Dungeon Guide for The Merchant's Tale (Advanced)

The second of three difficulties in the new Variant and Criterion (V/C) dungeon system rework, Advanced difficulty presents the final bosses from each of the three main routes in the Variant version as a new challenge. In this version of the V/C dungeon, players can choose the order in which they face the bosses. The duty can be completed after each boss, but players are given the option to continue the duty and challenge all three, with rewards increasing for each boss they defeat.

This version of the dungeon can be accessed by a party of 2-4 players who must be level 100 Disciples of War or Magic. Boss HP scales based on the number of players in the instance, and players have access to the same Variant Actions as they did when entering the Variant version of this dungeon.

Unlocking this version of the V/C dungeon requires completion of the quest "A Spellbinding Read." Additionally, players must have defeated each of the three unique route bosses in the Variant version of The Merchant's Tale. Once these requirements are met, players can speak with Memolivia in Old Sharlayan (X:11.9, Y:13.3).

In the Advanced version of the dungeon, players will face Pari of Plenty, The Lone Swordmaster, and Darya the Sea-maid.

Pari will open the fight by casting Heat Burst, doing raid-wide damage at the end of the cast.

The boss will jump to a wall and begin telegraphing a line AoE on her right or left side (the same side as the cast name). She will also telegraph Fireflight arrows to show where she will dash to. While dashing, she will cleave the entire portion of the room on the same side that the AoE showed. If she cast Right Fireflight, the players want to stay to her left side as she is dashing, and vice versa.

Just like in Variant, at the end of the Fireflight dashes, the boss will cast a huge donut AoE, leaving the only safe spot under her.

The boss will spawn a clone of herself that will telegraph Right/Left Fireflight, except the clone will only dash once directly opposite of where it is, causing it to do a half-room cleave. The clone will not do Sun Circlet.

Pari will spawn tethers on each player, tethering them to one additional player. To resolve these, each player should start in the center of the room then move out to opposite walls to break them. At the same time, she will spawn Charming Baubles gems that will do a plus sign AoE. The clone and the gems will all resolve at the same time, but the tethers can be broken slightly before those resolve.

Doubling + Charmed Chains will happen twice back to back.

This is a tankbuster that does a point-blank AoE around the player with aggro.

The boss will move to the middle of the room and begin channeling this ability. While channeling, a line AoE in the same direction as the cast name will appear, and the boss will telegraph clockwise or counterclockwise arrows, indicating that she will do a half-room cleave by rotating the line AoE in the direction shown. Which side she cleaves is based on where the line AoE is after it swipes. For example, clockwise then clockwise would swipe one half of the room and then the other, while clockwise then counterclockwise would swipe the same side twice. Remember the order of the arrows and prepare to dodge accordingly. At the same time, there will be a tether from the boss. A new tether will appear every time the boss swipes half of the arena, and the player who takes the tether will get a Dark Vulnerability Up debuff, preventing them from taking two. We recommend a part composition of Tank, Melee, Healer, Ranged for the order, as this is an arbitrary order that party finder uses regularly for other fights. If you don't like this order, you are free to adjust it however you wish.

The boss will again telegraph Fireflight the same as she did in the beginning, only this time, there are fake telegraphs as well. Keep an eye on which path the boss actually takes, as only this determines where the cleaves will be. She will again end the mechanic with another Sun Circlet.

The boss will again cast a raid-wide damage spell before continuing with the next mechanic.

Pari will put debuffs on two of the players. One debuff looks like three people huddled together, and is a stack. The other looks like a circle, and is a large spread AoE. The boss will also summon multiple red Charming Bauble gems, leaving only two tiles safe. The spread player should make sure not to occupy the same tile as the rest of the party, or they will kill everyone.

Pari summons two clones of herself that will do the same half-room cleaves as during Doubling. One clone will be halfway along a wall, and another will be in a corner, effectively telegraphing that only 1/8th of the room will be safe at a time. Each clone will dash twice, the second time returning to its original spawn point. At the same time, she summons a Charming Bauble gem in the center of the room, which will do another plus sign AoE, slightly further reducing the available space.

Raid-wide damage cast that grants the boss the Fury buff.

While under the effect of Fury, the boss will cast this and summon fireballs that expand slowly on the ground. She spawns multiple sets, during which the players will get large puddle AoEs baited on them that will leave a fire puddle. A stack will also appear on one player, requiring players to leave an open safe space for everyone to converge into to stack.

The boss will cast this raid-wide damage spell, which will also clear the AoE puddles the players dropped during the previous mechanic.

From here, Pari will repeat mechanics that are resolved in the same way as previously until the end of the fight.

The boss will open the fight with this raid-wide cast shortly after being pulled.

Just like in the Variant version of the dungeon, the boss will put a ring on each player divided into quadrants. If a red quadrant is hit by a directional source of damage, the player takes high damage and fails the mechanic.

