Dash'roode is the first boss in S&V and has only a few mechanics. The basic structure to the fight is that the group must stay inside a force field for protection against the sandstorm, which otherwise will build up stacks of a debuff that causes the storm to deal increasing damage. The force field will go down and need to be moved from time to time, introducing a movement phase in which players are lost in the storm and have to run back to the group. Otherwise, Dash'roode is essentially a tank and spank fight.

The key mechanics are as follows:

• • Howling Sandstorm: The environment places a stacking debuff that causes you to take increased damage when out in the sandstorm without protection. The damage isn't bad in Story Mode and doesn't begin to trouble most groups until you get to 15+ stacks or more.

  • Personal Environmental Shield: An inexpensive item that can be purchased from the vendor where you load into Darvannis, this item provides immunity to the sandstorm (and its building stacks) for a time. Should be used when the player is Lost and teleported out into the desert.

  • Shield Generator: The lit area near a large rock has a clickable shield generator that activates a large shield to protect from the sandstorm. Players should stay in this shield at all times to avoid taking sandstorm damage.

  • Portable Shield Generator: The large shield will periodically go down as the local battery runs out of power. At this point, a player needs to pick up the shield to relocate it. This will project a much smaller portable shield that can be carried to the next site and installed to reproduce the large shield at the next location.

  • Lost: Each time the team relocates to the next generator site, some players will be "Lost in the Sandstorm". They will be teleported out into the open area and surrounded by several Womp Rats. The player should immediately run back.

  • Groundshatter (knock back): Dash'roode's AoE knockback. This mechanic drives the positioning goal of minimizing downtime from the knockback by having tanks put their backs to the shield pylon while everyone else has their backs facing the huge rock.

  • Gutwrenching Kick (conal): Dash'roode's conal cleave attack. Non-tanks should stay behind or on the side of Dash'roode at all times.

  • Knock Up: Dash'roode occasionally punts his target very high into the air. The player goes so high Dash'roode will temporarily swap aggro to the next player on the threat table.

The strategy for this fight is very simple, and follows these goals:

• • Tanks hold Dash'roode and put their backs to the shield pylon. DPS and healers stand between Dash'roode and the huge rock. When the knockback happens, hopefully everyone stays in the shield or else immediately leaps back.

  • Tank and spank on Dash'roode, with a potential tank swap when the Knock Up happens.

  • When the shield dies, a healer should pick up the portable shield generator and help the group move within the shield to the next generator (move North on the map).

  • Any players that are Lost should use their Personal Environmental Shield and run back to the group.

  • Group re-positions at next generator location, re-positions per the above, kills any adds, and resumes mechanics.

  • Repeat until Dash'roode dies or until the fourth generator has expired. If the generator expires and Dash'roode is still alive, it becomes a DPS race to kill him before the sandstorm kills the group.

Dash’roode is a fairly easy boss encounter in Veteran Mode. The main difference from Story Mode involves the Voracious Xuvvas that spawn and attempt to destroy the shield generator. As long as the group handles the adds and keeps the shield generator alive then the fight is fairly easy. With the introduction of Veteran’s Edge in 6.0, many groups only need to relocate once to another shield generator and then can burn the boss down from there.

Mechanics

The Dash’roode encounter in Veteran Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• • Voracious Xuvvas: Pairs of these flying adds will spawn periodically and attack the shield generator. If they destroy the shield generator then the group will likely wipe unless the boss is already low on health.

  • Gnawing Bite: Womp rats apply this debuff to players when they get lost in the sandstorm. Gnawing Bite reduces movement speed to 35% of its normal speed.

  • Boss damage: Dash’roode’s cleave and knockback attacks hit much harder in Veteran Mode.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Dash’roode in Veteran Mode include the following:

• • Kill Voracious Xuvvas. By far the most common cause of a wipe in Veteran Mode is the shield generator being destroyed by the Xuvvas. DPS should burst down the adds immediately when they spawn.

  • Back to wall. DPS and healers should put their backs to the boulder to avoid being knocked back out into the sandstorm. Melee DPS may have a more difficult time avoiding a knockback so should have gap closers available.

  • Hold Dash’roode near shield pylon. The best place to position the boss is directly against the shield pylon. Tanks can put their backs to it to avoid the knockback, though the positioning to do so successfully is a bit tricky.

  • Be ready for Womp Rat slow debuff. Players that get lost in the sandstorm will need to deal with Womp Rats that apply a slow debuff. There are a few strategies to deal with the adds. Some players with long duration abilities that buff movement speed and purge or provide immunity from slows can out run the adds (e.g., Vanguard / Powertech or Commando / Mercenary with Hold the Line / Hydraulic Overrides are the best example). Other players can use group stuns, roots or slows to hinder the adds so the player can outrun them back to the boss. Sage / Sorcerer and Shadow / Assassin with the root on their knockback ability are great for this. Other players lacking or uncomfortable with this strategy can simply AoE down the adds then catch up with the group.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a couple other tips for Dash’roode in Veteran Mode:

• • The Environmental Isolation Shield (the portable shield) lasts for 60 seconds in Story and Veteran Mode. It rarely takes more than half that long to relocate between shield generators. Very few groups will have issues with the DPS check but it is possible to delay planting the shield generator until the end of this timer to maximize your uptime.

  • Just as in Story Mode, the portable shield can expire. If so, you can still activate the next shield generator normally.

  • Dash’roode knocks the tank up in the air just like in Story Mode and will briefly swap aggro until the tank falls back down into aggro range. You can tank swap at this point or not.

  • Tanks can use AoE taunts to help hold the Voracious Xuvvas to keep them off the shield generators. This strategy also helps position the adds for easy DoT spread or AoE that also clips Dash’roode.

  • The tank or off-tank often picks up the shield generator, but I recommend a healer doing it. The only players that are immune from being lost in the sandstorm are the player with boss aggro and the player holding the shield generator. The odds are against both healers being lost at the same time but having a healer carry the shield generator should guarantee at least one healer stays with the group.

  • Many groups will not need all four generators. Most of my teams typically relocate once and when the second shield goes down we pop the portable shield generator and burn down the boss.

Dash’roode is a fairly easy boss in Master Mode operations. The DPS check to kill the boss before running out of shields is fairly tight and most groups will not pass this check. Thankfully the desert storm damage takes a while to build up so most groups can easily burn down the last 15-20% even after the shields go down..

Mechanics

Dash’roode encounter in Master Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• • Environmental Isolation Shield is much smaller and lasts 30 seconds: The portable shield is much smaller than in lower difficulties and only lasts 30 seconds instead of 60 seconds as in lower difficulties.

  • Damage is higher: Dash’roode’s attacks (particularly the cleave) hit much harder and the sand storm damage is much higher.

