Double Dragons

Summary

If you are already familiar with the Double Dragons phase, and just need a quick summary:

Wyrmsbreath #1
  • △, D1 D2 D3 adjusts
Mortal Vow
  • DPS → MT → ST → D1/D2 → D3
Wroth Flames
  • Spreads to Nidhogg (west)
  • Stacks to Hraesvelgr (east)
Wyrmsbreath #2
  • Fixed positions or 5-1 with D3 south

Mortal Vow

There are four Mortal Vow passes in this phase.

  1. After Hallowed Wings #1
  2. After Wroth Flames (this pass is quick)
  3. After Hallowed Wings #2
  4. After Cauterize → Touchdown

We pass “DTTMR”, or in other words:

DPS → MT → ST → D1/D2 → D3

All passes happen in the center of the arena, except for the final pass after Touchdown (which is just done at the edge).

First half

1. Wyrmsbreath #1

Have everyone preposition to prepare for the upcoming mechanic.

  • Center: D3, D4
  • Bottom-left: H1, D1
  • Bottom-right: H2, D2

This will also be your second pot window.

2. Wyrmsbreath #1

More precisely, these are the anchor (H1, H2, D4) positions.

None of these positions are in melee range.

(Note the white tile that can be used as reference for the center position.)

3. Wyrmsbreath #1

Tethers appear.

  • D1, D2, D3: If your pair has the same-coloured tether, swap with the other pair that also has two tethers of the opposite colour.
  • H1, H2, D4: Does not move.

(In this example, D1 and D3 will swap positions.)

4. Wyrmsbreath #1

Mechanics resolve.

  • MT, ST: If your dragon's mouth is not glowing, you have a single-target tankbuster. Otherwise, you have a shared tankbuster (stack in the middle).

(In this example, Nidhogg's mouth is glowing.)

5. Mortal Vow

DPS spread out- Nidhogg will target a random DPS for the first Mortal Vow (in an AoE around that player).

6. Akh Afah #1

4-man shared AoEs on the two healers. Nidhogg and Hraesvelgr's HP must be within 3% or their Akh Afah stack will kill all players.

If the HP difference is too large, a tether will appear connecting both bosses:

  • No tether: Both dragons' HP is within 3%.
  • Purple tether: Nidhogg's HP is too high.
  • White tether: Hraesvelgr's HP is too high.

7. Hallowed Wings #1

Turn to face Hraesvelgr.

Avoid Hraesvelgr's Hallowed Wings and Nidhogg's Cauterize, and then position yourselves based on whether Hraesvelgr's head is up or down.

  • Head up: Party near, tanks far.
  • Head down: Tanks near, party far.
  • MT: North
  • ST: South

(In this example, Hraesvelgr's head is down.)

8. Mortal Vow pass #1

The DPS that Nidhogg targeted with Mortal Vow passes it to the MT in the middle of the arena.

Here are some other potential configurations to consider:

[Hallowed Wings #1] NE quadrant safe, head up

Heads up means tanks far, party near.

The MT takes the northern-most position.
[Hallowed Wings #1] SW quadrant safe, head down

Heads down means tanks near, party far.

The MT takes the northern-most position.
[Hallowed Wings #1] SW quadrant safe, head up

Heads up means tanks far, party near.

The MT takes the northern-most position.

Wroth Flames

Wroth Flames is the “intermission” in this phase, separating the first and second iteration of each of the looped mechanics.

When dropping Akh Morns, the most efficient movement (geometrically) is to move perpendicular from the wall in a straight line, and then curve in after the third Akh Morn.

1. Identify the starting location.

  1. Avoid Hraesvelgr's Cauterize
  2. Be as far away from the second set of eyes as you can.

(In this example, Hraesvelgr's Cauterize will hit the east half.)

2. Hraesvelgr's Cauterize resolves. Drop first Akh Morn puddle.

The initial Akh Morn movement will always go east-to-west or vice versa.

3. First set of eye AoEs resolve. Drop the second Akh Morn puddle without getting hit by the eye AoE.

4. Drop third and fourth Akh Morn puddles.

5. Move to the middle and identify whether Nidhogg is casting Hot Wing or Hot Tail.

6. Spreads will go towards Nidhogg (west), stacks will go towards Hraesvelgr (east).

A general priority order would resemble:

(Center) Tanks > Healers > Ranged > Melee (Edge)

There is enough space for two "spreads" to stand side-by-side if they are on the sides of the safe zone.

7. Finally, pass Mortal Vow from the MT to the ST.

Here are some additional examples to consider:

[Wroth Flames] Hraesvelgr middle (uptime available), 2-to-1 dodge

1. Identify the starting location.

  • Since Hraesvelgr's in the center, the party can start either west or east.
  • In this case, west gives the party melee uptime on Nidhogg, but with a 2-1 dodge.

2. Hraesvelgr's Cauterize resolves. Drop first Akh Morn puddle.

3. First set of eye AoEs resolve. Drop the second Akh Morn puddle without getting hit.

4. Drop third and fourth Akh Morn puddles.

5. Move to the middle, identify whether Nidhogg is casting Hot Wing or Hot Tail.
[Wroth Flames] Hraesvelgr west (forced downtime), 2-to-1 dodge

1. Identify the starting location.

  • Since Hraesvelgr's west, the party can only start east.
  • The furthest position away from the second set of eyes is NE.
2. Hraesvelgr's Cauterize resolves. Drop first Akh Morn puddle.
3. First set of eye AoEs resolve. Drop the second Akh Morn puddle without getting hit.
4. Drop third and fourth Akh Morn puddles.
5. Move to the middle, identify whether Nidhogg is casting Hot Wing or Hot Tail.

