This is the most dreadful and one the most dangerous and toughest nest in the dragon nest. This nest can be cleared with the help of the below guide.
Flying Ship
Basic Video Guide
Advanced Video Guide
Lamia Queen Itaila
After depleting each bar of HP, the snake boss will teleport to the middle of the area, suck players towards herself and summon 4 lizards at the 4 corners of the area (at the glowing device). The lizards must be killed within 10sec or else the ship will be damaged and fire patches will appear on the field. The Death Knight will also summon the 4 lizards when one of his HP bar is depleted.
The bar in the middle of the screen is the HP of the ship. Lizards' explotion will deplete the bar gradually. If the bar is emptied, a 60 seconds countdown timer will start. If you failed to kill both bosses when the timer is up, the ship will be destroyed and cause party wipe.
Boss Skills:
Tail Swipe: Painful for chars with low defense.
Tornado: Cast a tornado which moves linearly.
In theory the boss cannot be damaged after she teleport to the centre and suck everyone towards herself. However, using Detonate (priest) can render the boss vulnerable to attack for some reason. This strategy is useful in HC mode of the nest to speed up this stage. (Fixed as of v177)
Upon reaching her last HP bar, she will summon a Death Knight (Instead of the 4 lizards) to aid her.
Death Knight Ahmado
Boss Skills:
Line Drive: Causes stun/faint status and knockdown players, may instant kill someone who took full hits.
Death Claw: 4 directions.
Red Wave (~40 sec CD): Knock back and knock down players. Red wave emanates from the Death Knight in a fan-shaped manner. After a few seconds, the area covered by the red waves will explode and deal huge damage. The direction in which he cast this, cannot be altered with provoke (Meaning he might not aim at the Paladin).
To avoid this attack, quickly move out of the fan-shaped AoE when you see the red waves. Damage can be reduced with damage reduction skills but cannot be evaded with evasion skills. (Evasion Slash etc)
New Boss Skill at HP x1:
Dark Typhoon (~50 sec CD): Knock back and knockdown players, suck them towards a typhoon which is created around himself. Very high damage. Pierce invincibility, damage can be reduced with damage reduction skill (Miracle Relic etc).
DK will start casting this after summoning last wave of lizards. Holy Shield of Saint works wonder here. You can also jump at the moment when he thrust his sword into the ground to evade the initial knockdown effect. Another trick is to stand with your back against the wall, the knock back effect will toss you into the air and you can use Aerial Evasion to quickly recover and start running in the opposite direction of the suction.
Battle Flow
- Assign 1 damage dealer to each corner before the battle for lizards, add more member to the corner with insufficient damage.
- Provoke Snake Queen to the top of the map.
- Damage Snake Queen until HP x3, she will suck everyone to the middle and summon 4 lizards at 4 corners.
- All party members go to their assigned corners to kill the lizards.
- Repeat the same thing at HP x2.
- At HP x1, Snake Queen will summon a Death Knight near the bottom of the map.
- Paladin provoke the Death Knight and stay at the bottom while the rest of the party member kill Snake Queen at the top ASAP.
- When Death Knight HP reaches HP x1.5, he will summon 2 Skeleton Minotaurs at 2 edges of the map.
- Party members need to lure the 2 Minotaurs away from Death Knight and kill them ASAP.
- Damage Death Knight until HP x1, he will summon 4 lizards at 4 corners.
- It is recommended that you only kill 2 of the lizard at the top. Why? It is because Death Knight will cast Dark Typhoon after timer reaches 0. Trying to kill the lizard at the bottom can be dangerous since you will be very near to the Death Knight, thus unable to escape from the typhoon suction.
- Stay away from Death Knight every ~45 seconds to avoid being sucked into Dark Typhoon.
Advanced Battle Flow for High DPS party:
This strategy is adopted for high DPS party to clear this stage as fast as possible. The differences between the usual battle flow are:
• There is no need to lure the Snake Lady to the top. Just fight the Snake Lady at the middle of the map.
• Kill the Snake Lady ASAP, ignoring the Death Knight most of the time.
• Ignore Skeletal Minotaurs summoned at 1.5x. Once Death Knight reaches 1.1x HP, use Time Acceleration and kill him ASAP. Ignore the last 4 lizards. You will not see Dark Typhoon if your party DPS is high enough to kill him within 10sec before Flying Ship explodes.
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After clearing 1st stage, you can proceed to the large area of the map, where you can ride mount. The oasis in the middle of the map can recover HP/MP.
There are a total of 5 bosses which guard the seal to the entrance of the dragon.
You can clear the 4 bosses in any order you want. (Except Golem)
The Golem can only be challenged after you defeat the 4 bosses. You need to kill it as well, Golem is NOT optional boss.
Stage Introduction:
This method is not very reliable too since the Scorpion's location cannot be fixed easily at the edge of the map. Also, if your distance is not far enough, you might be sucked into the wall.
d) Aerial Evasion
An interesting method to escape is by JUMPING into the thin wall/opening at any time and use Aerial Evasion. Again, this should only be used when you fail to escape through normal means since it requires u to take some damage and get poisoned. Sometimes, you might even get bounced back from the wall.
New Skills at HP x1
Berserk: Attack increases by ~3 times.
Poison Spin EX (~60 sec CD): Same casting motion as Poison Spin, except that it spins much longer and moves around. Scorpion will stay still for roughly 4 seconds after the spin, widely open for attack. It doesn't pierce Stance of Faith, Invincibility etc. MT should Provoke it away from other party members.
Poisonous Gas and FlowersAfter depleting each HP bar, a 10 seconds warning will appear on the screen before the whole field is filled with poisonous gas. The boss will hide underground.
4 flowers will appear on the field. These flowers will open when attacked and provide a temporary protection shell, granting you invincible buff to resist the poisonous gas.
The protection shell will only last for 4 seconds. You are required to move to the next flower immediately, wait for the buff counter to reach 0 and attack it to get the buff again. You and your party members are required to move across these 4 flowers sequentially together.
Take note that the arrangement of the 4 flowers are random, but they can be broadly categorized into 3 patterns, as shown below:
The flower is very fragile and will open at the slightest attack. No party members should cast any skill when these flowers spawn. Assign a member or two to attack the flowers sequentially, ONE BY ONE.
All summoned units with HP will be automatically destroyed once the poisonous gas is released. Your own skills effect remaining on field (Such as Consecration, Poison Cloud, Flame Road, Laser Cutter, Ice Sphere, Sufi Dancer etc) can accidentally attack these flowers and trigger the protection shell by mistake. If the flower was opened before the party members get close to it, the buff will NOT be applied to them and they will end up dying. You only need 3 out of these 4 flowers if you can time the opening of these flower accurately (Right when buff counter reaches 0). The total buff duration provided by 3 flowers is just enough to cover the poisonous gas duration. Opening a 4th one is the norm though, for safety purpose.
After the poisonous gas disappear, you have to get ready to jump to avoid stomp when the boss emerge from the ground.
Negate Poison Prison with Detonate
Poison prison damage can be negated if priest uses Detonate at the right time. See the video below to learn this trick.
Once you get sucked into the prison, start counting the shaking motion of the scorpion. Cast Chain Lighting at the 6th shake, and use Detonate exactly at the 8th shake. Doing so will negate the damage of Poison Prison, saving yourself and your party members who are trapped inside. However, poison status will still be applied. Cure Relic should be used immediately to cure yourself and others.
It is not recommended to use this trick, unless your party has serious problem to escape from Poison Prison due to lag. If the Priest is lagging, this might even kill your Priest in the process, especially at HP x1 (Berserk).
It is revealed here, since this 'bug' has not been fixed for more than half a year despite it being widely performed in CDN. Therefore, i am assuming this is not considered as a bug at all. FYI, using Ice Fraction to cancel Poison Prison was fixed almost immediately after it was discovered in DN KR.
DDN is passable with many different party compositions. The choice of party members largely depends on the gears and the skill as a player, due to the many deadly mechanics in various stages.
For example, a more defensive party might be good be a good idea, but it will cause a lack in DPS, and will eventually cause the party to attempt more of the deadly stage mechanics (Lava Flood of Phantom Flower, Poison Prison of Scorpion etc). More attempts = Higher chance for accidents.
On the other hand, a more DPS-oriented party would deal very good DPS but it will lack the stability to fight long battle (in case one or more of the DPS classes die). A small mistake can cause a member to die due to lack of defensive, damage reduction or healing mechanics.
Therefore, the party composition of DDN will largely varies depending on the gear and the player skills. I will merely highlight the supportive role of each class plays in DDN.
Priest
• One of the most important class in DDN (Almost no team can clear without one), for healing, curing abnormal status, attack boosting and damage reduction.
• Saint has Holy Shield which is extremely useful in stages such as countering Manticore's Photon Missile and Dark Knight's Dark Typhoon etc.
• Inquisitor generally has higher DPS as compared to Saint. However, the DPS of both classes are reduced significantly due to the 40%-80% light resist of the bosses in DDN.
Paladin
• One of the most important class in DDN (Although some team can clear DDN without one, but it is highly recommend to have a Paladin in party). Provoke, Armor Break debuff, and Elemental/Judgement Aura are very helpful to the party.
• Guardian has Guardian Force which boost the superarmor of the party. With the recent boost, the shell is almost permanent and extremely helpful in various stages, especially Flower and Manticore. Despite the seemingly lower DPS as compared to Crusader, Guardian Force will aid other party members in dealing damage (Because their skill will not be cancelled).
• Crusader is generally more offensive as compared to Guardian.
Mercenary
• One of the supportive class in DDN. Devastating Howl + Taunting Howl are critical for the survival of the party. Superarmor buff (damage reduction effect) and Battle Howl (+ Crit rate and attack) are also very helpful.
• Not much difference in terms of party support and DPS for both Barbarian and Destroyer.
• The slow effect from stomp works on manticore during Dragon HPx15 to x10. Devastating Howl helps to lower the damage from the berserk manticore, which would normally 1-2 hits any char. High SA break skills are good for saving party member binded by sand bind.
Sword Master
• One of the best damage debuffer for DDN with Hemorrhage.
• Gladiator tend to have higher burst DPS (Finishing Attack) if the player is skilled enough to deal damage at close range.
• Moonlord is better at dealing continuous ranged damage over the whole duration of the battle.
• Both are great damage dealers, thanks to their non-elemental damage.
Force User• Time Acceleration is very useful for dealing burst damage. Force Mirror debuff gives an almost permanent magical damage increase. Force user is also the main disabler of choice during dragon Hpx15 to x10 (timestop, gravity ascension, slow, freeze), although some party can clear with other strategy without a force user.
• Smasher tend to deal higher damage due to the elemental resist (50%) of the boss in DDN, as compared to Majesty.
Elemental Lord• Ice stacking increases the overall DPS of the party.
• An skilled Elestra can maintain a constant layer of ice (50% damage increase) throughout the whole battle, more so with the help of Alchemist.
• The overall DPS of both Elemental Lord classes are reduced significantly due to the 50% elemental resist of all the bosses.
Acrobat• Spirit Boost is both a good CD reduction skill and a speed boost buff. Helpful in various stage when fast movement speed is required, such as escaping Poison Prison of Scorpion, Meteor Shower of Flower & activating Eye of Life. The two critical rate buff are good for increasing the damage of the party, especially when more than half party members do not have maxed crit rate.
• Tempest is able to provide 30% physical damage debuff while WindWalker will be able to deal damage in all sort of situation as Air Pounce does not work well on certain bosses.
• Both are great DPS owing to their non-elemental damage.
Bow Master• The other primary damage debuffer in DDN with Bull's Eye. The two critical rate buff are good for increasing the damage of the party, especially if party members do not have maxed crit rate.
• Both Artillery and Sniper are very good damage dealers in DDN due to non-elemental damage. Skilled players will be able to observe the boss skill at a safe distance due to their long range and evade them accurately.
Engineer• Damage Transition is one of the best damage reduction skill, right after Miracle Relic. The effect stacks on top of the 75% damage reduction cap (As provided by Miracle Relic, and other similar buffs) since it is calculated differently. Wax is a decent speed boosting buff which is important in various stages such as escaping Poison Prison of Scorpion, Meteor Shower of Flower & activating Eye of Life. Chemical Missile also reduces elemental resist and crit resist of bosses. Although not reliable, Mecha Bomber reduces the attack of the bosses sometimes, and it does stack with Devastating/Taunting Howl of Mercenary.
• No clear distinction between the supportive role and DPS of both classes of Engineer.
• Both are great DPS thanks to their main DPS skills are non-elemental.
Alchemist• Cocktail boosts the stats of the party slightly and augments the healing effect of Priest. Slime gives additional layer freeze status. Icy Mist reduces the ice resist of boss, and extend the duration of frozen status. Wax is a decent speed boosting buff which is important in various stages such as escaping Poison Prison of Scorpion, Meteor Shower of Flower & activating Eye of Life.
• C2H5OH of Adept can further reduce the ice resist of bosses. Ice Beam provides another layer of frozen status.
• As for Physician, Love Virus and Disease EX induce magical damage increase debuff. Healing Shower helps the Priest in curing abnormal status and HP healing.
• The overall DPS of both Alchemist classes are compromised in DDN due to the 50% elemental resist of all the bosses.
Screamer
• Grudge Formation increases the attack and dark resist of all party members in the AOE. It also reduces the superarmor break of all bosses to zero and greatly helps the party to deal burst DPS. Voodoo Doll increases the damage induced to the boss but it is quite hard to be spotted by party members due to its small size. Phantom Guard offers a slight damage reduction effect, but should not be spammed due to the high MP consumption. Summon Genie give a temporary boost to all party members stats.
• Ghost Scream of Soul Eater is a debuff which gives high crit rate to all party members who attack the target. It also lowers the crit resist of targets.
• Sadism Pleasure of Dark Summoner boosts the dark attack % of all party members (probably only majesty and screamer will benefit from it though). It also gives a HP leeching buff to all party members: they will heal HP when attacking.
