User:Elivaras/Raid Tanking Guide

A ‘Brief’ Tanking Guide for All Wings
Raid Academy’s Official Guide to Tanking All Raid Bosses

Wing 1

Vale Guardian

Essentials

• Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad.
• Heavy incoming damage from auto attacks.
• High risk if you fail to block, evade, or dodge Teleports.
• Greens cannot normally be blocked; however, Chronomancer  Distortion is one of the few ways to mitigate the Greens’ explosion damage. Try to time your signets as the Greens are about to explode. It is very important to avoid Greens because they deal 80% of your maximum health, rather than a flat amount.
• Some notes:
  • Greens spawn every 15 seconds.
  • The damaging floor pattern changes every 20 seconds.
  • Greens cannot spawn while Vale Guardian (VG)’s Defiance Bar is active, but the Defiance Bar can become active while a green already exists.
• Chronomancer is well suited to tank here, especially in No-Greens strategies. This is because Distortion prevents Green damage from going through, and you have extended blocks and in-place evades that you can use for Teleports without moving the boss. Quickness Firebrand only has single-hit blocks in the form of  Aegis, which cannot be relied upon for Teleports; if two Teleports are stacked beneath you, aegis will only block one.
• Although it may seem like a good idea to run a Focus for its   Skill 4, a pull can cause Seekers to break free of   Entangle, and may cause more harm than good. Your Druid alone should be able to keep Seekers off of the group.
• Two Main Strategies: No Greens - Edge Strategy and No Greens - Center Strategy

No Greens - Edge Strategy:

• This strategy is more optimal than the Greens Strategy, as the goal is to skip all Greens by simply healing through them. This allows all DPS players to focus on dealing damage instead of having to move away from the boss.
• For the first two phases of the encounter, you can dodge into the wall that surrounds the arena, effectively giving you free evasion without moving the boss.
• In Phase 2, you can tank next to the line between two floor segments and move between them to avoid the damaging floor pattern.
• In Phase 3, you are forced to move, due to only one third of the arena being safe at any given time.

Timing your Distortion is important here so you do not get put into downstate. Always try to mitigate some damage when a Green is about to detonate, because you will be under more pressure than the rest of the squad due to VG’s heavy auto attacks. You are welcome to drop Domination for Dueling in order to decrease the cooldown of   Blurred Frenzy with  Fencer's Finesse. Without Fencer’s Finesse, your Blurred Frenzy cooldown will not line up with VG’s Teleport mechanic.

No Greens - Center Strategy:

• The goal of this strategy is to minimize boss movement, enabling higher DPS than the edge strategy.
• This strategy has a high DPS check, as the group must phase the boss (66% and 33% boss health) before the third or fourth set of Seekers move to the group (depending on whether the Druid runs   Glyph of the Tides).
• Keep VG toward the green or blue section of the arena. This forces favorable Green spawns in case VG spawns a Green right before the start of a split phase.
• After the second split phase (33% boss health), you are free to tank VG like you would in the edge strategy. If your squad’s DPS is high enough, you can stand toward the red pylon and not worry about moving the boss and just kill VG there. The further you are from the center, the lower the risk of Seekers destroying the group, but being further out also requires more movement to change sectors.
• Using Stealth to start the encounter directly in VG’s face is optional and allows your squad to execute a cleaner opener for even more damage. The most common way to stealth into the fight is having the druid use smokescale to drop a   smokefield and using blast finishers. As the chrono you can swap to torch to use torch4 and swap back after you casted it. Keep in mind that the blast occurs 3 seconds after the initial cast.
• Other than Greens, it is most important for the tank to not get Teleported: turn up your effects volume and listen for when the blues get cast (sounds like loud static); usually you want to start blocking half a second to a second after the sound starts. You will also see a faint yellow border around your screen if you are standing in a circle.

Visual aid for Greens and No-Greens (Edge Strategy)

IMPORTANT NOTES ON THE ABOVE:

• Especially in Phase 3, where a Seeker spawns in the very center of the arena, it would be best to tank closer to the outside edges of the arena (in the green zones) as opposed to closer to the center.
  • Of course, this assumes you are not running the center strat.
  • Do not tank right at the very edge of the arena though, as, whenever you move, you will have to move a very long distance.

Gorseval

Chronomancer POV

• Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad.
• Very low incoming damage pressure.
• Blocking an Area of Effect (AoE) knockdown for your subgroup enables higher DPS, since your DPS players will not have to dodge.
• Attack pattern: Auto (sometimes this is skipped and the boss starts with Slam) -> Slam -> Auto x2 -> Slam -> Auto x2 -> etc (interrupted by the Breakbar, will restart afterward)
• On final phase: Auto -> Slam -> Eggs -> normal attack pattern -> Breakbar -> Auto -> Eggs -> Slam -> normal attack pattern
• If Chronomancer:
  • Provided you are running Blurred Inscriptions, time Distortion with Slams to prevent knockdown on group; bring a Focus for adds and pull them in to prevent aegis strip and additional incoming crowd control (CC) on the stack.
  • Feel free to run   Mantra of Concentration if you have an Alacrity Renegade (with over 68% Boon Duration).
  • Provided that Gorseval does not Slam on his first attack, make sure you time your first signet to block the first knockback.
• If Firebrand:
  • Block the Slams with aegis from your   Mantra of Solace; you can also take   "Stand Your Ground!" for extra security, as  Stability prevents the Slam from knocking players down. Tome of Courage’s   Skill 1 also grants Stability, and simply opening the tome grants aegis to five players.
  • If you are tanking, feel free to also use   Skill 5 in Tome of Courage, since you will also benefit from the Toughness increase and will not cause Gorseval’s fixation to change.
  • For CC, you can bring   Bane Signet, which is a very strong source of defiance bar damage. This is also a group DPS increase if running  Perfect Inscriptions.

Sabetha

• Sabetha does not have controllable fixation.
• Sabetha’s   Time Bombs are given to whoever is closest to her. If you are the support Chronomancer, make sure you bait the Time Bombs and get a free clone with   Illusionary Riposte or a   Deja Vu cast by using   Echo of Memory.
• If you are taking a cannon and you are running seize the moment, you can run   Portal Entre to save the time it takes for you to glide back to the platform. Simply place the portal entre down on the main platform before you bounce to your cannon and portal back.

