Ravana (Hard) was added in patch 3.0 of the Heavensward expansion.
Ravana (Hard) becomes available at level 53 as part of the “Lord of the Hive” quest, which is given by Ysayle – The Dravanian Forelands (X:30, Y:37).
Fourfold master of the blade, savior of the insect-like Gnath tribe. A warrior and conqueror, Ravana respects strength and abhors weakness. He revels in battle with worthy opponents, and is known to wield the legendary Chandrahas blades.
The Gnath are a tribe of insect-like beastmen known to inhabit the southern region of the Dravanian forelands. Having made remarkable advances in alchemy and metallurgy, these hunters have developed incense which deters Dravanian intruders, thus preserving Gnath territory. They are said to share a collective mind, linking them in spirit to their leader.
Introduction
For a hard mode primal he is no pushover, kinda like the ones available at the A Realm Reborn launch. This is likely down to not being over-geared although he does have the ability to knock you out of the fight like Titan Hard Mode so even when we have better gear you will have to stay alert.
The fight has three noticeable phases – a warm up phase where you learn some mechanics, an add phase and a final phase where a lot is going on. As with most fights in the game it’s a case of learning mechanics so the guide will go into detail about what these are and how to deal with them. For party setup there is no job that is required and it may well be possible to solo tank but why risk it at this point?
Phase 1
Prelude to Slaughter – The first mechanic you will encounter is called Prelude to Slaughter. This mechanic has a 15 second cast time so it’s hard not to see it coming. At the end of the cast he will do an AoE around himself and knockback anyone in melee range. He will then jump and do some line AoEs across the arena followed by a ground AoE that covers the outside of the arena so be prepared to move in after dodging the line AoEs.
Slaughter – The next mechanic you encounter is called Slaughter. This also has a 15 second cast time. He will do his knockback attack from before as well as his line AoEs, however instead of the ring shaped AoE he will do a second attack during the line AoEs. This will put a marker over the heads of two players – they will need to be standing away from all other players as the damage they take will increase with the number of people in the circle.
Phase 2
Around 65% Ravana will go invulnerable to damage and start summoning adds. You guessed it, you have to kill them quickly otherwise Ravana will do more damage than you can take. That’s the basics of it.
There are two types of adds, called Spirit Gana and Moon Gana. The latter have a lot more HP. The group should focus on one Gana – in the order that they appear because shortly they will begin casting Falling Laughter. You must not let them get this spell off because for each one that does a sword will appear on the ground and this adds an extra attack during his special. You can survive one or two of these but ideally you should have none.
At the end of the phase Ravana will use Bloody Fuller, which will lift all party members into the air preventing them from doing any actions. He will then deal AoE attacks around 2000 damage for each sword that was on the ground. Afterwards the group will take around 2700 damage from falling to the ground. If you’re going to have more than two swords on the ground then the tank LB may help but even that will not protect you if you have too many. The healers should ensure Regen is on the group as it also helps.
Phase 3
At the beginning of phase 3 Ravana will break away part of the outer wall. To avoid him breaking further parts of the wall he should be tanked in the centre of the arena in this phase.
Pillars of Heaven – The main mechanic to be aware of in this phase is called Pillars of Heaven. This is an AoE knockback that deals around 3000 damage and knocks you back towards the outer wall. It is unavoidable so all party members must be standing in a place where a wall exists behind them. If the wall behind them has been broken then they are out of the fight.
Swift Slaughter – In this attack the boss will place blue markers above the heads of four players. When the cast bar finishes (again 15 seconds) Ravana will charge towards the players with the marker and deal a lot of damage to them and anyone inbetween. The group should spread out around the edge (avoid the gap!) Ravana will then use the ring shaped attack seen in the first phase. A couple of seconds later be prepared to run out as Ravana will do an AoE around the centre of the arena.
He also has a mechanic that will deal a lot of damage to the off tank (or second person on the threat list if the off tank is dead or not second) and anyone around him. You can either have the party spread to deal with this or have the person who is getting hit move away. However there is no cast bar so it is difficult to see it coming. Spreading out a bit behind the boss is generally the safest way to deal with it.
When orbs appear on the arena attached to players they must kite them away from the party. After around 10 seconds they will disappear. If anyone touches an orb it will explode and deal damage to anyone nearby.