Scalebreaker Dungeons - Moongrave Fane and Lair of Maarselok - Veteran Hard Mode Mechanics Guide

code65536 · August 2019

Introduction

This is a guide for the final boss fights of the two Scalebreaker Dungeons—Moongrave Fane and Lair of Maarselok—on Veteran Hard Mode.

Moongrave Fane – Grundwulf

The core mechanic of Hard Mode is Ghastly Wound.

What is Ghastly Wound?

This is a Heal Absorption effect, similar to Soul Tear from Nahviintaas in Sunspire.
- Any healing received by a player with Heal Absorption is absorbed and does not actually reach the player's health bar. The health bar of a player with Heal Absorption will be untouched by healing until the effect is gone. Some players describe Heal Absorption as a sort of "reverse damage shield" because the health bar of a player with a damage shield will be untouched by incoming damage until the the shield is gone.
- The size of the Heal Absorption is 40310; i.e., it dissipates after it has absorbed 40310 points worth of healing.
- Ghastly Wound lasts indefinitely and does not expire on its own; i.e., you cannot wait it out and it can only be removed through healing.
- Note: Healing abilities that use "smart" targeting (e.g., Breath of Life) currently do not take Heal Absorption into effect. So if a player has Ghastly Wound but has not yet taken damage to their health, abilities like Breath of Life may not hit them at all. As a result, abilities with direct or AoE targeting are generally more reliable for dealing with Heal Absorption.
Ghastly Wound has two additional effects:
- Healing done by players with Ghastly Wound is reduced by 90%.
  - Health restored through potions, Battle Roar, Argonian Resourceful passive, etc. are all considered by the game to be healing done by the player and are all subject to the same penalty.
- Damage shields cast by players with Ghastly Wound are reduced in strength by 85%.
When Ghastly Wound is applied to a player who already has the Ghastly Wound effect, the heal absorption does not stack—you will not get a 80620 Heal Absorption. Instead, the player will gain Exsanguination, which is a DoT of around 1.5-2K per second.
- Saving a player who has Exsanguination is a matter of breaking through their heal absorption before they are overcome by the Exsanguination DoT.

What applies Ghastly Wound?

Hitting the Sangiin Sliding Stone
Using the Sangiin Sacrifice synergy
Being bitten by a Ravenous Hoarvor
- A Ravenous Hoarvor will spawn every time a Hemo Helot ("blood ball") is broken.

Strategies for dealing with Ghastly Wound

The healer should never, ever get Ghastly Wound.
- The 90% healing done debuff means that they would be unable to heal themselves—or anyone else—out of a Ghastly Wound.
- They must never hit the sliding stone (and must be careful to not hit it with a stray light attack)
- They must never summon a blood ball.
- They must never be bitten by a hoarvor.
- It may be prudent for another player to have some off-heals so that they can save the healer in the case of a mishap.
Assign one DD for the job of summoning a blood ball.
Assign one DD or tank for the job of moving the box.
Don't break blood balls unnecessarily—summoning a new one applies the Ghastly Wound effect, and breaking one spawns a hoarvor.
- We typically break them only for the Megabat. The tank will simply hold the Hemonculous that spawn until a Megabat spawns, and then we break all of their shields with a single ball.
Hoarvors are the top target priority. Tab-target and kill it immediately after someone breaks a blood ball.
- If your DDs are ranged, they can kite it around while killing it.
- If your DDs are melee, CCs such as Fear or Time Stop can help with killing it safely.
Communicate to the healer when you are affected by Ghastly Wound.
- Alternatively, for healers playing on PC, it is possible to track the Heal Absorption effect on each player with the Purge Tracker addon.

Other Mechanics

Devouring Megabat: These slow-moving enemies will 1-shot the player that they are chasing if they get too close.
- They have an invulnerability shield that can only be broken by breaking a blood ball.
- They have only 5266 health and will typically instantly die to any source of damage as soon as their shield is broken.
Drain Vitality: Grundwulf will shout "Gaan!" (the first word of the "Drain Vitality" shout from Skyrim) which places a damage-over-time effect on the tank.
- It is recommended that a tank slots Purge to dispel it.
- Purging this DoT will cause Circulation damage to the other members of the group.
  - Circulation hits for only around 4-5K per player and is usually inconsequential.
  - Circulation can be blocked, dodged, or shielded, but this is usually not necessary.
- This mechanic is not specific to Hard Mode or even to this boss fight, as it is present during the previous boss encounter.
Elemental Fury: Grundwulf will shout "Su!" (the first word of the "Elemental Fury" shout from Skyrim) which increases the speed of his heavy attacks. Tanks seeking to dodge the boss's heavy attacks need to be aware of this mechanic.
- This effect lasts for 15 seconds.
- Grundwulf's heavy attacks normally have a 2.5s windup and the final stroke of his heavy attack has his sword swinging upwards.
- With Elemental Fury, his heavy attacks have a 1.4s windup and the final stroke of his heavy attack has his sword swinging downwards.
- While empowered by Elemental Fury, Grundwulf's sword will be surrounded by a subtle, white misty aura.
- This mechanic is not specific to Hard Mode or even to this boss fight, as it is present during the previous boss encounter.
Desolation: The dying dragon Sahrotnax will cover swaths of ground with lingering AoEs. He's not trying to kill you—you just happen to be haplessly caught in the crossfire of his conflict with Grundwulf. Either way, watch your step.
Hollowfang Dire-Maws: These enemies spawn at 70%, 50%, 35%, 20%, and 10% boss health. They behave the same as ones encountered throughout the rest of the dungeon.

