Emperor of Corpses – Reign of Dragons Boss Guide

Emperor of Corpses is a single phase boss fight with punishing mechanics that require the player to learn the fight in order to progress. The fight consists of several high damage abilities that kill players who get caught in them. Some of the best Blessings in the game are found here so many players are going to want to farm him.

In this guide, we cover the rewards, boss mechanics, and provide a strategy for defeating this boss.

For more information on the Timeline this boss is found in check out our Reign of Dragons Timeline Guide.

Rewards

All timeline bosses have a pool of exclusive Uniques that can drop. They also provide the player with a Blessing, which is a permanent buff to either power or farming/leveling efficiency. Just like Uniques, each boss has their own exclusive Blessing pool.

Uniques

Emperor can drop 4 different Uniques:

• Dragonflame Edict has a 50% chance to drop. It is mutually exclusive to Symbol of Demise, meaning you always get one or the other, but not both. It can drop from both normal and empowered versions. The drop rate is not affected by corruption.
• Symbol of Demise has a 50% chance to drop. It is mutually exclusive to Dragonflame Edict, meaning you always get one or the other, but not both. It can drop from both regular and Empowered versions. The drop rate is not affected by corruption.
• Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros is a rare drop. The drop rate is increased by higher Corruption. We recommend farming this on Empowered.
• Horns of Uhkeiros is a rare drop that can only be found in Empowered. Increases in Corruption improves the drop rate of this item.

See the Monolith Beginner Guide for more info on Corruption.

Blessings

The Blessings of this Timeline don't follow a clear theme, but some of the best Blessings can be found here. Some generally useful choices are: Survival of Might, Resolve of Humanity and Hunger of Dragons.

Blessings

Normal

• Allure of Apathy
• Binds of Nature
• Cruelty of Strength
• Despair of Flesh
• Dream of Eterra
• Guile of Wyrms
• Hemmorage of Marrow
• Hunger of Dragons
• Persistance of Will
• Resolve of Humanity
• Survival of Might
• Taste of Venom
• Virtue of Command

Empowered

• Grand Allure of Apathy
• Grand Binds of Nature
• Grand Cruelty of Strength
• Grand Despair of Flesh
• Grand Dream of Eterra
• Grand Guile of Wyrms
• Grand Hemmorage of Marrow
• Grand Hunger of Dragons
• Grand Persistance of Will
• Grand Resolve of Humanity
• Grand Survival of Might
• Grand Taste of Venom
• Grand Virtue of Command

Boss Mechanics

Emperor rears up onto his hind legs and fires his breath into the ground, creating a very large circle. After a short period the circle explodes dealing high Necrotic Damage that kills most builds caught in it. After the explosion, the area outside of the circle deals a Necrotic DoT that becomes stronger over time.

Emperor roars, slowing the player and summoning 5 Slaughtered Thralls which deal low Physical Damage and have a small Health pool. He gains this skill once he reaches 70% HP.

Emperor shakes and fires out pieces of his own body that explode on impact, dealing moderate Necrotic Damage and spawning a Slaughtered Thrall.

Emperor raises his head high and then breathes out a high damage Necrotic DoT in a conal pattern that becomes more powerful over time. This kills most builds caught in it for longer than a second.

Throughout the fight Blood Pools spawn on the edges of the arena. These pools have no damage type, instead damaging a large percentage of existing health every second. Since the damage they do is always a fraction of existing health they cannot kill you outright, but they reduce health at an alarming rate and leave players vulnerable to other attacks.

Emperor swipes with his front leg dealing low Physical Damage to players in Melee Range. This ability can be tanked.

Modifiers

When you go into a timeline boss fight, you carry any modifiers that are active from running echoes. Some of these modifiers can be especially dangerous, while some can actually bring value with little or no downside.