  • Womp Rats are more dangerous: The slow mechanic is identical to Veteran Mode but the higher base damage of the adds and sand storm make being lost more dangerous.

  • DPS check is much tighter: The DPS check is trivial in Story and Veteran Mode but is relevant in Master Mode. Many groups will be unable to kill Dash’roode before the last generator expires.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Dash’roode in Master Mode include the following. Please note all strategic considerations in Veteran Mode also apply unless directly contradicted below.

• • Same strategy as in Veteran Mode. There are no significant changes in mechanics to Dash’roode compared to Veteran Mode. The biggest danger remains the Xuvvas killing the shield generator though this mechanic should be trivial at this level of difficulty.

  • Stay in the small shield when moving between shield generators. The shield is much smaller so it is more difficult to avoid picking up more stacks from the sand storm. The team should coordinate its movement as much as possible. The fewer stacks everyone has going into final burn the easier it will be for healers to keep up with the group damage.

  • Avoid dying to adds when lost. The higher base damage of adds and the sand storm make the slow debuff very dangerous. Lost players must have a defined strategy that lets them quickly outrun or kill the adds.

  • Be prepared to burn Dash’roode in the sand storm. Most groups will need to burn the last 5-20% of Dash’roode’s health after the fourth shield generator runs out of power. Every player should try and save their environmental shield for this final burn as well as most major defensive cooldowns.

Tips & Tricks

• • Here are a couple other tips for Dash’roode in Master Mode in addition to those applicable to lower difficulties:

  • Sage / Sorcerer players should actively use their friendly pull ability to help lost players get inside the shield faster and/or get away from adds that are slowing them.

  • Healers should consider running out of the shield briefly to get into range of lost players to heal them. Players unable to outrun their adds and lacking strong burst AoE capability may struggle to survive without healer support.

Titan 6 is another straightforward boss fight encounter in Story Mode. It has a set of mechanics that repeat in a predictable sequence until reaching a soft enrage / burn phase at 20% health.

The core mechanics for the fight will proceed and repeat in the following order until Titan 6 reaches 20% health:

• • Lots of Missiles ("Initiate Defense Sequence Two"): Unavoidable group-wide 6s channeled AoE attack that hits for low damage. These attacks are localized on each player but are AoE, so players grouped together will take significantly more damage. Spread out!!

  • Air Strike (Red Circles): A 2s cast that spawns red circles on the ground that deal damage if not avoided.

After Air Strike, 2 Titan Probe adds spawn and should be gathered up by the off-tank for AoE under the boss.

• • Kick / Buried: Stun ability applied to player with aggro on Titan 6. The stun is denoted by a yellow debuff callied Buried that last a short time. The stun can cause the player to take damage from red circles but is not overly important in Story Mode.

  • Lots of Missiles ("Initiate Defense Sequence Two"): See above, spread out.

  • Launch ("Initiate Defense Sequence Three"): 8s cast ability where Titan 6 pulls an Iron Man and rockets into the air to relocate in a clockwise direction around the room. After the cast completes, a radiating wave of fire will deal damage unless the team hides behind rocks. There is a small graphic behind each rock where a player will automatically crouch down to hide. Players can continue to deal damage or heal while crouched, assuming they have LoS on their target.

As Titan 6 lands at its new location, 6 Titan Probe adds spawn in the middle of the room. To group them up for easy AoE DPS, either a tank should gather them via an AoE taunt or else everyone should run near Titan 6 to enable an AoE taunt.

Once Titan 6 reaches around 20% health, it enters a soft enrage phase and drops down to the ground. Titan 6 will continually spam Missile Burst that deals group-wide damage. Titan 6 also uses Flame Burst to deal AoE damage to anyone nearby (denoted by the fire graphic).

The key strategy in the burn phase is to avoid grouping up (Missile Burst damage can stack) but stay close enough for AoE heals to be applied. Ranged DPS and healers should stand out of Fire, while melee DPS and tanks should try to avoid standing in Fire whenever possible.

Titan 6 is also fairly easy in Veteran Mode. There are a few changes to mechanics, most notably the Huge Grenade for tanks and the positioning for Launch. Once the group has a strategy for these mechanics then Titan 6 should be easy pickings for most groups.

Mechanics

The Titan 6 encounter in Veteran Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• Lots of Missiles deals significantly more damage: Lots of Missiles is an individually targeted AoE attack that hits every player, which means players standing near each other take more damage. This group damage is significantly more dangerous in Veteran Mode.

• Huge Grenade: After Airstrike (red circles), Titan 6 will place a Huge Grenade on the player with aggro. Huge Grenade places a yellow explosion debuff on the player that ticks down for 7 seconds then deals high AoE damage to everything in its proximity. The Huge Grenade is telegraphed by a very large red circle with a radius of about 20 meters.

• Kick attack applies Buried debuff: Titan 6 uses the Kick attack once per cycle. The attack stuns the player for 2.5 seconds in Story Mode, but in Veteran or Master Mode the attack places a 20 second debuff called Buried that increases damage taken by 200%. The debuff can be purged by any ability that acts as a stun breaker or can be avoided through an ability that makes the player immune to stuns. Kick occurs right after the first Lots of Missiles in the first wave then happens prior to the first Lots of Missiles in subsequent waves.

• Launch is a 3s cast: The Launch cast takes 3 seconds instead of 8 seconds as in Story Mode. Launch also deals more damage

• Limited players behind each rock: Only 1 player in 8m (2 in 16m) can hide behind each rock in Veteran Mode.

• Grapple during burn phase: Titan 6 will grapple players into the fire during burn phase.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Titan 6 in Veteran Mode include the following:

• Lots of Missiles -> Air Strike -> Huge Grenade -> Lots of Missiles -> Launch. The order of mechanics is the same as in Story Mode except that Huge Grenade happens after the Air Strike (red circles).

• Spread out for Lots of Missiles. Lots of Missiles damage every player via an AoE attack so players will take more damage if grouped up. Grouping up for AoE heals after Lots of Missiles is not usually necessary in Veteran Mode, especially since Lots of Missiles happens twice.

• Tank swap on Huge Grenade. The Huge Grenade is a convenient time to tank swap so the tank only has to worry about damage from Huge Grenade. The grenade damage should not come close to one shotting a tank unless they are below half health. The swap is also convenient to ensure each tank has their stun break available for Kick/Buried.

• Stun break to purge Buried. The tank should use their stun breaker ability to purge the Buried debuff applied by Titan 6’s Kick attack. Since tanks should be swapping on each Huge Grenade, a stun break should be available each time. If a tank has their stun break on cooldown then a tank swap should occur immediately and that player may need very high sustained healing.

• 1 player per rock for Launch (2 in 16m). The team will need to spread out to use rocks to survive Launch. Ranged DPS should try to take rocks further back from Titan 6 so melee DPS and tanks have readily available rocks.

