Nilandia's Guide to Dreadsail Reef - All Mechanics, Bosses and Strategies

Introduction

Welcome to Dreadsail Reef, the newest Trial as of the High Isle expansion of the Elder Scrolls Online. The trial is very complex and perhaps the most mechanics heavy in the game. This guide contains information to help groups prepare, as well as some strategies that worked for my group. They are, of course, not the only strategies.

Note: For people running addons on PC, Code’s Combat Alerts has been updated to include this trial. Qcell also has an addon, Dreadsail Reef Helper. They provide a lot of information and alerts to help players, and some of the pictures do include information from addons. However, the information in this guide will not assume they are installed.

Second Note: This guide does not have information on the trial’s hard modes, as I have not had a chance to experience them. If I am able to learn of them, I will add them.

Troodon has also compiled an amazing spreadsheet that goes into detail on enemy abilities which can be found here.

Item Sets

Four item sets are available in Dreadsail Reef that come in their respective Non-Perfected and Perfected versions:

Coral Riptide

Pearlescent Ward

Pillager's Profit

Whorl of the Depths

Achievements

Reaching the Trial

The entrance to the trial is on a ship docked on the northwestern coast of High Isle. It can be walked to or ported into directly.

*Location of the entrance to Dreadsail Reef

Trial Preparation

The following is a template roster one could consider using, raid leads should definitely adapt the template roster to suit their group's needs and goals:

Right

MT (DK Yoln/Tide/Tremorscale/) Igneous:

H1 (RO/JO/Spaulder):

DPS - Zens DK (Dome):

DPS: top right/banner

P1 DPS: bottom right

P1 DPS: bottom left

Left

OT Cro (Sax/PW/Encrantis):

H2 Warden (SPC/Pillagers/Symph):

DPS - EC Cro (Dome):

DPS - MK:

P2 DPS: top left

P2 DPS:

Lever Pullers

Close:

Middle:

Far:

Initial Add Pulls

To begin the trial, players will exit the boat cabin onto the deck. Turn left and drop off the side of the ship, then swim to shore. The more powerful humanoid enemies are larger in size with flags on their backs. They should be focused, with the sea adders a secondary priority.

Keelcutters: Expelled Fire sends a conal fire AOE following a specific person and applying a dot to anyone in the blast that can spread to others. Players with the dot will have a ring around their feet and should seek out their healers until the dot ends, without spreading it. Keelcutters also cast Incineration, a large circular fire AOE that nearly fills the area and does heavy damage. Players can get out of the AOE or heal through it. This AOE appears after a specific amount of time and can be avoided if the keelcutter is killed quickly enough.

Depending on whether the keelcutter’s heavy attack is dodged or blocked, certain other effects come into play. If dodged, the keelcutter receives Seethe and does 60% more damage for 12 seconds. If blocked, the person blocking receives Rattled and Hindered for 12 seconds. A person with Rattled deals 70% less damage and receives 40% more damage. Hindered prevents the target from being healed until almost 40k points of healing is received. If neither dodged nor blocked, the target is Devitalized for 8 seconds. Physical and spell resistances decrease by 60%, damage increases by 30%, and damage shields decrease by 30%. Rattled, Hindered, and Devitalized cannot be removed by skills removing negative effects.

Swashbuckler: Does 50% more damage if a person’s back is to them, applying to all abilities. The Targeted ability will purge taunt so the swashbuckler will cast Skewer to jump behind the furthest person from them. If this targets you, block and face the swashbuckler. Once done (about 6 seconds), the swashbuckler can be taunted again. The Aperture ability places a red and white circular icon over the head of one person. They will begin dropping AOEs at their feet as the swashbuckler throws daggers at them, so they will need to keep moving. Other players need to avoid these AOEs, or they will explode for a lot of damage. Assassinate targets people under 50% health who are facing away from the swashbuckler. It looks like Incapacitating Strike and does a lot of damage, which will be increased if they are flanking their target. May be enough to kill a tank if not blocked.

Serpent Caller: Casts Spiritual Guise to summon a spectral crab or serpent that can deal heavy damage but will dispel when the serpent caller is killed. Dragon Totem summons a totem that shoots a cone of ice in the direction of the target. Ice Pillar conjures ice spikes in the area, and serpent callers often summon Frost Armor around the same time for themselves and enemies standing in the AOEs created by the ice spike and serpent totem.

Ranger: Casts Cinder Shot to send out four linear AOEs to random people in the group. After 2 seconds, they send an attack along those AOEs toward the targeted people. Spread and block to mitigate the damage. Even people not targeted will be hit if in the line of fire when it goes off. Anyone hit will leave a circular AOE on the ground where they were standing. Marksman’s Gaze works very similarly to taking aim. Interrupt or dodge.

General Tips: Keelcutters should be the primary focus due to their fire AOE. Swashbucklers are sometimes hard to control due to jumping to the farthest person. Groups may wish to have a tank hang back to bait a swashbuckler, as healers are often a target due to standing away from the group. Targeted players can also block cast. Some pulls have more than one swashbuckler, however, and they may both target the same person.

*From left to right: Keelcutter, Swashbuckler, Serpent Caller, Ranger

Pull 1: Keelcutter front and center, with a swashbuckler in the rear center.

Pull 2: Keelcutter on the right, swashbuckler on the left, sea adder at the center.

Pull 3: Swashbuckler on the left by a trebuchet, serpent caller on the right by another trebuchet. A sea adder is also a part of this pull, but it likes to wander between this pull and the next.

Pull 4: Two swashbucklers flanking a gate. Tanks may pull them to one side to be focused until they begin jumping to their targets.

Pull 5: A line of archers, a pair of rangers and a sea adder. The rangers and adder are behind the archers, the rangers to the left and right with the adder at the center. The archers will begin by taking aim on the group. Interrupt them, or dodge the attack. The off-tank may wish to drag one of the rangers to the other so the group can take them both down. Other groups have everyone except one of the tanks hide behind the gate walls just before the pull. The tank then taunts the pack to cause them to gather at the narrower gate. This pull must be cleared to be able to reach the first boss.

Lylanar and Turlassil (Boss 1)

27.9 million Health each, 55.9 million Health total

*The area for the first boss. The two brothers can be seen sitting above, while the ice and fire orbs can be seen embedded in the left and right walls.

This boss is two brothers, one using fire and one using ice. There are four phases: the initial add pull, one boss by himself, the other boss by himself, and then both together.

Dome Mechanics

An ice orb and a fire orb stud the walls on either side of the arena. Anyone can activate them (like an item) from anywhere in the area to generate a dome of the corresponding element that follows them. This dome is extremely important, as the enemies have high levels of damage resistance unless they are under the dome of the opposite element. Enemies take approximately 10% of the damage if they are not under their appropriate dome.

