantasy XIV just released their latest update on the Endwalker expansion and it also brought in more challenges with the its newest high-end raid called Pandaemonium. This second part of the raid picks up from the first fight with Erichthonios in the Asphodelos: The First Circle encounter. Check out our guide for the first circle here to learn more about how to prepare for the Pandaemonium raid.
How to defeat Hippokampos in Asphodelos: The Second Circle
In the second circle, players will face off against the Hippokampos, a Mythic Creation, which uses surges of sewage water to bring death and destruction to those who oppose it. To defeat Hippokampos, players will have to work against multiple AOE attacks as well as environmental damage that cuts down the playing field to be able to survive and defeat this boss.
There are two main phases in the fight: the first dry phase and the second flooded phase where Hippokampos will flood the arena, leaving the grates and raised platforms as the only safe spots. Everyone in the party should always be aware of all the overhead markers throughout the fight to know where to position themselves accordingly.
First Phase – to defeat Hippokampos in Asphodelos: The Second Circle
- Murky Depths: An unavoidable AOE that gets cast often. Healer/s should always be on top of the casts to make sure everyone survives.
- Doubled Impact: Targets tanks in the party. It’s imperative for the party to have two tanks to stack on each other and survive this attack.
- Spoken Cataract: Hippokampos’ body will cast a horizontal AOE parallel to itself, while the severed head will cast an AOE covering half the arena. Move towards the side opposite to where the head is facing and away from the horizontal AOE’s range.
- Sewage Deluge: Hippokampos floods the arena with sewage water that inflicts elemental damage over time when stepped on. Players should stand on one of the four platforms or the grates that connect them to avoid damage.
- Predatory Sight: An unavoidable attack. Stack with other members to mitigate the damage. Players who fail to stack will also get inflicted with vulnerability.
Second Phase – to defeat Hippokampos in Asphodelos: The Second Circle
- Tainted Flood: An AOE attack that will be casted on multiple players and their surroundings. Use the AOE range marker to know where to position, spread out, and avoid overlapping the circles on top of you and your teammate.
- Shockwave: Hippokampos will jump to a corner and will send a radial shockwave on the arena and pushes the players away relative from the impact point. The easiest places to go for are the two connecting grates that are adjacent to where it’ll land, as you don’t have to think and calculate much about getting pushed back into the water.
- Dissociation: The severed head will move out of the arena and do a dive through half of the arena. Stand on the opposite side of the arena where the head will dive to avoid damage.
- Coherence: A two-pronged attack where a tank gets a spread marker while another party member gets a stack marker. The marked tank has to move as far away as possible while the other members should stack in front of the other marked member to mitigate damage.
- Sewage Eruption: Targets several members with static AOE attacks simultaneously and repeatedly. Run around the arena towards safe spots to avoid the attacks as much as possible. Another tactic is for the whole party to bunch up as soon as the attack is casted to limit the areas that will get hit, though this requires good timing and coordination.
These attacks can get casted on top of one another, so pay close attention especially during a Sewage Deluge when safe spots will be very limited.
Once you’ve defeated the Hippokampos, you’re halfway through completing the Pandaemonium raid. If you’re ready, we have also prepared a guide for Asphodelos: The Third Circle for you.
FFXIV Endwalker – Pandaemonium: Asphodelos Raid Drops
Running the Pandaemonium Asphodelos: The First Circle in FFXIV will reward you with loot. But take note that if you ran the raid and successfully rolled and obtained loot, you can’t get more loot from that raid until the weekly limit resets.
The weekly reset occurs every Tuesday midnight at 12:00 AM PST.
Getting gear from FFXIV raids isn’t simple. Each raid will drop loot corresponding to various equipment slots. Each raid only drops specific loot types, and you need a certain number of each loot type to trade in for the actual gear.
Loot Drop | # of tokens Required for Exchange | Pandaemonium Asphodelos Raid |
Unsung Armor of Asphodelos | 4 | The First Circle, The Second Circle, The Third Circle, The Fourth Circle |
Unsung Chausses of Asphodelos | 4 | The First Circle, The Second Circle, The Third Circle, The Fourth Circle |
Unsung Gauntlets of Asphodelos | 2 | The First Circle, The Second Circle, The Third Circle, The Fourth Circle |
Unsung Greaves of Asphodelos | 2 | The First Circle, The Second Circle, The Fourth Circle |
Unsung Helm of Asphodelos | 2 | The First Circle, The Second Circle, The Third Circle |
Unsung Ring of Asphodelos | 1 | The First Circle, The Second Circle, The Third Circle, The Fourth Circle |
Unsung Blade of Asphodelos | 7 | The Fourth Circle |
Every week, when you clear Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle, you’ll get a guaranteed Unsung Blade of Asphodelos. 7 can be traded for a Discal Tomestone. The tomestone is currently useless, but will be used to gain the next tomestone weapon in Patch 6.05. Obtain the weapon by trading a Discal Tomestone and 500 Astronomy Tomestones in patch 6.05.
Where to Exchange Pandaemonium: Asphodelos Raid Tokens in FFXIV
You can exchange your loot to Djole in Radz-at-Han (X: 10.3, Y: 9.6) or Mylenie in Labyrinthos (X: 8.3, Y: 27.6). Both are labeled “Pandaemonium Relic Exchange” and sell the same items, though the latter requires completion of the current Pandaemonium quest chain. Both Djole or Mylenie will accept 7 Unsung Blades for 1 Discal Tomestone.
This means you’ll need weeks of re-runs to fully equip yourself in item level 580 gear. You can only get one drop per week, so plan ahead. The drop restrictions should be removed in patch 6.1, then you can roll for anything based on previous expansions.
Up next: Asphodelos: The Third Circle
Also read:
- FFXIV Raid Pandaemonium Asphodelos – The First Circle Guide
- FFXIV Raid Pandaemonium Asphodelos – The Third Circle Guide
- FFXIV Raid Pandaemonium Asphodelos – The Fourth Circle Guide
If you want to invite your friends to help you out on the raids, they may have to wait for now while FFXIV sales are still suspended as of this writing. Read more about the suspension here.
Also read our other Final Fantasy XIV content.
Check out this video by Mrhappy1227 on the Pandaemonium – Asphodelos: The Second Circle – FFXIV Endwalker Raid: