This guide comes from the official forums and is made by Andreasels from Macantacht Server, so credits for this to Andreasels. The guide was made in 2011 (lvl 60 cap I believe), when this instance was just out. I made small adjustments to the original post.
Note: If you die in Varanas Nightmare you get no debt only gear duration loss.
Requirements
1.1 Player
Varanas' Nightmare is basicly made for a raid of 36 people.
Our firstclear we made with a raid of 26 people. The instance should be doable with a minimum of 12 (very-)high equipped players, if you are willing to make the effort. It is good playable with 18 people. For this guide, we asume that you are 18-24 people, which is our recommened raid size.
Recommened are 3 tanks and a main healer for every group. Additionally it is recommened to take a 2nd healer for every group, especially when you are inexperienced (can also be a M/P on secondary equip, since it is mainly for support). All the rest of raid should be filled with damage dealers.
Note: With current level cap being 92, you can trio or even duo it as endgame dps (with decent defence) with a decent healer.
1.2 Time
With an experienced group, the whole instance is clearable in less than half an hour. For your first tries you should be prepared to need a few hours though, since some parts need a high amount of practice and coordination.
1.3 Equip
In Varanas Nightmare it is not all about damage output, like in most other content nowadays. The bossfight got several, clearly seperated phases, which makes it impossible to just nuke the boss (at least not on the nowadays possible gear level).
Most important part is surviving, so all core players are available, at the hard phases. It is recommend that the DDs can buff themselves (Hero Potion, Grassland Mix, Touch of the Unicorn/Grace of Life) to more than 100k HP. Healers a bit more and tanks should have way more of course.
You can say that for everyone, who can farm the higher modes of Raksha Temple and the Kawak's Tomb that the damage should be enough (RT Diamond weapons should be standard anyway in parties who are willing to go to VN). Most important is to stay alive, so you can deal this damage.
Again: except a few parts, the damage is not the critical thing. Except on the last phase, you got nearly endless time to bring the boss down. Concentration and coordination are the weapon to beat this boss.
Note: When you duo or trio this you do need a good dps output.
2. How to spawn Nightmare Androlier
2.1 Trash
Before the fun part starts, you need to kill some trash. On the way to the destroyed marketplace of Varanas there are 6 Crevices of Fear, guarded by 3 boss monsters each (Cold Nightmare, Coprse Nightmare and Storm Nightmare). You need to defeat those 3 guardians. After that the crevice will be attackable. Nuke the crevice down and let one DD stay there, who keeps the crevice at 0%. When all crevices reached this unstable state, phase 2 begins. From this phase on, it is possible to talk to the crevices and teleport right to the marketplace. The DDs which stayed at the crevices should use this option.
2.2 The three Dark Nightmares
Before Androlier is willing to face you, you need to defeat his 3 henchmen. Those 3 mini bosses spawn at the marked corners on the marketplace. You got 180 seconds to kill all 3 of them. If you fail, your effort till then was wasted and the instance resets after a short waiting time. If so, rinse and repeat the previous.
Every mini boss got 10 million HP. In best case, you got 3 tanks, which split according to boss spawnpoints and tank the bosses apart the group, since all of them got different special skills, which are mostly AoE.
First of all you should kill the War Illusion, since it spawns nearest to the group. This horse casts a high range AoE fear effect.
Next, you should kill the Treacherous Illusion. This demon causes mana drain, if you are near him.
Last but not least, kill the Doom Illusion. This lady causes percentage based AoE damage similar to Ancalon, which you should try to evade.
Specific details to the bosses, you will find in Part 4.
3. Short Guide to Nightmare Androlier
After Androlier spawned, you got 600 seconds to start the encounter. After the countdown reached zero, the whole instance will get resetted. Different to the previeous mini bosses, you got more than one try though. It is enough to pull Androlier and die to reset the timer. So from here on, you got endless time to try yourself on beating Androlier.
Note: The boss is only available after the worldbanner showed, telling about Julius Lefay having a nightmare. The 3 minibosses will always be up and can be farmed however.
