Introduction
This guide contains suggestions on how to use your cooldowns effectively, and tips and tricks to play each phase as effectively as possible.
Both 2.50 and 2.46 GCD speeds are comfortable during this fight, so we recommend choosing whichever speed you feel most comfortable on.
Phase One: Fatebreaker
Use a standard opener for this fight. 2.50 GCD with an Unmend pull is very tight on the last GCD in first uptime phase, but it is possible if the pull isn’t early. You can adjust Salted Earth to be earlier in the opener to gain a use before the Diamond Dust downtime in phase 2.
Powder Mark hits much harder on the first hit than the second. Rampart can last through both hits, but Shadowed Vigil cannot. Use Rampart on the first regardless of whether you’re main tank (MT) or off tank (OT), and add Dark Mind + 2x Oblation after the boss starts his quote and use The Blackest Night (TBN) as you go to your spread spot.
Pre-cast Delirium near the end of Utopian Sky. There are three indicators for this: the end of the Burnt Strike cast-bar, the start of the “B” in the Brightfire cast, or when debuffs hit 9 seconds.
Dark Missionary can cover 2-3 hits of Fall of Faith plus the following Burnished Glory. The earliest you can use it is as the first tether resolves, though it’s recommended to err on the side of caution, as Burnished Glory is by far the most important cast to cover. Reprisal does not work on the Fall of Faith tethers that don’t originate from Fatebreaker himself.
Shadowed Vigil can be used during the Burnished Glory cast before the second Power Mark. Living Dead, Dark Mind, and Oblation can be used after it finishes. Use Rampart during the cast to keep it through the second hit.
You can get a GCD as the last fire/lightning cleave goes off, but it is extremely risky with lightning at a 2.50 GCD speed. Disesteem can be held for GCD uptime there.
The Powder Mark followup explosions don’t apply vulns and do about half as much damage as the initial hits, so it’s possible with heavy mit to gapclose back to the boss and stack them together. Do not do this unless everyone is aware of and prepared for it.
The minimum amount of mana you need to spend is 2 Edge of Shadows after downtime, 1 TBN on Burnished/Powder Mark, spend Dark Arts proc, then TBN again for second Powder Mark hit. You can also carry Carve and Spit and 1 Shadowbringer charge into Phase Two.
Phase Two: Usurper of Frost
Oblation can last through both hits of Quadruple Slap with no special timing and TBN is usually better for the second hit, but most players will choose to invuln it instead. If the other tank is invulning Quadruple Slap, it’s recommended that you Provoke after the second hit to save the healers from having to Esuna the vulnerability debuff that also amplifies the fallowup auto-attacks.
If you have Delirium before Diamond Dust, use it or lose it. This will only happen with a slow phase 1 kill. You can also delay Carve and Spit and a Shadowbringer charge into the phase 2 opener from phase 1 if you want, especially if you’re holding DPS at the end of phase 1.
Your pre-Diamond Dust mana management will vary somewhat depending on Phase One killtime. You need to refresh Darkside to 60 seconds after the Quadruple Slap to keep it through the downtime. Passive generation during Diamond Dust is around 2600, and you need to refresh again after returning. With high mana and a Dark Arts proc going in, that means 2 Edge of Shadows at the start, TBN during, and Edge of Shadow after Quadruple Slap if not invulning, or just Edge of Shadow after if you are, then TBN after the Diamond Dust cast starts.
The goal is to end the uptime phase with ~3-6k mana and a Dark Arts proc. You mana will be on the lower side if you can’t get Delirium combo hits before the downtime. Weave Edge of Shadow after coming back to maintain Darkside through your burst window and TBN a squishy for the Hallowed Ray line stack.
Dark Missionary can cover both the knockback and the baited puddles in Diamond Dust.
Hold 1 mins (Delirium, Carve and Spit) for 2 min buffs after Diamond Dust. Edge of Shadow after the boss Scythe Kicks during Mirror Mirror to keep Darkside through Light Rampant (you will naturally do this with faster Phase One killtimes).
Reprisal can cover both the Banish stack/spreads before Light Rampant and the Light Rampant cast itself. Missionary can cover the puddle drops plus stacks if used after the boss goes untargetable, but can’t be used for Light Rampant if it was used for Diamond Dust.
