Pre-Event: Killing Bandits

• Objective
  • Go through the bandits’ camp, killing them to fill the pre-event’s progress bar.
  • Fill the pre-event’s progress bar, so the door to Matthias’s arena opens.

After finishing Bandit Trio, go to the platform where you started the encounter.

• To go to the platform, /gg or use a Sapper Bomb on a launchpad.

From the platform, glide into the Updrafts, going north.

Go up the path, ignoring the Bandit Snipers.

Follow the path, killing bandits, until you reach a fork in the road.

At the fork, go straight until you’re at a tent (“1” in above image), and kill the bandits.

Turn around. Go back, turning right (“2” in above image).

Go up the stairs, jump down, and then go right, through the archway.

To the right, kill bandits at the Asura Gate.

Turn around. Kill the bandits near the stairs.

Choosing Matthias’s “Tank”

The first player into the arena (around the top of the stairs) is Matthias's “tank”, targeted for specific attacks.

When all bandits are dead, go up the stairs, into Matthias’s arena. Wait near the east wall. Don’t go close to Matthias, or the fight starts!

• If you can’t go in, check “Bandits remaining:” in your area objectives, and look for living bandits.

Before Fighting Matthias

• Required Masteries and Mounts
  • (everyone) Forsaken Thicket Waters
  • no mounts
• Special Roles
  • 2+ reflect-users: Uses projectile-reflection skills to remove Matthias's shield. Depending on the skill durations+cooldowns, only 1 reflect-user might be needed, but have at least 1 backup, in case the first user dies/is busy/misses. Decide the order that players will use skills.
• Keybinding, Skill, and UI Changes
  • (everyone) Make sure that you’re able to quickly use your SAK (special action key) for dropping SAK poison in the correct location.
  • (reflect-users) Bring reflect skills. Make sure that they aren’t projectile-destruction skills!
  • Bring lots of CC skills for breaking sacrifices.
  • Bring condition-cleanses, ranged heals, and Stability skills.
  • Check your skills for projection-destruction! You don’t want to prevent removing Matthias’s shield!
  • Make sure that your Character Model Limit is at its maximum, so the Boss Phase 4 Spirits are always visible.

Marking Fountain Locations

Put location markers on the fountains, making it easy to tell people which fountain is clean for non-SAK poison.

• Arrow: southwest (SW)
• Circle: northwest (NW)
• Heart: northeast (NE)
• Square: southeast (SE)

Boss Phase 1 (100%–80%): Snowstorm

You start in a round room, with 4 fountains around the room. Wait near the southeast (SE) fountain (Square).

• By starting from the southeast (SE) fountain, Matthias doesn’t move over the Blood Sacrifice altar. Starting at the southwest (SW) fountain, you’re likely to put AoEs onto the altar, and more likely to accidentally kill the sacrifice.

To begin the fight, move close to Matthias.

“Tanking” Matthias

Matthias has no dedicated tank for movement and most attacks. He generally follows the furthest player from him. Until the “tank” dies, he always targets the “tank” when shooting projectiles while protected by Blood Shield and using hadoken ().

Matthias gets a red-dome shield and starts shooting at the “tank”.

• The “tank” has a small red crosshairs icon overhead.

Don’t stand on Matthias, and only attack if you’re sure that your skills are not projection-destruction skills.

• If you’re standing on Matthias, you’ll be hit by non-reflected projectiles.
• If you’re condition DPS, stack conditions while waiting for the shield to break.

While Matthias is shooting, reflect-users put projectile-reflection skills on him until his shield disappears.

• If using a directional skill, like , put it directly on Matthias, so his projectiles are always reflected.

Once Matthias loses his shield, DPS him.

Removing Blood Shield (“bubble”, “shield”)

Blood Shield: Every 30 seconds, Matthias raises his hand, creating a red bubble around him. He gets Blood Shield and starts shooting projectiles at a targeted player until they die. While Matthias has Blood Shield, he’s Invulnerable to power and condition damage. Conditions can still be applied. Cooldown starts when Blood Shield is removed.

Don't stand in front of Matthias when he spins his staff! Move beside/behind him or get ready to Dodge the giant ball!

Avoiding Oppressive Gaze (“Hadoken”)

• : Targets the “tank”. During Snowstorm, Matthias spins his staff in front of him, and then fires a large ball of energy in front of him. Damages players for 50% health, but often hits multiple times, Downing them.

If you get a yellow AoE, look for a clean fountain (blue water + no particle effects), and then go into it.

• There’s always a clean fountain, so before leaving stack, look around!

“Wash your feet!”

Make sure that you’re washing in water, not blood!

Removing Corruption (“stinky feet”, “fountain/well poison”, “non-SAK poison”)

: Every 30 seconds, a random player gets an AoE that follows them, causing Poison and damage. Removed by clean Forsaken Thicket Water fountains (“(Corruption) wells”).

• Clean fountains are blue-watered and have no particle effects. They remove .
• Dirty fountains are red-watered and have particle effects. They don’t remove !

You move more slowly because of the Snowstorm. Move far away from the Icy Patches.

• The Icy Patches have larger hitboxes than their AoE rings.

Handling Snowstorm Weather

During Snowstorm:

• You’re damaged every 3 seconds.
• You’re Chilled every 10 seconds.
• You move more slowly.
• Icy Patches spawn around the arena. Touching them causes Knockdown for a few seconds. Be careful around them, as the AoE is smaller than the hitbox. Cannot be damaged, but is removed by applying Burning.

