Gaia and Shiva (WIP)

This is version 1.0, that uses the vertical spread Darklit Dragonsong strat, and anti-KB for Crystallize Time.

Details may be missing, or subject to change until I have better first-hand experience.

• Darklit Dragonsong - Vertical spreads
• Crystallize Time - fast pop, anti-kb
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Usurper of Frost will respawn at either North or South, whichever is further from where The Oracle of Darkness was defeated.

Make sure the two tanks have first and second aggro on the Usurper of Frost- her auto-attacks hit the top two players in aggro.

Fragment of Fate

The Usurper of Frost casts Materialization, which spawns the Fragment of Fate North.

Over the course of the phase, the Fragment of Fate will take damage. Assuming no player hits it with an AoE, it will survive with barely any HP.

This means that if it takes any extra damage (e.g: from a player’s AoE, or a poorly aimed Spirit Taker), the phase becomes impossible to clear (although you’ll still be able to get practice in.)

1. Pull the Usurper of Frost to the middle of the arena.
2. Gather in the center. The Usurper of Frost will transform into its dragon form ("Come to me, Hraesvelgr!")
3. When the boss transforms, it baits Akh Rhai AoEs where each player was standing. Since the party was stacked together, simply move out when the boss transforms into your starting positions for Darklit Dragonsong.

The Oracle of Darkness then respawns (everyone should swap over to target her) and the two bosses begin their first mechanic (make sure the ST has aggro on the Oracle of Darkness).

Darklit Dragonsong - Vertical spreads

4. Line up on the East and West sides, with the tanks/melee towards the south. Two sets of debuffs come out: One tank, one healer, and two DPS each get Refulgent Chain tethers. Two random players get Dark Water III. One player will have both tethers and Water.

To resolve the tethers, we have to make a “bowtie” shape- this is the same as how Light Rampant was solved in Eden’s Verse- Refulgence.

To summarise, the tethered healer will always go North. For everybody else:

• If you are tethered to a healer: Go south.
• If you are tethered, but not to a healer: Go north.

5. This is the best case scenario, where the tethers already make a bowtie. No adjustments are needed- the north-most tether players go to the North tower, and the south-most tether players go to the South tower.
If the tethers make a box, then the DPS players swap positions: Tank/Healers stay the same as if the tethers made the "bowtie": North-most tether: Go to the North-side tower. South-most tether: Go to the South-side tower. DPS swap positions: North-most tether: Go to the South-side tower. South-most tether: Go to the North-side tower.
If the tethers make an hourglass, then everybody rotates clockwise: Tanks and healers go to the North-side tower. DPS go to the South-side tower.

With the tethers sorted out, the next thing we need to do is separate the two Dark Water III debuffs.

6. If the two Dark Water III debuffs are on different sides (North vs. South), then no further adjustments need to be made. If the Dark Water III debuffs are either both North, or both South, then the Water player and their partner swap sides. Do this before the towers resolve. (In this example, since both Water debuffs are in the North group, the non-tether Water (H1) and their partner (MT) switch places.)
7. The tethered players take the two towers, while the Usurper of Frost readies The Path of Light, which cleaves the four closest players- these should be the four non-tethered players.
8. Move a little bit south, and spread out around both bosses. Do not spread too close to the Fragment of Fate!
9. The Oracle of Darkness targets a random player for Spirit Taker. Ideally, she should not move much.
10. The Usurper of Frost will then use Hallowed Wings, which will cleave either the West or East half of the arena. The Water III debuffs will also resolve roughly at the same time, so stack up on the safe half of the arena.
11. The Oracle of Darkness targets the furthest player for Somber Dance. This is actually a two-hit tankbuster, first targeting the furthest player, then targeting the closest player. However, unlike the Savage version, both hits can be taken by the same player, which we do with tank invulnerability. Some notes though: This cannot be taken by a PLD, as they will need Hallowed Ground for the final phase. This can be taken by a GNB, but they will not have Superbolide available for the first Wings Dark and Light in the final phase. Everybody else gather together underneath where the Oracle of Darkness was to prevent accidentally baiting the Somber Dance.

The two bosses will then teleport a bit West and East of the center for Akh Morn into Morn Afah.

