Guide Hell Fallen - Nightmare strategy, discussion, and tactics

[LOMSDungeons]

I've only cleared Hell Fallen a few times, so the standard disclaimer very much applies - I'm not an expert. What's below DOES work, but may not be optimal. The content herein is up for discussion, debate, correction, and addition.

However, this place is hard as hell, and there aren't any good guides for it, so I thought I'd try to get this out sooner rather than later, in hopes that it'll help.


Happy hunting,
/Kalinai



PS: If you like this guide or agree with the content therein, please rate the post! Ratings are the strip if icons at the bottom, below the Reply button, and are a way of showing readers that the guide is solid and worth reading. Thank you!

Hell Fallen

[accordion]{slide=General Tips}
General Tips

All - Hell Fallen is, by far, the hardest of the Nightmare dungeons. While its overall DPS requirements aren't very high, its tanking, healing, coordination, and execution requirements are stratospheric. If you haven't completed the other NMs, set your sights on them first and come back to Hell Fallen later. You don't want to try this until you're at the top of your game.

All - Hell Fallen's primary gimmick is damage shields. Every boss has a 20-30 second long damage shield that reduces all incoming damage by 90%, just like Flagellatrix Superior uses in Hell Eternal. Corrupted doesn't weaken this shield at all, and it cannot be purged. To mitigate the ridiculousness of the shield, the bosses have low health pools. WHAT THIS MEANS:
Tank - Threat is going to be artificially low. The healer's threat output, however, is unaffected.
DPS - Damage output is going to be low until the shields go down, and it's best to try to have 5 resources for each weapon available for when the shield drops.
Healer - Leeching is not viable in Hell Fallen. Also, your threat is artificially high due to the tank's attacks being shielded.

Tank/Healer - The amount of damage the tank takes in Hell Fallen is, quite seriously, unprecidented in The Secret World. For the worst parts, think of the tank being beaten on by three Ur-Draugs at once. Seriously, it's about that bad. Tanks will need to spec very defensively and should be geared to the teeth. Healers will need solid gear and a great spec.

Tank - Due to the DPS impairing, you often don't need to impair. And due to the incoming damage, you often need to use your ability slots for defensive purposes, as well.

DPS - You should all bring a debilitate. Thanks to the shield mechanics, bosses are easy to blow up once shields drop, and the amount of damage in Hell Fallen is absurdly, comically high.

DPS - For the 3rd boss, two of you will be impairing. There are a few approaches to this - X/Blood ranged impairs, X/Chaos ranged-ish impairs, and Fist/Chaos or Chaos/Hammer melee impairs. All are viable, so long as at least 3 impairs not named "Beatdown" are on your bar (beatdown's still bugged as of 1.6.2, applies 2 counts of impair immunity).

Tank/DPS - Due to the tank's lowered amount of impairs and the DPS impair roles, I am going to be listing a fourth role for this dungeon - Impairer. These notes generally apply to the DPS on Impair Duty during the fight, although it can apply to the tank on non-MP runs (especially the first two bosses). Both Tank and DPSers should read the notes for the Impairer role.
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[/accordion][accordion]{slide=The Approach}
The Approach

[accordion]{slide=Video}

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All - The wind at the beginning of Hell Fallen presents a unique challenge - it deals a substantial amount of damage (400-1000 damage per tick, depending how long you've been in it) and disables all abilities. You can hide behind walls and pillars to let the effect wear off and heal up, as needed.

All (Non-Master Planner) - Easiest way to do this if not doing an MP run is to have the DPS and Healer zone back out of the instance. Tank, with his huge HP pool, can easily move from pillar/wall to pillar/wall and make it to the Anima Well before dying to the monsters preceding it. Once the tank has reached the well, the rest of the party can zone in, and will spawn at that well.

All (Master Planner) - TAKE YOUR TIME. The wind takes about 5 minutes to cross if nothing goes wrong. Everyone should have Death From Above anyway (due to final boss), so you can rocket jump from pillar/wall to pillar/wall. Sometimes you'll need to kill a pack of enemies by a wall (the first wall, for instance), so for that the tank goes in first to establish threat, then the rest of the group follows. Healer should pre-HOT and possibly Cold Blooded before some of the longer jumps (especially the last one!), and people should keep their Barrier Potions and Karma Curio handy in case they're not going to make it.
{/slide}

[/accordion][accordion]{slide=The Archaeomachinist}
The Archaeomachinist

[accordion]{slide=Video}

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Mechanics}
Mechanics

• The Archaeomachinist will frequently cast Ancient Artifacts, which MUST be impaired. It will spawn a laser turret that ignores aggro tables and will make short work of the party. He usually runs away from the group before casting it.

