This week's mutation is organically Overgrown.
The mutations are doubly Savage this week, just like the executives at Amazon. If you’re tired of running Soulmark chest runs for 4 socket gear, why not try an M3 this week instead?
Contents
Mutation
- Arboreal – 50% of all enemy damage is Nature.
- Bramble – Attacks cause damage on hit – M1: 20% Nature damage, M2 & M3: 40% Nature damage.
- Compost – Enemies with this title drop a healing circle on death, healing enemies for 3% per second.
- Toxic – Enemies with this title drop a poison spawn that deals Nature damage over time and seeks out the furthest player to cast root on them. M1: 20% Nature DoT, M2 & M3: 40% Nature DoT.
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
- Weary – Periodically applies Weary to players, slowing movement by 30% and increasing incoming damage by 20%. Can be delayed by using abilities.
- Blood Offering – Using abilities applies a stack of Offering, 4.5% max health Nature damage over time, up to a max of 3 stacks. While under the effect of Offering, the player has 25% life steal.
Consumables
- Nature Protection Amulet
- Ambers in Armor/Jewelry
- Desert Sunrise
- Nature Absorption Potion
- Powerful Honing Stone
- Attribute bonus food
Gearing up
- M1 – Opals in your armor is fine
- M2 – Add the Nature Protection Amulet
- M3 – Swap most of your Opals for Ambers
- Enchanted Ward – Aim for 4 or 5 pieces with this perk
- For more detailed advice on gear, check out our Gear Guide.
Get out of the Compost
If a Compost mob drops while you are still fighting, the tank should reposition to get the mobs out of the compost healing circle. You can also use the Bile Bomb Heartrune, Plagued Strikes, or other disease to reduce the effectiveness of the healing.
Don't get caught
Toxic poison spawn will chase down the furthest player, so if you’re outside the clump playing range, keep moving. You can easily outmanoeuvre the little fella but watch out if you get caught as it’ll hold you down and DoT you to death. Perks like Relentless Freedom, Berserking Purge, or the 300 Dex milestone perk can help you escape if you get stuck.
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.
M3 - To Ability or not to Ability
While Weary is (apparently) delayed by using abilities, they trigger Blood Offering. As long as you are doing damage, the life leech from Blood Offering should be enough to offset the Dot (if your Con is not too high, since it’s a percentage of max health). This curse is particularly challenging when swapping protection for a boss fight, since it still applies mutation type damage. If you’re hurting too much, consider sticking to basic light and heavy attacks rather than abilities.
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.
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.
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
