Final Fantasy 14 content creator RathGames hit a literal brick wall after 1,000 hours of his “Solo Only” challenge run, forcing him to unveil a backup strategy that required 233 days of secret, parallel preparation to execute.
The Impossible DPS Check
RathGames is currently documenting one of the most improbable feats in MMORPG history: completing Final Fantasy 14 entirely solo. This means no market board, no trading, no party members, and absolutely no duty support NPCs. While he has historically overcome mandatory group content through sheer ingenuity, the penultimate boss of the Shadowbringers expansion, Hades, presented a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
The fight features a mechanic called “Captivity,” which traps a player in a jail that must be destroyed by teammates. Because RathGames was playing alone, he had no one to break him out. While he attempted to skip the phase by burning Hades’ health before the move triggered, even with a level 100 character and top-tier gear, the game’s damage scaling rendered the task an impossible DPS check.
The Secret Multiboxing Strategy
Refusing to admit defeat or rely on other players, RathGames resorted to a high-level solution: multiboxing. Rather than recruiting external help, he decided to become his own team. In total secrecy, he spent 233 days leveling an entirely separate character under the same strict “Solo Only” ruleset.
This meant he had to complete every grueling challenge twice. During the process, he lived in constant fear of being spotted by his own audience. “It was exhausting,” RathGames admitted. “I was so nervous about being spotted while walking around. It really made me feel on edge any time I logged in.” To maintain his cover, he even invented an entirely new, separate challenge run to keep his stream audience occupied while he finished his “Solo Saviour” project in the background.
Optimizing the Grind
While the original run took over 1,000 hours, RathGames managed to shave 815 hours off his second character’s progress. He credits this massive improvement to the collective knowledge of the solo community and his own refined experience. However, the technical execution remained a nightmare.
Managing two characters simultaneously required a complex spreadsheet to track attack rotations across different classes. “Movement was the easier part. The rotations were miserable to learn,” he noted. Ultimately, his feat mirrors the narrative of Shadowbringers, where the Warrior of Light must merge with an alternate-universe version of themselves to save the world. RathGames successfully weaponized his own dual-account experience to finally topple his foe, with plans already in motion to tackle the Endwalker expansion for his final season.