A person holding the dome will deal additional damage with light attacks, heavy attacks, and bashes through the Frost Rush and Flame Rush abilities, depending on which dome they hold. At the same time, however, they will take increasing amounts of damage and be slowed by Piercing Hailstone or Destructive Ember. Players can stand outside the dome with no ill effects. However, if both domes are active and come into contact, they will explode, do heavy damage to players, and dissipate.

Another person can activate the orb of the matching element to take the dome from the first person. The person holding the dome can also activate the orb a second time to desummon the dome. Each person has a roughly 20 second cooldown before they can take the same dome again, which is counted independently for each dome type. A visual effect on the orbs will tell when a person’s cooldown is over: snow coming off the ice orb, heat waves from the fire orb.

Healers may trade domes between them, since they can heal through it and aren't busy tanking. DPS can also take them so they can get the damage boost and healers will be free to move where they are needed. Damage stacks accumulate 1 per second, and trade offs seem to be good at 20 stacks, depending on the group.

*Activating the orb generates a dome of the same element over the player

Phase 1 - Hounds

The first phase is a pack of frost and flame hounds. Summon a dome to take the hounds of one element down quickly, and then switch to the other to finish them off. The domes should be taken by people who are not holding them in future phases, so they are not affected by cooldowns. Desummon the dome before the next phase to prevent accidental explosions.

Phase 2 - The First Brother

After the hounds are killed, one of the two bosses will come down. Which one will show up appears to be random, but he will stand up from his chair above the group.

Summon the appropriate dome (remember: opposite element) and commence damage. After a while, the boss will summon hounds, which can be cleaved. He will also summon two atronachs, one each at around 80% and 75% health, which are significantly stronger than the hounds. These atronachs will need to be taken to the side, while still under the dome, and focused down before the teleport phase. The off-tank may take the atronachs behind the DPS so they can turn their backs on the boss to face the atronachs, further reducing damage on the boss.

Much like Bahsei, continuing to damage the boss will lead to multiple mechanics at once, which can easily overwhelm a group. Having one atronach alive during future mechanics seems manageable, but both can pose significant difficulty. High DPS groups may be able to handle the additional mechanics.

The boss uses an ability called Imminent Blister or Imminent Chill to apply a Fragility debuff to the tank, requiring a tank swap. His heavy attack must not be dodged, else he will enrage. After the boss uses Blacken or Glaciate, the tank will begin leaving persistent pools of the boss’s element on the floor, similar to the blood pools from Falgravn in veteran Kyne’s Aegis hard mode. The tank will need to move to get out of the pools, with the rest of the group adjusting to compensate. The pools will linger, but will eventually fade after a period of time.

The bosses will also apply a debuff to the tank which essentially negates a certain amount of healing received. Healers will need to focus healing them to remove the debuff so the tank can receive healing once more.

From time to time, the boss will lift his hands over his head and begin channeling a spray of his element to hit everyone in the area. This will very likely kill everyone in short order. This spray of elements is similar to the fire priests in Hel Ra Citadel and may be interrupted, but only while the boss is under the appropriate dome.

More specific information on boss abilities can be found below.

*Keep the boss under the dome of the opposite element (here: ice over the fire boss)

Teleport Phase

At 82% and approximately 63% overall health (65% on the first and 70% on the second), the boss will summon four ice or fire orbs around the area. He will teleport to those orbs in the order he summoned them and begin his damage spray channeling. Someone will need to be at each orb when he lands so they can summon the dome of the opposite element and interrupt him.

General Tips: To ensure there’s enough distribution, make sure to have no more than 2 people at each portal. Once comfortable with the mechanics, only one DPS needs to go to each. A strategy to try: Specific DPS go to specific regions in the area, such as the left side of the exit door, right side of the exit door, left side of the entrance area, and right side of the entrance area. Others may send DPS in the order that the orbs were summoned.

Because people need to be moving quickly, it is highly recommended to have at least one, if not both of the atronachs down before teleport phase. Otherwise, you risk not having enough people to interrupt the channeling, which can wipe the group.

It appears that there are three possible spawns to occur during the initial boss phase: two hounds, and two spawns of individual atronachs. These spawns seem to be at specific health percentages, but their order is not set. This means that, if the hounds spawn first, there is a smaller range of boss health in which to kill the atronachs before moving into teleport phase. Without DPS discipline, it becomes easier to push into teleport phase while at least one atronach is still alive.

If the boss is locked in animation and the group continues to push him, the teleport phase may start later than at the given percentages.

Once all four of the teleports are handled, the boss retreats up above, giving the players a small bit of time to recover and get rezzes. If one of the atronachs is still alive, they can be finished off here. Whoever is holding the dome will need to release it, as the next phase will switch to the opposite element.

*Activate the dome over the boss during teleport phase to be able to bash and interrupt his attacks. An ice orb he will teleport to can be seen in the background on the right.

Phase 3 - The Second Brother

Following teleport phase, the first boss will retreat and be replaced by the other. Mechanics here are essentially identical to the previous phase, except using the dome of the opposing element. Remember that teleport phase occurs when the boss is at 70%, rather than 65%.

*Suggested positioning for the fire boss, using the ice dome. Image courtesy of @DrunkieOwl

*Suggested positioning for the ice boss, using the fire dome. Image courtesy of @DrunkieOwl

Phase 4 - Brothers Reunited

Following teleport phase with the second brother, the first will re-enter so both are active at the same time. If the first boss had been below 65% at the end of teleport phase, he will return to 65% health when returning to the field. There will be a short period of time in which the boss who just finished teleporting will be untaunted, so the tank will need to taunt immediately after teleports have completed. The tanks will each need to take one boss and pull them to each side so a dome can be summoned over each without exploding.

All of the mechanics in the previous phases are in place, including the tank swap, except atronachs are not summoned. Often, though, the hounds are of the same element as the dome, making them highly resistant to damage. They will keep spawning, which can overwhelm a group over time. DPS may wish to slot a taunt to pull them to the correct side so they can be quickly taken down in cleave. Chains do not appear to work well.

Frostbrand/Firebrand: A new mechanic this phase. The bosses place a circular AOE of fire or ice under the feet of two random people, one on each side. The boss telegraphs this by channeling, the fire or ice appearing briefly beneath their own feet before they send it to their targets. The targeted group members will need to quickly stack on each other in the center area outside of the domes, or the exploding AOE will kill them. If they are properly stacked, the AOE will turn gold. The gold AOE will still explode, and the additional damage may still kill them when combined with everything else, so be careful! These two people should be the only two stacking, or it may kill everyone in the AOE.

*Lylanar begins channeling Firebrand to send to one of the players.

*A player with Frostbrand at their feet searches for the player with Firebrand.

