12-7: Crimson Cradle of Flames

Main Mechanics

In Normal mode, the fight against Malice is secretly a race against time. Your goal is to kill Malice before you no longer have enough of an arena to fight on.

Malice will be utilizing Thorn Pillars (the ones the Crimson Eye used in 12-6), and targeting players with them. This time, however, the whole battle takes place on floating platforms. If a platform gets hit by a Thorn Pillar, one layer of platform will be destroyed for each Thorn Pillar and won't come back. This means the group will have less and less space to work with as time goes on in the battle, and they need to end Malice quickly while also being efficient with conserving what platforms they do have.

In Story mode, a number of the platforms cannot be destroyed by Thorn Pillars. This is not true for Normal mode.

Losing ground is also a problem due to the surrounding pits. These pits, unlike most in the game, will cause instant death if you fall in them. (You don't get teleported to the arena, so revival effects won't save you, either - you'll just revive still in the pit and die shortly after.)

Malice's battle is also an escalating one, albeit to a lighter degree than the one with the Crimson Soul. Malice has some notable delays before some of his attacks. However, as Malice loses health, these delays will only get shorter. Be able to recognize Malice's tells quickly, or the results can be destructive.

Malice will have two Blood Rages on the battlefield that will respawn after a time if destroyed. These Blood Rages exist more for disruption and displacing players - a threat varying in severity by what platforms you have. However, they also explode on death, with the explosion being absolutely lethal in Normal mode, so players must monitor the Rages and be ready to get out of the way.

Overall, the battle does feature slow enemies, but the difficulty comes from managing all of the enemies at once and not getting mentally overwhelmed by everything that's happening. Stay focused.

Attacks

Blood Rage

Spinning Grind - the Blood Rage will head into the background, then lay on its side. Afterwards, it will sweep back and forth across the lower platform, hitting and pushing anyone in its path.

• Note that the Blood Rage will only sweep across the three lower platform tiers - the highest platforms will be missed. (Though on rare occasion the spin might still hit you once if you're standing on the top platform - jumping over this move might be a good idea for safety's sake)
• If you're just focused on attacking Malice's head, you can often ignore this attack since you should be on the top platforms anyways. Be more cautious of this move, however, if you're on the lower levels or need to move to the sides of the arena... especially if you're trying to avoid one of Malice's moves.

Slam - the Blood Rage will head into the background, and raise itself up vertically. A red warning light will be displayed shortly before the Blood Rage smashes into the ground, moderately damaging and displacing anyone hit.

• While the attack isn't lethal by itself, the damage it deals is still considerable. Two Slams could be enough to kill a player with weaker defenses, so don't ignore health lost to this attack.
• The displacement caused by the attack is significant, and can push you a great distance to the side. This makes falling into the pit a very real possibility. Even if you aren't near the pit, getting hit by a Slam means losing a few seconds you could've spent attacking Malice, so do your best to avoid or armor through this attack.

Detonation - on death, the Blood Rage will collapse to the ground floor of the arena and emit a spherical explosion. This explosion deals massive damage in Normal mode (and high damage even in Story mode), very often killing players in one hit.

• While the explosion is deadly, the explosion's sphere doesn't cover much area on the top platforms. Because of this, a small sidestep (or jump) can often be enough to get you out of the explosion's reach.
• Even with the explosion's short reach, don't sell this attack short - deaths to this attack are relatively common, especially since the Detonation occurs fairly quickly after the Blood Rage collapses. If you think a Blood Rage has taken a beating, try to make sure it's not directly under you as the fight goes on.

Malice

Petrifying Gaze - Malice will laugh and raise one of its arms, and a magic circle will appear above its eye. After a delay, Malice will sweep the center platforms with a powerful laser, going in the direction of its outstretched arm. Anyone hit by the laser will be petrified for several seconds.