• The Archaeomachinist will occasionally cast Lifestrip (or something like that), which is a hard-hitting attack on the tank that can chain to nearby party members. It must NOT be impaired; instead the tank should use a defensive cooldown to mitigate it.

• The Archaeomachinist will occasionally cast Fire Support, which summons some stationary red crosshairs to bombard the arena. It must NOT be impaired; just dodge.

• The Archaeomachinist's standard attack can chain to nearby party members, so the tank and any melee DPS need to stay carefully apart for the duration of the encounter.

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Tactics|open}
Tactics

IMPAIR: Ancient Artifacts
DODGE: Fire Support
SPECIAL: Do not impair anything except Ancient Artifacts
AOE: No
AOE Healing: No
Damage Type: Physical

Impairer - The spell Ancient Artifacts that this boss casts will wipe the group if it gets off. The boss casts it frequently, and has an impair immunity counter. Thus, do not impair anything BUT Ancient Artifacts.

Impairer - The boss generally runs away from the group before casting Ancient Artifacts. This is especially dangerous at the very beginning of the fight, so the impairer needs to keep up with the boss.

Tank - When the boss casts Lifestrip, you need to mitigate it by using a defensive cooldown. Without a defensive cooldown up, it can one-shot you if it crit/pens.

Tank/DPS - The boss's normal attack cleaves, so tank and melee DPS need to stay carefully apart.

Healer - Damage in this fight is minimal, except for Lifestrip, which hits quite hard.
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[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Arch Myrmidon}
Arch Myrmidon

[accordion]{slide=Video}

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Mechanics}
Mechanics

• Arch Myrmidon comes with four adds who, combined with the boss, hit exquisitely hard. The tank needs to kite the boss and adds around, forcing them to body-block each other.

• Arch Myrmidon will occasionally cast Catastrophic Feedback, which has a very short cast timer (~1.5 seconds), hits hard, and will chain to nearby party members. It should be impaired if possible.

• If Arch Myrmidon is not killed quickly enough, he will cast Release Restraints, which causes the adds to hit substantially harder.

• The metal nodes throughout the arena will begin to release poisonous gas one at a time after about 20 seconds, starting with the rear-most one.

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Tactics|open}
Tactics

IMPAIR: Catastrophic Feedback
DODGE: Node gas, Catastrophic Feedback chain
SPECIAL: Tank needs to kite the boss and adds
AOE: No!
AOE Healing: No
Damage Type: Physical

Impairer - If you can catch it fast enough, impair Catastrophic Feedback, which hits for 4000-5000 damage and chains to nearby party members.

DPS - Try to keep your distance from the tank if you can; if Catastrophic Feedback successfully casts you'll be killed by the chain.

Tank - Pull the boss and get threat on the boss and adds as quickly as possible, and immediately begin kiting them around in a circle. This forces them to body-block each other, resulting in you taking only a survivable amount of damage.

DPS/Healer - If you can manage to jump on top of one of the nodes, it will alleviate most of the LOS issues the fight boasts. Healer gets priority on whatever node they want to surmount.

All - There is a way to beat this boss by killing one add at a time and fighting the boss on his own. This is an exploit. We do not condone it. Do not do it.
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[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Engine Tyrant Prime & Alpha}
Engine Tyrant Prime & Alpha

[accordion]{slide=Video}

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Mechanics}
Mechanics

• This is one of the most difficult fights in the entire game.

• The Endjineers (djinns) are ranged attackers and are happy to reverse-kite like Recursia in Hell Raised.

• The Endjineers will occasionally cast Firmament Barrage, which must be impaired. It will spawn a mobile red crosshair like Machine-Tyrant in HR. This crosshair, however, is much faster and deals 17,000 damage, resulting in a high fatality rate.

• The Endjineers do NOT have an impair immunity counter and can be impaired as often as needed.