*The AOE under players with Frostbrand and Firebrand turns gold when they stack properly.

*Players with Firebrand and Frostbrand stack to mitigate the damage from their explosion. Note they still take damage (10k here).

The bosses must be killed at almost the same time. When one boss is killed, the players are unable to summon a dome of the same element. A player may maintain a dome they already have, but they must still endure the increasing damage. The dome will also dispel after a period of time. The remaining boss will eventually move into another teleport phase, which will be extremely difficult to survive with the group being unable to generate the needed dome to interrupt his attack.

Strategy Ideas: Groups may split in half groups to go after each boss. The tank positions their boss near the orb of the opposite element (fire boss near the ice orb, and vice versa) so it is easier to summon the dome. Another DPS will need to trade with the dome carrier. A backup may also be needed, in case someone trading the dome gets Frostbrand or Firebrand. Tanks should position themselves with their backs to the outer edge of the area so they can drop their AOEs along the platform edge where they and other party members are less likely to run into them.

*Suggested positioning for the group during final phase with both bosses. The ice dome is over the fire boss and the fire dome over the ice boss. Players with Frostbrand or Firebrand meet outside the domes to stack their AOEs. Image courtesy of DrunkieOwl.

Boss Abilities

The following abilities have been seen during the fight with Lylanar and Turlassil:

Blacken (Lylanar)/Glaciate (Turlassil): A dot and debuff applied when the boss deals some form of elemental damage after the boss reaches 75% health. The dot lasts 10 seconds, while the ability has a cooldown of at least 30 seconds. After 3 seconds, Blacken applies Blazing Bead and Glaciate applies Icy Drip, causing the person to drop 4m radius AOEs every 2 seconds. These AOEs each last for 15 seconds and quickly ramp up in the damage they deal. A person leaving these AOEs will need to keep moving, but should try to overlap them as much as possible so they take up less space. The damage is also affected by Fragility, Rattled, Devitalized, and Seethe.

Broiling Hew (Lylanar)/Stinging Shear (Turlassil): The boss’ heavy attack with a cooldown of 18 seconds. If dodged, a 2.5m radius AOE spawns and travels around the arena for 10 seconds, which can be lethal to anyone with Fragility to that element. Much like with the keelcutter, Seethe, Rattled, Hindered, or Devitalized will be applied depending on whether the attack was blocked or dodged. If it is dodged, Seethe is applied to the boss, increasing his damage by 60% for 12 seconds. If it is blocked, Rattled and Hindered are applied to the blocker for 12 seconds. Rattled decreases damage done by 70% and increases damage taken by 40%. Hindered is a healing debuff that prevents any healing missing health until the target receives 39670 points of healing, which then removes the debuff. If the attack is not blocked or dodged, Devitalized is applied to the target for 8 seconds, which decreases physical and spell resistance by 60%, increases damage taken by 30%, and decreases damage shields by 30%. Rattled, Hindered, and Devitalized cannot be removed by skills which remove negative effects. Depending on the situation, tanks may decide to risk the Seethe to prevent the healing debuff at the same time as Fragility.

Cinder Surge (Lylanar)/Numbing Shards (Turlassil): The boss’ elemental damage spray which appears to target 4 people at a time. It is channeled for 11 seconds and has a cooldown of 20 seconds. It will quickly wipe a group unless the boss is interrupted while he is under the dome of the opposing element.

Firebrand (Lylanar)/Frostbrand (Turlassil): Used only in the final phase where both bosses are on the field. Each boss channels a rune of their element under their feet and sends it toward someone in the group. Usually the person receiving it is in the group fighting the opposite colored boss (receiving the ice rune while fighting the fire boss under the ice dome, for example), but two people on the same side may receive it if several people on the other side are dead. People holding a dome may receive a brand. It seems only people holding boss taunt cannot be targeted. The affected people will need to stack on each other outside the domes (turning their AOEs gold) before it explodes. If they are not stacked properly, the affected people will die. If unaffected people are in the AOE when it explodes, they will also die. If the people stack under one of the domes, at least one of the two will die due to an empowered brand.

Imminent Blister (Lylanar)/Imminent Chill (Turlassil): A debuff applied by the boss to whoever has taunt at the time. After 10 seconds, Imminent Blister applies Blistering Fragility and Imminent Chill applies Chilling Fragility. The Fragility lasts 20 seconds and greatly increases damage taken from the corresponding element, such that even light attacks from the boss or AOEs from the hounds (Flame Retch or Raw Chunder) can kill a tank. This is the debuff requiring the tank swap during the fight.

Torrid Cleave and Pyretic Wake (Lylanar)/Brisk Rip and Crisp Flurry (Turlassil): An attack which sends three AOEs out in front of the boss, one directly in front and two at 30 degrees. The main attack can be blocked, but the AOEs cannot. These AOEs continue to travel across the entire field, so it may reach the opposite group during the final phase if the boss is facing in that direction, possibly killing people.

Atronach Abilities

Brutal Bash (Iron Atronach)/Concussive Blow (Frost Atronach): The atronach’s heavy attack. Not much damage by itself, but can apply Seethe, Rattled, Hindered, or Devitalized depending on whether the attack is blocked or dodged. See Broiling Hew/Stinging Shear above for more details.

Fiery Blockade (Iron Atronach)/Frozen Blockade (Frost Atronach): Summons two AOEs that circle the atronach and do moderate damage. Can be a one-shot on a person affected by Fragility for the matching element. These seem to appear a set time after the atronach spawns, so focusing an atronach down can reduce the impact this ability will have.

Iron Strike and Iron Hand (Iron Atronach)/Ice Shards and Ice Spear (Frost Atronach): Each will apply a bleed for 6 seconds, but can be refreshed by another cast of the same ability. Each atronach can only apply one bleed at a time, so multiple atronachs can lead to multiple bleeds.

Between Boss 1 and Boss 2

Three paths split off after the first boss: left, right, and center. The adds in the center area appear to be neutral at first. Some can even be spoken to and have multiple dialogues to share.

The center area leads to the second boss, but the door is locked. Instead, you need to fight through the left and right paths to turn a ship’s wheel on the ledge above the door and unlock it. Groups may wish to go all together, or split up into half-groups to go down the left and right.

On both the left and right paths, doors will need to be opened by pulling a series of levers. They are typically in groups of three and need to be pulled at the same time. The levers are not all close together and some may be a good distance from the door.

The noteworthy hostile adds in this section are mostly the same as before, with one new addition.

Brewmasters: Should be focused whenever they are encountered, followed by keelcutters.

Restorative Panacea heals targets for 350k health. Elixir of Diminishing drops bottles of elixir on the ground that shrink people for 15 seconds. While small, they do 25% less damage and take 25% more damage. Elixir of Augmentation causes enemies to enlarge for 15 seconds. While large, they do 25% more damage and take 25% less damage.

