Starting Trash & Notable Enemies
Upon entering the trial you will make your way through three rooms. The first contains lots of fire and a group of Fire Atronachs at the top of the stairs. The second contains swirling ice circles that will immobilise anyone that they touch, you'll be greeted by two Frost Atronachs when you make it through these. The third room has no enemies but random lightning strikes on players as you run through.
The final room before the boss has a large pack of enemies. You will encounter some of these throughout the trial and should be aware of the following elite mobs (they carry banners and have fancy health bars):
- Overchargers - Ranged enemies that will cause random members of the group to become "Overcharged"; inflicting them with a large red AoE under their feet which moves with them and causes a lot of damage to anyone standing in it. They also target group members with a continuous lightning attack which will spawn smaller, spreading red circles under the players feet and damage inflict damage if the player does not move out when they reach full size.
- Chainspinners - Melee enemies that perform an AoE attack which stuns players and also drop a large AoE on a random player that does a fair amount of damage.
Until the final group of enemies here there is nothing too stressful. Move as a group through the rooms and ensure your tanks are leading to pick up the enemies. Move all the way up the stairs to avoid the fire and stack up the Fire Atronachs. Dodge roll to escape the immobilise from the ice circles and ensure your tanks turn the Frost Atronachs away from the group as they have a frontal cleave attack. In the lightning room you'll notice a glowing circle on the floor, standing in this will stop damage from the lightning and is an indicator for how to deal with the first boss.
The last group of enemies should be stacked where they are and killed together. The group should spread out a little and focus the Overcharger first. Anyone affected by "Overcharged" should remain still and block cast while everyone else steps away from them and out of their AoE. Healers may need to focus some heals on these players. Any player with the smaller red circles under their feet should kite (keep moving) to avoid the damage, both of these attacks can target the same player at the same time. Move out of the large red AoE dropped by the Chainspinners and block the AoE that they do around them (if you are in melee range).
Boss One - Lightning Storm Atronach
After dropping down into the next room (and after a short dialogue) a large Storm Atronach will explode into being in the centre of the middle circle on the floor. This boss has two main attacks to be aware of:
- Impending Storm - A large, spreading AoE that appears under the boss' feet and explodes upon reaching its full size.
- Lightning Storm - Similar to the last library room you ran through, lightning strikes will continuously hit all members of the group causing a lot of damage.
There are five faint circled (the same as the one in the last library room except these are not yet glowing) around the room which should be identified and named before the boss is pulled. There are two on the right, one where you enter the room, one on the other side of the boss and one on the left. We typically name these "Right Exit", "Right Entrance", "Entrance", "Exit" and "Left" respectively but as long as your group knows which is which name them whatever you want. When the boss raises his hands one of these circles will begin to glow and the "lightning Storm" begins, the glowing circle is a safe zone which you can move to and avoid the damage but you need to be quick. Communication here is important as not everyone in the group will see which pad has lit up so it is better to have all group members call it (there is nothing else to call in this fight so voice chat won't get confusing). Lots of shields and heals are a good idea while moving to the safe zones.
The "Impending Storm" mechanic can simply be blocked and the rest of the fight is just stack and burn. Try to keep the boss central so that the safe zones are all an equal distance away and stay stacked as a group when you are on the boss to make your healers lives easier.
Teleport Pads & First Group Split
There are three sets of teleport pads around the room (in groups of four) which can only be activated when one player is standing on each; you need twelve members to proceed through this trial. Once activated, each group will be transported to a different floating island with their own enemies to deal with before proceeding. There is an Overcharger on the right, a new enemy on the left; a Nullifier and a pack of small enemies in the middle. Once all the enemies are killed on each side, bridges will form allowing the group to meet on the middle island and use the teleport pads to jump back to the previous boss room.
- Nullifier - Ranged enemy that will heal other enemies with an interruptible, charged ability "Healing Links".
As there are no large enemies in the middle it makes sense to send a tank and healer to each of the left and right groups. Focus the elite enemies first on the left and right, pull in smaller adds to group everything up and get ready to bash anything that starts healing other enemies. The middle group of enemies will continuously respawn until the two other groups have killed all of their enemies.
Tip: You can avoid aggroing the middle group of enemies by crouching BEFORE you get on the middle teleport pad (provided pets are put away and all four group members are crouched). Failing that, if you kill all but one of the enemies in the middle no more will spawn. Kill the final enemy after the side groups are done.
Reunited
Back in the first boss room a new bridge will spawn allowing you to proceed. Here you will face a few waves of enemies, each wave consisting of the elite mobs you have seen before. Once you have killed all of these there are another twelve teleport pads to safely transport you to the next boss room.
