Merry Christmas Mutations! We have some excellent artifacts this week, so hopefully you can loot yourself a holiday gift. For new players, it’s worth heading into Starstone to get yourself Blooddrinker. This ring is for special occasions, when you need to keep yourself alive, and is definitely worth having in your pocket. Anyone who’s thinking of trying out a tank build should make sure they do Barney’s for the Void Darkplate. Finally, we have Glacial Tarn, which is great for chasing those heavy Frigid Dawn pieces. Stay sage these holidays, be kind to one another in those random mutations, and I hope the RNG gods give you everything you wished for.
There are three levels of Mutation, as well as Story mode, for each Expedition.
- M1 requires 650 gear score and is relatively easy, introducing the mechanics of the mutation type at a reduced level of damage.
- M2 is a little harder and requires 675 gear score, with increased scaling and the addition of the Promotion challenges. It is still quite simple to do with an experienced group and is probably the most efficient mode, with improved loot for little effort.
- M3 requires 695+ gear score and optimised perks, gems and buffs. It is considerably more challenging than M2, both with increased scaling and the addition of the mutation Curse as well as the Promotion.
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.
Expedition specific
- Amber gem Nature damage
- Lost Ward potion
- Lost Coating
- Strike damage – War Hammer
General buffs
- Honing Stone
- Attribute bonus food
- Topaz gypsum attunement potion
Mutation specific
- Frozen protection amulet
- Aquamarine in armour
- Desert sunrise
Artifact: Void Darkplate Heavy Chest
Arrrrrr me hearties, let’s get Lost and Angry. Barnacles and Black Powder is mostly full of Lost enemies like pirates and ghosties, but features a couple of angry ole tentacles and a final boss having an identity crisis. The Lost are particularly weak to Nature damage, so consider putting an Amber in your weapon. Hammers and Ice Gauntlets have a slight advantage but feel free to make use of the features of your favourite weapon if you prefer. As always, attribute food and honing stones keep you at your best.
The last boss in Barney’s is so annoying, she deserves a mention of her own. While she does move to a predictable pattern, her attacks become quite frenetic and she closes in the arena dramatically, leaving very little wiggle room toward the end of the fight. Legend has it that despite looking very similar to her Lost sister the Siren Queen, Nereid is of the Angry Earth with modified Lost weaknesses. Instead of the regular 30% Nature, 15% Ice, 10% Strike, she is weak to 30% Ice and 20% Strike only. So use some Angry Earth ward and coatings, but while it might be worth swapping to an ice weapon, don’t be fooled into thinking your slash weapon would be any stronger than it already is.
Mutation: Icebound
Ice, Ice, Baby! Everything slows down in the cold and this mutation is no exception. We start with Icebound, which means all enemies are dealing Ice Damage, so pull out your Aquamarines and Frozen Protection amulet. Most annoying is Shiver, a zone of exclusion that bites anyone who is outside of it, which keeps the group huddled up together. Be careful of enemies with Glacial, as they will drop a crystal that can root you in place. To prevent this, you need to destroy or run away from the crystal, depending on where it is positioned.
At M1 level, everything is a bit easier, so you will be fine with Opals rather than Aquamarines, and may not need to use Ward potions or Coatings.
M2 - Barbaric
At M2, some enemies start being Barbarically buffed. Shattering is annoying for your tank, dealing 40-75% increased stamina damage! It might even be worth stacking more of the stamina perks to keep up. Watch out for those large Enraged enemies, who deal 50% more damage once they get 20 stacks of Fury.
M3 - Censored
In M3, players are Censored with silence. Using abilities causes a meter to build up and when it is full, silence is cast on each member of the group where they are standing. Abilities cannot be used inside the silence zone and when it expires, it detonates with a massive 65% max health damage. So it’s pretty important to keep an eye on the meter and make sure that silence zones are strategically placed. You can deliberately set off Silence before big fights, and in boss battle arenas you can clump to stack the Silence and reduce the area impacted. While silence is active, natural mana regen is turned off, however you can get 25 mana per 0.75 seconds by standing in the silence. Just don’t be in there when it explodes!
