This week's mutation is endlessly Eternal.
A couple of old classics and a relative newcomer this week. Nothing works particularly well with the Void mutation. Except maybe a little bit in the multi-elemental boss fights in Savage Divide.
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.
Garden of Genesis
Enemy Type: Angry Earth
Weaknesses: 30% Fire 20% Slash
Consumables
- Angry Earth Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Angry Earth Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Angry Earth Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Slash/Fire damage – Hatchet, Axe, Great/Sword, Fire Staff
- Ruby gem in weapon for Fire damage*
Faction Missions: Caliburne in Edengrove
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 The Blighted Greenskeeper.
- Thrown Mastery: Thrown Axe projectiles reduce all axe skill cooldowns by 25% and will deal 25% nature damage to a nearby target (5s cooldown).
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- [skill charm] Empowering Rending Throw II: Ranged Hatchet attacks deal +35-40% damage against Rending Throw targets.
- Sundering Stacks II: Once every 0.5s, attacks inflicts a stack of 3.2-4% Rend, each stack lasting 6s. (Max 5 stacks) [Max Stacks: 1]
- Empty Offense Slot
Strategy and tips
This Garden is full of snares and Blight, so this is one time you might choose to use Powerful Incense over Desert Sunrise. Genesis is the shortest expedition and lots of players are used to speed-running it, so expect to have to keep up with your group. There’s a lot of skipping, and the boss in the secret room is rarely killed. Right at the start, you will need to collect some Concentrated Blight to unlock the first door. You can find this down the first staircase to the left, just be careful of the patrolling archer.
Main Damage Type: Strike
This fight is the most difficult in the expedition. There are two main methods of killing him, “All In” and “4 and 1“.
The Caretaker spawns in a large boggy room, all alone. He’ll jump around a bit and will slap out a long tendril at the furthest player, so be careful if you’re playing range. When you get his health down to about 70%, he’ll move to the centre of the room and start putting up a wall of thorns. This is where the group has to decide whether to stay inside the wall with him, or to go outside and deal with the adds that spawn.
All In
The All In method is a DPS check. Everyone enters the ring with the Caretaker and does as much damage as they can. A Genesis Cap mushroom will spawn – you need to destroy the first one to avoid a wipe. The person who kills the Genesis Cap will receive an Empower buff. After, he’ll start diving under the floor and emerging periodically to attack. You can just avoid the lunge by watching and moving. After 7 lunges, the Caretaker will stand up and you can fight him again. Sometimes the walls will go down and let in the adds at this point, so you have to kill him very quickly. If the group can’t kill him fast enough and ends up dying to the adds, you may need to try the 4 and 1 method.
4 and 1
This method involves sending one player (usually the tank) inside the thorn wall, while the rest remain outside. The tank needs to play defensively and also destroy the Genesis Cap mushroom when it spawns. Outside the wall, there will be three lots of adds spawn, the first one on the side near the entrance. A point will light up, indicating where the spawn is going to occur. The outside group need to kill each spawn of adds as quickly as they can, then move clockwise around the wall to fight the next group. After a period of time, the walls will come down, allowing the tank to help with any remaining enemies. The Caretaker will go into the wall phase again, this time everyone should go in and do the All In method as outlined above.
Main Damage Type: Nature and Strike
The Greenskeeper is a snake-like boss, with poison to boot. The main attacks are Strike damage, but you should be able to avoid those. The AOE poison and ranged attacks are Nature damage and it’s more likely you might be hit by these. This is a relatively easy fight, as long as you know what to expect.
- Poison Pools – if you see a stream of poison headed your way, run to the edge of the arena. A large pool of poison is about to appear at your feet, so you need to get it as far from the group as you can. Also try to avoid dropping it on boulders if possible.
- Scream – if you’re playing ranged, the Greenskeeper may send out a scream wave at you. This can be dodged.
- Projectile – she also throws three quick projectiles, which can also be dodged
- Boulder – an outline of a circle will appear on the floor at the feet of a player, just before a boulder drops. You can easily move out of the way in time if you see it. These boulders are used later, so it’s important there is room around the back. Make sure you’re not fighting at the edge of the arena, especially if you are ranged.
