(Work in progress)

The Matriarch Aurora fires upon a lone Phoenix, accompanied by an entourage of Handmaidens.

Deep in the Kalthi Depths lies the Prime Cyborgs within Lumination, uncorrupted by the virus that plagues their infected kin beyond this zone.

An endgame content zone, powerful Tech 23 equipment awaits those who can defeat the two minibosses & one main boss - the Matriarch Aurora - within. All three rifts will only allow a maximum squad size of five members, and Matriarch Aurora will reset to its initial phase with full shields if all players are killed in the arena. Entrants must carefully plan their squad compositions and equipment to overcome the squad size limit and mechanics present in the fight.

Bosses (rift names)

The lobby system, Gateway to Lumination, has a maximum of two Cybernetic Prime Frigate guards at a time. Blindingly fast, they will perform diving runs towards and away from their targets, periodically launching salvos of two Cybernetic Cruise Missiles that will apply several seconds of -30k/s shield degeneration, -85% transference vulnerability that stifles crucial heals, and shreds a portion of the target's current shields. Equally fast characters like Speed Demons or a powerful tractor are recommended to keep the frigates within reach.

Both frigates must be dealt with to access any of the three rifts:

Matriarch Aurora Prototype (Miniboss -- Antechamber to Lumination)
Matriarch Aurora (Main boss -- Amphitheatre of Lumination)
Enhanced Battleship & Enhanced Cruiser (Minibosses -- Hallway to Lumination)

Matriarch Prototype

An Empyreal Aelia Berserker faces the Matriarch Aurora Prototype in the Antechamber to Lumination.

>100m shields? ?/s Shield regeneration

Resistances:

Beam: 0%
Energy: 0%, 7000 Soak
Heat: 80%, 10000 Soak
Physical: 0%, 7000 Soak
Radiation: 0%, 7000 Soak
Surgical: 0%, 7000 Soak
Mining: 0%, 7000 Soak
Transference: 0%

Preceding the Antechamber of Lumination is the Precursor of Lumination -- an area that harbors three Cybernetic Prime Brawlers and two Cybernetic Prime Frigates. The Brawlers have a forward charging super and a splashing laser that threatens the tightly clustered, the unaware, or both.

The Matriarch Aurora Prototype exhibits similar mechanics to the main Matriarch Aurora boss, but with lesser intensity. Less agile than its refined counterpart, the Prototype is much easier to stay behind, which undermines its ability to deal damage, as its chaining mining beams and heat pulse guns do not have enough tracking to hit targets directly behind it.

Accompanying the Prototype is an Enhanced Cruiser. As if to literally watch her back, the Cruiser commands several high-damage fighter and barrages intruders with slow moving pulses and a frontal beam superitem. Players can dodge the Cruiser's main weapons, but must manage the attacks of both the Prototype and Cruiser simultaneously within the confines of the arena -- constant and immense damage is dealt to any player that leaves the radius of the arena.

Enhanced Escorts will also periodically spawn in pairs. Much like Cybernetic Interceptors out in KD, they hit hard but are themselves fragile. As long as the Cruiser is alive, a maximum of two Escorts will assist the Prototype and respawn within ~one minute when killed, but another pair of Frigates will also spawn if the Cruiser is brought to 50% shields. Players must choose between decisively killing the Cruiser and its guards to reduce incoming damage, or to simply focus on the Prototype to get in and out with the loot as fast as possible.

The Prototype is guaranteed to drop one Aurora Core, a selection of uncommon Lumination items, and on occasion, a rare Lumination item.

Unlike the real Matriarch Aurora, the Prototype does not instantly reset if all players in the rift are killed. However, the Prototype's out-of-combat regeneration can quickly undo any progress made if the squad cannot re-engage and cancel its recovery.

Enhanced Capital Ships

There's like two big guys in a minefield and they drop loot, I guess. (WIP)

Battleship: Always drops the Aurora Core, drops uncommon & rare loot. Cruiser: Only drops uncommon & rare loot.

Matriarch Aurora

Loot

Key:
Drops directly as an item
Drops as a blueprint

As a general rule for this zone:
Uncommons and Rares can drop from both minibosses and the boss
Exotics, Exalteds, and Legendaries can only drop from the boss