Cloudrest | Elder Scrolls Online Wiki

Walkthrough & Strategies

 Cloudrest Trial

Cloudrest Trial quest begins when you enter the dungeon. There are following bosses the team has to battle during the trial:

• Shade of Galenwe, a Welknar knight boss
• Shade of Falarielle, a gryphon boss
• Shade of Relequen, a Welknar knight boss
• Shade of Belanaril, a gryphon boss
• Shade of Siroria, a Welknar knight boss
• Shade of Silaeda, a gryphon boss
• Z'Maja, a Sea Sload
• Shade of Z'Maja, a shadow version of Z'Maja that serves as a mini boss

Cloudrest Recommendations

All Group Members

• CP rank 660 for Veteran and Hard Mode
• 40-45k+ Health for tanks, 16+k for DPS and healers, with appropriate shielding
• Appropriate gear for group buffs (Ebon, Worm) and damage buffs (Aether, Alkosh, Twilight, etc.)
• CP 150+ food
• Potions geared to magicka or stamina based character (weapon damage, spell critical, and/or spell power)
• Soul gems
• One group member with Retreating Maneuver skill slotted
• The Purge skill from Alliance War skill line

Class Ultimates

• Nightblade Ultimates:  Veil of Blades, Shooting Star, Fiery Rage (destruction staff)
• Sorcerer Ultimates:  Shooting Star, Energy Overload, Suppression Field, Fiery Rage (destruction staff)
• Dragonknight Ultimates:  
• Tank:  Aggressive Warhorn, Magma Shell, Barrier
• DPS:  Shooting Star, Standard, Dawnbreaker, Fiery Rage (destruction staff)
• Templar Ultimates:
• Healer:  Aggressive Warhorn, Solar Prison
• DPS:  Shooting Star, Solar Prison

Group Composition

• 1-2 tanks on normal mode
• 2 tanks on vet and hard mode
• 2 healers
• 8 dps:  maximum of 2-3 melee

Cloudrest High Level Walkthrough

The Cloudrest Trial is made up of 3 Mini Boss fights which can be tackled in any order, and a final showdown with the Main Boss Z'Maja. Similar to Asylum Sanctorium, Z'Maja is technically the only one that needs to be defeated in order to complete the Trial. However, leaving any of the mini bosses up will cause them to join the Z'Maja fight, with all 3 present making for the toughest configuration of the final battle. Each Mini Boss fight is with a pair consisting of a Welkynar Knight and their Gryphon Companion. Each pair have varying abilities but overall, the fights will follow a similar pattern. Note that Mini Bosses who join the fight with Z'Maja will only include the Knights. However, the Gryphon mechanics will still be present.

Portal Mechanics

The Trial employs a Portal mechanic which is present in all three mini boss fights, with a slightly different version for the Z'Maja fight. The basic premise is that a Portal will spawn in the middle of the arena which a group of 3 damage dealers will have to travel through to reach a Shadow Realm. In the realm are three crystals which need to be destroyed, revealing a Malevalent Core. Destroying a crystal will cause a golden spear of light to appear in the overworld, where the rest of the group is. These spears need to be activated immediately via synergy, which will send them into the Shadow Realm. Back in the Shadow Realm, the cores will continually bombard the group with Oblivion damage until picked up by a player. Picking up a core will inflict a stacking DoT effect on the player instead, which will kill them if held for too long. The goal is to pick up a core once a spear has been sent into the realm. Repeat this with the other two cores and spears to get ported back out into the overworld. This Portal sequence will repeat periodically and, if playing on Veteran Mode, players who enter the shadow realm will be inflicted with Dark Contamination for two minutes, which causes instant death if they attempt to enter the shadow realm again. This necessitates having 2 groups of 3 damage dealers to tackle the Portal sequence on Veteran. Failing or ignoring the Portal mechanic will cause Yaghra Monstrosities to spawn in the overworld and two or more of these will certainly cause a wipe.

