Whisper of Jormag Strike Mission Strategy Guide

Introduction

This guide provides tips and strategies for the fifth strike mission and how to defeat the Whisper of Jormag in Bjora Marches. This mission is simple enough to not require a specific group composition. However, if your group is struggling, the guidelines in the Guide:Introduction to Raiding will apply here as well. Check out the glossary page if you're not familiar with a term used in this guide.

Players will start in a small icy tunnel. Speaking to Raven Shaman Hallveig will allow the creation of a portal to the platform to the north. Unlike other strikes, there are three Pylons in this area, though only one will be “active”. The Whisper of Jormag changes its essence every week and the pylon changes to the essence that counters it. As the special action skill and buff will vary, this means that the difficulty of the boss will vary depending on the essence:

Resilience – with the Pylon of Resilience, players will gain the Spirit Nova skill. This offers the most powerful CC of the pylons (the other two are the same as each other), but condition duration reduction from Power of Resilience is useless in this fight.

Valor – with the Pylon of Valor, players will gain a 30% reduction in damage taken from Power of Valor.

Vigilance – with the Pylon of Vigilance, players will gain lifesteal on critical hits from Power of Vigilance.

After collecting the orb buff, players may take the portal to the platform. The platform is empty apart from a strange Ice Formation, and a player must investigate the ice formation to begin the encounter. Throughout the fight, players will receive a small amount of damage every three seconds from

Strategy

Phase 1

Once a player has finished investigating the Ice Formation (a 5-second channel), all players will be launched in the air with Vicious Slam. Players inside the Whisper of Jormag’s hitbox will be knocked back but it deals no damage. Players will occasionally take moderate damage if they land in the AoE that spawned underneath them when they were launched, however, it is not consistent. Additionally, players will be knocked high enough to take some falling damage (10% max health) if they do not use a glider. The launch cannot be avoided in any way.

Immediately following this, the Whisper of the Jormag will channel four that appear close to the boss. These tempests tick for moderate damage and will move outwards and anti-clockwise shortly after appearing.

Next, the Whisper of Jormag will launch three ice balls towards the edge of the arena. When these balls hit the ground, they will create a large AoE that ticks for heavy damage from every two seconds (three ticks in total). The center of the arena is always clear from these AoEs so the group should stack close to the boss where possible. After each usage, the Whisper will turn to face a random direction – this is the direction in which the next will be launched. The Whisper will always turn to face east before using and will not change position before the next , meaning that this attack will most frequently affect the eastern side of the platform.

====Spreading Ice====Spreading Ice Following the second use of Vicious Slam, every player will be targeted with an AoE that fills with color over five seconds. Icy spikes will form above a players' heads and when the AoE fills, they will slam into the ground, dealing heavy damage to all players in the AoE. The damage cannot be blocked or avoided with invulnerability, but it can be evaded. A player may only evade damage from their own AoE. This attack follows every other Vicious Slam (every 41 seconds). VideoService "gfycat" not recognized.

As players cannot evade damage from any AoE other than their own, they must spread out across the platform to avoid hurting others. Skills that allow the player to evade without moving are very helpful, as it can be difficult to avoid dodging into other people without coordination. The edge of the arena is impassable, so players can dodge against to evade without moving. As this attack can coincide with , players may wish to note which direction the boss is facing, to avoid that attack.

After , the Whisper of Jormag will use and Vicious Slam, followed byLethal Coalescence.

Lethal Coalescence

Following the third use of Vicious Slam, the player closest to the Whisper of Jormag will be targeted with a large green AoE that empties of color over five seconds. A magical orb hovers above the target player and when the AoE is empty, it slams into the ground, dealing approximately 50,000 damage to a medium-armor player. If there are other players in the AoE, then the damage is distributed among them. This attack follows every other Vicious Slam (every 41 seconds). In phase 3 this attack will target the player furthest east. VideoService "gfycat" not recognized.

The damage from is not simply divided equally among the players in the AoE, but rather the total damage reduces depending on the number of players it hits. If only the target is within the green AoE, they will almost certainly be downed, therefore is it advisable to have as many people move into the green as possible to spread the damage. However, if few players are remaining, it might be safer to “sacrifice” the target to and revive them afterward. There are particularly notable reductions in damage at three and five players in the circle.

Damage reduction effects such as Protection, Frost Aura, Rite of the Great Dwarf, or Barrier are very useful for reducing the pressure from this mechanic.

After , the Whisper of Jormag will use twice, and otherwise loop through the following pattern:

→ → Vicious Slam → → → Vicious Slam → → x2

Split Phase 1 (75%)

When the Whisper of Jormag reaches 75% health, it will disappear and players will be frozen in place and their skill bars will be locked. Any mechanics in progress will have no effect.

Each player will be teleported to a small arena containing their doppelganger. Each doppelganger has a defiance bar (strength: 500), that will Stun the doppelganger and apply 24px Exposed (effect) if broken. The defiance bar will then immediately reset. The defiance bar is difficult for a single player to break, and the doppelganger does not have much health, so it is likely better to ignore it. When a player’s doppelganger is killed, they are teleported back to the main platform.

At the same time, players were teleported away, another doppelganger of each player was created on the main platform. These doppelgangers will attack players as they return from killing their doppelganger, and killing either of the doppelgangers will return the corresponding player to the main platform.

Once all doppelgangers are killed, the Whisper of Jormag will reappear.

Phase 2

In this phase, the boss will use a trio of attacks and then teleport to the platform edge (randomly, in one of the cardinal directions). It will perform another trio of attacks there, before teleporting back to the center.

