Lucent Citadel
Trash & Smash
Skirmisher
Spear thrust attack applies a 20 second bleed
Spear throw is a single target attack
Exploding spear Aoe targets random player and stuns on impact whilst doing damage, also leaves behind an AoE on the floor which will do damage over time if stood in.
Slasher
Applies a bleed DoT and has a basic heavy attack
2 Path Trash
Some groups will grab both Slashers and stack them on the other side near exit, other groups choose to pull all the trash to the entrance door and nuke it there. Whichever works best for your group
Acolyte
Spark is its ranged light attack
Quick Strike is a melee light attack
Smite is its basic heavy attack
Sunburst is a growing AoE that stuns on impact and sends out 5 smaller AoEs across the floor which can do some spicy damage.
Radiance when the acolyte is killed it leaves behind a pillar of light, any enemy caught in it will become invulnerable and any group member who is not cursed will take rolling damage the longer you spend in it.
Glimmer is a radiant AoE cast on random enemies whilst this ad remains alive
Firestorm
Slash light attack
Uppercut is its heavy attack
Tectonic Fissure the firestorm will stomp the ground and send out 3 waves of fire AoEs in an arc formation, whichever way they are facing at the time of channelling that is the direction this goes out.
Incineration is a slow growing AoE like a keelcutter from dreadsail if this ad isn't killed the group must avoid this AoE as the damage can cripple a group. This also applies darkness. Damage ticks once every 0.5 seconds
What is Darkness Cake?!?!
The dreaded CURSE, that large black AoE that drains your resources at a phenominal rate! Darkness comes from most of the ads throughout and if you gain 3 stacks then you will be cursed, icon appears similar to seething fury in your buffs/debuffs (if shown) and each tick of darkness lingers for a long time, cleansing curses in radiant lights or crystal areas will remove it but those radiant lights don't hang around for long so make sure you're aware of your surroundings and watch where you're stepping!
Boss Encounter 1
There is a light and dark side here and to access the other room you stand on the pad which will then take them to the other area.
There's 1 boss on each side and for the purposes of the guide they will be Light side & Dark side, additionally the bosses will need to die together or within a few seconds of each other (similar to twins in VMoL and twins in VDSR)
Which side is which?!
If you look at the pattern around the edge of the 3 large pads, one side is red (dark) and the other is gold (light)
Light Side
Count Ryelaz
Rakkhats love child is your main target, try and keep boss facing the mirror and group should be loose stacked around the boss.
Gloomy Blackguard
Ad has a Slash for a light attack and Rake is its conal heavy attack dished up in 2 swipes and its lusterbeam
LusterBeams these will be attached to random players when the ads turn up. players who have this must go over to the ads and break their shields/debuff so they can take damage when they come into stack, healers can slot taunt and LoS into the group if you're comfy. The beam doesn't last long so will need to be done quickly or the ads are invulnerable until their shield is removed.
Healers will taunt the skeles and bring them into the group through LoS when groups get comfy and further on in their adventures
Light Skeles/Boneflayers - Will come in with an invulnerbility shield which must be debuffed by the target players who have lusterbeam if not taken down they will grow into bigger ones and cause a bigger problem.
Meteors exactly like in VMoL players will have an AoE around them and a meteor will drop, do not stack as these will wipe the group out. The meteors will always follow up after a heavy attack from Rylez
Dark Side
Zilyesset
Crystal Scorpion with hypermobility issues
Sting/Twin Jab is its light attack
Heavy Strike is 3 or so ticks of damage over 5ish seconds, the 3 ticks are called Heavy Slash Heavy Smash and Heavy Strike This can not be perma blocked through and will need to block one hit and then buff and defend for the other attacks.
Focused Ray Long conal AoE
Fusion Ray/Brilliant Ray
Similar to the crystal floaty balls in Infinite Archive these will target random players and apply damage to the player, for training it is advised to kite these out of the group, you only need to walk in a small area as the damage only lasts a few seconds, its more of a healer check but if you stand still the damage increases. There can be up to 4 crystal balls in the fight at the same time and if you get really unlucky all beams can target one player.
Gloomy Infernium/Dark Slugs Tether to players and are the worse of the two ads that spawn either side as the enrage for this is less noticeable, they have a Melt which causes the tether to increase damage, add in the beams from the crystal balls it can be a healers worst nightmare!
Shardborn Lightweaver
Slash Light Attack
Blood Frenzy A conal heavy attack that applies stacks with every hit that will increase in damage, its twice per second for around 10 seconds, this can be a tank killer when trying to manouvre the shardborn and Zilyesset at the same time so great care will need to be taken and this is by far the hardest pair out of the two sides.
Lusterbeams These will be attached to random players when the ads turn up. players who have this must go over to the ads and break their shields so they can take damage when they come into stack. The beam doesn't last long so will need to be done quickly or the ads are invulnerable until their shield is removed.