The Bossfight got several phases:
3.1 Androlier phase
While Androlier is fought, he releases an AoE over the whole instance for 45k every 15 seconds.
Also, every 30 seconds, a debuff (Deadly Nightmare) is spread, which fears the affected people. If the debuff runs out, you die. The debuff hits random people inside the instance. How many people get hit depends on how many people are in the Raid. With 18-24 people, 2 will be affected by the debuff. If you are in a 12 man party, it only affects one, with more than 4 groups, 3 people will get the debuff, and so on. The exact caps, we didn't check out.
Very important on this: The debuff hits the amount of players (depending on the raid size) and all players around them. So it is essential that the raid is spread out and with gaps between each other, so not more people than needed are getting affected.
The debuff can be removed to prevent the players from dieing. As soon as the encounter begins, every player gets an addition skill (Friendly Call) in the Extra Action Bar (Alt+1 shortcut by default). This skill can only be used on targets, which are affected by the fear. If the skill gets used successfully, the buff "Bond of Friendship" will be on the target. This buff is stackable. When the buff is stacked 7 times, the fear will be removed and the player is saved.
The skill has a range of 50 (melee skill range) and a cooldown of 4 seconds. So when the fears are spread, you should check asap, who got the debuff and move to this player to use the skill on him. With some practice, it is possible to stack the buff twice on the player per person.
Coordination is the most important here. Always stay spread out, so as few people as possible get hit by the debuff. Decide fast, who you are gonna save. Check, who is nearest to you. Tanks and healers always got VIP state here ! Except the maintank, everyone should participate on the rescuing, the mainhealers still should have an eye of the raid though. In this phase, you got an endless amount of time, so damage on boss is not really important.
Letting the affected die and run in again is no real option. We tried this in the beginning, but it is just annoying. You will never have enough people in the critical phases of the fight and if a tank or a healer dies, the whole raid might wipe.
3.2 Add phases
Every 25% of boss HP, an add phase starts. Androlier despawns and instead of him adds will spawn.
On 75%, one add comes, on 50% two and on 25% even 3 adds will spawn. Every add got 4 million HP. So we recommend 3 tanks, so every tank can focus on one add. Attention: while the add phase, the raid is hit by massive damage!
When the adds are defeat, Androlier joins back the fight and the Androlier phase is repeated. If the adds aren't killed fast enough, Androlier will get healed by 25% per remaining add. So in worst case, he will get back to 100%. According this, the add phase is the only phase where you need enough damage.
Additional details to the adds and their skills you will find further in this guide.
3.3 The Androcalypse
Together with phase change at 25%, "Last Nightmare" begins. When Androlier despawns, every player gets a debuff, which runs two and a half minutes. When the debuff ends, the whole raid will get killed, so you need to have defeat Androlier, before this happens.
First of all, the 3 adds need to be killed, so Androlier respawns. While you do this, a noticeable amount of your remaining time is needed. You got maximum 1 minute to kill the 3 adds. When the debuff has 1:30 minutes remaining, Androlier respawns, wether you killed the adds or not. When the adds didn't die fast enough, you can abort this try already, since the remaining time won't be enough to bring Androlier again to the 25% phase and kill the adds.
If you succeed to kill the adds in time, Androlier respawns. In this last phase, no more people get feared. But don't feel too safe. Instead of the fear, some old friends, the 3 mini bosses before Androlier, come back. They race out of their corners towards the raid (they are really faster than you might expect) and will wipe your raid, if they aren't caught by the tanks and drawn away from party.
Additionally some flame fields will spawn all over the marketplace, which cause additional damage to the raid.
In this last phase, only concentrate on prevent the mini bosses to reach the raid and go full damage on Androlier. As soon Androlier dies, the adds will despawn.
3.4 Loot
The trashmobs will drop random items and Powders (for repeatable quest), the minibosses will drop random items and Fear Fragments (for quest you need 30 total). Andolier itself will drop Aoth set items (especially the mage and knight one is very good, till the Arcanium Chamber even the best obtainable in game) and the Chest along will do the same (chest only spawns if you killed Andolier fast enough). Next to that you get random items from boss and chest, and some fun items replenishing attributes for anyone clicking it.