*Dreadsail Brewmaster

*Brewmasters throw spinning glowing purple elixirs on the ground that shrink players if they walk onto them

*A miniaturized player does her part at bottom center next to her group mates, in front of an enlarged serpent caller

*Diagram of the area after the first boss, courtesy of @Mujuro

There are two add pulls just before the doors leading to the left and right paths.

Left Trash Pack: Brewmaster and three coral drift animals

Right Trash Pack: Keelcutter and three harpies

Earth Mounds and Buffs

A series of small earth mounds are tucked away in corners of the left and right paths, identical to the mounds dug up for treasure maps. Digging them up can reveal a runestone that can be destroyed. There are 10 earth mounds and 5 runestones, so not every mound will have one, and which mounds have runestones appears to be random.

When all runestones are destroyed, a crystal in the rear of the center area may be interacted with to give certain buffs. A slightly glowing mist around the crystal indicates that buffs are available. All of the runestones need to be destroyed in order to be able to activate the crystal. A neutral NPC stands next to the crystal, and he can provide some information on his research into it.

*The crystal’s glow means all runestones were destroyed and the buffs are available

The known buffs are as follows:

Not all of the buffs are active at the same time. Which ones are active appears to change once per minute, but at least one from the left column and one from the right will be active. Different group members may have different buffs at any given moment. The order the buffs appear in also is currently unknown.

*Colored buffs are indicated on a player’s active effects icons, as well as the character stat screen. Icons on the far left indicate the blue and green uniquely named buffs. The blue resonance buff counts down until the next rotation on the far right. A cuff of blue essence on the right wrist indicates the resonance buff, while green mist at the feet shows the more persistent green buff.

Earth Mound Locations (Left Path)

Earth Mound Locations (Right Path)

Left Path - Poison

The left path is full of poison coming from large flowers of the same type as from Maelstrom Arena. Although not an immediate danger, they do become an issue over time and can be a major problem when they overlap, to the point of becoming a one shot. The poison stacks, possibly for increasing damage, and it may also affect a person’s healing. The AOEs are good at spreading the group out, leaving them vulnerable to the adds.

Players accumulate stacks of poison, called volatile residue, each time they are in a poison AOE that goes off. The stacks clear if a player goes for 10 seconds without adding another stack. The number of stacks and time until the stacks clear can be tracked using the character’s active effects icons.

The area is full of flowing water to carry players onward, dotted with eddies and whirlpools that players can synergize with to jump onto ledges above, similar to the first boss of Coral Aerie. On the whole, it’s not too big a problem if the jump is missed, as the player can often reach the bottom and walk up a side path to where they need to go. There are some ledges that can only be reached by synergizing with the eddy. They appear to be where dirt mounds are found and not necessary to complete the area, or they can be accessed by walking up the side path and jumping in the water again if missed the first time.

Note: Miniaturized players will have to swim, even in shallow waters. While swimming, they will be unable to block or take other certain actions, leaving them very vulnerable to Cinder Shot and other attacks. Tanks may wish to keep the adds out of the shallow water where possible if a Brewmaster is still alive.

*Diagram of the left path, courtesy of @Mujuro

Pull 1, Near Door L1: Serpent caller, two large crabs, assorted small crabs

Pull 2, Near Lever 1.3: Ornaugs

Pull 3, Near Lever 2.1: Ornaugs, dreugh

Pull 4, Near Door L2: Brewmaster, serpent caller, coral drift bear

Pull 5, Near Lever 3.2: Dreugh

Pull 6, Between Levers 3.1 and 3.2: Dreugh

Pull 7, Near Door L3: Brewmaster left, serpent caller middle, sharpshooter (ranger) right, dreugh, ornaugs. The trickiest pull of this area due to avoiding poison AOEs on land and avoiding water due to the risk of being shrunk by the brewmaster. One potential strategy is to have the main tank taunt the brewmaster and serpent caller, then run to the nearby door to stack them away from the water. The off tank will hold the sharpshooter until the brewmaster and serpent caller are killed.

Bow Breaker (Miniboss | 33.0 Million Health)

*Bow Breaker in its native habitat

Bow Breaker is a large haj mota with haj mota mechanics. Its attacks include a burrowing charge, spit, and three AOEs rushing out in front of it immediately followed by a large frontal AOE that can be dodged. It also has three smaller haj motas with similar mechanics, with more spawning each time Bow Breaker burrows.

Bow Breaker also has mechanics similar to the Queen of the Reef WB in Summerset. It will burrow under the ground and kick up a lot of crabs as it charges around the area. Players will want to avoid having them fall on them. The crabs will then attack the players. Poison flowers continue to spread poison in the area. The fight will likely be highly mobile due to the numerous ground AOEs and the boss’s frequent movements.

One successful strategy with a full group is to have the main tank handle the main boss while the off-tank pulls the crabs and smaller haj motas in so they can be cleaved down. These adds should not be ignored as their damage can quickly accumulate.

Bow Breaker likes to charge soon after the fight starts. Ultimates should be saved until after the first charge, similar to Z’Maja in Cloudrest.

Bow Breaker's Abilities

Bog Burst: Bow Breaker’s burrowing charge, ending at one of four set locations. It is currently uncertain whether the group can affect which destination is used. While charging, boss has a 5 meter radius AOE which damages and knocks back players in the path. Bog Burst will also spawn one additional coral drift haj mota and kick up about 10 coral crabs. The crabs fall to the ground with a 2.5 meter Concussive Crab AOE.

Horn Strike: A large frontal AOE cone, about 15 meters, that can be dodged. 4 second cooldown. Bow Breaker likes to open with this, so tanks may wish to point the boss away from the group as soon as possible. Two abilities have this name, differing only in the amount of damage done.

Shockwave: Sends out three AOEs in the direction Bow Breaker is facing, each with a 3 meter radius. Cast time of 1.667 seconds with a 10 second cooldown. Boss often follows with Horn Strike.

Toxic Spores: Spawns Toxic Spores AOEs with a 7.5 meter radius usually centered on the tank. 10 second cooldown.

Devour: Generates Devouring Fluid which lasts 2 seconds and deals poison damage. 5 second cooldown.

Coral Drift Haj Mota’s Abilities

Horn Strike: Similar to Bow Breaker’s ability, a frontal AOE cone that can be dodged or blocked. Does less damage than the boss’ version.

Toxic Mucus: A spit that possibly leaves behind a 2.5 meter radius Toxic Pool AOE. 1.767 second cast time with a 7 second cooldown.

Devour: Same general characteristics as Bow Breaker’s ability.

Approach: The haj mota targets and approaches a specific person unless it is taunted.

