For untold ages this tower has loomed over Elinhir, its portals mystically sealed, all entry forbidden. Someone exerted immense effort to place impenetrable wards on this place—but now those wards are sundered.
The Aetherian Archive is a tower in southeastern Craglorn near the city of Elinhir. Within the tower, groups of twelve battle through a series of challenges and ultimately face the Mage.
The Aetherian Archive Trial quest begins when you enter the dungeon. You have to complete the dungeon within a certain amount of time with limited respawns. The Mage’s Tower is a quest to defeat The Celestial Mage, who is the final enemy in this dungeon. The bosses are the Lightning Storm Atronach, the Foundation Stone Atronach, Varlariel, and the Mage herself.
Aetherian Archive
Aetherian Archive Guide
– Requirements –
All Members:
VR12+
18K+ HP
Appropriate Gear
Food Buffs
Potions (Weapon/Spell Crit or Power preferred)
At Least 10 Soul Gems
Nightblades:
Veil of Blades
Sorcerers:
Suppression Field
Templars:
Solar Prison
Dragonknights:
Chains
Vampires:
Fire Resistance
Required Spells for Party (Only one member needs):
Rapid Maneuvers
Siege Shield
Aggressive Warhorn
– Group Setup –
Group Setup:
1 Tank
3 Healers
8 DPS (1 Off-Tank if possible)
The whole party can enter the lobby without starting the trial. Inside you can pick up the quest and repair. There are also a few nodes that may have recipes/motifs. Do not enter the Trial.
The trials leader will split the raid into 3 groups outside the start of the trial. The groups should be broken down as follows:
Left:
Healer
3 DPS
Center:
Tank
Healer
2 DPS
Right:
Healer
3 DPS
Templars will be assigned a number for the Nova Rotation. If necessary, Nightblades/Sorcs will be assigned as backups in case a Nova is not available when necessary. For example, if there are not enough Templars to always have a Nova ready on the 2nd boss, we will use Veil of Blades or Negate as a backup.
For the Mage Fight, we will have an ultimate rotation that everyone needs to be ready for. The Nova rotation will remain the same, but we will add another defensive ultimate to be dropped at the same time.
(Eg: If we have 4 Templars, 3 Nightblades, and a Sorcerer, it will look like this:
Ultimate 1: (Nova/Veil, Ultimate 2: Nova/Veil, Ultimate 3: Nova/Negate, Ultimate 4: Nova/Veil)
As soon as it is confirmed that everyone knows their group, have members eat food, and stack on the door when they are ready.
When the group is ready, the trials leader will count down from 5…
5
4
3
2
Rapids
Go
Do not enter the trial until you hear go.
The start of the trial can do nasty fire damage if you are not prepared/not paying attention. You will get hit by fire and then run into a group of Fire Atronochs.
Negate the Mobs. AoE DPS. When you are clear, stack on the next door. Do not open it.
As soon as everyone is at the door, the trials leader will call for Rapid Maneuvers again and for the door to be opened. Run through the next area. There are random areas where you can get frozen by ice. If you get caught, break free to get out. You will get to 2 Frost Atronochs. Run past them. Ranged DPS them from behind. Continue to backup as you do so. You should be on the stairs.
Once clear, the trials leader will call for another rapids. Run through the next area. You will get attacked by lighting as you run. Don’t stop. Don’t step in the light circle. The first person to the door, open it and go to the near right corner. As soon as the group is there, the trials leader will say to go.
Let the tank go in first. Throw a negate on the mobs. Stack in the middle of the group of mobs. The tighter the stack, the easier it is for the healers. AoE DPS. As soon as this is clear, drop down.
– Lightning Storm Atronach –
When the group is ready, the tank will go in first. The tank will hold the boss in the middle of the room. Use single target DPS. The boss has 2 main attacks that he will alternate.
A large AoE lightning attack: there will be a big red circle around the boss. This attack hits hard. If you have low health, or not a lot of spell resistance, stay out of the red circle. There are also lightning tornados that are cast during this attack. They move in a straight line away from the boss. They need to be dodged.
A lightning attack that affects the whole area: This will wipe the raid. There is one place that is safe, a yellow circle of light. It spawns in random places. The entire group needs to look for the yellow circle after the big AoE attack. If you see it, call out where it is (FRONT, BACK, LEFT, RIGHT, ON TOP OF BOSS). As soon as you see or hear where the light is, go there immediately. Roll dodge and sprint to get there faster. You only have a few seconds before the attack will kill you. DPS the boss from the yellow circle. Eventually it will disappear. Move back to the center of the room and repeat.