Gryphon Mechanics

During the Mini Boss fights, the Gryphons will be fought alongside the Knights and they all use the same abilities except for their one unique elemental ability. All Gryphons will use the following moves:

• Claw Swipes - The Gryphon's standard attack. Does not deal a lot of damage but inflicts a very powerful bleed effect on the target which stacks with every swipe. The tank should dodge roll out of the swipes if possible, never letting the bleed reach 5 or 6 stacks. If you find yourself getting hit a lot and stacking the bleed while the Gryphon is on the ground, call out a tank swap with the Off Tank to allow the bleeds to fall off. This shouldn't be necessary if you are dodge rolling at least some of the swipes but is a valid safety net for newer tanks.
• Knockdown - The Gryphon rears up and then delivers a short-ranged cone attack in front of it, knocking down any players hit. Needs to be dodge rolled out of.
• Take Flight -  The Gryphon takes to the air and hovers around the arena. Any players in the immediate vicinity should block during the take off animation or they will get knocked down. The Gryphon also deals damage in a smaller radius and knocks players down when they land.
• Swoop - The Gryphon swoops across the arena to the opposite side, leaving 2 rows of AoE effects on the ground that slowly travel out to the sides. These look like small gusts of dark wind and stun on contact and apply a damage over time effect.
• Whirlwind - The Gryphon sends out a tall column of swirling winds that travels across the arena and then stays in place for a while before dissipating. This whirlwind deals heavy damage and stuns on contact, leaving the same damage over time effect as the Swoop AoEs.

Adds Kill Priority

Throughout the trial, there will be several types of Adds present or spawned over time. There will be one full set of Adds in the Mini Boss arenas that need to be taken out before engaging the bosses and they can also spawn as a consequence or mechanic. There are several Add types that will pose a major threat to groups if left alive and it is recommended to take them out in this order before focusing any bosses:

1. Nocturnal Creepers - Tentacle-like creatures that don't move but target the furthest player from them and roots them in place, dealing significant damage over time. The player needs to dodge roll repeatedly to break free from the root, but will be silenced upon breaking free. The silence's duration is the same amount of time the player was rooted. These creepers will spawn during the Mini Boss battles if either the Knight or the Gryphon is killed while the other is still alive. To avoid this, it is recommended to damage both bosses evenly and kill them simultaneously or within a short time from each other.
2. Yaghra Monstrosity - Large spider-like creatures that use a nasty ability that reduces a player's health to around 40% or 20% on Veteran mode and applies a healing debuff that reduces the player's healing received and can only be removed by healing the player to full or killing the Monstrosity. Failing the Portal mechanic will cause several Monstrosities to spawn from the portal which can lead to a wipe if not handled well. A single Monstrosity will also spawn from the Portals after completing them on Veteran mode.
3. Other Yaghra Adds - This includes the Larva, Striders and Spewers which are inconsequential for the most part as they don't deal too much damage or employ any annoying mechanics but should still be killed before switching back to a boss. The tanks should taunt these and stack them on bosses for AoE cleaves.

During the final fight with Z'Maja, she will be summoning Dark Orbs that float around the room which should take 1st priority on the kill order, above all other adds. See the fight mechanics below for details.

Mini Boss 1 Shade of Galenwe & Shade of Falarielle

This pair of Mini Bosses can be found in their arena to the left from the main Cloudrest entrance. They both use Ice elemental abilities throughout the encounter. The following are their notable mechanics:

Galenwe (Knight)

• Leap - Galenwe targets the player furthest from him and leaps at them, delivering a frost attack in a small radius that hits very hard. Simply move out of the impact zone before he lands.
• Frost Spikes - Galenwe plunges his sword into the ground and channels frozen spikes that jut out from underneath random players. This attack can and should be interrupted.
• Frost Ring - Galenwe summons a ring of ice around him that deals stacking damage. It has a small-medium radius with the inner circle being a safezone.
• Comet Drop - Galenwe begins channeling a spell that targets three players at random. These players will get a large circle around them which will fill up, after which a comet is dropped on them dealing massive damage and knocking down afflicted players if unblocked. The targeted players should get out of the group immediately and ensure none of their circles overlap as overlapping meteors will one-shot anyone. This move is performed during Veteran mode runs only.

Falarielle (Gryphon)

• Hoarfrost (Unique) - This is the most important mechanic for this pair of Mini Bosses. While on the ground, Falarielle will periodically rear up and glow white, casting the Hoarfrost spell on a random player. Hoarfrost will deal stacking damage on the player and those around them, as well as inflicting a movement debuff on the player that eventually prevents them from moving. After about 6 seconds, the Hoarfrost will intensify and deal massive amounts of damage which the player will not survive. To counter this mechanic, a Shed Hoarfrost synergy will become available after holding the Hoarfrost for a while. Activate the synergy as soon as it's available to drop the Hoarfrost. The Hoarfrost must be picked up by another player or it will deal increasingly stronger damage to the party. Repeat the same process until the Hoarfrost has been held a total of three times to make it vanish.