This pull can be quite chaotic but the typical way to handle this is to stack as a group on the rock towards the back left of the area after the bridge. If all of your healing is in one place and the whole group stacks there then you can usually out-heal the damage circles. If that doesn't work for your group then have your tanks do their best to group up the enemies and handle them as before: spread out a little as a group and make sure you focus the Overchargers first. If a group member close to you becomes "Overcharged" take a few steps away to get out of the AoE on them.
Note: It's not unusual after the enemies are dead for group members to mount up and do a running jump off to the next room (past the teleport pads). If the group do this then you have no choice but to follow (you need all twelve to activate the pads) but unless it is organised I'd advise you not to. Often this leads to one or more people missing the jump and dying which adds a lot more time than if you were just to use the pads in the first place.
Boss Two - Foundation Stone Atronach
Once you are teleported down to the next island you will be greeted by a large Stone Atronach located at the rear of the island. You will have both Chainspinners and Nullifiers spawn throughout this fight (one of each at a time). The boss itself will do two notable attacks:
- Big Quake - The boss spreads itself out and repeatedly pounds the ground with its head (I think...) dealing damage to everyone in the group with each hit.
- Boulder Storm - The boss will put its head down and curl up as if it is protecting itself. Boulders will be summoned from all over the island and hurl themselves at random players knocking them down on impact and causing splash damage to anyone nearby.
If you have two tanks here then the off tank should try to position the Nullifiers and Chainspinners on the boss so that they die in the cleave damage. If these enemies start building up your group should focus them down as a priority so that you don't get overwhelmed. With one tank it is very hard to position the Nullifier so taunt the Chainspinner and let the group burn down the Nullifier as a priority. The tank can turn the boss and the group can stack behind. If a Chainspinner drops an AoE on the group it would be best to move left/right "as a group" to stay out of it.
When the boss spreads out and starts to pound just stay stacked and let your healers do their job.
When the boss curls up then everyone should spread out a little bit and block-cast their abilities. As long as you are blocking then you will not get knocked down by the boulders and spreading out means you do not damage anyone else when you are hit. Once the mechanic is over then stack up again so that healing is easier for the pound mechanic.
Teleport Pads & Second Group Split
After the boss is defeated you will gain access to another three sets of teleport pads which will split the group into three again. The left group will be the only one with elite enemies this time, a Chainspinner and a Nullifier, the middle group is very similar to before and the right group has a large number of imps to deal with. Once complete, cross the newly formed bridges to meet with your group and ascend the winding ledges to drop down into the next boss room.
It's best to split the group as before (tank and healer to both the left and right groups). The tank on the left can take control of the elite enemies and group everything on the Nullifier if possible. Everyone on that side should watch for interrupts. On the right side the tank just needs to try to pull in all the imps and the middle group is the same as before.
Boss Three - Varlariel
A Wispmother that summons lesser versions of herself to aid her throughout the battle.
- Frozen Breath - An AoE ability beneath and in front of the boss' feet and does a lot of damage to anyone caught inside.
- Rain of Wisps - Small AoEs that are dropped on the ground and gradually increase in size. These will explode once they reach their full size and deal moderate damage.
- Mother Clone (Summon Wispmother) - The boss summons clones of herself which spread out towards the pillars circling the area. The first time this happens there are three but this number increases by one each time until the maximum of six clones is reached. After around twenty seconds the boss will draw energy from any remaining clones and generate an explosion causing damage to all group members; the more clones that were alive, the more damage this will do.
Before starting the fight it is a good idea to assign two damage dealers to each pillar (there are more pillars than you have damage dealers but this is fine). When the "Mother Clone" mechanic occurs these damage dealers can move to their assigned pillar and prioritise damage on that clone. Afterwards, they can assist with any remaining clones that are left alive before returning to their position.
The main tank should face the boss away from the group to make sure only they are affected by the "Frozen Breath". Everyone else should spread out slightly behind the boss so that they are not hit by multiple "Rain of Wisp" explosions and, where possible, step out of these to avoid the damage completely. The off tank (if you have one) can focus on debuffing the boss/buffing the group and the healers can heal through the damage from the "Rain of Wisps" mechanic.
When the clones are summoned the off tank can focus on debuffing these and the damage dealers should split up and try to kill them all before the boss does the explosion. Your group will not survive if more than one is left alive.
Tip: A more common approach is to leave one clone alive, however. This means you will need to decide on which clone to ignore (typically it will be the one that rushes to either the lit up (christmas tree) pillar or the pillar with the large brown mushrooms as these are the most recognisable. This allows you to focus more damage on the boss in order to kill it before it can summon all six clones. You will take a fair amount of damage from the explosion with this one clone left but this can be healed.
