FFXIV: Alexander Raid – The Cuff of the Father Guide

If you’ve done Binding Coil of Bahamut, be prepared to feel a sense of déjà vu. Like the first floor, you must have an item level of 170 or higher to enter. To access the Cuff of the Father you must accept the quest titled Steel and Scream which appears after you complete ‘Disarmed.’

There are a few sets of trash mobs that, while easy to deal with, they do hit hard so tanks, make sure to manage those cool downs so you don’t end up in itty bitty tank pieces. Gobwalkers should be focused down first as they inflict a Vulnerability debuff. Too many and it’s lights out.

One you get to the end of the arena, you will encounter the main battle of the floor.

Like Turn 4 in the Binding Coil, this is a gauntlet type encounter. There are several waves of enemies to defeat before you can claim victory. The next wave will either spawn after a set time or if you’ve defeated all enemies in that particular wave. It’s better to have enemies spawn after defeating the first set as you’ll be going into the next wave with more control and less scrambling around trying to survive.

The enemies you will encounter in this fight are;
Gordian Soldiers
Gordian Snipers
Gordian Hardhelm
Gordian Hardmind
Jagd Doll
Boomtype Magitek Gobwalker G-VII
Magitek Gobwidow G-IX
Bombs(which aren’t worth attacking as a DPS)

When bombs appear, hop in the Magitek Gobwalker G-VII suit(word of warning, do not get out or that suit is lost for the remainder of the fight) and use it to pull the bomb away from the rest of the party. Best thing to do is half the party on one half of the arena, leaving the other half free for the bomb to be dragged over, exploding safely. If you’re caught in the radius, you will end up with a fire resistance down debuff.

There are two other skills that the suit allows you do to – damaging the enemy and putting a vulnerability debuff on the enemy. All skills will drain the energy so be sparingly and don’t go overboard. Remember, the main job for these guys is dragging the bombs away. You can recharge the energy using the ‘Recharge’ ability. It zaps a target of their electrical charge but only on enemies below 15% health.

A small and rather funny note I found. You can use the machine to grab and drag enemies around. Good for pulling enemies that are hounding the healers.

The priority order, upon spawning, should always be Boomtype Magitek Gobwalker and then Jagd Doll. Boomtypes inflict vulnerability up debuff while Jagd Doll hits extremely hard. Hardhelms inflicts a reduced healing potency debuff as well as applies physical vulnerability down buff to all his buddies in range. Hardminds also inflicts reduced healing debuff and applies magic vulnerability down buff to all his buddies in range.

So the kill priority ends up being: Boomtype Magitek Gobwalker, Jagd Doll, Gordian Hardhelm, Gordian Hardmind, Gordian Soldiers, Gordian Snipers and finally, the Magitek Godwidow. This ensures taking out the more damaging enemies first.

The Waves
– 2x Gordian Soldiers
– 2x Gordian Soldiers, 1x Gordian Sniper, 1x Gordian Hardhelm
– 2x Gordian Soldiers, 1x Jadg Doll, 1x Gordian Hardmind
– 1x Gordian Hardmind, 1x Jagd Doll, 2x Gordian Soldiers
– 4x Gordian Soldiers, 1 Boomtype Magitek Gobwalker G-VII
– 2x Magitek Gobwidow G-IX
– 1x Jagd Doll, 2x Gordian Soldiers, 1x Gordian Hardmind, 1x Gordian Hardhelm
– 4x Gordian Soldiers, 1x Boomtype Magitek Gobwalker G-VII
– 1x Magitek Gobwidow G-IX, 1x Jagd Doll, 1x Boomtype Magitek Gobwalker G-VII, 2x Gordian Soldiers
– 2x Jagd Doll, 1x Magitek Gobwidow G-IX, 1x Gordian Hardhelm

Once you’ve defeated the final enemy in the final wave, that sweet sweet victory will be yours. Congratulations on your clear, and now you can go unlock the next floor, The Arm of the Father.