Revision as of 04:52, 24 December 2020

The Blackwood Depths is a dungeon that can be accessed from the bottom of the Blackwood Caverns. It is one of the major dungeons found within the game. You will investigate the dangerous area, home to some of the most powerful and wicked creatures in all of Blackwood. Ultimately, you will search for answers in the lingering darkness, hoping to undo a fate that had befallen one individual too soon.

It is unlocked through the culmination of multiple quest lines (with a focus on Laurel's quests), after getting a room to stay in, eventually ending at Into the Abyss. After following the Shattered quest line, ending up at The Wish, and concluding at The Blackwood Depths, then the entrance to the Blackwood Depths will be open.

The recommended level for the Blackwood Depths is 39 to 40, and adventurers above 41 will be scaled down to that level for the dungeon. It is also recommended that you have at least 3 or more players before starting the dungeon. A typical group set-up will consist of one healer, one tank and one or more damage dealers.

The Blackwood Depths has two modes of difficulty. By default, the dungeon is set to Normal Mode. To change the mode from Normal to Hard, you must first break the fairy free from the webbing in the Main Access Tunnel (the top-right of the map). Then select the dialogue option "fly off to find the other spirits". The difficulty will then be set from Normal Mode to Hard Mode.

The summon stone also provides a shortcut option, allowing you to skip ahead to the rest point directly after Keraketh. This option is available once you have gathered your members, and decided to vote on this option. However, additional clearing is needed at the start to set it to Hard Mode, and you automatically forfeit your chances of obtaining Critical Care for that run.

Note that the timer for the trophy Critical Care starts on the very first pull in the dungeon - you'll see a message wishing you "Good luck", which is the indicator that the timer started. Once you meet all the basic criteria (started the dungeon without shortcuts, freeing the fairy, and setting the dungeon to hard mode), you'll see a hint about the timed trophy beyond hard mode ("You feel a strange sense of urgency..."). After each required boss (other than Zafyre) there is a break point, which pauses the timer, indicated by an appropriate message ("You feel a sense of timelessness."). Advancing after the break point displays the original message and starts the timer again.

Crystalfang

Crystalfang is the first boss in the Blackwood Depths - Main Access Tunnel (B1 Spiders' Den). Through the shortcut method, it is an optional boss that is skipped, and can be re-fought later. It is located around the middle-right area of the map. Crystalfang's defending element is Poison 1, making it strong against most elements except Fire, Water, Wind, Light, and Poison itself (at 0%). Similar to Noxxara, this boss will attempt to devour the eggs to the right of it during the fight to become more powerful.

The main abilities that Crystalfang will use are:

• Jab: Deals a large amount of damage to the target that has it's attention (the tank). Use Smite to counter this.
• Poisonous Bite: Deals a moderate amount of damage to a target and inflicts the poison debuff. Crystalfang will constantly use this ability.
• Poison Volley: Targets all players for moderate to heavy poison damage, leaving behind a poison debuff for more damage dealt over time. The effects of this ability are deadlier the more amount of damage stacks it has. Has a fast casting time.
• Entangling Webs: Randomly targets a player, usually a damage dealer or healer, causing them to be immobilized until an ally breaks them free. They can still use skills when immobilized, but cannot break free themselves.
• Poison Patch: Places a green acidic pool underneath a random player (damage dealer or healer). Constantly deals damage to players who are standing in it.
• Nourish: Crystalfang will rush to one of the eggs on the right (the one that it will target will be highlighted in green). The longer it can eat the egg, the more damage stacks (temporary) it will gain, increasing the damage dealt from every ability it uses.
  • The trophy On A Diet requires you to defeat Crystalfang without letting it reach 8 stacks of Nourish. You need to ensure that your damage dealers deal with the egg as quickly as possible once they see it. Using an AoE can help take out the egg faster, but watch for the additional monsters on the right, as you might accidentally pull them during the fight.

Strategy

     T < O    () () () mm

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The < in this diagram represents the boss facing to the left, while T is for tank. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer. The () represents the eggs that Crystalfang will eat, while mm is the location of a nearby monster group that can be accidentally pulled during the fight.

The tank should have Crystalfang facing away from the rest of the group to the left, while the rest of the group remains on the right side (so that they are closer to the eggs). Make sure that every time that you are dealing with the eggs, that you aren't pulling the additional enemies to the right of the eggs by accident. The additional damage taken from those monsters can potentially knock out your group, so be careful when using AoE skills.

The tank should be responsible for smiting Jab, while the damage dealers should try to interrupt the boss's Poison Volley, in order to reduce the amount of damage taken by the group. The two abilities that it will use from time to time are Entangling Webs, and Poison Patch. Make sure that as soon as you see a web on an ally, that you try to get rid of it immediately (to prevent the boss from combining the two abilities together). If not taken care of, the web can prevent a damage dealer from attacking the egg, and let Crystalfang get more damage stacks for it's abilities.

Every so often, Crystalfang will focus it's attention from the tank to one of the random three Crystalline Hoard eggs on the right. These eggs are invincible, and can only be destroyed if it is the target egg that Crystalfang wants to eat (shown by a green marker). You must defeat Crystalfang before it eats all three eggs, and attempt to search for a fourth (it will enrage, seeing that there are no eggs left).

Note that the platform that you fight Crystalfang on has a hidden platform below. You cannot access this platform, but it can mess with the placement of your AoE attacks. Slightly move your cursor upwards to prevent accidentally casting it on the hidden platform instead.

Keraketh

Keraketh is the second boss in the Blackwood Depths - Main Access Tunnel (B1 Sand Grotto). Through the shortcut method, it is an optional boss that is skipped, and can be re-fought later (if you want to face it, go to the Upper Tunnel Hub, and take the portal on the left). It is located on the bottom-right area of the map. As you approach, you'll either see a fairy trapped in a cage (indicating that it is NM), or no fairy or cage at all (indicating that it is HM). This is a direct consequence of what option you chose back when you were saving the fairy from the webbing.

Keraketh's defending element is Neutral 1, making it vulnerable against Ghost (+25% more damage). It is also vulnerable against Light, Dark and Poison (+12.5% more damage). A Mage should ideally decide between Fire or Water (depending on their preference, as both are 0%).

In NM, the differences in the fight was that only one Armoured Mantis would spawn. The fairy would break free from it's cage, and take care of the Armoured Mantis while you were fighting Keraketh. If you were to let Keraketh use Gastric Spray on the Armoured Mantis while it was taken care of by the fairy, the fairy will aid you for a bit and then leave. In addition, there aren't as many prey that spawn on the field. In HM, there is no fairy to help you deal with the Armoured Mantises, and they spawn two at a time. There is more prey on the field for your group to deal with.

