Ahead of Omen of the Planetbreaker, an easier, 8 player urgent quest version of the Dark Falz Solus fight, I thought it would be good to condense what I had learned from one of my favorite fights in the game and make some sort of informational guide on it as to what to expect, the combat flow, etc...
That being said, if you haven't run this yet and want to take this UQ blind, don't read this post or watch the video I've posted further down.
Sign of the Planetbreaker versus Omen of the Planetbreaker?
Sign of the Planetbreaker:
Quest type: Major Target Suppression Mission
Location: Central Retem, can be accessed anytime
Boss level: 75
Required BP: 3750
No. of players: 4
Time limit: 15 minutes
Additional fail conditions: Quest fails if the number of incapacitations reaches five.
Sign of the Planetbreaker is the first Major Target Suppression Mission in 2NGS, designed to be an "Ultra hard difficulty" quest for 4 players against the Starless enemy Dark Falz Solus. Solus' hard-hitting attacks combined with tight phase 1 mechanics, a limit on the number of incapacitations the party can suffer and a short time limit means that players need to be properly geared and knowledgeable about the fight to be able to clear it. The quest can be challenged anytime and can be found along the west edge of Central Retem, to the northeast of the ryuker device in Retem Alnothe. Notable weapon drops include the 10-star Flugelgard series, the 9* Tisah series and the 8* Neos Astraean series. Players can also find the Tisah Waffe Almati weapon camo here.
Omen of the Planetbreaker:
Quest type: Urgent Quest
Location: Retem, can only be accessed when made available
Boss level: 80
Required BP: 3649
Time limit: 60 minutes
Additional fail conditions: None
Omen of the Planetbreaker is an urgent quest that can occur in the Retem region. While still against Dark Falz Solus, the fight was designed to be easier than that in Sign of the Planetbreaker. Solus will not hit as hard as it does in Sign, and it's expected that the quest will have standard urgent quest clear or fail conditions for an 8 player quest. (30 or 60 minutes, no additional fail conditions) Drops are expected to be the same as it is with Sign, though likely will have a diminished drop rate for Tisah and Flugelgard weapons compared to Sign.
I recorded one of my runs for reference. This video is from a Ranger POV
Up to this point, Sign of the Planetbreaker has been the ultimate challenge and will continue to be so until the second Major Target Supression Mission launches, which is currently on the roadmap for the next major update in December. Those that are able to complete Sign are rewarded with a weekly task of 20 SG and daily Leah May tasks for 10 growthment. NGS Headline described Omen of the Planetbreaker as something of a stepping stone to prepare for Sign.
In many cases, a party consisting of one ranger is recommended as Blight Rounds gives a 20-25% damage bonus. With the level 80 cap making Sign of the Planetbreaker a bit easier, those who struggle with survivability can use a hunter or waker subclass to help. Additionally, buffs should consist of the following:
Food: 10 Crisp Meats for maximum damage output. If short on meat, combine other crisp foods from the same region to at least get the weak point damage bonus.
Region Mag: Feed the region mag in West Retem if it is not up. Nowadays it's not as important with the alliance mag and level 80 cap but if it's up, runs should go slightly smoother.
Alliance Mag: Ensure your alliance is maintaining at minimum a level 10 potency boost. Take all boosts available to you, but if you are unable to take all of them, take your potency boost first, then HP, then PP, then XP and Rare Drop.
As a reference, the required average DPS across the entire party that's required to clear Sign is around 3150 DPS. Some classes such as slayer will hit well past this mark, while others like rangers may struggle with it. As long as this averages out in this range a clear should be possible. While the level cap was still 75, the recommended potency per player was around 130%. With level 80, it's likely you can get away with less.
The first phase of the fight is mechanic heavy and your goal should be to clear it as fast as possible. What to do is relatively straightforward once you've seen it a couple of times. For reference, in Sign of the Planetbreaker, a party should get to phase 2 in a maximum of 6 and a half minutes (Before the clock reaches 8:30) in order to deal enough damage to clear.
When the quest starts, the party can optionally go around the back and start attacking the tail. Many groups skip this step as the attacks coming off of the tail provide an additional chance to counter. If you do leave it, Solus will periodically release a barrage of missiles at all players. Their landing points are noted with a mark on the floor. CAUTION: There is a glitch that occurs when the tail is broken as Solus is deploying the eggs out of his right arm. If this occurs and this action is interrupted, the eggs will not be deployed, and the quest must be restarted.