Chains of Frost

Chains of Frost

Shortly after the Whisper of Jormag reappears, the boss sweeps its tail forward, inflicting heavy damage on three random players and giving them a small timer above their head. After two seconds, these players will be linked to the boss with a chain of frost that deals rapid ticks of moderate damage to any player that touches it (other than the linked player) and lasts for 10 seconds. Being downed will remove the chain. This attack will be repeated every time the boss teleports.

Note: Confusingly, the combat log skill id for the tail sweep portion of is shared with that for being hit by other players’ . VideoService "gfycat" not recognized.

As the chains will all touch the center of the Whisper’s hitbox, it is extremely dangerous to stand inside the boss while this attack is active. Additionally, it is recommended that chained players move back from the boss slightly and not move, so that other players may see and avoid the chains. If movement is required, it may be wise to move towards or away from the boss in a straight line, to minimize movement of the chain.

The first trio of attacks will be:

→ →

The second trio is:

→ Vicious Slam →

The third will begin with and Vicious Slam, before introducing a new attack called Frigid Vortex.

Frigid Vortex

The Whisper of Jormag summons a freezing storm, gains a defiance bar (strength: 1600), and all eligible players will receive a special action skill. Players will take a moderate amount of damage every second the bar remains unbroken. Breaking the boss will Stun it and inflict Exposed for eight seconds. This attack will be repeated 42 seconds after it last ended. VideoService "gfycat" not recognized.

After this, the boss will repeat the attack pattern from the start.

The full attack pattern is, therefore:

→ → → teleport (edge) → → Vicious Slam → → teleport (center) → → Vicious Slam →

Players with chains can make use of Vicious Slam to reposition themselves by gliding.

Split Phase 2 (25%)

Upon reaching 25% health, there is a second split phase that functions exactly as before.

Phase 3

As players return to the platform for the final phase, the Whisper of Jormag releases a shock wave that launches players but deals no damage. The Whisper then spins rapidly, unleashing a flurry of AoEs that deal a small amount of damage. At the same time, the boss grows in size and augments its weapon with ice.

The mechanics come much faster in this phase. The boss will begin with , then follow with Icy Slash and Icy Slice – attacks that sweep across half the platform, dealing moderate damage (the lingering ice effect doesn’t do anything).

Next, the Whisper will use again. In this phase, lasts three seconds longer and is cast closer together, so there will be times where six chains are active at once. After , the Whisper will use a new ability:

Slithering Rime

Many arrow AoEs point out from the Whisper of Jormag in all directions. Shortly after, the boss begins spinning rapidly, firing out a series of orbs that travel to the edge of the arena, and deal moderate damage in a large AoE if they hit any player or minion. This attack continues for eight seconds. VideoService "gfycat" not recognized.

While a single hit is not dangerous, the size of the AoEs means that if players stay close to the boss they can be hit a great number of times, and if they are downed they will continue being hit. As such it is strongly advised that people move away from the boss during this attack and ensure they avoid the orbs.

Following Slithering Rime, the Whisper will use Vicious Slam, followed by Icy Slice. It will then repeat Slithering Rime. Finally, after Slithering Rime ends, the Whisper will use .

It is worth mentioning that summoned allies (necromancer minions, engineer turrets, ranger pets, etc.) will “block” the attack, triggering the AoE away from players. If such a minion is placed perfectly in the center of the Whisper’s hitbox, it will block all of the orbs, allowing players a lot more safe room. At the time of writing there is only one skill that can create a minion at a specific location: Summon Flesh Wurm (Renegade spirits also work this way, but they have less than half the health of Summon Flesh Wurm, and so will die before Slithering Rime ends).

Flesh Wurm (example)

To most reliably position Summon Flesh Wurm, it is best to enable “Snap Ground Target to Current Target” in the Options. The boss will move slightly during its attacks, so it should only be placed just as Slithering Rime is about to start. Finally, while the minion takes significantly reduced damage, it will not survive indefinitely and should, therefore, be killed with Necrotic Traversal after the second Slithering Rime. This will provide enough time to have it available for the next time. VideoService "gfycat" not recognized.

The attack pattern in phase 3, therefore, looks like:

→ Icy Slash → Icy Slice → → Slithering Rime → Vicious Slam → Icy Slice → Slithering Rime →

The Whisper of Jormag will repeat this pattern for the rest of the encounter.

But wait, there’s more!

Approximately 20 seconds into the final phase, will occur. This will line up directly between the first Icy Slice and the second . 10 seconds later, a will appear. This happens shortly before the first Slithering Rime ends. Both these mechanics repeat 20 seconds after the previous one – meaning they alternate on a 10-second interval. The second will then occur halfway through the second Slithering Rime, and the second will appear a few seconds after .

These mechanics have no animation and will occur independent of when the Whisper of Jormag is broken, so during the next loop they will line up differently.

The Whisper faces east for the entire phase. Icy Slash and Icy Slice the half of the platform approximately in front, and to the left of the boss, respectively. This means that players will be safe from these attacks if they remain behind and to the right of the boss (roughly in the south-west area). This is especially important as the player furthest east will be the target of , which will encourage players to move out of the safe area if the target is standing in front of the Whisper.

Note: in this phase, only damages other players, not the owner. This means there is no need to dodge, and players can simply spread out.

For the first loop only, the full mechanics pattern is:

→ Icy Slash → Icy Slice → () → → Slithering Rime () → Vicious Slam → Icy Slice → Slithering Rime () → ()