Sunqua Peak

Introduction

Beginning on a narrow path, run forward to encounter the Spirit of the Mountain, who asks for your help restoring the balance of elements. Ahead you will see lightning strike the ground, leaving behind two orbs that provide a stack of the Charged Leap buff each for 20 seconds. You jump higher for each stack you have, capped at three stacks. Leap up the broken stairs to find an air elemental. This air elemental has a Whirlwind attack that launches you in the air but otherwise only deals weak damage. Killing the elemental will cause two more lightning strikes (and orbs) on the platform, which enables you to continue to the next platform, that has two more elementals. Kill them both to spawn more orbs. The next few jumps are a little trickier, so you can head back to an earlier platform to pick up extra orbs if you struggle to make the jumps with just two stacks, or just wait for more orbs to spawn on your current platform.

If you are fast enough, you can just run past all the elementals with only the first two stacks.

Upon reaching the final platform, the broken stairway will arrange itself into a single path for anyone who might be lagging behind. It also activates a checkpoint, so it may be quicker to /gg.

A column of wind spawns on a nearby plinth that will take you forward to the first miniboss. There is a mistlock singularity next to it which enables prestacking of boons.

Note that this guide is predominantly for the tier-four version of the fractal, so some mechanics will be much less dangerous at other tiers. An effort has been made to indicate where entirely new mechanics are added at higher tiers, but it is not exhaustive.

A note on builds

The final boss not only has a lot of health but moves quite frequently and forces movement from players frequently too. This can prove greatly disruptive to the typical DPS classes that people bring to fractals, as these usually rely on the boss standing still for the whole phase. The health means that condi builds don’t suffer the same drawbacks they normally would, especially in Part 2 which has no hard phases that clear conditions.

The movement in particular can lead people to incorrectly conclude that condition builds have an advantage here, whereas it is more accurate to say that builds that can maintain damage at range and have rotations that can burst later (to account for the size of the defiance bar) have the advantage. At the time of writing, it just happens that the builds that fit best are condi builds.

Unlike other fractals with challenge modes, Sunqua Peak skips straight to the final boss. Because of this, a walkthrough of normal mode up to the boss is included, while the boss guide covers the CM.

Notable Instabilities
Mistlock Instability Boon Overload	The extra boon duration means that the party’s boon supports can run more offensive gear/traits.
Mistlock Instability Frailty	The extra movement speed is handy on the final boss as it requires a lot of movement and the length of the fight makes it difficult to maintain Swiftness.
Mistlock Instability Hamstrung	At high stacks of , this instability will completely prevent you from being able to move.
Mistlock Instability Stick Together	While many of the most dangerous attacks are unaffected by the damage increase, it makes it particularly important to be careful when dealing with mechanics that force you to split up.
Mistlock Instability Toxic Sickness	If using portal devices on the final boss, be wary of taking them just before Toxic Sickness hits as everyone will be stacked on the same spot and can easily vomit all over each other. While fighting the final boss at the side of the arena, you can turn to face the wall while still attacking. While fighting the boss in the middle of the arena, you can space out such that your AoEs miss each other.

Voice of the Mountain

Recommended Sigils: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

This large air elemental’s basic attack is – an attack dealing moderate damage by launching orbs in a cone pattern.

It attacks in a set of three waves, with each wave containing more s: three, then five, then seven. If you are within the boss’s hitbox then this attack will also knock you back. There is a sweet-spot just outside the boss’s red ring where it will neither knock you back nor hit you with damage.

After the first set of three attacks, the Voice of the Mountain will charge up an – a moderate-sized AoE that interrupts you, deals high damage, and applies Blind, Weakness, Torment and Vulnerability. The AoE is very easy to avoid and can also be dodged or blocked.

For the rest of the phase, the Voice of the Mountain pattern of attacks is: two chains → → repeat.

Split Phase (66%)

At 66%, the boss will become invulnerable and summon a tornado around itself that pushes players away. Four storm clouds will spawn around it (indicated by a white AoE with an arrow). Lightning will strike around each of the clouds, spawning orbs. Players will need to collect three orbs and jump up near the white AoEs to disperse the clouds. Doing this will remove your stacks, so you need to collect another three for the next cloud.

As the phase starts, each player will be targeted by . This attack spawns a series of bright red AoEs underneath each player that detonate around one and a half seconds later, interrupting you, dealing heavy damage, and inflicting Blind, Weakness, Torment and Vulnerability. Between four and seven AoEs will spawn in the series, depending on tier.