The boss will spawn two tethers, one on two different players. The tethered player will have a green semi-circle with arrows that show that the tether will do damage from that direction to the ring around the player. The party should have a player take the tether who does not have a red quadrant in the same direction that the tether arrow is pointing. Be aware that this will now turn the quadrant of the player ring hit red, preventing them from taking directional damage in that quadrant for the rest of the mechanic. It is necessary to ensure that each player still has one North or South and one East or West non-red quadrant remaining for a later mechanic, so keep that in mind when grabbing a tether.

The boss will telegraph two alternating sets of conal AoEs. Stand in the second and dodge into the first.

Next, four aetherial blades will spawn and use Unyielding Will. This is exactly the same as it is in the Variant version of the dungeon. The blade will always make an L, so position so that the L impacts a side of the Malefic Quartering player ring that is not red.

One player will get marked with an orange marker above their head. At the same time, a number of swords will rotate around the boss. The number of swords tells you how many people need to be hit by the orange marker. For example, if two swords are floating around the boss, then the marked player will need one other person to stand with them when the mechanic resolves. At the end of the cast if it was Near to Heaven, the boss will use a point-blank AoE followed by a donut AoE. If it was Far From Heaven instead, it will be a donut AoE followed by a point-blank AoE. Start so that each player is safe from the first AoE and walk into where it hit after it goes off, making sure to stand either with the orange marker person or away from them as necessary. Any extra people standing with the orange marker person will be sent flying into the death wall.

Each player will be targeted by a fairly large fire puddle AoE that will drop at their current position. Players should stack up together and be prepared to rotate together out of the AoEs, as they will drop three sets.

Between the first and second set of Echoing Heat AoEs, the boss will cast Wolf's Crossing, at the end of which she will place a delayed detonation plus sign AoE on the ground. This AoE will detonate at the same time as the third set of Echoing Heat puddles spawn.

One more set of Echoing Heat puddles will spawn under each player, but this time the puddles will detonate in an 8-way starburst line AoE instead of leaving behind a fire puddle.

Immediately following Echoing Eight, the boss will cast another Near to Heaven/Far From Heaven that is resolved the same way as the first time.

The player with aggro is targeted with a tankbuster.

The boss will telegraph four 90 degree conal AoEs, each with a directional arrow. Getting hit will apply the Malefic Quartering ring to each player, and the direction they got hit will be red. This cast happens twice in a row, forcing players to choose which two of their quadrants will be red. It is again recommended to ensure that each player has at least one East/West and one North/South quadrant open to complete the next mechanic. To make the next mechanic easier, the entire party can take the south cleave then the east cleave (or any two adjacent cleaves) so that everyone has the same orientation during it.

The boss will again telegraph two sets of alternating conal AoEs. Start in the second and step into the first after it goes off. This time, the arena will be divided into quadrants by four sets of aetherial blades. Each quadrant will get hit by two of the blades, indicated by the arrows on the floor. Position so that both arrows are intersecting non-red quadrants on each player's Malefic Quartering ring, or a player who fails to do so will take very high damage and receive a Vulnerability Up debuff. At the same time that this mechanic is happening, the boss will cast another Echoing Heat. They are timed so that every time the aetherial blades resolve, the party drops puddles on the ground. There are four sets of blades and puddle drops.

The boss will cast another Near to Heaven/Far From Heaven, followed immediately by another Sting of the Scorpion tankbuster.

This is the same as it was in the Variant version of the dungeon. Three sets of AoEs will spawn and detonate in the order they spawned. Start in the third set and rotate into the first for an easy dodge.

Each player will be marked with an AoE marker. When the marker resolves, each player will explode with a point-blank AoE that gives a Physical Damage Vulnerability, preventing players from stacking the markers. After the players explode, another 8-way starburst AoE will spawn where each player was standing. Position around the arena so that there are safe spots that are not being overlapped.

The boss will do a half-room cleave in the direction she is facing at the end of the cast.

Handled the same as before.

This raid-wide damage also spawns fire squares around the room, leaving only half of each quadrant safe.

The boss will cast Malefic Quartering again, this time each player will get two red quadrants on their rings. This is followed immediately by another Malefic Alignment, allowing players to choose which of their two remaining quadrants becomes red. To resolve the next mechanic properly, there should be one player with north open, one with east open, one with west open, and one with south open.

The boss will telegraph two sets of conal AoEs. Again start in the second set and step into the first after it resolves. These cones also spawn new aetherial blades, one on each wall, showing a directional arrow similar to other mechanics before now. Immediately after, each player will get a chain marker above their heads, tethering them to another player when it vanishes. Everyone should start in the middle of the room, then fan out into the quadrant in which they will be safe from their Malefic Quartering ring when the tethers form.