For parties that don't attack the tail at the start, they will typically stay on the hands until these eggs deploy.
A few seconds after the fight starts, Solus will deploy three eggs from his right arm. These eggs will plant themselves along a defined 3x3 grid around the floor (with Solus taking the middle ) and will periodically unleash an AOE attack in the shape of a square corresponding to this imaginary "grid." Every few seconds, the eggs will retract and may move one square over or stay in place and redeploy. For these, most parties stay together, following a ranger's Blight Rounds, destroying the eggs one by one. In some cases, a party may destroy the first egg together and then split up for the remaining two eggs. This is all while Solus unleashes its own array of attacks, which will be mentioned later.
Once all three eggs are destroyed, Solus' right arm will open, exposing its weakpoint for a short period. The party must focus this point and deal as much damage as possible to break it before it closes. If it does close, the egg destroying process restarts, except with one egg instead of three. Once the right arm is broken, the process repeats itself for the left arm after a few seconds.
For runs that are on the lower end of the damage scale an issue comes up as they reach the point where the second arm breaks. For these kinds of runs it's important to have a watch over the break meter. What ends up happening quite a bit is that, as the arm is about to be destroyed, the party scores a break on Solus. This becomes a problem in two ways: One, the arm will not break during a break. Two, despite this, the arm can still close during a break. This means that the arm will end up closing during break, before it can actually break, even though enough damage has been done to break it, resulting in an annoying time loss as the party has to wait, destroy an additional egg, then watch as the arm breaks the instant it opens up. Is that enough break for you?
Once the left arm is broken, Solus will be stunned and his main weak point will be exposed. Once he has recovered, he will keep cycling through his attacks with his hands. At this time you should score your first break as well. The fight will progress from first phase when Solus' remaining HP reaches 50%.
Select players will be marked with a faint laser. A few seconds after this appears, Solus will grunt, the lasers will briefly turn pink and then fire for about two seconds.
Solus will make an orb appear around each player, requiring them to quickly dodge to avoid taking damage. Solus will let out a grunt before this occurs.
Solus will raise his hands above his head and slam them down into the floor, causing a shockwave that radiates outwards and covers the entire floor. This is one of Solus' more damaging attacks during this phase.
Solus will summon a pair of portals across from each other, then launch an attack through them, covering the side of the stage that's between them.
Solus will usually follow this attack up by bringing his arms back and push forward. This is something to take note of with certain counters to ensure that your attacks don't miss. Sometimes he will go into a shockwave attack instead.
Solus will wind up in one direction then sweep through with one hand through 270 degrees. This will also cause Solus to rotate 90 degrees from the direction he started the attack in.
Solus will sweep a hand over a corner of the stage. This is similar to his larger sweep attack but without a wind-up and does not cause him to rotate.
Solus will sometimes thrust or slam down with one hand, dealing damage in the general vicinity. An alternate version of this attack has him slamming his hand down twice.
At 50% HP, Solus will summon a set of "stairs" on each side of him with an egg on top of each. Shortly after, red misama will start to slowly rise from the floor. This miasma will cause a large amount of damage over time for anyone that gets caught in it. When both eggs are destroyed, the miasma will disappear, Solus will be stunned and the weakpoint on his head will be exposed. Anyone stuck in the miasma and is still alive at this point will be incapacitated If enough damage is done, it will cause a physical down that exposes the weakpoint on his body. When he recovers, the fight will progress to phase 2.
Solus will gain a wand and change his attack patterns. In this phase, the fight becomes less about mechanics and more about dealing as much damage as possible at opportunities that he or his wand are exposed. Solus will spend large amounts of time in this phase in places where he can not be reached so it's important to take advantage of every opening he gives you.
Attacks should focus the weakpoint on his wand first. When enough damage is done to the wand, it will break and cause Solus to be stunned. At this point, you can continue attacking the wand or move to his body.
Parties that deal less damage will find that they get their second break near the end of this phase, while those that deal more will likely get their second break in the final moments of this fight. Once Solus' remaining HP is at around 10%, the fight will progress to the final phase, at which point you should have around 3 minutes left if you hope to clear.
