Old Lion’s Court

1 year ago, last modified 7 months ago

Tanking: Proximity
Required: Heavy crowd control

Upon entering this Strike Mission, the time of day is locked to whatever it was at instance creation.

The Watchknight Triumvirate have a somewhat limited arsenal of attacks compared to other bosses, but their strength lies in their ability to coordinate and overlap their mechanics with one another, causing the fight to quickly spiral out of control if not handled properly. Furthermore, the encounter boasts three puzzle phases that will wipe the entire squad if done incorrectly.

During every DPS phase of the fight, the Prototype Watchknights are fought in the same order: Vermilion (Red) Arsenite (Green) Indigo (Blue). The Watchknights that are not the current target in the sequence will have Ley-Woven Shielding and consequently will take zero strike and condition damage; the squad should focus on the unshielded boss in order to progress each phase.

As the Triumvirate does not gain new attacks as the fight progresses, this guide will outline their attacks and mechanics first, then explain how each phase plays out in the Encounter Walkthrough section.

Shared Mechanics

Danger Zone

The Watchknight gains a defiance bar and covers the arena with a large red Danger Zone and a corresponding safe zone. Each Watchknight has a unique shape for its Danger Zone.

Any player caught in a Danger Zone when the attack detonates will be instantly defeated.

Breaking the defiance bar will invert the positions of the safe and dangerous zones, but will not make the attack detonate faster.

Breaking the bosses’ defiance bars will also apply Malfunctioning Ley-Woven Shielding, which will Expose and Stun them the next time they lower their shielding and become vulnerable.

During the DPS phases, only one Danger Zone will ever be active at a time, and it will detonate after about 10 seconds. During the puzzle phases, all three Danger Zones will be active at once, and they will detonate simultaneously after about 20 seconds.

Note: It’s not always advantageous to break a Watchknight’s defiance bar in the DPS phases, especially if the group has already reacted to the Danger Zone and has moved to the safe zone. Be careful with your crowd control (including soft CC) if a Danger Zone is not to be inverted, as the bosses’ defiance bars are not large.

Fixation

Each Watchknight will fixate on the closest player to them: depending on the phase, fixation will either happen directly after they detonate a Danger Zone or right after they land on the field. If any fixated player goes downstate, the effect will move to the closest person to the relevant Watchknight at that time.

The boss’s fixated target will be notified by a special sound effect and a colored diamond above their character’s head. Each boss will Reveal its target for the duration of the fixation, and will copy and apply any Swiftness or Superspeed currently on the target to itself. This makes it impossible to fully outrun the Watchknights and prevent them from activating their mechanics.

Prototype Vermilion and Arsenite are melee attackers and will follow the fixated player. Prototype Indigo, on the other hand, is a ranged attacker, pelting its fixated target from afar with arcing lightning. Indigo will never move from its position once on the field.

The sound effects when fixated by each Watchknight are a little different, but all will sound similar to the clip for Vermilion’s fixation:

Boiling Aether

Known as: Puddle, Oil

All three Watchknights have attacks that, when complete, spawn a boiling puddle of magic on the ground which slowly expands from its initial point of origin.

While expanding, the puddle does light damage to players, but once fully expanded, the puddle will glow more brightly and will deal heavy ticking damage to any players inside of it.

Boiling Aether will spawn on the first instance of each of the following attacks, and every other instance of the attacks afterward. These attacks always occur at the end of each Watchknight’s auto-attack chain, so watch their animations!

Prototype Vermilion’s Gravity Hammer will spawn the puddle directly under the boss itself; look for the red skyward-pointing laser.
Prototype Arsenite’s Noxious Vapor Blade will instantly spawn the puddle under the targeted player once the projectile hits them.
During Prototype Indigo’s Tri-Bolt, a player will get a Tether and a slowly-expanding AoE under their feet: once the Tether teleports them back, a puddle will drop at the player’s previous location.

Any mechanic that spawns Boiling Aether will play a special sound effect for the targeted player (squad-wide in the case of Gravity Hammer), so turn your Effects volume up!

Watchknights’ Attacks

Interestingly, the Triumvirate do not apply conditions to players with any of their attacks. Instead, most attacks and mechanics deal non-negligible strike damage: high direct healing from support players in the squad will be very impactful on this encounter!

Prototype Vermilion

Dual Horizon

Known as: In and Out, In or Out

A red ring will spawn around Prototype Vermilion, with white arrows pointing either inwards or outwards. Standing in the red ring will Expose players and either Push them away from or Pull them toward the boss.

Each player should stand on the side of the ring indicated by the arrows. Incorrect positioning will cause damaging Gravitational Waves to emanate from the boss—one for each player out of position.

