With dozens of FFXIV dungeons to complete as you make your way through the critically acclaimed MMORPG (and its award-winning expansions), it can be a little tricky to keep track of every single mechanic. Thankfully, most dungeon mechanics in Final Fantasy 14 are pretty generous, and won’t punish you too hard for failing once. One early A Realm Reborn dungeon, however, is still killing both new and old players frequently – but the good news is that, if you happen to fall foul of it, it might actually be because you’re playing too well.
Haukke Manor is the sixth dungeon you’ll encounter in FFXIV: A Realm Reborn. It’s often considered the first point dungeons start to pick up a little bit, with the introduction of a few simple but important mechanics to keep track of. It also boasts a very cool haunted house setting that sees you tracking down and putting a stop to its owner, Lady Amandine, who has been up to all manner of nefarious deeds in a vain attempt to preserve her beauty.
Where players are getting caught out, however, is in the level 50 revisit to her mysterious mansion. Haukke Manor (Hard) can be accessed after beating the base story progression of A Realm Reborn, and demands you put a stop to Halicarnassus, the demon who Lady Amandine put a stop to. This fight isn’t especially difficult for the most part, especially in its modern-day incarnation.
Unfortunately, many groups find themselves nearing completion only to suddenly wipe as everyone’s health is obliterated in an instant. The game doesn’t make it too clear at first exactly why this has happened, but it’s actually almost always a function of your team doing too much damage, too quickly, something that’s very easily done in the dungeon’s modern incarnation with how quickly early players can gear up.
Throughout the fight, Halicarnassus spawns various additional enemies, culminating in Lady Amandine herself. At certain health thresholds, she will absorb one of her companions to cast a spell called Blood Rain, which deals damage based on the health the absorbed enemy had left. This means that if you’re damaging her too quickly, Halicarnassus will actually spawn Lady Amandine and near-instantly absorb her, which spells almost-certain death for your party.
Haukke Manor (Hard) isn’t an essential dungeon, but it’s one that pops up from time to time on roulettes – and, personally, it’s still one of my favourites from an aesthetic standpoint. However, it’s one weird mechanic that can often catch players off-guard, and it’s still a problem today despite the recent Endwalker reworks to old ARR dungeons.
Usually, success takes a knowledgeable player explaining in chat that everyone should hold back on the damage and let the additional mobs spawn, so players can safely take them out one by one, before continuing to attack Halicarnassus. Alternatively, if you have it, a well-timed Tank limit break might be enough to save you from doom in a pinch – but, as a recent post to the FFXIV Reddit shows, your healer will still have to be fast about topping everyone’s health back up afterwards.
If you want a bit more fun backstory on Haukke Manor, did you know it was actually misnamed in English? The original Japanese name, “Hauketa Goyoutei,” should translate to “Hauketa Manor,” but Square Enix’s Michael-Christopher Koji Fox explains to producer Naoki Yoshida during a live panel that this was mistranslated during development, and no-one noticed it because the team was so busy in the run-up to the game’s fabled relaunch. Whoops!
Still, at least now you can explore it without dying. While you’re waiting for your duty roulette queue to pop, check out everything shown about FFXIV patch 6.4 in Live Letter 76, or find out how to survive FFXIV deep dungeon Eureka Orthos and manage your FFXIV Island Sanctuary into a flourishing getaway paradise.