Second half

The second half is a rehash of the first, with slightly different spins on the same mechanics from earlier.

1. Akh Afah #2

Depending on how much uptime the party got earlier with Hallowed Wings #1 and Wroth Flames, the two dragons' HP may be skewed to one side.

2. Hallowed Wings #2

This time, Hallowed Wings will happen in combination with Hot Wing or Hot Tail from Nidhogg.

  • MT: Takes the western position.
  • ST: Takes the eastern position.

(This example has Hot Wing with Hraesvelgr's head up.)

3. Mortal Vow pass #3

This pass goes from the ST to D1, unless D1 started with the first Mortal Vow, in which case ST passes to D2 instead.

Here are some other potential configurations to consider:

[Hallowed Wings #2] Hot Wing, head up

Hot Wing means all party members must stay near the E/W line.

Heads up means the tanks are away from Hraesvelgr, and the rest of the party is towards Hraesvelgr.

The MT takes the western-most position.
[Hallowed Wings #2] Hot Tail, head down

Hot Wing means all party members must stay near the E/W line.

Heads up means the tanks are away from Hraesvelgr, and the rest of the party is towards Hraesvelgr.

The MT takes the western-most position.

Wyrmsbreath 2

This iteration of Wyrmsbreath is different because we do not want to stack opposite tethers.

There are two main methods to resolve this.

Method 1: Fixed positions

This method fixes all player positions (except for the tanks), greatly simplifying the mechanic.

However, player positioning is precise, and depending on which dragon players are tethered to, they may take additional damage.

  • MT: NW if you get the single-target tankbuster (by Nidhogg).
  • ST: SE if you get the single-target tankbuster (by Hraesvelgr).

Tanks should use where the outer AoE intersects the boss's targeting circle as a reference point.

  • H1: As far true North as you can go.
  • H2: As far true South as you can go.

Be careful if a tank gets a single-target tankbuster, as you may be in range if poorly positioned.

  • D1: NW corner of the white tile beside Nidhogg.
  • D2: Between the two white tiles besides Hraesvelgr.
  • D3: 1/2 a tile west of the western "train track", as far south as you can go.
  • D4: 1/2 a tile east of the eastern "train track", as far north as you can go.

Depending on which dragon you are tethered to, your tether may not stretch fully. Use personal mitigations to help survive.

 (Full-sized image)

Method 2: Spread tethers 5 North, 1 South (5-1)

This method has one player go south to give additional space for the other five non-tanks to spread out along the North edge.

All tethers can be fully stretched, however, players will need to adjust their positioning on the fly.

  • MT: SW if you get the single-target tankbuster (by Nidhogg).
  • ST: SE if you get the single-target tankbuster (by Hraesvelgr).
  • D3: Go south, and move towards a dragon whose mouth is glowing.
  • All other players: Spread out along the north edge.
    • The north position should go to a healer or caster that is in the group with 3 tethers.

(In this example, Hraesvelgr's mouth is glowing).

Cauterize

The reason why we did not stack opposite tethers in Wyrmsbreath #2 was because we needed the fire/ice debuffs in order to survive this mechanic.

1. Cauterize

Nidhogg and Hraesvelgr will spawn along the north edge in a random orientation.

  • MT: West, in front of the other party members.
  • ST: East, in front of the other party members.
  • Players with the Fire debuff: Stand in front of Hraesvelgr.
  • Players with the Ice debuff: Stand in front of Nidhogg.

Do not move once Nidhogg's debuff turns into Pyretic, or Hraesvelgr's Cauterize will kill you and enrage.

If you moved and took Pyretic damage, quickly switch over to Nidhogg's side to avoid getting killed by Hraesvelgr.

2. Mortal Vow pass #4

After Cauterize, everybody gathers north to avoid Nidhogg's and Hraesvelgr's Touchdown damage.

After Touchdown, all players move away from the stack point except the DPS with Mortal Vow and D3.

Notes

  • DRK is the only tank that doesn’t actually need Rampart in this phase, as Dark Mind’s cooldown is quick enough for it to be available for both Hallowed Wings.
  • There are strats where only one tank invulns Cauterize, or neither tank invulns Cauterize in order to have a 1-1-6 Akh Morn’s edge in P7. While the recommended PF strat is to just invuln Cauterize, a static may consider having just one tank invuln Hraesvelgr’s Cauterize (and have the other mitigate Nidhogg’s). I personally wouldn’t recommend having both tanks mitigate Cauterize.
  • If a tank was hit by a fire or ice tether in Wyrmsbreath #2, they should also go in front of the appropriate dragon to get their debuff cleansed by Cauterize.
  • If someone happens to move after the fire debuff turns into Pyretic, they should keep moving into the wall, or into Nidhogg’s side so they do not die to Hraesvelgr.

Frequently Asked Questions

[Wyrmsbreath #1] I took extra damage even though I wasn't tethered- why is that?

Both dragon's damage are based on proximity, even if you are not actually tethered to them.

You can think of the tethers as just directing where the breaths will go; the colour change is a proximity indicator of that particular player-dragon pair, but you still have to worry about proximity to the other dragon.

[Wroth Flames] Is there a pattern to how the debuffs are assigned?

Unfortunately not- the debuff distribution is random.

Here's an example where two of the no-debuff players are both DPS.

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