- Burrow – the Greenskeeper will tunnel under the ground and come up under a player. If you get hit, it does a large amount of Strike damage. It will keep tunnelling to the furthest player, so to shorten this section, the group can stand together in a Sacred Ground and block.
- The Floor is Poison – later in the fight, the floor will be covered in a wavy poison. If there is no boulder between you and the Greenskeeper, you’ll be instantly killed. Everyone should hide behind a boulder, unless you have Defy Death, in which case you can live through it.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Blighted Growth’s Set – Light armour with Nature Harnessing and Shirking Fortification, upgradeable.
- M3 – Mossbourne weapon set for skins – Acutely Empowered, Gem Slot, Mortal Power/Blessed, Weapon Ability Perk, Random Perk.
The Lazarus Instrumentality
Enemy Type: Ancient
Weaknesses: 30% Lightning 20% Strike 15% Void
Consumables
- Ancient Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Ancient Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Ancients Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Strike damage – War Hammer, Flail
- Topaz gem in weapon for Lightning damage
Faction Missions: Farharbor in Reekwater
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 Chardis.
- Mjölnir Blessing: 99% of hammer damage is converted to lightning, and you deal 20% more lightning damage with both weapons.
- Spark: Mighty Gavel causes a lightning strike that inflicts a 30% weaken for 7s.
- [skill charm] Crippling Mighty Gavel II: Mighty Gavel hits inflict 14-16% slow for 7s, and you deal 4.3-5% more damage against slowed targets.
- Shock Attunement II: Successful hits deal +11% weapon damage as Lightning (1.5s cooldown) [Max Stacks: 1]
- Empty Offense Slot
Strategy and tips
Lazarus is a dungeon of puzzles, the first being the Door Room. Mobs spawn in front of a door with three spaces for symbols above it. The first symbol is lit up, and you need to stand on its match from the circle on the floor in the middle of the room. This will open the door and release more enemies, lighting up the next symbol, and so on. When the third symbol is activated, the door closes and another door to the right opens. The symbols are best activated by someone with range, usually the healer. The key is to open them fast enough to keep the fight flowing but not so fast the team gets overwhelmed. It’s good to kill the archers before moving to the next door.
When you get to Cilla, one person should run across to talk to her while the rest fight the enemies. The next fight, Alcyon the mage, can be challenging. The Overhead Staff attack does heavy Strike damage, while all his spells do Void. Look out for him raising his staff above his head and be ready to dodge. The two archers can also be problematic in this fight, so try to clear them early.
Be careful in the handwashing room, as using the fountain will spawn the mini-boss by the door. Make sure everyone is through before you wash your hands. Use the architecture in the room to get out of the ranged attacks line of sight to bring them to you, or just kill the archers quickly.
Main Damage Type: Arcane
Physical Phase: Cilla is a fairly straightforward fight, to begin with. While the tank holds her aggro, the DPS hit her from behind. She has a buff that increases stacks over time, making her hit harder. There are three ports in the floor, where a stone orb can emerge from. Once an orb has risen, you can interact with it to reset the stacks. This will also progress her into the next phase.
If you can withstand the damage through good tanking and healing, the game forces the next phase by reducing damage done to Cilla until the orb is pulled.
Magical Phase: In the magical phase, it is important that the team clump together. Cilla will cast a spell that makes each player leave a pool of Arcane damage at their feet. You have a few seconds to get to a clear area before she makes it explode. She also shoots out orbs that will root you in place if you touch them.
Main Damage Type: Strike and Arcane
Chardis is about the least mobile boss in the world of Aeternum. He is a giant stone automaton, who uses his detachable hands and a beam from his single eye to attempt to defeat you. When he first awakens, there will be an orb on each side of the room, trapped in a force field. You need to break the field to release the orb, which will spawn a mage over an orb port on the ground. Kill the mage and place the orb.
To fight Chardis, the whole group should stand at the edge of the arena closest to him, in a Sacred Ground. You can block or avoid most of his physical attacks. If you get a symbol over your head, it means you are going to drop a Slicer. Head to the back of the arena to drop it, then return to the fight.
