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Closing the Eye Mage Tower Guide

Closing the Eye Mage Tower Guide

Written by Paul and Leyst - 13th December 2021

The Closing the Eye mage tower can be completed by Havoc Demon Hunters, Frost Death Knights, Arms Warriors, Survival Hunters, and Subtlety Rogues. This challenge has 2 phases. During the 1st phase, you will fight Archmage Xylem, and during the 2nd phase, you will be facing Corrupting shadows, which are void energies that are controlling Archmage Xylem.

Phase 1:

During this phase you will fight Archmage Xylem.

Frost:

  • Focusing Iris are 4 stationary beams that inflicts high damage when touched
  • Frostbolt is an interruptible spell that deals a low amount of damage
  • Razor Ice will stun and surround you with Ice that deals a ton of damage if you walk directly into them
  • Comet Storm bombards you with constant damage and will be used right after Xylem uses Razor Ice and teleports away, which forces you to either kill the Razor Ice or leap over it to avoid the damage

Intermission - Mirror Images:

  • Arcane Annihilation is a 40 second cast that will do a ton of damage if it goes off
  • Mirror Images will appear around the room and begin to channel an interruptible ability called Prismatic Shock that will knock you back if you are too close when the channel is done. If an Image is killed it will spawn a protective barrier that heals and protects you from any incoming damage

Arcane/Shadow:

  • Arcane Barrage is an interruptible spell that deals moderate damage
  • Shadow Barrage will spawn orbs of energy that you need to dodge, and the orbs will move in the direction in which Archmage Xylem is facing
  • Draw Power is an interruptible spell that will make Xylem channel into the Focusing Iris and gain stacks of Draw Power

Phase 1 Strategy:

Frost Phase

After a couple of interruptible Frostbolt casts that you want to interrupt as much as possible, the boss will spawn Razor Ice around you and use Comet Storm, which will constantly bombard you with damage. Unfortunately, you can’t walk through the Ice Shards because they will instantly kill you, so save a few burst cooldowns in order to nuke them down as fast as possible. However, as a demon hunter you can Double Jump out of the Comet Storm just be careful to not hit the ice.

Intermission

During the intermission, Archmage Xylem will teleport away from his current location and hide as a shimmering illusion. You can see where he is by looking at your minimap. During this he will also deal a ton of damage and spawn mirror images on the platform. 

The goal is to reach Xylem and interrupt Arcane Annihilation by interacting with him. The mirror images will channel Prismatic Shock, knocking you back when the channel completes. So, you want to interrupt the cast if necessary, then kill one of the images closer to the boss and stand inside the pink protective barrier that spawns to avoid the ticking damage before making your way to Archmage Xylem.

Arcane/Shadow

During the Arcane/shadow phase, Archmage Xylem will teleport around the room and cast Arcane Barrage, which is an interruptible cast. However, you want to save your interrupt for Draw Power because it will buff the damage he does. Besides that, you need to dodge Shadow Barrage, which are purple balls that move in the direction Xylem is facing.

Phase 2:

The 2nd phase will begin shortly after Archmage Xylem reaches 10% health. You will have a small break between the first and second phase while the boss does his RP in which you will have the option to eat up, change gear, or change your talents. Keep in mind that this phase is a DPS race due to the puddles that spawn, so you want to pop everything you have.

Corrupting Shadows:

  • Puddles will spawn under the boss that will slowly grows in size
  • Seed of Darkness will channel a beam that spawns 3 Darkness Within adds at your location after 8 seconds and will walk towards the boss in an attempt to heal it

Phase 2 Strategy:

The boss will periodically channel Seed of Darkness, during which he stays stationary for 35 seconds. It’s an interruptible channel, but you do NOT want to interrupt it. Instead, you want to move away from the boss as fast as possible, staying close to the edge of the room.

After 8 seconds 3 adds will spawn at your location and walk towards the boss in an attempt to heal it. So, consider using cooldowns to kill them within the 25 seconds that you have before the boss stops channeling Seed of Darkness. After you have killed the adds, walk back to the boss and try to optimize where the pools spawn.

