IZAX
THE ULTIMATE DEVOURER
Izax is the final boss of the Gods from the Machine raid and is by far my favorite raid boss in the game. This difficult to reach boss has no doubt taken your team weeks to months of hard-fought progression to reach. One of the most difficult factors in progressing this fight is being able to quickly and efficiently clear the first four bosses to provide your team enough raid time to progress this fight.
The Izax encounter has several distinct and defined phases. I recommend progressing teams new to this fight one phase at a time, building off of repetition and success of mastering the previous phase as you begin to prog the next.
Team members often feel lost and clueless as to what is going on and happening. It can be difficult to clearly communicate positioning past phase one due to the team's inability to leave the shield and stand/mark locations effectively before the fight begins.
Healers, tanks and DPS all need to work together to progress each phase, making this fight all about cooperation, coordination and communication.
The puzzle nature of many parts of this fight mean that it can be solved many different ways with a variety of strategies.
Group Composition:
2 Tanks (1 must be Shadow or Guardian)
- Mechanics Tank
- Bait Tank to "Tank" Izax
2 Burst DPS
1 Guardian running cut to pieces.
1 Watchman Sentinel
2 Healers (1 Commando, 1 sage preferred)
Tanking Izax is a completely different ball game from any other boss in the game. Tanks are largely responsible for running mechanics and keeping damage dealing circles/attacks from hitting the group. Any adds that spawn in this fight should be ignored. It is not your job to keep them off players, it's your job to run the mechanics fast enough so that your team does not get overwhelmed by them.
This is not a DPS parse fight. DPS's Primary responsibility is to survive the fight so that they are up and able to fight when they are needed. The main Damage done to Izax in this fight is through mechanics run by the tanks/healers.
Healers probably have the harder role of the 3 here. You will need to keep tanks alive as they work the puzzles, keep DPS focused as they get induction cascade, and keep yourselves out of danger from the many ads and lasers that are going to be drawn to your heal aggro. And you have mechanics to run in this fight as well.
Left/Right assignments will only make sense for the phase they are needed for. As we progress through each phase below, revert here for a visual on the room's layout.
NOTE - Right and left are ALWAYS referred to with Izax as our point of reference. It will be "Left" as on the left side of Izax (NOT Izax's left side)
Induction Cascade
This is the most dangerous mechanic that persist throughout Phase Four. In story mode, this tickles. In hard mode, this mechanic will wreck your health bar. If both healers are not triaging the player with this, that player is toast. Good news if you are a tank or healer, this mechanic only effects the DPS players. DPS, bad news, your main mechanic through two thirds of the raid is to watch for this, to survive it and not kill your team.
Induction cascade will go through 3 debuff icons. The first last for about a GCD and is a warning that you have this. It is the exact same icon as the 2nd damage dealing form of the debuff. During the "Alert" debuff, you must clear the group and be ready to activate your best defensive cool down. As soon as the first debuff falls off (it is extremely fast) use your defensive ability and stop doing damage (you deal 0 damage under the damage effects of induction cascade). You must survive this punishment. Someone on your raid team should be calling the target of these. They come out in very predictable intervals, allowing the timing of an induction cascade to be predicted easily without timers.
After the damage dealing debuff ends, you will receive a final debuff (red). While this debuff is on you, you deal 100% bonus damage.
The True Danger - Induction cascade spreads. If you touch another player with the circle of induction cascade, they will pick up the damage dealing debuff instantly (no warning debuff). You will note Induction safe zones marked throughout my guide. This is the reasoning.
Izax will channel induction cascade (1 second channel). After which a DPS of his choosing (He does like to pick his favorites) will receive this debuff. For 3 seconds, that player will gain a speed boost and take no damage from this attack. The debuff will cycle and reapply itself. After the debuff is reapplied, it activates and begins to deal extreme AoE damage to the affected player. If the induction cascade circle touches any other players, it will spread.
While induction cascade is active, outgoing damage is reduced by 100%. Making this portion of the debuff a survive for 8". Players with limited defensive abilities can struggle here if they get induction cascade multiple times in a row.
Induction Rebound is the buff applied after Induction cascade resolves. This gives the player a 100% damage increase for 8".
Phase 1 - Dodge Claw
We begin the fight inside of Izax's shield. Assignments for phase 1 can reference the image here. The tank chosen to tank the boss during this phase needs to be quick with their movement to avoid damage. Note that my strategy here will prevent your "bait" tank from earning the "Super Dodge Claw" achievement. As such, I recommend getting both tanks practice here for a second clear to get the primary tank their achievement.