• Bring adds to the boss. Two adds spawn during each wave and then many adds spawn after each Launch. DPS and healers should run to Titan 6 at this point to get the adds grouped up. Tanks should use AoE taunts to hold them in place while DPS use AoE attacks and DoT spread to kill them quickly.

• Do not push sub-20% with adds alive. When Titan 6 nears 20% health, the team should make sure to clean up adds before pushing sub-20% and triggering burn phase to avoid damage being even higher in the phase or slowing DPS on Titan 6.

• In burn phase, avoid grouping up and avoid fire. Titan 6 uses a fire AoE attack and periodic group-wide missile attacks. All players should avoid stacking to minimize the damage from missile attacks. Ranged DPS and healers should stay well back from the fire. Tanks and melee DPS should try to stand in breaks in the fire to reduce damage taken.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a couple other tips for Titan 6 in Veteran Mode:

• Titan 6 can be solo tanked successfully if the team has a plan for Huge Grenade and Kick’s Buried debuff. Titan 6 does not move so the tank can run away from Titan 6 to take the grenade out of the group then leap back, and with a defensive cooldown the same is survivable. The Buried debuff can be purged with a stun break that can be used every other time. For the time that the stun break ability is on cooldown, either use a defensive cooldown just before the Kick or use a utility that provides immunity to stuns. Another alternative is to have a DWT taunt Titan 6 to take either Kick or Huge Grenade. I recommend having a DWT take Kick since they can stun break and take very little extra damage, whereas Huge Grenade is very dangerous to non-tanks without a strong defensive cooldown.

• Launch will typically not kill a player at max health. If a player at max health and a player at low health only have one available rock to hide behind for Launch, let the low health player take it and pop a defensive cooldown. Sage / Sorcerer can use their big bubble to completely negate the damage, for example.

• Ranged DPS should be aware that rocks can LoS you from Titan 6 so be careful when DPSing on the move.

Titan 6 is a fairly easy boss in Master Mode operations. The DPS check to kill the boss before running out of shields is fairly tight and most groups will not pass this check. Thankfully the desert storm damage takes a while to build up so most groups can easily burn down the last 15-20% even after the shields go down..

Mechanics

The Titan 6 encounter in Master Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• Two Huge Grenades: In Master Mode, Titan 6 will apply Huge Grenade to the player with aggro and another random player.

• Huge Grenades destroy rocks: Any rocks within the Huge Grenade AoE will be destroyed by the explosion.

• Lots of Missiles deals very high damage: Lots of Missiles deal a lot of damage even if the group is appropriately spread out.

• Launch will one shot players not behind a rock: Launch is not a guaranteed one shot in lower difficulties but is one in Master Mode.

• Launch is a 2s cast and spreads faster: The Launch cast is 2s instead of 3s in Veteran Mode. The ring of fire from Launch also spreads much faster.

• Huge Grenade goes out in burn phase: Titan 6 will continue to target a random player with Huge Grenade during burn phase.

• Titan 6 pulls a player in periodically during burn phase: During the sub-20% burn phase, Titan 6 will periodically pull a player into the fire.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Titan 6 in Master Mode include the following. Please note all strategic considerations in Veteran Mode also apply unless directly contradicted below.

• Huge Grenades go in different directions. The team should plan in advance which direction to take the tank’s Huge Grenade and the other one. My team usually has the tank take their grenade right (i.e., the usual direction in Veteran Mode) and the DPS/healer takes theirs left.

• Avoid killing rocks with a Huge Grenade. Players should save movement abilities for Huge Grenade to get themselves all the way to the wall to avoid or at least minimize the number of rocks destroyed. The speed of Launch makes the fight very difficult if multiple rocks are destroyed.

• Spread out and use defensive cooldowns for Lots of Missiles. Lots of Missiles hit very hard in Master Mode and are the most difficult mechanic for healers prior to burn phase. DPS players should try to save a low cooldown defensive cooldown (e.g., Cloud Mind, Defense Screen, Static Barrier, etc.) for these as often as possible.

• Group up adds and prioritize burning them down. The adds individually are not dangerous but leaving them up for long can stress healers by denying them a chance to regenerate energy between Lots of Missiles phases. If the group lacks strong sustained AoE damage then DPS should be assigned to burn them down directly.

• Melee DPS and Tanks should get to rocks BEFORE Launch. The Launch AoE damage moves much faster in Master Mode and will kill melee DPS and tanks if they are not behind a rock when Launch finishes.

• Avoid pushing sub-20% after Lots of Missiles or with adds up. The burn phase is manageable for groups with everyone alive provided that no adds are up and that everyone has relatively high health. Once Titan 6 gets below 25% health the team should pay attention to the timing of mechanics to push Titan 6. Pull adds away from the boss and burn them down separately. Avoid pushing the boss after Lots of Missiles as well since the group will be too low. The best times to push Titan 6 are before Launch or after the first Lots of Missiles once everyone is healed up (i.e., any time before the second Lots of Missiles).

• During burn phase, take Huge Grenade out of the group. Once the group gets sub-20% and into burn phase, rocks no longer matter so the player with Huge Grenade should move out of the group and no further. Be careful to not out-range healers if low on health and use a defensive cooldown for Huge Grenade.

• Be very careful with positioning in the burn phase. The periodic missile attack deals very high proximity damage so avoiding stacking is very important. Melee and tanks should avoid standing in fire. The player with Huge Grenade should move out and any player pulled into fire should move out. The key to success in the burn phase is minimizing damage taken. Damage during the phase is not sustainable for most healers so the team’s primary goal is keeping damage low enough to give the team enough time to kill Titan 6.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a couple other tips for Titan 6 in Master Mode in addition to those applicable to lower difficulties:

• Titan 6 has an annoying habit of swapping aggro to a healer after each Launch until the tank can get in range. I recommend the tank who took Huge Grenade moves to the next position for the boss so they can pick up Titan 6 until the other tank can get over there to take him. If the tanks coordinate this can even let the off-tank (who got there first) use their AoE taunt to pick up the adds then the other tank can single taunt Titan 6, making the damage taken for tanks a bit more even and easier to heal.

• DPS and healers should generally pre-position themselves in the direction Huge Grenade should go if they get it. Once Huge Grenade goes out, the players should spread out in advance of Launch.

• Ranged DPS and healers with good mobility abilities may consider running far away from Titan 6 during Launch to give as many free rocks as possible for melee DPS and tanks. Taking a rock near the next Titan 6 position may also be helpful to be in position for the next phase to lure adds near the boss.

• It bears repeating to be ready BEFORE Launch. The cast is only 2 seconds in Master Mode and the damage wave moves much faster. Start thinking about your position during the second Lots of Missiles as Launch comes immediately afterwards.

