< Back to Quest Content

Go to Next Quest >

Creepy Cave

Map Type: Scalable Instance (1+ players)
Development Time: 100 hours

Theme/Environment: 
     Creepy Cave is a Housing Expedition (scalable dungeon) for Wildstar. Players venture into a dark, eerie cave to help researcher Davon study unique forms of life. Inspired by Luigi's Mansion, players use a flashlight mechanic to accomplish a variety of goals as they play, such as finding hidden objects and damaging or disabling enemies while they explore.

Gameplay Description: 
     Gameplay centers on the flashlight mechanic, which players use to explore and fight within the cave.

Design Highlights

• Flashlight: Shortly after entering the instance, players equip a special flashlight that lets them discover hidden objects and fight the unique enemies within the cave.
• Boss Fight: The Shadow Dweller is a profane creature, bent on blanketing all of existence in darkness. His attacks focus on arcane magic, and summoning creatures that can only be killed by light to assault the player. Halfway through the fight, he begins summoning a Nether Portal, which makes the entire room dangerous except for a small zone linked to Davon and his mobile Sciencebot. During this phase break, players must stay near the Sciencebot as it travels to various Corruption Totems throughout the room, which players must destroy while battling endless waves of Shadow Peeps.

 

Flashlight

     Players undergo Eldan Augmention, replacing their standard abilities with a new set. They must quickly adapt to these abilities to destroy groups of fast moving Eldan Holoturrets.

 

Boss Fight

     Shadow Dweller

Ability Breakdown

Shadow Form Abilities

• Soul Drain

     Reaching into his enemies soul, the Shadow Dweller siphons their life away, healing himself in the process. Players must interrupt this attach or suffer severe damage while healing the boss.

• Shadow Bolt Barrage

     The Shadow Dweller summons six Shadow Bolts at random points around himself. Each Shadow Bolt moves towards the nearest player and detonates when in range, or after a brief time.

• Shadow Vise

     Reaching out from the Darkness, the Shadow Dweller stuns his prey and summons a reaper from the void to deal a fearsome slash after a few seconds, damaging all enemies in range.

• Cloud of Darkness

     The Shadow Dweller manifests a Cloud of Darkness around himself and summons 5 Shadow Peep minions. These minions can only be damaged by the player's flashlight, but are immune to it while within the Cloud of Darkness. In a more threatening version of a mechanic taught earlier, players must kite the Shadow Peeps out of the Cloud of Darkness to kill them. 

• Summon Nether Portal

     When the Shadow Dweller reaches half health, he becomes invulnerable, wreathing the entire room in shadow as he summons a Nether Portal. Players must rush to the friendly NPC Davon and his Science Bot and stay within the radius of a protective light. This triggers a phase break in the fight where players must closely follow Davon's Science Bot, staying within its protected light radius while killing Corruption Totems scattered throughout the cave. Meanwhile, Shadow Peeps continually spawn from Corruption Totems and the Nether Portal, forcing players to deal with a continual flow of enemies. After all the Corruption Totems are destroyed, the Shadow Dweller becomes vulnerable and enters his Netherlord Form for the final phase of the fight.

Netherlord Form Abilities

• Nether Bolt Barrage

     The Shadow Dweller unleashes a eight successive waves of Nether Bolts targeting up to 5 enemies. Each missile hurtles towards its target's initial position and detonates on impact, damaging any enemies within the blast radius. This attack often forces players to stop DPS in order to dodge and survive the onslaught.

• Void Strike
     Seeking out his most distant enemies, the Shadow Dweller warps to them with a fearsome slash of his scythe, summoning four reapers around the target to deal area damage after a brief delay.

• Void Slash
  
     The Shadow Dweller tethers his target and warps to them, dealing damage in a line and summoning a Shadow Bolt to chase and detonate on nearby players. This tether cannot be destroyed, so players must kite within a restricted area until the Shadow Bolt expires.

Return to top of page