Melee Vulnerability - This is the debuff applied to players hit by Izax's swipe attack. A second swipe attack while this 15" debuff is active is instant death.
Accumulated Radiation - Stacking debuff applied to players standing inside the Germicidal radiation field. Each stack applied increases damage taken by 25%
The entire raid team will stack as shown. The bait tank will stand alone on the other side. It is very important to position yourselves as close to as the diagram indicates.
The Mechanic Tank starts the fight with the clicky red button. As soon as the fight starts, the entire raid team opens up on him. Izax will be channeling "return fire". It is an 8-second channel, during this channel the Mechanic tank should taunt twice (AoE and single) prior to the channel finishing. They should alert the bait tank that they have finished taunting. The bait tank should taunt immediately as the channel ends, or a second or so beforehand. This is the best way for the bait tank to gain a huge threat lead over DPS to keep through the Dodge Claw phase. The bait tank should continue to use both taunts on cool down during this phase to keep the swipes coming to their side.
The rest of the ops group stands STILL and damages the boss. Note that melee range is going to feel funny here. Melee are able to damage the boss well outside what feels like normal melee range. Izax has a medium-sized orange circle under his feet. Any players traversing inside will start taking damage and gain stacks of accumulated radiation, as well as not get the super dodge claw achievement. No one other than the bait tank should be gaining stacks of accumulated radiation, however, classes that can increase their damage output by taking small amounts of damage can use this puddle to increase DPS. The need for heals here is low, if the bait tank is quick. Healers should be pushing DPS here.
Becoming the Dodge Claw Master
"HOME" Position
"DODGE" Position
Power Slam - Tank stays in home position
The main mechanic here is the debuff the bait tank will receive if they get hit by Izax's Swipe attack. Getting a stack of Melee Vulnerability is no big deal. Getting swiped by Izax if you have this debuff is fatal. Note that Swipes are coded as "god" damage, defensive abilities will not work against them.
Izax will Swipe 4 times, then will power slam the center area. He will then continue his swipe attacks until phase pushes.
The bait tank can choose from two main tactics here. Personally, my goal is to take no more than 4 stacks of accumulated radiation, so I use and recommend tactic 1. Six is getting sloppy, 10 or more...well, you fell asleep at the wheel, or had some lag issues.
Tactic 1: Take Swipes, keep stacks of Accumulated Radiation Low - Execution: Stay in Home Position for Swipe 1, move to dodge position for Swipe 2. Stay in Home position for Swipe 3, then Dodge position for Swipe 4. After a Power slam, continue to doge every other swipe until your team pushes.
Tactic 2: Move to Dodge position for every single Swipe (will take more accumulated radiation this way, goal should be 6-7 stacks). This will be more stress on the healers.
Tank Tactic 1
Tank Tactic 2
Handling Induction Cascade in Phase 1
The ed Circle Indicates the Induction "Safe Zone".
In phase 1, induction cascade is quickly taken to the ledge. The player should stand as close to the ledge as possible, but not stand on top of the railing, or in the germicidal radiation field.
The affected player needs to be careful of the timing here. If induction cascade comes out close to the push to Deflector Pulse, they could get knocked out of the arena. Even worse here, if they are slow to move out and deflector pulse comes out before they have destacked, they will spread it to the entire team when they land together. It is always better to sacrifice yourself vs spread this affliction. There are only 2 phases I know of that will end in an enrage if not done quickly enough. This fight is over 10 minutes long, meaning 4 battle revives can effectively be used.
In a progression setting, the team should never give up. Even if a player is down for an entire phase, often your team can pull it back.
Phase 1 ends with deflector pulse, a one second cast ability that knocks the entire raid team back. If you are not positioned as indicated, you can be easily thrown off the cliff. This happens just as your team hits 96%. This will happen right after power slam with groups with great DPS. This will happen right before induction cascade to groups with above average DPS, this will happen right after induction cascade to groups with average DPS and this will happen as he begins to start channel a long cast with groups with below average DPS.
Most teams progging this for their first time should be pushing right after induction cascade begins to tick on the player receiving it. It is an outstanding goal to attempt to push phase 1 before induction cascade happens. Raid buffs can be used here, but I prefer to save them for phase 2.
Phase 2 - Chaos Theory
This is the phase where prog begins. Your team will be faced with a puzzle. To take down Izax's shield in Hard Mode, we need to direct a 3 charge beam into it. (story mode only requires one charge). First we must deal with the Anchor droid and free our group. We have a number of "adds" entering the fight in phase 2. It is important to know what each of them do.