• The delay prior to Malice firing the laser will get shorter as Malice loses health.
• While running to the side and jumping over the laser beam is certainly possible, I can't actually recommend doing so. The reason is simple: the hitbox for the laser is actually bigger than the laser's visuals. It's completely possible to jump over the laser's visuals while you're near Malice's head and still touch the laser's hitbox. Using I-frames to get through this move is a lot safer and more consistent - you'll be attacking Malice by doing this, too. Here's what can happen if you try to dodge the laser normally.
• While you will be safe from the laser in I-frames, keep watch during the move. Malice moves its head across the battlefield with the laser, and you're likely going to be physically pushed by Malice's head as it does this. Track your position and adjust accordingly.
• Note that Malice doesn't fire the laser until slightly after it begins moving its head across the stage. The laser has a set duration during which it fires, so it will burn itself out in place if Malice gets paused during the attack. However, if Malice gets paused before the laser starts firing, it will still have its full attack duration, and the stop will leave teammates unable to gauge when to take evasive action to avoid the laser. If you plan to petrify or freeze Malice during this, make sure the laser is firing before you do so.

Hand Slam -> Thorn Pillars - Malice will emit a cackling laugh, and raise both its arms into the air. After a delay, it will slam its arms down in fixed locations, launching any players hit by the arms. The instant the slam contacts the ground, Thorn Pillars will be fired, targeting each player. Contact with the Thorn Pillar will result in instant death.

• The delay prior to Malice slamming its hands down will get shorter as Malice loses health. This means the group will have shorter and shorter time limits to get into position to bait the Thorn Pillars away. When Malice has 20-30 bars of health or less, the slam is performed quickly enough that it's advised to get into position after Malice finishes using Chaos Orbs (see below) before the slam animations even start, just to ensure everyone gets into place in time.
• Avoid being launched by the slam at all costs. If you get launched, you WILL be hit by a Thorn Pillar and either die to the Pillar, or die to falling in the newly-opened pit below you.
• The slam's hitbox includes both the hands as they come down, as well as the contact with the ground itself. However, the red spheres that emit from the slam are deceiving: only Malice's hand constitutes a hitbox, not the spheres. Some of the space in the red spheres is actually safe to stand in.
• Though deadly, the slam always comes down in the exact same spot every time, and may not come into play at all when you're baiting certain waves of Thorn Pillars. Memorizing its location can do you a world of good.
• If you have to bait Thorn Pillars right where the slam will be, ensure that you have armor or I-frames (Stone Apples can be immensely helpful here). If you choose to use armor, though, make sure that you only get hit by the arm swing and not the slam. Getting hit by both the arm as it descends and the slam could do enough combined damage to kill you.
• Assuming all of the thorn pillars are baited properly, you can safely dodge to the left and right two times each before being in range of the hand slam. Monitor the platforms carefully to know in advance whether or not you'll need super armor the next time this attack rolls around.

At 72 HP bars (80% health), Malice gains access to the following attack:

Chaos Orbs - Malice will raise its head into the background, and any active Blood Rages will hover in a standby state in the air. Soon after, Malice will slam the ground, causing a large number of fiery orbs to rise up. Any contact with the orbs will cause heavy damage and HP burn - larger orbs deal more damage than smaller ones.

• In Story mode, it's often possible to survive contact with a small orb, but expect death if you run into anything larger. In Normal mode, any contact with any orb is likely death.
• The pattern of the orbs is only partially random. If you go to the left side of the top center platform, you will consistently be able to find a path through the incoming orbs. Another such path exists on the right side of the arena, but this can sometimes involve jumping through a small gap between orbs that will kill you if you miss it, so it's not recommended.
• Keep to small horizontal movements. The orbs rise slowly, so you can pace yourself. Dashing will only make you lose precision, which can be deadly when some gaps between orbs are barely bigger than your character.
• Don't panic if you see other players supposedly taking damage from orbs. Due to the partial randomness of the Chaos Orbs on top of how latency works in Elsword, players won't see the same orb patterns as everyone else. What looks like your ally taking hits is often them weaving through the orbs without incident.
• Malice's head is in the background, but Malice isn't invulnerable during this move. Homing moves with sufficient range will still be able to damage Malice during this attack, provided you have the opportunity to safely use such a skill. However, if you decide to do this, make sure you don't kill Malice in the process. If you do, Malice's death cutscene will start, but any Chaos Orbs on the field will still rise up... while the party can't move. Naturally, this can lead to people dying.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Don't just be aware of the damage of attacks - be aware of where they might send you if they hit you. If the result is that they send you into a pit resulting in guaranteed death, you should be particularly cautious about that move.

