The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn Raid Guide in Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible

I also have my own website dedicated to both tanks and raid leaders where I share my insight on the bosses with strategy and preparation advice which I will update after my guild has completed progress. If you are interested in this or want to discuss it on Discord, the links to them are below:

• https://www.tanknotes.com
• Discord Invite Link

• Use Bloodlust / Heroism on the pull.
• All of the tiles on the floor are inactive Dragonfire Traps.
• The boss will periodically activate 4 traps in the room. The 2 that are closest and 2 in random areas of the room.
• Standing in activated traps applies a stacking DoT.
• Soak Shrapnel Bomb if you have strong defensive cooldowns, an immunity, or are the non-active tank. If you do not have an immunity, get 2 at a time.
• Be mindful of what is behind you when Blast Wave is cast. This will push every player away from the boss and apply a DoT.
• Tanks: Swap on 4-5 stacks of Searing Claws.
• Animate Golems will spawn adds around the side of the room, which will attempt to activate more traps. Kill them!
• You can click on dead golems to get the Salvage Parts extra action button. Target an active trap and use the extra action button to disable it.
• Run to the other side of the room to be safe from Tactical Destruction.
• Tanks: When the golems spawn Tactical Destruction is imminent. Position the boss closer to the middle of the room to lower the movement for yourself and melee DPS.
• Heroic/Mythic: Unstable Embers is cast on several players. Move away from others if you have this.
• Mythic: Players with Unstable Embers will have a beam shot at them from the boss. Ensure no other players are in this.

Zskarn will slowly fill the room with Dragonfire Traps. You need to defeat the boss before the room is full!

• Use Bloodlust / Heroism on the pull.
• All of the tiles on the floor are inactive Dragonfire Traps. This is the core mechanic of this fight; periodically, the boss will activate 4 traps in the room. 2 of these can be controlled as the boss will always activate 2 that are next to it, the other 2 are in random areas of the room.
• Standing in activated traps applies a stacking DoT. This is dispellable.
• Tanks: Each auto attack done on the tank will apply a stack of Searing Claws. Swapping at 8-10 stacks should line up with the debuff fading as you intend to taunt.
• Throughout the fight, Zskarn will spawn a set of four Shrapnel Bomb's. These bombs will explode after 30 seconds dealing raid-wide damage. However, if a player runs into one, they will detonate the bomb and take the damage themselves instead. Players with strong defensive cooldowns, an immunity, or are the non-active tank should be seeking these out with a priority given to the tank as the bombs deal Physical damage, which a tank is more than equipped to handle. If you do not have an immunity, get 2 at a time. 3 or 4 at once may kill you.
• When Blast Wave is cast, look behind you to make sure you will not get pushed into a trap (or bomb). This push can overlap with a bunch of deadly mechanics, so it is best to position yourself before this happens with the help of boss mod timers.
• When Animate Golems is cast, 4 golems will appear on the edge of the room. Each golem will attempt to activate traps. You can prevent them from activating traps by CC'ing them, Interrupting them, or killing them.
• Once a golem has died, you can interact with the corpse. This will give you the Salvage Parts extra action button. Target an active trap and use the extra action button to disable it.
• Tactical Destruction will cause up to 3 pillars closest to the boss to explode (This starts as 1 pillar and increases by 1 each cast until 3). Run to the other side of the room to avoid taking damage from this.
• Tanks: When the golems spawn Tactical Destruction is imminent. Position the boss closer to the middle of the room to lower the movement for yourself and melee DPS.

Heroic changes:

• The DoT from standing in a trap is no longer dispellable.

Mythic changes:

• Players with Unstable Embers will show as having an arrow from the boss to themselves. Anyone in the path of this arrow when Unstable Embers expires will be hit by Elimination Protocol and take 500% more damage from it for 30 seconds.
• Golems become immune to crowd control effects at 50% HP.
• Tactical Destruction will always be cast on 3 pillars.