WoW Season of Discovery Phase 2 will open up with Gnomeregan for its level up raid and Stranglethorn Vale for its PVP event zone. But how has Phase 1 gone, and how have people reacted to it?

In the case of Phase 1 on Blackfathom Deeps and Ashenvale, people have loved the experience. Myself included.

Phase 1 - Breakdown

There has been a rush of people spamming Ragefire Chasm for Horde, Stockades for Alliance and Wailing Caverns & Deadmines for both to get geared up for Blackfathom Deeps.

The bosses were tougher than some people expected, with many wiping and struggling on later bosses. However, the loot experience and freshness of the content made it a genuinely pleasant experience.

Regarding the PVP event zone, people seem to be enjoying it. It’s an overall okay experience. Blizzard has been fine-tuning and monitoring player reception and feedback to the event, both raid and PVP. Overall, it’s good but could be better and not as good as people expected.

This doesn’t even account for the rush to get runes. The world feeling alive and active, seeing thousands upon thousands of players spamming these low-level dungeons because we’re stuck here for a few more weeks, and almost no one is bored yet.

Leveling has been fun. People are gearing up alts since the level cap is 25, and it’s not difficult to do. SoD Gold itself is now a valuable commodity, with people proud of their 50g. However, buying gold with real money trading is $1 per gold, which is exorbitant. But then again, if people are selling, that means some are buying.

Overall, Phase 1 is incredible and leaves people excited about what’s coming next.

PvE - Gnomeregan: Level-Up Raid

And that is Gnomeregan and Stranglethorn Vale (STV) in Phase 2.

Gnomeregan isn’t an iconic dungeon or place, aside from the fact that the Gnomes still do not have their homeland restored after 20 years.

But what are the bosses of Gnomeregan, and what kind of changes can we expect from this dungeon?

Bosses

When you go into Gnomeregan, you open up with Grubbis, a trogg that is rather brutish, but overall, a simple fight. Since this is the opening boss, I don’t think the difficulty of Grubbis will increase by much, but his loot table will definitely change.

Grubbis spawns after a short roleplay event in which you clear waves of mobs, avoiding the dynamite explosion before he comes out hollering. I wonder if they’ll keep this event or if they’ll remove it. It makes sense either way.

The second boss is Viscous Fallout, another simple boss. You simply have to clear the trash mobs around it so you can pull it without pulling extra packs, which will wipe your party. As far as being changed for a raid boss, I assume they’ll make it, so you have to fight some of these trash mobs with it. So, I expect it’ll start with some ads that pull regardless of clearing the ads around the Viscous Fallout.

Then, we move on to the third boss, Electrocutioner 6000, which is a simple boss. Most of the bosses are simple and, for the most part, spank and tank. But that’s just for Gnomeregan, the dungeon. Once it becomes a level-up raid, this will definitely change. I can assume that this mob will have a new deadly mechanic, as with most of the other bosses.

The fourth boss is also the most hated boss for Feral Druids in Classic due to the need to farm Manual Crowd Pummelers. With Season of Discovery, that is no longer the case, as we get a new and improved version of Manual Crowd Pummeler called the Automatic Crowd Pummeler. This new item is a permanent item with a 3-minute cooldown that you can use infinitely. I don’t know if they plan to remove the original version, but they likely will. As for the boss itself, the changes that’ll be implemented are likely going to involve giving it actual mechanics and things you have to keep an eye out for.

The fifth boss of Gnomeregan is the Dark Iron Ambassador, who is a rare that isn’t guaranteed to spawn. This mob will probably get turned into a named mob and given an expanded nature within the raid.

Finally, we have Mekgineer Thermaplugg, the big bad end boss of the dungeon and soon-to-be raid. This kind of boss was very likely going to be as brutal as Aku’mai has been in BFD. In the classic dungeon, like the rest of Gnomeregan, he is a spank-and-tank boss. However, for the level-up raid, expect him to have some new brutal abilities that’ll test your ability to clear this level-up raid. I don’t know what those abilities will be, but with how difficult Aku’mai has been for some people, this boss will also likely be very difficult to clear.

What Will Be Added Or Changed?

Now that we’ve covered the six bosses of the dungeon, let’s talk about what more they will add or change in the raid.

Gnomeregan is a level 30 to 35 dungeon for the most part. So, with it being turned into the endgame raid of Phase 2, that means the dungeon mobs and bosses will be pushed to level 40.

