Introduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Erichthonios in Asphodelos: The First Circle (Savage).
The First Circle (Savage) is the first raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Asphodelos Earring Coffer
- Asphodelos Necklace Coffer
- Asphodelos Bracelet Coffer
- Asphodelos Ring Coffer
Chest Two
Two of (unique):
- Asphodelos Earring Coffer
- Asphodelos Necklace Coffer
- Asphodelos Bracelet Coffer
- Asphodelos Ring Coffer
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos I
Four of these tokens can be traded in for accessories at a Pandaemonium gear vendor.
Major Mechanics
Erichthonios has a hard enrage of 10:20 into the encounter and requires roughly 39.7k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players clock spots with melee on intercardinals, tanks north and south, and healers east and west. Markers should be placed as such.
Mechanic Overview
Heavy Hand
A physical tank buster on the current main tank.
Warder’s Wrath
A moderate raidwide AoE that deals physical damage.
Gaoler’s Flail
Erichthonios will bring out two weapons in succession during the castbar. Mechanics will be executed after the castbar ends based on what weapons are used.
- Sickles: A large 270 degree cleave on the side of the arena the sickle was on. Move to the opposite side to dodge. Can either be left or right.
- Morningstar: A point-blank AoE around Erichthonios. Max melee range is safe.
- Chakram: A donut AoE around Erichthonios.
Pitiless Flail of Grace and Pitiless Flail of Purgation
The current main tank will be marked with a line buster. This will knock them back, deal moderate damage, and inflict a magic vulnerability debuff. There needs to be a tank swap during the cast, as the boss will do a mechanic afterwards on whoever has aggro.
- Grace is a stack marker on the tank – all players should stack behind the boss.
- Purgation is a flare marker on the tank – the tank should run far away from both the other tank and the party.
Aetherial Shackles
Marks a random player with a red chain debuff – Shackles of Loneliness – and a purple chain debuff – Shackles of Companionship.
- When Shackles of Loneliness resolves, the player will gain the Inescapable Loneliness debuff. When Inescapable Loneliness resolves, the three furthest players from that player will emit a large AoE around them which deals moderate magic damage and applies a magic vulnerability debuff, meaning players cannot be hit by more than one.
- When Shackles of Companionship resolves, the player will gain the Inescapable Companionship debuff. When Inescapable Companionship resolves, the three closest players from that player will emit a small AoE around them which deals moderate magic damage and applies a magic vulnerability debuff, meaning players cannot be hit by more than one.
Intemperance
Erichthonios divides the arena into nine sections with three Spell Crystals each. These crystals will explode on a regular interval, inflicting players standing on them with Hot Spell (fire), Cold Spell (ice), and Disastrous Spell (purple).
- Hot Spell and Cold Spell will deal minimal damage if the player has the opposite element or no element, but will deal massive damage and inflict a damage down debuff if they have the same element debuff.
- Disastrous Spell will instantly kill the player.
In addition, if no one is on a section with Hot Spell or Cold Spell, all players will take damage and receive a damage down debuff.
Intemperate Torment
Erichthonios commands the crystals to start exploding.
Shining Cells
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Changes the arena to a circle, with different coloured areas.
Aetherchain
Erichthonios will summon either red orbs or white orbs around him, which indicate the sections of the floor that will blow up.
Aetherflail
Erichthonios will do Aetherchain’s orb mechanic. In addition, he will do two Gaoler’s Flail mechanics, with one being a Sickle (left/right) and the other being Morningstar (out) or Chakram (in).
Shackles of Time
Inflicts a random player with the Shackles of Time debuff. When this debuff expires, the colour that the player is standing on will explode, damaging all players standing on that colour except for the debuffed player.
Slam Shut
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Changes the arena back into a square.
Fourfold Shackles
Inflicts four players with Shackles of Loneliness and four players with Shackles of Companionship. Each of these debuffs has a different duration: Three seconds, eight seconds, 13 seconds, and 18 seconds.
Fight Strategy
Phase 1
The fight begins with a tank buster.
Aetherial Shackles can be executed simply by standing on markers at respective clock spots. However, players will have to adjust which marker they are standing on based on the debuffs that are inflicted.
- The player inflicted with Shackles of Loneliness MUST be on a numbered marker on the outside and the player inflicted with Shackles of Companionship MUST be on a lettered marker on the inside. The easiest way to do this is to just swap with a role partner if needed.
For Gaoler’s Flail, it will either be two Sickles, or Morningstar and Chakram. Therefore, the movement can either be left to right or right to left, or in then out or out then in.
The current offtank should Provoke during the castbar of Pitiless Flail, then either stack with the party in the middle if it is Grace or move far away from the party and the other tank if it is Purgation. The tank taking the Pitiless Flail hit needs be knocked back towards the corner or they will be knocked back into the wall.
Another Gaoler’s Flail will follow, which will be the opposite pattern as previous.
Intemperance will divide the arena into nine sections with crystals. Each player will have to soak the first crystal in their clock spot section, then fix their color so that they have the appropriate debuff to take the third crystal in their clock spot section.
- First, stand in your assigned section based on clock spots, close to the middle in order to receive healing.
- Next, players will have to use one of the sections in the middle column. If they do not need to fix their color for the third crystal, they will stand in the middle. Otherwise, they will use the North or South crystals to change their debuff. Do not stand in any section other than the middle column, as all of those will have purple crystals.
- Finally, players should get healed up and head to their assigned section again to soak the final crystal.
- One caveat is that sometimes the tank standing in the north section must take a damage down in order to satisfy the condition of needing to soak a crystal on the second explosion. This is avoided by the north tank and the northeast DPS always swapping places for the third crystal explosion.
Perform another Pitiless Flail mechanic, and heal up and mitigate for Shining Cells.
Ability Order
Heavy Hand
+WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Erichthonios in Asphodelos: The First Circle (Savage).
The First Circle (Savage) is the first raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Asphodelos Earring Coffer
- Asphodelos Necklace Coffer
- Asphodelos Bracelet Coffer
- Asphodelos Ring Coffer
Chest Two
Two of (unique):
- Asphodelos Earring Coffer
- Asphodelos Necklace Coffer
- Asphodelos Bracelet Coffer
- Asphodelos Ring Coffer
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos I
Four of these tokens can be traded in for accessories at a Pandaemonium gear vendor.
Major Mechanics
Erichthonios has a hard enrage of 10:20 into the encounter and requires roughly 39.7k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players clock spots with melee on intercardinals, tanks north and south, and healers east and west. Markers should be placed as such.
Mechanic Overview
Heavy Hand
A physical tank buster on the current main tank.
Warder’s Wrath
A moderate raidwide AoE that deals physical damage.
Gaoler’s Flail
Erichthonios will bring out two weapons in succession during the castbar. Mechanics will be executed after the castbar ends based on what weapons are used.
- Sickles: A large 270 degree cleave on the side of the arena the sickle was on. Move to the opposite side to dodge. Can either be left or right.
- Morningstar: A point-blank AoE around Erichthonios. Max melee range is safe.
- Chakram: A donut AoE around Erichthonios.
Pitiless Flail of Grace and Pitiless Flail of Purgation
The current main tank will be marked with a line buster. This will knock them back, deal moderate damage, and inflict a magic vulnerability debuff. There needs to be a tank swap during the cast, as the boss will do a mechanic afterwards on whoever has aggro.
- Grace is a stack marker on the tank – all players should stack behind the boss.
- Purgation is a flare marker on the tank – the tank should run far away from both the other tank and the party.
Aetherial Shackles
Marks a random player with a red chain debuff – Shackles of Loneliness – and a purple chain debuff – Shackles of Companionship.
- When Shackles of Loneliness resolves, the player will gain the Inescapable Loneliness debuff. When Inescapable Loneliness resolves, the three furthest players from that player will emit a large AoE around them which deals moderate magic damage and applies a magic vulnerability debuff, meaning players cannot be hit by more than one.
- When Shackles of Companionship resolves, the player will gain the Inescapable Companionship debuff. When Inescapable Companionship resolves, the three closest players from that player will emit a small AoE around them which deals moderate magic damage and applies a magic vulnerability debuff, meaning players cannot be hit by more than one.
Intemperance
Erichthonios divides the arena into nine sections with three Spell Crystals each. These crystals will explode on a regular interval, inflicting players standing on them with Hot Spell (fire), Cold Spell (ice), and Disastrous Spell (purple).
- Hot Spell and Cold Spell will deal minimal damage if the player has the opposite element or no element, but will deal massive damage and inflict a damage down debuff if they have the same element debuff.
- Disastrous Spell will instantly kill the player.
In addition, if no one is on a section with Hot Spell or Cold Spell, all players will take damage and receive a damage down debuff.
Intemperate Torment
Erichthonios commands the crystals to start exploding.
Shining Cells
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Changes the arena to a circle, with different coloured areas.
Aetherchain
Erichthonios will summon either red orbs or white orbs around him, which indicate the sections of the floor that will blow up.
Aetherflail
Erichthonios will do Aetherchain’s orb mechanic. In addition, he will do two Gaoler’s Flail mechanics, with one being a Sickle (left/right) and the other being Morningstar (out) or Chakram (in).
Shackles of Time
Inflicts a random player with the Shackles of Time debuff. When this debuff expires, the colour that the player is standing on will explode, damaging all players standing on that colour except for the debuffed player.
Slam Shut
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Changes the arena back into a square.
Fourfold Shackles
Inflicts four players with Shackles of Loneliness and four players with Shackles of Companionship. Each of these debuffs has a different duration: Three seconds, eight seconds, 13 seconds, and 18 seconds.
Fight Strategy
Phase 1
The fight begins with a tank buster.
Aetherial Shackles can be executed simply by standing on markers at respective clock spots. However, players will have to adjust which marker they are standing on based on the debuffs that are inflicted.
- The player inflicted with Shackles of Loneliness MUST be on a numbered marker on the outside and the player inflicted with Shackles of Companionship MUST be on a lettered marker on the inside. The easiest way to do this is to just swap with a role partner if needed.
For Gaoler’s Flail, it will either be two Sickles, or Morningstar and Chakram. Therefore, the movement can either be left to right or right to left, or in then out or out then in.
The current offtank should Provoke during the castbar of Pitiless Flail, then either stack with the party in the middle if it is Grace or move far away from the party and the other tank if it is Purgation. The tank taking the Pitiless Flail hit needs be knocked back towards the corner or they will be knocked back into the wall.
Another Gaoler’s Flail will follow, which will be the opposite pattern as previous.
Intemperance will divide the arena into nine sections with crystals. Each player will have to soak the first crystal in their clock spot section, then fix their color so that they have the appropriate debuff to take the third crystal in their clock spot section.
- First, stand in your assigned section based on clock spots, close to the middle in order to receive healing.
- Next, players will have to use one of the sections in the middle column. If they do not need to fix their color for the third crystal, they will stand in the middle. Otherwise, they will use the North or South crystals to change their debuff. Do not stand in any section other than the middle column, as all of those will have purple crystals.
- Finally, players should get healed up and head to their assigned section again to soak the final crystal.
- One caveat is that sometimes the tank standing in the north section must take a damage down in order to satisfy the condition of needing to soak a crystal on the second explosion. This is avoided by the north tank and the northeast DPS always swapping places for the third crystal explosion.
Perform another Pitiless Flail mechanic, and heal up and mitigate for Shining Cells.
Ability Order
Heavy Hand
Aetherial Shackles
Warder's Wrath
Gaoler's Flail
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
Warder's Wrath
Pitiless Flail of Purgation -OR- Pitiless Flail of Grace
Shining Cells
-
Phase 2
In this phase, the arena changes to a circular dartboard with two different colors - red and white/blue.
Aetherflail requires players to be on one of the colors, as well as perform a Sickle and a Morningstar/Chakram Gaoler’s Flail mechanic. Players can always head to one safe spot to resolve the entire mechanic.
- For example, if the orb is white and the flail is left Sickle + Morningstar, players can head to a red platform on the right side of the arena on the outer ring to resolve it. Each mechanic happens in sequence, so players can read it out sequentially and head to the safe spot.
The tank taking the Pitiless Flail mechanic in this phase should hug the boss as closely as possible to ensure they do not get knocked into the wall.
For Shackles of Time, the player marked with the debuff should stand on a white panel and all other players should stand on a red panel, including the tank taking the tank buster.
Mitigate Slam Shut.
Fourfold Shackles inflicts the debuffs from Aetherial Shackles on all players with incremental durations. Players can resolve these by standing on the markers - red on outside, purple on inside - but the targets are random, meaning players will have to adjust quickly. However, players can go to assigned places based on what debuff they have and what duration the debuff is.
Once players are in position, simply stand on the markers until all debuffs are gone and heal through the mechanic.
The next Intemperance has a Gaoler’s Flail that occurs during it. Otherwise, it is performed the same as the first one.
- Players will have to fix their color on the second explosion, perform the Flail mechanic, and then move back to their assigned spot.
Heal up and get ready for the final phase.
Ability Order
Aetherflail
+
Phase 2
In this phase, the arena changes to a circular dartboard with two different colors - red and white/blue.
Aetherflail requires players to be on one of the colors, as well as perform a Sickle and a Morningstar/Chakram Gaoler’s Flail mechanic. Players can always head to one safe spot to resolve the entire mechanic.
- For example, if the orb is white and the flail is left Sickle + Morningstar, players can head to a red platform on the right side of the arena on the outer ring to resolve it. Each mechanic happens in sequence, so players can read it out sequentially and head to the safe spot.
The tank taking the Pitiless Flail mechanic in this phase should hug the boss as closely as possible to ensure they do not get knocked into the wall.
For Shackles of Time, the player marked with the debuff should stand on a white panel and all other players should stand on a red panel, including the tank taking the tank buster.
Mitigate Slam Shut.
