The Black Star

The Black Star is - next to the Searing Exarch, the Infinite Hunger and the Eater of Worlds - one of the four Eldritch Horrors. It needs to be defeated in order to fight the Searing Exarch, one of the Pinnacle Bosses of the Atlas of Worlds introduced during the Siege of the Atlas in Patch 3.17 Archnemesis League.

The Eldritch Horrors - Boss Guides:

The Searing Exarch

• Polaric Invitation - The Black Star
• Incandescent Invitation - The Searing Exarch

The Eater of Worlds

• Writhing Invitation - The Infinite Hunger
• Screaming Invitation - The Eater of Worlds

Following Kirac's Quest line, you receive a quest version of the Polaric Invitation, allowing you to access the Polaric Void.

After you successfully complete the Searing Exarch Quest line, a tradable version of the Polaric Invitation can be obtained in Searing-influenced Tier 14+ Maps. You need to run a total of 14 influenced Maps to find one. The bosses in Map number 14 and 28 drop the Polaric Invitation (Black Star) and Incandescent Invitation (Searing Exarch) respectively. The amount of Maps needed can be reduced with Atlas Passive Points (Baptised by Fire), giving you a chance to double the progress jump for your invitations.

Important: You don't actually need to full-clear a Map for it to count towards the progression. Instead, it triggers the first time an Eldritch Altar appears in a Map, and it's safe to leave if you're just after the boss itself. Make sure you actually defeat the Map Boss in the 14th & 28th Map in order to drop the Invitations.

Loot Table

In addition to regular loot, the Black Star has the following boss-specific drops:

• Polaric Devastation
• Sudden Dawn
• The Eternal Struggle
• Eldritch Orb of Annulment
• Eldritch Chaos Orb
• Eldritch Exalted Orb
• Greater Eldritch Ember
• Grand Eldritch Ember

Skills Breakdown

The Black Star slashes and thrusts its spear at close range.

The Black Star yells "Star flare!" which indicates the Fire Leap ability. It leaps at your location, dealing heavy
Fire and Physical Damage in an area on impact.

The Black Star yells "Solar storm!" which indicates the Laser Spears ability. It charges up its spears, channeling
5 laser beams on you, dealing Fire Damage while standing in it. This ability tracks your movement, so make
sure to hide behind a fire-sided pillar or have enough Crushing Darkness Stacks to outlast this cast. The base
duration of this ability is 5 seconds and destroys cold-sided pillars on impact.

The Black Star yells "Deep space!" which indicates the Cold Cascade ability. It casts a Glacial Cascade-like
ability at your location, dealing heavy Cold and Physical Damage when hit.

The Black Star yells "Astral Avalanche!" which indicates the Comet Barrage ability. It calls down an icy meteor
shower, dealing massive Cold Damage on impact. The Comet Barrage is filled with larger and small meteors,
which deal damage based on size. To avoid this ability stand behind a cold-sided pillar to block the incoming
projectiles, or have enough Crushing Light stacks to endure it.

The Black Star yells "Simulacrum!" which indicates the Summon Melee Minion ability. It creates a clone of itself
that chases you down, dealing Cold or Fire Damage based on which side it stands on. This clone uses melee
attacks, slashing you at close range and occasionally whirlwinding.

The Black Star yells "Replica!" which indicates the Summon Caster Minion ability. It creates a clone of itself
that attacks you with projectiles, dealing Cold or Fire Damage based on which side it stands. This clone uses
ranged projectiles attacks, as well as calling down a massive Beam on a pillar next to you. This Beam
pulsates, dealing area damage in the process.

Polaric Void

In order to open the portals to the Polaric Void, you have to obtain a Polaric Invitation and place it into your Map Device.

Once you step closer to the center of the arena, the Black Star encounter starts and becomes targetable a few seconds later. The Black Star is a very scripted Encounter. Once you learn the Mechanics and the order of appearance, especially when it comes to the lethal abilities like Solar Storm and Astral Avalanche, you will defeat it easily. It's all about practice!

It is crucial to understand the core mechanic of the encounter. You immediately notice the center globe that represents Fire and Cold. This globe splits the arena in half, making one side Fire-themed and the other Cold-themed. The globe also rotates constantly throughout the encounter. While being on one side, you gain a stacking debuff representing the element. The goal is to alternate between the 2 debuffs Annihilating Light and Crushing Darkness.

