E12S Phase Two (Gaia)

Overview

Phase 2 pits you against the Oracle of Darkness, also known as Gaia. It is mechanically intensive, featuring three Relativity mechanics and three Apocalypse mechanics that alternate throughout the phase. The DPS check is lenient; Advanced Relativity can be skipped with reasonable damage, but mechanic execution is the main challenge.

Video Guide

Party Setup

For this fight I would recommend one tank mimic, one or two healer mimics, and five or six DPS mimics. Solo healing is viable, though a second healer increases safety on the harder Relativity casts. The DPS check isn’t very tight and it can be better to bring an extra healer for safety.

Utility Spells

• Devour
• Mighty Guard
• Avail on the off-tank
• Magic Hammer on the tank and healer
• Candy Cane on one person

Phase 2: Oracle of Darkness

Opening

Pull the boss to the south side of the arena. She opens with Hell’s Judgment, which sets everyone’s HP to 1, followed immediately by Shockwave Pulsar, a heavy raidwide AOE. Heal to full before Shockwave Pulsar lands; it is survivable without mitigation but mitigations increase comfort.

The first major mechanic is Spell-in-Waiting, which applies debuffs that resolve into a spell when they expire. Two players receive Dark Water III, a stack AOE, and everyone receives Dark Fire III, a spread AOE around the target. Split into loosely spread light parties on each side of the arena. If spread markers appear first, stay spread; when stacks come up, adjust so only one stack marker remains per side. If stacks resolve first, perform the swap before the spread debuffs expire. Addle and Bad Breath reduce damage when the debuffs go off.

Darkest Dance follows: Gaia leaps to the furthest player, deals a heavy-hitting tankbuster AOE, then knocks everyone back from her landing position. The entire party must be closer to the boss than the tank to avoid the tankbuster. The tank should mitigate with Dragon Force. Position in stack light parties southwest and southeast of the boss; after the first hit the tank joins their group to ride the knockback together. If stack is resolving second, make sure you stay stacked up after the knockback. If spread is resolving second, spread out after the knockback. I recommend having pre-assigned spread positions to make the spreading easier.

Basic Relativity

After another Shockwave Pulsar, Basic Relativity arrives, a heavy raidwide that applies two Dark Blizzard III, two Dark Fire III, two Dark Water III, and two Shadoweye debuffs. This is the most difficult mechanic in the phase. The initial raidwide hits extremely hard; apply Bad Breath, Magic Hammer, Devour, and Addle together. Use the same combination for every Relativity cast.

Gaia spawns six purple traffic lights and one yellow traffic light around the room perimeter. Use the yellow light as relative north for the whole mechanic. Also identify which traffic lights have the blue tether; these are the ones that will resolve last.

There is a raidplan for this mechanic here:

1. Two Blizzard players bait the east and west traffic lights by standing close and pointing them off the arena. Everyone else moves to the north half of the arena.
2. While the initial baits resolve, determine whether “short fire” or “short blizzard” appears first. Fire players must spread away from each other and from the group.
3. Once the initial beams fire, two Water players stand on the northeast and northwest markers, leaning slightly outward, to bait the next beams. The rest of the party stands on the north marker, with the two Shadoweye players standing behind them further from the boss while Shadoweye resolves.
4. Shadoweye players bait the final beams from the traffic lights identified earlier (north or south pair). Shadoweye players need to signal which side they’re taking (verbally or with body language). If it is the north pair, move outside the yellow traffic light’s AOE. Activate Mighty Guard to survive the hard-hitting knockback (it hits the people closest to it quite hard). The whole party simultaneously moves to dead center of the arena.
5. If “slow fire” occurred, fire players move directly east and west, one per side.
6. Rewind mechanics drag players around before knocking them back to the south side to stack with the Water players. Stack on the east or west side that corresponds to whichever side you resolved your own mechanic earlier.

Singular Apocalypse

After Shockwave Pulsar, Singular Apocalypse begins: circles on the ground starting at center and exploding in a clockwise or counter-clockwise pattern. Simultaneously, Cataclysm sends Gaia leaping to one arena edge, dealing heavy AOE damage on that side. Run directly opposite from wherever Gaia faces (treating her jump location as north). Watch the shiny ground indicators: the side that explodes first becomes safe.

When Cataclysm resolves, the tank uses J Kick to reposition the boss facing east or west, then uses Diamondback for the incoming Black Halo, a heavy shared tankbuster. Once the center circle explodes, the party stacks at dead center for Shell Crusher, a stack AOE. Immediately after, spread on the safe Apocalypse side for Spirit Crusher, a single-target physical hit that knocks back any nearby players.

Both Shell Crusher and Spirit Crusher hit hard; mitigate each one. Spirit Crusher is physical, so Candy Cane works well for it. Some groups use Mighty Guard for both, though other mitigations work if applied separately. Spirit Crusher is also a great opportunity to use Cold Fog.

