Their are two phases in this stage.
In phase 1, you will enter an area wherein a cannon is located in the middle while the boss is invulnerable to any of your attacks. The only way to damage the boss in this stage is to use the cannon. Be sure to successfully hit the boss three times to proceed to phase 2 or else, the boss will explode and kill you.
How to successfully damage the Punisher with the cannon?
The members with the highest DPS should do the task of destroying the 4 energy orbs which will spawn right in the corners of the stage. Be sure to destroy the balls within 10 seconds or it will explode causing a no heal debuff to the party. The cannon will fire a laser beam in a frontal lane when you've successfully destroyed the energy orbs. The trick here to make the cannon hit the boss is to lure the Punisher right in front of the cannon. The members with high aggro rate will be the one responsible doing this task and, the party muat repeat this process three times to proceed to the next phase.
Basic Boss Skills
Here's the skills that the Punisher will use during Phase 1.
Frontal Swing- This skill does tremendous damage to you so stay away from it as much as possible. The Punisher will tilt back slightly then swing forwards with his axe twice. The frontal AoE does the most damage. See 2:10 in the video below for reference.
3x Stomp- The Punisher will jump through a "roll attack animation", randomly towards party member. Each jump cause devastating damage so its best to avoid it by using iframe skills, tumble or by staying underneath the boss. See 0:19 or 1:00 in the video for reference.
Stomp- Has the exact animation as the Punisher on the Archbishop Nest. And also, this can't be avoided with any dodge skills even if it has iframe. Best way is to time your jump to avoid it. Note: The boss will cast this after using the Black Tornado for the second time. See 1:20 for reference.
Black Tornado- Once you don't hit the Punisher with the cannon, it will then cast this devastating skill. It has a very wide AoE and got a very good suction and damage So it's best that you stay away from it by running far far away from the boss and keep running until the skill ends. See 0:34 for reference.
Drag and Whack- The Punisher will pull you towards him and once you got pulled, the boss will relentlessly pound you with his axe. The attack will remove all your buffs and once you received the full damage of the skill, that's your end. Best way to avoid it is to dodge by tumble skill. See 0:10 for reference.
Once you successfully hit the boss 3 times, proceed to the door to enter phase 2 of the stage (1:47).
Phase 2 of the Punisher Stage
In this phase, the Punisher will go all out and will be in head hunting mode. Also, there will be a new stage mechanic that you should be aware of. Here are the skills of the Punisher in phase 2.
Basic Boss Skills
Frontal Swing, Stomp and Drag and Whack are still being used by Punisher in this phase. However, there are new basic skills added on this phase.
Deadly Blow- This does tremendous damage to a target that even a player with over a million HP will die as soon as the skill hits you. In this skill, the boss will raise his axe and then slam it to the ground in front of him. Best to avoid this at all cost (see 2:10 in the video below for reference).
4x Stomp- The animation of this skill is just like the 3x Stomp at phase 1. The only difference is the boss does it 4 times now (see 2:53 for reference).
Purple Lines- The boss will disappear and reappear in the middle. 3 purple lines will extend out from the boss and players will be pushed away from the boss while trying to avoid the purple lines. The purple lines will be cast 3 times. (2:27 for reference).
Party Debuff- The boss will shake its head and there will be some sort of black aura around his mouth and he will knock all the party members to the ground. This skill will destroy all superarmour and cause a map wide party debuff. It does no damage and can’t be avoided. It also kills all summons (2:16 for reference).
Stage Mechanic- At the end of each boss’s hp bar, he will bind all party members with a 9 second debuff which you must adad as fast as you can to get out. A portal will be opened in the middle of the map which allows party members to travel back to the phase 1 battlefield. The portal will disappear within 8 seconds after the boss binds everyone in the party.
Players must divide the dps evenly beforehand for this mechanic. Half of the dps will go through the portal to the phase 1 battlefield. These party members may stay anywhere at the end of the boss’s hp bar, as long as they make it through the portal. However, the party members that are not going through the portal must avoid being at the centre of the map at the end of the hp bar, or you will be automatically teleported to the phase 1 battlefield.
Once players have split up, 2 clones of the punisher boss will spawn. The clones have exactly the same basic attacks as the real boss and will usually stomp after spawning. Party members in the phase 1 and 2 area must then kill both punishers within 5 seconds of each other. However, you must not dps the boss too fast because once one punisher dies, the other will become significantly harder to kill. Failing to kill both punishers within 5 seconds or a certain period of time will cause a party wipe.
After the players in the phase 1 area have killed the punisher, make your way back to phase 2 by going through the portal. (3:20 for reference).
New skill at 2x hp
Black Tornado: The boss will raise his hands and you will see red and black aura around him. Run away asap as soon as you see this. The aoe of this skill is really deceiving and you will get caught if you are not far away. (4:20 for reference)
Power Up: The boss will drink a potion and go into berserk mode. His attacks will do significantly more damage now and the Deadly Blow attack will 1 hit even the most tankiest players without damage reduction buffs. Can be removed by enervating howl. (5:00 for reference)
New skill at 1x hp
Tracing Explosion: This skill is very similar and almost identical to the Party Debuff skill. The way you differentiate this skill from the Party Debuff is whether or not you took damage after being knocked down, or by looking at the boss. The boss will raise his weapon and slam the ground. If you do not jump you will receive damage and be knocked down. After being knocked down, the boss will summon black auras that follows party members. You can’t avoid the black aura and once you are hit with it, a purple circle will spawn below you causing high damage.
