Overview
Hearken unto a requiem for a hero fallen. A man who lived a thousand thousand of our lives clinging desperately to faint hope, never shirking his sworn duty to his long-lost brethren. A man who stood proud and did avow his true name on the threshold of the battle that would see him fall to his rival─the light to quench his shadow. Borrowing liberally from the funereal rites of the Night's Blessed, the minstreling wanderer weaves an elegy in that hero's honor─the tragic-yet-triumphant tale of a man and a battle that ne'er shall be forgotten.
Strategy Notes
- Just like normal mode, your encounter with Emet-Selch (Hades) takes place within a circular arena overlooking the ruins of Amaurot, deep within the Tempest. Thanks to a small outer railing during the opening phase, players will be incapable of falling over the edge. However, the railing will eventually be destroyed as the fight progresses, meaning players can plummet to their doom if they stray too far.
- Below is a list of all Hades' abilities and phases.
- If Arcane Utterance spawns Red Orbs, they will eventually explode in an AoE fashion once Hades casts Arcane Control. However, one orb will be noticeably missing within the arena, indicating where players should stand to avoid the explosions. For reference, players can check the circular patterns on the floor, as the circles on the floor indicate the radius of the orb explosions.
- If Arcane Utterance spawns Blue Mirrors, they will eventually shoot straight-line AoE's in the direction they are facing once Hades has cast Arcane Control. However, one mirror will be noticeably missing, and a mirror in the centre of the platform will be pointing towards the gap, meaning the gap is not safe. To avoid, players will need to stand behind the mirror opposite the empty space.
- Once Broken Faith has concluded, the previously unused Arcane Utterance effect will take place. For example, if the first Arcane Utterance involved Red Orbs, players will now be dealing with Blue Mirrors. Once the alternate Arcane Utterance has concluded, Hades will execute another Shadow Spread (doubled cone-attacks), Bad Faith (double wall-attacks), Ravenous Assault (double tank-buster) before entering an enraged state, imposing a DPS check via Ancient Dark IV. If Hades hasn't been sufficiently damaged before the cast goes off, the party is vocally deemed 'unworthy' and suffer an unavoidable wipe.
- Assuming the group manages to push Hades to 10% health or lower, they will transition to a new phase, and can even skip various mechanics if the overall DPS is high enough.
Boss Encounters
Hades
- Detailed mechanics not available from the source page.
First Phase
- Ancient Double - Hades provides himself with a buff at the beginning of the engagement, causing all of his future abilities to be cast in doubles for the rest of the encounter.
- Shadowspread - causes all participants to become the target of two consecutive cone-shaped AoE's one after the other due to Ancient Double. As a result, all players should be assigned cardinal or inter-cardinal positions around the boss (like a clock) so that the cone attacks do not overlap each other. Once the first cone has been fired, all players can then side-step to avoid the follow-up attack.
- Bad Faith - creates a large purple wall through the centre of the arena, with each half of the wall having spikes (arrows) protruding out in different directions. After a brief delay, the spikes will shoot across the platform in the direction they are pointing - one half firing north while the other fires south. To avoid being blasted, players should position themselves behind a side of the wall that does not have spikes pointing in their direction. After the wall has fired, Ancient Double will cause the attack to happen again - inverted with no telegraph. As a result, the previously safe areas will then be blasted whilst the previously unsafe areas become safe-spots.
- Ravenous Assault - Hades cleaves his primary target with a vicious AoE tank-buster. Unlike normal mode, Ravenous Assault will be also doubled and comes with a debuff. As a result, tanks will need to decide between having one tank take both hits using an invulnerability cooldown, or organizing a tank-swap between the two hits.
- Arcane Utterance - causes the arena to fill up with either Red Orbs or Blue Mirrors. In both cases, there will always be a missing orb or mirror, which can be used to determine where a future safe spot will be present.
- Broken Faith - causes a random pattern of aetheric (glowing blue) circles to slowly transcend from the sky into the arena. Once a circle touches the ground, it will detonate, searing anyone caught in their wake for moderate damage and also apply a stackable debuff. Keep in mind that the explosions are wider than the circles themselves. For reference, players can check the circular patterns on the arena floor to see how big the detonation will be. To avoid, simply avoid the first few circles until they detonate, then move into a previously detonated area away from other upcoming circle explosions, repeating the process as many times as necessary until the mechanic resolves. Bear in mind that Broken Faith will drop far more circles over time compared to the version witnessed in normal mode.
Shade of Nabriales
- Detailed mechanics not available from the source page.
Shades of Igeyorhm & Lahabrea
- Detailed mechanics not available from the source page.
Ascian Prime
- Doom - a ticking debuff that will outright slay the victim if they are not healed to full health before the debuff expires.
- Ancient Circle - causes affected players to emit a large donut AoE from their present location after a delay.
- Cursed Shriek - causes players to eventually emit a gaze attack, petrifying any player looking directly at them when the debuff expires.
