Leafiara (prime)/Mechanical Musings/Boss Battle Tactics

This is a guide, tutorial, or gameplay strategy written by one or more players to better assist others with their gameplay enjoyment. The information presented here may be subject to the personal opinion of the contributor(s), and may additionally require periodic updates to keep current as the game environment changes.

Title: Boss Battle Tactics

Author: Leafiara

Date Published: 2025-03-12

Updated: 2025-03-12

Explanation

The following encompasses my rankings of various professions against Ascension bosses based on my opinion of what a fairly average character of 10-25 million experience should be able to contribute in each battle.

Professions are shown in descending order of power. (However, I don't know much of anything about stealth rogues, so my thoughts on rogues only regard them as being in the open.)

The Silver-Scaled Cold Wyrm

General Tips

• BOOST ENHANCIVE STATS and BOOST SUPERCHARGE are good tools and boss battles are certainly the time to use them.
• Coordinate with your party beforehand to settle on a designated Web caster (unless the entire party is capable of hitting a flying wyrm).
• Generally, the wyrm's DS will get significantly lower than her TD. Anything AS-based at least has a chance to pull you through the battle in terms of getting credit, but try to enter offensive stance as little as possible unless you know you can handle 900+ AS attacks. If your AS-based attacks use hard RT, qstrike is a consideration. If they're casting RT, then use macros or Lich aliases to swap into and out of offensive stance. (Bolters probably already do this, but in case not, it's vastly more important here than in normal hunting.)
• Heavy quartz orbs help CS-based casters at least a little bit.
• Knowing a nearby empath you can run to, whether they're back in Cold River or on the battlefield right next to you, can be a lifesaver--and a credit saver.
• Sigil of Determination and Symbol of Transcendence are both excellent here.
• Small statues are worth using on the off-chance that they turn a death into an almost-death.

Warrior

Warriors have extremely high damage output due to Berserk, at least while the wyrm is grounded, and can take her 900-1000 AS attacks better than any other profession. Furthermore, Berserk is capable of continuing to attack even while locked in RT, which the wyrm can heavily inflict with AoE attacks.

Carn's Cry is an excellent immobilization ability and Tackle is great for inflicting Staggered as needed. That said, warriors excel to such a high degree at sheer damage that they might only fall back on these abilities when trying to tone back their power so that others can get credit for the battle.

Warriors' Guard and/or Protect commands aren't what I'd describe as fully reliable, but they're certainly better than nothing and can help others survive the battle.

Ranger

Rangers' DS in guarded is sufficient to at least survive the wyrm's AS-based attacks, if not dodge them in some cases (archers). They can fairly safely contribute Spike Thorn and Web, the latter of which becomes extremely important during the second phase to keep the wyrm grounded and allow melee-based team members to push more damage. Barkskin and |Wall of Thorns also help greatly on defense, allowing rangers to be among the safest in getting through the battle alive, even if not being the best damage dealers.

Moonbeam is better immobilization than anything else in the game except perhaps Carn's Cry. Use it when the wyrm's already grounded and doesn't need to be webbed.

EVOKEd Barkskin can help others survive and Breeze can blow away the wyrm's acid breath, which can otherwise quickly become one of the most dangerous aspects of the battle if left alone.

Monk

Monks who can tier up, whether via Ki Focus or Transcend Destiny or simply enough luck with Martial Arts Mastery, can contribute immense damage in the battle via mstrike kicks. They can handle a hit from the wyrm largely thanks to Iron Skin, though they should have some lore training to reach at least chain mail equivalent.

Twin Hammerfists is viable when the wyrm is grounded. If the monk knows Web, that's an option for when the wyrm is flying, but pures and semis are likely to be better at it unless the monk has tons of Transcend Destiny. As with warriors, I wouldn't prioritize doing anything support-wise with a monk unless there are no other Web casters or the monk is intentionally trying to hold back.

Mind Over Body or Focus Barrier can each fill some group needs depending on team composition.