Players should not blindly follow the rest of the squad for this mechanic, as they may not have the same indicated safe zone as their squadmates. At the very start of the encounter, both sides of the ring will be designated white. Once the mechanic has resolved once, the white area will be on the opposite side from where the player stood the first time; this back-and-forth will repeat throughout the fight.

Handling more than a few waves can put a lot of pressure on the squad’s healers, especially later in the fight; do not ignore this mechanic!

Note: In any phase with both Vermilion and another Watchknight active, the fixate for Arsenite or Indigo is exempt from having to resolve Dual Horizon, so they will see no white safe zone for the duration of their fixation.

Gravity Hammer

Whenever mobile and not doing Dual Horizon, Prototype Vermilion will instead do a hammer auto-attack chain instead, with its final strike—Gravity Hammer—being more powerful and affecting the indicated circular area.

On the first instance of Gravity Hammer, and every other instance afterward, a Boiling Aether puddle will spawn directly under Prototype Vermilion.

Vermilion’s fixate should make sure it uses Gravity Hammer on the edge of the arena, in order to keep Boiling Aether out of the center where it will be more of a hindrance. After the puddle has spawned, the fixate can move the boss along the edge to give the squad space to continue attacking.

Prototype Arsenite

Pernicious Vortex

Known as: Suction, Pull

Prototype Arsenite spawns a red pool under itself and sucks players in, telegraphed by cascading AoEs that grow fainter as they get further from the boss.

Standing in the red pool will Expose players and deal heavy damage, but even remaining just outside the pool will still put players under a lot of pressure as the ticking damage from the vortex increases the closer players are to the boss.

The ticking damage from this attack can be evaded.

Noxious Vapor Blade

Known as: Disc, Boomerang

At the end of its first auto-attack chain (telegraphed by a poisonous mark on the boss), and every other chain afterward, the furthest player from Prototype Arsenite will gain a bright green tether from the boss to their character.

The boss will then send out a green disc to the marked player: when it connects, a Boiling Aether puddle will spawn under their feet and the disc will then return to the boss in a straight line from their position.

This mechanic can be baited by a knowledgeable player, who should position their character away from the arena’s center in preparation for the Boiling Aether puddle.

Prototype Indigo

Crackling Wind

Known as: Push

Prototype Indigo spawns a bright red ring at long range and blows players away, telegraphed by cascading AoEs that grow fainter as they get closer to the boss.

Being in the bright red ring will Expose players and deal heavy damage. The ticking damage from this attack increases the further away players are from Prototype Indigo, so players should stay close to the boss while it’s active.

The ticking damage from this attack can be evaded.

Tri-Bolt and Tether

Known as: Spread

Prototype Indigo will spawn blue wisps and Tri-Bolt AoEs on three players. These players must quickly move away from each other, however unlike other similar mechanics, being in multiple only deals the expected damage for each AoE, so the damage can be healed relatively easily.

After the first Tri-Bolt, and every other instance afterward, one of the three players will also randomly be selected for the Tether mechanic, which will spawn wherever Tri-Bolt struck them and also spawns a delayed Boiling Aether indicator at their feet.

The Tether will teleport the selected player back to its location once the timer above their head expires. The Boiling Aether puddle will be placed just before the teleport, so the selected player should run to the edge to place the puddle there first.

Encounter Walkthrough

Phase 1 (100%-80%)

In the first phase, the Watchknights each fight solo. Each boss will drop from the sky, activate their Danger Zone, fixate on the closest player, then will transition to boss-specific attacks until they reach 80% health.

Prototype Vermilion loops between Dual Horizon, a Gravity Hammer chain with a Puddle, and a Gravity Hammer without a Puddle.
- Any support player (especially one with blocks) should grab Prototype Vermilion’s fixate and bring it to the edge of the arena, facing it away from the group.
Prototype Arsenite loops between its Pull, an auto-attack chain with a Disc, and an auto-attack chain without a Disc.
- Any support player should grab Prototype Arsenite’s fixate and should focus on not moving the boss too much while facing it away from the group.
- A player should bait the Disc by running far from the boss while it’s auto-attacking. Be on the edge to place the Puddle there instead of in the center.
Prototype Indigo loops between its Push, a Spread with a Tether, and a Spread without a Tether.
- Any support player should grab Prototype Indigo’s fixate and should face it away from the group.

When Prototype Indigo reaches 80% health, the squad will face their first puzzle phase. During these puzzles, all three Watchknights will drop in and channel their Danger Zones, which together cover the entire arena. Players must create a safe zone by breaking one of the bosses’ defiance bars, inverting that boss’s safe and dangerous zones.

After a defiance bar is broken, the other two bosses become untargetable. If the incorrect Watchknight is broken, there will be no safe zone and the squad will wipe.

For the first puzzle, break Prototype Arsenite’s (Green’s) defiance bar, as this creates a white safe zone around Prototype Vermilion (Red).

