Raid Wing 8 - Mount Balrior
Introduction
The starting area is covered by scattered titanspawn, but they do not need to be killed, so just ride past them up the mountain until you hear yelling.
Glenna has got herself in trouble again and needs rescuing. Defeating the titanspawn here will unlock the base camp checkpoint. The enemies here hit astonishingly hard for trash mobs, so it's recommended to go in as a group.
Once cleared, two paths open to the east and the west, each leading to a boss. Unfortunately, a legendary creature blocks the path in each direction. These bosses serve to introduce some of the mechanics in the upcoming boss, but have to be completed each time (though there is a method to skip most of the Blighted Beast fight).
Legendary Blighted Beast
To the east, is a Legendary Blighted Beast and three Empowering Beasts. As long as the Empowering Beasts live, they will regularly buff the Blighted Beast with 
Empowered, increasing the damage it deals. As such, it is important to kill them first.
Legendary Sentient Conduit
To the west, the area surrounding this legendary is covered by regular enemies. They do not have to be killed, but they can be a nuisance when fighting the Legendary Sentient Conduit so it may be best to clear them out first. The main mechanics of note in this fight are the purple barriers that trap you and knock you back if you try to cross them. There is also a mechanic that drops several medium-sized AoEs on each player, making it very dangerous to stack - the Decima encounter strongly incentivises splitting the group so making sure the squad has a good number of ranged builds is advisable.
Greer, the Blightbringer
It is extremely beneficial to bring projectile defense to this encounter as it can mitigate a lot of the mechanics, including [some/one] that provides the boss with stacks of Empowered.
Condition cleanse is also very useful as most of the attacks inflict conditions and some can corrupt boons as well.
Setup
Before starting the fight, you should have an idea of how to approach it as there are three targets and moving between them can be quite dangerous.
In the middle is the main boss, Greer. To the south is Reeg, and to the north-west is Gree. Each of these minibosses has half of Greer's moveset, but during the opening phase they will not move. This means they will limit themselves to throwing the occasional ranged attack unless they are engaged in melee. Greer, meanwhile, will move to attack the group if he is not occupied. There are a number of ways this encounter could be approached, but it is recommended to have a player to tank Greer.
The phasing in this encounter is unusual:
- If engaged immediately at the start, both Gree and Reeg will phase at 75% and become untargetable.
- Greer will phase at 65%, then become invulnerable and both Gree and Reeg will reappear in new location.
- To attack Greer again, the minibosses must be phased to 50% - they will not phase at 75% health at this point and they can also move, so if the whole squad moves to attack one, the other will come to you.
- Once both minibosses are phased to 50%, Greer will become vulnerable again, and both minibosses will respawn in their original locations.
- If engaged in this phase, both Gree and Reeg will phase at 25% and become untargetable.
- Greer will phase once more at 35%, becoming invulnerable as Gree and Reeg appear in their second locations.
- In this phase, the minibosses must both be killed and as before they can move.
- The final phase is against Greer alone.
This arena is very large, and all the bosses can use very dangerous attacks - moving haphazardly is therefore very risky and people should stick together to stay safe. As such, it is more efficient from both an offensive and defensive view to minimise running around by engaging Greer first, but the correct approach is alway the one that works for your group. That said, the following approaches are more recommended than others:
- Everyone head to Greer in the main phases.
- Try to phase Reeg quickly, then all move to Greer - if Greer stays in their starting location, then Gree's attacks will barely reach the group, making them easy to avoid. Reeg's meanwhile are much longer range and more dangerous, so taking them out quickly can be a safe approach. Optionally, you can have one player tank Greer, but the aggro is easy to lose and the tank is not immune to any mechanics so the job is quite difficult.
The benefit to taking Gree out early is minimal, so it is not recommended to deal with them before the main split phase.
Finally, in the split phases it's worth everyone going to one of the minibosses as the other will join you and they don't pose much threat even together. Of course, if the group does struggle then splitting is still fine. If you engaged Reeg first in the main phase, then starting on Gree in the split is efficient as they will be at higher health.
When the second main phase starts, just repeat the approach you used in the first.
Tanking
Greer can be tanked, but unlike other raid bosses there is no reliable fixation mechanic. Instead, Greer will focus on the closest player in front of him. As there is no clear indicator of what is considered "in front" and some of Greer's attacks cause him to swing, it can be hard to maintain aggro if the rest of the group is not sufficiently behind him, and hard to regain aggro if he starts targeting others.
