Tectus Strategy

[Skye]

Tectus Tips & Strategy

The Tectus encounter requires heavy movement and a lot of add management.

Tectus begins the fight buffed by The Living Mountain, which prevents him from being killed unless he is currently channeling Tectonic Upheaval, which he does when he reaches 100 Energy.
If Tectus completes a Tectonic Upheaval, he will regain 20% of his life and gain energy at a faster rate, bringing the next Tectonic Upheaval more rapidly than the first. Currently, Tectus is much easier to kill than his Shards or Motes are, so players may wish to save Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp for the middle of the encounter when there are 4 Motes and 1 Shard active.

Run quickly out of Earthen PillarWhen Tectus reaches 25 Energy, he will cast Earthen Pillar, summoning a large, permanent rock structure that will kill any player caught in the area of effect and will prevent line of sight. Players must place these Pillars properly around the edge of the encounter area; they are targeted on a random ranged DPS or healer, so it is important that these players do not move in to the center of the encounter area and spawn Pillars where they will cause line of sight difficulties for the remainder of the fight. Once the Pillar indicator has appeared, players must move quickly out of its area of effect to avoid death. Throughout the fight, he will also summon smaller versions with Fracture; these do not persist, but will deal heavy damage and knock back any players within their area of effect. Again, players must move quickly out of Fracture. Periodically, Tectus will target randomly-chosen ranged DPS or healers with Crystalline Barrage. The targeted player(s) will display an arrow above their heads before the Crystalline Barrage begins to fire, and they should move out of the group to avoid damaging other players with the Barrage's effect. One popular strategy for handling the dual demands of Earthen Pillar and Crystalline Barrage is for the raid to move clockwise to avoid Pillars, and for players targeted by Barrage to move counter-clockwise to ensure that the Pillar-avoiding path always remains clear.

-Earthen Pillar blocks LoSWhen Tectus is slain, he shatters, forming two smaller clones called Shard of Tectus.
-The Shard of Tectus has all the same abilities as Tectus does, including the Shard of the Mountain buff.
-Tanks should each taunt a Shard to spread out the tank damage, while players focus on killing one of the two Shards.
-When a Shard is slain, it Shatters, forming four even smaller clones called Mote of Tectus.
-These Motes retain nearly all of the abilities that the Shards had, but can be killed at any time.
-The tank damage from tanking all four Motes can be extreme, so some groups may find it easier to split the Motes between the two tanks, rather than having one tank hold all four Motes.
-The ideal kill order is Tectus > Shard 1 > Motes 1-4 > Shard 2 > Motes 5-8.

While Tectus is alive, Night-Twisted Berserkers and Night-Twisted Earthwarpers will spawn and must be taunted quickly. The off-tank should hold these adds within range of the melee DPS so they can be cleaved down effortlessly. Earthwarpers have a dangerous cone attack, Earthen Flechettes, that requires them to be faced away from the melee; they also have a dangerous cast, Gift of Earth, that cannot be conventionally interrupted. Players can choose to either stun the Earthwarper to prevent the cast, allow it to go through and buff Tectus with 10 stacks of Accretion (causing high damage on the Tectus tank), or the add tank can intercept it and gain stacks of Petrification. Intercepting Gift of Earth deals very heavy damage and the tank who does so cannot tank Tectus while affected by Petrification. The ideal method of managing Gift of Earth is to have a stun rotation and kill the Earthwarpers quickly.

Tank Responsibilities

-Targeted by Crystalline Barrage
-Face the Night-Twisted Berserkers and Earthshapers away from the raid, but position them within range of melee cleave abilities
-When Tectus Shatters into two Shards of Tectus, each tank should taunt one Shard
-When a Shard of Tectus shatters into Motes of Tectus, one tank can hold all 4 Motes, but if damage is too high on the Motes tank, have the Shard tank taunt one Mote away from the group

Damage-Dealer Responsibilities

-When Tectus, or one of his Shards, is at low health during Tectonic Upheaval, focus DPS on this target to kill it
-Ranged DPS should prioritise damage on the current kill target, but multi-DoT other Shards and Motes to help keep Accretion under control
-Melee should cleave and stun the Night-Twisted adds and stun the Earthshapers as much as possible to prevent the uninterruptible Gift of Earth
-Ranged DPS should stay stacked up with healers on the edges of the encounter area, and move as a group to avoid Earthen Pillar
-Move out of Fracture to avoid taking heavy damage
-Players targeted by Crystalline Barrage should move away from the rest of the group to avoid damaging the entire raid
-Use personal damage-reduction cooldowns for Tectonic Upheaval or when targeted by/standing in more than one Crystalline Barrage

Healer Responsibilities

-Crystalline Barrage chasing its target
-Tank damage will be quite high, especially when tanking multiple Motes of Tectus
-Raid damage will be high during Tectonic Upheaval, and damage-reduction and healing cooldowns should be used during this time
-Healers (except for Mistweaver Monks) should stay stacked up with the ranged DPS on the edges of the encounter area, and move as a group to avoid Earthen Pillar
-Move out of Fracture to avoid taking heavy damage
-Players targeted by Crystalline Barrage should move away from the rest of the group to avoid damaging the entire raid
-Use personal damage-reduction cooldowns for Tectonic Upheaval or when targeted by/standing in more than one Crystalline Barrage

When to Use Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp
Currently, the fight is most difficult when players are dealing with Motes 1-4 and Shard 2. Use Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp here to burn the Motes down quickly.