Brute Justice + Cruise Chaser

My preferred method of doing this phase is using my Tollgate strat that is very similar to MOOF’s strat that stacks both bosses in the middle.

The “Tollgate” name comes from the third Nisi pass, where the tanks and healers line up to take/pass Nisi. Someone mentioned that passing Nisi here felt like passing through a tollgate, and the name stuck.

The strat simplifies the Water/Lightning and Nisi passes, but at the cost of increased Tank damage. This phase is already one of the more healing-intensive fights, so be prepared.

Tanks should try to have minor cooldowns available for the Lightning passes.

At a basic level, the tanks will keep both bosses stacked in the center, with some healer movement.

The DPS make up much of the movement in this phase.
[Click to Expand] Water/Thunder and Nisi breakdown

This phase contains two "hot potato" loops that the party must handle simultaneously.

Loop 1: Water/Thunder:

These are two 30-second debuffs that are applied on two players when Brute Justice casts Link-up.

When the timer expires, the debuff explodes in a shared-damage AoE, centered on the affected player.

  • If the player with the debuff ever dies, the debuff explodes and wipe the raid.
  • After the explosion, the debuff transfers to a random player that was hit.
  • If the debuff cannot be passed to a new player this way (e.g: nobody else was hit), it explodes and wipes the raid.
  • The player that originally had the debuff gets an elemental resistance down debuff, so they cannot participate in two stacks of the same element in a row.

Compressed Water

  • Starts on a random healer.
  • The more players that are hit, the less damage each player takes.
  • At least three players should share the Water stack damage.
  • A waterspout will also spawn where the debuffed player was standing.
    • Players that move or stay too near this waterspout will be instantly killed.
    • The waterspout must either be frozen with Brute Justice's Ice, or destroyed with fire from Brute Justice's Flarethrower. Failing to do so will wipe the raid.

Compressed Lightning

  • Starts on a random DPS.
  • The more players that are hit, the more damage each player takes.
  • For this reason, we want exactly two players in each Thunder stack (the person with the Thunder debuff, and the person we want to pass it to.).

Loop 2: Nisi:

These are DoTs that are applied on either all the DPS, or all the tanks and healers when Brute Justice casts Judgment Nisi.

Final Decree Nisi αβγδ

  • If a player with Nisi touches a player without Nisi, the player without Nisi gains a fresh copy of the Nisi they just touched.
  • If two players with different coloured Nisis touch each other, they are instantly killed.

During the fight, Brute Justice will cast Verdict, which sets up for a checkpoint later in the phase when it casts Gavel.

When Verdict is cast, it applies the following additional debuffs on all players:

Final Judgment Decree Nisi αβγδ

  • Each Final Judgment Decree Nisi debuff goes onto two players- one tank/healer, and one DPS.
  • Each player must have the corresponding Nisi debuff on them when Gavel finishes its cast, or the raid wipes.

The party must essentially keep both debuff loops going, passing Water, Thunder, and all Nisis around until Brute Justice casts Gavel, which removes all the debuffs.

Movement

1. Initial positions.

  • MT: Take Cruise Chaser.
  • ST: Take Brute Justice.

(Note the MT and ST starting positions are swapped from the usual convention. The bosses each tank takes spawns on their respective starting side.)

Cruise Chaser will cast Whirlwind, while Brute Justice will cast Judgment Nisi which debuffs the party with Nisis, Compressed Water, and Compressed Lightning.

Stand as close as you can towards the center of the arena, without passing Nisi debuffs.

2. Two Chakrams will spawn directly opposite one another at any of the eight intercardinal directions and target a random party member's position.

Move towards the edge of the arena to dodge the Chakrams' path.

3. When the Chakrams go off, Cruise Chaser will cast Optical Sight, targeting large baited AoEs on all players current positions.

All players move back to the center.

The tanks will swap sides.

  • ST: Enter the inner circle first, but yield to allow the MT to pass.