The main abilities that Keraketh will use are:

• Scythe Slash: Keraketh's version of the Swipe skill, that deals damage to all players in front. Players usually call this "frontal", meaning that only the tank must engage the boss in front, while the others stay behind to avoid taking additional damage.
• Poison Volley: Targets all players for moderate poison damage, leaving behind a poison debuff for more damage dealt over time. Has a fast casting time.
• Poison Barrage: Targets a random player, constantly dealing damage to them every second for several seconds. Can be interrupted.
• Collapse: Makes two stone pillars fall from the ceiling, targeting over a medium area each (indicated by a yellow circle). Deals a large amount of damage and stuns any player caught by the falling pillars.
  • The trophy Team Impossible requires you to defeat Keraketh without any member of your group (including yourself) get hit by the falling pillars at any point during the battle.
• Stomp: Keraketh will stomp, causing several webbed prey to fall down. Each webbed prey takes significantly less damage from AoE attacks, so you'll have to defeat them one by one. This ability tells you the start of Keraketh's summoning phase.
• Devour: After the webbed prey falls down, Keraketh will automatically target a nearby prey to eat it, and gain a damage buff for a short amount of time. If it eats more than two prey in a row, it will enrage, giving it a massive damage boost. Keraketh will still follow the player that has it's attention.
• Bladedance: After 30 seconds of the prey falling down, Keraketh will teleport to every webbed prey that is still alive, and use Devour to eat it.
• Gaze & Gastric Spray: Keraketh will focus their eyes on a random player, indicated by the incoming message. At this time, Keraketh will continue to attack the tank until several seconds later, where it will use Gastric Spray (a stronger version of Poison Breath) in the direction that the chosen player is at. Deals a large amount of poison damage every second, and kills any armoured mantises caught in the breath.
  • The trophy Bad Breath requires you to let Keraketh use Gastric Spray on three armoured mantises. This requires being on hard mode, having a healer & two damage dealers with Nightfall and Flash Freeze. You'll have to wait until Keraketh spawns two mantises, continue to freeze/put them to sleep. Then, wait for the next set of mantises to spawn, and freeze them/put them to sleep, or have a tank grab the attention of one or two of them all in the same spot. Then, right before Gastric Breath comes, have the targeted character stand behind all of those mantises.
• Frenzy: At around 10% of Keraketh's health, it will not use any auto-attacks or skills except this one. It will constantly do damage to the target that has it's attention (the tank) every second. The damage Keraketh inflicts will slowly rise over time.

Strategy (HM)

The fight against Keraketh consists of two summoning phases in between, and frenzy at the end (when Keraketh is at 10% of its health).

General Set-up

             O > T

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The > in this diagram represents the boss facing to the right, while T is for tank. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer.

On the right side of the the area where the boss fight takes place, the tank should have Keraketh facing to the right, while the damage dealers are on the left, behind it. The tank should take care of interrupting Poison Barrage. The damage dealers should continue to attack Keraketh, while helping the tank interrupt Poison Barrage if it comes up while Smite is on cooldown. An optional ability that you can interrupt is Poison Volley, however dealing damage is the focus of the battle, and isn't as strong as Crystalfang's version of the ability.

Once Keraketh uses Collapse, make sure that your allies aren't standing in one of the yellow circles. They can inflict a large amount of damage, stun you, and add stress for the healer.

Summoning Phase

    T < p p O p p  p  p

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The < in this diagram represents the boss facing to the left, while T is for tank. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer. An example of where the prey might spawn is shown using p.

When Keraketh reaches one of it's summoning phases, it will spawn several webbed prey onto the field, and slow down on it's usual attack rotation. The tank should move Keraketh towards the left side of the boss area (not too far left, just enough so you avoid getting into contact with multiple prey), with Keraketh facing towards the left. Make sure that as you are moving Keraketh to the left during the summoning phase, that you watch the number of prey that Keraketh is eating at a time. The max that it can eat at a time is two.

You are given about 30 seconds before Keraketh uses Blade Dance. This ability will cause Keraketh to teleport to each and every prey that is still alive on the field, and Devour them. This can easily cause Keraketh to enrage, so you have to work fast on getting rid of the prey. If no prey exists, then the ability will not be used.

Each prey is fairly durable, and can significantly reduce the amount of damage it takes from AoE attacks. Each player on the field should split the work on taking out the prey, while the tank is dealing with Keraketh.

• The resistance to AoE attacks makes it difficult for a Mage, but not for a DPS Warrior. Make sure that you take on as few prey as possible at a time, and ideally work together with another damage dealer on taking down the same prey. If multiple prey are on you at the same time, then your attacks will be slower (due to hitstun). Do not let several of them wander off into the tank's position, and focus on taking them down on the right side of the boss area.
• Sometimes, the prey will also fall onto the left side of the boss area. The tank themselves or a healer should purposefully feed prey into Keraketh (this will cause the tank to take more damage, but cut down on the number of prey on the field faster). Make sure that you are only feeding two at a time and watch the damage buff carefully. Once the duration on the damage buff expires, then you can feed prey into Keraketh again.

After dealing with the prey, the tank should remain in the same spot, while the damage dealers focus on Keraketh. This way, there isn't much chaos when moving around the boss. You should continue to follow the general set-up.

Armoured Mantises and Gastric Breath

Every so often, Keraketh will spawn two Armoured Mantises to aid it in battle. These mantises have a large amount of health, and should not be dealt with during the fight. Instead, the tank should taunt and growl them so that they are pulled towards the tank's direction. Once the mantis moves into the tank's direction (towards the left), let a damage dealer/healer use Nightfall or Flash Freeze to leave it there.

At one point in battle, Keraketh will use Gaze, followed by a message indicating who Keraketh is looking at. This is a heads up to what player Keraketh will target using Gastric Breath. Keraketh will not use Gastric Breath immediately, but after 10-15 seconds. The player who is being targeted should go behind the tank, keeping their distance away, as if they were trying to avoid an invisible breath by staying out of range.

If the targeted player does not go behind the tank at all for whatever reason it may be, the rest of the group should run to behind to the tank to avoid getting hit with Gastric Breath. The targeted player should not go behind the boss at this point (worst case scenario, Keraketh will change directions, continuing to use the breath and hitting the entire group), and instead keep their distance away.

Moments before the breath is about to hit, the tank should use this chance to go back to their original position on the right side of the boss area (to the one mentioned in General Set-up). Make sure that the mantises are still within the breath's range and actually get hit by it before going back. If done correctly, the armoured mantises that were in the tank's direction should be instantly killed by Keraketh's breath.

Frenzy

At 10% of Keraketh's health, it will abandon every other skill except Frenzy. This constantly deals an increasing amount of damage every second. You want to spam your most damaging skills to quickly defeat Keraketh.

The trophy Razor's Edge requires you to defeat Keraketh on Hard Mode.

Break Point 1 (Critical Care)

After defeating Keraketh, the timer will pause. You can do anything at this time, but once you go past the area beyond the teleport rune in Upper Tunnel Hub, the timer will start again. You cannot pause the timer until you reach the next break point.

Venyxia (Optional)

Venyxia is the third and optional boss in the north-east section of the Blackwood Depths - Upper Tunnel Hub. It is an optional boss that can be skipped, and refought later (it is not required for the Critical Care trophy). As you approach the north-east map of the Upper Tunnel Hub, there are two dead ends, one in the center, and one that curves east, then down a bit to the left (pond area for filling Cythia's vial as part of a side quest). To approach the secret area that leads to Venyxia, take the center dead-end, and see that it splits left (leads to the secret area) and right (only has thorny blackberry bushes).

It is one of the few monsters that have a split element (has two defending elements at once). Ideally, you want to fight Venyxia with an element that works best for both Poison and Water, or an elemental set with knockback & AoE capabilities, such as Fire, Water, Wind, Poison or Light. It is also recommended that you have at least two Mages for this fight to cover both sides in the summoning phase.

There are no differences between Normal Mode and Hard Mode. Unlike most conventional bosses, Venyxia is unique for her Poison Membrane ability. This causes her to negate any damage received down to 1 for about 50 hits, before she explodes into several slime droplets that attempt to recombine herself. The fight also has a very short berserk timer of 3 minutes, making the battle very quick.