Energy Drone - These spawn at the 4 corners of the battlefield. They cannot be killed. Every eight seconds, they will fire a blue beam across the battlefield to their target, which will be indicated by a series of blue triangles pointing toward that player. The beams deal a moderate amount of damage.
Anchor droids look pretty much identical to amplifiers, however they do not shoot beams at players. They project a large White circle before spawning in. When they spawn in, any players not inside the circle are pulled in. Anyone attempting to leave the circle while the anchor is up, will be pulled back in. After a few moments, a large orange blast marker will appear and begin to shrink down. If the anchor is not killed in time, players are not able to escape this blast and will take an extreme amount of damage.
Amplifiers (left) will target players with red triangles and will deal very little damage if uncharged. Amps can stack charges directed into them by energy drones, or other amps with a charge. Amps will be used to direct the 3 stack amplified beam into Izax's shield to take it down.
Amplifiers will gain stacks of energy charge as energy drones, or other amplifiers (with a stack of energy charge) hit them with their beams. Players will need to direct beams into them. If an amplifier had one stack, beaming it into another amp will increase this to 2 stacks. Amps discharge every 5 seconds.
Putting 5 stacks into an Amp will cause it to explode.
Tether droids will root the closest player with threat they float to. The tether droid in phase 2 needs to be intercepted by the bait tank so that it does not stun a DPS, Healer, or the mechanic Tank. When they die, they drop Tethers. These can be passed to healers or tanks for phase 3 mechanics. Otherwise, in Phase 2, they are just annoying. Using the tether device on an amp will stop it from firing it beam, but switches it to an unstable beam that channels a large beam across the floor. This beam cannot be turned. Tethering the amp a second time will revert it back to its normal firing sequence. I do not advise using tethers to move or interrupt amps. It is not necessary in hard mode.
Hull cutters are our last add spawning in phase 2. The faster that tanks execute mechanics, fewer of these will spawn. Tanks should ignore them and let DPS deal with them. It is important to note that Hull cutters are protected from AoE damage by their dampening field buff, making them take 90% reduced damage from AoE attacks. They have very little HP making them prime targets for Guardian/Juggernaut's "Slam Spam". DPS have nothing else to do in phase 2, they should generally just avoid damage and crush these as they float in (usually toward the healers).
Magnetar Plasma Cannon will be plaguing the tanks. Izax fires and drops small blue circles on the top two players on the threat chart (both tanks normally). Tanks have to be cautious where they drop these, as to not deny an area of space they are working on for energy charges/beam positioning. They should be ready to use a defensive ability to stand in a puddle if they need to stay where they are at for an amp to be charged or discharged into Izax.
The Flow of Phase 2
The raid (should be grouped up with Blue tank) gets knocked back. The white circle spawns. If your group contains a sentinel, this is a great time for transcendence to get your team into the white circle quickly.
A Player with a knock back can knock back the anchor droid toward the corner. This will enable the DPS with DoT spread to hit both the anchor and tether droid. This will also help the mechanic tank to begin getting aggro of the Energy Droid. Your Bait tank should be standing where the anchor droid spawns and spamming AoE abilities (not taunt) to pick it up immediately.
A few moments after the knock back, all the amps and energy droids will spawn. Your Bait tank should be stunned now and DPS should be spreading from the anchor droid to the tether.
The white circle can spawn on any of the 4 corners, Izax will always land on the far side, making the white circle in the "back". The mechanic tank should always run beams back to Izax, following the fastest route possible. (in the example, we use the "right" side amps).
The Bait tank should head down the other side (Left side) and pick up everything beaming the group on that side. They can also attempt the mechanics that the mechanic tank is running, it is good to have a back-up, in case the mechanic tank misses. Both tanks will be getting magnetar puddles under them. Take care to pop a defensive ability if you have to stand in one of these for any amount of time. As you prog the fight, you will get a feel of when you have a moment to wait for a puddle and when you can move to aim a beam.
With the energy and anchor droids spawning and beginning their channels, the room gets busy. One healer (Typically the commando) is going to get every single beam on them. I recommend they stand to one side of the circle to keep from clipping as many DPS as possible. These beams hurt, so get ready to triage yourself.
The Mechanic Tank should be using this time to put a few GCDs of their higher threat abilities into the Energy Droid. They should be watching the HP of the Anchor and be ready to run as soon as it's dying.
The Mechanic tank should be using a high threat ranged attack (harpoon, force pull, saber throw) to pick up the first amp.
A very short few seconds after the anchor field collapses, induction cascade will come back out. The raid needs to be ready for it. I recommend taking induction to the center of the field. The rest of the raid should wait by Izax's shield and deal with any hull cutters that spawn.
