Sisters of the Moon
#1
This is a three phase encounter, with a different sister active in each phase.  The other two will be unattackable, but they'll still perform mechanics we need to handle.  The sisters share a health pool so they'll go down together.

There are a lot of abilities in this fight, with many of them only occurring during specific phases of the moon.  Most of the abilities we'll see are PROJECTILE attacks, which require different responses.

Positioning:  Positioning is flexible, it's mostly up to raid members to figure out a safe place to stand based on avoiding projectile mechanics.  Most of the time a clean spread through the room is best, but during Incorporeal Shot we'll want to stack on the line.

Bloodlust:  We'll Bloodlust in Phase 3 when the Priestess becomes active.

ALL PHASES

* Font of Elune:  The floor continually cycles through the phases of the moon.
Light side:  Players standing on the LIGHT side of the room will gain stacks of Lunar Suffusion, which increases Arcane damage taken.
Dark side:  Players standing on the DARK side of the room will gain stacks of Umbra Suffusion, which increases Shadow damage taken.

* Switching from Light to Dark: "Astral Purge":  When a player switches sides of the moon, it triggers Astral Purge, which does a little damage (increased by how many stacks of debuff you have) and removes the stacks.  (It also places a short debuff on the player which increases damage taken if you switch back right away.  Presumably this is to keep players from switching sides many times in succession).  The amount of damage Astral Purge does is pretty small, though, so this is not a major mechanic.

Note:  The only time you need to worry about the floor is if you have a bunch of stacks of one type and are about to take a lot of damage of that type from a boss.  However, the bosses typically use their most powerful abilities when the floor is either all light or all dark, so you don't have a choice about which color you stand in.  All in all, not a major mechanic.

Okay, what follows is a chronological account of the abilities we'll encounter in each phase.  This may not be the most efficient way to think about this, but I'm leaving it up so we can reference the abilities we'll see in each phase.  See the next post for a per-sister explanation of abilities.

PHASE ONE: THE HUNTRESS

From 100% to 70% health

Huntress Kasparian during Phase One: active

* Twilight Glaive:  Arrow on floor + "out and back" projectile attack, targeting a ranged player.  Heavy damage to anyone caught in it.  Glaive is avoidable, even by targeted player.  After traveling it returns to the Huntress, also dealing damage on its return.


* Moon Glaive:  Ricochet projectile attack on the current tank.  Bounces between up to 3 players, preferring close ones, and dealing heavy damage.  Damage is evenly split between the three players.  Initial target (the tank) will get a debuff (Discorporate), requiring a tank swap.  The tank must switch moon colors (which triggers Astral Purge) to get rid of the debuff.

Captain Yathae Moonstrike during Phase One

From 70% to 40% health

* Incorporeal Shot:  Aimed a random player, charges up over 6 seconds.  During this time there's a big arrow on the floor.  Shot deals massive Shadow damage after the 6 seconds.  The raid can intercept the arrow, splitting the damage between everyone in the line.  The damage can also be "immuned" by Cloak of Shadows or Ice Block.

* Twilight Volley:  Rain of arrows into an 8-yard circle, lasts for 12 seconds.

* Shadow Shot:  Instant, direct attack on a random player.

Priestess Lunaspyre during Phase One

* Embrace of the Eclipse:  Shields one of her sisters for 12 seconds, absorbing lots of incoming damage.  Also debuffs the raid, absorbing a moderate amount of healing for 12 seconds.  If either if these abilities is not fully depleted by either damage or healing by the time they expire, the remaining damage will be dealt to ALL players.

* Moon Burn:  Strikes a random target & applies a DoT.  Can be cleared with Astral Purge (switching colors on the floor)

* Lunar Strike:  Instant, direct attack on a random player.

PHASE TWO:  BOW OF THE NIGHT

From 70% to 40%

In this phase, Captain Yathae Moonstrike is active and damageable.

Captain Yathae Moonstrike during Phase Two:  active

* Call Moontalon:  summons an owl add.  Attacks the highest threat target.  At 30% health is begins to cast Deathly Screech, dealing moderate Shadow damage to the raid, increasing with every Screech.

* Rapid Shot:  Focuses one player.  Can be "immuned" but not split or intercepted.