Side Switches
There will be a mechanic called Annihilation players must look in the mirror and see which pad is glowing, this will be the safe spot for the group, they are the same on each side and EVERYONE must run to 1 of the 3 pads.
The room will then fill with an AoE and will explode switching the groups to the other room where they will continue to focus the boss and cleave the ads down whilst sticking to mechanics on the respective sides.
Anyone caught outside the safe zone will die, they will transport with the group and will need to be revived.
Bleak Rejuvenation
If both bosses dont go down at the same time this mechanic will respawn the dead boss to around 30 %
Trash & Smash
Lightbringer Iridescent
Spark light attack (ranged)
Quick Strike light attack (Melee)
Smite basic heavy attack
Return spawns a round of skeleton ads which will attack and apply stacks of darkness with their attacks, casts once roughly every 10 seconds or so
Radiance once destroyed it will leave behind an AoE, dont forget these cleanse darkness and also cause ads within it to go invulnerable.
Skeletal necrotic ads
Stormfront skele has thunderthrall where it ports to a random player and casts a large dark AoE and shock is its light attack
Shadowcaster skele has shadow slice where they port to a random player and will then use slice as an attack, magic dagger is its light attack.
Necro skele has Void which is a channel that send out large AoEs that land and explode sending out smaller AoEs across the floor (similar to bahsei curses) this can be interrupted
Lightbringer Acolyte & Radiant will be present within some trash pulls and they have been discussed above
Crystal Atro Intro
Slivered Glass is a ranged light attack
Crystal Spear is a melee light attack
Crunch medium scale attack
Batter is a heavy attack that applies hindered, rattled, devitalise or seethe
Spewing shard thingys this happens when the atro leans back and will throw shards towards the group
It is also noted you can use this atro to explain how to outrange it for later on in the raid and he will do a crystal stomp which leaves a ground AoE
Cavot Agnan
Radiance Shortly after the boss drops down he will cast a large ground AoE and become invulnerable, this also does damage if youre stood in it. Whilst this happens smaller fire AoEs (Sunburst) will travell out from his point but it is noted that once the large solid AoE goes he will take damage.
Quick Strike is a light attack (melee)
Spark is a light attack (ranged)
Smite is a heavy attack but if the tank roll dodges this the entire group is hit with smite and will die.
Bleakquake is a fast bluish moving AoE that will shoot out on the floor in a radius.
Overall your group will just co ordinate ultimates and horns etc. for straight after his invulnerable phase and cleanse on the moving crystals around the outer wall where needed. During the invulnerable phase ads will spawn and the group can focus them in between these phases.
Ghost Light Flight
Theres a synergy that will cause you to change into a ghostlight for the next part!
Blue Balls restore stam and can be moved through.
Red Balls Will cause the player to transform back and fall to the bottom.
Skill Bar You will notice 2 skills on your bar now and the wings will make you move quicker and shield will stop stamina drain as youre moving.
There are platforms you can rest at but there is also an achievement for completing it in one go without resting!
once one player has made it to the top a portal will spawn at the bottom for a quick way up for anyone who finds this section frustrating, whichever route you choose the only way is UP!
Trash & Smash
x2 Acolytes
x1 Firestorm
x1 Slasher
x1 Skirmisher
Stack the acolytes together and then the dark ads will be stacked in front of them and you clench, you have all of the juicy mechs and moves associated with each ad.
Because its such a large ad pull tanks need time to taunt everything and it can sometimes be difficult to keep the firestorm where it is, whether your group choose to start from left to right or whether your lead brings them to the middle just try your best and clear the playing field.
Radiant These banner ads spawn from the crystals to the left and right of the group on the above trash pull, they will start channelling a mech similar to Cavort Agnan where they cant take damage and don't move. They also have a return mech that summons the skeletons into the fight.
Big Trash & Smash
x2 Firestorms
x2 Acolytes
x1 Slasher
x2 Radiants (which spawn out of the crystal a bit later into the fight)
This can be a difficult one to tackle because the firestorms in the back don't move immediately so its best to co ordinate your ultis and barriers beforehand and wait until the firestorms join the stack and then drop a house on all of it.
There's a lot of visual juicyness and the area can get very spicy very quickly, just remember what each ad does and react as quick as you can, watch out for the darkness and stay with your group!
Once a few bits have been taken care of the crystals will burst and there will be one Radiant where the group is and one will have popped from the crystal in the previous room. OT will get the other radiant as close to the group as possible but sometimes it likes to RP and stand there so react accordingly and as instructed by your raid lead
Orphic Shattered Shard & Xoryn
Group members will have been pre assigned mirror points.
Starter Trash
x2 Crystal Sentinels with crystal atros
These ads will do a shield throw that DDs will want to avoid, if the throw out doesn't end you then the shield to the back of your head on its return will finish you off. Overall they are big in size but minor in the grand scheme of things when looking at priority and kill order.
