This guide provides tips and strategies for the fourteenth strike mission and how to defeat Cerus in the Temple of Febe. If your group is struggling, the guidelines in the Introduction to Raiding will apply here as well. Check out the glossary page if you're not familiar with a term used in this guide and make sure to run an optimal build from our list of recommended builds for this encounter.
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Strategy
- 3 Split Phase 1
- 3.1 Strategy
- 4 Phase 2
- 5 Split Phase 2
- 6 Phase 3
- 7 Phase 4
Introduction
Entering the white AoE near the start of the map will bring up a dialogue box to proceed, but the fight won't start until players reach the platform. Shortly afterward, Cerus will leap to the center of the arena and the fight begins.
This encounter has a unique feature whereby the group can target specific abilities to prevent a more powerful version from occurring. This allows teams to reduce the threat from the mechanics they struggle with most.
This encounter features a defiance bar (strength 3600) that needs to be broken within 10 seconds for the fight to progress. This should not be difficult for the average squad, but some extra CC may need to be taken if there is an abundance of low-CC classes in the group.
Strategy
Crushing Regret
Shortly after spawning, a random player is targeted by a green AoE as Cerus prepares to slam a claw down on the target, dealing very heavy damage. Players should stack inside the green within five seconds to reduce the damage taken.
If fewer than five players are within the green, Cerus will gain five stacks of 
Empowered, and players will take very heavy damage and get a stack of 
Exposed. If five or more players are inside, they each take a moderate amount of damage. The damage can be blocked or avoided with invulnerability.
Empowered: Three players are targeted.
Note: The actual radius of the green AoE is 50% larger than the visual suggests.
Wail of Despair
Next, every player is targeted by a small AoE. After five seconds, this detonates, dealing heavy damage and leaving a pool on the ground for 60 seconds that also ticks heavy damage and 
Torment. Players should move these away from Cerus, but it doesn't need to be too far.
These AoEs can be stacked, but players will need to dodge precisely, or have a channeled block or invulnerability to survive the damage.
Empowered: The AoEs are larger, and the pool lasts longer.
Envious Gaze
A large arrow indicator appears on the group and a short while later, Cerus fires a demonic beam that rotates anti-clockwise around him, dealing very heavy damage and corrupting three boons on players it hits.
The most efficient way to avoid this attack is to stand just to the left of the arrow when it appears (facing Cerus), then take a few steps to the right as it rotates.
Empowered: Two beams spawn, and Cerus gains a copy of any corrupted boons. To avoid both beams, players instead need to stand to the right of the arrow and complete a full circle around the boss.
Malicious Intent
A random player is tethered to Cerus and receives a timer above their head as well as a white screen border. After five seconds, a Malicious Shadow spawns at their location and begins slowly walking towards Cerus. The Shadow is immune to hard CC but can be soft CC'd. If it reaches Cerus, he gains five stacks of Empowered.
It is recommended that targeted players move backward from the group a short distance. The Malicious Shadows do not have a lot of health and therefore shouldn't survive walking through the stack.
Empowered: Three players are targeted.
Insatiable Hunger
Cerus pulls in a series of orbs from the edge of the arena for 10 seconds. Each one that reaches Cerus will provide him a small amount of barrier, but they can be body-blocked by players. More conveniently, they can also be blocked by projectile destruction.
In addition to the small orbs, three larger ones spawn that will provide the boss with a stack of Empowered. These orbs can only be body-blocked by players, and doing so with inflict the player with 
Insatiable - causing them to take a small amount of ticking damage for 30 seconds.
Empowered: Two additional orbs spawn, and Insatiable never expires.
Cry of Rage
Cerus charges up a large AoE attack that deals very heavy damage and applies Exposed to each player hit after five seconds. The attack can be dodged but is otherwise unavoidable.
Empowered: The AoE is larger, and can no longer be dodged.
Split Phase 1
At 80% health, Cerus gains a defiance bar (strength: 3600) and begins channeling Petrify. If the group cannot break the bar within 10 seconds, Cerus will regain 20% health (though this will be reduced to 13.4% if Cerus is 
Poisoned), essentially preventing the fight from progressing. Failing to break the bar will also stun the group for eight seconds.
