The Black Glass · boss guide · floor 30 and every fifth floor after it
How to beat The Vitrarch
Every attack is drawn on the floor first. The shortest wind-up is 0.7 s; the longest dodge from a standing start is 0.8 s. Watch the ground, not him.
The Vitrarch: 11744 HP on floor 30. His codex page.
His rhythm
He steps out 1.5 s into floor 30 and draws his first attack 1.67 s later. Each attack sits on the ground for its whole wind-up while he stands still, lands, and then he rests 1.33 s before the next one (0.92 s below half HP). Below half HP he gets faster, and some shapes grow: the numbers for that phase are given with each attack. The rest after a landing is your window to hit him.
The waves do not stop while he lives. On floor 30 they are 18% dregmaws, 16% hushglasses, 12% ashmantles and 9% skitters and a few others, so clear a lane before you commit to him.
Shatter ring
What you see: a ring of glass shards running out from his feet to 7 tiles at 12 tiles a second, with one 52° gap in it turned at most 90° from you, drawn on the ground for its whole wind-up of 0.9 s, 0.7 s below half HP. Damage: 98 on floor 30, 158 on floor 35 and 255 on floor 40 (26 before the floor’s multiplier). How often: Every attack while he is above half HP; below it 55% of his attacks, wherever you stand, and his stamp comes sooner.
How to dodge: Do not run: the ring is 12 tiles a second, almost three times the Warrior’s 4.2, and it reaches 7 tiles. Step into the gap. It is drawn with the tell, its two edges bold red lines from his feet, at most 90° round from the line between you; at 3 tiles from him the worst case is a walk of 0.8 s round to its edge, against its wind-up (0.9 s, 0.7 s below half HP) plus the moment the ring takes to reach you. The gap is 52° wide, so the further out you stand the wider it is to stand in. Each ring strikes you at most once, as it passes.
Eclipse
What you see: 4 glass lances, each 10 tiles long and 0.8 wide, 45° apart and crossing on the spot you stand on, drawn on the ground for its whole wind-up of 1.2 s. Damage: 83 on floor 30, 134 on floor 35 and 216 on floor 40 (22 before the floor’s multiplier). How often: Only below half HP: always his first attack there (so you see the change of phase), then 45% of his attacks, wherever you stand.
How to dodge: The four lanes cross on the spot you stood on when he drew his cloak in, so standing still is the one sure way to be hit. Walk out between two of them (along the line halfway between two lanes, 22.5° off each): clearing a 0.8-tile lane plus your body that way takes 0.46 s of a 1.2 s wind-up. Then he throws the cloak wide and your light shrinks to 25% of its radius for 3 s, the monsters beyond it dim shapes; stay near the middle of what you can still see until it lifts.
What helps
- Anvil Drop: an attack that lands during the 0.3 s the Warrior is in the air misses him. It fires on its own at packs; switch skills to Tap to fire in Settings to time it.
- Move speed shortens every dodge time above: the Warrior walks 4.2 tiles a second before Light Step and gear.
- You have 120 life before gear; on floor 30 his heaviest hit is 98, so one mistake is what a bare Warrior can afford.
The reward
Always three rare items and three magic items, each rolled with magic and rare odds ×2.3 so any of them can come out better, 10 coins of 160 on floor 30, a 50% chance of a unique and a 13% chance of a set piece. When he falls, a waypoint rises in his arena. Touch it and floor 30 is lit for good: a row on the town's Waypoint list that takes you there (your hero from town keeps his level and skills, or a new dive starts there at level 68), and a stop you can travel to from any other lit waypoint mid-dive. Going home never costs anything: the Town Portal button, at any moment of the fight (even with him at full health) or after it, banks every item and all the gold you carry; going home resets your delve streak to 0. When he is down, a stairway opens in the arena: walk onto it to go deeper.