Phase 2 (80%-40%)

The three Watchknights are essentially fought solo in this phase, however, the bosses will not start with their Danger Zones. Instead, while fighting one Watchknight, another will drop in and assist the active target with their own Danger Zone instead. The small orange Exhaust Plume AoE that spawns when a Watchknight is going to drop in will instantly defeat players, so avoid standing in them at all costs.

For this phase, Arsenite will assist Vermilion, Indigo will assist Arsenite, and Vermilion will assist Indigo.

Your squad will need to choose between running to the safe zones or breaking the additional boss’s defiance bar to swap the danger zones.

Since, during this phase, the Watchknight channeling the Danger Zone is always the next one in the DPS sequence, also consider that breaking their bar will Expose them right after you’re finished with your current target.

Once Indigo is brought to 40% health, a second puzzle phase will commence.

For the 40% puzzle, break Prototype Vermilion’s (Red’s) defiance bar. This will create a white glowing safe area behind Prototype Indigo (Blue).

Phase 3 (40%-10%)

The encounter ramps up in difficulty in this phase, as you will now face two bosses that will be fully active simultaneously; both will fixate on the closest player when they drop in.

As stated before, each boss is vulnerable in the same order as the previous phases (Vermilion Arsenite Indigo), and the shielded boss will not become vulnerable until the current target is brought to 10% health and flies away.

The vulnerable target can use all of their attacks, while the shielded one will only use their auto-attack chain (and the associated extra Puddle mechanic, whenever it’s time in the pattern), unless under the effects of Power Transfer.

Power Transfer

The Power Transfer tether enables any shielded bosses to use their large AoE moves: namely Vermilion’s Dual Horizon, Arsenite’s Pull, and Indigo’s Push.

When nearing each other, the bosses will gain a brown tether: this is your warning to not move them much closer, as if they do they will gain a blue tether and Power Transfer.

Fixates should aim to keep all active Watchknights apart to avoid powering the bosses up, but should focus on staying alive first and foremost.

Note: A brown tether between the bosses does not apply Power Transfer; focus on avoiding blue tethers during the last two phases. Keeping the bosses in brown tether range will allow the squad to support the offtanks and transition between the bosses more effectively.

The remaining Watchknight will periodically drop in and perform its Danger Zone mechanic. Handle the three boss duo variations as follows:

Prototypes Vermilion & Arsenite
- The fixates should bring Vermilion to the edge (for Puddle placement) while keeping Arsenite somewhere near the center. Healers should keep an eye on Arsenite’s fixate.
- Make sure to have a player baiting out Arsenite’s Disc so as to keep the Puddle out of the center of the arena.
- For Indigo’s Danger Zone, Vermilion and Arsenite’s fixates can pull them to the opposite sides of the conal safe zone to avoid a tether.
Prototypes Arsenite & Indigo
- Indigo will always be rooted in the center of the arena in this phase, so move Arsenite away to avoid Power Transfer.
- Three players will be selected for Tri-Bolt often, be prepared to place a Puddle on the edge of the arena if you are additionally selected for the Tether.
- Inverting Vermilion’s Danger Zone quickly is extremely advantageous as it allows the squad to both avoid having to tether the two active bosses in the small space near it and continue placing Puddles on the edges.
Prototypes Indigo & Vermilion
- Vermilion, for this combination in particular, should preferably be tanked by a player with at least some survivability.
  - Vermilion should be kept away from the center for Puddle placement and Power Transfer. However, this means its fixate will take increased damage from Indigo’s Push due to their distance from the boss.
    - This does not mean that Vermilion’s fixate should camp on the very edge of the arena, as they will lack support and will likely go downstate. It is almost always preferable to place a Puddle slightly closer to the center of the arena if it means not going downstate and forcing someone else to get fixated.
  - Healers should keep an eye on Vermilion’s fixate and support them from afar.
- If it appears, Arsenite’s Danger Zone does not need to be inverted, as Vermilion’s fixate can just move the boss along the edge into the safe zone.

Once Indigo is brought to 10% health, the final puzzle phase will commence.

For the 10% puzzle, break Prototype Indigo’s (Blue’s) defiance bar. This will create a white glowing safe area next to Prototype Vermilion (Red).

Phase 4 (10%-0%)

In the final phase, all three Watchknights will be active simultaneously, and will not use their Danger Zones. As in Phase 3, fixates should bring Vermilion and Arsenite to the edges of the arena (and away from Indigo) to avoid them gaining Power Transfer and prevent Puddles from dropping in the center.

As always, only the current Watchknight in the DPS sequence will be vulnerable until defeated, so the squad should focus Vermilion down first, then Arsenite, then finish off Indigo to complete the Strike Mission.