Wing 2

Slothasor

Chronomancer POV

• Slothasor does not have controllable fixation.
• If you get fixated, move the boss quickly and do not stand in front of him when he uses Halitosis (his fire breath attack). Or, you could use a defensive skill like   Echo of Memory.
• Chronomancer:
  • When Slothasor uses Spore Release, try to use two signets (provided you are running  Blurred Inscriptions) to grant Distortion and jump up and down in the center of its hitbox to prevent most of the spores from hitting the group (example). You cannot use a block to do this; you must use Invulnerability granted by Distortion.
  • Make sure to stand in the poison with Echo of Memory to guarantee a Deja Vu proc.
• Make sure you pull in enemy Slublings with Chronomancer   Temporal Curtain or Firebrand   Blazing Edge. Slublings spawn every 30 seconds. Coordinate with your other Chronomancer, Firebrand, or Druid (with offhand Axe   Path of Scars) to manage pulls. Ideally, one person will group the slublings together and another will pull the Slublings to the group.
• The shorter the breakbar phases, the cleaner the encounter. This is an encounter where you can benefit from swapping to a Sigil of Paralyzation. With or without the gear swap, make sure you use   Time Sink on the Defiance Bar.
  • Do not greed for three clones if you cannot get them in time; breaking the Defiance Bar quickly is more important.

Bandit Trio

• None of the bandits have controllable fixation.
• Here’s a POV of how to do Mortars as a Chronomancer.
  • 3:36, how to do the first and second Mortar.
  • 5:18, what to do if a Bombardier spawns a Mortar.
  • 5:45, how to deal with the triple spawn.

Matthias

• You will probably not be playing a Boon Chronomancer or Quickness Firebrand at all for this encounter due to the boss’s stolen skill,   Detonate Plasma, enabling a Boon Thief or Boon Daredevil.
• The first person to enter the arena gains the first fixation, and will always be targeted by the Blood Shards during the Blood Shield and Oppressive Gaze (Hadouken) right after.
• During the encounter, Matthias will move toward the furthest target—it is critically important to stay stacked unless actively handling a mechanic!
• Matthias will prepare to Sacrifice a player every 45 seconds starting at 9:45 and lasting until the Abomination phase begins at 40% health.

Wing 3

Escort

There is no set build for Tower Chronomancer, but it is most important to bring Portal Entre, Mimic, and to run the Chaos traitline (example build). Chaos helps to ensure that you will not be Feared by Cultists due to Bountiful Disillusionment. As DPS is not a necessity for this event, it is usually recommended to run as much toughness as you have available to you so that you don’t get blown up. A guide to solo-capping can be found here. If you are not solo-capping, a very simple strategy is the following: Bring Mass Invisibility and trait Prismatic Understanding, alongside the usual Portal Entre and Mimic. When you get up to a tower, drop the portal, glide down to your allies, cast Mass Invisibility (you can Continuum Split at the end of the cast to refresh its cooldown if you like) and have the whole group (with or without Glenna’s escorter) go up into the tower. The whole group coming along is not a necessity; you simply need more players inside the tower capture zone than enemies. The tower can be capped while invisible. Hence, everyone can simply stand still while invisible for the second or so that it takes to cap before porting back down. Rinse and repeat. Note that if you have a second chronomancer or mirage that can do the third tower (since your portal and mass invis will be on cooldown during it), that would be ideal to prevent slowing the group down as they wait for your cooldowns. In either case, make sure you are mimicking your Portal Exeunt to make sure you are able to refresh it.

Keep Construct

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. Very low incoming damage pressure.

Side tanking

• Side tanking is very simple. When a Statue starts glowing, move to it. Make sure the boss is on the Statue so that the group can cleave it down before the second Statue gets close enough to Merge.

Mid Tanking

• The idea is simple: keep the boss in the middle of the arena to minimize movement. This is the highest Damage-dealing (DPS) strategy, but there are a few things that need to go right.
• Firstly, every time a Statue spawns, the group must coordinate who moves out of the boss first to make sure the Statues do not Merge.
• In most cases, the first two orb phases are skipped by not breaking the boss’s Defiance Bar. The best way for you to ensure you do not break the Defiance Bar is by dropping Shield and taking a different weapon set, either Sword/Sword + Greatsword or Sword/Sword + Focus.
• Lastly, if you are skipping the orb phase, you must do the mechanics in the encounter. This includes killing adds when they spawn, and spreading out for orange circles.
• Additionally, it’s very important to save signets to grant Aegis to your squad. If you are not running Inspiration, then you must run Mantra of Concentration for Stability. DPS checks are tighter using this strategy, and needing to dodge is a DPS loss. Worse than needing to dodge is getting knocked down for 3 seconds, so make sure to save a signet for slams.

Xera

Chronomancer POV

• Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad.
• Having high toughness is recommended as a new tank—if you do not use an active block for Confounding Frenzy (which has the same animation as your own   Blurred Frenzy), you will receive heavy damage and many stacks of  Confusion, which will likely put you in downstate.
• This encounter is very movement heavy; as the tank, you need to move Xera to specific spots, and cause her to face the right direction.
• As the tank, you will be taking Sword and Shield, with Focus as your other weapon for add control.

Useable Tanks:

• A Chronomancer tank is recommended for this encounter, for two reasons:
  • Xera’s Confounding Frenzy: long blocks and  Distortions allow you to take almost no damage.
    • Happens every ninth normal attack, and does substantial damage as well as stacking Confusion.
    • Note that Xera’s Confounding Frenzy will follow you mid-animation; if you move through her it will follow you, so do not point her at the group during the attack. Xera however will not move toward you during Confounding Frenzy, so you can freely dodge back out of range without moving the boss (this is how Druids tank the boss successfully).
  • Many adds spawn, making Chronomancer’s Temporal Curtain very useful. Pull them into the group basically off-cooldown.
• In a more optimized composition, the druid is more suitable to tank Xera. Having the druid tank takes advantage of the fact that the tank will never be teleported at 40% and 20%.
  • Because the druid has no blocks, to deal with confounding frenzy simply step back from Xera as she is rooted in place during her attack.

