Darkening Deeps (Master)

= Bosses =

Alchemist Braxtepel
Unlike expert mode you cannot go left up the pathway and clear out all the NPC and alleviate the added pressure of bombs being dropped on you on the way down to Braxtepel.

Alchemist Braxtepel is pretty much the same as expert mode. You’ll have to clear out the first two adds first, avoid ground damage effects and clerics will have to purge debuffs from players. Once the adds are done you can confront Braxtepel which is pretty much a tank and spank fight. Just avoid the bad stuff on the ground. The difference is that in Master Mode the ground AOE fire does not go away, and the boss will enter the encounter on a timer, regardless of whether the adds are down.

The boss drops the fire AoE on his two adds, so your tank should be able to place them around the outside of the room and out of the way. The AoE stacks buffs on the adds when they are standing in it, so be sure to move them out of it. When he is low on health, he will run to the corner and drink a potion which gives him a 75% damage buff for the rest of the fight.

Emissary Villizar
Unknown name# This attack knocks back a random player and stuns them.

Radiating Pain - This is a DoT that deals damage to the player and any others around them.

Entwined Pain - This is a wipe mechanic that must be avoided. Failing to do so will result in ~75k damage to all members of your group. Two players will receive the 12 seconds debuff and a mark above their heads. Both of their names will also appear in chat. Players that have the debuff must touch each other (stack on top of each other) to prevent the wipe. Any other players that touch these two will be killed.

Strategy - Because of both Radiating Pain and Entwined Pain, have your group stay about 5 meters away from each other. More space than 5 meters will make Entwined Pain take longer to deal with. Your tank should turn the boss sideways, so that both your tank and any melee characters are visible to the rest of the group. Everyone should watch for the mark above their heads, and immediately run to make contact with the other marked player, while avoiding everyone else. It is possible that one of the marked players will be stunned, so both players should make the effort to touch each other.

Michael Bringhurst
This fight is quite like expert mode. If you’re not familiar on how to spawn this fight, there is an NPC in a cage on the left side of the cave when you enter. Talk to him to trigger the fight.

Once Michael Binghurst turns into a werewolf, the tank will have to slowly bring him back out of the light. When Michael is in the light he will be more powerful and do more damage. He will eventually cast an AOE fear that you won’t be able to avoid and he will run back into the center of the light. You must repeat this cycle until he dies. The addition to Master Mode is that he will summon a glowing dome in the shaded part either by the door or by the enterance, a player must run into it and become a werewolf when it spawns or Michael will leap into it and get the buff mostly likely killing your tank and then your group.

Tegenar Deepfang
This fight can be difficult for those either not prepared or without the right specs. The tank must be able to pick up a large amount of adds, AOE specs are quite useful and necessary and you will definitely need a second healer for this fight.

When the fight starts it will be a simple tank and spank. Tegenar will eventually “eye” someone and they will turn into a cocoon. All players must immediately attack the cocoon to free that player. If it happens to the healer, then issues may occur.

Also Tegenar will also summon a bunch of small adds and one medium add the tank will need to collect. Gather them up on the boss and AOE them down.

The best strategy for this fight is to bring a ton of AOE damage. Everyone should stack up behind the boss so the tank can easily gather the adds and players can AOE them and damage the boss at the same time. If a player is cocooned the AOE damage will help also. Even outside the AOE phases, if your group is melee heavy, then staying close together will save DPS time from having to run across the room.

Glubmuk
In Master Mode this is now a DPS race. Glubmuk has two abilities. He has a cleave that is pretty nasty and he will also summon a green dome, anyone standing in it will take damage and once the dome goes away an add will spawn. This will happen twice. A blue-green wall will spawn at the start of the fight back by the entrance to the council chambers and move towards the group, you must kill the boss before the wall gets to you.

Essentially you need to watch your feet and make sure you’re not standing in anything bad and DPS down the boss. There isn’t much else to worry about.

Tanking him back in the corner makes it difficult to see the adds spawning. I recommend tanking him angled toward the side wall to avoid his cleave, with your group on the other side or behind him. Once you have both adds, it is safe to bring him back to the corner.

Gedlo Concave
This fight is much like it is in expert. As you kill the members the remaining member(s) gain the dead one's abilities. The most common tactic is to kill the Shaman, the Incinerator, and then the Warlord. If you have purges, you can kill the Incinerator first to avoid his seas of fire AoEs. There is also a 4 min 30 sec enrage timer.

Scarn
Group setup:
 * Tank
 * 2 DPS (At least 1 should be ranged)
 * Healer
 * Support (Bards should use Anthem of Defiance)

Overview
A few new abilities are added to this fight for master mode. During air phase, all group members will be affected by Burning Smoke, which deals damage to any group members near them. The heat index deals significantly more damage, and will be the source of most of your wipes. Ignited bone piles also spawn adds, which can ignite more bone piles (which increases heat index and spawns even more adds). Although the adds move slowly, you should not run from them. Doing so will cause them to chase you and ignite more bone piles as they move.

Abilities

 * Flaming Breath: Ends ground phase. Channeled ability that deals high fire damage in a cone in front.  Boss is rooted while casting.  Tank should move out of the breath.  Ignites bone piles.
 * Tail Cleave: Cast during ground phase.  Deals damage to anyone behind the boss.  Melee DPS should stand beside the boss
 * Burning Smoke: Cast at the beginning of air phase.  Deals damage to any group members who are close to other group members.  Group should stay spread out during air phase.
 * Ground AoE: Cast three times during air phase.  Deals damage and fears (cleansable) anyone inside.  Feared group members will run across the room, igniting any bones piles they pass.  Ignites bone piles.
 * Heat Index: Deals constant group damage for every bone pile that is ignited.  Must be kept low.

Ground Phase
Scarn begins the fight in his ground phase and comes back to it after every air phase. This phase is a simple tank and spank. Have your tank place his back to the wall between the entrance and the first green stripe on the ground (going toward where Skarn begins). Using this position will prevent Skarn from spawning any adds with his attacks during the ground phase. Melee DPS should be beside Scarn to avoid his tail cleave. Like all dragons, his hit box is big. Scarn will always begin his air phase after casting Flaming Breath. Your tank should move out of the Flaming Breath as soon as he sees it, as Scarn will not move once he begins casting it.

Air phase
Begin dealing with air phase as soon you see Flaming Breath. On Expert difficulty, most groups would run around during the air phase to ensure they would not be hit by a ground AoE. Because of Scarn's new abilities, however, you MUST NOT run around during master mode's air phase. Moving around will cause you to have a higher heat index, more adds, and a higher chance of killing a group member with Burning Smoke. Instead, when you see Flaming Breath, all group members should find a spot against a wall, away from other members. The spots you choose should have as few bone piles around them as possible. There are at least two spots in the room where an AoE can drop without hitting any bone piles. One spot is against the wall on the green stripe directly across from where Scarn begins (although it looks like there are bone piles there), and the other is against the wall two green stripes clockwise. Please add any other spots you find. Continue casting while staring at the ground under your feet. If you see the ground AoE, you must move immediately! Failure to move out will fear you and can easily cause a wipe (from high heat index). If you find you do not have time to move out of the AoE before you are feared, it is because you are too close to Scarn. Pick a spot farther away. Scarn will begin his air phase by casting Burning Smoke, then three AoEs before returning to ground phase. Your ranged DPS must watch for the ground AoEs to know where adds will likely spawn, and kill them quickly. Your ranged DPS's first priority should be killing adds.

= Loot =