The Emperor was said to be a cruel man, ruling Garlemald with an iron fist. But he was no less cruel when still known as High Legatus Varis yae Galvus, commander of armies. Few are the men who would dare recall the dark days of his military career, and yet reliving such memories was the key to Bozja's liberation. As you recount your harrowing journey into the past to the wandering dramaturge, a wan smile plays across his face─inspiration strikes. He quickly sets quill to paper and prepares to immortalize your deeds in words─an otherworldly tale of adventure that would leave even the boldest men aquiver with fear, and the Warrior of Light perhaps aghast at the embellishments to this climactic encounter.
— In-game description
Memoria Misera (Extreme) is a level 80 trial introduced in patch 5.25 with Shadowbringers. There is no story-mode version of this duty. The encounter during The Bozja Incident is a solo instance.
Your battle against Varis yae Galvus takes place within a 50x50 yalm square-shaped arena. When the fight begins, a 5 yalm perimeter becomes covered in a deadly glowing energy, shrinking the arena to 40x40.
Should any player touch the glowing outer edge for any reason, they become trapped inside a Confines Of Memory prison—which will deal heavy damage to the trapped player until they are killed or another player frees them.
Varis, like his son, will not run after his target should they move out of range—instead slowly walking towards them. For this reason, Varis is mostly immobile throughout the fight, and only repositions prior to attacks.
Phase 1
Phase 1 Abilities
Name
Description
Altius
Unavoidable party-wide damage that creates a Terminus Est cross on every player, each aimed in the direction the player was facing at the end of the Altius cast.
Terminus Est
A glowing X that, after a lengthy delay, fires forwards in a static line AoE. Deals high damage and inflicts Vulnerability Up.
Alea Iacta Est
Varis turns towards a random player, then swings his sword four times in front of him in a 210-degree static cone AoE before turning around and preparing a fifth swing in the opposite direction.
A Stack marker is placed on both healers. Varis creates a clone, hitting both markers simultaneously and inflicting Physical Vulnerability Up for 1 second.
Ignis Est
Varis creates a red, flaming Terminus Est towards a random player. After a lengthy delay, a 10y radius static circle AoE detonates under Varis and the Terminus Est fires in a static line AoE.
Ventus Est
Varis creates a green Terminus Est towards a random player. After a lengthy delay, a static donut AoE with a 10y radius safe zone detonates under Varis and the Terminus Est fires in a static line AoE.
Electrified Gunshield
Varis begins charging their shield gauge. Once the gauge is filled, Varis emits a radial knockback that pushes all players 10y away. Knockback can be resisted.
Reinforced Gunshield
Varis begins charging their shield gauge. Once the gauge is filled, Varis becomes buffed with Directional Parry for 5 seconds—creating a shield from either his front and back or left and right sides.
Hitting Varis's shielded sides results in a counter-attack of minor damage, 5y knockback, Damage Down for 30 seconds, and Flesh Wound for 15 seconds.
Varis will not move or rotate while Directional Parry is active.
Loaded Gunshield
Varis begins charging their shield gauge. Once the gauge is filled, Varis fires into the air—hitting all players with 8y radius fire-damage spread circles that inflict Fire Resistance Down II for 1 second.
The first phase serves as an introduction to almost all of Varis's attacks he will use for the entirety of the encounter. A majority of the fight will involve abilities being cast early and queued up to resolve later in combination to other attacks.
Of note, Varis's three Gunshield attacks all begin charging a gauge at various speeds, casting their effect once the gauge reaches 100.
The party should stack together and agree on a single direction to face prior to the end of the cast of Altius to ensure all Terminus Est crosses are aimed in the exact same direction.
When Varis begins casting Alea Iacta Est, players should run to Varis's back. Once the fourth swing happens, he will pause for a few second, giving players to run to his opposite side to dodge the reverse-swing.
When preceded by Altius, the Terminus Est crosses will not resolve until shortly after the reverse-swing, giving players a safe amount of time to cross behind Varis.
Electrified Gunshield is often combined with large AoEs that force players to run away prior. Players will need to dodge whatever AoE precedes before sprinting towards Varis or using a knockback resist ability.