This is going to be the most stressful part for healing. Tanks will be far from you, they may need healing if they have to stand in magnetar puddles for beams, DPS will get induction, you will be taking damage from beams and the hull cutters will either be eating you, or the other DPS. It's tough, but should be short-lived if your tanks are fast. If they take too long, it is probably a wipe.
As the mechanic tank, stop on the back side of the first amp and hit it with the first blue beam. If we run to the close side (toward Izax) it is likely that you will put a magnetar puddle where you need to stand which makes directing that amp's beam more difficult.
As soon as you get in range of the amp by Izax's shield, main taunt it. You can use a few non targeting dmg attacks against the first amp to help with threat, but it's not necessary.
The first energy droid we aggro'd will be discharging into the first amp now, putting that amp at one stack of energy charge. We now have aggro over both of the amps and are ready to take down the shield.
Like the first amp, line it up and pause for a moment. Dropping a magnetar puddle between the final amp and Izax's shield is really tough. Once the amp discharges, move to the final position.
We now have the Amp next to Izax's shield to 2 stacks of energy charge. We need 3 to take it down. The original energy drone we aggro'd will provide our 3rd and final stack. It will beam in and 3 stack our amp right before the amp discharges. The timing lines up perfectly.
It is possible to 4 stack this amp, by gaining aggro of the close right energy drone. A 4 stack is necessary in NiM and will deal more damage to Izax, but it is not necessary to push the phase.
Our final beam fires, taking Izax's shield down and dealing damage to him. A 3 stack does around 4% of his total HP. A 4 stack does around 6%.
This phase ends when he hits 84%. It can be done in one round, but it often takes two. This is where I like to use raid buffs and attempt to push the phase in one round.
Example 1 of "running the beam" - Almost clipped by a rouge player with induction. Very important to keep induction middle of the room.
Example 2 - Here I am too quick to try to escape the anchor and I get into a rush to take the shield down and drop a magnetar pulsar puddle on myself
Example 3 - a perfect run right through.
Phase Transition
Once Phase 2 pushes, the Gemini droid will start to instruct us again. "Mortals, Izax's omnicannon has come online..."
Stack in the center of the battlefield and heal like mad. Everyone needs to be at 100% for the omniblast. The omniblast deals about 80% of all player's total HP. Everyone should stay center and top back off before re-engaging.
Phase 3 begins with a set of tether droids spawning as Izax begins to recharge his omnicannon.
Phase 3 - Fry it!
Phase 3 can be thought of 3-4 mini phases. I will roll through each sub phase separately, as far as DPS go, the job is the exact same every sub phase.
Phase 3.1 begins with the boss spawning 2 tethers near the center of the room. A shadow/guardian tank must AoE taunt as soon as the tethers spawn to force them to stun the tank (vs any dps or healers). [Figure 1] It does not matter here which tank does this job (Mechanic or Bait), so long as it is a shadow/guardian. If both tanks are shadow/guardians, we both do this if our AoEs are both up for added security. Vanguards will be unable to successfully aggro all tethers. Allowing the tethers to trap DPS/Healers, slowing DPS and making healers unavailable to run mechanics/heal when induction cascade comes out. Though the exact spawn locations can vary, DPS should always start DPSing the Tether in the back first, then jump to the tether closer to Izax, then immediately jump to the boss.
Healers should attempt to pick up the 2 tethers that drop from the DPS killing the tethers. If they are picked up by another player, I recommend for your healers to proactively ask for a tether now, so they have it for phase 3.2. As the mechanic tank in this fight, I often work to pick these up and throw them to the healers ahead of time.
Tanks join the DPS in front of the boss and pour their DPS into the fight.
Healers separate and head to the left and right towers close to Izax. One tower will have a blue button that is able to be clicked. The healer with the button on their side should focus target the boss and keep an eye on Izax's stacks of charged Omnicannon. If Izax exceeds 85 stacks, the button should be clicked without hesitation. Ideally, the raid leader should be calling for the click to happen (Fry it!). It is important to have the healer set to automatic here to prevent an unnecessary wipe, should the raid leader not catch it.
Induction Cascade will come out very shortly after the Tethers are dealt with. If the group is slow to kill the tethers, it will come out while the team is still managing them. DPS should always take induction cascade to the right of the stack in front of the boss. [Figure 2] This will get the group ready for phase 4 mechanics. It is also wise to train your team now to stay off of the outer ledge. The team needs to train themselves now to stay on the central "hex" patterned surface, as the outer textured area will electrify after phase 3.3.