Right Path - Lightning

Lightning will strike everyone who comes down this path. While outside, lightning will strike every 4 seconds, adding stacks each time that increase the damage taken. The stacks and the time until the next strike can be tracked using icons in the character’s active effects.

Taking shelter under an overhang will prevent getting struck by lightning and will clear the stacks when the countdown to the next strike completes. A line of static electricity borders the areas which are safe to stand in, and characters have a static aura if they are subject to getting hit. To limit the amount of time spent in the lightning, groups are encouraged to run through add packs to the overhangs, rather than fight in the open.

A helpful thing to know to reset your lightning stacks is that you can step out of the shelter 2.9 seconds left on the lightning strike debuff as it takes 4 seconds for it to occur again.

The levers to open doors are exposed to lightning. Lever runners are suggested to be fast, have a self-heal, or both. Sorcerers with streak can be particularly useful.

*Diagram of the right path, courtesy of @Mujuro

Pull 1: Brewmaster, two serpent callers, harpies

Pull 2, near lever R2.1: Brewmaster, serpent caller, harpies
Pull 3, near lever R3.2: Brewmaster, serpent caller, swashbuckler x2, harpies

Sail Ripper (Miniboss | 33.0 Million Health)

*Sail Ripper awaits any who enters her domain (Image courtesy of @Saya35)

Sail Ripper is a large harpy in an area with an open center, leaving characters vulnerable to lightning strikes. The edges have overhangs which characters can use to take shelter. Other harpies fight with her and are dangerous in their own right. One ability used by harpy windcallers, Wing Slice, is powerful enough to one-shot a DPS by itself.

Sail Ripper likes to dart around the arena, making it hard to keep up with her and forcing players out into the open for a time. After she darts to a new place, she often repeatedly sends a lightning attack at multiple players that must be interrupted, even from a distance. Gap closers and ranged interrupts are extremely useful here. Sail Ripper also frequently sends circular AOEs in front of her, knocking characters down. She cannot be line of sighted.

Sail Ripper will place an AOE on one group member from time to time, forcing the player to look for a Storm Cell, another ground AOE with an open center. The player must enter the open center to cancel out both AOEs. The AOE under the player is extremely dangerous to other players, however, potentially killing them in a matter of moments. If the player dies while their AOE has not been canceled out, the corresponding Storm Cell will persist.

Sail Ripper's Abilities

Cyclone: Sends a 5 meter radius AOE out in the direction the boss is facing, knocking people down. 1.5 second cast time with a 10 second cooldown.

Whirling Dervish: Heavy attack with a 1.2 second cast time and 12 second cooldown.

Airburst: Ability used when Sail Ripper moves to the next position. First used at about 10 seconds into the fight, unless another ability has priority. 1.2 second cast time and 23 second cooldown. After arriving at the new location, Sail Ripper uses Coruscating Beam on the group, which must be interrupted.

Storm Cell: Places a lightning AOE on one person in the group, with the corresponding open-centered AOE elsewhere in the area. The person with the AOE will need to move into the open center of the other AOE to cancel them out. The AOE on the player will do damage to anyone else nearby, so must quickly get out of group. Sail Ripper will turn to the person she is targeting as she is casting. Approximately 8-9 second cooldown.

*A player with the AOE at their feet searches for the open-centered AOE to cancel out. (Image courtesy of Atalle)

Reef Guardian (Boss 2 | 93.1 Million Total Health)

*The Reef Guardian awaits our intrepid heroes while Fleet Queen Taleria hurls insults from above

Area Mechanics

The fight against the Reef Guardian takes place in a hexagonal arena, ringed with six evenly spaced holes in the floor. Each of the holes is marked with a different symbol, such as a chalice, skull, or crossed bones. Another, larger hole in the floor is at the center, which can be accessed through gaps in the walls around it.

*Diagram of the upper level of the Reef Guardian fight. Note the six holes in the ground along the edge, each with a symbol painted above them, and the single large hole in the center. Three gaps in the walls lead to the center hole. Image courtesy of DrunkieOwl.

*Diagram of the lower level of the Reef Guardian fight. Characters enter from the center pool and may synergize the whirlpools near the three spokes to travel down to an edge pool. They can then run clockwise to another edge pool. Image courtesy of DrunkieOwl.

Jumping into the large center hole drops the character into a pool of water. Currents carry the character around the pool, and they can synergize with whirlpools to redirect their course toward one of three channels away to the edge of the arena. Each of these channels will lead to smaller edge pools positioned below the holes in the floor above. The channel initially leads to one edge pool, and a side path leads clockwise to the second. Symbols painted on the wall at the opening of these channels match those of the edge pools they connect to, which are the same symbols as those on holes in the floor above. Characters can synergize with the edge pools to return to the top floor.

Note: Jumping into the holes at the edge instead of the center will be instantly fatal. Characters who die on the bottom level will appear at the entrance door for rezzes.

*One of the holes in the ground from the main floor, showing the crown symbol. A pool is directly below the hole and also has the crown symbol. Note the line of static bordering the areas where lightning strikes and where poison AOEs can spawn.

When jumping into the center, a character will be infected with a parasite. There does not seem to be much effect while on the bottom level. On returning to the top floor, the parasite will begin to die. After a cooldown period of about 40 seconds, which can be tracked using the active effects icons, the parasite will fully die. Returning below before the parasite fully dies will instantly kill a character.

Lightning and poison AOEs cover the arena when the fight is underway, but they appear not to overlap. A character will most often be in one or the other, so keep an eye out for the lightning borders and the flowers that spawn the poison. Players tend to head for cover away from the lightning at around 8-10 stacks, but should be careful to avoid the poison AOEs.

Fighting the Reef Guardian

The Reef Guardian spawns miniature replicas of itself. The main boss has 27.9 mil health and will spawn a medium mini when it reaches approximately 75-80% health and 45-50% health. Each medium mini has 18.6 mil health, and is capable of spawning a small mini with 14.0 mil health when it is at 45-50% health. These ranges are approximate, as it is possible to lock the enemy in animation and delay when the next mini will spawn.

In total, players will need to face the 27.9 mil main boss, two medium 18.6 mil minis, and two small 14.0 mil minis. All minis will attack the group when spawned, and the minis may be spawned even if others are still alive.

The boss and minis are melee fighters with some acid AOE abilities. They have a conal acid AOE that will drop AOEs on their target, forcing the target to move. A coral drift bear, senche, and horse will also join the fight. The senche has an electric aura but is not too bad. The bear’s Crackdown heavy attack can one-shot anyone who is not a tank. Dodge roll to avoid it. The horse is especially annoying. It runs a loop around the arena and charges into people, knocking them down. It is untargetable.

