Completion Guide - Challenge Mode Skyreach

[Lockybalboa 618]

Attention: This is a rough guide for completing Skyreach on Challenge mode. As Challenge modes are the best way of acquiring raid level gear before the new raids come out it is important to many people that they finish their daily challenge mode - regardless of time taken. This guide will be updated in the next few weeks to help guide players through Gold level Skyreach, but for now the goal is helping people complete it.

 

 

Try to have as many buffs as you can covered because a little goes a long way. It is highly recommended that you have at least 3 good interrupt and 4 good CC options. You can make do with less, but it will be harder.

 

The major block in this Challenge Mode is the second boss - Araknath. The difficulty rating of Araknath is a hard 10, the rest of the dungeon is a soft 6.

 

 

Trash to Boss #1 "Ranjit"

 

The first few pulls of trash will not pose much of an issue, you can CC one or two in the packs or take them all on. The main mobs you should be worried about are Herald of Sunrise and Solar Familiar. 

 

Herald of Sunrise is a healer that needs to be watched closely or CC'd and saved for last. Flash Heal can be interrupted and needs to be, Solar Zone cannot be stopped but can be neutralized by moving the mobs out of the zone. Solar Heal is the worst of the bunch.  You can normally stun the Herald but it won't work 100% of the time. This seems to be a bug but unconfirmed.

 

Solar Familiar should be CC'd and saved for last or second to last. Since it is an elemental, Shaman and Warlocks are perfect for CCing them. When they die be sure to face your character away from the mob so that you do not get disoriented by Flash Bang.

 

The third trash pack can become a wipe of you are not careful. There should be four mobs in the pack while there are another 3-4 mobs that patrol the area. If you see more than four mobs in the pack, wait for the patrol to leave the area before pulling. You will likely want to pull the static mobs away from the area and then CC them so that you have more time to kill them without the patrol aggroing on to you.

 

Once you deal with 3 or 4 more trash packs, you will be at the boss.

 

 

 

Ranjit

 

Since you have done this boss on heroic already, you should have the basics down. There are three main abilities used: Four Winds, Windwall, and Focusing Iris (New to CM level Skyreach and I can't seem to find a link for this spell).

 

Four Winds is a randomly placed ability with a mid-length animation time providing you a moment to run out of the way. A spinning blade will fly out and land on the platform and will spawn a short wall of wind that turns consistently in one direction. Avoid this the best you can - however, if forced in to it by other mechanics, it is survivable to pass through and the lesser of many evils. 

 

Windwall is a larger version of Four Winds that covers the entire platform. It will turn clockwise or counter-clockwise at random, but once spawned will consistently move in a single direction. Run with it to avoid damage. You can run through the wind but it does significant damage.

 

Focusing Iris will target a player and fire a large yellow beam at them, following them. The beam itself does damage to the player if hit by it but also leaves zones of fire in its wake. Try to place these are the far edges of the platform or in a tight area in the middle of the platform. Don't run through the fire - it will hurt a lot more than either of the two winds.

 

The two lesser spells Ranjit casts are Piercing Rush and Spinning Blade. Piercing Rush can be dodged if you're quick but the damage from it isn't bad even if you are hit, combined with other damage taken could result in a one shot. Spinning Blade does very little damage (for a challenge mode) and cannot be avoided. Healers be aware when it is cast so you can pre-shield or top off party members.  It should be noted that Spinning Blade is a physical damage DoT.

 

Strategy is simple - dodge wind and place fire in a safe place. Along the outside of the platform or in a small area in the middle is the best bet. The tank will be getting hit rather hard so be ready. Be aware that you CAN fall off this platform. This will cause your death and make it so that you cannot be battle resurrected.

 

There really is not much of a trick to Ranjit, simply avoid damage and kill him.

 

Trash to boss #2 "Araknath"

 

Trash mobs seen before will be found here.  The new one is a large Raven that sits at the top of the stairs leading away from Ranjit's platform. Next to the raven are trash packs.  Pull the raven alone down to the platform and fight him there. He will pick up the tank, throw them over its shoulder, cast a short cast, and charge the tank knocking him or her back more. Best thing to do is tank the raven with the tank's back to the edge of the platform so that they are thrown in to the middle and knocked back safely. 

