Xavius Mythic Strategy/Tactics

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Contents
  • 2. Lore
  • 3. Outline
  • 4. TL;DR
    • 4.1. Tanks
    • 4.2. Healers
    • 4.3. DPS
    • 4.4. Everyone
  • 5. Changelog
• +Abilities
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Corruption
    • 2.1. Corruption Thresholds
      • 2.1.1. 33 Corruption: Dread Abomination
      • 2.1.2. 66 Corruption: Unfathomable Reality
      • 2.1.3. 100 Corruption: Descent into Madness
    • 2.2. The Dream and Resetting Corruption
  • 3. Phase One
    • 3.1. Darkening Soul
    • 3.2. Nightmare Blades
    • 3.3. Manifest Corruption
    • 3.4. Lurking Eruption
  • 4. Phase Two
    • 4.1. Blackening Soul
    • 4.2. Corruption Meteor
    • 4.3. Bonds of Terror
    • 4.4. Nightmare Infusion
    • 4.5. Call of Nightmares
  • 5. Phase Three
  • 6. Changelog
• +Normal/Heroic Strategy/Tactics
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Managing Corruption
  • 3. Positioning
  • 4. Tanks
  • 5. Healers
  • 6. DPS
  • 7. Everyone
  • 8. Phase Three Burn
  • 9. Changelog
• ×Mythic Strategy
  • 1. Mythic Mode Abilities
  • 2. Strategy
  • 3. Changelog
• +Loot
  • 1. Illusion
  • 2. Relics
  • 3. Amulets, Rings, and Trinkets
  • 4. Armor

General Information

On this page, you will find a list of changes between Normal/Heroic modes and Mythic mode, as well as a working strategy to defeat Xavius in The Emerald Nightmare in Mythic mode.

The other pages of our Xavius guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Pottm from Serenity.

The only notable difference in Mythic difficulty is the changes to the Dream Simulacrum. Xavius will now invoke the Dream Simulacrum 4 times; first when he reaches 95% health, then a second time at 80% health, a third time at 60%, and a final time at 45% health. The raid will also be able to choose who gets to enter the dream. 5 pillars of green light will appear (as shown in the image below); a player must stand in each pillar and receive Dream Simulacrum, or a Corruption Horror will spawn.

Each player may only receive Dream Simulacrum once per fight, and as there are 4 sets of 5 soaks, all players in the raid group will have to soak a dream buff once. You should place world markers and assign each player to a world marker for each wave, so that no soaks are missed. If an extra Corruption Horror is spawned due to a missed soak, the attempt is over.

The Lurking Terrors will now detonate on impact when reaching the target of their Tormenting Fixation. The Tormenting Infection will deal moderate Shadow damage and granting 30 Corruption to anyone within range (8 yards).

The key to this fight is exploiting the Dream Simulacrum to acquire the Corruption: Descent into Madness buff at the appropriate times to power through the difficult phases. This fight should have 4 healers and 2 tanks. A healer should be assigned to soak each Dream Simulacrum wave, and they should be the one to manage the dispels of Darkening Soul. One tank should also be sent into the first Dream Simulacrum so they can tank the Corruption Horror without risk of gaining unduly high corruption. A tank can also be sent into the third set of soaks to assist with soaking Nightmare Infusion and Inconceivable Horrors.

Phase One

It is ideal to send DPS with powerful cooldowns into the remaining 3 soaks for the first Dream Simulacrum to help push to the second phase as fast as possible and avoid a second spawn of the Corruption Horror. Shadow Priests make the best choice as they will not die from Surrender to Madness in the Dream Simulacrum, and this cooldown synergizes perfectly with Corruption: Descent into Madness once the Shadow Priest reaches 100 Voidform stacks (2 priests can kill the Corruption Horror alone very easily). These DPS should prioritize being the ones to soak the Lurking Terrors' Tormenting Infections so they can hit 100 Corruption and synchronize it with their cooldowns.

You should set up a clear point for the Nightmare Blades to go to avoid sending them through the raid. Generally, it is easiest to have the targets drop the blades behind the melee stack, perpendicular to the boss, as shown below.

Bloodlust should be used at the start of this phase if you struggle to hit 65% without getting the second Corruption Horror.

Phase Two

Move the boss to the center of the room once he reaches Phase Two (65% health). All DPS should focus on killing the Inconceivable Horrors when they spawn. If one of them reaches Xavius the raid will quickly die, causing a wipe. For simplicity's sake it is easiest to have the DPS focus on the adds closest to their assigned Dream Simulacrum marker to ensure an even spread of damage. Ensure all Tainted Discharges are soaked; it does not matter whether you are in the Dream Simulacrum or not as they do not give much Corruption. Players who are in the dream state should prioritize soaking as much as possible, however, to help them reach Corruption: Descent into Madness before the dream ends. All melee, ranged, and healers should soak Corruption Meteor.

Sometimes abilities such as Bonds of Terror will overlap with the soaking of the next Dream Simulacrum. In such situations players should prioritize soaking their dream as spawning another Corruption Horror will result in a wipe. Players will need heavy personals and/or externals to survive. For the third and fourth soaks (Phase Two) where this overlap can occur, you can have the players in waves 3 and 4 back up each other (meaning if one of them gets a mechanic like meteor the player in the next wave will take their position, and they will swap soaks). While this may come off as complex or confusing, the bottom line in this fight is just to ensure every single dream is soaked without exception.

Phase Three

Phase Three is extremely straightforward; kill Xavius before the entire raid is afflicted with Corruption: Descent into Madness and mind controlled. Everyone should stack in melee for Phase Three to aid in healing. The Nightmare Blades are back in this phase, and can be handled the same way (put them behind the group).

The focus should be on the boss alone, as killing the Nightmare Tentacles has no tangible benefit. Corruption Meteor should be soaked by the entire group as usual. If Bloodlust has not already been used, you should pop it at the start of this phase. Towards the end of the fight players will start to be mind controlled by Corruption: Descent into Madness; ideally, you should save your DPS cooldowns for this point if they line up well for a final burst of damage.

Anyone that is mind controlled in this phase should be killed. Cleaving them down is fine as they do not have any fight threatening abilities once they are mind controlled. If they are resurrected after death once mind controlled, however, they will immediately have 100 Corruption and enter Corruption: Descent into Madness.

• 05 Dec. 2016: Added Mythic strategy.