Thrasher is a very quick boss fight with an interesting mechanic involves snipers up on the upper level targeting players. The boss also has a Fire Bug mechanic that requires some positional awareness. Otherwise, Thrasher is faster and simpler than either Dash'roode or Titan 6 in Story Mode.

Thrasher has a conal basic attack and occasional knockback attack. His knockback attack also punts the player in the air. If the player with aggro gets out of melee range of Thrasher, it will chain spam an AoE attack that deals heavy team-wide damage.

For these reasons, it is recommended to have the main tank hold Thrasher just to the side of the exit door. The surrounding stonework is higher than most of the area, which prevents the tank from being punted up to the upper level and triggering Thrasher's AoE spam.

Thrasher will periodically summon Snipers alongside one quarter of the room along the upper deck. The Snipers spawn in waves of 3. They are targetable from the ground but can sometimes be difficult to get LoS. Melee DPS players can leap up to them and engage on the upper deck.

Lastly, Thrasher's handler, Bo Zarran, will summon a Mercenary Firebug that targets a random player. That player should run to a wall. The Firebug will run to them, stop moving, then drop a fire grenade that leaves a persistent fire AoE on the ground. As soon as the Firebug stops moving the targeted player can safely move away. These fire grenades are not overly dangerous as long as they are dropped outside the main group.

The typical strategy for Thrasher is to have half the group's DPS assigned to swap to Snipers when they spawn while the remainder tunnel on Thrasher. Ranged DPS can more quickly swap targets but frequently have LoS issues, so having melee DPS leap up to them works well also.

Thrasher is similar to Titan 6 in difficulty in Veteran Mode. The added mechanics for the Snipers and Demolitionist require a group go up top to deal with adds, unlike in Story Mode where the adds can be defeated by ranged DPS from below. As long as the team deals with adds appropriately, Thrasher goes down very quickly.

Mechanics

The Dash’roode encounter in Veteran Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• Mercenary Demolitionist: A new enemy spawns with each wave of snipers along the top wall. The Demolitionist is adjacent to the snipers in Veteran Mode along the same section of wall. The Demolitionist will target a random player with an AoE attack but the damage is survivable in this difficulty. The Demolitionist does not have a shield unlike the Snipers.

• Sniper Portable Cover: The Snipers in each wave have a Portable Cover buff making them immune to damage from the arena. Damage dealt by a player standing in the arena ring will remove this buff. Thrasher’s Roar conal attack will also remove them from cover.

• Roar knock up: Thrasher’s Roar attack also performs a knockback that punts players up into the air. When positioned correctly, the Roar knock up can punt several players up into the elevated arena ring.

• Turrets: If the team is unable to defeat a wave of snipers before another wave spawns, turrets will spawn that wipe the group.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Dash’roode in Veteran Mode include the following:

• Half of the team goes up top. The simplest strategy is to send half of the team up top into the arena ring to deal with the snipers and demolitionist. I recommend a tank, several DPS and at least one healer go up top. The timing for this is to have the ground tank hold the boss alone until the first cleave (about 15 seconds) then have the tank going up taunt the boss and stand right on the skeleton just to the side of the boss. The group going up top stands with the tank and all get punted up.

• Tank on the ground should put their back to the wall. Thrasher will periodically do the Roar knock back/up. If the player with aggro gets too far from Thrasher then it will continuously deal team-wide damage. The tank should put their back against the elevated wall around the gate, which is high enough to ensure they cannot get punted up.

• Team up top kills Demolitionist and Snipers. The tank should be proactive in using taunts and defensive cooldowns to control the snipers while DPS burn them down.

• Team down below still needs to deal with Firebug. This mechanic is unchanged from Story Mode but is the only mechanic the team below typically needs to handle.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a couple other tips for Dash’roode in Veteran Mode:

• I usually recommend sending ranged DPS up top, so that in between add waves they can continue to DPS Thrasher. Teams that use this strategy and have good DPS may only see 2 or 3 waves of snipers.

• Another team strategy is to just send a tank up top. I feel this is risky but can be successful. If so, the tank’s immediate goal is to deal damage to each sniper to remove their Entrench debuff. The tank should also be careful to stay close to the ledge so that healers have line of sight and can heal them.

• Healing icons (similar to PVP) are present along the back wall of the arena ring near each possible sniper wave position. These can be used by players up top if they get low on health.

• I also recommend prioritizing players with movement abilities that let them compensate if they or other players miss the knock up mechanic. Sage / Sorcerers are amazing for their friendly pull to get players up top. Guardian / Juggernauts can use Guardian Leap / Intercede up to a friendly player. Scoundrel / Operatives can use Trick Move / Holotraverse to a friendly or enemy player. Any melee class with a leap can leap up top once the sniper entrench debuff is removed.

• The positioning for players in the arena to leap/teleport up top or to have LoS to attack the snipers can be tricky, which is why I recommend any DPS assigned to the snipers simply go up top if possible.

• The snipers die relatively quickly in Veteran Mode so a second tank is not strictly necessary to deal with adds. As long as DPS use defensive cooldowns and each focus on one add at a time, it is perfectly viable to just run one tank down below and the rest DPS and healers to shorten the phase.

Thrasher is a difficult encounter in Master Mode and a big step up in difficulty from Dash’roode and Titan 6. Most groups progressing on Master Mode Scum & Villainy will hit their first road block on Thrasher. Thrasher itself hits the main tank very hard and the mechanics to deal with the adds up top are more challenging. The biggest challenge to the fight is handling the double sniper wave. Most groups will clear the fight easily once they get the timing/positioning down to handle the double wave.

Mechanics

The Thrasher encounter in Master Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• Demolitionist location is random: The Demolitionist stands in a random section of the outer arena ring from the sniper wave, unlike in lower difficulties.

• Demolitionist Rocket Launcher: The Demolitionist channels Loading for 5 seconds then targets a random player with Rocket Launcher. This attack is telegraphed by a small red AoE under that player’s feet for 1-2 seconds then deals very high damage.

• Sniper damage is very high: The Snipers deal very high damage in Master Mode. If they all target the same player other than a tank, they will die very quickly without a powerful defensive cooldown.

• Double Sniper Wave after 50%: After Thrasher drops below 50%, the next sniper wave will feature two sniper waves. Only one Demolitionist spawns though. After the double sniper wave the mechanics revert back to one wave of snipers each time.

• Firebug mechanics are unchanged. There are no differences in the Firebug mechanics in Master Mode.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Thrasher in Master Mode include the following. Please note all strategic considerations in Veteran Mode also apply unless directly contradicted below.

• Half the group goes up to deal with Snipers. Half the team must go up top in Master Mode to deal with Snipers. The timing is important in the opener to avoid the group taking a cleave. The ground tank should open with aggro for the first 6-8 seconds then the top tank should taunt. The rest of the team going up should wait for the first cleave at around 15 seconds then move to stand with the tank on top of the skeleton to be punted up.

