Despair - Wail of Despair
This attack has two components: the first is a set of “spreads”: small circular AoEs that target all players and take 5 seconds to fill, dealing damage when complete. Players will take damage from all AoEs they are in.
Successively, every AoE will leave a lingering pool where it drops, which deals damage and applies Torment to all players in it. The pools persist for 120 seconds or until phase end. Similarly to the initial damage, pool damage also scales based on the number of overlapping pools.
The AoEs and pools double in radius. Pools additionally ignore all forms of Invulnerability and
Evasion, and last until the phase ends.
- Only applies to the initial damage, and not to the lingering pools.
Extra Information
- There is a second’s delay between the initial drop and the first pulse of damage from the resulting pools.
- When Cerus does this attack he will use the voice lines: “(groan)” or “You will suffocate!”
- BUG: as long as the Embodiment of Despair is not visible on the platform, any pools it has dropped will not deal damage and will not inflict conditions, but instead are purely visual.
Strategy
It is possible to avoid both the initial drop and the resulting pool by dodging when the AoE is almost full. If done correctly, this will result in the pool dropping at the start of the dodge, and the player not taking any damage. However, the timing is not generous: late dodges will result in the player getting hit by the drop, while early dodges wil place the pool where the teammates finish their own dodge, potentially killing them.
Players can use Distortion and other forms of
Invulnerability to avoid both components of the attack when unempowered. When
Empowered,
Invulnerability does not work on the pools, so the established strategy is to use it to stop the initial damage, and then roll out of the resulting pool during the delay before it first pulses damage.
Other classes can emulate this by dodging the initial drop earlier than usual, and then using a mobility skill to quickly get out of the pools before taking any damage.
Virtuoso players can reset the cooldown of their
Distortion using
Signet of Illusions, ensuring they have it ready for every occurrence of this mechanic.
When Empowered, the pools take a huge amount of space. Common strategies to keep the arena free involve placing them in organized formations, usually in lines far from the boss.