Fourfold Shackles inflicts the debuffs from Aetherial Shackles on all players with incremental durations. Players can resolve these by standing on the markers - red on outside, purple on inside - but the targets are random, meaning players will have to adjust quickly. However, players can go to assigned places based on what debuff they have and what duration the debuff is.
Once players are in position, simply stand on the markers until all debuffs are gone and heal through the mechanic.
The next Intemperance has a Gaoler’s Flail that occurs during it. Otherwise, it is performed the same as the first one.
- Players will have to fix their color on the second explosion, perform the Flail mechanic, and then move back to their assigned spot.
Heal up and get ready for the final phase.
Ability Order
Aetherflail
Pitiless Flail of Grace -OR- Pitiless Flail of Purgation
Aetherflail
Shackles of Time
diff --git a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p2s/index.html b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p2s/index.html
index d5af9650a8..bff88902d6 100644
--- a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p2s/index.html
+++ b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p2s/index.html
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
Dark Knight
Gunbreaker
Paladin
-WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating the Hippokampos in Asphodelos: The Second Circle (Savage).
The Second Circle (Savage) is the first raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Asphodelos Head Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Hand Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Foot Gear coffer
Chest Two:
One of:
- Asphodelos Head Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Hand Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Foot Gear coffer
Both of:
- Discal Tomestone
- Radiant Coating
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos II
Six of these tokens can be traded in for head, hand, or foot gear at a Pandaemonium gear vendor. Four of these tokens can be traded in for a Radiant Coating.
Major Mechanics
The Hippokampos has a hard enrage of 10:28 into the encounter and requires roughly 41.9k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign the raid into two light party stacks with one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. Place the markers as such, indicating the raised platforms and the drained passages.
Mechanic Overview
Murky Depths
A moderate raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Doubled Impact
A magical tank buster on the current main tank that needs to be shared by both tanks or invulned.
Sewage Deluge
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Floods the arena, making the entire arena except for the raised platforms and drained passages inflict a Dropsy DoT to players who stand in the water. In addition, one of the raised platforms will begin to overflow with water, killing any player who stands on it.
Spoken Cataract and Winged Cataract
The head and body of the Hippokampos will do a cleave and a line AoE respectively. The body will always do a line AoE, but the head will do a wide AoE in front if it is Spoken Cataract and a wide AoE behind it if it is Winged Cataract.
Coherence
The Hippokampos will tether to a random player. When the castbar ends, the head will jump to the tethered player dealing heavy damage, and the body will do a line stack AoE. The tether should be taken by a tank and mitigated, and a tank needs to stand in front of the party as the first player in the stack relative to the boss will take extra damage.
Ominous Bubbling
A delayed stack marker on both healers that deals water magic damage inflicts a Water Resistance down debuff, meaning players cannot get hit by more than one.
Shockwave
The Hippokampos will jump to a random safe raised platform and do a knockback from the center of that platform. This deals minimal magic damage and knockback immunities do work on it.
Predatory Avarice
Inflicts a random tank and random DPS with Mark of the Tides and a random healer with Mark of the Depths.
- When Mark of the Tides expires, the player will pulse a large AoE that knocks back players in the radius.
- When Mark of the Depths expires, the player will pulse a large AoE that deals magic damage to all players in the radius.
Channeling Flow
Inflicts all players with Mark of the Tides, which is indicated by an arrow pointing to a cardinal direction. When this debuff expires, players will get pushed in the indicated direction, and must collide with another player with an arrow of the opposite direction. They will receive also receive a Water Resistance down debuff and be stunned. There will always be one tank, one healer, and two DPS with unique directions.
Channeling Overflow
Inflicts all players with Mark of the Tides, but there are two sets with different durations.
Tainted Flood
Marks a tank, a healer, and two DPS with an AoE marker that deals moderate magic damage and inflicts a Water Resistance down debuff. The marked players will be the ones that are not doing Channeling Overflow’s Mark of the Tides at the time.
When the arena is not flooded, all players will be marked with the AoE marker at the same time.
Kampeos Harma
Marks all players with one to four blue or purple dots. Players marked with blue dots will be dashed to by the body of the Hippokampos in sequence from one to four, dealing damage in a line AoE. Players marked with purple dots will be jumped to by the head of the Hippokampos in sequence from one to four, dealing damage in an AoE around them. This deals moderate physical damage and inflicts a physical vuln debuff, so players cannot be hit by more than one dash or jump.
Dissociation
The head of the Hippokampos will separate from its body and appear at the edge of the arena. It will do a divebomb down the side of the arena it appears on.
Sewage Eruption
Three sets of AoE markers appear under all players. Bait these and move together as a group.
Fight Strategy
Phase 1
- The fight starts off with a raidwide, a dual tank buster, and another heavy raidwide. Sewage Deluge deals massive damage, so it’s important to use extra mitigation for it.
- After Sewage Deluge and each subsequent one, players should move to the raised platform directly opposite of the overflowing raised platform, which will be glowing. This is to make moving for mechanics easier.
- Spoken Cataract is the same mechanic as in the Normal difficulty, while Winged Cataract has the head do an AoE behind where it is facing instead of in front. Either way, get in front of or behind where the head is facing based on the mechanic, and then move to the side of the body.
- All players should stand further than max melee range so that the main tank can easily pick up the Coherence tether. After they pick it up, they should move to the opposite side of the arena on the drained passage (but not on the overflowing platform). The off tank should then stand in front of the stacked party to soak the line AoE stack. Both hits need to be lightly mitigated.
- The boss will then cast Ominous Bubbling and Shockwave. All players should head towards the platform that is being Shockwaved, and hit their knockback immunity halfway through the castbar. The raid needs to split into their light parties - one group should be on the platform, and the other group should be on the drained passage leading to the platform. This is to do the light party healer stacks.
- The party needs to move back to the platform opposite of the overflowing platform to make moving for Cataract easier.
- For Predatory Avarice, the party needs to move to the safe spot for Spoken Cataract or Winged Cataract first. After it goes off, the debuffed tank needs to move left away from the party, and the debuffed DPS needs to move right away from the party. Move to the edge of the drained passage. All other players will take magic damage from the healer’s debuff.
- After this, the water will recede.
- All players will get an arrow indicating the direction they are going to be pushed back. Simply head behind the grate of the direction you are being pushed to, but not overlapping with the other player. Ranged can head out a bit, and melee can be max melee as long as they are fully behind the grate. You can do DPS left and H/T right facing the middle, but adjusting is very simple. Players will all get stunned and pushed towards the middle, and collide with the player on the other side, which solves the mechanic.
- Another dual tank buster and raidwide follow this, and then the arena will be flooded again by Sewage Deluge.
- The boss will then jump to a platform with Shockwave, and do Kampeos Harma. It is an intermission of sorts, and the boss is untargetable during this.
- Here is a toolbox diagram showing how to do Kampeos Harma. Essentially, purple marked players will move to their respective numbered marker, while blue marked players need to bait the dashes across the arena. For blue dots, 1 and 3 will go across to where the boss jumped for Shockwave, while 2 and 4 will stay in the corner. 1 and 2 will stand in front, and after they are dashed to, they will move behind while 3 and 4 move in front.
Ability Order
Murky Depths
+WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating the Hippokampos in Asphodelos: The Second Circle (Savage).
The Second Circle (Savage) is the first raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Asphodelos Head Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Hand Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Foot Gear coffer
Chest Two:
One of:
- Asphodelos Head Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Hand Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Foot Gear coffer
Both of:
- Discal Tomestone
- Radiant Coating
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos II
Six of these tokens can be traded in for head, hand, or foot gear at a Pandaemonium gear vendor. Four of these tokens can be traded in for a Radiant Coating.
Major Mechanics
The Hippokampos has a hard enrage of 10:28 into the encounter and requires roughly 41.9k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign the raid into two light party stacks with one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. Place the markers as such, indicating the raised platforms and the drained passages.
Mechanic Overview
Murky Depths
A moderate raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Doubled Impact
A magical tank buster on the current main tank that needs to be shared by both tanks or invulned.
Sewage Deluge
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Floods the arena, making the entire arena except for the raised platforms and drained passages inflict a Dropsy DoT to players who stand in the water. In addition, one of the raised platforms will begin to overflow with water, killing any player who stands on it.
Spoken Cataract and Winged Cataract
The head and body of the Hippokampos will do a cleave and a line AoE respectively. The body will always do a line AoE, but the head will do a wide AoE in front if it is Spoken Cataract and a wide AoE behind it if it is Winged Cataract.
Coherence
The Hippokampos will tether to a random player. When the castbar ends, the head will jump to the tethered player dealing heavy damage, and the body will do a line stack AoE. The tether should be taken by a tank and mitigated, and a tank needs to stand in front of the party as the first player in the stack relative to the boss will take extra damage.
Ominous Bubbling
A delayed stack marker on both healers that deals water magic damage inflicts a Water Resistance down debuff, meaning players cannot get hit by more than one.
Shockwave
The Hippokampos will jump to a random safe raised platform and do a knockback from the center of that platform. This deals minimal magic damage and knockback immunities do work on it.
Predatory Avarice
Inflicts a random tank and random DPS with Mark of the Tides and a random healer with Mark of the Depths.
- When Mark of the Tides expires, the player will pulse a large AoE that knocks back players in the radius.
- When Mark of the Depths expires, the player will pulse a large AoE that deals magic damage to all players in the radius.
Channeling Flow
Inflicts all players with Mark of the Tides, which is indicated by an arrow pointing to a cardinal direction. When this debuff expires, players will get pushed in the indicated direction, and must collide with another player with an arrow of the opposite direction. They will receive also receive a Water Resistance down debuff and be stunned. There will always be one tank, one healer, and two DPS with unique directions.
Channeling Overflow
Inflicts all players with Mark of the Tides, but there are two sets with different durations.
Tainted Flood
Marks a tank, a healer, and two DPS with an AoE marker that deals moderate magic damage and inflicts a Water Resistance down debuff. The marked players will be the ones that are not doing Channeling Overflow’s Mark of the Tides at the time.
When the arena is not flooded, all players will be marked with the AoE marker at the same time.
Kampeos Harma
Marks all players with one to four blue or purple dots. Players marked with blue dots will be dashed to by the body of the Hippokampos in sequence from one to four, dealing damage in a line AoE. Players marked with purple dots will be jumped to by the head of the Hippokampos in sequence from one to four, dealing damage in an AoE around them. This deals moderate physical damage and inflicts a physical vuln debuff, so players cannot be hit by more than one dash or jump.
Dissociation
The head of the Hippokampos will separate from its body and appear at the edge of the arena. It will do a divebomb down the side of the arena it appears on.
Sewage Eruption
Three sets of AoE markers appear under all players. Bait these and move together as a group.
Fight Strategy
Phase 1
- The fight starts off with a raidwide, a dual tank buster, and another heavy raidwide. Sewage Deluge deals massive damage, so it’s important to use extra mitigation for it.
- After Sewage Deluge and each subsequent one, players should move to the raised platform directly opposite of the overflowing raised platform, which will be glowing. This is to make moving for mechanics easier.
- Spoken Cataract is the same mechanic as in the Normal difficulty, while Winged Cataract has the head do an AoE behind where it is facing instead of in front. Either way, get in front of or behind where the head is facing based on the mechanic, and then move to the side of the body.
- All players should stand further than max melee range so that the main tank can easily pick up the Coherence tether. After they pick it up, they should move to the opposite side of the arena on the drained passage (but not on the overflowing platform). The off tank should then stand in front of the stacked party to soak the line AoE stack. Both hits need to be lightly mitigated.
- The boss will then cast Ominous Bubbling and Shockwave. All players should head towards the platform that is being Shockwaved, and hit their knockback immunity halfway through the castbar. The raid needs to split into their light parties - one group should be on the platform, and the other group should be on the drained passage leading to the platform. This is to do the light party healer stacks.
- The party needs to move back to the platform opposite of the overflowing platform to make moving for Cataract easier.
- For Predatory Avarice, the party needs to move to the safe spot for Spoken Cataract or Winged Cataract first. After it goes off, the debuffed tank needs to move left away from the party, and the debuffed DPS needs to move right away from the party. Move to the edge of the drained passage. All other players will take magic damage from the healer’s debuff.
- After this, the water will recede.
- All players will get an arrow indicating the direction they are going to be pushed back. Simply head behind the grate of the direction you are being pushed to, but not overlapping with the other player. Ranged can head out a bit, and melee can be max melee as long as they are fully behind the grate. You can do DPS left and H/T right facing the middle, but adjusting is very simple. Players will all get stunned and pushed towards the middle, and collide with the player on the other side, which solves the mechanic.
- Another dual tank buster and raidwide follow this, and then the arena will be flooded again by Sewage Deluge.
- The boss will then jump to a platform with Shockwave, and do Kampeos Harma. It is an intermission of sorts, and the boss is untargetable during this.
- Here is a toolbox diagram showing how to do Kampeos Harma. Essentially, purple marked players will move to their respective numbered marker, while blue marked players need to bait the dashes across the arena. For blue dots, 1 and 3 will go across to where the boss jumped for Shockwave, while 2 and 4 will stay in the corner. 1 and 2 will stand in front, and after they are dashed to, they will move behind while 3 and 4 move in front.
Ability Order
Murky Depths
Doubled Impact
Sewage Deluge
Spoken Cataract OR Winged Cataract
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
Sewage Deluge
Shockwave
Kampeos Harma
-
Phase 2
- After Kampeos Harma, there will be a tank buster and raidwide. The boss will then do Channeling Overflow.
- All players will be marked with Mark of the Tides, the arrow debuff from Channeling Flow. However, there will two different durations of debuffs, as the water is still overflowing.
- Players will have to use the drained passages and platforms to resolve this mechanic.
- To do Mark of the Tides during this phase, players simply have to move to the edge of the platform horizontally or vertically long and safe.