Pay attention to what your teammates are doing. If their attacks are quickly doing splash damage to a Blood Rage, you might want to be ready in case that Blood Rage explodes. If your teammates are a bit spread out when Thorn Pillars are fired, you need to make sure your escape route isn't cut off, and adjust accordingly if you can.

Since this is a race against time (before your group loses too many platforms), your primary focus should be rushing down Malice. Attack as fast as you can... within reason. Don't let yourself get too distracted by focusing purely on attack only to let yourself get blindsided by a Blood Rage. This can slow down your assault or even get you killed by an errant explosion you weren't watching out for.

Team Strategies

A constant stream of buffs and debuffs will help the party immensely. Everyone's efforts will be solely focused on killing Malice as quickly as possible. (No one will be hitting Blood Rages on purpose.)

Besides managing buffs and debuffs, most of the teamwork will come from how the group baits the Thorn Pillars. The goal is to put the Pillars in the positions where they will cause the least damage to the platform. Ideally, this often means all the Pillars are either in one spot, or are in a location where they won't hit the platforms at all.

To focus the Pillars to singular spots, a common strategy is to start out by having everyone bait the Pillars to the far left platform. The next set of Pillars will be baited to the far right, and so on, using the most distant platform possible each time and alternating between the two sides.

Some characters (like Eve) or classes (like Minerva) are capable of safely going over the pits for a long time without risk of falling. These classes are capable of baiting Thorn Pillars over the pit, meaning those Pillars won't do damage to the platforms at all. If someone plans to do this in conjunction with the rest of the group, they should usually go the direction opposite the group. This way, that character will have as few Thorn Pillars in their way (from other teammates being targeted) as possible for when they try to land back on the platforms... just watch out, in case another pillar will block your path while airborne.

Main Mechanics

The Recluse retains the Crimson Soul's ability to teleport (though the Recluse doesn't have to if a target is close enough). If it chooses to teleport, it still has to mark the person it's teleporting to with a blue symbol.

Despite the fact that some of the Recluse's moves are directly inherited from the Crimson Soul, the Ember of Combustion debuff is not present in this phase. You won't lose MP to the fire effects on the Recluse's attacks. (Don't get used to this, though, since this changes with phase 3)

The Thorns from the introductory phase of 12-6 will return - as before, gray is vulnerable to commands and actives, while red is vulnerable to special actives (and other sources of skill damage).

The Recluse will switch between two forms in this phase, which have slightly differing movesets. The Recluse starts the battle in its Dark Form; after a transition move, it will switch to its Fire Form. Another transition will return it to the Dark Form, and so on. The Recluse performs these transitions on a cooldown. However, in Story mode only, if the Recluse loses 20 health bars while in a form, it will instantly prioritize using a transition move as its next attack regardless of time.

Like in phase 1, the platforms you stand on can be destroyed, and the pit is still instant death. However, any platform destruction in this phase is temporary, as I will explain in the section on attacks.

In Normal mode, some of the Recluse's attacks will do substantially more damage than they did in Story mode. Some of the Recluse's thorn summons can kill players in one hit (or at least come very close) - try to keep your health high whenever you can.