Reinforced Gunshield will counter-attack players that attack Varis's two shielded sides. Players should sheathe their weapons prior to the charge completing and wait until the Directional Parry is active.
In later phases, will be combined with Ventus Est, causing players to be pushed out of the donut AoE if knocked away by the shields.
Loaded Gunshield can be combined with either Ignis or Ventus Est, but requires players to spread out quickly. Being hit by two circles is guaranteed death.
At the end of the Phase 1 rotation, Varis will cast Vivere Militare Est, beginning a cutscene and an interlude phase.
Phase 1 Rotation
Attack
Strategy
Altius
Players should stack together and face in the same direction prior to the end of the cast to consolidate the Terminus Est crosses into a single line.
Alea Iacta Est
Run behind Varis, then cross through Varis again after the fourth swing. Terminus Est will fire shortly after the fifth swing.
Citius
Tanks must stack together and mitigate.
Ignis Est
Move out of the circle in the center of the arena. Avoid where the Terminus Est is facing.
Festina Lente
Split the stacks into two light parties.
Electrified Gunshield (Charging)
--
Altius
Handle as before.
Ignis Est + Electrified Gunshield
Stand just outside the circle, avoiding all the Terminus Est, then immediately run towards Varis after the detonation—or use a knockback resist.
Reinforced Gunshield (Charging)
--
Citius
Tanks must stack together and mitigate. Players should sheathe their weapons at the end of this cast.
Reinforced Gunshield
Sheathe weapons until Directional Parry activates and players are not facing a shielded side.
Loaded Gunshield (Charging)
--
Ventus Est + Loaded Gunshield
Spread out in the center circle.
Vivere Militare Est
Phase 1 Interlude - Vivere Militare Est
Varis jumps away from the arena and creates a massive Terminus Est cross, launching it at the party. Two Blade's Pulse objects will appear that must be interacted with by both tanks, placing them into a ClashingActive Time Maneuver.
Both tanks and the entire party will take continuous heavy damage throughout this clash, forcing healers to drain their MP and resources to keep the party alive.
Meanwhile, DPS players must attack and destroy the Bladesblood Terminus Est clashing with the tanks before the party-wide damage becomes too much to handle.
If either tank dies, fails their Active Time Maneuver, or 60 seconds passes without the Bladesblood being destroyed, the party will fail and be killed instantly.
On success, Phase 2 will begin.
Phase 2
Phase 2 Abilities
Name
Description
Reinforcements
Five Magitek Turrets are created. Three are destructible enemies that aim small static line AoEs repeatedly at players. Two attach transferable tethers to two random players and fire tankbusters after 6 seconds.
If the three destructible turrets are not destroyed within 35 seconds, they will self destruct, dealing extreme party-wide damage and inflicting Vulnerability Up to all players.
Terminus Est Clone
Four Varis clones that appear on the north side of the arena and create a wall of wide Terminus Est crosses, leaving only a single safe lane.
Varis returns to the platform. Unlike the other phases, Phase 2 is instead comprised of three individual rotation chunks cast in a random order. Once all three rotations have been completed, another interlude will begin.
Electrified Gunshield:
Varis summons Reinforcements, creating two tether turrets and three destructible Magitek Turrets.
Both tanks must take a transferable tether and mitigate the damage while the DPS focus on destroying the other three turrets before they can explode.
Players must not tunnel-vision though, as four Terminus Est Clones appear in the north, creating a single safe lane that fires about 10 seconds later.
Immediately after the Terminus Est Clones fire, players must dash towards Varis to avoid the Electrified Gunshield knockback (or use a knockback resist ability).
Varis ends the attack series with Alea Iacta Est, which can be dodged easily without any other distractions on the field.
Electrified Gunshield Rotation
Attack
Strategy
Reinforcements
Tanks must take both tethers and mitigate while DPS destroy the other three turrets.
Terminus Est Clones
Run to the safe lane. Be prepared to dash towards Varis immediately after.
Electrified Gunshield
Sprint towards Varis or use a knockback resist.
Alea Iacta Est
Move behind Varis, then cross through him again after the fourth swing. If any turrets remain active after this attack, they will explode and potentially kill the party.