• The Endjineers will also occasionally cast Combat Biomechanic, which is a channeled heal on another Endjineer or on one of the Tyrants. While the heal is enormous, the impairers usually need to save their impairs for Firmament Barrage and Vile Tendril.

• The Endjineers will also frequently cast Convection, which teleports them to the opposite corner of the arena. It does NOT wipe their threat table. They will either mosey back to the fight to continue attacking their target or stop to cast Firmament Barrage from a distance.

• The Endjineers' attacks hit for 3000-3500 base damage, before factoring in Physical Protection, wards, debils, etc.

• Engine Tyrant Prime spawns a few seconds into the fight, with a slight amount of pre-aggro on the closest person to his spawn point.

• Engine Tyrant Prime will only use Cleave during Phase 1, which hits for 3000-3500 base damage, before factoring in Physical Protection, wards, debils, etc.

• At the beginning of Phase 2, Engine Tyrant Prime will become invulnerable and run to the west side of the arena, where he'll roar to summon Engine Tyrant Alpha. After roaring, Engine Tyrant Prime wipes all threat.

• During Phase 2 and 3, Engine Tyrant Prime will occasionally cast Firmament Barrage and Vile Tendril in addition to spamming Cleave. Vile Tendril impairs, threat-wipes, and hits the tank for 3000 damage - it's a wipe if Tendril is successfully cast.

• A few seconds after Engine Tyrant Prime does his roar, Engine Tyrant Alpha will enter the arena a bit south of where the roar occurred.

• Engine Tyrant Alpha will also occasionally cast Firmament Barrage and Vile Tendril while spamming Cleave.

• When Engine Tyrant Prime's HP goes below 20-25k, two more Endjineers will spawn in the northwest corner of the arena. They're happy to cast Firmament Barrage, Convection, and Combat Biomechanic like the first pair.

• When either Engine Tyrant dies, the other enrages, dealing a base of 10,000+ damage per cleave.

• The basic flow of the fight is:

• Phase 1: The Endjineers
  • The Pull. Tank needs to group both Endjineers and the boss up to apply threat to all three. Boss jumps in after a few seconds. Boss will only use Cleave during Phase 1.
  • The Escalation. After about 8-10 seconds of combat, the Endjineers will begin to use Firmament Barrage and Convection.
  • The Kills. Once the Endjineer's shields drop, they need to be killed as quickly as possible (otherwise the Impairers may run out of impairs). Once both Endjineers are down, focus fire the boss.
  • The Transition. Once Engine Tyrant Prime reaches about 70% HP, he'll re-shield himself and run to the west side of the arena.
• Phase 2: The Tyrants
  • The Summon. Upon reaching his designated spot on the west side of the arena, Engine Tyrant Prime will rear back and roar loudly. The roar wipes all of his threat from the tank (and, I swear, from the tank ONLY). Engine Tyrant Prime will now begin to use Firmament Barrage and Vile Tendril in addition to spamming Cleave.
  • The Arrival. A few seconds after The Summon, Engine Tyrant Alpha will land in the arena. He will immediately begin using Firmament Barrage and Vile Tendril in addition to spamming Cleave
  • The Wait. Both tyrants will follow this pattern for the remainder of the encounter. ETPrime's shield will drop shortly after(?) ETAlpha's arrival.
• Phase 3: The Clusterfuck
  • The Wrench. When Engine Tyrant Prime's HP goes below 20-25k, a new pair of Endjineers spawns in the northwest corner of the arena, bringing a new wake of Firmament Barrages and Combat Biomechanics.
  • The End. Shortly after the new Endjineers arrive, Engine Tyrant Alpha's shield drops. Both Tyrants need to be killed as closely to one another as possible, due to the surviving Tyrant enraging upon the death of the other.

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Tactics|open}
Tactics

IMPAIR: Firmament Barrage, Vile Tendril
DODGE: Firmament Barrage (if one gets off)
SPECIAL: First Tyrant wipes threat when summoning second Tyrant. Two DPS need a full set of impairs. All DPS need Debilitate. Healer and Tank need to be ready for enormous amounts of tank damage. When either tyrant dies, other tyrant enrages.
AOE: No
AOE Healing: No
Damage Type: Physical (all)

All - Read the Mechanics section. Especially the Flow (which summarizes the rest) section. I won't be re-explaining the flow of the fight here in the Tactics section.

