Final Fantasy 14 Operation Archon: How To Beat Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina

Square Enix is no stranger to going back to improve and adjust past Final Fantasy 14 content. Old dungeons have been streamlined, old quests have been given a revamp and, in some cases, old boss fights have been redesigned completely. If you're progressing through Final Fantasy 14's base content, A Realm Reborn, you'll eventually be given a Level 49 quest called "Operation Archon."

This quest appears towards the end of the base game content, and tasks players with making their way to Camp Westwind in order to confront Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina. Prior to the Endwalker Patch 6.1, this fight used to be a Trial which could be undertaken with an eight-person party. Following the patch, however, the quest was changed to a solo battle — and its difficulty noticeably increased. 

As a result, players progressing through A Realm Reborn have been hit with a fight that's proven to be more difficult than nearly anything that's come before it. So, how do you defeat Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina in Operation Archon? Well, here are some handy tips.

How To Beat Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina Easily In FFXIV

The first thing to take into account is that, despite this being a Level 49 quest, the sync is actually locked at Level 50. If you're currently attempting the fight at Level 49, we'd recommend getting yourself to Level 50 to be in better stead.

Another reason for this is that you can also obtain your Level 50 job armor, which will give your stats a much needed boost for this fight. We recommend undertaking your Level 50 Job quest, obtaining your Job armor, and then returning to face Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina.

Note that this is one of the first major difficulty spikes that new players will encounter in Final Fantasy 14. Be sure to check all of your armor, weapons and accessories are at the appropriate level. Rhitahtyn also deals a lot of Burn damage, so come equipped with anything to lessen that status effect.

Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina Phases

Phase 1

There are three phases to this particular fight. The first is relatively easy: Rhitahtyn will make use of a number of AoE attacks, however they're fairly easy to avoid if you're paying attention. Just keep damaging him as normal until he drops to 0% health. At this point, three Imperial Centurions and an Imperial Pilus Prior will join the fight which you'll need to take out to move the fight to the next phase. Stay vigilant, however, as Rhitahtyn will continue to fire some AoE attacks in front of him. 

Take out the three Imperial Centurions first, as they have the lowest health, then focus on the Imperial Pilus Prior. If you don't the three Centaurions will continue to damage you significantly, on top of the damage you'll be receiving from the Pilus Prior.

Phase 2

Now comes the difficulty spike. As part of his Phase 2, Rhitahtyn not only now has the ability to Stun you, but his Gales of Tartarus AoE attack now spans nearly the entire fight area around him making it nearly impossible to avoid. On top of that, he'll be firing more Magitek Missiles. The first line of AoE missiles will be accompanied by a second and third. Again, these are hard to avoid, but as long as you're not standing in an overlapped area you should be able to survive it.

Fortunately, there's a sequence to some of his attacks so you can anticipate what's coming and move accordingly. 

Tartarean Tomb: Now casts four flames instead of two. There's a space where the flames are furthest apart. Head to that edge. Rhitahtyn will cast the four flames, twice. One set after the other has cast AoE attacks. Once the second set has cast their AoE attacks, Rhitahtyn will cast his next ability.

Tartarean Shockwave: Often cast after Tartarean Tomb. This AoE is much larger than Tartarean Earthquake. You'll need to move fast to escape it. Be sure to have your Sprint on your hotbar.

Phase 3

If you've managed to survive Rhitahtyn's Phase 2, getting him down to 0% health once again, you'll enter a cutscene. After this, you'll enter into Phase 3, where things get a little dicey one more. He'll heal himself back up to 55% health, and this time he'll bind you in place.

Rhitahtyn will then begin blasting everything he's got at you in AoE attacks. As you might have guessed, you can't avoid any of them and you'll just have to take the hits. You'll also be taking continuous Burn damage. The only way to beat this Phase is to deal as much damge as fast as possible, getting Rhitahtyn back down to 0% health. This is the last stage of this fight, so don't hold anything back. 

The attack to look out for is Shrapnel Shell, where Rhitahtyn will repeatedly cast a cone AoE. Try to finish him before he casts it for a fourth time, after which it's very hard to survive. Make use of any damage increasing buffs and, if possible, any Burn damage mitigation to improve your chances of survival. Thankfully, Rhitahtyn takes far more damage in this Phase than before.