When someone’s chosen to be sacrificed, quickly use CC skills to break their Breakbar in the arena’s centre.

• Be careful not to kill sacrificed players (“sacrifices”), especially with conditions! They take reduced power damage, but take full condition damage!

Saving Players from Blood Sacrifice (“sacrifice”)

Blood Sacrifice: Every 45 seconds, a random player is teleported into the room’s centre, becomes hostile, and gains a 2,500 Breakbar. If not broken in 10 seconds, they die.

• When someone's about to be sacrificed, a large red arrow appears over their head, and "[character name] is about to be sacrificed" appears in the middle of your screen.
• The sacrificed player is teleported to the centre of the room, becoming hostile and gaining a 2,500 Breakbar. CC them quickly, or they die after 10 seconds.

When Matthias jumps into the air, Dodge toward him. Don’t reflect the shards, or they increase his damage!

• Projectile-destruction skills are safe.

Handling Shards of Rage (“shards”)

: Matthias leaps into the air. Upon landing, he fires ~15 shards from his hitbox. Damages the target, but also gives them the boon Blood Fueled (+10% outgoing damage).

• If fully reflected, Matthias gets +150% increased damage!

At 80%, the weather changes to Heat Wave, and Boss Phase 2 begins.

Boss Phase 2 (80%–60%): Heat Wave

Boss Phase 2 is similar to Boss Phase 1. However, Matthias has instead of Hadoken (), and the weather is now Heat Wave.

Keep moving, and avoid the Fiery Tornadoes.

Handling Heat Wave Weather

During Heat Wave: - You’re damaged when not moving. - You get Burning every 10 seconds. - Fiery Tornadoes spawn and freely move around the room. Sucks in and traps players, damaging them for a few seconds. On release, causes Knockdown.

If you get a SAK, move to the wall between the fountains, use the SAK, and then Dodge out.

“Yak your SAK beside the wall, between fountains!”

Don’t make people walk through or wash their feet in vomit!

Dropping Unstable Blood Magic (“vomit”, “SAK poison”)

: During Heat Wave, every 10 seconds, a random player gets a green skull above their head and a SAK. Use the SAK to drop a slowly-expanding AoE that causes very high damage. Automatically drops after 8 seconds or when you Down.

• Placing it away from the fountains and squad allows players to move around safely! The AoE hurts a lot and expands for a long time!

At 60%, the weather changes to Downpour, and Boss Phase 3 begins.

Boss Phase 3 (60%–40%): Downpour

Boss Phase 3 is similar to Boss Phase 2. However, Matthias has instead of , and the weather is now Downpour.

Stack in the arena’s centre for condition-cleanses and heals, but if you don’t have Stability, move as little as possible. Don’t stand in the Storm Cloud’s path.

• By stacking, condition-cleanses and heals hit more players, rather than only a few. Removing Poison before healing also helps.
• Stability stops Unbalanced from causing Knockdown. If you don’t have Stability, try to limit moving. Wait for the overhead Unbalanced icon to disappear.

Handling Downpour Weather

During Downpour weather:

• You get 5 stacks of Poison every 5 seconds.
• When moving, you gain stacks of Downpour. At 10 stacks, you become Unbalanced. Moving while Unbalanced causes Knockdown. Downpour stacks cannot be cleansed.
• Storm Cloud: Spawns at the room’s edge and moves around in a circle. Causes a significant amount of damage and increases Downpour stacks even when you’re not moving.

When you get filling AoEs, spread out, so AoEs don't overlap players.

• Be careful when moving! If Unbalanced causes Knockdown, players are likely to explode other players!

Avoiding Zealous Benediction (“bombs”)

: During Downpour, 5 random players get filling red AoEs that follow them. Explodes, causing light damage to the owner, but heavily damaging other players.

• As long as AoEs aren’t overlapping the actual players, AoEs can safely overlap each other.

At 40%, Matthias turns into an abomination, the weather starts rapidly changing, and Boss Phase 4 begins.

Boss Phase 4 (40%–0%): Abomination

Boss Phase 4 remixes all previous boss phases, removes Blood Sacrifices, and adds running spirits. The weather constantly cycles between Snowstorm, Heat Wave, and Downpour.

After transforming, Matthias becomes Invulnerable, gives everyone bombs (), and then Fears everyone. The Fear can be Dodged or blocked.

• The timing of the Fear is a bit tricky, and happens around when he stomps.

Make sure to follow the rules for each type of weather.

Handling Cycling Weather

Every 30 seconds, the weather cycles between Snowstorm, Heat Wave, and Downpour, with some changes:

• Heat Wave has more Fiery Tornadoes.
• Downpour has an extra Storm Cloud in the centre of the room.

The transformed Matthias has different animations for shield (Blood Shield), Hadoken (), and shards ():

Matthias can now use Hadoken () and bombs () during all weather types. They are also more powerful:

• : Matthias pulls his hands together, behind his shoulder, and then fires a large ball of energy.
• : Everyone gets AoEs.

However, SAK poison () still only happens during Heat Wave.

Avoid the blue spirits’ AoEs as they run across the room, or quickly Down from damage.

Avoiding Spirits (“(blue) ghosts”)

• spirits: Spawn at the room’s edges and slowly run to the other side. Touching their AoEs causes a massive amount of damage. Can be blocked. Cannot be Dodged or Evaded.
• Above 20%, only 1 spirit spawns. Below 20%, 2 spirits spawn.

At 0%, Matthias dies, ending the fight.