Guide:Old Lion's Court Mission Strategy Guide

Work in Progress - information may be inaccurate or incomplete

Introduction

Old Lion's Court will see you facing off against three Watchknights - individually at first and then together.

There are two fundamental mechanics that appear throughout - first, the watchknights will prepare an attack that wipes the party, and they must be broken. The attack indicator will cover a certain area of the arena that depends on the Watchknight's color, and the attack will always hit at the same time, but upon being broken, the area covered by the attack will invert. Bear this in mind when positioning throughout the encounter. There are frequent defiance bars in this encounter, making reliable CC an advantage, but they are not large and you have a long time to break them.

The second fundamental mechanics is a small spreading AoE called Boiling Aether that will steadily grow in size. Once it reaches maximum size it becomes a highly damaging field that remains for [??] seconds, or until the next phase. Multiple mechanics in the fight drop these AoEs, so it is important to be aware of them and try to ensure they are dropped towards the edge of the arena, and ideally in clusters, to give you the most playable space.

Strategy

Prototype Vermillion (red)

At the start of the fight, the Vermillion appears and begins channelling its attack. It will take no damage while its shield is active, though you can already apply conditions to it, giving condition builds something of an advantage. When broken, the attack AoE will invert, creating a dangerous area around the Vermillion. Breaking the boss will also apply five seconds of stunned and exposed when the attack completes. Getting hit by either AoE will spaghettify you, pulling you upwards into a black hole then killing you.

After this, the Vermillion will fixate on the [closest?] person and move to them. The fixated target has an indicator on their buff bar and a red icon above their head. Shortly afterwards, it will prepare a ring AoE attack.

Dual Horizon

An orange ring AoE appears around the boss and arrows indicate to move either inside or outside. Whichever you chose will apply a debuff to you: Tidal Torment if you're inside, Ergo Shear if you're outside. The next time this attack occurs you need to take the opposite position, which will then safely remove the debuff and replace it with the opposing one. Getting hit by the same effect twice (e.g. being inside the ring twice in a row) will release a heavily damaging Gravitational Wave for each player that fails, causing heavy damage to the party. The arrow indicators will update to show you the correct location each time. Getting hit by the Ring AoE will deal heavy damage and either knock towards or away from the Vermillion, applying the corresponding debuff and also applying exposed for 60 seconds - increasing the damage the player takes by 25%. This attack repeats every 20 seconds.

Otherwise, the Vermillion will move towards the tank and perform a basic autoattack with each hit dealing moderate damage. The final strike of this autoattack chain shows an AoE and deals heavy damage, and every other time (starting with the first) it hits, it drops a Boiling Aether AoE at the Vermillion's location. Because of this, it is recommended to tank the boss close to the edge of the platform, and move its position after every second attack chain. Though it has low enough health that most groups are unlikely to get more than one. A loud clanging sound effect occurs each time Boiling Aether is dropped.

When the Vermillion reached 80% health, it will retreat and the next boss will appear.

Prototype Arsenite (green)

Much like the red watchknight, this boss immediately starts channelling an attack that in this instance, covers one half of the platform. Break it as before and the AoE will flip location, meaning that coming from the Vermillion you will already be on the safe side. Once broken, it will fixate on the closest player and begin to charge a pulling attack. [name of attack?]

Pernicious Vortex

The Arsenite charges up an attack that creates a dangerous red AoE beneath it and pulls all players towards the location. The closer a player is, the more damage they take, and touching the red AoE also applies exposed to the player for 60 seconds.

Similar to the Vermillion, the Arsenite will then move to the fixated player and attack with a basic auto chain. The first two strikes deal moderate damage, and the third deals heavy, and every other time it's used (starting with the first) it launches an attack at the most distant non-fixated target, dropping a red AoE at their location [also boiling aether, or another name?].

At 80%, the Arsenite will retreat and the final Watchknight will appear.

Prototype Indigo (blue)

As it appears, the Indigo prepares an attack that covers the entire area, apart from a 120 degree sector behind it. The AoE flips once the watchknight is broken, so the group will be safe if coming from the Arsenite's location.

Once broken, the Indigo fixates on the closest target and prepares the next attack.

Crackling Wind

Effectively the opposite of the Arsenite's attack, the Indigo starts pushing all players away, dealing more damage the further they are. Players at the very edge of the AoE will be hit by [??? - I assume it applies exposed].

Unlike the others, the Indigo is ranged and will not move from its location, instead attacking the fixated player from range. Approximately every eight seconds, three random players will be given a medium-sized AoE around them that detonates after a few seconds, damaging anyone inside. Every other time this occurs (starting with the first), one of the three [random? most distant?] drops a small blue pylon that tethers to them and begins a countdown indicated above the player's head. After five seconds, the targeted player will drop a Boiling Aether? AoE at their location and be teleported back to the pylon.

Phase 2

Now you will face the watchknights again, but they will occasionally be assisted by a second watchknight that regularly appears and performs their definace bar attack.

Upon pushing the Indigo to 80% it will disappear and shortly after, all three Watchknights will return and start their breakbar attacks. Breaking any of them will invert the safe location as normal, but also prevent the other two being broken. The goal is to identify which watchknight needs to be broken to create a safe location that is not covered by the other two watchknight's AoEs.

The correct watchknight to break in this phase is the Arsenite (green). This leaves the space surrounding the Vermillion (red) safe and highlights it with a white AoE, so make sure everyone can get back to it.

Prototype Vermillion (red)

If completed correctly, all three watchknights retreat and after a short delay the Vermillion returns alone. Make sure not to stand in the middle of the arena as this is its landing site [I assume it's an insta-kill?]. It fixates on the closest player upon landing and shortly starts Dual Horizon. Players will still have the debuffs from the last time this attack was used, so make sure to be on the correct side.

A few seconds after Dual Horizon, the Arsenite will appear and begin to channel [its defiance bar attack]. It will disappear again immediately upon completion, but breaking it will mean that the next time it appears, it will be stunned and exposed for five seconds. Bear in mind that the AoE will flip as well. The Arsenite will reappear every 30 seconds until the Vermillion is phased.

With the exception of the appearance of the Arsenite, this phase plays out the same as the first Vermillion phase. At 40%, the Vermillion retreats once more and the Arsenite returns.

Prototype Arsenite (green)

If previously broken, the Arsenite will appear stunned and exposed. It is joined almost immediately by the Indigo, who performs its breakbar attack. Fans of pattern recognition will expect (correctly) the Arsenite to shortly begin Pernicious Vortex.

The Indigo will return every 30 seconds if the Arsenite isn't phased, and the Arsenite will leave at 40%.

Prototype Indigo (blue)

Following the pattern, the Indigo will appear and attack similarly to phase one, with the Vermillion assisting at the end of Crackling Wind and every 30 seconds thereafter. It phases at 40%

Phase 3

Another "puzzle" much like the start of phase 2, with the watchknights positioned differently. This time you want to break the Vermillion (red) to create a safe area behind the Indigo (blue).