The main abilities that Venyxia will use are:

• Poison Membrane: Shield phase only. This is Venyxia's active ability on the field. Negates any damage received down to 1 for about 50 hits. Starts at 50 stacks, and decreases every time Venyxia is hit.
• Burst: Once Poison Membrane reaches 0 stacks, Venyxia causes an explosion that deals moderate to large damage to all nearby players. This attack is weaker the further away you are from the blast. At this point, the battle transitions into the Summoning phase, and waves of slime droplets come from both sides (5 on each side) to try to get to the spot where Venyxia first exploded (the metal circlet).
• Poison Bolt: An ability (at skill level 18) that deals a large amount of damage to a single player, and leaves them with a poison debuff that deals more damage over time.
• Poison Bolt Volley: Targets all players for moderate to heavy damage, leaving behind a poison debuff that deals more damage over time.
• Unrelenting Rage: Enrage phase only. At 20% of Venyxia's health, her Poison Membrane is replaced with this ability, allowing her to cast abilities faster and deal more damage. At this point in battle, you can deal damage to her directly.

Main Strategy

The fight consists of three phases in total. When Venyxia is at more than 20% of their health, the shield and summoning phases occur over and over again. When Venyxia is at less than 20% of her health, the enrage phase occurs instead.

Phase 1 (Shield)

     L      > T      R 

______________/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\_________

The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The > in this diagram represents the boss facing to the right, while T is for tank. The L represents the damage dealers on the left, while R represents the damage dealers on the right. Notice that the damage dealers are keeping their distance away from the tank.

On the center-left of the area where the boss fight takes place (near the left end of the raised platform), the tank should have Venyxia facing to the right, while the rest of the group should split their damage dealers between the left and right sides (while keeping their distance away from Venyxia). The purpose of this is to prepare the group for the next phase, and minimize as much damage taken from Burst.

The damage dealers should throw a few multi-hit and damage over time attacks to help the tank break Venyxia's Poison Membrane faster. Attacks that deal damage over time, and multi-hit attacks, such as Fire Bolt or Icicle can shred multiple stacks of the barrier at once. Don't use any AoE attacks; save it for the next phase.

Since the poison attacks do a large amount of damage to multiple players, you want to make sure the healer is using Healing Springs, Healing Winds, and Cure Poison during the fight to remove any powerful poison debuffs on allies. The healer should transition between both sides to heal any wounded damage dealers, but also choose a side to stick to before Burst happens. The tank should attempt to smite Poison Bolt Volley.

Once Venyxia uses Burst (reaches 0 stacks on Poison Membrane), the battle will transition into the summoning phase.

Phase 2 (Summons)

> > > > > L  B  R < < < < <

______________/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\_________

The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The > and < in this diagram indicates the positions of the Venyxia Droplets (referred to as slimes in this guide), while B represents the location of the boss. L and R indicate the damage dealers on the left and right.

During the summoning phase, Venyxia will lose some of it's health and temporarily disappear from the map, leaving behind it's metal circlet. However, it'll spawn up to 5 Venyxia Droplets (seen as green slimes) on each side. If at least one slime makes it to the metal circlet, Venyxia will recover some of their health, reappear and continue their attack pattern as usual. Venyxia will also reappear after all slimes have been defeated, going back into the shield phase if it's health is over 20%.

The Venyxia Droplets have 2,280 health by default, and a Poison 2 defending element. They move very slowly, but can overwhelm damage dealers in large numbers. When defeated, it deals a small explosion that damages nearby players for weak poison damage (the damage adds up, so a healer should watch out).

The group should split up to cover both the left and right sides. Each side should have a damage dealer with some skill that can attack multiple slimes, such as Swipe or Fire Wall. If a slime breaks through one side's line of defense and makes it to the metal circlet, the tank should immediately return to tanking Venyxia.

The trophy Dehydration requires you to defeat Venyxia without letting any of the Venyxia Droplets reach the metal circlet (where Venyxia exploded). This requires that the damage dealers do not let any slimes slip through.

Phase 3 (Enrage)

Once Venyxia has reached 20% or less of their health, Venyxia loses the Poison Membrane ability (and Burst) in exchange for greater attack power and attack speed. This also means that Poison Bolt and Poison Bolt Volley will hit harder and more frequently. The group should use this chance to deal damage to Venyxia before it overwhelms the healer and the rest of the group. Using AoE spells is recommended at this point, as it does not knockback Venyxia.

Instead of splitting up into two sides, the group should return back to stacking on one side in order to make the healer's job easier. The healer will have to work double-time to ensure that the rest of the group survives through the poison debuffs, while trying to manage their mana supply.

Pinning Strategy

> > > > >   > > > > > O    T B

______________/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\_________

The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The > in this diagram indicates the positions of the Venyxia Droplets, while B represents the location of the boss. T represents the position of the tank, while O represents the position of all other players.

Another way to deal with Venyxia, particularly towards the Dehydration trophy is to use the pinning strategy. This strategy can still fail if the slimes are not taken care of quickly enough before the berserk timer is reached. There are a couple of differences from the main strategy, such as:

• During the shield phase, the tank takes Venyxia to the right end of the map, while the rest of the group is stacking from behind (keeping their distance). This makes it easier for the healer since they don't have to walk in between both sides.
• During the summoning phase, the slimes all spawn on the left side of the map. This is because the boss has no room to spawn the slimes on the right, causing them to spawn on the opposite end of the map. Just because they spawn on the left, doesn't mean you have more time to deal with them (every second counts towards the berserk timer).
• Unequal distribution of slimes on both sides of the map (can have as much as 7~10 slimes on the left and 0~3 slimes on the right), depending on Venyxia's distance to the wall on the right side. If Venyxia still has a bit of distance between where she exploded and the wall on the right side, a few slimes still might spawn on the right side instead of all being on the left. In this case, you'll have to take those slimes out on the right immediately before engaging the ones on the left.

Daphne

Daphne is the fourth boss at the east end of Blackwood Depths - Crystalline Forest. By taking the bottom path at Upper Tunnel Hub instead of the upper path, you come to some electrified crystals in the Lower Tunnel Hub shortly until you arrive at the forest. As you clear the monsters in the forest, you immediately come to an unknown house. At the house's backyard, Daphne will be waiting there, having blocked off the entrance to the Lower Depths.

Daphne's defending element is Dark 1, making her vulnerable to Fire (+12.5%) and Light (+25%) attacks. As a mage, it is recommended that you either use Fire or Water in NM, while you'd use Fire in HM due to the crystal gimmick. Poison has a disadvantage against Dark by -25%, making it a poor option. Most of Daphne's attacks (and auto-attack) are dominantly earth-based, followed by a few dark spells.

In NM, when a player is trapped in crystal, the group would immediately have to free them. In HM, when a player is trapped in crystal, they must stay trapped to take on waves of monsters in the Crystal Realm. The only time that the group would break them free is after a set amount of time has passed & the monsters have been cleared.

