Asphodelos: The First Circle (Savage)
Guide Info
Last Updated: 5 Jan, 2022
Patch Applicable: 6.05

Introduction

This guide aims to provide tips and strategies for defeating Erichthonios in Asphodelos: The First Circle (Savage).

The First Circle (Savage) is the first raid encounter in the Pandaemonium series, available January 4, 2022 in Patch 6.05. Players must have completed the Quest “Who Wards the Warders?” and talk to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos (X:8.4, Y:27.4). Players must be item level 580 or above to challenge this fight in a non-premade group.

Videos

Reaper PoV

Red Mage PoV

Drops

Chest One:

One of:

  • Asphodelos Earring Coffer
  • Asphodelos Necklace Coffer
  • Asphodelos Bracelet Coffer
  • Asphodelos Ring Coffer

Chest Two

Two of (unique):

  • Asphodelos Earring Coffer
  • Asphodelos Necklace Coffer
  • Asphodelos Bracelet Coffer
  • Asphodelos Ring Coffer

Token

  • Asphodelos Mythos I

Four of these tokens can be traded in for accessories at a Pandaemonium gear vendor.

Major Mechanics

Erichthonios has a hard enrage of 10:20 into the encounter and requires roughly 39.7k raid DPS to defeat before then.

Pre-pull Preparation

Assign all players clock spots with melee on intercardinals, tanks north and south, and healers east and west. Markers should be placed as such.

Mechanic Overview

Heavy Hand

A physical tank buster on the current main tank.

Warder’s Wrath

A moderate raidwide AoE that deals physical damage.

Gaoler’s Flail

Erichthonios will bring out two weapons in succession during the castbar. Mechanics will be executed after the castbar ends based on what weapons are used.

  • Sickles: A large 270 degree cleave on the side of the arena the sickle was on. Move to the opposite side to dodge. Can either be left or right.
  • Morningstar: A point-blank AoE around Erichthonios. Max melee range is safe.
  • Chakram: A donut AoE around Erichthonios.

Pitiless Flail of Grace and Pitiless Flail of Purgation

The current main tank will be marked with a line buster. This will knock them back, deal moderate damage, and inflict a magic vulnerability debuff. There needs to be a tank swap during the cast, as the boss will do a mechanic afterwards on whoever has aggro.

  • Grace is a stack marker on the tank – all players should stack behind the boss.
  • Purgation is a flare marker on the tank – the tank should run far away from both the other tank and the party.

Aetherial Shackles

Marks a random player with a red chain debuff – Shackles of Loneliness – and a purple chain debuff – Shackles of Companionship.

  • When Shackles of Loneliness resolves, the player will gain the Inescapable Loneliness debuff. When Inescapable Loneliness resolves, the three furthest players from that player will emit a large AoE around them which deals moderate magic damage and applies a magic vulnerability debuff, meaning players cannot be hit by more than one.
  • When Shackles of Companionship resolves, the player will gain the Inescapable Companionship debuff. When Inescapable Companionship resolves, the three closest players from that player will emit a small AoE around them which deals moderate magic damage and applies a magic vulnerability debuff, meaning players cannot be hit by more than one.

Intemperance

Erichthonios divides the arena into nine sections with three Spell Crystals each. These crystals will explode on a regular interval, inflicting players standing on them with Hot Spell (fire), Cold Spell (ice), and Disastrous Spell (purple).

  • Hot Spell and Cold Spell will deal minimal damage if the player has the opposite element or no element, but will deal massive damage and inflict a damage down debuff if they have the same element debuff.
  • Disastrous Spell will instantly kill the player.

In addition, if no one is on a section with Hot Spell or Cold Spell, all players will take damage and receive a damage down debuff.

Intemperate Torment

Erichthonios commands the crystals to start exploding.

Shining Cells

A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Changes the arena to a circle, with different coloured areas.

Aetherchain

Erichthonios will summon either red orbs or white orbs around him, which indicate the sections of the floor that will blow up.

