Empress Cygnus?

I've been soloing v2 Instructors lately but I keep dying at the part where you have to get Cygnus' HP down enough for v2's to be summoned. Before I die however, I notice this strange demonic looking icon above my head? It stays for a few seconds until I suddenly see all 13K of my HP gone. What bugs me more is that I survived it one time with 1 HP remaining.

What is this? How do I avoid or even prevent it? I'm trying to cut down on wheels.

Hmm, I haven't been recently, so I don't recall, but I'm pretty sure that's the effect for her Bomb skill, where you explode after a while, and take massive damage, while also getting stunned. I'm only positive that you can avoid it with more status resistance. I'm not sure what the range for that skill is, but it could also be possible that you can just stay out of range.

iamfear is correct, that's her bomb skill... and well, either you resist it or you tank it, once it's on top of you there's not much that can be done...

I've been soloing v2 Instructors lately but I keep dying at the part where you have to get Cygnus' HP down enough for v2's to be summoned. Before I die however, I notice this strange demonic looking icon above my head? It stays for a few seconds until I suddenly see all 13K of my HP gone. What bugs me more is that I survived it one time with 1 HP remaining.

What is this? How do I avoid or even prevent it? I'm trying to cut down on wheels.

this is her 'bomb' skill which is exactly what it's called.

only one person at a time can be a bomb, and it is 'close ranged' (compared to her potential locking/zombify, this is much closer) your controls are reversed like crazy skull
the best thing to do is keep your distance or RUN AWAY if you're caught in it, you will be stunned after it explodes. the animation is where her arm extends outward with a black aura behind her, if this helps any.

i'm not exactly sure of the range but it LOOKS like about 1/4 of the screen around her. i don't solo and she tends to catch the crashers more

With 80% status resistance, I get that bomb icon maybe once every seven runs.
Just for reference.

Edit: Derp.

Ok. So I gotta level up willpower then.

Thanks, all.