Navigating through the Island of Terror in Throne and Liberty presents a formidable challenge, replete with intricate mechanics demanding precision and strategy. Each encounter with the boss unveils layers of complexity, testing the resilience and coordination of every adventurer daring to brave its depths. Let's delve into a comprehensive breakdown of these mechanics, unraveling the intricacies and offering strategies for triumph in the face of adversity. Get your Throne and Liberty Lucent ready for this boss fight!

Mechanic 1

The tank will draw the boss's attention, but it's crucial to note that the boss inflicts significantly more damage than the standard dungeon enemies. After launching four fireballs, the boss will invariably stun the tank.

Hence, if a party member possesses a cleansing ability, such as a long-wheel user with Purify (excluding Nature's Blessing Purify), they can aid the tank in freeing themselves, enabling them to prepare for the subsequent mechanic.

Without this support, the tank will endure the heavy attack, and unless their health pool exceeds 15,000 HP, survival becomes precarious with each encounter.

Mechanic 2

The boss will execute a pulsating heavy attack. When you observe this pulsation, it indicates that you can execute either a stationary block or a moving block.

Notably, a stationary block occurs when you remain static while blocking, whereas a moving block results from pressing any directional key while blocking. This distinction is valuable for the subsequent mechanic.

As a personal strategy, I count to three before initiating my block after the pulsations cease.

Mechanic 3

You will encounter a diamond or square-shaped purple heavy attack, necessitating a movement block to evade being struck.

It's crucial to note that upon executing either a movement block or a stationary block, promptly follow up with your retaliatory attack. Failure to do so may render you unable to block subsequent attacks.

Moreover, if the tank loses aggro, the boss will unleash consecutive heavy attacks, leaving you with no option but to block. In such instances, failing to utilize your counter move may result in inadvertent counters instead of blocks, leading to damage. Without at least 10,000 HP, survival becomes increasingly uncertain.

Also Read: Four Key Problems Currently Facing Throne And Liberty

Mechanic 4

The boss will repeatedly initiate the stationary block sequence during the fireball phase, which adds complexity to the encounter.

For the fourth mechanic, three fireballs will land randomly, and to influence their placement, all players must position themselves near vents. This doesn't entail being hit by the fireball but rather standing nearby, ready to move out quickly upon its appearance. This strategy is suitable for players with reliable internet connections or adept dodging skills.

Alternatively, players facing challenges with luck or low health can wait for the fireball to land and then intentionally run into it to gain a simple burn debuff. This debuff is crucial because it clears the vents, enabling the use of the geyser for the fifth mechanic. Failure to clear the vents will obstruct visibility of the geyser, rendering it unusable even if selected.

To clear the vents with burn debuffs, simply run over the flames, but be cautious not to linger, as the debuff duration is brief. However, remain vigilant, as the boss will execute another heavy attack after the fireball phase, necessitating readiness while cleansing.

Following the fireball phase, lizards will spawn. In my group, we centralize around the boss after fireballs to efficiently eliminate the lizards with area-of-effect abilities and mitigate damage with a user's group heal.

After two heavy attacks, the boss will transition to geysers. It's crucial to note that after the second block, if the boss hits you, you'll endure a movement speed debuff, making it challenging to reach the geysers if you survive. Therefore, avoiding hits is paramount, as navigating to the geysers with reduced movement speed can prove exceedingly difficult and potentially insurmountable.

Mechanic 5

Now, transitioning to the fifth mechanic: geysers.

You must approach the designated geyser that is emitting bubbles. It's crucial to reiterate that failure to cleanse any chosen geyser will render the vent inoperable, resulting in a game-ending scenario. Conversely, successfully clearing it will maintain the previous pattern, returning to the damage per second phase.

However, there will be only one functioning vent. Subsequently, following two additional heavy attacks post-geyser phase, the boss will enter its most challenging phase.

Mechanic 6

The sixth mechanic introduces the rat phase, which proves to be the most challenging aspect due to its timing intricacies.