You have as long as needed to finish this phase at tiers one and two, but at tiers three and four the Voice of the Mountain will charge – an attack that deals very high damage, launches you backward, and applies Burning and Agony. This attack can actually be dodged, but the timing is tricky as the damage occurs around four seconds after the AoE indicator suggests.

It may be helpful to place markers so that players can head in different directions rather than dropping their AoEs all over each other.

Phase 2

Once all four clouds are dispersed, the Voice of the Mountain will rush to the side of the arena and resume attacking. Its patterns are now a little different: it will do a chain of → → another chain of → and rush over to a different spot at the edge of the arena and repeat.

At 33% the split phase repeats identically to the first.

Phase 3

The Voice of the Mountain's attacks in the final phase are slightly different again. The boss rushes to the side of the arena and does: one chain → → → two chains → → → runs to a different point at the side of the arena and repeats.

When the boss dies, it will spawn a column of wind that launches you up to the next area and a new checkpoint.

Along the path you land on are Enraged Water Sprites. While they do not need to be killed to progress, they are quite disruptive. They have a large conal attack called Slippery Ground that deals moderate damage and knocks you down (both the damage and knockdown can hit far outside the cone AoE). Two waterfalls block your way forward. While flowing normally you can run through them, but they periodically flow at a much faster rate and will knock you off the side and back to the checkpoint.

You will find a Frightened Water Elemental hiding in a small gap in the cliff past the first waterfall. Three such elementals are hiding along the path that you will need to talk to to rescue.

You can walk behind the second waterfall if you hug the wall very closely, and the second Frightened Water Elemental is directly ahead.

Turning a corner, you will need to jump over some floating rocks to reach the next section where there are three more Enraged Water Sprites, and the last Frightened Water Elemental hiding nearby.

You will find another mistlock singularity past a final set of water sprites, and can drop down to face the second miniboss.

Sorrow of the Mountain

Recommended Sigils:

Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

The second boss is actually trapped under a pile of Fallen Boulders, and you need to destroy them to release it. As you attack the rocks, there will be several small AoEs called that deal moderate damage. Just walk out of them and keep attacking to free the Sorrow of the Mountain, who will open the way forward.

At higher tiers, a larger, more damaging will spawn underneath players, making them harder to avoid. Additionally, as you start the encounter an orb at the edge of the arena will tether to the closest player and start applying stacks of . Each stack increases the damage the player deals, but reduces their movement speed. Additionally, if the player reaches 10 stacks they will be downed and deal damage to nearby players. To prevent this, another player will need to “intercept” the tether, causing it to latch onto them instead. After 10 seconds the orb will untether, and 20 seconds after that it will tether to the closest player again.

Bounce up the cliff and you can head into the mountain itself. Your path is blocked by some more rocks, that can only be removed by killing nearby Lava Elementals. With some precise jumping, you can get past these rock walls without killing the elementals, but they aren’t hard to defeat.

The Lava Elementals explode on death, releasing smaller lava elementals that also explode on death. If you drop a reflect just before the first elementals die, then it “reflects” the creation of the smaller elementals, making them allied to you instead! It is possible to bring these new friends with you for the rest of the fractal (assuming they don’t die or get stuck).

After getting past all three rock walls there is a mistlock singularity and you can drop down into the arena for the third miniboss.

Fury of the Mountain

Recommended Sigils: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

The Fury of the Mountain’s basic attacks apply Bleeding and Burning, and every third attack alternates between Scorching Leap, which applies Burning and knocks you down, and Smoldering Lunge, which applies Bleeding.

Split Phase 1 (66%)

At 66% the boss becomes invulnerable and runs to the middle of the arena. Two AoEs appear at opposite sides of the arena and six seconds later will hit at each location. Standing inside the AoE will apply Burning, deal damage based on how close you are to the centre, and knock you back. A shockwave will erupt from each meteor that applies Burning. The shockwave can be jumped.

Each meteor remains in the arena and the boss starts charging a . If you do not hide behind one of the meteors, you will be hit for extreme damage and be knocked down for six seconds. Even invulnerability will not prevent it from hitting you. While it is much safer to hide behind the meteor, you should be ok as long as you are very close to it.

Phase 2

Phase 2 plays out the same as phase 1, but the boss now has an active defiance bar so you can break it to Stun the boss and apply Exposed for five seconds.