The main abilities that Daphne will use are:

• Crystal Claw: This is Daphne's version of the Swipe attack that hits all targets in front of her. Deals earth damage instead of neutral damage. Players usually call this "frontal", meaning that only the tank must engage the boss in front, while the others stay behind to avoid taking additional damage.
• Double Claw: Deals a weak amount of damage twice to the target that currently has it's attention (the tank).
• Frenzied Claw: Deals a weak amount of damage multiple times to all nearby allies, causing hitstun.
• Arcane Rain: Daphne summons several spheres of energy that are flung and explode on contact, hitting each member of the group for a weak amount of damage.
• Arcane Blast: Daphne charges up to fire a laser in front of her towards the target that currently has her attention, inflicting enough damage to either instant KO the tank, or eliminate most of the tank's health. The tank should quickly move behind her to avoid the attack, then return to being in front of her.
• Arcane Explosion: Selects a random player, causing them to explode and take massive damage on their location. The damage is reduced for each player that stacks on top of the selected player.
• Night Spear: Selects a random player, causing a total of five swords to fall on their location one at a time. Each individual sword that falls down inflicts multiple hits, adding up to a large amount of damage received. Any nearby ally caught in the sword's path will also take damage.
• Erupt III: An earth element attack that hits all players for a large amount of damage, but has a slow casting time. Can be interrupted.
• Skip + Crystalline Dream: This occurs at the end of Daphne's summoning phase only. After all minions have been defeated or a certain amount of time passes, Daphne will unleash this attack, freezing all allies in crystal for a few seconds and dealing large amounts of damage after the crystal shatters. The damage received increases the longer you take to defeat all minions until eventually it just instantly knocks you out.
• Crystallise: This occurs only after Daphne's summoning phase. Every so often, Daphne will target a random player on the field (except the tank), freezing them in crystal. When the ally is broken free from the crystal, it spawns two Crystalline Constructs (snakes with low health) with the ability to smite. If the ally is not broken free after the duration of Crystallise ends, the ally is immediately knocked out. This ability also has an additional gimmick to it in Hard mode.
• Erupt IV: This occurs only after Daphne's summoning phase. A two-part earth element AoE attack that hits the entire area with a giant crystal penetrating upwards from the ground. The giant crystal sends players caught in the attack into the air, dealing massive damage while a ring of smaller spikes spawn shortly afterwards, finishing them off as they land. There are also smaller rings of safe spots within the blast area that a skilled player can use to avoid getting hit by the attack completely. Cannot be interrupted.

Strategy

The fight against Daphne consists of four phases in total. The initial phase, a summoning phase near the middle, an interim phase (when an ally is not in crystal) and the crystal phase (when an ally is in crystal). The fight against Daphne in NM excludes the crystal phase.

Phase 1 (Initial)

                 O > T

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The > in this diagram represents the boss facing to the right, while T is for tank. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer.

On the right side of the backyard where the boss fight takes place, the tank should have Daphne facing to the right, while the rest of the group is stacked together on the left (behind Daphne). The tank should take care of smiting Erupt III, while watching out for Arcane Blast (going behind Daphne to avoid getting hit by the attack), and adjusting their position if knocked back too far by Arcane Rain.

Meanwhile, the damage dealers are focused on stacking and dealing damage to Daphne at this time (they can also use AoE skills for extra damage since Daphne is not affected by knockback). The healer is also stacked among the damage dealers. Make sure that you do not accidentally use up your Song of Harmony at this time.

When Arcane Explosion occurs, a text in yellow will appear at the top of the screen, indicating who is about to be the target of the attack. If the damage dealers and healer are not stacked, they must do so at this point, or risk losing one of their allies early in the battle. It is absolutely necessary for the tank to stack during Arcane Explosion when your group consists of only three members, but is discouraged when you have a group of 4 to 6 players.

In addition, when Daphne sets her eyes on a particular player, Night Spear is about to occur. The targeted player must move to the left side of the map (not too far away), to avoid the swords falling on the rest of the group. There is a delay between each time a sword drops, so the targeted player must kite out of the way (move a bit to the side) as soon as they see the sword appear in order to dodge it. There are a total of five swords, so after the fifth sword drops, the player can return to stacking with the rest of the group.

Phase 2 (Arcane Explosion + Summons)

       (>)
h D   O ss 

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The (>) in this diagram represents the shielded Daphne, while D represents the damage dealer that is luring the thistle (marked as h for healer) away. O represents all other players including the tank, while ss represents the area where Daphne's minions will spawn.

Near the half-way point in the battle, Daphne will teleport to the left side of the backyard (by using Skip), and putting up a shield around her, making her invincible. Daphne will start casting Crystalline Explosion. At this point, several creatures will spawn on the field, such as Crystallized Lotuses, Crystalline Skinrenderers, and a Crystallized Thistle. The tank SHOULD NOT Growl any of the monsters yet.

Instead, one player of the group has to lure the Crystallized Thistle over to the far-left side of the boss area, and defeat it there. The rest of the group should make sure that the thistle is killed immediately, and that any other minions are kept near Daphne. This is because since the thistle leaves behind healing spores on the field when defeated, it can make killing the rest of the minions harder. After defeating the thistle, the tank is safe to use Growl.

Make sure your damage dealers put up an AoE to deal with the monsters, and that the tank is properly moving the monsters into the damage dealer's AoE. The Skinrenderers are identical to the Emeraldfang snakes (has Emerald Cut which cuts the healing on that ally by 33% [stacks 3 times to fully prevent healing that ally], and Mirror Scales to reflect any spell's attacks except AoEs), making them one of the toughest to kill. The healer should try to keep the rest of the group's health as high as possible in preparation for the Crystalline Explosion.

The longer the group takes to kill all of the minions, the stronger that Daphne's Crystalline Explosion gets. You want to get rid of the minions as quickly as possible, or else her Crystalline Explosion becomes strong enough to 1 hit KO some members of your group. After all minions are defeated, Daphne will unleash Crystalline Explosion, and the healer has to quickly use Song of Harmony in order to counter that.

After the Song of Harmony finishes, the tank should pull Daphne back to the spot as described in the initial phase, and the damage dealers should focus on Daphne again.

Phase 3 (Interim)

     (x( (xxx) )x)

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The text diagram above shows a rough text layout of Daphne's Erupt IV attack. Note that the area of the attack represented by the text diagram is larger than what is represented in the game, and doesn't necessarily spawn in the middle of the map. The (xxx) represents the inner circle, where the giant spike will show up on, sending the player into the air. The ( ( and ) ) represent the tiny safe spots that you can stay in to avoid the attack completely. The (x( and )x) represent the outer ring of spikes that can still do a lot of damage to a player.

The interim phase works very much like the initial phase, where the tank is keeping Daphne on the right. Except, Daphne has one more ability up her sleeve. When she casts Erupt IV, a yellow circle and a yellow ring appear on the ground moments before the spell hits. Each player should get out of the yellow spots immediately by heading left or right (right for tanks) to dodge the attack. If you stand in between the yellow circle and ring, there is a safe spot you can stand on to completely avoid the attack, however you have to be precise.

In HM, the interim phase is very short, and it'll transition over to the crystal phase after a bit of time. Daphne usually does not use Night Spear at this time (because of how short the phase is).

Phase 4 (Crystal) [focusing on the player trapped in crystal]

   >   >  F C    <   <

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the Crystal Realm's terrain. The > and < in this diagram indicates the positions of the random monsters spawned, while C represents the location of the crystal. Exclusively for the healer, a fairy will spawn on the location represented by F.

One random player other than the tank is selected to be frozen in crystal for about 30 seconds. The chosen player is sent to the Crystal Realm, where they must defeat 3-4 slowly moving monsters (each one spawns after a certain amount of seconds have passed) from both sides in a tower defense style mini-game. If one of the monsters reaches the crystal, the monster is transported outside of the realm back into the boss fight area where the rest of the group is.