That also doesn’t account for the fact that BFD only had six bosses, and one of those bosses was just a named rare with no abilities. In contrast, BFD, the level-up raid, had seven full-named bosses with a whole loot table and abilities.

So for Gnomeregan, we can expect 1 to 3 new bosses, new events, new quests, and a massively changed loot table.

As BFD has shown us, the loot table of the dungeon versus the raid is staggeringly different.

The loot table of the level-up raid is significantly larger than the loot in the BFD dungeon. So, we can expect similar loot changes to happen to Gnomeregan, whose current loot table is rather pitiable.

I won’t guess as to what items they’ll add to the loot table. But considering the amount of insane and awesome loot that BFD got, expect a few new purple items, fantastic new gear, crafting recipes, elixir crafting recipes, a new world buff, more quests, and perhaps even more than what I’ve listed.

A great note for players is that getting to Gnomeregan for Horde will be much easier than it was in Classic. Players will be able to essentially teleport to Gnomeregan and not have to do the long and arduous trek that Horde players had to do to get to Deadmines in Phase 1.

PvP - Stranglethorn Vale

Now, moving on to the PVP content - Stranglethorn Vale, the PVP event zone.

This is an iconic zone, and one that I would wager money that most people have had a terrible PVP experience on. Either you got griefed or you were the griefer.

For anyone that played on a PVP server, it’s an absolute core in experience for not just Vanilla players but Classic players to be ganked or murdered in Stranglethorn Vale. People have been ganking and abusing low levels in this zone for a long time, and I expect this to only get worse in Phase 2 of Season of Discovery.

Between the Gurubashi Arena for the trinket, the fishing event, and the whole zone being turned into a massive PVP event zone, some of the most iconic questing in where one of the go-to zones to level up...... All of these facets coming together is going to make this place absolutely wild come Phase 2.

If you aren’t one of the first people to get to level 40 early on in Phase 2, I would highly recommend leveling up in another zone to avoid experiencing the hard ganking that will probably happen. This advice is only for people that play on a PVP server. If you play on a PVE server, have fun! It’s going to be a great experience.

I personally don’t know if there’s going to be a reputation involved with the STV PVP event similar to how you get Warsong Gold reputation for doing the Ashenvale event zone, but I would guess that even if we don’t get a reputation, there’ll be more events and things happening at the Gurubashi Arena and fishing event. Additionally, even if we don’t get a new reputation, a Wrathty based reputation will likely get earned through the PVP event zone.

Whether it makes sense or not, law wise doesn’t hold much weight. The experience is what truly matters here. Having a Trollbane murdering trolls is a beautiful concept, and I say that as a Horde and Troll main.

Blizzard’s Handling Of SoD

Now, shifting focus from PvP & PvE to Blizzard’s handling of Season of Discovery.

Buffs and nerfs have been coming out pretty quickly. Changes in the quality of life are being implemented almost instantly. They’ve been monitoring feedback and reception in Phase 1. And so far, despite Hunters being nerfed twice, the game is still balanced. Yes, Hunters remain the strongest DPS even after the 2 nerfs.

Regarding Runes and how they feel, Blizzard has done a phenomenal job. Runes feel great, especially as a Druid player. Being able to spam Wrath infinitely at no Mana cost has made leveling up and playing the game much easier and enjoyable.

However, I’m personally not fond of how quickly all the runes were discovered. Given the huge player base in Season of Discovery, it’s not surprising that all the runes were found so rapidly.

I hope that the next set of 12 runes for each class introduced in Phase 2 takes longer to discover and involve more interaction and unlocking. Considering the numerous new zones and places to uncover these new runes in Phase 2, I believe it will indeed take longer to find all the runes.

To give Blizzard credit, the decision to place the Warlock Metamorphosis rune inside BFD wasn’t the smartest, but they’ve acknowledged this mistake and stated they won’t repeat it in the future. They’ve made adjustments, allowing players to acquire said rune both inside and outside BFD.

Overall, with phases lasting 4 to 12 weeks at most, the content being enjoyable and well-positioned makes the game feel like a much-improved version of Classic.

I can honestly say that Season of Discovery is my favorite version of World of Warcraft to date. Hopefully, when they finish Season of Discovery and fully unveil WoW Classic Plus, they’ll incorporate all they’ve learned to provide us with an outstanding and long-term future for Classic Plus.

Next we will talk about the first 6 druid runes in WoW Classic Season of Discovery and where to find them. There is a good balance in these 6 early druid runes of healing, balance and feral spec. So hopefully this season of discovery druid rune guide helps you get a good range of abilities early in the game.