• The overall DPS of both Screamer classes are reduced in DDN due to the 50% elemental resist of most bosses.
Dancer• Ecstatic Dance offers 4 types of effect. However, the 2 buffs which are used most often in DDN are the Ogre dance for HP regeneration and Dark Elf dance for damage boosting in burst DPS. It should be noted that the Dark Elf dance additional damage bypass the 100% damage increase cap (Provided by Hemorrhage, Bull's Eye, Mirror etc) since it is calculated differently. Phantom Guard offers a slight damage reduction effect, but should not be spammed due to the high MP consumption. Summon Genie give a temporary boost to all party members stats.
• Both Dancer classes are great DPS in DDN due to their non-elemental damage.
Side Quest: Merchant Pope's Missing Pots
Miscellaneous
DDN position mod for Flying Ship, Manticore, Sand Worm & Phantom Flower.
Flying Ship
Basic Video Guide
Advanced Video Guide
Lamia Queen Itaila
After depleting each bar of HP, the snake boss will teleport to the middle of the area, suck players towards herself and summon 4 lizards at the 4 corners of the area (at the glowing device). The lizards must be killed within 10sec or else the ship will be damaged and fire patches will appear on the field. The Death Knight will also summon the 4 lizards when one of his HP bar is depleted.
The bar in the middle of the screen is the HP of the ship. Lizards' explotion will deplete the bar gradually. If the bar is emptied, a 60 seconds countdown timer will start. If you failed to kill both bosses when the timer is up, the ship will be destroyed and cause party wipe.
Boss Skills:
Tail Swipe: Painful for chars with low defense.
Tornado: Cast a tornado which moves linearly.
In theory the boss cannot be damaged after she teleport to the centre and suck everyone towards herself. However, using Detonate (priest) can render the boss vulnerable to attack for some reason. This strategy is useful in HC mode of the nest to speed up this stage. (Fixed as of v177)
Upon reaching her last HP bar, she will summon a Death Knight (Instead of the 4 lizards) to aid her.
Death Knight Ahmado
Boss Skills:
Line Drive: Causes stun/faint status and knockdown players, may instant kill someone who took full hits.
Death Claw: 4 directions.
Red Wave (~40 sec CD): Knock back and knock down players. Red wave emanates from the Death Knight in a fan-shaped manner. After a few seconds, the area covered by the red waves will explode and deal huge damage. The direction in which he cast this, cannot be altered with provoke (Meaning he might not aim at the Paladin).
To avoid this attack, quickly move out of the fan-shaped AoE when you see the red waves. Damage can be reduced with damage reduction skills but cannot be evaded with evasion skills. (Evasion Slash etc)
New Boss Skill at HP x1:
Dark Typhoon (~50 sec CD): Knock back and knockdown players, suck them towards a typhoon which is created around himself. Very high damage. Pierce invincibility, damage can be reduced with damage reduction skill (Miracle Relic etc).
DK will start casting this after summoning last wave of lizards. Holy Shield of Saint works wonder here. You can also jump at the moment when he thrust his sword into the ground to evade the initial knockdown effect. Another trick is to stand with your back against the wall, the knock back effect will toss you into the air and you can use Aerial Evasion to quickly recover and start running in the opposite direction of the suction.
Battle Flow
- Assign 1 damage dealer to each corner before the battle for lizards, add more member to the corner with insufficient damage.
- Provoke Snake Queen to the top of the map.
- Damage Snake Queen until HP x3, she will suck everyone to the middle and summon 4 lizards at 4 corners.
- All party members go to their assigned corners to kill the lizards.
- Repeat the same thing at HP x2.
- At HP x1, Snake Queen will summon a Death Knight near the bottom of the map.
- Paladin provoke the Death Knight and stay at the bottom while the rest of the party member kill Snake Queen at the top ASAP.
- When Death Knight HP reaches HP x1.5, he will summon 2 Skeleton Minotaurs at 2 edges of the map.
- Party members need to lure the 2 Minotaurs away from Death Knight and kill them ASAP.
- Damage Death Knight until HP x1, he will summon 4 lizards at 4 corners.
- It is recommended that you only kill 2 of the lizard at the top. Why? It is because Death Knight will cast Dark Typhoon after timer reaches 0. Trying to kill the lizard at the bottom can be dangerous since you will be very near to the Death Knight, thus unable to escape from the typhoon suction.
- Stay away from Death Knight every ~45 seconds to avoid being sucked into Dark Typhoon.
Advanced Battle Flow for High DPS party:
This strategy is adopted for high DPS party to clear this stage as fast as possible. The differences between the usual battle flow are:
• There is no need to lure the Snake Lady to the top. Just fight the Snake Lady at the middle of the map.
• Kill the Snake Lady ASAP, ignoring the Death Knight most of the time.
• Ignore Skeletal Minotaurs summoned at 1.5x. Once Death Knight reaches 1.1x HP, use Time Acceleration and kill him ASAP. Ignore the last 4 lizards. You will not see Dark Typhoon if your party DPS is high enough to kill him within 10sec before Flying Ship explodes.
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After clearing 1st stage, you can proceed to the large area of the map, where you can ride mount. The oasis in the middle of the map can recover HP/MP.
There are a total of 5 bosses which guard the seal to the entrance of the dragon.
You can clear the 4 bosses in any order you want. (Except Golem)
The Golem can only be challenged after you defeat the 4 bosses. You need to kill it as well, Golem is NOT optional boss.
Stage Introduction:
Barren Mist Garden
There are 4 sets of platforms around the area, each set has 3 individual platforms.
Under normal circumstance, all these platform are on fire and will kill anyone almost instantly upon contact.
The lava on the other hand, will clear all your buff upon contact and deal continuous damage, ~30k burn damage every 2 seconds. The lava will also apply a 30 sec burn status, which deal ~12k damage per tick. (Ignore defense)
The boss of this stage, Phantom Flower Ignius, will spawn at the middle and it is surrounded by 4 Minor Phantom Flowers.
Phantom Flower Ignius
Basic Boss Skills
Roar (~20 sec CD): Blow frontal party member towards the edge of the map. The AoE is roughly a quarter of a circle. Very dangerous because you are not supposed to touch either the lava or fire platform.
Save your Aerial Evasion so that you can jump back while in the air to prevent yourself being blown into the lava or the fire platform. All party members except Paladin should always deal damage BEHIND the boss to prevent being blown into the lava. Guardian can use Guardian Force to resist the push or simply dash to the left to evade this.
Bite: Frontal. The last hit has push back effect, might throw you into lava.
Fire Ball: Throw a Fire Ball which will create a fire pit on the ground upon impact. the fire pit will grow larger and create explosion after 8 seconds. Ignore Provoke and throw at a random party member.
Flame Geyser (~40 sec CD): 3 waves of fire explosion in this order: Inner > Outer > Inner Ring or Outer> Inner > Outer. (As shown by the schematic above) This is a very dangerous skill as it will push you into the lava if you are staying near the outer ring. The sand will heat up (darkened) before Flame Geyser appears, avoid standing on darkened sand.
Only 2 known skills can negate the pushback/knockdown effect of all the flower's skill, namely Guardian'sGuardian Force and Screamer's Grudge Formation.
New Skill at HP x3
Stomp: The boss will first rest its head on the floor before leaping into the air. It will turn and stomp with its head down. Jump to avoid. There are 2 versions of this: Single Stomp or Triple Stomp. Will push back and float if you are hit.
New Skill at HP x2
Magma Wave EX (~60 sec CD): The boss will shove its head into the ground for awhile before raising it up again. Almost the whole field, except for the 30 degree section exactly behind it, will be affected by this skill. The color of the ground will slowly brighten up and explode after 4 sec. Hiding at the small section behind it is the only way to avoid this. (See schematic below). After this skill, it will rest its head on the ground for 3-4sec and it's a good chance to deal damage to him. Like all other skills, it will push back and float you if you are hit.
New Skill at HP x1
Flame Meteor (~60sec CD): There will be a warning message when this skill is being cast. It will first rotate and shake its head before casting. (The flower will push you outwards in a similar fashion to the Flame Ogre meteor's skill in Typhoon Kim Nest Hell Mode)
After 3 seconds, the flower will start throwing Flame Balls at each party member in parabolic trajectory from the middle. The Flame Ball does not create fire pit, but it will induce a burn status, clear all buffs and knock you down upon hit hit. Take note that the lava damage will increase significantly during Flame Meteor. It is almost certain death if you are pushed into the lava.
To oppose the push force and evade the Flame Balls, you are required to press "W" and rotate your view with your mouse to move in clockwise/anti-clockwise around the boss. The whole party can gather and move together in this manner.
This skill lasts for 10 seconds and 7 Flame Balls are thrown to each party members.
There is a simpler and sure way to pass Flame Meteor: Use Invincible Potion. The exact battle flows ideally goes like this:
- Stop attacking at HP 1.1x, wait for lava flood and jump up to platform as per usual.
- After coming down from the platform, each party members use 1 or 2 of their highest damage skill at the flower, lowering the HP into the last bar.
- This will trigger the Flame Meteor. Simply eat the Invincible Potion and hold W at whatever position for 10sec after seeing Flame Meteor trigger message.
- After that, gather for Time Acceleration, cast Guardian Force (if any) then go for the kill.
- For this strategy, the party must have enough DPS to kill the flower before the next lava flood or else, you will have to face another round of Flame Meteor.
Advanced Strategy for High DPS Party
If your party dps is very high, you can stop attacking at 1.1x HP, and wait for Magma Wave EX.
When magma wave ex come, gather at the safe zone behind the flower, cast Time Accel and Dark Elf Dance to go for the kill. Your party must be able to take down the flower while it is casting Magma Wave (~5sec). Gladiator's finishing attack helps alot.
There are two important stage mechanics to take note in this stage.
Fire Platforms
- After depleting the 1st bar of the boss HP, it will dig underground and heat up the sand in the whole area.
- You have to jump onto the nearby platforms to avoid being burnt to death.
- However, among the set of 3 platforms, ONLY ONE will be safe to be stand on. (Left most of the set, without fire)
-Shortly after that, the fire on the platform next to the safe one will be extinguished while the platform which you initially stand on will be on fire. You are required to jump to the adjacent platform immediately. Repeat this another time and you will need to get back down to the ground again when the ground is not flooded by lava.
- Take note that the burn status will cause you to fall down from the air (Similar to electrocute status)
- The area will be flooded with lava EVERY 60 seconds.
Mainstream Strategy:
- Instead of jumping onto the 1st platform, one can actually jump directly to the second platform without going up the 1st platform.
- There are 2 warning messages before the lava flood happen.
- First message is 'Jump up to the platform'. When you see this message, go to the nearest 2nd platform and wait there for the 2nd message.
- Once the second message 'The sand is getting hot' appear, immediately jump onto the 2nd platform. Wait for 2 seconds then jump to the 3rd platform when you see the fire on the next platform is extinguished.
Alternative Strategy:
- Instead of jumping, one can actually Dash/Roll/Tumble/Blink across the platform.
- This will minimize the chance of one falling down due to the burn status interruption.
- However, one need to judge the Dash/Roll/Tumble/Blink distance according to your own class: Mage and Kali have very far blink distance, while Cleric has relatively short dash distance.
Watch video below to see how this is done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB8T2-vgasA
Clearing Burn Status
- You can clear the burn status when the minor flowers spray water or form water geysers.
There are 4 sets of platforms around the area, each set has 3 individual platforms.
Under normal circumstance, all these platform are on fire and will kill anyone almost instantly upon contact.
The lava on the other hand, will clear all your buff upon contact and deal continuous damage, ~30k burn damage every 2 seconds. The lava will also apply a 30 sec burn status, which deal ~12k damage per tick. (Ignore defense)
The boss of this stage, Phantom Flower Ignius, will spawn at the middle and it is surrounded by 4 Minor Phantom Flowers.
Phantom Flower Ignius
Basic Boss Skills
Roar (~20 sec CD): Blow frontal party member towards the edge of the map. The AoE is roughly a quarter of a circle. Very dangerous because you are not supposed to touch either the lava or fire platform.
Save your Aerial Evasion so that you can jump back while in the air to prevent yourself being blown into the lava or the fire platform. All party members except Paladin should always deal damage BEHIND the boss to prevent being blown into the lava. Guardian can use Guardian Force to resist the push or simply dash to the left to evade this.
Bite: Frontal. The last hit has push back effect, might throw you into lava.
Fire Ball: Throw a Fire Ball which will create a fire pit on the ground upon impact. the fire pit will grow larger and create explosion after 8 seconds. Ignore Provoke and throw at a random party member.
Flame Geyser (~40 sec CD): 3 waves of fire explosion in this order: Inner > Outer > Inner Ring or Outer> Inner > Outer. (As shown by the schematic above) This is a very dangerous skill as it will push you into the lava if you are staying near the outer ring. The sand will heat up (darkened) before Flame Geyser appears, avoid standing on darkened sand.
Only 2 known skills can negate the pushback/knockdown effect of all the flower's skill, namely Guardian'sGuardian Force and Screamer's Grudge Formation.
New Skill at HP x3
Stomp: The boss will first rest its head on the floor before leaping into the air. It will turn and stomp with its head down. Jump to avoid. There are 2 versions of this: Single Stomp or Triple Stomp. Will push back and float if you are hit.
New Skill at HP x2
Magma Wave EX (~60 sec CD): The boss will shove its head into the ground for awhile before raising it up again. Almost the whole field, except for the 30 degree section exactly behind it, will be affected by this skill. The color of the ground will slowly brighten up and explode after 4 sec. Hiding at the small section behind it is the only way to avoid this. (See schematic below). After this skill, it will rest its head on the ground for 3-4sec and it's a good chance to deal damage to him. Like all other skills, it will push back and float you if you are hit.