For players in North America, latency issues can exacerbate the difficulty. It's imperative not to exit the designated circle prematurely, refrain from digging immediately to avoid being stunned, and avoid rushing to cleanse, which could result in a wipe. Additionally, attempting to evade the orbs is futile, as being hit triggers a prolonged fear effect.

The optimal strategy involves creating some distance between party members to discern the boss's target, ensuring everyone absorbs the initial hit. The boss unleashes a shockwave attack, dealing varying damage depending on the player's defense, and inflicts a movement speed debuff for about 20 seconds.

After striking all players, the boss selects a target rat. To successfully evade, all players must remain above ground. As the boss moves to bite the first target, timely digging is crucial to avoid being consumed. This pattern repeats until all nearby rats are successfully evaded.

Once all rats are successfully avoided, the boss is temporarily stunned, allowing players to proceed to their designated plants for cleansing. This meticulous execution is the sole means to overcome this mechanic.

With the completion of this phase, the dungeon cycles back to its initial pattern, requiring players to repeat the process. While the challenge is rewarding for some, it may prove daunting for the average player, and adjustments may be made in future updates to mitigate its difficulty.

NCSOFT has released patch notes one day before the patch goes live. I will tell you something about the new changes and improvements in Throne and Liberty. If you have plenty of Throne and Liberty Lucent, come and enjoy the news and updates after the latest patch.

Dungeon Changes

Field Bosses, and Archbosses have been activated and will be added periodically this week, as all the milestones to unlock them have been completed. Dungeon tokens have received changes where daily recharge limits have been increased from 600 to 900 per day, and the max limit has been changed to 4500 from 1800.

A new recipe to craft the weapons chest that drops in the dungeons has been added for 40 dimensional tokens to serve as some sort of pity system in case you don’t drop the chest in 40 runs. All the dungeons have received some changes. Bug fixes, cheese mechanics, and exploits have been patched. They have added the ability to mark players, improved the ability to join and apply to different parties while already being in a party, and a variety of changes and fixes for the recruitment.

New Transmog

In Miror Boutique, they have added weapon skins, so possible weapon transmog options will be available. Not 100% sure until we see it in the game. Abyss tokens are rewarded as points instead of tokens. Few balance changes to all the events. Now you can’t receive rewards from participating in multiple events at the same time. Skill books have been added as rewards in the events, and the amount of parchments has been reduced. Also, some several balance changes to field bosses and open-world dungeon mobs and bosses.

Weapon Balance

Now for some weapon balance changes:

Sword and Shield received a slight buff where AOE damage of Annihilating Slash has been increased by 50%, and it received a few various bug fixes.

Dagger has had a knife shoving cooldown reduction reduced from 24 seconds to 18 seconds.

Crossbow’s mana recoup skill has increased Mana gain by 20%, and Longbow has had a buff on Decisive Sniping resets. Now you have 6 seconds to use it again, where before it was only 3 seconds. Also, now if you cancel the reset in those 6 seconds, it won’t go on cooldown like it did before. This is a huge buff and a much needed.

Staff had most of the changes reverted to how it was before the last patch and some damage buffs on certain skills and won’t receive some minor buffs.

New Battlepass

New battlepass is also arriving with new and improved cosmetics. But one thing I noticed that wasn’t added but has been confirmed for the 3rd January patch before was the very much needed skill transfer to allow for easier build swapping. They have given no explanation for this decision, but I guess it was pushed for later patches so that they can have it ready without bugs and issues.

UI Changes

The world map now shows how much time is left in day or night. Guild quests marks have been simplified and are no longer visible on the map. Ability to adjust ambiance sound separately added contrast settings. Several inventory improvements and various other UI improvements and bug fixes. Lastly, they have improved a lot of codex quests, which are now much easier to understand and complete, with a lot of general bug fixes.

And that’s everything coming in the next patch. Some great changes and some very much needed improvements, and overall, the game is heading in a very healthy direction.