Attacks

Common (can be used in either form)

Flame Scythe - Horizontal - the Recluse will swing its scythe horizontally, just as the Crimson Soul did. The swing will still leave a flame aura around it for a few moments.

• You can afford to be a bit more aggressive with special actives against this in this phase, since the lack of the Flame of Combustion debuff means your only penalty for getting hit is taking damage. The flame aura relies on multiple hits to do its harm, so rapid special active use will cause you to take relatively light damage.

Scythe Grind - like the Crimson Soul, the Recluse can cast a phantom scythe in either horizontal direction, then drag it along the ground. Anyone hit will receive a Leg Wound debuff and be dragged at high speed in the Recluse's direction.

• Be very careful about being dragged by this attack. The speed you get launched at is very high, and can easily send you shooting into a bottomless pit if your positioning is unfortunate.
• As before, getting behind the Recluse or under the scythe will make dodging this move a lot easier.

Dark Form

Scythe Combo - Dark - the Recluse will perform two giant scythe swings in one direction that will hit above, below, and in front of the Recluse with heavy hitstun. After a short delay, the Recluse will swing upwards, summoning two Dark Thorns and knocking anyone hit upwards.

• Both summoned Thorns will be the same color.
• The scythe swings used to also hit behind the Recluse, but this was (mostly) patched out. I say mostly because it's still possible to be hit by a backswing if you get close to the Recluse's back. There are also some nasty hitboxes one platform height below (and somewhat behind) the Recluse - the swings cover a much larger area than you would expect them to.
• The two scythe swings do substantial damage in Normal mode, and getting hit by a full scythe combo of any kind in Normal mode will probably kill you outright if you don't heal or mana break. Though commonly used, these Scythe combos are threats you must respect.
• You can take advantage of the Recluse's pause before summoning the Thorns. If you start up a special active or use armor to get through the first two swings, you'll have a few moments to get out of the way of the final swing and punish the move.

Thorn Strike - the Recluse will release a burst of red energy while shouting a line of dialogue. A Thorn will be summoned under every player within a radius of the Recluse.

• Movement to the side will get you of the way of the Thorn being summoned under you... just make sure not to go where another player was standing, or you'll just get stabbed by the Thorn that was targeting them.
• Just one of the thorns summoned by this will deal high damage in Normal mode. However, in Normal mode, you're likely going to be standing near at least 3 or 4 teammates... meaning all of those thorns will also hit you. This can easily one-shot you if you don't avoid it.
• Both the shout the Recluse emits and the position of the Recluse's scythe (the Recluse will be holding its scythe horizontally as it executes the energy burst) will let you know when this attack is coming. The Thorns' health bars will warn you as well, but these might be too late for you to react to.
• Note that the summoned Thorns, unlike those encountered in 12-6, aren't affected by delays in Crimson Cradle. This means you can use I-frames to avoid them at your leisure.

Crimson Burst - the Recluse will teleport to the center of the arena on the ground floor, become invulnerable, and trigger a brief cutscene. All Thorns that were on the battlefield will instantly be destroyed. After charging for a couple of seconds, the Recluse will release a fiery burst upwards, killing anyone in range. When the burst fires, Flame Pillars will be launched, targeting each player - these Flame Pillars will destroy any section of platform they hit. After completing this move, the Recluse will transition into its Fire Form.

• Get to the edges of the arena to bait the Flame Pillars to a location where they'll cause minimal damage to the arena.
• There's no reason to be anywhere near the Recluse during this attack - the flame burst from the Recluse will kill you, and the Recluse is invincible throughout the move.
• The Recluse will be invulnerable for a few seconds after the move ends. Don't waste your MP on attacks, since they won't connect - focus on buffs, healing, and setup instead.
• The flame burst emitted by the Recluse has a hitbox that lingers with the animation. Don't get to the Recluse too fast, or you could accidentally run into the fire graphics and kill yourself.

