Since I already did my essay on the Allagan rot strategy:
Here's Turn 1
==The ADS==
The first challenge is a gear check called the ADS. This is set in a narrow hallway, with some nooks and crannies but for the most part just that lone path.
ADS moves:
Repelling Lasers: A large AoE around the ADS. Does about 2500 damage.
Line Laser: A large Line move that also does about 2500 damage. Unlike the other moves, the ADS will randomly pick one other player that is not the tank as a target. This might mean that it will move away from the melee or the tank, depending on how far away the ADS is from it's intended target.
High Voltage (Silenceable): An area-wide AoE that deals about 1500 damage plus adds a 10s paralysis. An incredibly dangerous move because it works in combination with Repelling Lasers and Line Laser. This move can be prevented, however, as it is Silenceable. You will need to be sure to have at least two bards and/or paladins to do this (or one Monk that really knows what they are doing and takes a hit from Repelling Lasers).
The fight:
The fight starts as normal with the tank/melee dps going in and the ranged/healers stick to the opposite end. Tanks and melees need to avoid Repelling Lasers, while everyone needs to be aware of and avoid the line laser. As the fight progresses different nodes will spawn on the opposite end of the hallway: Offense Node, Defense Node, and/or Maintenance Node. These nodes need to be taken by the Off-Tank and kept away from everyone. I am not sure (as I have never seen) the moves of these nodes. But my experiences tell me that all they do is melee for about 600 to 800. Once the third node starts popping up the ADS needs to be pretty much dead or else the OT may run the risk of getting overwhelmed and then the healers will die shortly afterward. Also the OT needs to keep the nodes away from the ADS as they will apply offense, defense, or healing buffs on the ADS (you will see a tether if this happens).
Now pre-2.2, most groups would struggle to bring down the ADS before the OT gets overwhelmed. It WAS a common strategy to keep running it until the LB gauge filled and then use the filled LB to drop the ADS. Nowadays most people are sufficiently geared that they can drop the ADS without needing to fill the LB gauge.
==Post ADS==
Post ADS is a pretty standard dungeon romp with a lot of trash mobs. The only really major thing that you need to be aware of are the Dark Matter Slug's AoE damage + slow and the Dark Matter Pelican's cone move that petrfies.
There will also be two Dark Matter Golems that do a really strong True Grit (about 3000-4000 damage cone aoe) and Obliterate (about a 2500 to 3000 unavoidable AoE to all party members). Just position them right., make sure the heals keeps the tanks from dying, and keep everybody topped off so the Obliterate doesn't wipe the group. Pretty easy.
There's ALSO a Dark Matter Coeurl that guards a treasure chest in the fight. A lot of groups used to fight it on the off-chance some Allagan gear dropped from it. But since nothing does we now avoid fighting it completely. (I wonder if this will change in 2.2, though...)
==Caduceus==
The boss of T1 is a snake mob called Caudeus. This guy is pretty rough and can drop most people if they aren't careful.
The arena:
The yellow parts of the arena will cause a debuff called bleed that will do about 200 damage per tic and give you heavy. Players need to stand on the blue hexagons in the middle of the arena if they want to avoid this. Also periodically the hexagons will glow blue. If people stay on the arena while they are blue a Dark Matter Slime will be spawned. The slime deals about 300 to 500 damage per melee attack and will explode for about 4000 if the person that spawns it gets too far away. This is an important mechanic, and should not always be avoided by all the party members... more on that later, though.
Caduceus' moves:
It has a cleave attack that does about 2000 to 2500 to everyone in melee range in front of it.
It has a tail swipe attack that deals about 2500 to 3000 to a cone attack behind it. This move can be triggered by walking into range, and since it takes about a second to go off is a pretty decent way to take hate off the tank. This move has about a 10 second cooldown.
It will spit out venom on a random player that's not a tank. This move deals about 1000 damage and will drop a debuff that deals about 200 to 300 damage per tic. Just walk out of it to avoid this.
Periodically in the fight it will get a buff called which increases the damage each attack will do (it is about 1.3 to or 1.5x). This buff can be increased up to 9 times (so 1.3x, 1.6x, 2.0x, 2.3x or 1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x, etc.) This can cause the cleave move to deal massive damage (I once got hit for about 12,000) and should be avoided.
Near about the same time as he gets a buff parts of the arena will light up as mentioned earlier. If a player gets a dark matter slime to Caduceus, the snake will eat the slime which will remove one of it's buffs. Feeding a slime will also heal Caduceus upwards to about 8 to 10% of it's maximum health, so the slime should be worn down before feeding it to Caduceus which will decrease the amount healed.
Finally at about 66% health Caduceus will split in two. Each Caduceus has about 33% of the original Caduceus' health and has all the same moves (including the buff mechanic), defense, and damage potential as the original snake. Each snake will also keep the buff state the original snake have. If the two Caduceuses get too close they will recombine and then will enrage, which goes straight to the max buff. In addition, if one of the snakes dies before the other snake, the snake that remains will also enrage, going straight to the cap.