Avoid These Modifiers

• Critical Strike Avoidance - If you're a Crit based build and have sufficient Crit to be noticeable.
• Enemies have +X Critical Strike Chance - Avoid these if you don't have capped Critical Strike Avoidance.
• Enemies have a chance to Dodge - Any builds that rely on Hitting the enemy (including DoT builds that apply Ailments on Hit) should avoid this modifier (except for Rogues with Focus Fire).
• Enemies heal if they have not been damaged recently - Only take this if you're confident you'll never go 4 or more seconds without damaging the boss. Due to the nature of Soul Bomb forcing players to run, only builds that can maintain a DoT on Emperor should even consider this modifier.
• Frenzy and Haste + Berserk - Individually these are manageable (although you may still want to avoid them if you can). Together they can make a boss very difficult to deal with as they significantly speed up the mechanics of the fight. Don't take these unless you're comfortable with the mechanics and confident that the additional speed of the fight won't be a problem. These modifiers make Soul Bomb almost instant cast!
• Chance to Chill/Slow on hit - If you don't have a good movement ability or high move speed these modifiers can make it almost impossible to avoid Soul Bomb.

Take These Modifiers

• Anything that affects Rare enemies - Bosses are not considered Rare enemies, so those modifiers do not apply to the encounter. However, the rewards do. This is an easy way to boost the value of a fight for any build without increasing difficulty.
• Enemies have +X Critical Strike Chance when Crit capped - If you're Crit capped, then this modifier provides no extra difficulty.
• Critical Strike Avoidance on a DoT build - DoTs can't Crit, so this won't matter.
• Enemies have a X% chance to receive a Glancing Blow when hit on a DoT build - Similar to Crits, Glancing Blows only apply to Hits.
• Enemies have a chance to Dodge on a build that uses a DoT skill - Ailments generally need to Hit to be applied, so don't take this if you're relying on Hits to stack your DoTs. However, some skills have the DoT tag, meaning they don't Hit. DoTs can't be Dodged, so your damage is unaffected.

Boss Strategy

Emperor is a single phase fight and he has nearly all of his skills from the start. The only skill he doesn't start with is activated at 70% HP, so most of the fight involves Emperor's entire toolkit. However, the arena does get more challenging over time as Blood Pools are formed throughout the fight. Damage is mostly Necrotic as well as soon Physical, so cap out those Resistances. Here are some general strategies for the boss:

• Soul Bomb is Emperor's most dangerous ability. Getting caught in the bomb kills most players, as will standing in the area outside of the bomb for too long after it explodes. Always be watching out for this skill and immediately leave the area as soon as Emperor rears up on his hind legs. Make sure you're far enough away from the outer circle to not get clipped. As soon as the explosion occurs, run back in to avoid the DoT that forms. Make sure to keep Emperor towards the center of the arena or you could end up without enough room to run out of the circle.
• Once Emperor reaches 70% HP be on the lookout for Roar. It's not a dangerous attack on its own, but if he uses just before Soul Bomb the Slow stacks can make it very difficult to avoid the explosion.
• Spirit Breath is the next most dangerous ability. Look for Emperor to raise his head up. When he does, move to his side or his back to avoid the attack.
• Blood Pools form over time on the sides of the arena and remain until the end of the fight. They can't kill you outright, but they chunk your health and can be hard to see with all of the other visual effects. Try to stay in the center of the arena and escape Soul Bomb by running to the bottom where no Blood Pools form.
• Damage from Flesh Impact isn't high, but there are a lot of them and they can overlap. Try to avoid getting hit by several in a short period of time.

This fight is mainly about positioning and timing to avoid Soul Bomb and Spirit Breath. Get those down and Emperor becomes a much easier fight.

Video

Summary

• The Blessings for this timeline are highly desirable, especially Survival of Might and Resolve of Humanity.
• Emperor is a single phase fight with very punishing mechanics.
• Damage is mostly Necrotic with some Physical, so cap these Resistances.
• Soul Bomb is the his most dangerous mechanics. Avoid it at all costs.
• Getting your timing and position down for Soul Bomb and Spirit Breath is the most important part of the fight.

Credits

Written by McFluffin.
Reviewed by Facefoot, Lizard_IRL, Raxxanterax.