After you cleared VN, the Encounter has 8 hours respawn time. It is possible to clear the crevices and mini bosses again, before the 8 hours are passed, but Androlier won't spawn then. 8 hours after the kill, a global banner will tell you that Androlier is available again.
4. Details to the Bosses
4.1 Androlier
Androlier has 43 million HP.
From beginning on, he has a buff (Androlier's Shadow), which regenerates him 30k HP per second.
While the fight, he additionally gets a permanent, stackable buff (Sacrifical of Fear). The exact meaning of this buff is unknown, but he seems to be linked to the number of people, who died by the debuff. Maybe the buff is a kind of enrage, but we never got to such a point. Either you are able to do the encounter, or many people will die and you got a high chance to wipe the whole raid, before the debuff stacks high enough anyway.
Every 15 seconds, he casts Androlier's Attack, which is a 45k AoE over the whole instance.
Additionally he casts the following two debuffs on the raid. Normally at begin of the fear phase, to make your life even harder.
Life Control reduces efficiency of healing effects by 50%.
Movement Control prevents you from moving for 4 seconds and lowers your cast and attack speed by 50%.
Apart from this, every 30 seconds there will be a fear phase.
Enter Nightmare hits a specific amount (linked to the size of raid) of random players and all players around them. The range for contagion is 50, so this is the minimum range you should keep from each other. The debuff lasts 5 seconds and drains 10% HP per second. If the 45k AoE comes on this time, players with low HP, can maybe die here already. The debuff is spread along with the Text Message: "Sirloth' Phantom's voice resounds: Cry out! Let the deepest darkness enter your souls!". As soon as Enter Nightmare ends, Deadly Nightmare starts. This debuff runs 10 econds. While this time, you are feared and according to this can't use any skills. When the debuff runs out, you die. The text message "Sirloth' Phantom's voice resounds: Our fears become reality in your nightmares!" tells you the end of this phase. Players, who weren't cleansed by the debuff will get the message "The horrible dream was too real. You have been feared to death". This message appears two times. So Phoenix Redemtion doesn't help you, since you get killed twice two times after each other. The Phoenix triggers, but after that you still die. In the final phase oft he encounter, Androlier spreads the debuff Last Nightmare over the whole raid. This debuff runs for two and a half minutes. When Androlier isn't defeat in meantime, you will die, when the debuff runs out.
Following skills don't belong to Androlier himself, but since they are linked tot he Fear, i will name them here:
Julius' Determination is a permanent Buff, which you got while the whole encounter. This buff grants you the additional Skill Friendly Call. This skill has a range of 50 and a cooldown of 4 seconds. When you use it on a party member, which is affected by "Deadly Nightmare", he will get a protecting buff. The skill is on the Extra Action Bar, which is used by Alt+1 by default.
Bond of Friendship is a protecting Buff, which you get from "Friendly Call". You need 6 or 7 Stacks to get rescued. Cause of lags it is not clearly possible to see, if the 6th Stack rescues you after a small amount of time, or if the 7th rescues you immediatly.
4.2 Androlier's Outrage
One of the 3 adds, which spawn while the encounter. This one looks like Androlier's Strengths in Necropolis of Mirrors and has 4 million HP.
He spreads the debuff Source of Anger, which lowers the defense of whole raid for 6 seconds by 50%. The debuff hits every non knight or / knight for around 50k initial damage and ticks two times for 4500 damage each after this.
4.3 Androlier's Memory
One oft he 3 adds, which spawn while the encounter. This one looks like Androlier's Shadow in Necropolis of Mirrors and has 4 million HP.
He spreads the debuff Dreadful Memory, which lowers the cast- and attack speed of whole raid for 10 seconds by 30%. The debuff hits every non knight or /knight for around 50k initial damage and ticks for 4500 damage after this. Additionally he spreads the debuff Mangled Memories every 10 seconds, which lasts 10 seconds and ticks for 4500 damage.
4.4 Androlier's Obsession
One of the 3 adds, which spawn while the encounter. This one looks like Androlier's Prisoner in Necropolis of Mirrors and has 4 million HP.