Caduceus's Strategy:
Buff as normal. The ranged dps and heals should then move behind the snake and spread out to avoid the venom spit. Once the ranged are in position, the tank will pull, bringing it to the tips of the trapezoid-like shape, on the corner of three of the hexagons. The melee dps and off tank engage as normal, making sure to watch out for it's cleave. One of the melee dps or tank may also choose to trigger the tail swipe move, which will keep off damage for a little bit. This is optional, however.
Once the first buff goes out one of the ranged DPS or off tank needs to move onto a glowing platform to spawn one dark matter slime. The rest of the melee, ranged dps, healer, and main tank needs to move off of the glowing platforms to make sure no more than that one slime spawns. The off tank or ranged dps then whittled down their dark matter slime and feeds it to Caduceus. This could happen two or three times depending on how long it takes to drop Caduceus down to 66%.
You should also keep in mind that two of the glowing spot locations are on the far ends of the arena past a part that will make a person heavy. This could potentially make Caduceus have a buff which isn't removed. This is dangerous because once the boss splits both snakes will have the buff. If this happens you may choose to have two players get slimes, which will remove both applications of the buff.
Once the snake splits the off tank takes the second caduceus to the other side of the arena. The dps then choose one of the snakes to wear down while the off tank and a healer keeps the second caduceus occupied.
IN THEORY you can maintain the slime feeding strategy at this point. This would keep the buff counter down and make tanking the snake much more manageable.
...most people don't do this, however, and choose to simply focus on bringing down one snake close to death and then moving to the second snake. This forgoes the mechanic and makes the entire fight a race to bring both the snakes close to death before either of the tanks falls. Once one snake is down either DPS or Limit Break the second snake and you've finished the fight.
Now, if the tank fails to keep their buffs up or if the healer fails to keep their tank up the only strategy to do at that point is to bring the two snakes together and attempt to kite it. As the biggest damage attack at this point is the cleave, this IS still a possibility but it has now become much more difficult to achieve, especially if the remainder snake has more than 10% health. The tank also needs to keep in mind that if an LB is going to be used they need to stop for 3 to 5 seconds to fire it off. This could be really dangerous however and could potentially kill the tank if they are not careful.Â
After the boss is dropped Turn 1 is over and you can proceed to Turn 2. Hurray! :)
Here's Turn 1
==The ADS==
The first challenge is a gear check called the ADS. This is set in a narrow hallway, with some nooks and crannies but for the most part just that lone path.
ADS moves:
Repelling Lasers: A large AoE around the ADS. Does about 2500 damage.
Line Laser: A large Line move that also does about 2500 damage. Unlike the other moves, the ADS will randomly pick one other player that is not the tank as a target. This might mean that it will move away from the melee or the tank, depending on how far away the ADS is from it's intended target.
High Voltage (Silenceable): An area-wide AoE that deals about 1500 damage plus adds a 10s paralysis. An incredibly dangerous move because it works in combination with Repelling Lasers and Line Laser. This move can be prevented, however, as it is Silenceable. You will need to be sure to have at least two bards and/or paladins to do this (or one Monk that really knows what they are doing and takes a hit from Repelling Lasers).
The fight:
The fight starts as normal with the tank/melee dps going in and the ranged/healers stick to the opposite end. Tanks and melees need to avoid Repelling Lasers, while everyone needs to be aware of and avoid the line laser. As the fight progresses different nodes will spawn on the opposite end of the hallway: Offense Node, Defense Node, and/or Maintenance Node. These nodes need to be taken by the Off-Tank and kept away from everyone. I am not sure (as I have never seen) the moves of these nodes. But my experiences tell me that all they do is melee for about 600 to 800. Once the third node starts popping up the ADS needs to be pretty much dead or else the OT may run the risk of getting overwhelmed and then the healers will die shortly afterward. Also the OT needs to keep the nodes away from the ADS as they will apply offense, defense, or healing buffs on the ADS (you will see a tether if this happens).
Now pre-2.2, most groups would struggle to bring down the ADS before the OT gets overwhelmed. It WAS a common strategy to keep running it until the LB gauge filled and then use the filled LB to drop the ADS. Nowadays most people are sufficiently geared that they can drop the ADS without needing to fill the LB gauge.
==Post ADS==
Post ADS is a pretty standard dungeon romp with a lot of trash mobs. The only really major thing that you need to be aware of are the Dark Matter Slug's AoE damage + slow and the Dark Matter Pelican's cone move that petrfies.
There will also be two Dark Matter Golems that do a really strong True Grit (about 3000-4000 damage cone aoe) and Obliterate (about a 2500 to 3000 unavoidable AoE to all party members). Just position them right., make sure the heals keeps the tanks from dying, and keep everybody topped off so the Obliterate doesn't wipe the group. Pretty easy.