After some time, Chardis will start beaming one player with his eye. This player needs to run to the orb that was placed previously, which will cause both the orb and Chardis to drop to the ground. Once down, players can do increased damage so be sure to use all your Oblivion and Rend to make the most of this advantage.
If there is no orb up, the beam will continue damaging the player it is on. With careful healing, lifesteal, etc, players can continue to fight Chardis while someone is being beamed. But where possible, the orb is always the better option. If an orb is available but not placed, everyone except the healer should work to place that orb.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Chardis’ Set – Heavy armour with Slash Conditioning and Refreshing, upgradeable.
- M3 – Bone Wrought weapon set for skins – Acutely Empowered, Keenly Fortified/Blessed, Weapon Ability Perk.
- Powerful Magis Mount Charm – +50% dash capacity.
Savage Divide
Enemy Type: Beast
Weaknesses: 20% Thrust
Consumables
- Beast Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Beast Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Wildlife Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Thrust damage – Spear, Rapier, Bow, Musket, Blunderbuss
Faction Missions: Last Light in Elysian Wilds
Dropped by Mahantaram.
- The Thirst: Healing consumables are 33% stronger, but Survival and Mana Potion cooldowns are 25% longer.
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- Empowering Toast: On Potion Drink: Gain 9.4-12% Empower for 8s (10s cooldown).
- Fortifying Toast: On Potion Drink: Gain 16-20% Fortify for 8s (10s cooldown).
- Empty Defense Slot
Strategy and tips
Even after running it a few times, it’s still easy to get lost in the Savage Divide. The pathways look very similar and there are repeated mechanics throughout. To open doors, someone will need to pick up a ball and place it on the pedestal beside the door. If they get hit, the ball will usually reset. Fun fact about Savage Divide, it has two gypsum nodes that yield a gypsum orb each – keep your eyes out for them!
As well as the standard Thrust damage weakness that Beasts have, elemental enemies in the Savage Divide are weak to their opposing element. So Ice Mammoths and Ice Hurlers have a 15% Fire weakness, Nature beasts have a 15% Lightning weakness and Lightning beasts have a 15% Nature weakness. Plants, such as the Razor Lotus, are Angry Earth rather than Beast.
Main Damage Type: Elemental
Both boss fights in Savage Divide employ all the elements, to keep you on your toes. Kurok is a large gorilla, with no weaknesses. His arena has four shrines, for the elements Fire, Ice, Lightning and Nature. When he leaps to a shrine, he will activate it, and an AoE attack of that element will periodically spawn at the shrine and move around the room. After the element has been up for a short time, the shrine becomes active and a player can interact with it to become an antidote for that damage type. They will have a small elemental disc at their feet and when they stand on the AoE attack zone, it neutralises it.
After a player has activated the antidote, Kurok will move to a different elemental shrine and start that one, requiring another player to get the antidote disc and clean up any AoE damage zones. Groups will often hold off activating the antidote to minimise the amount of different elements spawning, especially if the first shrine is Nature. While an element is not being neutralised, Kurok will build stacks of that element. At 10 stacks, he does an AoE attack, which you can dodge if you’re watching. For the last 10% of his health, he does Void damage and builds Void stacks. This is the most dangerous part of the fight and someone often goes down.
If you see a red target appear above your head during the fight, Kurok is about to throw something at you, so be ready to dodge.
Main Damage Type: Elemental
Mahantaram is a mammoth who spawns various elemental conduits while he tramples all who dare enter his cave. Like Kurok, he has no weaknesses and commands all elements. It is important that the DPS destroy the conduits as quickly as possible before returning to damage the boss. The tank can maintain aggro and move Mahantaram around the room to keep out of elemental damage zones.
If you see a red target appear above your head during the fight, Mahantaram is about to charge at you, so be ready to dodge.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Primal weapon set for skins – Acutely Empowered, Gem slot, Keenly Empowered/Blessed, Weapon Ability Perk, Random perk.
- Powerful Cavalier Crest – Mount charm – +50% mount summon speed
- Wasteland Display Shield Skin
