The Ebony Citadel of Mallyx

Requirements
Finishing steps 1-6 of the quest Mallyx the Unyielding is a requirement to start the mission. The finishing of this mission is also the last step of this quest. To start the mission, speak with High Priest Zhellix. If the party has someone who has not fulfilled the requirements of the mission, the priest will not start the mission, and will point out who of the group is not qualified for the mission.

Objectives

 * Protect High Priest Zhellix while he performs the opening ritual on the Ebony Citadel.
 * Defeat Mallyx the Unyielding.

Reward

 * Chance of receiving Primeval Armor Remnants for party members
 * Citadel Chest which gives one of Mallyx's unique items to each party member
 * Completion of Mallyx the Unyielding quest and taking its reward.

Defending Zhellix
The first step of the mission is to protect Zhellix while he performs the opening ritual. Nineteen (19) groups of monsters either spawn or arrive at the area of the priest:
 * Margonites
 * Titans
 * Torment creatures
 * Stygian Veil creatures.

The waves come in the following order (pay close attention to when each group spawns as some groups will spawn on the death of certain foes and not others):
 * 1) From the south and west: 1 Margonite Anur Ki, 1 Margonite Anur Su, 1 Margonite Anur Kaya, 1 Margonite Anur Tuk, 1 Margonite Anur Vu and 1 Margonite Anur Rund.
 * 2) From the east: Shortly after (and regardless of whether any were killed) 1 Misery Titan, 2 Fury Titans, 1 Tortureweb Dryder and 1 Greater Dream Rider.
 * 3) From the west: As soon as all original members of group 2 die (Titan spawns do not count, group 1 does not matter). 2 Anguish Titans and 1 Tortureweb Dryder.
 * 4) From the west: As soon as original members of group 3 die. 1 Heart Tormentor, 1 Mind Tormentor, 1 Water Tormentor, 1 Soul Tormentor and 1 Flesh Tormentor
 * 5) From the south: As soon as original members of group 4 die (spawns from Call to the Torment do not count). 1 Mind Tormentor, 1 Earth Tormentor, 1 Flesh Tormentor, 1 Sanity Tormentor and 1 Spirit Tormentor
 * 6) Center (just south of priest): As soon as original members of group 5 die. 1 Stygian Fiend, 1 Stygian Brute, 1 Stygian Horror, 1 Stygian Hunger, 1 Stygian Golem
 * 7) Center (just south of priest): As soon as group 6 dies. 1 Stygian Fiend, 1 Stygian Brute, 1 Stygian Golem, 1 Stygian Hunger, 1 Stygian Golem
 * 8) From the south: As soon as group 7 dies. 5 Greater Dream Riders.
 * 9) From the west: As soon as group 7 dies (they spawn at the same time as group 8). 2 Tortureweb Dryders, 1 Rage Titan, 1 Despair Titan.
 * 10) From the south: As soon as group 8 dies (even if group 9 did not). 1 Heart Tormentor, 1 Soul Tormentor, 1 Margonite Anur Vu, 1 Margonite Anur Tuk, 1 Flesh Tormentor
 * 11) Center: As soon as group 10 dies. 1 Heart Tormentor, 1 Water Tormentor, 1 Stygian Horror, 1 Stygian Brute, 1 Stygian Golem
 * 12) Center (just south of priest): As soon as group 11 dies. 6 Dementia Titans.
 * 13) From the east: As soon as group 12 dies. 2 Misery Titans, 2 Anguish Titans.
 * 14) From the South: As soon as original members of group 13 die. 1 Margonite Anur Ki, 1 Margonite Anur Ruk, 1 Margonite Anur Su, 1 Margonite Anur Tuk, 1 Margonite Anur Vu
 * 15) Center (slightly west): As soon as group 14 dies. 2 Rage Titans, 2 Despair Titans, 2 Dementia Titans (these Titans do NOT spawn other Titans).
 * 16) Center (slightly east): As soon as group 15 dies. 5 Stygian Fiends.
 * 17) From the west: As soon as group 16 dies. 1 Heart Tormentor, 1 Mind Tormentor, 1 Flesh Tormentor, 1 Water Tormentor, 1 Soul Tormentor.
 * 18) and 19, final mobs after group 17 dies: From the east: Misery Titan, Greater Dream Rider, Tortureweb Dryder, Heart Tormentor, Water Tormentor and Spirit Tormentor. From the south: Margonite Anur Ki, Margonite Anur Ruk, Margonite Anur Rund, Margonite Anur Su, Margonite Anur Tuk and Margonite Anur Vu.

After the original members of groups 18 and 19 are killed, the door to Mallyx's citadel opens and the priest will be removed from the party list, where he was listed as an ally. As soon as any party member steps past the door, a short cut-scene is played, the whole party is transferred inside the Citadel and the door is closed behind them.

Mallyx will be standing on a pedestal and will not be hostile, as will be four spirits. As soon as any party member comes close enough to Mallyx (about 1.5 times the aggro radius), Mallyx will give a short speech then turn hostile and attack.

Moving the Priest:

A technique that makes fending off the groups much easier is to pull the priest away from the spot where he is performing the ritual (which is the end point for all incoming waves). This can be achieved by having the priest chase a foe down to the gate of the citadel, and then killing that foe. The priest will remain in that spot and will not try to return to his original spot.

