Nightmare Pilgrim

The objective of the encounter is kill the Dog first then the Nightmare Pilgrim. A different tank should hold the Dog and Nightmare Pilgrim. After 90 seconds, the Dog will use the Enraged Gore ability and 6 seconds later begin to apply Bloodmark debuffs to players. Players with Bloodmark should swap from the Dog to the Nightmare Pilgrim until the debuff expires.

After the Dog is killed, all players should swap to the Nightmare Pilgrim. The Nightmare Pilgrim has a Recharge Shield 15 second channel that reflects damage so DPS should stop attacking while the shield is active. After the Dog is killed the encounter is very straightforward.

The group composition for Nightmare Pilgrim requires at least 12 players and preferably a full 16 person operations group. You cannot have more than 16 players due to the Nightmare Paranoia mechanic, which causes the group to take +200% damage if you have 17 or more players.

The group needs at least 2 tanks and I typically recommend 3 tanks so that 2 tanks can swap in and out on the Dog while another tank holds the Nightmare Pilgrim the entire time.

The group will want at least 3 healers or as many as four. The heal check is not too difficult generally but spike damage can be problematic especially if tanks swaps are delayed at all. I recommend 4 healers to be safe.

The key points to discuss before the fight begins are as follows:

• Tanking assignments: Assign which tank will hold the Dog and Nightmare Pilgrim. If the group has 3 tanks, then 2 tanks should stick to the Dog and 1 to the Pilgrim. Make sure the tanks have a plan of attack around swaps in case the tank on the Dog gets Bloodmark, or if the Dog tank with aggro gets too many stacks of Damage Vulnerability.

• Remind DPS to interrupt Gore: Gore is an interruptible attack from the Dog and should be interrupted as often as possible by DPS. Consistent interrupts will really help the healers and can facilitate avoiding tank swaps except in the case of Bloodmark.

• Discuss Enraged Gore & Bloodmark: By far the most important mechanic is ensuring players stop DPS when Enraged Gore goes out to wait for Bloodmark. Make sure every player understands this mechanic and make it clear how the team will communicate when to stop and resume DPS (e.g., ops announcement, voice chat call-out, etc.)

• Discuss Recharge Shield Reflect: I usually suggest instructing the team to stay relatively close to the Nightmare Pilgrim after the Dog dies. This strategy leads to the entire group being knocked back when Recharge Shield is activated, which naturally interrupts casts and helps prevent players using channeled ranged attacks from accidentally reflecting themselves to death.

When the group is ready to begin the fight, have a player click the Forbidden Knowledge tablet.

The strategy for this fight has the following key points:

1. All DPS focus on the Dog first. The team's overall goal is to eliminate the Dog as quickly as possible since the Bloodmark mechanic is by far the most dangerous and one bad Bloodmark phase can wipe the group. The team should open up immediately with all raid buffs, cooldowns and adrenals to maximize DPS during the first 90 seconds before Bloodmark goes out.

2. Deal with Gore / Damage Vulnerability mechanics. Gore does relatively low base damage but can cause very high spike damage if not managed. The tank on the Dog will build up stacks of Damage Vulnerability that increase the damage taken from Gore by 100% per stack. The team has a few options to deal with these mechanics, which include interrupting Gore, cycling defensive cooldowns, or a tank swap or brief DWT swap.

3. Stop all DPS on Dog when Enraged Gore is cast. Enraged Gore is a brief cast to watch for and leaves a 6 second duration buff on the Dog. As soon as Enrage Gore goes out, the team should stop all DPS. As soon as Enraged Gore expires, 8 Bloodmark debuffs will go out to the team. The team should wait until all 8 debuffs have gone out to ensure no one dies from the reflect damage.

4. Players with Bloodmark swap to the Nightmare Pilgrim. DPS who receive Bloodmark should swap to the Nightmare Pilgrim and avoid the Dog while the debuff is active. If the tank with aggro on the Dog gets Bloodmark, they should swap with a tank without Bloodmark if possible. If all tanks have Bloodmark, cycle defensives and avoid dealing damage to the Dog.