New Skill at HP x1
Flame Meteor (~60sec CD): There will be a warning message when this skill is being cast. It will first rotate and shake its head before casting. (The flower will push you outwards in a similar fashion to the Flame Ogre meteor's skill in Typhoon Kim Nest Hell Mode)
After 3 seconds, the flower will start throwing Flame Balls at each party member in parabolic trajectory from the middle. The Flame Ball does not create fire pit, but it will induce a burn status, clear all buffs and knock you down upon hit hit. Take note that the lava damage will increase significantly during Flame Meteor. It is almost certain death if you are pushed into the lava.
To oppose the push force and evade the Flame Balls, you are required to press "W" and rotate your view with your mouse to move in clockwise/anti-clockwise around the boss. The whole party can gather and move together in this manner.
This skill lasts for 10 seconds and 7 Flame Balls are thrown to each party members.
There is a simpler and sure way to pass Flame Meteor: Use Invincible Potion. The exact battle flows ideally goes like this:
- Stop attacking at HP 1.1x, wait for lava flood and jump up to platform as per usual.
- After coming down from the platform, each party members use 1 or 2 of their highest damage skill at the flower, lowering the HP into the last bar.
- This will trigger the Flame Meteor. Simply eat the Invincible Potion and hold W at whatever position for 10sec after seeing Flame Meteor trigger message.
- After that, gather for Time Acceleration, cast Guardian Force (if any) then go for the kill.
- For this strategy, the party must have enough DPS to kill the flower before the next lava flood or else, you will have to face another round of Flame Meteor.
Advanced Strategy for High DPS Party
If your party dps is very high, you can stop attacking at 1.1x HP, and wait for Magma Wave EX.
When magma wave ex come, gather at the safe zone behind the flower, cast Time Accel and Dark Elf Dance to go for the kill. Your party must be able to take down the flower while it is casting Magma Wave (~5sec). Gladiator's finishing attack helps alot.
There are two important stage mechanics to take note in this stage.
Fire Platforms
- After depleting the 1st bar of the boss HP, it will dig underground and heat up the sand in the whole area.
- You have to jump onto the nearby platforms to avoid being burnt to death.
- However, among the set of 3 platforms, ONLY ONE will be safe to be stand on. (Left most of the set, without fire)
-Shortly after that, the fire on the platform next to the safe one will be extinguished while the platform which you initially stand on will be on fire. You are required to jump to the adjacent platform immediately. Repeat this another time and you will need to get back down to the ground again when the ground is not flooded by lava.
- Take note that the burn status will cause you to fall down from the air (Similar to electrocute status)
- The area will be flooded with lava EVERY 60 seconds.
Mainstream Strategy:
- Instead of jumping onto the 1st platform, one can actually jump directly to the second platform without going up the 1st platform.
- There are 2 warning messages before the lava flood happen.
- First message is 'Jump up to the platform'. When you see this message, go to the nearest 2nd platform and wait there for the 2nd message.
- Once the second message 'The sand is getting hot' appear, immediately jump onto the 2nd platform. Wait for 2 seconds then jump to the 3rd platform when you see the fire on the next platform is extinguished.
Alternative Strategy:
- Instead of jumping, one can actually Dash/Roll/Tumble/Blink across the platform.
- This will minimize the chance of one falling down due to the burn status interruption.
- However, one need to judge the Dash/Roll/Tumble/Blink distance according to your own class: Mage and Kali have very far blink distance, while Cleric has relatively short dash distance.
Watch video below to see how this is done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB8T2-vgasA
Clearing Burn Status
- You can clear the burn status when the minor flowers spray water or form water geysers.
Storm Observatory
Basic Video Guide
Advanced Video Guide
Storm Ruler Zuul
Boss Skills
Charge: Jump back and charge towards the person with highest aggro. This whole attack is done in slow motion. Second hit ignores Shield Block.
Claw Swipe: After the initial claw swipe, an explosive trail follows. The explosion will induce a debuff which reverse your arrow key/left-right click command. The initial claw swipe ignore Shield Block, the explosive trail can be blocked with Shield Block.
Pounce: Jump forward and pounce on the target. Emanates 4 waves upon landing.
Tail Swipe: Can be left or right side of the rear area of the boss. Similar to claw swipe, it will also create an explosive trail at the certain distance away from the boss. Induce a debuff which reverse your arrow key. Ignore Shield Block.
Light Balls: Roar and conjure 4 light balls in 4 directions. These balls will split into another 4 smaller light balls. Cause stun/faint upon hit. Very high damage. Can be blocked with relics and mirror. The stun effect can be avoided if you are under Stance of Faith, Guardian's Guardian Force, Mercenary's super armor buff or Parry Stance.
Explosive Stomp: Raise its glowing front claw high up and stomp, following by 4 explosion trails which travel outwards from the boss. The stomp damage ignore Shield Block, invincibility and Highland. Explosive damage can be blocked with Shied Block. Quake damage hits the whole field, can be avoided with jump.
Trailing Explosion: After the head glow for awhile, shakes its head and creates 2 Trailing Explosion. (Homing effect on a target) Keep moving to avoid. The trail can be blocked with relics and mirror. Each explosive damage is around ~30k, final hit is ~100k.
New Skills at HP x3:
Fly & Photon Missile (~70 sec CD): Throw Photon Missiles from the air. Keep moving to avoid. It will perform a Diving Stomp after this. Induce a 1 minute debuff which reduces your attack and defense by 40%. The debuff cannot be removed by any means. Low defense chars might be killed by other skills if this debuff is induced on them. The boss will not cast this at last HP bar. Ignore Shield Block, Highland & invincibility.
Diving Stomp: The boss performs a back flip in the air with its claws glowing before diving onto the ground. Very high damage, especially if you were hit by Photon Missiles before this. Time your jump to avoid the quake damage upon landing. Ignore Highland, Shield Block and invincibility. You will hear a distinctive roar 2 seconds before the dive. see video below for demonstration to time your jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHdWXE3QboA
Wind Wall: Raise its front legs and flaps its wing a few times to generate a tornado in front of it. The tornado then turn into 4 wind walls which move forward. Will only hit frontal area.
Crescent Wave: Howl and push back all players. Create a few big crescent-shaped waves which travel slowly from the boss. The super armor break is very high and able cancel all your skills. Jump over the crescents to avoid. These crescents can also be blocked with relics or mirrors. Ignore Shield Block & invincibility.
Tracing Tornado (~70 sec CD): Raise one of its front leg and create a tornado on a party member. The initial casting motion is performed in slow motion. The marked member will not be damaged but it will remove all buff. The tornado sucks party members to it and kill anyone who are trapped in the tornado.
The key to avoid this skill is to assign all party members to stand separately at 8 corners of the map. Use auto-run (Default Key 'E') if you have arrow key reverse debuff on you.
New Skill at HP x2:
Charged Photon Missile: Cast after the usual Photon Missile while staying in the sky. After HP x1, it will use this after conjuring Sand Storm in air. Its body will glow and all members will be pushed away from it. It will charge up for awhile and fire multiple Photon Missiles. Ignore Shield Block, Highland & invincibility. Run toward empty area without people to avoid being hit.
New Skill at HP x1:
Sand Storm: Use this immediately after it flies. Clear all buffs. No damage. The sandstorm will stay on the field for awhile and disturb your vision and Manticore's dot will disappear from minimap. This made it difficult to time jumping for Diving Stomp. You will need to rely on the roar of the Manticore to discern the jump timing.
Alternatively, turn your screen such that you are facing him. Then, pan your view up and wait for its back flip before you jump.
One of the key to the battle is to predict the casting motion of major skills and act accordingly to avoid them. The casting motion of the boss is very similar to the Dark Manticore Lord.
Dark Manticore's Gravity Ascension > Splitting Light Balls
Dark Manticore's Summon Tornado > Wind Wall
Dark Manticore's Gravity Ball > Photon Missiles
Dark Manticore's Summon Black Hole > Tracing Tornado
Battle Flow ControlOne of the most important element in this battle, is the battle flow control. Your aim is to make the boss cast Fly and Tornado back-to-back, such that you will have more time to deal damage without the need to disperse or get ready for Photon Missile.
How does one control the skill pattern/flow of the boss?
First Tornado is triggered when the HP is at somewhere between the word 配者 at HP x3 (See picture below). So simply attack the Manticore until roughly 3.9x HP, stop attacking when the HP moves past the last 2 character 朱武 while wait for the next fly. Continue damaging Manticore after it lands to trigger Tornado by lowering its HP pass 者. Back to assigned position earlier for Tracing Tornado.
Other video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVANEvuv8Y8
Basic Video Guide
Advanced Video Guide
Storm Ruler Zuul
Boss Skills
Charge: Jump back and charge towards the person with highest aggro. This whole attack is done in slow motion. Second hit ignores Shield Block.
Claw Swipe: After the initial claw swipe, an explosive trail follows. The explosion will induce a debuff which reverse your arrow key/left-right click command. The initial claw swipe ignore Shield Block, the explosive trail can be blocked with Shield Block.
Pounce: Jump forward and pounce on the target. Emanates 4 waves upon landing.
Tail Swipe: Can be left or right side of the rear area of the boss. Similar to claw swipe, it will also create an explosive trail at the certain distance away from the boss. Induce a debuff which reverse your arrow key. Ignore Shield Block.
Light Balls: Roar and conjure 4 light balls in 4 directions. These balls will split into another 4 smaller light balls. Cause stun/faint upon hit. Very high damage. Can be blocked with relics and mirror. The stun effect can be avoided if you are under Stance of Faith, Guardian's Guardian Force, Mercenary's super armor buff or Parry Stance.
Explosive Stomp: Raise its glowing front claw high up and stomp, following by 4 explosion trails which travel outwards from the boss. The stomp damage ignore Shield Block, invincibility and Highland. Explosive damage can be blocked with Shied Block. Quake damage hits the whole field, can be avoided with jump.
Trailing Explosion: After the head glow for awhile, shakes its head and creates 2 Trailing Explosion. (Homing effect on a target) Keep moving to avoid. The trail can be blocked with relics and mirror. Each explosive damage is around ~30k, final hit is ~100k.
New Skills at HP x3:
Fly & Photon Missile (~70 sec CD): Throw Photon Missiles from the air. Keep moving to avoid. It will perform a Diving Stomp after this. Induce a 1 minute debuff which reduces your attack and defense by 40%. The debuff cannot be removed by any means. Low defense chars might be killed by other skills if this debuff is induced on them. The boss will not cast this at last HP bar. Ignore Shield Block, Highland & invincibility.
Diving Stomp: The boss performs a back flip in the air with its claws glowing before diving onto the ground. Very high damage, especially if you were hit by Photon Missiles before this. Time your jump to avoid the quake damage upon landing. Ignore Highland, Shield Block and invincibility. You will hear a distinctive roar 2 seconds before the dive. see video below for demonstration to time your jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHdWXE3QboA
Wind Wall: Raise its front legs and flaps its wing a few times to generate a tornado in front of it. The tornado then turn into 4 wind walls which move forward. Will only hit frontal area.
Crescent Wave: Howl and push back all players. Create a few big crescent-shaped waves which travel slowly from the boss. The super armor break is very high and able cancel all your skills. Jump over the crescents to avoid. These crescents can also be blocked with relics or mirrors. Ignore Shield Block & invincibility.
Tracing Tornado (~70 sec CD): Raise one of its front leg and create a tornado on a party member. The initial casting motion is performed in slow motion. The marked member will not be damaged but it will remove all buff. The tornado sucks party members to it and kill anyone who are trapped in the tornado.
The key to avoid this skill is to assign all party members to stand separately at 8 corners of the map. Use auto-run (Default Key 'E') if you have arrow key reverse debuff on you.
New Skill at HP x2:
Charged Photon Missile: Cast after the usual Photon Missile while staying in the sky. After HP x1, it will use this after conjuring Sand Storm in air. Its body will glow and all members will be pushed away from it. It will charge up for awhile and fire multiple Photon Missiles. Ignore Shield Block, Highland & invincibility. Run toward empty area without people to avoid being hit.
New Skill at HP x1:
Sand Storm: Use this immediately after it flies. Clear all buffs. No damage. The sandstorm will stay on the field for awhile and disturb your vision and Manticore's dot will disappear from minimap. This made it difficult to time jumping for Diving Stomp. You will need to rely on the roar of the Manticore to discern the jump timing.
Alternatively, turn your screen such that you are facing him. Then, pan your view up and wait for its back flip before you jump.
One of the key to the battle is to predict the casting motion of major skills and act accordingly to avoid them. The casting motion of the boss is very similar to the Dark Manticore Lord.
Dark Manticore's Gravity Ascension > Splitting Light Balls
Dark Manticore's Summon Tornado > Wind Wall
Dark Manticore's Gravity Ball > Photon Missiles
Dark Manticore's Summon Black Hole > Tracing Tornado
Battle Flow ControlOne of the most important element in this battle, is the battle flow control. Your aim is to make the boss cast Fly and Tornado back-to-back, such that you will have more time to deal damage without the need to disperse or get ready for Photon Missile.
How does one control the skill pattern/flow of the boss?
First Tornado is triggered when the HP is at somewhere between the word 配者 at HP x3 (See picture below). So simply attack the Manticore until roughly 3.9x HP, stop attacking when the HP moves past the last 2 character 朱武 while wait for the next fly. Continue damaging Manticore after it lands to trigger Tornado by lowering its HP pass 者. Back to assigned position earlier for Tracing Tornado.
Other video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVANEvuv8Y8
Mushroom Rock Canyon
The boss will do a Jumping Stomp / Quake attack immediately after the battle start. Cast Miracle Relic before the battle. Alternatively, just stand at the location indicated in the video above to avoid the stomp damage. (It is higher than the field)
Canyon Guardian Abdullah
Basic Boss Skills
Claw Swipe: Frontal area.
Poison Ball: Shoot poison ball from tail which create a poison pool on field. Clear buff and induce poison status (~30k per tick, 10sec duration). The poison pool will expand gradually.
Poison Sting: Lift its front legs and claw high in the air, swipe its claw a few times (Ignore Shield Block) and thrust its tail to the ground in front, creating a poison pool on the floor. The poison pool will expand gradually. Clear buff and induce poison status upon contact.
