The Elder Woods Level 86 expansion has arrived, and with it, new areas, quests, items, skills, achievements, rewards, and so much more! Everything is outlined here, but don't forget to visit the path of preview posts from the last few weeks for even more helpful details and answers to your questions:
- New Elements and Weapons
- Deadly Dangers of the Woods (Blight and Toxin)
- Ultimate Skill Updates
- New Passive Skills
What we know so far....
In the wake of a radiant azure comet's collision into a remote valley in Arlor, an unseen corruption began to infect all life forms, turning lush lands into wastelands and humans into hotbeds of chaos and destruction.
Professor Fang, an ambitious Rusk Industries scientist, saw potential in this corruption, attempting to harness its power, but soon became its puppet, experimenting on villagers and exacerbating the devastation.
Travel alongside the wise hermit Uti to embark on a perilous quest to retrieve an ancient artifact rumored to counteract the comet's malignancy. Face treacherous landscapes, Professor Fang's corrupted minions, and ultimately confront the consumed professor at the epicenter of the comet's crash.
Power UP!
If you'd like a quick boost to the latest content, visit Power Booster Levolas in Windmoore for a brand new Level Advancement Pack, which includes a full set of Epic Elder Woods gear, and a new Mythic pet: Nala.
Fast Cap
For our speediest and most fiercely competitive Legends, the Fast Cap competition begins as soon as the new expansion drops at 1:30pm CT on 9/7/2023, and will last for five (5) days until 9/12/2023 at 1:30pm CT. Legends who reach the new level cap of 86 during this period will receive...
The Level 86 Fast Cap Banner
And, the Corrupted Plate vanity set.
Additionally, the first 10 Legends to reach the new level cap overall will receive the Corrupted Spirit Essence Halo.
and the First to 86 Badge!
Special Sales!
To celebrate the launch of the new expansion, you can visit the Store for two limited-availability auras reminiscent of the Elder Woods corrupted blight...
Auras
The Cosmic Corruption Aura
and the eye-catching fungi of the Indigo Caverns Aura.
These will be available for purchase from Friday 9/8/2023 - Sunday 9/10/2023.
Crates
A limited supply of Locked Corruption Crates will be in the Store during launch week (Thursday 9/7/2023 - Thursday 9/14/2023) offering brand new loot to collect for the new expansion, including:
Pets
Chomps (Heroic)
Growler (Arcane)
Vanities
Corrupted Shroom Vanity Set
Gear
- NEW Lvl 86 Legendary Gear featuring elemental resistance (on select armor and accessories) and elemental damage (only on weapons)! Includes all gear types as well as new Chakram, Orb and Chain Sword weapon types.
Plus
- Fish Oil Elixirs
- Gold, up to 1,000,000
- Corruption Coins (New Expansion Token)
- Elder Woods Jewel Chest - Drops 2 jewels with a chance at a Corrupted Jewel.
- Recipes and Elixirs
- Guaranteed loot of Kraken weapons/armor after 300 pulls!
Corrupted Jewels
Corrupted Jewels are a new class of jewel beyond Flawless that adds these bonuses to your items:
- Corrupted Chaos Jewel: Adds +4.5 Damage to an item.
- Corrupted Diamond Jewel: Adds +75 Armor to an item.
- Corrupted Finesse Jewel: Adds +22.5 Dexterity to an item.
- Corrupted Fury Jewel: Adds +22.5 Strength to an item.
- Corrupted Lightning Jewel: Adds +1.85 Critical to an item.
- Corrupted Mind Jewel: Adds +22.5 Intelligence to an item.
- Corrupted Nature Jewel: Adds +225 Health to an item.
- Corrupted Water Jewel: Adds +225 Mana to an item.
Elder Woods Locales
Berylline Bay is the hub of the Elder Woods expansion. Take respite here from the dangers of the Elder Woods, visit vendors, and collect quests.
The Hollow Grove and Ash Forest are at the fringes of the corrupted zone in the area, but clearly corruption has taken hold. Beware of toxic "Rot Slime" puddles, and corrupted flora and fauna.
The Indigo Caverns and Blue Abyss are as enchanting as they are deadly, with bioluminescent fungi, creeping spiders, and other corrupted beasts. Beware of toxic "Fatal Fungi" throughout.
Venture to the epicenter of the comet crash in the Light Wood, where you'll find the source of the area's corruption...and someone who hitched a ride.
Enemies and Bosses
Enemies
Spiders shoot balls of corrupted Shadow energy that will do damage on contact, and also have a chance to snare you in their sticky webs.
Skeletons can do both ranged and melee damage.
Beetles are highly armored and can deal corrupted Nature damage when they attack.
Thumper has an AoE stomp that will damage and slow you, or can charge in a straight line knocking anything over in its path.
Corrupted shrooms don't have a lot of health, but beware, they emit a poisonous AoE cloud and explode on death.
This corrupted cat is stealthy beyond measure, you won't see her until she's right upon you, dealing damage and shredding your armor.
Slow to move, but leaving a trail of sticky, poisonous slime, the giant snail is pretty hearty and tough to beat.
