Trial: The Bloodsands (Extreme)
For one night only, this Sunday night at Sultanamania, retired Halatali fighter Ferus Ironlash returns to the ring to take on any and all comers. Do you have what it takes?
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Persistent Mechanics: (They last through the entire fight)
Hype: The attitude of the audience is affecting your party's morale. For each positive stack of Hype, the entire raid gains a 5% bonus to damage dealt. Hype is gained when the raid successfully transitions through phases and when using limit breaks. Each level of limit break grants an additional stack of Hype: e.g. level 1 LB gives one stack of Hype, level 2 gives two stacks, etc.
At negative Hype, the raid gains a debuff that decreases damage dealt by 5% for each stack. Hype is lost when a party member dies. The entire raid loses a single stack of Hype when any party member dies. If a party member dies with negative stacks of Hype, the crowd begins booing, causing the raid to lose two stacks of Hype. Hype caps at three stacks maximum.
The raid starts the encounter at zero Hype.
Bladedance: At either ten minutes after the pull or at three negative stacks of Hype, your raid completely fails to go over with the Coliseum audience, and they give all their hype to Ferus, who wipes the raid with a limit break.
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Phase 1: Gladiator
Ferus begins the encounter wielding a sword and shield.
Abilities:
Rage of Rhalgr: Tank buster that requires cooldowns to be popped to live through. Instant kill if the target has a Vulnerability Up debuff from Full Swing.
Full Swing: Medium damage hit that leaves a Vulnerability Up debuff on the target. Debuff timer will fade out before the next Rage of Rhalgr.
Provoke: Targets a random raid member and inflicts the Taunt status on them. Taunted players lose control of their character, who immediately runs up to Ferus and only autoattacks him. Taunt also includes a Vulnerability Up debuff. Can be cleansed with Esuna/Leeches/Exalted Detriment.
Circle of Scorn: Wide range AoE attack surrounding Ferus that deals heavy AoE damage. Cast immediately after Provoke. Oneshots taunted players.
Strategy:
Tank and spank. Phase transition at 70%. Basic competence check/PuG killer.
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Phase 2: Griffin Mount
At 70%, Ferus calls a griffin in and mounts up on its back.
Abilities:
Piercing Talon: Ferus tosses a javelin at the target area marked by an orange circle that does heavy AoE damage. Throws three of these, each targeting a different area to mark the three points of a triangle.
Whirling Gaol: Sucks the raid into the center of the arena for massive AoE damage. To survive, players must stack up on the javelins that Ferus threw in order to hang onto them. However, each javelin can only support a maximum of three players. If more than three players stack on one javelin, the javelin will break, dealing additional damage to each player as they are sucked into the Whirling Gaol, which will more than likely kill all of them with their combined damage. Considering four players die, this will probably wipe the raid with negative Hype.
Three Talon Strike: Ferus's griffin flies up and divebombs through where each javelin is thrown in the order they were thrown. Getting hit by the griffin will knock you inside of the triangular area marked by the javelins. Once the divebombs are complete, Ferus jumps off of his griffin to cast Ring of Thorns, dealing heavy damage to tanks and fatal damage to non-tanks inside the triangular area before remounting his griffin.
Strategy:
Do mechanics. If you're having trouble pushing Phase 3 DPS, casting melee LB1 at the start of the phase to build Hype is a viable option. Phase transition at 45%.
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Phase 3: Job Change: Dark Knight
At 45%, Ferus is knocked off of his griffin. He throws his sword and shield away, and draws a greatsword as a dark aura begins to surround him.
Abilities:
Blood Price: Cast at the start of the phase. For every 10 percent of damage taken, Ferus gains a stack of haste that reduces his attack timers. Acts as a soft enrage timer/DPS and healer check.
Unleash: Roomwide AoE, hits raid for medium damage. Frequency of Unleash casts increase as Blood Price stacks increase.
Souleater: 3.5 second cast timer. Must be silenced or Ferus instantly kills the tank while recovering 15% of his health. Souleater will kill you even if you have Hallowed Ground, Holmgang, or Living Dead up. Do the mechanic.
Dark Dance: Marked with a cast timer beforehand so you know it's coming. Gains a parry buff for 7 seconds while losing invulnerabilty to stuns. Parries all physical attacks and deals medium damage and gives a Damage Down debuff in retaliation with Reprisal unless stunned.
Plunge: Marks a random healer with Another Victim for five seconds before leaping at them, dealing heavy damage. Deals near-lethal damage without mitigation. Followed up by an Unleash cast.
Strategy:
DPS and healer check. LB3 will generally be reached at the beginning of the phase if you haven't cast it throughout the fight yet. Ferus must be stunlocked during Dark Dance, so I hope your DPS saved their stuns. Or just bring a Paladin.
