DN: Desert Dragon Nest Guide (from Guild Freedom)

dr Guild Freedom DN Cn forum board:


Desert Dragon Nest Guide: Tank Perspective

Written by chaose5 & v2seraph
Video Tutorial by v2seraph

Credits:
- All Freedom guild members who are involved in the DDN run.
- All video uploaders
- Exploration team in kDN, jDN and cDN with their detailed description of each stage and advice.

Full Video Guide Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyodBmjwZlHYgNsNVsPNZqE8Wf2h-dvtv
Freedom's DDN 1 Hour Achievement Full Run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUAfYLz6QR0

Flying Ship

basic video guide:

advanced video guide:

Lamia Queen Itaila
After depleting each bar of HP, the snake boss will teleport to the middle of the area, suck players towards herself and summon 4 lizards at the 4 corners of the area (at the glowing device). The lizards must be killed within 10sec or else the ship will be damaged and fire patches will appear on the field. The Death Knight will also summon the 4 lizards when one of his HP bar is depleted.

The bar in the middle of the screen is the HP of the ship. Lizards' explotion will deplete the bar gradually. If the bar is emptied, a 60 seconds countdown timer will start. If you failed to kill both bosses when the timer is up, the ship will be destroyed and cause party wipe.

Boss Skills:
Tail Swipe: Painful for chars with low defense.

Tornado: Cast a tornado which moves linearly.

In theory the boss cannot be damaged after she teleport to the centre and suck everyone towards herself. However, using Detonate (priest) can render the boss vulnerable to attack for some reason. This strategy is useful in HC mode of the nest to speed up this stage. (Fixed as of v177)

Upon reaching her last HP bar, she will summon a Death Knight (Instead of the 4 lizards) to aid her.

Death Knight Ahmado

Boss Skills:
Line Drive: Causes stun/faint status and knockdown players, may instant kill someone who took full hits.

Death Claw: 4 directions.

Red Wave (~40 sec CD):  Knock back and knock down players. Red wave emanates from the Death Knight in a fan-shaped manner. After a few seconds, the area covered by the red waves will explode and deal huge damage. The direction in which he cast this, cannot be altered with provoke (Meaning he might not aim at the Paladin).

To avoid this attack, quickly move out of the fan-shaped AoE when you see the red waves. Damage can be reduced with damage reduction skills but cannot be evaded with evasion skills. (Evasion Slash etc)

New Boss Skill at HP x1:
Dark Typhoon (~50 sec CD): Knock back and knockdown players, suck them towards a typhoon which is created around himself. Very high damage. Pierce invincibility, damage can be reduced with damage reduction skill (Miracle Relic etc).

DK will start casting this after summoning last wave of lizards. Holy Shield of Saint works wonder here. You can also jump at the moment when he thrust his sword into the ground to evade the initial knockdown effect. Another trick is to stand with your back against the wall, the knock back effect will toss you into the air and you can use Aerial Evasion to quickly recover and start running in the opposite direction of the suction.

Battle Flow
- Assign 1 damage dealer to each corner before the battle for lizards, add more member to the corner with insufficient damage.


- Provoke Snake Queen to the top of the map.
- Damage Snake Queen until HP x3, she will suck everyone to the middle and summon 4 lizards at 4 corners.
- All party members go to their assigned corners to kill the lizards.
- Repeat the same thing at HP x2.
- At HP x1, Snake Queen will summon a Death Knight near the bottom of the map.
- Paladin provoke the Death Knight and stay at the bottom while the rest of the party member kill Snake Queen at the top ASAP.
- When Death Knight HP reaches HP x1.5, he will summon 2 Skeleton Minotaurs at 2 edges of the map.
- Party members need to lure the 2 Minotaurs away from Death Knight and kill them ASAP.
- Damage Death Knight until HP x1, he will summon 4 lizards at 4 corners.
- It is recommended that you only kill 2 of the lizard at the top. Why? It is because Death Knight will cast Dark Typhoon after timer reaches 0. Trying to kill the lizard at the bottom can be dangerous since you will be very near to the Death Knight, thus unable to escape from the typhoon suction.
- Stay away from Death Knight every ~45 seconds to avoid being sucked into Dark Typhoon.