Final Boss - The Mage
There is a pack of enemies to face when you reach the boss island and another wave spawns in when these are killed. Once the last enemy dies The Mage will float down to the middle of the room and the fight begins. Make sure your group is ready to face the boss before engaging the trash pack.
The Mage has some confusing mechanics which can be incredibly punishing until they are understood. This will be a test for your healers and off tank (especially on hardmode).
- Chain lightning - The boss shoots lightning at a random player in front of her. Once struck, if there is a player within about 8metres of the targeted player then the lightning will jump to that player and the damage to them will increase. This continues to happen until there are no players in range for the lightning to jump to.
- Conjured Axe - The boss will summon axes periodically through the fight (usually two at a time). These have a massive health pool and two attacks: "Strike" is their light attack and "Slam" is their heavy attack which knocks down the targeted player.
- Black Hole - The boss will summon black holes towards the edges of the platform. These will slowly increase in size forming a massive AoE that deals a lot of damage to anyone standing you inside it.
- Conjured Mines - Small mines will appear all around the platform throughout the fight and persist until somebody walks into them and they explode.
- Conjured Reflection - The boss summons a reflection of herself somewhere in the room that channels an uninterruptible attack that deals a lot of damage to the group.
- Arcane Vortex - At 15% the boss will knockdown everyone in the group three times. This is the start of The Mages execute phase where she pulling down, what looks like, a huge solar flare towards the group. Everyone will take a lot of damage and this intensifies the closer it gets.
Hardmode
Activated by destroying all three of the orbs found beyond the last set of teleport pads before you are transported to the final boss room. This cannot be undone; once activated you will need to kill the boss on hardmode or die trying. As with almost every other hardmode in the game, expect the boss to have more health and some of the above attacks to do more damage.
- Storm Atronachs - Periodically these will spawn in and go after someone in the group. They don't have any notable attacks but they will start doing a lot of damage with "Unstable Explosion" when they are close to death which hits everyone in the group.
- Meteors - Meteors will be falling consistently throughout the fight on random players. They have a large AoE, deal moderate damage and will knock players down.
Non-Hardmode
There are several documented ways of dealing with this fight but this is the one I've personally had the most success with. The main tank should keep the boss turned away from the group (usually facing the entrance) and stand as far away as possible, just being close enough to use their melee abilities. The rest of the group should stack behind the boss but in a similar position - at maximum melee range. This is to avoid the "Chain Lightning" mechanic; as long as nobody but the tank/s stand in front of the boss (anywhere in the 180º in front of the boss) and you maintain this maximum range then you can safely sack as a group (making it a lot easier to heal) and avoid the most punishing mechanic in the fight.
"Conjured Axes" should be picked up quickly by the off tank and taken to the entrance. We choose to face the boss towards the entrance as there is more room for the off tank to play with the axes here. If an axe gets loose then let the off tank know it is on you and block until it is taken away. If you don't have an off tank then the main tank will need to pick these up. Do not try and kill them as they have tonnes of health. If the fight goes on for a long time there will be a lot of these to deal with so they should be shared between the tanks if possible.
"Conjured Reflections" should be killed as quickly as possible, preferably from a ranged position. These will do too much damage to the group if left alive and if you have multiple up at once you will feel it. Remember, do not cross the 180º line of the boss when dealing with these.
"Conjured Mines" can be ignored for the most part. If there is one in a troublesome area then throw on a shield and walk into it to get rid of it. Healers/magicka damage dealers are best equipped for this.
"Black Holes" should be avoided. If you are in the correct position you will not have to move much at all. If a "Black Hole" is spreading into the group or onto the tank then communicate which direction you need to move. If the tank needs to turn the boss then the group should move the other way (maintaining maximum melee range) to ensure they stay directly behind where possible.
In execute a lot of healing is required along with a lot of damage, throw out everything you've got. Using ultimates here is a wise decision, mixing barriers and novas with horns, DPS ultimates can provide a lot of mitigation with a decent amount of damage. Any "Conjured Reflections" left alive should be killed by the knockdowns from the boss but this isn't always the case. Try and make sure these die before you push the boss to 15%.
Hardmode Changes
The fight positioning remains exactly the same but there are a couple of additional mechanics to deal with.
"Storm Atronachs" should be taunted by the main tank so that they position themselves close to the boss and these should be focussed. Never leave these alive for a long time when they have low health as their "Unstable Explosion" does a huge amount of damage.
"Meteors" can simply be blocked. If you choose to stack as described above these will frequently be falling directly into the group. Everyone should block to avoid getting stunned.
In execute the boss will also regain some health during her knockdown mechanic on hardmode.