All - If you're targetted by a red crosshair, avoid it as best you can, and call it out so the party can try to adjust.

Tank - You're going to take a BEATING in here. I recommend bringing Chaotic Pull, Stoicism, and as many defensive cooldowns and passives as you can fit.

Healer - The tank is going to take a BEATING in here. You'll need to bring your A game to keep him alive. I recommend bringing Cauterize, Surgical Steel, AND Nurture to maximize the number of Empowerment procs, as well as Cold Blooded and Scarlet Arts as Oh Shit buttons. Further, I recommend slotting Subtlety, due to the damage shields reducing the tank's threat.

DPS - Two of you need to fill the Impairer role for this fight, and you'll need a minimum of 3 impairs each. The third DPS needs to be able to pump out as much single target damage as possible.

Impairers - 3+ impairs each. Unless your impairs and your attacks are 100% ranged, I recommend using Chaotic Pull as one of them, otherwise you may not be able to reach your assigned Endjineer through the boss's cleaves.

Impairers - Before the fight begins, determine who's getting which Endjineer, and who's getting which Engine Tyrant. Stay on your assigned target at all times, unless otherwise noted below.

Tank - There are two ways of executing The Pull.

• The first is to do a flying leap into the arena as close to the near Endjineer as possible, and immediately using Chaotic Pull to group the two together. Proceed to hammer on them, and use Stoicism upon the Tyrant's arrival to both maximize threat and stay alive. The danger of this method is an Endjineer reverse-kiting away from you during the first few seconds, forcing you to split your attention between the two.

• The second is to jump down on the opposite side of the arena and hide behind a pillar to force the two Endjineers and the Tyrant to approach you over there. If facing the west wall, there's a recess on the north side with two pillars on the west wall of the recess; you want to use the northern one (but NOT the pillars on the northern wall). That pillar gives the highest chance of the Endjineers and Tyrant approaching as a single group, rather than splitting up to flank you. Once they're close and clumped up, leap out, hit Stoicism, and attack. Tougher to pull off and results in a higher initial barrage of damage, but more reliable grouping and threat.

DPS/Healer- Read the two pull methods above. If doing the first method, you can jump down immediately and do your thing. If doing the second method, wait on the platform until the tank has engaged both Endjineers and the Tyrant.

Tank/Healer - The pull is the highest damage section of the encounter. Use your cooldowns freely here. Once the Endjineers start using Convect, the amount of damage on the tank lowers due to the miniboss's travel time.

Impairers - Keep your distance from the boss's cleaves. When your Endjineer begins to cast Firmament Barrage for the first time, use Chaotic Pull to pull it out of the cleave zone, which will allow you to impair further barrages with relative impunity. If using ranged impairs, just impair from a distance.

Tank - When the Endjineers are dead and the boss reaches the 53,000 HP mark, start saving your resources for both weapons. When the boss runs to the west side of the arena, follow it closely. As soon as you hear the roar, drop Crimson Theater and use your other consumer, and be ready to Mass Provoke the boss onto you if needed. Don't use Stoicism yet.

Impairers - Be ready to start impairing Vile Tendril and Firmament Barrage on your targets once the Tyrant roars for his buddy. Also note that the Tyrants DO have Impair Immunity counters, so do not use extra impairs where unnecessary.

Tank - When the second Tyrant lands, hit it once, then use Stoicism and spend a few seconds hitting the bosses to establish threat.

DPS/Impairers - Be careful once the second Tyrant lands; watch the first Tyrant's HP closely and do not attack it (except to impair) once it reaches 25,000 HP. If it dies early, it's a wipe. Impairers, save 5 resources for each weapon.

DPS - Once the first Tyrant is at 25,000 HP, burn the second Tyrant. When its shield is getting close to dropping, make sure you save 5 resources for each weapon.

Tank - Once threat is established, begin moving the two Tyrants towards the northwest corner of the arena. Stop about 4-5 meters from the pillars. This spot will give you a good chance of picking up the Endjineers when they spawn.

DPS/Impairers - When the tank starts moving towards the northwest corner of the arena, move out of the way so you don't get cleaved!