4. Cruise Chaser will stop to cast Photon.

This is a shield check as Photon will bring all player's health down to 1HP. If there are no shields, the DoT from the Nisis will kill their players.

  • MT: Cross over to the west side. (Cruise Chaser will not follow, but you can spend a few GCDs on Brute Justice while waiting.)

5. The two tanks should use this time to try and center the bosses, particularly the ST that's holding Brute Justice.

(Use the arrowheads on the side of the boss's targeting circles to help)

The bosses don't really need to be centered N/S, but should be centered E/W.

After Photon is cast is the first Nisi pass.

  • MT, D1: Do not pass Nisi yet.
  • ST, D2: Pass Nisi with each other.
  • H1, D3: Pass Nisi with each other.
  • H2, D4: Pass Nisi with each other.

6. Cruise Chaser casts Spin Crusher.

  • MT: Dodge Spin Crusher and pass Nisi with D1.
  • H1, H2: The healer with Water goes to the first Water position (H1 in this example). The healer without Water can preposition to bait Fire and the Hidden Mine.
  • D1: Note D1 is never involved in the first Water stack.
  • D3: Be careful if you have the first Thunder as your path may cross D2's path to the Water stack.

7. First Water/Thunder pass.

  • Water: Healer + at least two of D2, D3, D4 (excluding whoever had Thunder)
  • Thunder: DPS → ST
  • D1: You may need to avoid the Thunder explosion by moving towards the MT.
Tip: If tanks pop Rampart just before the first Water/Thunder, it will mitigate the Thunder, autoattacks from Cruise Chaser/Brute Justice, the upcoming Hidden Mine if the tanks are quick, and be back up in time for Double Rocket Punch at the end of the phase.

8. After Water resolves, Healers and DPS move to prepare for Hidden Mines and Enumeration.

  • D2: Move under the bosses, between the two tanks.
  • D3: Move behind the MT
  • D4: Move behind the ST.

All DPS should stay within the sector marked by the green dotted line:

  • This prevents the DPS baiting the Hidden Mines by accident.
  • This prevents the DPS from getting hit by the Hidden Mines when they explode later.

9. This is the most involved step for everybody in this phase.

Tanks: One tank (at random) will be chosen to resolve Ice.

  • If a player gets too close to the water tornado, the tornado will tether to the player, knocking them back and dealing very high damage (one-shotting them).
  • The Ice puddle should be dropped so that it just misses the Water tornado (see image). The Ice puddle will then expand once and freeze the tornado.

Healers: Bait Fire puddles and Hidden Mines before joining the Enumeration groups.

  • H1: Always west Enumeration.
  • H2: Always east Enumeration.

DPS: Resolve Enumeration with the Healers.

If either side has both Enumerations (or equivalently, no Enumerations), D1 and D2 swap sides.

  • D1: West Enumeration unless a swap is needed.
  • D2: East Enumeration unless a swap is needed.
  • D3: Always west Enumeration.
  • D4: Always east Enumeration.

All non-tanks should stay inside the sector marked by the green dotted line (note it has expanded since the Hidden Mines have been baited).

10. After resolving Ice (if applicable), tanks wait for the Hidden Mine to drop first, before taking the Hidden Mine on their side. This is a heavy AoE tankbuster.

Healers and DPS should stay inside the sector marked by the green dotted line to avoid getting clipped by the Hidden Mine's AoE.

11. Second Nisi pass.

Melee + Tanks be careful as the Ice will expand.

  • MT, ST: Pass Nisi with the nearest melee on your side (they may have swapped sides)
  • D1, D2: Pass Nisi with the nearest tank on your side (you may have swapped sides)
  • H1, D3: Pass Nisi with each other.
  • H2, D4: Pass Nisi with each other.

12. Second Water + Lightning pass.

  • Water: All DPS
  • Thunder: ST → MT
  • MT: Face Cruise Chaser west after receiving Thunder to prepare for the Plasma Shield.

