The Trials of Hercules

What the Trials are#

A linear six-boss raid for up to four players. You walk the Labours in the order the myth's map lays them out - each arena has one pass in and one pass out, and the pass out is sealed until the boss is dead. A boss spawns the moment someone walks into its arena, not on a timer. Death does not end the run: you respawn in the pocket just before the current Labour and walk back in.

Open the lobby from the Raids tab of the teleport menu, or with ::hercules / ::trials. Party commands: ::hinvite <name>, ::haccept, ::hdecline, ::hleave, ::hstart; ::hsolo starts alone. ::hexit leaves - and teleporting out is leaving too.

123456789101112

1. 1
   The Gate of TrialsWhere the party arrives. The run heads north-east into the reeds.
2. 2
   1 - The Stymphalian MarshStymphalian Birds. Ranged; a flock that grows as it is hurt.
3. 3
   2 - The Cretan RingThe Cretan Bull. Three marble pillars, three charges.
4. 4
   3 - The Lernaean SpringThe Lernaean Hydra, fought in the water. Everything rotates around it.
5. 5
   4 - The Erytheian PasturesGeryon, three bodies and six arms. Swap your protection, not your feet.
6. 6
   5 - The Nemean CragThe Nemean Lion. The burst check - hit it when its throat is out.
7. 7
   6 - The Gates of ErebosCerberus. Everything the other five taught, at once.
8. 8
   ReedcutThe first pass. Each pass is sealed behind you until the Labour ahead is done.
9. 9
   The RunnelCretan Ring to the Spring.
10. 10
    The FordOut of the Spring to the Pastures.
11. 11
    The ScreePastures to the Crag.
12. 12
    AshfallThe last pass, to Erebos.

Tiers#

HP climbs faster than damage, so a Titan run is a longer fight rather than a one-shot one.

The six Labours#

1. Stymphalian Birds - the Marsh#

The birds threw their own bronze feathers, and there is nowhere in a marsh to hide.

• Feather volley - fires on everyone in the arena at once on a timer. It goes through your armour; gear is the answer, not footwork.
• The flock - at three HP thresholds it calls more birds. Kill them or the incoming damage keeps climbing for the rest of the fight.
• Downdraught - a periodic wingbeat throws anyone standing on top of it back across the water. Melee walks back in.

2. The Cretan Bull - the Ring#

Three marble columns stand in the ring. At 75 / 50 / 25% the Bull plants itself in the middle, roars, and goes untouchable for a few seconds while it fixes on one player - that is the warning.

• Cover taken - the marked player puts a column between themselves and the Bull. The charge shatters the pillar and the Bull is stunned, taking bonus damage - the burst window.
• Cover missed - it tramples the player and throws them across the ring. Nothing is stunned.
• Three pillars, three charges: a party that reads every one has exactly enough cover. Every charge leaves it angrier, so a slow fight is a harder one.
• Hoof slam - it rears and comes down on everything around it; step out.
• Broken ground - the floor it charges across keeps burning afterwards. Where the arena gets worse depends on where you made it charge.

3. The Lernaean Hydra - the Spring#

The only fight in water. The Hydra sits in the middle of three rings - a deep pool, the wade ring where you fight, and the river beyond - and never moves, so everything is a bearing from the centre.

• Tidal sweep - a beam of water rotates round the ring for a turn and a half; it announces the direction first. Walk round ahead of it.
• Rising tide - the wade ring floods a quarter at a time, working round. Started during a sweep it goes the other way, so you thread between two hazards.
• Venom bloom - clouds of venom settle on the wade ring and stay. They cut the ring into pieces, which is what makes the two rotating hazards bite.
• The wave - stones surface in the pool; a few seconds later a wave hits everyone not standing on one. For a moment the middle is the only safe ground.
• Submerge - at each fifth of its HP it goes under and the pool boils: heavy damage per tick to anyone in the pool, and it heals for every player it catches. Get out of the pool the moment it dives.

4. Geryon - the Pastures#

Three bodies at the waist, six arms, four swords. The widest floor in the raid, and the one fight that is about protection prayers rather than position.

• Three minds - it announces a switch to melee, ranged or magic every few seconds and everything it does deals that type. Swap your Ward (or protection prayer) with it.
• Six arms - a flurry of quick hits on the nearest player in the current type. Nothing to dodge; defence is the answer.
• Sweep - all six arms at once on everything in reach, regardless of stance. Unavoidable.

5. The Nemean Lion - the Crag#

The hide turned every blade, so Heracles strangled it. For most of the fight it takes only a fraction of the damage sent at it.

• Pounce - it leaps a player, damages and bleeds them, and is then Winded for a short window at full vulnerability. That window is the whole fight: have your specials, potions and Divinity spells ready for it.
• Rend - the pounce's bleed, in its own splat colour.
• A party that ignores the window still wins - four times more slowly.

6. Cerberus - the Gates of Erebos#

The last Labour, and the only beast Heracles was sent to bring back alive. It asks for everything the other five taught, at once.

• Three heads - cycles fang / bone / flame (melee / ranged / magic), announced, like Geryon.
• Erebos fire - marks tiles, then lights them a few ticks later. Lit tiles burn for a long while and hurt every tick, so the floor shrinks as the fight goes on - the Bull's broken ground, worse.
• The gate opens - below its enrage threshold it drags the whole party to it and lights more of the floor at once.

Affixes and bounties#

One affix per run (two on Titan), all of them dangerous:

One bounty per run, judged at the end before the pot is split, paying a flat fragment bonus scaled by tier: Unbroken (nobody dies), Swift (all six inside 12 minutes), Undivided (everyone dealt at least 15% - parties of 2+), Champion (someone dealt at least 50% - parties of 2+), and Olympian Favour (nobody is struck by an affix hazard - only rolls when Zeus's Wrath or Scorched Earth is running, and the biggest bonus of the five).

Rewards - fragments to seals#

The raid has no cash payout. The pot grows by 30 fragments per Labour killed (a skipped Labour pays nothing) and is split at the end by damage share, with a 5% floor so nobody who fought walks away empty. Fragments come in the tier's colour:

Tier	Fragment	Forges into	A full 4-man clear pays
Mortal	Votive Seal Fragment	Votive Seal	180 fragments - about a seal every two runs each
Hero	Elysian Seal Fragment	Elysian Seal	246
Demigod	Thunderer's Seal Fragment	Thunderer's Seal	342
Titan	Empyrean Seal Fragment	Empyrean Seal	468

Click a stack of 100 fragments to forge the seal; Crack the seal to open it. Higher seals pay better tables: Dracma, Forgemarks, Titan Cores and Embers of Hephaestus in bulk, plus gear.

The Olympian set#

The raid's own armour is the Olympian set - Olympian Helm, Cuirass, Greaves, Vambraces, Sandals, Wings, the Shield of Helios and the three weapons Sceptre of Zeus, Bow of Apollo and Club of Heracles. Each piece is forged (::forge) from the god-armour pieces the Smite Barrows brothers drop, plus Dracma, Titan Cores and Ichor Motes.

Tips#

• Bring all three protections. Geryon and Cerberus swap damage type on a timer; the Hymnal's three Wards (or the stock protection prayers) are the fight.
• Save burst for the Lion. Everything that adds damage for a window - Stygian Draught, Ares' Ichor, the Thunderbolt of Zeus, the Nemean Ward for safety - belongs in the Winded window.
• Don't fight in the pool. At the Spring the pool is only safe during the wave; the moment the Hydra dives, be on the wade ring.
• Read the Bull's roar. Three charges, three pillars, and each one you take on a column is a free burst phase.