The monsters are much harder to defeat when they are transported outside the realm, while they are much easier inside the realm. If the player is too far away from the crystal, they will begin to take damage over time. This is one of the reasons why the realm is much harder for a dps warrior, than a dps priest/mage/hunter.

If the player sent to the realm is a damage dealer, they must normally defeat the monsters from each side. There are various strategies depending on your class:

• A Mage can use Fire Wall or Blizzard to cover a side, while they focus on eliminating the monster on the other side. Or, they can use FF to temporarily slow down one side, while working on the other side.
• A Priest can use Poison Dust on one side, while they work on the other side. Or, they can use NF to temporarily slow down one side, while working on the other side.
• A Warrior has to quickly deal with the monster on one side before they take too much damage, then quickly return to the crystal and work on the other side. Slash is recommended for finishing off monsters on one side.

If the player sent to the realm is a healer, a friendly light fairy with low health spawns inside the realm. The fairy is powerful enough to take on the invading monsters, but constantly loses health over time. The healer should heal the fairy to full health immediately and use any periodic healing buffs (e.g. Revitalize, Healing Winds) to keep it alive as much as possible. 50% of the healing done to the fairy is also shared across the rest of your group.

In either of these cases, the player trapped in crystal must keep track of their debuff's duration so that the rest of the group knows when to break you out of the crystal. Around 8-10 seconds left on the debuff, you need to ping the mini-map (just left-click anywhere on the mini-map), alerting the group. The group needs to immediately respond to breaking them out of the crystal once they see the ping (take too long and the player trapped in crystal gets knocked out immediately).

Phase 4 (Crystal) [focusing on the rest of the group]

                CO > T

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The > in this diagram represents the boss facing to the right, while T is for tank. C represents a scenario where one player is frozen in crystal, but located slightly behind the damage dealers. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer.

Once a player is trapped in crystal, the group has to maintain their positions on the field with a high level of caution (go back to the same set-up in the initial phase). The three things that the rest of the group have to worry about are: AoEs, Daphne's Night Spear and watching the player trapped in crystal.

All damage dealers have to be careful about where they use and place their AoE skills. For example, if the player trapped in crystal is directly standing on Daphne, do NOT use an AoE skill at all. If the player trapped in crystal is slightly away from Daphne, one of two situations may happen, particularly for mages.

• A mage with Blizzard has to be positioned slightly right of where Daphne is standing to avoid hitting the player in the crystal.
• A mage with Fire Wall (wearing the Charm of Wandering Flame) has to stand directly on Daphne to prevent the fire wall from creeping into the crystal.

In most battles against Daphne on HM, she uses Night Spear only during the crystal phase, while she might use Arcane Explosion only in the interim phase. This targets a player that is a damage dealer or healer that is not trapped in crystal. The player that is targeted by Night Spear has to go to the left side of the map, and kite the falling swords. You have to distance yourself from the player that is trapped in crystal (or else they get hit too).

In a group of 3, one of the players is busy being trapped in the crystal, while the other is tanking Daphne. To ease the burden, weaken the crystal (that is trapping the player) to about 10-30% of it's health.

• If the healer is trapped in crystal, the damage dealer has the double responsibility of kiting Daphne's Night Spear, and breaking their healer out of the crystal.
• If the damage dealer is trapped in crystal, the healer now has the double responsibility of kiting and breaking their damage dealer out of the crystal. But since the healer doesn't have enough DPS, the tank has to step in and help the healer do enough damage, while tanking Daphne.

In groups of 4 or more, you have the tank busy with Daphne, one of the players are trapped in crystal, one of the players kiting Daphne's Night Spear, and one person watching the crystal. The player that is watching the crystal has to weaken it down to 10-30% of it's health, and break the crystal when it is time to do so.

Once they see the ping on the mini-map, that is the time to break them out of the crystal. Do NOT break them out prematurely, or else they can't kill the monsters inside the realm. If any monsters are able to get out of the realm, the damage dealers have to finish them off immediately if their health is low. If the monster's health is high, FF/NF the monsters to stall for time. But in most cases, it's an immediate wipe for the group if they let any monsters get outside with high health.

Finally, the boss fight goes back to the interim phase, and repeats between the two phases over and over again until the boss is defeated.

The trophy Dreaming in Crystal requires you to defeat Daphne on Hard mode.

The trophy Don't Have an Eternity requires you to defeat Daphne on Hard mode without destroying any of the crystals that a player is trapped in. This may require a lot of reviving, and a lot of DPS to take on Daphne, especially after she freezes a player in crystal past the revive limit.

Break Point 2 (Critical Care)

After defeating Daphne, the timer will pause. You can do anything at this time, but once you go past the area beyond the teleport rune in Lower Depths, the timer will start again. You cannot pause the timer after this break point.

Accessing the Treasure Caves

See Treasure Caves for details.

Zafyre

Zafyre is the sixth and final boss in the Blackwood Depths - Lowest Reaches. The pathway down is not easy, as it is protected by various groups of monsters (with the final group being a trio of Beholders). After crossing the Lower Depths towards the bottom-most portal, going down to the right in Lowest Reaches, and reaching the lowest left end, you'll finally reach Zafyre.

Zafyre's defending element is Neutral 2, making him vulnerable to Ghost (+50% more damage), as well as weak to Light, Dark and Poison (+25% more damage). A Mage should ideally decide between Fire or Water (depending on their preference, as both are 0%). Because Zafyre's attacks are primarily earth and wind based, an Earth vial may be recommended to reduce the amount of damage taken.

The dynamic of the fight changes severely between Normal and Hard mode. In NM, each time you knock Zafyre's health down by a third, a Deathblossom spawns, forcing the damage dealers to deal with it. In HM, the group has to deal with the limited space on the field due to the crystals, taking care of the eggs on the upper platform (accessible for a single damage dealer by getting on Carolyn's plane), and dealing with the Earth Sprite as Zafyre is preoccupied by Carolyn on her plane.

The main abilities that Zafyre will use are:

In both modes:

• Crushing Jump: N/A
• Cleave: This is Zafyre's version of the Swipe attack that hits all targets in front of him. Players usually call this "frontal", meaning that only the tank must engage the boss in front, while the others stay behind to avoid taking additional damage.
• Cross Claw: A weak version of the Warrior's Thrash skill that deals 200% of Zafyre's regular attack, plus additional damage. Deals roughly 1,000 damage to a tank. Zafyre generally uses it once every 40 seconds or so, unless preoccupied in one of the crystal phases.
• Crystal Bolt: Targets two players, knocking them back slightly and dealing moderate wind damage (~1,000). Can be interrupted.
• Electric Charge: Targets a random player, dealing weak wind damage (~500).
• Molten Crystal: Targets the tank, dealing around 1,600-2,000 earth damage three times within 5 seconds. When about to be targeted by this ability, a warning indicator shows up on the edges of the screen. Can be reflected by Spell Reflect or interrupted.
• Static Charge: A random ally will be targeted by Overload, as noted by an electric charge on the character, and yellow text on the screen saying who received it. All allies standing near the player who received Overload including themselves will constantly get hit by moderate wind damage for several seconds. Often used before Crystal Spire.
• Crystal Spire: Causes two crystal stalactites (sometimes three if one of your group's members is affected by Overload) to fall from the ceiling, dealing a large amount of damage to players who are standing directly on where it falls. The crystals can protect players from Electric Burst, but explode shortly afterwards for a large amount of damage.
  • Sometimes, if the tank doesn't move Zafyre away and let the stalactites fall too close to him, the stalactite is absorbed by Zafyre, preventing them from being used as cover even though they are still on the field. One of the stalactites that falls the closest to the damage dealer is automatically destroyed as it lands.
  • If there is no safe stalactite for players to hide behind, Electric Burst is guaranteed to hit, dealing major damage to all players (the game will indicate that there is "no cover").
• Electric Burst: Zafyre discharges a blast of electricity, dealing a major amount of wind damage to all players. Used after Crystal Spire. Causes the crystal stalactites to be unstable and explode shortly afterwards. Zafyre often uses Depths Fiends after Electric Burst.
• Depths Fiends: Similar to Daphne's Night Spear, causes chomp plants to come out of the ground to chase every player, dealing a large amount of damage. After a while, Zafyre uses this in combination with Lunge, causing players to walk while stacking to avoid both the plants and the full damage from the fore-mentioned attack.
• Lunge: Similar to Axrahn's Pounce from Crypt, Zafyre chooses a target to leap onto (marked by a yellow arrow pointing downwards), causing enough damage to one-hit KO a player. The attack is less effective when multiple players are stacking on top of each other.
• Arcane Rain: Zafyre tries to get behind the furthest player away from him (e.g. if Zafyre was on the left, he would try to get behind the right-most player). Then, he stops, turns around and unleashes a rain of arcane blasts from the sky (to the entire platform behind him). Deals a large amount of damage, enough to fatally wound a damage dealer or knock them out.

Only in Normal mode:

• Death Blossom: Summons a Deathblossom at 66% and 33% of Zafyre's health. The Deathblossom leeches a poisonous beam at the closest player to it, causing them to gain stacks of a debuff that deals damage over time. If the target receives more than 3 stacks, the debuff causes an explosion on the player's location that deals massive poison damage.
  • The deathblossom has 80,000 health, a defending element of Earth 3, and is immune to stun/freeze/silence/taunt/sleep/charm.

Only in Hard mode:

• Rockfall: Causes smaller stalactites to fall down first, dealing major damage. Shortly afterwards, causes a huge rock to fall from the ceiling, crashing to the ground over a large area. If any player is still in the targeted area as the huge rock falls down, they'll be one-hit KOed.
• Fury: Causes Zafyre to wait a second, before eventually gaining Blind Fury. Blind Fury increases Zafyre's damage gradually up to 300% over 60 seconds. Carolyn will usually have her plane up by then, first escorting a damage dealer to the upper platform, and returning below to grab aggro of Zafyre from the tank.
• Blind Rage: After obtaining Blind Fury for a while, Zafyre gains the Blind Rage buff. This makes him receive 80% less damage from attacks for about 10 seconds.
• Crystalline Regeneration: After Zafyre finishes being in a blind rage, Zafyre will use this ability. Unleashes an explosion, destroying all crystals that are currently lit on the field. This also causes Carolyn to be knocked off her plane, as it becomes damaged (she needs to re-repair it). Deals a large amount of damage to all players, less if they are shielded within range of Carolyn's plane (only possible during the first crystal).
  • When not in the crystal's range, the entire field is engulfed in darkness, making monsters appear and all players receive twice the amount of damage.
• Frenzy: After the third crystal has been destroyed, Zafyre eventually gains a damage buff that constantly increases his damage by 15% every 3 seconds (e.g. +60% damage after 12 seconds have passed).
• Crystal Volley: After the third crystal has been destroyed, Zafyre doesn't use any skill other than Crystal Volley. Hits all players for about 600~800 earth damage, with a spam rate of every 1-3 seconds. Can be interrupted, but is immune to any effects that prevent it from being re-casted for a couple of seconds.

Strategy (NM)

The fight against Zafyre consists of an initial phase, a general phase, and two summoning phases (Deathbloom), each at 66% and 33% of his health. The initial phase and general phase are created in this guide to explain Zafyre's somewhat unpredictable pattern of attacks (unlike most boss fights that do have a distinguishable phase change, Zafyre does this more subtly). The detailed order of the phases actually work as such: initial > 1st summoning > general > 2nd summoning > general.

Initial Phase (no lunge and chomp plant combo period)

         T < O

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The < in this diagram represents the boss facing to the left, while T is for tank. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer.

On the center-left side of the field where the boss fight takes place, the tank should have Zafyre facing to the left, while the rest of the group is somewhat close to each together on the right (behind Zafyre). The tank should take care of reflecting Molten Crystal with Spell Reflect (if Spell Reflect is on cooldown for whatever reason, you can also Smite it). The tank can also smite Crystal Bolt (if they are comfortable enough) so that the group takes less damage.

The damage dealers can take it easy during this phase by spamming AoE attacks, however they still have to be wary of Zafyre's two skills: Lunge (the group members must stack), and Depth Fiends (players stack and walk right to avoid the chomp plants). These two skills are used separately from each other and not in a combo just yet in the fight (this is later mentioned in the General phase). Be careful not to run all the way to the right wall during Depth Fiends, as Zafyre tries to go behind the furthest player (he records the position of the furthest player, and shortly after determines how far he should run with Arcane Rain), turn around, and use Arcane Rain to bombard the entire area to the left of him.

When Depths Fiends or the combo occurs, the damage dealers and healer have to walk while stacking to the right (commonly referred to as stack running, but I prefer stack jogging/walking to avoid the confusion that players have to run). Make no mistake, as the chomp plants come down a lot faster than what you might actually think, and you must never run faster than your slowest player. Only run if you're trying to catch up to the rest of your group, and then slow down to your group's speed once you've reached them.

As a side note, running actually causes the group to split up, as some players might be slow on the cue, encounter lag or have stuck arrow keys that make them slower.

Summoning Phase (Deathblossom plant)

        T < O  D

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The < in this diagram represents the boss facing to the left, while T is for tank. O represents all other players, such as the damage dealers and the healer. D represents the Deathblossom plant that spawns behind the damage dealers.

During this time, Zafyre cannot use Lunge or Depths Fiends as the Deathblossom plant is summoned. However, the Deathblossom will constantly pick on the closest player to it, causing them to take damage over time from poison stacks (if four stacks is reached on one player, causes a massive poison explosion on the character's location, 1-hit KOing the entire group). The tank should keep focusing on Zafyre, while the damage dealers shift attention to take on the Deathblossom.

To deal with the Deathblossom's gimmick, have a damage dealer or healer stand next to it until they have 2-3 stacks of the poison on them. Then, another player should get close to the Deathblossom while the first player (with 2-3 poison stacks on them) stand far away from the plant, preferably still behind Zafyre. After the Deathblossom is taken down, the fight will transition into the general phase.

The tank should continue to watch out for the usual abilities that Zafyre will pull off. If Zafyre is too close to the right side once the Deathblossom spawns, try to quickly move him back to the center-left side AFTER the plant is taken down, or else the healer will have to walk all the way to get to you. Having Zafyre too close to the right gives the damage dealers and healer no room to avoid the Depths Fiends and Lunge.

General Phase (lunge with chomp plant combo and more)

• Depths Fiends (chomp plants) + Lunge
• Crystal Spire (pillars) + Electric Burst
• Arcane Rain

The general phase is similar to the initial phase, except Zafyre now has access to the rest of his abilities and will always combo Depths Fiends and Lunge together. Zafyre will most likely pull off a Crystal Spire + Electric Burst combo before the Depths Fiends + Lunge combo, but Arcane Rain occurs before or after the two combos.