Keep in mind that Cruise Chaser will autoattack the MT after this Lightning pass.

Brute Justice casts Verdict, which gives all players their Final Judgment Decree Nisi debuffs which determines the next two Nisi passes.

13. Cruise Chaser casts Limit Cut, which will spawn a Plasma Shield in front of Cruise Chaser.

Meanwhile, Brute Justice will prepare Flarethrower, which we will use to destroy the waterspout left behind by the 2nd Water.

  • MT: Face Cruise Chaser west until Cruise Chaser starts casting Limit Cut (which will spawn the Plasma Shield).
  • ST: Stay close to Brute Justice and point Brute Justice south to hit the waterspout with Flarethrower.
  • DPS: Destroy the Plasma Shield. The Plasma Shield can only be damaged from the front.

Tanks and Healers line up to form the "tollgate" while the DPS destroys the Plasma Shield.

14. Third Nisi pass.

After the Plasma Shield is destroyed, the DPS pass through this "tollgate" to pass Nisi with the appropriate tank/healer before gathering in the south-east corner for the third Water pass.

  • The DPS that was the second Water passes Nisi to their partner, but does not cross the tollgate, returning west instead.

15. Third Water + Lightning pass.

  • Water: All DPS (except 2nd Water) + H2
  • Thunder: MT → H1

16. Fourth Nisi pass.

Tank and healer positions are fixed (MT > H1 > ST > H2). DPS pass with the appropriate tank or healer.

  • MT: Pull Cruise Chaser to the east of the Ice block.

17. Cruise Chaser casts Propeller Wind.

Players must use the frozen Ice to block line-of-sight to Cruise Chaser, or they will become confused and run around uncontrollably.

  • MT: Join the Nisi lineup.

18. Cruise Chaser casts Photon, bringing both tanks down to 1HP.

Brute Justice then prepares Double Rocket Punch, a two-man shared tankbuster.

  • D3: Bait Brute Justice's Super Jump south.

19. Brute Justice targets the furthest player and casts Apocalyptic Ray.

After this, Cruise Chaser casts two Whirlwinds (one after the other) before both bosses start casting their enrage. If one boss dies, the other starts casting their enrage.

Passing Nisi (after Verdict)

Here are some examples on passing Nisis during the third pass.

At this time, either all the tanks and healers have Nisi (who the DPS need to collect the appropriate Nisis from), or the DPS have all the Nisis (which they need to pass to the appropriate tank or healer).

Example 1: Tanks/Healers have Nisi.

Third pass:

  • DNC collects orange Nisi from WHM.
  • SAM collects purple Nisi from WAR.
  • RPR collects green Nisi from SGE.
  • SMN collects blue Nisi from DRK.

Fourth pass:

  • DNC passes orange Nisi to SGE.
  • SAM passes purple Nisi to WAR.
  • RPR passes green Nisi to DRK.
  • SMN passes blue Nisi to WHM.

Example 2: Tanks/Healers have Nisi.

Third pass:

  • NIN collects orange Nisi from SGE.
  • RPR collects green Nisi from PLD.
  • MCH collects purple Nisi from WHM.
  • RDM collects blue Nisi from DRK.

Fourth pass:

  • NIN passes orange Nisi to DRK.
  • RPR passes green Nisi to WHM.
  • MCH passes purple Nisi to SGE.
  • RDM passes blue Nisi to PLD.

Example 3: DPS have Nisi.

Third pass:

  • RDM passes blue Nisi to WHM.
  • MNK passes purple Nisi to PLD.
  • RPR passes green Nisi to DRK.
  • MCH passes orange Nisi to SGE.

Fourth pass:

  • RDM collects green Nisi from DRK.
  • MNK collects blue Nisi from WHM.
  • RPR collects purple Nisi from PLD.
  • MCH collects orange Nisi from SGE.

Example 4: DPS have Nisi.

