Usurper of Frost v2.0

This is version 2.0, that’s based off the Google Doc with two options for Light Rampant.

Changelog

  • v2.0 (3 Dec 2024): Archived Lucrezia's version (v1.0), and updated to the Google Doc:
    • Updated Diamond Dust spreads to the colour-coded strategy, with Protean baits in the first Shiva circles.
    • Updated Light Rampant 4:4 where tanks/healers swap sides instead of DPS. Tower assignments also count from MT/D1 instead of forcing a CCW rotation.
    • Flipped healer/ranged positions at mirrors during Mirror, Mirror (H1D3 on the left, facing into the arena.)
    • Added ZizieZip's Light Rampant strategy as an option.

Past versions:

There are still a few details to sort out. Look out for a poll in the Discord soon.

The boss opens the fight with Quadruple Slap on the player with most hate (which should be the MT).

Despite the name, this is actually a “two-hit” tankbuster, but the first hit applies a Physical Vulnerability Up debuff that can be Esuna’ed.

The boss then teleports slightly south of center and casts Mirror Image which summons an (untargetable) Oracle’s Reflection before casting Diamond Dust for heavy raid-wide damage.

Diamond Dust - Colour-coded

Diamond Dust resolves itself in a very similar way to Diamond Frost in Eden’s Verse: Refulgence (Savage). We resolve this using the colour-coded markers.

1. Take up the spread positions from P1.

Two tells begin at the same time:

  1. The Oracle's Reflection then readies either Axe Kick, or Scythe Kick:
    • Axe Kick ("Cleave!"): large, point-blank AoE.
    • Scythe Kick: ("Reap!"): Donut AoE.
  2. Two circles will appear opposite one another at a random cardinal or intercardinal.

(In this example, the circles spawn on cardinals.)

2. Then, either the tanks/healers or the DPS will be selected to drop AoEs.

Each pair (MTD3, STD4, H1D1, H2D2) is responsible for their quadrant

  • The players with the AoEs should be 45 degrees to a white circle.
  • The players without the AoEs should be 0 or 90 degrees to a white circle.

Swap positions within your pair if needed (i.e: Swap if the AoEs spawn on the first white circles.).

Tank/Healers dropping AoEs, Circles on a cardinal DPS dropping AoEs, Circles on a cardinal
Tank/Healers dropping AoEs, Circles on an intercardinal DPS dropping AoEs, Circles on an intercardinal

3. The Axe/Scythe Kick will also fire a cone AoE towards the four closest players.

  • If you do not have the AoE: Be one of the closest to the boss.
  • If have the AoE: Be one of the furthest to the boss.
Axe Kick Scythe Kick

3. As soon as the Axe/Scythe castbar finishes, immediately move to either dodge the first circles (if Axe Kick), or drop your puddles (if Scythe Kick).

(This step happens very quickly.)

4.Everyone comes in and stacks together in preparation for a knockback where the first circles were.

  • N to SW: MT, H1, D1, D3
  • S to NE: ST, H2, D2, D4

The Oracle's Reflection will also teleport to a random cardinal or intercardinal.

5. Knockback from the center into where the first circles were. The second circles will also resolve.

Wait here for the star AoEs to resolve.

6. Star AoEs resolve.

Identify whether the Oracle's Reflection is, as this determines how you will move in the next step:

Each group needs to move around the arena, dropping four puddles along the way such that they do not drop puddles directly behind, or opposite the boss.

Sunbound Holy

The Oracle’s Reflection then casts Sunbound Holy, which targets each healer four times with a 4-man stack AoE that also leaves a puddle behind. Each party needs to drop these puddles and end up either directly behind the boss, or at least 135 degrees away from the boss.

First, let’s address the “cursed” pattern, which is where the boss teleports directly in front of either light party.

With the "cursed pattern", move as soon as the star AoEs go off. The aim is to not drop the first Akh Morn puddle directly behind the boss (marked in yellow).

After that, quickly run clockwise 180 degrees around the arena- you need to drop four puddles and still make it to the other side.

With that out of the way, there are two methods to resolving the non-cursed scenarios:

Sunbound Holy - Always Away

While the rule of “always rotate away from the boss” does not always result in the party ending up directly opposite the boss, the movement is a consistent 90 degree turn.

If the boss is 90 degrees from a party, both parties rotate away from the boss and end up directly opposite.

If the boss is 45 degrees from a party, both parties rotate away from the boss and end up 135 degrees away from the boss.