Split Phase 2 (33%)

At 33% there is a second split phase. This time, the meteor AoEs appear on two random players and follow them for three seconds. After three seconds the AoE remains fixed and three seconds later will hit. The two targeted players should head to the side of the arena in order to leave enough space to avoid the AoEs, then run away as soon as they stop tracking them. Be aware that the two meteors will destroy each other if they are dropped at the same location, leaving nowhere to hide from ! The shockwaves from these meteors will knock you back in addition to Burning. Once hits, the Fury of the Mountain will start charging again, so run back to the meteors to hide!

The last phase plays out exactly the same as Phase 2, so finish off the boss and carry on.

You will meet the Spirit of the Mountain once more, who will open the way to the summit, and the final boss of the fractal.

Sorrowful Spellcaster

Recommended Sigils:

Normal Mode: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact

Challenge Mode: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force and Sigil of Superior Sigil of the Night

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

Recommended Utility: Crowd Control

Be aware that the guide will now only cover the CM mode (where the boss is called Ai, Keeper of the Peak), so some elements of lower difficulties may be easier or not exist at all.

This encounter is very different from other fractal bosses, and is closer to a raid boss: she has a lot of health, a huge defiance bar, and there is even a boon strip at the start of the fight that makes pre-stacking boons impossible (though you can still pre-stack unique buffs such as soulbeast stances or Ashes of the Just).

Ai waits in the center of the arena ahead. As you approach, she will stand up and use to charge to a random spot at the side, damaging anyone in her way and launching damaging elemental orbs out to either side of her path – in the first phase these are . Once she reaches the side, she gains a defiance bar (strength: 3200) and if she is not broken within six and a half seconds, the bar will lock. While at the side she performs a “line combo” of attacks that launches a wave of orbs across the arena, first on her left side, then her right, then right-to-left, then left-to-right, and finally on both sides of her. The orb lines coming from behind her have large gaps in them so they are easy to avoid by standing slightly to either side of her, though it is harder to avoid those from the side.

If you do break her bar, she will be stunned and Exposed for six seconds, but also gain a buff called Resilient Form that keeps the bar locked for 30 seconds. Breaking her will also cancel the line combo.

Once she has finished the line combo or recovered from the Stun, Ai will back to the center of the arena and use . Ai launches orbs around the arena in one of two patterns: either they will spread across the arena and create several red-ring AoEs that detonate five seconds later dealing heavy damage and applying Agony, or they will land around the edge of the arena and after five seconds the orbs will rush into the center and back out again dealing heavy damage to anyone in the way on each pass. At the same time, each player will have a large AoE appear underneath them that tracks them and slowly fills with color over four seconds. When it hits, players take 20% of their maximum health as damage from their own AoE, as well as 80% of their maximum health if they are in someone else's AoE. People will need to spread out to avoid downing each other. The damage can be mitigated through invulnerability. A second after this “bomb” detonates, the orbs from will also detonate/rush. The red-ring AoEs from are not harmful before this point, so players can safely stand inside them while spreading out with the bomb attack, as long as they get out of the way immediately after the bombs detonate. After the first use of this ability, the orb mechanic will alternate between detonating and rushing, and this pattern persists through phases.

As soon as is finished, Ai’s defiance bar will appear again (if it was not previously broken) and she will immediately use – she turns in a random direction and a wide cone appears in front of her along with three rings of circular AoEs that cover three-quarters of the arena. Players returning from bombs should either dodge the circular AoEs or stand in the gaps between, or they will be launched into the air with and take heavy damage in addition to the falling damage when they land. Once back at the boss the sweep is easy to walk out of.

After using twice, she will use . The same pattern of circular AoEs appear around the boss, but instead of the cone, a large circular AoE fills the center. Two seconds later she will spin and hit everyone within the circle twice for heavy damage. While the attack can be blocked, the two hits come fast enough that both can be avoided with a single dodge. After this, she will repeat once followed by another . This time, the AoE is bright red, deals much more damage, applies Agony, and hits three times so it is essential that everyone move out before it hits. All players will receive bombs at the same time. The AoEs from are now called and apply Slow, but have large gaps between making it easier to move away.

The full “sweep combo” is therefore: → x2 → → → (deadly)

While in the center, Ai’s defiance bar is active for 17 seconds, making it much easier to break. Additionally, if the break is delayed then it can cancel the second attack. As you can only break one of the two defiance bars, many groups will find it safer to break this second one. However, breaking her early will cause her to jump straight into the mini split phase, so try to delay the break as long as possible (during the third is ideal) to give yourselves as much DPS time as possible. Note that the red AoE may persist after being broken, but will deal no damage.

