Greetings. We are back in Tanqueando en Ciudadela. This time I am going to give advice and strategy on how tank Zakuun, one of the bosses of the upper wing of Hellfire Citadel. Let's go for it.
Tank Zakuun - Heroic Mode
The fight against Lord Vil Zakuun will be quite high physical damage and positioning will be the most important factor. Our main priorities will be to stay the 2 tanks together, correctly dodge the areas and position the boss correctly.
Talents
Optimal talents are those that empower us with physical mitigations. The magic damage in this encounter will be avoidable but the physical will be continuous and high as the combat progresses.
Dynamics of the meeting
Tanking Zakuun is not very complex but you must be very careful with the details. This combat consists of 3 different phases. Each phase will be tougher than the previous one and will drastically modify the damage dealt to tanks. Zakuun has different strategies to overcome the encounter, in this guide we focus on one that was widely used at the beginning of the patch, although with the over-team currently there are others that are equally valid.
During this meeting they will come out Resonant fissures around the room. These fissures must be covered to prevent them from arising Fel crystals. Even if all the cracks are covered 1 Vil Crystal will always come out, therefore the gang must be organized so that the vile crystal comes out in the most convenient place. These fel crystals They deal light damage to the entire raid and higher damage if you get close to them. When a player plugs a fissure they receive the debuff Latent energy. For 1 minute this player will not be able to cover the Resonant fissures and also if you receive damage from Wake of destruction o Ring of Destruction it will cause an explosion damaging the entire band (very high damage), therefore it will be necessary to assign groups to do relays.
But the thing does not end there. It should be avoided that the Wake of destruction hit the players with Energy , but it should also be prevented from hitting the Fel crystals since if this happened it would cause an explosion also inflicting lethal damage to the band. For this dynamic boss positioning and gang positioning will be vital to prevent Wake of destruction reach out to Fel crystals and affected players with Energy.
Phase 1 - Armed
At the beginning of the fight Zakuun will find himself armed. While in this state his white hits will only damage the main tank. During this phase Zakuun will use Slit soul, Cavitation, Infected y Resonant fissures.
As we have mentioned before, it will be necessary to cover the Resonant fissures leaving 1 free in the most appropriate place. If there is a lot of melee in our band composition, it will not be necessary for the tanks to plug resonant fissures. If on the contrary there are few melees we must be vigilant to help cover those that come out near Zakuun.
The tank swap will take place when Zakuun uses Slit soul above the main tank. When this happens the affected tank will receive the debuff Cracked soul which Increases Shadow damage taken by 50% for 1 minute 30 seconds. It will also be transported to another phase, the Incorporea phase. Use a General Mitigation or Magic Mitigation CD when you receive Slit soul as it deals more than 250.000 shadow damage.
In the Incorporea phase we must dodge Rings of destruction y Wake of destruction that will be born from purple spheres in an empty room for 15 seconds. If we have Latent energy to help cover any fissure we must be very careful since if a ring or a wake hits us, the whole band will receive damage. The waves of the Rings of destruction they dodge by jumping over them. When the injury Incorporeal runs out (15 seconds) we will return to the normal phase. It is important to emphasize that when returning to the normal phase we will leave an orb in the disembodied phase that will emit Rings of Destruction and Trails of Destruction making it difficult to dodge the waves to the next tank that enters as there will be more and more. In addition, when leaving this phase we will unleash a Wake of destruction for what we must always leave from a point away from the Fel Crystals. Also when exiting the disembodied phase our prejudice will be wiped from Latent energy (if we were affected by plugging resonant fissures).
Zakuun will also use Cavitation. This ability casts Wake of destruction made a random gang member (always at one rank). Therefore Zakuun and the band must be positioned so that the trajectory of Cavitation can't hit Fel crystals. To do this, we will place Zakuun and the rank players away from the fel crystals or we will place players unaffected by latent energy on the trajectory to "eat" the trails of destruction.
When they have passed 90 seconds of phase 1 Zakuun will change to phase 2, Disarmed.
Phase 2 - Disarmed
When Zakuun enters this phase he will throw his weapon at a point in the room and the whole band will take fairly high ongoing fire damage. Also during this phase, tanking Zakuun will be much harder due to Firm hand. In this phase Zakuun will use Firm hand y Seeds of Destruction.
If you remember the encounter with the Butcher of Ogropolis, this phase is the same. Both tanks must stay together since the effect Firm hand from Zakuun causes damage dealt to the main tank to also be taken by the closest player. If there are no nearby players, the main tank will take double damage. Therefore both tanks must stay together and chaining defensive CDs as both will take high physical damage in addition to the constant fire damage of Vile Explosion (the damage that Zakuun's weapon emits). And if that were not enough, random players will explode from the damage Seeds of Destruction emitting Wake of destruction that we must dodge or mitigate so as not to die, but without separating from our tank companion.
This phase lasts 30 seconds. After that, Zakuun will return to phase 1.