* Twilight Volley:  Same as Phase One, rain of arrows in a circle on the floor.

Huntress Kasparian in Phase Two

* Glaive Storm:  Projectile that shatters into multiple glaives, heavy damage to anyone hit.

* Twilight Glaive:  Same as Phase One: "out-and-back" projectile attack, can be avoided by everyone including target.

* Spectral Glaive:  Targets a random player, bounces to up to three targets.

Priestess Lunaspyre in Phase Two

Same as Phase One:  Embrace of the Eclipse (shields a sister from damage and puts a healing absorption debuff the raid); Moon Burn DoT (can be cleared with Astral Purge); and Lunar Strike (instant, direct attack)


PHASE THREE:  WRATH OF ELUNE

From 40% to 0%.  Priestess Lunaspyre is active.

Priestess Lunaspyre in Phase Three

* Lunar Beacon:  DoTs a player, when it expires the target's location will be bombarded by Lunar Barrage which does damage and a silence.

* Lunar Fire:  Stacking debuff on the current target (the tank)

* Moon Burn:  Same as in previous Phases, it's a DoT that can be cleared with Astral Purge.

Huntress Kasparian in Phase Three

Glaive Storm (shattering projectile), Twilight Glaive ("out and back" projectile which can be avoided), and Spectral Glaive (3-bounce projectile)

Captain Yathae Moonstrike in Phase Three

Incorporeal Shot (shared damage arrow attack, stand in the line), Twilight Volley (rain of arrows), and Shadow Shot (instant and direct attack).
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#2
PER-SISTER ABILITIES

ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT THIS...

... is that each sister has a set of abilities.  Some of these she does all the time, others she does only while active, while still others she does only while inactive:

The Huntress:

Constant abilities (entire fight):  Twilight Glaive:  Out-and-back projectile attack, indicated by an arrow under the boss.  Damages everyone in its path, both out and back.  The glaive is avoidable, even by the targeted player.  Get out of the arrow!

Abilities only when active (Phase 1):  Moon Glaive:  anti-tank projectile that bounces between 3 targets starting with the current tank, preferring close ones, splitting damage evenly between them.  The initial tank target gets the Discorporate debuff, prompting a tank swap.

Abilities only when inactive (Phases 2 and 3):  Glaive Storm:  projectile that shatters into multiple glaives, heavy damage.  Spectral Glaive:  targets a random player and bounces up to 3 times.  Moderate damage.

The Captain:

Constant abilities (entire fight):  Twilight Volley:  Rain of arrows in an 8-yard circle.

Abilities only when active (Phase 2):  Call Moontalon:  summons an owl add.  At 30% the owl starts to cast Deathly Screeches which increase in damage over time.  Rapid Shot:  Focuses one player, damage can be "immuned" by not split or intercepted.

Abilities only when inactive (Phases 1 and 3):  Incorporeal Shot:  Arrow aimed at random player, charges up for 6 seconds, then deals massive damage which must be split with other players.  Can also be "immuned" with abilities like Cloak of Shadows, Ice Block etc.  Shadow Shot:  Instant direct attack on a random player.

The Priestess

Constant abilities (entire fight)Moon Burn:  Strikes a random target, applies a DoT which can be removed with Astral Purge.

Abilities only when active (Phase 3):  Lunar Beacon:  marks a player with Lunar energy, inflicting moderate Arcane damage for 6 seconds.  When it expires the target's location will be bombarded with Lunar Barrage for 3 seconds, which does damage and a silence to anyone standing in it.  Lunar Fire:  Stacking debuff that burns the current target for 30 seconds.

Abilities only when inactive (Phases 1 and 2):  Embrace of the Eclipse:  Shields a sister for 12 seconds, absorbing a lot of damage.  ALSO debuffs the raid, absorbing moderate amount of healing for 12 seconds.  If either of these abilities is not fully depleted by either damage (to the shielded boss) or healing (to players) by the 12-second expiration mark, the remaining damage will be dealt to all players as Arcane damage.  This is REALLY NASTY and must be dealt with.  Lunar Strike: Instant, direct attack.
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#3
STRATEGY

Positioning:  Maintain a loose spread through the room to minimize the raid's need to move from avoidable mechanics.  We'll need to collapse to stand in a line to intercept the Captain's Incorporeal Shot when she's inactive (during phases 1 and 3), but otherwise remain spread out.

