Ruby Life Pools

Primal Thundercloud applied **Stormcloud Barrier 48 times**. Those shields absorbed **175,072,707** damage across 23,297 separate absorb events. Four more shields took another 35 M between them - Ice Bulwark on Melidrussa (10.7 M), Tempest Stormshield on Ryvati (10.3 M), Blaze of Glory (7.9 M), Ice Shield (6.5 M).

The clouds are a damage sink. They expire on their own, and AoE poured into that swarm accomplishes nothing - this is a known feature of that gauntlet and the number has been measured here before, at 136.7 M on a +14 on 2026-09-01. **Tonight it was worse: 175 M on a lower key.**

What is new, and what makes this actionable rather than just unfortunate: **Stormcloud Barrier is a Magic buff and Purge removes it.** That is not inference - Resto Shaman purged one, at 19:54:09, and the log records it. She purged exactly **one of forty-eight**, and cast Purge four times in the whole key.

Two fixes, in order of value. First and much larger: stop hitting the clouds. Kill the Tempest Channeler and High Channeler Ryvati and the clouds stop mattering. Second: the shields that do end up in front of you can be stripped, and right now they are not being.

Pull 1, at 0:10. 24 enemies, 59,000,033 damage taken, 4:03 of fighting, 79% of casts kicked. It held, and it cost 30 seconds.

**Ret Paladin, dead at 1:13.** Took 2,174,674 over **14.3 seconds** - Crushing Smash 1,133,258, melee 793,458, Earthbound's Imprint 247,958. Received 524,504 in healing from Hyporock and Resto Shaman. Divine Shield had gone out 43.8 seconds earlier so it was genuinely on cooldown, and Divine Protection was 47.8 seconds into a 64-second recharge. But **Lay on Hands he had not cast all key**, and **Blessing of Protection likewise** - Forbearance had cleared 13.8 seconds before he died. Fourteen seconds is a long time to have a full heal on the bar.

**Hyporock, dead at 1:23.** Took 1,722,841 over 7.5 seconds, received 761,792 in healing from Resto Shaman. Same picture: Divine Protection 30.9 seconds into a 65-second cooldown and Divine Shield 58 seconds into a much longer one, but **Lay on Hands unused all key and Blessing of Protection unused**, with Forbearance clear for 27.9 seconds.

Both are recoverable and neither is a healer problem - Resto Shaman was throwing healing into both of them.

One distinction worth drawing, because the two are not the same fix. **Ret Paladin was killed mostly by Physical damage** - Crushing Smash plus 793,458 of melee - so Blessing of Protection would have removed the bulk of it outright, and Lay on Hands would have reset the clock. **Hyporock was killed entirely by Nature damage** (Excavating Blast and Earthbound's Imprint), which Blessing of Protection does not touch at all. For him the available answer was Lay on Hands and only Lay on Hands.

**Doryhunky - B+, 84, his best of the night.** Mitigation 96 (99% uptime, 100% of worst windows), activity 95, and 38 interrupt stops against 35 expected. Utility 78 reads low only because he never pressed Imprison, which is situational crowd control and often correctly skipped.

**Resto Shaman - B, 80.** Throughput 95 - covered 87% of the 179.8 M that needed an outside heal - and dispel 100, five of five. Two things to look at: response 74, meaning she put back 45% of what landed in the party's worst windows, her weakest of the three keys she healed; and interrupts 35, from 9 stops against 22 expected, which is the same Wind Shear problem as Voidscar. Her last Wind Shear of the key went out at 16:40 of a 23:54 run.

**Hyporock - B, 80.** 198,822 damage, 115% of the other damage dealers' median. 25 stops against 18 expected. Holy Power overcap 23%. The death is the only real item.

**Ret Paladin - B, 79.** 192,211 damage, 28 stops against 18 expected - the most in the key. Holy Power overcap **14%, his best of the night and nine points better than Hyporock on the same spec.** Utility 0 is a genuine zero: no Blessing of Protection, no Blessing of Sacrifice, no Lay on Hands, no Cleanse Toxins all key. On a key where he died over fourteen seconds, that is the same finding twice.

**BM Hunter - C, 65.** 153,495 damage, 78% of the median, at 291 item level against 316-319 - close to what the gear predicts. No deaths this key, which is the improvement over Voidscar. Interrupts 61 (4 stops against 11 expected) and Focus overcap 18% are the two things to work on, and both are cheaper to fix than the gear.