Race to World First Day 5: Nine guilds, one Ky’veza

The fight against Nexus-Princess Ky’veza continues as neither Team Liquid nor Echo managed to snag a kill, even though both guilds have now gotten Ky’veza very low. Now seven guilds are progressing on the Nexus-Princess, with Liquid still in the lead, getting Ky’veza down to a nail-biting 3.25%. Method and Echo are neck and neck for second place right now: Method just got a new low pull of 7.69% while Echo’s best pull is 8.74%. That razor-thin margin could hand either guild a win.

A new strategy has emerged for eking out that last little bit of Ky’veza’s health: dropping a tank for a DPS. This is a particularly punishing strategy that requires the tank repeatedly getting battle rezzed — and it means that if anyone dies, there’s no rez available. Any mistake means a wipe, and Liquid spent the end of the night doing a series of quick pulls, calling a wipe when anything went wrong and starting over. But with Liquid, Method, and Echo sub 10%, any of these guilds could be one good pull away from getting this boss down and moving down to the Silken Court.

Even while we’re all watching the top guilds in the rankings, there’s a lot of competition just below. There are nine guilds on Ky’veza right now, and Huoguo Hero has managed to stay strong in fourth with a best pull of 24% despite a two-day delayed start for Chinese guilds. This is a real race.

Right now Method and Echo will both be winding down for the day, with a few more hours of raiding ahead of them. But Team Liquid is about to start for the day after a good night’s sleep. It’s any pull now, as the Race to World First for Nerub’ar Palace heats up.

The state of the race

Current Nerub-ar Palace rankings

1. Team Liquid (5/8), with 3.25% on Ky’veza after 263 pulls
2. Method (5/8) with 7.69% on Ky’veza after 132 pulls
3. Echo (5/8), with 8.74% on Ky’veza after 210 pulls
4. 火鍋英雄 (Huoguo Hero) (5/8) with 24% on Ky’veza after 127 pulls
5. Instant Dollars (5/8) with 69% on Ky’veza after 20 pulls

Bosses killed: Ulgrax, Bloodbound Horror, Sikran, Rasha’nan, Ovi’nax

Want to watch along with us? Here are the streams to follow to watch the Race to World First live. Or check our written coverage of day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4, or jump ahead to day 6, day 7, day 8, day 9, day 10, day 11, day 12, and day 13.