M4S - Bewitching Flight
Upon pulling Wicked Thunder, it is recommended that the MT pulls the boss immediately to north because she will teleport there anyway later. Pulling her north immediately minimizes downtime for melees, so make your party happy with this small movement tech. Once pulled, the boss will cast Wrath of Zeus, which is very heavy hitting raidwide. Resolve it as usual and after dealing with the raidwide, the boss will create wings and teleport to the north of the arena, signaling her first sets of major mechanics.
Bewitching Flight
Upon teleporting north, the boss will spawn cubes on the western part of the arena that will shoot horizontally in a straight line. At the same time, the boss herself will light up her wings with the intention of running these lasers through the party once she casts Bewitching Flight. The cubes on the west side of the map will simultaneously fire a laser while she is dashing, which will hit anyone who wasn't paying attention.
Identify where the cubes are and don't stand in its line of fire. Then, identify where the lasers are on the wings of the boss and avoid staying in the same column as the lasers that are protruding out of her.
After the boss has dashed through the middle, notice that there are purple lines that were left behind from the lasers. These lines will glow up soon in a random order and explode in a line AoE, which means you now have to be on alert as to which lines are glowing first. Fortunately, unlike the normal mode version, these lines are grouped and there are only two possible patterns that you have to look out for.
| Outside first The middle three lines are glowing | Inside first The lines on the edges are glowing |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
Now, this would be really simple if this is the only thing you have to worry about, but unfortunately, this is a savage fight. While you are worrying about which lines are going to glow first, the boss has prepared all the following attacks that you have to deal with:
- Another set of cubes spawns at the eastern side of the arena which will shoot laser beams in a horizontal line.
- A cube up north will shoot a laser down in a straight line to prevent players from being too close to the center in the inside first pattern.
- Electrifying Witch Hunt is a role based AoE attack that targets four players, forcing all players to spread out.
- Witch Hunt attacks four closest/farthest players, depending on which one the boss targets.
- Players who were hit by Electrifying Witch Hunt do not want to get hit by this attack as it would be fatal.
| Boss targets farthest players | Boss targets closest players |
|---|---|
 |  |
Now that all the attacks have been broken down, it is now time to solve it.
| After dodging Bewitching Flight, immediately look at east and identify where the cubes are. Your camera should be positioned in a way that also allows you to identify which lines are starting to glow. In this example, the three lines in the middle are starting to glow, so this is your cue to immediately run out to the sides. Make sure to spread out, because the boss is also casting Electrifying Witch Hunt at this moment. |  |
| Use the same vertical lineup used in M2S to spread out. Electrifying Witch Hunt attacks all supports, inflicting a forked lightning debuff on them. This debuff will inflict another AoE on the targeted players once the debuff expires, so keep yourself spread from others while you're moving back in. |  |
| The boss casts Witch Hunt and telegraphs that it will attack the farthest players. All supports were hit by Electrifying Witch Hunt, so they must get close to the boss while the DPS gets as far as they can. In this case, D1/D2 must switch place with H1/H2. Make sure to stay inside the middle lane in order to avoid getting hit by the explosions at the sides. Witch Hunt and the forked lightning will now resolve without the attacks clipping any other party member if done properly. |   |
The sequence of attacks is very fast paced, so it will take some practice before you will get used to it. Luckily, this is still around the start of the fight.
| Example 1 Out first, DPS far bait | Example 2 In first, DPS close bait | Example 3 Out first, Support far bait |
|---|---|---|
Widening/Narrowing Witch Hunt
After resolving the initial barrage of attacks, the boss will now cast either Widening Witch Hunt or Narrowing Witch Hunt. These attacks combine chariot/donut with the witch hunt mechanic, which is also telegraphed on the boss while she is casting the attack. The attacks happen in sets of 4, and the attacks alternate between each sets from donut to chariot and vice versa, and farthest to closest targets, and vica versa:
- Widening Witch Hunt: Out first, Chariot > Donut > Chariot > Donut
- Narrowing Witch hunt: In first, Donut > Chariot > Donut > Chariot
At the same time, Witch Hunt will target two players every set that meets the criteria of farthest/closest, attacking in total of eight times that needs to be split among the party.
This mechanic is a bit tricky, because the witch hunts order is not dependent on whether its in or out first. The boss can cast Widening Witch Hunt in combination with either a closest or a farthest telegraph, which means that there are 4 different combinations that can happen while doing this mechanic. On the bright side, a strategy exists that streamlines this process which allows you to focus on either going in first or out first.
DN's Witch Hunt
Team DN came up with a strategy that involves fixing the movements of the party, which allows the party to ignore whether the witch hunts are farthest or closest. If everyone follows the same movements, then the witch hunts will naturally spread across the party. To be clear, this is not a braindead strategy, but it makes the process of solving the mechanic easier.
Similarly to Wingwan in M3S, the melee DPS and the healer clockspots are swapped in this strategy.
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Identify your clockspot and use the reference below to find out how your movement will be, depending on whether its in first or out first.
| Widening Witch Hunt (out first) | Narrowing Witch Hunt (in first) |
|---|---|
 |  |
If everyone does their movements correctly, then the order of pairs being attacked by witch hunt should be as follows:
- Closest: Tanks > Healer > Melee > Ranged
- Farthest: Healer > Tanks > Ranged > Melee
Doing the fixed movement should allow the witch hunt to resolve naturally regardless of the witch hunt proximity, but feel free to use your own method of solving if you understand the mechanic and this strategy enough to optimize in it. The most important detail is that everyone does not get hit a second time by the witch hunt. And finally, do not try to cheese this mechanic through tank invulnerability, because the witch hunt clones will just ignore it.
| Widening Witch Hunt (out first) Witch Hunt farthest first | Widening Witch Hunt (out first) Witch Hunt closest first |
|---|---|
| Narrowing Witch Hunt (in first) Witch Hunt farthest first | Narrowing Witch Hunt (in first) Witch Hunt closest first |
Wicked Thunder will cast another Wrath of Zeus once you've dealt with all her witch hunts, which effectively ends her wings phase.