The most reliable way is to tank inside Greer's hitbox. This allows you to sidestep his auto chain and keeps you relatively close to the rest of the group (as it is most efficient to have a healer be the tank, this makes it easier to provide support). Unfortunately, Greer's hitbox is covered by an that ticks for a small amount of damage and applies 
Poison. The damage isn't much concern, but the Poison reduces your healing and thus makes it harder to recover when you take more significant damage.
Other considerations:
- will be created very close to your location, making it harder to dodge if you're a target, and will likely travel through your position on the way to the stack regardless.
- You will either need to be reliable at dodging , or require a player to quickly run to your location if you're targeted, or for you to run to the stack. Either can mess with tanking.
- hits hard and you won't really be able to get out of the AoE. It is beneficial to keep a dodge available, so being able to block one or both of the two initial stomps will be very helpful. The can be jumped as long as you're not too close to the center of the AoE.
- The first parts of occur at 90 degrees to where you should be, giving you enough warning to avoid the attack without needing to dodge. You may need to move back a bit so there's space to stand.
Greer
Regardless of strategy, as you start the encounter Greer will fire . This attack does have a maximum range, so depending on how spread out the group is it may not target the absolute furthest players.
Greer targets the three most distant targets within range and creates a trio of spheres in front of him that track their targets for up to 12 seconds, firing out damaging projectiles in all directions as they move. The three players will have a blue targetting effect on them, and a repeated "clunk" audio cue will play as the spheres are prepared.
The small projectiles deal moderate damage and apply a stack each of Poison and 
Torment, but they can be destroyed by [projectile defense?]. The spheres themselves deal moderate damage, 
Launch the player, corrupt five boons, and inflict three stacks each of Poison and Torment. If the sphere hits their target, it will remain in position for five seconds, continuing to fire out projectiles [does projectile defense cease to work?].
While travelling, any player can dodge or [invuln] through a sphere in order to destroy it [does block or invuln work?], but they should be careful not to get hit by other spheres that may be behind it. The sphere cannot be destroyed until it starts moving, so it is unreliable to destroy them where they are created.
This attack will repeat after 120 seconds. Due to typical phase timings, it's likely to be the first attack used in phase 2 as well, though it's often delayed in phase 3 for some reason.
Greer fires a at all players in front of him at huge range, dealing moderate damage with each hit. The sheer number of attacks can easily down a group, so [projectile defense] is hugely beneficial
Green can repeat this attack every 17-18 seconds, but he is less likely to do so if there are targets in melee range.
Greer targets two random players with a medium-sized green AoE that empties of color over eight seconds. After this, if there are two or more players (including the target) inside the green, it will deal moderate damage to those players. If not, Greer will gain two stacks of [empowered] and a spawns on the targetted player, launching players and inflicting 
Bleeding and Poison as well Infectious Rot - a pulsing red AoE that surrounds the player and constantly applies Poison to those inside it. This effect lasts for 20 seconds, but is removed if the player is downed. If that weren't enough, a spawns at the location of the original , lasting for five seconds and ticking a small amount of damage and corrupting boons.
In addition to the horrorshow above, standing in two greens at the same time will instantly down a player, and each of the minibosses can use the attack as well - potentially resulting in four occurring at once. The miniboss version of this attack will target a single player, and players have 10 seconds to stand in the green.
Surprisingly, the can be dodged, mitigating the threat if the player has good enough timing, though it still leaves a behind and Greer still gets [empowered].
In the final phase, this will target three players, but you no longer have to worry about additional uses from the minibosses.
Greer's version has a cooldown of 120 seconds, so like , you're likely to only see it once near the start of each phase. The minibosses' version has a cooldown of 75 seconds.
Greer's basic attack chain is a three-part move where he first sweeps his right arm in a cone attack that deals heavy damage, 
Knockback, and inflicts two stacks each of Bleeding and Poison. The next attack sweeps his left arm in a similar pattern, also dealing heavy damage, Knockback, and inflicting 
Cripple and two stacks of Poison.
The final attack in the chain is a series of three stomps in a large AoE centred on the "tank". The first two deal heavy damage and two stacks each of Poison and 
Vulnerability, while the final launches out a that deals heavy damage and corrupts eight boons in addition to inflicting Poison and Vulnerability.
The first two attacks can be dodged or blocked, while the wave can be jumped or dodged.
Greer may occasionally use another attack before .
Greer's breathes out poison in a pattern of three massive conal AoEs in front of him. Each hit corrupts four boons as well as inflicting 
Weakness and six stacks of Poison. A pattern of circular AoEs that apply the same effect linger in the area for 13 seconds.
After the initial attack, there are gaps between the circular AoEs that allow you to move through the cloud safely.
Like many attacks, this has a cooldown of 120 seconds, so you're likely to only see it once per phase.
