Hard Mode - Propagator Core XR-53
This fight is fairly straight forward. It has no real phase changes and groups with excellent DOT/Cleave (ie slam spam) can largely ignore the soft enrage green goo floor mechanic. Standard party composition works fine, an aggressively dps focused 1/6/1 composition accelerates the fight dramatically.
The Boss's Attacks and the Strategy for them.
The Softened up debuff. You deal less damage and take increased damage from Lethal Strike (tank swap mechanic)
The fight starts off with the boss doing a Lethal Strike. Lethal Strike puts a debuff on the target that reduces that player damage. If a player is hit with lethal strike while having this debuff, Lethal Strike is unmitigatable and is instant death.
Our early experience with this attack is that the damage is Tech Damage and is based on proximity to the boss. If it has to jump to you, the damage is significantly higher. This can be resisted by Saber Reflect, Resilience/Shroud and the super commando invuln completely.
Our strategy was for the off tank to taunt shortly after Lethal Strike hits the tank. It has a very long 30s cooldown, so taunting immediately was not necessary.
If running the 1/6/1, one of the DPS will need to be sacrificed to this. They will need to mitigate it and make sure they are close. It was nice enough to one shot our unsuspecting sniper (for science).
Extraneous Expulsion targets the tank with a large red column damage indicator. When the channel finishes anyone in this column will take damage. The boss's target will drop a green goo pile under their feet. These need turned away from the raid (it follows the player with aggro). We ran into existing green goo when targeted with this to keep from making a mess on the floor. Keep in mind when this comes out, that the target with aggro will block a section of the floor.
Digestive Enzyme is the real mechanic of the entire fight. Over the course of the fight, players will accumulate these stacks. Stepping into the green goo will rapidly apply these stacks to the player. We have found 25+ stacks to be a lethal amount.
This is telegraphed as a small yellow rectangle in front of the boss. It will not follow the target with aggro, so its a good idea for the tank to not face the boss into a wall, or into the green goo. It seemed better to face the boss toward the raid, or at least in a manor that allowed the team free movement into this box.
Stepping into this attack cleans the player of 10 stacks of Digestive Enzyme.
Ranged players should not stray far from the boss. Stacking the entire raid near the boss proved to be a superior tactic. The telegraph is present long enough for players 10-15 meters away to be able to get in without a problem before the channel finished.
If your players can manage their stacks, the healer(s) will have an easy time of the fight and can help push dps on the boss
This attack comes out about every 20" and places medium sized Red AoE markers on random players. Slow moving rockets hit the ground at these locations. These circles can be moved out of. This mechanic is designed to destack the raid. Stacking all players will stack these circles and reduce the amount of floor space denied. They also put some temporary goo on the floor, adding stacks to any players caught inside their radius. If not stacking, these attacks do not hit for much and can be soaked by the player, so long as their Digestive Enzyme stacks stay low, they will be fine.
Places a larger Red AoE on random players. This AoE can be moved out of. This also places temporary green goo on the floor. It occurs about every 30" and seems to work much the same as acidic rocketry.
This channel by the boss is a priority call for the team. A random player will be targeted by a Prey Seeker add. This add will stun and hold its target until it is killed. If that player is stunned in green goo, it can be a death sentence. Sage Pulls work to save the player. These adds need focused and killed as soon as they spawn. I recommend marking these targets and calling out the channel for them. If players are stacking on the boss, these can be cleaved down easily. Ranged players deciding to be 30 meters away can be much harder to get to and save. This add does like to go after your healers. It is always a priority when they spawn.
This was either spawning in the imperfect constructs or had some kinda mechanic to fill the canisters around the room leading to the Prime Directive Channel. It didn't seem to be anything of note.
Imperfect Constructs are a form of soft enrage mechanic for the fight. The handling of these adds sets the pace of the fight. They have ~400k hp and can be killed before their 15" channel expires. They target players and jump to their location, remaining in that spot after landing. A large red AoE marker shows the area that the imperfect explosion will cover with green goo if allowed to finish. These can either be ignored, or burned down.
We elected to stack on the boss, so as a result most of these dropped on or near the boss making cleaving them down a simple task, eliminating the area denial effect of their imperfect explosions.
If you are ignoring these adds, players will need to stand in a way to reduce the amount of floor covered. Two of these droids spawn in sequence. The raid should stack where the first droid jumps in to bait the second droid to the same spot, effectively halving the amount of space denied by each wave of adds.
I highly recommend a good party comp for this fight, having guardians, shadows and other bursty DoT specs gets these things killed quickly without losing uptime on the boss.
If there is any kind of phase change, this is it. This reminds me of the challenge phases brought on by Xeno Analyst.
Here is how it works (and doesn't work). With a standard party comp we were seeing 3 of these channels a fight. The boss freezes in place (I think when the tanks around the room fill up) and begins channeling prime directive. ONE player needs to stand in the Yellow circle to be "sampled".
That player will be stunned then a Large Add will spawn. The large add will be based on what Role type stepped in.
A Healer Sampled will spawn a Supplication Construct.
Supplication Constructs need to be interrupted, or the boss will heal. Take turns with interrupts.
A DPS Sampled will spawn a Rampaging Construct.
Rampaging Constructs seemed to be doing a raid wide. It didn't hurt and this add is a straight parse dummy.
A Tank Sampled will spawn a Defender Construct.
Defender Constructs make the boss completely immune and do not move. Just kill it as fast as you can.
Once a Party roll has been sampled, it cannot be sampled again.
Our preferred "sampling" rotation was Healer, DPS, Tank. The tank sampling seemed to be skippable with good dps. We were routinely seeing it sub 10% with a standard party comp.
Ways we have found to wipe to this:
Multiple players being sampled.
Accidently doing the same roll twice.
Having No ONE go in for this.
Having EVERYONE go in for this.
The DPS and Heal spawns move, so stack them on the boss. Keep in mind that Prey Seekers may be holding a player inside of the prime directive channel. IF they cannot move out, this can also mess up your well laid plans. Pull them out, kill the Prey Seeker or change your Spawn order accordingly.
The Basics of the Fight's Strategy
The short version of this:
Tank Swap on Lethal Strike
Stack on the boss and cleave/kill add spawns
Move out of red circles
Stay close and get into Hungering bite to clean your Digestive Enzyme stacks. Never get above 15 for safety. Stepping in for every other seemed fine.
Don't stand in the green stuffs
Have the order for Prime Directive communicated as well as which raid member is stepping in.
The fight is extremely repetitive and has a low mechanical complexity.
Enjoy the clear and the crafting parts that drop from this!
Good Luck!
~Admiral Nick