Healer - Move south along the west wall, so you're by the southern of the two pillars in the recess on the northwest wall. When the Endjineers spawn, you can use this pillar to LOS them a bit to avoid being killed if they don't aggro the tank.

DPS/Impairers - When the Endjineers spawn, start watching the Tyrants and Endjineers closely. If an Endjineer heals either Tyrant, call it out and burn it back down as quickly as possible (and, if you have the impairs and headspace to spare, impair the Endjineer).

All - Once the second Tyrant's shield drops, unless the first Tyrant has been healed, kill it. When the second Tyrant dies, DPS use your cooldowns and everyone KILL the first Tyrant. Tank, you may need to rocket jump away and kite it to allow more time for burn. The Impairer on the second Tyrant should, if any impairs aren't on CD, watch the Endjineers and impair any heals as quickly as possible.

All - Good luck, and godspeed.
{/slide}[/accordion]
{/slide}

[/accordion][accordion]{slide=The Executrix}
The Executrix

[accordion]{slide=Mechanics}
Mechanics

• The flow of this fight is as follows:
  • 3 Add Packs
  • Bombardment
  • 2 (3?) Add Packs, with Big Guys
  • Bombardment
  • Boss
  • Resurrected Add Packs

• During each wave of add packs, the 2nd and 3rd add pack will build threat on the healer before spawning.

• Bombardments are a carpet bombing of stationary red crosshairs - move as needed.

• The Big Guys all use Searing Brand upon reaching the tank. Searing Brand is impairable and hits for over 20,000 damage.

• The boss's attacks will chain to nearby party members.

• A bit before the boss's shield drops, she'll cast Renimate, which resurrects a large swathe of adds.

• If you die during this encounter, you can re-enter the arena - there is no boundary around the anima well. This may be a bug.

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Tactics|open}
Tactics

IMPAIR: Searing Brand
DODGE: Searing Brand, Bombardments, Boss's attack chains
SPECIAL: Adds aggro healer before spawning (see Mechanics), boss reanimates adds, can re-enter arena after dying
AOE: Yep
AOE Healing: Possibly
Damage Type: Physical (adds), Magical (boss)

All - You can re-enter the arena after dying; there's no boundary around the anima well.

Impairer - Try to impair as many Searing Brands on the Big Guys as possible, especially the lone Big Guy in the second pack of the second wave. This is optional, especially in a non-MP run.

Tank/Healer - The second and third pack of each wave build threat on the healer before spawning. Healer should stay far away from the gate the adds enter through, and the tank should try to build as much threat as possible as quickly as possible.

Tank - When pack of 3 Big Guys reaches you (first pack of second wave), you may want to use Death From Above after a second or two to distance-cancel their bevy of Searing Brands

DPS/Impairer - When the boss lands, burn her down as fast as possible. Ignore the adds when they resurrect.

Healer - Be ready to run like hell when the boss resurrects the adds.
{/slide}[/accordion]
{/slide}

[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Iron Catastrophe, Molten Xenolith, Primitive Melt}
The Lava Brothers

[accordion]{slide=Video}

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Mechanics}
Mechanics

• Each Lava Brother follows mostly the same pattern. They'll approach the party/tank, occasionally cast Magmatic Quake (an easily dodged frontal column AOE), and cast Lava Eruption after fighting for about 10 seconds.

• Lava Brothers are immune to damage during Lava Eruption, and the lava will deal 9000 damage per second to anyone who gets too close to it (don't need to touch it).

• After using Lava Eruption, the first and second Lava Brothers will attempt to summon their brethren. The success of the summon is buggy.

• The final Lava Brother will cast Vicious Toss after his Lava Eruption, hitting anyone too close to him for 1500-2000 damage and impairing them.

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Tactics|open}
Tactics

IMPAIR: Magmatic Quake (optional)
DODGE: Magmatic Quake, Lava Eruption
AOE: No
AOE Healing: Possibly
Damage Type: Physical

Tank - Try to move the first lava brother a bit to the back left of the arena (but not so close that you can't flee further back&left to avoid Lava Eruption. This gives the party more time after a successful summon.

DPS/Impairers - Try to build 5 resources for each weapon on each Lava Brother before they cast Lava Eruption, then move away. Lava Eruption spews lava quite quickly, it's best to be distant before it casts.

