Neurotic-Bloodscalp

Mindflayer Kaahrj

Mindflayer Kaahrj is an homage to the Faceless enemies players faced in Ulduar. This encounter is characterized by frequent spawns of a large number of adds, and players must ration their time between dealing enough boss damage to complete the fight and killing enough adds to survive the fight.

Eternal Darkness fills the room with Faceless Tendrils

Approximately 30 seconds into the fight, and about every 40 seconds thereafter, Kaahrj will cast  Eternal Darkness, summoning Faceless Tendrils placed randomly around the room.

• 9 to 11 Faceless Tendrils spawn each time Kaahrj casts  Eternal Darkness

• Each Faceless Tendril will choose a random player and channel  Eternal Darkness on them, dealing a small amount of damage every second for 30 seconds

• This damage can become significant when a player is targeted by several Faceless Tendrils

• Players should kill nearby Faceless Tendrils to manage their incoming damage

Killing every Faceless Tendril is not necessary; some may spawn up on balconies or other inconvenient places, and depending on your healer's strength, these can be left alive in favor of dealing damage to Kaahrj.

Note: Using one of the Crystal Defense System sconces for each  Eternal Darkness cast will deal with this mechanic quickly, instantly killing the Tendrils so players do not have to expend any DPS on them. However, it dopes leave the party with fewer Defense System charges for emergency uses.

Periodically, Mindflayer Kaahrj will fire a  Shadow Crash missile at a random non-tank player. These missiles arc slowly through the air and then land at the marked location.

• Players within the targeted location will take heavy damage when the  Shadow Crash lands

• For 15 seconds after the  Shadow Crash lands, an energy field remains that applies the Shadow Crash debuff to players standing within it

• The Shadow Crash debuff deals light DoT damage and also reduces the player's healing done by 50%

• This applies to tank self-healing, but does not seem to apply to tank Active Mitigation or absorbs

• Players should move away from  Shadow Crash locations to avoid the additional damage

Additionally, Mindflayer Kaahrj will occasionally cast  Hysteria, targeting a random DPS player and causing them to flee in fear for 6 seconds. This is a physical-school fear effect and cannot be dispelled. Players must interrupt  Hysteria each time it is cast.

Tanks must cope with Kaahrj's frequent  Doom casts, which deal heavy Shadow damage and come approximately every 12-15 seconds, as well as very heavy melee damage since Kaahrj strikes twice with most melee attacks. Consider using defensive cooldowns when Faceless Tendrils have recently spawned, so the healer can focus on party healing.

Avoid Shadow Crash

Tank Responsibilities:

• Drag Kaahrj down the stairs to the main floor to allow players to reach more Faceless Tendrils and have more space to dodge  Shadow Crash

• Use Active Mitigation to reduce  Doom damage

• Interrupt  Hysteria when possible

• Move Kaahrj closer to nearby Faceless Tendrils so melee DPS can kill them easily

• Move away from nearby  Shadow Crash locations to avoid the Shadow Crash debuff

Damage-Dealer Responsibilities:

• Interrupt  Hysteria when possible

• Kill nearby Faceless Tendrils when they spawn

• If targeted by  Shadow Crash, move away from its impact point, and try to avoid standing in the remaining energy field

• Use a personal damage-reduction cooldown if several Faceless Tendrils are targeting you with  Eternal Darkness

Healer Responsibilities:

• The tank will likely need strong healing after each  Doom cast

• Use healing cooldowns shortly after the Faceless Tendrils spawn, when the party is taking the most damage from  Eternal Darkness

• If targeted by  Shadow Crash, move away from its impact point, and try to avoid standing in the remaining energy field

• Use a personal damage-reduction cooldown if several Faceless Tendrils are targeting you with  Eternal Darkness

Heroic & Mythic Difficulty

Run out of Collapsing Shadows

On Heroic and Mythic difficulties, when the energy field from a  Shadow Crash expires, it spawns Collapsing Shadows for 6 seconds. The Collapsing Shadows draw nearby players toward it, dealing significant damage to players every second they remain in the area of effect.

Players can avoid being drawn in to the Collapsing Shadows by either moving significantly away from the  Shadow Crash locations before they spawn the Collapsing Shadows effect, or by using movement speed-increasing abilities to outrun the gravitational force.