Skitra is an encounter that alternates between a primary phase and intermission phase based on boss HP. Phase 1 is where the encounter primarily happens. Phase 2 occurs at 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20% HP on Skitra. Phase 2 ends as soon as you defeat the add.
Primary Phase
Shadow Shock
Cast every 2 seconds, deals 71k Shadow damage to the active tank plus 2 random players
Also applies a debuff causing affected players to take 15% increased Shadow damage for 5 seconds
Stacks
Shred Psyche
Occurs 0:12 into each Phase 1, then every 34 seconds
Debuff on a random player that lasts 5 seconds
An add spawns at the location the player was at when the debuff falls off
Add has a 5 second cast when it spawns, deals 430k Shadow damage to everyone
Damage falls off based on distance. You only need to be 8-10 yards away from the add to be fine
After the initial AoE, the add will pulse for 14k Shadow damage every 1.5 seconds until it dies
Images of Absolution
Occurs 30 seconds into each Phase 1, then 1:25 later (if still in a Phase 1)
Same mechanic as Coven of Shivarra had in Antorus
Line of adds spawns at the side of the room, and slowly walk across the entire encounter area.
Deals 142k Shadow damage per second if they touch you
Immune to all damage for 30 seconds
CAN be CC’d, must be CC’d.
Intermission Phase – 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%
Skitra assigns half of the raid the Clouded Mind debuff, other half with Twisted Mind
Each half of the raid can see 4 Illusions of Prophet Skitra in random locations across the room
Only one is the real boss. The boss will be the only illusion which is located in the same place for both halves of the raid
Need to coordinate this on Discord
Mindquake
If an incorrect Illusion of Skitra is killed, the raid takes 375k Shadow damage. Don’t do this.
Dark Ritual
Stacking debuff on the whole raid. Increases Shadow damage taken by 2%
New stack every 5 seconds while in Phase 2
This does NOT reset after an intermission ends, but instead carries through all fight
Illusionary Bolt
Every raider takes 35k Shadow damage every 2 seconds while in Phase 2 (Increased by the stacking debuff)
Strategy
As a note, testing for this boss on heroic was super wonky with the AoE damages. They’ve made drastic changes in tuning for the Shred Psyche add, as it was overtuned on PTR. As such, the primary healing difficulty for the fight has been moved (according to the Dungeon Journal at least) and this strategy reflects this.
Also, the boss’s health pool was simply stupid on PTR. 19 man scaling was 274 million HP, not including transitions and adds. For reference, Wrathion had 151M with 21 people. Hopefully this has been scaled down quite a bit.
Primary Phase
Place your 8 raid markers around the room before you pull the boss, 4 on each side
You’ll use these to coordinate Phase 2
Tank the boss near the middle of the room, facing away from the raid
Tanks swap at 7-8 stacks of Shadow Shock
Rest of raid should be stacked directly behind the boss in melee range
We recommend lusting either on pull, or when the first add spawns 30s into the fight.
Players affected by Shred Psyche need to move to the side of the boss, 8 yards away from the cluster of everyone else
Don’t move too far past 8 yards
When add spawns, wait for its 5s cast to finish
Once it finishes, tank should move the boss onto the add
Nuke the add
When Images of Absolution spawn, have an assigned player CC one specific Image. Banish is the best, but Freezing Trap, Blind, Entangling Roots, etc, anything works
Raid stands in that spot from the CC’d add
After 30 seconds, the Images are no longer immune to damage and need to be tickled for 1 HP to die
Intermission
Coordinate over Discord (or whatever other voice chat you use) to determine which Illusion is the real Skitra. Have one assigned person from one debuff group call out the colors their 4 adds are at
Have one person from the opposite debuff group say YES or NO to whether that group has an add in the same place.
Example: Raid Leader in Clouded Mind says: “SKULL”
Person in Twisted Mind replies YES or NO
Keep going until you get a yes
Then kill that add
OR use the Weakaura posted above
If you elect to use the Weakaura, have one person from each debuff put a DoT effect on all 4 Illusions you see. The Weakaura will put a green circle on the correct Skitra
It’s possible Blizzard can implement a hotfix to this to prevent it from working. As of the most recent testing, it worked just fine on PTR. Recommend trying it first.
Raid should stack near the correct Illusion as you kill it to help the healers increase efficiency, as this is a heavy damage phase
You’ll want to use healing CDs here
Kill the correct Illusion as fast as possible, and you go back to Phase 1
Rinse and repeat, GGs
Positioning
Put up raid markers before you pull the boss, like below.
Tank the boss near the middle of the room
The person affected by Shred Psyche needs to move to the side of the group, somewhere around X below:
AFTER the add finishes its initial cast, the tank pulls the boss on top of it and everyone follows:
