RIFT'S EDGE (Hard Mode) GUIDE [Animated & 3D content]

Rift's Edge is one of the instances that became available during the summer (NA and EU) of 2014. This instance is meant to be cleared by a 10-man raid. It has normal and hard modes. We can look at the place as the next challenge to accomplish after clearing Wondeholme hard mode, as there are a lot of similarities between them. This time you dont have to pass any moving panels, but be careful, the enemies are even stronger than before.


Now lets take a closer look at the hard mode version of this instance.

After entering the dungeon through a teleportal (east from Tria) or via IM tool, you will be dropped in a green environment full of trees, bushes, some weird buildings (?) and a group of mobs of course.

Let the tank in your party pull the mobs (if you dont have a tank, a player with block ability [warrior, zerk] should pull them) and kill them as a group with AoE skills (sorcs and archers are recommended to be in majority in the raid). 

ADVICE: Kill all the mobs around before fighting the Lizard miniboss, as it saves a lot of time (and HP) if the party can focus on DPSing. Attacking the miniboss pulls all the trash mobs around, which can easily wipe your party.

Miniboss (Lizard):

After clearing the way, you face another BAM, an Arachnen. Eliminate this gatekeeper to continue your way to the 1st (real) boss.

This BAM is exactly the same monster that you can find in the Tenebrous Mines or near Elenea, with the same attacks and attack speed. Nothing special.

Your raid have to split now in two parties. One party (with the tank) should choose the northern path and defeat 3 BAMs on floating platforms:

1. Basilisk or Kumas or Naga
2. Basilisk or Crab or Scorpion
3. Fangspawn or Storm Lizard or Dracoloth (dragon) or Gorilla

It is randomly chosen which bams you have to defeat. Be careful, some of them has an extra attack pattern that can be new even for the most experienced players.

For the BAM route it is good to set your party to have:

• 1x Tank
• 1x Mystic
• 3x DPS

The other party will choose the southern path, where you have to kill a lot of mobs (gather them and kill with AoE), but be careful with the suicider mobs (like in WH). They hit pretty much, so its good if someone with blocking ability can pull them. [Destroy the first obelisk to open the way.]

(Suicide Bomber)

ADVICE: Pull the mobs together with the suicider mobs, they deal damage to the mobs too. If you do it well, this damage will be enough to kill all the mobs without needing to use any skills. :)

At halfway there is an ovolith (spider) which has to be defeated aswell. Be careful, this one has very high attack speed, and some of its attacks give painful debuffs. Clear the remaining mobs and destroy the second stone obelisk to reach Yativio's platform. 

In this party its good to have:

• 1x Priest
• 1x Warrior/Berserker
• 3x AoE dps (Sorcerer/Reaper/Archer)

Check out the second (mob-) route in the video below: [ 4:50 - 10:05 ]

ADVICE: Finished your (normal) route but the other party is still fighting? Help out the other party! There is a ladder, which has an airship on the top. You can use this to reach the other route much faster than by walking or by mount to help the other party.

1st boss: Yativio (Carnivorous Plant)

This monster will be the first real boss you will be facing. This one has multiple AoE attacks which are easy to learn at first, but there are signs which if you keep in mind, you will be safe.

Minions: "Yativio spawned minios to shield itself!"

When Yativio's HP bar reaches x27 x22 x10 and x3 (~90%, ~70%, ~30°, ~10%) the boss spawns a group of miniplants which have to be killed ASAP. If they are not eliminated within a few seconds, each (remaining) plant will give Yativio a +1% power buff. [When the miniplants say "We're killer buds!" their debuff has already been added to the boss.] If the plants arent destroyed fast enough, the next attack pattern is automatically triggered.

Devastating AoE

The power of the recieved buffs will now unleash. Yativio turns to red just before this attack. Few seconds later, painfull waves will deal damage in a huge circle AoE. This attack can kill anyone without a heavy armor. [This attack hits multiple times so a simple evasive roll/backstep/evasive smash/shadow step may not be enough.]

Check out this attack in the video below: [ 18:35 - 18:45 ]

Stun and Spin

The title says everything: Yativio stuns and gives a poison debuff to the nearby enemies, then spins dealing damage continuously.

Check out the attack in the following video: [16:35 - 16:47 and 17:35 - 17:48 (the second is probably better)]

(This lancer doesnt like to block for a reason, but at least we see what this attack does exactly.)

Suicide Bombers are back!

Those little mobs again.... A random player in your party will be targeted and followed by a group of suicide bombers. Two ways to deal with the situation:

• If its the first run for your party or you are wearing a cloth armor, let the mobs catch you to leave the AoE and the mobs there far away from your party.

• If you have a more experienced party, you can try leading the bombers to Yativio as they deal damage to the boss too.