12. The two bosses target whoever has their hate with a 4-hit Akh Morn (which should be their respective tanks). West: MT, H1, D1, D3 (under Usurper of Frost) East: ST, H2, D2, D4 (under Oracle of Darkness)

Morn Afah is also a boss HP check, and the two bosses must be within 5% HP of each other, or Morn Afah will be lethal. If they are not within 5% HP, the two bosses will tether together indicating which boss has too much HP.

• White tether: The Usurper of Frost has too much HP.
• Purple tether: The Oracle of Darkness has too much HP.

Crystallize Time - fast pop, anti-kb

This is probably the hardest part of the encounter, so hang in there.

Six hourglasses will spawn this time, and the Oracle of Darkness will tether:

• The North and South hourglasses with yellow tethers.
• Two of the remaining opposite hourglasses with purple tethers.

The party will also get a bunch of debuffs to resolve.

[Click to Expand] Crystallize Time debuffs

Two dragon heads spawn North, and circle the arena- one clockwise, one anti-clockwise.

Wyrmclaw Wyrmclaw and Wyrmfang randomly split the party into two groups of four. When a player with Wyrmclaw runs into the dragon head, it: Removes the Wyrmclaw debuff. Explodes in a large AoE (12-yalm radius). Leaves behind a small puddle. The dragon head will leave the arena after the second red Wyrmclaw is fed. If two red Wyrmclaw debuffs are not fed to the dragon head by the time it finishes its loop, it explodes and wipes the raid.

Wyrmfang Wyrmfang and Wyrmclaw randomly split the party into two groups of four. This debuff will kill the player when the timer expires. To cleanse the debuff, stand on a puddle left behind when a dragon head runs into a player with the red Wyrmclaw debuff.

With that out of the way, there are two more debuffs added in addition to all the previously encountered Spell-in-Waiting debuffs.

	Spell-in-Waiting: Dark Aero III When the debuff expires, a large point-blank AoE centered on the player resolves. Any other player hit by this AoE gets knocked across the arena away from the Aero player.
	Spell-in-Waiting: Quietus Three players will have this debuff. Raid-wide damage goes off when this debuff expires (30s).

Four players will get the red Wyrmclaw debuff: Two will also have a Dark Blizzard III Two will also have a Dark Aero III The Blizzard players will stand East and West, between the hourglasses: West: H1 H2 MT ST D1 D2 D3 D4 :East The Aero players will stand South-West and South-East, at the intercardinal mark: South-West: H1 H2 MT ST D1 D2 D3 D4 :South-East

Four players will get the blue Wyrmfang debuff: One will also have Dark Eruption. One will also have Dark Water III. One will also have Dark Blizzard III. One will also have Unholy Darkness. Identify the purple tether. Only the blue player with Dark Eruption goes to the North-side intercardinal mark with the purple tether. Everybody else joins the red Aero player at the South-side intercardinal mark with the purple tether. Keep the red Aero player as the closest player to the edge. (In this example, the purple tether stretches NW to SE, so the Dark Eruption player goes NW, and all other blue players move SE.)

Once all players have taken up their initial positions, we can begin to resolve the sea of mechanics.