The next movement will be slanted.

Sunbound Holy - CW priority

Alternatively, if you prefer ending up directly in front or behind the boss, then you can opt to rotate clockwise in 2/3 of the remaining cases (and anti-clockwise in the last case).

Depending on where the boss is, you can run further if needed to better position yourself directly behind or opposite the boss.

If the boss is 90 degrees from a party, both parties rotate 90 degrees clockwise.

If the boss is 45 degrees anti-clockwise from a party, then both parties rotate at least 90 degrees clockwise, and can rotate an additional 45 degrees if they want to put them directly behind the boss.

If the boss is 45 degrees clockwise from a party, then this is the only scenario where the parties run anti-clockwise.

Both parties rotate at least 90 degrees anti-clockwise, and can rotate an additional 45 degrees if they want to put them directly behind the boss.

We need the two parties to be behind or at least 135 degrees away from the Oracle’s Reflection to prepare for the next mechanic.

8. The Oracle's Reflection and Usurper of Frost will switch forms:

  • The floor will turn to ice.
  • There will be a gaze attack- look away from the Usurper of Frost.

9. The Oracle's Reflection will now ready either Twin Silence or Twin Stillness.

  • Twin Silence ("Sink into Silence!"): Move in front of the Oracle's Reflection.
  • Twin Stillness ("In stillness freeze!"): Move behind the Oracle's Reflection.
Twin Silence Twin Stillness

10. The boss will quickly follow it up with the opposite attack, so slide in/out again as necessary.

The Usurper of Frost reappears back in the center of the arena and casts Hallowed Ray on the party (which is a heavy-hitting line stack) before starting the next set of mechanics.

Mirror, Mirror

The Usurper of Frost will be targetable during this mechanic.

Two red mirrors and one blue mirror appear at the edge on any of the eight cardinal/intercardinal positions.

  • Blue mirrors copy the Usurper of Frost’s attack, resolving at the same time.
  • Red mirrors copy the Usurper of Frost’s attack, but resolves later.

  • The two red mirrors always spawn 90 degrees from one another.

11. Find the blue mirror.

  • Tanks and Melee: Bring the boss directly opposite the blue mirror.
  • Healers and Ranged: Move to the blue mirror.

12. The Usurpur of Front will ready Scythe Kick, which also fires four cone AoEs at the four closest players.

This attack will be recorded by all the mirrors, and the blue mirror's copy will resolve together with the boss.

Spread out around the boss and the mirror to avoid both Scythe Kick and the cone AoEs.

  • Tanks and Melee: Spread out in front of the boss.
  • Healers and Ranged: Spread out beside the blue mirror, making sure not to hit the other group with your cone AoEs.

When spreading, put the tanks/healers at the sides, with the DPS in between.

  • Tanks/Melee: Split left/right boss-relative.
  • Healers/Ranged: Split left/right mirror-relative (facing in).

To avoid getting hit by the Scythe Kick, either be inside the boss's targeting circle or 2 pips away from the cardinal/ intercardinal marker.

13. Move the boss to the (nearest) red mirror. (If both red mirrors are equidistant, rotate clockwise.)

The healers and ranged will go to the other red mirror.

Spread out beside the red mirrors, making sure not to hit the other group with the cone AoEs.

14. The boss will then cast Banish III. This will either be a party spread, or pair stacks depending on the number of orbs above the boss's head.

  • One floating orb: Pair stacks (MTD1, STD2, H1D3, H2D4).
  • Four floating orbs: Party spread.

Have the DPS adjust to the tanks and healers.

After this, the boss will teleport to the middle and begin another signature mechanic.

Light Rampant

Two players at random will be selected to drop AoE puddles, while the other six will get tethered together (Chains of Everlasting Light).

  • After 10 seconds, the Chains of Everlasting Light debuff will turn into Curse of Everlasting Light. From this point on, the raid wipes if the tethers get too short.

There will also be six stacks of Lightsteeped randomly distributed among the party (although no player can start with more than two stacks).

  • Resolving mechanics or getting hit by an AoE increase the stacks of Lightsteeped by one.
  • The raid wipes if any player reaches 5 stacks of Lightsteeped.

There are two main ways to resolve Light Rampant.

Light Rampant - 4:4

This is essentially a mirrored version of the strategy outlined in the Google Doc, with tanks and melee on the West instead of the East.

The main difference is that instead of rotating players in a fixed direction to make the hexagon, we count CW/CCW from MT/D1 instead. This effectively makes the party rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on whether two tank/healers or two DPS get puddles.

