The Fifth Circle (Savage) Raid Guide (2024)

To see Nemjiji's frenzy as you recount your battle with the proto-Carbuncle,one might think that she had been infected with the mythic creation's corruptingpoisons and was scrambling to record her final words before expiring. Althoughshe claims that the many fantastical bestiaries that lie scattered about thelaboratory are simply for research, you gather that she would take great pridein seeing her name inscribed upon the cover of one.

The Fifth Circle (Savage) can be unlocked at level 90 after completing theNormal difficulty of the Abyssos raid and talking to Nemjiji in Labyrinthos(x8.4, y27.4). It requires a minimum item level of 600 to queue, but thisrequirement can be bypassed when entering with a full party.

Proto-Carbuncle has a hard enrage of 9:58 and has a DPS check of roughly 49,200raid DPS.

If you would prefer to watch a video that covers the fight, take a look atHope Productions visual guide.

If you're progressing through the tier using Party Finder (PUG setting), the following toolboxcan be utilized. These strats come from the NA PUG Discord.

• P5S Toolbox (Entire fight)

All players should be assigned a clock spot, with tanks north and south,healers east and west, and DPS on intercardinals. The raid also needs to be splitinto light parties of one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. Finally, partieswill need to assign roles to specific puddles for the Devour mechanic halfwaythrough the fight - these will spawn at cardinals, so assign one role to eachcardinal.

The boss has a Satiety meter - this does nothing and depletes at a fixed ratethe entire encounter, and upon hitting zero it will begin to cast StarvingStampede.

The fight is divided into six Ruby Glow mechanic sets, with one dance mechanicin the middle: Devour. Ruby Glow mechanic sets involve solving positional puzzleswhile avoiding Ruby Reflection, while failure to execute Devour properly willlikely result in a wipe.

• Sonic Howl: Moderate raid-wide magical damage.
• Ruby Glow: Heavy raid-wide magical damage. Summons magical barriersin the arena that either divides it in half diagonally OR divides it intofour quadrants. Any Searing Ray or Topaz Stones that does anAoE in an area inside Ruby Glow will be reflected off the barrier, dealingdamage again to the area with Ruby Reflection and inflicting a damagedown debuff.
• Topaz Stones: Summons Topaz Stones onto the arena, which deal magicaldamage in an area. This AoE can be reflected by Ruby Glow barriers. Additionally,spawns poison pools that slowly expand.
• Topaz Cluster: Summons multiple Topaz Stones in succession.
• Toxicosis: Four poison puddles spawn that inflict a moderate poison DoTwhen standing inside it. Two players must soak the puddle when the circularindicator is about to finish or else a Lively Bait will spawn. The add will castScatterbait, which deals massive damage to the raid and inflicts a damage downdebuff. Additionally, if players are not standing inside the puddle, it willdeal heavy damage to the two closest players to the pool.
• Venomous Mass: A magical AoE tank buster on the current #1 aggro thatinflicts an uncleansable poison DoT for 12 seconds as well as a physicalvulnerability up debuff.
• Toxic Crunch: A physical tank buster on the current #1 aggro thatinflicts an uncleansable poison DoT for 12 seconds. As this always followsVenomous Mass, a tank swap is necessitated.
• Double Rush: The Proto-Carbuncle will jump the centre of the arenaand dash to an intercardinal, dealing damage to all targets in its path. Itwill then dash across the arena to the opposite intercardinal, dealing heavydamage and knocking all players back to its sides. Knockback preventionabilities work on this.
• Venom Surge: Unmarked stack markers on both healers that do magic damage.This is followed by a baited ground AoE on all players, then an unmarked AoEon all players that does magic damage.
• Venom Squall: Unmarked AoE markers on all players that does magic damage.This is followed by a baited ground AoE on all players, then an unmarked stackmarker on both healers that does magic damage.
• Raging Claw: The Proto-Carbuncle will slash six times in front of it.
• Raging Tail: The Proto-Carbuncle will tail swipe the arena behind it.
• Claw to Tail: Raging Claw into Raging Tail immediately after.
• Tail to Claw: Raging Tail into Raging Claw immediately after.
• Venom Pool: Unmarked stack markers on both healers that do magic damage.This will break any Topaz Stones that are hit, as well as spawn an expanding poisonpool.
• Searing Ray: The boss will cleave the arena in front of it. This AoEcan be reflected by Ruby Glow barriers.
• Sonic Shatter: Five instances of raid-wide magic damage.
• Starving Stampede: The main mechanic of the fight, commonly referredto as Devour. The boss will mark eight jumps across the arena. It willthen mark them sequentially with a red jaw marker, indicating the order it willjump in. These do large AoEs and inflict Down for the Count is a player is hit.At the end, the boss will cast Devour on all players hit, eating them and killingthem.

