Skyforge Mare Sacro Monastery Guide

Skyforge Mare Sacro Monastery Guide by ZacchWk

Introduction

Mare Sacro Monastery (MSM) is the first 5-man dungeon that players can enter once they hit 3010 Prestige.
This guide was created with the intent of helping new players understand the general concept of a 5-man dungeon using MSM as an example, as well as provide tips and strategies that I’ve picked up and learnt from other players during my MSM runs.
I advise against attempting the 2* version of MSM until you’re prestige is higher and the 1* difficulty is listed as Hard.

Why attempt MSM or any 5-man dungeon?

+ Chance to get purple amulets
+ More rewards(Sparks, Supplies, Particle of Mastery, etc) compared to 3-man dungeons
+ Learn to excel in playing your class
+ Sense of accomplishment after clearing your first 5-man dungeon
+ A good change of pace from all the endless and dull farming and prestige grinding
However, chances are that your first run wouldn’t go so well unless you have a few experienced players in your group so don’t be discouraged if you keep on wiping.

5-man dungeon

A 5-man dungeon typically consists of 1 support, 1 tank and 3 dps roles.

Supports are identified with a cross icon
The role of a support is to shield the tank and buff the dps

Tanks are identified with a shield icon
The role of a tank is to initiate a fight and maintain constant aggro on all mobs

Dps are identified with a dagger icon
The role of a dps is to clear out trash adds asap, focus down on high priority targets and to provide crowd control (cc)

If everyone does their role well, a 5-man dungeon run would be fast and smooth
It is highly unlikely that you’ll be able to complete a 5-man without a tank and/or a support.
Tanks should not attempt a higher difficulty that just unlocked after hitting a higher prestige unless you are very confident of your tanking skills. Of all the times I’ve been matchmade with a tank that is on the lower end of prestige, the group ends up having the tank replaced or ragequits, only once did we managed to clear the dungeon because the tank and support were great.

Mare Sacro Monastery

This dungeon is divided into 5 parts.
1. Khelp packs
2. Naiad packs
3. Ong packs
4. Boss: Cetus
5. Final boss: Leida the Conqueror

Similar to our class roles, there are enemy types as well.

Weak/trash adds are identified with the diamond symbol
This type usually comes in big numbers, low health, deals a lot of damage

Damage adds are identified with the dagger symbol

This type deals high damage and may kill the tank if not quickly focused down

Caster adds are identified with the triangle symbol
This type has lower health than the damage type and casts abilities to make the fight harder (buffs, shields, cc)

Tank adds are identified with the shield symbol
This type has higher health and has an ability that deals very high damage but usually easily avoidable

Strategy

Khelp packs (4 packs)

3 trash packs
These packs are easily cleared. Always have the tank initiate the fight. If you are having problems here, try using some cc. If you’re wiping to these trash packs, you would have to figure out what is the problem.
Is the tank maintaining constant aggro?
Is the support shielding the tank?
Are the dps killing fast enough?

Pack 4: trash khelps
naiads x2
khelp x1
In my opinion, this would be the hardest pack out of all that you’ll encounter in the dungeon.
For this pack, you would want to quickly kill off the adds and then focus on the sword naiads and then proceed to kill the shield khelp.1. Call out beforehand which naiad to focus on, left or right, after killing the trash adds.
2. Tank initiates the fight and try to grab aggro on all the adds.
3. Dps uses AoE to quickly clear the trash khelps. If time to kill trash is too slow, use some cc.
4. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off and to buff the highest dps in the group.
5. Dps focus on 1 sword naiad and then the next.
6. Tank should use their knockdowns whenever possible and constantly maintain aggro. If it gets hard to tank, tank can consider kiting.
7. Kill the shield khelp last.Note:
khelp would occasionally use its vacuum ability to suck nearby players in and deal massive damage. Simply dodge out of the telegraphed circle on the floor.
would occasionally use its whirlpool ability that deals large damage over time. Quickly dodge out of it.

Naiad packs (3 packs)

The area where the naiad packs are has 3 patrolling krakens and a couple of trash khelps.
The paths of the krakens (red lines) and where the packs (green circles) are located are shown here.