There's ALSO a Dark Matter Coeurl that guards a treasure chest in the fight. A lot of groups used to fight it on the off-chance some Allagan gear dropped from it. But since nothing does we now avoid fighting it completely. (I wonder if this will change in 2.2, though...)
==Caduceus==
The boss of T1 is a snake mob called Caudeus. This guy is pretty rough and can drop most people if they aren't careful.
The arena:
The yellow parts of the arena will cause a debuff called bleed that will do about 200 damage per tic and give you heavy. Players need to stand on the blue hexagons in the middle of the arena if they want to avoid this. Also periodically the hexagons will glow blue. If people stay on the arena while they are blue a Dark Matter Slime will be spawned. The slime deals about 300 to 500 damage per melee attack and will explode for about 4000 if the person that spawns it gets too far away. This is an important mechanic, and should not always be avoided by all the party members... more on that later, though.
Caduceus' moves:
It has a cleave attack that does about 2000 to 2500 to everyone in melee range in front of it.
It has a tail swipe attack that deals about 2500 to 3000 to a cone attack behind it. This move can be triggered by walking into range, and since it takes about a second to go off is a pretty decent way to take hate off the tank. This move has about a 10 second cooldown.
It will spit out venom on a random player that's not a tank. This move deals about 1000 damage and will drop a debuff that deals about 200 to 300 damage per tic. Just walk out of it to avoid this.
Periodically in the fight it will get a buff called which increases the damage each attack will do (it is about 1.3 to or 1.5x). This buff can be increased up to 9 times (so 1.3x, 1.6x, 2.0x, 2.3x or 1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x, etc.) This can cause the cleave move to deal massive damage (I once got hit for about 12,000) and should be avoided.
Near about the same time as he gets a buff parts of the arena will light up as mentioned earlier. If a player gets a dark matter slime to Caduceus, the snake will eat the slime which will remove one of it's buffs. Feeding a slime will also heal Caduceus upwards to about 8 to 10% of it's maximum health, so the slime should be worn down before feeding it to Caduceus which will decrease the amount healed.
Finally at about 66% health Caduceus will split in two. Each Caduceus has about 33% of the original Caduceus' health and has all the same moves (including the buff mechanic), defense, and damage potential as the original snake. Each snake will also keep the buff state the original snake have. If the two Caduceuses get too close they will recombine and then will enrage, which goes straight to the max buff. In addition, if one of the snakes dies before the other snake, the snake that remains will also enrage, going straight to the cap.
Caduceus's Strategy:
Buff as normal. The ranged dps and heals should then move behind the snake and spread out to avoid the venom spit. Once the ranged are in position, the tank will pull, bringing it to the tips of the trapezoid-like shape, on the corner of three of the hexagons. The melee dps and off tank engage as normal, making sure to watch out for it's cleave. One of the melee dps or tank may also choose to trigger the tail swipe move, which will keep off damage for a little bit. This is optional, however.
Once the first buff goes out one of the ranged DPS or off tank needs to move onto a glowing platform to spawn one dark matter slime. The rest of the melee, ranged dps, healer, and main tank needs to move off of the glowing platforms to make sure no more than that one slime spawns. The off tank or ranged dps then whittled down their dark matter slime and feeds it to Caduceus. This could happen two or three times depending on how long it takes to drop Caduceus down to 66%.
You should also keep in mind that two of the glowing spot locations are on the far ends of the arena past a part that will make a person heavy. This could potentially make Caduceus have a buff which isn't removed. This is dangerous because once the boss splits both snakes will have the buff. If this happens you may choose to have two players get slimes, which will remove both applications of the buff.
Once the snake splits the off tank takes the second caduceus to the other side of the arena. The dps then choose one of the snakes to wear down while the off tank and a healer keeps the second caduceus occupied.
IN THEORY you can maintain the slime feeding strategy at this point. This would keep the buff counter down and make tanking the snake much more manageable.
...most people don't do this, however, and choose to simply focus on bringing down one snake close to death and then moving to the second snake. This forgoes the mechanic and makes the entire fight a race to bring both the snakes close to death before either of the tanks falls. Once one snake is down either DPS or Limit Break the second snake and you've finished the fight.
Now, if the tank fails to keep their buffs up or if the healer fails to keep their tank up the only strategy to do at that point is to bring the two snakes together and attempt to kite it. As the biggest damage attack at this point is the cleave, this IS still a possibility but it has now become much more difficult to achieve, especially if the remainder snake has more than 10% health. The tank also needs to keep in mind that if an LB is going to be used they need to stop for 3 to 5 seconds to fire it off. This could be really dangerous however and could potentially kill the tank if they are not careful.Â
After the boss is dropped Turn 1 is over and you can proceed to Turn 2. Hurray! :)
Thy life is a Riddle to bear Rapture and Sorrow
To Listen, to Wonder, to Entrust unto tomorrow
In One fleeting Moment from the land doth Life flow
In One fleeting Moment from the land doth Life flow
Yet in that Same Fleeting moment Thou must Live, Die, and Know