Poison Spin: Put both claws on the ground momentarily and do a 360 degree spin clockwise. Throw a few poison balls at every party member. Induce slow and poison status (~30k per tick). Avoid stepping on green marks on ground to avoid being hit.
Charge: Do a 360 degree spin anti-clockwise and charge. The roar at the end of the charge deals very high damage. (Acrobats try not to Air Pounce before the charge ends)
Tail Swipe: Dark elemental, only hit the back. Ignore Shield Block. Inflict poison status for 10sec. DPS class should stay at the rear to attack.
New skill at HP x3
Quake (~50 sec CD): Submerge underground awhile and leap into the air. The landing will create a powerful quake. High damage, jump to avoid.
New skill at HP x2
Poison Prison (~60 sec CD): Suck all party members towards itself. Surround itself and all party members with poison walls. The wall will clear all buffs on you upon contact and inflict high damage (~100k damage). You are supposed to escape from the poison wall through an opening. However, the opening does not remain open all the time. Opening is shifted around regularly and will only open for about 1 second. After 8 seconds, the boss will deal heavy explosion (Dark elemental) to anyone inside the prison.
There are a few known methods to counter Poison Prison. Refer to the video guide below on various methods to escape from the poison prison.
a) Proper Way to Escape
The proper way to escape is to wait for either one of the walls to open and dash/blink across it. You could also sheath your weapon and run pass the opening, especially if you are a class with a short dash distance. Remember that you only have 9 seconds to do that and there is only ONE chance for each opening. Also, take note that due to the minor suction which is applied periodically, you need to correct your position while waiting.
If there is a Guardian in the party, use Guardian Force: The shell will make sure you will not get stuck and knockdown when escaping from the prison in case the wall is closing right when you are passing through.
A few important tips on how to escape Poison Prison consistently:
• Before Poison Prison, adjust your position such that you will not be sucked into the poison pit on the ground.
• Make sure you pick a wall which is NOT facing a solid wall at the edge of the map since you will not have any space to get out.
• Turn your view such that you are looking at the floor so that your view will not be blocked by the boss itself.
• Position yourself as close as possible to the wall, but not touching it. How? If your view is facing the ground, you can use your guild name as a visual guide. Make sure your guild name is right below the line where poison wall touches the ground. At this distance, you can get out of the wall with a simple blink or run while sheathing weapon.
b) Damage Negation/Reduction with Skill and Buff
The explosion damage does not ignore damage reduction buff. However after recent update, total damage reduction is capped at 75% and thus this method is not recommended because it is too risky. The high explosion and poison damage will likely kill you, especially after the boss berserked.
c) Prevent Yourself from Being Sucked In
If the boss is at one edge of the map, and you are at the opposite side of the map, you can prevent yourself from being sucked in.
A video showing how this is done:
http://dn.duowan.com/1301/221015387909.html
The boss will do a Jumping Stomp / Quake attack immediately after the battle start. Cast Miracle Relic before the battle. Alternatively, just stand at the location indicated in the video above to avoid the stomp damage. (It is higher than the field)
Canyon Guardian Abdullah
Basic Boss Skills
Claw Swipe: Frontal area.
Poison Ball: Shoot poison ball from tail which create a poison pool on field. Clear buff and induce poison status (~30k per tick, 10sec duration). The poison pool will expand gradually.
Poison Sting: Lift its front legs and claw high in the air, swipe its claw a few times (Ignore Shield Block) and thrust its tail to the ground in front, creating a poison pool on the floor. The poison pool will expand gradually. Clear buff and induce poison status upon contact.
Poison Spin: Put both claws on the ground momentarily and do a 360 degree spin clockwise. Throw a few poison balls at every party member. Induce slow and poison status (~30k per tick). Avoid stepping on green marks on ground to avoid being hit.
Charge: Do a 360 degree spin anti-clockwise and charge. The roar at the end of the charge deals very high damage. (Acrobats try not to Air Pounce before the charge ends)
Tail Swipe: Dark elemental, only hit the back. Ignore Shield Block. Inflict poison status for 10sec. DPS class should stay at the rear to attack.
New skill at HP x3
Quake (~50 sec CD): Submerge underground awhile and leap into the air. The landing will create a powerful quake. High damage, jump to avoid.
New skill at HP x2
Poison Prison (~60 sec CD): Suck all party members towards itself. Surround itself and all party members with poison walls. The wall will clear all buffs on you upon contact and inflict high damage (~100k damage). You are supposed to escape from the poison wall through an opening. However, the opening does not remain open all the time. Opening is shifted around regularly and will only open for about 1 second. After 8 seconds, the boss will deal heavy explosion (Dark elemental) to anyone inside the prison.
There are a few known methods to counter Poison Prison. Refer to the video guide below on various methods to escape from the poison prison.
a) Proper Way to Escape
The proper way to escape is to wait for either one of the walls to open and dash/blink across it. You could also sheath your weapon and run pass the opening, especially if you are a class with a short dash distance. Remember that you only have 9 seconds to do that and there is only ONE chance for each opening. Also, take note that due to the minor suction which is applied periodically, you need to correct your position while waiting.
If there is a Guardian in the party, use Guardian Force: The shell will make sure you will not get stuck and knockdown when escaping from the prison in case the wall is closing right when you are passing through.
A few important tips on how to escape Poison Prison consistently:
• Before Poison Prison, adjust your position such that you will not be sucked into the poison pit on the ground.
• Make sure you pick a wall which is NOT facing a solid wall at the edge of the map since you will not have any space to get out.
• Turn your view such that you are looking at the floor so that your view will not be blocked by the boss itself.
• Position yourself as close as possible to the wall, but not touching it. How? If your view is facing the ground, you can use your guild name as a visual guide. Make sure your guild name is right below the line where poison wall touches the ground. At this distance, you can get out of the wall with a simple blink or run while sheathing weapon.
b) Damage Negation/Reduction with Skill and Buff
The explosion damage does not ignore damage reduction buff. However after recent update, total damage reduction is capped at 75% and thus this method is not recommended because it is too risky. The high explosion and poison damage will likely kill you, especially after the boss berserked.
c) Prevent Yourself from Being Sucked In
If the boss is at one edge of the map, and you are at the opposite side of the map, you can prevent yourself from being sucked in.
A video showing how this is done:
http://dn.duowan.com/1301/221015387909.html
d) Aerial Evasion
An interesting method to escape is by JUMPING into the thin wall/opening at any time and use Aerial Evasion. Again, this should only be used when you fail to escape through normal means since it requires u to take some damage and get poisoned. Sometimes, you might even get bounced back from the wall.
New Skills at HP x1
Berserk: Attack increases by ~3 times.
Poison Spin EX (~60 sec CD): Same casting motion as Poison Spin, except that it spins much longer and moves around. Scorpion will stay still for roughly 4 seconds after the spin, widely open for attack. It doesn't pierce Stance of Faith, Invincibility etc. MT should Provoke it away from other party members.
Poisonous Gas and FlowersAfter depleting each HP bar, a 10 seconds warning will appear on the screen before the whole field is filled with poisonous gas. The boss will hide underground.
4 flowers will appear on the field. These flowers will open when attacked and provide a temporary protection shell, granting you invincible buff to resist the poisonous gas.
The protection shell will only last for 4 seconds. You are required to move to the next flower immediately, wait for the buff counter to reach 0 and attack it to get the buff again. You and your party members are required to move across these 4 flowers sequentially together.
Take note that the arrangement of the 4 flowers are random, but they can be broadly categorized into 3 patterns, as shown below:
The flower is very fragile and will open at the slightest attack. No party members should cast any skill when these flowers spawn. Assign a member or two to attack the flowers sequentially, ONE BY ONE.
All summoned units with HP will be automatically destroyed once the poisonous gas is released. Your own skills effect remaining on field (Such as Consecration, Poison Cloud, Flame Road, Laser Cutter, Ice Sphere, Sufi Dancer etc) can accidentally attack these flowers and trigger the protection shell by mistake. If the flower was opened before the party members get close to it, the buff will NOT be applied to them and they will end up dying. You only need 3 out of these 4 flowers if you can time the opening of these flower accurately (Right when buff counter reaches 0). The total buff duration provided by 3 flowers is just enough to cover the poisonous gas duration. Opening a 4th one is the norm though, for safety purpose.
After the poisonous gas disappear, you have to get ready to jump to avoid stomp when the boss emerge from the ground.
Negate Poison Prison with Detonate
Poison prison damage can be negated if priest uses Detonate at the right time. See the video below to learn this trick.
Once you get sucked into the prison, start counting the shaking motion of the scorpion. Cast Chain Lighting at the 6th shake, and use Detonate exactly at the 8th shake. Doing so will negate the damage of Poison Prison, saving yourself and your party members who are trapped inside. However, poison status will still be applied. Cure Relic should be used immediately to cure yourself and others.
It is not recommended to use this trick, unless your party has serious problem to escape from Poison Prison due to lag. If the Priest is lagging, this might even kill your Priest in the process, especially at HP x1 (Berserk).
It is revealed here, since this 'bug' has not been fixed for more than half a year despite it being widely performed in CDN. Therefore, i am assuming this is not considered as a bug at all. FYI, using Ice Fraction to cancel Poison Prison was fixed almost immediately after it was discovered in DN KR.
Hazar's Nest
Basic Video Guide
Advanced Video Guide
When the stage starts, all party members are supposed to run south (According to mini map), with the Sand Worm in hot pursuit.
There are some boulders blocking the way and the party is supposed to dispose of them to proceed.
The worm will try to suck party member towards itself and slow down your attempt to escape.
Shortly after, you will see some explosive barrels on the ground. You are supposed to push 5 of these explosive barrels to the southern wall and detonate them.
This will open a path to an open field where the real battle starts.
Once you are inside the open field, make sure you don't stand in the middle or in the path of the boss where it rush in or else you will be killed by the boss instantly. Try to stay at the left/right edges of the map.
Sand Worm Hazar
The boss cannot be damaged with normal means.
Every ~60 seconds, the boss will summon 3 pillar-like explosives. These explosives will freeze nearby party members when they land.
Attack these pillars and destroy it while the boss is in the AoE of the explosive (Marked by the green circle around it). It will deplete its faint bar (Similar to Archbishop Golem).
Once the faint bar is emptied with 3 explosives (Each 1 depletes ~45% of the bar), the boss will faint for 10 seconds. This is the ONLY time to deal damage to him at its tail. After that, the boss will regain its position and you will have to repeat the process again.
If these pillars are not destroyed in 1 minute, they will explode on their own and deal ~35% HP per pillar to all party members, freezing them at the same time. (May deal multiple hits and kill instantly if you have high SA buff on you such as Guardian Force & Merc's SA buff) It is recommended that you take down at least 2 pillars when you faint the worm.
Basic Boss Skills
Bite & Stomp: The boss first plunges its head into the sand, dealing damage to anyone in front and pull it up quickly. This is followed by a Jumping Stomp. It will stay stagnant after this for 4-5 sec before regaining its position. While the worm's head is on the ground after casting this skill, you can attack the worm's head to reduce the faint bar. Jump to avoid quake damage. The quake damage can also be avoided if you are standing on top of the elevated sand hills at the southern edges of the map.
Tentacles Sweep: Only hit frontal area of the boss.
Roar: Dark waves emanates throughout the whole field. Knock down all party members. Doesn't deal damage to player but destroy all summons instantly. (Except Force Mirror)
New Boss Skills at HP x3
Charge: Charge in a circular manner.
Sand Pit Hell: The boss will cast this at HP x4.1, x3.1, x2.1.
It will hide underground and create a sandpit with very strong suction at the middle of the map. 3 explosive pillars were shot to the top right, top left and bottom mid of the map. (See Figure above) Your party is required to depleteat least 50% HP of all 3 pillars before they are sucked into the pit. (13~15sec after the pillars land) Take note that you should NOT destroy any of those pillars before they reach the worm. Destroying the pillar when they are near worm's mouth counts too.
When done successfully, Sand Pit Hell will be cancelled. If the party failed to get either one of these pillars down to at least 50% HP OR accidentally destroyed one of the pillars before it gets to the middle, the whole party will be wiped out.
It is recommended that you should take down the HP of the boss in the following manner to minimize the appearance of Sand Pit Hell:
1st Faint: HP x5=> HP x3.5
2nd Faint: HP x3.5 => HP x1.5
3rd Faint: Kill
Doing so will synchronize the Sand Pit Hell casting, such that the worm will only cast it RIGHT after it wakes up from his faint status. Take note that if your party do not down the HP according to the recommendation stops, you might see two consecutive Sand Pit Hell.
All explosive pillars remaining on field will be cleared when Sand Pit Hell triggers OR woke up from faint.
New Boss Skill at HP x2
Direct Stomp: A direct Jumping Stomp without the biting animation. High damage.
New Boss Skill at HP x1
Rolling Attack: The boss submerges and appears at east, south, west or north of the map shortly after. It curls up and rolls vertically / diagonally. Stay at SE, SW, NW or NE area and this skill will not hit you at all.
Basic Video Guide
Advanced Video Guide
When the stage starts, all party members are supposed to run south (According to mini map), with the Sand Worm in hot pursuit.
There are some boulders blocking the way and the party is supposed to dispose of them to proceed.
The worm will try to suck party member towards itself and slow down your attempt to escape.
Shortly after, you will see some explosive barrels on the ground. You are supposed to push 5 of these explosive barrels to the southern wall and detonate them.
This will open a path to an open field where the real battle starts.
Once you are inside the open field, make sure you don't stand in the middle or in the path of the boss where it rush in or else you will be killed by the boss instantly. Try to stay at the left/right edges of the map.
Sand Worm Hazar
The boss cannot be damaged with normal means.
Every ~60 seconds, the boss will summon 3 pillar-like explosives. These explosives will freeze nearby party members when they land.
Attack these pillars and destroy it while the boss is in the AoE of the explosive (Marked by the green circle around it). It will deplete its faint bar (Similar to Archbishop Golem).