Fire Form

Flame Scythe - Vertical - like the Crimson Soul, the Recluse is capable of executing vertical slashes (complete with flame aura) while in its Fire Form.

• Yes, strangely, this is the correct place for this move. Vertical Flame Scythes can ONLY occur while the Recluse is in Fire Form.
• Even in Fire Form, the Ember of Combustion debuff is still absent.
• Try not to be near a pit when the Recluse attempts this move - the opening swing is quite good at sending players a fair distance, including popping up players in the air and to the side.

Scythe Combo - Fire - the Recluse will perform two scythe swings as it did in Dark Form. After a brief pause, it will release a fiery explosion in front of it, dealing multiple hits.

• The timing of this attack is very similar to the Dark Form version of the move. The strategies regarding dealing with the first two swings of the combo apply to this version of the attack as well.
• Like with the Dark version of the combo, be very careful of the damage this attack can potentially do. Use super armor to ignore the hitstun or I-frame through whenever you can.

Dark Array - the Recluse will teleport to the center of the arena on the ground floor and become invulnerable. Any damage done to the platforms will be repaired. The Recluse will then summon eyes that will shoot four laser blasts. Each blast will leave one of the four platform heights in the arena untouched - players must move there to be safe or face instant death. After this attack ends, the Recluse transitions into its Dark Form.

• Make sure you've completely landed on a platform before the lasers fire - the laser heights are set such that your character's height will barely be in range of the safe zone.
• For obvious reasons, make sure your character's body isn't larger via an effect during this move - you'll be doomed if this happens. Be reminded that a Fighter's Potion also increases your body size, so you must use them very carefully in this phase because of this attack.
• It's easier to descend than ascend. It can be suggested that you try to climb up to the second or third floor while you wait for the next laser burst to make things easier if the safe zone is near the top platforms, but...
• Ensure that the lasers have stopped firing completely before changing heights, including for the last of the four arrays. Even if you run into a laser as the barrage is fading, it's still going to cause instant death. Don't be impatient.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Try to avoid fighting the Recluse near any pitfalls, and be as close to the center of the largest stretch of land you have at any given time. Many of the Recluse's attacks can cause a fair amount of displacement if they hit you, and getting flung into a pit is worse than getting hit by any of the Recluse's non-instadeath attacks.

There used to be a glitch where the Recluse was capable of falling into the pit, instantly killing the boss. Don't bother trying this, as it's been patched out - the Recluse will just instantly teleport to someone if it's about to go into the pit. Based on recent reports from a guildmate (who had a separate bug happen in the fight), the pit's instant death doesn't seem to even work on the Recluse anymore.

The automatic teleport mechanic is something to be cautious of if the group is forced to fight near a pit. If the Recluse has to teleport, it will immediately stop whatever attack it was doing, go to a random player, then instantly start attacking again. This can easily catch you off guard if you aren't paying close attention.

While fighting the Recluse's Dark Form, try to clear out the Thorns whenever it's possible and convenient. The Thorns are physical objects, and can thus act as walls. While this can technically help you if you get sent flying by one of the Recluse's attacks (hitting the Thorn will kill your momentum), most of the time, they'll just get in your way while you're trying to avoid the Recluse's moves or attack the Recluse.

Team Strategies

The strategy here remains the same: kill the boss as quickly as possible. The group will be in the center of the arena (usually on the bottom floor) attacking the Recluse liberally, and you should do your best to stay there. If the Recluse teleports to you while you're away from the center, the rest of the group can't attack the boss.

Most of the red Thorns the Dark Form summons will probably be shattered by collateral damage. Gray thorns may also fall to collateral damage, but this isn't guaranteed, and the longer those are in the way, the more chances they have to block someone's movement. This only further emphasizes why the group should stick together - this will incidentally put all the summoned Thorns relatively close together AND put them near the Recluse, making destroying them all while focusing on the boss fairly easy in most situations.