DPS's job here is to deal enough DPS to Izax to collapse his shield. Once his shield is down, the entire team of Tanks and DPS should interrupt Izax's Channels of Charge omnicannon. Each time Izax successfully completes this channel, he gains 5 stacks of charged omnicannon. At 100 stacks he will fire his omnicannon wiping the group.
This 100 stack charge is inevitable. Your DPS team needs to be able to break the shield and go through at least one full cycle of interrupts/Deal actual damage to the boss to pass phase 3. Ideally, your DPS team should be getting the shield down twice. Three times is exceptional and a great goal to shoot for.
At 85 stacks, your healer with button should begin their channel (unless instructed to wait by the raid leader). I would tell the healer to wait if the shield is currently down and your team is actively interrupting. As soon as the shield is restored, or the team misses one interrupt, the raid lead should call, Fry it! Signaling the healer to hit the button. It is better to play safe verses sorry here. Once the light show begins, the raid team should return to the center of the battlefield.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Phase 3.2 - This sub phase is the exact same for the tanks and DPS. As such, I will not repeat those instructions. An additional "friendly add" spawns with the tethers this time. [Figure 1] One of the healers (who does this should be predetermined, so the healers are not fighting over it) need to select this add and drag it under Izax, right in the center. It can be moved by using the tether button (first button in the temp quick bar). Both healers need to head to their towers. They will notice a new add has spawned there as well. It will be in the circle where the energy drones were earlier. Healers need to select the Energy Conduit add that they moved under Izax, stand behind the Energy Node (the spawn by the tower) and activate their tether ability. This will link the node to the conduit and consume the tether. [Figure 2] When both healers have done this, the button on the tower will light back up (it will be on the same side as the first round), enabling the healers to repeat the button press when called for once more.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Phase 3.3 - This phase is a step-up in complication. To start this sub phase, 4 tethers now spawn in the center of the room vs 2. The Shadow/Guardian tank needs to be right in the center of the map and AoE taunt as soon as they become visible. [Figure 1] Ideally, we want only 1 tank stunned by all 4. It's important for all the DPS to focus down one tether at a time. I recommend starting at the close right and moving clock-wise around the tethers, finishing at the close left tether and jumping into Izax. Tanks will now need to help healers connect tethers to towers. Tanks take the back left and right tower/nodes. Healers are responsible for moving the conduct to its location, along the center of the right and left ledges. [Figure 1] Healers, again, should be assigned to a conduit (front or back) to prevent fighting over them. DPS have the full responsibility here to take down Izax's shield. Getting interrupts here to slow down Izax's stacking will give your tanks/healers more time to run the mechanics and click their buttons. Once tanks and healers have made all of their connections, buttons will light up on both back towers. Healers have no buttons here and can focus either on DPS into Izax or healing the DPS team. [Figure 2] When BOTH tanks have clicked their buttons on the back towers, the animation will play and fry Izax. [Figure 3]
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Phase Transition? - If your DPS was able to put out enough damage to do 4-5% of Izax's HP, your team should push here. You will know you succeed when the voice line plays from the Gemini droid.
IF you do not hear the Gemini droid start chatting, you are getting a Phase 3.4. Phase 3.4 starts out just like phase 3.3. Four tethers and no time to lose. There are no buttons to press here. Break Izax's shield and interrupt while doing enough DPS to push to Phase 4. Phase 3.4 will end early when Izax's HP hits 64%.
This GIF probably represents your healers and tanks after this explanation. Check out the video clip here along with the explanations and diagrams to help. Be patient and rely on repetition to get this phase down. I find it more helpful to not worry about the mechanics and just take the healers/tanks through it a time or two in low stress runs, vs try to get this right off the bat. Have both healers and tanks follow you and take a tour of the room, while DPS worry about buttons and smashing in phase 3.1. Use phase 3.1 to talk about 3.2 and 3.3. All that needs to happen in 3.1 is to push the button. Anyone can do that while you are explaining the positioning and timing.
Prepping for Phase 4 Strategy - You can push phase 3.1 or 3.2 early to get a phase 3.4 on purpose. Why do this? More tethers for your raid team for phase 4. This isn't necessary one bit, but if you find your mechanic tanks needs help pulling the mechanic adds around, it can help to have a few more people with tethers.
Phase 3 Video - Note the tank's failure to get aggro on tethers in phase 3.3 and what a mess it makes. This team gets a phase 3.4 and their perfect taunt. It's helpful to help the healers get tethers as tank.