Third pass:

  • RDM passes orange Nisi to PLD.
  • MNK passes purple Nisi to WHM.
  • RPR passes blue Nisi to DRK.
  • MCH passes green Nisi to SGE.

Fourth pass:

  • RDM collects orange Nisi from PLD.
  • MNK collects purple Nisi from WHM.
  • RPR collects blue Nisi from DRK.
  • MCH collects green Nisi from SGE.

Frequently Asked Questions

[Tank swap] Why don't we do a Provoke swap instead of having the two tanks cross each other (especially with Nisi)?

Two reasons:

  1. If a tank happens to die in Limit Cut and gets raised at the start of BJCC, their first instinct is to Provoke whichever boss they're supposed to hold. Now that Provoke is on cooldown, it cannot be used to swap the bosses after Chakrams go off.
  2. Cruise Chaser stops to cast Photon. If you swap bosses using Provoke, the tank that Provokes Brute Justice can only attack Cruise Chaser, and either has to hold damage, potentially steal hate back, or resort to stance dancing tricks that is more trouble than it is worth.
[Hidden Mines] Why doesn't D3 bait the west Hidden Mine instead of H1?

The objective is to have both Enumeration targets visible and in close proximity to one another.

Suppose D3 and H2 baited the Hidden Mines instead and D2 and D3 were targeted for Enumeration.

D2 only sees the Enumeration on D2, but now has to look at D3 to determine whether they need to switch positions with D1, with two giant robots in the center blocking the view.
[Hidden Mines] Why don't we bait the Hidden Mines towards the outer edge of the arena? Doesn't that put the healers further away from Brute Justice so a ranged DPS doesn't bait a Hidden Mine by mistake?

The idea is to keep both bosses in the center. In particular, if the West mine is baited towards the edge, the MT has to pull Cruise Chaser closer to the edge in order to take the Hidden Mine, and doesn't leave much space for the DPS to fit in for the Plasma Shield.

Of course, you could have the MT and ST switch sides again to recenter the bosses, but that violates a different principle which is to try and keep the tanks and healers to their half of the arena as much as possible.
[Plasma Shield] Why are all four DPS on the Plasma Shield? Isn't that overkill?

Yes, it's overkill.

You really only need three DPS to destroy the Plasma Shield in time, but this is a single point of failure and having all four DPS on the shield is insurance against someone targeting the wrong thing by accident, or one of the DPS angled too far from the shield's front so they don't do any damage.
[Gavel] What happens if you kill Brute Justice before Gavel?

Alas, this is not feasible- if Brute Justice dies before Gavel resolves, he does an instantcast Final Sentence on the way out, killing everybody even if the debuffs from Verdict have not yet been assigned.

Troubleshooting

[Crashing Thunder] Why did this deal more damage than usual?

Water and Thunder work differently.

While Crashing Wave works like any other stack damage (damage is lowered as more people are hit by Crashing Wave), Thunder is the opposite; damage increases as more people are hit by Crashing Thunder.

This is why we want the Thunder stacks to contain exactly two players.
[Compressed Water] What is "Severe Contamination"?

This is the pulsing raid-wide damage that you get if the waterspout left behind from Compressed Water is not frozen or destroyed by Flarethrower.
[Hidden Mines] What went wrong with the Hidden Mine baits? Why was a mine baited on the DPS instead of a healer?

The Hidden Mines are baited by the two furthest players from Brute Justice, which should be the healers.

If a DPS ended up baiting the Hidden Mine, it is likely because:

  • A DPS was outside the green sector marked in Step 7 above or
  • The ST did not position Brute Justice in the center of the arena.
[Plasma Shield] How did the MT get one-shot?

Cruise Chaser gains a damage-up buff if the Plasma Shield is not destroyed in time, and its auto-attack will one-shot the MT.

Even if the MT survives this, the follow-up Whirlwind (before third Water) will wipe the party.

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Final Fantasy XIV Elemental DC Raid Macros