- The players whose debuffs are expiring first should head to the edge where they will be knocked into another player.
- Players whose debuffs are expiring second should go to the drained passages not in the path of these players, and spread for Tainted Flood. Players with Tainted Flood are fine as long as they are not hitting any other player or in the path of a marked player. Use the image below as a reference.
- Get together and heal up, and do the same mechanic but with reversed groups - the players that previously had to do Mark of the Tides will have Tainted Flood, and vice-versa.
- The water will then recede.
- Predatory Avarice will occur again, but this time with a Dissociation and a Spoken Cataract or Winged Cataract. This leaves one quadrant of the arena safe to do Predatory Avarice’s debuffs.
- The party should stand directly in front of the boss on the safe spot. The DPS with the debuff should always go to the corner and the tank with the debuff should go to the safe spot at the wall not at the corner. Both players should be as close to the dangerous zone as possible to ensure no players are hit with their debuffs.
- Afterwards, Dissociation will happen with baited AoEs. Players need to stand on a numbered marker. Once the AoEs from Sewage Eruption appear under them, everyone should move towards on the safe side as a group to bait these AoEs.
- Afterwards, spread for Tainted Flood and do Coherence. The party should stack in one corner and the main tank should bring the tether to the opposite side. The off tank needs to stand in front of the stack.
- After another dual tank buster and raidwide, the boss will flood the arena with Sewage Deluge for the final time in the fight.
Ability Order
Doubled Impact
+
Phase 2
- After Kampeos Harma, there will be a tank buster and raidwide. The boss will then do Channeling Overflow.
- All players will be marked with Mark of the Tides, the arrow debuff from Channeling Flow. However, there will two different durations of debuffs, as the water is still overflowing.
- Players will have to use the drained passages and platforms to resolve this mechanic.
- To do Mark of the Tides during this phase, players simply have to move to the edge of the platform horizontally or vertically long and safe.
- The players whose debuffs are expiring first should head to the edge where they will be knocked into another player.
- Players whose debuffs are expiring second should go to the drained passages not in the path of these players, and spread for Tainted Flood. Players with Tainted Flood are fine as long as they are not hitting any other player or in the path of a marked player. Use the image below as a reference.
- Get together and heal up, and do the same mechanic but with reversed groups - the players that previously had to do Mark of the Tides will have Tainted Flood, and vice-versa.
- The water will then recede.
- Predatory Avarice will occur again, but this time with a Dissociation and a Spoken Cataract or Winged Cataract. This leaves one quadrant of the arena safe to do Predatory Avarice’s debuffs.
- The party should stand directly in front of the boss on the safe spot. The DPS with the debuff should always go to the corner and the tank with the debuff should go to the safe spot at the wall not at the corner. Both players should be as close to the dangerous zone as possible to ensure no players are hit with their debuffs.
- Afterwards, Dissociation will happen with baited AoEs. Players need to stand on a numbered marker. Once the AoEs from Sewage Eruption appear under them, everyone should move towards on the safe side as a group to bait these AoEs.
- Afterwards, spread for Tainted Flood and do Coherence. The party should stack in one corner and the main tank should bring the tether to the opposite side. The off tank needs to stand in front of the stack.
- After another dual tank buster and raidwide, the boss will flood the arena with Sewage Deluge for the final time in the fight.
Ability Order
Doubled Impact
Murky Depths
Channeling Overflow
Tainted Flood
diff --git a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p3s/index.html b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p3s/index.html
index 28b9fc76ec..31849255be 100644
--- a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p3s/index.html
+++ b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p3s/index.html
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
Dark Knight
Gunbreaker
Paladin
-WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating the Phoinix in Asphodelos: The Third Circle (Savage).
The Third Circle (Savage) is the third raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Coming soon!
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Asphodelos Head Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Hand Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Foot Gear Coffer
Chest Two:
One of:
- Asphodelos Leg Gear Coffer
Both of:
- Radiant Twine
- Radiant Roborant
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos III
Eight of these tokens can be traded in for leg gear at a Pandaemonium gear vendor. Four of these tokens can be traded in for a Radiant Twine or a Radiant Roborant.
Major Mechanics
The Phoinix has a hard enrage of roughly 11:03, depending on how fast the add phase is completed, and requires roughly 42.2k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players a partner of the opposite role and range - two tanks with two ranged DPS, and two healers with two melee DPS. Assign each of these groups a numbered marker from one to four. Split these groups into two light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each for the adds phase and Fountain of Fire - a north/east light party and a south/west light party. For Firestorms of Asphodelos, these partners will be with the same role - tanks with ranged, and healers with melee.
Place markers on the arena as such.
Mechanic Overview
Scorched Exaltation
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Heat of Condemnation
Two tethers appear on random non-tanks. These tethers must be picked up by tanks and brought far apart at the front of the boss, as they do a magical tank buster in a large AoE when the castbar resolves.
Experimental Fireplume
The boss will cast either eight small fire orbs or one large fire orb when the castbar finishes.
- Eight small orbs: AoEs will appear at opposite cardinals and rotate around the arena before hitting the center. Move out to the second AoE to dodge this.
- One large orb: A gigantic AoE will be baited on a random player. All players bait this in the middle of the arena and move to the edge of the arena.
Left Cinderwing and Right Cinderwing
The boss will cleave the left side or right side of the arena relative to where it is facing. This will inflict a damage down to any players hit.
Darkened Fire
Spawns a Darkened Fire add under tanks/healers or DPS that has a damage taken reduced buff. If they are too close to each other they will tether and explode. These start casting Darkened Blaze as they spawn, and must be killed before it is allowed to finish. Players should stand with their partner at their marker to bait these.
Brightened Fire
Marks each player with an AoE and a number from one to eight. The Phoinix will breathe fire on each player sequentially, dealing light damage and inflicting a fire resistance down debuff for a few seconds. If a Darkened Fire add is hit by four Brightened Fire AoEs, it will remove the buff that they have preventing them from taking damage.
Devouring Brand
A line of fire appears at cardinals and slowly moves towards the center, leaving intercardinal quadrants safe.
Searing Breeze
AoE markers appear under all players. Bait together and move to dodge.
Trail of Condemnation
The boss will become untargetable and jump to an edge of the arena. Either its middle head or its two side heads will glow.
- If the middle head is glowing, it will do a line AoE across the center of the arena and all players will get marked for an AoE. Spread these out to the sides.
- If the side heads are glowing, it will do a line AoE across the sides of the arena and all players of a role will get marked for a shared AoE. Stand in the center line and stack with a partner.
Sunbird
Four Sunbird adds will spawn during Phase Two. These must be picked up by tanks. These will pulse a large AoE when being revived, and if any Sunbird corpse is in it the boss will receive a damage up buff that will eventually wipe the raid.
Flames of Undeath
A massive raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. It will revive all dead Sunbirds and make them grow larger. Revived Sunbirds will retain the enmity table they had before they were killed. If large Sunbirds were revived, they will turn into Sparkfledged and attach to the boss.
Fireglide Sweep
Each revived Sunbird will tether to a tank, healer, and two DPS. Those players in turn will be tethered to a player who does not have a tether of the opposite role. When the castbar resolves, the Sunbird will dash to the tethered player and then the subsequent tethered player, dealing proximity physical damage and inflicting a Blunt Resistance Down debuff.
Dead Rebirth
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Fledgling Flight
Marks all tanks and healers or all DPS with a Sparkfledged pointing towards a cardinal direction. These will spawn on their location and emit a large conal AoE in the indicated direction.
Experimental Ashplume
The boss will cast either eight small dark orbs or one large dark orb when the castbar finishes.
- Eight small dark orbs: all players are marked with an AoE, so spread out.
- One large dark orb: One tank and one healer will be marked with a stack marker, so stack - melee with tanks, ranged with healers.
Experimental Gloryplume
The boss will do an Experimental Fireplume mechanic, then an Experimental Ashplume mechanic. Both mechanics will be shown in order, and then executed, so wait for both to show before moving.
Fountain of Fire
Spawns two sets of four fountains starting from the north/south or east/west of the arena and going clockwise. These fountains must be soaked by a player, and inflicts the player standing inside with Trickle of Fire, which massively boosts healing potency for six seconds.
Sun’s Pinion
Marks the two closest players to the boss with an AoE marker. This deals moderate magic damage and inflicts a Fire Resistance down debuff. This AoE will drop a Sunbird Pinion on the player, which will do a proximity tether to them, then dash to them after a while.
Firestorms of Asphodelos
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. This will summon burning rain once more, and spawn Darkblaze Twister fire tornadoes north, southwest, and southeast on the arena.
Flames of Asphodelos
Shoots two sets of three conal AoEs in sequence. Move into one of the conal AoEs after it goes off.
Storms of Asphodelos
The boss will spawn two Heat of Condemnation tethers on random non-tanks. In addition, each Darkblaze Twister will do a targeted conal AoE on the closest player, and the boss will do a targeted conal AoE on the three closest players.
Darkblaze Twister
The boss will tether to each of the Darkblaze Twisters. One tether will be dark, and two tethers will be fire. The fire tethered tornadoes will do a donut AoE around them, and the dark tethered tornado will do a knockback.
Death’s Toll
Inflicts players with one stack, two stacks, or four stacks of Death’s Toll. This must be removed by getting hit by a fatal mechanic for each stack.
Life’s Agonies
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage based on the player’s missing HP.
Fight Strategy
Phase One
- The fight begins with a raidwide AoE into a tank buster.
- For Heat of Condemnation, the off-tank should stand in the center, pick up a tether, and move out immediately. The main tank is then able to find the other tether, pick it up, and run back north. All other players should be at max melee range or further.
- The first real mechanic is Experimental Fireplume. Players should all stack in the direct center square of the arena. If it is rotating AoEs, move out to the second one, and if it is one large AoE, move to the edge.
- Immediately after, the boss will start casting Left Cinderwing or Right Cinderwing from the center. Orient yourself properly and dodge this.
- Return to the center and stack with your assigned partner on your assigned number (tanks and healers with DPS, 1-2-3-4) to bait Darkened Fire. Once these have spawned, spread out.
- To remove the invincibility from Darkened Fire adds, they need to be hit by four instances of a Brightened Fire AoE. To do this, each Brightened Fire needs to hit two orbs each time.
- This can be easily achieved by having each Brightened Fire number stand at ABCD markers, hitting two adds each. 1 and 5 should stand at A, 2 and 6 should stand at B, 3 and 7 should stand at C, 4 and 8 should stand at D.
- While players can stand in the middle and move to the marker when it is their turn, it is simpler to have both players stack at the location and mitigate the hits, as two hits is not lethal.
- Once an add has been hit four times, players should quickly destroy the adds.
- Do another Heat of Condemnation and Scorched Exaltation. Stack in the middle afterward to bait Experimental Fireplume.
- For this Fireplume, players should all head to 1 or 2 as a group no matter what it is. This is to bait Searing Breeze and Left/Right Cinderwing. Stack at the edge of the arena and move in.
- Another Heat of Condemnation follows this, so position properly.
- Do a final Experimental Fireplume and the boss will disappear and do Trail of Condemnation. Don’t move into the middle too early.
- For Trail of Condemnation, treat where the boss appears as relative north. Each player should position with their partner in a line down the arena from there, so the 1 marked group would be directly in front, and 4 would be all the way opposite.
- If it is a line AoE down the center, the tanks and melee should move left out of the AoE and the healers and ranged should move right out of the AoE, satisfying the spread mechanic.
- If it is a line AoE down the sides, simply stay stacked with your partner in the middle column.
- Heal up and get ready for adds phase.
Ability Order
Scorched Exaltation
+WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating the Phoinix in Asphodelos: The Third Circle (Savage).
The Third Circle (Savage) is the third raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Coming soon!
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Asphodelos Head Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Hand Gear Coffer
- Asphodelos Foot Gear Coffer
Chest Two:
One of:
- Asphodelos Leg Gear Coffer
Both of:
- Radiant Twine
- Radiant Roborant
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos III
Eight of these tokens can be traded in for leg gear at a Pandaemonium gear vendor. Four of these tokens can be traded in for a Radiant Twine or a Radiant Roborant.
Major Mechanics
The Phoinix has a hard enrage of roughly 11:03, depending on how fast the add phase is completed, and requires roughly 42.2k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players a partner of the opposite role and range - two tanks with two ranged DPS, and two healers with two melee DPS. Assign each of these groups a numbered marker from one to four. Split these groups into two light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each for the adds phase and Fountain of Fire - a north/east light party and a south/west light party. For Firestorms of Asphodelos, these partners will be with the same role - tanks with ranged, and healers with melee.
Place markers on the arena as such.
Mechanic Overview
Scorched Exaltation
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Heat of Condemnation
Two tethers appear on random non-tanks. These tethers must be picked up by tanks and brought far apart at the front of the boss, as they do a magical tank buster in a large AoE when the castbar resolves.
Experimental Fireplume
The boss will cast either eight small fire orbs or one large fire orb when the castbar finishes.
- Eight small orbs: AoEs will appear at opposite cardinals and rotate around the arena before hitting the center. Move out to the second AoE to dodge this.
- One large orb: A gigantic AoE will be baited on a random player. All players bait this in the middle of the arena and move to the edge of the arena.
Left Cinderwing and Right Cinderwing
The boss will cleave the left side or right side of the arena relative to where it is facing. This will inflict a damage down to any players hit.
Darkened Fire
Spawns a Darkened Fire add under tanks/healers or DPS that has a damage taken reduced buff. If they are too close to each other they will tether and explode. These start casting Darkened Blaze as they spawn, and must be killed before it is allowed to finish. Players should stand with their partner at their marker to bait these.
