FFXIV HW Patch 3.1 just went live! Here we got all the information you need to be successful and confident in the Pharos Sirius (Hard Mode)!

Pharos Sirius is an end-game dungeon that players use to farm Tomestones of Mythology; you earn 50 for completing it. You will also get 100 Tomestones of Philosophy for your efforts. The dungeon becomes accessible upon completion of the main scenario quest Sirius Business.

Pharos Sirius is unpopular with the playerbase because it is perceived as more difficult than Haukke Manor Hard and Copperbell Mines Hard but what a lot of people don't realise is that being over-geared for the dungeon can make it harder. This is because you end up pushing the phases too quickly on boss fights and it can be overwhelming. Below is a detailed boss guide for each of the four bosses within the dungeon. Between bosses is straightforward clearing trash monsters.

Symond the Unsinkable
This boss will spawn a lot of adds, and he will spawn them faster if you deal high damage to the boss. In other words slow down, otherwise you can end up with four adds and this can turn sour quickly. You should be aiming to keep to two adds maximum.

One other thing to be aware of with the adds is that they will place a debuff stack on targets near it using an attack called Corrupting Spit. This means adds should not be near each other. When a player reaches three stacks the debuff will explode and deal high damage to anyone nearby so keep watch of how many stacks each player has and do not let any of them reach three. This is achieved by taking turns at who is holding the add.

The boss will also place two large circles on the ground that will eventually divide the room in half. You should avoid stepping on to these circles as these will also give you a debuff for touching them. It is also a good idea to avoid having the group split between the two safe spots.

The boss should be tanked against the wall as he has an AoE knockback effect that you do not want to be hitting other people. The wall will prevent the tank from getting knocked back.

Zu
In the arena with Zu you will see eggs dotted around the edge. These should be ignored at the start of the fight, but after some time they will come into play. When the message "The egg is threatening to hatch" appears you will see two eggs glow purple. Kill one of the eggs and kill any the add thet spawns from the other. The reason you do not kill the other egg is that it will enrage the boss and potentially cause the party to wipe due to the highly damaging AoE attacks it will start using. The adds themselves are pretty weak, not something the tank needs to worry about as they will die fast.

Around half way into the fight Zu will fly up into the air and place some ground AoEs on the floor. These need to be avoided while you take care of any remaining adds that are around. Zu cannot be targeted while she is in the air.

Tyrant
Tyrant is the easiest boss in the dungeon and it will die very quickly. The tank should face the boss away from the group and pick up the adds that spawn. Since the boss has low HP you can burn down the boss while ignoring the adds, or you can use AoE attacks to hit the boss and the adds at the same time.

Siren
Siren can be a tricky fight due to the mechanics in play and it will cause many a party to wipe if they do not understand how these work. The fight is most difficult for healers because some of the mechanics will test their skills more than the rest of the group.

Adds will also spawn throughout the fight and will need a priority kill order. You should kill Zombie Storm Sergeants followed by Zombie Storm Pirates. The Sergeants are more dangerous because they will crawl towards a target and stun them if they reach their target. The Pirates do not do this so they are less of a threat.

Be aware of the mechanic Siren's Song. This will place a debuff on a party member at random and they must be healed to full health within 12 seconds otherwise they will become charmed for a period of time. The healer needs to be on watch for this and ready to top up any players' health. The tank should save their defensive cooldowns for the scenario where a healer gets charmed.

Another mechanic to be aware of is that Siren will disappear at times throughout the fight and do one of two atacks. You will know which one she is using based on where she reappears. If she reappears in the centre of the arena she will use an AoE charm and you must gather next to her to avoid the attack. If she reappears on the outer ring she will use a straight line charge similar to that used by Ifrit. Keep out of her way for this one.

Around half way through the fight Siren will start using an attack called Lunatic Voice. This gives a debuff called Reduced Immunity that lowers the amount of health healed via curing magic. It can be stunned by the tank or removed with Esuna and Leeches. If left on it will make it harder for the healer to prevent Siren's Song from charming the player.

Check the video below to get the full guide: