Fighting Gloom
When entering a new chamber, you may face a Warrior of Gloom or a Creature of Gloom. In this case, you will be automatically redirected to the battle window, which displays:
- The "Retreat" button.
- The icon showing the Champion's current health. Selecting this icon will take you to the Champion tab in the Champion's Abode.
- The panels for selecting zones to attack (on the left) and defend (on the right).
- Info about your opponent.
- The battle history panel.
- A panel with buttons for the various battle modes and the countdown timer for selecting attack and defense zones.
Opponents' stats
Vassals of Gloom differ in terms of their level, strength, and type.
- An enemy's level is displayed near its name: the higher the value, the more difficult it is to destroy the enemy.
- An enemy's strength is indicated by the color of its name bar. Common opponents — Warriors of Gloom — are marked in gray, green, and blue. Bosses — Creatures of Gloom — are marked in red.
- An enemy's type affects its particular characteristics: some foes can select two zones to attack, while others have a bonus to dodge chance, etc. Watch carefully how the battle is going against different enemy types — this will help you develop your own battle tactics.
Battle
Once you've encountered an opponent, you can either fight or retreat. Please note: if you retreat, you leave the Catacombs and your exploration progress for the node is lost.
Battles against the powers of Gloom play out step by step. Both the Champion and their opponent have identical attack and defense zones: head, chest, arms, stomach, and legs. Each turn, you need to select both a zone to attack and a zone that you wish to defend.
The number of zones the Champion defends in one turn can be increased by equipment bonuses. For example, when you select the head, the chest can be automatically added; when you select the chest, the arms are added, etc. Some opponents can attack or defend several zones.
You can battle manually or in auto mode.
If you decide to fight manually, you need to select attack and defense zones. A certain amount of time is allotted for doing so. The selected attack zone is highlighted in red, and the selected defense zone is highlighted in green. You can change your choice as long as there is still time remaining.
If you select the desired zones but don't hit the "Battle" button before the timer expires, or don't make any choice at all, the Champion will miss a turn.
The actions that the Champion and their opponent performed during the previous turn will be shown by symbols on the attack and defense zones. This will help you better understand the opponent's tactics and organize your battle strategy in a more efficient way.
When using auto battle mode, the Champion automatically selects the zones for attack and defense.
The enemy's attack and defense zones are always selected automatically and randomly.
By default, auto battle is turned off, but if you activate this function, the game will remember your choice and all future battles in this node will be performed in auto mode until you switch it off. To do so, hit the "Cancel" button.
The outcome of each turn is described in detail in the Battle history panel. It describes all the actions performed by the Champion and their foe:
- Successful hits
- Successful critical hits
- Blocked hits
- Blocked critical hits
- Dodged hits
- Missed turns
You can minimize or expand this panel. All messages are sorted by time: the oldest are at the top, and the newest are at the bottom. You can scroll through them and read the whole course of the battle.
Every successful hit by the Champion reduces the enemy's health bar, and every successful attack by the enemy depletes the Champion's health. Damage and critical damage dealt are displayed for several seconds in red numbers and yellow numbers respectively.
If the enemy attacks two zones in one turn and both hits are successful, you will see two sets of damage numbers: one for each hit.
The end of a battle
If your enemy's health points reach zero, this is counted as a victory for you, and you receive Champion's experience and various trophies as a reward.
By gaining the required amount of experience, the Champion levels up.
You cannot reset or distribute the Champion's stat points while the Champion is in the Catacombs.
The Champion loses when their health points reach zero (even if this happens at the exact same moment when their opponent is defeated). In this case, you leave the Catacombs of Helheim, and all of your exploration progress for the node is lost.
While exploring a node, the Champion's health doesn't regenerate. It will be only be replenished when the Champion leaves the Catacombs.
If you defeat the Creature of Gloom, the node is regarded as passed and you get access to the next node. Remember, however, that three stars are awarded for destroying the Creature of Gloom, exploring all chambers in the node, and saving 50% of the Champion's health in doing so.