So HM Kephess,

 

We finally got him down last night. We have all but the final phase so well practiced that most of us could do it with our eyes closed. That final phase is just such a cluster that it felt like a fluke getting him down. I'd like strategies or advice to make this easier and not have to spend two hours on him next week.

 

He just seems so buggy... First attempt of the night was solid up until the his giant purple aoe. He pulls us in, everyone runs out.... and then he teleported half the raid back in. Every attempt after that was basically us getting him down to 25% or so and then during a transition he would knock back the current tank and then get a instant second hit in on that tank immediately (one-shotting him) even though he's already taunted and that first tank is still flying through the air.

 

The final kill was pretty much due to the standard tank death happening at 10% instead of 20-30% and us being able to zerg him down anyway.

 

It feels like bugs, but since so many people have him on farm I'm guessing there's a better way to do it?

 

Advise pls.

A couple of questions:

- 8 or 16 man?

- How many tanks?

- Marauder and Sniper in group?

- Do tanks know when to taunt properly?

 

The reason I ask is because the strat changes slightly between the two different raid sizes, but in principle remains largely the same. Sniper can shield just outside of the Gift AoE providing reduced dmg from ticks while running out, and of course the Marauder has Predation for faster travel out of the AoE.

 

Due to lag, sometimes there can be unfortunate deaths or strange things happening.

We are doing 8man, sorry I forgot to mention that. We do have a marauder and he's pretty much the only reason reason we can run out when it doesn't bug. How does the sniper strat work? Does he not get pulled in if he hits entrench? I never though of that before.

 

We have two tanks obviously in 8man. Our main problem is the tank swapping. 80% of the time it works, but every few swaps, Kephess gets an extra hit in as he casts does the knockback and that tank gets insta-gibbed.

We are doing 8man, sorry I forgot to mention that. We do have a marauder and he's pretty much the only reason reason we can run out when it doesn't bug. How does the sniper strat work? Does he not get pulled in if he hits entrench? I never though of that before.

 

We have two tanks obviously in 8man. Our main problem is the tank swapping. 80% of the time it works, but every few swaps, Kephess gets an extra hit in as he casts does the knockback and that tank gets insta-gibbed.

 

Yep, your sniper can use a cooldown to avoid the pull, and the rest of your raid can run towards him as they escape to get some protection from his big shield. You may also find it helpful to have the rest of the raid stack up right behind Kephess as he approaches 60%, so they aren't disoriented by the pull.

 

Kephess shouldn't be hitting your tank between the Savage Arcing Slash knockback and the Breath of the Masters cast. Is it possible your tank is getting knocked back into a purple circle?

Edited July 24, 2012 by CitizenFry

The tanks death log always says "Savage Arcing Slash for 34k" or something. Does that mean the taunt is too early or late? I don't know the exact mechanics of it because I'm healing. Anything I can pass on to them to help?

Savage Arcing Slash shouldn't be hitting for 34k on a tank. I assumed the problem was the tank getting instagibbed by Touch of the Masters - if the problem is Touch, the log will say you were hit by Touch for _exactly_ your max HP.

Oh I don't know the exact numbers, I just remember it being big (he has over 26k). I guess that makes sense.

I am curious...what was your entire group make up broken down into roles? How many melee dps, ranged dps etc did you have? We are trying to down this raid but something is holding us back. I am looking for not only on this fight but, from the start of the raid.

 

 

Thanks.

Here's a log where I (Blayze) tank well, and my co-tank (Bitte) gets killed (twice) by Touch of the Masters

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/combatlog/dc82870f-d959-4f9f-bee1-f8c45eb0ca25/overview#d=2,f=45,t=51,b=1

 

Here's one where I get instagibbed by Touch, and Bitte has to finish:

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/combatlog/f15f63b5-a938-4ea9-a55e-caa93bf4519f/player/6#d=2,f=16,t=24,b=2

 

This one we both tank it pretty well:

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/combatlog/82b61370-2d53-4e32-aafe-dd245fdb45f8/overview#d=2,f=45,t=50,b=1

I am curious...what was your entire group make up broken down into roles? How many melee dps, ranged dps etc did you have? We are trying to down this raid but something is holding us back. I am looking for not only on this fight but, from the start of the raid.