Fury of Stormrage

Starting out with the first Rune, the Fury of Stormrage. This Rune completely reduces the Mana cost of Wrath, and you get it from your class trainer in Teldrassil. Up in the tree at level two, they give you a quest to go out and defeat some grills. Doing so, they will drop the Luna Idol. Once you hit level four, you can equip the idol and complete its requirements, which in this case are to defeat six creatures affected by your Moonfire. So go learn Moonfire, go out and hit things with Moonfire, then defeat them six times. Click the idol again, and you’ll get the Rune, nice and easy.

Living Seed Rune

Next, the Living Seed Rune, which is a healing rune that plants a living seed on your target when you critically heal them, going off after 15 seconds for extra healing. You want to be around level seven or eight for this. Search for Glade Flowers around Teldrassil. Here’s what they look like. Keep an eye out, as they’re quite spread around. Just have this in the back of your mind while you’re doing other things.

Click on three Glade flowers, combine them to make the Glade Crown. Take it to Teldrassil at Starbreeze Village, where you can find a big Wooden Effigy. Use the crown, which you combined with the flowers, to spawn a level seven Elite mob. This shouldn’t be too hard. Once you’ve defeated it, it drops the Living Seed Rune. If there are other people, you can group up for this, but it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

Lifebloom

Another healing Rune, Lifebloom, a powerful heal over time, especially for the early levels. You want to be around level 9 or 10 for this. Head to the northwest of Teldrassil where the Harpies are. Once there, a skeleton can spawn. Click on this skeleton to summon a spirit. Then, you need at least one other player to help you channel a big portal that appears. Just channel the portal, and you get the Rune. It’s really as simple as that. There should be lots of people doing this quest right now, lots of movement around in this area.

If you party up with people, everyone who helps gets a copy of the Rune, so that’s really useful. You don’t have to worry about people taking it. The only hard part about this is waiting for the remains to respawn. If somebody does this quest just before you, there’ll be nothing here, and you won’t know where it spawns. Just hang around, wait for people to turn up, group up, and wait for these remains to spawn. Keep looking around; eventually, it’ll spawn. Grab it, click the portal, and get the Rune.

Sunfire

Number four, Sunfire. This is a big damage rune also located in Teldrassil. This deals big damage upfront and then damage over time as well. To get this, head to a specific tree in Teldrassil. You’ll notice a little circle at the entrance as a sign that you’re in the right spot. Look for lunar stones on the tree, cast Moonfire on each of these four stones, and a lunar chest will spawn at the base of the tree where the circle was. Open the chest to get your Sunfire Rune.

All you need for this is Moonfire. If you’ve got it, you can head here and get it, or you can just wait until the quests take you into this area. Once you have Sunfire and Fury of Stormrage, you have a huge damage ramp early on that is just so nice on a druid.

Mangle Rune

Now it’s time to get onto the feral stuff, your animal druid stuff: Mangle. Okay, this is the Mangle Rune. This replaces your Claw ability and lets enemies take additional damage from bleeds and Shred. To get this, be level 10 in Teldr Hil and go defeat Rageclaw, a level 10 normal mob in the central cave of Ban'ethil Barrow Den. Once you’ve defeated him, it drops the Idol of Ursine Rage. Equip the idol, keep Rage in bear form above 50 for 60 seconds.

The easiest way to do this is to go to the starting zone and aggro a really low-level mob, like a level one or a level two mob. Hit it once to get aggro, then turn your back to it. It will start hitting you in the back because it’s such a low level, and you’re in bear form. It won’t do much damage, so just stand there and take the hits. Your rage will grow and grow. You just have to stand there for 60 seconds.

If you’ve already moved on to Darkshore and the mobs are a bit higher, maybe find someone who can heal you while you do this, or just pop a heal over time. Go into bear form and just tank it out. Move from pack to pack to regain health, but this shouldn’t be too hard. This is a very fast way to do it, so time it for yourself, around 60 seconds. Just keep your rage above 50, and then that will complete the idol. All you do is click the idol again, like all other idols. Click the idol again once you’ve passed the requirements, and you will get your Mangle Rune.

Lacerate

Finally, Lacerate, the sixth and final early easy game Rune. That’s Lacerate, a rune for your bear form that deals bleed damage over time and also generates threat. Leave the starter zone of Teldrassil and go to Darkshore.

