Binary10

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2. All Nictus creatures (Dwarves, Novas and Shadow Cyst Crystals) are weak to Kheldian energy attacks, and kheldian defenses are strong against the type of damage that nictus do.Therefore, against any type of nictus, a Kheldian will fare better than other ATs. Note for clarity: Voids and quantums are not nictus.

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I just recently created a PB and fought a Nova (A WS ally was along) and to check we used our blasts and compared the damage it received to the damage council receive.

Unless council are vulnerable to energy and negative energy or the named boss didn't have standard resists, Bright Nova are not particularily vulnerable to kheldian energy attacks -- at least not when they're in Nova form themselves. I'll have to wait to encounter more novas/dwarfs to do more testing.

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My less sophisticated, but easy to succeed with strategy: I say, "Everyone focus on the cyst, and *only* the cyst until it dies. They explode when they die, so if you are squishy, stay well back." Then we proceed with a simultaneous rush, and kill it. I did this all the way to 50 on my WS, and the only time I've seen it fail is when some teammates don't focus fire on the cyst. Most deaths result from squishies who aren't smart enough to stay back.

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I like your way of putting it better than mine.

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Does anyone have a suggested slotting for Aid Other?

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I've been able to successfully use it as a granite tank in most situations with 1 interrupt reduct in it. I slotted it 2 recharge 3 healing (The rechareg is for granite) beyond that, but there's no reason you couldn't shuffle that as needed. It's quite usable without any interrupt reductions though, so unless you like to slip it through DOTs you can manage without any.

First, to the OP -- An excellent guide, with a lot of information that I didn't know and am glad to be aware of now.

Second, my bit about stone tanks:

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don't forget the stone tanks I know because of a time where the whole team wiped with the exception of the stone tank in granite armor, took a lot of time for the tank to wipe the cyst but got it eventually.

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I've been running a stone tank, and there's nothing I have to fear from a cyst. Nictus simply can't pierce granite's defenses, and the cyst's explosion is reduced enough by my resists to be ignorable.

That being said, charging has had a high success rate with low debt. Out of at least ten cysts, I'd say we've managed six with no deaths whatsoever, one with a near team-wipe due to aggroing not just one but two groups of enemies at once (Two PBs on the team sacrificed themselves to take the crystal to about 1/10th life, a scrapper barely escaped with his life, and I managed to kill it with a fulcrum shift that our /kin did right before he fell), and the last three with only one or two deaths due to either a boss escaping my taunt (I hate the aggro cap sometimes) or people being too near the cyst when it exploded.

So, another viable strategy (With no claims to being safer, I'd say it's riskier but works reasonably well): Everyone targets the cyst, a tank goes in first and throws taunt/taunt aura around to pull all possible enemies onto himself (Targetting the normal spawns first, as the spawned nictus seem to do less damage) and then all the melee allies retreat as the cyst gets weak. This does require a tank that can withstand aggro cap abuse levels for the duration of the cyst's life, so a tanker that can perform that is required. One person using a nuke early to clear large amounts of minions can greatly aid the tank in capturing the most dangerous aggro. For the most part, you'll escape without debt to anyone involved if they're smart enough to pull back when the cyst is about to die.