Encounter overview:

• The encounter is split into four parts: the pre-event, then 100%-50% boss health, a gliding puzzle section, and finally 50%-0% boss health.
•  Derangement, a mechanic specific to this encounter, is a stacking effect applied to players as they get hit by certain attacks or mechanics. All players start at zero stacks of this effect, and can receive up to a total of 99, at which point they are instantly defeated. Every ten stacks, players are hit with stacks of  Confusion,  Crippled, and other nasty conditions. At 60 stacks you will start getting dazed, stunned, knocked down, and feared.
• Tanking Xera is not a simple feat for someone new to it, as it requires movement to specific locations of the platform at specific times and will vary based on squad DPS.
• Where exactly Xera should be moved and when is governed by three important mechanics:
  • Gravity Well:
    • Highly damaging, will lift you after a few seconds and give you 25 derangement stacks.
    • These cover half of the platform at a time, and spawn in a set pattern.
    • The first Gravity Well spawns 30 seconds after Xera appears at the start of the encounter on the main platform, and every 30 seconds afterwards until 50%.
    • After 50%, a Gravity Well will spawn 25 seconds after Xera reappears on the main platform and every 25 seconds thereafter.
      • NOTE: If Xera is in the middle of her Deadly Attack (Special Action Key), any Gravity Well that is slated to spawn will be skipped.
    • Gravity Wells last for seven seconds.
  • Laser Beam (Beam):
    • Spawns highly damaging red orbs that travel toward the group, floating, damaging, and applying Derangement stacks to anyone hit (as well as to those around them in a small radius).
    • Initial Beams will spawn 40 seconds after Xera appears on the main platform ( between 100% and 50% boss health).
    • Beams last either 24 seconds or until they are interrupted by a phase (such as her phase change when she reaches 75% boss health).
    • After a beam expires, the next beam will spawn 40 seconds later.
  • Bloodstone Shards:
    • Have a large Area of Effect (AoE) around them that will increase the damage output of any mob (Xera or her adds) by 100%, as well as convert conditions on them into boons.
    • Spawn ten seconds after Xera appears on the main platform at 100% and 50% boss health, and every ten seconds afterwards.
    • Pre-50%, these shards will spawn in a clockwise direction.
    • Post-50%, these shards will spawn in a counter-clockwise direction.
• Movement around the platform is based on avoiding these three mechanics.
  • The group should only leave the center when a beam spawns—note that orbs do not spawn immediately, so you can wait until you see it instead of memorizing the timing.
  • Where on the outer edge the group moves to avoid the beam is based on A) where the Gravity Well spawns and B) where the upcoming Bloodstone Shards are spawning.
    • Should the group get caught in a Gravity Well, everyone has to run away, or else they all take massive damage and 20 Derangement stacks.
    • Should Bloodstone Shards spawn on the group, Xera will convert conditions to boons (likely leading to a wipe, or at best putting most of the squad into downstate).

The following are some visual guides that illustrate some basic mechanics and Gravity Well spawn patterns pre- and post-50% boss health. Following that will be explanations of tanking positions throughout the encounter.

Platform Layout: Figure 1

As mentioned, Gravity Wells will cover half of the platform when they spawn. There are a total of four positions they can spawn in:

• North of the spiral-square line
• South of the spiral-square line
• West of the heart-orange arrow line
• East of the heart-orange arrow line

Gravity Wells will loop between these four positions in different orders based on the percentage of Xera’s boss health:

Figure 2

Figure 3 100%-50%: The group will enter the platform at the blue arrow designated in Figure 1, and move to the arrow () marker. This will prevent the group from getting hit by the first Gravity Well that spawns in this phase (as shown by Figure 2), and there is no need to move to the outside, as the first Gravity Well spawns 30 seconds after Xera spawns and the first beam does not spawn until 40 seconds after Xera spawns.

At this point, movement will depend on squad DPS. If Xera is brought down to 75% boss health, she will use her Deadly Attack which can be mitigated by use of a Special Action Key given randomly to one member of the group. Which player receives this Special Action Key is signified by text on the screen of every member of the squad, saying "[Player name] has harnessed ambient magic". Following this, more text will appear that says "Xera is poised for a deadly attack". Once this text begins to fade, the player with the Special Action Key should use it.

• The Special Action Key will spawn a ground-targeted bubble that will protect anyone inside from her Deadly Attack, and will last for a few seconds. It is necessary to wait at least until the text begins to fade in order to make sure the bubble lasts long enough to mitigate the attack.
• No Gravity Wells will spawn throughout the duration of Xera’s Deadly Attack, and, more importantly, any Beam that currently exists will be cut off.

If the group can DPS Xera down to 75% before the Beam fully spawns:

• The group does not need to move to the outside of the platform to avoid the Beam. Instead, the second Gravity Well’s spawn will be cut off by the Deadly Attack and the group can move to circle () to avoid the third Gravity Well that spawns, as depicted in Figure 1.

If the group cannot DPS Xera down to 75% in time:

• The group should move to the segment of the arena underneath square () in Figure 1. This is for three reasons:
  • The second Gravity Well that spawns will not be on top of the group.
  • The Bloodstone Shards that start spawning at the purple marker in Figure 1 and move in a clockwise direction will not have reached square at this point in time.
  • The group is far enough away from the initial Bloodstone Shard spawn at the purple marker that Xera will not gain damage and boons.
• Once the Beam disappears (after 24 seconds), the group should move back to the center, at the circle () marker. The reason for the change from arrow is because of the third Gravity Well that spawns, as shown in Figure 2.

At this point, movement will again depend on the group’s DPS. If Xera can be brought down to 50% boss health before the 2nd beam spawns (which will be 40 + 24 + 40 = 1 minute and 44 seconds after Xera appears on the main platform), then the group will complete the first phase of the encounter and the beam will not appear.

If the group can DPS Xera down to 50% before the second Beam fully spawns:

• Stay still and phase her.

If the group cannot DPS her down to 50% before the second Beam fully spawns:

• The group can move to heart (). The exact location at this time does not matter, as long as it is not within the fourth Gravity Well (which will overlap with the second Beam), as depicted in Figure 2.
• Note that as all Bloodstone Shards will have spawned at this point, it is imperative that the group clears the Bloodstone Shards around their destination before moving Xera, or else the Bloodstone Shards will convert conditions on Xera into boons.
• After the Beam disappears, the group can move back to the arrow marker () in Figure 1, as the Gravity Well and Beam cycle will approximately repeat.