• Split DPS between the Demolitionist and Snipers. In an 8m group, one DPS should hunt down the Demolitionist while the tank/healer/DPS deal with the wave of Snipers. Waves of snipers spawn approximately every 45 seconds.

• Tank should grab aggro on Snipers as quickly as possible. Each Sniper hits very hard but will not one shot a player, but all three targeting the same healer will kill them very quickly. The tank up top should prioritize getting aggro on at least 2 of the adds. A common strategy is to use an AoE taunt and a defensive cooldown, and after that wears off taunt one Sniper then attack another to keep aggro on as many as possible. A tank with a nearby healer can survive two Snipers without a defensive cooldown as long as the DPS burns down the spare. The sniper waves spawn every 45 seconds or so thus an AoE taunt should always be available.

• Focus DPS on Snipers one at a time. I highly recommend having a strategy or using target markers to prioritize DPS. Damage taken is the primary concern in this fight so burning down the snipers one at a time is more efficient to reduce the stressful healing duration.

• Tank up top should be prepared to drop down if the ground tank dies. Thrasher deals very high sustained damage on the ground tank and can nearly one shot a tank if they fail to shield a high damage attack without a defensive cooldown active. If so then the other tank should come down immediately to grab Thrasher until the other tank can be revived and healed up.

• DPS on Demolitionist should call out targets. The Demolitionist will cast Loading then fire a rocket at a random player. The DPS assigned to the Demolitionist should watch their target of target to call out whom is being targeted.

• Player targeted by Rocket Launcher should stay on the move. The delay between the red AoE and taking damage from the Demolitionist Rocket Launcher is very small, so the recommended strategy is for the targeted player to stay on the move to ensure they avoid damage.

• See below for strategies on the Double Sniper Wave. The most challenging aspect of the fight is dealing with the sub-50% double sniper wave. There are a couple ways to approach this fight that are discussed further below.

• Below 15-20% all DPS can focus on Thrasher. Depending on group DPS it is possible to focus all DPS on Thrasher once the boss is low enough that he will be killed before turrets enrage and wipe the group. The tank should stay up top to grab aggro on the adds and knock them out of cover.

Advanced Strategy - Tanking Thrasher

Thrasher uses the following primary attacks:

• Melee attack - melee attack dealing kinetic damage that has a 1.5 second cooldown

• Swipe - tech attack dealing kinetic damage that has a 10 second cooldown

• Stomp - tech attack dealing kinetic damage that has a 6 second cooldown

• Roar - tech attack dealing internal damage to all players when tank >10m from Thrasher

• Head Butt - 30 second cooldown knock up cleave attack that also applies a 2s stun

Melee attacks deal fairly heavy damage for a basic attack. They are also the only melee/ranged attacks by Thrasher so are the most easily mitigated. The biggest danger to tanks is Thrasher’s Swipe that can deal nearly a tank’s full health if not shielded.

Tanks should try to cycle through defensive cooldowns to help the healers keep up with healing. The fight lasts too long to continuously keep defensives up, so try to time your use of cooldowns to coincide with sniper waves (when healers may need to heal others from sniper damage) and/or if you get below half health and a Swipe is coming. Make sure to call out your use of defensives so your healer is aware of when you have or do not have defensives active and can time their use of cooldowns appropriately.

Make sure to keep a medpac and a big defensive cooldown ready for the double sniper wave (i.e., Saber Ward for Guardian/Juggernaut, Deflection for Shadow/Assassin and Reactive/Energy Shield for Vanguard/Powertechs).

Advanced Strategy - Tanking Snipers

The Snipers hit very hard in Master Mode so tanks should plan their use of defensives for each wave. Any tank can be effective dealing with Snipers though my impression has been that Guardian / Juggernaut tanks shine since they have more useful cooldowns.

Tanks should generally AoE taunt adds anytime they plan to use a defensive cooldown. If a defensive is not available then the decision to AoE taunt depends on team health. It is usually viable to single taunt one Sniper then use your attacks on a second to hold aggro on two of them and leave the DPS to tank the third one with their defensive cooldowns.

Guardian / Juggernaut tanks can cycle through the following defensive combinations for sniper waves and perform very well tanking adds.

• Saber Ward and your medpac should be saved for the double sniper wave. The buff to your Defense chance should make you nearly immune to the sniper attacks for its 12 second duration.

• Saber Reflect should be available for every other sniper wave. Reflect will not usually be enough to kill the adds but with good focused DPS to kill one add in that time another defensive may not be necessary.

• Warding Call / Invincible and Focused / Enraged Defense is great for sniper waves where Saber Reflect is not available.

• Awe / Intimidating Roar, Shield Adrenal and Enure / Endure Pain are less strong than the options above but can work in a pinch but you will need significantly more healing than other options. I usually save this combo if I need to hold three adds a long time and use this combo after a bigger defensive cooldown runs out.

Shadow / Assassin tanks can handle adds well also though they depend a lot more on good shield rolls given the nature of their defensive cooldowns. They will struggle a bit more to hold a Sniper wave for long without their healer unless they are using Deflection. Please note I do not consider Spike a defensive cooldown given its high uptime and assume it is used during each sniper wave.

• Deflection is your best response and should be saved for the double sniper wave. Deflection should make you immune to the snipers for its 12 second duration.

• Battle Readiness / Overcharged Saber can be used for every third Sniper wave and is very effective via its damage reduction, self healing and damage buff.

• Force Potency, a Shield adrenal and a medpac is your next option. The buff to your shield absorption is hugely beneficial if you shield a normal percentage of attacks, though if you get unlucky it may not help much.

Vanguard / Powertech tanks are also really good for tanking sniper waves since their higher base armor lets them survive a bit longer if defensive cooldowns are not up and all their defensives are highly effective against ranged attacks. They also have higher base DPS to help kill adds.

• Power Yield with Emergency Power is a really strong defensive cooldown for its huge initial absorb shield and the high buff to armor and damage is really strong for mitigating sniper damage. Power Yield can be used in the first wave and then should normally be saved for the double sniper wave along with a medpac.

• Reactive Shield / Energy Shield is a strong long duration defensive cooldown that works well for a sniper wave.

• Riot Gas / Oil Slick and Battle Focus / Explosive Fuel is a good combination that gives you +50% effective defense chance for 10 seconds and +35% for 5 more seconds afterwards. Combined with your base defense chance you should dodge most sniper ranged attacks.

• Shield adrenal and Adrenaline Rush / Kolto Overload also works for sniper waves though after 10 seconds you will need healing.

