Final Fantasy XIV Marker Mechanics Guide

Final Fantasy XIV uses a lot of visual effects for mechanics. As the expansions have been released, they’ve been attempting to standardize and make important mechanics more obvious.

In my Final Fantasy XIV Mechanics Guides, I outline most of the mechanics that are repeated at least a few times. There are tips on how to handle them, if applicable, and examples of where you’ll see them. There are no examples listed of some types because they occur with enormous frequency. I include boss names, but any boss encounters with MSQ spoilers are grayed out and can be revealed by clicking on them.

There is overlap in the various types of mechanics but I've sorted them how I believe most players will come to identify and understand them. This guide is dedicated to markers that give players an overhead icon. These indicate the player is being targeted by a mechanic.

Target Markers

Generic overhead markers are often placed on one or more players. They come in many varieties and colors and have several meanings depending on the fight. Sometimes the marker will be accompanied by a PBAoE circle; again this can indicate a few things. Here are some possibilities with or without a PBAoE:

• You’ll be hit for unavoidable damage.
• You’ll drop an AoE at your feet that will turn into a standard, fancy, or proximity AoE.
• You’ll leave behind a field that lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or longer.
• Your AoE might help resolve a different mechanic or even mark up a safe space for an upcoming mechanic.

The first three options are the most likely, so when in doubt, move away from the boss and other players and toward the outside of the arena. Do not assume that your ability to continue to attack, perform positionals, or remain in a friendly area (, , etc.) is more important than the lives of your teammates. It is not and you are not that special. Never take these AoEs to places that are essential for other mechanics happening concurrently or later in the fight, lest you cause those to fail or eliminate some or all safe spaces to stand.

Chasing AoEs

Sometimes an AoE targeting you will chase you for several seconds or a specific number of hits after a short delay. Start running continuously as soon as you see the overhead marker. Otherwise, you’ll be hit by one or more AoEs and potentially enough to lead to death. 

Unfortunately, there is generally no way to set these apart from regular target markers, so you’ll have to remember on a case-by-case basis. Although these do occasionally occur in dungeons or trials, they are infamous in alliance raids where you can screw over the highest number of players by dragging your AoEs over them.

Examples:

• World of Darkness, Cloud of Darkness
• Oppressor, Alexander – The Fist of the Father (A1N+S)
• Bardam, Bardam’s Mettle
• The Orbonne Monastery, The Thunder God

Numbered

Sometimes icons will appear over players’ heads with a specific number of symbols. The symbols may vary, but this usually means players will be targeted by a mechanic in numbered order, often the boss pouncing on or dashing to them. 

Targeted players should spread out, both away from their targeted counterparts and untargeted players to avoid unnecessary damage. Untargeted players should try to avoid being between subsequent numbers in case the boss does damage on the way to the next player in the sequence.

Examples:

• Thok ast Thok, Ravana
• The Singularity Reactor and The Minstrel’s Ballad: Thordan’s Reign, King Thordan
• Holminster Switch, Tesleen, the Forgiven
• The Puppets’ Bunker, The Compound

Earthshaker

An Earthshaker marker looks like a fairly standard yellow-orange targeting marker with a green glow in its center. It’s surrounded by a blue circle, with blue plasma-like lines connecting the two. This means the boss is about to aim a line or cone AoE in your direction. Sometimes the attack will be instant and sometimes the boss will place a standard orange AoE tell where you are.

Go to the outside of the arena with this marker. If there are two or more Earthshakers and the attack goes off instantly, separate to opposite sides. If it drops an AoE tell, feel free to stack with other players who have it if possible so the indicators will overlap and then run away as soon as the ground-targeted AoE is placed.

Examples:

• Containment Bay S1T7, Sephirot
• Alphascape V2.0 (O10N+S), Midgardsormr
• Dun Scaith, Diabolos Hollow
• The Puppets’ Bunker, 905P-operated Heavy Artillery Unit

Flare

The Flare marker is a pulsing white crosshairs icon surrounded by a black circle with three large blue and white arrows pointing away from the player. This is essentially a player-targeted proximity AoE. 

Run far, far away from your fellow players if you have this marker. If there is limited room to maneuver, run as far away as possible without endangering yourself or others. If there is more than one Flare marker, other players have more responsibility to place themselves between them, since the marked players need to avoid each other as well.

Examples:

• Alexander – The Heart of the Creator (A11N+S), The Cruise Chaser
• The Jade Stoa, Byakko
• Alphascape V1.0 (O9N+S), Chaos
• The Cloud Deck, Diamond Weapon

Prey 

The Prey marker is usually a red or orange targeting reticle of some sort, that is, a large circle with a smaller one inside of it. Sometimes there’s a target dot, sometimes there’s a crosshairs-like icon as well. Like its appearance, its meaning is similarly varied:

• You can ‘pass the Prey’ by coming into contact with another player or transferring a tether. Either stand still so a friend can help you out or move to a specific place in the arena.
• The boss is about to do a lot of unavoidable damage to you, possibly in a single hit, or maybe in many smaller packets. In this case, it’s Square’s way of signaling to your healer (or you, if you are the healer, congrats!) that you need to be at full health and/or have some barrier or damage reduction.
• It’s this encounter’s version of a regular target marker, but more intense. Like it hates you in particular today.

Examples:

• The Dusk Vigil, Towering Oliphant
• The Lost City of Amdapor, Arioch and Diabolos
• Thok ast Thok, Ravana
• Alexander – The Heart of the Creator (A11N+S), The Cruise Chaser

Acceleration Bomb

Acceleration Bomb will first put a teal icon with a pink dot in it on your debuff bar, as well as a series of several purple dots spinning around your character. When the countdown reaches three seconds, you’ll see a blue square over your head with three dots inside of it. The square will count down to two dots, and then one, turning red simultaneously. Acceleration Bomb is also called dice for this reason.

When the debuff expires, if you are moving, auto-attacking, or using a skill, you will take heavy damage and/or a debuff. To prevent this, make sure you are in a safe space and either de-target the boss or stow your weapon to stop attacking. Sit on your hands momentarily if you have to, but do not do anything when the bomb is close to detonating.

Examples:

• The Weeping City of Mhach, Ozma
• Deltascape V4.0 (Savage) (O4S), Exdeath
• The Orbonne Monastery, Ultima, The High Seraph
• The Dalriada, The Diablo Armament

Polarity

Magnets, how do they work? For this mechanic, the boss will mark players, itself, or objects with + or – icons. Sometimes you’ll also be double-tethered to an object with rotating red and blue or green strands. 

As with magnets, opposites attract and like poles repel, so if your symbol is the opposite of something, you’ll be pulled toward it, and if it’s the same, you’ll be pushed away. If you’re tethered, that indicates what the push/pull interacts with or occurs from. This attack is usually combined with point-blank and/or donut AoEs. The goal is to have your character pushed or pulled into the center of a donut or outside all of the AoEs if they overlap.

Examples:

• The Great Gubal Library (Hard), Liquid Flame
• Alexander – The Arm of the Father (A3N+S), Living Liquid
• The Ridorana Lighthouse, Yiazmat and Construct 7
• Castrum Marinum, Emerald Weapon