Hell on Rails (Extreme) Trial Guide

The storm surged and kingdoms fell, their lands devoured by unrelenting levin. For centuries thereafter, the Doomtrain sped on─but not unchanged, for time tests even the strongest steel. How fearsome it must have been in those halcyon days! The pride of its creators, the hope of its nation! Its headlamp nearly blinds you as the metal thunder draws nearer, and the minstrel's verse lays the track anew...

Hell on Rails (Extreme) can be unlocked in Patch 7.4 after completing the main scenario quest "Where We Call Home" and talking to the Wandering Minstrel in Tuliyollal. The duty requires an item level of 760 but this requirement can be bypassed by entering with a full party.

The Doomtrain is fought on several different train cars, each with their own unique mechanics. Doomtrain is always at the front of the car, and is omnidirectional. Players will have to jump from car to car to survive the onslaught. Each car is divided into four columns and several rows.

Split the raid into two light parties, one left facing and one right facing. Each light party will have a tank and melee DPS partnered and a healer and ranged or caster DPS partnered. Spread positions in the fight are loose, but players should always aim to be on their light party relative side for light party based mechanics.

Car 1 has a few lightning fields. These stop players from knockbacks or draw-ins, but don't work with turret lasers.

The following mechanics are introduced on car 1.

• Dead Man's Overdraught: Doomtrain will either show eight lightning orbs or four lightning orbs. Eight indicates AoEs on all players, while four indicates AoEs that needs to be shared on players of one role. This effect will always go off after the next Dead Man's Express or Dead Man's Windpipe.
• Dead Man's Express: Doomtrain knocks all players back. This is accompanied with lightning runes that shoot an AoE down each column on the height indicated. Players can use boxes, lightning fields, or use their knockback prevention abilities to stop the knockback.
• Dead Man's Windpipe: Doomtrain draws all players in. This is accompanied with an AoE on the first two rows. Players can use boxes, lightning fields, or knockback prevention abilities to stop the draw-in.
• Unlimited Express: Heavy physical damage which knocks players to the next car.

The fight begins with two instances of Dead Man's Overdraught into one of Dead Man's Express or Dead Man's Windpipe. If it's the knockback, get knocked back while dodging the line AoE, then either spread or stack with your partner. If it's the draw-in, hide behind a lightning field then stack or spread. Mitigate the heavy hit and get knocked back to the next car.

There are lightning fields and regular boxes here. Only regular boxes protect against the turret laser AoEs.

The following mechanics are introduced or adjusted on car 2.

• Turret Crossing: Spawns turrets on both sides. They will light up before firing a laser line AoE across. These can be line-of-sighted using boxes but not lightning zones.
• Lightning Burst: AoE magic tank busters on #1 and #2 on aggro.

The car begins with a Dead Man's Overdraught, so remember if it was stack or spread. Dodge the turret AoEs by standing behind one of the two boxes, then watch for the Windpipe or Express mechanic. Aftewards, partner stack or spread. It will then cast the opposite Overdraught. This is followed by the opposite side's turrets going off and the visual indicators for Lightning Burst appearing. Don't panic and stack together to dodge the laser, then have the tanks move out with their busters.

Next, the original turrets go off with Express or Windpipe, whichever wasn't cast previously. This is followed by the partner stack or spread like always. Unlimited Express knocks players to the next train afterwards.

In the adds phase, players are teleported to the Runaway Train zone, spawning an Aether add in the middle which must be killed before the Doom-engine Power gauge reaches 100. In the zone, two ghost trains circle the arena. The one on the ground does cleaves towards the tanks, while the one in the air will do spread or stack mechanics with the rest of the party.

The following mechanics are introduced or adjusted on car 3.

• Runaway Train: Teleports all players to the Runaway Train area.
• Aetherial Ray: Both tanks receive a tank buster indicator. The ghost train on the bottom does a large conal magic tank buster towards them when it stops moving.
• Aetherosote: If two puffs of smoke sound, the higher ghost train does an unmarked stack AoE on both healers that inflicts a magic vuln debuff.
• Aetherochar: If three puffs of smoke sound, the higher ghost train does an unmarked AoE on 3 random players that inflicts a magic vuln debuff.
• Derailment Siege: Stack marker tower towards the front of the car.
• Derail: Doomtrain derails the current car, killing all players on it. A teleporter appears at the back of the car that teleports players to the next car.

This is a phase with high amounts of tank damage, so extra care must be taken when cycling cooldowns. Immediately after getting knocked back tanks will take another Lightning Burst. The boss then casts Runaway Train, teleporting players away. Note that you can use your buffs immediately and they'll last for the full duration before disappearing.

In the new area, immediately start attacking the Aether add. Two trains will spawn: one on the ground which the party needs to be aware of, and one in the air with audio cues. Every time the tank buster markers appear, the train in the air will sound its horn and then shoot two or three puffs of smoke, indicated by an audio cue. The tanks need to position close left and close right relative to the grounded train to point the conal tank busters away, and the party needs to either spread out or stack with their light party in the safe space created by the tanks.

This sequence repeats until the add is dead or the gauge reaches 100 and the party wipes: at that point, the Doomtrain will use its ultimate, Runaway Train on the party. Mitigate and get ready to be teleported back to Car 3. Doomtrain casts Lightning Burst on the tanks, then Derailment Siege. Stack in the tower and heal through the damage, then immediately run to the back of the train and use the teleporter to head to Car 4 to not get derailed.