While working with a group, be mindful of your allies' positions. Where your allies stand is where the Recluse will summon hazards via Thorn Strike and Crimson Burst - don't run yourself into attacks that targeted someone else.

When baiting the Flame Pillars, the group will always head to the furthest edges of the arena. (The direction usually doesn't matter.) Follow suit, and the group's arena will constantly take minimal damage.

Main Mechanics

The final battle against Rosso is a culmination of many of the previous attacks and mechanics you've already encountered.

Rosso retains the ability to teleport, but still has to provide a blue mark over the person he's teleporting to.

Dark Thorns and Cages will appear during this battle - naturally, this means you'll have to attack them by their color (grey = commands and actives, red = special actives and other skill damage sources).

Rosso's fire-based attacks will now inflict the second version of the Ember of Combustion debuff. Not only will being set on fire burn 5% of your maximum MP per second, but it will also cause your attacks to heal Rosso... and any Thorns or Cages he has on the battlefield. Pick your attack opportunities wisely.

Just like in the battle against the Crimson Eye, Rosso will regain 2 HP bars any time a player dies.

The pit below the arena is still instant death. Once again, you'll have to deal with attacks that can destroy most of the platforms... but in phase 3, Rosso won't repair any damage that's done. I say "most" because the centermost platforms in the arena can't be destroyed... this is vital to succeeding in this fight.

While Rosso's attack power isn't as threatening as it was in phase 2, he makes up for it by having one of the largest HP pools seen in this part of the game. Thanks to this, phase 3 becomes a battle of endurance and focus.

Attacks

Most of the attacks in this phase are inherited from previous phases or Raids, so my descriptions of them will be brief. You'll just have to be more cautious of them than you'd normally be, due to the Ember of Combustion debuff and the heightened risks of being knocked into pits if things go awry.

Flame Scythe - like the Crimson Soul, Rosso can swipe his scythe either vertically or horizontally, with a flame aura left in that area for a few seconds. The flames on this attack cause the Ember of Combustion debuff.

Scythe Grind - Rosso is still capable of projecting a phantom scythe and dragging it along the ground. Going below or behind it remains viable, as this attack hasn't changed.

Scythe Combo - Flame - like in phase 2, Rosso will perform two scythe swings (with the same hitboxes), then launch a fiery explosion in front of him. This explosion now inflicts the Ember of Combustion debuff.

Scythe Combo - Dark - like in phase 2, Rosso will perform two scythe swings, then summon Thorns out of the ground in front of him. This time, three Thorns are summoned.

• The three Thorns will still all be the same color.
• The first two swings of the scythe combos are identical, as are the voice clips Rosso uses when performing the move. You can't tell which version of the combo Rosso is using until he completes it.
• Like in phase 2, the summoned Thorns are not affected by delays.

Meteor Rain - Rosso will raise his hand to the sky, and summon meteors that the Crimson Calamity used, all targeting a single person. However, this time there are six meteors, and fall much faster than they did in 12-5.

• Make good use of the upper platforms to force the meteors to hit them, keeping them out of the way.
• Be particularly careful of the flames left behind by the meteors. Not only do they inflict the Ember of Combustion debuff, but with six flames near each other, they can potentially do damage at a startling rate if you don't stay out of them... easier said than done if Rosso ends up launching you into them.
• The meteor explosions (on impacting the ground) are smaller than they were in 12-5, and won't hit below platforms they collide with. There's no risk of the meteor explosions hitting you if you're under a platform in this fight.

Thorn Cages - Rosso will briefly stop in place for a few moments and gain debuff immunity while stopped. Afterwards, he will summon cages, trapping up to two people. These function exactly as they did for the Crimson Eye in 12-6 (grey or red colors indicate vulnerability, person trapped can't move and dies in 20 seconds, etc.). Rosso still has to wait a few seconds after summoning the cages before moving again.