Fighting a Knight and Gryphon will generally follow a similar flow: If the Gryphon is on the ground, focus it down. If it is in flight, switch focus to the Knight. Complete Portal Mechanics as they come up. The Knight and Gryphon should also be split up as they empower each other if they are within range. It shouldn't be a big issue in Normal mode, but Veteran mode runs will require an Off Tank to have both bosses in opposite areas. The Gryphon should also be faced away from the group at all times. Watch out for the Gryphon rearing up as it will cast its unique ability. In this case, the Hoarfrost. The affected player should move out of the group before they are immobilized, as the AoE can hamper the rest of the group. The affected player should also call out to the group when they're dropping the Hoarfrost so the next player can run and pick it up immediately. 

Mini Boss 2 Shade of Siroria & Shade of Silaeda

Siroria and Silaeda can be found in their arena to the right from the main Cloudrest entrance. These bosses use Fire-elemental attacks and mechanics. Here are their notable abilities:

Siroria

• Flame Breath - Conal ability that hits in front of the boss. Places a debuff on affected players that causes them to take increased damage from other fire-based attacks.
• Battle Standard - Siroria plants a flag that emits a dangerzone around it in a medium radius, boosting Siroria's damage while standing within the zone and dealing heavy damage to players caught within.
• Root - Sirorira roots any players caught within a medium radius AoE. Can be purged.
• Fire Storm - Siroria flies up and then lands where the furthest player from her is standing. She deals significant damage in an area upon landing and sends out four fiery tornadoes that fan out from the impact zone and roam the arena for a while. The tornadoes deal massive damage on contact but are easily avoided. This move is performed during Veteran mode runs only.

Silaeda

• Roaring Flare (Unique) - Silaeda rears up and glows orange for a second and then places a fiery bomb on a random player, telegraphed by an orange AoE circle of medium radius. Other players will need to stack on affected player to soak and share the damage. This bomb requires 2 players to soak on Normal difficulty and 3 on Veteran, other wise it's an instant kill. The damage cannot be further reduced past these thresholds so adding more players to the stack would only cause more players to be damaged and require healing, but it is definitely easier on coordination.

Aside from the unique abilities, this fight will play out similarly to the first. Tank both bosses away from each other. Damage dealers focus on the Gryphon when it's on the ground and switch to the Knight when the Gryphon flies. Complete Portal mechanics in between.

Boss 3: Shade of Relequen & Shade of Belanaril

This final set of Mini Bosses can be found in their arena past Siroria & Silaeda's arena. These bosses use Lightning-elemental attacks and mechanics. Here are their notable abilities:

Relequen

• Wind Blast - Relequen aims a large, conal attack that covers almost the entire length of the arena, knocking back any players hit. This attack should be blocked or dodge rolled out of.
• Leap - Relequen will leap to the furthest player from him, leaving an AoE effect where he lands.
• Lightning Beams - Relequen channels several beams of lightning that target random players. If the channel is completed, the players are stunned and dealt heavy damage from the AoE effects. This move can and should be interrupted by the tank.
• Lightning Orbs - Relequen spins his staff and smashes it on his target, creating a small explosion that sends several lightning orbs that fan out in all directions, dealing moderate damage and stunning on contact.

Belanaril

• Voltaic Overload - Belanaril rears up and glows briefly. After this, 2 random players are chosen to have their weapons overcharged, telegraphed by sparks around the players. These players will have a few seconds to either swap out to an alternate weapon by switching ability bars or remaining on their current weapon. Either way, after about 3 seconds, the selected weapon will be overcharged and the players will start glowing a bright blue, emitting a massive AoE field around them, prompting them to swap weapons. Failing to swap out, or swapping back to the overcharged weapon while the ability is active will cause the player to burst with lightning, dealing severe damage to themselves and players around them. The effect lasts for 10 seconds, after which it will be safe to swap back to the overcharged weapon. This ability can target up to 3 players on Veteran mode.