During the fight, a band of green will indicate the border between the lightning and poison areas when a character has lightning stacks. A suggested tactic is to stand in the lightning for a time until the damage becomes too great, about 10 stacks. The character then moves into the poison for a few seconds to remove the lightning stacks before returning to the lightning area once more. They should be careful, as it appears that the poison may significantly reduce healing.

Tanks are encouraged to hold the targets for the DPS near the border between the lightning and poison areas so that they may cross the borders more easily. All should avoid staying too close to the border while standing on the lightning side, as the location of poison flowers seems to be influenced by player position. Standing too close can cause the flowers to cluster on the border with the lightning or even begin to cross into the lightning area, making it dangerous to clear lightning stacks.

Reef Hearts

Throughout the fight, the boss or one of the minis will run to one of the edge holes in the floor and begin to conjure a barrier over it. While it is channeling, it turns translucent and cannot be attacked. The additional reefborn adds will appear and lightning strikes will begin at this time.

Which edge hole the boss or mini will go to appears to be influenced, at least in part, by where the group is. In a recent run, the boss or mini never went further than 2 holes away from where the group currently was, most often only going 1 away. Not all holes were used, and some were used multiple times. The group may wish to stay as compact as possible to keep the boss or mini from getting too far away.

Once the boss or mini has begun channeling the barrier, at least one DPS will need to jump down the center hole and navigate to the edge pool below with the matching symbol. When this is active, the matching symbol painted at the entrance of the channel leading from the center pool will be glowing and surrounded by braziers lit with blue flames. Players will still need to know which symbol to look for, should more than one pool be active at a time. Groups are encouraged to have someone designated to call out which symbol runners should go to.

*Synergize with whirlpools to change course down the side channels toward edge pools. Glowing symbols indicate active reef hearts, flanked by braziers lit with blue flame.

Once at the correct pool, the DPS will find a reef heart and a large crab. DPS will focus the reef heart while ignoring the crab. Both do significant damage, so a self-heal or shield is recommended. The reef heart sends out conal AOEs, while the crab’s claw swipes at anyone close by. It appears that the reef heart sends out 2 conal AOEs if only one person is nearby, but 3 AOEs if two people are around.

Once the reef heart is destroyed, the DPS can return to the group using the synergy in the pool. They will still have the parasite, so the group should have a roster of DPS designated to go down. Some groups will send single players, while others may send two at a time. It is possible to have two or even three hearts active at a time, so a deep roster with backups is encouraged. Three separate groups of runners seem to be sufficient for most situations.

In recent runs, sending two people down at a time led to less need to call for a backup, and the group above spent less time waiting for one of the enemies to come out of invincibility. Other groups may find sending one down at a time to be more beneficial, focusing more DPS on the bosses above.

Players have 60 seconds in which to destroy the reef heart. If they fail, stalactites will fall from the ceiling, wiping the group. There is a brief period of time between failing to destroy the heart and the group wipe. Interestingly, if the last boss is killed in this period, the party may wipe while still receiving credit for clearing the boss.

There does not appear to be any detriment to ignoring the crab, aside from it remaining in play. When the reef heart is destroyed, the boss or mini that conjured it will stop being translucent and will be staggered, leaving it vulnerable to a burst of DPS.

The bosses and minis appear to begin moving toward one of the holes to conjure a reef heart a minute after they spawn. They immediately begin the process if they reach a specific health level, possibly 50% health.

*Players descend below to find and destroy a reef heart while evading the nearby crabs

Possible Strategy

The group is highly encouraged to target the boss or mini with the lowest health to keep the number of enemies and active reef hearts to a minimum. A possible tactic is to fight the main boss until it spawns the first mini, Mini 1. When the main boss reaches approximately 60%, the off-tank will take it out of harm’s way to prevent it from spawning another mini. The main boss will eventually rush off to channel a reef heart, at which point the off-tank can help the group by handling the adds that spawn.

The main tank will take Mini 1 and hold it for the group to focus on until it spawns Mini 2. The main tank may also take Mini 2 so it can be damaged in cleave. The main boss should only be attacked again once these first minis are killed to prevent the main boss from spawning the additional mini. Tab targeting may help the DPS to recognize which target to focus on, as they all appear quite similar except for relative size. Giving crown to the main tank may also help the group know where to focus.

If a group’s target begins rushing off to channel a reef heart, they should shift their focus to the enemy with the next lowest health that cannot summon an additional mini. Once the boss is defeated, the minis must also be killed to clear the area. The group cannot ignore the minis and focus purely on the main boss.

Another strategy involves guiding the boss and minis toward specific symbols to channel reef hearts over. For example, begin with keeping the main boss near the crown so that it will channel a reef heart over the crown pool. Tanks will then hold any other minis between the crown and chalice, in a clockwise direction, with the group staying close by to focus on them. Because reef hearts do not appear in the same pools twice in a row, the next mini will channel a reef heart at the closest pool it is able to, which will be chalice.

Note from the diagram of the downstairs pools that the chalice pool can easily be reached from the crown pool without having to go upstairs. The group can have a single set of runners to kill the reef hearts in both crown and chalice, as they can move to the chalice reef heart after finishing the crown reef heart. More DPS can stay upstairs, focusing more damage on the boss and minis. The group then proceeds clockwise from the chalice pool, to crossed bones and skull, and then to anchor and wheel.

Note that this strategy is extremely hard on the tanks, who will each have to handle multiple enemies at one time. This can lead to no small amount of confusion on which tank is holding which enemies. Also note that tanks will need to be careful where they hold the boss and minis, as it is possible for them to rush off to other pools to channel reef hearts, rather than the ones the group wants them to go to.

Note: Any logs appear to include data only for the group the log taker is in, be it up top or in a reef heart group.

Boss and Mini Abilities

The following abilities have been observed being used by the Reef Guardian and its clones:

Claw: A basic attack.

Crush: The heavy attack, which can be blocked or dodged.

Replication: Used to generate a new mini. The main boss will generate a medium-sized mini at 80% and 50% health. Each medium-sized mini will generate a small mini at 50% health.

Acid Reflux: Cone of acid directed at whoever has taunt for about 11 seconds. The attack leaves 3m radius acid AOEs every 1.75 seconds. Standing in the AOE applies increasing stacks of Acid Vulnerability, increasing damage from Acid Reflux. Acid Vulnerability lasts for 5 seconds, but refreshes with each new stack.

Geyser Blast: Ability used to signal an edge pool becoming active and begin the reef heart summoning. Charge is used to send the boss or mini to the edge hole to conjure a reef heart. It then uses Heartburn for the actual reef heart conjuring.

Empowered Rockfall: Used by the boss or mini which had conjured a reef heart that the group failed to destroy in 60 seconds. Rocks fall, everyone dies.

