How to Prep for Brelshaza Hard Mode

By Dillan | April 9th, 2023 | Categories: Lost Ark

Brelshaza has been out for several months, and many players are starting to clear the average level regularly in Lost Ark. With April on the way, the next major update will soon go live, and one of the most prominent features it will add is the Hard Mode for the Phantom Legion Raid. With the Ancient gear accessible via this new difficulty, many players are eager to clear HM Brelshaza. Unfortunately, fighting the leader of the Phantom Legion becomes extremely difficult to face off against, so adventurers should take the time to prepare for the upcoming fight. This Brelshaza Hard Cheat Sheet will help you figure out the easiest way to beat HM.

Table of Contents

How to Enter Hard Mode Brelshaza

Like any Legion Raid, Brelshaza has a gear requirement before you can enter the dungeon. Since this difficulty will be on Hard Mode, it is understandable that the item level requirement will also increase. Here is what you need to enter the gates of the Phantom Raid on a higher level:

Gate 1 and 2: Item Level 1540
Gate 3 and 4: Item Level 1550
Gate 5 and 6: Item Level 1560

Aside from the upscaled Item Level requirements, there will also be new mechanics that players should figure out during the raid. Otherwise, they can choose to look for guides or cheat sheets online.

Still Need to be at the Required Item Level?

The best way to reach the minimum requirements is to do all the high-end raids before the Phantom Legion Boss. Doing the Normal Brelshaza will help you earn materials. Meanwhile, doing the HM Valtan and HM Vykaz will help you get more gold for buying honing mats. Do not forget the Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids that rewards the right items.

Brelshaza Hard Cheat Sheet

There are tons of things that will be different with incredible difficulty. While many mechanics won’t be affected, some will have additional gimmicks or become slightly different. If you want to prepare for HM Brelshaza, then you should keep in mind these changes:

Gate 1

During the 85 HP mechanic, you must stagger the boss before you go to your designated position before you start to spread out.
Countering the boss will silence the person who performed the counter. In addition, every successful action will spawn an arrow from any cardinal direction. Those who have countered the boss need to block the projectiles, or it will cause an explosion upon impact with the boss.
A typical attack pattern has been added in which the boss will do a counterattack similar to Valtan’s. Make sure to stop attacking when you see the purple shields go up. Otherwise, it would help if you moved far away from the center.

Gate 2

The knights you need to intercept will appear twice for the outside party.
The inside party will need to clear the Diamonds that fire projectiles. In NM, these things expire after a certain amount of time. However, you will need to remove them actively in HM, or the outside team will get wiped.
Unlike in Normals, the Red Orbs spawned at random places during the 110 HP mechanic.
During the Orbs mechanic at 80 HP, slight variations will appear in the spheres. For the purple one, a fake one will appear right next to the right orb, so you must quickly determine what type of attack you should do. For the black spheres, there will be three instead of one, and all of them need to be destroyed. Make sure to use regular attacks to keep them together or use vacuum attacks to pull them close.

Gate 3

An additional meteor will drop during the 145 HP Mechanic, so you can clear the type test for the second one if you are fast enough for the first one.
At the 100 HP mechanic, there are two additional gimmicks that you need to look out for. The first is the Stagger buff. Yellow meteors will land and leave yellow buffs that players can pick up to increase their stagger. The second one is the Medusa eyes. While trying to stun the boss, orbs will keep spawning around her, which you will either need to look at or away from.
The Rage Mod at 85 HP mark in Hard Mode will deal significantly more damage.
While doing the Shapes gimmick at the 42 HP mechanic, there will be Medusa Eyes appearing all over, which you will need to react to accordingly.
By the 0 HP mechanic, Medusa’s eyes will also appear all around the arena, but fortunately, this part is much more forgiving.
For the Normal Shapes attack, instead of just having one shape that you need to bring close to the boss, there are two other figures that you will need to lure away.
For the Maze Attack, three spears will target random players instead of one, so make sure to know how to navigate through the labyrinth.

Gate 4

Floor explosions happen more quickly.
During the transition to the Red Cube, yellow orbs will appear at the edge of the platform and will try to fly toward the center. If those spheres hit the boss, it will increase its damage. Make sure to absorb every one of them.
For the Stagger mechanic of the Red Cube, when a player gets into their designated position, an attack telegraph will appear on the ground, indicating the area affected by aerial damage.
After the Cube turns blue, red marks will appear on top of each player. This attack is similar to Valtan’s counter mechanic, where an attack will occur after a while on the players’ last marked position—group up with the whole team to make it easier to dodge them.
During the Stagger of the Blue Cube, you should stay near the objects you are destroying and avoid the red slash marks appearing on the ground.
After transitioning to the Yellow Cube, players are expected to dodge purple projectors flying everywhere. In Hard Mode, these things will leave AoE damage you should avoid. In addition, blue lines of CC waves will appear after the projectiles are finished.
During the Stagger phase of the Yellow Cube, the purple projectiles will now also apply to Seduce to players in the yellow area, making them attack other raid mates. If you are not on the Stagger team, body-block these purple spheres. The risk of wiping is high if even just one teammate gets Seduced.
Upon entering the Star Cube, you will need to Stagger the boss. However, in Hardmode, the Cube will release linear attacks that will pull players close to it if they get hit. The boss will also recover HP after this sequence. Players will have to keep Staggering afterward.
For Normal Mechanics, the Yellow Knockback will have a slight delay.

Gates 1-4 Video Guide

Gate 5

Unlike Normal, the Shapes in HM are assigned randomly. You will have to be wary about the placements, and there will also be a targeting laser that you need to dodge to avoid getting nearsighted.
In Hardmode, players will need to Counter Brelshaza during the Stagger Mechanic, or they should use Inana. Otherwise, they will get silenced, which will cause them to fail the sequence. In addition, during the Star mechanic, each party will get targeted by a different type of attack. Aerial attacks will consistently barrage the first team, while party two will get chased by homing projectiles. Getting hit will cause you to lose stacks. The memory game is essentially the game, but you will get silenced when you are caught.
Now and then, Brelshaza will use aerial and homing projectiles that will cause you to lose shape stack.
The tentacle attacks will now include Petrify zones, which players should consider.

Gate 6

Players should note that the attacks here will significantly hurt more, so focus on surviving to reach the mechanics.
There are two notable differences during the Golden Meteor Phase. The first Meteor will land at 6 o’clock, and the blue marks will be delayed. The second one is the more significant change because you can no longer have more than one or two meteors per floor. Players must memorize the proper placements, which can be pretty tricky.
During the Last Stand sequence, you must do the counters for the blue meteors that drop at 1, 5, 7, and 11 spots. Red ones should be ignored. Failure to destroy Brelshaza’s shield will result in a wipe.

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Getting the Ancient Gear Requirements

The Hard Mode Brelshaza is a must-raid because it is the only source for crafting materials for Ancient Gear. You must get this set if you want to be more well-equipped for HM and future Legion bosses. Here are the requirements to start making Ancient Set:

Item Level 1540
Attained the “Phantom Shard Remnants” Level 1

Ancient Sets can be honed up to level 25, and each successful upgrade will add 5 item levels to your gear.

Don’t Stress Too Much On Not Clearing

The Hard Mode will make the Phantom Legion Raid much more complex, so players should not get too frustrated that they have difficulty clearing the gate. With the new introductions of several mechanics and additional damage, it is understandable that many will have a more challenging time. Getting your Item Level to a high enough level and learning the new gimmicks can help you better prepare for HM Brel to increase your chances of clearing.