Raid Wing 7 - The Key of Ahdashim
Introduction
Glenna meets the squad near the entrance to Ahdashim and is soon joined by The Key of Ahdashim, or what remains of it. In order to gain entrance to the city, all the sections of the Key must be gathered from among the branded ahead.
In order to recover these pieces, the squad must capture four courtyards in turn. Capturing will only progress when they are empty of enemies, so abilities that can force them off the point may be helpful.
Once all four are captured Glenna will move to the gate and begin repairing the mechanism to open it. The squad can either defend her for five minutes, or kill the three Champion Branded Djinn that spawn nearby. Players can either run to each of the Djinn (the two to the east are easy to pull together) and kill them, or remain at the gate and have someone aggro the Djinn and pull them to the stack.
Regardless of the approach taken, Glenna needs to be kept alive so a healer should keep an eye on her and any branded that reach her should be killed quickly. If remaining at the gate, players should try to stand such that Glenna is not hit by the champions’ AoEs. If Glenna dies the entire event must be completed from the start.
After finally gaining entrance to the city, Glenna and the Key discuss the next steps: The Cardinals of Air and Earth must be killed before Qadim can be tackled. The two bosses can be done in either order.
Cardinal Sabir
Heading west from the Leystone Axis, players will be introduced to two enemies and related mechanics that will occur in the upcoming encounter.
Guarding the entrance are two Voltaic Wisps and two Paralyzing Wisps. The Paralyzing Wisps will attack with and every time they attack they gain a stack of Momentum that increases their damage and attack speed by 5% per stack up to a maximum of 20. inflicts 
Immobilize and gives players a stack of Violent Currents, which itself increases damage taken and outgoing damage by 5% per stack up to a maximum of five. The two effects combined mean the Paralyzing Wisps can quickly deal a lot of damage, and so their defiance bars (strength: 600) should be quickly broken as this will remove all stacks of Momentum. Once the player gains 5 stacks of Violent Currents, it grants them a Special Action Key (SAK) called Flash Discharge. Using this skill teleports the player to the targeted location, dealing a small amount of damage and inflicting five seconds of 
Stun (in addition to being a stun break). Using the skill removes all stacks of Violent Currents. Violent Current is also removed if a player is touched by one of the roaming tornadoes, which will throw them into the air and apply 
Weakness (the Weakness is only applied if stacks of Violent Current are removed).
The Voltaic Wisps meanwhile will constantly push nearby players away from them, while dealing 500 damage per second via Electro-Repulsion until their defiance bars (strength: 600) are broken. In addition, they will drop small AoEs called that 
Cripple and 
Daze.
Once all four wisps are dead, the orb on the pedestal may be activated to lower the barrier to the Fractured Conservatory.
Within the Conservatory are more wisps and tornadoes, though these can be ignored. Sabir is waiting ahead but flees after a short conversation, leaving behind a Voltaic Wisp. Kill this wisp and it will create a “jump pad” to the next platform. Repeat this process of killing wisps and jumping from platform to platform until the squad reaches Sabir. On one of the later platforms, players will need to use tornadoes to progress rather than wisps.
Players may land on the edge of the final platform safely, and approaching Sabir will start the fight.
Portal usage
In the split phase of this fight, the platforms in front of Sabir rise up, providing you with a path forward. It takes some time to make the journey, so it is possible to skip part of it with the use of .
To do this, the player with the portal should drop down to the previous platform during the phase and place on one of the preceding platforms. Then, once the platforms have moved to their new position, it can be opened to quickly move there.
Unfortunately, in Sabir's arena, the maximum vertical height that a portal can traverse is significantly reduced, down to only two platform heights. To skip all the platforms, you would therefore need three portals used in succession.
For a single portal provider, the most convenient way to use portals is to skip the long platform with tornadoes. In phase 1 this involves placing a portal on the platform immediately below Sabir's. The portal can then be opened on the fourth platform. In phase 2, the distance is slightly greater, which means must be placed one platform lower, at the edge of the long tornado platform. In both cases, the last wisp will need to be killed to reach Sabir.
Strategy
Sabir aggros on the player with the highest toughness, and cycles through his autoattack chain:
- → →
Note that his basic attacks apply Violent Currents, so players should initially stack in front of the boss in order to gain the maximum stacks for the damage boost. They could then move to the side of Sabir in order to take less damage.