Advanced Strategy - Healing up top

Healing up top is less difficult than down below but more strategic thinking is involved to maximize your effectiveness. The healer down below simply has to output big heals on the ground tank holding Thrasher, while the healer up top has to balance healing the tank and DPS killing snipers, the DPS killing the Demolitionist and helping add some healing on the ground tank whenever possible.

The most efficient strategy has the healer follow the tank and DPS to deal with sniper waves. The sniper output a lot of damage and the DPS player in particular will need big sustained healing on add waves if they pull aggro on a sniper and lack a defensive cooldown.

As soon as the sniper wave is down, try to make your way over to the DPS dealing with the Demolitionist and top them up before the next wave. If time permits then go add a few heals to the ground tank.

The key to success is to communicate with your team. Let the Demolitionist DPS know when you can’t get to them and they should use a defensive cooldown and/or medpac. Let the tank and DPS know when you’re not with them yet and to use cooldowns, or comparatively let them know when you are there and it’s safe to save the cooldowns for later.

Advanced Strategy - Double Sniper Wave

The double sniper wave is by far the most difficult part of the fight. Once a team can survive sniper waves and make it to 50%, then clearing the double wave with the whole group nearly always leads to a successful kill.

All strategies should involve all DPS getting punted up top to help kill adds, so the main decision is whether the ground tank and healer go up and how to coordinate who kills which adds. In all strategies, the DPS dealing with the Demolitionist should continue to do so.

The usual strategy is to have everyone get punted up top. In this scenario, the ground tank pulls Thrasher to whichever South corner (SE or SW) has snipers. If they both have snipers then the tank stays in the nearest corner, which for us is usually SE. The DPS and healer go stand with the tank in position to be punted up top, then they deal with the adds and jump back down. The team already up top kills the other add wave normally.

Since the ground tank goes up top, Thrasher uses Roar continuously and deals team-wide damage. Teams using this approach should save medpacs to help with this damage, and the ground tank should jump back down as soon as it is safe to do so (i.e., when 1-2 adds are down in their corner). The ground tank should save a very strong defensive cooldown that completely negates add damage (i.e., Saber Ward for Guardian / Juggernaut, Deflection for Shadow / Assassin, Battle Focus / Explosive Fuel and Riot Gas / Oil Slick for Vanguard / Powertech) and use it together with their AoE taunt to grab the adds.

A strategic choice for the group is whether to leave the DPS up top with the tank up top or not. Keeping them with the top tank finishes the second group faster but extends the time necessary to kill the first sniper wave.

My preferred approach is to have all DPS except the one killing the Demolitionist stack at South and all DPS kill the wave closest to the ground tank. This lets the ground tank jump back down immediately after an AoE taunt on the adds and greatly minimizes Roar damage. It also gets the first sniper wave killed very quickly.

If using this approach then the tank up top will need to hold adds for at least 20-25 seconds and should plan defensive cooldowns accordingly. Chaining two big defensive cooldowns can let the tank nearly solo a wave themselves, such as Saber Reflect then Saber Ward for Guardian / Juggernaut tanks. If your tank up can handle this then it is by far the safest solution.

The healer up top should try to make sure everyone all DPS are in good shape health wise and then stick with the tank soloing their wave. DPS should join in after the first wave is dead, then ground DPS can jump back down.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a couple other tips for Dash’roode in Master Mode in addition to those applicable to lower difficulties:

• Do not forget about the Firebug, that is still a thing! Make sure to move away as soon as it stops moving to avoid damage.

• Sage / Sorcerer players should actively use their friendly pull ability to help lost players get inside the shield faster and/or get away from adds that are slowing them.

• DPS up top should be careful with AoE attacks as pulling aggro on multiple adds can be a death sentence. If the tank is calling out AoE taunts in voice comms then try to time your AoE attacks with those taunts, or else be prepared to hit a big defensive cooldown.

• DPS up top should take a close look at utilities to take as many mitigation and movement options as possible. Survivability and uptime on snipers is the key to success.

• DPS with self heals that go up top should help out with healing up top in between waves. Having a ranged DPS with self heals on the Demolitionist is especially helpful as they can heal themselves up between add waves to make the top healer’s job easier.

• Saber Reflect is an amazing defensive cooldown for dealing with snipers as a Guardian/Juggernaut tank or DPS. A tank can AoE taunt and use Saber Reflect to deal a lot of damage to adds, while a DPS can pick up 2 adds with damage and a taunt and use Saber Reflect to nearly kill both of them in its duration.

• Grit Teeth performs very well for Guardian/Juggernaut tanks whether they are staying on the ground or going up top. Thrasher’s melee attack goes out every 1.5 seconds so you should be able to consume all or nearly all charges and largely heal through base melee attack damage. Grit Teeth also helps Focused/Enraged Defense be up for most sniper waves and is immensely helpful in healing through their attacks.

• Life Warden can be a really good tactical choice for Shadow / Assassin tanks holding Thrasher.

• If teams have trouble with keeping the ground tank alive, it is totally viable to swap tanks during the fight. Just make sure to coordinate how to get the ground tank up top first!

The Operations Chief fight is also known as the Oasis City Infiltration, as the majority of the fight involves sneaking through the Oasis City area without triggering a security response that wipes the group. At the end of Oasis City, the group fights the Operations Chief who is a pushover in Story Mode.

Oasis City consists of many many Patrol Droids patrolling the area as well as 4 color teams that are denoted on the map. To clear Oasis City, the team must defeat all 4 color teams to unlock the door to the Operations Center where the Operations Chief can be defeated. In Story Mode, the team has 10 minutes to clear Oasis City and engage the Operations Chief. Failing to do so will trigger a security response from many many Patrol Droids that will auto-wipe the group.

Important Note - The Patrol Droids will respawn and do not grant any experience or other rewards. It is advisable to avoid them if possible. Remember the tortoise and the hare - sometimes slow and steady is the best way to race...

The four teams (Red, Green, Gold, Blue) can be fought sequentially with the entire ops group. (Note that this is distinct from the old Story Mode and Hard/Nightmare Mode mechanics, where the team must divide into smaller groups...this strategy of the entire op zerging the colors is known as "super grouping".) Stay together, stay mounted, and if anyone pulls a Patrol Droid it is usually faster to go ahead and kill it so everyone can remount versus the extra time it takes for someone to run.

Once the team clears all 4 teams and reaches the Operations Chief, there are just a few simple mechanics to remember:

• Terminate: Operations Chief targets the player with aggro with a high damage single target cast attack. A non-tank should use a defensive cooldown but is not too bad for a tank. it is possible to LoS this attack by hiding behind the big pipe to the right of the boss (to the right as you are facing him before pulling).

• Mass Explosive Probe: Probe's applied to every player that explode after a few seconds. Can be cleansed.

• Rail Turrets: Summons 4 Rail Turrets (in 4 corners of the rectangle area where you fight the Operations Chief) that deal heavy damage but have relatively low health.