Nightblades start executing at 25%, Sorcerers at 20%.
First Set of Teleportation Pads
Left group should get on the left set of pads, center group on center, right group on right. Center Group MUST BE CROUCHED.
The trials leader will stay off his/her pad until the rest of the group is set and the center group is crouched. The trials leader will then get on his/her pad. The group will teleport to three different locations:
Center:
Stay crouched. Don’t open your inventory, don’t look at a map, etc. Back up to the edge, but not off the cliff. Wait for the left and right groups to clear. If you clear your group before the left and right groups finish, your mobs will respawn. If you accidentally pull, clear all the mobs except for 1. The tank will pull that mob away from the group and wait for the left and right sides to clear.
Left and Right Groups:
Clear the mobs…healers first, then chainspinners, then mages. As soon as both sides are clear, drop down to help the Center.
When the center is clear, get on the pads (any pad will work this time).
A bridge will form in front of you. Run halfway across. Stop and wait for the trials leader to say continue the rest of the way.
You are running to a rock at your 11 o’clock. Stack on it. If you are not stacked on the crown, you are likely in the wrong spot. AoE DPS. Keep a tight stack to make the healers lives easier.
During this fight, there will be some mobs that are out of range…Dragonknights should use chains to pull those mobs in.
Once this group is clear, get on any pad again. Drop down and get ready for boss fight two.
– Foundation Stone Atronach –
The tank will start this fight. He is going to pull the boss towards the group a little bit. This fight requires more coordination. The group should be in a very tight stack, and be ready to move together. Tab target the boss, to make sure you are not accidentally focusing on adds. Single target DPS the boss.
Adds do spawn in this fight…ignore them.
The boss has 3 attacks in this fight:
The boss will pound the ground. The healers can heal the group through this, but the group needs to stay stacked for this to work.
The chain spinner adds will throw an AoE attack on the ground. It is a red circle with white spinning graphics in the middle. As soon as this attack goes down, the trials leader will call for the group to move. Move to the left (clockwise). Move so that you are just outside of the attack. This attack starts when the boss is around 80% health. It will continue every 5-10 seconds for the rest of the fight. We want to move just enough so that we are out of the attack, so that once we do a full rotation around the boss, the original area is clear.
The last attack is a boulder throw. You can tell this is coming, because the boss will “kneel” down/scrunch up. As soon as this happens, the trials leader will call for the next Nova in the rotation (eg: “Nova 1.”) Templars need to know what number they are in the rotation. Only drop your Nova if the trials leader calls for yours. If someone drops a Nova when it is not their turn, that will throw the rotation off, and likely result in a wipe.
It is important to know your class and communicate during this fight. If you are the next Nova in the rotation, and it might not be ready, speak up right away. If the first time we know that your Nova is not ready is when it is called for, we will likely wipe.
If a Nova is not ready, the trials leader will call for a single veil of blades or a negate. Night blades and Sorcs need to be ready for this. We ask for one at a time in case we need to move the group right after it is dropped, which would require us to use another one.
This fight is longer, but as long as we move together as a group, and use our ultimates properly, it should be an easy clear.
Second Set of Teleportation Pads
Get into the same groups as before. Center group must be crouched. The trials leader will wait for the rest of the group to be on the correct pads and for the center group to be crouched.
Center Group:
Same strategy as last time. Crouch, back up and wait for the other 2 groups to clear.
Left Group:
Same strategy as before. Healers first, Chain spinners next, then Mage.
Right Group:
It is very easy to get overwhelmed with this section. Stay back. Let the Dragonknight use chains to pull the mobs to you one at a time. If done correctly, this is very easy. If someone pulls a lot of aggro, the whole side can wipe. Be patient, and things will go much faster.
If needed, the left and right groups can drop down again to help the center. If there is a solid group in the center, this might take more time than it’s worth.
– Varlariel –
The boss has an AoE attack around her feet that is difficult to see. I am normally melee DPS, but I prefer ranged on this boss. On the other hand, the boss has a really big hit box, so you don’t have to be that close to her to attack.
She also has AoE attacks on the ground that hit hard, so watch your feet and stay out of the red. Most deaths happen in this fight because people are not watching their feet. If you turn off grass in your graphics settings, it is even easier.
The tank starts the fight. DPS with your best rotation until the first add phase starts.
