Tartarus

What Tartarus is#

Tartarus is a four-player labyrinth raid in two halves. First the party is scattered - each player dropped alone in a different corner of a stone maze whose walls reshuffle on a timer, lit only by braziers - and has to find the way to the heart while the dark, the Keres and Echidna's whelps hunt them. Then, once everyone stands in the central arena together, four bosses arrive back to back with three seconds between them: Echidna, Tisiphone, Briareus and the Minotaur.

Open the lobby from the Raids tab of the teleport menu, or with ::tartarus (also ::maze). Party commands: ::mazeinvite <name>, ::mazeaccept, ::mazedecline, ::mazeleave, ::mazestart. There is no entry fee.

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1. 1
   The heartThe central arena. Four braziers are lit at its cardinal points when the fight starts - they matter.
2. 2
   South-west plazaOne of the four start points. Every player is dropped in a different one, chosen at random.
3. 3
   South-east plaza
4. 4
   North-west plaza
5. 5
   North-east plaza

Depth#

Pick a depth in the lobby. Deeper means more boss HP and damage, more affixes, more ambushes, faster walls - and more shards.

Boss HP also scales with the party the run started with: +75% of base per extra player. Leaving mid-run does not soften the bosses.

The search#

You start alone. The maze is 128 tiles across, the corridors are three wide, and every gate in it reopens and closes on the depth's timer, so a route scouted a minute ago is already wrong. A bearing to the centre is announced as you go (unless the Hunted affix is rolled).

The dark is the mechanic. Braziers are the only light, and everything below keys off them:

• Ambushes roll every few seconds and land far more often in the dark - standing within 7 tiles of a fire cuts the chance to a third. Near fire you get the Restless Dead (skeletons); in the dark, the Shades. Keres - the underworld horde - come out of the walls in packs of 5-16 by depth, clawing at the front and spitting from behind; a claw carries miasma, a stacking poison up to 12 that has no cure except not being clawed.
• More than 2 tiles from a fire for 10 ticks and one of Echidna's Brood spawns and hunts you (max two). Reaching light dismisses them - so brazier-hopping is the way to move.
• Echidna's Whelp - one per run, spawns at the heart twelve ticks in and stalks by sight, treating anyone in firelight as nearer.
• Blackout - fifteen seconds in, every fire goes out for thirty seconds. Ambushes and the dark treat everyone as unlit.
• Events roll after that: a Windfall (timed cache announced by bearing), an Early Shift (walls move now), another Blackout, a Stirring (everyone's next ambush comes sooner). Every event announces itself.
• Fallen hero's remains - three to six stashes per run out in the corridors. Search one for shards (12 / 18 / 26 / 38 by depth) and an instant boon: a heal, a cleanse or run energy.

The maze has to wake up#

Rushing straight to the heart does nothing - the arena stays empty until the maze has noticed you. Every kill wakes it a little (+1), a searched body more (+3), an event (+2), the Whelp (+5), and convergence needs 8 / 11 / 15 / 20 wake by depth. Camping the middle is worse than moving: the party is still scattered, so ambushes keep rolling. Shards earned in the corridors are paid even if the party never converges.

The heart - four bosses#

The fight begins the moment every living member is in the arena at once. There is no break, no bank and no re-gear between bosses. Every scripted hit goes through your armour and damage reduction, and everything scales with depth; at Asphodel the hardest telegraphed hit is 45 and no unavoidable tick is more than 25.

1. Echidna - the mother of monsters#

• The Sting - one player is blinded (their screen drops to Pit-darkness). The cure is five seconds inside a brazier's light; stepping out resets it. While anyone is stung, Echidna takes +25% damage within 3 tiles of a fire and cries out that the light burns - so the blinded player should drag her to the fire, not cure it at once.
• It takes one of you - grabs the player furthest away and drags them toward the lava. Deal 4% of her max HP during the grab to free them.
• The Hole - at 75 / 50 / 25% she burrows, re-emerges at a random tile and spawns Keres that hunt the blinded player.
• The Roll - a telegraphed dash along one of the arena's eight axes. Step off the line.
• Her venom (purple splat) ramps 5 to 30 per tick on 40% of her melee hits and refreshes rather than resets - don't tank her face.

2. Tisiphone - the Fury#

• Flaying bleed (red splat) that scales with how far you moved since the last tick. Stand your ground when you can.
• Hook drags the furthest player in; Dive marks a player's tile, lands there five ticks later for 45 plus bleed in a 2-tile radius, and relocates to it. Get off the mark.
• Frenzy below 35%.

3. Briareus - the Hundred-Handed#

• The only ranged boss, reach 10, hurling rocks from outside his own aura.
• Contagion aura - miasma stacks on anyone within 6 tiles, and he heals off the party's total miasma stacks. Stalling loses; cleanse stacks by killing the Keres he broods at 66% and 33% and by staying out of the aura between phases.

4. The Minotaur - the last#

• Plating returns 80% of the damage it takes. The only window is the 12 ticks after its telegraphed Slam - fully exposed, and 150% exposed if it is standing in firelight. Slams come about every 10 seconds, so two-thirds of the fight is open.
• Lockdown closes three of the four arena quadrants. Move to the open one.
• The light race - inside 3 tiles of a brazier it takes +50% damage and its enrage clock resets, but 30 cumulative ticks in the light and it destroys that brazier (+5% damage, faster, permanently). 30 ticks in the dark is an enrage stack (+50% damage). Rotate it between the four fires rather than parking it on one.
• Slam range is one tile from its body; two tiles clear is safe.

Affixes and bounties#

One to three affixes are rolled at the start and shown on the HUD:

One bounty per run pays a flat shard bonus on top: Exterminator (kill 40 things in the corridors) 50, Swift (reach the heart within 2 min) 75, Unbroken (nobody dies) 125, No Quarter (all four bosses within 6 min of converging) 150, Keeper of the Flame (finish with all four braziers burning) 200.

Rewards#

Every player is paid in full, not split - shards go straight to your bank:

• Converging: 25 / 40 / 60 / 90 by depth. Each boss: 10 / 16 / 24 / 36. Plus caches and the bounty.
• 100 Tartarean Key Shard combine into a Tartarean Key, which opens the Tartarus box: the Tartarean set and its aura at 1/500 to 1/1,500, and currencies below that.

Tartarean helm

Helm, platebody, platelegs, ward at 1/1,000.

Tartarean gauntlets

Gauntlets, boots and cape at 1/750.

Tartarean ring

Ring, amulet and the Tartarean aura at 1/500.

Blade of Tartarus

Blade, Bow and Staff of Tartarus at 1/1,500 - the rarest pulls.

Tartarean gear is tier 181, the same band as the top forge sets, and also comes from the Coffer of Athena.

Death#

Dying ends your run but not the party's; miasma, venom and blindness are all cleared. Teleporting out is leaving.