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The Xavius fight has THREE similar phases, during each of which we will need to kill adds and perform tasks, all while keeping our Corruption levels low.  Players get Corruption from certain mechanics, and it needs to be managed because a full Corruption bar means getting Mind Controlled.

MECHANICS

*** CORRUPTION ***

Each player has a Corruption bar that goes from 1 to 100.  Players gain corruption by being damaged by certain abilities.  At certain levels of Corruption, events trigger.  Corruption NEVER DECAYS, and reaching maximum means getting Mind Controlled, at which point the player is killed by the raid.

There is a way for players to reset their Corruption ONCE per encounter.

CORRUPTION THRESHOLDS:

* 33+ Corruption:  Players can be damaged by "Corruption: Crushing Shadows," and need to avoid it.
* 66+ Corruption:  Players can be damaged by "Corruption: Unfathomable Reality," and need to avoid it.
* 100 Corruption:  triggers "Corruption: Descent into Madness," which is a Mind Control.

CORRUPTION-RELATED EVENTS at these thresholds:

Corruption:  Dread Abomination

Every 10 seconds, a large void zone appears on the floor.  After 4 seconds, an abomination spawns and deals "Corruption: Crushing Shadows" to anyone STANDING IN the void zone, before disappearing.  This does a lot of physical damage to players at 33+ Corruption.  The damage is reduced the further players are from the center, and no damage is dealt to people outside the void zone.  This ability applies no Corruption.

Corruption: Unfathomable Reality

Small void zones spawn continuously on the ground, but THESE ARE ONLY VISIBLE AND RELEVANT TO PLAYERS AT 66+ CORRUPTION.  After 2 seconds, the void zones erupt, dealing "Corruption: Unfathomable Reality" to anyone standing in them (anyone with 66+ Corruption).  This deals fire damage and ADDS 5 Corruption.

Corruption:  Descent into Madness

At 100 Corruption, players receive "Corruption: Descent into Madness," which INCREASES their healing and damage by 150% for 20 seconds, then turns into a Mind Control.  At that point they need to be killed.

The Dream and Resetting Corruption

At 95% health, HALF the raid is put to sleep in the Dream of Ysera.  The other half is put to sleep at 60%.  Players who are put to sleep get a debuff called "Dream Simulacrum," which lasts for three minutes.  When the debuff is removed, Corruption resets.

The debuff can be removed in one of two ways:  (1) let the timer run its 3-minute course, or (2) by dying.  When a player DIES with the debuff, they simply AWAKEN from their dream and continue to fight normally.

Note:  If players are in the dream when they are killed while Mind Controlled, they too will awaken normally and continue to fight.

PHASE ONE:  100% - 65% health

During this phase Xavius uses four abilities:

* Darkening Soul (tank debuff):  Every 8 to 10 seconds Xavius applies a stack of Darkening Soul to his tank.  This lasts until dispelled and does low damage per stack.  DISPELLING this causes high damage to all players within 15 yards of the tank, and the player who dispells this gains 25 corruption and takes moderate shadow damage (through "Darkened Tainting")

Nightmare Blades (AoE damage in a line between two players):  Every 16 seconds Xavius debuffs 2 players with Nightmare Blades.  5 seconds later players standing in the line that passes between them.  The line has a fixed length, so running close together does not reduce the affected area.

* Manifest Corruption (adds):  This is cast one minute into the fight and 1 minute and 20 seconds thereafter.  It does high shadow damage to the whole raid, and it spawns a Corruption Horror.  This needs to be picked up by the tank.  The Horror melees and has two abilities:
- Corrupting Nova:  Raid-wide damage and adds 5 Corruption to everyone in the raid, every 20 seconds.  Non-interruptible.
- Tormenting Swipe: Frontal cone that does high damage and adds 10 corruption to every player in the cone.

* Lurking Eruption (adds): Every 20 seconds Xavius makes the ground erupt at the location of a random raid member, dealing moderate damage to everyone within 6 yards.  This is unavoidable unless the raid member is already on the move.  The eruption spawns a Lurking Terror, which cannot be killed by conventional means.  It has two abilities:
- Tormenting Fixation:  Fixates a player.
- Tormenting Infection:  high shadow damage to the first player the Terror touches, and gives them 20 corruption.  This ALSO KILLS THE LURKING TERROR.

PHASE TWO: from 65% to 30% health

During this phase Xavius retains several abilities, though these are now more serious, and gains others:

* Blackening Soul (tank debuff):  Same as Darening Soul, but after being dispelled the tank is rebuffed with Blackened for 30 seconds.  This causes the tank to take increased damage.

* Corruption Meteor (damage- and corruption-sharing AoE):  Every 30 seconds, Xavius marks a player with a large circle.  5 seconds later a Meteor falls on the player, dealing extremely high damage and and 40 corruption, BUT the damage and corruption are SPLIT between all affected players.