Immediately following the resolution of the chains, the boss will cast another Malefic Portent. Each player can only take one possible tether, so ensure that the players who can take a tether correctly do so.

Another raid-wide damage that clears the fire tiles.

From here, the boss repeats previously seen mechanics until the end of the fight. Handle them exactly as before.

Darya will open the fight with this raid-wide damage cast.

The boss will summon four types of adds around the room. These are the same adds she summons in the Variant version of the dungeon, plus crabs and sea turtles.

The boss will telegraph a music score with an image of the adds in a specific order. At the end of the cast, the adds will each fire a line AoE in the order that they were shown on the music score.

The boss will summon donuts and orbs made of water around the room. Like in the Variant version, some of these will crack first, indicating that they will resolve first. The donuts will do a donut AoE, while the orbs do a point-blank AoE. They seem to always spawn with donuts in the corners of the room, and two orbs either one north and one south, or one east and one west. Look for the orb that cracks second, leaving the donuts beside it safe. Make sure to dodge away from the second orb explosion after the donuts resolve.

At the same time as Sunken Treasure is resolving, the boss will mark two players with an orange marker. A few seconds later, those players will be targeted by a large point-blank AoE that applies a Magic Vulnerability Up debuff, preventing them from being stacked. This can go on any combination of players, so split into DPS and Support pairs with supports prioritizing south or west, and DPS prioritizing north or east. Have the Tank and DPS1 swap groups if there are two of the same role marked.

The boss will target the player with aggro with a line AoE tankbuster.

The boss will turn several tiles on the arena unsafe with water puddles. Touching a water tile will afflict the player with a Dropsy damage over time debuff.

The boss will tether two pairs of players together. This tether requires players to be far apart from each other, or take ticking damage and Vulnerability Up stacks.

After spawning the tethers, the boss will summon a water pillar that will do a knockback. The knockback pushes the player about four tiles, and can be negated with Surecast and Arm's Length. Players should be careful to get knocked back in a way that does not cause their tether to tick damage, or put them on a water tile. Immediately after the knockback resolves, a second water pillar will spawn and do another knockback.

The boss will cast another raid-wide damage spell.

Like in Variant mode, the boss will move around the room leaving behind markers that will detonate at the end of the mechanic. This time, however, one player is given a stack marker, and another is given one of the same markers that she places around the arena, indicating that they will detonate in a point-blank AoE. Both the stack and the point-blank AoE apply Magic Vulnerability Up, preventing them from stacking. To resolve this, have the player that is marked with the point-blank AoE go to the west safe corner, and the party go to the east safe corner for the stack. Additionally, the markers she places on the floor will disappear after a moment, so remember where they were before they explode as they are still there, only invisible!

The boss will cast another set of tethers immediately before casting the next mechanic.

This mechanic is similar to how it was in the Variant, except both moving line AoEs will go off at the same time.

At the same time as Sea Shackles and Ceaseless Current, the boss will also telegraph two 90 degree conal AoEs that will fire at the end of the cast. The party will need to dodge the Ceaseless Current lines while standing in the safe quadrants for Surging Current, and while staying the correct distance from their tether partners so the tether doesn't fail.

After the previous tethers and dodges resolve, the boss will put a Forced March debuff on each player. The arrow indicates which way your character will be forced to move when the debuff expires. The direction is based on which way your character is facing.

The boss will target each player with a small AoE that will explode after a few seconds. Each player will drop three puddles.

This time, the boss will target each player with an orange marker that will resolve at the end of the Forced March. Players should position so that their forced marches take them each into different corners to avoid each other's AoEs.

The player with aggro will be targeted with another tankbuster line AoE.

Darya will again summon the four different types of adds from before along the walls, this time in a more shuffled pattern.

The boss will again telegraph the order that the adds will fire on a music score, but this time she will immediately follow it with an Encroaching/Receding Twin Tides.

If the boss casts Encroaching Twin Tides, she will first telegraph a large donut AoE, and then immediately follow that up with a point-blank AoE once the donut resolves. If it is Receding instead, the boss will start with a point-blank AoE then follow up with a donut AoE. This resolves while the adds are firing from Echoed Serenade, so make sure to dodge those as well!

From here, the boss will repeat mechanics until the end of the fight.

Defeating each boss grants a personal spoils chest that contains Corvosi Brass. This item can be exchanged at the vendor Trisassant, found in Old Sharlayan (X:12.0, Y:13.3), for the following items:

Item	Type	Corvosi Brass Cost
Earrings of the Sea-folk	Glamour	12
Collar of the Sea-folk	Glamour	12
Bracelets of the Sea-folk	Glamour	12
Ring of the Sea-folk	Glamour	12
Soothing Sea-beast	Minion	12
The Faces We Wear - Dark Glasses	Fashion Accessory	12
Corvosi Screen	Housing Item	8
Magicked Prism (Ribbons)	Misc.	1