5. Repeat Bloodmark / Swap cycle until Dog dies. Depending on group DPS, you may see multiple waves of Bloodmark. Continue to ensure players allow time for Bloodmark to be applied and then sort targets accordingly.

6. After Dog dies, kill Nightmare Pilgrim. The Pilgrim is much simpler by comparison to the Dog. The only mechanic to watch for is Recharge Shields that causes a powerful reflect. Staying close to the boss will lead to being knocked back prior to the mechanic, which can be helpful to avoid accidentally hitting the reflect.

A player should click the Forbidden Knowledge tablet to begin the encounter.

The tanks should pick up the Nightmare Pilgrim and Dog and separate them by at least 10-15 meters or more. This separation is important to avoid splash damage hitting the Dog by accident when players get the Bloodmark debuff and swap to the Nightmare Pilgrim.

DPS should all attack the Dog and use all offensive cooldowns to maximize early DPS.

The first 90 seconds of the fight should be a free for all to maximize DPS on the Dog. Groups with very high DPS may be able to kill the Dog in this time, but most groups will not have sufficient DPS. However, maximizing DPS is important because after Bloodmark goes out typically half or more of the DPS will be unable to attack the Dog at any time.

The biggest concern early in the fight is spike damage on the tank holding the Dog. They will get an additional stack of Damage Vulnerability every 18 seconds that increases damage taken from Gore by 100%. Damage Vulnerability lasts 20 seconds so it comes close to dropping off before being refreshed.

The team has a few options to deal with Gore:

• Heal through it. Teams with high DPS may not need the tank to take too many stacks of Damage Vulnerability before killing the Dog. If the group has strong healers and a tank that can cycle through defensives, it's possible to just heal through it. I do not recommend this approach though since it leaves the tank vulnerable to unexpected spike damage.

• Tank swap. If the group has 3 tanks, consider having the 2 tanks on the Dog swap around 2 or so stacks of Damage Vulnerability. As long as 2 tanks are free from Bloodmark, this strategy is the simplest and most reliable. Without high stacks of Gore the Dog's damage is not very threatening to a well geared tank.

• DWT "swap". If the group only has 2 tanks or if any other tanks have Bloodmark then a normal tank swap may not be an option. If so and if the group has any DWT (DPS With Taunt), have them taunt the Dog around 5 seconds before Damage Vulnerability falls off. The DWT should use a defensive cooldown and will receive 1 stack of Damage Vulnerability, but will let the tank's stacks fall off. This strategy can be used to drop stacks at 2-3 stacks and is a good backup after Bloodmark comes out later.

The team should watch out for Earth Spike and Grenade Salvo and move out of any colored circles.

Enraged Gore will go out 90 seconds into the fight.

Enraged Gore applies a buff of the same name on the Dog, which counts down until Bloodmark goes out. Enraged Gore also removes the cooldown on Gore and lets the Dog spam Gore repeatedly over a short time. If the tank has more than 1-2 stacks of Damage Vulnerability they should use a defensive cooldown to help mitigate spike damage.

The team leader and all team members should watch for the Bloodmark buff to be applied over 7-8 seconds after the Enraged Gore buff expires on the Dog. I recommend calling out all players to stop attacking as soon as they see the buff and wait until 8 players have received the Bloodmark debuff. Healers should continue healing!!!

If the tank with the Dog's aggro receives the Bloodmark debuff, they need to call out immediately for a tank swap. They will take 75% more damage from the Dog so need to swap as soon as possible.

The Nightmare Pilgrim will activate Recharge Shield at the same time as Enraged Gore, knocking back nearby players and activating its 15 second reflect shield. Players swapping from the Dog to the Nightmare Pilgrim should be careful to wait to attack until the shield goes down.

The key to success in this fight is executing a smooth swap to the Nightmare Pilgrim by players who receive the Bloodmark debuff. At this point the team's goal remains defeating the Dog but due to the Bloodmark debuff DPS will slow down on the Dog.