Advanced Battle Flow for High DPS party:
This strategy is adopted for high DPS party to clear this stage as fast as possible. The differences between the usual battle flow are:
• There is no need to lure the Snake Lady to the top. Just fight the Snake Lady at the middle of the map.
• Kill the Snake Lady ASAP, ignoring the Death Knight most of the time.
• Ignore Skeletal Minotaurs summoned at 1.5x. Once Death Knight reaches 1.1x HP, use Time Acceleration and kill him ASAP. Ignore the last 4 lizards. You will not see Dark Typhoon if your party DPS is high enough to kill him within 10sec before Flying Ship explodes.

========

After clearing 1st stage, you can proceed to the large area of the map, where you can ride mount. The oasis in the middle of the map can recover HP/MP.

There are a total of 5 bosses which guard the seal to the entrance of the dragon.


You can clear the 4 bosses in any order you want. (Except Golem)

The Golem can only be challenged after you defeat the 4 bosses. You need to kill it as well, Golem is NOT optional boss.

Stage Introduction:

Barren Mist Garden

There are 4 sets of platforms around the area, each set has 3 individual platforms.  

Under normal circumstance, all these platform are on fire and will kill anyone almost instantly upon contact.

The lava on the other hand, will clear all your buff upon contact and deal continuous damage, ~30k burn damage every 2 seconds. The lava will also apply a 30 sec burn status, which deal ~12k damage per tick. (Ignore defense)



The boss of this stage, Phantom Flower Ignius, will spawn at the middle and it is surrounded by 4 Minor Phantom Flowers.

Phantom Flower Ignius

Basic Boss Skills
Roar (~20 sec CD): Blow frontal party member towards the edge of the map. The AoE is roughly a quarter of a circle. Very dangerous because you are not supposed to touch either the lava or fire platform.

Save your Aerial Evasion so that you can jump back while in the air to prevent yourself being blown into the lava or the fire platform. All party members except Paladin should always deal damage BEHIND the boss to prevent being blown into the lava. Guardian can use Guardian Force to resist the push or simply dash to the left to evade this.

Bite: Frontal. The last hit has push back effect, might throw you into lava.

Fire Ball: Throw a Fire Ball which will create a fire pit on the ground upon impact. the fire pit will grow larger and create explosion after 8 seconds. Ignore Provoke and throw at a random party member.

Flame Geyser (~40 sec CD): 3 waves of fire explosion in this order: Inner > Outer > Inner Ring or Outer> Inner > Outer. (As shown by the schematic above) This is a very dangerous skill as it will push you into the lava if you are staying near the outer ring. The sand will heat up (darkened) before Flame Geyser appears, avoid standing on darkened sand.

Only 2 known skills can negate the pushback/knockdown effect of all the flower's skill, namely Guardian's Guardian Force and Screamer's Grudge Formation.

New Skill at HP x3
Stomp: The boss will first rest its head on the floor before leaping into the air. It will turn and stomp with its head down. Jump to avoid. There are 2 versions of this: Single Stomp or Triple Stomp. Will push back and float if you are hit.

New Skill at HP x2
Magma Wave EX (~60 sec CD): The boss will shove its head into the ground for awhile before raising it up again. Almost the whole field, except for the 30 degree section exactly behind it, will be affected by this skill. The color of the ground will slowly brighten up and explode after 4 sec. Hiding at the small section behind it is the only way to avoid this. (See schematic below). After this skill, it will rest its head on the ground for 3-4sec and it's a good chance to deal damage to him. Like all other skills, it will push back and float you if you are hit.


New Skill at HP x1
Flame Meteor (~60sec CD): There will be a warning message when this skill is being cast. It will first rotate and shake its head before casting. (The flower will push you outwards in a similar fashion to the Flame Ogre meteor's skill in Typhoon Kim Nest Hell Mode)

After 3 seconds, the flower will start throwing Flame Balls at each party member in parabolic trajectory from the middle. The Flame Ball does not create fire pit, but it will induce a burn status, clear all buffs and knock you down upon hit hit. Take note that the lava damage will increase significantly during Flame Meteor. It is almost certain death if you are pushed into the lava.

