This week's mutation is endlessly Eternal.
If you don’t have Inferno yet, head into Empyrean Forge to pick it up this week. You might even get a bonus Dorgot’s blade on the way. If you’re going for M3s, Tempest’s Heart has the best synergy with the void mutation.
Contents
Mutation
- Abyssal – 50% of all enemy damage is Void.
- Oblivion – Attacks cause Leech on hit – M1: 20% Void DoT damage for 90% enemy heal, M2 & M3: 30% Void DoT damage for 120% enemy heal.
- Paranoia – Hitting enemies with this title applies stacks of Paranoia. At 4 stacks a Void pool appears at your feet – M1 40% Void damage, M2 & M3: 70% Void damage.
- Creeping – Enemies grant Void Empower to surrounding enemies on death, increasing Void damage by 50%.
Promotion
- Festering – Enemies apply a stacking Disease on being hit. M2: 2.5% reduced healing per stack, M3: 5% reduced healing per stack.
- Slicer – Enemies cast slicing beams that do 30% Void damage.
Curse
- Blowback – Using abilities builds up to cause a zone of Silence that prevents the use of abilities. When it expires, the zone explodes, dealing 65% Void damage.
- Truncated – During active periods of Silence, players lose natural mana regen. Standing in the Silence zone grants 25 mana per 0.75 seconds.
Consumables
- Void Protection Amulet
- Amethysts in Armor/Jewelry
- Desert Sunrise
- Void Absorption Potion
- Powerful Honing Stone
- Attribute bonus food
Gearing up
- M1 – Opals in your armor is fine
- M2 – Add the Void Protection Amulet
- M3 – Swap most of your Opals for Amethyst
- Enchanted Ward – Aim for 4 or 5 pieces with this perk.
- For more detailed advice on gear, check out our Gear Guide.
Count your shots
Paranoia enemies will spike you with a Void pool for every 4 times you hit them, so count your shots and then dodge. This is one time that being in the clump can be bad for your health, if you need to stand near others – stay agile!
Kill the creepy ones last
Creeping enemies empower their friends when they die, so if you notice their title, try to keep them for last. This is particularly true if it’s a mini-boss – DPS should kill all the trash mobs while the tank holds the creepy one.
M2 - Void and Disease
We all know Slicers are annoying, even more so when you’re fully gemmed up for a different type of elemental damage. Between these and the Festering disease, your healer might need a little help keeping you alive, so make sure you bring plenty of health potions.
Ah, beautiful synergy! Slicers will not bother us so much this week, as we’re all gemmed up against Void damage. You still might need to boost your incoming healing by chugging down a health pot to compensate for the Festering disease.
M3 - Strategic Abilities
Silence is incredibly annoying for every class. Tanks can’t taunt, Healers can’t heal, DPS can’t debuff or optimise damage. The excellent thing about Blowback is that you can see the gauge and can set off the silence deliberately, before entering a big fight. If you can’t help setting it off in the middle of a fight, try to stack and then move the group.
Tempest's Heart
Enemy Type: Corrupted
Weaknesses: 30% Arcane 20% Thrust 15% Nature
Consumables
- 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
- Sapphire gem in weapon for Arcane damage*
Faction Missions: Alazar’s Recall in Shattered Mountain
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.
Dropped by Isabella.
- Magnetic: Crit chance increased by 50%, but crit damage reduced by up to 30%.
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- Breaker Bypass II: When an attack is blocked, gain a stack of 3.1-4% stamina damage increase for 4s. (Max 10 Stacks) [Max Stacks: 1]
- [defense charm] Physical Aversion: Receive 2.8-3.6% less damage from ranged, physical attacks. [Max Stacks: 5]
- Empty Offense Slot
Strategy and tips
The Tempest is a long dungeon, so players often like to run from one gate to another and fight whatever follows, when it catches up. This can be a little overwhelming for newer players, or in higher mutations. There are lots of resources to gather, and some of the mini-boss fights are quite challenging, especially Ekheke, the spriggan. DPS should clear the 2 musket enemies while the tank moves Ekheke either on or next to the stairs, to try and reduce his movement. You’ll also meet Isabella a few times. When she has her acolytes with her, make sure you kill them to reduce her power.
Main Damage Type: Void
Neishatun’s arena looks like it’s filled with fire but it actually does Void damage. Another of Aeternum’s snake-like bosses, Neishatun will slither away multiple times, leaving you with an arena full of fiery circles. Zoom your camera right out and look for a gap, because if you get caught in the fire when it pulses, you’ll get a Void DoT that can’t be cleansed until the fight is over. Trash mobs appear during this phase, and you can usually tell where a clear spot will be next by watching where they spawn.