A spread of arrow indicators appear in front of Greer, and almost immediately a slow-moving ripple of thorns travels along the arrows, dealing moderate damage, Knockback, and inflicting a stack each of Bleeding and Poison. The movement is slow enough that a player knocked back into the path can easily be hit again if they don't have a stunbreak. When the ripples reach the end of the arrows, they create a that applies [Plague rot] - a nastier version of Infectious Rot that will additionally apply Infectious Rot to any player that touches your AoE. If you pick up this effect, you will need to stay away from other players until it expires (it lasts 25 seconds). You will get this effect even if you dodge or use invulnerability to avoid the damage and boon corruption.
Like many attacks, this has a cooldown of 120 seconds, so you're likely to only see it once per phase.
The final two attacks used by Greer are less common to see, as they require Greer not to have a valid target for other attacks. So in practise you may not see them from Greer, but the minibosses may use them.
If Greer can't "see" someone in front of him, he will jump to the closest player, sending out a wave of thorns in all directions similar to . As the thorns reach the outer limit of the AoE, a ring of thorn barriers will be created that block projectiles and prevent movement. Attempting to pass through the barriers will deal moderate damage and inflict a stack each of Bleeding and Poison.
As Greer starts facing the entrance to the arena, he will prefer to walk into melee rather than using , though it may be a consideration when finishing the split phases.
The second attack will be aimed at distant players, but it seems to be low priority so in all likelihood Greer will have closed to melee range before it would use it
Greer will thrust his hands into the earth, Launching any players at the impact point. He then targets the three most distant players and hurls a cascade of spores at them, covering the ground in between with AoEs that deal moderate damage and inflict three stacks each of 
Confusion and Poison.
Although each AoE is not too dangerous, the sheer number of them can make this attack devastating if there isn't projectile defense.
At 80% health, Greer will become invulnerable, gain a defiance bar (strength: 6000) and start channelling , which constantly fires out AoEs dealing moderate damage until he's broken.
Although the skill tooltip suggests a penalty for failing to break the bar, players have over 30 seconds to do so, making failure very unlikely (if indeed it can be failed).
Upon being broken, Greer loses 10 stacks of [empowered] and becomes 
Exposed for 10 seconds, and two fly off from Greer, dealing moderate damage on impact and spawning two [empowering beasts].
This attack is repeated at 50% and 20%, each time spawning one additional Empowering Beast.
Given that the Empowering Beasts are slow to apply [empowered], it is worth continuing to focus on Greer until Exposed disappears.
Gree & Reeg
The two minibosses each have a selection of Greer's attacks, though typically less powerful versions. They also both have an ability called where they fire a medium-sized orb at Greer, granting him two stacks of [empowered] if it hits. These orbs will Knockback players they hit, but they can be blocked, making projectile defense even more essential. [do regular blocks also work?]. The minibosses will fire an orb every ~15 seconds, and both fire at the same time.
As a reminder, both minibosses will use . Their version has a cooldown of 75 seconds and only targets one player, but is otherwise the same.
Their other abilities are as follows:
Gree
During the main phases, Gree will use - this version has a cooldown of 75 seconds. If you fight Greer in his starting location, this attack can just about reach the group, and when combined with Greer's own version, can shut down a lot of the safe space.
During the split phases, Gree will use around every 35-45 seconds. It also uses the → → chain, though the final attack does not create the corrupting wave.
It can also use , but in this case it will target distant players instead and can be used even if Gree can see targets.
Reeg
During the main phases, Reeg will use . Unlike Gree's , this attack can easily reach the group if you fight Greer in his starting location.
During the split phases, Reeg will use and . Interestingly, Reeg will use at the start of the phase even when it is so far from the group that the spheres despawn before they reach their targets, effectively skipping the mechanic if you start the split phase on Gree.
Reeg can use the → → chain, but seems to do so very rarely and will often interrupt itself.
If you choose to focus on one of the minibosses first, they will become invulnerable and stop attacking when they reach 75% health.
Split Phase 1 (65%)
At 65% health, Greer will become untargetable and throw up a shield that protects him from further damage. Players will be Launched away if they are too close. Shortly after, Gree and Reeg will relocate - Gree to the northeast of the arena, and Reeg to the southwest. These positions are the same in both split phases so you can start moving immediately to where they will eventually spawn. Both minibosses will use extra attacks in the split phase - see the previous section for details.
While you could split into two teams to take the minibosses on at the same time, they will both move into melee range and stack close together, allowing for some cleave damage. For this reason it is recommended to focus on one of them and let the other walk in.