At 90% health, Sabir will gain barrier, a defiance bar, and begin pushing players back. The repulsion field deals a small amount of damage and continues to apply Violent Currents. Additionally, three lines of electricity radiate out from Sabir that will deal moderate damage and knock players back. This attack continues until Sabir is broken, and will repeat at 70% health.
Defiance Bar: 15000
Immediately after being broken, Sabir targets every player with an AoE that fills with color over three seconds. Lightning will strike each player once the AoE is full, dealing moderate damage and applying a stack of Violent Current. Players standing in multiple AoEs will be hit for each one.
Phase 2 (80%)
Once Sabir’s health reaches 80%, he becomes untargetable and attacks players with . He then flees upwards to a second platform and players must progress from platform to platform as they did before the fight started. Be aware that on the tornado platform there is now a Dire Draft – a tornado with an orange AoE beneath it that will fling players off the side of the platform, usually killing them. If players do fall off these platforms, there are updrafts that can help get them to safety (although be aware that not all of the updrafts are “real”).
Once the squad catches up with Sabir, the fight continues as before with one important addition: There are now tornadoes moving anticlockwise around the platform. They follow the line patterns on the floor so it is best for the squad to stack close to Sabir in one of the four cardinal directions. The image below shows the movement patterns for the tornadoes in each phase:
At 75% health, Sabir spins around and two rings expand out from him. After three seconds they are followed by a shockwave that spreads across the entire platform and instantly downs any player it hits. The only way to ignore the shockwave is with invulnerability, skills that convert incoming damage to healing (e.g. ), or skills that allow players to ignore deathblows (e.g. ). It can also be jumped over using the tornadoes or teleported over using the SAK (if they have it) or any other teleport skill. This attack will repeat at 65% health.
Be aware that players launched by tornadoes while they have active stacks of Violent Current will cause a
to fire out from the tornado. Though the attack deals low damage, it might be preferable for players to use their SAKs before taking the tornado as it will consume all their stacks of Violent Current anyway. The SAK could be used to move to the tornado, or used to teleport over the shockwave if the player is confident.
After the squad should regroup, being ready for the at 70% health.
Phase 3 (60%)
Once Sabir reaches 60% health, he will use and flee once again. Players progress up the path of wisps and tornadoes to reach the final platform, noting that there are now two Dire Drafts.
Initially, the set up on this platform is the same as before with the exception that the tornadoes are moving clockwise. In this phase however, Sabir follows a rotation of mechanics
- Autoattack Chain x2 →
After , Sabir will give himself an Ion Shield and a defiance bar (strength: 2500). For every three seconds Sabir remains unbroken, he will gain a stack of Ion Shield. Each stack increases his damage by 3%, decreases his incoming damage by 5% and renders him immune to 
Vulnerability. Meanwhile Sabir will repeat his autoattack chain.
This defiance bar rapidly regenerates, so CC will need to be coordinated to deal with it. The most powerful tool for this is the SAK. Five SAKs will be sufficient to break the bar if sufficiently coordinated, but fewer is possible with other sources of CC. When the SAK is available for a player, their tile in the squad interface gains a yellow border so this can be used to check if enough people have it.
Once broken, Sabir will use → → followed by Fury of the Storm.
Sabir spins and a large square AoE spread out underneath him. At the same time, two protective bubbles appear in two of the corners of the arena (opposite each other). When the AoE fills the platform, anyone not in the bubble will be instantly downed as a massive bolt of lightning hits the platform.
Sabir will then cycle through his rotation thus:
- Autoattack Chain → Special Attack → → → →
The first time through this loop Sabir will use → Ion Shield → Autoattack Chain until broken
and the second time he will use
For the rest of the fight he continues this pattern, using the “Ion Shield loop” twice, followed by the “Electrical Repulsion loop” once, then repeating.
Aside from the above, new threats will be added at certain health thresholds:
- 50% – An enormous Dire Draft will spawn on the western side of the platform and slowly rotate clockwise. For this reason it is essential that the group not stack there before 50%. Once it has spawned, the group should rotate 90 degrees around Sabir whenever the next area is clear so as to avoid tornadoes while keeping themselves the maximum distance from the Dire Draft. The Dire Draft is particularly dangerous because it can move over the location of the safety bubbles during , so care must be taken when selecting which one to go to. Finally, players should be careful when using their SAKs – players cannot stand inside the hitboxes of bosses in this wing, and using the SAK directly underneath Sabir will cause the player to be forced out of the hitbox, potentially into the Dire Draft. For this reason, players should try to aim their SAKs just in front of Sabir (ensuring he is still within their AoE).
