The Third Circle Normal Raid Guide

The Phionix, a Mythic Creation, is the third raid boss fought in Asphodelos.

To unlock The Third Circle, players must complete the quest "The Fires of Creation." This is the fourth quest in the quest chain, starting from "The Crystal from Beyond," which can be received from Nemjiji in Old Sharlayan (x9.6, y11.9). There is a minimum item level restriction of 565 to enter through the duty finder in a matched party.

Having successfully subdued the hippokampos, your group sets out to find Erichthonios's fellow warders, presumed to be hiding in the deepest circles of Asphodelos. Standing in your way, however, is the phoinix, a violent failed iteration of the iconic immortal bird. It soars through halls warped by creation magicks into an arid, desolate wasteland─its perfect choice of battlefield- awaiting any foolish enough to venture into its newfound domain...

The Hippokampos is fought in a circular arena. The wall will instantly kill players who stand inside it or get knocked back into it.

Phase one has you do battle with the Phionix. This phase will introduce the player to mechanics in the fight.

• Experimental Fireplume will shoot either a giant fireball into the sky or eight smaller fireballs into the sky.
  • If it is one giant fireball, it is a giant AoE in the center of the arena.
  • If it is eight small fireballs, medium-sized AoEs will appear around the arena before striking the center of the arena. Stand in the center and move into the first set of AoEs that go off.
• Scorched Exaltation deals raidwide damage.
• Heat of Condemnation is a tank buster on both tanks that damages in an AoE.
• Darkened Fire will summon four invincible Darkened Fire adds in the center of the arena. These will start casting Darkened Blaze, dealing heavy raidwide damage.
• Brightened Fire will mark players from one to four with an AoE. Any Darkened Fire in the radius of the AoE when it goes off will instantly die.
• Left Cinderwing and Right Cinderwing will cleave the left side or the right side of the Phionix, respectively.

• Dodge the AoE coming from Experimental Fireplume. If it is one large fireball, get to the edge of the arena. If it is eight smaller fireballs, stand in the center and move into the AoE that explodes first on the outside of the arena.
• Both tanks need to spread from each other and the party while mitigating Heat of Condemnation.
• Players marked with Brightened Fire need to stand on a Darkened Fire add to kill it before it explodes. One AoE can cover two adds if standing between them.
• Dodge to the correct side for Cinderwing. The boss will disappear afterwards.

Phase two has you do battle against Sunbird adds while the Phionix charges Phionix Fire. If this bar is allowed to fill, the party will wipe.

• The Phionix will appear at the edge of the arena and dash across with Trail of Condemnation. Get to the sides of the dash.
• During this entire phase, Blazing Rain will deal periodic raidwide damage.
• The Phionix then reappears at the center of the arena and is untargetable. Two sets of two Sunbird adds will spawn, and the second will spawn set after the first set is killed.
• The Sunbirds will have a large AoE circle around them. They must be killed outside of the circle of another Sunbird.
• Sunbirds will cast Fore Carve or Rear Carve, a telegraphed cleave that either hits in front of them or behind them.

• Dodge the Trail of Condemnation and prepare for the adds phase.
• Tanks need to pick up one Sunbird add each and take them to opposite corners of the arena.
• Players need to dodge the Carve skills. Stay close or far away from the Sunbirds in order to dodge them in time.
• After the first set of Sunbird adds are killed, two more Sunbirds will spawn. Again, tanks need to take these to opposite corners of the arena, away from the first two.
• After the adds are killed, the Phionix will transition into phase three with Flames of Undeath, which deals raidwide damage.

Phase three has you do battle against the Phionix after it has rebirthed the dead Sunbirds. All previous mechanics will return in this phase. After Dead Rebirth is cast, the revived Sunbirds will begin auto-attacking the offtank while the Phionix auto-attacks the main tank.

• Dead Rebirth deals raidwide damage and signals the beginning of phase three. The offtank will start receiving auto-attacks from the revived Sunbirds, the Sparkpledged.
• Fledgling Flight will summon four Sparkpledged onto the arena. They will do a conal AoE, Ashen Eye, towards the middle of the arena in sequence.
• Experimental Charplume marks all players with AoEs.
• Devouring Brand summons a path of fire from the cardinal edges of the arena which slowly makes its way into the center. This will do a larger line AoE after they reach the center of the arena. Standing in the fire will burn players.
• Searing Breeze places AoEs on all players. The path of fire will disappear as the AoEs appear.

• Both the main tank and offtank will be taking auto-attacks in this phase.
• Start in the path of the fourth Fledgling Flight conal AoE and move into the first.
• Spread out for Experimental Charplume right after.
• Spread out to intercardinals of the arena for Devouring Brand, and make sure to dodge the larger line AoEs. Bait the AoEs from Searing Breeze with all players in the quadrant, and then dodge them to the side or back.
• An Experimental Charplume and Experimental Fireplume will be executed in succession, so spread out and dodge the AoE based on what it is.
• The Phionix will then disappear and cast Trail of Condemnation from the edge of the arena.
• After a tank buster and Fledgling Flight, the boss will cast a few other mechanics in a different sequence, namely Experimental Fireplume, Searing Breeze, and Devouring Brand.
• This is followed by a Darkened Fire into Brightened Fire combo. The path of fire will disappear before the latter goes off, so players have time to get into position to destroy the adds.
• The boss will then repeat previously seen mechanics from phase three until it is defeated.

Coffers that appear after defeating the Phionix will yield tokens that can be traded in for gear.

• 1x Unsung Helm of Asphodelos;
• 2x Unsung Armor of Asphodelos;
• 1x Unsung Gauntlets of Asphodelos;
• 2x Unsung Chausses of Asphodelos;
• 2x Unsung Ring of Asphodelos;
• 1x Ancient Shackles Orchestrion Roll (rare drop).