Now you need to collect an item here called crab treats, which can either be dropped from the fur bogs at around level 12 just south of the town Oradine or fished up right on the docks of Warden when you land. If you land, go talk to the little fisherman just south of Warden. Get a fishing rod from him and fish there. You can fish these up. Or you can go fight the fur bogs. Once you’ve done that, you’ll get crab treats. Now you need to go to the beach, which is just south of Warden.

As soon as you get here, you can do this. Look for the young Reef Crawlers. It’s important to get these and not the ones further south, which are higher level and harder to fight. Feed them the crab treats, and they will come up to you, like a little cute animation. You’ll get the Lacerate Rune, and that’s it.

That’s it. Six super easy early game runes that give a good mix of balanced healing and feral abilities and should keep you pretty comfy on period all the way up to level 20. The next runes are scattered more around the world and require higher levels to do.

Starfield has a lot of choices. Some of which are a no-brainer. While others are still being debated. And then, there are some choices that are just straight up stupid. Chances are, you probably made some of these stupid decisions during your playthrough without knowing. 

So in this guide, we’re going to be taking a look at the worst decisions you can make in Starfield.

1. Botch The Bank Heist

Early on in the main story, you’re going to find yourself in a keyless city hunting down an artifact with Sam Coe, close to its whereabouts lying in the local Galbanks Vaults. 

But there’s one small predicament: in true Western fashion, the bank is being held up by a gang of bandits. What’s worse is that there are hostages inside who are all fearing for their lives. 

Seeing as the gang is unwilling to talk to the rangers, you’ll have the opportunity to act as a mediator and negotiate with the group of deadbeats and try to resolve the situation. However, if you’re incompetent enough, then you’ll have the opportunity to completely ruin the heist. 

If you did find some way to slip into the bank without convincing the bandits to stand down, then you’ll find the crew’s leader waiting for you inside the vault with a hostage in tow. 

By now, any sane player would have killed the thief and enjoyed being brandished as a hero. But you’re not the same player, are you? 

Simply wait for the gang to give up on trying to negotiate with the Galbank employee, and he’ll kill him right in front of you. 

The funniest part of this quest, however, is Marshall Daniels’s reaction, who, despite being mortified by your incompetence, still decides that you’re Freestar Ranger material. 

With characters as stupid as this, it’s no wonder you’re the one getting everything done.

2. Let Tomisar Go

Andreja’s questline is filled with twists and turns, but it climaxes at the end when you must confront Tomisar, a high-ranking official within the House Va’ruun and Andreja’s only link to a home. 

After spending all of two minutes arguing with Tomisar, you have to choose one of 3 options: kill Tomisar, let Andreja kill Tomisar, or, for whatever reason, let him go. 

Option 3 may seem fine enough. However, it’s a choice you’re sure to regret after you make it. From a story perspective, this makes little sense. You just spent the past hour trying to avenge Andreja’s friends. Now, you’ve suddenly grown into a soft spot. 

And despite Andreja’s threat of reporting Tomisar to the High Council, for some reason, I don’t think they really care about what happens to those outside the House of Varun. 

From a gameplay perspective, well, you do miss out on some pretty sweet robes. It’s perfect for anyone trying to roleplay as a Sith Lord. 

Ultimately, the choice of whether to kill or spare Tomisar is yours, and don’t worry about upsetting our new goth mommy, as our standing with you is unchanged regardless of the choice you make.

3. Cheat On Your Spouse

Fallout 4 really spoiled us with the amount of romance options that were available to us. 

Not only did we have a greater number of potential suitors, but you were also able to flirt, develop relationships, and sleep with all of the potential partners or wanderers, so long as you keep all your lovers out of sight from each other. 

But trying to do the same thing in Starfield is a big mistake. It seems like everyone in Starfield is monogamous. And since all the characters you can woo are members of Constellation, word gets around much faster. 

Although you’re free to flirt with whoever during the early stages of a relationship, the more serious your bond becomes with a potential soulmate, so to do the consequences. 

If you’re caught chatting up other members after you’ve popped the big question, then your partner will lose your trust, and without saying the right things, you may end up in divorce court.

4. Be A Lone Wolf

Ever since their inception in Morrowind, followers have become a staple in Bethesda games and only get better with every new game. 

We’re now at the point with Starfield, where followers are pretty much a must, and going through the game as a lone wolf is less of an option and more of a hindrance. Bethesda’s companions have gone from glorified mobile storages to full-fledged characters with desires, needs, and characteristics.

