Ascendant Council Strategy Guide

The Ascendant Council encounter in the Bastion of Twilight consists of a multi-phase fight against unique elemental bosses. Each of them represent a different aspect of magic. The raid faces Feludius and Ignacious first, followed by Arion and Terrastra. Finally they culminate into the Elementium Monstrosity. Each phase requires handling specific mechanics like avoiding ground effects, coordinating dispels, and managing positioning to mitigate massive group damage.

Health Pools

The Ascendant Council consists of several phases, each with unique health pools and challenges across both normal and heroic difficulties.

For 10-man normal difficulty, Feludius and Ignacious each boast about 4.7 million health in the first phase. This amount is mirrored by Arion and Terrastra in the second phase. The final adversary, the Elementium Monstrosity, has approximately 14.2 million health. The 25-man normal versions see a significant increase. Each boss in the first two phases having around 13.9 million health, and the Elementium Monstrosity holding about 42.6 million health.

Switching to heroic mode, the stakes are higher.  Feludius and Ignacious each possess roughly 6.2 million health in 10-man, and a daunting 18.4 million each in 25-man. Similarly, for Arion and Terrastra, health pools are elevated to 6.2 million and 18.4 million in 10-man and 25-man modes. The Elementium Monstrosity’s health peaks at about 18.6 million in 10-man and 55.3 million in 25-man heroic.

Raid Composition and Enrage Timer

Raid compositions typically require 1 tank, 3 healers, and 6 DPS for 10-man normal. Heroic settings might necessitate an additional tank or DPS to manage the increased difficulty. For 25-man formats, teams usually consist of 1-2 tanks, 5-6 healers, and 17-19 DPS in normal, with an adjustment to 2 tanks and possibly 6-7 healers in Heroic.

A critical factor for raid teams to monitor is the encounter’s enrage timer, set strictly at 10 minutes for all versions. Failing to defeat the council within this window will trigger their Berserk mode, significantly increasing damage output and generally leading to a raid wipe.

Phase one: two elemental bosses

Feludius

Feludius uses Hydro Lance, a powerful water-based spell that inflicts significant frost damage to a single target. He also casts Heart of Ice on random players. This causes them to deal frost damage to all nearby allies but also buffs them with Frost Imbued. This gives those players a damage buff on Ignacius for 30 seconds. Feludius also does a Water Bomb that does some damage and leaves players Waterlogged. Waterlogged soaks a player in icy water and slows them by 25%. The afflicted player needs to run through fire quickly to remove the debuff before they get frozen. Which leads to Glaciate. This damages all players while reducing damage based on their distance from Feludius. Less damage the further away you are. Players that are waterlogged will be frozen immediately by this ability if hit.

Ignacious

Ignacious on the other hand, attacks with Inferno Leap, targeting a player’s location and then leaping to them. This deals fire damage to anyone near the impact site and knocks them back. He’ll then rush back to the tank leaving a line of fire behind him. If you’re standing in this fire you will be damaged 5000hp every half second so move out quickly. This is the fire that removes the waterlogged debuff that Feludeus impacts players with. Burning Blood is cast on random players. It is ticking damage but empowers all players nearby to deal increased damage to Feludius for 30 seconds. This is called Flame Imbued. He also uses Aegis of Flame, a protective shield that absorbs incoming damage and prevents interruptions. This all culminates in a Rising Flames burst that damages all raid members and increases Ignacious’ damage by 3% for 15 seconds each time it pumps.  The shield is a priority so burn it asap!

P1 Strategy

Divide your raid into two groups. Each group focuses on one of the bosses—Feludius and Ignacious. Initially, dedicated DPS should bring both bosses down evenly. Monitor their health closely because when either boss’s health nears 30%, you should slow down and coordinate DPS to make sure both get to 25% simultaneously. This avoids premature triggering of their potent abilities and enables a controlled phase transition.

Handling Ignacious

Ignacious will periodically cast Aegis of Flame. It which grants him an absorption shield and makes him immune to interrupts. Failure to break this shield promptly will result in him unleashing Rising Flames. This inflicts massive AoE damage capable of wiping the raid. Whenever Aegis of Flame is active, all available DPS must switch to Ignacious immediately and burn the shield down ASAP.

Managing Feludius

Feludius will target players with his Waterbomb attack. This marks areas on the ground that soon explode, applying the Waterlogged debuff to any player caught within the blast. Waterlogged significantly reduces movement speed. Most critically, players affected by Waterlogged are vulnerable to Feludius’s Glaciate attack. Glaciate is a frost wave that inflicts increased damage and applies the Frozen Blood debuff if you are waterlogged. This heavily strains healer resources.

Strategic Positioning

Players should stay spread out to minimize the number of people hit by Waterbomb and to easily avoid Glaciate. Regular cleansing of Waterlogged where possible can reduce the risk of Frozen Blood. Movement impairments can be mitigated using class abilities or items that increase movement speed or remove slows.