Aetherflail

Erichthonios will do Aetherchain’s orb mechanic. In addition, he will do two Gaoler’s Flail mechanics, with one being a Sickle (left/right) and the other being Morningstar (out) or Chakram (in).

Shackles of Time

Inflicts a random player with the Shackles of Time debuff. When this debuff expires, the colour that the player is standing on will explode, damaging all players standing on that colour except for the debuffed player.

Slam Shut

A heavy raidwide AoE that deals magic damage. Changes the arena back into a square.

Fourfold Shackles

Inflicts four players with Shackles of Loneliness and four players with Shackles of Companionship. Each of these debuffs has a different duration: Three seconds, eight seconds, 13 seconds, and 18 seconds.

Fight Strategy

Phase 1

  • The fight begins with a tank buster.

  • Aetherial Shackles can be executed simply by standing on markers at respective clock spots. However, players will have to adjust which marker they are standing on based on the debuffs that are inflicted.

    • The player inflicted with Shackles of Loneliness MUST be on a numbered marker on the outside and the player inflicted with Shackles of Companionship MUST be on a lettered marker on the inside. The easiest way to do this is to just swap with a role partner if needed.
  • For Gaoler’s Flail, it will either be two Sickles, or Morningstar and Chakram. Therefore, the movement can either be left to right or right to left, or in then out or out then in.

  • The current offtank should Provoke during the castbar of Pitiless Flail, then either stack with the party in the middle if it is Grace or move far away from the party and the other tank if it is Purgation. The tank taking the Pitiless Flail hit needs be knocked back towards the corner or they will be knocked back into the wall.

  • Another Gaoler’s Flail will follow, which will be the opposite pattern as previous.

  • Intemperance will divide the arena into nine sections with crystals. Each player will have to soak the first crystal in their clock spot section, then fix their color so that they have the appropriate debuff to take the third crystal in their clock spot section.

    • First, stand in your assigned section based on clock spots, close to the middle in order to receive healing.
    • Next, players will have to use one of the sections in the middle column. If they do not need to fix their color for the third crystal, they will stand in the middle. Otherwise, they will use the North or South crystals to change their debuff. Do not stand in any section other than the middle column, as all of those will have purple crystals.
    • Finally, players should get healed up and head to their assigned section again to soak the final crystal.
    • One caveat is that sometimes the tank standing in the north section must take a damage down in order to satisfy the condition of needing to soak a crystal on the second explosion. This is avoided by the north tank and the northeast DPS always swapping places for the third crystal explosion.
  • Perform another Pitiless Flail mechanic, and heal up and mitigate for Shining Cells.

Ability Order

Heavy Hand
Aetherial Shackles
Warder's Wrath
Gaoler's Flail
Pitiless Flail of Grace -OR- Pitiless Flail of Purgation
Gaoler's Flail
Warder's Wrath
Intemperance
Intemperate Torment
Warder's Wrath
Warder's Wrath
Pitiless Flail of Purgation -OR- Pitiless Flail of Grace
Shining Cells

 

Phase 2

  • In this phase, the arena changes to a circular dartboard with two different colors - red and white/blue.

  • Aetherflail requires players to be on one of the colors, as well as perform a Sickle and a Morningstar/Chakram Gaoler’s Flail mechanic. Players can always head to one safe spot to resolve the entire mechanic.

    • For example, if the orb is white and the flail is left Sickle + Morningstar, players can head to a red platform on the right side of the arena on the outer ring to resolve it. Each mechanic happens in sequence, so players can read it out sequentially and head to the safe spot.
  • The tank taking the Pitiless Flail mechanic in this phase should hug the boss as closely as possible to ensure they do not get knocked into the wall.

  • For Shackles of Time, the player marked with the debuff should stand on a white panel and all other players should stand on a red panel, including the tank taking the tank buster.

  • Mitigate Slam Shut.

  • Fourfold Shackles inflicts the debuffs from Aetherial Shackles on all players with incremental durations. Players can resolve these by standing on the markers - red on outside, purple on inside - but the targets are random, meaning players will have to adjust quickly. However, players can go to assigned places based on what debuff they have and what duration the debuff is.

