Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Unreal) trial guide

Trial (Unreal) quick facts

The faux commander demands of you a tale to tear at the heart and grip the soul, and for this there is certainly no better inspiration than your fateful confrontation with Shiva. Turn your mind to that most tragic of primals, and find what dreams of ice may come...

• Category: Trial
• Difficulty: unreal
• First Appearance: Patch 5.3, *Shadowbringers*
• Level: 80
• Item Level Requirement: 430
• Party Size: Full Party (8 players)
• Required Quest: Fantastic Mr. Faux
• Location: Akh Afah Amphitheatre
• Region: Coerthas

Before queueing

Use the quick facts to check level, item level, party size, required quest, entrance, roulette, and time limit before queueing for Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Unreal).

• Repair gear and meet the listed level/item-level requirements.
• Tell the party if it is your first clear.
• Use the local wiki link for exact duty facts and related articles.

Boss and mechanic notes

Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Unreal) has local boss notes for: Primal: Shiva, Phase One: 100-80% Health, Phase Two: 80-70% Health, Phase Three: <70% Health. These notes are pulled from the local wiki and should be treated as source-backed prep unless separately marked as human-reviewed strategy.

• Detailed mechanics not available from the source page.
• Weapon: Frost Blade - will occasionally debuff her primary target with a stackable Blunt Resistance Down, which will only come into play whenever she equips her Frost Staff. Once Shiva equips her Frost Blade, she will typically utilize a rotation of Icebrand, Glacier Bash and Whiteout (peppered with Heavenly Strikes at different intervals depending on the current phase of the fight), all of which are described below. Assuming you are fighting Shiva with the typical two-tank format, it is wise to assign one tank per weapon, as having a single tank means they will take increased damage via Blunt Resistance Down when Shiva swaps to Staff.
• (Blade) Icebrand - causes Shiva to unleash a conal wave of sharp icicles for massive (shareable) damage. The raid will need to coordinate themselves throughout the encounter so that casts of Icebrand are shared by the group for minimal damage.
• (Blade) Glacier Bash - causes Shiva to fire a frontal cone of icy shards that deal tremendous damage and afflicts victims with Stun. The raid (including tanks) should avoid this attack as much as possible, which often conflicts with the need to share Icebrand. A simple method for tackling both is to have the main tank stand in front of Shiva whilst the rest of the raid stack directly behind her. Whenever she casts Icebrand, the tank should join the rest of the raid so that Shiva cleaves the entire group. However, when Shiva casts Glacier Bash, the tank can wait until Shiva begins hard-casting and then run through her towards the rest of the raid so that nobody is hit.
• (Blade) Heavenly Strike - spawns a torrent of large icicles that randomly erupt from the ground, dealing medium damage to anyone hit and knocking them back a moderate distance. As a result of this constant threat, Shiva should primarily be tanked in the centre of the arena for the duration of the phase, preferably with the entire group stacked directly behind her thanks to Icebrand and Glacier Bash (see above). Should players be knocked around, they will be a safe distance from the sides of the arena and can quickly move back into position.
• (Blade) Whiteout - essentially a donut AoE which causes Shiva to bombard the arena, mauling anyone who isn't close to her. As described above, keeping Shiva close to the arena centre and having the group stack close to her to deal with other mechanics means that Whiteout shouldn't pose too much of a threat, as both the tank(s) and raid will be stacked nearby to respond to Ice Brand and Glacier Bash, thus already being within range to avoid any casts of Whiteout.
• Weapon: Frost Staff - will occasionally debuff her primary target with a stackable Slash Resistance Down, which will only come into play whenever she equips her Frost Blade. Assuming you are fighting Shiva with the typical two-tank format, it is wise to assign one tank per weapon, as having a single tank means they will take increased damage via Slashing Resistance Down when Shiva swaps to her Frost Blade.
• (Staff) Hailstorm - similar to earlier versions of Akh Afah Amphitheatre, Shiva will simultaneously brand several players, who will find themselves with an icicle-shaped icon above their heads and a large, frosty-looking circle around their character, indicating that they will soon be blasted for medium damage and emit an AoE from their current locations. As you might expect, all players will need to spread out during this time so that other players don't take extra damage via overlap.
• (Staff) Absolute Zero - bombards the arena via unavoidable raid-wide damage.
• Weapon: Unarmed - after using one of the above-mentioned weapons and entering her normal (unarmed) state, the raid should always expect two mechanics to take place before she equips a new weapon.
• (Unarmed) Dreams Of Ice - empowers Shiva with a permanent (stackable) damage buff, essentially making it a soft enrage. Dreams Of Ice will continuously stack throughout the encounter, so be ready for higher volumes of damage as the battle progresses.
• (Unarmed) Icicle Impact - similar to earlier versions of Akh Afah Amphitheatre, the arena will be splayed with a pattern consisting of large circular telegraphs with white outlines, overlapping each other in several sections. In short, one circle in the arena centre, and several circles around the outer edges. Unlike earlier versions, one of the outer circles will randomly become a safe spot, and all icicles detonate simultaneously (compared to previous Shiva fights which involve circles exploding in the order they are summoned). Players can attempt to quickly identify the safe spot and move there as soon as possible, or resign themselves to an area where they will take (at most) one blast. Make sure not to stand in areas where circles overlap as you will take far more damage as a result.
• Detailed mechanics not available from the source page.
• Weapon: Frost Bow - unlike the other weapons in her repertoire, Frost Bow does not inflict a debuff of its own and gains no benefit from Blunt Resistance Down or Slashing Resistance Down, yet it does come with its own specific set of mechanics to watch out for, just like the others. However, Shiva's auto-attacks during Frost Bow will be far quicker, hit harder, and also be much more susceptible to critical strikes, thus tanks and healers should be ready for a higher volume of passive damage whilst the bow is equipped.

Duty finder and rewards context

Use this section to decide whether the duty belongs in roulettes, high-end queues, mentor roulette, or repeat farming.

• Time Limit: 60 minutes

Verification boundary

This page is generated from local TJPedia wiki data. It does not invent missing mechanics, NPC coordinates, loot tables, or current-party-finder strategies. High-end positioning and current-prog tactics still need human review before being labeled as a full strategy guide.

• Source-backed: duty facts, local boss notes, achievements, and music.
• Needs human review: exact high-end progression strategy.
• Use official patch notes for changed requirements or rewards.

Related on TJPedia

Wiki: Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Unreal)Dungeon route indexTrial and raid routeGuides hub