If she has not been reduced to 66% health by the time she finishes the deadly , Ai will to the side and then back to the center, triggering a “mini split phase”. Be aware that while phasing, her will Launch players it hits in addition to the damage.

Storm Front

Ai protects herself with a whirlwind shield and eight storm clouds appear around the arena. Storm Front functions very similarly to the Voice of the Mountain split phase with a few small differences: first, the orbs that give you Charged Leap only appear next to the storm clouds at the cardinal directions. Second, while can still be dodged, it hits faster here (about one second after filling the arena). As before, the best idea is to split up – it may be worth having four people place markers so they can each start at a different storm cloud.

One method for dealing with this phase is as follows: one player should run to each of the cardinal directions and collect three orbs. They should then run either clockwise or anti-clockwise (make sure everyone goes in the same direction) and disperses the storm cloud at the inter-cardinal location. They then continue in the same direction, collect another three orbs, and disperse the storm cloud at their current location. This method prevents backtracking or having to stand still for too long, making it easier to avoid the .

If Ai is reduced to 66% health before reaching this point, then Storm Front will be skipped entirely. While the boss is not targetable in this phase, she doesn’t clear her condis so if Storm Front starts while she is very close to 66% it can be canceled.

When all clouds are dispersed, the fight will resume. It functions very similarly to the first section but her rotation is now separated into the line combo and sweep combo parts and she will vary the use of them randomly.

At the start, she will either stay in the center and perform the sweep combo, or to the side and perform the line combo. She will then perform the other section of the rotation. Next, she will to the side and repeat this pattern (in either order). After looping through a second time, she will trigger Storm Front once more. The fight continues like this until she is reduced to 66%.

Ai has three main phases – Air, Fire, and Water – and she follows this pattern in all of them. In each phase, some parts of her attacks will change to fit the elemental theme, though the differences are minor. The biggest difference is in the line combo of the water phase, as the bolts that are launched are much larger, meaning you cannot walk out of their path to avoid them all while remaining in melee range.

The table below details the attack components that change in each phase.

Attack	Component	Air	Fire	Water	Dark
Surge/Line Combo	Small Orbs/Lines
Effects			Burning	Slow	Confusion, Torment
Sweep Combo	Circle AoEs
Effects		Blasts into the air	Burning	Launch, Slow	Float, Confusion, Torment
Elemental Whirl (deadly)	Circle AoEs
Effects		Slow	Slow	Slow	Slow

Air to Fire (66%)

When the boss reaches 66% health, she will become invulnerable and float up into the air. Three AoEs will appear at three of the cardinal directions, so it is best to wait in the middle and then run to the clear spot. Three sets of three meteors will fall, followed by a set of four. Running around the edge of the arena as the AoEs appear will keep you safe from the impacts and shockwaves. As the set of four appears, two random players will also be targeted by tracking meteor AoEs identical to those in the Fury of the Mountain fight. The AoEs will stop tracking as the last four meteors hit, so it is best to wait in a safe spot at the edge of the arena, and as soon as the meteors land, run towards the center of the arena, jumping or dodging the shockwaves and leaving the meteors behind you. Unlike the Fury of the Mountain fight, it does not matter if the two tracking meteors are dropped at the same location.

An alternative method is to utilize a white mantle portal device: drop one in the center as the phase starts, and open it as the last set of four meteors land. This will allow you to get straight back to the boss. If you are not confident about avoiding the shockwaves, you can wait until they have moved past the boss before taking the portal. It is best not to open to portal any earlier than mentioned, as people may be tempted to take it before the tracking meteors have stopped tracking, dropping them on the group instead.

Ai will be back in the middle of the arena and can be attacked at this point, but she immediately starts charging up a attack identical to the Fury of the Mountain’s. As the boss charges up , several of the meteors will crumble, and of the remaining ones, all but one will begin to burn. When the AoE has filled about half the arena, the burning meteors will detonate, hitting everyone nearby for heavy damage with and knocking them back. This leaves only one safe meteor to hide behind so get to it quickly. As in the Fury of the Mountain fight, you don’t have to be behind the meteor as long as you are close enough to it. Once hits, you should dodge away from the meteor as it will explode too. Ai will then to the side and start the new phase properly.

The second phase is very similar to the first: she will go through the fixed rotation first, followed by a mini split phase if she is still above 33%, then will do two loops of the rotation with the line combo and sweep combo in a random order.