Solus will teleport to the opposite side of the stage and start summoning three walls that slowly materialize. These walls cannot be dodged through and will close-to one-shot anyone that gets hit by them. Everyone must find the holes in each wall to safely move through them. After the third wall, solus will attack by either thrusting or swinging his wand, leaving him open for attack.
Some people tend to have trouble locating the holes in the wall while the wall is forming. Keep an eye out for a change in the block pattern, as gaps that have a sort of outline around them will be where your holes are.
Solus will toss his wand towards the stage, which will appear standing on its end and launch an AOE attack that radiates outwards from the wand. It will teleport and repeat this attack twice. The wand is open to attacks during this time.
Solus will appear on one end and launch an attack with his wand that covers roughly two thirds of the stage.
Solus will launch a ground attack along the perimeter of the stage. After this attack, his wand will teleport to the center of the stage and send out a destructive shockwave that radiates outwards and covers the entire stage. After, Solus will attack by thrusting or swinging his wand, leaving him open for a short period.
Solus will launch small square-shaped attacks in a striped pattern while launching a series of large cubes covering the entire stage. He will then repeat the striped attack on the parts of the stage that were not targeted the first time.
Solus will teleport to one side, and swing across the stage with his wand. This attack coves about two-thirds of the stage. The direction of attack will be marked but will always be from his left to right.
Solus will plant several pillars in the stage, then fire a barrage of small cubes while moving 360 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise around the stage, requiring players to move to keep him behind the pillar. He will then launch a destructive laser attack, then attack by thrusting or swinging his wand, leaving him open.
Solus will hover over the stage and slam his wand into the ground. He will do this 2-3 times, slamming twice the last time.
Solus will attack with a combination of large square-shaped attacks along a 2x3 grid while firing projectiles.
When Solus' HP reaches 10%, he will back away from the stage and plant 9 eggs, covering the entire stage with their AOE attacks. These act in the same way as phase 1 but will not periodically move around. While the party is busy destroying the eggs, he will attack with his wand blast/swing, striped square/block attack and large ground/projectile attacks. Dodge the attacks as they come in and continue focusing the eggs until they are all destroyed.
When the last egg is destroyed, Solus will become stunned and lay at the edge of his stage with his head weakpoint exposed. He will not get up from this state but will sometimes unleash a last-gasp shockwave attack that can deal massive damage to the party. When enough damage is done to the head, it will cause a permanent physical down. He will continue to attack with his shockwave but it will involve a longer startup, allowing you to anticipate it further in advance. Continue attacking until Solus is defeated. If the party's damage is on the high end, the second break will happen around this time, or might not even happen at all.
If you had just beat Solus in Sign of the Planetbreaker, congratulations! As of writing this guide, you've completed the hardest challenge in the game so far.
Don't give up! Sign of the Planetbreaker is very difficult but not hard to figure out. Keep running Omen of the Planetbreaker when it comes up and, if/when you feel like it, go into Sign alone and practice.
Solus' attacks are many and hard-hitting, but their visual and audio cues are very apparent and not hard to read.
Be comfortable with dodging! Running from lasers and other attacks results in precious loss of DPS and time. Even at level 80, the consequences of even a couple of party members evading attacks instead of using their counterattacks can be costly and result in the quest failing due to time.
Be supportive of your party! There are many parts of this fight that require cooperation and coordination. If someone is struggling with a part of the fight, help them out. Exchange advice with your fellow party members and be encouraging as you make it further and further with each run.
Make sure you're geared! Your weapon should have a level 6 potential, and all your gear should be enhanced to +70 with six relevant potency (and potency floor for non-Verschmelz builds) augments on each. (ex. Stat IV, Gigas Stat IV, A relevant Soul IV, a Domina etc...)
Know your class! There's no clearing Sign if you're not playing it properly and efficiently. Know the best PAs for the situation and your strongest counters. (As a ranger main I'm obligated to remind anyone reading this that spamming rifle normals is not an efficient or proper way to play Ranger or any other class)
I highly doubt that I've covered exactly everything in this, but I hope at least it provides some benefit to those getting into Solus for the first time.
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