First, this is a quick guide to the NORMAL version of the dungeon March of Sacrifices, which you can get into with a random group from level 45 onwards. If you’re looking for help with VETERAN mode or just a more in-depth guide, try ESOPlanet’s written guide or Xynode’s video guide. However, if you’re just looking for a single Undaunted pledge key, or the story and the skill point, or to farm a set, or even got put here for your random daily dungeon and don’t know what to do – this guide is for you! This is a SHORT guide that will ONLY focus on the crucial points for normal mode (instead of a walkthrough so detailed that you wouldn’t be able to remember the correct strategies when the time comes!)
I will spend a little extra time on the second boss though, just because I couldn’t find any videos that actually bother showing that mechanic.
I’ve seen so many players give up on this dungeon, but so long as you have a proper, non-fake tank, all you need is to understand one or two mechanics per boss fight, and you can clear normal mode of this dungeon no problem, even at level 45 with no CP!
First boss, the Tank Check: BLOCK Ursus’s Heavies – and EVERYONE STAY ON the island!
Honestly, the main reason so many random PUGs will fall apart at this first boss is that, unlike the below-45 dungeons, fake tanks really don’t work well here. Priority number one for the tank : focus on Ursus (the sword and board boss with the green on the ground). Always keep her taunted and block her heavy attack. She will one-shot most normal tanks if you fail that block.
Non-tanks will get oneshot right through shield&block, and while it is of course technically possible to dodge roll, this drains a lot of stamina and Ursus has a way of repeating that attack until you run out and go down. So you really need an actual tank build.
(a level 45 who specced into damage mitigation will be fine; a CP810 fake tank generally won’t. That won’t keep some players from preferring fake tanks anyway; I’ll never forget the CP400 healer who left because he thought at max CP I was doing too little damage… as if a build that can tank a 50k attack could DD at the same time). I mean if he’d complained I wasn’t holding all three bosses I’d be guilty as charged, but the thing is
(The tank also mustn’t get distracted by other worthy undertakings. Yes, ideally someone should interrupt the other two bosses channeling heals and snipes, but DDs and healers can do this too if it’s too much for the tank to keep track of. Only the tank can block Ursus’ heavies, so get that block up in time! )
The other thing that’s important here is positioning. Strigidae (the bow boss) has a blue aura that negates all magicka and ultimate abilities, so the tank should try to place Ursus and AWAY from bow boss’s blue patch (not at the cost of blocking heavy attacks, though!)
Magicka types should stay out of this blue area on the ground – but not too far away! If you stray too far, the whole battle will reset, meaning all the bosses will get their health bars back up and you have to start over. Even the far parts of the island you’re on can be no-go, but a good rule of thumb is to stay on the island and never go into the water.
So to recap crucial point #2:: magicka DDs and healers stay on the island but off the blue patch. If you have a great tank, those two things are really all you have to worry about.
If, on the other hand, the tank can’t do everything alone, the other players should interrupt the other bosses channeling heals and snipes; if you’re magicka, consider slotting a ranged interrupt like Force Pulse for this fight/dungeon, especially since interrupting is also very important on the fourth boss.
One last thing. Even if the tank maintains aggro, Ursus will sometimes charge at a random player, knocking them back and doing tons of damage. Best thing is to dodge roll this, but try to stay out of the water!
(Worst case scenario and the tank just can’t stay alive, prepare to dodge roll A LOT and consider tri-stat food and/or stamina potions (even if you’re magicka) to be able to do it for longer.
Second boss, the Giant Spriggan: Nuke the Lurchers, press their synergy and go to the coloured ring
You may not see the Big Blast mechanic at all if your DPS is at least moderate, but you really should kill the Lurchers as soon as they spawn just in case.
(They hit hard so the tank should taunt them and stack them on the boss so they’ll all die to your AoE.)
Each dead Lurcher will drop a synergy – Autumn’s Protection, Winter’s and, you guessed it, Spring’s and Summer’s Protection. Each group member needs to activate one of these synergies.
If you see the four wavy, coloured lines appearing in the air from the main boss to the circles, get to one of the circles immediately. If you take the yellow (Autumn) protection, you’re supposed to go to the yellow circle and so on (but honestly, any circle seems to work on normal)
Point is, you have to be in a circle before she stops her little hand dance and she releases her Big Blast – or you’ll take tons of damage that might oneshot non-tanks. (Decent health tanks can survive this on Normal mode.)
Third Boss: Watch your Feet and Kill the Adds
This can actually be the hardest boss on normal mode, but the strategy for it is really simple: The boss will place all kinds of damage moving around on the ground, so stay out of that and kill all the adds to avoid all the damage adding up and players getting wrecked. When the boss jumps like Superman, back away so that you’ve got more time to evade the AoEs he’ll be firing off. If you’re the tank, try to chain in the adds. If you’re not the tank, supposedly the way to deal with the AoEs that hone in on the players is to dodge roll through it toward the boss, but since it’s normal mode, at least don’t stand still in the damage
– and good luck! If you can do this one, the rest just about learning a mechanic or two, and then it will be much easier.
Fourth Boss, the Giant Indrik: Crouch when told to crouch. And go press the synergy.
This boss really isn’t hard to do on Normal mode. Honestly, you just have to know what key you sneak with – admittedly, that’s a part of the game neglected by far too many players! Two things to note here. First and foremost, when the NPC tells you to crouch down – do it. Stay in sneak mode and step away from various ghost indriks and ground AoEs that may spawn. Wait for that little spark-like Wisp to eventually stop and form a green globe. Go to it and press the synergy. This phase will happen at 75%, 50% and 20% and each time you’ll have to wait for that green Wisp circle to form three times. When this phase ends and the main boss appears again, you can stop sneaking. The second thing to note is that now, you should get ready to interrupt the boss because he always starts channeling quite early after the sneak phase ends and he can do a lot of splash damage this way.
Last Boss, the Big Bad Wolf: the Blue Light in the Fog
If you made it this far, your tank knows how to keep aggro, block nasty attacks and turn the boss away from the group. That means the the one mechanic you HAVE to know here happens at 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% boss health. Fog will descend on the battlefield and Big, Bad Wolf Boss Balorgh will become invincible and start chasing a random player. You’ll know it’s you if you’ve got two red circles at your feet. BBWolf will oneshot non-tanks and taunting doesn’t work in this phase, so once the fog descends, everyone, but especially the player with aggro, need to look for the blue light and go to it ASAP. Lure the boss THROUGH the blue circle and he will become vulnerable again (you can tell it worked because the fog will disperse).
Between the Fog Phases, there are two things to watch to avoid putting undue pressure on the healer. When the islands are full of green poison, stay in the water and off the islands. But immediately when the poison dissipates, leave the water and get on dry land again, because the water will become electrified.
A good healer can heal through this, though.
Honestly, that’s it. Rinse and repeat until complete.
So, to recap:
First boss: Stay out of the blue circle but on the island
Second boss: Nuke the Lurchers, take the synergy just in case, and go to the circle if necessary
Third Boss: Kill the adds and watch your feet
Fourth Boss: Crouch when told to crouch. And go press the synergy in green.
Last Boss: when the Fog Phase descends, go to the Blue Light. And if your healer’s struggling, when there’s poison on dry land, go into the water. When the water is shocking, go to dry land.
That’s it, you can now pick up your skill point, your Undaunted reward, or even farm one of the sets here. Have fun, and remember to live and let live!
Icehair's Stuff 