Call Meteors

The mini split phase is very similar to the Air to Fire transition, but much shorter: two players are given the tracking meteor AoE, and shortly after four evenly spaced AoEs also appear. It is probably best if the targeted players wait about halfway between the center and the edge, and as soon as the meteors stop tracking them, run for the edge. This should give them enough space to avoid both their own meteors and the four fixed ones. As soon as the set of four meteors hit, head back to the middle as the boss will be charging up another . As before, only one meteor will be safe and it will explode shortly after hits.

Fire to Water (33%)

As the boss hits 33%, she once again becomes invulnerable and floats into the air. Players should stack up tightly, as they will all be pushed away from the center to the edge of the arena. Immediately after, an orb will appear in the northern part of the arena and tether to the closest player (though it will try to avoid targeting downed players or those who already have stacks), applying stacks of . As in the Sorrow of the Mountain encounter, if a player allows 10 stacks to build up, they will be downed and deal damage to nearby players as well. The simplest thing to do is try to remain mostly stationary, and allow approximately five stacks to build up, then walk into the group to give the tether to someone else. At the same time, a random player is targeted with – a small green AoE that empties of color over five seconds, sharing the damage among all players within the AoE when it hits. Every 12 seconds a new orb will spawn (and the old one will despawn), and throughout the phase seven AoEs will spawn, though they are unevenly spaced. It is recommended that the group move back to the center of the arena (it looks like there’s a barrier, but there isn’t) while dealing with the tethers and AoEs appropriately. If you have a second player with a white mantle portal device, they can drop one as the phase starts to get everyone immediately to the middle after being pushed back. As the orbs always spawn in the same pattern (north, east, south, west), it is possible to position yourself such that you won’t be targeted if you are already on a high number of stacks.

Shortly after the fourth orb spawns, Ai will drop down again and can briefly be attacked before she surges to the side to start the final phase. Be aware that there will be one final , so make sure the entire group doesn’t run away from the targeted player.

As previously mentioned, the line combo is much harder to avoid in this phase and applies Slow, but otherwise it will progress as before.

Water Suffusion

After the fixed loop, Ai will jump to the side and back to the center and start a mini split phase as normal, but this time she will still be targetable. Unfortunately, she has protected herself with a Tidal Barrier that reflects projectiles so players must be careful of using such skills here. The barrier also pulls players towards it, inflicting heavy damage and Agony if they get too close to the middle. For 35 seconds she remains protected by this barrier, while orbs and spawn in addition to a series of rectangular AoEs that appear in a rotating pattern around the boss, becoming smaller and harder to avoid over time. They deal moderate damage and apply Agony. While players should ideally try to continue damaging the boss during this phase, it is most important to handle the mechanics properly to avoid wiping.

Part 2 (CM only)

After reducing Ai to 1% health, she will enter a long phase animation. There is a checkpoint between the two parts of this fight, so after a short delay groups that aren’t going for Dancing with Demons can /gg to reset cooldowns and pick up fresh mistlocks. It is safe to /gg once the bouncy chest appears in the corner of your screen. This method is also slightly faster than waiting for the phase transition to play out.

If you /gg to reset, there will be a boon strip at the start of the phase. The boss waits in the center of the arena. If a player dies during this part of the fight, it will spawn a Doubt – a greatsword-wielding enemy that functions very similarly to a Fractal Vindicator and applies Confusion and Torment with each attack.

Immediately as the fight starts, Ai will to the side, gain a short defiance bar, and perform the line combo (now called , and applying Torment and Confusion).

Next, she will to a random location at the side and use . As with , this attack will either drop two sets of orbs nearby that rush into the boss then back out, or scatter orbs around the arena that detonate. At the same time, all players will receive the bomb mechanic. As she is at the side, there is much less room to spread out, and the orbs can make positioning even harder. As such, players may wish to start spreading out as soon as she uses . In addition to the normal 20% health damage, the bomb now applies Torment.

Following this, she will gain her long defiance bar (assuming she wasn’t broken earlier) and use her sweep combo (although against the wall rather than in the middle, and is used separately): x2 → → → (deadly). As before, the second (more dangerous) is accompanied by the bomb mechanic on players.

After this, she will to another random location at the side and perform another line combo. If you broke her at the first location (or haven’t broken her at all), her defiance bar will appear again.