Players should be conscious of their phase-of-the-moon debuff stacks:  Lunar Suffusion if they're in the light, and Umbra Suffusion if they're in the dark.  You can clear the stacks by changing colors ("Astral Purge"), but this will do damage proportional to your stack size and will apply a debuff that increases damage from subsequent purges for a few seconds.  So don't let these stack too high or they may kill you when you change colors, but don't clear them too frequently either or you'll be taking too much damage from the purge debuff.

PHASE ONE:  The huntress

Tanks:
* Tanks keep the huntress near the edges of the room to give the raid more space to avoid mechanics.

*  Tanks stack on top of each other to ensure that they split the damage from the Moon Glaive.  The glaive will also bounce to a third player, we can control this (via proximity) to be someone with good cooldowns.  Good third players are rogues (using feint & elusiveness).

* After Moon Glaive, tanks swap the boss and the tank with Discorporate should immediately clear it by triggering Astral purge (change floor colors).  If the tank is really low on health & has a lot of suffusion stacks, heal him up first.

Quick summary for tanks:  tank boss at the edge of the room, stand on top of each other, swap after Moon Glaive and remove debuff with Astral Purge.

Everyone:
* Be aware of Twilight Glaive (big arrow, out-and-back projectile from the Huntress) and get out of the arrow. The arrow does damage on its return too!  Particularly dangerous for players on the dark side (due to stacks of Umbra Suffusion which increase shadow damage).

* Incorporeal Shot, the shared-damage projectile. This will happen a couple times per phase.  If the targeted player has an immunity, they should move to edge of room and use the ability right before the shot fires.  No need to collapse in this case.  If the targeted player does NOT have an immunity, player should keep the line stationary and the raid should collapse on the line to share damage.  Use raid cooldowns.

* When Embrace of the Eclipse is cast (damage shield on the Huntress, healing-absorb shield on the raid), ALL DPS should use cooldowns to focus the Huntress.  Essential to save DPS cooldowns for this shield, as failure to get rid of it can wipe the raid.  ALL HEALERS should save throughput cooldowns to break the healing absorption shields on the raid.  Mechanics permitting, raid should group up to improve healing.

Quick summary for rest of raid:  get out of the big Twilight Glaive arrow, collapse onto Incorporeal Shot line unless target can Cloak/Ice Block it, during Embrace of the Eclipse DPS the shield on the boss and heal up the healing-absorption shield on the raid.

Smaller things to deal with:
* Get out of Twilight Volley (rain of arrows)
* Anyone with Moon Burn should clear it by triggering Astral Purge.
* We'll be taking constant, unavoidable damage from Lunar Strike (arcane) and Shadow Shot (shadow).

PHASE TWO:  the Captain

Watch the transition -- abilities started in Phase One will carry over.  Especially notable is Incorporeal Shot, the shared-damage line attack.

* The Captain will summon an owl add, Moontalon.  We can DPS it right away, or continue damaging the boss, but regardless, once the owl reaches 30% health we need to focus it down due to its Deathly Screech.

* We'll still be getting Embrace of the Eclipse, the nasty damage-shield on the boss and healing-absorb shield on the raid!  Keep handling this!

* Avoid Glaive Storm (shattering projectile) and Twilight Glaive (out and back projectile) from the now-inactive Huntress.  So keep an eye on her even though she's inactive and all ethereal now.

Quick summary:  Focus the Owl add once it's below 30%, handle the shield (DPS boss' shield + heal raid's shield), avoid projectiles coming from Huntress.

Smaller things to deal with:
* Players who get Moon Burn should clear it with Astral Purge.
* Use a defensive cooldown if you are targeted by the Captain's Rapid Shot.


Phase Three:  The Priestess

* Tanks must deal with Lunar Fire, stacking debuff.  Swap at every 5+ stacks.  Deals ARCANE damage, so stay on the dark side if you're the current tank to reduce damage.

* Players targeted with Lunar Beacon switch to the DARK SIDE and use personal cooldowns if needed.  Move to the edge of the room if possible so the barrage doesn't damage or silence nearby players.  Don't help soak the line.

