ToC - Twin Valkyrs

Source: Lore (25-man)
Hi, I'm Lore from Tankspot, and welcome back to the Trial of the Crusader raid guide. In this video I'll be discussing the Twin Val'kyr, the fourth encounter available in the Coliseum raid instance.

Before the pull, you should separate out your DPS into two roughly equal groups, preferably with a mix of melee and ranged classes in each. One group will be assigned primarily to Edyis Darkbane, and the other to Fjola Lightbane. Once the fight begins, four portals will spawn around the room -- two light, and two dark. Using these portals will give you a buff called either Light or Dark Essence which does two things: absorbs all damage of the same type, and increases your damage done to the Val'kyr of the opposite type. So, at the start of the fight, everyone should click the portal of the opposite type of the Val'kyr they're assigned to -- light portal for Darkbane, and dark portal for Lightbane. Healers should click a portal at the start as well, but the color doesn't really matter.

Periodically throughout the fight, several small Light and Dark orbs will appear at the edges of the room and begin to float around. These will explode when touched, and deal a moderate amount of the appropriate damage type in a short radius. This damage can be absorbed by players with the same essence as the orbs, so when they spawn, everyone should quickly absorb any nearby same-color orbs. Aside from keeping those orbs from hitting other players, any time Light or Dark damage is absorbed by your essence, you'll recieve a stacking debuff called Powering Up. Once Powering Up reaches 100 stacks, you'll get a short term buff that gives you 100% increased damage to the opposite type.

About every 45 seconds, one of the two Val'kyr will use one of two random special abilities, one of which is Twin's Pact. This is a very powerful heal that will restore a very large amount of HP to both val'kyr if successfully cast. It needs to be interrupted quickly, but in order to do that you'll have to break through a damage shield that the twin casting the spell will put up beforehand. All ranged DPS who isn't currently attacking that twin should change their essence and switch targets until the shield is broken. Once the shield is down and the heal is interrupted, they can move back to their assigned target.

The second special ability will be either a Light or Dark vortex, depending on which twin is casting it. This is a raid-wide AOE that deals several pulses of the appropriate damage type. Everyone who is currently using the opposite essence will need to change quickly to absorb the damage. Note that this will increase your Powering Up stacks, so DPS who are close to hitting 100 stacks and need to change essense may want to consider moving over to the other twin temporarily. Otherwise, just change back when the AOE finishes.

Note that the twins have a shared health pool. Any damage done to one will be taken by both. The reason we spread the raid out between light and dark essence isn't specifically to split DPS, but to make sure there's enough of each to absorb all the orbs that come out, and keep from having the entire raid switching essence at the same time for a Vortex or Twin's Pact.

It's also important to note that the twins can absorb orbs and will gain the damage buff if they absorb enough of them. This is why we have the raid relatively spread around the room -- to make sure all of the orbs get picked up before they get to one of the Val'kyr.

In this kill, we have the twins positioned roughly evenly between the two portals on either side. If you prefer, you can tank them near a portal of the same color. This will make it easy for melee and tanks to change colors quickly if needed, but they'll have a longer run to get to the other portal and change back. We found it simpler to keep them in a more central location. Ultimately, the positioning doesn't matter as much as simply understanding the mechanics of the encounter and how to deal with them. Once you've got it all figured out, it's just a matter of execution.

It's also worth mentioning that the Light and Dark damage is affected by resistances. Dark abilities deal Shadow damage, and Light abilities deal Fire damage. Most of the Dark and Light damage should be getting absorbed by players using the proper essences, but accidents can happen, and Shadow or Fire resistance buffs and auras can help create a little extra margin for error.

Thanks for watching this video. As always, if you'd like more information on this or any other encounter, check the Project Marmot forums at Tankspot.com. If you're watching this on YouTube, just follow the link in the movie details. Good luck!

Source: Lore (10-man)
Hi, this is Lore from Tankspot, and welcome back to the Trial of the Crusader raid guide. This video will be discussing our strategy for the 10-man Normal version of the Twin Valk'yrs encounter.

The key to the Twin Valk'yrs encounter lies in the effective use of Light and Dark Essence. You can acquire an essence of a particular color by clicking on one of the portals which will spawn around the room shortly before the fight begins. While affected by Light Essence, you will deal extra damage to the Dark Valk'yr, Eydis Darkbane, and absorb all Light-based damage in the encounter. Likewise, when you have Dark Essence, you'll deal extra damage to Fiola Lightbane and absorb all Dark-based damage.

Absorbing damage is critical to your success, as not only does it make the job much easier for healers, but every absorbed hit will contribute to a stacking debuff called Powering Up. Once Powering Up reaches 100 stacks, you'll get a short term damage buff called either Empowered Light or Empowered Darkness depending on which essence you currently have active.

Periodically, several orbs of light or dark energy will appear at the edges of the room and begin to float around in random directions. When touched, these will explode for a fair amount of AOE damage. Players need to touch the orbs of the same color as their essence, and carefully avoid orbs of the opposite color. This is one of the primary ways for DPS to stack Powering Up, so ideally healers should be the opposite color of the group they're healing in order to avoid stealing orbs from DPS.

Roughly every 60 seconds, one of the twins will begin to cast one of two special abilities: Twin's Pact or Vortex. When Vortex is chosen, everyone in the raid needs to immediately switch to that twin's color if they aren't already, as the twin will begin to channel a high damage non-interruptable AOE that hits the entire raid. Both twins should be tanked near the opposite color portal in order to let everyone switch quickly. Keep in mind that when your essence changes, your damage buff will change to the opposite twin. Ranged DPS especially should switch targets during Vortex. Keep an eye on your Powering Up stacks as well -- if you're close to 100, you'll want to make the most of your incoming Empowered Light or Darkness buff.

When Twin's Pact is chosen, the twin casting it will shield herself and begin channeling a massive heal. All DPS needs to focus on that twin quickly, changing essence if necessary, in order to break the shield and expose the caster to interrupts such as Kick or Pummel. Healers and tanks don't need to change essence for Twin's Pact, and once it's been interrupted, any DPS that had to swap can switch back to their original essence.

Note that the twins share a health pool -- any damage dealt to one will be taken by the other as well. If you wanted, you could just have all the DPS use the same essence and focus entirely on one twin. However, it's best to split DPS somewhat evenly, for two reasons. First, it allows you to have DPS collecting both color orbs, which means faster Powering Up stacks. It also means you'll always have at least some DPS started already when Twin's Pact is cast, and you don't have to risk a heal getting off because the entire raid didn't swap targets fast enough.

The Twin Valk'yr encounter uses a very unique mechanic that can be somewhat confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it this is ultimately a very simple encounter. Just remember - Only touch orbs of the same color as your essence, make sure you're hitting the twin of the opposite color of your essence, and watch carefully for the cues to switch essences. If you'd like to know more information on the Twin Valk'yrs or any other encounter, check the Project Marmot forums at TankSpot.com. If you're watching this on YouTube, just follow the link in the movie details. Thanks for watching, and good luck!

(Information provided by http://www.tankspot.com)