In gameplay terms, your followers can also do a lot more than carry your burdens and fight mud crabs. They comment on their surroundings, engage in conversations, and can even speak on behalf of the player. 

And that’s not to mention the world of romance options, which allow you to gain your companion’s trust and get things spicy in the bedroom for those sweet buffs. 

So, as cool as you may think you are for uncovering the mysteries of the galaxy alone, the best lesson Starfield teaches is that everything’s more fun with friends, even if they aren’t real.

5. Pay For Crew Members

Now, I know that playing Starfield as a lone wolf is a no-go, but let me explain to you why spending Starfield Credits on a crew is not the best idea. 

When you reach New Atlantis, you may be tempted to recruit all the potential crew members you can find. However, if you give the game some time, then you’ll be able to recruit crew members completely for free during the main story. 

And best of all, these crew members have a personality, a trait that’s highly lacking with these random space scoundrels you can find in bars, who don’t even have a name.

What’s worse is that despite them taking up a slot in your ship, these crew members typically only have 1 or 2 skills maximum, which pales in comparison to Constellation crew members that have 4 skills with at least one maxed out. 

Worse yet, is that you can’t even sleep with any of these companions. And that’s where I draw the line and choose to leave these second-rate crew members drowning their sorrows in the bars I found them in.

6. Rush The Main Story

Starfield has more side content than any other Bethesda game to date. 

Knowing this, it may be enticing to beeline your way through the main story and play through the other side missions and faction quests after you finish the main story. And although this is a perfectly apt way of going about it, it’s not something I’d recommend.

Without going into spoilers, New Game Plus will completely reset your progress except for your skills. But that’s not all that makes your second playthrough different. Many of the quests and events are changed, so you’ll be getting an altered version of the story, and even the side missions will play out differently.

7. Choose The Wrong Traits

Traits are a new addition to Bethesda’s game design, and they’re simple enough to get the hang of. 

Unlike perks and skills, traits are a one-off effect that gives the player a buff and a debuff. But with a total of 17 traits currently in the game, you’d be correct in thinking that it’s balanced.

While all of the traits offer something to add, most offer a standard boost to health, stamina, or oxygen, with little added in terms of gameplay or story elements. And then, there are traits like Spaced or Introvert, which feel like they’re working against you rather than with you. I mean, what kind of a trait would punish you for having friends?

Thankfully, for every bad trait, there are 2 good ones. Wanted is basically a must for anyone doing a Glass Cannon build as it gives a massive 20% damage bonus while on low health. Taskmaster, as part of your ship, instantly repairs at a fee. And Empath is a trait that virtually has no faults, as it’s really hard to make your companions upset unless you blow up a colony ship or something.

Finally, those of you are more worried about the role-playing side of things, then you really can’t go wrong with Kid Stuff and Dream Home. As the former adds hours of extra content revolving around your parents while the latter gives you a sweet pad that puts anyone’s outpost to shame. 

And if you’re looking to have a human punching bag that can make every waking moment of their lives miserable, then Hero Worshipped is the trait for you.

8. Choose Terrible Skills

Your skills in Starfield are one of your character's most defining features. 

Not only will they play a role in dialogue and choices. But more importantly, they'll determine what you're best at and the style of playthrough you're likely to pursue.

Although all skills have their purpose, it's not an equal playing field. Some skills are simply not that great, while others are just plain terrible, specifically skills like Botany, Gastronomy, and Nutrition. These skills sound and play like afterthoughts that were made for no better reason than to fill up the screen.

Meanwhile, skills like Rejuvenation turn Starfield into Call of Duty with regenerating health. And Persuasion lets you avoid conflict altogether to ensure the best possible outcome.

It’s time to start absolutely pumping in the Blackfathom Deeps in WOW Classic Season of Discovery. Here are some tips to make every single boss easier and to increase your DPS or make it easier if you are struggling at all.

Baron Aquanis

For Baron Aquanis, grab a bubble before engaging the boss. This will increase your movement speed as you jump across the platforms, allowing you to engage with the boss even quicker. If anyone gets the Baron bomb, make sure they jump into the water to avoid knocking everyone else off. Interrupt their cast and make them move.

If you’re a ranged DPS, don’t worry. Just sit in the water the entire time and continue pumping the boss. You’ll have no issues, and there’ll be no downtime.

