This is a 2 stage encounter. Stage 1 you’ll be fighting the boss, Stage 2 is an intermission. Intermissions last 50 seconds, with Raznal jumping away and crafting himself a new weapon. When he returns, his weapon ability becomes empowered.The Stage 2 intermissions occur at 70% and 40% HP on the boss.
Stage 1 Abilities
IMPORTANT - the floor is a grid of squares. These come into play for some abilities
Weapon Abilities
Boss starts with the Cruciform Axe (100% HP > 70% HP)
Periodically targets the tank, puts a big circle around them, then shortly afterwards throws his axe at that tank
Deals 74k Physical to the tank, and causes an explosion at the location the axe landed. Explosion deals 49k Fire damage to all players, except the tank
Explosion damage is reduced by distance
The targeted tank also gets a debuff called Blackened armor, dealing 6k Fire damage per second and increases Physical damage taken by 200% for 12 seconds. Stacks.
Also causes Spikes also erupt from the floor in 4 directions, starting at the location the axe landed
Reverberating Axe (70% HP > 40% HP)
Works exactly the same, but deals more damage. Tank damage increased to 87k Physical, explosion increased to 62k Fire
Spikes ripple outwards this time, from wherever the hammer landed, instead of just shooting out 4 directions
Dualblade Scythe (40% HP > 0% HP)
Also works exactly the same, but buffed again. Tank damage increased to 99k Physical, explosion increased to 74k Fire
This time, Spikes will shoot out in 4 directions, AND ripple from the location the Scythe lands
Example of the Spikes:
Spiked
Spikes shoot up from the floor, dealing 33k Physical to anyone hit
This is caused by the boss’s weapon throw, AND occurs back-to-back during the intermissions
Spiked Balls
A line of spiked balls appears on one edge of the room, the entire length of the edge
These roll directly across the platform
Anyone hit takes 165k damage, and stuns them for 8 seconds, if you live. Which you won’t, because you don’t have 165k health
These actually have a healthpool though, and can be killed to create an opening
Example of the balls:
Shadowsteel Chains
Puts a circle of chains around several players, deals 3k Fire damage per second for 20 seconds
Running into someone’s circle deals 16k Physical damage to you, and knocks you back
Flamescale Trap
Places traps under up to 4 random people, activates them after 8 seconds
Traps explode if they get stepped on, get hit with Spikes, or get run over by a Spiked Ball
Flameclasp Eruption
Explosion from the trap, deals 10k Fire damage to all players and increases damage taken by subsequent traps by 200% for 1.5 seconds
Stage 2 (Intermission) Abilities
Spiked happens back to back for the duration of the intermission. They cover an entire edge, then move straight across the platform. However, there’ll be one safe spot that you can use to not get hit
Shadowsteel Embers
Red swirlies on the ground
Deals 25k Fire damage to anyone in the swirlie when it explodes
Black Flames
Deals 6k Fire to the entire raid every time the boss hits his new weapon with a blacksmith hammer
Also applies a stack of Lingering Flames
Deals 165 Fire damage per second, stacks
Permanent debuff, persists the remainder of the encounter
Strategy
Stage 1
While fighting Painsmith, you’ll want him a bit off-center on the platform, to whichever side you choose
By doing this, you’ll naturally have at least 1 corner that’s pretty open, perfect for the tank to drop the weapon toss on. As an example, position like the picture below, and use the SKULL as your drop point for the throws
This’ll give your team a lot of area to work with to dodge spikes when the boss has the Axe and the Scythe, as the radiating Spikes are the more dangerous formations
To dodge the radiating spikes, you’ll need to stand on a block directly in front of them, wait for them to shoot the floor right in front of you, then immediately move to stand on the block the spikes just shot up through
When the Spiked Balls spawn, your RL should mark one and the ranged DPS should swap immediately and kill it as quickly as possible
You’ll want to try and pop the Flamescale Traps relatively soon after they spawn, based on timers
Ideally, you never want the Spiked Balls or the ground Spikes to hit a trap and break it in an uncontrolled way
Because of the increased damage debuff, this can be a bad time very quickly
Instead, have 1-2 people working to break them in a staggered manner, spreading out the explosions by 2-3 seconds
We recommend having the tank not currently holding the boss run over these, with your raid leader calling exactly when to pop them
Make sure to communicate when doing this, so the healers know it’s coming and can use CDs as necessary. You'll definitely want CDs if you pop 3 or more in quick succession
Players with Shadowsteel Chains just need to spread out a bit from the group, and be careful not to run into people
This is especially important during the Spiked Balls, as you’ll likely have a small area to run through
As you enter the 2nd, then 3rd, occurrences of Stage 1, the weapon toss on the tank gets progressively more dangerous. By the 3rd Stage 1, each toss creates both a cross-shape with Spikes, AND radiates them out. This can get super dicey, so watch your feet
The tank should always try to be directly on the corner square, which helps mitigate the cross-shape almost entirely
Last note here, because the DoT that stacks in the intermission is permanent, the raid-wide damage ramps up pretty hard later into the fight.
You should use Bloodlust after the 2nd intermission ends and the boss returns to the platform
Blow him up before the increased raid damage from the ticks, and the weapon throws, gets overwhelming
Stage 2 (Intermission) Strategy
When the boss jumps away to make a new weapon, you basically have this dance period where you don’t really stop moving
Between running to the safe spot for the Spiked lines and the Shadowsteel Ember swirlies, there’s a ton of bad on the ground that’ll hurt pretty bad
Not really much to say here, other than dodge the bad and don’t die