The Blackwood Depths

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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

Name	Crystalfang
Level	42
Classification	Insect
Element	Poison 1
Health	226,000
Resistances	Immune to stun, freeze, silence, sleep, and charm.

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

Name	Keraketh
Level	42
Classification	Insect
Element	Neutral 1
Health	283,000
Resistances	Immune to stun, freeze, silence, sleep, and charm.

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%).

Name	Armoured Mantis
Level	42
Classification	Insect
Element	Earth 1
Health	95,000
Resistances	Resistant to stun, freeze, silence, sleep, and charm.

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

Notes

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