Gharj

Overview

Summary

Enrage Timer: 6:20 minutes

Gharj is the second boss in the Eternity Vault operation in SWTOR. It adds more complexity from the first boss with a lot more movement during the fight. The team has to move from platform to platform while attacking Gharj while doing their best to avoid taking damage from the surrounding lava.

The DPS check for Gharj is notably more generous than the Annihilation Droid XRR-3. However, the overall difficulty is higher since it is much easier to lose people due to lava damage and the healing requirements are potentially much higher if the group has a heavy melee DPS composition. That said, with good execution of the Frenzy mechanic and avoiding damage when Gharj performs his Leap attack, this boss should be a quick and easy kill for nearly all operations groups.

Video Guide

Layout

Detailed Walkthrough

Key Mechanics

Lava

Any player standing in lava (i.e., not standing on an island or rock) will accrue stacks of lava that will do damage over time. These stacks will continue for 2-3 ticks after leaving the lava. After a knockback or during a Frenzy transition phase to a new island, players should use movement abilities to minimize time in lava.

Leap

Any player standing in lava (i.e., not standing on an island or rock) will accrue stacks of lava that will do damage over time. These stacks will continue for 2-3 ticks after leaving the lava. After a knockback or during a Frenzy transition phase to a new island, players should use movement abilities to minimize time in lava.

Pulverising Slam

Any player standing in lava (i.e., not standing on an island or rock) will accrue stacks of lava that will do damage over time. These stacks will continue for 2-3 ticks after leaving the lava. After a knockback or during a Frenzy transition phase to a new island, players should use movement abilities to minimize time in lava.

Rending Swipe

Any player standing in lava (i.e., not standing on an island or rock) will accrue stacks of lava that will do damage over time. These stacks will continue for 2-3 ticks after leaving the lava. After a knockback or during a Frenzy transition phase to a new island, players should use movement abilities to minimize time in lava.

Frenzy

Any player standing in lava (i.e., not standing on an island or rock) will accrue stacks of lava that will do damage over time. These stacks will continue for 2-3 ticks after leaving the lava. After a knockback or during a Frenzy transition phase to a new island, players should use movement abilities to minimize time in lava.

Adds

Any player standing in lava (i.e., not standing on an island or rock) will accrue stacks of lava that will do damage over time. These stacks will continue for 2-3 ticks after leaving the lava. After a knockback or during a Frenzy transition phase to a new island, players should use movement abilities to minimize time in lava.

Enrage

Gharj enrages in 6:20 minutes. The enrage is not an auto-wipe so the team can survive some time into the enrage. The Leap attack is by far the most dangerous as it will typically one-shot players without an extremely powerful defensive ability.

Strategy

Gharj is a straight-forward boss that involves repeating the following mechanics:

Tank should pull the Boss to a corner of the island facing away from the group. Melee DPS should stand behind the boss. Ranged DPS and healers should be on the other side of the island and at least 15m from the boss to avoid AoE damage.
When the Boss knocks back the group with Pulverising Slam, anyone hit into lava should re-position.
The team should look out for the boss's Leap AoE attack. Any melee DPS at low health should back out of melee range until healed back up.
When Boss enters Frenzy, the team should follow the steps to the next island. If the steps are near the boss, players should be careful to time their movement to avoid taking damage from the periodic Leap attacks during this phase.
If any adds spawn during Frenzy (below 50% Boss health), the team should pull them to the new island then AoE them down.

Role Discussion

Tanks

Pull boss to far end of island and face away from team so no one else takes damage from Rending Swipe.

When Boss enters Frenzy mechanic, follow the team to new island and be prepared to re-position after transition phase.

When Gharj is below 50%, use AoE taunts to group up adds for efficient AoE damage.

Healers

Stay outside of melee range from Gharj at all times to avoid AoE stomp damage.

Be prepared for burst healing following Leap attack and following stomp attacks during Frenzy mechanic.

Fight can be challenging to heal if the team composition is heavy on melee DPS or if team does a poor job of transitioning from island to island to avoid lava damage. Be prepared to prioritize AoE healing and emphasize AoE tacticals if the group has multiple melee DPS members.

DPS

Ranged DPS should stay out of melee range to reduce incoming damage.

Melee DPS should exit melee range during Frenzy mechanic.

All DPS should prioritize killing adds when they spawn during Frenzy.

Hard Mode Strategy

Gharj is a slight step-up in difficulty from XRR-3 primarily due to the additional challenge from transition mechanics moving from island to island. Tanks have a much more important role in ensuring team success, and DPS must be much more aware of positioning and movement.

Damage from Gharj’s Leap and Frenzy AoE stomp attacks do very large damage to non-tanks in Hard Mode. The most common cause of a wipe is players taking avoidable damage during the Frenzy mechanic / transition phase to a new island. Non-tank players cannot survive consecutive Frenzy leap attacks without a defensive cooldown or very high burst healing. There are two strategies for dealing with this mechanic:

- (Recommended) stay out of melee range - When Frenzy begins, non-tanks should immediately get out of melee range from Gharj. If Gharj is below 50%, DPS should kill adds until path to island is clear. If the path to the next island passes within melee range of the Boss, team should time their movement in between Frenzy stomp attacks to avoid damage.
- (Advanced) Dance in and out of melee range - Melee DPS players with abilities that can exceed melee range or with high movement skill can step briefly outside of melee range to avoid Frenzy damage, then step back into melee range for 3-4 GCD’s before the next stomp.

Tanking is slightly more difficult than XRR-3 due to the transition from island to island but overall not difficult. The tank’s primary job is to pull Gharj to the far end of an island. During transition phases, use tactical markers, group chat, or voice chat if needed to communicate how you will position the boss.

Healing this encounter in Hard Mode can range from extremely easy to very challenging depending on group composition (more melee = more incoming damage) and the team’s skill at managing transition without stepping in lava. It is important that any combat revives be utilized very quickly, as after a transition phase a fallen teammate may be out of range.

The DPS check on Gharj is very forgiving in comparison to XRR-3, so any team that can reach Gharj should be able to avoid the enrage timer. As such, the primary job for DPS is to avoid dying to damage from lava stacks or Leap/Frenzy related AoE damage. The most critical tip to team success in this fight in Hard Mode is that melee DPS players must IMMEDIATELY exit melee range during Frenzy if an AoE attack brings them below 50% health. A single Leap/Frenzy attack will not one-shot a player in appropriate gear, but a consecutive stomp is likely to do so without defensive cooldowns. If a player is not highly familiar with this fight (and thus unable to “bob and weave” in/out of melee range to avoid stomp damage), they should exit melee range entirely during Frenzy or at least until healers can top them off again.