Phase 4 - The Purple Orb
This is the DPS phase, everything up to this point was just mechanics with a bit of DPS. Now it's all about dishing it out in full force. The mechanics tank has a very fast-paced and challenging role here. They are responsible for debuffing the hull cutters that spawn and debuffing the boss, making it take more damage. The execution of this phase is all about everyone staying in their "lane". The video here visualizes the mechanic tank's point of view. I narrated this video and only review the tank's role here. The mechanics here are the make or break of the phase.
Phase four begins with the Gemini droid stating that we have knocked Izax's omnicannon off-line, "this is our chance". We have more "friendly" adds spawning slightly before Izax comes back. The spawn position of the "purple" ball (white circle) will give the raid team advanced notice as to where Izax will be poking its head back up.
In the illustration here, Izax will pop up on the western side. Your ops team should head to that side immediately, taking special care to stay off the outside edging (stay on the hex tiled flooring). I do not recommend moving the purple ball closer. It can be tethered, but this makes it harder for the mechanic's tank, in my opinion. It also gives the raid team a good point of reference as to where is safe to stand. Moving the purple ball closer can obscure where the hex floor tiles end and the ledge begins, causing a death to floor electrocution damage.
The bait tank will head to the LEFT of Izax and bait the magnetar pulsar puddles to the left of the purple orb circle (some overlap is ok). The player affected by induction cascade should always head to the right of Izax. They should not run to infinity. All they need to do is leave the stacked group, a few steps is fine. This keeps them in range of the all important AoE healing.
As we see here, the raid team has moved into position and Izax has returned. The bait tank is in position and needs to taunt the boss as soon as possible. Izax now only places magnetar pulsar puddles under his active target. It is very important for the bait tank to keep threat on Izax and not allow circles to go on the group, or the mechanics tank. As a best bet, as the bait tank, during phase three, taunt on cool down. This will get you millions of threat ahead of the raid team. As long as a DPS doesn't accidentally taunt the boss, or the mechanic tank AoE taunt (which they should never do as well).
AoE taunts are very dangerous in this phase. Hull cutters need to go to the healer/DPS group for crushing. If they do not head in, they cannot DoT cleave them and kill them. If either tank AoE taunts, hull cutters will not die. The bait tank will also steal the threat of the make-shift amplifiers.
The bait tank will only be in range to taunt Izax while they are in for the first circle drop. They need to have enough threat built to keep him as they move back to place more magnetar pulsar puddles.
The mechanic's tank must have a tether going into phase 4. As soon as the make-shift amps spawn, they need to take the two in the back and drag them into "formation". They should make a "V" formation, with the two in the back being inserted in-between the energy droid (which appears in the middle as kind of green energy ball) and the amps that are already close to Izax.
Once all the amps are in position, the mechanic's tank needs to work on gaining threat on all 4 of them, without the use of their AoE taunt. The amps will connect to the tank with red/pink targeting beam. Continue to single taunt/damage the amps throughout the phase to keep ahead of heal aggro. The green targeting beam from the energy droid will randomly target one of the four amps (Figure 1). It will always bounce between left and right sides. The green beam will attempt to connect to the far amp, but the near amp will intercept the shot. Meaning we only need to stand in one of two spots, at either end of the "V" formation, as the beam comes in. When the beam hits and charges the far/outer amp (the one we are standing by) we need to direct the beam toward one of two targets. Either toward Izax, or toward the purple ball/orb. My preference is to charge the purple orb first (figure 3). Often times during the process of the tank setting up the formation, the orb will self-charge as the amps are initially targeting the healers, which are standing in from of the purple orb. This makes the amps shoot at the healers, the purple orb intercepts the hit and self charges with no tank interaction.
If this happens, I discharge the next blast into Izax to debuff him. Next, I run back to the other side and get that end's amp charged. I run back to the other side (the purple orb is in the way if no one moved it [figure 3]). The far-right side amp fires at me, hitting the purple orb in the center, charging it. Next Izax [figure 4-6], then ball, repeat. The figures below illustrate this movement further. Note the location (red circle) of the induction cascade zone, as well as the movement of the bait tank and the magnetar pulsar puddle placement.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Phase four will continue until Izax reaches 35%. Izax will dip below the ledge and pop back up on one of the other ledges during this fight (unless your DPS is exceptional). My groups tend to see the drop and move around 40%. The mechanic's tank should keep asking the DPS group what the boss's HP is at. The dips and move seems to be on a timer, not HP based. If all is going well, as you prog your group should be seeing this dip and move around the same boss HP every time. This helps the mechanic tank predict when they will need to relocate "shop".