Bosses
Anons and Iccas are corrupted Willows that can cast out their roots across the arena to snare and damage those brave enough to stand their ground against them.
Anons
Primary attacks deal up to 50% Nature damage
Anons's Abilities:
Gain Ground: Anons moves to a random edge of the boss room and then sends out lanes of roots that move across the entire ground, moving from one side to the other. Once a player is hit in a lane of roots, the roots in that lane stop progressing across the room. When a player is hit with a root, they are snared in place for a long period of time, receive a DoT, and are unable to cast potions.
Corruption Orb Wave: Anons emanates out two waves of 8 corrupted balls of energy, sending the corrupted energy balls out in a circle from the boss. The first and second waves have different emission orientations. The second wave is slightly delayed from the first wave. If an orb hits a player, they take significant damage, and acquire "Rot Slime" toxin.
Spikes: Spikes shoot up from the ground, stunning the player and healing Anons.
Tree Ranged Army: A massive group of Corrupted Tree monsters is summoned. The Corrupted Tree monsters only have one ability, which shoots out corrupted energy orbs at range. Orbs do damage to players if hit by them.
Iccas
Primary attacks deal up to 50% Nature damage
Iccas's Abilities:
Gain Ground: Iccas teleports to a random edge of the boss room and then sends out lanes of roots that move across the entire ground, moving from one side to the other. Once a player is hit in a lane of roots, the roots in that lane stop progressing across the room. When a player is hit with a root, they are snared in place for a long period of time, receive a DoT, and are unable to cast potions.
Corruption Pull: Iccas pulls in all enemies towards itself, applies a slow, and does damage. Over the next 5 to 8 seconds (or so), the Willow will do sweeping strikes that do additional damage and hit up to 4 targets.
Spikes: Spikes shoot up from the ground, stunning the player and healing Iccas.
Tree Melee Army: A massive group of Corrupted Tree monsters is summoned. The Corrupted Tree monsters only have one ability, which is a melee attack that does heavy damage.
Grohl and Smear
Grohl
Primary attacks do up to 50% Shadow damage
Grohl's Abilities:
Spore Fall (Phase 1): Corruption spores fall from the sky hitting random points on the ground, dealing doing AoE damage and applying "Fatal Fungi" toxin.
Shroom Shot (Phase 1): Shoots multiple tiny mushrooms from hands like a machine gun, that do damage to the target and surrounding area on contact.
Spore Cloud (Phase 2): Produces a corrupted spore cloud around the boss that does massive damage and slows.
Smear
Primary attacks do up to 50% Shadow damage
Smear's Abilities
Spore Sky Fall (Phase 1): Smear jumps into the air and lands on a target that does an AoE stun and leaves a corruption spore cloud behind that slows and applies a DoT.
Shroom Breaker (Phase 1): Smear pulls a random single target to it, applies "Fatal Fungi," and does a punching combo that deals a high amount of damage.
Spore Cloud (Phase 2): Produces a corrupted spore cloud around the boss that does massive damage and slows.
Hedourah
Primary attacks do up to 50% Cosmic damage
Hedourah is the main boss of the campaign, an otherworldly creature teeming with corruption. Their fight progresses through 3 distinct phases of combat.
Hedourah's Abilities
Schismatize (Phase 1): The creature makes copies of itself with their own drastically less health pools. Spawns and Boss are teleported to random points.
- Stage 1 - Spawns 1 copy of itself
- Stage 2 - Spawns 2 copies of itself
- Stage 3 - Spawns 3 copies of itself
Disseminate (Phase 1): The creatures summons random lanes of corrupted energy that cover a large portion of the ground. The corrupted energy will slow for 5 seconds, add a dot, increases damage taken, and have a chance to root.
Warp Spawn (Phase 2): The creature briefly splits into 4 and teleports to each side (if the combat area was seen as a square) then shoots a ball of corrupted energy before coming back together.
- Stage 2 - Spawns 2 balls of energy from each copy
- Stage 3 - Spawns 3 balls of energy from each copy
Dematerialize (Phase 3): The creature turns into warp energy becoming un-targetable and teleports to the farthest target in range and dealing damage upon reaching the target, then will continue to warp to any targets that are close by.
Beware the toxic "Star Blight" pools that spawn periodically when Hedourah performs his major attacks!
Items & Gear
Powerful New Weapons
Three brand new weapon types are available to loot in the Elder Woods expansion:
The Chain Sword
Shown above: a Level 80 "Golden Stinger"
Comprised of numerous razor-sharp pieces held together with Arcanite filament this weapon allows the Warrior to strike at range. The blade unfurls like a steel whip to deal damage before retracting via an ingenious mechanism in the hilt!
The Orb
Shown above: a Level 84 "Electric Eye"
This class of weaponry spans a variety of types: Cursed Tomes, Demon Eyes, Forest Baubles, and radiant chunks of the fallen star's "meteor" (as shown in the .gif above). Sorcerers can use this weapon to fire powerful energy beams at multiple targets!
The Chakram
Shown above: a Level 86 "Razor Wheel"
Rogues can wield this imposing pair of twinned razor wheels that fly to your target and then back to your grasp - dealing two (2) damaging strikes to your target! For use at medium range (longer than Daggers, shorter than Bows).