The Doomtrain has generated Aetherial Arms and now uses more mechanics. On car 4, teleporters spawn which take you up to the higher platform. You can move off these platforms onto the main platform. These are necessary to dodge height-based mechanics.

The following mechanics are introduced or adjusted on car 4.

• Third Rail: Doomtrain snaps its fingers, placing invisible AoEs underneath all players which go off momentarily. Stack together and move away. Colloquially known as a "Twister".
• Head-on Emission: Doomtrain rears back and generates electricity on the ground, or emits its headlamps. The first indicates an AoE on the ground, while the latter indicates an AoE in the air. Use the teleporters and be on the safe elevation.
• Arcane Revelation: A giant lightning circle rotates between four areas. When the Doomtrain's arms start crackling with electricity, it will explode on the next spot. Additionally, a tank and a healer are inflicted with Designated Conductor, which does a stack AoE with magic vuln every time the large circle explodes.

Begin by stacking up, then moving as soon as you see or hear the snap. Dodge Head-on Emission by using the teleporters to change height. Afterwards, the tanks and melee DPS should stack as a group on the top right platform and the healers and ranged DPS should stack as a group on the bottom left platform. This divides the party into two equal groups for the Designated Conductor debuff.

Each group needs to head to the safe spot for the Arcane Revelation circle every time Doomtrain's hands start pulsing with energy. There will always be two safe spots, though they can be both in front and both in the back. If so, the melee group favours the right side and the ranged group favours the left side. Otherwise, melee players will stay in the front for uptime and ranged will be in the back.

This sequence happens three times, and is followed by another Head-on Emission and Third Rail, so move up or down as a group and move out of the invisible AoEs. One more Lightning Burst is followed by a Derailment Siege into Derail. Use the teleporters to get to the back of the arena and leave the car before it's destroyed.

On car 5, boxes appear which will be removed by the boss. This creates a limited area to work with.

The following mechanics are introduced or adjusted on car 5.

• Psychokinesis: Removes boxes from the train. Marks a number of players with large AoEs that inflict a physical vuln debuff.

The phase begins with the first Psychokinesis. This one marks a support and a DPS, so have the support go left and DPS go right. The rest of the party goes where a box was. All players should wait after the AoEs go off, as the boss will snap its fingers casting Third Rail: bait the unmarked AoEs and then go back to the front. Heal up.

The next Psychokinesis removes more boxes and targets one tank, one healer, and one DPS. Have the healer move back, with tank left and DPS right. Other players can go inside one of the large AoEs as long as they're not being overlapped by multiple to make spacing easier on healers. This is followed by Lightning Burst, so tanks should mitigate and spread away from the party. Heal up and loosely spread.

The final Psychokinesis removes a ton of boxes and targets five random players. Due to the loose spread, players can easily fan out to the edges while untargeted players can simply make sure they don't get overlapped by multiple. If necessary, assign spread spots. Don't move after the AoEs go off, as Doomtrain once again casts Third Rail, so wait until the snap and move away from where any other player was. This is followed by Derailment Siege into Derail, so stack, heal, and get ready to move to the back. Note that the box formation creates a sort-of maze, so make sure you're going down the correct path.

Car 6 is the final car and combines mechanics previously seen in the fight. There is one teleporter and raised platform on the left, and boxes on the right, though those will be removed later.

No new mechanics appear during Car 6.

The phase begins with Dead Man's Overdraught, so remember if it's partner stack or spread for later. This is followed by Turret Crossing, so note where they are. One side's turrets will be on ground level, while the other side's will be in the air. The boss casts Head-on Mission, so go up or down to dodge the mechanic with the teleporter on the left. The turrets will start casting, but this is a bait: the boss casts Psychokinesis which removes the boxes and places AoEs on a tank, healer, and two DPS.

Wait on the top platform to dodge the ground lasers, then head towards spread positions. Have the supports on the left and DPS on the right, melee close and ranged far. If two melee get the AoE, one can squeeze in the middle in front. All other players should either stay on the raised platform or stack with the closest player in front. This is because Doomtrain casts Third Rail immediately after. Wait for the snap, then dodge.

After another set of turrets, the boss will do either Dead Man's Express or Dead Man's Windpipe. Remember that the spread or partner stack mechanic happens immediately after, so head towards your spot for that. This is followed by Lightning Burst, but the tanks are already in position so they just need to mitigate.

The second sequence of the final car begins. Doomtrain casts another Draught mechanic, which is the opposite of the first. It then casts Arcane Revelation, so split into melee and ranged groups. This is done the exact same as the first, and only happens twice. After the second large explosion, Doomtrain casts another Third Rail, so wait for the snap and dodge.

This is followed by Express or Windpipe and the previously stored Draught mechanic. Doomtrain then casts Head-on Emission, Lightning Burst, and a final Derailment Siege before beginning its enrage, a long casted Derail that destroys the final car. Defeat the boss before you're flung off to your death!

Completion of this duty rewards 25 Allagan Mathematics of Heliometry and 15 Allagan Tomestones of Mnemonics. All players will also receive two Runaway Totems, ten of which can be exchanged for any item level 775 Runaway weapon. The treasure coffer will contain one random Runaway weapon, a Runaway Weapon coffer, and has a chance for the rare mount Wings of Mist to appear.