 

The other new mob found is Adept of the Dawn. The major thing to watch for with this mob is a totem it casts called Sun Trinket. These totems only have about 90k HP and can be quickly burned down.  If left alive, the totem will cast AoE healing.

 

After the Raven use 3-4 hard CCs so that you can pull only one or two mobs at a time. Deal with them quickly. Watch for their healing.

 

 

Araknath

 

 

You will likely find this to be the major block in the CM. All of this is in the healing, both the tank and the DPS will be taking large amounts of damage. If possible you can two heal this boss with ease, otherwise you will need one healer that is able to push 35-40k HPS. Resto Druids and Resto Shamans are able to do this, all other healers will find it very difficult or very nearly impossible. 

 

The fight itself is very simple.  The boss itself only has two spells. Smash and Burst. The tank should never be hit by Smash as it is easy to side step.  Burst alone is not majorly threatening but once it stacks a few times and combined with other damage will become a major threat.

 

The main mechanic of the fight is that about every 20 seconds three beams of light will come from the sky and target three random small robots around the room. These will reflect the light toward the boss as beams that need to be intercepted by your group. If the beams make it to the boss they will heal him for 2% of his total HP every second.

 

Once intercepted by players they will deal 15,000 damage per second to the player blocking the beam. These beams last for 15 seconds so this is nearly constant damage.

 

The beams and the blast combined make for a very damage taken heavy fight. 

 

Strategy tank the boss at the edge of the room between two small robots, giving as much of his back side to the room as possible. DPS and healer(s) should stack on his back and be ready to block the beams.  Tank will need to dance slightly to avoid the Smash. Stacking is done to maximize healing and minimize movement to find beams. Block beams, use personal CDs to mitigate damage, Blood Lust, potion, and burn burn burn. Again, although the boss is simple, it will prove to be the hardest in the run due to the massive amount of damage taken.

 

 

Trash to Boss #3 "Rukhran"

 

 

There are a two bird trash packs between you and the next boss.  Take one pack at a time, stack them, stun, and AoE them down as fast as possible. Due to the very RNGness of the fixate, don’t be shocked if they wipe you a couple of times when they focus the wrong person.

 

There seems to be a mechanic behind the fixate and from what the debuffs read it should be solved by single targeting the birds and rotating between what is targeted down. However, after a few pulls we couldn’t get it to work well and went with just beating them down.

 

 

Past those two packs is one more pack of smaller birds and a Large Bird man. CC the Bird Man and as many of the small birds as you can and then pull the rest. Stack and burn, pulling smaller CC birds out to kill as you down the current ones. Save Bird Man for last.

 

Rukhran

 

Before anything, look at the floor. If you don't see white piles of ash on the ground, change your graphic settings so that you do. These are important.

 

 

Three main spells of Rukhran are Pierce Armor, Quills, and Summon Solar Flare.

 

Pierce Armor is tank only and can be dealt with by using active mitigation when cast. One thing to keep in mind though - during my run our Paladin was 624 ilvl died to this ability due to simply not being able to generate enough Holy Power to use his active mitigation every time it was needed. If your tank is under 630 this is a very real possibility. Planned healer and external CDs are recommended.

 

If the tank dies and there is no one in melee range for the boss to attack he will begin casting Screech. Although this is survivable for a few ticks, it will quickly wipe you.

 

Quills can be blocked with Line-Of-Sight by hiding behind the pillar in the middle of the platform. When Rukhran is casting Quills it will not cast Screech so it is safe for everyone, including the tank, to LoS behind the pillar.

 

Summon Solar Flare is when things get interesting and bring the only real challenge to the fight. Summon Solar Flare is summoned, it will fixate a random player (not the tank) and move toward them. The Flare can be stunned, rooted, and slowed. If it reaches the player it will explode for large damage to all players within 10 yards. Also if there are any piles of ash under it when it dies (dies from damage or from touching a player) it will cause those piles of ash to spawn a new Flare.  It is also possible to die between two piles and spawn 2 Flares.

