Velganos Guardian Raid Guide
Velganos Guardian Introduction
Velganos Guardian is the last Raid Level 5 Guardian and you need to be at least 1385 Item Level to enter this Guardian Raid. This Guardian drops Tier 3 Accessories, Upgrade Materials and Ability Stones as well as rare drops including Runes, Engraving Books and Cards. It takes 10% more damage from Light Element skills.
This will probably be the most challenging Guardian you'll encounter so far. You need to dodge his devastating Breath attacks while maintaining your Light Buff. Additionally, you need to make sure that everyone has a sufficient amount of this buff to keep dealing normal damage. Selfishness will be punished. Once Velganos enrages, the difficulty increases even further and will require complete focus to survive. Overall, keeping vision on the Guardian is crucial because his highest hitting attacks can be easily predicted based on his animation. At the same time, losing vision increases the risk of dying.
Disclaimer: In this guide, we will only focus on the important core mechanics and attacks of the Guardian. Basic attacks of the Guardian, which are easy to predict or deal low damage, won't be explained in detail.
Starting from this point, it is important to make sure that that everyone in the raid group is aware of the boss and coop mechanics. Additionally, item level is not as significant as having good Engravings and Combat Stat distribution as these provide the most damage increase which shorten the duration of the battle. A shorter battle leads to less damage taken and less consumable used.
This Guardian guide assumes you know the basics of a Guardian Raid. Check out the General Guardian Raid Guide to learn more.
Special Interactions & Patterns
Dark Phase
Shortly after encountering Velganos, he transitions into the dark phase. Starting from this moment, the Guardian takes reduced damage from all attacks. It also unlocks his dark attribute related attacks and his Light Buff & Dark Debuff mechanic.
Light Buff & Dark Debuff
Getting hit by dark attribute attacks from the Guardian apply a Dark Debuff and stepping on a light pallet applies a Light Buff to the player. The crucial part of this entire Guardian fight is to maintain the Light Buff stacks to deal normal damage and to avoid getting hit by his dark attribute attacks. These stacks can't be cleansed and will be removed once the Guardian teleports to a different battle area.
Upon stepping on a light pallet, the player gets 1 stack of the Light Buff and loses a stack of the Dark Debuff. Light Buff stacks up to 5 times. Each stack increases your Attack Power until you reach the 3rd stack. The 4th and 5th stacks reduce the damage taken. Stacking the buff above 3 should be only done if everyone in the group has already 3 stacks. Don`t be selfish!
Getting hit by the dark attribute attacks of Velganos, apply a stack of the Dark Debuff and remove one Light Buff stack. Each Dark Debuff stack increases the damage taken by the Guardian's attacks.
Accumulating too many Dark Debuffs and losing all the Light Buff will not only prolong the fight but also increases the chance of getting 1 shotted by Velganos. So, don't focus on constantly dealing damage, instead, try to avoid losing your Light Buff.
Stagger Check
The Guardian slowly walks in a circle, which is the indicator for the stagger check. Use Combat Items and Skills with Stagger Damage affix to interrupt him. Once interrupted, the Guardian drops multiple light pallets around him to pick up and is incapacitated for a few seconds. Use this opportunity to remove the Dark Debuffs and stack up Light Buffs.
Lack of Stagger Damage leads to a big AoE which one shots players around the Guardian. You can out run this AoE if you or your party should lack Stagger Damage.
Light & Dark Pallets
The Guardian summons Light & Dark Pallets around him. Stepping on the light pallets gives the player one stack of the Light Buff. The dark pallets explode after a short delay, dealing damage and applying a stack of Dark Debuff on hit. Some pallets remain on the ground after the explosion and pulsate frequently. Avoid getting too close to those as they deal damage and apply the Dark Debuff.
The Bite
Velganos shouts and summons a big golden circle in front of it. Simultaneously, a golden circle appears above each player's head. Everyone should move immediately close to the golden circle on the ground and pay attention to the circle above their head. One of the circles will turn black after a short duration, that player needs to move or jump into the golden circle on the ground. If successful, Velganos bites the player for a brief moment and gets incapacitated. Additionally, he drops some light pallets on the ground to pick up.
In case the wrong player gets bitten or no one gets bitten, the Guardian will unleash a devastating AoE attack, which one-shots everyone.