Brightened Fire
Marks each player with an AoE and a number from one to eight. The Phoinix will breathe fire on each player sequentially, dealing light damage and inflicting a fire resistance down debuff for a few seconds. If a Darkened Fire add is hit by four Brightened Fire AoEs, it will remove the buff that they have preventing them from taking damage.
Devouring Brand
A line of fire appears at cardinals and slowly moves towards the center, leaving intercardinal quadrants safe.
Searing Breeze
AoE markers appear under all players. Bait together and move to dodge.
Trail of Condemnation
The boss will become untargetable and jump to an edge of the arena. Either its middle head or its two side heads will glow.
- If the middle head is glowing, it will do a line AoE across the center of the arena and all players will get marked for an AoE. Spread these out to the sides.
- If the side heads are glowing, it will do a line AoE across the sides of the arena and all players of a role will get marked for a shared AoE. Stand in the center line and stack with a partner.
Sunbird
Four Sunbird adds will spawn during Phase Two. These must be picked up by tanks. These will pulse a large AoE when being revived, and if any Sunbird corpse is in it the boss will receive a damage up buff that will eventually wipe the raid.
Flames of Undeath
A massive raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. It will revive all dead Sunbirds and make them grow larger. Revived Sunbirds will retain the enmity table they had before they were killed. If large Sunbirds were revived, they will turn into Sparkfledged and attach to the boss.
Fireglide Sweep
Each revived Sunbird will tether to a tank, healer, and two DPS. Those players in turn will be tethered to a player who does not have a tether of the opposite role. When the castbar resolves, the Sunbird will dash to the tethered player and then the subsequent tethered player, dealing proximity physical damage and inflicting a Blunt Resistance Down debuff.
Dead Rebirth
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Fledgling Flight
Marks all tanks and healers or all DPS with a Sparkfledged pointing towards a cardinal direction. These will spawn on their location and emit a large conal AoE in the indicated direction.
Experimental Ashplume
The boss will cast either eight small dark orbs or one large dark orb when the castbar finishes.
- Eight small dark orbs: all players are marked with an AoE, so spread out.
- One large dark orb: One tank and one healer will be marked with a stack marker, so stack - melee with tanks, ranged with healers.
Experimental Gloryplume
The boss will do an Experimental Fireplume mechanic, then an Experimental Ashplume mechanic. Both mechanics will be shown in order, and then executed, so wait for both to show before moving.
Fountain of Fire
Spawns two sets of four fountains starting from the north/south or east/west of the arena and going clockwise. These fountains must be soaked by a player, and inflicts the player standing inside with Trickle of Fire, which massively boosts healing potency for six seconds.
Sun’s Pinion
Marks the two closest players to the boss with an AoE marker. This deals moderate magic damage and inflicts a Fire Resistance down debuff. This AoE will drop a Sunbird Pinion on the player, which will do a proximity tether to them, then dash to them after a while.
Firestorms of Asphodelos
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. This will summon burning rain once more, and spawn Darkblaze Twister fire tornadoes north, southwest, and southeast on the arena.
Flames of Asphodelos
Shoots two sets of three conal AoEs in sequence. Move into one of the conal AoEs after it goes off.
Storms of Asphodelos
The boss will spawn two Heat of Condemnation tethers on random non-tanks. In addition, each Darkblaze Twister will do a targeted conal AoE on the closest player, and the boss will do a targeted conal AoE on the three closest players.
Darkblaze Twister
The boss will tether to each of the Darkblaze Twisters. One tether will be dark, and two tethers will be fire. The fire tethered tornadoes will do a donut AoE around them, and the dark tethered tornado will do a knockback.
Death’s Toll
Inflicts players with one stack, two stacks, or four stacks of Death’s Toll. This must be removed by getting hit by a fatal mechanic for each stack.
Life’s Agonies
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage based on the player’s missing HP.
Fight Strategy
Phase One
- The fight begins with a raidwide AoE into a tank buster.
- For Heat of Condemnation, the off-tank should stand in the center, pick up a tether, and move out immediately. The main tank is then able to find the other tether, pick it up, and run back north. All other players should be at max melee range or further.
- The first real mechanic is Experimental Fireplume. Players should all stack in the direct center square of the arena. If it is rotating AoEs, move out to the second one, and if it is one large AoE, move to the edge.
- Immediately after, the boss will start casting Left Cinderwing or Right Cinderwing from the center. Orient yourself properly and dodge this.
- Return to the center and stack with your assigned partner on your assigned number (tanks and healers with DPS, 1-2-3-4) to bait Darkened Fire. Once these have spawned, spread out.
- To remove the invincibility from Darkened Fire adds, they need to be hit by four instances of a Brightened Fire AoE. To do this, each Brightened Fire needs to hit two orbs each time.
- This can be easily achieved by having each Brightened Fire number stand at ABCD markers, hitting two adds each. 1 and 5 should stand at A, 2 and 6 should stand at B, 3 and 7 should stand at C, 4 and 8 should stand at D.
- While players can stand in the middle and move to the marker when it is their turn, it is simpler to have both players stack at the location and mitigate the hits, as two hits is not lethal.
- Once an add has been hit four times, players should quickly destroy the adds.
- Do another Heat of Condemnation and Scorched Exaltation. Stack in the middle afterward to bait Experimental Fireplume.
- For this Fireplume, players should all head to 1 or 2 as a group no matter what it is. This is to bait Searing Breeze and Left/Right Cinderwing. Stack at the edge of the arena and move in.
- Another Heat of Condemnation follows this, so position properly.
- Do a final Experimental Fireplume and the boss will disappear and do Trail of Condemnation. Don’t move into the middle too early.
- For Trail of Condemnation, treat where the boss appears as relative north. Each player should position with their partner in a line down the arena from there, so the 1 marked group would be directly in front, and 4 would be all the way opposite.
- If it is a line AoE down the center, the tanks and melee should move left out of the AoE and the healers and ranged should move right out of the AoE, satisfying the spread mechanic.
- If it is a line AoE down the sides, simply stay stacked with your partner in the middle column.
- Heal up and get ready for adds phase.
Ability Order
Scorched Exaltation
Heat of Condemnation
Experimental Fireplume
Left Cinderwing OR Right Cinderwing
diff --git a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p1/index.html b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p1/index.html
index ba98a26752..323bd80152 100644
--- a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p1/index.html
+++ b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p1/index.html
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
Dark Knight
Gunbreaker
Paladin
-WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Hesperos’s first form in Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle (Savage).
The Fourth Circle (Savage) is the fourth raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
As this is a door boss, there is no loot acquired from this phase.
Major Mechanics
Hesperos’s first form has a hard enrage of 7:12 into the encounter and requires roughly 48.2k raid DPS to defeat before then, the highest of the tier.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players a clock spot and a role-based partner. Assign each partner a marker spot from one to four. Assign two light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. Tanks and healers often have to do mechanics together and will be referred to as the support role.
Place markers on the arena as such.
Mechanic Overview
Decollation
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Elegant Evisceration
A tank buster on the current main tank that deals heavy magic damage in an AoE. After hitting the first time, it will hit a second time. Tank swap during the cast or use an invuln.
Bloodrake
One of the major mechanics of the fight. Hesperos will charge his blade and tether to the stage, four players of a role, or all eight players. This will do heavy magic damage to all players tethered and he will gain the Aethersucker buff. This indicates the role that cannot take certain mechanics he will perform next - either tanks and healers (support), or DPS.
Aetheric Chlamys
Hesperos charges his sword, converting the Aethersucker buff gained from Bloodrake to a Role Call buff indicating players who can take a subsequent mechanic.
Director’s Belone
Inflicts four random players with the Role Call debuff and consumes the boss’s Aethersucker buff. When this debuff expires, the player will die if they matched the role that was taken by Bloodrake, but will not have any effect if they are of the opposite role. This debuff can be passed to another player by standing on them, and players who pass a debuff cannot take another one.
Inversive Chlamys
Tethers four random players which deals moderate damage in an AoE around them when the castbar resolves. However, if the player matches the role absorbed from Role Call, they will die.
Setting the Scene
Changes the scene to form four areas - Levinstrike (lightning), Acid (poison), Well (water), and Lava (fire). Each of these will do a mechanic when triggered, as well as deal damage in their quadrant.
- Levinstrike Mekhane: Deals proximity damage from the centre of the arena.
- Well Mekhane: Knocks back players from the centre of the arena.
- Acid Mekhane: An unmarked AoE on all players.
- Lava Mekhane: An unmarked AoE on both healers, which must be shared with other players.
Pinax
Begins to trigger the stage’s Mekhane mechanics in order of which they pulse.
Shift
Hesperos will jump to a cardinal direction and his sword or cloak will glow. The direction will be indicated by the ability name: either Northerly Shift, Easterly Shift, Southerly Shift, or Westerly Shift.
- If the sword is glowing, he will cleave the middle of the arena from where he jumps.
- If the cloak is glowing, he will knock back all players from where he jumps.
Vengeful Belone
Inflicts all players with an Acting Role debuff, which can only be removed by soaking two orbs of the indicated role.
- Two DPS will be inflicted with Acting Healer.
- Two DPS will be inflicted with Acting Tank.
- Both healers and both tanks will be inflicted with Acting DPS.
Elemental Belone
Inflicts all players with Elemental Resistance Down, which make them take extra damage from elemental quadrants absorbed by Bloodrake.
Belone Bursts
Hesperos summons eight orbs at the edge of the arena. These will tether to the closest player and mark itself with the role of said player. This indicates the Acting Role that needs to soak them, which deals heavy damage. In addition, they need to be soaked by two players at a time, or else it will deal lethal damage.
Periaktoi
All elemental quadrants explode, dealing damage. Players must stand on the quadrant not tethered by a previous Bloodrake in order to take non-lethal damage due to the debuff inflicted by Elemental Belone.
Belone Coils
Places four towers at the intercardinals of the arena. These must be soaked, but cannot be soaked by the role indicated on the tower.
Fight Strategy
Phase One
Hesperos is a gigantic step-up healing-wise from the previous Savage bosses. He starts off with an extremely heavy hitting AoE.
Immediately after, four players of a role will be targeted by Bloodrake. This role, either DPS or supports, cannot take the tethers from Inversive Chlamys later. Therefore, the opposite role will have to take the tethers later. Heal up the previous mechanic so the targeted players do not die.
The boss then casts another Bloodrake. This can be on the same role or the opposite role, and indicates the role that cannot take the Role Call debuff later. Heal up the previous Bloodrake targets if needed.
- For example, if DPS were targeted for the first Bloodrake, supports are taking the Inversive Chlamys tether. If supports were targeted for the second Bloodrake, DPS are taking the Role Call debuff.
All players should spread out to clock spots to see who receives the Role Call debuff from Director’s Belone. The role that needs to take the debuff should move to a player that has the debuff if necessary.
Finally, the role that needs to take the tether should take the tethers. There are two ways of doing this, and both are equally efficient – use what works best for your group.
- Line strat: All players that cannot take tether stack with each other max melee south. The four players taking tethers all stand between that stack and the boss, and once they have their tethers they fan out to the north side of the arena.
- Box strat: All players that cannot take tether stand max melee range at their clock spot. The four players taking tethers all stand in the middle of the boss’s hitbox and wiggle, and once they have their tethers they fan out to their clock spots at max melee range.
Immediately after, the boss will cast another Decollation, so heal up.
Tanks can either swap for Elegant Evisceration or use an immunity - I would suggest the latter. Keep in mind there are two hits, so if swapping both tanks need mitigation and to spread out. After the second hit, tanks should swap if they want to use immunity on the next tank buster.
The boss will set the scene next, adding elemental quadrants onto the arena. The entire elements section is extremely formulaic, but there are eight different patterns that can occur and players will have to learn them all.
Hesperos will first cast Pinax, which shows the first two mechanics that will occur. The first mechanic will always be Lightning or Water, and the second mechanic will always be Fire or Poison. These mechanics will resolve one directly after the other.
If the first mechanic is Lightning, all players should head to the edge of the arena, either north or south depending on where the Lightning square is and not on the Lightning square.
- If the second mechanic is Poison, all players should spread at the edges with melee moving in and spreading. Do not be inside the Poison square.
- If the second mechanic is Fire, players should spread with their groups, with one moving inside the arena and one staying at the wall. This ensures one group is not in a Fire square, and do not be inside the Fire square.
If the first mechanic is Water, all players should head to the middle of the arena and either use their knockback immunity or position themselves to get knocked back. Do not be in the Water square.
- If the second mechanic is Poison, all players should spread out after the knockback. Do not be on the Poison square.
- If the second mechanic is Fire, all players should simply use their knockback immunity and stack with their groups on safe spots. Do not be on the Fire square.
As these mechanics occur, players will know the subsequent two mechanics - they are the ones not done previously. For example, if it was lightning -> poison, then the second set will be water -> fire.
Next, Hesperos will jump to the middle and cast a random Shift mechanic. Players can preposition on the correct side he jumps to.
- If the first mechanic is Lightning, all players should run to the edge where Hesperos is jumping to. Do not stand on the Lightning square.
- If the first mechanic is Water, all players stand in the middle and get knocked back to the Shift destination. Do not stand on the Water square.
- Immediately after the first mechanic goes off, adjust to do the Shift mechanic. If it is a sword, go to or stay at the edge, and if it is a cloak, stand directly in front to get knocked back across the arena.
- Players have ample time to adjust for the second mechanic for this set. Poison means spread but not on the Poison square, and Fire means run up to the boss and stack in your light party groups.
Learning how to do Setting the Scene is pivotal to progression, as players will have to learn all the mechanic combinations and execute them twice in the fight.
Ability Order
Decollation
+WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Hesperos’s first form in Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle (Savage).
The Fourth Circle (Savage) is the fourth raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
As this is a door boss, there is no loot acquired from this phase.