- 40% – Sabir raises a platform to the west alongside the main one, containing a Paralyzing Wisp that attacks the group. Every 10% of Sabir’s health, a new wisp spawns 90 degrees clockwise of the last one and the animation for the platform appearing takes around five seconds. If a wisp is killed, a new one spawns in its place 40 seconds later. If left alive, the Paralyzing Wisp will spawn a Voltaic Wisp every 30 seconds.
With high enough DPS or a significant amount of projectile defense the wisps may be ignored, however most groups will need to ensure that players regularly go to kill them. The wisps are much easier to kill once they are broken, but the SAK can’t do it alone so additional CC will be required. The fewest number of players possible should be sent to kill wisps, so as not to lose too much damage on Sabir, but send as many as are required. Players should try to use the updrafts rather than tornadoes to reach the wisps, as they will want to have as many stacks of Violent Current as possible so that they can use the SAK. The wisps platforms will not be hit by Sabir’s attacks, but once the wisp dies will repeatedly strike the platform, dealing extreme damage if it hits.
Cardinal Adina
Heading east from the Leystone Axis, players will encounter an earth elemental with five stacks of Pillar Pandemonium provided by the five nearby broken pillars. Each stack reduces incoming damage by 20%, so at least one pillar must be destroyed in order to kill the elemental. Players approaching the earth elemental will be targeted by an attack that will down them and apply Radiant Blindness and 
Bleeding, but they will be protected if they stand behind a pillar. Each pillar can absorb two attacks before being destroyed (removing a stack of Pillar Pandemonium), so players should spread out between the pillars and quickly move to attack the earth elemental once it has lost its protection. This mechanic is crucial to the structure of the upcoming fight.
Past the earth elemental is Cardinal Adina, standing on a pillar above some quicksand. She will summon a multitude of columns as players approach, forming an arena for the upcoming fight.
Surrounding Adina are five pillars that roughly mark the aggro radius of the boss, thus players should not move past the pillars until everyone is ready. As soon as a player moves past a pillar or attacks Adina, she will target everyone with so players should spread out evenly between the pillars before the encounter begins.
Assuming this was done correctly, all five pillars will be destroyed and Adina will begin to direct her autoattack, , at the player with the highest toughness. Adina will not move during this attack, so it may be sidestepped. All other players should stack behind Adina. With each autoattack Adina applies two stacks of 
Might to herself, so some form of boon removal may be useful.
At that start of each phase, Adina will autoattack three times then target the tank with a large conal AoE. This AoE follows the tank for three seconds before it hits, damaging any pillars in the AoE and potentially knocking a player back. At the same time, the five non-tank players furthest from the boss will be targeted with a small AoE that follows the player and slowly fills with color. After five seconds, the AoE stops following the player and two seconds later a pillar will spawn at each location. Any player stood within the AoE will be killed instantly and a small shockwave erupts from the pillar that inflicts Cripple and Immobilize, but can be jumped over. If the pillar shockwave hits Adina (if it is placed within two tiles of her), then nearby players will receive Radiant Blindness. This attack repeats every 30 seconds.
The knockback effect from is inconsistent. It appears to be a single-target bolt aimed at the tank that will knock the first player it hits. However, clones, spirits and other minions seem to absorb the attack without getting knocked back.
Following this, Adina will then use five more times, before preparing another .
After Perilous Pulse, Adina with autoattack five times, then use three skills in succession.
First, the tank will be targeted with a narrow conal attack that places a small AoE on every column within the cone. This AoE fills with color over three seconds and when full, a stalagmite appears at each location. If a player touches a stalagmite they will take heavy damage and the column beneath it will be destroyed. The only way to avoid this damage is with invulnerability. Next, Adina will coat herself in a protective layer of diamond that provides her with 
Resolution, Might and 
Protection, and reflects projectiles. Additionally, a large eye appears above Adina’s head and any player still facing Adina after two seconds will be hit by Radiant Blindness. Finally, the arena will begin to fill with an orange AoE over four seconds. Once the AoE is full, Adina will fire Boulder Barrage at every player. This attack repeats every 30 seconds.