He spreads the debuff Obsession Attack, which lowers the magic damage of whole raid for 10 seconds by 50%. The debuff hits every non knight or / knight for around 50k initial damage and ticks for 4500 damage after this. Additionally he has the attack Earth Splitting Slash (?), a 2 second cast, which results into a heavy front AoE with high range. This add should be turned away from Raid!
When Androlier reaches a 25%-turn, the text message: "Shape and structure of Nightmare Androlier become pure darkness again and it seems, there is a force considering inside it" appears. Right after this, the respective number of Adds spawns.
When the adds are dead, or the time limit exceeds, Androlier comes back along with the message: "The Darkness, which the darkness delivers, reinforces in the shape of Nightmare Androlier"
4.5 War Illusion
One of the 3 mini bosses before Androlier, which also spawns on last phase of Androlier. This boss has 10 million HP.
He has the spell Demonic Mutterings, which fears all players in range. Note that a feared tank looses the agro temporary.
4.6 Treacherous Illusion
One of the 3 mini Bosses before Androlier, which also spawns on last phase of Androlier. This boss has 10 million HP. He has the spell Anger Flame Attack, which hits everyone in range and causes 7500 damage and 1500 mana drain every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Additionally the tank gets hit by Flames eat the City (?), which drains of 50% of the HP, so the tank should have a strong healer in his back. Also he should go max aggro from start on, since the mana drain is really heavy.
4.7 Doom Illusion
One of the 3 mini bosses before Androlier, which also spawns on last phase of Androlier. This boss has 10 million HP. He has the spell End of Life, a channeled spell, which drains five times 23% of HP. You should try to avoid this cast. Additionally the mana costs of all surrounding players is raised by 30% with Demonic Gift. With Demonic Heaven, randomly people will get feared for 3 seconds.
5. Details, Tricks and Hints
The requirements posted on start, aren't the minimum requirements of course. With respective experience and group, the encounter is always possible with lower equip, but for the first clears, it is advised to have a bit higher health and /or healers for safety aspect.
Now, here are some hints and tricks, which might help you with upcoming problems and/or save you time, finding them out by yourself.
5.1 Performance
Cause of the high number of players and the many effects along with this, some of us had major FPS Problems at the beginning.
It is helpful for sure to eliminate unneeded effects, either over RemoveSpellEffects, or with the Option in Video / Audio Settings-Menu. Also all players should hide their equip in Character Screen.
It is advised to make a relog before starting and after a few tries to prevent position-lags, since it helps much for de-fearing if you see the exact position of your party member. Some of us also realized major Performance boosts with Ikarus 2 instead of qUnitFrames.
5.2 Formation
It is important that there is enough space (minimum of range 50 = melee skill range) between the players, so as few people as possible get hit by the fear. It is advising to form several autonomous groups, which place themselves on different sides of the boss. In middle of those groups always the main healer and in a circle around all other members in Group Heal range. Melees / Tanks on front, ranged DDs and support healer behind. For better orientation, the main healers can be marked with a number over their head.
After every fear phase everyone should go back to his original position and jump one time (cause of position lag) and check the spaces between players.
While the add phases, the 3 tanks go into center of the different groups, to catch the adds. You can also separate the tanks into the groups from start on.
We normally use the central fountain as battleground. Like that, the groups can place themselves in the circle already without pulling the boss by accident. Also it is easy to orientate yourself at the different objects near you to get back to your position. The boss will be tanked exact in the middle.
5.3 Fear
Try to realize fast, who has the debuff. Best is, if you do so, while the prebuff "Enter Nightmare" is still active.
If you got smartBuffBars, you can configure the Party Buff Bar to only show the buffs "Enter Nightmare" and "Deadly Nightmare" by using the Whitelist.
Configure your Raid-Interface good, so you can see the Debuff of people clearly.
Tell on TS clearly with name and group, when you got feared
Also Chat-Makros on "Say-Chat" help, since you can orientate better, where a feared person is, since you see the text-bubble over his head.