This is equivalent to having H2 or D4 swap over to the other side (depending on whether both puddles are on two DPS or two tanks/healers.)

15. Make two rows with tanks and healers North, and DPS South.

16. Two players at random will be selected to drop AoE puddles.

There will also be six stacks of Lightsteeped randomly distributed among the party (although no player can start with more than two stacks).

The other six players will get tethered together. The tether will likely connect to the nearest player, making a connected ring if all goes well.

Six towers will also spawn around the arena.

17. Going from west to east, count the first three connected players in the North and South sides. We assign towers based on player positions in the ring:

  • Starting from MT going clockwise, count the first three connected players:
    • 1st tether: North-East tower
    • 2nd tether: South tower
    • 3rd tether: North-West tower
  • Starting from D1 going anti-clockwise, count the first three connected players:
    • 1st tether: South-West tower
    • 2nd tether: North tower
    • 3rd tether: South-East tower

The two puddle players move far West and East (between the towers) to drop their puddles.

18. When everyone's in position, it should look like this.

It is good practice to take the tower at the edge of the arena, to avoid getting accidentally clipped by the two players dropping puddles in the center.

19. The two puddle players move straight into the center, before turning to their left, dropping five puddles in total before joining their group North and South.

The tether players wait for their towers to resolve before collapsing with their group.

20. Three white orbs will spawn in an equilateral triangle and telegraph an AoE, which you should avoid.

The timers on the two The Weight of Light debuffs will also expire, resulting in a 4-man stack.

(You may need to resolve the stack inside the telegraph if needed.)

21. The tethers will disappear.

Move into the first set of explosions as another three white orbs will spawn in the previously unoccupied spots and telegraph an AoE. Simply avoid these.

A 4-man tower will spawn in the center of the arena.

22. The second set of orbs explode.

Check how many stacks of Lightsteeped you have.

23. We now resolve the 4-man tower in the middle.

  • Players with 2 stacks of Lightsteeped: Enter the tower.

Everybody else move to your clock positions around the tower.

24. The boss will then cast Banish III again. Just like before, this will either be a party spread, or pair stacks depending on the number of orbs above the boss's head.

  • One floating orb: Pair stacks (MTD3, STD4, H1D1, H2D2).
  • Four floating orbs: Party spread (stay in your clock positions).

Have the DPS adjust to the tanks and healers.

(In this example, the boss is doing pair stacks.)

25. Finally, the boss becomes targetable again and starts casting The House of Light, which cleaves all players and gives a stack of Lightsteeped.

Spread out in your standard clock positions to resolve this.

Light Rampant - ZizieZip

This is a different method to assigning towers, which is equally viable. The party is more spaced out at the start, making it easier to identify the puddle players.

15. Take up your clock positions.

16. Two players at random will be selected to drop AoE puddles.

There will also be six stacks of Lightsteeped randomly distributed among the party (although no player can start with more than two stacks).

The other six players will get tethered together. The tether will likely connect to the nearest player, making a connected ring if all goes well.

Six towers will also spawn around the arena.

17. Starting from North (where the MT is) and going clockwise, count up the tethered players. We assign towers based on player positions in the ring:

  • 1st tether: North tower
  • 2nd tether: South tower
  • 3rd tether: North-West tower
  • 4th tether: North-East tower
  • 5th tether: South-West tower
  • 6th tether: South-East tower

(Think of this as a letter "I", followed by a "Z".)

The two puddle players move West and East (around the inner ring on the floor) to drop their puddles.

18. When everyone's in position, it should look like this.

It is good practice to take the tower at the edge of the arena, to avoid getting accidentally clipped by the two players dropping puddles in the center.

19. The two puddle players will rotate clockwise, dropping five puddles in total before joining their group roughly NNW and SSE.

The tether players wait for their towers to resolve before collapsing with their group NNW and SSE.

Note that the SW and NE towers rotate clockwise, essentially flipping their North/South halves.

20. Three white orbs will spawn in an equilateral triangle and telegraph an AoE, which you should avoid.

The timers on the two The Weight of Light debuffs will also expire, resulting in a 4-man stack.

(You may need to resolve the stack inside the telegraph if needed.)

21. The tethers will disappear.

Move into the first set of explosions as another three white orbs will spawn in the previously unoccupied spots and telegraph an AoE. Simply avoid these.

A 4-man tower will spawn in the center of the arena.