Beyond this point, her rotation becomes somewhat random. She will generally use the line combo, sweep combo, and in sets of three, with their order randomized in each set. Each use of will alternate between orbs that rush to the boss and those that detonate.

She will always gain the short defiance bar during her line combo, and the long defiance bar during the sweep, except for when it is locked by Resilient Form. As you don’t know the order in which these attacks will occur, it may be worth only attempting to break her during the sweep combo, as it is the more dangerous attack. Moreover, when she phases at 66% and 33%, the defiance bar will remain active for the full duration, so if she phases just after starting her sweep combo, it is possible to break her in the middle instead and cancel her attack during this point – making the split phase much easier!

However, below 66% your party will need to have 1500 defiance bar damage available for the split phase (full or mini), and below 33% you will need 3000! This means it may not be safe to break Ai after she reaches 66% as you risk being unable to deal with the split mechanics. After the full split phases at 66% and 33%, the mini split phases will occur approximately every two minutes.

Fear

After every other set of three mechanics, Ai will return to the center and start a mini split phase. She begins to channel a new form of where three waves of lasers pulse out from her, dealing moderate damage at an interval of two seconds. As each wave reaches the edge of the arena it drops a ring of circular AoEs, with the next wave dropping a new ring of AoEs behind the first. As the third wave is emitted, the first ring of AoEs detonates. Then, another two sets of three waves of lasers launch out, repeating the pattern. As each subsequent wave is emitted, the oldest AoE will detonate. If you always avoid standing on the innermost ring of the current AoEs then you will be safe. Ai can be attacked through the entirety of this phase so continue damaging her, but be wary of standing in her hitbox so you don’t get multi-hit by the waves.

At the same time, four Fears will spawn at the edge of the arena. Each of these invulnerable spirits will fixate on a random player and follow them for 15 seconds. If the Fears reach their fixated player, they will Stun them for six seconds and then explode with a , dealing damage to everyone proportional to how close they are to the Fear. After 15 seconds any remaining Fears will disappear. The Fears have to be quite close to their fixated target to hit with the Stun, so it is possible to strafe around the boss in melee range and be safe. Players who do not feel confident doing so can move to range instead, though they should be careful not to be caught by the detonations. Both the Stun and can be blocked.

After the ninth wave of lasers, Ai will either stay in the center or to the side. In the event she goes to the side, you can effectively ignore the Fears as they will disappear before they can catch up to you (assuming you stick close to the boss).

Sorrow (66%)

When Ai reaches 66% health, she will cancel her current action and to the center. She will perform the same Fear mechanic as in the mini split phase with one additional component: a Sorrow will appear about halfway between the center and edge of the arena. It cannot be killed and must have its defiance bar broken within 10 seconds (strength: 1500) or it unleashes on all players, dealing extreme damage. Once again, be careful of the detonations and CC it from range if possible.

Ai will then continue her attack pattern as before, but now every time she enters the mini split phase the Sorrow will be present.

Guilt (33%)

When Ai reaches 33% she will cancel her current action and to the center. She will perform as before, but there are now two additional problems: not only will the party have to deal with Fears, but there are now two Sorrows as well as a new demon called a Guilt. This demon functions similarly to , but it will tether to Ai. Every second she remains tethered, she will gain a stack of Cacophonous Mind, which increases her damage by 5% and reduces the damage she takes by 5%. If a player intercepts the tether, they will instead start building up stacks of Crushing Guilt, which reduces damage by 5% along with a flat 20% increase to movement speed. As it is much more efficient to have one player’s damage reduced by 5% than everyone’s, one player (ideally the one with the lowest damage) should intercept the tether as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, like , the player will be downed if they reach 10 stacks, so two players or more players will be required to share the tether.

One of the two Sorrows will spawn very close to the Guilt, which means an effective way of dealing with this phase is as follows: when the Guilt appears, the lowest-damage player should intercept it. When the Sorrows appear, this player and one other should move to the closest Sorrow and CC it. The remaining players CC the other Sorrow (it may be helpful for the player with the Guilt tether to call target on the sorrow for the second group to CC). When the tethered player has at least six stacks, they pass the tether to their Sorrow partner, who would ideally be the second-lowest damage player.

The Guilt remains for 15 seconds and then disappears. 10 seconds after receiving their last stack of Crushing Guilt, a player will lose all stacks. Ai will lose all her stacks of Cacophonous Mind 30 seconds after she received her last stack.

The fight then continues as before, with this new Guilt phase as the mini split phase.