Ghamoo’ra

For Ghamoo’ra, a secret is that Shaman tanks can literally tank this boss the entire time. You don’t even have to worry about their Armor. Just one tank it and keep pumping while the boss has its shield. It only takes magic damage, so use any magic damage abilities you have for extra damage. Casters can pop the little bubbles to get some extra Mana back, but be aware that it damages them and everyone around them. When the boss breaks its main shield, it will do an AOE hitting for 700 damage and knocking back any melee. Take a step back or ensure you have full health to absorb this. Watch out for the threat drop. From there, make sure you start burning the boss.

Ly Sarevess

Lady Sarevess is the easiest boss. She has an add, so have an off-tank this and literally ignores it the entire time. The most important thing is to make sure you’re kicking her freezing arrow. If you do this, no one will ever get frozen, and you won’t need to move. Just pump the boss down and enjoy.

Gelihast

Gelihast has a very low HP bar, but you need to hit him three times. As he’s healing back up, he takes almost no damage. The only thing that can wipe your group here is not dodging the little Murlocs that move around the room. It’s easier to be in the middle of the room or behind one of the little eggs, which spawns the Murlocs. If you’re there, you only have to watch for Murlocs coming from one side. The boss heals up to full and starts taking damage again before the Murlocs are gone. Pay attention if you want to increase your DPS and start pumping the boss again as soon as he’s at 100% HP.

In phase three, I suggest completely ignoring the ads that spawn and burning the boss because his HP is so low after killing Gelihast. Turn into the opening and kill the ads to unlock the Teleportation Stone. An invisible night elf next to it will help you repair if you ever have any wipes.

Lorgus Jett

Lorgus Jett is a Gauntlet boss, so conserve your Mana accordingly. There are three rooms in this fight. In the first one, focus on interrupting the Healer. In the second one, again, make sure you’re interrupting the Healer. Ignore the Murlocs until you’re on the boss and passively cleave them down. The boss will spawn three totems in the exact same order every time. You can completely ignore the molten totem and the Windfury Totem.

However, as soon as he spawns the lightning Shield totem, everyone needs to stop DPS and burn that down. Otherwise, you will kill yourself because all hits to the boss will hit yourself for extra damage. Nuke this down and then burn the boss. Passive Cleave can deal with all the adds, and you can move away from any other totems.

Lord Kelris

Lord Kelris is the hardest boss in phase one. But once you understand it, it’s extremely easy. The boss will sleep with the two closest players to him and send them to the Shadow Realm. In the shadow realm, you have to nuke down the night elf mobs until they randomly spawn a portal, allowing you to exit. These night elf mobs have incredible spell resistance.

If you don’t have a lot of melees, ensure you always send one Caster with one melee into the shadow realm at a time. Assign one Caster to stand within the boss whenever it’s their turn to be sent down. This makes things easier, and all you have to do as range is ensure you’re dodging the Shadow Crashes. The boss also has a chain of lightning that gets harder for everyone at chains too. Make sure you’re always kicking that cast at 35%.

The boss phases into phase two, and you can no longer kick to interrupt any of his casts. Ensure it spread out enough of the range to avoid getting hit by the chain lightning. The boss does a Mind Blast on the tank, which is actually an AOE. If you’re a melee DPS, you can step far enough away to max melee range to avoid getting hit. Ensure yourself to max melee range, and you’ll never take any damage. Just burn the boss before he takes over the entire room. Ensure your magic dispels the debuff that goes out in Phase 2 because it will kill people.

Aku’mai

Aku’mai, the last boss, is relatively easy. Have all your DPS stack up right behind the boss and ensure you dodge the frontal whenever it goes out. Tanks can swap around five stacks, and when the new tank taunts, the old tank needs to drop all their stacks by running to one of the Cleansing Elementals and standing there until their stacks are gone. Soon after the stacks go away, the Elemental will blow up, doing AOE damage, a Knockback, and spawning some little ads, one ad for every single stack that the tank dropped.

Have the off-tank pick these up and stack them on top of the boss. Passive Cleave should be able to take them down. At 50%, the boss phases and takes almost no damage during the phase. This is when you want to be focusing on DPS. If you can, have the second tank drop their stacks right before the phasing happens. If you don’t want to do this, drop stacks during the phase and then pick up the ads with the boss as soon as he becomes active again. The ideal way is to drop stacks right before the phase.

Move the boss on top of one of the Cleansing Elementals. It’ll explode right as he starts taking no damage in phase two. It’s easier not to drop stacks at all. Just have one tank take the boss until they die, then have the second tank pick them up and burn the boss down. If you have any issues with this, have the first tank drop stacks once, maybe around 3 to five stacks, spawning one Elemental that gets stronger for each stack that was put on the cleansing Elemental. Ignore the Void Walker and let the second tank die. Have the main tank pick up the boss again, and you should be able to down the boss. This should make every single boss extremely easy and ensure that you absolutely pump and do the most damage possible.

