Update: Liquid have now called it a day, having extended their raid time by around 2 hours.
With the advent of the secret phase last night everything changed in the first Midnight RWF. Once Liquid got the boss down to 0% and it didn’t die, Echo made the decision not to extend their raid day further, going to bed around 1 AM, some 3-4 hours after their usual raid end. This morning we have the opposite situation, as Liquid are coming off their entire day’s raiding and have decided to stay up until the boss dies!
Big Progress
While Echo were sleeping, Liquid were busy getting to the secret phase a few more times. They got some major progress into the phase, not only seeing it all, but also pushing through with all players alive! The boss received a LOT more damage in the phase, which makes sense considering it heals up to full health, which is 1 billion. With 20 players alive for a while in the phase, Liquid managed to get the boss down all the way to 44%, with the tanks living a long time into the fight. They made it to the 10-minute enrage, which just starts doing even more raid-wide damage!
The Secret Phase
It’s a pretty simple final phase, with the raid having to stay compact in that one safety pool. Aside from dodging the three void stars there’s also the Heaven and Hell Cast that forces the raid to run way from it, rushing through the small Sha adds, which can be wiped out with a use of the extra action on the Dawncrystal. And, apparently, in the very end, Midnight Eternal arrives and everyone just takes massive damage, which the tanks seem to be able to handle for a little while. The simplicity of the phase doesn’t reduce the challenge, however, as getting there with everyone alive is the trick. Liquid have had gaps of as much as an hour where they didn’t even get to phase 3, let alone the secret one.
That’s only four visits to the secret phase for Liquid, and the boss is already more than half-way dead. With the massive increase to damage done, the full raid staying alive even additional seconds adds up to some giant damage, and we can totally see this particular endboss dying to a lone tank taking down the last percent or so.
Here’s another look at an earlier wipe, coming in at 77%.
A New Day
Echo have woken up and will be starting their raid ASAP, and with Liquid going for bust, we’re going to have yet another insane head-to-head competition on our hands! Liquid normally end their raid day around now, so from here on in it’s all overtime for the US guild. They can definitely smell the kill looming, and despite Echo not having gotten to the secret phase at all yet, they did get a 0.45% pull and many sub 5%ers. With how the phase works with relatively few mechanics, even one pull with everyone alive into the phase could be enough.
So it’s once again time to follow the race as closely as possible, as one of the most exciting races to date is almost certainly coming to an end today!
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