I guess writing a guide for this implies I understand this fight in some way. That is far from true. I know what happens to me, and I sort of know what happens to my cotank. Everything else is a vague amber blur.
I’m just covering the strategy my raid followed. I’m sure you have a better, more efficient, and easier strategy that you’re just dying to share. I guess you can do that in the comments. I probably won’t read it but other people might!
- Talents:
- Dampen Harm – Many of these bugs hit very hard, so you’ll need a cooldown to soften their blows.
- Xuen – There are a few bosses that must be burned down quickly, and Xuen works well for that.
- Gear:
- Tank Legendary cloak – There’s a lot of unpredictable damage here, and you really don’t want to wipe at the end because you didn’t avoid a few hits. Also, while the damage from the dps cloak may look impressive here, most of it’s not helpful damage since each alive boss heals after another dies.
Skeer the Bloodseeker, Rik’kal the Dissector, Hisek the Swarmkeeper (not tanked)
- DPS will start on Rik’kal to make him the target of bloods, then swap to Skeer after they spawn.
- Skeer
- Hits, really hard, especially before your vengeance is established. Start the fight with a moderate cooldown like Dampen Harm if you’re tanking him.
- Backpeddal him away from Rik’kal. You can’t move too fast because he’ll grip you back to him.
- Tank him near the door while Rik’kal is in the middle. You want him to be far from the blood spawns.
- Rik’kal
- Have active mitigation abilities ready for Injection. Shuffle doesn’t count, but Elusive Brew and Guard do, as well as other tank’s more obvious forms of AM. You need to let some Injections hit, 1 Injection for every 2 paragons that die before Rik’kal does, rounded up. So if he dies 2nd you need 1, if he dies 3rd you need 2, etc. You should let 2 land intentionally for the dps to eat when they turn into scorpions later.
- Hisek
- Not tanked.
- Avoid yellow spins.
- Soak aim if you’re assigned to it.
Rik’kal the Dissector, Hisek the Swarmkeeper (not tanked), Ka’roz the Locust
- Rik’kal will be the target.
- Ka’roz
- Gets picked up by by the tank not on Rik’kal, and then basically ignored.
- Avoid his green charges.
- Will be tanked for a long time, his damage periodically so by the end he’ll deal lots of damage.
- Rik’kal – same as before
- Have active mitigation abilities ready for Injection. Shuffle doesn’t count, but Elusive Brew and Guard do, as well as other tank’s more obvious forms of AM. You should let 2 land intentionally for the dps to eat when they turn into scorpions later.
- Hisek – same as before
- Not tanked.
- Avoid yellow spins.
- Soak aim if you’re assigned to it.
Hisek the Swarmkeeper (not tanked), Ka’roz the Locust, Korven the Prime
- Korven will be the primary target, though you need to dps both Korven and Hisek down equally then drop Hisek below 50% to juke Korven’s Encase in Amber.
- Korven
- Picked up by tank not on Ka’roz.
- Tank swap during or immediately after he casts Shield Bash. Tanks should stand at an angle so that they can easily swap but Korven won’t cleave other people.
- Use some sort of proactive cooldown before Shield Bash lands, like Guard.
- A tank should pick up his buff after he dies for later use.
- Ka’roz – same as before
- Offtanked and mostly ignored.
- Avoid his green charges.
- Hisek – same as before
- Avoid yellow spins.
- Soak aim if you’re assigned to it (hard to do for a tank while Korven is up).
Hisek the Swarmkeeper (not tanked), Ka’roz the Locust, Iyyokuk the Lucid
- Hisek will be the primary target.
- Hisek – same as before.
- During his spin, keep active mitigation up by attacking whatever boss you’re tanking.
- Soak aim.
- Ka’roz – same as before
- Offtanked and mostly ignored.
- Avoid his green charges.
- Iyyokuk
- Picked up by tank not on Ka’roz
- He doesn’t do much damage to his target.
- Stay near the raid and don’t move if you’re the target of fire lines (moving means you might make someone who’s safe take extra damage). Both tanks should consider using moderate cooldowns if targeted by fire lines, to make it easier on the healers.
Ka’roz the Locust, Iyyokuk the Lucid, Xaril the Poisoned Mind
- Xaril is the primary target.
- Xaril
- Tanked by the person who’s also on Iyyokuk (Ka’roz is hitting pretty hard at this point so it’s a better split of damage).
- Use active mitigation like Guard or Elusive Brew to block Caustic Blood
- Iyyokuk – same as before
- He doesn’t do much damage to his target.
- Stay near the raid and don’t move if you’re the target of fire lines (moving means you might make someone who’s safe take extra damage). Both tanks should consider using moderate cooldowns if targeted by fire lines, to make it easier on the healers.
- Ka’roz – same as before
- Offtanked and mostly ignored.
- Avoid his green charges.
Ka’roz the Locust, Iyyokuk the Lucid, Kaz’tik the Manipulator (not tanked)
- Kaz’tik is the primary target.
- Kaz’tik
- Not tanked.
- The tank who picked up Korven’s amber casing buff should watch out for Mesmerize and cast the skill on that target. (It’s a bright yellow beam linking the target to the bug, so look for that.) The skill is on your extra action button.
- Don’t stand near the kunchongs. They’ll kill you. :(
- Iyyokuk – same as before
- He doesn’t do much damage to his target.
- Stay near the raid and don’t move if you’re the target of fire lines (moving means you might make someone who’s safe take extra damage). Both tanks should consider using moderate cooldowns if targeted by fire lines, to make it easier on the healers.
- Ka’roz – same as before
- Offtanked and mostly ignored.
- Avoid his green charges.
Ka’roz the Locust, Iyyokuk the Lucid, Kil’ruk the Wind Reaver
- Iyyokuk is the primary target.
- Kil’ruk
- We swap Ka’roz around at this point, so the person who was on Ka’roz picks up Kil’ruk.
- He Gouges the tank, followed by large damage. It’s not dangerous as long as you’re not already low.
- When he cast’s Death from Above, just keep an eye on him or run to where no one was standing before (he targets a random player and crashes down on top of them).
- Reave: You can run away if you’re running low (happens a lot since things get crazy near the end). If your health is stable, you can keep on the boss.
- Ka’roz – mostly same as before
- Tank on Iyyokuk may want to pick up Ka’roz to spread out damage.
- Offtanked and mostly ignored.
- Avoid his green charges.
- Iyyokuk – same as before
- He doesn’t do much damage to his target.
- Stay near the raid and don’t move if you’re the target of fire lines (moving means you might make someone who’s safe take extra damage). Both tanks should consider using moderate cooldowns if targeted by fire lines, to make it easier on the healers.
Winding Down
- Next you’ll kill Ka’roz, then Kil’ruk.
- This part is easy as long as you keep things stable. Don’t forget about cooldowns.