(?? * Bonds of Terror (links 2 players):  Debuffs two players with Bonds of Terror, which inflicts low shadow damage until they move within 3 yards of each other, at which point the debuff disappears.  <-- this ability was present in the beta but has been removed from the dungeon journal, so it may no longer be present).

* Nightmare Infusion (anti-tank corruption mechanic):  Every minute, Xavius buffs himself with Nightmare Infusion.  Every melee attack (which occur every 1.5 seconds) adds 5 corruption to the target.  The buff drops after 
30 seconds or after Xavius has applied corruption 6 times to the target.

* Call of Nightmares (adds): Causes Inconceivable Horrors to spawn regularly from the edge of the room and walk slowly toward Xavius.  Upon reaching him, the start casting Dark Ruination (the cast-time is 2 seconds) which is a 5-second channel.  It causes Xavius to do low raid-wide damage and to give 1 Corruption to every raid member.

Killing a Horror spawns a pool of corruption called Tainted Discharge (and cancels its channel).  It deals low shadow damage and applies 2 corruption to players standing in it.  The pool dissipates after doing its damage about 5 times.  If it is NOT dissipated after 15 seconds, it REFORMS into a Horror.

PHASE THREE:  from 30% to 0% health

Davis uses a mix of Phase One and Phase Two abilities, plus a new ability called Writhing Deep.

Abilities from Phase One:  Nightmare Blades (the line attack)
Abilities from Phase Two:  Blackening Soul (anti-tank attack), Nightmare Infusion (corruption melee attack), and Corruption Meteor.

* Writhing Deep:  Spawns a Nightmare Tentacle every 4-5 seconds.  These adds can be killed and have several million health points.  Every 5 seconds they cast Nightmare Bolt, which deals low shadow damage and gives them 3 corruption.

STRATEGY

The key to this fight is CORRUPTION MANAGEMENT.  This requires players IN THE DREAM to try to be the ones who  acquire the corruption.  Make sure never to reach 100 corruption, even if you are in the Dream.

Here are the mechanics the players in the dream should handle:

PHASE ONE
* DISPELLING HEALER:  The healer dispelling Darkening Soul from the tank (the dispeller gains 25 corruption).  This will happen every 30 seconds if the raid decides to dispell at 3 stacks.
* TANK:  The tank picking up the Corruption Horror, who takes 5 corruption from every Corrupting Nova and 10 for every Tormenting Swipe.
* INTERCEPTOR:  the player who intercepts the Lurking Horror (gains 20 corruption) every 20 seconds.

PHASE TWO
* DISPELLING HEALER:  The healer dispelling Blackening Soup (gains 25 corruption every 30 seconds).
* SOAKERS for the Corruption Meteor (40 corruption split by number of soakers)
* TANK: Nightmare infusion (30 corruption, from 6 x 5 corruption)
* Dark Ruination:  applies 1 corruption to every raid member, but this should never be allowed to be applied to Xavius.
* SOAKERS for Tainted Discharge void zones (10 corruption, repeated 15-30 times)

PHASE THREE
* As in Phases One and Two:  Blackening Soul (tank), Corruption Meteor (shared soak), Nighmare Infusion (anti-tank)
* Nightmare Bolt:  ramps up quickly.

ALL PHASES
Once you are over 66 corruption, you become vulnerable to the little void zones of Corruption: Unfathomable Reality, and corruption tends to add up fast after that.

This gives a good idea of the tasks we will need to do:  Kill the Horrors, dispel Darkening and Blackening Soul, soak the Meteors, and soak the Tainted Discharge Pools.

POSITIONING

Phase One:  spread in a loose, 6+ yard scatter.  Leave room for the tanks to get in and out.  Leave an open area or open line between the melee and ranged groups for the Nightmare Blades line.  Melee stay away from the Corruption Horrors.

Phase Two:  No more Eruption and Nightmare Blades lines, so the raid can loosely stack behind the boss.  This helps with the Meteor and Bonds of Terror, but can make it harder to notice other ground effects.

Phase Three:  Use empty line positioning like Phase One.

Tanks

* Alternate being debuffed with Darkening Soul (Phase One) and Blackening Soul (Phase Two and Three).  Dispell at 3 stacks.
* Move out of range of raid members before getting dispelled!
* Tank in the dream should pick up the Corruption Horror.  Tank it away from the raid facing away.
* Tank in the dream should tank Xavius during his Nightmare Infusion in Phase Two and Three (though this may not be possible in Phase Three).

Healers

* Healers in the dream dispel Darkening and Blackening Soul.  Wait for the tank to be out of range of raid members before dispelling, and make sure the tank has 3 stacks.


