This week's mutation is hazardous Hellfire
You can take a break from exacting revenge on rabbits this week to run through a few mutations. Ennead has nice synergy with the weekly mutation element of Fire, so that might be a good choice.
Contents
Mutation
- Ignited – 50% of all enemy damage is Fire.
- Fiery – Burn is applied on hit – M1: 4% Fire damage over time, M2 & M3: 8% Fire damage over time.
- Enflamed – Enemies with this title cast a Burn zone that deals Fire damage over time. M1: 20%, M2 & M3: 40%.
- Explosive – Enemies with this title explode on death, dealing 70% Fire damage.
Promotion
- Vampiric – Enemies heal a percentage of damage done. M1: 20%, M2 & M3: 40%.
- Phalanx – Enemies cast a shield that blocks ranged attacks.
Curse
- Combustible – Selects the player with the lowest percent health and surrounds them with a Fire aura. When the aura expires, nearby players receive Fire damage of 50% max health.
- Shrivelled – All players except the one with the Fire aura get a Shrivelled Weaken debuff, reducing damage and healing by 50%. Stepping into the Fire aura cleanses the debuff.
Consumables
- Flame Protection Amulet
- Rubies in Armor/Jewelry
- Desert Sunrise
- Fire Absorption Potion
- Honing Stone
- Attribute bonus food
Gearing up
- M1 – Opals in your armor is fine
- M2 – Add the Flame Protection Amulet
- M3 – Swap most of your Opals for Rubies
- Enchanted Ward – Aim for 4 or 5 pieces with this perk
- For more detailed advice on gear, check out our Gear Guide.
Dodge Explosions
Explosive enemies go boom! Not only does this do a big chunk of damage but it also throws you around, even off the edge of the dungeon, if you’re close. Look for the title and be ready to dodge or get out of the way.
The floor is lava
The Burn zone from Enflamed enemies can get pretty hot, so make sure you’re stacking on, and staying in, the heals. Leaving and returning to this space may cause an (unintended?) double stack of burn, so either stay with the clump or stay out of the fire.
M2 - Melee and chunder
There’s a penalty for using ranged attacks once again, with Phalanx enemies putting up a deflecting shield, so make sure you have at least one melee weapon. Vampiric slows down the time to kill on mobs that have it, so slotting your Bile Bomb Heartrune can help.
M3 - Dip and Nae Nae
Desiccated is the easiest to manage of all the curses. If you get the Fire aura around you, be sure to dip all your teammates to remove their Shrivelled debuff. Then quickly move (or “Nae Nae”) away, so you don’t spike them with the chain Fire.
Barnacles and Black Powder
Enemy Type: Lost
Weaknesses: 30% Nature 15% Ice 10% Strike
Consumables
- Amber gem Nature damage*
- Lost Ward potion (Angry Earth Ward for Nereid) – 10% damage absorption
- Lost Coating (Angry Earth for Nereid) – 15% bonus damage
- Lost Combat Trophy (Angry Earth for Nereid) – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Nature/Strike/Ice damage – Life Staff, War Hammer, Flail, Ice Gauntlet
Note: *Elemental damage gems in your weapons are simply recommendations based on the elements your enemies are weakest to. Your playstyle may suit non-elemental gems better and you are encouraged to continue using those if so.
Artifact: Void Darkplate Heavy Chestwear
Dropped by Nereid.
- +32 Magnify (selectable attribute)
- Dark Reinforced: Your armor is increased by 20%.
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- Enchanted Ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
- Physical Aversion: Receive 4.5% less damage from ranged, physical attacks.
Strategy and tips
This is a very pirate-y expedition, with lots of explosions and gunshots. Watch out for bombers – you can root them and run, or if you’re clever you can lead them to their friends and use them as a weapon. To beat the mutation timer, players generally tend to skip past mobs and group them up. Be aware of ghosts and try to kill them rather than skipping, since they cast spells that slow you down.
Main Damage Type: Fire
The Admiral is a huge pirate with interesting feet and some really big balls. The fight seems deceptively simple at first, with everyone beating on him. He throws explosives, and if you see a red circle on the floor, you’re going to take some fire damage.