Major Mechanics
Hesperos’s first form has a hard enrage of 7:12 into the encounter and requires roughly 48.2k raid DPS to defeat before then, the highest of the tier.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players a clock spot and a role-based partner. Assign each partner a marker spot from one to four. Assign two light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. Tanks and healers often have to do mechanics together and will be referred to as the support role.
Place markers on the arena as such.
Mechanic Overview
Decollation
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Elegant Evisceration
A tank buster on the current main tank that deals heavy magic damage in an AoE. After hitting the first time, it will hit a second time. Tank swap during the cast or use an invuln.
Bloodrake
One of the major mechanics of the fight. Hesperos will charge his blade and tether to the stage, four players of a role, or all eight players. This will do heavy magic damage to all players tethered and he will gain the Aethersucker buff. This indicates the role that cannot take certain mechanics he will perform next - either tanks and healers (support), or DPS.
Aetheric Chlamys
Hesperos charges his sword, converting the Aethersucker buff gained from Bloodrake to a Role Call buff indicating players who can take a subsequent mechanic.
Director’s Belone
Inflicts four random players with the Role Call debuff and consumes the boss’s Aethersucker buff. When this debuff expires, the player will die if they matched the role that was taken by Bloodrake, but will not have any effect if they are of the opposite role. This debuff can be passed to another player by standing on them, and players who pass a debuff cannot take another one.
Inversive Chlamys
Tethers four random players which deals moderate damage in an AoE around them when the castbar resolves. However, if the player matches the role absorbed from Role Call, they will die.
Setting the Scene
Changes the scene to form four areas - Levinstrike (lightning), Acid (poison), Well (water), and Lava (fire). Each of these will do a mechanic when triggered, as well as deal damage in their quadrant.
- Levinstrike Mekhane: Deals proximity damage from the centre of the arena.
- Well Mekhane: Knocks back players from the centre of the arena.
- Acid Mekhane: An unmarked AoE on all players.
- Lava Mekhane: An unmarked AoE on both healers, which must be shared with other players.
Pinax
Begins to trigger the stage’s Mekhane mechanics in order of which they pulse.
Shift
Hesperos will jump to a cardinal direction and his sword or cloak will glow. The direction will be indicated by the ability name: either Northerly Shift, Easterly Shift, Southerly Shift, or Westerly Shift.
- If the sword is glowing, he will cleave the middle of the arena from where he jumps.
- If the cloak is glowing, he will knock back all players from where he jumps.
Vengeful Belone
Inflicts all players with an Acting Role debuff, which can only be removed by soaking two orbs of the indicated role.
- Two DPS will be inflicted with Acting Healer.
- Two DPS will be inflicted with Acting Tank.
- Both healers and both tanks will be inflicted with Acting DPS.
Elemental Belone
Inflicts all players with Elemental Resistance Down, which make them take extra damage from elemental quadrants absorbed by Bloodrake.
Belone Bursts
Hesperos summons eight orbs at the edge of the arena. These will tether to the closest player and mark itself with the role of said player. This indicates the Acting Role that needs to soak them, which deals heavy damage. In addition, they need to be soaked by two players at a time, or else it will deal lethal damage.
Periaktoi
All elemental quadrants explode, dealing damage. Players must stand on the quadrant not tethered by a previous Bloodrake in order to take non-lethal damage due to the debuff inflicted by Elemental Belone.
Belone Coils
Places four towers at the intercardinals of the arena. These must be soaked, but cannot be soaked by the role indicated on the tower.
Fight Strategy
Phase One
Hesperos is a gigantic step-up healing-wise from the previous Savage bosses. He starts off with an extremely heavy hitting AoE.
Immediately after, four players of a role will be targeted by Bloodrake. This role, either DPS or supports, cannot take the tethers from Inversive Chlamys later. Therefore, the opposite role will have to take the tethers later. Heal up the previous mechanic so the targeted players do not die.
The boss then casts another Bloodrake. This can be on the same role or the opposite role, and indicates the role that cannot take the Role Call debuff later. Heal up the previous Bloodrake targets if needed.
- For example, if DPS were targeted for the first Bloodrake, supports are taking the Inversive Chlamys tether. If supports were targeted for the second Bloodrake, DPS are taking the Role Call debuff.
All players should spread out to clock spots to see who receives the Role Call debuff from Director’s Belone. The role that needs to take the debuff should move to a player that has the debuff if necessary.
Finally, the role that needs to take the tether should take the tethers. There are two ways of doing this, and both are equally efficient – use what works best for your group.
- Line strat: All players that cannot take tether stack with each other max melee south. The four players taking tethers all stand between that stack and the boss, and once they have their tethers they fan out to the north side of the arena.
- Box strat: All players that cannot take tether stand max melee range at their clock spot. The four players taking tethers all stand in the middle of the boss’s hitbox and wiggle, and once they have their tethers they fan out to their clock spots at max melee range.
Immediately after, the boss will cast another Decollation, so heal up.
Tanks can either swap for Elegant Evisceration or use an immunity - I would suggest the latter. Keep in mind there are two hits, so if swapping both tanks need mitigation and to spread out. After the second hit, tanks should swap if they want to use immunity on the next tank buster.
The boss will set the scene next, adding elemental quadrants onto the arena. The entire elements section is extremely formulaic, but there are eight different patterns that can occur and players will have to learn them all.
Hesperos will first cast Pinax, which shows the first two mechanics that will occur. The first mechanic will always be Lightning or Water, and the second mechanic will always be Fire or Poison. These mechanics will resolve one directly after the other.
If the first mechanic is Lightning, all players should head to the edge of the arena, either north or south depending on where the Lightning square is and not on the Lightning square.
- If the second mechanic is Poison, all players should spread at the edges with melee moving in and spreading. Do not be inside the Poison square.
- If the second mechanic is Fire, players should spread with their groups, with one moving inside the arena and one staying at the wall. This ensures one group is not in a Fire square, and do not be inside the Fire square.
If the first mechanic is Water, all players should head to the middle of the arena and either use their knockback immunity or position themselves to get knocked back. Do not be in the Water square.
- If the second mechanic is Poison, all players should spread out after the knockback. Do not be on the Poison square.
- If the second mechanic is Fire, all players should simply use their knockback immunity and stack with their groups on safe spots. Do not be on the Fire square.
As these mechanics occur, players will know the subsequent two mechanics - they are the ones not done previously. For example, if it was lightning -> poison, then the second set will be water -> fire.
Next, Hesperos will jump to the middle and cast a random Shift mechanic. Players can preposition on the correct side he jumps to.
- If the first mechanic is Lightning, all players should run to the edge where Hesperos is jumping to. Do not stand on the Lightning square.
- If the first mechanic is Water, all players stand in the middle and get knocked back to the Shift destination. Do not stand on the Water square.
- Immediately after the first mechanic goes off, adjust to do the Shift mechanic. If it is a sword, go to or stay at the edge, and if it is a cloak, stand directly in front to get knocked back across the arena.
- Players have ample time to adjust for the second mechanic for this set. Poison means spread but not on the Poison square, and Fire means run up to the boss and stack in your light party groups.
Learning how to do Setting the Scene is pivotal to progression, as players will have to learn all the mechanic combinations and execute them twice in the fight.
Ability Order
Decollation
Bloodrake (four players)
Aetheric Chlamys
Bloodrake (four players)
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
Well Mekhane OR Levinstrike Mekhane
Random Directional Shift
Lava Mekhane OR Acid Mekhane
-
Phase Two
- After doing spread or stack, the tank should attempt to move the boss to the middle and all other players get out of the way.
- For this tank buster, tanks can use immunity and swap after the second hit or swap during the castbar, spread, and use mitigation for both.
- The boss will do heavy raid damage with the next Bloodrake. He will tether to three elemental squares. Keep note of the one he did not tether to. As an example, remember Fire.
- The tank should recentre the boss and face north slowly (the boss will do several casts here) but as soon as possible.
- Vengeful Belone will inflict all players with Acting Role debuffs. However, players can all pre-position to roughly where they will need to be.
Tanks will be NW and N, healers will be NE and E, and DPS will be on the last four positions. However, the DPS will have to adjust based on what debuff they get.
- Acting Healer will go opposite of the healers at W and SW.
- Acting Tank will go opposite of the tanks at SE and S.
All players will be inflicted with Elemental Belone, which makes them weak to all elements except the one not tethered by Bloodrake earlier.
Hesperos will then cast Bloodrake on all players. Heal up and mitigate heavily for the next mechanic.
He will then spawn eight orbs outside of each player, which will tether to them at the end of the castbar. Any player of their role cannot take the orb, and the players with the corresponding Acting Role debuff needs to run into the orb to explode it with their partner - a player with the same Acting Role debuff as them.
With this positioning, all players can simply run directly opposite of their position with their partner, pop an orb, wait for a heal if necessary, and then pop the orb directly clockwise.
Afterwards, heal all players up, mitigate, as Periaktoi does massive damage. Stand on the elemental square that was not tethered at the beginning of this phase with Bloodrake. If you remembered from earlier, our example was Fire, so we would stand on Fire.
Next, position the boss middle and face him north. We will do a variation on the first mechanic set in the fight, but with towers this time instead of Bloodrake indicating which role does the mechanics.
Belone Coils will spawn four towers at numbered markers. Each tower will have an indicator showing what role cannot take that tower. The role that can stand inside the tower needs to stand inside. The role that is soaking the tower cannot take tethers later.
Meanwhile, the other role has to take tethers from Inversive Chlamys and take them out (max melee is fine). As the tower players cannot stand in a line, the tether players need to stand in the middle, wiggle a bit to ensure all tethers are taken, and go to their clock spots - go clockwise one spot if necessary.
The boss casts Aetheric Chlamys, locking in who will take Inversive Chlamys tethers later.
Heal up and mitigate for Bloodrake.
Hesperos will cast Belone Coils again. Again, each tower will have an indicator showing what role cannot take that tower, and it can be the same role or a different role as last time. There are no tethers this time. The role that is soaking the tower cannot take the Role Call debuff later.
- For example, if supports could not take the first tower, they would be taking the Inversive Chlamys tethers later. If DPS could not take the second tower, they would be taking the Role Call debuff later.
Immediately after towers, all players should spread out to clock spots to see who receives the Role Call debuff from Director’s Belone. The role that needs to take the debuff should move to a player that has the debuff if necessary.
The role that needs to take the tethers should take the tethers. Use whichever method that your group is more comfortable with, and remember to spread.
Ability Order
Elegant Evisceration
+
Phase Two
- After doing spread or stack, the tank should attempt to move the boss to the middle and all other players get out of the way.
- For this tank buster, tanks can use immunity and swap after the second hit or swap during the castbar, spread, and use mitigation for both.
- The boss will do heavy raid damage with the next Bloodrake. He will tether to three elemental squares. Keep note of the one he did not tether to. As an example, remember Fire.
- The tank should recentre the boss and face north slowly (the boss will do several casts here) but as soon as possible.
- Vengeful Belone will inflict all players with Acting Role debuffs. However, players can all pre-position to roughly where they will need to be.
Tanks will be NW and N, healers will be NE and E, and DPS will be on the last four positions. However, the DPS will have to adjust based on what debuff they get.
- Acting Healer will go opposite of the healers at W and SW.
- Acting Tank will go opposite of the tanks at SE and S.
All players will be inflicted with Elemental Belone, which makes them weak to all elements except the one not tethered by Bloodrake earlier.
Hesperos will then cast Bloodrake on all players. Heal up and mitigate heavily for the next mechanic.
He will then spawn eight orbs outside of each player, which will tether to them at the end of the castbar. Any player of their role cannot take the orb, and the players with the corresponding Acting Role debuff needs to run into the orb to explode it with their partner - a player with the same Acting Role debuff as them.
With this positioning, all players can simply run directly opposite of their position with their partner, pop an orb, wait for a heal if necessary, and then pop the orb directly clockwise.
Afterwards, heal all players up, mitigate, as Periaktoi does massive damage. Stand on the elemental square that was not tethered at the beginning of this phase with Bloodrake. If you remembered from earlier, our example was Fire, so we would stand on Fire.
Next, position the boss middle and face him north. We will do a variation on the first mechanic set in the fight, but with towers this time instead of Bloodrake indicating which role does the mechanics.
Belone Coils will spawn four towers at numbered markers. Each tower will have an indicator showing what role cannot take that tower. The role that can stand inside the tower needs to stand inside. The role that is soaking the tower cannot take tethers later.
Meanwhile, the other role has to take tethers from Inversive Chlamys and take them out (max melee is fine). As the tower players cannot stand in a line, the tether players need to stand in the middle, wiggle a bit to ensure all tethers are taken, and go to their clock spots - go clockwise one spot if necessary.
The boss casts Aetheric Chlamys, locking in who will take Inversive Chlamys tethers later.
Heal up and mitigate for Bloodrake.
Hesperos will cast Belone Coils again. Again, each tower will have an indicator showing what role cannot take that tower, and it can be the same role or a different role as last time. There are no tethers this time. The role that is soaking the tower cannot take the Role Call debuff later.
- For example, if supports could not take the first tower, they would be taking the Inversive Chlamys tethers later. If DPS could not take the second tower, they would be taking the Role Call debuff later.
Immediately after towers, all players should spread out to clock spots to see who receives the Role Call debuff from Director’s Belone. The role that needs to take the debuff should move to a player that has the debuff if necessary.
The role that needs to take the tethers should take the tethers. Use whichever method that your group is more comfortable with, and remember to spread.
Ability Order
Elegant Evisceration
Bloodrake (three elemental quadrants)
Setting the Scene
Vengeful Belone
diff --git a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p2/index.html b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p2/index.html
index f6e58fd2b4..e8f3338f11 100644
--- a/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p2/index.html
+++ b/encounters/savage/pandaemonium/p4s-p2/index.html
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
Dark Knight
Gunbreaker
Paladin
-WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Hesperos’s second form in Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle (Savage).