Okay, the boss is moving, this is the most dangerous part of the phase. I recommend you stop and wait. The mechanics and bait tanks can get started on setting back up. The bait tank relocates back to Izax's left side and continues to bait magnetar pulsar puddles. The mechanics tank needs to start tethering their amps back in formation to mirror the initial positioning to match Izax's updated positioning. This "move shop" is easier when Izax relocates 90 degrees. As two amps are already in position. It is much more involved when he does a complete 180-degree dip and move.
DPS should lag behind here. Induction cascade is ALWAYS coming out during this transitional movement. If all the DPS just make a mad dash for the boss, Induction will inevitably be missed and spread to the group. Wait, get the induction stabilized, then move once your team identifies who has it.
One player, typically a HEALER should be responsible for moving the purple ball back into perfect position. It should be the last add moved as the tank is working on setting back up their amps. If the ball remains stationary as the DPS are waiting for induction, the tank can continue to put beam charges into it as they move their amps along. If the purple orb is being moved, it cannot be hit (easily) and will lose charge. I like to get one more shot into the purple orb before the Healer runs away with it.
Note, it is more important to keep the orb charged and Izax debuffed. Do not try to get your amps exactly picture perfect. The beams they fire shoot to infinity. In the event of a 180-degree turn (which seems to happen more often), rather than drag all 4 amps all the way across the room, I will line them up across the center of the room and stand on the end as the green beam begins to charge each side. When the beam reaches the far amp, simply move in line so that the beam will hit the orb, or the boss. You can always continue to move them bit by bit in-between discharges. Frankly, your time in phase after the move should be short, so there is little point to do more work here than is necessary.
Once things are stabilized from the move, the rest of phase 4 should push very quickly. Again, phase 4 ends at 35%. Izax will dip below the ledge after growling at the group. You will know for certain the phase is over when all the amps and purple orb have despawned.
Phase 5 - Missiles
Good news DPS, no more Induction cascade past this point!! YAY
Okay, we have survived through phase 4. Hull cutters may still be up, tanks should now AoE taunt (guardians can take advantage of saber reflect here to annihilate them quickly.) Hull cutters are of no concern to us here. Izax is now flying around the area and is firing missiles at the group. Here we divide the battlefield into a tic-tac-toe grid and look for the safe zone. Izax will ALWAYS start 90 degrees to the right of where he was last. In the figures above, he would appear north and fire missiles from that vector first, working his way clockwise around the battlefield, firing new missiles at every 90-degree offset.
As raid lead, we orientate always off of Izax's position, just because he is flying does not change that fact. Our missile calls are always based off of Izax's position. I quickly mark all sides of the battlefield with target markers and direct raid remember to look at those markers for reference. It is important to remember here that the outer ledge of the battlefield is still electrified and will kill players moving into it.
Taking a hit from a missile hits the player for a significant amount of damage and marks the player with a debuff reducing the healing they receive by 90%. Healers should look for that green debuff and resist healing anyone with it. They will need to rely on defensive abilities to survive until it drops off of them.
Phase 4 ends with Izax on the West Side (as an example, he can be on any side)
Izax always starts 90 degrees clockwise of where he leaves. As soon as we push, I mark the sides with markers for reference. Missiles launch and our caller identifies this safe spot. In this call, it is front center.
Next I would say, "Look toward tank maker", the missile caller would then say, right side, back. It is faster to give the raid the side first, then the location to get people moving. You can see which column is missing missiles several seconds before you can tell the exact position.
Missiles at launch vs missiles about halfway to destinations.
"Look toward heal marker, center column, center!"
"Look toward no marker, Left column, center!"
Phase 6 - The Gemini Directive
Phase 6 picks up with Izax returning to the battlefield and a Gemini Droid spawning in the middle. Four Tether droids spawn from each corner tower of the battlefield. It is important to remember here that the outer ledge of the battlefield is still electrified and will kill players moving into it. Your DPS should split between the four towers and kill a tether (note the initial reference in the raid frame set up for this fight at the beginning of this guide). DPS's only responsibility here is to kill tethers. Four tethers spawn first. This section of the fight goes on for 120" (the Gemini droid is doing a 120" channel). During this time, more tethers will spawn. They always spawn in pairs, either front or back. The first spawn after the initial four is back, then front, then back.
Healers can heal the Gemini Droid and are responsible for moving it out of danger. Izax will be targeting it with orange blast markers. It must be moved out of these blast markers and kept away from tethers. If the Gemini droid is tethered, it cannot be moved. Attempting to do so will stun the player as well. While the Gemini droid is tethered, the orange circles Izax is putting out will lock onto players and cannot be avoided, causing increased raid wide damage.