Strategy
These two sets of attacks give the fight a “period” of 30 seconds within each main phase and proceeds as follows:
- x3 → + → x5 → → →
The pattern then repeats.
It is recommended that the role of picking up the pillar AoE be assigned to five specific players, ideally those who can regularly move away from the boss without affecting their performance – most likely supports or DPS classes that have a ranged weapon. Additionally, one other player should be assigned to go to the pillars that were dropped so that there are two at each pillar, as each pillar can only block two hits from .
There are multiple ways in which to assign both pillar locations, and the pillars that players go to to avoid .
One popular approach is to mark locations on the map and assign players to those locations. The five players drop their pillars at their assigned markers, then everyone goes to their assigned location when is due.
Another popular approach is not to assign locations but “positions”. In this case pillars can be dropped anywhere (within reason), and players are assigned to, for example, the most clockwise pillar, second most clockwise pillar etc. This approach ensures that players will always know which pillar to go to even if they are in an unexpected location. Be aware that if two pillars are placed adjacent to one another, one will be instantly destroyed.
Regardless of the method used, it is recommended that at most one pillar be placed in front of Adina, as destroys pillars so this will give the most amount of space possible for the tank to move.
Players should begin moving to pillars shortly after the appear, as Adina will soon gain Resolution that can easily down a player when they need to be moving out if they are not careful (Adina used to gain Retaliation before it was removed, but her Resolution appears to still function as Retaliation). Healing skills that heal as you deal damage such as can help to protect against this, but players will need to move out regardless to avoid being hit by Radiant Blindness. This effect causes all attacks to miss for 10 seconds, which renders DPS players useless until it ends.
In the event a player dies, there will be one less attack from , which can leave damaged pillars in the arena. Each damaged pillar provides Adina with a stack of Pillar Pandemonium, so it is essential that these pillars be removed as soon as possible. To achieve this, the tank can position themselves such that will hit the damaged pillar, destroying it. Other players should ensure that they avoid this attack. Alternatively, the next time pillars are assigned, a player can drop their pillar on top of the damaged one which will destroy the damaged pillar.
Should more than one player die, players will need to drop some pillars in the same location. This will result in the creation of fewer pillars, meaning that there will be fewer damaged pillars remaining after .
Note that while pillars technically have three “health” each, many mechanics during the encounter will strip one health from undamaged pillars. Thus for most purposes each pillar effectively has two health, but it does mean that any pillar will eventually be damaged even if no-one were to use it to block . For this reason, when you have fewer than nine players alive it is better to drop pillars at the same location (thus destroying some) than leaving extra pillars active.
Split Phase 1 (75%)
When Adina reaches 75% health, she will become invulnerable and each column with a stalagmite will crumble. Additionally, a pillar will spawn in each corner of the arena and large arrow indicators point directly north and south from the boss. A few seconds later Adina will channel along the arrow indicators in the form of two beams that will slowly rotate anticlockwise around the arena. Players must circle around the boss avoiding any gaps in the floor until they have performed a full rotation, at which point the beams disappear. If a player falls into the sand beneath the arena, they will be launched back up by a that will inflict Bleeding and Radiant Blindness. The beams themselves will instantly kill any player they touch, though they can be blocked (the block needs to last for a duration as the beams hit multiple times) and as a last resort a player can fall into the sand in order to drop underneath a beam as it passes. Be aware that the spawning animation for the beams is slightly offset from the actual attack, and is not harmful until the beam “matches” the arrow indicator’s location.
Once the beams have done a full revolution, Adina will the arena, causing multiple columns to appear and disappear. columns that are about to disappear will be marked with a faint yellow AoE so players should ensure they are not standing on these. Adina will raise a group of pillars underneath herself that functions identically to , and summon a pair of hands to the north-west and north-east of her location:
Hand of Erosion – To the north-west of Adina, a Hand of Erosion spawns. The hand is not a direct threat, but every 15 seconds will apply one stack of to all players, increasing the damage they take.
Hand of Eruption – To the north-east of Adina, a Hand of Eruption spawns. This hand will repeatedly fire a at multiple players, inflicting Bleeding, Weakness and knocking players back. This attack is a projectile, so projectile defense will be very helpful.