The Fourth Circle (Savage) is the fourth raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Random Asphodelos Weapon
- Asphodelos Chest Gear Coffer
Chest Two:
One of:
- Asphodelos Weapon Coffer
- Demi-Phoinix Horn
- Nosferatu
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos IV
Eight of these tokens can be traded in for chest gear or a weapon at a Pandaemonium gear vendor.
Major Mechanics
Hesperos’s second form has a hard enrage of 8:25 into the encounter and requires roughly 47.9k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players a clock spot. Assign two light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. In addition, assign each melee/tank and ranged/healer a number from one to four. These will be used to soak towers later into the fight.
Place markers on the arena as such.
Akanthai Mechanics
The fight is split into several Akanthai Acts. Each Act is preceded by Hesperos showing mechanics that will be cast with thorns on the arena. He will tether to thorns with Wreath of Thorns, showing the order of the mechanics cast. Thorns can represent towers, tethers to players, or large explosions. Tethers to towers will be represented with the Thornpricked debuff. Players can also be tethered to other players. All tethers are broken by distance.
Hemitheos’s Fire IV
This thorn will be a large semi-circular AoE on the outside of the arena.
Hemitheos’s Thunder III
This thorn will be a tower that players have to soak, dealing moderate damage and inflicting a Lightning Resistance Down debuff and a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Hemitheos’s Fire III*
Two players will be tethered together with a fire (red) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, both players will take AoE damage that must be shared by two other players. All players damaged will receive a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Hemitheos’s Aero III
Two players with be tethered together with a air (teal) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, both players will instantly die. If allowed to time out, both players will dodge this instant kill.
Hemitheos’s Dark IV
One player will be tethered to a thorn with a dark (purple) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, all players will take heavy magic damage and be inflicted with a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff. In addition, this will trigger the tethered thorn’s Hemitheos’s Fire IV if applicable.
Hemitheos’s Water III
One player will be tethered to a thorn with a water (blue) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, there will be an AoE around the player that deals moderate damage and inflicts a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff. In addition, this will trigger the tethered thorn’s Hemitheos’s Thunder III.
Hemitheos’s Water IV*
This thorn will knockback from the center of the arena.
Akanthai Acts
Akanthai: Act 1
Act 1 has two Fire IV thorns north and south, two Fire IV thorns east and west, and eight Thunder III thorns at intercardinals in and out.
Akanthai: Act 2
Act 2 has two Fire IV thorns north and south, two Fire IV thorns east and west, and four Thunder III thorns at cardinal edges, though all of these are slightly offset. In addition, one tank or one healer will be tethered with Dark IV, a healer and a tank will be tethered with Fire III, two DPS will be tethered with Fire III, and two DPS will be tethered with Aero III.
Akanthai: Act 3
Act 3 has four Thunder III thorns on one edge east or west, four Thunder III thorns on one edge on the opposite side, and one Water IV thorn in the middle of the arena.
Akanthai: Act 4
Act 4 has four Thunder III thorns at either cardinal or intercardinal edges and four Fire IV thorns at either intercardinal or cardinal edges. Four players will be tethered to the Thunder III thorns with Water III, while four players will be tethered to the Fire IV thorns with Dark IV.
Akanthai: Finale
The Finale has eight Thunder III thorns around the middle of the arena in a circle. In addition, there will be two thorns at opposite intercardinal edges which tethers four players of a role (tank/healer or DPS) with Aero III.
Akanthai: Curtain Call
The Curtain Call has eight Dark IV thorns at cardinal and intercardinal edges that tether to one player each.
General Mechanics
Searing Stream
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Dark Design
AoEs will appear on the ground under all players. Bait these together and dodge.
Ultimate Impulse
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Nearsight and Farsight
An AoE tank buster on two targets chosen by promixity to the boss.
- Nearsight will target the two closest players. The two tanks should be inside the boss’s hitbox and all other players should be max melee range or further.
- Farsight will target the two furthest players. The two tanks should be outside the boss’s hitbox at max melee range and all other players should be in the center of the boss’s hitbox.
Demigod’s Double
A devastating tank buster on the main tank in an AoE around them. This must be shared with the off tank and mitigated, or invulned by themselves.
Heart Stake
A heavy tank buster on the two players with the highest enmity. This will inflict an uncleansable bleed DoT for 15 seconds.
Kothornos Kick
Hesperos jumps to the furthest player, knocking back all other players that are caught in the radius. This deals moderate magic damage to the player jumped to and inflicts a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Kothornos Quake
Hesperos will shoot three unmarked conal AoEs at the closest three players, dealing light damage and inflicting a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Fleeting Impulse
Hesperos turns to each player in order and does an AoE around them, dealing moderate magic damage and inflicting a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Hell’s Sting
Hesperos will shoot marked conal AoEs. After this ability is cast, he will shoot unmarked conal AoEs into the areas he did not before. Move into the marked conal AoEs to dodge. Getting hit will deal moderate damage and inflict a ~42% damage down debuff.
Fight Strategy
Akanthai: Act 1
The fight starts off with a heavy hitting AoE, so pre-shield and mitigate.
Players can generally ignore the actual cast of the Akanthai mechanic, and instead base their positioning when the boss casts Wreath of Thorns.
For the first Act, players need to dodge two large AoE explosions at north/south or east/west, each soak a tower, and then move into the final safe spot at east/west or north/south. Here is a Toolbox Diagram explaining how to do the mechanic.
Look at which thorns Wreath of Thorns tethers to first. If Hesperos tethers to north and south, players will be starting east and west. If Hesperos tethers to east and west, players will be starting north and south. Light party 1 should go north, and light party 2 should go south.
- First, dodge the explosions - max melee range is safe.
- Next, each player needs to go soak their pre-assigned towers. Healers and ranged DPS will be getting the outer four, and tanks and melee DPS will be getting the inner four. Tanks and healers go clockwise, DPS go counterclockwise.
- Finally, move to the safe spot by rotating further to east/west or north/south.
Immediately after, tanks will need to do Farsight or Nearsight. All other players should be either inside the boss’s hitbox or outside the boss’s hitbox to ensure they are not hit.
Ability Order
Searing Stream
+WarriorIntroduction
This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Hesperos’s second form in Asphodelos: The Fourth Circle (Savage).
The Fourth Circle (Savage) is the fourth raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.
Videos
Drops
Chest One:
One of:
- Random Asphodelos Weapon
- Asphodelos Chest Gear Coffer
Chest Two:
One of:
- Asphodelos Weapon Coffer
- Demi-Phoinix Horn
- Nosferatu
Token
- Asphodelos Mythos IV
Eight of these tokens can be traded in for chest gear or a weapon at a Pandaemonium gear vendor.
Major Mechanics
Hesperos’s second form has a hard enrage of 8:25 into the encounter and requires roughly 47.9k raid DPS to defeat before then.
Pre-pull Preparation
Assign all players a clock spot. Assign two light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. In addition, assign each melee/tank and ranged/healer a number from one to four. These will be used to soak towers later into the fight.
Place markers on the arena as such.
Akanthai Mechanics
The fight is split into several Akanthai Acts. Each Act is preceded by Hesperos showing mechanics that will be cast with thorns on the arena. He will tether to thorns with Wreath of Thorns, showing the order of the mechanics cast. Thorns can represent towers, tethers to players, or large explosions. Tethers to towers will be represented with the Thornpricked debuff. Players can also be tethered to other players. All tethers are broken by distance.
Hemitheos’s Fire IV
This thorn will be a large semi-circular AoE on the outside of the arena.
Hemitheos’s Thunder III
This thorn will be a tower that players have to soak, dealing moderate damage and inflicting a Lightning Resistance Down debuff and a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Hemitheos’s Fire III*
Two players will be tethered together with a fire (red) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, both players will take AoE damage that must be shared by two other players. All players damaged will receive a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Hemitheos’s Aero III
Two players with be tethered together with a air (teal) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, both players will instantly die. If allowed to time out, both players will dodge this instant kill.
Hemitheos’s Dark IV
One player will be tethered to a thorn with a dark (purple) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, all players will take heavy magic damage and be inflicted with a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff. In addition, this will trigger the tethered thorn’s Hemitheos’s Fire IV if applicable.
Hemitheos’s Water III
One player will be tethered to a thorn with a water (blue) symbol on top. When this tether is broken, there will be an AoE around the player that deals moderate damage and inflicts a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff. In addition, this will trigger the tethered thorn’s Hemitheos’s Thunder III.
Hemitheos’s Water IV*
This thorn will knockback from the center of the arena.
Akanthai Acts
Akanthai: Act 1
Act 1 has two Fire IV thorns north and south, two Fire IV thorns east and west, and eight Thunder III thorns at intercardinals in and out.
Akanthai: Act 2
Act 2 has two Fire IV thorns north and south, two Fire IV thorns east and west, and four Thunder III thorns at cardinal edges, though all of these are slightly offset. In addition, one tank or one healer will be tethered with Dark IV, a healer and a tank will be tethered with Fire III, two DPS will be tethered with Fire III, and two DPS will be tethered with Aero III.
Akanthai: Act 3
Act 3 has four Thunder III thorns on one edge east or west, four Thunder III thorns on one edge on the opposite side, and one Water IV thorn in the middle of the arena.
Akanthai: Act 4
Act 4 has four Thunder III thorns at either cardinal or intercardinal edges and four Fire IV thorns at either intercardinal or cardinal edges. Four players will be tethered to the Thunder III thorns with Water III, while four players will be tethered to the Fire IV thorns with Dark IV.
Akanthai: Finale
The Finale has eight Thunder III thorns around the middle of the arena in a circle. In addition, there will be two thorns at opposite intercardinal edges which tethers four players of a role (tank/healer or DPS) with Aero III.
Akanthai: Curtain Call
The Curtain Call has eight Dark IV thorns at cardinal and intercardinal edges that tether to one player each.
General Mechanics
Searing Stream
A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Dark Design
AoEs will appear on the ground under all players. Bait these together and dodge.
Ultimate Impulse
A catastrophic raidwide AoE that deals magic damage.
Nearsight and Farsight
An AoE tank buster on two targets chosen by promixity to the boss.
- Nearsight will target the two closest players. The two tanks should be inside the boss’s hitbox and all other players should be max melee range or further.
- Farsight will target the two furthest players. The two tanks should be outside the boss’s hitbox at max melee range and all other players should be in the center of the boss’s hitbox.
Demigod’s Double
A devastating tank buster on the main tank in an AoE around them. This must be shared with the off tank and mitigated, or invulned by themselves.
Heart Stake
A heavy tank buster on the two players with the highest enmity. This will inflict an uncleansable bleed DoT for 15 seconds.
Kothornos Kick
Hesperos jumps to the furthest player, knocking back all other players that are caught in the radius. This deals moderate magic damage to the player jumped to and inflicts a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Kothornos Quake
Hesperos will shoot three unmarked conal AoEs at the closest three players, dealing light damage and inflicting a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Fleeting Impulse
Hesperos turns to each player in order and does an AoE around them, dealing moderate magic damage and inflicting a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff.
Hell’s Sting
Hesperos will shoot marked conal AoEs. After this ability is cast, he will shoot unmarked conal AoEs into the areas he did not before. Move into the marked conal AoEs to dodge. Getting hit will deal moderate damage and inflict a ~42% damage down debuff.
Fight Strategy
Akanthai: Act 1
The fight starts off with a heavy hitting AoE, so pre-shield and mitigate.
Players can generally ignore the actual cast of the Akanthai mechanic, and instead base their positioning when the boss casts Wreath of Thorns.
For the first Act, players need to dodge two large AoE explosions at north/south or east/west, each soak a tower, and then move into the final safe spot at east/west or north/south. Here is a Toolbox Diagram explaining how to do the mechanic.
Look at which thorns Wreath of Thorns tethers to first. If Hesperos tethers to north and south, players will be starting east and west. If Hesperos tethers to east and west, players will be starting north and south. Light party 1 should go north, and light party 2 should go south.
- First, dodge the explosions - max melee range is safe.
- Next, each player needs to go soak their pre-assigned towers. Healers and ranged DPS will be getting the outer four, and tanks and melee DPS will be getting the inner four. Tanks and healers go clockwise, DPS go counterclockwise.
- Finally, move to the safe spot by rotating further to east/west or north/south.
Immediately after, tanks will need to do Farsight or Nearsight. All other players should be either inside the boss’s hitbox or outside the boss’s hitbox to ensure they are not hit.
Ability Order
Searing Stream
Akanthai: Act 1
Searing Stream
Wreath of Thorns
diff --git a/guide/becoming-a-better-tank/index.html b/guide/becoming-a-better-tank/index.html
index 77dd199fba..b9fb490479 100644
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Dark Knight Guide: [Currently Unavailable, will be updated when available]
Paladin Guide: Vigilamus Pro Te
Warrior Guide: How to Fell Cleave
Mindset
Why Attitude and Approach is Important
The way a tank mentally approaches content and group interactions significantly affects personal performance as well as party cohesion. There are many important aspects of a positive mentality for tanking (or any role really).
The first aspect is being open to communication. It is impossible to work out issues with a person who simply refuses to cooperate and communicate. Be open to feedback among your group, whether that is feedback regarding boss positioning, or mitigation, etc. Remember this is a team game, and great tanks will do their best to be a team player in every regard. This includes being open to criticism about your gameplay. If you think you know a better way to handle a mechanic, mitigation plans, etc., communicate it! Openness to communication will go a long way in helping you and your group be better.
Second, be open to trying new things. Sometimes your group will ask you to try something that you aren’t necessarily comfortable with, or that sounds like something you wouldn’t normally want to do. Be open to trying it. If it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to doing what you were doing before, or you or your group may get new ideas for how to approach your specific situation. Being blatantly stubborn about something will only frustrate the group which can hinder group performance.