Reef Heart Abilities

Acidic Hemorrhage: Conal acid AOEs originating from the reef heart which appear to lead to the creation of Acidic Pools. They have a range of 15 meters. If a single person is near the reef heart, there will only be two, but there will be three if two people are near. 

Acidic Pool: Acidic AOE that applies Acidic Vulnerability to those standing in it. This is the same Acidic Vulnerability applied by the boss and minis when they use Acid Reflux.

Between Boss 2 and Final Boss

The group continues on to find themselves on a series of platforms far over the water below. Players will wish to watch their step so they don’t fall off, especially if they have the speed buff from the crystal. The same Maormer pirates from before will be seen, with a new addition.

Overseers: Sword and board fighters. Like keelcutters, overseers have an attack (Shield Slam) which can apply Seethe, Rattled, Hindered, or Devitalized depending on whether it is blocked or dodged. Spell Wall reflects projectile damage onto players for 10 seconds, while Barricade reduces damage taken by 25% for 10 seconds. Cascading Boot applies Cascade Tomb, encasing a person in ice and knocking them back. This ability can literally boot the person encased in ice from the platform and cannot be blocked or broken free, but can be dodged. Tanks may want to put a wall at their backs to keep from being lost to the depths. It is possible for people nearby to be similarly encased in ice and booted, if they are too close.

*Pictured: A Dreadsail Overseer

All other notable enemies are present, including keelcutters, swashbucklers, brewmasters, serpent callers, and sharpshooters which act like rangers. As before, brewmasters should be the primary focus, followed by keelcutters. Keelcutters are particularly dangerous because of their large fire AOEs in tight quarters. The final pull before the final boss is particularly thorny, and unlike in Kyne’s Aegis, the group cannot just sneak through the door to the final boss.

*Map of the area between the Reef Guardian and the final boss, courtesy of @DrunkieOwl

Pull 1: Brewmaster left and overseer back middle on top platform. Swashbuckler right and keelcutter left seated at the center of the lower platform, and brewmaster far to the left on lower platform. Adds on the lower platform will not join if the add carrying a torch is taunted first when it is on the top platform. This add is easiest to reach the moment someone comes through the door from the Reef Guardian area, so everyone going through the door at the same time helps to get a clean pull.

Pull 2: Keelcutter left and overseer right on lower platform. Sharpshooter on upper platform can be taunted and brought down to the lower platform to stack with keelcutter and overseer.

Pull 3: Three serpent callers

Pull 4: Wandering swashbuckler, can be encountered on its own or with another pull

Pull 4a: Deadeyes and ornaugs, not noteworthy

Pull 6: Wandering swashbuckler which may be part of the final pull

Pull 7: Upper platform has keelcutter left and sharpshooter in far back left (both hidden behind the wall until entering the area), overseer right. Lower area has brewmaster, serpent caller, and swashbuckler which will join the fight. This is the most difficult pull which must be cleared to be able to go through the door. Groups have had success by having one tank stack the adds on the top level on the keelcutter and burning while the other tank holds the rest of the adds in the lower areas. Groups doing this often wait for the wandering swashbuckler to head downstairs.

Tideborn Taleria (Final Boss | 100.9 Million Health)

*The leader of the Dreadsails awaits her challengers with a fashionable anchor hat

The fight takes place in an expansive area. Taleria transforms into a large creature resembling an air atronach, but encrusted with barnacles and with a core of water. She hovers over a whirlpool at the center of a ring of sand. Water encloses all of this, though three paths lead out of the water at the cave edges. These paths lead upward to ledges that overlook the cavern.

*Map of the site of the fight with Tideborn Taleria. Taleria floats at the center, and the paths leading out of the water can be seen at the north, southeast, and southwest.

*View from the ledge after climbing the southwest path out of the water. The other two ledges can be seen to the left and right, lit by lanterns.

Taleria remains stationary in the fight, but can turn around. She has a massive hitbox, allowing players to hit her from a distance away even with melee attacks. Be careful even of light attacks or taking synergies, as she has been unintentionally pulled many times. The central whirlpool will kill people who enter.

The group must stay together during the fight and move as a unit. The boss deals a tremendous amount of damage to the entire group, and healers need to reach everyone. Groups may assign one healer to focus primarily on the tank and the other to focus on the rest of the group. Placing crown on the group healer can help the group to know who to stay near.

Taleria’s basic attack is called Arcing Slash, which places a 10 second dot known as Soaked Wound on anyone hit by it. Each Arcing Slash will refresh the dot. Arcing Slash has a wide cleave, so the main tank should taunt her and point her a bit away from the group. At the same time, the main tank should not move too far from their healer. There is a very faint line on the ground indicating the extent of the cleave.

Taleria’s heavy attack is Coral Slam, which does two ticks of damage. It can be blocked or dodged, but blocked does a total of about 30-34k. If Coral Slam is dodged, an AOE called Rising Tide will appear around the tank that does less damage and can be dodged or shielded. Coral Slam has a cooldown of 15 seconds.

Arcing Slash and Coral Slam appear to do both physical and cold damage.

Summon Behemoth

Near the beginning of the fight, Taleria will summon a behemoth. The off-tank should take the behemoth and place it near Taleria. The DPS should focus on the behemoth and cleave into Taleria, as behemoths continue to spawn at a regular time interval, approximately every 60-70 seconds, regardless of the group’s actions.

The behemoths are strong melee fighters who will slam the ground and leave a persistent AOE. The off-tank will need to reposition them so that the DPS can reach them while remaining out of the AOE.

Behemoth Abilities

Crush, Hack, Strike: Basic attacks.

Drowning Strike: Attack that places a dot Drowning Wound on the target for 6 seconds. Drowning Strike has a cooldown of 14 seconds. Multiple Drowning Strikes, such as from multiple behemoths, will refresh the dot.

Arctic Annihilation: Wind-up strike that leaves a 5.9 meter radius AOE on the ground, Ice Storm. Ice Storm persists until the behemoth is killed.

*The sea behemoth winds up an attack to create the AOE on the ground

Rapid Deluge

Taleria’s Rapid Deluge ability places water bombs on five people, except for the person with taunt if there are enough people alive. People with it trail bubbles as they move. These people will explode after about 6 seconds with a 19 meter radius AOE called Deluge Eruption that can easily kill them and the people around them.

There are two ways to survive a Rapid Deluge. Those who have it can spread far out so that the AOEs of their explosion do not overlap. This risks catching other people in the AOE, and the extent of the AOE is itself not seen until the explosion. In addition, this puts group members a good distance away from their healers.

The other option is for the people to submerge themselves in the water surrounding them, allowing the water to absorb the shock of the blast. This is very dangerous, as the water becomes full of slaughterfish at the start of the fight which do increasing stacks of damage the longer a person is in the water.