You do not have to kill all the kraken and adds to proceed on to the next part and it is advised to avoid the krakens altogether.

Pack 1:  naiad x2
naiad x1
This pack is tough the first time you face it. The tank should pull the pack to the start the large open area where the previous pack was or anywhere else to avoid the krakens. Clear out some of the trash khelps around where the fight will be at beforehand. Dps should not attack until the tank is done pulling.1. Call out beforehand which sword naiad to focus on, left or right.
2. Tank pulls the pack away from the kraken path.
3. Dps focuses on 1 sword naiad, and then the next.
4. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off and to buff the highest dps in the group.
5. Tank should use their knockdowns whenever possible and constantly maintain aggro
6. Dps should use cc if the fight drags out too long or if the tank is having trouble.
7. Kill the shield naiad last.Note:
naiad occasionally charges and throws a bubble that deals large damage and immobilises someone. Everyone should pay attention to the shield naiad when it charges the bubble above its head and constantly move around to avoid the bubble if the shield naiad is facing you. Otherwise, avoid its line-of-sight (LoS) and it will not target you. It is possible to be instantly killed by having 2-3 bubbles thrown at you one after another.

Pack 2:  naiad x1
trash khelps.
This pack is relatively simple. Simply pull the pack away from the kraken path and then quickly burst down the trash khelps and then take down the triangle naiad.

1. Tank pulls the pack away from the kraken path
2. Dps uses AoE to quickly clear the trash khelps. If time to kill trash is too slow, use some cc.
3. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off. It isn’t really needed to buff the dps since its an easy fight.
4. Kill the triangle naiad last.

Note:
naiad would occasionally run towards a player and casts a bubble shield around itself. When it does this, all enemy within the bubble (except for the naiad) is shielded and receives reduced damage. If the bubble shield is giving you problems, consider using cc and knockdowns on the trash khelps within the bubble shield and kite them out of it.

Pack 3:  naiad x2
khelp x1
Basically the same fight as with the last khelp pack but in a narrower area where movement is limited. You can choose to either pull the pack to the left or right corner, as long as you’re away from the krakens. Focus on 1 sword naiad first then the next and kill the shield khelp last. Use cc whenever you can to help the tank survive longer.

1. Call out beforehand which naiad to focus on, left or right.
2. Tank pulls the pack away from the kraken path.
3. Dps focuses on 1 sword naiad, and then the next.
4. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off and to buff the highest dps in the group.
5. Tank should use their knockdowns whenever possible and constantly maintain aggro. Kite if you’re having difficulties.
6. Kill the shield khelp last.

Ong packs (3 packs)

The ong packs are much easier than all the others you have encountered so far.The only thing to take note is that there is a long hallway where trash khelps would keep coming from one end to the other. Below are where the packs are, as well as the path the trash khelps take.



The trash khelps would die after awhile if left alone and not aggro’d. You should avoid them unless your group is capable. Tank should pull Pack 2 and 3 back to where Pack 1 was.

Pack 1: trash khelps
ong x1
Similar to naiad Pack 2, clear the trash khelps and move on with the ong.1. Tank initiates fight and grabs aggro from all the mobs
2. Dps uses AoE to quickly clear the trash khelps. If time to kill trash is too slow, use some cc.
3. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off. It isn’t really needed to buff the dps since its an easy fight.
4. Kill the sword ong last.Note:
ong would occasionally dive down, spin around and creates a whirlpool around itself that deals large damage over time. Simply walk away from it once you see it entering the diving animation or dodge away.

Pack 2: khelp x2
ong x1
This pack shouldn’t be tough as well. Pull Pack 2 to Pack 1 area and take out the triangle khelps first before proceeding on to taking out the ong.1. Call out beforehand which triangle khelp to focus on, left or right
2. Tank pulls the pack away from the khelp path
3. Dps focuses on 1 triangle khelp first, and then the next
4. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off and to buff the highest dps in the group
5. Tank should use their knockdowns whenever possible and constantly maintain aggro. Kite if you’re having difficulties
6. Kill the sword ong lastNote:
khelps would occasionally disorient whoever it is aggro’d to. This prevents the person from being able to cast any abilities. While this may not seem as a dangerous ability, it certainly can be fatal if a shield couldn’t be popped in time due to being disoriented.