Class Tips:

Havoc Demon Hunter

This Havoc Demon Hunter section was written by Cruelladk, who is a raider in Method.

Phase 1: Archmage Xylem Talents

Phase 2: Corrupting Shadows Talents

Havoc Demon Hunter Tips:

This challenge is all about surviving at any cost during phase 1, and having enough dps in phase 2.

At the start of the encounter, do not use your Metamorphosis, delay it for when the first Comet Storm comes so you can jump out easily. You can get out from the other Comet Storms by using double jump. I recommend you to use Chaos Nova on the spikes before jumping out to collect some Lesser Soul Fragments that heal you. You can also double jump to cross the 4 Focusing Iris beams. 

During Frost phase, use your kick as soon as you can, you’ll have to do a rotation with Chaos Nova, Fel Eruption and Imprison to stay alive. When you kick Archmage Xylem, you can move the boss a bit closer to the middle of the room so you’ll have to run less when he teleports. Use Chaos Strike as much as you can to collect Lesser Soul Fragments (Demonic Appetite talent).

During the Mirror Images Intermission, you can run to where the boss is hiding by using double Fel Rush + Vengeful Retreat (depending on the distance) and find him before taking any damage.

The Arcane/Shadow phase will require you to keep your kick for the Draw Power ability, you can however use your stuns and cage to interrupt Arcane Barrage. When the boss will start casting Frostbolt again, you don’t need to keep your kick ready anymore. Be sure to be at 70% hp or more when a Comet Storm is about to come. If you’re not, you can still use healing potion or Blur + Darkness just before it starts.

Once Xylem reaches 10% health, phase 2 is about to start. You have around 20 seconds to change your talents and your gear if necessary to go full dps mode.

Use your pot, drums and Metamorphosis at the start of the phase (do not use drums in phase 1 and do not use Metamorphosis and pot twice during phase 1 otherwise you’ll not have it ready at the start of phase 2). When the Boss starts channeling Seed of Darkness you can stay and do 2-3 extra GCDs on the boss before moving since you have a lot of mobility to go far away quickly. Use Throw Glaive on the adds to slow them, and you can use Eye Beam and Glaive Tempest to kill them fast. If the room is completely covered by puddles, you can use Blur and Darkness to survive a bit longer.

Subtlety Rogue

Video by Pushnoir

Talent Suggestion:

Frost Death Knight

This section was written by Kwepp, who is a raider in Method.

Talent Suggestion Phase 1:

Rune Weapon Suggestion Phase 1:

Talent Suggestion Phase 2 - Corrupting Shadows:

Rune Weapon Suggestion Phase 2:

Frost Death Knight Tips:

Phase 1:

For this phase, the most important thing to do is to survive. With that said you will want to make sure you are using Mind Freeze and Asphyxiate to interrupt Xylem’s Frost Bolt casts as they do a lot of damage.

For the Comet Storm, you will want to have a rotation of defensives so you can survive. You will need to use Death Strike very frequently here to heal yourself up enough and let your Howling Blast + Remorseless Winter do most of the work on the Glacial Spikes. Here is my Comet Storm rotation:

You will want to pre-use Icebound Fortitude and Anti-Magic Shell so you can immune the stun effect at the start of Comet Storm.

After breaking through the spikes, you will want to go to the middle of the room and Death Grip Xylem back to you, then bring him back from the center to the edge of the room. Doing this will make sure that Xylem doesn’t blink too far away on the next Comet Storm so you can Death Grip him from the middle again.

For the Arcane phase, you will want to ensure you have Asphyxiate or Death Grip ready for his Draw Power cast. Otherwise, kick his Arcane Barrage to mitigate the damage you will be taking.

When the boss goes into his Darkness/Mirror Image phase, you will need to use Anti-Magic Shell and Wraith Walk to reach one of his images and burst it down fast. This will then spawn a healing zone that will keep you topped up so you can survive this phase. You do not have enough mobility to make it to him straight away, so you will need to go through a couple of his mirror images before finally reaching him. You can use Death’s Advance to reach the next image after killing and healing from the first one.