 

 

Thanks.

 

I don't know specs, sorry.

 

2 Jugg tanks

2 melee Jugg/maurader

2 ranged sniper/merc

2 heals sorc/operative

 

I know it would be way easier if we had access to an assassin or powertech for them to use their pull on bombers. Instead if the walker aoes on a bomb I just have to shield and aoe heal the melee.

 

I found things become way more consistent if you can figure out how to avoid damage so your healers are free to contribute dps. I burn through a lot of force but have chances to regen in later phases. We burn the walker to 58% on the first bomb. On the third bomb the tanks and healers will be busy so you need that head start.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Bonesmello

I don't know specs, sorry.

 

2 Jugg tanks

2 melee Jugg/maurader

2 ranged sniper/merc

2 heals sorc/operative

 

I know it would be way easier if we had access to an assassin or powertech for them to use their pull on bombers. Instead if the walker aoes on a bomb I just have to shield and aoe heal the melee.

 

I found things become way more consistent if you can figure out how to avoid damage so your healers are free to contribute dps. I burn through a lot of force but have chances to regen in later phases. We burn the walker to 58% on the first bomb. On the third bomb the tanks and healers will be busy so you need that head start.

 

Thanks. Is it always better to have 2 melee dps versus 3 ranged dps and one melee? Trying to figure out where we are lacking and how to improve things.

Personally that's just the combination of players that had enough dps to take down the rest of the bosses. We're gearing up others but our melee dps is strong and that's just what works for us. The enrage timers are really tight.

Good to know. I know the enrage timers are extremely short but I am looking for any suggestion and combination that may burn them as fast as possible. Also thinking about how unforgiving the game is when it comes to melee. Keeping DPS up longer while they are out of range also helps out the healers a bit too.

 

Just some thinking. Appreciate the responses.

Well the marauder takes less aoe damage so it isn't so bad.

 

Like I said we beat the tight dps timers by having the healers contribute dps. To do that, you have tight execution where no one is taking damage they shouldn't be. Also our dps uses their cooldowns effectively and I think they're even using adrenals and I think the jugg dps even uses grenades (for the aoe). Everyone has exotech stims and mostly black hole / campaign gear.

 

Only a few of us have learned to min/max mods though, but it really makes a difference when you do. My innervate channel crits went from like 1700 to 2100 once I figured out how to balance my stats properly.

 

It goes without saying that everyone in the raid should have all their gear augmented.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Bonesmello

Is your tank getting knocked into a wall by the knockback? If so, he'll be taking unnecessary hits. Also, it's absolutely imperative that the next tank does NOT taunt until Kephess is casting. You can't simply cast immediately after the knockback; you have to wait for the cast bar. Edited July 24, 2012 by Typeslice

Kephess shouldn't be hitting your tank between the Savage Arcing Slash knockback and the Breath of the Masters cast. Is it possible your tank is getting knocked back into a purple circle?

 

It can happen due to latency. I got instagibbed before breath had finished casting, not in purple or anything.

So HM Kephess,

 

We finally got him down last night. We have all but the final phase so well practiced that most of us could do it with our eyes closed. That final phase is just such a cluster that it felt like a fluke getting him down. I'd like strategies or advice to make this easier and not have to spend two hours on him next week.

 

He just seems so buggy... First attempt of the night was solid up until the his giant purple aoe. He pulls us in, everyone runs out.... and then he teleported half the raid back in. Every attempt after that was basically us getting him down to 25% or so and then during a transition he would knock back the current tank and then get a instant second hit in on that tank immediately (one-shotting him) even though he's already taunted and that first tank is still flying through the air.