As both bosses approach 25% health, prepare for increased raid-wide damage and the potential chaos of managing last-minute mechanics. Make sure all players are topped off, and cooldowns are ready for the next phase.

Save DPS cooldowns for burning down Aegis of Flame or for a coordinated push to transition both bosses at the right time. Defensive and healing cooldowns should be reserved primarily for Rising Flames and recovering from Glaciate impacts.

Phase Two: Elemental Challenges of Arion and Terrastra

In the second phase of the Ascendant Council, the raid faces the elemental bosses Arion and Terrastra. Each boss has unique abilities that demand strategic movement and precise execution.

Arion

Arion introduces several aerial and electrical threats. His Call Winds ability creates violent cyclones that deal nature damage and levitate affected players. It applies the Swirling Winds debuff. Players should avoid these cyclones to prevent unnecessary damage and disruption. Lightning Rod targets a player to attract electrical attacks. It is crucial that this player isolates themselves to prevent the Chain Lightning from bouncing to additional raid members. This lightning strikes with high nature damage and can be lethal if not managed properly. When Arion uses Disperse, he scatters into the wind and reappears elsewhere. Tanks need to quickly reposition and regain control. Following Disperse, Arion targets his tank with Lightning Blast. This is a powerful direct attack that necessitates the use of defensive cooldowns to survive. His most devastating ability, Thundershock, deals massive damage to all players, hitting those airborne harder. Those grounded receive less damage. Entering a Gravity Well Will make you grounded, significantly reduces the damage from Thundershock, but will also inflict 10,000 dps per second.

Terrastra

Terrestra challenges the raid with gravitational and earthly powers. His Gravity Well creates a zone that connects players to the earth. This provides resistance against certain electrical attacks, essential for surviving Arion’s assaults. Players affected by Gravity Core, which occurs upon entering a Gravity Well, take 10,000dps per second and must manage their positioning to avoid impairing nearby allies. Harden Skin increases Terrastra’s physical damage output and reduces the damage he takes. This protective shell can be shattered with sufficient force, dealing heavy damage back to him. Eruption targets players with spikes from the ground, dealing heavy damage and knocking them into the air. Quake shakes the ground, dealing severe damage to all who are in contact with it. Players must cleverly use Arions Call Winds to mitigate Quake, as levitation takes you off the ground where the damage happens.

P2 Strategy

Arion: Players need to be particularly mindful of Arion’s Call Winds and Lightning Rod. The raid should spread out to minimize the damage from Chain Lightning, which targets players marked by Lightning Rod. The marked player should move away from others to prevent the lightning from bouncing.

Terrastra: Positioning is crucial to manage Terrastra’s Gravity Well and Eruption. Players need to stay mobile to dodge Eruptions and quickly enter Gravity Wells to ground themselves, reducing the damage from Arion’s Thundershock. It’s vital that players enter a Gravity Well whenever Thundershock is imminent but hit a tornado before Quake happens.

Cooldown Management

Use defensive and healing cooldowns effectively during Thundershock and Lightning Blast. Coordination of raid-wide damage mitigation abilities can help smooth out the damage spikes from these abilities.

Harden Skin: DPS should focus on Terrastra when he activates Harden Skin. Breaking this shield not only prevents him from dealing increased damage but also inflicts substantial damage to him. Use offensive CDs here where you can and burn.

Killing Order and Focus

The raid should initially focus on Arion while managing to stay grounded as much as possible to deal with Thundershock. Once Arion is near (25% health), attention should shift to Terrastra. Balance their health pools and ensure they transition smoothly into the next phase of the fight. It is crucial to manage the bosses’ health evenly to prevent one from activating the next phase prematurely, which can lead to overwhelming raid damage and potential wipes.

Looking back bring all 4 bosses through the first 2 phases to 25% at the same time. When one hits 25% before the others it triggers the next phase. Phase three is all their health combined so it’s important to have all 4 as low as possible but equally around 25% going in to the last phase. 

Phase Three: The Elementium Monstrosity

In the third phase of the Ascendant Council fight, players face the formidable Elementium Monstrosity. He is equipped with multiple deadly abilities that challenge the raid’s coordination and adaptability. The Monstrosity’s Lava Seed ability peppers the area with seeds that quickly erupt into damaging Lava Plumes. This requires players to move swiftly to avoid heavy fire damage from standing in it. Concurrently, Liquid Ice creates expanding frost patches on the ground that increase in size if the Monstrosity stands on them. This severely limits safe standing areas so make sure to keep moving him.

Additionally, Electric Instability zaps random raid members with increasing intensity over time. This requires the raid to spread out to minimize the damage from this chaining nature effect. The Gravity Crush targets individuals with a gravity bubble that levitates and damages them based on their maximum health.

Coordinating movements with precision while managing the boss’s positioning to control the arena’s hazards is key to surviving this phase and ultimately defeating the Elementium Monstrosity. Kill that Monstrocity, burn baby burn.

Congratulations on your kill and on to Cho’gall!