Try this: Back up to the very edge of the water. A second before the explosion, roll dodge backwards into the water and swim a bit further out so that the character is treading water. Once the explosion hits, get back on land. The timing can be quite tricky and some practice may be needed to get it right. Note that going in the water does not negate the explosion, but merely dampens it so it can be survived.

Remember, though, that it’s easy to kill other people with the explosion if it’s not dampened. It is better for a character to be killed by swimming in slaughterfish for too long than to wipe out half the group with a full-force explosion.

Players with Rapid Deluge should not go into the water behind the main tank, as they will be within range of Taleria’s cleave.

*Two players with Rapid Deluge trail bubbles as they run for the water

Maelstrom

Taleria rapidly slashes at the entire area surrounding her. She does damage every 0.3 seconds for 6 seconds, ramping up over time. This is essentially a heal check, and again, the group will need to stay together with their healers to survive. Shields do help soften the blow, and it appears that roll dodging can reset the amount of damage she does on a person. Blocking also works, but that will quickly drain a person’s stamina.

Taleria particularly likes to use a Maelstrom right after her first use of Rapid Deluge.

Maelstrom has a cooldown of 20 seconds.

*Players group up in front of the group healer (wearing crown) to endure the Maelstrom onslaught

Crashing Wave

Taleria plunges her blades into the ground and channels an attack aimed in four directions, one of which follows the person with taunt. This is very similar to the crashing waves from the final boss in Coral Aerie. Linear AOEs stretch out from the boss. A few seconds later, the attack will surge outward from her along those AOEs. Roll dodge to avoid getting hit, or block to reduce the damage. An unblocked hit will either outright kill or possibly knockback and stun a player.

*Taleria charges up Crashing Wave. The linear AOEs of the attack are blue-edged red on the left and right on the ground.

Winter Storm

Beginning at 85% health, Taleria summons a line of whirlwinds that move clockwise or counterclockwise around the ring of land. The whirlwinds don’t do much damage when they first appear, giving the group time to gather together, but they ramp up in damage until they can one-shot a person. Dodging does not avoid it. These whirlwinds circle twice around the area before they disappear. Wintry winds encircle the area as well to add constant damage.

The group may choose to gather near the challenge banner, as they can use this as a landmark. The whirlwinds will sweep over the group when the damage is still minor, so the group should only have to make a single trip around the boss before the whirlwinds dissipate.

Winter Storm lasts for 45 seconds and has a cooldown of 90 seconds.

*Whirlwinds can be survived when they first spawn. Here, they move counterclockwise. Wintry winds also enclose the area, indicated by the pink ring.

Summon Siren

Taleria begins summoning sirens (known here as enthralling matrons) at about 75% health. They hover just outside the ring of land and enchant a person using to send them into the water to their deaths. The siren at first casts Lure of the Sea to begin the effect, and Mesmerizing Flow causes the player to walk toward the water. They have about 485k health and will need to be killed to keep people from being enchanted. A person can try to break free of Mesmerizing Flow, but the siren must be killed to stop from casting entirely. Because it is risky for players to go off on their own, groups may wish to ignore the first few sirens and pick them off when the opportunity presents itself.

Sirens also cast Frost Bolt as a basic attack.

Summoning sirens has a cooldown of 60 seconds, but can vary depending on ability cast priorities.

*Enthralling Matrons enchant players to move to the water and should be killed when able

Bridges

Bridges will appear beginning at 50%, 35%, and 20%. These bridges link the ring of land with the paths leading up out of the water on the outer edge of the area. Any whirlwinds currently active will dissipate when a bridge appears.

A mage will appear at the top of the ledge where a bridge appeared and begin conjuring a dome. DPS will need to go up and bring the mage to 50% of 3.5 mil health. In addition to the mage’s attacks, rocks fall from the ceiling to do significant damage and knock characters to the ground. When the mage is brought down to 50%, it will teleport down to the center in a position near where it originally spawned and gain a damage shield. The DPS can synergize with the same portal to follow suit.

The mage will still teleport to the center area after 60 seconds even if it is not brought down to 50% health. If that happens, the mage will cast Dreadsail Ascension and wipe the group. Once the mage teleports to the center area after being brought to 50% health, the time restriction is lifted. It must be taunted or it may focus on one of the players arriving through the portal.

The number of DPS sent up to fight the mages is left up to the group to decide. Some call for two, some for three. DPS should be careful of Taleria’s Crashing Wave attack while they run, as the attack can rush down the entire length of the bridges. The ground-based visual effect will be seen on the bridge to warn of the incoming attack.

Groups may choose to remain stationary during bridge phases, or they may choose to rotate around the central area so that their backs are to the currently active bridge. In this way, when the mage teleports down, the group is already near to focus it down.

*Cross the bridges when they appear to find the mages above

The domes the mages conjure have different effects depending on their color:

Green (Nematocyst Cloud): Conjured by the Dreadsail venom evoker, reduces max health and resources by about 15%. Reduces recovery by an unknown amount, possibly 15-25%. This bridge is clockwise (left) from the challenge banner.

Purple (Suffocating Waves): Conjured by the Dreadsail tide channeler, reduces healing by 25%. This bridge is directly counterclockwise (right) from the challenge banner.

Yellow (Sweltering Heat): Conjured by the Dreadsail sea boiler, reduces movement speed by an unknown amount, possibly 15-25%. This bridge is opposite from the challenge banner.

Depending on how quickly the group can burn through the boss, they may choose to ignore one or more mages entirely in favor of killing Taleria directly. In addition, groups may choose to burn the boss to push her to bridge phase and cause the whirlwinds to dissipate.

If the group wishes to ignore the third mage, they will need to do a combined 337k DPS, or 42k on average per DPS, once the third bridge appears. If they wish to ignore the second mage, they will need to do a combined 589k DPS, or 73.6k on average per DPS, once the second bridge appears. If they wish to ignore all mages, they will need to do a combined 841k DPS, or 105.1k on average per DPS, once the first bridge appears. Groups should bear in mind that, while they may be in execute, the boss’s other mechanics are still in effect and may decrease their DPS.

*A group of DPS attack one of the mages to send it to the group below

*Use the portal (here near an atronach) to return to the group

Loot Locations

Chests and heavy sacks begin appearing after the first boss. The currently known locations of chests and heavy sacks are as follows.

*Currently known chests and heavy sacks on the center path

*Currently known chests and heavy sacks on the left (poison) path

*Currently known chests and heavy sacks on the right (lightning) path

*Currently known chests and heavy sacks between Reef Guardian and Tideborn Taleria

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Skinny Cheeks, paulsimonps, Gohometodd, DrunkieOwl, Saya35, Atalle, Mujuro, DoctorSparklePantz, TurtleDump, and the crew of the Black Dragon Defenders PTS runs for their help. You guys are awesome!