At about 75% health, he jumps up onto the ship at the back of the arena so you can’t hit him. He’ll usually spawn a group of minions at the same time. The Admiral throws down kegs and cannon balls, and lines of fire appear on the floor. The kegs drop a radius of black powder which causes a Fire DoT. You can pick up the cannon balls, load them into the two cannons at the side of the arena and use them to shoot Admiral Blackpower. After three shots, he will come back to the fight.
This happens again at 50% life and about 25%, with more fire lines each time, which you can just dodge through. At the end of the fight, after you pick up your bag, Admiral Blackpowder has one last explosive surprise.
Main Damage Type: Nature
Nereid is an interesting boss. First of all, she is Angry Earth, not Lost, so you’ll want to change your wards and coatings. She also has different Weaknesses to either regular Angry Earth or Lost – 30% Ice, 20% Strike.
Her attacks do a range of physical damage types, and she uses a Lightning spear, but the most troublesome part of this fight is the wind, which does Nature damage and pushes you around. So we recommend using some Nature protection to help out if you get stuck, and just avoiding the rest.
Nereid will fight in the centre of the arena and periodically spin along the cross pattern on the floor. It’s usually safest to stand on a diagonal, but be ready to move if she comes your way. There is a predictable pattern to her movement that you can learn. When Nereid moves to the centre of the arena and raises her staff, stand back and make sure you are on the diagonal. Gusts of wind will shoot out along the lines of the cross.
It’s possible to play this fight as ranged, from the edge of the room, as long as you keep an eye out for the tornados that circle the arena. Toward the end, there is a lot of wind and lightning (it’s very very frightening), so be careful of your positioning.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Siren’s Set – Medium armour with Health and Elemental Aversion, upgradeable.
- M3 – Admiral’s Set – Light armour with Ice Harnessing and Elemental Aversion, upgradeable.
- M3 – Pirated weapon set for skins – split stat Con/Weapon scaling attribute, Rogue/Keen Speed/Desperate Prayer, Weapon Ability Perk.
- Waterlogged Amulet – Health, Refreshing + Random perk and attribute.
- Waterlogged Ring – Keen Awareness, Leeching + Random perk and attribute.
- Waterlogged Earring – Refreshing Toast, Fortifying Toast + Random perk and attribute.
The Depths
Enemy Type: Corrupted
Weaknesses: 30% Arcane 20% Thrust 15% Nature
Consumables
- Sapphire gem Arcane damage*
- Corrupted Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Corrupted Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Corrupted Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Thrust damage – Spear, Rapier, Bow, Musket, Blunderbuss
Note: *Elemental damage gems in your weapons are simply recommendations based on the elements your enemies are weakest to. Your playstyle may suit non-elemental gems better and you are encouraged to continue using those if so.
Artifact: Lost Stopwatch Amulet
Dropped by Commander Thorpe.
- +32 Magnify (selectable attribute)
- Stunny Gaze: Taunts are active. Generate 300% more threat. Stuns last 1s longer, but base damage is decreased by 10%.
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- Purify: When you are hit while below 50% Health, you lose all debuffs (90s cooldown. Does not trigger off persistent damage, DoT effects, or blocked attacks).
- Health: Increase max health by 7% of the base value.
Strategy and tips
There are lots of teleports, trigger platforms and azoth staff nodes in this expedition, as well as a plethora of ranged enemies. Use the twists and turns to your advantage by getting out of their line of sight and forcing them to come to you.
Main Damage Type: Void
The Archdeacon begins the fight in the centre of his arena, although he can move around if players do. He summons Corrupted dogs and has a nasty Ground Wave spell that you’ll need to dodge. Try to keep the dogs in the clump so they get killed by the hits on the Archdeacon.
When he gets to about 50% life, he’ll become invincible and channel a red beam to the east side of the arena. While the Archdeacon is invincible, mines will periodically spawn and if they are not destroyed they will explode and apply Void damage to everyone in the room. If you learn the timing, you can dodge this explosion. Two DPS should step on the teleport pad, which will take them up to a platform where two mages spawn. After killing the mages, one DPS needs to use their Azoth Staff on the node so they can both return to the main arena. Azamela will resume his normal state.
