So you’re ready for operations in SW:TOR?  Eternity Vault is generally the first operation the average player experiences in the game.  It’s got some fun encounters with a few unique characteristics and mechanics to learn. The 8 man version on normal difficulty is tuned for pretty fresh 50′s.  Gear is not really a huge factor to defeat this version.  It’s more to learn the mechanics of the encounters and to get players geared for later, more difficult, operations.  All the bosses have enrage timers, so efficiency is very important.

Group Makeup

8 man groups are typically made up of two tanks, two healers, and 4 dpsers.  Normal mode Eternity Vault can easily be finished with 1 tank, although the pylons may prove to be a bit difficult.  In the harder difficulties, it is recommended to always have two tanks.  For 16 mans, 2 tanks, 4 healers, a third assassin tank with a dps set, and 9 dpsers works pretty well.  Of course, much of this is contingent on the fight, the level of skill of the group, enrage timers, gear level, and so forth.

Annihilation Droid XRR-3

The first boss in the Eternity Vault is the Annihilation Droid XRR-3.  He guards the entrance, players cannot continue into the Eternity Vault without defeating him.  He spawns after the two turrets at the entrance are defeated.  First, he should be tanked facing away from the group because he has a cleave/aoe knock back that will knock back everyone in front of him.  Group members should remain spread out as best they can – the boss does a Rocket Burst on a random player which does significant damage to that player and those nearby.  Next, he will periodically fire off a Missile Salvo, which basically fires missiles off at anyone who is in LoS.  Players must heal through this or use the turrets to run out of LoS.  In the Normal 8 and 16 man versions this ability can be healed through with relative ease, however, it is not recommended in Hard or Nightmare modes.  After the Missile Salvo, he’ll start shooting the ground where players are standing with missiles.  The spots will be indicated with red dots that players will need to move out of. Last, he periodically does a ground stomp, Shockwave, which damages all nearby players.

The fight is relatively simple.  Spread out, tank him facing away from the group, run out during the missile salvo, avoid the red dots on the ground, collect loot.   It’s important to note that two tanks are needed in hard and nightmare modes.  Since the boss is completely stationary, he’ll attack the target with the next highest threat in melee range.  A second tank should be positioned off to the side, melee behind the boss; otherwise, he’ll turn and cleave all the melee after a knockback.  In normal difficulties this can be healed through, however, in hard and nightmare modes this will one-shot all the melee, resulting in a wipe.

Gharj

Gharj is the next boss in the Vault; he can be found in the lava pit.  It’s a relatively simple fight.  Again, he cleaves so you want to face him away from group.  His first ability is a leap, it damages all players in melee range. On harder difficulties, it may be advisable for melee to run out if they can.  The group will have to work out (depending on how many people are getting hit by this) if the healers can keep up healing through this.  Eventually, he will do his Smashing Leap which will cause ads to come out and a new platform to rise out of the lava.  After quickly aoeing the ads down, the group needs to quickly move to the next platform.  His last ability is a knock back where he knocks back all players but the tank.  Because of this ability, it’s advisable to tank him near the edge of the platform.  If the ranged stands in the middle, there is a sweet spot where they can not be hit by the leap and not be knocked back into the lava.  Rinse and repeat and the fight’s over.

Ancient Pylons

Please refer to: Forcejunkies Ancient Pylons Guide

Infernal Council

This is an interesting encounter, albeit rather short.  Each player needs to match up with one of the NPC’s and kill it.  After a player kills their, they are able to help another player with one ability (one attack, one heal, one shield, etc), before you get a debuff that prevents you from doing anything else.  The best way to do it is to have healers on Assassins, tanks on Marauders, and dps on the Juggernauts.  The Assassins have low health but put out a decent amount of damage.  The marauders have a medium amount of health but do a healing debuff.  The Juggernauts have high health and high armor but do little damage.  If all the NPC’s go down within 2 minutes, the group wins and moves on to…

Soa

Soa is the final boss of the Eternity Vault.  At the time of this writing, he is extremely buggy.  It’s recommended to check the platform below where you start and make sure it’s all there.  If there are pieces missing, it’s best to reset him because they will not spawn and it will make the fight much more difficult.  The fight has four phases with the second phase being repeated once.  There is no rush for the first and third phases, they are triggered by the bosses percentages.  There is an enrage during the final phase, but that will be explained later.

Phase 1:

The boss starts with a shield.  He cannot be damaged during this time, but all debuffs can be stacked on him.  The group should stay on the same side of him and dps him down.  The only thing to worry about in phase one is the power sources getting hit by lightning.  They explode and green stuff goes all over the ground near them that should not be stood in.  At 75% he will transition into phase two.  The whole group needs to run to the outer ring and stack up; the middle and inner rings will drop.

Phase 2:

It’s usually best to have everyone run to strait to the western most part of the outer ring when phase 2 is getting triggered.  After the main platform drops, a platform behind the group will drop that the group needs to jump down onto.  Platforms will keep dropping and the raid needs to keep jumping down.  Every couple of platforms, the group will need to stop and heal up.  Soa will be above you knocking down the platforms above you as you’re jumping down, so it’s important to stay ahead of him.  When you get to the bottom, heal up and get ready to engage him again.

Phase 3:

Phase three is similar to phase one but with a few extra abilities.  The first, and most important mechanic to lookout for is the mind traps.  Little blue boxes will spawn called mind traps that will suck in a random player. Inside the mind trap there is a copy of soa which can be dpsed down.  The mind traps don’t stop spawning so they need to be dpsed immediately or they will overwhelm the group.  Next, he will spawn ball lightnings that will target one (or two) players.  The raid announces who the ball lightnings are after so they know to avoid them, however, it helps to call those people out.  The ball lightnings move slowly towards the person they are targeting, doing damage to anyone nearby on the way.  They explode after a few seconds, or when they hit their target. These should always be avoided. Alternatively, a sage/sorc can shield the lightning’s target and have that person run into the lightning to blow it up. Soa will also grab a random member of the party and throw them around the room.   At 30% he drops the floor again and it’s a repeat of phase two.

Groups should be careful not to drop the floor when a player is being thrown in the air or in a mind trap.  They may not make it to the outer ring when the floor drops, and the group will need all the dps it can get in phase 4.  Also, the lightning has been known to bug when it targets a player in the lightning or in the air.  It follows the group on to the platform and wipes the group.  After a repeat of phase two, it’s on to…

Phase 4:

Phase four has all the same mechanics as phase three, except they are much closer together.  Soa also starts with a shield, and cannot take damage.  Have the group focus on the mind traps and avoid the ball lightning.  There are large, spinning pyramids that will appear in the air.  After 10-15 seconds, they will drop, killing anyone underneath.  The tank needs to drag Soa underneath – once he gets hit with the pyramid, the shield will go down. At this point, all DPS needs to go on Soa.  After a few seconds, the shield will go back up and this needs to be repeated.  He needs to be killed by the fourth pyramid or he will enrage.