- Beyond Death - a debuff that can only be removed by taking fatal damage.
- Off-Balance - causes affected players to be knocked backwards a set distance once they take damage.
- Forked Lightning - causes the affected players to eventually detonate (large AoE) at their current location once the debuff has expired.
- Blight - causes the Ascian Prime to blast the raid with unavoidable damage and apply a vicious bleed to all participants shortly after the debuffs from Universal Manipulation have resolved. The bleed itself will persist for 30 seconds, and the initial blast itself will also hurt a great deal, thus healers will have to ensure that everyone is topped up as soon as possible once the Universal Manipulation debuffs have resolved, and continue healing for quite a while afterwards.
- Height Of Chaos - a vicious tank-buster against the Ascian Prime's main target.
- Megiddo Flame - places a stack-line marker on each healer, forcing the raid to split into two groups to help share the damage of each. Healers must also make sure that their stack-line's do not overlap as the results may be fatal.
- Shadow Flare - hits the entire raid with a burst of shadowy energy. Healers will need to ensure that everyone has been sufficiently topped up after the previous Megiddo Flame stack-lines to avoid untimely deaths.
- Ancient Eruption - causes two players to drop AoE circles beneath their feet, following them for a total of three detonations each. If targeted by Ancient Eruption, be sure to run to the outer edges of the arena, preferably avoiding the bulk of the raid (and each other) while doing so.
Final Phase
- Again The Majestic - summons two Comets which will begin to fall at the north and south ends of the arena. Just like earlier, each comet will need to be soaked by at least one player to avoid fatal damage, and is best achieved by having the main-tank take the comet close to Hades whilst the off-tank absorbs the comet to the south - preferably with mitigation CDs. Also, much like the comets you dealt with during the Nabriales add phase, they will continue to drop in pairs for a hefty portion of the phase, so be wary!
- Captivity - marks a random healer with an AoE circle. After a brief delay, the marked healer (and anyone overlapped by their circle) will be forcibly sucked into the centre of the arena and entrapped within an Aetherial Gaol. Players trapped in this manner will be raised into the air and unable to move or act in any way. All untrapped players will need to quickly destroy the Aetherial Goal as soon as possible to free their comrade(s). If this is not done in time, all trapped players will be executed regardless of their HP.
- Again The Martyr - creates a stack-up marker on each healer, an ice-based AoE marker on all damage dealers, and charges up a knockback that will eventually punt all players from the centre of the arena. Seeing as damage dealers cannot stack with the healers to help with the damage, each healer should pair up with a tank for that purpose, preferably by having them pair up slightly to the east and west of the arena centre. Meanwhile, all damage dealers should stand at a more diagonal position. As a result, each marked healer (and a paired tank) will be knocked back together and successfully soak the stack-markers, whilst the damage dealers are knocked at a diagonal angle and drop their ice-markers away from the stacked pairs.
- Again The Abyssal Celebrant - causes Hades to emit cone-shaped telegraphs in multiple directions, leaving two small safe-zones nearer his hitbox and two longer safe zones cutting across the arena in a larger shape. Simultaneously, both healers will acquire a stack-line marker that will eventually inflict multiple hits that need to be soaked. Lastly, the two farthest damage dealers will also acquire purple AoE circles, causing them to drop three persistent puddles one after the other. All three mechanics will resolve at the same time, so positioning is key.
- Dark Seal - creates two orbs within the arena that will begin to slowly grow in size and should be avoided at all costs. The position of the orbs can be one of two different patterns, with safe spots for either pattern being quite close to Hades himself. Whilst the orbs are growing, Hades will either cast Polydegmon's Purgation or Shadowstream.
- Dark Current - causes multiple AoE circles to spawn at the east and west sides of the arena (in lanes) that will eventually begin to travel across the platform from one side to the other in a straight line. Due to the lane-line nature of the mechanic, an easy method of avoiding them is to simply stand behind an AoE circle that has passed you by, as each lane will only contain one traveling circle. However, bear in mind that Dark Current will happen in two waves, not just one.
- Gigantomachy - a raid-wide blast of darkness, keeping healers on their toes.
- Quadrastrike #1 - a multi-hitting raid-swipe.
- Quadrastrike #2 (Towers) - creates a pillar to the east and west of the platform that needs to be soaked by at least one player each - preferably tanks. After a brief delay, Hades will bring each fist down upon those locations, inflicting tremendous damage to those standing by the pillars.
- Quadrastrike #3 - another multi-hitting raid-buster, except this time, all participants will receive a very heavy damage-over-time debuff with a long duration. Healers will need to be on their toes until it expires.
Duty Information
- Duty Finder: High-end Trials (Shadowbringers)
- Roulette: Mentor
- Time Limit: 60 minutes
- Tomestones: 20 poetics
Achievements
Music
- Phase 1 and Adds: Shadowbringers
- Phases 2-3: Invincible