It is possible to keep your combo through the Light Rampant downtime if your GCD roll aligns properly. Press your last GCD at the second pulse of the AoE markers. You can precast Delirium as the boss reappears during Light Rampant if you are not trying to keep your combo rolling, or at the voice-line if you are. Weave Carve and Spit immediately after Scarlet Delirium so you can use it again on your crystal.
Save everything you can for intermission. It may be a DPS gain on your crystal to simply let Darkside drop during the transition if you are lower on mana and can trade the Darkside buff on the Hard Slash + Edge of Shadow for another Edge of Shadow in buffs.
Phase Three: Oracle of Darkness
You can keep your combo rolling through the intermission, but it is fairly tight. You GCD roll needs to be less than about 80% complete when the veil dies to carry over.
TBN will break on yourself on the Ultimate Relativity cast. Spending down as much as you can there will set you up for the post-Rewind burst. Depending on how quickly your party buffs afterwards, you may be able to hit buffs while pre-cast Living Shadow just before getting stunned.
2.46 GCD lines up to let you roll your GCD as you take your fire out during Ultimate Relativity, with very little leeway.
During Apocalypse, make sure to move in as the Dark Eruption castbar finishes to avoid getting hit by an Apocalypse circle.
Reprisal and Missionary can cover the final raidwide (Shockwave Pulsar) plus enrage raidwide (Memory’s End), with fairly tight timing (needs to be around the “P” in “Pulsar,” and it can be difficult to get both Reprisal and Missionary on time).
Phase Four: Usurper of Frost and Oracle of Darkness
Use a Shadowbringer charge out of buffs at the start. It is theoretically possible to get a two-target cleave without incurring any loss, but this is GCD-perfect on hitting buffs in Phase Five and will lose a use in that phase if you kill faster than about 80% of the way through the enrage castbar.
Delirium needs to be used at the Darklit Dragonsong cast at the latest to gain a use before Crystallize Time. Carve and Spit can be used in buffs.
You may choose to have a tank invuln the Somber Dance in Darklit. This can either be one of the tanks regardless of chain/no chain (more difficult to execute) or whichever tank doesn’t have chain (one invuln for the price of two). If you invuln this, you will have it for the second Phase Five tower but not the first.
Reprisal and Dark Missionary can cover both Akh Morn and the following Morn Afah. A popular strategy involves having one tank solo their boss’s Akh Morn while the rest of the party does a 7-stack (sometimes known as 7-1). This does not require extreme amounts of mitigation—you can save Shadowed Vigil for Crystallize Time if doing this—and adds a lot of comfort/wiggle room for healers.
You can keep Darkside through Crystallize Time if you refresh to 60 seconds at the end of the cast. Count on gaining about 4k mana during the mechanic.
You can use Shadowed Vigil after dropping rewind in Crystallize Time to survive potential vulnerability mistakes. You can also put Dark Missionary here (on top of other mits) to help prevent DPS deaths from non-tankbuster vuln hits.
You can use your Shadowbringer charge and Salted Earth after coming back without losing them in the Phase Five opener, but do not use Living Shadow. Total MP generation during transition is around 5200, so try to end the phase with around 4k mana and a Dark Arts proc. This will likely involve two Edges of Shadow plus TBN.
Phase Five: Pandora
Salted Earth should be used on a 2 min CD for this phase, in buffs, as you do not lose a use.
Shadowed Vigil can be used after the Paradise Regained castbar ends. 10-second mitigations need to be used after the “W” in the Wings Dark and Light cast to last through both hits. Save TBN for the second hit on whichever tank is not invulning.
Hitting Rampart/Shadowed Vigil to deal with auto-attack damage during exawaves helps quite a bit. You can use them on the first set if using cooldowns on the second Wings, or on the third set if using cooldowns on the first Wings.
Mana plan for this phase is a fairly standard 5/2. You can bank your first Dark Arts proc on Pandora’s Box if you started the phase with less than 9k MP, or on the Polarizing Paths before it. Your second proc can be on the second Polarizing Paths or the third Fulgent Blade.
Best of luck on your clear!
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