• Stun: Operations Chief will periodically stun anyone within about 10 meters. Ranged DPS and healers should stay at greater range to avoid.

The strategy for Operations Chief is a tank and spank with DPS swapping to rail turrets each time they spawn. Players with a cleanse should cleanse the explosive probe debuffs as often as possible.

The Operations Chief encounter is a fairly easy fight in Veteran Mode. The only significant differences from Story Mode are that “super grouping” is not possible and the team only has 6 minutes to clear Oasis City and engage the Operations Chief instead of 10 minutes in Story Mode. Damage scaling is increased from Story Mode but should not be difficult for most groups.

Mechanics

The Operations Chief encounter in Veteran Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• 6 minute timer to clear Oasis City: The Infiltrating Oasis City debuff lasts 6 minutes in Veteran Mode. If the team has not engaged the Operations Chief in this time and the debuff expires, waves of patrol droids will spawn and wipe the group.

• No super grouping: If too many players engage any color group then the team will wipe. No more than 2 players can engage any color group in 8 person and no more than 4 players in 16 person.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat the Operations Chief in Veteran Mode include the following:

• Divide the team into four balanced teams. The ops leader should divide the team into four equally sized groups (2 per group in 8 person, 4 per group in 16 person). The exact composition is flexible in Veteran Mode. Most teams can assign a DPS and either a tank or healer to each team.

• Avoid aggroing patrol droids. The 6 minute timer is fairly generous assuming the team can avoid pulling all the patrol droids in the city. Give the patrol droids plenty of room and take your time to avoid them. The only difficult droid to avoid is the one patrolling just outside the Gold team and often it is simpler to destroy this droid or simply ignore it and run through to the Operations Chief.

• Cleanse explosive probes and prioritize rail turrets. When the team engages the Operations Chief, the only mechanics of note are self cleansing when Mass Explosive Probe goes out and then prioritizing getting the rail turrets down quickly.

Oasis City is very similar in Master Mode to lower difficulties with the only notable changes being a much shorter timer to get through the city and engage the Operations Chief and much higher damage scaling from each color group and the boss. Team strategy and progression will primarily focus on how to survive damage for these groups.

Mechanics

The Operations Chief encounter in Master Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• 3 minute timer to clear Oasis City: The timer to engage the Operations Chief is only 3 minutes in Master Mode as compared to 6 in Veteran Mode.

• Damage scaling is much higher: The damage dealt by most enemies in Veteran or Story Mode is fairly trivial to heal through but all color teams and the Operations Chief can deal very heavy damage.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat the Operations Chief in Master Mode include the following. Please note all strategic considerations in Veteran Mode also apply unless directly contradicted below.

• Do not aggro any patrol droids. Avoiding the patrol droids should go without saying for a team running content in Master Mode but it bears repeating. The team will generally not have time to burn down any droids and clear the timer and most color teams will not survive engaging their color wave of adds with a patrol droid shooting you in the back. The only exception to this rule is the patrol droid right outside the bunker with the Yellow team, as often aggroing it is unavoidable and by this time most teams are already done. If so, ignore the droid and run through past Oasis City where the droid(s) will de-aggro as in other difficulties.

• Focus fire on one enemy at a time. The damage scaling from the color teams is very high so make sure each team coordinates its fire to defeat one enemy at a time. The choice of first target is not super critical for most teams but the Yellow team should defeat the healer first.

• Red team has a flexible composition. The key to success on this team is to avoid standing in circles. Tank/DPS, double DPS or DPS/heal can work.

• Green team should include a DPS and a healer. A ranged DPS with 35m range can defeat the adds without taking damage and is preferred (more on that below). Otherwise, the key is to be aggressive with defensive cooldowns and burn one down first.

• Gold team should include a DPS and either a tank or a healer. I prefer DPS/tank for Gold since the tank has frequent interrupts and enough defensives to survive long enough to kill the adds. DPS/healer can work well also assuming a healer is not needed for Green and Blue teams. The key is to keep the healer interrupted and burn it down quickly.

• Blue team should include a tank and either a DPS with heals or a healer. I strongly prefer a tank and an off-heal DPS (Sage/Sorc, Commando/Merc, Scoundrel/Operative) for Blue. The tank should face the adds away and step through the conal to minimize damage and use defensives aggressively. The DPS should watch positioning and burn one add down at a time.

• It is fine to engage the Operations Chief before the entire group is through Oasis City. The timer is successfully cleared as soon as the team engages the Operations Chief in combat. Depending on how many droids were pulled in the city and whether the Red team was able to re-mount, you may have to pull the boss before everyone gets there. This should be fine as long as the team has a tank, healer and a couple of DPS.

• Use interrupts and cooldowns aggressively on enemy casts. This is mentioned above with the specific color team strategy notes but is important to emphasize. The adds do a lot of damage. Often the best strategy is to use defensives to survive the damage and simply kill them quicker than they kill you. Interrupt cast abilities and use cooldowns aggressively on offense and defense to kill them quickly, as all should be back up in time for the Operations Chief or early in that pull.

• Self cleanse as many grenades as possible and spread out. The Mass Explosive Probe applied by the Operations Chief deals a lot of damage and can be dangerous since it is followed closely by rail turrets. Every player that can self cleanse should do so to minimize group damage.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a couple other tips for the Operations Chief in Master Mode in addition to those applicable to lower difficulties:

• Teams that include a ranged DPS with 35m range (Telekinetics Sage / Lightning Sorcerer or any Gunslinger / Sniper disciplines) can out-range the Green team. They can set up on the ground on the opposite side of the path and engage the adds from 34m and defeat them without taking any damage.

• The tank can greatly simplify the Operations Chief fight with careful kiting of the boss. By standing next to the large pipe just to the right of the boss, the tank can LoS the Ops Chief during the Terminate cast to interrupt it. Terminate is an ability that only goes on cooldown after it is cast and has higher priority than any other abilities, so the Ops Chief will continually try to cast Terminate. If the tank can continuously LoS the cast to interrupt it, the Ops Chief will not do any other mechanics or summon rail turrets. Be careful to only briefly LoS the Ops Chief and then step back out after the cast is interrupted to avoid the Ops Chief running over to you. The idea for this strat is that the tank will step in and out behind the pipe for the entire fight. The early pull can be tricky and often dealing with one wave of rail turrets is preferable to build sufficient aggro to avoid the tank losing threat while executing this strategy.

Olok the Shadow is the puzzle boss encounter of Scum & Villainy. The fight revolves around the use of tokens to "purchase" droids from the show floor (below the beginning area and visible through the window and via a holographic tour device on the left). The purchased droids help you fight the boss in the opening area. After fighting Olok for a sufficient time, the group moves down onto the show floor and must defeat the remaining droids in waves. Finally, the group fights Olok and waves of supporting adds with Olok stealthing out consistently along the way.