 

Strategy is simple - tank the boss and time the use of active mitigation for Pierce Armor, LoS the Quills, and deal with the Flare. The Flare gives you some options on how to deal with it.

 

1) The fixate player moves kits the Flare to a safe place, away from other players and Ash piles before burning the Flare down. Stun it in place so that it stays right where you want it when it dies. This is likely the easiest and most common method.

 

2) The fixate target can move to a safe place away from anyone other players and away from Ash piles and let the bird hit them. The fixate target will take about 70-90% of their health pool but this can be mitigated with personal CDs. 

 

3) You can kit the flare the whole time, slowing and stunning it as needed. Hunters are great for this.

 

Any one of the three or an any combination of all three strategies works well.

 

 

Trash to Boss #4 "High Sage Viryx"

 

Right after Rukhran, you will face an interesting run to the next platform. Pushed back by wind this run can be annoying but not hard and the birds along the way will peck at you for a little damage but not much. Using speed boosts and light heals is recommended. 

 

Warlocks can use Eye of Killrog to bypass this run. Standing at the edge of the platform, cast the Eye and use it to make the run - it is unaffected by the wind. Once on the next platform use the eye to place a personal teleport. This requires the use of the minor glyph before entering the CM.

 

The trash itself is easy and nothing you have not seen before. Use lots of CC and be ready for mobs to try and heal. There is one new mob before High Sage Viryx's room but it is a simple burn.

 

 

High Sage Viryx

 

The most mechanically challenging boss in the run.

 

The main spells you will deal with are Cast Down, Lens Flare, Solar Burst, and the summoning of an add Skyreach Shield Construct that will cast Shielding

 

Cast Down works just like Valk's did on Lich King in ICC. It will be cast on a random player (not the tank), a bird will swoop down and pick the player up and try to walk them off the edge of the platform before dropping them to their death. The bird can be slowed, rooted, and stunned.

 

Solar Burst works just the same as Focusing Iris did on the first boss. A beam of light will target a player and follow them. If the beam touches the player they will take damage and as it tracks the player it will also drop small zones of fire.

 

Solar Burst will be cast at a random party member and deal very high damage. This can and should be interrupted.

 

Skyreach Shield Construct will cast Shielding on High Sage Viryx, granting a large shield to damage on the boss and prolonging the fight excessively. The casting of Shielding can and should be interrupted.

 

Once in the room, tank the boss with the tank's back pushed to the now closed door of the room you entered from. This will place you as far as can be from the edge of the platform and will give more time to deal with Cast Down as well as place you on top of where the Construct will spawn.

 

The tank will need to be ready to pick up the Construct and will likely be the main interrupter of Shielding. Shielding MUST be interrupted. If possible, the tank should help slow or stun the birds from Cast Down and move the boss out of fire dropped by Lens Flare.

 

DPS will need to be on the ball for target switching, the Construct is the prime target whenever it is up. The birds dragging players off the platform come second (when both are up at the same time, stun/slow the bird as you kill the Construct then switch targets.)

 

As Lens Flare comes out, DPS should kite the beam in a straight line from the back of the room roughly where the Construct spawns to the edge of the room. See the (very bad) diagram below.

 

 

How this looks on the room is much cleaner, but the diagram illustrates the point.

 

Damage taken will range depending on how the mechanics are handled and who gets picked for what. This fight can quickly become a total mess but don't lose faith. It is totally killable from 30% to dead by only a Paladin healer, two Warlocks, a pretend Boomkin, and a dead tank. The boss herself moves rather slowly and is fairly easy to kite.

 

 

 

Questions or comments are welcome, hope this helps.

[Lockybalboa 618]

Please forgive spelling and grammar errors, normally when I write a guide I take a couple of weeks to do it and proof read it 40-50 times. Since these guides are much more urgent then normal I only take a day or two to write them and only proof read 10-15 times. Once these are updated for Gold they will be cleaned up much more.

 

 

Change Log:

 

11/21/2014 - errors fixed, weird smiley removed.

11/21/2014 - grammar, spelling, and spacing tune-up by Zagam