Whether Petrify succeeds or not, Cerus will split into six Embodiments, each corresponding to one of his six attacks:
| Embodiment | Mechanic | Location | Empowered effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embodiment of Regret | Crushing Regret | East | Three greens spawn |
| Embodiment of Despair | Wail of Despair | Northwest | Pool AoEs are larger and last longer |
| Embodiment of Envy | Envious Gaze | Southeast | Two rotating beams spawn |
| Embodiment of Malice | Malicious Intent | Southwest | Three players spawn Malicious Shadows |
| Embodiment of Gluttony | Insatiable Hunger | West | Two extra large orbs spawn, and Insatiable never expires |
| Embodiment of Rage | Cry of Rage | Northeast | The AoE is larger and can no longer be dodged |
The split phase ends when two of the Embodiments have been defeated. There are three large and three small Embodiments, all of which have the same health. Killing the large Embodiments will prevent Cerus from gaining the Empowered version of their related skill, but killing the small Embodiments has no effect (other than ending the split phase).
As such, groups will want to choose two of the large Embodiments to kill.
Additionally, the large Embodiments will cast empowered versions of their related skill. Failing to deal with these mechanics as normal will give the embodiment stacks of Empowered, which will be inherited by Cerus in the next phase - though this does not apply to the Embodiment of Malice.
Strategy
Each of the Embodiments will spawn in the same location each time, and the three large Embodiments will be one of two sets: Regret, Envy and Rage, or Despair, Malice and Gluttony. These sets cover the east and west halves of the arena, respectively. The set that spawns in the first phase is random.
While each group may prioritise avoiding certain empowered effects differently, in the author's opinion the difficulty of the empowered mechanics rank as follows (from high to low threat):
- Rage can no longer be avoided by any means, and it hits very hard. This forces the group to either run a great distance to avoid the attack or risk multiple people getting downed.
- Envy will force a lot more movement when empowered, and also increases the chance that the group will have their boons stolen.
- Despair cuts off more of the arena, which can be dangerous, and if AoEs are dropped on the boss it may be very difficult for melee classes. Much like Malice though, the mechanic isn't too dangerous as long as players are paying attention.
- Malice shouldn't be any trouble if players notice that they are targeted, but if multiple Malicious Shadows are spawned on top of Cerus his damage will increase significantly. Additionally, this mechanic occurs late in all phases, so fast groups may skip it entirely (and slower groups will still have it occur fewer times).
- Gluttony is low threat as the group has a long time to react, and players can help by picking up multiple orbs. Even with several stacks of
Insatiable, the damage pressure remains low. - Regret is very low threat. The group will ideally be stacking already, so three greens spawning is no more trouble than one, and the extra damage should be very easy to manage.
Following this ranking, the recommendation is for groups to kill the Embodiments of Despair/Malice and Envy/Rage, while ignoring Regret and Gluttony. Conveniently this means ignoring the middle of the three large embodiments when they spawn, which may be easier to remember than the specific names.
In the second split, the pattern will then be three large embodiments on one side, with the fourth directly opposite. Once again the two outer embodiments can be killed.
While the order in which the Embodiments attack seems unpredictable, the Embodiment of Gluttony will always be first. If the large orbs reach the Embodiment, Cerus will inherit the resulting Empowered stacks in the next phase. The group may wish to have some players (ideally supports) intercept these orbs.
Phase 2
Phase 2 is the same as Phase 1, with the exception that some of his attacks will be empowered.
Split Phase 2
At 50% health, Cerus once again gains a defiance bar as he attempts to cast Petrify.
Upon breaking, the group will once again be faced with the six Embodiments. Assuming two large Embodiments were killed in the first split phase, these two will be small and invulnerable. All the remaining Embodiments will be large.
Phase 3
Phase 3 is similar to Phases 1 and 2. Two more of the boss's mechanics will now be empowered, and his attack pattern is slightly different:
- Crushing Regret ⇒ Envious Gaze ⇒ Insatiable Hunger ⇒ Cry of Rage ⇒ Malicious Intent ⇒ Wail of Despair ⇒ repeat
Phase 4
Upon reaching 10% health, Cerus gains a defiance bar once more as he attempts to cast Petrify, though there is no split phase coming. Once broken, for the rest of the fight Cerus will spam Enraged Smash, dealing heavy damage with each cast.