Once the faint bar is emptied with 3 explosives (Each 1 depletes ~45% of the bar), the boss will faint for 10 seconds. This is the ONLY time to deal damage to him at its tail. After that, the boss will regain its position and you will have to repeat the process again.
If these pillars are not destroyed in 1 minute, they will explode on their own and deal ~35% HP per pillar to all party members, freezing them at the same time. (May deal multiple hits and kill instantly if you have high SA buff on you such as Guardian Force & Merc's SA buff) It is recommended that you take down at least 2 pillars when you faint the worm.
Basic Boss Skills
Bite & Stomp: The boss first plunges its head into the sand, dealing damage to anyone in front and pull it up quickly. This is followed by a Jumping Stomp. It will stay stagnant after this for 4-5 sec before regaining its position. While the worm's head is on the ground after casting this skill, you can attack the worm's head to reduce the faint bar. Jump to avoid quake damage. The quake damage can also be avoided if you are standing on top of the elevated sand hills at the southern edges of the map.
Tentacles Sweep: Only hit frontal area of the boss.
Roar: Dark waves emanates throughout the whole field. Knock down all party members. Doesn't deal damage to player but destroy all summons instantly. (Except Force Mirror)
New Boss Skills at HP x3
Charge: Charge in a circular manner.
Sand Pit Hell: The boss will cast this at HP x4.1, x3.1, x2.1.
It will hide underground and create a sandpit with very strong suction at the middle of the map. 3 explosive pillars were shot to the top right, top left and bottom mid of the map. (See Figure above) Your party is required to depleteat least 50% HP of all 3 pillars before they are sucked into the pit. (13~15sec after the pillars land) Take note that you should NOT destroy any of those pillars before they reach the worm. Destroying the pillar when they are near worm's mouth counts too.
When done successfully, Sand Pit Hell will be cancelled. If the party failed to get either one of these pillars down to at least 50% HP OR accidentally destroyed one of the pillars before it gets to the middle, the whole party will be wiped out.
It is recommended that you should take down the HP of the boss in the following manner to minimize the appearance of Sand Pit Hell:
1st Faint: HP x5=> HP x3.5
2nd Faint: HP x3.5 => HP x1.5
3rd Faint: Kill
Doing so will synchronize the Sand Pit Hell casting, such that the worm will only cast it RIGHT after it wakes up from his faint status. Take note that if your party do not down the HP according to the recommendation stops, you might see two consecutive Sand Pit Hell.
All explosive pillars remaining on field will be cleared when Sand Pit Hell triggers OR woke up from faint.
New Boss Skill at HP x2
Direct Stomp: A direct Jumping Stomp without the biting animation. High damage.
New Boss Skill at HP x1
Rolling Attack: The boss submerges and appears at east, south, west or north of the map shortly after. It curls up and rolls vertically / diagonally. Stay at SE, SW, NW or NE area and this skill will not hit you at all.
Dragon Shrine
This stage can only be challenged after defeating all 4 guardian bosses. Defeating this boss will break the last seal guarding Desert Dragon.
Golem will inflict curse status right after starting the battle. Curse status cannot be removed by any means. Therefore, a few special rules were applied in this battle:
• Changing equipment is not allowed in the middle of the battle.
• Healing skills & healing potions cannot be used in this battle. Life suffix DOES NOT work.
A few more interesting characteristics of the boss:
• The damage dealt by the Golem is based on a certain percentage of max HP of your character. Therefore, skills which increase max HP such as Genie & Minotaur Dance should not be casted here as it will actually cause more damage dealt to all party members.
• Due to nature stated above, defense buff, damage reduction buff (Miracle Relic etc), attack debuff (Devastating Howl etc), skill action damage reduction (Eraser, Flame Vortex, Flying Swing etc) are nullified / ignored.
• Boss ignore Provoke most of the time, it will aim the one with highest damage instead.
• The boss has 80% light elemental resist and 40% fire, dark, ice resist.
Wear full damage set if you have one, stacking high HP / defense won't do you any good here.
Faithful Worshiper Kajif
Basic Boss Skills
Slam: Small AoE. Ignore Shield Block. Evade with invincible frame.
Sweep: Large AoE, will get hit even if you stand at the edge of the map. Ignore Shield Block. Can be evaded with invincible frame.
Laser Beam: Shoot 1 laser beam linearly at the one with highest aggro. The line on the ground will explode, exactly the same as Archbishop Golem.
Tornado (~40 sec CD): Punch with BOTH fists and summon a tornado at random location. Ground will turn black before tornado spawn. Move away from the black circle to avoid being damaged. Ignore Shield Block, Avatar. 5% HP per hit, very high damage if you don't escape quick enough. Don't stay at left or right edge of the map to ensure you have enough time to escape.
Curse (~80 sec CD): A warning message will appear on the screen. The casting motion is similar to the Suction Laser Beam attack of Archbishop Golem. The Golem will place both fists at the middle and twist its body around for a few seconds before applying the curse on all party members. A big circular aura will appear beneath each party members.
The aura will not do any damage to yourself. However, the inner area of the circular aura will deal huge damage to anyone standing near to you. The outer edge of the aura will also deal heavy damage.
How to avoid this from happening?
Take note that the tiles on this semi-circular map is actually divided conveniently into various sections. Use the larger black triangles on the ground as reference and assign party members to the 8 black triangles on the map. The distance between triangles are large enough to avoid the curse damage. (See Figure A)
This is great time to deal massive damage to the boss.
New Skills at HP x3
Falling Rock Fist (~40sec CD): The boss shakes its head and both hands in the air. The casting animation is similar to Poison Wall in Archbishop Nest. Summon 3 yellow magic circles on the floor. After 3 seconds, 3 rock fists drop from the sky in the order in which the magic circles are summoned. Very high damage. The order of summoning is random.
Alternatively, you can hide at the blind spot: The corner of the map near Position 1 or 5.
Triple Slam (~40sec CD): Both hands will glow and slam the ground 3 times. The speed of this skill increases slightly after he goes berserk, exactly the same as Archbishop Golem in Hell mode.
Summon Stelai: Will be used at the end of 4x, 3x and 2x HP bar. 4 stelais which represent the 4 guardian bosses will appear.
Scorpion Flower Worm Manticore
The mechanics of this skill is revealed by 绿巨人
• There are no real fixed sequence in which you must destroy these stelai.
• The spawn location of each stelai are random.
• Each stele gives a certain effect after destroyed:
- Scorpion: All remaining stelai become invincible.
- Flower: Fully recover HP of all remaining stelai.
- Manticore: Grant double attack buff to all party members.
- Worm: Clear all buffs on party members.
• The only rule to destroy these stelai is: Scorpion must be the last one to destroy. It can be destroyed at the same time as other stelai as long as there are no other stele left on field after its destruction since it will grant invincibility to them.
• Flower stele will explode after 10 seconds while the others will take 20 seconds to explode.
• Flower stele has the highest explosion damage, which is 75% of your max HP. The other stelai only deal 25% of your max HP each.
• Ideal order: Flower > Manticore > Worm > Scorpion. Remember that you can destroy them at the same time. For averagely geared party, it is difficult to destroy these 4 stelai if you try to down them one-by-one.
Strategy:
• The key to overcome this is to deal damage or destroy 2 or more stelai simultaneously with large AOE skills.
• For example, Spiral Edge with 25k attack can instantly destroy 3 stelai after you get the double attack buff from Manticore stele.
• Stele can be debuffed with Hemorrhage, Armor Break etc.
• The strategy must be adapted according to the locations of the stelai since they might not be close enough to be destroyed together.
Berserk: Golem will go Berserk upon reaching 2x HP (Turns red). Its attacks will deal slightly more damage. Berserk status last till the end of the battle and cannot be removed by any means.
Ancient Power: After 10 minutes, the Golem will gain ancient power (As shown in the warning message). Its attack speed increases significantly. Every skills deal 50% of max HP per hit. However, that doesn't mean it is impossible to clear under this state. It is still doable as long as your party members dodge every single skills it has... Which is really hard!
Battle Flow
The battle flow varies depending on the DPS of your party. Below is for reference:
• Time Acceleration at the beginning of the battle. (Keep it for 2x HP instead if your TA still in CD after clearing 2nd wave of stelai, 2x HP is the most crucial part)
• HP x4 > HP x3: 1st round of stelai. Replenish HP after destroying stelai if required. Avoid eating the recovery fragment during battle because it is dangerous.
• HP x 3 > HP x2: 2nd round of stelai. After the 2nd round of stelai, use Time Acceleration again. The Golem will spend 5 seconds to cast berserk right after the 2nd round of stelai summoning. It is a good time to deal damage to him.
• Get to last HP bar ASAP and trigger the last round of stelai, go for the kill.
Hardcore Mode
Interestingly, in HC mode, a few changes have been applied to the golem:
• Immediately go berserk as soon as the battle starts. Damage increases, cannot be damaged (2 digit damage) while casting berserk.
• Gain all skills (Triple Slams, Rock Fist) at the start of the battle.
• Cannot be damaged while casting Curse. However, damage duplicator effect such as finishing attack, dark elf dance (dance 2) etc can still be inflicted normally. That's the only way to deal damage to the boss while he is casting Curse.
• Gain Ancient Power earlier, approximately 5 minutes after the battle starts.
This stage can only be challenged after defeating all 4 guardian bosses. Defeating this boss will break the last seal guarding Desert Dragon.
Golem will inflict curse status right after starting the battle. Curse status cannot be removed by any means. Therefore, a few special rules were applied in this battle:
• Changing equipment is not allowed in the middle of the battle.
• Healing skills & healing potions cannot be used in this battle. Life suffix DOES NOT work.
A few more interesting characteristics of the boss:
• The damage dealt by the Golem is based on a certain percentage of max HP of your character. Therefore, skills which increase max HP such as Genie & Minotaur Dance should not be casted here as it will actually cause more damage dealt to all party members.
• Due to nature stated above, defense buff, damage reduction buff (Miracle Relic etc), attack debuff (Devastating Howl etc), skill action damage reduction (Eraser, Flame Vortex, Flying Swing etc) are nullified / ignored.
• Boss ignore Provoke most of the time, it will aim the one with highest damage instead.
• The boss has 80% light elemental resist and 40% fire, dark, ice resist.
Wear full damage set if you have one, stacking high HP / defense won't do you any good here.
Faithful Worshiper Kajif
Basic Boss Skills
Slam: Small AoE. Ignore Shield Block. Evade with invincible frame.
Sweep: Large AoE, will get hit even if you stand at the edge of the map. Ignore Shield Block. Can be evaded with invincible frame.
Laser Beam: Shoot 1 laser beam linearly at the one with highest aggro. The line on the ground will explode, exactly the same as Archbishop Golem.
Tornado (~40 sec CD): Punch with BOTH fists and summon a tornado at random location. Ground will turn black before tornado spawn. Move away from the black circle to avoid being damaged. Ignore Shield Block, Avatar. 5% HP per hit, very high damage if you don't escape quick enough. Don't stay at left or right edge of the map to ensure you have enough time to escape.
Curse (~80 sec CD): A warning message will appear on the screen. The casting motion is similar to the Suction Laser Beam attack of Archbishop Golem. The Golem will place both fists at the middle and twist its body around for a few seconds before applying the curse on all party members. A big circular aura will appear beneath each party members.
The aura will not do any damage to yourself. However, the inner area of the circular aura will deal huge damage to anyone standing near to you. The outer edge of the aura will also deal heavy damage.
How to avoid this from happening?
Take note that the tiles on this semi-circular map is actually divided conveniently into various sections. Use the larger black triangles on the ground as reference and assign party members to the 8 black triangles on the map. The distance between triangles are large enough to avoid the curse damage. (See Figure A)
This is great time to deal massive damage to the boss.
New Skills at HP x3
Falling Rock Fist (~40sec CD): The boss shakes its head and both hands in the air. The casting animation is similar to Poison Wall in Archbishop Nest. Summon 3 yellow magic circles on the floor. After 3 seconds, 3 rock fists drop from the sky in the order in which the magic circles are summoned. Very high damage. The order of summoning is random.
Alternatively, you can hide at the blind spot: The corner of the map near Position 1 or 5.
Triple Slam (~40sec CD): Both hands will glow and slam the ground 3 times. The speed of this skill increases slightly after he goes berserk, exactly the same as Archbishop Golem in Hell mode.
Summon Stelai: Will be used at the end of 4x, 3x and 2x HP bar. 4 stelais which represent the 4 guardian bosses will appear.
Scorpion Flower Worm Manticore
The mechanics of this skill is revealed by 绿巨人
• There are no real fixed sequence in which you must destroy these stelai.
• The spawn location of each stelai are random.
• Each stele gives a certain effect after destroyed:
- Scorpion: All remaining stelai become invincible.
- Flower: Fully recover HP of all remaining stelai.
- Manticore: Grant double attack buff to all party members.
- Worm: Clear all buffs on party members.
• The only rule to destroy these stelai is: Scorpion must be the last one to destroy. It can be destroyed at the same time as other stelai as long as there are no other stele left on field after its destruction since it will grant invincibility to them.
• Flower stele will explode after 10 seconds while the others will take 20 seconds to explode.
• Flower stele has the highest explosion damage, which is 75% of your max HP. The other stelai only deal 25% of your max HP each.
• Ideal order: Flower > Manticore > Worm > Scorpion. Remember that you can destroy them at the same time. For averagely geared party, it is difficult to destroy these 4 stelai if you try to down them one-by-one.
Strategy:
• The key to overcome this is to deal damage or destroy 2 or more stelai simultaneously with large AOE skills.
• For example, Spiral Edge with 25k attack can instantly destroy 3 stelai after you get the double attack buff from Manticore stele.
• Stele can be debuffed with Hemorrhage, Armor Break etc.
• The strategy must be adapted according to the locations of the stelai since they might not be close enough to be destroyed together.