The tank should continue to keep Zafyre in the same spot as usual, however if a group member or two is knocked out early in the fight (leaving with only 2-3 members to stack), the tank will have to join the damage dealers and healer in stack jogging. It is crucial for a tank to have speed boosts and Charge to catch up to the rest of the group, which is already a distance away to the right. An alternative method is for the group to run toward the left side instead, so that the tank can easily stack with the group (the tank will take some damage from the chomp plants, but this needs to be informed in advance so there is no confusion).

When two to four of the pillars drop on the field, some of them will break as soon as they land or survive the fall. Make sure that the group finds the stable one and stay within the marked area. If you or one of the members of your group have Overload (electric sparks that damage nearby players and pillars) during when the pillars drop, there will be an additional pillar that survives the fall.^[1] Have the affected person stand behind one pillar (without touching the pillar) and the rest of your group to stand behind the other. After the pillars absorb Zafyre's blast (coming from the left), the player needs to stay away from the orange circles around the pillars and avoid walking into one as they are about to explode.

After Zafyre exhausts both combos, he'll attempt to run over to the right side of the map, depending on how far a player was standing at the time it was recorded and prepare Arcane Rain in the direction behind him. If the tank, damage dealer, and/or healer see him irregularly moving to the right, make sure that you stick close to him and DO NOT GET AHEAD OF HIM (constantly going faster will only make Zafyre keep repositioning himself by moving towards the right).^[2] Only until Zafyre stops moving and starts preparing his casting bar that you try to get ahead of him, so you can be behind him when the attack occurs.

Strategy (HM)

The fight against Zafyre consists of several phases, including the initial phase, plane phase, crystal phase and final phase. Each phase is created in this guide to explain Zafyre's somewhat unpredictable pattern of attacks (unlike most boss fights that do have a distinguishable phase change, Zafyre does this more subtly). The detailed order of the phases actually work as such: initial > plane > crystal > plane > crystal > plane > crystal > final.

Initial Phase (no lunge and chomp plant combo period)

        ______________

           ( ^ )      ^  
      ( ^ )  T<O( ^ )   P

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The ( ^ ) icons show the location of the real crystals and it's effective range, while the one ^ on the right is a unused fourth crystal. The T represents the tank, tanking Zafyre which is facing to the left <, while all other players are marked with O. The location of Carolyn's plane before taking flight is represented by P.

Skills used during this phase: Cleave, Cross Claw, Electric Charge, Crystal Bolt, Molten Crystal, and Rockfall (x1)

On the center-right side of the field where the boss fight takes place, the tank should have Zafyre facing to the left, while the rest of the group is somewhat close to each together on the right (behind Zafyre). The tank should take care of reflecting Molten Crystal with Spell Reflect (if Spell Reflect is on cooldown for whatever reason, you can also Smite it). The tank can also smite Crystal Bolt (if they are comfortable enough) so that the group takes less damage.

During this phase, Zafyre's attacks are limited to a handful of low and medium damaging skills (excluding the chomp plants). Since all of the crystals are lit up, you don't have to worry about positioning that much, except for only one skill, which is Rockfall (signaled by multiple tiny spikes falling from the air, and a huge rock that comes down afterwards). Most likely, a huge yellow circle will appear within the dps/healer's vicinity, signaling your group to avoid that area, however if it comes into the tank's area instead, they should go left to dodge it and return back to their normal spot.

The initial phase lasts approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds. However, if your DPS is too overwhelming, then a phase or two might accidentally be skipped, causing Zafyre to break & accelerate his usual pattern. Make sure that you pace yourself, and keep your mana/fury in peak condition to survive the next onslaught of phases.

Plane Phase (perspective of the one DPS up top)

     >   n  D n    n
        ______________
     
     ^     <     <    <  P

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The text diagram above shows a rough layout of the map's terrain. The arrows in this diagram show the flight path of Carolyn's plane, marked as P. The D stands for the damage dealer that will deal with the eggs on the top platform, while the eggs are represented by n.

After a minute and a half has passed during the fight, Carolyn will call to your group through a brief dialog prompt mid-battle, saying that the plane is ready. One damage dealer in your group has to run right to where the plane is docked, and walk over into the empty seat of the plane, where it will automatically mount you in. Carolyn will cause the plane to take off, where you fly past Zafyre for a short while (your character can still attack Zafyre while on the plane) until you automatically disembark onto the top platform above, where three Nightmare Larvas and Pupas are spawned.

While at the top platform, your objective is to get rid of the three eggs (Pupas) before Zafyre attempts to pull off Crystalline Regeneration (an explosion that hits the whole map, dealing massive damage to all players). Sometimes, the eggs spawn close together, making it easier for you to use an AoE to finish them all off, but in most cases, the eggs are spread out. You need to use an AoE on one egg, while focusing on taking down the other (or if your AoE is large enough, use it to hit two eggs, while focusing on the third).

If you do not get rid of all of the eggs in time, three Butterfrights will eventually hatch from them in subsequent phases, wreaking havoc onto your group and causing an immediate wipe. You do not need to get rid of the Nightmare Larvas as they have a substantial amount of health and only serve as a distraction for you, but it'll make the second and third plane phases a lot easier. Once you see a message in yellow text appear on the screen mentioning something about "glistening", then that is your cue to hop down from the right side of the platform, and quickly run towards Carolyn's shielded plane before Zafyre pulls off the explosion.

Plane Phase (everyone else)

         n  D n    n
        ______________

          ( ^ )       ^
     ( ^ )     (T<^O)    P

         n  D n    n
        ______________

          (T<^O)      ^
     ( ^ )      ( ^ )    P

         n  D n    n
        ______________

           ( ^ )      ^
     (T<^O)     ( ^ )    P

         n  D n    n
        ______________

          ( ^ )       ^
     ( ^ )     (>T^O)    P

         n  D n    n
        ______________

          (>T^O)      ^
     ( ^ )      ( ^ )    P

         n  D n    n
        ______________

           ( ^ )      ^
     (>T^O)     ( ^ )    P

Crystal Phase

        ______________

          ( ^ )       ^
     ( ^ )     (T<^O)    P

        ______________

          (T<^O)      ^
     ( ^ )      ( ^ )    P

        ______________

           ( ^ )      ^
     (T<^O)     ( ^ )    P

        ______________

          ( ^ )       ^
     ( ^ )     (>T^O)    P

        ______________

          (>T^O)      ^
     ( ^ )      ( ^ )    P

        ______________

           ( ^ )      ^
     (>T^O)     ( ^ )    P

The trophy Fireflies Syndrome requires you to defeat Zafyre on HM. Even if you fail Critical Care, it is still possible to obtain this trophy.

Defeating Zafyre

After defeating Zafyre and acquiring the drops left behind, move to the left side of the field to find a cave. A cutscene will arise, depending on the difficulty chosen and whether you met the specific requirements for the trophy. After the cutscene, you'll be dropped off in an instance of Laurel's Room.

In NM, you immediately receive a chest. Opening the chest rewards you three splinters of the Guardian Stone of Life, permanently increasing your health, mana (or fury/endurance) and increases the experience gain from monsters level 39 or higher. In addition, it allows you to use a special buff regardless of level scaling called Gift of Life (when a player is knocked out while they have the buff, they can be immediately revived on the spot at 5% of their health).