Stage 3 - Enrage
When Zakuun's health drops to 30% it will enter this phase until it dies. This phase is a mix of phase 1 and 2 and will be the hardest phase of the combat. During this phase Zakuun will use Resonant fissures, Infected, Cavitation, Vile Explosion, Seeds of Destruction y Very Armed (like Firm hand).
Both tanks must stay together as in Phase 2 since Very Armed does the same as Firm hand. We will use defensive CDs to survive the massive damage from Zakuun's physical attacks and fire damage from Vile Explosion. We must also dodge theWake of destruction to be broadcast by players affected by Infected and by Seeds of Destruction. And we will help to cover some Resonant fissures to melee.
Surely when entering this phase there is still 1 tank affected by Cracked soul (for the ability Slit soul of phase 1). It will be vital that that tank receives all possible mitigations apart from his own as he will take 50% more shadow damage.
If this phase is short, Zakuun will die and the tanks will catch their breath before the next encounter. To see the rest of skills and strategy for DPS and Healers consult our General guide for Normal and Heroic Zakuun.
SEO
Positioning in this fight is vital, both in Zakuun's position and in the positioning of ranged players and healers to properly deal with the contrails of destruction and fel crystals. There are 2 quite effective ways to position Zakuun. In this guide we will explain both.
The first effective method of positioning Zakuun is by placing him near one of the walls of the room, preferably in a corner. Ranks will be in the opposite end and we will cause the fel crystals to come out in the Zakuun's sides glued to the wall. In this way Cavitation trails of destruction will not hit the crystals as they will pass between the crystals, and those affected by infected seeds, Infecto and the tank that leaves the incoporea phase will be positioned behind the band (the ranks) and in the other corners of the room. For this positioning to be possible, we must wait for the first resonant cracks to appear, the band will free the one closest to a corner and then we will take Zakuun to his side. From that moment on, it will be a matter of making the rest of the Fel Crystals come out near the first crystal. We will always assign a couple of players (Mages, Shadow Priests, and Hunters) to protect the crystals from trails of destruction using Evanescence, Deterrence y Dispersion. They will also protect the Cavitation band by standing in front of the group.
The other method is less complicated but also more risky. We will locate Zakuun at max range dps range and healers (35-40 meters). We will cause the fel crystals appear behind the gang or near. Ranks and healers will act as a wall preventing Cavitation and the rest of the trails of destruction from hitting the Fel Crystals. Those affected by latent energy will remain behind the band not to be hit, and the Hunters, Shadow Priests and Mages will cover with Deterrence, Dispersion y Evanescence trails of destruction when possible.
Improvisation will always be present since the positioning of the resonant cracks is random and the strategies will seldom come out verbatim.
When to use the legendary ring?
As we've seen, tanking Zakuun involves taking big physical hits. The best time to use Sanctus, Sigil of the Indomitable will during phase 2 and phase 3 to reduce the high damage of Heavy Hand and Heavy Armed.
Tank Zakuun - Mythic Mode
Tanking Zakuun on his mythic difficulty does not entail great changes but the few that there are are quite significant.
- The most drastic change is with the damage Latent energy. In mythical difficulty this debuff do not have time. Those affected will have this debuff until they enter the special tank phase, the disembodied phase.
- Slit soul will affect 5 players. The damage Cracked soul only the main tank will receive it but 4 players close to the tank will also enter the disembodied phase.
- Upon exiting the disembodied phase, players affected by Latent energy they will lose this damage but in return it will affect them Exhausted soul. This new debuff prevents you from absorbing resonant cracks for 2,50 minutes.
- As it is a fixed number of players (20 people) will always appear 5 resonant fissures.
To overcome with <strong>success</strong> the combat will be assigned groups of 4 players to cover the resonant fissures. When they cover them and are affected by Latent energy these 4 players will join the main tank to be transported to the incorporeal phase. In there the 4 players and the main tank dodge for 15 seconds the waves of Wake of destruction y ring of destruction siendo It is essential not to receive damage from any or the gang will die in the blast. Upon exiting the disembodied phase we will emit Wake of destruction so we will leave from different points of the room preventing the stelae from reaching the crystals of destruction. Once we got out our detriment of Latent energy will disappear allowing help to intercept Wake of destruction. Against we will receive Exhausted soul which will prevent us from helping to absorb resonant cracks, so another group of 4 players and the other tank They will take on this task and enter the next disembodied phase.
The phases will run the same as in Heroic mode. 90 seconds phase 1, 30 seconds phase 2 and at 30% health phase 3. We will apply the strategy that we have just explained in phase 1 and 3, no resonant cracks will emerge in phase 2 and Zakuun will not use Slit soul. Very important that in phase 1 the tanks do not stay together for Slit soul take only 1 tank and all 4 assigned players.
The damage will be higher therefore in phase 2 the tanks must use everything we have to mitigate and ask healers who support us with more mitigation CDs. We will help cover resonant fissures if necessary and we will position Zakuun correctly. In mythical I advise to use the first strategy mentioned in the Positioning section to reduce the risk of unwanted explosions.
And finally I wish you the best of luck in tanking Zakuun. See you at the next Tanqueando en Ciudadela.