Zenos's Art of the Sword

[Maeka]

Just HOW is one supposed to dodge this stupidly cheap attack?

It seems that the graphics on the floor come out of the little orbs that float around him, but said orbs move faster than you could even with sprint, so there's no way to stay out of line of sight from the orbs.

Seems like no matter where you are, you're going to get hit no matter what, and usually the hits are 9k or so.... but sometimes he decides to just randomly plow you 3-4 times and insta-kill you *snap* just like that and there's nothing you can even DO about it, or at least it looks that way.

As many times as I've fought the guy I've tried to come up with some method of dealing with this cheap attack, but it just doesn't look like there's anything outside of RNG that you can really do about it, unless there's some sort of vague cue that I'm missing?

[rihkuwo]

According to this post, basically the party just has to spread? IIRC, the only times I've been hit 3x damage is when it's been two melee DPS and a tank, meaning we're all standing pretty close.

Luckily, I'm pretty much maining SAM right now, so I hit Third Eye when I see it, and assuming I don't die - it's happened once or twice - I can heal myself for a small chunk, then use Bloodbath to recoup more HP via attacking. It takes some of the strain off the healer, although they're probably just group healing anyway. It makes *me* feel better about not knowing how to actually dodge it.

[ServerCollaps]

you cant dodge it, just dont line up with other people

[LunaChild]

You can't avoid it, it will aim to each party member so you need to spread to avoid getting hit with each other's AoE. And don't stand too close to Zenos even you guys are spreaded, the AoE still able to overlapped around him.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Like people said its a line AoE targeted on all party members. Ideally you want each member on a different facing. During the swords phase I find it usually works best to leave the sword belonging to that ability for last since party split on the other 2 will usually take care of making sure the beams don't stack.

[TouchandFeel]

Just a quick update to this since most DF groups and guides, as well as the previous responses all claim to just spread and that it can't be dodged.

It can be dodged, I dodge it all the time.

People are correct that you need to spread to avoid potentially hitting other players with it however by strafing/sidestepping right at the end of the cast you will avoid being hit. There is a slight delay from when the server determines your position for where to shoot out the line AoE and when the AoE goes out (we are talking like half a second or so here), so if you are moving to the side as this is happening you will have moved out of where the AoE registered you were and dodge it. Keep in mind it is a pretty wide line AoE and the window is small so you have to be a little on your toes and be extra careful to not sidestep into your other party members.

Bonus tip, shields like TBN prevent the knockback effect from Art of the Swell as long as all the damage from the attack gets absorbed since technically only the shield gets hit by the attack and not you. Pretty sure I have used TBN to avoid the knockback from Vacuum Wave too.

[Elixirboy]

During the 'add phase' late in the fight, you can see when Art of the Sword is about to go out, but the column AoEs do not emanate from the 'add'. You will see Zenos drop down for that one attack, and the four lines will come out of him.

[Gravton]

That "random plow" isn't really random, he does it almost every other ability and it has a tell. He yells "I'll kill you", that's the tank buster. As for sword and tank buster I use shelltron plus a cd, even use cover on the healer sometimes if in range.

[Transient_Shadow]

You don't. its a healer check if nothing else. you fan out to avoid overlapping damage and then close in so your healer can use their more powerful aoe's to patch you up.