  • Once players are in position, simply stand on the markers until all debuffs are gone and heal through the mechanic.

  • The next Intemperance has a Gaoler’s Flail that occurs during it. Otherwise, it is performed the same as the first one.

    • Players will have to fix their color on the second explosion, perform the Flail mechanic, and then move back to their assigned spot.
  • Heal up and get ready for the final phase.

Ability Order

Aetherflail
Pitiless Flail of Grace -OR- Pitiless Flail of Purgation
Aetherflail
Shackles of Time
Heavy Hand
Slam Shut
Fourfold Shackles
Warder's Wrath
Intemperance
Intemperate Torment
Gaoler's Flail
Warder's Wrath
Shining cells

 

Phase 3

  • There are two sets of mechanics that are performed in a random order at the start of this phase.

  • The first set has a Shackles of Time along with a Pitiless Flail. Tank swap during the cast and perform the mechanic.

  • The player debuffed with Shackles of Time should stand on a white panel and all other players, including the tanks, should stand on a red panel.

  • The second set has an Aetherial Shackles along with Aetherchain orb mechanics.

  • Players will perform this exactly the same as the first Aetherial Shackles, but they will have to adjust where they are standing on the marker based on the colour of the panels that will explode.

    • For example, if the Aetherchain orbs are red, players will have to stand on the white panels on the markers. The markers should be directly between two panels, so the adjustment is easy.
  • After the first set, the other set of mechanics will happen.

  • The rest of the fight is simply Aetherflails and Warder’s Wraths. Perform these mechanics and pump damage before the enrage at 10:02!

Ability Order

Either

Shackles of Time
Pitiless Flail of Grace OR Pitiless Flail of Purgation
Warder's Wrath

 

-OR-

 

Aetherial Shackles
Aetherchain
Aetherchain
Warder's Wrath

 

Followed by the other one, then:

Aetherflail
Aetherflail
Aetherflail
Warder's Wrath
Warder's Wrath
Warder's Wrath
Lethe

 

Enrage is a hardcasted Lethe that occurs at 9:50 into the fight, wiping the raid at 10:02.

Party Finder Strategies

As the fights have just released, there are no strategies set in stone. I would highly recommend the strategies listed in this guide, as they are simple and effective.

Role Specific Tips

Tank

  • Mitigate the tank busters, Heavy Hand, Pitiless Flail of Grace, and Pitiless Flail of Purgation.
  • The offtank should tank swap during the Pitiless Flail castbar. The tank taking the hit should gap closer back and run away from the tank taking the mechanic, whether it is a flare or a stack.
  • The boss will jump to the middle for all mechanics that require it, so there is no complicated boss movement necessary.
  • The tank standing in the north section for Intemperance will have to swap with the DPS standing in the northeast section always.
  • Use party mitigation tools for Warder’s Wrath, Shining Cells, and Slam Shut.

Healer

  • There are long periods of incoming burst damage, such as during the first Intemperance and during Fourfold Shackles. Pre-mitigate for these and make sure all players are standing close to the center to receive heals.
  • Players that fail a mechanic during the Shining Cells phase will receive a heavy DoT that needs to be healed through.
  • While Warder’s Wrath only does moderate damage, many of them often happen in succession and with tandem with other mechanics so it is important to heal through them.
  • Use heavy mitigation tools for Shining Cells and Slam Shut, as these do much heavier damage. However, there is no incoming damage afterwards so healers can rely on healing over time to cover these.

DPS

  • This fight has 100% uptime. Melee DPS can stand at max melee for Gaoler’s Flail, Aetherflail, and any Shackle mechanic.
  • Use Addle and Feint for tank busters and raidwides, especially Shining Cells and Slam Shut.
  • Stand in the center to ensure you receive two minute buffs and healing before moving to your section during Intemperance.
  • The DPS standing in the northeast section for Intemperance will have to swap with the tank standing in the north section always.