As the fight starts, the boss will immediately start with Sonic Glow intoRuby Glow, so mitigate and heal between the raid-wides. In the first RubyGlow, the room is divided into four quadrants and there will be two Topaz Stonescovering two quadrants. Two expanding poison pools will also spawn, so playersneed to head to one of the quadrants that are safe from Ruby Reflection as wellas not covered by a poison pool.

Once the poison pool disappears, the boss will cast Venomous Pool followedby Toxic Crunch. The current main tank needs to move out of the group andmitigate, as it deals damage in an AoE. The off tank will need to provoke duringthe castbar and mitigate the second hit. Return the boss to the middle for thefirst Toxicosis Puddles.

The puddles need to be soaked by two players each, and it is best to move inat the last second to avoid taking too much residual damage. Ideally, each puddleis soaked by players of the same role - tanks and melee DPS take the two puddlesin the centre, while ranged DPS and healers take the two puddles on the outside.To determine which tower belongs to which role, use the north as a fixed point.Tanks and healers will take the first inside and outside puddles starting fromNorth and going clockwise, while both sets of DPS will take the first inside andoutside puddles starting from Northwest and going counterclockwise.

The boss will cast another Venomous Mass into Toxic Crunchbefore casting Ruby Glow.

In the second Ruby Glow, the boss will divide the arena into two halves.Topaz Stones will summon one stone that will hit one half, and anexpanding poison pool on the other side. This is followed by Double Rush.This means that the party must first stay behind the boss as it dashes, thenpossibly move to the safe side for the Ruby Reflection. This should be mitigatedheavily, as it deals physical damage which may be lethal for casters and healers.Ensure that you are not knocked into the wall, or use your knockback preventionability during the castbar of Double Rush.

The boss will return to the middle and cast Sonic Howl and Ruby Glow.

In the third Ruby Glow, the boss will divide the arena into four quadrants.Four sets of only Topaz Stones (and no poison pools) will be dropped byTopaz Cluster, with two in the first, two in the second, three in the third,and three in the fourth. Essentially, players will have to remember safequadrants that do not have Topaz Stones in them, and move into them after eachexplosion.

To simplify this mechanic, only the first and third safe spots are needed.The second safe spot is always one of the two adjacent quadrants to the firstsafe spot, and the fourth and final safe spot is always across from the thirdsafe spot.

Afterwards, the Proto-Carbuncle will cast another Venomous Mass intoToxic Crunch. This is followed by either Venom Squall or VenomSurge. If it is Squall, players will need to head to their clock spot tospread for the AoE, bait the AoE in the middle of the arena, and head east andwest to stack in their light party in their clock spot for the stack marker. Ifit is Surge, do the opposite - first, stack with light parties at east and west,bait the AoE in the middle, then head to everyone's clock spot for the AoE.

Immediately after, the boss will cast Tail to Claw or Claw to Tail.If it is the former, stand on the front side of the boss, and move immediatelyto the back side after it swipes its tail. If it is the latter, wait behind theboss for it to cleave six times, then move immediately in front of the boss.

At this point, the Proto-Carbuncle's Satiety meter will reach zero, and it willbegin to mark the arena for Starving Stampede, beginning the Devour mechanic.

The Proto-Carbuncle becomes untargetable, invincible, and jumps across the arenawith Starving Stampede in the order shown by the red jaw. The jumps willstart at a random intercardinal, but there are only two possible patterns ofjumps. The diagram below shows where the jumps are located, and it can starton any of 1, 2, 3, or 4.

For the first pattern, the jumps will go clockwise one, counterclockwise four,and clockwise 2. For example, if the jumps started at 1, it will go 1, 2, A, D,C, B, 3, 4. In this pattern, players will want to stand opposite of the firstjump, then follow it to the first jump's location after the second jump has hit.In our example, stand at 3, and once 2 has hit, move along the inside to betweenA and 1.

For the second pattern, the jumps will go clockwise three and counterclockwisefour. For example, if the jumps started at 1, it will go 1, 2, 3, 4, C, B, A, D.In this pattern, move into the first jump, then once the fourth jump hits followbehind it to the opposite corner. In our example, stand at D, then move into 1.Once 4 hits, move along the inside to between 3 and C.