At about 20% health, the Archdeacon starts channelling again, this time with an additional green beam to the west side. You need to split the group and clear each platform as soon as you can. If the dogs are clear, the healer can remain on the ground and heal each side, but usually they will go up with the tank and DPS on the green side. Surviving the bomb damage at this point is the hardest part, clear quickly, dodge if you can, and use potions carefully to stay alive.
Main Damage Type: Fire
Thorpe has been with us since the first sea voyage to Aeternum, so we should be familiar with his moves by now. His great sword does a large amount of Fire damage as well as Slash. Even when behind him, some of his moves swing back, so DPS need to be careful. When he charges, stay out of the firey trail.
Thorpe is pretty chatty and you can use his voice lines to tell what is going to happen next.
- “Ha! Pathetic!” = he goes off the tank and attacks one of the other group members
- “This will be the last time we meet” = he rises and becomes invincible while he casts a beam that spawns two behemoths. Don’t get hit by the beam and kill the adds while the tank holds Thorpe away.
- “Prepare to have your soul crushed” = aka The Big Sticky Finger. Thorpe points a beam across the room and slowly rotates. It’s pretty slow so easy enough to stay away from or you can duck under it.
- “Time to taste Corrupted Steel” = slams down his sword – don’t be too close.
- “I will crush you beneath my heel, ant!” = he summons a beam of fire and directs it at one player, leaving a circle of fire on the floor.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Expedition Captain’s Set – Heavy armour with Strike Conditioning and Grit Ward, upgradeable.
- M3 – Gleaming Pitch weapon set for skins – split stat Con/Weapon scaling attribute, Keenly Empowered/Blessed, Weapon Ability Perk.
- Deep Amulet – Health, Shirking DoT Cleanse + Random perk and attribute.
- Deep Ring – Keen Awareness, Enfeebling + Random perk and attribute.
- Deep Earring – Empowering Toast, Nimble + Random perk and attribute.
The Ennead
Enemy Type: Ancient and Corrupted
Weaknesses: Ancient: 30% Lightning 20% Strike 15% Void. Corrupted: 30% Arcane 20% Thrust 15% Nature
Consumables
- Topaz gem Lightning damage* | Sapphire gem Arcane damage*
- Ancient Ward potion | Corrupted Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Ancient Coating | Corrupted Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Ancients Combat Trophy | Corrupted Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Strike damage – Hammer, Void damage – Void Gauntlet | Thrust damage – Spear, Rapier, Bow, Musket, Blunderbuss
Note: *Elemental damage gems in your weapons are simply recommendations based on the elements your enemies are weakest to. Your playstyle may suit non-elemental gems better and you are encouraged to continue using those if so.
Artifact: The Wall Tower Shield
Dropped by Heru.
- Shield Wall: Gain 5% base damage reduction You cannot dodge, but have 33% more stamina. (While active or sheathed)
- Chromatic Ward: You take 25% less damage from all elemental sources.
- Sturdy: Receive 10% less Stamina damage while blocking.
- Keenly Fortified: Gain 10% Fortify for 3s on critical hit (10s cooldown).
- Cannot add Gem Setting Pin
Strategy and tips
The Ennead is a bit of a maze and there are many different ways you can go and still reach your final destination. The fastest way is to take the first left in the passageway after the first room, kill all the beetles, then hug the wall on the right, fight the two sphinx and then proceed up to the mini-boss guarding the door. This does skip a lot of mini-bosses though, so if you’re wanting to complete faction missions or collect Azoth Crystal items from M2+ then you’ll have to go the long way.
Beware the Horus Guardians, as they teleport backwards away from the fight. Try to position them so they have a wall behind them and cannot get too far away. Some of the mini-bosses have attacks that do high damage, including Shai in the first room. If you are dying to this, consider taking your Con up to 100. On top of the mutation elemental damage, many of the attacks here are Fire or Void, so if you need somewhere to put your resistance over the 50% cap, these are good choices.
After the first boss, the enemies become Corrupted instead of Ancient. In M2 and M3, you may consider rebuffing at this point or even changing weapons. After the second boss, we return to Ancient for the final section.
Main Damage Type: Fire
This giant beetle is the first boss you will face. When you first enter the arena, there is a chance Khepri will charge, so be ready for it. As well as the physical attacks, Khepri emits a Solar Blast that does Fire damage. Watch out when the beetle launches into the air, because it is going to land with a slam. This gives you plenty of time to prepare a dodge. In the early part of the fight, it will do one slam but as the fight progresses, it will do two and then three, which is harder to dodge successfully.