These hands must be destroyed to make Adina vulnerable again. The squad can either stack together and kill them one at a time, or split into two even groups to kill them simultaneously. Adina will slowly rotate while the hands are active, attacking with in front of herself. She starts facing west and rotates clockwise, so if the entire squad is moving together it may be worth starting with the Hand of Erosion to give themselves the best chance of staying ahead of the attacks.
Phase 2
Once both hands are dead, Adina will the arena once more and the fight will proceed exactly as it did in the first phase. The image below shows the layout of the arena for each phase (excluding any columns destroyed by stalagmites).
Split Phase 2 (50%)
The second split phase begins when Adina reaches 50% health. This proceeds identically to the first split phase with the exception that the arena configuration is slightly changed and there are now four hands.
Hand of Erosion – Hands of Erosion spawn at the north-west and south-east locations.
Hand of Eruption – Hands of Eruption spawn at the north-east and south-west locations.
As before, Adina will be rotating clockwise hitting the area in front of her with . If the squad is moving as a single group, it is therefore safest to begin with the southern hands. If the group is splitting, one group should go north and the other south.
In order to traverse between the north and south ends of the arena, players must cross over a bridge only one column wide. This leaves them very vulnerable to , so the use of projectile defense or 
Stability is strongly recommended to avoid players being knocked into the sand. Alternatively, portal skills such as could be used to quickly move everyone between locations safely.
The next phase and split phase proceed identically to the previous phases with the exception that the arena configuration is changed.
Phase 4
The final phase adds one last complication. At 20% and 10% health, a Hand of Erosion will spawn at the edge of the arena. These will constantly apply stacks of , making the encounter more deadly the longer it progresses. Otherwise the phase remains the same as before.
Qadim the Peerless
Once both Cardinals are dead, the squad may progress north from the Leystone Axis and enter the Sovereign’s Stadium.
Qadim the Peerless waits ahead, surrounded by three pylons at the border of a large circular pattern on the floor. Crossing the threshold of this circle will start the encounter, so players should not do so until everyone is ready. In addition to the pylons themselves, attention should be paid to the three circular patterns midway between each pylon along the outer circle.
Every player will have been given a Special Action Key (SAK) called Flux Disruptor that when activated allows them to tether to various entities during the encounter. Activating the SAK a second time will toggle the ability back off.
Once a player crosses into the large circle, the encounter will begin. Qadim is initially invulnerable and an AoE covering the entire arena slowly closes in on his location. If it reaches him, he will kill every player with . However, the pylons can now be attacked – they do not take any damage, but they have a defiance bar (strength: 1000). Once broken, a green AoE appears around the pylon that slowly empties of color. When empty, the pylon will regain its breakbar unless a player with an active flux disruptor stand within the AoE. At this point the pylon will be captured and tether to the player, and Qadim will become vulnerable once all three pylons are captured by players.
These pylons must be consistently controlled throughout the encounter, and requires players to fulfill a specialized role to achieve this.
Pylon Kiting
The position of the pylons means that the pylon kiters will not be able to stack on the group and must be able to perform their role at range. Being tethered to a pylon provides a buff called Kinetic Abundance that constantly provides essential boons – 
Alacrity, 
Fury, Might and 
Quickness, but does not provide any form of sustain. This limits the range of classes and roles that will be effective at pylon kiting – broadly speaking the most effective will be ranged healers or ranged DPS. Having three healers will be unnecessary for many groups, so it is likely that at least one of the pylon kiters will be a DPS.
Regarding healers, it should also be noted that Kinetic Abundance also provides your target with the Erratic Energy debuff, increasing the damage they take. Thus even if a healer is able to heal at range, it should also be capable of attacking at range in order to apply the debuff.