Expedition specific
- Ancient / Human Ward potion
- Ancient / Human coating
- Flame protection amulet
- Slash damage – Hatchet, Axe, Great/Sword
- Strike damage – War Hammer
General buffs
- Honing Stone
- Attribute bonus food
- Topaz gypsum attunement potion
Mutation specific
- Void protection amulet
- Amethyst in armour
- Desert sunrise
- Void Absorption potion
Artifact: Deep Freeze Ice Gauntlet
The Glacial Tarn is a frozen stronghold in the North-eastern corner of Great Cleave. It is connected to the Empyrean Forge and has a nice little deviation into Marius’ chamber. The first part of the expedition is Ancient, then you swap to Human, so in higher mutations you’ll be spending a bit on ward potions and coatings.
Falling stalactites will plague you from the beginning of this dungeon, so look out for the telltale marking on the floor and avoid or dodge through them. Frozen enemies take very little damage unless you have the fire buff on you, so don’t be afraid to stand on the firepits. The buff only lasts less than a minute, so sometimes you may need to go back or forge forward to refresh it.
The first boss in this dungeon is the Ice Troll and he’s a doozy! While he is classified as Ancient, he takes 15% more Thrust and Fire damage, and 20% Lightning damage, so a ranged weapon like Bow or Firestaff could be a good option. This is where you get the artifact, so some groups will stop after this fight. The Troll doesn’t like to stay with the tank and has a number of moves that see him skating around the icy arena. A blue mark above your head means he’s going to charge at you, so get out of the way. He usually does a second charge too, so beware of that. If you see an icy cone on the floor, emanating from him towards to, get ready to dodge! The cone will follow you but you can dodge out of it at the right time. During his tantrums, stalactites fall from the sky and they really hurt. You will be able to see an outline on the ground before they land so you can get out of the way. It’s okay to concentrate on staying alive during this phase and resume attacking when it’s over, if you need to.
The final boss has been buggy from the release of the dungeon, and while some of the bugs have been fixed, others remain. Try not to kill the mages while the bridges are down, in case it bugs the Giant Ice Elemental in the middle and makes our boss fail to enter the death sequence. The fight takes place on four platforms with bridges connecting them. When a red icon appears over the bridges, they are about to be destroyed, so don’t be caught standing on one. You can repair the bridges after a brief delay, by pressing E at the edge of the platform. The Giant Ice Elemental is powered by the mages and can be very annoying. When he crosses his arms, he is about to blow on a platform and make it uninhabitable. The group needs to move to another platform when this happens. If the mages are unprotected by their aura and the bridges are not down, you can kill them for a brief respite but they respawn quickly. If you get a blue symbol above your head, dodge or move to the side – an arrow or ice wave will be heading your way. If a bomb appears, destroy it quickly. When the Giant Ice Elemental has small greenish shields called weak spots up, Ser Loth gets a buff and you will do little damage to him. Nullifying Oblivion can remove the buff, or ranged attacks can destroy the weak spots.
Mutation: Eternal
It’s all purple in Tarn this week, with the Eternal mutation transforming the enemies to Void damage, so go with the theme and protect yourself with Amethysts. Paranoia is particularly annoying, with stacks building up as you hit the enemy. When you reach 4 stacks, a purple pool appears at your feet, dealing 40-70% damage. This is easily dodged as an individual, but when the melee are crowded together, you can end up with some big spikes of pain. It might be an opportunity to try a ranged DPS team for a change, with the tank holding aggro and 3 bow users shooting from afar. Creeping enemies Empower their friends when they die and Oblivion enemies use a life leech that heals them when they hit you.
At M1 level, everything is a bit easier, so you will be fine with Opals rather than Amethysts, and may not need to use Ward potions or Coatings.
