Another day perusing the Official FFXIV Forums? Another point lost on the "faith in humanity" score.
Gonna put my money where my mouth is and make some topics here, that I was planning to make there.
First up is a little guide to help on Demon Wall. Even though AK got nerfed generally as a dungeon, SE didn't seem to tone the wall down any. When trying to take a couple of our newer FC members through AK for their relic quests, we found ourselves struggling on ole' ugly much as we did back in the olden days. I'll cover this from two perspectives: The tank (WAR) and the healer (SCH). The only rule for DDs is to A: Know your damage rotation well. B: Dodge. and C: Unload everything you have on the boss for the whole fight.
I recommend you don't mess with Demon Wall unless you have at least lvl55 gear from WP and a lvl 55 weapon. Ifrit weapons are even better.
From a WARs perspective:
Even though you're the tank, you really need a DPS build for this fight. The best weapon you have available along with STR boosting HQ accessories. PLD will spend most of the fight in Sword Oath, and WARs should begin the fight with Defiance turned off. There's no hate to control from the boss himself anyway - his Murder Hole attack is always randomly targeted. Just make sure you dodge the floor AOEs.
Damage Rotation! A WARs DPS rotations are a little bit different than the norm, but not by much. What I use is this:
Heavy Swing > Maim > Storm's Eye. Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder > Butcher's Block > Brutal Swing > Fracture. Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder > Butcher's Block. Repeat from start.
Brutal Swing doesn't cause any stun effect to the Wall, but its off-the cooldown timer and contributes extra DPS. While the animation runs the GCD will expire and you can flip right into Fracture to keep some buffed DoT damage ticking. Naturally this all follows the Storm's Eye combo and it's debuff on the boss that increases your slashing damage. After the boss uses the FIRST Repel, you should pop Berserk and repeat the combo sequence until the second Repel begins to charge.
As the second Repel starts charging, its time to switch to tank mode. Activate Defiance and blow your cooldown for Infuriate. As soon as the Repel knockback is over, get up in between the boss and your healer. Here come those damnable Gnat adds. Your Pacification from Berserk should be over, so as soon as the Gnats are within range (on their way to the healer no doubt, the bastards!), launch Steel Cyclone to grab the pair. What you do next is dictated by the type of DDs you have in the party. If all are ranged, you're going to run up right under the boss and start popping defensive cooldowns while the others stay out of the Gnat's AOE range.
If the party has a melee, you're going to pull to the rear where the purple goop is. Run into the goo so the Gnats follow you, then run back through them and spin them around, so you're in the very corner of the safe floor and the Gnats are in the goop, as far from the party as possible. In either case, rotate through your defense abilities (Foresight, Convalescence, etc) while dodging the floor AOE. And SPAM both Inner Beast and Brutal Swing on the Gnats as much as you can. They are stunnable, and this will save you a ton of damage. You should get the Storm's Path combo up on both of them to further reduce the beating you'll be taking. The healer should be going into Overdrive mode at this point with AOE Regens (Whispering Dawn / MedicaII) and using their biggest cures on you while you keep the Gnats occupied. If you're about to be taken out, burn your Holmgang skill for 6 seconds of immortality and hope either Lustrates or Benediction are on the way.
If your DDs are doing their jobs, one of them will blow the Limit Break on the boss either right before or right after the third Repel, and the fight will be won.
Edited, Feb 1st 2014 11:18am by DarkswordDX