 The same general strategies apply for these bosses. However, it is recommended that players setup their ability bars prior to engaging the boss to ensure they have a "sacrificial" weapon and ability set that they don't mind not having access to for 10 seconds at a time. Players should also be wary of the stun-heavy nature of the encounter as a single stun can be disastrous, with all the mechanics happening.

Final Boss: Z'Maja

The final Boss can be accessed through the center arena from the main Cloudrest entrance. Z'Maja's notable mechanics are as follows:

• Mind Blast - Z'Maja's standard attack which hits in a frontal cleave, damaging all players in range.
• Nocturnal's Favor - Z'Maja channels an orb of darkness and directs it at her target. Can be blocked, but not dodged and is fatal to non-tanks.
• Teleport - Z'Maja waves her hand and summons a pool beneath her feet that transports her to a random location in the arena.
• Player Teleport - Z'Maja channels a spell which teleports 3 random players high up in the air and drops them, causing severe or fatal damage. This attack can and should be interrupted.
• Crushing Darkness - Z'Maja channels two beams of darkness from her head that target her current tank and the player furthest from her. The beams cause a medium-radius AoE where they connect to the ground and the targeted players will need to kite the moving beams around, taking care not to lead them into other players. The beam AoE deals heavy damage on contact but can be dodge rolled through to negate damage.
• Leeching Shadow - All of Z'Maja's attacks have a chance to inflict this debuff which causes a damage over time effect that can only be removed by healing the affected target to full.
• Dark Orbs - Z'Maja periodically summons 3 purple orbs that roam around the room.
  • When active, the Orbs should be Kill Priority #1 as they will rapidly charge players if left alive for too long.
  • Destroying an Orb will cause it to shoot three projectiles that target players randomly, dealing significant damage and applying a hefty damage over time effect. The projectiles can and should be dodged.
  • If the Orbs come into contact with a player or another orb, they will burst into several smaller orbs called Sinister Beads that fan out towards the outer edge of the arena. These Sinister Beads deal severe damage and stuns players that they collide with and cannot be dodged or blocked but can be avoided with positioning.
• Nocturnal Creeper - These tentacles will start spawning once Z'Maja is down to 40% health. These need to be focused down as their silencing root can prove devastating.
• Portal Mechanics - During the fight with Z'Maja, the Portal mechanics will still take place but will have some modifications:
  • Crystals - There are now more crystals to break but only 3 will contain Malevolent Cores for synergizing with the Spears while the rest are empty.
  • Shade of Z'Maja - The Shadow Realm will also contain a shadowy copy of Z'Maja which will perform most of her mechanics and needs to be tanked, therefore a tank will need to go into the portal with the portal groups. The tank will also need to go in before any other players to taunt Z'Maja's Shade or they risk damage dealers getting one-shot.
  • Room-wide AoE - After a set amount of time in the Shadow Realm, Z'Maja's shade will begin channeling a room-wide AoE, growing outwards from the center of the room. Once channeling is complete, this will deal a very hefty amount of damage or one-shot all players on Veteran. To avoid this, look out for synergy pads that will appear in the four corners of the room. They look like golden geysers or whirlwinds and are called Winds of the Welkynar. Activating these synergies will throw players up onto an upper platform in the room where they will be safe from the AoE. Once the AoE explosion goes off, all players should quickly jump back down as Z'Maja's shade will quickly follow-up with a room-wide AoE on the upper platforms, with a much shorter channeling time.
  • Portal Cone - The Portal itself will periodically send out a narrow conal telegraph that extends all the way to the wall. After a brief moment, the portal blasts a shadowy attack in the cone's trajectory and any players hit will be sucked into the Portal. This happens on both sides in the overworld and the Shadow Realm. Any player hit will be transported thru the Portal into the opposite realm and afflicted with the Howling Torment debuff, which is the same debuff that prevents players from entering the Portal for 2 minutes. If a player is already afflicted with Howling Torment and is hit by the Portal attack, they will instantly die.
  • Failing the Portal mechanic will cause Z'Maja to lift all players up in the air, stunning them and then causing a room-wide detonation that instantly wipes the group.
• Execute Phase - When Z'Maja is about to die, she will scurry back to the center of the arena and begin channeling a portal. Her Shade will emerge from the portal and begin the true execute phase. The Shade will have all of her attacks and a new ability called Baneful Mark which targets her current tank as well as the five closest players to her, taking their health down to 40% or 20% on Veteran and applying a healing debuff, damage over time effect and doubling the cost of Ultimate abilities. The debuff can only be removed by healing to full. The shade will also continuously summon Tentacles and Dark Orbs that the damage dealers must switch to before focusing on the boss.
• Shadows of the Fallen - On Veteran mode, players who die will summon a shade of themselves that teleports around the room and attacks players at random. These shades need to be killed before the player can be resurrected. A player's corpse will be covered in an aura of darkness, signifying their shade is still alive. Any player attempting to resurrect a player whose shade is still active will be killed instantly.

