Dragonflight Zskarn, the Vigilant Steward Boss Guide

After players have defeated up to the Forgotten Experiments and Rashok , then Zskarn the Vigilent Steward becomes available. Let's take a look at what this boss can do.

Contents

1 Abilities
2 Heroic change
3 Mythic Changes

Abilities

Zskarn’s has inactive Dragonfire Traps placed around the entire encounter space. Throughout the fight he will activate these traps which will release lava around them. Any players standing in this fire take fire damage every second and have a dot applied called Dragonfire Traps that stacks every second.

The only way to deactivate these traps is with an item players can get from defeated Dragonfire Golems. Zskarn will occasionally spawn these golems with Animate Golems. These mobs will run around and cast Activate Dragonfire Trap which can be interrupted, this can quickly reduce the safe spots for players if left unchecked. When the golem does not see a nearby trap it will start attacking players, so tanks need to pick them up. Golems should be slowed and killed ASAP, then designated players can pick up their item to deactivate traps.

Throughout the fight tanks will have to constantly reposition the boss and manage the tank mechanics. Zskarn’s first tank buster is Searing Claws which cause his melee attacks to apply stacks of Searing Claws. This dot deals fire damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds, tanks should swap at 5-7 stacks.

The second tank mechanic is Shrapnel Bombs. This spawns 3 bombs around Zskarn that will explode after 30 seconds. If they are allowed to explode, they will deal massive raid wide damage and applies a 10 second dot that ticks every second to all players. To avoid this the off tank must run into the bombs before they explode on their own. This still deals a lot of damage to the tank, and puts an 8 second dot on them that ticks every second, so mitigation or defensives must be used.

Heroic change

On Heroic Zskarn gains a new ability called Unstable Embers. This is a dot Zskarn will place on 4 players that deals fire damage every second for 10 seconds. Additionally, any players within 5 yds of the targeted player will take fire damage every second. This is shown by a circle so players should make sure to spread and stay out of this circle. This will be harder to manage as the fight goes on as the safe spots shrink.

Mythic Changes

On Mythic Zskarn’s new ability is Elimination Protocol and interacts with the Unstable Embers dot. When Zskarn casts Elimination Protocol all players with Unstable Embers will be targetd, and have an arrow point at them. When the cast finishes a powerful blasts shoots at all the targeted players, dealing heavy fire damage to them. This also applies a debuff that increases the damage players take from Elimination Protocol by 500% for 30 seconds.

Healers should make sure targeted players are topped off before Elimination Protocol triggers. Defensives are also a good idea to use if you are targeted by this ability. Zskarn will never target someone that already has the Elimination Protocol debuff. So this ability is all about not hitting fellow players with it, which can be tricky since some go off during Blast Wave. Players targeted should stand still so others can move around them. Or players should have designated spots to stand at if they are targeted.

Another added effect is that Dragonfire Golems will gain Reinforced Defenses at 50% health or when they reach full energy. This protects them from crowd control effects, which makes them harder to stop.

There is everything you need to know about Zskarn's abilities and how to handle them in Aberrus.