WARNING: When Yativio's HP reaches x9 (30%), it gets a permanent buff that increases its power by 68% and attack speed by 50%.

ADVICE: At x4 (~10%) HP a big group of minions spawns again. They are too many to kill all of them, focus on burning down the boss to x0 instead.

__________________________

Now you can continue your run to the second boss, Vesporax. You need to kill a group of trash mobs (gather->AoE kill) before reaching the boss room.

__________________________

2nd boss: Vesporax (Giant Bug-Bee)

This is another monster exclusive to this dungeon. 

Bees "Vesporax is summoning bees"

These arent the bees you just chase out of the window in the kitchen, they deal quite high damage, however they can be killed by 2 or 3 players, so nothing really to worry about.

Poison Circles "Vesporax sprays the cave with acid!"

Vesporax walks into the middle of the room, few seconds later a group of huge AoE circles appear that deal quite high damage. Try to get out of them asap, as the whole room will be affected by the poison. Or not? 

ADVICE: There is a spot in the room (north west side of the "room") where the AoEs can never reach, i recommend you to place a campfire here before starting the figh to find the spot easier when this attack pattern comes.

Check out the spot in this video: [ 20:30 - 20:55 ] or the image below:

(Resource of this gif : http://i.imgur.com/nL582QR.gif )

WARNING: Vesporax gets a buff that increases its power by 68% and attack speed by 50% when reaches x9 (30%) HP. 

Now only one boss remained...

Last boss: Koleogg (Giant Beetle)

Koleogg is the last and the strongest boss in this instance. It has multiple attack patterns that need good coordination to avoid. 

Shield Phase

As you start the fight, its very likely that you face a "shield phase" soon. There are 3 types of shields, each requires different actions to avoid. Check the shield icon under Koleogg's HP bar to decide which type of shield it has.

• If it is a 30sec shield, the healers should remove it (priests with Plague of Exhaustion, mystics with Regression). Koleogg has now lower resistance to knock down and stagger, your party should try to interrupt his charging for the next attack. 

If you fail to remove the shield and knock down, a 3-AoE attack comes. 

This attacks hits in three circles with Koleogg in the center. 

1. The first circle is quite little, hits just around the boss. 
2. The second circle (that follows the first one a few seconds later) hits nearly in the whole room, leaving only a narrow place for the players to avoid it at the edge of the platform. 
3. The third circle doesnt have orange marker as it hits in the whole room. Each hit can take 50-80% of your HP (it can be 100% when Koleogg is enraged or if you dont have at least the gear from normal mode on +9). 

ADVICE: When this attack comes, go to the entrance of the boss room. Have your priest using Kaia's Shield and your lancer (/zerks/warriors) blocking the third AoE with your raid behind him/them.

• If its a 60sec shield, crystal phase is coming.

Crystal Phase

In this phase there will be 3 crystals summoned (see the image above). All of them will need to be destroyed for the wall to appear and save you from the onehitter. 

Crystal phase happens at x24 x15 x6 (80% 50% and 20%) HP. At the first one, there will be one set of crystals to destroy, two at the second, and three at the third crystal phase. 

ADVICE: Make three parties before starting the fight and assign them which crystals they should destroy.

ADVICE: As your party starts fighting, someone should put three campfires to the 3 positions so it is easier for the players to find their place, and also regenerates your stamina, as you are out of combat for the crystal phase. 

• If its a permanent shield:

If Koleogg has a permanent shield, your party will have to DPS it down as soon its possible. You dont have much time for it, only about 10 seconds. If you fail to break the shield, you will be dealt a huge amount of damage and will be thrown to the ground. Its not a simple knock down as you wont be able to use retaliate to get up fast. On the top of that you will get a bleeding debuff which will kill you if not cleansed fast enough.

There are some ways to avoid being thrown to the ground. Priest(s) should use Kaia's shield, as you are immune to being knocked down while in effect. If there is no possibility for getting Kaia's shield, use warding scroll which will give you the same effect. If you are good at timing, you can just i-frame it. 

ADVICE: If you choose backstepping the attack, time your dodge right after Koleogg starts fluttering its wings.

Noxious Gas

I this attack Koleogg turns around and blown noxious gas from its back.

Noxious Gas II.

Koleogg flies up and blows noxious gasses in a circle on the ground. This attack has a second hit (that deals damage in a line) when the boss lands. If you get hit by the gas, you recieve a debuff that decreases your movement speed by 80% and loose 2% of your total HP. The effect can be removed simply by jumping.

Blue Spheres

Donut AoE

WARNING: In hard mode, Koleogg has a 15min timer. If its not killed before the time is up, it recieves a buff that increases its power by 1000% and attack speed by 400%. You dont want that.

After Koleogg's killed, the instance is cleared.

==================================================================================================

Written and edited by Dante;

[Source of some screenshots: source]

[Source of 2 of the pictures: source]