A guide to defeating Kephess the Undying in Nightmare Terror from Beyond (TFB) operation.

General information & Video

• HP: 4.49 million on 8m
• Enrage: ?
• Loot: 1 Kell Dragon Helm, 2 random Shadowed item (L75 stuff without set bonus), 8 Elite Commendations, 6 Ultimate Commendations, 1 Mass Manipulation Generator, 2 Exotic Element Equalizer

Video

Main Differences from Hardmode

There are a couple new mechanics added to the Nightmare mode but they are sometimes not noticeable due to the lax enrage timer.

Phase 1: Laser Blast

The first thing you will notice are the big yellow circles surrounding the pillar that Kephess is connected to. If you had a hard time spotting which pillar to run to previously, the big yellow circle made it much easier. The idea here is that Kephess wont get the stacking debuff that increases your damage on him during and after Laser Blast unless he is inside the yellow circle (as long one of his feet is inside the circle it seems to work).

Another mechanic associated with the yellow circles is that tanks seem to lose aggro while inside the yellow circle which makes it hard sometimes to get Kephess inside the circle as the tank leading him can lose threat if they run head first into the yellow circle.

Phase 2: Nanities

There are two minor changes for phase 2

• Kephess have a longer delay between jumps. If you were waiting to click on the pillar after Kephess lands from a jump, this strat may not work too well in Nightmare mode. The extra delay may cause some deaths.
• Pillars now get destroyed as soon as the first person that clicks it finished channeling. Previously in hardmode you could sort of cheese it by having some players click it later and it wont get destroyed until the last person finishes or stop channeling. For most guilds this really isnt a noticeable change unless you have players that are slow in clicking the pillars.

Reminder of Hardmode mechanics

If you are not familiar with the hardmode mechanics, here is a quick brush up for you. For a more detailed guide, please consult this guide.

Phase 1

• Tank on Kephess will receive a debuff and will need to cleanse it by running to the big glowy circle on the ground. Tank swap is needed when this happens.
• Energy Distortions will spawn in the room and tag whoever is closest to them. Once they tag a player, only they can destroy that Energy Distortion. DPS should try to get these distortions but if a tank gets it they can remove It running to the glowy circle when they have the debuff from Kephess.
• Kephess is connected to a pillar by a beam overhead. Tanks will need to drag Kephess to this pillar. Kephess will call out a random raid member and focus his Laser Blast on them. This player will need to run to this pillar so that Kephess is directly facing the pillar. Each time the Laser Blast hit the pillar, Kephess will get a stacking debuff (up to 4 stacks) that increase the damage the raid can do to him for a few seconds.

Phase 2

• Dread Bomb: One player will get targeted by a red circle when Kephess lifts off in the air. Kephess will land on that player and deal quite abit of damage. Other raid members will need to get away from that player.
• Corrupted Nanites: Kephess will throw out Corrupted Nanites on random raid members that can be only cleansed by clicking on a pillar and channel an ability. Finishing or canceling the channel will destroy the pillar. If Kephess is near the pillar when it is destroyed, he will get knocked down and receive a debuff that increases raid damage on him.
• Radioactive Barrage: One random raid member will receive Radioactive Barrage, a ground attack that follows the targeted player. The said player will need to run away from rest of the raid while avoiding the Barrage.

Phase 3

• This phase is triggered when Kephess reaches 10%. You should use the last pillar when Kephess is at 11-12% HP so that you can do some increased damage on Kephess to shorten the duration of this phase.
• Nonstop circles on the ground and raidwide damage. You can get through this phase easily by having everyone stack on Kephess except the tanks who will receive most of the circles and can kite those around.