SWTOR: Soa, The Infernal One Guide
Recommended Group Composition
- 1x Tank
- 3x Healers
- 4x DPS
Notable Mechanics
- 3x phases, as well as a transition phase that occurs twice.
- Phase 1: lightning hits an ancient power source and creates a green pool of damage.
- Transition phase (75% and 30%): ancient power sources become vulnerable – these stack a buff on the boss and should be destroyed.
- Phase 2: a random player will be mind trapped and forced to fight an add until the other players break them out of the trap.
- Phase 2: lightning balls will spawn on the perimeter, each targeting a player – these hit nearby players every second and blow up when they reach their target.
- Phase 3: lightning balls and mind traps will continue to occur.
- Phase 3: the boss’s shield will not drop until he is struck by a spinning pylon.
Normal Strategy
- Phase 1
- Position yourself between ancient power sources, as to minimize the distance you must run if lightning hits one.
- If lightning hits an ancient power source near you, run away from it immediately.
- Transition Phase @ 75%
- Run to the western edge of the room, as the two middle circular platforms are going to collapse.
- Path is as follows: Front > Right > Wait for Back-Left > Right > Right > Right > Wait for Right > Right > Front-Right > Back > Forward.
- Group up for AOE heals to top everyone off, while waiting for next platform.
- Descend to the next are by running off the ledge as a group, landing on each nearest platform to the right – your raid leader should call this out.
- On each platform, there will be an ancient power source that should be destroyed. Destroy 5 of these to remove the buff stacks from the boss, then ignore the rest and finish descending to the bottom.
- While descending, you will have to stop and wait on two occasions for the next platform to fall. Everyone should stay grouped up during this waiting time for AOE heals. Once everyone is topped off, continue the descent.
- When you reach the bottom, group up for AOE heals again and get everyone topped off before phase 2 begins.
- Phase 2
- Everyone should stack at the bottom of the middle circle in the center of the room, the tank positioned just a bit ahead, but still in AOE healing range.
- The boss will randomly target a player and put them in a mind trap. Ranged DPS should kill this immediately.
- A random player will also be thrown around the room. Heals should keep people above 50% HP, so if they are thrown, they will not die.
- Also during this phase, lightning balls will spawn. There will be a raid warning that says who the balls are targeting. These people should immediately run to each side of the room, top announced person – left, bottom announced person – right, figure out which ball is targeting them, and blow it up immediately. Once exploded, stack back on the group for AOE heals. Use a medpac if you drop low in health after exploding a lightning ball.
- Transition Phase (same as before) @ 30%
- Phase 3
- In the final phase, the mind trap and white orb mechanics still exist and should be continued to be handled as in phase 2.
- An added mechanic is that the boss is permanently immune until he is dragged under one of the upside-down, spinning pylons and struck by one. This is the main tank’s job. If the main tank is mind trapped, the off tank should pick up the boss and move him.
- Once the boss has been hit by a pylon, he will become vulnerable and all DPS should burn cooldowns and DPS as much as possible. Ranged should try to just kite the orbs if possible, otherwise blow them up immediately and get back on the boss. Any lost DPS just brings you closer to the enrage timer. Melee should get out immediately and blow up their ball if targeted.
- You should leave mind traps during the vulnerable burn phase and focus on DPS’ing the boss; However, some groups may have to switch to mind traps if you find yourself falling behind.
Hard Mode Strategy
- The strategy does not change; however, the orbs do hit harder. So, make sure you are promptly handling them.
Nightmare Mode Strategy
- Again, use the same strategy. The lightning balls will be the deal breaker for you if they are not handled well. They tick for about 6k damage and explode for another 7k damage. When exploding them correctly, you will take about 13k damage, be prepared to take another 6k on top of that as a buffer for error.
16-man Added Mechanics
- There will be an extra lightning ball that spawns – for a total of 3. My advice? Have fun with that! In all seriousness, just make sure you are utilizing the target of target, stay focused, and you’ll be fine.
Commando Tips
- When grouping up for AOE heals during the transition phase, help spot heal the group.
5-second Recap
- Phase 1: avoid lightning pools.
- Transition phase: descend, kill 5 ancient power sources, group up for AOE heals twice during the descent.
- Phase 2: Stack, kill mind traps, explode lightning balls accordingly. Top – left, Bottom – right.