Periodically, a solar beam will be targeted at each player. In most cases, you should be able to just fight through this, with good heals. For M3, you may want to use one of the pillars in the room to hide behind, which will stop the beam from damaging you.
Main Damage Type: Void
The General is Corrupted, so most of the elemental attacks in this fight are Void, including the corrosion blobs on the floor. There are a couple of Fire attacks, from the Archer phase, so try to stay out of those. General Crassus takes three different forms in this fight, each with their own signature moves.
Legionnaire Phase
This is the opening form, where General Crassus uses a spear. He begins flanked by two Signifiers and some trash mobs. It’s always good to clear Signifiers first, as they have a large area of effect Rend debuff. Watch out for the Phantoms – a row of ghostly soldiers that can hit hard. If this phase takes too long, additional enemies will spawn from a plate at each end of the arena. This is too far for the tank to taunt both of them, so DPS will need to manage these mobs and kill them or bring them to the clump.
Sagittarii Phase
At about 70% health, Crassus will return to the centre of the arena and his weapon will transform into a bow. He’ll also summon 4 allies around him. The bow attacks do fire damage, so make sure you keep moving around. Adds will continue to spawn on the plates and need to be kept under control or the healer won’t be able to heal.
Signifier Phase
In the final phase, at about 40% health, Crassus transforms into a Signifier with a staff. Two cyclops are spawned at the same time. Rather than fight these, DPS should move on to the boss and allow the tank to kite the Cyclops around the arena. It’s important to kill Crassus as fast as you can to finish the fight.
Main Damage Type: Fire
So, you’ve probably already noticed that Ennead has an extra boss fight, and to top that off, the final battle is with not one but two bosses. First we fight Anpu and then Heru, but when Heru dies the first time, they both rise up and we have to fight them together. The final deaths need to be within 10 seconds of one another, or else they will both respawn. So when one gets down to 1-2 bars of health, change your target to the other one.
Anpu
The big guy is Anpu and he spawns at the back left corner of the arena. On entering, the whole team should run up and fight fairly close to the pillar he spawns near. The tank should keep him on the far side of the pillar, and the furthest player needs to keep the pillar between them and Anpu, so that when he charges the pillar blocks him.
- Fire circle – when Anpu lifts his leg, he will spin fire around himself. Step back until this is over.
- Fire charge – Anpu will charge at the furthest player. Use a pillar to block him. He will leave a trail of fire which causes a fire DoT, so it’s best to reduce this by making him hit the closest pillar rather than charging across the arena.
- Cleave – Anpu will slam the ground and cause a line of seismic damage to head toward a player.
- Bolt – Apnu will throw two fast projectiles at a ranged player. These can be dodged if you’re quick.
Heru
Once Anpu is killed the first time, Heru will spawn near the glyph at the back of the arena. At this point, players need to be prepared to move toward the four pillars in the arena, so a ranged weapon can be useful.
- Judgement of the Gods – you will get a beam on you that causes a stun – make sure you’re not standing in fire when it takes effect.
- Divine Doom – a beam of light targets each player, causing fire damage. Just move out of it.
- Sun Beam – circles of fire move around the arena, be careful not to stand in them.
- Pillars – Heru will teleport to the middle of the room and hover in the air. Each pillar will start glowing and need to be disabled via interacting with it. While there are any pillars that haven’t been disabled, a wave of damage will periodically sweep the room. There is enough time to disable a pillar before the wave, if you start as soon as its available, otherwise you will need to dodge the wave or heal through it. Group coordination is key here and it’s best to assign pillars before the fight begins.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Sun Lord’s Set – Light armour with Grit Ward and Refreshing, upgradeable.
- M3 – The Pharaoh’s weapon set for skins – split stat Con/Weapon scaling attribute, Keen/Desperate Prayer, Weapon Ability Perk.
- Legate’s Amulet – Health, Shirking DoT Cleanse + Random perk and attribute.
- Legate’s Ring – Keen Awareness, Enfeebling + Random perk and attribute.
- Legate’s Earring – Refreshing Toast, Nimble + Random perk and attribute.