DPS/Impairers - Once Lava Eruption is complete, rush back to the boss and kill it as quickly as possible.

All - Depending on DPS, positioning, and luck, the boss may have summoned neither, one, or both of his brothers. Adjust as necessary, take them out like the first one. Tank, save Stoicism for the death of the first Brother in case he summons both.
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[/accordion][accordion]{slide=The Ascendant}
The Ascendant(s)

[accordion]{slide=Video}

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Mechanics}
Mechanics

• This fight flows as follows:
  • Three adds
  • Wind
  • Five adds
  • Three bosses (intermittant wind)
  • More Adds
  • Final Enrage

• The adds in this fight are all the House-In-Chains Silencers and House-In-Chains Assassins you encountered on the way here. They all hit hard, have shields to start, and will occasionally cast Electric Smoke Grenade near a random party member.

• The first three adds explode on death, and can kill any nearby non-tank party members.

• The wind will blow after the first three adds die, and will blow intermittantly during the fight against the three bosses. It's the same as the wind at the entrance - it disables all abilities and deals 400-1000 damage per tick. Behind the pillar by the entrance, behind the pillar on the opposite wall, and most of the overhang on the far left side of the arena are safe zones.

• The three bosses are named The Ascendant, Ascendant Gog, and Ascendant Magog. This is also their spawn order, Phase cast order, and kill order.

• The three bosses will occasionally cast Electric Smoke Grenades at the party, and will also occasionally carpet an entire half of the arena with the grenade fields.

• The three bosses each cast a spell called Phase. Phase wipes aggro on the tank, resulting in the boss killing one or more party members. It is a wipe if successfully cast. The bosses will cast Phase one at a time, one after the other, in the order of The Ascendant, Gog, Magog, Repeat.

• Once The Ascendant dies, adds may spawn at any time. They'll have shields up and will use Electric Smoke Grenade occasionally.

• The three bosses will also occasionally cast a wide-spread column AOE that should be avoided. Due to the kiting nature of the fight, this can complicate matters, as they may follow it with Phase if they're next on the rotation.

• When Magog is left, he will cast Fifth Column, which is his enrage - he'll deal substantially increased damage, and can quite easily one-shot the tank once this is up.

{/slide}[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Tactics|open}
Tactics

IMPAIR: Phase!!!
DODGE: Electric Smoke Grenade, Wind, Column AOE
SPECIAL: Phase is a wipe. First 3 adds explode on death. Wind disables abilities. Boss and adds hit RIDICULOUSLY hard. Ascendants heal when any die.
AOE: Yes (adds)
AOE Healing: Probably
Damage Type: Physical

All - Read the Mechanics section.

All - You may wish to enable Dialogue Volume for this encounter. Wicker and Ascendant's bickering is annoying, but Wicker will verbally warn you whenever the wind is about to blow.

DPS - One of you will be going Impairer for this fight.

Tank - You will be kiting all add packs and the bosses at nearly all times (only stop when noted below). You need to be forcing them to body-block each other, otherwise you'll be killed in seconds - the bosses and adds hit VERY hard.

Healer - If you thought the damage the tank took in the third fight was impressive, you're about to be amazed. The tank damage here is simply incredible.

Tank - Hit Stoicism at the beginning of each pack of adds and at the beginning of the bosses; your aggro is reduced by both the shields and the kiting, so you need that initial boost to not lose any of them. Otherwise, save Stoicism for when you need to hide from the wind with the bosses tailing you.

Impairer - Your job is to impair The Ascendant and Ascendant Gog when they attempt to cast Phase. If Phase gets off, it's a wipe. The three bosses cast the spell in the order of Ascendant, Gog, Magog, Repeat. Unless the tank doesn't have any impairs (unlikely), you only need to worry about the first two.

Tank - When the bosses spawn, keep Magog targeted at all times. You'll be impairing his Phase cast.

DPS/Impairer - If the Impairer is having trouble keeping Ascendant and Gog impaired, one of you may wish to bring an impair. If you do, you'll be impairing The Ascendant's SECOND Phase cast. Thus, the Impairer's impair order is Ascendant, Gog, Gog.