Reinforced Gunshield:
Begins with a simple cast of Altius. The Terminus Est crosses will resolve while Varis casts Ventus Est immediately after.
Players will want to sheathe their weapons after Ventus Est, as Reinforced Gunshield will activate shortly after. Players will need to move to an unshielded side of Varis while avoiding the Ventus Est cross.
The attack series ends with a basic cast of Citius.
Reinforced Gunshield Rotation
Attack
Strategy
Altius
Stack and face in the same direction.
Ventus Est + Reinforced Gunshield
Sheathe weapons after Ventus Est is created. Move to an unshielded side of Varis away from the Ventus Est cross.
Citius
Tanks must stack together and mitigate.
Loaded Gunshield:
This rotation begins with a cast of Ignis Est that resolves at the same time Loaded Gunshield is cast. Players should spread out around the circle in the center of the arena.
During this, four Terminus Est Clones appear on the north side of the arena.
Both healers are then targeted by Festina Lente, forcing the party to split into two groups inside the one empty safe lane from the Terminus Est clones.
Varis then ends the attack with a cast of Citius.
Loaded Gunshield Rotation
Attack
Strategy
Ignis Est + Loaded Gunshield
Spread out around the arena's circle, avoiding the Terminus Est line.
Terminus Est Clone
Move towards the safe lane.
Festina Lente
Split into two 4-player stacks inside the safe lane.
Citius
Tanks must stack together and mitigate.
Phase 2 Interlude - Gunshield
Varis will leap to the north side of the arena and protect himself with a destructible Gunshield. This must be destroyed before Varis can complete their lengthy 50 second cast of Altius and kill the party.
During this interlude, the Gunshield will cast only two abilities in a random order:
Magitek Torch - An unmarked line stack fired at a random player. The entire party will need to stack together in order to survive the damage.
Magitek Spark - Hits all players with thin, 10-degree spread cones—dealing high damage and inflicting Magic Vulnerability Up for 2 seconds. The entire party will need to spread out in a semi-circle as quickly as possible so that their cone does not overlap with other players, killing them.
Once the shield is broken, the final phase will begin.
Phase 3
Varis returns to the arena one final time, adding one last new ability.
The positions of the spread cones are then remembered, before being rotated and fired three more times in total.
Varis rotates ~22.5 degrees in the indicated direction with each attack, matching the size of the cones.
Varis introduces one final new attack to his repertoire—Fortius. While there are many valid ways to position for this attack, the most common strategy is to spread out to the edges of the arena in clock spot positions during the cast.
Once the puddles are dropped at the edges of the arena, players should move back closer to Varis, holding the same clock spot positions until the first rotation.
Assuming players were equally spaced around Varis, the first rotation should miss all players without them needing to move. Players can then dodge the following two attacks by rotating into where the cone AoEs were after each cast.
The rest of the phase will combine all the previous abilities together, with Varis using them faster and in trickier ways. Players will have to stay on their toes and defeat Varis before he enrages after ~12 minutes.
Phase 3 Rotation
Attack
Strategy
Loaded Gunshield (Charging)
--
Fortius
Spread to clock spot positions at the edges to drop puddles. Then move straight towards Varis. Stand in the same cone to dodge the first rotation, then move into the previous cones to dodge following rotations.
Loaded Gunshield
Spread out.
Festina Lente
Split into two 4-player stacks.
Citius
Tanks must stack together and mitigate.
Electrified Gunshield (Charging)
+ Terminus Est Clones
The Terminus Est Clones will not fire until after Fortius completes. Ignore them until then.
Fortius
Handle as before. Ignore the Terminus Est clones until after the Fortius completes, moving into the safe zone after.
Electrified Gunshield
Dash towards Varis immediately or use a knockback resist.
Altius + Terminus Est Clones
Stack and face the Terminus Ests away from the safe zone.
Festina Lente
Split into two four-player parties inside the safe lane.
Ventus Est + Alea Iacta Est
Dodge Alea Iacta Est while staying adjacent to Varis in the safe zones.
Citius
Tanks must stack together and mitigate.
Ignis Est + Alea Iacta Est
As players can not stay near Varis due to Ignis Est, they should instead try to stay near Varis's far left or right just outside the edge of his sword swing.
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