Berserk: Golem will go Berserk upon reaching 2x HP (Turns red). Its attacks will deal slightly more damage. Berserk status last till the end of the battle and cannot be removed by any means.
Ancient Power: After 10 minutes, the Golem will gain ancient power (As shown in the warning message). Its attack speed increases significantly. Every skills deal 50% of max HP per hit. However, that doesn't mean it is impossible to clear under this state. It is still doable as long as your party members dodge every single skills it has... Which is really hard!
Battle Flow
The battle flow varies depending on the DPS of your party. Below is for reference:
• Time Acceleration at the beginning of the battle. (Keep it for 2x HP instead if your TA still in CD after clearing 2nd wave of stelai, 2x HP is the most crucial part)
• HP x4 > HP x3: 1st round of stelai. Replenish HP after destroying stelai if required. Avoid eating the recovery fragment during battle because it is dangerous.
• HP x 3 > HP x2: 2nd round of stelai. After the 2nd round of stelai, use Time Acceleration again. The Golem will spend 5 seconds to cast berserk right after the 2nd round of stelai summoning. It is a good time to deal damage to him.
• Get to last HP bar ASAP and trigger the last round of stelai, go for the kill.
Hardcore Mode
Interestingly, in HC mode, a few changes have been applied to the golem:
• Immediately go berserk as soon as the battle starts. Damage increases, cannot be damaged (2 digit damage) while casting berserk.
• Gain all skills (Triple Slams, Rock Fist) at the start of the battle.
• Cannot be damaged while casting Curse. However, damage duplicator effect such as finishing attack, dark elf dance (dance 2) etc can still be inflicted normally. That's the only way to deal damage to the boss while he is casting Curse.
• Gain Ancient Power earlier, approximately 5 minutes after the battle starts.
Desert Dragon Zakad
Dragon Battle Phase 1 (Invincible - HP x20)
The dragon is invincible at the start of the battle and protected by 4 Eyes of Life at the North, South, East and West of the map. The party is required to deactivate these eyes to dispel dragon's invincible barrier.
Each eye has limited attack range and can only attack targets within a quarter circle. (See 4 blue quarters below) The eye will not begin attacking until we attack it. It will not be able to provide you with protection buff during Life Explosion when it has been deactivated. Therefore, it is recommended that you only attack ONE eye at a time - In a clock-wise direction as shown in the figure below.
The Eye of Life is immune to ice stacking.
Eye of Life Skills
Ring of Life (~25s CD): Summon a Ring of Life on a random party member. The marked member will have a glowing sphere above his head. It will not damage the targeted member but will deal damage to other party members who stay inside the ring. (Similar to Poison Ring of Monta in SDN). The Ring of Life will only target nearby members.
Members with protection aura from the Eye of Life (Within yellow circle) is immune to Ring of Life damage!
Laser Beams: Shoot multiple laser beams in either one of the three directions randomly (See figure below, indicated by orange AOE). You can easily dodge the laser if you stand between these 3 directions (Purple circle) or out of the quarter circle AOE.
Trailing Explosion: The eye glows purple twice and create a purple spot on the ground which trail a party member and explode 3 times. Float if hit. Keep moving to avoid taking damage.
Life Explosion: Dragon will cast this every time one of the eye got destroyed. All party members are required to move to one of the 'functioning' Eye of Life to avoid being damaged.
Desert Dragon Basic Skills
Claw Swipe: The dragon will do claw swipe with its left claw. Very large frontal AOE. Can blocked with Shield Block, but it will clear Shield Block buff. You will not get hit if you stay behind or beside either claw.
Smack: Raise one of its fore arm high and smack on the ground. Can be blocked with Shield Block. The dragon will attack with left or right claw. Having a paladin provoking it at right arm for example, will cause the dragon to use the right arm ONLY to attack. You will not get hit if you stay behind or beside either claw.
Strategy:
Split into 3 teams:
- Team 1: Provoke the dragon, assign a healer to heal the Paladin if he needs it.
- Team 2: Assign 2-3 damage dealer to attack the eye, one at at time. All members should stand apart. Spread out when you see Ring of Life being cast.
- Team 3: Stand outside of the blue quarter circle at the next eye of life and out of the range of the eye. This team should just stay still and do nothing. Don't start attacking the Eye of Life near you for no reason!
During this phase, dragon will attempt to attack the party members with claw swipe and smack only. Paladin should Provoke dragon at 6 o'clock to prevent the dragon from attacking the other party members. Damage dealer go on and deactivate first and second Eye of Life.
Provoke the dragon to face 9 o'clock before starting to attack the 3rd Eye of Life. Inform your Paladin to come back to 6 o'clock before you deactivate the 3rd Eye of Life. Everyone need to pay attention as the dragon will attack you now as Paladin is at the same spot as everyone else.
Paladin should Provoke dragon to face 9 o'clock again after 3rd Life Explosion while the rest hide at 3 o'clock. Damage dealer proceed to deactivate the last Eye of Life.
Dragon Battle Phase 2 (HP x20 - x15.2)
Invincibility of the dragon will be dispelled upon breaking last Eye of Life and the real dragon battle starts. Take note that most skills destroy Priest's relics instantly.
MT should stand slightly to the left while the rest of the party should stand at the right of the map, near dragon's left claw, see figure below. The reason is to force the dragon to use its right claw ONLY to smack. These 2 skills are frequently casted during this phase. By forcing the dragon to use only the right claw, the party will be safe when they are behind/beside left claw.
New Boss Skills in Phase 2
Flying Stomp: Fly up and perform a stomp after 3 seconds. If you see the dragon flies up and the mini map shows that the dragon is still in the middle, expect flying stomp. Can be blocked with Shield Block.
The dragon will beat its wings three times in the air before stomping so jump after you heard the 3rd wing beat sound. Alternatively, you can zoom in your minimap. The red dot will disappear momentarily. Jump right after you see the red dot reappears!
Mini-guide for stomp evasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWQdntS7zSg
Sand Pit: The dragon curls its body upward slightly and beats its wing repeatedly with body surrounded by golden sand. Summon a sandpit at a random location which will suck players into it. The ground will be darkened before the pit appears. It is quite similar to the Sandpit Hell of the Sand Worm, but with much stronger suction. Sandpit will stay on the field for awhile before disappearing; can be dangerous if it is combo-ed with other skills.
Tail Spikes: Lower its body slightly, place both fore arms further in front and raise its tail high up. Shoots 4 waves of tail spikes toward all targets. Induce a debuff which prevent HP healing and reduces attack & defense. There will be marking on the floor before the impact of the tail spike. Simply move away to evade.
Golden Wave Spike: Golden waves radiates from frontal or hind legs of the dragon and golden sand spiraling around its legs. After 0.5sec, dragon raises both its frontal or hind legs and stomps. The stomp will float you if you are standing within the golden waves AOE. It will also generate protruding ground spikes beneath all targets and float them. Very fast casting animation. If you are floated by the stomp, use Aerial Evasion to avoid being hit again by the protruding spikes. Can be blocked with Shield Block.
The skill can only be evaded if you are right in front of the dragon (head) or at the hind legs when he is casting it in front. Unless you have shield block or invincible skill, it is almost impossible to evade this skill if you are standing at the left/right claw.
Flame Prison: Raise its glowing right arm and smacks the ground, followed by its left arm. Large tower like structures are formed in front of the dragon to trap any members in the front quarter of the map. (See green AOE in figure below) After that, red markings appear in trapped area randomly which explode shortly, deal huge and inflict burn status, 30k per tick.
If you are trapped in the prison, you can evade the flame markings easily by standing at the edge of the map and move to the gap between the markings. If you manage to stay outside of the prison, it is a good time to deal damage.
Charged Tail Swipe: The dragon will turn his head to the right, right before using this. The tail will glow red and move from the right side of dragon (See Red AOE and Arrow 1) all the way to the left side (see Blue AOE and Arrow 2). Very large AOE and high damage. Inflict debuff which prevent HP healing, reduced attack & defense (duration 40sec). Tail Swipe is the reason why it is not a good idea to stand at the rear end of the dragon. (Unlike other dragon battles)
The best spot for the party to stand is dragon's left claw (See orange circle below). When the party see the tail moves to its right side (Sign for an imminent Tail Swipe), immediately move left to avoid the 2nd hit (Blue AOE).
When you see dragon raises its glowing right claw, move right instead. You will end up outside of Flame Prison if done correctly.
Dive: Fly up and dive linearly across the field. The dive direction is not the same as the direction of his head before it flies, it is approximately 30 degree anti-clockwise from its original facing direction. Anyway, move slightly away from its left claw will do.
The casting motion is similar to Flying Stomp. However it can be easily differentiated by looking at the mini map: If the dragon stays at the middle after flying up, it is Flying Stomp. Otherwise, it is Dive.
Sand Breath: Start after 18.2x HP. The dragon will raise its head momentarily, you can see sand sprinkles from its mouth. Fan-shaped frontal AOE. Just steer clear of the front quarter of the dragon to avoid this. Standing near the front claws is safe and a great spot to deal damage during this skill.
Meteor Shower: Start after 18.2x HP. The dragon takes a few steps back and run forward before taking flight, circling the outer edge of the field before summoning meteor. The skill is quite similar to the Ice Rain of Sea Dragon. Keep running to avoid the meteor. The ground will be marked before the meteor impact. Inflict cannot heal / damage & defense reduction debuff upon hit.
You might want to assign a run route for your party members so that they don't run into each other.
Eye of Life Activation: Cast at HP x18.2 and x15.2, marking the the end of this phase. The party need to click all 4 Eyes of Life within 15 seconds. Send quick runners to deactivate the eyes. If the 4 eyes were not deactivated in time, it will cause party wipe.
Unlike the other two dragons, Desert Dragon battle does not guarantee the head is facing a specific direction all the while. It then become hard to assign who to press which Eye of Life if you assign the role according to the absolute position of the eye on the map. We propose an effective strategy for that purpose.
In this strategy, the absolute position of the dragon is irrelevant. Only need to consider the RELATIVE position of the dragon head with respect to the Eye of Life. There will only be 2 possible cases:
If head (Arrowhead) is pointing directly on any Eye of Life: Straight Case
2 persons are assigned to each eye (Marked by star). It is recommended that the ones with fast running speed (Either Acrobat or Warrior) are assigned to the tail position.
If head is pointing somewhere in between any two Eyes of Life: In-Between Case
Take note that the relative position of each party member is almost the same in both cases.
In other words, each person is only required to check a 1/8 pie area relative to the dragon's body (NOT absolute position on minimap).
Dragon Battle Phase 3 (HP x15.2 - x11.2)
The battle is totally changed after HP x15.2. Dragon flies up after Eye of Life activation and submerges into the sand shortly after. A message stating that 'The dragon starts its assault' will appear on the screen.
New Boss Skills at Phase 3
Tracing Tornado Pit: A random party member will be marked with a Black Marking. A Tracing Pit will appear at the north edge (12 o'clock) of the map and start chasing the marked member. Tornadoes are spawned along the trail of the moving pit while it chases the marked target.
Summon Boss: After the tracing pit appears, the dragon will summon Dragon Follower Bahama (Scorpion) and Dragon Guardian Sphira (Manticore). Both mini-bosses can be disabled with Time Stop, Slow, Wax, Relic of Bind, Freeze etc.
•Scorpion: Claw Swipe, Tail Swipe, Poison Sting. Will create poison pool on floor.
•Manticore: Has berserk status. Claw Swipe, Tail Swipe. High Damage. Each hit 300k-400k.
Basic Strategy:
Everyone gather at 1 o'clock of the minimap and wait for Black Marking to mark a member. Slightly spread out so that the marking can be seen clearly. Once the marked member is identified, start running along the edge in clockwise manner while the other 7 members should head toward middle of the map.
Assign 1-2 disablers to deal with Manticore (Ideally Force User or Elestra). DO NOT let Manticore start attacking or risk having casualties as a simple swipe will deal 300-400k damage. If you feel you cannot chain disable it OR your disabler is the marked member, cast a Miracle Relic or Devastating Howl on Manticore. Alternatively, you can also ask your Paladin to Provoke Manticore to 11 o'clock (Only does so when your main disabler, Force User is the runner)
Paladin provoke the Scorpion and make sure it is facing outside so that there won't be any poison pool in the middle of the map. The others should focus on attacking Scorpion. DO NOT KILL IT! Deal damage to the Scorpion until it has only ~10% hp left and wait for the message of Manticore explosion. Be wary of summons killing it accidentally! Use normal attack to grind the HP slowly.
Marked runner should stay at 10-11 o'clock for a brief moment and make sure that tracing pit no longer follow you before going to the middle. Everyone gather near Scorpion and kill it within 5 seconds once you see Manticore explosion system message.
Scorpion generates a barrier which protect anyone inside from taking damage from Manticore explosion, however the barrier only last 5 seconds, which is why you shouldn't kill it before the timer starts!
After surviving the explosion, dragon's tail will emerge near the party. Deal as much damage to the tail as much as possible! The tail submerges again after ~10 seconds, move to 1 o'clock and repeat the whole process till dragon's HP down to x10.
NOTE: The battle will actually enter phase 4 at x11.2 HP, not x10.
Dragon Battle Phase 4 (HP x11.2 - x9.2)
Stop attacking as soon as dragon's HP down to x10, no use damaging further as the dragon will recover its HP back to x10 fully, god knows why! Head toward 6 o'clock and dragon will emerge shortly. Basic dragon skills from Phase 2 will still be casted, in addition of some new skills:
New Boss Skills at Phase 4
Sand Bind (~ 55sec CD): Cast from HP x11.2 to end. Raise its glowing right claw, smash the ground, tracking sand trails will bind random members and anyone who is nearby. After that, dragon will charge up for 10 seconds before unleashing Sand Breath. Unbound members should save sand bound ones with high super armor break skills immediately. Quickly move to the either claws to avoid the Sand Breath after that. *Gravity Ball comes in handy yet again!*
Unlike bind skills in previous dragon's nest, Sand Bind deals a fixed damage of approximately 500k+ after the Sand Breath is unleashed. If a bound member is not in the AOE of the Sand Breath, one can actually survive the Sand Bind if he has >500k hp. A-rank Hot Sand Source is useful here as it give 35% chance of immunity against Sand Bind.