• Use the pause and debuff immunity as a warning - if you see Rosso stop moving, get close to everyone else in the group to make sure the cages are always as close to each other as possible. Try not to be in the air, either - the last thing you want is in a gray cage placed where it's very difficult for your allies to attack your prison.
• If you have the Ember of Combustion debuff, remember that you'll heal Rosso and anything he summons if you attack. The Cages are included in this. You have to evade Rosso's flame attacks if you want to help break the cages.
• Rosso still has to follow the same rules as the Crimson Eye when it comes to the cage count: 2 cages at most, and at least one person must not be in a cage. So if only 2 people are left standing, Rosso can only summon one cage; if only one person is left alive, Rosso can never summon cages.

Thorn Pillar - the camera will zoom out, and Rosso will teleport to the center of the arena, high up in the air. After a couple moments, Rosso will target a player with a Thorn Pillar. As before, this pillar ignores I-frames and will cause instant death for anyone it hits. This pillar, however, will also destroy any platform (except the center platforms) it hits, causing permanent damage to the arena.

• Make sure that, at all costs, this attack is baited to the center of the arena. Having a section of the arena destroyed is arguably worse than dying, since it opens up huge potential for instant deaths due to people being knocked into pits.
• Since Rosso teleports to the horizontal center of the arena, just go under him to get the pillar to only hit the center platforms.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Let me repeat this: ensure that any Thorn Pillar hits only the center, even if it kills you. The sheer amount of potential death a hole in the arena causes is enormous, and you want to avoid this situation no matter what.

Rosso is going to be launching a large number of attacks that have the Ember of Combustion debuff on them. Keep watch to make sure you haven't accidentally run into the side of a Flame Scythe's aura or such before you start swinging at Rosso or his summons.

Rosso is able to summon Thorn Pillars about once a minute. However, at the beginning of the fight, remember that you have to sit through a lengthy cutscene - Rosso's minute wait is decreasing during this cutscene. By the time the fighting actually starts, Rosso won't be far away from using his first Thorn Pillar. Try to avoid using any moves with lengthy animations until he attempts his first Thorn Pillar attack - Rosso using this move while you're stuck in a special active is a very real possibility. In general, try to avoid using moves with long animation times if you expect Rosso to be using a Thorn Pillar in the near future - if you're stuck in an animation, you'll have no way to avoid the Pillar.

Try to stick somewhat close to Rosso. He has a habit of repeatedly using Flame Scythes if there are no people close enough for him to reasonably target with scythe combos. It becomes very difficult to deal damage to Rosso while he's cloaked in flame auras that will debuff you if you touch them.

Team Strategies

Once again, the only goal is to defeat Rosso as quickly as possible while managing his attacks. The group will remain together in the center of the arena for the entire fight (when reasonably possible), for sake of being ready to bait the Thorn Pillars.

Unlike phase 2, groups might tend to have Rosso on the third platform height, rather than the first (ground level). Rosso can get rather trigger-happy with Flame Scythes if he gets isolated on the ground floor. On the third floor, there's enough platforms nearby to let people easily get closer to Rosso, causing him to be more aggressive. The platform above will let people have protection from Meteor Rains, too. Furthermore, this allows people to go to the ground level for evasion if they desperately need to avoid damage or run out the Combustion debuff. Anyone who does this, however, needs to keep an eye on Rosso: if Rosso suddenly stops attacking, he's going to summon cages soon, and that person needs to join the rest of the group immediately to avoid any risk of the cages being distant from each other.

The group sticking together is key to the fight. Everyone wants to be near one another so if cages are summoned, they're easily broken. If Rosso summons a Thorn Pillar, all the potential targets will be near the center, forcing him to summon the pillar there. Summoned Thorns are also rarely a problem, since a group that's capable of making it to phase 3 will probably kill most of the Thorns through collateral damage.

Keep focused on attacking Rosso, manipulating his most dangerous attacks, and sustaining the group's buffs and debuffs for the best chance at victory.