Additionally, the pylon kiter may be required to deal with the following mechanic:
Once Qadim reaches 95% health, he will fire an energy orb towards one of the circular patterns between the pylons. A white AoE spawns at the location the orb will land and if a player is not stood in this location after four seconds, the orb will detonate, dealing heavy damage and applying to all players. will continue to deal damage for a period afterwards. If the orb lands it will gain a green AoE and begin to slowly move towards Qadim, overloading and dealing heavy damage again via should the orb reach him. If at any point a player is in one of the orb AoEs, the orb will attach to them and start dealing damage to the orb carrier with and nearby players with . If the player goes down, the orb will be dropped and continue moving towards Qadim. Should a player with an orb tether to a Pylon, the orb will attach to the pylon instead and stop dealing damage. This mechanic spawns in sets of three every 5% health, starting at 95%, 75% and 55%. The very first orb of the run will be launched at the north-east location, and after the first orb of each set, the next orb will be fired at the circular pattern anti-clockwise of the previous one. Should the squad wipe, the pattern will continue from where it left off. Each pylon can hold up to three orbs.
While any player can pick up the orbs, the need to tether to the pylon to remove them makes it difficult for anyone other than a pylon kiter. For as long as the kiter remains in range, the pylon will remain tethered to them. The only way to switch who the pylon is tethered to is for the kiter to leave the pylon’s range, or for them to toggle off their SAK temporarily. Due to the limit on the number of orbs a pylon can hold, it is helpful to fix the pylon that each orb will be taken to (i.e. having every orb taken to the pylon clockwise/anti-clockwise of its spawn location).
If a pylon kiter moves away from the pylon, it will gain the same green AoE from the start of the encounter and players have approximately five seconds for a player with an active flux disruptor to enter the AoE to avoid it being recaptured (making Qadim invulnerable until it the pylon’s defiance bar is broken). Because of this, a pylon kiter has a very limited time in which to pick up the orb and return to the pylon. For this reason if a pylon kiter is going to attempt to pick up the orbs themselves, it is greatly preferable for them to have access to teleport or shadowstep skills.
Finally, while a player is tethered to a pylon, they will repeatedly take damage from . While it is possible for healers to keep them alive, this could require splitting their attention five ways (between the stack, tank and three pylon kiters). Thus it is again greatly preferable for classes to have some measure of self-sustain.
At the time of writing, there are only two classes that can combine the ability to pick up orbs solo, attack at range and keep themselves alive: Thieves using and , and Scourges using . Scourges can sustain themselves using , , , or running a healing build.
Strategy
With the pylon kiters assigned, players should start the encounter spread between the three pylons, attempting to have an even amount of CC at each location.
Once the encounter starts, break all three pylons and everyone but the kiters can move to the boss. It is recommended that only the tank and pylon kiters have active flux disruptors at this point. Players cannot stack inside Qadim’s hitbox, so there will be some distance between the tank and the rest of the group.
Shortly after the pylons have been broken an orange AoE spreads out from Qadim. When the inner circle is filled, a shockwave will erupt outwards across the entire arena dealing moderate damage and knocking players back a great distance. Qadim will repeat this attack after players recapture pylons at 80% and 60%, and after he consumes pylons at 40%, 30% and 20%.
All players should be aware of this attack, because while is it only a minor inconvenience at this point, later in the fight it can become deadly as parts of arena will be unsafe. The safest method for dealing with this is to have one of the supports on the stack provide Stability so that it can be ignored. Players on the pylons will need to block or evade the attack if they do not have their own Stability. Players should also avoid standing on the lines that decorate the arena, as a surge of energy named rushes along these whenever Qadim is in control of the pylons, dealing heavy damage to players hit by it.
Following this, Qadim will fixate on the closest player with an active flux disruptor. As long as that player remains within the inner circle around Qadim, they will be the tank. If the wrong player is fixated, they must move away until the fixation changes. Once the tank has been fixated, other players may activate their SAKs if they wish (though it will have no effect yet). The tank will be targeted with a beam that applies Sapping Surge, and Qadim will repeatedly target them with a conal AoE. After a few seconds, Qadim will pummel players within the area with . hits the area a fixed amount of times, spread across all targets. This means that the more players in the AoE, the fewer hits will be directed at each. As each hit affects a small AoE around the targeted player, players would need to be spread out for this to be of any benefit, thus it will likely be preferable to only have the tank within the cone AoE.
After three uses of , Qadim will direct a long rectangular AoE at the tank and hurl in that direction, leaving a damaging field behind it that lasts for 20 seconds. If this hits a pylon, it will be reclaimed and must be broken once more to continue damaging Qadim. The attack must also not intersect with the locations that the will land, as this will make it very dangerous to pick up the orbs. Thus the tank must remain mindful of their position at all times.