Pack 3:  ong x2
naiad x1
Shield naiads again… those bastards…. If the tank has chosen to pull the pack away from the khelps, then this should be a relatively easy fight as long as everyone is avoiding the bubbles whenever the shield naiad uses her ability.

1. Decide whether to focus on shield naiad first or the ongs first
2. Tank pulls the pack away from the khelp path
3. Dps focuses on priority target first then move on to the lower priority targets
4. Support ensures that tank is shielded whenever cooldown is off and to buff the highest dps in the group.
5. Tank should use their knockdowns whenever possible and constantly maintain aggro. Kite if you’re having difficulties

First Boss, Cetus

Cetus is located at the end of the hallway where the khelp would march towards their death. Have the tank run ahead of the others, grabbing aggro from the khelps that spawns and run towards the end. If you group needs to recover health, head over to the far left corner here and deal with the trash khelps. As long as no one attacked the boss or aggro’d it by going close, you would go out of combat after clearing all the trash khelps.

The boss fight is relatively simple other than the fact that trash khelps would constantly spawn. These khelps would spawn to the left, right and front of where Cetus is initially facing before the fight starts. Tank must be aware of when the trash khelps spawn and quickly aggro them. Dps would have to quick take out the trash khelps asap.

1. Tank initiates fight, grabs aggro of any trash khelps that spawns
2. Dps focus on trash khelps whenever they spawn and take them down asap
3. Support shield tank whenever possible and buff dps
4. Use cc on trash khelps if they are not aggro’d onto tank and take them out asap

Note:
Dps and support should stay away from the boss and khelp spawn points. This increases the time taken for khelps to get to you if tank fails to aggro them and may help you survive longer.

Final boss, Leida the Conqueror

Congratulations for making this far. This is by far the easiest fight that you will encounter in the whole of this 5-man dungeon. If you haven’t realised, the difficulty of this dungeon goes down as you progress further.At the area before the boss fight, there are several trash khelps littered around. You could take your time to kill them off one by one or bunch them up together and kill them all in one go, your choice. The bossfight is simple. Avoid the geysers that the boss would spawn below you from time to time, kill the 2 adds that would spawn every time she puts up her bubble shield and avoid standing in the bubble shield as it deals a large amount of damage over time when you are in it.

1. Tank initiates the fight
2. Dps and support should position themselves away from each other to avoid having multiple geysers spawning near each other.
3. Dps deal damage while avoiding geysers that spawns
4. Support shields tank and buffs dps while avoiding geysers that spawns
5. When boss hp bar drops to x15 and x7, it will put up a bubble shield around itself and spawn 2 naiad illusions. Focus on one and move on with another.

Note:
Geysers have a large damage area than it looks.
Stay at least 2 character-width away from the geysers to avoid getting hit by them.Staying in the bubble shield damages you so stay away from it.
Sometimes, a naiad would be inside the bubble shield. When it is, it receives reduced damage. Pull the naiad out from the bubble shield by using a pulling ability or by moving backwards away if you have its aggro.Naiad Illusions would cast a water splash ability that deals high damage. If you are targeted by the ability, the will be an arrow pointing at your character on the ground. Avoid getting hit the same way as you avoid getting hit by the shield naiad bubbles.
After the first bubble shield and the 2 adds are killed, you deal more damage to the boss.

tl;dr
0. Do not attempt MSM or any 5-man dungeon as a tank if your prestige is too low for the difficulty even if you have unlocked it unless you have insane tanking skills or an over-prestiged group.
1. Let tank do the pulling and initiating
2. Support should focus on shielding tank and buffing dps instead of dealing damage
3. Dps must always kill trash adds asap and use cc to help tank survive longer
4. Focus on high priority targets first
5. Avoid bubbles by constantly moving
6. Pull the naiad groups to somewhere where you won’t accidentally aggro a kraken
7. Avoid the krakens, they are a waste of time
8. Avoid the khelp waves that keep spawning. It is too bothersome to deal with them
9. Don’t attack the first boss or go near it if group needs to recover health
10. Stay clear of the geysers and the final boss’s bubble shield