Diablo 4’s next major addition to the endgame, Abattoir of Zir was finally officially added to the game on December 5th! To help you better experience this newly introduced endgame content, I will introduce everything about it!

About Abattoir Of Zir

The Abattoir of Zir is a new level 100 piece of endgame content that, at the start, is going to be more difficult than level 100 Nightmare Dungeons. This new system is going to be very similar to Rifts from Diablo III.

You need to enter one of these dungeons and you’ll have 10 minutes to defeat enough enemies to summon a boss and then defeat that boss to actually complete that run of the Abattoir of Zir.

If you die once, the run’s over. And if you don’t defeat the boss within that 10 minutes, the run’s over. Even if you’re in a group of 4 people, if any person in the group dies, the run’s over. Even looking past that, just the difficulty of the enemies is going to be higher than nightmare 100 dungeons. It’s also only going to be one light. So, this is going to be very difficult.

To even start this new system, you will have had to complete the entirety of the Season Journey. So you’ll basically have to be level 100 and pretty progressed into the endgame to even get into the first level of this new system. And it’s going to work in a similar way to Nightmare Dungeons.

Once you complete that Season Journey, you’ll get a new recipe to craft Tier 1 of the Abattoir of Zir. And it’ll take sigil dust like your normal Nightmare Dungeon Keys.

Once you go in and complete the first tier of the Abattoir of Zir, you’ll then get a recipe to craft Tier 2. And you can go all the way up to Tier 25. But this is going to be much more difficult than going from level 66 to 67 in Nightmare Dungeons.

The difficulty increase from Tier 1 to Tier 2 is going to be a substantial jump. So, getting up all the way to Tier 25 is something that the vast majority of players will not accomplish.

One of the biggest saving graces of the system is how they’re going to be scaling that difficulty. Because they’re not actually going to be scaling the damage that enemies do to you very much.

In fact, we’re not actually certain if they’re going to be increasing the damage enemies deal at any point during the Abattoir of Zir. It did sound like they’re going to be slightly increasing it. But the primary way they’re increasing the difficulty is increasing the health of these enemies.

The reason this is actually really good is that these enemies are already going to be dealing ridiculous amounts of damage. In fact, Tier 1 of the Abattoir of Zir is going to be equivalent to level 104 of Nightmare Dungeons. That’s already going to be doing a lot of damage to you. But primarily scaling the health is going to allow a lot more builds to be able to do this.

And remember, you’re on a timer. Even if you have a super tanky build that can survive everything, you need to be doing enough damage to be able to kill enough things and then kill the boss to be able to beat that 10-minute timer or you fail. So, I think they’re actually scaling this difficulty in a much better way that’s going to actually allow a lot of builds to at least attempt some of these higher tiers.

Rewards

The rewards from Abattoir of Zir are also going to be pretty substantial.

Now, we don’t actually know how gear drops are going to work in the system. Presumably, you’re going to be getting a lot of really high item level gear. Presumably, you’ll have really good chances to get 925 item level. But there are going to be some more specific rewards.

First off, you’re going to be getting a lot of glyph XP. Completing a Tier 1 of Abattoir of Zir is going to reward you with 1,000 glyph experience that you can either use on all of our normal glyphs right now or you can use on the other new reward of this system, which is going to be the first unique glyph ever added to Diablo 4 called Tears of Blood. This glyph is going to work in a completely different way than all of the other glyphs.

It’s going to start at level 1, but you’re going to be able to level it to level 200 or maybe even more. So, instead of being capped at 21, you’re capped at 200 or more, which is pretty crazy. This is also another reason why you need that massive amount of glyph experience. This glyph is also going to start at radius 4 and we know you’re at least going to be able to increase the size of this glyph at level 50 up to 5, which is bigger than any other glyph. We don’t know if you’ll be able to increase the size past that as well.

Now, the actual effects of this glyph are for every 5 core stats purchased within range. You gain 2% increased multiplicative damage. And again, this is at level 1, so that increase is also going to be increasing every time you level it up.

And then, it grants a 50% bonus to all rare nodes within range. This bonus is increased by 10% every 10 levels. Every 10 levels you put in, it’ll go up by another 10%. So, 1% per level, but it probably won’t actually increase until you get the full 10 levels. All in all, massively increased bonuses to rare nodes and just absurdly high damage increases.

