The Gulool Ja Ja battle in the Dawntrail MSQ is exceptionally difficult and comes out of nowhere. If you’re struggling as much as I did, let me share a few tips and explain how to beat Gulool Ja Ja in FFXIV Dawntrail.
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How to defeat the Dawnservant FFXIV Dawntrail MSQ
As I mentioned earlier, this battle with Gulool Ja Ja is surprisingly tricky. The fight is unique as it’s a 1V1 brawl, and there’s no way to call for help. I’ll explain the encounter in detail, but if you can’t beat the boss, the most impactful change you can make is turning the difficulty down.
If you lose against Gulool Ja Ja, you can start the battle again with Easy or Very Easy settings. I don’t know the exact numbers, but you take less damage on lower difficulties. Another broad tip I can give is to take your time. Gulool Ja Ja has a colossal health pool, and sticking your neck out for a little extra damage is rarely worth it.
Even if you turn the difficulty down, the boss is no cakewalk, so here’s a step-by-step guide to the encounter:
Keep your Distance
While this is another general tip, fights play out pretty differently when you don’t have the typical team formation to fall back on. It may be best to keep your distance from the Dawnservant, depending on your job. As a Machinist (ranged DPS), I couldn’t stand toe-to-toe with the boss for long.
If you’re having graphical issues in this battle, you may want to tweak your settings, as smooth performance can make all the difference.
Fancy Bladework
The Dawnservant will usually open the battle with Fancy Bladework, a Raid-Wide attack that will hit you regardless of where you are. You must rely on your own healing abilities in this fight, so patch yourself up if necessary. Second Wind and Max Potions are great ways to do so.
Dual Blows
It may sound counterintuitive, but get close to the boss when you see the Dual Blows cast bar. Dual Blows strike a massive area in front of the Dawnservant and then behind. Timing is strict, but you have a better chance of moving to safety if you have less distance to travel.
Steeled Strike
Steeled Strike draws lightning-like beams on the ground, which explode and deal damage. Fortunately, this ability is well-telegraphed. You have plenty of time to escape the beams and avoid the attack.
Coiled Strike
The Coiled Strike attack gave me a lot of problems during my first fight with the Dawnservant. As you can see in the image above, Coiled Strike swipes two massive areas on the map. I kept getting slapped by this attack until I figured out how to read the prompts.
Just before each swing of Coiled Strike, you can see a bright blade icon on the ground with darker ones in front of it (pictured above). The indicator shows where the attack will start, so if you stand just behind the blade as I am, the Coiled Strike will miss you every time.
Burning Sun
Burning Sun is an intimidating attack that really hurts if it clips you. During the charge, you’ll see several large AOE markers appear and disappear around the arena.
You must memorize the locations, as Burning Sun will hit all of them when the charge bar fills up. This ability has a lot of visual clutter, so don’t worry if it takes a few tries to figure out.
Brawl Ender
The Dawnservant likes to pair Burning Suns with Brawl Ender. While Brawl Ender is charging, you’ll see a row of arrows on your character that face whatever direction you go. When the charge ends, you’ll be thrown in the direction of those arrows.
As the Burning Sun ability is still in play, ensure you won’t be flung into any lingering fire.
Doubling
Gulool Ja Ja can summon fiery doppelgangers to aid him during the battle. These allies will stand at the arena’s edges and cast a large fire AOE in front of them (pictured above). The problem is that the Dawnservant can still attack normally, so you may have to avoid multiple abilities simultaneously.
It might not be easy, but try to stay out of the way of the allies until they leave. Doubling can also spawn a single, large doppelganger in the arena, which you must avoid.
The Thrill
The Thrill has a short cast bar, so you must act quickly. A tower will appear in the arena (pictured above), and you must run to it to avoid damage.
Be ready to move after the attack lands, as the Dawnservant can strike you if he gets close.
Mash!
When you’ve got the boss on the ropes, he’ll lunge at you, and a prompt to “rapidly press buttons” will appear. This is easy on a keyboard as you can just mash the keyboard, but keep spamming buttons for a few seconds, and you’ll beat the boss.
Gulool Ja Ja is no joke, so try not to get frustrated if you can’t beat him right away.
Can I repeat the Dawnservant battle in FFXIV Dawntrail?
It feels great to beat the boss when you’ve finally memorized his attacks. If you want to take him on again, you can’t do so immediately, although you can after beating the Dawntrail campaign.
Once you beat any of the FFXIV campaigns, you unlock New Game Plus so you can tackle them again. There are no rewards associated with repeat clears, but if you want to style on the Dawnservant again, this is how to do it.
You’ve got a challenging Dungeon to tackle in an upcoming Main Story Quest, so expect more combat from this point forward.