13. The yellow-tethered hourglasses (North and South) resolve. The two red Aeros, and all the south-side blue players move into the explosion, and stand at the tip of the "flower petal" decal on the floor. The south-side blue players and the red Aero need to stack together closely, with the red Aero closest to the edge of the arena.
14. The dragon heads reach the E/W red Ice players around the same time the debuffs resolve. The blue Eruption moves down slightly (this is to hedge against the nearer red Ice being late.) The red Ice player closest to the blue Eruption moves North to join them. The red Ice player furthest from the blue Eruption moves a little south of the East/West mark. The south-side blue players should get knocked over to the other side of the arena. The two red Aeros step off the flower petal into the south sector. The players getting knocked back by the Aero AoE may want to aim a little towards the East/West instead of directly across to make sure they make it to the upcoming stack in time.
15. The second set of hourglasses explode together with the blue player with Unholy Darkness. All players in the stack move to the North sector when the stack resolves. The two red Aeros move SW and SE after the hourglasses explode to prepare to intercept the dragon heads. The red Ice player that was not in the stack crosses over the E/W flower petal to the North side after the hourglass explodes.
16. The red Aeros intercept the dragon heads. At this point, all the red Wyrmclaw debuffs have been resolved. The red Aero players go back to the South sector after taking their dragon heads. A travelling line telegraph appears either along the West or East side of the arena, where the lone red Ice player may be. If the telegraph appears on the same side as the red Ice player, don't panic and just prepare to dodge into it when it goes off. Note which side the telegraph started on (East or West).
17. The third set of hourglasses resolve together with the first line AoE. Depending on where you are, position yourself to dodge into either the first or second line AoE (there will be telegraphs for both). The objective is to end up on the side where the line originated from.
18. Now that all three pairs of hourglasses have resolved, the blue debuff players now go out to the puddles left behind to cleanse their debuff. Each blue player has an assigned puddle to take: Dark Eruption: Take the West puddle. Blizzard III: Take the South-West puddle. Water III: Take the South-East puddle. Unholy Darkness: Take the East puddle.
19. A second line telegraph now appears, this time either North or South. Note which side this telegraph started on (North or South).
20. Position yourselves to dodge the second line AoE. The objective is to end up in the corner where both line AoEs originated from (North-East in this example). At this point, all blue players should have cleansed their debuff.
21. Dodge the second horizontal line AoE. This is the last line AoE you can dodge and still make it to the corner in time for the rewind (barring abilities like Shukuchi or En Avant).
22. Gather together towards the corner where both line AoEs originated from and start forming up.
23. Make two groups in the corner. MT, H1, D1, D3: Left-side, facing outside. ST, H2, D2, D4: Right-side, facing outside. The party needs to make two groups such that: The tanks are closest to the edge. There is a clear N/S and E/W split between the two groups. Everybody records their position in this formation. A Quietus raid-wide will also go off shortly before everybody's positions are recorded.
24. After recording your position, spread out for Spirit Taker on a random player. Spread out in your regular spread positions, except the MT, who goes to the middle of the arena instead (because of the Fragment of Fate). When the Oracle of Darkness does her Spirit Taker attack, everybody use Arm's Length/Surecast.
25. The rewind resolves, and the Usurper of Frost casts Hallowed Wings from the side where the first line AoE came from. The party gets knocked back half the arena, which is blocked by Arm's Length/Surecast. The first four members hit get a Magic Vulnerability debuff. The first player hit also takes extra damage (which should be a tank).
26. The second Hallowed Wings resolves, this time from North or South (wherever the second line AoE came from). The party will get knocked back half the arena.

The two bosses will reappear around the center of the arena and immediately start another 4-hit Akh Morn into Morn Afah sequence (where the two bosses have to be within 5% HP of each other).

Both bosses will then start casting their respective enrages (Absolute Zero and Memory’s End).

When both bosses are defeated, you will advance to the next arena. If the Fragment of Fate is not around, Eden’s Promise will spawn and wipe the raid. If, on the other hand, the Fragment of Fate is still alive, then the party advances to the final phase.

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Frequently Asked Questions

[Darklit Dragonsong] Why vertical spreads (groups E/W) instead of horizontal (groups N/S)?

There are a number of problems with lining up horizontally North/South, which are solved by lining up vertically instead. The Oracle of Darkness spawns south. However, if the tanks are North, then the ST has to step out of formation in order to maintain aggro for the upcoming Akh Morn, potentially confusing the rest of the party. The Oracle of Darkness also spawns a significant amount of time after the Usurper of Frost, and their HP needs to be equalised before the first Morn Afah. However, with the tanks North, they are unable to help without breaking formation.

[Darklit Dragonsong] Why do we rotate instead of just swapping the tank and the North-most DPS?

With the two bosses in the way, it's quite annoying to look at the other side- rotating means that all adjustments are contained to your side of the bosses. Rotating also allows both DPS to rotate into the Oracle of Darkness in the event of an hourglass, which is an advantage because the Oracle of Darkness will have higher HP at the time, so it's better to have DPS on her instead of a tank. Not having players cross over to the other side also means that it's easier for the non-tether Water player to adjust.

[Darklit Dragonsong] How close can you get before the tethers snap?

The tethers break at around 8 yalms.

[Akh Morn] Does Akh Morn ignore the raise invuln?

Yes, it does!

[Morn Afah] Can you invuln Morn Afah?

No, you cannot- Morn Afah ignores tank invulnerabilities.