If the group is still unable to DPS Xera down to 50%, they will need to make further moves dictated by the Gravity Well spawns (as all Bloodstone Shards will have spawned by this point). The pattern of Gravity Wells will continue as in Figure 2.

50% (the gliding phase):

• Once Xera falls to 50% boss health, she will disappear. Orange arrows drawn on the platform will tell the group to move back to the starting platform (platform 4, as shown in Figure 1). The group will then kill Bloodstone Shards to reduce derangement stacks and spawn ley lines that will take them to another connected platform.
  • As such, the leyline gliding mastery is required to survive this phase.
• Once the group completes a full circuit, they will be back at platform 4 and move back onto the main platform to enter the final phase of the encounter.
• Do not ignore boons during this phase; try to keep  Alacrity up as you move across the platforms, assuming you are responsible for it.

50%-0%:

For this phase, direct your attention to Figure 3, which depicts the Gravity Well spawn patterns for post-50% boss health. Given the first Gravity Well spawn location, the group should stack at circle (), shown in Figure 1.

At 40% and 20% boss health, five members of the group (excluding the tank) will be teleported to a side platform to complete a minigame. As these minigames are not relevant to tanking, they will not be covered here. There is no set phase at 25% boss health where Xera will use her Deadly Attack, unlike at 75% in the first phase. This means the group will have to move regardless of DPS. During this post-50% phase, Beams will still spawn 40 seconds after Xera appears on the platform and last for 24 seconds before disappearing, unlike Gravity Wells, which will now spawn every 25 seconds instead of every 30 seconds. However, this small change will not impact the first move, as the second Gravity Well will still overlap with the first beam.

Most importantly, Bloodstone Shards will now spawn in a counter-clockwise direction from the purple marker depicted in Figure 1. This means initial movements to the outside of the platform will change.

When the first Beam spawns, the group should move to the section of the arena underneath spiral (). This is for three reasons: The group will be safe from the second Gravity Well that spawns. The Bloodstone Shards spawning at the purple marker and moving counter-clockwise will not have reached spiral by this point. The group is far enough away from the initial Bloodstone Shard spawn that Xera is not in it.

After the Beam despawns, the group can move back to center. Whether the group moves to arrow or circle is irrelevant, as the third Gravity Well that will spawn after the group moves back to the center does not cover either.

Once the second beam spawns, the group should move to the segment of the arena left of heart (). This will prevent the fourth Gravity Well from spawning on the group.

• Note that the exact location on the left does not matter, as long as you are not in the Gravity Well—moving to heart is the common practice because it reduces the number of markers needed, as heart can also be moved to in the first phase.
• As Bloodstone Shards will have covered that section of the platform, the group will be forced to clear them before moving.

After the Beam disappears, the group should move back to center. If the group does not kill Xera by the time the third beam spawns, they will need to move to the segment of the arena underneath square () after clearing it of Bloodstone Shards. At this point in the encounter, the Gravity Well pattern will have looped back to the beginning and we are looking to avoid the second one in the sequence, as depicted in Figure 3. As in the case of the movement to heart earlier, the exact location does not matter, as long as the group is not in the Gravity Well, but common practice is to move to square as it eliminates the need for additional markers.

After the Beam Disappears, the group should move back to the center once more. Hopefully by the time the fourth Beam spawns the group has killed Xera—otherwise, direct your movement based on the Gravity Well spawn pattern. Bloodstone Shards will have populated all segments of the platform so the group will need to clear them no matter where they move.

Other notes:

• During Phase 2, if your squad’s DPS is high enough, you do not need to move to the center. The DPS check is similar to Phase 1: if Xera reaches 40% boss health before the first Gravity Well spawns, then you can tank Xera as seen here.

Wing 4

Cairn

Chronomancer POV

•  Agony occurs at 7:37 on the timer and every 20 seconds after. Cairn fires his Meteor Swarm at the furthest character.
• Make sure you bring Runes of the Pack as you and the Druid are likely the group’s only source of  Swiftness. Swiftness is mandatory if you are skipping Greens, otherwise you cannot move with 99 stacks of Unseen Burden.
• If you’re taking the first Green, make sure you hardcast   Time Warp at ~50% as  Quickness will fall without it.
• Make sure you do not have  Medic's Feedback or a Focus with  Warden's Feedback traited for this encounter, as reflecting projectiles causes issues.
• If you are starting on the platform, make sure not to   Continuum Split (CS) immediately, as casting it too early will force you out of CS when the encounter starts.
• If your squad is stacking Mirages, consider dropping   Well of Action and bring   Null Field (provided you have  Seize the Moment). Null Field is especially powerful in this scenario as it is an Ethereal Field, synergizing with Mirage’s   Phantasmal Duelist to proc even more  Confusion on the boss.

Mursaat Overseer

You likely will not be playing Boon Chronomancer or Quickness Firebrand at all for this encounter, due to the boss’s Stolen skill, Detonate Plasma, enabling a Boon Thief or Boon Daredevil. Focuses on the player holding the Claim Piece. Note that if you do not have a Condition Scourge, you do not need to position yourself in favor of Epidemic. Without a Condition Scourge, simply stand on Mursaat Overseer (MO) so that it does not travel as far at the start of the encounter. When you have the Claim Piece, you can Claim a red tile every 8 seconds (affected by Alacrity, reset by CS on Chronomancer). Tiles turn red whenever a Jade Scout or Jade Soldier enters the tile. Make sure you Claim the nearest squares to the group (unless you have a Boon core Thief, in which case leave one up for evades) in case you have to move due to spikes. When a Jade Scout crosses the board and becomes a Jade Soldier, try and get the group (or at least the person with Protect, upon whom the Jade Soldier focuses) to move to the center of the board piece on which the group is currently standing, and then Claim it when the Jade Soldier walks on it; the Jade Soldiers have a weird movement pattern such that if you are positioned too close to the outside of a board piece, they may walk off of it and immediately back on, turning the tile red right after Claim was used.

