Taranis's Sanctuary

At the start of the battle, Taranis enters a King's Gambit state for 20 seconds, during which his Attack and Burst Resistance increases. Each time Taranis takes damage from a Tag Skill while in the King's Gambit state, his Defense is permanently decreased.

• The fight opens with a 20-second power-up on Taranis: +50% Attack, and his Burst gauge fills 30% slower no matter the element.
• The twist: every Tag Skill that hits him during those 20 seconds permanently lowers his Defense by 1.5% (it stacks up to 100 times). In plain terms — spend the opening throwing Tag Skills, and he stays softer for the whole fight.

Taranis leaps into the air, initiating the Middlegame. When the Middlegame begins, all heroes gain 64 stacks of the Tag Skill Damage Increase buff. Each time a hero takes damage from a javelin, all heroes' Tag Skill Damage Increase buff stacks decrease. Javelins can be avoided by hiding behind pieces placed on the map.

• Taranis vanishes and the arena rains javelins — 30 in the opening volley, 22 more per wave, plus extra volleys for every additional player in the party.
• Everyone starts the phase with 64 stacks of bonus Tag-Skill damage (+1% each). Getting clipped by a javelin (70% of his Attack) costs the whole team 4 stacks; the single big finishing javelin (250% + a launch) costs 16. Don't get hit and the bonus is yours for the rest of the fight.
• Hide behind the chess pieces on the board — but javelin impacts mark nearby pieces for destruction, so your cover shrinks as the phase goes on.

Taranis grows massive and attempts a Checkmate. Each time a piece placed on the map is destroyed, the Tag Skill damage Taranis takes increases. However, the damage of the Checkmate increases greatly for each piece left undestroyed.

• Taranis turns into a giant and disappears from reach while chess statues rise across the board — up to 16 of them.
• Every statue you destroy makes Taranis take +10% Tag-Skill damage (stacking up to 16 times, for two minutes) — break as many as the team can reach.
• Then the checkmate lands: every player is dragged to him, stunned for 10 seconds, and the whole arena explodes — for 150% / 300% / 500% / 750% of his Attack depending on how many statues were left standing. Fewer statues standing = a hit you can survive.
• He cannot be staggered or burst during the whole sequence — the statues are the only target worth your time until it resolves.