It is recommend that party member should gather at the left claw when this skill is cast. This will facilitate the saving of bound members and lengthen the DPS window while dragon is charging up for Sand Breath. HOWEVER, make sure the party is spread out as there's a small possibility for Sand Bind to bind all 8 members, leaving no one to save bound members!
Blinding Flash: A warning message shows on screen before it casts this. You are required to turn away from the dragon within 2 seconds or get blinded (White screen). Clears all buffs and silenced for 5 seconds.
Bind Stomp (~70sec CD): Start from HP x9.2 to end. Raise two of its front legs and stomp. All party members will be trapped by Sand Prison and a 40 seconds debuff which negate HP healing, reduced attack and defense will be applied. All buffs will be cleared. Subsequently, the dragon will follow up with a Flying Stomp.
Break loose from the Sand Prison by tapping left and right rapidly, it cannot be cured with Relieve or Curing Relic. Being invincible or air-borne will not help at all and you will still be trapped by the Sand Prison. You are required to break loose from the Sand Prison ASAP and jump to avoid the imminent Flying Stomp. Paladin's Elemental Aura helps speeding up the breaking loose process.
The timing for jumping can be judged by looking at the debuff: Jump when the debuff duration hit 36. Alternatively, you can also do the same as Flying Stomp. Zoom in your minimap and jump as soon as you see the red dot appears on minimap.
Mini-guide for bind stomp evasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRYEfPUS9Po
Dragon will go berserk after stomping down, doubling its attack.
Eye of Life Activation (~90sec CD): Cast from HP x9.2 to HP x5. Activate Eye of Life and become invincible. Send members to de-activate them within 15 seconds. There won't be anymore Eye of Life as soon as dragon's HP enter 5x.
Dragon Battle Phase 5 (HP x6.2 - Dead)
New Boss Skills at Phase 5
Rotating Sand Breath (CD > 90sec): Dragon will start casting this at 6.2x. The CD of this skill might be delayed far beyond its CD.
Take note that the direction / orientation given in the description below are based on the assumption that thedragon is facing 6 o'clock direction initially before this skill. However, the whole skill description need to be adjusted accordingly based on the initial direction of the dragon.
First the dragon will roar and soar to the sky in a spiral manner. The dragon then flies to the south edge of the map (facing north). After that, tornadoes will be spawned on the field. Each tornado has a dark circle at its base. The dragon unleashes its sand breath towards its frontal area on the map (Red dashed AOE in the figure below).
After a few seconds, the tornadoes start moving anti-clockwise. Meanwhile, the dragon flies clockwise and maintain the sand breath, sweeping the field like the hand of a clock. From the initial 12 o'clock position, the sand breath AOE moves clockwise 450 degree (1.25 rounds of a circle) and eventually stops at 3 o'clock of the map. After that, the dragon will fly to the middle of the map and unleash a final burst of Sand Breath. The skill ends as the dragon lands subsequently.
Basic Strategy
To evade this devastating skill, the party should move quickly clockwise to the 5 o'clock position when the dragon flies up (Star position, see figure below, right beside the initial AOE of Rotating Breath). As the breath starts to rotate, the whole party continues to moves clockwise until the breath stops. When the dragon finishes the rotation, move towards the outer edge of the map immediately to avoid being blasted by the final burst of Sand Breath.
A few important points when you are moving:
• Must sheathe weapon and run if you don't have Spirit Boost. Otherwise, you need to run at the innermost circle. The flying speed of the dragon is roughly 3 times of your speed.
• Do not follow the edge of the map since it is too far and you will never make it in time.
• Do not get too near to the middle of the map since you might get hit by the Sand Breath.
• Moving carefully in a zigzag manner to avoid the dark circle of the moving tornado. The tornado deals very little damage but it will knock you back. Guardian Force ensures that you will not get knocked down when the moving tornado hit you. However, if you have weapon sheathed, your weapon will be drawn out and that will waste some time.
• Do not move too fast and run into the AOE of the tornado in front.
• Invincibility (divine avatar, invincible potion etc) prevents the tornado from hitting you at all, but you can still be killed by the breath.
Dragon Battle Phase 1 (Invincible - HP x20)
The dragon is invincible at the start of the battle and protected by 4 Eyes of Life at the North, South, East and West of the map. The party is required to deactivate these eyes to dispel dragon's invincible barrier.
Each eye has limited attack range and can only attack targets within a quarter circle. (See 4 blue quarters below) The eye will not begin attacking until we attack it. It will not be able to provide you with protection buff during Life Explosion when it has been deactivated. Therefore, it is recommended that you only attack ONE eye at a time - In a clock-wise direction as shown in the figure below.
The Eye of Life is immune to ice stacking.
Eye of Life Skills
Ring of Life (~25s CD): Summon a Ring of Life on a random party member. The marked member will have a glowing sphere above his head. It will not damage the targeted member but will deal damage to other party members who stay inside the ring. (Similar to Poison Ring of Monta in SDN). The Ring of Life will only target nearby members.
Members with protection aura from the Eye of Life (Within yellow circle) is immune to Ring of Life damage!
Laser Beams: Shoot multiple laser beams in either one of the three directions randomly (See figure below, indicated by orange AOE). You can easily dodge the laser if you stand between these 3 directions (Purple circle) or out of the quarter circle AOE.
Trailing Explosion: The eye glows purple twice and create a purple spot on the ground which trail a party member and explode 3 times. Float if hit. Keep moving to avoid taking damage.
Life Explosion: Dragon will cast this every time one of the eye got destroyed. All party members are required to move to one of the 'functioning' Eye of Life to avoid being damaged.
Desert Dragon Basic Skills
Claw Swipe: The dragon will do claw swipe with its left claw. Very large frontal AOE. Can blocked with Shield Block, but it will clear Shield Block buff. You will not get hit if you stay behind or beside either claw.
Smack: Raise one of its fore arm high and smack on the ground. Can be blocked with Shield Block. The dragon will attack with left or right claw. Having a paladin provoking it at right arm for example, will cause the dragon to use the right arm ONLY to attack. You will not get hit if you stay behind or beside either claw.
Strategy:
Split into 3 teams:
- Team 1: Provoke the dragon, assign a healer to heal the Paladin if he needs it.
- Team 2: Assign 2-3 damage dealer to attack the eye, one at at time. All members should stand apart. Spread out when you see Ring of Life being cast.
- Team 3: Stand outside of the blue quarter circle at the next eye of life and out of the range of the eye. This team should just stay still and do nothing. Don't start attacking the Eye of Life near you for no reason!
During this phase, dragon will attempt to attack the party members with claw swipe and smack only. Paladin should Provoke dragon at 6 o'clock to prevent the dragon from attacking the other party members. Damage dealer go on and deactivate first and second Eye of Life.
Provoke the dragon to face 9 o'clock before starting to attack the 3rd Eye of Life. Inform your Paladin to come back to 6 o'clock before you deactivate the 3rd Eye of Life. Everyone need to pay attention as the dragon will attack you now as Paladin is at the same spot as everyone else.
Paladin should Provoke dragon to face 9 o'clock again after 3rd Life Explosion while the rest hide at 3 o'clock. Damage dealer proceed to deactivate the last Eye of Life.
Dragon Battle Phase 2 (HP x20 - x15.2)
Invincibility of the dragon will be dispelled upon breaking last Eye of Life and the real dragon battle starts. Take note that most skills destroy Priest's relics instantly.
MT should stand slightly to the left while the rest of the party should stand at the right of the map, near dragon's left claw, see figure below. The reason is to force the dragon to use its right claw ONLY to smack. These 2 skills are frequently casted during this phase. By forcing the dragon to use only the right claw, the party will be safe when they are behind/beside left claw.
New Boss Skills in Phase 2
Flying Stomp: Fly up and perform a stomp after 3 seconds. If you see the dragon flies up and the mini map shows that the dragon is still in the middle, expect flying stomp. Can be blocked with Shield Block.
The dragon will beat its wings three times in the air before stomping so jump after you heard the 3rd wing beat sound. Alternatively, you can zoom in your minimap. The red dot will disappear momentarily. Jump right after you see the red dot reappears!
Mini-guide for stomp evasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWQdntS7zSg
Sand Pit: The dragon curls its body upward slightly and beats its wing repeatedly with body surrounded by golden sand. Summon a sandpit at a random location which will suck players into it. The ground will be darkened before the pit appears. It is quite similar to the Sandpit Hell of the Sand Worm, but with much stronger suction. Sandpit will stay on the field for awhile before disappearing; can be dangerous if it is combo-ed with other skills.
Tail Spikes: Lower its body slightly, place both fore arms further in front and raise its tail high up. Shoots 4 waves of tail spikes toward all targets. Induce a debuff which prevent HP healing and reduces attack & defense. There will be marking on the floor before the impact of the tail spike. Simply move away to evade.
Golden Wave Spike: Golden waves radiates from frontal or hind legs of the dragon and golden sand spiraling around its legs. After 0.5sec, dragon raises both its frontal or hind legs and stomps. The stomp will float you if you are standing within the golden waves AOE. It will also generate protruding ground spikes beneath all targets and float them. Very fast casting animation. If you are floated by the stomp, use Aerial Evasion to avoid being hit again by the protruding spikes. Can be blocked with Shield Block.
The skill can only be evaded if you are right in front of the dragon (head) or at the hind legs when he is casting it in front. Unless you have shield block or invincible skill, it is almost impossible to evade this skill if you are standing at the left/right claw.
Flame Prison: Raise its glowing right arm and smacks the ground, followed by its left arm. Large tower like structures are formed in front of the dragon to trap any members in the front quarter of the map. (See green AOE in figure below) After that, red markings appear in trapped area randomly which explode shortly, deal huge and inflict burn status, 30k per tick.
If you are trapped in the prison, you can evade the flame markings easily by standing at the edge of the map and move to the gap between the markings. If you manage to stay outside of the prison, it is a good time to deal damage.
Charged Tail Swipe: The dragon will turn his head to the right, right before using this. The tail will glow red and move from the right side of dragon (See Red AOE and Arrow 1) all the way to the left side (see Blue AOE and Arrow 2). Very large AOE and high damage. Inflict debuff which prevent HP healing, reduced attack & defense (duration 40sec). Tail Swipe is the reason why it is not a good idea to stand at the rear end of the dragon. (Unlike other dragon battles)
The best spot for the party to stand is dragon's left claw (See orange circle below). When the party see the tail moves to its right side (Sign for an imminent Tail Swipe), immediately move left to avoid the 2nd hit (Blue AOE).
When you see dragon raises its glowing right claw, move right instead. You will end up outside of Flame Prison if done correctly.
Dive: Fly up and dive linearly across the field. The dive direction is not the same as the direction of his head before it flies, it is approximately 30 degree anti-clockwise from its original facing direction. Anyway, move slightly away from its left claw will do.
The casting motion is similar to Flying Stomp. However it can be easily differentiated by looking at the mini map: If the dragon stays at the middle after flying up, it is Flying Stomp. Otherwise, it is Dive.
Sand Breath: Start after 18.2x HP. The dragon will raise its head momentarily, you can see sand sprinkles from its mouth. Fan-shaped frontal AOE. Just steer clear of the front quarter of the dragon to avoid this. Standing near the front claws is safe and a great spot to deal damage during this skill.
Meteor Shower: Start after 18.2x HP. The dragon takes a few steps back and run forward before taking flight, circling the outer edge of the field before summoning meteor. The skill is quite similar to the Ice Rain of Sea Dragon. Keep running to avoid the meteor. The ground will be marked before the meteor impact. Inflict cannot heal / damage & defense reduction debuff upon hit.
You might want to assign a run route for your party members so that they don't run into each other.
Eye of Life Activation: Cast at HP x18.2 and x15.2, marking the the end of this phase. The party need to click all 4 Eyes of Life within 15 seconds. Send quick runners to deactivate the eyes. If the 4 eyes were not deactivated in time, it will cause party wipe.
Unlike the other two dragons, Desert Dragon battle does not guarantee the head is facing a specific direction all the while. It then become hard to assign who to press which Eye of Life if you assign the role according to the absolute position of the eye on the map. We propose an effective strategy for that purpose.
In this strategy, the absolute position of the dragon is irrelevant. Only need to consider the RELATIVE position of the dragon head with respect to the Eye of Life. There will only be 2 possible cases:
If head (Arrowhead) is pointing directly on any Eye of Life: Straight Case
2 persons are assigned to each eye (Marked by star). It is recommended that the ones with fast running speed (Either Acrobat or Warrior) are assigned to the tail position.
If head is pointing somewhere in between any two Eyes of Life: In-Between Case
Take note that the relative position of each party member is almost the same in both cases.
In other words, each person is only required to check a 1/8 pie area relative to the dragon's body (NOT absolute position on minimap).
Dragon Battle Phase 3 (HP x15.2 - x11.2)
The battle is totally changed after HP x15.2. Dragon flies up after Eye of Life activation and submerges into the sand shortly after. A message stating that 'The dragon starts its assault' will appear on the screen.
New Boss Skills at Phase 3
Tracing Tornado Pit: A random party member will be marked with a Black Marking. A Tracing Pit will appear at the north edge (12 o'clock) of the map and start chasing the marked member. Tornadoes are spawned along the trail of the moving pit while it chases the marked target.
Summon Boss: After the tracing pit appears, the dragon will summon Dragon Follower Bahama (Scorpion) and Dragon Guardian Sphira (Manticore). Both mini-bosses can be disabled with Time Stop, Slow, Wax, Relic of Bind, Freeze etc.
•Scorpion: Claw Swipe, Tail Swipe, Poison Sting. Will create poison pool on floor.
•Manticore: Has berserk status. Claw Swipe, Tail Swipe. High Damage. Each hit 300k-400k.