Mursaat Overseer’s Spike pattern:

Samarog

• Chronomancer POV

Samarog first fixates to the person closest to him; after each Defiance Bar, his fixate swaps to the person furthest from him. Walk to the side of his auto attacks, then jump the Shockwave. Rigom and Guldhem also fixate on the furthest player from them. Samarog is in a fixed position while he channels his Shockwave, so you are free to move to the stack to avoid damage. As a Chronomancer, you may be responsible for helping your group pull Rigom under the boss during his invulnerability phases. This involves the group standing close to the yellow bubble around Samarog in order to bring Rigom near it (or have someone else knock it closer), followed by you pulling Rigom on top of Samarog (the other way around can work too). Generally the Chronomancer does not take fixate, as the build has a lot of crowd control (CC). Speaking of CC, assuming there is an Alacrity Renegade and you are traiting Seize the Moment, bring: Superior Sigil of Paralyzation, Mantra of Distraction, and an optional off-hand Sword for Counter Blade. The reason this assumes alacrity renegade is because with one, you will not be responsible for alacrity, freeing a utility slot to take Mantra of Distraction. Do note that taking an off-hand Sword means you cannot help position Rigom under Samarog with Focus Skill 4. Ensure that the group will be able to handle this without you if you intend on going this route.

Deimos

There are two strategies for Deimos: Melee and Ranged. For a long time, Ranged was a more popular approach to Deimos as it was easier for DPS, but nowadays most players opt to play Melee as it offers a cleaner encounter due to having shorter phases.

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. Melee: For the first 35% of the encounter (100%-65% boss health), keep Deimos at the center of the arena, facing away from the squad. Make sure you are giving Aegis to your squad group using Inspiring Distortion. At 65% boss health, begin moving away from Deimos, as Deimos will spawn the first Rapid Decay (Oil) to the closest non-tank player. If Deimos drops an oil in the center of the arena, this means that your squad is now cut off from using Saul's ward (Ward) when Deimos uses Mind Crush. After 60% boss health, keep Deimos moving as little as possible while also moving him out of all Oils that spawn. Be mindful of the Hand Kiter. If you get close to the Hand Kiter, you run the risk of a different player baiting Hands by accident. You must use Echo of Memory or Illusionary Riposte to block the Mind Crush, otherwise you will be put in downstate. If you block the hit while outside the Ward you’ll get Weak Mind, a heavy damage-over-time effect. At 10% boss health, make sure you are the one closest to Deimos so that you can bait the Oils. If Saul the Drunkard is still alive in the 10% phase, make sure you (and the Renegade) are CC-ing him to avoid teleports. Ranged: The first 35% of the encounter is the same as Melee. When Deimos is at 65% boss health, move all the way to the edge of the map. This is where you will stand for the rest of the encounter until 10% boss health. You will not have to worry about Oils as there will be a designated Oil Kiter taking the bait. The last 10% of the encounter is the same as melee.

Wing 5

Soulless Horror

• Chronomancer POV

Introduction: There are two seals on the cliff overlooking the main platform. Interacting with one will give you a Special Action Key (SAK). When pressed, Soulless Horror (SH) will fixate on you. This fixation persists through downstate, but not through death. SH will fixate on the first seal-bearing player to get near the main platform. When fixated, you gain stacks of Necrosis. Each stack increases all damage you take by 10%; stacks infinitely. When you are not fixated, you will lose your Necrosis after a few seconds. However, be careful not to press your SAK before your debuff is gone, because then your old stacks will not wear off until you lose fixate again. Good tanks for SH: Chronomancers are very good at tanking SH, but since she has a lot of single attacks you can technically tank this encounter on a Firebrand. Condition Boon Chronomancer outclasses Power Boon here in terms of DPS. In terms of stats, Trailblazer’s gear is barely a DPS loss compared to Viper’s, so feel free to run full Trailblazer’s armor. If your group runs a Condition DPS Renegade with Righteous Rebel, both Chronomancers can run this build to deal significantly more damage (example). When to take fixate: A good time for the second tank to take the FIRST fixate is at the time of the first Death Bloom (Pizza), or upon the initial tank downing (should it be sooner than the first pizza). The first tank will hit three stacks at about 7:30 on the encounter timer. After that, each tank should take fixate when their Necrosis has fallen off. With this timing, the other tank will be at two to three stacks when fixate is swapped. If the other tank gets put into downstate super early on into taking aggro, do not swap immediately as you will still have your three stacks. If they fall into downstate close to when your stacks are falling off, take fixate and lead SH away from the downed tank so they can be resurrected without risk to the group. It should be noted that in an optimal scenario, you would be swapping at two stacks if both tanks swapped immediately after the Necrosis dissipates. While having this awareness is unlikely as a new tank, at least ensure you’re swapping often enough that your buddy (who is tanking with you) doesn’t get more than 3 stacks. You can take the fixate as soon as your Necrosis starts flashing instead of waiting for it to wear off entirely, but be aware that this will cause you to remain highly vulnerable for several seconds if you do so. Positioning: Positioning is very important. Too close to the center of the arena and a Tormented Dead (TD) will get instantly blown up before it can be pushed out; too close to the edge of the arena, and the group can be surprised by a Surging Soul (Wall) (or fall from the collapsing outer edge) and die. A good place to have SH stand is on the ring of small white circles surrounding the inner portion of the platform. The first TD spawns after a Wall passes through the center of the platform after 85% boss health, and then every 20 seconds afterwards. You can use the voice line “Be wary, their claws will spill your guts!” to know that TDs have started spawning. Before SH hits 90% boss health, you should be positioning her between clumps of Wurms in order for them to be killed via Epidemic. Tanks should look to move shortly after they see Epidemic go out (more information in the next section) to ensure more Wurms die. After 90% boss health and assuming most or all Wurms are dead, try and stay as stationary as possible to maximize DPS, only moving when you need to avoid Walls and TDs. If your squad is running a condi renegade taking righteous rebel to cover alacrity, you can drop mimic for Feedback to reflect wurm projectiles as well as providing an ethereal field for confusion. This means that you do not necessarily need to move SH between clumps of wurms and can stay in place to increase squad DPS. Note that SH has a very large attack range, so you may need to move a considerable distance to get her to follow you. SH: SH hits like a truck. Alongside a lot of ambient damage sources (ticking arena damage, heavy condition pressure, boon corruption, etc), this is an encounter you want relatively high Toughness on unless you are very experienced (at least over 1600 toughness for new Chronomancers—to make the encounter easier for yourself, between 1800 and 2100 Toughness would be ideal). Try and get a feel for her attack pattern. When not interrupted by CC phases & Pizzas, SH will always do 3 attacks before pausing. At the start of the encounter, this will be Fingers of the dead (Hammer Swing) -> Corrupt the Living -> hammer swing -> pause -> repeat. When interrupted by her other abilities, such as Pizza, the order can change. Hammer Swing occurs frequently and does considerable damage. It has a telegraph of multiple small circular Areas of Effect (AoEs) that form a cone during her windup. Getting hit by one of the fingers that spawn from this attack will corrupt a boon. Note: corruption in this game picks the boon most recently applied to you and converts all stacks of it to a corresponding condition based on which boon was stripped. Keep an eye on the three attack sequence and do not queue up a block right when she pauses. Get a good feel for the sequence and start practicing using all of your blocks and dodges at the correct times to avoid most or all of her damage. You can dodge and keep her in place by moving to the left and dodging to the right or vice versa. Try not to move in the middle of the three attack sequence to avoid getting the group cleaved while moving; wait for the pause at the end or for her to queue up an ability like Pizza. Try to avoid getting bombed by Corrupt the Living; this can make moving the boss put you into downstate if you do not get cleansed immediately. You can use any active defense for it: blocks, dodges, evading in place, and Distortion all work. Distortion also helps your subgroup avoid the damage due to sharing Aegis. Pay attention to Scythes: these will almost always get you killed if you do not notice them. Scythes deal heavy damage and corrupt all of your boons. Pay attention to TDs: Chronomancer tanks: be careful of using Tides of Time (ToT) around when they spawn, as you might crowd control (CC) them as they are getting pushed, causing them to die on group. Pay attention to where they die and move the boss if one dies on the group. The TD will focus on the tank that does not have fixate. Make sure you the two tanks stay close together and path the same way when moving to ensure the Druid can get a good push angle.