Despite the many mechanics present, the fight with Z'Maja is quite simple and the most important mechanic to pay attention to is the Dark Orb. Damage dealers need to be on point with destroying these as the 3 Orbs will converge on a random player if left alive for too long, possibly causing a chain of deaths. Healers will also have to be extra careful due to the healing debuffs many of the boss' attacks inflict.

The Portal Mechanic will still take center stage and will be fundamentally similar to previous Portal mechanics, with the addition of the Shade of Z'Maja. It is very important that the tank goes into the portal first and that they call out to their group once they've taunted the shade. Inside, the damage dealers should make quick work of the crystals while players in the overworld synergize the spears spawned. Shadow Realm players should watch out for the room-wide mechanic and avoid picking up any Malevolent Cores until the mechanic is over. Remember that once the Portal mechanic is completed, the group that went in cannot enter another Portal for some time so the Tanks should take turns and a second group of damage dealers should follow. Completing a Portal mechanic will also spawn a Yaghra Monstrosity, as per the previous Portal mechanics. The Monstrosity should be pulled by the tank and taken down immediately, unless there are Dark Orbs in the arena.

Once Z'Maja hits 40%, she will begin summoning creeper tentacles periodically which need to be focused down. Again, Dark Orbs still take priority if they are in play. Z'Maja will also frequently perform her Crushing Darkness beam attack and it is recommended one of the healers or ranged damage dealers stay a certain distance away from the main group in order to bait one of the beams and kite them out of the way. Aside from this, the fight and mechanics will repeat themselves until the execute phase where things can become extra hectic but can be overcome with good healing.

Z'Maja + Mini Bosses

Should you choose to engage Z'Maja with any combination of the Mini Bosses alive, the encounter will remain relatively identical aside from the extra mechanics presented by each Mini Boss. The Mini Bosses will spawn differently depending on how many of them are kept alive and joining the fight:

• +1 Mini Boss - Spawns at 50% HP
• +2 Mini Bosses -  First spawns at 66%, second spawns at 33%
• +3 Mini Bosses - Siroria (Fire) spawns at 75%, Relequen (Lightning) at 50% and Galenwe (Ice) at 25%

Note that the Gryphons will be perched at the edge of the arena and will not land nor do they need to be killed but their unique mechanics will still play out. It is also recommend that you run with three tanks instead of two. The reason being that the Portal Mechanics require a tank and the Main Boss and Mini Boss will also need to be tanked. On top of that, completing a portal mechanic will spawn a Yaghra Monstrosity which will also require tanking lest it devastates the group. For the +2 and +3 versions of the encounter, the Mini Bosses need to be killed before the next one spawns, otherwise they will heal to full and enrage. Finally, during Z'Maja's execute phase, the Gryphons' unique abilities will double their targets. Hoarfrost and Roaring Flare will target 2 players while Voltaic Strike will target 4.

 

Information

• Location: Summerset

Achievements

• Cloudrest Completed
• Cloudrest Conqueror
• Time Trial: Cloudrest
• Cloudrest Hard Mode
• and more here

Bosses

• Shade of Galenwe
• Shade of Relequen
• Shade of Silaeda
• Z'Maja

Quests

• Checking on Cloudrest
• Woe of the Welkynars

Set Drops

• Mantle of Siroria
• Vestment of Olorime
• Arms of Relequen
• Aegis of Galanwe

 

Crafting Motifs

• Welkynar Style
  • Chapters can be crafted by collecting 10 Welkynar Style Motif Fragment by Killing Z'Maja
  • Guaranteed Fragment drop on Veteran mode
  • Possible drop on Normal mode if her Welkynar Shades are present upon her death

Cloudrest Maps