In HM, if you did not meet the requirements, you'll immediately receive a chest. if you also fulfilled the requirements for the Critical Care trophy, you won't receive the chest just yet. Proceed onto the Dream first before you obtain your chest.

Accessing the Dream (HM + Critical Care)

After defeating Zafyre, move to the left side for a cutscene involving an elder fairy. You will shortly return to Laurel's room, this time with the elder fairy. Shortly afterwards, he will teleport you into the Dream world, which begins as a long castle corridor overlooking a bright and peaceful meadow. Another cutscene will occur, opening the right section of the castle into a large hidden grotto with plants. After this cutscene finishes, it will begin the 5 minute timer, and take you down to 1 health. The healer should quickly recover the party's health, as well as the party using potions and other powerful food items, as you'll need all the time you can get.

The goal of this area is to free the captive prisoner, defeat the two mini-bosses, and lower the third mini-boss down to about half of their health, all in five minutes. Each mini-boss has roughly 100k health, and can inflict significant damage if not careful. One mini-boss is located on the bottom-left path of the grotto resembling a deathbloom, the second mini-boss at the center-top of the grotto (also housing the captive prisoner), and the third mini-boss at the bottom-right of the grotto (being the strongest of the three).

The trophy Critical Care has multiple requirements. You are expected to be scaled to level 41, defeat every boss in Depths (except Venyxia and Detareus) within four hours (two breaks included), and defeat the three mini-bosses within five minutes after entering Laurel's dream. In order to make it, you want to clear as quickly and carefully as possible (if you or members of your group die a lot, time is wasted) so that you have a lot of time to prepare for Zafyre, one of the hardest bosses in the game. This way, if you wipe on Zafyre, you still have more chances. It is recommended that you value your breaks as much as possible, instead of pushing towards the next boss on the same day.

The trophy The Undying is essentially the same as Critical Care, except you or your teammates must not die during any of the boss fights. The only time that your group is allowed to die is during clearing (defeating monsters on the way to the bosses). The group has to be well-prepared not to die when facing each of the Depths bosses.

Notable Drops List

Each drop below may be associated for a specific class, and is marked as such. Drops not associated with a single class are not marked. Includes drops from Treasure Caves. For more information on pet-related items, see Notes (or the Treasure Cave page's note section).

P represents Priest, W represents Warriors, M represents Mages and H represents Hunters. Pet represents items that would obtain you a pet (either by directly using the item, using the item on a desired monster, or using the item on an existing pet to permanently change it into another pet).

Zone-Exclusive/Monsters

• Cobalt Seed (drops from Noxious Orchid in Main Access Tunnel) - Pet
• Crystalline Nightmare (Lower Depths and Lowest Reaches, zone drop) - W
• Dragon Plush Cap (drops from Igna or Petris in Treasure Caves) - H
• Mittens of the Nimble Waters (drops from Aquayus in Treasure Caves or Water Sprite in Blackwood River Cave) - H
• Peacock's Pride (drops from Noxious Lotus) - H
• Scythe Hairpin (drops from Preying Mantis) - W
• Silver Philosopher's Gel (drops from Silverscale Lizard in Treasure Caves) - Pet
• Small Lantern (drops from Blackwood Shaman] - Maw
• Thorn Crown (drops from Blackwood Nestmender) - W
• Yggberry Necklace (Crystalline Forest, zone drop including from herbs/plants) - P

Bosses

Keraketh

• Blessed Twig - P
• Bone Collar - W
• Brassthorn Vine - W
• Fangs of Burrowed Nightmares - W
• Hallowed Skull - H
• Iridescent Scaleguard - W
• Nature's Wrath - M
• Ritual Cowl - M
• Scythe Blades - W
• Straps of the Lifebringer - P

Venyxia

• Charm of Blizzard - M
• Charm of Frugality - H
• Charm of Poisonous Springs - P
• Charm of Powerful Cleaves - W
• Charm of Raging Lightning - M
• Charm of Reinvigorating Winds - P
• Charm of Slippery Ice - M
• Charm of Wandering Flame - M

Daphne

• Bone Glove - H
• Crystal Thorn Earring - H
• Crystalline Ear Protector - W
• Demonic Tail Ring - M
• Elvosh Leather Leaf Guard - M
• Elvosh Wood Ring - P
• Emerald Circlet - P
• Emerald Ivy - P
• Forest Light - P
• Glove of the Crystalline Forest - P
• Snake Charmer Pendant - H
• Thorn-Studded Tailguard - H

Detareus

• Enchanted Crown - M
• Fairy Light - P
• Gemmed Chestplate - M
• Gold-Plated Crystal Headguard - W
• Iron Visor - W
• Mittens of the Dark Moon - M
• Nature's Blessing - M
• Philosopher's Gel - Pet

Zafyre

• Armoured Crystalline Pawguards - W
• Blossoming Crystal - H
• Brooch of the Forest Guardian - H
• Cosmic Force - M
• Crystal Cluster Ring - W
• Crystal-Studded Tail Ring - W
• Crystallised Sprout - P
• Earthen Scythe - W
• Heretical's Pendant - W
• Hollow Crystal Chunk - W
• Maw of the Depths - W
• Regal Ceremonial Glove - P

Additional Tips

1. ↑ Sometimes, the additional pillar that was meant for the player with Overload drops exactly on the same spot as the other surviving pillar, resulting in only one safe spot. To fix this situation, you can have the group attempt to stand on the inner edges of the safe spot behind the pillar (the rest of the group on the left edge, while the person with overload is standing on the right edge). You have to be careful not to stand too far out from the safe spot, or else you'll get hit regardless.
2. ↑ Like Rochiear when it comes to Wild Charge, you do not want Zafyre to end up standing on the right-most part of the field directly at the wall or else Arcane Rain ends up hitting the entire field (running further left is pointless). If your character won't make it to the other side in time to avoid Arcane Rain, have the healer use Emerald Shield so that you have a better chance of surviving the attack, or the tank to use Divine Plea. If your character tends to be slow, you can use Skip (if you're a Mage) or Charge (if you're a Warrior), or speed boosts + sprinting.

Notes

• The torches serve no purpose in the dungeon, however they can be lit up with the use of fire attacks.
• The trophy Playing With Fire requires you to unlock the secret treasure room in Upper Tunnel Hub. The secret treasure room is blocked off by boulders and can be accessed by attempting the barrel trick. The top-center slope in Upper Tunnel Hub has a TNT barrel (respawns up to three times). Knocking it down will make the TNT roll down to the left side of the map. By placing players to hit the barrel at specific locations, the barrel will roll into the treasure room and explode, opening up the room. You can soft reset the instance using /reset to get more chances, at the cost of having to re-clear all of the monsters.
  • One player to hit the barrel in the > direction as it rolls left from the top-center slope.
  • One player to hit the barrel in the < direction as it rolls right from the top-left platform.
  • One player to hit the barrel in the > direction as it rolls left from the top-right platform.
• The Noxious Orchid has a small chance to appear in the Blackwood Depths - Main Access Tunnel. Guaranteed to drop the Cobalt Seed, which allows you to obtain the Noxious Orchid as a pet. The item is untradeable, and drops for every player in the group, as long as they were present in the map to begin with (it won't drop for members of your group that weren't in the map at the time it was defeated, similar to the Silverscale Lizard).
  • Previously, there was a version of the Noxious Orchid that would drop a Cobalt Seed that the group could roll for and is fully tradeable. This version of the Orchid can still be summoned by using a Cursed Branch (that can summon monsters no longer found in-game).