This week's mutation is hazardous Hellfire
Feels like we get Starstone a lot lately, or maybe that’s just time marching forward more briskly the older I get. This week is a bit of a sad one, with players who access the game through the Playstation Plus free catalogue being cut off when the game gets removed. A stark reminder of what will happen to us all on 31 January 2027.
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.
Starstone Barrows
Enemy Type: Ancient and Lost
Weaknesses: Ancient: 30% Lightning 20% Strike 15% Void. Lost: 30% Nature 15% Ice 10% Strike
Consumables
- Ancient Ward potion | Lost Ward potion – 10% damage absorption
- Ancient Coating | Lost Coating – 15% bonus damage
- Ancients Combat Trophy | Lost Combat Trophy – 3/4/5% bonus damage x3
- Strike damage – Hammer, Void damage – Void Gauntlet | Nature/Strike/Ice damage – Life Staff, War Hammer, Flail, Ice Gauntlet
- Topaz gem in weapon for Lightning damage* | Amber gem Nature damage*
Faction Missions: Oxboro or faction base in Everfall
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: Blooddrinker Ring
Dropped by Greundgul the Regent.
- Ghoul’s Harmony: +25% lifesteal and all healing from lifesteal is increased by 5%. However, you deal -20% base damage, unless the target is diseased, then damage is only reduced by 15%.
- Empty Socket: Attach a gem to add its effect.
- [offense charm] Leeching II: Heal for 3.2-4% of the damage you deal (Does not trigger off persistent damage or DoT effects). [Max Stacks: 5]
- Keen Switch II: On weapon swap, increase crit chance by 7.1-9% for 3s or until the next hit (3s cooldown) [Max Stacks: 1]
- Empty Offense Slot
Strategy and tips
While it has the same name, this is not the Starstone Barrows you entered on your journey growing up in Aeternum so many levels ago. There is a break in the walls of the dungeon and you’ll find yourself in Amrine, fighting Lost, for a period of time. This is a fun dungeon full of nostalgia, twists and tricks. Be careful of the purple beams as they will kill you outright should you wander into one.
When you emerge from the Lost tunnels and return to fighting Ancients, the first reliquary can be used to let the group through both sets of beams to continue fighting, while the torchbearer goes up the stairs to turn the power off. This saves everyone from standing around just waiting.
Remember to carry extra consumables so you can swap wards and coatings in higher level mutations, it can mean the difference between life and death.
Main Damage Type: Strike
Simon Grey has grown up too and is level 70 in mutated expeditions. His attacks are scaled up accordingly and his Overhead Slam can outright kill a low con, under-geared DPS. Apart from that, this is a fairly straightforward fight.
- Overhead Slam: Simon raises both hands over his head and slams down, causing AoE Strike damage. Look for the movement and be ready to dodge.
- Minions: Simon will spawn 3 lost enemies. If you don’t kill them in time, he will suck them in for a life leech.
- Vomit: Simon’s vomit is pretty toxic and will cause a slow as well as reduce incoming healing.
Main Damage Type: Slash
Greundgul is an Ancient construct with a very large sword. Be careful of the backswing when fighting behind her. She’s quite mobile and will push the group around the arena. Make sure you have someone with a ranged attack to stop her when she gets to the jumping phase.
- Throw Bone: Greundgul throws a bone at the furthest player, that spawns skeletal minions. These are only a mild annoyance unless the fight takes long enough to create too many of them. This can be minimised by the group clumping close to the boss, so the bone and adds get destroyed by everyone’s attacks.
- Jumping Phase: After the first time Greundgul’s health reaches almost zero, she will reassemble herself in the centre of the arena and then leap at a random player, sending out a shockwave of damage with each jump. To control where she jumps, the group should all stack on one player. If you can hit her in the eye as she lands, she’ll stop jumping. The jumping phase repeats periodically until she finally dies.
Interesting Loot
- M3 – Simon Grey’s Set – Medium armour with Arcane Harnessing and Health, upgradeable.
- M3 – Stormbound weapon set for skins – Acutely Empowered, Gem slot, Keenly Jagged/Blessed, Weapon Ability Perk.
The Depths
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: Moonbay in Restless Shore
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.
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