Third, drop the mindset of a set Main Tank (MT) and Off Tank (OT). Fights in FFXIV are generally structured so that both of the tanks will spend at least some time “main tanking” the fight, even if it’s short. It is often more valuable to think of the other tank in your party as your “co-tank” rather than your MT or OT. Some mechanics can be resolved differently depending on how you and your co-tank want to approach it. Sometimes it may even be useful to have a tank swap at certain places to make boss movement, mitigation, etc. easier for your co-tank. This will be discussed more in depth in the mitigation section, as a significant part of mitigation optimization is making effective use of your co-tank’s cooldowns as well.
Mitigation
Why We Don’t Just Push Rampart on Cooldown
Mitigation at high level gameplay is as integral a part of a tank’s gameplay as doing their
-damage rotation. Optimal mitigation usage will vary fight to fight as well as vary with group compositions. However, two things will always remain constant: optimal mitigation use will always aim to:
- cover as much damage as possible under each cooldown, and
- maximize the number of uses of each cooldown (where applicable).
Covering the most damage possible under your cooldowns can make a world of difference for your healers. For example: if a fight has a long string of auto attacks (autos) leading into a tank buster, then no damage for ~10s after the tank buster, optimal mitigation usage would be to pop your mitigation early to cover the auto attacks and the buster. Popping your mitigation right before the tank buster would waste at least 10 seconds of the cooldown where the tank is taking no damage after the buster in this example. Mitigating the string of autos leading into the tank buster could be the difference between needing a GCD heal from your healers to survive or not.
Invulns (Hallowed Ground, Superbolide, Living Dead, and Holmgang) for party share mechanics are a great example of this as well. One example is the Morn Afahs in E8S. The party can either stack together and share the damage, or one tank can just invuln the mechanic, keeping the party from taking any damage. Whether using your invulns in this way is worth it is up to the party and whether or not it saves healer GCDs. The less your healers have to GCD heal, the more damage they can do.
Maximizing the number of uses of each cooldown is also an extremely important part of optimizing your mitigation. For example: let’s look at a fight like Shiva Savage (E8S). At a very basic level, you only need to use mitigation for the tank busters (two Double Slaps, the knockback mirrors, and Banish III during Icelit), as almost all other damage comes from raid wide attacks and autos. However, Shiva autos hit very hard, and you have many “free” uses of your cooldowns before you need them for the busters. To maximize your uses, you would use your mitigations at these “free” spots. Having mitigation active for long strings of autos with some raid wides sprinkled in will reduce your damage taken significantly, which means you will need less healing, and in turn has a high chance of reducing or eliminating healer GCDs. A healer that doesn’t need to GCD heal is a happy healer.
Remember that you are not the only tank in an instance (outside of dungeon content). Managing your cooldowns in tandem with your co-tank is very important. Tank swapping so that you can make use of your co-tank’s mitigation tools can be very beneficial for helping your healers to heal as little as possible. This is going to vary drastically from fight to fight as well as static to static. Work with your team to see how you can take advantage of this, especially if your co-tank is sitting on mitigation for a long time because they don’t need it.
Mitigating As The Off Tank
If you are the Off Tank (OT, also known as Secondary Tank or ST in some regions), remember to use Heart of Stone, Aurora, Intervention, The Blackest Night, or Nascent Flash as often possible on your Main Tank (MT), or for specific places where your co-tank is taking a lot of damage (i.e. tank busters). Specific uses will be fight dependent. (Note: Using The Blackest Night on cooldown is often not the best use for it, as doing so would hinder the ability to put damage under raid buffs Please consult DRK specific resources for TBN optimizations.) Additionally, it can be extremely beneficial for the healers if a tank uses their kit to help recover after someone messes up. For example: let’s assume a DPS stood in a mechanic and got a vuln stack and is lower health than normal, and there is a strong raid wide damage cast coming. A tank using Nascent/TBN/HoS/Intervention may save the DPS’s life without the healers having to specifically focus on the DPS. The same is true if anyone messes up. This is, of course situational, but it is something that great tanks should always keep in mind.
Party Mitigation
Tanks also have tools to reduce damage taken on the entire party (Heart of Light, Dark Missionary, Divine Veil, Passage of Arms, Shake It Off, and Reprisal). Most of the time these tools are best used on raid-wide damage, rather than on personal damage, since reducing damage on everyone at once is more valuable than reducing damage only on yourself. Work with your party to see where the best places to use your tools are, as other party mitigation exists and having multiple on one source of damage could be less valuable than having them spread out over multiple sources. Likewise, stacking several for one big source could be more valuable than spreading them out over multiple sources. This will vary among fights and party compositions.
Dungeon Mitigation
For dungeons, mitigation is a bit of a different animal. Ideally, we want to be pulling as many mobs as possible and stack them up to be mowed down by party AoE. Mitigation is hugely important for this because properly using mitigation will let the healer also contribute to the AoE. Healers, especially WHM, are AoE monsters if they don’t have to constantly stop casting to heal the tank. The ideal way to handle mitigation in these pulls is to mitigate proportional to how many mobs are alive/present. Typically, you’ll start with stronger mitigation first (i.e. your 30% cooldown), then rotate to weaker ones as the pull goes on. Remember that Arm’s Length is a very strong dungeon cooldown as it puts a 20% slow debuff on your targets, essentially making them hit you 20% less. The specifics of what you use and what order will vary dungeon to dungeon, and may even need to be adjusted based on the party damage/if the healer is just being a healbot or not. You almost never need mitigation for the dungeon bosses themselves, so the only considerations that you need to keep in mind is if there is another pack of mobs before the next boss. If so, you’ll want to try to keep some mitigation for that pack.
Facilitating Party Uptime
How to Help Your Party Get the Most Damage Possible
A tank’s job goes beyond just mitigating their own damage taken and holding aggro on the enemies. Your job as a tank is to do what you can to maximize the party’s damage in any way you can. An extremely important facet of this is helping your party get maximum uptime. More uptime = more damage. There are a few ways that tanks can do this: boss positioning, mechanical execution, and use of their mitigation toolkit.
Boss positioning is by far one of the biggest complaints melee DPS make about tanks who don’t know what they are doing. Melee DPS have positional requirements on many of their skills, meaning if the boss is positioned in a way that they can’t meet these requirements, they lose damage. Specific positioning is going to vary fight to fight, but the important thing is to always make sure the rear and flank of the boss is accessible to melee DPS where possible. Yes, melee have access to True North stacks, but that is not an excuse for making the rear and flank inaccessible.
Furthermore, keeping the boss in range, not only of the melees, but the whole party is important. Some mechanics may require specific players to move away from the boss. It is important for the tank to understand where they can keep the boss so that these players are still in range to hit the boss. For keeping melee range, this may mean moving the boss closer to where the melee will resolve their mechanic, if possible, so that they can continue to hit the boss while doing so. This also includes the tank executing their mechanics so that the boss moves as little as possible, or the boss moves into a favorable position for everyone.
Tanks should also be mindful not just of where they move the boss, but how they move the boss. Moving a boss in a way that allows you as a tank to keep uptime, but costs melee DPS GCDs is practicing bad tanking habits. An experienced tank should always look for a way to compromise so that everyone can keep full uptime. If worse comes to worst, melee DPS GCDs are almost always worth more than tank GCDs. As with everything else, each fight will have specific movements and positionings for these things.
In the previous section, we talked about using mitigation to allow healers to heal less and DPS more. Another important use of our mitigation toolkit is using it to allow the party to keep uptime. This may be as simple as just using Reprisal+raidwide mitigation to allow the party to stay in one spot for a mechanic, or as nuanced as needing to use Heart of Stone/Nascent/Intervention/TBN on a specific person at a specific time to let them keep uptime by doing something that would normally be fatal, like standing in an AoE that would normally force them away from the boss. A great example of this is in E6S: for the first Vacuum Wave mechanic, a PLD can use Cover on a melee DPS to prevent them from getting sucked in, as well as making the DPS not have to move out of the AoE explosions. For some classes that have a very strict rotation (like SAM), this can be a huge damage gain.
Damage
Why Parses Aren’t the Only Measure of a Tank’s Ability
A tank’s damage is one of the biggest things that tends to be focused on. A lot of people place a lot of stock in how someone stacks up in FFLogs rankings. However, people who think that tank DPS is the most important aspect of tanking are incorrect. A tank parsing purple, but is consistent with mechanics, mitigation, and positioning, is often a better tank overall than someone who is extremely inconsistent or chases parses at the expense of the party. Having 99th percentile parses mean nothing if you are actively hurting your party to get them. That being said: tank DPS is a very important factor. Individually, and in a group of high damage players, high damage tanks account for about 10% of total party damage. There are three core factors to being a high damage tank: uptime, rotational execution, and buff contribution.
Almost every job guide you will find in The Balance includes a section that says something similar to “Always Be Casting, The ABCs of FFXIV.” Uptime refers to how often your GCD is rolling throughout the fight. This guide assumes you have at least a basic knowledge of what uptime is. Please see the relevant job guide or ask in the appropriate questions channel of The Balance for clarity. It is often more overall damage to be doing the wrong thing, but keep high uptime, than to do the right thing with huge gaps between skills.
Personal uptime is one of the most critical factors to keeping your damage high. Part of keeping uptime is by doing what is commonly known as Greeding mechanics. Greeding refers to staying at the boss to keep your GCD rolling as long as possible before breaking off to resolve a mechanic. The goal is to minimize downtime (not having your GCD rolling) as much as possible. Sometimes this means losing one GCD instead of leaving earlier and losing three. Sometimes this means you keep your GCD rolling through the whole mechanic. Sometimes this may even mean using your ranged skill (Lightning Shot, Shield Lob, Tomahawk, or Unmend) while you are away, but this is often a last resort and is typically only used in periods of extended downtime (unless you are not mid-combo).
Note: Greeding during prog is often okay to do to an extent. If you are likely to cause a wipe, or you are inconsistent with greeding a mechanic, it is often significantly better to play a little safer and get the clear first, then later you can work on improving your greed.
Rotational execution is the next key factor in keeping your damage high. For tanks this means do your combos and don’t break them, and keep your skills on cooldown. Broken combos cause you to lose potency as well as the additional gauge/mana/healing (if applicable) that a completed combo would provide. Continuously breaking your primary combo will eventually cause you to lose uses of your gauge spenders (or dot ticks/atonement uses for PLD), which will be a significant damage loss. Keeping your skills on cooldown ensures you get maximum uses of them during a fight, which means you get the maximum damage from them. Delaying skills outside of acceptable situations can cause you to miss raid buffs, miss dot ticks, or completely miss casts/uses of the skill, all of which are a direct damage loss.
Furthermore, another facet of rotational execution is to avoid clipping as much as possible. This refers to delaying your GCD by using another skill late into the GCD clock and the animation lock preventing your GCD from rolling immediately. Constantly clipping can cause you to lose GCDs under buffs (for example, getting eight GCDs in No Mercy on GNB, or only getting four Bloodspillers in Delirium on DRK) which can result in massive potency losses. If you play on high ping, double weaving at all may cause clipping, and sometimes it is better to single weave only to avoid clipping. Please consult your relevant tank’s resources and questions channels for more information.
Finally, playing into raid buffs is an important aspect of optimizing tank damage. Some people think that because rDPS exists in FFLogs, and is the default metric for rankings, that playing into raid buffs is not important since rDPS gives the extra damage that you did under raid buffs to the person providing the buff anyway. rDPS is a terrible metric for tanks because we do not provide buffs. Tanks who want to optimize their gameplay should play in raid buffs as much as possible. aDPS is a better metric to judge tank DPS by because it better reflects how well you play into buffs, however it is not perfect.
Regardless, great tanks will try to get their high damage abilities under buffs where possible. This may mean pooling resources to put them in specific buffs (without overcapping on resources). Damage buffs interact multiplicatively, meaning the more that are present, the stronger they each are. For example: two 5% damage buffs provide a 10.25% damage buff combined, rather than 10%. This makes it especially important to get big hits under as many raid buffs as possible. Each tank has different ways in which they play into buffs optimally, please consult your respective job resources for how to do this.
Consistency and Adaptability
Do It the Same Every Time as Much as Possible
Consistency is probably the most important facet of being a great tank. A tank should be able to do things as close to the same way as possible every time. That being said, we are human, we do make mistakes. The important part is to try to keep it the same as much as possible. This counts for everything that has been covered in this guide. If mitigation is inconsistent, healers may struggle to keep you alive without having to give up their damage to fix your mistake. DPS that have a tank that is consistent in the way they move/position the boss will be able to plan their own movement and positionals to maximize their damage. Furthermore, having an inconsistent player can be incredibly demoralizing for a group. No one wants to be the person that wiped the group again because they forgot mitigation or failed a mechanic. Consistency is a skill like anything else. If you actively work on being more consistent, you will become more consistent over time.
Great tanks also should be adaptable to a situation. This means not being a one trick pony. Great tanks will be able to help fix group mistakes by covering for mechanics or using their mitigation to keep someone alive. This is not always possible! Some mechanics if they get messed up, the only option is to wipe. Sometimes it is impossible to cover a mechanic as a tank because you would wipe the group by doing so. The important part is to understand what is going on in the fight and be able to change things on the fly to save the group. This also means being able to cover the responsibilities of both the MT and OT. Many players seem to have a mindset of “I only OT so I don’t need to learn how to resolve this and move the boss,” but it is important to learn both roles. You never know if your co-tank is going to die and now you suddenly have to cover their mechanic.
Closing Thoughts
While not exclusive to all aspects that can help a tank be a great tank, the ideas covered in this guide are some of the most important. It is important to remember that tanking, like most things, is a skill that can be learned and improved upon. Continuously working to improve each of the facets mentioned in this guide will eventually produce results. Keep your head up, everyone starts somewhere. Work hard, ask questions if you don’t understand, and keep improving. With time, you too can become a great tank.