- Repeat transition phase.
- Phase 3: kill mind traps, explode lightning balls, burn cooldowns on boss when he’s vulnerable.
If you’re still having trouble with the encounter, be sure to check out my Tips for Soa Nightmare Mode article!
Why have two tanks for this fight? Wouldn’t an extra healer make it easier?
You would be correct – sorry. I hadn’t updated the encounter guide since they changed the lightning ball mechanics. But yes, you are correct. We usually just have our OT go full DPS for this fight and have one of our Commandos go heals pretty much full-time for the duration of the encounter.
As the dps commando that was going full heals for this encounter for my guild last night… this is hard.
There is just a lot to watch for.
You don’t really need to be worrying about backing up heals until the second phase though.
Agreed – phase 1 is very simple. Even phase 2 is actually very easy once you get the coordination down. Phase 3 is when it requires everyone to play smart and is very unforgiving if you make any mistakes. Stacking definitely makes this fight MUCH more manageable, so I would suggest continuing to stack in the center of the room for Phase 3.
Does not say the order of jumping down the platforms so here it is…
Down, Right, Wait (heal) -> Back, Right, Right, Right, Wait (heal) -> Right, Right, Forward/Right, Back, Forward
Depending on the strength of your groups AOE heals, some groups don’t wait on the first platform and instead go right and take the double fall damage. They then heal up at this platform and move on normally. This allows you to get further ahead and have more time to catch up healing at the midway and bottom points.
Also note that the order could be different if you are starting on the opposite side of the platform for falls (East vs West).
Err, after re-reading your post you are taking the double drop. I guess what I should have said was that an alternative is to wait on the first platform as a new platform will drop behind you. Then it would be back, forward-right, move on as normal.
As a dps commando, you can still switch to your Combat Support Cell at the end of phase 1 before the middle is dropped out, and heal on the run the entire way down, this can help make your healers lives easier. You can throw your normal heals while stopped for AOE healing. At the bottom throw a heal or two, and then switch back to Armor Piercing cell.
If you are going to do this, the best target would be the tank or other people with the highest health pool as falling damage is a flat percentage, and so those are the people that will need the most healing.
@Respawn – I’ve updated the strat to include the route.
@Wesleycrushers – Yep, good call. Everyone capable of spot healing on the way down should be. Just speeds things up a bit.
Looks like that’s the same strategy we use for our raids, but we have one off-tank come in and taunt the boss while the main tank handles his/her lightning ball.
We probably get unlucky during the transition from phase 2 to phase 3 platforming.
I just finished writing an article that should help you guys out – Tips for Soa Nightmare Mode. It covers strategies used to handle some of the more difficult aspects of the encounter.
http://troopercommando.com/2012/03/15/tips-for-soa-nightmare-mode/
I’m told that on 16 man the developers were nice enough to include an extra lightning ball. So you get 3 instead of 2 on Hard/NiM
Yep, I can confirm that as well. I’ve added it to the guide – thanks.
Everyone should have target of target turned on and use this to verify the lightning ball that is targeting them.
With the new change the platform people land on is handy. No longer a need to slow DPS if someone is in the air at the end of P2.
Damage from lightning balls also seems to have been significantly nerfed in 1.2. I doubt that this is only the multiple ticks of dmg bug, but expect it is actually an overall damage nerf.
In Nightmare mode last night, I watched a smuggler take multiple ticks off of someone else’s ball before exploding his own. He still had a significant portion of his health remaining afterwards. Pre 1.2 he would have been dead before he even got to his own ball.
I just have to say thank you Trooper Commando for the strategy, my team was able to down HM Soa today! Onwards to prepping ourselves for Explosive Conflict!
@ jpchivalry – Awesome, grats! Glad they helped out!
Unless it’s been changed in 1.2, on Normal Mode you can avoid the lightning ball damage. Just kite the balls around until they disappear. When they disappear on Normal, they’re really gone.
I know for most people running Normal Mode EV, it shouldn’t even be a problem to just eat the lightning. But for some groups (read: really really bad pugs. I’ve been there ;__;) it can help to avoid it 🙂
A very useful strategy for going down is have any Jedi Knights / Sith Warriors in the group force jump on the Ancient Power Sources on the platforms. You get no fall damage that way.