Mythic Carapace Boss Guide

BY Andrew Miesner / March 24, 2020

Carapace

Strategy
Phase 1
Phase 2 
Phase 3
Phase 3 Timeline

  • Phase 1
    • Adaptive Membrane can now be targeted to players
      • When the Membrane breaks, it can now trigger either a Fragment of Sanity OR Shard of Sanity
        • Fragment works exactly the same as in Heroic
        • Shard of Sanity puts down a larger orb and restores 10 sanity to all players within 20 yards. Triggers once when someone runs into it
    • Growth-Covered Tentacles have new set formations they spawn in
      • First set is 4 Tendies, arranged in 2 groups of 2
      • Second set is 2 Tendies, diagonally towards the back of the room
      • Can NOT cross through Tendies, need to kill them
      • Using the Legendary Cloak ability can still fly you through the Tendies

 

  • Phase 2
    • Players no longer have their extra action button nor access to Wrathion to restore Sanity
    • Mycelial Cysts gain a new ability – Reactive Mass
      • 10 second cast, begins immediately when a Cyst takes damage
      • After the cast ends, the Cyst is untargetable for 20s
      • When this effect expires, the Cyst is healed to full Health and deals massive damage to anyone within 15 yards
    • Synthesis Growths
      • When these die, they now spawn 2 Nightmare Antigen, the little adds from P1
      • When all Growths are killed, Fury of N’zoth no longer engages the raid. It instead retreats and immediately starts Phase 3
  • Phase 3
    • Boss now summons lines of Mycelial Cysts, in addition to all previous P3 abilities
      • Happens at the beginning of P3, then every 2 minutes

Strategy

We recommend going in with 2 tanks, 4 healers, and 14 DPS

Adaptive Membrane

    • On Mythic, this drops 2 different size orbs. Little orbs work just like Heroic, Big Blue orbs restore 10 sanity to everyone within 20 yards
    • Which orbs you get is predictable
      • If the Membrane is on the Boss, a Synthesis Growth, or a player, it’ll generate a Big Blue orb when the Membrane breaks
      • If the Membrane is on anything else and breaks, it’ll drop some small yellow orbs, same ones as Heroic

Phase 1

    • You’ll want to pre-assign groups for the two sets of Growth-Covered Tentacles
      • The pattern of these tendies is pre-set on Mythic, as is the location of the Hemorrhages
    • For Set 1, you’ll want 3 groups, for Set 2 you’ll want 2 groups
      • Set 1 shadows appear at about 0:32, the tendies slam down at 0:39
      • Set 2 shadows appear at about 1:35, and slam down at 1:43
    • Just like in Heroic, the Tentacles themselves serve as a Line of Sight blocker. The different groups being in different areas allows the raid to simultaneously be damaging Hemorrhages on different tendies around the room
    • Set 1

      • Group 1 should be your melee players, Group 2 should be your ranged, Group 3 should consist of 2-3 ranged DPS, preferably Warlocks. Group 2 should focus on the northern Tentacle first, the one separating Group 2 from Group 1
        • Once the northern tendies are cleared, Groups 1 and 2 work on the southern tendies
        • Group 3 should be able to take out the southern-most tendie by themselves by the time the other 3 are cleared
        • Groups 1 and 2 should each have 2 healers and 1 tank
        • Group 3 needs to sustain themselves
        • At 0:43, 2 Gaze of Madness adds will spawn, killing this is a higher priority than killing the Hemorrhages
          • These will likely be in different groups, so whatever groups can reach each Gaze need to kill it
    • Set 2

      • You’ll want all melee DPS and most of your ranged DPS in Group 1. Put 2 DPS in Group 2, again preferably Warlocks. Once the four Hemorrhages Group 1 can hit die, everyone in Group 1 should use their Legendary Cloak button, flying back to Wrathion
        • Get full Sanity, then kill off the remaining Hemorrhages
        • You’ll again get spawns of 2 Gaze of Madness adds at 1:47. Gaze adds again are higher kill priority than the Hemorrhages
    • Adaptive Membrane now goes out in pairs of 2 casts
      • The first cast in the pair goes out at 0:16, then every 32 seconds
      • The second cast goes out 10 seconds after the first in the pair
      • The first cast goes on either the boss or adds, the second cast goes on 3 random players
    • Madness Bomb is cast at 0:10, then every 25s, and is applied to 3 people
      • Affected players just need to move away from the raid so they don’t explode on anyone
    • Mental Decay is applied at 0:08, then every roughly 21 seconds for the rest of the phase
      • 6 people get affected per application, and it lasts 20 seconds
      • Drains 20 sanity from the affected players immediately, and deals 41k Shadow damage per second for the duration
    • Mandible Slam is cast at 0:09 then every 16 seconds throughout the phase
      • Tanks should swap every 2 stacks
    • The sets of Gaze of Madness adds only spawn at the points listed above when the Growth-Covered Tentacles are up
    • At 50%, you’ll enter Phase 2