code65536 · August 2019

Lair of Maarselok – Maarselok Grounded

The core mechanic of Hard Mode is the Scourge Seed. Forget everything you learned about this mechanic from non-HM and from the long path leading up to the final boss. It works very differently in HM.

How is Hard Mode Scourge Seed different?

Failure to cleanse the seed in time will instantly kill the player.
Selene will not reveal which player has the seed—you have to figure this out for yourself.
Only one of the three cleanse pads is safe to use—the other two pads are corrupted and will instantly kill anyone who attempts to use them.

How do you tell who has the seed and where to cleanse?

At the start of the Scourge Seed mechanic, Maarselok will spit out an Azureblight Seed that will land in a random location.
Synergizing the Azureblight Seed will draw corruption into the player and afflict them with the Azureblight Carrier DoT.
A player afflicted with Azureblight Carrier will also be able to see which of the three pads is uncorrupted and thus safe to use... except...
- The player who is the host to the Scourge Seed is too corrupted and will see an incorrect pad as the uncorrupted pad.
So the general strategy for determining both the identity of the host and the location of the uncorrupted pad is:
1. The healer and two DDs will run to the Azureblight Seed and synergize it.
2. Each player will call out which pad they see as uncorrupted.
  - In response to our feedback, ZOS had made the ground around each pad more distinctive during PTS week 3. We found it easy to identify pads using the color of the ground in which they are located: Amidst the BLUE Azureblight, in the lush GREEN grass, and on the barren BROWN dirt.
3. If a player calls out a different pad, then they are the host, and they need to cleanse at the pad that the other two players called out.
4. If all three players call out the same pad, then it means that the tank is the host, and they must cleanse at the pad that had been called out by the others.
Note that a player should never cleanse at a pad that is revealed to them when they synergize the Azureblight Seed. If they are the host, then the pad that they see is incorrect. And if they are not the host, then they don't need to cleanse.

What is Selene's role in the Scourge Seed mechanic?

When Hard Mode is activated, Maarselok overpowers Selene's defenses and takes control of her.
Selene must be free of Maarselok's control in order to use any of the cleanse pads.
You can free Selene by breaking her Wicked Bonds.
- The Wicked Bonds take the form of a 267722-point damage shield surrounding Selene.
- Destroying the Wicked Bonds around Selene will free her from Maarselok's control for 25 seconds.
- Once 25 seconds are over (or a cleanse pad is used), Maarselok will refresh Selene's bonds, returning them to their maximum strength, and retake control of her.

Timing considerations for the Scourge Seed mechanic

The Scourge Seed mechanic starts at 60% boss health and repeats approximately every 70 seconds or so.
For PC players using the Combat Alerts addon, you will see a timer for the mechanic:
- 0s: Start of mechanic; the addon's alert for the mechanic is shown at this point.
- 5s: Screen turns dark and Maarselok spits out the Azureblight Seed.
- 7s: Azureblight Seed lands on the ground and ZOS's in-game alert ("The Azure Blight is claiming a host!") is shown at this point.
- 30s: The host dies if they have not yet cleansed by this point.
Selene will remain free for 25s after being freed from her Wicked Bonds (or until a cleanse pad is used, whichever comes first).
Because Selene must be free in order to use a cleanse pad, it is recommended that players try to line up the 25s window of Selene's freedom with the mechanic.
- I would recommend avoid damaging Selene until the start of the Scourge Seed mechanic.
- Note that it is often easy to catch Selene in cleave, particular with the prevalent use of Splitting Soul Trap. Pets—particularly the Necromancer's summon—are another common cause of unintended damage to Selene.