 

The final kill was pretty much due to the standard tank death happening at 10% instead of 20-30% and us being able to zerg him down anyway.

 

It feels like bugs, but since so many people have him on farm I'm guessing there's a better way to do it?

 

Advise pls.

 

Well could be few things. First are you having a clean purple phase pull in at 60%? What I mean by this is when you hit 60% you don't have him jump right before. When we were first trying this fight there would be times he would jump right at or close enough to 60% that he would do another jump and the enrage timer would had started while him being in the air, coming down and tank getting aggro and the dot then he would actually start the purple circle/pull in. This really confused us because when we were in final phase at times he would seem to enrage really early while others being fine. To stop this we just always waited for the jump and stopped dps at 62%, have tank1 get aggro and get dot, tank2 taunts while tank1 runs behind wall so he doesn't get pulled in and proceed with final phase. Also make sure your dps starts dpsing right when they are able to after the pull in, during the transfer to wherever you tank kephess during final phase.

Now for the insta dieing part, after tank get punted back make sure he stops all dps and he just runs to wherever you place circles and other tank taunts during the casting of breath. If the tank placing circles is still doing any dps at all this will kill him as kephess will jump/teleport to your tank and 1-shot him using no escape. This took us forever to figure out as I'm a PT tank and was always trying to squeeze out that extra dps we needed while i was placing the circles and could never understand why I was insta dying even though it was way after other tank took aggro and I was already on 2 or 3rd placing of the circles.

One last thing is to have your tanks save their def cooldowns for when they tanking that last 60%. After the first tank gets knocked back and 2nd tank takes over he should use his def cooldown. This should make so he takes very little dmg so the healers at this point should be able to pump out some dps also. By doing this we always beat enrage timers now. Well hopefully this helps and good luck

 

~V

Every attempt after that was basically us getting him down to 25% or so and then during a transition he would knock back the current tank and then get a instant second hit in on that tank immediately (one-shotting him) even though he's already taunted and that first tank is still flying through the air.

It may have already been mentioned in one of the other replies, but if Kephess is being taunted while the first tank is still airborne, that's probably too early.

 

Here's one where I get instagibbed by Touch, and Bitte has to finish:

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/combatlog/f15f63b5-a938-4ea9-a55e-caa93bf4519f/player/6#d=2,f=16,t=24,b=2

 

 

Ok,off topic and n00b question.... but how did you get that detailed information from the log, like each ability ? I only the overall DPS number per fight and per boss. That's all....

Edited July 25, 2012 by wainot-keel

Ok,off topic and n00b question.... but how did you get that detailed information from the log, like each ability ? I only the overall DPS number per fight and per boss. That's all....

 

Click on your name. From there you can sort the heals/damage by ability or source.

BigV reply is good.

 

your tanks need to get the taunt timing down, it does require some practice, so let your tank get use to this phase.

The best timing is while kephess cast the breath of the master.

 

- Be sure to, while tanking kephess, never have your back directly on a wall or purple zone.

- when he bump you back, you can actually start running away from him, to increase distance, so he's not in range of melee right after the cast.

- Try to overlap purple circle, this will give you enough space to maneuver later on, i try to place them like the olympics sign

- when you drop the fifth purple circle on the ground, you shoud be at range to taunt (and have kephess on target), because he will cast the next breath right that moment.

- kephess will enrage approximately after 4 bumb/breath cast, so your timing is about 15% every tank swap.

The most important thing in the last phase is knowing what you have to do and when. Understanding what is going to happen before the next part does.

 

This is going to be largely basic, and may or may not apply to the OP's question. But I believe others are going to be looking at this thread as well. So if you already know these things please feel free to skim.

 

1. After Kephess drops after killing the droids. He does not have all his abilities unlocked at this point. A bomber also spawns soon after. When your DPS has killed your final bomber it unlocks SUPER KEPHESS! Too much emphasis? Kephess will now start using his bleed skill, tanks should pop a damage mitigating cooldown to ease the transition from baby Kephess, to grown up Kephess.