Make sure to save some Runic Power for Death Strike, as Frost Strike does not do much damage, and you need to do all you can to survive.

Phase 2:

When Xylem is near 11-12% health, you will want to start pooling Runic Power, ready for the last phase. After phasing Xylem at 10%, you will want to swap your talents to the phase 2 talents (listed above), and swap over to your Breath of Sindragosa set (on use trinkets like Inscrutable Quantum Device, Dual Wield weapons with the correct Runeforges.) ready for the Corrupting Shadows.

When the Corrupting Shadows spawn, you should have 60-90 Runic Power ready to instantly use Drums of Deathly Ferocity, Potion of Unbridled Fury, and Breath of Sindragosa. Bring the boss to the edge of the room and try not to move him too much; you want to preserve as much space as possible.

When the boss starts channeling Seed of Darkness on you, you will want to Wraith Walk away from the boss and go at least 50 yards away from the boss. Once the adds spawn, you will want to use Remorseless Winter and Blinding Sleet on them. This will slow them and start to ramp up your damage. On the first set of adds, you do not need to run too far, as you will want to use Fury of Sindragosa to kill them quickly so you can continue to DPS the boss.

Sometimes you may not have enough DPS to finish one of them off. Remember, you can use Death Grip to bring them back to you, and if all else fails, you can pre-use Anti-Magic Shell to become immune to the damage of the void pool for a few seconds.

Arms Warrior

This section was written by Moet, who is a raider in Method.

Talent Suggestion:

Arms Warrior Tips:

Rend is super useful since both bosses have moments where you won't have uptime on them and this ability can continue to tick away at their health.

Second Wind is almost mandatory to survive this challenge, without it you will struggle to sustain your health.

Storm Bolt is useful for creating windows to activate Second Wind and stunning adds in the intermission.

The remaining talents are open to whatever you feel you do the most damage with.

Phase 1: (Both Phases)

In order to sustain yourself, you need a window where you can activate Second Wind.

Use a combination of Pummel, Spell Reflect, Storm Bolt, and Intimidating Shout to create these windows to heal up.

It is recommended that you always make sure to fully heal before the No-Heroic Leap Razor Ice and the arcane add intermission.

Do not waste Charge and Heroic Leap. If you want to play it safe, you only ever want to Charge/Heroic Leap during the Arcane Intermission and Heroic Leap during Razor Ice.

(Frost Phase)

The only dangerous part during this phase is the Razor Ice.

You want to swap between Heroic Leap and Die by the Sword + Bladestorm/Warbreaker (if needed) to deal with the Ice.

When you leap out of Razor Ice, make sure to jump and then leap at the apex of your jump.

When you use Bladestorm, make sure to target one of the Ice crystals on the shortest path out, as you still auto-attack during Bladestorm.

When running back, you can use the rage generated from Bladestorm to cast Ignore Pain and use Spell Reflect to reduce the damage on the way back.

(Arcane Phase)

Draw Power should be immediately interrupted, so always save Pummel for that and use Storm Bolt/Spell Reflect to activate Second Wind if needed.

The intermission is the only tricky part, and you can Goblin Jump over the Arcane Beams in the middle if you are a goblin.

Use Charge to get to an add in the Heroic Leap range of the boss. You can then Storm Bolt/Intimidating Shout the add to ensure you do not get knocked away. Standing in the shield when you kill one of the adds will heal you to full and prevent further damage.

You can stand in the shield and wait until Heroic Leap is off cooldown for the safe play, or you move in between the adds, killing them, whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

Phase 2:

When phase 2 starts, you want to immediately bring the boss to the edge of the room. You cannot fall off the platform, so you want to use the wall on the edge of the platform when backpedaling.

The amount of damage required in the last phase is determined by how well you handle the boss pools, so make sure to always move on the edge of the pools.

Killing the adds that spawn are easy to kill as a warrior since you have piercing howl for every wave and Bladestorm for every other.

When Howl runs out, use Sweeping Strikes + Hamstring if needed. You want to try and leave one of the adds alive with low health and then let it walk closer to the boss before killing it.

This prevents the boss from moving rapidly out of the old pools and keeps it in a nice position.