Darkflame Cleft is about preserving safe space and the light resource. The group loses when wax, molds, or darkness are allowed to stay unmanaged.
Candle King: use aimed mechanics to clear molds: Destroy Eerie Molds with Darkflame Pickaxe or Throw Darkflame, then move out of the Molten Wax they leave behind. Every mold that remains adds pressure, so this is a damage assignment, not optional cleanup.
Candle King: Paranoid Mind is mandatory: Assign a reliable interrupt to Paranoid Mind. Do not spend that player’s stop on a minor cast and hope somebody else notices it.
The Darkness: keep Candlelight alive and reposition it on purpose: Stay near Candlelight to avoid Smothering Shadows, use the special action button to move it before Umbral Slash, and interrupt Call Darkspawn. Save a defensive and healing cooldown for Eternal Darkness rather than reacting after the light has already failed.
These are execution priorities, not a fixed pull-count route. Verify weekly tuning, affixes, and your tank's route before the key, then use the source and current videos for difficulty-specific details.
If Shadowblast targets you, leave the group before it resolves. The targeted hit is manageable; clipping the stack makes it a group recovery event.