Tanks are dealing with mines that spawn from the three sides of the battlefield that Izax is not present on. (Note, sometimes I have seen the mines glitch and just not spawn). Tanks should let the mines come into the battlefield (off the electrified ledge), then run behind them and activate their tether to slingshot them off the ledge of the battlefield. As long as the tanks take care of two rounds of mine spawns and the healers are keeping the Gemini droid safe, any further spawns of mines can be ignored. They will not deal enough damage to kill the Gemini droid. Note that if the Gemini droid is killed, it is a wipe. This phase is basically two minutes of survive and win. Do not die!
Tethers spawn on all four corners, DPS need to split and destroy them before they reach the Gemini Droid.
Mines spawn from the 3 ledges that Izax is not on. Tanks need a grapple (tether) to sling them off the cliff.
As the mines come in, they will seek straight toward the Gemini droid. Shortly after they start moving, the energy droids spawn on the ledge opposite of Izax
The energy droids begin to fire large energy spheres. Healers need to take the Gemini droid to the opening (think frogger). Tanks should be getting most of the mines down. Often the back mines are ignored and detonate, no big deal. The close Tethers will respawn shortly after the energy droids begin firing. They need to die.
The most important thing here is to stay alive and keep smashing tethers. If the Gemini Droid gets tethered, run away. Do not keep trying to pull her, you will get yourself killed. Focus on yourself until it is free.
Phase 6 - Part 1 (tether control)
Phase 6 - Part 2 (keep away)/survive
Phase Transition
The "tip toe" video snip it from our clear videos. Slow and steady keeps you alive.
Ok, mission successful, the Gemini droid fires at Izax marking 95% of the battlefield unsafe with a massive Yellow floor marking. Players should have been keeping track of the Gemini droid's channel and had been making their way to the back end of the battlefield in anticipation of this. If this yellow blast is a surprise, your raid will most likely die to it.
There are two nodes spawned near the back two towers. (They are in the same position the tanks tethered to in phase 3). The raid needs to split between the two towers evenly. Left frame should go to the left tower (remember this is Left facing Izax, not Izax's left, or whatever your group agrees on) and right side goes to the right tower. When the yellow blast marker appears, the groups should tip toe up to the node. As soon as you see a red "X" above your player, you are safe from the blast. Note, you are not safe from the electrical damage from the outer ledge of the battlefield. Going too far past the node will put you into this field and kill you. The screen will go white as the blast happens. If you died, you likely did so from being too far forward into the electrical field. I recommend using your best defensive ability here as an insurance policy. Jumping your character is also helpful in resetting your character's positioning to the effect that both you and the game agree on where you are.
As long as enough of your operations team survives the blast, victory is all but assured.
As the Gemini Droid's channel nears its end, the raid needs to group up and be ready to move up into the safe zone. As soon as the yellow death marker comes up, 2 nodes will appear. (same models/placement as in phase 3 "conduits").
As players "tip-toe" out of the blast and touch the node, they will hear a sound and see a red "X" above them. That means they are in the right spot and should stop moving. The outside of the platform is still electrified. Most of the time folks die here not from the blast, but standing in the electric field while the screen is white.
I have found that having too many players go to a node results in death. My assumption is that it can only handle 4 (or 8 on 16) players as far as protection goes. As long as more than 75% of your team survives this transition, you should be able to finish the fight.
Phase 7 - One last effort is all that remains!
Izax is still alive, and he's out to take you with him. He is charging his omnicannon one last time to finish us off. It is a race against a 60" countdown of Emergency Override: Fire Omnicannon to DPS down his last 2.1% (3,751,684 HP) before he fires, wiping your team. This is easily completed with at least 3 of your DPS and a healer up. As the final burn continues, Izax will deal increasing raid wide damage to the team. It is not that severe, typically easily healed by one healer. The healers have to make the tough choice here. Stay behind and rez any fallen DPS/Tanks or heal/help DPS Izax. If at least 3 DPS are up, join the fight and forget the rest. If you have 2 DPS and both tanks up, join the fight. If you have only 2 DPS up, start battle respawning as fast as you can. Get your best DPS up as a priority. You need them now; the rest can watch. They have done their job, let them rest.
It is unfortunately very common to push Izax just as he's getting to 1-2" left in his channel. His HP will hit zero, he will fall, and blast your group on his way down, wiping your raid. The animation seems to count toward time taken to kill him, the channel seems to continue until he has fallen from view. Hold the cheering until he is gone.
Congratulations on clearing what is in my opinion one of the best team based boss encounters in the game. Taking this boss down is a true sign of teamwork and that your raid team is made of some tough stuff!
Full Clear Videos
The fight in 16 HM is the exact same fight, more players help.