FF14's Solo Only streamer plots and grinds for 85 days to topple Susano, a boss with a 14-second countdown to an unavoidable death when fought alone—and comes out on top

Final Fantasy 14's 'solo only' streamer, RathGames, has just done the barely-possible: Engaging in a weeks-long grind, dodging the executioner's axe of patch notes, and reaching level 100 on a lean diet of level 63 content—all to topple a single boss in Stormblood.

If you're completely unfamiliar with Final Fantasy 14, I want to make sure you appreciate the magnitude of this accomplishment before we proceed. Solo Only is a challenge devised by RathGames and documented in a rather excellent YouTube series. In it, he has to be entirely self-sufficient.

This not only means they can't interact with the marketboard, trade, or party with other players—Solo Only can't even use the NPC duty support system or, masochistically, quest rewards. Anything he achieves has to be done on his own, with gear he's crafted or earned from the sweat of his brow.

The only exception to this rule has been the Crystal Tower raids, which RathGames couldn't even enter without at least three players (and which has mechanics that unavoidably require at least three, too). However, RathGames knocked over that raid with a bare-bones party made entirely of other Solo Only players, which is such an ingenious workaround I'm more than happy to let it pass.

He's gotten far further than I ever thought possible, making it through both the base game A Realm Reborn and the Heavensward expansion without any help. However, Susano, a level 63 trial boss in Stormblood, has been a massive wall.

This is because of a phase wherein the Lord of Revel takes a swim, pulls out a giant sword, and slams it into the arena twice—requiring both tanks (or a particularly spicy-feeling DPS) to run in and block it while the other players melt the sword down. If the damage check isn't passed, it's curtains for everyone involved. Given Solo Only can only either block the sword or attack it, it seemed like the end of the road.

It took almost a full month between Solo Only's first encounter with Susano for a plan to form, as