Vashnik Raid Guide in the Venomous Abyss for Midnight Season 2

In this section of the guide, we will break down each individual mechanic of the fight and provide recommendations on how to deal with them, either individually or as a raid group.

• Raid Positioning
  1. Keep the raid loosely stacked near Vashnik so players can handle targeted mechanics without spreading unnecessarily across the room.
  2. Vashnik will empower the two Fountains closest to the boss when they cast Imbibe. Position Vashnik between the two altars you want to empower.
  3. Tanks: Be mindful when trying to empower the Blood Altar as it is further away than the other two. If you do not get close enough you will re-empower the Flame and Fountains Altars, simply crossing the line on the floor will not be enough movement.

• Plague Froth
  1. A few players will be targeted by Plague Wave. This will create four lines in cardinal directions and will shoot a wave when the debuff expires.
  2. Aim this away from the raid.

• Imbibe
  1. Vashnik empowers himself using the two closest fountains
  2. These will grant Vashnik a stack of infusion which buffs abilities from that fountain and summons adds.
  3. Each infusion lasts for 1.5 minutes, increases Vashnik's damage from that venom type by 100% and increases the maximum health of the associated adds by 50% per stack.
  4. Rotate Vashnik around the room and using an altar no more than twice in a row. Example: Shadow + Flame --> Flame + Blood --> Blood + Shadow.
  5. All summoned adds will move towards the Malignant Cavity (big venom pool in the centre of the room) and must be killed before they reach it. If they reach the centre this will trigger Malignant Burst.
  6. The DPS Priority of adds should be: Burning Venoms (Fire), Clotting Venom (Blood), then Shrouded Venoms (Shadow).
  7. This will occur approximately every 90 seconds.

Conflagrating Expulsion triggers dealing raid wide fire damage when this fountain is targeted by Imbibe.

• Burning Venoms (Fire Adds)
  1. Two Burning Venoms will spawn dealing raid-wide fire damage from Burning Presence while alive.
  2. These are the highest priority adds and should be gripped or moved into the other adds for efficient cleave.
  3. When killed, each Burning Venom triggers Caustic Surge and deals raid-wide damage.
  4. Heroic: Caustic Surge applies a DoT meaning killing two at the same time can be lethal.

• Exploding Infection
  1. Targets of this variant of Adaptive Infection will have a giant fire circle around them and an arrow above their head.
  2. They need to run away from the raid and explode. The further they are from the raid, the less damage the raid will take.
  3. Healers: Ensure these targets are fully healed as they run away.
  4. Healers: If the player runs away quickly you can dispel them to trigger the explosion faster.

Hemo Expulsion triggers dealing raid wide shadow damage when this fountain is targeted by Imbibe.

• Clotting Venom (Blood Add)
  1. One Clotting Venom will spawn slowly moving towards the middle of the room.
  2. It is immune to all forms of Crowd Control and once defeated will split into two smaller adds which can be crowd controlled.
  3. When these smaller adds die they will split once more into two even smaller adds (these are the last ones).

• Siphoning Infection
  1. This variant of Adaptive Infection places a large circle around the player and applies a large healing absorb.
  2. They cannot be healed with healing abilities. Instead they can steal health from other players with Siphon Blood who stand in their circle.
  3. Have other players stand on you to remove the healing absorb.

Gloom Expulsion triggers dealing raid wide shadow damage when this fountain is targeted by Imbibe.

• Shrouded Venoms (Shadow Adds)
  1. Five Shrouded Venoms spawn with an absorb shield.
  2. These are your lowest priority adds to kill and should be slowed while you deal with other add types.
  3. With Fire + Shadow you should grip the Fire adds on top of these. With Shadow + Blood you should CC the shadow adds while you deal with the Blood adds.
  4. When these adds die they will trigger Umbral Ejection creating small zones to avoid on the ground.

• Stygian Infection
  1. Affected players will leave a trail of Stygian Burst on their location. They need to constantly move (but avoid the rest of the raid).
  2. While they have this infection a healing absorb will be applied which Healers will need to focus on removing.
  3. Try to not run too far away from the raid as you may leave healing range.

• Tank Mechanics
  1. Dripping Fangs is the tank swap for this fight. Swap on 1 stack.
  2. Use a defensive cooldown for the hit and then support with add management.
  3. As mentioned earlier in the page boss positioning is very important both for ensuring Imbibe targets the correct fountains and to have effective cleave DPS on the adds.

• Heroic Malignant Catalyst (Soak)
  1. Catalytic Bile will create multiple soaks on the ground that need to hit at least 1 player.
  2. Ranged DPS should be spread around the boss rather than following the boss around the room to ensure good coverage of the area.

Here we will list the most important aspects of the encounter. Keep in mind that we will not be listing every mechanic here, instead focusing on the ones that we deem the most important and impactful.

• Use Bloodlust on the pull.
• Tanks: Position Vashnik between the two fountains you want for the next Imbibe and rotate around the room counter-clockwise.
• Tanks: Swap after every Dripping Fangs.
• Kill all adds before they reach the pool in the centre of the room.
• Prioritise Burning Venoms (Fire), then Clotting Venom (Blood), then Shrouded Venoms (Shadow).
• Move Exploding Infection away from the raid before it expires.
• Stack on players with Siphoning Infection to heal them.
• Spread and move from the zones created by Stygian Infection.
• Take Plague Froth away from the group and aim the cardinal Plague Wave lines away from the raid.
• Heroic: Soak Catalytic Bile.

Below you will find information on the most important changes on Mythic difficulty. Naturally many abilities will deal more damage or affect more players, while enemies have more HP, so we will be focusing on mechanical changes.

• Imbibe and Malignant Tumors
  1. Each cast of Imbibe additionally draws Malignant Tumors from the venomous fountains.
  2. Malignant Tumors initially have Hardened Tumor, reducing all damage they take by 99%.
  3. A Tumor must be struck by Plague Wave to remove Hardened Tumor before it can be killed.
  4. Malignant Burst (Add reaching the middle) now applies a 1 minute DoT that stacks.