To avoid this skill, all the party members must gather right next to the boss after being knocked down. Then back off immediately after the black aura hits you and the purple circles spawn. Avoid dpsing the boss during this time until the purple circles are gone to be safe. (6:18 for reference)
You can iframe the knockback by dodging right as he stabs his sword into the ground ( exactly what i did with my LF in the video). Another approach is to have the team mates stand away and have someone who can summon something ( such as a mystic summoning her mirror, or a priest summoning his relic or a Gear master shooting her duck) and placing that summoned object directly infront of him ( like right on the same spot his sword was stabbed into). The tracing purple spots will get obstructed by that summon and be unable to reach the team mates.
Stomp- Has the exact animation as the Punisher on the Archbishop Nest. And also, this can't be avoided with any dodge skills even if it has iframe. Best way is to time your jump to avoid it. Note: The boss will cast this after using the Black Tornado for the second time. See 1:20 for reference.
Black Tornado- Once you don't hit the Punisher with the cannon, it will then cast this devastating skill. It has a very wide AoE and got a very good suction and damage So it's best that you stay away from it by running far far away from the boss and keep running until the skill ends. See 0:34 for reference.
Drag and Whack- The Punisher will pull you towards him and once you got pulled, the boss will relentlessly pound you with his axe. The attack will remove all your buffs and once you received the full damage of the skill, that's your end. Best way to avoid it is to dodge by tumble skill. See 0:10 for reference.
Once you successfully hit the boss 3 times, proceed to the door to enter phase 2 of the stage (1:47).
Phase 2 of the Punisher Stage
In this phase, the Punisher will go all out and will be in head hunting mode. Also, there will be a new stage mechanic that you should be aware of. Here are the skills of the Punisher in phase 2.
Basic Boss Skills
Frontal Swing, Stomp and Drag and Whack are still being used by Punisher in this phase. However, there are new basic skills added on this phase.
Deadly Blow- This does tremendous damage to a target that even a player with over a million HP will die as soon as the skill hits you. In this skill, the boss will raise his axe and then slam it to the ground in front of him. Best to avoid this at all cost (see 2:10 in the video below for reference).
4x Stomp- The animation of this skill is just like the 3x Stomp at phase 1. The only difference is the boss does it 4 times now (see 2:53 for reference).
Purple Lines- The boss will disappear and reappear in the middle. 3 purple lines will extend out from the boss and players will be pushed away from the boss while trying to avoid the purple lines. The purple lines will be cast 3 times. (2:27 for reference).
Party Debuff- The boss will shake its head and there will be some sort of black aura around his mouth and he will knock all the party members to the ground. This skill will destroy all superarmour and cause a map wide party debuff. It does no damage and can’t be avoided. It also kills all summons (2:16 for reference).
Stage Mechanic- At the end of each boss’s hp bar, he will bind all party members with a 9 second debuff which you must adad as fast as you can to get out. A portal will be opened in the middle of the map which allows party members to travel back to the phase 1 battlefield. The portal will disappear within 8 seconds after the boss binds everyone in the party.
Players must divide the dps evenly beforehand for this mechanic. Half of the dps will go through the portal to the phase 1 battlefield. These party members may stay anywhere at the end of the boss’s hp bar, as long as they make it through the portal. However, the party members that are not going through the portal must avoid being at the centre of the map at the end of the hp bar, or you will be automatically teleported to the phase 1 battlefield.
Once players have split up, 2 clones of the punisher boss will spawn. The clones have exactly the same basic attacks as the real boss and will usually stomp after spawning. Party members in the phase 1 and 2 area must then kill both punishers within 5 seconds of each other. However, you must not dps the boss too fast because once one punisher dies, the other will become significantly harder to kill. Failing to kill both punishers within 5 seconds or a certain period of time will cause a party wipe.
After the players in the phase 1 area have killed the punisher, make your way back to phase 2 by going through the portal. (3:20 for reference).
New skill at 2x hp
Black Tornado: The boss will raise his hands and you will see red and black aura around him. Run away asap as soon as you see this. The aoe of this skill is really deceiving and you will get caught if you are not far away. (4:20 for reference)
Power Up: The boss will drink a potion and go into berserk mode. His attacks will do significantly more damage now and the Deadly Blow attack will 1 hit even the most tankiest players without damage reduction buffs. Can be removed by enervating howl. (5:00 for reference)
New skill at 1x hp
Tracing Explosion: This skill is very similar and almost identical to the Party Debuff skill. The way you differentiate this skill from the Party Debuff is whether or not you took damage after being knocked down, or by looking at the boss. The boss will raise his weapon and slam the ground. If you do not jump you will receive damage and be knocked down. After being knocked down, the boss will summon black auras that follows party members. You can’t avoid the black aura and once you are hit with it, a purple circle will spawn below you causing high damage.
To avoid this skill, all the party members must gather right next to the boss after being knocked down. Then back off immediately after the black aura hits you and the purple circles spawn. Avoid dpsing the boss during this time until the purple circles are gone to be safe. (6:18 for reference)
You can iframe the knockback by dodging right as he stabs his sword into the ground ( exactly what i did with my LF in the video). Another approach is to have the team mates stand away and have someone who can summon something ( such as a mystic summoning her mirror, or a priest summoning his relic or a Gear master shooting her duck) and placing that summoned object directly infront of him ( like right on the same spot his sword was stabbed into). The tracing purple spots will get obstructed by that summon and be unable to reach the team mates.
Guide for Stage 5- How to defeat the Ice Golem will be up shortly.