Gear Breakdown
In this initial release, you can find gear drops up to Legendary rarity from minions, bosses, and the main campaign boss.
Rare: Drop from regular campaign enemies.
Epic: Drop from the 4 dungeon bosses.
Legendary: Drop from Hedourah and Elder Woods Locked crates.
Additional gear and rarities will be released over time.
Skills
Ultimate Skills
The Level 86 Expansion will bring additional powers to your Ultimate Skills...
Warrior
Reflective Barrier
The Warrior blesses himself and allies with 800% damage reflection, 2X Health and +15% Critical Hit damage for 10 seconds!
Immortal
The Warrior screams out, constantly taunting all nearby enemies while increasing STR by 3X and becoming immune to damage for 15 seconds!
Why not "Rage?"
Rage is already OP and didn't need any buffs to the STR multiplier or the effect duration.
Sure - it could've been upgraded to give 7 or 8X STR but it really doesn't need that ;-)
Sorcerer
Meteor Strike
A giant fireball rains from the sky in a large area, dealing massive damage to all enemies and applying a 3 sec. fire DoT.
Grand Protection
The Sorcerer blesses himself with an immense protective shield and immunity to push / pull effects for 2 seconds.
Why not 'Energize?'
This is another one that's already powerful enough.
Yeah we could've made it 75 or 85 (or even 100%) Haste... but 65% is extremely powerful!
Rogue
Refuel
The Rogue and all allies receive 100% movement speed and 15% mitigation for 15 seconds.
Medicinal Herb
Grants 15% Boss Damage while regenerating 20% health every second for 15 seconds. The Rogue is invulnerable for 2 seconds after ingesting the herb.
Ultimate Aimed Shot
Unleash a sequence of 3 giant arrows on your enemy, striking for massive damage.
New Mechanics and More
Elder Woods Elements
Monsters throughout the Elder Woods are capable of inflicting various forms of 'elemental' damage! A potent 'Nature' damage is available to inhabitants of the Hollow Grove and Ash Forest areas while a deadly 'Shadow' effect can be applied by creatures in the depths of the Indigo Caverns and the Blue Abyss. An even more lethal 'Cosmic' type is possessed by the mysterious creature that crashed to Arlor in a brilliant meteor.
To combat this powerful threat you'll need equipment that resists incoming damage of these varying types. Fortunately, gear with resistance drops in the Elder Woods areas! Equip this new stuff so you have the best chance at survival.
Toxin and Anti-Toxin
Toxins build up slowly over time (if you remain exposed to their source). During build-up the toxin effect is minimal. Once it reaches full "affliction," though - you're in a lot of trouble and will need to act fast or perish! Acting in this case means using an anti-toxin that is suited for the type of affliction you have acquired.
There are 3 toxin types to look out for in the Elder Woods:
Rot Slime
Found throughout the Hollow Grove and Ash Forest environments this affliction 'creeps up on you.'
Standing in the midst of a Rot Slime pool will gradually increase your toxicity... with minimal effect - until you are fully toxified.
Once this happens you'll need to imbibe a (looted / crafted or purchased) "Purifaction" elixir to cure yourself.
Ingredients for this are very easy to find.
Fatal Fungi
The Fatal Fungi are native to the Indigo Caverns and the Blue Abyss. Their effect applies much faster than Rot Slime. And likewise, the Fatal Fungi will be "fatal" if it reaches full affliction. You must clear it with the "Arcazole" remedy:
Ingredients for the Arcazole are also very easy to find - in the Indigo Caverns and Blue Abyss.
Star Blight
A confounding cosmic corruption...Much faster with far more debilitating effects when accumulating than the others - and an even more lethal affliction!
It can be alleviated with a special "Blackstar Atomizer" concoction:
This one requires a bit more searching as the components are dropped from monsters in various Elder Woods maps.
Achievements
Collect new achievements for the Elder Woods campaign!
Leveling:
- Reach Level 85
- [Hardcore] Reach Level 81
- [Hardcore] Reach Level 86
- [Hardcore] Hardcore Master (Reach Level 86 in Hardcore Mode for all classes), which grants a special Halo!
Bosses:
- Defeat Anons
- Defeat Iccas
- Defeat Grohl
- Defeat Smear
- Defeat Hedourah
Vendors and Tokens
Anti-Toxin Vendor (Hozumi)
Hozumi, located near the Hedourah's portal, will sell the following items once you've gained her favor:
- Glass Flask for 15000 Gold
- Leather Pouch for 25000 Gold
- Atomizer for 50000 Gold
- Purifaction for 5 Platinum
- Arcazole for 10 Platinum
- Blackstar Atomizer for 15 Platinum
Token Vendor (Foreax)
For now, you can select from 3 different items at the Elder Woods token vendor.
The Elder Woods Master Badge
Elder Woods Title
...and a 100 Corruption Coin Kit
What's Next?
Following the expansion we'll be back to our regular cadence of monthly events, starting with Arcanite Fields and the Hiberian Labyrinth!
We thank you for your committed loyalty to Arcane Legends, and we'll see you in game!
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