River of Souls

No tanking mechanic. If you are in the top group as a Chronomancer, you can take as many skills that grant Aegis (signets via Blurred Inscriptions and Inspiring Distortion in the Inspiration trait line, Well of Precognition, etc.) as possible to help with damage ticks from the river.

Eater of Souls

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. Bring the boss toward the lit tile such that he is positioned on top of it. When the Twisted Spirits (spiders that spawn on the outer edges of the platform) spawn, the group will kill them in order to spawn 5 Golden Orbs in the center of the arena. Each group member that walks over one will get a special action key that provides a throwable ground-targeted projectile. These projectiles should be thrown on the lit tile that you have brought the Eater of Souls to. Each projectile that makes contact with the tile will light up a symbol on the tile, and when all 5 symbols have been lit up, bringing the Eater to 5% health will result in him spewing out red orbs into the sky that the group must collect in order to fill the progress bar of the encounter. It is imperative that the boss is standing on the tile when he is brought to 5%, otherwise red orbs will not spawn and he will simply regen to almost full health. Be careful of puke attacks from the Eater and spinner’s webs from Twisted Spirits, which do heavy condition and pulsing damage.

Broken King

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. There is a blockable close range aoe cone that does significant damage. Face away from the group. Very low damage if you stand out of the range of the AoE. Use your blocks or Distortions to take green circles within this cone on Chronomancer; use Aegis from your Mantra of Solace, Protector’s Strike, or Shield of Judgment on Firebrand.

Eyes

No tanking mechanic. Make sure not to daze the eyes. Any other form of Crowd Control is fine (Including Tides of Time). Portal strategy: To execute the portal strategy, the chronomancer must throw an orb and bring Mimic and Portal Entre. The squad will start on the north side and you and two other people will throw the first three orbs north. After you throw your orb, place a portal down on the platform on which the orbs spawn and jump off the platform toward the group. After bringing the first eye to 0% health, make sure to Mimic your portal. Take the portal back to the middle platform and place your 2nd portal at the same location you were ported to. Then go kill the second eye. After you kill the second eye, take the portal again and kill the first eye again as it will have resurrected.

Dhuum

Dhuum is a fairly low damage pressure boss and his attacks are very easy to dodge/block/distort. Positioning Dhuum properly is the most important part of tanking. There are two main strategies to tanking Dhuum: the “PUG” strategy and the “Throne” strategy. Most groups will use the PUG strategy as the throne tanking strategy requires significantly more coordination. PUG “Normal” Strategy Tanking Dhuum’s attacks is simple enough: just avoid his scythe attacks and you should be fine. They do not do enough damage to 1hit-KO you. The pattern for tanking is shown below. The idea is to keep Dhuum as close to the upcoming Green as possible while moving him no more than necessary.

Throne Strategy Both Druids need to run Celestial Shadow (if not, there must otherwise be two sources of Stealth). This is because Dhuum’s Enforcer (Skeleton) that spawns at arrow needs to head toward the Reaper at circle. To force this, the Reapers at triangle and arrow need to be Stealthed. Before Dhuum is summoned at 8:00, make sure that you do not kill the Deathlings (Spiders) at circle (where the second Green is). Instead, you can cast Sword Skill 3 on them to get an early Continuum Split (CS) opener off before Dhuum is even on the platform. As soon as Dhuum spawns, face him toward the throne (hence throne tanking). He should not move at all until 7:07. Another requirement to throne tanking is that, starting from 8:00, no Expel Energy (Bombs) must be blown up early: whenever anyone gets a Bomb, they must let it time out. Otherwise, the next portion of the strategy will not work. At 7:07, the entire squad must move toward the front of Dhuum as he is about to cast a Lesser Death Mark. If Dhuum casts a Lesser Death Mark behind him, the pull is over. After the Lesser Death Mark, move Dhuum toward the center far enough away from the Lesser Death Mark to give your squad room to breathe, and stay there until the Greater Death Mark. After the Greater Death Mark, you can tank Dhuum like normal, moving toward circle.

Wing 6

Conjured Amalgamate

No tanking mechanic. Make sure you are pulling Conjured Greatswords in with Chronomancer Focus Skill 4. Make sure to grant Aegis to your subgroup with Stability from Mantra of Concentration or Well of Precognition.