The best candidate for this action is one of the two Fury Titans that come as part of group 2. Since they are original members of the group, the following spawns will not trigger until they die. And because they are the smallest titans, they will not spawn any more after their death. Therefore, the party should leave one Fury Titan alive, bring him close to the priest so that the priest starts attacking him and then have his target slowly back up all the way to the Citadel door and wait for the priest to catch up. If done correctly, protecting the priest will not be a factor in defeating these monsters.

Fighting away from the priest: Another tactic to facilitate defending the priest is, once the priest is moved, to actually pull groups up the hill (towards the southwest) and use the big rock at that spot for tanking and nuking. The one draw back of this approach is that there are two groups (group 9 and 17) that spawn at that position. However, the benefit (which strongly outweighs the disadvantage) is that the party can retreat at any time and disengage whenever they feel overwhelmed.

Defeating Mallyx
Four Soul spirits (6120 health in normal mode) reside behind Mallyx and are responsible for 4 environmental effects in the room (the same as seen across the Domain of Anguish):
 * Soul Spirits


 * 1) Repressive Energy: lose 2 energy for each attack or use of a skill
 * 2) Enduring Torment: lose 10 health for every second of movement
 * 3) Shroud of Darkness: all attacks have a 50% chance to miss
 * 4) Demonic Miasma: take 50 damage for every block, or dodge


 * Mallyx's offense and defense


 * Mallyx himself uses particularly nasty monster skills:
 * Summoning Shadows: transports all his foes to him.
 * Shadow Smash: heavy spike that pushes any surviving foes away from him.
 * Consume Torment: purges all hexes and conditions and converts them into a strong source of healing.
 * Banish Enchantment: strips all enchantments from a foe and disables one skill for every party member for every enchantment removed.
 * Wild Smash: ends stances and disables them.


 * Huge aggro range. He will start rushing creatures from far away.


 * If Mallyx isn't hard enough to beat, reinforcements spawn whenever Mallyx's health drops below certain thresholds:
 * 80% Health: 2 groups at the portals on either side of the door, each group includes two random "Anur" Margonites
 * 50% Health: 2 groups of two random Torment Demons


 * General tips


 * Ritualists are especially effective because they do not have to depend on hexes or enchantments. Mallyx has no special defenses against Spirits or Weapon Spells. In particular, Displacement and Shelter are very potent in containing Mallyx.
 * Anti-spirit skills are useful: Holy Spear and Spiritual Pain do bonus damage; Gaze of Fury destroys them.
 * Never use enchantments unless you can shutdown his use of Banish Enchantment.
 * Bring alternatives to hexes, conditions, and enchantments: Wards, Wells, Shouts, Spirits, Weapon Spells, signets, and plain skills.
 * Mallyx's skills cannot be disabled; skills such as Blackout and Diversion are of no use.


 * Specific tactics


 * Mallyx's skills tend to prevent the use of the standard tactic of a frontline of tanks, a midline of ranged attackers/casters, and a backline of healers.
 * Kill the spirits to remove their environmental effects.


 * Other Notes


 * Examine Mallyx's movement, should he run off: aimless movement means he will return shortly; no movement means he has lost aggro.
 * Sometimes you need to distract him by leaving 2 or 3 people inside the gate to get him to stay, instead of running off after he kills the puller.
 * After Mallyx uses Shadow Smash, party members need to kite in order to force him to re-establish aggro on the tank.

After Mallyx
Once Mallyx is defeated, a Citadel Chest and Spirit of Truth will spawn, as will a large number of Margonites and torment creatures. If your party wipes after Mallyx has been killed, they will not be resurrected to claim the chest. The quest will be considered complete.

Allies

 * 20 (20) High Priest Zhellix (Ally, must be protected)
 * 20 (20) Spirit of Truth (spawns after Mallyx has been killed)

Foes
Anguished Souls (Spirits) Demons Ghosts Titans (arranged in spawning pattern order)
 * 10 Listless Soul
 * 10 Tormented Soul
 * 10 Demonic Soul
 * 10 Shrouded Soul
 * Dryders
 * Tortureweb Dryder
 * Margonites
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Vu
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Tuk
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Ki
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Kaya
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Su
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Rund
 * 28 (30) Margonite Anur Ruk
 * Stygians
 * 28 (30) Stygian Brute
 * 28 (30) Stygian Horror
 * 28 (30) Stygian Fiend
 * 28 (30) Stygian Hunger
 * 28 (30) Stygian Golem
 * Torment creatures
 * 28 (30) Flesh Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Spirit Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Heart Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Soul Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Mind Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Water Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Sanity Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Earth Tormentor
 * 28 (30) Greater Dream Rider
 * 28 (30) Misery Titan
 * 28 (30) Rage Titan
 * 28 (30) Dementia Titan
 * 28 (30) Anguish Titan
 * 28 (30) Despair Titan
 * 28 (30) Fury Titan

Boss-like foes

 * 30 (33) Mallyx the Unyielding

Follow-up
The mission is repeatable, but only in combination with the quest Mallyx the Unyielding; after completing the mission, claim the quest reward, retake the quest, and repeat the preliminary steps (as noted above).

"Skipway"
If a party member goes through the portal leading to Mallyx's room right after killing the last group of enemies and all 8 party members skip the cut scene quickly, then the entire party can stay in the original room. One person can pull Mallyx back to the original room and the entire fight can take place there to make it significantly easier due to the lack of spawns attacking you & negative spirit effects.