All: The overcharger marks a player with a persistent lightning circle underfoot that moves with them and deals heavy shock damage to anyone standing inside. If you are marked, hold position and block while everyone else steps out of your circle, and healers should focus healing on the marked player until it expires.
All: The overcharger fires repeated lightning strikes that spawn smaller expanding circles beneath targeted players. Keep moving to step out of each circle before it reaches full size and detonates, and focus the overcharger down early in the pull.
All: The chainspinner casts a chain that pulls a distant target into melee range and deals magic damage. Block the cast to negate the pull, and have a tank position the chainspinner with the rest of the pack so it dies to cleave damage.
All: The chainspinner curls up briefly before releasing a close-range burst that deals heavy physical damage and knocks back everyone nearby. Step out of the circle or block if you are in melee range.
All: The chainspinner strikes a target rapidly eleven times in succession, dealing physical damage over time and stunning them. Break Free promptly if stunned.
All: The nullifier raises its staff and channels a yellow healing beam that chains between two nearby allies. Interrupt the channel immediately to stagger the nullifier, and prioritize killing it so it cannot prolong the pull.
All: The nullifier places a swirling magic area on the ground that deals continuous damage until it expires or the nullifier dies. Step out of the area and shift the group onto clean ground if needed.
Tank: Hold the atronach in the center of the arena facing away from the group, and pull it back to the middle after each lightning storm phase so every safe rune stays within equal reach.
All: The atronach arches back and releases an expanding shock wave across the room along with five smaller shock circles radiating outward. Block the blast and stay grouped behind the boss so healers can restore the group's health immediately afterward.
All: When the atronach raises its hands and the room darkens, one of the five faint floor runes around the arena lights up as a golden safe circle while ramping lightning strikes barrage the room. Call out which pad is glowing and move into the golden circle immediately, since remaining outside it quickly becomes fatal.
All: The atronach slams the ground and sends a homing electric orb toward a target; on contact it surrounds that player with a tracking shock field that snares them and deals continuous damage. Dodge the initial orb if possible, or heal through the field until it expires, since blocking does not prevent the effect from applying.
All: The atronach rises up and slams the ground five times in succession, sending heavy physical damage across the entire island with each hit. Stack tightly behind the boss and hold position while healers push strong area healing and damage mitigation through all five slams.
All: Starting around eighty percent health, the atronach crouches into a defensive posture and hurls boulders at random players between quakes, dealing splash damage and knocking down anyone who is not blocking. Spread out slightly as soon as it crouches and block until the barrage ends, then stack behind the boss again for the next quake.
Tank: Firstmage Chainspinners and Nullifiers spawn around the island from eighty percent health onward. Have the off-tank taunt and pull them onto the boss so they die in cleave, and interrupt any Nullifier channeling Healing Links.
Dps: Cleave down the Chainspinners and Nullifiers that the off-tank pulls into the boss, and prioritize interrupting and killing any Nullifier that remains at range before adds accumulate.
Tank: Varlariel's frontal frost cone kills a non-tank outright. Keep her turned away from the group at all times and block the breath.
Dps: Stay behind Varlariel and out of her frontal frost cone, which kills a damage dealer outright.
Healer: Stay behind Varlariel and out of her frontal frost cone, which kills a healer outright.
All: Varlariel calls down a volley of wisps that form expanding circles across the floor before exploding for heavy frost damage. Spread out slightly behind the boss so circles do not overlap, and step out of them before they reach full size.
Dps: Varlariel periodically splits into copies of herself that move to the surrounding pillars, starting with three copies and increasing by one each cycle. Move to your assigned pillar and kill the copies within about twenty seconds; many groups deliberately leave one designated copy alive so more damage stays on the boss.
Tank: While the copies are active at the pillars, debuff the copies nearest the group to help the damage dealers finish them before the detonation timer expires.
All: Roughly twenty seconds after splitting, Varlariel draws energy from any surviving copies and triggers an unavoidable arena-wide explosion whose damage scales with how many copies remain alive. Surviving one copy is manageable with shields and group healing, two or three are dangerous, and four or more trigger Infused Combustion for lethal oblivion damage.
Hard Mode: Destroy all three blue Aetherial Orbs on the pedestals beside the final teleport pads before dropping into the boss arena (Veteran only; achievement: Aetherian Archive Difficult Mode). There is no scroll or banner, and once the orbs are smashed Hard Mode cannot be turned off without resetting the instance.
All: The Mage's basic ranged shock attack arcs to any player within about eight meters of the target, increasing in damage with each jump. Keep only the main tank in the front half of the arena while the rest of the group stacks behind her at maximum melee range, or stays spread out beyond arcing range.
Tank: Disembodied purple axes spawn periodically with massive health pools and cannot practically be killed. The off-tank must taunt each axe as it appears, pull the axes to the far edge of the platform away from the group, and block their heavy Slam attack to stagger them and avoid being knocked down.
Dps: Do not waste damage trying to kill the Conjured Axes. If a loose axe targets you before the off-tank picks it up, block its attacks and call it out so the tank can taunt it away.
Healer: Keep healing over time and resource support on the axe tank, who takes heavy sustained physical damage while holding multiple axes away from the group. If an unbound axe targets you, block until the tank taunts it.
Dps: Starting around fifty percent health, the Mage summons miniature reflections of herself around the arena that channel high-damage purple beams at the four closest players. Focus ranged damage on each Conjured Reflection immediately without crossing into the front half of the boss's arena.
Healer: Conjured Reflections channel continuous magic beams at the four closest players until killed. Heal through the beam damage while damage dealers focus them down, and avoid crossing in front of the Mage.
All: Expanding voids of starry frost form on the platform and deal heavy continuous frost damage to anyone inside. Step clear as a group as they grow, and if one expands onto the main tank, rotate the boss and the group in opposite directions to keep the group behind her.
All: Glowing purple mines appear around the platform and detonate for heavy magic damage when stepped on. Avoid them where they do not block movement; if a mine lands in a crowded spot, a shielded healer or damage dealer can deliberately walk over it to clear the space.
All: At fifteen percent health, the Mage enters her transition by unleashing exactly four stage-wide knockdown staff slams, destroying all remaining axes and adds, before channeling a relentless, ramping flame storm. Dodge into the center right on the Mage, stack tightly for healing and mitigation ultimates, and focus all damage on her to finish the fight before the channel overwhelms the group.
Tank: In Hard Mode, Storm Atronachs periodically fall from the sky alongside the axes. Have the main tank taunt and pull each Storm Atronach directly onto the Mage so damage dealers can cleave and focus it down.
Dps: In Hard Mode, Storm Atronachs spawn every ten to twenty seconds and cast a group-wide Unstable Explosion once reduced to twenty percent health. Focus each Storm Atronach down immediately once it reaches low health so its execute spray does not wipe the group.
All: In Hard Mode, meteors rain down continuously on players throughout the fight, dealing heavy flame damage and knocking down anyone who does not block. Block the impacts rather than dodge-rolling indiscriminately, since rolling drains stamina rapidly and risks sending you off the edge of the platform.