Largos Twins

• Chronomancer POV

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. It is possible to walk out of the auto attack chain of the Twin Largos (Twins). Dashes: use Scepter Skill 2, Sword Skill 2, Shield Skill 4. Knockback: Dodge, use Scepter Skill 2, Sword Skill 2, and Shield Skill 4 (if using Scepter, be careful the Twins’ auto attack does not proc the block, as you will then be hit by the Knockback). Shockwave: Sword Skill 2, Shield Skill 4, Jump (jumping can cause you to lose fixate for one auto attack chain) Condition Boon Chronomancer is fantastic in this encounter as both Nikare’s and Kenut’s attacks are very telegraphed and they attack very often, maximizing the utility of Scepter Skill 2.

Qadim

• Chronomancer POV

Tanking on Qadim mostly revolves around tanking the mini-bosses that spawn throughout the encounter, which includes the Ancient Invoked Hydra (Hydra), Apocalypse Bringer (Destroyer) and the Wyverns (Matriach/Patriarch). The mini-bosses’ aggro is proximity-based -- the closest person to the mini-boss will be fixated. As a note, it is important to watch out for Qadim’s swap (teleportation circles) that will teleport you to Qadim’s platform. They can be evaded, however they cannot be blocked or distorted. Hydra tanking: Pattern: Auto -> Auto -> Breath -> Auto -> Auto -> Defiance Bar -> Auto -> Auto -> Platform Swap Note: Everything here can be sidestepped as long as you sidestep to the LEFT, as the hydra’s auto attack consists of it attacking with both its heads -- first the right, then the left You can mitigate damage as a Chronomancer tank in the following ways however: Auto 1: Sword Skill 2 Auto 2: Continuum Split (CS) Breath: Sidestep Auto 3: Sword Skill 2 Auto 4: Shield Skill 4 Auto 5: Shield Flip Skill 4 Auto 6: Sword Skill 2 Use heal signet to refresh Shield Skill 4 during platform switch, repeat Qadim will place the first teleportation circle under the hydra shortly after the hydra moves to the second platform. Note: Try to make sure you do not get afflicted with chill (by one of the hydra’s heads) right before moving to the next platform. Should this happen, you may not be able to get on the platform fast enough, and the hydra may nuke you with a fireball. Destroyer Tanking: Pattern: Defiance Bar -> Auto -> Auto -> Shockwave -> Auto -> Auto -> Shockwave -> Auto -> Auto -> Defiance Bar -> Teleportation Circles Easy way to tank: Autos: Sidestep or Sword Skill 2 Shockwave: Shield Skill 4 Port circle: Dodge out As noted in the pattern above, Qadim’s second teleportation circle will occur during the Destroyer’s second defiance bar. If you are tanking this on a chronomancer, you have quite a bit of Crowd Control -- it is important that you do not get teleported at this time. Wyvern Patriarch Tanking Pattern: Auto -> Swipe -> Slam -> Breath -> Auto -> Swipe -> Slam -> Auto -> Swipe -> Slam -> Defiance Bar -> Platform Swap Auto: Sidestep or Sword Skill 2 Swipe: Dodge, Sword Skill 2, Shield Skill 4 Slam: Walk into hitbox Wyvern Matriarch Tanking Pattern: Auto -> Swipe -> Slam -> Breath -> Auto -> Swipe -> Slam -> Auto -> Swipe -> Slam -> Wing Buffet -> Platform Swap Auto: Sidestep or Sword 2 Swipe: Dodge, Sword Skill 2, Shield Skill 4 Slam: Walk into hitbox Wing Buffet: Face away from Patriarch and walk behind Matriarch once the animation starts. If your composition has enough coverage that you have Quickness, Alacrity, etc. without the need for Well of Action or Well of Recall, then you should bring Portal Entre. Portal Entre can be used to skip the jumping puzzle after killing the Wyverns, and to move from Pyres to Qadim after killing the Hydra and Destroyer. Placements of the portals can be shown in this video.

Wing 7

Cardinal Adina

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. Attack chain: three auto attacks, Perilous Pulse (Knockback) (marked by orange cone) during which Pillars are baited and placed, five auto attacks, Stalagmites (Mines), shoots projectiles destroying Pillars. The charged knockback can be blocked or mitigated with Stability. Be careful of this knockback as it can push you into sand or into Mines, which will be present on the field after the first set of Pillars. Chronomancer tank: you can Distort or block the attack Boon Thief tank: you should have permanent Stability from Detonate Plasma, so you generally do not need to do anything to avoid getting knocked back. Renegade tank: presumably you have a Boon Thief in the party, and should have permanent Stability from them, so you also do not need to do anything. However, if you need a block or are not sure whether you will have Stability, you can use Staff Skill 3, which blocks for 1.5 seconds, to mitigate the attack. After the Pillars are destroyed, Cardinal Adina (Adina) will face you and throw auto attacks as you are coming back from a Pillar. To prevent her auto attacks from damaging the rest of your squad, you should ideally go behind a Pillar that is as close to your usual tanking position as possible. Having another player purposefully bait and place a pillar close by for you is optimal, as long as the pillar is neither directly in the orange cone of the Knockback where Mines spawn, nor too close to Adina (if the Shockwave from the spawning Pillar hits Adina, she will apply 20 seconds of Radiant Blindness to everyone around her). All existing Mines will explode when another set of Mines start spawning, as well as when Adina phases every 25% health. They deal damage, and apply Weakness and five stacks of bleeding to any players within a small radius of about one tile. Classes with higher health pools like Chronomancer and Renegade can sometimes survive this damage. Thief easily goes into downstate from this damage. Going into downstate may mean you can get killed by the Sandwall if it happens right as Adina phases. You can either dodge out or tank slightly away from any existing Mines right before she phases, or purposely set off one of the Mines well beforehand. This can be done by dodging over one of the tiles. This leaves a small hole behind where you would be tanking Adina. Boon Thief specific: ideally, you want to have Detonate Plasmas (Plasmas) available for the split phases, to provide Might and Quickness for your squad. You cannot Steal from Adina when she phases and becomes invulnerable, nor does Steal give anything when cast on the Hands. Keep an eye on your Steal cooldown and how many seconds of Quickness you have left as you get close to the end of the current phase, so you can check whether you can save Plasmas for the split phases. Make sure you coordinate with your group where you will be facing Adina; it is important not to face Adina toward the group in order to avoid stripping Aegis and maintain flanking uptime.