All - The wind blows every 30-40 seconds once the three Ascendants are in combat. For the initial part of this phase, get ready to hide as soon as Wicker and Ascendant are done shit-talking each other (the phrase "Big words for a thundercloud" is the final line of the bickering). The wind almost immediately follows that conversation. Afterwards, you'll have to listen for Wicker's warning - it usually comes shortly after the bosses carpet one half of the arena in grenade fields.

Tank - When the warning for the wind comes, rocket jump towards a safe location (the bosses and the party will follow you). The rocket jump gives the healer's HOTs a few seconds to top you off before the bosses catch up. Once they arrive, hit Stoicism to stay alive. Get back out to the middle and resume kiting as soon as the wind stops blowing.

DPS/Healer/Impairer - When the tank rocket jumps towards the overhang or a pillar, follow!

Healer - Stay as close as possible to the tank once the bosses all spawn. Once The Ascendant dies, adds will spawn unpredictably, and they'll lock onto you immediately - the tank has a MUCH easier time picking them up if you're nearby.

Tank - Once the Ascendant dies, adds will occasionally spawn. Keep an eye on the arena and on the healer, be ready to intercept the adds as quickly as possible. Heavily encourage/demand/bribe/bully/threaten the healer to stay as close to you as possible once the bosses spawn.

Tank - Once Gog dies and you see Magog cast Fifth Column, try to avoid being hit by Magog as much as possible; he can one-shot you once that's been cast.

DPS/Impairer - Once Gog dies, go FULL BURN on Magog, he needs to die as soon as possible!
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[/accordion][accordion]{slide=Master Planner}
Master Planner

All - You'll pretty much be using your builds from the third fight for the entire dungeon. This means lower DPS, two Impairers, and the tank not impairing much.

All - Death From Above is pretty much required. It both gets through the initial wind section MUCH easier (and that section's tough!) and helps get out of the wind on final boss.

All - DPS, Healer, and the Impairer NOT handling impairs on Ascendants can get away with 1970 HP in here. The Impairer impairing the Ascendants should slot an HP minor.

Impairers - Aim for 700+ hit, because any missed impairs is a potential wipe. And don't rely on Hit Anima Potions, as you'll be wiping a LOT. Sharpshooter and Fever Pitch also not reliable.

Tank - As defensive a build as possible. You'll want Crimson Theater (persistant GTAOE AND has a defensive passive associated with it), Minor Ward (applied through an active - probably Consequence), Major Ward (do NOT use Probability, it's buggy!), a PBAOE builder, and Chaotic Pull (if attempting Pull Method 1 on third boss) or some other impair (if not doing Pull Method 1), Stoicism, and possibly Mass Provocation. My recommended build:

http://www.tsw-builder.com/#51v561552111144172g22g26pg21216175551943721530
VDM%-%7080753%-%7094274%-%5779785%-%7080580%-%7080591%-%7494889%-%7494961%-%7494890%-%6368906%-%7565178%-%7094275%-%6850557%-%7080855%-%7094290

DPS - Ranged build preferred due to the mobility of the final boss and the cleaves of the 3rd boss. Nothing special for you, just as much single target burn as possible (and all the party-wide DPS buffs you can manage).

DPS/Impairer - Due to the ridiculous amounts of damage in this dungeon, it's recommended that all three of you bring 12 Gouge for debilitates. The more the merrier, really.

Healer - Shittons of tank healing. As mentioned in General Tips, I recommend Cauterize, Nurture, AND Surgical Steel for HOTs to maximize the proc rate of Empowerment, as well as Scarlet Arts and Cold Blooded as blood-related Oh Shits.

Impairers - One of you will be DPSing the final boss, so needs a hybrid DPS/Impair build (maybe only 3 impairs). The other will be impairing the final boss, so will want 4 impairs (just in case) and some extra mobility.

My recommended full-impairer build:

http://www.tsw-builder.com/#53v561322550522365335306p721121325932421141
VDM%-%7080753%-%6942570%-%7094276%-%7094295%-%6943031%-%5776227%-%6942583%-%7760095%-%6942573%-%7080596%-%6839136%-%7080855%-%6943080%-%7080605%-%6454304%-%7760093
 
The http link doesn't include Rapid Getaway passive due to the builder being out-dated and having strong constraint checking.  But yeah, I recommend using Rapid Getaway - otherwise you may not catch a boss to impair Phase in time.