Paladin

Paladins can put out excellent physical damage via a combination of stellar AS and flares from their myriad magic effects like Holy Weapon and Battle Standard (1620). Everything else varies. If the paladin has low spell ranks, they can handle a wyrm hit, but their CS spells won't land. if the paladin has high spell ranks, they can't handle a wyrm hit, but their spells at least can land, including Aura of the Arkati to further push the wyrm's DS down.

Web is good to keep the wyrm grounded. Beacon of Courage on a high spell rank paladin with no redux is counterintuitively sensible for helping others get through; the paladin can stick to guarded stance and then simply not get hit anyway while drawing fire. If a paladin survives to the final Wyrmreach phase, she can also use Divine Word for a quick battle resurrection of other fallen team members. (Strictly speaking, though, even the dead can still get credit if they make it to Wyrmreach as long as the rest of the party succeeds.)

Zealot or Fervor can fill some group needs depending on team composition.

Bard

Bards' physical offense can push a lot of damage with Song of Tonis. However, attempting to survive wyrm hits in offensive stance is dubious at very best, so they want good team support with effects like Staggered and immobilization. Bards' magical offense is not the way here unless the team as a whole has truly stellar TD debuffs.

Song of Tonis helps other non-warrior physical characters too (not warriors due to Berserk), at least at the time of this writing. Troubadour's Rally can bail people out of some bad situations, though unfortunately not the worst situation of RT lock.

Empath

Empaths take almost all wyrm attacks very well, since the wyrm largely focuses on attrition and chipping people down, but empaths have Troll's Blood and healing to generally not care about that. The exception is, of course, the AS attacks that they absolutely don't want directed at them. Offensively, empaths aren't especially good against the wyrm's high TD, barring excellent gear. They can probably land hits with Spirit Slayer support, at least, but being a top contributor can be rough.

Due to being pures, empaths are the best Web in any group that doesn't also include a cleric or sorcerer, so they're great for keeping the wyrm grounded.

Healing is helpful enough in some group dynamics that I could see a case for empaths moving as high on this as list as right above paladins. However, I mostly find it useful to the bottom half of this list, who need their injuries healed to continue casting. Warriors don't care about casting; monks probably don't; paladins can fall back on melee; rangers definitely don't want injuries, but also aren't likely to be badly injured in the first place.

Wizard

Wizards are strong damage contributors via Core Tap and other bolts boosted by Rapid Fire if the wyrm's DS can be pushed down sufficiently, but that is a somewhat big if. They're rather one-note in this battle, though; offense is about all they have. They don't bring utility to the table and need to be careful about going into offensive stance even briefly since they can't take a hit. If they do get hit, Mage Armor Earth is highly unlikely to salvage any followup hit, so Mage Armor Fire easily seems like the pick for the wyrm battle.

One more point in wizards' favor is that Time Stop can bail them out of the wyrm's huge RT lock, making them the only profession other than warriors who can largely ignore that mechanic. They can also get rid of the wyrm's acid breath with Call Wind.

Overall, wizards are reasonable wyrm battlers in a vacuum, but "in a vacuum" is largely what they are. The group dynamics and synergy change very little due to the presence of a wizard, which can't be said of the above professions.

Rogue

[Disclaimer: I have no idea how stealth rogues play with the wyrm unless they're Jaired, who has ultra top end items and high exp allowing him to do things like cast successful Webs followed by 1 RT Subdues. I do know that hiding is a bit rough in the Hinterwilds due to weather conditions and acid breath, among other things, being able to frequently rogues out of hiding. Regardless, below are my thoughts on open rogues.]

Rogues' toolkit isn't exactly tailored to boss battles against uncrittable creatures with thousands of health. They're at least good at surviving the wyrm if they pick their spots (or are Kroderine Soul), which is more than I can say for the below professions, but they lack the sheer damage of other physical professions unless they either have exceptional gear or are taking unconventional paths like max Multi-Opponent Combat brawling. Utility is a bit lacking too unless they have the exp to know Web.