Cardinal Sabir

• Chronomancer POV

Tanking is Toughness-based. In order to tank you need to make sure you have higher Toughness than anyone else in the squad. Since the goal is to get stacks of the (Special Action) for the squad, do not worry about turning the boss away from everyone. Sabir’s basic attacks are unblockable, but you can evade them with Sword Skill 2. You can use the clone swap on Sword Skill 3 to teleport over the Shockwave to preserve your Special Action, but do not use Sword Skill 3 after the Tornado has spawned at the last platform, because you can end up teleporting into it. Portal Strategy: Chronos can take Portal Entre instead of Well of Action (provided they bring Seize the Moment) to skip the adds after Sabir phases at 80% and 60% boss health, as shown in this video.

Qadim the Peerless

• Chronomancer POV

The person with Flux Disruptor activated that is within Qadim’s range will get the boss aggro and be tethered to him. If multiple people have flux disruptor activated within qadim’s range, then Qadim will aggro on whoever is closest to him. That said, once qadim aggros on someone, he will not switch aggro to the closest person until the person with aggro leaves the center circle (this circle refers to the circle on the ground that his AoE knockback extends to). The main job for the tank is to position yourself nicely so that Force of Havoc (Line) will spawn in between the Pylon and the small circle where the Orb will land (Or where Entropic Distortion will spawn). You do not want to make a pylon kiter’s life harder with a badly spawned Line, as it does significant damage. Furthermore, if a Line passes directly over a Pylon, it will instantly reclaim that Pylon for Qadim the Peerless (QtP). There is one attack which will deal significant damage throughout the encounter. QtP will rapidly shoot out seven to eight small Lightning Orbs, which can quickly put a tank in downstate if they do not block or Distort it. At 20% boss health, all players’ Special Action Key will be disabled. When QtP teleports back to the center of the arena after destroying the last Pylon, be sure that the tank is the first person to go to the center in order to guarantee the boss fixates onto them. From there, it is best not to position the Line onto where Entropic Distortions spawn as they need to be dealt with. Make sure you run Shattered Concentration. The most important boon you strip on QtP is Retaliation. After 40% boss health, feel free to face QtP toward any Pylon that QtP destroyed in order to minimize the need for the squad to move. At 20%, your Special Action Key becomes locked, preventing you from using it. At this point, Qadim will instead fixate to whoever is closest to him after his shockwave. If someone were to step far enough away from Qadim (out of the center circle), the aggro will relocate to whoever is closest to him. There are many misconceptions about how the tethers work post-20%. The first person who enters the center circle (describe above) will become fixated by Qadim and be tethered to him. The second and third person who enter the center circle will also be tethered to Qadim. Qadim can tether to a maximum of 3 targets post 20%. Each person that is tethered to Qadim can tether to one other person in a wide radius around them. Note that multiple people can not extend their tether to the same person. Each person that gets tethered by someone else can also tether someone. That is, it is possible for everyone in the squad to be tethered. This reduces outgoing damage and does heavy pulsing damage. As the tank, this means that the group will be taking heavy damage -- try not to stay too close to group members, else the tether combined with Qadim’s autos may cause a down. If an Entropic Distortion spawns behind where you are tanking, make sure you move accordingly such that the group is not getting hammered by autos while killing him. This will depend on your strat -- if your group drops fires such that Distortions on their way to the center will die, this will not be an issue.

• This tanking pattern assumes orbs are being collected clockwise. If orbs are being collected counterclockwise, simply mirror the tanking pattern about the y-axis. After line 2, if Qadim has yet to phase, simply move back to line 1 as the line will have disappeared by then.

Builds

Courtesy of Kacodo.5691, here is a list of various builds you can use as a chronomancer to tank with: Power Boon Chrono ² ³: Pack - 80% BD, DW, IA, Insp, New Player Friendly Pack - 50% BD, DW, DT, Insp Pack - 32% BD, DW, DT, Insp⁴ Pack - 25% BD, QO, DT, Shield, Insp⁵, New Player Friendly Scholar - 10% BD, QO, DT, Shield, Insp⁵ Scholar - 0% BD, QO, DT, no Shield Insp

Condi Chrono : Perplexity - Standard Perplexity - Alacrity Well/Feedback (3 Spiteful)

Condi Boon Chrono ⁶: Perplexity - 37% BD, Shield (17 Spiteful)⁷ Perplexity - 32% BD, Shield⁸ Perplexity - 10% BD, No Shield⁹ Perplexity - 0% BD, No Shield¹⁰ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Legend: BD: Boon Duration DW: Double Well - Well of Action and Well of Recall, used in double chrono comps IA: Improved Alacrity - Better boon uptimes at the cost of DPS DT: Danger Time - Better DPS at the cost of boon uptimes QO: Quickness Only: These builds only function in a composition where a Renegade is providing Alacrity Insp: Inspiration Traitline with Blurred Inscriptions - Makes Signet of Inspiration 10 man so helps with squad uptime as well as in-sub Aegis. This can be changed to Dueling: 1, 3, 1 if you are not responsible for the other sub’s boons Blank Elite/Signet of Humility: You can take whatever you want to fit the situation from TW, Grav Well, Signet

Footnotes: ² To turn any build into a tank set, change Berserker's to Knights (if you still need more toughness after this change Assassin's to Knight's) ³ Weapons can be changed to include Focus for pulls, GS for pushes ⁴ This setup provides 90s of Quickness and Alacrity per loop in a double Chrono raid-scenario. Bench ⁵ Example rotation for Pack - 25% BD, Bench for Scholar - 10% BD ⁶ Trailblazer's can be swapped to Viper's if you do not need the additional toughness ⁷ Longer phase Twin Largos. Bench/Example Rotation ⁸ Shorter phase Twin Largos. Bench/Example Rotation ⁹ Soulless Horror with single 0% BD condi RR Ren ¹⁰ Soulless Horror with Heal Ren, Alac Ren, or 2x 0% BD condi RR Rens