For one night only, this Sunday night at Sultanamania, retired Halatali fighter Ferus Ironlash returns to the ring to take on any and all comers. Do you have what it takes?
____
Persistent Mechanics: (They last through the entire fight)
Hype: The attitude of the audience is affecting your party's morale. For each positive stack of Hype, the entire raid gains a 5% bonus to damage dealt. Hype is gained when the raid successfully transitions through phases and when using limit breaks. Each level of limit break grants an additional stack of Hype: e.g. level 1 LB gives one stack of Hype, level 2 gives two stacks, etc.
At negative Hype, the raid gains a debuff that decreases damage dealt by 5% for each stack. Hype is lost when a party member dies. The entire raid loses a single stack of Hype when any party member dies. If a party member dies with negative stacks of Hype, the crowd begins booing, causing the raid to lose two stacks of Hype. Hype caps at three stacks maximum.
The raid starts the encounter at zero Hype.
Bladedance: At either ten minutes after the pull or at three negative stacks of Hype, your raid completely fails to go over with the Coliseum audience, and they give all their hype to Ferus, who wipes the raid with a limit break.
___
Phase 1: Gladiator
Ferus begins the encounter wielding a sword and shield.
Abilities:
Rage of Rhalgr: Tank buster that requires cooldowns to be popped to live through. Instant kill if the target has a Vulnerability Up debuff from Full Swing.
Full Swing: Medium damage hit that leaves a Vulnerability Up debuff on the target. Debuff timer will fade out before the next Rage of Rhalgr.
Provoke: Targets a random raid member and inflicts the Taunt status on them. Taunted players lose control of their character, who immediately runs up to Ferus and only autoattacks him. Taunt also includes a Vulnerability Up debuff. Can be cleansed with Esuna/Leeches/Exalted Detriment.
Circle of Scorn: Wide range AoE attack surrounding Ferus that deals heavy AoE damage. Cast immediately after Provoke. Oneshots taunted players.
Strategy:
Tank and spank. Phase transition at 70%. Basic competence check/PuG killer.
___
Phase 2: Griffin Mount
At 70%, Ferus calls a griffin in and mounts up on its back.
Abilities:
Piercing Talon: Ferus tosses a javelin at the target area marked by an orange circle that does heavy AoE damage. Throws three of these, each targeting a different area to mark the three points of a triangle.
Whirling Gaol: Sucks the raid into the center of the arena for massive AoE damage. To survive, players must stack up on the javelins that Ferus threw in order to hang onto them. However, each javelin can only support a maximum of three players. If more than three players stack on one javelin, the javelin will break, dealing additional damage to each player as they are sucked into the Whirling Gaol, which will more than likely kill all of them with their combined damage. Considering four players die, this will probably wipe the raid with negative Hype.
Three Talon Strike: Ferus's griffin flies up and divebombs through where each javelin is thrown in the order they were thrown. Getting hit by the griffin will knock you inside of the triangular area marked by the javelins. Once the divebombs are complete, Ferus jumps off of his griffin to cast Ring of Thorns, dealing heavy damage to tanks and fatal damage to non-tanks inside the triangular area before remounting his griffin.
Strategy:
Do mechanics. If you're having trouble pushing Phase 3 DPS, casting melee LB1 at the start of the phase to build Hype is a viable option. Phase transition at 45%.
____
Phase 3: Job Change: Dark Knight
At 45%, Ferus is knocked off of his griffin. He throws his sword and shield away, and draws a greatsword as a dark aura begins to surround him.
Abilities:
Blood Price: Cast at the start of the phase. For every 10 percent of damage taken, Ferus gains a stack of haste that reduces his attack timers. Acts as a soft enrage timer/DPS and healer check.
Unleash: Roomwide AoE, hits raid for medium damage. Frequency of Unleash casts increase as Blood Price stacks increase.
Souleater: 3.5 second cast timer. Must be silenced or Ferus instantly kills the tank while recovering 15% of his health. Souleater will kill you even if you have Hallowed Ground, Holmgang, or Living Dead up. Do the mechanic.
Dark Dance: Marked with a cast timer beforehand so you know it's coming. Gains a parry buff for 7 seconds while losing invulnerabilty to stuns. Parries all physical attacks and deals medium damage and gives a Damage Down debuff in retaliation with Reprisal unless stunned.
Plunge: Marks a random healer with Another Victim for five seconds before leaping at them, dealing heavy damage. Deals near-lethal damage without mitigation. Followed up by an Unleash cast.
Strategy:
DPS and healer check. LB3 will generally be reached at the beginning of the phase if you haven't cast it throughout the fight yet. Ferus must be stunlocked during Dark Dance, so I hope your DPS saved their stuns. Or just bring a Paladin.