To oppose the push force and evade the Flame Balls, you are required to press "W" and rotate your view with your mouse to move in clockwise/anti-clockwise around the boss. The whole party can gather and move together in this manner.

This skill lasts for 10 seconds and 7 Flame Balls are thrown to each party members.

There is a simpler and sure way to pass Flame Meteor: Use Invincible Potion. The exact battle flows ideally goes like this:
- Stop attacking at HP 1.1x, wait for lava flood and jump up to platform as per usual.
- After coming down from the platform, each party members use 1 or 2 of their highest damage skill at the flower, lowering the HP into the last bar.
- This will trigger the Flame Meteor. Simply eat the Invincible Potion and hold W at whatever position for 10sec after seeing Flame Meteor trigger message.
- After that, gather for Time Acceleration, cast Guardian Force (if any) then go for the kill.
- For this strategy, the party must have enough DPS to kill the flower before the next lava flood or else, you will have to face another round of Flame Meteor.

Advanced Strategy for High DPS Party
If your party dps is very high, you can stop attacking at 1.1x HP, and wait for Magma Wave EX.

When magma wave ex come, gather at the safe zone behind the flower, cast Time Accel and Dark Elf Dance to go for the kill. Your party must be able to take down the flower while it is casting Magma Wave (~5sec). Gladiator's finishing attack helps alot.


There are two important stage mechanics to take note in this stage.

Fire Platforms
- After depleting the 1st bar of the boss HP, it will dig underground and heat up the sand in the whole area.
- You have to jump onto the nearby platforms to avoid being burnt to death.
- However, among the set of 3 platforms, ONLY ONE will be safe to be stand on. (Left most of the set, without fire)
-Shortly after that, the fire on the platform next to the safe one will be extinguished while the platform which you initially stand on will be on fire. You are required to jump to the adjacent platform immediately. Repeat this another time and you will need to get back down to the ground again when the ground is not flooded by lava.
- Take note that the burn status will cause you to fall down from the air (Similar to electrocute status)
- The area will be flooded with lava EVERY 60 seconds.

Mainstream Strategy:
- Instead of jumping onto the 1st platform, one can actually jump directly to the second platform without going up the 1st platform.
- There are 2 warning messages before the lava flood happen.
- First message is 'Jump up to the platform'. When you see this message, go to the nearest 2nd platform and wait there for the 2nd message.
- Once the second message 'The sand is getting hot' appear, immediately jump onto the 2nd platform. Wait for 2 seconds then jump to the 3rd platform when you see the fire on the next platform is extinguished.

Alternative Strategy:
- Instead of jumping, one can actually Dash/Roll/Tumble/Blink across the platform.
- This will minimize the chance of one falling down due to the burn status interruption.
- However, one need to judge the Dash/Roll/Tumble/Blink distance according to your own class: Mage and Kali have very far blink distance, while Cleric has relatively short dash distance.

Watch video below to see how this is done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB8T2-vgasA


Clearing Burn Status
- You can clear the burn status when the minor flowers spray water or form water geysers.

Storm Observatory

Basic Video Guide

Advanced Video Guide


Storm Ruler Zuul

Boss Skills
Charge: Jump back and charge towards the person with highest aggro. This whole attack is done in slow motion. Second hit ignores Shield Block.

Claw Swipe: After the initial claw swipe, an explosive trail follows. The explosion will induce a debuff which reverse your arrow key/left-right click command. The initial claw swipe ignore Shield Block, the explosive trail can be blocked with Shield Block.

Pounce: Jump forward and pounce on the target. Emanates 4 waves upon landing.

Tail Swipe: Can be left or right side of the rear area of the boss. Similar to claw swipe, it will also create an explosive trail at the certain distance away from the boss. Induce a debuff which reverse your arrow key. Ignore Shield Block.

Light Balls: Roar and conjure 4 light balls in 4 directions. These balls will split into another 4 smaller light balls. Cause stun/faint upon hit. Very high damage. Can be blocked with relics and mirror. The stun effect can be avoided if you are under Stance of Faith, Guardian's Guardian Force, Mercenary's super armor buff or Parry Stance.

