Cradle of the Death God Trial Preview

As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s Lost City of Omu, we are looking into the new group content addition today. The “Cradle of the Death God” concludes the story in Chult with a massive fight against the Marshmallow Man Atropal. Completing the hard challenge is required to upgrade your weapons to exalted and to vivify your Primal Gear. So it’s safe to say that the trial plays an integral part of gear progression in Module 13.

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Unlocking the Cradle

Just like in Module 12, the new group content is unlocked with the last task of the campaign’s middle “advancement” path. It should take approximately three weeks to unlock the trial (two weeks with the Leader Pack). As always, the Cradle is an account unlock so you only have to burst through the middle path with one character. After that, all your alts, given they fill the queue requirements, can run it. Speaking about queue requirements: The Cradle comes with the same as “Tomb of the Nine Gods“. Players need at least 12,000 total item level to enter it. The trial also extends the “Hero’s Accord” random queue. It is not part of the “Epic Trial” one.

Running the Cradle

While unlocking the Cradle is relatively easy, running it is certainly not. Depending on how you see it, the fight consists of two to four phases. Groups start out in an elevator. They have to repel a “Projection of Acererak” in there and then stop the thing from crashing. These phases are pretty easy (and fun) once you’ve understood the underlying mechanics. DPS is a minor factor here and it’s more about coordination and positioning. It helps to use voice communication, but it’s certainly not mandatory.

The second part of the fight takes place in the cradle itself where groups have to cut cords before facing the Atropal. The main fight features a pretty challenging skill check where players have to move and react correctly to not get pushed off the platform. Other than that, the boss features some heavy hitting attacks and judging from own runs and videos I saw, I don’t think all mechanics have been figured out yet. Groups that beat the trial on preview simply pulled through using tons of Life Scrolls.

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Rewards

Next to the weekly rewards that you need to upgrade your weapons and primal gear, the trial comes with a brand new Artifact set. Many folks will probably aim for the Artifact as it offers a massive 10% damage buff and up to 2,000 additional damage to your powers. If the proc is affected by buffs and such, watch out. But even if not this seems to be a very viable option as Artifact for your main DPS. I personally am not too sure about the full set. It’s the second one of the mod that grants Temp HP so it feels kinda redundant. I guess they wanted to give something to support toons with high Life Steal (specifically Temptation Scourge Warlocks come to mind). It theoretically could also have nice synergy with Chef Melvin’s Ring of Defiance in case you’re interested in a reflect build.

Other than that, the trial seems to have the same loot table as the Tomb.

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Conclusion

Overall the Cradle is a nice piece of content that will surely challenge folks for some time. Long-term its viability however diminishes once most endgamers will have finished their grind to Exalted Weapons and Vivified Primal Gear (which takes roughly 11 weeks). Then the question becomes whether you can farm Ultimate Enchanting Stone more efficiently in the Cradle or the Tomb.

With the main rewards only dropping weekly, most folks will probably also only complete it once per week and then move on. Svardborg was similar in Module 10 but at least had the Mark grind going for itself. So it’s pretty interesting to me how the trial will develop over time.


That’s our preview of the new Cradle of the Death God trial. Have you been to preview and tested it? How did you like the setup and challenge? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

2 thoughts on “Cradle of the Death God Trial Preview

  • March 8, 2018 at 7:45 am
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    you say it takes 11 weeks to upgrade weapons and gear was this with the belief that the carving and ampule are not gated behind RNG as that seems to be the case ?

    • March 8, 2018 at 2:01 pm
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      Yes, that was based on one guaranteed drop per week, not one drop max per week.

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