Shadowcaster Zeless Gah - Infern Brand 1
Upon pulling the boss, the boss will auto attack twice into Show of Strength, which is a raidwide. Each of these raidwides occur roughly every 90 seconds, so feel free to commit your 90 second mitigations to deal with that.
After dealing with the raidwide, the boss will cast its first iteration of the Infern Brand.
Infern Brand 1
The boss will summon four portals, two north and two south, with a fireball attached to one end. Just like in variant, the fireball will teleport to the other end of the portal it is connected to once some time passes, after which the fireball will explode in a big AoE. The big twist however, quite literally, is that the boss will now also cast Cryptic Portal, which makes all portals spin either clockwise or counterclockwise by 90 degrees. On top of that, the boss combines this with an AoE attack of its own through Firesteel Strike, in which the boss will attack two random players with a big AoE that yeets anyone else into the lava pool if they are caught in the blast.
Cryptic Portal
First, split up your party in two groups of two players, and assign the groups north and south of the arena. If you're playing with a JP party, then the north group will be tank/healer and south group will be the DPS. For EN parties, north will consist of tank/melee DPS, while south would be healer/ranged DPS.
Once you've split up, your focus should be focusing on your own set of portals while ignoring whatever happens on the other side of the arena. There are three key patterns to look for in this mechanic. Although six patterns exists in total, the remaining three are the same as the key patterns but mirrored. The key to identifying the safe zone, which is the area that won't be blown up by a fireball, is by paying attention to which way the vertical teleporter spins. You do not want to go to the side which the spinner spins towards, because thats the area where the majority of the fireballs will explode.
| Vertical portal spins counterclockwise The right side is safe! | Vertical portal spins clockwise The left side is safe! |
|---|---|
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The core idea of finding the safe side works for all patterns. Once you've recognized the patterns, finding the safe zone should become second nature.
Do notice that the last pattern is slightly different, which I'll be referring to as the cursed pattern. You can recognize the cursed pattern immediately by checking whether both of the following is true:
- Both spinners are the same color.
- A starting fireball is close to the side that is considered safe.
Firesteel Strike
Unfortunately, identifying the safe zone alone is not sufficient, because the boss will now attack two random players with a Firesteel Strike. This attack deals a large AoE on impact and getting caught in the blast of another player will send you flying, likely into the lava. This means that after you have identified the safe zone, the working pair must now spread out in order to avoid the possibility that the attack will clip other players.
Now here's where the strategy differs depending on whether you're playing with an EN party or a JP party. Knowing the difference is important, because these two strategies are not compatible. If you're not 100% sure which one your party is doing, then make sure this is properly communicated and agreed on beforehand.
- EN Spread Positions
- Mana/game8 Spread Positions
- Green: Standard spread position for support.
- Yellow: Standard spread position for DPS, but becomes support spread position in cursed patterns.
- Red: Spread position for DPS in cursed patterns.
Keep in mind of the priority system once the safe zone has been identified. The DPS always gets inner while the supports always take the outer spread positions. If you need some reference for the spread positions, then remember, there are lines on the floor.
Below are some examples you can reference on to give you an idea as to how it goes in practice.
| Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 | Example 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
- Red 1: Standard spread position for tank/melee DPS.
- Red 2: Alternative spread position for tank/melee DPS in cursed patterns.
- Green 1: Standard spread position for healer/ranged DPS.
- Green 2: Alternative spread position for healer/ranged DPS in cursed patterns.
There is no priority system involved here, as each player are given two spread positions which they can utilize. As melee, you are either squeezed in between two portals or above the horizontal portal that is sticking out. The ranged players have it even easier, as they either have to hug the corner or stand on waymark B or D.
Below are some examples you can reference on to give you an idea as to how it goes in practice.
| Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 | Example 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
Blessed Beacon
The mechanic is not over yet. During the last mechanic, two random players were attacked with Firesteel Strike, which inflicted a magic vulnerability on them. Those two same players will now be targeted with Blessed Beacon, which is a wild charge line AoE that oneshots the vulnerable players if they take it head on.
Identify immediately who the two players are that got jumped by the Firesteel Strike. The players with the debuff should split up in groups of two. The players who did not get jumped should split up as well and have one of each stand in front of the players with a debuff in order to soak the direct hit of the Blessed Beacon.
Keep in mind that the two players getting jumped is completely random. You will always prioritize partnering up with the same partner you had in the last mechanic, but the chance exists that thats not possible. If you see either both players at north or both players at south getting jumped, then immediately be prepared to flex around. For EN parties, this means tank/healer and D1/D2 are now the new partners. In case of JP parties, then there is no strict priority for this unless it is explicitly specified in the macro, so be prepared to adjust on the fly.
| Example 1 One player at each side is jumped, default partners! | Example 2 Both players at north are jumped, the party has to adjust! |
|---|---|
Blessed Beacon (invuln cheese)
In order to resolve Blessed Beacon properly, all four players must be alive and only two players may have the magic vulnerability. If Firesteel Strike was not resolved cleanly, then you will not be able to resolve Blessed Beacon without casualties... unless you cheese it.
The way you cheese this mechanic is very simple. Simply have the tank use their invulnerability and stand in front of the boss, while everyone else lines up behind the tank. Below is an example of said cheese being executed, because one player was thrown into the lava and has burned to death as a result.
Keep in mind that Blessed Beacon happens twice throughout the fight, so cheesing this one means that you will have to deal with the 2nd one the intended way. PFs will always assume that the tank will cheese the 2nd one, but they can adjust if necessary in case the tank is forced to use their invuln here for whatever reason.
Firesteel Fracture
Once everything is done and over, the boss will use Firesteel Fracture on the player with the highest enmity, which is hopefully the tank. This is a large conal AoE tankbuster, so make sure that this is not aimed anywhere near your party members.
After taking the tankbuster, the tank should try and drag the boss back to the middle. While not necessary, pulling the boss back to the middle will help the melee with their uptime during the next mechanic.