wow The Sacred Matrix DPS Challenge

[Stan 5,040]

Rextroy is back with another ultimate DPS challenge. This time, he utilized the Sacred Matrix Automa Sepulcher mini-boss for the event. Find out how many classes succeeded in the challenge!

The challenge is pretty straightforward. You have groups of 3 people of the same class trying to defeat the Sacred Matrix Automa. The goal is to defeat the mini-boss without the use of consumables, Heroism, and combat resurrection. Soulbinds and trinkets above 260+ item level are allowed.

Sacred Matrix Automa has 3 different mechanics, making it ideal for the challenge.

Background Information This was one of my all-time favorite Challenges because the encounter has many elements similar to a raid boss! We have 3 different phases, which is when the boss casts "Materialize Schematic". This causes additional NPCs to join the battle... The power of the NPCs summoned by this ability increases as the battle progresses. At 90% health, the Sacred Matrix Automa will call upon a single Acquisition Automa, which can be kited, but deals average auto hit damage and knocks people back when it dies. At 67% health, the Matrix will spawn another Acquisition, as well as a Degenerate Automa. This add deals massive damage with "Degenerate", which is the cause of many wipes... However, the add can be CCed and burst quite quickly (if players figure it out) At 34% health, the Matrix spawns two Degenerate Automas as well as Guardian Automas. These are massive NPCs dealing heavy auto-hit damage. They are also immune to CC and spawns sentries which passively attack players. The Sacred Matrix Automa itself deals heavy auto-hit damage, and will also do AOE damage with "Shape Reality". This is a channel that does 10k damage every 2 seconds. You also have to keep moving to avoid orbs falling from the sky Funny enough, the Matrix can be slowed, rooted, and knocked back. But no other kind of CC works! This is quite interesting since it gives a better fighting chance for kiting classes. Knockbacks are forbidden to be used against the boss since they might interrupt the "Materialize Schematic" cast... And if that is interrupted it won't be recast which breaks the challenge of the encounter completely!... The monk group tried it and destroyed the boss without too much trouble. The teams get 1 point for every % of health the Matrix Automa loses! Also, there are many interesting choices to be made when doing this encounter, such as: Is it worth attacking adds? If you do, you give the boss more time to cast "Shape Reality". However, dealing with adds might help you in the long run Should you try to interrupt the boss "Shape Reality" cast by making him "phase" change during the cast? (The boss will always prioritize Materialize Schematic, so you are able to make him interrupt his own channeling) I didn't give any advice to the players involved. It is up to them to create their own strategy and figure out which way is the best to proceed. Kilox was the one figuring out the Paladin strategy (a strategy no other class used) Rules are: No consumables No Heroism effects No Combat Ress effects All soulbinds are allowed, as well as any trinket 260+ ilvl As for the attempts, there was no exact amount. I let the classes keep trying until they were happy with their result or until someone had to go (or until the attempts started to reach double digits, that's when I called it and we used the best performance) Also, BIG thank you to Trancedawf, he assisted me many times with resetting the raid lockout on Heroic!

7 out of 12 classes ultimately succeeded in the challenge.