Cerberus Nest (Hell Mode)

Cerberus Nest (Hell Mode)

by Kazu [ source ]

Greetings to all,
This guide will serve to explain all the skills that you need to look out for while dealing with Cerberus in Hell Mode.

General Knowledge
Difference between Hell Mode and Normal mode is that the boss simply hits much harder with his skills. They are more or less unforgiving, meaning that if you get hit by any of his hard hitting skills, you will probably die from it.

I’ll start with the 3 most damaging skill from Cerberus first.

“Firewall”
This is probably a 1-Hit KO skill if you fail to get away. Unless you have like +10 lvl 32 Rares or better, you will probably not survive it if you get hit by it.

To avoid it, simply recognize the “animation” or “stance” when Cerberus is casting it.

There is a similar animation where Cerberus burns with a red aura but end up simply doing a skill similar to the EL’s hot rod skill (Where a trail of fire is left behind after Cerberus runs to a location)

So how to tell the difference? Simply look at the rightmost head.

The rightmost head will bend down whenever “Firewall” is about to be cast, this is in addition to the burning aura that the boss will have while charging.

Take a look at the screen shots below.

You only have a maximum of 3 seconds to get away from Cerberus once you see him charging, the further away you are from him, the lesser number of hits you will get hit by it as it acts exactly as the Elemental Lord’s Firewall. The closer you are, the more hits you get, the more damage you will receive.

Moving on to “Blizzard”

This skill will also probably end up damaging you heavily or kill you if you simply fail to avoid getting hit by it.

Similar to firewall, simply recognize the “animation” when Cerberus is casting it.

To avoid the skill simply keep moving, and more importantly DO NOT STACK on your team mates if you’re doing in a group. These icy shards that blast out from Cerberus basically follows your last location, so by simply moving you can avoid them, however if your friend is ahead of you and you’re following his “last location”, you’re going to find yourself getting caught by those shards and die.

Simply spread away from your team mates during this skill.

Once again screenshots below.

Last but not least, “AOE Lightning”

This skill is basically a damaging + irritating skill (1k++ Dmg per zap). When getting hit by it, you have a high chance of getting the shock debuffs (every 5 seconds you will flinch, cancelling your skill if you’re casting).

There are only 2 safe zones when Cerberus cast it.

1)      Out-of-range

2)      Anywhere close to Cerberus

This is a easy skill to look out for as Cerberus will stand on his hind legs while leaning upwards, followed by a 2-paw pounce to the front. After which, the whole area will turn pitch black and lightning will zap in an AOE fashion.

Simply run towards Cerberus (if you’re melee) or get out of range if you’re dpsing from afar.

You have to do this quickly if not you have a high chance of getting hit at least once.

Screenshots below once again.

I’ll now write about the other general  skills that Cerberus can use in hellmode. They do still hurt but is more forgiving, meaning if you get hit once or twice, you will probably lose only 10-20% of your HP.

“2-Hit Combo Paw Strike”

Basically Cerberus will use his paws to strike someone in front of him. If you forgot to dodge the first hit, DO NOT roll back to the opposite side, he will strike from the opposite side next.

i.e Left paw strike will always lead on to a right paw strike. So roll back to the direction you were first hit.

“Glacial Spike & Chilling Mist”

Cerberus will fire out 1 or 2 glacial spikes that are homing towards their targets. They will attempt to close in on you but will disappear after moving a certain distance. They also can’t turn 360% behind, so you can dodge them if you time it well. Just keep moving away from the spike until it disappears.

Do not get frozen by it near the boss as usually the boss might follow through with firewall, which means you will be dead @_@

For chilling mist, it will have similar blue aura before using it but it will basically cast the EL’s version of it in a frontal cone pattern. Its range is not far so you can either stay out of range or stay by the side of Cerberus to avoid getting hit

“Dark Lightning Bolt”

The hell mode version summons an additional 4 blueish electrified orbs around the boss, see the screenshots below!

The centre head of Cerberus will channel a lightning mode straight ahead, getting hit will give you the same 15 seconds shock debuff that you can get from AOE Lightning as well as a poison effect as it the path of the bolt leaves a trail of poison on the ground. You should have no problem dodging this if you are always moving during the fight or staying by the side of the boss

The triple orbs work the same way as Force User’s one so don’t go too close or you will get hit multiple times, can do quite abit of damage. This triple orb skill only occurs in hellmode as far as I know.

“Balls of Fire”

This skill also comes from the rightmost head where Cerberus will fire off many fireballs off this head in a sweep like manner.

See screenshot below for better visual purposes.

This fireballs will knock you off the ground if you get hit and deal quite decent amounts of damage as well. Similarly, stay on the side of the boss to avoid getting hit at all.

“Fire Trail & Air Pounce”

Fire trail is only in hell mode, which basically means that Cerberus will leave a blaze of burning ground after it has used the skill where he will run/charge to a certain location.

For Air pounce, Cerberus will cringe his body inwards without any aura animation, like gearing for a leap. Usually this happens when one of the ranged dpsers has aggro and the boss wants to close in on them.

Both abovementioned skills are easily avoidable which should pose little or no problems for you guys.

“AOE Roar”

Cerberus basically cringes up once again but this time roars in a 180 degree in front of him, meaning if you’re just by the side, you can still be hit. The damage is negligible though so no need to worry too much about it.

After understanding all the various skills Cerberus can do in hell mode.

Basically just find the opening in between the skills he use to deal damage to him.

When he cast “balls of fire” you have alot of time to use any “long casting skills” on him. Always let Cerberus have the initiative because you do not want to be caught by his skills while you’re casting halfway.
Basically, wait for Cerberus to cast XXX skill, react accordingly, deal damage, rinse repeat.

Last but not least, most of his skills do not directly hit you if you are on the side of the boss hence I would say that the side of Cerberus is the safest to be at.

Good luck and have fun hunting this boss at 32 CAP (:

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