Annihilating Light Debuff

You take more Fire Damage, less Cold Damage and have an additional chance to be Ignited.

Crushing Darkness Debuff

You take more Cold Damage, less Fire Damage and have an additional chance to be Frozen.

Since the Black Stars abilities are based around either Fire or Cold Damage, you have to alternate between the debuffs to mitigate incoming damage. While the majority of her abilities are common damaging attacks and casts, there are 2 lethal signature abilities in this encounter.

Make sure to check out the Skills Breakdown above to learn more about each of the abilities.

As the Black Star alternates between Solar Storm and Astral Avalanche, you should also alternate your stacking debuff. While in the cold-side area, you build up stacks of Crushing Darkness while depleting existing Annihilating Light Stacks and vice versa.

There are 2 ways of engaging the Black Star's signature abilities:

• Stack Crushing Darkness stacks to endure the Solar Storm, since you take less Fire Damage, as well as stacking Annihilating Light stacks to outlast the Astral Avalanche, rinse and repeat.
• Stay in the fire-sided area and use the pillars to block the Solar Storm, and swap to the cold-side area before the Astral Avalanche ability to also use the pillars to block incoming icy projectiles.

Note: Pillars are destroyed by the Black Star's signature ability when you cross the element. If you are in the cold-sided area while the Black Star is channeling its Solar Storm, the beams destroy cold-sided pillars. This also occurs if you are building up Annihilating Light stacks to endure the Astral Avalanche ability, but the meteors destroy fire-sided pillars. The pillars respawn after a couple seconds if destroyed.

Both strategies are valid, but also have their downsides. While entirely blocking the signature ability, you are still very vulnerable to the respective element. The Black Star summons Melee and Caster clones that deal damage based on which side they stand. This results in stacking Annihilating Light Debuff stacks, making you vulnerable to Fire Damage but also able to block the Solar Storm with the pillars. This makes the clones deal Fire Damage, since they are also on the fire-side. This also applies to the Astral Avalanche while being in the cold-sided area. Make sure to switch to the other element as soon as the signature ability is over to deplete your stacks.

Solar Storm

The Black Star yells "Solar storm!" which indicates the Laser Spears ability. It charges up its spears, channeling 5 laser beams on you, dealing Fire Damage while standing in it. This ability tracks your movement, so make sure to hide behind a fire-sided pillar or have enough Crushing Darkness Stacks to outlast this cast. The base duration of this ability is 5 seconds and destroys cold-sided pillars on impact.

Astral Avalanche

The Black Star yells "Astral Avalanche!" which indicates the Comet Barrage ability. It calls down an icy meteor shower, dealing massive Cold Damage on impact. The Comet Barrage is filled with larger and small meteors, which deal damage based on size. To avoid this ability stand behind a cold-sided pillar to block the incoming projectiles, or have enough Crushing Light stacks to endure it.

Atlas Passive Tree

The newly revamped Atlas Passive Tree provides us with additional ways to enhance the rewards of Exarch influenced Maps, on top of additional Altars and double progression towards the Searing Exarch:

Notables

• Baptised by Fire
• The Light of Dawn

Nodes

• Searing Exarch Item Chance
• Searing Exarch Influence Pack Size

Tips & Tricks

• Always stay mobile to avoid its abilities.
• Enable sound in your settings, since it always yells before using any of its abilities.
• Use a Quicksilver Flask to outmaneuver Fire Leap and Cold Cascade. It also helps you move behind pillars quickly to avoid the lethal signature abilities.
• Use blink Abilities like Flame Dash or Dash to teleport behind pillars or to quickly switch the element to get rid of the respective debuff.

Summary

• The Black Star is one of the four Eldritch Horrors and is important for endgame progression due to the
  Omniscient Voidstone dropped by the Searing Exarch.
• You can acquire its Invitations via farming Exarch-influenced Tier 14+ Maps.
• Once you completed Kirac's Quest line, you can drop a tradable version of the Polaric Invitation.
• The goal of this encounter is to alternate between the Annihilating Light and the Crushing Darkness Debuff.
• The Annihilating Light Debuff makes you more vulnerable to Fire Damage, but you get more resistant to incoming Cold Damage.
• The Crushing Darkness Debuff makes you more vulnerable to Cold Damage, but you get more resistant to incoming Fire Damage.
• You can deplete your Annihilating Light stacks while standing in the cold-sided area of the Arena, and vice versa.

Credits

Written by mbXtreme
Reviewed by Raxxanterax