Pre-Fight - Puzzle

So the first thing the ops team should clarify is their strategy for spending tokens. The group will get 2 tokens each time they fight Olok in the upper area (explained in more detail below), so they will get 8 tokens altogether. The tokens can be spend to purchase the following droids:

• Recon Droid (Blue/Purple): Recon Droids are the floating droids visible down below. It requires 1 token to purchase them by clicking on the Blue/Purple icon on the board.

• Frontline Droid (Blue/Purple): Frontline Droids are the humanoid droids visible down below. It requires 1 token to purchase them by clicking on the Blue/Purple icon on the board.

• Assault Droid (Yellow): Assault Droids are the two-legged large droids that resemble Operator IX or Xenoanalyst visible down below. It requires 2 tokens to purchase them by first clicking the Yellow icon (turns it red), then clicking the now-Red icon on the board.

• Artillery Droid (Yellow): Artillery Droids are the spider-droids visible down below. It requires 2 tokens to purchase them by first clicking the Yellow icon (turns it red), then clicking the now-Red icon on the board.

The recommended strategy for Story Mode is to have players click the Blue/Purple tokens. This eliminates the maximum number of droids from the show floor down below and ensures no tokens are wasted in the process. The board will always have 8 Blue/Purple icons and 8 Yellow icons, so this strategy is always a safe option.

Phase 1 - Running the Board

The group begins fighting Olok and 2 Bodyguards. Olok is shielded and immune to damage until the 2 Bodyguards have been defeated. Once the Bodyguards are down and Olok reaches around 35% health or so, he will stealth out and grant 1 token to 2 players in the group.

The two players with tokens have a short time to move to the board and select a droid to purchase. Follow the assigned strategy (I recommend "just click Blurple") to expend the tokens. There is a short lockout after the first person clicks the board before the second person can click, so keep clicking until it works. Each player can only get a token once, so in 8m encounters this means every player will get a token while in 16m encounters half the group will get a token.

Olok will repeat this phase 3 times except each time he and his 2 Bodyguards will enter from the elevators on the sides of the room. Kill both Bodyguards, DPS Olok until he disappears, 2 players get tokens, they spend those tokens, repeat.

The fourth time through this cycle, after Olok grants 2 tokens he will heal to full and remain vulnerable to damage. While the 2 players with the last tokens go use them, the rest of the group should kill Olok (he doesn't stay dead). After Olok disappears, the room will begin filling with poison gas. The group should immediately enter the MIDDLE elevator and click the button to go down below to the show floor.

Once the player reaches the show floor, step out of the elevator to cleanse the poison gas DoT.

Phase 2 - Killing Droids...then waiting...and waiting...

Once the group is safely down onto the show floor and all healed up, a player can click the glowing panel on the right to activate Phase 2. The phase will also automatically trigger after some time.

This phase consists of fighting any remaining droids on the show floor, one row at a time. This can mean fighting as many as 4 droids or as few as none. The team has 1 minute per row of adds to defeat them all before the next row unshields. In theory this can lead to the group being overwhelmed by increasing numbers of droids, but in practice there is typically a lot of downtime waiting on the next shield to go down after defeating that wave of droids.

The ops lead should assign a kill order (e.g., right to left, smallest to largest, etc.) and proceed. This wave is super easy and frequently quite boring. The only mechanic to watch for is the big lightning AoE used by the Artillery Droid (telegraphed by a large red circle), try to avoid that if possible.

Phase 3 - Olok the Shadow (100% -> 0%)

Finally we get to attack Olok and the damage actually sticks. Olok has no meaningful mechanics other than he will periodically cloak out and reappear elsewhere on the show floor, and he also has an AoE stun. The only other thing to watch is that each time he uncloaks (other than the very first time) he will summon an Underworld Arms Trader and a Shady Customer. A tank and some DPS should kill those adds each time then return to Olok. This phase is super easy.

Olok the Shadow is a very easy boss encounter in Veteran Mode and really in all difficulties. The only difference from Story Mode is the Packaged Deal mechanic that requires the team purchase specific droids from specific positions on the board. As long as the team can execute this strategy correctly then the fight is a breeze.

Mechanics

The Olok encounter in Veteran Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• Package Deal: When the team is fighting waves of adds on the show room floor, the team gains 1 stack of Packaged Deal for each Assault or Frontline droid in that wave. If the team reaches 2 stacks by having more than 1 Assault or Frontline droid then the adds deal significantly more damage.

• Tokens expire after 15 seconds: The tokens do not expire in Story Mode but will expire after approximately 15 seconds in Veteran Mode.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Olok in Veteran Mode include the following:

• Plan which droids to purchase. The team should plan in advance which droids to purchase, which should generally only be Assault and Frontline droids. The overall goal is to ensure no more than 1 of either type is in any row.

• Begin spending tokens immediately after the Wealthy Buyer disappears. The tokens only last about 15 seconds and the game imposes a 4-5 second lockout after a token is spent before another can be spent. Make sure the first player clicks quickly enough that the second player can spend theirs as well.

• Kill the Wealthy Buyer. The team will have a brief time to kill the Wealthy Buyer after the fourth wave of tokens goes out before the room fills with poison gas. Any players who are not spending tokens need to kill the Wealthy Buyer so that the team can evacuate as soon as the tokens are spent.

Olok is very nearly the same encounter in Master Mode as in Veteran Mode with only a very small change. Most groups will not notice a meaningful difference and should easily clear Olok.

Mechanics

The Olok encounter in Master Mode includes the following new and revised notable mechanics:

• Purchased droids are enemies: The droids purchased with tokens are enemies instead of friendly NPCs.

• Adds in phase 3 cannot be CCd: The Underworld Arms Trader and Shady Customer cannot be cc’d in Master Mode.

Strategy

The key strategic considerations to defeat Olok in Master Mode include the following. Please note all strategic considerations in Veteran Mode also apply unless directly contradicted below.

• The team must destroy the purchased droids. The purchased droids are enemy NPCs in phase 1 unlike in lower difficulties. The typical burn order should be to defeat the bodyguards, burn down the Wealthy Buyer, then destroy the active droids during the downtime before the Wealthy Buyer and a new wave of bodyguards come out of the side elevators.

• Leave melee droids for the last round of tokens. Droids with ranged attacks may be able to target the group down below if not destroyed during phase 1. Destroying these adds on top of burning down the Wealthy Buyer in the last token wave can be challenging. An alternative strategy is to ensure the last two tokens are spent on Frontline droids. These droids only have melee attacks. When the group defeats the Wealthy Buyer they can take the elevator downstairs and ignore the droids and they will be unable to attack the group during Phases 2 and 3.