Special Thanks
- Athunin Tried for editing and providing ideas and feedback for this doc.
- Rin Karigani, Ariane Sephaine, Mox Xinmagar, & Shar Himaa: fellow Balance tank mentors who provided their insight and feedback for this doc.
Changelog
Version Number Change Log v1.0 Guide Created for release for FFXIV Patch 5.4
- cover as much damage as possible under each cooldown, and
- maximize the number of uses of each cooldown (where applicable).
Covering the most damage possible under your cooldowns can make a world of difference for your healers. For example: if a fight has a long string of auto attacks (autos) leading into a tank buster, then no damage for ~10s after the tank buster, optimal mitigation usage would be to pop your mitigation early to cover the auto attacks and the buster. Popping your mitigation right before the tank buster would waste at least 10 seconds of the cooldown where the tank is taking no damage after the buster in this example. Mitigating the string of autos leading into the tank buster could be the difference between needing a GCD heal from your healers to survive or not.
Invulns (Hallowed Ground, Superbolide, Living Dead, and Holmgang) for party share mechanics are a great example of this as well. One example is the Morn Afahs in E8S. The party can either stack together and share the damage, or one tank can just invuln the mechanic, keeping the party from taking any damage. Whether using your invulns in this way is worth it is up to the party and whether or not it saves healer GCDs. The less your healers have to GCD heal, the more damage they can do.
Maximizing the number of uses of each cooldown is also an extremely important part of optimizing your mitigation. For example: let’s look at a fight like Shiva Savage (E8S). At a very basic level, you only need to use mitigation for the tank busters (two Double Slaps, the knockback mirrors, and Banish III during Icelit), as almost all other damage comes from raid wide attacks and autos. However, Shiva autos hit very hard, and you have many “free” uses of your cooldowns before you need them for the busters. To maximize your uses, you would use your mitigations at these “free” spots. Having mitigation active for long strings of autos with some raid wides sprinkled in will reduce your damage taken significantly, which means you will need less healing, and in turn has a high chance of reducing or eliminating healer GCDs. A healer that doesn’t need to GCD heal is a happy healer.
Remember that you are not the only tank in an instance (outside of dungeon content). Managing your cooldowns in tandem with your co-tank is very important. Tank swapping so that you can make use of your co-tank’s mitigation tools can be very beneficial for helping your healers to heal as little as possible. This is going to vary drastically from fight to fight as well as static to static. Work with your team to see how you can take advantage of this, especially if your co-tank is sitting on mitigation for a long time because they don’t need it.
Mitigating As The Off Tank
If you are the Off Tank (OT, also known as Secondary Tank or ST in some regions), remember to use Heart of Stone, Aurora, Intervention, The Blackest Night, or Nascent Flash as often possible on your Main Tank (MT), or for specific places where your co-tank is taking a lot of damage (i.e. tank busters). Specific uses will be fight dependent. (Note: Using The Blackest Night on cooldown is often not the best use for it, as doing so would hinder the ability to put damage under raid buffs Please consult DRK specific resources for TBN optimizations.) Additionally, it can be extremely beneficial for the healers if a tank uses their kit to help recover after someone messes up. For example: let’s assume a DPS stood in a mechanic and got a vuln stack and is lower health than normal, and there is a strong raid wide damage cast coming. A tank using Nascent/TBN/HoS/Intervention may save the DPS’s life without the healers having to specifically focus on the DPS. The same is true if anyone messes up. This is, of course situational, but it is something that great tanks should always keep in mind.
Party Mitigation
Tanks also have tools to reduce damage taken on the entire party (Heart of Light, Dark Missionary, Divine Veil, Passage of Arms, Shake It Off, and Reprisal). Most of the time these tools are best used on raid-wide damage, rather than on personal damage, since reducing damage on everyone at once is more valuable than reducing damage only on yourself. Work with your party to see where the best places to use your tools are, as other party mitigation exists and having multiple on one source of damage could be less valuable than having them spread out over multiple sources. Likewise, stacking several for one big source could be more valuable than spreading them out over multiple sources. This will vary among fights and party compositions.
Dungeon Mitigation
For dungeons, mitigation is a bit of a different animal. Ideally, we want to be pulling as many mobs as possible and stack them up to be mowed down by party AoE. Mitigation is hugely important for this because properly using mitigation will let the healer also contribute to the AoE. Healers, especially WHM, are AoE monsters if they don’t have to constantly stop casting to heal the tank. The ideal way to handle mitigation in these pulls is to mitigate proportional to how many mobs are alive/present. Typically, you’ll start with stronger mitigation first (i.e. your 30% cooldown), then rotate to weaker ones as the pull goes on. Remember that Arm’s Length is a very strong dungeon cooldown as it puts a 20% slow debuff on your targets, essentially making them hit you 20% less. The specifics of what you use and what order will vary dungeon to dungeon, and may even need to be adjusted based on the party damage/if the healer is just being a healbot or not. You almost never need mitigation for the dungeon bosses themselves, so the only considerations that you need to keep in mind is if there is another pack of mobs before the next boss. If so, you’ll want to try to keep some mitigation for that pack.
Facilitating Party Uptime
How to Help Your Party Get the Most Damage Possible
A tank’s job goes beyond just mitigating their own damage taken and holding aggro on the enemies. Your job as a tank is to do what you can to maximize the party’s damage in any way you can. An extremely important facet of this is helping your party get maximum uptime. More uptime = more damage. There are a few ways that tanks can do this: boss positioning, mechanical execution, and use of their mitigation toolkit.
Boss positioning is by far one of the biggest complaints melee DPS make about tanks who don’t know what they are doing. Melee DPS have positional requirements on many of their skills, meaning if the boss is positioned in a way that they can’t meet these requirements, they lose damage. Specific positioning is going to vary fight to fight, but the important thing is to always make sure the rear and flank of the boss is accessible to melee DPS where possible. Yes, melee have access to True North stacks, but that is not an excuse for making the rear and flank inaccessible.
Furthermore, keeping the boss in range, not only of the melees, but the whole party is important. Some mechanics may require specific players to move away from the boss. It is important for the tank to understand where they can keep the boss so that these players are still in range to hit the boss. For keeping melee range, this may mean moving the boss closer to where the melee will resolve their mechanic, if possible, so that they can continue to hit the boss while doing so. This also includes the tank executing their mechanics so that the boss moves as little as possible, or the boss moves into a favorable position for everyone.
Tanks should also be mindful not just of where they move the boss, but how they move the boss. Moving a boss in a way that allows you as a tank to keep uptime, but costs melee DPS GCDs is practicing bad tanking habits. An experienced tank should always look for a way to compromise so that everyone can keep full uptime. If worse comes to worst, melee DPS GCDs are almost always worth more than tank GCDs. As with everything else, each fight will have specific movements and positionings for these things.
In the previous section, we talked about using mitigation to allow healers to heal less and DPS more. Another important use of our mitigation toolkit is using it to allow the party to keep uptime. This may be as simple as just using Reprisal+raidwide mitigation to allow the party to stay in one spot for a mechanic, or as nuanced as needing to use Heart of Stone/Nascent/Intervention/TBN on a specific person at a specific time to let them keep uptime by doing something that would normally be fatal, like standing in an AoE that would normally force them away from the boss. A great example of this is in E6S: for the first Vacuum Wave mechanic, a PLD can use Cover on a melee DPS to prevent them from getting sucked in, as well as making the DPS not have to move out of the AoE explosions. For some classes that have a very strict rotation (like SAM), this can be a huge damage gain.
Damage
Why Parses Aren’t the Only Measure of a Tank’s Ability
A tank’s damage is one of the biggest things that tends to be focused on. A lot of people place a lot of stock in how someone stacks up in FFLogs rankings. However, people who think that tank DPS is the most important aspect of tanking are incorrect. A tank parsing purple, but is consistent with mechanics, mitigation, and positioning, is often a better tank overall than someone who is extremely inconsistent or chases parses at the expense of the party. Having 99th percentile parses mean nothing if you are actively hurting your party to get them. That being said: tank DPS is a very important factor. Individually, and in a group of high damage players, high damage tanks account for about 10% of total party damage. There are three core factors to being a high damage tank: uptime, rotational execution, and buff contribution.
Almost every job guide you will find in The Balance includes a section that says something similar to “Always Be Casting, The ABCs of FFXIV.” Uptime refers to how often your GCD is rolling throughout the fight. This guide assumes you have at least a basic knowledge of what uptime is. Please see the relevant job guide or ask in the appropriate questions channel of The Balance for clarity. It is often more overall damage to be doing the wrong thing, but keep high uptime, than to do the right thing with huge gaps between skills.
Personal uptime is one of the most critical factors to keeping your damage high. Part of keeping uptime is by doing what is commonly known as Greeding mechanics. Greeding refers to staying at the boss to keep your GCD rolling as long as possible before breaking off to resolve a mechanic. The goal is to minimize downtime (not having your GCD rolling) as much as possible. Sometimes this means losing one GCD instead of leaving earlier and losing three. Sometimes this means you keep your GCD rolling through the whole mechanic. Sometimes this may even mean using your ranged skill (Lightning Shot, Shield Lob, Tomahawk, or Unmend) while you are away, but this is often a last resort and is typically only used in periods of extended downtime (unless you are not mid-combo).
Note: Greeding during prog is often okay to do to an extent. If you are likely to cause a wipe, or you are inconsistent with greeding a mechanic, it is often significantly better to play a little safer and get the clear first, then later you can work on improving your greed.
Rotational execution is the next key factor in keeping your damage high. For tanks this means do your combos and don’t break them, and keep your skills on cooldown. Broken combos cause you to lose potency as well as the additional gauge/mana/healing (if applicable) that a completed combo would provide. Continuously breaking your primary combo will eventually cause you to lose uses of your gauge spenders (or dot ticks/atonement uses for PLD), which will be a significant damage loss. Keeping your skills on cooldown ensures you get maximum uses of them during a fight, which means you get the maximum damage from them. Delaying skills outside of acceptable situations can cause you to miss raid buffs, miss dot ticks, or completely miss casts/uses of the skill, all of which are a direct damage loss.
Furthermore, another facet of rotational execution is to avoid clipping as much as possible. This refers to delaying your GCD by using another skill late into the GCD clock and the animation lock preventing your GCD from rolling immediately. Constantly clipping can cause you to lose GCDs under buffs (for example, getting eight GCDs in No Mercy on GNB, or only getting four Bloodspillers in Delirium on DRK) which can result in massive potency losses. If you play on high ping, double weaving at all may cause clipping, and sometimes it is better to single weave only to avoid clipping. Please consult your relevant tank’s resources and questions channels for more information.
Finally, playing into raid buffs is an important aspect of optimizing tank damage. Some people think that because rDPS exists in FFLogs, and is the default metric for rankings, that playing into raid buffs is not important since rDPS gives the extra damage that you did under raid buffs to the person providing the buff anyway. rDPS is a terrible metric for tanks because we do not provide buffs. Tanks who want to optimize their gameplay should play in raid buffs as much as possible. aDPS is a better metric to judge tank DPS by because it better reflects how well you play into buffs, however it is not perfect.
Regardless, great tanks will try to get their high damage abilities under buffs where possible. This may mean pooling resources to put them in specific buffs (without overcapping on resources). Damage buffs interact multiplicatively, meaning the more that are present, the stronger they each are. For example: two 5% damage buffs provide a 10.25% damage buff combined, rather than 10%. This makes it especially important to get big hits under as many raid buffs as possible. Each tank has different ways in which they play into buffs optimally, please consult your respective job resources for how to do this.
Consistency and Adaptability
Do It the Same Every Time as Much as Possible
Consistency is probably the most important facet of being a great tank. A tank should be able to do things as close to the same way as possible every time. That being said, we are human, we do make mistakes. The important part is to try to keep it the same as much as possible. This counts for everything that has been covered in this guide. If mitigation is inconsistent, healers may struggle to keep you alive without having to give up their damage to fix your mistake. DPS that have a tank that is consistent in the way they move/position the boss will be able to plan their own movement and positionals to maximize their damage. Furthermore, having an inconsistent player can be incredibly demoralizing for a group. No one wants to be the person that wiped the group again because they forgot mitigation or failed a mechanic. Consistency is a skill like anything else. If you actively work on being more consistent, you will become more consistent over time.
Great tanks also should be adaptable to a situation. This means not being a one trick pony. Great tanks will be able to help fix group mistakes by covering for mechanics or using their mitigation to keep someone alive. This is not always possible! Some mechanics if they get messed up, the only option is to wipe. Sometimes it is impossible to cover a mechanic as a tank because you would wipe the group by doing so. The important part is to understand what is going on in the fight and be able to change things on the fly to save the group. This also means being able to cover the responsibilities of both the MT and OT. Many players seem to have a mindset of “I only OT so I don’t need to learn how to resolve this and move the boss,” but it is important to learn both roles. You never know if your co-tank is going to die and now you suddenly have to cover their mechanic.
Closing Thoughts
While not exclusive to all aspects that can help a tank be a great tank, the ideas covered in this guide are some of the most important. It is important to remember that tanking, like most things, is a skill that can be learned and improved upon. Continuously working to improve each of the facets mentioned in this guide will eventually produce results. Keep your head up, everyone starts somewhere. Work hard, ask questions if you don’t understand, and keep improving. With time, you too can become a great tank.
Special Thanks
- Athunin Tried for editing and providing ideas and feedback for this doc.
- Rin Karigani, Ariane Sephaine, Mox Xinmagar, & Shar Himaa: fellow Balance tank mentors who provided their insight and feedback for this doc.
Changelog
| Version Number | Change Log |
|---|---|
| v1.0 | Guide Created for release for FFXIV Patch 5.4 |