Impairers - If you haven't already, install Viper's Cast Bar Relocater addon to more easily see the cast bar.

All - See the "The Approach" section for some quick tips on dealing with the wind at the beginning of the dungeon.
{/slide}[/accordion]

 

[Fazoolia]

Exquisite Corpse helped me save your ass a few times yesterday... If heals are becoming a problem, get off Cold Blooded, then hit the tank with a couple EC, then go back to your Cauterize, Nurture , Surgical Steel rotation. I had 3 HoT's stacked on Kal THE WHOLE RUN, and it was still a challenge to keep him alive.

A Side Note:

It is commonly understood that fist healing in TSW is riddiculously easy and you can easily heal every NM in 3.5k gear.. HF is the exception to this rule. The first few times i did this in 3.6k fist gear (coz lets face it, we all go leech at some point) and had a lot of issues. I upgraded the kit to full 10.4/10.4 and still had a challenge keeping Kal (a very very geared tank) alive. Your healer will want to be as close to full 10.4/10.4 as possible to have a realistic hope in hell of surviving

 

[Kalinai]

I think the ridiculousness can be somewhat alleviated by having all of the DPS bring Debilitates, rather than just the one Impairer like we had. At least, I hope so, because that was an absurd amount of damage...

 

[Fazoolia]

Another note : DPS should not really be taking much damage here, however in the event you do, try and heal yourself with a barrier or potion. Since the tank at some stages takes a tremendous amount of a beating, that 2 seconds to target the DPS and heal them can very well result in a wipe. Bring some potions, your healer will love you

 

[Alziz]

Someone was saying in the official forums that for 3rd boss, the Endjineers spawn again when one of the tyrants is low on HP. And that if the tyrants are dpsed properly, the Endjineers will only spawn as the tyrants are dying. Not sure if this is correct.

 

[Kalinai]

Updated with MP kill shot videos for The Approach and bosses 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. Fucked up 4th video.

 

[Mikunawa]

Enjineers respawn when 1st boss' hp goes below 20-25k if i remember correctly.

 

[Kalinai]

Awesome, that confirms our experience yesterday. Guide updated

 

[Alziz]

Would this allow the tank to avoid having to reposition the tyrants in order to get aggro from the engineers? Will the tyrants die fast enough so that even if the djinns kill the healer it won't be a problem? I'm asking cause the repositioning makes it trickier.

 

[Kalinai]

Um... it's possible, I'm not sure. Would have to see.

I like the reposition, though, since the endjineers can screw things up in a matter of seconds, especially if they're let loose. The reposition also allows the tank to impair the first heal they cast - they're too tough to target otherwise.

 

[Alziz]

Ok, if you're impairing the heal, that's pretty important. So nvm what I said.

 

[iecta]

I really think this dungeon is easy. Few things I have noticed after I completed a few times as dps and tank;

- Damage output is not important (still welcome to shorten everything as always), I did it with 3.5 AR Blood/Ele impair heavy build spamming bloodshot and guts and gory.

- Don't have to be melee to get impairs done as I said I did it with blood so cardiac arrest, anasthesia and left hand of darkness are just fine. I didn't even use left hand of darkness to be honest and used only cardiac arrest in the final fight.

- Helping your healer could help you in the long run as a tank. Don't need big consumers. Unfair Advantage, Stoicism, Illusion and Martial Discipline (Smoke and Mirrors) realy helps the healing process.

- Healer having more health than 1970 prevents wipes occasionally whereas with a 1970 healer you'll get wiped if a vile tendril or phase escapes and your healer won't be insta gibbed by adds. 4K is the base to not get one shotted by phase, I saw 6K to be very effective, 10K would be perfect.

- Also having tank impair Ascendant and one ranged DPS impairing the remaning bosses helps shorten the fight. That way 2 DPS can burn Ascendant, Gog and Magog without thinking of impairs and you can beat them in 3 storm phases.

- And this is a healtankable dungeon (with the help of a healer ofc) so you can think of that option too.

 

[Fazoolia]

Just remember as the healer, on the last boss, once the ascendants spawn, STICK ON THE TANK. I mean become a human centipede, you move where he moves, you won't get cleaved. Little adds should leave you alone