Sea of Moving Ice Svardborg Guide: The Phases

Yesterday we reviewed the Power and Mechanics of the new Svardborg Trial. Today we follow up by going through all three phases and describe what has to be done to beat the giant folk.

Phase 1: Storvald’s Army

In the first phase you have to slice through the army of Storvald. Ten waves of mixed mobs are thrown towards the players, which additionally have to deal with Permafrost, Hailburst and Hypothermia. The mobs themselves are no biggie if you have decent tanks and healing. DPS classes however are advised to avoid being caught isolated by new spawns. Generally you should move together as a raid anyway. It makes it easier to deal with both Hypothermia and Permafrost. Players targeted with Hailburst should carry the AoE away from the group.

At the end of the phase, Storvald will initialize a Call of Winter. There are two hiding spots at the top left and right corners of the boss room right behind the pillars. Make sure to free any players from Permafrost before trying to hide. There are however situations where you can’t do both, have to leave them behind and revive them after the Call. That happens every once in a while and is just unlucky timing.

Hide behind the pillars left and right of the ice throne

Phase 2: Storvald

In the second phase you encounter Storvald himself. The best way to tank him is towards his thrown. That way all DPS can line up behind the boss and avoid his melee attacks. They are additionally free to move towards the runes or carry Hailburst away from the raid. Other than that everyone should stay close and huddle the boss to make it easier to deal with both Permafrost and Hypothermia. As said in part one two runes should be enough to comfortably avoid lethal damage from Winter’s Fury. Ranged DPS should take them.

Phase 2a: Manticores

At 25%, 50% and 75% Storvald will cast a Storm and in its eye the adventurers have to fight two Manticores. The mechanics are the same from the Hati fight in Fangbreaker’s Island, but they do not hit as hard. Tanks should split between the mini bosses. After defeating the two at 25% simply huddle around your Giant friend to avoid the Call of Winter damage. You can die here, but it’s more a story element, so don’t embarrass yourself.

Phase 3: Eye of the Storm

In phase three the storm remains active and Storvald enters the eye. In the now very narrow battlefield it gets increasingly more difficult to deal with Hailburst and set up correctly. Before the DPS approach the boss let the tanks pull him into the room. Otherwise there might not be a possibility to line up behind him because he’s still standing inside the storm. In this phase the boss also seems to throw around a lot of Duumvirates. Groups need sufficient protection to survive these AoE bursts.

If you have the healing and DR buffs it might be best to stay together all the time even through Hailbursts and only separate for the runes. One tank should take the boss and the other a rune. They are more likely to survive a sudden Duumvirate while away from the raid. The other class taking a rune could be a tanky Devotion OP or DC. Otherwise you need to take your chances with a DPS.

General hints

First and foremost don’t get discouraged by the amount of stuff that’s going on. You can easily lose track of where to be and what to do. I personally have more than once missed to get into cover after Phase 1 because I was so focused on killing mobs. Phase 3 can also get very messy with the lack of space available. Always look for Permafrost to kill because this is the number one reason for deaths and whipes.

The Trial is timed and failing in the Normal version means that you can’t restart it without re-queuing. Groups in the Master version however go into overtime when the timer runs out and can still try to beat it until a wipe occurs.

There’s also one important addition to the Powers and Mechanics. Tanks can be hit with a root that holds them in place, but are never affected with Permafrost or Hailburst.


I hope these tips and instructions help you to beat Svardborg. When all goes well you will have mastered the hardest PVE content in the game. Do you have any additions or questions? Post them in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

2 thoughts on “Sea of Moving Ice Svardborg Guide: The Phases

  • December 8, 2016 at 7:15 am
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    “The Trial is timed, but failing just means that you can’t restart it without re-queuing.”

    Thats only true for the Master-Version. on normal if running out of time, the encounter ends and you fail.

    • December 8, 2016 at 9:54 am
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      Thanks, we’ve updated the post.

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