Within each phase, once Qadim reaches certain health thresholds he will begin using after . A random player is targeted with a small AoE that fills with color over three seconds. When full, the area is hit by lightning for heavy damage. Immediately afterwards, the same player is targeted with a medium size AoE that functions the same way, and then with a large AoE. The health thresholds for this attack are 90%, 70% and 50%. Below 40% the attack will occur as part of Qadim’s rotation.
At 95% health, Qadim will launch the first . Once an orb is taken to a pylon, the tether from the pylon will be able to extend to an additional player (one additional player per pylon) provided that player has an activated flux disruptor. The tether will share Kinetic Abundance to the additional player, giving them boons and applying another stack of Erratic Energy to Qadim. The tether has a limited range, so the pylon kiters will need to stand as close to Qadim as possible, and the second tethered player will need to stand slightly back from Qadim. As this will hinder their ability to stack, it may be advisable for the second tethered players to be supports or the tank. Once a pylon has a second orb attached, the tether will be able to extend from the second players to a third. This will easily reach players in the stack so the third players will not need to move at all. For this reason it is advisable that all of the stacked players activate their SAKs after the tank has picked up fixation.
Phase 2 (80%)
At 80% Health, every player receives a medium-sized AoE beneath them and they float up into the air. After five seconds, they will drop to the floor, leaving a behind. This highly damaging field will persist for the rest of the fight. This attack will repeat when Qadim reaches 60% health.
Qadim will reclaim the pylons during this mechanic, knocking any players around himself or the pylons back and dealing moderate damage with (though this is largely irrelevant as players should be moving away to deal with ). The pylons will need to be broken once more to continue.
After this, Qadim will use once more. With the presence of this attack is much more of a threat so players other than the tank and pylon kiters should stack up to share stability.
Following this, the phase will continue much like the first did.
When Qadim reaches 75% health, an Entropic Distortion will spawn in one of the circular patterns between the pylons (the same locations the appear). These distortions will then walk towards the nearest player-controlled pylon, or Qadim if there is no nearby pylon. If they reach the pylon, they will “steal” the tether from the pylon kiter and begin attacking nearby players with , dealing heavy damage. Additionally, the Distortion will gain a stack of Flare-Up every two seconds, and if they reach 10 stacks the Distortion will explode, hitting nearby players with . 40 seconds after an Entropic Distortion has spawned, a new one will spawn one position clockwise from the previous Distortion. Because Distortions and spawn at the same locations, it is possible that the two may coincide. In this event it is essential that the player stand in the AoE before the Distortion spawns. If the player is not present and the Distortion is allowed to touch the energy orb, it will instantly gain 10 stacks of Flare-Up and explode.
When they spawn, the Distortion is Incorporeal and cannot be harmed until its defiance bar (strength: 400) is broken. The Distortions have a reasonable amount of health, but they will actually take damage from . For this reason, it is very useful for players to drop this AoE on the path the Distortion will take. Two stacked on top of one another will be sufficient to kill the Distortion provided it is broken within the AoE.
The image below shows the paths that the Distortions will walk (assuming pylons are under control).
There are a total of 20 AoEs that will be dropped throughout the encounter (provided all players remain alive). This is sufficient to cover all paths the Distortions will take with two each. If taking this method it will be useful to assign people to specific locations. Care should be taken with the placement of as space will need to be left for the players to move. In particular, the area that the anomalies spawn must be left clear so that orbs can be safely collected from these locations. Players should also try to leave as much room near the pylon free as possible – for example has quite a short range so there must be enough space for both portal locations to be safe. If in doubt, players should drop their AoEs as close to the edge of the arena as possible in order to retain the most playable space.
If killing the Entropic Distortions with it may be necessary to assign one or two players with ranged CC to breaking them, as the pylon kiters may not have any CC available.
When Qadim reaches 70% health, he will sometimes attempt to steal control of a pylon after using . He will gain a defiance bar and corrupt the Kinetic Abundance of the targeted pylon into , causing it to apply Vulnerability, 
Torment, 
Slow and Weakness instead of boons in addition to reducing the kiter’s damage. If the defiance bar is not broken within 10 seconds, he will gain control of the pylon and it must be broken and reclaimed before Qadim can be damaged.
Phase 3 (60%)
Once Qadim reaches 60% health, repeats and the pylons must be broken and reclaimed as before.