Enrage
Once the Guardian reaches the 30% HP mark, he enrages. While he is enraged, he stops summoning light pallets. The only way to obtain Light Buff and remove Dark Debuff, is to do the Pizza pattern properly. This makes it hard to maintain the buffs without getting hit by the Guardian's attacks.
Darkness
While Enraged, the Guardian roars in intervals, dealing low damage and removing 1 Light Buff stack from everyone. This attack is hard to avoid and forces everyone to do the Pizza mechanic properly to maintain the Light Buff stacks and deal normal damage.
Around 5-10 seconds after this pattern, the Pizza pattern occurs. So make sure to move the guardian away from walls before he starts the Pizza pattern.
Pizza
This is the most important pattern while the Guardian is enraged. Velganos is surrounded by darkness and summons a whirlpool around him for a brief moment, which rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise. Pay close attention to that, because that direction dictates the direction you have to run the pizza. Shortly afterward, the Guardian slams the ground 4 times, lighting up a different slice with each slam. The first slice to light up is always the one behind Velganos, so make sure to stand behind him before he starts slamming. After that, start running around him in the direction of the whirlpool's rotation direction.
Standing on the lit up tile removes a Dark Debuff and adds a Light Buff. But standing on any other tile deals high damage to the player, adds a Dark Debuff and removes a Light Buff. If your Movement Speed is too low to reach the next tile on time, use Marching Flag. You can skip this mechanic by simply standing outside the dark area surrounding Velganos. But this is not recommended as you would lose the opportunity to obtain Light Buff and remove Dark Debuff.
Velganos uses this mechanic immediately after he enrages. The very first Pizza rotation is difficult to run because of the dark pallets on the ground. He repeats this pattern frequently, shortly after he uses Darkness. So make sure to move the boss away from walls as soon as he uses Darkness. Otherwise, running the Pizza might be difficult.
General Patterns
Breath
The Guardian jumps on the spot while turning towards a player to unleash a breath attack, which hits everyone in a big cone-shaped area in front. On hit, this attack deals high damage and applies the Dark Debuff. Additionally, it can hit you multiple times. The closer you are to the Guardian, the easier it is to dodge the attack by moving towards the left or right side of Velganos. This attack is Counterable.
Cross Jump
Velganos leaps into the sky and disappears for a brief moment. Shortly afterward, a golden telegraph appears below a player, which indicates the landing area of the Guardian. Make sure to move away from that area to avoid taking high damage upon impact. Even after successfully landing on the ground, Velganos shoots a ray towards each of the cardinal directions. It is safer to approach him from any of the ordinal directions.
Dark Rain
Velganos summons a dark rain which deals damage on hit and applies Dark Debuff. It is safer to focus on dodging or keeping distance from the Guardian until the rain stops.
Triple Slam
The Guardian is surrounded by a golden area before he starts slamming 3 times on the ground. With each slam, the AoE of this attack expands and deals more damage. Make sure to run away as soon as you see the golden area below him.
Vanishing Charge
Velganos vanishes for a second before reappearing and charging towards a player. At the end of the animation, there is a small chance that he follows up with a roar attack, which deals continuous damage to players close to him. To avoid this attack, start to move towards the left or right side of the Guardian as soon as he vanishes. Don't close the gap between you and the Guardian too soon. Wait and check if he uses the roar as a follow-up attack.
Feather Barrage
The Guardian jumps and turns towards a player before he starts to shoot golden feathers in a small cone shaped area to his sides. This attack has a long animation time. Use this opportunity to deal uninterrupted Back or Front Attack damage.
Light & Dark Orbs
Velganos stays still and summons 2 waves of orbs. The first wave of orbs consist of 4 dark orbs, each of it shot towards one ordinal direction. Getting hit by a dark orb adds a Dark Debuff. Upon traveling a fixed distance or colliding with a wall, the dark orb explodes and leaves behind a dark dome which deals continous damage to nearby players until it disappears. The second wave consists of light orbs which are shot from the front and back of Velganos.
This attack has a long animation time and the side of the boss are safe spots. Use this opportunity to deal uninterrupted damage.
Gameplay Video
Credits
Written by Perciculum
Reviewed by Starlast