Aksis vs. BattleStrats - A Retrospective

Introduction

BattleStrats has conquered Aksis. He tested the abilities of each of our players and the effectiveness of our team's communication. We passed this test but there is still much to learn. Our three main areas of focus are:

1. What did we do well?
2. Where did we stumble?
3. How can we improve for the future?

The Plus Points

The biggest takeaway is that the clan is improving. We managed to kill Aksis on our first try with 5 players in the team had never killed Aksis before!

BattleStrats Aksis Kill - Black Spindle FTW! 

The main takeaways from that final successful run are:

• We communicated empowerment really well
• Everyone had the right gear/abilities to take down Captains
• We had consistent slams on Aksis (which maybe a function of us not being tired)
• Team DPS was solid enough for us to clutch us through missing a damage phase
• People stayed alive

Points of Improvement

Miscommunication

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in a raid is juggling all the different tasks happening at once. For Aksis, the most important things to communicate are:

• Empowerment
• Servitor Positions
• SIVA Throws

Siva Throwing

Siva bombs should be called out 1, 2 and 3 to help us ensure the empowered are in position. Bomb throwers must ensure the bomb on their side is thrown. If for any reason you die:

• Ask for a delay in killing Captains
• If that isn't possible, ask for a delay in killing your Servitor
• ALWAYS ask for another thrower to cover your bomb.

Empowered throwers should take ownership of the position they are throwing from. So if someone tells you to move, you plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say "No, You Move!".

Servitor Position

To give us the most time to throw bombs and position empowered, Servitor positions should be called out as soon as possible. Note that after the 1st Servitor is called out we can work out where all the other ones will appear. This is because:

• Servitors are never the same element as the Captain (for a given entrance)
• Only two elements will remain, so it will be the opposite of the captain you are still fighting.

For example, if someone calls "Arc Mid" and you are fighting the Solar captain on the right; then you can call "Null/Void right".

In practice we want to be killing captains fairly quickly though, so that maybe irrelevant.

Empowered Positioning
This is the most important factor of the fight. If you get this right then you are most of the way to kill Aksis. When people are empowered they must call it out and then figure out who is going where themselves. As mentioned above, you have to take ownership of a position. Remember if you are on left/right then you can happily cover the middle as well.

The first time people do this fight it will be confusing and communication can be a bit flaky under stress. I fully expect people to get used to this and refine their callouts in future runs :)