Basic Strategy:
Everyone gather at 1 o'clock of the minimap and wait for Black Marking to mark a member. Slightly spread out so that the marking can be seen clearly. Once the marked member is identified, start running along the edge in clockwise manner while the other 7 members should head toward middle of the map.
Assign 1-2 disablers to deal with Manticore (Ideally Force User or Elestra). DO NOT let Manticore start attacking or risk having casualties as a simple swipe will deal 300-400k damage. If you feel you cannot chain disable it OR your disabler is the marked member, cast a Miracle Relic or Devastating Howl on Manticore. Alternatively, you can also ask your Paladin to Provoke Manticore to 11 o'clock (Only does so when your main disabler, Force User is the runner)
Paladin provoke the Scorpion and make sure it is facing outside so that there won't be any poison pool in the middle of the map. The others should focus on attacking Scorpion. DO NOT KILL IT! Deal damage to the Scorpion until it has only ~10% hp left and wait for the message of Manticore explosion. Be wary of summons killing it accidentally! Use normal attack to grind the HP slowly.
Marked runner should stay at 10-11 o'clock for a brief moment and make sure that tracing pit no longer follow you before going to the middle. Everyone gather near Scorpion and kill it within 5 seconds once you see Manticore explosion system message.
Scorpion generates a barrier which protect anyone inside from taking damage from Manticore explosion, however the barrier only last 5 seconds, which is why you shouldn't kill it before the timer starts!
After surviving the explosion, dragon's tail will emerge near the party. Deal as much damage to the tail as much as possible! The tail submerges again after ~10 seconds, move to 1 o'clock and repeat the whole process till dragon's HP down to x10.
NOTE: The battle will actually enter phase 4 at x11.2 HP, not x10.
Dragon Battle Phase 4 (HP x11.2 - x9.2)
Stop attacking as soon as dragon's HP down to x10, no use damaging further as the dragon will recover its HP back to x10 fully, god knows why! Head toward 6 o'clock and dragon will emerge shortly. Basic dragon skills from Phase 2 will still be casted, in addition of some new skills:
New Boss Skills at Phase 4
Sand Bind (~ 55sec CD): Cast from HP x11.2 to end. Raise its glowing right claw, smash the ground, tracking sand trails will bind random members and anyone who is nearby. After that, dragon will charge up for 10 seconds before unleashing Sand Breath. Unbound members should save sand bound ones with high super armor break skills immediately. Quickly move to the either claws to avoid the Sand Breath after that. *Gravity Ball comes in handy yet again!*
Unlike bind skills in previous dragon's nest, Sand Bind deals a fixed damage of approximately 500k+ after the Sand Breath is unleashed. If a bound member is not in the AOE of the Sand Breath, one can actually survive the Sand Bind if he has >500k hp. A-rank Hot Sand Source is useful here as it give 35% chance of immunity against Sand Bind.
It is recommend that party member should gather at the left claw when this skill is cast. This will facilitate the saving of bound members and lengthen the DPS window while dragon is charging up for Sand Breath. HOWEVER, make sure the party is spread out as there's a small possibility for Sand Bind to bind all 8 members, leaving no one to save bound members!
Blinding Flash: A warning message shows on screen before it casts this. You are required to turn away from the dragon within 2 seconds or get blinded (White screen). Clears all buffs and silenced for 5 seconds.
Bind Stomp (~70sec CD): Start from HP x9.2 to end. Raise two of its front legs and stomp. All party members will be trapped by Sand Prison and a 40 seconds debuff which negate HP healing, reduced attack and defense will be applied. All buffs will be cleared. Subsequently, the dragon will follow up with a Flying Stomp.
Break loose from the Sand Prison by tapping left and right rapidly, it cannot be cured with Relieve or Curing Relic. Being invincible or air-borne will not help at all and you will still be trapped by the Sand Prison. You are required to break loose from the Sand Prison ASAP and jump to avoid the imminent Flying Stomp. Paladin's Elemental Aura helps speeding up the breaking loose process.
The timing for jumping can be judged by looking at the debuff: Jump when the debuff duration hit 36. Alternatively, you can also do the same as Flying Stomp. Zoom in your minimap and jump as soon as you see the red dot appears on minimap.
Mini-guide for bind stomp evasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRYEfPUS9Po
Dragon will go berserk after stomping down, doubling its attack.
Eye of Life Activation (~90sec CD): Cast from HP x9.2 to HP x5. Activate Eye of Life and become invincible. Send members to de-activate them within 15 seconds. There won't be anymore Eye of Life as soon as dragon's HP enter 5x.
Dragon Battle Phase 5 (HP x6.2 - Dead)
New Boss Skills at Phase 5
Rotating Sand Breath (CD > 90sec): Dragon will start casting this at 6.2x. The CD of this skill might be delayed far beyond its CD.
Take note that the direction / orientation given in the description below are based on the assumption that thedragon is facing 6 o'clock direction initially before this skill. However, the whole skill description need to be adjusted accordingly based on the initial direction of the dragon.
First the dragon will roar and soar to the sky in a spiral manner. The dragon then flies to the south edge of the map (facing north). After that, tornadoes will be spawned on the field. Each tornado has a dark circle at its base. The dragon unleashes its sand breath towards its frontal area on the map (Red dashed AOE in the figure below).
After a few seconds, the tornadoes start moving anti-clockwise. Meanwhile, the dragon flies clockwise and maintain the sand breath, sweeping the field like the hand of a clock. From the initial 12 o'clock position, the sand breath AOE moves clockwise 450 degree (1.25 rounds of a circle) and eventually stops at 3 o'clock of the map. After that, the dragon will fly to the middle of the map and unleash a final burst of Sand Breath. The skill ends as the dragon lands subsequently.
Basic Strategy
To evade this devastating skill, the party should move quickly clockwise to the 5 o'clock position when the dragon flies up (Star position, see figure below, right beside the initial AOE of Rotating Breath). As the breath starts to rotate, the whole party continues to moves clockwise until the breath stops. When the dragon finishes the rotation, move towards the outer edge of the map immediately to avoid being blasted by the final burst of Sand Breath.
A few important points when you are moving:
• Must sheathe weapon and run if you don't have Spirit Boost. Otherwise, you need to run at the innermost circle. The flying speed of the dragon is roughly 3 times of your speed.
• Do not follow the edge of the map since it is too far and you will never make it in time.
• Do not get too near to the middle of the map since you might get hit by the Sand Breath.
• Moving carefully in a zigzag manner to avoid the dark circle of the moving tornado. The tornado deals very little damage but it will knock you back. Guardian Force ensures that you will not get knocked down when the moving tornado hit you. However, if you have weapon sheathed, your weapon will be drawn out and that will waste some time.
• Do not move too fast and run into the AOE of the tornado in front.
• Invincibility (divine avatar, invincible potion etc) prevents the tornado from hitting you at all, but you can still be killed by the breath.
Supportive Role of Each Class in DDN:
DDN is passable with many different party compositions. The choice of party members largely depends on the gears and the skill as a player, due to the many deadly mechanics in various stages.
For example, a more defensive party might be good be a good idea, but it will cause a lack in DPS, and will eventually cause the party to attempt more of the deadly stage mechanics (Lava Flood of Phantom Flower, Poison Prison of Scorpion etc). More attempts = Higher chance for accidents.
On the other hand, a more DPS-oriented party would deal very good DPS but it will lack the stability to fight long battle (in case one or more of the DPS classes die). A small mistake can cause a member to die due to lack of defensive, damage reduction or healing mechanics.
Therefore, the party composition of DDN will largely varies depending on the gear and the player skills. I will merely highlight the supportive role of each class plays in DDN.
Priest
• One of the most important class in DDN (Almost no team can clear without one), for healing, curing abnormal status, attack boosting and damage reduction.
• Saint has Holy Shield which is extremely useful in stages such as countering Manticore's Photon Missile and Dark Knight's Dark Typhoon etc.
• Inquisitor generally has higher DPS as compared to Saint. However, the DPS of both classes are reduced significantly due to the 40%-80% light resist of the bosses in DDN.
Paladin
• One of the most important class in DDN (Although some team can clear DDN without one, but it is highly recommend to have a Paladin in party). Provoke, Armor Break debuff, and Elemental/Judgement Aura are very helpful to the party.
• Guardian has Guardian Force which boost the superarmor of the party. With the recent boost, the shell is almost permanent and extremely helpful in various stages, especially Flower and Manticore. Despite the seemingly lower DPS as compared to Crusader, Guardian Force will aid other party members in dealing damage (Because their skill will not be cancelled).
• Crusader is generally more offensive as compared to Guardian.
Mercenary
• One of the supportive class in DDN. Devastating Howl + Taunting Howl are critical for the survival of the party. Superarmor buff (damage reduction effect) and Battle Howl (+ Crit rate and attack) are also very helpful.
• Not much difference in terms of party support and DPS for both Barbarian and Destroyer.
• The slow effect from stomp works on manticore during Dragon HPx15 to x10. Devastating Howl helps to lower the damage from the berserk manticore, which would normally 1-2 hits any char. High SA break skills are good for saving party member binded by sand bind.
Sword Master
• One of the best damage debuffer for DDN with Hemorrhage.
• Gladiator tend to have higher burst DPS (Finishing Attack) if the player is skilled enough to deal damage at close range.
• Moonlord is better at dealing continuous ranged damage over the whole duration of the battle.
• Both are great damage dealers, thanks to their non-elemental damage.
Force User• Time Acceleration is very useful for dealing burst damage. Force Mirror debuff gives an almost permanent magical damage increase. Force user is also the main disabler of choice during dragon Hpx15 to x10 (timestop, gravity ascension, slow, freeze), although some party can clear with other strategy without a force user.
• Smasher tend to deal higher damage due to the elemental resist (50%) of the boss in DDN, as compared to Majesty.
Elemental Lord• Ice stacking increases the overall DPS of the party.
• An skilled Elestra can maintain a constant layer of ice (50% damage increase) throughout the whole battle, more so with the help of Alchemist.
• The overall DPS of both Elemental Lord classes are reduced significantly due to the 50% elemental resist of all the bosses.
Acrobat• Spirit Boost is both a good CD reduction skill and a speed boost buff. Helpful in various stage when fast movement speed is required, such as escaping Poison Prison of Scorpion, Meteor Shower of Flower & activating Eye of Life. The two critical rate buff are good for increasing the damage of the party, especially when more than half party members do not have maxed crit rate.
• Tempest is able to provide 30% physical damage debuff while WindWalker will be able to deal damage in all sort of situation as Air Pounce does not work well on certain bosses.
• Both are great DPS owing to their non-elemental damage.
Bow Master• The other primary damage debuffer in DDN with Bull's Eye. The two critical rate buff are good for increasing the damage of the party, especially if party members do not have maxed crit rate.
• Both Artillery and Sniper are very good damage dealers in DDN due to non-elemental damage. Skilled players will be able to observe the boss skill at a safe distance due to their long range and evade them accurately.
Engineer• Damage Transition is one of the best damage reduction skill, right after Miracle Relic. The effect stacks on top of the 75% damage reduction cap (As provided by Miracle Relic, and other similar buffs) since it is calculated differently. Wax is a decent speed boosting buff which is important in various stages such as escaping Poison Prison of Scorpion, Meteor Shower of Flower & activating Eye of Life. Chemical Missile also reduces elemental resist and crit resist of bosses. Although not reliable, Mecha Bomber reduces the attack of the bosses sometimes, and it does stack with Devastating/Taunting Howl of Mercenary.
• No clear distinction between the supportive role and DPS of both classes of Engineer.
• Both are great DPS thanks to their main DPS skills are non-elemental.
Alchemist• Cocktail boosts the stats of the party slightly and augments the healing effect of Priest. Slime gives additional layer freeze status. Icy Mist reduces the ice resist of boss, and extend the duration of frozen status. Wax is a decent speed boosting buff which is important in various stages such as escaping Poison Prison of Scorpion, Meteor Shower of Flower & activating Eye of Life.
• C2H5OH of Adept can further reduce the ice resist of bosses. Ice Beam provides another layer of frozen status.
• As for Physician, Love Virus and Disease EX induce magical damage increase debuff. Healing Shower helps the Priest in curing abnormal status and HP healing.
• The overall DPS of both Alchemist classes are compromised in DDN due to the 50% elemental resist of all the bosses.
Screamer
• Grudge Formation increases the attack and dark resist of all party members in the AOE. It also reduces the superarmor break of all bosses to zero and greatly helps the party to deal burst DPS. Voodoo Doll increases the damage induced to the boss but it is quite hard to be spotted by party members due to its small size. Phantom Guard offers a slight damage reduction effect, but should not be spammed due to the high MP consumption. Summon Genie give a temporary boost to all party members stats.
• Ghost Scream of Soul Eater is a debuff which gives high crit rate to all party members who attack the target. It also lowers the crit resist of targets.
• Sadism Pleasure of Dark Summoner boosts the dark attack % of all party members (probably only majesty and screamer will benefit from it though). It also gives a HP leeching buff to all party members: they will heal HP when attacking.
• The overall DPS of both Screamer classes are reduced in DDN due to the 50% elemental resist of most bosses.
Dancer• Ecstatic Dance offers 4 types of effect. However, the 2 buffs which are used most often in DDN are the Ogre dance for HP regeneration and Dark Elf dance for damage boosting in burst DPS. It should be noted that the Dark Elf dance additional damage bypass the 100% damage increase cap (Provided by Hemorrhage, Bull's Eye, Mirror etc) since it is calculated differently. Phantom Guard offers a slight damage reduction effect, but should not be spammed due to the high MP consumption. Summon Genie give a temporary boost to all party members stats.
• Both Dancer classes are great DPS in DDN due to their non-elemental damage.
Side Quest: Merchant Pope's Missing Pots
Appendix
Boss Stats (Translated by Dragon based on duowan data)
Boss Stats (Translated by Dragon based on duowan data)
Miscellaneous
DDN position mod for Flying Ship, Manticore, Sand Worm & Phantom Flower.
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