If no one is affected in your group, help in nearby groups.
The maintank should never help on de-fearing, so Androlier stays on his spot. But he should get de-feared fast, when he gets Fear. While the maintank is feared, he looses aggro. So one of the other tanks should stay 2nd in aggro list. It is also possible to taunt the boss in this time.
The cleansing of fear must work very well. For first tries, the boss damage should be ignored to practice only positioning and cleansing.
The feared people move very fast and the extra skill has a very small range.
The Emote Kneel (/kneel) stops you from moving and keeps you on your spot. By using this, you are still able to get to the feared players in time and give them the protection buff.
A note from our side: The Bug, that some Emotes prevent Fear Effects is known for long time already and is not wanted for sure. Basicly the use of /kneel to prevent running from fear is counted as exploit.
Sadly, the encounter is only doable with much luck, without using this bug. If you don't use it, you need to go for max DPS to get maximum one fear per Androlier phase. The people who get feared there you would need to let die and let run in again and avoid the deficit of players by pure mass of participators.
Only by using the emote, you can play the encounter with the tactic, which is meant to be used by cleansing the fear. Even with the emote, the encounter is quite challenging.
If you think that the "just rape it" tactic is better than trying to do the encounter with the tactic, which is meant to be used, can do this, if he wants to.
5.4 Add phases
Before every add phase, you should take a damage stop. Wait till the fear is cleansed, before you start the phase change. Nothing is more annoying than dealing with the adds and the fear at the same time.
Often it can happen that you successfully kill the adds and Androlier respawns, but cause of his 30k regen, he gets back over the HP phase cap, so the same add phase will start again. Try to deal enough damage surplus at the boss before the phase change. When the boss respawns, take him in target directly and continue damaging him.
Some of us had the problem that spawning and despawning of adds was causing a freeze. The change from qUnitframes to Ikarus 2 solved this problem.
If players died they shouldn't run into the instance at a phase change. The adds spawn randomly on a player somewhere inside the instance. If an add spawns at a player who is just running back inside, it is impossible to kill it in time.
Especially the 25% phase should be hard for the most groups on start. Every add has a 50k AoE, Androliers Obsession additionally has a very strong front AoE.
The adds spawn around 5 seconds after Androlier despawned.
Healer: Right after spawn of Adds, the priests can use "Holy Candle Shield"; to protect from the AoE damage. Also they should use "Blessing of Humility", since the heal aggro will be very high cause of the high AoE damage and the tanks got a hard time to control the adds.
Tanks: As soon as Androlier despawns, the tanks should spread into the groups, so that there is a tank near every add. Aggro Food and "Hatred Strike" should be ready to produce aggro very quick. The tank who tanks Androlier's Obsession should turn him away from group immediately, otherwise, the Front AoE can wipe the whole group easily.
DD's: Use the seconds till adds spawn to use damage increasing foods and buffs like Strong Stimulant. Scouts should use the Set Skill "Arrow Shield" to reduce damage. If a adds spawns near them, also "Wrist Attack" is helpful. One of the 3 adds should die as quick as possible, before the next AoE wave of adds starts.
With some practice, you will find the right timing and complete the hardest phase of the encounter successfully to finish off Androlier after.
You should think about the order, you kill the adds in.
Androlier's Outrage debuffs the defense of all players and has a stong AoE. Since all AoEs are based on pdef, this add should die early, since dead DDs ain't do any damage.
Andorlier's Memory reduces the raid DPS and healing. Since the time for adds respective to group and dead DDs is very short, he should die next.
Androlier's Obsession dies last, since the most dangerous of him is his front AoE, which is no problem on right positioning.
5.5 End-Phase
When the adds of the 25% Phase are dead, the tanks need to get on the way immediately to catch the mini bosses.
The Doom Illusion shouldn't reach the raid by any circumstances. Since it has several long casts this add can be also kited easily by a Scout, if you are with less tanks.
5.6 Misc stuff
Sometimes it happens that the boss goes crazy and changes aggro. In this case you can only abort the try. It happens very often on first try, so we normally reset the boss once, before we start for real.
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