Elevators are a multiple phase boss encounter within many flashpoints and some heroic missions. Oddly enough, they do not seem to drop any loot when beaten (possible bug). Unattackable, they can and will be one of the trickiest encounters your group will face in SWTOR so far. While at first glance their mechanics are quite simple and many people, unexperienced in the dangers of the Elevator Bosses, will disregard this advice as pointless.
They will learn.
Most Elevator bosses have three phases, with a variety of debuffs and critical affects associated with each. The really difficult part is that not every Elevator has the same abilities as other Elevators, while some have more lethal varities of abilities other Elevators have.
PHASE ONE: Rising to meet you.
During this phase Elevators will have a buff running all the way to the end of phase one, simply called TEMPT TO JUMP. This buff, which starts with 99 stacks at the bottom of the Elevator bosses's lair which decrease as it rises, will cause those with low amounts of Willpower gear to attempt to jump onto the elevator, triggering an effect called MASSIVE FALL DAMAGE. This damage varies on the amount of stacks TEMPT TO JUMP has left over and can, in extreme cases, trigger the Elevator's prime mechanic: FALL TO YOUR DEATH. Stacking Willpower gear and avoiding Willpower debuffing effects such as: EXCESSIVE BEER and STUPIDITY will usually avoid this phase completely.
Bear in mind that some Elevators are actually in Heroic mode, without giving you any warning, and during this Phase will also have the invisible buff PHASE SHIFT active. This causes the Elevator to become a visible ghost and fixes TEMPT TO JUMP's stacks at 99 until Phase One finishes. Attempting to attack the elevator early will automatically trigger FALL TO YOUR DEATH in 9/10 cases.
PHASE TWO: Waiting for you.
This phase is simple and easily the most forgiving of the three. All group members must IMMEDIATELY run onto the elevator and stop moving. Really. During this phase the Elevator might use a CC ability called LEAVE WITHOUT YOU, which usually traps slow members of the group in Phase One again. Heroic mode Elevator bosses will then use this opportunity to deliver the faster group members directly into the aggro range of its adds, waiting below. LEAVE WITHOUT YOU can trigger MASSIVE FALL DAMAGE if a bold group member attempts to jump on the elevator after departure, but this rarely triggers FALL TO YOUR DEATH.
Once every group member is on the Elevator Boss and approaching the bottom the final phase will begin.
PHASE THREE: Returning to the top.
Once Phase Two finishes all group members must run LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL in order to leave the Boss before Phase Three begins. If some group members are slow they will trigger the Bosses's second CC effect: KIDNAP. This causes those group members affected to be reset to Phase one. Heroic Mode Elevator Bosses combine this with the buff RISE AT LUDICROUS SPEED, which counters the usual CC breaking ability used in this situation: PANIC AND JUMP OFF. Using PANIC AND JUMP OFF when the Elevator has this buff active will automatically trigger FALL TO YOUR DEATH.
Hopefully this guide will prevent any deaths or difficulties you might experience when fighting the Elevator Bosses. Hopefully Bioware will also get around to fixing the bug which prevents these bosses from dropping any loot when killed.