Explosive Stomp: Raise its glowing front claw high up and stomp, following by 4 explosion trails which travel outwards from the boss. The stomp damage ignore Shield Block, invincibility and Highland. Explosive damage can be blocked with Shied Block. Quake damage hits the whole field, can be avoided with jump.  

Trailing Explosion: After the head glow for awhile, shakes its head and creates 2 Trailing Explosion. (Homing effect on a target) Keep moving to avoid. The trail can be blocked with relics and mirror. Each explosive damage is around ~30k, final hit is ~100k.

 
New Skills at HP x3:
Fly & Photon Missile (~70 sec CD): Throw Photon Missiles from the air. Keep moving to avoid. It will perform a Diving Stomp after this. Induce a 1 minute debuff which reduces your attack and defense by 40%. The debuff cannot be removed by any means. Low defense chars might be killed by other skills if this debuff is induced on them. The boss will not cast this at last HP bar. Ignore Shield Block, Highland & invincibility.

Diving Stomp: The boss performs a back flip in the air with its claws glowing before diving onto the ground. Very high damage, especially if you were hit by Photon Missiles before this. Time your jump to avoid the quake damage upon landing. Ignore Highland, Shield Block and invincibility. You will hear a distinctive roar 2 seconds before the dive. see video below for demonstration to time your jump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHdWXE3QboA

Wind Wall: Raise its front legs and flaps its wing a few times to generate a tornado in front of it. The tornado then turn into 4 wind walls which move forward. Will only hit frontal area.

Crescent Wave: Howl and push back all players. Create a few big crescent-shaped waves which travel slowly from the boss. The super armor break is very high and able cancel all your skills. Jump over the crescents to avoid. These crescents can also be blocked with relics or mirrors. Ignore Shield Block & invincibility.

Tracing Tornado (~70 sec CD): Raise one of its front leg and create a tornado on a party member. The initial casting motion is performed in slow motion. The marked member will not be damaged but it will remove all buff. The tornado sucks party members to it and kill anyone who are trapped in the tornado.

The key to avoid this skill is to assign all party members to stand separately at 8 corners of the map. Use auto-run (Default Key 'E') if you have arrow key reverse debuff on you.

New Skill at HP x2:
Charged Photon Missile: Cast after the usual Photon Missile while staying in the sky. After HP x1, it will use this after conjuring Sand Storm in air. Its body will glow and all members will be pushed away from it. It will charge up for awhile and fire multiple Photon Missiles. Ignore Shield Block, Highland & invincibility. Run toward empty area without people to avoid being hit.

New Skill at HP x1:
Sand Storm: Use this immediately after it flies. Clear all buffs. No damage. The sandstorm will stay on the field for awhile and disturb your vision and Manticore's dot will disappear from minimap. This made it difficult to time jumping for Diving Stomp. You will need to rely on the roar of the Manticore to discern the jump timing.

Alternatively, turn your screen such that you are facing him. Then, pan your view up and wait for its back flip before you jump.

One of the key to the battle is to predict the casting motion of major skills and act accordingly to avoid them. The casting motion of the boss is very similar to the Dark Manticore Lord.
Dark Manticore's Gravity Ascension > Splitting Light Balls
Dark Manticore's Summon Tornado > Wind Wall
Dark Manticore's Gravity Ball > Photon Missiles
Dark Manticore's Summon Black Hole > Tracing Tornado

Battle Flow Control
One of the most important element in this battle, is the battle flow control. Your aim is to make the boss cast Fly and Tornado back-to-back, such that you will have more time to deal damage without the need to disperse or get ready for Photon Missile.

How does one control the skill pattern/flow of the boss?

First Tornado is triggered when the HP is at somewhere between the word 配者 at HP x3 (See picture below). So simply attack the Manticore until roughly 3.9x HP, stop attacking when the HP moves past the last 2 character 朱武 while wait for the next fly. Continue damaging Manticore after it lands to trigger Tornado by lowering its HP pass 者. Back to assigned position earlier for Tracing Tornado.