Azure Blaze and Backfire – The other important mechanic in Hard Mode

Azure Blaze is a very strong DoT whose damage appears to scale up with a person's health.
Azure Blaze is applied to a tank after they take three hits of the boss's Azure Fireball and/or Azureblight Spume.
Azure Blaze is applied to any player who takes damage from the boss's Sweeping Breath in Hard Mode.
Any player affected by Azure Blaze will leave behind harmful Azure Wildfire AoEs.
Azure Blaze can be purged. But purging it causes Backfire damage.
- Backfire will typically hit non-tanks for 8-10K.
- Backfire can be blocked, dodged, or shielded.
- Backfire is similar to Circulation from Moongrave Fane, except it hits twice as hard, and there is the potential for multiple hits when multiple people are affected by Azure Blaze after a Sweeping Breath.
Because of the strength of the Azure Blaze DoT and the Azure Wildfire AoEs that it spawns, I recommend that it be purged off.
Because of the strength of the Backfire damage from purging Azure Blaze, care should be taken when purging. A DD being hit by the Backfires of the other three players after a Sweeping Breath will instantly die if they don't block, dodge, and/or shield that damage.
- It is recommended that Azure Blaze purges be called out so that other players know to block them.
It is highly recommended that players attempt to dodge the Sweeping Breath. As it comes near you, dodge into and through the breath. The amount of damage taken by four people who get affected by Azure Blaze—whether it be the DoT that they eat or the burst damage from four sets of Backfires when purging—is immense and should be avoided if possible.
This mechanic is not specific to Hard Mode.
- However, much more care is required in Hard Mode because Sweeping Breath applies Azure Blaze in Hard Mode, opening up the possibility of all four players being affected by Azure Blaze at the same time.

Miscellanea

Putrid Stalk: This spawns on top of a dead body and acts as an anti-rez mechanic, similar to Shades of the Fallen in Veteran Cloudrest.
- The Stalk has 101503 health and must be destroyed before a player can be rezzed.
- The Stalk will respawn on a player after a period of time if they are not rezzed.
- The Necromancer's rez ult cannot bypass this mechanic.
Azureblight Spume and Azureblight Cancress: If a player reflects the Azureblight Spume ability (the ranged heavy attack) back onto Maarselok, it causes him to spawn a pair of Azureblight Cancress, which are empowered flame atronachs. It is thus better to dodge or block the Azureblight Spume than to reflect it.
- This mechanic is not specific to Hard Mode.
"Use Purify Scourge Seed" synergy: When a player activates the "Use Purify Scourge Seed" synergy, all three cleanse pads will activate, and any and all players standing on any pad will be affected by the activation of the pad that they are standing on.
- This behavior is not specific to Hard Mode or even to this fight; this is also applicable to the "tutorial" cleanse pads on the path leading up to the final boss encounter.
- This means that in Hard Mode, players should never stand on a corrupted pad, even if they do not activate the pad themselves; if Player A is standing on a corrupted pad the moment Player B cleanses their seed at the safe pad, Player A will die to the corrupted pad.
- This behavior is the key to the Scourge Purger achievement: The host will go to the safe cleanse pad but not activate the synergy, and then another player will join them on the pad and activate the synergy. This works in both Hard Mode and in regular Veteran.
  - Without Hard Mode, since all pads are safe, the player activating the synergy could use any pad, not necessarily the one that the host is standing on.
Invigorating Fumes and Lunge: Before every Lunge (Maarselok's charge), he will spawn very large ground AoEs. These are his Invigorating Fumes.
- Players should use the spawn of these large AoEs as a cue that the boss's immediate next move will be a charge.
- If the boss charges into one of these AoEs, he will be empowered by fumes. This causes a modest increase in Maarselok's damage dealt and damage taken and is visually telegraphed by the boss gaining a glowing blue aura.
- Maarselok does not need to land directly in the fumes to become empowered; as long his (large) hitbox overlaps with an AoE at the end of the charge, he will become empowered.
- This mechanic is not specific to Hard Mode.
- The effects of the empower are modest enough that, unless a group is seeking the Blue Thumbed Botanist achievement, we recommend charging the boss between two fixed points, as we found that consistency of charge movement to be very helpful for the DDs and healer.

code65536 · August 2019

Damage-dealer perspective, both dungeons:

https://youtu.be/BieNDsksA3I

Tank perspective, Moongrave Fane:

https://youtu.be/S86XgyLyUNg

Tank perspective, Lair of Maarselok

https://youtu.be/WMGFgl552OA

Partomax · May 2021

Awesome! Very helpful!

code65536 · October 2021

Addendum: Doing Maarselok Hard Mode without voice comms...

As before, have the healer and two DDs use the seed. The pads can be identified by writing a single letter in group chat:

G: Grass
B: Blight
D: Dirt

In some ways, text chat offers a couple of minor advantages over voice comms, since it avoids the problem of calls being garbled when people talk over each other, and if you forgot which pad someone had called out before you, you can just glance at chat instead of asking them to repeat the call. In general, I think using voice comms is still better, but it's not that bad to do it without, assuming that everyone is familiar with the mechanics.

migue821 · January 2022

That's awesome!
May I ask you, where did you get the names of each boss's skills from?

Smoky · January 2022

Great work bud, really good clear info, thanks.

code65536 · January 2022

migue821 wrote: »

That's awesome!
May I ask you, where did you get the names of each boss's skills from?

I have a non-public addon that helps me examine dungeon and trial mechanics.

Alternatively, you can obtain much of the same information from esologs.