Other moves to look for include a symbol above your head that means Neishatun is going to shoot at you – just move to the side to avoid it. An orb can also appear in the middle of the arena, which you need to destroy before it explodes and gives everyone a Void DoT. For those up close, be careful of the Tail Slam, Tail Swipe, Charge, and Charge Tail Whip, which all do Strike damage.
Main Damage Type: Void
At the end of this expedition, you can finally fight Isabella to the death – yours or hers. The shape of this boss arena is like a triangle, with 3 clearings on the corners. The space in the middle and on the edges is filled with a murky corrupted liquid that we call the spaghetti. Do not stand in the spaghetti, it does a fast DoT and will kill you quickly.
Isabella has really grown into her wings for this fight and uses them as a weapon, as well as to swoop down on players throughout the arena. If you get a symbol above your head, it means she is going to swoop you, so be ready to duck, dive, and roll. She also sends out tendrils of corruption along the ground, that cause a slow and DoT. You can avoid them by moving toward and to the side, but it’s difficult. Corruption Tinctures can help in here. Another attack is a wide slash of corruption that moves quite slowly and can be dodged forward into.
At about 40% health, she will put up a corrupted tower on one of the clearings. If you’re killing her quickly, you can just avoid this by fighting on another clearing. If it’s taking a bit longer, you can destroy the tower by pressing E. Beware of meteors – you can see if one is about to drop by a red circle outline on the ground. If the circle overlaps where you are standing, step out of the way and then resume destroying the tower.
Once Isabella is dead, you need to go to where she lands and use your Azoth Staff to make sure she stays dead. Otherwise, the fight starts over.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Isabella’s Set – Light armour with Enchanted Ward and Void Harnessing, upgradeable.
- M3 – Befouled weapon set for skins – Acutely Empowered, Gem slot, Refreshing Move, Weapon Ability Perk, Random perk.
Barnacles and Black Powder
Enemy Type: Lost
Weaknesses: 30% Nature 15% Ice 10% Strike
Consumables
- 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
- Amber gem in weapon for Nature damage*
Faction Missions: Spyglass Ridge in Cutlass Keys
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.
Dropped by Nereid.
- Dark Reinforced: Your armor is increased by 20%. However, its equip weight is increased by 10%, and you take 8% increase block damage.
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- [defense charm] Enchanted Ward II: 1.6-2% reduced damage taken from light and heavy attacks. [Max Stacks: 5]
- [defense charm] Physical Aversion: Receive 2.8-3.6% less damage from ranged, physical attacks. [Max Stacks: 5]
- Empty Defense Slot
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 – Acutely Empowered, Gem slot, Rogue/Keen Speed/Desperate Prayer, Weapon Ability Perk.
- Powerful Hasty Talisman – mount charm – Provides the Haste status effect when force dismounted through combat.
Empyrean Forge
Enemy Type: Human
Weaknesses: 15% Slash
Consumables
- Human Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Human Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Human Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Slash damage – Sword, Greatsword, Hatchet, Great Axe
Faction Missions: Warden’s Rise in Great Cleave
Dropped by Ifrit.
- Lava Tip: Heavy melee attacks on both weapons cause 10% burning for 6s (Max 3 stacks). Hitting with a melee ability will consume the burn inflicted targets dealing 80% of the remaining damage immediately.
- Empty Skill Slot
- Trenchant Strikes II: Heavy melee attacks deal +12-15% damage.
- Distained Infliction II: Potency of outgoing DoTs are increased by 12-15%. Hitting a target inflicted by your DoTs will extend the duration of them by 3.9% (1.5s Cooldown) [Max Stacks: 1]
- Empty Offense Slot
Dropped by Commander Marius.
- Inner Power: This staff has adjusted attributes scaling. It now has dual scaling with both strength and intelligence. +15% damage when you hit a target within 15m. (Works on both weapons)
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- [offense charm] Keenly Empowered II: Gain 10-13% Empower for 5s on critical hit (10s cooldown). [Max Stacks: 1]
- [offense charm] Vicious II: +2.4-3% critical damage. [Max Stacks: 5]
- Empty Offense Slot
Strategy and tips
The main thing you should know about the Empyrean Forge is that you need to have your music turned on. The soundtrack for this expedition is so perfectly tuned to the environment that it would be a crime to miss it. The Forge is also the first expedition to drop two artifacts, one from each boss.