M2 - Indomitable
When we get to M2, some of the mini-bosses gain Phalanx shields that block projectiles, which is particularly annoying for healers who are trying to speed up their cooldowns or charge up their heals with heavy attacks. If you play ranged DPS, make sure you have a melee weapon in your other slot and be aware that heals might be a bit less powerful. Vampiric also makes an appearance, which can make enemies slower to kill, so your Bile Bomb heartrune might be useful.
M3 - Frenzied
The real trouble starts when things get Frenzied. At M3, players begin being penalised for dodging, by acquiring a stack of Unstable that does 1.5% of max health as Void damage per second for 10 seconds and cannot be cleansed. You can get up to three of these stacks, and when you do it drops a 3m radius zone that does 10% of max health per second for 15 seconds – ouch, that’s 150% of your health if you just stand there! If you enter this zone with stacks of Unstable, it will consume them and do 30% of max HP. So, it’s really important to manage your stacks and move away from the group if you can’t avoid dropping a puddle. Don’t poop on the group.
General buffs
- Honing Stone
- Attribute bonus food
- Topaz gypsum attunement potion
Mutation specific
- Flame protection amulet
- Rubies in armour
- Desert sunrise
- Fire Absorption potion
Artifact: Blooddrinker Ring
The Starstone Barrows is an exotic mashup of our first dungeon experiences, with the expedition taking adventurers through both Starstone and Amrine. We start in Starstone and then instead of ascending the stairs to the central pillar, a breakage appears to our left and we sneak into Amrine to face Simon Grey. Then we work backwards through Amrine until we return to Starstone on the other side of the central pillar. This means we get a fun split of Ancient and Lost enemies, and need to carry double the potions.
Just like at the end of Amrine, Simon is a heavy hitter with a periodic minion spawn, but now he’s completely buffed. If you don’t manage to dodge his smash-down attack, there’s a good chance of light-armoured players being wiped. On top of that, if you can’t kill his minions, he eats them up for a little heal, prolonging the fight.
Time is tight in this dungeon and there are a few tough fights where the mobs are grouped up or skipped. Keep those Ward potions handy and make sure you have a good healer.
The final boss, Greundgul the Regent, whose voice taunts us all the way through, has a fairly predictable mechanic and isn’t too bad as far as dungeon bosses go. The most important thing here is that everyone sticks together, literally stacking on one another during the jumping phase to help co-ordinate the dodges. Also during the bone throwing phase, it’s good to keep those bones close and take advantage of our AOE damage. If you can get a ranged attack on her face when she lands her jump, it makes everything easier as it stuns her and stops her jumping phase early.
Mutation: Hellfire
Burn baby burn, this rotation it’s Fire. We start with the basic Hellfire. Look at the enemies’ nameplates to see whether they are Explosive, and be sure to position yourself well away from edges when they die, to avoid being blown over. Fiery enemies apply Burn, giving you a Fire DOT, so it’s worth drinking some Desert Sunrise before you start. Ignited enemies deal 50% of their damage as Fire, so slot Rubies in your armour and wear a Flame Protection amulet to get your Fire resistance up. Enemies with Enflamed can cast a Burn zone on the ground, so watch your positioning.
At M1 level, everything is a bit easier, so you will be fine with Opals rather than Rubies, and may not need to use Ward potions or Coatings.
M2 - Savage
When you get to M2, Festering enemies start to appear, dealing disease against you so your incoming healing will be reduced. Remember, debuffs can be Purified in a number of ways. Slicer enemies also turn up, adding 30% base Void damage, so think about diversifying your protective gems in this mutation.
M3 - Dessicated
The Curse of the Burning Barrows is Desiccated, which is your basic dip and nae-nae. When a player gets a Fire ring around them, they need to dip all team members in order to remove their Shrivel. But make sure they nae-nae away before the timer ends to avoid spiking others with a chain Fire for 50% of their max health. If you’re unlucky enough to be left shrivelled, damage and healing will be reduced by 50% until the debuff wears off.