22. The second set of orbs explode.

Check how many stacks of Lightsteeped you have.

23. The last few steps are the same as before.

We now resolve the 4-man tower in the middle.

  • Players with 2 stacks of Lightsteeped: Enter the tower.

Everybody else move to your standard clock positions around the tower.

24. The boss will then cast Banish III again. Just like before, this will either be a party spread, or pair stacks depending on the number of orbs above the boss's head.

  • One floating orb: Pair stacks (MTD3, STD2, H1D1, H2D4).
  • Four floating orbs: Party spread (stay in your clock positions).

Have the DPS adjust to the tanks and healers.

(In this example, the boss is doing pair stacks.)

25. Finally, the boss becomes targetable again and starts casting The House of Light, which cleaves all players and gives a stack of Lightsteeped.

Spread out in your standard clock positions to resolve this.

A few seconds later, the boss will start to cast Absolute Zero. This will serve as the hard enrage, unless the boss is brought under 20.0% HP.

If the DPS check is met, Absolute Zero will be a raid-wide and a knockback instead, so stay near the middle.


Endless Ice Age

This is the mini “transition” phase.

26. Pre-position for Absolute Zero's knockback.

Note the spread positions here are different.

27. Four Crystals of Light and four Crystals of Darkness appear as shown in the diagram.

The objective is to destroy the Ice Veil in the middle that's casting Endless Ice Age without destroying the four Crystals of Darkness.

However, while the Ice Veil is targetable, it is immune to damage while there is a Crystal of Light on the arena.

The healers/ranged DPS should help their tank/melee partner destroy the Crystal of Light in their sector first.

28. The tanks and melee DPS manage the Crystals of Light:

  • The Crystals of Light will periodically target the nearest player with a circle AoE.
  • They will later tether to the nearest player- that player will then drop puddle AoEs that stay around.

The healers and ranged DPS manage the Crystals of Darkness:

  • The Crystals of Darkness will periodically aim a cone AoE at the nearest player. If this AoE hits a Crystal of Light, the Crystal of Light gains a buff that reduces damage taken, so aim them away.
  • Help your tank/melee partner destroy their Crystal of Light.

To avoid hitting other players, have everyone bait their first set of AoEs skewed clockwise (to the left, facing in), and alterate between left and right.

29. Bait the second set of AoEs skewed anti-clockwise (to the right, facing in).

30. On the third set of telegraphed AoEs, the Crystals of Light will tether to the nearest player.

31. On the fourth set of telegraphed AoEs, the tethered players will start dropping puddles that stay on the arena.

Stepping into these puddles will inflict a lethal Bleed on you.

32. Bait these puddles around the Crystal.

Note that even after the Crystals of Light have been destroyed, the Crystals of Darkness are still on the arena, and the cone AoEs still need to be properly baited.

Once the four Crystals of Light have been destroyed, all party members should destroy the Ice Veil.

If all four Crystals of Darkness are still alive, Gaia will gain enough power (“My power surges!) to deal 50.0% damage to the Ice Veil just before Endless Ice Age resolves. As a result, the damage check is to get the Ice Veil below 50.0% HP.


Frequently Asked Questions

[Light Rampant] What prevents both stacks from being on the same side?

The two stacks are always tethered together.

Because connected players alternate between North and South, this results in one stack North, and one stack South.

[Crystals] What happens if you destroy the Dark Crystals?

Nothing immediate happens, and you can still progress through the fight.

However, the Fragment of Fate in P4 only spawns if the Dark Crystals are still alive.

Without the Fragment of Fate, you can still progress through to the end of P4, but you will get the "bad ending" where Eden's Promise spawns and wipes the raid.


Troubleshooting

[General] We can't meet the DPS check during the Crystals phase!

The crystals phase can be made significantly easier if you hold damage, and kill Fatebreaker towards the end of his enrage cast.

This will synchronise your 2-minute burst with the start of the crystals phase, which should get you past the DPS check.

(You should also use your second pots as soon as you can in the crystals phase for them to be back up in P4.)

[Diamond Dust] Any tips for aiming my slide on a controller during Twin Silence/Stillness?

For context, this is a problem specific to playing on a controller.

Keyboards don't have this problem because pressing "W" moves your character perfectly forward. On a controller, pushing the analogue stick forward will not be perfect, so that slight deviation may be enough to get you killed.

Something that might help would be to set up a macro like so:

/automove on
/automove off

This will make your character take one tiny step directly forward where your camera is facing.


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