 

2. Kephess stays this way until 60%. When he jumps in the air he is still damagable for several seconds, do not stop.

 

3. 60% - Hunker down + Jungle gym (whatever its called) at the edge of the circle. (Know the range ftw!). This gives people a) a target to run to b) reduces damage for the slow pokes.

 

4. As you'll see in the video I link. We have one tank taunt, and go off to the side where the walker was so that Kephess runs towards him rather than the group.

 

5. Kephess will almost immediately knock back the tank. This is your biggest clue for what's about to happen next.

 

6. Kephess will start to channel an ability. Breath of the Masters. Its his only channeled ability so don't bother reading only recognize that the bar has appeared. Because you just recognized point 5 your tank is ready to hit his taunt as soon as he sees a cast bar under Kephess's name. If your previous tank is summarily one shotted, you were too late.

 

7. Non-tanking Tank is now dropping 5 circles, edging himself towards the newly positioned tank. At the end of 5, start running to your new position.

 

8. Repeat steps 5-7 as needed.

 

I could go into great detail about positioning via the North Star, and Neptunes influence on Kephess's irritable bowl syndrome but really here's a link to us downing Kephess with no deaths, perfect circle strategy, and where you can position him to give lots of room. It's not everyone in the video's first kill obviously, but it was for the undergeared (Columni/Rakata) DPS Sage. Hope it helps.

 

Notable skip to points: 1) Kephess drops @ ~4m35s 2) Kephess casting "Gift of the Masters"/60% Health Threshold @ 6m45s

 

Edited July 25, 2012 by Justcae

Thanks for the info everyone, our tank had a chance to read and discuss this thread and we picked up a lot of valuable info. Hopefully this helps anyone else who reads too.

The two notable differences on HM are quick-spawning trandoshans, and touch at the end.

 

For trandoshans:

Stay inside the little cove at the door next to the walker. Its aoe does not hit you there. Also, make the second mob walk towards you, so you get some more time dps-ing the first mob. We also have one dps jump to the warrior, and keep him there while the other adds are aggroed on the healers.

 

For the third mob, as a tank, I first drop aggro using my aggro drop. Then I let the mob aggro on healers, and saber-throw the warrior. This makes him come after me while the others go for my team in the aforementioned cove. If needed I can single-target taunt the warrior also. My team kills all the adds, and I kinda just stand at the other corner with the trandoshan warrior *without killing him*. This gives my team time to top off dps, time to get their heat down etc. Also we wait for the walker to finish aoe on the region between the two doors. Then when we are ready, we drop the lone warrior. We are ready to burst the bomber again because everyone has full energy/0-heat etc.

 

Kephess sub-60% phase

 

As a tank, it took us some tries to figure out the mechanics at the end, but some very important things are happening there, which the tanks need to be on top of. I'm talking about the sub-60% phase, where the tanks will have to swap.

 

Things to remember;

1. Never taunt right on the knockback. Wait for him to start casting breath and only then taunt him off. Otherwise one tank has breath and the other has touch!

2. *Any damage* you take when you have touch will 1-shot you. It will appear as a one-shot due to "savage arcing slash* with a value equal to your maximum health, which can be confusing because Kephess wasn't anywhere near you when you die to it. The various ways you can get 1-shotted are:

2. a. when the other tank does not taunt in time before breath cast is finished.

2. b. when you dont kite circles properly and stand in it too long, the minor damage from the circle will be converted to insta-1-shot if you have touch on you.

2. c. when kephess knocks you back when he gives you touch, and you happen to land on a previous purple circle.

2.d. kephess' frontal arcing slash attack has a huge conal range. Needless to say, the tank pooping the circles should never be behind the tank that is actively tanking kephess, else he will eat the slash.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited July 25, 2012 by CBRGhostRider