Revision as of 07:26, 11 May 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

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 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 can finish eating all three of the eggs, and trying to come back around for the 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: Deals a moderate amount of damage to the target that has it's attention (the tank).
• 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 raise 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

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

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.

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 her 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.

Shield Phase

     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.

Summoning Phase

> > > > > 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 her health, reappear and continue her 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 her (at the metal circlet). This requires that the damage dealers do not let any slimes slip through.

Enrage Phase

Once Venyxia has reached 20% or less of it's health, it 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).

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. The main difference in HM is that 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 they break 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.
• Double Claw: Deals some damage 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 lasers to fall from the sky, hitting the target that currently has her attention. Deals a moderate amount of damage, and knocks them back.
• 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 Explosion: 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 in between, 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.

Initial Phase

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. It is entirely optional for the tank to stack during Arcane Explosion, but it is discouraged so that they don't break positioning during the fight.

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.

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.

Summoning Phase

Interim Phase

Crystal Phase

Accessing the Treasure Caves

Zafyre

Strategy (NM)

Strategy (HM)

Accessing the Dream (HM + Critical Care)

Notes

• The torches serve no purpose in the dungeon, however they can be lit up with the use of fire attacks.