During the first add phase, 3 clones will spawn (1 is added for each additional phase).
Left Group: Start with the add on the left. As soon as it is clear, move toward the center to help.
Center Group: Start with the add in the center (directly behind the boss). As soon as it is clear, move to the left or right to help.
Right Group: Start with the add on the right. As soon as it is clear, move toward the center to help.
The adds are much quicker to take down than they used to be. We should have no problem clearing the adds in every phase.
The boss has a massive attack at the end of the add phase. Each add still standing makes the attack significantly more powerful. If you are concerned about your health, you can block through this, or use a defensive spell (immovable or annulment). It is not really necessary after 1.6. The boss will signal the attack by speaking, or by moving up higher in the air.
DPS the boss again until the second add phase starts. The same strategy applies, but you will have one extra add to deal with. You must be fast on the adds. If two adds are up at the end of the phase, it will be a wipe.
When the boss is low enough that she won’t survive until the end of the add phase (usually at 25%), the trials leader will call to ignore adds. It is important to note that the trials leader will make this decision based on a few factors (how strong the DPS is…how many people need to be res’d, etc.) Listen to the trials leader. Nightblades execute at 25%, Sorcs at 20%.
When the fight is over, cross the bridge and go to the next set of pads. It doesn’t matter what pad you are on. Near the pads are some items you can smash. DO NOT SMASH THESE (unless you intend to do the fight in hard mode).
– The Celestial Mage –
Before this fight starts, the trials leader will remind you of the ultimate rotation. You must:
- Remember where you are in the rotation.
- Have your ultimate ready when the trials leader calls for it.
- If your ultimate is not ready when the trials leader calls for it, the group will probably wipe.
- If necessary (and possible) a DPS can switch to be a second tank. A good tank can solo this. Newer tanks might need some extra help (which is fine).
First Add Phase:
You will enter a circular room. Think if it as a clock. You are at 6 o’clock. When the group is ready, form a tight stack at the edge of the inner circle at 1 o’clock. AoE through the first set of adds. Stay in the stack unless you get a red circle on you. This will cause lightning damage to the whole group, so put some space between yourself and the group.
Second Add Phase:
After the first set of adds is clear, you will have a few seconds before the second group converges on you. AoE through them.
First Phase of the Mage:
After the second group is clear, the Mage will descend on you (literally).
Spread out. The Mage will be in the center of the room. If the room is a clock, the tank will be standing at 6. Give the tank some space.
Ranged DPS should be spread around the inner circle. You don’t want to be right at the edge, or you may fight the cliff boss (the cliff boss always wins). Make sure you keep enough space between you and the person next to you. She has a nasty chain lightning attack that can be disastrous if you are too close.
Melee DPS need to spread out as well. Experienced melee DPS can stand a little closer, and avoid the lightning attack. If you are not sure if you can do this…don’t try it.
The boss will summon conjured axes. If you see them, call it out. The tank must taunt the axes. They can be difficult to target, so tab targeting works best. They hit hard. If you have an axe on you, hold block until it moves to the tank. If you have an axe on you, call it out.
The boss also spawns an add. Call her when you see her. When the add spawns, DPS should ignore the boss and focus on the add. As soon as the add is down, move back to the boss. If the add is up for too long, it can and will wipe the group.
Watch your feet for red circles. Don’t stand in the red. She also puts black holes on the ground. Don’t stand in them.
Nightblades, start executing at 25%. Sorcs, start at 20%.
Second Phase of the Mage:
When the Mage is at 20% health, the second phase starts. On the trials leaders call, stack on top of the trials leader. The Mage will conduct a series of knockdown attacks. This will destroy any remaining adds/axes. In between the attacks, DPS. At the end of the last knockdown, the mage throws up a field. This starts the ultimate rotation. The trials leader will call for each ultimate group by number.
Ultimate 1: As soon as the field starts
Ultimate 2: When the boss hits 15%
Ultimate 3: When the boss hits 10%
Ultimate 4: When the boss hits 5%. The trials leader will call for every ultimate available. In the unlikely event that your ultimate recharged in that time, use it again.
You want to drop your ultimates to protect the group during this phase. The healers will use their strongest AoE heals.
I used to view this as a DPS race. It’s not. This is about group coordination. If you drop your ultimate at the right time, and are able to DPS, we will beat the boss. We were able to defeat the boss with about half the group gone once, because our ultimate placement was perfect.