Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 18 minutes ago

---

This is meant to be a general guide with more focus on DPS perspective than before. I'm not savvy with the support POV but I'll try to leave a few details below. Unfortunately don't have footage of doing Reef Hearts but will also leave details about that below. If you guys have any questions, y'all can leave comments!

AlcastHQ's vDSR Guide: alcasthq.com/eso-dreadsail-reef-trial-guide
Nilandia's ESOU vDSR Guide: eso-u.com/articles/nilandias_guide_to_dreadsail_reef__all_mechanics_bosses_and_strategies
Tank Club's vDSR Guide: thetankclub.com/eso-trial-guides/eso-dreadsail-reef-trial

These clips were taken a few months ago in the High Isle patch, but the tips and strats still apply.

- - - Extra Info - - -

1.) In total, there are 5 Guardians (1 Big, 2 Medium, 2 Small).

2.) For Reef Hearts, usually 1 of the 2 DPS will have Echoing Vigor. Hearts are pretty easy; just stay between the poison cones and watch out for any Heavy Attacks from the crab. Be extra careful for the synergy when you kill a Heart. Don't take it if you need to kill a second Heart. If you accidentally take it when not supposed to, a sub DPS will need to be sent down in your place, but it might be a wipe.

3.) The DK Tank has a tough job in this fight. Basically they have to hold all the Guardians and try not to move them too much. The DK tank can pop Magma Shells during multiple poison cones. This way, the DK tank can stay still, take almost no damage, and not place Poison AoEs everywhere. They will need to place Poison AoEs sooner or later though; ideally place them in a rainbow to keep the bosses from moving, but they might run out of space eventually and need to pull the bosses backwards.

4.) We had one of the healers taunt Incendiaries and drag them onto the Guardians. Other than that, I believe healers mostly just stay in group and heal.

5.) Off-tank grabs extra adds (Bears, Senches, Incendiaries in group, etc) and holds them in the stack.

6a.) It can be hard to tell which Guardian to prioritize. Generally, you want to focus the one that is going to channel a Heart next, but has enough time left for you to kill it.

6b.) For example, we focus the Big guy first because he channeled at the start, and there's no way we would be able to kill the others before they get to channel. So we have maybe 2 minutes until Big guy channels again (just a guess from what I've observed). After Big guy, for us it was a toss-up between the 1st Medium or 1st Small because sometimes the Medium left first, and other times the Small left first.

6c.) At 3rd circle, usually we focus the 2nd Medium guy (the one that channeled at Anchor) because of the same logic for Big guy, but also because we knew we'd be able to kill the other Guardians in cleave before they got to channel again. Sometimes however, the bosses will just do something so random like immediately channeling a Heart again even though it channeled 10 seconds ago.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Sorry for the essays. There's so many little details it's hard to say things concisely, which is one of the reasons I didn't do a voiceover this time. This fight is more weird than complicated. Hope you found this helpful!

Music [Genre - Lofi]:
Jhove, Elijah Lee - before i met you
trxxshed, fourwalls - Passing Time