I think that (average) rogues can "get by" against the wyrm for credit, but will need others to do the heavy lifting.

Cleric

Clerics are fairly bad in the wyrm battle without exceptional experience or gear. They can take neither the big AS hits nor the attrition hits well and damage output is pretty low even with Spirit Slayer. They do have Benediction and Warding Sphere as minor group buffs, but that's unlikely at best to make a notable difference. They are the best Web in any group that doesn't also include an empath or sorcerer, so they're great for keeping the wyrm grounded, but that's the extent of credit I can give.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers are fairly bad in the wyrm battle without exceptional experience or gear. They can take neither the big AS hits nor the attrition hits well and damage output is pretty low. They are the best Web in any group that doesn't also include a cleric or empath, so they're great for keeping the wyrm grounded, but that's the extent of credit I can give.

The Cinereous Chthonian Sybil

General Tips

• Before entering the sybil battle, at least one party member should be designated for the role of locating and destroying any gateways the sybil summons via dispelling magic or dispelling maneuvers. These gateways spew acid throughout the area and can easily begin death spirals via stuns or stacking wounds if ignored.
• BOOST ENHANCIVE STATS and BOOST SUPERCHARGE are good tools and boss battles are certainly the time to use them.
• Dispel flares are more useful against the sybil than they are in just about any other scenario.
• Ghezyte chelioboros jewelry, the quest item from the Caligos Isle era of Ebon Gate that offers an auto-success debuff to DS and TD for 0 RT, has never been even close to as useful before as it is against the sybil. However, you can only have one ghezyte jewelry debuff active, so only one character needs to have it.
• Heavy quartz orbs are great for all CS-based casters.
• Sigil of Determination and Symbol of Transcendence are both excellent here. You'll even get two chances at Symbol of Transcendence.
• Small statues are fairly frivolous in this battle due to the sybil's low AS, but can't hurt as a preventative measure against DS drops from too much spirit drain.
• The sybil doesn't have body parts, so don't use abilities that target body parts.
• Watch for the sybil's Mortal Tether debuff, which appears as a large monsterbold message and can also be seen in the Debuffs window of Wrayth. While afflicted by this, your crits won't deal damage (pure concussion-based damage can still get through). You can temporarily leave the room, which will break the Mortal Tether within a few seconds.. Alternatively, you can change tactics to purely non-crit-based abilities like debuffs, dispels, and immobilization.

Cleric

Clerics have a wide array of valuable options for the sybil, including Interference to usually disrupt her dangerous spells, Spiritual Abolition to get rid of her buffs and push damage through, Condemn because SMR-based attacks do serious work against a pure-styled creature, and Web if other team members highly value the immobilization. They can also Spirit Dispel the acid-spewing gateways. If they have enough CS, even Spirit Slayer-boosted Divine Fury can hit for good damage.

Perhaps the best reason to bring a cleric to the sybil battle, though, is that it takes place in an area where players can temporarily pull back to recover. Essentially, clerics can allow multiple attempts at the sybil at once by resurrecting dead team members--or, for that matter, being dragged to an adjacent room and raising themselves with Miracle if needed.

Clerics are very flexible with the sybil and should take stock of their team before deciding how to approach the battle.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers have the largest number of attacks worth using against the sybil. Their repertoire is so wide for this battle, in fact, that they'll inevitably end up foregoing multiple options that would be great in the hands of other professions.

Corrupt Essence is the MVP of all spells in this battle, putting a hard stop to the sybil's casting. The sorcerer might need dispels and debuffs to make Corrupt Essence land, but they bring that to the table too with their own Curse, Elemental Saturation, Spirit Dispel, and Elemental Dispel. Since Corrupt Essence is so helpful and Curse is unique to sorcerers, dispelling and non-Curse debuffing duty should fall to other party members if possible.

Dark Catalyst does excellent damage even on low endrolls due to the sybil being a pure-styled creature. Web can be great with the right party members who need the immobilization, but, like with dispels, immobilizing should probably go to others if possible.

