Matthias Gabrel
Enrage: 10 minutes. When Enraged, Matthias will deal 200% damage.
Requires: Reflects, Condition Cleanse
Advised: Forsaken Thicket Waters mastery
Matthias does not require a toughness tank but does require ready sources of reflect and crowd control. Commonly groups rely on Mesmers using
Matthias has many moving mechanics, so players may benefit from increasing their model limit and LOD distance.
Players without the Forsaken Thicket Waters mastery should either warn their supports or be prepared with their heal skills.
Mechanics
In this fight, players must handle randomly timed and assigned mechanics and attacks.
Blood Shield
Known as: bubble
Matthias will summon a spherical shield, becoming invulnerable to damage. He will channel a projectile attack, of which 18 out of the 20-25 projectiles must be reflected to strip his shield.
While Matthias will channel a few extra shards, care should be taken to ensure enough shards are reflected to break the shield. Avoid projectile destruction such as
Blood Sacrifice
Known as: sacrifice
Starting at 9:45 and every 45 seconds until Matthias reaches 40% health, Matthias will select a player to sacrifice, summoning a red arrow over their head and an announcement on screen. This player will be turned hostile and gain a breakbar. The rest of the squad must break this breakbar or the player will be sacrificed.
The sacrificed player is vulnerable to the squad’s attacks. Players should avoid dropping large DPS attacks on the center of the arena and prioritize breaking their ally out of sacrifice quickly.
Any skills used by the sacrificed player will become hostile as well. This means players cannot break themselves out or deal with the reflect mechanic; instead, these skills would stun their squadmates or reflect damage away from Matthias.
Shards of Rage
Known as: shards, jump
Matthias will leap into the air and spin, shooting shards at the squad. These shards can be dodged, blocked, or invulned, but should not be reflected – reflecting them buffs Matthias’s damage by 10% per shard, up to a potential 250% damage increase. Druids can use
Corruption
Every 30 seconds a player will randomly be targeted with Corruption. Corrupted players will gain a red circle of ticking damage that they must cleanse by running through a clean fountain. If the player does not have the Forsaken Thicket Waters mastery they will receive damage and be knocked down. Supports should be aware of any players that may need extra healing due to this.
Once a fountain has been used it will turn red, and be unusable for the next 1:30. This means that if players are cleansing as soon as they gain the corruption there will be at least one clean fountain available at any time. Once a player gains corruption they should first glance around the room for a clean fountain, then prioritize running straight to that fountain.
Outside of the above, Matthias has four phases based on his current health. Each phase is associated with a weather pattern in the room and a different set of additional mechanics.
Snowstorm (100%-80%)
During Snowstorm, players will gain
Oppressive Gaze
Known as: hadouken
Matthias will spin his staff and launch a ball at a random player, hitting anyone in its path for 50% of their maximum health. Players should
Heat Wave (80%-60%)
During Heat Wave, players will gain stacks of
Unstable Blood Magic
Known as: Poison
Every 10 seconds a player will be targeted with Unstable Blood Magic. Players will hear an audio cue, see a green skull over their head, and have a special action key.
If the targeted player goes down, waits too long to place it, or uses the special action key they will drop an area of effect that damages the squad. Players should take care to avoid dropping this field in the center of the arena or on a fountain and instead run to the wall between fountains to drop the field.
Downpour (60%-40%)
During Downpour, players will gain stacks of a movement debuff that knocks the player down after 10 stacks. Players should try to avoid moving unless absolutely necessary. Additionally, a Storm Cloud will slowly circle the center of the arena, damaging and adding stacks of the movement debuff to players. Finally, every 20 seconds, five players will be targeted with Zealous Benediction.
Zealous Benediction
Known as: Spread
Players will gain expanding red areas of effect that detonate, instantly downing any other players caught within the circle. Players with the mechanic should spread to avoid overlapping. Once safe, everyone should stop moving to avoid gaining more stacks of the movement debuff and to avoid assassinating an ally.
Abomination (40%-0%)
When Matthias reaches 40% he will transform, throwing shards and fearing players. Any players in Matthias’ hitbox during his transformation will be downed. During the Abomination phase, the weather will cycle between Snowstorm, Heat Wave, and Downpour every 30 seconds. All previous mechanics except for sacrifice may occur, with the following changes:
- Zealous Benediction (Spread): All players will experience the spread mechanic
- Shards of Rage (Jump): Shards will be fired across the room
Spirits
Finally, Spirits will run across the arena, heavily damaging players in their path. These can be blocked but cannot be dodged – players should aim to sidestep their path.