Revision as of 07:05, 17 November 2025

A swarm of aggressive insects under the lead of Stix has been assaulting anybody unlucky enough to be lured too close to the flowers of the Saliko High Plains. See that Stix is stopped, so that the High Plains are safe once more.

Stix and Stones is a trial that takes place in the High Plains, located on the north-east outskirts of Saliko. You can manually queue for the trial through Coren in A Small Cave in the High Plains, or use Battlegrounds (Game > Community tab > Battle) to do so once it has been unlocked. A typical group set-up will consist of one healer, one tank and one or more damage dealers.

To unlock the trial, you have to first accept the Tailored Help quest line in Ashaya Village. Help Richard obtain the needles he needs, talk to Andy and deliver the package to Coren in the quest Needles Trouble until you get to the Stix and Stones .. quest. Upon accepting the quest, you can queue for Stix at Coren, and upon completion, unlocks the trial in Battlegrounds.

The recommended level is 22-25, and adventurers above level 25 will be scaled down to that level for the trial. A minimum of 3 or more players is required. There are 5 modes of difficulty, ranging from Effortless, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Spicy Hot. Note that if the group wipes, you will have to re-select the difficulty again (you will have to pay again setting it to an easier difficulty), as it will be reset back to Normal by default.

Stix

Stix is a boss that uses more or less gimmicks depending on the difficulty chosen, rather than based on their stages of health. They have no Swipe skill, allowing you to stand in front of them. They are always accompanied with six Scarlet Poisonstingers at the start of the fight.

The main abilities that Stix will use are:

• Summon Minions: Periodically summons two Scarlet Poisonstingers as reinforcements during the fight. If left alone, Scarlet Poisonstingers will attempt to use Deadly Sting (level 10), dealing ~1,300 poison damage to a single player. Eliminate them as quickly as possible as soon as they spawn.
• Thunderbolt: A unique version of Thunderbolt that targets all players but the tank or player that currently has Stix's attention for ~200-300 wind damage and knocks them back by a couple of meters. Additionally applies a stack of Residue Energy debuff lasting 15 seconds. If any player gets hit by Thunderbolt again while affected by Residue Energy, they will be stunned for a couple of seconds. The tank should smite this whenever possible.
• Chain Lightning (level 4): Instant cast, and cannot be avoided/interrupted. Bounces a stream of lightning between multiple players, dealing ~600 wind damage. Occurs once every 30-40 seconds.
• Assault Charge: Stix rushes at high speed in one direction (marked with glowing grass), knocking any players caught in the attack off the platform onto the hillside full of Venomous Coralspike Lizards below, each with Poison level 5. Move behind Stix to avoid.

Stix additionally uses these abilities in Spicy Hot mode:

• Overload: A random player that is not the tank/player that currently has Stix's attention will be affected by Overload, continuously receiving ~200 wind damage every few seconds and damaging other players who get too close for additional wind damage. Stay away from the player who has it, or if you're the affected one, stay away from the rest of your group, but within distance of the healer and the boss.
• Bursting Roots: Periodically spawns several explosive roots on the ground at random, evenly spaced apart. When caught in the explosion, it deals ~2,000 poison damage, enough to 1 or 2-hit KO a player. Remember the order in which the roots spawn. Stay on the roots that spawn second or third, then move to the safe spots opened up by the roots that exploded first afterwards to dodge the explosion.

Strategy (Normal/Spicy Hot)

At the start of battle, the tank pulls Stix to the center of the platform, while the damage dealer uses an AoE on Stix to quickly get rid of all the Scarlet Poisonstingers on the field. Whenever two more spawn, maintain/switch to AoE attacks on the boss, while the tank Growls them into AoE range. The tank should smite Thunderbolt as much as possible to avoid the boss from stunning the rest of the team. The healer needs to maintain the team's health above 50%, so Chain Lightning does not immediately take them out as soon as it is instantly cast. When Stix uses Assault Charge, quickly move behind him to avoid getting sent flying off the platform into the pit of lizards below.

In Spicy Hot mode, watch for positioning whenever Overload comes up, staying away from the group if you're affected, or keeping your distance from the affected player. Watch the affected player's health, and throw a Heal on them if they get low. Stix will also attempt to use Bursting Roots, a memory game where you need to remember which roots spawn first. Stay on the late spawning roots first, then once the early ones explode, move to the safe spots created by them. Note that Stix later in the fight will attempt to use Assault Charge before the roots explode, so make sure that you are behind Stix to avoid the attack, then reposition yourself back on top of the nearest late spawning roots.

Notes

• There are five modes of difficulty for Stix.
  • Effortless drops no loot, but only quest items. Costs 3 gold to set it to this difficulty.
  • Easy drops loot, but costs 1 gold to set it to this difficulty.
  • Normal drops loot. Costs nothing and set by default.
  • Heating Up difficulty grants additional loot. Costs nothing.
  • Spicy Hot difficulty grants additional loot and a 10% chance to obtain the Royal Jelly, allowing you to tame a Honey Bee as a pet. Costs nothing.
  • During Halloween, if you encounter a special zombie in Saliko Forest and get infected by it, using the temporary Infectious Bite skill on a Honey Bee before using the Royal Jelly on it allows you to tame a ghost bee as a pet instead.
• If a Mage gets hit by Stix's Assault Charge, a well-timed Skip mid-air during the fall can negate the attack, rubberbanding you back to the original platform.
• Priests do not have Song of Harmony nor Healing Springs (since it is unlocked at level 26), making this fight exceptionally difficult. Remember to maintain Revitalise on all allies whenever possible, and use Heal whenever an ally's health gets low.
• On Spicy Hot mode, Stix can slow down the tank during the Bursting Roots gimmick, causing them to get hit by the explosions as they move between roots. It is recommended that the tank (and the rest of the team) have Blessing of Speed to counter this.