Beginning once the Pylons have been reclaimed in phase 3, Qadim will target and track a random player with a large arrow indicator. After a few seconds, Qadim slams his fist down, launching a shockwave along the floor directly at the targeted player. The attack can be jumped over, and a target with invulnerability can absorb it if they stand in the way. If the attack hits, it deals heavy damage to all players near the target and applies a stack of Chaos Corrosion. Qadim will then repeat the attack twice more at the same target, but will apply Quickness to himself which can cause the timing to vary somewhat.
Being hit once by is survivable, but the debuff it applies makes any additional hits extremely damaging. In order to impact the fewest people, it might be worth the targeted player moving away from the group, and all other players staying away from the arrow indicator.
Otherwise, the phase continues much as the previous two did, with Qadim using the following attack pattern after the first :
- x3 → (sometimes) → or
The pattern then repeats.
Phase 4 (40%)
When Qadim reaches 40% health, he will use an attack called Battering Blitz where he rushes directly at the north pylon, dealing heavy damage and knocking down any player in his path. Once he reaches the pylon he consumes it, leaving behind a large that functions similarly to . The northern pylon kiter should be sure to get out of the way, and can move to join the stack as this attack occurs. After consuming the pylon, Qadim will use from the pylon’s location, and the squad should handle it the same way as before.
Following this, Qadim teleports back to the center of the arena and reclaims the pylons, knocking players near them back with . Players can simply stand outside the AoEs to avoid this.
Once more, the pylons must be broken and reclaimed.
Qadim will resume the attack pattern from phase 3 where he left off, but having consumed the pylon makes him more dangerous: by consuming the orbs attached to the pylon, the Sapping Surge debuff applied to the tank can now tether through up to three players within range, applying the debuff to them as well. This will only affect players with active flux disruptors, so players should either deactivate their SAKs or ensure that the tank is far enough away from the group that no-one can be tethered to. Qadim’s continued draining of magical energy has also caused Ahdashim’s defenses to drop, allowing the brandstorm to penetrate and causing random players to frequently be targeted by small AoEs that deal heavy damage from should they hit. Finally, is now constantly active except for when Qadim is in the process of consuming a pylon.
From now on, Entropic Distortions will spawn every 30 seconds, instead of 40.
Phase 5 (30%)
Once Qadim reaches 30% he will repeat Battering Blitz and consume the south-west pylon. The phase continues identically to Phase 4, but now Qadim is able to attack a second primary tether to a player, which can also tether through up to three other players. As before, players should either deactivate their SAKs or have the tethered player move away from the rest of the group.
After consuming the second pylon, Qadim will gain 
Aegis and Resolution every six seconds, so having boon removal is highly advantageous.
Phase 6 (20%)
Much as before, once Qadim reaches 20% he will use Battering Blitz towards the final pylon. As there are no more pylons remaining, there is nothing to protect Qadim and so the fight will resume immediately (though be wary of ).
Following , Qadim will knock nearby players back and lock their SAKs, forcing everyone’s flux disruptor on. He can now tether to three primary targets, and there is no way to prevent them from tethering through additional players if they are close enough, so it is recommended that these players stack apart from the rest of the group to limit the effect of Sapping Surge. These two additional players should ideally be supports who can perform their role at range, or pylon kiters, as they should have sufficient sustain to survive. The targeting for the primary tethers functions much the same as the tank fixation, so players who do not wish to be targeted should move away from the boss until a new target is selected.
Qadim will now gain Might, Fury, Quickness, Alacrity, Aegis, Resolution every six seconds, though the exact time the boons are applied can vary, likely as a result of players becoming tethered to Qadim at different times.
Qadim will continue using the same attack pattern as the previous three phases, though due to the lack of pylons he cannot attempt . As three players will have Sapping Surge and Qadim will no longer have any stacks of Erratic Energy, this phase will be significantly slower than previous phases.
Note: Qadim's use of , and is inconsistent. This means he may occasionally use these mechanics at times other than those described in the guide, or may cancel attacks part-way through (beyond the normal cancellation of skills due to phase transitions). Whether they are bugged or the exact usage is misunderstood is unknown.
Thanks to Linus, who made the Sabir, Adina and Qadim images for the Guild Wars 2 Wiki.
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