The Vale Guardian (VG) is the first boss encounter of the Spirit Vale. It is a good first boss for newer raiders having straightforward mechanics, multiple phases, and a moderate DPS check. The encounter requires a Toughness tank, so be sure to have someone with an appropriate build. Make sure to also bring at least two Condition Damage classes for the Red Guardian.

Vale Guardian

Pre-Event

When you first enter Spirit Vale, you'll come face-to-face with each of the coloured guardians: the Blue Guardian, Red Guardian, and Green Guardian. The order that the Guardians spawn in is randomized so they'll likely be in a different order each time your squad exits and enters the instance.

Each Guardian has a large red AoE around them called , this deals pulsing damage and stacks if you stand in multiple AoEs. are floating white orbs that move from the outside of the AoE towards the inside. These orbs do a fair amount of damage but can easily be avoided due to their slow movement.

The Guardians here can be killed one by one and this is recommended until you understand each Guardian's unique mechanics. Once each of the Guardians has been lowered to 0% health, a Breakbar of 1000 needs to be broken to completely kill it.

The Green Guardian

Unstable Magic Spike

spawns blue AoE circles on the ground under your feet. They spawn every 10 seconds. After two seconds these circles pop and anyone standing inside them will be teleported to a random location. To avoid you can Dodge or simply walk out of it.

The Blue Guardian

Distributed Magic

spawns a medium-sized green AoE nearby that closes over the span of 5 seconds and deals 80% of your maximum health in damage. It spawns every 15 seconds. There are two ways to tackle this mechanic:

By design, if four players who aren’t Downed stand inside the AoE when it triggers, the attack will not do damage. This is no longer needed for most groups.
Most groups ignore completely, take the damage hit, and quickly heal up afterwards.

Blue Pylon Power

The Blue Guardian has a second mechanic called Blue Pylon Power. This makes the Blue Guardian immune to all damage. This buff that can be stripped by any boon removal skills.

The Red Guardian

Toughness

The Red Guardian has extremely high Toughness. This makes it take almost no damage from physical attacks, leaving it vulnerable only to Condition Damage. Have at least two Condition Damage classes in your squad to deal with the Red Guardian quickly during the main fight.

Seekers

Seekers spawn every 15 seconds and last for 20 seconds. Their red AoEs, , damage all squad members inside. Seekers can be controlled by Knockback, Immobilize, Chill, Cripple and Fear.

Do not pull Seekers into the group.

First Phase

The Vale Guardian stands in the center of a circular arena that is split into three sections. Each section of the arena has a coloured pylon attached to it, with these colours corresponding to the coloured Guardians from the pre-event. The mechanics of this fight are a combination of the pre-event Guardians with some slight changes and additional mechanics:

Three Seekers spawn every 20 seconds and last 20 seconds.
All the other mechanics are the same as in the pre-event

Seekers are the main issue for this phase. It's important to ensure they're controlled and not pulled into the group.

Tanking

You will likely tank the Vale Guardian at the south-east edge of the arena, on the line splitting the sections. This lets you Dodge backwards into the wall or use a channeled block for . The tank should face the Vale Guardian away from the group.

Once the Vale Guardian reaches 66% it goes Invulnerable and runs to the center of the arena. Double check that there aren’t any green AoEs as the Vale Guardian phases. If there are, stay close to your healer or make sure you have four people standing inside of it.

Split Phase

The three coloured Guardians that you fought earlier spawn at their corresponding pylons.

Your team must split into two groups:

Two or three people with Condition Damage classes go to the Red Guardian.
The rest of the team go to the Blue Guardian with one squad member pulling the Green Guardian over to the Blue Guardian by attacking it.

The arena is split into three sections. The section that you are standing in gives you the attunement of the corresponding Guardian. Being in another Guardian’s does a significant amount of damage.

The players at the Blue Guardian take damage from the Green Guardian's . The healers are with you and should be able to outheal the damage.

All players at the Blue Guardian must go to or the players at Red Guardian will be Downed.

As with the pre-event, each Guardian has its corresponding mechanics and a 1,000 Breakbar when their health reaches 0%.

Once all the Guardians have been killed, Vale Guardian respawns again in the center of the arena.

Second Phase

All the previous mechanics that you have encountered so far continue to be in effect during this phase. There are two new mechanics in this phase:

One section of the arena glows and ticks ~2000 damage when you stand in it.
now appears.

Glowing Section

Avoiding the teleport from is very important as being teleported into one of the glowing sections may kill you.

The first section to glow is always the green section and it rotates clockwise every 20 seconds.

You will be tanking on the dividing line in the South-East of the platform between blue and red.

Stand on the red side and move to blue once the red ground starts glowing. You only need to move a few steps to either side of the line when the floor changes.

Magic Storm

first occurs shortly after Vale Guardian runs over to the group. Orbs fly out from Vale Guardian and damage squad members if they are standing in the red AoEs where the orbs land.

To stop this mechanic, break its 2,000 Breakbar. If you fail to break Vale Guardian, it will eventually stop using this skill after ~20 seconds.

Once Vale Guardian reaches 33% he turns Invulnerable and runs to the center of the arena again.

This split phase is exactly the same as the one at 66%.

Third Phase

The third and final phase is similar to the previous two phases, with a few changes to the mechanics.

Two out of the three floor sections now glow, beginning with the green and blue sections.
These sections now rotate every 15 seconds instead of 20 seconds.
Four Seekers now spawn, with the fourth spawning in the center of the arena.
spawns on all squad members.

When the three Guardians in Split Phase 2 have been defeated, move to the dividing line between red and green.

The glowing sections change quickly so the tank needs to move Vale Guardian quickly. As soon as the glowing section changes, immediately move clockwise to the edge of the next section.

causes Vale Guardian to stop moving. You must break it as quickly as possible to avoid it getting stuck in a glowing section.

If is nearby, stand in it to avoid the extra damage pressure it brings during this phase.

As now spawns on any squad member, you need to take extra care when standing inside of . You can easily get teleported away and not mitigate the squad-wide damage.

Continue to damage Vale Guardian until he reaches 0%.