If you phased one of the minibosses earlier, then target the other as their health will not reset and the time it takes for them to close the gap will help balance them. Otherwise, you can pick whichever you prefer.
Starting on Gree is probably safer due to removing the threat of Reeg's and Gree's attacks being more disruptive making it beneficial to take it out first.
Meanwhile, starting on Reeg may be slightly faster as Gree closes the gap quickly and will jump directly to the group whereas Reeg likes to stand nearby and fire projectiles, so starting on Reeg will stack the minibosses better for better cleaving.
When a miniboss reaches 50% health they will disappear, and when both are gone, a new main phase will start.
Phase 2
As the phase starts, Greer becomes vulnerable once more, and Gree and Reeg respawn at the same locations they were in at the start of the fight. It is generally recommended to follow the same strategy you used in phase one, but be aware of which way Greer is facing, as he may use if there is no-one in sight.
As Greer's big attacks all have a cooldown of 120 seconds, you'll likely only see each of them once in Phase 1, and a group that is slow enough to see them more than once is very unlikely to be able to kill the boss before it enrages. In addition, a group would have to be very fast for Phase 1 and Split Phase 1 to be finished in under 120 seconds. This means most groups will start Phase 2 will all of Greer's cooldowns available once more, and he will likely perform a similar sequence of attacks as in Phase 1.
In other words, expect him to immediately use .
Otherwise, Phase 2 plays out very similarly to Phase 1 with the exception that at 50% health, Greer will use , and this time it spawns three [empowering beasts] when broken.
If attacking the Minibosses, they will disappear at 25% health.
Split Phase 2 (35%)
This split phase is functionally identical to the first split phase except you will be killing both minibosses.
Phase 3
Both minibosses are now dead, so this final phase is actually the easiest, with the only changes being that now targets three people and four [empowering beasts] will spawn after at 20% health. Unless you're playing it very safe, you can probably ignore the beasts as they won't have much time to buff the boss before it dies.
Decima, the Stormsinger
While not strictly necessary, many groups split the squad into a melee and a ranged group at this encounter. This is because later phases feature a mechanic that targets the five most distant players while simultaneously making it harder to deal with another mechanic, meaning you want the same five players to be consistently targeted. Decima also has an attack that instantly downs players inside her hitbox, making it risky to have one group stand inside her while the other group can still be at max melee range.
As such, the most reliable method is to have one group that can perform well outside of melee range.
Kiting
In addition, throughout the fight the most distant player will be targeted by:
Starting 12 seconds into the fight, Decima targets the most distant player with a - an orange arrow indicator tracks the player, and after five seconds it will fire and deal moderate damage to anyone along the line of the indicator. If a player is stood behind one of the conduits around the arena, it will absorb the attack, but charge the conduit.
If a player is hit, they will also gain an effect called 24px Galvanic Sensitivity which significantly increases the damage you take from (green AoEs).
Every other time this attack occurs, the arrow indicator will instead be bright red. This will instantly kill any player it hits, so the only way for the targeted player to survive is to hide behind a conduit.
This attack occurs every ~17 seconds.
Conduits
As each phase starts the arena becomes covered by a pattern of conduits. These take the form of three rings of six conduits each and while the pattern is fixed, each phase randomizes its rotation. This doesn't affect playstyle much, but means that fixed markers cannot be relied on.
As the fight starts, three s spawn between conduits on the innermost ring. The area directly between the checkpoint and the boss will be clear and the fences appear between alternate pairs of conduits. These fences block movement and deal a moderate amount of damage to anyone that walks into them.
20 seconds into the first phase, the fences will swap to cover the current gaps. If the kiter does not move, they may benefit from making sure they're in front of the conduits so they are not cut off from the squad.
In phase 2, the fences will form curved lines between three conduits, each inner conduit connecting to the closest conduit anti-clockwise in the middle ring, then from this conduit to the closest anti-clockwise in the outer ring.
Approximately 20 seconds after the first fences appear, three more will appear between alternating pairs of the inner ring. Which pairs connect is random. After approximately 20 seconds they will disappear again, but the original fences will remain.
In phase 3, fences will connect all adjacent conduits in the inner ring, enclosing the group. This is in addition to the fence pattern from the start of phase 2.
Approximately 15 seconds after these fences appear appear, alternating fences on the inner ring will disappear, while new ones appear connecting alternating pairs of conduits in the outer ring. Both of these pairs are random.
In all phases, the fences will switch back and forth between the two patterns - after the pattern is selected, it will not change within a phase.
Every time a conduit is charged, it will gain a red damaging AoE called . The more times it is charged, the larger the AoE [and the more damage it deals?].
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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