Right after Starving Stampede, Toxicosis puddles will spawn in setpositions in the middle of the arena at cardinals. However, the raid needs tosatiate the Proto-Carbuncle's hunger by allowing a Lively Bait add to spawn.To do this, have the DPS and healers stand in assigned puddles. The tanks caneither both stand close to the puddle but not inside it and mitigate, or one tankcan stand inside the puddle and use their invulnerability ability to preventthe puddle from killing them. Either way, once the add is spawned, the boss willeat it and become satiated again.

If there are multiple adds spawned, the boss will eat only one. If the boss'shunger is not satiated, it will cast Acidic Slaver, wiping the party.

After the puddles are soaked, the boss will cast Sonic Howl intoRuby Glow. In the fourth Ruby Glow, the boss will divide the arena intohalves. The Topaz Stones that are summoned will have three on one side ofthe arena, and two on the other side of the arena. Soon after, the boss willcast Venom Pool targeting the two healers. Players will need to head tothe half of the arena with only two stones, and stack in their light parties todestroy the two stones in that safe side, creating a safe zone. One light partyneeds to go close to the boss, and the other needs to head to the wall.

After the Topaz Stones explode, the poison pools from Venom Pool willbegin to expand and the boss will cast either Searing Ray or RagingClaw. If it is the former, stand on the safe side of the arena, and if itis the latter, stand behind the boss. Quickly move to the safe spot of the arenathat will not be filled up by poison pools. The boss will do a Venomous Massinto Toxic Crunch combo right after, so avoid the main tank.

Return to the middle of the arena and locate north for Ruby Glow. InRuby Glow 5, the arena will be split into quadrants. Topaz Stones willsummon two stones that block off opposing quadrants, and two poison pools on theother two quadrants. These pools will slowly expand, but leave a tiny safe spoton the quadrant it is on. Players will need to split into their light parties,with one group heading to the safe spot on the west side of the arena and onegroup heading to the east side of the arena. Once the Topaz Stones explode, moveinto the quadrants and prepare for Venom Squall.

Players will need to do this mechanic within the confines of the tiny safe spotat the edge of the arena. First, spread with three players at the wall and onecloser to the boss. Then, move back to bait the AoE, and then stack together tothe boss for the unmarked stack. Both healers in light parties will have to topthe light party up between hits.

At this point, Toxicosis puddles will spawn. Soak these like you would thefirst set, and ensure players know where they are going and where their partneris, as it is likely you are in opposite light parties. Immediately after theyresolve, there is a Claw to Tail or Tail to Claw, so head closeto the boss and dodge that as well.

The boss does another Venomous Mass into Toxic Crunch combobefore casting Sonic Howl into the final Ruby Glow of the fight.

In Ruby Glow 6, the arena will be split into quadrants. Topaz Stoneswill summon many Topaz Stones across the arena, with no poison pools. In onequadrant, there will only be two Topaz Stones, and the party needs to go thereto break the stones with Venom Pool, which is casted a short while later.Again, have one light party go near the boss and one light party go to the wall.As these spawn poison pools, move out after the other Topaz Stones explode. Theboss will cast Double Rush a short while later, so head to the safe spotin the arena, stand behind it, and use knockback prevention abilities or avoidgetting knocked into the wall.

The rest of the fight are mechanics that have already been seen previously.The Proto-Carbuncle will cast a Venomous Mass into Toxic Crunchcombo, followed by a Sonic Howl. It will then use Venom Surge orVenom Squall into Claw to Tail or Tail to Claw, which ishandled exactly like the first one. After one more Venomous Mass intoToxic Crunch, it will cast Sonic Shatter, dealing heavy AoE damage,then begin to cast its enrage, Acidic Slaver. Kill the boss before it killsyou!

When proto-Carbuncle is defeated, treasure coffers will appear depending on howmany players have already defeated the fight for the week. The first cofferwill contain a random Abyssos Accessory Coffer, while the second one willcontain two random Abyssos Accessory Coffers. When opened by a player, thesecoffers contain an Abyssos Accessory for the job the player is currently on.

Players who defeat the encounter for the first time during the weekly reset willalso receive an Abyssos Mythos I token. Four of these can be tradedin for an Abyssos accessory of your choosing at a Pandaemonium gear vendor.