AAC Light-heavyweight M2 (Savage)

Game8.jp has gone along with Nukemaru’s strat.

(English subtitled)

English

■ Basic Spreads
　D3 MT D4　 　D3 D4 　　MT/D3　ST/D4
　H1 ☆ H2 　 　 MT ST 　 　 H1/D1　D2/H2
　D1 ST D2 　 　 D1 D2
　　 　 　 　 　 　H1 H2
■ Honey B. Live: 1st Beat
　Melee：Get 2♡　Ranged：Get 3♡　2♡：Stack
■ Honey B. Live: 2nd Beat
　0♡：Mid → N → Stacks: TH West, DPS East
　1♡：S → No-AoE take tower: TH N/W, DPS S/E
■ Alarm Pheromones 2　　TH：NW, DPS：SE
■ Honey B. Live: 3rd Beat
　AoEs → intercard　Towers → use pair positions
■ Rotten Heart (Clock positions)
　Raid-wide → Heal → Shortest debuff pair mid

Japanese

■基本散開
D3 MT D4　 　D3 D4 　 　MT/D3 　ST/D4
H1 ☆ H2 　 　 MT ST 　 　 H1/D1 　 D2/H2
D1 ST D2 　 　 D1 D2
　 　 　 　 　 　H1 H2
■1stライヴ
近接：♡2（頭割り処理）　遠隔：♡3
■2ndライヴ
♡0：中心→北→TH西、DPS東で頭割り
♡1：南待機→AOE対象者は捨てる 塔:TH 北/西 DPS南/東
■毒捨て　TH：北西、DPS：南東
■3ndライヴ
デバフ捨て、塔踏みはペア割基準
■ブラックハート
8方向散開　HPが戻り次第、早いペア順に中央集合

Markers

There are a couple different markers you can use.

Nukemaru’s markers

These are the markers used on Nukemaru’s video. You may sometimes see the 1234 markers rotated such that 1 is on the North-West.

The ABCD markers are just for orientation.
The 1234 markers mark the boundary for the boss’s line AoEs (markers are safe).

XIVLauncher WaymarkPresetPlugin positions

{
  "Name":"M2S (Nukemaru)",
  "MapID":988,
  "A":{"X":100.0,"Y":0.0,"Z":86.0,"ID":0,"Active":true},
  "B":{"X":114.0,"Y":0.0,"Z":100.0,"ID":1,"Active":true},
  "C":{"X":100.0,"Y":0.0,"Z":114.0,"ID":2,"Active":true},
  "D":{"X":86.0,"Y":0.0,"Z":100.0,"ID":3,"Active":true},
  "One":{"X":108.625,"Y":0.0,"Z":91.375,"ID":5,"Active":true},
  "Two":{"X":108.625,"Y":0.0,"Z":108.625,"ID":6,"Active":true},
  "Three":{"X":91.375,"Y":0.0,"Z":108.625,"ID":7,"Active":true},
  "Four":{"X":91.375,"Y":0.0,"Z":91.375,"ID":4,"Active":true}
}

Box markers

I personally prefer these markers. In addition to the points in the markers above:

The ABCD markers are in melee range of the boss while still dodging Honey Beeline and the point-blank AoE in Centerstage/Outerstage Combo.

XIVLauncher WaymarkPresetPlugin positions

{
  "Name":"M2S (Box)",
  "MapID":988,
  "A":{"X":100.0,"Y":0.0,"Z":91.375,"ID":0,"Active":true},
  "B":{"X":108.625,"Y":0.0,"Z":100.0,"ID":1,"Active":true},
  "C":{"X":100.0,"Y":0.0,"Z":108.625,"ID":2,"Active":true},
  "D":{"X":91.375,"Y":0.0,"Z":100.0,"ID":3,"Active":true},
  "One":{"X":91.375,"Y":0.0,"Z":91.375,"ID":7,"Active":true},
  "Two":{"X":108.625,"Y":0.0,"Z":91.375,"ID":4,"Active":true},
  "Three":{"X":108.625,"Y":0.0,"Z":108.625,"ID":5,"Active":true},
  "Four":{"X":91.375,"Y":0.0,"Z":108.625,"ID":6,"Active":true}
}

Timeline

(Full size image, Credit: u/ExiaKuromonji)

Frequently Asked Questions

[Damage Down] How strong is the damage down debuff in this fight?

The Damage Down debuff in this encounter lowers a player's damage by 26% for 30 seconds.

[Honey B. Live: 1st Beat] Is a ranged player supposed to end up with two hearts?

Yes- assuming nobody takes an extra heart, there should be five players with two hearts, not four. The party actually has a one-heart margin of error.

If you look closely, that's also why there's a subtle difference between the English and Japanese macros:

The Japanese macro says "all melee get two hearts, and stack together."
The English macro says "all melee get two hearts, then all players with two hearts stack together."

This is important, because the stack targets a random player with the fewest hearts (which could be a ranged), but it's also good practice to associate "stacking together" with "having two hearts", instead of "being melee".

That means if anyone accidentally messes up and takes one extra heart, everything still works out because the remaining four players with two hearts can share the stack.

[Heartsick (stacks)] How are hearts distributed?

All stacks distribute a total of 4 hearts to players in the stack. Who gets the hearts seem to be decided by:

Pick a maximum of four players at random in the stack (pick everybody if the stack has less than 5 players).
Sort these players from lowest to highest number of hearts.
Give a heart to those players in that order (looping if needed) until there are no more hearts left to distribute.

As a result:

If there is only one player in the stack, that player gets four hearts.
If there are two players in the stack, each get two hearts.
If there are three players in the stack, each get a heart, and the extra heart goes to one of the players with the fewest hearts.
If there are four players in the stack, each gets a heart.
If there are five or more players in the stack, four of them at random get a heart.

[Rotten Heart] What's the latest you can trigger the debuffs before the raid-wide?

The latest you can trigger the α and β debuffs and have the Magic Vulnerability Up wear off before Call Me Honey is when there is 3 seconds left on the debuff.