Crystal atros have a shard eruption which will target players over a period of time, it can be stopped by chaining them in but remember they cant be chained if theyre invulnerable
These ads will need the room to be DARK to be destroyed
x2 Ruinarchs with Gloomshapers
Definitely the worse of the trash types, the Ruinarch behaves like every other one if you've took a vacay to the deadlands and encountered one. It has some fire hurricanes (dancing flames) that rotate around the spawn point (can be wise to read just the group out of these to prevent death and damage loss) and a glorious spinny attack (whirlwind dash) where they pick a direction and just start spinning faster than a Disney princess in song! Always wise to give them the space they need and avoid them during this phase then go ham radio once they've stopped.
Bouncing flame is an axe throw aimed at whoever has taunt/aggro and has outranged him, it will deal damage on impact and leave behind an AoE
Gloom shapers will cast inferno which can be interrupted and stopped.
These ads will need a LIGHT room to be destroyed
Mirror change to dark for the sentinels (watch out for shield throws),
Once everything is clear the Ruinarchs spawn and mirrors need changing to light,
Once clear you will have one of each ad, its best to kill the Ruinarch first then change the room and clear the crystal sentinel.,
Shattered Shard
Once its exploded out of its ball the mirrors will need flipping again and the fight can begin.
Basic LA
Heavy Strike
Applies a 40k heal check if blocked and will reduce your armour by 70% if unblocked and increasing your damage taken by 30%
Shard Volley
Chucks out 8-9 AoEs that will target players furthest away, do not stand in them! always best to kite them out and then move back towards the boss.
Shockwave First AoE is while the boss holds his arm in the air and materialise a club. He then slams to the ground on the player with aggro. After the slam there is an expanding AoE that should be blocked, rolled or avoided.
sn - if the boss is enraged either shockwave will one shot the DDs in close range and the Expanding circle should be avoided at all costs if the boss in in angry mode!
Shield Charge
90/60/40/15 % if its not already in the centre of the room it will charge towards the middle right before the tether phase. Because the AoE is so large players either have to move out quickly or be mowed down by it making the tether/mirror flip become a bit more difficult. Because usually the group will be within close proximity to the boss the shortest distance to roll would be forward into the boss, even if you have to double back to get your mirror at least you are alive to do so and you have time before the room fills up. Shield Formation is 3 large shields that travel after the boss has charged forward although it does do as much damage as the initial charge it should still be avoided.
Incandescent Destruction
The tether mechanic where players will see a line of energy from the boss to the mirror and it must be severed by changing the colour of the mirror, if all mirrors aren't flipped before the AoE fills the room it will explode and wipe the group. If the mirror is flipped too early it wont sever the connection meaning you'll have to flip it again and the DoT applied stacks up.
Fate Sealer/Fate Pillar
Cystal shard ball that will spawn anywhere in the room and the tank must take the boss over to slam his club down to break it, the ball will tether to a few players and if its not destroyed quick enough. On vet you get 2 slams before it kills group members and on HM you only get one chance to destroy the ball.
Xoryn
The OT and kite healer will play tennis with xoryn so its nice to have points of reference for both of those players e.g one stands east and one stands west to kite the jumps keeping him away from the group most of the time.
Heavy Shock
Lightning staff heavy attack with a burst of damage at the end that hits quite hard, its best to save a shield or potion for the pop as it can catch you off guard when visiting for the first time. Anyone too close to the OT when it pops off will also take damage and potentially wipe out DDs, positioning and spatial awareness are important.
Thunder Thrall
Xoryn jumps to the furthest person away from him and lands with an AoE that explodes and will one shot players stood in it!
Lightning Arc
After the jump 4 lightning AoEs will spawn in an X pattern and can one shot if not blocked. This depends on the way he is facing.
Lightning Flood
Conal AoE that tracks the OT and must be faced away from the group, it will one shot players if they are caught in it. It will follow whomever has aggro so try and keep it still and facing away from the centre.
Fight Breakdown/TLDR
Mirror change to dark for the sentinels (watch out for shield throws),
Once everything is clear the Ruinarchs spawn and mirrors need changing to light,
Once clear you will have one of each ad, its best to kill the Ruinarch first then change the room and clear the crystal sentinel.,
Orphic Shard will explode and mirrors will be switched again.,
parse to 90% and tether will happen.,
E & W mirrors spawn so players will run over and flip them to match the room,
Parse, mechanic, parse, parse, mechanic blah to 60%,
Tether & Switch,
N & S mirror spawn so players will run over and flip them to match the room,
Parse, mechanic, parse, parse, mechanic blah to 40%,
Tether & Switch,
20% Xoryn goes away and 2 Ruinarchs will spawn. you can either push to Tether & Switch at 15% while the OT runs around he outside with the ruinarchs or if you want to take things easy you can flip the mirrors and remove them, you just need to switch them back to finish the fight.