The overall strategy remains the same as in Phase 1 to attack bosses. The only notable change is that tanking the Dog can become difficult if one or more tanks gets Bloodmark. Be very careful with tank swaps but be aggressive in keeping stacks of Damage Vulnerability low. A tank with Bloodmark can swap in briefly to take aggro long enough for a tank without a debuff to drop stacks, though a DWT is also a viable option.

The Bloodmark debuff lasts for 90 seconds, so it is an easy visual cue to know when to expect another Enraged Gore / Bloodmark cycle. Players who have Bloodmark drop off can get it again, so just as before everyone should be extremely careful to let all Bloodmark debuffs go out. At that point, the group should naturally re-assign themselves.

After the Dog is defeated, the fight becomes much simpler as all players can safely attack the Nightmare Pilgrim. The only mechanic to watch for is the Recharge Shield mechanic. Recharge Shield occurs on the same 90 second timeline as Bloodmark and should occur at the same time prior to the Dog being defeated.

Tanks have a lot more to monitor in this fight than in most world boss encounters, so this fight resembles an operation boss moreso than a world boss. The key tips for tanks include the following:

• Keep the Pilgrim and Dog at least 10-15 meters apart. When/if Bloodmark goes out, it is important to keep the bosses separate so that splash damage or DoT spread abilities hitting the Pilgrim do not accidentally deal damage to the Dog and kill DPS.

• Face the Pilgrim and Dog away from the group. Always a best practice to face bosses away, both enemies in this encounter have conal attacks so facing them away from the group will help to minimize damage on non-tanks.

• Coordinate tank swaps to manage stacks of Damage Vulnerability. The Dog's Devour ability adds stacks of Damage Vulnerability that increase the damage taken by Gore by 100% per stack. Damage Vulnerability lasts 20 seconds and gets applied every 18 seconds. It is a good idea to try and drop stacks at 2 or maybe 3 stacks at most. If you have an extra tank (so 2 on the Dog), you can tank swap each time at 2 stacks. If you only have 2 tanks (or 2 left alive), then the tank on Pilgrim can taunt the Dog for a few seconds then the Dog tank can grab it back. It is even possible to do this with Bloodmark as long as the off-tank avoids using any damage abilities on the Dog.

• Interrupt Gore as often as possible. Tanks generally have a lower cooldown on their interrupt than many DPS classes. Make sure to use it and help interrupt Gore to reduce your damage taken. Gore normally goes out every 9 or so seconds so you the tank by themselves should be able to interrupt every other Gore.

• Move out of Earth Spike or Grenade Salvo circles. This is self explanatory but important to avoid damage. The Earth Spike typically prefers players furthest away from the Dog, so I have found that the tank holding Nightmare Pilgrim tends to get it a lot.

• Call out tank swaps in voice chat for healers. This fight is all about spike damage on tanks so make sure to let your healers know if you are out of defensives, will be briefly tanking both bosses, holding the Dog with Bloodmark, etc.

• Use a defensive cooldown during Enraged Gore. During Enraged Gore's 6 second duration the Dog will spam Gore on the tank. If the tank has any stacks of Damage Vulnerability this may deal very high damage. Enraged Gore goes out every 90 seconds so plan for it by trying to keep stacks of Damage Vulnerability low and/or having a strong defensive cooldown available. Some great defensives include Deflection for Shadow/Assassins, Saber Ward for Guardian/Juggernauts or Reactive/Energy Shield for Vanguard/Powertechs.

• Watch for Bloodmark and coordinate tank swaps. Any or all tanks can get Bloodmark so be very careful. The debuff is doubly dangerous for tanks since it not only reflects damage dealt to the Dog but causes the tank to take 75% greater damage from the Dog. The tank with Dog aggro needs to watch for and immediately call out if they get Bloodmark, and any tank without Bloodmark should pick up the Dog.
  If all tanks get Bloodmark then someone will have to hold the Dog and cycle defensives. If this happens then tanks will need to swap very frequently to manage stacks of Damage Vulnerability. With the 75% damage debuff the tanks will take nearly as much damage as a DPS would, so a DWT without Bloodmark may also work to take a turn tanking the Dog with a defensive.
  The point here is COMMUNICATE to deal with Bloodmark.