Intermediate Relativity

After another Shockwave Pulsar, Intermediate Relativity follows. Apply the same mitigations as Basic Relativity. The resolution follows the standard pattern, but Dark Aero III debuffs, a massive knockback AOE, require extra care: no two adjacent Aero players can be next to each other. Three waves of debuffs resolve in varying order:

• Spread wave: everyone has Dark Eruption, a spread AOE; spread to clock positions.
• Aero/Blizzard wave: four players have Dark Aero III, the rest have Dark Blizzard III. Aeros move to the outer edges; Blizzards stack at center.
• Flare/Water/Shadoweye wave: three players have Flares, one has Dark Water III, the rest have Shadoweye. Flares go to the outer edges; others stack just barely outside center at clock positions.

Everyone starts at center. Players with Aero debuffs take a step toward their clock position to check spacing and adjust if needed. Before the last Rewind resolves, look away from the arena center to avoid the Shadoweyes.

Dual Apocalypse

Dual Apocalypse works the same as Singular but with two explosions directly opposite each other rotating around the center. Move directly opposite from Gaia’s facing direction and watch the shiny ground indicators for the rotation direction. If the explosions travel directly south from center, rotate east after Gaia’s jump.

After the center explodes, everyone except the tank rushes to center. The off-tank should use Avail on the tank before running in. Somber Dance follows: Gaia hits the furthest player with a Physical Vulnerability Up AOE tankbuster, then hits the closest player with a second tankbuster. The tank uses Diamondback for the first hit, then the Avail user runs back out to become the closest target within Avail tether range. Avoid overlapping with the tank if possible, though it is survivable if you do.

Note: if the tank has Gobskin active and takes zero damage from the first Somber Dance hit, they will not receive Physical Vulnerability Up. This results in a Damage Down on the tank instead, which is a minor consequence worth accepting.

Advanced Relativity

After Dual Apocalypse, another Shell Crusher and Spirit Crusher combo follows. Stack at center for Shell Crusher, then spread to clock positions for Spirit Crusher. After Shockwave Pulsar, Advanced Relativity begins; apply the same mitigations as before. Since the boss is untargetable during this mechanic, activate Mighty Guard for everyone.

Despite looking complex, Advanced Relativity is the most rigid and straightforward of the three. There is a raidplan for this mechanic here:

1. Form a vertical conga line at the arena center.
2. Players with two Aero debuffs step left; players with two Shadoweye debuffs step right. This creates two Aeros on the left, four Fires in the center, and two Shadoweyes on the right.
3. Determine light parties: the northernmost Aero, the two northernmost Fires, and the northernmost Shadoweye form “north”; everyone else forms “south.”
4. Identify the two traffic lights connected by a yellow tether; these mark north and south. Traffic lights spawn at northwest, north, northeast, southwest, south, and southeast, so north and south are never ambiguous.
5. Move to your identified north or south position. Aeros stand at the outer edge; others stack just inward.
6. After the first Rewind drops, Shadoweye moves clockwise to just before the next circle’s line; everyone else moves counter-clockwise to just before the next circle’s line.
7. After the second Rewind drops, Shadoweye and Aero step just over the line into the next circle. Fires run to the east/west line and spread, one at the edge, one closer to center, without crossing into the center circles. Face directly away from the arena center to avoid Shadoweye when Rewinds resolve.
8. After the Rewinds, Aero knocks players back; then stack with the Water players on whichever side corresponds to your earlier position.

The positioning is a bit difficult to explain through text, so I recommend looking at the raidplan closely or the video guide to more clearly see the positioning required.

Triple Apocalypse

After Shockwave Pulsar, Triple Apocalypse works the same as Dual but with one extra explosion starting from the center. It is the trickiest of the three Apocalypse mechanics but becomes consistent once understood.

Quickly identify where the central explosion and one outer explosion will meet on the outside edge, and move to that spot just outside the center circle. The tank moves to the outside edge in that direction and uses Dragon Force for the incoming Darkest Dance.

After the center explosion, the party moves back toward the arena center to avoid Darkest Dance damage, then positions on either side of where the shiny bits met, on the outer part of the markers but still behind Gaia. The tank joins the group here.

Gaia then knocks everyone back. If positioned correctly, no one is knocked off the platform and no one is caught by the rear Apocalypse explosions. One side of the arena is slightly safer for the knockback (the side from which the “single” explosion originates), though both sides have safe spots.

Terminal Relativity

After Triple Apocalypse, Shockwave Pulsar precedes Black Halo (point the boss away from the party and mitigate with Diamondback), then Terminal Relativity, a massive raidwide that functions as the soft enrage. Apply the same Relativity mitigations; keeping Mighty Guard active for the entire enrage sequence is recommended if healing is difficult to keep up with.

Gaia applies Quietus debuffs to everyone that deal raidwide damage on expiration, then casts three Shockwave Pulsars, each granting her a Damage Up stack. After the third Shockwave Pulsar she casts Memory’s End, the hard enrage. Drop Mighty Guard and use Moon Flute along with any remaining abilities to finish the boss.

Most groups kill the boss immediately before or after Triple Apocalypse. Terminal Relativity is easily skippable; even imperfect runs have sufficient damage to clear it with Mighty Guard active throughout.

Final Sting

Gaia’s Final Sting threshold is roughly 5%. Once she is at 5%, apply Off-guard, use Moon Flute, any Primal abilities you have, then finish with Whistle and Final Sting.