Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard)
- See also: Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Extreme)
Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard)
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- Level
- 50 (Sync: 50)
- Item Level
- 80
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Party size
- Full Party
8 man • 2
2 
4 
- Unsyncing
- Allowed
- Time limit
- 60 minutes
- Roulette
- Trials
- Tomestones
15 - Req. quest
The Instruments of Our Deliverance- Patch
- 2.4
“For as long as their nation has warred with Dravania, there have been Ishgardians who instead chose to ally themselves with the dragons. Shiva is said to have been among the first, hence why the heretics revere her as a saint. That Iceheart and her followers intend to summon Shiva with the crystals they have stolen is plain. But is this unprecedented act even possible? If so, then Ishgard─if not the entire realm─is in grave danger.
— In-game description
Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard) is a level 50 trial introduced in patch 2.4.
General Information
The Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard) is a level 50 trial that requires a Full Party of 8 players. In the trial, players face Shiva, Lady of Frost.
Unlock
- Quest:
The Instruments of Our Deliverance - Quest-giver Location: Minfilia in The Rising Stones (x6,y5)
- Prerequisites: A Simple Plan
Strategy
It's worth noting that on Hard (instead of Extreme) mode her Ice Brand during Sword & Shield cannot be soaked by the party and Shiva should simply be tank & spanked away from the party at all times.
The below strategy section is transcluded from her Extreme mode.
Lady of Frost: Shiva
Abilities
Unarmed Form
After using a weapon, Shiva will perform 2 unarmed attacks before using another weapon.
Dreams of Ice: Shiva gains a permanent, stackable 
Damage Up buff. This serves as an enrage timer.
Icicle Impact: Circles appear on the ground in various patterns, and after a moment, the circles disappear and icicles drop down, dealing heavy damage to all players hit.
Sword Form
Shiva's auto attacks inflict stacks of Blunt Resistance Down on the main tank. The tank will take more damage from her auto attacks when she switches back to Staff Form.
- Tanks: When Shiva equips her sword, she will immediately use Icebrand. Face this attack towards the rest of the party to share/split the damage.
Icebrand: Conal attack that deals a total of 18k damage shared across the players that are hit.
Glacier Bash: Conal attack that deals heavy damage and stuns anyone caught in it. The tank can avoid it by running through Shiva after she starts casting it.
Heavenly Strike: Knockback from Shiva.
Whiteout: Untelegraphed donut AoE.
Rotation: Ice Brand → Glacier Bash → Whiteout (Heavenly Strikes are used randomly throughout)
Staff Form
Shiva's auto attacks inflict stacks of Slashing Resistance Down on the main tank. The tank will take more damage from her auto attacks when she switches back to Sword Form.
- When Shiva equips her staff, she will immediately cast Hail Storm. DO NOT wait to run out to the edges - it should be your INITIAL reaction.
Hail Storm: Ice AoEs will spawn on players' heads. Spread out to avoid hitting each other.
Absolute Zero: Raid-wide.
Bow Form
Only in Phase 3.
Shiva's auto attacks are unaffected by Slashing/Blunt Resistance Down while in this form but deal increased damage.
Glass Dance: Used at the start of Bow Form. Fires icicles in a 270 degree cone around her, dealing 10k damage to all players hit. Your entire party needs to stand directly behind her to avoid the damage.
Avalanche: Places a mark above a random player. After a moment Shiva will fire a line AoE at the target, knocking back the marked player and anyone nearby. The knockback can be cancelled with 
Arm's Length or 
Surecast. It is used about 20 seconds after start of Bow Form.
- Move her close to the north edge of the arena. Have the marked player stand behind Shiva while the rest of the party stands in front of her. This will cause the player to be knocked back harmlessly towards the south of the room but not far enough to hit the wall and become frozen.
Phase 1: 100% - 80%
In phase 1 Shiva will use Sword Form, Staff Form and Unarmed Form.
Tank Shiva in the center of the room, facing her away from the party. Shiva has 3 different weapons that she can switch between. Each weapon has a different attack and she uses them in a random order.
Players need to assign a tank that tanks her in Sword Form and another tank that tanks her in her Staff Form.
Sword Tank should allow Shiva to hit the party with Icebrand but avoid Glacier Bash.
Phase 2
At the start, Shiva spawns 4 Ice Soldiers and go into Sword Form. The staff tank should gather all the adds in the center of the room so they can be AoE'd down.
After 60 seconds, Shiva will go untargetable, freeze the party, then reappear with Diamond Dust, dealing 2-4k damage to all players. If any adds are still alive before Shiva disappears, the party will be wiped instead.
Phase 3: 70% - 0%
From here on, touching the edge of the arena will freeze the player into a boulder. Frozen player can be freed after party members kill the boulder.
Shiva gains Bow Form in addition to Sword Form, Staff Form and Unarmed Form.
She also gains an ability named Permafrost. It coats the ground in ice and places a DoT on everyone for a short time. It also applies the Thin Ice debuff to all players. If a player attempts to move while she has the debuff on, they will slide uncontrollably in that direction.
- Stand still for a few seconds after every ending move, i.e. Icicle Impact, Avalanche, etc. - til Thin Ice wears off or you will slide into walls and get frozen.
Shiva gains 2 new Icicle Impact patterns.
Rotation: Icicle (Staff) → Staff Form → Icicle (Bow) → Bow Form → Icicle (Sword/Staff) → Icicle (Bow) → (Repeat from Sword/Staff)
At 11 Damage Up stacks, Shiva will go untargetable, freeze the party, and cast Diamond Dust, wiping the party.
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Loot
Shiva Card (Drops at a fixed rate.)
Ice Tear