Its Knot Over Yet
The group may have pre assigned knot carriers and the group just need to remember the knot cannot be carried alone and the group must stay with the knot to making it easier for the carrier. Healers must also remember to throw some heals out towards the carrier too. The group are now going to be run back to the start with the Arcane Knot and there's a few stops along the way.
Crystal Manticora
Will spawn in as you run down the steps, make sure you roll dodge the spear throw! it likes healers in particular! It can be dragged and stacked on your first crystal.
Crystals/Defense Prisms These will need to be destroyed in order to clear your path forwards. These arent much of a challenge on regular Veteran but in HM there are parts where the crystals have to die within 10 seconds of each other or they respawn and your path is still blocked.
Knotters Whenever the knot must be dropped and swapped a Crystal Atro will spawn and will need taking by the OT, an Atro will spawn whenever the knot is dropped (either via expiration of timer or life) so if there are multiple atros it can be wise to get rid of some before moving forward. A growing AoE happens as the knot is fracturing which players need to get out of and this is the rare times players should be away from the knot.
Atros
Crushing Shard Heavy attack thats hits hard
Unwritten Shift Port mech when the OT outranges it.
Splintered Burst Growing AoE that targets the player who has aggro and must be avoided or can lead to a one shot, When running OT can place these to the left or right of the corridor so the group can keep an eye out.
Skeletons
Minor trash can be ignored and grouped near crystals, they will spawn throughout your run back.
Daniel Lemonade
Uppercut Heavy Attack
Arcane conveyance hm only is a coral aerie type mechanic with a tether on the knot carrier and one other player, anyone else caught between this will die so its best to have the death tether and knot carrier of to one side for safety.
Shard Shield Occasionally casts a shield on himself
Powerful Throw Boss will target the player who has aggro with an uppercut style mech and port to whom its cast on and create an AoE on landing
Baron Rize
Same as rylez so just watch out for meteors after the heavy.
Lucent Sentries Glass orbs in the corridor alcoves, these will throw out a beam horizontally across the corridor, this can be roll dodged and the AoE across the floor appears just before the beam goes out so the group does have time to react. its 3 seconds to summon and then 3 seconds beam.
Necro Death Bridge
Usually the MT will run down and grab all the necros on the lower level and bring
them near the top of the stairs for the group.
Necros
Induce Horror Ghost moves towards the player with aggro and it will fear anyone it touches.
Necrotic Spear Light attack
During this part there will be a giant bone colossus overlooking the area (Mzrelnir) and will drop wonderful things from the sky.... like death confetti (Necrotic Rain). An AoE will surround all players and they must loose stack and block cast while the healers clench it out and keep everyone alive. This mechanic will end and the big guy will go once all necros are dead, if he's still there then there's still one alive!
Necrotic Barrage HM only. Very large blue/black AOE that targets the person holding the knot, it can be blocked but not rolled.
Once the necros have gone the group can concentrate on destroying crystals/atros and everything else in between
Xynthia & Jezzabell
There's 4 Defence Prisms in this section and you will probably have 1 maybe 2 atros up at this time depending on the group. The prisms are linked in twos so entrance pair in hm will die within 10 seconds and the exit can be done separately just as long as the group are within the 10 second threshold.
Jezzabell/Jresazzel
Quick Strike Light attack
Low slash Can one shot damage dealers if caught in it, applies speed debuff
Power Bash Heavy attack
Shield Throw Similar to that of a Sentinel and should be faced away from group
Xynthia/Xynizata
Crystal Bolt Light attack
Crystal Burst summons 4 ice Aoes and targets random players
Vitrify Interruptible channel that snares
Piercing Beam AoE rectangle which can be confused with shield throw visually but the beam put out will one shot, similar to the hallway sentry balls. Try and face it away from group
Xoryn
Shock Light attack
Accelerating Charge Damage applied from the channelled part of the heavy attack.
Powering Lightning Strongest tick of the heavy attack, applies Weakening Charge debuff so tanks will swap taunt as taking another heavy attack will knock out the tank.
Chain Lightning After the heavy attack chain lightning will hit the players bouncing from one to the other, this must be blocked as it can dish out a nice 30k to the lower jaw!
Fluctuating Current Circular lightning AoE that spawns on the furthest person away and lingers but can only be held for around 10-15 seconds the 16th tick will hurt you for a juicy 250k+ dmg. The previous current holder will also have a debuff applied and cannot touch the current again.
Tempest Assault Mirrors will spawn around the outside wall (6 on vet & 12 on hm) there will be a line on group members and you all have to spread out, If you are stood on an intersection of two lines you will be one shot when they shoot out rather than just taking damage from your own line