* Collapse onto the line for Incorporeal Shot.

* As in the previous phase, avoid Glaive Storm (shattering projectile) and Twilight Glaive (out and back projectile) from the Huntress.

* Raid damage will be the highest during this phase:  tanks will be getting a ticking debuff while the raid will be hit by many unavoidable abilities.

* Lots of movement, too, as players need to stack for Incorporeal Shot while also avoiding the shattering projectiles of the Glaive Storm and the avoidable out-and-back projectile of Twilight Glaive.

Quick summary:  Tanks swap at 5+ stacks of the Lunar Fire debuff, players take Lunar Beacon to a dark edge, collapse onto line for Incorporeal Shot, avoid the Huntress' projectiles.

Smaller things to deal with:
* Players who get Moon Burn should clear it with Astral Purge.
* Get out of Twilight Volley.
* We'll be taking unavoidable damage from Shadow Shot and Spectral Glaive (3-bounce projectile).

A note for tanks:

* Keep the active sister near the edge of the room to give the raid more space to avoid abilities.
* Phase One:  Make sure you're topped off before every Moon Glaive, and have active mitigation ready.
* Phase Two:  pick up the owl if you don't have the boss.
* Phase Three:  Make sure you're topped off before removing Lunar Fire with Astral Purge.
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#4
Short summary

Okay, this is a three phase encounter three bosses which share a health pool.  Only one boss is active in each phase; the other two will be unattackable and will look ghostly blue, but they will still do mechanics we'll need to manage.

The floor represents the phases of the moon and it cycles between light and dark throughout the encounter.  If you're standing in the light area you'll gain stacks which increase your arcane damage taken; if you're in the dark area you'll gain stacks which increase shadow damage taken.  Switching from one color to another will trigger an Astral Purge which clears your stacks and does a small amount of damage.  But in all, this is not a major mechanic.

Positioning is pretty flexible during this fight.  We'll be dealing with a LOT of projectile mechanics, so it is generally advised to keep the boss to one side of the room, while the raid is scattered loosely through the room, to give everyone plenty of room to move.

Phase One:  the Huntress is active, while the Captain and the Priestess are inactive (100% to 70%).  For the tanks, the Huntress uses Moon Glaive, a projectile that hits the current tank and then bounces up to three times to the closest players.  The tanks should stand on top of each other to make sure the Moon Glaive bounces between them.  The initial tank will receive a debuff called Discorporate which increases damage taken, so tanks should swap after Moon Glaive and the debuffed tank should switch floor colors to clear the debuff.

In addition to this, the Huntress will also mark a player with Twilight Glaive, an out-and-back projectile attack.  This looks like a big arrow pointed at the marked player.  The marked player should move a bit so that the arrow doesn't point through anyone, while everyone else should get out of the arrow.

That's all the Huntress does, really.  But we also have to deal with the other two sisters' abilities.  In addition to small bursts of unavoidable damage, the sisters have some special abilities:

The Captain will cast Twilight Volley on random ranged players.  This is just a circle with a rain of arrows in it.  Get out of that.  Ranged stay out of melee to avoid having it fall on them and forcing them to move.

The Priestess will be applying Moon Burn debuffs to players.  This is a nasty debuff, so remove it as soon as possible by switching floor colors.

When the floor becomes either fully dark or fully light one of the ghostly sisters will cast her ultimate ability (on heroic mode, both will).  In Normal mode, only the Captain does hers in Phase One:  Incorporeal Shot:

The Captain will mark a player with Incorporeal Shot which places a purple beam between her and her target.  After 6 seconds this will do a huge amount of shadow damage to the target.  The damage is split between all players within the beam, so the raid should stand on the beam.

Quick summary of Phase One:
* Tanks stand on each other, swap after Moon Glaive, clear debuff by switching floor colors.
* Get out of the big arrow (Twilight Glaive).
* Stand on the purple beam (Incorporeal Shot).
* Clear your Moon Burn debuff by switching colors.

Phase Two:  Once the Huntress reaches 70%, Phase Two begins.  The Huntress will enter a ghostly form and the Captain will become active.  The Captain maintains her Twilight Volley ability (rain of arrows), so ranged needs to continue staying away from melee.  She loses her Incorporeal Shot for this phase, so we don't need to worry about stacking on the line.