As you might guess from the name, Empyrean Forge is full of Fire damage, so it might be worth slotting your extra resistances in Fire. As well as the human Varangians, there are a few Lost enemies, but not enough to justify changing up consumables. Common pitfalls include falling in lava and getting crushed by giant pistons, so watch your step.
There is a puzzle to solve in the first section of the expedition and near the end. If you only stand on the trigger plate once, the code will be the same for both versions of the puzzle. This means you can make the second puzzle room much easier. Take the upper path and preload the sequence except for the last turn. Then send someone down to stand on the plate, and do the final rotation. This will stop the ghost spawns and make the Blunderbuss Mini Boss fight much easier.
Main Damage Type: Fire
Ifrit was originally going to be Lost but was then changed to Human due to feedback from the player community. He has unique weaknesses – 30% Arcane and 20% Ice so a weapon with a Sapphire in it, or an Ice Gauntlet may be helpful here.
The first time you fight Ifrit the myriad fire attacks feel chaotic but once you get to know them, the mechanics of this fight are predictable and easy to manage. Ifrit does not move from the centre of the arena, except to bend forward and bop someone if they get aggro from a distance.
Positioning is important in this fight, and no-one should be at the far edges of the room, so they don’t get caught in the Flamethrower. The tank should stand to one side of Ifrit, allowing the party to see the SE wall so they know when Fire Discs are emerging.
- Fire Discs: multiple discs of fire shoot out from the SE end of the arena. You can dodge these or even lie down beneath them if you’re nimble.
- Fire Balls: a large yellow sigil will appear on the floor at your feet indicating the imminent arrival of a fireball from the sky so that you can move out of the way. The impact will leave a crater of lava that does fire damage if you stand in it.
- Slam: a cross of fire will appear on the floor beneath Ifrit, indicating that he is about to slam four ways. Just stand on the diagonal to avoid it.
- Flamethrower: Fire walk with me. Ifrit will extend 2 beams of flame that extend to the edges of the room, in front and behind and then rotate anti-clockwise. You need to follow the flamethrower’s rotation to avoid being hit by it. The further away from the centre you are, the faster you have to run, so it’s important to be closer to the middle of the arena. This will be repeated and then followed by a double flamethrower, with 4 beams extending in a cross. By this time, the floor will most likely be covered in lava pools. While you should avoid as much fire as you can, if you have the choice between the flamethrower and a lava pool, walk in lava.
Main Damage Type: Fire
This is another trial by fire and you should swap into a Flame Protection amulet before stepping into the arena. First of all, make sure you touch the respawn crystal just outside the door, as this fight can go south quite easily and you don’t want to have to do the long run of shame.
The arena is quite small and has three raised platforms, with short corridors extending from the main central space at the lower level. You will need to keep moving but remain aware of the different spaces and how you can use them to your advantage. The fight goes more smoothly if you have a tank who will maintain a position instead of chasing Marius around, but either way, everyone needs to keep on their toes during this fight.
- Bungie Boss: periodically, Marius will spin away from the tank toward a DPS and then spin back. This is a dance move and not loss of aggro, so there is no need to freak out. Just dodge, whether you are the target or not, as he will spit firey sparks during the spin that cause a Fire DoT.
- Execute: Marius will do a large melee smack down with his Greataxe. You can’t block this but you can just step to the side and avoid it. Melee DPS need to be careful of their positioning.
- Volcanos: (or Pimples, as we call them) – Eruptions of fire will emerge from the floor throughout the arena, particularly under the feet of players. Move to avoid a nasty Fire DoT.
- Floor is Lava: Marius will go to the centre of the room the first time this happens, and raise his flaming axe slowly into the air. The lower section of the floor will fill with lava, leaving only the three platforms as safe zones. With enough fire resistance, this is not too much of a problem.
- Magmaballs: At around 50% health, Marius will start dropping his large, hot balls. This will start on the SE platform (to the right of the entrance) and continue to each platform in an anti-clockwise rotation. A large fire ring will appear on the floor to show you a ball is about to drop, then it will roll to the opposite wall. Each corner of the short corridors, just outside the ball drop radius, is a safe zone where the balls cannot hit you. At about 25% health, 2 balls will drop at once, so be very careful about where you are standing.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Fire Lord’s Set – Heavy armour with Fire Harnessing and Enchanted Ward, upgradeable.
- M3 – Molten weapon set for skins – Acutely Empowered, Gem Slot, Desperate Empower/Savior, Weapon Ability Perk, Random perk.
- Powerful Beasts of Burden Bangle – Mount charm – Enables mounting when 30% overencumbered