Phase 2

    • Like in Heroic, the beginning of P2 is the boss running through the tunnel and Wrathion blowing a hole in the wall to let you follow
      • The whole raid has their Sanity reset to 100 at the beginning of the phase
      • However, Wrathion NO LONGER helps you in p2
      • You will no longer have access to using your Legendary Cloak to port to Wrathion and restore Sanity
    • You’ll want your raid to split into 2 groups. 9 people should be assigned to go left, 11 should go right
      • Each group gets 1 tank and 2 healers
      • You’ll want classes with better 3 target stacked cleave to go to the right, especially things like Fire Mages, Havoc DHs, even Frost DK are great here
      • Classes that are better at spread damage should go left. Single-target focused specs are also good on the left
      • The left-side has 7 Growths, the Right side has 9
        • On the right, near the top of the platform, are two sets of 3 growths very close together, which is why strong cleave specs excel on this side

    • You’ll want to kill off the Synthesis Growths as you reach them, and work your way towards the back of the platforms
    • While moving through the platforms, be careful about damaging the Mycelial Cysts
      • From the moment a Cyst first takes damage, it’ll become un-targetable 10 seconds later
      • After 20 seconds, it’ll explode in a 15 yard radius, dealing heavy damage to anyone hit, and restoring the Cyst’s HP to full
      • The danger here is the AoE, as there’s not much room to move away from it
      • As such, you want to limit hitting these Cysts as much as possible, to try and prevent explosions from happening
      • This’ll put pressure on the healers though, as standing in the gunk around the Cysts deals 14k damage per second
    • During this phase, the boss continues casting Adaptive Membrane, Mental Decay and Madness Bomb
      • Membrane works just like before, but is now just cast every 10 seconds
        • Each cast alternates between being targeted at Synthesis Growths and players
        • When this is applied to Growths, DPS should focus down specific ones to make sure you actually pop the Membrane. Any padding damage on extra Growths that don’t have the Membrane killed is wasted, so don’t bother
        • You can have the RL/Officers mark specific Growths to target for each Membrane
        • When a Membrane is broken off a Growth, it’ll drop a Big Blue Sanity ball
          • Players should make sure they’re within 20 yards of the ball before someone runs over it and causes the Sanity restore to occur
          • This is your only way to gain Sanity during this phase, so coordinate using the balls properly
        • Madness Bomb is a bit harder to deal with in P2
          • Affected players need to be careful to move just far enough away nobody else gets hit by their circle
          • These players also need to be careful not to block people from getting access to the Growths currently being killed
    • The boss also casts Eternal Darkness, and just like on Heroic this deals heavy damage to everyone in the raid and drains 10 Sanity
    • Once all the Synthesis Growths have been killed, the boss immediately transitions into Phase 3

Phase 3

    • After following the boss down the tunnel to start p3, everyone’s Sanity will be reset to 100 again
    • As the boss begins P3, he’ll throw down lines of Mycelial Cysts around the platform in set locations around the room. Refer to the graphic we have a few lines below here, the Cysts are the red lines
      • 2 minutes after you enter Phase 3, he’ll put a second set of Cysts down. These are placed immediately counter-clockwise of the existing cysts, and just expand the area covered
    • Important note, Infinite Darkness is cast at the location of a group of players. This means you can fairly easily bait where it’ll be dropped, and should do so regularly
      • You can and should also use Warlock’s Gateways for certain Infinite Darkness casts to quickly move across the covered area, as well as the Mycelial Cysts
    • You’ll want to spend the majority of this phase grouped up near melee range, except for when Insanity Bombs are going out forcing you to spread
      • When the Big Blue Sanity Orbs drop from Membranes, having the raid stacked together will make sure everyone gains Sanity for each orb
    • When a PLAYER is affected by Membrane, they’ll need to intentionally take damage to break it
      • The easiest ways to do this are stepping in Infinite Darkness goop, or Mycelial Cyst gunk
      • Definitely do this, as you’ll need all the Sanity orbs you can get
    • Outside of the Cysts, and of course the Membranes being cast in the same pattern as Phase 1 and being applied to players, this phase remains the same mechanically as Heroic
      • This phase is actually scripted to a T, so we figured the most effective way to communicate the strategy was a timeline. We’ll list each ability and movement, showing timings represented both as “time since phase started” and full fight timers, based on our World First kill
      • We’ve also prepared a graphic, showing where to go for each movement, where Infinite Darknesses should be dropped, and where the original lines of Cysts are. The timeline is below the graphic, and refers back to it regularly