Very early in the phase the Captain will summon a Moontalon owl.  A tank should pick it up and the DPS should nuke it down.  The owl doesn't really do anything until it reaches 30% health, at which point it will start pulsing ever-increasing damage on the raid.  As long as we kill it fast this won't be a big issue.

The Captain will also target a player with Rapid Shot, which does a lot of damage over 5 seconds.  Healers need to spot heal that player, especially if they have a lot of stacks of the debuff that increases shadow damage (Umbra Suffusion).  The player should consider switching colors to drop the stacks.

The Priestess will do the same things she did in Phase One, so clear your Moon Burn debuff by switching colors.  

The Huntress will continue to throw her Twilight Glaives (out and back projectile indicated by a big arrow on the floor) so players need to stay out of that.  NOTE:  she'll be teleporting around the room in her ghostly form so it's easy to lose track of this arrow, especially as she isn't in the middle of melee any more.  Keep an eye on her and get out of the arrow!

When the room is fully light or fully dark, the Priestess will do her ultimate ability: Embrace of the Eclipse.

Embrace of the Eclipse places a large damage-absorption shield on the Huntress boss while coating the raid with smaller healing-absorption shields.  After 12 seconds all of the shields will explode, dealing damage equal to the remaining strength of the shield.  The DPS must remove the Huntress' shield as soon as possible, while the raid stacks up for heals & healers top people up.  Using one healing cooldown for this is usually enough to cover it.


Quick Summary of Phase Two:
* Nuke the Moontalon Owl.
* Watch out for Rapid Shot (drop shadow stacks if you have a lot).
* Clear Moon Burn by switching colors.
* Watch out for the Huntress' big arrow (Twilight Glaive) -- this will be harder to keep track of as she'll be ghostly,  teleporting around, and no longer at the center of the action.
* Nuke the boss when she has the damage-absorption shield (Embrace of the Eclipse); raid stack for heals; healers top everyone off to get rid of healing-absorption shield on players.

Phase Three:  When the Captain reaches 40% we'll enter Phase Three.  She'll go ghostly and the Priestess will become active.  The Priestess retains her Moon Burn ability, so make sure to clear that.  She does lose the Embrace of the Eclipse shield, so no need to worry about that.

The Priestess applies a stacking DoT to the tanks called Lunar Fire.  Tanks taunt off of each other at about 2 stacks to keep the damage under control.  She'll also be casting Lunar Beacon on players.  This is a 6-second hard-hitting Arcane damage DoT which needs to be spot-healed.  After 6 seconds it will drop three zones on the floor (these look like big blue circles with 3 jets of blue flame in them).  These zones do damage AND a silence.  Tile these on top of each other (stand just outside the edge of circle #1 to drop circle #2 etc.).  You can also place them right on top of each other but they do a LOT of damage so you need to make sure you're topped up before trying that.

The Captain continues her Twilight Volley 'rain of arrows' zones, while the Huntress marks people with Twilight Glaive.

Once the room becomes fully dark or fully light, the Huntress will cast her ultimate ability:  Glaive Storm.

Glaive Storm throws a glaive from the Huntress' location directly through the middle of the room to the other side.  Once it reaches the other side it will shatter, and smaller glaives will start ricocheting around the encounter area.  Anyone hit by these blades takes a LOT of damage.  Avoid these at all costs!

Quick summary of Phase Three:
* Tanks swap with 2+ stacks of Lunar Fire.
* If you get Lunar Beacon take it to the edge to drop the void zones.
* Clear Moon Burn by switching colors.  
* Watch out for the ghostly Huntress' big arrow (Twilight Glaive).
* Avoid Glaive Storm: big glaive that shatters & becomes smaller glaives ricocheting around the room.
* We'll bloodlust on Phase 3.
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#5
A refinement on the strategy which worked well for us:  during Phase 2, ignore the owl (or just hit it with cleaves) while focusing the boss.  Focus the owl once it reaches 30% health.  This lets us get the shields down faster and get out of Phase 2 more quickly.  I think we Bloodlusted in Phase 2 as well.

-Z
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