• Do not attack Nightmare Pilgrim during Recharge Shield. Recharge Shield goes out at the same time as Enraged Gore and includes a knockback mechanic. Pay attention and don't attack into a reflect shield!

Healers primarily need to provide burst healing to tanks in the Nightmare Pilgrim encounter. The tanks may take a lot of spike damage at times. The remainder of damage is either simple to manage (e.g., normal boss attacks on tanks, DPS standing in stupid) or is impossible to heal (e.g., players one-shot themselves by attacking through Bloodmark or Recharge Shield).

Healers should look for the following to anticipate or react to spike damage:

• Keep track of the tank with Dog aggro. They will take the most damage and be most vulnerable to heavy spike damage. The tank holding Nightmare Pilgrim is very unlikely to be one-shot, so unless both tanks are low you should nearly always prioritize topping off the tank holding the Dog.

• Keep track of tank stacks of Damage Vulnerability. This debuff looks like a fire/explosion icon per above. If the tank with Dog aggro has 1-2 stacks they will take decent spike damage. At 3-5 stacks they will be vulnerable to very high spike damage and could die very quickly. At higher stacks healing will be heavily dependent on the team interrupting Gore and/or tanks keeping defensives active.

• Help call out tank swaps. Less experienced tanks may struggle to keep track of the Damage Vulnerability debuff or may not understand how it impacts their damage taken. Healers can help by calling out when a tank reaches 2-3 stacks and ask for a swap or for a DWT to taunt for 5-8 seconds to let stacks drop off.

• Anticipate Enraged Gore and use a cooldown. The tank may take heavy damage during Enraged Gore since it allows the Dog to spam Gore 5-6 times during its duration. Enraged Gore goes out every 90 seconds so look out for it, try to keep the tank topped off going into the mechanic and when it happens burn a cooldown and spam big burst heals.

• Keep HoTs, probes, shields, etc. on the Nightmare Pilgrim tank. They will take steadier and less spiky damage than the Dog, so as long as passive healing effects are maintained they should be pretty easy to keep up anytime you need to focus on the Dog tank.

• DPS have a simple job for this fight except for dealing with the Bloodmark mechanic. DPS should begin attacking the Dog and use all offensive cooldowns (raid buffs, adrenals, class-specific cooldowns). Melee DPS should be careful to stay behind the Dog, and all DPS should move out of Grenade Salvo or Earth Spike circles immediately.

• All DPS should look for and interrupt all casts of Gore from the Dog. This will greatly help manage spike damage on the tanks.

• The main objective for DPS is to watch for Enraged Gore from the Dog. It can be observed by watching the target cast bar while targeting the Dog, setting the Dog as Focus Target and watching the Focus Target castbar, or simply watching the Dog's buff bar for the Enraged Gore buff icon (see above). Any of these indicates you only have a few seconds before Bloodmark goes out. STOP DPS UNTIL BLOODMARK GOES OUT. It will take about 8 seconds after Enraged Gore expires for all Bloodmark debuffs to go out.

• After Bloodmark, all DPS with the debuff should swap to the Nightmare Pilgrim until the debuff expires. The Bloodmark debuff lasts 90 seconds so it will expire in sync with the next wave of Enraged Gore/Bloodmark.

• After the Dog dies, DPS should focus on the Nightmare Pilgrim. The only key mechanic to deal with is Recharge Shield. The ability reflects damage during its 15 second channel so players should stop attacking during its channel duration.

• Ranged DPS are particularly in danger from Recharge Shield due to cast abilities and long channel abilities. I recommend ranged DPS position themselves within 10 meters of the boss, which will cause you to be knocked back when Recharge Shield triggers and naturally interrupt any abilities (and provide a helpful visual cue to stop attacking).