Phase 3 Timeline

    • 0:00 (4:38) Beginning of P3, initial cast of Cysts. Start on X
    • 0:09 (4:47) First Infinite Darkness
      • Everyone should stack tight on X to bait this. As soon as the cast completes, click a Warlock Gateway moving you towards Circle
    • 0:11 (4:49) First Adaptive Membrane, cast on the boss
    • 0:12 (4:50) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 0:18 (4:56) Tendies slam down
    • 0:21 (4:59) Second Adaptive Membrane, cast on 3 players
    • 0:28 (5:06) Insanity Bomb Applied
      • Everyone spreads for the explosions
    • 0:32 (5:10) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 0:38 (5:16) Tendies slam down
    • 0:40 (5:18) Insanity Bombs explode
      • Everyone collapse in on the boss and AoE down the adds
    • 0:52 (5:30) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 0:58 (5:36) Tendies slam down
    • 1:01 (5:39) Second Infinite Darkness cast
      • Stand on Circle to bait this one, then use movement speed abilities to get out and towards Star as fast as possible
      • Things like Stampeding Roar and Wind Rush Totem are great here
      • You’ll also want a couple Ranged DPS to hit one or two Cysts right before the Infinite Darkness is cast, to try and leave a gap in the gunk, since the gunk slows you
    • 1:05 (5:43) Third Adaptive Membrane, cast on the boss
    • 1:12 (5:50) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 1:18 (5:56) Tendies slam down
    • 1:15 (5:53) Fourth Adaptive Membrane, cast on 3 players
    • 1:32 (6:10) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 1:35 (6:13) Insanity Bomb Applied
      • Wait for the Tendies to slam, then quickly spread out
      • The tank who has the boss should move him to the next marker (Moon) BEFORE this set of Bombs explodes. Start moving as soon as the Tendies finish slamming.
      • Infinite Darkness is cast on the group, not on the tank, so to give everyone more room, move the boss early
    • 1:38 (6:16) Tendies slam down
    • 1:47 (6:25) Insanity Bombs explode
      • Stack tight on the Star marker to group up the adds, and blast them down
      • You want to be very tightly stacked on the marker, with the exception of the tank who moved the boss away
    • 1:52 (6:30) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 1:53 (6:31) Third Infinite Darkness cast
      • This Darkness is extremely dangerous, as you only have a few seconds to move across Tendy shadows after baiting.
      • To help make sure your raid makes it, we recommend using either another Stampeding Roar or Wind Rush Totem. If you don’t have access to a second ability like this, we STRONGLY recommend everyone in the raid use a Lightfoot Potion to sprint across faster
      • You’ll likely still have the little adds left over chasing your raid here, that’s fine. It’s more important to get this bait correct than worry about adds
    • 1:58 (6:36) Tendies slam down
    • 1:59 (6:37) Fifth Adaptive Membrane
      • This one’s applied to both the boss and any adds still alive
    • 2:01 (6:39) Cyst Genesis – Boss creates the second set of Cysts
      • This widens the existing gunk-covered areas
    • 2:09 (6:47) Sixth Adaptive Membrane
      • Applied to 3 players
    • 2:12 (6:50) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 2:18 (6:56) Tendies slam down
    • 2:32 (7:10) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 2:38 (7:16) Tendies slam down
    • 2:42 (7:20) Insanity Bomb applied
      • Spread for explosions
    • 2:45 (7:23) Fourth Infinite Darkness cast
      • For this cast, everyone will have the Insanity Bomb debuff on them
      • Use a Warlock Gateway for this cast, clicking the Gateway immediately when the cast completes
      • From the moment you click the Gateway, you’ll have about 6 seconds until the Insanity Bombs explode
      • As soon as you land from the Gateway, everyone needs to spread as quickly as possible so you don’t overlap Bombs
      • This is the most dangerous Infinite Darkness in the fight
    • 2:50 (7:28) USE BLOODLUST HERE
    • 2:52 (7:30) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 2:53 (7:31) Seventh Adaptive Membrane
      • On boss and the adds that spawn while this Membrane is casting
    • 2:54 (7:32) Insanity Bombs Explode
      • As soon as these explode, everyone needs to collapse back under the boss and AoE down the adds. Several adds will have the Membrane on them, make sure they die
    • 2:58 (7:36) Tendies slam down
      • As a note, these tendies will likely miss you, as they’ll be targeted where you were as you clicked gateway
    • 3:03 (7:41) Eighth Adaptive Membrane
      • Cast on 3 players
    • 3:12 (7:50) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 3:18 (7:56) Tendies slam down
    • 3:32 (8:10) Tendy Shadows appear
    • 3:37 (8:15) 5th Infinite Darkness
      • Ideally, you want to kill the boss before this Darkness is cast. If you aren’t able to, treat it the same as Darkness #1, but using movement abilities instead of a Gateway
    • 3:38 (8:16) Tendies slam down
      • These will slam before the 5th Infinite Darkness cast actually completes, so they shouldn’t actually interfere much with being able to get out for Darkness
    • 3:47 (8:25) Adaptive Membrane
      • Cast on boss
      • Break the shield, kill the boss

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