I could see an argument for sorcerers being the best at the sybil battle and wouldn't object. Their ceiling is noticeably higher than clerics here, but clerics' floor is much higher than sorcerers due to resurrections, so I gave them the edge. Either way, since sorcerers have so many options, coordinate with the party beforehand and figure out a strategy that maximizes their value by filling the necessary niches.

Empath

Empaths have an almost identical array of valuable options for the sybil to clerics, since Interference for disruption, Spiritual Abolition for dispelling, Web for immobilization, and Spirit Dispel for gateways are all excellent. Healing is also stellar since the battle allows retreating for triage; empaths can resolve any and all problems short of death. Spirit Slayer-boosted Wither is yet more goodness.

Compared to clerics, the one thing empaths find themselves missing in this battle is a good SMR spell. As strong as Wither is, it can be difficult to land when the sybil refreshes spells repeatedly mid-battle, forcing more dispels. Regardless, empaths are very flexible here and should coordinate with their party to get the best results.

Ranger

Rangers possess a slew of excellent SMR-based abilities in Moonbeam, Spike Thorn, and Tangle Weed that can all put in major work against the sybil, plus Sounds to crucially disrupt her spells. Group Barkskin is also really helpful for survival. Spirit Dispel against the gateways is something rangers can do, though it should usually be others' responsibility if possible since rangers have so many other great options.

Although I'm ranking clerics and empaths more highly, that's largely for utility reasons that assume the party needs coordination of group dynamics to succeed. In a vacuum, evaluated on individual merits, I'd put rangers behind only sorcerers as the most complete package that can do just about anything anyone could want in the sybil battle.

Monk

Monks should do exactly one thing against the sybil because they do it so extraordinarily well: push through damage. As a pure-styled creature, the sybil's defenses against unarmed combat aren't particularly great, so UAF-based attacks will absolutely tear through her if the monk can simply tier up with the help of any combination of Ki Focus, Transcend Destiny, or getting lucky with the Martial Arts Mastery feat.

I'll put it this way: I'm ranking clerics, sorcerers, empaths, and rangers more highly because of debuffs, dispels, and utility that every team needs, but I think my monk actually outpaces my cleric, sorcerer, empath, and ranger combined if I'm measuring by damage alone. It's just that the monk needs more support, such as others offering immobilization to get her MM up, while the above professions take things at a more methodical, tactical pace. Once a monk gets rolling, though, she'll rip through a sybil like nothing.

Mind Over Body is the correct focus spell here in virtually all scenarios. The sybil's AS-based attacks only hover around 520-540 AS and pose little or no threat to almost anyone. They can hit Kroderine Soul characters, but those are exactly the sorts of characters who would probably still prefer Mind Over Body's stamina cost reduction.

Paladin

Paladins are very good damage dealers if you can get the sybil's DS down enough, which requires lots of dispelling, debuffing, and Feint or similar effects. Paladins who can land Aura of the Arkati will also really be sitting pretty and cranking out damage faster than most professions. Battle Standard flares and Holy Weapon flares do serious work here, never mind their naturally high AS. Alternatively, with high enough Religion lore and/or Spiritual Mana Control, Divine Incarnation's Smite can churn out incredible damage while divine energy lasts.

Divine Word has never looked better than in this battle. Even with the wyrm, it's a bit rough to resurrect right in front of the enemy; however, with the sybil, you can resurrect in an adjacent room, which is much less dangerous. Other than that, paladins have Spirit Dispel and Web like many other professions, but should probably only be doing those things if nobody else can.

Zealot is great for the paladin, but I'd generally recommend Fervor, which is better for numerous profession (like, for example, every profession I've ranked more highly for the sybil than paladins) and still very good for the paladin, so check in with the party's needs before deciding. Zealot is better if you have four warriors along or something to that effect.

Warrior

Warriors can have great damage output as always due to Berserk, but the sybil also has very high DS, so they'll need support from dispelling, debuffing, and stancing effects like Feint (including their own). That said, unless the warrior has exceptional gear, I think the correct move is virtually always to start off the battle with frequent Tackles and Feints to keep the sybil Staggered and buy time for other professions to set up. Once the sybil's casting is disrupted, her buffs are dispelled, and debuffs are stacking on her, then it's time for the warrior to go ham.

Like with monks, unarmed combat warriors can do great here. Unlike with monks, they have neither Ki Focus nor Martial Arts Mastery (not to be confused with Martial Mastery), so they really need Transcend Destiny to get the tier ups rolling. This guide isn't generally aimed at characters of that high experience, though, so suffice it to say that Berserk-boosted weapon use is fine.

Spell Cleave can get rid of gateways, but warriors are usually better filling other roles. Overall, I consider warriors pretty close to paladins in the sybil battle on sheer offense (paladins slightly win because the sybil is very turtled, making paladin flares and 1650 Smite excellent), but paladins offer much more utility, pushing them over the edge. I'll also mention that Kroderine Soul warriors are one of the only things that can survive the sybil's 580+ CS casts if she does manage to fire one off through everyone's disruption.

Bard

Bards don't have particularly good offense for sybil purposes without extraordinary items, but can get the job done with enough DS pushdown support from their party. Unlike sorcerers, bards should be actively looking to lead off with Elemental Saturation since they don't have half a dozen other better options competing for their RT usage. Elemental Dispel is also an option if the group doesn't have a sufficient number of better dispellers. Feint backed by Song of Tonis to keep the sybil Staggered is a solid option after the initial dispel-and-debuff setup is over.

Troubadour's Rally is very helpful in the event that everyone gets stunned by gateway acid. Song of Unravelling is an option, but if the party is so light on dispels that it would welcome Song of Unravelling, that's probably a sign the party's in trouble from the outset. Song of Noise is a reasonable option if the team is heavily weapon-oriented.

Relative to other professions, I think bards are pretty bad in the sybil battle. From a broader view, though, this encounter is a lot more balanced than the wyrm, so bards can still contribute just fine.

Wizard

Wizards are more or less on support duty here without huge enhancives, as the sybil DS even at its lowest won't let bolts land significant damage from just the base toolkit AS. Earthen Fury is something, but lags behind other professions for damage. However, where wizards excel is Rapid Fire-boosted Elemental Disjunction, Elemental Saturation, Elemental Dispel, and Call Wind. They can knock the sybil down several pegs faster than other professions, then do it repeatedly as needed when the sybil refreshes spells throughout the battle.

I could see an argument for ranking wizards above bards in the sybil battle due to sheer utility. It depends on the team composition, though. A wizard (without crazy items) absolutely needs at least one other primary damage dealer somewhere in the party for them (the entire party) to have a shot. A bard at least can theoretically put out enough damage to win the fight if every other party member is doing nothing but dispelling, debuffing, and disrupting, even though they wouldn't be the best for it.

Rogue

[Disclaimer: I have no idea how stealth rogues play with the sybil other than to assume that Waylay works great as a general tactic after the sybil's dispelled enough. Even then, I think they'd still land last on this list. Below are my thoughts on open rogues.]

Rogues don't particularly shine against the sybil due to her having no physical body parts, stopping various abilities like Cutthroat, Hamstring, or Swiftkick that would be excellent here if she were a physical creature. They're basically just trying to push damage, but without the immense boost of tools like warriors' Berserk or paladins' auras and flares. Like other AS-based professions, team support with debuffs, dispelling, immobilization, and stancing is all but mandatory to get through the sybil's high DS. Spell Thieve is an option for a rogue to dispel with himself if he's the best option his party has.

In the absence of enough dispels, unarmed combat can still contribute alright chip damage, but, as with warriors, rogues aren't nearly as good at tiering up against the sybil as monks without being backed by Transcend Destiny. Shield maneuvers are another option for at least some chip damage. Max spell rogues can Web and get surprisingly reasonable damage in with Major Elemental Wave.

Covert Arts' Poisoncraft does work, oddly enough, so load up your weapons with poisons before heading in.