What’s really interesting is this is just for every 5 core stats within range. This doesn’t mention the main stat for your class. This just says any core stat. This could potentially still mean that it’s just your main stat for your class (Willpower for a Druid). But it’s seeming like it’s meaning just any of the primary stats in the game, which would be pretty ridiculous.

And either way you look at it, either way this is going to play out, this thing is going to be giving you pretty much the biggest damage increase you can possibly get. This is probably going to give you close to infinite progression for the rest of the season, because getting like 200 levels on this one glyph is still going to take a lot of time and it’s just going to give you absurdly high damage increases.

Conclusion

Because of how the Abattoir of Zir is going to be scaled, where they’re scaling enemy health more than anything else, and because this glyph is tied into this, you’re probably going to actually need to continue to heavily progress this glyph to even have a chance to do higher tiers of the Abattoir of Zir. Because you’re getting such absurd damage increases with this glyph, that they would need to balance the higher tiers in a way to where you legitimately could not get enough damage without this glyph.

I do think this is actually a pretty good way to give more content and more progression halfway into a season, to continue to give you new and more difficult things to do. Because when this comes out, we’re going to be relatively halfway into the season and getting this is basically going to give you another tier of progression in the endgame.

Greetings, adventurers!A knight of the Round Table has discovered forbidden knowledge from the Ancients. Their goal is to use this knowledge to bring about an eternal winter and subjugate humanity. It is up to you and your team of Silver Crows to gather and persuade Daichi, a fire mage with a grumpy demeanor, to aid you in tracking down and defeating the knight before they can cause destruction in the realm of Aeternum. Take the opportunity to get acquainted with the new characters introduced in Eternal Frost, and then continue their thrilling journey in-game starting from December 12th.

New commander of the Frostbound (Varangians)

Quotes “Why oh why must I talk to these plebeians.” “Let all crack and bend before my might!” “The power I sought was never meant for you, Artorius, it was meant for me.” Bio Where to find him: Delving into Ancient ruins in search of powerful artifacts Cultural background: Celtic Occupation: World domination Likes: power, suffering, power that causes suffering Dislikes: meddling commoners, a.k.a. the Silver Crows, and King Artorius Little-known facts about him: He’s related to at least two others in the court of King Artorius The Commander's Background

He grew up admiring King Artorius and later served as a loyal Knight of the Round Table, driven by youthful courage and passion. He embarked on the journey to Aeternum's shores alongside the rest of the court. However, a falling out with Artorius during the Wars of Crimson Madness led to his banishment. This devastating blow stripped him of his entire identity, leaving him adrift and searching for meaning in life.

For decades, he lived in seclusion, consumed by vengeance and lost in the depths of his own madness. He has now formed an alliance with Ser Loth, a Knight who has tapped into ancient forces beneath the mountains of Great Cleave. As the new commander, he leads an army of mutated Varangians called the Frostbound, seeking powerful artifacts to unleash a terrifying force upon Aeternum and the world at large.

Quotes “Mm.” “The lady in the big hat keeps telling me what to do.” “‘Not bad’ was a compliment.” “I do not. Feel the urge to hug.” Bio Where to find Daichi: Brooding on the edge of any crowd Cultural background: Japanese Occupation: Silver Crow Likes: solitude, a good fight, Dog Dislikes: crowds of more than one person, those who believe themselves smarter than they really are Little-known facts about Daichi: His mentor on Aeternum fell Lost. He can’t stand covering his feet when he sleeps. Daichi's Background

Daichi was a skilled warrior in feudal Japan, quickly rising through the ranks. However, his rebellious nature and disdain for authority grew as he honed his samurai skills. Eventually, he became disillusioned with his feudal lord and decided to become a ronin, frustrated by what he perceived as incompetence.

Being pursued for his betrayal, Daichi sought refuge in Aeternum, hoping to find new opportunities. There, he found guidance from Jubei Mori, the master of a Fire Temple. Although Daichi proved to be quite stubborn, Mori helped him find clarity. However, witnessing his master's defeat at the hands of his own students only deepened Daichi's mistrust of others. He developed a chip on his shoulder and became quick to anger and judge.

Even after joining the Crows, Daichi's rebellious tendencies persist. His aversion to authority immediately clashes with Grace. Despite his challenging personality, Daichi can still be a formidable and loyal ally.

Please share with us what you are anticipating the most from the Eternal Frost narrative. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you in Aeternum.