DPS

* DPS down the Corruption Horrors (Phase One) and Inconceivable Horrors (Phase Two) as fast as possible.
* DPSers in the dream should intercept Lurking Terrors (Phase One) and soak the Tainted Discharge pools (Phase Two)
* We will make a decision whether to nuke the boss or kill the tentacles in Phase Three.

Everyone

* Spread out 6+ yards for the eruption in Phase One.
* Get the line of Nightmare Blades out of the raid.
* Soak the Corruption Meteor (unless your corruption is really high)
* Move close to your buddy if you are linked with Bonds of Terror.
* Don't get hit by Corruption: Crushing Shadows at 33+ corruption or Corruption: Unfathomable Reality at 66+.
* Don't get over 100 Corruption.

Phase Three Burn

Keep potions and cooldowns for Phase Three.  We will either nuke the boss, or DPS the tentacles first while directing extra DPS to the boss, then nuke the boss.
Be sure to read through the above of course but I found this visual 2 minute overview helpful to bring some of this together.  I checked and I don't think any of this contradicts Zlinka's strategy outline above but in case it does follow the Leader of course.

Xavius: Two Minute Tips | Normal/Heroic | Legion Raid Basics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpwb60z6bvw
(11-03-2016, 09:30 AM)Thermight Wrote: [ -> ]Be sure to read through the above of course but I found this visual 2 minute overview helpful to bring some of this together.  I checked and I don't think any of this contradicts Zlinka's strategy outline above but in case it does follow the Leader of course.

Xavius: Two Minute Tips | Normal/Heroic | Legion Raid Basics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpwb60z6bvw

This is a great guide!  Thank you, Zoo!

Everyone, please watch this -- it gives a great visual of the encounter and emphasizes what is important.

-Zlinka
Briefer guide.  This is based on the video above -- for visuals, watch the video above.  It's only 3:30 long, nice and quick.

Xavius is a three-phase encounter.  Throughout the fight, we will gain NIGHTMARE CORRUPTION, tracked with a new resource bar on our screens.
* Players with 33+ corruption will see Dread Abominations --> stay out of their smash.
* Players with 66+ corruption will see explosive pink swirls --> avoid these.  Only you can see these abilities, so don't worry about other players.
* Players with 100 corruption will get a 20-second damage and healing buff, but then will get Mind Controlled, and the raid must kill them.

Ysera is flying around to help handle the Nightmare Corruption.  At 95% health, she will put HALF the raid into the Emerald Dream for 3 minutes.  At 60%, the other half will become dreamers.

When you exit the Dream, ALL of your corruption will be reset to zero.

Therefore, only DREAMERS should handle the corruption-building mechanics.


PHASE ONE

* Ranged spread out

* Melee behind the boss

* Tanks will have a designated spot to go to be dispelled of Darkening Soul, a stacking DoT that explodes when dispelled.  Whoever dispells it will gain 25 corruption so ONLY Dream Healers should dispell it.  Tanks will use this drop-off point throughout the encounter.

* Two players will get targeted with Nightmare Blades. After a few seconds blades will cut across the room between these two players.  We will use two raid markers to designate a line for them to stand on between the melee and the ranged.  Leave this line empty.

* Xavius will summon a large add with a cone attack.  The Dream Tank should grab it and face it away from the raid.  Kill it quickly so players don't gain too much Corruption from its Nova.

* Ranged stay spread to avoid excessive damage and corruption caused by little lurking terrors will burst out and fixate a player.  If you are fixated, kite them.  The first player they come in contact with will cause them to detonate and apply Corruption.  Players in the Dream should intercept them.

PHASE TWO

* Collapse together

* Inconceivable Horrors will converge on the boss.  Kill these before they reach Xavius!  When they die a brownish puddle will form.  It is the Dreamers' job to soak the puddles.  If not soaked, the horrors will reform and continue toward the boss.

* Nightmare Bonds will tether two players together, but with everyone stacked this won't be a problem.  If a Dreamer out soaking a puddle gets tethered, just move together.

* Tanks will still be getting the debuff, now called Blackening Soul, and will still need to run to their designated area to be dispelled by a Dream Healer.  Once dispelled, the tank will gain a 30 second debuff called Blackened (+150% more damage taken), and will drop a puddle which will need to be soaked by a Dreamer.  Taunt when Blackened falls off so the other tank can go get dispelled.

PHASE THREE

Bloodlust and burn while staying stacked.  Nightmare Blades are back, but if targeted just step behind the group.  Ignore the tentacles and burn the boss.  Tanks keep the taunt rotation going and drop the debuff in the right spot.


BARE MINIMUM SUMMARY

* Burn the big add in Phase One
* Don't let any horrors reach the boss in Phase Two
* Burn the boss in Phase Three
* Make sure the Dreamers are the ones eating the corruption
Congratulations on a classically epic win! Maybe next time I'll be in Guardian Affinity so I have more abilities in bear than moonfire and auto-attack. XD